Short Answer TypeHow were towns often defined in opposition to rural areas during pre-colonial times? Give any two points of difference.
Why did the Zamindars fail to pay the revenue-demand in the early decades after the permanent settlement? Explain any two reasons briefly.
Explain the provisions of the Subsidiary Alliance imposed on Awadh in 1801 by the British.
Some scholars see partition as a culmination of a communal politics that started developing in the opening decades of the twentieth century. Examine the statement.
Some scholars see Partition as a culmination of a communal politics that started developing in the opening decades of the twentieth century.
(i) They suggest that separate electorates for Muslims, created by the colonial government in 1909 and expanded in 1919, crucially shaped the nature of communal politics.
(ii) This created a temptation for politicians working within this system to use sectarian slogans and gather a following by distributing favours to their own religious groups.
(iii) Religious identities thus acquired a functional use within a modern political system; and the logic of electoral politics deepened and hardened these identities. Community identities no longer indicated simple difference in faith and belief; they came to mean active opposition and hostility between communities.
(iv) During the 1920s and early 1930s tension grew around a number of issues. Muslims were angered by 'music-before-mosque', by the cow protection movement, and by the efforts of the Arya Samaj to bring back to the Hindu fold (shuddhi) those who had recently converted to Islam.
(v) Hindus were angered by the rapid spread of tabligh (propaganda) and tanzim (organisation) after 1923.
The discussions within the constituent assembly were also influenced by the opinion expressed by the public. Examine the statement.
On the given political outline map of India five territories/cities under the British control in 1857 have been marked as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Identify them and write their names on the lines drawn nearby:
Long Answer TypeRead the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Why kinfolk quarreled
This is an excerpt from the Adi Parvan (literally, the first section) of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, describing why conflicts arose amongst the Kauravas and Pandavas:
The Kauravas were the... sons of Dhritarashtra, and the Pandavas ... were their cousins. Since Dhritarashtra was blind, his younger brother Pandu ascended the throne of Hastinapura...
However, after the premature death of Pandu, Dhritarashtra became king, as the royal princes were still very young. As the princes grew up together, the citizens of Hastinapura began to express their preference for the Pandavas, for they were more capable and virtuous than the Kauravas. This made Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas, jealous. He approached his
father and said, 'You yourself did not receive the throne, although it fell to you, because of your defect. If the Pandava receives the patrimony from Pandu, his son will surely inherit it in turn, and so will his son, and his. We ourselves with our sons shall be excluded from the royal succession and become of slight regard in the eyes of the world, lord of the earth!'
Passages such as these may not have been literally true, but they give us an idea about what those who wrote the text thought. Sometimes, as in this case, they contain conflicting ideas.
(1) Why did the citizens of Hastinapura express preference for Pandavas?
(2) Explain the reactions of Duryodhana against Pandavas.
(3) Explain the criteria of patrilineal succession.
OR
Fatalists and materialists
Here is an excerpt from the Sutta Pitaka, describing a conversation between king Ajatasatru, the ruler of Magadha, and the Buddha:
On one occasion King Ajatasatru visited the Buddha and described what another teacher, named Makkhali Gosala, had told him:
'Though the wise should hope, by this virtue... by this penance I will gain karma... and the fool should by the same means hope to gradually rid himself of his karma, neither of them can do it. Pleasure and pain, measured out as it were, cannot be altered in the course of samsara (transmigration). It can neither be lessened nor increased... just as a ball of string will when thrown unwind to its full length, so fool and wise alike will take their course and make an end of sorrow.'
And this is what a philosopher named Ajita Kesakambalin taught:
'There is no such thing, O king, as alms or sacrifice, or offerings. ... there is no such thing as this world or the next...
A human being is made up of the four elements. When he dies the earthy in him returns to the earth, the fluid to water, the heat to fire, the windy to air, and his senses pass into space...
The talk of gifts is. a doctrine of fools, an empty lie... fools and wise alike are cut off and perish. They do not survive after death.'
The first teacher belonged to the tradition of the Ajivikas. They have often been described as fatalists: those who believe that everything is predetermined. The second teacher belonged to the tradition of the Lokayatas, usually described as materialists. Texts from these traditions have not survived, so we know about them only from the works of other traditions.
(1) Explain what had Makkhali Gosala told the King Ajatasatru.
(2) Explain what did the philosopher named Ajita Kesakambalin teach.
(3) Describe the beliefs of fatalists.
Explain the striking features about the location of Vijayanagara, its water resources and its fortifications.
OR
Explain how during 16th and 17th centuries agriculture was organised around two major seasonal cycles by giving examples of different crops.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The One Lord
Here is a composition attributed to Kabir:
Tell me, brother, how can there be
No one lord of the world but two?
Who led you so astray?
God is called by many names:
Names like Allah, Ram, Karim, Keshav, Hari, and Hazrat.
Gold may be shaped into rings and bangles.
Isn't it gold all the same?
Distinctions are only in words that we invent...
Kabir says they are both mistaken.
Neither can find the only Ram. One kills the goat, the other cows.
They waste their lives in disputation.
(1) Name any two scriptures in which verses, ascribed to Kabir, have been compiled.
(2) How did Kabir describe the 'Ultimate Reality’?
(3) Explain the arguments given by Kabir against the lords of the world of different communities.
(4) Do you agree with Kabir? Give your own views as well.
OR
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 165 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 ruine (ruin) without any bodies (anybody) taking care of repairing them; the hillocks abandoned, and the fields overspread with bushes, or filled with pestilential marshes , as hath been already intimated.
(1) What kind of warning European traveler wants to give? Describe briefly.
(2) 'On what accounts Bernier's description was at variance with the contemporary Mughal records.' Explain.
(3) Explain Bernier's suggestions given about the great cities.
Explain the changes reflected in the history of urban centers in India during the 18th century with special reference to network of trade.
OR
Explain the sources from which we can reconstruct the political career of Gandhiji and the history of the nationalist movement.
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