In the later Vedic period, iron was known by which name?
- A.Ayas
- B.Krishna ayas
- C.Nishka
- D.Vrihi
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, krishna ayas, meaning the dark metal; shyama ayas is used in the same sense. Iron appears only in the later Vedic period, and the axes and ploughshares made from it allowed the forests of the Ganga-Yamuna doab to be cleared, which is why this single word carries so much historical weight.
Option A, ayas, is the general Rigvedic word for metal, usually taken to mean copper or bronze, not iron. Option C, nishka, was a gold ornament worn round the neck and later used as a unit of value, but it was not a coin and has nothing to do with iron. Option D, vrihi, is the word for rice, another later Vedic arrival. Examiners set these four words against each other precisely because they all come from the same chapter, so pair each with its meaning before the exam.
Read the full article: Vedic Age: Rigveda, Society and Later Vedic Changes
Practice Questions
View allWhich Veda is considered the origin of Indian classical music?
- A.Rigveda
- B.Samaveda
- C.Yajurveda
- D.Atharvaveda
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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.
Read the full explanation →The Battle of Ten Kings, the Dasarajna, was fought on the banks of which river?
- A.Vitasta
- B.Shutudri
- C.Parushni
- D.Asikni
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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.
Read the full explanation →The Purusha Sukta, the hymn that first mentions the four varnas, occurs in which mandala of the Rigveda?
- A.Third mandala
- B.Seventh mandala
- C.Ninth mandala
- D.Tenth mandala
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The Purusha Sukta describes the sacrifice of the cosmic being from whose parts the brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra are said to have come, and it is the first statement of the fourfold varna order.
Read the full explanation →Which god is invoked in the largest number of hymns in the Rigveda?
- A.Agni
- B.Indra
- C.Varuna
- D.Prajapati
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He is the god of rain and of war, called Purandara, the breaker of forts, and the largest number of Rigvedic hymns is addressed to him, which matches a people whose life turned on rainfall and on cattle raids.
Read the full explanation →In the Rigveda, which river is described as the naditama, the holiest of rivers?
- A.Ganga
- B.Sindhu
- C.Saraswati
- D.Yamuna
Show answer
The Rigveda praises it as the naditama, the best or holiest of rivers, and treats it as a goddess as well as a stream.
Read the full explanation →