DAY – 71 (InstaTest-71) : Insta 75 Days Revision Plan-2022: Topic – Ancient & Medieval India Full Syllabus (Third Revision), PREVIOUS YEAR UPSC PAPER 2019, April 2022 CA

Solution: B

In 9000 BC began an intermediate stage in Stone-Age culture, which is called the Mesolithic age. It intervened as a transitional phase between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic or New Stone ages. The Mesolithic people lived on hunting, fishing, and food gathering; at a later stage they also domesticated animals.

The first three occupations continued the Paleolithic practice, whereas the last developed in the Neolithic culture. Thus, the Mesolithic age marked a transitional phase in the mode of subsistence leading to animal husbandry. The characteristic tools of the Mesolithic age are microliths or tiny tools. Mesolithic sites abound in Rajasthan, southern UP, central and eastern India, and also south of the river Krishna. Of them, Bagor in Rajasthan is very well excavated. It had a distinctive microlithic industry, and its inhabitants subsisted on hunting and pastoralism. The site remained occupied for 5000 years from the fifth millennium BC onwards. Adamgarh in MP and Bagor in Rajasthan provide the earliest evidence for the domestication of animals in the Indian part of the subcontinent; this could be around 5000 BC. The cultivation of plants around7000–6000 BC is suggested in Rajasthan from a study of the deposits of Sambhar, the former Salt Lake.

Solution: D

The principal traits of Aryan culture are set out by Vedic, Iranian, and Greek literary texts and cognate terms found in the proto-Indo-European languages. The texts that help us to reconstruct the material and other aspects of Aryan culture comprise the Rig Veda, the Zend-Avesta, and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Specialists may differ on the criteria for dating these texts, but we may go by the generally accepted dates. The Rig Veda is assigned to roughly 1500 BC, although the later additions might be as late as 1000 BC. The earliest parts of the Zend-Avesta are roughly attributed to 1400 BC, and Homer’s works are assigned to900–800 BC.

Solution: C

Harappan seals usually have a line of writing, probably containing the name and title of the owner. Scholars have also suggested that the motif(generally an animal) conveyed a meaning to those who could not read.

Most inscriptions are short, the longest containing about 26 signs.

Although the script remains undeciphered to date, it was evidently not alphabetical (where each sign stands for a vowel or a consonant) as it has just too many signs –somewhere between 375 and 400. It is apparent that the script was written from right to left as some seals show a wider spacing on the right and cramping on the left, as if the engraver began working from the right and then ran out of space.

Solution: C

As the empire expanded to encompass different regions the Mughals recruited diverse bodies of people. From a small nucleus of Turkish nobles (Turanis) they expanded to include Iranians, Indian Muslims, Afghans, Rajputs, Marathas and other groups. Those who joined Mughal service were enrolled as mansabdars.

The term mansabdar refers to an individual who holds a mansab, meaning a position or rank. It was a grading system used by the Mughals to fix (1) rank, (2) salary and (3) military responsibilities. Rank and salary were determined by a numerical value called zat. The higher the zat, the more prestigious was the noble’s position in court and the larger his salary.

The mansabdar’s military responsibilities required him to maintain a specified number of sawar or cavalrymen. The mansabdar brought his cavalrymen for review, got them registered, their horses branded and then received money to pay them as salary.

Most mansabdars did not actually reside in or administer their jagirs.

Solution: B

Although inscriptions, coins and architecture provide a lot of information, especially valuable are “histories”, tarikh(singular)/tawarikh(plural), written in Persian, the language of administration under the Delhi Sultans.

The authors of tawarikh were learned men: secretaries, administrators, poets and courtiers, who both recounted events and advised rulers on governance, emphasising the importance of just rule.

Solution: A

The first to invade India were the Greeks, who are called the Indo-Greeks or Indo-Bactrians. In the beginning of the second century BC, the Indo-Greeks occupied a large part of north-western India, a much larger area than that conquered by Alexander. It is said that they pushed forward as far as Ayodhya and Pataliputra. However, the Greeks failed to establish united rule in India. Two Greek dynasties simultaneously ruled northwestern India on parallel lines. The most famous Indo-Greek ruler was Menander (165–45 BC), also known as Milinda. He had his capital at Sakala (modern Sialkot) in the Punjab; and invaded the Ganga–Yamuna doab. He had a great many cities in his dominions including Sakala and Mathura. He is known for the variety and wide spread of coins in his dominions. He was converted to Buddhism by Nagasena, who is also known as Nagarjuna. Menander asked Nagasena many questions relating to Buddhism. These questions and Nagasena’s answers were recorded in the form of a book known as Milinda Panho or the Questions of Milinda.

Solution: D

Like the other states the Jats consolidated their power during the late seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries. Under their leader, Churaman, they acquired control over territories situated to the west of the city of Delhi, and by the 1680s they had begun dominating the region between the two imperial cities of Delhi and Agra. For a while they became the virtual custodians of the city of Agra.

Between 1720 and 1761, the Maratha empire expanded. It gradually chipped away at the authority of the Mughal Empire. Malwa and Gujarat were seized
from the Mughals by the 1720s. By the 1730s, the Maratha king was recognised as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula. He possessed the right to levy chauth and sardeshmukhi in the entire region.

After raiding Delhi in 1737 the frontiers of Maratha domination expanded rapidly: into Rajasthan and the Punjab in the north; into Bengal and Orissa in the east; and into Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu countries in the south.

These were not formally included in the Maratha empire, but were made to pay tribute as a way of accepting Maratha sovereignty. Expansion brought enormous resources, but it came at a price. These military campaigns also made other rulers hostile towards the Marathas. As a result, they were not inclined to support the Marathas during the third battle of Panipat in 1761.

Alongside endless military campaigns, the Marathas developed an effective administrative system as well. Once conquest had been completed and Maratha rule was secure, revenue demands were gradually introduced taking local conditions into account.

Agriculture was encouraged and trade revived. This allowed Maratha chiefs (sardars) like Sindhia of Gwalior, Gaekwad of Baroda and Bhonsle of Nagpur the resources to raise powerful armies.

Solution: D

Caste system was widely prevalent during the Chola period. Brahmins and Kshatriyas enjoyed special privileges. The inscriptions of the later period of the Chola rule mention about two major divisions among the castes – Valangai and Idangai castes.

Education was also given importance. Besides the temples and mathasas educational centres, several educational institutions also flourished.

A number of temples were built with the patronage of Chola kings and queens. The temples remained centres of economic activity during this period.

The mathas had great influence during this period. Both agriculture and industry flourished. Reclamation of forest lands and the construction and maintenance of irrigation tanks led to agricultural prosperity.

Solution: D

Under Jahangir, painting acquired greater charm, refinement and dignity. He had great fascination for nature and took delight in the portraiture of birds, animals and flowers. Some important manuscripts illustrated during his period are, an animal fable book called Ayar-i-Danish, the leaves of which are in the Cowasji Jahangir collection, Bombay and the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, and the Anwar-i-sunavli, another fable book in the British Museum, London, both executed between 1603-10, some miniatures in the Gulistan and a Diwan of Hafiz both in the British Museum. Besides a number of durbar scenes, portraits, bird, animal and flower studies were also executed during his period. The famous painters of Jahangir are Aqa Riza, Abul Hasan, Mansur, Bishan Das, Manohar, Goverdhan, Balchand, Daulat, Mukhlis, Bhim and Inayat.

The portrait of Jahangir illustrated is a typical example of miniature executed during the period of Jahangir. This miniature is in the collection of the National Museum, New Delhi. It shows Jahangir holding a picture of the Virgin Mary in his right hand. The portrait is remarkable for its superb drawing and fine modelling and realism. There is liberal use of gold colour on the borders which are decorated with floral designs. Text in Persian appears along the border. The portrait is assigned to 1615-20 A.D. Following the example of the Mughal Emperor the courtiers and the provincial officers also patronised painting. They engaged artists trained in the Mughal technique of painting. But the artists available to them were of inferior merit, those who could not seek employment in the Imperial Atelier which required only first-rate artists. The works of such painters are styled as “Popular Mughal” or ‘Provincial Mughal’ painting. This style of painting has all important characteristics of the Imperial Mughal painting but is inferior in quality. Some notable examples of the Popular Mughal painting are a series of the Razm-nama dated 1616 A.D., a series of the Rasikapriya (1610-1615) and a series of the Ramayana of circa 1610 A.D., in several Indian and foreign museums.

Solution: D

Most Ashokan inscriptions were engraved in the Brahmi script, which was written from left to right, but some were also incised in the Kharoshthi script which was written from right to left. However, the Brahmi script prevailed virtually all over India except for the north-western part. Greek and Aramaic scripts were employed in writing Ashokan inscriptions in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but Brahmi continues to be the main script till the end of Gupta times.

These epigraphs were first deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, a civil servant in the employ of the East India Company in Bengal.

Solution: D

we have some of the earliest Tamil texts in the corpus of Sangam literature. This literature was produced over a period of three to four centuries by poets who assembled in colleges patronized by chiefs and kings. Such colleges were called Sangam, and the literature produced in these assemblies was known as Sangam literature. The compilation of the corpus is attributed to the first four Christian centuries, although they were really completed by the sixth century.

The Sangam literature comprises about 30,000 lines of poetry arranged in eight anthologies called Ettuttokai.

The poems are collected in groups of hundreds such as Purananuru (The Four Hundred of the Exterior).

There are two main goups Patinenkil Kannakku (The Eighteen Lower Collections) and Pattuppattu (The Ten Songs). The former is generally assumed to be older than the latter, and hence is considered to be of great historical importance.

The Sangam texts have several layers, but at present these cannot be established on the basis of style and content, but they can be detected on the basis of stages in social evolution.

The Sangam texts refer to many settlements, including Kaveripattanam whose flourishing existence has now been archaeologically corroborated. They also speak of the Yavanas coming in their own vessels, purchasing pepper with gold, and supplying wine and women slaves to the natives. This trade is known not only from Latin and Greek writings but also from the archaeological record.

Solution: A

Indians display a considerable historical sense in biographical writings, a

good example of which is the composition of the Harshacharita by Banabhatta in the seventh century. It is a semi-biographical work written in an ornate style which became the despair of later imitators. It describes the early career of Harshavardhana. Although highly exaggerated, it gives an excellent idea of court life under Harsha and the social and religious life in his age. Later, several other charitas or biographies were written.

Sandhyakara Nandi’s Ramacharita (twelfth century) narrates the story of the conflict between the Kaivarta peasants and the Pala prince Ramapala, resulting in the latter’s victory. Bilhana’s Vikramankadevacharita recounts the achievements of his patron, Vikramaditya VI (1076–1127), the Chalukya king of Kalyan. Even the biographies (charita) of some merchants of Gujarat were written in AD twelfth–thirteenth centuries.

Similar historical works may have been written in south India, but thus far only one such account has been discovered. This is called Mushika Vamsha and was written by Atula in the eleventh century. It is an account of the dynasty of the Mushikas which ruled in northern Kerala. However, the best example of the earliest historical writing is provided by the Rajatarangini or The Stream of Kings written by Kalhana in the twelfth century.

It is a string of biographies of the kings of Kashmir, and can be considered to be the first work to possess several characteristics of historical writing as it is understood today.

Solution: D

Causes for the Decline of Buddhism in India

The revival of Brahmanism and the rise of Bhagavatism led to the fall of popularity of Buddhism. The use of Pali, the language of the masses as the language of Buddhism was given up from the 1^st century A.D. The Buddhists began to adopt Sanskrit, the language of the elite. After the birth of Mahayana Buddhism, the practice of idol worship and making offerings led to the deterioration of moral standards. Moreover, the attack of the Huns in 5th and 6th centuries and the Turkish invaders in 12th century destroyed the monasteries. All these factors contributed to the decline of Buddhism in India.

What caused this? We find that at the outset every religion is inspired by the spirit of reform, but eventually it succumbs to the rituals and ceremonies it originally denounces. Buddhism underwent a similar metamorphosis. It became a victim to the evils of Brahmanism against which it had initially fought. To meet the Buddhist challenge, the brahmanas reformed their religion. They stressed the need to preserve the cattle wealth and assured women and shudras of admission to heaven. Buddhism, on the other hand, changed for the worse. Gradually the Buddhist monks were cut off from the mainstream of people’s lives; they gave up Pali, the language of the people, and took to Sanskrit, the language of intellectuals. From the first century onwards, they practised idol worship on a large scale and received numerous offerings from devotees. The rich offerings supplemented by generous royal grants to the Buddhist monasteries made the

life of monks easy. Some of the monasteries, such as Nalanda, collected revenue from as many as 200 villages. By the seventh century, the Buddhist monasteries had come to be dominated by ease-loving people and became centres of corrupt practices which had been prohibited by Gautama Buddha. The enormous wealth of the monasteries with increasing sexual activity led to further degeneration. Buddhists began looking upon women as objects of lust.

Solution: A

Amir Khusrau (1252-1325) was the famous Persian writer of this period. He wrote a number of poems. He experimented with several poetical forms and created a new style of Persian poetry called Sabaqi-Hind or the Indian style. He also wrote some Hindi verses. Amir Khusrau’s Khazain-ul-Futuh speaks about Alauddin’s conquests. His famous work Tughlaq Nama deals with the rise of Ghyiasuddin Tughlaq.

Sanskrit and Persian functioned as link languages in the Delhi Sultanate. Zia Nakshabi was the first to translate Sanskrit stories into Persian. The book Tutu Nama or Book of the Parrot became popular and translated into Turkish and later into many European languages. The famous Rajatarangini written by Kalhana belonged to the period of Zain-ul-Abidin, the ruler of Kashmir. Many Sanskrit works on medicine and music were translated into Persian.

In Arabic, Alberuni’s Kitab-ul-Hind is the most famous work. Regional languages also developed during this period. Chand Baradi was the famous Hindi poet of this period. Bengali literature had also developed and Nusrat Shah patronized the translation of Mahabaratha into Bengali. The Bakthi cult led to development of Gujarati and Marathi languages. The Vijayanagar Empire patronized Telugu and Kannada literature.

Solution: C

The Empire was divided into different administrative units called Mandalams, Nadus, sthalas and finally into gramas. The governor of Mandalam was called Mandaleswara or Nayak. Vijayanagar rulers gave full powers to the local authorities in the administration.

Besides land revenue, tributes and gifts from vassals and feudal chiefs, customs collected at the ports, taxes on various professions were other sources of income to the government. Land revenue was fixed generally one sixth of the produce. The expenditure of the government includes personal expenses of king and the charities given by him and military expenditure. In the matter of justice, harsh punishments such as mutilation and throwing to elephants were followed.

The Vijayanagar army was well-organized and efficient. It consisted of the cavalry, infantry, artillery and elephants. High-breed horses were procured from foreign traders. The top-grade officers of the army were known as Nayaks or Poligars. They were granted land in lieu of their services. These lands were called amaram. Soldiers were usually paid in cash.

Solution: D

Solution:

• Kolleru Lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in India located in state of Andhra Pradesh and forms the largest shallow freshwater lake in Asia (with 245 km² of lake area and 302 km² of total Ramsar designated wetland), it is located between Krishna and Godavari deltas.
• Thousands of fish tanks were dug up, effectively converting the lake into a mere drain. This has a great impact in terms of pollution, leading to difficulty in getting drinking water for the local people. This is in addition to the loss of ecological diversity and intrusion of sea water into the land masses and its fallout in terms of adverse influence on the rainfall pattern in this region. This imbalance has an adverse effect on the thousands of acres of crops in the upper reaches of the sanctuary, in view of the stoppage of water flow into the sea because of obstruction by the bunds of the fish tanks that have appeared illegally.

Solution:B

Solution:

• In an effort to give global recognition to Tripura’s hand-woven indigenous cloth Risha, most popularly used as a neck scarf, the state government is set to send a proposal to the central government seeking Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the product.

Earlier, Tripura’s Queen Pineapple was accorded the status

Solution:D

Solution:

• The first of the three AEW&C aircraft comes equipped with India’s first-ever airborne Active Electronic Scanned Array (AESA) radar, giving it the capability to detect missiles and hostile fighters at all angles.

India  made a major breakthrough in mounting an electronic eye in the sky, taking delivery here of the first Embraer 145 Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft, built with Indian technology.

Solution:  A

Solution:

• The heliosphere is a bubble around the sun created by the outward flow of the solar wind from the sun and the opposing inward flow of the interstellar wind.That heliosphere is the region influenced by the dynamic properties of the sun that are carried in the solar wind–such as magnetic fields, energetic particles and solar wind plasma.
• The heliopause marks the end of the heliosphere and the beginning of interstellar space.
• Voyager 1, which is traveling up away from the plane of the planets, entered interstellar space on Aug. 25, 2012. Voyager 2, which is headed away from the sun beneath the plane of the planets, reached interstellar space on Nov. 5, 2018.

Solution: D

Solution:

• The UNEP Frontiers reports draw attention to emerging issues of environmental concern. Novel environmental issues are constantly arising, and there is a need to produce scientific assessments for the attention of policymakers and practitioners for their timely and effective action. The issues presented in the report are considered ‘emerging’ based on new scientific information and knowledge, new methods of addressing existing issues, or mounting impacts of existing issues. The issues presented in the Frontiers reports may be local and relatively small-scale today, but they have the potential to become issues of regional and global concern that impact the environment and people’s livelihoods considerably.

Solution: B

Black carbon is a short -lived pollutant particulate matter 2.5 that is the second-largest contributor to warming the planet behind carbon dioxide (CO2). Black carbon decreases surface reflectance of sunlight Black raises  the air temperature

Solution: A

Solution:  The Government of India has launched a scheme for 100% solarisation of Konark Sun temple  and Konark town in Odisha.To take forward the Prime Minister’s vision to develop the historical Sun temple town of Konark in Odisha as ‘Surya Nagri’

Solution:D 

Solution: BLUE CARBON, Blue carbon consists of biomass – mangrove, salt Pan, seagrasses, algae, and seabeds.

Solution: C

Solution: Autogenic engineers  Autogenic engineers modify the environment by modifying themselves. o Trees are a good example, because as they grow, their trunks and branches create habitats for other living things; these may include squirrels, birds or insects among others.

Solution: D

A tensiometer in soil science is a measuring instrument used to determine the matric water potential in the soil. Tensiometers are used in irrigation scheduling to help farmers and other irrigation managers to determine when to water.

Answer : C

Solution : The word ‘hegemony’ means dominance, control or leadership. So, the sentence means that America would be in such a high and dominant   position that has never happened in the past

Answer : C

Solution:

Let the four places be 1, 2,3 and 4. Now, object i cannot occupy the place i… A.

Suppose, object 2 occupies the place 1.

Then, other placements can be done in six ways as follows:

1. 2 1     3     4
2. 2 1     4     3
3. 2 3     1     4
4. 2 3     4     1
5. 2 4     1     3
6. 2    4     3     1

Here, out of six ways, only three are permissible, because 1 , 3 and 6 are not permissible.

Hence, the required probability is ½.

Answer : D

Solution: Total runs scored = 36 x 5= 180

Let the runs scored by E be x. Then,

Runs scored by D = (x + 5)

Runs scored by A = (x + 8)

Runs scored by B = x + (x + 5) = (2x + 5)

Runs scored by C = (107 — B)

= 107 –(2x + 5) = 102 -2x

• Total runs = (x+ 8) + (2x + 5) +(102 – 2x ) + ( x + 5) + x

= 3x + 120

=                3x + 120 = 180

=                3x= 60

=                    x= 20

Hence the runs secured by E is 20

Answer: C

Solutions:- Let the old average and new average be x and y respectively.

Then,     Y=x+ 8

and    y = 9X + 100

10

From Eqs. (2) and

10(X + 8) = 9X + 100

10x+ 80=9x +  100=>  x = 100-80

x = 20

Y=20+ 8=28

Hence, the new average is 28.

Answer: B

Solutions:- Course of action 2 is correct, because measure to be taken. As by creation of employment opportunities in the village can stop migration.