UPHESC Assistant Professor Ancient History 2025 PYQs

Concept: Check each statement.

1. a – correct: the Ganga basin is India's largest (about a quarter of the country's area).
2. b – correct: the Bhagirathi rises at Gaumukh (Gangotri glacier) in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand.
3. c – wrong: Satluj and Jhelum belong to the Indus system.
4. d – correct: the Son is the main right-bank tributary (others: Yamuna, Tons… ).

Short trick: Punjab rivers (Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Satluj) → Indus; drop c.

Concept: The Khyber Pass, in the Spin Ghar (Safed Koh) range, is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

1. It links Peshawar (Pakistan) with Jalalabad/Kabul (Afghanistan) via Torkham border.
2. It was the historic invasion and trade route into the Indian subcontinent.

Short trick: Khyber → Khyber Pakhtunkhwa → Pakistan.

Concept: The Coriolis effect is the apparent deflection of moving objects caused by the Earth's rotation.

1. Deflection is to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern; it is zero at the equator and maximum at the poles.
2. Pressure differences drive winds, and the Coriolis effect deflects them; ocean currents are deflected by it, not its cause; the Moon causes tides.

Short trick: Rotation → Coriolis; Moon → tides.

Concept: Kirsty Coventry, a Zimbabwean former swimmer, was elected IOC President on 20 March 2025 (Costa Navarino, Greece).

1. She is the 10th IOC President, the first woman and the first African; she succeeded Thomas Bach (Germany) in June 2025.
2. She won 7 Olympic medals, including 200 m backstroke gold in 2004 and 2008, and was Zimbabwe's sports minister.

Short trick: First woman + first African IOC chief = Coventry of Zimbabwe.

Concept: NPP 2000 has immediate (unmet contraception needs), medium-term (TFR to replacement level 2.1 by 2010) and long-term objectives.

1. Long-term objective: a stable population by 2045, consistent with economic growth and environment protection → 1 correct.
2. National socio-demographic goals include reducing MMR to below 100 per 100,000 live births (and IMR below 30 per 1000) → 2 correct.

Short trick: NPP 2000: TFR 2.1 by 2010, stable population by 2045, MMR < 100, IMR < 30.

Concept: The capital market deals in long-term funds – equity and debt; the best-known capital markets are the stock market and the bond markets.

1. Stock (share) market → equity capital; bond market → long-term debt capital.
2. A depository account (with NSDL/CDSL) only holds securities in electronic (demat) form – it is a facility, not a market.

Short trick: Capital market = shares + bonds; demat = locker, not market.

Concept: FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) was founded in 1927 on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by G. D. Birla and Purshottamdas Thakurdas.

1. It is India's oldest and largest apex business organisation, headquartered in New Delhi.
2. Gandhi only advised; J. R. D. Tata was a co-author of the 1944 Bombay Plan with them, not a FICCI founder.

Short trick: FICCI 1927 = Birla + Thakurdas (Gandhi's advice).

Concept: Right to Equality = Articles 14–18 of the Constitution (the English List-II gives Articles; the Hindi version prints 'अनुसूची' (Schedule), but the numbers 14–17 can only be Articles – the Constitution has just 12 Schedules).

1. Art 14 – equality before law and equal protection of laws → a-I.
2. Art 15 – no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth → b-II.
3. Art 16 – equality of opportunity in public employment → c-III.
4. Art 17 – abolition of untouchability → d-IV (Art 18 – abolition of titles).

Short trick: The rights follow the article order 14-15-16-17 → straight I-II-III-IV.

Concept: Article 81 caps the Lok Sabha at 530 members from the States + 20 from the Union Territories = 550.

1. Earlier, Article 331 allowed the President to nominate 2 Anglo-Indians, which made the maximum 552.
2. The 104th Amendment (2019, effective 25 Jan 2020) ended Anglo-Indian nomination, so the maximum now fixed by the Constitution is 550.
3. 545 was the actual strength (543 elected + 2 nominated) up to the 16th Lok Sabha; 543 elected seats today.

Short trick: Max now 530 + 20 = 550 (552 only before 2020).

Concept: Recall each Article.

1. Art 50 (DPSP) – separation of judiciary from executive → a-II.
2. Art 143 – President may seek the Supreme Court's advisory opinion → b-IV.
3. Art 61 – procedure for impeachment of the President → c-I.
4. Art 320 – functions of Public Service Commissions → d-III.

Short trick: Only option A has a-II and b-IV.

Concept: The Indian itihasa-purana (historical) tradition is traced to the Atharvaveda, which is called the Bhrigvangirasa (Veda of the Bhrigu and Angiras families); its priestly bards preserved and later recast the epic-puranic material.

1. The Atharvaveda (XV.6) is the first Vedic text to speak of itihasa, purana, gatha and narashamsi as a class of literature.
2. The Bhargavas (Bhrigus) are credited with recasting the Mahabharata and the Puranas, so the Bhrigu–Angiras line is central to Indian historical tradition.
3. Gautama is a sage of law (dharmasutra); the Panis are cattle-thieves of the Rigveda; "Trijugath" has no role in this tradition.

Short trick: Atharvaveda = Bhrigvangiras = home of the itihasa-purana tradition.

Concept: Mandalas II–VII of the Rigveda are the "family books", each ascribed to one rishi family.

1. II – Gritsamada, III – Vishvamitra, IV – Vamadeva, V – Atri, VI – Bharadvaja, VII – Vasishtha.
2. Mandala III contains the Gayatri mantra (III.62.10), composed by Vishvamitra.

Short trick: G-V-V-A-B-V for II to VII: "Gritsamada, Vishvamitra, Vamadeva, Atri, Bharadvaja, Vasishtha".

Concept: Each Brahmana/Upanishad belongs to a particular Veda (shakha).

1. Kaushitaki (Shankhayana) Brahmana – Rigveda (iv).
2. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad – last part of the Shatapatha Brahmana – Shukla Yajurveda (iii).
3. Chhandogya Upanishad – Samaveda (i).
4. Mandukya Upanishad – Atharvaveda (ii). Code: iv, iii, i, ii.

Short trick: Rig: Aitareya-Kaushitaki; Sama: Chhandogya-Kena; Shukla Yajur: Brihadaranyaka-Isha; Atharva: Mundaka-Mandukya-Prashna.

Concept: Akalanka (8th century) was the great Digambara Jain logician of the Deccan.

1. He wrote the Tattvartha-Rajavartika (commentary on Umasvati's Tattvarthasutra), Ashtashati, Laghiyastraya, Nyayavinishchaya.
2. Aptamimamsa is by Samantabhadra (its "alankriti" commentary by Vidyananda).
3. Anekantajayapataka is by Haribhadra Suri; Nyayapravesha is a Buddhist logic text of Shankarasvamin.

Short trick: Akalanka → Raja-vartika ("royal commentary") on Tattvartha.

Concept: The Madala Panji is the temple chronicle of the Jagannatha temple, Puri, written in Oriya.

1. Its historically useful core is the record of the Eastern Ganga kings, who built the present Jagannatha temple (Anantavarman Chodaganga) and patronised it.
2. Its "Kesari" kings are largely legendary; the Senas (Bengal) and Palas (Bengal–Bihar) are not its subject.

Short trick: Puri temple chronicle → Ganga kings who built the temple.

Concept: Vedic texts describe Prajapati/Purusha as "shodashi" – having sixteen kalas – and Soma as born of and nourished by Rita (cosmic order).

1. The sixteen kalas of Purusha (Prashna Upanishad VI.4) begin with Prana; the Shatapatha Brahmana calls Prajapati "shodasha-kala". So Statement I is true.
2. In the Soma mandala (Rigveda IX) Soma is ritajata and ritavridh – born of Rita and grown by Rita. Statement II is true.

Short trick: Prajapati = 16 kalas starting with Prana; Soma = ritajata, ritavridh.

Concept: Bindusara is known by many names in the sources – Bhadrasara/Varisara (Puranas), Amitrochates (Greek), Simhasena (Jain).

1. The Manjushrimulakalpa states that Chandragupta was succeeded by his son, i.e. Bindusara (Bhadrasara) – Statement I is true.
2. In Hemachandra's Parishishtaparvan, Subandhu is a minister of Bindusara who intrigued against Chanakya, not his son – Statement II is false.

Short trick: Subandhu = Bindusara's minister (rival of Chanakya), not son.

Concept: Chopani Mando (Belan valley) and Mahadaha (Pratapgarh) were excavated by the University of Allahabad under G. R. Sharma.

1. The palynological (pollen) study for these Allahabad excavations was done by the Allahabad palaeobotanist D. D. Pant and published with the reports ("Beginnings of Agriculture").
2. M. D. Kajale (Deccan College) worked on Deccan/Chalcolithic plant remains; K. S. Saraswat and A. K. Pokharia (BSIP, Lucknow) are later archaeobotanists of the Ganga plain.

Short trick: Allahabad excavation → Allahabad palaeobotanist D. D. Pant.

Concept: Lothal (Ahmedabad, Gujarat; excavated by S. R. Rao) has a brick dockyard (c. 219 × 37 m).

1. The dock lies along the eastern flank of the town, linked by a channel to the old course of the Sabarmati/Bhogavo.
2. The warehouse and acropolis stood beside it on the eastern side.

Short trick: Lothal: Dock on the East.

Concept: Each scientific dating method is linked with its pioneer.

1. Dendrochronology (tree rings) – A. E. Douglass (iv).
2. Potassium–Argon – first proposed by C. F. von Weizsäcker, 1937 (iii).
3. Thermoluminescence – Farrington Daniels (i).
4. Radiocarbon (C-14) – Willard F. Libby, Nobel 1960 (ii). Code: iv, iii, i, ii.

Short trick: Libby = Carbon; Douglass = trees; Daniels = TL.