Books and Authors Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Indian medicine (Ayurveda) is traditionally traced to the Atharva Veda, the fourth Veda.

Unlike the Rig, Sama and Yajur Vedas, which centre on hymns, chants and sacrificial formulae, the Atharva Veda contains charms and remedies against disease. Ayurveda is therefore usually described as an upaveda (subsidiary Veda) of the Atharva Veda.

Answer: D

Sardar (1993), the biographical film on Vallabhbhai Patel, was directed by Ketan Mehta.

Paresh Rawal played Patel. Mehta also directed Mirch Masala and Bhavni Bhavai.

Answer: B

It was M. V. Kamath.

The journalist and long-time editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India wrote widely on public affairs; India of Our Dreams belongs to that body of work.

Answer: C

Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital.

The first volume appeared in 1867 and the later two were edited by Engels from his notes after his death. It analyses capitalism through the labour theory of value and surplus value.

Answer: A

It was Bhagat Singh.

He wrote the introduction in Lahore jail in January 1931 to The Dreamland, a long poem by his fellow revolutionary Lala Ram Saran Das - a critical introduction, taking issue with the poem's mysticism while praising its spirit.

Answer: D

India's Rajiv was produced and directed by Simi Garewal.

The actress turned documentary maker and talk-show host made it after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991, drawing on her long acquaintance with the family.

Answer: C

My Other Two Daughters was written by Surjit Singh Barnala.

He was chief minister of Punjab and later governor of several states, and the book takes its title from the two young women he brought up alongside his own family.

Answer: D

It is J. K. Rowling.

The seven Harry Potter books, published between 1997 and 2007, have sold more than 600 million copies. The publisher asked her to use initials rather than Joanne, on the view that boys would not read a book by a woman.

Answer: C

It is Pamela Mountbatten.

India Remembered, published in 2007, sets her own photographs and diary of 1947-48 beside her father's, from the months when Mountbatten was the last Viceroy and then the first Governor-General.

Answer: A

It was Mahatma Gandhi.

The words are from the Quit India speech at Gowalia Tank, Bombay, on 8 August 1942. The entire Congress leadership was arrested the following morning.