Sangam age & early South India

Answer: (b) 2 only

Udiyanjeral (Udiyan Cheralanathan) was one of the earliest and better known Chera rulers, not a Chola. Senguttuvan, whose younger brother Ilango Adigal wrote the Silappadikaram, was a Chera, and Nedunjeliyan, celebrated by the Sangam poets for his victories over the Cheras and Cholas, was a Pandya. So only pair 2 is wrongly matched.

• ✓ 1. Senguttuvan was a Chera king of the Sangam age; Britannica names him as the son of the Chera king Nedunjeral Adan.
• ✗ 2. Udiyanjeral (Udiyan Cheralanathan) is named as one of the earliest and better known Chera rulers, so he was not a Chola.
• ✓ 3. Britannica lists Nedunjeliyan as a Pandya ruler, celebrated by the Sangam poets as the victor in campaigns against the Cheras and the Cholas.

Remember · Sangam kings: Chera - Udiyanjeral, Nedunjeral Adan, Senguttuvan; Pandya - Nedunjeliyan.

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Answer: (a) Mahendravarman I

The Mandagapattu inscription mentions the Pallava king Mahendravarman I, who ruled in the seventh century, with numerous titles such as Vichitrachitta (curious-minded), one of the three titles the question names. He was also a fine poet who left a satirical Sanskrit play.

• ✓ (a) Mahendravarman I, who ruled in the seventh century and built temples at Panamalai, Mandagapattu and Kanchipuram, is the king the Mandagapattu inscription credits with titles such as Vichitrachitta (curious-minded) and Chitrakarapuli (tiger among artists).
• ✗ (c) Narasimhavarman I, the son of Mahendravarman I, was also known as Mamalla ('wrestler' or 'warrior'); NCERT notes that he defeated Pulakeshin II and went on to capture Badami. That is not the set of titles in the question.
• ✗ (b) Simhavishnu is not the Pallava king whom NCERT links with the Mandagapattu inscription's titles such as Vichitrachitta; that is Mahendravarman I.

Remember · Mahendravarman I (Pallava, 7th century): titles such as Vichitrachitta and Chitrakarapuli at Mandagapattu; poet of a satirical Sanskrit play; rock-cut temples at Mandagapattu. His son Narasimhavarman I = Mamalla.

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Answer: (c) Rajendra I (Chola)

Only the Cholas had a navy able to strike across the Bay of Bengal. Rajendra Chola I, son of Rajaraja I, sent a naval expedition in the 1020s that defeated Srivijaya's forces and took its capital, a punitive raid rather than a lasting occupation.

• ✓ (c) Rajendra I's fleet defeated the Shrivijaya forces and captured their capital; he also took the title Gangaikondachola after campaigns reaching Odisha and Bengal.
• ✗ (a) Amoghavarsha I was a ninth-century Rashtrakuta king of the Deccan, remembered as Nripatunga and a patron of scholars, not for any overseas war.
• ✗ (d) Vishnuvardhana freed the Hoysalas of Karnataka from Chalukya overlordship in the twelfth century and challenged the Cholas on land; he led no naval campaign.

Remember · Rajendra Chola I (c. 1014–1044): naval raid on Srivijaya (Malay Peninsula–Sumatra), title Gangaikondachola, new capital Gangaikondacholapuram.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Andhra

Dhanyakataka is the old name of Amaravati, in the Andhra region (present-day Andhra Pradesh). It was the site of the great Amaravati stupa and served as a capital of the Satavahanas.

• ✓ (a) The Andhra Pradesh government's own history of Amaravati says Dhanyakataka–Amaravati was the capital city of the Satavahanas, and NCERT shows Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) as a major Buddhist site with a famous sculpted stupa.
• ✗ (b) Gandhara lay in the north-west, around Taxila and Peshawar (NCERT), far from Amaravati; it is known for Buddha images based on Greek models.
• ✗ (c) Kalinga is modern-day Odisha (NCERT); it is linked with Ashoka's war, not with Dhanyakataka.
• ✗ (d) Magadha, in present-day Bihar (NCERT), had Rajgir as its early capital; it is not the region of Dhanyakataka.

Remember · Dhanyakataka = Amaravati (Andhra): great Buddhist stupa and Satavahana capital.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) ports

All three were seaports of the early Tamil kingdoms. Korkai served the Pandyas' overseas trade, Poompuhar (Puhar or Kaveripattinam) was the Chola port at the mouth of the Kaveri, and Muchiri, the port that Greek and Roman writers called Muziris, lay on the Chera coast of Kerala. Ports are the one description that fits all three.

• ✓ (b) NCERT lists Korkai among the ports through which the Pandyas traded with Southeast Asia, and names Poompuhar (Kaveripattinam) and Muziris among the major ports of early historical India, linked by trade routes to inland towns such as Kanchipuram and Madurai.
• ✗ (a) Puhar did double as a Chola capital in the Sangam period, but Madurai was the Pandya capital and Korkai and Muchiri were trading harbours, so 'capital cities' is not the shared identity of the three.
• ✗ (c) Iron and steel working in the early Tamil country is associated with inland sites such as Kodumanal, not with these coastal towns.

Remember · Sangam-age ports: Korkai (Pandya, Gulf of Mannar), Puhar/Poompuhar/Kaveripattinam (Chola, Kaveri mouth), Muchiri/Muziris (Chera, Kerala coast); Arikamedu near Puducherry.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) A king defeated in a battle committing ritual suicide by starving himself to death

Vattakirutal (Tamil vaṭakkiruttal, literally sitting facing north) was the Sangam-age practice of fasting until death, chiefly by a king or hero who felt disgraced, for instance by defeat or a wound in the back. It is described in Puṟanāṉūṟu poems.

• ✓ (d) The Tamil Virtual Academy notes that the Chera king Perum Cheralathan, hurt in the back in his battle with Karikala, thought it a disgrace and starved himself to death, and calls this act vatakkiruttal. It also records that the poet Pisiranthaiyar died with his friend King Kopperuncholan when Kopperuncholan died this way.
• ✗ (a) Women bodyguards have nothing to do with the term; it names a form of voluntary death.
• ✗ (c) Girls guarding fields is a scene from love poetry, not the meaning of this word.
• ✗ (b) Scholars debating in a royal court is not what the term means; vatakkiruttal is a fast unto death.

Remember · Vatakkiruttal: Sangam-age ritual fast unto death facing north, by a king or hero who felt disgraced; Perum Cheralathan and Kopperuncholan are the famous cases.

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Answer: (b) The social classification of Varna was known to Sangam poets.

The Sangam texts knew the four-fold varna scheme: the Tolkappiyam speaks of a four-fold division of society, though it ties the groups to occupation. The other statements claim the poems lack material life or warriors, which is the opposite of what the poems show.

• ✓ (b) NCERT notes that Sangam literature such as the Tolkappiyam refers to a four-fold division of society and names groups such as Arasar (kings), Vanigar (traders) and Velar (farmers), along with Antanar (brahmanas).
• ✗ (a) The poems are full of everyday life. The Pattinappalai, for example, describes a prosperous, trade-oriented society of merchants, salt-makers, fishermen, artisans and agriculturists.
• ✗ (c) Sangam poems were composed by bards who sang the praise of chiefs, and they list warriors among the groups of society, so warriors and their conduct are not missing.

Remember · Sangam poems know varna, but link it to occupation: Arasar (kings), Vanigar (traders), Velar (farmers), Antanar (brahmanas).

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Answer: (c) 2 – 4 – 1 – 3

Mahendravarman I ruled the Pallavas in the early seventh century, Gopala founded the Pala dynasty in the eighth century, Bhoja raised the Pratiharas to their height in the ninth, and Parantaka I consolidated Chola power in the tenth. So the order is 2–4–1–3.

• ✓ 2. Mahendravarman I was a contemporary of the Chalukya king Pulakeshin II; the Pallavas reached their peak in the 7th century under him and his son Narasimhavarman I.
• ✓ 4. The Palas came to power in Bengal in the 8th century, when Gopala was chosen as ruler; his son Dharmapala built their empire.
• ✓ 1. The Pratihara king Bhoja built a large empire in the 9th century, stretching from Punjab and Kathiawar to Kannauj.
• ✓ 3. Parantaka I ruled in the 10th century; his Uttaramerur inscription describes village assemblies of the Chola period.

Remember · Order: Mahendravarman I (7th c., Pallava) → Gopala (8th c., Pala) → Bhoja (9th c., Pratihara) → Parantaka I (10th c., Chola).

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Answer: (d) 1 and 3

Pairs 1 and 3 are correct. Eripatti was tank land and Ghatikas were temple-linked centres of learning, but a taniyur was a village independent of the local district (nadu), not a village given to Brahmins; that description fits a brahmadeya.

• ✓ 1. Many villages in the Tamil country depended on tank irrigation, and land set apart for the tank was called Eripatti (eri means tank).
• ✗ 2. A taniyur was a separate village within a nadu with its own revenue and justice arrangements. Villages granted to a single Brahmin (ekabhoga) or a group of Brahmins (ganabhoga) were brahmadeyas (NCERT: brahmadeya was land gifted to Brahmanas); many brahmadeyas did become taniyurs, but the two terms are not the same.
• ✓ 3. NCERT describes ghatikas as centres of learning; they were educational institutions of the early medieval south; in general every temple had a Ghatika attached to it.

Remember · Eripatti = tank land; taniyur = independent village; brahmadeya = land or village gifted to Brahmins; ghatika = temple-attached college.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error