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10. The Gupta Empire and Harsha
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1. Which two political powers emerged after the break-up of the Maurya empire?
2. The Satavahanas acted as a stabilizing factor mainly in which region?
3. Which empire's power in north India came to an end around A.D. 230?
4. The Guptas were possibly the feudatories of which power in Uttar Pradesh?
5. The Guptas are believed to have belonged to which varna?
6. Between which years did the Gupta empire keep north India politically united?
7. The original kingdom of the Guptas comprised which two regions at the end of the third century A.D.?
8. From whom did the Guptas learn the use of the saddle, reins, and boots, which gave them mobility as horsemen?
9. The fertile land at the centre of Gupta operations, covering Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, was known as:
10. The Guptas took advantage of their proximity to areas in north India carrying on silk trade with which empire?
11. Who was the first important king of the Gupta dynasty?
12. Chandragupta I married a princess belonging to which people?
13. The Gupta era, marking the date of Chandragupta I's accession, began in:
14. Who was the court poet of Samudragupta and author of the Allahabad Pillar inscription?
15. On whose earlier inscription at Allahabad was Samudragupta's inscription also engraved?
16. Which ruler is described as delighting in violence and conquest, in contrast to Ashoka's policy of peace and non-aggression?
17. Which group of Samudragupta's conquests, per the Allahabad Pillar inscription, included princes of the Ganga-Yamuna doab whose kingdoms were incorporated into the Gupta empire?
18. Group two of Samudragupta's conquests covered the rulers of the eastern Himalayan states and frontier states, including princes of which of the following?
19. As far south as which city in Tamil Nadu did Samudragupta's arms reach, where the Pallavas were compelled to recognize his suzerainty?
20. Samudragupta is compared to which historical conqueror on account of never having known defeat, as suggested by the eulogistic Allahabad inscription?
21. According to a Chinese source, which ruler of Sri Lanka sent a missionary to Samudragupta seeking permission to build a Buddhist temple at Gaya?
22. Who among the following extended the Gupta empire's limits by marriage alliance and conquests, and is regarded as marking the high watermark of the Gupta empire?
23. Chandragupta II married his daughter Prabhavati to a prince belonging to which dynasty?
24. Consider the following statements regarding Chandragupta II's control over the Vakataka kingdom:
(I) His daughter Prabhavati became the virtual ruler of the Vakataka kingdom after her husband's death.
(II) She managed the kingdom's affairs with the help of an official sent by her father.
(III) This gave Chandragupta II indirect control over the Vakataka kingdom in central India.
Which of the above is/are correct?
25. Chandragupta II conquered western Malwa and Gujarat from rulers belonging to which group?
26. Which city became the second capital of the Gupta empire under Chandragupta II?
27. Chandragupta II adopted which title, first used by an Ujjain ruler in 58 B.C. as a mark of victory over the Sakas?
28. Consider the following pairs of scholars said to have adorned the court of Chandragupta II at Ujjain:
(I) Kalidasa
(II) Amarasimha
Which of the above is/are correctly associated with Chandragupta II's court?
29. Which Chinese pilgrim visited India during the time of Chandragupta II?
30. The exploits of a king called Chandra, considered identical with Chandragupta II, are glorified in an inscription fixed near which monument?
31. By around A.D. 550, which two regions had passed out of Gupta hands due to the rise of feudatories?
32. The later Guptas of Magadha established their power in which region?
33. Which dynasty rose to power in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh alongside the later Guptas, with its capital at Kanauj?
34. The rulers of Valabhi established their authority in which regions?
35. After whose reign had hardly any Gupta coin or inscription been found in western Malwa and Saurashtra?
36. Which Central Asian people invaded the Gupta empire in the second half of the fifth century A.D.?
37. Which Gupta king effectively stemmed the initial march of the Hunas into India?
38. By 485, the Hunas occupied eastern Malwa and a good portion of which other region?
39. Who successfully challenged the authority of the Guptas and set up, in 532, pillars of victory commemorating his conquest of almost the whole of northern India after overthrowing Huna power?
40. Consider the following statements regarding the fall of the Gupta empire:
(I) The growing practice of land grants for religious and other purposes reduced state revenue needed to maintain a large professional army.
(II) A guild of silk weavers migrated from Gujarat to Malwa in A.D. 473 and adopted non-productive professions.
(III) The Gupta kings attempted to maintain their gold currency by increasing the purity of gold in it.
Which of the above is/are correct?
41. In contrast to the Mauryas, the Gupta kings adopted which pompous title, signifying that they ruled over lesser kings?
42. Consider the following statements regarding Gupta kingship:
(I) Kingship was hereditary.
(II) Royal power was limited by the absence of a firm practice of primogeniture.
(III) The throne always went to the eldest son.
Which of the above is/are correct?
43. The Gupta kings were compared to which god by the brahmanas in gratitude for munificent gifts?
44. Which goddess, represented as the wife of Vishnu, is invariably shown on the reverse side of Gupta gold coins?
45. During the Gupta period, which arm of the military receded into the background while cavalry came to the forefront?
46. In the Gupta period, the king collected land taxes varying from one-fourth to which fraction of the produce?
47. The forced labour imposed on villagers in central and western India during Gupta times for serving the royal army and officials was called:
48. Which type of law was clearly defined and demarcated for the first time during the Gupta period, covering matters such as theft and adultery?
49. The most important officers in the Gupta empire, appointed by the king and possibly paid in cash, were known as:
50. Under Gupta provincial administration, the empire was divided into divisions called:
51. A Gupta bhukti was placed under the charge of an official called:
52. Bhuktis were divided into districts called vishayas, which were placed under the charge of a:
53. In eastern India, the vishayas were divided into smaller units called:
54. Consider the following statements regarding urban and village administration under the Guptas:
(I) The village headman managed village affairs with the assistance of elders.
(II) Seals from Vaisali show that artisans, merchants, and scribes served on the same corporate body.
(III) No land transactions could be effected without the consent of local elements associated with the administration.
Which of the above is/are correct?
55. At which town in Malwa did silk weavers maintain their own guilds during the Gupta period?
56. Oil-pressers had their own guilds at Indore, located in which modern district?
57. The charters marked with the royal seal bearing which animal/bird emblem were issued to Gupta vassals?
58. The practice of granting fiscal and administrative concessions to priests and administrators started under which earlier dynasty in the Deccan before becoming a regular affair in Gupta times?
59. Consider the following statements regarding villages granted to religious beneficiaries in Gupta times:
(I) Such villages could not be entered by royal agents or retainers.
(II) Beneficiaries were authorized to collect all taxes from the peasants that would otherwise have gone to the emperor.
(III) Beneficiaries were also empowered to punish criminals.
Which of the above is/are correct?
60. Which Chinese pilgrim's account provides insight into the economic life of the Gupta period, noting that Magadha was full of cities and its rich people supported Buddhism?
61. By around which year had India's export trade in silk to the Eastern Roman empire begun to be adversely affected, as the Romans learnt sericulture from the Chinese?
62. Which guild migrated from western India to Mandasor in the middle of the fifth century and gave up their original occupation for other professions?
63. Foreigners who came to India mainly as conquerors were given the status of which varna in Gupta-period society?
64. The Hunas, who appeared in India towards the close of the fifth century, ultimately came to be recognized as one of the thirty-six clans of which group?
65. Consider the following statements regarding social change in the Gupta period:
(I) Sudras and women were now permitted to listen to the epics and the Puranas.
(II) Sudras and women were permitted to worship a new god called Krishna.
(III) From the seventh century onwards, sudras were mainly represented as agriculturists rather than as servants and slaves.
Which of the above is/are correct?
66. Which social group increased significantly in number during the Gupta period, especially the chandalas, whose disabilities attracted the attention of Fa-hsien?
67. According to Fa-hsien, the chandalas lived outside the village and dealt in which occupation?
68. Which two gods commanded the worship of most followers as Brahmanism came to the forefront in the Gupta period?
69. Which famous Vaishnava work, which taught devotion to Lord Krishna, appeared by the fourth century A.D.?
70. Which practice, becoming a common feature of Hinduism from the Gupta period, saw agricultural festivals turned into good sources of income for priests?
71. Consider the following statements regarding Gupta-period religious policy and Buddhism:
(I) The Gupta kings followed a policy of tolerance towards different religious sects.
(II) No example is found of persecution of followers of Buddhism and Jainism.
(III) Buddhism in the Gupta period had come to acquire many features of Hinduism.
Which of the above is/are correct?
72. Which bronze image of the Buddha, recovered from Sultanganj near Bhagalpur, was over two metres high?
73. Fa-hsien saw a copper image of the Buddha of what approximate height, which is not traceable now?
74. The greatest specimen of Buddhist art in Gupta times, depicting events in the life of Gautama Buddha and marked by brilliance of colours, is provided by:
75. Samudragupta is represented on his coins playing which musical instrument?
76. Chandragupta II is credited with maintaining how many luminaries or great scholars in his court?
77. Consider the following pairs of Gupta-period brick/stone temples and their locations:
(I) Bhitargaon – Kanpur
(II) Bhitari – Ghazipur
(III) Deogarh – Jhansi
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
78. The Buddhist university at Nalanda, whose earliest brick structure belongs to the Gupta period, was set up in which century?
79. Kalidasa's Abhijnanasakuntalam was one of the earliest Indian works to be translated into which category of languages?
80. Consider the following statements regarding Sanskrit plays of the Gupta period:
(I) All the plays produced in India during the Gupta period are comedies.
(II) No tragedies are found among Gupta-period plays.
(III) Characters of the higher and lower classes speak the same language in these plays.
Which of the above is/are correct?
81. The two great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, were finally compiled probably in which century A.D.?
82. Development of Sanskrit grammar in the Gupta period was based on the work of Panini and which other grammarian?
83. The compilation of which lexicon by Amarasimha is particularly memorable in the Gupta period?
84. Which mathematician, belonging to Pataliputra, wrote the Aryabhatiya during the Gupta period?
85. A Gupta inscription of 448 from Allahabad district suggests that which numeral system was known in India at the beginning of the fifth century A.D.?
86. The astronomy text called Romaka Sidhanta, compiled in the Gupta period, was influenced by ideas from which civilization, as suggested by its name?
87. The iron pillar found near Mehrauli in Delhi, manufactured in the fourth century A.D., is remarkable for which property?
88. Consider the following statements regarding the elements that make a region "civilized," as described for eastern India:
(I) People know the art of writing.
(II) A system exists for collecting taxes and maintaining order.
(III) The region possesses social classes and specialists for priestly, administrative and producing functions.
Which of the above is/are correct?
89. The period from the fourth to the seventh century is remarkable for the diffusion of an advanced rural economy and state formation in which of the following regions?
90. Which ruler founded a strong state in coastal Orissa (Kalinga) in the first century B.C.?
91. Excavations at Sisupalgarh, the site of Kalinganagari, have yielded objects indicating trade contacts with which empire?
92. In the fourth century, Kosala and Mahakantara figure in the list of conquests made by which Gupta ruler?
93. Which state in Orissa, also called Pitribhaktas, was the most important of the states formed between the fourth and sixth centuries, dominating the area between the Mahanadi and the Krishna?
94. Consider the following pairs of Orissan states and the regions/areas they ruled:
(I) Vasisthas – borders of Andhra in south Kalinga
(II) Nalas – forest area of Mahakantara
(III) Manas – coastal area in the north beyond the Mahanadi
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
95. The find of gold coins of which Orissan dynasty in the tribal Bastar area of Madhya Pradesh indicates use of gold money in large transactions?
96. The Matharas created a district called Mahendrabhoga in the area of which mountains?
97. Endowments consisting of land and income from villages, made by the Matharas for supporting religious and educational activities of brahmanas, were called:
98. In coastal Orissa, from about which year did Sanskrit begin to be used, replacing Prakrit which had been used in inscriptions up to the middle of the fourth century?
99. Under the Matharas, in the middle of the fifth century, the year came to be divided into twelve lunar months instead of how many earlier units?
100. Portions of north Bengal, now in which district, give evidence of the prevalence of writing in the time of Ashoka?
101. An inscription found in the coastal district of Noakhali in south-east Bengal shows that people of that area knew which script, besides Prakrit?
102. In about the middle of the fourth century, a king with the title maharaja ruled at Pokharna, in which district?
103. The deltaic portion of Bengal formed by the Brahmaputra, made to acknowledge the authority of Samudragupta, was called:
104. Consider the following statements regarding land sale documents recorded on copper-plates in Pundravardhanabhukti:
(I) They cover a century from about A.D. 432-33.
(II) Land was purchased with gold coins called dinara.
(III) Land given for religious purposes did not have to pay any tax.
Which of the above is/are correct?
105. Local vassal princes in north Bengal, who created their own administrative apparatus and built military organizations of horses, elephants and boats, were called:
106. By A.D. 600, the area of north Bengal came to be known as an independent state ruled by which king, an adversary of Harsha?
107. In the seventh century, the state of the Khadgas, literally meaning swordsmen, is found in which area?
108. Consider the following pairs of brahmana/rata feudatory kingdoms and their areas in south-east and central Bengal:
(I) Lokanatha – Comilla area
(II) The Ratas – Comilla area
Which of the above is/are correctly matched?
109. The fiscal and administrative unit called Dandabhukti, formed in the border areas between Bengal and Orissa, was apparently created for what purpose?
110. Vardhamanabhukti, mentioned in the seventh century as promoting Sanskrit and culture in tribal areas, corresponds to which modern place?
111. In south-east Bengal's Faridpur area, five plots of land granted to a Buddhist monastery were in what condition, paying no tax to the state?
112. Kamarupa, identical with the Brahmaputra basin, shot into prominence in which century?
113. Excavations at which site near Gauhati show settlements from the fourth century of the Christian era?
114. In the fourth century, Samudragupta received tributes from Davaka and Kamarupa; Davaka possibly accounted for a portion of which district?
115. The title varman, adopted by the Kamarupa kings and also found in Bengal, Orissa, Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, was strengthened through what means?
116. In the seventh century, which ruler emerged as the head of a state controlling a good deal of the Brahmaputra basin and some areas beyond it?
117. Which Chinese traveller visited Bhaskaravarman's state in Kamarupa?
118. Consider the following statements regarding the formative phase of eastern India (fourth to seventh century):
(I) Writing, Sanskrit learning, Vedic rituals, brahmanical social classes, and state systems spread and developed in this period.
(II) Cultural contacts with the Gupta empire stimulated the spread of civilization in the eastern zone.
(III) North Bengal and north-west Orissa came under direct Gupta rule.
Which of the above is/are correct?
119. What made for sufficient agricultural production that sustained widespread rural settlements in areas otherwise sparsely inhabited, apart from iron ploughshare agriculture and wet paddy cultivation?
120. Kalidasa refers to the transplantation of paddy seedlings in which region?
121. The decline and fall of the Gupta empire coincided with what development in the outlying regions of eastern India?
122. Red soil areas of West Bengal, north Orissa and adjoining Madhya Pradesh, difficult to cultivate and settle, formed part of which plateau?
123. For about how many years did the Guptas rule over north and western India from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, till the middle of the sixth century A.D.?
124. The white Hunas established their supremacy over Kashmir, Panjab and western India from about which year onwards?
125. Which dynasty, ruling at Thanesar in Haryana, gradually extended its authority over all the other feudatories of north India?
126. Harshavardhana's reign is dated to:
127. Which city did Harsha make the seat of his power, from where he extended his authority in all directions?
128. Kanauj, situated in which district of Uttar Pradesh, shot into political prominence from the second half of the sixth century?
129. Consider the following statements regarding Pataliputra's decline and Kanauj's rise:
(I) Pataliputra owed its power and importance to trade, commerce and the widespread use of money.
(II) Once money became scarce and trade declined, officers and soldiers began to be paid through land grants, and Pataliputra lost its importance.
(III) Kanauj was situated on an elevated area which was easily fortifiable.
Which of the above is/are correct?
130. Military camps of strategic importance that dominated long stretches of land, to which power shifted as Pataliputra declined, were called:
131. The early history of Harsha's reign is reconstructed mainly from a book written by his court poet Banabhatta, called:
132. Which Chinese pilgrim visited India in the seventh century A.D. and stayed in the country for about 15 years, supplementing knowledge of Harsha's reign?
133. Harsha's southward march was stopped on the Narmada river by which Chalukyan king?
134. Harsha's authority did not extend to which region, though he established his hold over practically the whole of north India except this area?
135. Harsha governed his empire on lines similar to the Guptas, except that his administration had become more:
136. Harsha is stated to have had 100,000 horses and how many elephants, a number considered astonishing since even the Mauryas maintained a smaller force?
137. According to Hsuan Tsang, the revenues of Harsha were divided into how many parts?
138. Consider the following statements regarding law and order in Harsha's empire:
(I) Robbery was considered to be a second treason for which the right hand of the robber was amputated.
(II) Under the influence of Buddhism, the severity of punishment was mitigated and criminals were imprisoned for life.
(III) Hsuan Tsang was never robbed of his belongings during his stay in India.
Which of the above is/are correct?
139. Hsuan Tsang came to India mainly to study at the Buddhist university of Nalanda and to collect:
140. According to Hsuan Tsang's account, which two cities in the doab had become important, in contrast to the state of decline of Pataliputra and Vaisali?
141. Hsuan Tsang notes that the sudras were represented mainly as which occupational group, which is significant compared to earlier texts?
142. According to Hsuan Tsang, untouchables such as scavengers and executioners lived outside the villages and consumed which foods, considered impure?
143. In the time of Hsuan Tsang, the Buddhists were divided into how many sects?
144. The Buddhist university at Nalanda is said to have had as many as how many students, all monks?
145. The monastery at Nalanda was supported from the revenues of how many villages?
146. Which later Chinese pilgrim, who visited Nalanda in 670, mentions only 3000 monks living there at that time?
147. Harsha followed a tolerant religious policy; though a Saiva in his early years, he gradually became a great patron of which religion?
148. Harsha held a great assembly at which city, attended by tributary princes, ministers and nobles, where an image of the Buddha was worshipped?
149. How many plays did Harsha write as a literary figure?
150. Banabhatta's Harshacharita, written in an ornate style, became a model for which group of writers?