Start learning →

UPSC CDS Ancient Indian History — practice questions — page 3

Explore 779 free Ancient Indian History questions in UPSC CDS History. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

Practise Ancient Indian History with Quill →

Ancient Indian History questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 61–90 of 779.

The Mahabharata in its present form runs to about how many verses?Read the answer and worked solution →Who led the project begun in 1919 to prepare a critical edition of the Mahabharata?Read the answer and worked solution →How many years did the critical edition of the Mahabharata take to complete?Read the answer and worked solution →In Sanskrit texts, which term designates a family?Read the answer and worked solution →Tracing descent from father to son to grandson is called:Read the answer and worked solution →The Kauravas and Pandavas belonged to which ruling lineage?Read the answer and worked solution →Marrying daughters into families outside the kin group is called:Read the answer and worked solution →The practice of a man having several wives is termed:Read the answer and worked solution →The Manusmriti, the most important Dharmashastra, was compiled between which dates?Read the answer and worked solution →How many forms of marriage did the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras recognise?Read the answer and worked solution →Each gotra was named after whom?Read the answer and worked solution →Satavahana rulers were named Gotami-puta or Vasithi-puta. What does puta mean?Read the answer and worked solution →Which Rigveda hymn describes the four varnas emanating from the body of Purusha?Read the answer and worked solution →Ekalavya, who cut off his thumb for Drona, belonged to which forest-dwelling community?Read the answer and worked solution →The Shungas and Kanvas, who succeeded the Mauryas, belonged to which varna?Read the answer and worked solution →Which Shaka ruler rebuilt the Sudarshana lake, recorded in an early Sanskrit inscription?Read the answer and worked solution →Which Satavahana king claimed to be a unique Brahmana and destroyer of Kshatriya pride?Read the answer and worked solution →A fifth-century inscription at Mandasor records the history of a guild of which craftsmen?Read the answer and worked solution →The play Mrichchhakatika, whose hero was both Brahmana and merchant, was written by whom?Read the answer and worked solution →Which Chinese monk wrote that untouchables had to sound a clapper in the streets?Read the answer and worked solution →Gifts a woman received at marriage, kept as her own wealth, were called:Read the answer and worked solution →In the Sutta Pitaka myth, people chose a leader paid with rice to punish wrongdoers. He was called:Read the answer and worked solution →Catch the kinship termsRead the answer and worked solution →Pop the marriage termsRead the answer and worked solution →Run the textsRead the answer and worked solution →Slice the varnasRead the answer and worked solution →Brahmanical or BuddhistRead the answer and worked solution →Who was itRead the answer and worked solution →Type the numberRead the answer and worked solution →Early society bingoRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

The Mahabharata in its present form runs to about how many verses?

  1. Over 100,000
  2. About 10,000
  3. About 1,000
  4. Over 500,000
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: A. Over 100,000

1. It was composed over about 1,000 years from c. 500 BCE. 2. It has over 100,000 verses. 3. It began with perhaps under 10,000 verses. _Source: syllabus Themes in Indian History Part I, Theme 3, Kinship, Caste and Class: Early Societies._

Open this question →

Who led the project begun in 1919 to prepare a critical edition of the Mahabharata?

  1. Max Muller
  2. V.S. Sukthankar
  3. R.G. Bhandarkar
  4. D.D. Kosambi
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: B. V.S. Sukthankar

1. The Sanskritist V.S. Sukthankar led it. 2. It took 47 years and over 13,000 pages. 3. Half the pages record regional variations. _Source: syllabus Themes in Indian History Part I, Theme 3, Kinship, Caste and Class: Early Societies._

Open this question →

How many years did the critical edition of the Mahabharata take to complete?

  1. 47
  2. 17
  3. 27
  4. 37
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: A. 47

1. Scholars compared manuscripts from Kashmir to Kerala. 2. The project took 47 years. 3. Common verses were published in several volumes. _Source: syllabus Themes in Indian History Part I, Theme 3, Kinship, Caste and Class: Early Societies._

Open this question →

How to practise

  1. Choose a Ancient Indian History question and try to work out your answer.
  2. Open the question to check the correct answer and read its worked solution.
  3. Continue in the app for bite-sized lessons, explanations and review with Quill. You can start without creating an account.

More History topics

Indian HistoryArt & CultureIndian History TimelineModern Indian HistoryWorld HistoryMedieval Indian HistoryPolitical TheoryOrganisations