Indian History Trivia Quiz

About this quiz

This Indian History Trivia Quiz has 167 questions: 48 easy, 97 medium and 22 hard. It is free. Play it with friends in a room for 2 to 12 players, on phones or in a browser, or play it solo. Type your answers: close enough counts, so a small typo still scores.

Sample questions

20 of the 167 Indian history questions in this pack. Think of your answer, then open it.

1. Which Indian astronomer said the Earth spins on its axis, about 1,000 years before Copernicus?

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   Aryabhata

   He also explained eclipses as the shadows of the Earth and Moon, not the demon Rahu.

2. Which sultan ordered his whole capital moved from Delhi to Daulatabad, then moved it back?

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   Muhammad bin Tughluq

   Much of Delhi was made to march about 1,100 km south; the plan was dropped within a few years.

3. Who was the only woman ever to rule the Delhi Sultanate?

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   Razia Sultan

   She dropped the veil and rode an elephant in public in a tunic and turban, shocking her nobles.

4. In 2024 a London museum lent Maharashtra a hidden hand weapon said to be Shivaji's. It's shaped like which animal's claws?

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   Tiger

   The V&A says it came from Shivaji's family via a Company officer; some historians doubt it's the one he used.

5. In 1897, 21 Sikh soldiers held out against thousands at which hilltop signal post, the story retold in the film Kesari?

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   Saragarhi

   All 21 got the Indian Order of Merit, and 12 September is still marked as Saragarhi Day.

6. A famous but probably untrue story says which industrialist built Mumbai's Taj hotel after a 'Europeans only' hotel turned him away?

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   Jamsetji Tata

   Historians call the tale apocryphal; the Taj opened in 1903, and the old Watson's Hotel building still stands.

7. The soft bread roll in vada pav and pav bhaji gets its name from which European language?

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   Portuguese

   'Pão' is Portuguese for bread; Goan bakers used palm toddy instead of yeast to make the dough rise.

8. A chance talk with which monk on a ship in 1893 helped inspire Jamsetji Tata's plan for the Indian Institute of Science?

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   Swami Vivekananda

   In 1898 Tata wrote to him recalling their talk on the steamer; the institute opened in Bangalore in 1909.

9. Hardy told Ramanujan his taxi's number seemed dull. Which number did Ramanujan say was very interesting?

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   1729

   It's the smallest number that is the sum of two cubes in two ways: 1³+12³ and 9³+10³.

10. Which greeting, now used every day by Indian soldiers, was popularised by Bose's Indian National Army?

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    Jai Hind

    It is credited to Abid Hasan, Bose's aide, who was asked for a greeting that all faiths could share.

11. Which Delhi sultan, who began the Qutb Minar, died after falling from his horse during a game of polo?

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    Qutb-ud-din Aibak

    His son-in-law Iltutmish went on to finish the minar's upper storeys.

12. Which ancient Bihar city of the Licchavis is often called one of the world's first republics?

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    Vaishali

    Its rulers met in an assembly; the Buddha preached there and Mahavira was born nearby.

13. Which ancient art style, mixing Greek and Indian looks, made some of the first images of the Buddha as a man?

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    Gandhara

    The style flourished under the Kushan kings, in what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan.

14. Which poet, nicknamed the 'Parrot of India', is traditionally called the father of qawwali?

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    Amir Khusrau

    Legends also credit him with inventing the sitar and the tabla, though historians doubt it.

15. Jaipur's Jantar Mantar, built by Sawai Jai Singh in the 1730s, has the world's largest stone what?

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    Sundial

    UNESCO says some of its 20 or so stone instruments are the largest of their kind ever built.

16. Legend says Tanaji's men scaled the cliffs of Kondhana fort at night with the help of a tamed what?

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    Monitor lizard

    Tanaji died taking the fort; Shivaji reportedly said 'the fort is won, but the lion is lost' and it became Sinhagad.

17. Which island fort off the Konkan coast, held by the Siddis, was never captured, even after years of attacks by Shivaji's forces?

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    Janjira

    Shivaji even built his own sea fort, Padmadurg, nearby as a base, but Janjira held out.

18. Which undefeated Indian wrestler's workout of squats and push-ups inspired Bruce Lee?

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    The Great Gama

    Gama won a world heavyweight title in London in 1910 and stayed unbeaten for over 50 years.

19. Goa's fiery vindaloo comes from a Portuguese dish of meat cooked in wine and what?

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    Garlic

    'Vinha d'alhos' means wine and garlic, so the 'aloo' in vindaloo has nothing to do with potatoes.

20. Which princely state was ruled by four women in a row, the Begums, for over 100 years?

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    Bhopal

    From 1819 to 1926 the Begums ran it and opened girls' schools; the last handed power to her son.

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