Consider the following statements about Kanaganahalli archaeological site : 1. It is situated on the bank of Bhima river. 2. The remains of the Kanaganahalli Stupa can be dated between 1st and 3rd centuries CE. 3. Emperor Ashoka’s image was found at the site. Which of the statements given above are correct?
- (a)1 and 2 only
- (b)2 and 3 only
- (c)1 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Correct — D, 1, 2 and 3. All three statements about Kanaganahalli hold. The site lies on the left bank of the Bhima river, about 3 km from Sannati village in Chitapur taluk of Kalaburagi district in Karnataka, which settles statement 1. The excavated stupa and its sculptural remains run from roughly the first century BCE to the third century CE, with the stupa itself put up around the first century BCE and further patronage in the third and fourth centuries CE — so a dating between the first and third centuries CE sits inside the established range and statement 2 stands. Statement 3 is the reason the site is famous at all: the excavations of 1994-98 recovered a relief panel showing the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, labelled in Brahmi as 'Raya Asoko' — King Ashoka — which is the only known sculptural portrait of him identified by name.
- (a)1 and 2 only — Drops the one statement that makes the site examinable. The labelled Ashoka relief is Kanaganahalli's single most cited find.
- (b)2 and 3 only — Throws out the correct river. Kanaganahalli is on the Bhima, the Krishna's large right-bank tributary, close to Sannati in northern Karnataka.
- (c)1 and 3 only — Rejects a dating that is in fact well within the accepted range for the stupa's remains, which span roughly the first century BCE to the third century CE.
Kanaganahalli is a Buddhist stupa site in northern Karnataka, excavated in the 1990s and now the richest single source of narrative relief sculpture from the Deccan's early historic period. Its drum slabs carry scenes and inscribed labels, and among them is a portrait panel naming Ashoka. That combination of image plus Brahmi label is what makes the site unusually valuable: elsewhere we identify figures by argument, here the sculptor wrote the name.
Three-statement items are usually won by spotting one implausible claim, so the instinct here is to look for the weak link — and there isn't one. The safest route is the river: fix Kanaganahalli next to Sannati on the Bhima in Kalaburagi district, and statement 1 is settled without hesitation. The dating claim then looks generous rather than wrong, because the site's material spans a wider window than the statement asks for. And the Ashoka portrait is exactly the fact a paper would build a question around. Note the spelling drift you will meet across sources — Kanaganahalli and Kanganahalli both appear, and UPSC itself has used the second — so recognise the site by Sannati and the Bhima rather than by letter-perfect spelling.
- Kanaganahalli lies on the left bank of the Bhima river, about 3 km from Sannati, in Chitapur taluk of Kalaburagi district, Karnataka.
- The excavated remains date between about the first century BCE and the third century CE, with the stupa raised around the first century BCE.
- A relief portrait of Ashoka carries the Brahmi label 'Raya Asoko', King Ashoka — the only sculptural portrait of him identified by an inscription.
- The portrait came from the excavations conducted between 1994 and 1998.
- Karnataka and the Archaeological Survey of India have been developing Sannati and Kanaganahalli together as a Buddhist centre.
- Placing Kanaganahalli on the Krishna rather than on the Bhima, its tributary.
- Assuming a three-statement item must contain at least one false statement.
- Confusing Sannati's Ashokan rock edict fragments with the Kanaganahalli portrait relief — different evidence at neighbouring sites.
Either as a statements item like this one, or as a direct question on where the inscribed sculptural portrait of Ashoka was found.
In which of the following relief sculpture inscriptions is 'Ranyo Ashoka' (King Ashoka) mentioned along with the stone portrait of Ashoka?
- (a) Kanganahalli
- (b) Sanchi
- (c) Shahbazgarhi
- (d) Sohgaura
Answer(a) Kanganahalli
The same find, asked four years earlier. UPSC went straight at the inscribed portrait; CDS wrapped it in statements about the river and the dating. Both turn on knowing that the labelled Ashoka relief comes from this Karnataka site.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The relief sculpture labelled 'Raya Asoko' in Brahmi was recovered from which one of the following sites?
- (a)Sanchi
- (b)Kanaganahalli
- (c)Bharhut
- (d)Amaravati
Answer(b) Kanaganahalli — the panel found near Sannati in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka, is the only sculptural portrait of Ashoka identified by an inscription.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Kanaganahalli archaeological site is situated on the bank of which one of the following rivers?
- (a)Tungabhadra
- (b)Bhima
- (c)Godavari
- (d)Kaveri
Answer(b) Bhima — the site stands on the left bank of the Bhima, about 3 km from Sannati village in Karnataka.