Trivia-4

Do you know your history? This week's trivia is for the history buffs, especially about the WWII.

1.What two countries were already at war before the beginning of World War II?
2.What was the last major battle of World War II?
3.What meeting of world powers near the end of World War II is often said to mark the beginning of the Cold War?
4.Hitler was a vegetarian, teetotaler and non-smoker
Which of the above is true?
5.What was the siegfried line?

Answers to Trivia-3

1. The 9 avatars so far are Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (half-man, half-lion), Vamana (dwarf man), Parshurama (man with an axe), Rama (moral man), Krishna (philosophical man) and Buddha (spiritual man) respectively. The tenth avatar, Kalki is yet to manifest. From the sequence of the avatars itself, it is obvious that it represents the sequence of the origin of life.
Saumya & Madmax got all of them right.Kudos!


2. Traditionally, the authorship of the Maha-bha-rata is attributed to Vyasa. And there are versions , which say that Ganesha is supposed to have literally written it as dictated by Vyasa.
I guess both Vyasa & Ganesha can be right. Saumya, Madmax ,Brainwaves,Sdpal & Mano can be given credit for this. Mindframes , you almost got it right .


3.There are 7 Kandas

* Bala Kanda – Book of the Childhood (birth and training of the princes and marriage of the princes)
* Ayodhya Kanda – Book of Ayodhya (life in Ayodhya as a prince after marriage to Sita)
* Aranya Kanda – Book of the Forest (life in exile in the forest)
* Kishkindha Kanda – Book of Kishkindha (life in the kingdom of monkeys - on their search for the captured Seetha)[9]
* Sundara Kanda – Book of Auspiciousness (Hanumaan's journey to Lanka and his meeting with Seetha)
* Yuddha Kanda – Book of the War (battle between Raama's armies and Raavana's armies)
* Uttara Kanda – Book of the Afterword (Epilogue: Raama's life after returning to Ayodhya and Sita's second exile)
Mindframes scores this one.

4. Four Vedas

1. Rig-Veda (RV)
2. Yajur-Veda (YV, with the main division TS vs. VS)
3. Sama-Veda (SV)
4. Atharva-Veda (AV)
Everyone got it right.


5. Advaita is about realising the self, i.e. the Atman, as the Brahman itself which is apparently manifested eternally and simultaneously into animate or inanimate.

In contrast with advaita (non-dualist), the most influential and widely followed philosophy expounded by Shankara, Madhva (who is also known as Madhvacharya) maintains that there is an eternal distinction between the individual self and the absolute.

I had written a blog about Advaita long back for your reference.
http://am-kicking.blogspot.com/2006/01/advaita.html

Credits go to Mano, Saumya,Mindframes though Sdpal was almost right ;-)