'Sengol', installed in the new Parliament building of India, was seen as a symbol of the path of service, duty and nation in which Empire of the past ?
- (a)Gupta Empire
- (b)Shunga Empire
- (c)Pandyan Empire
- (d)Chola Empire
Correct — D, Chola Empire. The Sengol is a sceptre about five feet long, of silver with gold plating, handcrafted by the Madras jewellers Vummidi Bangaru Chetty and installed in the Lok Sabha chamber when the Prime Minister inaugurated the new Parliament building on 28 May 2023 — three months before this paper. In the account the Government gave, it was presented in 1947 as a symbol of the transfer of power from British rule to independent India, and the tradition invoked was that of the Chola empire, C. Rajagopalachari having told Nehru of the Chola practice of marking a transfer of power with such a sceptre. The sceptre is topped by a seated Nandi, described as symbolising justice and righteousness, which is the sense in which the question calls it a symbol of the path of service, duty and nation.
- (a)Gupta Empire — The Guptas ruled in northern India between roughly the fourth and sixth centuries and have no part in this account. The Sengol's associations are entirely Tamil — a Madras jeweller, a Tamil Saiva monastery and a Tamil dynasty.
- (b)Shunga Empire — The Shungas followed the Mauryas in the second century before the common era in the Ganga valley. Nothing in the sceptre's story reaches back to them, and it is included only as a well-known ancient dynasty.
- (c)Pandyan Empire — This is the sharpest decoy, because the Pandyas were the other great Tamil power, based at Madurai, so the Tamil setting fits. The tradition named in the government's account is the Chola one, not the Pandya one.
The Cholas were the dominant power of the Tamil country in the early medieval centuries, defeating the Pandyas and the Cheras to hold most of peninsular India and sending naval expeditions as far as Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. Their kings built the great Shiva temples at Thanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Chidambaram, and their reputation for an ordered administration is why a Chola precedent carries the sense of righteous rule in modern political language.
The question is really asking which dynasty the Sengol's symbolism was attributed to, and the answer is the Chola. It is worth adding one honest note for a student who reads more widely: the historical claim itself has been questioned, since the evidence that the sceptre served as an instrument of the 1947 transfer of power is thin and the account rests substantially on a recollection published long after the event. That debate does not change what this question asks — the empire named in the account is the Chola — but a candidate who knows both the claim and the argument about it will handle either version of the question. For the exam, hold the Tamil chain together: Chola tradition, a Tamil Saiva monastery, a Madras jeweller, and installation in the Lok Sabha on 28 May 2023.
- The Sengol is a gold-plated silver sceptre about five feet long, handcrafted by the jeweller Vummidi Bangaru Chetty of Madras.
- It was installed in the Lok Sabha chamber at the inauguration of the new Parliament building on 28 May 2023.
- The Government presented it as a symbol of the transfer of power in 1947, invoking what it described as the Chola tradition of such a transfer.
- The sceptre is surmounted by a seated Nandi, taken to symbolise justice and righteousness.
- Historians have questioned how much documentary evidence supports the 1947 transfer-of-power account.
- Choosing the Pandyas because the setting is Tamil; the tradition named is the Chola one.
- Confusing the sceptre with the mace of the Lok Sabha, which is a different object with a different history.
- Treating a contested historical claim as settled, or conversely refusing to answer the question the paper actually asks.
Asked as a current-affairs item with a history answer — a 2023 installation whose mark depends on knowing which ancient dynasty was invoked.
Consider the following statements: 1. The Cholas defeated Pandya and Chera rulers and established their domination over peninsular India in early medieval times. 2. The Cholas sent an expedition against the Sailendra empire of South-East Asia and conquered some of the areas. Which of these statements is/are correct?
- (a) Only 1
- (b) Only 2
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(c) Both 1 and 2
Why the Chola name carries the weight it does, and why the Pandya option here is a decoy rather than an equal — the Cholas defeated the Pandyas and became the imperial power of the Tamil country.
Which one of the Chola kings conquered Ceylon?
- (a) Aditya I
- (b) Rajaraja I
- (c) Rajendra
- (d) Vijayalaya
Answer(b) Rajaraja I
The reign that the Chola reputation rests on. Rajaraja I is also the builder of the great temple at Thanjavur, which is the standard image of Chola power.
At which one of the following places was a Shiva temple not constructed under the patronage of the Chola rulers?
- (a) Chidambaram
- (b) Thanjavur
- (c) Gangaikonda Cholapuram
- (d) Naneghat
Answer(d) Naneghat
The Chola file from the architecture side. Between them the two questions show how NDA uses this dynasty — sometimes as ancient history, sometimes as the historical answer hidden inside a current-affairs item.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Sengol was installed in the new Parliament building of India in
- (a)the Rajya Sabha chamber
- (b)the Lok Sabha chamber
- (c)the Central Hall
- (d)the Constitution Hall
Answer(b) the Lok Sabha chamber — where it was installed at the inauguration of the new building on 28 May 2023.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The figure surmounting the Sengol is
- (a)a seated Nandi
- (b)a lion capital
- (c)a peacock
- (d)a wheel of law
Answer(a) a seated Nandi — described as symbolising justice and righteousness.