Ancient Indian History MCQs

Notes:
Sarada is a script of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed around the 8th century. It was used for writing Sanskrit and Kashmiri. The Gurmukhi script was developed from Sarada by Guru Angad. Originally more widespread, its use became later restricted to Kashmir, and it is now rarely used except by the Kashmiri Pandit community for ceremonial purposes. There are several variants of Sarada Scripts such as Takkari or Tankari which is the parent of the Dogri script, Kului script (Kullu in Himachal Pradesh), Chameali Script (in Chamba Himachal Pradesh), Sindhi, Bania of Punjab etc.

Notes:
Kathopnishad was translated by Max Müller in 1879. It was rendered in verse by Edwin Arnold as “The Secret of Death”. The central story is immortality and covers the story of encounter of Nachiketa, son of sage Vajasravasa, with Yama, God of death.

Notes:
The Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai, has recently accorded the Geographical Indications certificate to Tamil Nadu Government for “Mahabalipuram Stone Sculpture”. The Pallava dynasty, which ruled the area between 6th and 9th centuries A.D., is responsible for the creation of several such wonderful edifices. Mahendravarman (AD 580-630), his son Narasimhavarman-I Mamalla (AD 630-668), Paramesvaravarman (A.D. 672-‘700) and Narasimhavarman II Rajasimha (A.D. 700-728) had contributed the most of sculptures in Mahabalipuram and developed the port town as a centre of art and architecture.

Notes:
The Kalinga War was fought in 261 BC. The war was fought between Ashoka, the Mauryan Emperor, and the ruler of the State of Kalinga. The war was completed in the eighth year of Ashoka’s reign.
The Kalinga War was one of the most famous and bloodiest battles in world history. The war resulted in the deaths of 1,000,000 people, 150,000 captured, and an additional 1,000,000 died as a result of the conflict. The war was a turning point in Ashoka’s life. He vowed never to make war again and decided to devote the rest of his life to the spread of Dharma.

Notes:
The Chola kings followed a highly efficient system of administration. The entire Tanjore district, parts of Trichy, Pudukottai and South Arcot districts formed the part of’ the Chola Mandalam. The Cholas had three major administrative divisions called Central Government, Provincial Government and Local Government. Tanjore was the capital of the Cholas. The efficient Chola administrative system has been well appreciated by many historians and rulers.

Notes:
A group of skeletons were uncovered from Mohenjo-daro in areas like in lane of house No. VII and below the stairs facing house No. XI which pointed to a sudden catastrophe where people took shelter till their last breath. At Dholavira, large-scale destruction of the island fortress including buffer area has also been observed.

Notes:

Upveda refers to applied knowledge. They are traditional literatures which contain the subjects of certain technical works.
The Upveda of Samaveda is called the Gandhraveda.

Notes:
After encountering the following sights at the age of 29 Siddhartha decided to become a wanderer and left his palace:
1. An old man
2. A sick man
3. A corpse
4. An ascetic

Notes:
Bimbisara sent his royal physician Jivaka to Ujjain when Pradyota had jaundice, along Dakshinapatha to Avanti. Earlier Bimbisara had rivalry with Avanti’s king Pradyota but later they became friends.

Notes:

The Maurya period is remarkable in the early history of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta Maurya was the first ruler who tried to consolidate small fragmented kingdoms and combined them to form the first empire of the Indian subcontinent.