CHAPTER 5: INDIA, THAT IS BHARAT
1. What is the modern nation of India characterised by?
A. Undefined borders and no states
B. Defined borders, defined states and a known population
C. Only ancient kingdoms
D. No permanent population
Answer: B. Defined borders, defined states and a known population
2. What is the region that we often call India also known as?
A. Indian Subcontinent
B. Arabian Peninsula
C. Tibetan Plateau
D. Central Asian Plain
Answer: A. Indian Subcontinent
3. From which sources can we learn about the different names of India?
A. Only modern newspapers
B. Only geographical maps
C. Ancient texts, travellers’ accounts and inscriptions
D. Only fictional stories
Answer: C. Ancient texts, travellers’ accounts and inscriptions
4. Which is described in the chapter as India’s most ancient text?
A. Mahabharata
B. Vishnu Purana
C. Arthashastra
D. Rig Veda
Answer: D. Rig Veda
5. What name does the Rig Veda give to the northwestern region of the Indian Subcontinent?
A. Sapta Sindhava
B. Jambudvipa
C. Hindustan
D. Indoi
Answer: A. Sapta Sindhava
6. What does the term ‘Sapta Sindhava’ mean?
A. Land of seven mountains
B. Land of the seven rivers
C. Land of seven kingdoms
D. Land of seven oceans
Answer: B. Land of the seven rivers
7. The word ‘Sindhava’ comes from which word?
A. Bharata
B. Jambudvipa
C. Sindhu
D. Indike
Answer: C. Sindhu
8. What does the word ‘Sindhu’ refer to in the chapter?
A. The Ganga River only
B. The Himalayas
C. The Bay of Bengal
D. The Indus River, or sometimes a river in general
Answer: D. The Indus River, or sometimes a river in general
9. Which famous Indian text lists regions such as Kashmir, Kurukshetra, Vanga and Kerala?
A. Mahabharata
B. Rig Veda only
C. Vishnu Purana only
D. A modern constitution
Answer: A. Mahabharata
10. In the Mahabharata, which ancient region corresponds roughly to present-day Assam?
A. Vanga
B. Pragjyotisha
C. Kaccha
D. Kurukshetra
Answer: B. Pragjyotisha
11. Which ancient region mentioned in the Mahabharata corresponds to parts of Bengal?
A. Kashmir
B. Kaccha
C. Vanga
D. Kerala
Answer: C. Vanga
12. Which ancient region mentioned in the Mahabharata corresponds to today’s Kutch?
A. Pragjyotisha
B. Kurukshetra
C. Kashmir
D. Kaccha
Answer: D. Kaccha
13. Which two terms does the Mahabharata use for the entire Indian Subcontinent?
A. Bharatavarsha and Jambudvipa
B. Sapta Sindhava and Indoi
C. Hind and Hidu
D. Indike and Yindu
Answer: A. Bharatavarsha and Jambudvipa
14. What does ‘Bharatavarsha’ mean?
A. Land of seven rivers
B. Country of the Bharatas
C. Island of the jamun tree
D. Land of snowy mountains only
Answer: B. Country of the Bharatas
15. In which ancient text does the name ‘Bharata’ first appear, according to the chapter?
A. Mahabharata
B. Vishnu Purana
C. Rig Veda
D. A Persian inscription
Answer: C. Rig Veda
16. What does the term ‘Jambudvipa’ literally mean?
A. Country of the Bharatas
B. Land of the Indus
C. Country south of the ocean
D. Island of the fruit of the jamun tree
Answer: D. Island of the fruit of the jamun tree
17. Which Indian emperor used the name ‘Jambudvipa’ in one of his inscriptions?
A. Ashoka
B. Chandragupta II
C. Akbar
D. Harsha
Answer: A. Ashoka
18. Around which date does the chapter place Ashoka for the purpose of its discussion?
A. 1947 CE
B. About 250 BCE
C. About 1000 CE
D. About 2000 BCE
Answer: B. About 250 BCE
19. During Ashoka’s time, Jambudvipa included which areas in addition to what is today India?
A. Only Sri Lanka
B. Only Nepal and Bhutan
C. What is today Bangladesh, Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan
D. Only the islands of Southeast Asia
Answer: C. What is today Bangladesh, Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan
20. Which ancient text contains the description of Bharata as the country north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains?
A. Rig Veda
B. Mahabharata only
C. Arthashastra
D. Vishnu Purana
Answer: D. Vishnu Purana
21. According to the quotation from the Vishnu Purana, where is Bharata located?
A. North of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains
B. South of the ocean and north of the desert
C. Between two deserts
D. East of all the world’s oceans
Answer: A. North of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains
22. Which name for India remains in use today and is used in most Indian languages?
A. Sapta Sindhava
B. Bharata
C. Indoi
D. Hidu
Answer: B. Bharata
23. What does the chapter say about the name ‘Bharat’ in northern India?
A. It is never used
B. It is used only in ancient inscriptions
C. It is generally written as ‘Bharat’
D. It is written as ‘Indoi’
Answer: C. It is generally written as ‘Bharat’
24. What form of the name is often used in southern India?
A. Hidu
B. Indike
C. Yintu
D. Bharatam
Answer: D. Bharatam
25. Which ancient Tamil literary work describes a king’s fame from Cape Kumari in the south to the great mountain in the north and the oceans on both sides?
A. A poem of ancient Tamil literature
B. The Gregorian calendar
C. A Persian stone inscription
D. The modern Constitution only
Answer: A. A poem of ancient Tamil literature
26. What phrase does the Indian Constitution use at its beginning?
A. Sapta Sindhava, that is India
B. India, that is Bharat
C. Jambudvipa, that is Hindustan
D. Hind, that is Indoi
Answer: B. India, that is Bharat
27. What phrase is used in the Hindi version of the Constitution, as described in the chapter?
A. India arthath Hind
B. Jambudvipa arthath Bharatavarsha
C. Bharat arthath India
D. Sindhu arthath India
Answer: C. Bharat arthath India
28. In which year did the Indian Constitution come into force?
A. 1947
B. 1949
C. 1952
D. 1950
Answer: D. 1950
29. Who were the first foreigners mentioned in the chapter as having referred to India?
A. Persians
B. Greeks
C. Chinese
D. French
Answer: A. Persians
30. The ancient Persians were inhabitants of which present-day country?
A. Greece
B. Iran
C. China
D. Egypt
Answer: B. Iran
31. In which century BCE did a Persian emperor gain control of the region of the Indus River?
A. 2nd century BCE
B. 4th century BCE
C. 6th century BCE
D. 1st century BCE
Answer: C. 6th century BCE
32. Which names did the ancient Persians use for India?
A. Indoi and Indike
B. Yintu and Yindu
C. Bharat and Bharatam
D. Hind, Hidu and Hindu
Answer: D. Hind, Hidu and Hindu
33. In ancient Persian usage described in the chapter, what did the word ‘Hindu’ refer to?
A. A geographical term, not the Hindu religion
B. Only a religious community
C. A type of river
D. A mountain range
Answer: A. A geographical term, not the Hindu religion
34. Which ancient people named the region ‘Indoi’ or ‘Indike’?
A. Persians
B. Greeks
C. Chinese
D. Tamil poets
Answer: B. Greeks
35. Why did the ancient Greeks drop the initial ‘h’ from ‘Hindu’?
A. They wanted to shorten every place name
B. They translated it from French
C. The letter ‘h’ did not exist in their Greek language
D. They were referring to a different river
Answer: C. The letter ‘h’ did not exist in their Greek language
36. Which names did ancient Chinese texts use for India?
A. Hind and Hidu
B. Indoi and Indike
C. Bharat and Bharatam
D. Yintu and Yindu
Answer: D. Yintu and Yindu
37. From which original word did the Chinese names ‘Yintu’ and ‘Yindu’ develop?
A. Sindhu
B. Bharata
C. Jambudvipa
D. Sapta Sindhava
Answer: A. Sindhu
38. Which Chinese traveller visited India in the 7th century CE?
A. Marco Polo
B. Xuanzang
C. Megasthenes
D. Fa-Hien’s contemporary Ashoka
Answer: B. Xuanzang
39. How long did Xuanzang take to return to China after visiting India, according to the chapter?
A. Seven months
B. Ten years
C. Seventeen years
D. Thirty years
Answer: C. Seventeen years
40. What did Xuanzang do with the manuscripts he took back to China?
A. Destroyed them
B. Sold them in Persia
C. Translated them into Greek
D. Translated them from Sanskrit into Chinese
Answer: D. Translated them from Sanskrit into Chinese
41. Which other name derived from ‘Sindhu’ was used by the ancient Chinese?
A. Tianzhu
B. Sapta Sindhava
C. Bharatavarsha
D. Kurukshetra
Answer: A. Tianzhu
42. What alternative meaning could the word ‘Tianzhu’ have, according to the chapter?
A. Land of seven rivers
B. Heavenly master
C. Country of the Bharatas
D. Island of the jamun tree
Answer: B. Heavenly master
43. Approximately how long ago was the term ‘Hindustan’ first used in a Persian inscription, according to the chapter?
A. 500 years ago
B. 1,000 years ago
C. 1,800 years ago
D. 3,000 years ago
Answer: C. 1,800 years ago
44. Which language is associated with the first use of the term ‘Hindustan’ mentioned in the chapter?
A. Greek
B. Chinese
C. Tamil
D. Persian
Answer: D. Persian
45. Which of the following pairs is correctly matched?
A. Persian — Hind, Hidu or Hindu
B. Greek — Jambudvipa
C. Chinese — Sapta Sindhava
D. Rig Veda — Indoi
Answer: A. Persian — Hind, Hidu or Hindu
46. Which of the following pairs is correctly matched?
A. Greeks — Yintu
B. Greeks — Indoi or Indike
C. Chinese — Bharatavarsha
D. Persians — Bharatam
Answer: B. Greeks — Indoi or Indike
47. What does the physical map on page 76 of the chapter show?
A. Only the political boundaries of modern states
B. Only the locations of ancient cities
C. The Indian Subcontinent’s physical features and some of its rivers
D. The routes of modern railways
Answer: C. The Indian Subcontinent’s physical features and some of its rivers
48. What does the map on page 79 illustrate?
A. The modern borders of every Indian state
B. The location of all museums in India
C. Only the rivers mentioned in the Rig Veda
D. Some regions listed in the Mahabharata, covering the geography of the Subcontinent
Answer: D. Some regions listed in the Mahabharata, covering the geography of the Subcontinent
49. Which statement best summarises how foreign names for India developed, according to the chapter?
A. Many developed from names associated with the Sindhu or Indus River
B. All came from the name Jambudvipa
C. They were created only in modern times
D. They all originated in Tamil literature
Answer: A. Many developed from names associated with the Sindhu or Indus River
50. Which statement correctly summarises the chapter’s discussion of India’s ancient names?
A. India has always had only one name
B. India has had many names, including Jambudvipa and Bharata, while foreign names often developed from Sindhu
C. Bharata was a name used only by the Greeks
D. The name India has no connection with the Indus River
Answer: B. India has had many names, including Jambudvipa and Bharata, while foreign names often developed from Sindhu
