UPSC Essentials | Daily subject-wise quiz : Battles in colonial India, Rani Abbakka, ‘Mamallan’, and more (Week 144)

Which of the above statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation

On February 2, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren attended a state event to mark an iconic act of Adivasi resistance against the East India Company in 1837 .

This was a battle fought at Serengsia, a valley located in present-day Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district, where Adivasi rebels exacted a heavy toll on British soldiers — only to face a great personal cost later.

The Jharkhand government’s Serengsia battle memorial in Chaibasa town. (Express pic)

To understand the reasons for the battle, it’s first important to understand its socio-political context, and the people at the centre of it — the Ho Adivasis.

The Hos were the original, autonomous inhabitants of the Kolhan region, comprising Jharkhand’s present-day East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts.

Around 1820-21, however, Kolhan fell under the jurisdiction of the Bengal Presidency. The British, who were looking to increase trade with Madras, needed direct control over the Adivasi regions such as Kolhan to facilitate travel along the trade routes. Around this time, the British set up a camp in the Kolhan region’s Chaibasa area, sparking a year-long conflict with the Hos.

Finally, in 1821, the Adivasis signed a treaty with the British. It bound them to pay eight annas per plough per year to the local Hindu king and zamindars, allowed people from other communities to reside in Adivasi lands and imposed the Hindi and Oriya languages. These suppressions, including sexual harassment of Adivasi women by non-tribal zamindars, eventually built up to another uprising in 1831, not only in Kolhan but also Ranchi and Hazaribagh. This is known as the Kol uprising of 1831.

This, too, was eventually somewhat suppressed. Beginning October 1836, British forces under Captain Thomas Wilkinson captured around 22 pirhs (administrative territories of Hos) and around 600 villages. With these captured Pirhs and villages, the British announced the establishment of the ‘Kolhan Estate Government’.

The Kol resistance, however, was far from over.

According to Adivasi activist and researcher Sunny Sinku the Hos never accepted subordinate status. “We believe that Kolhan, our land, is bestowed by Sing-Bonga, our supreme deity. Thus, no outsider can come and rule over us,” he said.

And by 1837, Adivasi leaders were holding secret meetings and organising fighters against the British.

The British, too, were looking to suppress the resistance. In late November of 1837, a sizable British force marched towards the Ho villages — around 400 infantrymen with firelock guns, about 60 cavalrymen, and two cannons. They were supported by 200 fighters sent by the local Hindu ruler of Saraikela.

This was how the Battle of Seringsia began. The Adivasis were led mainly by Poto Ho, who was from Rajabasa village. The other leaders included Berai Ho, Punduva Ho, Badai Ho, Nara Ho, Devi Ho and Sugni Ho.

The Serengsia valley was a narrow passage. The Ho fighters, armed with traditional weapons such as bows and arrows, put up obstacles along the valley floor to hinder British cavalry movement and positioned themselves along the slopes.

Damyanti Sinku, a Ho scholar and professor at Ranchi University, paints a vivid picture of what unfolded in her book Singhbhum ka Shaheed Larka ‘Ho’: “When British forces advanced, the horses lost footing on the uneven path, triggering confusion. Ho fighters attacked simultaneously from both sides, firing arrows and hurling burning cow dung mixed with ash and chilli powder, causing severe irritation to the soldiers’ eyes. Swarms of bees further disrupted the troops, forcing the British to retreat in disarray.”

More than 100 British soldiers and around 26 Adivasi fighters were killed in the battle, according to an inscription at the government’s Siringsia (Serengsia) Valley Shaheed Smarak (martyrs’ memorial).

The victory wouldn’t last long. According to the memorial, British forces launched retaliatory attacks on Rajabasa and nearby villages, burning settlements and arresting villagers. It links the Serengsia resistance to the declaration of Kolhan as Kol state in 1837 that paved the way for a system of self-governance.

By December 8, all the Ho leaders were arrested, brought to Jagannathpur and sentenced to death.

Poto Ho, Narra Ho and Berai Ho were publicly hanged in Jagannathpur on January 1, 1838. The following day, Bora Ho and Pandua Ho were hanged near Mundasai in Serengsia village. In addition to these executions, 79 other Ho fighters were imprisoned on various charges.

FYI: Veer Narayan Singh (1795–1857) — A zamindar of the Binjhwar tribe from Sonakhan, he is considered the first martyr from Chhattisgarh in the 1857 war of independence.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

QUESTION 2

Charles Wilkins is known in history for:

(a) He founded Fort William College

(b) Produced the first translation of Bhagavad Gita into English

(c) Establishing the Asiatic Society of Bengal

(d) Introducing the Permanent Settlement in Bengal

Explanation

The Western encounter with Sanskrit began in earnest in the seventeenth century, but it was not until the late eighteenth century that its systematic study took shape. In 1779, A Code of Gentoo Laws — a legal compendium based on Hindu jurisprudence — was published by translator Nathaniel Brassey Halhed. Though Halhed worked from a Persian intermediary, the text represented one of the earliest efforts to engage with Indian intellectual traditions through translation.

A more significant achievement followed in 1785, when Orientalist Charles Wilkins translated the Bhagavad Gita into English. Two years later, William Jones, founder of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, delivered the iconic lecture in which he observed striking affinities between Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. This observation laid the foundation for the discipline of comparative linguistics and inaugurated the formal study of Indo-European philology.

By the nineteenth century, the influence of Sanskrit had travelled far beyond German Romanticism. In the United States, philosopher Henry David Thoreau read the Gita, while essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson found an alternative to European metaphysics in Indian philosophy. Even early chemists borrowed Sanskrit numerical prefixes to label undiscovered elements in Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic table.

One of the foremost American Sanskritists was Arthur William Ryder, who taught at the University of California, Berkeley, in the early twentieth century. His translations of the Panchatantra and Bhagavad Gita are still widely regarded for their literary merit. GR Noyes, a contemporary, wrote of him, “Taken as a whole, Ryder’s work as a translator is probably the finest ever accomplished by an American. It is also probably the finest body of translation from Sanskrit ever accomplished by one man.”

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

QUESTION 3

Consider the following events in the history of India:

1. Establishment of the Inquisition in India

2. Khasi uprising

3. Defeat of the Dutch at the Battle of Colachel

4. The French East India Company sets up a trading post at Pondicherry

5. British victory in the Battle of Plassey

Which one of the following is the correct chronological order of the above events?

(a) 1–4–3–5–2

(b) 4–1–3–5–2

(c) 1–3–4–2–5

(d) 4–3–1–5–2

Explanation

1560: Establishment of the Inquisition in India

1674: The French East India Company sets up a trading post at Pondicherry

1741: Defeat of the Dutch at the Battle of Colachel

1757: British victory in the Battle of Plassey

1829-1833: Khasi uprising

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

QUESTION 4

Rani Abbakka is remembered in history of India for:

(a) Leading the first tribal uprising against the British in eastern India

(b) Successfully resisting Portuguese expansion on the western coast of India

(c) Establishing an independent kingdom in the Deccan after the fall of Vijayanagara

(d) Introducing naval reforms under the Maratha administration

Explanation

Rani Abbakka is considered the first Tuluva queen of Ullal who fought the Portuguese in the latter half of the 16th century. She belonged to the Chowta dynasty, an indigenous Tuluva dynasty that ruled over parts of coastal Karnataka. The 500th birth anniversary of Rani Abbakka was commemorated in 2025.

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

QUESTION 5

In Indian history, who among the following was known by the title ‘Mamallan’, meaning Great Wrestler?

(a) Narasimhavarman I

(b) Pulakesin II

(c) Rajaraja Chola I

(d) Harshavardhana

Explanation

Mamallan or ‘Great Wrestler’ is one of the names of Narasimhavarman I, the Pallava monarch who ruled from 630 AD to 668 AD, and who commissioned much of the architecture Mamallapuram is famous for.

S Swaminathan, author of Mamallapuram, a book on the architectural and sculptural achievements of the Pallavas, said Mamallapuram was the original name, even though the town is also called Mahabalipuram. “The name Mahabalipuram emerged much later, some time in the Vijayanagara period (14th-17th centuries). But there is nothing to directly connect the Asura King Mahabali with Mamallapuram,” he said.

The only, indirect link, he added, is the legend of Trivikrama carved in stone at Mamallapuram’s famous Varaha Mandapam (Varaha Cave Temple). “Mahabali was killed by Trivikrama, the giant form of Vamana, the fifth avatar of Vishnu. Maybe that is the only connection that Mahabali has with Mamallapuram. But this Trivikrama panel too is just one of the many compositions there,” he said.

Mamallapuram (Express photo)

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

Previous Daily Subject-Wise-Quiz

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Daily Subject-wise quiz — History, Culture, and Social Issues (Week 143)

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Daily subject-wise quiz —  Science and Technology (Week 148)

Daily subject-wise quiz — Economy (Week 148)

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