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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. "The Origins of Sacred Speech" hymn speaks of the recreation of the origins of sacred speech through _____of the Vedic sacrifice.
(a) Pantomime.
(b) Verbal contests.
(c) Sand writing.
(d) Shouting.

2. What did Martanda's name originally mean in "Aditi and the Birth of the Gods"?
(a) Beholder.
(b) Keeper of the sun.
(c) Eye of the sky.
(d) Born of an egg.

3. The mane of a horse is a metaphor for what?
(a) The rays of the sun.
(b) The love of Indra.
(c) The rain.
(d) The crops in the fields.

4. In "We Have Drunk the Soma", Dawn harnesses _____ to her chariot to bring treasure to the singer of the hymn.
(a) The sun.
(b) Seven eagles.
(c) Indra.
(d) Docile cows.

5. What word is often identified with the soul?
(a) Breath.
(b) Water.
(c) Fire.
(d) Sound.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was used to protect female mourners instead of mascara or eye-shadow, as stated in the "Burial Hymn"?

2. "The Sacrificial Priests" is described as a kind of _____ for priests.

3. Who repairs the errors committed in the course of the horse sacrifice?

4. What is the inner membrane of the embryo called?

5. Vena is the seer identified with the _____.

Short Essay Questions

1. In "The Creation of the Sacrifice", what is the significance of weaving?

2. What is the actual content of the secret in "The Mystery of Agni"?

3. What are the meanings of the recurrent epithet, "Knower of creatures"?

4. What is the significance of the membrane in "The Gods Coax Agni Out of the Waters"?

5. What are the the three forms of speech highlighted in the hymn, "Speech", and what do they represent?

6. Who are the Asuras in the beginning of the Vedas, as opposed to their role toward the end?

7. What is the function of the enclosing-sticks in "The Hymn of Man" as opposed to the fuel-sticks?

8. What is the function of the goat in "The Funeral Fire"?

9. In the hymn "The Child of the Waters", what do the three women give to the deity, and why?

10. What is the meaning of the horse carrying the body in "Requiem for a Horse"?

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