New Delhi — A graduate examination’s question about the Prophet Muhammad led to violent student protests at Ranchi University, in eastern India, on Thursday.

According to a local newspaper, the question on a master’s history exam was: “Prophet Muhammad began his career as a trader and ended as a raider. Comment.”

Dozens of students, who attacked the main university building and damaged property, were beaten by the police, and five students were arrested. Hundreds of residents in the neighborhood joined students in a protest procession that paralyzed the city for hours, the paper reported.

University administrators immediately canceled the history examination and said they were going to determine who had placed the question there in the first place.

“We have set up a committee to conduct the probe and identify the culprits within 24 hours,” A.A. Khan, the university’s head, told the newspaper. “The culprits will be punished sternly.”

Mr. Khan said that the life of the Prophet Muhammad is discussed under the topic “Rise of Islam” in the graduate history course, but there is no content relating to the question asked in the exam. Every exam at the university is written by a panel of five instructors.

“Our task now is to find out which of these five teachers was responsible for drafting and incorporating this question on Prophet Muhammad,” the university’s examination controller, A.K. Mahato, told the newspaper. —Shailaja Neelakantan