final exam

Question 1

Which heterodox school or religion is best known for its ethical teaching that non-violence is the highest dharma resulting in its adherents wearing masks and sweeping the ground clear of insects before walking upon it?

Answer 1

Jainism

Question 2

The famous phrase from the Upaniṣads “tat tvam asi” is translated as “you are that” and affirms the unity of the individual soul and the ultimate divine reality.

Answer 2

true

Question 3

The Bhagavad Gītā is a chapter within the much larger Mahābhārata epic. The Gītā is said to have a Upaniṣad-like structure, with Kṛṣṇa as the teacher and Arjuna as the student.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

In the famous Purusa Myth of the Rg veda, how is the world created?

Answer 4

through the sacrifice of a primal being

Question 5

Saktas are devotees of Devi (the Goddess) and her divine power (sakti)

Answer 5

True

Question 6

In the Vedic system of social classes or varnas, the priests are ranked above the noble or ruling class

Answer 6

true

Question 7

In the Upaniṣads, what is the Sanskrit term for essential or absolute divine reality?

Answer 7

Brahman

Question 8

During British colonial rule in India, which of the following was created as a rational, Upanisad-based Hinduism cleansed of its more “superstitious” elements and supportive of Western education, science, and the uplift of women?

Answer 8

Brahmo Samaj

Question 9

According to Hindu theories of time, in which of the four yugas are we currently living in?

Answer 9

Kali

Question 10

The BJP currently holds power in India

Answer 10

True

Question 11

Svadharma refers to one’s personal dharma and changes based on one’s gender, class (varna), and life-stage.

Answer 11

True

Question 12

This important plant deity of the earliest Vedas was considered an ideal offering and ingested by the rsis to receive or hear the first stories of the gods and goddesses.

Answer 12

Soma

Question 13

According to Patanjali’s “Royal Yoga,” the final aim (and “limb”) is absorption (samadhi) into the divine, which is moksa.

Answer 13

True

Question 14

Though an extreme ideal and rarely practiced, satī is the practice of widows sacrificing themselves on the cremation pyre of their husbands. It has been banned by the Indian government.

Answer 14

True

Question 15

Bharat Mata is the name of the goddess equated with the subcontinent of India itself. She is Mother India and is often used as a symbol of Hindu nationalism.

Answer 15

True

Question 16

There are typically nine Tantric chakras, the highest of which is called the “Thousand-petaled lotus.”

Answer 16

False

Question 17

According to the orthodox tradition, both chastity and fasting enhance spiritual potency, power, and auspiciousness.

Answer 17

True

Question 18

Which Hindu tradition has used images of deities in sexual embrace to symbolize spiritual teachings?

Answer 18

Tantra

Question 19

Women are present in the literature of the Upaniṣads, including some who are portrayed as a guru or teacher.

Answer 19

True

Question 20

Which of the following is not one of the the four varṇas or classes?

Answer 20

Untouchables

Question 21

The Bhagavad Gita is a famous conversation between a Hindu god and a warrior. Which of the following are the two characters in conversation?

Answer 21

Krsna and Arjuna

Question 22

What Hindu deity is most frequently represented as being at odds with social conventions and expectations?

Answer 22

Siva

Question 23

Sankara’s Vedanta promoted devotion (bhakti) as the path to moksa while Ramanuja’s promoted knowledge (jnana)

Answer 23

False
Correct answer: Sankara’s Vedanta promoted knowledge (jnana) as the path to moksa while Ramanuja’s promoted devotion (bhakti)

Question 24

In the city Gold studies in Provincial Hinduism, which deity (and form) has the greatest number of religious places of worship dedicated to them?

Answer 24

The Goddess as Durga

Question 25

Of the daily rites performed by a temple priest, especially those in the morning and evening, which is considered the most important or high point and accompanied by a clamor of bells and noise?

Answer 25

the circling of flame before the image

Question 26

Widows are generally considered to be inauspicious.

Answer 26

True

Question 27

In discussions of karma, actions are often likened to ________________ which produce ________________.

Answer 27

Seeds, fruit

Question 28

In the Upaniṣads, what is the Sanskrit term for the individual soul or self?

Answer 28

Ātman

Question 29

Which of the following is a literal translation of Upaniṣad?

Answer 29

“To sit down next to”

Question 30

In one of the most influential religious stories of the dharma of women, this wife saves her husband from Yama, the God of Death?

Answer 30

Savitri

Question 31

What is qawwali?

Answer 31

music associated with Sufism

Question 32

A religious basis for the caste system cannot be found in the Vedas.

Answer 32

False

Question 33

Karma yoga consists of the renouncing of the “fruits of one’s __________________.”

Answer 33

actions

Question 34

Which is the Sanskrit term for the Hindu theory of causality stating all actions produce effects, either positive or negative, in this life or another?

Answer 34

Karma

Question 35

Which 19th century Hindu figure is most famous for reforming the role of the world-renouncers and ascetics? He thought they should balance the seeking of spiritual liberation with service to humanity.

Answer 35

Ramakrishna

Question 36

Which deity is associated with liṅga worship?

Answer 36

Siva

Question 37

Which is the commonly used Sanskrit term for the individual soul which moves from body to body and collects karmic residue?

Answer 37

Jiva

Question 38

Krishna is associated with the cowherd women (gapis) and his divine play (rasa lila) with them.

Answer 38

True

Question 39

This Sanskrit term means image or icon and refers to any representation of the divine.

Answer 39

Murti

Question 40

In his analysis of regional groups and their unique religious features, Gold highlights the Singhis from Sindu, a region now in Pakistan. What religious traditions are the Sindhis traditionally most aligned with?

Answer 40

Sikhism

Question 41

Both gurus featured in Provincial Hinduism taught a yoga called surat sabd through which the practitioner attains the divine. Through this practice, the meditator is said to __________.

Answer 41

enter a divine current of sound

Question 42

Of the three ways of liberation in the Bhagavad Gita the ways of knowledge is singled out by Krsna as most important and the one he prefers

Answer 42

false

Question 43

This term names the cosmic/sacred order that early Vedic ritual aspired to align with.

Answer 43

Ṛta

Question 44

In Provincial Hinduism, Daniel Gold was surprised to find Hindus as the majority of worshippers at these types of religious shrines

Answer 44

shrines to Sufi saints

Question 45

This term refers to blessed or consecrated food that is eaten by devotees after it has been offered to and partaken of by deities.

Answer 45

prasāda

Question 46

Which Hindu movement arrived in New York City in 1969, featured chanting and dancing, and quickly became labeled a “cult” by the media and mainstream American religions?

Answer 46

International Society for Krsna Consciousness

Question 47

In Provincial Hinduism, Gold (in agreement with other scholars) suggests European and American interest in Hinduism (especially the Upanishads) was a major factor in the development of the Hindu Renaissance.

Answer 47

True

Question 48

Patańjali defines yoga as “the ending of _________________________.”

Answer 48

The Whirling of Thought

Question 49

Of the four genres of Vedic literature which is primarily concerned with the proper practice of yajńa?

Answer 49

Brāhmaṇas

Question 50

After the period of cosmic dissolution, and before the cosmos is regenerated, this deity is pictured reclining on the cosmic serpent Anānta?

Answer 50

Visnu