Ancient Indian History MCQs

Notes:
The Rashtrakutas adopted Garuda as their dynastic emblem after the imperial Guptas. The Gupta period used Garuda as their royal emblem.

Notes:
Rajaraja Chola I laid the foundation for the growth of the Chola kingdom into an empire, by conquering the kingdoms of southern India and the Chola Empire expanded as far as Sri Lanka in the south, and Kalinga (Orissa) in the northeast. He conquered Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Sumatra and other places in Malay Peninsula. The naval conquest of the ‘old islands of the sea numbering 12,000’, the Maldives marked one of the conquests of Rajaraja. Rajaraja I built a strong navy with the aim of controlling the sea.

Notes:
Dashkumarcharitam was composed by Dandin, who was a Sanskrit author of prose romances and expounder on poetics in the 6th-7th century. The book, Dashkumarcharitam is a prose romance in Sanskrit that describes the adventures of ten young men, the Kumaras, all of whom are either princes or sons of royal ministers, as narrated by the men themselves.

Notes:
The Major Rock Edict XIII of Ashokan inscription mentions Asoka’s victory over Kalinga and names of Greek Kings such as Antiochus, Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas and southern Indian rulers such as Cholas, Pandyas. It has also mentioned names of Kamboj, Nabhaks, Bhoja, Andhra, etc.

Notes:
Indus Valley site of Harappa is located in the Montgomery district of Punjab, Pakistan. The site was discovered in 1921 by Rai Bahadur Dayaram Sahni. It is located on the banks of the Ravi River, about 24 km west of Sahiwal.

Notes:
The book, ‘ Bharatam’ was written by Perudevanar. The author had also composed the invocatory versus for the Sangam classics Ahnanuru, Puranamuru, Kuruntogai, Narrinai and Aingurunuru.

Notes:
Aryans, The Vedic Age – Religion : They personified force of nature and worshipped them as Vayu (air), Maruts (storm), Indra (rain), Varuna (water), Surya (sun), Agni (fire), Prithvi (earth), Aranyani (forest) etc.

Notes:
Heliodorus was the Greek ambassador sent to the court of Sunga King, Bhagbhadra by the Greek King of Taxila, Antialkidas. Heliodorus erected famous votive Heliodorus pillar around 110 BC near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh.

Notes:
Sri Gupta was the founder of Gupta Dynasty and adopted the title ‘Maharaj’.

Notes:
Kalidasa was one of the gems of the court of Gupta king Chandragupta II (375–415 CE). The poems he wrote were usually of epic proportions and were written in classical Sanskrit. He wrote two epic poems called Kumara sambhava, which means birth of Kumara and the Raghuvamsha, which means dynasty of Raghu. There are also two lyric poems written by Kalidasa known as Meghadutta that stands for cloud messenger and the Ritusamhara that means description of the seasons. Meghadutta is one of the finest works of Kalidasa in terms of world literature. The beauty of the continuity in flawless Sanskrit is unmatched till date. The most famous and beautiful work of Kalidasa is the Shakuntalam. It is the second play of Kalidasa after he wrote Malavikagnimitra. The Shakuntalam tells the story of king Dushyant who falls in love with a beautiful girl Shakuntala, who happens to be the daughter of a saint.