Wednesday Trivia #24 - 9 May, 2012

blabberwock wrote:
9. Which province of undivided India, now in Pakistan, took its name from the Sanskrit for ‘river’? It’s locally known as Bab-ul-Islam, meaning ‘doorway to Islam’, as it is through this province that Islam is said to have entered India.

blabberwock wrote:10. After this battle, one of the bloodiest battles in the history of India, the Daya river, running next to the battle field turned red with the blood of the slain. Which battle was this and who fought whom?

blabberwock wrote:
6. In 1895, at the age of 19, he became the youngest Indian to be called to the bar in England. Returning to Bombay, he became a successful lawyer. His success and reputation prompted Indian leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak to hire him as defense counsel for his sedition trial in 1905.

blabberwock wrote:1. Garcinia induce, a plant in the mangosteen family, is a fruit bearing tree that has culinary, pharmaceutical and industrial uses. The fruit of this tree is widely used in Indian cuisine, especially along the western coast. What is the fruit more commonly known as?

blabberwock wrote:
5. Identify the flag

blabberwock wrote:
2. Which was the first country/province/kingdom that invented steel? This steel was used to construct the famed Damascus sword. What is the anglicized name by which this steel was and is called? Bonus question: trace the etymology of the word.

blabberwock wrote:Credit for questions #2 and #3 goes to Huzefa K.


1. Garcinia induce, a plant in the mangosteen family, is a fruit bearing tree that has culinary, pharmaceutical and industrial uses. The fruit of this tree is widely used in Indian cuisine, especially along the western coast. What is the fruit more commonly known as?

2. Which was the first country/province/kingdom that invented steel? This steel was used to construct the famed Damascus sword. What is the anglicized name by which this steel was and is called? Bonus question: trace the etymology of the word.

3. This Vedic god or divinity that appears in Zoroastrianism found its way into the Roman empire, possibly through Greece. A religion based on this divinity existed in the Roman empire for a few centuries. Name this Vedic god and the Roman religion (that some scholars consider a rival to early Christianity).

4. Yama and Ma Thida are two main characters in the Burmese epic Yama Zatdaw. What are these characters better known as?

5. Identify the flag



6. In 1895, at the age of 19, he became the youngest Indian to be called to the bar in England. Returning to Bombay, he became a successful lawyer. His success and reputation prompted Indian leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak to hire him as defense counsel for his sedition trial in 1905.

7. In 1950, he was the first Indian to be seeded in Wimbledon. Dilip Bose

8. Subramania Iyer along with a group of five students, later referred to as the Triplicane Six, founded this. It marked its appearance on September 20, 1878. The Hindu

9. Which province of undivided India, now in Pakistan, took its name from the Sanskrit for ‘river’? It’s locally known as Bab-ul-Islam, meaning ‘doorway to Islam’, as it is through this province that Islam is said to have entered India.

10. After this battle, one of the bloodiest battles in the history of India, the Daya river, running next to the battle field turned red with the blood of the slain. Which battle was this and who fought whom?

blabberwock wrote:
4. Yama and Ma Thida are two main characters in the Burmese epic Yama Zatdaw. What are these characters better known as?

blabberwock wrote:Credit for questions #2 and #3 goes to Huzefa K.


1. Garcinia induce, a plant in the mangosteen family, is a fruit bearing tree that has culinary, pharmaceutical and industrial uses. The fruit of this tree is widely used in Indian cuisine, especially along the western coast. What is the fruit more commonly known as?

2. Which was the first country/province/kingdom that invented steel? This steel was used to construct the famed Damascus sword. What is the anglicized name by which this steel was and is called? Bonus question: trace the etymology of the word.

>>>Arabs? Root word same as hat os Damask? No idea otherwise

3. This Vedic god or divinity that appears in Zoroastrianism found its way into the Roman empire, possibly through Greece. A religion based on this divinity existed in the Roman empire for a few centuries. Name this Vedic god and the Roman religion (that some scholars consider a rival to early Christianity).

>>>>Mithra, Mithra-ism?

4. Yama and Ma Thida are two main characters in the Burmese epic Yama Zatdaw. What are these characters better known as?

>>>>Rama, Hanuman

5. Identify the flag

>>>Singapore?



6. In 1895, at the age of 19, he became the youngest Indian to be called to the bar in England. Returning to Bombay, he became a successful lawyer. His success and reputation prompted Indian leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak to hire him as defense counsel for his sedition trial in 1905.

>>>Jinnah

7. In 1950, he was the first Indian to be seeded in Wimbledon.

>>>>Ramanathan Krishnan?

8. Subramania Iyer along with a group of five students, later referred to as the Triplicane Six, founded this. It marked its appearance on September 20, 1878.

>>>The Hindu

9. Which province of undivided India, now in Pakistan, took its name from the Sanskrit for ‘river’? It’s locally known as Bab-ul-Islam, meaning ‘doorway to Islam’, as it is through this province that Islam is said to have entered India.

>>>Sindh

10. After this battle, one of the bloodiest battles in the history of India, the Daya river, running next to the battle field turned red with the blood of the slain. Which battle was this and who fought whom?

>>>>Ashoka, Kalinga war?

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

blabberwock wrote:
2. Which was the first country/province/kingdom that invented steel? This steel was used to construct the famed Damascus sword. What is the anglicized name by which this steel was and is called? Bonus question: trace the etymology of the word.

to elaborate on the question:

steel, in crude form, was known to exist in times of greet antiquity but high carbon or alloy steel was first invented in 300 BC in this province. the technology however got lost with time. the properties of the damascus sword aroused the interest of europeans who tried to reverse engineer the process of making this steel, eventually leading to the modern technology for industrial production of steel that we are familiar with.

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

blabberwock wrote:
2. Which was the first country/province/kingdom that invented steel? This steel was used to construct the famed Damascus sword. What is the anglicized name by which this steel was and is called? Bonus question: trace the etymology of the word.

to elaborate on the question:

steel, in crude form, was known to exist in times of greet antiquity but high carbon or alloy steel was first invented in 300 BC in this province. the technology however got lost with time. the properties of the damascus sword aroused the interest of europeans who tried to reverse engineer the process of making this steel, eventually leading to the modern technology for industrial production of steel that we are familiar with.

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

panini press wrote:

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

I shall take that to mean that my speculation is in the right direction. For province, my guess is Sindh. First province to be captured by the Arabs in 712 CE, for whom Damascus was the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate at that time (before Baghdad became the Abbasid capital). Because of its military significance, the technology must have been taken to the capital of their empire, and the west found out about it through the Byzantine rivals of the Umayyads, who must have called it Damascus steel.

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:and/or the sea routes of the malabar coast.

blabberwock wrote:
5. Identify the flag

Huzefa Kapasi wrote: there are excavations that reveal that wootz used to be manufactured in sri lanka also at around the same time.

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

Huzefa Kapasi wrote: there are excavations that reveal that wootz used to be manufactured in sri lanka also at around the same time.

not quite correct. these excavations in sri lanka are dated to be from 1st millenium CE, so evidently the technology was imported from india. also it would be difficult to match the superior quality of ore of bellary-hospet or goa i guess (i have no idea about the quality of sri lankan ore).

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/06/science/ancient-smelter-used-wind-to-make-high-grade-steel.html?n=Top%2FNews%2FScience%2FTopics%2FArchaeology%20and%20Anthropology

blabberwock wrote:The only question not answered correctly is #5.

The following flag belongs to the Mughal empire.



Learn and learn well!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Mughal_Empire