Seek Under Porus

Finals of the KQA History Quiz, 4th Edition

MONUMENTSRound I

Written Round• 7 questions, all connected to

monuments• Relative scoring.– If 7 teams get a question wrong, +15

for the team that gets it.– If 5 or 6 teams get it wrong, then +10.– If 4 or fewer teams get it wrong, then

+5.– For two-part questions, it’s +7.5, +5,

+2.5 for each part .

1• A memorial in

Jersey City, New Jersey, USA.

• Which 1940 event from another part of the world is commemorated in this memorial by Andrzej Pityski?

2.• The replica commemorates a structure

immortalized by an 1836 incident. The heroic incident quickly became a rallying cry for revolution. Which event, made famous by many movies and books about the same ?

3.Memorial honoring members of a particular group. What group ?

4.

• The “Monument to the discoveries” in Lisbon celebrates the Portuguese “Age of Discovery” during the 15th and 16th centuries. The monument includes sculptures of 33 individuals who played a key role in the age of discovery. There are two ramps of 16 statues each, and a central figure at the point where the two ramps meet. Name this central figure who heads others like Vasco Da Gama, Cabral and Magellan. (see next slide..)

5.

• In which Egyptian town would you see this monument ?

6.• The Manzanar site, where the monument shown is

located, is probably the most famous of the ten such locations in the United States. What purpose did these sites serve ?

7• The picture shows the storming of a famous palace.

What monument commemorates the foreign guards who died defending the members of the palace ?

• Exchange Papers!

1• A memorial in

Jersey City, New Jersey, USA.

• Which 1940 event from another part of the world is commemorated in this memorial by Andrzej Pityski?

• Answer…

• Katyn massacre.

2.• The replica commemorates a structure

immortalized by an 1836 incident. The heroic incident quickly became a rallying cry for revolution. Which event, made famous by many movies and books about the same ?

• Answer…

• Battle of the Alamo. • The Alamo Mission in Texas was overrun by

Mexican forces. The siege and the battle inspired many Texans to join the revolution against Mexico.

3. Memorial honoring members of a particular group. What group ?

• Answer…

The Dambusters.

4.

• The “Monument to the discoveries” in Lisbon celebrates the Portuguese “Age of Discovery” during the 15th and 16th centuries. The monument includes sculptures of 33 individuals who played a key role in the age of discovery. There are two ramps of 16 statues each, and a central figure at the point where the two ramps meet. Name this central figure who heads others like Vasco Da Gama, Cabral and Magellan. (see next slide..)

• Answer…

• Henry the Navigator.

5.

• In which Egyptian town would you see this monument ?

• Answer…

• Rosetta/Rashid, Egypt.

6.• The Manzanar site, where the monument shown is

located, is probably the most famous of the ten such locations in the United States. What purpose did these sites serve ?

• Answer…

• Internment camps for Japanese Americans during WWII.

7• The picture shows the storming of a famous palace.

What monument commemorates the foreign guards who died defending the members of the palace ?

• Answer…

• The Lion of Lucerne

• The memorial pays tribute to the fallen Swiss guards who died defending the Tuileries Palace, from the storming during the French Revolution.

Round II Clockwise

16 + 4 questi0ns+10 /-5 on pounce

1 Some time after March 4th 1966,

Nichols Roy, an MLA of ASSAM went to a then district in the state. He went there to see the aftermath of an event denied by the PMO. He wanted to send these things <pic> to Delhi and ask the Prime Minister, 'How do you cook this ration? If these are supplies, please tell us how you cook these things'?“ What event are we talking about?

• Answer follows…..

• These were the shells dropped by the IAF in Aizwal 1966 to take back the city from Mizo National Front

2 During the 7th and 8th centuries the Islamic armies

were threatening to conquer Europe. During this time Umayyads fought a series of wars with a state which was the first feudal state in Eastern Europe. They acted as buffer state between Christians and Muslims and helped to block the westward spread of Islam. Later, they converted en masse to Judaism. To this day Caspian Sea is known after them in many Middle Eastern languages. In 1976, Arthur Koestler controversially claimed in his book "The Thirteenth Tribe" that Ashkenazi Jews are not descended from the Israelites of antiquity but from this people. Who?

• Answer

• Khazars

3• In 1509 a Portuguese fleet attacked and

defeated the combined naval forces of the Muslim ruler of Gujarat, the Zamorin of Calicut with support of Ottomans and the Mameluke Sultan of Egypt, the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Ragusa.Commenting on the battle after winning it, Portuguese viceroy Francisco de Almeida said: "As long as you may be powerful at sea, you will hold India as yours; and if you do not possess this power, little will avail you a fortress on the shore". How do we know this decisive engagement?

• Answer

• Battle of Diu

4

Their Ottoman Sunni rivals called them red heads. These Shi'as warriors believed in the divinity of their leaders and would go into battle without armor as an expression of faith in divine protection. They played a big role in the foundation of the Safavid dynasty of Iran and accompanied Humayun from Iran to reconquer his empire from the Suri Dynasty. Thereafter these tribes can be found in sub-continent and one of their descendents went on to become a dictator. Name this community and the dictator. <pic>

• The answer

• Qizilbash and  Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan  Qizilbash of Pakistan.

5 The original was destroyed by King

Pusyamitra in the 2nd century BC and the replacement was destroyed by King Shasanka at the beginning of the 7th century AD. The one seen at the site was nurtured by the British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham after the previous one had died of old age a few years before. What?

• The answer

• The Mahabodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya

6• Kuldip Singh Brar is a retired Indian

Army officer, who commanded the highly controversial Operation Blue Star. He compared this operation to an earlier military action conducted under similar circumstances when hundreds of pilgrims were taken hostage. The ensuing battles for control of the site resulted in the death of hundreds of people. What was he referring to?

The Answer is….

• Grand Mosque Seizure on November 20 1979

7 It literally means "a knot" and this stems

from the practice of binding inscribed palm leaves using a length of thread held by knots. This script was widely used to write Sanskrit in the Tamil-speaking parts of South Asia until the 19th century. Scholars believe that it was the script used when the Vedas were first put into writing around the 5th century CE. Malayalam script is a direct descendent of this script and scripts such as Mon, Lao, Javanese, Khmer and Thai are either direct or indirect derivations. What?

• The answer

• Grantha Script

8

Around the time when Akbar was formulating his syncretic, regi-centric creed Din Ilahi he read the khutbah at Jama Masjid, on 26th June 1579, a Friday which also happened to the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad. Even though there was nothing unusual about an Emperor reading the khutbah, the hardliner cleric community saw this as an encroachment into their hallowed territory and the ambiguous phrase used by the Emperor to end his speech created havoc among them. Which common enough Arabic invocation did Akbar use?

The answer is….

• Allahu Akbar! The phrase means God is Great. Since akbar is Arabic for great, the cleric saw this as Akbar’s self proclamation as the God

9 This name appears in various

medieval mystery plays, in which this character is sometimes portrayed as a generic "pagan" god worshipped by villains such as Herod and the Pharaoh of the Exodus. This character originates from the fact that medieval Europeans believed that this person was the God rather than the prophet. The name was used by Robert Burns and G.K. Chesterton in their works but more famously/notoriously by somebody else. What name? Be specific

The Answer is….

Mahound, the term which hounds Salman Rushdie.

10 Muhammad Hamidullah is a sort of Dr.

Ambedkar for Pakistan as he helped them draft their constitution. He is also remembered for his French translation of Quran. Even though he lived in Paris for a long time he never took the French citizenship. French classified him as a refugee and he remained the last citizen of his erstwhile state which was annexed when he and he colleagues had gone to the UN. Where was he from?

• The answer

• Hyderabad

11 He called it "the interpretation of a friendly

mleccha” and was slightly embarrassed about it's florid title. He used to blame Edgar Allan Poe's poem "To Helen" for inspiring it. The relevant part of the poem went like this:

“On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, Thy Naiad airs have brought me home To the glory that was Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome.”

What are we talking about?

• The answer

• The Wonder that was India by A L Basham

12 It was founded in 1905 by a group led by W. E.

B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and the place where the first meeting took place in July 1905. It was mainly opposed to policies of accommodation and conciliation promoted by another famous Af-Am leader which Du Bois called the Atlanta compromise. What was the name of group <pic> and who was the leader whose compromising position they were against?

• The answer

The Niagra Movement and the other black leader was Booker T Washington

13 Erroneously attributed to Lenin, it is a pejorative

term used to describe people perceived as propagandists for a cause whose goals they do not understand, who are used cynically by the leaders of the cause. The term was originally used to describe Soviet sympathizers in Western countries. A 2010 BBC radio documentary lists among _____ ______ of Joseph Stalin several prominent writers and artists including H. G. Wells, Doris Lessing, George Bernard Shaw, Paul Robeson. What term?

• The answer

Useful Idiot

14 Duke Yansheng was a title of nobility in

China. Their fiefdom had its own court of law and the power of capital punishment. After the republican revolution, when the dukes lost their privileges, Duke Yansheng was the only title of Chinese nobility which was retained. In 1935 the title was changed but it still exists as an office of the Republic of China and until 2008 was ranked and compensated as a cabinet minister. Who is Duke Yansheng really?

• The answer

• A direct descendant of Confucious

15 This word which means side,

section, tent or direction translated as "camp" or "palace, tent". It is also used for an historical sociopolitical and military structure found on the Eurasian Steppe. An English derogatory term meaning a large group is derived from this term. What term? <pic>

• The answer

• The Horde.

16 The whole argument started when the

father in a rage went and beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing immodest clothing. Upon hearing this, his son engaged in a heated argument with his father which culminated in the father mortally striking his son in the head with his pointed staff and killing him. A pivotal moment in the history of a country. Who was the father?

• The answer

Ivan the terrible

ROUND III Theme

16 + 4 questi0ns+10 /-5 on pounce

• 8 questions• Questions 1,2 +30/-15• Questions 3,4 +20/-10• Questions 5,6 +15/-7.5• Questions 7,8 +10/-5

(1) +30/-15 Cōdex Rēgius is an Icelandic

manuscript in which the Poetic Edda is preserved. In 2009 Harper Collins published a work composed in 1920's and 1930's. It was composed in a form of alliterative verse inspired by the traditional poetry of the Poetic Edda. The book was published posthumously and was edited by author's son. Who was the Author?

The Answer is….

The author was J.R.R. Tolkien and the book was The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún.

Link to theme Cōdex Rēgius

(2) +30/-15 This 1,700-year-old, 24-metres tall

thing, weighing 160 tonnes, is named after an ancient kingdom (100-940 CE) which was a major player in the commerce between the Roman Empire and Ancient India. In the 7th century the Muslims facing persecution traveled to this country, a journey famous in Islamic history as the First Hijra. What object?

The Answer is….

+30/-15• Obelisk of Axum

• Attempts for theme? (+30/-15)

(3) +25/-10 While marching in front of Il Duce

and Hitler in the 4th anniversary celebrations of the Italian empire, an Ethiopian soldier Zerai Deres saw a symbol of ancient Ethiopian monarchy being exhibited as war booty in Rome. On an adrenaline rush he slaughtered some Italians and became a martyr. What inspired Zerai Deres? <pic>

The Answer is….

Lion of Judah

(4) +25/-10 His wealth was legendary and is credited

with issuing the first true gold coins for general circulation. He is known as Qarun in Middle East and is mentioned in the Quran. And in Persian mythology the Karun treasure is said to be in perpetual motion under the ground. The phrase “harta karun” in the Malay language synonymous with the term buried treasure. How do we know him?

The Answer is….

• King Croseus of Lydia

• Attempts for theme? (+25/-10)

(5) +20/-7.5 King Edward's Chair or The Coronation

Chair, is the throne on which the British monarch sits for the coronation. It was commissioned in 1296 by King Edward to accommodate a spoil of war which he captured from Scotland. The artifact was a symbol of Scottish monarchs and has been traditionally used for their coronation. What? <see pic>

The Answer is….

The Stone of Scone

(6) +20/-7.5 Szczerbiec is the only preserved piece

of Polish Crown Jewels. It was used in the coronation of the kings of Poland from 1320 to 1764. The name means "the Notched Sword" or "the Jagged Sword". It got it’s name when King Boleslaus the Brave chipped it by hitting it against a historic gateway in the ancient city fortress during his capture of the city in 1018. Id the landmark

The Answer is….

• The Golden Gate of Kiev

• Attempts for theme? (+20/-7.5)

7• The pic (next slide) shows an object

being protected by guards at the Agra Fort. The object was brought to the Fort by the British Army with great fanfare in the 1840s. A vigorous debate had happened in the House of Commons before this decision was taken. Later, controversy erupted when this was found to be fake. What object?

• Answer…

• The Gates of Somnath Temple.

8.• The object in question is said to have

been lost in a war with the Nairs of Travancore during the Battle of the Nedumkotta. The Nair army under the leadership of Raja Kesavadas again defeated the army near Aluva. The Maharaja, Dharma Raja, gifted the object to the Nawab of Arcot, from where it went to London. It returned to India two centuries later. What?

The Answer is….

• Sword of Tipu.

• Attempts for theme? (+10/5)

Theme: Repatriated Cultural Artifacts

Connections • Codex Regius - under the possession of Denmark from

1662 it was returned to Iceland in 1985• Obelisk of Axum - looted away to Italy by the Mussolini’s

forces and returned to Ethiopia in 2004• The Lion of Judah was repatriated to Ethiopia in the 1960’s• The Karun Treasure - repatriated to Turkey from the Met

Museum, NY• The Stone of Scone - returned to Scotland by the British

Govt. in 1996• The Soviet Union returned Szczerbiec to Poland in 1928.

During World War II, the Szczerbiec was evacuated to Canada and did not return to Kraków until 1959.

• The Gates of Somnath were supposedly repatriated by the British

• The Sword of Tipu was repatriated when Vijay Mallya bought it at an auction in 2004.

Round IV Anti Clockwise

16 + 4 questi0ns+10 /-5 on pounce

1. Venue of what famous event ?

• Answer…

• Oath of the Tennis Court, taken at “jeu de paume” in Versailles. The painting in the background is:

2• The painting features a lady, considered to be among the

most important paleontologists of her time. Her family owned a small shop in the coastal town of Lyme Regis in Dorset, where they sold "curios" or fossils collected from the region. At the age of 12, one of her fossil hunts resulted in the discovery of the first complete ichthyosaur fossil. At a time when people believed in the Biblical origin of the world, a pre-historic fossil generated considerable interest. Later she found the first complete Plesiosaurus skeleton, and in 1828 the first British example of the flying reptiles known as pterosaurs. This working class woman soon became a consultant for continental paleontologists and geologists.

• Interestingly, she is also believed to have inspired a famous rhyme by Terry Sullivan in 1908.

• Name her and the lines she inspired. <pic>

• Answer…

• Mary Anning.• “She sells seashells by the

seashore..”

3• The items shown in the picture (Pic 1) were

bequeathed to the Magdalene College, Cambridge. The writing was in shorthand (a sample is given in Pic 2) and could not be understood. Nearly 150 years after they were written, the task of translating them was taken up Rev. John Smith, who was unaware that the author had left a key in his library. He went on to produce a readable version of the work. What unusual and illuminating work are we talking about ?

• Answer…

• The Diary of Samuel Pepys

4• In several European languages, these structures

are known after the Roman Emperor Vespacian. These structures were used to sell a material useful in tanning. Launderers also needed the material as a source of ammonia to clean and whiten woollen togas. Vespacian, in a bid to improve tax revenue, instituted a tax on the buyers of this product. Sections of society were outraged at this, but Vespacian is said to have brushed them aside with the statement "Pecunia non olet". What structures?

• Answer…

• Public toilets are called vespasiennes in France and vespasiani in Italy. The Emperor defended his “urine tax” with the statement “Money doesn’t smell.”

5• On 13 July 1870 King Wilhelm I of Prussia, on his morning

stroll, was waylaid by Count Vincent Benedetti, the French ambassador to Prussia. Benedetti presented the French demand that the King should guarantee that he would never again permit the candidacy of a Prussian prince to the Spanish throne. The King politely refused to commit and the two departed on good terms.

• When a report of this meeting reached Bismarck, he released it to the media with some modifications. He sharpened the language of the report to give the French the impression that King Wilhelm I had insulted Count Benedetti; likewise, the Germans interpreted it as the Count insulting the King.

• By what name is this report, that precipitated the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, known as ?

• Answer…

• Ems Dispatch/ Ems Telegram.

6 The “This is the place” memorial pays

tribute to an epic migration that happened in the 19th century. The leader of the migrants is said to have exclaimed “This is the place!” when the group entered this valley. What group?

(visual on next slide)

• Answer…

• Mormons, migrating to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah, after encountering stiff opposition in their original settlement in the mid-west.

• “This is the place” monument pays tribute to Brigham Young who led the Mormons into Utah.

7.

• The picture represents a concept used by a movement in the 1930s in their campaign. The movement achieved its objective in the mid-1950s. What was the name given to this image ? OR What was the movement about ?

• Answer…

• The symbol was called “Kerala Mathavu” or “Mother Kerala”. It was used by the Aikya Kerala Movement campaigning for the integration of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar regions into one state along linguistic lines.

8 Genizah is the store-room or depository in a

Jewish synagogue used specifically for worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics. The Cairo Geniza, which was discovered in 1864, had an accumulation of almost 280,000 Jewish manuscript fragments, which were written from about 870 AD to the 19th century which is currently studied by scholars. Why do Jews store documents in a Genizah? <pic>

• Answer…

According to Jewish tradition, it is forbidden to throw away writings containing the name of God as they should be given a proper cemetery burial

9"...........Nobody would be more happy than ourselves if by any chance our countrymen at home should succeed in liberating themselves through their own efforts or by any chance, the British Government accepts your `Quit India' resolution and gives effect to it. We are, however proceeding on the assumption that neither of the above is possible and that a struggle is inevitable.

___________ in this holy war for India's liberation, we ask for your blessings and good wishes".

This was a message intended for Mahatma Gandhi, who was imprisoned in the Aga Khan Palace, Pune. What words have been blanked out?

• Answer…

• “Father of our Nation”.• The message, sent by Netaji Subhash Chandra

Bose through Azad Hind Radio in Rangoon, is considered to be the first usage of the title to address Mahatma Gandhi.

• 10. Every year,  Fabergé used to present the Tsar with an Imperial Easter egg. The one shown in picture was presented in 1900 to commemorate one of the best achievements of the Tsar. Etched on a belt of silver encircling the egg is a map with some points marked in precious stones (see better image next slide).

• What did the map represent ?

map

• Answer…

• The map of the Trans-Siberian Railway with it’s major stations represented using precious stones.

11• Very little is known about this man, apart from the fact that

he was a skilled cannon maker. He originally approached an empire and offered his services, but they were unable to provide him with enough funds. So, he went over to another empire that was plotting to conquer the first one. When asked if he could cast a cannon to project a stone ball large enough to smash the walls at _______, he replied “I can cast a cannon of bronze with the capacity of the stone you want. I have examined the walls of the city in great detail. I can shatter to dust not only these walls with the stones from my gun, but the very walls of Babylon itself‘”.

• He proved true to his word and his weapons were key ingredients of the conquest. He himself was killed when one of his weapons exploded. Name him and the city that he helped to capture.

• The answer is ….

• Orban.• He made the cannons for Sultan

Mehmed II to use during the siege of Constantinople.

• 12. The two “dragons” seen below are part of the national emblem for a particular ethnic group. They used to stand on either side of the path leading to the ancestral coronation hall of the Kings of the region. In 1891, the British captured the Kingdom and destroyed the two statues. Name them, as well as the ethnic group.

• Answer…

• “Kangla Sha” or “Kangla dragons” who stood guard in front of the Kangla Fort. They were destroyed in the Anglo-Manipur war of 1891, but were recently rebuilt.

• The ethnic group are the “Meitei” people. (“Manipuri” is not accepted).

13• In 1961, a French movie

titled “Who are you Mr. ____ ?” became popular in the Soviet Union. Nikita Khruschev happened to see the film and asked his intelligence agencies to confirm if the story was true. When they reported that it was accurate, Khruschev decided to confer the Hero of the Soviet Union award to the man, who had died in 1944. Who?

• Answer…

• Richard Sorge, a Soviet spy in Tokyo who provided crucial intelligence to the Soviets. He was discovered in 1943 and the Japanese offered to trade him to the Soviets in exchange for one of their own agents. But the Soviets denied any knowledge of him, leading to his execution.

14. Identify this ruler seen here examining his rare coin collection. He owned one of the largest and best known collections in history. In the 1950s, a “fire sale” of his collection was conducted and the event is now part of numismatic folklore.

• Answer…

• King Farouk of Egypt.

15.• In 1945, “True Comics”,

an American publication featured a cartoon called “Jungle Queen”. The heroine was based on a real life person who had fought for the British. This remarkable person was the only woman to command a guerilla force in the British army during WWII. Name this lady who was awarded an MBE for her services. Also, what force did she command?

• Answer…

• Ursula Graham Bower.• She commanded a force

of Naga tribes against the Japanese invasion during the Battle of Kohima.

• She had originally come to India as an anthropologist, studying the North Eastern tribes, but ended up fighting a war with them!

16• “Modern readers have often wished that more

classical texts could have survived the Dark Ages, but the _____ may be the rare exception. If the last surviving manuscript had been eaten by rats in a monk's library a thousand years ago, the world might have been better off.” -- from a 2011 article in Slate magazine

• The classical work being described, is a short ethnographic work written in 98 A.D. It was considered as lost during the Middle Ages. Miraculously, in 1455, a copy was discovered in the Benedictine monastery of Hersfeld Abbey. Name this book and its author.

• Answer…

• Germania by Tacitus.• Tacitus had described the Germanic tribes as

tall, proud, virtuous and ferocious warriors. He also stated that they were “not tainted by intermarriage with any other nations” but rather existed “as a distinct unadulterated people that resembles only itself.”

• Following it’s rediscovery, it became something of a Bible for German nationalism, with rather undesirable consequences.

Hybrid Round

• Part Infinite Bounce/Pounce and part written

• All the “X”a numbered questions will be written, 10 points each

• Bonus of 10 for getting all written questions correct

• All “X” numbered question will be on Infinite Bounce/Pounce

• +10/-5 on Pounce

1 It was founded on July 6, 1917 to honor the

life and work of a scholar who was long regarded as the founder of Indology in India. In 2007, Rigveda manuscripts preserved at the Institute, was included in UNESCO’S, Memory of the World Register. The institute also undertook a project to create a Critical Edition of Mahabharata in 1919 and completed it in 1966. The Critical Edition was collated from 1,259 manuscripts and comes in 19 volumes. Which Institute?

• The answer is…

• The BORI or the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune.

1a• The institute was vandalized in 2003

by Sambhaji Brigade which went on a rampage and destroyed thousands of rare manuscripts and other priceless articles at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute to protest alleged "disparaging" remarks made against Chhatrapati Shivaji by the a British historian in his book. The book is not available in India ever since. Which book/Author?

2 X wrote this novel as response to Turgenev's

Fathers and Sons. The novel's hero furnished a blueprint for the asceticism and dedication unto death and was an inspiration to many later Russian revolutionaries. The novel is famous for the responses it created, Lenin claimed to have read it five times and named his famous pamphlet after it. It was this pamphlet which argued for the need for a "Vanguard Party" and eventually caused the split of RSDLP into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. Leo Tolstoy also wrote a non-fiction work in more or less the same name on moral responsibility.

• 2A: Who is X?• 2B: What name derived from Luke

3:10-14 is shared by X's novel, Lenin's pamphlet and Tolstoy's non-fiction work?

• The answer is…

• 2A: Nikolai Chernyshevsky• 2B : What is to be done?

2a• In response yet another Russian

writer, Y wrote a novel, a scathing criticism of the Utopian Socialism as trumpeted in X's novel. Written in the form of rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator generally referred to by critics as the Underground Man, this novel is considered by many as the first existentialist novel.

• 3 This memorial to a tragic episode of the 1840s and 1850s represents immigrants heading towards ships to escape the disaster at home. What unfortunate event ? (Part 2 of this question on next slide.)

• The answer is…

• The Irish Potato Famine / Great Famine. The memorial is in Dublin.

3a• In the 1990s, several people from this country

retraced a 500 mile trail from Oklahoma to the Mississippi. The trail had nothing to do with their country’s history, and had been originally traversed by another group of unfortunate people in the 1830s. Why was this retracing done ?

4 In the 1960s the building was subdivided and

partitioned into smaller cubicles that were let out on rent as homes and offices. It is oldest surviving cast iron building in India was designed by the same designer who did the St Pancras Railway station. The present sad state of affairs was publicized by Italian architect Renzo Piano, and as a result of his efforts, the building was listed in June 2005 on the list of "100 World Endangered Monuments" by the World Monuments Fund. This building is counterpart of another building in a famous urban legend. What building?

• The answer is….

• Watson Hotel Bombay

4a• It is also known as "More Tramps

Abroad" and was primarily a travelogue but also contained tall tales like how Cecil Rhodes made his fortune by finding a newspaper in the belly of a shark, and the story of how a man named Ed Jackson made good in life out of a fake letter of introduction to Cornelius Vanderbilt. Which work?

5 It was a classification created by

Army officials of British India. It has been alleged that Pakistan Military believed in this concept and they thus thought that they would easily defeat India in a war. It was popularly hyped that one Pakistani soldier was equal to four to ten Indian soldiers. What theory?

• The answer is…

• Martial Race Theory

5a The Nairs of Kerala were initially

included in this list but after a 1807-09 event they were removed and thereafter was recruited in smaller numbers. This event was insurrection led by Prime Minister of a kingdom which was the first native force to defeat a colonial power in Asia. Who was he?

6

He was an expert in Pali language and Buddhist philosophy, one of the very few during his lifetime..But his greatest contribution was to the revival and spread of the message of Buddhism in Maharashtra. It was his primer Buddha, Dharma ani Sangha (1910) and his play Bodhisattva, published posthumously in 1949, prepared the ground for the eventual popularization of Ambedkar’s Navayana in Maharashtra in the late 1950s. ID <pic>

• The answer is….

• Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi

6a His son Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi was a

renaissance man. He was a mathematician, statistician, Marxist historian, and a polymath. His 1956 book An Introduction to the Study of Indian History is an epoch making work in the field.

This is an excerpt from the book. Fill up. “Heavy, dark, sluggish, hardy, fertile, productive

with little care, far cleaner than it looks, docile enough to be led by a child, but suspicious of innovations and perfectly capable when roused, of charging a tiger or a locomotive, the ________ would be a fitting national symbol for India”.

7 The structure was build to provide famine

relief. It is said that both rich and poor worked on it. But at different times. The poor worked during the day and rich during the night. The result was that there was no coordination between the two. What the rich did during the day, the poor undid it at night. Corridors ran over corridors. Some ended where they had begun. Some got lost in between. Which structure? It's name suggests the lack of co-ordination was intentional.

• Bhul-bhulaiyan of Lucknow

7a• This mausoleum, popularly known as

Bhul-bhulaiyan, due to a labyrinthine maze inside. It was built by Akbar for his foster brother Adham Khan, whom he killed by throwing him down from the ramparts of the Agra fort, twice. The same Adham Khan was responsible for the end of a tragic love jihad story through his invasion of the state of Malwa. Which love story?

8 The picture below is propaganda

poster of sorts which was commissioned in early 1600’s. It shows the diplomatic relationship between two empires and their relative strengths. Identify both the emperors.

The answer is…

• Shah Abbas of Safavid Persia and Jahangir of Mughal India.

8a• Babur, the founder of the Mughal

Empire, annexed it in the 16th century. Babur's son, Humayun, lost it to the Shi'a Safavids of Persia. The Mughals gained he city in 1595 and resisted a Persian siege in 1605–1606. Humayun's son, Akbar, regained control in 1638 but lost the city permanently to the Safavid Persians during the 1649-53 Mughal–Safavid War. Which city?

ANSWERS, WRITTEN PART

1a• The institute was vandalized in 2003

by Sambhaji Brigade which went on a rampage and destroyed thousands of rare manuscripts and other priceless articles at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute to protest alleged "disparaging" remarks made against Chhatrapati Shivaji by the a British historian in his book. The book is not available in India ever since. Which book/Author?

James W. Lane/`Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India‘

2a• In response yet another Russian

writer, Y wrote a novel, a scathing criticism of the Utopian Socialism as trumpeted in X's novel. Written in the form of rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator generally referred to by critics as the Underground Man, this novel is considered by many as the first existentialist novel.

• Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground

3a• In the 1990s, several people from this country

retraced a 500 mile trail from Oklahoma to the Mississippi. The trail had nothing to do with their country’s history, and had been originally traversed by another group of unfortunate people in the 1830s. Why was this retracing done ?

• In 1847, at the height of the famine, the Irish nation received a gift of $710 from the Choctaw Indians of USA. The contribution was sent at a time when the Choctaw themselves were struggling. About 16 years earlier, this tribe had been forced by the US Govt., to relocate from their homeland to new reservations. Their journey came to be known as the “Choctaw Trail of Tears”. Moved by the plight of the Irish, the Choctaw collected money and send it to a famine relief fund.. This gift was remembered on its 150th anniversary by Irishmen who retraced the trail of tears.

4a• It is also known as "More Tramps

Abroad" and was primarily a travelogue but also contained tall tales like how Cecil Rhodes made his fortune by finding a newspaper in the belly of a shark, and the story of how a man named Ed Jackson made good in life out of a fake letter of introduction to Cornelius Vanderbilt. Which work?

• Mark Twain’s Following the Equator

5a The Nairs of Kerala were initially

included in this list but after a 1807-09 event they were removed and thereafter was recruited in smaller numbers. This event was insurrection led by Prime Minister of a kingdom which was the first native force to defeat a colonial power in Asia. Who was he?

• Velu Thampi Dalawa

6a

His son Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi was a renaissance man. He was a mathematician, statistician, Marxist historian, and a polymath. His 1956 book An Introduction to the Study of Indian History is an epoch making work in the field.

This is an excerpt from the book. Fill up.• “Heavy, dark, sluggish, hardy, fertile, productive with

little care, far cleaner than it looks, docile enough to be led by a child, but suspicious of innovations and perfectly capable when roused, of charging a tiger or a locomotive, the ________ would be a fitting national symbol for India”.

• The Buffalo

7a• This mausoleum, popularly known as

Bhul-bhulaiyan, due to a labyrinthine maze inside. It was built by Akbar for his foster brother Adham Khan, whom he killed by throwing him down from the ramparts of the Agra fort, twice. The same Adham Khan was responsible for the end of a tragic love jihad story through his invasion of the state of Malwa. Which love story?

• Baz Bahadur-Rani Roopmati

This is the end….

• Comments can be mailed to:praveen.vr@gmail.comkmanjith@yahoo.com