The iron pillar at Mehrauli in Delhi, famous for resisting rust, carries an inscription of a king named Chandra, usually identified with which ruler?
- A.Chandragupta Maurya
- B.Chandragupta I
- C.Chandragupta II
- D.Chandra Gupta of the Later Guptas
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Chandragupta II. The Sanskrit inscription on the Mehrauli pillar praises a king called Chandra, whom historians identify with the Gupta ruler Chandragupta II Vikramaditya, and the pillar's wrought iron has resisted corrosion for about sixteen centuries because of its phosphorus content and the protective film it forms, which is the standard example of ancient Indian metallurgy. Option A is wrong because Chandragupta Maurya ruled in the fourth century BCE, long before the pillar was made. Option B is wrong because Chandragupta I, the grandfather of Chandragupta II, is not the Chandra of this inscription. Option D is wrong because the Later Guptas of Magadha are a separate and later dynasty with no claim to the pillar. The pillar stands today in the Qutb complex at Mehrauli, having been moved there in a later period, and in questions it is commonly paired with wootz steel and the zinc of Zawar as proof of ancient Indian metallurgy.
Read the full article: Science and Mathematics in Ancient India: Scholars and Texts
Practice Questions
View allThe Aryabhatiya, composed in 499 CE, is divided into which four parts?
- A.Gitikapada, Ganitapada, Kalakriyapada and Golapada
- B.Lilavati, Bijaganita, Grahaganita and Goladhyaya
- C.Gitikapada, Bijaganita, Golapada and Nidana
- D.Ganitapada, Rasayanapada, Kalapada and Jatakapada
Show answer
Aryabhata, born in 476 CE, wrote the Aryabhatiya in 499 CE in four sections: the Gitikapada on units of time and the large astronomical cycles, the Ganitapada on mathematics, the Kalakriyapada on the reckoning of time and planetary positions, and the Golapada on the celestial sphere.
Read the full explanation →Who wrote the Brahmasphutasiddhanta in 628 CE, the first work to lay down rules for calculating with zero and with negative numbers?
- A.Aryabhata
- B.Brahmagupta
- C.Varahamihira
- D.Bhaskara II
Show answer
Brahmagupta composed the Brahmasphutasiddhanta in 628 CE, in which he treated zero as a number and not merely as a placeholder and gave rules for adding, subtracting and multiplying positive and negative quantities, which he called fortunes and debts; he also wrote the Khandakhadyaka and argued that bodies fall because…
Read the full explanation →Lilavati, the celebrated work on arithmetic, is a part of which treatise and by which author?
- A.The Aryabhatiya of Aryabhata
- B.The Ganita Sara Sangraha of Mahaviracharya
- C.The Siddhanta Shiromani of Bhaskara II
- D.The Brihat Samhita of Varahamihira
Show answer
Bhaskara II, also called Bhaskaracharya, wrote the Siddhanta Shiromani in 1150 CE in four parts, of which Lilavati deals with arithmetic, mensuration and problems of everyday calculation, Bijaganita with algebra, and Grahaganita and Goladhyaya with astronomy.
Read the full explanation →The Sushruta Samhita is the foundational ancient Indian text on which branch of knowledge?
- A.Astronomy
- B.Surgery
- C.Metallurgy
- D.Grammar
Show answer
The Sushruta Samhita is the classical manual of shalya chikitsa or surgery, describing surgical instruments, the removal of the cataract, the setting of fractures, the stitching of wounds and the rebuilding of a severed nose, for which Sushruta is remembered as the father of surgery and of plastic surgery.
Read the full explanation →The Sulbasutras, which contain the earliest Indian geometry, are appendices to which class of texts?
- A.The Upanishads
- B.The Shrauta Sutras
- C.The Puranas
- D.The Jatakas
Show answer
The Sulbasutras are appendices to the Shrauta Sutras and give the geometrical rules for laying out the brick altars of Vedic sacrifice, including the construction of squares and rectangles of a given area and the statement that the square on the diagonal equals the sum of the squares on the…
Read the full explanation →