Paper: IAS Mains Previous Year Paper History (1991)

Paper -I- History-1991 (Mains)

Section A

1. Write brief essays of not more than 200 word each on any three of the following:
(a) External trade of the Harappans
(b) Contents of Asoka’s dhamma and reasons for Asoka’s keenness to propagate dhamma
(c) Origins, chronology, characteristics and geographical spread of Gandhara art
(d) Origins and meaning of the samanta system

2. In what ways does religion as reflected in the Vedic texts differ from the religion of the Gupta period?

3. In what ways would the period of the Pallavas of the Kanchi and that of the Chalukyas of Badami mark the beginning of a new historical phase in peninsular India?

4. Discuss the scientific and technological developments in ancient India.

Section B

5. Mark any fifteen of the following places on the map supplied to you. Also give brief descriptive notes on the places marked on the map:
(i) Amber
(ii) Anhilwara
(iii) Asirgarh
(iv) Bayana
(v) Bijapur
(vi) Burhanpur
(vii) Cambay
(viii) Champaner
(ix) Chanderi
(x) Daulatabad
(xi) Fathehpur Sikri
(xii) Gaur
(xiii) Gulbarga
(xiv) Halebid
(xv) Hampi
(xvi) Jalor
(xvii) Kabul
(xviii) kalinjar
(xix) Kanauj
(xx) Lahore
(xxi) Multan
(xxii) Murshidabad
(xxiii) Orchha
(xxiv) Quilon
(xxv) Sambhal
(xxvi) Sirhind
(xxvii) Sonargaon
(xxviii)Surat
(xxix) Tanjore
(xxx) Tarain

6. Critically assess the period of the Cholas in the history of South India.

7. What, in your opinion, was the significance of the extensive military expeditions undertaken during the time of Alauddin Khalji? Do you think his reign is considered significant in terms of such expeditions alone?

8. What were the major features of the administrative system of the Mughal State? To what extent did other Indian powers model their administration on this system in the late medieval period?

Paper - II- History-1991 (Mains)

Section A
1. Comment any three of the following statements in about 200 words each:
(a) ‘This Anglo-Maratha War covering nearly nine years from the murder of Narayan Rao to the Treaty of Salbye emphatically discloses the vitality of the Maratha nation which had not been exhausted either by the disaster of Panipat or the death of their great Peshwa Madhavrao.’
(b) ‘The role of the East India Company proved disastrous to the handicraft industry in India for a number of reasons.’
(c) ‘The tragedy of Cruzan lay in that, with such abundance of trained talent; he was denied the crowning qualities. He was never an administrator of the first rank:’
(d) ‘The relations of the Native States, however conducted are essentially relations with the British Crown and not with the Indian Government.’

2. Identify the distinct stages of colonialism in India. How did these stages affect the Indian economy?

3. Discuss ‘the safety valve’ theory. Does it satisfactorily explain the foundation of the Indian National Congress?

4. Analyses the main contours of Non-Brahmin Movements in Western and South India in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries.

Section B

5. Comment on any three of the following statements in about 200 words each:
(a) ‘His (Martin Luther’s) rebellion ws essentially popular and national.’
(b) ‘French political writers of the eighteenth century were influenced by Locke and also by the curious contrast. which they perceived between the government of his country and their own.’
(c) ‘The Heavenly Land system was significant in that it greatly expanded the idea of equalizing rich and poor and landowning which the peasant wars had put forward in the past.’
(d) ‘Comparison of the fascist regime in Italy with the National Socialist regime of Germany is almost inevitable. The similarities are obvious, but there is one point of difference which is worth mentioning.’

6. Discuss the view that Louis XIV of France was a great king-’the grand monarch.’

7. Examine the issues involved in the American Civil War. Was it a contest between two separate nations?

8. Show how the Spanish Civil War a prelude to World War II.