An innovative quiz for a secular education program
Do you want to know?
What is our first impression when we think of the past? The rulers, their lives, and their actions? Do we see them as Hindu or Muslim, Sikh or Christian? Where have we got this impression of history from? Do we believe that all past rulers ruled and governed as either Christian, Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh first and rulers or kings thereafter?
If this image of the past and our history is not quite the truth, why not look at history and find out for ourselves what our kings, queens, saints, and poets actually did or said about each other?
This could be quite a lot of fun. Let’s find out the real answers for ourselves, from the history book in the library or at home, and catch out adults for giving us the wrong answers. And remember to share with us the truths and falsehoods that you find.
1. Who were the Chief Commanders in Shivaji's Army?
Daulat Khan and Siddi Misri, both Muslims.
2. Who was Shivaji's most trusted foreign secretary?
Mulla Haider, also a Muslim.
3. What was the name of one of Shivaji's most trusted servants who was always close to him and helped him to escape from Agra ?
Madani Mahtar, also a Muslim.
4. What did Shivaji build right in front of his palace at Raigad next to the Jagadishver Temple where he went for daily worship ?
A Special mosque for his Muslim subjects to worship.
5. Who conferred a jagir and cash gift on the Temple Someshwar Nath Mahadev in the Allahabad Municipality ?
Aurangzeb, with the words that the jagir was being transterred for the pooja and bhog of the deity.
6. Who conferred grants to the Mahakeshwara Temples in Ujjain,he Balaji Temple in Chitrakoot , the Umanand Temple in Guwahati and the Jain Temple of Shatrunjaya and other Gurudwaras scattered over Northern India ?
Aurangzeb, through farmans issued form 1659 A.D to 1091 A.D.
7. What happened when Tanashah, the ruler of Golconda, after collecting revenues of the state, did not pay his dues to Delhi that accumulated into crores and buried this treasure and erected the Jama Masjid over it ?
Aurangzeb ordedred the demolition of the mosgue, seized the treasure and utilised it for the benefit of the people.
8. Name one important Muslim ruler from the South who is known to have made grants to several temples ?
Tipu Sultan.
9. Who was the Muslim ruler of Ayodhya who built sevral temples in Ayodhya and repaired others there ?
The Diwan of the Nawab of Safdarjung
10. What happened when four mosques at Mysore were damaged during the Vijaynagar dynasty ?
When Emperor Devarajya II got knowledge of the excesses committed by his governor, they ordered compensation to the individual Muslims and immediately repaired the mosques.
11.Name the Mughal Emperor who was sent a raakhee by a Rajput queen since she his protection?
Emperor Humayun
12. Name the Mughal Emperor who laid out the grounds for a "new" religion that took the best for all Indian religions ?
Emperor Akbar
13. Name the Mughal Emperor who built the Taj Mahal , one of the seven wonders of the world ?
Emperor Shah Jehan
14. Who was the king of the sixteenth century from the deccan who not merely established a very good libery but had appointed a Sanskrit scholar, Vaman Pandit , as chief librarian ?
Adil Shah
15. Who was another ruler from the Deccan who in his compositions (songs) often pays respects to the Hindu Goddess of Learning, Saraswati ?
Ibrahim Adil Shah
16. What did King Jayasimha of the Solanki dynasty who ruled Gujarat in the first half of the 12th century do when news was brought to him of the destruction of a Mosque in Cambay?
He not only punished the culprits severely but gave 2000 silver coins to the Muslims of Cambay to rebuild the Mosque.
17. Who wrote the following words, The Hindus have always been considered by all other people as the custodians of learning and wisdom?
An Arab historian, Qazi Said.
18. Who wrote,The Hindus are superior to all other nations in intelligence and thoughtfulness.They are more exact in Astronomy and Astrology than any other people.The Brahma Sidhanta is a good proof of their intellectual powers, by this book the Greeks and the Persians have also profited?
Arab writer Yaquibi in year 895 A.D.
19. Before one can approach the Lord Aiyappa at the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, one of the most important pilgrimages in South India, what is the first act of worship that a has to perform?
Visiting the shrine of Vavar Sama, a Muslim saint where a Muslim priest applies bhibhuti on the forehead of pilgrims destined for Sabarimala.
20. Who was the general who led Maharana Pratap, the Rajput king of Chittor's troops to battle with Emperor Akbar at Haldighatti?
Hakim Khan Sur, a Muslim general.
21. Who was the commander-in-chief of Akbar's army?
Raja Mansingh, Rajput overlord of Jaipur.
22. Who led Aurangzeb's campaign against Shivaji?
Mirza Raja Jaisingh, a Hindu overlord.
23. Name the only Indian ruler who has died fighting the British?
Tipu Sultan.
24. Name the only Indian ruler who created the institution of Devauthpadanayaka (an officer for the uprooting of Gods/temples).
King Harshadev of Kashmir.
25. In which classical Indian text is the function of the Devauthpadanayaka described?
Kalhana’s Rajataringini.
26. Who are the Sahivite poetess and the Sufi saint who are part of the folklore of Kashmir?
Laleshwari and Rishi Nuruddin.
27. Who is the keeper of the Baba Haji Malang dargah in Thane district?
A Brahmin.
28. Who is the much-revered Sufi saint from the Punjab, considered to be the founder of Punjabi poetry, greatly revered by the Sikhs and whose verses are quoted in the Adi Granth Sahib along with the verses of other Indian poets?
Baba Farid buried in Pak Pattan in Punjab (now in Pakistan).
29. How many Muslims of pre-independent India voted for the partition of India?
Less than 4 per cent.
30. What about the remaining 96 per cent?
They were not allowed to vote.
31. What was the name of the fiery freedom fighter fondly known as Sarahadi Gandhi (Frontier Gandhi)?
Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (of the North West Frontier Province, he was staunchly against partition and felt betrayed by congress leaders who agreed to the division of the country.)
32. Name the only Indian ruler who had created the institution of Devauthpadanayaka (an office for the uprooting of Gods/temples).
King Harshadev of Kashmir.
33. Which medieval king who plundered many historical sites had an army that was half Hindu and who also plundered the town of Multan, ruled by a Muslim and whose population was almost entirely Muslim?
Mahmud Ghazni.
34. Why is the langar (community eating place) at the dargah of the Khwaja Moinuddin Christi totally vegetarian?
A large proportion of the worshippers are those Hindus that do not eat non-vegetarian food.
35. What did the elder brother of frontier Gandhi, Khansaheb say when repeatedly asked questions from others about his daughter marrying a Hindu?
Marriage is a matter of Love, a union of hearts don’t bring religion into it.
36. Who was the Dogra (Hindu) ruler of Jammu and Kashmir who wanted to join Pakistan at the time of Independence in August 1947?
Raja Hari Singh.
37. Who is the person fondly known as the Chief Architect of the Indian Constitution?
Dr. B R Ambedkar
38. In which year was untouchability abolished in India?
1950 (with the adoption of the Indian Constitution)
39. Which was the first school for Untouchables in India?
The one set up by Savitribai and Jyotiba Phule along with Sagunbai in Maharwada, Pune in 1847.
39.a. Which was the first Girls School set up in India?
The one set up by Savitribai and Jyotiba Phule in Bhidewada, Pune.on 01.01.1848.
39.b. Who was one of the closest associates of Savitribai and Jyotiba Phule?
Fatima Shaikh and her brother Usman Shaikh. Fatima Shaikh was Teacher in the Bhidewada School.
39.c. Who was a close associate of Savitribai and Jyotiba Phule in their Mission to spread Quality Education Among All?
Usman Shaikh who helped set up the thirds such school in Usman Shaikhwada in 1849.
39.d. Which is the Alternate to Teacher's Day celebrated among many Indian Schools?
January 3 the birth day of Savitribai Phule the Pioneer of Girls Education in India.
40. What was the name of the ancestral village of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar?
Ambavade(a small town in Ratnagri district, Maharashtra)
41. When was the great leader of the untouchables, Dr. BR Ambedkar born - the day celebrated to date all over India as Ambedkar Jayanti?
April 14, 1891
42. Where did Bhimrao Ambedkar derive his name - Ambedkar ?
(Family name Sakpal) Brahmin teacher in high school, changed surname from Ambavadekar(village name) to Ambedkar in school records.
43. In which school in Bombay did Dr. BR Ambedkar study and do his Matriculation in 1907 from?
Elphinstone High School, Bombay.
44. What was one of the unkindest cuts dealt by Hindu custom on the Shudras and Atishudras,who formed 70 per cent of all Hindus,in the matter of learning Hindu scriptures?
Disallowed from studying Sanskrit as a second language and not permitted any study of the Vedas.
45. Who was the first untouchable leader from Maharashtra who had the unique distinction of convening the first conference of untouchables in India?
Shivram Janba Kamble
46. Who were the two Maharashtrian social reformers behind the formation of the Depressed Classes Mission in India in 1906?
(Karamveer)VR Shinde and Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandakar.
47. What is the name of the college founded by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in Bombay?
Siddarth College
48. What was the piece of legislation enacted by the British in 1910 that was a direct attempt at curbing freedom?
The Indian Press Act.
49. On which date did Dr. Ambedkar formally sign an Agreement before the Deputy Minister of Education, Baroda State that gave him the unique distinction as being an untouchable boy in the United States of America?
June 4, 1913
50. When did Dr. Ambedkar, after years of toil,obtain his M.A. Degree from the U.S.A. for his thesis,Ancient Indian Customs?
1915
51. What was the title of and significant paper read by Dr. Ambedkar before the Anthropology seminar of Dr. Goldenweiser in May 1916?
Castes in India, Their Mechanisms, Genesis and Development’
52. Which was the University from which Dr. BR Ambedkar was awarded a doctorate in philosophy in June 1916?
Columbia University. (Later published as a book, ‘The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India’. This famous book, with valuable chapters on the budget, became a companion for the members of the Indian Legislative Council and the Central Assembly).
53. When was the First All-India Depressed Classes Conference in Bombay held?
March 23 and 24, 1918 (at the conclusion an All-India Anti-Untouchability manifesto was signed by all prominent leaders committing themselves against observing untouchability in their everyday affairs; Tilak did not sign).
54. What was the name of the fortnightly newspaper begun by Dr. Ambedkar on January 31, 1920?
Mook Nayak ( Leader of the Dumb. Ambedkar secured financial help to start it from the Maharaja of Kolhapuri; Kesari’ Tilak’s paper refused to announce its publication even through a paid advertisement.)
55. Which was the first British legislation to recognise the existence of the Depressed Classes?
The Act of 1919. (Among the 154 non-official members nominated by the Governor-General to the Central Legislative Assembly, one was the representative of the Depressed; likewise proportional in the Provincial Legislatures).
56. Who was the first president of the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha and central organisation formed by Dr. Ambedkar for the uplift of the untouchables?
(Sir) Chimanlal Harilal Setalvad.
57. On which date was the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha, an organisation for the uplift of the untouchables founded by Dr. Ambedkar?
July 20, 1924
58. Which famous leader raised the slogan, Tell the slave he is a slave and he will revolt?
Dr. B R Ambedkar
59. Who was the untouchable who in March 1926 entered a Hindu temple in Madras and was arrested and convicted on charges of defiling the Hindu temple?
Murgesan
60. Early on his legal career, Ambedkar won a significant case for the defence, being prosecuted for writing a pamphlet that Brahmins had ruined India. When did this happen?
October 1926 (leaders who were prosecuted were K.B. Bagde, Keshavrao Tedhe and Dinkarrao Javalkar)
61. When was Dr. Ambedkar first nominated as a representative of the Bombay Provincial Council?
January 1927
62. What, in a nutshell, is the significance of the famous SK Bole resolution, moved by this great social reformer and adopted by the Bombay Legislative Council on August 4, 1923?
For the first time, 2 legislative bodies recommended that the Untouchable classes be allowed to use all schools, courts, offices, dispensaries, public watering places, wells and dharmashalas built and maintained by public funds, or managed by Govt.-appointed bodies
63. When did the historic march of 10,000 untouchables led by Ambedkar to sip water from the 'historic' Chowdar Sink in Mahad district of Maharashtra take place?
March 20, 1927 (Two hours after the event, caste Hindus began spreading rumours that the untouchables were also planning to enter the Temple of Veereshwar – that therefore their religion and God would be polluted. In ‘fury’ therefore they dashed down the pandal of the two day Depressed Class Conference, knocked down their food and utensils. All over the streets, assaults were committed on 2 members of the Mahar men and women.)
64. When did the Mahad Municipality in Maharashtra revoke its resolution of 1924 declaring the Chowdar Tank open to the Depressed Classes?
August 4, 1927
65. "Truly Speaking," a famous leader of India's freedom struggle concluded in a speech, "the law should be non-violence wherever possible; violence wherever necessary " Who was the speaker?
Dr. B R Ambedkar (contest: of relaunching of Satyagraha to drink water from the Chowdar Tank, Mahad after violent attacks by caste Hindus when Untouchables has drunk water from it in March 1927.
66. When was the first conference of the Temple Entry movement, held at the India Bhavan Theatre, Amtaoti in Maharashtra?
November 13, 1927
67. When was the red-letter day in the annals of India that Ambedkar burnt the 'Manusmriti',condemning the scripture as a symbol of inequality, cruelty and injustice for 10 per cent of the Hindus (Untouchables)?
December 25, 1927
68. Under whose chairmanship did the All Parties Conference appoint a Committee to draft a Swaraj Constitution of India?
(Pandit) Motilal Nehru
69. Ten days before the well-known Dandi march of Gandhi, a less publicised but equally significant Satyagraha that went on for a month, began in Maharashtra. What was this?
Launching of the Temple Entry Movement, at the Kalaram Temple in Nasik
70. When did the report of the Simon Commission come out?
May 1930
71. In which year did Ambedkar attend for the first time the Round Table Conference in London as a representative of the Depressed Classes?
1930
72. When did the Father of India's Constitution, first prepare a Declaration of Fundamental Rights safeguarding the cultural, religious and economic rights of the Depressed Classes?
In 1930, before the Minorities Sub-Committee of the Round Table Conference in London. (Title: A Scheme of Political Safeguards for the Protection of the Depressed Classes in the Future Constitution of a self-governing India)
73. On which date did the second session of the Round Table Conference commence in London?
September 7, 1931
74. Why did an 8,000 strong crowd of members from the Depressed Classes greet Gandhi with a black flag demonstrating on December 28, 1931 so he returned from the Round Table conference?
Due to Gandhi’s hostility to their demands of special reservations or special electorates for any minorities excepting religious ones
75. On which date Kelappan begin his fast unto death to demand that the doors of the Temple at Guruvayur, Malabar, be thrown open to Untouchables?
September 21, 1932
76. What was the official name of the commonly known Simon Commission, appointed to revise the Act of 1919?
Indian Statutory Commission
77. In which forum did Ambedkar pen these words, 'The out-caste is a by- product of the caste system. There will be outcastes as long as there are castes. Nothing can emancipate the outcaste except the destruction of the caste system. Nothing can help the Hindus and ensure their survival in the coming struggle except the purging of Hindu faith of this odious and vicious dogma."
Inaugural issue of the ‘Harijan’ started by Gandhi on February 11, 1933.
78. When did Ranga Iyer introduce his Temple Entry Bill that was pushed by lack of support from the Congress members and lack of enthusiasm from the British?
March 24,1933
79. What is the name given to Ambedkar's house built for himself, his family and books at Dadar in Bombay?
Rajagriha
80. On which date did Ambedkar first exhort untouchables publicly, 'to sever their connections with Hinduism and seek solace and self- respect in another religion?
October 13, 1935 (at the Yeola Conference near Nasik)
81. Who was the Congress President in 1935 who strongly deplored Ambedkar's stand to urge untouchables to convert to another religion?
Dr. Rajendra Prasad
82. What was the title of a famous pamphlet written by Ambedkar in 1936, proposed to be delivered at the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal in Amritsar?
‘Annihilation of Caste’
83. What was the name of the political party founded by Ambedkar in August 1936?
Independent Labour Party
84. Who was the man behind the proclamation in Travancore State, throwing open 1,600 state-controlled temples to the Depressed Classes in late 1936?
(Sir) C.P. Ramaswami Iyer
85. On which date did the elections to the Provincial Assemblies after the enactment of the Government of India Act of 1935, take place?
February 17, 1937
86. Who was the prominent labour leader apart from Ambedkar,who strongly opposed the Industrial Disputes Bill, 1938 as it gravely restricted the worker's right to strike?
Jamnadas Mehta
87. On which date did the historic workers' strike - to protest against the Industrial Disputes Bill of 1938 in Bombay - take place?
November 7, 1938