Post-Mauryan kingdoms & the Guptas

Answer: (a) measurement of land

Kulyavapa and dronavapa were units for measuring the area of land, used in Gupta-age copper-plate land grants from Bengal. The Paharpur copper plate of Gupta year 159 (479 CE) fixes their relation: 4 adhavapas made 1 dronavapa and 8 dronavapas made 1 kulyavapa.

• ✓ (a) Inscriptions of the Gupta age give the popular area units in Bengal as kulyavapa, dronavapa and adhavapa, and the same names survived in eastern Bengal as local land measures.
• ✗ (b) These are not coins. Grants record prices in coins (dinaras) per unit of land (the Faridpur plates give the price of one kulyavapa as 4 dinaras), while kulyavapa itself is the unit of land area.
• ✗ (c) The terms measure the size of the land granted or sold; they are not a classification of urban land.
• ✗ (d) They have no ritual meaning; they occur in land-grant records as area measures.

Remember · Kulyavapa, dronavapa and adhavapa were Gupta-age land-area units in Bengal copper-plate grants: 8 dronavapas = 1 kulyavapa; 4 adhavapas = 1 dronavapa.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 3 only

UPSC's key counts only statement 3 as correct. NCERT places Kalidasa in the Gupta age, Panini lived several centuries before the Shungas, and Harsha's seventh-century court is known for Banabhatta.

• ✗ 1. Panini, author of the Sanskrit grammar Ashtadhyayi, is dated to about 500 BCE. Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga dynasty around 185 BCE, more than three centuries later.
• ✗ 2. Harshavardhana ruled Kanauj from about 606 to 647 CE, and NCERT names Banabhatta as his court poet. UPSC's official key treats this statement as incorrect; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✓ 3. NCERT places Kalidasa's works in the Gupta age and describes Chandragupta II as surrounding himself with learned men, poets and artists. UPSC's key counts this statement correct.

Remember · Panini c. 500 BCE (grammar); Kalidasa in the Gupta age; Harsha's court poet was Banabhatta.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 9 Understanding Society: India and Beyond, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) ports handling foreign trade

UPSC's key is (a), ports handling foreign trade. Gupta-period India traded by sea with the Mediterranean world, Southeast Asia and China, and Chaul (Cheul) appears in the Maharashtra Gazetteer as an ancient trading emporium.

• ✓ (a) Gupta-period India traded by sea with the Mediterranean world, Southeast Asia and China. Chaul (Cheul) appears in the Maharashtra Gazetteer as an ancient trading emporium, with a fifth-century Kanheri inscription naming it. UPSC's official key gives this option; we could not confirm the role of Ghantasala and Kadura from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ (b) The Gupta capital was Pataliputra (present-day Patna), an inland city, not any of these towns.
• ✗ (c) The Gupta age's famous stone art is at Sarnath, Udayagiri and the Deogarh temple, not at these three towns.
• ✗ (d) The sacred places of the Buddha's life are Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kusinagara; these three towns are not pilgrimage centres.

Remember · Gupta-age India traded by sea; Chaul (Cheul) was an ancient trading emporium on the Konkan coast.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 6 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 3 only

Only Bhilsa (Madhya Pradesh) and Girinagar (Gujarat) are matched correctly. Dwarasamudra is today's Halebidu in Karnataka, and Sthanesvara is today's Thanesar in Haryana.

• ✓ 1. Bhilsa, the old name of the town beside the river Betwa, is Vidisha, in Madhya Pradesh.
• ✗ 2. Dvarasamudra, a Hoysala capital, is today's Halebidu, in the present State of Karnataka, not Maharashtra.
• ✓ 3. Girinagar is another name for Girnar, the sacred hills at Junagadh in Gujarat.
• ✗ 4. Sthaneshvara, the early capital of the Pushyabhuti (Vardhana) dynasty of Harshavardhana, is present-day Thanesar in Haryana, not Uttar Pradesh.

Remember · Bhilsa = Vidisha (MP); Dwarasamudra = Halebidu (Karnataka); Girinagar = Girnar/Junagadh (Gujarat); Sthanesvara = Thanesar (Haryana).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error