UPSC Mains 2020 History Optional Question Papers with Model Answers

All 52 questions of the 2020 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 2020 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) Paleolithic site; (ii) Paleolithic Factory site; (iii) Neolithic site; (iv) Early and Mature Harappan site; (v) Chalcolithic site; (vi) Site of Coin and Seal Moulds; (vii) Ancient Administration Centre; (viii) Ancient Political Headquarter; (ix) Ancient Temple site; (x) Pre and Proto Historic site; (xi) Ancient Capital City; (xii) Place of Shaiva Temple; (xiii) World Heritage Centre of Temple complex; (xiv) An Inscriptional site; (xv) Place of Jain Temple; (xvi) Largest Buddhist Monastery; (xvii) Ancient Temple Complex; (xviii) Place of oldest Mosque; (xix) Temple Complex dedicated to Shiva; (xx) Ancient Education Centre.
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) पुरापाषाणकालीन स्थल; (ii) पुरापाषाणकालीन कारखाना स्थल; (iii) नवपाषाणकालीन स्थल; (iv) पूर्व एवं पूर्ण विकसित हड़प्पा स्थल; (v) ताम्रपाषाणिक स्थल; (vi) मुद्रा एवं मोहर साँचा स्थल; (vii) प्राचीन प्रशासन केन्द्र; (viii) प्राचीन राजनैतिक मुख्यालय; (ix) प्राचीन मंदिर स्थल; (x) पूर्व एवं आद्य ऐतिहासिक स्थल; (xi) प्राचीन राजधानी नगर; (xii) शैव मंदिर स्थान; (xiii) मंदिर संकुल का विश्व विरासत केन्द्र; (xiv) एक अभिलेखन स्थल; (xv) जैन मंदिर स्थान; (xvi) विशालतम बौद्ध मठ; (xvii) प्राचीन मंदिर संकुल; (xviii) प्राचीनतम मस्जिद स्थान; (xix) शिव को समर्पित मंदिर संकुल; (xx) प्राचीन शिक्षा केन्द्र.
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) Paleolithic site: Paisra, Bihar — Lower Palaeolithic site in the Munger hills excavated by P.C. Pant and Vidula Jayaswal; Acheulian handaxes and cleavers lay with traces of hut floors, a rare open-air living site of early hunter-gatherers in eastern India.
(ii) Paleolithic Factory site: Isampur, Karnataka — Acheulian quarry-cum-workshop (factory site) in the Hunsgi valley, Yadgir district; K. Paddayya found limestone blocks, cores, flakes and handaxes left where they were made, dated to about 1.2 million years ago.
(iii) Neolithic site: Koldihwa, Uttar Pradesh — Belan valley Neolithic site (Prayagraj) with circular huts, cord-impressed pottery and rice husk, claimed by G.R. Sharma as evidence of very early rice cultivation, though its early radiocarbon dates are disputed.
(iv) Early and Mature Harappan site: Padri, Gujarat — Bhavnagar district on the Gulf of Khambhat coast of Saurashtra; Vasant Shinde's excavation found pre-Harappan levels with distinctive Padri ware beneath Mature Harappan occupation, showing a local Early Harappan tradition.
(v) Chalcolithic site: Navdatoli, Madhya Pradesh — on the Narmada opposite Maheshwar; H.D. Sankalia's excavation showed a Malwa culture farming village (c. 1700 BCE) with painted Malwa ware, rectangular and round huts, and wheat, lentils and rice.
(vi) Site of Coin and Seal Moulds: Sunet, Punjab — mound near Ludhiana that yielded Yaudheya coins together with clay coin moulds and seals, showing a minting centre of the early centuries CE where coins of the Yaudheya republic were cast locally.
(vii) Ancient Administration Centre: Srihatta (Sylhet), Bangladesh — early medieval administrative unit (mandala) in the Surma valley; the Paschimbhag copper plate of the Chandra king Srichandra (10th century) records large land grants in Srihatta mandala to brahmanas and mathas. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Mahasthangarh (Bogura), Vikramapura)
(viii) Ancient Political Headquarter: Karur, Tamil Nadu — on the Amaravati river, identified with Karuvur (Vanji), an early Chera capital of Sangam poems; it has yielded Roman, punch-marked and early Chera coins, and Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions at nearby Pugalur name Chera kings.
(ix) Ancient Temple site: Martand, Jammu and Kashmir — ruined Sun temple on the Mattan plateau near Anantnag, built by the Karkota king Lalitaditya Muktapida (8th century), the finest Kashmiri monument, with a peristyle courtyard, trefoil arches and fluted pillars. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Shankaracharya temple (Srinagar), Avantipur)
(x) Pre and Proto Historic site: Ganeshwar, Rajasthan — Sikar district near the Khetri copper belt; R.C. Agrawala's excavations found a Mesolithic phase followed by the Ganeshwar-Jodhpura copper culture (3rd–2nd millennium BCE), with copper arrowheads, fish-hooks and celts that supplied Harappan towns.
(xi) Ancient Capital City: Sisupalgarh, Odisha — fortified early historic city near Bhubaneswar, excavated by B.B. Lal (1948); a square rampart with gateways (c. 3rd century BCE–4th century CE), often identified with Kalinganagari, the capital of Kharavela.
(xii) Place of Shaiva Temple: Ramappa (Palampet), Telangana — Rudreshwara Shiva temple built in 1213 CE by Recherla Rudra, general of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva, famed for its bracket figures of dancers and light floating bricks; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021.
(xiii) World Heritage Centre of Temple complex: Pattadakal, Karnataka — Chalukyan temples (7th–8th century) on the Malaprabha mixing Nagara and Dravida styles; queen Lokamahadevi built the Virupaksha temple to mark Vikramaditya II's victory over the Pallavas; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
(xiv) An Inscriptional site: Goa Velha (Gopakapattana), Goa — port-capital on the Zuari of the Kadambas of Goa (11th–14th century), whose copper-plate and stone inscriptions record land grants, temple endowments and busy maritime trade with the Arabian Sea world. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Bicholim, Chandor (Chandrapura))
(xv) Place of Jain Temple: Ellora, Maharashtra — Caves 30–34 are Jaina rock-cut temples of the Rashtrakuta age (9th–10th century), including the two-storeyed Indra Sabha and the Jagannatha Sabha, with images of Tirthankaras, Ambika and Gommateshvara.
(xvi) Largest Buddhist Monastery: Tawang Monastery, Arunachal Pradesh — Galden Namgyal Lhatse, founded in 1680–81 by Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso at the wish of the fifth Dalai Lama; a Gelugpa monastery and the largest Buddhist monastery in India.
(xvii) Ancient Temple Complex: Masrur, Himachal Pradesh — Kangra district; a monolithic complex of about fifteen Nagara-style shrines cut from a single sandstone ridge (c. 8th century), facing a tank and often compared with Ellora as the rock-cut temple of the Himalaya.
(xviii) Place of oldest Mosque: Kodungallur, Kerala — near ancient Muziris in Thrissur district; the Cheraman Juma Masjid, by tradition founded in the 7th century by Malik ibn Dinar, is regarded as the oldest mosque in India and reflects early Arab trade.
(xix) Temple Complex dedicated to Shiva: Bhoramdeo, Chhattisgarh — Kabirdham district; an 11th-century Nagara Shiva temple built under the Phani Nagavanshi rulers, whose erotic sculpture recalling Khajuraho earns it the popular title Khajuraho of Chhattisgarh; the Madwa Mahal lies nearby.
(xx) Ancient Education Centre: Nalanda, Bihar — great Buddhist mahavihara of the Gupta and Pala periods, with monasteries, temples and a library; Xuanzang and Yijing describe thousands of monks studying here; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Question 2 (50 marks)

Q2(a) · Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Growth of Vaishnavism and Saivism and the Tamil Bhakti Movement
Puranas were the innovative genre of literature to popularise and revive Vedic religion. Elaborate with examples.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
वैदिक धर्म को पुनर्जीवित और लोकप्रिय बनाने में पुराण नवप्रवर्तनकारी साहित्यिक शैली थे । सोदाहरण विस्तार कीजिए ।
Practise this question Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(a)
Approach: Elaborate with examples: define the Puranas, show what was innovative in their form and content, how they popularised and reworked Vedic religion, and whether "revive" is the right word.
The eighteen Mahapuranas, such as the Vishnu, Vayu, Matsya, Markandeya and Bhagavata, took their classical form between c. third and tenth century CE. Traditionally they cover five themes (pancha-lakshana): creation, re-creation, genealogies, the ages of Manu and dynastic histories.
An innovative genre: they mixed cosmology, myth, genealogy, law, geography and ritual in simple narrative Sanskrit. Recited by sutas and brahmanas at temples and festivals, they were open to women and shudras, who were barred from the Veda.
Popularising Vedic religion: they kept Vedic gods and the authority of the Veda but placed Vishnu and Shiva at the centre. The avatara doctrine (Matsya to Kalki) joined Vedic figures and local cults, and the Devi Mahatmya in the Markandeya Purana raised the Goddess.
They replaced costly sacrifice with puja, vows, pilgrimage to tirthas and gifts to brahmanas, which ordinary householders could perform. The Bhagavata Purana gave bhakti its classic text.
Social uses: genealogies gave new dynasties a solar or lunar lineage, and the Kali-age chapters defended varna order.
Strictly, the Puranas did not revive Vedic religion so much as transform it into Puranic Hinduism. Their success lay in keeping Vedic authority while making religion devotional and accessible.
Q2(b) · Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Mahajanapadas: Republics, Monarchies and the Second Urbanisation
Discuss the factors that played an important role in the process of urbanisation after the Later-Vedic period.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
उत्तरवैदिक कालोपरान्त नगरीकरण की प्रक्रिया में एक महत्त्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभानेवाले कारकों की विवेचना कीजिए ।
Practise this question Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(b)
Approach: Identify and explain the factors behind the second urbanisation of the Ganga valley (c. 600–300 BCE): agrarian, technological, commercial, political and religious, with archaeological evidence.
After the later Vedic period the middle Ganga valley saw the second urbanisation of Indian history, about a thousand years after the Harappan cities. Rajagriha, Shravasti, Kaushambi, Champa, Varanasi, Vaishali and Ujjain grew into towns.
Agrarian surplus: the alluvial soils and heavy rainfall of the middle Ganga plain allowed wet rice cultivation, with transplanting mentioned in Pali texts. The surplus could feed non-producers in towns.
Iron: R.S. Sharma and D.D. Kosambi stressed iron axes and ploughshares for clearing forests and tilling. A. Ghosh and Dilip Chakrabarti argued that iron was scarce at first, so iron is now seen as important but gradual.
Crafts and trade: Northern Black Polished Ware (c. 700–200 BCE), a luxury pottery, spread along trade routes. Guilds (shrenis) and merchants (setthis) appear in Pali texts, and the Uttarapatha and Dakshinapatha linked towns.
Coinage and writing: silver punch-marked coins (karshapanas) eased exchange, and Brahmi writing appears by the Mauryan period.
State formation: the Mahajanapadas built fortified capitals with ramparts and moats, as at Kaushambi and Rajghat, and drew in revenue, soldiers and officials.
Religion: Buddhism and Jainism accepted trade and moneylending, and merchants patronised them.
Urbanisation thus came from a mix of surplus, technology, trade and state power.
Q2(c) · Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Vedic Literature, Religion and Philosophy
Throw light on the nature of religion and classification of gods mentioned in the Rigveda.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
ऋग्वेद में उल्लिखित धर्म के स्वरूप और देवताओं के वर्गीकरण पर प्रकाश डालिए ।
Practise this question Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(c)
Approach: Describe the nature of Rig Vedic religion (naturalistic, sacrificial, materialistic, henotheistic, moving towards monism), then classify the gods using Yaska's threefold scheme with examples.
The Rig Veda (c. 1500–1000 BCE), with 1,028 hymns in ten mandalas, is the main source for the earliest Vedic religion. It reveals a religion of nature worship, sacrifice and praise.
Naturalistic: the gods were mostly forces of nature in personified form: fire (Agni), the sky (Dyaus), the sun (Surya, Savitri), the dawn (Ushas), wind (Vayu), storm (Rudra, the Maruts) and rain (Parjanya). Goddesses such as Ushas and Aditi were fewer and less prominent.
Sacrificial and practical: worship centred on the fire sacrifice (yajna), in which offerings of milk, ghee, grain and soma were made through Agni. The hymns ask for cattle, sons, victory and long life rather than salvation.
Moral order: the cosmic and moral law, rita, was upheld by Varuna, who punished sin.
Henotheism: Max Muller used the term henotheism for the habit of praising each god in turn as supreme. Later hymns move towards monism and speculation, as in the statement that the one reality is called by many names (I.164.46) and in the Nasadiya Sukta (X.129) on creation.
Classification of gods: the Rig Veda speaks of thirty-three gods, eleven each in heaven, earth and the waters. Yaska's Nirukta groups them into three classes.
Terrestrial (prithvisthana): Agni, the messenger between men and gods with about 200 hymns; Soma, the god of the sacred drink; and Prithvi, the earth. Atmospheric (antarikshasthana): Indra, the warrior god who slays Vritra and has about 250 hymns; Rudra; the Maruts; Vayu; Parjanya; and Apah, the waters. Celestial (dyusthana): Dyaus, Varuna, Mitra, Surya, Savitri, Pushan, Vishnu, the Ashvins and Ushas.
The gods mirrored the needs of a pastoral, warlike people: Indra the war leader and Agni the priest dominate. In the later Vedic period Prajapati, Rudra and Vishnu rose.

Question 3 (50 marks)

Q3(a) · The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas and Western Kshatrapas
Evaluate the significant political features of the Post Mauryan Northern India. What are the main sources of it?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
मौर्योत्तरकालीन उत्तर भारत के प्रमुख राजनैतिक वैशिष्ट्यों का मूल्यांकन कीजिए । इस के प्रमुख स्रोत क्या हैं ?
Practise this question The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(a)
Approach: Two parts: the main political features of post-Mauryan north India (fragmentation, foreign dynasties, new forms of kingship and administration), then its main sources, briefly by type.
The five centuries between the Mauryas and the Guptas (c. 200 BCE–300 CE) were once called a dark age. They are now seen as an age of regional states and political experiment.
Political features: first, fragmentation: the Shungas and Kanvas in the Ganga valley, Kharavela in Kalinga and the Satavahanas in the Deccan replaced the single empire. Second, a series of foreign dynasties ruled the north-west: the Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Parthians and Kushanas.
Third, new ideas of kingship: titles such as maharaja rajatiraja, basileus basileon and devaputra, and portrait coins, raised the ruler's status. Fourth, the satrap system: Sakas and Kushanas ruled through kshatrapas and mahakshatrapas, and dual rule by two kings is seen in some Indo-Greek and Saka houses.
Fifth, republics such as the Yaudheyas, Malavas and Arjunayanas revived in Punjab and Rajasthan. Sixth, rulers sought legitimacy through Indian religions and Sanskrit, as in Rudradaman's Junagadh inscription.
Sources: coins are central, since many Indo-Greek kings are known only from them. Inscriptions include the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela, the Nasik inscription of Gautami Balashri, the Junagadh inscription of Rudradaman, the Besnagar pillar and the Rabatak inscription.
Literary sources include Patanjali's Mahabhashya, the Puranas, the Buddhist Milindapanha, the Periplus and Chinese histories of the Yuezhi.
The period was politically fragmented but creative, laying the base for the Gupta synthesis.
Q3(b) · Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Iranian and Macedonian Invasions and Their Impact
A number of scholars considered Alexander as 'The Great', although long term impacts of Alexander's invasion on India need to be re-evaluated. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
यद्यपि भारत पर सिकन्दर के आक्रमण के दीर्घकालिक प्रभावों के पुनर्मूल्यांकन की आवश्यकता है, अनेक विद्वानों ने सिकन्दर को 'महान' माना है । टिप्पणी कीजिए ।
Practise this question Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(b)
Approach: Comment on both claims: why Greek writers called Alexander great, what his Indian campaign actually achieved, and how historians now assess its long-term impact.
Alexander of Macedon invaded India in 327–325 BCE after conquering the Persian empire. Greek and Roman writers, Arrian, Curtius Rufus, Plutarch and Diodorus, celebrated him, while Indian sources are silent about him.
Why 'the Great': he crossed the Hindu Kush, took the Swat valley and Aornos, won the alliance of Ambhi of Taxila, and defeated Porus at the Hydaspes in 326 BCE. He then sailed down the Indus. V.A. Smith, in The Early History of India, treated the invasion as a major event.
Re-evaluation of the campaign: he stayed in India only about nineteen months and his army mutinied at the Beas, refusing to face the Nandas. He was badly wounded fighting the Malloi, and he left behind massacres such as that of the mercenaries at Massaga. Within a few years of his death in 323 BCE his satraps had been driven out.
Long-term impact: the impact was largely indirect. By weakening the small states of the Punjab he eased the rise of Chandragupta Maurya, and the date 326 BCE fixes ancient Indian chronology. Routes to the West became better known. Historians such as H.C. Raychaudhuri and R.K. Mookerji argued that India hardly noticed the invasion, and Hellenistic influence in coins and Gandhara art came later through the Indo-Greeks.
Alexander's greatness as a general is clear, but his impact on India was modest and indirect.
Q3(c) · The Deccan, the Sangam Age and the Guptas · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Sangam Age: Polity, Economy, Literature and Culture
Discuss the salient features of cultural traditions of South India as reflected in Sangam Literature.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
संगम साहित्य में परिलक्षित होने वाले दक्षिण भारत की सांस्कृतिक परम्पराओं के विशिष्ट लक्षणों की विवेचना कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Deccan, the Sangam Age and the Guptas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(c)
Approach: List the salient features under themes (literary conventions, heroic ethic, religion, society and women, arts and exchange), and end with what was distinctive and what was shared with the north.
The Sangam literature (c. third century BCE to third century CE), preserved in the Ettuttokai, Pattuppattu and Tolkappiyam, is the earliest Tamil poetry and the main window on the culture of Tamilakam.
Literary conventions: poetry was divided into akam (love) and puram (war and public life). The tinai scheme tied each mood of love to a landscape, season and god: kurinji (hills, union), mullai (pasture, waiting), marutam (plains, quarrel), neytal (coast, pining) and palai (arid land, separation).
Heroic ethic: puram poems celebrate valour, cattle raids and death in battle; fallen heroes were honoured with worshipped hero stones (nadukal), and kings were praised for generosity to bards.
Religion: Murugan of the hills, Mayon (associated with Vishnu) of the pasture, Ventan (Indra) of the plains, Varunan of the coast and Korravai of the arid land, with spirit possession (veriyattu). The poems also mention brahmanas, Vedic sacrifices patronised by kings such as the Pandya Mudukudumi Peruvaludi, and Jaina and Buddhist teachers.
Society and women: ranks ran from vendar and velir through landholding vellalar to bards, ploughmen and the pulaiyar. Women poets such as Avvaiyar wrote verse, while poems also describe austere widowhood.
Arts and exchange: music and dance by panar and viraliyar with the yal (harp) and drums, and cosmopolitan ports like Puhar and Muziris where Yavana traders lived.
These traditions were distinctively Tamil in language, landscape poetics and the hero-stone cult, yet already absorbing northern ideas. George Hart stressed the indigenous belief in sacred power (ananku); others stress early synthesis. The result was the composite culture on which Tamil bhakti later built.

Question 4 (50 marks)

Q4(a) · The Deccan, the Sangam Age and the Guptas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Education, Literature, Science and Art in the Gupta Age
'Sanskrit literature of classical Gupta Age set standards for the early medieval India'. Evaluate the statement with representative examples.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
'शास्त्रीय गुप्तयुगीन संस्कृत साहित्य ने पूर्वमध्यकालीन भारत के लिए मानकों को स्थापित किया' । इस कथन का प्रातिनिधिक उदाहरणों सहित मूल्यांकन कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Deccan, the Sangam Age and the Guptas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(a)
Approach: Show with representative examples the genres and norms Gupta-age Sanskrit literature set (kavya, drama, prashasti, learned works), how later writers followed them, and where the standards became limiting.
The Gupta age (c. fourth to sixth century CE) is the classical age of Sanskrit literature: Sanskrit became the language of court, inscription and learning, and its finest works became models.
Kavya: Kalidasa's Raghuvamsha and Kumarasambhava fixed the form of the court epic (mahakavya), followed by Bharavi's Kiratarjuniya, Magha's Shishupalavadha and Shriharsha's Naishadhacharita. His Meghaduta launched the messenger-poem (sandesha-kavya) genre.
Drama: Kalidasa's Abhijnanashakuntalam, Shudraka's Mrichchhakatika and Vishakhadatta's Mudrarakshasa applied the Natyashastra and set conventions such as Prakrit for women and commoners and the vidushaka, followed by Harsha and Bhavabhuti.
Prashasti and learned works: Harishena's Allahabad prashasti became the model royal eulogy, and Ravikirti's Aihole inscription (634 CE) compares its author with Kalidasa and Bharavi. The Amarakosha and the classical Puranas and Smritis became standard references, and later poetics, from Dandin to Anandavardhana's dhvani, drew on these works.
Limits: later kavya grew more ornate and erudite, as in Bana's Kadambari, and stayed court-centred, while Tamil, Prakrit and Apabhramsha traditions grew outside the Sanskrit norm.
The statement is largely valid: Gupta-age Sanskrit set the genres and benchmarks that early medieval writers imitated, even as the classical norm grew formal and narrow.
Q4(b) · Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Themes in Early Indian Cultural History: Languages, Art, Philosophy and Science
Trace and identify the changing pattern of Tantrism in Ancient India with examples.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
प्राचीन भारत में तंत्रवाद के परिवर्तनशील प्रतिरूप को सोदाहरण रेखांकित एवं अभिनिर्धारित कीजिए ।
Practise this question Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(b)
Approach: Trace Tantra in stages from its roots to its early medieval forms in Shaiva, Shakta, Buddhist and Jaina traditions, identify its features at each stage with examples, and note its absorption into the mainstream.
Tantra denotes ritual and meditative systems that seek power and liberation through initiation (diksha) by a guru, mantras, diagrams (yantra, mandala) and worship of the divine as energy (shakti). Its pattern changed over a thousand years.
Roots: fertility and mother-goddess cults, the magic of the Atharvaveda and folk practices supplied elements, though a direct line from Harappan figurines is debated.
Formation (c. fifth to eighth century): written Tantras appear. Shaiva ascetic orders such as the Kapalikas and Kalamukhas, and Shakta cults of fierce goddesses, spread, while Buddhism developed Vajrayana texts such as the Guhyasamaja Tantra.
Expansion (c. eighth to twelfth century): under the Palas, Vikramashila taught Vajrayana, and Tantric Buddhism went to Tibet. Circular open-roofed yogini temples were built at Hirapur (Odisha) and Bheraghat (Madhya Pradesh). Some practices, called left-hand, involved forbidden substances and admitted women and low castes to initiation.
Refinement: Kashmir Shaivism, culminating in Abhinavagupta (c. 950–1016), gave Tantra a philosophy, while the Shaiva Siddhanta agamas turned Tantric rites into temple ritual. Alexis Sanderson calls the period a "Shaiva age".
Absorption: later Tantra merged into Puranic and temple worship and the Nath and Sahajiya traditions.
Tantra thus moved from folk magic to sectarian esoteric cults and finally into the mainstream of Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina ritual.
Q4(c) · Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Kadambas, Pallavas and Chalukyas of Badami
Describe the evolution and development of regional temple architecture of South India with special reference to Pallavas.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
पल्लवों के विशेष संदर्भ में दक्षिण भारत के प्रादेशिक मंदिर स्थापत्य के उदय और विकास का वर्णन कीजिए ।
Practise this question Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(c)
Approach: Describe the stages of Pallava architecture (rock-cut to structural) with examples and features, place them in the wider regional experiments of the Deccan, and show their legacy in the Dravida temple.
The Dravida style of temple architecture, with its stepped pyramidal vimana crowned by a domed shikhara, took shape in the Tamil country under the Pallavas (c. 600–900 CE). G. Jouveau-Dubreuil divided their work into four phases.
Mahendra style (early seventh century): Mahendravarman I introduced rock-cut pillared halls (mandapas), as at Mandagapattu, Mamandur and Tiruchirappalli. The Mandagapattu inscription boasts that he built a shrine without brick, timber, metal or mortar, marking the shift from perishable materials to stone.
Mamalla style (mid-seventh century): under Narasimhavarman I Mamallapuram gained refined mandapas (Mahishamardini, Varaha) with lion-based pillars, the great open-air relief of Arjuna's Penance, and the five monolithic rathas. The rathas are models in stone of different roof forms, the Dharmaraja ratha anticipating the Dravida vimana.
Rajasimha style (c. 700–728): Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha) built the first major structural temples: the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram, the Kailasanatha at Kanchi with its enclosure of subsidiary shrines and early gateway, and the Talagirishvara temple at Panamalai.
Nandivarman style (eighth to ninth century): the Vaikuntha Perumal temple at Kanchi, with sculpted panels of Pallava history in its cloisters, and smaller shrines such as the Mukteshvara and Matangeshvara.
Regional context: in the same years the Chalukyas experimented at Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal, mixing Nagara and Dravida forms, and the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal followed the Kailasanatha model. The Kailasa at Ellora carried the idea further.
The Pallavas thus took south Indian building from cave to monolith to structure, and their vimana, enclosure and gateway grew into the Chola achievement at Thanjavur (1010 CE) and the later gopuram-dominated temple.

Question 5 (50 marks)

Q5(a) · The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Muhammad bin Tughluq: Projects, Agrarian Measures and Bureaucracy
Critically evaluate the Muslim Nobility during the period of Tughlaq dynasty.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
तुग़लक वंश के काल में मुस्लिम अमीर वर्ग का समालोचनात्मक मूल्यांकन कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(a)
Approach: Critically evaluate the Tughluq nobility: its composition and changes under Ghiyasuddin, Muhammad bin Tughluq and Firuz, its relations with the Sultans, and its part in the Sultanate's strength and decline.
After the Khalji Revolution the nobility of Delhi was no longer a closed Turkish group. Under the Tughluqs (1320–1414) its composition changed sharply, as Barani and Afif show.
Ghiyasuddin Tughluq: relied on the frontier commanders who helped him overthrow Khusrau Khan (1320), and won over the old nobles by moderation.
Muhammad bin Tughluq: built a heterogeneous nobility of foreigners (aizza), Indian Muslims, Hindus such as Ratan, Afghans and men of humble birth, whom Barani lists with contempt. Dependent on the Sultan, it was unstable; the revolt of the amiran-i-sada in the Deccan produced the Bahmani kingdom (1347).
Firuz Tughluq: conciliated the nobles: iqtas and offices became hereditary, and his wazir Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul, a convert from Telangana, held great power. The nobility grew independent, and after 1388 its factions and Firuz's slaves tore the state apart.
The Tughluq nobility was more open and Indian than before, but never a stable, loyal service class; coercion and indulgence alike weakened the state.
Q5(b) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 10 marks≈ 7 min
The Bahmanis and the Vijayanagara Empire
Describe in detail about the foreign travellers' accounts which gave information of Vijayanagar kingdom.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
विजयनगर राज्य की जानकारी देने वाले विदेशी यात्रियों के वृत्तांत का विस्तार पूर्वक वर्णन कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(b)
Approach: Describe the main travellers one by one in chronological order, with the date of each visit and what each reports, and end with a line on their combined value.
Foreign visitors left detailed descriptions of Vijayanagara, which complement its inscriptions and literature.
Nicolo de Conti (Italian, c. 1420), in the reign of Devaraya I, describes the great size of the city, its walls and the king's many wives, and mentions sati.
Abdur Razzaq (c. 1443), envoy of the Timurid ruler Shah Rukh to Devaraya II, describes the seven concentric fortifications, the bazaars of jewels, the Mahanavami festival and the vast army, and calls the city unlike any he had seen.
Duarte Barbosa (c. 1516) writes on trade, the horse imports and religious tolerance.
Domingo Paes (c. 1520–22) gives the fullest picture of Krishnadeva Raya, the markets, the palace and the Mahanavami, and compares the city to Rome.
Fernao Nuniz (c. 1535), a horse-trader, wrote a chronicle of the kings and described the nayaka system, the revenue and the Brahmana commanders of forts.
Together, these accounts, translated by Robert Sewell in A Forgotten Empire (1900), are a basic source for the city, court and economy of Vijayanagara.
Q5(c) · Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Agriculture, Urban Economy, Crafts and Trade
How did international trade support urbanisation in North India during the 13-14th century CE.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
13-14 वीं शताब्दी ईसवी के दौरान उत्तर भारत में अंतर्राष्ट्रीय व्यापार ने नगरीकरण को कैसे प्रोत्साहित किया ?
Practise this question Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(c)
Approach: Explain the overland and maritime trade routes, the goods and merchants involved, and show how this trade fed particular towns, ending with its limits.
The 13th–14th centuries joined North India to a wider Islamic world stretching from Central Asia to the Mediterranean. International trade became one of the supports of the towns that grew under the Sultanate.
Overland trade: Routes through Multan, Lahore and the passes linked Delhi with Khurasan and Central Asia. India imported war horses, fine textiles, dry fruits and slaves, and exported cotton cloth, indigo, sugar and slaves. Multan, the gateway town, was home to Multani and Khurasani merchants.
Maritime trade: Gujarat's Cambay and Bengal's Sonargaon and Satgaon traded with the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and Southeast Asia, and their products reached Delhi.
Effects: Payment for horses and luxuries required silver, and the stable tanka eased transactions. Ibn Battuta describes Delhi as the largest city of the Muslim East, full of foreign merchants and markets.
Yet much urban wealth came from the land revenue spent by the ruling class. Trade supplemented this base and gave towns a cosmopolitan character.
Q5(d) · Mughal Economy, Society and Culture · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Persian Histories, Hindi and Religious Literature
Evaluate the aim and impact of the translation of Sanskrit scriptures into Persian language during Mughal period.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
मुग़ल काल के दौरान संस्कृत धर्मग्रन्थों के फ़ारसी भाषा में हुए अनुवादों के लक्ष्य और प्रभाव का मूल्यांकन कीजिए ।
Practise this question Mughal Economy, Society and Culture notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(d)
Approach: Name the main translations and the translation bureau, state their aims (political, intellectual, religious) as Abul Fazl and modern historians explain them, and assess their impact.
Akbar set up a translation bureau (maktab khana) at Fatehpur Sikri, where Sanskrit scholars and Persian writers worked together.
Works: the Mahabharata was rendered as the Razmnama (1580s) by Naqib Khan, Badauni and others; the Ramayana was translated by Badauni; and the Atharvaveda, Lilavati (by Faizi), Rajatarangini and the Panchatantra stories followed. Under Shah Jahan, Dara Shukoh's Sirr-i-Akbar (1657) translated fifty Upanishads.
Aims: Abul Fazl's preface to the Razmnama says the aim was to reduce bigotry by letting each community understand the other's traditions. It also served sulh-i-kul and gave the ruling class knowledge of its subjects, as Audrey Truschke argues in Culture of Encounters.
Impact: richly illustrated copies spread among nobles, Persian became a bridge between traditions, and the Sirr-i-Akbar, put into Latin by Anquetil-Duperron (1801–02), carried the Upanishads to Europe. Yet the orthodox, like Badauni, resented the work, and its reach stayed largely elite.
Q5(e) · Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century · 10 marks≈ 7 min
The Ahom Kingdom, Shivaji and the Early Marathas
Examine the sources of the history of Chhatrapati Shivaji with special reference to Shivabharat and Sabhasad Bakhar.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
छत्रपति शिवाजी के इतिहास के प्रमुख स्रोतों का शिवभारत एवं सभासद बखर के विशेष संदर्भ में परीक्षण कीजिए ।
Practise this question Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(e)
Approach: Introduce the range of sources on Shivaji, then examine the Shivabharat and the Sabhasad Bakhar (author, date, nature, value, limits), and close with the need to cross-check them against Persian and European records.
Shivaji's history rests on Marathi bakhars and letters, Sanskrit works, Persian chronicles such as Khafi Khan's, Rajasthani letters of Jai Singh's camp, and English, Dutch and Portuguese factory records.
Shivabharat: a Sanskrit epic poem by Kavindra Paramananda, a poet at Shivaji's court, composed in his lifetime. It narrates the family's history and Shivaji's career to the early 1660s, including the killing of Afzal Khan. Its value is its closeness to events and its picture of how Shivaji's court wished him to be seen, but its epic form presents him as a divine hero.
Sabhasad Bakhar: written in Marathi in 1694–97 by Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad, a former official, at the request of Rajaram at Jinji. It is the earliest bakhar, giving a full account of Shivaji's campaigns, coronation, administration and the Ashtapradhan. It is valuable on institutions but written from memory, with some errors of chronology and a eulogistic tone.
Both must be checked against Persian and European records, as Jadunath Sarkar and G.S. Sardesai did, to build a reliable history.

Question 6 (50 marks)

Q6(a) · The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Ghurian Invasions and the Factors Behind Their Success
Assess the causes of the defeat of Northern Indian States against the Turkish invasion.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
तुर्की आक्रमण के सामने उत्तरभारतीय राज्यों के पराजित होने के कारणों का आकलन कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(a)
Approach: "Assess" asks you to weigh the causes, not just list them: group them as military, organisational-political and social, test each against the evidence, and say which mattered most.
Between 1175 and about 1205 Muizzuddin Muhammad of Ghur and his slave commanders overcame the Chahamanas of Ajmer, the Gahadavalas of Kannauj and the Sena kingdom of Bengal. Minhaj-us-Siraj's Tabaqat-i-Nasiri is the main narrative source.
Military technique: the Turkish army was built around mobile mounted archers who used feigned retreat and flank attacks, as at the second battle of Tarain (1192), while Indian armies relied on elephants, infantry and clan contingents. Simon Digby showed that the Turks controlled the supply of Central Asian and Arab war-horses.
Organisation and politics: the Ghurids had a unified command and a corps of slave officers (bandagan) loyal to the sultan; Rajput forces were levies of feudatories. The Chahamanas, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas and Chandellas fought one another and did not guard the north-western passes after Lahore fell in 1186.
Social factors: Mohammad Habib argued that caste confined fighting to a narrow group, and K.A. Nizami stressed the feudal fragmentation of Rajput states. Religious zeal was only one Turkish motive beside plunder and land.
Indian armies were not inherently weak: the Chaulukyas defeated Muizzuddin in 1178 and Prithviraja routed him at the first Tarain (1191). Defeat came from a combination of causes, of which the military and organisational gap was decisive.
Q6(b) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
The Bahmanis and the Vijayanagara Empire
Amuktamalyada dwells much upon the relationship of fort, Brahmanas and dispersed tribal groups. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
दुर्ग, ब्राह्मण और विरल जनजातीय समूह के संबंधों पर अमुक्तमाल्यद ध्यान केन्द्रित करता है । टिप्पणी कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(b)
Approach: Introduce the text and its rajaniti section, explain the advice on forts, Brahmanas and forest peoples in turn, and show what this reveals about the Vijayanagara state, with the historiography.
The Amuktamalyada, a Telugu poem by Krishnadeva Raya (1509–29), tells the story of the Vaishnava saint Andal, but one canto contains rajaniti, advice on statecraft, which reflects the problems of ruling a vast and militarised kingdom.
Forts: The state rested on a network of forts (durgas) commanding roads, frontiers and revenue; the poem treats their security as basic to royal power.
Brahmanas: The king is advised to place forts under trustworthy Brahmanas, who would not easily ally with rival warrior chiefs; Nuniz confirms that important forts were held by Brahmana commanders. This reflects the king's distrust of the powerful nayakas.
Forest peoples: The poem notes that the tribal groups of forests and hills cannot easily be crushed by force and advises winning them over by kindness and gifts, so that they become allies rather than raiders.
Significance: Burton Stein used such passages to show that royal power was uneven and depended on balancing local groups; Cynthia Talbot's work on the Andhra region shows how forts and warrior lineages expanded the agrarian frontier.
The text thus reveals a state that relied on forts, loyal Brahmana administrators and negotiated relations with the frontier peoples, not on uniform central control.
Q6(c) · The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Alauddin Khalji's Agrarian and Market Measures
Elaborate upon the agrarian reforms of Alauddin Khilji.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
अला-उद-दीन खिलजी के कृषि संबंधी सुधारों का विस्तरण कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(c)
Approach: Elaborate the agrarian reforms in full: aims and area, the rate and method of assessment, new taxes, the attack on intermediaries and grants, collection in kind, the revenue machinery, and finally their effects and historians' assessment.
Alauddin Khalji's agrarian reforms are known almost entirely from Barani's Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi (1357). W.H. Moreland (The Agrarian System of Moslem India, 1929) saw them as the first serious attempt at direct assessment in the Sultanate.
Aims and area: to raise revenue for a large army against the Mongols, and to break the rural aristocracy whose wealth bred rebellion. They applied to the Doab and the region around Delhi, with parts of eastern Rajasthan and Malwa.
Rate and assessment: the land tax (kharaj) was fixed at half the produce, the highest in Sultanate history, assessed by measurement (masahat) and a standard yield per biswa, equally on the khut and the balahar.
New taxes: a grazing tax (charai) on milch cattle and a house tax (ghari).
Intermediaries and grants: the khuts, muqaddams and chaudhuris lost their exemption and perquisite (haqq-i-khoti); revenue-free grants were resumed into the khalisa.
Collection and machinery: in the Doab revenue was taken in grain for the royal granaries. The naib wazir Sharaf Qai organised the system; patwaris' papers were checked, and the diwan-i-mustakhraj recovered arrears from officials, punished severely for corruption.
Effects: state revenue and control of the surplus rose, and the market controls and cash-paid army rested on it; Irfan Habib sees this high demand as the real foundation of low prices. Peasants were heavily burdened and the rural chiefs humbled.
Assessment: confined to the core and relaxed after 1316, the reforms still anticipated Sher Shah's and Akbar's measurement-based systems; they were an instrument of central power rather than agrarian welfare.

Question 7 (50 marks)

Q7(a) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
The Bahmanis and the Vijayanagara Empire
Describe village polity and economy of medieval Deccan.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
मध्यकालीन दक्कन ग्राम प्रशासन और अर्थव्यवस्था का वर्णन कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(a)
Approach: Describe village polity (institutions and functionaries) and the village economy, covering both the Vijayanagara south and the Bahmani north of the Deccan, and conclude on continuity and change.
In the medieval Deccan (14th–16th centuries) the village was the basic unit of production and revenue, and its institutions are known from inscriptions, Marathi and Telugu records and travellers' accounts.
Village polity in the south: The earlier Chola-period assemblies (sabha, ur) declined as Vijayanagara nayakas took control of revenue. Village affairs were run by hereditary functionaries of the ayagar system: the headman (reddi or gauda), the accountant (karnam or senabova) and the watchman (talari), together with artisans, all paid by shares of the harvest or rent-free land.
Village polity in the north: In the Bahmani and successor territories, the patil (headman) and kulkarni (accountant) managed the village, and the deshmukh and deshpande did the same for the pargana. Their hereditary rights (watan) were bought, sold and defended in records.
Economy: Agriculture depended on tanks, wells and river channels; Vijayanagara rulers and temples built and repaired tanks. Crops included rice, millets, pulses, cotton and sugarcane. Village artisans and servants (the balutedars of Maharashtra) were paid in kind by the peasants.
Temples and markets: Temples owned land, lent money and employed people, and weekly markets linked villages to towns and ports.
The Deccan village thus combined a largely self-sufficient economy with hereditary local offices, while rising revenue demands linked it more closely to the state.
Q7(b) · Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Agriculture, Urban Economy, Crafts and Trade
Some new crafts production were introduced by the Turks. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
कुछ नई हस्तकलाओं के उत्पादन का सूत्रपात तुर्कों द्वारा किया गया । टिप्पणी कीजिए ।
Practise this question Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(b)
Approach: Comment by listing the crafts and techniques usually credited to the Turkish period, giving the evidence for each, then the debate on how new they were, and conclude.
Irfan Habib, in his studies of technology in medieval India, argued that the Turkish conquest brought a set of new techniques from the Islamic world, which raised production and changed urban crafts.
Textiles: The spinning wheel (charkha) appears in India in this period; Habib cites Isami's Futuh-us-Salatin (1350) as an early reference. The carding bow of the cotton-carder (dhuniya) also spread, and silk weaving and embroidery flourished in the royal karkhanas.
Paper: Paper-making spread in the 13th–14th centuries, supporting the bureaucracy, correspondence and book production.
Building: Lime mortar, the true arch and the dome came with the Turks.
Other crafts: Carpet-weaving, glazed tiles, bookbinding, calligraphy and possibly distillation are associated with the period, and the stirrup and new forms of harness changed cavalry warfare.
Irrigation: Habib also argued that the Persian wheel with gearing (saqiya) came into wider use, but scholars point to the earlier araghatta wheel, so how new it was remains debated.
The statement is broadly correct: the Turks introduced or spread important crafts and techniques that enlarged urban production, though some had Indian antecedents.
Q7(c) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Bhakti and Sufi Movements, 15th–16th Centuries
The mission of Kabir was to preach a religion of love which would unite all castes and creeds. Explain.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
समस्त जाति और पंथों को जोड़ने वाले एक प्रेमधर्म को प्रचारित करना कबीर का जीवन-लक्ष्य था । व्याख्या कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(c)
Approach: Explain the statement by setting out Kabir's background and his idea of love of God, then show how his teaching cut across caste and creed, and finally qualify the idea of a 'religion' that united all, using the historiography.
Kabir, a weaver (julaha) of Banaras who lived in the 15th century, is the best-known nirguna saint. His verses survive in the Bijak, the Kabir Granthavali and the Adi Granth.
Religion of love: For Kabir, God, whether called Ram, Hari, Rahim or Allah, is one, formless and dwells within the heart. He is reached not by ritual, scripture or pilgrimage but by love (prem) and devotion to the name, guided by the true guru. A famous verse says that reading books the whole world died without becoming wise, while one who learns the two and a half letters of love is truly learned (a paraphrase).
Uniting castes: Kabir denied that birth gave any person higher status; he asked how the Brahmana could be superior when all are born in the same way. He mocked untouchability and the pride of the pandit.
Uniting creeds: He criticised both Hindu and Muslim practice: idol worship, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca or Kashi, circumcision and the sacred thread. The legend that Hindus and Muslims quarrelled over his body at his death symbolises his appeal to both.
Qualification: Kabir did not preach a new religion that merged Hinduism and Islam. Charlotte Vaudeville and Hazari Prasad Dwivedi place him in the Sant and Nath traditions, and his tone was often sharply critical rather than reconciling. His followers later formed the Kabirpanth, a separate sect.
The statement is largely valid: Kabir's mission was a religion of love beyond caste and creed, but he united people by rejecting the boundaries of all organised religion, not by founding a new one.

Question 8 (50 marks)

Q8(a) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Sher Shah and the Sur Administration
Evaluate the contribution of Sher Shah towards trade and commerce, administration and agricultural reforms.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
व्यापार एवं वाणिज्य, प्रशासनिक और कृषि सुधारों में शेरशाह के योगदान का मूल्यांकन कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(a)
Approach: Take the three fields in turn — trade and commerce, administration, agrarian reforms — with specific measures, then evaluate his originality and legacy.
Sher Shah Sur (1540–45) ruled for only five years after defeating Humayun at Chausa and Kanauj, yet his reforms, described by Abbas Khan Sarwani in the Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi, made a lasting mark.
Trade and commerce: He repaired and built roads, including the great road from Sonargaon in Bengal to the Indus, with sarais at intervals that also served the dak chauki (post). He collected customs only at the point of entry and at the point of sale, abolishing many internal tolls, and issued a fine silver rupiya and copper dam with standard weights.
Administration: The kingdom was divided into sarkars and parganas; the pargana had a shiqdar, an amin (munsif), a treasurer and clerks. Village headmen were made responsible for crimes in their area, and justice was strict.
Agrarian reforms: Land was measured with a standard gaz and rope; a schedule of crop rates (rai) for good, middling and poor land fixed the state's share at one-third of the average produce. The peasant received a patta and gave a qabuliyat.
Evaluation: K.R. Qanungo saw him as a constructive genius; others note that many measures revived Alauddin's ideas. Irfan Habib sees his rai as the basis of Akbar's system.
Sher Shah was more a great reformer than an innovator, and his work bridged the Sultanate and Mughal systems.
Q8(b) · Mughal Economy, Society and Culture · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Mughal Architecture and Painting
Make an estimate of the development of paintings under Mughal rulers with special reference to colours, technique, themes and influences on them.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
रंगों, तकनीक, विषयवस्तुओं और उन पर हुए प्रभावों के संदर्भ मे मुग़ल शासकों के अंतर्गत चित्रकला के विकासक्रम का एक आकलन कीजिए ।
Practise this question Mughal Economy, Society and Culture notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(b)
Approach: Organise the answer under the four heads the question names: colours, technique (workshop method, materials), themes (manuscripts, portraits, nature, allegory) and influences (Persian, Indian, European), showing change from Akbar to Shah Jahan.
Mughal painting grew from Humayun's patronage of two Safavid-trained masters, Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd al-Samad, into one of the great schools of miniature painting. Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari describes Akbar's studio and names its leading artists.
Colours: painters used mineral and organic pigments such as lapis lazuli for blue, malachite for green and vermilion for red, together with gold and silver. Colours were bright and jewel-like under Akbar, more subtle and naturalistic under Jahangir, and rich and formal under Shah Jahan.
Technique: work was collaborative in the imperial studio: one artist drew the outline, another applied colour and a specialist painted faces. Fine brushes, burnished paper and layered pigments gave a smooth, enamel-like finish.
Themes: under Akbar, studios illustrated manuscripts such as the Hamzanama, Tutinama, Razmnama, Baburnama and Akbarnama. Under Jahangir, single portraits, natural history studies (such as Mansur's birds and animals) and allegorical scenes dominated, while Shah Jahan preferred formal durbar scenes and portraits.
Influences: Persian art gave fine line and decoration; Indian traditions gave vigour, colour and themes; and European prints gave perspective, shading and the halo.
Mughal painting thus moved from narrative illustration to refined portraiture and naturalism, uniting several traditions into a distinct court style.
Q8(c) · The Eighteenth Century · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Politics, Culture and Economy on the Eve of British Conquest
Critically evaluate history of the Eighteenth century India with reference to culture and economy.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
संस्कृति और अर्थव्यवस्था के संदर्भ मे अठारहवीं सदी के भारत के इतिहास का समालोचनात्मक मूल्यांकन कीजिए ।
Practise this question The Eighteenth Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(c)
Approach: Present the dark age and revisionist readings, then evaluate the economy and the culture of the century with evidence and limits for each, and give a balanced judgement.
The eighteenth century was long called a dark age of anarchy between Mughal and British rule (Jadunath Sarkar, colonial writers). Revisionists such as Muzaffar Alam and C.A. Bayly see it instead as a century of regional reorganisation. A critical evaluation must test both views on the economy and culture.
Economy, growth: Awadh and parts of Punjab saw agrarian expansion (Alam); Bengal's textile exports grew; banking houses such as the Jagat Seths and the hundi network financed states; new capitals, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Pune and Jaipur, created markets; Bayly and Sanjay Subrahmanyam identified portfolio capitalists; Mysore under Tipu built state trade and direct revenue collection, a form of military fiscalism (Burton Stein).
Economy, distress: Nadir Shah and Abdali plundered the north, Maratha raids devastated western Bengal (1742–51), Surat declined (Ashin Das Gupta), revenue farming pressed on peasants, and technology did not change; Irfan Habib warns against romanticising the period.
Culture, vitality: regional courts replaced Delhi as patrons. Urdu poetry flowered with Mir Taqi Mir and Sauda; Lucknow developed Shia ritual, the Bara Imambara (1784) and early forms of Lucknow Kathak; the khayal was refined by Sadarang at Muhammad Shah's court; Pahari painting peaked at Guler and Kangra, and Nihal Chand painted at Kishangarh; Sawai Jai Singh built observatories; Waris Shah's Heer (1766) and Bharatchandra's Annadamangal (1752) enriched regional literatures.
Culture, limits: much creativity was courtly and elite, Delhi's ruin produced a literature of lament, and science and education showed little new direction.
The century was neither wholly dark nor wholly bright: political decentralisation went with regional economic and cultural vitality, but also with war, plunder and peasant distress.

UPSC Mains 2020 History Paper II