IAS Mains Previous Year Paper History (1992)

Paper -I- History-1992 (Mains)

Section A

1. Mark any fifteen of the following places on the map supplied to you. Also give brief descriptive notes on the places marked on the map:
(i) Aharara
(ii) Aihole
(iii) Alamgirpur
(iv) Amaravati
(v) Anuradhapura
(vi) Aphsad
(vii) Badami
(viii) Bhagbanpura
(ix) Gimar
(x) Jaugada
(xi) Kausambi
(xii) Khandgiri-Udayagiri
(xiii) Kusinagara
(xiv) Kot Diji
(xv) Lumbini
(xvi) Mahabalipuram
(xvii) Nalanda
(xviii) Pratisthana
(xix) Purushapura
(xx) Rajagriha
(xxi) Ratnagiri
(xxii) Sanathi
(xxiii) Sittannavasal
(xxiv) Sravasti
(xxv) Sravanbelgola
(xxvi) Sultanganj
(xxvii) Surkotda
(xxviii)Takshasila
(xxix) Valabhi
(xxx) Vidisa

2. Analyses the differences and similarities between Indus Valley and Vedic Cultures.

3. Give an account of the republics in the pre-Maurya period. Discuss the factors which contributed to their decline.

4. Analyses the characteristics features of the Gupta art and compare them with those of the Mauryan art.

Section B

5. Write short essays of not more than 200 word each on any three of the following:
(a) Local self-government under the Cholas.
(b) Indo-Islamic architecture during the Khalji and Tughluq period.
(c) Mughal official histories and auto-biographical works.
(d) Portuguese control of the Indian Ocean and its impact.

6. Discuss the role of the Rashtrakutas for the mastery of Kanauj and assess their contribution to art and culture.

7. Muhammad Bin Tughlaq’s contradictory qualities were beyond the grasp knowledge and common sense. Evaluate the significance of his administrative measures and policies in the light of this statement.

8. Shivaji was a great organizer and builder of civil institutions, examine this statement in the light of the difficulties of administration and the extent of success achieved by him.



Paper - II- History-1992 (Mains)

Section A

1. Comment on any three of the following statements in about 200 words each:
(a) ‘On 23 June 1757, the middle ages of India ended and her modern age began.’
(b) ‘No native state should be left to exist in India which is not upheld by the British power or the political conduct of which is not under the absolute control’
(c) ‘it was in this almost unrecognizable form that the Ilbert Bill was finally enacted it was primarily a failure of the Viceroy’
(d) ‘Please remember, in granting separate electorates, we are sowing dragon’s teeth the harvest will be bitter.’

2. Assess the impact of the utilitarian ideas in molding the British attitude towards India. How did the utilitarian try to solve the problem of land revenue?

3. Discuss the origins and character of major peasant and tribal uprisings in the late 18th and 19th centuries’ were these protest movements backwards-looking?

4. Show how the Civil Disobedience was marked by much scattered potentially radical manifestations. Was the Karachi Congress an indication of certain basic weakness of the entire movement?

Section B

5. Comment on any three of the following statements in about 200 words each:
(a) ‘The sponsors of the overseas expansion of Europe were national monarchies.’
(b) ‘Napoleon was the child of the Revolution, but in many ways he reversed the aims and principles of the movement from which he sprang.’
(c) ‘Thus the League sought to achieve to profoundest of all psychological revolutions to transform the war mentality of man into a peace mentality.’
(d) ‘Nominally the new Turkey was republican and democratic.’

6. From the Thirty Years War finally emerged the modern state system of Europe. Do you agree?

7. The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a single revolution which developed two phases. Elucidate.

8. Trace the distinct phases of the Sino-Japanese War. Assess its political economic and cultural impact on China, both ‘occupied and free.’