The Sudarshana lake, built in the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, is known from the inscription of
- A.Rudradaman I at Junagadh
- B.Kharavela at Hathigumpha
- C.Samudragupta at Prayag
- D.Ashoka at Kandahar
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Rudradaman I at Junagadh. The Junagadh rock inscription of the Shaka ruler Rudradaman, the earliest long inscription in polished Sanskrit, records that the embankment of the Sudarshana lake in Saurashtra was originally built by Pushyagupta, a governor of Chandragupta Maurya, and that conduits were added by Tushaspha in Ashoka's reign; it then describes the repair of the dam in Rudradaman's own time.
Option B, the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela of Kalinga, describes that king's campaigns and public works, not the Saurashtra lake. Option C, the Prayag prashasti of Samudragupta, composed by Harisena, lists the Gupta ruler's conquests. Option D is wrong because the Kandahar inscriptions of Ashoka are bilingual Greek and Aramaic texts on Dhamma, and the same rock at Junagadh, not Kandahar, carries Ashoka's major rock edicts in Gujarat.
Read the full article: Mauryan Empire: Ashoka, Edicts and Administration
Practice Questions
View allWho was sent by Seleucus Nicator as his ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya?
- A.Deimachus
- B.Megasthenes
- C.Dionysius
- D.Ptolemy
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After the treaty of about 305 BCE between Chandragupta Maurya and Seleucus Nicator, the Greek ruler sent Megasthenes to Pataliputra as his ambassador.
Read the full explanation →The Kalinga war and its aftermath are described in which of Ashoka's inscriptions?
- A.Major Rock Edict XII
- B.Major Rock Edict XIII
- C.Pillar Edict VII
- D.Minor Rock Edict I
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It is the longest of the fourteen major rock edicts and the only source in Ashoka's own words for the war on Kalinga, the number of people killed, deported and dead of other causes, and the remorse that turned him from conquest by arms to conquest by Dhamma.
Read the full explanation →The Brahmi script of the Ashokan inscriptions was deciphered in 1837 by
- A.Alexander Cunningham
- B.James Prinsep
- C.John Marshall
- D.William Jones
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Prinsep, an official of the mint at Calcutta and secretary of the Asiatic Society, worked out the values of the Brahmi letters in 1837 and so made Ashoka's edicts readable.
Read the full explanation →The Lion Capital adopted as the State Emblem of India was originally erected by Ashoka at
- A.Sanchi
- B.Sarnath
- C.Vaishali
- D.Lauriya Nandangarh
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The Sarnath capital has four lions standing back to back on an abacus that carries an elephant, a bull, a horse and a lion separated by wheels, the whole resting on an inverted lotus.
Read the full explanation →In Mauryan administration, the officer described as the chief collector of revenue was the
- A.Sannidhata
- B.Samaharta
- C.Rajuka
- D.Pradeshika
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In the Arthashastra the Samaharta is the officer in charge of assessing and collecting the revenue of the realm from land, mines, forests, trade routes and city dues, and of keeping the accounts of income and expenditure on which the state ran.
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