GK (15) Indian History

The Khajuraho temples, famous for their erotic sculptures, were built by the Chandella (Chandel) dynasty between 950-1050 AD. The Eastern Ganga Dynasty ruled Odisha, the Pandyas ruled Tamil Nadu, and the Kushans ruled northwest India, none of whom built these particular temples.

Henry Vivian Derozio, a teacher at Hindu College, Calcutta, started the Young Bengal Movement in the 1820s, promoting radical and free-thinking ideas. S.N. Banerjee was a moderate leader, Raja Rammohan Roy founded Brahmo Samaj, and Rabindranath Tagore was a later cultural figure.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was called Frontier Gandhi due to his nonviolent freedom struggle in the North-West Frontier Province and his close association with Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy. He founded the Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God) movement and was a devout follower of Gandhi's principles.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a teacher, mathematician, and journalist - not a lawyer by profession. Bhulabhai Desai, M.K. Gandhi (studied law in London and practiced in South Africa), and Vallabhbhai Patel were all trained lawyers before joining the freedom movement.

The Khilafat Movement lost its purpose when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Kamal Pasha) abolished the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 and established a secular Turkey. The movement was launched to protest the dismantling of the Caliphate after WWI, so when the Caliphate was formally abolished, the movement naturally subsided.

Muhammad Shah (1719-1748) was called 'Rangeela' (colorful) due to his interest in arts, music, and lavish lifestyle. Akbar was known as 'the Great', Aurangzeb for his austere rule, and Jahandar Shah's reign was too brief (1712-1713) to earn such a nickname. Muhammad Shah's court was known for cultural patronage.

The Asiatic Society, founded in 1784 by William Jones, aimed to discover and study India's ancient past through research into its history, culture, languages, and archaeology. It was not about Asian unity, European unity, or specifically English education - its focus was on uncovering India's historical heritage.

The Third Battle of Panipat (1761) was fought between the Maratha Empire and the Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Durrani (Abdali). Humayun fought Sher Shah Suri earlier (1540), Akbar fought Hemu at the Second Battle of Panipat (1556), making option B the correct pairing for the Third Battle.

Sri Aurobindo Ghosh cleared the Indian Civil Service (ICS) examination in 1890 and spent two years in service before resigning to join India's freedom struggle. Unlike the other options who were spiritual leaders, Aurobindo combined administrative training with revolutionary nationalism, making him the only ICS officer in this list.

The Battle of Talikota (1565) was a decisive defeat for the Vijayanagara Empire against the combined forces of the Deccan Sultanates. This battle marked the end of Vijayanagara's dominance and led to the sack of their capital Hampi, causing the empire's gradual decline over the next century.

The Quit India Resolution was formally adopted at the All-India Congress Committee session in Bombay (now Mumbai) on August 8, 1942. Mahatma Gandhi gave his famous 'Do or Die' speech here, launching the final mass movement against British rule before independence.

C. Vijiaraghavachariar was a prominent leader of the Indian National Congress but did not attend any of the three Round Table Conferences.

The Quit India Movement (August Kranti) was launched on August 8, 1942 during World War II. It was a mass civil disobedience movement demanding immediate end to British rule, marked by the slogan 'Do or Die'. The British responded with massive repression, arresting over 100,000 people.

The All Parties Conference was convened in 1928 to address the constitutional future of India. Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru's father, chaired the committee that drafted the Nehru Report recommending dominion status. This report was a counter to the Simon Commission.

Archaeological evidence from Harappa shows that extended burial was the primary funerary practice. Bodies were placed in rectangular pits, often in a supine position with head north, accompanied by pottery vessels. This differs from later Vedic cremation practices or urn burials found in other contemporary cultures.

The Harappan civilization extensively used copper, bronze, gold, and silver based on archaeological finds. However, they did not use iron - the Iron Age in India began much later around 1000 BCE, while Harappan civilization flourished around 2600-1900 BCE during the Chalcolithic (Copper-Stone) period. Tin was used primarily in bronze alloy, not separately.

Tolkappiyam, authored by Tolkappiyar, is the earliest extant Tamil grammatical work and the foundational text of Tamil literature. Dating to roughly the 3rd-2nd century BCE, it predates the Sangam corpus anthologies and establishes grammatical rules that all later Sangam literature follows. The other options are individual works within the Sangam anthologies.

The Sutudri (Sutlej) is explicitly mentioned as one of the major rivers in the Rig Veda, appearing in multiple hymns. It's described as a powerful river flowing from the mountains, and geographical references place it in the Punjab region. The Rig Veda contains numerous river references considered sacred in early Vedic religion.

The Purusha Sukta (Rig Veda 10.90) is the first Vedic text to explicitly mention the four varnas (Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra) emerging from the body of the cosmic being Purusha. This hymn provides the theological foundation for the varna system, describing it as divinely ordained rather than a mere social division.

The Swadeshi Movement (1905-1908) was launched as a direct response to Lord Curzon's partition of Bengal in 1905. It emphasized boycott of British goods and promotion of indigenous products, representing the first large-scale mass movement using economic nationalism as a political weapon. The movement marked a shift from moderate to extremist politics.

Bombay (now Mumbai) had the earliest Muslim presence in commerce and education among British provinces. Historical Muslim trading communities were well-established there by the 19th century, earlier than in Madras or Calcutta.

The Government of India Act 1919 embodied the reforms recommended by Secretary of State Edwin Montagu and Viceroy Lord Chelmsford. It introduced dyarchy in the provinces.