Ancient Indian History MCQs

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The spread of Jainism in Karnataka is attributed to Chandragupta Maurya. The Emperor became a Jaina, gave up his throne and spent the last years of his life in Karnataka as a Jaina ascetic.

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Rakhal Das Bannerjee, an Indian archaeologist, discovered the Indus Valley civilization site of Mohenjodaro in 1922. Mohenjodaro is located in Sindh, Pakistan. The name Mohenjodaro means “Mound of the dead”. It was the largest city of the Indus Valley civilization.  Bannerjee was an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India. In 1920, he was surveying the lower part of the Indus River valley when he heard reports of a buried site. While exploring, he found pottery and stone blades. He studied the unusual shape and size of several mounds. He submitted a report to his boss on what he had found in 1922.

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The Major Rock Edict XII of Ashoka directed and determined request for tolerance among different religious sects. This edict reflects the anxiety the king felt because of conflict between sects and carries his plea for harmony.

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As per the Arthashastra of Chankya, Samaharta was the Chief Collector general of revenue that supervises the collection of revenue from the whole kingdom.Pradeshtri was known as the Divisional Commissioner. They were the modern district magistrates and in charge of district. They were to make tours once in every 5 years to inspect the entire administration of the areas under control. Antapal was known as the Governor of the frontier.

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The ritualistic teachings attached to the hymns of the Vedas were known as the Brahmanas.

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The first recognized Paleolithic discovery in India is associated with Pallavaram near Chennai in Tamil Nadu. In 1863, Robert Bruce Foote found a handaxe there, which became an important early evidence of Paleolithic culture in the Indian subcontinent. This discovery is widely regarded as the starting point of systematic prehistoric archaeology in India. Before this, in 1842, the discovery of polished stone tools by Dr. Primrose at Lingsugur in the Raichur district of Karnataka marked the first recorded find of prehistoric stone tool artifacts in India, signaling the inception of South Asian prehistory. However, it belonged to Neolithic period not Paleolithic.

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Ramraja or Ramarajabhushanudu who was a Telugu poet and a notable musician was one of the Astadiggajas (a collective title for Telugu poets in the court of Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara Empire).

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The cholas had a good navy. The Chola navy played a vital role in the expansion of the Chola Empire, including the conquest of the Ceylon islands and naval raids on Sri Vijaya.

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Rudrapatna Shamasastry FRAS was a Sanskrit scholar and librarian at the Oriental Research Institute Mysore. He re-discovered and published the Arthashastra, an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy. He was behind the “epoch making” discovery of Arthashastra that altered the false perception of the European scholars that Ancient Indians learnt the art of administration from the Greeks.

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The Chola ruler Rajendra I assumed the title of Gangaikondachola (the Chola who took the Ganges) when he defeated Mahipala (the Pala king of Bengal and Bihar) and to commemorate his victory he built a new capital called Gangaikonda Cholapuram (the city of the Chola conqueror of the Ganga).