Ancient Indian History MCQs

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The Manusmriti, is an ancient legal text among the many Dharmasastras of Hinduism. It was one of the first Sanskrit texts to have been translated into English in 1794, by Sir William Jones.

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The urban centers of Gangetic plain declined with the gupta empire. The areas surrounding Prayag, Saketa and Magadha areas have declined.

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Taxila was the most famous leaning centre during the Mauryas. Taxila was absorbed into the Mauryan empire founded by Chandragupta, under whom it became a provincial capital.

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Vedic culture, Gopath is kept in the Brahman category. The Vedic texts are the primary sources for understanding the Vedic age. The Vedic period was in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of India’s history. The Vedas are liturgical texts that form the basis of the Brahmanical ideology. The Vedic texts contain details of life during this period.

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There are six Angas or explanatory limbs, to the Vedas: the Siksha and Vyakarana of Panini, the Chhandas of Pingalacharya, the Nirukta of Yaska, the Jyotisha of Garga, and the Kalpas (Srauta, Grihya, Dharma and Sulba) belonging to the authorship of various Rishis. Siksha is a knowledge of phonetics. Siksha deals with pronunciation and accent. The text of the Vedas is arranged in various forms or Pathas. The Pada-patha gives each word its separate form. The Krama-patha connects the word in pairs. Vyakarana is Sanskrit grammar. Panini’s books are most famous. Without knowledge of Vyakarana, you cannot understand the Vedas. Chhandas is metre dealing with prosody. Nirukta is philology or etymology. Jyotisha is astronomy and astrology. It deals with the movements of the heavenly bodies, planets, etc., and their influence in human affairs. Kalpa is the method of ritual. The Srauta Sutras which explain the ritual of sacrifices belong to Kalpa. The sulba Sutras, which treat of the measurements which are necessary for laying out the sacrificial areas, also belong to Kalpa. The Grihya Sutras which concern domestic life, and the Dharma Sutras which deal with ethics, customs and laws, also belong to Kalpa

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The Gandhara school of art came into existence in Mahayana sect. Mahayana sect believes in idols worship of Buddha and Bodhisattvas. The Gandhara School of art had also developed in first century AD along with Mathura School during reign of Kushana emperor Kanishka

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Megasthenes described what he called “the great capital of Pataliputra” as the most largest and prosperous city in the world. He wrote about its palaces, school, temples, parks, and said that the wall around the city “was crowned with 570 towers and had 64 gates”.

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The decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent refers to a gradual process of dwindling and replacement of Buddhism in India, which ended around the 12th century. The decline of Buddhism has been attributed to various factors:• Regionalisation of India after the end of the Gupta Empire which led to the loss of patronage and donations • Indian dynasties turned to the services of Hindu Brahmins• Invasions of north India by various groups such as Huns, Turco-mongols and Persians Subsequent destruction of Buddhist institutions such as Nalanda and religious persecutions

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Variety of metals such as copper, gold, silver was extensively used by the Harappan metal workers. Minor metals like tin, arsenic, lead, antimony etc. were used for alloying but there was no mention of iron.

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The period between 12,000 years ago till about 10,000 years ago is called Mesolithic. In Greek ‘meso’ means the middle and ‘lithic’ means stone. Hence, the Mesolithic stage of prehistory is also known as the Middle Stone Age. It was the transitional phase between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic AgesThe main tools used during Mesolithic (middle stone) age are called the microliths or small stone tools. They were probably stuck on to handles of bone or wood to make tools such as saws and sickles