Home quiz finals

History, occult, Mythology
and Etymology

Rules
• 42 questions
• Two rounds of 15 questions each on
bounce/pounce clockwise and anti-clockwise
• Two written rounds of 6 questions each
• Pounce +10/-5
• Part points where indicated
• Conservation of points

Special thanks to
• Apratim Mukhopdhyay for a few questions
• Aryapriya Ganguly (for one question copied without
permission)

Defender of the Faith – written 1
• 6 questions
• All related to battles that hold religious/cultural
significance
• Written
• +10 each
• +10 bonus for getting all 6 right

1 Which battle
• This was the last naval
battle fought by rowed
ships (galleys etc.) and as
such was an infantry battle
at sea
• More than 400 ships were
involved and the Turkish
defeat meant the
Ottomans muslims were
limited to attacking Europe
by land only and could no
longer expand into Europe
via the Mediterranean

2 Which battle (be specific)
The Afghan Ahmed Shah Abdali/Durrani was notorious
for his raids into India. The Marathas countered by
gaining control of Northern India till Peshawar. In January
1761, the two sides came into battle, in one of the
largest battles of the 18th century with one of the highest
casualties. The Afghan victory and subsequent Maratha
weakening inspired Rudyard Kipling to commemorate in
his poem “With Scindia to Delhi”:
“Our hands and scarfs were saffron dyed for signal of despair
When we went forth to _______ to battle with the Mlech
Ere we came back from _______ and left a kingdom there.”

3
• Frankish and Burgundian forces under Charles ‘the
Hammer’ Martel decisively defeated the Umayyad
caliphate’s forces in this battle in 732. This
managed to stop the muslim invasion of Europe via
north Africa and Iberia and ensured that Europe
remained Christian.
• Which pivotal battle (any one of two names
acceptable)?

4
• This battle in 1683 is famous for one of the largest
cavalry charges ever and establishing the cavalry to
the rescue cliché. The Ottomans were besieging
Hapsburg (Holy Roman Empire) forces when the
Poles under Jan Sobieski arrived. Led by the Polish
winged Hussars, 18,000 cavalry charged the
besiegers, routing their army (and inspiring the
charge of the Rohirrim in the Battle of Pelennor
fields). This rout eventually led to Hapsburg capture
of all of Hungary and destroyed the Ottoman threat
to Europe. Which battle?

5
The Ahom kingdom is known to be one of the few to
successfully resist the Mughals at their peak in the Battle
of Saraighat in 1632 on the banks of the Brahmaputra.
The Mughal commander, Ram Singh I wrote in praise of
the Ahoms:
“Glory to the king! Glory to the counselors! Glory to the
commanders! Glory to the country! One single individual
leads all the forces! Even I, Ram Singh, being personally
on the spot, have not been able to find any loophole and
an opportunity!”
Who was the heroic commander of the Ahoms?
HINT: A medal in his name is awarded to the best cadet
at the NDA

6
The Greeks under Themistocles were desperately
fighting the Persians for their lives and had taken the
Delphic Oracle’s advice: “Though all else shall be
taken, Zeus, the all seeing, grants that the wooden
wall only shall not fail.” to refer to the wooden ships
of their navy. As a result, after Thermopylae the
Greeks tricked the larger Persian navy into battle in
the narrow straits and beat them decisively. As a
result the Persian invasion was paused and
eventually denied, reportedly saving Western
civilisation (best civilisation acc. To UNESCO) as we
know it. Which battle?

2 Which battle (be specific)
The Afghan Ahmed Shah Abdali/Durrani was notorious
for his raids into India. The Marathas countered by
gaining control of Northern India till Pershawar. In
January 1761, the two sides came into battle, in one of
the largest battles of the 18th century with one of the
highest casualties. The Afghan victory and subsequent
Maratha weakening inspired Rudyard Kipling to
commemorate in his poem “With Scindia to Delhi”:
“Our hands and scarfs were saffron dyed for signal of despair
When we went forth to _______ to battle with the Mlech
Ere we came back from _______ and left a kingdom there.”

3
Frankish and Burgundian forces under Charles ‘the
Hammer’ Martel decisively defeated the Umayyad
caliphate’s forces in this battle in 732. This proved to
stup the muslim invasion of Europe via north Africa
and Iberia and ensured that Europe remained
Christian.
Which pivotal battle (any one of two names
acceptable)?

4
This battle in 1683 is famous for one of the largest
cavalry charges ever and establishing the cavalry to
the rescue cliché. The Ottomans were besieging
Hapsburg (Holy Roman Empire) forces when the
Poles under Jan Sobieski arrived. Led by the Polish
winged Hussars 18,000 cavalry charged the
besiegers, routing their army (and inspiring the
charge of the Rohirrim in the Battle of Pelennor
fields). This rout eventually led to Hapsburg capture
of all of Hungary and destroyed the Ottoman threat
to Europe. Which battle?

6
• The Greeks under Themistocles were desperately
fighting the Persians for their lives and had taken
the Delphic Oracle’s advice: “Though all else shall
be taken, Zeus, the all seeing, grants that the
wooden wall only shall not fail.” to refer to the
wooden ships of their navy. As a result, after
Thermopylae the Greeks tricked the larger Persian
navy into battle in the narrow straits and beat them
decisively. As a result the Persian invasion was
paused and eventually denied, reportedly saving
Western civilisation (best civilisation acc. To
UNESCO) as we know it. Which battle?

Clockwise
• Infinite Bounce +10
• Infinite Pounce +10/-5
• 15 questions
• Part points where available

7
The X was an early French bomb from the 16th
century, employed to breach castle walls. X were
placed carefully using hooks and then exploded. To
help direct the blast, X were made conical. However,
this direction was not always successful due to the
imperfect techniques of the time and the placers of X
could be blown up their own device. What
Shakespearean phrase arose as a result?
Hint (which won’t help): X comes from the French
verb for farting

7
• Hoist by your own Petard

8
Swords: Claymore (mine), Katana, Sabre (toothed
tiger), (INS) Talwar

9
Cleave, oversight, literally, sanction, impregnable,
dust are examples of contronyms. What does that
imply? (i.e. Give me a funda)

9
Words with two meanings which are opposite to
each other

10
Bogorad’s syndrome involves cross-talk between the
nerves linked to the salivary glands and the nerves
linked to the lachrymal glands (or tear ducts). This
would cause a sufferer to cry while eating/salivating
(and presumably salivate while crying). What is the
common name for this condition due to this
behaviour?

11
This word, dord is an example of a ghost word that
arose due to an error by the makers of the dictionary.
The reason for this mistake has to do with
abbreviations and the fact that headwords (i.e. the
word being defined in bold) in a dictionary are
frequently typed up with spaces between the letter –
i.e. Dord would be written as D o r d. Spin me a tale
for why this error occurred.

11
Abbreviation D or d for density read together as dord

12
Madhu Dandawate served as Railway minister in the
Janata government of the 70s. He is credited with
two major innovations in the railway to ease the
passengers’ lives. One was the computerisation of
railway reservations. The second was described by
Dandavate as "what I want to do is not degrade the
first class, but elevate the second class". What two-
inch elevation was he referring to?
Q src: IIMA

12
Cushioned seats in second class

13
Germans (in particular Bavarians) in the 20th century
used to the following names to refer to a certain
something: Fliege (fly), Rotzbremse (snot brake,
Zweifinger( two finger) and Chaplinbart? (the last
being a giveaway). What?
• Q src: IIMA

14
“A THING of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep”.
• These are the opening lines of which famous poem
by Keats referencing the Greek myth of the
eponymous shepherd X, who is beloved by the
moon goddess Selene?

15
A Persian proverb goes: “A Persian rug is perfectly
imperfect, and precisely imprecise”. Why?
Hint: This sentiment is limited not just to Persians
but Hindu statues, Amish quilts, Greek statues,
Turkish rugs etc.

15
Only God can make prefect things

16
FUQ: Being perfect appears to invite the wrath of the
gods, especially if one is compared as being better
than anything divine. This was the downfall of X,
daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus. Cassiopeia
described X as more beautiful than the nereids,
making Poseidon angry who sent the kraken to
ravage their kingdom of Aethiopia. X was chained to
a rock to be sacrificed to the kraken and appease
Poseidon and was rescued by Perseus who was
returning after defeating Medusa. Id X.

17
The folk etymology of the phrase XY claims that
visitors who were welcome were offered hot food
and the finest meats while someone who was
unwelcome and served only out of duty was offered
a “XY of mutton”, the cheapest and commonest cut
of meat. XY?

18
Which saint of the Nishada kingdom, revered
universally but claimed by the adivasis as their own is
cited as the most famous divine example against
untouchability? Her story about the Gods
overlooking faults due to bhakti is shown as a
counter-argument to untouchables/shudras being
forbidden from food preparation places and using
the same wells as upper castes.

19
This is part of the Ketchup
Campaign against ____
_____ or CALM initiative in
2006, asking for aid for
eradicating something in
South Lebanon. What?
(question blatantly stolen
from: Aryapriya Ganguly)

20
In the Hesychast controversy in Christianity in the
waning days of the Byzantine empire, monasticism
collided with the hesychasts’ practice of meditating
to connect with God and hence obtaining god
without the use of prayers etc. What derogatory
phrase was coined to mock the Hesychasts’
technique of focusing their mind as depicted in the
image?
(IMAGE on next slide)

21 Description of which 1932 war
• Commander: Major Meredith of the Royal Australian Army
• Equipment: 2 Lewis machine guns in 1932
• Significant encounters:
• On 2nd November, about 50 of the enemy were spotted and the
soldiers attempted an ambush. However, the enemy split into small
groups and ran, thus being difficult to target.
• On the 4th, an ambush was established near a local dam, however,
the gun jammed after only 12 of the enemy were killed
Summary of the war:
“The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of
____ were soon dissipated. The ___ command had evidently ordered
guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable
small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A
crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after
about a month”

Written II: The lazy Quizmaster
• Images “borrowed” from the History Lab fb page
(follow it)
• Identify the historical reference
• 6 questions
• +10 each
• +10 bonus for all

22 (Bonus 5 points if you can tell me
the name of this particular farmer)

22
Winter War
Simo “White Death” Hahya, the best sniper ever

23
4th crusade sack of Constantinople

26
Franco-Prussian war (war of 1870)

27 Bonus 5 points for the lover’s
name

27
Catherine the Great’s partition of Poland
Stanisław August Poniatowski

Anti-Clockwise
• Infinite Bounce +10
• Infinite Pounce +10/-5
• 15 questions
• Part points where available

29
X was a son of King David who rebelled. David, being
fond of his son, instructed his general Joab to deal
with X gently. Joab, however, went on to kill X. The
grief stricken David hence (apocryphally) twice
uttered X’s name in anguish, which also has a famous
literary connect. X?

30
Loki made a bet with Sindri that he and his brother
Brokkr could not surpass the items made by the Sons
of Ivaldi. Sindri accepts and while working in the
forge instructs Brokkr not to stop pumping the
bellows. Twice Loki disguised as a fly stings Brokkr to
attempt to make him stop, and twice he fails, leading
to two perfect items being made. The third time he
stings him in the eyelid and Brokkr pauses to wipe
away the blood. This means that the third item X is
flawed in a way. Id X and how is it flawed?

30
Mjollnir, its handle is too short for a war hammer and
it can be only wielded with one hand

31
This practice is described by Herodotus as follows:
“Scythian warriors would behead the enemies they
defeated in battle and then present the heads to
their king, in order to claim their share of the
plunder. That done, the warrior “strips the skin off
the head by making a circular cut round the ears and
shaking out the skull; he then scrapes the flesh off
the skin with the rib of an ox, and when it is clean
works it with his fingers until it is supple, and fit to be
used as a sort of handkerchief.” What is this manner
of keeping count of victories called? With which
ethnic group is this more famously associated?

32
Temple Mount is regarded as the holiest site for Jews
(and is also sacred to Muslims and Christians). It is
believed to be the site form where God gathered
dust to make Adam, among other things. However,
Jews are forbidden from actually entering the Temple
Mount complex in case they accidently step on the
potential Holy of Holies site. As a result, practically
the holiest site for Jews lies just outside the Temple
Mount. What is that site called / give funda?

32
The western wall / wailing wall (believed remnant of
wall of the second temple built by Herod the great)
It is supposedly the closest you can get to the
potential site of the Holy of Holies without being
inside

33
A frequent phrase referring to “the whole thing” or
“including everything” is XYZ. This phrase is first seen in
print from Sir Walter Scott, and is believed to be much
older. The whole thing (originally) was a musket, with X
referring to the striking mechanism which could be a flint
X, a match X or a wheel X. The Y referred to part of the
gun held against the shoulder while the Z was the tube
delivering the bullet. The origin story goes on to say that
a gunsmith selling X, Y and Z of a gun instead of going to
a specialist for each advertised as “XY and Z” leading to
this phrase meaning “all included”. Give me the phrase.

34
X as a name for the force was a corruption of the
Burmese word Chinthay, a mythical beast that
guarded temples. X were Indian troops in WW2
trained to fight in Burma deep behind Japanes lines
in guerrilla operational techniques. The forces
controversially suffered extremely high casualties,
especially from malaria and dysentery. Id X and why
are some of the Xs shown in the image (NEXT SLIDE)
near-naked?

34
Chindits, so that the runs from the dysentery could
continue while marching

35
From the 12th to 17th century, European legends
abounded with tales of Prester John, a rich and powerful
king of India converted to Christianity by St Thomas.
Initially, reports of the conquest of Perisa were attributed
to his grandson, King David, coming to participate in the
crusades (in actuality, these were the Mongol
conquests). When Genghis Khan (or his ancestors) were
proven not to be Prester John, the Portuguese attributed
the ruler of another famously strong Christian nation X as
Prester John. They would persist in providing this title to
the kings of X all the way till the 17th century despite
ambassadors from X explaining that their rulers were
never called such. Id X, the mythical India. Hint: The
Europeans knew nothing about the Indian ocean and any
country on the ocean is a potential candidate

36
There are also two fables on how the something began.
The first is when Rumi was walking through the
goldsmith area of Konya in Turkey. He heard beautiful
music in the craftsmen's hammering and began to turn in
harmony.
The second is the story of a tradesman spinning wool
from a bale onto a spindle. In order to prevent the wool
from breaking, the spinning movement had to be
continuous from the right to the left hand.
Origins of what?

37
In Classical Greek mythology, ___________ was a
monster created by Gaea, or Mother Earth, to help the
beast Typhon battle the Gods. She was a beautiful
woman from the waist up and a snake below.
She had many children with Typhon, all monsters as well
that participated in the battle against the Gods. They
were Cerberus, Chimaera, Hydra, Sphinx, the Nemean
Lion, Ladon, and Orthus. After Typhon was defeated and
trapped under Mount Etna, she and her offspring were
spared by Zeus to pose a challenge to future heroes.
FITB

38
Alakshmi is the older sister of Lakshmi and is the
hindu goddess of misfortune. As a result, although
people (especially businessmen) are eager to invite
Lakshmi into their homes/workplaces, they do not
wish her to bring her sister along. Luckily, Alakshmi
has a proclivity towards sour and spicy foods. This
leads to what practice that ensures that Alakshmi will
always be distracted at the door and not enter your
workplace?

39
_______ is the geographical term used by the
ancient greeks to refer to anything in the upper nile
region, south of the sahara and south of the Atlantic
ocean (their geography was rather limited). This term
arose from the greek for burnt-face to reference the
dark skin of the people living here. FITB.
Hint: Upper Nile; you have seen this answer in this
quiz before

40
XY is a Slavic mythical being (i.e. really famous in
Russia) who is depicted as deformed old hag/witch.
Instead of a broomstick, she flies using a mortar and
a pestle is her weapon of choice. X as a word in
Russian is believed to be a nonsense babble world
that means old woman (and X is also the source of
Babushka for grandmother). XY lives in the jungle in a
hut that stands on chicken legs and (depending on
the story) will either eat those who wander into her
backyard, or help them. Id.

41
This phrase entered the English language from the
French phrase for circular ribbon. The origin story
says that in the British navy, when sailors made any
demand of the officers via grievances or petitions,
they would sign their names in a circle or on a ribbon
to avoid identifying any leaders and having them
punished. This circular sense of equality now holds
true for many other contexts, particularly in sports
and OS schedulers. What phrase?

42
The _________ League was a coalition of trading
cities in northern Germany that cooperated for
purposes of trade, economics and mutual defence.
They attempted to dominate trade in the Baltic sea
and enjoyed a regional hegemony from the 14th to
17th centuries. The League’s famous members
include Lubeck, Hamburg, Luneberg, Rostock, Danzig,
Stralsund, Greiswald etc. Which league? Hint: The
name lives on today as part of various German
football clubs and the German airline.

BONUS!
• 6 more questions
• All on the Occult/Superstitions
• +10/-5 Pounce
• +10/0 Bounce

43
In ancient times, many people were nature
worshippers and believed that you should thank your
nature deity (whether a tree spirit, an animal spirit a
river spirit etc) by touching/bathing in the natural
object in question. This is now corrupted into what
practice?

44
The common usage of this practice lies with
persecuted Christians in roman times, who would
meet in secret under the sign of the fish and then
indulge in this practice to recognise each other
(rather like a Masonic handshake).
This practice in 16th-17th century was used to ward
off the evil eye
What practice?

45
Mirrors were considered a major part of the Mayan
religion and culture. Mirrors opened portals into the
Otherworld, allowing ancestors and gods to pass through
between the two planes. They believed when praying to
a saint, the soul leaves the body. To help the soul find its
way back into the body, mirrors are placed in front of
saint statues to reflect back the soul.
This belief involved mirrors, but hence led to a
superstition involving another object. This superstition is
frequently (presumably falsely) invoked as a reason for a
lack of historical records of various indigenous people.
What superstition?

45
Camera taking a picture captures your soul

46
_____ ___ are associated with the god of death and
are often found outside the village near
crematoriums.
Usually, even a blade of grass isn’t found near it, thus
the ______ ____ does not allow for any rebirth and
renewal. As a result, it isn’t the symbol of the flesh,
which keeps dying and renewing itself but the
symbol of the soul – never dying and never renewing
itself.

47
In Ireland and Scotland, X is a wailing lamenting fairy,
who heralds the death of a family member by
shrieking or keening. She is depicted as wearing red
or green and having dishevelled hair, although she
may or may not be ugly.
This has carried on to the role of a traditional
keening woman or bean chaointe in Gaelic funerals.
Id X?

48
This superstition arises from the belief that the
traitor Judas Iscariot was the last one to reach the
Last Supper, being delayed by his conferring with the
Jews.
Other origin stories believe it is because
Hammurabi’s code is missing a particular law (In
reality, the omission was no more than a clerical
error made by one of the document’s earliest
translators who failed to include a line of text)
What superstition?

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