The Ashokan pillar carrying a bull capital was found at which place in West Champaran district?
- A.Lauria Nandangarh
- B.Lauria Areraj
- C.Rampurva
- D.Kolhua
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Rampurva. Two Ashokan pillars were found at Rampurva in West Champaran district, one crowned by a bull capital and the other by a lion capital; the bull capital is the best known animal capital from Bihar after the Sarnath lions and is kept in New Delhi.
Option A is wrong because the pillar at Lauria Nandangarh carries a lion capital and the place is also known for one of the largest brick stupas of the region. Option B is wrong because the Lauria Areraj pillar carries edicts but has lost its capital. Option D is wrong because the Kolhua pillar at Vaishali carries a single lion and stands beside the Ramkund tank, in Vaishali district rather than West Champaran. West Champaran alone thus holds three Ashokan pillar sites, which makes this a favourite pairing question.
Read the full article: Architecture, Monuments and Heritage Sites of Bihar
Practice Questions
View allWhich site of Bihar was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2016?
- A.Mahabodhi Temple Complex, Bodh Gaya
- B.Nalanda Mahavihara
- C.Vikramshila, Antichak
- D.Kesariya stupa
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The excavated remains of the ancient university at Nalanda were added to the World Heritage List in 2016 as an archaeological site, and they are the second World Heritage Site of Bihar.
Read the full explanation →The foundation of Nalanda Mahavihara in the fifth century CE is attributed to which ruler?
- A.Chandragupta II
- B.Kumaragupta I
- C.Dharmapala
- D.Harshavardhana
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The founding of Nalanda is credited to the Gupta ruler Kumaragupta I in the fifth century CE, after which it grew for seven hundred years under later Gupta, Maukhari and Pala patronage until the raid of Bakhtiyar Khalji about 1193 CE.
Read the full explanation →Vikramshila Mahavihara at Antichak, in Bhagalpur district, was founded by which Pala ruler?
- A.Gopala
- B.Dharmapala
- C.Devapala
- D.Mahipala
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Vikramshila was founded by the Pala king Dharmapala and became, after Nalanda, the most important centre of Buddhist learning in eastern India, especially of tantric studies; its ruins at Antichak in Bhagalpur district show a large brick stupa surrounded by monastic cells.
Read the full explanation →The Lomas Rishi and Sudama caves, the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India, are in which district of Bihar?
- A.Nalanda
- B.Jehanabad
- C.Gaya
- D.Rohtas
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The Barabar hills in Jehanabad district hold the Lomas Rishi and Sudama caves, cut in the Mauryan period and polished inside to a mirror finish; the carved chaitya-arch doorway of the Lomas Rishi cave is the earliest example of that motif in stone.
Read the full explanation →The Golghar, the granary built at Patna in 1786 after the famine of 1770, was designed by
- A.Captain John Garstin
- B.Aliwal Khan
- C.Alexander Cunningham
- D.Ibrahim Khan
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The Golghar was built in 1786 to a design by Captain John Garstin of the Bengal Engineers, as a store of grain against another famine like that of 1770; its beehive shape and the two spiral stairways on the outside make it the best known colonial building of Patna.
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