Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – April 1, 2019

Servants of Indian Society was founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhle in 1905 in which M.C. Setalwad, B.N. Rao, Alladi Krishna S. Ayyer were distinguished members.

The rock shelters on banks of the River Suyal at Lakhudiyar, about twenty kilometres on the Almora-Barechina road (Uttarkhand), bear these prehistoric paintings. Lakhudiyar literally means one lakh caves. The paintings here can be divided into three categories: man, animal and geometric patterns in white, black and red ochre. Humans are represented in stick-like forms. A long-snouted animal, a fox and a multiple legged lizard are the main animal motifs. Wavy lines, rectangle-filled geometric designs, and groups of dots can also be seen here. One of the interesting scenes depicted here is of hand-linked dancing human figures. There is some superimposition of paintings. The earliest are in black; over these are red ochre paintings and the last group comprises white paintings.

The richest paintings are reported from the Vindhya ranges of Madhya Pradesh and their Kaimurean extensions into Uttar Pradesh. These hill ranges are full of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic remains, and they are also full of forests, wild plants, fruits, streams and creeks, thus a perfect place for Stone Age people to live. Among these the largest and most spectacular rock-shelter is located in the Vindhya hills at Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh. Bhimbetka is located fortyfive kilometres south of Bhopal, in an area of ten square kilometres, having about eight hundred rock shelters, five hundred of which bear paintings.

At a different level, historians of religion often classify bhakti traditions into two broad categories: saguna (with attributes) and nirguna (without attributes). The former included traditions that focused on the worship of specific deities such as Shiva, Vishnu and his avatars (incarnations) and forms of the goddess or Devi, all often conceptualised in anthropomorphic forms. Nirguna bhakti on the other hand was worship of an abstract form of god.

Deepvansh. Mahavansh and Deepvansh are other Buddhist texts; these provide information about then Sri Lanka.

Kalhana’sRajatarangini is one of the works of history which is indeed a solitary example of its kind written between 1148 and 1149. It enjoys great respect among the historians for its approach and historical content. Kalhana’s work of Rajatarangini consists of 7826 verses, which are divided into eight books called Tarangas (“waves”).

In short, the ceramic Neolithic occupation (c. 7000 B.C.) at Mehrgarh during the early food producing era shows a basic subsistence economy of the Indus valley and beginning of trade and crafts.

From the available evidence we may say that the religion of the Indus people comprised: (i) the worship of the Mother Goddess (ij) the worship of a male deity, probably of Siva: (iii) worship of animals, natural, semi.. human, or fabulous; (iv) worship of trees in their natural state or of their indwelling spirits; (v) worship of inanimate stones or other objects, of linga and yoni symboh; (vi) chrematheismas illustrated in the worship of the sacred “incenseburners”; (vii) faith in amulets and charms indicative of demonophobia: and (viii) practice of yoga.