UPHESC Assistant Professor Ancient History 2025 PYQs

Concept: Kautilya's Arthashastra (II.18) lists the fort weapons and machines (chala-yantras) of the Mauryan armoury.

1. Panchalika (spiked wooden board placed in the moat), Devadanda (long pole without spikes on the wall) and Sukarika (leather bag stuffed with cotton/wool to block missiles) are all in this list.
2. "Arrada" does not occur among the Arthashastra weapons.

Short trick: Pancha-lika, Deva-danda, Sukarika = Kautilya's yantras.

Concept: Nepalese tradition says Ashoka visited Nepal with his daughter Charumati.

1. Charumati married the Kshatriya Devapala, and the city of Devapattana (near Pashupatinath, Kathmandu) was founded for the couple.
2. She later built the Charumati vihara (Chabahil) and became a nun.

Short trick: Charumati + Devapala → Devapattana.

Concept: The Poona copper plates (13th regnal year of her son) were issued by Prabhavatigupta, daughter of Chandragupta II and Vakataka queen-regent.

1. They give the Gupta genealogy first and record a land grant from Nandivardhana.
2. The closing line says the charter was written/engraved by Chakradasa.

Short trick: Prabhavatigupta's Poona plate → engraver Chakradasa.

Concept: Kumarapala (1143–1172), Chaulukya king of Gujarat, came under the influence of the Jain teacher Hemachandra.

1. He issued amari orders banning animal slaughter and prohibited liquor (and gambling) throughout his kingdom.
2. He also gave up the confiscation of property of sonless widows.

Short trick: Hemachandra + Kumarapala = ban on killing and liquor.

Concept: The Naneghat cave (Pune district, on the trade pass to the Konkan) was a Satavahana royal portrait gallery.

1. Its back wall had eight life-size relief figures of the royal family, now almost effaced; only their feet and label inscriptions survive.
2. Labels name Simuka, Queen Naganika, Satakarni and princes; the cave also has Naganika's long inscription.

Short trick: Naneghat = Satavahana "devakula" of 8 royal portraits.

Concept: The Maukharis are known from seals and inscriptions of two branches – the Badva (Kota) branch and the Kannauj branch.

1. The Asirgarh copper seal (mudra) of Sharvavarman gives the Maukhari genealogy, from which kings such as Shardulavarman of the Gaya branch are also known – Statement I true.
2. The Badva (Kota, Rajasthan) inscriptions of AD 238–39 (Krita era 295) are on stone sacrificial pillars (yupas) set up by Maukhari chiefs after Vedic sacrifices – Statement II true.

Short trick: Badva = Maukhari yupas; Asirgarh = Maukhari seal.

Concept: The Allahabad pillar inscription names the kings of Aryavarta uprooted by Samudragupta.

1. Achyuta – Ahichchhatra (Bareilly) (IV); Nagasena – Padmavati (Gwalior region) (III).
2. Ganapatinaga – Mathura (II); the Kota-kula prince – Delhi/eastern Punjab region (I). Code: IV, III, II, I.

Short trick: Achyuta–Ahichchhatra, Nagasena–Padmavati, Ganapati–Mathura, Kota–Delhi.

Concept: In Gupta-period lexicons (Amarakosha) kedara means a cultivated/irrigated field.

1. A group or expanse of such fields (green with crops) is called kaidaraka (also kaidarya).
2. Shaleya = field suited to shali rice; Vraiheya/Baiheya = field for vrihi rice; "kedar-shasya" is not a technical term.

Short trick: Kedara (one field) → Kaidaraka (group of fields).

Concept: Gautami Balashri, mother of Gautamiputra Satakarni, appears in the Nasik cave inscriptions.

1. The Nasik cave order of Gautamiputra Satakarni (regnal year 24), issued jointly by the king and his living queen-mother (Balashri), ends with the note that it was written by the pratiharakhi (female door-keeper) Lota (Lüders’ List no. 1126, Epigraphia Indica X).
2. Sunanda is the pratihari in Kalidasa’s Raghuvamsha (Indumati’s svayamvara), not of Balashri; Kusumalata and Nayanatara have no link with her.

Short trick: Nasik order of year 24 – ‘written by the door-keeper Lota’.

Concept: Order the Western Chalukya (Kalyani) kings by reign.

1. Vikramaditya V (c. 1008–1015) → Jayasimha II (c. 1015–1042) → Someshvara I Ahavamalla (c. 1042–1068).
2. Jagadekamalla (II) ruled much later (c. 1138–1151). Order: 2, 4, 3, 1.

Short trick: Vikramaditya V → his brother Jayasimha II → Jayasimha's son Someshvara I.

Concept: The Meguti temple at Aihole (Karnataka) is a Jain temple built by Ravikirti in AD 634–35.

1. It bears the Aihole prashasti of Ravikirti in praise of Pulakeshin II.
2. The inscription records Pulakeshin's victory over Harsha.

Short trick: Meguti = Jain temple + Aihole inscription (Ravikirti).

Concept: The Nasik cave inscription of Gautami Balashri (19th year of Vasishthiputra Pulumavi) eulogises her son Gautamiputra Satakarni.

1. It calls him "Rama-Keshavarjuna-Bhimasena-tulya-parakrama" – equal in valour to Rama, Keshava, Arjuna and Bhimasena.
2. It also calls him "eka-brahmana" and destroyer of Shakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas.

Short trick: Nasik prashasti: Gautamiputra = Rama + Keshava + Arjuna + Bhima.

Concept: Mangalesha (c. 597–610) was a Badami Chalukya king.

1. He was a devout Vaishnava ("parama-bhagavata"); his Badami cave 3 (AD 578) is dedicated to Vishnu – Statement I false.
2. He was the son of Pulakeshin I and younger brother (not son) of Kirtivarman I; he ruled as regent for his nephew Pulakeshin II – Statement II false.

Short trick: Mangalesha = Vaishnava uncle of Pulakeshin II.

Concept: Bhoja I of the Gurjara-Pratiharas bore several names: Mihira (Gwalior prashasti), Adivaraha (coins) and Prabhasa.

1. The Daulatpura (Dausa, Rajasthan) copper plate of AD 843 calls him Prabhasa.
2. The Gwalior prashasti calls him Mihira; Sanjan plates are a Rashtrakuta (Amoghavarsha I) record; the Badal pillar belongs to the Pala minister Guravamishra.

Short trick: Mihira (Gwalior) – Adivaraha (coins) – Prabhasa (Daulatpur).

Concept: The Chandellas ruled Jejakabhukti (Bundelkhand), the northern Vindhyan region, from Khajuraho, Kalinjar and Mahoba.

1. Statement I true – their kingdom lay in the Vindhya hills between the Yamuna and the Narmada.
2. Nannuka and his successors began as feudatories of the Gurjara-Pratiharas; Yashovarman and Dhanga became independent in the 10th century – Statement II true.

Short trick: Chandellas: Pratihara feudatories → independent under Yashovarman/Dhanga.

Concept: The twelve links (nidanas) of dependent origination are spread over three lives.

1. Past life: 1 avidya (ignorance), 2 samskara (karmic formations).
2. Present life: 3 vijnana to 10 bhava (8 links).
3. Future life: 11 jati (birth), 12 jara-marana (old age and death).

Short trick: 2 – 8 – 2: past, present, future.

Concept: Ballalasena (c. 1160–1179) of Bengal was a scholar-king.

1. He wrote the Danasagara (on gifts) and began the Adbhutasagara (on omens), completed by his son Lakshmanasena.
2. Dasharupaka is by Dhananjaya and its commentary Dasharupavaloka by Dhanika – both at the Paramara court of Munja.

Short trick: Ballala's two "Sagaras": Dana-sagara and Adbhuta-sagara.

Concept: Ibn Khurdadbeh (9th century Arab geographer) described seven castes of India.

1. Among them are two kinds of Kshatriyas: the Sabkufria (Sat-Kshatriyas, the highest, from whom kings came) and the Kataria (ordinary Kshatriyas).
2. The others are Brahma, Sudaria, Baisura, Sandalia and Lahud.

Short trick: Sat-kshatriya (Sabkufria) + Kshatriya (Kataria) = 2.

Concept: A Nagara temple rises from base to finial in fixed parts.

1. Adhishthana/pitha (plinth, base) → Jangha (wall with sculptures) → Shikhara → Amalaka (ribbed stone disc) → Kalasha (pot-finial).
2. So the order is III, I, IV, II.

Short trick: Base–Body–Spire–Amalaka–Kalasha: "A J S A K".

Concept: Kuvalayamala, a Prakrit champu by the Jain monk Udyotana Suri (AD 779), gives a lively picture of trade.

1. It describes a gathering of merchants at Sopara where traders from many regions of north and south India meet and talk in their own dialects about their voyages.
2. It also lists the 18 regional languages (desha-bhasha) of the merchants.

Short trick: Kuvalayamala = merchants' meeting at Sopara + 18 dialects.