Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 11

The correct answer is A, Rakhigarhi. Rakhigarhi lies in Hisar district of Haryana, on the dry bed of the Ghaggar river. It is the largest Harappan site found in India, spread over several mounds, and excavations there have given up planned streets, brick drains, a granary area, seals and terracotta toys. DNA work on skeletons from its cemetery has made the site famous well beyond archaeology. Option B is wrong because Dholavira is in the Rann of Kachchh in Gujarat, known for its water reservoirs and its signboard. Option C is wrong because Lothal, also in Gujarat, is the dockyard site near the Gulf of Khambhat. Option D is wrong because Kalibangan is in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan, where ploughed fields and fire altars were found. Exam tip: fix the states in mind — Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Dholavira, Lothal and Surkotada (Gujarat), Ropar (Punjab) and Banawali (Haryana).

The correct answer is C, Atharvaveda. The Atharvaveda calls the Sabha and the Samiti the two daughters of Prajapati, which shows that they were seen as two separate popular bodies. The Sabha was a smaller council of elders and nobles that also did judicial work, while the Samiti was a larger assembly of the common people that discussed policy and could even have a say in choosing the king. Both are first named in the Rigveda, but it is the Atharvaveda that sets them apart and says the king needs their support to rule well. Together with the Vidatha and the Gana, they were the tribal assemblies of the Vedic age. Option A is wrong because the Rigveda mentions both bodies but does not present them as twin institutions. Option B is wrong because the Samaveda is a book of chants set to music for rituals. Option D is wrong because the Yajurveda deals with the rules and formulas of sacrifice. Exam tip: Sabha and Samiti, the two daughters of Prajapati, in the Atharvaveda.

The correct answer is B, the Samaveda. Its verses are largely borrowed from the Rigveda but are arranged to be sung to fixed melodies during sacrifices, and those melodies are the earliest record of musical notation in India, which is why the Samaveda is called the root of Indian classical music.

Option A, the Rigveda, is a collection of hymns recited in praise of the gods rather than sung to a tune, and it is remembered as the oldest Veda with 1,028 hymns. Option C, the Yajurveda, gives the formulas a priest utters while performing a sacrifice and is the only Veda written partly in prose. Option D, the Atharvaveda, contains charms, spells, cures and material on everyday life, and was the last collection to be accepted as a Veda. Papers often place all four together, so fix one identifying word to each: hymns, melody, formula and charm.

The correct answer is A, (i) and (iv). Anekantavada and Syadvada are the two central Jain ideas about knowledge and truth. Anekantavada means 'many-sidedness': reality has many aspects, and no single point of view can capture all of it. Syadvada, the doctrine of 'may be', puts this into language; every statement should carry the word 'syat', meaning 'in some respect', and Jain thinkers built on it a sevenfold way of stating a thing, called saptabhangi. The story often used to explain it is that of the blind men and the elephant, each touching one part and describing a different animal. Option B is wrong because Sarvastivada ('everything exists') was an early Buddhist school, and Shunyavada ('emptiness') is the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism founded by Nagarjuna. Option C is wrong because it pairs a Buddhist school with a Jain doctrine. Option D is wrong because it adds two Buddhist schools and leaves out Syadvada. Exam tip: Anekanta and Syad are Jain; Sarvasti and Shunya are Buddhist.

The correct answer is B, Sarnath. After his enlightenment the Buddha walked to the deer park at Sarnath near Varanasi and taught the Four Noble Truths to the five ascetics who had earlier deserted him. The sermon is called the Dharmachakra Pravartana, the setting in motion of the wheel of law, and the Buddhist Sangha is dated from it.

Option A, Bodh Gaya, is where he attained enlightenment under a peepal tree on the bank of the Niranjana at the age of thirty-five, not where he first preached. Option C, Kushinagar, is the town of the Mallas where he died at the age of eighty, an event called the Mahaparinirvana. Option D, Lumbini, in the Nepal tarai, is his birthplace and was marked later by an Ashokan pillar. Papers rotate these four sites against one another, so fix exactly one event to each name while revising.

The correct answer is A, Ajatashatru. He was Bimbisara's son and took the throne of Magadha after him in the Haryanka dynasty. Bimbisara, a contemporary of the Buddha, built Magadha's power through marriage alliances and the conquest of Anga, with Rajagriha as his capital. Ajatashatru pushed it further: he fought Kosala, defeated the Vajji confederacy of the Licchavis, and built a fort at the village of Pataligrama on the Ganga. The First Buddhist Council was held at Rajagriha in his reign, soon after the Buddha's death. B is wrong because Udayin was Ajatashatru's son, who came later and made Pataliputra the capital. C is wrong because Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya dynasty around 322 BCE, nearly two centuries later. D is wrong because Ashoka was Chandragupta Maurya's grandson. Exam tip: Haryanka order, Bimbisara, then Ajatashatru, then Udayin; Rajagriha first, Pataliputra later.

The correct answer is B, Eight. In Rock Edict XIII, Ashoka states that the country of the Kalingas was conquered eight years after his consecration as king. Taking his coronation at about 268 BCE, the war is placed around 261 BCE. The same edict records that a hundred and fifty thousand people were carried away, a hundred thousand were slain and many more died, and that the king felt deep remorse and turned to dhamma — this is the only war Ashoka ever describes in his inscriptions. Kalinga is the coastal tract of present-day Odisha, and his edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada stand there. Option A is wrong because no Ashokan edict gives five years for the Kalinga campaign. Option C is wrong because six years appears in none of the inscriptions. Option D is wrong because seven is a common distractor while the text plainly says eight. Exam tip: consecration about 268 BCE, Kalinga war in the eighth regnal year about 261 BCE, told in Rock Edict XIII.

The correct answer is A, Seleucus Nicator. Seleucus, a general of Alexander who came to rule the eastern part of his empire, sent Megasthenes as his ambassador to Chandragupta Maurya's court at Pataliputra. This followed their war around 305 BCE, after which Seleucus gave up the regions around Kandahar and Kabul and received 500 war elephants in return. Megasthenes wrote 'Indica', a description of Mauryan India, its capital and its people; the book itself is lost and survives only in quotations by later Greek writers such as Strabo and Arrian. B is wrong because Amyntas II was an early king of Macedon, long before the Mauryas. C is wrong because Amyntas III was a Macedonian king and the father of Philip II. D is wrong because Philip II was the king of Macedon and the father of Alexander the Great, and he died in 336 BCE. Exam tip: Seleucus sent Megasthenes to Chandragupta, and Megasthenes wrote 'Indica'.

The correct answer is B, Charaka. Charaka is the physician of ancient India whose name is attached to the Charaka Samhita, the great text on medicine, and tradition makes him a court physician of the Kushana king Kanishka. The Charaka Samhita is a reworking of the older Agnivesha Tantra and deals with diagnosis, diet, hygiene, drugs and the ethics a physician must keep; with Sushruta's Samhita on surgery it forms the base of Ayurveda. Option A is wrong because Bhasa was a Sanskrit dramatist, remembered for plays such as Svapnavasavadatta. Option C is wrong because Panini was the grammarian who composed the Ashtadhyayi, the standard work on Sanskrit grammar. Option D is wrong because Harsha was a seventh-century ruler of Kanauj and himself a playwright, author of Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda, not a writer on medicine. Exam tip: fix the pairs — Charaka for medicine, Sushruta for surgery, Panini for grammar, Aryabhata for mathematics and astronomy.

The correct answer is A, Kharavela. The Hathigumpha or ‘elephant cave’ inscription is carved in the Udayagiri hills near Bhubaneswar in Odisha and is the main record of Kharavela, the Jain king of Kalinga of the Mahameghavahana (Chedi) dynasty, who ruled around the first century BCE. Written in Prakrit in the Brahmi script, it describes his reign year by year: repairs to his capital, campaigns against rulers in the north and south, gifts to Jain monks, and the extension of a canal first dug by a Nanda king. That Nanda reference makes it an important source for older history too. Option B is wrong because Ashoka is known from his own rock and pillar edicts; his Kalinga war is described in Rock Edict XIII. Option C is wrong because Harshavardhana is known from Banabhatta’s Harshacharita and the Banskhera and Madhuban copper plates. Option D is wrong because Kanishka’s key record is the Rabatak inscription found in Afghanistan. Exam tip: Hathigumpha → Kharavela; Junagadh → Rudradaman; Nasik → Gautamiputra Satakarni.

The correct answer is A, 390. Chandragupta II extended Gupta rule to Gujarat around 390 AD by defeating the Western Kshatrapas, the Saka rulers of Malwa, Gujarat and Kathiawar. The victory handed the Guptas the western ports and the sea trade with West Asia and Rome, and it won him the title Vikramaditya; his silver coins also call him Sakari, the destroyer of the Sakas. Chandragupta II ruled from about 380 to 415 AD, made Ujjain his second seat of power, and the Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hien travelled through India in his reign. B is wrong because 309 AD falls before the dynasty itself began, as Chandragupta I took the throne only around 319 AD. C is wrong because 903 AD is several centuries after the Gupta empire had ended. D is wrong because 930 AD belongs to the Rajput age, far later than any Gupta king. Exam tip: Chandragupta II - Vikramaditya and Sakari, Ujjain, Fa-Hien's visit, Saka conquest about 390 AD.

The correct answer is C, Samudragupta. The Prayaga Prashasti, better known as the Allahabad Pillar Inscription, is a long Sanskrit poem in his praise. It was composed by Harishena, his court poet and minister, and engraved on an old Ashokan pillar now kept in the Allahabad (Prayagraj) Fort. It lists the kings Samudragupta defeated in the north and the south, the frontier states and forest kingdoms that paid him tribute, and praises him as a poet and a player of the veena, which his coins also show. His wide conquests led the historian V. A. Smith to call him the Napoleon of India. A is wrong, because the same pillar carries Ashoka's own edicts, not a prashasti praising him. B is wrong, because Harshavardhana is praised in Banabhatta's Harshacharita, not in this inscription. D is wrong, because no prashasti at Prayaga praises Bindusara, the Mauryan king who was Ashoka's father. Exam tip: Prayaga Prashasti, Harishena, Samudragupta; Aihole inscription, Ravikirti, Pulakeshin II.

The correct answer is A, Richard Wellesley. Lord Richard Wellesley was Governor-General from 1798 to 1805, and in 1801 he forced Nawab Saadat Ali Khan of Awadh to hand over about half of his kingdom to the Company. The Nawab had failed to pay the rising cost of the British troops kept in his state, and Wellesley took rich lands such as Rohilkhand and the lower Doab in payment. This was a classic use of Wellesley's Subsidiary Alliance, under which an Indian ruler paid for British troops, accepted a British Resident and could make no treaty without the Company's approval. Hyderabad was the first state to accept it, in 1798. Option B is wrong because Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal, had left India in 1785. Option C is wrong because Cornwallis, known for the Permanent Settlement of 1793, had left by then; he returned only briefly in 1805. Option D is wrong because Robert Clive, the victor of Plassey, died in 1774. Exam tip: Subsidiary Alliance means Wellesley; Awadh lost half its land in 1801 and was annexed by Dalhousie in 1856.

The correct answer is C, Cher. The Cheras ruled in Kerala and took no part in the fight over Kannauj. The Tripartite Struggle was a long contest in the 8th to 10th centuries among three powers for control of Kannauj, the old capital of Harshavardhana in the Ganga valley. Whoever held Kannauj was seen as the master of north India, so the three kept attacking it for nearly two centuries. In the end the Gurjara-Pratiharas held Kannauj the longest, and the fight wore out all three powers. Option A is wrong because the Palas of Bengal, founded by Gopala, were one of the three sides; Dharmapala even placed his own nominee on the Kannauj throne. Option B is wrong because the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan, under kings like Dhruva and Govinda III, raided the north and joined the struggle. Option D is wrong because the Gurjara-Pratiharas of western India, with rulers like Nagabhata II and Mihira Bhoja, were the third side. Exam tip: Pala (east), Pratihara (west) and Rashtrakuta (south) fought for Kannauj.

The correct answer is A, 1773. The Boston Tea Party took place on 16 December 1773, when American colonists threw British tea into Boston harbour. The protest was against the Tea Act of 1773, which let the East India Company sell tea in the colonies without paying the usual duties and undercut local merchants. Members of the Sons of Liberty, some dressed as Mohawk Indians, boarded three ships at Griffin's Wharf and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water. Britain replied with the Intolerable Acts, and the anger they caused led to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and to the American War of Independence from 1775. B is wrong because 1776 is the year the Declaration of Independence was adopted, on 4 July. C is wrong because 1775 is when fighting began at Lexington and Concord. D is wrong because 1774 is the year of the Intolerable Acts and the First Continental Congress. Exam tip: Boston Tea Party 1773, war begins 1775, independence declared 1776.

The correct answer is B, 1565. The Battle of Talikota, also called Rakshasi-Tangadi, was fought in January 1565 and broke the power of Vijayanagara. Rama Raya was the real ruler behind the throne of Sadashiva Raya. He had played the Deccan Sultanates against one another, so Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda finally joined hands against him. Rama Raya was captured and killed, and the winning armies plundered the capital Vijayanagara (Hampi) for months. The ruins of Hampi, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, date from this sack. The empire lived on under the Aravidu dynasty but never regained its glory. Option A is wrong because 1585 is twenty years after the battle. Option C is wrong because in 1545 Rama Raya's long control of the empire had only just begun; the decisive battle came twenty years later. Option D is wrong because 1525 was the reign of Krishnadeva Raya, the empire's golden age. Exam tip: Vijayanagara founded 1336, peak under Krishnadeva Raya (1509–1529), fall at Talikota 1565.

The correct answer is C, the Parushni, known today as the Ravi. The seventh mandala of the Rigveda describes how Sudas, the king of the Bharata tribe, defeated a confederacy of ten tribes on its banks, and the battle is the clearest political event recorded in the whole of Rigvedic literature.

Option A, the Vitasta, is the modern Jhelum, and option D, the Asikni, is the modern Chenab; both lay within the Rigvedic homeland but neither is connected with this battle. Option B, the Shutudri, is the modern Sutlej, again one of the seven rivers but not the site of the fight. Examiners like this question because it tests two things at once, the event and the pair of old and modern river names, so memorise the pairs Vitasta for Jhelum, Asikni for Chenab, Parushni for Ravi, Vipasha for Beas and Shutudri for Sutlej.

The correct answer is C, Kanishka. The Fourth Buddhist Council met at Kundalvana in Kashmir in the first century CE under the Kushana king Kanishka, with Vasumitra presiding and Ashvaghosha assisting him. Its commentaries were compiled in Sanskrit and the meeting marks the point at which the Mahayana and Hinayana branches finally parted.

Option A, Ashoka, patronised the Third Council at Pataliputra, presided over by Moggaliputta Tissa, which added the Abhidhamma Pitaka and sent missions abroad. Option B, Ajatashatru, patronised the First Council at Rajgriha just after the Buddha death, where Upali recited the Vinaya and Ananda the Sutta. Option D, Kalashoka, patronised the Second Council at Vaishali, which split the order into Sthaviravadins and Mahasanghikas. Learn the councils as a row of four: place, king, president and result.

The correct answer is C, Rupnath. Rupnath lies in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, not in Karnataka, and it bears Minor Rock Edict I. Karnataka holds the largest cluster of Ashokan Minor Rock Edicts, in the Raichur, Ballari and Chitradurga belt — at Maski, Gavimath, Palkigundu, Brahmagiri, Siddapura, Jatinga-Rameshwara, Nittur and Udegolam. Minor Rock Edicts differ from the fourteen Major Rock Edicts in being short, personal declarations of the king's faith in dhamma rather than statements of policy. Option A is wrong because Maski, in Raichur district of Karnataka, is a find spot, and a famous one — it is where the name Ashoka itself was first read in an inscription. Option B is wrong because Gavimath, near Koppal in Karnataka, also carries Minor Rock Edict I. Option D is wrong because Brahmagiri, in Chitradurga district of Karnataka, is another Karnataka find spot. Exam tip: Maski, Gavimath, Brahmagiri, Siddapura and Nittur are in Karnataka, while Rupnath is in Madhya Pradesh and Bairat in Rajasthan.

The correct answer is A, England and France. The Hundred Years' War was fought between England and France from 1337 to 1453, so it actually ran for 116 years with long truces in between. It began when Edward III of England pressed his claim to the French throne, and behind that lay English lands in France and control of the wool trade of Flanders. England won the famous early battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt, helped by the longbow, but France recovered after Joan of Arc raised the siege of Orleans in 1429, and by 1453 the English held only Calais. B is wrong because England and Italy fought no such war. C is wrong because England and Germany faced each other in the twentieth-century world wars, not in the fourteenth century. D is wrong because the German-French clash was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, far later and far shorter. Exam tip: Hundred Years' War 1337 to 1453, England against France, turned by Joan of Arc in 1429.