Daily Answer Writing GS 1 (Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India)

Subject: GS 1

Syllabus: Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.

Questions

1. Temple architecture of both North and South reflect the religious practices and social life prevalent at that time. Discuss. (150 Words, 10 Marks)
2. The revolutionary activities after the start of the Swadeshi movement had their own modus operandi. List the reasons for these activities and also discuss their contributions in different regions of India. (150 Words, 10 Marks)

Model Structure 

1. Temple architecture of both North and South reflect the religious practices and social life prevalent at that time. Discuss.
(150 Words, 10 Marks)

Model Structure

Introduction

• Nagara, Dravida and Vesara are three types of temples in India according to the features and type of architecture followed. Mundeshwari temple in Bihar and Bhitargaon of Uttar Pradesh are two oldest temples in India from which study of temple architecture begins.

Main Body

• The three aforementioned styles are structural types of temples. Vesara was developed by Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, after the other two were developed on a large scale. They were built keeping in mind practices of the people because religion was very close to the people and temples were a means to practice it. They reflect the religious practices and social life by -
  • Large gatherings of people in sabha and samiti was a recurring feature, which also took place in mandapa of a temple especially during festivals.
  • Just like the most important person in society lived at the centre of habitation, garbhagriha was in the centre of mandap and was a place to keep the deity.
  • For ceremonial baths during auspicious occasions, like Makar Sakranti, there were large water tanks especially in Dravidian temples.
  • Dance was and is an important part of culture and it was performed in the Mandapa area.
  • Also, they were great centers of vedic learning and were also used to deliver justice.
  • Presiding deities with family members were arranged in Panchayatan style.
  • Few areas, especially tribal areas saw presiding deity to be female due to matrilineal society. Eg- Kamakhya temple of Assam.

Conclusion

• Thus it can be said that temple architecture of ancient times by dynasties like Pallavas, Cholas, Guptas, Rashtrakuta, etc were in line with the social realities of those times.

2. The revolutionary activities after the start of the Swadeshi movement had their own modus operandi. List the reasons for these activities and also discuss their contributions in different regions of India. (150 Words, 10 Marks)

Model Structure

Introduction

• The leaders of revolutionary activities involved those who had less confidence in constitutional methods of struggle and had only a vision of violent overthrow of colonial power. Majorly composed of youth, they were discontent when any movement was withdrawn and took to individual action to accomplish their goals.

Main Body

• These revolutionaries included Bhagat Singh, Ramprasad Bismil, Surya Sen, Jatin Das etc and were spread in major areas like Bengal, Punjab, Bombay and Assam. They were motivated to work in their own way due to reasons like-
  • Withdrawal of the Swadeshi movement due to a split in the Congress made them impatient and frustrated.
  • Russian Nihilists and Irish nationalists gave them the confidence to carry out the same actions like individual heroism, popular assassinations and swadeshi dacoities.
  • They conspired against the British by getting funding from enemies of the British and also imbibed their methods.
  • Post-World War repression and shortage of food and essential commodities made them vengeful, and they lost trust in the colonial government.
  • Frequent famines and lavish expenditure of the British in durbars along with brutal killings like the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the killing of their leader in Lala Lajpat Rai, made them take this path.
• Though the revolutionary activities of different regions were not secluded and impacted each other, it was centred around regions like-
  • Punjab- Revolutionary tendency was fuelled by exploitative land revenue, famines, beggars and irrigation tax. Leaders like Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh released journals and newspapers to reach the masses. They also organised the Ghadar revolution abroad to get more support and funding.
  • Bengal- secret societies were an important feature here and Anushilan Samiti and Yugantar are two notable examples. They gave physical and moral training to their cadres, which later resulted in the infamous Alipore conspiracy case, Barrah dacoity and the Delhi conspiracy trial.
  • Maharashtra was not behind and saw armed revolt by the Ramao peasant force, popular killing by the Chapekar brothers, Mitra Mela and Abhinav Bharat as a secret society.

Conclusion

• The end of these revolutionary activities was common to other mass movements but the methods employed by them gave a reason to the British to come down heavily on these groups. Many were given death sentences and deported, and many went abroad to escape the wrath of the colonial government.

Mains Focus Group + Write Unlimited (for Mains 2025)

One Stop Solution for UPSC Mains 2025

Know More

Next Post