Q14 of 30 Page 1

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

The world beyond the palace Just as the Buddha’s teachings were compiled by his followers, the teachings of Mahavira were also recorded by his disciples. These were often in the form of stories, which could appeal to ordinary people. Here is one example, from a Prakrit text known as the Uttaradhyayana Sutta, describing how a queen named Kamalavati tried to persuade her husband to renounce the world: If the whole world and all its treasures were yours, you would not be satisfied, nor would all this be able to save you. When you die, O king and leave all things behind, dhamma alone, and nothing else will save you. As a bird dislikes the cage, so do I dislike (the world). I shall live as a nun without offspring, without desire, without the love of gain, and without hatred…. Those who have enjoyed pleasures and renounced them, move about like the wind, and go wherever they please, unchecked like birds in their flight … Leave your large kingdom … abandon what pleases the senses, be without attachment and property, then practice severe penance, being firm of energy …


(i) Who compiled the teachings of Buddha and Mahavira?


(ii) Explain how did the queen try to convince her husband to renounce the world.


(iii) Describe any three principles of Jainism.


(i) The teachings of Buddha and Mahavira were compiled by his followers. They were recorded by their disciples. They were often in the form of stories, which could appeal to ordinary people.


(ii) The queen convinces her husband to renounce the world by describing the greedy nature of human beings and that all of these will not be able to permanently to satisfy the requirements. She tells him that even if the whole world and all its treasures were his, he would not be satisfied. Also, all of these would not be able to save him. She describes the transient human life and tells him that at the time of his death only dhamma will save him. She tells him that the person who is attached to all the worldly objects are like birds caged, while those who renounced them move about like the wind. She urges him to practice penance and attain salvation.


(iii) The important principles of Jainism are:


• The entire world is animated and living. Even stones, rocks and water have a life.


• Non-injury to living beings, especially to humans, animals, plants and insects. This is the principle of ahimsa.


• The cycle of birth and rebirth is shaped through karma. Karma is governed by the way of living. Asceticism and penance are required to free oneself from the cycle of karma and the physical world. Thus the Jain monks and nuns take five vows - to refrain from killing, stealing and lying, to observe celibacy and to abstain from possessing property.


More from this chapter

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12

Identify the rituals and practices associated with the Mahanavami Dibba, a structure in the Royal Centre of Vijayanagara Empire.

OR


Outline the distinctive features of the Virupaksha temple and the Vitthala temple in the Royal Centre of Vijayanagara Empire.

 13

Explain how the Non-Cooperation Movement made Gandhiji a national leader.

OR


Explain why some scholars see the partition of India as the culmination of communal politics.

 15

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

Irrigating trees and fields


This is an excerpt from the Baburnama that describes the irrigation devices the emperor observed in Northern India:


The greater part of Hindustan country is situated on level land. Many thought its towns and cultivated lands are, it nowhere has running waters … For … water is not at all a necessity in cultivating crops and orchards. Autumn crops grow by the downpour of the rains themselves; and strange it is that spring crops grow even when no rains fall. (However) to young trees, water is made to flow by means of buckets or wheels …. In Lahore, Dipalpur (both in present-day Pakistan) and those other parts, people water by means of a wheel. They make two circles of rope long enough to suit the depths of the well, fix strips of wood between them, and on these fasten pitchers. The ropes with the wood and attached pitchers are put over the wheel-well. At one end of the wheel axle a second wheel is fixed, and close to it another on an upright axle. The last wheel the bullock turns; its teeth catch in the teeth of the second (wheel), and thus the wheel with the pitchers is turned. A trough is set where the water empties from the pitchers and from this the water is conveyed everywhere. In Agra, Chandwar, Bayana (all in present-day Uttar Pradesh) and those parts again, people water with a bucket … At the well-edge they set up a fork of wood, having a roller adjusted between the forks, tie a rope to a large bucket, put the rope over a roller, and tie its other end to the bullock. One person must drive the bullock, another empty the bucket.


(i) Explain the irrigation technology as observed by the Emperor.


(ii) What was the necessity of irrigation?


(iii) Explain any three factors which are responsible for the expansion of agriculture in India.

 16

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

Escaping to the countryside


This is how the famous poet Mirza Ghalib described what the people of Delhi did when the British forces occupied the city in 1857:


Smiting the enemy and driving him before them, the victors (i.e., the British) overran the city in all directions. All whom they found in the street they cut down … For two to three days every road in the city, from the Kashmiri Gate to Chandni Chowk, was a battlefield. Three gates – the Ajmeri, the Turcoman and the Delhi – were still held by the rebels … At the naked spectacle of this vengeful wrath and malevolent hatred the colour fled from men’s faces, and a vast concourse of men and women … took to precipitate flight through these three gates. Seeking the little villages and shrines outside the city, they drew breath to wait until such time as might favour their return.


(i) Who was Mirza Ghalib? What did he describe?


(ii) Why did British attack Delhi? Give two reasons.


(iii) How did the people escape from Delhi and where did they take shelter?