Freedom Struggle — Movements & Leaders

Why This Chapter Matters

If ancient India gives you two or three questions in a typical IBPS or SBI Clerk paper, medieval and modern India together often give you three or four, because this stretch of history connects directly to freedom movement facts, national symbols, and founding dates that examiners treat as general knowledge every literate Indian should carry. This is also the part of history most linked to current affairs, since anniversaries of 1857, 1885, and 1947 get referenced in the news every year, keeping these facts perpetually "in season" for question-setters.

The single biggest mistake aspirants make here is timeline compression, treating "medieval India" as a vague single blur between ancient times and the British, when really it splits cleanly into two major phases: the Delhi Sultanate, then the Mughal Empire, each with its own founding events and defining rulers. A second common error is misplacing the founding year of the Indian National Congress or the exact year of the 1857 Revolt by a decade or more. This chapter gives you a tight, sequential timeline so those specific numbers stop sliding around in your memory.

1. The Delhi Sultanate

The Delhi Sultanate refers to a series of five dynasties that ruled large parts of north India from Delhi between 1206 and 1526 CE, beginning after the decisive victories of Muhammad of Ghor over Indian rulers, most notably his defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan at the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192. Muhammad of Ghor's trusted general and slave, Qutb-ud-din Aibak, established the first of the five dynasties, the Slave (Mamluk) Dynasty, in 1206, marking the conventional start date of the Sultanate.

The five dynasties, in strict chronological order, were: the Slave (Mamluk) Dynasty (1206–1290), the Khilji Dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq Dynasty (1320–1414), the Sayyid Dynasty (1414–1451), and the Lodi Dynasty (1451–1526).

Qutb-ud-din Aibak began construction of the Qutub Minar in Delhi, one of the tallest brick minarets in the world, though it was completed by his successor Iltutmish. Iltutmish is separately remembered for consolidating Sultanate power and for being among the first to introduce a stable coinage system, the silver tanka and copper jital.

Razia Sultana, Iltutmish's daughter, ruled from 1236 to 1240 and holds the distinction of being the only woman to sit on the throne of Delhi during the entire Sultanate period, a fact tested precisely because it is a single, clean, memorable exception.

The Khilji Dynasty is dominated in exam terms by Alauddin Khilji, remembered for his market control reforms, fixing prices of essential goods to maintain a large standing army affordably, and for repelling repeated Mongol invasions into India.

The Tughlaq Dynasty is remembered chiefly through Muhammad bin Tughlaq, notorious in textbooks for two controversial decisions: shifting his capital from Delhi to Devagiri, renamed Daulatabad, and back again, and introducing token currency (copper coins meant to circulate at the value of silver coins), an experiment that failed due to widespread counterfeiting.

The Lodi Dynasty, the last of the five, ending Sultanate rule, was defeated by Babur at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, when the last Lodi ruler, Ibrahim Lodi, was killed in battle, opening the door for Mughal rule.

Memory hook: remember the five dynasties with the phrase "Smart Kings Take Sudden Leave," each first letter matching Slave, Khilji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi, in exact chronological order.

Exam trap: the Second Battle of Tarain (1192) established Muhammad of Ghor's dominance over Prithviraj Chauhan and set up the Sultanate. The First Battle of Panipat (1526) ended the Sultanate and began Mughal rule. Both are called "Battle of Tarain" and "Battle of Panipat" respectively, and students frequently attach the wrong number or wrong outcome to each. Tarain ends with a sultanate beginning; Panipat (first) ends with a sultanate closing.

2. The Mughal Empire

Babur, a descendant of both Timur and Genghis Khan, founded the Mughal Empire in India after defeating Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526. He ruled only briefly before his death in 1530, succeeded by his son Humayun, whose reign was interrupted for roughly fifteen years by the Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri, who briefly displaced the Mughals entirely and set up his own short-lived but administratively significant rule, remembered for organising an efficient road network, including a version of the Grand Trunk Road, and a sound revenue and currency system that later Mughal rulers largely retained.

Humayun eventually reclaimed the throne shortly before his death, and his young son Akbar ascended in 1556, becoming the Mughal Empire's most celebrated ruler and reigning until 1605. Akbar's reign began with the Second Battle of Panipat (1556), where his regent Bairam Khan defeated the Hindu king Hemu, securing the young emperor's throne.

Akbar is remembered for administrative innovation and religious tolerance relative to his era: he abolished the jizya, a tax on non-Muslims, married Rajput princesses to build political alliances, and promoted a syncretic philosophy called Din-i-Ilahi, though this attracted few actual followers and functioned more as a personal spiritual experiment than a state religion. His finance minister, Raja Todar Mal, is credited with reforming land revenue assessment through the Zabt system, measuring and classifying land to standardise tax collection.

Akbar's son Jahangir ruled from 1605 to 1627, remembered partly for his interest in art and justice, including the legendary golden "chain of justice" that subjects could pull to seek his direct attention, and for hosting English envoy Sir Thomas Roe, sent by King James I, who secured trading concessions for the English East India Company.

Jahangir's son Shah Jahan ruled from 1628 to 1658, remembered above all for commissioning the Taj Mahal at Agra in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, a monument that remains India's most recognisable structure worldwide. Shah Jahan also built the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid in Delhi, shifting the Mughal capital there from Agra.

Aurangzeb, Shah Jahan's son, ruled from 1658 to 1707 after imprisoning his own father and defeating his brothers in a war of succession. Aurangzeb's long reign is remembered for military expansion into the Deccan, but also for reversing several of Akbar's tolerant policies, including reimposing the jizya tax, decisions that historians credit as contributing to growing resistance and unrest in parts of the empire. His death in 1707 is generally treated by exam material as the point after which the Mughal Empire entered irreversible decline, with weak successors unable to hold the empire together against rising regional powers.

Memory hook: the six great Mughals, in order, spell a simple chain: Babur founded it, Humayun nearly lost it, Akbar built it, Jahangir enjoyed it, Shah Jahan beautified it, Aurangzeb overstretched it. B-H-A-J-S-A, six names, six roles, one sentence.

Exam trap: do not confuse the First Battle of Panipat (1526), Babur defeating Ibrahim Lodi, founding the Mughal Empire, with the Second Battle of Panipat (1556), Akbar's forces defeating Hemu, securing an already-founded empire's throne for a young emperor. Same location, eighty years apart, entirely different stakes.

3. European Arrival and the East India Company

Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, became the first European to reach India by sea, landing at Calicut on the Malabar coast in 1498, opening a direct sea route between Europe and India that bypassed the older, more expensive overland trade routes through the Middle East. The Portuguese were followed over the next century by the Dutch, the English, the Danes, and the French, all establishing trading posts along the Indian coastline.

The English East India Company was formed in England on 31 December 1600, granted a royal charter by Queen Elizabeth I to trade with Asia. It established its first Indian trading post at Surat in 1613, followed by other important settlements: Madras (Fort St. George) in 1639, Bombay (received from the Portuguese as part of a royal dowry, then leased to the Company) in 1668, and Calcutta (Fort William), developed from three villages including Kalikata, formally established around 1690 under Job Charnock.

The Company's transformation from a trading entity into a ruling power is marked by two decisive battles. The Battle of Plassey, fought in 1757, saw the Company's forces under Robert Clive defeat Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, through a combination of military action and the betrayal of Siraj's own commander, Mir Jafar, who had been secretly promised the Nawab's throne in exchange for staying out of the fighting. Plassey is the conventional starting point for British political dominance in India, since it gave the Company effective control over the wealthy province of Bengal.

The Battle of Buxar, fought in 1764, is arguably even more consequential, though less frequently the headline answer, because it saw Company forces defeat a combined army of the Nawab of Bengal, the Nawab of Awadh, and the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II himself, all three major regional powers, together, in a single battle. The Company's victory at Buxar led directly to the Treaty of Allahabad (1765), under which Shah Alam II granted the Company the Diwani (the right to collect land revenue) of Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha, formally installing the Company as the real economic ruler of the region while a nominal Nawab remained on paper.

Exam trap: Plassey (1757) established Company dominance over Bengal through political intrigue and a single Nawab's defeat. Buxar (1764) was militarily more significant, defeating three combined powers at once, and led to the Diwani grant in 1765. Students often think Plassey alone gave the Company revenue rights; it did not. That formal right came only after Buxar, via the 1765 Treaty of Allahabad.

Memory hook: think of Plassey as the Company winning the "keys to the house" through a betrayal from inside, and Buxar as the Company then defeating everyone who might come and challenge that ownership, all at once, securing the deed for good.

4. Company Rule and the Revolt of 1857

Following Buxar and the Diwani grant, the Company steadily expanded its territorial control across India through the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, fighting a series of wars against the Marathas, Mysore under Tipu Sultan, and the Sikh kingdom in Punjab, gradually annexing or subordinating most major Indian powers by the 1850s. Governor-General Lord Dalhousie's Doctrine of Lapse, a policy annexing princely states where a ruler died without a natural male heir, accelerated resentment among Indian rulers in the years leading up to 1857.

The Revolt of 1857, also called the First War of Indian Independence by many Indian historians, or the Sepoy Mutiny in older colonial-era accounts, broke out on 10 May 1857 at Meerut, when Indian sepoys of the Bengal Army rebelled, sparked immediately by the introduction of the new Enfield rifle cartridges, widely believed by sepoys to be greased with cow and pig fat, an object of religious offence to both Hindu and Muslim soldiers respectively. This specific grievance was the trigger, but the revolt tapped into much deeper resentment built up over decades of annexation, revenue policy, and cultural interference.

The revolt spread quickly to Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, and Jhansi. Rebels declared the aged Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar as their symbolic overall leader in Delhi, even though real Mughal power had ended decades earlier. Key figures of the revolt included Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, who fought fiercely against Company forces and became one of the most celebrated figures of Indian resistance, Nana Sahib and his lieutenant Tantia Tope in the Kanpur region, and Begum Hazrat Mahal in Lucknow.

The revolt was ultimately suppressed by 1858, and its consequences reshaped how India was governed. The Government of India Act, 1858 transferred power from the East India Company directly to the British Crown, ending Company rule entirely. Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled to Rangoon (present-day Yangon), where he died in 1862, marking the symbolic final end of the Mughal dynasty.

Memory hook: connect the four rebel-leader cities to their leaders with a simple chain: Delhi had a symbolic emperor (Bahadur Shah Zafar), Jhansi had a warrior queen (Rani Lakshmibai), Kanpur had an adopted heir denied his pension (Nana Sahib, with Tantia Tope as his general), and Lucknow had a determined begum (Begum Hazrat Mahal). Four cities, four distinct faces of the same uprising.

Exam trap: the revolt started on 10 May 1857 at Meerut, not Delhi. Delhi is where the rebels marched to and declared their symbolic leader, but the actual outbreak point, tested more often than the "symbolic capital," was Meerut.

5. The Indian National Congress and Early Nationalism

Company and then Crown rule gradually produced an educated Indian middle class exposed to Western political ideas of representation and self-governance, and by the late nineteenth century, organised political activity began forming around demands for a greater Indian voice in governance.

The Indian National Congress (INC) was founded in 1885, with its first session held in Bombay, presided over by Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee, and organised with the involvement of Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British civil servant who played a key organising role in bringing the founding session together, alongside prominent Indian leaders of the period. This 1885 date is one of the most reliably tested single facts in the whole modern India section, precisely because it anchors so much of what follows.

The early INC, from 1885 through roughly 1905, is generally described in exam material as the Moderate phase, led by figures such as Dadabhai Naoroji (remembered also for his "Drain of Wealth" theory, arguing that British policies systematically drained India's wealth to Britain) and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who favoured constitutional methods, petitions, and gradual reform over confrontation.

The partition of Bengal in 1905, ordered by Viceroy Lord Curzon, ostensibly for administrative convenience but widely seen as a deliberate attempt to divide Hindus and Muslims and weaken the nationalist movement in Bengal, triggered the Swadeshi Movement, a boycott of British goods and a push for indigenous industry, and pushed the Congress toward a more assertive Extremist phase, led by figures like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Lala Lajpat Rai, together remembered by the phrase "Lal-Bal-Pal." The Bengal partition was eventually reversed in 1911, but the political energy it unleashed did not reverse with it.

The Muslim League was founded in 1906 at Dhaka, initially advocating for the protection of Muslim political interests within British India's evolving representative institutions, a body whose role would grow far larger in the following decades of the freedom struggle.

6. The Gandhian Era and Major Movements

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915, having already developed and tested his method of Satyagraha (non-violent resistance rooted in truth) against discriminatory laws targeting Indian residents there. His first major movements on Indian soil were more local and targeted: the Champaran Satyagraha (1917) in Bihar, supporting indigo farmers against exploitative planters, and the Kheda Satyagraha (1918) in Gujarat, supporting farmers seeking tax relief during crop failure.

Gandhi's first genuinely nationwide movement was the Non-Cooperation Movement, launched in 1920, calling on Indians to withdraw cooperation from British institutions, boycotting schools, courts, and foreign goods. This movement drew unprecedented mass participation but was abruptly called off by Gandhi in 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident, where a violent mob in Uttar Pradesh set fire to a police station, killing several policemen, an act of violence that Gandhi felt betrayed the movement's core non-violent principle.

The Civil Disobedience Movement began in 1930, launched dramatically through the Dandi March (also called the Salt Satyagraha), where Gandhi walked roughly 240 miles from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi in Gujarat, arriving on 6 April 1930, to make salt himself in symbolic defiance of the British salt tax and monopoly, a tax that hit India's poorest hardest, since salt was an unavoidable daily necessity. This single, deceptively simple act became one of the most powerful symbols of the entire freedom struggle, precisely because it linked a grand political demand to something every Indian household understood.

The Quit India Movement was launched on 8 August 1942, following the failure of the Cripps Mission (sent by Britain to negotiate wartime Indian cooperation in exchange for future self-government promises, which Congress rejected as inadequate). Gandhi's call of "Do or Die" at the launch of this movement marked the most direct and urgent demand yet for complete British withdrawal, and it triggered mass arrests of nearly the entire senior Congress leadership within hours, leaving the movement to be sustained largely by younger and more local leadership across the country.

Memory hook: three mass movements, three single-word triggers to anchor them: Non-Cooperation (1920) ended over violence (Chauri Chaura). Civil Disobedience (1930) began over salt (Dandi March). Quit India (1942) began over frustration with a failed negotiation (Cripps Mission rejection). Violence ended one, salt began another, frustration began the last.

Exam trap: do not confuse the Champaran and Kheda Satyagrahas, Gandhi's first, smaller, regional actions in 1917 and 1918, with the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920, his first genuinely all-India mass movement. Exam questions asking for Gandhi's "first movement in India" want Champaran, since it came first chronologically; questions asking for his "first mass movement" or "first all-India movement" want Non-Cooperation.

7. Independence and Partition, 1947

By the mid-1940s, exhausted by the Second World War and facing an unsustainable financial and political cost of holding onto India, Britain moved toward a final settlement. The Cabinet Mission Plan (1946) attempted to keep a united India through a federal structure but ultimately failed to secure agreement between the Congress and the Muslim League, whose demand for a separate state of Pakistan, formalised through the Lahore Resolution of 1940, had by now hardened into the central political fact of the negotiations.

Lord Mountbatten, appointed as the last Viceroy of India in early 1947, accelerated the transfer of power timeline and announced what became known as the Mountbatten Plan, proposing partition of British India into two independent dominions.

The Indian Independence Act, 1947, passed by the British Parliament, formally created two independent dominions: India and Pakistan, both attaining independence at midnight between 14 and 15 August 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru became independent India's first Prime Minister, delivering his famous "Tryst with Destiny" speech to mark the moment, while Lord Mountbatten served briefly as independent India's first Governor-General before C. Rajagopalachari became the first and only Indian to hold that post, shortly before India adopted its own Constitution and became a republic in 1950.

Partition triggered one of the largest and most violent mass migrations in human history, as millions of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs crossed the new border in both directions, accompanied by widespread communal violence. Mahatma Gandhi himself was assassinated on 30 January 1948, by Nathuram Godse, just months after independence, a loss that struck the new nation while it was still absorbing the trauma of Partition.

Exam trap: Pakistan and India both became independent on 14–15 August 1947, but Pakistan's independence day is formally marked as 14 August and India's as 15 August, a distinction that occasionally appears in exam questions asking specifically for India's date rather than the shared transfer-of-power moment.

Quick Revision — One-Line Facts

• The Delhi Sultanate ran from 1206 to 1526, comprising five dynasties: Slave, Khilji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi.
• Qutb-ud-din Aibak founded the Slave Dynasty in 1206 and began the Qutub Minar.
• Razia Sultana was the only woman ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, reigning 1236–1240.
• Alauddin Khilji is known for market price control reforms and repelling Mongol invasions.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq shifted his capital to Daulatabad and introduced failed token currency.
• The First Battle of Panipat (1526) ended the Sultanate; Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi, founding the Mughal Empire.
• The Second Battle of Panipat (1556) saw Akbar's forces defeat Hemu, securing Akbar's throne.
• Sher Shah Suri briefly interrupted Mughal rule and built an efficient road and revenue system.
• Akbar abolished the jizya tax and promoted Din-i-Ilahi; his revenue reforms came via Raja Todar Mal.
• Shah Jahan commissioned the Taj Mahal in memory of Mumtaz Mahal.
• Aurangzeb, the last major Mughal emperor, reimposed the jizya and died in 1707.
• Vasco da Gama reached Calicut by sea in 1498, opening the direct India-Europe sea route.
• The English East India Company was formed on 31 December 1600.
• The Battle of Plassey (1757) gave the Company control over Bengal, defeating Siraj-ud-Daulah.
• The Battle of Buxar (1764) defeated three combined powers, leading to the Diwani grant of 1765.
• The Revolt of 1857 began on 10 May 1857 at Meerut, triggered by greased Enfield cartridges.
• Bahadur Shah Zafar was declared the symbolic leader of the 1857 revolt in Delhi.
• The Government of India Act, 1858 transferred rule from the Company to the British Crown.
• The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, first session in Bombay.
• The Moderate phase (Naoroji, Gokhale) preceded the Extremist phase (Lal-Bal-Pal) after the 1905 Bengal partition.
• The Muslim League was founded in 1906 at Dhaka.
• Gandhi's first movements in India were Champaran (1917) and Kheda (1918).
• The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920) was called off in 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident.
• The Dandi March (1930) launched the Civil Disobedience Movement, ending at Dandi on 6 April 1930.
• The Quit India Movement began on 8 August 1942, with Gandhi's call of "Do or Die."
• The Cripps Mission (1942) failed to secure Congress agreement before Quit India was launched.
• India and Pakistan became independent at midnight between 14 and 15 August 1947.
• Jawaharlal Nehru became independent India's first Prime Minister.
• Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948 by Nathuram Godse.
• C. Rajagopalachari was independent India's only Indian Governor-General.

Memory Tables

Table 1: The Six Great Mughal Emperors

Emperor	Approx. Reign	Best Remembered For
Babur	1526–1530	Founded the empire, First Battle of Panipat
Humayun	1530–1556 (interrupted)	Lost throne to Sher Shah Suri, later regained it
Akbar	1556–1605	Administrative reform, religious tolerance, Din-i-Ilahi
Jahangir	1605–1627	Chain of justice, hosted Sir Thomas Roe
Shah Jahan	1628–1658	Built the Taj Mahal, Red Fort
Aurangzeb	1658–1707	Deccan expansion, reimposed jizya, empire's peak then decline

Table 2: Turning-Point Battles

Battle	Year	Outcome
Second Battle of Tarain	1192	Muhammad of Ghor defeats Prithviraj Chauhan, sets up Sultanate
First Battle of Panipat	1526	Babur defeats Ibrahim Lodi, founds Mughal Empire
Second Battle of Panipat	1556	Akbar's forces defeat Hemu, secures Akbar's throne
Battle of Plassey	1757	Clive defeats Siraj-ud-Daulah, Company controls Bengal
Battle of Buxar	1764	Company defeats three combined powers, leads to Diwani grant

Table 3: Gandhi's Major Movements

Movement	Year	Trigger / End Point
Champaran Satyagraha	1917	First movement in India, indigo farmers in Bihar
Kheda Satyagraha	1918	Tax relief for Gujarat farmers
Non-Cooperation Movement	1920–22	Called off after Chauri Chaura violence
Civil Disobedience Movement	1930	Launched via the Dandi Salt March
Quit India Movement	1942	Launched after Cripps Mission failure, "Do or Die"

Table 4: Path to Independence — Key Milestones

Event	Year
Formation of Indian National Congress	1885
Formation of Muslim League	1906
Lahore Resolution (demand for Pakistan)	1940
Quit India Movement	1942
Cabinet Mission Plan	1946
Indian Independence Act / Partition	1947
Gandhi's assassination	1948

Practice MCQs

Q1. Which dynasty was the first of the Delhi Sultanate, founded by Qutb-ud-din Aibak in 1206? (a) Khilji Dynasty (b) Tughlaq Dynasty (c) Slave (Mamluk) Dynasty (d) Lodi Dynasty

Q2. Who was the only woman ruler of the Delhi Sultanate? (a) Chand Bibi (b) Razia Sultana (c) Nur Jahan (d) Rani Durgavati

Q3. The First Battle of Panipat (1526), which founded the Mughal Empire, was fought between Babur and: (a) Sher Shah Suri (b) Hemu (c) Ibrahim Lodi (d) Prithviraj Chauhan

Q4. Which Mughal emperor is credited with abolishing the jizya tax and promoting Din-i-Ilahi? (a) Babur (b) Jahangir (c) Akbar (d) Aurangzeb

Q5. Who commissioned the construction of the Taj Mahal? (a) Akbar (b) Jahangir (c) Shah Jahan (d) Aurangzeb

Q6. Vasco da Gama landed at which Indian port in 1498, opening the sea route from Europe? (a) Surat (b) Calicut (c) Goa (d) Cochin

Q7. The Battle of Plassey (1757) was fought between Robert Clive's forces and which Nawab of Bengal? (a) Mir Jafar (b) Siraj-ud-Daulah (c) Shah Alam II (d) Alivardi Khan

Q8. The Treaty of Allahabad (1765), granting the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha to the East India Company, followed which battle? (a) Battle of Plassey (b) Battle of Buxar (c) First Battle of Panipat (d) Battle of Wandiwash

Q9. The Revolt of 1857 broke out first at which location? (a) Delhi (b) Lucknow (c) Meerut (d) Jhansi

Q10. Which act transferred control of India from the East India Company to the British Crown? (a) Regulating Act, 1773 (b) Pitt's India Act, 1784 (c) Government of India Act, 1858 (d) Indian Councils Act, 1861

Q11. In which year and city was the Indian National Congress founded? (a) 1885, Bombay (b) 1857, Delhi (c) 1906, Dhaka (d) 1905, Calcutta

Q12. The trio of "Lal-Bal-Pal," associated with the Extremist phase of the Congress, rose to prominence after which event? (a) Formation of the Muslim League (b) Partition of Bengal, 1905 (c) Jallianwala Bagh massacre (d) Champaran Satyagraha

Q13. Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement was called off in 1922 following which incident? (a) Jallianwala Bagh massacre (b) Chauri Chaura incident (c) Salt March (d) Quit India arrests

Q14. The Dandi March of 1930, which launched the Civil Disobedience Movement, was a protest against: (a) The Rowlatt Act (b) The salt tax (c) The partition of Bengal (d) The Cripps Mission

Q15. India and Pakistan attained independence at midnight between which two dates in 1947? (a) 26–27 January (b) 2–3 June (c) 14–15 August (d) 15–16 August

Answer Key

Q	Answer	Reason
1	(c) Slave (Mamluk) Dynasty	Qutb-ud-din Aibak founded this first Sultanate dynasty in 1206, right after Muhammad of Ghor's conquests.
2	(b) Razia Sultana	She remains the sole woman to have ruled from the throne of Delhi during the entire Sultanate period, 1236-1240.
3	(c) Ibrahim Lodi	Babur's defeat of the last Lodi ruler at the First Battle of Panipat founded Mughal rule in 1526.
4	(c) Akbar	Akbar's abolition of jizya and his Din-i-Ilahi philosophy reflect his relatively tolerant, integrative approach to rule.
5	(c) Shah Jahan	Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal at Agra as a memorial to his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
6	(b) Calicut	Vasco da Gama's 1498 landing at Calicut opened the first direct sea route between Europe and India.
7	(b) Siraj-ud-Daulah	Plassey saw Clive defeat Siraj-ud-Daulah, aided by the betrayal of his commander Mir Jafar.
8	(b) Battle of Buxar	The 1765 Diwani grant followed Buxar (1764), not Plassey, since Buxar defeated the Mughal emperor himself.
9	(c) Meerut	The revolt's actual outbreak was at Meerut on 10 May 1857; Delhi was where rebels later declared a symbolic leader.
10	(c) Government of India Act, 1858	This act ended Company rule entirely and placed India directly under the British Crown after the 1857 revolt.
11	(a) 1885, Bombay	The INC's founding session was held in Bombay in 1885, a foundational date for the entire nationalist movement.
12	(b) Partition of Bengal, 1905	Curzon's 1905 partition triggered the Swadeshi Movement and pushed Congress toward its Extremist phase.
13	(b) Chauri Chaura incident	Violence at Chauri Chaura led Gandhi to call off Non-Cooperation, since it broke his non-violence principle.
14	(b) The salt tax	The Dandi March was a symbolic act of making salt in defiance of the British salt tax and monopoly.
15	(c) 14–15 August	Independence for both India and Pakistan came at the midnight boundary between these two dates in August 1947.