With reference to the history of ancient India, Bhavabhuti, Hastimalla and Kshemeshvara were famous
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) playwrights
The three names share one category, and the best known of them, Bhavabhuti, was a Sanskrit playwright: he wrote three surviving plays, Malatimadhava, Mahaviracharita and Uttararamacharita, in the early 8th century at Kanyakubja (Kannauj). So the answer is playwrights.
- ✓ (b) NCERT lists Bhavabhuti among the significant Sanskrit playwrights of the period, with Bhasa, Kalidasa and Sudraka, and IGNOU records his three surviving plays. As the three names are grouped together, playwrights is the only option that fits.
- ✗ (d) NCERT calls Bhavabhuti a scholar proficient in rhetoric and logic, but what he left are plays, and that is what he is remembered for; he is not a philosopher-founder of a school.
- ✗ (c) None of the three is known for building temples; they wrote for the stage.
Remember · Sanskrit dramatists: Bhasa, Kalidasa, Shudraka, Vishakhadatta, Bhavabhuti (Kanyakubja, early 8th century; Malatimadhava, Mahaviracharita, Uttararamacharita).
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 11 · Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Chapter 1 “Significant playwrights of the period were Bhasa, Kalidasa, Sudraka and Bhavabhuti.”
- IGNOU (eGyanKosh) — Unit 14: Languages and Literature ↗ · reference work “Bhavabhuti who lived at Kanyakubja in the early 8th century has three surviving plays”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·