Who among the following Greek rulers sent Megasthenes to the court of Chandragupta Maurya?
- A.Seleucus Nicator
- B.Amyntas II
- C.Amyntas III
- D.Phillip II
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Seleucus Nicator. Seleucus, a general of Alexander who came to rule the eastern part of his empire, sent Megasthenes as his ambassador to Chandragupta Maurya's court at Pataliputra. This followed their war around 305 BCE, after which Seleucus gave up the regions around Kandahar and Kabul and received 500 war elephants in return. Megasthenes wrote 'Indica', a description of Mauryan India, its capital and its people; the book itself is lost and survives only in quotations by later Greek writers such as Strabo and Arrian. B is wrong because Amyntas II was an early king of Macedon, long before the Mauryas. C is wrong because Amyntas III was a Macedonian king and the father of Philip II. D is wrong because Philip II was the king of Macedon and the father of Alexander the Great, and he died in 336 BCE. Exam tip: Seleucus sent Megasthenes to Chandragupta, and Megasthenes wrote 'Indica'.
Practice Questions
View allThe Ryotwari experiment in land revenue was started by
- A.Henry Dundas
- B.Alexander Reed
- C.David Ricardo
- D.Mountstuart Elphinstone
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Captain Alexander Read (the name is also spelt Reed) began the Ryotwari experiment in 1792 in the Baramahal region, which the Company had taken from Tipu Sultan, with Thomas Munro as one of his assistants.
Read the full explanation →Who deciphered the Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts?
- A.Piyadassi
- B.Colin Mackenzie
- C.Alexander Cunningham
- D.James Prinsep
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Prinsep, an official of the East India Company's mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, deciphered the Brahmi script in 1837 and also made the key breakthrough in reading Kharoshthi.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the Justice Party is not correct?
- A.It clamoured for the same kind of separate communal representation for the Non-Brahmins as had been granted to the Muslims by the Morley-Minto Reforms.
- B.It was patronized mainly by richer landowning and urban middle class Non-Brahmins.
- C.It succeeded in getting the provision for 28 reserved seats for the Non-Brahmins in the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms.
- D.It supported the call given by the Congress to boycott elections in 1920.
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The Justice Party did not join the Congress boycott of the 1920 elections; it contested them, won a majority in the Madras Legislative Council and formed the first ministry under the new reforms.
Read the full explanation →Which organization was started at the Haridwar Kumbh Mela in 1915?
- A.Sanatan Dharma Sabha
- B.Dev Samaj
- C.Brahmin Sabha
- D.Hindu Mahasabha
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The All-India Hindu Mahasabha held its founding session at Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela of 1915, bringing together the provincial Hindu Sabhas that had grown up, first in Punjab, since 1909.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the All India Depressed Classes Association is not correct?
- A.The All India Depressed Classes Association was formed in Nagpur with M. C. Rajah as its first elected President.
- B.The All India Depressed Classes Association was not attended by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1926.
- C.Ambedkar resigned from the All India Depressed Classes Association and formed his own All India Depressed Classes Congress in 1930.
- D.The All India Depressed Classes Association favoured Ambedkar's demand for separate electorate for the depressed classes.
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The All India Depressed Classes Association did not back Ambedkar's demand for a separate electorate; under M. C. Rajah it supported joint electorates with seats reserved for the depressed classes.
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