History Question Paper' 2023 [AHSEC Class 12 Question Papers]

History Question Paper' 2023
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

(1) Write the meaning of the word ‘Mohenjo-daro’.

(2) Who was known as ‘Devanampiya’?

(3) Who first deciphered Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts?

(4) Who authored ‘Arthasastra’?

(5) Who was the founder of the Varman dynasty?

(6) Who described painting as a ‘magical art’?

(7) Name one major composition of Srimanta Sankardeva.

(8) What does the word ‘Harem’ mean?

(9) Where was Guru Nanak born?

(10) What was Mahanavami Dibba?

(11) Who was the last Mughal Emperor?

(12) Who introduced Doctrine of Lapse?

(13) Who coined the name ‘Pakistan’?

(14) When was the Indian National Congress formed?

(15) Where was the first girls’ school opened in Assam?

(16) Name the famous work of Ibn Battuta.

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

(1) Write two causes of downfall of the Harappan Civilization.

(2) Who were the Prativedakas? Mention one duty of Prativedakas.

(3) Give two examples of right occupation.

(4) Name the four divisions of Kamrupa as mentioned in the Yogini Tantra.

(5) Give two examples of Buranji written in the Ahom period.

(6) Name two kinds of postal system in India.

(7) What were the two land revenue arrangements under the Mughals?

(8) Who discovered the ruins of Hampi and when?

(9) Mention two sources used to reconstruct the history of Sufi tradition.

(10) Who were Lal-Bal-Pal?

(11) Name two novels based on India’s partition.

(12) Name two important crops grown in Awadh.

(13) Write two limitations of oral sources.

(14) Name any two members of the drafting committee of the Indian Constitution.

(15) Write two characteristics of the Indian Constitution.

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

(1) Explain the pattern of domestic architecture of Mohenjo-daro.

(2) What were the different rules of marriage suggested by the ‘Dharmashastras’ and ‘Dharmasutras’ for the Indian Hindus?

(3) Write a note on the administrative system of the Mauryan Empire.

(4) Write a brief note on the Renaissance in Assam.

(5) Discuss about Mir Jumla’s invasion of Assam.

(6) Discuss the role of Maniram Dewan in the Revolt of 1857.

(7) Give a brief description of the fortification and roads of Vijaynagar.

(8) Write a note on Abul Fazal’s ‘Ain-i-Akbari’.

(9) Discuss the major teachings of Kabir.

(10) Why did the Santhal rebel against the British rule?

(11) Give a description of the architecture of Bombay.

(12) Write an essay on the Quit India Movement.

(13) What was Gandhi-Irwin Pact? Write two terms of the Pact. 2+2=4

(14) What were the problems with separate electorate?

4. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow: (any three) 6x3=18

(a) Prabhavati Gupta and the village Danguna.

This is what Prabhavati Gupta states in her inscription:

Prabhavati Gupta … commands the gramakutumbinas (house-holders/peasants living in the village), Brahmanas and others living in the village of Danguna … “Be it known to you that on the twelfth (lunar day) of the bright (fortnight) of Karttika, we have, in order to increase our religious merit donated this village with the pouring out of water, to the Acharya (Teacher) Chanalasvamin … You should obey all (his) commands.

We confer on (him) the following exemptions typical of an agrahara … (this village is) not to be entered by soldiers and policemen; (it is) exempt from (the obligation to provide) grass, (animal) hides as seats, and charcoal (to touring royal officers): exempt from (the royal prerogative of) purchasing fermenting liquors and digging (salt); exempt from (the right to) mines and Khadira trees; exempt from (the obligation to supply) flowers and milk; (it is donated) together with (the right to) hidden treasures and deposits (and) together with major and minor taxes …”

(i) What is Agrahara? 1

(ii) Who donated the village and to whom? 1+1=2

(iii) What were the exemptions granted to the Agrahara Danguna? 3

(b) The Buddha (and other teachers) taught orally-through discussion and debate. Men and women (perhaps children as well) attended these discourses and discussed what they heard. After his death (c.fifth-fourth century BCE) his teachings were complied by his disciples at a council of “elders” or senior monks at Vaishali. These compilations were known as Tripitakas-literally, three baskets to hold different types of texts They were first transmitted orally and then written and classified according to length as well as subject matter.

The Vinaya Pitaka included rules and regulations for those who joined the Sangha or monastic order; the Buddha’s teachings were included in the Sutta Pitaka; and the Abhidhamma Pitaka dealt with philosophical matters. Each Pitaka comprised a number of individual texts. Later, commentaries were written on these texts by Buddhist scholars.

(i) What were Tripitakas? Name them. 2+1=3

(ii) What do the three Pitakas deal with? 3

The city of Delhi covers a wide area and has a large population … The rampart round the city without parallel.

The breadth of its wall is eleven cubits; and inside it are houses or night sentry and gate-keepers. Inside the ramparts, there are store-houses for storing edibles, magazines, ammunition, ballistas and siege machines. The grains that are stored (in these ramparts) can last for a long time, without rotting … In the interior of the rampart, horsemen as well as infantrymen move from one end of the city to another. The rampart is pierced through by windows which open on the side of the city, and it is through these windows that light enters inside. The lower part of the rampart is built of stone; the upper part of bricks. It has many towers close to one another. There are twenty eight gates of this city which are called darwaza, of these, the Budaun darwaza is the greatest; inside of Mandwi darwaza there is a grain market … It (the city of Delhi) has a fine cemetery in which graves have domes over them, and those that do not have a dome, have an arch, for sure. In the cemetery they sow flowers such as tuberose, jasmine, wild rose, etc; and flowers blossom there in all seasons.

(i) How many gates were there in the city of Delhi? Name the greatest gate. 1+1=2

(ii) Give a brief description of the ramparts of Delhi as described by Ibn Batuta. 2

(iii) How was the cemetery of Delhi? 2

(d) “I believe separate electorates will be suicidal to the minorities.”

During the debate on 27^th August, 1947, Gobind Ballabh Pant said,

“I believe separate electorates will be suicidal to the minorities and will do them tremendous harm. If they are isolated forever, they can never convert themselves into a majority and feeling of frustration will cripple them even from the very beginning. What is it that you desire and what is our ultimate objective? Do the minorities always want to remain as minorities or do they ever expect to form an integral part of the great notion and as such to guide and control its destinies? If they do, can they ever achieve that aspiration and that ideal if they are isolated from the rest of the community? I think it would be extremely dangerous for them if they were segregated from the rest of the community and kept aloof in an air-tight compartment where they would have to rely on others even for the air they breathe … The minorities if they are returned by separate electorates can never have any effective voice.”

(i) Why did Govind Ballabh Pant believe that separate electorates would be a suicidal step to the minorities? 3

(ii) Why, according to Pant, separate electorates would be dangerous for the minorities? 3

5. (1) Draw a map of India and plot three areas under the Mughals. 3+3=6

(2) Draw a map of India and plot three places where the Revolt of 1857 held. 3+3=6