Q 01/05

Which avatar of Vishnu slew Hiranyakashipu, whom neither man nor beast could kill, by day or night?

A) Parashurama

B) Narasimha

C) Varaha

D) Vamana

Answer · why

B) Narasimha

Narasimha, half man and half lion, struck at twilight on a palace threshold, tearing Hiranyakashipu apart with his claws on his lap so that no clause ...

Q 02/05

Which god took down the Mahabharata as Vyasa dictated it, on condition that the sage never paused?

A) Ganesha

B) Hanuman

C) Indra

D) Varuna

Answer · why

A) Ganesha

Ganesha set that condition, and Vyasa answered with one of his own: write nothing you don't understand. The sage then composed knotty verses whenever ...

Q 03/05

Which asura, beheaded mid-sip of the gods' nectar of immortality, swallows the sun in eclipses?

A) Vritra

B) Bali

C) Rahu

D) Hiranyaksha

Answer · why

C) Rahu

Rahu's severed head lived on because the nectar had already passed his lips, and each eclipse is his recurring revenge on the sun and moon, who had in...

Q 04/05

In the popular telling, which brother of Ravana, tongue-tied as he asked a boon, wished for sleep by mistake?

A) Kumbhakarna

B) Vibhishana

C) Kubera

D) Indrajit

Answer · why

A) Kumbhakarna

Kumbhakarna, in that telling, meant to ask for Indrasana, the throne of Indra, and said Nidrasana, a bed for sleeping; the boon was later eased to six...

Q 05/05

Which demoness, believing herself safe from fire, burned on a pyre while her nephew Prahlada survived on her lap?

A) Putana

B) Holika

C) Tataka

D) Hidimbi

Answer · why

B) Holika

Holika's death is re-enacted in the bonfires lit on the eve of Holi, the spring festival of colours, celebrating the victory of Prahlada's devotion ov...