Class XII – History Sample Paper – 2

Ans. a) Bahadur Shah

Ans. a) Augustus Cleveland

Ans. b) Meditation of the Buddha

Ans. c) An inscription, Sanchi

Ans. d) Polaj

Ans. d) All of these

Ans. a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.

Ans. c) Amir Khusrau

Ans. c) 1856

Ans. d) i, iv, iii and ii

Ans. d) Ananda

Ans. a) Jawahar Lal Nehru

Ans. a) 1 – (ii), 2 – (iv), 3 – (iii), 4 – (i)

Ans. d) Venuses

Ans. c) Gokhale

Ans. c) Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Ans. c) Ain-i-Akbari

Ans. c) Bahrain

Ans. d) Lord Cornwallis

Ans. c) Royal Centre

Ans. a) Maurya

Ans. The Mahabharata was composed over a period of about 1000 years between 500 BCE and 400 CE. The original story of the Mahabharata was composed of charioteer bards popularly called Sutas. They generally accompanied the kshatriya warriors to the battle-field and composed poems celebrating their victories and other achievements.these compositions circulated orally. Then, from the 5th century BCE, the tradition of writing down the oral traditions started.

The various stages were:

i. Brahmanas began to unite its story from the 500 BCE.

ii. During this period, the chiefdoms of the Kurus and Panchalas were becoming kingdoms step by step.

iii. Between 200 BCE and 200 CE, the worship of Vishnu was becoming important.

iv. Krishna was one of the important figures of the Mahabharata and was coming to be identified with Vishnu between 200 C and 400 CE.

v. Between 200 and 400 CE, several didactic sections resembling the Manusmriti were added. This epic had about one lakh verses and this enormous composition is attributed to a sage named Vyasa.

Ans. While analysing a book or a literary source, the historians should keep different aspects in their mind such as follows:

i. They should examine in which language the book has been written. They should see if the book has been written in Pali, Prakrit or Tamil which were usually spoken by the people. They should also see if the book has been written in Sanskrit which was used by a particular section of the society.

ii. The historians also paid attention to the kind of text. They tried to analyse if the text contained mantras or the stories which could be read or heard by the people.

iii. The historians also wanted to know the authors whose views and perceptions gave a concrete shape to the text.

iv. The historians also examine the audience because every author keeps in mind the audience.

v. They also analyse the possible period of the creation of the book. Thus, every historian completely analyses the issues involved in the text. By examining the subject matter, he can recreate history. This task becomes all the more intricate and complicated in texts like Mahabharata.

Ans. The Mughal Empire was considered one of the largest territorial empires in Asia which consolidated power and resources during the 16th and 17th centuries. The political stability achieved by China, Iran and Turkey helped to created vibrant networks of overland trade from China to the Mediterranean Sea. Voyages of discovery and the opening up of the New World resulted in a large expansion of Asia’s, particularly India’s trade with Europe. An expanding trade brought in huge amounts of silver bullion to India which was good for India as it did not have natural resources of silver. In this period, there was remarkable stability in the availability of silver currency (Rupya) in India. It facilitated a large scale expansion of minting coins and circulation of money which helped Mughal state to extract taxes and revenue in cash.

Ans. With their base in the hills, the Paharias regularly raided the plains where settled agriculturists lived:

The raids were necessary for survival.

The zamindars in the plains paid them regular tribute and the traders paid a toll tax in order to use the passes controlled by them. Once the toll was paid, the Paharia chiefs protected the traders and ensured that their goods were not plundered by anyone.

Thus raids were a way of asserting power over settled communities; and they were a means of negotiating political relations with outsiders.

Ans. The Revolt of 1857 was particularly widespread in Awadh due to several reasons:

The British annexed Awadh, wrongly assuming the Nawab was unpopular, but his departure caused widespread grief.

The annexation led to the dissolution of the court and its culture, affecting musicians, dancers, poets, and artisans.

Taluqdars, who had enjoyed autonomy and maintained armed retainers, were dispossessed, disarmed, and their forts destroyed.

The British land revenue policy further undermined their position, with many losing a significant number of villages.

Peasants’ grievances, including low wages, ill-treatment, and the issue of greased cartridges, were carried into the sepoy lines, as many sepoys were recruited from Awadh.

The problems faced by sepoys’ families were quickly transmitted to the sepoy lines. Thus, a chain of grievances linked peasants, sepoys, and common people, making the revolt in Awadh a significant expression of popular resistance.

Ans. The Mahanavami Dibba was a symbol of Vijayanagara’s power and glory. It hosted the grand Mahanavami festival, showcasing the empire’s wealth, military prowess, and cultural splendor. The elaborate rituals and processions attracted people from far and wide, boosting the region’s economy. The Dibba thus served as a unifying and inspiring center for the people of Vijayanagara.

Ans. Harappa seals and sealings were used to facilitate long-distance communication as follows:

a. Imagine a bag of goods being sent from one place to another, its mouth was tied with a rope and on the knot was affixed some wet clay on which one or more seals were pressed, leaving an impression. If the bag reached, with its sealing intact, it meant that it had not tampered.

b. The sealing also conveyed the identity of the sender. Seals were used to make a sealing, or positive imprint, like this modern resin one made from the original seal.

Sealings were used in ancient times for trade. They would be made on ceramics or the clay tags used to seal the rope around bundles of goods.

Ans. R.E.M Wheeler was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1944. The following are his contributions in the field of archaeology:

He was the first person who recognised that it was necessary to follow the stratigraphy of the mound rather than dig mechanically along the uniform horizontal line.

It rectified the previous problems faced by the archaeologists.

Moreover, as an ex-army brigadier, he brought with him a military precision to the practice of archaeology.

Ans. Many travellers have written about the condition of slaves and women in their travel accounts. These are discussed below:

Slaves were openly sold in markets, like any other commodity, and were regularly exchanged as gifts. Ibn Battuta himself purchased horses, camels and slaves when he reached Sind, to gift to Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq. He gifted a slave along with horse, raisins and almonds to Multan’s Governor.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq was so happy with the sermon of a preacher named Nasiruddin that he gave him a hundred thousand tankas and two hundred slaves. He also kept his slaves to spy on his nobles. He also appointed female scavengèrs to whom slave girls communicate all the information they possess.

According to Ibn Battuta, there was considerable differentiation among slaves. Some female slaves in the service of the Sultan were experts in music and dance. They were generally used for domestic labour, and Ibn Battuta found their services very important for carrying women and men on palanquins or dola.

Price of female slaves required for domestic labour was very low, and most families who could afford to do so kept at least one or two of them.

Bernier described about the practice of sati and said that while some women embraced death cheerfully, others were forced to die.

In reality, there was much more that happened in women’s lives. For instance, their labour was crucial in both agricultural and non-agricultural production. Women from merchant families participated in commercial activities, sometimes even taking mercantile disputes to the court of law.

Ans. Al-Biruni wrote the voluminous text ‘Kitab-ul-Hind’ in which he elaborately discussed the social life of India. According to him, the conception of the pollution intrinsic to the caste system in India was contrary to the law of nature. Al-Biruni tried to explain the caste system by looking for parallels in other societies. He noted that in ancient Persia, four social categories were recognised. These were kings and princes; monks, fire-priests and lawyers; physicians, astronomers and other scientists and peasants and artisans. He further explained the following points to support the fact that social pollution intrinsic to the caste system was not unique in India.

i. Social Divisions not Unique to India In other words, he attempted to suggest that social divisions were not unique to India. The caste system existed in other parts of the world also. At the same time, he pointed out that within Islam all men were considered equal, differing only in their observance of piety (deep respect for God).

ii. Rejection of the Notion of Pollution In spite of his acceptance of the Brahmanical description of the caste system, Al-Biruni disapproved of the notion of pollution. He remarked that everything which falls into a state of impurity strives and succeeds in regaining its original condition of purity, e.g. the sun cleanses the air, and the salt in the sea prevents the water from becoming polluted. By explaining the phenomenon of this continuous change in nature.Al- Biruni tried to explain that in every society, everyone was continuously striving to gain the perfection and searching for the survival and the division of the caste system created a vast gap between rich and poor, upper and lower.

iii. The cycle of Purification Important for Life on Earth Al-Biruni believed that if there were no phenomenon of removing impurity, then life on Earth would have been impossible. Hence, the conception of social pollution intrinsic to the caste system, was according to him, contrary to the laws of nature.

Al-Biruni’s description of the caste system was deeply influenced by his study of normative Sanskrit texts, thus he described the caste system from the point of view of Brahmanas. But in real life, the caste system was not so rigid. The categories defined as Antyaja (means born outside the system) were often expected to provide inexpensive labour to both peasants and Zamindars. In other words, while they were often subjected to social oppression. They were included within economic networks.

Ans. Features of Mauryan Administration:

i. Capital and provisional centres: There were five major political centres in the empire i.e. the capital Pataliputra and the provincial centres of Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosali, and Suvarnagiri, that are all mentioned in Asokan inscriptions.

ii. Due to the Vastness of the empire’s administrative system of this empire was not uniform. It is likely that administrative control was strongest in areas around the capital and the provincial centres. These centers were carefully chosen, both Taxila and Ujjayini being situated on important long-distance trade routes, while Suvarnagiri (literally, the golden mountain) was possibly important for tapping the gold mines of Karnataka.

iii. Structure of the military: Megasthenes mentions a committee with six subcommittees for coordinating military activity. Of these, one looked after the navy, the second managed to transport and provisions, the third was responsible for foot-soldiers, the fourth for horses, the fifth for chariots and the sixth for elephants. The activities of the second subcommittee were rather varied-arranging for bullock carts to carry equipment, and recruiting servants and artisans to look after the soldiers.

iv. Dhamma: Ashoka was the first ruler who inscribed his messages to his subjects and officials on stone surfaces- natural rocks as well as polished pillars. He tried to hold his empire together by propagating Dhamma, the principles of which were simple and virtually universally applicable. This, according to him, would ensure the well-being of people in this world and the next. Special officers, known as the Dhamma Mahamatta, were appointed to spread the message of Dhamma.

Ans. Asoka was the first ruler who inscribed his messages on stone surfaces i.e. natural rocks and polished pillars. The major rock edicts explain the Mauryans’ administration, especially about Asoka.

Some of the important inscriptions are discussed:

i. The Ashokan inscriptions give us a lot of information about the Mauryas. Mauryan kings engraved their orders and doctrines on rocks and stones.

ii. The inscriptions were written in Pali and Sanskrit so that common person can easily understand. In northwestern parts of the subcontinent, the inscription was in the Kharoshti script. Thus, the local languages of the people were valued.

iii. Ashoka proclaimed the principle of dhamma according to which included respect towards elders, generosity towards Brahmanas and those who renounced worldly life, treating slaves and servants kindly, and respect for religions and traditions other than one’s own.

Limitations of inscriptional evidence are:

i. Technical Limitations: Sometimes letters are very faintly engraved and thus doubts arise for inscriptions may be damaged or letters missing.

ii. Damaged or Missing letters: Sometimes important letters are damaged or missing in the inscription. It makes the work for epigraphists more difficult.

iii. Lack of Clarity: It is not always easy to be sure about the exact meaning of the words used in the inscriptions, some of which may be specific to a particular place or time. So, scholars are constantly debating on alternative ways to read inscriptions.

iv. Undeciphered Inscriptions: Thousands of inscriptions have been discovered, but not all have been deciphered, published and translated. Many inscriptions were destroyed and what we have today, probably a fraction of it.

v. Non-relevance of Inscriptions: Inscriptions were composed in praise of kings and patrons in general. Not everything that is economically or politically important was recorded in the inscriptions, e.g. routine agricultural practice, the joys, and sorrow of common man were not mentioned in the inscriptions. Thus, it is difficult for the epigraphists to give the complete picture of society by relying on inscriptions only.

Ans. Historians use different kinds of sources in reconstructing the career of Mahatma Gandhi and of the social movements that he associated with. The different kinds of sources from which we can reconstruct the political career of Gandhiji and the history of the nationalist movement are:

Public voice and private scripts: Important sources of the writings and speeches of Mahatma Gandhi and his contemporaries, including both his associates and his political adversaries. Speeches, for instance, allow us to hear the public voice of an individual, while private letters give us a glimpse of his or her private thoughts. Mahatma Gandhi regularly published in his journal, ‘Harijan’, letters that others wrote to him. Nehru edited a collection of letters written to him during the national movement and published ‘A Bunch of Old Letters’.

Framing a picture: Autobiographics similarly give us an account of the past that is often rich in human detail. But these are retrospective accounts written very often from memory. They tell us what the author could recollect and thought as important to write and be viewed by others.

Through police eyes: Another vital source is government records. The letters and reports written by policemen and other officials were secret at the time, but now can be accessed in archives. For instance, the fortnightly reports that were prepared by the Home epartment from the early twentieth century. These reports were based on police information from the localities, but often expressed what the higher officials saw, or wanted to believe. The march was seen as a an antic, a desperate effort to mobilise people who were unwilling to rise against the British and pleased with the British Raj.

From newspapers: One more important source is contemporary newspapers, published in English as well as in the different Indian languages, which tracked Mahatma Gandhi’s movements and reported on his activities, and also represented what the people thought of hin. However, newspaper accounts can too be prejudiced politically. The accounts that were published in a London newspaper would be different from the report in an Indian nationalist paper.

Ans. Historians utilize various sources to reconstruct Mahatma Gandhi’s political career and the broader context of social and nationalist movements in India.

i. Primary Sources: Gandhi’s own writings, such as Hind Swaraj and The Story of My Experiments with Truth, provide insight into his philosophy of non-violence and civil disobedience.

ii. Government Records: Official correspondence and reports from the British colonial administration reveal how Gandhi’s actions were perceived, particularly during the Non-Cooperation Movement and the Salt March.

iii. Newspapers: Publications like Young India and The Hindustan Times capture public sentiment and the political climate, offering commentary on Gandhi’s campaigns.

iv. Oral Histories: Interviews with freedom fighters and contemporaries provide personal anecdotes about Gandhi’s influence, highlighting grassroots perspectives on his leadership.

Ans. It was pleasing to the ear, and attachment to music.

Ans. Through self-possession, the science of (Vedic) astronomy was mastered.

Ans. Development of different skills.

Development of different occupations.

The intermixture of tradition/culture

Promoting a sense of tolerance and harmony

Development of the social values.

Mastery of Vedic astronomy contributed to the advancement of science and timekeeping, essential for agricultural and religious practices.

Ans. The local ruler sent to Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya the deed of ownership to two gardens and much land along with the provisions and tools for their maintenance. The ruler sent it to Shaikh to make it clear that he was relinquishing all his rights to both the gardens and land.

Ans. Ulugh Khan when visited the shaikh. He offered some money and ownership deeds for four villages when he visited Shaikh.

Ans. Nizamuddin Auliya refused to accept the offer as those things had no place in spiritualism. The Masters did not engage in those earthly activities. Spirituality has no relation to worldly pleasures and things. It is totally a devotional way to connect with gods. Thus, he refused all the gifts of Ulugh Khan.

Ans. a. By equal right to property and access to education to hold jobs to empower them economically.

b. Equal opportunities for jobs and equal pay.

Ans. a. Equality and cooperation between genders.

b. Women being treated at par with men.

Ans. a. Hansa Mehta did not demand reserved seats and separate electorates for women because she realised not only would it be divisive in nature but create resentment.

b. She did not went privileges for women but to empower them by their own efforts.

c. The saying goes not to give them fish but should teach them to catch the fish so that they could become self-sufficient and not dependent.

Ans.

Ans. A – Jhansi

B – Kanpur