History Optional Question Paper – 2017: Paper-1
SECTION – A
Q1. Identify the following places marked on the map supplies 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. (2.5×20=50 Marks)
- (i) A Prehistoric cave-paintings’ site
- (ii) A Neolithic-Chalcolithic site
- (iii) An Early Harappan site
- (iv) A Harappan site
- (v) An ancient capital city
- (vi) A Painted grey ware site
- (vii) A Neolithic site
- (viii) A site of Ashokan inscriptions
- (ix) An ancient port and trade centre
- (x) A Harappan site
- (xi) A Chalcolithic site
- (xii) An ancient capital city
- (xiii) A Rock-cut cave site
- (xiv) A early fortified city
- (xv) A Rock-cut temple site
- (xvi) An ancient temple site
- (xvii) An ancient capital city
- (xviii) An ancient temple site
- (xix) A Palaeolithic site
(xx) An ancient capital city
Q2 (a) Art and culture are reflected to a far greater extent than political history in the epigraphic sources. Comment. (15 Marks)
(b) The second urbanization gave rise to the organized corporate activities that reached their zenith during the Gupta period. Discuss. (20 Marks)
(c) The emergence of Non-Harappan Chalcolithic cultures in Central India and the Deccan mark a change not only in the subsistence pattern of people but an overall transition from pre to proto historic period. Critically analyze. (15 Marks)
Q3 (a) Critically examine various views regarding the Vedic-Harappan relationship in light of the latest discoveries. (15 Marks)
(b) “The concept of Ashoka’s Dhamma as found through his inscriptions had its roots in Vedic-Upanishadic literature.” Discuss. (15 Marks)
(c) The period of Indian History form 3rd century B.C.E. to 5th century C.E. was the period of innovation and interaction. How will you react ? (20 Marks)
Q4 (a) Trace the origin and development of temple architecture in India with reference to regional styles and variations. (20 Marks)
(b) Buddhism and Jainism were social movements under the umbrella of religion. Comment. (15 Marks)
(c) The accurate picture of the complex socio-cultural milieu of Peninsular India is presented in the early Sangam literature. Delineate. (15 Marks)
SECTION – B
Q5. Answer the following question in about 150 words each: (10×5=50 Marks)
(a) The 11th – 12th centuries C.E. saw eventful progression in the cultural history of India. Discuss.
(b) Evaluate the accounts of foreign travellers about the Vijayanagar Empire.
(c) Critically examine the ‘blood and iron’ policy of Balban.
(d) Do you consider the Rajatarangini of Kalhana to be a reliable source of the political history of Kashmir ? Why?
(e) The religion of the Sikhs was the main force of their unity. Comment.
Q6 (a) To what extent was the Caliphate the source and sanction to the legal authority of the Sultans of Delhi ? (15 Marks)
(b) “Bhakti and Sufi movements served the same social purpose.” Discuss. (15 Marks)
(c) Delineate non-agricultural production and urban economy in the 13th and 14th centuries C.E. (20 Marks)
Q7 (a) Do you agree that the schemes of Muhammad bin Tughluq were correctly conceived badly executed and disastrously abandoned ? Discuss. (15 Marks)
(b) Do you think that Akbar’s Rajput policy was a conscious attempt to incorporate the Indian ruling elite with the Mughal Imperial System ? (15 Marks)
(c) “The political disintegration was responsible for the socio-economic decline in India during the 18th century.” Comment. (20 Marks)
Q8 (a) “Mughal paintings reflect social harmony in contemporary society.” Discuss. (15 Marks)
(b) Assess the condition of peasants during the 13th to 17th centuries C.E. (15 Marks)
(c) How will you view the Maratha policy of expansion ? Delineate. (20 Marks)
History Optional Question Paper – 2017: Paper-2
Section-A
Q1. Critically examine the following statements in about 150 words each: (10×5=50 Marks)
(a) “The Maratha polity disintegrated through internal stress.”
(b) “The chief value of Raja’s (Raja Rammohan Roy) labours seems to lie in his fight against the forces of medievalism in India.”
(c) “The British railway construction policy in India benefitted British economy in the nineteenth century.”
(d) The Arya Samaj may quite logically be pronounced as the outcome of condition imported into India from the West.”
(e) “Sri Narayana Guru’s was a major intervention in the social reform movement from a subaltern perspective.”
Q2 (a) Explain the factors responsible for the recurrence of famines in the nineteenth century. What remedial measures were adopted by the British Indian Government ? (20 Marks)
(b) Assess the role of the press in arousing awareness on important social issues in the second half of the nineteenth century. (20 Marks)
(c) Underline the major considerations of the British imperial power that led to the annexation of Punjab. (10 Marks)
Q3 (a) Trace the origin of the Ghadar movement and discuss its impact on the revolutionaries in India. (20 Marks)
(b) Explain why the efforts at finding a solution to India’s constitutional impasse failed during 1942-1946. (20 Marks)
(c) Discuss the nature of peasant movements under the Kisan Sabhas during 1920-1940. (10 Marks)
Q4. (a) Discuss how the Satyagrahas of Gandhi removed the spell of fear among Indians and thus knocked off an important pillar of imperialism. (20 Marks)
(b) How far the developments in science and technology in post-Independence period put India on the path of modernity? (20 Marks)
(c) Throw light on the nature of ‘Instrument of Accession’ and ‘Standstill Agreement’ signed by the Princely State with the Indian Union. (10 Marks)
SECTION – B
Q5. Critically examine the following statements in about 150 words each : (10×5=50 Marks)
(a) “Kant’s redefinition of reason and his rehabilitation of conscience marked a high point in the intellectual reaction against dominant rationalism of the Enlightenment.”
(b) “The spirit behind the great reforms of Napoleon’s Consulate at home was the transference of the methods of Bonaparte the general task of Bonaparte the statesman.”
(c) “The roots of the Chartist movement in Great Britain were partly political and partly economic.”
(d) “18 January, 1871 had been a day of triumph for the strength and pride of Germany and 28 June, 1919 was the day of chastisement.”
(e) “The collapse of the Berlin Wall on 9 November, 1989 brought new meaning to the idea of cooperation in Europe.”
Q6 (a) Explain why England became the harbinger of Industrial Revolution. Also throw light on its social consequences. (20 Marks)
(b) Why was the First World War termed as the first ‘total’ war in modern history ? (20 Marks)
(c) Discuss how agrarian crisis accompanied by severe industrial depression triggered the Revolutions of 1848. (10 Marks)
Q7 (a) What determinant factors, along with diplomatic, shaped the process of German Unification ? (20 Marks)
(b) Examine the statement that “the danger of ‘Bolshevism’ dominated not only the history of the years immediately following the Russian Revolution of 1917 but the entire history of the world since that date.” (20 Marks)
(c) Examine why Bolivar’s failed to fructify in bringing about united stand of the Latin Americans. (10 Marks)
Q8 (a) Examine the circumstances which led to the overthrow of democracy and the establishment of Fascist dictatorship in Italy. (20 Marks)
(b) “By the 1980s, the Communist System of Soviet Union was incapable of maintaining the country’s role as a Superpower.” Substantiate. (20 Marks)
(c) Examine the nature of Dutch imperialism in Indonesia. (10 Marks)