UPSC Prelims 2021— Question 65

According to Nuniz's account of Vijayanagara, women were involved in several skilled activities, including wrestling, astrology, accounting and soothsaying. The reference is notable because it shows the breadth of women's participation in specialized occupations in the Vijayanagara court and society. Therefore all four listed activities are accepted. The final answer-key position for Set C identifies option D as the correct option. Option A — 1, 2 and 3 only — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option B — 1, 3 and 4 only — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option C — 2 and 4 only — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option D — 1, 2, 3 and 4 — is correct because it is the alternative that matches the constitutional, historical, geographical, scientific or economic principle established above. For PYQ interpretation, the distinction between the correct alternative and merely related facts is important. UPSC often places plausible distractors beside the precise statement that matches the underlying rule, chronology, definition or empirical relationship. The answer should therefore be read against the exact wording of the question rather than against a broadly related fact.