Mahajanapadas and the Mauryas — Practice Questions
UPSC Prelims-pattern practice questions on the Mahajanapadas, Buddhism, Jainism and the Mauryas with full explanations — edicts, symbols and sources.
Questions
These are original UPSC-pattern practice questions. Attempt each one before revealing the answer.
Which one of Ashoka’s inscriptions describes the Kalinga war and his remorse over it?
Solution
Major Rock Edict XIII records the deportation of 150,000 people, the killing of 100,000, Ashoka’s remorse, and his preference for conquest by Dhamma. It also names five Greek kings.
- Major Rock Edict II — medical care for humans and animals.
- Pillar Edict VII — a summary of Ashoka’s work for Dhamma (only on the Delhi-Topra pillar).
- Rummindei — Ashoka’s visit to Lumbini and the tax concession.
Answer: A
Consider the following pairs of event in the Buddha’s life and the symbol used for it in early Buddhist art:
- Great Departure — Horse
- Enlightenment — Bodhi tree
- First sermon — Wheel
- Birth — Stupa
How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
Solution
Pairs 1, 2 and 3 are correct. The birth is represented by a lotus (and a bull); the stupa represents the Mahaparinirvana (death). Three pairs are correct.
Answer: C
Consider the following statements about Megasthenes:
- He was an envoy of Seleucus Nicator at the court of Chandragupta Maurya.
- His Indica survives only in quotations by later classical writers.
- He described Indian society as divided into seven classes.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Solution
All three are correct. Megasthenes lived at Pataliputra as Seleucus’s envoy. The Indica is lost; we know it through Strabo, Arrian, Diodorus and others. He described seven classes — and wrongly claimed there was no slavery in India.
Answer: D
In which of the following inscriptions is the name “Ashoka” used, rather than only the titles Devanampiya Piyadasi?
- Maski
- Gujarra
- Girnar
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Solution
The minor rock edicts at Maski (Karnataka) and Gujarra (Madhya Pradesh) use the name Ashoka — Maski, found in 1915, was the first such discovery. The Girnar major rock edicts use only Devanampiya Piyadasi (“beloved of the gods, of gracious mien”).
Answer: B
Consider the following statements about Jainism:
- The Shvetambara tradition holds that Mallinatha, the nineteenth tirthankara, was a woman.
- The first Jain council was held at Vallabhi.
- The Jain canon was compiled in Ardha-Magadhi Prakrit.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Solution
Statements 1 and 3 are correct. Statement 2 is wrong: the first council was at Pataliputra under Sthulabhadra (c. 300 BCE). The second, at Vallabhi under Devardhi Kshamashramana, gave the canon its final written form.
Answer: C
Distinguish between the court art and the popular art of the Mauryan period.
Solution
Introduction: Mauryan art marks the beginning of large-scale stone sculpture in India. Historians distinguish art commissioned by the court from art produced through local and popular patronage.
Body:
- Court art: monolithic pillars of polished Chunar sandstone with animal capitals (Sarnath lions, Rampurva bull, Sankissa elephant); the Lomas Rishi and Sudama caves of the Barabar hills; the Dhauli rock-cut elephant. Features — imperial patronage, the mirror-like “Mauryan polish”, a message of Dhamma and royal authority, possible Persian and Hellenistic influence in form.
- Popular art: free-standing yaksha and yakshi figures (Parkham yaksha, the Didarganj yakshi — its date is debated), terracottas and folk cult images. Features — local patrons, worship of folk deities, robust and frontal forms.
- Contrast: state ideology vs folk devotion; imperial finish vs regional variety.
- Legacy: popular forms fed into later Buddhist, Jain and Brahmanical sculpture at Bharhut, Sanchi and Mathura.
Conclusion: Together, court and popular art show a society in which imperial messaging and folk religion existed side by side, laying the foundation of Indian sculpture.