[Mission 2022] QUIZ – 2022: INSIGHTS STATIC QUIZ, 18 May 2022 – Art and Culture – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: b)

The Sanchi Stupa is one of India’s primary Buddhist sites and contains some of the oldest stone structures in the country.

They were initially built outside monasteries by pilgrims. Sanchi is regarded as one of the first monastic stupas.

Buddha never visited Sanchi. Neither did foreign travellers like Hiuen Tsang, who extensively documented the holy Buddhist circuit in India, but did not mention Sanchi in his writings.

Solution: c)

In the north-western parts of India including Gujarat and Rajasthan, Solanki school or Maru-Gurjara style developed under the patronage of the Solanki rulers.

The temple walls were devoid of any carvings. A unique feature of this school is the presence of step-tank, known as surya-kund in the proximity of the temple. Example: Modhera Sun temple, Gujarat.

Solution: c)

Aihole Inscription:

The inscription is written in Sanskrit and it is in Kannada script. There is a mention about the defeat of Harshavardhana by Pulakeshin II and the victory of Chalukyas over Pallavas. It also mentions about the shifting of the capital from Aihole to Badami. They were written by Ravikirti, the court poet of Pulakeshin II who reigned from 610 to 642 CE.

Solution: c)

Patola is a double ikat woven sari, usually made from silk, made in Patan, Gujarat.

Solution: d)

Shankhalipi or “shell-script” is a term used by scholars to describe ornate spiral characters assumed to be Brahmi derivatives that look like conch shells or shankhas. They are found in inscriptions across north-central India and date to between the 4th and 8th centuries.

Both Shankhalipi and Brahmi are stylised scripts used primarily for names and signatures.

The script was discovered in 1836 on a brass trident in Uttarakhand’s Barahat by English scholar James Prinsep, who was the founding editor of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

Prominent sites with shell inscriptions include the Mundeshwari Temple in Bihar, the Udayagiri Caves in Madhya Pradesh, Mansar in Maharashtra and some of the cave sites of Gujarat and Maharashtra. In fact, shell inscriptions are also reported in Indonesia’s Java and Borneo.

Shankhalipi is found to be engraved on temple pillars, columns and rock surfaces.