Ancient Indian History Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 5)

A dvarapandita was a senior scholar who debated and examined every prospective student before granting them entry through one of Vikramshila’s six gates.

Rajapura’s exact site has never been confidently identified. Proposals range from the Kabul valley to the mountains around Ghazni, in modern Afghanistan — Kamboja’s precise location remains disputed among historians.

The Arthashastra classes both Kamboja and Saurashtra as a “Vartta-Shastra” sangha — a corporate polity living by trade, farming, cattle-rearing, and arms, a classification later echoed in Varaha Mihira’s Brhat-Samhita.

The Mahabharata’s king and the Arthashastra’s sangha classification don’t agree. Historians read this either as a shift from kingship to corporate republic over time, or as different Kamboja groups organising differently — unresolved, not a settled fact.

Sudakshina, a Kamboja king, leads 6,000 cavalry at Kurukshetra on the Kaurava side, with golden chariots and white horses among his forces — a specific, well-documented detail from the epic.

Champa’s merchants used the Ganga river route to reach Tamralipti (modern Tamluk), then crossed the Bay of Bengal to Suvarnabhumi, ancient Southeast Asia.

Magadha installed Bimbisara’s son Ajatashatru as viceroy at Champa. Ajatashatru later became king of Magadha himself, and Jain tradition even holds he shifted his own capital to Champa for a time.

The Mahaparinibbana Sutta (Digha Nikaya 16) names Champa alongside Rajagaha, Savatthi, Saketa, Kosambi, and Varanasi, as Ananda urges the dying Buddha toward one of these great cities.

Karna was barred from the archery contest against Arjuna for not being royalty. Duryodhana crowned him King of Anga on the spot, so he could compete — forging a lifelong bond between them.

Ashoka held two provincial postings under Bindusara: an earlier one at Taxila, and a later one at Ujjain, governing Avanti.

The oldest surviving Surya Siddhanta dates to the Gupta era, centuries after Avanti’s Mahajanapada period ended.

Pradyota restored Udayana to Vatsa’s throne after the marriage, though Udayana remained under his influence.

Bimbisara sent Jivaka to treat Pradyota, according to the Mahavagga section of the Vinaya Pitaka.

Per Herodotus, Gandhara was grouped into the empire’s 7th tax district with the Sattagydians, Dadicae, and Aparytae, paying a joint tribute of 170 talents — a separate, lighter assessment from “India” (Hindush), the 20th district, taxed 360 talents in gold dust.

Pukkusati asked for ordination but never received it. He was killed on the way, gored by a stray cow while searching for alms robes in a rubbish heap.

Pukkusati and Bimbisara became close friends purely through letters and gifts carried by trading merchants, despite never meeting face to face.

Gandhara’s older capital was Pushkalavati (modern Charsadda). Its other great city was Taxila (Takshashila), famed as a centre of learning.

Tradition places Krishna’s delivery of the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna at Jyotisar, within the Kurukshetra battlefield.

By the Buddha’s time, King Koravya ruled a Kuru Mahajanapada that had faded into a comparatively minor state.

According to the Matsya and Vayu Puranas, a Ganga flood destroyed Hastinapura, forcing King Nichakshu to relocate the capital to Kaushambi.

The Kauravas ruled from Hastinapura, while the Pandavas ruled the other half of the split Kuru kingdom from Indraprastha.

The Kalachuris of Tripuri (7th-13th century CE) were also called the ‘Chedi’ dynasty, after the old regional name, but they are a separate medieval dynasty, not a continuation of the Mahabharata-era Mahajanapada.

Krishna had promised to forgive Shishupala a hundred offences. His 101st insult, hurled at the Rajasuya Yajna, exhausted the boon, and Krishna killed him with the Sudarshan Chakra.

Shishupala’s mother, Shrutakirti, was the sister of Vasudeva, Krishna’s father, making Shishupala a cousin of Krishna.

Chedi was a hereditary monarchy, not a Gana-Sangha republic like Vajji or Malla. The sixteen Mahajanapadas mixed both political forms.