Indian Literature

Question 1

A group of nomadic warriors and herders were the earliest known migrants into India.

Answer 1

Aryans

Question 2

They brought with them a well deceloped language and literature and a set of religious belief.

Answer 2

Aryans

Question 3

This period is named for the Vedas

Answer 3

Vedic Period

Question 4

It is a set of hymns that formed the cornerstone of Aryan Culture. It is also the most sacred of all literature in India.

Answer 4

Vedas

Question 5

What are the 4 Vedas?

Answer 5

Rig Veda
Sama Veda
Yajurveda
Atharvaveda

Question 6

Hymns of supreme sacred knowledge of all literature. Believed that have been revealed to humans directly from God.

Answer 6

Rigveda

Question 7

How many hyms are included in Rigveda?

Answer 7

1, 028 hymns

Question 8

The Song of Creation is from?

Answer 8

India

Question 9

“Words of Doctrine”
“Way of Truth”
Buddhist Teaching

Answer 9

Dhammapada

Question 10

It is ruled hy Ashoka promoted Buddhism and preached goodness l, non violence, and righteousness.

Known for warfare and iron-fisted rule

Answer 10

Maurya Dynasty

Question 11

During this time, Hinduism reached a full flowering and was evident in culture and arts.

Answer 11

Gupta Dynasty

Question 12

Who is the author of Mahabharata?

Answer 12

Vyasa

Question 13

It is about the struggle for supremacy between two groups of cousins - The Kauravas and Pandavas.

Answer 13

The Mahabharata

Question 14

The mahabharata composed of how many couplets?

Answer 14

100, 000 couplets

Question 15

“Code of Conduct” including the proper conduct of a king, a warrior and of a man living in times of calamity.

Answer 15

Dharma

Question 16

English Translation of Bhagavad Gita

Answer 16

“The Blessed Lord’s Song”

Question 17

One of the greatest and most beutiful Hindu Scriptures.

Regarded as the same way as Gospels of Christians.

Answer 17

Bhagavad Gita

Question 18

Who is the author of Ramayana?

Answer 18

Valmiki

Question 19

How many couplets are there in Ramayana?

Answer 19

24,000

Question 20

It reflects the Hindu values and forms of social organization, the theory of karma, the ideals of wifehood, and feelings about case, honor, and promises

Answer 20

Ramayana

Question 21

Who is the wife of Rama?

Answer 21

Sita

Question 22

Whi is the demon-king of Lanka who was reject by Rama?

Answer 22

Ravena

Question 23

What is the main literary language of northern India during Classical Period?

Answer 23

Sanskrit

Question 24

It is a collection of Indian beast fables originally written in Sanskrit.

Answer 24

Panchatantra

Question 25

In Europe Panchatantra is known under the title of?

Answer 25

The Fables of Bidpai

Question 26

It is a sanskrit drama by Kalidasa

Answer 26

Shakuntala

Question 27

Who are the Characters in Shakuntala?

Answer 27

Shakuntala and Dushyanta

Question 28

This play include a Brahman merchant who has lost his money through liverality, a rich courtesan in love with a poor young man

Answer 28

The Little Clay Cart by Shudraka

Question 29

During this period, Persian influence literature.

Answer 29

Medieval and Modern Age

Question 30

It was published in 1910 and the transation followed in 1912.

Answer 30

Gitanjali

Question 31

English Translation of Gitanjali

Answer 31

Song Offerings

Question 32

It uses imagery ftom nature to express the themes of love and internal conflict between spiritual longings and earthly desires.

Answer 32

Gitanjali

Question 33

A poem by Sahir Ludhianvi which is about the mausoleum in North India built by the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal.

Answer 33

Taj Mahal

Question 34

It is an essay written by Santha Rama Rau. It illustrates the telling effects of colonization on the lives of the people particularly the younger generation.

Answer 34

On Learning to be an Indian

Question 35

Religions in India

Answer 35

Hinduism and Buddhism

Question 36

The ________is the three ends of man

Answer 36

Purusartha

Question 37

one of the three ends Virtue, duty, righteousness, moral law

Answer 37

Dharma

Question 38

Wealth

Answer 38

Artha

Question 39

Kama

Answer 39

Love or Pleasure

Question 40

What is the fourth end? What it means?

Answer 40

Moksha - combination of the three

Question 41

It is the cycle of births and deaths

Answer 41

Samsara

Question 42

Everything that seems to divide the soul from reality is ________

Answer 42

Maya or illusion

Question 43

it is a classic book on aerobics and other forms of pleasure and love which is attributed to the sage Vatsyayana

Answer 43

Kama-Sutra

Question 44

The universal spirit in India

Answer 44

Purusha

Question 45

It is the life-giving principle in all animated objects

Answer 45

Purusha

Question 46

Indian Caste System

Answer 46

Brhaman Ksatriyas Vaisyas Sudras

Question 47

It means priest, from mouth of Purusha.

Answer 47

Brhaman

Question 48

their duty is to perform sacrifices to study and the teach the Vedas

Answer 48

Brhaman

Question 49

They are the warriors. Protectors

Answer 49

Ksatriyas

Question 50

These are the peasants, thighs. They live by tading, herding and farming.

Answer 50

Vaisyas

Question 51

They are engaged in handicrafts and manual occupation. Serfs

Answer 51

sudras

Question 52

"Sitting at the feet of the teacher" The most important philosophical fdoctrinr of a single supreme being.

Answer 52

Upanishads

Question 53

The proponent of Buddhism

Answer 53

Siddharta Gautama Buddha

Question 54

Self awareness and self development in order to attain Nirvana

Answer 54

Buudhism

Question 55

What are the four noble truths?

Answer 55

1. Life is suffering 2. The cause of suffering is desire 3. the removal of desire us the removal of suffering 4. The Eight Fold Path leads to the end of suffering

Question 56

It means way of truth it is an anthology of basic buddhist teaching in a simple aphoristic style

Answer 56

Dhammapada

Question 57

Greatest Indian Writer of All Time

Answer 57

Kalidasa

Question 58

His poems suggest that he was a Brahman (priest).

Answer 58

Kalidasa

Question 59

Indian Shakespeare

Answer 59

Kalidasa

Question 60

The son of great sage. Bengali poet and mystic who won the Nobel Prize for Literature 1913.

Answer 60

Rabindranath Tagore

Question 61

He is a gifted composer and a painter

Answer 61

Rabindranath Tagore

Question 62

What is the real name of Dhanpat Rai Srivastava

Answer 62

Prem Chand

Question 63

He pioneered in adapting Indian themes to Western Style.

Answer 63

Prem Chand

Question 64

He worked as a teacher before joining Mahatma Gandhi's anticolonial Noncooperation Movement.

Answer 64

Prem Chand

Question 65

It was written by Prem Chand, translated with House of Service. It is his first major novel deals with prostitution and moral corruption among Indian Middle Class.

Answer 65

Sevasadana

Question 66

A collection of 250 or so short stories which contains most of Prem Chand's best works. Translation: The Holy Lake

Answer 66

Manasarovar (The Holy Lake)

Question 67

Last novel of Prem Chand. It deals with his favorite theme-the hard and unrewarding life of the village peasant. Translation: The Gift of a Cow

Answer 67

Godan

Question 68

Her works concern the struggles of contemporary Indians with conflicting Eastern and Western values

Answer 68

Kamalaya Markandaya

Question 69

Kamala Markandaya's first novel and most popular work. It is about an Indian peasan't narrative of her difficult life.

Answer 69

Nectar in Sieve

Question 70

All of his works are set in the fictitious South Indian town of Malgudi

Answer 70

R.K. Narayan (1906)

Question 71

R.K. Narayan first novel which is an episodic narrative recounting the adventures of a group of school boys.

Answer 71

Swami and Friends

Question 72

An English-language Indian novelist and author of children's book. She is India's premier imagist writer. Her works reflect Desei's tragic view of life.

Answer 72

Anita Desai

Question 73

Anita Desai's first novel that addresses the theme of the suppression and oppression of Indian Women.

Answer 73

Cry, the Peacock

Question 74

Anita Desai's most successful work, this is highly evocative portrait of two sisters caught in the lassitude of Indian life. This was shortlisted for the 1980 Booker Prize.

Answer 74

Clear Light of Day

Question 75

This work was criticized as relying too heavily on imagery at the expense of plot and characterization. It won for her Royal Society of Literature Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize.

Answer 75

Fire on the Mountain

Question 76

A Sikh writer and theologian.

Answer 76

Vir Singh

Question 77

A novel by Vir Singh about the life of the 17th century guru Gobind Singh.

Answer 77

Kalghi Dhar Chamatkar

Question 78

A young female writer whose first book "The God of Small Things" won for her a Booker Prize.

Answer 78

Arundhati Roy