SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 22 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 10 of 98

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.

The Rigveda is divided into how many Mandalas?

(a)5
(b)7
(c)10
(d)12

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The Rigveda Samhita is arranged in 10 books, called mandalas, holding 1,028 hymns (suktas) in about 10,600 verses.

Mandalas 2 to 7 are the older family books, each associated with one clan of seers. Mandala 3 contains the Gayatri Mantra (3.62.10), and Mandala 9 is given entirely to Soma → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
5 — Five is too few. The family books alone, Mandalas 2 to 7, already number six.
(b)
7 — 7 is where the family books end, not where the Rigveda ends. Mandalas 8, 9 and 10 follow.
(d)
12 — 12 is too many. The Rigveda closes with Mandala 10, the book that holds the Purusha Sukta and the Nasadiya Sukta.

Concept

The Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas: a samhita, or compiled collection, of hymns of praise to deities such as Agni, Indra and Soma.

Its structure is examinable: 10 mandalas, 1,028 suktas, about 10,600 verses. Mandalas 2 to 7, the family books, are the older core. Mandalas 1 and 10 are the youngest and the longest, at 191 suktas each.

Key facts

The Rigveda has 10 mandalas with 1,028 hymns in about 10,600 verses.
Mandalas 2 to 7 are the family books, the older core of the text.
Mandala 9 is entirely dedicated to Soma.
The Gayatri Mantra is Rigveda 3.62.10, in Mandala 3.

Study next

The four Vedas and what each containsThe Purusha Sukta and the Nasadiya Sukta of Mandala 10Rigvedic deities: Agni, Indra and Soma

Common traps

Stopping at 7 because the family books end with Mandala 7.
Confusing the 10 mandalas with the 1,028 suktas, the hymns inside them.

Here the Rigveda's structure is asked as a number. Rigvedic terms are asked at 21 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.10 (what 'Rik' means) and 23 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.4 (what 'Samhita' means).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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