SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 7 of 75

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Match the dynasties listed in Column A with the regions they primarily ruled over, as given in Column B: Column A: Dynasty | Column B: Region A. Gurjara-Pratiharas | 1. Bengal B. Rashtrakutas | 2. Tamil Nadu C. Palas | 3. Gujarat and Rajasthan D. Cholas | 4. Western Deccan

(a)A → 3, B → 4, C → 1, D → 2
(b)A → 4, B → 3, C → 1, D → 2
(c)A → 2, B → 3, C → 1, D → 4
(d)A → 4, B → 3, C → 2, D → 1

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Match each dynasty to its home region.

Gurjara-Pratiharas rose in Rajasthan and Gujarat before ruling from Kannauj → A-3.
Rashtrakutas ruled the Deccan from Manyakheta, in Karnataka → B-4.
Palas held Bengal and Bihar → C-1.
Cholas rose in the Kaveri valley of Tamil Nadu → D-2.

A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
A → 4, B → 3, C → 1, D → 2 — It swaps the first two. The Rashtrakutas were the Deccan power, with their capital at Manyakheta, and the Pratiharas the dynasty of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
(c)
A → 2, B → 3, C → 1, D → 4 — Only the Palas-Bengal pair is right. It sends the Pratiharas to Tamil Nadu and the Cholas to the Deccan, but the Cholas' heartland was the Kaveri valley.
(d)
A → 4, B → 3, C → 2, D → 1 — Every pair is wrong. It puts the Palas in Tamil Nadu and the Cholas in Bengal, and swaps the Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas as well.

Concept

Three of these dynasties fought a long contest for Kannauj in the Ganga valley: the Gurjara-Pratiharas from the west, the Rashtrakutas from the Deccan and the Palas from Bengal. Historians call it the tripartite struggle.

The Cholas stand apart in the far south. Vijayalaya captured Thanjavur around 848 CE, and the dynasty grew from the Kaveri valley.

The table's 'Western Deccan' fits the Rashtrakutas, whose heartland covered nearly all of Karnataka and Maharashtra and parts of Andhra Pradesh.

Key facts

The Rashtrakuta capital Manyakheta is present-day Malkhed in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka.
Kannauj became the centre of the Pratihara state at its peak, c. 836-910.
The Pala stronghold was Bengal and Bihar, and Gopala was the first Pala king.
Vijayalaya captured Thanjavur around 848 CE, founding the medieval Chola line.

Study next

The tripartite struggle for KannaujRashtrakuta rulers and the Kailasa temple at ElloraChola rulers from Vijayalaya to Rajendra I

Common traps

Swapping the Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas. The Rashtrakutas are the Deccan power, the Pratiharas the western Indian one.
Placing the Palas anywhere but the east. Their base was Bengal and Bihar.

The Palas, Pratiharas and Rashtrakutas return as the tripartite struggle at 25 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.24 and 26 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.5. The Pratiharas' first capital, Bhinmal, is asked at 24 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.5.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: History — all 218 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.