Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in Current Affairs.

(d) Harappan Civilisation

Correct option is (c) earthen pots

(a) one and the same culture

(b) wheel-made pottery

Correct Answer is (b) Gujarat

• When the Mature (urban) Harappan civilisation collapsed completely, the people of Late Harappan cultures who had settled on the ruins of Mature Harappan cities had to migrate elsewhere. 
• The urban Harappans and the Late Harappans dispersed. Wherever these people reached, new rural cultures came into being. 
• Thus, as the Harappan civilisation collapsed, Harappan people had to migrate.

Correct option is 3. Ahar Culture – Balathal

Correct Answer is (c) Dhule

Answer is: (c) India

Correct option: (b) France

The great Chola rulers took Dravidian architecture to its peak during their regin. They built grand palaces, artificial lakes, large dams, beautiful cities, sculptures of metal and stone and grand temples.

The main features of the temples built by them were huge and square Vimana, a large courtyard in the centre, ornamental Gopuram, Mandapa, lion, traditional brackets for inner decoration and use of joint pillars etc.

The Sundareshwar temple of Tirukattalai and Vijayalaya Choleswar temple are famous temples of early Chola period. Other major temples areRajaraja’s Brihadeshwar temple, Rajendra I’s Gangaikonda Cholapuram, and Koranganath, Erateshwar etc.

The Chola rulers were patrons of education and literature. Temples and Gram Mahasabhas were centres of education and learning. Tamil and Sanskrit languages were prevalent. Tamil had royal patronage. The linguist Vaikat Madhav wrote sanskrit treatises on Ramanuja, Yamunacharya and Rigveda.Kamban wrote a book named ‘Ramavatara’. Kamban lived in the court of Kolottunga III.

His reign is known as the golden period of Tamil literature. Jayangondar wrote ‘Kalitunga Parni.’ Shekhillaar’s ‘Pariyapuranam’ and Pulagendi’s Nalabemba’ are important literary creations. Other important literary creations were Tirutatondapurnam’ by Priya Purnam (Shekhara), Nandi’s “Tiruvillaiyadal Purnam’, Amudnaar’s ‘Ramanuj Nurandadi’, “Tirukadevar’s ‘Shivakoshindamani’ etc.

The Brihadeshwar temple was built by Rajaraja I at Tanjore. It is deemed as the epitome of Chola architectural excellence. The absolute advancement of Dravidian style is observed in the construction of this temple. This was built in the period between 1003 CE to 1111 CE.

The rectangular courtyard of this temple is 160 metre long and 80 metre wide. The most attractive feature of the temple is the 60 metre high Vimana built atop the sanctum sanctorum to the west and the pyramidical 3.50 metre high Shikhar built a top it. Percy Brown has termed the Vimana of this temple as ‘Summit of Indian architecture’.

Hindu traditions were revived and compiled in the Gupta period.

In India, temple architecture developed in the Gupta period.

Vijayanagar was located at the coast of river Tungabhadra.

Chandragupta Maurya was a skilled warrior, general and a great conqueror, apart from being an able adminstrator. He built up such an administrative system with the help of his Chief Minister Kautilya, as was suitable for those situations and period.

In the final stage of his life, he adopted Jainism under the guidance of Jain Muni Bhadrabahu and fasted to death on Chandragiri hill in Shravanbelagola of Mysore (Karnataka) in around 298 BCE.

Emperor Harsha himself was the axis of his administration. As a ruler, Harsha’s adminstration was dictatorial and autocratic but people enjoyed autonomy in their regions. A council of ministers was constituted to aid the emperor. It seemed that there was a wellorganised secretariat in the capital.

Harsha had 60,000 elephants and 1,00,000 horsemen. The foot army must have been much larger. Harsha’s empire was divided into Bhuktis, Vishyas etc. Provinces were divided into Bhuktis.

The taxes were – Bhaga, Hiranya and Bali. The emperor gained 1 / 6th part of production as tax. Criminals were exiled from cities to spend their lives in forests. For some crimes, monetary fine was imposed. Investigation and trials were also used to ascertain crimes. The government was a welfare system and the needs of government were few.

The king was the central power of the administration. All important and policy related decisions were taken by him. All the administrative, judicial, and executive powers were vested in the king.

A council of ministers played an advisory role to the king and it was selected and appointed on the basis of their descendents and ability by the king. There was an internal council which was called ‘Mantrin’. It included 3 – 4 members.

There were senior most state officials who were 18 in number. They were called “Teertha”. They oversaw the functions of the central department of these officials. The ‘Koshadhyaksha’, Karmantik’, ‘Samaharta’, ‘Purohit’, and ‘Senapati’ were the major ones. Additionally 27 chairmen (presidents) are mentioned in Arthshastra.

Citrus fruits, wheat and corn.

Canada:

• Canada is the largest country of the continent of North America.
• Ottawa is its capital.
• Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Hamilton, etc. are major cities of Canada.
• Half of Canada is made up of hard and solid mountains and groups of islands.
• Canada has the longest coastline in the world.
• Since the area of Canada is very large, it experiences different continental and coastal climates.
• Most parts of Canada experience winter in summer and severe cold in winter.
• Coniferous trees can be found in parts of Canada that experience Tundra climate. Moreover, animals such as bear, white wolf, deer, otter, beaver and reindeer are also found.
• A variety of fishes are found in Newfoundland. This has boosted the fishing industry.
• Canada’s rivers are famous for their Atlantic salmon fish on the east coast and Pacific salmon fish on the west coast.
• Canada is the biggest producer of asbestos mineral in the world.
• It is also the leading producer of nickel and platinum in the world.
• Ice Hockey is the national game of Canada.

United States of America (U.S.A.):

• U.S.A. is a federal country.
• It is highly developed in agriculture, trade and industry.
• Mountain range likes Rockies and Appalachian, rivers like Mississippi, Missouri, etc. and the five lakes have played a significant role in the agricultural revolution of USA.
• USA produces large quantity of cotton, corn and wheat.
• Availability of resources like coal, mineral oil and iron boosted the American industries.
• America has the best transport network in the world.
• ‘Super highways’ and ‘Freeways’ are the backbone of America’s progress.
• The natives of America are known as Red Indians.

1. Islamic

2. Pushtimarga

3. 1485

4. 1469

5. Sikhs

6. Guru Granth Saheb

7. Narsinh Mehta

8. Kabir

9. Raghu

10. Dhurviniya

Katha of Shrimad Bhagwat and Parayana.

Physiography of North America:

• The northern part of North American continent is covered with snow laden mountain regions.
• These regions consist of Alaska in the north-west, Greenland in the north-east and the rest is Canada.
• Alaska is the largest state of the US.
• Due to snow, these regions are not useful for agriculture.
• When the last Ice Age ended about 4000 years back, the glaciers melted and formed five huge lakes in North America.
• They are collectively known as Great Lakes.
• Five Great Lakes namely (1) Superior, (2) Huron, (3) Erie, (4) Ontario and (5) Michigan.
• The Great-Lakes contain 1 /5th of the total surface water on earth. Hence, they form the largest freshwater system of the world.
• North America also consists of vast plains.
• Important rivers like Mississippi, Missouri and Mackenzie make the plains fertile. These plains are also known as ‘Plains of Prairies’.
• These plains are world famous for their wheat production.
• There are also two specific mountain ranges in the east and the west of the North American continent.
• They are (1) Rockies Mountains in the west (2) Appalachian Mountains in the east.
• Among all, Mt. McKinley is the highest peak. It lies in Alaska range.
• Since Alaska remains covered with snow, Eskimo community of Alaska lives in special types of houses called ‘Igloo’.
• Animals such as reindeer, seal, walrus, white bear, etc. are found in these snowy regions.

Correct option is (B) Raidas

Area, location and extent of North American continent:

• The continent of North America consists of U.S.A. (United States of America), Canada and Mexico.
• The continent is spread over 2.44 lakh sq. km. This means it consists of 16% land area of the world.
• The natives of North America are known as Red Indians.

Location and extent:

• The continent lies in the western hemisphere.
• North America extends from Arctic Ocean in the north to Panama Canal in the south.
• The North Pole passes from the northern part of Canada.
• The Tropic of Cancer passes through central Mexico.
• The north-south length of the continent is 9654 km.
• Its width is 6033 km in north Canada which reduces to 482 km. as one move from Canada to the southern end of North America.
• Since this continent is very wide, it has four time zones or standard times.

(d) Both A and R are correct but R is not the correct explanation of A.

Correct option: (d) Vancouver – Halifax

Correct option: (c) Hamburg

Correct option: (a) Atlantic – Pacific

In 1469 AD in Talwandi village of Lahore in a Kshatriya family.

In 1485 AD in Navdeep (Nadiya) in Bengal.

The place where Vallabhacharya performed Kathas and Parayanas.

Sri Lanka, Arabstan and Iran.

Kabir and Raidas.

The Suez Canal was built in 1869 and the purpose of its construction was to connect the Red Sea to Mediterranean Sea between Port Sayeed in the north and Port Suez in the south. 

Main characteristics of Suez Canal are:

1. This canal provides a new access to Europe through the Indian Ocean. 

2. This canal is 162 km in length, is 60 meters wide and has an average depth of 10 meters. 

3. More than 100 ships travel through this canal every day. 

4. The distance of direct sea route between Liverpool and Colombo saves about 1600 km in comparison to Cape of Good Hope Route.

Suez canal was built in 1869 to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea between Port Sayeed in the South and Port Suez in the south in Egypt.

1. Navdeep

2. Baithaks

3. Guru Nanak

4. Swami Ramananda

5. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Correct answer is Raidas

Vallabhacharya:

• Vallabhacharya was born in a Tailai Brahmin family. He was born in 1479 AD. in Champaran, Chattisgadh.
• He followed Vaishnav religion, the religion of his family.
• He did an in-depth study of Vedas, Vedantas, Darshan, Sutras, Dharmshastras, Puranas and history in Banaras.
• He travelled across India to spread his religious ideals.
• He travelled thrice from Rameshwara to Haridwar and from Dwarka to Jagganathpuri for
  spreading the ideals of Pushtimarga.
• During his travels, he also did Kathas (કયા) and Parayana (પારાયણ) of Shrimad Bhagwat. Today
  the places where he did Kathas and Parayanas are known as ‘Baithaks’.
• He believed Lord Brahma as a pure and unbounded soul.
• He also considered Lord Krishna as the only Poorna Purshottam Parbrahma (Parbrahma = God) 
• He believed devotion as the only way to be free from the cycle of birth and death and to attain salvation (મોક્ષ ).
• He said that a person of any religion, caste colour or creed could devote himself to god.
• Thus, Vallabhacharya made a very important contribution in creating awareness in people for the right way of following a religion and bringing them out of superstitions and blind beliefs.
• By doing so, he immensely contributed in the Bhakti movement.

Narsinh Mehta:

• Narsinh Mehta was born in a Naagar family of Gujarat.
• He is considered to be the most renowned poet of Gujarati language.
• Since his childhood, he always remained in the company of saints.
• He got married but due to his deep devotion, had no attachment with his family.
• He always remained absorbed in Krishna bhakti.
• He was very much touched when he witnessed distinction in caste, colour and in the society. Hence, he gave the message “Pakshapakshi Tyan Nahi Parmeshwar, Samdrishiti ne Sarva Samman
• This means God exists where people are
• treated equally.
• By giving example of his own life, he explained people how a person can overcome all the difficulties of life through faith in God and devotion.
• His devotional songs which are called Pada (પદ) and Prabhatiya (પ્રભાતીયા) in Gujarati deeply influenced the Gujarati community.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu:

• Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born in 1485 AD in renowned educational area called Navdeep (Nadiya) in Bengal.
• He was the last guru (Preacher/Acharya) of Vaishnav religion.
• He used to be deeply involved in devotion and meditation. He became quite famous for his love for meditation.
• On his move, he used to chant ‘Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna’. His chant spread all over Bengal in a very short period.
• People of all religions, caste and creed joined Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in his devotion and Kirtans.
• People of any caste would join his ‘Kirtan Mandali’.
• People even started Kirtans in their homes.
• People of various religions came closer.
• Mahaprabhu asked people to spend their lives in service of God, recite God’s name and immerse in devotion.
• He also asked people to give away worldly worries.
• Chaitanya Mahaprabhu owes the credit to spread Krishna bhakti all over India.

His love for meditation.

Honolulu is an important sea port of Southern Pacific Oceanic route.

(a) Derian Gulf

Panama Canal connects the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. 

Main characteristics of this canal are:

1. The length of this canal is 82 km, width is 90 meters and average depth is 12 meters. 

2. There are three locking systems entering the canal with a total of 6 blocks. 

3. By passing through this canal, the distance between Newyork and San – Francisco has been reduced by about 1300 km. 

4. Panama Canal plays an important role in South American economy.

(C) Kshatriya

(C) Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna

1. Meerabai

2. Bhakt Pundarike

3. Maharashtra

4. 13^th, 17^th

5. Tukaram