Ancient Indian History MCQs

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Manimekalai is a sequel to Silappaddikaram. It is considered the ‘Odyssey of Tamil poetry’. It deals with the adventures of the daughter born of the union of Kovalan and Madhavi.

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Suktagendor was located around 55 kms from the shore of Arabian Sea on the Bank of Dasht River near the Iran Border. It was an important coastal town. Suktagendor is considered to be the western border of the Indus Valley Civilization.

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The kingdom of Gondwana was an independent state in Central India ruled by Rani Durgavati. It included the Narmada valley and the northern portions of Madhya Pradesh and a number of Gond and Rajput principalities.

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The Lion capital of Ashoka, currently preserved in the Sarnath museum, is the official state emblem of India.

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Kalibangan, one of the main sites of the Indus Valley Civilization, was famous for its pottery. The distinguishing mark of Kalibangan is pottery, characterized by six fabric pottery labelled A, B, C, D, E and F, which were later identified also at Sothi in North Western India. It was discovered by Luigi Pio Tessitori, an Italian Indologist in 1953. It was an industrial site the sign of ploughed field, fire altars and couple buried is founded. It has also yielded seals, bangles, terracotta objects, terracotta figurines, bricks, grinders, stone balls, etc.

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In Jainism, the Tirthankara refer to twenty four enlightened spiritual masters who are believed to have achieved perfect knowledge through asceticism. The first tirthankara was Rishabhanatha, the 24th and last tirthankara of present half-cycle was Mahavira (599-527 BC). History records the existence of Mahavira and his predecessor, Parshvanath, the twenty- third tirthankara.

Notes:
The Great Bath is one of the best-known structures among the ruins of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization at Mohenjodaro in Sindh, Pakistan. It is called the “earliest public water tank of the ancient world.” Archaeological evidence indicates that the Great Bath was built in the 3rd millennium BC. It measures approximately 12 metres (40 ft) by 7 metres (23 ft), with a maximum depth of 2.4 metres (8 ft). Two wide staircases, one from the north and one from the south, served as the entry to the structure. Most scholars agree that this tank would have been used for special religious functions where water was used to purify and renew the well being of the bathers.

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Kaivalya is the Jain concept of salvation. According to Jainism, all things in existence are divided into two parts Jiva (i.e. living beings having a soul) and Ajiva (non-living things having no soul). The entanglement of living beings (Jiva) with things not having souls (Ajiva) is a source of all misery. Kaivalya is a result of a living beings becoming free of this entanglement.

Notes:
Vardhamana Mahavira was also known as ‘Jina’ which literally means the ‘conqueror’. Jina refers to the one who has conquered love and hate, pleasure and pain, attachment and aversion, and has thereby freed `his’ soul from the karmas obscuring knowledge, perception, truth, and ability. It was from this word that Jainism was derived.

Notes:
It is widely believed that the early Aryans could successfully spread over such a vast region partly due to their superior equipment. They rode horse driven chariots and used better quality weapons. The term ‘Varman’ used in Rig Veda probably stands for their coats of mail i.e. a type of armor.