• Kautilya’s Arthasastra
– This book in Sanskrit was written by Kautilya, a contemporary
of Chandragupta Maurya. Kautilya was also called ‘Indian
Machiavelli’.
– The Arthasastra contains 15 books and 180 chapters but it
can be divided into three parts:
the first deals with the king and his council and the departments of
government; the second with civil and criminal law; and the third
with diplomacy and war.
– It is the most important literary source for the history of the Mauryas.
• Visakadatta’s Mudrarakshasa
– The Mudrarakshasa written by Visakadatta is a drama in
Sanskrit.
– Although written during the Gupta period, it describes how
Chandragupta with the assistance of Kautilya overthrew the Nandas.
– It also gives a picture on the socio-economic condition under the
Mauryas.
• Megasthenes’ Indica
– Megasthenes was the Greek ambassador in the court of
Chandragupta Maurya.
– His book Indica has survived only in fragments. Yet, his account
gives details about the Mauryan administration, particularly the
administration of the capital city of Pataliputra and also the military
organization.
– His picture on contemporary social life is notable.

• The main features of Asoka’s Dhamma as mentioned in his
various Edicts may be summed as follows:
1. Service to father and mother, practice of ahimsa, love of truth,
reverence to teachers and good treatment of relatives.
2. Prohibition of animal sacrifices and festive gatherings and
avoiding expensive and meaningless ceremonies and rituals.
3. Efficient organization of administration in the direction of social
welfare and maintenance of constant contact with people
through the system of Dhammayatras.
4. Humane treatment of servants by masters and prisoners by
government officials.
5. Consideration and non-violence to animals and courtesy to
relations and liberality to Brahmins.
6. Tolerance among all the religious sects.
7. Conquest through Dhamma instead of through war.

• In the history of Indian art and architecture, the Gupta period occupies an important place. Both the Nagara and Dravidian styles of art evolved during this period. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The temple at Deogarh near Jhansi and the sculptures in the
temple at Garhwas near Allahabad remain important specimen
of the Gupta art.
• There was no influence of Gandhara style. But the beautiful
statue of standing Buddha at Mathura reveals a little Greek style. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
• The Buddha statue unearthed at Saranath was unique piece of
Gupta art.
• The Bhitari monolithic pillar of Skandagupta is also remarkable. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• Metallurgy had also made a wonderful progress during the Gupta period.
– The gigantic copper statue of Buddha, originally found at
Sultanganj now kept at Birmingham museum, was about seven and a half feet height and nearly a ton weight.
– The Delhi Iron pillar of the Gupta period is still free from rust though completely exposed to sun and rain for so many centuries.

• The court of Chandragupta II was adorned by the celebrated Navratnas.
• Kalidasa remain the foremost among them. His master-piece was the Sanskrit drama Shakuntala. It is considered one among the ‘hundred best books of the world’.
– He wrote two other plays – the Malavikagnimitra and Vikramorvasiya. His two well-known epics are Raghuvamsa and
Kumarasambhava. Ritusamhara and Meghaduta are his two lyrics.
• Visakadatta was another celebrated author of this period. He was the author of two Sanskrit dramas, Mudrarakshasa and Devichandraguptam.
• Sudraka was a renowned poet of this age and his book Mrichchakatika is rich in humour and pathos.
• Bharavi’s Kritarjuniya is the story of the conflict between Arjuna and Siva.
• Dandin was the author of Kavyadarsa and Dasakumaracharita.
• Another important work of this period was Vasavadatta written by Subhandhu.
• The Panchatantra stories were composed by Vishnusarma during the Gupta period.
• The Buddhist author Amarasimha compiled a lexicon called Amarakosa.

• Barani’s Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi contains the history of Tughlaq
dynasty.
• Minhaj-us-Siraj wrote Tabaqat-i-Nasari, a general history of
Muslim dynasties up to 1260.
• Amir Khusrau’s Khazain-ul-Futuh speaks about Alauddin’s
conquests. His famous work Tughlaq Nama deals with the
rise of Ghyiasuddin Tughlaq.
• The famous Rajatarangini written by Kalhana belonged to the
period of Zain-ul-Abidin, the ruler of Kashmir.
• In Arabic, Alberuni’s Kitab-ul-Hind is the most famous work.

• Sufism was a liberal reform movement within Islam. It had its
origin in Persia and spread into India in the eleventh century.
Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Sufism stressed the elements of love and devotion as effective
means of the realisation of God. Love of God meant love of humanity
and so the Sufis believed service to humanity was tantamount to
service to God.
Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• In Sufism, self discipline was considered an essential
condition to gain knowledge of God by sense of perception. While
orthodox Muslims emphasise external conduct, the Sufis lay stress
on inner purity. While the orthodox believe in blind observance of
rituals, the Sufis consider love and devotion as the only means of
attaining salvation.
• According to them one must have the guidance of a pir or guru,
without which spiritual development is impossible.
Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• Sufism also inculcated a spirit of tolerance among its followers.
• Other ideas emphasised by Sufism are meditation, good actions,
repentance for sins, performance of prayers and pilgrimages, fasting,
charity and suppression of passions by ascetic practices.

• Aurangazeb was a staunch and orthodox Muslim in his personal life.
His ideal was to transform India into an Islamic state.
• He created a separate department to enforce moral codes under a
high-powered officer called Muhtasib.
• Drinking was prohibited. Cultivation and use of bhang and other drugs
were banned.
Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Aurangazeb forbade music in the Mughal court.
He discontinued the practice of Jarokhadarshan. He also discontinued
the celebration of Dasarah and royal astronomers and astrologers were
also dismissed from service.
Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
• Initially Aurangazeb banned the construction of new Hindu
temples and repair of old temples. Then he began a policy of
destroying Hindu temples. The celebrated temples at Mathura and
Benares were reduced to ruins.
• In 1679, he reimposed jiziya and pilgrim tax.
Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• He was also not tolerant of other Muslim sects. The celebration of Muharram
was stopped. His invasions against the Deccan sultanates were partly due
to his hatred of the Shia faith.
Hence, statement 4 is correct.
• He was also against the Sikhs and he executed the ninth Sikh Guru
Tej Bahadur. This had resulted in the transformation of Sikhs into a warring
community.
• His religious policy was responsible for turning the Rajputs, the Marathas and
Sikhs into the enemies of Mughal empire. It had also resulted in the rebellions
of the Jats of Mathura and the Satnamis of Mewar.
Therefore, Aurangazeb was held responsible for the decline of the Mughal empire.

• Nur Jahan built the tomb of Itimaddaulah at Agra.
It was constructed wholly of white marble with floral
designs made of semi-precious stones on the walls.
This type of decoration was called pietra dura.
Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• This method became more popular during the reign
of Shah Jahan.
Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• The pietra dura method was used on a large scale in
the Taj Mahal by Shah Jahan.
Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Tikdam:
Just knowing that that pietra dura was not started during
the initial period of Mughal rulers would have helped
you eliminate statement 2 and arrive at the correct answer.

• Jainism split in Digamabara sect and Shwetambara sect during the Mauryan era.
• The Digambara sect observed the tenets of religion strictly and the monks remained naked.
Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• Shwetambara sect were liberal and they wore white clothes.
• Shwetambaras can be further divided into Sthanakvasi and Murtipujak.
Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.

• Charvaka Philosophy is considered as materialistic/hedoist school of philosophy. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
• It is also called Lokayata. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• It believed that only those things which could be perceived
directly were thought to exist.
• They were of the view that heaven and hell are nothing but
inventions.
• All things are made of air, earth, fire and water. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• Providing a good living for the priests is a sufficient explanation
for the practice of religion.

• Shraman was offshoot of Vedic religion.
• Medicancy and asceticism were some of its core practices.
Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• The Shraman tradition gave rise to Jainism, Buddhism, Yoga,
Ajivikas, Ajnanas and Charvakas; and was responsible for
concepts such as nirvana, samsara and moksha. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• It led to the development of yogic pratices. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• Madhavacharya is the proponent of Dvaita philosophy.
• It considers Brahman and Atman as two different entities,
and Bhakti as the route to eternal salvation.
• According to Dvaita, Jivatma are many and Paramatma is one.
• Considering the soul Madhavacharya says that no two souls
are alike. They each have different characteristics, different
states of happiness/sorrow.

• The founder of the Sankhya school of philosophy was
Maharishi Kapil.
Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• It is a strong proponent of Dualism. There are only
two realities viz. Purusha and Prakriti.
By Purusha they mean consciousness and by Prakriti,
they mean substance or realm of matter.
Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• This school does not believe in the existence of God.
Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• It believes in the doctrine of Karma and transmigration
of souls.

Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India:
1. Mahabodhi temple, Bodh Gaya (Bihar)
2. The mahaviharas of Nalanda, Vikramshila, Sompura,
Odantapura, and Jagaddala
3. Sirpur in Chhattisgarh
4. Lalitagiri, Vajragiri and Ratnagiri in Odisha
5. Naganipattam in Tamil Nadu
6. Udaigiri and Khandagiri caves in Odisha
7. Ghum monastery, West Bengal
8. Rumtek monastery, Sikkim
9. Spituk monastery, Shey monastery, etc. in Ladakh
10. Dhankar monastery, Key monastery, Tabo monastery,
etc. in Himachal Pradesh

Deogarh in Uttar Pradesh and Chausa in Bihar are Jain
sites in India.

• According to information provided by the Ministry of Culture in
the Rajya Sabha in February 2014, the guidelines for declaring
a language as ‘Classical’ are:
“(i) High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period
of 1500-2000 years;
(ii) A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable
heritage by generations of speakers;
(iii) The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another
speech community;
(iv) The classical language and literature being distinct from modern,
there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and
its later forms or its offshoots.”
• Currently, six languages enjoy the ‘Classical’ status:
– Tamil (declared in 2004)
– Sanskrit (2005)
– Kannada (2008)
– Telugu (2008)
– Malayalam (2013), and
– Odia (2014).

The steps of the Noble Eightfold Path are:
– Right Understanding
– Right Thought
– Right Speech
– Right Action
– Right Livelihood
– Right Effort
– Right Mindfulness and
– Right Concentration.

• The Tripiṭaka is composed of three main categories of texts that
collectively constitute the Buddhist canon: the Sutra Piṭaka, the
Vinaya Piṭaka, and the Abhidhamma Piṭaka.
• Vinaya Pitaka: Rules and regulations of monastic life that range from dress code and dietary rules to prohibitions of certain personal conducts.
• Sutta Piaka: Sutras were the doctrinal teachings in aphoristic or narrative format. The Buddha delivered all of his sermons in Magadhan. These sermons were rehearsed orally during the meeting of the First Buddhist council just after the Parinibbana of the Buddha. The teachings continued to be transmitted orally until they were written down in the first century BCE.
• Abhidhamma Pitaka: Philosophical and psychological analysis and interpretation of Buddhist doctrine.

• Vaisheshika is one of the six schools of Indian philosophy (Vedic systems)
from ancient India.
• Vaisheshika school is known for its insights in naturalism. It is a form of
atomism in natural philosophy.
• It postulated that all objects in the physical universe are reducible to
paramaṇu (atoms), and one’s experiences are derived from the interplay of
substance (a function of atoms, their number and their spatial arrangements),
quality, activity, commonness, particularity and inherence.
• Everything was composed of atoms, qualities emerged from aggregates
of atoms, but the aggregation and nature of these atoms was predetermined
by cosmic forces.
• Ajivika metaphysics included a theory of atoms which was later adapted in
Vaisheṣhika school.
• According to Vaisheṣhika school, knowledge and liberation were achievable
by a complete understanding of the world of experience.
• Vaisheṣhika darshana was founded by Kaṇada Kashyapa around the 6th to
2nd century BC.

• A remarkable progress is noticed in human civilization in the
Neolithic Age. It is approximately dated from 6000 B.C to 4000 B.C.
• Neolithic remains are found in various parts of India. These include the Kashmir valley, Chirand in Bihar, Belan valley in Uttar Pradesh and in several places of the Deccan.
• The important Neolithic sites excavated in south India are Maski, Brahmagiri, Hallur and Kodekal in Karnataka, Paiyampalli in Tamil Nadu and Utnur in Andhra Pradesh.
• The chief characteristic features of the Neolithic culture are the practice of agriculture, domestication of animals, polishing of stone tools and the manufacture of pottery. In fact, the cultivation of plants and domestication of animals led to the emergence of village communities based on sedentary life.

• Langhanj in Gujarat is a site where mesolithic remains are found.

Features of Carnatic music:
• Indigenous
• No freedom to improvise
• Only one particular prescribed style of singing
• More emphasis on vocal music
• 72 ragas
• Doesn’t adhere to any time
• Veena, Mrindangum and Mandolin are main instruments
• Usually associated to South India