Savitri, The Indian Alcestis

 

Savitri / Image Credit

Savitri was a legendry princess in Hinduism, renowned for the love she had for her husband. She was the daughter of the king of Madra, Ashvapati, and his wife Malati. As Savitri was very beautiful and radiant, this deterred prospective suitors from approaching her father and asking for her hands in marriage. 

As a result Ashvapati asked his daughter to choose a person of her liking so that he could fulfill his obligation to marry her off.  Hence, Savitri set out to tour the country in her golden chariot in search of a suitable mate. She went though forests and cities, until she found Satyavant, son of Dyumatsena, the blind King of Shalwa, then in exile, living in poverty. 

As luck would have it, Satyavant was destined to die after one year from the marriage date. Savitri followed him when he was being carried away by the death-god Yama, and so impressed the god with her loyalty that he released her husband. 

Moth ki Masjid (Mosque)

Moth ki Masjid / Image Credit

Located in the South Extension Part II area in Delhi, Moth ki Mosque is a Lodi era mosque commissioned by Miya Bhoiya, a minister during the reign of second Lodi Sultan Sikandar Lodi (ruled 1489–1517). 

The nomenclature of the mosque derives from an interesting story describing how this temple came into being. The mosque is named after moth (beans), the good harvest of which stood the builder in good stead in getting the requisite finances for the construction of the mosque. 

Sage Vaishampayana: Traditional Narrator of the Mahabharata

Traditionally Vaishampayana is the narrator of the Mahabharata, one of the two great Sanskrit epics of India (other being the Ramayana). Vaishampayana was the pupil of sage Vyasa who is said to have authored the Mahabharata. 

It was at a great sacrifice (sarpa satra or snake sacrifice ) held by the Kuru King Janamejaya that sage Vaishampayana recited the Mahabharata in public for the first time.  

Janamejaya was the great grandson of Arjuna of the Mahabharata fame. 

 

Raja Todar Mal, Finance Minister of Emperor Akbar

 

Raja Todar Mal, the finance Minister of Emperor Akbar / Image Credit

Todar Mal was a brilliant finance officer who was first in the service of Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri and afterwards in that of Mughal emperor Akbar. Known for introducing standard weights and measures, he was the main architect behind a brilliant land revenue system Zabti system which is also called as Todar Mal bandobast. Dahshala, a system of taxation, was also established by him. 

According to tradition he was one of Akbar’s ‘Navratnas (“Nine Jewels”). The Navratnas were nine individuals of extraordinary ability gracing the court of Akbar.

Todar Mal joined Akbar’s revenue department in 1560 by replacing Khawaja Malik Itimad Khan.

Another field in which Todar Mal excelled was architecture. In 1585 Todar Mal rebuilt the Kashi Vishwanath Temple which was later demolished by Aurangzeb, who had the Gyanvapi Mosque built on its ruins.

Qila Rohtas, near the city of Jhelum in Pakistan, was built by Raja Todar Mal for Sher Shah with a view to suppressing the tribes of the region and also to checking Humayun’s entry into India.  Humayun, father of Akbar, was defeated by Sher Shah Suri in the battle of Kannauj in 1540 and spent the next years of his life in exile in Persia. 

Ladli Begum

Mihr-un-nissa Begum, better known as Ladli Begum, was the daughter of Mughal empress Nur Jahan and her first husband, Ali Quli Khan Istajlu, more famously known as Sher Afgan Khan, who was killed fighting Kutubuddin, the governor of Bengal, in 1607. Nur Jahan had become the 20th wife of Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1611.  

In 1621 Ladli Begum married Shaharyar, son of Jahangir. Naturally enough, Nur Jahan pushed Shaharyar's claim to the Mughal throne after the death of Jahangir on 27th October, 1627. This was resented by Asaf Khan who wanted his son-in-law Shah Jehan (another son of Jahangir) to be the next emperor.  All the competitors to the throne including Shaharyar were executed by Asaf Khan, father of Mumtaz Mahal (Shah Jahan’s wife in whose memory world renowned monument Taj Mahal in Agra was built). Nur Jehan and her daughter Ladli Begum were imprisoned for life. Shah Jahan ascended the throne on 19 January 1628. 

Nur Jahan died in 1645 and was buried in a tomb at Shahdara, Lahore, which she herself got built during her lifetime. Her  mausoleum is close to her husband Jahangir’s mausoleum. Ladli Begum was also buried beside her mother. 

 

Badoli Temples

Ghateshwar Mahadev, Badoli / Image Credit

Built in the tenth century AD by the Gurjara Pratihara rulers, Badoli Temples are nine temples located near Rawerbhata in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan. Of these eight temples is situated within a walled enclosure. The ninth temple is about 1 kilometre from the complex of eight temples. 

Four temples are dedicated to Shiva, two to Durga and one each to Shiva-Trimurti, Vishnu and Ganesha. Dedicated to Shiva, Ghateshwara Mahadeva Temple is the most prominent of the Badoli Temples. 

History MCQs – Set 12 - Modern India

Q.1. The idea of a separate homeland for Muslims found mention for the first time in the writings of:

A. Mohammed Iqbal

B. Liaqat Ali

C. M.A. Jinnah

D. Rahmat Ali

Q.2. The beginning of the British political sway over India can be traced to the battle of

A. Tai Khamti-British War of 1839

B. Plassey

C. Buxar

D. Wandiwash

Q.3. Who described Bal Gangadhar Tilak as the “Father of Indian unrest”?

A. Disraeli

B. Valentine Chirol

C. Minto

D. Chelmsford

Q.4. Who assassinated Sir Michael O`Dwyer, the British Lt. Governor of Punjab?

A. Udham Singh

B. Lala Lajpat Rai

C. Bhagat Singh

D. Vir Savarkar

Q.5.  The first Europeans to come to India were

A. French 

B. Dutch

C. Portuguese

D. British

Q.6. Who among the following did Lord Mountbatten replace as the viceroy of India in 1947?

A. Lord Curzon

B. Lord Chelmsford

C. Lord Wavell

D. Lord Linlithgow 

Q.7. The Communal Award was declared by Ramsay Macdonald in:

A. 1928

B. 1929

C. 1931

D. 1932

Q.8. Who declared, "The only hope for India is from the masses. The upper classes are physically and morally dead"?

A. Gopal Krishna Gokhale

B. Mahatma Gandhi

C. Swami Vivekananda

D. Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Q.9. Where was the first Round Table Conference held?

A. New Delhi

B. London

C. Edinburg

D. Bombay

Q.10. In which year was the system of the competitive examination for civil service accepted?

A. 1833

B. 1853

C. 1858

D. 1882

Answers

1-A

Notes: Muhammad Iqbal 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.

2-B

Notes: The battle of Plassey was fought between the army of Siraj-ud-Doula, the last independent Nawab of Bengal and the troops of the British East India Company under Robert Clive. 

The importance of the battle of Plassey was more than that of the some of the greatest battles of the world. It facilitated the British conquest of Bengal and subsequently the whole of India.

3-B

Notes: Bal Gangadhar Tilak was called "father of Indian unrest" by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol, a British journalist. 

4-A

Notes: Udham Singh was a great revolutionary who avenged the infamous Jalianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar by murdering Michael O’Dwyer, who was the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in 1919 when Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, the military commander of Amritsar had ordered the firing on the innocent people who have gathered here to protest the arrest of Congress leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satya Pal under Rowlatt Act.

Udham Singh killed O’Dwyer in London on 13th March 1940. He was arrested on the spot and sentenced to death on 21st July in the same year.

5-C

Notes: Portugal was the first European power to establish factories and trading settlements in India in the early 16th century. Portuguese were followed by Dutch, British, Danes and French.

6-C

Notes: In 1947, Clement Attlee, Winston Churchill's successor as British prime minister, replaced Lord Wavell with Lord Mountbatten as the viceroy of India in 1947. 

7-D

Notes: On 16 August 1932 the British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald announced the Communal Award partitioning it into separate electorates for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Untouchables. The Communal Award was announced after the failure of the Second of the Round Table Conferences (India). The Communal Award later was incorporated into the Government of India Act, 1935.

8-C

Notes: Narendranath Dutta is better known as Swami Vivekananda, 

Swami Vivekananda was a disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836-1886)

In 1983 Swami Vivekananda went to the US and attended the famous “Parliament of Religions” at Chicago. 

9-B

Notes: First Round Table Conference was held in 1930.

Second Round Table Conference took place in London from 7 September 1931 to 1 December 1931.  

The third Round Table Conference took place between 17 November 1932 and 24 December 1932. 

10-A

Notes: The Charter Act of 1853 introduced an open competition system of recruitment in Civil Service. Macaulay Committee was appointed for Civil Service in India in the year 1854.