Ancient Indian History MCQs

Notes:
Megasthenes – an ancient Greek historian and diplomat, author of an account of India, the Indica, in four books. He was sent by the Hellenistic king Seleucus I on embassies to the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya. He wrote that the dress worn by the Indians was made of cotton of a brighter white colour than any cotton found elsewhere.

Notes:
The first Jain council was held in Pataliputra in 300 BC, 160 years after the death of Mahavira. Sthulabhadra presided over the council. The council resulted in the compilation of 12 Angas, which replaced the lost 14 Purvas. The council also divided Jainism into two sects, Svetambara and Digambara. The chief patron of the council was Chandragupta Maurya.

Notes:
Hunting animals and gathering wild fruits, vegetables and plants were the main occupations of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. They did not practice organized agriculture and were nomadic, moving from place to place for sustenance. Stone tools found at sites like Hunsgi Valley, Kurnool Caves, and Bhimbetka were probably used for skinning animals and cutting meat.

Notes:
The Major rock edict XI elaborates the Ashoka’s policy of Dhamma. It stresses the respect for elders, abstain from killing animals and liberal towards friends.

Notes:
First evidence of cotton growing has been found at Mehrgarh (now in Pakistan).

Notes:
The famous Satvahana ruler Gautamiputra Satkarni defeated the Saka King Nahapana and restored the prestige of his dynasty by reconquering a large part of the former dominions of the Satavahanas.

Notes:
Ramagupta was the elder son and immediate successor of Samudragupta. Earlier, he was known from the traditional narratives only, but later, three inscriptions on Jaina tirthankara images were discovered from Durjanpur near Vidisha, which mention him as the Maharajadhiraja.

Notes:
The deer park in Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. It was also the site of the Buddha’s Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which was his first teaching after attaining enlightenment, in which he taught the four noble truths and the teachings associated with it.
So either A or D can be marked as the correct answer.

Notes:
Lalitgiri is situated in Cuttack district of Odisha which is at a distance of around 100 kms from Bhubaneswar. The Buddhist relics found during excavation was notified as centrally protected in the year 1937.

Notes:
The Junagarh Rock inscription of Rudradaman is considered as an early example of chaste Sanskrit, written in mid second century AD. It mentions that one of Chandragupta Maurya’s governors, Pushyagupta, was responsible for building a dam on Sudarshana Lake near Girnar in Kathiawar. From another inscription of Skandgupta we came to know that this very dam was repaired during his reign, almost 800 years after it was built