Doddabetta, the highest peak of Tamil Nadu, lies in which hill range?

The correct answer is B, 1969. Madras State was created on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act, and the change of name to Tamil Nadu took effect on 14 January 1969 under the Madras State Alteration of Name Act. Option A is wrong because 1956 is the year the state was formed under its old name, and confusing formation with renaming is the standard trap in this topic. Option C is wrong because 1973 is the year Mysore State was renamed Karnataka, a neighbouring state, which is why that year is offered here as a distractor. Option D is wrong because 1996 is the year the capital city Madras was renamed Chennai, a change of the city's name and not of the state's. Pairing 1956, 1969 and 1996 correctly settles most questions from this part of the syllabus.

The correct answer is B, Rajaraja Chola I. The Brihadeeswarar or Peruvudaiyar temple at Thanjavur, also called the Big Temple, was completed about 1010 CE by Rajaraja Chola I, and its tall vimana of granite is the high point of Dravidian temple architecture; it is the core of the Great Living Chola Temples inscribed as a World Heritage Site. Option A is wrong because Rajendra Chola I, his son, built the temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram, the usual confusion in this question. Option C is wrong because Narasimhavarman I was a Pallava king of the seventh century associated with Mahabalipuram, three centuries earlier and a different dynasty. Option D is wrong because Karikala Chola belongs to the early Sangam age Cholas and is remembered for the Kallanai across the Kaveri. The granite vimana of the Thanjavur temple rises to about sixty six metres and was the tallest tower in India when it was raised.

The correct answer is C, the Pallavas. Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram, the port town of the Pallavas on the Coromandel coast, carries the rock cut Pancha Rathas and the relief called Arjuna's Penance from the reign of Narasimhavarman I, and the structural Shore Temple from that of Narasimhavarman II, Rajasimha; the group was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1984. Option A is wrong because the Cholas, who came later, built at Thanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram. Option B is wrong because the Pandyas ruled from Madurai and are known for rock cut shrines in the far south. Option D is wrong because the Nayakas of Madurai belong to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and are known for the gopurams of the Meenakshi temple and the palace of Tirumalai Nayak. At Mahabalipuram the relief of the descent of the Ganges, popularly called Arjuna's Penance, is the largest open air rock relief in the country.

The correct answer is C, the Kaveri. The Kallanai, called the Grand Anicut by the British, was built across the Kaveri near Tiruchirappalli by the early Chola king Karikala, and it still spreads the river's water across the delta of Thanjavur, which is why that delta is called the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. Option A is wrong because the Vaigai, the river of Madurai, carries the Vaigai dam of the twentieth century and no ancient anicut of this kind. Option B is wrong because the Thamirabarani flows through Tirunelveli in the far south and is associated with the Papanasam dam. Option D is wrong because the Palar, which enters the state from Karnataka and passes Vellore, is a seasonal river. On the Kaveri the Mettur dam and its Stanley Reservoir are the modern works.

The correct answer is B, 39. Tamil Nadu elects 39 members to the Lok Sabha and 18 to the Rajya Sabha, and its Legislative Assembly has 234 seats; the Legislative Council was abolished in 1986, so the legislature is unicameral. Option A is wrong because 28 is the number of Lok Sabha seats of Karnataka, a neighbouring state, and this swap is the usual trap. Option C is wrong because 42 is the strength of West Bengal, and in the south Andhra Pradesh has 25 and Kerala 20. Option D is wrong because 48 is the number of seats of Maharashtra, which is second only to Uttar Pradesh with 80. The Union Territory of Puducherry, which lies inside Tamil Nadu, sends one member of its own to the Lok Sabha. These seat totals have not changed since the delimitation of 1976 was frozen, so they are safe facts to memorise.