Ques 1: Why are Buddhist Stupas said to be stories in stone? Explain.
Ans: Stupas were built of stones bricks. Buddha encouraged building Stupas to mark some events or places associated with Buddhism. The first Buddhist Council, Buddha's first miracle, his first sermon, his nirvana all these events are marked by Stupas. Their shape also reminds the people of the universality of Buddha.
Ques 2: Mention any two sources to know about Bhakti and Sufi traditions from eight century to eighteenth century.
Ans: The sources for Bhakti movement are the autobiographical or biographical writings of saint poets, the qavvals. And love poems by the Sufi poets are the source for Sufi Movement.
Sources of Bhakti Movement: Autobiographical or biographical writings of saint poets, the qavvals.
Source of sufi movement: Have poems by sufi poets.
Ques 3: Name the fortification of East India Company in Madras. Mention any one feature of it.
Ans: The fortification of Madras by British is known as St. George. There were two settlements called White Town and Black Town in this fort.
Ques 4: Early Harappan archaeologists thought that certain objects which seems unusual and unfamiliar may have had a religious significance? Substantiate.
Ans: The early Harappan archaeologists thought that anything unusual or unfamiliar had a religious significance. The terracotta figurines of women found in Harappa were thought to be of mother goddess. The men figures were thought to be of priest kings. The great bath was considered as a place of ritual.
A figure sitting cross legged was called yogi or Pashupatinath by some. Conical objects found were termed as lingas. Even the script has trident or plants which was given religious significance. So that Harappan archeologists relate the things and make religious significance.
Ques 5: How was the fate of Amravati stupa different from the Sanchi stupa? Explain.
Ans: Amravati Stupa was grand in architecture but Amaravati has been invaded by many dynasties and after the decline of Mauryas it was vandalised and was in ruins. Sanchi Stupa was renovated a number of times and was well looked after by the Nababs especially Shah Jehan Begum.
Ques 6: Highlight the contribution of Krishnadeva Ray a in the expansion of Vijayanagar Empire.
Ans: Krishnadeva Raya was the most powerful of the Vijayanagara kings. He defeated the Adilshah of Bijapur, Golkonda and the Raja of Odisha. He was a kind but ruthless administrator and a very able general who fought along with his soldiers. He himself was a poet. He encouraged artists. The great mathematician Nilkantha was encouraged by him. Vijayanagara was at its peak in his times.
Ques 7: Mughal rulers efficiently assimilated heterogeneous populace within an imperial edifice? Support the statement.
Ans: Mugal rulers efficiently assimilated heterogenous populace with imperial edifice.
In the reign of Akbar, every department of the state was improved. The provincial governments were allowed initiative and were allowed to take decision for the locals. The emperor maintained contacts with all parts of his empire. He tried to blend all the heterogeneous groups into a whole. The revenue department was divided in many provinces to make it effective.
Ques 8: What was Damin-i-Koh? Why did Santhals resist against Britishers during eighteenth century? Give three reasons.
Ans: Damin E koh was the name given to the forested hilly areas which are now in Jharkhand.
The Santhals, who were settled m Damin E koh, were roused to revolt by two Santhal leaders against the British colonists and the zamindars. The objective was to collect taxes. It was also an attempt to establish Santhal identity which in later years paved way for their own province.
Ques 9: With the help of specific examples examine the nature of Indian leadership that emerged against the British in the revolt 1857.
Ans: The nature of Indian leadership in 1857:
Bahadur Shah was accepted by the rebels as a leader in 1857 who was old and without any ambition. Bakht Khan was in the Company but after revolt he joined them and built an army of the Rohilas. Nana Saheb was denied his right to be Peshwa and all his attempts had failed so he expelled British and declared himself Peshwa.
He joined the revolt. Rani was ordered to leave Jhansi but she refused and fought bravely and died. All these were forced to enter the revolt. The sepoys who started the revolt were leaderless and indisciplined. Amanu Ila Khan preached Jehad and the mutineers elected him as their leader. He was believed to have magical powers. There was lack of planning and coordination in these leaders.
Ques 10: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:
Arya Samaj, A North Indian Hindu reform organisation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly active in Punjab (tried to bring back Hindus who had converted to some other religion) which sought to revive Vedic learning and combine it with modern education in the sciences?.
Illustrate how the values integrated with the rich Indian literature paved way for the scientific development of modern India.
Ans: Arya Samaj was a reformist movement started by Swami Dayananda Sarswati. His message was very clear. He advised the people to go back to Vedas. According to him the true Dharma was in the Vedas. His book Satyarthprakash became very popular. He said that idol worship, rituals, child marriage, Sad were not in the Vedas so he advised to discard them. He wanted people to educate the girl child.
Arya Samaj gave big amounts in donation to the field of education. This was a sort of renaissance movement. This helped in the spread of education. He opposed the caste system also because it was not in the Vedas. This encouraged the reformers like Ram Mohan Roy, Devendranath Tagore, and Jyotiba Phule... Going, back to the Vedas, the most ancient of Indian scriptures led to a new awakening which was again boosted by Brahmo Samaj of Keshav Chandra Sen, Swami Vivekananda and his Ramkrishna Mission.
Derozio, Michael Dutt, Romesh Dutt, Toru Dutt, and other English educated turned to the themes in the rich Indian literature which paved the way for a new awakened India.
Ques 11: Analyse the role of Zamindars during the Mughal period.
Or
Examine how were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Ans: Role of Zamindars during the Mughal period: The zamindars were holders of huge land properties. Most of them were related to the royal families. They were given the right to collect revenue from the ryot. They had to pay a fixed amount to the state. The remaining amount remained with them.
The Mughal rulers were not very friendly with them but they allowed them to prosper. The Zamindars collected revenue from the peasants who were the owners of the land. The zamindars collected the revenue and sometimes gave wrong accounts to the administrators and amassed money. Like the feudal lords they also sometimes had their own private armies and held courts to decide the matters in their jurisdiction.
Or
The forest dwellers lived in harmony with the nature. They collected their needs from the forests in a balanced way. The states and urban dwellers had their eyes on the wealth of the forests. In the beginning they bartered with the forest dwellers like Bhil and Santhals. Later they invaded the forest lands for elephants, ivory and other things. Some forest dwellers opposed and they raised their armies to protest.
By sixteenth century some of them became monarchs and that changed the lives of the forest people. There were tribal kingdoms. The city dwellers brought their culture into the forest. Forest products like honey, ivory and animal skins had export value which gave rise to greed. The Santhals had to revolt against the British to establish their rights.
Ques 12: What does Ashokan inscriptions tell about the Mauryas? Describe the limitations of the inscriptional evidences.
Or
State any three features of Mahajanpadas. How did Magadha become the powerful Mahajanpada? Explain.
Ans: Ashokan inscriptions about the Mauryas: The Ashokan inscriptions tell about the Mauryan time 269 BCE to 232 BCE. The pillars are scattered in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. They are mostly about Buddhism which was prevalent in this subcontinent. They tell about the dharma, social and moral values, about Ashoka's efforts to spread Buddhism. Ashoka refers to himself as Devanam Piya. His conversion to Buddhism, his advice to the monks and people and the ideas about morals are the major themes.
The limitations of these inscriptions:
We do not know much about the times as the themes are limited.
We have no way of knowing whether the reforms given in the edicts were brought into practice.
Or
Three features of Mahajanapada:
There were sixteen of them.
Two of them were republics and the rest of them were monarchies.
They were named after the Kshatriya tribe who had settled therein like Gandhara Kosala etc.
These Janapadas were settled before the Buddhist era.
Except Magadha, there is no connected history of any mahajanapada.
B) Magadhas was the most prominent Mahajanpadas. Magadha was the most prominent. The confluence of rivers made its land fertile. There were deposits of iron which were used by Magadhans to make powerful weapons. They had agrarian economy which was supported by the military strength. Patliputra was its capital. Its location was convenient for trade. It prospered in trade, and gradually emerged as the most powerful mahajanapada.
Ques 13: Within the Constituent Assembly of India the language issue was intensely debated? Examine the views put forward by the members of the Assembly on this issue.
Or
How did the Constituent Assembly of India protect the powers of the Central Government? Explain.
Ans: The language issue was intensely debated in the Constituent Assembly.
Language issue has been very hot in India. In India besides the languages included in the eighth schedule there are several languages. And the speakers of all those languages are very proud of their languages.
Before independence there was consensus among the national leaders that Hindi should be the national language of Independent India. Mahatma Gandhi was for Hindi in Devnagari script. After Independence the Constituent Assembly was equally divided between English and Hindi. At the time of independence only one percent of Indians knew English but still it had been the language of the administration as the language of the rulers. It was President Dr. Rajendra Prasad's vote which decided that Hindi would be the national language of India.
In the debate Mr. Dhulekar argued in favour of Hindi. Mr. Frank Antony spoke in favour of English. He said that English was his mother tongue and it could not be called a foreign language.
Many members took part in the debate. Hindi is no doubt a language of a big majority. Members argued that it was the lingua franca when people from different parts of India communicated with each other. There were references to Urdu which was to be the national language of Pakistan. The members said in Uttar Pradesh the court proceedings were in Urdu. Some member like Pandit Mitra talked in favour of Sanskrit also.
At one point Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was irritated. He was English educated. Most of his books were penned in English. He favoured Hindi.
Frank Antony said that he had been familiar with Hindi and he had no problem with it. He talked proudly about English. He felt that to communicate with the world we need English. He strongly felt that English was one of the Indian languages. South Indian members were in favour of English. They opposed Hindi.
Krishnammachari gave a warning on behalf of the people of South against imposition of Hindi.
It was decided that English would continue till Hindi takes its place.
The official communication from the government would be in both the languages.
Or
The powers of State Governments and Central Government were also debated in the Constituent Assembly.
A member from Mysore had fears that the powers would be with Central Government only.
Another member from Madras felt that the provincial governments must have full power to look after the welfare of their states.
The Constituent Assembly prepared three lists.
The first list was called the Union list in which tax, defence and foreign affairs were main, was exclusively for Central Government.
The second list was State list in which education, health were the main issues was to be looked after by the states.
The third list was a Concurrent list in which forest agriculture were main, were to be jointly looked States and the Central Government In this way the Constituent Assembly protected the powers of the Central Government.
Ques 14: Read the following except carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Draupadi's Marriage
Drupada, the king of Panchala, organised a competition where the challenge was to string a bow and hit a target; the winner would be chosen to marry his daughter Draupadi. Arjuna was victorious and was garlanded by Draupadi. The Pandavas returned with her to their mother Kunti, who, even before she saw them, asked them to share whatever they had got. She realised her mistake when she saw Draupadi but her command could not be violated.
After much deliberation, Yudhisthira decided that Draupadi would be their common wife. When Drupada was told about this, he protested. However, the seer Vyasa arrived and told him that the Pandavas were in reality incarnations of lndra, whose wife had been reborn as Draupadi, and they were thus destined for each other.
Vyasa added that in another instance a young woman had prayed to Shiva for a husband, and id her enthusiasm, had prayed five times instead of once. This woman was now reborn as Draupadi, and Shiva had fulfilled her prayers. Convinced by these stories, Drupada consented to the marriage.
(i) How does this story reveal that mother was considered as the highest guru?
(ii) Why didn't Kunti save Draupadi from the dire situation?
(iii) Why did Drupada and Sage Vyasa decide Draupadi?s strange marriage with five men?
Ans: (i) After Arjuna won the archery contest, Draupadi garlanded him. The Pandavas returned with her to their mother who asked them to share whatever they had brought without looking at them. They accepted her command because they regarded her as their greatest guru.
(ii) Kunti could not save Draupadi from that situation because the command had been given and it could not be violated.
(iii) Vyasa gave two explanations. One was that all the Pandavas were incarnations of Indra and Draupadi was Indra's wife, and according to another explanation Draupadi in her earlier birth had prayed to Shiva for a husband five times. So Drupada and Vyasa decided that she would be a common wife of all the Pandavas.
Ques 15: Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow:
A warning for Europe
Bernier warned that if European kings followed the Mughal model:
Their kingdoms would be very far from being well-cultivated and peopled, so well built, so rich, so polite and flourishing as we see them. Our kings are otherwise rich and powerful; and we must avow that they are much better and more royally served. They would soon be kings of deserts and solitudes, of beggars and barbarians, such as those are whom I have been representing (the Mughals)... We should find the great Cities and the great Burroughs (boroughs) rendered uninhabitable because of ill air, and to fall to mine (ruin) without any bodies (anybody) taking care of repairing them; the hillocks abandoned, and the fields overspread with bushes, or fill?d with pestilential marishes (marshes), as hath been already intimated.
(i) In what ways did Bernier condemn Mughal rulers?
(ii) What contrasts do the account of Bernier and Abul Fazi's Ain-i-Akbari?
(iii) Pride has its fall if power and negligence of duty rules any one? Explain the statement in relevance to the Bernier's warning.
Ans: (i) Bernier condemns the Mughals as the kings of deserts, solitudes, beggars and barbarians.
(ii) Abul Fazal who was one of the nine gems in the court of Akbar has written in glowing terms about the reign of Akbar, the land, the people and the crops, customs etc. Abul was a scholar and he had first-hand knowledge of India. On the other hand Bernier did not know much about Mughals or India.
(iii) Bernier had noted the decay and he knew that the Mughal empire was on the downward trend. He had witnessed the corruption in the officers of the state and the negligence that is why he felt that the power had its fall if power and negligence of duty rules any one.
Ques 16: Read the following excerpt carefully and answer the questions that follows:
Tomorrow we shall break the salt tax law?
On 5 April 1930, Mahatma Gandhi spoke at Dandi
When I left Sabarmati with my companions for this seaside hamlet of Dandi, I was not certain in my mind that we would be allowed to reach this place. Even while I was at Sabarmati there was a rumour that I might be arrested. I had thought that the Government might perhaps let my party come as far as Dandi, but not me certainly. If someone says that this betrays imperfect faith on my part, I shall not deny the charge.
That I have reached here is in no small measure due to the power of peace and non-violence: that power is universally felt. The Government may, if it wishes, congratulate itself on acting as it has done, for it could have arrested every one of us. In saving that it did not have the courage to arrest this army of peace, we praise it.
It felt ashamed to arrest such an army. He is a civilised man who feels ashamed to do anything which his neighbours would disapprove. The Government deserves to be congratulated on not arresting us, even if it desisted only from fear of world opinion. Tomorrow we shall break the salt tax law. Whether the Government will tolerate that is a different question.
It may not tolerate it, but it deserves congratulations on the patience and forbearance it has displayed in regard to this party........... What if I and all the eminent leaders in Gujarat and in the rest of the country are arrested? This movement is based on the faith that when a whole nation is roused and on the march no leader is necessary.
(CWMG) vol. 49 Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi
(i) Why did Gandhiji started the Dandi March?
(ii) Why was Salt March notable?
(iii) The power of peace and non-violence are universally felt? Why did Gandhiji said so?
Ans: (i) Gandhiji started the Dandi to break the Salt Act.
(ii) Salt march was notable due to the power of peace and non-violence.
(iii) The Govt. did not have the courage to stop the march or arrest all of them and the whole world was watching with wonder. That was the power of peace and nonviolence.
Ques 17: (i) On the given political outline map of India (on page 15), locate and label the following with appropriate symbols:
(a) The place where Gandhiji called off Non Cooperation Movement.
(b) Agra, the imperial capital of Mughal.
(ii) On the same outline map of India, three paces related to the mature Harappa sites have been marked as A, B and C. Identify them and write their correct names on the lines drawn near them.
Ans:
