The Thirukkural, a work of 1,330 couplets, was composed by whom?

The correct answer is B, 1969. Madras State was created on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act, and the change of name to Tamil Nadu took effect on 14 January 1969 under the Madras State Alteration of Name Act. Option A is wrong because 1956 is the year the state was formed under its old name, and confusing formation with renaming is the standard trap in this topic. Option C is wrong because 1973 is the year Mysore State was renamed Karnataka, a neighbouring state, which is why that year is offered here as a distractor. Option D is wrong because 1996 is the year the capital city Madras was renamed Chennai, a change of the city's name and not of the state's. Pairing 1956, 1969 and 1996 correctly settles most questions from this part of the syllabus.

The correct answer is B, the Nilgiris. Doddabetta, about 2,637 metres high and close to Udhagamandalam or Ooty, is the highest point in Tamil Nadu and the highest in the Nilgiri range, where the Western and Eastern Ghats meet. Option A is wrong because the Anamalai hills lie further south in the Western Ghats, carry Valparai and the Indira Gandhi national park, and their highest summits fall in Kerala. Option C is wrong because the Javadi hills belong to the Eastern Ghats in the north of the state and are far lower. Option D is wrong because the Shevaroy hills, which carry the hill station of Yercaud, are also part of the Eastern Ghats and rise to only about sixteen hundred metres. Doddabetta also has an observatory that makes it a favourite with paper setters.

The correct answer is B, Rajaraja Chola I. The Brihadeeswarar or Peruvudaiyar temple at Thanjavur, also called the Big Temple, was completed about 1010 CE by Rajaraja Chola I, and its tall vimana of granite is the high point of Dravidian temple architecture; it is the core of the Great Living Chola Temples inscribed as a World Heritage Site. Option A is wrong because Rajendra Chola I, his son, built the temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram, the usual confusion in this question. Option C is wrong because Narasimhavarman I was a Pallava king of the seventh century associated with Mahabalipuram, three centuries earlier and a different dynasty. Option D is wrong because Karikala Chola belongs to the early Sangam age Cholas and is remembered for the Kallanai across the Kaveri. The granite vimana of the Thanjavur temple rises to about sixty six metres and was the tallest tower in India when it was raised.

The correct answer is C, the Pallavas. Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram, the port town of the Pallavas on the Coromandel coast, carries the rock cut Pancha Rathas and the relief called Arjuna's Penance from the reign of Narasimhavarman I, and the structural Shore Temple from that of Narasimhavarman II, Rajasimha; the group was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1984. Option A is wrong because the Cholas, who came later, built at Thanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram. Option B is wrong because the Pandyas ruled from Madurai and are known for rock cut shrines in the far south. Option D is wrong because the Nayakas of Madurai belong to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and are known for the gopurams of the Meenakshi temple and the palace of Tirumalai Nayak. At Mahabalipuram the relief of the descent of the Ganges, popularly called Arjuna's Penance, is the largest open air rock relief in the country.

The correct answer is C, the Kaveri. The Kallanai, called the Grand Anicut by the British, was built across the Kaveri near Tiruchirappalli by the early Chola king Karikala, and it still spreads the river's water across the delta of Thanjavur, which is why that delta is called the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. Option A is wrong because the Vaigai, the river of Madurai, carries the Vaigai dam of the twentieth century and no ancient anicut of this kind. Option B is wrong because the Thamirabarani flows through Tirunelveli in the far south and is associated with the Papanasam dam. Option D is wrong because the Palar, which enters the state from Karnataka and passes Vellore, is a seasonal river. On the Kaveri the Mettur dam and its Stanley Reservoir are the modern works.