Match List-I with List-II:
| List-I | List-II | ||
| (A) | Kushanas | (I) | Piyadassi |
| (B) | Ashoka | (II) | Devputra |
| (C) | Samudragupta | (III) | Court-poet |
| (D) | Harisena | (IV) | Prayaga Prashasti |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A) - (II), (B) - (I), (C) - (IV), (D) - (III)
(A) Kushanas — this matches (II) Devputra. Many Kushana rulers adopted the title devaputra, or “son of god”, possibly inspired by Chinese rulers who called themselves sons of heaven.
(B) Ashoka — this matches (I) Piyadassi. James Prinsep found that most of the early inscriptions mentioned a king called Piyadassi, “pleasant to behold”; a few inscriptions also called the king Asoka.
(C) Samudragupta — this matches (IV) Prayaga Prashasti. The Prayaga Prashasti, also known as the Allahabad Pillar Inscription, praises Samudragupta, arguably the most powerful of the Gupta rulers.
(D) Harisena — this matches (III) Court-poet. Harishena, the court poet of Samudragupta, composed the Prayaga Prashasti in Sanskrit.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.2 Divine kings … Colossal statues of Kushana rulers have been found installed in a shrine at Mat near Mathura (Uttar Pradesh). Similar statues have been found in a shrine in Afghanistan as well. Some historians feel this indicates that the Kushanas considered themselves godlike. Many Kushana rulers also adopted the title devaputra, or ‘son of god’, possibly inspired by Chinese rulers who called themselves sons of heaven.… 1. Prinsep and Piyadassi … Some of the most momentous developments in Indian epigraphy took place in the 1830s. This was when James Prinsep, an officer in the mint of the East India Company, deciphered Brahmi and Kharosthi, two scripts used in the earliest inscriptions and coins. He found that most of these mentioned a king referred to as Piyadassi – meaning ‘pleasant to behold’; there were a few inscriptions which also referred to the king as Asoka, one of the most famous rulers known from Buddhist texts.… 4.2 Divine kings … The Prayaga Prashasti (also known as the Allahabad Pillar Inscription) composed in Sanskrit by Harishena, the court poet of Samudragupta, arguably the most powerful of the Gupta rulers (c. fourth century CE), is a case in point.…” |