Flipkart

Monday 19 January 2015

History

The Battle of Plassey was fought in which year ?
1757 (British rule in India is conventionally begun in 1757. On June 23rd of that year, at the Battle of Plassey, a small village between Calcutta and Murshidabad, the forces of the East India Company under Robert Clive defeated the army of Siraj-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Bengal. The "battle" lasted no more than a few hours, and indeed the outcome of the battle had been decided long before the soldiers came to the battlefield. The aspirant to the Nawab's throne, Mir Jafar, was induced to throw in his lot with Clive, and by far the greater number of the Nawab's soldiers were bribed to throw away their weapons, surrender prematurely, and even turn their arms against their own army.)

The territory of Porus who offered strong resistance to Alexander was situated between which rivers?
Jhelum and Chenab (The Battle of the Hydaspes River was fought by Alexander the Great in 326 BC against King Porus of the Hindu Paurava kingdom on the banks of the Hydaspes River (Jhelum River) in the Punjab.
Alexander's decision to cross the monsoon-swollen river despite close Indian surveillance, in order to catch Porus' army in the flank, has been referred as one of his "masterpieces". Although victorious, it was also the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians. The resistance put up by King Porus and his men won the respect of Alexander, who asked Porus to become a Macedonian satrap.

The battle is historically significant for opening up India to Greek political (Seleucid, Greco-bactrian Indo-Greek) and cultural influences (Greco-Buddhist art), which continued to have an impact for many centuries.) Source - www.wikipedia.org

Under Akbar, the Mir Bakshi was required to look after ?
Military Affairs (The head of the military was called the Mir Bakshi, appointed from among the leading nobles of the court. The Mir Bakshi was in charge of intelligence gathering, and also made recommendations to the emperor for military appointments and promotions.)

Tripitakas are sacred books of  which religion?
Buddhists (These are three baskets of buddhist teachings - Sutta pitaka(it consists of sermons and teachings of buddha), Vinaya pitaka(it is collection of the rules governing the sangha and monks) and Abhidharma pitaka(Abhiddhama pitaka deals with the philosophy of buddhism) )

The three jewels of Buddhism ?
Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (A trident, or trisula, with three branches, representing the threefold jewels of Buddhism: Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha:

Buddha means seeing him as your ultimate teacher and spiritual example. It also means committing yourself to achieving Buddhahood – Enlightenment for the sake of all beings – which means that you aim to become someone who sees the nature of reality absolutely clearly, just as it is, and lives fully and naturally in accordance with that vision.
The Dharma primarily means the teachings of the Buddha, or the truth he understood. The word ‘Dharma’ has many meanings but most importantly it means the unmediated Truth (as experienced by the Enlightened mind).In this second sense, Dharma is the teaching that was born when the Buddha first put his realisation into words and communicated it to others at Sarnath in Northern India.
Sangha is the community of those who have attained enlightenment, who may help a practicing Buddhist to do the same. Also used more broadly to refer to the community of practicing Buddhists, or the community of Buddhist monks and nuns)

The theory of economic drain of India during British imperialism was propounded by whom ?
Dadabhai Naoroji

When was First Anglo-Mysore war fought ?
1767-69 (The First Anglo–Mysore War (1767–1769) saw Hyder Ali gain some measure of success against the British but suffer heavy defeats at the hands of the Marathas. Hyder Ali's alliance with the Nizam of Hyderabad against the British too was a failure owing to defeats of their combined power against the British and later the spread of mutual suspicion between the two Islamic powers. The Kingdom of Mysore regained some of its lost lands and had to relinquish many territories to the south of Mysore to the British.)

The treaty of Mangalore was signed between ?
East India company and Tipu Sultan (The Treaty of Mangalore was signed between Tipu Sultan and the British East India Company on 11 March 1784. It was signed in Mangalore and brought an end to the Second Anglo-Mysore War(1780-84).)

The treaty of Seringapatam was signed between Tipu Sultan and ?
Lord Cornwallis (The Treaty of Seringapatam, signed 18 March 1792, ended the Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789-1792). Its signatories included Lord Cornwallis on behalf of the British East India Company, representatives of the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Mahratta Empire, and Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore)

When was Tipu died ?
1799 (The Fourth Anglo–Mysore War (1799) saw the defeat of Tipu Sultan and further reductions in Mysorean territory. Mysore's alliance with the French was seen as a threat to the East India Company and Mysore was attacked from all four sides. Tipu's troops were outnumbered 4:1 in this war. Mysore had 35,000 soldiers, whereas the British commanded 60,000 troops. The Nizam of Hyderabad and the Marathas launched an invasion from the north. The British won a decisive victory at the Battle of Seringapatam in 1799. Tipu was killed during the defence of the city. Much of the remaining Mysorean territory was annexed by the British, the Nizam and the Marathas. The remaining core, around Mysore and Seringapatam, was restored to the Indian prince belonging to the Wodeyar dynasty, whose forefathers had been the actual rulers before Hyder Ali became the de facto ruler. The Wodeyars ruled the remnant state of Mysore until 1947, when it joined the Union of India.) Source - www.wikipedia.org

The system of competitive examination for civil service was accepted in principle in the year?
1853

The Vijaynagar ruler, Krishnadev Rays's work Amuktamalyada, was in which language?
Telugu (The reign of Sri Krishna Devaraya, the most famous of the rulers of the Vijayanagara empire, is hailed as a golden era by historians. Inscriptions speak of him as a monarch in the fields of war and literature (sahitee samarangana sarvabhauma).

Not only did he have eight court poets (ashta diggajas), he himself was a great poet, although doubts persist in certain quarters of the literary world about the authorship of the works attributed to him. However, internal evidences are cited to establish his authorship in the case of ‘Amuktamalyada.'

Considered a masterpiece in Telugu literature, the epic poem, ‘Amuktamalyada' tells the well-known story of the daughter of Periazhvar, Goda Devi, who used to wear the garlands intended for Lord Ranganatha before they were offered to the deity, and hence the name ‘Amukta Malya Da' — one who wears and gives away garlands.

Sri Krishna Devaraya is believed to have written and dedicated the poem to Lord Venkateswara as ordained by God in his dream. Aptly, he sings in praise of the Lord and His divine weapons and pays obeisance to the Azhvars, the poet-saints of Vaishnavism. The work also speaks in some detail about Vishnuchitta (Periazhvar) and the arguments he put forth in support of Visishtadvaita and against other schools of philosophy. For this reason, it has come to be known also as ‘Vishnuchitteeyamu.')
Source - The Hindu

The use of kharoshti in ancient Indian architecture is the result of India's contact with?
Greece (The Kharosthi Script was more or less contemporarily with the Brahmi script, appearing around the 3rd century BCE mainly in modern-day northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, although some examples do occur in India. Like Brahmi, Kharosthi seemed to have been developed for Prakrit dialects (which was the common speech of everyday life as opposed to Sanskrit which was the liturgic language). For instance, the earliest example of Brahmi and Kharosthi did not have the dipthongs /ai/, /au/, and the vocalic /r/ and /l/, which existed in Sanskrit but not in Prakrit. In particular, Kharosthi seemed to be used primarily for the Prakrit dialect of Gandhari, the language of the ancient kingdom of Gandhara. The evidence for this is in the form of a diacritic mark that denotes a transformation of an intervocalic constant (sometimes from a stop to a fricative), which existed in Gandhari.) Source - www.ancientscripts.com

The troops raised by the emperor but not paid directly the state and place under the charge of mansabadars were know as?
Dakhili (The mansabdari system introduced by Akbar was a unique feature of the administrative system of the Mughal Empire. The term mansab (i.e. office, position or rank) in the Mughal administration indicated the rank of its holder (mansabdar) in the official hierarchy. The mansabdari system was of Central Asian origin. According to one view Babur brought it to North India.

But the credit of giving it an institutional framework goes to Akbar who made it the basis of Mughal military organization and civil administration. The mansabdars formed the ruling group in the Mughal Empire. Almost the whole nobility, the bureaucracy as well as the military hierarchy, held mansabs.

Conse­quently, the numerical strength of the mansabdars and their composition during different periods materially influenced not only politics and ad­ministration but also the economy of the empire.

Since the mansabdars of the Mughal empire received their pay either in cash (naqd) or in the form of assignments of areas of land (jagir) from which they were entitled to collect the land revenue and all other taxes sanctioned by the emperor, the mansabdari system was also an in­tegral part of the agrarian and the jagirdari system.

Basic Features:

The mansabdars belonged both to the civil and military departments. They were transferred from the civil side to the military department and vice versa. The Mughal mansab was dual, represented by two members, one desig­nated zat (personal rank) and the other sawar (cavalry rank). The chief use of zat was to place the holders in an appropriate position in the offi­cial hierarchy.

In the early years of Akbar's reign the mansabs (ranks) ranged from command of 10 to 5,000 troops. Subsequently the highest mansabs were raised from 10,000 to 12,000; but there was no fixed number of mansabdars.

From the reign of Akbar to Aurangzeb their number kept on in­creasing. In or about 1595 the total numbers of mansabdars during the reign of Akbar was 1803; but towards the close of Aurangzeb's rein their number rose to 14,449.

In theory all mansabdars were appointed by the emperor, who also granted promotions on the basis of gallantry in military service and merit. The mansabdars holding ranks below 500 zat were called mansabdars, those more than 500 but below 2,500 amirs and those holding ranks of 2,500 and above were called amir-i-umda or amir-i-azam or omrahs. The mansabdars who received pay in cash were known as naqdi and those paid through assignments of jagirs were called jagirdars.

The jagirs were by nature trans­ferable and no mansabdar was allowed to retain the same jagir for a long period. The watan-jagirs were the only exception to the general system of jagir transfers. The watan-jagirs were normally granted to those zamindars who were already in possession of their watans (homelands) before the expansion of the Mughal empire.

The mansab was not hereditary and it automatically lapsed after the death or dismissal of the mansabdar. The son of a mansabdar, if he was granted a mansab, had to begin afresh. Another important feature of the mansabdari system was the law of escheat (zabti), according to which when a mansabdar died all his property was confiscated by the emperor. This measure had been introduced so that the mansab­dars did not exploit the people in a high-handed manner.) Source - www.preservearticles.com

To conquer and annex Peshawar and Punjab, Mahmud of Ghazni defeated?
Hindushahis (A Hindu dynasty the Hindushahis, held Gandhara and eastern borders. From the tenth century onwards as Persian language and culture continued to spread into Afghanistan, the focus of power shifted to Ghazni, where a Turkish dynasty, who started by ruling the town for the Samanid dynasty of Bokhara, proceeded to create an empire in their own right. The greatest of the Ghaznavids was Muhmad who ruled between 998 and 1030. He expelled the Hindus from Gandhara, made no fewer than 17 raids into northwestern India.
He encouraged mass conversions to Islam, in India as well as in Afghanistan)

The victories of Karikala are well portrayed in?
Pattinappalai (Karikala Cholan was one of the great Tamil kings of Early Chola during the Sangam period.Paṭṭiṉappālai is a Tamil poetic work in the Pathinenmaelkanakku anthology of Tamil literature, belonging to the Sangam period corresponding to between 100 BCE – 100 CE. Pattinappaalai is part of the Pattupattu collection, which is the oldest available collection of long poems in Tamil literature. Pattinappaalai contains 301 lines of poetry in the akaval meter. Pattinappaalai was written by the poet Uruttirangannanar in praise of the Chola king Karikala)


The title of 'Viceroy' was added to the office of the Governor-General of India for the first time in?
1858 (Canning was the first Viceroy of India)

To which dynasties did king Bhoja, a great patron of literature and art, belongs?
Paramara (Bhoja (also Bhojadeva) was a philosopher king and polymath of medieval India, who ruled the kingdom of Malwa in central India from the early 11th century to 1055 CE. Also known as Raja Bhoja Of Dhar, he belonged to the Paramara dynasty.The name Bhoja means "bountiful, liberal" and appears as the name of a tribe, the descendants of Mahabhoja, in the Mahabharata.

Bhoja established numerous temples, including the Bhojeshvara Temple at Bhojpur, a city he founded, about 30 km from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh on the banks of river Betwa. He also established the Bhoj Shala which was a centre for Sanskrit studies and a temple of Sarasvatī in present day Dhar.) Source - www.wikipedia.org

Vikramaditya, a king of Ujjain , started the vikrama samvat in 58 B.C in commemoration of his victory over which dynasty?
Sakas (Indo-Scythians is a term used to refer to Scythians (Sakas), who migrated into parts of central and northern South Asia (Sogdiana, Bactria, Arachosia, Gandhara, Sindh, Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar), from the middle of the 2nd century BC to the 4th century AD.

The first Saka king in south Asia was Maues (Moga) (1st century BC) who established Saka power in Gandhara (modern day Pakistan and Afghanistan region) and gradually extended supremacy over north-western India. Indo-Scythian rule in northwestern India ended with the last Western Satrap Rudrasimha III in AD 395 who was defeated by the Indian Emperor Chandragupta II of the Gupta Empire.The power of the Saka rulers started to decline in the 2nd century AD after the Indo-Scythians were defeated by the south Indian Emperor Gautamiputra Satakarni of the Satavahana dynasty . Later the Saka kingdom was completely destroyed by Chandragupta II of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century) Source - Wikipedia

Two of the great Mughals wrote their own memories. There were?
Babar and Jahangir (called Baburnama and Jahangirnama respectively)

To which king belong the Lion capital of Sarnath?
Ashoka

The use of spinning wheel (charkha) became common during which century ?
14th century AD

The language of discourses of Gautama Buddha was ?
Pali

Three major powers that emerged in southern India in the 7th century AD were?
Cheras,Cholas,Chalukyas

The ultimate ownership of land during the post-gupta period lay with?
The king

Buddha belong to which Republic?
Sakyas

Tipu sultan was the ruler of ?
Mysore

The term yavanika meant?
Curtain

The term khalisa in Mughal administration signified the ?
Land owned by the emperor himself

Visakhadatta sketches the event after the death of samudragupta in his work?
Mudrarakasam (Vishakhadatta was an Indian Sanskrit poet and playwright)

The vedas contain all the truth was interpreted by?
Swami Dayananda

The weekly commonweal was founded by?
Annie Besant

Ustad Mansur was a famous painter in the region of ?
Jahangir (Ustad Mansur (flourished 1590-1624) was a seventeenth-century Mughal painter and court artist. He grew in acclaim during the reign of Jahangir (r. 1605 - 1627) during which period he excelled at depicting plants and animals. He was the earliest artist to depict the Dodo in colour, apart from being the first to illustrate the Siberian Crane. Towards the end of Akbar's reign, he gained the prefix of ustad (=master) and during the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir his masterpieces earned him the title of Nãdir-al-’Asr ("Unequalled of the age"). While many of Mansur's paintings bear his signatures, some were copied along with the signature by others and these works are widely dispersed around the world in museum and private collections.) Source - www.wikipedia.org

The Vedic deity Indra was the Goddess of ?
Rain and Thunder.


No comments:

Post a Comment