Test: Class 8 History NCERT Based- 2 - UPSC MCQ

The Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College was founded by Sayyid Ahmed Khan in 1875 at Aligarh, later became the Aligarh Muslim University.

The institution offered modern education, including Western science, to Muslims.

The Aligarh Movement, as it was known, had an enormous impact in the area of educational reform.

Swami Vivekananda was the first Indian in modern times, who re-established the spiritual pre-eminence of Vedanta philosophy on a global scale.

But his mission was not simply to talk of religion. He was extremely pained at the poverty and the misery of his countrymen. He firmly believed that any reform could become successful only by uplifting the condition of the masses. Swami Vivekanand was the founder of the Ramakrishna Mission.

In Bombay, the Paramhans Mandali was founded in 1840 to work for the abolition of caste. Many of these reformers and members of reform associations were people of upper castes. Often, in secret meetings, these reformers would violate caste taboos on food and touch, to get rid of the hold of caste prejudice in their lives.

Periyar founded the Self Respect Movement. He argued that untouchables were the true upholders of an original Tamil and Dravidian culture which had been subjugated by Brahmans.

Orthodox Hindu society also reacted by founding Sanatan Dharma Sabhas and the Bharat Dharma Mahamandal in the north, and associations like the Brahman Sabha in Bengal.

The object of these associations was to uphold caste distinctions as a cornerstone of Hinduism, and show how this was sanctified by scriptures. The Prarthana Samaj was established in 1867 at Bombay, the Prarthana Samaj sought to remove caste restrictions, abolish child marriage, encourage the education of women, and end the ban on widow remarriage. Its religious meetings drew upon Hindu, Buddhist and Christian texts.

Abanindranath Tagore the nephew of Rabindranath Tagore rejected the art of Ravi Varma as imitative and westernised and declared that such a style was unsuitable for depicting the nation’s ancient myths and legends.

In Mysore, Tipu Sultan also resisted the cultural traditions associated with them and had the walls of his palace at Seringapatam covered with Mural paintings done by local artists such as a painting of the famous battle of Pollilur of 1780 in which Tipu and Haidar Ali defeated the English troops.

Mir Qaim was defeated in the Battle of Buxar, 1764. The Battle of Buxar was fought on 22 October 1764, between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, led by Hector Munro, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal till 1763.

After being defeated in 4 battles in Katwa, Giria and Uday Nala, the Nawab of Awadh Shuja-ud-Daula and the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, accompanied by Raja Balwant Singh of Kashi allied with Mir Qasim.

Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar used the ancient texts to suggest that widows could remarry. His suggestion was adopted by British officials, and a law was passed in 1856 permitting widow remarriage.

In the north, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, who founded the reform association called Arya Samaj, also supported widow remarriage.

In 1873, Jyotirao Phule wrote a book named Gulamgiri meaning slavery. Some ten years before this, the American Civil War had been fought, leading to the end of slavery in America.

Phule dedicated his book to all those Americans who had fought to free slaves, thus establishing a link between the conditions of the “lower” castes in India and the black slaves in America. The Satyashodhak Samaj was initiated by Jyotirao Phule

Mumtaz Ali reinterpreted verses from the Koran to argue for women’s education. The first Urdu novels began to be written from the late nineteenth century.

Amongst other things, these were meant to encourage women to read about religion and domestic management in a language they could understand

Raja Rammohan Roy is known as the father of the Indian Renaissance. He was a supporter of western education. Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833). He founded a reform association known as the Brahmo Sabha (later known as the Brahmo Samaj) in Calcutta in 1828.

Rammohun Roy was keen to spread the knowledge of Western education in the country and bring about greater freedom and equality for women. He wrote about the way women were forced to bear the burden of domestic work, confined to the home and the kitchen, and not allowed to move out and become educated.

All are responsible for the fall of Calcutta in Siraj Ud Daulah's reign. When Siraj became Nawab he asked the East India Company to stop meddling in political affairs, stop fortifications and pay dues.

When the British refused to cease their constructions, the Nawab led a detachment of 3,000 men to surround the fort and factory of Cossimbazar and took several British officials as prisoners, before moving to Calcutta.

The defences of Calcutta were weak and negligible. The city was occupied on 16 June by Siraj's force and the fort surrendered after a brief siege on 20 June.

Painting of Robert Clive and Mir Jafar was painted by Francis Hayman in 1762 and placed on public display in the Vauxhall Gardens in London.

The British had just defeated Siraj Ud Daulah in the famous Battle of Plassey and installed Mir Jafar as the Nawab of Murshidabad. It was a victory won through conspiracy, and the traitor Mir Jafar was awarded the title of Nawab.

In the painting by Hayman, this act of aggression and conquest is not depicted. It shows Lord Clive being welcomed by Mir Jafar and his troops after the Battle of Plassey.

Tarabai Shinde, a woman educated at home at Poona, published a book, Stripurushtulna, (A Comparison between Women and Men), criticising the social differences between men and women.

Pandita Ramabai, a great scholar of Sanskrit, felt that Hinduism was oppressive towards women, and wrote a book about the miserable lives of upper-caste Hindu women. She founded a widows’ home at Poona to provide shelter to widows who had been treated badly by their husbands’ relatives.