Palaeography and Epigraphy Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The Aihole inscription of Pulakesin II, composed by the court poet Ravikirti in 634 A.D., names Kalidasa and Bharavi, and compares Ravikirti’s own fame as a poet with theirs.

The Allahabad prashasti of Samudragupta, composed by Harisena, the Talagunda pillar inscription of Kakusthavarman, and the Girnar inscription of Rudradaman do not mention Kalidasa or Bharavi by name.

In the verses Ravikirti claims to have won fame equal to that of Kalidasa and Bharavi, which shows that both poets were already well known by 634 A.D.

Answer: C

The Sohgaura copper plate, found in Gorakhpur district, is a Mauryan record on a copper plate in Brahmi script about famine relief, and it is the earliest copper plate grant among those given.

The Damodarpur copper plates are of the Gupta period, the Paharpur copper plate is of the Gupta age (479 A.D.), and the Ghugrahati plate is of the Samachardeva in the sixth century. All three are many centuries later than the Sohgaura plate.

Answer: B

The Rummindei pillar inscription, at Lumbini in Nepal, records that Ashoka visited the birth-place of the Buddha in the twentieth year after his consecration, and that he gave a reduction of the land tax to the village. So it is the Rummindei inscription.

The Sasaram inscription is a minor rock edict, the Bharhut inscriptions are on the stupa railing, and the Bhabru edict is addressed to the Sangha. None of them records the visit to Lumbini.

Answer: C

The name of the ancient city Isila occurs in the Brahmagiri (and Siddapura and Jatinga-Rameshwara) minor rock edicts in Karnataka, where the officials at Isila are addressed.

The Maski and Udegolam edicts and the Sanchi edict are other Ashokan records, but the name Isila is not in them.

The Brahmagiri edict is in the Chitradurga district of Karnataka, and these southern minor rock edicts show the extent of Ashoka’s empire in the south.

Answer: B

The Aihole inscription of Pulakeshin II is dated 634 A.D. (Saka year 556, and also 3735 years after the Bharata war), and the date is given in the verses of the record. So the year is 634 A.D.

630 A.D., 638 A.D. and 649 A.D. are not the date recorded in the inscription.

The inscription is engraved on the Meguti Jaina temple at Aihole, and its date is given in the Saka era as the year 556.

The Chalukyan era of the inscription helps date the Chalukya victory over Harsha, which took place a few years before the record was composed.

Answer: A

The Vikrama era begins in 58 B.C. (iii), the Gupta era in 319 A.D. (iv), the Harsha era (i), whose usual date is 606 A.D., although the only date left in the list is 628 A.D., and the Saka era in 78 A.D. (ii). So the code is iii, iv, i, ii.

The other codes interchange the dates: the second and fourth give the Vikrama era 319 A.D. and the third gives it 78 A.D., which are the dates of other eras.

The Vikrama era of 58 B.C. is widely used in North India and the Saka era of 78 A.D. is the era of the Indian national calendar.

Answer: D

James Prinsep deciphered the Brahmi script in the 1830s. Working with the Asiatic Society of Bengal, he read the Ashokan edicts in 1837 and showed that the Piyadasi of the inscriptions was Ashoka, using earlier work on the Brahmi alphabet.

John Marshall excavated Taxila and the Indus cities, J.F. Fleet edited Gupta inscriptions, and Alexander Cunningham founded the Archaeological Survey, so they are not credited with the decipherment.

Answer: C

The Sohgaura (Sohagaura) copper plate inscription records a provision of grain by the State for times of famine, and it lists storehouses to hold corn. It is a Mauryan period record in Brahmi, found in Gorakhpur district.

The Damodarpur plates are Gupta land grants, and the Paharpur copper plate records a grant to a Jaina establishment. None of these is the famine relief record, and Ghugrahate is not known for it either, so Sohagaura is the answer.

Answer: B

Chapada is the only scribe named in the Ashokan epigraphs. He signs the Brahmi version of the Minor Rock Edict at Brahmagiri-Siddapura area, saying that Chapada wrote the record, which makes him the only known scribe of Ashoka's inscriptions.

Harisena composed the Allahabad pillar prasasti of Samudragupta, Ravikirti composed the Aihole inscription of Pulakeshin II, and Kupana Chama is not an Ashokan scribe.

Answer: C

The Queen's Edict, which names Ashoka's queen Karuvaki, mother of Tivara, is inscribed on the Allahabad-Kosam pillar. It is catalogued as Minor Pillar Edict III, and it records the queen's gifts at her request.

Rock Edict VII deals with religious tolerance, Rock Edict XIII with the conquest of Kalinga and remorse, and the Pillar Edict III with moral faults and moral acts. None of these names the queen or her son.