Thursday, March 15, 2012

Mahabharata quiz answers


 Answers to the Mahabharat quiz posted at http://jaijoshiz.blogspot.com/2012/03/heres-what-youve-been-waiting-for.html. Fingers crossed for the first prize! :P

1. What was the name of Krishna's tyrant uncle?
Kansa (the tyrant king of Mathura)

2. Who was known as the best of the Kurus?
Grandsire Bhishma (son of Ganga)

3. Where is Hastinapur located in modern day India?
Hastinapur is a small village in Uttar Pradesh (around 110 km from Delhi)

4. Who did Draupadi marry?
Draupadi married the 5 Pandavas i.e. Yudhistira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva

5. What was Kunti's deep dark secret?
Kunti knew that Karna was her son by the Lord Surya whom she had abandoned owing to her fear of social stigma

6. Where did Yudhistira first meet his father Dharmaraj?
Yudhistira first met his father Dharmaraj in the form of a glowing man hovering in the air above a lake where his brothers were lying dead. He claimed to be a Yaksha.

7. What was the name of the unnamed woman?
Anamika

8. Who did Krishna promise mercy to one hundred times?
Shishupal

9. How did Abhimanyu die?
Abhimanyu died in the innermost circle of the chakravyu when he was attacked simultaneously by the Kauravas (Drona,Kripa,Karna,Shailya,Ashwathama,Duryodhan,Kritverma and Dushashan) who first killed his charioteer, then smashed the wheels of his chariot and then broke his weapons one by one.

10. Who was Drona's favourite student?
Arjuna

11. What was the name of Krishna's island city?
Dwarka (also known as Dwarika)

12. Who was the mother of the Pandavas' only grandchild?
Uttara (mother of Arjun's son Pariksit)

13. Why does the erotic art of kissing come from ancient India?
There are many ancient Indian sources such as the Mahabharat, the four Vedas, the Kama Sutra which refer to kissing. The reason why kissing originated in ancient India is that India was the first region to adopt the practice of oral hygiene as early as 7000BC (with methods prescribed in the Ayurveda). Hindus brush their teeth religiously because their scriptures say that personal hygiene is a matter of purity and Godliness.

14. How many sons did Gandhari have?
Hundred

15. Why did Krishna lift Govardhan mountain?
Indra reacted with anger when Krishna told the people of Vraj not to worship him. He caused a massive rain storm to sweep over Vraj and destroy everything. The people ran to Krishna and told him to stop the destruction by begging forgiveness of Indra. Hence Krishna lifted the Govardhan mountain so that all the village people and their cows could seek shelter underneath while the storm raged for a week.

16. What did Krishna tell Arjuna to do the night before the war?
Krishna told Arjuna to meditate on Mother Durga as she would help him control his anger and focus his thoughts into a productive path. He advised him to pray for her blessing and to ask her to grant him victory since he could not win this war without her.

17. How did the Kauravas first try to kill Bhima?
Duryodhan had a large saucepan of Bhima's favourite dish, rice pudding, prepared and laced it with lethal poison and he invited Bhima to eat lunch with him. Bhima ate the whole saucepan of rice pudding and lay down, falling into a deep unconsciousness. His pulse slowed, then stopped. Duryodhan and his younger brother Dushashan, acting according to their uncle Shakuni’s plan, rolled Bhima up in the kitchen mat and tied it. They then carried him to the Yamuna river where they threw him in. They figured that the fish would eat him and there would be no evidence of their crime.

18. Why did Karna fight for Duryodhan?
Despite being advised by Krishna and Kunti and despite knowing that the Pandavas would defeat Duryodhan, Karna fought for Duryodhan since he was his friend who had first supported him and he didn't want to leave him and break his friendship's oath. Another factor was that Karna could not forgive himself for his crimes such as that of insulting Draupadi. He was too ashamed of himself and filled with self hatred.

19. How was Draupadi born?
Draupadi was born from the flames of the yagna (fire sacrifice) performed by Draupad, the King of Panchal.

20. What does Ranchod mean?
Ranchod literally means "a man who runs from battle" i.e. a coward.

21. Who was Shantanu's first wife?
Ganga, the goddess of the river and daughter of the creator, Father Brahma.

22. How did Arjuna defeat Bhishma?
Bhishma fought according to the rules of dharma and as such if any woman stood before him on the battlefield then he would immediately throw down his weapons. Amba had been reborn as Shikandi, with full memory of her past life and vendetta against Bhishma. Krishna placed Shikandi infront of Bhishma on the battlefield and once Bhishma threw down his weapons, Arjuna mortally wounded him with his arrows.

23. What makes a beautiful woman?
A beautiful woman is a lady who never covets anything. One who helps others but asks for nothing in return. A lady who might be scorned and hurt but never thinks of getting revenge on those who hurt her. A lady who is unselfish, kind, free of malice. One whose heart is pure in every way.

24. Why did Drona cut off Eklavya's thumb?
Drona believed that knowledge was a dangerous thing in the wrong hands and that between a guru and disciple there should always be honesty and trust. No secrets. No lies. Eklavya never came to him in honesty nor did he humbly ask for knowledge. He tried to make him into his guru but he never asked permission to be his disciple. He hid and secretly took the lessons Drona was giving others. True knowledge can only be given, not taken. And true knowledge should only be given to those who have proved themselves worthy. One had to earn it. Eklavya didn't earn his knowledge. Instead he stole it. And knowledge that is stolen can never have a good result. That's why Drona took his thumb to prevent him from using the knowledge he'd stolen for harmful purposes.

25. What is the Highest Love?
To serve is the highest love.

26. For 20 EXTRA POINTS --- How do you pronounce MAHABHARAT? To get the 20 points you have to post a video of yourself pronouncing the word and holding up a placard to show that you're doing it right.
Emailed to tulsitree@gmail.com :)

2 comments:

  1. Great answers, Girish! I'm so impressed. The answers are still coming in so we'll see what the final results are. But very well done and thanks so much for participating!

    Jai

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  2. I’m glad to see all the answers because I didn’t know some of them. Congrats, Girish!

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