Previous Year Question

(a) Life of Hiuen Tsiang — Hui-li: This pair is correct. The biography of the Chinese Buddhist traveller Hiuen Tsiang (Xuanzang) was written by his disciple Hui-li and was later completed and edited by Yen-tsung. Samuel Beal translated it into English under the title The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang. Hiuen Tsiang travelled through India in the 7th century, and his account is an important source for Indian history and geography.

(b) The Natural History — Ptolemy: This pair is incorrect. Natural History (Naturalis Historia) was composed by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder in the first century CE. It is a vast encyclopaedic work dealing with numerous subjects, including nature, geography, human beings, animals, plants, minerals and art. It also contains information relating to India and maritime trade with India.

Ptolemy was a famous Greco-Roman geographer and astronomer of the second century CE. His major geographical work was the Geographia (Geography), not the Natural History. Therefore, this is the incorrectly matched pair.

(c) Historia Philippica — Pompeius Trogus: This pair is correct. The Roman historian Pompeius Trogus composed the universal history known as the Historiae Philippicae. The original work has been lost, but an abbreviated form survived through the epitome later prepared by Justin.

(d) The Histories — Herodotus: This pair is also correct. The celebrated work of the Greek historian Herodotus is The Histories. Along with the Greco-Persian conflicts, it contains accounts of different countries, societies, customs and geographical regions.