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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word refers to pleasure and enjoyment in Sanskrit?

2. What female does Brahma create to enrich the universe in Manmata?

3. Who is the presiding god of wisdom and acumen in Yayati?

4. How many men accompany the king when he meets a sage in Viswamitra?

5. What demon asks the creator that he may continue to live unless a woman appears who is capable of killing him in a fight in Devi?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the story Devi conclude? Who kills Mahisha?

2. Who does Sikhi-Dhvaia's father arrange for him to marry? What is their marriage like?

3. How does Yayati encounter Deyayani in the story Yayati?

4. Who does Brahma offer in marriage to Manmata? Where does he send them afterward?

5. Who does Brahma create in the beginning of Manmata? Why?

6. What happens when Kacha decides to return to the god-world in Yayati?

7. What conversation does Iswara have with Vasishta in Viswamitra?

8. What is the third test which Chudala places on her husband? What comes of it?

9. What causes King Lavana to leave his home with his family in Lavana? How does he return?

10. What does Chudala do in order to find her happiness? What does Sikhi-Dhvaia note about her change?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the character of Sankha in Valmiki. What are Sankha's incarnations? What is his principle role in the narrative?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the characters Sukracharya, Kacha and Vrishaparva and the Sanjivini mantra. Who is Kacha's father and why is he chosen to be sent to Sukracharya?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the Indian practice of Swayamwara. How does this tradition differ from Western marriage arrangements? What power do women have within this system?

(see the answer keys)

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