The sixty-three Tamil saints who composed hymns in praise of Shiva are known as the
- A.Alvars
- B.Nayanars
- C.Siddhars
- D.Acharyas
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Nayanars. The Nayanars were the Shaiva saints of the Tamil bhakti movement, traditionally counted as sixty-three, and they included Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar and Manikkavachakar. Their hymns were collected as the Tevaram, and their devotion drew ordinary people away from Jainism and Buddhism towards temple worship.
Option A, the Alvars, were the Vaishnava counterparts, twelve in number, whose hymns to Vishnu form the Nalayira Divya Prabandham; Andal is the one woman among them. Option C, the Siddhars, were a separate Tamil tradition of mystics and healers, not a group of temple hymnists of this kind. Option D, the Acharyas, such as Nathamuni and Ramanuja, came later and were teachers who systematised Vaishnava philosophy rather than the singing saints themselves. The Shiva-Vishnu pairing of Nayanars and Alvars is the fact papers test.
Read the full article: Harsha and the South Indian Kingdoms: Rulers and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhich of the following is NOT correct regarding king Harshavardhana?
- A.Harshavardhana ruled nearly about 1400 years ago
- B.Xuan Zang spent a lot of time at Harsha's court
- C.Harshavardhana's court poet was Harishena
- D.Harshacharita is a biography written on Harshavardhana
Show answer
Harishena belonged to an earlier century altogether: he was the court poet of Samudragupta and composed the Prayag Prashasti, the Allahabad Pillar Inscription.
Read the full explanation →King Shashanka, against whom Harshvardhana declared war, was a ruler of the ________ kingdom.
- A.Kanyakubja
- B.Junagarh
- C.Magadha
- D.Gauda
Show answer
Shashanka was the king of Gauda, the region of Bengal with its centre at Karnasuvarna. He killed Harsha's elder brother Rajyavardhana, and it was to avenge that killing, and to recover his sister Rajyashri, that Harsha declared war and allied with Bhaskaravarman of Kamarupa.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following books was authored by Harshavardhana?
- A.Harshacharita
- B.Kadambari
- C.Ratnavali
- D.Gitagovinda
Show answer
Harshavardhana was a dramatist as well as a king, and three Sanskrit plays are credited to him: Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda.
Read the full explanation →'Banabhatta', well known for his literary works, flourished during the reign of _______.
- A.Ashoka
- B.Bindusara
- C.Chandragupta II
- D.Harshavardhana
Show answer
Banabhatta was the court poet of Harsha in the seventh century CE. He wrote the Harshacharita, the biography of his patron and the first historical biography in Sanskrit, and the prose romance Kadambari, which was completed by his son Bhushanabhatta.
Read the full explanation →The Aihole inscription, which records the defeat of Harshavardhana, was composed by the court poet of which ruler?
- A.Narasimhavarman I
- B.Pulakeshin II
- C.Dantidurga
- D.Mahendravarman I
Show answer
The Aihole inscription was composed in Sanskrit by Ravikirti, the Jain court poet of the Chalukya king Pulakeshin II of Badami.
Read the full explanation →