According to the Manusmriti, Brahmavarta was the land lying between which two rivers?
- A.Ganga and Yamuna
- B.Saraswati and Drishadvati
- C.Sutlej and Beas
- D.Yamuna and Chambal
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Saraswati and Drishadvati. The Manusmriti describes Brahmavarta as the holy land created by the gods between the Saraswati and the Drishadvati, and that strip of country is the plain of present-day Haryana. The Saraswati is identified with the dry bed of the Ghaggar and the Drishadvati with the Chautang, and the Harappan sites of the state stand along these two channels.
Option A, Ganga and Yamuna, is the doab that the texts call Brahmarshi-desha or Antarvedi, a different and slightly later holy region. Option C, Sutlej and Beas, lies in Punjab and belongs to the Sapta Sindhu rather than to Brahmavarta. Option D, Yamuna and Chambal, is a region of central India with no place in this definition. Along with Brahmavarta, remember that Kurukshetra is called Dharmakshetra in the first line of the Bhagavad Gita, and that the later Vedic country of the Kurus lay here.
Read the full article: Ancient Haryana: Rakhigarhi, Kurukshetra and Vedic Age
Practice Questions
View allThe Vedic Aryans lived in the area called Sapt-Sindhu, which means area drained by seven rivers. One of the rivers among the seven is Jhelum. What was its ancient name?
- A.Askini
- B.Parushni
- C.Vipash
- D.Vitasta
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The Jhelum is called Vitasta in the Rigveda, and it is one of the seven rivers of the Sapta Sindhu, the land in which the hymns were composed.
Read the full explanation →The earliest occurrence of the mantra famous as Gayatri Mantra is found in which of the following texts?
- A.Bhagavad Gita
- B.Atharva Veda
- C.Rig Veda
- D.Manusmriti
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The Gayatri Mantra first appears in the third mandala of the Rigveda and is ascribed to the sage Vishvamitra. It is addressed to Savitr, the sun, and it is composed in the Gayatri metre, from which it takes its popular name.
Read the full explanation →Satapatha Brahmana and Taittiriya Brahmana are the Brahmana texts of ______
- A.Samaveda
- B.Atharvaveda
- C.Rigveda
- D.Yajurveda
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The Shatapatha Brahmana belongs to the Shukla or White Yajurveda and the Taittiriya Brahmana to the Krishna or Black Yajurveda, so both are Brahmana texts of the Yajurveda.
Read the full explanation →Which of the three Gods were especially important in the Rigvedic period?
- A.Rudra, Vishnu and Indra
- B.Agni, Indra and Soma
- C.Indra, Varun and Rudra
- D.Agni, Indra and Vishnu
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These three receive the largest number of hymns in the Rigveda. Indra, the war god and breaker of forts, has the greatest number; Agni, the fire that carries the offering to the gods, comes next; and Soma, both a plant and a god, has the whole of the ninth mandala…
Read the full explanation →The Harappan site of Rakhigarhi is located in which district of Haryana?
- A.Fatehabad
- B.Hisar
- C.Rohtak
- D.Bhiwani
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Rakhigarhi lies in Hisar district and covers the land of two villages, Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shahpur, on a dried channel of the Drishadvati, today called the Chautang.
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