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Showing posts from April, 2021

Prarthana Samaj (Prayer Society): An Indian Response to Western Rationalism

Founded in 1867 by Atmaram Pandurang, a physician and social reformer, Prarthana Samaj (Prayer Society) is a socio religious reform movement that took inspiration from the Brahmo Samaj movement spearheaded by Keshab Chandra Sen in West Bengal. Other important leaders of Prarthana Samaj were famous Indologist and Sanskritist R G Bhandarkar and Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842-1901) who also comes lauded as the prophet of cultural renaissance in western India. N. G. Chandavarkar was another leader of Prarthana Samaj. Theistic worship and social reform were the two main planks on which the Prarthana Samaj movement was built. The movement fostered a firm belief in the existence of one god. The society opposed the prevailing caste system, untouchability, dowry system, polygamy and advocated widow remarriage, female education, intermarriage among different castes, and abolition of child marriage. Prarthana Samaj used to publish a magazine called Subodh Patrika. 

History Ancient India - MCQs – Set 1

1. At which of the following Indus Valley Sites, the remains of camel bones have been found? (a) Surkotada (b) Kalibangan (c) Lothal (d) Kot Diji 2. Which one of the following was not cultivated in the Indus Valley civilization? a) Wheat b) Barley. c) Sugarcane d) Sesamum 3. Which of the following birds was worshiped by the people of Harappan civilization? (a) Pigeon (b) Eagle (c) Crow (d) Peacock 4. What does the name Kalibangan mean? (a) Black Bangles (b) Clay Bangles (c) Glass Bangles (d) Yellow Bangles  5. Which of the following events in Buddha's life did not take place on a full moon day (Purnima)? (a) Birth (b) Death (Mahaparinirvana) (c) Enlightenment (d) Renunciation (Mahabhinishkramana)  6. To whom is the sacred text of Jainism, Kalpasutra, ascribed to ? (a) Bhadrabahu (b) Sthulabhadra (c) Hemachandra (d) Nayachandra 7. Who among the following rulers was not a patron of Jainism? (a) Kharavela  (b) Amoghavarsha (c) Gaud Shashank (d) Chandragupta Maurya 8. To whom is Saripu

History Medieval India - MCQs – Set 1

 1. Who among the following had written Tughlaq Nama? (a) Amir Khusrau (b) Minhaj-us-Siraj (c) Khwaja Abd Malik Isami (d) Ziauddin Barani 2. The court of which of the following did Abdur Razzaq, ambassador of Timur’s son Shah Rukh of Herat, visit? (a) Zamorin of Calicut  (b) Alauddin Khilji (c) Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq (d) Muhammad bin Tughluq 3. Who ascended the throne of Delhi Sultanate after the death of Iltutmish? (a) Rukn-ud-din Firuz  (b) Aram Shah (c) Balban (d) Razia Sultana 4. When was Sayyid Dynasty of Delhi Sultanate founded? (a) 1404 AD (b) 1408 AD (c) 1414 AD (d) 1418 AD 5. Who among the following traced his descent to the Prophet? (a) Khizr Khan (b) Ghiasuddin Tughlaq (c) Ibrahim Lodi (d) Jalalud din Khalji 6. Who among the following was the first Muslim ruler to conquer South India?  (a) Alauddin Khalji (b) Muhammad bin Tughlaq (c) Sher Shah (d) Akbar 7. Who among the following had introduced the Dagh and Chehra system in administration? (a) Balban  (b) Alauddin Khalji (c)

History MCQs – Set 1 - Modern India

1.Who among the following was elected permanent president of Muslim League in 1908? (a) Muhammad Ali Jinnah (b) Nawab Moshin-ul-Mulk (c) Nawab Salimullah (d) Aga Khan 2.Who among the following had accompanied Gandhi to the Second Round Table Conference in 1931? (a) Jawaharlal Nehru (b) Sarojini Naidu (c) Madan Mohan Malviya (d) Sarojini Naidu and Madan Mohan Malviya 3.Who among the following was responsible for killing Curzon Wyllie in London? (a) V. D. Savarkar (b) Bhagat Singh (c) Shyamaji Krishnavarma (d) Madan Lal Dhingra   4.Who among the following as not associated with Swaraj Party?  (a) Motilal Nehru (b) Chakravarti Rajagopalachari  (c) Chittaranjan Das (d) N C Kelkar 5.Who among the following had founded the Asiatic Society? (a) David Hare  (b) William Jones (c) William Carey (d) Ram Mohan Roy  6.Who was the founder of Naujawan Bharat Sabha? (a) Bhagat Singh  (b) Jayaprakash Narayan  (c) Gopal Krishna Gokhale (d) Rukmani Lakshmipth. 7.Which among of the following was popularly

Palas of Bengal and Bihar

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                                                                    Pala empire with neighbours / Wikimedia Commons We know little of events in Bengal from the death of Harsha in 647 AD up to the rise of the Palas in Eastern India. What is known to us that during this period, Bengal was subjected to a condition known as Matsya nyaya (the rule of strong devouring the week). Against this backdrop Gopala was chosen ( Grahita ) as king by the people. He founded the Pala dynasty which ruled regions of Bengal and Bihar for about four centuries from the middle of the 8th century until the end of the 12th century. There are instances when rulers were chosen by the people, ministers and nobles in ancient India. Harsha was invited by the nobles of Kannauj to assume the throne when Grahavarman died childless.  The appointment of the boy Nandivarman (735-797) as the Pallava ruler of Kanchi by an assembly of nobles and ministers is another case in point.   Though details of Gopala’s reign is not k

Rebellion of Khusrau

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     Tomb of Khusrau in Khusro Bagh, Allahabad|Wikimedia Commons Khusrau was the eldest son of the fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir. He was born in 1587 to Man Bai, sister of Raja Man Singh, trusted general of Emperor Akbar . With the support of the powerful nobles  Khusrau  eyed the Mughal throne and unfurled a banner of rebellion against his father . After the death of his grandfather, Akbar, in 1605, he was imprisoned in Agra Fort by Jahangir who had succeeded Akbar as the Mughal emperor. However, though he managed to escape, he was defeated by the Mughal forces in 1606.   In 1606, the fifth Sikh Guru Arjan Dev was sentenced to death by Jahangir since he had blessed Khusrau during his rebellion against the emperor. However, famous Sufi saint Shaikh Nizam Thaneswari was banished by the emperor to Mecca for the same offence.  Khusrau was later blinded and was forced into the custody of his brother Khurram (future Shah Jahan) who eventually strangled him at Burhanpur in 1621. (The offici