UPSC Prelims Previous Year Questions 2020: History | History for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Ans: (c)

• Paramita or parami (in Sanskrit and Pali respectively) is a Buddhist term often translated as "perfection".
• In Mahayana Buddhism, the bodhisattva practices the six paramitas, or transcendent perfections which are generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom.
• Parmitas are described in Buddhist commentaries as noble character qualities generally associated with enlightened beings.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

Ans: (c)

• Takshashila became famous as a place of learning due to its teachers’ expertise. Among its noted pupils were the legendary Indian grammarian, Panini. He was an expert in language and grammar and authored one of the greatest works on grammar called Ashtadhyayi (500 BCE).
• The Shunga Empire was an ancient Indian dynasty from Magadha that controlled areas of the central and eastern Indian subcontinent from around 185 to 75 BCE. The dynasty was established by Pushyamitra Shunga, after the fall of the Mauryan Empire. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Amarasimha, a Sanskrit grammarian and poet, is said to have been one of the nine gems that adorned the court of Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) whose reign was around 375 CE. Harshavardhana ruled North India from 606 to 647 CE. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• Kalidasa, the classical Sanskrit author, playwright and dramatist, flourished during the reign of Chandragupta II, and therefore lived around the 4th-5th century CE. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

Ans: (b)

• Aurang: It is persian term for a warehouse where goods are collected before being sold. Hence, pair 1 is not correctly matched.
• Banian: The word Bania (also Vania) is derived from the Sanskrit vanij, meaning ‘a merchant’. The term is widely used to identify members of the traditional mercantile or business castes of India. Banias were bankers, moneylenders, traders, and shopkeepers. During the British rule, Banians acted as intermediaries for European merchants in Bengal. Hence, pair 2 is correctly matched.
• Mirasidar: Under the Ryotwari settlement system in Southern India, the East India Company recognized mirasidars as the sole proprietors of land, dismissing tenants’ rights completely. Mirasidars were prohibited by law from selling their land but it can be leased to tenants for a nominal fee in return for its cultivation. Hence, pair 3 is correctly matched.

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

Ans: (b)

• Mahasanghika, means Great Congregation, was an early Buddhist school of thought which formed after the 2nd Buddhist Council (383 BCE) when it separated itself from another school, the Sthaviravada (Sect of the Elders), over differences in monastic practices (known as Vinaya).
• At the Council, Sthaviravada insisted on more rigorous rules of conduct for the monks, but their suggestions were rejected by the majority at the Council who then referred to themselves as the “Mahasanghikas”.
• The Mahasanghikas’s views on the nature of the Buddha and the arhat (saint) acted as a precursor of Mahayana form of Buddhism. Hence, statement 1 is not correct, while statement 3 is correct.
• Further subdivisions of the Mahasanghikas over the next seven centuries included the Lokottaravadins, the Ekavyavaharikas, and the Kaukkutikas. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

Ans: (c)

• The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a portion of southern India. Pallavas became a major power during the reign of Mahendravarman I (571–630 CE) who ruled the Southern portion of present day Andhra region and Northern regions of what forms present-day Tamil Nadu.
• Pala dynasty reigned in Bihar and Bengal from the 8th to the 12th century. Its founder, Gopala (750-770 CE), was a local chieftain who rose to power in the mid- eighth century during a period of anarchy.
• From the middle of the eighth century the dominance over Madhyadesha became the ambition of two particular clans among tribal people in Rajasthan, known as the Gurjara and the Pratihara. According to a contemporary Arab account from 851 CE, Raja Mihir Bhoja (840–851 CE), the greatest of the Pratihara kings, was among the princes of India that battled against the Arab invaders.
• The Chola Empire was founded by Vijayalaya. The reign of the Cholas began in the 9th century when they defeated the Pallavas to come into power. The medieval period was the era of absolute power and development for the Cholas. Parantaka I (reigned 907– 953) laid the foundation of the kingdom. He took the northern boundary up to Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), where his advance was stopped by a defeat at the hands of the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III. Parantaka was more successful in the south, where he defeated both the Pandyas and the Gangas.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

Ans: (c)

• Hundika or Hundi was a bill of exchange developed as a financial system in Medieval India for use in trade and credit transactions.
• It facilitated easy transmission of money from one part of the country to another.
• By means of hundis, traders created credit which supplemented the money in circulation and financed commerce, particularly long-distance and international trade. The sarrafs (shroffs) who specialized in changing money, also specialised in dealing with hundis.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

Ans: (a)

• In the Gupta era, the terms Kulyavapa, Dronavapa, and Adhavapa were related to land measurements mainly mentioned in the copper plate inscriptions that were found in Bengal.
• These words indicate the area of land that was required to sow seed grains of the weight respectively of one kulya, drona and adhaka. The element “vapa” in the compound “kulyavapa”, derived from the root “vap”, means the act of the act of sowing (throwing or scattering).
• The Midnapore plate of Subhakirtti refers to the gift of 40 dronas of land and one dronavapa of homestead land in the village Kumbharapadraka to a brahmin named Damyasvamin.
• Dronavapa along with its other divisions and multiples such as adhavapa and kulyavapa were also used in the inscriptions of Bengal.
• According to Sanskrit lexicons, a dronavapa was equivalent to one-eight of a kulyavapa and this is also corroborated by epigraphic evidence.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

Ans: (a)
In his Edict XII, Ashoka condemns the practice of elevating one’s own religion at the expense of someone else’s:

• Growth in essentials can be done in different ways, but all of them have as their root restraint in speech, that is, not praising one’s own religion, or condemning the religion of others without good cause. And if there is cause for criticism, it should be done in a mild way. But it is better to honor other religions for this reason.
• By doing so, one’s own religion benefits and so do other religions, while doing otherwise harms one’s own religion and the religions of others.
• Whoever praises his own religion, due to excessive devotion, and condemns others with the thought ‘Let me glorify my own religion’, only harms his own religion. One should listen to and respect the doctrines professed by others.

The edict concludes with the admonition that an individual’s religion grows through Dhamma and so all faiths are improved by tolerance and understanding.
Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

Ans: (a)

• Vidisha (formerly known as Bhelsa and known as Besnagar in ancient times) is a city in the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is located around 60 km northeast of the state capital, Bhopal. Hence, pair 1 is correctly matched.
• Halebidu, previously known as Dorasamudra or Dwarasamudra, the ancient Hoysala capital, houses the ornate Hoysaleswara and Kedareswara temples, and is one of the well-visited tourist attractions of Karnataka state. Hence, pair 2 is not correctly
• matched.
• Girnar, also known as Girinagar (city-on-the-hill) or Revatak Parvata, is a group of mountains in the Junagadh District of Gujarat. This place is sacred to the Jains because it is the place where Lord Niminatha went to attain salvation. Hence, pair 3 is correctly matched.
• Thanesar or Sthanesvara, a historical town, located adjacent to what is now newly created Kurukshetra city in Haryana. Hence, pair 4 is not correctly matched.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

Ans: (a)

• During the ancient period, India had trade and cultural contacts with Egypt, Rome, Greeks, Arabs, China and almost all Southeast Asian countries.
• Both the coasts of India have been studded with a string of ports.
  • The ports on the west coast were Barygaya, Suppara, Calliena, Semylla, Mandagore, Palaepatme, Malizigara, Aurranobbas, Naura, Tyndis, Muziris and Nelcynda.
  • The ports on the east coast were Tamralipti, Charitrapur, Paluru, Dantapur, Kalingapatnam, Pithunda, Sopatma, Ghantasala, Kadura, Poduca, Puhar, Korkai and Camara.
• Inshore explorations have been carried out at Malwan, Sopara, Elephanta island, Chaul, Udyavara, Honnavar, Gopakapatna on the west coast and Manikpatna, Kalingapatna, surrounding region of Poompuhar and Tranquebar on the east coast of India.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

Ans: (b)

• Travelling mendicants were usually called Parivrajaka. They were seekers of truth who did not live permanently at any one place, wandering from place to place. Hence, pair 1 is correctly matched.
• Shramana in sanskrit means “the one who strives” i.e. to realize the truth. Shramanas practiced an ascetic, or strict and self-denying, lifestyle in pursuit of spiritual liberation. They were commonly known as monks. Hence, pair 2 is not correctly matched.
• Up?saka is the Sanskrit and P?li word for “attendant”. This is the title of followers of Buddhism (or, historically, of Gautama Buddha) who are not monks, nuns, or novice monastics in a Buddhist order, and who undertake certain vows. Hence, pair 3 is correctly matched.

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

Ans: (b)

• Rakhmabai (1864-1955) made her mark in history due to the legal case she was involved in, which contributed to the enactment of the Age of Consent Act, 1891.
• In 1885, after 12 years of marriage, her husband sought “restitution of conjugal rights”,
• Rakhmabai was ordered to go live with her husband or spend six months in jail. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• Rakhmabai refused to live with the man she was married to as a child, as she had no
• say in the marriage. Rakhmabai wrote to Queen Victoria. The Queen overruled the court’s verdict and dissolved the marriage.
• The ripples that the case created led to the influence on the passage of the Age of Consent Act, 1891, which made child marriages illegal across the British Empire. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Though Rakhmabai became the first women doctor to practice medicine in British India, the case was not related to the women’s right to gain education. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

Ans: (b)

• Indigo is a blue dye which comes from the indigo plant. During the rule of the East India Company and later during British Raj, it was widely grown in India. It was often called “Blue Gold” and widely traded in European market.
• There was a significant increase in the indigo production in the 18th and 19th centuries in Bengal and Bihar due to increasing demand and production. However, in the beginning of the 20th century, with the invention of synthetic indigo which was cheaper and took less time during production than agricultural indigo, the demand for indigo cultivation in India declined significantly. Synthetic Indigo made natural indigo non- profitable for farmers as well as traders.

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

Ans: (d)

• To train British officials, Fort William College was established by Lord Richard Wellesley, Governor- General of Bengal (1798 to 1805) in 1800. The college aimed to create civil servants who would be familiar with Indian languages, history, culture and local laws.
• Alongside, they would also receive training in Western languages and the art of administration.

Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.

Ans: (d)

• Birsa Munda (1875-1900) was born in the Munda tribe which inhabited the Chotanagpur area Bengal Presidency (Present-day Jharkhand). He is often referred to as ‘Dharti Abba’ or the Earth Father.
• Birsa Munda led the rebellion that came to be known as Ulgulan (revolt) or the Munda rebellion against the British government-imposed feudal state system.
• He awakened the masses and sowed the seeds of revolt in them against the landlords as well as the Britishers.
• His struggle against the exploitation and discrimination against tribals led to the passing of the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act in 1908 which restricted the passing of land from the tribal people to non-tribals.

Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.

Ans: (a)

• The Industrial Revolution brought severe consequences to the Indian society. One of the most important consequences of British Rule was the decline and destruction of urban and rural handicraft industries.
• The discovery of steam power and its practice from the year 1815 created a threat to the Indian textile industry. The inventions of the spinning mule and power loom became more efficient and effective because of steam power. Consequently, it had greatly reduced the cost of British textile and made it internationally competitive.
• To support British textile industry, heavy duties were imposed on the export of Indian textiles. Indian farmers were forced to produce cotton so that it can fuel English factories.
• However, there were some positive effects of the Industrial Revolution also. For example,
  • The introduction of factories and assembly lines,
  • Electricity development,
  • Railroads (First Railway in India: from Bombay to Thane in 1853)
• All these things contributed to faster and more efficient production of goods and materials. But these developments took place mainly in the second half of the 19th century.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

Ans: (a)

• Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar (1869-1912), a close associate of Sri Aurobindo, published a book entitled ‘Desher Katha’ in 1904. The book described in exhaustive detail the British commercial and industrial exploitation of India. The government of Bengal banned the book in 1910 and confiscated all the copies.
• This book had an immense repercussion in Bengal, captured the mind of young Bengal and assisted more than anything else in the preparation of the Swadeshi Movement. Hence, statement 1 and 2 are correct.
• In his book, Deuskar uses ‘desh’ in the context of the whole country. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

Ans: (b)

The Delhi Pact (5 March 1931), also known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, placed the Congress on an equal footing with the government.

• Lord Irwin, the Viceroy and Governor-General of India (1926-1931), on behalf of the British government, agreed with Mahatma Gandhi on the following:
  • immediate release of all political prisoners not convicted of violence; remission of all fines not yet collected;
  • return of all lands not yet sold to third parties;
  • lenient treatment to those government servants who had resigned;
  • right to make salt in coastal villages for personal consumption (not for sale); right to peaceful and non-aggressive picketing; and
  • withdrawal of emergency ordinances.

Hence, statements 2 and 4 are correct.

The viceroy, however, turned down two of Gandhiji’s demands:

• public inquiry into police excesses, and
• commutation of death sentence of Bhagat Singh and his comrades’ to life sentence.

Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

Gandhiji on behalf of the Congress agreed:

• to suspend the civil disobedience movement, and
• to participate in the next Round Table Conference (the first round of conference was already conducted from November 1930 to January 1931) on the constitutional question around the three lynchpins of federation, Indian responsibility, and reservations and safeguards that may be necessary in India’s interests (covering such areas as defence, external affairs, position of minorities, financial credit of India and discharge of other obligations).

Hence, statement 1 is correct.
Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

Ans: (a)

• Gopal Baba Walangkar (1840-1900), also known as Gopal Krishna, was born into a family of the untouchable Mahar caste in Raigad district, Maharashtra.
• He was the first to fight for the rights of the Mahars in Maharashtra.
• He retired from military service in 1886 and mobilized people and made them conscious about their human rights.
• In 1888, Walangkar began publishing the monthly journal titled Vital-Vidhvansak (Destroyer of Brahmanical or Ceremonial Pollution), which was the first to have the untouchable people as its target audience.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.