History

Rakhigarhi is in Hisar district of Haryana. It is one of the largest Harappan sites in India.
Do not confuse it with Kalibangan (Rajasthan) or Lothal/Dholavira (Gujarat).

S.N. Roy wrote 'The Story of Indian Archaeology' (1961), a history of archaeological work in India.
R.D. Banerji and D.R. Sahni are remembered as excavators of Mohenjodaro and Harappa, not as authors of this book.

A stupa has the anda (dome), the harmika (balcony-like structure on top), the yashti (mast) with chhatri (umbrella), a railing and gateways (toranas).
The garbhagriha (sanctum where the main image is kept) belongs to a Hindu temple, not to a stupa.

Hidimba was a rakshasa woman who fell in love with Bhima; she married him and their son was Ghatotkacha.
The story is used in NCERT to show that the epic included marriages outside the Brahmanical norms.

The Junagarh (Girnar) inscription of the Shaka ruler Rudradaman (2nd century CE) records that he repaired the Sudarshana lake, an artificial reservoir first built in Mauryan times, after it was damaged by storms and floods.

The Dashavatara temple at Deogarh is in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh. It is an early stone temple of the Gupta age with sculpted panels such as Vishnu reclining on Shesha.

Ashoka was the first ruler to inscribe his messages (dhamma, instructions to officials) on rocks and polished pillars across his empire, mostly in Prakrit in the Brahmi script.

Ibn Battuta's travel book, written in Arabic, is the Rihla.
The Badshahnama is the official history of Shah Jahan's reign written by Abdul Hamid Lahori.
The other three statements are true: he was from Tangier (Morocco), trained in Sharia and had performed the Haj.

Bernier believed that in Mughal India the emperor owned all land (crown ownership), so there was no private property.
According to him this stopped landholders from improving land, ruined peasants and towns, and made the king a ruler of beggars and barbarians.
So R is the reason Bernier gives for A.

Ibn Battuta was Moroccan, Bernier was French (a doctor), Duarte Barbosa was Portuguese and Niccolao Manucci was Italian (Venetian). Only (b) is matched correctly.

Mirabai was a saguna devotee: she worshipped Krishna in a personal form as her lover/husband. So A is wrong.
Her songs, passed on orally, have inspired people, especially the poor and women, for centuries – R is correct.

Guru Nanak (1st Guru, 1469–1539) → Guru Arjan Dev (5th, compiled the Adi Granth in 1604) → Guru Har Kishan (8th) → Guru Gobind Singh (10th, founded the Khalsa in 1699).

Vijayanagara was founded in 1336 by the brothers Harihara and Bukka of the Sangama dynasty. The Hiriya canal, fed by a dam on the Tungabhadra, was built by the Sangama kings.
Order of dynasties: Sangama → Saluva → Tuluva → Aravidu.

Polaj was land cultivated every year without being left fallow – the best class.
Parauti was left fallow for a short time, chachar for 3–4 years and banjar for 5 years or more.

The Permanent Settlement was introduced in 1793 when Charles Cornwallis was Governor-General. It fixed the revenue demand on zamindars permanently.
Thomas Munro is linked with the ryotwari system in the south.

The British introduced western education through English-medium schools, colleges and universities, banned sati (1829) and in fact legalised widow remarriage (1856). So (iv) is false.
Many Indians saw these reforms as interference with their customs – one cause of the Revolt of 1857.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pathan leader of the North-West Frontier Province, led the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgars and was a close follower of Gandhiji, hence 'Frontier Gandhi'.

Hansa Mehta of Bombay demanded social, economic and political justice for women and rejected reserved seats or separate electorates for them.
Khandekar spoke for depressed castes and Jaipal Singh for tribals.

Dr. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee.
The President of the Assembly was Dr. Rajendra Prasad; the Objectives Resolution was moved by Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 December 1946; Gandhiji was not a member.

Kunwar Singh, a zamindar of Arrah (Bihar), led the revolt there.
Correct pairs otherwise: Jhansi – Rani Lakshmi Bai; Delhi – Bahadur Shah Zafar; Awadh (Lucknow) – Birjis Qadr / Begum Hazrat Mahal (Wajid Ali Shah had already been deposed).

Francis Buchanan was a Scottish physician who served Lord Wellesley, founded the Calcutta zoo (the Alipore zoo) and surveyed the districts under the Company's Bengal Presidency, recording land, rocks, people and trade.

Points that earn marks (any three):
1. Harappan cities were carefully planned urban centres; the drainage system is the clearest proof.
2. Roads and streets were laid out roughly in a grid pattern, crossing at right angles.
3. Streets with drains seem to have been laid out first, and houses were built along them afterwards.
4. Every house had at least one wall on the street so that its domestic waste water could flow into the street drain.
5. Drains were covered, made of bricks with proper gradient, and had inspection holes/soak pits – which needed planning and regular maintenance.

Points (any three):
1. Seals and sealings helped communication over long distances in trade.
2. A bag of goods was tied with rope and wet clay was put on the knot; one or more seals were pressed on it, leaving an impression (the sealing).
3. If the bag reached its destination with the sealing unbroken, it meant the goods had not been tampered with.
4. The sealing also told who the sender was (identity/authority).
5. Many seals carry an animal motif and a short line of the (undeciphered) script, perhaps the owner's name or title.

Points (any three, with examples):
1. Its growth did not stop with the Sanskrit text; versions were written in many languages over centuries through dialogue between communities and authors.
2. Stories that began in particular regions or among certain groups were added to the epic.
3. The central story was retold in different ways by different people.
4. Episodes were shown in sculpture and painting.
5. It gave themes to performing arts – plays, dance and other forms of storytelling – that continue today.
6. It combines a narrative (story) part with a didactic part (social rules), e.g. the Bhagavad Gita.
A common mistake: only summarising the story of the epic – the question is about how the text changed and spread.

Points (any three):
1. A striking feature of these traditions was the presence of women devotees.
2. Their compositions were widely sung and are still sung today.
3. Andal, a woman Alvar, expressed her love for Vishnu as a beloved; her verses are popular.
4. Karaikkal Ammaiyar, a devotee of Shiva, followed the path of extreme asceticism to reach her goal.
5. These women renounced their social obligations (married life, household) and did not join any religious order – a challenge to patriarchal norms.

Points (any three):
1. The Chishtis adopted local languages to reach ordinary people; in Delhi the Chishti silsila conversed in Hindavi, the people's language.
2. Baba Farid composed verses in the local language, and these were included in the Guru Granth Sahib.
3. Long poems (masnavis) were written expressing love for God through the allegory of human love.
4. Short poems in Dakhani (a form of Urdu) were composed around Bijapur, Karnataka – e.g. chakkinama (sung while grinding grain) and charkhanama (while spinning) by women.

Points (any three):
1. Written in Arabic in simple, lucid language.
2. A large text divided into 80 chapters.
3. Covers many subjects – religion and philosophy, festivals, astronomy, alchemy, manners and customs, social life, weights and measures, iconography, laws, metrology.
4. Each chapter follows a set pattern: it begins with a question, then gives a description based on Sanskrit (Brahmanical) texts, and ends with a comparison with other cultures.
5. The geometric structure is probably linked to his mathematical training; it was meant for readers in regions along the frontiers of the subcontinent.

Points (any three):
1. The war stopped cotton supplies from America, so Britain turned to India; exporters and sahukars in the Deccan readily gave ryots advances to grow cotton.
2. Sahukars also gave long-term loans; cotton acreage expanded quickly.
3. A few rich peasants did gain from the boom, but for most ryots more cotton meant heavier debt.
4. When the war ended (1865) and American cotton returned, demand and prices fell; credit dried up.
5. Revenue demand was also raised, so ryots could not pay; debts mounted and this discontent led to the Deccan Riots of 1875.

Points (any three):
1. Nationalist art and literature presented the Rani of Jhansi as a heroic figure leading the fight against oppressive British rule.
2. Heroic poems and ballads were written about her courage; the famous poem by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan says she fought like a man ('khoob ladi mardani…').
3. Paintings and popular prints show her in battle armour on horseback, sword in one hand and reins in the other – a masculine, warrior image.
4. She became a symbol of determination and resistance that inspired later nationalists.

Points (any eight):
1. The stupa stands on a hill at Sanchi Kanakhera (near Bhopal) and is one of the most wonderful ancient buildings in India.
2. 19th-century Europeans were very interested in it.
3. The French asked Shahjehan Begum for permission to take away the eastern gateway for display in a museum in France.
4. The English also wanted to remove it to England.
5. The Begum refused; both were satisfied with carefully prepared plaster-cast copies, so the original stayed in place.
6. The rulers of Bhopal – Shahjehan Begum and her successor Sultan Jehan Begum – gave money for its preservation.
7. Sultan Jehan Begum funded a museum and a guest house at the site; John Marshall dedicated his volumes on Sanchi to her.
8. Unlike Amaravati, Sanchi escaped the eyes of railway contractors, builders and collectors who carried away stones.
9. Wise decisions of the Begums and this good fortune meant the stupa survived largely intact.
10. Today it is a major archaeological site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site that tells us much about early Buddhism.

Points (any eight):
1. Alongside Mahayana Buddhism, new forms of worship grew which we call Puranic Hinduism.
2. Vaishnavism – worship of Vishnu as the chief deity.
3. Shaivism – worship of Shiva as the chief god.
4. Worship was based on bhakti: a bond of love and devotion between the deity and the worshipper.
5. In Vaishnavism the idea of avatars (incarnations) developed; ten avatars were recognised.
6. It was believed that whenever disorder and evil grew on earth, the deity took an avatar to restore order and protect people.
7. Different avatars were popular in different regions; recognising local deities as forms of Vishnu helped integrate local traditions.
8. Shiva was usually shown as the linga, though sometimes in human form.
9. Deities in human form carried symbols – headdresses, ornaments, weapons, seated postures – that conveyed complex ideas.
10. Stories about the gods were collected in the Puranas, in simple Sanskrit meant to be heard by everyone, including women and shudras; temples (e.g. Deogarh) were built to house images.

Apogee (any four):
1. The empire reached its height under Krishnadeva Raya (Tuluva dynasty, ruled 1509–29).
2. He expanded and consolidated the empire – he acquired the land between the Tungabhadra and Krishna (Raichur doab, 1512), subdued the rulers of Orissa (1514) and defeated the Sultan of Bijapur (1520).
3. The amara-nayaka system – military chiefs given territory to govern in return for troops and revenue – strengthened control.
4. The period was one of peace and prosperity; he built fine temples and added impressive gopurams, and founded a suburb, Nagalapuram.
Fall (any four):
5. After his death in 1529 strains appeared in the imperial structure; his successors were troubled by rebellious nayakas.
6. Rama Raya of the Aravidu family became very powerful and ambitious.
7. He tried to play one Deccan Sultan against another.
8. The Sultans saw through this, united, and defeated his army at the battle of Rakshasi-Tangadi (Talikota) in 1565.
9. The victorious armies sacked the city of Vijayanagara, which was abandoned within a few years; the capital shifted east and the Aravidu rulers continued from Penukonda and Chandragiri.

Points to be covered (assessed as a whole):
1. The royal centre lay in the south-western part of the settlement and had over 30 building complexes identified as palaces and more than 60 temples – showing that the patronage of temples was important to rulers.
Mahanavami Dibba:
2. A massive platform on one of the highest points of the city, rising from a base of about 11,000 sq. ft to a height of about 40 ft; it probably carried a wooden structure.
3. Rituals of the Mahanavami festival (linked with Dussehra/Durga Puja/Navaratri) were held here.
4. The king displayed his power, status and suzerainty – worship of the image and the state horse, sacrifice of animals, dances, wrestling matches, processions, and receiving tribute from nayakas.
Lotus Mahal:
5. One of the most beautiful buildings, named so by British travellers in the 19th century; it may have been a council chamber where the king met his advisers.
Hazara Rama temple:
6. A spectacular temple probably meant only for the king and his family; the images in the central shrine are missing but panels on the walls survive, including scenes from the Ramayana on the inner walls.
Others:
7. A building called the 'elephant stables' near the Lotus Mahal; the 'King's Palace' enclosure with audience hall; tanks and channels (e.g. from Kamalapuram tank) supplied water.

Reasons (any four):
1. The salt law was among the most disliked laws in British India.
2. The state had a monopoly over the manufacture and sale of salt.
3. Salt is used in every household, rich or poor.
4. Indians were forbidden to make salt even for their own use and had to buy it at high prices from shops.
5. This unpopular monopoly could unite all sections against British rule, so Gandhiji chose it; the march began from Sabarmati on 12 March 1930 and reached Dandi on 6 April.
Outcomes (any four):
6. Salt was made along the coast in defiance of the law; parallel marches took place in many parts of India.
7. The march brought Gandhiji to world attention; it was widely covered by the European and American press.
8. It was the first nationalist activity in which women participated in large numbers.
9. It made the British realise that their rule would not last for ever and that they had to give some power to Indians – leading to the Round Table Conferences and the Gandhi–Irwin Pact.

Causes (any four):
1. The British involved India in the Second World War without consulting Indians, and refused to promise independence after the war.
2. Talks between the Congress and Viceroy Linlithgow broke down and the Congress ministries resigned (1939).
3. The Cripps Mission (1942) failed to satisfy the Congress.
4. Politics became a three-way struggle between the Congress, the Muslim League and the British.
5. War-time shortages and rising prices caused unrest among the masses.
Events (any four):
6. The movement began in August 1942 (Bombay session, 8–9 August); Gandhiji gave the mantra 'Do or die'.
7. Gandhiji and other leaders were jailed at once, but it became a genuine mass movement – common people rose against the Raj.
8. Young people and students joined in large numbers; strikes and acts of sabotage took place; underground activists such as Jayaprakash Narayan were active; 'independent' governments were set up in Satara and Medinipur.
9. The British used force: thousands were arrested, civil rights were suppressed and freedom of speech curbed.
10. Though crushed in a year, it showed the British that they would have to leave India; in 1945 the Labour government in Britain committed itself to independence.

(i) The Arthashastra is traditionally ascribed to Kautilya (Chanakya), minister of Chandragupta Maurya.
(ii) Forest guards and their helpers traced herds by following the course of urine and dung left by the elephants, using 5–7 tame female elephants to help tether wild ones.
(iii) Two points: elephants were the 'tanks' of ancient warfare and an important part of the army, so capturing and training them raised the empire's military strength; the Mauryas maintained a huge standing army with about 9,000 elephants (Greek accounts), and the state controlled elephant forests for this purpose.

(i) Cash means payment in money – metal currency (rupaya) – rather than in grain (kind).
(ii) The amil-guzar was the Mughal revenue collector: he assessed the revenue due and collected it from peasants, preferably in cash but also in kind.
(iii) Lang batai: (1) the grain was cut and made into heaps; (2) the heaps were divided between the parties by agreement and each party took its share home and used it for profit.

(i) Separate electorates: a political arrangement (begun in 1909) under which certain minorities, e.g. Muslims, elected their own representatives through separate constituencies, voted only by members of that community – meant to give them a voice in government.
(ii) Patel believed separate electorates would keep minorities always as minorities, isolated from the rest; they had already divided the country, so only unity could build a strong nation.
(iii) Two points: the British introduced them for their own convenience of administration – a policy of divide and rule that laid the base for dividing communities; this led to communal politics and Partition, and continuing it would endanger the unity of independent India.

Location hints:
• Mathura – western Uttar Pradesh, on the Yamuna, south of Delhi.
• Rajgir – southern Bihar, south-east of Patna.
• Chandragiri – southern Andhra Pradesh near Tirupati.
• Delhi – on the Yamuna, between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
(ii) A is Meerut, where the revolt began on 10 May 1857; B is Gwalior, where Rani Lakshmi Bai and Tantia Tope fought the British in 1858.
Tip: mark places with a dot and write the name on the line, as asked.