Unlock Elite Access: Level Up Your Preparation with Exclusive Content

History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Comment on the veracity of Alberuni’s account of Indian society.

  • UPSC 2016
  • Cultural Traditions in India, 750-1200

Unlock the full answer · ₹1,499 ↓

Veracity here is not a verdict on whether an eleventh-century Central Asian scholar was a competent historian in general; it is the narrower question of how accurately his description of Indian social life — caste, gender norms, customs, and collective temperament — matches what other evidence shows about eleventh-century India. Assessed this way, his empirical…

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • Grounds for treating the account as reliable
  • Caste as reported: accuracy and oversimplification
  • Gender, sati, and social customs
  • Insularity, bias, and the limits of his informants
  • Cross-verification against contemporaneous evidence
History Optional PYQ Master Pack

History Optional PYQ Master Pack

Unlock this answer and 1,350+ more

  • 1,350+ solved UPSC History Optional PYQs from 1985 to 2025, Paper-1 and Paper-2
  • Topic-wise across Ancient, Medieval, Modern, Post-Independence and World History
  • Model answers with a clear structure and historian citations
  • Map section solutions included, at no extra cost
  • Read online on lotusarise.com, plus PDF download

₹1,499₹2,50040% off

Get History Optional PYQ Master Pack @ ₹1,499 →

One-time payment · No subscription · Instant access · UPI, cards, RuPay

See every Cultural Traditions in India, 750-1200 question (53 solved) →Already enrolled? Log in