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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

How far can the village assemblies or communities under the Cholas be really called democratic?

  • UPSC 2009
  • Early Medieval India, 750-1200

The word "really" in this question is doing the analytical work: it asks not for a verdict but for a measurement — how much of the substance of democracy, tested criterion by criterion against a modern definition, actually survives contact with the Uttaramerur evidence. Democracy in its modern sense rests on a cluster of specific…

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

  • Criterion One: Universal Suffrage vs. Property-and-Learning Qualification
  • Criterion Two: Secret Ballot vs. the Kudavolai Lottery
  • Criterion Three: Representation of the Whole Community vs. Elite Capture
  • Criterion Four: Accountability and Recall vs. Freedom From Central Interference
  • Weighing the Criteria: A Graded Judgment

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