The Winds of Change Blow Through India Quiz

Answer: Qutb Minar

Qutb ud-Din Aibak was a slave of Muhammad Ghori, the Sultan of the Ghurid dynasty of Central Asia and rose through the ranks to eventually be appointed a general. Qutb initially conquered the areas of northwestern India for Ghori and when the latter died, he assumed control of the region himself. Qutb ud-Din Aibak established the Mamluk Dynasty which is sometimes called the Slave Dynasty because of his origins. The Mamluk Dynasty was the first of five unrelated dynasties that are together classified as the Delhi Sultanate which ruled India from 1206 up to 1526.

The Qutb Minar is a tall tower commissioned in memory of the Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. Qutb ud-Din Aibak died during its construction and it was completed by his successor, Iltutmish. The monument is built out of sandstone and verses from the Koran are inscribed along the sides.

The other three monuments were all built later - by the Mughals.

Answer: A new religion

Nanak is better known as Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, a religion that originated in the Indian subcontinent. According to Sikh tradition, at the age of thirty, Nanak had a vision that caused him to reject the existing religions of Hinduism and Islam that were widely practised in the subcontinent and instead follow a new path that laid the foundation for Sikhism. Guru Nanak was the first of the ten Sikh Gurus and his poetic verses largely make up the text of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs.

Answer: Calicut

Calicut, also known as Kozhikode, is found along the Malabar Coast is southwest India. It was a major trading port for centuries before the arrival of Vasco da Gama. Jews, Arabs and Chinese merchants frequently visited the city to trade in spices. Calicut also finds mention in the writings of the Moroccan scholar and traveller, Ibn Batuta.

Vasco da Gama created history when he made landfall at Calicut in 1498 after several unsuccessful attempts by various European explorers to find a sea route to India. In 1503, the Portuguese took over the kingdom of Kochi and established the first European settlement in India. The Portuguese Empire appointed da Gama as the Governor of India in 1524.

The other three cities all lie on India's eastern coast.

Answer: Haryana

Babur was a Central Asian ruler whose ancestry can be traced to the Mongol conqueror, Genghis Khan. After being unable to retain control over Central Asia despite numerous attempts, Babur decided to instead look at conquering north India. He received a foothold when Daulat Khan Lodi rebelled against Ibrahim Lodi; the Sultan of the Lodi dynasty and sought help from Babur. Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the Battle of Panipat and founded the Mughal Empire in India.

Haryana is located in north India while all the other three options are south Indian states.

Answer: True

In 1582, Akbar propounded a new religion called Din-i-Ilahi which means 'Religion of God'. This faith attempted to bring together elements from all the various religions practiced on the subcontinent. While these were primarily drawn from Hinduism and Islam given their widespread popularity, elements of lesser known religions like Zoroastrianism, Jainism and Christianity were also included. Akbar's aim behind the new religion was believed to be noble as he wanted to reduce the religion based conflicts and animosity among his subjects.

The new religion never found much favour and is not believed to have outlasted Akbar.

Answer: The East India Company was formed

The East India Company was formed in England to trade with the East Indies and received its Royal Charter in 1600. This Charter granted the company exclusive trading rights with all countries "east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan".

This set the foundation for the lucrative trade with India and eventually through a series of battles, the East India Company started governing vast swathes of the subcontinent.

Answer: Bhagvad Gita

The Bhagvad Gita is regarded as one of the main holy books of the Hindus. It is a part of the larger epic called the Mahabharat and is in the form of a dialogue between Arjun, one of the Pandav warriors and the Hindu god, Krishna. Originally written in Sanskrit, the first English translation was brought out by Charles Wilkins in 1785. Hastings' keen interest in this undertaking is reflected by the fact that the introduction to the English translation was written by him personally.

Answer: Bombay

Earlier in 1849, the British Parliament had incorporated the Great Indian Peninsula Railway to link the various major cities through railway lines. India's first commercial train trip was in 1853 between the cities of Bombay and Thane. The distance of 21 miles was covered in 57 minutes.

The trip entailed three locomotives pulling fourteen carriages and the number of passengers on the first journey was around 400.

Answer: Remarriage of Hindu widows

The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856 was passed on 26 July 1856 by the East India Company and was enforceable in all areas that were under the Company's jurisdiction. At the time, Hindu widows, especially those belonging to the more superior castes, were prohibited from remarrying.

There were also various other restrictions placed on the lives of widows. Bengali scholar and reformer, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, campaigned exhaustively for new laws which would legalize remarriage for Hindu widows.

The act was formulated as a result of his efforts. This was especially beneficial to widows of child marriages who were condemned to a solitary life even in cases where their spouses had died when they were still children and the marriage had not been consummated.

Answer: The British Empire took over the governance of the country

This rebellion is also known as India's First War of Independence. Multiple events contributed to this mutiny including the simmering discontent against the Company rule. A flashpoint was reached when the sepoys in the Indian army were asked to use cartridges which were made from pig and cow fat.

The skin of the cartridges had to be pulled off with the teeth and the use of pig and cow fat made them unacceptable to both the Muslims and the Hindus. On 29 March 1857, Mangal Pandey, a sepoy in the army shot at one of his commanders and this isolated incident triggered a rebellion that soon spread over all of North India. Though the mutiny was eventually squashed, it led to the dissolution of the East India Company after centuries of rule in the subcontinent and marked the beginning of the British Raj. Apart from this though, it also sowed the idea of independence among the Indians and less than a century later, India won independence.