History Question Paper' 2022 [AHSEC Class 12 Question Papers]

History Question Paper' 2022

AHSEC Class 12 Question Papers

Full Marks: 100

Pass Marks: 30

Time: Three hours

The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions.

1. Answer the following questions: (any twelve) 1x12=12

(a) Where was the Indus Valley Civilization discovered first?

(b) Name the first Mahajanapada.

(d) Who authored ‘Chakaripheti Buranji’?

(e) During whose reign was the Umananda temple at Guwahati built?

(f) Who was the first woman Bhikkhuni?

(g) Who was the first woman ruler of the Ahom Kingdom?

(h) Who was the author of ‘Rihla’?

(i) Who was the physician of Mughal Prince Dara Shukoh?

(j) Name the favourite calligraphy of Akbar.

(k) Name the first British colony in India.

(l) In which year did the British government abolish the sati system in India?

(m) Who termed the Revolt of 1857 as the first war of Indian Independence?

(n) In which year was the capital of India shifted to Delhi from Calcutta?

(o) Who was the first editor of ‘Junaki’?

(p) When was the first railway started in India?

2. Answer the following questions in brief: (any twelve) 2x12=24

(a) Mention any two characteristic of the Harappan Civilization.

(b) Name any two important sites of the Harappan Civilization.

(d) Where and when did the peasant revolt first take place in Assam?

(e) What is Mahayana?

(f) When did Mirjumla invade Assam? Which author accompanied him?

(g) What were the right occupations of the Kshayatriyas?

(h) Write any two limitations of inscriptional evidence.

(i) Why did Abul Fazal describe painting as magical art?

(j) What do you understand by ‘Kitabkhana’?

(k) Name any two Sufi saints of Medieval India.

(l) What were ‘zimma’ and ‘jizya’?

(m) Who established the Vijaynagar Empire and when?

(n) What were White Town and Black Town?

(o) Why did Mahatma Gandhi consider Hindustani to be the national language of India?

(p) Mention two women leaders of the Revolt of 1857.

(q) Who called for ‘Direct Action’ and which day was chosen for it?

3. Answer the following questions: (any ten) 4x10=40

(a) Give a description of the town planning of the Harappan Civilization.

(b) Give a brief description of the administrative system of the Ahoms.

(d) Make a note on the social system seen in the Mahabharata.

(e) Mention the causes of the rise of Magadha.

(f) Make a note on the teaching of the Buddha.

(g) Discuss about the fortification of Vijaynagar.

(h) Make a note on the sources to reconstruct the Sufi tradition.

(i) Who coined the terms ‘great’ and ‘little’ traditions and why? What do ‘great’ and ‘little’ traditions mean?

(j) Discuss about the role of the zamindars in the Mughal period.

(k) How did the Paharias use the forests for their livelihood?

(l) What were the concerns that influenced the British in their town planning in India in the 19^th century?

(m) How did the Indians carry out the programme of the Quit India Movement?

(n) What was Permanent Settlement? Why did the zamindars fail to meet the revenue demand?

(o) What do you mean by Oral Sources? How does it help in writing history of the partition of India?

(p) Discuss the role of women in Mughal Royal family.

4. Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow: 6x3=18

(a) How could men and women acquire wealth?

For men, the Manusmriti declares, there are seven means of acquiring wealth: inheritance, finding, purchase, conquest, investment, work and acceptance of gifts from good people.

For women, there are six means of acquiring wealth: What was given in front of the fire (marriage) or the bridal procession, or as a token of affection, and what she got from her brother, mother or father. She could also acquire wealth through any subsequent gift and whatever her ‘affectionate’ husband might give her.

Questions:

(1) What were the means of acquiring wealth for men and women? 4

(2) Do you think that means of acquiring wealth differentiated men and women? If so, how? 2

(b) Language and scripts:

Most Asokan inscriptions were in the Prakrit language while those in the northwest of the subcontinent were in Aramaic and Greek. Most Prakrit inscriptions were written in the Brahmi script; however, some, in the northwest, were written in Kharosthi. The Aramaic and Greek scripts were used for inscriptions in Afghanistan.

Questions:

(1) To which source of history do the inscriptions belong? 1

(2) In which languages the Asokan inscriptions were written? 2

(3) What were the scripts used to inscribe the Asokan inscriptions? 3

Cash or Kind

The Ain-i-Akbari on land revenue collection:

Let him (the Amil-guzar) not make it a practice of taking only in cash but also in kind. The latter is effected several ways, First, Kankut in Hindi language ‘kan’ signifies grain, and ‘kut’ estimates…. If any doubts arise, the crops should be cut and estimated in three lots, the good, the middling, and the inferior, and the hesitation removed. Often too, the land taken by appraisement, gives a sufficiently accurate return. Secondly, batai, also called bhaoli, the crops are reaped and stacked and divided by agreement in the presence of the parties. But in this case several intelligent inspectors are required; otherwise, the evil minded and false are given to deception. Thirdly, khetbatai, when they divide the fields after they are sown. Fourthly, Lang batai, after cutting the grains, they form it in heaps and divide it among themselves, and each takes his share home and turns it to profit.

Questions:

(1) Who were the amil-guzard? 1

(2) What was the medium of land revenue collection? 1

(3) What were the methods of collecting land revenue in kind? 4

(d) Travels of the ‘Badshah Nama’:

Gifting of precious manuscripts was an established diplomatic custom under the Mughals. In emulation of this, Nawab of Awadh gifted the illustrated Badshah Nama to King George III in 1799. Since then it has been preserved in the English Royal collections, now at Windsor Castle.

In 1994, conservation work required the bound manuscript to be taken apart. This made it possible to exhibit the paintings, and in 1997 for the first time, the Badshah Nama paintings were shown in exhibitions in New Delhi, London and Washington.

Questions:

(1) Who wrote the Badshah Nama and why? 2

(2) Who gifted the Badshah Nama in 1799 and to whom? Why did he do so? 3

(3) In which places the Badshah Nama paintings were exhibited? 1

(e) “The real minorities are the masses of this country”:

Welcoming the Objective Resolution introduced by Jawaharlal Nehru, N.G. Ranga said:

Sir, there is a lot of talk about minorities. Who are the real minorities? Not the Hindus in the so-called Pakistan provinces, not the Sikhs, not even the Muslims. No, the real minorities are the masses of this country. These people are so depressed and oppressed and suppressed till now that they are not able to take advantage of the ordinary civil rights. What is the position? You go to the tribal areas. According to law, their own traditional law, their tribal law, their lands cannot be alienated. Yet our merchants go there, and in the so-called free market they are able to snatch their lands. Thus, even though the law goes against this snatching away of their lands, still the merchants are able to turn the tribal people into veritable slaves by various kinds of bonds, and make them hereditary bond slaves. Let us go to the ordinary villagers. There goes the money-lender with his money and he is able to get the villagers in his pocket. There is a landlord himself, the zamindars, and the malguzar and there are various other people who are able to exploit these poor villagers. There is no eliminatory education even among these people. These are the real minorities that need protection and assurance of protection. In order to give them the necessary protection, we will need much more than this Resolution.

Questions:

(1) Who are, according to N. G. Ranga, the real minorities? 1

(2) Why are they the real minorities? 3

(3) Why do they need protection? 2

(f) From the mid eighteenth century, there was a new phase of change Commercial centers such as Surat, Masulipatanam and Dhaka, which had grown in the seventeenth century, declined when trade shifted to others places. As the British gradually acquired political control after the Battle of Plassey in 1757, and the trade of the English East India Company expended, colonial port cities such as Madras, Calcutta and Bombay rapidly emerged as the new economic capitals. They also became centers of colonial administration and military power. New buildings and institutions developed, and urban spaces were ordered in new ways. New occupations developed and people flocked to these colonial cities. By about 1800, they were the biggest cities in terms of population.

Questions:

(1) Why did the commercial centers decline which grew in the 17^th century? 1

(2) What were the causes of the emergence of the new economic capitals? 2

(3) What were these characters of the newly emerged cities? 3

5. (a) Draw a map of India and identify the following places: Guwahati, Delhi, and Kolkata. 3+3=6

(b) Draw a map of India and locate any three important great Mahajanapadas. 3+3=6