Indian History Mixed Quiz 2: Sultanate to Quit India (WBPSC Clerkship GK)

Qutb-ud-din Aibak began the Qutb Minar but built only the first few storeys. Iltutmish added the rest and completed it. Firoz Shah Tughlaq later repaired and added to the upper storeys, but the credit for completing it goes to Iltutmish.

Alauddin Khalji kept a large standing army and, to keep it efficient, branded horses and recorded each soldier's description. He also fixed prices and controlled the markets. The Tughlaq and Lodi sultans are not known for this system.

To control the Deccan better, Muhammad bin Tughlaq moved the capital from Delhi to Devagiri and renamed it Daulatabad. The experiment failed within a few years and the capital returned to Delhi. Agra became a capital under the Lodis, and Fatehpur Sikri was built by Akbar.

In 1526 Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat and laid the foundation of the Mughal empire in India. Akbar's forces and Hemu fought in the Second Battle (1556), and the Marathas met Abdali in the Third (1761). Sher Shah fought Humayun at Chausa (1539) and Kannauj (1540).

Drawing on the essence of many faiths, Akbar announced the Din-i-Ilahi in 1582 as an ethical code; it was never forced on anyone and only a few followed it. 1556 is the year he came to the throne (and of the Second Battle of Panipat), 1605 is the year of his death, and 1526 is the First Battle of Panipat.

Sher Shah Suri (reign 1540–1545) issued the pure silver "rupaya", which the Mughals later continued and from which the name rupee comes. He also improved the Grand Trunk Road. Akbar and Jahangir were Mughal rulers, and Alauddin Khalji is not known for coinage reform.

Shivaji was crowned with the title "Chhatrapati" at Raigad fort in 1674, and Raigad served as his capital. He spent his childhood at Pune, defeated Afzal Khan at Pratapgad (1659), and Sinhagad is famous for Tanaji Malusare's battle.

The Battle of Plassey was fought on 23 June 1757 between the East India Company under Robert Clive and Siraj-ud-Daulah, Nawab of Bengal; Mir Jafar's betrayal sealed the Nawab's defeat. 1764 is Buxar, 1765 the Treaty of Allahabad, and 1707 the year Aurangzeb died.

After the defeat at Buxar, the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II granted Robert Clive the Diwani (the right to collect revenue) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa by the Treaty of Allahabad in 1765. Siraj-ud-Daulah had died in 1757. Mir Jafar was a Nawab, not the emperor, and Bahadur Shah Zafar was the emperor at the time of 1857.

Lord Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793; zamindars became owners of the land and had to pay the Company a fixed revenue permanently. Warren Hastings was an earlier Governor-General, Wellesley is known for the Subsidiary Alliance, and Dalhousie for the Doctrine of Lapse.

Lord Wellesley (Governor-General 1798–1805) offered Indian rulers the Subsidiary Alliance: they would maintain a Company force and pay for it in return for protection. The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to accept. The Doctrine of Lapse was Dalhousie's, the Permanent Settlement Cornwallis's, and the ban on sati Bentinck's.

Lord William Bentinck banned sati through Regulation XVII of 1829, after a long campaign by Raja Rammohan Roy. Canning was the Governor-General during 1857, Ripon is known for local self-government, and Cornwallis served much earlier.

On 10 May 1857 the sepoys at Meerut rose, marched to Delhi and proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar their leader; this is taken as the start of the revolt. Earlier, on 29 March, Mangal Pandey had acted at Barrackpore. Kanpur, Jhansi and Lucknow joined later.

Viceroy Lord Curzon divided Bengal into two in 1905; the partition took effect on 16 October 1905. It led to the Swadeshi and boycott movements. It was annulled in 1911 under Lord Hardinge. Minto is associated with the Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909.

W. C. Bonnerjee presided over the first Congress session held at Bombay in 1885. A. O. Hume, a retired British official, was one of the founders and the first General Secretary, not the president. Dadabhai Naoroji became president in 1886, at the second session.

On 13 April 1919, the day of Baisakhi, General Dyer ordered firing on an unarmed crowd gathered at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar to protest the Rowlatt Act. Lahore was the Punjab capital but not the site. The incident did not take place at Delhi or Kanpur.

On 12 March 1930 Gandhiji set out from Sabarmati Ashram (Ahmedabad) for Dandi and broke the salt law there on 6 April, which began the Civil Disobedience Movement. Sevagram (near Wardha) was his later ashram, while Phoenix Settlement and Tolstoy Farm were in South Africa.

The Congress passed the Quit India resolution at Gowalia Tank maidan in Bombay on 8 August 1942, where Gandhiji gave the call "Do or Die". The Lahore session of 1929 adopted Purna Swaraj. The Working Committee had met at Wardha earlier (July), but the final resolution was passed at Bombay.

The Communal Award provided separate electorates for the depressed classes, and Gandhiji fasted in Yerawada jail in protest. This led to the Poona Pact between him and Ambedkar on 24 September 1932: reserved seats within a joint electorate instead of separate electorates. No such pact was signed with Nehru, Jinnah or Bose.