MPSC Prelim. Solved Paper I 2013

1. The following leading British Parliamentarian and Politician admitted that

   the Revolt of 1857 was a National Revolt and not a Military Munity:

(1) Lord Dalhousie          (2) Lord Canning

(3) William Gladstone    (4) Benjamin Disraeli                                              

Answer (4)

British Parliamentarian and Politician Benjamin Disraeli admitted that  the Revolt of 1857 was a National Revolt and not a Military Munity

Opinions about the Revolt of 1857

The Revolt of 1857, also known as First War of Indian Independence, shook the very foundation of the British Empire in India.

Some of the famous quotes related to the Revolt:

“The crisis came at first as a mere military mutiny; it speedily changed its character and became a national insurrection.” – G. B. Malleson

“It is mutiny or is it a national revolt?” – Benjamin Disraeli, British Conservative leader.

"What began as a fight for religion ended as a war for independence for there is not the slightest doubt that rebels wanted to get rid of the alien government and restore the old order of which the king of Delhi was the rightful representative .” –S.N.Sen

“On the whole, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that so-called First National War of Independence is neither First, nor National, nor a war of independence.” -R.C. Majumadar.

“It is in fact an anachronism to describe the mutiny as the first essay towards modern independence. It was rather, in its political aspect, the last effort of the old conservative India.” –                                                                                                                                 Percival Spear.

Revolt of 1857 : At a Glance

Causes

Political Causes

• Nana Sahib was refused pension, as he was the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II.
• The policy of Doctrine of Lapse.

Economic Causes

• Heavy taxation, evictions, discriminatory tariff policy against Indian products and destruction of traditional handicrafts that hit peasants, artisans and small zamindars.

Administrative Causes

• Indian soldiers were paid low salaries; they could not rise above the rank of subedar and were racially insulted.
• They were also grieved because of the refusal of British to pay Foreign Service allowance (batta) while fighting in remote regions such as Punjab and Sindh.

Socio - Religious Causes

• British social reforms (widow remarriage, abolition of Sati, education for girls, Christian missionaries).
• The introduction of Enfield rifle, the cartridge of which was greased with animal fat, provided the spark.
• Inventions like railway and telegraphs spread of Western education also promoted the cause.

Immediate Reasons

·         The reports about the mixing of bone dust in Atta (flour) and the introduction of the Enfield rifle enhanced the sepoys‘growing disaffection with the Government.

·         The cartridge of the new rifle had to be bitten off before loading and the grease was reportedly made of beef and pig, the sepoys felt their religion was in grave danger

·         The greased cartridges did not create a new cause of discontent in the Army, but supplied the occasion for the simmering discontent to come out in the open

Beginning of Revolt of 1857

·         Started by Mangal Pandey on 29^th march 1857, refusing to use greased rifle cartridges (Greased composed of fat taken from beef & pig) & killing his officer at Barackpore, Bengal

·         Mangal Pandey was hanged & his regiment disbanded with sepoy guilty of rebellion punished

·         A chain reaction started & in May 1857, at Meerut 85 sepoys were sentenced imprisoned for refusing to use greased cartridges

·         Famous Leaders of the Revolt

Kanpur	Revolution led by Nana Shaheb with the help of his lieutenants Tatya Tope & Azimulla
Lucknow	By Beghum of Avadh, Hazrat Mahal, with the help of peasants, zamindars & sepoys
Jhansi	By Rani lakshmi bai (Widowed queen of Gangadhar rao) along with Tatya tope
Bihar	Led by Kunwar singh (a ruined zamindar)
Bareilly	By Khan Bahadur
Faizabad	By Maulvi Ahmadullah

Suppression

• Delhi : By John Nicholson and Hudson
• Kanpur : By Campbell, Havelock
• Lucknow : By Havelock, Outram, James Neill and
• Campbell Jhansi : Hugh Rose
• Banaras : James Neill
• The revolt was completely suppressed by the end of 1858

Fate of the Leaders

• Bahadur Shah II : Deported to Rangoon, where he died in 1862. His sons were shot dead.
• Nana Sahib and Begum Hazrat Mahal : Escaped to Nepal.
• Rani Jhansi : Died in the battle field.
• Tantia Tope : Was captured and executed in 1859.

………………………………………………………………………………………

2. Which Organization passed the following resolution in 1940? “India should

     not take part in a war which will neither bring freedom or democracy, nor

    will the workers benefit in any way from it”

(1) Indian National Congress                              (2) Muslim League

(3) All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)   (4) Hindu Mahasabha                         

Answer (3)

All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)   passed the resolution in 1940 that “India should  not take part in a war which will neither bring freedom or democracy, nor  will the workers benefit in any way from it”

Draft and debate over resolution

·         Mrinal Kanti Bose moved the following resolution: "The AITUC while reaffirming the principle of' the resolution passed at Bombay, at its last session held in 1940, takes note of the situation created by the German aggression against USSR, the Japanese aggression in the Far East, and the approach of the War to the gates of India;-and is of opinion that to enable the workers of India to take part enthusiastically and effectively in the Defence of India, and for that purpose to cooperate with the other nations, immediate transference of power to the people. of India is absolutely essential. "

·         The President declared the" question open to debate”. Nandalal Bose, Laljee Pendse and S.Agnihotri made speeches, supporting Bankim Mukerjee's draft of the resolution.

·         A.M.A. Zaman, Ashok Mehta and N.M.Joshi advocated the adoption of the draft  resolution moved by Mrinal Kanti Bose. Bankim Mukerjee and Mrinal Kanti Bose spoke again in the end, in reply to the arguments advanced on the opposite side and V. R. Kalappa summarised the debate in conclusion.

·         The subject for discussion being of a political nature, the resolution required for itsadoption three-fourth majority in support, according to Rule No. 17 A of the constitution. However, both the draft resolutions failed to secure the majority required for adoption Thus, no resolution was passed regarding the attitude of the AITUC to war

About AITUC

·         The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) is the oldest trade union federations in India. It is not Politically affiliated to any political party including the Communist Party of India. But itself is the third largest Communist Party in India after CPI(M) and CPI.

·         It was founded on 31 October 1920 in Bombay by Lala Lajpat Rai, Joseph Baptista, N. M. Joshi, Diwan Chaman Lal and a few others and, until 1945 when unions became organised on party lines, it was the primary trade union organisation in India. Since then, it has been associated with the Communist Party of India.AITUC is a founder member of the World Federation of Trade Unions.

·         The Eighteenth Session of the All-India Trade Union Congress was held at Bombay on September 28-29, 1940 under the presidentship of Dr. Suresh Chandra Banerjee. 159 delegates from all over the country attended the session. The General Council appointed N.M Joshi as the General Secretary of the AITUC. 

MPSC Prelim 2015 Paper I

1. During the freedom struggle of the Hydrabad State, who from the following

    made an attempt to assaaainate the Nizam by throwing a bomb at him on

    4^th December 1947?

(1) Devisingh Chouhan         (2) Digambar Kulkarni

(3) Vinayak Vidyalankar    (4) Narayan Pawar

Answer (4), Narayan Pawar

British Intelligence tries to Assassinate Osman Ali Khan (Nizam)

·         On 4th December 1947, A Maratha youth by the name of Narayan Rao Pawar tried to assassinate the Nizam by hurling a bomb at him. It is likely he had inside help. He was a member of of the Arya Samaj and had links to the Communist Party of India, both of which were connected to British Intelligence.

·         Narayan Rao Pawar along with two others (Jagadish Arya and Gandaiah Arya), threw a bomb at the Last Nizam on 4 December 1947 near his King Kothi Palace. The sessions court awarded him the death sentence. But was freed after the Police action.He was a follower of Raavi Narayan Reddy, the doyen of the Hyderabad Armed Struggle

·         Vinayak Vidyalankar - He was President, Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Hyderabad for about 29 years between 1930 and 1950. He was President of Aryan Education Society, Hindi Prachar Sabha and Education Conference of Hyderabad. He has run Hindi weekly "Arya Bhanu" magazine as its proprietor-editor for five years

·         Devisingh Chouhan was great scholar of Urdu, Persian and Marathi and contributed to history, linguistic and literary research

......................................................................................................

2. Find out the wrongly matched pair:

    (1) Shiva Temple         - Bhumara

    (2) Parvati Temple     - Nachha

    (3) Vishnu Temple    - Tigawa

    (4) Cave Temple with Shiva sculptures – Udayagiri Hills

Answer (4), Cave Temple with Shiva sculptures – Udayagiri Hills

·         Bhumara (sometimes called Bhumra or Bhubara) is a Gupta era Hindu stone temple site dedicated to Shiva in the Indian state Madhya Pradesh (District – Satna). The Shiva temple was built in the mid-to-late 5th century

·         Nachna Hindu temples are some of the earliest surviving stone temples in central India along with those at Bhumara and Deogarh. Their dating is uncertain, but comparing their style to structures that can be dated, some of the Nachna temples are variously dated to the 5th or 6th century Gupta Empire era. Most of the temples in the area are in ruins. The best preserved and most studied monument is the Parvati temple at Nachna.

·         Tigawa is a village in Madhya Pradesh and an archaeological site with a complex of about 36 Hindu temple ruins. Of these, the ancient Kankali Devi Temple is in good condition, and is dated to about 400-425 CE. Also referred to as Tigowa or Tigwan, the site is about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of Bahuriband between Katni and Jabalpur. The name Tigawa (Tigowa, Tigoan, Tigwan) may be derived from "Tri-gawa" or "three villages", referring to the neighboring villages of Amgowa and Deori. The Kankali Devi Temple has reliefs showing Vishnu and generally considered to have been dedicated to Vishnu of Vaishnavism. An image of Narasimha, the man-lion avatar of Vishnu, is placed inside the sanctum. In front of the temple is a seated Vishnu image in yoga asana position with serpent hood above the head, similar to seated Tirthankaras and the Buddha.

·         The Udayagiri Caves are twenty rock-cut caves near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh from the early years of the 5th century CE. They contain some of the oldest surviving Hindu temples and iconography in India. They are the only site that can be verifiably associated with a Gupta period monarch from its inscriptions. Udayagiri caves contain iconography of Vaishnavism (Vishnu), Shaktism (Durga and Matrikas) and Shaivism (Shiva).They are notable for the ancient monumental relief sculpture of Vishnu in his incarnation as the man-boar Varaha, rescuing the earth symbolically represented by Bhudevi clinging to the boar's tusk as described in Hindu mythology.

·          The caves at Udayagiri were numbered in the nineteenth century from south to north by Alexander Cunningham, and he reported only 10 lumping some of the caves together. He called the Jain cave as number 10. Later studies identified the caves separately, and their number swelled to 20. The complex has seven caves dedicated to Shaivism related caves, nine to Vaishnavism, and three to Shaktism.  Some of the caves have inscriptions. Caves 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 13 have the most number of sculptures. The largest is Cave 19. Cave 19 is also called the "Amrita Cave". It is close the Udayagiri village. It is the largest cave in Udayagiri Caves group, being 22 feet (6.7 m) long by 19.33 feet (5.89 m) broad. Cave 19 has a Sanskrit inscription in Nagari script dated 1036 CE by a common pilgrim name Kanha, who donated resources to the temple, and the inscription expresses his devotion to Visnu.

·         Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves, formerly called Katak Caves or Cuttack caves, are partly natural and partly artificial caves of archaeological, historical and religious importance near the city of Bhubaneswar in Odisha, India. The caves are situated on two adjacent hills, Udayagiri and Khandagiri, mentioned as Kumari Parvat in the Hathigumpha inscription. They have a number of finely and ornately carved caves built during 2nd century BCE.It is believed that most of these caves were carved out as residential blocks for Jain monks during the reign of King Kharavela. 

·         Udayagiri means "Sunrise Hill" and has 18 caves while Khandagiri has 15 caves. The caves of Udayagiri and Khandagiri, called lena or leṇa in the inscriptions, were dug out mostly during the reign of Kharavela for the abode of Jaina ascetics. The most important of this group is Ranigumpha in Udayagiri which is a double storeyed monastery. Other important caves include Hathi gumpha, Ananta gumpha, Ganesha gumpha, Jaya Vijaya gumpha, Mancapuri gumpha, Bagh gumpha and Sarpa gumpha

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MPSC Prelim. 2017 Paper I

1. Match the following Mahajanapadas with their modem name

  a. Anga                   I. South Bihar

  b. Magadha            II. East Bihar

  c. Vajji                   III. North Bihar

  d. Malla                  IV. Gorakhpur district

        a       b      c       d

(1)   II      I      III     IV

(2)   I       II     III      IV

(3)  IV     III     I        II

(4)  III      IV    II       I

Answer (1), a – II, b – I, c – III, d- IV

Here is a list of all the 16 ‘Mahajanapadas‘ with their capitals and present day location.

Mahajanapadas Magadha Anga Kashi Kosala Malla Kuru Chedi Panchal Sursena Matsya Avanti Gandhara Kamboj Ashmika Vatsa

Capital Girivraj or Rajgriha Champa or Champanagari Varanashi Saravasti Kushinagar or Pawa Hastinapur Shaktiman Ahichharta, Kampilya Mathura Viratnagar Malwa/Ujjain Taxila Rajaput/Hataka Potana / Patali Kaushambi

Location District Patna, Gaya and part of Shahabad Munger and Bhagalpur Dist of Bihar Varanashi dist of Uttar Pradesh Faizabad, Gonda region or Eastern UP South of Vaishali dist in UP Haryana and Delhi Eastern part of Bundelkhand Rahilkhand Western Uttar Pradesh Brajmandal Mathura region Alwar, Jaipur, Bharatput in Rajshtan Ujjain District Western Part of Pakistan and Afghanistan Punch area in Kashmir Between river Narmada and Godavari Dist of Alahabad, Mirzapur of Up

                       

2. Match the following explorers of Sindhu civilization with cities discovered

     by them :

 a. Harappa                 I. Rakhaldas Banerji

 b. Mohenjodaro        II. Ranganath Rao

 c. Chanhudaro          III. Dayaram Sahni

 d. Lothal                    IV. Gopal Majumdar

        a        b       c       d

(1)   III      I      IV      II

(2)   II       III     I      IV

(3)  IV       II     III      I

(4)  I         IV     II      III

Answer (1), a – III, b – I, c – VI, d- II

·         Harappan Sites discovered by – Dayaram Sahni (1921) – Montgomori district, Punjab, Pakistan.

·         Mohanjodaro discovered by – R. D. Banerji – Larkana district, Sind, Pakistan

·         Chanhudaro -  – discovered by Gopal Majumdar and Mackey (1931)- Bank of Indus river

·         Lothal - discovered by R. Rao/ M.S.Vasta (1957) - At Gujarat near Bhogava river,

·         Kalibangan – Discovered by A. N. Ghosh (1953)

·         Ropar – Talwar and Bisht – (1953)

·         Suktagender – Geoge Dales (1962)

·         Surkatoda – J.P. Joshi (1964)

·         Banawali – R.S. Bisht (1973)

·         Dholavira – Joshi/ Bisht (1953)

·         The largest Indus valley Civilisation site in India are Dholavira, Rakhigarhi (Harappan site). Until now, specialists in the Harappan civilisation had argued that Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan was the largest among the 2,000 Harappan sites known to exist in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The smallest among all site is Allahdino. Allahdino is a small village belonging to the Harappan period, located 40 km east of Karachi. It is an unfortified settlement of 1.4 hectare, established in a coastal area of Pakistan.

Indus Valley Sites and Specialties

Harappa

·    Seals out of stones

·    Citadel outside on banks of river Ravi

Mohenjodaro

·    Great Bath, Great Granary, Dancing Girl, Man with Beard, Cotton, Assembly hall

·    Term means ” Mount of the dead”

·    On the bank of river Indus

·    Believed to have been destructed by flood or invasion(Destruction was not gradual).

Chanhudaro

·    Bank of Indus river. – discovered by Gopal Majumdar and Mackey (1931)

·    Pre-harappan culture – Jhangar Culture and Jhukar Culture

·    Only cite without citadel.

Kalibangan

·    At Rajastan, discovered by A.Ghosh (1953)

·    Fire Altars

·    Bones of camel

·    Evidence of furrows

·    Horse remains (even though Indus valley people didn’t use horses).

·    Known as third capital of Indus Empire.

Lothal

·    At Gujarat near Bhogava river, discovered by S.R. Rao (1957)

·    Fire Altars

·    Beside the tributary of Sabarmati

·    Store house

·    Dockyard and earliest port

·    double burial

·    Rice husk

·    House had front entrance (exception).

Ropar

·    Punjab, on the banks of river Sutlej. Discovered by Y.D Sharma (1955)

·    Dog buried with humans.

Banawali

·    Haryana

·    On banks of lost river Saraswathi

·    Barley Cultivation.

Dholavira

·    Biggest site in India, until the discovery of Rakhigarhi.

·    Located in Khadir Beyt, Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. Discovered by J.P Joshi/Rabindra Singh (1990)

·    3 parts and large open area for ceremonies

·    Large letters of the Harappan script (sign boards).

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MPSC Prelim Solved Paper I 2016

1. In ---------however, the Iron Age immediately succeeded the Stone Age, and

    we find no traces of the intermediate Copper Age

(1) Norther India                    (2) Western India

(3) Southern India                  (4) Eastern India

Answer (3), Southern India

·         The prehistoric period is divided into three ages, namely the stone, bronze and iron ages. These ages, besides being technological stages, also have economic and social implications.

·          In India, the prehistoric period is divided into the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), Neolithic (New Stone Age) and the Metal Age.

Paleolithic or Old Stone Age (5,00,000 B.C. – 2,50,000 B.C.)

Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age (2,50,000 B.C. – 10000 B.C.)

Neolithic Age (108000 B.C. – 3300 B.C.)

Chacolithic or Metal Age (3500 BC – 1500 B.C.)

Chacolithic or Metal Age

·         Chalcolithic is also known as Eneolithic period which saw the use of the metals among which the Copper was first. It is called Chalcolithic which means use of stone and well as copper was prevalent in this period. The earliest settlements of the Chalcolithic period range from the Gangetic basin to Chhotanagpur Plateau. Some sites are found at Brahmagiri near Mysore and Navada Toli on the Narmada. The Chalcolithic i.e. copper- bronze age or stone-copper age of India produced a splendid civilisation in the Indus Valley which spread in the neighbouring regions.

·         There was no uniformity in the use of metals in different parts of India. In Northern India, copper replaced stone as the ordinary material for tools and weapons. Axes, swords and various other objects made of that metal have come to light in different parts of the country. It was not till centuries later that iron came to be known and gradually used as a substitute for copper.

·         We can thus distinguish, between a Copper Age and the Early Iron Age in Northern India. In Southern India, however, the Iron Age immediately succeeded the Stone Age, and we find no traces of the intermediate Copper Age.

Neolithic Age

·         The term Neolithic is derived from the two Greek words meaning New Stone. During this age also men were wholly dependent on stone implements and were ignorant of the use of metals, except gold.  Some of the places where the remains of the Neoli­thic age have been found are Salem, Malabar, Mysore, Bellary dis­trict, Anantapur, Cuddapah, Hyderabad, Kurnul, Raichur Duab, Gujarat, Kathiawar, Sindh, Baluchistan etc.

Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age

·         The Mesolithic Age, a term which is not much in use now, seems to have intervened between the Old Stone Age and the new Stone Age. The relices of this age are found all over India. The people of this age probably knew the art of pottery.

Palaeolithic Age

·         The Paleolithic remains have mainly been found in South India at Tanjore, Madura, Kadur, vamti, Talya; Bellary district, in areas around Madras, and in districts of Guntur, Godavari and Krishna.In Northern India old stone implements have been found in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.

·         Narmada Man – the only Stone Age fossil from India Narmada Man or Narmada Human is the earliest Homo species of Indian sub-continent. This fossil was found on banks of Narmada River in Hathnora Village of Madhya Pradesh in 1982. Narmada Man used to live 2.5 Lakh years ago and belonged to Homo erectus species.

·         Important Palaeolithic site in India- Lingsugur in Raichur district, Karnataka was the first site to be discovered from India.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

2. Which newspaper gave an advertisement for the post of editor with the

     payment of ‘Two dry breads (rotis), a glass of water and ten years

     imprisonment for each editorial’?

(1) Kesari                               (2) Swarajya

(3) Vande Mataram               (4) Kaal

Answer (2), Swarajya       

Swarajya (Founded in Madras in 1922, Editor- T. Prakasham)

·         Swarajya advertised for the post the post of editor. The advertisement was read as. Required editor with the payment of Two 'Sukhi Rotis', A glass of cold water, 10 years jail for every editorial article.

·          There were hundreds of applications because of the intensity of dedication towards ethics of journalism.

·         Swarajya served as a training ground for journalists such as Khasa Subba Rao.

·         Swarajya paper of T.Prakasam was a great contribution to the cause of Indian nationalism and to Andhra Sub- nationalism.

Kesari

·         The editors of Kesari included a number of freedom fighters and social activists / reformers, including Agarkar (its first editor), Chiplunkar and Tilak. Agarkar left Kesari in 1887 to start his own news paper, Sudharak (the reformer) after which Tilak continued to run the paper on his own.

·         Lokmanya Tilak made use of 'Kesari' for bringing about political consciousness among the masses for the purpose of the freedom struggle, for giving a new direction to their thinking and for boosting the different agitations and programmes initiated by him. The four-point programme of 'Swaraj, Swadeshi, Boycott and National Education' that Tilak offered to the Congress and to the whole nation, was strongly upheld by 'Kesari'.

·         Lokmanya Tilak faced Sedition chage for his following articles in Kesary

1) 'Misfortune of the Nation

 2) 'Double warning'

 3) 'What the bomb blast really means'

 4) 'These Remedies Not Durable'

Vande Mataram              

·         The Vande Mataram was an English language newspaper founded in 1905 by Aurobindo Ghosh. It was first published on 6 August 1906.

·         Sri Aurobindo’s first preoccupation was to declare openly for complete and absolute independence as the aim of political action in India and to insist on this persistently in the pages of the journal.

·         ‘Vande Mataram' was a very popular newspaper in Bengal. The great patriot Bipinchandra Pal had started the paper. Maharshi Aravinda Ghosh was the editor. The paper not only published articles inculcating radical patriotism, but also fearlessly condemned the acts of injustice of the British. It was like the true patriot's friend and guide; so it was a nightmare to the British.

·         In 1907, the British prosecuted the Vande Mataram'on a charge of treason. The trial was held at the Police Court of Lal Bazaar in Calcutta. Everyday thousands of young men used to gather outside the Court. Every day they shouted Vande Mataram with one voice, thus displaying their pride in the paper.

Kaal

·         Kaal, a Marathi weekly was started by Shivram Mahadev Paranjape in1898. It is said that in a very short time Kaal became more popular than even Kesary, which was at the time the most read weekly

·         Paranjape was an eminent Marathi writer, scholar, orator, journalist and freedom fighter from Maharashtra. He created unrest among the people of Maharashtrian against British rule through his popular weekly Kaal (meaning "Times" in Marathi) from 1898 to 1908. He was recognized as ‘Kaalkarte (one who made kaal).

·         In 1908, Paranjape was convicted by the british for his articles in Kaal and incarcerated for nineteen months. Kaal was in business till 1909

·         In 1920, Paranjape started a new weekly, Swarajya (Independence).

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MPSC Prelim Paper I 2014

1. Which of the following plays were written by Harshavardhan?

(i) Priyadarsika       (ii) Ratanavali        (iii) Nagananda

Answer options:

(1) (i) only                                             (2) (i) and (ii) only

(3) (ii) and (iii) only                              (4) All the three

Answer (4), All the three

·         Harshavardhana was an Indian emperor who belonged to Pushibhukti family. He was born around 580 AD and is believed to be the son of Prabhakar Vardhan, the founder of Vardhan Dynasty. At the height of his glory his kingdom spanned the Punjab, West Bengal, Orissa and the entire Indo-Gangetic plain north of the Narmada river. 

·         He ascended the throne after his elder brother Rajya Vardhana got murdered by Sasanka, King of Gauda. At this time he was just 16 years of age. After his accession to the throne he merged the two kingdoms of Thanesar and Kannauj and shifted his capital to Kannauj.

·         Harsha was a secular ruler and respected all the religions and faiths. In his early life he used to be a sun-worshipper but later he became the follower of Shaivism and Buddhism. According to the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, who visited the kingdom of Harsha in 636 AD, Harsha built many Buddhist Stupas. He was also a great patron of the Nalanda University. He believed in supporting art and literature and even made several donations to the Nalanda University. He was the first to establish the Sino-Indian diplomatic relationships. 

·          Harshvardhana wrote three plays in the Sanskrit Language namely Nagananda, Priyadarshika and Ratnavali

·         Harshavardhan was a patron of scholars. By his tolerant support of learning Harsha attracted to his court some of the best men of those days. The chief of them was 'Bana' himself. Bana is ranked among the greatest Sanskrit authors. His two great works are 'Harshacharit' and 'Kadambari'. Besides this, some scholars are of the view that 'Parvati-pranaya' was also written by Bana. But this view is not correct and many scholars reject this view.

·         Jayasena was another great scholar in the court of Harshavardhan. Recognized for his encyclopedic learning in subjects like Hetuvidya, Sabdavidya and Yogasastra Jayasena was a great scholar.

·        Mayura was also in the court of Harsha. He was the author of 'Suryashatak'. The famous scholar Diwakar also adorned the court of Harsha. Some scholars hold the view that Bharavi, the author of 'Kirtarjuniyan', Subandhu, the author of 'Vasavadatta' and Kumardas, the author of 'Janaki haran' were also the contemporaries of Harsha. For some time, the famous scholar Dandi was also the contemporary of Harsha but he wrote his literary work 'Dashkumar charit' and 'Kavyadarsha' after the death of Harsha

·         In 630 BC, Harshavardhana faced defeat at the hands of Pulakesi II, the Chalukya King of Vatapi, in Northern Karnataka. The defeat resulted in a truce between the two kings, with Harsha accepting River Narmada as the southern boundary for his kingdom.

2. Who has rejected the 'Safety Valve Theory' about the foundation of the

       Congress calling it the 'myth' ?

(1) A. O. Hume        (2) A. R. Desai          (3) Tarachand               (4) Bipan Chandra

Answer (4), Bipan Chandra

·         It is that the origin of the Congress is "shrouded in mystery". There are many accounts about it. The most widely accepted view is that Hume, under Lord Dufferin, organised the Congress with that two main purposes:
1. To provide a "safety-valve" to Indians
2. To form a quasi-constitutional parties similar to Her Majesty's Opposition in England. 

Understanding "Safety Valve Theory"

The "Safety Valve Theory" is based on seven volumes of the secret report which A.O. Hume, the founder of the Congress, raid at Shimla in 1878. The story was first mentioned in Hume's biography, written by William Wedderburn and published in 1913. According to story, the British wanted the formation of an organisation which could save the administration from possible political outburst in the country. That is why   they provided ample support to A.O. Hume and other Indians in the formation of the Indian National Congress.

·         A few hard core Indian nationalist leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai, R. Palme Dutt and Girija Mukharji and a few liberal westerners like Willium Wedderburn and C.F. Andrews had opined that the Indian National Congress ‘was a product of Lord Dufferin’s brain’ to be used as a safety valve for releasing fumes and pressure born of seething discontent and national awakening among the Indian masses .

·          Earlier, in 1939, M.S. Golwalkar, the RSS chief, had also found the safety-valve theory handy in attacking the Congress for its secularism.

·         Numerous other historians of the national movement including recent ones such as R.C. Majumdar and Tara Chand, were to accept this product of the creative imagination of these writers as historical fact.

·         Bipan Chandra has rejected the safety- valve theory, calling it merely a myth on the ground of three important reasons.

·         In the very first place Mr. A.O. Hume was informed about the threat of an impending Indian revolution by the Hindu religious leaders - so-called Gurus or Mahatmas living in Tibbet through their occult powers. Though this claim of Mr. Hume might have been true, but Lord Dufferin did not show any real concern about it when conveyed to him by the former.

·         In the second place, Mr. Hume had convinced Lord Dufferin and some other British officials and parliamentarians, both in India as well as England of the importance of establishing an all India political organization and generated their support initially. But only within few years after the foundation of Indian National Congress, Lord Dufferin and the British bureacurats started to feel threatened by the growing popularity of the Congress leadership among the masses. Bipan Chandra expounds, "If Hume and other English liberals hoped to use the Congress as a safety-valve, the Congress leaders hoped to use Hume as a lightening conductor. And as later developments show, it was the Congress leaders whose hopes were fulfilled".

·         A.R. Desai  accepted safety valve theory and very correctly postulates, "Indian nationalism found an organized expression on all-India basis in the rise of the Indian National Congress in 1885"

·         The liberal C.F. Andrews and Girija Mukherji fully accepted the safety-valve theory in their work, The Rise and Growth of the Congress in India published in 1938. They were happy with it because it had helped avoid ‘useless bloodshed.’ Before as well as after 1947, tens of scholars and hundreds of popular writers have repeated some version of these points of view.

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