The Milindapanho records a dialogue between the Buddhist monk Nagasena and which ruler?
- A.Kanishka
- B.Menander
- C.Demetrius
- D.Antialcidas
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Menander. Milindapanho means the questions of Milinda, and Milinda is the Indian name of the Indo-Greek king Menander, who ruled in the north-west in the second century BCE. The Pali text sets out his questions to the monk Nagasena on the soul, rebirth and the nature of the self, and ends with the king accepting Buddhism. It is a standard example of the Greek contact with Indian religion.
Option A, Kanishka, belongs to the Kushanas and to the Fourth Buddhist Council, not to this text. Option C, Demetrius, was an earlier Indo-Greek ruler who invaded India but is not the king of the dialogue. Option D, Antialcidas, was the Indo-Greek king whose envoy Heliodorus raised the Garuda pillar at Besnagar.
Read the full article: Post-Mauryan Period: Kushanas, Satavahanas and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhich among the following was the second capital of the Kushanas in ancient India?
- A.Patliputra
- B.Delhi
- C.Lahore
- D.Mathura
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The main Kushana capital was Purushapura, the modern Peshawar, which Kanishka I developed as his seat of power. As the empire spread into the Ganga-Yamuna plain, Mathura on the Yamuna became its second capital and the southern headquarters of the family.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following was NOT a ruler of the Kushana dynasty?
- A.Nahapana
- B.Vasishka
- C.Vasudeva
- D.Huvishka
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Nahapana belonged to the Kshaharata family of the Shakas, the Western Kshatrapas who ruled in western India, and not to the Kushanas at all.
Read the full explanation →Ashvaghosha, a poet who composed a biography of the Buddha, the Buddhacharita, lived in the court of which ruler?
- A.Ashoka
- B.Bindusara
- C.Kanishka
- D.Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni
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Ashvaghosha was a Buddhist monk and Sanskrit poet at the court of the Kushana ruler Kanishka I. He wrote the Buddhacharita, a life of the Buddha in Sanskrit verse, and the Saundarananda, and he acted as deputy to Vasumitra at the Fourth Buddhist Council held in Kashmir.
Read the full explanation →In which language was Gatha Saptasati, by the king Hala, written?
- A.Sanskrit
- B.Pali
- C.Prakrit
- D.Hindi
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The Gathasaptasati, also written as Gatha Saptasati, is an anthology of seven hundred short verses compiled by the Satavahana king Hala.
Read the full explanation →The sculpture which is known as the Submission of Nalgiri has been found at:
- A.Bharhut
- B.Amrawati
- C.Mathura
- D.Sanchi
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The panel showing the submission of the mad elephant Nalagiri, sent by Devadatta to kill the Buddha and calmed by him in the street of Rajagriha, is among the best known carvings of the Amaravati stupa on the lower Krishna in Andhra Pradesh.
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