Solved General Studies Paper I of IAS Main Exam 2013

Q.1 Though not very useful from the point of view of a connected political history of South India, the Sangam literature portrays the social and economic conditions of its time with remarkable vividness. Comment. (10m | 200words)

Key points:

1)Sagam Litt. fails to give political history because:

• While three Sangams were held, only the last gathering provides material relevant to political history.
• With Hero worship as prime focus, Poets often exaggerated victories and territories of the kings.
• Some of the names, places, dynasties, territories are imaginary and not corroborated by archeological evidences.
• Part of the literature is erotic and romantic in nature.

2)Sagam Litt. Gives social picture:

• Society cherished love, wars and heroes.
• Bards, priests and poets received royal patronage.
• Poets mention four varnas: Nobility, priests, traders and farmers.
• Society divided into clans (Kuti), however dining and social interactions permitted among them.
• Unlike North India, the South Indian society did not have stringent 4-fold varna stratification and Jati system.
• Women were allowed to choose partners, but life of widows was miserable.

3)Sagam Litt. Gives economy picture:

• Five economic zones (tinai) viz. hills, drylands, jungle, plains and coast, each supporting a different economic activity.
• Agriculture, hunting, gathering, fishing and pastoralism were primary occupations. Crafting, weaving served as secondary source of income.
• Women formed a significant part of labour force, particularly in paddy cultivation, craft and weaving.
• Kings received income from trade, tributes and plunder. Regular system of taxation was absent. However, export of pepper, ivory, silk, cotton and booty from raids made the kings wealthy.

Q. Chola architecture represents a high watermark in the evolution of temple architecture. Discuss. (5 marks | 100 words)

Keypoints:

The Cholas followed and refined Pallava architecture, with following notable features:

1. Use of stones instead of bricks.
2. Walls decorated with sculptures and paintings of deities, kings and queen instead of lion motifs from Pallava.
3. Temples are enclosed by decorative walls and entrance (Gopuram);
4. have an audience hall (Mandap); a deity room (Garbhgriha); a pyramid like storey above the deity room (Vimana)
5. Ultimately the beautiful Shikara stone at the top – each with elaborate and meticulous carvings- Weighing in tonnes yet placed without help of cranes.

During their reign, Cholas studded the entire Tamil landscape with such temples including Nagaeshwvara, Brihadeshwvara, Airavateshwara and Chidambaram -their style even followed by other kingdoms in South India and Sri Lanka.

Q. Discuss the Tandava dance as recorded in the early Indian inscriptions. (5 marks |100 words)

• Spectrum’s culture book barely gives two lines.
• NIOS culture course ch. 12 mentions that “traditional Indian culture the function of dance was to give symbolic expression to religious ideas. The figure of Lord Shiva as Nataraja represents the creation and destruction of the cosmic cycle.”
• From a small paragraph in AL Basham page 310, it becomes obvious that ^above NIOS sentence is talking about Tandava dance.
•  In South India, religious dancing was part of the earliest known tradition –and Shiva himself is considered to have invented no less than 108 different dances.
• Some of his dances are calm and gentle, while others fierce, orgiastic, heroic, bold, vigorous and terrible- such as the Tandava dance of Nataraja.
• Tandava and Lasya, are two basic aspects of Classical Indian Dance, associated with Shiva and Parvati respectively.
• In Tandava dance form, the angry Shiva is surrounded by his drunken attendants (ganas), he beats out a wild rhythm which destroys the world at the end of the cosmic cycle.
• Thus Tandava dance is meant to give symbolic expression to religious idea of Shiva being the Destroyer among the trinity of Bramha, Vishnu and Mahesh.

Ancient Hindu scriptures narrate various occasions when Shiva or other gods have performed the Tandava viz.

1. When Sati jumped in sacrificial fire in Daksha’s Yajna to give up her life, Shiva performed the Rudra Tandava to express his grief and anger.
2. The Bhagavata Purana talks of Krishna dancing his Tandava on the head of the serpent Kaliya.
3. According to Jain text: Indra performed Tandava in honour of Rishabha’s birth (Jain tirthankar).
4. Shivapradosha stotra mentions: when Shiva performs the Sandhya Tandava, the other gods like Brahma, Vishnu, Sarasvati, Lakshmi and Indra play musical instruments and sing Shiva’s praises.
5. In some temple sculptures, Ganesha is depicted in Eight armed form, dancing the Tandava.