Sources and Early Indian History Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The keyed largest site is Mohenjodaro.

Mohenjodaro, on the Indus in Sindh, Pakistan, covers some 250 hectares and is the largest of the sites listed. It has the Great Bath, a granary and a carefully planned grid of streets and drains.

Dholavira in Gujarat is the largest Harappan site in India among the options here, but smaller than Mohenjodaro. Lothal and Chanhudaro are small sites, known for the dockyard and bead-making respectively. (Rakhigarhi in Haryana has since been argued to be larger, but it is not among the options.)

Answer: C

The oldest text in India is the Rig Veda.

The Rig Veda, a collection of 1,028 hymns in ten books (mandalas), was composed roughly between 1500 and 1000 BCE. It is the oldest of the four Vedas and the oldest surviving text of India.

The Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas were composed later, in the later Vedic period, and the Sama Veda draws most of its verses from the Rig Veda itself.

Answer: A

The Veda important for Indian music is the Sama Veda.

The Sama Veda consists of verses, mostly taken from the Rig Veda, arranged to be sung as melodies (saman) during rituals. Its system of chanting is regarded as the origin of Indian classical music.

The Rig Veda is a book of hymns of praise, the Yajur Veda gives the formulas for performing sacrifices, and the Atharva Veda contains spells and charms for daily life. None is primarily musical.

Answer: B

The Veda containing cures of diseases is the Atharva Veda.

The Atharva Veda contains charms and spells against disease, evil spirits and misfortune, along with remedies using herbs. It is regarded as the source of Ayurveda, which is described as an upaveda (subsidiary Veda) of the Atharva Veda.

The Sama Veda is about melody and chanting, the Rig Veda about hymns to the gods, and the Yajur Veda about the procedure of sacrifices.

Answer: D

The one that is not a varna is Vaiswik.

The four varnas of the traditional social order were the Brahmanas (priests and teachers), Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors), Vaishyas (traders and farmers) and Shudras (those who served the other three).

Shudra, Vaisya and Kshatriya are three of these four. 'Vaiswik' is not a varna at all; it resembles 'Vaishya' to trap a hurried reader.

Answer: B

Pali texts are associated with Buddhism.

The Tipitaka (Tripitaka) of Theravada Buddhism, with its three 'baskets', the Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidhamma Pitakas, is preserved in Pali, the language in which the Buddha's teachings were written down in Sri Lanka.

Hindu scriptures are in Sanskrit, the Quran in Arabic, and the Jewish scriptures in Hebrew. Jainism, which is not among the options, used Prakrit.

Answer: A

The source of the Swastika symbol is the Indus Valley.

The swastika appears on seals and other objects of the Indus Valley (Harappan) civilisation, dating to the third millennium BCE, which are among its earliest occurrences in the Indian subcontinent. It later became an auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

Silent Valley is a national park in Kerala, and the symbol is not traced to a distinct Dravidian source.

Answer: B

The historian is Arrian.

Arrian, a Greek historian of the 2nd century CE, wrote the Anabasis of Alexander, the most reliable surviving account of Alexander's campaigns, including his invasion of north-west India in 326 BCE, and also a work called Indica.

Megasthenes was the Greek envoy at Chandragupta Maurya's court who described Mauryan India in his own Indica, not Alexander's invasion. Herodotus lived in the 5th century BCE, more than a century before Alexander.

Answer: D

The language of Mahayana Buddhism was Sanskrit.

Mahayana Buddhism, which grew strong from the time of Kanishka, composed its scriptures and philosophical works in Sanskrit, such as the Lotus Sutra and the works of Nagarjuna and Asvaghosha.

Pali is the language of the Theravada (Hinayana) canon, the Tripitaka. Prakrit was the everyday speech used in early Buddhist and Jain teaching and in Ashoka's edicts. Brahmi is a script, not a language.

Answer: D

The keyed answer is the consolidation of the caste system.

The Rig Vedic division of society into four varnas hardened in the later Vedic period into a hereditary order, justified by texts such as the Purusha Sukta and the later Dharmasutras. That order shaped Indian society for many centuries, which is why the key treats it as the chief and most lasting impact of Vedic culture.

Vedic culture also influenced philosophy, the Sanskrit language and religious outlook, but the question asks for its chief effect on Indian history, and the key chooses the social structure it left behind.