SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 5 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Rudrasena II of which of the following dynasties married Prabhavatigupta, the daughter of Chandragupta II of the Gupta dynasty?

(a)Vakataka
(b)Chalukya
(c)Pallava
(d)Pushyabhuti

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Prabhavatigupta, daughter of Chandragupta II, was married to Rudrasena II of the Vakataka dynasty, the Deccan power that held Vidarbha and northern Maharashtra.

The marriage was a diplomatic alliance. It secured the Gupta flank in the Deccan while Chandragupta II campaigned westwards against the Shaka Kshatrapas of Gujarat and Malwa.

Rudrasena II died early and Prabhavatigupta then governed as regent for her sons — a Gupta princess running a Vakataka kingdom, which is why her name appears on Vakataka copper plate grants.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Chalukya — The Chalukyas of Badami begin with Pulakeshin I in the sixth century, well after this alliance. They are a later Deccan power and belong to a different century.
(c)
Pallava — The Pallavas ruled the far south from Kanchipuram. That is the wrong region for a Gupta alliance meant to cover the Deccan and the route to the western coast.
(d)
Pushyabhuti — The Pushyabhutis of Thanesar are seventh-century — the house of Harshavardhana — roughly two centuries later than Chandragupta II and his daughter.

Concept

Gupta expansion ran on two instruments: conquest and marriage. Chandragupta II used both.

He destroyed the Shaka Kshatrapas in the west and took the title Vikramaditya, and he married his daughter into the Vakataka house so that the Deccan stayed friendly while he did it.

The Vakatakas matter beyond the alliance: they were the Deccan's leading power between the Satavahanas and the Chalukyas, and the later Ajanta caves were excavated under their patronage.

Prabhavatigupta's regency is unusual enough to be examinable on its own. Her copper plate grants describe her Gupta descent, which is how historians date the Gupta-Vakataka connection at all.

Key facts

Prabhavatigupta, daughter of Chandragupta II, married Rudrasena II of the Vakataka dynasty.
She ruled as regent for her sons after Rudrasena II died early.
The Vakatakas ruled the Deccan, centred on Vidarbha and northern Maharashtra.
Vindhyashakti founded the Vakataka dynasty.

Study next

Chandragupta II — the Shaka campaign and the title VikramadityaVakataka rulers in order — Vindhyashakti, Pravarasena I, Rudrasena II, Pravarasena IIAjanta caves and Vakataka patronage of the later phase

Common traps

Placing the Vakatakas in the far south alongside the Pallavas instead of in the Deccan.
Assuming a Gupta princess ruled a Gupta territory, when her regency was over a Vakataka kingdom.

The corpus asks the Vakatakas from three sides — their founder Vindhyashakti at 13 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.7, and their territory in northern Maharashtra and Vidarbha at 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.11.

They also serve as a decoy in the Valabhi question at 11 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.23, which is keyed to the Maitrakas. Learn the dynasty with a founder, a region and a capital.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.