SSC GK Questions 2026

Nalanda was founded by Kumaragupta I of the Gupta dynasty in the fifth century and grew into the most famous monastic university in Asia, with students from China, Tibet, Korea and South East Asia.

The second council met at Vaishali about a century after the Buddha's death, under king Kalashoka of the Shishunaga dynasty, with Sabakami presiding.

The third council met at Pataliputra in the reign of Ashoka, with Moggaliputta Tissa presiding.

Mahavira attained nirvana at Pavapuri in the present Nalanda district of Bihar at the age of seventy two, traditionally in 527 BCE, and the Jal Mandir, a marble temple standing in the middle of a tank, marks the place of his cremation.

The first Buddhist council met at Rajgriha, the Rajgir of today, in the Saptaparni cave soon after the Buddha's death, under the patronage of king Ajatashatru and the presidency of Mahakassapa.

Tripitaka is a Pali and Sanskrit word in which pitaka means a basket, so the whole means three baskets, a name that came from the practice of keeping the palm leaf manuscripts of each collection in a separate basket.

Gautama attained enlightenment at Uruvela, the Bodh Gaya of today, under a peepal tree on the bank of the Niranjana river, which is called the Phalgu now.

Sopana sangeetam takes its name from sopanam, the flight of steps leading to the sanctum of a Kerala temple, where the singer stands and sings slow devotional verse, keeping time on the edakka, an hourglass drum played with a stick.

The Nayanars were the Shaiva saint-poets of the Tamil country, and the hymns of Appar, Sundarar and Sambandar make up the Thevaram, the first seven books of the Shaiva canon called the Tirumurai.

Vallabhacharya founded the Pushtimarg, the path of grace, whose worship of Krishna as Shrinathji is centred at Nathdwara in Rajasthan.

Purandara Dasa belonged to the Haridasa movement of Karnataka and composed devaranamas, devotional songs in Kannada, and he is credited with organising the graded exercises with which Carnatic music is still taught.

The qawwali repertoire follows a fixed order of forms, and the naat is the song in praise of the Prophet Muhammad, usually sung early in a performance after the opening praise of God.

The Sankirtana of Manipur is the Vaishnava ritual music of the Meitei people, in which singers and drummers perform in the temple courtyard, the mandap, with the barrel drum called pung and with cymbals; the drum dance is the Pung Cholom.

Sant Tukaram was a Varkari poet of the seventeenth century who composed abhangs for Vithoba of Pandharpur and lived in Dehu near Pune, in the years when Shivaji was building the Maratha state.

The Bauls are wandering mystic minstrels of Bengal, on both sides of the border, whose songs blend Vaishnava Sahajiya and Sufi ideas and reject caste and ritual.

Abhang is Marathi devotional verse, and the word means unbroken. Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath, Chokhamela and Tukaram composed abhangs for Vithoba of Pandharpur, and pilgrims still sing them on the wari to Pandharpur with the taal and the ektari.

Khusrau lived in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and was the disciple of the Chishti saint Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi.

Part XII, Articles 264 to 300A, deals with finance, property, contracts and suits, and Article 300A stands at its end.

Part IX-B was inserted by the Constitution (Ninety-seventh Amendment) Act, 2011, which came into force on 15 February 2012, and it gives constitutional status to co-operative societies.

Part VIII, Articles 239 to 242, deals with the Union Territories: Article 239 provides that every Union Territory shall be administered by the President through an administrator, Article 239A allows Parliament to create a legislature for a Union Territory, Article 239AA makes special provision for the National Capital Territory of…