Match List - I with List - II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists : List – I (Mahajanpadas) A) Matsya B) Kuru C) Sursena D) Asmak List – II (Capitals) 1) Mathura 2) Potan 3) Virat Nagar 4) Indraprastha

Start with the capitals, since each Mahajanapada is easier to pin down once you know its seat of power. Matsya (A) had Viratnagar, named after its ruler Virata and identified with modern Bairat in Rajasthan, so A matches 3. Kuru (B) was centred at Indraprastha near modern Delhi, so B matches 4. Surasena (C) had Mathura on the Yamuna, so C matches 1. Asmaka (D) had Potana, also written Potali, in the Godavari valley, so D matches 2. Hence the answer is A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2, which is option C.

The wrong options fail on at least one pairing. Option A gives Matsya Indraprastha, which belongs to Kuru. Option B gives Kuru Viratnagar, which is Matsya's capital. Option D swaps the capitals of Surasena and Asmaka.

The core concept is the sixteen Mahajanapadas of the sixth century BCE, as listed in the Anguttara Nikaya and Buddhist and Jain texts. For Mains, link this to second urbanisation and the rise of Magadha, which absorbed these states under the Haryanka dynasty.

Trap: Candidates mix up Matsya and Kuru because both lie in the Delhi-Rajasthan region, and they assume Viratnagar belongs to Kuru.