UGC NET History Practice Question

Which Purana is explicitly divided into two major sections called Purva-khanda and Uttara-khanda and contains extensive geographical data on sacred sites (Tirthas)?

Skanda Purana

Padma Purana ✓

Agni Purana

Markandeya Purana

The Padma Purana is structured with distinct khandas (sections) including extensive Tirtha-mahatmya (sacred-site glorification) content, making it a valuable, if legend-heavy, source for the historical geography of pilgrimage sites.

The inscription of Heliodorus on the Garuda Pillar at Besnagar records his dedication to which deity?

Shiva

Vasudeva ✓

Buddha

Mahavira

The Heliodorus Pillar inscription records that Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador from Taxila, dedicated the Garuda-topped pillar to Vasudeva (Krishna) and identifies himself as a Bhagavata — key evidence of early Vaishnavism's spread and Indo-Greek religious conversion.

Which ancient Greek historian wrote Geographia, providing detailed coordinates of places across the Indian subcontinent during the 2nd century CE?

Arrian

Strabo

Ptolemy ✓

Pliny

Claudius Ptolemy's Geographia (2nd century CE) provided latitude/longitude-style coordinates for numerous Indian towns, rivers, and regions, making it an important (if sometimes distorted) source for reconstructing ancient Indian historical geography.

The rock-cut caves of Barabar and Nagarjuni were dedicated by Ashoka and Dasharatha to the monks of which religious sect?

Theravada Buddhism

Digambara Jainism

Ajivika sect ✓

Charvaka school

The Barabar and Nagarjuni hill caves near Gaya, among the earliest known rock-cut caves in India, were dedicated by Ashoka and his grandson Dasharatha to Ajivika monks — a now-extinct heterodox sect contemporary with early Buddhism and Jainism.

Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) pottery is historically associated with which urban phase of Indian history?

First Urbanization (Harappan)

Second Urbanization (Gangetic Plain, c. 600 BCE) ✓

Early Medieval Urban revival

Megalithic culture of South India

NBPW, a fine, lustrous pottery, is closely associated with the "Second Urbanization" of the Gangetic plains from around 600 BCE onward, coinciding with the rise of the Mahajanapadas and early cities like Kaushambi and Rajgir.

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More Free UGC NET History Practice

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.