Q90. Which of these works was written by Banabhatta?
[SSC CHSL Tier I • 26 Nov 2025, Shift 2]
A) Dhatupatha
B) Kadambari
C) Ritusamhara
D) Raghuvamsha
Answer: B) Kadambari
Explanation: Kadambari is a major Sanskrit prose romance attributed to Banabhatta, who served at King Harsha’s court. It is famous for its intricate narrative, love story and reincarnation motifs; his other well-known work is Harshacharita.
Q89. Who wrote Childhood Days: A Memoir?
[SSC CHSL Tier I • 22 Nov 2025, Shift 3]
A) Satyajit Ray
B) Amartya Sen
C) Soumitra Chatterjee
D) Rabindranath Tagore
Answer: A) Satyajit Ray
Explanation: Satyajit Ray’s memoir recounts memories of childhood, his creative family and formative experiences. Beyond filmmaking, Ray was also a celebrated writer whose Feluda and Professor Shonku stories are widely read.
Q88. Which book is by Jhumpa Lahiri?
[SSC CHSL Tier I • 27 Nov 2025, Shift 3]
A) Whereabouts
B) The Nowhere Man
C) The Keeper of the Dead
D) The Nine-Chambered Heart
Answer: A) Whereabouts
Explanation: Whereabouts began as Jhumpa Lahiri’s Italian-language novel Dove Mi Trovo. She later translated it into English herself. The brief episodes follow an unnamed narrator and explore place, isolation and self-reflection.
Q87. Who wrote the novel Last Man in Tower?
[SSC CHSL Tier I • 26 Nov 2025, Shift 2]
A) Kiran Desai
B) Aravind Adiga
C) Arundhati Roy
D) Shashi Tharoor
Answer: B) Aravind Adiga
Explanation: Aravind Adiga’s Last Man in Tower concerns residents of a Mumbai housing society facing pressure from a developer. Published in 2011, it examines urban redevelopment, collective interests and personal moral choices.
Q86. Which novel was written by Anita Desai?
[SSC CHSL Tier I • 20 Nov 2025, Shift 1]
A) Book of Humour
B) I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale
C) Where Shall We Go This Summer?
D) The Struggle for India’s Soul
Answer: C) Where Shall We Go This Summer?
Explanation: Anita Desai published Where Shall We Go This Summer? in 1975. The novel follows a woman seeking refuge from family pressures and captures psychological conflict through precise observation of inner life.
Q85. Who wrote The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection?
[NDA II (GAT) • 14 Sep 2025]
A) Charles Darwin
B) Carolus Linnaeus
C) Barbara McClintock
D) Nicolaus Copernicus
Answer: A) Charles Darwin
Explanation: Charles Darwin’s 1859 book proposed natural selection as a principal explanation for evolutionary change. It drew on observations from nature and helped establish modern evolutionary biology, in contrast to taxonomic or genetic works by the others.
Q84. Who authored From Plassey to Partition and After: A History of Modern India?
[SSC CGL Tier I • 25 Sep 2024, Shift 2]
A) Romila Thapar
B) Sumit Sarkar
C) Sekhar Bandyopadhyay
D) David Hardiman
Answer: C) Sekhar Bandyopadhyay
Explanation: Historian Sekhar Bandyopadhyay surveys colonial rule, anticolonial politics and the creation of independent India in this book. He combines political developments with wider social forces, making it a major text on modern South Asian history.
Q83. Who wrote the music book Sangeet Bal Prakash?
[SSC CGL Tier I • 25 Sep 2024, Shift 2]
A) Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande
B) Vishnu Digambar Paluskar
C) Bhimsen Joshi
D) Pandit Narayan Rao
Answer: B) Vishnu Digambar Paluskar
Explanation: Vishnu Digambar Paluskar was an influential Hindustani classical musician and music educator. He founded the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and used publications such as Sangeet Bal Prakash to make music education more systematic and accessible.
Q82. Ungalil Oruvan (One Among You) is whose autobiography?
[SSC CGL Tier I • 24 Sep 2024, Shift 3]
A) K. Chandrashekar Rao
B) Pinarayi Vijayan
C) Basavaraj Bommai
D) M. K. Stalin
Answer: D) M. K. Stalin
Explanation: M. K. Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, published the first volume of this autobiography in 2022. The Tamil title means One Among You, and the narrative covers his early years and political experiences.
Q81. The book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India was written by ______.
[SSC CGL Tier I • 23 Sep 2024, Shift 3]
A) Bipin Chandra Pal
B) M. N. Roy
C) Dadabhai Naoroji
D) Lala Lajpat Rai
Answer: C) Dadabhai Naoroji
Explanation: Dadabhai Naoroji explained the drain of wealth from India to Britain in this influential economic critique. His estimates linked colonial administration to Indian poverty and provided an intellectual foundation for early nationalist economic demands.
