Important Expected Questions and Answers for CBSE Class 12 History Exam

Q1. Why are Bhuddist Stupas said to be "stories in stone"? Explain.

Ans: The Bhuddist Stupas are said to be "stories in stone" as the aesthetic sculpture depicts the ancient scenes and stories, some of which have textual evidence for e.g., one of the sculpture at Sanchi depicts a scene from the Vessantara Jataka.

Q2. Mention any two sources to know about Bhakti and Sufi traditions from eighth century to eighteenth century.

Ans: The two sources to know about Bhakti and Sufi traditions from 8th to 18th century are:

(a) Religious texts consisting of hymns

(b) Hagiographies i.e., biographies of saints written by their followers or members of their religious sect.

Q3. Name the fortification of East India Company in Madras. Mention any one feature of it.

Ans: The name of the fortification of East India Company in Madras was Fort St George.

The fort marked out the areas of British settlement from its competitor European companies.

Q4. 'Early Harappan archaeologists thought that certain objects which seems unusual and unfamiliar may have had a religious significance.' Substantiate.

Ans: Archaeologists found problems in attempts to reconstruct religious practices, and thought that certain objects which seemed unusual and unfamiliar may have had a religious significance which included:

(a) terracotta figurines of women, heavily jewelled, some with elaborate head-dresses regarded as mother goddesses.

(b) rare stone statuary of men in a standardised posture seated with one hand on the knee as priest-king.

(c) structures such as the Great Bath and fire altars found at Kalibangan and Lothal have been assigned ritual significance.

Q5. How was the fate of Amravati stupa different from the Sanchi stupa? Explain.

Ans: (a)Sanchi survived while Amravati did not because perhaps the Amravati was discovered before scholars understood the value of the finds and its need to be preserved instead of removing them from the site. The Mahachaitya at Amravati is now just an insignificant little mound, totally denuded of its former glory.

(b) Whereas when Sanchi was discovered in 1818,  three of its four gateways were still standing, the fourth was lying on the spot where it had fallen and the mound was in good condition. Though the gateways were about to be taken to either Paris or London, a number of factors helped to keep Sanchi as it was, and so it still stands.

Q6. Who was Krishnadeva Raya?

Ans: Krishnadeva Raya (ruled 1509-29) the most famous ruler of Vijayanagara who belonged to the Tuluva dynasty.

Q7. Highlight the contribution of Krishnadeva Raya in the expansion of Vijayanagar Empire.

Ans: Krishnadeva Raya's rule was characterised by expansion and consolidation:

(a) He acquired the land (the Raichur doab) between the Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers.

(b) the rulers of Orissa were subdued (1514) and severe defeats were inflicted on the Sultan of Bijapur.

(c) despite constant military preparedness, Vijayanagara flourished under the conditions of unparalleled peace and prosperity.

(d) He built many fine temples adding impressive gopurams to many important south Indian temples.

(e) He founded a suburban township near Vijayanagara called Nagalapuram after his mother.

Q8. "Mughal rulers efficiently assimilated heterogeneous populace within an imperial edifice". Support the statement.

Ans: Mughal rulers efficiently assimilated heterogeneous populace within an imperial edifice as:

(a) Despite Mughal empire comprised many different ethnic and religious communities, the Emperor stood above all religious and ethnic groups, mediated among them as the source of absolute peace(sulkh-i-kul) i.e.,all peace and stability, and ensured that justice and peace prevailed.

(b) The ideal of sulk-i-kul was implemented through state policies.

(c) The nobility was recruited from diverse ethnic and religious groups which ensured that no faction was left behind.

(d) All Mughal emperors gave grants to support the building and maintenance of places of worship and adopted "Just Sovereignty" as social contract.

Q9. What was Damin-i-Koh? Why did Santhals resist against Britishers during eighteenth century? Give three reasons.

Ans: By 1832 the Santhals were persuaded by Britishers to settle in the foothills of Rajmahal and were given a large area of demarcated land knowns as Damin-i-Koh.

The Santhals resisted against Britishers during 18th century because:

(a) The Britishers were levying heavy taxes on the land that the Santhals had cleared.

(b) moneylenders(dikus) were charging them high rates of interest and taking over the land when debts remained unpaid.

(d) zamindars were asserting control over the Damin area.

Q10. With the help of specific examples examine the nature of Indian leadership that emerged against the British in the revolt of 1857.

Ans.The nature of leadership that emerged during this revolt was diverse from various regions and involved people from different backgrounds. For e.g.,

(a) As the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah agreed to be the nominal leader of the rebellion on the appeal of the sepoys of Meerut.

(b) In Kanpur, Nana Sahib (successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II) , in Arrah, Bihar, Kunwar Singh a local zamindar, in Awadh, Birjis Qadr the young son of Nawab Wajid Shah and in Jhansi, the rani assumed the leadership of the uprising.

(c) Besides rajas, ranis, nawabs, taluqdar, ordinary men and women, in places religious men such as fakirs or maulvis too played an important part in the revolt for e.g., Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah popularly known as Danka Shah- the maulvi with the drum(danka).

(d) Local leaders such as Shah Mal( a jat cultivator whose kinship extended over 84 villages)of pargana Barout in UP mobilised eighty-four villages (chaurasee des), Gonoo, a tribal cultivator of Singhbhum in Chotanagpur, became a rebel leader of the Kol tribals.

Q11. Analyse the role of Zamindars during the Mughal period.

Ans: In the social relations of Mughal countryside, zamindars clearly constituted its very narrow apex.The zamindars, the landed proprietors who held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat meaning property, enjoyed certain social and economic privileges by virtue of their superior status in rural society. Caste was one factor for their elevated status; another factor was that they performed certain services (Khidmat) for e.g., they could often collect revenue for the Mughal state and in turn they get control over military resouces such armed contingent, artillery etc.

Q12. Examine how were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Ans: The forest dwellers were termed jangli which did not mean an absence of civilisation, rather the term described those whose livelihood came from the gathering of forest produce, hunting and shifting agriculture. 

For the Mughal state, the forest was a subversive place,a place of refuge(mawas) for troublemakers. In 16th and 17th centuries external forces entered the forest in different ways:

(a) the Mughal state required elephants for the army. So the peshkash levied from forest people often included a supply of elephants.

(b) In the Mughal political ideology, the hunt symbolised the overwhelming concern of the state to relate to all its subjects, rich and poor. Regular hunting enabled the emperor to travel across the empire reaching out beyond settled villages till to the forest dwellers.

Q13. What does Ashokan inscriptions tell about the Mauryas? Describe the limitations of the inscriptional evidences.

Ans: The inscriptions of Asoka (c.272/268-231 BCE) on rocks and pillars are often regarded as amongst the most valuable sources to reconstruct the history of the Mauryan Empire.

These inscriptions not just tell about the Ashoka's rule and policies but also tell about the administrative, social, and moral ethos of the Mauryan period.

They reveal some key aspects such as:

(a) Dhamma Policy: Inscription proclaimed the message of dhamma which include respect towards elders, generosity towards Brahmanas and those who renounced worldly life, welfare works, non-violence and peace.

(b) Legal Reforms: treating slaves and servants kindly

(c) Religious and social tolerance: respect for religions and others' traditions

The limitations of the inscriptional evidences can be described as:

(a) technical limitations: sometimes letters are very faintly engraved, damaged or missing, and thus reconstructions are uncertain as exact meaning can not be found.

(b) several thousand inscriptions have been discovered but not all have been deciphered, published and translated.

(c) Many more inscriptions must have existed, which have not survived the ravages of time. so probably only a fraction of what was inscribed is available today.

(d) More fundamental limitation is that not everything that we may consider important was recorded in inscriptions.

Q14. State any three features of Mahajanpadas. How did Magadha become the powerful Mahajanpada? Explain.

Ans: The three features of Mahajanapadas:

(a) It was a group of sixteen states known as Mahajanapadas, such as Vajji, Magadha, Koshala, Kuru, Panchala, Gandhara and Avanti were amongst the most important names of Mahajanapadas. 

(b) Mahajanapadas were ruled by kings known as ganas or sanghas, were oligarchies, where power was shared by a number of men, often collectively called rajas.

(c) Each Mahajanapadas had a capital city, which was often fortified.

Between the 6th and the 4th centuries BCE, Magadha (present-day Bihar) became the most powerful Mahajanapada:

(a) Agriculture in Magadha was especially productive.

(b) Iron mines (in present-day Jharkhand) were accessible which provided resources for tools and weapons.

(c) Elephants, an important component of the army, were found in the forests of Magadha.

(d) The Ganga and its tributaries provided a means of cheap and convenient communication.

(e) Most importantly the policies of ruthlessly ambitious kings such as Bimbisara, Ajatasattu and Mahapadma Nanda, and their ministers who helped implement their policies made Magadha the most powerful Mahajanapada.

Q15. "Within the Constituent Assembly of India the language issue was intensely debated". Examine the views put forward by the members of the Assembly on this issue.

Ans: (a) Initially most of the members had obeyed the call of Mahatma Gandhi and carried on Hindi propaganda.

(b) But later, due to the strong attitude of members like R.V.Dhulekar who made a strong plea in an earliest session that Hindi be used as the language of constitution-making and not only wanted Hindi to be an official language, but a national language, and often discouraged non-Hindi speaking members and people. This spread the fear of domination among the non-Hindi-speaking members and people.

((c) A day after Dhulekar spoke, one of the members Shrimati G. Durgabhai from Madras informed the House that the people of non-Hindi-speaking felt that its a fight on behalf of Hindi-speaking areas for effectively preventing the natural influence of other powerful languages of India on the composite culture of this nation.

(d) Almost three years later, the language committee of the Constituent Assembly had thought of a compromise formula and decided that transition to Hindi as official language would be gradual, and for the first fifteen years, English would continue to be used for all official purposes.

(e) By referring to Hindi as the official rather than the national language, the Language Committee of the Constituent Assembly hoped to arrive at a solution that would be acceptable to all.

Q16. How did the Constituent Assembly of India protect the powers of the central government? Explain.

Ans: The Constituent Assembly of India protected the powers of the central government in the following ways:

(a)The Draft Constitution provided for three lists of subjects: Union, State, and Concurrent. However, many more items were placed under exclusive Union control than in other federations.

(b) Similarly more items and controls for the Union (central govt.) are placed on the Concurrent list too than desired by the provinces.

(c) The Union also had control of minerals and key industries.

(d) Article 356 gave the Centre the powers to take over a state administration on the recommendation of the Governor.

(e) In the case of some taxes such as customs duties, company taxes, etc., the Centre retained the major proceeds.