0. Mrunal Mains Answerkey: Indian Culture, Ancient History (2013)

8/18/2019 0. Mrunal Mains Answerkey: Indian Culture, Ancient History (2013)

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- Mrunal - http://mrunal.org -

[GS1] Culture: Answerkey & Analysis of Mains-2013

Questions Sangam, Chola, Tandav & Studyplan,

Booklist for UPSC Mains-2014

Posted By On 04/01/2014 @ 12:16 am In History | 77 Comments

1. Prologue2. Q1. Sangam Literature

1. Part#1: doesn’t help in Political history because:2. Part#2: Social conditions in Sangam Age

3. Part#3: Economic conditions in Sangam Age3. Q2. Chola Temples4. Q3. Tandav Dance5. Analysis/Rambling/Commentary/Observations:

1. Marks per question2. Difficulty level & BackbreakingTM

3. Causal revision = #Epicfail4. Focus on Dramatic part = also #EPICFAIL5. Studyplan for Mains-2014 Culture section6. Working professionals don’t waste salary7. No point in crying over the spilled milk

Prologue

The syllabus is new, pattern is new, BackbreakingTM techniques are new:hence any analysis is hollow and shallow, without solving the questions first.So, Let’s start with the…Culture Questions in GSM-I-2013

Following questions were asked: marks words

1. Though not very useful from the point of view of aconnected political history of South India, the Sangamliterature portrays the social and economic conditionsof its time with remarkable vividness. Comment.

10 200

2. Chola architecture represents a high watermark in theevolution of temple architecture.

5 100

3. Discuss the Tandava dance as recorded in the earlyIndian inscriptions.

5 100

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20 out of 250 marsk= only 8% of the paper. 20 400

The Answer Sources

To solve above questions, I’ve used following books:

Book typeDid the book have sufficient

content for the given question?

SANGAM CHOLA TANDAV

SchoolTextbook

NCERTs hardly hardlydidn’tfind

NIOS Culture hardlyfewlines

one line

Tamilnadu Class 11 yes yesdidn’tfind

ICSE Class 9 yes yesdidn’tfind.

India’s Ancient Past RS Sharma.aka the fabled old NCERT.

yes yes didn’tfind.

CompetitiveExam

Spectrum’s Culture book hardly yes just 1line

TMH General Studies Manual yes yesdidn’tfind.

Krishna Reddy yes yesdidn’tfind.

Readymade material fromCoaching/Correspondence/postalclass.

didn’tuse

didn’tuse

didn’tuse

AcademicAL Basham, A Wonder that wasIndia

yes yesFewlines.

Yes= means at least 60% of the answer content was available. “Yes”doesn’t mean 100% content for the said question is given verbatim in thesaid book.Didn’t find= either the answer was not given there OR I didn’t read

carefully.Didn’t use=because same content given in standard reference books forfree/ cheap price.

Now time for the answers:

Q1. Sangam Literature

Q. 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)

Approach: Have to comment on three issues:

http://mrunal.org/2014/01/download-history-textbooks-of-tamilnadu-state-education-board-for-culture-world-history-ancient-medieval-freedom-struggle.html


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1. Sangam literature doesn’t help much to dig POLITICAL history of SouthIndia.

2. Sangam literature helps understanding the SOCIAL condition of SouthIndia.

3. Sangam literature helps understanding ECONOMIC condition of SouthIndia.

BOOKS NOT MUCHUSEFUL USEFUL

1. A few rudimentarypoints underNCERT Class 6and class 12.

2. NIOS culturecourse, Ch6 talksabout Sangam but

hardly anything on‘socio-economic’details.

3. Spectrum’sculture book talksabout Sangamliterature buthardly anything onsociety oreconomy.

1. 2/3rd of the answer (Society + Economy) canbe directly finished from ICSE Class 9 Historytextbook alone. But doesn’t talk about firstpart (Why Sangam literature doesn’t helpunderstanding pol.history of S.India?)

2. ^same as above with TMH General StudiesManual.

3. Old NCERT Class 11 = India’s Ancient past RSSharma (under Oxford Publication). MatterCovered under chapter 3 and 22.

4. Tamilnadu State Board History Textbook Class 11,Chapter 8

5. AL Basham, A wonder that was India: underchapter 9.

6. Indian History, Krishna Reddy Chapter on PostMauryan India.

Part#1: doesn’t help in Political history because:

1. Three Sangams held between 100-250ADI. First sangam: attended by Gods and Sages. Work didn’t survive.

II. Second: only Tolkappiyam (grammar book) survives = doesn’t helpmuch.

III. Third (last) Sangam: has eight anthologies (Ettutogai). Here too, notall work has survived. + has following limitations:

2. Since poets were patronized by ruling elites- exaggerations about thevictories, territorial influence. Even a cattle raid on village would benarrated as war .

3. More focus Hero-worship rather than how they shaped power balanceand foreign relation with other states.

4. some of the names, titles, dynasties, territories, wars and like mentionedthese poems are imaginary.

5. No archeological evidences to corroborate certain settlements mentionedin Sangam Poems. e.g. Kaveripattanam.

6. Many of these poems are erotic / romantic in nature.7. Much of the work still untranslated. Thorough study yet to be done.

Part#2: Social conditions in Sangam Age

https://files.secureserver.net/0ssfygXRZ9VvoP


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From Sangam literature, we get following information about South Indiansociety:

VALUES

South Indian society celebrated both love (Akam poems)and wars (Puram poems)Heroic death, sacrifice, stones and memorials greatlycherished.

VARNAS

Sangam poets mention four Varnas:1. Arashar (King/nobility)2. Brahmanas (priests)3. Viashiyar (traders)4. Velala (Farmer)- they even held civil and military post.

Brahmanas (priests) performed yagna before warsPriests, poets and bards (Panar): respected by society andpatronized by ruling elite.

Women

allowed to choose their partnersLove marriage common practice.Widow life miserable.Sati practice was also prevalent upper caste. (hard tobelieve but yes, it is given in TN state text book.)

socialInteraction

Society divided on clan based groups called “Kuti”Inter-dining and social interaction among Kuti groups waspermitted.Meaning a stringent 4-fold stratification and Jati system of North Indian type, was not prevalent during that stage of Tamil Society, but appeared at later period.Society essentially in tribal-pastoral in character: Tribalcustoms, totem worship prevalent. people wore amulets toward off evil, bring rain and luck.

DEATH Varied from burial in urns to cremation rituals.

Part#3: Economic conditions in Sangam Age

From Sangam literature, we get following information about South IndianEconomy:

OVERALL

1. There were five economic zones (tinai), each supporting a

different economic activity. (hills, drylands, jungle, plainsand coast)2. While the kings received income from trade, tributes and

plunder, but a regular system of taxation was not seen.3. All three kingdoms (Chola, Chera, Pandya) wanted to


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Economy subjugate lesser chieftains, hence war, raid and plunderwere normal feature of the society- leading to destructionof resources and manpower. We can infer this fromSangam poems describing the sorrow of villagers, whosecattle and farm produced were plundered by enemychieftains.

Occupation

1. Agri, hunting, gathering, fishing and pastoralism = mainactivities

2. cattle raids are frequently mentioned in the poems=pastoral economy.

3. Tools were mainly used for hunting and raids. But Craftingspecialization was rudimentary, only served as secondarysource of income.

4. Traders were prosperous- dealt with salt, corn, textile andgold.

FOREIGNTRADE

5. Both inland and external trade was practiced.6. Major export: silk, cotton, ivory, pepper and pearls- All

highly valued by the foreigner. Sangam Poems narrateabout how Yavans came in their own vessels, purchasedpepper with gold, and supplied wine and women to Indianrulers to get trading permissions.

7. (Despite having no formal taxation system) Chola, Cheraand Pandiyan kingdoms became wealthy mainly by

exporting these commodities to Roman Empire and SouthEast Asian kingdoms. (and they didn’t have high currentaccount deficit because Sangam poems donot mentioncrude oil import.)

WOMEN inEconomy

8. agriculture: Women actively involved in planting, weeding,husking and winnowing of paddy

9. Spinning, weaving, basket making, garland making andflower selling were among other occupations pursed by

women.

—but this is more than 500 words. Have to compress:—

Keypoints- Sangam

Q. 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:1. While three Sangams were held, only the last gathering provides


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material relevant to political history.2. With Hero worship as prime focus, Poets often exaggerated

victories and territories of the kings.3. Some of the names, places, dynasties, territories are imaginary and

not corroborated by archeological evidences.4. Part of the literature is erotic and romantic in nature.

2. Sagam Litt. Gives social picture:

1. Society cherished love, wars and heroes.2. Bards, priests and poets received royal patronage.3. Poets mention four varnas: Nobility, priests, traders and farmers.4. Society divided into clans (Kuti), however dining and social

interactions permitted among them.5. Unlike North India, the South Indian society did not have stringent 4-

fold varna stratification and Jati system.6. Women were allowed to choose partners, but life of widows was

miserable.3. Sagam Litt. Gives economy picture:

1. Five economic zones (tinai) viz. hills, drylands, jungle, plains andcoast, each supporting a different economic activity.

2. Agriculture, hunting, gathering, fishing and pastoralism wereprimary occupations. Crafting, weaving served as secondary sourceof income.

3. Women formed a significant part of labour force, particularly inpaddy cultivation, craft and weaving.

4. Kings received income from trade, tributes and plunder. Regularsystem of taxation was absent. However, export of pepper, ivory,silk, cotton and booty from raids made the kings wealthy.

This is ~200 words.

Q2. Chola Temples

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

100 words can be easily gathered from any of the following books, but the real

problem= can you recall decent points worth 100 words in the actual examhall?

1. NIOS Culture, Ch. 13 (~50 words.)2. Class 9 ICSE History textbook, page 743. Tamilnadu Class 11 History textbook, chapter 13.4. Indian History, Krishna Reddy5. Under TMH General studies manual, section History of India=>art and

architecture=>Cholas. Sufficient content6. Spectrum’s culture book (page 145 in 2004’s edition)

7. AL Basham, Wonder that was India, Page 359-360

Anyway, let’s check the less boring points.

Cholas followed the architecture style of Pallavas and constructed numerous

https://files.secureserver.net/0ssfygXRZ9VvoP


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temples throughout their territory. Nagaesh-wvara, Brihadesh-wvara andAiravatesh-wara temples in Tanjore-Thanjavur region represent the zenith of Chola architectural style.

Notable features are following:

1. Material Started using stones instead of bricks.

2. Walls &Passages

have neatly detailed frescoes, sculptures and paintings-including birds, dancing figures, pictorial stories fromPuranas

3. Portraits

Some of the Chola temples contain beautiful life-sizedportraits of kings and queens. e.g. Rajaraja I and hisqueen lok-mahadevi, Rajendra I and his queen Chol-

mahadevi.

4. Garbhagriha chief deity room

5. Vimanathe 5-7 storeys above chief deity room. In Brihadeshwahratemple- 13 successive storeys.

6. Shikhara

above the Vimana (Storeys). Rajarajeshwara temple hasShikhara stone weighing almost 90 tonnes. Since theydidn’t have cranes to lift it, architects built a 4 km long

inclined path to drag the stone over the top.

Although Chola continued the art tradition of Pallavas, but abandoned the lion motifs from temple


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7. .Vs Pallavas walls.Chola temple pillars were constructed with greaterrefinement than Pallavas.

8. Nataraja

During Chola period, metal art showed remarkabledevelopment and was used for further decoration of temples.e.g Nataraja or dancing shiva at Chiadambaramtemple- described as the ‘cultural epitome’ of theChola period.

9. MandapAudience hall, for various ceremonies. Elaborate carvingsand pillars.

10. GopuramTemple gateways, which enclosed the entire templestructure with high walls.

11. Trend- Setters

Brihadeshwara temple by Rajaraja –I at Tanjore. Itwas the tallest of all Indian temple at that period.Other kingdoms in South India- and even in Sri Lanka,adopted the architectural style of Chola temples.

~256 words. Have to compress

Keypoints- Chola Temples

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

Keypoints:

The Cholas followed and refined Pallava architecture, with following notablefeatures:

1. Use of stones instead of bricks.

2. Walls decorated with sculptures and paintings of deities, kings and queeninstead 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 andChidambaram -their style even followed by other kingdoms in South India andSri Lanka.


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~110 words.

Q3. Tandav Dance

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

Spectrum’s culture book barely gives two lines.NIOS culture course ch. 12 mentions that “traditional Indian culture thefunction of dance was to give symbolic expression to religious ideas. Thefigure of Lord Shiva as Nataraja represents the creation and destruction of thecosmic cycle.”From a small paragraph in AL Basham page 310, it becomes obvious that^above NIOS sentence is talking about Tandava dance.

Anyways let’s combine:

1. In South India, religious dancing was part of the earliest known tradition–and Shiva himself is considered to have invented no less than 108different dances.

2. Some of his dances are calm and gentle, while others fierce, orgiastic,heroic, bold, vigorous and terrible- such as the Tandava dance of Nataraja.

3. Tandava and Lasya, are two basic aspects of Classical Indian Dance,associated with Shiva and Parvati respectively.

4. In Tandava dance form, the angry Shiva is surrounded by his drunkenattendants (ganas), he beats out a wild rhythm which destroys the world

at the end of the cosmic cycle.5. Thus Tandava dance is meant to give symbolic expression to religious

idea of Shiva being the Destroyer among the trinity of Bramha, Vishnu andMahesh.

~123 words.

Although original question is “Discuss Tandava as recorded in the early Indianinscriptions”= so even above answer is incomplete. Because it doesn’t talkabout any inscriptions. Finally “Wikipedia” (=the most unreliable source for

MCQs), gives the seemingly right points.

Ancient Hindu scriptures narrate various occasions when Shiva or other godshave 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 headof 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 andIndra play musical instruments and sing Shiva’s praises.


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5. In some temple sculptures, Ganesha is depicted in Eight armed form,dancing the Tandava.

~115 words.

Anyways, let’s combine and compress

Keypoints: Tandav Dance

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

1. Tandava and Lasya, are two basic aspects of Classical Indian Dance.Shiva himself is considered to have invented atleast 108 differentdances- including the fiercely aggressive Tandava- where he destroys theworld at the end of the cosmic cycle.

2. Thus Tandava is meant to give symbolic expression to religious idea of

Shiva being the Destroyer among the trinity of Gods.3. Ancient Hindu scriptures narrate many incidents where Tandava wasperformed including:

a. Shiva at the death of Sati, to express his grief and anger.b. Krishna on the head of serpant Kaliyac. Indra at the birth of Jain Tirthkar Rishabhdev

~100 words.

Analysis/Rambling/Commentary/Observations:

before reading further, make sure you’ve read above culture question-answersfirst, and also tried solving them at home from whatever books/material you’veat home.

Marks per question

Over the last few years, UPSC was moving towards “more questions for lessmarks” trend e.g.

No. Of Questions x Marks Per question =Total Marks1 60 602 30 60

4 15 60

5 12 60

In 2012’s General Studies Mains paper, some of the Questions were evenasked for “1 mark” each! E.g PV Sindhu, Mario Miranda.

So, it was natural for the players to expect that lot of questions will be of 1m, 2m, 5m each.Even in IFoS-2013 Mains exam, UPSC had asked all questions in 6-8marks range. so the expectation even more bolstered.Hence the study approach of most candidates= focused on gathering


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maximum number of “terms” with 20-50 words for each. Especially forculture, sci-tech, even for world-history to some extent.UPSC did follow that expected line: questions were indeed small, only interms of marks (5 marks and 10 marks each) but not in terms of length(100 words and 200 words each).

Difficulty level & BackbreakingTM

CULTURE QUESTIONSIN 2013

PREVIOUSLY

1. on Sangamliterature givingpicture of SouthIndia’s society andEconomy

1. Sangam literature has been asked under twomarkers in GS papers (2000 and 2007)

2. How do recent archaeological findings andSangam literary texts enlighten us about theearly state and society in South India? (2008under History optional)

2. Chola temples

1. GS paper in 1999 under two markers.2. Bring out the regional variations in the early

south Indian temple architectural styles.(2008 under History optional)

3. Tandav Dancenot seen in previous paper (or maybe I didn’t lookcarefully)

Two out three topics were not new, the only challenge was to bring 200and 100 words worth content respectively- especially for studentswithout history optional.For both questions- sufficient matter available in standard referencebooks, as we saw while solving the answers.But then a player wouldn’t have prepared such topics in that detail-because the previous trend of UPSC forced him to do Gadhaa majoori of mugging up 50 dozen folk dances, painters, authors etc. for 20-30 wordseach with hope that lot of 2 markers will be asked.

The GS1 paper started with culture question- hence most players wouldhave panicked and it indirectly affected their performance even inremaining questions from history-post-independence India andgeography where they did have sufficient answer points inside their head.Besides, even if the answer is verbatim given in a standard referencebook- hiding in the plain sight, doesn’t mean the aspirant can recall all thepoints during the actual exam. The stress, anxiety and fatigue doesn’t letthe mind perform @100% efficiency.Even if he can recall entire content, still it is humanly impossible to finish25 questions in 5000 words with high quality points within three hours.

Thus, once again, the innocent bystanders are massacred while UPSC deploys

BackbreakingTM move against coaching classes, rot learners (and seniorplayers*).


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Some more Conspiracy theories:

THEORY#1

All three culture questions are related to south India. BecauseSangam=South India, Chola=South India and TandavDance=Nataraja=associated with South India.In other words, the paper was set by a South Indianprofessor.So for Mains-2014, candidate must prepare South Indianculture topics thoroughly.

THEORY

#2

In CSAT, CAPF and CDS 2013 exams, UPSC has shown its prem for Buddism and Jainism MCQs. Prior to that, twomarkers related to folk dances and festivals.So Coaching walla (and senior players*) would haveassumed that similar Buddism-Jainism-cave-folk-festival

type stuff will come in Mains.Therefore, asking about South Indian culture was the most

logical step according to UPSC’s BackbreakingTM rulebookfor Mains-2013.And hence, the most logical thing to do for Mains-2014=ignore south Indian culture!

*it is a widely believed conspiracy theory that UPSC chairman prefers firsttimers over senior players. All this so called exam

reform/gimmicks/tomfoolery is meant to prevent any senior player fromgaining advantage by his repeated experience.

And as usual, my sympathies and respect goes for these hard working seniorplayers for they’re the victims of circumstances- everyone wants to crackexam in first trial, but Cinderella story doesn’t happen with everyone- so whatcan they do? Try again and again until age, attempt, money or willpower runsout.

Back to the culture topic:

Causal revision = #Epicfail

Frequent and serious revision is more important than wide coverage. e.gChola temples question: Gopuram, vimana, Mandap etc.= you’ve alreadycome across these terms many times in the same routine books like GSManual and Spectrum’s culture.But while reading, if you just superficially glance over the information“thik hai..thik hai ” (in the haste to finish reading many topics) then youcannot recall points in the exam=> low quality filler answers.

Focus on Dramatic part = also #EPICFAIL

In December 2013, the state election result came. BJP won in Madhya


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Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh; and emerged as the largest party in Delhi.

NewschannelAnchor

will BJP form government in Delhi? or will you give externalsupport to AAP? How will delhi result affect Modi’s chancesin 2014 general election? blah blah blah

BJP

spokesperson

But why are you so obsessed with Delhi? Delhi is worth only7 parliament seats. Why are you not talking about the other

large states that we’ve won- Rajasthan and MP? They’ll giveus good number of Parliament seats in 2014!

Same is the problem with some UPSC candidates. Always worry about thedramatic parts rather than paying attention to bigger picture.

In Prelims, just because one or two tough questions fromculture/classical dance come, so they panic, they start doing Ph.D studyon all classical dance forms, all temples, all painting, google n wiki dayand night …while ignoring the high-scoring areas such as freedom

struggle, geography, polity, Economy, Environment-biodiversity andScience.In mains, at max, culture is just 8%, even out of that, the toughestquestion the Tandav Dance is just 5 marks (2% of the whole paper) andthat too requires 100 words to be written.

Compare to that, there were plenty of questions in Indian History, worldhistory, post-independence India and geography (totaling >60% of theGS1 paper), where cost: benefit was quite good. So, that’s where yourfocus should be.In the game of chess, if you try to defend every pawn, you end up losingthe entire match. In short, a culture topic must be prepared but should not


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be prepared beyond its aukaat .

Studyplan for Mains-2014 Culture section

Q. What / How to prepare the culture section for Mains-2014? What books torefer?

GS preparation is like Kung-fu, every master develops his own style. you don’thave to read all of these following book, just mix-match-tweak as per yourrequirement and comfort level.

book commenthope for 2014cultureMCQ/Descriptive

(new) NCERT

Quite good for geography andscience theory based MCQs.

But their history textbooks havedumbed down entire India historyto secular case studies to preventany new PILs and controversies.As a result, New NCERT are nothelping much in thishistory/culture relatedMCQs/Descriptive. Even Buddism,Jainism related basic GK-MCQs isnot covered properly.

Almost uselessfor history.

NIOS

Had UPSC asked same questions in2m/20 words, then NIOS alone wouldhave sufficed. But unfortunately, it didnot.

Cursory reading.

Tamil NaduTextbooks

(TNT)

The History coverage is both usefulin MCQ and descriptive coveragefor competitive exams.Detailing is Similar to Old NCERT

but with eye candy fonts andpictures.available for free: Click ME

Very useful.

ICSE textbook

Two culture questions in Mains-2013= more like luck by chance.ICSE textbooks are not free. andfree alternative available (TNT)

Useful

Some of them available atMrunal.org/historyRemaining chapters will be

http://mrunal.org/2014/01/download-history-textbooks-of-tamilnadu-state-education-board-for-culture-world-history-ancient-medieval-freedom-struggle.html


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Old NCERT uploaded in near future.If you don’t have it, then there isalways Tamilnadu Textbooks(TNT)/GS Manual.

Useful

GS Manual

The history (+culture) section GSmanuals is written based on oldNCERT + a few books from historyoptional. so, if you’ve GS Manual,no need for doing double majoori with Old NCERT.

Useful but notessential.

Spectrum’sCulture book

Survived this time, but left limping.Overall future utility reduced

Not muchuseful.

AL BashamToo bulky, technical, academic in

nature.

Cost: benefit is

bad.

Krishna Reddy

Before CSAT era, UPSC prelimsused to have two papers: GS +optional.At that time, Krishna Reddy’sIndian History and Laxmikanth’sPub.Ad were the essential booksfor their respective optional

subjects.

Useful for peoplewith Historyoptional.Uselessfor others.

websiteswiki/ google / internet full of resourceson Indian culture.

Random surfing,Net Ph.D=useless.

coaching/postalmaterial

For culture section they’reemploying “Spray and pray”technique. i.e. they give you 600-700-1500 pages worth material, the

coverage is so large that it ishumanly impossible to mugup alldata.And if luck by chance any questionis asked in official UPSC exam,they can still make marketing claimthat it came from our material!

Even Xeroxingthem is a wastemoney andpaper.

So ^these are some of the books / sources for Indian culture. Design your own

studyplan/ kung-fu style according to your requirements for Culture section inMains 2014.

The focus should be on memorizing points that can help you assemble a 100-150 words content in the exam.


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If you have come across any other awesome resource/book, do mention it inthe comments below.

Working professionals don’t waste salary

In recent years, many working professionals have entered in the fray, butbecause of the job workload they can’t spare much time. So they’re always

looking for some way to reduce the studyload + they also have salary money tospare (because most of them unmarried).

Nowadays, working professional= main target audience for coaching-correspondence business. And the new GS syllabus’ uncertainty factorboomed the business like never before.

But in this article, you’ve seen that all questions could be solved directly fromStandard reference books (except Tandav dance). So, avoid falling into the“readymade material / external dependency” mindset- it doesn’t help in UPSC

exam. If you’ve big money to spend, better spent it on some “infrastructure”that helps in study- like more tubelights in the studyroom, bigger desk, morecomfortable studychair, faster internet, bigger monitor, tablet, laptop, rentalroom near office to save travel time etc. Don’t pour salary into drain forgarbage material.

No point in crying over the spilled milk

(Only meant for Players who wrote Mains-2013)

“For the exam you should have done this, you should have done that …” I’mnot going to preach any of that, because if you had known that UPSC wasgoing to ask these type of lengthy detailed questions, then you wouldhave definitely prepared in a different fashion accordingly.Based on your understanding of the previous trend, You had prepared inthe best manner you could. So, If some random person on internet claimshe wrote 250 out 250 marks, then you don’t have to become sleeplessand restless over it.

Remember the wisdom given in the Geeta

ःखेवनुनमनाःसखुषे ुवगतपहृः।वीतराग भयोधःथतधीम ु नयत॥े(२-५६)

The one who is not disturbed by miseries,Or elated in happiness.The one who is free from fear, anger andcutoffs,Is called a sage of steady mind.

So, Now it’s the time to move on- prepare for the interviews, prepare yourlocation-graduation related questions, prepare opinion based currentaffairs, prepare your hobbies and so on.And simultaneously, do work on whatever career backup/Postgraduation/other competitive exams you have.


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DO get a computer certificate. (CCC). http://www.nielit.in/student411ccc.htmDO enroll to any decent PG course in IGNOU’s distant educationprogram. http://www.ignou.ac.in/ignou/studentzone/programmelist

The next prelims is in late August 2014. That’s more than a half year away.You’ve already have the experience of clearing one CSAT, you don’t need tofocus on CSAT for 24/7 basis anymore.My point being, don’t be fixated in “ prelim-mains-interview-prelim-main-interview ”mindset, otherwise 3-5-7 years of youth life are gone in no time and one dayyou realize you don’t have PG, you don’t have work-ex, your life and biodata filebasically sucks.

This time, you’ve a long gap between Mains-2013 to Prelims-2014. Use thosemonths wisely. If you don’t want to execute any backplans, no problem. But atleast prepare the necessary groundwork. e.g

1. If MBA is your backup, then get the idea: when doCAT/MAT/CMAT/XAT/GMAT/IRMA etc. application forms come everyyear, when are the exams taken? What are the good colleges and coursesto apply for? What type of questions are asked? And so on.

2. If State service is your backup, then prepare all the static / theory stuff related to state history/geography/schemes/economy. That’ll also help ininterviews.

It is one thing to have career backup in your head, but it’s an entirely differentthing to actually set it in motion when you really want to execute that backup.

Therefore, Groundwork must be prepared in advance. I say this, not todemotivate you but to caution you-Lightening doesn’t strike on everyone, butnor does the Cinderella story happen with everyone- so don’t put all eggs inone basket.

Anyways, Next time, we’ll solve the Indian History/Freedom Struggle relatedportion from GS Paper I.

Article printed from Mrunal: http://mrunal.org

URL to article: http://mrunal.org/2014/01/gs1-culture-answerkey-analysis-of-mains-2013-questions-sangam-chola-tandav-studyplan-booklist-for-upsc-mains-2014.html

Copyright © 2014 Mrunal. All rights reserved.
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Documents

0. Mrunal Mains Answerkey: Indian Culture, Ancient History (2013)