Indian History

                              Maitrakas of Valllabhi Family Tree / Image Tree Vallabhi, a famous centre of learning rivalling Nalanda in ancient India, once served as the capital of the Maitraka Dynasty which arose in Gujarat and Saurashtra in western India in the late 5th century AD on the debris of the Gupta Empire.  Vallabhi was a  port city which was of substantial commercial significance. The Maitraka dynasty ruled from approximately 475 to 776 CE.  Vallabhi has been described as famous centre of learning and trade in Somadeva’s Kathasaritsagara (Ocean of the Streams of Stories), a commentary written in the 11th century AD on the extinct Brihatkatha by Guṇaḍhya.  Maitraka dynasty was founded in 475 CE by Bhatarka , who was a military governor of Saurashtra under Gupta Empire. He was a commander of Skandagupta, the last great Gupta ruler. Bhatarka did not assume the royal titles and continued to style himself as Senapati (General). He was responsible for setting up the famed univ

                                                            Phuti Masjid / Image Source Situated in Murshidabad in West Bengal, Phuti Masjid is a mosque built by Sarfaraz Khan who had held the role of Nawab of Bengal for only one year (1739- 1740.)  Sarfaraz Khan had succeeded his father Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan who had become Bengal Nawab after the death of latter's father-in-law Murshid Quli Khan, the first Nawab of Bengal and the founder of Murshidabad and the Nasiri dynasty which  ruled Bengal from  1717 until 1740.  

Born on September 2, 1885, TK Madhavan was a prominent social reformer who played a dominant role in the famed Vaikom Satyagraha , a movement for temple entry and abolition of untouchability. He was a follower of Sri Narayana Guru and in 1927 he was elected as the Organizing Secretary of the Shree Narayan Dharma Paripalana Yogam .  Vaikom Satyagraha, which lasted for 18 months during 1924–25, was a movement to allow temple entry for the avarnas or lower castes at Vaikom (a part of the then princely state of Travancore) in the Kottayam district of Kerala.  TK Madhavan was arrested in 1924 for participating in the Vaikom Satyagraha. He sought the help of Mahatma Gandhi who arrived at Vaikom on March 7, 1925 and camped there with TK Madhavan, helping in the successful completion of Satyagraha. TK Madhavan made his contribution in the field of journalism. From 1917 onwards he was the editor of the Malayalam daily Deshabhimani which he started to educate the people of their rights.    He h

                                                                                     Behramji Malabari. Image Source An associate of Dadabhai Naoroji , M. G. Ranade, Dinshaw Wacha and other contemporary political leaders and social reformers, Behramji Merwanji Malabari was a Parsi social reformer who vigorously championed the cause of women. He was against casteism and child marriage, advocated widow remarriage. He was in favour of equality of sexes and uplift of the status of the women, particularly the widows.  Born in Vadodara in 1853, Behramji Malabari had participated in the first session of the Indian National Congress held in Mumbai in 1885. In 1908 he founded a social service organization Seva Sadan Society for the education and empowerment of women. The branches of Seva Sadan Society, which he founded with another social reformer Dayaram Gidumal, were also set up in Ahmedabad and Surat. In 1875, he published a collection of Gujarati poems, Nitivinod (Pleasure of Morality) in w

Yesterday Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of a university in Aligarh named after Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh who is known for establishing a Provisional Government of Free India in Kabul in 1915 with himself as the President and Maulana Barkatullah of Bhopal as the President.  Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was a freedom fighter, revolutionary and journalist. Born in a royal family in 1886 in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, Mahendra Pratap Singh was one of the few royals who actively participated in the India’s struggle for freedom. From 1914 to 1945 he lived abroad in the USA, Austria, Germany, China, Afghanistan, Japan and Turkey working for India’s freedom from British colonialism.  Mahendra Pratap Singh worked closely with the Hindustan Ghadar Party in the USA. In 1926 the Ghadar Part sent him to Tibet to organize a rebellion against the British. He started an Indian League in Japan. Mahendra Pratap Singh supported technical and vocational education to students by estab

Muhammad Iqbal was an Urdu poet and lawyer. Born in Sialkot (now in Pakistan) on November 9, 1877, he was a great nationalist during early years of career writing the famous nationalist song: Sare Jahan se Accha, Hindositan hamara, but later on he voiced the idea of a separate Muslim state in the north-west India in his presidential address to the annual session of the Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930. It was this idea which later fructified and culminated in the creation of a separate Muslim state of Pakistan on August 14, 1947. Naturally enough, he is acclaimed as the father of the idea of Pakistan.  Muhammad Iqbal, also known as Allama Iqbal, died in Lahore in 1938.

Q.1. Which one of the following dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate following Timur’s invasion? (a) Sayyid dynasty (b) Lodi dynasty (c) Tughlaq dynasty (d) Khalji dynasty Q.2. Which of the following Delhi Sultanate rulers had set up employment exchanges for the unemployed? (a) Firuz Shah Tughlaq (b) Alauddin Khilji (c) Muhammad bin Tughlaq (d) Iltutmish Q.3. Which of the following rulers of the Delhi Sultanate is called “Father of Indian Irrigation”? (a) Firoz Shah Tughlaq (b) Alauddin Khilji (c) Muhammad Bin Tughlaq (d) Sikandar Lodi Q.4. Which of the following battles took place between Sher Shah and Humayun? (a) Battle of Ghaghra (b) Battle of Bilgram (c) Battle of Surajgarh (d) None of the above Q.5. The Mughal empire under Akbar was divided into 15 provinces. They were called --------. (a)  Parganas (b)  Subahs (c)  Sarkars (d)  None of these Q.6. What was the name of the war that took place between Sher Shah Suri and  the Mughal Governor of Bihar, Jalal Khan,  in 1534 ? (a)