MYTHOLOGY

1

Whenever there is decay of righteousness, O Bharata,

And there is exaltation of unrighteousness, then I Myself

come forth ;

For the protection of the good, for the destruction of evil-

doers,

For the sake of firmly establishing righteousness, I am

born from age to age.

How is this verse popularly known as?

1

Yada yada hi dharmasya

2

There are 2 temples in Kerala dedicated to this villainous

uncle and nephew duo from Indian Mythology. Who are

they?

2

Duryodhana and Shakuni

__ ________ is the symbol that reppresents the One

Supreme Reality and is a central tenet of Sikh religious

philosophy. It is the first phrase in Mul Mantar, referring to

the existance of the ‘one consonant’ and is consequesntly

a part of the Sikk morning prayer, Japji Sahib.

3

3

Ik Onkar

According to the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder, the

X of Cyrene is a small snake, "being not more than twelve

fingers in length", that is so venomous, it leaves a wide

trail of deadly venom in its wake, and its gaze is likewise

lethal; its weakness is in the odor of the weasel. It’s

presence could scorch surrounding shrubs and grass.

More popularly know from another source, identify X.

Basilisk

(mosst famously sseen in HP)

When Zeus struck down X's son with a lightning bolt for

resurrecting Hippolytus from the dead, X in revenge killed

the Cyclopes, who had fashioned the bolt for Zeus. X

would have been banished to Tartarus forever for this, but

was instead sentenced to one year of hard labor, due to

the intercession of his mother, Leto. There is a new series

from Rick Riordan which is a modern take on this story of

his punishment.

Identify X

Apollo

X is a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology. X was the

goddess Y's servant and her defining task for X was to

guard the white heifer Io from Zeus, keeping her chained

to a sacred olive tree. X’s wakeful alertness was explained

for an increasingly literal culture as his having so many

eyes that only a few of the eyes would sleep at a time:

there were always eyes still awake. Io was only freed

when X was killed by Hermes. Who first put all of X eyes

asleep with spoken charms, then slew him by hitting him

with a stone. To commemorate her faithful watchman, Y

had the hundred eyes of X preserved forever, in a

peacock's tail.

Id X and Y

X- Argus

Y- Hera

She was a monster, half-woman and half-snake, who lived

alone in a cave and is known primarily for being the

mother of monsters. He was a monstrous snaky giant and

the most deadly creature in Greek mythology. He

attempted to overthrow Zeus for the supremacy of the

cosmos. The two fought a cataclysmic battle, which Zeus

finally won. Defeated, he was cast into Tartarus, or buried

underneath Mount Etna. They are the parents of most of

the worst monsters in Greek mythology like Orthus,

Cerberus, the Hydra, Chimera, Sphinx, the Nemean Lion,

Ladon, Scylla and many more.

Echidna and Typhon

Connect

Atlas

ETYMOLOGY

1

What spells/potions in HP comes from Latin for:

cut + always

love + to direct a weapon

to bite + death

Full points for all 3 and half for any 2.

1

Sectumsempra – sectus –> cut (past participle) + semper

–> always

Amortentia potion – amor –> love + tendere –> to direct a

weapon; Cupid’s bow?!

Morsmordre – mordre –> to bite + mors is a homonym for

mort –> death. Appropriate feels for conjuring the Dark

Mark, which is typically placed over the site of a murder

2

The national currency of X is the Quetzal, which is also

the name of the national bird. In turn, "quetzal" means in

náhuatl "precious tail of iridiscent feathers" or "feather of

the [quetzal] bird", and it was also part of the word

Quetzalcóatl ("snake with feathers", the name of an

ancient Aztec god).

Name the country.

2

Guatemala

3

What is this called? Also name

the guy carrying it

The name comes from "upright

monumental stone," literally

"long stone," from

French/Breton

Bonus if anyone can tell me the

significance of what they are

used for.

3

Menhir

Obelix

A long running joke in the Asterix comics are that no one

knows what menhirs are used for.. but in real life they

were used as some kind of religious marker. Often

indication graves or other significant spots.

4

This animal gets its name due to its basking habits, from

Greek for kroke "pebbles" + drilos "worm." Herodotus

used it to describe the ones he saw in the Nile.

4

Crocodile

5

Render and the root for "surrender" descend from a Latin

verb "reddo" (give back), whose conjugations include the

name of quizzers favourite website and its users.

Incidentally the source of this question.

5

Reddit and redditors

Sadly this doesn’t imply that reddit means giving back or

anything like that. Its just a coincidence.

The actual origin for the name reddit is a pun on the

words read it: as in “I read it on reddit”

6

This word comes from feudal England, where lords of the

manor would own most of the land in a certain village. The

Lord of the Manor would employ some peasants to be the

wardens of the pigpens. The old English for [a pig's] pen

was stig, or stī, which is today spelt sty. Thus they were

'sty-wardens' and the word has evolved to what we know

today.

6

Steward

So a steward literally means a 'keeper of a pig-pen'.

Judging by most budget airlines today, an air-steward's

job isn't far removed from that description.

7

This word is a contracted form of 'Shire-Reeve', with the

'reeve' being the archaic word for an administrative

officer, and 'shire' meaning, as it does today, a large

county.

7

Sheriff

8

This word means "hodgepodge, a confused mix" ,

"medley, mixed fodder, mix of grains for animal feed"

from far - Latin for "grain"

8

Farrago

9

This word has multiple meanings

"surpass, beat"

"playing card of a suit ranking above others"

"fabricate, devise"

Very relevant in today’s news. Especially the third meaing.

9

Trump

10

The germ theory of disease wasn't proposed until the 16th

century and not fully accepted until the 19th. Before then,

people blamed the concept of "bad air", the belief that

disease was caused by vapors that were endemic to

certain places. They knew that visiting a swamp could

lead to a fever but didn't understand the true cause, so

they just blamed it on bad air.

Or in Latin _______. Which is how we know know it.

10

Malaria

Latin mal - “bad” + aria - “air”

HISTORY

6 Funny Headlines

Driver Takes Wrong Turn, War

Ensues!

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

In Sarajevo, he survived an assassination attempt wherein

several Bosnian revolutionaries threw a grenade towards

his motorcade. Later, Franz’s driver took a wrong turn and

incidentally, one of the revolutionaries, Gavrilo Princip,

was standing right there on the street corner.

________ Politely Asks For

Independence,

Receives Independence (1867)

Canada

Okay, it’s not quite that simple, but the essence is true. On

July 1st, 1867 the British North America Act established

Canada as a self-governing colony of the British Empire.

The peculiar thing about this “act of independence” was

that its causes consisted mostly of trans-Atlantic debate

and political discourse. Compared to other “acts of

independence,” like the American Revolution, it was

nearly absent of violence.

_______ Defeats 'Dewey Defeats

_______'

FITB and give funda

Harry Truman

Every exit poll showed that Dewey would win the US

presidency. He was charming, charismatic, and popular.

Truman was the complete opposite…quiet and unknown.

People were so sure of the outcome that the Chicago

Tribune even ran a headline saying “Dewey Defeats

Truman.” But in one of history’s most unexpected upsets,

Truman won. In fact, he won by a landslide.

Scientist Who Talks To Pigeons

Builds Death Ray And Earthquake

Machine

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was a prolific and somewhat eccentric

inventor who was known as the archetypal “mad

scientist” by much of the public. The headline refers to

some of his incredibly strange inventions, one of which

was a supposed “death ray” that could be used by the

military. The “earthquake machine” that is referenced was

actually his electro-mechanical oscillator which he used

to generate electricity. At one point Tesla had claimed that

the machine was responsible for a mini-earthquake in

downtown New York City. As for the talking to pigeons

part, Tesla just really loved to feed pigeons. He even

stated on occasion that it gave him purpose.

Europe Exiles ________ As

Punishment For Coming Back From

Previous Exile

FITB and name the two places of exile.

Napoleon

Elba and Saint Helena

Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba (off the coast of

Italy) after being defeated by the Allies in 1814. He

managed to escape, however, and once again took control

of France. His army was defeated yet again at the Battle of

Waterloo and Napoleon was then exiled to Saint Helena in

the South Atlantic where he would remain until his death.

Persians' ______s Defeat Egypt

FITB for an unconventional secret weapon.

Cats!

Cambyses II knew how much the Egyptians venerated

their cats so he decided to put thousands of cats on his

front line. The Egyptians were too scared to fight for fear

of injuring the cats, so they surrendered.

Hopefully no one uses this trick with cows...

LITERATURE

1

The New Columbia Encyclopedia described Lillian Virginia

Mountweazel as a fountain designer-turned-photographer

celebrated for her photographs of rural American

mailboxes. The New Oxford American Dictionary defined

the word ‘esquivalience’ as “the willful avoidance of one’s

official responsibilities”.

What is the lexicological connect?

1

They are both made-up entries inserted as copyright traps

to catch plagiarists. If any other encyclopedia or

dictionary included these entries, the original publishers

would know that their works had been copied.

2

In which book series (just the name of the first book in

the series will do) would you find mention of these works,

among others – ‘The Celestial Home Care Omnibus’,

‘Fifty-Three More Things to Do in Zero Gravity’, and the

trilogy by Oolon Colluphid: ‘Where God Went Wrong’,

‘Some More of God’s Greatest Mistakes’, ‘Who Is This

God Person, Anyway’?

2

Douglas Adams’s ‘The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’

ID the authors

6 illustrations by British cartoonist Ronald Searle, of

authors to be identified

1

3

P.G. Wodehouse

4

4

Agatha Christie

5

5

C.S. Forrester

6

6

Enid Blyton

7

7

Ian Fleming

8

This is a still from a film showing a fictitious book first

mentioned in a real 1914 novel, in which the protagonist

refers to it as “a book which ascends to such rarefied

heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was

no man in the scientific press capable of criticising it”.

Who is the fictional author of this fictitious book?

8

Professor James Moriarty.

The 1914 book was ‘The Valley of Fear’; the movie still is

from ‘Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows’

9

The book shown is a love story weighed

down by caste,

ideologies, and a tragedy. The book has

Ratna, the young protagonist, recalling

her days with a love interest whom she

had met on December 6 the year before.

That meeting had taken place at the Maha

Parinirvan at Chaitra Bhumi in Mumbai,

the place of pilgrimage for dalits, where

she went twice a year with her father,

marking Baba Ambedkar’s death

anniversary. Who is the author, who was

at the centre of a minor international

crisis three years ago?

9

Devyani Khobragade

10

A visit to apartheid South Africa in

1973, following that country lifting

its ban on his best-known book,

resulted in the book shown. The

title was a reference to his visa

status, which granted significantly

more privileges than enjoyed by

the native black population. Who?

10

E.R. Braithwaite,

author of ‘To Sir With Love’

MIXED BAG

Everyone has heard of Beatlemania- The Beatles' young

female fans' tendency to go completely batshit crazy at

the mere mention of their names.

This 19th century classical composer has been called the

"world's first rock star" by some. It was a mostly

European phenomenon, following X wherever he went,

but it hit the city of Berlin particularly hard. Frauleins

would attack him, fight over broken piano strings, tear

bits of his clothing and handkerchiefs to stow as

souvenirs, and even kept his used cigar butts in their

cleavage.

Identify this player (pun intended)

Franz Liszt

(fanboy question)

What famous fantasy author wrote these 3 ‘Laws of Magic’

1. An author's ability to solve conflict with magic is

DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader

understands said magic

2. Limitations > Power

The limitations of a magic system are more interesting

than its capabilities. What the magic can't do is more

interesting than what it can.

3. Expand on what you have already, before you add

something new.

Brandon Sanderson

They are known as Sanderson’s

Three Laws of Magic.

He is the author of great series like

Mistborn, the Reckoners and the

Stormlight Archive.

He was also chosen to complete the

Wheel of Time series after Robert

Jordan’s death.

Last question

Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French military chemist

and botanist, and Louis XVI got the French people

interested in the cultivation of X by planting 100 acres

outside of Paris and guarding them heavily with troops.

One night Parmentier allowed the guards to go off duty

and, as he had hoped, farmers came in and stole X to

plant in their own farms.

Sorry for the long quiz here’s a potato