Ancient Indian History Quiz

Unlike Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization did not build large, monumental structures. There is no conclusive evidence of temples and the largest structures may be granaries. Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro may have been used for ritual purposes.

Worship of stones, trees and animals is called nature worship. The Indus Valley people worshipped, Pasupati, stones, trees, animals and snakes.

Rajatarangini is a metrical legendary and historical chronicle of the north-western Indian subcontinent, particularly the kings of early medieval Kashmir. It was written in Sanskrit by Kashmiri historian Kalhana in the 12th century CE.

Megasthenes was the Greek ambassador who visited India sometime between 302 BCE and 288 BCE. He was an ambassador of Seleucus Nicator I, in the court of Chandragupta Maurya. He described India in his book Indika.

There are archaeological evidence that there was an urban kind development during the Harappan civilization that is there where drainage systems, planned cities, massive structure and use of kiln bricks.

• Alberuni was a Persian scholar who came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017 CE.
• Fa-Hien was a Chinese pilgrim, who visited India in 399 CE, during the reign of Chandragupta-II. He came to India to study Buddhism.
• Hiuen Tsang was a Chinese Buddhist monk, visited India during Harsha Vardhana's reign in 627 CE, in search of Buddhist scriptures.
• Megasthanes came to India in 302 BC as an ambassador for Seleucus, the representative in India from the greek Prince Alexander.

Mithila (in Bihar) was the home of the three scholar sages — Gargi, Maitreya and Kapila. It was the capital town of Raja Janak's territory.

The caste system in ancient India was used to establish separate classes of inhabitants based upon their social positions and employment functions in the community.

'Bull' in Buddhism is associated with the birth of Buddha's life. The five great events in Buddha's life are associated with — Birth by Bull, Great Renunciation by Horse, Nirvana by Bodhi Tree, First Sermon by Dharmachakra or Wheel and Parinirvana or death by the stupa — of Buddha's life. In Buddhist symbolism, the lotus represents the purity of the body, speech and mind.

The title “Priyadasi” is thought to have been used by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (269-233 BCE) in his inscriptions (the Edicts of Ashoka). Ashoka was referred to as “Beloved servant of the Gods” or Devanama Piyadassi in his inscriptions.