Which Chinese pilgrim visited India during the reign of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya?
- A.Fa-Hien
- B.Hiuen Tsang
- C.I-tsing
- D.Megasthenes
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Fa-Hien. Fa-Hien travelled to India at the turn of the fifth century CE, in the reign of Chandragupta II, to collect Buddhist texts. His account notices the prosperity and mildness of government, the rest houses and hospitals, the state of Pataliputra and Ashoka's palace, and the condition of Buddhist monasteries, though he says little about the king himself.
Option B, Hiuen Tsang, came in the seventh century during the reign of Harshavardhana and studied at Nalanda, so he belongs to a later age. Option C, I-tsing, visited still later, towards the end of the seventh century, and also wrote about Nalanda. Option D, Megasthenes, was not Chinese at all: he was the Greek ambassador of Seleucus Nicator at the court of Chandragupta Maurya, some seven centuries earlier, and his book is the Indica. Keep the traveller tied to his king.
Read the full article: Ancient Bihar: Magadha, Mauryas, Guptas and Pataliputra
Practice Questions
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- A.Menander
- B.Demosthenes
- C.Seleucus Nicator
- D.Gondophernes
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Seleucus was the Macedonian general who took over Alexander's eastern conquests and tried to recover the Indian provinces around 305 BCE.
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- A.Bimbisara
- B.Ajatashatru
- C.Udayin
- D.Shishunaga
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Read the full explanation →The First Buddhist Council was held at Rajgir during the reign of which ruler?
- A.Bimbisara
- B.Ajatashatru
- C.Kalashoka
- D.Ashoka
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The First Buddhist Council met at the Sattapanni cave in Rajagriha soon after the death of the Buddha, under the patronage of Ajatashatru of the Haryanka dynasty.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following was not a land related tax during the Mauryan period?
- A.Bhag
- B.Bali
- C.Udaka
- D.Shulk
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Shulka was a duty on goods, collected at the gates of towns and at ferries and frontiers on trade, not on land or its produce.
Read the full explanation →Who founded the Nanda dynasty of Magadha?
- A.Shishunaga
- B.Kalashoka
- C.Mahapadma Nanda
- D.Dhana Nanda
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Mahapadma Nanda overthrew the Shishunagas and founded the Nanda dynasty in the fourth century BCE.
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