SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 3 of 100

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 11 September 2026.

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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.

Which term–meaning pair is accurate in relation to the Gupta dynasty?

(a)Vaishthika – enjoyment tax
(b)Bhaga – forced-labour levy
(c)Adeya – “that which is to be surrendered” (tribute/dues)
(d)Dasaparadha – grain tithe

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Adeya is a general word for dues, what the villagers had to hand over, and that is the tribute-or-dues sense option (c) prints.

Each other pair gives a real Gupta term a wrong meaning. Bhaga was the king's share of the produce, dasaparadha the fines for ten offences, and 'enjoyment' is the literal sense of bhoga, not of vaishthika. The accurate pair is option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Vaishthika – enjoyment tax — 'Enjoyment' is the literal sense of bhoga, the periodic supplies of fruit, firewood and flowers a village gave the king. Vaishthika belongs with vishti, forced labour.
(b)
Bhaga – forced-labour levy — Bhaga was the king's share of the produce, commonly put at one-sixth. Forced labour was vishti, so this pair gives bhaga another term's meaning.
(d)
Dasaparadha – grain tithe — Dasaparadha means the ten offences, and in grants it stands for the fines levied for them. A share of the grain crop was bhaga, not dasaparadha.

Concept

Gupta land grants list the royal dues a village owed, which passed to the grantee: bhaga, the share of the produce, bhoga, periodic supplies in kind, and levies in cash and grain.

A grant could also make over the fines for the ten offences (dasaparadha). Unpaid labour owed to the king was vishti, the word option (a)'s vaishthika belongs with.

The question pairs three real terms with meanings borrowed from elsewhere: labour for bhaga, enjoyment for vaishthika, a grain levy for dasaparadha. Adeya keeps its own meaning.

Key facts

Bhaga: the king's share of the produce, commonly one-sixth.
Bhoga: periodic supplies of fruit, firewood, flowers and the like given to the king.
Vishti: forced, unpaid labour owed to the king.
Dasaparadha: the fines for the ten offences, which a grant could make over to the grantee.

Study next

Gupta land grants and the agraharaGupta officials such as the kumaramatya and the vishayapatiKara and hiranya in Gupta land grants

Common traps

Matching 'enjoyment' to the first term that sounds fiscal: enjoyment is bhoga, and bhoga is not in this option list.
Taking bhaga for any levy at all: it is specifically the share of the crop, while labour is vishti.

Here Gupta revenue terms are tested as term–meaning pairs. Terms from the same list are asked at 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.3 (keyed Dasaparadha – fines from ten offences, with adeya as a wrong pairing), and Gupta officers are paired with roles at 17 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.3 and 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.3.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.