Consider the following events and arrange them in chronological order. I. Battle of Mudki II. Battle of Porto Novo III. Battle of Shakarkheda IV. Battle of Bedara Select the correct answer from the code given below : Code :
- (a)III, IV, II, I
- (b)I, II, III, IV
- (c)II, III, IV, I
- (d)IV, III, II, I
Correct — A, III, IV, II, I. Dated individually, the four battles fall a long way apart, and once you have the dates the sequence is unambiguous. SHAKARKHEDA (Sakharkherda, in what is now Buldhana district of Berar) was fought in 1724, when Nizam-ul-Mulk defeated Mubariz Khan and forced the Mughal emperor to recognise him as viceroy of the Deccan with the title Asaf Jah — in effect the founding of the Hyderabad state. BEDARA, also known as Biderra or the Battle of Chinsurah, was fought on 25 November 1759, when Francis Forde's East India Company force, with Bengal troops, crushed a Dutch VOC expedition on the Hooghly about fifty kilometres from Calcutta and ended Dutch ambitions in Bengal. PORTO NOVO (Parangipettai in Cuddalore district) was fought on 1 July 1781 in the Second Anglo-Mysore War, where Sir Eyre Coote with about 8,000 men defeated Haidar Ali's roughly 40,000. MUDKI was fought on 18 December 1845, the opening battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War between the East India Company and the Sikh Khalsa Army. So the order is 1724, 1759, 1781, 1845 — that is III, then IV, then II, then I, which is option (a).
- (b)I, II, III, IV — This is the straight-through order, I-II-III-IV, and it is exactly reversed at both ends. It would place Mudki (1845) first and Bedara (1759) last, when Mudki is in fact the latest of the four by more than sixty years and Bedara the second earliest. Sequencing options are printed in this order to catch anyone who marks without dating.
- (c)II, III, IV, I — This opens with Porto Novo (1781), which is the third of the four, not the first, and it places Shakarkheda (1724) — the earliest by thirty-five years — second. It does get Mudki right at the end, which is why it survives a careless glance; the failure is at the front of the sequence.
- (d)IV, III, II, I — The near miss, and the only option worth a second look. It correctly places Porto Novo third and Mudki last, and it differs from the answer solely in swapping the first two: it opens with Bedara (1759) and puts Shakarkheda (1724) second. Anyone who knows the Anglo-European and Anglo-Indian wars but has not dated Shakarkheda — the one battle here with no British participant — will land on this option.
The four battles between them sketch the whole arc of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century political change in India. Shakarkheda (1724) belongs to the disintegration of Mughal authority, when a provincial governor turned his charge into a hereditary state — Nizam-ul-Mulk's victory won him the title Asaf Jah and made Hyderabad an autonomous power. Bedara (1759) belongs to the elimination of European rivals: fought soon after Plassey and during the Seven Years' War, it destroyed the Dutch attempt to challenge the Company's new ascendancy in Bengal, just as the Carnatic wars had already sidelined the French. Porto Novo (1781) belongs to the contest with Indian successor states, the Second Anglo-Mysore War, where Eyre Coote's victory over a far larger Mysore army checked Haidar Ali's advance in the Carnatic. Mudki (1845) belongs to the last phase, the absorption of the final independent power in the subcontinent, opening the First Anglo-Sikh War that ended in the Treaty of Lahore. Rival Mughal successors, then rival Europeans, then rival Indian kingdoms, then the Punjab — that is the sequence in one line.
Chronology questions are best attacked by anchoring, not by recalling four exact dates. Fix the two extremes first. Mudki is Anglo-Sikh, and the Anglo-Sikh wars are the 1840s, the last conquests before the Revolt — so Mudki is last, which immediately eliminates options (b) and (c). That leaves (a) and (d), differing only in whether Shakarkheda or Bedara comes first. Now use the political era: Shakarkheda is a purely Mughal-succession affair with no European party to it, belonging to the 1720s when the empire was fragmenting; Bedara is a Company-versus-Dutch action of the post-Plassey years, so it cannot precede a battle from the era before the Company held any territorial power in Bengal. That settles Shakarkheda first and gives option (a). The general rule is worth internalising: date the odd one out — here the only battle with no British involvement — because that is usually where the two surviving options differ. Note also that Bedara appears in books under three names (Bedara, Biderra, Chinsurah), which is a common source of confusion.
- Battle of Shakarkheda, 1724 — Nizam-ul-Mulk defeated Mubariz Khan and was recognised as viceroy of the Deccan with the title Asaf Jah, effectively founding the Hyderabad state.
- Battle of Bedara (Biderra / Chinsurah), 25 November 1759 — Francis Forde's East India Company force with Bengal troops destroyed a Dutch VOC expedition on the Hooghly, ending Dutch ambitions in Bengal.
- Battle of Porto Novo (Parangipettai, Cuddalore district), 1 July 1781 — Sir Eyre Coote with about 8,000 men defeated Haidar Ali's roughly 40,000 in the Second Anglo-Mysore War.
- Battle of Mudki, 18 December 1845 — the opening engagement of the First Anglo-Sikh War, East India Company against the Sikh Khalsa Army.
- Correct sequence: 1724 Shakarkheda, 1759 Bedara, 1781 Porto Novo, 1845 Mudki — that is III, IV, II, I.
- III. Shakarkheda, 1724 — Nizam-ul-Mulk defeats Mubariz Khan; Hyderabad founded under the title Asaf Jah
- IV. Bedara (Chinsurah), 25 Nov 1759 — Forde's Company force destroys the Dutch VOC expedition on the Hooghly
- II. Porto Novo, 1 July 1781 — Eyre Coote defeats Haidar Ali in the Second Anglo-Mysore War
- I. Mudki, 18 Dec 1845 — opening battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War
Order III, IV, II, I = option (a). Mughal successor state first, then a European rival, then an Indian kingdom, then the Punjab.
- Assuming every 'battle' in a UPPSC list involves the British — Shakarkheda does not, and dating it is what separates the correct option from the near miss
- Confusing the Anglo-Sikh wars of the 1840s with the Anglo-Maratha wars of 1775-1818; both close with annexation but three decades apart
- Failing to recognise Bedara, Biderra and Chinsurah as three names for the same 1759 engagement
UPPSC's favourite history format is exactly this: four battles, four numerals, arrange in order. It typically mixes eras deliberately so that no single war supplies all four, and it prefers less familiar names — Sarnal, Bilgram, Dharmat, Jajau, Daurah, Shakarkheda — over the textbook set. UPSC asks battles more often through their consequences, naming the treaty or the political outcome rather than the sequence.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Battle of Mudki, fought in December 1845, was the opening engagement of which war?
- (a)The Third Anglo-Maratha War
- (b)The First Anglo-Sikh War
- (c)The Second Anglo-Burmese War
- (d)The Second Anglo-Afghan War
Answer(b) The First Anglo-Sikh War — Mudki was fought on 18 December 1845 between the East India Company and the Sikh Khalsa Army, and was followed by Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon before the Treaty of Lahore.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Battle of Shakarkheda (1724) is significant chiefly because it
- (a)Ended Dutch commercial ambitions in Bengal
- (b)Led to the founding of the autonomous state of Hyderabad under Asaf Jah
- (c)Marked the first British victory over Mysore
- (d)Brought the Maratha Peshwaship to Balaji Vishwanath
Answer(b) Led to the founding of the autonomous state of Hyderabad under Asaf Jah — Nizam-ul-Mulk's defeat of Mubariz Khan compelled the Mughal emperor to recognise him as viceroy of the Deccan, which in practice made Hyderabad a hereditary successor state.