Ancient Indian History MCQs

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Raghava-Pandaviya is an epic which is written by Kaviraja. It narrated the stories of Rama and the Pandavas. Kaviraja was the court poet of Kamadeva of the Kadamba dynasty who ruled between 1182 to 1187 AD.

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Simhavishnu Put an end to the political disturbances caused by the Kalabhras. He also conquered the land up to the Kaveri and set up a capital at Kanchi modern-day Kanchipuram located south of Chennai.

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Tolkappiyam Mapuranam, Isainunukam, Bhutapuranam, Kali, Kuruku, Vendali are the important works of second sangam. In the second sangam there were 3700 poets which was patronised by 59 kings and lasted for 3700 years.

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The Nanda dynasty ruled in northern part of the India during the 4th century BCE. Dhana Nanda, according to the Buddhist text Mahabodhivamsa, was the last ruler of the Nanda dynasty of ancient India. He was the youngest of the eight brothers of the dynasty’s founder Ugrasena. Panduka was the second king of this dynasty. Govishanaka was sixth king of Nanda dynasty. Kaivarta was the eighth king of this dynasty.

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Elephanta Caves are a network of sculpted caves located on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri (literally “the city of caves”) in Mumbai Harbour, near Mumbai in Maharashtra. The island consists of Hindu and Buddhist caves. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

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Vijayalaya founded the Chola dynasty in 850 AD. Vijayalaya, possibly a feudatory of the Pallava dynasty, took an opportunity arising out of a conflict between the Pandya dynasty and Pallava dynasty in c. 850, captured Thanjavur from Muttarayar, and established the imperial line of the medieval Chola Dynasty. He was succeeded by Aditya I in 891.

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Pallavas ruled regions of northern Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh between the second to the ninth century CE. Kanchipuram served as the capital city of the Pallava Kingdom from the 4th to the 9th century. It is also known by its former names Kanchiampathi, Conjeevaram, and the nickname “The City of Thousand Temples’. Kanchipuram was mentioned in the Mahabhasya, written by Patanjali in the 2nd century BC. Huien Tsang visited this city and wrote about its glorious culture. The Pallavas were the first well-known dynasty in the history of South India after the fall of the Satavahanas.

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The concept of zero as a number and not merely a symbol for separation is attributed to India, where, by the 9th century AD, practical calculations were carried out using zero, which was treated like any other number, even in case of division. The credit for inventing ‘zero (0)’ goes to Indian mathematicians and the number zero first appears in a book about ‘arithmetic’ written by an Indian mathematician ‘Brahamagupta’. Zero signifies ‘nothing’ and the current definition calls it an ‘additive identity’. The Indian mathematicians Bhaskara, Mahavira and Brahamagupta worked on this new number and they tried to explain its properties. It wasn’t that somebody suddenly came up with the idea of the zero and the mathematicians throughout the world accepted it. Around 500 AD, Aryabhatta, an Indian mathematician, devised a numbers system and the symbol he used for the number zero was also the number used to represent an unknown element (x).

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Mahapadma Nanda, who was quoted as the ‘destroyer of all the Kshatriyas’ founded the Nanda dynasty. At its greatest extent, the empire ruled by the Nanda Dynasty extended from Bengal in the east, to the Punjab region in the west and as far south as the Vindhya Range. The Nanda Empire was later conquered by Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan Empire.

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The Great Stupa and other Buddhist monuments at Sanchi were discovered in 1818. It was commissioned by Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Dynasty. The site, 45 km from Bhopal, was overrun with vegetation. Discovered by General Taylor, excavations began in somewhat disorganized fashion until the Archaeological Survey of India stepped in and took control. It is currently preserved by the Archeological Survey of India.