Static general knowledge is the larger part of every UPSC general studies paper. The notices name the same areas again and again: the history of India and the national movement, Indian and world geography, polity and the Constitution, the economy and social development, and general science with environment and ecology. The balance shifts from exam to exam. NDA puts about half of its General Knowledge part on Physics, Chemistry and General Science. CSE favours polity, modern history, environment and the economy. CAPF adds security and human rights, and CDS spreads its questions across polity, history, geography, the economy and school science.
GK24's GK notes are written topic by topic in English and Hindi, as short, fact-first chapters that are easy to revise. They cover Indian Polity, Indian History, Geography, Indian Economy, General Science, Environment and Ecology, Art and Culture, Computer, and the fact lists of awards, sports, books and days. A new chapter is added in each subject as the series grows. Each note carries practice questions, and those that have appeared in an exam say which exam and year. Start with Polity and modern history, then Geography, the Economy and Science. Read a note, take its topic quiz, and come back to it in your monthly revision.
The Nalanda Mahavihara was founded by which ruler?
The Gupta emperor Kumaragupta the first, who appears in the records with the title Shakraditya, founded the monastic university at Nalanda in the fifth century.
Read the full explanation →Nalanda was an ancient centre of learning for which religion?
Nalanda was a Buddhist monastic university, a mahavihara, where the main course of study was the Mahayana canon along with logic, grammar, medicine and astronomy.
Read the full explanation →The Panchmura terracotta horse, one of the best known clay crafts of India, comes from which state?
The long necked terracotta horse of Panchmura village in Bankura district of West Bengal is made in parts on the wheel and by hand, then joined and fired, and it has become a symbol of Indian handicrafts.
Read the full explanation →Longpi pottery, made without a potter wheel from weathered rock mixed with clay, belongs to which state?
Longpi pottery, also called Longpi Hampai, is made in the Longpi villages of Ukhrul district in Manipur by the Tangkhul Naga community.
Read the full explanation →The shining black pottery of Nizamabad is a craft of which state?
The black pottery of Nizamabad comes from a town of that name in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh.
Read the full explanation →The famous Blue Pottery of India is associated with which city?
Blue Pottery is a Turko Persian technique that reached Rajasthan through Mughal and Kashmiri craftsmen and was encouraged by the rulers of Jaipur.
Read the full explanation →Jorwe ware, a matt painted black on red Chalcolithic pottery, is mainly associated with which present day state?
The Jorwe culture is named after the village of Jorwe in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, and its pottery is a matt surfaced, black on red painted ware found in large quantities at Inamgaon, Daimabad, Nevasa and Chandoli.
Read the full explanation →Rouletted Ware found at Arikamedu is evidence of which kind of contact?
Rouletted Ware is a wheel turned dish with concentric rows of small impressed dots on the inner surface, made by holding a toothed tool against the turning pot.
Read the full explanation →Which statement best describes the pottery of the mature Harappan civilisation?
Mature Harappan potters used the fast wheel and fired their pots well, producing a sturdy red ware on which they painted in black over a red slip.
Read the full explanation →Ochre Coloured Pottery has mainly been found in which region of India?
Ochre Coloured Pottery, usually abbreviated to OCP, is a worn, ill fired, orange to ochre pottery whose colour rubs off on the fingers because the surface has been damaged by water.
Read the full explanation →Northern Black Polished Ware is the characteristic pottery of which phase?
Northern Black Polished Ware, usually shortened to NBPW, is a very fine clay pottery with a glossy, almost mirror like surface in steel grey to jet black.
Read the full explanation →Painted Grey Ware is generally associated with which period of Indian history?
Painted Grey Ware is a fine, thin, wheel made grey pottery decorated with simple black lines, dots and spirals, dated roughly between 1100 and 600 BCE.
Read the full explanation →The Jetavana monastery, where the Buddha spent many of his rainy season retreats, was built by the merchant Anathapindika at
Anathapindika, a wealthy merchant of Shravasti, bought a grove from prince Jeta and built the Jetavana monastery there for the Buddha and the order, and the Buddha is said to have passed more rainy season retreats at Shravasti than anywhere else.
Read the full explanation →Alamgirpur, regarded as the eastern most site of the Harappan civilisation, lies in which district of Uttar Pradesh?
Alamgirpur stands on the bank of the Hindon, a tributary of the Yamuna, in Meerut district, and it is taken as the eastern limit of the Harappan civilisation; pottery, beads and the impression of cloth are among its finds.
Read the full explanation →Ahichchhatra, an important early site in Bareilly district, was a capital of which mahajanapada?
Panchala was divided into a northern and a southern half, and Ahichchhatra in Bareilly district was the capital of the north while Kampilya in Farrukhabad was the capital of the south.
Read the full explanation →Parshvanatha, the twenty third Jain tirthankara, is traditionally said to have been born at
Jain tradition holds that Parshvanatha, the twenty third tirthankara and the immediate predecessor of Mahavira, was born at Varanasi as a prince of that city, and he is remembered as the teacher whose followers Mahavira's order absorbed.
Read the full explanation →Shravasti was the capital of which mahajanapada?
Kosala lay in the central and eastern plain of Uttar Pradesh with Shravasti as its capital and Saketa, the Ayodhya of today, as a second centre.
Read the full explanation →The Lion Capital, adopted as the State Emblem of India, comes from the Ashokan pillar at
The capital of the Ashokan pillar at Sarnath carries four lions standing back to back on an abacus bearing four wheels and four animals, and it was adopted as the State Emblem of India on 26 January 1950.
Read the full explanation →The Buddha attained mahaparinirvana at which place in present day Uttar Pradesh?
Kushinara, the Kushinagar of today in eastern Uttar Pradesh, was a town of the Malla mahajanapada, and the Buddha died there between two sal trees at the age of eighty, a death traditionally dated to 483 BCE and remembered as the mahaparinirvana.
Read the full explanation →The Buddha delivered his first sermon at which place?
After his enlightenment the Buddha walked to the deer park at Sarnath near Varanasi and preached to the five ascetics who had been his companions.
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