UPSC Civil Services 2020 Prelims General Studies Paper I

Explanation

During the ancient times, Indians did prolific sea trade esp. with the west. They exported spices, pepper, sandalwood, pearls, precious stones etc.

During the Gupta period, the ports of the east coast, Tamralipti, Ghantashala, and Kadura handled the trade with south-east Asia, and those of the west coast, Broach, Chaul, Kalyan and Cambay, traded with west Asia but the more southerly of these ports were outside Gupta control.

Clearly, option A is the right answer as these are the imp names of the ancient ports handling foreign trade.

Ghantasala is also a very famous Buddhist centre, but this is done to trap the candidates.