Test: History - 7 - UPSC MCQ

As each new dynasty came to power, kings wanted to emphasize their moral right to be rulers. They took following steps in this regard - Constructing places of worship provided rulers with the chance to proclaim their close relationship with God, especially important in an age of rapid political change. Temples and mosques were constructed because they were places of worship and were meant to demonstrate the power, wealth and devotion of the patron.

The largest temples were all constructed by kings. These temples served a miniature model of the world ruled by the king and his allies. As they worshipped their deities together in the royal temples, it seemed as if they brought the just rule of the gods on earth. For instance, in Rajarajeshvara temple, an inscription mentions that it was built by King Rajarajadeva for the worship of his god, Rajarajeshvaram. Thus, the king took the god’s name because it was auspicious and he wanted to appear like a god -through the rituals of worship in the temple one god (Rajarajadeva) honoured another (Rajarajeshvaram).

Persian court chronicles described the Sultan as the “Shadow of God”. For instance, an inscription in the Quwwat al-Islam mosque explained that the God chose Alauddin as a king as he had the qualities of Moses and Solomon, the great lawgivers of the past.

Rulers also offered patronage to the learned and pious, and tried to transform their capitals and cities into great cultural centers that brought fame to their rule and their realm.

Kings were expected to care for their subjects, and by making structures for their use and comfort, rulers hoped to win their praise.

Between the eighth and the eighteenth centuries kings and their officers built two kinds of structures:

• The first were forts, palaces, garden residences and tombs – safe, protected and grandiose places of rest in this world and the next;

• The second were structures meant for public activity including temples, mosques, tanks, wells, caravanserais and bazaars.

Trabeate style was used in the construction of temples, mosques, tombs and in buildings attached to large stepped-wells (baolis) between the eighth and thirteenth centuries in India.

Trabeate style of architecture refers to where the roofs, doors and windows are made by placing a horizontal beam across two vertical columns”.

Statement 2 is correct. There are two technological and stylistic developments are noticeable from the twelfth century (since the medieval age) -

• Limestone cement was increasingly used in construction. This was very high-quality cement, which, when mixed with stone chips hardened into concrete. This made construction of large structures easier and faster.

Arcuate style of architecture- In this type of architecture, the weight of the superstructure above the doors and windows was carried by arches.

Statement 1 is correct. In the northern part of the country, the village headman was known as the grama bhojaka. The grama bhojaka was often the largest landowner. Generally, he had slaves and hired workers to cultivate the land. The post was hereditary as usually, men from the same family held the position for generations.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The use of iron began in the subcontinent around 3000 years ago. It was after the Indus Valley Civilization. In the prehistory of the Indian subcontinent, an "Iron Age" is recognized as succeeding the Late Harappan culture.

Stone tools have been used for:

1. Digging the ground to collect edible roots.

2. Stitching clothes made out of animal skin.

3. Some of these stone tools were used to cut meat and bone, scrape bark (from trees) and hides (animal skins), chop fruit and roots.

4. Some may have been attached to handles of bone or wood, to make spears and arrows for hunting.

5. Other tools were used to chop wood, which was used as firewood. Wood was also used to make huts and tools.

List of Neolithic Sites;

1. Koldihwa

2. Mahagara

3. Mehrgarh

4. Paiyampalli

5. Hallui

6. Burzahom

7. Chirand

8. Daojali Hading

Megalithic Sites

1. Adichamallur

2. Brahmagiri

Paleolithic Sites

1. Kurnool caves

2. Hunsgi

Statement 2 is incorrect. The rules made for the Buddhist sangha were written down in a book called the Vinaya Pitaka. According to the rules written in the Vinaya Pitaka, all men, women and children could join the sangha.

However, children had to take the permission of their parents and slaves of their masters. Those who worked for the king had to take his permission and debtors that of creditors. Women had to take their husbands’ permission.

1. Narsi Mehta – 15th century CE. He was a bhakti saint from region belonging to the present-day Gujarat.

2. Basavanna – 12th century CE. He was a bhakti saint from belonging to the present-day Karnataka.

3. Tulsidas – 16th -17th century CE. He was a bhakti saint from belonging to the present-day Uttar Pradesh.

4. Manikkavasagar – 9th Century CE. He was a 9th-century Tamil poet who wrote Tiruvasakam, a book of Shaiva hymns. He was a bhakti saint from belonging to the present-day Tamil Nadu.

Both the statements are correct.

As the rulers of the Mahajanapadas were (a) building huge forts (b) maintaining big armies, they needed more resources. And they needed officials to collect these. So, instead of depending on occasional gifts brought by people, as in the case of the raja of the janapadas, they started collecting regular taxes.

Following taxes were imposed -

• Taxes on crops were the most important. This was because most people were farmers. Usually, the tax was fixed at 1/6th of what was produced. This was known as bhaga or a share.

• There were taxes on crafts persons as well. These could have been in the form of labour. For example, a weaver or a smith may have had to work for a day every month for the king.

• Herders were also expected to pay taxes in the form of animals and animal produce.

• There were also taxes on goods that were bought and sold, through trade.

• The hunters and gatherers also had to provide forest produce to the raja.

• Statement 1 is incorrect: Harappan seals are not the only items where we find Harappan writing. Harappan writing has been found on the variety of objects such as seals, copper tools, rims of jars, copper and terracotta tablets, jewellery, bone rods, even an ancient signboard. Harappan seals usually have a line of writing, probably containing the name and title of the owner. Most inscriptions are short, the longest containing about 26 signs.

• Statement 2 is correct: Although the Harappan script remains undeciphered to date, it was evidently not alphabetical (where each sign stands for a vowel or a consonant) as it has just too many signs – somewhere between 375 and 400. It is apparent that the script was written from right to left as some seals show a wider spacing on the right and cramping on the left, as if the engraver began working from the right and then ran out of space.

Statement 1 is correct. The khanqah was the centre of social life. For instance, Shaikh Nizamuddin’s hospice (c. fourteenth century) on the banks of the river Yamuna in Ghiyaspur, was located on the outskirts of what was then the city of Delhi. It comprised several small rooms and a big hall (jama’at khana) where the inmates and visitors lived and prayed. The inmates included family members of the Shaikh, his attendants and disciples. The Shaikh lived in a small room on the roof of the hall where he met visitors in the morning and evening. A veranda surrounded the courtyard, and a boundary wall ran around the complex.

Statement 2 is correct. A major feature of the Chishti tradition was austerity, including maintaining a distance from worldly power. However, this was by no means a situation of absolute isolation from political power.

Of the groups of sufis who migrated to India in the late twelfth century, the Chishtis were the most influential.

This was because they adapted successfully to the local environment and adopted several features of Indian devotional traditions.

Statement 1 is correct. The Ain was part of a larger project of history writing commissioned by Akbar. This history, known as the Akbar Nama, comprised three books. It was completed in 1598, the forty-second regnal year of the emperor, after having gone through five revisions.

Statement 2 is correct. The Ain-i Akbari was organised as a compendium of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire. It gives detailed accounts of the organisation of the court, administration and army, the sources of revenue and the physical layout of the provinces of Akbar’s empire and the literary, cultural and religious traditions of the people.

Along with a description of the various departments of Akbar’s government and elaborate descriptions of the various provinces (subas) of the empire, the Ain gives us intricate quantitative information of those provinces.

The Neolithic site of Mahagara is located in the Belan Valley, Uttar Pradesh in northeastern India.

Statement 2 is correct. Major findings at Mehrgarh include:

• Remains of square or rectangular houses. Each house had four or more compartments, some of which may have been used for storage.

• Burial Sites - Several burial sites have been found at Mehrgarh. When people die, their relatives and friends generally pay respect to them. People look after them, perhaps in the belief that there is some form of life after death. Burial is one such arrangement. In one instance, the dead person was buried with goats, which were probably meant to serve as food in the next world.

• Archaeologists have found evidence of many kinds of animal bones from the earliest levels. These included bones of wild animals such as the deer and pig. In later levels, they found more bones of sheep and goat, and in still later levels, cattle bones are most common, suggesting that this was the animal that was generally kept by the people.

• Mehrgarh was probably one of the places where women and men learnt to grow barley and wheat, and rear sheep and goats for the first time in this area. It is one of the earliest villages that we know about.

Statement 2 is correct. Rise of urbanization and economy facilitated in up keeping of large standing army and revenue source.

Statement 3 is correct. Advance technology like stone throwing war machine and mace attached chariot facilitated mass destruction. Also access to iron ore helped in advanced weapons. This helped in increasing power of Magadhan army.

Statement 4 is correct. Political marriages strengthened position of Magadhan rulers. Like Bimbisara married daughter of King of Kosala, Lichchhavi princess from Vaishali and daughter of ruler of Madra janapada.

Statement 1 is correct. Puhar was a port city located on the Eastern coast of India.

Puhar was a significant port city since the ancient times as many sea routes began from here. It was one of the many urban centres that emerged in several parts of the subcontinent from c. sixth century BCE were capitals of mahajanapadas. Virtually all of such major towns were located along routes of communication. Some such as Pataliputra were on riverine routes. Others, such as Ujjayini, were along land routes, and yet others, such as Puhar, were near the coast, from where sea routes began. Many cities like Mathura were bustling centres of commercial, cultural and political activity.

Statement 2 is correct. During ancient times, a wide range of goods were carried from one place to another – salt, grain, cloth, metal ores and finished products, stone, timber, medicinal plants, to name a few. Spices, especially pepper, were in high demand in the Roman Empire, as were textiles and medicinal plants, and these were all transported across the Arabian Sea to the Mediterranean.

Lingayats continue to be an important community in the region to date. They worship Shiva in his manifestation as a linga, and men usually wear a small linga in a silver case on a loop strung over the left shoulder. Those who are revered include the jangama or wandering monks.

Option a is correct. Lingayats believe that on death the devotee will be united with Shiva and will not return to this world. Therefore, they do not practise funerary rites such as cremation, prescribed in the Dharmashastras. Instead, they ceremonially bury their dead.

Option b is correct. The Lingayats challenged the idea of caste and the “pollution” attributed to certain groups by Brahmanas.

Option c is incorrect. They questioned the theory of rebirth. It won them followers amongst those who were marginalised within the Brahmanical social order.

Option d is correct. The Lingayats also encouraged certain practices disapproved in the Dharmashastras, such as post-puberty marriage and the remarriage of widows. Our understanding of the Virashaiva tradition is derived from vachanas (literally, sayings) composed in Kannada by women and men who joined the movement.

Pair 2 is incorrectly matched. Mohenjodaro was located close to River Indus.

Pair 3 is correctly matched. Lothal was located on River Sabarmati.

Mesopotamian texts use –

• Magan for Oman

• Meluhha for Harappan Region

• Dilmun for island of Bahrain

Statement 2 is correct. Copper was procured by the Harappan Civilization from Oman, on the south- eastern tip of Arabian Peninsula.

Shortughai was a harappan site near Afghanistan, near the best source of Lapis Lazuli, a blue stone that was apparently very highly valued.

Statement 3 is correct. Harappans communicated with Oman, Bahrain or Mesopotamia by sea. Mesopotamian texts refer to Meluhha as a land of seafarers. Besides, depictions of ships and boats are found on seals.

Many women who entered the Buddhist sangha became teachers of dhamma and went on to become theris, or respected women who had attained liberation.

The Therigatha is a unique Buddhist text, part of the Sutta Pitaka. It is a collection of verses composed by bhikkhunis. It provides an insight into women’s social and spiritual experiences.

Statement 2 is correct. Matanga Jataka, a Pali text, portrays a story where the Bodhisatta (the Buddha in a previous birth) is identified as a chandala, named Matanga.

1. Pair 1 is correctly matched. The ruling class was called arasar. Anthanars played a significant role in the Sangam polity and religion. Vanigars carried on trade and commerce.

2. Pair 2 is incorrectly matched. Ploughmen were called uzhavar.

3. Pair 3 is incorrectly matched. Slaves were called adimai.

It is likely that these differences were based on differential access to land, labour and some of the new technologies. In such a situation, questions of control over land must have become crucial, as these were often discussed in legal texts.

Important administrative reforms introduced by Mohammad-bin Tughlaq were:

• Heavy taxation in the Doab: In the beginning of his reign, the Sultan increased the rate of taxes in the Doab—a very fertile area located between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers.

• Introduction of token currency: Muhammad Tughlaq issued token currency because there was a shortage of gold coins.

• Transfer of the Capital: The plan of the transfer of capital from Delhi to Devagiri which was renamed as Daultabad misfired.

The eighth edition of this bilateral military exercise began on 21 November 2022 in Karawang, Indonesia.

This joint exercise will facilitate both armies to know each other better, and share their wide experiences and combat experience on countering terrorist operations, Regional Security Operations & Peace Keeping Operations in an international environment.

Therefore, option A is correct.

Statement 2 is correct. Vijayanagara or “city of victory” was the name of both a city and an empire. The empire was founded in the fourteenth century. In its heyday it stretched from the river Krishna in the north to the dextreme south of the peninsula.

Statement 3 is correct. No mortar or cementing agent was used in the construction of fortification walls. The stone blocks were wedge shaped, which held them in place and the inner portion of the walls was of earth packed with rubble.

The monarchs appointed military commanders as governors of territories of varying sizes. These lands were called iqta and their holder was called iqtadar or muqti. The duty of the muqtis was to lead military campaigns and maintain law and order in their iqtas. In exchange they collected the revenues of their assignments as salary. They also paid their soldiers from these revenues.

Statement 2 is correct. The Iqta system was introduced in India by Sultan Iltutmish. It was initially transferable but was made hereditary during the reign of Firuz Tughlaq.

Statement 2 is correct. While the number of varnas was fixed at four, there was no restriction on the number of jatis. In fact, whenever Brahmanical authorities encountered new groups – for instance, people living in forests such as the nishadas – or wanted to assign a name to occupational categories such as the goldsmith or suvarnakara, which did not easily fit into the fourfold varna system, they classified them as a jati. Jatis which shared a common occupation or profession were sometimes organized into shrenis or guilds.

• In 2019 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the Complaint Management System (CMS) in order to improve the customer experience in the grievance redressal process of banking services. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• The Scheme defines ‘deficiency in service’ as the ground for filing a complaint, with a specified list of exclusions. Therefore, the complaints would no longer be rejected simply on account of “not covered under the grounds listed in the scheme”. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• The scheme is jurisdiction neutral and a centralised receipt and processing centre has been set up in Chandigarh for the initial handling of complaints in any language. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Buddhist literature mentions several chaityas. It also describes places associated with the Buddha’s life –

Pair 1 is correctly matched. He was born - Lumbini

Pair 2 is incorrectly matched. He attained enlightenment - Bodh Gaya

Pair 3 is correctly matched. He gave his first sermon - Sarnath

Pair 4 is incorrectly matched. He attained nirvana - Kusinagara

Gradually, each of these places came to be regarded as sacred. We know that about 200 years after the time of the Buddha, Asoka erected a pillar at Lumbini to mark the fact that he had visited the place.

• Option a is correct. Brahmanas considered some people as being outside the Varna system and they also developed a sharper social divide by classifying certain social categories as “untouchable”. This rested on a notion that certain activities, especially those connected with the performance of rituals, were sacred and by extension “pure”. Those who considered themselves pure avoided taking food from those they designated as “untouchable”.

• Option b is incorrect. Shudras were part of the Varna System and were given the occupation of servitude to all the other three Varnas viz. – the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas. However, some activities were regarded by the Brahmanas as particularly “polluting”. These included handling corpses and dead animals. Those who performed such tasks, designated as Chandalas, were placed at the very bottom of the hierarchy. Their touch and in some cases even seeing them was regarded as polluting by those who claimed to be at the top of the social order.

• Option c is correct. The Manusmriti laid down the “duties” of the chandalas such as, they had to live outside the village, use discarded utensils, and wear clothes of the dead and ornaments of iron. They could not walk about in villages and cities at night. They had to dispose of the bodies of those who had no relatives and serve as executioners.

• Option d is correct. Chinese Pilgrim Xuan Zang (c. seventh century) observed that executioners and scavengers were forced to live outside the city.

Grains found at Harappan sites include wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea and sesame. Millets are found from sites in Gujarat. Archaeologists have been able to reconstruct dietary practices from finds of charred grains and seeds. The Harappans ate a wide range of plant and animal products, including fish.

Statement 2 is correct.

Animal bones found at Harappan sites include those of cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo and

pig. Studies done by archaeo-zoologists or zooarchaeologists indicate that these animals were domesticated.

Statement 3 is correct.

Representations on seals and terracotta sculpture indicate that the bull was known to the Harappans, and archaeologists extrapolate from this that oxen were used for ploughing. Moreover, terracotta models of the plough have been found at sites in Cholistan and at Banawali (Haryana).

Archaeologists have also found evidence of a ploughed field at Kalibangan (Rajasthan), associated with Early Harappan levels. The field had two sets of furrows at right angles to each other, suggesting that two different crops were grown together.

Other than plough and use of bull, it is also understood that Harappans used irrigation as well. Most Harappan sites are located in semi-arid lands, where irrigation was probably required for agriculture. Traces of canals have been found at the Harappan site of Shortughai in Afghanistan, but not in Punjab or Sind. It is possible that ancient canals silted up long ago. It is also likely that water drawn from wells was used for irrigation. Besides, water reservoirs found in Dholavira (Gujarat) may have been used to store water for agriculture.