Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – April 29, 2019

The VinayaPitaka included rules and regulations for those who joined the sangha or monastic order; the Buddha’s teachings were included in the SuttaPitaka ; and the AbhidhammaPitaka dealt with philosophical matters. Each pitaka comprised a number of individual texts. Later, commentaries were written on these texts by Buddhist scholars. As Buddhism travelled to new regions such as Sri Lanka, other texts such as the Dipavamsa (literally, the chronicle of the island) and Mahavamsa (the great chronicle) were written, containing regional histories of Buddhism. Many of these works contained biographies of the Buddha. Some of the oldest texts are in Pali, while later compositions are in Sanskrit

Kanishka was a follower of Buddhism. Thefourth Buddhist council was held during Kanishka’sreign. Kanishka’s court was adorned by the presenceof such scholars as Parsva, Vasumitra,Ashvaghosha, Charaka, and Nagarjuna. During hisreign Taxila and Mathura emerged as great centresof art and culture.

Gaffar Khan, also called Badshah Khan and Frontier Gandhi, had started the first Pushto political monthly Pukhtoon and had organised a volunteer brigade ‘Khudai Khidmatgars’, popularly known as the ‘Red-Shirts’, who were pledged to the freedom struggle and non-violence. They played an extremely active role in the Civil Disobedience Movement. The atmosphere created by their political work contributed to the mass upsurge in Peshawar during which the city was virtually in the hands of the crowd for more than a week.

Ankia Naat or Ankiya Bhaona is a traditional theatre form of Assam. It owes its origin to the unique genre of plays, evolved by 15th Century Vaishnav saint Sankardeva and his disciple Madhavdeva, and is a kind of dance-drama with songs and dialogues in Brajavali, sometimes in Assamese also. In this form, the narrator called Sutradhār begins the story, first in Sanskrit and then in either Brajboli or Assamese. The actors are called Bhaoriya.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Tata Vadyas are strings instruments or chordophones. These instruments function best when their sound is modified by hand. Example: Sitar.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Ghana Vadyas are used for tuning purpose. It is the genre of the solid instruments that do not require any tuning. They are also called the Idiophone instruments. The most popular examples of Ghana Vadya are Manjira, Jaltarang, Kanch-Tarang, Jhanj, Kartal etc.. In the Natyashastra of Bharata, musical instruments were classified as  ̳Ghana Vadya‘, ̳Avanaddha Vadya‘, ̳Sushira Vadya‘ and ̳Tata Vadya‘.

Statement 1 is correct. Fa-Hien was the first Chinese pilgrim to visit India. Fa-Hien came to India to collect Buddhist texts and relics, during the reign of Chandragupta II, known as Vikramaditya.

Statement 2 is correct. Hiuen-Tsang was a Foreign Envoy who visited India during the time of Harshavardhana. He wrote his experiences in his book Si-yu-ki or the ̳Records of Western World.

He writes about the way of life, doing agriculture, food habits, dress senses, jewellery, and types of taxes. He mentioned about the The fourfold division of the society – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vysya and Sudra which was prevalent at that time. Degraded position of the Chandals, elaborate description of the Nalanda monastery etc. Hiuen Tsang condemned the trials as barbarous and superstitious.

Statement 1 and 2 is correct. Neolithic period or New Stone Age. The term Neolithic is used, especially in archaeology and anthropology, to designate a stage of cultural evolution or technological development characterized by the use of stone tools, the existence of settled villages largely dependent on domesticated plants and animals, and the presence of such crafts as pottery and weaving.

Statement 3 is correct. The domestication of plants and animals usually distinguishes Neolithic culture from earlier Paleolithic or Mesolithic hunting, fishing, and food-gathering cultures. The Mesolithic period in several areas shows a gradual transition from a food-collecting to a food-producing culture.