Legendarium: The Mythology Quiz

Rules
• 30 questions + 1 connect
• +10/0 for direct questions. (+5 for transferred
questions)
• +10/-10 for pounces

1.
• Disprosopus, also called
craniofacial duplication, is a
congenital disorder wherein
parts, or whole of the face, are
duplicated on the head.
• It occurs in many animals,
including humans, albeit very
rarely.
• Cats born with this condition
are given a special name. One
of the most famous cats with
disprosopus was Frankenlouie,
or Frank and Louie, who
survived till the age of 15, a
near-impossibility in this case.
• What is the term used for such
cats?

The answer....wait for it...is...

2.
• According to Hindu mythology, Shaktipeethas are
locations in the Indian subcontinent where parts
from Sati’s burning body fell as Shiva carried it
with him.
• Legend has it that this particular Shaktipeetha,
held in great esteem by Hindus, was formed
when Sati’s ear ornament landed here.
• Identify this place, which also lends its name to a
crucial figure in the Indian freedom struggle.

3.
• The X Complex is a term used to describe a
situation wherein a person’s concerns are
dismissed as untrue or trivial.
• Warren Buffett was called the Wall Street X
when he warned that the 1990’s stock market
surge was a bubble; a warning that eventually
turned into a correct prediction.
• Id X.

4.
• “...That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen
Seed,
In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
Rose out of X...”
• John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I
• X is a concept Milton borrowed from Greek
mythology, where Hesiod claimed that it was the
first thing that existed, "but next"
came Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros. Unambiguously
born "from X" were Erebus (Darkness)
and Nyx (Night).

5.
• Milotic, a Water-type, is said to be the most
beautiful of all Pokémon. It lives at the bottom
of clear lakes. In times of war, it shows itself,
which soothes people's minds and hearts.
• This Pokémon is said to have been inspired
from a representation of a deity, owing to the
similarities in appearance (pic on next slide)
and behaviour.

5.
(contd))
• Which specific representation am I talking about?

6.
• “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst
at once into the sky, that would be like the
splendor of the mighty one ...”
• X recalled that this quote came to his mind upon
witnessing a certain event. Many years later, in a
1965 TV interview he mentioned the more
famous second quote, which he also thought of
at the moment.
• X is falsely attributed with having uttered these
words, while his brother claimed that all he said
was, "It worked.“
• Who is X, and what was the quote/context?

7.
• The Grammarians' War (1519–1521) was a
conflict between rival systems of teaching Latin,
originating from the pedagogy employed in a
grammar primer called Vulgaria.
• The weapons of this “war” were mainly satirical
verse and parodies that flew between
proponents of the two factions.
• It is seen as a conflict between the new and the
old approaches of teaching, or between the
“Greeks” - who favoured learning by example –
and the rival faction, who insisted on traditional
methods of teaching.
• What was the rival faction called?

8.
• Ask and Embla
• Meshia and Meshiane
• Wurugag and Waramurungundi
• Hindu Equivalents?

• Manu and Satarupa/Shraddha

9.
• This story by
Gabrielle-Suzanne
Barbot de
Villeneuve, has been
influenced by earlier
stories like The Pig
King and the legend
of Eros and Anima.
• The Roman myth of
Eros and Anima
involved the
overcoming of
obstacles to the love
between the two,
and their eventual
marriage.

9. (contd)
• Eros falls in love with Anima, but cannot show
himself and visits her only during the night, lest
he should incur the wrath of his mother, Venus,
who is jealous of Anima’s beauty. It is only after
partially blinding Eros in her curiosity and
performing a host of difficult tasks for Venus that
the couple is able to reunite.
• Identify this story, which has been the subject of
numerous animated and live action film
adaptations.

10.
• The tale of X originated from the
Ashanti people of present-day
Ghana, and became a popular myth
in southern United States and the
Caribbean where it travelled with the
enslaved Africans.
• Literally meaning “spider”, X is
considered to be the spirit of all
knowledge of stories. It often gets
out of tricky situations by sheer wit,
and is able to turn the tables on its
oppressors by its cunning. As such, it
is recognized as a symbol of slave
survival and resistance.
• Identify X, which lends its name to a
2005 Neil Gaiman novel that follows
the adventures of X’s sons after his
death.

11.
• The English word for these creatures is borrowed from
French.
• In pre-Islamic mythology, these were creatures created from
smokeless fire, who inhabited the mortal world along with
humans, had free will akin to them, and would be judged
similarly on the Day of Judgment and sent to Paradise or Hell
according to their actions.
• They have been a commonly occurring category of beings in
literature through the ages. The White Witch in CS Lewis’ The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is half-giant and half this
being. Another famous one is Mr Popo from Dragon Ball.
• The most famous of these, however, could be the benevolent,
albeit mischievous partner in crime of a certain Chinese
youngster whose fortunes turn for the better- characters in an
18th century addition to a wider body of work.

12.
• "I've got X again and I've got about six of her."—Ron
Weasley discussing X's Chocolate Frog Card
(Philosopher’s Stone)
• X is a powerful sorceress from Arthurian legend, who is
often portrayed as a Dark magician who wants to
overthrow King Arthur. The character has been the
inspiration for similarly named characters in both DC
and Marvel universes.
• In New Avengers #53, the Eye of Agamotto appears to
her as she is considered as the next Sorcerer Supreme
after Doctor Strange.
• Id X.

13.
• The word means “amorphous” or “unshaped” in Hebrew. In
Jewish folklore, this was a giant anthropomorphic creature,
often fashioned out of clay, to do its master’s bidding,
lacking any sentience itself.
• One of the most popular tales in this regard is about the
rabbi Loew of Prague, who created one such being to
protect Jews from antisemitic attacks, before it went on a
killing spree.
• This mythical creature is seen as an inspiration for the likes
of Frankenstein’s monster and Terminator, and in more
benevolent forms as the Gingerbread Man.
• More recently, it lent its name to an assassin in an episode
of BBC’s Sherlock, where, like the famous rabbi Loew’s
creature, the heftily built assassin also hails from Prague.
• What?

14.
• There are various theories regarding what happened to the
abductees.
• Some say that they fell prey to the plague, or an accident in a
nearby river or a sinkhole in the mountain. Another surmise is that
the disappearance suggested the activity of a paedophile.
• A third theory says that the myth simply explains an act of
emigration during the 13th century, which would explain why a
group of people in Poland have Germanic, and not traditionally
Slavic surnames.
• "There were characters known as lokators who roamed northern
Germany trying to recruit settlers for the East.... Some of them
were brightly dressed, and all were silver-tongued,” says linguist
Jurgen Udolph to substantiate this theory.
• What am I talking about?

• While this clip from POTC: On Stranger Tides
shows creatures which, in the film, are called and
portrayed as mermaids, the inspiration for them
is another class of beings from Greek mythology.
• They lure unwary sailors with their melodious
songs, and devour them when they are lulled into
lethargy.
• The name for these creatures has entered into
common parlance, to mean a woman who is
attractive but also potentially dangerous.

16.
• The Finnish word for this phenomenon is
‘revontulet’, or ‘firefox’. It is thus named because
of the belief that it is cause by a firefox dragging
its tail through the snow, sending sparks up in the
sky.
• The Sami people from Finland attribute it to the
water sprayed out from a whale’s blowhole.
• In China, where the sightings are rarer, it was said
to be the result of good and evil dragons
breathing fire in battle.
• What phenomenon?

Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)

17.
• The Giant Girdled Lizard (pic on next slide) is a kind of armoured
lizard native to South Africa, the largest of its kind.
• Unlike other lizards of its family who live in rock crevices, this species
lives in self-excavated burrows. It also lives longer than other similar
species, and some of these lizards have been known to live for an
unusual 20 years.
• Originally termed Cordylus giganteus, its genus name was changed to
the name of a fictitious character, because of shared characteristics.
• The character in question is also gigantic, armoured, old and lives
underground. Additionally, the creator of this character was born in
South Africa.
• What was the genus renamed as?

18.
• Myth has it that this formulation was prepared by
the Ashwini Kumaras- the physicians of the gods-
for a certain sage who looked very old, owing to
the austerities he observed.
• His wife, Sukanya, asked the Ashwini Kumars to
restore his youth, in return for which they
claimed a share in all sacrificial offerings.
• Identify this preparation, which boasts of a Rs
500-crore market in India.

19.
• Joseph Campbell’s 1949 book The Hero with a
Thousand Faces is a work of comparative
mythology.
• In this book, Campbell elaborates on the
monomyth, a fundamental structure on which all
myths of the world are based on:
• A hero ventures forth from the world of common
day into a region of supernatural wonder:
fabulous forces are there encountered and a
decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from
this mysterious adventure with the power to
bestow boons on his fellow man.

19. (contd)
• This book and its description of
the archetypal hero was cited as
an inspiration by the creator of
a seminal body of modern
mythology- in addition to other
influential works like LOTR,
Arthurian legend and Samurai
warfare.
• Such has been its success, that
the Princeton University Press
now publishes the book with
the hero of said work, on its
cover.
• Id.

20. (contd)
• The constellation of Scorpio is
called X’s fishhook in Hawaii. It is a
reference to an act by a Hawaiian
demigod, who snares the sun,
because the sunlight isn’t enough
for his mother to dry her clothes.
• Id this demigod who lends his
name to the second largest island
in Hawaii, and a character in a
recent Disney movie. It is also
phonetically similar to the name
given to the 887 gigantic statues
on Easter Island in the Pacific
Ocean.

21.
• One of the earliest physical descriptions of this
animal are found in Ctesius’ Indica.
• This animal has been the national animal of
Scotland since the 1300s. It was considered as an
appropriate choice for these reasons:
• It is considered the natural enemy of the lion,
which was adopted as a symbol by the English a
century before.
• It symbolises peace, purity and cooperative living.
• Powdered horns of these animals were a novelty,
sold for exorbitant amounts as they were
believed to be an antidote for poison.
• What is the national animal of Scotland?

22.
• This substance had the ability, among others,
to
(i) create perpetually burning lamps,
(ii) transmutation of common crystals into
precious stones and diamonds,
(iii) reviving of dead plants,
(iv) creation of flexible or malleable glass, or
(v) the creation of a clone or homunculus.
• The process of its preparation was described
in alchemy by colour changes: nigredo
(blackness), albedo (whiteness), citrinitas
(yellowness) and rubedo (redness).

22.
(contd)
• ‘Scientists’
involved in the
synthesis of this
substance were
said to be
working on a
‘magnum opus’,
or great work.
• What substance
is this?

23.
• In an interview, the director said that he was inspired
by a dream his mother had, about a statuesque, blue-
skinned woman. He thought it was “kind of a cool
image.”
• "I just like blue. It's a good color ... plus, there's a
connection to the Hindu deities, which I like
conceptually.“
• About the film, he said that it meant that technology in
the future could inject human intelligence into a
remote, biological body- an evolved form of what the
concept means in Hindu mythology.
• Id the film.

24.
• Rapid draining of the Lake Agassiz (N. America) around
8,500 years ago;
• Rise of sea levels in the Persian Gulf following the last
Ice Age;
• A meteor crashing into the Indian Ocean;
• The presence of sea-shells and fish fossils in inland and
mountainous areas.
• All these hypotheses attempt to explain the presence
of one common myth in almost all mythologies over
the world, including the Genesis, classical Greek, the
epic of Gilgamesh, Hindu scriptures and Mesoamerican
legends. What?

25.
• There is a lot of disagreement about the origin of
this expression, as well as what it actually stands
for.
• Apart from the popular understanding, it is used
in Western thought to represent that one who
feigns ignorance is also absolved of the moral
responsibility of the act. It is also seen as a
symbol of the code of silence in organized crime.
• How do we know the pictorial maxim of Mizaru,
Kikazaru, Iwazaru, (and occasionally Shizaru), as?

26.
• In mid-2016, official figures in Ireland stated that the
economy of the country had grown by 26% over the past
year- a significant deviation from the predicted 7.8%.
• It was quickly dismissed as “meaningless” by many
economists- including 2008 Nobel laureate for Economic
Sciences, Paul Krugman- as it did not reflect upon the
actual budgetary choices and financial behaviour of the
people.
• Krugman gave these inflated figures a special term, derived
from folkloric creatures associated with wealth that is
similarly deceptive.
• What?

27.
• X is a word used to describe a feud between close
family members that becomes the undoing of the
entire group.
• This word traces its origin to the Mahabharata,
when Gandhari curses Lord Krishna with the
extinction of his own clan, for being responsible
for the destruction of her family.
• In fulfilment of this curse, the deaths of Krishna’s
clan members begin with a drunken brawl, as
described in the Mausal Parva.
• What is X?

28.
• Established in 1976 in Ireland, the Fellowship of X is a multi-
racial, multi-ethnic body dedicated to promoting the idea
of the Divine Feminine. It is considered as one of the
foremost institutions in the Neopagan movement.
• X is the name of an ancient Egyptian goddess, who is the
wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus. A statue of her
feeding a young Horus is said to be the source of the
recurring Madonna and Child motif in Christian art (pic on
next slide).
• Id X, whose name is phonetically similar with the
abbreviation for another ‘institution’, known for all the
wrong reasons in present times.

29.
• A survey conducted in 1998 found that a whopping 54.4% of
Icelanders believe in these creatures. Most of them are convinced
that crossing or angering them in any manner leads to very bad
fortune.
• The belief is so strong, that constructions in Iceland are designed to
steer clear of the dwellings of these creatures.
• Alfholl, a hill between the capital Reykjavik and the second largest
Kopavogur, needed to be demolished in order to construct a road
between the two cities. The project, however, could not take off for
almost two decades, owing to mysterious on-site accidents,
disappearance of equipment and other inexplicable events.
• The road development authority of Iceland had been defending the
delay by saying, “issues have been settled by delaying construction
projects so that the .... can, at a certain point, move on.”
• The project is now complete, and the road between the two cities
swerves around Alfholl, leaving the hill and its dwellers alone.
• FITB.

30.
• United States ex rel. Gerald Mayo v. .... and his Staff is a
1971 lawsuit filed in the Western district of Pennsylvania,
wherein Gerard Mayo alleged that “.... has on numerous
occasions caused plaintiff misery and unwarranted threats,
against the will of plaintiff, that .... has placed deliberate
obstacles in his path and has caused plaintiff's downfall.”
• While the case was recognised as qualifying for class action
status, the Court noted that there were several hindrances
to procedure.
• One of them was that the accused was a foreign prince and
it was not clear if he would be able to claim sovereign
immunity from the suit.
• The case was eventually dismissed as the complainant
could not clarify how the accused in question could be
served process.
• Who did Gerard Mayo file a case against?

Connect!
• 7 questions.
• +10/0 for each answer
• +50 for spotting the connect on the second
question, +40 for the third, and so on. 0 on
spotting connect at the last question.
• All answers form parts of names.

1.
• Ocimum sanctum
• The wife of Shankhachuda, a demon who was
invulnerable as long as his wife’s chastity was
intact. Lord Vishnu, assuming Shankhachuda’s
form, destroys her chastity, thereby causing
the demon to be killed.

2.
• The subject of V.
Shantaram’s 1932
Marathi film
Ayodhyecha Raja,
as well as this
painting by Raja
Ravi Verma.

3.
• An epithet of Lord Shiva, as the Lord of
Serpents, a reference to the serpent Vasuki
coiled around his neck.

4.
• One of the names of Sita.
• Language spoken in northern and eastern
Bihar and eastern Terai of Nepal, second most
widely used language in Nepal.

5.
• The recipient of two servings of the payasam
from the Putrakameshti yajna, as a
consequence of which she gave birth to twins.

6.
• The reincarnation of Prabhas, one of the
Ashtavasus who stole Kamadhenu, the wish-
fulfilling cow.
• Vashishtha, the owner of the cow, cursed him
with a very long, albeit illustrious, mortal life.
• Most widely known as?

7.
• Jagannath, Balabhadra and ...?

7.
• Jagannath, Balabhadra and ...?
• Subhadra

6.
• The reincarnation of Prabhas, one of the
Ashtavasus who stole Kamadhenu, the wish-
fulfilling cow.
• Vashishtha, the owner of the cow, cursed him
with a very long, albeit illustrious, mortal life.
• Most widely known as?
• Bhishma!

5.
• The recipient of two servings of the payasam
from the Putrakameshti yajna, as a
consequence of which she gave birth to twins.
• Sumitra

4.
• One of the names of Sita.
• Language spoken in northern and eastern
Bihar and eastern Terai of Nepal, second most
widely used language in Nepal.
• Maithili

3.
• An epithet of Lord Shiva, as the Lord of
Serpents, a reference to the serpent Vasuki
coiled around his neck.
• Phanishwar

2.
• The subject of V.
Shantaram’s 1932
Marathi film
Ayodhyecha Raja,
as well as this
painting by Raja
Ravi Verma.
• Harishchandra

1.
• Ocimum sanctum
• The wife of Shankhachuda, a demon who was
invulnerable as long as his wife’s chastity was
intact. Lord Vishnu, assuming Shankhachuda’s
form, destroys her chastity, thereby causing
the demon to be killed.
• Tulsi

Connect: Hindi Literary Greats!
• Tulsidas
• Bharatendu Harishchandra
• Phanishwar Nath ‘Renu’
• Maithili Sharan Gupt
• Sumitra Nandan Pant
• Bhishma Sahani
• Subhadrakumari Chauhan

Legendarium: The Mythology Quiz

Legendarium: The Mythology Quiz

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