1. Question: Who defeated the Marathas in the third battle of Panipat?

1) The British
2) The Afghans
3) The Mughals
4) The Rajputs

2. Question: Who completed the construction of Qutb Minar at Delhi?

1) Babur
2) Qutb-ud-din Aibak
3) Iltutmish
4) Humayun

3. Question: Who was the first Mughal emperor of India?

1) Ibrahim Lodhi
2) Sher Shah
3) Akbar
4) Babar

4. Question: Who built the Taj Mahal in India?

1) Akbar
2) Jahangir
3) Shah Jahan
4) Aurangzeb

5. Question: Who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913?

1) Debendranath Tagore
2) Rabindranath Tagore
3) Mohammad Iqbal
4) Mirza Galib

6. Question: Who was the first royal convert to Buddhism?

1) Chandragupta Maurya
2) Ashoka
3) Ajatashatru
4) Akbar

7. Question: During the reign of which emperor is the poet Kalidasa accepted to have lived?

1) Bimbisara
2) Akbar
3) Chandragupta Vikramaditya
4) Ashoka

8. Question: During the 1857 mutiny who was the queen of Jhansi's trusted general?

1) Hyder Ali
2) Tantia Tope
3) Bhagat Singh
4) Chandrasekhar Azad
 9. Question: The daughter of what general of Alexander's army married Chandragupta Maurya?

1) Seleukos Nikator
2) Diomedes
3) Ptolemaius
4) Clitus

10. Question: What king was the first to use rockets in warfare?

1) Hyder Ali
2) Shah Jahan
3) Jehangir
4) Tipu Sultan

11. Question: The Brihadeeswara temple at Tanjore was built by an emperor of what dynasty?

1) Chola
2) Mughal
3) Chera
4) Pandya

12. Question: What ruler is referred to as the 'Mad Monarch'?

1) Mohammad bin Tughlaq

2) Ashoka
3) Akbar
4) Hyder Ali

13. Question: What theory of ancient Indian history has recently been disproved?

1) Gypsy migration theory

2) Aryan invasion theory
3) Theory of origin of Vedas
4) None of the above

14. Question: What age in Indian History is referred to as the 'Golden Age'?

1) Ancient
2) Maurya
3) Gupta
4) Mughal

15. Question: Everyone knows 'The Taj Mahal'. It was built by the Emperor Shah Jahan, but for
whom?

1) Jahani Mahal
2) Farida Mahal
3) Mumtaz Mahal
4) Toba Begum

16. Question: Under which Indian emperor's reign was the Jama Masjid in Delhi built?

1) Jehangir
2) Shah Jahan
3) Akbar
4) Aurangzeb

17. Question: Which Muslim saint lived in the place where Fatehpur Sikri was built?

1) Ali Malik
2) Salim Chisti Sheikh
3) Jainulabdeen Shah Badar
4) Muhammed Bin Tughlaq

18. Question: Name the Rajput princess whom Akbar married.

1) Noor Jehan
2) Jodha Bai
3) Mumtaz Mahal
4) Jija Bai

19. Question: Late Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia was the Maharani of

1) Gwalior
2) Bhopal
3) Surat
4) Jaipur

20. Question: Which was the largest and richest among the princely states of pre-Independence
period?

1) Mysore
2) Gwalior
3) Jaipur
4) Hyderabad

21. Question: 'Ramtanu' was the original name of

1) Birbal
2) Tansen
3) Kabir
4) Tulsidas

22. Question: Which Indian city was known in ancient times as 'Saket'?

1) Lucknow
2) Faizabad
3) Allahabad
4) Patna

23. Question: The first to start a joint stock company to trade with India were the

1) Portuguese
2) Dutch
3) French
4) Danes

24. Question: Who among the following is said to have witnessed the reigns of eight Delhi Sultans?
1) Ziauddin Barani
2) Shams-i-Siraj Afif
3) Minhaj-us-Siraj
4) Amir Khusro

25. Question: The capital of the kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was

1) Amritsar
2) Patiala
3) Kaputhala
4) Lahore

26. Question: Which Mughal Emperor was deported to Rangoon by the British?

1) Bahadur Shah I
2) Bahadur Shah II
3) Akbar Shah I
4) Shah Jahan

27. Question: Which Indian city was gifted by the Portuguese as dowry to Charles II, the King of
England, when he got married to the sister of the King of Portugal in 1662?

1) Mumbai
2) Pondicherry
3) Panaji
4) Chennai

28. Question: Which of the following musical instruments is of Indian origin?

1) Flute
2) Sitar
3) Violin
4) Tabla

29. Question: Ellora in Aurangabad (Maharashtra) is famous for ancient caves representing
Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. Of these, the largest number pertains to

1) Buddhism
2) Hinduism
3) Jainism
4) Zorastrianism

30. Question: Kautilya and Panani were the products of which one of the following ancient Indian
universities?

1) Nalanda
2) Vikramashila
3) Vallabhi
4) Taxila

31. Question: 'Ramtanu' was the original name of

1) Birbal
2) Tansen
3) Kabir
4) Tulsidas
 32. Question: The mausoleum of Babar is located in

1) Afghanistan
2) Pakistan
3) India
4) Iran

33. Question: Mughal painting reached its zenith under

1) Humayun
2) Akbar
3) Jahangir
4) Shah Jahan

34. Question: Which Mughal Emperor was deported to Rangoon by the British?

1) Bahadur Shah I
2) Bahadur Shah II
3) Akbar Shah I
4) Shah Jahan
List of Mughal Emperors

Reign
Emperor Birth Death Notes
Period

Zahiruddin February 14, December

1526-1530 Founder of the Mughal Dynasty.
Mohammed Babur 1483 26, 1530

Nasiruddin
March 6, January Reign interrupted by Suri Dynasty. Youth and inexperience at ascension led
Mohammed 1530-1540
1508 1556 to his being regarded as a less effective ruler than usurper, Sher Shah Suri.
Humayun

Deposed Humayun and led the Suri Dynasty; introduced tight, effective
Sher Shah Suri 1472 1540-1545 May 1545
administration policies that would later be adopted by Akbar.

2nd and last ruler of the Suri Dynasty, with less control of the empire than
Islam Shah Suri c.1500 1545-1554 1554 his father; claims of sons Sikandar and Adil Shah were eliminated by
Humayun's restoration.

Humayun March 6, January Restored rule was more unified and effective than initial reign of 1530-
1555-1556
(restored) 1508 1556 1540; left unified empire for his son, Akbar.

Jalaluddin November 1556-1605 October 27, Akbar added the most territory to the Empire and is regarded as the most
Mohammed Akbar 14, 1542 1605 illustrious ruler of the Mughal Dynasty; he married Jodhaa, a princess, from
 Rajputana like him. Jodhaa was a Hindu and many opposed at first, but
under him, harmonic Muslim/Hindu relations were at their highest.

Jahangir set the precedent for sons rebelling against their Emperor fathers.
Nuruddin
October Opened first relations with the British East India Company. Reportedly was
Mohammed 1605-1627 1627
1569 an alcoholic and his wife Empress Nur Jahan became the real power behind
Jahangir
the throne and competently ruled in his place.

Shahabuddin Under him, Mughal art and architecture reached their zenith; constructed
January 5,
Mohammed Shah 1627-1658 1666 the Taj Mahal, Jahangir mausoleum and Shalimar Gardens in Lahore.
1592
Jahan Deposed and imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb.

Moinuddin Much less extravagant or tolerant of Hindus and Hinduism than his
Mohammed October 21, March 3, predecessors; brought the empire to its greatest physical extent and imposed
1658-1707
Aurangzeb 1618 1707 Islamic Sharia on the Mughal Empire. Extreme policies left many enemies
Alamgir to undermine the empire after his death.

First of the Mughal emperors to preside over a steady and severe decline in
Bahadur Shah I October 14, February
1707-1712 the empire's control and power. After his reign, the emperor became a
a.k.a Shah Alaam I 1643 1712
progressively insignificant figurehead.

He was merely a puppet in the hands of his Chief Minister Zulfikar Khan.
February
Jahandar Shah 1664 1712-1713 The acts of Jahandar Shah brought down the prestige of the Mughal
1713
Empire.
 In 1717 he granted a firman to the English East India Company granting
Furrukhsiyar 1683 1713-1719 1719 them duty free trading rights for Bengal, and confirmed their position in
India.

Rafi Ul-Darjat Unknown 1719 1719

Rafi Ud-Daulat
Unknown 1719 1719
a.k.a Shah Jahan II

Nikusiyar Unknown 1719 1743

Mohammed
Unknown 1720 1744
Ibrahim

1719-
Mohammed Shah 1702 1720, 1748 Suffered the invasion of Nadir-Shah of Persia in 1739.
1720-1748

Ahmad Shah
1725 1748-54 1754
Bahadur

Alamgir II 1699 1754-1759 1759

 Briefly in
Shah Jahan III Unknown 1770s
1759

Suffered the invasion of Ahmed-Shah-Abdali in 1761; granted the 'Nizami'

Shah Alaam II 1728 1759-1806 1806 of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the BEIC in 1765, formally accepted the
protection of the BEIC in 1803.

Akbar Shah II 1760 1806-1837 1837 titular figurehead under British protection

Bahadur Shah II 1775 1837-1857 1862 Deposed by the British and exiled to Burma following the Great Mutiny.