Ancient Indian History MCQs

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Separate Edicts: They were found at sites in Kalinga »Separate Edict I : Asoka declared all people are my sons »Separate Edict II: proclamation of edicts even to a single person.

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Those who followed strictly the doctrine of Buddha and denied the existence of God were known as the followers of Lesser vehicle or Hinayana. The Hinayana sect does not believe in idol worship, nor do its followers believe that Buddha was God.

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Tolkāppiyam is a work on the grammar of the Tamil language. It deals with orthography, phonology, morphology, semantics, prosody and the subject matter of literature. It belongs to second tamil Sangam.

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The ancient city of Begram was identified as the capital under the reign of King Kanishka. He was a prominent ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia around 2nd century CE. Kanishka is known for his military, political, and spiritual achievements, and his reign marked a significant era in Buddhism and arts.

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In the Allahabad Pillar inscription, it is noted that Samdragupta defeated twelve rulers of Dakshinapatha. In the list of defeated rulers, King Vishnugopa (Pallava dynasty ) of Kanchi is also mentioned.

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The nine gems or Navratnas adorned in the court of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya are Amarsimha, Dhanvantri, Harisena, Kalidasa, Kahapanaka, Sanku, Varahamihira, Vararuchi and .Vetalbhatta

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The famous temples of Gupta Age are as follows: a) Vishnu Temple, Tigawa(Jabalpur) b) Shiva Temple, Bhumara(Nagaud) c) Parvati Temple, Nachria Kuthara d) Dasavtar Temple, Deogarh(Jhansi) e) Shiva Temple, Koh(Nagaland) f) Bhitragaon Temple, Bhitragaon g) Lakshman Temple, Kanpur(Brick made) h) Lakshman Temple, Sirpur (Raipur) i) Mukund Darra Temple, Kota j) Dhammekh Temple, Sarnath k) Jarasangh’s Sitting, Rajgrih (Bihar)

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Brihadrata was assassinated in 185 BCE during a military parade, by the commander-in-chief of his guard, the Brahmin general Pusyamitra Sunga, who then took over the throne and established the Sunga dynasty. Brihadrata, the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty, held territories that had shrunk considerably from the time of emperor Ashoka, although he still upheld the Buddhist faith.

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Dharamapala, the second ruler of Pala dynasty was a pious Buddhist King and is best known for establishing the Vikramshila University.
Dharampala had also built a Vihara at Somapuri, another at Paharpur and yet another Vihara at Odantapuri. The five places viz. Nalanda, Vikramshila, Somapuri, Paharpur and Odantapuri are called Five Mahaviharas. Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed the Vikramshila University in 1200 AD. Somapura Mahavihara is now located in Bangladesh. It is one of the best known Mahaviharas of Buddhism in Indian subcontinent and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Devi-Chandraguptam is the Sanskrit play of Vishakhadeva (Vishakhadatta). Its the story of Gupta King Ramagupta who decides to surrender his queen Dhruvadevi to a Shaka invader but his younger brother Chandragupta enters the enemy camp disguised as queen and kills the enemy. In the climax of the play, Chandragupta dethrones Ramagupta and marries Dhruvadevi. Kindly note that an 11th century Persian text Majmal-ut-Tawarikh includes some parts of the plot of this play.