Static Quiz 29 April 2023 (History)

Solution: (b)

Justification: Vedic ritual is preserved in literary texts called the Brahmanas. The main division of the contexts of these extensive texts is twofold – the ritualistic injunction and discussions on the meaning of Vedic ritual and all that is related to it. The Aranyakas or the treatises of the forest present secret explanations of the ritual, have their origin in the philosophical discussions of the Brahmanas, find their culmination in the Upanishads and represent the transitional phase between the ritualistic symbolism of the Brahmanas and the philosophical doctrines of the Upanishads. The Upanishads, written both in prose and poetry, are expressions of philosophical concepts.

Solution: (a) Learning: They initially established themselves in the Vindhyan region, and later extended their power southwards, eventually becoming a major political power in the Deccan. Vakataka rule lasted from the mid-3rd to the late 5th/ early 6thcenturies AD. The founder of the Vakataka dynasty was Vindhyashakti I. The second Vakataka king was Pravarasena I who seems to have extended the empire southwards into Vidarbha and adjoining areas of the Deccan.
His capital was Kanchanaka (modern Nachna). Pravarasena I cemented an important political alliance by marrying his son, Gautamiputra, to the daughter of the Naga king, Bhavanaga of the Bharashiva family, which was prominent in eastern UP and adjoining areas. The political gains of this alliance were immense. Pravarasena is mentioned in the Puranas and inscriptions as performing several vajapeya, vajimedha and ashvamedha sacrifices, accompanied by the distribution of lavish gifts. He was the only Vakataka king with the imperial title of samrat.

Solution: (a)
Nearly one hundred sites of the culture have been located along its principal axis, i.e., the valleys of river Banas and its tributaries and subtributaries in Banswara, Udaipur etc. The technology at Ahar was based mainly on copper and very few microblades and microliths have been discovered. Ahars were a separate culture from GJs. Located in northeast Rajasthan, the Ganeshwar-Jodhpura complex which was an early centre of agriculture and copper metallurgy in the subcontinent

Ans;- b) 2 Only

Explanation;-
• The Sautrantikas and Sammtiyas are Buddhism sects.
• The Sautrāntika or Sutravadin were an early Buddhist school generally believed to be descended from the Sthavira nikāya by way of their immediate parent school, the Sarvāstivādins.
• While they are identified as a unique doctrinal tendency, they were part of the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya lineage of monastic ordination.
• The Saṃmitīya were one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools in India, and were an offshoot of the Vātsīputrīya sect.
The Sarvastivadins this sect of Buddhism believes that all things exist, and exist continuously, in the past and the future as well as in the present.

Solution: (d)

Justification:
Statement 1: One could attain the grace of God irrespective of one’s caste status.
Statement 2: Around the time when the puranas first began to be composed, the belief in particular deities had be come established
as one of the principal marks of the Hindu faith, and to some degree the puranas can be described as a form of sectarian
literature.
Some Puranas exhibit devotion to Shiva; in others, the devotion to Vishnu predominates.

Learning: The special subject of the Puranas is the powers and works of the gods and one ancient Sanskrit lexicographer,
Amarasinha,writing inthefifthorsixthcenturyA.D., defined a purana as having five characteristic topics, or pancalaksana:
(1) The creation of the universe;
(2) Its destruction and renovation;
(3)The genealogy of gods and patriarchs;
(4)The reigns of the Manus, forming the periods called Manwantaras;
(5) the history of the Solar and Lunar races of kings.”