Indian History (Part 2)

11.   The home\r\nof Gargi, Maitrey, and Kapila was at

        (1) Vidisha          (2)\r\nUjjain

        (3) Pataliputra   (4)\r\nMithila

(SSC Section Officer (Audit) Exam, year 1997)

12.   Which area\r\nof India was known as Avantika in ancient times ?

        (1) Avadh           (2)\r\nRuhelkhand

        (3) Bundelkhand    (4)\r\nMalwa

(SSC Section Officer (Audit) Exam, year 1997)

13.   What was\r\nthe basis of transfer of power to India on 15th August by?

        (1) On this day the Indian National Congress had demanded\r\n“Pooma Swaraj”.

        (2) On this day Mahatma Gandhi started ‘Quit India Movement’.

        (3) Anniversary of formation of Interim Government

        (4) Anniversary of the surrender of Japanese army before\r\nAdmiral Mountbatten

(SSC Section Officer (Audit) Exam, year 1997)

14.   The Social\r\nSystem of the Harappans was:

        (1) Fairly egalitarian

        (2) Slave-Labour based

        (3) Colour (Varna) based

        (4) Caste based

(SSC Combined Graduate\r\nLevel  Prelim Exam. 04.07.1999 (1st\r\nSitting)

15.   Which of\r\nthe following Vedas provides information about the civilisation of the Early\r\nVedic Age? (1) Rig-veda  (2) Yajur-veda

        (3) Atharva-veda    (4)\r\nSama-veda

(SSC Combined Graduate Level\r\nPrelim Exam. 04.07.1999 (1st Sitting)

16.   The\r\nuniversity which became famous in the post-Gupta Era was :

        (1) Kanchi          (2)\r\nTaxila

        (3) Nalanda        (4)\r\nVallabhi

(SSC Combined Graduate Level\r\nPrelim Exam. 04.07.1999 (1st Sitting)

17.   Banabhatta\r\nwas the court poet of which emperor ?

        (1) Vikramaditya

        (2) Kumaragupta

        (3) Harshavardhana

        (4) Kanishka

(SSC Combined Graduate Level\r\nPrelim Exam. 04.07.1999 (1st Sitting)

18.   The first\r\nIndian ruler, who established the supremacy of Indian Navy in the Arabian Sea\r\nwas :

        (1) Rajarajal      (2)\r\nRajendra I

        (3) Rajadhirajal      (4)\r\nKulottungal

(SSC Combined Graduate Level\r\nPrelim Exam. 04.07.1999 (1st Sitting)

19.   The Mughal\r\npainting reaches its/ zenith during the reign of:

        (1) Akbar            (2)\r\nJahangir

        (3) Shahjahan   (4)\r\nAurangzeb

(SSC Combined Graduate Level\r\nPrelim Exam. 04.07.1999 (1st Sitting)

20.   Permanent\r\nRevenue settlement of Bengal was introduced by :

        (1) Clive              (2)\r\nHastings

        (3) Wellesley      (4)\r\nCornwallis

(SSC Combined Graduate Level\r\nPrelim Exam. 04.07.1999 (1st Sitting)

11.   (4) The\r\nname ‘Mithila’ goes back to Puranic times. It occurs in the Mahabharata and in\r\nPali literature. According to the Puranic tradition the name has been derived\r\nfrom that of Mithi (son of Nimi) King of Ayodhya and grandson of Manu who\r\nfounded a kingdom which was called Mithila after him. It is associated with\r\nValmiki, Ashtav- akra, Yajnavalkya, Udayana, Mahavira, Kanada, Jaimini and\r\nKapila as well as the women philosophers, such as, Gargi, Maitreyi, Bharati and\r\nKatyayani. After the era of the Ramayana it is said that the three seats of\r\nculture in Vedic period - Kosala, Kasi and Videha - merged to form the Vajjians\r\nconfederacy and the centre of political gravity shifted from Mithila to Vaishali.

12.   (4) Ujjain\r\n(Avanti, Avantikapuri), is an ancient city of Malwa region in central India, on\r\nthe eastern bank of the Kshipra River, today part of the state of Madhya\r\nPradesh. Avanti with its capital at Ujjaini, is mentioned in Buddhist\r\nliterature as one of the four great powers along with Vatsa, Kosala and\r\nMagadha.

13.   (4) In\r\nLord Mountbatten’s words, as told to Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre: ‘The\r\ndate I chose came out of the blue. I chose it in reply to a question. I was\r\ndetermined to show I was master of the whole event. When they asked had we set\r\na date, I knew it had to be soon. I hadn’t worked it out exactly then —

         I thought it had to be about August

         or September and I then went out to the 15th August. Why?\r\nBecause it was the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender.”

14.   (1) The\r\narchaeological record of the Indus civilization provides practically no\r\nevidence of armies, kings, slaves, social conflict, prisons, and other\r\noft-negative traits that we traditionally associated with early civilizations.\r\nIf there were neither slaves nor kings, a more egalitarian system of governance\r\nmay have been practiced. Besides, compared to other ancient civilizations the\r\nhouses were of nearly equal size indicating a more egalitarian social structure\r\ni.e. The Social System of the Harappans was fairly egalitarian.

15.   (1) The\r\nVedic period (or Vedic age) was a period in history during which the Vedas, the\r\noldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. The time span of the period is\r\nuncertain. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the Rig Veda,\r\nthe oldest of the Vedas, was composed roughly between 1700 and 1100 BCE, also\r\nreferred to as the early Vedic period. It is an important source of information\r\non the Vedic religion and their Gods as well as presents a detailed account of\r\nthe life of the people at that time.

16.   (3)\r\nNalanda was an ancient centre of higher learning in Bihar, which was a Buddhist\r\ncentre of learning from the fifth or sixth century A.D. to 1197 CE. Nalanda\r\nflourished between the reign of the Sakraditya (whose identity is uncertain and\r\nwho might have been either Kumara Gupta I or Kumara Gupta II) and 1197 A.D,\r\nsupported by patronage from the Hindu Gupta rulers as well as Buddhist emperors\r\nlike Harsha and later emperors from the Pala Empire.

17.   (3)\r\nBanabhatta was a Sanskrit scholar and poet of India. He was the Asthana Kavi in\r\nthe court of King Harshavardhana, who reigned in the year 606-647 CE in north\r\nIndia. Bana’s principal works include a biography of Harsha, the Harshacharita\r\nand one of the world’s earliest novels, Kadambari. The other works attributed\r\nto him is the Parvatiparinaya.

18.   (1)\r\nRajaraja Chola I created a powerful standing army and a considerable navy,\r\nwhich achieved even greater success under his son Rajendra Chola I. One of the\r\nlast conquests of Rajaraja was the naval conquest of the ‘old islands of the\r\nsea numbering 12,000’, the Maldives. Chola Navy also had played a major role in\r\nthe invasion of Lanka.

19. (2) Mughal paintings reached its climax during\r\nthe reign of Jahangir. He employed a number of painters like Abul Hasan, Bishan\r\nDas, Madhu, Anant, Manohar, Govardhan and Ustad Mansur. Sometimes, many\r\npainters painted a single picture. Other than hunting scenes, court scenes,\r\nbattle scenes, portrait painting and painting of animals acquired importance.\r\nEuropean influence is also noticeable in the paintings. The principle of\r\nforeshortening, whereby near and distant people and things could be placed in\r\nperspective was adopted from European style.

20.   (4) The\r\nPermanent Settlement — also known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal— was an\r\nagreement between the East India Company and Bengali landlords to fix revenues\r\nto be raised from land, with far-reaching consequences for both agricultural\r\nmethods and productivity in the entire Empire and the political realities of\r\nthe Indian countryside. It was concluded in 1793, by the Company administration\r\nheaded by Charles, Earl Cornwallis. It formed one part of a larger body of\r\nlegislation enacted known as the Cornwallis Code.

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