Answer: (B)

Explanation: Sixth century BCE marks the beginning of new religious and social movements in the Gangetic valley in the form of Buddhism and Jainism which were part of the shraman tradition. Stupa, Vihara and chaitya are part of Buddhist and Jaina monastic complexes but the largest number belongs to the Buddhist religion. The yakshas are a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, as well as ancient and medieval era temples of South Asia and Southeast Asia as guardian deities. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.

Answer: (D)

Explanation: The above-mentioned sites are Neolithic paintings sites from south India.

Prehistoric Rock Painting:

1. The granite rocks of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh provided suitable canvases to the Neolithic man for his paintings.
2. There are several such sites but more famous among them are Kupgallu, Piklihal and Tekkalkota.
3. Three types of paintings have been reported from here—paintings in white, paintings in red ochre over a white background and paintings in red ochre.

Answer: (D)

Explanation: The people had adopted the twin programme of ‘Boycott’ and ‘Swadeshi’ as parts of one and the same movement. These two words are two sides of the same coin and both were used as economic as well as political tools. Boycott referred to the boycott of British goods in order to register protest with the British public against the grave injustice inflicted upon Bengal. Boycott was a seemingly negative programme and Swadeshi as its positive corollary was accepted along with. Swadeshi meant use of, and encouragement to, native products as against foreign goods. Thus, the Boycott and Swadeshi movement brought all classes of Indian society, particularly in Bengal to a common platform for a national cause. Hence, both statements are incorrect.

Answer: (A)

Explanation:

• The Palaeolithic period extends from 2 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago. This long stretch of time is divided into the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. This long span of time covers 99% of human history. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• The Palaeolithic Age is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.
• Stone tools found during this period are generally tiny, and are called microliths. Microliths were probably stuck on to handles of bone or wood to make tools such as saws and sickles. Ostriches were found in India during the Palaeolithic period. The climate during the Palaeolithic Age consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

Answer: (A)

Explanation: In the Mughal Empire, zamindars had hereditary rights of collecting land revenues which could go up to 25 percent of the revenue. They generally made collection from the individual peasants at rates fixed by tradition or by themselves and paid a fixed tax to the state. The difference between their collections and the amount paid to the state was their personal income. If the state demand reached the maximum that the peasant could pay, a deduction of 10 percent was made from the total amount of revenue and paid to the Zamindars as malikana. Hence, option (a) is correct.