Shravasti was the capital of which mahajanapada?
- A.Kashi
- B.Malla
- C.Kosala
- D.Chedi
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Kosala. Kosala lay in the central and eastern plain of Uttar Pradesh with Shravasti as its capital and Saketa, the Ayodhya of today, as a second centre. Its best known ruler in Buddhist literature is Prasenajit, a contemporary of the Buddha, and Shravasti itself held the Jetavana monastery given to the order by the merchant Anathapindika.
Option A, Kashi, had its capital at Varanasi and was annexed by Kosala before Magadha took both. Option B, Malla, was a confederacy with its centre at Kushinara, where the Buddha died. Option D, Chedi, lay in the Bundelkhand region with its capital at Suktimati. Kosala and Shravasti are the pair to fix, because the examiner often offers Ayodhya as the capital instead. Hold the eastern group together for revision: Kashi at Varanasi, Kosala at Shravasti, Malla at Kushinara and Vatsa at Kaushambi, all four swallowed in the end by Magadha.
Read the full article: Ancient Uttar Pradesh: Mahajanapadas and Buddhist Sites
Practice Questions
View allWhich of the following areas was known as Magadh in the ancient period?
- A.South of Ganga
- B.Between Ganga and Yamuna
- C.North of Ganga
- D.Between Yamuna and Chambal
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Magadha lay on the southern bank of the Ganga, in the region of present day Patna, Gaya and Nalanda, with its early capital at Rajagriha among the hills and later at Pataliputra at the meeting of the Ganga and the Son.
Read the full explanation →Kaushambi, near present day Prayagraj, was the capital of which mahajanapada?
- A.Kosala
- B.Vatsa
- C.Panchala
- D.Surasena
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The Vatsa mahajanapada lay in the Ganga and Yamuna doab with its capital at Kaushambi, and its best known ruler was Udayana, who appears in Sanskrit literature and in Buddhist texts alike.
Read the full explanation →The Buddha delivered his first sermon at which place?
- A.Bodh Gaya
- B.Sarnath
- C.Kushinagar
- D.Vaishali
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After his enlightenment the Buddha walked to the deer park at Sarnath near Varanasi and preached to the five ascetics who had been his companions.
Read the full explanation →The Buddha attained mahaparinirvana at which place in present day Uttar Pradesh?
- A.Shravasti
- B.Sankisa
- C.Kushinagar
- D.Kaushambi
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Kushinara, the Kushinagar of today in eastern Uttar Pradesh, was a town of the Malla mahajanapada, and the Buddha died there between two sal trees at the age of eighty, a death traditionally dated to 483 BCE and remembered as the mahaparinirvana.
Read the full explanation →The Lion Capital, adopted as the State Emblem of India, comes from the Ashokan pillar at
- A.Lauriya Nandangarh
- B.Sarnath
- C.Rampurva
- D.Sanchi
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The capital of the Ashokan pillar at Sarnath carries four lions standing back to back on an abacus bearing four wheels and four animals, and it was adopted as the State Emblem of India on 26 January 1950.
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