The Arthashastra, the ancient treatise on statecraft and administration, was written by whom?

The correct answer is C, Mrichchhakatika. That play, whose title means the little clay cart, was written by Shudraka, and it is unusual among Sanskrit dramas because its hero is an impoverished merchant and its plot turns on ordinary city life rather than on gods and kings.

Options A, B and D all belong to Kalidasa. Meghaduta, the cloud messenger, is a lyric poem in which an exiled spirit sends a message to his wife through a passing cloud. Raghuvamsha is a long narrative poem on the dynasty of Raghu, and Kumarasambhava narrates the birth of Kartikeya. The rest of Kalidasa's list, which examiners draw on for this kind of question, is made up of the plays Abhijnanashakuntalam, Vikramorvashiyam and Malavikagnimitram and the seasonal poem Ritusamhara. Learn the seven titles as one block and any odd name out becomes obvious.

The correct answer is A, Banabhatta, the court poet of Harshavardhana. The Harshacharita is a biography of his patron and one of the earliest historical biographies written in Sanskrit, while Kadambari is a romance in ornate prose and is often described as one of the first novels in any Indian language.

Option B, Bilhana, wrote Vikramankadevacharita in praise of the Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI, so he too was a court biographer but of a different dynasty. Option C, Dandin, wrote Dashakumaracharita, the tale of ten princes, and the work on poetics called Kavyadarsha. Option D, Bhasa, is an earlier dramatist remembered for Swapnavasavadatta. A useful extra fact for this question is that Harshavardhana was himself an author and wrote the plays Ratnavali, Nagananda and Priyadarshika, so the king and his poet are both examinable.

The correct answer is C, Kalhana. He wrote the Rajatarangini, whose name means the river of kings, in Kashmir in the twelfth century. Because he arranged rulers in order of time and used inscriptions, coins and earlier records, the work is treated as the earliest piece of history writing in India in the modern sense.

Option A, Somadeva, also of Kashmir, compiled the Kathasaritsagara, the ocean of streams of story, which is a vast collection of tales rather than a chronicle. Option B, Jayadeva, wrote the Gita Govinda at the court of Lakshmana Sena of Bengal, a lyrical work on Krishna and Radha. Option D, Kshemendra, was another Kashmiri writer of the same broad period, which is why his name is offered here. The examinable phrase is chronicle of Kashmir, and it belongs to Kalhana alone.

The correct answer is B, Panini. The Ashtadhyayi, meaning the work in eight chapters, fixed the rules of Sanskrit in a set of short formulas and is admired as the earliest scientific grammar of any language, since it describes the whole language through a compact system of rules.

Option A, Patanjali, wrote the Mahabhashya, the great commentary on Panini's grammar, so he depends on Panini rather than the other way round; a Patanjali is also credited with the Yoga Sutras. Option C, Amarasimha, compiled the Amarakosha, a thesaurus of Sanskrit words, and he is usually counted among the learned men of the Gupta court. Option D, Bharata Muni, wrote the Natyashastra, the treatise on drama, dance and music. Fix the chain in order: Panini writes the grammar, Patanjali comments on it.

The correct answer is C, Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, who is called the Adi Kavi or first poet because tradition holds that the first verse of classical Sanskrit poetry came from him. The Ramayana is accordingly called the Adi Kavya, the first poem.

Option A, Vyasa, is credited with the Mahabharata, the longer of the two epics, and with arranging the Vedas, but the title of first poet is not his. Option B, Kalidasa, is the greatest poet and dramatist of the classical age and is often called the Shakespeare of India, a different honour altogether. Option D, Ashvaghosha, wrote the Buddhacharita, a life of the Buddha in verse, and is associated with the court of Kanishka. Keep the three titles apart: Adi Kavi for Valmiki, the epic of Vyasa for the Mahabharata, and the classical master for Kalidasa.