SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 23 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 5 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 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.

In the context of Gupta dynasty's urban administration, which of the following statements about the Adhisthanadhikarana is correct?

(a)It was a military council composed entirely of royal generals.
(b)It was a court of law dealing exclusively with religious matters.
(c)It was a Board of Advisors representing guilds, artisans, and scribes.
(d)It was a temple committee managing offerings and rituals.

Answer

Why

Correct — C. An adhikarana is an office and an adhishthana a town, so the Adhisthanadhikarana was an office of urban administration.

Gupta-age copper plates from Damodarpur in Bengal show the district officer of Kotivarsha governing with such a board of four: two merchant leaders, the chief artisan and the chief scribe.
Guilds, artisans and scribes → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
It was a military council composed entirely of royal generals. — The board was civilian: merchants, an artisan and a scribe advising the district officer. A council made up entirely of royal generals does not describe it.
(b)
It was a court of law dealing exclusively with religious matters. — Its members were the town's commercial and craft leaders, not religious authorities. A court for religious matters alone does not fit a board of merchants and a scribe.
(d)
It was a temple committee managing offerings and rituals. — A temple committee manages worship and offerings. This board represented commerce, crafts and record-keeping, the working life of a town.

Concept

Gupta provinces (bhukti) were divided into districts (vishaya), each under a vishayapati. The Damodarpur copper plates show the vishayapati of Kotivarsha, in Pundravardhana bhukti, advised by a board of four:

nagarashreshthi: chief banker or merchant of the city
sarthavaha: leader of the merchant caravans
prathama-kulika: chief artisan
prathama-kayastha: chief scribe

In the option's words, the two merchant leaders stand for guilds, the prathama-kulika for artisans and the prathama-kayastha for scribes. Merchants and craftsmen thus had a voice in local government.

Key facts

Adhikarana: an office or court. Adhishthana: a town.
Damodarpur copper plates: the vishayapati of Kotivarsha advised by the nagarashreshthi, sarthavaha, prathama-kulika and prathama-kayastha.
Prathama-kulika: chief artisan. Prathama-kayastha: chief scribe.
Gupta units: bhukti (province) under an uparika, vishaya (district) under a vishayapati.

Study next

Gupta officers: Pustapala, Mahasandhivigrahika and SarthavahaGupta land grants and the dues they listGuilds (shrenis) in early Indian trade and crafts

Common traps

Reading 'adhikarana' as a court of law only. In this title it is an office run with civilian leaders.
Picking the military council because Gupta inscriptions also name military officers. This board was made of merchants, an artisan and a scribe.

Gupta titles return as keys: the sarthavaha, a member of this board, as head of the trading guilds at 15 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.3, and the Pustapala as notary and keeper of records at 24 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.6.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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