Short Answer TypeRead the following passage and answer the question that follows :
“For the success of democracy one must train oneself in the art of self discipline. In democracies one should care less for himself and more for others. There can’t be any divided loyalty. All loyalties must exclusively be centered round the state. If in a democracy, you create rival loyalties or you create a system in which any individual or a group, instead of suppressing his extravagance cares not for larger or other interests, then democracy is doomed.”
In the light of the above passage highlight the values which a loyal citizen of a democratic country should uphold.
Long Answer Type“The Mahabharata is a story of kinship, marriages and patriliny.” Examine the statement.
“Because of the diversity of the Indian subcontinent there have always been populations whose social practices were not influenced by the Brahminical ideas during 600 BCE – 600 CE.” Examine the statement.
Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :
Irrigating trees and fields
This is an excerpt from the Baburnama that describes the irrigation devices the emperor observed in Northern India:
The greater part of Hindustan country is situated on level land. Many though its towns and cultivated lands are, it nowhere has running waters … For … water is not at all a necessity in cultivating crops and orchards. Autumn crops grow by the downpour of the rains themselves; and strange it is that spring crops grow even when no rains fall. (However) to young trees water is made to flow by means of buckets or wheels …. In Lahore, Dipalpur (both in present-day Pakistan) and those other parts, people water by means of a wheel. They make two circles of rope long enough to suit the depths of the well, fix strips of wood between them, and on these fasten pitchers. The ropes with the wood and attached pitchers are put over the wheel-well. At one end of the wheelaxle a second wheel is fixed, and close to it another on an upright axle. The last wheel the bullock turns; its teeth catch in the teeth of the second (wheel), and thus the wheel with the pitchers is turned. A trough is set where the water empties from the pitchers and from this the water is conveyed everywhere.
In Agra, Chandwar, Bayana (all in present-day Uttar Pradesh) and those parts again, people water with a bucket … At the well-edge they set up a fork of wood, having a roller adjusted between the forks, tie a rope to a large bucket, put the rope over a roller, and tie its other end to the bullock. One person must drive the bullock, another empty the bucket.
(15.1) Explain the irrigation technology as observed by the Emperor.
(15.2) What was the necessity of irrigation?
(15.3) Explain any three factors which are responsible for the expansion of agriculture in India.
Identify the rituals and practices associated with the Mahanavami Dibba, a structure in the Royal Centre of Vijayanagara Empire.
Outline the distinctive features of the Virupaksha temple and the Vitthala temple in the Royal Centre of Vijayanagara Empire.
Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Escaping to the countryside
This is how the famous poet Mirza Ghalib described what the people of Delhi did when the British forces occupied the city in 1857:
Smiting the enemy and driving him before them, the victors (i.e., the British) overran the city in all directions. All whom they found in the street they cut down … For two to three days every road in the city, from the Kashmiri Gate to Chandni Chowk, was a battlefield. Three gates - the Ajmeri, the Turcoman and the Delhi – were still held by the rebels … At the naked spectacle of this vengeful wrath and malevolent hatred the colour fled from men’s faces, and a vast concourse of men and women … took to precipitate flight through these three gates. Seeking the little villages and shrines outside the city, they drew breath to wait until such time as might favour their return.
(16.1) Who was Mirza Ghalib? What did he describe?
(16.2) Why did British attack Delhi? Give two reasons.
(16.3) How did the people escape from Delhi and where did they take shelter?
Explain how Non-Cooperation Movement made Gandhiji a national leader.
Non- Cooperation Movement:
(i) Gandhiji led the people to protest against the Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
(ii) He used the mother tongue and not English in communicating nationalist messages
(iii) He took up the Khilafat issue in the Non –Cooperation Movement and demanded Swaraj.
(iv) Renunciation of all voluntary association with the British govt.
(v) He became people’s leader through self-discipline and renunciation.
(vi) He also promoted the concept of self-rule through the charkha.
(vii) Gandhiji displayed a concern for the laboring poor of India, as he believed that salvation for India could come only through the farmers and workers who constituted the majority of the Indian population.(reference to BHU speech)
(viii) He wanted Indian nationalism, from being an elite phenomenon- a creation of lawyers doctors and landlords, to nationalism more suitably representative of the Indian people as a whole.
(ix) He popularised Satyagraha.
(x) Non-Cooperation-a much wider and popular Movement in terms of participation from all sections, widespread over India, participation by both Hindus and Muslims-Khilafat & Non Cooperation, a united challenge to British imperialism like never before under his leadership.
(xi) He popularized Ahimsa
(xii) Gave emphasis on Swadeshi & Boycott
(xiii) Students stopped going to schools and colleges run by the government.
(xiv) Lawyers refused to attend court.
(xv) The working class went on strike in many towns and cities.
(xvi) Hill tribal in northern Andhra violated the forest laws.
(xvii) Farmers in Awadh did not pay taxes.
(xviii) Peasants in Kumaon refused to carry loads for colonial officials.
(xix) He emphasized decentralization through charkha.
(xx) Emergence of Gandhian Nationalism.
(xxi) His language, dressing style and simplicity helped him connect with the masses.
(xxii) Stressed on Hindu Muslim unity, eradication of untouchability, revival of indigenous industries through the symbol of charkha and elevation of the status of women.
(xxiii) The simple practice of Swadeshi and boycott appealed to the people.
(xxiv) Empathised and identified with the common people in dress and lifestyle.
(xxv) He carefully reorganized the Congress by setting up new branches in different parts of the country and Praja Mandals in the Princely States.
(xxvi) A group of highly talented Indians attached themselves to Gandhiji-Mahadev Desai, Vallabh Bhai Patel, J. B. Kriplani, Jawaharlal Nehru and C. Rajgopalachari. All from different regions and religious traditions.
(xxvii) According to American biographer Louis Fischer –“Non Cooperation became the name of an epoch in the life of India and Mahatma Gandhi”.
(ANY EIGHT)
Explain why some scholars see partition of India as the culmination of communal politics.
Read the following excerpt carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The world beyond the palace
Just as the Buddha’s teachings were compiled by his followers, the teachings of Mahavira were also recorded by his disciples. These were often in the form of stories, which could appeal to ordinary people. Here is one example, from a Prakrit text known as the Uttaradhyayana Sutta, describing how a queen named Kamalavati tried to persuade her husband to renounce the world :
If the whole world and all its treasures were yours, you would not be satisfied, nor would all this be able to save you. When you die, O king and leave all things behind, dhamma alone, and nothing else, will save you. As a bird dislikes the cage, so do I dislike (the world). I shall live as a nun without offspring, without desire, without the love of gain, and without hatred….
Those who have enjoyed pleasures and renounced them, move about like the wind, and go wherever they please, unchecked like birds in their flight … Leave your large kingdom … abandon what pleases the senses, be without attachment and property, then practice severe penance, being firm of energy …
(14.1)Who compiled the teachings of Buddha and Mahavira?
(14.2)Explain how did the queen try to convince her husband to renounce the world.
(14.3)Describe any three principles of Jainism.
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