UGC NET History Practice Question

The inscription on the Sohgaura Copper Plate is historically important because it contains:

Earliest land grant recorded on copper plate in Prakrit

Mauryan royal order concerning state granaries during times of famine ✓

Eulogy of Emperor Samudragupta's military campaigns

Charter establishing an early Buddhist monastery

The Sohgaura Copper Plate, generally dated to the Mauryan period, records administrative orders for establishing state granaries to store grain against famine — evidence of organized Mauryan famine-relief administration, not a land grant or religious charter.

Which foreign chronicle provides detailed geographical information regarding the ports along the western coast of India, such as Barygaza and Muziris?

Geographia of Strabo

Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder

Periplus Maris Erythraei by an anonymous author ✓

Historical Library of Diodorus

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, written by an anonymous Greek-speaking merchant/sailor (c. 1st century CE), is a practical sailing manual describing Indian Ocean ports including Barygaza (Bharuch) and Muziris (Kerala coast) in unmatched commercial detail.

In Harappan archaeology, the site of Dholavira is uniquely distinguished by which urban feature?

Exclusive reliance on sun-dried mud bricks with no stone masonry

Tripartite division of the city and sophisticated stone water reservoirs ✓

Complete absence of a citadel area

Circular planned houses built along radial streets

Dholavira in Gujarat is unusual among Harappan sites for its three-part city division (citadel, middle town, lower town) and an elaborate system of stone-cut water reservoirs and channels, reflecting sophisticated water management in an arid region.

The Nirukta, an ancient treatise on etymology and philology, was composed by which scholar?

Panini

Yaska ✓

Pingala

Katyayana

Yaska's Nirukta is the earliest surviving systematic work on etymology, explaining difficult Vedic words — it is one of the six Vedangas and a crucial tool for interpreting archaic Vedic vocabulary correctly.

Which Sangam epic narrative centers around the revenge of Kannagi following the wrongful execution of her husband Kovalan?

Manimekalai

Silappadikaram ✓

Sivaka Chintamani

Kundalakesi

Silappadikaram ("The Tale of the Anklet"), attributed to Ilango Adigal, tells of Kannagi's grief and rage after the Pandyan king wrongly executes her husband Kovalan — it is one of the "five great epics" of Tamil literature and a major Sangam-era source.

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This question is part of our free Unit-Wise mock test series, drawn from the same real question bank used across every UGC NET History mock test on this site. For structured, chapter-by-chapter notes covering everything these questions test, see our UGC NET History Notes, or try the History Glossary Flashcard Quiz for daily term-by-term practice.