Literature, philosophy & religion

Answer: (b) Malavikagnimitra

The Sunga (Shunga) dynasty was founded by Pushyamitra about 185 BCE, and his son and successor was Agnimitra. Kalidasa's Sanskrit play Malavikagnimitra ('Malavika and Agnimitra') is built around Agnimitra and his love for Malavika.

• ✓ (b) Kalidasa's Malavikagnimitra describes Agnimitra, the son of Pushyamitra (a viceroy at Vidisha in the play), and its plot is his love for Malavika.
• ✗ (a) Swapnavasavadatta, attributed to Bhasa, is about King Udayana of Vatsa and his queen Vasavadatta, not a Shunga prince.
• ✗ (c) Meghadoota is also by Kalidasa, but it is a lyric poem in which an exiled yaksha sends a message to his wife through a cloud.

Remember · Pushyamitra Shunga (c. 185 BCE) → son Agnimitra, hero of Kalidasa's Malavikagnimitra. Ratnavali is Harsha's play; Swapnavasavadatta is Bhasa's.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 6 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both groups stood outside the Brahmanical ritual order. The Tamil Siddhas (Sittars) were a monotheistic, mystical movement within Tamil Shaivism that criticised conventional ritual; the Lingayats (Virashaivas) of Karnataka rejected caste hierarchy and, as NCERT records, questioned rebirth.

• ✓ 1. The Sittars or Siddhas of the Tamil region were a monotheistic, mystical movement within Shaivism. Like other Siddha and Nath groups, they criticised conventional ritual and the social order and looked to a formless Ultimate Reality, which is why UPSC's key treats the statement as correct.
• ✓ 2. NCERT records that the Lingayats challenged the idea of caste and the 'pollution' attributed to some groups, and also questioned the theory of rebirth, which won them followers among the marginalised.

Remember · Lingayats/Virashaivas: Basavanna (1106-68), Karnataka; worship Shiva as linga, reject caste and rebirth, bury the dead. Tamil Siddhas (Sittars): monotheistic, mystical, critics of ritual.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

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

Answer: (d) Maagadha

The Maagadha (Magadha) belonged, along with the sutas, to the bardic tradition of ancient India, whose members sang the deeds of kings and heroes and kept dynastic memories alive by recitation. The other three options are not bardic professions: a shramana and a parivrajaka are wandering renouncers, and an agraharika is linked to an agrahara land grant.

• ✓ (d) Bards kept ancient tradition alive by memory and recitation. NCERT notes that the original Mahabharata story was probably composed by charioteer-bards called sutas, and that such compositions circulated orally. University study material adds that the bardic tradition emerged from the Sutas and Magadhas, the earliest authors of the Itihasas and Puranas, and that Kautilya lists the pauranika, the suta and the Magadha among the king's salaried officials for the Itihasa and Purana.
• ✗ (a) A shramana ("one who strives") is a renouncer who left household life for an ascetic path, as in the Buddhist and Jain traditions; it is not the name of a bard.
• ✗ (b) A parivrajaka is a wanderer who has given up settled life, not a keeper of dynastic histories.
• ✗ (c) An agrahara was land granted to a Brahmana, usually free of land revenue; an agraharika is linked to such a grant, not to reciting chronicles.

Remember · Sutas and Maagadhas were the bards of ancient India who remembered and recited royal deeds, genealogies and epic tales; shramanas and parivrajakas were renouncers.

📘 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)

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