Dr. Norman Prinsky - Augusta State University
Humn. 2001
Test on Bhagavad Gita Selecs. in NAWLS2 and the NAWLS2
Introductions to Indian Literature ("India's Heroic Age") and the Gita
1. As pointed out in the NAWM introduction "India's Heroic Age," India's culture is characterized by: (a) monism (b) dualism (c) pluralism (d) troilism
2. The Gita, along with most classical literature, was written in the language of: (a) Hindi (b) Arabic (c) Latin (d) Sanskrit
3. Indian culture represents a mixture of the indigenous peoples and the: (a) Huns (b) Aryans (c) Scythians (d) Thracians
4. The earliest and primary scriptural writings of ancient India are the: (a) Vedas (b) Sutras (c) Tamils (d) Kashsmirs
5. The philosophical and religious texts, the Upanishads, that followed the earliest primary and scriptural writings in India, emphasized all the following except which one: (a) the important role of ritual (b) the personal spiritual quest (c) the wise teacher (d) the transforming power of knowledge
6. India's main epics, in some ways parallel to the Iliad and Odyssey of ancient Greece, are the: (a) Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclasiasticus (b) Mahabharata and Ramayana (c) Kama Sutra and Rig Veda (d) Sakuntala and Pancantantra
7. The work that contains the Gita is the: (a) Rig Veda (b) Chandayoga Upanis[h]ad (c)Mahabharata (d) Ramayana
8. The Bhagavad Gita occurs in which Book (or Teaching, or Chapter) of the overall epic referred to in the immediately preceding question: (a) 2 (b) 6 (c) 13 (d) 18 (e) 24
9. The legendary author of the whole work containing the Gita is: (a) Venturi (b) Naipaul (c) Valmiki (d) Vyasa (e) Narayan
10. The number in each of the following -- historical ages, social classes, and philosophical spheres or goals governing life -- is reckoned in ancient Indian thinking as: (a) three (b) four (c) five (d) seven
11. The Hinduism of the early Indian writings, including the Gita, was feeling the pressure of, and responding to some ideas of: (a) Buddhism (b) Confucianism (c) Taoism (d) Shintoism (e) Islam
12. A translation of the title Bhagavad Gita is: (a) "Song of the Lord" (b) "Supplication for Bread" (c) "Live and Let Live" (d) "A Man and His Woman"
13. The Bhagavad Gita represents all the following literary forms except which one: (a) dialogue (b) frame story (c) poetry (d) satire
14. The length of the Gita is how many chapters: (a) 10 (b) 18 (c) 28 (d) 38
15. The main character of the Gita, the warrior Arjuna, is kin to and on the side of which family in the great war: (a) Pandavas (b) Kauravas (c) Gandhis (d) Gautamas
16. The setting of the Gita is: (a) on the banks of the Ganges river (b) the Dandaka Forest (c) the battlefield of Kuruksetra (d) the seventh heaven of Nirvana
17. A problem of translating the name of where the Gita happens and opens in Book (or Teaching, or Chapter) 1 is (as shown in the many translations of Book or Teaching or Chapter 1 of Prinsky’s Notes and Questions) that the place name can refer to not only a family name but also the concept of: (a) bravery (b) mightiness (c) humility (d) righteousness
18. As reflected in some English translations (but not others) of the Bhagavad Gita, “Arjuna” is often often in the original text referred to not by this name but rather by any of the following epithets except which one: (a) “son of Kunti” (b) “Bharata” (c) “Partha” (d) “Gudakes(h)a” (e) ”the lotus-eyed one”
19. As reflected in some English translations (but not others) of the Bhagavad Gita, “Arjuna” is often in the original text referred to not by this name but rather by any of the following epithets except which one: (a) “Bull among Men” (b) Dhananjaya (c) Kes(h)ava (d) “Son of Pandu” (e) ”Hari”
20. The cumulative force of the synonym substitutes or epithets for Arjuna referred to in the immediately preceding question are a subtle reminder of Krishna of Arjuna’s need to remember all of the following except which one: (a) love of learning (b) family loyalty (c) unfettered might (d) warrior’s duty
21. Arjuna is having difficulty with the conflict between his sacred duty and the associations that build up with actions, the celebrated terms for which in Hinduism are: (a) bharadvaja and gandhara (b) dharma and karma (c) madri and pariksit (d) sakti and tirtha
22. Arjuna's explicit teacher in the Gita is all the following except which one: (a) the god Krishna (b) a charioteer (c) the god Vishnu (d) Dhrtarastra
23. The god who is the companion of Arjuna is usually depicted in the visual art of India as playing which musical instrument: (a) flute (b) tabla (c) sitar (d) vina (e) tambura
24. Part of the solution offered to Arjuna by Arjuna's teacher involves discipline, the celebrated term for which in Indian culture is: (a) yoga (b) atman (c) tristubh (d) samsara
25. Part of the solution offered to Arjuna by Arjuna's teacher (like God to Job at the end of Job) is, in the eleventh teaching: (a) music (b) sculpture (c) sacred writings (d) theophany
26. Two of the most famous persons explicitly influenced by the Gita were: (a) Eloise and Abelard (b) Thomas Jefferson and Ehud Barak (c) Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi (d) Emily Dickinson and Charles De Gaulle
27. The English translation of the Gita by Barbara Stoler Miller anthologized in NAWM is mainly into: (a) couplets (b) tercets (c) quatrains (d) sonnets
28. In the second teaching, stanzas 11-26 (2.11-26), Arjuna's teacher addresses Arjuna's concern about killing kinsmen by arguing that: (a) there is really no such thing as death (b) some kinsmen may, in fact, be evil (c) warriors are necessarily doomed to reincarnation, no matter what (d) absolution can be gained by prayer after the deed
29. In 2.22, 6.19, and 11.12 the literary device that is used to convey the meaning of the text is: (a) metaphor (b) simile (c) understatement (d) apophasis
30. The literary device used in 2.22 helps convey about the embodied self all the following except which one: (a) the crucial mind-body connection (b) inevitable multiple reincarnation (c) the unimportance of the body (d) the possible desirability of reincarnation
31. In 2.21, 2.28, and 3.23 the literary device that is used to convey the speaker's teaching, and particularly helpful in persuasion, is: (a) pun (b) anastrophe (c) rhetorical question (d) litotes
32. In 2.25-27 and 6.11-13, the literary device that is used to convey the speaker's teaching, and particularly helpful in oratory and persuasion, is: (a) metonymy (b) anacoluthon (c) tautology (d) parallelism
33. In his repeated reference to the “fruits of action” (2.47, 2.49, 2.51), Krishna uses the literary device: (a) metaphor (b) personification (c) simile (d) hyperbole
34. In the literary device referred to in the immediately preceding question, Krishna suggests that thinking about the results of an action is: (a) good (b) wrongly attractive (c) immoral (d) analytically brave
35. In his epithet for Arjuna in 2.26, as well as his metaphor in 2.50, Krishna hints at Arjuna’s: (a) great learning (b) lover’s karma (c) ascetic’s moksha (d) warrior’s dharma
36. In the NAWM selections from the Third Teaching, Arjuna's teacher warns against all the following except which one: (a) keeping one's mind on the results or rewards of an action (b) sometimes pausing from action (e.g., for contemplation or following the example of the deity) (c) enjoying the details of the natural world (d) giving up hope
37. The major thrust of the NAWM selections from the Sixth Teaching might be summed up in the term (and concept): (a) nihilism (b) asceticism (c) pragmatism (d) epicureanism (e) logical positivism
38. In 6.11, 6.16, and 6.17 occurs an idea that parallels in some respects the: (a) Hebrew ideal of purity (b) Greek ideal of the golden mean (c) the Roman ideal of carpe diem (d) the Egyptian ideal of dynasty
39. In the details about the seat of the yogin (practitioner of yoga or discipline) in 6.11, an idea strongly suggested is: (a) love (b) might (c) separation (d) pain
40. The figure of speech, explicitly referred to as such, in its use in 6.19 suggests all the following components except which one: (a) faithfulness as a leap in the dark (b) passions as disturbing winds (c) the body as container (d) wisdom as illumination
41. In Teaching 11, the “countless eyes” and “countless mouths” in Krishna’s personal manifestation to Arjuna (11.10) relate in part (through implication or suggestion) to Krishna as portrayed in his relationship to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita as: (a) musician (b) guru (c) sculptor (d) ruler
42. Krishna’s “brandishing many divine weapons” (11.10) suggests all the following except which one: (a) multiplicity in traditional Indian music (b) multiplicity in traditional Indian art (e.g., the more-than-two-armed god found in Indian sculpture) (c) a reminder of Arjuna’s warrior dharma (d) nationalist hope of subduing all countries and bringing them under India’s rule