Crafts, Trade and Towns in the Post-Maurya Age — UPSC Prelims Practice
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hard•9 questions•~12 min
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Question 01
hard
Consider the following statements about occupational records in ancient Indian texts:
1. The Digha Nikaya, belonging to pre-Maurya times, mentions about two dozen occupations.
2. The Mahavastu catalogues 75 occupations, of which 60 are connected with various kinds of crafts.
3. The Milinda Panho enumerates 36 kinds of workers living in the town of Rajgir.
4. The Milinda Panho belongs to the post-Maurya period of the Sakas and Kushans.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Question 02
medium
With reference to trade routes in the post-Maurya age, the 'uttarapatha' was which of the following?
Question 03
hard
Consider the following about India's trade with Rome in the post-Maurya period:
1. Romans mainly imported spices, especially pepper (called yavanapriya in Sanskrit), from south India.
2. The most significant Roman export to India was gold and silver coins, with about 85 finds of Roman coins discovered across the subcontinent.
3. Most of the Roman coins discovered in India come from north of the Vindhyas, especially from the Kushan kingdom.
4. The Roman historian Pliny complained that Rome was being drained of gold due to trade with India.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Question 04
hard
Which of the following statements about urban decline in the post-Maurya and Gupta periods is/are correct?
1. With the decline of towns in Gupta and post-Gupta times, terracotta figures almost went out of fashion.
2. The Gupta period at Sonkh (Mathura) showed as many as seven levels, while the Kushan period showed only one level.
3. The decline of towns in Maharashtra, Andhra, and Tamil Nadu generally took place from the third century AD onwards.
4. The ban on trade with India imposed by the Roman empire from the third century AD contributed to urban decline.
Question 05
easy
The Sanskrit term 'yavanapriya' literally meaning 'dear to the foreigners' referred to which commodity in the context of India-Rome trade?
Question 06
medium
Consider the following statements about craft and guild organization in the post-Maurya period:
1. Artisans of this period were organized into at least two dozen guilds.
2. Most artisans known from inscriptions were confined to the Mathura region and the western Deccan.
3. In the second century AD in Maharashtra, devotees of Buddhism deposited money with guilds for providing necessities to monks.
4. Guilds existed only in towns and there is no evidence of craftsmen living in village settlements.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Question 07
medium
Which of the following ports is correctly matched with its location in the post-Maurya trade network?
Question 08
medium
Ujjain's importance in the post-Maurya trade network was primarily because of which of the following?
Question 09
hard
Consider the following about the discovery of monsoons and its impact on India-Rome trade:
1. The discovery of monsoons around the beginning of the first century AD allowed sailors to sail directly across the Arabian Sea.
2. Before the discovery of monsoons, India-Rome trade was carried on mainly by sea.
3. The Parthian rule in Iran disrupted land-based trade between India and the Roman empire.
4. From the first century AD, the movement of Sakas, Parthians and Kushans disrupted land trade.
Which of the statements given above are correct?