QUESTIONS ON THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 1. When was the Mogul dynasty established in India? Mention, with dates, the names of some of the most distinguished of the Great Moguls. 2. What was the origin of the East India Company? When did it first establish itself in India ? Describe its gradual extension. 3. What important measures in reference to the Government of India were introduced in the years 1773, 1784, and 1833 respectively? 4. On what occasions has the city of Delhi been taken and plundered? 5. Who were the following persons; mention when and where they flourished, and the most important facts connected with them :-Heider Ali, Siwuji, Akbar Khān, Runjit Singh, Sindiah, Holkar, Sir William Macnaghten, and Sir Eyre Coote? 6. What are the principal sources of the revenue of British India? How is the land-tax assessed? What was the Zumindari settlement, established by Lord Cornwallis in 1793 ? 7. Mention the dates and the occasions on which the following battles were fought, and their results: Mūdki, Plassi, Chillianwalla, Ghuzni, Buxar, Prome, and Ferozeshah. 8. Mention, with dates, the names of the most eminent Governors of India during the present century, and briefly sketch the most important events which occurred during the government of each. 9. Arranging the history of India under three religious systems — Hindū, Mahomedan, and Christian—when may each be considered to have commenced and when to have sunk under partial subjection to its successor? 10. Was the distinction of caste among the Hindus contemporary with the primitive faith, or was it of a later and political origin? 11. What was the nature of the pretensions of the Brahmin to superiority? 12. When do we find India first noticed by classical writers ? 13. What is the date of Alexander's invasion of India ? 14. Where did he enter India, and by whom was he encountered? 15. Where did Alexander finally halt in India? 16. Did any of the Seleucian princes of Persia invade India? 17. Did any Greek princes rule in India after these incursions? How many, for how long, and over what extent of territory ? 18. Up to what date did Būdhism flourish in India? 19. In what countries is it now the prevailing religion ? 20. What authorities have we for the Mahomedan history of India ? 21. Who was Mahmud of Ghuzni? At what date did he live ? 22. How often did he make predatory incursions into India ? 23. By whom was India invaded for the purpose of permanent subjugation ? 24. What was the date of the battle which decided the struggle, and with what Hindū princes was it fought? 25. Who was the first Mahomedan king of Delhi? 26. Who was the second king, and what was his race and position ? 27 What progress was made in the conquest of Hindusthan under the first dynasty of the kings of Delhi? 28. What were the conquests of Ala-u-din ? 29. For what is his successor, Firuz, celebrated in India ? 30. What was the date of Teimur's (Tamerlane's) invasion of India? 31. By what transaction was it signalized ? Questions on the History of India. 233 32. When and by what means did Baber establish the house of Teimur on the throne of Delhi? 33. Who was Baber, and what means have we of knowing his character and adventures ? 34. What was the character of Akbar? 35. What were his notions of religion ? 36. Who was Akbar's chief minister, and what record has he left of his master's administration ? 37. What was the character of Akbar's son Selim, afterwards known as Jehangir? 38. What English ambassador was received at his court, and what was the result of the mission? 39. What celebrated edifice was erected at Agra by Shah Jehan, and in whose honour? 40. Who were the four sons of Shah Jehan? Describe their characters, their contests, and the result? 41. What was the character of Aurungzib? 42. Who was Siwuji, and what political power did he found? 43. What was the state of the Mogul empire after the death of Bahādūr Shah, in 1711, to the accession of his grandson Mahomed Shah in 1718? 44. What two principal Subhēdars, or Viceroys, made themselves independent in the same reign? 45. Who are our best authorities for the history of the Christian or European period in India? 46. What is the earliest notice we possess of commercial intercourse with India? 47. What was the date of the first voyage to India viâ the Cape of Good Hope, and by whom was it effected? 48. Where did the Portuguese first land? 49. What European nation next entered the Indian seas, and under what circumstances? 50. Where were their principal establishments? 51. What is their present condition ? 52. When was the first English association for trading to India formed, and by what monarch was a charter granted? 53. Under what circumstances did the Company obtain Bombay? 54. How came the Company possessed of the villages |