The Heliodorus pillar at Besnagar near Vidisha was erected in honour of which deity?
- A.Shiva
- B.Vasudeva
- C.Surya
- D.Indra
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Vasudeva. The pillar was set up by Heliodorus, the Greek ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas at the court of a local ruler, and its Brahmi inscription calls it a Garuda pillar raised in honour of Vasudeva, the god of gods; it is the standard epigraphic proof that Bhagavatism, the early form of Vaishnavism, had taken root by the second century before the Christian era and had drawn in even a foreign envoy. Option A is wrong because the pillar has no Shaiva reference, and the early Shaiva evidence comes instead from Pashupata records. Option C is wrong because Surya worship is attested by later sun temples such as Konark and Modhera. Option D is wrong because Indra, prominent in the Rigveda, had already lost his central place by this period. Remember the three names together: Heliodorus, Antialcidas and Vasudeva.
Read the full article: Sects of Hinduism: Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakta
Practice Questions
View allThe Pashupata sect, the oldest known organised school of Shaivism, is traditionally associated with which teacher?
- A.Lakulisha
- B.Vasugupta
- C.Basavanna
- D.Abhinavagupta
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The correct answer is A, Lakulisha, who is held in Pashupata tradition to be an incarnation of Shiva and is shown in sculpture holding a club, the lakula from which his name comes; the Pashupata school is the earliest Shaiva order for which texts and inscriptions survive.
Read the full explanation →The sixty-three Shaiva saints of Tamil Nadu, whose devotional hymns form the Tevaram, are known as
- A.Alvars
- B.Nayanars
- C.Siddhars
- D.Acharyas
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The sixty-three Nayanars sang in Tamil to Shiva between roughly the sixth and ninth centuries; the hymns of the three greatest, Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar, make up the Tevaram, which forms the first seven books of the twelve-book Tirumurai canon, while Sekkizhar's Periya Puranam, the twelfth book, tells their lives.
Read the full explanation →The collection of four thousand Tamil verses composed by the Alvars is called
- A.Tirumurai
- B.Nalayira Divya Prabandham
- C.Periya Puranam
- D.Tiruvachakam
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The correct answer is B, the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, whose very name means the divine collection of four thousand, compiled from the hymns of the twelve Alvars and treated in Sri Vaishnavism as the Tamil Veda, recited in temple worship alongside Sanskrit scripture.
Read the full explanation →Who was the only woman among the twelve Alvars?
- A.Akka Mahadevi
- B.Andal
- C.Karaikkal Ammaiyar
- D.Mirabai
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The correct answer is B, Andal, the only woman among the twelve Alvars, whose Tiruppavai and Nachiyar Tirumozhi are sung in Vaishnava temples, especially in the month of Margazhi, and who is worshipped at Srivilliputhur.
Read the full explanation →The Lingayat or Veerashaiva movement was founded in twelfth century Karnataka by
- A.Basavanna
- B.Madhvacharya
- C.Ramanuja
- D.Nimbarka
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The correct answer is A, Basavanna, a minister and social reformer who led the Lingayat movement, gathered thinkers in the assembly called the Anubhava Mantapa, and whose followers wear a personal ishtalinga and reject caste, priesthood and temple ritual; the movement's literature is the body of Kannada vachana poems by…
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