Early Medieval Regional Kingdoms Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The unique feature belonged to the administration of the Chola rulers.

The Cholas are known for well-developed village self-government. Assemblies such as the ur of ordinary villages and the sabha of brahmana villages managed land, irrigation, temples and justice through committees. The Uttaramerur inscriptions of Parantaka I (10th century) describe how members were chosen by drawing lots.

The Cheras, Pandyas and Pallavas also had village assemblies, but the developed system of village autonomy is the distinctive feature of Chola administration.

Answer: C

The key places Ellora and Elephanta in the Rashtrakoot period.

The most famous monument at Ellora, the monolithic Kailasa temple, was carved under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I in the 8th century, and the Rashtrakutas sponsored many of the Hindu and Jain caves there. In the standard textbook lists, the Elephanta caves near Mumbai are also attributed to the Rashtrakuta period, although many scholars date them earlier, to the 6th century.

The Pratiharas ruled in the north, the Hoysalas built in Karnataka from the 11th century, and the Chalukyas are known for Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal.

Answer: C

The Chandela king who faced Mahmud of Ghazni was Vidyadhar.

Vidyadhara, the most powerful Chandela ruler, opposed Mahmud's invasions. Mahmud marched against him in 1019 and again in 1022, when he besieged the fort of Kalinjar, but Vidyadhara kept his kingdom, and he is often described as the Indian king who stood up to Mahmud most firmly.

Kumarapala and Bhima II were Chaulukya (Solanki) kings of Gujarat, and Arnoraja was a Chahamana (Chauhan) ruler of Shakambhari; none was a Chandela.

Answer: D

Neither statement is correct, so the answer is Neither 1 nor 2.

The Pala kings of Bengal and Bihar (eighth to twelfth centuries) were great patrons of Buddhism, especially its Mahayana and Vajrayana forms, not followers of Jainism. Statement 1 is wrong.

The Palas did found or patronise the monasteries of Odantapuri and Vikramashila and supported Nalanda, and scholars from these centres, such as Atisha of Vikramashila, went to Tibet. But they went to spread Buddhism, not Jainism, so statement 2 is also wrong.

Answer: A

Only statement 1 is correct, so the answer is Only 1.

Chola inscriptions, above all those of Uttaramerur, describe the ur, the assembly of ordinary villages, and the sabha (mahasabha), the assembly of brahmadeya villages (1).

Statement 2 is wrong: the executive committees (variyams) were not open to all. The Uttaramerur inscriptions lay down qualifications of property, age and learning and exclude several groups, with members chosen by lot (kudavolai). Statement 3 is wrong because the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur was built by Rajaraja I, completed about 1010 CE; his son Rajendra I built the temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram.

Answer: B

The Samarangana Sutradhara was written by Bhoja.

Bhoja, the Paramara king of Malwa in the eleventh century, was a celebrated patron of learning and is credited with works on many subjects. The Samarangana Sutradhara is his encyclopaedic treatise on architecture (vastu and shilpa), covering town planning, temple and house building and even mechanical devices.

Sindhuraja was Bhoja's father, and Udayaditya and Lakshmadeva were later Paramara rulers. None of them wrote this work.

Answer: A

The Brihadeshvara Temple at Thanjavur was built by Rajaraja-I.

Rajaraja I completed the Rajarajeshvara or Brihadeshvara temple around 1010 CE. Its vimana, about 66 metres high, made it the tallest temple of its time, and it is part of the UNESCO 'Great Living Chola Temples' site.

Rajendra I, his son, built a similar temple at his new capital Gangaikondacholapuram. Kulottunga I and Rajadhiraja were later Chola kings and did not build the Thanjavur temple.

Answer: B

Someshvara III wrote the Manasollasa.

The Manasollasa, also called Abhilashitarthachintamani, completed about 1129 CE, is an encyclopaedia covering kingship, polity, astronomy, medicine, cookery, music, sports and entertainments of the Western (Kalyani) Chalukya court.

The Vikramankadevacharita is Bilhana's biography of Someshvara's father, Vikramaditya VI. The Mitakshara is Vijnaneshvara's legal commentary written at the same court, and the Prabandhachintamani is Merutunga's fourteenth-century collection of historical tales.

Answer: A

Hemadri wrote the Chaturvargachintamani.

Hemadri, minister of the Yadava kings Mahadeva and Ramachandra of Devagiri in the thirteenth century, compiled the Chaturvargachintamani, a vast digest of dharmashastra dealing with vows, gifts, pilgrimage and rites. He is also linked with the Hemadpanti style of temple building.

The Prabandhachintamani is Merutunga's Jain chronicle, the Krityakalpataru is Lakshmidhara's legal digest written for the Gahadavalas, and the Rajatarangini is Kalhana's history of Kashmir.

Answer: B

The Chola king is Rajendra I.

Chinese records of the Song dynasty note Chola embassies in the eleventh century, including missions in the reigns of Rajaraja I and his son Rajendra I. Rajendra's naval expedition against Srivijaya, around 1025, shows how closely the Cholas followed the maritime trade route to China.

Vijayalaya founded the imperial Chola line in the ninth century, and Rajaditya and Arinjaya were tenth-century rulers; none of them is known to have sent an envoy to China.