20 multiple-choice (MCQ / objective) questions from this chapter, in the common exam-style shapes. Every question comes with an explanation along with the answer, so you remember why the option is correct, not just which one it is.
1 Direct Questions
Direct Questions
- 1 markThe term ‘Sanskritisation’ was coined by which sociologist?
(A) Satish Saberwal(B) M.N. Srinivas(C) Rajni Kothari(D) A.K. Ramanujan - 1 markIn the definition of Sanskritisation, the ‘high’ caste whose customs are taken over is specifically described as a:
(A) ‘Twice-born’ (dwija) caste(B) Dominant political caste(C) Backward caste(D) Landowning caste - 1 markWhat did the Backward Classes Movement emphasise about the upward mobility of caste groups and individuals?
(A) The role of secular factors(B) Migration to cities(C) Adopting Sanskritic rituals(D) Conversion to another religion - 1 markThe book says there were different kinds of Westernisation. Besides the general spread of Western cultural traits, which kind does it describe?
(A) A religious conversion movement(B) A regional dialect of English(C) A westernised sub-cultural pattern among a minority who first contacted Western culture(D) A legal reform imposed by the British government - 1 markIn which year did Raja Ravi Varma receive his first paid commission, to paint the Kizhakke Palat Krishna Menon family?
(A) 1901(B) 1870(C) 1914(D) 1857 - 1 markThe definition of modernity quoted in this chapter (local ties giving way to universal commitments, choice over birth) is from which book?
(A) Caste and Modern Politics(B) Structure and Transformation(C) The Modernity of Tradition(D) Cultural Diversity and Social Discontent - 1 markAccording to Rajni Kothari’s argument in Box 2.5, what is the more useful point of departure for studying caste and politics?
(A) Whether caste is disappearing(B) How caste can be abolished by law(C) Whether caste has stopped mattering in politics(D) What form caste is taking under modern politics, and what form politics is taking in a caste-oriented society - 1 markRaja Ram Mohun Roy attacked the practice of sati using which combination of appeals?
(A) Only Hindu shastras(B) Only British law(C) Both humanitarian/natural-rights doctrines and Hindu shastras(D) Only humanitarian and natural-rights doctrines
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): Sanskritisation has been criticised for bringing about a structural change in the caste system.
Reason (R): Sanskritisation leads only to a positional change for some individuals, while the underlying unequal structure continues.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R correctly explains A(B) Both A and R are true, but R does not correctly explain A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): Jotiba Phule opened the first school for women in Pune.
Reason (R): This was because Bal Gangadhar Tilak provided the funding to build the school.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R correctly explains A(B) Both A and R are true, but R does not correctly explain A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true
3 Match the Following
Match the Following
- 1 markMatch List I (Organisation) with List II (What the chapter says about it).
List I: (i) Brahmo Samaj (ii) Arya Samaj (iii) All-India Muslim Ladies Conference (iv) Dharma Sabha
List II: (1) Founded in Punjab (2) Opposed sati (3) Founded in 1914 (4) Petitioned the British against reformers reinterpreting sacred texts
(A) i-2, ii-1, iii-3, iv-4(B) i-2, ii-4, iii-1, iv-3(C) i-1, ii-2, iii-4, iv-3(D) i-4, ii-3, iii-2, iv-1
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markStatement I: Attempts to fight social discrimination existed only after colonial rule began.
Statement II: Such attempts were central to Buddhism, the Bhakti movement and Sufi movements even before colonial rule.
(A) Both statements are true(B) Statement I is false, Statement II is true(C) Both statements are false(D) Statement I is true, Statement II is false - 1 markStatement I: Only castes considered ‘upper caste’ made conscious efforts to westernise.
Statement II: The Thiyyas of Kerala, not considered ‘upper caste’, showed conscious efforts to westernise.
(A) Both statements are false(B) Both statements are true(C) Statement I is true, Statement II is false(D) Statement I is false, Statement II is true
5 Chronological Ordering
Chronological Ordering
- 1 markArrange these named events from the chapter in chronological order.
1. All-India Muslim Ladies Conference founded
2. Keshav Chandra Sen visits Madras
3. Ravi Varma’s first paid commission
4. Vishnu Shastri’s Marathi translation of Vidyasagar published
(A) 4-3-2-1(B) 2-3-4-1(C) 1-2-3-4(D) 2-4-3-1
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 markSir Syed Ahmed Khan’s interpretation of Islam emphasised the validity of free enquiry, which he called ______.
(A) Ijtihad(B) Purdah(C) Fatwa(D) Ijma - 1 markThe book calls the shift of caste from a religious framework to functioning as political pressure groups the ______ of caste.
(A) Sanskritisation(B) Westernisation(C) Modernisation(D) Secularisation
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markThe book says three of these four processes can be understood better as complex responses of the people of India to the changes colonialism brought about. Which one is NOT among those three?
(A) Westernisation(B) Secularisation(C) Sanskritisation(D) Modernisation
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
Kumud Pawade’s autobiography recounts how a Dalit woman became a Sanskrit teacher. As a student she was drawn to Sanskrit, perhaps because it was the means through which she could break into a field that had not been open to her on grounds of gender and caste, and perhaps because it would let her read in the original what the texts had to say about women and Dalits. As she pursued her studies she met reactions ranging from surprise to hostility, and from guarded acceptance to brutal rejection. As she says: ‘The result is that although I try to forget my caste, it is impossible to forget. And then I remember an expression I heard somewhere: What comes by birth, but can’t be cast off by dying, that is caste.’
- 1 markBased on the passage, what TWO possible reasons drew Kumud Pawade towards studying Sanskrit?
(A) A personal interest in poetry alone(B) Family pressure and financial need(C) Breaking into a field closed by gender/caste, and reading the texts’ own view of women and Dalits(D) A government scholarship scheme - 1 markKumud Pawade quotes an expression she had heard somewhere: ‘What comes by birth, but can’t be cast off by dying, that is caste.’ What does the expression mean, as she uses it?
(A) Caste has no real meaning in modern India(B) Caste ends automatically after death(C) Caste can be changed through education(D) Caste is a permanent identity that cannot be escaped, even by trying to forget it
9 True / False
True / False
- 1 markConsider these statements.
(i) The chapter says Westernisation always brings modern democratic values with it.
(ii) The chapter quotes Srinivas: Sanskritisation normally presupposes an improvement in economic or political position, or a higher group self-consciousness resulting from contact with a source of the ‘Great Tradition’.
(A) Only (i) is true(B) Only (ii) is true(C) Both are true(D) Both are false
Answer Key and Explanations
Direct Questions
- (B) The book states plainly that the term Sanskritisation was coined by M.N. Srinivas, who also gave its definition.
- (A) Srinivas’s definition specifically names a high, and in particular a ‘twice-born’ (dwija), caste as the reference model.
- (A) The book says a crucial result of the Backward Classes Movement was to emphasise the role of secular factors in the upward mobility of caste groups and individuals.
- (C) The other kind is a westernised sub-cultural pattern that emerged through a minority section of Indians, particularly intellectuals, who first came into contact with Western culture.
- (B) The book’s Box 2.2 dates this first paid commission to 1870.
- (C) The quoted definition is from Rudolph and Rudolph’s ‘The Modernity of Tradition: Political Development in India’ (1967).
- (D) Box 2.5 says the doctrinaire moderniser begins with the question ‘is caste disappearing?’, but ‘a more useful point of departure would be: what form is caste taking under the impact of modern politics, and what form is politics taking in a caste-oriented society?’
- (C) The book says Raja Ram Mohun Roy attacked sati on the basis of both humanitarian/natural-rights appeals and Hindu shastras together.
Assertion-Reason
- (D) A is false: the book’s criticism is the opposite, that Sanskritisation ‘leads to no structural change but only positional change of some individuals’. R is exactly that sentence of the book, so it is true. The answer is (D).
- (C) A is true, exactly as the book states. R is false: the book never says Tilak funded or was involved in Phule’s school; Tilak appears elsewhere, on the opposite side of the pre-Aryan/Aryan debate, not as a funder of this school. (Outside the book: Phule’s first girls’ school in Pune dates from 1848, and Tilak was born in 1856.)
Match the Following
- (A) Brahmo Samaj opposed sati (2); Arya Samaj was founded in Punjab (1); the All-India Muslim Ladies Conference was founded in 1914 (3); the Dharma Sabha petitioned the British against reformers (4).
Statement-Based Questions
- (B) Statement I is false and Statement II is exactly what the book says: pre-colonial reform existed and was central to Buddhism, Bhakti and Sufi movements.
- (D) Statement I is false, exactly because Statement II (a real example the book gives) is true and complicates the generalisation.
Chronological Ordering
- (D) In order: Keshav Chandra Sen visits Madras (1864), Vishnu Shastri’s translation (1868), Ravi Varma’s commission (1870), All-India Muslim Ladies Conference founded (1914): 2-4-3-1.
Fill in the Blanks
- (A) The book uses the term ‘ijtihad’ for the free enquiry Sir Syed Ahmed Khan emphasised.
- (D) This changed role is what the book names the secularisation of caste.
Odd One Out
- (C) The book says Sanskritisation pre-dates the coming of colonial rule, while Modernisation, Secularisation and Westernisation ‘can be understood better as complex responses’ to the changes colonialism brought about.
Passage-Based Questions
- (C) The passage gives both, each with a ‘perhaps’: Sanskrit may have let her enter a field closed to her on grounds of gender and caste, and may have let her read in the original what the texts said about women and Dalits.
- (D) She quotes the saying to make her own point: ‘although I try to forget my caste, it is impossible to forget.’ Caste is an identity fixed by birth that cannot be shed, not even by death.
True / False
- (B) (i) is false, since the book separates external Westernisation from modern values. (ii) is true and close to Srinivas’s own words: ‘a higher group self-consciousness resulting from its contact with a source of the Great Tradition of Hinduism’.
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