UPHESC Assistant Professor Asian Culture 2025 PYQs

Concept: Horyu-ji near Nara was founded in 607 AD by Prince Shotoku (Shotoku Taishi), regent of Empress Suiko.

1. Shotoku is called the father of Japanese Buddhism; he also issued the 17-Article Constitution (604).
2. Soga no Umako built Asuka-dera (Hoko-ji), not Horyu-ji.
3. Masaoka Shiki was a 19th-century haiku poet; Yamashiro was Shotoku's son.

Short trick: Horyuji – Shotoku – 607.

Concept: Asia Minor (Anatolia) is the peninsula forming the Asian part of modern Turkey.

1. Iran = ancient Persia; Iraq = Mesopotamia.
2. Rhodesia is the colonial name of Zimbabwe/Zambia in Africa.

Short trick: Asia Minor = Anatolia = Turkey.

Concept: I-tsing's memoir of eminent monks records the Silla (Korean) monk Hyeryun, whose Sanskrit name was Prajnavarman, who stayed about ten years in India.

1. Other Korean monks in India: Aryavarman, Hyeop, Hyecho (author of a travel account).
2. These monks show the strong Korea–India Buddhist link of the 7th–8th centuries.

Short trick: Korean monks took Sanskrit '-varman' names: Aryavarman, Prajnavarman.

Concept: The Mahavamsa is the Pali chronicle of Sri Lanka, composed by the monk Mahanama (c. 5th–6th century AD).

1. It narrates Sri Lankan history from Vijaya's arrival to King Mahasena.
2. It also describes Ashoka's mission of Mahinda and Sanghamitra to Lanka.

Short trick: Dipavamsa + Mahavamsa = Sri Lanka's chronicles.

Concept: Nahdlatul Ulama ('Awakening of the Ulama'), founded in 1926 by Hasyim Asy'ari, is Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation.

1. It represents traditionalist Sunni Islam rooted in Javanese pesantren.
2. Its rival modernist body is Muhammadiyah (1912).

Short trick: NU and Muhammadiyah – the two pillars of Indonesian Islam.

Concept: The Dipavamsa (c. 4th century AD) is the oldest Pali chronicle of Sri Lanka's history.

1. Lankavatara Sutra is a Mahayana philosophical text (Yogachara), not a history.
2. Jatakas are stories of the Buddha's previous births.

Short trick: Dipa-vamsa = 'chronicle of the island' (Lanka).

Concept: Ganesha, the remover of obstacles and giver of success (Siddhi), is widely worshipped in Java and Bali.

1. Ganesha images are found at Prambanan, Dieng and on Javanese temples.
2. Indonesia's 20,000-rupiah note (1998) carried an image of Ganesha as god of knowledge.

Short trick: Siddhi-data / Vighnaharta = Ganesha.

Concept: The Wahhabi movement was founded in 18th-century Najd by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792).

1. His 1744 pact with Muhammad ibn Saud laid the base of the Saudi state.
2. Abdul Qadir Jilani founded the Qadiri Sufi order (12th c.); Jamaluddin Afghani led Pan-Islamism (19th c.).

Short trick: Wahhabi ← Abd al-Wahhab; ally = Ibn Saud.

Concept: Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist monument, stands in Central Java, Indonesia.

1. Built by the Shailendra dynasty c. 8th–9th century AD.
2. It is a stepped mandala-stupa with 504 Buddha images and 72 perforated stupas; a UNESCO site.

Short trick: Borobudur – Shailendras – Central Java.

Concept: Dipavamsa (4th c.) and Mahavamsa (5th–6th c.) are the Pali chronicles of Sri Lanka.

1. Both narrate the arrival of Vijaya, Ashoka's mission and the kings of Anuradhapura.
2. They are also key sources for Mauryan history (Ashoka).

Short trick: '-vamsa' chronicles (Dipa, Maha, Chula) = Sri Lanka.

Concept: Ceylon became independent from Britain as a dominion on 4 February 1948; D. S. Senanayake was the first Prime Minister.

1. 4 February is celebrated as National Day.
2. It became the Republic of Sri Lanka in 1972.

Short trick: Sri Lanka: 4-2-1948 (just after India's 15-8-1947).

Concept: The official national language is Bahasa Indonesia, adopted at the Youth Pledge of 1928 and fixed in the 1945 Constitution.

1. It is a standardised form of Malay, but as a national language it is called Bahasa Indonesia ('language of Indonesia').
2. Javanese and Sundanese are the largest regional languages, not official ones.

Short trick: Bahasa Indonesia – one nation, one language (Sumpah Pemuda 1928).

Concept: The Portuguese under Lourenço de Almeida reached Ceylon in 1505 and opened trade relations with the king of Kotte; this is the date usually given for the start of Portuguese trade settlement there.

1. They later fortified their Colombo trading post (1517–18).
2. The Dutch replaced them by 1658; the British took over in 1796.

Short trick: Ceylon: Portuguese 1505 → Dutch 1658 → British 1796.

Concept: Dari (Afghan Persian) and Pashto are the two official and most widely spoken languages of Afghanistan.

1. Dari is the lingua franca; Pashto is the language of the Pashtuns.
2. Urdu, Arabic and Hindi are not majority languages there.

Short trick: Afghanistan = Dari + Pashto.

Concept: Date each event.

1. I-tsing travelled via Srivijaya to India: 671–695 AD.
2. Balaputradeva (Shailendra king of Suvarnadvipa) endowed a monastery at Nalanda, recorded in Devapala's Nalanda plate: c. 860 AD.
3. Atisha went to Suvarnadvipa to study under Dharmakirti c. 1012 AD (stayed 12 years).
4. Rajendra Chola's naval expedition against Srivijaya: 1025 AD.
5. Order: i → iii → ii → iv.

Short trick: 7th (I-tsing) → 9th (Balaputra) → 1012 (Atisha) → 1025 (Chola).

Concept: The Dutch East India Company renamed Jayakarta as Batavia in 1619 (J. P. Coen); it became Jakarta after 1942/1949.

1. Earlier names: Sunda Kelapa → Jayakarta (1527) → Batavia (1619) → Jakarta.
2. Banten is a neighbouring sultanate/province; Bangka is an island; Aceh is in north Sumatra.

Short trick: Dutch capital = Batavia = Jakarta.

Concept: Mulavarman of Kutai (East Kalimantan, Borneo) is known from seven Sanskrit Yupa inscriptions (c. 4th–5th century AD).

1. The Yupas record his Vedic sacrifices (Bahusuvarnaka) and gifts of 20,000 cows to Brahmanas.
2. Ashvavarman was his father (vamsakarta); Kaundinya is linked to Funan; Ishanavarman to Chenla (Cambodia).

Short trick: Borneo – Kutai – Yupa – Mulavarman.

Concept: Laos gained full sovereignty from France by the Franco-Lao Treaty of 22 October 1953.

1. 1945: Lao Issara declared independence briefly after the Japanese surrender (not recognised).
2. 1949: Laos became an 'associated state' within the French Union (limited autonomy).
3. 1953: full independence; confirmed at the Geneva Conference 1954.

Short trick: Cambodia & Laos: 1953; Vietnam: Geneva 1954.

Concept: Thailand was known as Siam until 1939 (and again 1945–49), when it was renamed 'Prathet Thai' / Thailand.

1. Sukhothai and Ayutthaya were Thai kingdoms/capitals, not the country's name.
2. Ceylon is the old name of Sri Lanka.

Short trick: Siam → Thailand (1939).

Concept: The Mekong, with the Tonle Sap lake system, feeds Cambodia's rice and fisheries – its lifeline.

1. Irrawaddy and its tributary Chindwin flow in Myanmar.
2. Kalu Ganga is a river of Sri Lanka.

Short trick: Mekong + Tonle Sap = Cambodia.