Test: Class 12 History NCERT Based- 1 - UPSC MCQ

The Indigo revolt (or Nil bidroho) was a peasant movement and subsequent uprising of indigo farmers against the indigo planters that arose in Chowgacha village of Nadia in Bengal in 1859.

As Indigo planting became more commercially profitable due to the demand for blue dye in Europe, the planters persuaded the peasants to plant indigo instead of food. They were provided with loans, at a very high interest resulting in a whole life of debt, whereas the price paid for indigo was only 2.5% of the market price resulting in no profit for farmers.

Under this severe oppression, farmers resorted to revolt. Due to the revolt, the planters gradually began to shut shop with the cultivation of indigo being wiped out from the districts of Bengal by 1860.

Nil Darpan is a Bengali play written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1858–1859. The play was published in Dhaka in 1860, under a pseudonym of the author. The play was essential to Nil Vidroha, better known as the Indigo Revolt of February–March 1859 in Bengal, when farmers refused to sow indigo in their fields to protest against exploitative farming under the British Raj.

It was Michael Madhusudan Dutt who translated the play into English immediately after it was published.

The Harappan seal is possibly the most distinctive artefact of the Indus Valley civilisation made of a stone Called steatite.

Seals often having animal motifs and signs from a script have remained undeciphered. Yet a great deal about the lives of the people is known from archaeological evidence.

Harappan objects like seals, beads, blades, weights and stone have been found in areas as far as Afghanistan, Balochistan, Jammu and Gujarat . 

Mohenjodaro is well one the most well known Harappan site. The settlement is dividend into two sections, one smaller but higher and the other much larger but lower.
Archaeologists designated the higher area as the Citadel which was constructed on mud brick platforms. It was walled, which meant that it was physically separated from the lower town area.

At the western end of the site of Mohenjodaro is an area known as the Citadel. This area of the city was built on top of a mound of bricks almost 12 metres high. A large staircase ran up the side of this mound.

Several large buildings and structures on the Citadel mound suggest that this area may have been used for public gatherings, religious activities.

Small buildings which were probably homes do exist on the Citadel mound, however, they are not common.

Chanhudaro city was exclusively devoted to craft production including bead making and metal works, seal making and weight making.

Attempts were made to reconstruct the religious beliefs of Harapans. Motifs and seals seem to depict the ritual scenes. Some animals like one horned animal, often called the unicorn has depicted, which seems to be a mythical composite creature. In some, a cross legged depiction of photo-shiva, an early form of the Hindu deity is also seen.

Archeological sites are formed through production, use and discarding of materials and structures. Archaeologists detect traces of ancient materials found in layers, which differs from one another in colour, texture and artefacts. The study of these layers is called stratigraphy. Artefacts found in layers can be assigned to specific cultural periods.

REM Wheeler took over as the Director General of the ASI in 1944. He recognised that it was necessary to follow stratigraphy of the mound rather than digging mechanically along uniform horizontal lines. Moreover, as an ex-army brigadier, he brought with him military precision to the practice of archaeology.

The Brahmanas composed the Sanskrit texts known as Dharmasutras. These laid down the norms for rulers as well as for other social categories. Rulers were advised to collect taxes and tributes from cultivators, traders and artisans.

The Magadha region was specially productive and had iron mines which provided resources for tools and weapons. 
Elephants, an important component of the army, were also found in the forest region. 

Initially, Rajagaha was the capital of Magadha. The name means house of the king, Later in the fourth century, the capital was shifted to Patliputra, present day Patna, commanding routes of communication along the Ganga.

• The five major political centres of the Mauryan empire - Pataliputra, Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosali, and Suvarnagiri had an array of inscriptions written by Ashoka.

  • This statement is incorrect. While Ashoka's inscriptions were found across the Mauryan Empire, not all five of these political centres had them. Ashokan inscriptions have been found in places like Taxila and Suvarnagiri, but there are no major inscriptions found in Pataliputra (the capital of the empire) or Ujjayini.

• The provincial centres of Taxila and Ujjayini were carefully chosen because of strategic importance, while Suvarnagiri was important for tapping coal mines of Karnataka.

  • This statement is partially incorrect. Taxila and Ujjayini were indeed chosen for their strategic importance as they were located on key trade and communication routes. However, Suvarnagiri was important for its gold mines, not coal mines, as Karnataka is known for its ancient gold resources.

In the accounts of Megasthenes we can find about the importance of the army and its division into 6 different sub-committees for coordinating military activity.

Of these, one looked after the navy, second after transport, third was responsible for foot soldiers, fourth for horses, fifth for chariots and sixth for elephants.

A chief was a powerful man whose functions included performing special rituals, leadership in warfare and arbitrating disputes. He received gifts from subordinates and often distributed them amongst his supporters.

During the fourth century, many large states depended on the Samantas who men as well as controlled resources like land.  They offered homage and provided military support to rulers.

The Jatakas were stories originated from popular oral tales and were written in Pali around the middle of the first millennium. A famous story is Gandatindu Jatakas which describes the plight of a wicked king.

A gahapati was the owner, master of a household and exercise control over the women, children, sales. He was also the owner of resources like land and animals. Sometimes the term was used as a marker of the status of men belonging to the urban elite like wealthy merchants.

Prabhavati Gupta was the daughter of one of the most important rulers in early Indian history ChandraGupta II and was married into the ruling family of the Vakatakas.

According to legal texts, women were not supposed to have independent access to resources like land. However, Prabhavati had access to land, as she was a queen and her situation was exceptional there.

An agrahara was land granted to a Brahaman, who was usually exempted from paying land revenue and other due to the king and was often given the rich to collect these dues from the local people.

James Prinsep was able to decipher Asokan Brahmi in 1838. He was an English scholar, orientalist and antiquary. He was the founding editor of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and is best remembered for deciphering the Kharosthi and Brahmi scripts of ancient India

The Brhamanical practice from 1000 BCE onwards was to classify people in terms of gotras. Each gotra was named after a Vedic seer and all those who belong to the same gotra were regarded as his descendants.
A rule of gotra was the case where a woman was expected to give up her father’s gotta and adopt that of her husband on marriage.

The correct answer is 1,2 and 3.

The Subsidiary Alliance System was a method used by the British East India Company to expand its dominion and control over the Indian subcontinent. This method was devised by Lord Wellesley, British Governor-General in India from 1798 to 1805.

1. The British would be responsible for protecting their ally from external threats: This is true. Under the Subsidiary Alliance, the British promised to protect the Indian ruler from any external or internal threats in exchange for their compliance to the British rule.
2. In the territory of the ally, a British armed contingent would be stationed: This is also true. A key aspect of the Subsidiary Alliance was the stationing of British troops within the allied ruler's territory. This was done ostensibly for the ruler's protection, but it also served to keep the ruler under control and prevent any revolt against the British.
3. The ally could not enter into agreement with other rules except on the persomissin of the British: Again, this is true. The Subsidiary Alliance prohibited the Indian rulers from establishing diplomatic relations with any other state, or engage in any political or military action without the prior approval of the British. This was a means of ensuring the rulers' dependency on the British and preventing any alliances against them.
In conclusion, the Subsidiary Alliance system was a key strategy used by the British to exert control over the Indian rulers, effectively reducing them to puppet rulers under the British control.

One of the most ambitious projects of scholarship began in 1919 under Inda

Mahabharata:

• The Mahabharata is an important source of information on the development of Hinduism between 400 BCE and 200 CE.
• It is regarded by Hindus as both a text about dharma (Hindu moral law) and a history.
• Appearing in its present form about 400 CE, the Mahabharata consists of a mass of mythological and didactic material arranged around a central heroic narrative that tells of the struggle for sovereignty between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas (sons of Dhritarashtra, the descendant of Kuru) and the Pandavas (sons of Pandu).
• The poem is made up of almost 100,000 couplets divided into 18 parvans, or sections.
• Its authorship is traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyasa, who appears in the work as the grandfather of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Hence, Statement 1 is correct.

Critical Edition of the Mahabharata

• One of the most ambitious projects of scholarship began in 1919, under the leadership of a noted Indian Sanskritist, V.S. Sukthankar. Hence, Statement 2 is correct.
• A team comprising dozens of scholars initiated the task of preparing a critical edition of the Mahabharata.
• Initially, it meant collecting Sanskrit manuscripts of the text, written in a variety of scripts, from different parts of the country.
• Ultimately, they selected the verses that appeared common to most versions and published these in several volumes, running into over 13,000 pages.
• The project took 47 years to complete. Hence, Statement 2 is correct.
• There were several common elements in the Sanskrit versions of the story, evident in manuscripts found all over the subcontinent, from Kashmir and Nepal in the north to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south.

The Karachi session was presided over by Sardar Patel. The congress adopted a resolution on Fundamental rights and economic policy. It was later known as the Karachi resolution. Some important aspects include - 
Basic civil rights of freedom of speech, freedom of press, equality before law, elections based on universal adult franchise, protection of minorities,