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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the name of the ancient sage to whom "Requiem for a Horse" is attributed?
(a) Brhaduktha.
(b) Brahmin.
(c) Yasa.
(d) Yama.

2. _____ are seers as well as poets.
(a) Demi-gods.
(b) Painters.
(c) Priests.
(d) Sages.

3. Who repairs the errors committed in the course of the horse sacrifice?
(a) Hotrs.
(b) Yaskas.
(c) Brahmins.
(d) Haruts.

4. What is the inner membrane of the embryo called?
(a) Caul.
(b) Cytoplasm.
(c) Wall.
(d) Nucleus.

5. What was used to protect female mourners instead of mascara or eye-shadow, as stated in the "Burial Hymn"?
(a) Blessed berry juice.
(b) Clay from sacred ground.
(c) Ritually purified butter.
(d) Ash mixed with olive oil.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is a kavi?

2. How many of the horse's thirty-six ribs are distributed to the universe in ritual sacrifice?

3. How many people restrain the horse of Tvastr during sacrifice?

4. Vivavsan is a name for the _____.

5. All fires die out when Siva is wrongly accused in "The Birth of Agni" and he departs from the _____.

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the function of the goat in "The Funeral Fire"?

2. What is the role of the goat in "The Sacrifice of the Horse" and for whom does it do this?

3. Who are the three brothers in "The Riddle of the Sacrifice" and with whom are they associated in the text?

4. How are Agni and Soma linked?

5. In "The Creation of the Sacrifice", what is the significance of weaving?

6. Who are the Asuras in the beginning of the Vedas, as opposed to their role toward the end?

7. What is the state of clarity of the early stages of creation in "The All-maker", according to the author, and why?

8. What is meant by the "mist" metaphor in "Aditi and the Birth of the Gods"?

9. How is butter visualized in the hymn, "Butter"?

10. In the hymn "The Child of the Waters", what do the three women give to the deity, and why?

(see the answer keys)

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