Q.1 With reference to the  Medieval period, what was/were Bandagan ?

A) Special slaves purchased for military service

B) Special kind of cloth made up of Kirpas

C) Generals & Governors

D) Advisor of Kings

Ans. A

Q.2 Which of the following does not describe the part of the classic Hindu temple ?

A) Mandapa

B) Garbagriha

C) Antarala

D) Tribhanga

Ans. D

North Indian temples are referred to as Nagara style of temple architecture. They have sanctum sanctorum where the deity is present, open on one side from where the devotee obtains darśana. There may or may not be many more surrounding corridors, halls, etc. However, there will be space for devotees to go around the temple in clockwise fashion circumambulation. In North Indian temples, the tallest towers are built over the sanctum sanctorum in which the deity is installed. The north India Nagara style of temple designs often deploy fractal-theme, where smaller parts of the temple are themselves images or geometric re-arrangement of the large temple, a concept found in French and Russian architecture such as the matryoshka principle. One difference is the scope and cardinality, where Hindu temple structures deploy this principle in every dimension with garbhgriya as the primary locus, and each pada as well as zones serving as additional centers of loci. This makes a Nagara Hindu temple architecture symbolically a perennial expression of movement and time, of centrifugal growth fused with the idea of unity in everything.


TRIBHANGA It is the standing body position or stance used in the traditional Indian sculpture, art and Indian classical dance forms like the Odissi. Tribhanga, literally meaning three parts break, consists of three bends in the body; at the neck, waist and knee, hence the body is oppositely curved at waist and neck which gives it a gentle “S” shape and is considered the most graceful and sensual of the Odissi positions. It has been closely associated with the Hindu deity Krishna who is often portrayed in this posture. It is characterized by various Bhangas or stance, which involves stamping of the foot and striking various postures as seen in Indian sculptures, they are four in number, namely Bhanga, Abanga, Atibhanga and Tribhanga being the most common of all.

Q.3 Consider the following statements :

1. Kandariya Mahadeo is the name of a famous temple built during the period of Gupta dominance in Central India

2. The Martand temple in Kashmir was built during the reign of Lalitaditya Muktapida

Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?

A) Only 1

B) Only 2

C) Both are correct

D) Both are incorrect

Ans. B

*Kandariya Mahadeo is the name of a famous temple built during the period of Chandela rulers. *The Martand temple was built on top of a plateau from where one can view whole of the Kashmir Valley. From the ruins and related archaeological findings, it can be said it was an excellent specimen of Kashmiri architecture, which had blended the Gandharan, Gupta, Chinese, Roman, Syrian-Byzantine and Greek forms of architecture. *The temple has a colonnaded courtyard, with its primary shrine in its center and surrounded by 84 smaller shrines, stretching to be 220 feet long and 142 feet broad total and incorporating a smaller temple that was previously built. *The temple turns out to be the largest example of a peristyle in Kashmir, and is complex due to its various chambers that are proportional in size and aligned with the overall perimeter of the temple. In accordance with Hindu temple architecture, the primary entrance to the temple is situated in the western side of the quadrangle and is the same width as the temple itself, creating grandeur. *The entrance is highly reflective of the temple as a whole due to its elaborate decoration and allusion to the deities worshiped inside. The primary shrine is located in a centralized structure (the temple proper) that is thought to have had a pyramidal top – a common feature of the temples in Kashmir. Various wall carvings in the antechamber of the temple proper depict other gods, such as Vishnu, and river goddesses, such as Ganga and Yamuna, in addition to the sun-god Surya.

Q.4 Consider the following statements :

1. Borobudur is a world renowned Buddhist monument of Cambodia

2. Angkor wat is a well known Buddhist temple complex located in Indonesia

Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

A) Only 1

B) Only 2

C) Both 1 & 2

D) Neither 1 & 2

Ans. D

*Borobodur is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist Temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia.

*Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world.

*It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II.

Q.5 The three movements of Gandhi were named as Non-Cooperation movement, Civil disobedience movement & Quit India movement because

1. Gandhi wanted to attract the Indian masses to his movements by giving it a different name each time

2. When a movement failed he did not want to use the same name for his new movement

3. Each movement was more rigorous than the previous one

4. Gandhi prepared the masses slowly from non-cooperating in 1921 to telling the British to quit India in 1942.

Which of the above statements is/are correct ?

A) 1,2,3,4

B) 2 & 3

C) 1,2,4

D) 3 & 4

Ans. D

Q.6 With reference to the Vijayanagar empire, which among the following is/are correctly matched ?

1. Samara              –              Battle or war

2.Yavana               –              Greeks and other peoples who entered the subcontinent from the north west.

3. Kuddirai Chettis    –              Local communities of merchants

Select the correct answer using the codes given below :

A) 1 & 3

B) 2 & 3

C) 1,2,3

D) Only 2

Ans. C

The amara-nayaka system was a major political innovation of the Vijayanagara Empire. It is likely that many features of this system were derived from the iqta system of the Delhi Sultanate. The amara-nayakas were military commanders who were given territories to govern by the raya. They collected taxes and other dues from peasants, craftspersons and traders in the area. They retained part of the revenue for personal use and for maintaining a stipulated contingent of horses and elephants. These contingents provided the Vijayanagara kings with an effective fighting force with which they brought the entire southern peninsula under their control. Some of the revenue was also used for the maintenance of temples and irrigation works.

Q.7 Which among the following were the observations regarding the physical layout of the Vijayanagar empire ?

1. Embankments were built along these streams to create reservoirs of varying sizes

2. Fortifications encircled only the city but not its agricultural hinterland and forests

3. No mortar or cementing agent was employed anywhere in the construction.

Select the correct answer using the codes given below :

A) 1 & 3

B) 2 & 3

C) 1,2,3

D) Only 2

Ans. A

Additional points : The stone blocks were wedge shaped, which held them in place, and the inner portion of the walls was of earth packed with rubble. Square or rectangular bastions projected outwards. Abdur Razzaq noted that “ between the first, second and the third walls there are cultivated fields, gardens and houses.

Q.8 In ancient India “ Gutika” meant :

A) Colleges

B) Hospitals

C) Mountains

D) Viharas

Ans. B

Q.9 In context with the Western Indian School consider the following statements :

1) The motivating force for the artistic activity in Western India was Jainism

2) Exaggeration of certain physical traits are present in Western Indian School

3) Figures are flat with angularity of features in this type of art

Select the correct answer using the codes given below :

A) 1 & 3

B) 2 & 3

C) 1 & 2

D) 1,2,3

Ans. D

The Western Indian style of painting prevailed in the region comprising Gujarat, Rajasthan and Malwa. The motivating force for the artistic activity in Western India was Jainism just as it was Buddhism in case of the Ajanta and the Pala arts. Jainism was patronised by the Kings of the Chalukya Dynasty who ruled Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan and Malwa from 961 A.D. to the end of the 13th century. An enormous number of Jain religious manuscripts were commissioned from 12th to 16th centuries by the princes, their ministers and the rich Jain merchants for earning religious merit. Many such manuscripts are available in the Jain libraries (bhandaras) which are found at many places in Western India.

Q.10 What was Mahanavami Dibba with reference to the ancient period ?

A) Audience hall

B) Hospital where soldiers were treated

C) Residence of the Bhikshus

D) Place where Buddhist monks were assembled

Ans. A

The entire complex is surrounded by high double walls with a street running between them. The audience hall is a high platform with slots for wooden pillars at close and regular intervals. It had a staircase going up to the second floor, which rested on these pillars.