SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 7 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 10 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.

Vindhyashakti was the founder of which of the following dynasties?

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

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Vindhyashakti founded the Vakataka dynasty in the Deccan in the third century CE, and an Ajanta cave inscription names him as the banner of the Vakataka family.

His son Pravarasena I turned that base into a kingdom, extending Vakataka power across the northern Deccan and performing Vedic sacrifices to advertise it.

The dynasty later married into the Guptas, which is where most students first meet the name. Option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Pallava — The Pallavas ruled from Kanchipuram in the far south, and their best-known king, Narasimhavarman I, took Vatapi from the Chalukyas. Vindhyashakti appears in no Pallava king list.
(b)
Maukhari — The Maukharis rose only after the Guptas fell and ruled from Kannauj in the sixth century — some three hundred years later than Vindhyashakti.
(c)
Chalukya — The Chalukyas of Badami were founded by Pulakeshin I, with Vatapi as their capital. Pulakeshin II is the ruler who checked Harshavardhana.

Concept

The Vakatakas fill the Deccan gap between the Satavahanas and the Chalukyas, and they are the Gupta age's southern contemporary rather than its subject.

Gupta ties are the reason the name survives. Prabhavatigupta, daughter of Chandragupta II, married the Vakataka king Rudrasena II and effectively governed after his death as regent for her sons.

Cultural weight came late: the great excavation phase at Ajanta was carried out under Vakataka patronage in the fifth century.

Store dynasties as a two-column list — dynasty and founder — before you store their narratives.

That one column separates three of the four options here: Vindhyashakti for the Vakatakas, Pulakeshin I for the Chalukyas of Badami, and no Vindhyashakti anywhere in the Pallava king list.

Key facts

Vindhyashakti founded the Vakataka dynasty in the third century CE.
Pravarasena I, son of Vindhyashakti, extended Vakataka power across the northern Deccan.
Rudrasena II of the Vakatakas married Prabhavatigupta, daughter of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II.
The later caves at Ajanta were excavated under Vakataka patronage.

Study next

Founders and capitals of the post-Satavahana Deccan dynastiesGupta-Vakataka matrimonial relations and Prabhavatigupta's regencyPatronage of the Ajanta and Ellora caves by successive dynasties

Common traps

Placing the Vakatakas in the south with the Pallavas instead of in the Deccan
Attaching Vindhyashakti to the Chalukyas because both are Deccan powers

Dynasty items come as founder, capital or emblem. The Vakatakas return through the Gupta marriage on 10 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.5, the founder question runs again for the Palas on 23 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.19, and Pallava-Chalukya rivalry on 26 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.20.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.