UPSC Mains 2016 History Optional Question Papers with Model Answers

All 52 questions of the 2016 Civil Services Main Examination, History Paper I and History Paper II, with marks and a suggested time per part. Solve each part on paper first, then open the model answer, or send it to answer-writing practice for evaluation.

UPSC Mains 2016 History Paper I

Question 1 (50 marks)

Q1 · Historical Sites for the Map Question · 50 marks≈ 36 min
How to Prepare the Map Question
Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim: (i) A Mesolithic site; (ii) A Neolithic site; (iii) A Megalithic-Chalcolithic site; (iv) A Neolithic site; (v) A Neolithic site; (vi) A Megalithic site; (vii) A site known for Buddhist remains; (viii) A Harappan site; (ix) A Harappan site; (x) A Harappan site; (xi) A Neolithic site; (xii) A Harappan site; (xiii) A capital city; (xiv) A rock-cut cave site; (xv) A late Harappan site; (xvi) An educational centre; (xvii) A terra-cotta art centre; (xviii) A seaport; (xix) A capital city; (xx) A capital city.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
आपको दिए गए मानचित्र पर अंकित निम्नलिखित स्थानों की पहचान कीजिए एवं अपनी प्रश्न-सह-उत्तर पुस्तिका में उनमें से प्रत्येक पर लगभग 30 शब्दों की संक्षिप्त टिप्पणी लिखिये। मानचित्र पर अंकित प्रत्येक स्थान के लिए स्थान-निर्धारण संकेत क्रमानुसार नीचे दिए गए हैं। (i) एक मध्यपाषाणकालीन स्थल; (ii) एक नवपाषाणकालीन स्थल; (iii) एक महापाषाण-ताम्रपाषाणकालीन स्थल; (iv) एक नवपाषाणकालीन स्थल; (v) एक नवपाषाणकालीन स्थल; (vi) एक महापाषाणकालीन स्थल; (vii) बौद्ध पुरावशेषों के लिए ज्ञात एक स्थल; (viii) एक हड़प्पाकालीन स्थल; (ix) एक हड़प्पाकालीन स्थल; (x) एक हड़प्पाकालीन स्थल; (xi) एक नवपाषाणकालीन स्थल; (xii) एक हड़प्पाकालीन स्थल; (xiii) एक राजधानी; (xiv) एक शैलकृत गुहा स्थल; (xv) एक परवर्ती हड़प्पाकालीन स्थल; (xvi) एक शिक्षा केन्द्र; (xvii) एक मृण्-कला केन्द्र; (xviii) एक बंदरगाह; (xix) एक राजधानी; (xx) एक राजधानी.
Practise this question Historical Sites for the Map Question notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)
Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.
(i) A Mesolithic site: Sarai Nahar Rai, Uttar Pradesh — Mesolithic site in Pratapgarh district; microliths, hearths with animal bones and human burials show hunter-gatherers settling the Ganga plain; excavated by G.R. Sharma of Allahabad University in the early 1970s, it is a key site of the Ganga valley Mesolithic.
(ii) A Neolithic site: Daojali Hading, Assam — Neolithic site in the Dima Hasao (North Cachar) hills; cord-marked pottery, shouldered celts and grinding stones link it with the South-East Asian Neolithic; excavated by M.C. Goswami and T.C. Sharma (1961–63).
(iii) A Megalithic-Chalcolithic site: Adichanallur, Tamil Nadu — urn-burial site on the Tamraparni in Thoothukudi district with black-and-red ware, iron weapons, bronze vessels and gold diadems; recent dating places it in the Iron Age.
(iv) A Neolithic site: Kuchai, Odisha — Neolithic site in Mayurbhanj district; shouldered celts, polished stone axes and cord-impressed pottery place it in the eastern Indian Neolithic linked to South-East Asia; it lies in northern Odisha near Baripada.
(v) A Neolithic site: Maski, Karnataka — Raichur district site with Neolithic, Chalcolithic and megalithic layers; its minor rock edict (found 1915) first gave the name Asoka; C. Beadon found the edict, and B.K. Thapar excavated the site (1954).
(vi) A Megalithic site: Junapani, Maharashtra — megalithic stone-circle burials near Nagpur in Vidarbha, excavated by S.B. Deo; iron objects and black-and-red ware; part of the Vidarbha megalithic culture; dated to the early first millennium BCE.
(vii) A site known for Buddhist remains: Sanghol, Punjab — site in Fatehgarh Sahib district with a Kushan-period stupa and monastery; over a hundred carved railing pieces of the Mathura school found in 1985; also Harappan levels.
(viii) A Harappan site: Banawali, Haryana — Fatehabad district site excavated by R.S. Bisht (1974–77) with Early and Mature Harappan phases, a radial street plan and a terracotta plough model; it lies near the dry bed of the Ghaggar (Sarasvati).
(ix) A Harappan site: Kalibangan, Rajasthan — Harappan city on the Ghaggar in Hanumangarh district; criss-cross furrows of an Early Harappan field, a row of fire altars and separate citadel and lower town.
(x) A Harappan site: Harappa, Punjab, Pakistan — on the old course of the Ravi in Sahiwal district; the first Indus city excavated (Daya Ram Sahni, 1921), which named the civilisation; granary-like building and Cemetery H.
(xi) A Neolithic site: Mehrgarh, Balochistan, Pakistan — Neolithic village at the foot of the Bolan pass; mud-brick houses, domesticated wheat, barley, cattle and goats from c. 7000 BCE; drilled teeth show early dentistry.
(xii) A Harappan site: Rojdi, Gujarat — Harappan site on the Bhadar river in Rajkot district, excavated by Gregory Possehl; a Sorath Harappan settlement with a stone wall and millet use; dated c. 2500–1700 BCE.
(xiii) A capital city: Chittorgarh, Rajasthan — hill-fort capital of the Guhila-Sisodia rulers of Mewar; besieged by Alauddin Khalji (1303), Bahadur Shah of Gujarat (1535) and Akbar (1568); Rana Kumbha's Vijay Stambha.
(xiv) A rock-cut cave site: Bagh caves, Madhya Pradesh — nine Buddhist rock-cut caves in Dhar district (c. 5th–6th century) on the Baghani river; their wall paintings, as in the Rang Mahal cave, are close to the Ajanta style.
(xv) A late Harappan site: Manda, Jammu and Kashmir — the northernmost Harappan site, on the Chenab near Akhnoor in Jammu district; excavated by J.P. Joshi (1976–77); Mature and Late Harappan pottery; probably a timber-gathering outpost.
(xvi) An educational centre: Vikramashila, Bihar — Pala mahavihara at Antichak near Bhagalpur founded by Dharmapala (c. 800 CE); a centre of Vajrayana teaching that sent Atisha to Tibet; excavated by B.S. Verma for the ASI (1972–82).
(xvii) A terra-cotta art centre: Chandraketugarh, West Bengal — early historic site in North 24 Parganas (c. 3rd century BCE–3rd century CE); finely moulded terracotta plaques of yakshis, couples and ships; links with Indian Ocean trade.
(xviii) A seaport: Muziris (Pattanam), Kerala — Chera seaport near the mouth of the Periyar; the Periplus and Pliny describe its pepper trade with Rome; excavations at Pattanam found Roman amphorae, beads and a wharf.
(xix) A capital city: Vengi, Andhra Pradesh — near Eluru (Pedavegi), capital of the Shalankayanas and of the Eastern Chalukyas from the 7th century; Nannaya began Telugu literature under Rajaraja Narendra; the Eastern Chalukyas later moved to Rajahmundry.
(xx) A capital city: Mandi, Himachal Pradesh — town on the Beas that became the capital of the Mandi hill state under the Sena rulers, Ajber Sen founding the present town in 1527; its many stone temples, such as Bhutnath and Panchvaktra, earn it the name Chhoti Kashi (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Kangra (Nagarkot), Chamba).

Question 2 (50 marks)

Q2(a) · Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cultures: The Beginning of Agriculture
Delineate and account for the regional characteristics of the Neolithic period in India.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत में नवपाषाणकाल की प्रादेशिक विशिष्टताओं की रूपरेखा प्रस्तुत कीजिए और उनका कारण भी बताइए।
Practise this question Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(a)
Approach: Two tasks: delineate the main Neolithic regions with their sites, crops, tools and houses, then account for the differences through ecology, raw materials, timing and external contacts.
The Neolithic in India was not a single culture but a set of regional farming traditions that began at different times, from the seventh millennium BCE in Baluchistan to the second millennium BCE in the south and east.
North-west: Mehrgarh on the Kachhi plain shows wheat and barley farming, goat, sheep and cattle, and mud-brick houses from about 7000 BCE. Kashmir: Burzahom and Gufkral, from about the third millennium BCE, have pit dwellings, bone tools, a perforated stone harvester and dogs buried with humans.
Vindhyas and middle Ganga: Koldihwa and Mahagara in the Belan valley and Lahuradewa show early rice. South India: Brahmagiri, Maski, Sanganakallu, Tekkalakota and Utnur combine cattle herding with millets and pulses; the ash mounds of Utnur and Kupgal were read by F.R. Allchin as burnt cattle pens.
North-east: Daojali Hading and Sarutaru in Assam have shouldered celts and cord-impressed pottery.
Explaining the differences: ecology decided crops, with winter wheat and barley in the arid north-west, rice in the wet Ganga plain and millets on the dry southern plateau. Raw materials shaped tools, with dolerite axes on the granite hills of the south and bone tools where stone was scarce.
Contacts also mattered: Mehrgarh's crops link it with West Asia, Burzahom's harvester has been compared with north Chinese types, and the north-east shows Southeast Asian affinities. Timing reflects the spread of farming from several independent centres.
Q2(b) · Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Harappan Civilization: Origin, Date, Extent and Characteristics
Explain why the majority of the known Harappan settlements are located in the semi-arid areas with saline groundwater.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
समझाइए कि क्या कारण है कि अधिकांश ज्ञात हड़प्पाकालीन बस्तियाँ लवणीय भू-जल वाले अर्ध-शुष्क क्षेत्रों में अवस्थित हैं।
Practise this question Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(b)
Approach: Explain the pattern: show where the sites lie, then give the reasons, namely past river systems and inundation farming, open land easy to clear, access to raw materials and routes, Harappan water management, and the archaeological visibility of sites in dry zones.
Most of the more than a thousand known Harappan sites lie in semi-arid lands: Sindh, Cholistan and the Ghaggar-Hakra plain, north Rajasthan, Haryana, Kutch and Saurashtra. Groundwater here is often saline today, yet these zones supported the first urbanisation of South Asia.
Rivers then flowed: settlement followed the Indus and its tributaries and the Ghaggar-Hakra, which carried more water in the third millennium BCE; M.R. Mughal's survey in Cholistan found dense clusters of sites along the now dry Hakra bed. Life depended on river water and silt, not on groundwater.
Inundation farming: summer floods left moist, fertile silt on which wheat and barley could be sown as rabi crops. Liviu Giosan and colleagues (2012) argued that weakening monsoons made these floods gentler and more predictable, favouring floodplain agriculture.
Easy land and movement: the open, lightly wooded plains could be cleared and worked with stone and copper tools, unlike the dense forests and heavy soils of the middle Ganga valley, which were settled widely only after iron.
Raw materials and trade: these zones lay close to copper from Khetri, carnelian and agate from Gujarat, shell from the coasts, and routes to Baluchistan, Afghanistan and the Gulf.
Managing scarce water: the Harappans adapted to aridity: Mohenjodaro had several hundred wells (Michael Jansen estimated about 700), and Dholavira built a series of reservoirs and channels to store monsoon run-off from its seasonal streams.
Archaeological visibility: in dry areas mounds survive and are easy to spot, while sites in wetter, densely farmed regions are buried under alluvium or destroyed, so the pattern also partly reflects preservation and survey. The concentration of sites thus reflects both Harappan choices and modern discovery.
Q2(c) · Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Later Vedic Age: Monarchy, Varna and Economy
In what way was the egalitarian character of the early Vedic society changed during the later Vedic period?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
पूर्व वैदिक समाज के समतावादी स्वरूप में, उत्तर वैदिककाल के दौरान किस प्रकार से परिवर्तन हुए थे?
Practise this question Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(c)
Approach: First show what was egalitarian about early Vedic society, then trace the changes in economy, varna, polity, gender and ritual that eroded it in the later Vedic period.
Early Vedic society (c. 1500–1000 BCE) was tribal and relatively egalitarian. Its people were pastoralists for whom cattle were the main wealth, and booty was shared among the clan.
Early Vedic equality: the jana was organised by kinship, and the rajan was chosen or accepted by the tribe and checked by the sabha and samiti. A Rig Veda hymn (IX.112) says 'I am a bard, my father a physician, my mother grinds corn', which suggests occupations were not hereditary. Women attended assemblies.
Economic change: in the later Vedic period plough agriculture with iron tools spread in the Ganga–Yamuna doab, as seen at Painted Grey Ware sites. A surplus emerged, and with it unequal control of land and produce.
Varna hierarchy: four hereditary varnas took shape. The Aitareya Brahmana describes the vaishya as tributary to another and the Shudra as servant of another, and R.S. Sharma traces the Shudra order to conquered and dependent groups.
Political change: the raja became a territorial ruler, sacrifices like the rajasuya raised him above his kin, and bali became a regular tax. The assemblies declined.
Ritual and gender: elaborate sacrifices made priests powerful and costly. Women lost their place in assemblies, and gotra rules controlled marriage.
Some kin solidarity survived, but by c. 600 BCE a stratified society had replaced the egalitarian tribe.

Question 3 (50 marks)

Q3(a) · Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Mahajanapadas: Republics, Monarchies and the Second Urbanisation
Examine the relationship among economic growth, urbanization and State formation from c. 7th century BCE to 3rd century BCE.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
लगभग सातवीं शताब्दी ई० पू० से तीसरी शताब्दी ई० पू० तक आर्थिक संवृद्धि, नगरीकरण एवं राज्य गठन के बीच सम्बन्धों का परीक्षण कीजिए।
Practise this question Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(a)
Approach: Examine the relationship among the three processes: show how economic growth produced surplus for cities and states, how states and cities in turn promoted growth, and assess the debate on causation.
Between c. 7th and 3rd century BCE the Ganga valley moved from chiefdoms to the Mahajanapadas and then to the Mauryan empire. The same period saw the second urbanisation. These three processes reinforced one another.
Economic growth: plough farming, wet rice and the spread of iron tools in the middle Ganga plain created a surplus. Crafts, guilds and long-distance trade grew, and silver punch-marked coins and Northern Black Polished Ware spread along the routes.
Growth and the state: a regular surplus could be taxed. The Pali texts and later the Arthashastra show the king taking a share (bhaga) of produce, and revenue supported standing armies and officials, which made monarchies like Magadha stronger than the ganas.
Growth and cities: surplus fed artisans, merchants, monks and officials in towns such as Rajagriha, Shravasti and Kaushambi.
The state and cities: capitals were fortified, as at Kaushambi and Rajghat, and rulers protected routes and markets. Under the Mauryas Pataliputra became the largest city, and the state founded new settlements.
Debate: R.S. Sharma and D.D. Kosambi emphasised iron and surplus. A. Ghosh and Dilip Chakrabarti gave more weight to social and political factors, and Romila Thapar traces the shift from lineage to state.
The three were mutually dependent, with no single cause.
Q3(b) · The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Post-Mauryan Economy, Trade and Coinage
How does the numismatic evidence of the period reflect the political and economic outlook of the Kushanas and the Satavahanas?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
कुषाणों एवं सातवाहनों के आर्थिक एवं राजनीतिक दृष्टिकोण को समकालीन मौद्रिक साक्ष्य किस प्रकार प्रतिबिम्बित करता है?
Practise this question The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(b)
Approach: Explain what the coins of each dynasty show about political ideology (titles, portraits, deities, languages) and economic outlook (metals, denominations, trade), and compare the two.
The Kushanas in the north and the Satavahanas in the Deccan were the two great powers of the first to third centuries CE. Their coins reveal very different political and economic worlds.
Kushana political outlook: coins carry titles such as shaonanoshao (king of kings) and portraits of the king in Central Asian dress, sacrificing at an altar. The reverse shows a wide range of deities: Greek, Iranian (Mihiro, Nana, Ardoxsho), Indian (Oesho, linked with Shiva) and the Buddha. The shift from Greek to Bactrian legends under Kanishka asserts Kushana identity.
Kushana economic outlook: Vima Kadphises began a large gold coinage (dinara), on a weight standard related to the Roman aureus. Abundant copper coins point to a monetised economy.
Satavahana political outlook: coins carry the king's name with his mother's name, such as Gautamiputra and Vasishthiputra. Some later issues carry portraits with Prakrit legends and a second legend in a Dravidian language, which reflects regional identity. Gautamiputra Satakarni restruck the silver coins of Nahapana, as the Jogalthembi hoard shows, a numismatic record of victory.
Satavahana economic outlook: coins were mostly lead, potin and copper, for local markets. The ship-motif coins, linked with Yajna Sri Satakarni, point to maritime trade.
The Kushanas show a cosmopolitan, gold-based imperial economy; the Satavahanas a regional, trade-oriented one rooted in the Deccan.
Q3(c) · Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Themes in Early Indian Cultural History: Languages, Art, Philosophy and Science
“The changes in the field of art from the Kushana period to early medieval period are mere reflection of changing outlook.” Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
“कुषाणकाल से पूर्व मध्यकाल तक कला के क्षेत्र में हुए परिवर्तन, केवल परिवर्तनशील दृष्टिकोण के प्रतिबिम्ब हैं।” टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Practise this question Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(c)
Approach: Comment on the claim: trace the main changes in art from the Kushana to the early medieval period, link them to changing religious and political outlook, then show the other causes (patronage, materials, regional schools, texts) that make "mere" an overstatement.
Indian art changed greatly between the Kushana age (first to third century CE) and the early medieval period (c. 600–1200). The statement sees these changes simply as a mirror of changing outlook.
Kushana age: the Gandhara school, using Greco-Roman forms in grey schist, and the Mathura school, in red sandstone, made the Buddha in human form. Mathura also produced Jaina and Brahmanical images and royal portrait statues of Kushana kings, reflecting Mahayana devotion and imperial self-display.
Gupta age: the serene Sarnath Buddha, the Udayagiri Varaha and the Deogarh temple expressed a classical ideal of calm, spiritual beauty and the rise of Vaishnava and Shaiva theism.
Early medieval: Nagara, Dravida and Vesara temples grew taller and more richly carved (Khajuraho, Bhubaneswar, Thanjavur), Chola bronzes such as the Nataraja gave theology form, and Pala-Sena sculpture served Vajrayana and Puranic cults. The changes reflect bhakti, Tantra and the use of temples to proclaim royal power. Devangana Desai links Khajuraho's erotic sculpture to the culture of a feudal and Tantric age.
Why "mere" overstates it: (i) patronage moved from merchants and guilds to kings and landed elites, changing scale and themes; (ii) materials and technique, from schist to granite and bronze, shaped style; (iii) regional schools and guild traditions had their own logic; (iv) texts such as the Vishnudharmottara, Manasara and Mayamata codified form, so art followed canon as much as outlook.
Art therefore reflected changing outlook, but through economic, technical and institutional conditions. It was a product of society as a whole, not merely a mirror of ideas.

Question 4 (50 marks)

Q4(a) · The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Mauryan Polity, Administration and Economy
Critically evaluate the theory and practice of land revenue system in ancient India.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
प्राचीन भारत में भू-राजस्व प्रणाली के सिद्धान्त और व्यवहार का समालोचनात्मक मूल्यांकन कीजिए।
Practise this question The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(a)
Approach: Contrast theory (lawbooks and the Arthashastra) with practice (inscriptions and grants) across the main phases, Vedic, Mauryan, post-Mauryan and Gupta, and evaluate how far practice followed theory.
Land revenue was the main source of income for ancient Indian states. Its theory appears in the Dharmashastras and the Arthashastra, and its practice in inscriptions, Megasthenes and grants.
Theory: the Gautama Dharmasutra and the Manusmriti justify the king's share of produce, usually one-sixth (shadbhaga) and up to one-fourth in emergencies, as payment for protection. The Arthashastra lists bhaga (share of produce), bali, kara and udakabhaga (water cess). It also allows an emergency levy (pranaya).
Vedic origins: voluntary bali in the Rig Vedic period became a regular levy in the later Vedic age.
Mauryan practice: Megasthenes reports that cultivators paid a quarter of produce besides rent on royal land. Ashoka's Lumbini pillar inscription exempts the village from bali and reduces its bhaga to one-eighth, which shows both taxes in force and rates varying by favour.
Post-Mauryan practice: Rudradaman's Junagadh inscription (150 CE) boasts that he repaired the Sudarshana lake without oppressing subjects with kara, vishti (forced labour) and pranaya, which shows that such levies were common. Satavahana grants to Buddhist monks exempted land from royal officers and taxes.
Gupta and later practice: grants now list bhaga, bhoga, hiranya (cash tax) and uparikara. Brahmadeya and agrahara grants transferred revenue rights, and R.S. Sharma saw this as a step towards feudalism.
Evaluation: theory justified taxation as a contract of protection and fixed a moderate share. In practice rates varied by region and period, extra levies and forced labour were common, and the burden rose as the state sought revenue.
Over time, as grants alienated revenue to donees, the state's direct link with the cultivator weakened. The ideal of a just sixth was often an ideal only.
Q4(b) · The Deccan, the Sangam Age and the Guptas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Indian Feudalism, Caste and the Position of Women
“The copious references to the preservation of Varnashrama system by the kings eulogized in inscriptions are mere reflection of the Smriti tradition.” Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
“अभिलेखों में प्रशस्तित राजाओं द्वारा वर्णाश्रम व्यवस्था के परिरक्षण के प्रचुर उल्लेख स्मृति परम्परा का प्रतिबिम्ब मात्र हैं।” विवेचना कीजिए।
Practise this question The Deccan, the Sangam Age and the Guptas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(b)
Approach: Discuss whether the inscriptional praise of kings as protectors of varnashrama was mere Smriti convention or also reflected royal action and social conditions, with examples, and conclude.
From the early centuries CE royal prashastis and charters praise kings for upholding varnashrama dharma. The Nashik inscription credits Gautamiputra Satakarni with stopping the mixing of the four varnas, and many later charters hail kings as restorers of dharma decayed in the Kali age.
Mere reflection of the Smritis: the eulogies were composed by brahmana court poets trained in the Dharmashastras, and they repeat stock epithets that echo Manu's ideal of the king as protector of varnas. The same phrases recur across dynasties with little local detail. They state an ideal of kingship, not proof that rulers enforced caste rules.
More than reflection: first, the claim served legitimation, since new families of tribal or obscure origin and foreign rulers such as the Shakas won acceptance as guardians of the brahmanical order. Second, kings acted on it, settling brahmanas in new regions through land grants and hearing caste disputes. Third, R.S. Sharma argues that this stress, like the Kali-age passages of the Puranas, answered a real social crisis of peasant and shudra unrest and multiplying mixed castes.
The references are therefore formulaic in language but not "mere" reflection. They were an ideological tool of kings and a statement of the policy of an agrarian order built on land grants.
Q4(c) · Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Temples, Mathas, Agraharas, Education and Literature
How did the temples of South India, as financial institutions, have deep impact on the social institutions of early medieval period? Critically examine.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
वित्तीय संस्थानों के रूप में दक्षिण भारतीय मन्दिरों का पूर्व मध्यकालीन सामाजिक संस्थाओं पर किस प्रकार गहरा प्रभाव पड़ा? समालोचनात्मक परीक्षण कीजिए।
Practise this question Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(c)
Approach: First show how temples worked as financial institutions (land, deposits, loans, livestock, employment), then their impact on social institutions, and critically weigh the integrative reading against hierarchy and exclusion.
From the Pallava to the Chola period (c. seventh to thirteenth century) the great temples of south India owned land, received endowments and lent money. Their inscriptions, above all those of the Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur (1010 CE), show them as the financial institutions of the region.
Finance: kings, queens, merchants and village assemblies gave land, gold and livestock. Rajaraja I's Thanjavur temple lent money to village assemblies at an interest of about 12.5 per cent a year. Sheep and cattle given for perpetual lamps were entrusted to herders, who paid in ghee, a system studied by George Spencer.
Impact on social institutions: (i) temples employed priests, accountants, musicians, artisans and about four hundred temple women at Thanjavur, creating the devadasi institution; (ii) they tied village assemblies (sabhas, urs) and merchant guilds such as the Ainnurruvar to the temple through deposits and duties; (iii) they gave kings legitimacy and set ranks through temple honours.
Critical view: Burton Stein saw the temple as the centre of a brahmana-peasant alliance in a segmentary state, and R. Champakalakshmi linked it to temple towns such as Kanchipuram and Kumbakonam. But temple wealth also reinforced brahmana and landed dominance, excluded untouchables, and competition over temple rights fed the right-hand and left-hand caste divisions.
Temples thus deeply shaped south Indian society as both integrators and agents of hierarchy.

Question 5 (50 marks)

Q5(a) · The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Foundation of the Sultanate: Aibak, Iltutmish and Balban
Evaluate the contents of the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri as a source of medieval history.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
‘तबक़ात-ए-नासिरी’ की विषयवस्तु का मध्यकालीन इतिहास के स्रोत के रूप में मूल्यांकन कीजिए।
Practise this question The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(a)
Approach: Evaluate the source: describe the author, date and contents of the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, then weigh its value against its limitations.
The Tabaqat-i-Nasiri was written in Persian by Minhaj-us-Siraj Juzjani, a scholar from Ghur who came to India in 1227 and rose to be chief qazi of Delhi. He completed it around 1259–60 and dedicated it to Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud.
Contents: a general history arranged in tabaqas (sections), from early Islamic dynasties to the Ghaznavids, the Ghurids, the Shamsi Sultans of Delhi and their nobles, and the Mongol invasions. H.G. Raverty translated it into English.
Value: it is the main contemporary narrative of the Ghurid conquest, including Tarain, and of the reigns of Iltutmish, Raziya and Nasiruddin. Its biographies of nobles reveal the slave elite, and its account of the Mongols is a key Indian record.
Limitations: Minhaj wrote while Balban held power and praises him; he is brief on events that embarrassed his patrons, such as Raziya's fall, says little about economy or Hindu society, and ends in 1259–60.
Read with coins, inscriptions and Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir, it remains indispensable for the early Sultanate.
Q5(b) · Early Medieval India, 750–1200 · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Chola Administration, Village Economy and Society
Analyze the significance of the Uttaramerur inscriptions of the Chola King Parantaka I.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
चोल शासक परान्तक प्रथम के उत्तरमेरुर अभिलेखों के महत्त्व का विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Practise this question Early Medieval India, 750–1200 notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(b)
Approach: Briefly describe the two inscriptions (date, place, content) and then analyse their significance for Chola local government, brahmadeya society and the nature of the state, with one line on their limits.
The two Uttaramerur inscriptions of 919 and 921, in the reign of Parantaka I, are engraved on the walls of a temple in the brahmadeya village of Uttaramerur (Chengalpattu district, Tamil Nadu).
Content: the village was divided into 30 wards (kudumbu). A candidate had to own about a quarter veli of tax-paying land and a house on his own site, be aged 35 to 70, and know the Vedic mantras and Brahmanas. Defaulters on accounts and their relatives were barred. Names written on palm leaves were put in a pot and drawn by a boy (kudavolai), and committees (variyams) were formed for annual business, gardens and tanks.
Significance: they are the most detailed evidence of local self-government in early India, with rules on rotation, accountability and audit; and, being framed by royal order, they show the link between the sabha and the Chola state.
Limits: the system was oligarchic, open only to propertied, learned brahmana men, and Uttaramerur was a brahmadeya, not a typical village.
Q5(c) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Provincial Dynasties: Bengal, Kashmir, Gujarat and Malwa
Evaluate Jonaraja’s account of the reign of Zain-ul-Abidin.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
ज़ाइन-उल-अबिदीन के शासनकाल के जोनराज के वृत्तान्त का मूल्यांकन कीजिए।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(c)
Approach: Evaluate the source, not the king: introduce Jonaraja and his work, state what it tells us about Zain-ul-Abidin, then weigh its strengths and weaknesses.
Jonaraja, a Sanskrit poet at the court of Zain-ul-Abidin, continued Kalhana's Rajatarangini in his own Rajatarangini (often called the second), carrying the history of Kashmir from the 12th century to his patron's reign; he died c. 1459, and Srivara continued the work.
What it tells us: Jonaraja contrasts the persecution of Sultan Sikandar and his minister Suha Bhatta with Zain-ul-Abidin's restoration of temples and grants, the return of Brahmanas, the end of the jizya, public works and patronage of learning.
Strengths: It is a contemporary, eyewitness account by an insider, written in the critical tradition of Kalhana, and gives detail on administration, famine, prices and court culture not found in Persian sources.
Weaknesses: As a court poet writing for his patron, Jonaraja is eulogistic; his ornate kavya style blurs facts; his chronology is thin; and as a Brahmana he judges rulers mainly by their treatment of Brahmanas.
Jonaraja's account is indispensable for Zain-ul-Abidin's reign, but must be read with Srivara and later Persian sources.
Q5(d) · Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Arab Conquest of Sind and Alberuni
Comment on the veracity of Alberuni’s account of the Indian society.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
अलबेरूनी द्वारा किए गए भारतीय समाज के वृत्तान्त की सत्यवादिता पर टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Practise this question Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(d)
Approach: Comment on veracity: show where the account is reliable and why (method, sources, self-awareness), where it is not, and give a balanced verdict.
Alberuni's Kitab al-Hind (c. 1030) is the first systematic study of Indian society by an outsider, written after years of studying Sanskrit texts with pandits under Mahmud of Ghazni.
Reliable aspects: he was a careful scholar who compared Indian ideas with Greek and Islamic ones and admitted the barriers of language, religion and Mahmud's raids. His account of the four varnas, the eight antyaja guilds below them (fullers, shoemakers, weavers and others) and the outcastes such as the Hadi, Doma and Chandala fits the Smritis and is broadly confirmed by other sources. His notes on Indian astronomy, calendars and festivals are precise.
Limits: he relied on Brahmanical texts, so he described the ideal more than practice. He knew mostly the north-west, and some judgements, such as calling Hindus insular and lacking historical sense, are generalisations.
His account is thus truthful about what the Sanskrit tradition said about society and largely reliable on learning, but it must be checked against regional evidence for actual social life.
Q5(e) · Mughal Economy, Society and Culture · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Mughal Architecture and Painting
Delineate the development of the Mughal painting during the reign of Jahangir.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
जहाँगीर के शासन के दौरान मुगल चित्रकारी के विकास की रूपरेखा प्रस्तुत कीजिए।
Practise this question Mughal Economy, Society and Culture notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(e)
Approach: Explain how Jahangir's personal taste reshaped painting, then describe the new forms (single portraits, albums, natural history, allegory) and the leading artists, ending with an assessment.
Jahangir (1605–27) is regarded as the greatest patron of Mughal painting. He had kept his own studio as prince, with the Persian painter Aqa Riza, and in his memoirs (Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri) he claimed he could name the artist of every face in a painting.
New forms: the large illustrated manuscripts of Akbar's time gave way to single paintings for albums (muraqqa). Fewer artists worked on each picture, so quality and individual style improved.
Portraits and nature: realistic portraits of the emperor, nobles and holy men became central, and Bishandas was sent with an embassy to Persia to paint Shah Abbas. Ustad Mansur, titled Nadir-ul-Asr, painted birds, animals and flowers with scientific precision.
Allegory: Abul Hasan, titled Nadir-uz-Zaman, and Bichitr painted allegories of Jahangir's power, using European devices such as the halo and the globe.
Under Jahangir, Mughal painting reached its peak of naturalism and refinement, becoming a personal and courtly art.

Question 6 (50 marks)

Q6(a) · Early Medieval India, 750–1200 · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Political Developments and the Origin of the Rajputs
Explain the ingredients of the transitory nature of the early medieval India.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
पूर्व मध्यकालीन भारत के अस्थायी स्वरूप के संघटकों को स्पष्ट कीजिए।
Practise this question Early Medieval India, 750–1200 notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(a)
Approach: "Transitory nature" refers to early medieval India as a period of transition from the early historical to the medieval order; explain its ingredients in polity, economy, society and culture, and note the debate on whether the change meant decline or integration.
Historians describe c. 600–1200 as a period of transition: the Mauryan-Gupta order of large empires and old Ganga valley cities gave way to a medieval order of regional kingdoms, landed intermediaries, castes and devotional religion. Its ingredients can be grouped as follows.
Polity: many regional kingdoms (Palas, Pratiharas, Rashtrakutas, Cholas, later Rajput states) replaced pan-Indian empires; kings ruled through samantas, and sovereignty was shared in a graded hierarchy of mahasamantas and lesser chiefs.
Economy: land grants to brahmanas, temples and officials multiplied, transferring revenue and sometimes judicial rights; R.S. Sharma linked this to a decline of trade, coinage and towns between c. 600 and 1000, followed by revival after c. 1000.
Society: castes multiplied as tribes and occupational groups became jatis; Kayasthas and Rajputs emerged; untouchability hardened, and the status of women declined in many respects.
Culture: Puranic Hinduism, bhakti and Tantra grew; temples became centres of economy and ritual; regional languages and scripts and regional styles of temple building took shape.
The debate: Sharma and B.N.S. Yadava see these changes as signs of feudal crisis, while B.D. Chattopadhyaya and Hermann Kulke see an integrative process in which state society spread into new regions and new urban centres arose. Either way, the period was a bridge between two orders, which is why it is called transitional.
Q6(b) · The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Foundation of the Sultanate: Aibak, Iltutmish and Balban
What measures were initiated by the Sultans for the consolidation of the Delhi Sultanate? Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
दिल्ली सल्तनत के सुदृढ़ीकरण के लिए सुल्तानों ने किन-किन उपायों की पहल की थी? विवेचना कीजिए।
Practise this question The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(b)
Approach: Discuss the measures by which the Sultans turned the Ghurid conquests into a stable state: political, institutional, military and ideological, ruler by ruler from Aibak to Alauddin, and end with a judgement on their success.
The Ghurid conquests of 1192–1206 left a thin layer of Turkish commanders over a hostile country, with rivals in Ghazni and Multan and the Mongols beyond the Indus. Consolidation was the work of the thirteenth-century Sultans, completed by Alauddin Khalji.
Aibak (1206–10): used marriage alliances with the rival commanders Yildiz and Qubacha and with Iltutmish.
Iltutmish (1210–36): defeated Yildiz and Qubacha, brought Bengal under control, made Delhi the capital, obtained caliphal investiture (1229), standardised the silver tanka and copper jital, and gave iqtas to loyal Turkish slave officers.
Balban (1266–87): restored royal authority through the theory of zill-i-ilahi, sijda and paibos, destroyed the power of the Forty, posted barids, reorganised the army through the diwan-i-arz and built forts in the north-west against the Mongols.
Alauddin Khalji (1296–1316): took revenue at half the produce by measurement in the Doab, paid a large standing army in cash with dagh and huliya, controlled prices in Delhi, defeated the Mongols and drew tribute from the Deccan.
K.A. Nizami sees steady growth of a centralised monarchy, while Sunil Kumar stresses that early Turkish rule stayed fragile and depended on personal loyalty. By 1316 the Sultanate was an all-India power, but its dependence on the ruler's personality remained its weakness.
Q6(c) · Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Akbar: Conquests and Consolidation
Identify the broad contours of the Mughal foreign policy and their impacts on the Mughal empire.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
मुगल विदेश नीति की व्यापक रूपरेखाओं की और मुगल साम्राज्य पर उनके प्रभावों की पहचान कीजिए।
Practise this question Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(c)
Approach: Identify the main lines of Mughal foreign policy (north-west frontier, Safavids, Uzbeks, Central Asia, Europeans at sea), then assess their political, military and economic impact on the empire.
Mughal foreign policy was shaped by the dynasty's Central Asian origins and by the need to guard the passes through which every invader had entered India. Its broad aim, in Satish Chandra's reading, was a defensible frontier rather than endless conquest.
The north-west frontier: Akbar treated the line Kabul–Ghazni–Kandahar as India's natural defence. He stayed at Lahore from 1585 to 1598 to face the Uzbek ruler Abdullah Khan, and an understanding of about 1585 made the Hindu Kush the boundary between them.
Kandahar and the Safavids: Humayun regained his throne with Shah Tahmasp's help, but Kandahar remained the bone of contention. Akbar recovered it in 1595, Shah Abbas I took it in 1622, Shah Jahan regained it in 1638 through Ali Mardan Khan's defection, and it was lost for good in 1649 despite three failed sieges (1649, 1652, 1653). Relations otherwise stayed courteous, as Riazul Islam's study of Indo-Persian relations shows.
The Timurid homeland: Shah Jahan's Balkh and Badakhshan campaign (1646–47) briefly realised the dream of Samarqand, but the army could not hold the region and withdrew at great cost.
The sea and the Europeans: the Mughals kept no real navy. They accepted Portuguese cartaz passes for Hajj ships and received Jesuit missions and Sir Thomas Roe (1615–19).
Impacts: the frontier policy kept India free of invasion for nearly two centuries and protected the Kabul and Kandahar caravan routes. But Kandahar and Balkh drained treasure and prestige, Aurangzeb faced costly Afghan tribal risings (1667–75), and neglect of the sea left maritime power to the Europeans.
On balance the policy was realistic and defensive, and its main failures came when it chased dynastic dreams beyond the Hindu Kush.

Question 7 (50 marks)

Q7(a) · Early Medieval India, 750–1200 · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Philosophy: Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva
“The Advaita doctrine of Shankara cut at the very root of Bhaktivada.” Do you agree?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
“शंकर के अद्वैत सिद्धान्त ने भक्तिवाद की जड़ों को ही काट दिया।” क्या आप इससे सहमत हैं?
Practise this question Early Medieval India, 750–1200 notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(a)
Approach: Explain why Advaita seems to undermine bhakti (identity of self and Brahman, nirguna Brahman, jnana), then show the counter-evidence (two levels of truth, saguna worship, the growth of bhakti and the reaction of Ramanuja and Madhva), and give a qualified answer.
Bhakti presupposes a relationship of love between a devotee and a personal God. Shankara's Advaita held that Brahman alone is real, attributeless (nirguna) and identical with the self, so at the highest level there is no second being to love.
Why the statement seems true: if the devotee and God are ultimately one, devotion belongs to the realm of ignorance; Shankara placed knowledge (jnana) above action and devotion as the means of liberation, and treated the personal God (Ishvara) as Brahman seen through maya. Ramanuja attacked precisely this, arguing in the Shri Bhashya that a God without attributes could not be loved and that maya made the world and devotion unreal.
Why it is overstated: Shankara's doctrine of two levels of truth gave worship a valid place at the practical (vyavaharika) level as a discipline that purifies the mind; tradition attributes devotional hymns to him (though many attributions are doubtful) and associates him with the worship of five deities. Bhakti did not decline: the Alvars and Nayanars flourished in the same period, and Advaita's challenge provoked Ramanuja and Madhva to build strong philosophical foundations for bhakti. Later saints such as Madhusudana Sarasvati even combined Advaita with devotion.
The statement holds at the level of ultimate doctrine, but not in history: Advaita subordinated bhakti rather than destroying it, and its challenge strengthened theistic Vedanta.
Q7(b) · The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Alauddin Khalji's Agrarian and Market Measures
Do you think that the economic measures introduced by the Sultanate rulers were beneficial to the common people as well? Illustrate with examples.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या आपके विचार में सल्तनत शासकों द्वारा चालू किए गए आर्थिक उपाय सामान्य जनमानस के लिए भी लाभदायक थे? उदाहरण प्रस्तुत करते हुए स्पष्ट कीजिए।
Practise this question The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(b)
Approach: The question asks whether the Sultans' economic measures helped ordinary people: take the main measures of Iltutmish, Alauddin, Muhammad bin Tughluq and Firuz, show who gained and who lost from each, and conclude that most served the state first.
The economic measures of the Delhi Sultans were designed mainly to feed the treasury, the army and the urban ruling class; Irfan Habib describes the Sultanate as a system for extracting the agrarian surplus for the towns. Yet some measures did benefit common people.
Iltutmish: the standard silver tanka and copper jital gave a uniform currency that helped trade and artisans in the towns.
Alauddin Khalji: market controls kept prices low and stable in Delhi, and grain was rationed in scarcity, which helped the urban poor and soldiers. But revenue at half the produce and forced sale of grain squeezed the peasants, and merchants lost freedom and profit.
Muhammad bin Tughluq: in the famine of the 1330s he distributed grain, gave takavi loans for seed, cattle and wells and created the Diwan-i-Amir-i-Kohi. But the raised Doab demand drove peasants to flight, and the token currency disrupted trade.
Firuz Tughluq: he came closest to public welfare: he abolished about two dozen cesses, wrote off takavi loans, built canals that supported two crops in Haryana, and set up the Diwan-i-Khairat, the Dar-ul-Shifa hospital and an employment bureau. Yet jizya was extended to brahmanas, an irrigation tax (haqq-i-sharb) was charged, and much charity was for Muslims.
Wider effects: Habib links the spread of crafts such as the spinning wheel and paper to urban demand, while Mohammad Habib's 'urban revolution' thesis, which saw gains for urban workers, is thought overstated.
Common people thus gained only incidentally, chiefly in Delhi and under Firuz. Policy aimed above all at revenue and military power, and its cost fell mainly on the peasantry.
Q7(c) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
The Bahmanis and the Vijayanagara Empire
Assess the contribution of Firoz Shah Bahamani and Mahmud Gawan in the field of education.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
फिरोजशाह बहमनी और महमूद गवाँ के शिक्षा के क्षेत्र में योगदान का मूल्यांकन कीजिए।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(c)
Approach: Take the two figures in turn, giving each one's educational work with evidence, then compare and assess their joint contribution.
The Bahmani kingdom (1347–1527) became a centre of Persian learning in the Deccan, and two figures stand out: Sultan Firoz Shah Bahmani and the minister Mahmud Gawan. Our main sources are Ferishta's Tarikh-i-Ferishta and Gawan's own letters.
Firoz Shah Bahmani (1397–1422): Ferishta describes him as learned in theology, the natural sciences, logic and poetry, and as a calligrapher and poet himself. He invited scholars from Iran and Iraq, began an observatory near Daulatabad, and is said to have spoken with the women of his harem in their own languages. His court made the Bahmani capital a seat of learning.
Mahmud Gawan: A Persian merchant who became chief minister (1460s–1481), he founded the great madrasa at Bidar (1472), a three-storeyed building with lecture halls, residences for teachers and students, a mosque and a large library, endowed by him. He was himself a scholar, author of the Riyaz-ul-Insha (a collection of his letters) and the Manazir-ul-Insha on the art of letter writing, and corresponded with scholars of Iran, including the poet Jami.
Comparison: Firoz's patronage was personal and courtly, while Gawan created a lasting institution open to students from many lands.
Together they linked the Deccan to the Persianate world of learning, a legacy that the successor Sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda continued.

Question 8 (50 marks)

Q8(a) · Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century · 20 marks≈ 14 min
The Late 17th-Century Crisis and the Revolts
Do you think that the agrarian crisis of the 17th century led to the disintegration of the Mughal empire? Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या आपके विचार में 17वीं शताब्दी के कृषि-भूमि संबंधी संकट के फलस्वरूप मुगल साम्राज्य का विघटन हुआ था? विवेचना कीजिए।
Practise this question Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(a)
Approach: Present Irfan Habib's agrarian-crisis explanation with its evidence, then test it against the jagirdari-crisis, political and regional (revisionist) explanations, and give a balanced verdict.
The link between agrarian crisis and Mughal decline was argued most forcefully by Irfan Habib in The Agrarian System of Mughal India (1963).
The argument: the Mughal ruling class took almost the whole surplus of the peasant through a heavy cash demand. Because jagirs were transferred every few years, jagirdars had no interest in the long-term welfare of the land and pressed the peasants harder. François Bernier, who was in India in the 1650s and 1660s, observed that such officers ruined the land because they might lose it at any time.
Peasants responded by flight and then by armed revolt led by zamindars, as among the Jats, Satnamis, Sikhs and Marathas. Habib concludes that the empire was destroyed by the very system of exploitation that had sustained it.
Support: the revolts of Aurangzeb's reign, complaints of ruined villages in chronicles and administrative manuals, and the fall in collections fit this picture.
Other explanations: Satish Chandra stresses the jagirdari crisis among the nobles, and M. Athar Ali the Deccan war, the growth of the nobility and the empire's failure to renew its ideology.
Revisionist critique: Muzaffar Alam's study of Awadh and Punjab, Chetan Singh's work on Punjab and C.A. Bayly's on north India show that many regions were growing richer in the 18th century. In this view the empire decentralised because local gentry and regional governors grew strong, not because the economy collapsed.
The agrarian crisis was therefore a real and important cause of the weakening of the empire, especially in the core around Agra and Delhi. But disintegration came from its combination with political, military and regional changes, so it should not be treated as the sole cause.
Q8(b) · The Eighteenth Century · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Politics, Culture and Economy on the Eve of British Conquest
Was it the weakening of the Mughal empire or the rise of regional powers that led to the British conquest of India? Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या मुगल साम्राज्य के कमजोर हो जाने या क्षेत्रीय शक्तियों के उदय हो जाने के फलस्वरूप अंग्रेजों को भारत की विजय प्राप्त हुई थी? विवेचना कीजिए।
Practise this question The Eighteenth Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(b)
Approach: Assess the contribution of Mughal weakening and of the rise of regional powers with examples, then add the Company's own advantages, and conclude that the conquest came from British strength exploiting a fragmented political order.
The British conquest (1757–1818) took place in a political order transformed by the decline of the Mughal centre and the rise of regional states. Both conditions mattered, but neither alone explains it.
Mughal weakening: after 1707 no imperial power could defend the provinces or control the Company. The emperor's grants legitimised its gains: the farman of 1717 gave duty-free trade in Bengal, and the diwani of 1765 gave it Bengal's revenue. Shah Alam II became a pensioner, and Delhi passed under British protection in 1803.
Rise of regional powers: fragmentation produced rival states, Hyderabad, Awadh, Bengal, the Marathas and Mysore, which fought one another and sought Company help. Bengal's bankers and nobles joined Clive at Plassey (1757); the Nizam and the Marathas joined the English against Tipu; Maratha chiefs never united. Yet the strongest regional powers, Mysore and the Marathas, resisted fiercely, so regional states were also the main obstacle.
British advantages: Bengal's revenue financed a disciplined sepoy army; sea power and the defeat of the French secured supplies; the subsidiary alliance isolated rulers one by one; and C.A. Bayly stresses that Indian bankers and gentry found the Company a reliable partner.
The conquest was the work of a militarily and financially superior Company exploiting the opportunities created both by Mughal decline and by the rivalries of the regional powers.
Q8(c) · The Eighteenth Century · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Maratha Ascendancy under the Peshwas
Is it true that the court intrigues and weak revenue system led to the collapse of the Maratha empire? Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या यह सत्य है कि राजदरबार की षड्यंत्रकारी गतिविधियों और कमजोर लगान व्यवस्था की वजह से मराठा साम्राज्य का विघटन हुआ था? टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Practise this question The Eighteenth Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(c)
Approach: Examine court intrigues and the weaknesses of the revenue system with dated evidence, then add the other causes (confederacy rivalry, British strength, military lag), and judge how far the statement holds.
The Maratha state, the leading power of the 1760s, collapsed in the three Anglo-Maratha wars (1775–82, 1803–05, 1817–18). Court intrigue and a weak revenue base were real causes, but not the whole story.
Court intrigues: the murder of Peshwa Narayan Rao (1773) and Raghunath Rao's alliance with Bombay began the First Anglo-Maratha War. Nana Phadnavis's regency was contested by Mahadji Scindia; after the deaths of Sawai Madhav Rao (1795) and Nana (1800), Baji Rao II was caught between Scindia and Holkar, and after Holkar's victory at Pune (1802) he signed the subsidiary Treaty of Bassein, which opened the door to British control.
Weak revenue system: Maratha finances rested on chauth, tribute and plunder rather than settled revenue outside swarajya; the Peshwas were chronically in debt to bankers; and revenue farming under Baji Rao II, with districts auctioned to the highest bidder, oppressed peasants and eroded the old checks. The saranjam system made Scindia, Holkar, Gaekwad and Bhonsle financially autonomous.
Other causes: the chiefs never united against the British, the Company had Bengal's revenue, a disciplined army and able diplomacy under Wellesley and Hastings, and Panipat had already cost a generation of leaders.
The statement is true in part: intrigues and a fragile fiscal base weakened the state from within, but the decisive blows came from British power exploiting a divided confederacy.

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