History

Shortughai in far north-eastern Afghanistan lies close to the best known deposits of lapis lazuli (Badakhshan). Harappans set up a settlement there to obtain this highly valued blue stone.
Nageshwar and Balakot were centres for shell objects; Manda was near the Himalayan foothills (wood); Rakhigarhi is a large Harappan city in Haryana, not a source of raw material.

Prabhavati Gupta was the daughter of Chandragupta II (Gupta dynasty), not Chandragupta Maurya – so (i) is wrong.
She married into the Vakataka family of the Deccan (ii correct), and her inscriptions show that she granted land (iv correct), which means she had independent access to resources such as land (iii correct).
Common mistake: confusing Chandragupta II with Chandragupta Maurya.

Asoka's inscriptions call him Devanampiya Piyadassi. Buddhist tradition says he redistributed the Buddha's relics to build stupas in important towns. He was the first ruler to inscribe his messages (dhamma) on rocks and polished stone pillars.

The Sushruta Samhita is a classical Sanskrit treatise on medicine and surgery (Ayurveda). Grammar is associated with Panini's Ashtadhyayi; astronomy and mathematics with Aryabhata and others.

Early Buddhist art showed the Buddha through symbols.
Wheel → the first sermon at Sarnath (turning the wheel of dharma) – only option (C) has 2-(iii).
Shalabhanjika (woman holding a tree branch) → an auspicious symbol.
Gajalakshmi (goddess bathed by elephants) → good fortune.
Empty seat → linked with the Buddha's life events (the marking scheme pairs it with mahaparinibbana; NCERT also links it with his meditation).
So the answer is (C).

The image in the paper is the famous standing Buddha from Mathura (Kushana period). Mathura images are of red sandstone, show a sturdy body, thin clinging robe and a calm round face.
Gandhara images show Greek/Roman features (wavy hair, heavy folds of cloth), which is not the case here.

Endogamy = marriage within a group (kin, caste, community).
Exogamy = marriage outside the group.
Polygyny = a man having several wives.
Polyandry = a woman having several husbands (e.g. Draupadi).
Only (D) is correctly matched.

Al-Biruni, who wrote Kitab-ul-Hind in Arabic, knew Sanskrit and translated several Sanskrit works (and some Pali/Prakrit texts) into Arabic, including parts of Patanjali's work on grammar.

Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), poet and musician, was a devoted disciple of the Chishti saint Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi. Nasiruddin Chiragh-i-Delhi was another disciple of Nizamuddin.

Hazara Rama temple – royal centre of Vijayanagara (Hampi).
Chidambaram (Nataraja) temple – Tamil Nadu.
Brihadishvara temple – Thanjavur (built by the Cholas).
Chennakeshava temple – Belur (Hoysala).
So 1-(ii), 2-(i), 3-(iv), 4-(iii).

The Ain-i-Akbari is itself the third volume of the Akbar Nama (so A is reversed).
Its books: Manzil-abadi – the imperial household; Sipah-abadi – military and civil administration; Mulk-abadi – the fiscal side of the empire (revenue rates, provincial statistics).
So only (D) is correct.

Bernier argued that in Mughal India the king owned all land, so there was no private property, which made peasants poor and the economy decline. This idea was used by Montesquieu (oriental despotism) and later Karl Marx (Asiatic mode of production).

Rama Raya's aggressive policy pushed the Deccan Sultanates (Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda, etc.) to unite against Vijayanagara. Their combined army defeated it at Talikota (Rakshasi-Tangadi) in 1565, and the city was sacked.
Option (B) is reversed – the Sultanates won, not lost, at Talikota.

Muzarian = peasant (along with raiyat/asami).
Muqaddam (or mandal) = village headman.
Shroff (sarraf) = banker/money changer.
Mallahzadas = sons of boatmen.
Only (D) matches.

Sunset Law – with the Permanent Settlement, 1793.
Santhal Rebellion (Hul) – 1855-56.
Limitation Law – 1859 (loan bonds valid only for 3 years).
Deccan riots – 1875.
Order: (ii) → (iii) → (i) → (iv).

Wellesley (1798) – Subsidiary Alliance.
Dalhousie – annexations (Doctrine of Lapse, Awadh 1856).
William Bentinck – social reforms (sati abolition, English education).
Hardinge – the paper links him with the new Enfield rifle and greased cartridges.
So 1-(ii), 2-(i), 3-(iv), 4-(iii).

In 1920 Gandhiji linked the Khilafat issue with Non-Cooperation so that Hindus and Muslims would fight together. He believed that this united movement could bring an end to British rule (swaraj within a year). R gives the reason for A, so option (A).

R.V. Dhulekar, a Congressman from the United Provinces, argued aggressively for Hindi as the language of the Assembly and of the Constitution, causing an uproar. G. Durgabai from Madras opposed Hindi being imposed.

Under the Permanent Settlement (1793) zamindars became the permanent owners with a fixed revenue, while ryots got no security and were exploited. The settlement was with zamindars, not peasants (so B is wrong); Deccan riots were linked to the Ryotwari areas of Bombay Deccan (so D is wrong).

Shah Mal of pargana Baraut (Baghpat) mobilised village headmen and peasants. He took over the bungalow of a British officer and turned it into a 'hall of justice' (Nyay bhawan) where disputes were settled.

The provincial ministries formed after the 1937 elections (under the 1935 Act) had limited powers because they worked under the British colonial government; the Governor and Viceroy kept control.

Points (any three):
1. The text was not fixed at one time: it was composed over about 1000 years (c. 500 BCE onwards) and kept expanding.
2. It was written in many languages and regional versions, each adding local stories.
3. Many episodes were reworked in folk tales and local traditions (e.g. stories of Nishada/tribal characters like Kunti and the Nishada woman, reinterpreted by writers such as Mahasweta Devi).
4. Its stories appear in performing arts – dance, drama, puppetry, storytelling.
5. Episodes are carved in sculpture and shown in paintings.
6. Parts like the Bhagavad Gita and its ideas of right action continue to be discussed and reinterpreted.

Points (any three):
1. The project began in 1919 under the Sanskritist V.S. Sukthankar with a team of scholars.
2. They collected Sanskrit manuscripts of the epic written in different scripts from various parts of the country.
3. They compared verses of every manuscript and chose those common to most versions.
4. The result was published in several volumes running to over 13,000 pages; the work took 47 years.
5. They found that, besides common elements, there were huge regional variations in how the text was transmitted.
6. These variations were recorded in footnotes and appendices – showing that the epic reflected dialogues between dominant traditions and local ideas.

Any three:
1. Archaeological finds – sculpture and punch-marked coins.
2. Megasthenes' Indica – the Greek ambassador at Chandragupta's court; his account survives in fragments.
3. Kautilya's Arthashastra – parts of it describe administration, army and economy.
4. Later Buddhist, Jaina and Puranic texts and Sanskrit literature.
5. Inscriptions of Asoka on rocks and pillars – the most valuable source; they explain his dhamma and the work of dhamma mahamattas.

Any three:
1. The city lay in the natural basin of the river Tungabhadra, which flows north-east; streams from the surrounding granite hills flowed into it.
2. Embankments were built along these streams to create reservoirs of different sizes, since the region was dry.
3. The Kamalapuram tank (early 15th century) was the most important; its water irrigated nearby fields and was carried by a channel to the royal centre.
4. The Hiriya canal drew water from a dam on the Tungabhadra and irrigated the cultivated valley separating the sacred and urban centres.
5. Rainwater was stored for both drinking and farming.

Any three:
1. The state had to control agricultural production, so it created an administrative apparatus to fix, assess and collect revenue.
2. The office of the diwan supervised the fiscal system; officials like the amil-guzar collected revenue and record keepers kept accounts.
3. Under Akbar, land was measured and classified into polaj, parauti, chachar and banjar, with rates fixed for each.
4. Two stages: jama (amount assessed) and hasil (amount actually collected).
5. Revenue could be paid in cash or in kind, though cash was preferred.
6. The Ain-i-Akbari compiles the figures of such lands and revenue, showing how important this income was.

Any three:
1. The Subsidiary Alliance of 1801 had already taken away the Nawab's power and army.
2. The British wanted Awadh's fertile land (good for indigo and cotton) and its markets; Dalhousie annexed it in 1856.
3. The popular Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and sent to Calcutta on the excuse of misrule – people felt 'the life had gone out of the body'.
4. His removal ended the court culture; musicians, poets, cooks, officials lost their livelihood.
5. The Summary Settlement of 1856 removed many taluqdars and their forts and armies – emotional hurt was added to material loss.
6. Peasants' grievances and those of sepoys (most of whom came from Awadh villages) joined together, so the revolt became a popular rising.

Any three:
1. The proclamations appealed to everyone irrespective of caste and creed, because British rule harmed all classes.
2. Proclamations issued in the name of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah asked people to join under the standards of both Muhammad and Mahavir.
3. The Azamgarh Proclamation (25 August 1857) listed how zamindars, merchants, officials, artisans and religious leaders were all ruined – so all should unite.
4. In Bareilly the British spent money to set Hindus against Muslims, but this failed.
5. A united front made the revolt stronger and gave it the look of a war for the whole country against a foreign power.

Any three:
1. The Paharias lived by shifting cultivation, hunting and collecting forest produce in the Rajmahal hills.
2. The British invited Santhals, who were good settled cultivators, to clear the forests and settle there.
3. In 1832 a large area was marked out as Damin-i-Koh and given to the Santhals.
4. Santhals spread their plough cultivation into the lower hills, encroaching on the Paharias' lands – a struggle between the hoe and the plough.
5. The Paharias lost their forests and fallow land, and were pushed into the drier, rocky upper hills, which made them poor.
6. British policy that favoured settled farming deepened the differences between the two groups.

Explain any eight points:
1. Cities like Mohenjodaro were planned; settlements were divided into two parts – a smaller, higher Citadel and a larger Lower Town.
2. The Citadel was built on mud-brick platforms and walled; it had special public buildings.
3. The Lower Town was also walled and had residential buildings on platforms that acted as foundations.
4. Bricks were of standard ratio (length : breadth : height = 4:2:1), sun-dried or baked.
5. Roads and streets followed a grid pattern, crossing at right angles.
6. Planned drainage: every house drain joined the street drains, which were covered and had sumps/loose bricks for cleaning; Mackay called it the most complete ancient system.
7. Domestic architecture: houses built around a courtyard, no windows on the ground-floor walls facing the street (privacy), own bathrooms paved with bricks, staircases to upper floors; Mohenjodaro had about 700 wells.
8. The Great Bath – a large watertight tank with steps, probably for ritual bathing.
9. The warehouse (granary) – a massive structure in the Citadel.
10. Lothal had a dockyard and craft production areas.
11. Materials like gypsum mortar and bitumen were used for waterproofing.
Conclusion: such careful planning shows a strong authority and makes urbanism the special feature of Harappa.

Explain the role of at least four archaeologists:
1. Alexander Cunningham, first Director-General of the ASI (1860s): visited Harappa and collected a seal but could not understand how old it was; he worked mainly with sources of the early historic period (Chinese pilgrims' accounts), so he missed the significance of Harappa – 'Cunningham's confusion'.
2. Daya Ram Sahni found seals at Harappa in the early 1920s (1921) in clearly earlier layers.
3. Rakhal Das Banerji found similar seals at Mohenjodaro (1922), suggesting both sites were part of one culture.
4. John Marshall, Director-General of the ASI, announced the discovery of a new civilisation in the Indus valley in 1924 – 'not with the bang' of Schliemann but a major change in our idea of Indian history.
5. S.N. Roy recorded this history in 'The Story of Indian Archaeology'.
6. Marshall dug along regular horizontal units, ignoring stratigraphy, so finds of different layers got mixed.
7. R.E.M. Wheeler (DG in 1944) corrected this by following the stratigraphy of the mound.
8. After Partition, Indian archaeologists located many sites in India (Kalibangan, Lothal, Rakhigarhi, Dholavira) and newer scientific methods continue to add to our knowledge.

Explain any eight:
1. Kabir (14th-15th century) is a leading example of a poet-saint who emerged in a time of social and religious change.
2. Little is certain about his early life; hagiographies say he was born to a Hindu family and raised by a Muslim weaver family – his identity is debated by both communities.
3. His verses survive in three overlapping traditions: the Kabir Bijak (Kabirpanth, Varanasi/UP), the Kabir Granthavali (Dadupanth, Rajasthan) and the Guru Granth Sahib.
4. His poems exist in several languages and dialects; some in sant bhasha, the language of nirguna poets; some are ulatbansi (upside-down sayings) that express mystical experience.
5. He used many traditions to describe the Ultimate Reality: Islam (Allah, Khuda, Hazrat, Pir), Vedanta (Alakh, Nirakar, Brahman, Atman), and yogic terms (shabad, shunya).
6. He believed in a formless God (nirguna bhakti) and in remembering God's name (naam-simran, compared with zikr).
7. He openly attacked idol worship, polytheism, empty rituals, pilgrimage and the pride of priests and mullahs.
8. He rejected caste distinctions and taught that all humans are equal before God.
9. His ideas grew through dialogue and debate, and his followers (Kabirpanthis) carried them forward.
Impact: by showing one God behind many names and criticising both Hindu and Muslim orthodoxy, he promoted communal and social harmony.

Explain any eight:
1. Guru Nanak (1469-1539), born at Nankana Sahib, spent time with sufis and bhaktas and travelled widely.
2. He advocated nirguna bhakti – devotion to a formless God.
3. Oneness: for him the Absolute or 'Rab' has no gender or form and is the same for all; there is one God for Hindus and Muslims alike.
4. He firmly rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities and the scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims as the way to God.
5. He offered a simple way to connect with the Divine – remembering and repeating the divine Name.
6. He expressed his ideas in Punjabi hymns called 'shabad', which he sang in various ragas with his attendant Mardana.
7. He organised his followers into a community and set rules for congregational worship (sangat) involving collective recitation; langar promoted equality.
8. He appointed his disciple Angad as his successor, a practice continued for nearly 200 years.
9. Guru Arjan compiled his hymns with those of later Gurus and saints like Kabir, Ravidas and Baba Farid in the Adi Granth Sahib; Guru Gobind Singh added hymns of the ninth Guru (Guru Granth Sahib).
10. Under Guru Gobind Singh the community was organised as the Khalsa Panth (1699).

Examine any eight sources and note their limits:
1. Public voice and private letters – Gandhiji's speeches and writings are collected in the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.
2. Public speeches show his ideas as meant for the people, while private letters reveal his personal thoughts, anger, hopes and frustrations.
3. Letters were also written to be published in some cases, so even private letters sometimes had a public face (e.g. Nehru's 'A Bunch of Old Letters').
4. Journals he edited – Harijan, Young India – carried his views on many issues.
5. Autobiography (My Experiments with Truth) – gives his own retrospective account; must be read carefully as it is written from memory.
6. Government records – fortnightly reports by the police and the Home Department; they show official views but are biased (they often played down the movement).
7. Police and intelligence reports on events like the Salt March show how worried the British were.
8. Newspapers in English and Indian languages tracked his movements and reported what ordinary people thought, but were influenced by their own political leanings.
9. Writings by contemporaries and photographs also help.
Conclusion: a historian must read all these together and critically to build a balanced picture.

Any eight points:
1. On 15 August 1947 he did not join the celebrations in Delhi; he was in Calcutta, fasting for 24 hours and praying for peace.
2. He went to riot-torn areas – Noakhali in East Bengal, Bihar and later Delhi – to stop the killing and console victims.
3. He appealed to Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs to forget the past and live together in peace.
4. He insisted that Muslims in India and Hindus/Sikhs in Pakistan be protected; he worked for the safety and rights of minorities.
5. He wanted India to be a democratic and secular state where all citizens enjoy full and equal rights, whatever their religion.
6. Congress, at his urging, passed a resolution on the rights of minorities, stating that India would not be a Hindu state.
7. He worked for the upliftment of 'Harijans' and the removal of untouchability, and promoted equality of all classes.
8. He promoted the charkha and khadi as symbols of self-reliance and dignity of labour, and opposed child marriage.
9. He wanted a united India and was deeply hurt by Partition; his efforts in 1946-48 are seen as his 'finest hour'.
10. His fast in January 1948 helped restore calm in Delhi; his assassination on 30 January 1948 shocked the nation into unity.

(i) The Buddha told those with power (masters, householders) to take care of those below them – giving work that suits their strength, proper food and wages, nursing them when ill and giving leave. This shows that compassion and ethical conduct, not domination, should guide social relations; all beings deserve kindness.
(ii) He stressed righteous action because, for him, a person's progress depends on his own good conduct – kindness, generosity and moral behaviour purify the mind and help one escape suffering and reach nibbana.
(iii) Any two: (a) Every action has consequences – good actions bring good results, bad actions bad results, so one should generate positive karma. (b) Individuals are responsible for their own karma; it is shaped by deeds, not by birth or rituals. (c) Right action leads to harmony, peace and social cohesion.

(i) Abdur Razzaq was a Persian envoy used to his own society; the dress, customs and people of Calicut seemed unfamiliar, so he described them as people he had never imagined – a 'strange nation'.
(ii) The account mixes contrasting reactions: unease and disapproval at Calicut, and surprise and great admiration for the temple near Mangalore. It shows that a traveller's perception depends on what he sees and his own background.
(iii) Any two: the temple was square, about ten yards on each side and five yards high; it was entirely covered with cast bronze; it had four porticos; in the entrance portico was a full-size golden human statue with two red rubies as eyes, made so skilfully that it seemed to see – he admired the craft and artisanship.

(i) Pant said that for democracy to succeed, each person must train himself in self-discipline and think less of himself and more of others.
(ii) Self-discipline means restraining one's own extravagance and selfish demands, so that a plural society can take decisions that work for all and address social and economic equality.
(iii) Any two: (a) There should be no divided or rival loyalties; all loyalty must be focused on the State. (b) No individual or group should ignore the larger interests of society – democracy must care for all sections of the population equally; otherwise it is doomed. (c) Separate loyalties (e.g. demands for separate electorates) would weaken equality and unity.