Ancient Indian History MCQs

Notes:
The Vajrasana is an ancient stone slab located under the Bodhi tree, directly beside the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya. It was placed at Bodhgayā by emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire between 250-233 BCE, at the spot where the Buddha gained enlightenment about 200 years before.

Notes:
The Martand Sun Temple was built by an emperor of the Kashmiri Karkoṭa dynasty, Lalitaditya Muktapida in the 8th century. The temple was destroyed by Islamic ruler Sikandar Butshikan in the early 15th century.

Notes:
The ruler of Utpal dynasty, Avantivarman ruled Kashmir during 855 AD to 883 AD. He founded a new city Avantipur  (Bantipur) and built a town Suryapura. His court was adorned by two famous poets, Ratnakar and Anandavardhana.

Notes:
Apostle St.Thomas go to India to preach Christianity in the reign of Gondophernes. Gondophernes was a Parthian ruler who invaded India.

Notes:
Harappan site of Amri, located in modern-day Sindh, Pakistan has revealed actual rhinoceros bones and fossils although the one-horned rhinoceros species no longer inhabits the region. However, rhino motifs commonly occur on Indus seals, bronzes, and pottery found across sites. The discovery of rhino remains at Amri confirms the Indus people were familiar with these exotic animals that they incorporated into religious iconography. The non-native rhinos were likely brought or traded from elsewhere.

Notes:
The process used in the manufacture of Harappan seals is cutting. The seals were made from a stone called steatite and decorated with animal motifs and undeciphered script characters. Artisans carefully cut and shaped small tablets averaging 2 x 2 square inches to produce the seal face design in intaglio, such that stamp impressions made readable reliefs. Variances in seal iconography and craftsmanship indicate localized stylistic preferences and production across Indus urban workshops rather than mass produced standardized seals.

Notes:
The site of Amri, located in the northern Sindh province of modern Pakistan, displays archaeological evidence of what is termed Jhangar culture appearing in the later Harappan phase around 1900 BCE, similar to late Kot Dijian traits. Diagnostic Jhangar elements consist of distinctive grave pottery types, certain house plans, and artifact styles showing deurbanization and the breakdown of widespread homogeneity seen in the preceding centuries of the mature Indus Valley tradition.

Notes:
Kot Diji, located about 25 kilometers south-east of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan’s Sindh province, served as an important pre-Harappan urban center occupied between 3500 BCE and 2800 BCE. Archaeologists have determined that this early site was ultimately destroyed by a devastating fire sometime around the start of the Mature Harappan period, based on a thick ash layer found covering the ruins. Succeeding layers indicate it was abandoned and not re-occupied.

Notes:
Unlike contemporaneous Mesopotamian and Egyptian cities, the major urban centers of the Indus Valley Civilization typically did not have designated burial grounds for the dead located within city walls or residential areas. Instead, archaeologists have discovered Harappan cemeteries mostly around the perimeter of settlements away from active inhabited zones, suggesting organized zoning policies existed for funerary spaces across Harappan town planning conventions over two millennia.

Notes:
The archaeological site of Burzahom located in the Kashmir Valley has revealed unique evidence of the custom of placing domesticated dogs alongside human remains in graves dated to around 3000 BCE – a practice atypical in early Indian tradition but seen in Central Asia. This burial treatment to dogs implies their value possibly as work animals or even companions deserving ceremonial interment with deceased owners at this formative village predating the mature Harappan phase.