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31. According to this religion human beings are bound to the wheel of life which is a
continual cycle of birth, death, and suffering.
A. Buddhism
B. Hinduism
C. Shintoism
D. Taoism

Buddhism, originated in India by Buddha (Gautama) and later spreading to

China, Burma, Japan, Tibet, and parts of Southeast Asia, holding that life is
full of suffering caused by desire and that the way to end this suffering is
through enlightenment that enables one to halt the endless sequence of births
and deaths to which one is otherwise subject.

32. A collection of sacred hymns in archaic Sanskrit which exalt the deities who
personify various natural and cosmic phenomena.
A. Bhagavad Gita
B. Dhammapada
C. Rigveda
D. Upanishads

The Rig-Veda (Sanskrit: Rig-Veda, from ṛc "praise, shine “and Veda

"knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is
one of the four canonical sacred texts (śruti) of Hinduism known as the
Vedas. The text is a collection of 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses, organized
into ten books (Mandalas). A good deal of the language is still obscure and
many hymns as a consequence are unintelligible.

33. This is a story of a learned Brahman named Vishnusarman who used animal
fables to instruct the three dull-witted sons of a king.
A. Gitanjali
B. On learning to be an Indian
C. Panchatantra
D. The Little Clay Cart

The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal

fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. The original Sanskrit
work, which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is
attributed to Vishnu Sharma. It is based on older oral traditions, including
"animal fables that are as old as we are able to imagine".

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34. China’s most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, whose ideas
have influence all civilization of East Asia.
A. Confucius
B. Lao Tzu
C. Li Po
D. Tu Fu

Confucius was an influential Chinese philosopher, teacher and political

figure known for his popular aphorisms and for his models of social
interaction. Kong Qui, better known as Confucius, was born in 551 B.C. in
the Lu state of China (near present-day Qufu). His teachings, preserved in
the Analects, focused on creating ethical models of family and public
interaction, and setting educational standards. He died in 479 B.C.
Confucianism later became the official imperial philosophy of China, and
was extremely influential during the Han, Tang and Song dynasties.

35. A movement organized by African writers who wished to reunite black people to
their own history, traditions, and languages, to their culture which truly expresses
their soul.
A. Apartheid
B. Negritude
C. Orature
D. Tigritude

Négritude is a cultural movement launched in 1930s Paris by French-

speaking black graduate students from France's colonies in Africa and the
Caribbean territories. These black intellectuals converged around issues
of race identity and black internationalist initiatives to combat French
imperialism. They found solidarity in their common ideal of affirming
pride in their shared black identity and African heritage, and reclaiming
African self-determination, self–reliance, and self–respect. The Négritude
movement signaled an awakening of race consciousness for blacks in
Africa and the African Diaspora. This new race consciousness, rooted in
a (re)discovery of the authentic self, sparked a collective condemnation of
Western domination, anti-black racism, enslavement, and colonization of
black people. It sought to dispel denigrating myths and stereotypes linked
to black people, by acknowledging their culture, history, and
achievements, as well as reclaiming their contributions to the world and
restoring their rightful place within the global community.

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36. Dominates every scene in a Sanskrit drama and allows the audience to take part in
the play and be one with the characters.
A. Artha
B. Kasa
C. Moksha
D. Rasa

Rasa (Sanskrit: lit. 'juice' or 'essence') denotes an essential mental state and
is the dominant emotional theme of a work of art or the primary feeling that
is evoked in the person that views, reads or hears such a work. The
Natyasastra lists eight bhavas with eight corresponding rasas:
Rati (Love), Hasya (Mirth), Soka (Sorrow), Krodha (Anger), Utsaha
(Energy), Bhaya (Terror), Jugupsa(Disgust), Vismaya (Astonishment)

37. The religion of this country is based on the perception of life as a process of
continual change in which opposing forces, such as heaven and earth or light and
dark, balance one another.
A. Africa
B. China
C. India
D. Japan

The country of India may have several of religions but Buddhism is the one
that dominates. Wherein Buddhism has this beliefs about continual change in
which opposing forces, such as heaven and earth or the light and the dark,
balance one another.

38. The world’s first known novel, The Tale of Genji was written by……
A. Murasaki Shikibu
B. Sei Shonagon
C. Valmiki
D. Wu Chengan

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the

Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of
The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012.

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39. Yukio Mishima’s four-part epic including Spring Snow, Runaway Horses, The
Temple of Dawn, and The Decay of the Angel is known as…
A. Snow Country
B. The House of Sleeping Beauties
C. The Sea of Fertility
D. The Wild Geese

The Sea of Fertility is a tetralogy of novels written by the Japanese author

Yukio Mishima. The four novels are Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses
(1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971).
The series, which Mishima began writing in 1964 and which was his final
work, is usually thought of as his masterpiece. Its title refers to the Mare
Fecunditatis, a lunar mare.

40. What is the title of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography?

A. Africa, the Time has Come
B. Long Walk to Freedom
C. No Fortune without Forgiveness
D. Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter

Long Walk to Freedom, published in 1985, is South Africa’s first post-

apartheid president’s book about his early life, his coming of age, and the 27
years he spent in prison.

41. What is considered the first novel ever written?

A. Ramayana
B. The Analects
C. The Pillow Talk of Sei Shonagon
D. The Tale of Genji

Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s “Genji Monogatari”- translated as “The Tale of

Genji” in English- was completed in the early 11th century, almost 500 years
before Miguel de Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” which is considered the
canonical original Western novel, published in 1605.

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42. Which Chinese-born author chose his pen name in homage to his favourite city?
A. Ha Jin
B. Mo Yan
C. Yan Lianke
D. Yu Hua

National Book Award winner Ha Jin, born in Liaoning, China, chose his
name in honour of his favourite city of Harbin, China.

43. Who is the “Godfather of Manga”?

A. Inoue Takehiko
B. Miyazaki Hayao
C. Tezuka Osamo
D. Toiyama Akira

The late great Osamu, creator of “Astro Boy,” is internationally revered as the
“godfather of the manga,” the “kamisama (god) of comics,” and the “father of
anime.” That said, all four creators have been major innovative figures in the
development of manga and anime.

44. The speeches and writing of Confucius are collected in what single volume?
A. Analects
B. Doctrine of the Mean
C. Great Learning
D. Mencius

The writings of Confucius were compiled in the “Analects.” All four titles
make up the Four Books which, together with the Five Classics, are definitive
Confucian texts. The Four Books and Five Classics were also the official
foundation of imperial China’s civil service examination system.

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45. The winner of the 2014 Man Broker Prize is Richard Flanagan for his novel “The
Narrow Road to the Deep North.” The title comes from a haiku by which classic
Japanese poet?
A. Matsuo Basho
B. Cao
C. Du Fu
D. Sogi Lo

“The Narrow Road to the Deep North” (Oku no Hosomichi) is a Japanese

haiku master Basho’s signature collection detailing his 17th-century travels
on foot through Japan’s northern coast.

46. What 2,500-page 18th-century classic is regarded as China’s most important work
of fiction?
A. Dream of the Red Chamber
B. Journey to the West
C. Romance of the Three Kingdoms
D. Water Margin

A royal domestic drama of epic proportions, “Dreams of the Red

Chamber” (also known as “The Story of the Stone”) is attributed to Cao
Xuepin. The four titles listed here together comprise what are regarded as
China’s “Four Great Classical Novels.”

47. Who was the first ethnic Chinese author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
A. Gao Xingjian
B. Mo Yan
C. Su Tong
D. Wang Meng

Gao Xingjian, who was awarded the Nobel in 2010, actually became a
French citizen in 1988.

48. Which ancient Chinese classic, said to be able to divine the future, is still in use
throughout the world today?
A. Book of Documents

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B. Book of Rites
C. I Ching
D. Spring and Autum Annals

The “I Ching” (or “The Book of Changes” is an ancient, numbers-based

manual of divination. It is a part of the Five Classics of Confucism, as are all
the texts listed, plus the “Classic of Poetry.”

49. Who is the prodigious poet often mentioned as the Korean frontrunner for the
Nobel Prize in Literature?
A. Ch’ae Man-sik
B. Kim So-wol
C. Ko Un
D. Yi Sang

The former Zen monk Ko Un is known as much as a writer (of well over 100
titles) as he is an activist and political dissident who was repeatedly jailed for
protesting Korea’s military regime in the 1970s.

50. Although he never joined the Communist party, this

novelist/poet/translator/essayist/ was a lifelong favourite of Mao Zedong and is
revered as one of the China’s greatest writers. Who is he?
A. Hong Shen
B. Lao Tzu
C. Lu Xun
D. Mao Dun

Considered the father of modern Chinese Literature, Lu Xun’s best known

works in the US include “A Madman’s Diary” and “The True Story of Ah
Q.”

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51. Who was India’s first Nobel laureate?

A. Kabir
B. Kamalas Das
C. Rabindranath Tagore
D. Sarojini Naidu

In 1913, the legendary Bengali poet Tagore became the first non-European
awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

52. What was the focus of China’s so-called Misty Poets protest?
A. Art for art’s sake
B. Civil service examinations
C. Military conscription
D. Oppression of art during the Cultural Revolution

During China’s Cultural Revolution, creating literature and art not in keeping
with Mao’s restrictive edicts could land artists and writers in brutal labour
camps or worse. The Misty Poets were 20th century Chinese writers,
including Gu Cheng and Bei Dao, who risked all to publish their work during
the most dangerous times.

53. Who wrote the original “Panchatantra”?

A. Kalidasa
B. Samudra Gupta
C. Tulsi Das
D. Vishnu Sharma

Vishnu Sharma was an Indian Scholar and author who is believed to have
written the Panchatantra collection of short stories. Vishnu Sharman is one of
the most widely translated non-religious authors in the history.

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54. Which one of the following is the most celebrated poem by Sanskrit poet
Kalidasa?
A. Raghuvamsa
B. Rig Veda
C. Sri Adi Kala
D. Sur Sagar

Raghuvamsa is a Sanskrit (epic poem) by the most celebrated Sanskrit poet

Kalidasa. It narrates, the stories related to the Raghu dynasty. The earliest
surviving commentary written on the work is that of the 10th century
Kashmiriam scholar Vallabhadeva.

55. It is collection of tales from the Islamic Golden Age, compiled by various authors
over many hundreds of years.
A. The Arabian Nights
B. The Indian Nights
C. The Golden Age
D. The Tales of Golden Age

The Arabian Nights, also called One Thousand and One Nights, is a
collection of stories and folk tales from West and South Asia that was
compiled during the Islamic Golden Age. It took centuries to collect all of
these together, and various translators, authors, and scholars have
contributed. These stories trace back to ancient and medieval Arabic,
Persian, Indian, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian literature. Many of these were
originally folk tales from the Caliphate Era, while others are drawn from the
Pahlavi Persian work Hazār Afsān.

56. A collection of poems by the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.

A. Gitanjali
B. Ramayana
C. Rig-Veda
D. Tales

Gitanjali is a collection of poems by Tagore. This collection won the Nobel

Prize in 1913.

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57. Which Indian author wrote the English novel called “Untouchable”?
A. Girish Kanad
B. Mulk Raj Anand
C. Munshi Premchand
D. Ruskin Bond

Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004) was an Indian writer in English, notable for
his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society.
One of the pioneers of the Indo-Anglian fiction, he, together with R.K.
Narayan, Ahmed Ali, and Raja Rao, was one of the first India-based writers
in English to gain an international readership.

58. Who wrote ten-act Sanskrit drama “Mricchakatika”?

A. Kalidasa
B. Shyam Krishna
C. Sudraka
D. Vishucharan

Mricchakatika (The Little Clay Cart) by Sudraka, an ancient playwright

generally thought to have live sometime between the second century BC and
the fifth century AD. The play is set in the ancient city of Ujjayini during the
reign of the King Palaka.

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