Vedic Age: previous-year questions

Answer: (B) 1028

The Rigveda, the oldest of the four Vedas, has 1,028 hymns (suktas) with about 10,600 verses arranged in 10 mandalas; the figure is made up of 1,017 regular hymns plus 11 Valakhilya hymns added to the eighth mandala, which is why 1,017 appears as a distractor. Mandalas II to VII (the 'family books') are the oldest, and I and X the latest. Mandala III contains the Gayatri mantra, Mandala IX is devoted to Soma, and Mandala X has the Purusha Sukta (first mention of the four varnas) and the Nasadiya Sukta (hymn of creation). Indra is the most frequently invoked deity, followed by Agni.

Answer: (D) Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

'Asato ma sadgamaya, tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, mrityor ma amritam gamaya' (lead me from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality) is the Pavamana mantra of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.3.28), which belongs to the Shukla Yajurveda and also contains the dialogues of Yajnavalkya with Gargi and Maitreyi. Sources of other well-known phrases: 'Satyameva Jayate' (national motto), Mundaka Upanishad, which is why it is offered as a distractor; 'Tat Tvam Asi', Chandogya Upanishad; 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', Maha Upanishad; the Gayatri mantra, Rigveda; the story of Nachiketa and Yama, Katha Upanishad; 'Yato Dharmastato Jayah' (motto of the Supreme Court), Mahabharata.

Answer: (A) The Rig Veda.

The Dasarajna or Battle of Ten Kings, in which Sudas of the Bharata tribe defeated a confederacy on the Parushni (Ravi), is described in the seventh mandala of the Rig Veda. The Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas contain no account of this battle.

Answer: (B) Indra

In the Rig Veda Indra is called Purandara, ‘destroyer of forts’, for breaking the strongholds of his enemies. Varuna is the guardian of cosmic order (rita), Agni the god of fire, and Shiva does not appear under this title.

Answer: (A) Sacred Book of the Aryans

The Vedas are the sacred texts of the early Aryans: the Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas, of which the Rigveda is the oldest. They were passed down orally for centuries before being written. Genealogies of kings are found mainly in the Puranas, not the Vedas. They are texts, not artefacts, and they are composed in Vedic Sanskrit rather than being a language themselves.

Answer: (A) Friedrich Max Muller

Max Müller, the German Indologist who edited the Rigveda, held that the Aryans' original home was in Central Asia. Bal Gangadhar Tilak argued instead for an Arctic home in 'The Arctic Home in the Vedas'. Nirad C. Chaudhuri was a writer, author of 'The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian'. Rakhaldas Banerji discovered Mohenjo-daro in 1922, and H. H. Risley classified Indian castes and races in the 1901 Census.

Answer: (A) Rig Veda

The Rigveda, with 10 mandalas of hymns mostly addressed to Indra, Agni and Varuna, is the oldest of the Vedas. The Samaveda arranges Rigvedic verses for chanting and is regarded as the root of Indian music. The Atharvaveda contains charms, spells and remedies and is the latest of the four. The Avesta is the scripture of the Zoroastrians of Iran, not a Veda, though its language is close to that of the Rigveda.

Answer: (C) an inscription found here mentions the names of Vedic Gods and Goddesses

A 14th-century BCE treaty found at Boghazkoi (the Hittite capital, in modern Turkey) invokes Vedic deities like Indra, Varuna, Mitra and Nasatya, pointing to early Indo-Iranian/Vedic cultural links.

Answer: (D) Both (A) and (B)

The early Vedic polity had two key assemblies — the Sabha (a smaller council of elders) and the Samiti (a general assembly) — which advised and checked the king's power.