SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 7 of 99

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.

One of the greatest of Chola ruler Rajaraja I ruled from 985 AD to ______.

(a)1015 AD
(b)1017 AD
(c)1018 AD
(d)1014 AD

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Rajaraja I ruled the Cholas from 985 to 1014 CE, a reign of twenty-nine years, and was succeeded by his son Rajendra I in 1014.

The span is anchored by his own inscriptions and by the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur, completed around 1010 in his twenty-fifth regnal year.

Option (d) closes the reign at the right year.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
1015 AD — 1015 AD overshoots by a year. Rajendra I was already on the throne by then, having succeeded his father in 1014.
(b)
1017 AD — 1017 AD would stretch the reign to thirty-two years. The span to hold is 985 to 1014.
(c)
1018 AD — 1018 AD falls inside Rajendra I's reign rather than his father's, since Rajendra ruled from 1014 to about 1044.

Concept

Rajaraja I turned the Cholas from a Tamil regional power into an imperial one.

He campaigned against the Cheras and Pandyas, annexed northern Sri Lanka, and built the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur, still the signature monument of Chola architecture.

His son Rajendra I carried the expansion further, marching to the Ganga and raiding across the sea, and founded Gangaikondacholapuram as a new capital.

Store the two reign spans as a pair: Rajaraja I from 985 to 1014, Rajendra I from 1014 to about 1044.

Chola questions turn on attributing the right achievement to the right king, so keep father and son separate as you revise.

Key facts

Rajaraja I ruled from 985 to 1014 CE.
Rajaraja I built the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur, completed around 1010 CE.
Rajendra I, son of Rajaraja I, succeeded him in 1014 CE.

Study next

Rajendra I's Gangetic campaign and his South-East Asian naval expeditionChola local self-government and the Uttaramerur inscriptionsChola temple architecture and bronze sculpture

Common traps

Crediting Rajaraja I with Gangaikondacholapuram, which belongs to Rajendra I.
Reading the stem as the start year when it asks for the close of the reign.

Chola items in this corpus test symbols and dynasty recall alongside dates — the emblem of the Chola dynasty is asked 17 Sep 2024, 12:30, General Awareness Q.24, where the key is Tiger.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.