Match List – I with List – II and select the correct answer using the code given below the lists.
List – I (Ruler)
A. Mahendraverman First
B. Kadungon
C. Amoghavarsha First
D. Rajaraja First
List – II

Question

Match List – I with List – II and select the correct answer using the code given below the lists.
List – I (Ruler)
A. Mahendraverman First
B. Kadungon
C. Amoghavarsha First
D. Rajaraja First
List – II (Dynasty)
1. Rashtrakuta
2. Pallava
3. Chola
4. Pandya
Code :

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — C, A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3 — Mahendravarman I to the Pallavas, Kadungon to the Pandyas, Amoghavarsha I to the Rashtrakutas and Rajaraja I to the Cholas. Mahendravarman I (c. 600-630 CE) was the Pallava king of Kanchi who fought Pulakeshin II of Badami, took the titles Vichitrachitta, Mattavilasa and Gunabhara, wrote the Sanskrit farce Mattavilasa Prahasana, and began the Pallava rock-cut temple tradition — his Mandagapattu inscription boasts of a shrine made without brick, timber, metal or mortar. Kadungon (Kadunkon, usually placed c. 590-620 CE) is the Pandya who revived the dynasty: after the obscure Kalabhra interregnum he restored Pandya rule from Madurai and took the title Pandyadhiraja, a feat recorded in the Velvikudi copper-plate inscription of the later Pandya Parantaka Nedunchadaiyan. Amoghavarsha I (r. c. 814-878 CE) was the sixth Rashtrakuta emperor and the longest-reigning; he moved the capital to Manyakheta, is credited with the Kavirajamarga — the earliest extant literary work in Kannada — and the Sanskrit Prashnottara Ratnamalika, was a devout Jain, and was named by the Arab merchant Sulaiman as one of the four great kings of the world. Rajaraja I (r. 985-1014 CE) was the Chola who built the Rajarajeshvara, now Brihadishvara, temple at Thanjavur and carried Chola arms into northern Sri Lanka. Only option (c) puts all four in the right dynasty.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Wrong on all four pairs — it swaps within both halves at once. It makes Mahendravarman I a Pandya and Kadungon a Pallava, when Mahendravarman is the Pallava of Kanchi and Kadungon the Pandya of Madurai; and it makes Amoghavarsha I a Chola and Rajaraja I a Rashtrakuta, when Amoghavarsha ruled from Manyakheta in the Deccan and Rajaraja from Thanjavur in the Kaveri delta. If any single pair is secure, this option is gone.  (b) Gets the Pallava-Pandya half right and then reverses the other half, sending Amoghavarsha I to the Cholas and Rajaraja I to the Rashtrakutas. Rajaraja I is the best-known Chola of all — the builder of the great Thanjavur temple — and Amoghavarsha I belongs to the Deccan dynasty whose capital was Manyakheta and whose most famous monument is the Kailasa temple at Ellora, begun under his predecessor Krishna I. Two Deccan-versus-Tamil-country kings do not change places.  (d) The mirror image of option (b): it gets Amoghavarsha I to the Rashtrakutas and Rajaraja I to the Cholas, then reverses the first half by making Mahendravarman I a Pandya and Kadungon a Pallava. Mahendravarman I is securely Pallava — he is the patron of the Mandagapattu cave and the author of the Mattavilasa Prahasana — so this option fails on the pair most candidates actually know.

Concept: Four dynasties divide the early medieval Deccan and Tamil country between them, and each of these rulers is the standard name attached to one of them. The Pallavas ruled from Kanchi and gave South India its first great stone architecture; Mahendravarman I opened that tradition with rock-cut cave shrines. The Pandyas of Madurai are the oldest of the four as a name but had faded during the Kalabhra interregnum, and Kadungon is the king credited with restoring them. The Rashtrakutas ruled the Deccan from Manyakheta; Amoghavarsha I was their longest-reigning and most cultured emperor. The Cholas rose in the Kaveri delta from the ninth century, and Rajaraja I turned them into an imperial power with a navy, a land survey and the greatest temple of the age at Thanjavur.

State PCS 2025 Q117 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q117 — History PYQ with Answer