Q 01/05

Which mythical creature is the most common animal on the stamp seals of the Indus Valley Civilisation?

A) Dragon

B) Unicorn

C) Griffin

D) Phoenix

Answer · why

B) Unicorn

Unicorn seals outnumber every other design, showing a one-horned beast in profile. Small terracotta figures with a single horn suggest the carvers rea...

Q 02/05

Which board game descends from chaturanga, played in ancient India with pieces for the four divisions of an army?

A) Ludo

B) Draughts

C) Chess

D) Mahjong

Answer · why

C) Chess

Chess grew out of chaturanga after the game reached Persia as shatranj and then medieval Europe. Japanese shogi and Thai makruk are thought to share t...

Q 03/05

Whose army mutinied at the Beas River in 326 BC, refusing to march any deeper into India?

A) Cyrus the Great

B) Darius the Great

C) Antiochus the Great

D) Alexander the Great

Answer · why

D) Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great shut himself in his tent for three days before giving in. He raised twelve huge altars on the bank to mark the limit of his conque...

Q 04/05

The national emblem of modern India copies a pillar top carved for Emperor Ashoka showing four of which animal?

A) Lions

B) Tigers

C) Peacocks

D) Bulls

Answer · why

A) Lions

Lions sit back to back on the capital, and the wheel carved beneath them became the model for the one at the centre of India's flag.

Q 05/05

Which modern country holds the two best-known ruined cities of the Indus Valley, one in Sindh and one in Punjab?

A) India

B) Nepal

C) Pakistan

D) Bangladesh

Answer · why

C) Pakistan

Pakistan holds both ruins, though the civilisation also spread into north-west India and Afghanistan. Scholars only recognised it after excavations in...