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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 Rudra the embodiment of?
(a) Peace and death.
(b) Love and wisdom.
(c) Wildness and unpredictable danger.
(d) Cleverness and thievery.

2. What is the name of the god of intimate friendship among one's own kind?
(a) Mitra.
(b) Soma.
(c) Indra.
(d) Atri.

3. In "Vena", Soma is the _____ who roars as he mingles with the waters.
(a) Elephant.
(b) Bull.
(c) Buffalo.
(d) Lion.

4. What is the name of the god of formal hospitality to strangers?
(a) Savitr.
(b) Aryaman.
(c) Rudra.
(d) Ushas.

5. In "Varuna Provoked to Anger", even _____ does not avert evil in the poet's estimation.
(a) Sacrifice.
(b) Sleep.
(c) Prayer.
(d) Awareness.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is said to have found the lost sun?

2. What word means dark, formless, terrifying abyss?

3. Svarbhanu is the demon of _____ in "Atri and the Lost Sun".

4. In "The House of Clay", Varuna casts his snares upon the offending worshiper in the form of _____.

5. What does Apala want to do for Indra to get him to help her in "Apala and Indra"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the nature of Soma in "The Marriage of Surya"?

2. Who are the sons of the sun and what are their roles?

3. Why is the Rig Veda described in "Realia" as worldly?

4. What is the conflict present in all of the dialogues with women in the Rig Veda? Who succeeds, and who fails in this conflict?

5. What is Yami's argument to persuade Yama to have incest relations with her, and who does she invoke to aid her with this?

6. How is creation mythology presented in "Varuna Provoked to Anger"?

7. How is the phrase 'O, little mother' a triple entendre in "Indra and the Monkey"?

8. What are two meanings of "Atri and the Lost Sun"?

9. What is the meaning or the invocation, 'O, master of the stones' in "The House of Clay"?

10. Who brandishes their power and in what way in "The Deeds of Varuna"?

(see the answer keys)

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