Ancient Indian History MCQs

Notes:
Kalidas was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India’s greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. Kalidas was one of the “nine gems” at the court of a king named Vikramaditya, generally identified with the great Gupta ruler, Chandragupta II.

Notes:
The Sama Veda is the third of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures, along with the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda which consists of a collection (samhita) of hymns, portions of hymns, and detached verses, all but 75 taken from the Sakala Sakha of the Rigveda, to be sung, using specifically indicated melodies called Samagana, by Udgatar priests at sacrifices. The origins of Indian music is traced from this veda. Samaveda’s Upaveda (technical manual) is Gandharva-veda that deals not only with the topics of music but also of dance and theatre.

Notes:
The Rig-Veda is the largest and most important text of the Vedic collection; it includes 1028 hymns and itis divided into ten books called mandalas. Soma was the personification of the sacred soma plant, whose juice was holy and intoxicating to gods and men. The ninth Mandala of the Rigveda, also called the Soma Mandala, has 114 hymns devoted to Soma Pavamana.

Notes:
The Pallava king Narsimhavarman I assumed the title of ‘Vatapikonda’ (Conqueror of Vatapi), when he defeated and killed the great Pulakesin II (Chalukya King) and captured the Chalukyan capital, Badami in 642 AD. The Pallava victory resulted in the commencement of Pallava occupation of Vatapi which lasted until 654 AD.

Notes:
Seleucus I was a leading officer of Alexander the Great’s League of Corinth and one of the Diadochi. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander’s death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire. His kingdom would be one of the last holdouts of Alexander’s former empire to Roman rule. They were only outlived by the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt by roughly 34 years.

Notes:
The greater Indus region was home to the largest of the four ancient urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, South Asia and China. It was not discovered until the 1920’s. Most of its ruins, even its major cities, remain to be excavated. The ancient Indus Civilization script has not been deciphered.

Notes:
Asoka’s inscriptions describe in detail Ashoka’s view about dhamma, an earnest attempt to solve some of problems that a complex society faced. They revolve around a few recurring themes: Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism, the description of his efforts to spread Buddhism, his moral and religious precepts, and his social and animal welfare program. The edicts were based on Ashoka’s ideas on administration and behaviour of people towards one another and religion. So, in essence, they deal with Asoka’s life story, his internal and external policy.

Notes:
The correct sequence of excavated Neolithic sites from north to south is as follows:
1. Tekkalakote: Tekkalakote is a Neolithic site in Siruguppa taluk of Ballari district in the Indian state of Karnataka.
2. Hallur: Hallur is an archaeological site located in Haveri district (which was carved out of Dharwad district) in Karnataka.
3. Brahmagiri: The Brahmagiri is a mountain range in the Western Ghats on the border between Kodagu district of Karnataka in the north and Wayanad district of Kerala state in the south.
4. Paiyampalli: Payampalli is a village in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It has an excavation site containing remains of Neolithic and Megalithic periods.

Notes:
Fire had a very important role in the life of primitive people as it was useful in cooking, burning forest and fighting animals etc. Hence, Agni is the second most important Rig Vedic god as there are roughly 200 hymns dedicated to him. Many of the rituals during that time involved offering oblations in a burning fire. Agni was termed as an intermediary between the god and the people because the oblations offered in the fire during a ritual were supposed to be carried to the gods in the form of smoke. Hence, option d is correct.

Notes:
Didarganj is a historical place located near Patna, the capital of Bihar province. A beautiful statue of a Yakshini was received from Didarganj in 1917. That idol is holding a Chauri in her hand. Hence it is called Chauri Bearer Yakshini. According to scholars, this idol is of Maurya period. The composition of the idol is very beautiful and its posture is very natural.
The figure is 64″ tall, carved out of a single piece of stone. The life-size standing image is a tall, well-proportioned, free-standing statue made of sandstone with a well-polished surface attached to Mauryan polish, Although this continued for some time after the fall of the empire. The flyvisc (chauri) is held in the right hand while the left is broken. The lower garment produces a somewhat transparent effect. One of the oldest large sculptures in Indian art. Like, it represents a minor spiritual figure or deity, a yakshi, rather than one of the major deities.