UPSC Ancient History Test 2 (Old Year Questions)

Ans d
The Allahabad pillar inscription is associated with ‘Samudragupta’.

Ans d
Ranga II (1575-1586) was the ruler of the Vijayanagar empire when Raja Wodeyar (1578-1617) founded the kingdom of Mysore. (Venkata-II ruled from 1586 to 1614).

Ans d
Vikramsila Monastery – Bihar (50 km from Bhagalpur, on the foot of Hemkund Lake). Hemkund Gurudwara – Uttaranchal Udaygiri Caves – Orissa (12 km from Bhubaneshwar) Amaravati Buddhist Stupa – Andhra Pradesh

Ans c
Mohammad bin Tughlaq introduced token currency (1330), a bronze coin having the same value as a silver tanka. But it proved unsuccessful and he had to withdrew it.

Ans c
Balhol Khan Lodi – 1451-1489 A.D. Sikandar Shah (Lodi) – 1489-1517 A.D. Ibrahim Lodi – 1517-1526 A.D.

Ans c
Bhakta Tukaram (1590-1660) was a contemporary of Jahangir (1605-1627). He is responsible for creating a background for Maratha nationalism. He was a great devotee of Vithoba at Pandharpur. Shivaji drawn inspiration from his works.

Ans b
Abdul Hamid Lahori was an official historian during the reign of Shahjahan. He wrote ‘Padshanama’ a book describing the events of ‘Shahjahan’s rule.

Ans b
Milinda was not a contemporary of Bimbisara, Gautama Buddha and Prasenjit, who were belong to pre-Mauryan period whereas Milinda to post-Mauryan period. Milinda an Indo-Greek King was famous for his conversation with ‘Naga Sena’, which was recorded as ‘Milind-Panho’.

Ans d
Fa-Hien came to India during Chandragupta-II reign (399-414 A.D.). Harsha was not antagonistic to Buddhism when Hiuen-Tsang met him. He was a Shaiva in the beginning but embraced Buddhism gradually.

Ans c
Jainism enjoyed the patronage of the Kalinga King Kharvela in the first century B.C. Bhadrabhanu went to South to lead the Digambaras. Sthulabahu was the leader of the Swetambaras. Jainism worshipped images in its later phase.

Ans c
Atharva Veda contains Magical charms, spells and folk traditions.

Ans d
Vir Narasimha started Taluva dynasty by deposing the last Saluva ruler and was succeeded by his younger brother, Krishna devaraya who was succeeded by his half brother Achyuta Raya.

Ans a
Shankaracharya – 8th Century A.D. Ramanuja – 12th Century A.D. Chaitanya – 15th Century A.D.

Ans d
The Julian Year was 11 min. and 14 sec. longer than the Solar year. To make the Vernal equinox occur on March 21, as it had in A.D. 325, the year of the First Council of Nicaea, ‘Pope Gregory XIII’ issued a decree dropping 10 days from the Calendar. To prevent further displacement he instituted a Calendar, known as the Gregorian Calendar. Islamic Calendar a lunar one used in most Muslim countries was started from A.D. 622, the day after the Hegira, or emigration of Mohammad from Mecca to Medina.

Ans c
Nasir-ud-din Mahmud was the last ruler. He was succeeded by Khizr Khan of Saiyyad dynasty.

Ans a
Ahmednagar was annexed into Mughal empire and Husain Shah was consigned to life imprisonment.

Ans c
Vijayanagara rulers followed an oppressive taxation policy. The prosperity of the empire can be explained through their taxation principles in the following lines. They collected variety of taxes ranging on the nature of lands.

The villages were classified into eight types for tax purpose.

They were:

1)The brahmadeya villages

2) The devadana villages

3) The mathapura villages

4) The sarvamanya villages

5) The kodagi lands

6) Rakta-kodagal lands

7) Guttagi lands

8) The rest of the villages or lands.

The first four types prevailed prior to the Vijayanagar times.

Private owners also paid industries taxes. Merchant guilds were empowered to levy taxes on goods manufactured, sold or transported

Ans b
Emperor Harsha’s southward march was stopped on the Narmada river by Chalukya King of Vatapi-Pulakesin-II.

Ans c
Chola’s established their domination in peninsular India by defeating Pandya and Chera rulers. Naval expedition by Rajendra-I of Chola’s against Sailendra empire of South East Asia as Srivijaya rulers created difficulties of Indian merchants.

Ans a
‘Mrichhakatikam’ of Sudraka deals with the love affair of a rich merchant called ‘Charudatta’ and the daughter of a courtesan called ‘Vasanthasena’. ‘Mrichchhakatika’ is also known as ‘Little clay cart’.