Indian history quiz

Here's the quiz on Indian History presented by Siddhant Mohan on 31st July 2020.It covers a range of domains in the history of India, spanning across literature,classical music,architecture,etc.,

1. Siddhant Mohan
IIT Tirupati

2. 1.
•The Panopticon (derived from a Greek word meaning “all-seeing”) is a type of
building developed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy
Bentham. He visited Russia in 1786 and developed the architecture after observing
the workers there.
•The plan consists of a rotunda with an inspection house at the centre. It works on
the principle that people will regulate their own behaviour if they are unable to
know if they’re being watched. Bentham conceived his basic plan as being
applicable to a wide variety of buildings, but it was used only for a specific
purpose.
•Name the most famous building in India based on this plan.

4. Cellular Jail (Kalapani), Port Blair

5. 2.
•This day is celebrated with great pomp and fanfare in a place in India. It
commemorates a momentous historical event that occurred about a couple of
centuries ago, and symbolizes freedom from oppression. The people crowd the
streets to cheer marching soldiers despite the summer heat. Representatives from
two countries lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Name the place
and the date.

6. Pondicherry & Bastille Day (14 July 1789)

7. 3
•The X are concentrated in the historical region of Arakan. The first Hindu-Buddhist
kingdom of that region flourished in the city of Dhanyawadiaround the 4
th
century, and later another kingdom came up in Waithali. It is not exactly clear
when the X migrated to that region, but later immigrants to the region in the 10
th
century gradually displaced them and took control of the region.
•In 1826, the rulers of the region forcibly deported X to the nearby regions, but
were later forced to bring them back. History repeated 191 years later. Give X.

8. Rohingya

9. 4
•The X is a sacred forest frequently mentioned inPuranicliterature as well as both
theRamayanaand theMahabharata. It is the place wherePuranashad been
narrated for the first time before a large gathering of sages.The place proper was
undoubtedly of much religious efficacy as it was the abode of sixty-thousand
Rishis.
•It’s name is derived from a Sanskrit word literally meaning a ‘twinkling of an eye’,
but actually referring to a very small span of time. According to the Puranas,
Daityas(demons) had been slain there in a very short span of time.
•Today, a very sacred temple of Vishnu is found in that region. The name of the
forest was also one of the suggested names for UP during the state reorganization
process. Give X.

10. Naimishaaranya

11. 5
•X is the title of a 1903 novel by Hari Narayan Aptewhich chronicles an Indian
historical event. The event occurs in a place originally named after the Vedic rishi
Kaundiniya, but was renamed after the events occurred.
•The title of the book X was repeated by a character in a recent Indian movie. Name
the movie and give X.

12. “Gad AalaPan SinhGela”, Tanhaji

13. 6
•Chinnaiah, Ponnaiah, Sivanandamand Vadivelu(known collectively as X) lived in
the court of SerfojiII and contributed to the development of Carnatic music and
Bharatanatyam.
•The four brothers formally trained in Carnatic music from the renowned Y for
seven years. They composed several tanavarnams, kirtanaswith their
signatures:Guruguhadasa,Gurguhabhakta, andGurguhamurti.
•Give me X & Y.

14. Tanjore Quartet, MuthuswamyDikshithar

15. 7
•Sultan Said Khan was a ruler of the YarkandKhanate in China from 1514-1533. He
died near a mountain pass while returning from an expedition from Tibet, whose
aim was to destroy the iconic PotalaPalace of Lhasa and convert the Tibetans to
Islam.
•Ghulam Rasool was a Kashmiri origin explorer who was part of a team of British
explorers that were exploring the regions north of the Chang Chemo valley in
1899.
•Give the connection between the two people (post-facto of course).

16. Chinese incursions (Daulat Beg Oldi&
Galwan)

17. 8
•Operation Red Lotus is a book by Parag X which was released in 2010. Called by
the Hindu as an example of ‘revisionism at its best’, this book provides a new
perspective on a historical event which has been dismissed by Westerners as a
scattered revolt by peasant landowners with no sense of solidarity against a
common enemy.
•It talks of the “visionary role played by 3 people –a Brahmin who became a
warrior, a lowly cannon-loader who rose through the ranks, and the wife of a
visionary general.”
•Give the event and the name of the author (a descendant of the cannon-loader).

18. 1857 War of Independence, Parag Tope

19. 9
•Sugauliis a small village in Bihar. It hosted a historical event that has now assumed
primary importance, although some may argue that it was generated by a country
not orginallyinvolved in the historical event. The event has suddenly become the
focus of news headlines and forced a ‘radical reinterpretation of the equation in
the Indian subcontinent’. What is the event which has caused this historical event
to assume importance again?

20. Indo-Nepal border dispute (Treaty of
Sugauli)

21. 10
•The first wave of Indians from X began to wash up on Y’s shores in the 1960s. They
started at the bottom of the business with low quality roughs, which offered very
small margins of profit, and were of little interest to the established Jewish
houses. Their products were sent to family members back in India for cutting and
polishing, where labour costs were a fraction that of Y’s.
•“The Jews just couldn’t withstand our competitiveness,“ he said with a matter-of-
fact shrug of the shoulders. “We are married to our businesses. We will work at
night. We will work on the weekends. We will do whatever it takes to get a client.
And we are willing to work this hard even for small margins.”
•Therefore, the Indian community began dominating the business. Name the cities
X & Y.

22. Surat & Antwerp

23. THANK YOU