1.The stupas are considered to be an emblem of Buddha and Buddhism Why?
(Chapter 4 : Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings - Cultural Developments)

Ans:

• The stupas contained relics regarded as sacred, and hence were considered to be an emblem of Buddha and Buddhism.
• According to a Buddhist text known as the Ashokavadana, Asoka distributed portions of the Buddha's relics to every important town and ordered the construction of stupas over them.
• By the second century BCE a number of stupas, including those at Bharhut, Sanchi and Sarnath, had been built.

2.Explain the principles of Buddhism (any three).
(Chapter 4 : Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings - Cultural Developments)

Ans:
As per Buddhism:

• the world is transient (anicca) and constantly changing;
• it is also soulless (anatta) as there is nothing permanent or eternal in it.
• Within this transient world, sorrow (dukkha) is intrinsic to human existence.
• The Buddha regarded the social world as the creation of humans rather than of divine origin. Therefore, he advised kings and gahapatis to be humane and ethical.

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3.How did Guru Nanak preach nirguna bhakti ?
(Chapter 6: Bhakti- Sufi Traditions - Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts)

Ans:

• He firmly repudiated the external practices of the religions he saw around him.
• He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities and the scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims.
• For Baba Guru Nanak, the Absolute or “rab” had no gender or form.
• He proposed a simple way to connect to the Divine by remembering and repeating the Divine Name, expressing his ideas through hymns.

4.Why were agricultural tracts incorporated within the fortified areas of the Vijayanagara empire ?
(Chapter 7 : An Imperial Capital - Vijayanagara)

Ans:

• The objective of medieval sieges was to starve the defenders into submission. These sieges could last for several months and sometimes even years. Normally rulers tried to be prepared for such situations by building large granaries within fortified areas. The rulers of Vijayanagara adopted a more expensive and elaborate strategy of protecting the agricultural belt itself.
• The fort was entered through well-guarded gates, which linked the city to the major roads.
• The arch on the gateway leading into the fortified settlement as well as the dome over the gate are regarded as typical features of the architecture introduced by the Turkish Sultans.

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5.How did the Dandi March of 1930 show its effect on the people of India ?
(Chapter 13:Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement - Civil Disobedience and Beyond)

Ans:

• Dandi March of 1930 encouraged Indians of all classes to make manifest their own discontent with colonial rule.
• The meetings were very well attended, by villagers of all castes, and by women as well as men.Thousands of volunteers were flocking to the nationalist cause.Among them were many officials, who had resigned from their posts with the colonial government.
• Across large parts of India, peasants breached the hated colonial forest laws that kept them and their cattle out of the woods in which they had once roamed freely.
• In some towns, factory workers went on strike while lawyers boycotted British courts and students refused to attend government-run educational institutions.

6.Examine the political organisation of the Harappan civilization according to archaeologists.

7.How did forests benefit the Mughal State ?

8.Why was the Uniform Civil Code of 1867 regarded as a milestone development for the cause of Goan women ?

9.Explain the British need to annex Awadh to the British empire in 1856.

10.How did the people in the Harappan Civilization develop agricultural technology?

11.Why were the stupas built?