alleryStart learning →The famous female figurine known as 'Dancing Girl', found at Mohenjo-daro, is made of
- carnelian
- clay
- bronze
- gold
Show answer and solution
Correct answer: C. bronze
UPSC CSE Prelims 2025 (GS-I, Set A), Q.72. Official answer key: C.
ONGC Graduate Trainee Medieval History — practice questions
Explore 35 free Medieval History questions in ONGC Graduate Trainee History. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.
Practise Medieval History with Quill →Medieval History questions and exercises with answers
Showing questions 1–30 of 35.
The famous female figurine known as 'Dancing Girl', found at Mohenjo-daro, is made ofRead the answer and worked solution →Which one of the following is a work attributed to playwright Bhasa?Read the answer and worked solution →“Yogavāsistha” was translated into Persian by Nizamuddin Panipati during the reign of:Read the answer and worked solution →Which one of the following books of ancient India has the love story of the son of the founder of Sunga dynasty?Read the answer and worked solution →The 24th and last Tirthankara of Jainism is:Read the answer and worked solution →The Battle of Talikota (1565) marked the END of which great south Indian empire?Read the answer and worked solution →Citadel or Lower Town?Read the answer and worked solution →Complete the layout of a Harappan cityRead the answer and worked solution →True or false: Harappan settlementRead the answer and worked solution →Reading the excavationRead the answer and worked solution →Tap every feature the chapter attributes to Harappan citiesRead the answer and worked solution →Assertion and reasonRead the answer and worked solution →Two are true, one is notRead the answer and worked solution →Flip and pair: term with meaningRead the answer and worked solution →Spot the one that does not belongRead the answer and worked solution →Order the reasoning: why the Citadel stands higherRead the answer and worked solution →True or false: evidence and interpretationRead the answer and worked solution →Built, or found?Read the answer and worked solution →Scale of the workRead the answer and worked solution →Assertion and reason: planningRead the answer and worked solution →Order the opening events of the revoltRead the answer and worked solution →Dates and placesRead the answer and worked solution →True or false: how the revolt beganRead the answer and worked solution →Tap every target the rebels struck at MeerutRead the answer and worked solution →Meerut or Delhi?Read the answer and worked solution →Complete the opening of the revoltRead the answer and worked solution →Assertion and reasonRead the answer and worked solution →Two are true, one is notRead the answer and worked solution →Three of these are wrong. Find the one that holds.Read the answer and worked solution →Flip and pair: detail with its place in the storyRead the answer and worked solution →
Worked practice questions
Which one of the following is a work attributed to playwright Bhasa?
- Kavyalankara
- Natyashastra
- Madhyama-vyayoga
- Mahabhashya
Show answer and solution
Correct answer: C. Madhyama-vyayoga
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.
“Yogavāsistha” was translated into Persian by Nizamuddin Panipati during the reign of:
- Akbar
- Humayun
- Shahjahan
- Aurangzeb
Show answer and solution
Correct answer: A. Akbar
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.
How to practise
- Choose a Medieval History question and try to work out your answer.
- Open the question to check the correct answer and read its worked solution.
- Continue in the app for bite-sized lessons, explanations and review with Quill. You can start without creating an account.