ITBP Indian History Timeline — practice questions

UPSC CSE Prelims 2025 (GS-I, Set A), Q.72. Official answer key: C.

Answer: C. Madhyama-vyayoga is attributed to playwright Bhasa. Bhasa (c. 3rd-4th century CE or earlier) was a major Sanskrit playwright whose works were rediscovered in 1912 by T. Ganapati Sastri in Kerala. Thirteen plays are now attributed to him, collectively called the 'Trivandrum Plays' or 'Bhasa Plays'. Madhyama-vyayoga (The Middle One) is a one-act play from Bhasa's corpus, dramatising a moving episode involving Bhima and his son Ghatotkacha from the Mahabharata. Distractors fail: (A) Kavyalankara is a treatise on poetics by BHAMAHA. (B) Natyashastra is the great treatise on dramaturgy by BHARATA Muni. (D) Mahabhashya is a grammatical commentary on Panini's Ashtadhyayi by PATANJALI. Source: syllabus Themes in World History + standard Sanskrit literature references.

Answer: A. AKBAR. The YOGAVASISTHA (also called Yoga Vasistha Maharamayana) is a major Hindu philosophical text in Sanskrit, traditionally attributed to Valmiki, comprising teachings of Sage Vasistha to Rama on the nature of consciousness, reality, and liberation (Advaita Vedanta in narrative form). NIZAMUDDIN PANIPATI translated the Yogavasistha into PERSIAN during the reign of EMPEROR AKBAR (1556-1605), as part of Akbar's broader project of cross-cultural translation. Akbar's MAKTAB KHANA (translation bureau) commissioned Persian renderings of major Sanskrit works: - MAHABHARATA → RAZMNAMA (translated by Naqib Khan, Badauni, Faizi etc.) - RAMAYANA → translated under Badauni - ATHARVA VEDA → began under Haji Ibrahim Sirhindi - LILAVATI (mathematics by Bhaskara II) → translated by Faizi - YOGAVASISTHA → by Nizamuddin Panipati This translation project reflects Akbar's syncretic religious policy (Sulh-i-Kul) and his sponsorship of inter-faith intellectual dialogue, also evident in the Ibadat Khana and the formulation of Din-i-Ilahi. Distractors: (B) Humayun was largely occupied with restoring Mughal rule his court did not produce this translation. (C) Shahjahan's son Dara Shukoh later translated the Upanishads (as Sirr-i-Akbar) and works on comparative religion, but the Yogavasistha translation predates him. (D) Aurangzeb was hostile to such syncretic projects. Source: syllabus Themes in Indian History Part II (Mughal court chapter) / Satish Chandra, Medieval India.