Indian History Previous Year Questions (PYQ) with Answers – Page 9

The correct answer is C, Ramanuja. Ramanuja, born at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in the eleventh century, taught Vishishtadvaita, or qualified non-dualism. He held that the soul, even when it becomes one with the supreme God Vishnu, keeps its own separate existence, and that the surest way to salvation is intense devotion, bhakti, to Vishnu. Deeply influenced by the Alvar saints, he opened temple worship and devotion to people of every caste, and his ideas later inspired Ramananda and the Bhakti saints of the north. B is wrong because Shankara, of eighth century Kerala, taught Advaita, pure non-dualism, in which Brahman alone is real and the world is maya. A and D are wrong because Allama Prabhu and Basavanna belonged to the Virashaiva or Lingayat movement of Karnataka, which worshipped Shiva in the form of the linga and rejected caste and ritual rather than framing this school. Exam tip: Shankara for Advaita, Ramanuja for Vishishtadvaita and Madhvacharya for Dvaita.

The correct answer is C, Minhaj-i-Siraj. Minhaj-i-Siraj was the chronicler of the Delhi Sultanate who wrote the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri. He recorded that Raziyya, the daughter of Iltutmish, was more able and qualified than all her brothers, yet he added that he was uneasy about a woman ruling, because it went against the order in which God had placed men above women. Raziyya became Sultan in 1236 and was removed in 1240, and the nobles of the court never accepted her. A is wrong because Al-Biruni came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni in the eleventh century and wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind, long before Raziyya. B is wrong because Badayuni was a historian of Akbar's time who wrote the Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh. D is wrong because Ziyauddin Barani, author of the Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, wrote later and was sharply critical of any departure from high birth and of Raziyya's rule. Exam tip: Minhaj-i-Siraj, Tabaqat-i-Nasiri; Barani, Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi.

The correct answer is D, Chirand. Chirand stands on the bank of the Ganga in the Saran district of Bihar and belongs to the Neolithic and Chalcolithic ages, not to the Harappan civilisation. It is known for its bone and antler tools, which are among the richest such finds in eastern India. A is wrong because Rakhigarhi, in the Hisar district of Haryana, is a Harappan city and the largest Harappan site found in India. B is wrong because Sotkakoh is a Harappan coastal settlement on the Makran coast, a port of call on the sea route westwards. C is wrong because Ganweriwala lies in the Cholistan desert on the dry bed of the Ghaggar-Hakra and is counted among the large Harappan sites, though it has been little excavated. Remember that Harappan sites cluster along the Indus and the Ghaggar-Hakra and on the Gujarat and Makran coasts. Exam tip: Chirand is Neolithic Bihar; Rakhigarhi, Sotkakoh and Ganweriwala are Harappan.

The correct answer is A, only those who left their homes could gain true knowledge. Both the Buddha and Mahavira taught that a person had to leave home and family and live as a monk or nun before true knowledge could be gained. That is why both faiths built up sanghas, organised groups of monks and nuns who begged for food, owned almost nothing and spent their time in study and meditation. Mahavira left home at thirty and the Buddha left Kapilvastu as a young prince, and both of them taught in Prakrit, the language of ordinary people. B is wrong because it was Jainism that drew its support mainly from traders, while Buddhism spread among kings, farmers and craftspersons as well. C is wrong because going without clothes was a rule for Jaina monks, not for Buddhist ones. D is wrong because the middle path was the Buddha's teaching, whereas Jainism asked for very hard penance. Exam tip: sangha and renunciation are common to both; the middle path is only Buddhist.

The correct answer is D, blanket. The Arthashastra, a book on statecraft attributed to Kautilya or Chanakya, the minister of Chandragupta Maurya, lists what each part of the empire supplied to the state. It names the north-west as the source of blankets, along with horses, and this is the line NCERT's history chapter on the Mauryas quotes. The north-west also mattered because the road from Taxila carried trade towards Central Asia and West Asia, and Taxila was one of the four provincial capitals of the empire. B is wrong because the same text places gold and precious stones in south India, the region Ashoka's family valued for its mines. A is wrong because cotton is linked with the black soil tracts of the Deccan and Gujarat, not with the north-west. C is wrong because copper and silver came from mines in Rajasthan and elsewhere, and the text does not tie them to this region. Exam tip: Arthashastra, north-west for blankets and horses, south India for gold and precious stones.

The correct answer is D, Dargah. A dargah is the tomb of a Sufi saint, built over his grave and visited by people of every faith who tie threads, offer flowers and pray for their wishes. The gathering held on the anniversary of the saint's death is called urs, when qawwali is sung at the shrine. The dargah of Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti at Ajmer and that of Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi are the best known in India, and Mughal emperors from Akbar onwards walked to Ajmer as pilgrims. A is wrong because an idgah is the open walled ground outside a town where the community gathers for the Id prayer. B is wrong because a khanqah was the hospice in which a living Sufi master stayed with his disciples, taught them and fed travellers. C is wrong because ibadatgah simply means a place of worship in general. Exam tip: khanqah is where the saint lived, dargah is where he lies, and urs is the yearly gathering there.