Great Personalities MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for Great Personalities - Download Free PDF

Key Points

• Raja Ravi Varma was a renowned Indian painter and artist, considered one of the greatest in the history of Indian art.
• He was born as Ravi Varma Koil Thampuran in the Kilimanoor palace, located in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore (modern-day Kerala).
• Famous for his works:
  • His paintings mainly revolve around ancient mythological stories from Hindu mythology, particularly the Mahabharata and Ramayana.
  • He also created numerous portraits of both Indians and British individuals during the British colonial period.
  • Notable works include Damayanti Talking to a Swan, Shakuntala Looking for Dushyanta, Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair, and Shantanu and Matsyagandha.
• Artistic Contributions:
  • Before his work, Indian art was significantly influenced by Persian and Mughal schools of painting.
  • Varma was the first Indian artist to incorporate Western techniques of perspective and composition into his work, while adapting them to Indian themes and styles.
  • He is credited with fusing European academic art with a distinctive Indian sensibility and iconography.
  • Oil paints were widely used by Varma, making him one of the pioneers in India to adopt and master the medium.
  • He also perfected the technique of lithographic reproduction of his paintings, making them more accessible to the public.
  • He was instrumental in making affordable lithographs of his works, which significantly increased his influence and reach.
  • His paintings often depicted mythological characters and Indian royalty in a realistic style, breaking away from traditional artistic conventions.
• Recognitions:
  • Varma gained widespread recognition after his exhibition at Vienna in 1873, where he won an award for his paintings.
  • His paintings were showcased at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, earning him two gold medals.
  • In 1904, Viceroy Lord Curzon awarded him the prestigious Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal on behalf of the King Emperor, marking the first time he was referred to as Raja Ravi Varma.

The correct answer is (i) - (c), (ii) - (b), (iii) - (a), (iv) - (d).

Key Points

• Hence, option (3) (i) - (c), (ii) - (b), (iii) - (a), (iv) - (d) is the correct sequence.

Additional Information

• Brahmo Samaj
  • Brahmo Samaj was a reformist movement within Hinduism. 
  • It was started at Calcutta in 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Debendranath Tagore.​
  • Eradicate practices like the ‘Sati’ and caste system.
• Prarthana Samaj​
  • Prarthana Samaj was founded in 1867 by Dadoba Pandurang and his brother Atmaram Pandurang.​
  • The motive behind it was to make people believe in one God and worship only one God.
  • It became popular after Mahadev Govind Ranade joined. 
• Arya Samaj
  • ​The Arya Samaj is a reform movement.
  • Established in Bombay in 1875 by Swami Dayananda Saraswati.
• Ramkrishna Mission​
  • Named after and inspired by the Indian spiritual Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. 
  • Founded by Ramakrishna's chief disciple Swami Vivekananda on 1 May 1897.

The correct answer is Tamil Nadu.

Key Points

• C Rajagopalachari led the Salt Satyagraha protest in Tamil Nadu.
• Inspired by the Dandi March by Mahatma Gandhi, a group of 100 men led by C Rajagopalachari marched to Vedaranyam and extracted salt from seawater in April 1930 to break the salt law imposed by the British.
• He began his march from Tiruchi on April 13 and reached Vedaranyam on April 28.
• The Salt Satyagraha was an act of civil disobedience led by Mahatma Gandhi to protest British rule in India.

Additional Information

• Salt March or Dandi March or Salt Satyagraha, was started by Mahatma Gandhi in the year 1930 in the March-April period.
• It was the protest of the Indian people against Britain’s Salt Act of 1882 which prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in their diet.
• Gandhi declared resistance to British salt policies to be the unifying theme for his new campaign of “satyagraha,” or mass civil disobedience.
• First, Gandhi sent a letter on March 2, 1930, to inform the Viceroy Lord Irwin that he and the others would begin breaking the Salt Laws in 10 days. Then, on March 12, 1930, Gandhi set out from his ashram, or religious retreat, at Sabarmati near Ahmedabad with several dozen followers on a trek of some 240 miles to the coastal town of Dandi on the Arabian Sea.
• In April, Gandhiji was joined with the tens of thousands of followers for their salt satyagraha.

The correct answer is " Aruna Asaf Ali ".

Key Points

• Aruna Asaf Ali was a political activist and participated in the Indian Independence movement.
• She is known for hoisting the Indian flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai during the Quit India Movement.
• In 1958, She also became " Delhi's first mayor ".
• Aruna Asaf Ali is popularly known as the 'Grand Old Lady' of the Independence Movement.
• Gowalia Tank Maidan is located in central Mumbai.
• Mahatma Gandhi issue the quit India speech in this garden.
• She was greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's ideas and beliefs.
• In 1932, she had gone on a hunger strike in Tihar Jail against the mistreatment of the political prisoners

Important Points

• She got the following awards -
  • International Lenin peace prize in 1964
  • Jawaharlal Nehru Prize in 1991
  • Padma Vibhushan in 1992
  • Bharat Ratna in 1997.

The correct answer is Ghadar Party.

• One of the co-founders of the Ghadar Party is Har Dayal.​

Key Points

• The Ghadar Party was formed by a group of Indian revolutionaries that included migrant workers from Punjab and Bengali and Punjabi intellectuals and students.
  • Its main objective is to reflect the values ​​of independent India by overthrowing the British rule and adopting secularism and unity despite regional, religious and linguistic differences.
  • It was established in the year 1913.
  • The party was dissolved in 1948 after India gained independence.
  • Its founders were Hardayal, Sohan Singh Bhakna, Santokh Singh, Baba Jwala Singh, Vashakha Singh Dandekar.
  • The party launched its first newspaper 'Gadar' (Weekly) in November 1913.
  • The title of the newspaper is 'Angrezi Raj Ka Dushman' (Enemy of British Raj).

Additional Information 

The correct answer is Kesari.

• Kesari was written by Lokmanya Tilak during the Indian National Movement.

Key Points

• Bal Gangadhar Tilak:
  • He launched two newspapers–the Kesari (in Marathi) and the Maratha (in English).
  • He organized Ganpati Festival (1893 AD) and Shivaji Festival (1895 AD).
  • He was deported to Mandalay Jail (Burma) for writing seditious articles.
  • He started the Home Rule League in 1916 AD.
  • He wrote Gita Rahasya.
  • Tilak asserted: ‘Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it’.
  • He was awarded the title of Lokmanya.
  • He was called ‘Bal’, Lala Lajpat Rai was called ‘Lal’ and Bipin Chandra Pal was called ‘Pal’.
  • He was a part of the trio of ‘Lal-Bal- Pal’
  • He wrote the books The Arctic Home of Vedas and Gita Rahasya.

Additional Information

• Yugantar Patrika was a Bengali newspaper founded in Calcutta by Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Abhinash Bhattacharya and Bhupendranath Dutt in the year 1906.
• The Bengalee newspaper was founded by Surendra Nath Banerjee.
• Amrita Bazar Patrika was founded by Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh.

The correct answer is Chittaranjan Das.

Key Points

Subhash Chandra Bose (1897 - 1945)

• Subhash Chandra Bose was born on 23rd January 1897, in Cuttack, Orissa Division, Bengal Province.
• The birth anniversary of Netaji on 23rd January is celebrated as 'Parakram Diwas'.
• Subhash Chandra Bose is popularly known as 'Netaji'.
• He passed the Indian Civil Services Examination in 1920 in England but left it on Gandhiji's call of the Non-cooperation Movement.
• He was the first elected INC President at the Haripura Session in 1938 and Tripuri Session in 1939.
• He founded the Forward Bloc in 1939 and Kisan Sabha.
• The first division of INA was formed in September 1942 with the help of Japan.
• He took the charge of Indian Army (Azad Hind Fauj) in 1943 in Singapore.
• He addressed Mahatma Gandhiji as the 'Father of the Nation'.
• He was highly influenced by Vivekananda's teachings and considered him as his spiritual Guru.
• Chittaranjan Das was the "Political Guru of Subhash Chandra Bose".
• A .N. Mukherjee Commission enquired about the mysterious disappearance of Bose.
• "Give me blood, I will give freedom" is a famous word by Netaji.
• The famous slogan - Dilli Challo, Jai Hind.
• Autobiography - The Indian Struggle.

Additional Information

Chittaranjan Das (1870 - 1925)

• Chittaranjan Das is popularly known as 'Deshbandhu'.
• He is the first president of the Swaraj Party (1923).
• C.R. Das served as the Indian National Congress  Acting president in the Ahmedabad session (1921).
• He was actively involved in Brahmo Samaj.
• He became involved with the Non-Cooperation Movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.
• In 1908, Das attained widespread fame when he was successfully able to defend Aurobindo Ghosh in the Alipore Bomb Case.

M. G. Ranade (1842 - 1901)

• M. G. Ranade called the 'Father of the renaissance of Western India'.
• He was the mentor and political guru of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
• He established the “Widow Marriage Association” in 1861.
• Ranade founded the 'Poona Sarvajanik Sabha' in 1870, to represent the Government, the aspiration of the people.

Mahatma Gandhi 1869 -1948)

• Gandhiji is known as the Father of our Nation.
• He returned to India from South Africa on 9^th January 1915 and celebrated it as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (NRI Day).
• The first satyagraha of Gandhiji is Chamapran Satyagraha (1917) also known as the first civil disobedience movement.
• The first hunger strike of Gandhiji is Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918).
• The first non-cooperation movement of Gandhiji is Kheda Satyagraha (1918).
• He was the president of the INC session in Belgaum (1924).
• In 1931, Gandhiji participated in the Second Round Table Conference in London.
• Gandhiji was assassinated on 30 January 1948 by Nathuram Godse and observed as 'Martyrs Day'.

Gopala Krishna Gokhale (1866 - 1915)

• He is the founder of 'Servants of Indian Society' in 1905.
• The political Guru of Gokhale was M. G. Ranade.
• He was the President of the Benarus Session of INC in 1905.
• Gandhiji regarded him as the Political Guru.
• Tilak called Gokhale the 'Diamond of India'.

The correct answer is Dadabhai Naoroji.

Key Points

• Dadabhai Naoroji: 
  • He wrote the book 'Poverty and Un British Rule in India'. Hence, Option 4 is correct.
  • Dadabhai Naoroji was popularly known as the 'Grand Old Man of India'.
  • He is the first Indian to become a member of the British Parliament.
  • He helped found the London Indian Society and East India Association.
  • In 1885, Naoroji became a vice-president of the Bombay Presidency Association.
  • He was Congress president thrice, in 1886, 1893, and 1906.

Additional Information

• Major writings of Dada Bhai Naroji were as follows:
  • Poverty in India
  • The manners and customs of the Parsees
  • Condition of India
  • Admission of educated natives into the ICS
  • The wants and means of India 

The correct answer is Madan Mohan Malavya.

Key Points

• Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
  • National song - Vande Mataram is taken from his novel Anandmath (written in 1882).
  • He also wrote  Durgeshnandini (1865), and Kapalkundala (1866).
• Lokmanya Tilak
  • Born as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak in 1856.
  • He gave the slogan "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it"
  • He was the extremist faction of the Indian National Congress.
  • He published two papers – Kesari in Marathi and Maratha in English.
  • Along with Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, he was called the ‘Lal-Bal-Pal’ trio of extremist leaders.
  • He was one of the founders of the All India Home Rule League, along with Annie Besant and G S Khaparde.
  • He used the Ganesh Chaturthi and Shiv Jayanti (birth anniversary of Shivaji) festivals to create unity and a national spirit among the people.
• Lal Bahadur Shastri
  • Born on 2nd October 1904.
  • He gave the slogan, “Jai Jawan! Jai Kissan!”
• Madan Mohan Malavya
  • He became the editor of the Indian Opinion in 1889.
  • He started a Hindi weekly ‘Abhyudaya’, an English daily ‘Leader’, a Hindi newspaper ‘Maryada’.
  • He gave this slogan from the Mundakopanishad, ‘Satyameva Jayate’.
  • He was given the title, ‘Mahamana’.
  • In 2015, he was bestowed the Bharat Ratna posthumously.

The correct answer is Tamil Nadu.

Key Points

• C Rajagopalachari led the Salt Satyagraha protest in Tamil Nadu.
• Inspired by the Dandi March by Mahatma Gandhi, a group of 100 men led by C Rajagopalachari marched to Vedaranyam and extracted salt from seawater in April 1930 to break the salt law imposed by the British.
• He began his march from Tiruchi on April 13 and reached Vedaranyam on April 28.
• The Salt Satyagraha was an act of civil disobedience led by Mahatma Gandhi to protest British rule in India.

Additional Information

• Salt March or Dandi March or Salt Satyagraha, was started by Mahatma Gandhi in the year 1930 in the March-April period.
• It was the protest of the Indian people against Britain’s Salt Act of 1882 which prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in their diet.
• Gandhi declared resistance to British salt policies to be the unifying theme for his new campaign of “satyagraha,” or mass civil disobedience.
• First, Gandhi sent a letter on March 2, 1930, to inform the Viceroy Lord Irwin that he and the others would begin breaking the Salt Laws in 10 days. Then, on March 12, 1930, Gandhi set out from his ashram, or religious retreat, at Sabarmati near Ahmedabad with several dozen followers on a trek of some 240 miles to the coastal town of Dandi on the Arabian Sea.
• In April, Gandhiji was joined with the tens of thousands of followers for their salt satyagraha.

The correct answer is Lala Lajpat Rai.

Key Points

All India Trade Union Congress:

• The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) is the oldest trade union federation in India.
• It is associated with the Communist Party of India.
• According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, AITUC had a membership of 14.2 million in 2013.
•  It was founded on 31 October 1920 with Lala Lajpat Rai as its first president.
• Until 1945 when unions became organised on party lines, it was the primary trade union organisation in India.
• The main purpose of labour unions is to give workers the power to negotiate for more favourable working conditions and other benefits through collective bargaining.
• The following are the objectives of a trade union:
  • To improve the economic lot of workers by securing them better wages.
  • To secure workers better working conditions.
  • To secure bonuses for the workers from the profits of the enterprise/organization.

Additional Information

• C Rajagopalachari
  • C. Rajagopalachari (1878-1972) was an Indian lawyer, writer and independence activist.
  • He was popular as Rajaji, C.R. and Mootharignar Rajaji.
  • He was the last Governor-General before India became a republic.
  • He is remembered for his contribution to the independence struggle as well as his intellectual and administrative prowess.
  • In 1954, he was honoured with India’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna.
• Chandra Shekhar Azad
  • ​Azad was born on 23rd July 1906 in the Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh.
  • Chandra Shekhar, then a 15-year-old student, joined a Non-Cooperation Movement in December 1921. As a result, he was arrested.
  • On being presented before a magistrate, he gave his name as "Azad" (The Free), his father's name as "Swatantrata" (Independence) and his residence as "Jail". Therefore, he came to be known as Chandra Shekhar Azad.
  • After the suspension of the non-cooperation movement in 1922 by Gandhi, Azad joined Hindustan Republican Association (HRA).
  • Most of the fund collection for revolutionary activities was done through robberies of government property. In line with the same, Kakori Train Robbery near Kakori, Lucknow was done in 1925 by HRA.
  • He died at Azad Park in Allahabad on 27th February 1931.
• Motilal Nehru
  • ​Pandit Motilal Nehru was a lawyer and politician who was born in the year 1861.
  • He was elected to United Provinces Council in 1909.
  • He was contemporary of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya.
  • He attended the Delhi Durbar in 1911 in honour of the visit of King George V.
  • Motilal was elected President of the United Province Congress in the year 1911.

The correct answer is Chittaranjan Das.

Key Points

• C.R. Das served as the president of the Indian National Congress for a session and co-founder of the Swaraj Party.
• He was also known as ‘Deshbandhu’, or ‘friend of the nation’.
• He entered active politics in 1917 during the Congress Calcutta session. 
• As he was a lawyer, he defended Aurobindo Ghosh in the 1908 Alipore Bomb Case.
• He also contributed to the English weekly ‘Bande Mataram’ along with Aurobindo and Bipin Chandra Pal.
• He published his collection of poems in two volumes titled ‘Malancha’ and ‘Mala’.
• In 1919, he criticized the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, which were aimed at establishing a dual government system or dyarchy in India.​

Important Points

• In 1920, Das sacrificed all his luxuries and supported the cause of ‘khadi’. 
• He actively participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement headed by Gandhiji. 
• On 4 February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi suddenly ended the movement following the Chauri Chaura incident. 
• Many congress leaders like C.R Das and Motilal Nehru were firmly against Gandhi’s move.
• At the Gaya session of the party in December 1922, Das was chosen as the Congress president but resigned later when his plan to introduce non-cooperation from within the councils failed to go through.
• C.R Das and Motilal Nehru established the Swaraj Party within Congress. 
• The aim of the newly-founded party was to contest in the Central Legislative Assembly in 1923 and derail British rule through anti-government activities within the council chambers.
• The party was able to secure only 40 seats and the number was too small to make any legislative impact.

The Correct Answer is Muhammad Iqbal.

 Key Points

• Muhammad Iqbal was elected president of the Muslim League in 1930 at the Allahabad session.
• In his presidential address on 30 December 1930, Iqbal outlined a vision of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India.

 Additional Information

• Muhammad Iqbal is remembered for his famous poem 'Sare Jahan se Accha'.
• Sir Syed Ahmad Khan founded Aligarh Movement (1875) at Aligarh.
• He also founded the Muhammadan educational congress.
• In 1941, Mohammad Ali Jinnah founded a newspaper "Dawn" as a mouthpiece for the Muslim League.
•  Shaukat Ali and Mohammad Ali had started the Khilafat movement in 1919.

The correct answer is Hicky’s Bengal Gazette.

Key Points

• The Bengal Gazette was a weekly magazine.
• It was started in the year 1780 by James Augustus Hickey.
• It described itself as 'a commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none'.
• Various other weekly magazines were published after Bengal Gazette.
• It was the first English newspaper published in the Indian Subcontinent.

Additional Information

Some important newspapers and journals are- 

The correct answer is Dadabhai Naoroji.

Key Points

• Dadabhai Naoroji
  • His other names - 'Grand Old Man of India' and 'Unofficial Ambassador of India'.
  • He belonged to the Liberal Party and was the first Indian to be a member of Parliament in the United Kingdom House of Commons from 1892 to 1895.
  • He was also elected as the President of the Indian National Congress thrice in 1886, 1893, and 1906.
  • He was the author of the book 'Poverty and Un-British Rule in India', and also published new papers like 'Rast Goftar' and 'The Voice of India'.

Additional Information

• R. C. Dutt
  • Romesh Chandra Dutt was a politician and a civil servant.
  • He served as the first President of the society named Bangiya Sahitya Parishad in 1894.
  • He also served as the President of the Indian National Congress in1899.
  • He translated Mahabharata and Ramayana into English.
• Rammohan Roy
  • His other names - 'Father of Modern India' and 'Father of the Bengal Renaissance'.
  • He was a socio-religious reformer and strongly opposed the practice of 'Sati', child marriage, polygamy, the caste system, etc., and supported widow remarriage.
  • He founded the Brahmo Samaj in 1828 and also started a newspaper named 'Sambad Kaumudi'.
• Meghnad Desai
  • He is a British economist, professor emeritus of the London School of Economics, and former politician of the Labour party.
  • He was felicitated with the Padma Bhushan award in 2008.