SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 21 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 1 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.

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.

Neither the Chola nor the Chera dynasty was directly responsible for the establishment of:

(a)Naval expeditions to Southeast Asia
(b)Tamil literary renaissance
(c)Devadasi temple system
(d)Bahmani kingdom

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The Bahmani kingdom was founded in the Deccan in 1347 by Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah, after a revolt against Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Its first capital was Gulbarga, later Bidar.

It was a Deccan sultanate born of a break with Delhi, with no link to the Tamil dynasties, so neither the Cholas nor the Cheras had a hand in it → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Naval expeditions to Southeast Asia — Naval expeditions are a Chola achievement. Rajendra I, son of Rajaraja I, built a navy and raided Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, including the Srivijaya kingdom.
(b)
Tamil literary renaissance — Tamil literature flourished under both houses. Sangam poems praise Chera and Chola kings, and Chola-era poets such as Kamban and Sekkizhar wrote major Tamil works.
(c)
Devadasi temple system — The devadasi system of temple women grew under Chola temple patronage. Inscriptions at Rajaraja I's Brihadisvara temple in Thanjavur record the women attached to its service.

Concept

The question is an elimination. Three options are things these two south Indian dynasties are credited with, and one is not.

The Cholas are known for their navy, their temples and their patronage of Tamil letters. The Cheras ruled in present-day Kerala and appear with the Cholas and Pandyas as the three crowned kings of the Sangam poems.

The Bahmani Sultanate belongs elsewhere: the Deccan, the fourteenth century and the break-up of the Tughlaq empire.

The stem's phrase directly responsible for the establishment is strong wording for options (b) and (c): Tamil literature and temple service by women were traditions these dynasties patronised rather than invented.

That does not change the answer, because option (d) has no link to either dynasty at all.

Key facts

The Bahmani Sultanate was founded in 1347 by Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah, with Gulbarga as its first capital.
The Bahmani capital later moved to Bidar.
Rajendra I, son of Rajaraja I, built a navy and led expeditions to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
The Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas are the three crowned kings (muvendar) of the Sangam poems.

Study next

The five Deccan Sultanates that emerged from the Bahmani kingdomRajendra I's northern campaign and his capital Gangaikonda CholapuramChola village administration: the ur, the sabha and the nadu

Common traps

Reading 'establishment' literally and ruling out (b) or (c) because neither dynasty invented Tamil literature or temple service: the question wants the option with no link at all.
Linking the Bahmani kingdom to a southern dynasty because it lay south of Delhi: it was a Deccan sultanate founded in a revolt against Muhammad bin Tughlaq.

Here the Cholas are tested by elimination against a kingdom from another region and a later century.

Chola facts are also asked at 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.6, which ties the Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple to Rajendra Chola I, and at 17 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.24, which keys the tiger as the Chola emblem.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: History — all 154 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.