UPSC Mains 2026 History Optional Question Papers with Model Answers

All 52 questions of the 2026 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 2026 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) Harappan burial site; (ii) Harappan site with radial town planning; (iii) Jain cave painting; (iv) Large Megalithic dolmen complexes; (v) Ancient port; (vi) Ancient capital; (vii) Meso-Chalcolithic site; (viii) Group of early medieval temples; (ix) Ancient capital; (x) Megalithic site; (xi) Neolithic site; (xii) Terra-cotta ring wells; (xiii) Mauryan fort; (xiv) Ancient Buddhist site; (xv) Mesolithic site; (xvi) Megalithic burial site; (xvii) Neolithic ash mound site; (xviii) Site with evidence of monastery, Stupa and Shiva temple; (xix) Chalcolithic and early historic site with five occupational phases; (xx) Buddhist site.
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) हड़प्पीय शवाधान स्थल; (ii) विकर्णीय नगर योजना वाला हड़प्पीय स्थल; (iii) जैन गुफा चित्रकला; (iv) विशाल महापाषाणिक डोल्मेन समूह; (v) प्राचीन बंदरगाह; (vi) प्राचीन राजधानी; (vii) मध्यताम्रपाषाणिक स्थल; (viii) प्रारंभिक मध्यकालीन मंदिरों का समूह; (ix) प्राचीन राजधानी; (x) महापाषाणिक स्थल; (xi) नवपाषाणिक स्थल; (xii) पकी मिट्टी के छल्लेदार (वलय) कूप; (xiii) मौर्यकालीन किला; (xiv) प्राचीन बौद्ध स्थल; (xv) मध्यपाषाणिक स्थल; (xvi) महापाषाणिक शवाधान स्थल; (xvii) नवपाषाणिक राख-टीला स्थल; (xviii) मठ, स्तूप एवं शिव मंदिर के प्रमाण वाला स्थल; (xix) पाँच व्यावसायिक चरणों वाला ताम्रपाषाणिक एवं प्रारंभिक ऐतिहासिक स्थल; (xx) बौद्ध स्थल.
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) Harappan burial site: Juna Khatiya, Gujarat (Kachchh) — Large Harappan-period cemetery in Lakhpat taluka, found in 2016 and excavated by the University of Kerala from 2019; nearly 200 of an estimated 500 graves, many rectangular and stone-lined, were opened, yielding pottery, beads and a few skeletal remains.
(ii) Harappan site with radial town planning: Banawali, Haryana (Fatehabad) — Harappan town on the dry Ghaggar (Saraswati) excavated by R.S. Bisht; streets radiating from the centre instead of a grid, a fortified acropolis, a terracotta plough model and barley, with pre-Harappan to late phases.
(iii) Jain cave painting: Sittanavasal, Tamil Nadu (Pudukkottai) — Jain rock-cut cave (Arivar Koil) with mural paintings of a lotus pond, fish, elephants and dancers (c. 9th century, Pandya period); the nearby Eladipattam caverns bear Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions.
(iv) Large Megalithic dolmen complexes: Hire Benakal, Karnataka (Koppal) — One of the largest megalithic necropolises of India (c. 800 to 200 BCE), with hundreds of dolmens, port-holed cists and stone circles on a hill, and rock paintings in nearby shelters.
(v) Ancient port: Alagankulam, Tamil Nadu (Ramanathapuram) — Early historic Pandya port near the Vaigai mouth (c. 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE) that yielded Roman amphorae, rouletted ware, Roman coins and potsherds inscribed in Tamil-Brahmi. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Korkai, Periyapattinam)
(vi) Ancient capital: Uraiyur, Tamil Nadu (Tiruchirappalli) — Early Chola capital on the Kaveri praised in Sangam poems and identified with Argaru of the Periplus, famed for fine muslin; excavations yielded black-and-red ware and rouletted ware. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Karur (Vanji), Kaveripattinam)
(vii) Meso-Chalcolithic site: Pandu Rajar Dhibi, West Bengal (Purba Bardhaman) — Chalcolithic mound on the Ajay excavated by P.C. Dasgupta; microliths below and alongside black-and-red ware, copper objects, rice and burials (c. 2nd millennium BCE) show the Mesolithic to Chalcolithic transition in Bengal. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Mahisdal, Dihar)
(viii) Group of early medieval temples: Bateshwar, Madhya Pradesh (Morena) — Group of about 200 small sandstone temples of Shiva and Vishnu (c. 8th to 10th century, Gurjara-Pratihara period) near Padavali, rebuilt from ruins by the ASI from 2005 under K.K. Muhammed.
(ix) Ancient capital: Vidisha (Besnagar), Madhya Pradesh (Vidisha) — Ancient capital of Akara (east Malwa) on the Betwa, seat of Shunga princes such as Agnimitra; the Garuda pillar of the Greek envoy Heliodorus (c. 113 BCE) records his devotion to Vasudeva.
(x) Megalithic site: Mahurjhari, Maharashtra (Nagpur) — Vidarbha megalithic cemetery of stone-circle burials (early Iron Age) excavated by S.B. Deo; iron tools and weapons, copper and gold ornaments, horse bits and black-and-red ware were found. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Junapani, Naikund)
(xi) Neolithic site: Mahagara, Uttar Pradesh (Prayagraj) — Neolithic village in the Belan valley with circular huts, a cattle pen, polished celts, querns, cord-impressed pottery and rice, excavated under G.R. Sharma; its dates are debated. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Koldihwa, Jhusi)
(xii) Terra-cotta ring wells: Bangarh (Kotivarsha), West Bengal (Dakshin Dinajpur) — Ancient Kotivarsha, a district seat of Pundravardhana; K.G. Goswami's excavations (1938-41) found structural phases from Mauryan to medieval times, with a rampart, NBPW, brick houses, drains and ring wells. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Champa (Bhagalpur), Chandraketugarh)
(xiii) Mauryan fort: Sisupalgarh, Odisha (Khordha) — Fortified early historic city near Bhubaneswar (from c. 3rd century BCE) with a square plan, massive ramparts and gateways, excavated by B.B. Lal in 1948; often identified with Tosali or Kalinganagari.
(xiv) Ancient Buddhist site: Phanigiri, Telangana (Suryapet) — Hilltop Buddhist complex of the Krishna valley tradition with a mahastupa, chaityas and viharas, carved limestone panels of Jataka stories and an important Ikshvaku-period inscription. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Nelakondapalli, Gajulabanda)
(xv) Mesolithic site: Birbhanpur, West Bengal (Paschim Bardhaman) — Mesolithic site on the Damodar excavated by B.B. Lal in 1957; quartz and chert microliths and post-holes of hut floors show hunter-gatherer settlement on the laterite uplands of Bengal.
(xvi) Megalithic burial site: Sanur, Tamil Nadu (Chengalpattu) — Megalithic burial site in Madurantakam taluk excavated by N.R. Banerjee and K.V. Soundara Rajan in 1950 and 1952; its graves yielded black-and-red ware and iron objects typical of the early Iron Age megaliths of the Tamil coast. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Amirthamangalam, Perumbair)
(xvii) Neolithic ash mound site: Pallavoy, Andhra Pradesh (Anantapur) — Southern Neolithic ash mound site, where dung from cattle pens was periodically burnt into ash mounds, excavated by V. Rami Reddy; polished stone axes and grey ware show a pastoral economy. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Kupgal, Utnur)
(xviii) Site with evidence of monastery, Stupa and Shiva temple: Benisagar, Jharkhand (West Singhbhum) — Site in Majhgaon block near the Odisha border, around a large tank; ASI excavations since 2003 exposed two panchayatana temple complexes with Shiva lingas, sculptures of Surya, Lakulisha and Bhairava, and a 5th-century Brahmi seal. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Itkhori, Khiching)
(xix) Chalcolithic and early historic site with five occupational phases: Noh, Rajasthan (Bharatpur) — Excavated by R.C. Agrawala (1963-67), it showed five phases: Ochre Coloured Pottery, black-and-red ware, Painted Grey Ware, NBPW and Shunga-Kushan; also known for a colossal yaksha statue.
(xx) Buddhist site: Suryapahar, Assam (Goalpara) — Hill site with rock-cut Shiva lingas, images of Jain tirthankaras and Buddhist votive stupas (c. 5th to 12th century), showing Shaiva, Jain and Buddhist traditions side by side in early Assam. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Hajo)

Question 2 (50 marks)

Q2(a) · Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Geography and the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Cultures
Analyze the role of terrain, climate and vegetation in shaping the settlement and movement of prehistoric communities in India.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत में प्रागैतिहासिक समुदायों की बसावट और आवागमन को आकार देने में भू-भाग, जलवायु और वनस्पति की भूमिका का विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Practise this question Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(a)
Approach: Analyse how terrain, climate and vegetation shaped where prehistoric people lived and how they moved, phase by phase from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic, with named sites, and note the limits of environmental explanation.
Hunter-gatherers depend directly on their environment for water, stone, game and plants, so terrain, climate and vegetation largely decided where prehistoric communities in India camped and how they moved.
Terrain and raw material: Lower Palaeolithic Acheulian sites cluster where quartzite and water met, in river valleys and foothills such as Attirampakkam, the Hunsgi-Isampur valley, the Belan, the Narmada at Hathnora, and Bhimbetka. The thick alluvium of the Ganga plain, lacking stone, has few Palaeolithic sites.
Climate: Pleistocene wet and dry phases shifted settlement. Sites at Didwana in the Thar show occupation during wetter phases, while arid phases pushed groups to rivers and springs. With the warmer, wetter Holocene after about 10,000 BCE, grasslands and lakes spread and Mesolithic groups occupied new zones.
Vegetation and fauna: forests of the Vindhyas sheltered rock-shelter camps like Bhimbetka, whose paintings show the hunting of deer and bison. The oxbow lakes of the Ganga plain drew semi-settled groups at Sarai Nahar Rai, Mahadaha and Damdama.
Movement: people moved seasonally between hills and valleys following game and plants, a pattern V.N. Misra inferred partly from living hunter-gatherers.
Environment set the possibilities, but technology, social choice and exchange also mattered, as the early herding at Bagor shows. Geography explains much of prehistoric settlement, though not all of it.
Q2(b) · Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Harappan Art, Architecture, Decline, Survival and Significance
"Harappan architecture reflects an integrated vision of environmental adaptation, technological rationality and urban aesthetics, going beyond functionality." Examine the statement.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"हड़प्पीय स्थापत्य कला पर्यावरणीय अनुकूलन, तकनीकी तर्कसंगतता और शहरी सौंदर्यबोध के एक एकीकृत दृष्टिकोण को दर्शाती है, जो उपयोगिता से कहीं आगे है।" कथन का परीक्षण कीजिए।
Practise this question Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(b)
Approach: Examine the three claims in turn, environmental adaptation, technological rationality and urban aesthetics, with named structures, then test 'beyond functionality' against the plainness of Harappan building.
Harappan architecture is known for planned cities rather than palaces or temples. The statement reads it as an integrated design, and the evidence largely bears this out.
Environmental adaptation: Mohenjodaro was raised on massive mud-brick platforms against Indus floods. In arid Kutch, Dholavira built a chain of stone reservoirs and channels to store monsoon run-off. Burnt brick was used in the alluvial plains, but stone in Kutch and Saurashtra, matching local resources.
Technological rationality: bricks in a standard 1:2:4 ratio, streets on a roughly grid pattern, and covered drains show engineering logic. The Great Bath was made watertight with gypsum mortar and a layer of bitumen. Mohenjodaro's many wells and house bathrooms linked to street drains show civic planning.
Urban aesthetics: the symmetry of the Great Bath, the ordered citadel and lower town, Dholavira's threefold plan and the inscribed signboard near its northern gate suggest a sense of civic order and display.
Limits: house facades were plain, ornament on buildings was rare, and there were no monumental temples or palaces, so many scholars, following Possehl, see an ideology of restraint rather than visual grandeur. The aesthetic lay in order and proportion, not decoration.
The statement is therefore largely valid: Harappan architecture joined ecology, engineering and civic ideals, though its beauty was one of planning rather than ornament.
Q2(c) · Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Literary Sources and Foreign Accounts
"Greek writers viewed India largely from a political perspective, Chinese travellers from a religious perspective, and Arab scholars from a scientific and cultural perspective." Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"यूनानी लेखकों ने भारत को मुख्य रूप से राजनीतिक दृष्टिकोण से, चीनी यात्रियों ने धार्मिक दृष्टिकोण से, और अरब विद्वानों ने वैज्ञानिक तथा सांस्कृतिक दृष्टिकोण से देखा।" टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Practise this question Sources, Prehistory and the Indus Civilization notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(c)
Approach: Test the threefold generalisation against each group of writers: accept the dominant interest of each, then show the political, social and economic content that cuts across it, and conclude that the scheme is useful but too neat.
Foreign accounts supply external dates and an outsider's view of early India. The statement captures the dominant interest of three groups of writers, shaped by why they came: Greek envoys and soldiers, Chinese Buddhist pilgrims and Arab merchants and scholars.
Greek writers: Megasthenes, Seleucus's envoy at Chandragupta's court, described the royal palace, the six boards of five that ran Pataliputra, the army and the king's spies, which is political material.
Yet the Greeks were not only political. Megasthenes' seven classes, his remark that Indians did not know slavery, and his notes on philosophers and rivers are ethnography, while the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and Pliny are essentially commercial, listing ports such as Barygaza and Muziris and the drain of Roman money.
Chinese travellers: Faxian (c. 399-414 CE) and Xuanzang (c. 630-644 CE) came to collect texts and visit holy places, so monasteries, relics, Nalanda and the state of the sangha dominate. But Faxian records mild punishments and the segregation of Chandalas, and Xuanzang describes Harsha's assemblies, his revenue, his failure against Pulakeshin II and robbers on the roads, which is political and social history.
Arab scholars: Al-Biruni's Kitab al-Hind (c. 1030) studied Indian astronomy, mathematics, philosophy and caste with remarkable rigour, which justifies the scientific and cultural label. Earlier Arab merchants such as Sulaiman and al-Masudi, however, were interested in kings and trade, ranking the Rashtrakuta Balhara among the great rulers of the world, and the Chachnama narrates the conquest of Sindh.
The generalisation therefore identifies each group's primary lens accurately, but every account mixes political, religious, economic and cultural observation, so the historian must read them for more than their declared purpose.

Question 3 (50 marks)

Q3(a) · Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Iranian and Macedonian Invasions and Their Impact
"The Iranian and Macedonian invasions reshaped ancient India through administrative influence, political transformation and cultural interaction." Review.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"ईरानी और मेसीडोनियाई आक्रमणों ने प्रशासनिक प्रभाव, राजनीतिक परिवर्तन और सांस्कृतिक आदान-प्रदान के माध्यम से प्राचीन भारत को नया रूप दिया।" समीक्षा कीजिए।
Practise this question Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(a)
Approach: Review the statement under its three heads: administrative influence, political transformation and cultural interaction, separating the Achaemenid and Macedonian phases, and judge how deep the reshaping was.
North-west India faced two foreign intrusions: the Achaemenid Persian conquest of Gandhara and the Indus region from the late sixth century BCE, and Alexander of Macedon's campaign of 327–325 BCE.
Administrative influence: Darius I's inscriptions at Behistun and Naqsh-i-Rustam list Gandara and Hindush as provinces, and Herodotus says India paid the largest tribute of all. The satrapy and tribute system later influenced the Mauryan provincial pattern and the satraps of the Sakas. Ashoka's royal preamble recalls Achaemenid models, and some of his inscriptions at Taxila and Kandahar are in Aramaic.
Political transformation: Alexander defeated Porus at the Hydaspes (326 BCE) and broke the many small states and republics of the Punjab. This political vacuum helped Chandragupta Maurya unite the north-west soon after. The campaign also gave Indian history its first firm date, 326 BCE.
Cultural interaction: the Kharoshthi script developed from Aramaic. Persian influence is seen by some in the polish and bell capitals of Mauryan pillars. Greek writers recorded Indian society, and later Indo-Greek coins and Gandhara art grew from these contacts.
Limits: Persian rule was confined to the north-west, and Alexander stayed only about two years in India. No Indian source mentions him, and the deeper Hellenistic influence came later through the Seleucids and Indo-Greeks.
The invasions reshaped the north-west and opened contacts, but their direct impact on India as a whole was limited.
Q3(b) · The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Decline of the Mauryas: Sungas and Kanvas
Evaluate the political and socio-cultural changes occurred in North India after the decline of the Mauryan Empire under the Shunga and Kanva Dynasties.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
मौर्य साम्राज्य के पतन के पश्चात् शुंग एवं कण्व राजवंशों के शासनकाल में उत्तरी भारत में हुए राजनीतिक तथा सामाजिक-सांस्कृतिक परिवर्तनों का मूल्यांकन कीजिए।
Practise this question The Mauryas and the Post-Mauryan World notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(b)
Approach: Evaluate both kinds of change after c. 185 BCE: political (fragmentation, foreign pressure, regional powers) and socio-cultural (Brahmanical revival, Bhagavatism, Sanskrit, art), and weigh continuity against change.
In c. 185 BCE Pushyamitra Shunga, the Mauryan commander, killed the last Mauryan king Brihadratha. The Shungas ruled until c. 73 BCE and the Kanvas until c. 28 BCE, when, according to the Puranas, the Satavahanas ended their rule.
Political change: the empire shrank to the middle Ganga valley and central India, with centres at Pataliputra and Vidisha. Kalinga rose under Kharavela, whose Hathigumpha inscription claims raids on Magadha, and the Satavahanas rose in the Deccan. Yavana attacks reached Saketa and Madhyamika, as Patanjali notes, and Kalidasa's Malavikagnimitram records Vasumitra's victory over the Yavanas on the Sindhu.
Provincial governors became hereditary rulers, and the age of a single north Indian empire ended until the Guptas.
Brahmanical revival: the Ayodhya inscription of Dhanadeva says Pushyamitra performed two ashvamedhas, and Patanjali's Mahabhashya on Panini's grammar shows Sanskrit learning flourishing. The Manusmriti began to take shape in this broad period.
Bhagavatism: the Heliodorus pillar at Besnagar, set up by an envoy of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to the court of Bhagabhadra, honours Vasudeva.
Buddhism and art: despite the Divyavadana's claim that Pushyamitra persecuted Buddhists, the Bharhut stupa railing and the stone casing of the Sanchi stupa belong to this period.
The change was real in politics but more a shift of emphasis in culture, with Brahmanism and Buddhism both flourishing.
Q3(c) · Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Temples, Mathas, Agraharas, Education and Literature
"Royal patronage and religious institutions significantly contributed to the development of Nalanda, Vikramashila and Vallabhi into prominent centres of learning." Elucidate.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"राजकीय संरक्षण और धार्मिक संस्थाओं ने नालंदा, विक्रमशिला और वल्लभी को शिक्षा के प्रमुख केन्द्रों के रूप में विकसित करने में महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान दिया।" प्रकाश डालिए।
Practise this question Regional States and Early Indian Cultural History notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(c)
Approach: Elucidate with each centre in turn: founding and royal grants, the monastic organisation and curriculum that made it a centre of learning, and its decline when patronage failed.
Between the fifth and twelfth centuries Nalanda and Vikramashila in Bihar and Valabhi in Saurashtra became the great Buddhist mahaviharas of India. Royal grants gave them income, while monastic rules gave them discipline and a curriculum.
Nalanda: Xuanzang names a king Shakraditya, usually identified with Kumaragupta I (fifth century), as founder; later Gupta kings added viharas. Harsha endowed it richly, and Yijing says the revenue of more than two hundred villages supported it. Under the Palas, Devapala's Nalanda copper plate grants villages at the request of the Shailendra king Balaputradeva of Suvarnadvipa for a monastery he built. Under abbots such as Shilabhadra it taught Mahayana philosophy, logic (hetuvidya), grammar, medicine and the Vedas, with a strict entrance test.
Vikramashila: founded by the Pala king Dharmapala (late eighth century) at Antichak near Bhagalpur, it was run on royal lines and specialised in Vajrayana and Tantra. Its scholar Atisha Dipankara went to Tibet in the 1040s.
Valabhi: under the Maitraka kings it held many monasteries, such as the Duddha vihara founded by Dhruvasena I's niece. Yijing ranked it with Nalanda, and teachers such as Sthiramati taught there. It was a centre of the Sammitiya school.
The religious side: the sangha provided teachers, libraries and international students from China, Tibet and south-east Asia, and merchants and lay donors added gifts.
Their dependence on patronage showed in their fall: Valabhi declined with the Maitrakas in the eighth century, and Nalanda and Vikramashila were sacked around 1200. They show how royal grants and the monastic institution together built India's first universities.

Question 4 (50 marks)

Q4(a) · Early Medieval India, 750–1200 · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Literature, Science and Art, 750–1200 (Kalhana, Alberuni, Temple Styles)
"Hoysala temple architecture marks a distinctive and innovative phase in the evolution of South Indian art and architecture." Illustrate with examples.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"होयसल मंदिर स्थापत्य, दक्षिण भारतीय कला और स्थापत्य के विकास में एक विशिष्ट और अभिनव चरण को चिह्नित करता है।" सोदाहरण समझाइए।
Practise this question Early Medieval India, 750–1200 notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(a)
Approach: Illustrate the statement with examples: place the Hoysalas in the Vesara tradition, describe the distinctive features of plan, material, ornament and sculpture at Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura, and show what was innovative and what was inherited.
The Hoysalas of southern Karnataka (c. 11th–14th centuries), with capitals at Belur and Dorasamudra (Halebidu), built more than a hundred temples. They developed the Vesara idiom of the Kalyani Chalukyas into a distinctive style; Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura were inscribed together by UNESCO in 2023 as the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas.
Plan and elevation: temples stand on a raised platform (jagati) that doubles as a path for circumambulation. The shrine is often stellate (star-shaped), with many projecting angles that catch light and shade. Many temples have several shrines around a common hall: the Hoysaleshvara at Halebidu is a double temple (dvikuta), and the Keshava temple at Somanathapura (1268) a triple one (trikuta).
Material and technique: they used a fine-grained chloritic schist (soapstone), soft when quarried and hard on exposure, which allowed jewel-like detail; pillars were turned on a lathe, giving glossy, bell-shaped forms.
Ornament and sculpture: the outer walls carry continuous horizontal friezes of elephants, lions, horsemen, scrolls, scenes from the epics and Puranas, makaras and swans, as at Halebidu. The Chennakeshava temple at Belur (begun 1117 under Vishnuvardhana) is famous for its bracket figures of dancers and women (madanikas).
Artists: unusually, sculptors signed their work: Dasoja and Chavana at Belur and Mallitamma at Somanathapura are known from inscriptions, showing guild organisation and pride in craft.
Inheritance: the style grew out of the Chalukya temples at Lakkundi and Ittagi, and the Hoysala kings, feudatories turned sovereigns, used temple building to display their new status.
Hoysala architecture therefore marks an innovative phase in plan, material and sculptural density, though it remains a culmination of the Deccan Vesara tradition rather than a break from it.
Q4(b) · Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Vedic Literature, Religion and Philosophy
Analyze the significance of the Vedic Age in shaping the social institutions, religious thoughts and intellectual traditions of ancient India.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
प्राचीन भारत की सामाजिक संस्थाओं, धार्मिक विचारों और बौद्धिक परंपराओं को आकार देने में वैदिक युग के महत्त्व का विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Practise this question Megaliths, the Vedic Age and the Mahajanapadas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(b)
Approach: Analyse the legacy in three areas the question names: social institutions, religious thought and intellectual traditions. Close with a balanced note on its exclusions.
The Vedic Age (c. 1500–600 BCE) produced the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. Many institutions and ideas that define later Indian civilisation took shape in it.
Social institutions: the varna order, first named in the Purusha Sukta, became the frame of the later caste system. Gotra exogamy, the samskaras such as upanayana and marriage, the patriarchal household and the early idea of the ashramas began in this period. Kingship sanctified by ritual (rajasuya, ashvamedha) shaped later monarchy.
Religious thought: the Rig Vedic gods, the cosmic order rita and the fire sacrifice formed the base of Brahmanical ritual. The Upanishads gave the ideas of brahman, atman, karma, samsara and moksha. These became the common vocabulary of Vedanta, Buddhism and Jainism, even where they disagreed.
Intellectual traditions: the need to preserve the Veda orally gave rise to the six Vedangas: phonetics, ritual, grammar, etymology, metre and astronomy. These led to Yaska's Nirukta and Panini's grammar. The Shulbasutras recorded geometry for building altars. The Upanishads began a tradition of debate seen in the dialogues of Yajnavalkya and Gargi.
Limits: the same age excluded Shudras and gradually women from learning and ritual, and the critique by the Buddha and Mahavira grew partly out of these exclusions.
The Vedic Age therefore laid the social, religious and intellectual foundations of ancient India, both what it valued and what it would later be challenged for.
Q4(c) · The Deccan, the Sangam Age and the Guptas · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Kharavela and the Satavahanas
"The Satavahanas not only served as a vital link between Northern and Southern India in the Deccan region, but also strengthened the process of trade, urbanization and cultural integration." Review.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"सातवाहनों ने दक्कन क्षेत्र को न केवल उत्तर एवं दक्षिण भारत के मध्य संपर्क सूत्र बनाया, बल्कि व्यापार, नगरीकरण और सांस्कृतिक समन्वय की प्रक्रियाओं को भी सुदृढ़ किया।" समीक्षा कीजिए।
Practise this question The Deccan, the Sangam Age and the Guptas notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(c)
Approach: Review the three claims (a north-south link, trade and urbanisation, cultural integration) with evidence from inscriptions, coins and sites, then note the limits.
The Satavahanas (c. first century BCE to early third century CE), the Andhras of the Puranas, ruled the Deccan from Pratishthana (Paithan) and later the Krishna delta, across the routes joining the Gangetic north to the peninsula.
Link: roads ran from Ujjain through Pratishthana and Tagara (Ter) to the western ports and east to Andhra. Gautami Balashri's Nashik inscription praises Gautamiputra Satakarni as lord from the Vindhyas to the southern hills, whose horses drank the waters of three seas.
Trade and towns: the Periplus names Kalliena (Kalyan) and Sopara and the inland marts of Paithan and Tagara. Excavated towns such as Nevasa, Ter, Kondapur and Dhulikatta, Roman coins and lead and potin issues show a monetised urban economy, and Nashik and Junnar inscriptions record deposits with guilds.
Cultural integration: the kings claimed brahmana status and performed Vedic sacrifices (Naganika's Naneghat inscription), yet endowed the Buddhist caves of Karle and Nashik and the Amaravati stupa. Prakrit was their official language, the Gathasaptashati is attributed to Hala, and marriage ties brought the Shakas into the fold.
Limits: western ports often lay with the rival Kshatrapas, trade was driven largely by Roman demand, and Andhra's towns kept growing under the Ikshvakus.
Even so, the Satavahanas turned the Deccan from a frontier into a corridor of exchange whose mix of Brahmanical kingship, Buddhist patronage and trade shaped later Deccan states.

Question 5 (50 marks)

Q5(a) · Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Sultanate Architecture, Painting and Composite Culture
How far can the Qutub Complex at Mehrauli be considered as an ideal specimen for the study on the development of architecture under the Delhi Sultanate? Analyze.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
मेहरौली स्थित कुतुब संकुल को दिल्ली सल्तनत के अन्तर्गत स्थापत्य कला के विकास के अध्ययन हेतु एक आदर्श उदाहरण के रूप में किस सीमा तक माना जा सकता है? विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Practise this question Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(a)
Approach: A 'how far' question: show what the Qutb complex reveals about the evolution of Sultanate architecture, then what it leaves out, and give a measured verdict.
The Qutb complex at Mehrauli holds buildings from the 1190s to the 14th century and shows how Indo-Islamic architecture grew out of Indian craftsmanship and West Asian forms.
Early phase: The Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque (begun 1190s) reused temple pillars, and its screen of arches (1199) was built by Indian masons using corbelling, with Arabic calligraphy beside Indian floral motifs. The Qutb Minar, begun by Aibak and completed by Iltutmish, shows fluted storeys and bands of inscription.
Development: Iltutmish enlarged the mosque and built his tomb (c. 1235), where squinches carry the transition to a dome. Alauddin Khalji's Alai Darwaza (1311) has true arches and a true dome, red sandstone with white marble inlay, and horseshoe arches with a lotus-bud fringe.
What it lacks: The first true arch in Balban's tomb lies outside the complex, and the Tughluq style of sloping walls and plain rubble, and the octagonal and double-domed Lodi tombs, are absent.
The complex is thus an ideal specimen for the formative phase of Sultanate architecture, not for its full development.
Q5(b) · Early Medieval India, 750–1200 · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Chola Administration, Village Economy and Society
"The success of the Cholas as an imperial power rested not only on the administrative efficiency, but also on a well-organized army and a formidable navy." Evaluate.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"चोलों की साम्राज्यवादी शक्ति के रूप में सफलता केवल उनकी प्रशासनिक दक्षता पर ही नहीं, बल्कि उनकी सुदृढ़ थलसेना एवं शक्तिशाली नौसेना पर भी आधारित थी।" मूल्यांकन कीजिए।
Practise this question Early Medieval India, 750–1200 notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(b)
Approach: Evaluate the claim by showing how administration, the army and the navy each contributed to Chola imperial success, and add other factors (ideology, temples, trade) for a balanced verdict.
From Rajaraja I (985–1014) to Kulottunga I the Cholas built the largest empire of the peninsula, reaching Sri Lanka, the Ganga and South-East Asia.
Administration: mandalams, valanadus and nadus, a land survey under Rajaraja I, revenue officials and the supervision of local assemblies (ur, sabha, nagaram) gave a steady flow of resources.
Army: inscriptions name many regiments, including the Velaikkarar (sworn royal guards) and the Kaikkolar; these defeated the Pandyas, the Cheras and the Western Chalukyas, and carried Rajendra I to the Ganga (c. 1022).
Navy: sea power let Rajaraja I take northern Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and Rajendra I raid Srivijaya and Kadaram (Kedah) around 1025, as his Tanjavur inscription lists.
Other factors: royal ideology (meykkirti praise-texts, the great temples), alliance with brahmanas and Vellala landholders, plunder shared with temples and commerce through merchant guilds also mattered.
So the statement is largely valid: administration sustained the empire, while the army and navy expanded it, but ideology and resources bound the three together.
Q5(c) · Mughal Economy, Society and Culture · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Mughal Architecture and Painting
What European features were incorporated in the Mughal school of painting? Did it absolve the traditional Persian influences of the Mughal paintings? Evaluate.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
मुगल चित्रकला शैली में यूरोपीय चित्रकला की किन विशेषताओं को शामिल किया गया था? क्या इससे मुगल चित्रों पर से पारंपरिक फारसी प्रभाव समाप्त हो गया था? मूल्यांकन कीजिए।
Practise this question Mughal Economy, Society and Culture notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(c)
Approach: List the European features adopted (perspective, modelling, Christian motifs, naturalism, allegory) with examples, then evaluate whether Persian elements were displaced and conclude on synthesis.
European art reached the Mughal court through the Jesuit missions from 1580, which brought engravings, devotional pictures and the illustrated Plantin Polyglot Bible.
European features: painters adopted perspective and receding, hazy landscapes; modelling of faces and drapery with light and shade; and Christian motifs such as the Madonna, cherubs and the halo, which Jahangir's artists placed behind the emperor's head. Basawan in Akbar's studio and Abul Hasan under Jahangir were masters of these techniques, and Jahangir's allegorical portraits borrowed European symbols such as the globe.
Persian elements retained: the founders of the studio, Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd al-Samad, came from the Safavid tradition, and its legacy survived in fine line, jewel-like colour, decorative borders (hashiya), calligraphy and the album (muraqqa) format. Court scenes still used a high viewpoint and flat patterning.
European influence thus did not replace Persian traditions. Together with Indian elements, it produced a distinct Mughal synthesis.
Q5(d) · Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Bhakti and Sufi Movements under the Sultanate
"The Sufis created a climate in which people belonging to different sects and religions could live in peace and harmony." Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"सूफ़ियों ने एक ऐसा वातावरण पैदा किया जिसमें विभिन्न संप्रदायों और धर्मों से जुड़े लोग शांति और सद्भाव के साथ रह सकें।" चर्चा कीजिए।
Practise this question Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(d)
Approach: Discuss the statement by showing how Sufi practice and teaching encouraged harmony, then qualify it with the limits of that role, and give a balanced judgement.
The Sufi orders of the Sultanate, above all the Chishtis of Ajmer and Delhi, kept khanqahs open to all, and their malfuzat, such as Amir Hasan Sijzi's Fawaid-ul-Fuad, show concern for people of every faith.
Practices of harmony: The jamaat-khana and langar fed rich and poor, Muslim and Hindu alike; Nizamuddin Auliya taught that serving the needy was higher than ritual worship; and the doctrine of sulh-i-kul (peace with all) was attached to the Chishtis by later tradition.
Shared idiom: Sama with Hindavi songs, Amir Khusrau's verse, the use of local languages and the dargah as a place of pilgrimage for all communities created a common religious culture.
Limits: Sufis remained within Islam and some, such as the Suhrawardis close to the court, supported the state and the ulama. Their harmony was social and local rather than a doctrine of equal religions.
The statement is broadly valid: Sufis did not end conflict, but their tolerance, service and shared devotion created spaces where communities met in peace.
Q5(e) · The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Muhammad bin Tughluq: Projects, Agrarian Measures and Bureaucracy
"Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq's token currency scheme was an innovative economic experiment in medieval India, but its failure exposed the limitations of State control over the medieval economy." Evaluate.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"मुहम्मद-बिन-तुगलक की सांकेतिक मुद्रा योजना मध्यकालीन भारत में एक अभिनव आर्थिक प्रयोग थी, किंतु इसकी विफलता ने मध्यकालीन अर्थव्यवस्था में राज्य के नियन्त्रण की सीमाओं को उजागर कर दिया।" मूल्यांकन कीजिए।
Practise this question The Delhi Sultanate, 13th–14th Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(e)
Approach: Evaluate both halves: show what was innovative about the token currency and why it was introduced, then explain why it failed and what this reveals about the limits of state control in a medieval economy.
Around 1329–30 Muhammad bin Tughluq issued brass or copper coins to pass at the value of the silver tanka. Barani describes the experiment and its collapse within a few years.
Innovation: money was to rest on the state's command, not on the metal in the coin. H. Nelson Wright linked it to a silver shortage, and the Sultan may have known of paper money in Yuan China and in Ilkhanid Iran (1294).
Failure: the tokens were easy to imitate and the state had no monopoly of minting; Barani says the house of every Hindu became a mint (paraphrase). People paid taxes in tokens and hoarded silver, and the Sultan had to redeem the tokens in good coin, at heavy loss.
Limits exposed: a token currency needs public trust, control of coinage and enforcement across markets, none of which the Sultanate had; as with Alauddin's price controls, command worked only where coercion reached. Its failure showed the limits of state control over a medieval economy.

Question 6 (50 marks)

Q6(a) · Early Medieval India, 750–1200 · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Political Developments and the Origin of the Rajputs
Critically examine the theories on the origin of the Rajputs. How do the indigenous evidences contradict the European theorists?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
राजपूतों की उत्पत्ति से संबंधित सिद्धांतों का आलोचनात्मक परीक्षण कीजिए। देशज साक्ष्य यूरोपीय सिद्धांतकारों के मतों का खंडन किस प्रकार करते हैं?
Practise this question Early Medieval India, 750–1200 notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(a)
Approach: The question has two parts: first examine the main theories on Rajput origins (foreign, Agnikula, Kshatriya and brahmana descent, process view) with their authors, then show how inscriptions and texts contradict the European foreign-origin view, ending with a balanced synthesis.
The term Rajput (from rajaputra, son of a king) came into wide use for the warrior lineages of western and central India from about the 8th century, when the Pratiharas, Chahamanas, Paramaras, Chaulukyas, Guhilas and Chandellas rose to power.
Foreign-origin theories: James Tod (Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, 1829–32) linked the Rajputs to the Scythians. William Crooke and V.A. Smith held that Hunas, Gurjaras and other Central Asian groups were absorbed into Hindu society as Kshatriyas. They read the Agnikula legend, in which four clans were born from a sacrificial fire on Mount Abu, as a rite that purified foreigners.
Indigenous evidence against them: C.V. Vaidya and G.H. Ojha showed that the dynasties' own inscriptions claim descent from the solar and lunar lines; the Gwalior prashasti of Mihira Bhoja traces the Pratiharas to Lakshmana, door-keeper to Rama. No inscription calls a Rajput house Huna or Scythian. The fire legend appears first for the Paramaras alone in Padmagupta's Navasahasankacharita (about 1000 CE), and in its four-clan form only in the much later Prithviraj Raso, so it cannot record an ancient purification.
Brahmana origins: the Jodhpur inscription of Bauka (837) traces the Pratiharas to the brahmana Harichandra and his Kshatriya wife, and the Bijolia inscription (1170) calls an early Chahamana a vipra.
Process view: B.D. Chattopadhyaya ('Origin of the Rajputs', 1976) argued that descent is the wrong question: lineages of varied origin, some local or tribal, gained land, forts and marriage ties, and brahmanas wrote genealogies giving them Kshatriya rank.
European theories rested on racial assumptions, while indigenous genealogies were themselves claims to legitimacy; the Rajputs are best seen as a social formation of the early medieval agrarian order, open to people of diverse origin.
Q6(b) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
The Lodis, Babur and Humayun
Why did the abdication of power by Alauddin Alam Shah in favour of Bahlol Lodi not culminate in the establishment of the Lodi Dynasty? Elucidate.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
अलाउद्दीन आलम शाह द्वारा बहलोल लोदी के पक्ष में सत्ता का हस्तांतरण लोदी वंश की स्थापना में क्यों परिणत नहीं हुआ? स्पष्ट कीजिए।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(b)
Approach: Explain the transfer of 1448–51, then show why it gave Bahlul only Delhi and a title: the power of Hamid Khan, the Sharqi threat, Afghan tribal politics and the small territory, and how the dynasty was really established later.
The last Sayyid Sultan, Alauddin Alam Shah, withdrew from Delhi to Badaun in 1448 and in 1451 formally gave up the throne in favour of Bahlul Lodi, the Afghan governor of Sirhind, keeping Badaun until his death. Yet this peaceful transfer did not by itself create a secure Lodi dynasty.
A shrunken kingdom: Under the later Sayyids the Sultanate of Delhi controlled little more than the city and the nearby districts, while Jaunpur, Malwa, Gujarat and the Punjab chiefs were independent. Bahlul inherited a title, not an empire.
Rivals at court: Bahlul had entered Delhi with the help of the wazir Hamid Khan, who held real power; Bahlul had to remove him by a stratagem before he could rule.
The Sharqi threat: The Sharqi Sultans of Jaunpur claimed Delhi through marriage ties with the Sayyids. Mahmud Shah Sharqi besieged Delhi in 1452, and the struggle continued for nearly three decades until Bahlul defeated Husain Shah Sharqi and annexed Jaunpur (c. 1479).
Afghan politics: Bahlul ruled as first among equals among Afghan clan chiefs whom he invited from Roh and rewarded with land; the crown remained weak.
A firmly established Lodi dynasty therefore emerged only after the conquest of Jaunpur and under Sikandar Lodi (1489–1517), who asserted royal authority over the nobles.
Q6(c) · Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Persian and Regional Literature
Critically analyze Barani's Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi and identify the shortcomings in his account.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
बरनी की तारीख़-ए-फ़िरोज़शाही का आलोचनात्मक विश्लेषण कीजिए तथा उसके विवरण में मौजूद कमियों की पहचान कीजिए।
Practise this question Society, Culture and Economy under the Sultanate notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(c)
Approach: A critical analysis: introduce Barani and the work, acknowledge its value, then set out its shortcomings under clear heads, and end with how historians should use it.
Ziauddin Barani (c. 1285–after 1357), a nadim (companion) of Muhammad bin Tughluq, completed the Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi in 1357. It covers Delhi's history from Balban to the early years of Firuz Shah Tughluq and continues Minhaj's Tabaqat-i-Nasiri.
Value: Barani was the first Indo-Persian historian to explain events by causes. His account of Alauddin Khalji's revenue measures and market regulations, of the token currency and the Doab taxation of Muhammad bin Tughluq, and of the nobility is our main evidence for these subjects.
Didactic purpose: Barani saw history as moral instruction for rulers, so he shaped events to prove that piety is rewarded and impiety punished; Peter Hardy (Historians of Medieval India, 1960) showed how this purpose governs his narrative.
Class and religious bias: He was hostile to the low-born and to Hindus, praised high birth and orthodoxy, and judged rulers by these standards.
Weak chronology and memory: Written in old age, out of office and from memory, the work gives few dates, compresses or misorders events, and passes lightly over Alauddin's Deccan campaigns, which Amir Khusrau and Isami describe more fully.
Inconsistency and flattery: His picture of Muhammad bin Tughluq mixes praise and condemnation, and his treatment of Firuz, his patron, is flattering.
The work remains indispensable, but its facts must be checked against Khusrau, Isami, Ibn Battuta and coins, and its judgements read as Barani's political philosophy.

Question 7 (50 marks)

Q7(a) · The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries · 15 marks≈ 11 min
The Bahmanis and the Vijayanagara Empire
From the Portuguese merchant Domingo Paes' description of Krishnadevaraya's reign, assess the socio-economic and cultural uniqueness of the Vijayanagara Empire.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
पुर्तगाली व्यापारी डोमिंगो पेस द्वारा कृष्णदेवराय के शासनकाल के वर्णन के आधार पर, विजयनगर साम्राज्य की सामाजिक-आर्थिक और सांस्कृतिक विशिष्टता का आकलन कीजिए।
Practise this question The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(a)
Approach: Introduce Paes and his account, then draw out the social, economic and cultural features he describes, showing what made Vijayanagara distinctive, and end with a note on the limits of the source.
Domingo Paes, a Portuguese horse-trader, visited Vijayanagara c. 1520–22, at the height of Krishnadeva Raya's reign. His account, preserved with that of Nuniz and translated by Robert Sewell in A Forgotten Empire (1900), is among the most vivid descriptions of the empire.
The king: Paes describes Krishnadeva Raya as a fair, robust and cheerful ruler, feared and respected, who exercised and wrestled every morning and dispensed justice firmly.
Economy: He compares the city to Rome in size and beauty and describes markets overflowing with rice, wheat, pulses and other provisions, cheap and abundant, and bazaars of diamonds, rubies and pearls. Horses imported through the western ports were vital to the army.
Society: He notes the many women of the palace, the temple women who danced before the deity and enjoyed high status, and the splendour of the nobles. The prosperity he saw rested on a tank-irrigated countryside.
Culture: His account of the nine-day Mahanavami festival, with parades, dancers, wrestling and the review of troops, and of the great temples shows a court culture that joined royal ritual and display.
Limits: Paes saw mainly the capital and the court, wrote as an outsider with commercial interests and may exaggerate.
His account shows the unique blend of military power, commercial wealth and temple-centred culture that made Vijayanagara distinctive.
Q7(b) · Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century · 20 marks≈ 14 min
The Empire and the Zamindars; Nature of the Mughal State
Trace the formulation of the Mughal imperial authority from Akbar to Aurangzeb. Focus on the influence of Persian ideas of kingship in the construction of Mughal royalty.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
अकबर से औरंगज़ेब तक मुगल साम्राज्य की सत्ता के गठन को रेखांकित कीजिए। मुगल राजशाही के निर्माण में फारसी राजत्व-संबंधी विचारों के प्रभावों को स्पष्ट कीजिए।
Practise this question Akbar and the Mughal State in the 17th Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(b)
Approach: Trace how imperial authority was built and changed from Akbar to Aurangzeb, and at each stage show the Persian ideas (farr, akhlaq ethics, Illuminationism, court ceremony) that shaped Mughal kingship, along with Timurid and Indian elements.
The Mughals inherited Timurid and Chingizid claims to rule, but the theory of their kingship was written in Persian categories. Muzaffar Alam's The Languages of Political Islam shows how Persian ethical literature (akhlaq) shaped Mughal ideas of just rule.
Persian sources of ideas: the ancient Iranian notion of farr, the divine glory of kings celebrated in Firdausi's Shahnama, and Suhrawardi's philosophy of light (ishraq) supplied the idea of a ruler lit by God. Nasir al-Din Tusi's Akhlaq-i-Nasiri taught that the king, like a physician, must keep the classes of society in balance.
Akbar: Abul Fazl fused these ideas into the theory of farr-i-izadi, a light passed from God to the emperor, who was the perfect man (insan-i-kamil) and the guardian of sulh-i-kul. The mahzar of 1579 placed his judgement above the ulama. Persian-style ceremonies followed: the solar Ilahi calendar, the celebration of Nauroz, prostration before the throne, and disciples bound to the emperor. Indian rites such as jharokha darshan and weighing against gold were added.
Jahangir and Shah Jahan: Jahangir kept discipleship, styled himself Nur-ud-Din (light of the faith) and set up his chain of justice. Shah Jahan took the Timurid title of Sahib-i-Qiran-i-Sani, sat on the Peacock Throne and gave court ritual its most elaborate form, while presenting himself as a more Sunni ruler.
Aurangzeb: he grounded authority in the sharia, ended jharokha darshan, the weighing ceremony and court music, and had the Fatawa-i-Alamgiri compiled. Yet Persian remained the language of rule and akhlaq ideals of justice survived.
From Akbar to Aurangzeb imperial authority moved from a Persianate, light-centred kingship above religious law towards a sharia-centred one, but its Persianate framework of court, language and ethics stayed in place throughout.
Q7(c) · Mughal Economy, Society and Culture · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Towns and the European Trade Revolution
"From Asia to Europe, from head to foot, everyone was clothed in Indian textiles." Qualify this statement with a critical account of India's foreign trade with special reference to textiles.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"एशिया से लेकर यूरोप तक, सिर से लेकर पाँव तक, हर कोई भारतीय वस्त्रों को ही पहने हुए था।" वस्त्रों के विशेष संदर्भ में, भारत के विदेशी व्यापार का एक आलोचनात्मक विवरण प्रस्तुत करते हुए इस कथन की पुष्टि कीजिए।
Practise this question Mughal Economy, Society and Culture notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(c)
Approach: Accept the core of the statement with evidence of the reach of Indian textiles, then qualify it: limits in Europe and China, the wider composition of India's trade (other exports, bullion imports) and the organisation of the trade.
The statement, a common description of the 17th-century textile trade, stresses the world reach of Indian cloth. It is broadly true for the Indian Ocean world but exaggerated for Europe and East Asia.
The reach of Indian textiles: Gujarati coarse cloth went to the Red Sea, Persia and East Africa; Coromandel chintz and Bengal muslins and silks went to Southeast Asia, where they bought spices. From the 1660s the English and Dutch companies shipped millions of pieces to Europe, and the fashion for calico in England led to laws restricting its use (1700 and 1721).
Qualifications: in Europe most people still wore wool and linen, and Indian cloth was a fashionable import, not universal clothing. China produced its own silks and cottons and bought little Indian cloth.
The wider trade: India also exported indigo, saltpetre, pepper, sugar and opium, and imported horses, luxury goods and, above all, silver and gold, because Europe had few goods India wanted. Om Prakash shows how this bullion flow paid for Dutch purchases in Bengal.
Organisation: Asian merchants such as Gujarati, Armenian and Chulia traders carried most of the Asian trade until the early 18th century, and production depended on weavers financed by advances (dadni).
The statement captures the dominance of Indian textiles in the Indian Ocean economy, but it overstates their place in Europe and Asia as a whole.

Question 8 (50 marks)

Q8(a) · Mughal Economy, Society and Culture · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Mughal Architecture and Painting
Analyze the influence of Persian traditions on the development of architecture and painting under the Mughals. To what extent did these art forms reflect a synthesis of Indian and Persian cultural elements? Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
मुगलकाल में स्थापत्य कला और चित्रकला के विकास पर फारसी परम्पराओं के प्रभाव का विश्लेषण कीजिए। इन कलारूपों में भारतीय और फारसी सांस्कृतिक तत्त्वों के समन्वय की किस सीमा तक अभिव्यक्ति हुई? विवेचना कीजिए।
Practise this question Mughal Economy, Society and Culture notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(a)
Approach: Show the Persian (Timurid-Safavid) inheritance in Mughal architecture and painting, then the Indian elements combined with it in each, and judge how far the result was a synthesis.
The Mughals brought with them the Timurid and Safavid traditions of Central Asia and Iran, but in India these met strong local traditions of building and painting.
Persian traditions in architecture: Humayun's tomb at Delhi (completed c. 1571), designed by the Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyas, introduced the four-part garden (charbagh), the double dome, the great arched portal (iwan) and the nine-part hasht-bihisht plan. These culminated in the Taj Mahal.
Indian elements: the same buildings used red sandstone and white marble in Indian ways, with chhatris, brackets, eaves (chhajjas) and jali screens. Akbar's Fatehpur Sikri used post-and-beam construction and Gujarati and Rajput forms, as in the palace called Jodh Bai's, and Jahangir and Shah Jahan used the curved Bengali roof.
Painting: Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd al-Samad, trained in the Safavid tradition, led Akbar's studio, giving it fine line, bright colour and decorative design. But most painters, such as Daswanth and Basawan, were Indians who brought vigorous movement and Indian landscape, as in the Hamzanama, and themes from Indian epics.
The Persian legacy gave the framework, but in both arts Indian materials, forms and artists transformed it, so Mughal art was a true synthesis rather than an imported style.
Q8(b) · The Eighteenth Century · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Decline of the Mughal Empire: Causes and Debates
Would you consider eighteenth century in India an era of 'Dark Age', or a period of economic growth? Elucidate.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या आप भारत में अठारहवीं सदी को 'अंधकार युग' मानेंगे, या आर्थिक विकास का काल? स्पष्ट कीजिए।
Practise this question The Eighteenth Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(b)
Approach: Weigh the 'dark age' view against the revisionist case for regional economic growth with evidence for each, add culture briefly, and conclude that the century saw uneven regional growth amid political decentralisation.
Colonial writers and Jadunath Sarkar saw the eighteenth century as an age of anarchy between Aurangzeb's death (1707) and British order. Since the 1980s Muzaffar Alam, C.A. Bayly and others have argued that the decline of the Mughal centre was not the decline of the economy.
The case for a dark age: Nadir Shah sacked Delhi (1739) and Abdali plundered Delhi and Mathura (1757); Maratha bargi raids devastated western Bengal (1742–51); Delhi and Agra shrank, mourned in the shahr-ashob poetry of Mir and Sauda. Irfan Habib stressed the agrarian crisis and the oppression of revenue farming (ijara), and Ashin Das Gupta traced the decline of Surat.
The case for growth: Muzaffar Alam found agrarian and commercial expansion in Awadh and parts of Punjab. Bayly (Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars) showed new towns, merchant families and service gentry, and with Sanjay Subrahmanyam described portfolio capitalists who combined trade, revenue farming and office. Frank Perlin found growing monetisation in Maharashtra. Bengal's textile exports rose, the Jagat Seths and the hundi network financed states, and Lucknow, Hyderabad and Pune grew as capitals. Mysore and Travancore built standing armies and state trade, the military fiscalism described by Burton Stein.
Culture also flourished: Urdu poetry, the khayal, Pahari and Kishangarh painting, and Jai Singh's observatories.
Limits: growth was regional and uneven, technology hardly changed, and war and revenue farming pressed on peasants, as the Aligarh historians insist.
The century was neither a dark age nor a golden one: Delhi-centred sources record collapse at the centre, while regional records show reorganisation and growth, the balance captured in P.J. Marshall's The Eighteenth Century in Indian History: Evolution or Revolution? (2003).
Q8(c) · The Eighteenth Century · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Maratha Ascendancy under the Peshwas
Trace the trajectory of Maratha polity from Shivaji to Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao. What was the impact of the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) on the Maratha State? Analyze.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
शिवाजी से लेकर पेशवा बालाजी बाजीराव तक मराठा राजव्यवस्था के विकासक्रम को रेखांकित कीजिए। पानीपत के तीसरे युद्ध (1761) का मराठा राज्य पर क्या प्रभाव पड़ा? विश्लेषित कीजिए।
Practise this question The Eighteenth Century notes
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(c)
Approach: Trace the stages of Maratha polity from Shivaji's kingdom to the Peshwa-led confederacy with dates, then analyse the impact of Panipat on Maratha leadership, finances and structure, noting the recovery.
Shivaji: crowned at Raigad (1674), he built swarajya, a compact kingdom with the Ashtapradhan council, salaried officers and forts, and levied chauth and sardeshmukhi on neighbouring lands.
War of independence (1689–1707): after Sambhaji's execution, Rajaram (from Jinji) and Tarabai sustained a decentralised resistance in which chiefs fought for their own gain.
Shahu and the Peshwas: released in 1707, Shahu relied on Balaji Vishwanath, who secured the Mughal sanads of 1719 for swarajya and chauth of the six Deccan subas. Baji Rao I (1720–40) carried Maratha power into Malwa, Gujarat and Bundelkhand, and shared conquests among Scindia, Holkar and others, creating a confederacy. Under Balaji Baji Rao the Sangola arrangement (1750) made the Peshwa the real ruler at Pune; the 1752 treaty made the Marathas protectors of the emperor, and Raghunath Rao reached Attock (1758). The polity moved from a kingdom to a Mughal-framed, revenue-sharing empire.
Impact of Panipat (1761): the Peshwa's son Vishwas Rao and Sadashiv Rao Bhau died with many commanders, and the Peshwa died months later. Northern expansion stopped, finances suffered, and the Nizam and Haidar Ali gained. The defeat also strengthened the great chiefs at the Peshwa's expense.
Recovery: Madhav Rao I restored power, and Mahadji Scindia took Shah Alam II back to Delhi (1772). Panipat thus checked rather than destroyed the Marathas, but it hastened their transformation into a loose confederacy.

UPSC Mains 2026 History Paper II