Deck 2: The Early Civilizations of South and East Asia

Question 1

Indus artisans cast metal ornaments and tools by the

A)lost wax method, like the ancient Chinese.
B)lost wax method, like the ancient Greeks.
C)piece mold method, like the ancient Chinese.
D)piece mold method, like the ancient Greeks.
E)none of these choices

Answer 1

lost wax method, like the ancient Greeks.

Question 2

In India, the monsoon season is

A)June to November.
B)July to January.
C)August to February.
D)September to June.
E)June to September.

Answer 2

June to September.

Question 3

Mohenjo-Daro is the modern name for an ancient city in the Indus Valley, which means

A)"Cliff-Dwellers."
B)"Highlands of the gods".
C)"Blessed City".
D)"The Place of the Dead"
E)"House of Wisdom"

Answer 3

"The Place of the Dead"

Question 4

A major causal factor in the decline of the early Indus civilization was

A)coastal uplifts in the Arabian Sea.
B)flooding.
C)deforestation.
D)barbarian invasions.
E)all of these choices

Question 5

The most common building material in the Harappa Culture was

A)marble.
B)granite.
C)baked brick.
D)concrete.
E)tufa.

Question 6

Until the twentieth century, life expectancy in India was about

A)20 years.
B)30 years.
C)40 years.
D)50 years.
E)60 years.

Question 7

A crop first cultivated and exploited in India was

A)wheat.
B)barley.
C)figs.
D)cotton.
E)olives.

Question 8

The area covered by the identified sites of the Indus civilization is larger than

A)China.
B)North America.
C)Australia.
D)Alaska.
E)Texas.

Question 9

Identification
Harappa

Question 10

Identification
Deccan Plateau

Question 11

Identification
Ceylon

Question 12

The people of the Indus civilization used

A)a script very like cuneiform.
B)Egyptian-style hieroglyphics.
C)short pictographic inscriptions.
D)a syllabary like Linear B.
E)the Phoenician alphabet.

Question 13

Which of the following was not a feature of the religion of the early Indus civilization?

A)many elaborate temples
B)"Great Mother" nature goddesses
C)a "proto-Shiva" deity
D)animal worship (esp. the bull)
E)careful burial practices

Question 14

The Indian subcontinent is

A)less than half the size of the Fertile Crescent.
B)a little larger than South America.
C)a little less than half the size of the United States.
D)twice the size of Australia.
E)none of these choices

Question 15

Identification
Ganges

Question 16

Which of the following was not characteristic of houses excavated at Mohenjo Daro?

A)ground floors about thirty feet square (i.e. thirty feet on a side)
B)second and third stories
C)indoor bathrooms
D)central courtyards
E)none of these choices

Question 17

Identification
Mohenjo Daro

Question 18

Identification
monsoon

Question 19

Identification
Shiva

Question 20

The evidence that suggests the invaders who contributed to the decline of early Indus culture came from colder climates is

A)many reindeer bones.
B)fireplaces.
C)carvings of polar bears.
D)reinforced walls in residential construction.
E)none of these choices

Question 21

Describe the impact of geological changes on the Indus Valley civilizations.

Question 22

The early Indus civilization had perished by

A)2000 B.C.E.
B)1750 B.C.E.
C)1500 B.C.E.
D)1250 B.C.E.
E)1000 B.C.E.

Question 23

Identification
Dasas

Question 24

The Rig Veda was first written down in

A)Sanskrit shortly after 1500 B.C.E.
B)Urdu after 1000 C.E.
C)Sanskrit after 1000 B.C.E.
D)Arabic after 750 C.E.
E)none of these choices

Question 25

Identify some of the basic characteristics of early Indus religion, insofar as they can be deduced from the archaeological record.

Question 26

The name "Aryan" means, literally,

A)"dark-skinned."
B)"northerner."
C)"noble of birth and race."
D)"the arrogant one."
E)none of these choices

Question 27

The Aryan invaders who conquered the early Indian peoples possessed

A)superior weaponry.
B)horses.
C)chariots.
D)all of these choices
E)none of these choices

Question 28

Describe the economic and commercial basis of Indus civilization.

Question 29

Identification
Rig Veda

Question 30

Identification
Aryans

Question 31

The Vedic Age in India consists of the period

A)2500-2000 B.C.E.
B)2000-1500 B.C.E.
C)2000-1000 B.C.E.
D)1500-1000 B.C.E.
E)1500-500 B.C.E.

Question 32

Foremost among the Aryan deities was

A)Agni.
B)Indra.
C)Vayu.
D)Surya.
E)none of these choices

Question 33

Identification
Prakrits

Question 34

Identification
Dravidian languages

Question 35

Describe briefly the city of Mohenjo Daro. What sorts of structures were located in it and how were they laid out?

Question 36

Identification
Brahmins

Question 37

Identification
Indra

Question 38

Of the four castes, the one consisting of dark-skinned indigenous people was

A)priests.
B)warriors.
C)landholders and artisans.
D)serfs and servants.
E)none of these choices

Question 39

The Aryan invaders who came to India after 1500 B.C.E. were

A)more urbanized than the people of the early Indus civilization.
B)non-Indo-European.
C)darker-skinned than the people of the early Indus civilization.
D)closely related to Indo-Europeans migrating into west Asia and Europe in the second millennium.
E)none of these choices

Question 40

Identification
Sanskrit

Question 41

Identification
Brahmans

Question 42

In Aryan society this class had the highest status

A)brahmans.
B)vaisyas.
C)sudras.
D)kshatriyas.
E)none of these choices

Question 43

The non-Indo-European, Dravidian languages were spoken chiefly in

A)the area of modern Pakistan.
B)south India.
C)the Punjab.
D)the Gangetic plain.
E)the Indus Valley.

Question 44

The god Indra is in some respects similar to the Greek god

A)Zeus.
B)Apollo.
C)Hermes.
D)Asclepius.
E)Hephaestus.

Question 45

What attitude toward the dasas is reflected in the Rig Veda?

Question 46

Summarize the changes that the Aryans brought to India.

Question 47

The oldest Dravidian language is

A)Tamil.
B)Canarese.
C)Telugu.
D)Malayalam.
E)none of these choices

Question 48

In Aryan society, the warrior class was the

A)brahmans.
B)vaisyas.
C)sudras.
D)kshatriyas.
E)none of these choices

Question 49

Which of the following statements about Aryan society in India is not true?

A)Families were patrilineal.
B)Families were patriarchal.
C)Monogamy was the norm.
D)Woman were secluded from social interactions, especially with males.
E)Women were subordinate to their husbands.

Question 50

Sanskrit is closely related in grammatical structure and vocabulary to

A)Greek and Armenian.
B)Hebrew and Arabic.
C)Latin and Basque.
D)Greek and Latin.
E)Hungarian and Finnish.

Question 51

Describe the essential features of Aryan religion.

Question 52

The Eight Chapters was

A)an epic poem.
B)a love poem.
C)a history of Vedic India.
D)a grammar book.
E)a philosophical dialogue.

Question 53

Identification
karma

Question 54

The predominant activity of Aryan religious practice was

A)the offering of sacrifices.
B)pilgrimages to holy sites.
C)private prayer and meditation.
D)human sacrifice.
E)none of these choices

Question 55

Identify at least four typical characteristics of Aryan culture in India.

Question 56

Identification
Kshatriyas

Question 57

In Aryan society, most religious sacrifices were carried out by

A)brahmans.
B)tribal chiefs.
C)temple priestesses.
D)sudras.
E)slaves.

Question 58

In Aryan society, the class that had the lowest status was the

A)brahmans.
B)vaisyas.
C)sudras.
D)kshatriyas.
E)none of these choices

Question 59

Aryan varnas were determined by

A)function.
B)skin color.
C)birth.
D)all of these choices
E)none of these choices

Question 60

Which of the following statements is false?

A)The languages of the people in ancient India were called Prakrits.
B)Sanskrit was used mainly by priests and members of the upper class.
C)Brahmans from different parts of India can communicate with each other in Prakrit, but not in Sanskrit.
D)The Prakrits evolved into the modern vernaculars of India.
E)none of these choices

Question 61

The concept of karma in India first became prevalent in the

A)pre-Vedic era.
B)the early Vedic age.
C)the late Vedic age.
D)the time of Buddha.
E)first century C.E.

Question 62

Identification
Mahabharata

Question 63

The period known as the "Late Vedic age" was

A)2500-2000 B.C.E.
B)2000-1500 B.C.E.
C)1500-1000 B.C.E.
D)1000-500 B.C.E.
E)500-100 B.C.E.

Question 64

Identification
Shiva

Question 65

Identification
Sudras

Question 66

Identification
Vishnu

Question 67

In the late Vedic age, most rulers were from this class.

A)brahmins
B)kshatriyas
C)sudras
D)vaisyas
E)none of these choices

Question 68

Identification
monism

Question 69

Identification
"untouchables"

Question 70

Which statement about Late Vedic age society is false?

A)Caste distinctions were relaxed.
B)Brahmans enjoyed immense power and prestige.
C)The Sudras were looked on as impure.
D)The Sudra caste grew as conquered or assimilated tribal people were added to Aryan-dominated society.
E)all of these choices

Question 71

The Upanishads are

A)Indic warlords.
B)poems on love and war.
C)heroic epics.
D)essays on religious and philosophical topics.
E)none of these choices

Question 72

"Outcastes," or "untouchables"

A)were lower than Sudras.
B)were excluded from the Aryan social order.
C)included in some cases members of professions considered impure.
D)all of these choices
E)none of these choices

Question 73

Which statement about the Mahabharata is false?

A)it survives in two versions.
B)it concerns a dispute about dynastic succession in the Kuru tribe.
C)it is of more use to the historian than is the Iliad.
D)like the Iliad it provided models of heroic behavior.
E)all of these choices

Question 74

Identification
Rig Veda

Question 75

Karma does not

A)postulate the transmigration of souls.
B)postulate the existence of the soul.
C)argue that past lives affect the present life.
D)argue that the present life affects future lives.
E)none of these choices

Question 76

Identification
Upanishads

Question 77

Aryan society in the Late Vedic age was located in the

A)Ganges Valley.
B)Jumna Valley.
C)foothills of the Himalayas.
D)Bay of Bengal region.
E)all of these choices

Question 78

In the Late Vedic Age, the goal of thinking people was to

A)seek truth and understand the nature of the brahman, or the essential divine reality of the universe.
B)acquire great wealth.
C)gain access to esoteric wisdom through study and asceticism.
D)promote the worship of nature spirits.
E)none of these choices

Question 79

Identification
Vaisyas

Question 80

Vedic religious literature is most closely associated with

A)Taoism.
B)Hinduism.
C)Buddhism.
D)Jainism.
E)Sikhism.