APPSC Group-1 2017 History and Culture Previous Year Questions

Ans: (4) Seals and sealings (as per APPSC official final key)

The people of the Harappan (Indus Valley) Civilization (c. 2600–1900 BCE) traded over long distances with Mesopotamia, Oman and Afghanistan. Their main means of long-distance communication was seals and sealings. Seals, mostly made of steatite, carried an animal motif and a short line of the still-undeciphered Harappan script. A sealing is the clay impression of a seal pressed on a bundle of goods. It showed who had sent the goods and that they had not been tampered with on the way.

Palm-leaf writing and messenger pigeons belong to much later periods.

Note:

• The unicorn motif is the most common on Harappan seals.
• Harappan seals have been found at Ur and other Mesopotamian sites; Mesopotamian texts call the Indus region ‘Meluhha’.
• The Harappan script was written from right to left.

Ans: (2) Prakrit in Brahmi script (as per APPSC official final key)

The earliest deciphered inscriptions of India are the edicts of Ashoka (3rd century BCE). Most of them are in the Prakrit language and the Brahmi script. James Prinsep deciphered Brahmi in 1837.

• In the north-west (Shahbazgarhi, Mansehra) the Prakrit edicts use Kharosthi, which is written right to left.
• In Afghanistan (Kandahar) some edicts are in Greek and Aramaic.

Sanskrit inscriptions come later; the Junagadh inscription of Rudradaman (150 CE) is the first long one.

Note:

• Ashoka calls himself ‘Devanampiya Piyadasi’; the name ‘Ashoka’ appears in the Maski and Gujarra edicts.
• Most Indian scripts, including Telugu, developed from Brahmi.

Ans: (1) A-IV, B-III, C-I, D-II (as per APPSC official final key)

These travellers came to India in different periods:

• Al-Biruni (11th century) was born in Khwarizm, in present-day Uzbekistan. He came with Mahmud of Ghazni and wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind in Arabic.
• Ibn Battuta (14th century) came from Tangier in Morocco. He served Muhammad bin Tughlaq as qazi of Delhi and wrote the Rihla.
• Mahmud Wali Balkhi (17th century) came from Balkh in Afghanistan.
• Seydi Ali Reis (16th century) was an admiral from Turkey (Ottoman Empire) who visited Humayun’s court.

So A-IV, B-III, C-I, D-II.

Note:

• Abdur Razzaq (Persia) visited Vijayanagara in the 15th century; Domingo Paes (Portugal) under Krishnadeva Raya.
• François Bernier (France) wrote ‘Travels in the Mogul Empire’; Antonio Monserrate came to Akbar’s court.

Ans: (1) Foot – post system (as per APPSC official final key)

Ibn Battuta describes two kinds of postal system in the Delhi Sultanate:

• Uluq – the horse post, using royal horses stationed every four miles.
• Dawa – the foot post, with three stations in every mile. Runners carried messages from station to station.

According to Ibn Battuta, the foot post was so fast that the sultan received fruits from Khurasan through it, and even prisoners were sometimes carried by it.

Note:

• Ibn Battuta reached Delhi in 1333 during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
• He said the news of his arrival reached the sultan through this postal system within five days.

Ans: (2) Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti (as per APPSC official final key)

Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (d. 1236) founded the Chishti silsila in India. His dargah is at Ajmer. He is called Gharib Nawaz, meaning “benefactor of the poor”. Akbar walked to his tomb many times, and his urs is still celebrated by people of all faiths.

• Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki – his disciple, at Delhi; the Qutub Minar is named after him.
• Nizamuddin Auliya – at Delhi; called Mehboob-e-Ilahi (“beloved of God”).
• Nasiruddin – called Chirag-i-Delhi (“lamp of Delhi”).

Note:

• Chishti line: Moinuddin → Bakhtiyar Kaki → Baba Farid → Nizamuddin Auliya → Nasiruddin Chirag-i-Delhi.
• Amir Khusrau was a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya.
• Suhrawardi silsila: founded in India by Bahauddin Zakariya at Multan.

Ans: (3) Large agricultural tracts were incorporated within the fortified area (as per APPSC official final key)

Vijayanagara (founded 1336 by Harihara and Bukka) was protected by several rings of fortification. Abdur Razzaq, the Persian ambassador (1440s), saw seven lines of forts. He noted that these walls enclosed not only the city but also agricultural tracts, gardens and fields.

The reason was that medieval sieges were meant to starve the defenders into surrender, and could last for months or years. By keeping farmland inside the fortified area, the rulers ensured that the people inside could still grow their own food.

Note:

• Hampi, the ruins of Vijayanagara, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1986).
• Vijayanagara had four dynasties: Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva and Aravidu.
• The empire was defeated at Talikota (Rakshasi–Tangadi) in 1565.

Ans: Question deleted by APPSC (official final key; no option is treated as correct)

APPSC deleted this question in the final key. The correct order by period of rebellion is:

• Kanhu Murmu – led the Santhal Hul of 1855–56 with his brothers Sidhu, Chand and Bhairav.
• Vasudev Balwant Phadke – armed revolt in Maharashtra, 1879; called the father of armed struggle.
• Khudiram Bose – Muzaffarpur bomb case, 1908; hanged at the age of 18.
• Alluri Sitarama Raju – Rampa rebellion in the Godavari agency, 1922–24.

This order (IV, I, II, III) is not among the given options, which is probably why the question was deleted.

Note:

• Alluri Sitarama Raju was killed in 1924 at Koyyuru (Alluri Sitharama Raju district).
• Hul Diwas is observed on 30 June.

Ans: (1) Santhals (as per APPSC official final key)

The Paharias lived around the Rajmahal hills (Jharkhand). They lived by shifting cultivation and forest produce, and raided the plains. The British failed to control them, so in the early 19th century they invited the Santhals to settle in the area and clear the forests for settled plough agriculture. The land given to the Santhals was demarcated in 1832 as the Damin-i-Koh.

Exploitation by moneylenders, zamindars and the state later led to the Santhal rebellion of 1855–56. After it, the Santhal Parganas district was created.

Note:

• Francis Buchanan travelled through the Rajmahal hills and described the Paharias.
• Rajmahal Traps are basaltic lava formations of Jurassic age.

Ans: (4) The government was depriving Indians of even nature made salt by wanton destruction of salt (as per APPSC official final key)

In 1930 Gandhiji chose salt as the symbol of the Civil Disobedience Movement. Salt was used by every Indian, rich or poor, so the salt tax was one of the most hated taxes. In his letter to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, and in his speeches, Gandhiji pointed out that the government, which held a monopoly on salt, even destroyed naturally formed salt so that people would have to buy taxed salt.

The Dandi March went from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi (about 385 km, 12 March – 6 April 1930). It ended with Gandhiji breaking the salt law.

Note:

• Gandhiji’s 11 demands were sent to Irwin before the march.
• Other salt satyagrahas: C. Rajagopalachari (Vedaranyam, TN), K. Kelappan (Kerala), Sarojini Naidu (Dharasana).

Ans: (2) A bunch of old letters (as per APPSC official final key)

A Bunch of Old Letters (1958) is a collection of letters written to and by Jawaharlal Nehru. They include letters from Gandhiji, Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel and others, which give a picture of the freedom struggle.

Nehru’s other major books are Glimpses of World History (letters to Indira, 1934), An Autobiography (1936) and The Discovery of India (1946, written in Ahmednagar Fort).

Note:

• ‘Letters from a Father to His Daughter’ (1929) were Nehru’s letters to Indira.
• Nehru’s ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech was given on 14–15 August 1947.

Ans: (2) The Congress accepted the system of separate electorates based on religion (as per APPSC official final key)

The Lucknow Pact (December 1916) was an agreement between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League, made possible by B.G. Tilak and M.A. Jinnah. In it:

• The Congress accepted separate electorates for Muslims, introduced by the Morley-Minto Reforms (1909).
• Both parties put forward a joint scheme of constitutional reforms and demanded self-government.

At the same Lucknow session the Moderates and Extremists of the Congress came together again after the Surat Split (1907). The Congress Working Committee was created later (1920), and the demand for complete independence (Purna Swaraj) came only in 1929.

Note:

• Lucknow session 1916 was presided over by A.C. Majumdar.
• Home Rule Leagues: Tilak (April 1916), Annie Besant (September 1916).