UPHESC Assistant Professor Ancient History 2025 PYQs

Concept: Ubbiri is one of the women whose verses are in the Therigatha.

1. She was born in a wealthy family of Savatthi (Shravasti) and became a consort of King Pasenadi of Kosala.
2. Grieving for her dead daughter Jiva, she was consoled by the Buddha and attained liberation.

Short trick: Ubbiri & Jiva – Kosala's capital Shravasti.

Concept: Arrange the events of 326–325 BC as narrated by Arrian.

1. After defeating Porus on the Jhelum (326 BC) Alexander founded Bucephala (and Nicaea) – 3.
2. While he was moving east to the Chenab, news came that the Assakenians had killed his governor Nicanor – 1.
3. He then stormed Sangala, city of the Kathaioi, beyond the Ravi – 4.
4. Philip, satrap of the Indus region, was murdered by his mercenaries after the retreat (325 BC) – 2. Order: 3, 1, 4, 2.

Short trick: Hydaspes → Bucephala → Nicanor's death → Sangala → Philip murdered.

Concept: Jain and Buddhist texts give many details of Bimbisara's family.

1. Jain texts: Bimbisara gave the state elephant Sechanaka and a necklace to his sons Halla and Vehalla (by Chellana) – the cause of Ajatashatru's war with Vaishali – 1 correct.
2. The Mahavamsa names his father Bhatiya (Puranas: Kshemajit/Kshatraujas), not Dharmayashas – 2 wrong.
3. Rudrayana of Roruka (Sauvira) was his friend, exchanging gifts (Divyavadana) – 3 correct; Silavat (Sheelavanta) is named as one of his sons – 4 correct.

Short trick: Sechanaka elephant → Halla-Vehalla → war with Vaishali.

Concept: The Ceylonese chronicle Mahavamsa gives reign lengths of the Haryanka and Shishunaga kings.

1. Bimbisara – 52 years (IV); Ajatashatru – 32 years (I).
2. Udayibhadda – 16 years (II); Shishunaga – 18 years (III).
3. Code: a – IV, b – I, c – II, d – III.

Short trick: 52 – 32 – 16 – 18 (Bimbisara, Ajatashatru, Udayin, Shishunaga).

Concept: After the Great Renunciation, Siddhartha studied under two teachers and then practised severe austerities.

1. Anuvaineya/Anupiya (Malla country) is where he halted after leaving Kapilavastu, cut his hair and sent Chhandaka back – not the place of his penance.
2. The six years of extreme austerities that emaciated his body were at Uruvela (near Gaya) – so (A) is wrong.
3. Udraka Ramaputta taught the state of "neither perception nor non-perception" (naivasamjna-nasamjnayatana) – (R) is correct.

Short trick: Alara Kalama → "nothingness"; Udraka Ramaputta → "neither-sanjna-nor-asanjna"; penance at Uruvela.

Concept: The Maski (Raichur, Karnataka) version of Minor Rock Edict I, found in 1915, is famous for naming "Devanampiya Asoka".

1. In it Ashoka describes himself as "Budha-Shake" – a Buddhist Shakya, i.e. a lay follower of the Buddha.
2. Gujarra (Datia) also carries the name Ashoka; Bairat (Bhabru) addresses the Sangha and lists seven texts.

Short trick: Maski: first edict with the name "Asoka" + "Budha-shake".

Concept: Major Rock Edict XIII describes the Kalinga war and Ashoka's dhamma-vijaya.

1. It names five Yavana kings where dhamma-vijaya was achieved: Antiyoka (Antiochus II), Turamaya (Ptolemy II), Antikini (Antigonus), Maka (Magas), Alikasudara (Alexander).
2. RE II names Antiochus only (medical services); RE III – officials' tours; RE X – fame and glory.

Short trick: XIII = Kalinga + five Greek kings.

Concept: Kautilya (Arthashastra I.3) holds that the king must keep every varna and ashrama to its svadharma, since the order laid down by the trayi (three Vedas) is what keeps society happy.

1. The verse says: a world where Arya norms are fixed, varnashrama is established and which is protected by the trayi "prospers and does not perish/suffer" – (A) correct.
2. For this reason he makes the protection of varnashrama the king's duty – (R) correct and explains (A).

Short trick: "Trayya abhirakshito lokah prasidati na sidati" – Arthashastra I.3.

Concept: Kujula Kadphises, founder of Kushana power, first issued coins imitating those of the last Indo-Greek king of the Kabul valley, Hermaeus.

1. The obverse keeps the Greek legend "Basileos Soteros Hermaiou" (of the saviour king Hermaeus); the reverse has Kujula's name in Kharoshthi.
2. Kanishka and Huvishka used Bactrian legends ("Shaonanoshao…").

Short trick: "Hermaiou" on a Kushana coin → Kujula, the copier of Hermaeus.

Concept: Several Hellenistic officers/envoys and admirals reached or reported on Mauryan India (Megasthenes, Deimachus, Patrocles, Dionysius, Timosthenes).

1. Patrocles was a Seleucid general-admiral; Timosthenes and Dionysius were officers/envoys of the Hellenistic kings in the time of Bindusara–Ashoka.
2. Strabo (c. 64 BC – AD 24) was a Greek geographer of the Roman age who only quoted these writers – he was never sent to India.

Short trick: Strabo = later geographer (writer), not an envoy.

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.