SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 22 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 11 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.

What does the term "Ur" refer to in the context of early South Indian villages?

(a)A tax official in the Chola kingdom
(b)A temple priest
(c)A village assembly or council
(d)A military commander

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The Uthiramerur inscriptions record two village assemblies: the sabha, an exclusively Brahmin body, and the ur, made up of people of all classes.

So in early South Indian villages the ur was the general assembly of an ordinary village, a collective body of villagers rather than a single officer → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
A tax official in the Chola kingdom — A tax official is a single appointed officer. Village bodies such as the ur, sabha and nagaram did assess and collect revenue, but as assemblies, not as officials.
(b)
A temple priest — A temple priest holds a religious office as one person. The ur was a civic assembly of villagers.
(d)
A military commander — A military commander is one officer of the army. The ur was a civic body, the assembly of an ordinary village.

Concept

Chola-era villages governed themselves through assemblies and committees:

Ur: the assembly of an ordinary village.
Sabha: the assembly of prominent Brahmin landholders that ran a brahmadeya, a village on land gifted to Brahmins.
Nagaram: an association of traders in towns such as Kanchipuram and Mamallapuram.

NCERT describes how the Uttaramerur sabha picked committee members: names on palm-leaf tickets, drawn from an earthenware pot by a young boy.

Ur is also plainly the Tamil word for a village or settlement, and NCERT's Class 7 text uses it that way, for settlements of peasants grouped into a nadu.

The options offer no 'village' choice, so the assembly sense is the one the question wants.

Key facts

The Uthiramerur inscriptions show two village assemblies there: the sabha (Brahmin) and the ur (all classes).
A sabha looked after a brahmadeya, land gifted to Brahmins.
Nagarams were local associations of merchants in trading centres such as Kanchipuram and Mamallapuram.
Uttaramerur sabha committee members were chosen by drawing palm-leaf tickets from a pot.

Study next

The Uttaramerur inscriptions and how committee members were chosenChola administrative units: nadu, valanadu and mandalamChola land categories: vellanvagai, brahmadeya, shalabhoga, devadana and pallichchhandam

Common traps

Picking the tax official because village bodies collected revenue — they did so as assemblies, not as officers.
Swapping ur and sabha: the sabha was the Brahmin village's assembly, the ur the ordinary village's.

Here a Chola-era term is asked by its meaning. Chola history is also asked at 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.6 (who built the temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram) and 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.6 (the Rashtrakuta king who defeated Parantaka I).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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