SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 24 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 2 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.

The Sun Temple at Konark looks like a big chariot. How many horses does it have?

(a)5
(b)6
(c)8
(d)7

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The Sun Temple at Konark, in Odisha, is carved as the chariot of Surya, the Sun god.

UNESCO's statement of Outstanding Universal Value describes it as a chariot with twelve pairs of wheels drawn by seven horses → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
5 — Five is two short. UNESCO's Outstanding Universal Value statement gives the chariot seven horses.
(b)
6 — Six is one short. UNESCO's Outstanding Universal Value statement gives seven, the number that draws Surya's chariot in Hindu tradition. Its short site description says six; the key follows seven.
(c)
8 — Eight is one too many. Konark's horses number seven. The number that comes in pairs is its wheels: twelve pairs, 24 in all.

Concept

Konark's Sun Temple is built as a giant stone chariot of Surya. It is attributed to King Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, about 1250 CE.

The design is literal: 24 carved wheels, twelve pairs, line the plinth, and a team of seven horses draws the chariot. UNESCO inscribed the temple as a World Heritage Site in 1984.

UNESCO's page gives two horse counts. Its short description says 'a team of six horses'; its Outstanding Universal Value statement says seven, the count the key follows.

What the parts stand for is a matter of reading. UNESCO notes symbolic motifs on the sides referring to the cycle of the seasons and the months.

Key facts

Konark Sun Temple, Odisha: attributed to King Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, about 1250 CE.
Its chariot design has 24 carved wheels (12 pairs) and seven horses.
UNESCO inscribed the Sun Temple, Konarak, as a World Heritage Site in 1984.
European sailors' accounts called it the Black Pagoda.

Study next

Konark's wheels: their number and what they are read to markOther Sun temples: Modhera in Gujarat and Martand in KashmirEastern Ganga dynasty and the temples of Odisha

Common traps

Swapping Konark's numbers. Seven is the horses, 12 the pairs of wheels, 24 the wheels.

The same chariot is asked through its wheels: their meaning at 15 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.1 (keyed: time divisions) and their count at 15 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.1 (keyed: 12 pairs). Another Sun temple, Modhera, is asked at 23 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.1.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Culture — all 246 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.