Read the passage and answer the questions:
The Sudarshana Lake and Pandya chief visits the Forest
The Sudarshana lake was an artificial reservoir. We know about it from a rock inscription (c. second century CE) in Sanskrit, composed to record the achievements of the ruler Rudradaman. The inscription mentions that the lake, with embankments and water channels, was built by a local governor during the rule of the Mauryas. However, a terrible storm broke the embankments and water gushed out of the lake. Rudradaman, who was then ruling in the area, claimed to have got the lake repaired using his own resources, without imposing any tax on his subjects. Another inscription on the same rock (c. fifth century) mentions how one of the rulers of the Gupta dynasty got the lake repaired once again.
The excerpt for the Pandya chief is an epic written in Tamil. When he visited the forest, people came down the mountains, singing and dancing … just as the defeated show respect to the victorious king, so did they bring gifts - ivory, fragrant wood, fans made of the hair of deer, honey, sandalwood, red ochre, antimony, turmeric, cardamom, pepper, etc. …they brought coconuts, mangoes, medicinal plants, fruits, onions, sugarcane, flowers, nuts, bananas, baby tiger, lions, elephants, monkeys, bear, deer, musk deer, fox, peacocks, musk cat, speaking parrots, etc. …
The ruler Rudradaman belonged to which dynasty?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Shakas
The passage calls Rudradaman only “the ruler”, but the inscription records the achievements of the Shaka ruler Rudradaman. The Shakas were a people from Central Asia who set up kingdoms in the north-western and western parts of the subcontinent. Rudradaman, who was ruling the area in the second century CE, claimed to have repaired the lake with his own resources, without taxing his subjects.
NCERT: Themes in Indian History Part I — Chapter 2: Kings, Farmers and Towns (2025-26)
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