UPSC Quiz – 2024 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 16th July 2024

·       It is one of the four holy sites related to the life of the Lord Buddha, marking the spot of the Buddha’s Enlightenment (Bodhi).

·       It is located in Bodh Gaya, in central Bihar, on the banks of the Niranjana River.

·       It is one of the few surviving examples of early brick structures in India.

·       The first temple was built by Emperor Asoka in the 3rd century B.C., and the present temple dates from the 5th or 6th centuries.

·       It is one of the earliest Buddhist temples built entirely in brick, still standing from the late Gupta period, and it is considered to have had a significant influence in the development of brick architecture over the centuries.

·       The sculpted stone balustrades are an outstanding early example of sculptural reliefs in stone.

·       It was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002.

Features:

·       The present Temple Complex comprises the 50-meter-high grand Temple, six sacred places within an enclosed area, and a seventh one, the Lotus Pond, just outside the enclosure to the south.

·       The most important of the sacred places is the giant Bodhi Tree. This tree is to the west of the main temple and is supposed to be a direct descendant of the original Bodhi Tree, under which the Buddha had his enlightenment.

·       Ashoka’s stone slab purporting to mark the exact position where the Buddha sat is traditionally called the Buddha’s vajrasana (literally “diamond throne” or “thunder seat”).

·       The grand temple’s pyramidal shikhara (tower) comprises several layers of niches, arch motifs, and fine engravings.

·       Four towers, each identical to its central counterpart but smaller in size and topped with an umbrella-like dome, adorn the corners of the two-story structure.

·       A shrine inside the temple holds a yellow sandstone statue of the Buddha encased in glass.

·       The 4.8-hectare (11.9-acre) complex also includes ancient shrines and modern structures built by Buddhist devotees.

·       The Asurs are a very small Austro-Asiatic ethnic group living primarily in the Indian state of Jharkhand, mostly in the Gumla, Lohardaga, Palamu, and Latehar districts.

·       A small minority lives in the neighbouring states.

·       They are included in the list of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).

·       As per the 2011 census, the tribe has a population of around 23,000.

·       They speak the Asur language, which belongs to the Munda family of Austro-asiatic languages.

Occupations:

·       Asurs are traditionally iron-smelters.

·       They were once hunter-gatherers, having also involved in shifting agriculture. However, majority of them shifted into agriculture, with 91.19 percent enlisted as cultivators in the 2011 census.

·       Their indigenous technology of iron smelting gives them a distinct identity, as they claim to have descended from the ancient Asuras, who were associated with the art of metal craft.

·       When smelting, the Asur women sing a song relating the furnace to an expectant mother, encouraging the furnace to give a healthy baby, i.e., good quality and quantity of iron from the ore, and were thence, according to Bera, associated with the fertility cult.

·       But now a days, a major section of the population is also attached with mining work.

Society:

·       The Asur society is divided into 12 clans. These Asur clans are named after different animals, birds, and food grains.

·       Family is second-most prominent institution after the clan. They are not matrilineal clan.

·       They have their own community council (jati panch) where disputes are settled.

·       They maintain putative kinship ties with Kharwar, Munda, and other neighbouring tribes.

·       Except for the burial site, they share all other public spaces with their neighbours.

·       Traditional male clothing is dhoti, while females wear tattoo marks (depicting totemic objects) upon their bodies as ornaments.

·       The Asur follow the rule of monogamy, but in cases of barrenness, widower and widow hood, they follow the rule of bigamy or even Polygamy. At the time of marriage, they follow the rule of tribe endogamy.

·       Religion: The Asur religion is a mixture of animism, animatism, naturalism, and ancestral worships.

·       It is a naturally occurring element found in rocks, animals, plants, soil, and in volcanic dust and gases.

·       It is a very hard gray solid with a metallic luster.

·       There are two forms: trivalent chromium, which is safe for humans, and hexavalent chromium, which is a toxin.

Properties

·       It does not tarnish in air, when heated it borns and forms the green chromic oxide.

·       Chromium is unstable in oxygen, it immediately produces a thin oxide layer that is impermeable to oxygen and protects the metal below.

Applications

·       Chromium use in iron, steel, and nonferrous alloys enhances hardenability and resistance to corrosion and oxidation.

·       The use of chromium to produce stainless steel and nonferrous alloys are two of its more important applications.

·       Other applications are in alloy steel, plating of metals, pigments, leather processing, catalysts, surface treatments, and refractories.

Sukinda Valley

·       It is in the State of Orissa.

·       It contains 97% of India’s chromite ore deposits and one of the largest open cast chromite ore mines in the world.

·       Approximately 70% of the surface water and 60% of the drinking water contains hexavalent chromium.

·       The Brahmani River is the only water source for the residents and treatment facilities are extremely limited.

·       Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) like GPS are susceptible to accidental and deliberate outages, whereas quantum navigation is ‘unjammable’.

·       This means the signal “doesn’t drift”, making interception much harder to achieve.

·       But quantum navigation systems are unlikely to replace GNSSs any time soon.

·       This is because, ultra-cold atoms are needed to achieve quantum navigation, and the equipment is currently sizable.

·       It is considered holy by both Hindus and Buddhists.

·       It originates from the Bagdwar area in the Shivapuri Hills, located in the northwestern part of Kathmandu Valley, central Nepal, at an elevation of around 2,690 metres (8825 feet) above sea level.

·       It is fed by springs and monsoon rainfall and a number of tributaries as it flows down from the Kathmandu valley floor and passes through the valley at Chovar.

·       It flows southward through the Shivalik Range, the southernmost range of the Himalayas.

·       It continues across the plains of Tarai into Bihar and then flows southeastward to enter the Burhi (“Old”) Gandak River after a course of 225 miles (360 km).

·       The Bagmati also crosses the lower Sivalik Hills before reaching the Terai, then crosses into India at Bairgania. It flows across the districts Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Muzaffarpur and Khagaria in Bihar.

·       Temples: The banks of this holy river shelter various temples.

·       The temple of Pashupatinath (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is nestled on an outcrop above the river north of Kathmandu. It is regarded as one of the holy places of Hinduism.

·       Gokarneswor temple, located in the north of the Kathmandu Valley, is also an important holy shrine.