Test: Class 6 History NCERT Based- 3 - UPSC MCQ

• Wheat and Barley were the first crops to be grown in the region of Sulaiman and Kirthar hills to the northwest of India about 8000 years ago.

• The Garo Hills to the north-east and the Vindhyas in central India were some of the areas where agriculture developed.

• There is no such reference for river Kaveri. The places where rice was first grown are to the north of the Vindhyas.

• Faxian was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from Ancient China to Ancient India, visiting many sacred Buddhist sites in Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia between 399-412 to acquire Buddhist texts.

• Xuan Zang was a Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator who travelled to India in the seventh century and described the interaction between Chinese Buddhism and Indian Buddhism during the early Tang dynasty.

• I-Qing, was also a Chinese Buddhist monk who came to India about 50 years after Xuan Zang.

• Lao Zu (also Laozi or Lao-Tzu) is a legendary figure in Chinese folk history. It is believed that Lao Zu lived around 500 BC. He is most famous as the author of the Tao Te Ching — and as such, the founder of the religion/philosophy Taoism. Lao tzu was not a Buddhist and he had never visited India.

• In Kurnool caves of Andhra Pradesh, traces of ash have been found, suggesting that people were familiar with the use of fire.

• Rosetta is a town on the north coast of Egypt, and here an inscribed stone was found, which contained inscriptions in three different languages and scripts (Greek, and two forms of Egyptian).

• Tools made from limestone were found in Hunsgi, Karnataka.

Mahayana believes in Mantras.

Bhimbetka caves, Hunsgi, Kurnool are Palaeolithic sites while Mehrgarh is a Neolithic site located in present day Pakistan.

• Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism. He organized the 4th Buddhist council at Kashmir, presided by Vasumitra. During this council the collection of Buddhist texts took place and the commentaries were engraved on copper sheets. During this council Buddhism was divided into Mahayana and Hinayana.

• Kanishka had invaded Patliputra and had taken the Buddhist monk Asvaghosa to Purushapura. Ashvaghosha. composed a biography of the Buddha, the Buddhacarita. He lived in Kanishka's court.

Rivers have been of fundamental importance throughout human history. Water from the rivers is a basic natural resource, essential for various human activities. The river banks have attracted settlers from ancient times. These settlements have also become big cities, that is why rivers are considered the lifelines of human civilization.

• South India was famous for gold, spices, especially pepper, and precious stones. Pepper was particularly valued in the Roman Empire, so much so that it was known as black gold.

• Techniques for making silk were first invented in China around 7000 years ago. While the methods remained a closely guarded secret for thousands of years, some people from

• Sangam poems mention the muvendar. This is a Tamil word meaning three chiefs, used for the heads of three ruling families, the Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas who became powerful in south India around 2300 years ago.

• Around 200 years later a dynasty known as the Satavahanas became powerful in western India. The most important ruler of the Satavahanas was Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni. He and other Satavahana rulers were known as lords of the dakshinapatha, literally the route leading to the south, which was also used as a name for the entire southern region.

• Daojali Hading is an important Neolithic site in Dima Hasao District of Assam, India on the hills near Brahmaputra valley close to routes leading into China and Myanmar.

• Extensive digging at this site has yielded polished stone tools, ceramics and kitchen items such as grinders, pestles and mortars.

• The Indus valley people knew the use of Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold but not iron. Copper and bronze were used to make tools, weapons, ornaments and vessels.

• Iron was discovered in Late Harappan (Cemetery H) culture.

• A stone statue of an important man found from Mohenjodaro shows him wearing an embroidered garment. This gives evidence about the use of embroidered garments.

• Bharuch was known for both imports and exports. As mentioned by the Greeks, the imports into Barygaza were wine, copper, tin, lead, coral, topaz, cloth, gold and silver coins.

• Exports from the town included plants from the Himalayas, ivory, agate, carnelian, cotton, silk and perfumes. Bharuch is the oldest city of Gujarat.

• It is also the second-oldest city of India having continuous habitation, first being Kashi (Varanasi).

• As one southern terminus of the KambojaDvaravati Route, it is mentioned extensively as a major trading partner of the Roman world.

• Faience was artificially produced material made by melting quartz rock and then regrinding the glassy frit to make a paste that is then fired once again.

• These were used in making beads, bangles, earrings, and tiny vessels. Use of faience was also common in Egyptian civilization.

• In many cities, archaeologists have found rows of pots or ceramic rings arranged one on top of the other. These are known as ring wells.

• These seem to have been used as toilets in some cases, and as drains and garbage dumps.

• These ring wells are usually found in individual houses.

• In an excavation at Purana Qila in 2014, Ring wells were discovered dating back to the Mauryan period.

• As per the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), it is a drain, probably of a kitchen in the Maurya period.

• Dockyard, bead-making factory along with a sea trade centre was found in Lothal, Gujrat.

• Fire altars were found in both Kalibangan and Lothal showing the practice of the cult of sacrifice.

• The ploughed field was found in Kalibangan, Rajasthan.

• Mathura has been an important settlement for more than 2500 years. It was important because it was located at the crossroads of two major routes of travel and trade — from the northwest to the east and from north to south.

• Mathura was also a centre where some extremely fine sculpture was produced. Around 2000 years ago Mathura became the second capital of the Kushanas.

• Roman lamps, glassware and gems have been found at Arikamedu, the ancient Roman trade centre (Puducherry) on the right bank of Ariyankuppam River.

• The Harappans probably got copper from present-day Rajasthan, and even from Oman in West Asia.

• Tin, which was mixed with copper to produce bronze, may have been brought from present-day Afghanistan and Iran.

• Gold could have come from present-day Karnataka, and Precious stones from present-day Gujarat, Iran and Afghanistan.

• In the Tamil region, large landowners were known as vellalar, ordinary ploughmen were known as uzhavar, and landless labourers, including slaves, were known as kadaisiyar and adimai.

• In the northern part of the country, the village headman was known as the grama bhojaka. Usually, men from the same family held the position for generations. In other words, the post was hereditary.

• The grama bhojaka was often the largest landowner. Apart from the gramabhojaka, there were other independent farmers, known as grihapatis, most of whom were smaller landowners. And then there were men and women such as the dasa karmakara, who did not own land, and had to earn a living working on the fields owned by others.