Indian History Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Hiuen-tsang visited India during the reign of Harshavardhana.

The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (Hiuen-tsang) travelled in India from about 630 to 645 CE, studying at Nalanda and attending Harsha's assembly at Kanauj. His record, the Si-yu-ki, is a major source for Harsha's reign (606-647 CE).

Ashoka (third century BCE), Kanishka (first-second century CE) and Chandragupta I (fourth century CE) all lived centuries earlier. The pilgrim who came in the Gupta age was Fa-hien, under Chandragupta II.

Answer: D

The Jallianwala Bagh tragedy took place in 1919.

On 13 April 1919, Baisakhi day, troops under General Dyer opened fire on an unarmed crowd in the Jallianwala Bagh at Amritsar, gathered to protest against the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of local leaders. Hundreds were killed.

1914 is the start of the First World War, 1921 the time of the Non-Cooperation Movement, and 1930 the Salt Satyagraha.

Answer: B

The Vidyapattan scheme was introduced by Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya.

The last ruling Maharaja of Tripura planned the Vidyapattan scheme in the 1930s to set up a centre of higher education at Agartala. A large area of land was set aside, a governing committee was formed, and in 1937 he laid the foundation stone of the college. The work was interrupted by the Second World War, and Maharaja Bir Bikram College opened on the site in 1947.

Bir Chandra Manikya and Radha Kishore Manikya ruled earlier, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Krishna Kishore Manikya in the early nineteenth.

Answer: C

Neermahal was built by Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya.

Neermahal, the 'water palace', stands in the middle of Rudrasagar lake near Melaghar in Sepahijala district. It was built as a summer residence for the Maharaja in the 1930s and blends Hindu and Mughal styles.

Dhanya Manikya was a fifteenth- and sixteenth-century ruler, and Bir Chandra and Radha Kishore Manikya ruled before Bir Bikram.

Answer: B

It was the battle of Plassey.

At Plassey in June 1757, the East India Company's forces under Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, helped by the betrayal of Mir Jafar. The victory gave the Company political control of Bengal and is taken as the start of British power in India.

The battle of Buxar was fought in 1764 and confirmed that power. Aliwal (1846) was a battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War. Since Plassey is offered, 'None of these' is wrong.

Answer: A

The first Viceroy was Lord Canning.

After the revolt of 1857, the Government of India Act, 1858 transferred power from the East India Company to the British Crown. Lord Canning, who was Governor-General at the time, became the first Viceroy, the Crown's representative in India.

Lord Wellesley (1798-1805) and William Bentinck (1828-1835) were Governors-General under the Company, before the title of Viceroy existed. Robert Clive was Governor of Bengal.

Answer: D

Tripura attained full statehood in 1972.

Tripura merged with India in 1949, became a Union Territory in 1956, and was made a full state on 21 January 1972 under the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, on the same day as Manipur and Meghalaya.

1971 is the year the Act was passed, which is the usual trap. 1967 and 1970 do not mark any change in Tripura's status.

The same Act also made Manipur and Meghalaya full states and created the Union Territories of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

Answer: B

The court poet of Samudragupta was Harishen (Harishena).

Harishena composed the Prayag Prashasti, the Allahabad Pillar inscription that records Samudragupta's conquests, and he was also a minister of the king.

Bhavabhuti was an 8th-century dramatist at Kannauj, Chand Bardai was the court poet of Prithviraj Chauhan, and Banabhatta wrote the Harshacharita at Harshavardhana's court.

Answer: B

The Maharani was Maharani Kanchan Prabha Devi.

After Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya died in 1947, his widow Kanchan Prabha Devi became regent for their minor son. She resisted a conspiracy, backed by elements seeking union with East Pakistan, to take Tripura out of India, and on 9 September 1949 signed the Tripura Merger Agreement, which made Tripura part of India from 15 October 1949.

The other names are not associated with the merger.

Answer: C

NEFA was renamed Arunachal Pradesh in 1972.

Under the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, the North-East Frontier Agency became the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh on 20 January 1972. It became a full state in 1987.

1971 is the year the Act was passed, not the year it took effect, and 1970 and 1974 mark no change in its name.

Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Goa became full states in 1987.