Sources and Early Indian History Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Apastamba is the Dharmasutra writer who does not approve of niyoga, option (B). Apastamba condemns the practice of a widow or the wife of an impotent man bearing a son by a brother-in-law or another appointed man, and treats it as against the law. Gautama and Vasishtha lay down rules under which niyoga is allowed, and Baudhayana records the practice and discusses its limits. The question asks for the one who does not approve, so only Apastamba fits and (A), (C) and (D) are wrong.

Answer: D

Several names of Kautilya, such as Vatsyayana, Mallanaga, Chanakya, Dramila, Pakshilasvamin, Vishnugupta and Angula, are listed in the Abhidhana-Chintamani, the Sanskrit lexicon of the Jain scholar Hemachandra, which is option (D). It is a dictionary, and a dictionary is the kind of work that lists many names for one person. Devi-Chandra-Guptam is a play of Vishakhadatta about Ramagupta, Dasakumaracharita is Dandin's prose tale, and the Mudrarakshasa is a drama in which the minister is known by the one or two names used in the plot. So (A), (B) and (C) do not give a list of his names.

Answer: D

Utnur is the place not associated with the Megalithic culture, option (D). It is known for its Neolithic ash mounds, and it belongs to the Neolithic phase of the Deccan. Brahmagiri in Karnataka is a classic site where Wheeler excavated Megalithic burials above a Neolithic level, and Adichchanallur in Tamil Nadu is known for urn burials of the Iron Age megalithic type. Chandragiri, in the key's view, is associated with Megalithic remains, so it is not the odd one out. Hence (A), (B) and (C) are Megalithic and (D) is not.

Answer: B

The correct order is Ktesias, Strabo, Pliny and Ptolemy, which is (a), (c), (b), (d), option (B). Ktesias was a Greek physician at the Persian court in the fifth to fourth century BC. Strabo wrote his Geography around the turn of the era, Pliny the Elder wrote the Natural History in the first century AD and died in 79 AD, and Ptolemy wrote his Geography in the second century AD. Options (A), (C) and (D) place Pliny or Ptolemy before Strabo, or Ktesias after them, which cannot be right since Ktesias is the earliest.

Answer: C

The third great Sangam of the Tamil poets is traditionally placed at Madurai, option (C), under the Pandya kings. The Tamil tradition speaks of three Sangams, the first and second at southern towns that the sea took away, and the third at Madurai, to which the surviving Sangam literature is linked. Gangaikondacholapuram was the later Chola capital founded by Rajendra I, Kanchi was the Pallava capital, and Tanjavur (Thanjavur) was a Chola capital and temple city. So (A), (B) and (D) are other centres of power, not the Sangam seat.

Answer: A

Tuticorin is the one that was not a port city in the ancient period, option (A). The ancient ports of the south were Poompuhar (Kaveripattinam) on the Kaveri delta, Korkai of the Pandyas, and Muziris on the Malabar coast, and Tamralipti in Bengal was a major eastern port. Nagapattinam was a port of the early Cholas and a centre of trade with South-East Asia. Tuticorin rose to importance as a port only later, in the Portuguese and Dutch period, so (B), (C) and (D) were ports in the ancient and early medieval age.

Answer: C

The correct matching is Nyaya with Gautama (iv), Vaisheshika with Kanada (iii), Samkhya with Kapila (ii) and Mimamsa with Jaimini (i), which is code (C). Gautama is credited with the Nyaya Sutra, Kanada with the Vaisheshika Sutra, Kapila with the Samkhya system, and Jaimini with the Purva Mimamsa Sutra. Code (A) gives Nyaya to Kanada and Vaisheshika to Gautama, which reverses the first two, and codes (B) and (D) also put Kapila and Jaimini against the wrong schools.

Answer: A

The Malava reckoning is the same as the Vikrama era, option (A), which starts in 58 BC. It was first called the era of the Malavas and later was known by the name of Vikrama. The Shaka era begins in 78 AD, the Gupta era in 319-320 AD, and the Kali era is a traditional count from 3102 BC, so none of those three begins with the Malava count. Hence (B), (C) and (D) are wrong.

Answer: C

A reference to the trading activities of the Tamils is found in the Silappadikaram, option (C). The epic describes the merchant families of Kaveripattinam, the wealth of its market, and the sea trade from which Kovalan's family lived, and it also describes Madurai. Mullaippattu is a short Sangam poem on the woman waiting for her lord's return, Nedunalvadai is a poem on the rainy season and the king's camp, and Manimekhalai is a Buddhist epic centred on the daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi. So (A), (B) and (D) are not mainly about trade.

Answer: D

The Kural, the famous ethical work in Tamil, was written by Tiru-Valluvar, option (D). It has 1,330 couplets in three parts on virtue, wealth and love. Kamban wrote the Tamil Ramayana, the Kamba Ramayanam, in the Chola age. Ottakuttan was a Chola court poet, and Puglenid, as printed, is not a known author of the Kural. So (A), (B) and (C) are wrong.