1. The period circa A.D. 300-750 marks the second historical phase in the regions south of which mountain range?
2. In northern Maharashtra and Vidarbha, the Satavahanas were succeeded by which dynasty?
3. The Vakatakas are known primarily from which type of source material?
4. Chandragupta II married his daughter Prabhavati Gupta into which royal family?
5. The Chalukyas of Badami set up their kingdom in the western Deccan towards the beginning of which century?
6. Vatapi, the capital of the Chalukyas of Badami, is modern-day Badami located in which district?
7. The Chalukyas of Badami were eventually overthrown in A.D. 757 by which dynasty?
8. The Ikshvakus, who supplanted the Satavahana power in the eastern peninsula, were centred in which region?
9. Which two sites are especially associated with monuments left behind by the Ikshvakus?
10. The Sanskrit term "pallava" is a version of which Tamil word meaning creeper?
11. The Pallavas established their capital at which city?
12. The Kadamba kingdom, founded in northern Karnataka in the fourth century A.D., was established by whom?
13. The Kadambas established their capital at which place in North Kanara district?
14. The Western Gangas of southern Karnataka had their earliest capital at which location?
15. Which group of rulers revolted in the sixth century and overthrew numerous kings, putting an end to brahmadeya land rights granted to brahmanas in the Tamil land?
16. Pulakesin II was probably killed in a fight against which dynasty?
17. Which Pallava king assumed the title Vatapikonda after occupying the Chalukya capital?
18. The famous seven ratha temples were built at Mahabalipuram by which ruler in the seventh century?
19. The Kailasanath temple at Kanchi, a fine example of structural Pallava temple architecture, was built in which century?
Consider the following pairs of temples and their approximate construction dates at Pattadakal:
(I) Papanatha temple – circa A.D. 680
(II) Virupaksha temple – circa A.D. 740
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
20. In the village classification of this period, which type of village was mainly found in southern Tamil Nadu and consisted of villages granted to brahmanas?
21. Which type of village consisted of settlements dominated by combinations of traders and merchants?
22. In the Chalukya areas, rural affairs were managed by village elders known by which term?
23. Indian traders' seals belonging to the period between 2400 B.C. and 1700 B.C. have been found in the cities of which region?
24. Buddhist missionaries were most probably sent to Sri Lanka in the reign of which ruler?
25. Which form of Buddhism did the Burmese develop?
26. A large number of Indian missionaries went to China, Central Asia, and Afghanistan beginning with the reign of which ruler?
Consider the following statements about Chinese pilgrims:
(I) Fa-hsien and Hsuan Tsang came to India in search of Buddhist texts and doctrines.
(II) A Buddhist colony was established at Tun Huang, the starting point for merchant companies crossing the desert.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
27. Begram and Bamiyan, famous for Buddhist relics and statues, are located in which country?
28. In Central Asia, Buddhism continued to be a dominant religious force until it was replaced by which religion around the end of the seventh century A.D.?
29. The name Suvarnabhumi, meaning "land of gold," was given by ancient Indians to which region?
30. Java was called Suvarnadvipa, or the island of gold, and the earliest Indian settlements there were established in which year?
31. The Chinese pilgrim who visited Java in the fifth century A.D. and found the brahmanical religion prevalent there was:
32. The Pallavas founded colonies in Sumatra, which eventually flowered into which powerful kingdom?
33. The king of Champa was a devotee of which deity, and the official language of Champa was which language?
34. Which is regarded as the largest Buddhist temple in the whole world, constructed in Indonesia in the eighth century A.D.?
35. The temple of Ankorvat in Kampuchea is compared in scale to the achievements of which two ancient civilizations?
Consider the following statements about India's cultural exchange with its neighbours:
(I) Indians learnt the art of growing silk from China.
(II) Indians learnt the art of growing betel leaves from Indonesia.
(III) The method of growing cotton spread from India to China and Central Asia.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
36. The state of affairs marked by discarding of varna functions and refusal to pay taxes, described in Puranic passages of the third-fourth centuries A.D., is known as:
37. The law-book of Manu advised that which two varnas should not be allowed to deviate from their duties?
38. Land grants became frequent from which century A.D. onwards, granting villages free from taxes to brahmanas?
39. Up to which century A.D. did the ruler generally retain the right to punish thieves in granted villages?
40. From the time of which ruler were public officials paid in land revenues rather than cash?
41. What fraction of the royal revenue was earmarked for the endowment of great public servants?
42. Which Chinese pilgrim states that most Indian monasteries got their lands cultivated by servants and others?
43. From which century onwards were sharecroppers and peasants particularly asked to stick to the land granted to beneficiaries, especially in backward and mountainous areas such as Orissa and the Deccan?
Consider the following statements about the decline of trade from the sixth century A.D.:
(I) Trade with the western part of the Roman empire ended in the third century.
(II) Silk trade with Iran and the Byzantium stopped in the middle of the sixth century.
(III) The Arabs practically monopolized the export trade of India in the pre-Muslim period.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
44. The decline of trade led to the decay of which feature of urban life?
45. In the late fifth century, a group of silk weavers migrated to which town in Malwa and gave up silk weaving for other professions?
Consider the following pairs regarding social changes from the sixth century A.D. onwards:
(I) Vaisyas in the Gangetic basin – came to be regarded as free peasants under land grants
(II) Astrologer Varahamihira – belonged to the sixth century and prescribed house sizes according to varna
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
46. From which century onwards did numerous castes get created, with a Purana of that century stating that thousands of mixed castes were produced by unions of vaisya women with men of lower castes?
47. What was the primary reason the state found it convenient to assign land revenues directly to priests, military chiefs, and administrators rather than paying cash?
48. Which practice created a new type of social formation, from about the 5th-6th centuries A.D., that can be called feudal?
49. Rig Vedic society was primarily what type of economy?
50. The term for cow (gau) occurs how many times in the earlier parts of the Rig Veda?
51. A wealthy person in Rig Vedic society was called:
52. The raja whose main duty was to protect cows was called:
53. The tribute offered to a Vedic tribal chief was called:
54. In later Vedic times, the tribal peasantry was called the vis, and the peasant militia was known as the sena, while the peasantry's force was called:
55. The Rig Vedic society lacked a serving order in the form of which varna?
56. The use of iron tools for crafts and cultivation created conditions for transforming Vedic society into a fully agricultural, class-divided order in which century B.C.?
57. Probably how many people captured in Kalinga by Asoka were drafted for work in farms and mines?
Consider the following statements about the varna system of production:
(I) The twice-born were entitled to Vedic studies and investiture with the sacred thread.
(II) The fourth varna, the sudras, were excluded from Vedic studies and investiture.
(III) Brahmanas were required to pay two per cent interest on loans, while sudras paid five per cent.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
58. According to the rate of interest on loans laid down in Dharmasastra rules, a kshatriya was required to pay what rate?
59. Sudra guests could be fed by a host only under which condition?
60. Which social phenomenon, described in Puranas of the third-fourth centuries A.D., refers to varnas or social classes discarding the functions assigned to them?
Consider the following statements on the food-gathering to food-producing transition:
(I) The food-gathering society of the Palaeolithic Age was succeeded by the food-producing societies of the neolithic and chalcolithic communities.
(II) The peasant communities eventually developed into the Harappan urban societies.
(III) After the Harappan civilization disappeared, urbanism did not reappear in India for about a thousand years.
Which of the above is/are correct?
61. Compared with western cultures, religion exercised what kind of influence in India?
62. Christianity came to India in about which century A.D., though it did not make much headway in ancient times?
63. The materialist philosophy that does not recognize the existence of God is found in which system, founded by Kapila?
64. Kapila, founder of the Sankhya system, was born around which year B.C.?
65. Which philosopher, who lived in about the sixth century B.C., propounded the materialist philosophy known as lokayata?
66. The famous German philosopher who found in his own system a place for the Vedas and Upanishads was:
67. Indian craftsmen were great experts in making a type of steel that came to be called by which name in later times, exported to many countries from very early times?
68. Regarding political organization, India was the only other country besides which country to make experiments in some kind of democracy?
69. Which Indian ruler, despite his great victory over Kalinga, adopted a policy of peace and non-aggression?
70. Panini systematized the rules governing Sanskrit and produced a grammar called:
Consider the following statements regarding ancient Indian contributions to mathematics:
(I) The Indians made three distinct contributions in the field of mathematics: the notation system, the decimal system, and the use of zero.
(II) The earliest epigraphic evidence for the use of the decimal system is from the beginning of the fifth century A.D.
(III) Zero was discovered by the Indians in about the second century B.C.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
71. The mathematician Aryabhata, acquainted with the decimal system, belonged to which period?
72. In the second century B.C., who produced a practical geometry for the construction of altars at which kings could offer sacrifices?
73. Aryabhata's most famous work, giving rise to the origin of trigonometry, is called:
74. Which scholar of astronomy, belonging to the sixth century, authored the Brihatsamhita and stated that the moon and earth rotate round the sun?
75. Aryabhata discovered the cause of which astronomical phenomena?
76. In post-Maurya times, which physician wrote the Susrutasamhita, describing the method of operating on cataracts and mentioning as many as 121 implements for operations?
77. Charaka wrote the Charakasamhita, described as an encyclopaedia of Indian medicine, in which century A.D.?
78. The huge monastic establishment that attracted students from India, Tibet, and China, and was one of the earliest residential-cum-teaching institutions, was:
79. The earliest specimen of Indo-Aryan literature, used to determine the nature of Aryan culture, is:
80. In Gupta times, whose play Abhijnanasakuntalam has been translated into all the important languages of the world?
