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 appears as the scribe in 37 of the 59 manuscripts used for the epic's critical edition, though its editors judged the scene a late interpolati...

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

Which brother of Ravana, tongue-tied as he asked a boon, wished for sleep instead of Indra's throne?

A) Kumbhakarna

B) Vibhishana

C) Kubera

D) Indrajit

Answer · why

A) Kumbhakarna

Kumbhakarna meant to ask for Indrasana, the throne of Indra, and said Nidrasana, a bed for sleeping; the curse was later softened to six months of sle...

Q 05/05

Which fire-immune demoness burned on a pyre while her nephew Prahlada survived unharmed 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...