UPSC Mains 2021 History Optional Question Papers with Model Answers

All 52 questions of the 2021 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 2021 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) Mesolithic site; (iii) Neolithic site; (iv) Neolithic-Chalcolithic site; (v) Harappan site; (vi) Proto-historic and historic site; (vii) Inscriptional site; (viii) Jain monastic site; (ix) Coin hoard; (x) Paleolithic site; (xi) Terracotta site; (xii) Rock-cut caves; (xiii) Ancient learning centre; (xiv) Political and cultural centre; (xv) Buddhist site; (xvi) Ancient port; (xvii) Early historic site; (xviii) Ivory hoard; (xix) Buddhist monastic centre; (xx) Temple complex.
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) मध्यपाषाणकालीन स्थल; (iii) नवपाषाणकालीन स्थल; (iv) नवपाषाणकालीन-ताम्राश्मयुगीन स्थल; (v) हड़प्पाकालीन स्थल; (vi) आद्य-ऐतिहासिक एवं ऐतिहासिक स्थल; (vii) अभिलेखीय स्थल; (viii) जैन विहार स्थल; (ix) सिक्कों का ज़खीरा; (x) पुरापाषाणकालीन स्थल; (xi) मृण्मूर्तिकला स्थल; (xii) शैल्यकृत गुफाएँ; (xiii) प्राचीन विद्या केन्द्र; (xiv) राजनैतिक एवं सांस्कृतिक केन्द्र; (xv) बौद्ध स्थल; (xvi) प्राचीन बन्दरगाह; (xvii) प्रारंभिक ऐतिहासिक स्थल; (xviii) हाथीदाँत का ज़खीरा; (xix) बौद्ध संघाराम केन्द्र; (xx) मंदिर संकुल.
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: Attirampakkam, Tamil Nadu — Acheulian site near Chennai on the Kortallaiyar; handaxes are dated to about 1.5 million years ago, and Middle Palaeolithic tools of about 385,000 years ago suggest early technological change in India.
(ii) Mesolithic site: Langhnaj, Gujarat — Mesolithic site on sand dunes in Mehsana district, excavated by H.D. Sankalia; microliths, human burials and bones of rhinoceros, deer and other wild animals show a hunting-gathering life.
(iii) Neolithic site: Daojali Hading, Assam — hill site in Dima Hasao district excavated by M.C. Goswami and T.C. Sharma (1961–63); polished shouldered celts, grinding stones, jadeite and cord-marked pottery link it to the south-east Asian Neolithic.
(iv) Neolithic-Chalcolithic site: Mehrgarh, Balochistan (Pakistan) — Kachhi plain site near the Bolan Pass with Neolithic farming from about 7000 BCE and later Chalcolithic phases with copper, wheel-made painted pottery and crafts, leading towards the Harappan civilisation.
(v) Harappan site: Manda, Jammu and Kashmir — on the Chenab near Akhnoor (Jammu district); the northernmost Harappan site, excavated by J.P. Joshi (1976–77), with Pre-Harappan, Harappan and later levels, probably a base for procuring Himalayan timber.
(vi) Proto-historic and historic site: Ropar (Rupnagar), Punjab — Sutlej site at the Shivalik foothills excavated by Y.D. Sharma (1953–55), the first Harappan site dug in independent India, with Harappan levels followed by Painted Grey Ware, NBPW, Kushana and later historic layers.
(vii) Inscriptional site: Sohgaura, Uttar Pradesh — Gorakhpur district; a copper plate in early Brahmi (c. 3rd century BCE), often called Mauryan, orders that storehouses of grain be kept ready for times of famine, one of the oldest such administrative records.
(viii) Jain monastic site: Udayagiri and Khandagiri, Odisha — twin hills near Bhubaneswar with about thirty Jaina rock-cut caves (c. 1st century BCE) carved as monks' dwellings; the Rani Gumpha and Kharavela's Hathigumpha inscription are the best known.
(ix) Coin hoard: Bayana, Rajasthan — Bharatpur district; a hoard found in 1946 of about 2,000 Gupta gold coins (dinars), from Chandragupta I to Skandagupta, the largest Gupta coin hoard and a key source for Gupta history.
(x) Paleolithic site: Hunsgi, Karnataka — Hunsgi valley in Yadgir district; K. Paddayya's surveys found many Acheulian camp sites with limestone handaxes and cleavers, giving a model of Lower Palaeolithic settlement and seasonal movement.
(xi) Terracotta site: Chandraketugarh, West Bengal — early historic city in North 24 Parganas on the Vidyadhari, occupied from about the 3rd century BCE, known for finely moulded terracotta plaques and figurines, seals with ship motifs and beads.
(xii) Rock-cut caves: Udayagiri (Vidisha), Madhya Pradesh — about twenty Gupta rock-cut caves (early 5th century) near Vidisha, with the colossal Varaha panel showing Vishnu rescuing the earth and inscriptions of the reign of Chandragupta II, one dated 401 CE.
(xiii) Ancient learning centre: Valabhi, Gujarat — Bhavnagar district; capital of the Maitrakas (5th–8th century) and a great Buddhist centre of learning that Yijing compared with Nalanda; a Jaina council here put the Agamas in writing.
(xiv) Political and cultural centre: Sirpur (Shripura), Chhattisgarh — Mahanadi capital of the Panduvamshis of Dakshina Kosala (6th–8th century), with the brick Lakshmana temple built by queen Vasata, Buddhist viharas such as Anand Prabhu Kuti, and Jaina remains.
(xv) Buddhist site: Sankisa, Uttar Pradesh — Farrukhabad district, ancient Sankashya, where the Buddha is believed to have descended from the Trayastrimsha heaven; Faxian and Xuanzang visited it, and an Ashokan elephant capital and stupa ruins survive.
(xvi) Ancient port: Bharuch (Barygaza), Gujarat — at the mouth of the Narmada; the Periplus describes it as the chief port of western India under the Shaka Kshatrapas, exporting textiles and importing wine, metals and Roman coins.
(xvii) Early historic site: Keezhadi, Tamil Nadu — on the Vaigai near Madurai (Sivaganga district); excavations since 2015 by the ASI and Tamil Nadu archaeology revealed a Sangam-age urban settlement with brick structures, ring wells, industrial remains and Tamil-Brahmi graffiti on pottery.
(xviii) Ivory hoard: Begram, Afghanistan — ancient Kapisa, a Kushana summer capital; Joseph Hackin's excavation (1937) found the Begram hoard of Indian ivories with Roman glass, bronzes and Chinese lacquer of the 1st–2nd century CE.
(xix) Buddhist monastic centre: Paharpur (Somapura Mahavihara), Bangladesh — Naogaon district; built by the Pala king Dharmapala (late 8th century), one of the largest Buddhist viharas south of the Himalaya, with a cruciform terraced temple and terracotta plaques; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.
(xx) Temple complex: Kedarnath, Uttarakhand — Rudraprayag district at the head of the Mandakini valley; a stone Shiva temple, one of the twelve jyotirlingas and a Char Dham shrine, traditionally restored by Adi Shankaracharya, whose samadhi lies behind it.

Question 2 (50 marks)

Q2(a) · Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Harappan Art, Architecture, Decline, Survival and Significance
Do you agree that ecological factors influenced the flow and ebb of the Harappan Civilization? Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या आप सहमत हैं कि पारिस्थितिक कारकों ने हड़प्पीय सभ्यता के प्रवाह एवं ह्रास को प्रभावित किया? टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Practise this question Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(a)
Approach: Agree with qualification: show how ecology shaped the rise (the flow) of the civilization, then its decline (the ebb), with the main climatic and riverine studies, and close by adding the non-ecological factors.
The Harappan civilization grew in a semi-arid zone dependent on rivers and the monsoon, so ecological change deeply affected both its flow, the rise and spread of cities, and its ebb, the decline after about 1900 BCE.
Ecology and the rise: the Indus, its tributaries and the Ghaggar-Hakra laid down fertile silt on which wheat and barley could be grown after summer floods. Gurdip Singh's pollen studies from the Rajasthan lakes (1971) suggested a wetter phase that favoured settlement. Liviu Giosan and colleagues (2012) argued that weakening monsoons made floods gentler and more predictable, which favoured flood-plain farming and urban growth.
Ecology also shaped the spread of the civilization: sites clustered along river courses, and in open plains that were easy to clear.
Ecology and the decline: further weakening of the monsoon, linked to the 4.2 thousand-year event, reduced the floods on which farming depended. The Ghaggar-Hakra dried, and Mughal's Cholistan survey shows site numbers along it falling sharply in the Late Harappan phase as settlement shifted east to Haryana and the doab.
Other ecological theories point the same way: Robert Raikes and M.R. Sahni argued for tectonic damming and floods on the lower Indus, and H.T. Lambrick stressed shifts of the river's course.
Limits: ecology was not everything. Decline was uneven, with settlements multiplying in the east and Gujarat. The end of trade with Mesopotamia, stressed by Shereen Ratnagar, and the weakening of the networks and elites that held the system together also mattered.
Ecological factors therefore shaped both the rise and the decline of Harappan cities, but they acted through economic and social systems, and the outcome varied by region, a process of localisation rather than sudden collapse.
Q2(b) · Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Vedic Literature, Religion and Philosophy
Do you consider that the Upanishadic principles embody the high point of Vedic religious thought? Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या आप मानते हैं कि उपनिषदीय सिद्धांत वैदिक धार्मिक विचारों की उच्च स्थिति को मूर्त रूप देते हैं? टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Practise this question Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(b)
Approach: A 'comment' question needs a judgement: show why the Upanishads can be called the high point, then why that view is partial, and give a balanced verdict.
The Upanishads (c. 800–500 BCE for the early ones such as the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya) close the Vedic corpus and are called Vedanta, the end of the Veda. Whether they are its high point depends on how Vedic religion is defined.
Case for the high point: the Upanishads moved from external ritual to inner knowledge. They identified the self (atman) with the ultimate reality (brahman), as in Uddalaka Aruni's teaching 'tat tvam asi' in the Chandogya. They developed earlier hints, such as the Rig Veda's Nasadiya hymn and its line that the one truth is called by many names.
The Mundaka Upanishad calls sacrifices leaky boats, and jnana is placed above ritual. Later Vedanta, from Badarayana to Shankara, and much of Indian philosophy built on these ideas.
Case against: for the Brahmanical tradition itself, the core of Vedic religion remained ritual. The Purva Mimamsa of Jaimini treated the sacrifice, not the Upanishads, as the heart of the Veda. The Upanishads are not one system; they contain varied and even contradictory views.
Their teachings were confined to a small group of sages and renouncers, and ordinary religious life continued through sacrifice and domestic rites.
The Upanishads were the philosophical high point of Vedic thought but not the whole of Vedic religion, which kept its ritual core.
Q2(c) · The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Post-Mauryan Religion, Mahayana, Art and Science
Analyze the significance of external influences and indigenous development on post-Mauryan art.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
मौर्योत्तरकालीन कला पर बाह्य प्रभावों एवं देशज विकास के महत्त्व का विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Practise this question The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(c)
Approach: Analyse both sides: the external influences (Persian, Hellenistic, Roman) and indigenous developments (Bharhut, Sanchi, Mathura, Amaravati, rock-cut architecture), and judge their relative weight.
Post-Mauryan art (c. 200 BCE–300 CE) was shaped by contact with the outside world and by a strong indigenous tradition of Indian folk and religious art.
External influences: Gandhara art in the north-west drew on Hellenistic and Roman models: realistic anatomy, wavy hair, draped robes like the toga and Greek motifs such as Atlas and acanthus leaves. Alfred Foucher argued that the first Buddha image came from Greek sculptors.
Iranian elements appear in Kushana royal portraits at Mat, and Roman objects reached Taxila and Begram. Indo-Greek coins introduced realistic portraiture.
Indigenous development: the reliefs of Bharhut and Sanchi, made in this period, grew from the Mauryan yaksha tradition. They show Jatakas and the Buddha through symbols, the empty throne, footprints and the Bodhi tree. Ananda Coomaraswamy argued that the Mathura school developed the Buddha image independently from the yaksha type, in red sandstone, alongside Jain tirthankaras and Brahmanical deities.
The Amaravati school in the Krishna valley created dynamic narrative reliefs in limestone. Rock-cut chaityas and viharas at Bhaja, Karle and Nasik show Indian wooden architecture translated into stone.
Assessment: external influence was strongest in Gandhara and in technique. Indian religious needs, iconography and narrative traditions dominated, and even Gandhara served Buddhist themes.
Post-Mauryan art was an Indian art enriched, not created, by foreign contact.

Question 3 (50 marks)

Q3(a) · Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Megalithic Cultures of Peninsular and Central India
Will it be proper to consider the megaliths to represent a single, homogeneous or contemporaneous culture? What kind of material life and cultural system is revealed in the megalithic cultures?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या महापाषाण को एकल, समरूप अथवा समकालीन संस्कृति का प्रतिनिधि मानना उपयुक्त होगा? महापाषाणकालीन संस्कृतियों से किस प्रकार के भौतिक जीवन व सांस्कृतिक व्यवस्था का पता चलता है?
Practise this question Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(a)
Approach: Answer the first part directly (no single culture) with evidence of diversity in time, space and form, then describe the material life and the cultural system the graves reveal.
The word megalithic describes a burial custom rather than a people. Upinder Singh stresses that it covers many communities across peninsular and central India, so it is not proper to treat it as one culture.
Not homogeneous: burial types vary by region, from cairn circles in Vidarbha and Karnataka to urn burials in Tamil Nadu and rock-cut caves in Kerala.
Not contemporaneous: radiocarbon dates range from about 1200 BCE (Hallur, Komaranahalli) to the early centuries CE. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu the custom survives into the Sangam phase. Wheeler's compact date from Brahmagiri is no longer accepted.
Material life: people were farmers and pastoralists. Rice, millets and pulses were grown. Cattle, sheep and horses were kept, and Lawrence Leshnik saw many Vidarbha groups as mobile pastoralists. Iron was used for tools and weapons, and Naikund has a smelting furnace.
Cultural system: careful burial with food and weapons reflects a belief in an afterlife. Differences in grave wealth, noted by U.S. Moorti, show ranking and the rise of chiefs, and large monuments imply organised communal labour. Etched carnelian beads and Roman coins in some graves reveal trade links.
The megaliths are best seen as a shared idiom of the dead adopted by diverse societies, one that laid the base of early historic south India.
Q3(b) · The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Chandragupta Maurya, Kautilya and the Arthashastra
How would you characterize the nature of Mauryan state on the basis of Kautilya's Arthashastra?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
कौटिल्य के अर्थशास्त्र के आधार पर आप मौर्य राज्य के स्वरूप का चित्रण कैसे करेंगे?
Practise this question The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(b)
Approach: Characterise the Mauryan state as the Arthashastra presents it (saptanga theory, bureaucracy, economic role, coercion and welfare), then note the problems of using the text as evidence for the actual Mauryan state.
The Arthashastra, ascribed to Kautilya, the minister of Chandragupta Maurya, was published by R. Shamasastry in 1909. Thomas Trautmann's statistical study (1971) shows that it was compiled by several hands, with the final text possibly dating to the early centuries CE.
Saptanga state: the state has seven limbs: the king (svami), ministers (amatya), territory and people (janapada), fort (durga), treasury (kosha), army (danda) and ally (mitra).
Bureaucratic and centralised: the text describes eighteen high officers (tirthas), a samaharta (chief collector) and sannidhata (treasurer), and some thirty superintendents (adhyakshas) for agriculture, mines, trade and other branches. A network of spies watched officials and subjects.
Interventionist economy: the state owned crown lands (sita), settled new villages with Shudra cultivators, ran mines and workshops, controlled trade and fixed prices. Artha, material well-being, is placed first among the goals of life.
Coercive but paternal: danda, punishment, holds society together. Yet the text states that the king's happiness lies in the happiness of his subjects, and it provides for widows, orphans and famine relief.
Realist in foreign policy: the mandala theory treats the neighbour as a natural enemy, and the six measures (shadgunya) guide war and peace.
Limits as evidence: the Arthashastra is normative, describing an ideal kingdom, not a record of Mauryan practice. Romila Thapar and Gerard Fussman argue that the real empire was less uniform, and Ashoka's edicts and Megasthenes give a partly different picture.
The Arthashastra thus characterises the Mauryan state as a centralised, bureaucratic, economically active and coercive monarchy tempered by welfare, an ideal that the empire's core, more than its periphery, approached.
Q3(c) · The Deccan, the Sangam Age and the Guptas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Indian Feudalism, Caste and the Position of Women
How did the Varnashrama Dharma manifest the increasing social complexities in the Gupta and post-Gupta period arising from social and economic developments?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
'वर्णाश्रम धर्म' कैसे गुप्त एवं गुप्तोत्तर काल में सामाजिक एवं आर्थिक विकास से उत्पन्न होने वाली बढ़ती सामाजिक जटिलताओं को प्रदर्शित करता है?
Practise this question The Deccan, the Sangam Age and the Guptas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(c)
Approach: Show how the varnashrama framework was stretched to absorb new groups and economic change, with examples, and note that its restatement was itself a response to these changes.
Varnashrama dharma, the ideal of four varnas and four stages of life, was restated in the Yajnavalkya, Narada and Brihaspati Smritis and the Puranas between c. 300 and 700 CE. Its elaboration reveals a more complex society.
New jatis: land grants pushed farming into tribal areas, and tribes and chiefs entered society as jatis or kshatriyas. Lawgivers explained them as mixed castes (varnasankara), whose lists grew longer.
New occupations: land records created the kayasthas (scribes), seen as prathama-kayastha in the Damodarpur plates, and guilds hardened into hereditary craft castes as trade declined.
Shifting status: shudras became cultivators, as Xuanzang noted, while vaishyas slid towards them. Faxian reports that chandalas lived outside towns and struck wood to announce themselves, showing hardened ideas of pollution.
Brahmanas and kings: brahmanas became landholders and took up other work, justified as apaddharma, while local rulers gained kshatriya genealogies. R.S. Sharma reads the Puranic picture of the Kali age, with varnas mixing and shudras defying duties, as a real social crisis; others see conventional lament.
Varnashrama was thus a flexible ideology that absorbed tribes, occupations and changes of status while keeping brahmanas at the top.

Question 4 (50 marks)

Q4(a) · Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Jainism, Buddhism and the Rise of Magadha
"The political and economic needs of rulers, combined with economic and status needs of the merchant class, together provided the receptive cultural milieu in which Buddhism flourished." Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"शासकों की राजनैतिक व आर्थिक आवश्यकताओं ने व्यापारी वर्ग की आर्थिक व सामाजिक स्थिति की जरूरतों से मिलकर एकसाथ ग्रहणशील सांस्कृतिक वातावरण प्रदान किया जिसमें बौद्ध धर्म विकसित हुआ।" टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Practise this question Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(a)
Approach: Comment on the statement by showing the political needs of rulers, the economic and status needs of merchants, how Buddhism met both, and what the explanation leaves out.
Buddhism spread rapidly from the middle Ganga plain in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. The statement explains its success through its fit with two rising groups, kings and merchants, and this social reading is developed by historians such as Romila Thapar and Uma Chakravarti.
Political needs of rulers: the new monarchies of Magadha and Kosala were expanding over many peoples. They needed an ideology that stressed order and moral conduct and did not depend on costly Vedic rituals controlled by Brahmanas. Bimbisara and Ajatashatru of Magadha and Pasenadi of Kosala patronised the Buddha, and Bimbisara gave the Veluvana grove at Rajagriha. Later Ashoka used Buddhist ethics in his Dhamma to bind a diverse empire.
Economic needs of merchants: Buddhism did not condemn trade, travel or lending at interest, and it valued thrift and hard work. Its ahimsa ended the slaughter of cattle in sacrifice, which helped farmers and traders.
Status needs of merchants: setthis had wealth but low ritual status in the varna order. Buddhism measured worth by conduct, not birth, and gave donors prestige: the setthi Anathapindika bought the Jetavana for the sangha. Pali texts show gahapatis and setthis as leading lay followers.
The receptive milieu: monasteries grew on trade routes and near towns, and later inscriptions at Sanchi and Bharhut record gifts by merchants and guilds.
Limits: the explanation is partial. Buddhism also attracted peasants, women and the poor. Its success owed much to its doctrine of suffering and liberation, to the discipline of the sangha, and to the personal charisma of the Buddha. Jainism had the same milieu but spread more slowly.
The statement captures the social conditions of Buddhism's growth, but not its religious appeal.
Q4(b) · Early Medieval India, 750–1200 · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Agrarian Economy, Urban Settlements and Trade
Large number of land grants in hitherto non-arable tracts invariably meant expansion of agriculture in early medieval India. How did the management of hydraulic resources (different types of irrigation works) facilitate expansion of agriculture in this period?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
प्रारंभिक मध्यकालीन भारत में अब तक गैर-कृषियोग्य क्षेत्रों में बड़ी संख्या में भूमि अनुदान निरपवाद रूप से कृषि-विस्तार के उद्देश्य से था। जल संसाधनों (विभिन्न प्रकार के सिंचाई कार्य) के प्रबंधन ने इस काल में कृषि-विस्तार को कैसे सुगम बनाया?
Practise this question Early Medieval India, 750–1200 notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(b)
Approach: Accept the link between grants and agrarian expansion, then explain the main kinds of irrigation works (tanks, wells and water wheels, canals and step-wells) with regional examples, and show how grants, local bodies and rulers organised them.
Land grants carried cultivation into forest and dry tracts, but new fields needed water. Early medieval inscriptions show that the management of hydraulic resources was central to agrarian expansion.
Tanks: in the dry peninsula, rain-fed tanks (eri, tataka) were the main source. Chola inscriptions record the eri-variyam (tank committee) of village sabhas, grants of land for tank repair and the fees for desilting; Rajendra I built the Cholagangam tank at Gangaikondacholapuram.
Wells and water wheels: wells (kupa) and step-wells (vapi) served western India; the Rani-ki-Vav at Patan (11th century) shows their scale. The araghatta, a wheel with pots, is mentioned in texts and inscriptions of north India; Irfan Habib argued that the geared Persian wheel came only later with the Turks.
Canals and lakes: rivers were tapped by channels from the Kaveri in the Chola delta. Kalhana's Rajatarangini describes how Suyya, under Avantivarman of Kashmir (9th century), cleared and regulated the Vitasta (Jhelum) to drain marshes and create new fields. The Paramara king Bhoja is credited with the great lake at Bhojpur (11th century).
Organisation: grants often named tanks and channels among boundaries, donees and temples invested in them, and local assemblies maintained them, while texts such as the Krishi-Parashara show attention to rain and water.
Irrigation thus turned grants into productive villages, supporting the rise of regional states and temples.
Q4(c) · Early Medieval India, 750–1200 · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Literature, Science and Art, 750–1200 (Kalhana, Alberuni, Temple Styles)
Discuss the relationship between emergence of literature in vernacular languages and formation of regional identities in early medieval India.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
प्रारंभिक मध्यकालीन भारत में स्थानीय भाषाओं में साहित्य के आविर्भाव एवं क्षेत्रीय पहचान के निर्माण के बीच संबंध की विवेचना कीजिए।
Practise this question Early Medieval India, 750–1200 notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(c)
Approach: Discuss how literature in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and other emerging languages grew under regional courts and bhakti, and how it helped define regional identities, while noting the continued role of Sanskrit and the limits of the link.
Between c. 800 and 1200, regional languages acquired written literatures alongside Sanskrit. Sheldon Pollock (The Language of the Gods in the World of Men, 2006) calls the centuries after about 1000 the beginning of a vernacular millennium, when regional courts chose local languages for literature.
Court literature: the Kannada Kavirajamarga (c. 850), associated with the Rashtrakuta court of Amoghavarsha I, defined the Kannada-speaking land as lying between the Kaveri and the Godavari, an early statement of linguistic territory. Pampa, Ponna and Ranna wrote Kannada epics for regional patrons, and Nannaya began the Telugu Mahabharata at the Eastern Chalukya court of Rajaraja Narendra in the 11th century.
Devotional literature: Tamil bhakti hymns, compiled in the 10th century, and Kamban's Ramayana and Sekkizhar's Periyapuranam in the Chola period linked Tamil with sacred geography and a shared devotional community; and the Charyapada songs of Buddhist Siddhas are among the earliest Bengali writings.
Link to regional identity: regional kingdoms such as the Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas, Cholas and Gangas of Odisha sought legitimacy in local culture; regional scripts, temple styles and cults, such as Jagannatha at Puri, reinforced a sense of region.
Limits: Sanskrit remained the language of high learning and many royal inscriptions; regional identities were cultural rather than political, and their boundaries shifted.
Vernacular literature thus both reflected and helped form regional identities, laying the cultural foundations of later linguistic regions.

Question 5 (50 marks)

Q5(a) · Early Medieval India, 750–1200 · 10 marks≈ 7 min
The Indian Feudalism Debate
Discuss the different stages of Indian feudalism and analyze its impact on Indian political system.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारतीय सामंतवाद के विविध चरणों की विवेचना करते हुए भारतीय राजनैतिक व्यवस्था पर इसके प्रभाव का विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Practise this question Early Medieval India, 750–1200 notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(a)
Approach: Set out the stages of Indian feudalism as R.S. Sharma and Kosambi describe them, then analyse its effects on the political system (fragmentation, samanta hierarchy, military), noting briefly the critics.
R.S. Sharma (Indian Feudalism, 1965) traced Indian feudalism through stages, building on D.D. Kosambi's distinction between feudalism from above and from below.
Stages: first, c. 300–600, land grants to brahmanas and temples spread, first with fiscal and later with administrative rights. Second, c. 600–900, grants were also made to officials and vassals; Xuanzang noted that Harsha's officers were paid with land. Third, c. 900–1200, the system peaked, with mahasamantas, subinfeudation, forced labour and peasants tied to land, while trade revived after c. 1000. Kosambi saw this last phase as feudalism from below, as village landholders rose.
Impact on polity: sovereignty was divided in a graded samanta hierarchy of vassals owing tribute, military service and attendance at court; kings depended on feudatory levies, so their armies and authority weakened, and regional kingdoms multiplied and feudatories such as the Chandellas and Paramaras became independent.
Critics such as Harbans Mukhia and B.D. Chattopadhyaya see these as signs of state formation in new regions, not collapse, so the impact is debated.
Q5(b) · The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Foundation of the Sultanate: Aibak, Iltutmish and Balban
Do you consider Sultan Iltutmish to be the real founder of the Delhi Sultanate? Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या आप सुल्तान इल्तुतमिश को दिल्ली सल्तनत का वास्तविक संस्थापक मानते हैं? विवेचना कीजिए।
Practise this question The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(b)
Approach: Weigh Iltutmish's claim against Aibak's: list his achievements in territory, legitimacy, institutions and defence, then note what remained incomplete before giving a verdict.
Qutbuddin Aibak (1206–1210) ruled from Lahore as a Ghurid commander, recognised by Ghazni only around 1208, and died before his position was secure. A.B.M. Habibullah and K.A. Nizami regard Iltutmish (1210–1236) as the real founder of the Sultanate.
Territory: he defeated Yildiz at Tarain (1215–16), annexed Qubacha's Multan and Uch (1228), brought Bengal under control and recovered Ranthambhor and Gwalior.
Legitimacy: he made Delhi the capital, and in 1229 received investiture from the Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir, raising him above rival Turkish chiefs.
Institutions and defence: he standardised the silver tanka and copper jital, distributed iqtas and built a corps of loyal slave nobles. By refusing asylum to Jalaluddin Mangbarni (1221) he kept Chingiz Khan's Mongols away.
Limits: his slave nobles dominated his weak successors, and Balban had to restore royal power. Still, Iltutmish turned a set of conquests into a state with a capital, currency, administration and legitimacy, which justifies the title.
Q5(c) · Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Persian and Regional Literature
Identify the different categories of Persian literature which emerged during the Delhi Sultanate.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
दिल्ली सल्तनत काल में उभरकर आए विविध प्रकार के पारसी साहित्य की पहचान कीजिए।
Practise this question Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(c)
Approach: Identify the categories one by one with one or two named works each, and close with a line on their significance.
Persian, the language of the court and administration, produced a rich and varied literature in the Delhi Sultanate, which falls into several categories.
History (tarikh): Minhaj-us-Siraj's Tabaqat-i-Nasiri (1260), Barani's Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi (1357), Isami's verse history Futuh-us-Salatin (1350), Afif's Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi and Yahya Sirhindi's Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi (c. 1434).
Poetry: Amir Khusrau's ghazals and historical masnavis such as Qiran-us-Sadain and Nuh Sipihr, and the ghazals of Amir Hasan Sijzi.
Political theory: Fakhr-i-Mudabbir's Adab-ul-Harb wa'sh-Shujaat and Barani's Fatawa-i-Jahandari.
Sufi literature: malfuzat such as the Fawaid-ul-Fuad, letters (maktubat) and the Siyar-ul-Auliya.
Letters and memoirs: Ainul Mulk Mahru's Insha-i-Mahru and Firuz Shah's Futuhat-i-Firoz Shahi.
Translations: Ziya Nakhshabi's Tuti Nama, adapted from the Sanskrit Shukasaptati, and the Dalail-i-Firoz Shahi, from Sanskrit texts taken at Nagarkot.
Together these genres created an Indo-Persian literary culture that served the court and also absorbed Indian themes.
Q5(d) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 10 marks≈ 7 min
The Lodis, Babur and Humayun
Examine the causes of Babur's success against Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
पानीपत के प्रथम युद्ध में इब्राहिम लोदी के विरुद्ध बाबर की सफलता के कारणों का परीक्षण कीजिए।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(d)
Approach: List and explain the causes on Babur's side (tactics, artillery, leadership) and on Ibrahim's side (disunity, weak generalship), and conclude.
At the First Battle of Panipat (21 April 1526) Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi, though by his own account in the Baburnama his army was far smaller.
Tactics: Babur anchored one flank on the town of Panipat and the other on ditches and felled trees, and placed a line of carts (araba) tied together, with gaps for cavalry, in front, the 'Rumi' (Ottoman) method. His tulughma flanking parties wheeled round and attacked the Afghans from the rear.
Artillery: Guns and matchlocks under Ustad Ali Quli and Mustafa broke the Afghan charge and frightened the elephants.
Leadership: Babur was a seasoned commander with disciplined, experienced troops.
Ibrahim's weaknesses: Ibrahim had alienated his Afghan nobles; Daulat Khan Lodi of Punjab and Alam Khan had invited Babur, and many nobles fought half-heartedly. Babur calls him an inexperienced general who attacked without order.
Babur's victory came from superior tactics and firepower acting on an army weakened by political disunity.
Q5(e) · Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Bhakti and Sufi Movements under the Sultanate
Discuss the attitude of Chishti saints towards the state. How were the Suhrawardi saints different in their attitude towards the government?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
राज्य के प्रति चिश्ती संतों के रुख (ऐटिट्यूड) की विवेचना कीजिए। सरकार के प्रति अपने रवैये में सुहरावर्दी संत कैसे भिन्न थे?
Practise this question Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(e)
Approach: A two-part question: describe the Chishti attitude with examples, then contrast the Suhrawardi attitude, and end with what explains the difference.
The two great Sufi orders of the Sultanate, the Chishtis and the Suhrawardis, differed sharply in their relations with the state.
Chishti attitude: The Chishtis held that contact with rulers corrupted the soul. They refused state service and land grants (jagirs) and lived on futuh, unsolicited gifts. Baba Farid is said to have declined villages offered by Ulugh Khan (Balban); Nizamuddin Auliya never visited the court of Alauddin Khalji; and Nasiruddin Chiragh-i-Dehli was harassed by Muhammad bin Tughluq for refusing to serve him.
Suhrawardi attitude: The Suhrawardis, led by Bahauddin Zakariya of Multan, saw no harm in close ties with government. Bahauddin accepted the title Shaikh-ul-Islam from Iltutmish, supported him against Qubacha, owned great wealth and held grants.
Reasons: The Chishtis worked among common people in a plural society, while the Suhrawardis of frontier Multan stressed sharia and saw the state as protector of the faith.
Thus the Chishtis kept a moral distance from power, while the Suhrawardis cooperated with it.

Question 6 (50 marks)

Q6(a) · Mughal Economy, Society and Culture · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Peasants, Women and the Rise of the Sikh Khalsa
Discuss the transformation of Sikh community from a Nirguna Bhakti sect into a politico-military organization.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
सिख समुदाय के निर्गुण भक्ति संप्रदाय से राजनीतिक-सैन्य संगठन में परिवर्तन की विवेचना कीजिए।
Practise this question Mughal Economy, Society and Culture notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(a)
Approach: Trace the stages from Guru Nanak's nirguna teaching through the institutions of the early Gurus, the militarisation under Guru Hargobind, and the Khalsa of 1699, then explain the causes of the change with historians' views.
Guru Nanak (1469–1539) taught devotion to a formless God (nirguna) through the divine name, rejecting ritual and caste distinctions. Within two centuries his followers had become a disciplined political and military community.
Institution building: Guru Angad developed the Gurmukhi script and the langar (community kitchen); Guru Amar Das organised the community into manjis; Guru Ram Das founded Amritsar; and Guru Arjan compiled the Adi Granth (1604) and built the Harmandir. Masands collected offerings, giving the Panth an economic base.
Turn to arms: Guru Arjan was executed in 1606 on Jahangir's orders after blessing the rebel prince Khusrau. His son Guru Hargobind wore two swords for spiritual and temporal authority (miri and piri), built the Akal Takht, kept armed followers and fought Mughal forces in the 1620s and 1630s.
The Khalsa: after Guru Tegh Bahadur's execution in 1675, Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa at Anandpur on Baisakhi 1699, with initiation, the five symbols and the end of the masands' authority. Before his death in 1708 he vested Guruship in the Granth and the Panth.
Explanations: W.H. McLeod stressed the entry of Jat peasants with martial traditions, while J.S. Grewal emphasised the Gurus' own response to Mughal hostility.
The transformation thus combined Mughal persecution, social composition and the Gurus' leadership, turning a devotional sect into a militant Panth without abandoning its theology.
Q6(b) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
The Lodis, Babur and Humayun
Give your assessment of Bahlul Lodi's relation with his nobility.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
अभिजात-वर्ग के साथ बहलोल लोदी के संबंध पर अपना आकलन प्रस्तुत कीजिए।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(b)
Approach: An assessment: explain the Afghan idea of kingship and how Bahlul treated his nobles, with evidence from the Afghan chronicles, then weigh the benefits and costs of this policy.
Bahlul Lodi (1451–89) founded Afghan rule at Delhi with the support of Afghan clan chiefs. His relations with them are described in later Afghan chronicles such as Niamatullah's Makhzan-i-Afghani and Abdullah's Tarikh-i-Daudi.
Tribal kingship: Afghan tradition saw the ruler as first among equals among clan leaders, not as a despot by divine right in the Turkish manner of Balban.
Bahlul's conduct: The chronicles say he would not sit on a throne before his nobles but sat with them on a carpet, visited them when they were displeased and even laid his sword before them to ask forgiveness. He shared the spoils of war and treated the treasury as common property.
Invitation from Roh: To strengthen himself against the Sharqis, he invited Afghans from Roh (the Afghan homeland) and gave the Lodi, Farmuli, Lohani and Sarwani clans large assignments of land.
Benefits: This won him loyal support through the long war with Jaunpur.
Costs: It left the crown weak and the nobles powerful; I.H. Siddiqui (Some Aspects of Afghan Despotism in India, 1969) shows how later Lodis struggled with this legacy. Sikandar Lodi asserted royal dignity, and Ibrahim's harshness led to revolt and the invitation to Babur.
Bahlul's policy suited his time, but it built a decentralised, clan-based state whose tensions contributed to the fall of the Lodis.
Q6(c) · Mughal Economy, Society and Culture · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Mughal Architecture and Painting
Examine the basic features of Mughal tomb architecture with special reference to the Taj Mahal.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
ताजमहल के विशेष संदर्भ में मुगल मकबरा स्थापत्य की मौलिक विशेषताओं का परीक्षण कीजिए।
Practise this question Mughal Economy, Society and Culture notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(c)
Approach: Trace the evolution of the Mughal garden tomb from Humayun to Shah Jahan, identify its basic features, then analyse the Taj Mahal in detail (plan, dome, minarets, decoration, inscriptions, meaning).
Tombs are the most celebrated Mughal buildings. The garden tomb, a mausoleum set in a walled garden, evolved over a century to its climax in the Taj Mahal.
Basic features: a raised platform; the four-part charbagh garden with water channels, symbolising paradise; a domed central chamber with the cenotaph above and the real grave below; the nine-part hasht-bihisht plan; arched iwans on each face; and rich surface decoration.
Evolution: Humayun's tomb at Delhi (completed c. 1571) set the model with a Persian double dome in red sandstone and marble. Akbar's tomb at Sikandra (completed 1612–13) was a domeless, storeyed structure, and Itimad-ud-Daula's tomb at Agra (1622–28) was the first faced entirely in white marble with stone inlay.
The Taj Mahal: Shah Jahan built it for Mumtaz Mahal at Agra from 1632; the mausoleum was finished by about 1643 and the complex by about 1648. Unusually, the tomb stands at the river end of the garden, on a terrace over the Yamuna, which Ebba Koch links to the riverfront gardens of Agra.
Its bulbous double dome rises over a perfectly symmetrical building, framed by four detached minarets. Pietra dura flowers in semi-precious stones, carved marble dados and jali screens decorate it, and Quranic inscriptions by the calligrapher Amanat Khan grow larger higher up so that they appear uniform from below.
Meaning: Wayne Begley argued that the inscriptions present the Taj as a symbol of the throne of God on the Day of Judgement, while Koch sees it as an image of the paradise garden and of Shah Jahan's ideal of perfect order.
The Taj thus brought together the features developed over a century into a building of unmatched harmony.

Question 7 (50 marks)

Q7(a) · The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Foundation of the Sultanate: Aibak, Iltutmish and Balban
Discuss the importance of Iqta system. How did it help in centralization of administration of the Delhi Sultanate?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
'इक्ता' प्रथा के महत्त्व की विवेचना कीजिए। दिल्ली सल्तनत के प्रशासन के केन्द्रीयकरण में इसने कैसे मदद की?
Practise this question The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(a)
Approach: Explain what the iqta was and why it mattered (revenue, army, conquest, integration), then show how its transferable, non-hereditary and audited character served centralisation, with its later weakening.
The iqta was an assignment of the revenue of a territory to an officer, the muqti, who collected it, maintained troops and sent the surplus (fawazil) to the centre. Known from the Seljuq state, it was made the basis of Sultanate administration by Iltutmish.
Importance: it let a small conquering elite draw on the agrarian surplus without dismantling village structures; it paid the army in a weakly monetised economy; frontier iqtas such as Badaun and Awadh pushed Turkish rule outward; and it tied distant regions to Delhi.
Centralisation: the iqta was a transferable and non-hereditary charge, not a fief. Iltutmish gave small iqtas in the Doab to his Turkish officers, binding them to the throne. Balban posted khwajas (accountants) to check muqtis. Alauddin Khalji assessed the expected revenue of each iqta, audited accounts and paid much of the army in cash. Ghiyasuddin Tughluq allowed muqtis only a small margin above the fixed sum.
Moreland compared the muqti to a governor whose income was fixed by the centre, not a feudal lord; Irfan Habib stresses that the system channelled the surplus to an urban ruling class dependent on the Sultan.
Limits: a strong muqti could rebel, as Tughril did in Bengal, and under Firuz Tughluq iqtas became hereditary and central control weakened. The iqta's value for centralisation depended on the Sultan's power to transfer and audit its holders.
Q7(b) · The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
The Khalji Revolution and Alauddin's Conquests
Why is the reign of the Khaljis known as the 'Khalji Revolution'?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
खलजी शासनकाल 'खलजी क्रांति' के रूप में क्यों जाना जाता है?
Practise this question The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(b)
Approach: Explain why historians call the Khalji accession of 1290 a 'revolution': the end of the Turkish monopoly, the new basis of kingship and the wider state; then weigh the view that it was only a change of ruling group.
In 1290 Jalaluddin Firuz Khalji, the ariz-i-mamalik, overthrew the last Balbanid ruler and was crowned at Kilokhari. Historians such as K.S. Lal (History of the Khaljis, 1950) and Mohammad Habib call the change the Khalji Revolution, because it changed more than the dynasty.
End of the Turkish monopoly: the Khaljis, though of Turkish origin, had long lived in the Afghan region and were seen by the Ilbari nobles as outsiders of lower status. Their rise ended the old slave nobility's hold on high office; under Alauddin, Indian-born Muslims, converts such as Malik Kafur and men of humble birth rose to command.
New basis of kingship: Balban had tied the throne to noble birth; the Khaljis showed that it rested on military power. Alauddin won over Delhi's nobles with the gold of Devagiri.
State and religion: Alauddin separated policy from the ulama's advice, as his exchange with Qazi Mughis in Barani shows.
Wider state: the Sultanate expanded into Gujarat, Malwa and Rajasthan and, through tributaries, the Deccan, while the agrarian measures gave it a direct hold on the countryside.
The other view: some historians argue that 'revolution' overstates the change, since iqta, nobility and absolute monarchy remained. It was a revolution in the composition of the ruling class and the scale of the state, not a social revolution.
Q7(c) · Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century · 20 marks≈ 14 min
The Late 17th-Century Crisis and the Revolts
The late seventeenth century Mughal India is considered to be a period of Jagirdari crisis. Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
सत्रहवीं सदी के उत्तरार्द्ध का मुगल भारत जागीरदारी संकट के काल के रूप में जाना जाता है। विवेचना कीजिए।
Practise this question Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(c)
Approach: Define the jagirdari crisis as argued by Satish Chandra, set out its causes and evidence, then examine the critiques and alternative explanations before reaching a judgement.
The idea of a jagirdari crisis was set out by Satish Chandra in Parties and Politics at the Mughal Court (1959). He argued that by the late 17th century the system of paying nobles through revenue assignments had broken down because there was not enough revenue-yielding land to go round.
Causes: the number of mansabdars rose sharply after 1679 as Aurangzeb took in Deccani and Maratha nobles, a growth that M. Athar Ali's lists of the nobility document. The new conquests in the Deccan yielded little revenue because of war and Maratha raids, and the gap widened between the estimated revenue (jama) and what was actually collected (hasil).
Evidence: contemporary writers such as Bhimsen in his Nuskha-i-Dilkusha and Khafi Khan describe nobles waiting years for a jagir and holding assignments that paid only a fraction of their salary. A remark attributed to Aurangzeb, comparing one pomegranate to a hundred sick men, sums up the shortage.
Consequences: nobles formed factions to win the best jagirs, squeezed peasants during short tenures, and some made deals with the Marathas, so loyalty weakened.
Critiques: Irfan Habib places the root in an agrarian crisis of peasant exploitation rather than among nobles alone. J.F. Richards argued that the shortage was a failure of management, since the Deccan was rich. Muzaffar Alam and Chetan Singh show that Awadh and Punjab were prospering, so the problem was of central control over local resources, not of absolute scarcity.
The late 17th century was indeed a period of jagirdari crisis, but it was a symptom of deeper political and agrarian strains rather than their single cause.

Question 8 (50 marks)

Q8(a) · Early Medieval India, 750–1200 · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Chola Administration, Village Economy and Society
"The Chola rulers were not only mighty conquerors, efficient administrators but also builders of fine temples." Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"चोल शासक न केवल प्रबल विजेता, कुशल प्रशासक थे बल्कि उत्कृष्ट मंदिरों के निर्माता भी थे।" टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Practise this question Early Medieval India, 750–1200 notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(a)
Approach: Comment on all three roles in the statement with evidence (conquests, administration, temples) and show how they were linked, ending with a judgement on the Chola achievement.
The imperial Cholas, from Vijayalaya's capture of Tanjavur (c. 850) to the 13th century, are remembered as conquerors, administrators and temple builders. The statement is broadly correct, and the three roles reinforced each other.
Conquerors: Parantaka I took Madurai; Rajaraja I (985–1014) defeated the Cheras and Pandyas, annexed northern Sri Lanka and the Maldives; Rajendra I (1014–1044) marched to the Ganga, took the title Gangaikondachola and sent a naval expedition against Srivijaya (c. 1025).
Administrators: the empire was organised in mandalams, valanadus and nadus; Rajaraja I ordered a land survey and fixed revenue; royal officials worked alongside local bodies, the ur, the brahmana sabha (as in the Uttaramerur rules of 919 and 921) and the merchant nagaram.
Temple builders: the Brihadishvara temple at Tanjavur (completed 1010), with its vimana of about 66 metres, the temple at Gangaikondacholapuram (c. 1035) and the Airavateshvara at Darasuram represent the high point of the Dravida style.
Links: temples were not only works of piety. Tanjavur inscriptions list plunder from wars given to the temple, lands assigned to it from many villages and hundreds of servants and dancers, so the temple became a centre of royal ideology and redistribution.
Thus war supplied wealth, administration organised it, and temples displayed and legitimised royal power; the Chola achievement lies in this integration.
Q8(b) · Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Akbar's Rajput Policy, Sulh-i-kul and Court Patronage
Discuss with relevant illustrations the relations between Akbar and the Rajput states.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
अकबर और राजपूत राज्यों के बीच संबंधों की प्रासंगिक दृष्टांतों के साथ चर्चा कीजिए।
Practise this question Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(b)
Approach: Survey Akbar's dealings with the main Rajput states (Amber, Merta, Chittor/Mewar, Ranthambhor, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Marwar) and draw out the pattern of alliance, rank and force.
Akbar's relations with the Rajput states mixed alliance and coercion, and by the 1580s most chiefs had become partners in the empire. Abul Fazl's Akbarnama and Nainsi's Khyat record the process.
Amber (1562): Raja Bharmal, pressed by the Mughal governor of Mewat, offered his daughter in marriage and entered service. His son Bhagwant Das and grandson Man Singh became leading generals.
Force against resisters: Merta was taken in 1562, Chittor was stormed in 1568 after a long siege and a massacre of its defenders, and Ranthambhor surrendered in 1569, when Surjan Hada of Bundi entered Mughal service.
Submission by agreement: at the Nagaur durbar of 1570 the rulers of Bikaner and Jaisalmer submitted and made marriage alliances. In Marwar, Chandrasen resisted, but his brother Udai Singh was given Jodhpur in 1583.
Mewar: Rana Pratap refused to attend court, fought Man Singh at Haldighati in 1576 and kept up resistance from the hills until his death in 1597. Only his son Amar Singh accepted Mughal suzerainty under Jahangir in 1615.
The pattern: chiefs kept their home states as watan jagirs, received high mansabs and governorships, were not required to convert, and served across the empire.
The relationship was thus unequal but mutually beneficial: the Rajputs gained rank and security, and Akbar gained soldiers, a secure Rajasthan and a wider base of loyalty.
Q8(c) · The Eighteenth Century · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Regional States: The Nizam's Deccan, Bengal and Awadh
How far is it justified to consider the states like Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad as 'successor states' of the Mughal state?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
बंगाल, अवध और हैदराबाद जैसे राज्यों को मुगल राज्य के 'उत्तराधिकारी राज्य' मानना कहाँ तक उचित है?
Practise this question The Eighteenth Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(c)
Approach: Define 'successor state', give the evidence of Mughal continuity in the three states and then the evidence of new, regional features, using Calkins, Barnett and Muzaffar Alam, and judge how far the label fits.
Historians distinguish successor states, founded by Mughal governors who made their offices hereditary, from 'warrior' states such as the Marathas and Sikhs and from independent kingdoms such as Mysore. Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad are the standard examples of the first type.
Mughal continuity: each was founded by a high Mughal official, Murshid Quli Khan as diwan and then nazim of Bengal (1717), Saadat Khan as governor of Awadh (1722) and Nizam-ul-Mulk as viceroy of the Deccan (1724). None declared independence: coins were struck and the khutba read in the emperor's name, rulers sought imperial titles and sanads, and the Mughal vocabulary of jagir, khalisa, diwan and faujdar continued. Murshid Quli Khan remitted tribute to Delhi regularly.
Regional novelty: succession became hereditary or was decided locally, as when Alivardi Khan seized Bengal after the battle of Giria (1740) and was confirmed only afterwards. Philip Calkins showed that in Bengal a regionally oriented ruling group of the nawab, zamindars and bankers such as the Jagat Seths formed between 1700 and 1740. Richard Barnett and Muzaffar Alam showed how the nawabs of Awadh built their state by alliances with local zamindars and Hindu service groups.
Differences: Hyderabad stayed closest to Mughal forms, Bengal rested most on bankers, and Awadh developed a distinctive Shia court culture at Faizabad and Lucknow.
Significance: the label reflects the revisionist view that the eighteenth century saw decentralisation, not collapse: Mughal institutions survived in new regional hands.
The term is justified for their origin, legitimacy and institutions, but it understates how far these states were new regional polities with their own social base; 'successor' should mean inheritors who transformed, not mere continuations.

UPSC Mains 2021 History Paper II