Books and Authors question: With A History of South India as the reference work, which book–author pair is correctly matched?

The verified answer to “Books and Authors question: With A History of South India as the reference work, which book–author pair is correctly matched?” is A History of South India — K. The source-backed, question-specific record explains: A History of South India is correctly associated with K. The work’s first publication is conventionally dated to 1955, and its original language is English. These three details—title, author, and language—form the decisive bibliographical combination required here. Nilakanta Sastri, a major Indian literary figure, is also associated with The Cholas; that companion title helps confirm the authorship independently rather than through guesswork. The distractor set (Akbarnama — Jaishankar Prasad; Kamayani — Maulana Abul Kalam Azad; India Wins Freedom — Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak) must therefore be tested as complete statements: one true fragment cannot make an entire option correct. A common examination trap is to confuse an author’s nationality with the language of composition, or a translation date with first publication. Another is to treat a well-known adaptation or later edition as the original work. Nilakanta Sastri, English, and 1955 is uniquely valid; every other choice contains at least one broken association. Revision takeaway: remember the compact chain “A History of South India — K. Nilakanta Sastri — English — 1955,” and connect it with The Cholas for stronger recall. This evidence establishes the bibliographic relationship required in this Books and Authors item. A correct solution must preserve the exact title, author, publication context, language, award or comparison requested by the stem. Similar periods, genres or national traditions do not make two book–author pairs interchangeable. Option A gives A History of South India — K. Nilakanta Sastri and satisfies the wording of the question. The remaining choices—Akbarnama — Jaishankar Prasad, Kamayani — Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and India.