Indian Mythology Quiz — 7 Free Questions

Question 1

Which avatar of Vishnu, described as a rider on a white horse with a blazing sword, is expected to appear at the end of the present age to destroy evil and restore righteousness?

Question 2

Which group of seven great sages, whose members vary somewhat by list, is identified in tradition with the seven bright stars of the Great Bear, or Big Dipper?

Question 3

Which sage is traditionally credited with composing the Mahabharata, and is also, through his sons and grandsons, an ancestor of the warring cousins at its centre?

Question 4

Which wandering divine sage, always carrying a stringed instrument and chanting the name of Narayana, moves between the worlds and is famous for stirring up quarrels that ultimately serve a divine purpose?

Question 5

In Hindu myth, an eclipse of the sun or moon is explained as the luminary being swallowed by which demon, beheaded for drinking the nectar of immortality during the churning of the ocean?

Question 6

Whose long penance, to bring the celestial river Ganga down to earth to purify the ashes of his sixty thousand ancestors, gives rise to the myth of the river's descent being broken by Shiva's hair?

Question 7

Which sage is traditionally regarded as the author of the Sanskrit Ramayana and is honoured as the adi kavi, or first poet?

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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.