Static Quiz 02 November 2022 (History)

Answer: D

Solution: (b)
Learning: In early India, a land possessed great value and the gift of an estate was a marker of status. While the earliest inscriptions recording royal land grants were issued during Satavahana rule, the practice truly grew in scope from the fourth century CE.
By the 5th-6th centuries, ruling dynasties across the subcontinent, as well as their subordinates and feudatories were all engaged in making suchgrants. Land grant charters were usually engraved on sheets of hammered copper. They are described as tamrapatta, a ‘plate of copper’ or tamrashasana, ‘an order in copper’.

Solution: (b)
Justification: Statement 1: He was the most important ruler of this kingdom. According to the Porunararruppaṭai, Karikala Chola fought a great Battle of Venni in which both Pandyan and Cheran kings suffered a defeat.
Statement 2: The Grand Anicut, also known as the Kallanai was built by Karikala and is considered one of the oldest water-diversion or water-regulator structures in the world which is still in use Karikala has been credited with many welfare activities. He got may canals dug so that water from the river Cauvery could be used for irrigation purposes. Karikala patronised works of literature and art. He was a follower of the Vedic religion

Solution: (a)
Justification:By the seventh century there were big land lords or warrior chiefs in different regions of the subcontinent. Existing kings often acknowledged them as their subordinates or samantas.They were expected to bring gifts for their kings or over lords,be present at their courts and provide them with military support. As samantas gained power and wealth, they declared themselves to be maha-samanta, mahamandaleshvara (the great lord of a “circle” or region) and so on. Sometimes they asserted their independence from their overlords.

Solution: (b)
Justification: Statement 1: There were regular drills with officials.
Statement 2 and 3: There were tolls and customs on goods taken from one place to another, various kinds of professional taxes, dues levied on ceremonial occasions like marriages and judicial fines. Moreover, the land revenue department was well organized. It was called as puravuvarithinaikkalam. The residential portion of the village was called ur nattam. These and other lands such as the lands belonging to temples were exempted from tax.
Statement 4: During the hard times, there were remission of taxes and Kulottunga I became famous by abolishing tolls and earned the title – Sungam Tavirtta Cholan. The main items of government expenditure were the king and his court, army and navy, roads, irrigation tanks and canals.