UPSC Prelims 2017 History and Culture questions: topic-wise weightage
UPSC Prelims 2017 asked 14 history questions in GS Paper I, spread over 7 topics. See the history weightage for 2017 below, then attempt each question with the official answer and an explanation.
History and Culture 2017: questions by topic
- Buddhism, Jainism and other sects1
- Mauryas to Guptas: Sangam age and early medieval kingdoms1
- Medieval India: Sultanate, Vijayanagara, Mughals, Marathas; Bhakti and Sufi1
- Reform movements, 1857, tribal and peasant revolts, early nationalism (to 1919)3
- Gandhian era to Independence; constitutional development4
- Architecture and sculpture1
- Painting, performing arts, crafts, literature, philosophy and festivals3
Counted from the 14 questions on this page, tagged by topic in the Battle IAS PYQ bank.
Seeing 14 History and Culture questions spread over 7 topics can feel overwhelming. That's exactly why the Battle IAS PYQ Book maps every question topic by topic, so you know what to study first. Download free sample
Buddhism, Jainism and other sects 1
With reference to the religious history of India, consider the following statements :
- 1. Sautrantika and Sammitiya were the sects of Jainism.
- 2. Sarvastivadin held that the constituents of phenomena were not wholly momentary, but existed forever in a latent form.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Only statement 2 is correct (b). Statement 1 is wrong because the Sautrantikas and Sammitiyas were early Buddhist schools, not Jain ones. The Sautrantikas relied on the sutras rather than the Abhidharma. The Sammitiyas were the main pudgalavada ("person-exists") school, and Xuanzang found them strong in western India. Statement 2 is right because the Sarvastivadins ("all exists") held that dharmas, the building blocks of reality, exist in past, present and future in a latent form. They are not purely momentary.
The Sarvastivadins were strong in Kashmir and Gandhara and linked to Kanishka's Fourth Council. Notice the Jain sects to keep apart: Digambara and Shvetambara, which split after Bhadrabahu's migration south.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Mauryas to Guptas: Sangam age and early medieval kingdoms 1
With reference to the difference between the culture of Rigvedic Aryans and Indus Valley people, which of the following statements is/are correct ?
- 1. Rigvedic Aryans used the coat of mail and helmet in warfare whereas the people of Indus Valley Civilization did not leave any evidence of using them.
- 2. Rigvedic Aryans knew gold, silver and copper whereas Indus Valley people knew only copper and iron.
- 3. Rigvedic Aryans had domesticated the horse whereas there is no evidence of Indus Valley people having been aware of this animal.
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Answer (c) & explanation
Statements 1 and 3 are correct (c). The Rigveda mentions armour (varman) and helmets (shipra), while no such gear has been found at Harappan sites (1). The horse is central to Rigvedic life, pulling chariots and appearing in the ashvamedha, but solid evidence of horses at Harappan sites is weak, apart from disputed finds at Surkotada (3). Statement 2 is wrong because the Harappans used gold, silver, copper, tin and bronze, but not iron. Iron came into use only around 1000 BCE, in the later Vedic period and the Painted Grey Ware culture.
The Rigvedic people knew copper and bronze (ayas). Notice the contrast between the two cultures: the Harappans were urban, while the Rigvedic people were pastoral and rural, counting wealth in cattle.
"Copper and iron" is the slip. The Harappan age is a Bronze Age.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Medieval India: Sultanate, Vijayanagara, Mughals, Marathas; Bhakti and Sufi 1
Which one of the following was a very important seaport in the Kakatiya kingdom ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Motupalli was the main Kakatiya port (b). Motupalli, in present-day Prakasam/Bapatla district, Andhra Pradesh, was the leading seaport of the Kakatiyas of Warangal. Ganapatideva left an abhaya-shasana (assurance inscription) there in 1244–45. It promised foreign merchants fair customs duties and protection from the old custom of seizing shipwrecked goods. Marco Polo came during Rudramadevi's reign and praised the region's diamonds and fine cloth. Kakinada (a) and Machilipatnam (c) became important later, Machilipatnam under the Golconda Qutb Shahis and European companies. Nellore (d) was not the Kakatiya port.
Notice the Kakatiya legacy: tank irrigation such as Ramappa and Pakhal lakes, and the Ramappa Temple, a UNESCO site since 2021.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Reform movements, 1857, tribal and peasant revolts, early nationalism (to 1919) 3
Who among the following was/were associated with the introduction of Ryotwari Settlement in India during the British rule ?
- 1. Lord Cornwallis
- 2. Alexander Read
- 3. Thomas Munro
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Answer (c) & explanation
Alexander Read and Thomas Munro introduced Ryotwari (c). The Ryotwari system, where the cultivator (ryot) paid revenue directly to the state, began in the Baramahal district under Alexander Read in 1792, with Thomas Munro as his assistant. Munro, as Governor of Madras (1820–27), spread it across the presidency, and Elphinstone took it to Bombay. Statement 1 is wrong because Lord Cornwallis brought in the Permanent Settlement (1793) with zamindars in Bengal.
Revenue under Ryotwari was very high, often 45–55% of the produce, and it was revised every 20–30 years. Notice the third system: Mahalwari (Holt Mackenzie, 1822; later Bird and Thomason) in the North-West Provinces and Punjab, settled with the whole village community.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements :
- 1. The Factories Act, 1881 was passed with a view to fix the wages of industrial workers and to allow the workers to form trade unions.
- 2. N.M. Lokhande was a pioneer in organizing the labour movement in British India.
Which of the above statements is/are correct ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Only statement 2 is correct (b). Statement 1 is wrong because the Factories Act, 1881, under Lord Ripon, dealt mainly with child labour. It banned work for children under 7 and limited children aged 7–12 to 9 hours a day. It said nothing on wages or trade unions. Statement 2 is right because N. M. Lokhande, a follower of Jyotiba Phule, founded the Bombay Mill Hands Association in 1890, India's first organised labour body. He won a weekly holiday for mill workers.
The 1891 Factories Act went further, limiting women's work to 11 hours. Notice the later milestones: the AITUC (1920, first president Lala Lajpat Rai) and the Trade Unions Act, 1926.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| Person | Association
| 1. Radhakanta Deb | First President of the British Indian Association
| 2. Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty | Founder of the Madras Mahajana Sabha
| 3. Surendranath Banerjee | Founder of the Indian Association
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Pairs 1 and 3 are correct (b). Radhakanta Deb was the first president of the British Indian Association (1851) in Calcutta, with Debendranath Tagore as its secretary (1). Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose founded the Indian Association in 1876 (3). Pair 2 is wrong because Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty founded the Madras Native Association (1852). The Madras Mahajana Sabha (1884) came from M. Viraraghavachari, G. Subramania Iyer and P. Ananda Charlu.
Notice the order of pre-Congress bodies: the Landholders' Society (1838), British Indian Association (1851), Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (1870, M. G. Ranade), Indian Association (1876), Bombay Presidency Association (1885), and then the INC in December 1885.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Gandhian era to Independence; constitutional development 4
The Trade Disputes Act of 1929 provided for
Answer (d) & explanation
The 1929 Act brought tribunals and a ban on some strikes (d). The Trade Disputes Act, 1929 set up courts of inquiry and boards of conciliation for industrial disputes. It banned strikes in public utility services without notice, and any strike meant to pressure the government. It did not give workers a role in management (a), it did not give management arbitrary powers (b), and it did not provide for British courts to intervene (c).
It came with the Public Safety Ordinance and the Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929), as the government cracked down on a labour movement growing under communist influence after the 1928 strikes in Bombay. Notice the earlier milestone: the Trade Unions Act, 1926 gave unions legal recognition.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The object of the Butler Committee of 1927 was to
Answer (d) & explanation
The Butler Committee was about relations between the Government of India and the princely states (d). The Indian States Committee under Sir Harcourt Butler (1927–29) looked into ties between the paramount power and the princely states. The princes hoped it would limit British interference. Instead it said paramountcy must remain supreme and could change with the times. It also said a state could not be handed to an elected Indian government without its own consent. It did not define Centre–province powers (a), which belonged to the Simon Commission's work. It did not deal with the Secretary of State (b) or press censorship (c).
The Chamber of Princes (1921) was the princes' forum. Notice how this consent principle later helped the princes resist the 1935 federation plan.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
In the context of Indian history, the principle of ‘Dyarchy (diarchy)’ refers to
Answer (d) & explanation
Dyarchy split the subjects given to the provinces into two groups (d). The Government of India Act, 1919 brought dyarchy to the provinces. Provincial subjects were divided into reserved subjects, such as police, justice, land revenue and irrigation, which stayed with the Governor and his executive council. Transferred subjects, such as education, health, local government and agriculture, went to Indian ministers answerable to the legislature. Option (a) describes bicameralism, a separate change made by the same Act. Options (b) and (c) are not what dyarchy meant.
Dyarchy failed because ministers had no control over money. The 1935 Act ended it in the provinces and moved it to the Centre, but that part was never put into effect. Notice that the term comes from Lionel Curtis.
The 1919 Act also made the central legislature bicameral, so (a) sounds familiar. That was a different change, not dyarchy.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to Indian freedom struggle, consider the following events :
- 1. Mutiny in Royal Indian Navy
- 2. Quit India Movement launched
- 3. Second Round Table Conference
What is the correct chronological sequence of the above events ?
Answer (c) & explanation
The order is 3-2-1 (c). The Second Round Table Conference sat in London from September to December 1931. Gandhi attended as Congress's only representative after the Gandhi–Irwin Pact, and he came back empty-handed. Quit India was launched on 8 August 1942 at Gowalia Tank, Bombay, with the call "Do or Die". The Royal Indian Navy mutiny broke out at Bombay on 18 February 1946, starting on HMIS Talwar. Any other order (a, b, d) is wrong.
The RIN mutiny, along with the INA trials (Red Fort, 1945), convinced Britain it could no longer count on Indian forces. Notice what came next: the Cabinet Mission arrived in March 1946.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Architecture and sculpture 1
Which of the following is/are famous for Sun temples ?
- 1. Arasavalli
- 2. Amarakantak
- 3. Omkareshwar
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Answer (a) & explanation
Only Arasavalli is famous for a Sun temple (a). Arasavalli in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, has an old Surya temple, believed to date from the 7th century under the Eastern Gangas. It was built so that on certain days of the year the morning sun falls on the deity's feet. Amarkantak (2), in Anuppur district of MP, is the source of the Narmada and Son rivers. Omkareshwar (3), on an island in the Narmada, is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva, with a giant statue of Adi Shankaracharya unveiled in 2023.
Notice the other famous Sun temples: Konark (Odisha, Narasimhadeva I, UNESCO), Modhera (Gujarat, the Solankis), Martand (Kashmir, Lalitaditya) and Katarmal (Uttarakhand).
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Painting, performing arts, crafts, literature, philosophy and festivals 3
With reference to Manipuri Sankirtana, consider the following statements :
- 1. It is a song and dance performance.
- 2. Cymbals are the only musical instruments used in the performance.
- 3. It is performed to narrate the life and deeds of Lord Krishna.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Statements 1 and 3 are correct (b). Sankirtana of the Manipur valley is a ritual song and dance form (1) that tells the life and deeds of Krishna (3). It is performed in temples and at life events such as births and weddings, and it comes from the Vaishnav devotional tradition. Statement 2 is wrong because the performers use the pung (a barrel drum) as well as cymbals (kartal), and the drummers dance while playing.
UNESCO listed it as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. Notice the related form Manipuri classical dance, with its gentle Ras Lila. Other Indian entries on the UNESCO list include Ramlila, Chhau, Kalbelia, Garba (2023) and Durga Puja in Kolkata (2021).
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The painting of Bodhisattva Padmapani is one of the most famous and oft-illustrated paintings at
Answer (a) & explanation
The Padmapani painting is at Ajanta (a). The Bodhisattva Padmapani, a lotus-holding form of Avalokiteshvara, is in Ajanta Cave 1. It was painted in the late 5th century under the Vakatakas, beside the Vajrapani on the back wall of the hall. Its lowered eyes, gentle posture and soft shading make it the best-known image of Indian mural art. Badami (b) has Chalukyan cave paintings. Bagh (c), in MP, has Buddhist murals similar to Ajanta's. Ellora (d) is mainly famous for sculpture, such as the Kailasa temple.
Ajanta's murals use the tempera method on dry plaster. Notice the other famous Ajanta scenes: the Dying Princess (Cave 16) and the Jataka tales.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| Traditions | Communities
| 1. Chaliha Sahib Festival | Sindhis
| 2. Nanda Raj Jaat Yatra | Gonds
| 3. Wari-Warkari | Santhals
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched ?
Answer (a) & explanation
Only pair 1 is correct (a). Chaliha Sahib is a 40-day fast and prayer by Sindhis to Jhulelal, their patron saint, held each July–August (1). Pair 2 is wrong because the Nanda Devi Raj Jat is a pilgrimage held about every 12 years in the Garhwal–Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand. It escorts Goddess Nanda to Homkund and has no connection with the Gonds of central India. Pair 3 is wrong because the Wari is the Warkari foot-pilgrimage to Vitthala (Vithoba) at Pandharpur, Maharashtra, carrying the palkhis of saints Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram. It has nothing to do with the Santhals.
Notice the Santhal festivals to keep apart: Sohrai and Karam. The Santhal rebellion was the Hul of 1855.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
All years by topic
Every question from 2011 to 2026, grouped by syllabus topic, with year-wise trends.