Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – September 24, 2018

Statement 1 is correct. The Amara- nayaka system was a major political innovation of the Vijaynagara Empire. The amara-nayakas were military commanders who were given territories to govern by the raya or the king.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Amara- nayakas were allowed to collect taxes and other dues from peasants, craftspersons and traders in the area.

Statement 3 is correct. They Amara- nayakas retained part of the revenue collected 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.

All the statements are correct. Borgeet is the unique creation of Srimanta Sankaradeva and his ardent disciple Sri Sri Madhavadeva. In the musical hierarchy of Sankari Sangeet, Borgeet occupies the highest position. It is a part of the Vaishnavite religion propagated by Srimanta Sankaradeva. It helps the devotees to develop Bhakti (devotion) to Lord Krishna and eventually attain Lord Krishna. Sarala Dasa or Sarala Das was a 15th century poet and scholar of Odia literature. Best known for three Odia books, these are Mahabharata, Vilanka Ramayana and Chandi Purana. He was the first scholar to write in Odia. Gnanadeva was the founder of the Bhakti Movement in Maharashtra in the thirteenth century. It was called Maharashtra dharma. He wrote a commentary of Bhagavat Gita called Gnaneswari.

Puranikas were story tellers or readers of the sacred Puranas. They normally travelled from place to place, preaching or simply reading the Puranas to whoever would listen. The hearers were obliged to give some gifts to the Puranikas in the form of food, money, garments or flowers.

If repo rate is increased – Repo rate is the rate at which RBI lends money to all the banks. So if RBI hikes its repo rate, it becomes costly for banks to borrow money from RBI so they in turn hike the rates at which customers borrow money from them to compensate for the hike in repo rate. Interest rate for common man will be repo rate plus the rate of interest on which he took the loan from the bank. So, if repo rate increases the interest rate of the loan will also increase. Thus increasing the EMI.

Pair 3 is incorrectly matched. Sir Thomas Roe came to India during the reign of Jahangir.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Mathura school of art developed on indigenous lines. However, the Gandhara art was a blend of Indian and Graeco-Roman elements.

Statement 2 is incorrect. In the Mathura school of art, the Buddha images exhibit the spiritual feeling in his face which was largely absent in the Gandhara school.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The Gandhara School made sculptures of the Buddha in various sizes, shapes and postures. The reliefs depict Buddha‘s birth, his renunciation and his preaching. Thus, the main theme of the Gandhara School of art was the new form of Buddhism – Mahayanism and the evolution of an image of Buddha. The Mathura school images include those of Buddha, Bodhisattvas, Vishnu, Shiva, Yakshas, Yakshinis, Jinas etc. representing its vitality and assimilative character as a result of the religious zeal of Brahmanism, Jainism and Buddhism.

Harcourt Butler Committee was a three member committee headed by Harcourt Butler, appointed on December 16, 1927 to examine the relations between the native states and the paramount power. It declined to define what paramountcy was, but stated that “paramountcy must remain paramount”. The committee fully endorsed that the viceroy, not the governor general should remain the Crown agent in dealing with the native states.

Campbell Commission, 1886 – investigate the causes of famine and to recommend measures to prevent recurrences in future.