By UPSCTREECategories: Mains Question Paper
HISTORY – PAPER I
Odisha Civil Services Mains 2024
Time: 3 Hours
|Full Marks: 250
|Full Marks: 250
GROUP A
10 × 15 MARKS
Instructions: Attempt 10 (ten) questions. Word limit: 250 words.
- Evaluate Kharavela’s contribution to religion, art and culture, and how his patronage reflects the pluralistic and dynamic nature of early Kalingan society.
- Trace the political developments in Odisha between the 4th and 7th centuries AD.
- Discuss the changes in the settlement patterns from the late Harappan phase to the early Iron Age in the context of evolving socio-economic structures of early India.
- Elaborate the political, social and economic life of Tamilaham as reflected in the Sangam texts.
- Explain the importance and limitations of archaeological evidence in understanding the political, economic and cultural life of early India.
- Identify the advances in mathematics in early India with reference to the works of Aryabhata, Brahmagupta and Bhaskara.
- Construct the economic trends of the Gupta and post-Gupta eras in the light of numismatic and inscriptional evidences.
- Analyse the social and economic transformations of post-Mauryan India, with special reference to trade, craft production and urbanisation.
- What factors contributed to the transformation from hunting-gathering to pastoral and agricultural practices in the Indian subcontinent?
- Examine the various theories of the decline of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
- Compare and contrast the teachings of Mahavira and Buddha and their influence on early Indian polity and culture.
- What is the meaning of the term ‘Samanta’ in the context of polity during the seventh century? How did it transform the nature of Indian polity and administration?
GROUP B
05 × 20 MARKS
Instructions: Attempt 05 (five) questions. Word limit: 300 words.
- Assess the impact of the Arab conquest of Sindh and the Ghaznavid invasions on Indian politics, economy and cultural interaction with the Islamic world.
- Trace the interaction among politics, religion and art in medieval Odisha under the Somavamsis, Gangas and Gajapatis, with special reference to temple architecture and the Jagannatha tradition.
- Compare the Bhakti movements in South India and the Lingayat movement in the context of challenging social orthodoxy and promoting new religious and ethical ideas.
- Evaluate the role of Indian mercantile classes, banking, insurance and credit systems during the Mughal period.
- Elaborate the contributions of Sher Shah Suri to the evolution of administrative and revenue institutions in India.
- Illustrate Alberuni’s contribution to the study of Indian science, religion, civilisation and to the reconstruction of the cultural history of 11th-century India.
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