Ancient Indian History MCQs

Notes:
Some important archaeological findings associated with Mauryan Empire were stone sculpture and literature including Arthashastra of Kautilya, Indica of Megasthenes, and the Junagarh Inscription of Rudradaman I. However, Hemachandra’s Parishishtaparvan establishes Chandragupta’s connections with Jainism.

Notes:
There was a four year succession conflict after the death of Bindusara in 273 BCE. According to Divyavadana, Bindusara
wanted his elder son Susima to succeed him. But Bindusara’s ministers wanted Ashoka to succeed.

Notes:
In Mauryan Administration, the committee which kept watch over the weights and measures was “Trade, commerce, and market regulations”. It also made sure that commodities were sold before their quality deteriorated. Kautilya suggested that the food grains collected as dues should be kept as buffer stock which can be used in the time of food shortages.

Notes:
During the Satavahana period, Deccan developed a very advanced rural economy. The people knew about the art of paddy transplantation. The area on the confluence of the rivers Krishna and Godavari formed a great rice bowl of that time.

Notes:
Charaka was one of the principal contributors to Ayurveda, a system of medicine that developed in India. He is also known as the father of Ayurveda. He wrote a book on medicine called Charaksamhita which is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda and also wrote the Sasruta.

Notes:
Mahavibhasa is an ancient Buddhist text.  It is thought to have been authored around 150 CE by Vasumitra who was an eminent philosopher of the Kushan era.  Mahavibhasa is also known as the encyclopedia of Buddhist philosophy.

Notes:
The Prayag prashasti mentions how Samudragupta along with Vishnugupta of Kanchi  defeated the twelve south Indian rulers. Virasena was the commander of Samudragupta during his southern campaign.

Notes:
The great Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu was one of the minister of of Samudragupta. Though Samudragupta was a Hindu by practice, he extended his patronage to other religions also.

Notes:
Harsha Vardhana ruled from 606 A.D. to 647 A.D. He maintained the administrative set-up of his empire on the model of previous great Hindu rulers. The Commander-in-Chief during the Harsha’s administration was called as Simhananda.

Notes:
Nagabhatta I who is also considered as the real founder of Gurjara Pratiharas. He also defeated the Arab army under Tamin and Junaid during the Caliphate campaigns in India. He exercised control over the areas of Malwa, Rajputana, and Gujarat.