Indian Architecture, Sculpture & Pottery Quiz — 7 Free Questions

Question 1

Which small bronze figure, cast in the 'cire perdue', or lost-wax, technique and found at Mohenjo-daro, is often cited as evidence of a developed metal-casting tradition in the Indus Valley Civilisation?

Question 2

How was the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro made watertight, one of the most striking pieces of Harappan engineering?

Question 3

Which prominent judicial building in Chennai, built in the Indo-Saracenic style, is often cited, after Allahabad, as one of the largest judicial complexes in the world by area?

Question 4

Which garden tomb in Delhi, built in 1754 for a noble of the declining Mughal court and often described as the 'last flicker' of Mughal architecture, followed the classic char-bagh plan established more than a century earlier?

Question 5

Which three Tamil Nadu temple towns, built under the Chola dynasty, together make up the UNESCO World Heritage group known as the 'Great Living Chola Temples'?

Question 6

Which Harappan site in Rajasthan has provided the earliest known evidence of a ploughed agricultural field, along with fire altars suggesting ritual activity?

Question 7

What are the names of the main structural parts of a Buddhist stupa: the hemispherical dome, the small railing atop it, the umbrella-shaped finial, and the railing around its base?

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About Indian Architecture, Sculpture & Pottery

This quiz is meant for students preparing for the IAS examination and other competitive tests, and for anyone who wants a wide-ranging survey of Indian architecture, sculpture and pottery from prehistoric times to the modern era. It begins with the rock art of Bhimbetka, the pottery and terracotta of the Indus Valley Civilisation and the Chalcolithic and Megalithic cultures that followed it. It then covers Buddhist rock-cut architecture, from stupas and chaityas to the great cave complexes of Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta, and the classical schools of sculpture at Gandhara, Mathura and Amaravati. It surveys the Nagara, Dravida and Vesara styles of Hindu temple architecture, from Odisha and Khajuraho to the Pallava, Chola, Chalukya, Hoysala and Vijayanagara temples of the south and Deccan. It covers Indo-Islamic architecture in the Deccan Sultanates and beyond, and India's living pottery and craft traditions, from Jaipur's blue pottery to Bidriware and terracotta folk art. It closes with the colonial Indo-Saracenic style, the New Delhi of Lutyens and Baker, the Bengal School and modern Indian art, and the stepwells and UNESCO World Heritage sites that showcase this long artistic tradition. When complete it will have one hundred and fifteen carefully checked questions, arranged in five packs of twenty-three.

Every question has four options, and the correct option can be in any position. After each question there is a detailed explanation of more than five lines, in simple Indian English that a school student can follow, giving the important names, dates, dynasties and the points that examiners like to test.

Every fact has been checked against standard reference books on Indian art history and archaeology.