Vocabulary and Synonyms

'My Experiments with Truth' and ‘devotional attachment to India and God and his people‘ suggest that a positive word fills the first blank. Also, the fight has to be against evil. ‘Unpretentious’ meaning simple; therefore replaces the first blank and ‘temptations’ fills the second.

'And' after 'superficial' means that the second filler should bear similarity to superficial. ‘Pedantic’ is an ostentatious display of knowledge or an instance of this. Moreover, 'vaunted' (to brag) characterises the first blank.

The given illustration shows the pattern: In the first step, 2^nd and 5^th words are interchanged. In the second step, 1^st three words are reversed and the last four words are reversed. In the third step, 1^st four words are reversed and the last three words are reversed. And so on. Hence, option 1 is correct. 

Truculent describes someone who is eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant.

Recalcitrant describes a person with an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority or discipline.

To rescind means to revoke, cancel, or repeal a law, order, or agreement.

Come or came down means to voice opposition.

In some cases, "went for" particularly means to attack that person.

To annex means to append or add as an extra or subordinate part, especially to a document or territory.

To accuse means to charge someone with an offense or crime. Blame is the direct synonym.

Augury refers to an omen or a sign of what will happen in the future, often serving as a warning.

Absorbed means to be intensely engaged or interested in something. Engaged is the correct synonym.

Busy means being occupied with work or activity. Occupied is a direct synonym, whereas idle, indolent, and slack all describe a lack of activity.

To mollify means to appease the anger or anxiety of someone, effectively making their feelings less intense. Nullify means to invalidate, while magnify means to increase in size.