Deck 2: Ancient India

Question 1

Discuss the place of women in ancient India as compared to that of men. What was expected of women? Do you see any ambivalence about women in the Law of Manu ?

Answer 1

Answers will vary.

Question 2

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Harappan seals

Answer 2

Answers will vary.

Question 3

Compare and contrast Harappan civilization with the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Answer 3

Answers will vary.

Question 4

Discuss the concept of reincarnation. What was it, and how did it function in ancient Indian society?

Question 5

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Punjab

Question 6

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
maharaja

Question 7

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Harappans

Question 8

Discuss the economy of ancient India. What were the ways in which people made a living? Which categories of work predominated and why? What was the nature of farming, trade and manufacturing, and what was the importance of each to the overall Indian economy?

Question 9

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Arjuna and Krishna

Question 10

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Mohenjo-Daro

Question 11

Discuss the rise and fall of the Mauryan Empire. What contributed to both, and what ultimately emerged in its place?

Question 12

How important are early writing systems for our understanding of ancient India? Were there many written records left behind, and what has become of them? What is the value of writing to emerging civilizations?

Question 13

What are the major Indian castes? How does their makeup resemble, and differ from, the social structures of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations? Cite specific evidence.

Question 14

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
twice-born

Question 15

Was the caste system a stabilizing or a destabilizing factor in Indian society, or both? Give specific examples.

Question 16

Why do most researchers not believe that the Aryans were originally indigenous to ancient India?

Question 17

How do researchers today explain the decline of Harappan civilization?

Question 18

What is the relationship between Brahmanism and Hinduism, and what does this tell us about elite and popular concepts of religion?

Question 19

In what ways did the events of Ashoka's reign mark the high point of Buddhism in India? Why?

Question 20

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Ganges and Indus rivers

Question 21

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
the monsoon

Question 22

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Hinduism

Question 23

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
vaisya

Question 24

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Vedas

Question 25

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
brahmins

Question 26

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Aryans

Question 27

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
guru

Question 28

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
varna

Question 29

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Chandragupta Maurya

Question 30

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Law of Manu

Question 31

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Alexander the Great

Question 32

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
kshatriya

Question 33

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Arthasastra

Question 34

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
raja

Question 35

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
jati

Question 36

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Mundaka Upanishad

Question 37

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
sati

Question 38

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
sudras

Question 39

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
asceticism

Question 40

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
pariahs

Question 41

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Mauryan Empire

Question 42

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Buddhism

Question 43

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
yoga

Question 44

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Middle Path

Question 45

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Siddhartha Gautama

Question 46

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
karma

Question 47

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Brahmanism

Question 48

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
bodhi

Question 49

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Dyaus and Indra

Question 50

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
stupa

Question 51

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Atman

Question 52

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
dharma

Question 53

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
reincarnation

Question 54

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
four noble truths

Question 55

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Brahman

Question 56

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Jainism

Question 57

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Vishnu and Shiva

Question 58

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
sermon at the deer park at Sarnath

Question 59

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Sanskrit

Question 60

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Nirvana

Question 61

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Mahabharata and Ramayana

Question 62

What do archeologists believe about Harappan civilization?

A) That it was ruled by a series of kings
B) That its inhabitants lacked the ability to write
C) That it was a monarchical society
D) That it was the birthplace of Buddhism
E) That it was a primitive culture

Question 63

The transition the Aryans made from pastoral to primarily agricultural pursuits was aided by the introduction of which of the following?

A) Political decentralization
B) New weapons of warfare
C) Iron
D) Seafaring
E) Trade

Question 64

The Indian warrior caste was known as the

A) kshatriya.
B) pariah.
C) brahmin.
D) vaisya.
E) jati.

Question 65

What was true of marriage in ancient India?

A) Unhappy couples could easily divorce.
B) Polygamy was common.
C) Even when there were no sons, women could not inherit property.
D) Widows were revered.
E) Child marriage was not unusual for girls.

Question 66

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Prakrit

Question 67

Most scholars believe that the Aryans migrated to ancient India from which region of the world?

A) The steppes north and east of the Black and Caspian Seas
B) The central regions of Mongolia
C) The southern Chinese Highlands
D) The northeastern African Savannah
E) The Nile Valley

Question 68

What were the three "twice-born" castes?

A) Sikh, Hamar and Maltese
B) Sudra, brahmin and kshatriya
C) Vaisya, kshatriya and brahmin
D) Brahmin, bodhi and mahayana
E) Sudra, ashakan and pariah

Question 69

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
"rule of the fishes"

Question 70

What was the role of the board of censors during the Mauryan Empire?

A) To function as the secret police
B) To prevent corruption and investigate incompetence within the government
C) To monitor and prevent criticism of the Mauryan ruler
D) To oust any remaining Greeks affiliated with Alexander the Great
E) To punish insurgents

Question 71

The two major cities of the Harappan civilization were

A) Gujarat and Panini.
B) both located near the Indian Ocean coast.
C) comprised of over 500,000 inhabitants each.
D) Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
E) established on the bank of the Ganges River.

Question 72

The members of the caste known as the untouchables, or pariahs, were

A) so holy that they would be contaminated if touched even by high priests.
B) given extensive opportunity to achieve social mobility.
C) required to have a minimum of five children during their lifetimes.
D) composed primarily of priests and financial planners.
E) given jobs such as handling dead bodies or collecting trash.

Question 73

The southern area of the Indian subcontinent, a region of hills and upland plateau, is called the

A) Ganges River Valley.
B) Indus River Valley.
C) Deccan Plateau.
D) Kara Korum.
E) Hindu Kush.

Question 74

Why did Chandragupta Maurya worry that he may be assassinated?

A) He had many enemies in the army of Alexander the Great.
B) He had seized power by violence.
C) He was constantly in conflict with a co-ruler.
D) He learned of a plot by his secret police.
E) He had previously eaten tainted food.

Question 75

According to the Arthasastra ,

A) the king was required to rule solely in a despotic manner.
B) the king must choose practical politics over sacred law when the two are in conflict.
C) the king must embrace egalitarian use of political power in the society.
D) the peasants should be given a limited form of self-rule.
E) the rulers were to be morally flawless.

Question 76

What were the Harappan most likely the first to do?

A) Leave written records.
B) Master the cultivation of cotton.
C) Domesticate animals for farming.
D) Create a sustainable navy.
E) Introduce a vital trade network into India.

Question 77

How many social classes existed in India?

A) Two
B) Three
C) Four
D) Five
E) Six

Question 78

Which leader drove Alexander the Great's Greek administrators from India?

A) Ashoka
B) Siddhartha Gautama
C) Xiongnu
D) Chandragupta Maurya
E) Megasthenes

Question 79

Which statement correctly describes Harappan civilization?

A) It showed no similarity to the civilizations of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
B) Its culture never attained the status of a true civilization.
C) It was much more agricultural than its contemporaries in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
D) It was a collection of over fifteen hundred towns and cities, ruled by landlords and rich merchants.
E) It never developed an urban center of over 3,000 people.

Question 80

The Indian priestly caste was known as the

A) kshatriya.
B) pariah.
C) brahmin.
D) vaisya.
E) volcana.