Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (History, Art & Culture) – July 13, 2020

Lower Palaeolithic tools are found in most parts of India, except in a few regions of the Ganges valley, southern Tamil Nadu and in the hilly areas of the Western Ghats.

Athirampakkam, Pallavaram and Gudiyam near Chennai, Hunsgi valley and Isampur in Karnataka, and Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh are some important Palaeolithic sites where the Acheulian tools are found.

The Neolithic period marked the beginning of agriculture and animal domestication.

• It is an important phase in Indian history.
• Early evidence of Neolithic culture is found in the Fertile Crescent region of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Indus region, the Ganges valley of India and also in China.
• Between 10,000 BCE to 5000 BCE, agriculture emerged in these regions, which led to several cultural developments.

Harappa (Punjab, Pakistan), Mohenjo-Daro (Sindh, Pakistan), Dholavira, Lothal, and Surkotada (Gujarat, India), Kalibangan and Banawali (Rajasthan, India), and Rakhigarhi (Haryana, India) are the major cities in the Harappan period.

• Fortification, wellplanned streets and lanes and drainages are noticed in the Harappan towns.
• A civic authority perhaps controlled the planning of the towns.
• The Harappans used baked and unbaked bricks, and stones for construction.
• The towns had a grid pattern and drainages were systematically built.
• The houses were built of mud bricks while the drainages were built with burnt bricks. Houses had more than one floor.

The Vedas (Vid = to know, Vidya) are one of the earliest known texts to have been composed in India.

• The language of the Vedas is described as Vedic Sanskrit.
• The main collections of Vedic hymns are called samhitas. The Rig Vedic samhita is the earliest text.
• Each samhita has added texts called brahmanas, which have commentaries on the hymns and rituals.
• Each brahmana has an aranyaka (forest text) and an upanishad.

Ochre Coloured Pottery Ware culture is found in northern India dating to the Chalcolithic period.

• The OCP culture dates to 2600- 1200 BCE and is found in the Indo-Gangetic plain and may have had some associations with early Vedic culture.
• The Iron Age in North India coincides with the painted Grey Ware culture.
• The painted grey ware is dated to from 1100 to 800 BCE.The pottery was fine grey in colour with painted geometric designs.
• The painted grey ware laid the foundation of the early political formations. It correlates with the Kuru-Panchala kingdom known from the Vedic texts.
• The Painted Grey Ware cultural phase is followed by Northern Black Polished Ware culture (NBPW), which is associated with the Mahajanapada and Mauryan periods.

According to Puranic, Buddhist and Jaina traditions, there were sixteen mahajanapadas.

• The proto-states of the Gangetic region were known as janapadas and comprised chiefdoms, republics and small kingdoms.
• There were also ganasanghas or oligarchies, which were centred on clans. The Vrijjis were one of the best known of the gana-sanghas, and Vaishali was their capital in the Mithila region.
• The mahajanapadas on the Gangetic plains were all monarchies. Vedic orthodoxy was an established practice in these kingdoms.
  

In course of time, Sthaviravadins, Mahasanghikas and Sarvastivadins emerged as major sects of Buddhism.

• New ideas emerged among the Sarvastivadins and Mahasanghikas. It led to the emergence of Mahayana and Hinayana (the Great and Lesser Vehicles) in Buddhism.
• Mahayana or the Great Vehicle became popular and influential in India. Nalanda University was an important centre of Buddhist learning and was patronised by the Palas. Mahayana spread to China and Japan.
• Hinayana or the Lesser Vehicle became popular in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and other South-east Asian countries.
• By the end of the Gupta period, Vajrayana or the Vehicle of the Thunderbolt emerged. It was popular in Bengal and Bihar.
• It was influenced by primitive local cults and spread to Tibet in the 11th century CE. The Vikramasila University in Bihar was an important centre of Vajrayana Buddhism.

The consolidation of a kingdom as vast as the Delhi Sultanate needed reliable governors and administrators.

• Rather than appointing aristocrats and landed chieftains as governors, the early Delhi Sultans, especially Iltutmish, favoured their special slaves purchased for military service, called bandagan in Persian.
• They were carefully trained to man some of the most important political offices in the kingdom.
• Since they were totally dependent upon their master, the Sultan could trust and rely upon them.

The nobles occupied a position next only to the king in status and rank.

• Enjoying high social status and commanding vast resources they at times became strong enough to challenge the king.
• In the Delhi Sultanate, nobles were drawn from different tribes and nationalities like the Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Egyptian and Indian Muslims.
• Iltutmish organized a Corps of Forty, all drawn from Turkish nobility and selected persons from this Forty for appointments in military and civil administration.
• The nobles were organized into several factions and were constantly engaged in conspiracies.
• Balban therefore abolished the Corps of Forty and thereby put an end to the domination of “Turkish nobles”.
• Alauddin Khalji also took stern measures against the “Turkish nobles” by employing spies to report to him directly on their clandestine and perfidious activities.

Jizya is a tax levied and collected per head (not on agriculture land) by Islamic states on non-Muslim subjects living in their land.

• In India, Qutb-ud-din Aibak imposed jizya on non-Muslims for the first time.
• Jizya was abolished by the Mughal ruler Akbar in 16th century but was re-introduced by Aurangzeb in the 17th century.