Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :

A mother’s advice

The Mahabharata describes how, when war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas became inevitable, Gandhari made one last appeal to her eldest son Duryodhana :

By making peace you honor your father and me, as well as your well-wishers ... it is the wise man in control of his senses who guard his kingdom. Greed and anger drag a man away from his profits; by defeating these two enemies a king conquers the earth ... You will happily enjoy the earth, my son, along with the wise and heroic Pandavas ... There is no good in a war, no law (dharma) and profit (artha), let alone happiness; nor is a there (necessarily) victory in the end — don’t set you mind on war ...

Duryodhana did not listen to this advice and fought and lost the war.

(13.1) Analyze Gandhari’s concern for her eldest son, Duryodhana.

(13.2) How do you think that greed and anger are the vices that

overcome the senses of man?

(13.3) Explain the wise suggestion Gandhari gave to her son.

‘‘The idea of Sulh-i Kul (absolute peace) was the cornerstone of enlightened rule.’’ Explain the statement of Abul Fazl concerning Akbar’s Empire.

OR

‘‘Mughals transmitted their grand vision through the writing of dynastic histories.’’ Explain the statement with reference to the Akbar Nama and Badshah Nama.

Examine the importance and limitations of memories and oral testimonies in reconstructing the history of the partition of India.

OR

Examine the outcomes of the provincial elections of 1937 and also examine the role of Congress ministries and the Muslim League in it.

Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :

‘‘Moistening the rose garden of fortune’’

In this extract, Abu’l Fazl gives a vivid account of how and from whom he collected his information :

... to Abu’l Fazl, son of Mubarak ... this sublime mandate was given. ‘‘Write with the pen of sincerity the account of the glorious events and of our dominion-conquering victories ...

Assuredly, I spent much labour and research on collecting the records and narratives of His Majesty’s actions and I was a long time interrogating the servants of the State and the old members of the illustrious family. I examined both prudent, truth-speaking old men and active-minded, right-actioned young ones and reduced their statements to writing. The Royal commands were issued to the provinces, that those who from old service remembered, with certainty or with adminicle of doubt, the events of the past, should copy out the notes and memoranda and transit them to the court. (Then) a second command shone forth from the holy Presence-chamber; to wit – that the materials which had been collected should be ... recited in the royal hearing, and whatever might have to be written down afterward, should be introduced into the noble volume as a supplement, and that such details as on account to the minuteness of the inquiries and the minutae of affairs, (which) could not then be brought to an end, should be inserted afterwards at my leisure.

Being relieved by this royal order – the interpreter of the Divine ordinance – from the secret anxiety of my heart, I proceeded to reduce into writing the rough draughts (drafts) which were void of the grace of arrangement and style. I obtained the chronicle of events beginning at the Nineteenth Year of the Divine Era, when the Record Office was established by the enlightened intellect of His Majesty, and from its rich pages, I gathered the accounts of many events. Great pains too, were taken to procure the originals or copies of most of the orders which had been issued to the provinces from the Accession up to the present-day ... I also took much trouble to incorporate many of the reports which ministers and high officials had submitted, about the affairs of the empire and the events of foreign countries. And my labour-loving soul was satiated by the apparatus of inquiry and research. I also exerted myself energetically to collect the rough notes and memoranda of sagacious and well-informed men. By these means, I constructed a reservoir for irrigating and moistening the rose garden of fortune (the Akbar Nama).

(14.1) How were imperial ideologies disseminated?

(14.2) Why were Royal orders considered as Divine ordinance?

(14.3) Which sources were used to describe the vivid account of the Mughal Empire?

Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :

‘‘Tomorrow we shall break the salt tax law’’

On 5 April 1930, Mahatma Gandhi spoke at Dandi :

When I left Sabarmati with my companions for this seaside hamlet of Dandi, I was not certain in my mind that we would be allowed to reach this place. Even while I was at Sabarmati there was a rumour that I might be arrested. I had thought that the Government might perhaps let my party come as far as Dandi, but not me certainly. If someone says that this betrays imperfect faith on my part, I shall not deny the charge. That I have reached here is in no small measure due to the power of peace and non-violence : that power is universally felt. The Government may, if it wishes, congratulate itself on acting as it has done, for it could have arrested every one of us. In saying that it did not have the courage to arrest this army of peace, we praise it. It felt ashamed to arrest such an army. He is a civilised man who feels ashamed to do anything which his neighbours would disapprove. The Government deserves to be congratulated on not arresting us, even if it desisted only from fear of world opinion.

Tomorrow we shall break the salt tax law. Whether the Government will tolerate that is a different question. It may not tolerate it, but it deserves congratulations on the patience and forbearance it has displayed in regard to this party. ...What if I and all the eminent leaders in Gujarat and in the rest of the country are arrested ? This movement is based on the faith that when a whole nation is roused and on the march no leader is necessary. CWMG, VOL. 49

(15.1) Interpret the apprehensions of Mahatma Gandhi when he started his Dandi March.

(15.2) Why did Gandhiji say that the government deserved to be congratulated?

(15.3) ‘‘The Salt March was significant.’’ Substantiate the statement.

OR

Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Charkha

Mahatma Gandhi was profoundly critical of the modern age in which machines enslaved humans and displaced labour. He saw the charkha as a symbol of a human society that would not glorify machines and technology. The spinning wheel, moreover, could provide the poor with supplementary income and make them self-reliant.

What I object to, is the craze for machinery as such. The craze is for what they call labor-saving machinery. Men go on ‘‘saving labour’’, till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labour, not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of few, but in the hands of all.

YOUNG INDIA, 13 NOVEMBER 1924

Khaddar does not seek to destroy all machinery but it does regulate its use and check its weedy growth. It uses machinery for the service of the poorest in their own cottages. The wheel is itself an exquisite piece of machinery.

YOUNG INDIA, 17 MARCH 1927

(15.1) Why was Mahatma Gandhi critical of the modern age ?

(15.2) ‘‘The wheel is itself an exquisite piece of machinery.’’ Explain this

statement of Gandhiji.

(15.3) Highlight the importance given by Gandhiji to the charkha.