The Brahmi script, in which the edicts of Ashoka are written, was deciphered by which scholar?
- A.Alexander Cunningham
- B.James Prinsep
- C.John Marshall
- D.William Jones
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, James Prinsep. Prinsep, an officer of the East India Company mint at Calcutta, deciphered the Brahmi script in 1837, which made the edicts of Ashoka readable and opened up the early history of India. Option A is wrong because Alexander Cunningham was the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India and surveyed and excavated sites, but he did not decipher the script. Option C is wrong because John Marshall headed the Archaeological Survey much later and is remembered for announcing the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilisation in 1924. Option D is wrong because William Jones founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 and showed the kinship of Sanskrit with Greek and Latin, a different achievement altogether. Brahmi is the parent of nearly every Indian script, including Devanagari and the Tamil script.
Read the full article: Languages and Scripts of India: Eighth Schedule and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhich of the following is not a language family existing in India?
- A.Tibeto-Burman
- B.African-Asian
- C.Dravidian
- D.Austro-Asian
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There is no language family by that name in India. The Afro-Asiatic family, which the name echoes, covers Arabic, Hebrew and the Berber and Cushitic languages of West Asia and North Africa, and no Indian language belongs to it.
Read the full explanation →Which of these languages belong to the Dravidian language family?
- A.Kannada
- B.Hindi
- C.Oriya
- D.Manipuri
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Kannada is one of the four major Dravidian languages, the others being Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, and it is the official language of Karnataka.
Read the full explanation →The languages spoken in Jharkhand and parts of central India mainly belong to which of the following language family?
- A.Indo-European family
- B.Austro-Asiatic family
- C.Tibeto-Burman family
- D.Dravidian family
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The tribal languages of Jharkhand and the neighbouring belt of central and eastern India, namely Santali, Mundari, Ho and Kurukh's neighbours in the Munda group, belong to the Austro-Asiatic family, whose Indian branch is called Munda.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following languages is one of the two official languages of Uttar Pradesh?
- A.Urdu
- B.Awadhi
- C.Bundeli
- D.Bagheli
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Under Article 345 a State may adopt any language in use within it as its official language, and Uttar Pradesh has adopted Hindi as its official language and Urdu as its second official language.
Read the full explanation →In which amendment to the Constitution were Bodo, Dogri, Santhali and Maithili added to the list of recognised languages?
- A.73rd Constitution Amendment Act of 1992
- B.92nd Constitution Amendment Act of 2003
- C.103rd Constitution Amendment Act, 2018
- D.101st Constitution Amendment Act, 2016
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That amendment added four languages, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali, to the Eighth Schedule and took the count from 18 to 22, where it stands.
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