Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – December 17, 2018

Shuddhi Movement was started by Arya Samaj in early 20th century to bring back those Hindu people back to their religion, who had converted themselves to Islam and Christianity.

Dayananda Saraswati claimed to be rejecting all non-Vedic beliefs altogether. Hence the Arya Samaj unequivocally condemned idolatry, animal sacrifices, ancestor worship, pilgrimages, priestcraft, offerings made in temples, the caste system, untouchability and child marriages, on the grounds that all these lacked Vedic sanction.

It aimed to be a universal church based on the authority of the Vedas. The nature of scriptural authority in Hinduism is different from Islam and Christianity in the sense that these two world religions claimed more or less exclusive divine authority for their books, the Veda never put up any such claim. Hinduism thus suffered from the universal character of their scriptures.

Dayananda Saraswati was aware of this disadvantage and was moved by the evangelical spirit of Christianity and Islam to create a similar militancy in Hinduism itself. He therefore, moved to give the Vedas the same degree of supernatural authority, which was claimed by the Quran and Bible.

Dev Samaj

• Dev Samaj one of the important religious and social movements in Bengal was founded in 1887 by Satyananda Agnihotri (Pandit Shiv Narayan Agnihotri).
• Sathyananda Agnihotri initiated the dual worship of himself and God in 1892 and three years later, the worship of God was discarded.
• The Dev Samaj strongly opposed the caste system and it laid emphasis on maintaining a strict moral standards and a significant moral standard. The Dev Samaj encouraged the education of woman.

Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of India especially. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Carnatic music is completely melodic with improvised variations. Purandara Dasa is credited with having founded today’s Carnatic music.

He is credited with having elevated Carnatic music from religious and devotional music into the realm of a performing art. Carnatic music is usually performed by a small ensemble of musicians consisting of a principal performer (vocalist) a violin, mridangam, and a tamburu.

Important elements of carnatic music:

• Sruti: commonly refers to musical pitch
• Swara: refers to type of musical sound that is a single note, which defines a relative position of a note, rather than a defined frequency.
• Raga : A raga in carnatic music prescribes a set of rules for building a melody.
• Tala: Tala refers to the beat set for a particular composition ( a measure of time) M.S. Subbulakshmi : was a renowned Carnatic vocalist. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna. She also received Ramon Magsaysay Award. Some of the famous works include Suprabhatam, Bhajagovindam, Vishnu Sahasranamam, Hanuman Chalisa etc.

Statement 1 is incorrect: Jainism was founded by Rishabhanath. The Parshwanath was the 23rd Tirthankar. Statement 2 is Correct: In Jainism, three Ratnas (Triratnas) are given and they are called the way to Nirvana. They are Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct.

Statement 3 is correct: First Council was held at Pataliputra by Sthulabhadra in the beginning of third century BC. It resulted in the compilation of 12 Angas to replace 14 Purvas

All the above statements are correct: Kanishka (AD 78-144):

• He had two capitals- First at Purushpur, near modern Peshawar and second at Mathura.
• Kanishka controlled the famous silk route in Central Asia, which started from China and passed through his empire in Central Asia and Afghanistan to Iran and Western Asia which formed part of Roman Empire.
• Kanishka is known in history for two reasons:

1. He started an era in AD 78, which is now known as Saka era and is used by the Govt, of India.
2. He extended his whole-hearted patronage to Buddhism (Held the fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir).

• Charaka lived between the third and second centuries BC, and was the court physician of the Buddhist King Kanishka. He was also the author of the one of the oldest and the most important ancient authoritative writings on Ayurveda, the Charaka Samhita.

Surendranath Banerjee is also known as RastraGuru. He was born in 1848 and in 1868, he competed in the Indian Civil Service Examination along with RC Dutt. He cleared the exam in 1869, but was debarred because of age dispute. Later he cleared the exam in 1871 and got appointed as Assistant magistrate in Bengal. Later he established the Indian national Association which was Pro-british. He remained the leader of the INC and in the evening of his life supported the British empire. He was knighted by the Government and also served as minister for local self-government from 1921 to 1924. He was an open critic of Mahatma Gandhi, who was then only in rising stage of his political career.

Statement 1 is correct. Music had also developed under the Mughals. Akbar patronized Tansen of Gwalior. Tansen composed many ragas.

Statement 2 is correct. From the time of Akbar, the Hindus, particularly the Rajputs were included in the nobility. For example, mention may be made about Raja Man Singh, Raja Birbal and Raja Todar Mal. Later, the Marathas also joined the Mughal service and rose to the position of nobles.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Muslim rulers in India charged a pilgrimage tax on unbelievers travelling to various Hindu pilgrimage sites. Akbar eliminated this tax in 1564. Jizya was also abolished by the Mughal emperor Akbar.