Q 01/05

Which three countries administer parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir?

A) India, Pakistan and Afghanistan

B) India, Nepal and China

C) India, Pakistan and China

D) India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

Answer · why

C) India, Pakistan and China

India holds about half, Pakistan a third, and China the Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract in the north-east.

Q 02/05

Until the mid-19th century, Kashmir meant only the valley between the Great Himalayas and which range?

A) Zanskar

B) Pir Panjal

C) Hindu Kush

D) Karakoram

Answer · why

B) Pir Panjal

The Pir Panjal also acts as a barrier that stops the Indian monsoon reaching the main valley.

Q 03/05

According to one etymology, Kashmir is named after which Vedic sage, said to have settled people there?

A) Kashyapa

B) Vishvamitra

C) Agastya

D) Vashistha

Answer · why

A) Kashyapa

Kashyapa-mir would mean 'Kashyapa's lake'; a folk etymology instead reads the name as 'land desiccated from water'.

Q 04/05

Which Sanskrit grammarian's 5th-century BC Ashtadhyayi is the first text to name Kashmir?

A) Valmiki

B) Panini

C) Kalidasa

D) Patanjali

Answer · why

B) Panini

He called the people Kashmirikas; the Greeks knew the region as Kasperia and Herodotus as Kaspatyros.

Q 05/05

Which Mughal emperor conquered Kashmir in 1586?

A) Babur

B) Aurangzeb

C) Shah Jahan

D) Akbar

Answer · why

D) Akbar

Hindu rule had ended in 1339 with the Shah Mir dynasty; the Afghan Durranis took over from the Mughals in 1752.