Which is the highest peak in Karnataka?

The correct answer is C, 1973. The state was created on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act with the name Mysore State, and it was renamed Karnataka on 1 November 1973, a day now observed every year as Karnataka Rajyotsava. Option A is wrong because 1956 is the year of formation, not of the renaming, and the question asks only for the change of name; mixing the two is the standard trap in this topic. Option B is wrong because nothing happened to the name of the state in 1960; that year saw the division of Bombay State into Maharashtra and Gujarat. Option D is wrong because by 1980 the state had carried its present name for seven years, and no renaming took place in that year.

The correct answer is B, Sharavathi. The Sharavathi is a west-flowing river of Karnataka, and at Jog in Shivamogga district it drops in four separate cascades named Raja, Rani, Rocket and Roarer, making one of the highest waterfalls in India. The Linganamakki dam is built on the same river upstream. Option A is wrong because the Kaveri makes the Shivanasamudra falls, where the two streams are called Gaganachukki and Bharachukki. Option C is wrong because the Tungabhadra is a tributary of the Krishna and is remembered for the dam at Hosapete and for flowing past Hampi, not for a great waterfall. Option D is wrong because the Krishna enters Karnataka from Maharashtra and flows east across the plateau, carrying the Almatti dam but no famous falls in the state.

The correct answer is B, Bengaluru. ISRO has its headquarters at Antariksh Bhavan in Bengaluru, which also holds the U R Rao Satellite Centre and the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network. Bengaluru is in addition the seat of the Indian Institute of Science, founded in 1909, of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and of Bharat Electronics Limited. Option A is wrong because Thiruvananthapuram holds the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, where launch vehicles are developed, and the Thumba equatorial rocket launching station. Option C is wrong because Hyderabad holds the National Remote Sensing Centre, which is an ISRO centre but not the headquarters. Option D is wrong because Ahmedabad holds the Space Applications Centre and the Physical Research Laboratory. The question asks for the headquarters and not for any centre, so each of the other three cities is a real ISRO location and still the wrong answer here.

The correct answer is A, Chavundaraya. The figure of Gommateshwara, also called Bahubali, stands about fifty-seven feet high on Vindhyagiri hill at Shravanabelagola in Hassan district and was raised by Chavundaraya, a minister and general of the Western Ganga kingdom, towards the end of the tenth century. It is anointed in the Mahamastakabhisheka ceremony once in twelve years. Option B is wrong because Krishnadevaraya was a Vijayanagara emperor of a much later age, associated with Hampi. Option C is wrong because Vishnuvardhana was the Hoysala king who built the Chennakeshava temple at Belur. Option D is wrong because Pulakeshin II was the Chalukya ruler of Badami who defeated Harshavardhana, and he built no monument at this Jain centre. Shravanabelagola is the chief Jain pilgrimage centre of the south, and the hill facing Vindhyagiri, called Chandragiri, carries still older Jain temples and inscriptions.

The correct answer is B, Vijayanagara. Hampi in Vijayanagara district, on the south bank of the Tungabhadra, was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire founded in 1336, and its ruins, including the Virupaksha temple and the stone chariot of the Vittala temple, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Option A is wrong because the Hoysala capital was Dwarasamudra, the modern Halebidu, where the Hoysaleswara temple stands. Option C is wrong because the Chalukyas of Badami ruled from Badami and built the monuments at Aihole and Pattadakal. Option D is wrong because the Rashtrakutas ruled from Manyakheta, the modern Malkhed in Kalaburagi district, and are remembered in Karnataka for the Kailasa temple they cut at Ellora in present Maharashtra. Hampi lies in Vijayanagara district, which takes its name from the empire, and the Tungabhadra guarded the capital along its northern side.