Indian Mythology Quiz — 7 Free Questions

Question 1

Which large collection of stories, many of them animal fables, recounts the previous births of the being who would become the Buddha, as he perfects generosity, patience and other virtues?

Question 2

Which king, tested by the sage Vishvamitra, gives away his kingdom, sells his wife and son and then himself into service at a cremation ground, all rather than break his word, and is finally restored?

Question 3

As which animal does Vishnu support Mount Mandara on his back so that it can be used as a churning-rod during the churning of the ocean of milk?

Question 4

Which deity, the pot-bellied lord of wealth and treasures and king of the nature-spirits called yakshas, is the guardian of the northern direction?

Question 5

Which half-brother of Dhritarashtra and Pandu, born to a serving woman and regarded as an incarnation of the god of dharma, is the wise counsellor who repeatedly warns the Kauravas against injustice?

Question 6

Which golden mountain is described in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cosmology as standing at the centre of the world, circled by continents and oceans and by the sun, moon and stars?

Question 7

What name is given to the standard list of ten principal earthly descents of Vishnu, from the fish to the future horseman Kalki?

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About Indian Mythology

How well do you know Indian mythology -- the gods and goddesses, the ten descents of Vishnu, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Puranic tales of creation and the end of the world, and the stories that Buddhists, Jains and regional traditions tell? This quiz has one hundred and twenty-five questions in five packs of twenty-five, written the way people search: who is the elephant-headed god, what are the ten avatars of Vishnu, why does the moon wax and wane, how does Rama's army reach Lanka, how long is the Mahabharata.

The answer is always one of four choices of the same kind, and the question never gives it away. A short note after each answer adds the source, the setting and the background, told in an even-handed way.

The first pack covers the major gods: the Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva; the Goddess as Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Parvati; Ganesha and Kartikeya and Hanuman; and the Vedic deities Indra, Agni, Yama, Surya, Varuna and Kubera, down to the nine planetary gods. The second pack is Vishnu's ten avatars and the tales around them, from the fish and the tortoise and the churning of the ocean to Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama and the future Kalki. The third pack is the Ramayana, from Valmiki and the exile to the golden deer, Ravana, Hanuman's leap, the bridge to Lanka, and the return to Ayodhya. The fourth pack is the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita, from Bhishma's vow and the game of dice to Karna, Abhimanyu, the eighteen-day war and the final journey to the mountains. The fifth pack covers the Puranas and cosmology: Mount Meru and the world-ages, the seven sages, Daksha's sacrifice and the Shakti Pithas, the descent of the Ganga, Shiva as the pillar of fire and as Nataraja, and the myths of the Jatakas, the Jain Tirthankaras and folk deities such as Ayyappan and Jagannath.

About a sixth of the questions carry a photograph of a temple, festival or sacred place tied to the question, chosen so it does not give the answer away. Every fact has been checked against standard sources.