Day-492 | Daily MCQs | UPSC Prelims | HISTORY

Answer: A
Explanation:
● Towards the beginning of the twentieth century a new hybrid architectural style developed which combined the Indian with the European. This was called Indo-Saracenic. “Indo” was shorthand for Hindu and “Saracen” was a term Europeans used to designate Muslim. The inspiration for this style was medieval buildings in India with their domes, chhatris, jalis, arches. By integrating Indian and European styles in public architecture the British wanted to prove that they were legitimate rulers of India.
● The Gateway of India, built in the traditional Gujarati style to welcome King George V and Queen Mary to India in 1911, is the most famous example of this style. Hence, option A is correct.
● Victoria Terminus and University of Bombay are examples of the neo-Gothic style. Characterised by high-pitched roofs, pointed arches and detailed decoration. The Gothic style had its roots in buildings, especially churches, built in northern Europe during the medieval period. The neo-Gothic or new Gothic style was revived in the mid-nineteenth century in England. This was the time when the government in Bombay was building its infrastructure and this style was adapted for Bombay.
Fort William is an example of Victorian Architecture. Its features are:
● Steeply pitched roof
● Painted brick, either colorful or plain
● Feature ornate gables
● Painted iron railings
● Rooftop finials resemble a church
● Canted bay windows and sliding sash
● Round or octagonal turrets or towers, which have the effect of drawing one’s eye upward
● Usually consisted of two or three stories
● Wraparound porches
● Asymmetrical elements in the design
● Small gardens

Answer: D
Explanation:
● One of the first sites to be excavated, Mohenjodaro is located to the west of the river Indus. The site consists of two mounds — a western citadel mound and eastern lower town. Both the mounds are built on an artificial platform and were fortified. The buildings on the citadel mound of Mohenjodaro are among the things we associate most closely with the Harappan civilization. In the north are the Great Bath, the so-called ‘granary’, and ‘college of priests’. Hence, option A is incorrect.
● Lothal is located between the Sabarmati river and its tributary, the Bhogavo, in Saurashtra in Gujarat. It was a modest-sized settlement (280 × 225 m), roughly rectangular in plan, surrounded by a wall which was initially made of mud and later of mud-and burnt bricks, with the entrance on the south. The most distinctive feature of Lothal is the dockyard, which lies on the eastern edge of the site. This is a roughly trapezoidal basin, enclosed by walls of burnt bricks. Hence, option B is incorrect.
● Dholavira is located on Kadir island in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. The architecture of Dholavira shows a large-scale use of sandstone, combined in places with mud-brick—a feature of the Harappan sites of Gujarat. The layout of this settlement is unlike that of any other Harappan site. It is surrounded by an outer fortification wall made of mud-brick with a veneer of stone blocks on the outer face, with imposing bastions and two major gateways in the middle of the northern and southern walls. Hence, option C is incorrect.
● Kalibangan (literally, ‘black bangles’) gets its name from the thick clusters of black bangles lying all over the surface of its mounds. This site lies on the banks of the dry bed of the Ghaggar river, in the Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan. Hence, option D is correct.

Answer: D
Explanation:
● Madras developed by incorporating innumerable surrounding villages and by creating opportunities and spaces for a variety of communities. Several different communities came and settled in Madras, performing a range of economic functions. The dubashes were Indians who could speak two languages – the local language and English. They worked as agents and merchants, acting as intermediaries between Indian society and the British. They used their privileged position in government to acquire wealth.
● Pet and Puram are both Tamil words meaning settlement and village respectively.
● According to Ibn Battuta’s account ‘Rihla’, in India the postal system is of two kinds. The horse- post, called uluq, is run by royal horses stationed at a distance of every four miles. The foot-post has three stations per mile; it is called dawa, that is one-third of a mile.

Answer: B
Explanation:
● The Jaina conception of time consists of an endless sequence of half-cycles called utsarpinis and avasarpinis (respectively progressive and regressive in terms of degrees of happiness), lasting vast spans of time, and further divided into six stages known as kalas. There are supposed to be 24 tirthankaras in each half-cycle of time. In our current half-cycle, which is an avasarpini, i.e., a period of regressive happiness, the first tirthankara was Rishabhadeva.
Additional Information:
● The earlier Jaina literature is found in Prakrit. Mahāvi-ra himself used the same in his sermons. Sanskrit was introduced at a later stage for philosophical discourse. The first book of Jaina philosophy, i.e., Tattvārthādhigamasūtra was written by Umāsvāmi- or Umāsvāti around the second century A.D. The book deals with almost all philosophical doctrines of Jainism.
The distinct features of Jaina philosophy are:
● Independent existence of consciousness and matter;
● No existence of supreme divine authority for creation, preservation or destruction of the universe;
● karma, the basic principle of one’s creation and destruction;
● Relativity and multiple facets of truth;
● Morality and ethics for liberation.

Answer: C
Explanation:
The Iqtadars of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mansabdars of the Mughal Empire were similar and dissimilar in many aspects. One of the crucial differences was in terms of administration of the assigned territories.
● Mansabdars received their salaries as revenue assignments called jagirs which were somewhat like iqtas. But unlike muqtis, most mansabdars did not actually reside in or administer their jagirs. They only had rights to the revenue of their assignments which was collected for them by their servants while the mansabdars themselves served in some other part of the country. So, while Mansabdar can have different areas of administration and revenue collection, it was similar for the Iqtadar. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
● The Charter Act of 1853 ultimately took away the power of the court of Directors to make nominations and made a provision for open competition examinations to be held in London. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
Additional Information:
● The Delhi Sultans appointed various military commanders as governors of territories of varying sizes. These lands were called iqta and their holder was called iqtadar or muqti. The duty of the muqtis was to lead military campaigns and maintain law and order in their iqtas. In exchange for their military services, the muqtis collected the revenues of their assignments as salary.
● 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 mansabdar’s military responsibilities required him to maintain a specified number of sawar or cavalrymen.
● The idea of ‘competition’ for recruitment (as against nomination practised earlier) was introduced for the first time by the Charter Act of 1833. But it was to be a very limited competition and could be termed as nomination-cum competition for recruitment. The Court of Directors was to first nominate four times the number of civil servants required. These nominated candidates had to go through a competitive examination, through which one fourth could ultimately be selected to join the coveted Civil Services.
● But gradually the demand for open Public competition started gaining ground. The Charter Act of 1853 ultimately took away the power of the court of Directors to make nominations and made a provision for open completion. For regulations regarding age, qualification and subjects for the competitive examination a committee was appointed headed by Macauly which was to submit its recommendation to the Board of control.
● Subsequently the college at Hailybury was abolished in 1858 and the competitive examinations became the sole responsibility of the Civil Service Commission. This competitive examination was to be held annually in England and it was therefore virtually impossible for an Indian to compete in it. In the late 19th century there began a demand that the competition examination should be held in Indian.