Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The One Lord
Here is a composition attributed to Kabir:
Tell me, brother, how can there be
No one lord of the world but two?
Who led you so astray?
God is called by many names:
Names like Allah, Ram, Karim, Keshav, Hari, and Hazrat.
Gold may be shaped into rings and bangles.
Isn't it gold all the same?
Distinctions are only in words that we invent...
Kabir says they are both mistaken.
Neither can find the only Ram. One kills the goat, the other cows.
They waste their lives in disputation.
(1) Name any two scriptures in which verses, ascribed to Kabir, have been compiled.
(2) How did Kabir describe the 'Ultimate Reality’?
(3) Explain the arguments given by Kabir against the lords of the world of different communities.
(4) Do you agree with Kabir? Give your own views as well.
OR
A warning for Europe
Bernier warned that if European kings followed the Mughal model:
Their kingdoms would be very far from being well-cultivated and peopled, so well built, so rich, so polite and flourishing as we see them. Our kings are otherwise rich and powerful; and we must avow that they are much better and more royally served. They would soon be kings of deserts and solitudes, of beggars and barbarians, such 165 as those are whom I have been representing (the Mughals) ... We should find the great Cities and the great Burroughs (boroughs) rendered uninhabitable because of ill air, and to fall to ruine (ruin) without any bodies (anybody) taking care of repairing them; the hillocks abandon'd, and the fields overspread with bushes, or fill'd with pestilential marishes (marshes) , as hath been already intimated.
(1) What kind of warning European traveller wants to give? Describe briefly.
(2) 'On what accounts Bernier's description was at variance with the contemporary Mughal records.' Explain.
(3) Explain Bernier's suggestions given about the great cities.
(1) Two scriptures in which Kabir’s verses are compiled include Kabir Bijak and Kabir Granthavali.
(2) Kabir’s description:
(i) There is only one God in the world. He is known by many names.
(ii) He condemned any kind of rituals or sacrifices.
(3) Kabir argued against the lords of the world of different communities in the following manner:
(a) All religious distinctions are man-made
(b) There is only one God
(c) He is known as Ram, Rahim, Allah …… etc.
(d) He says that religions emphasize on unnecessary rituals and keep fighting with each other.
(4) I agree with Kabir. I also believe that there is only one God and that rituals should be discarded.
OR
(1) Bernier warns the European kings about the consequences that can come about if the Mughal model is followed. They would end up as kings of beggars and barbarians …… etc.
(2) According to Abul Fazl, Land revenue was a remuneration of sovereignty for the protection that Mughal ruler provided to his subject and not a rent.
(a) Land revenue was not even a land tax and it was a tax on the crop.
(b) Bernier portrayed India under Mughal rule in a negative light, while the Mughal records show that trade flourished and Indian crafts were in great demand.
(3) Bernier suggested that:
(i) The kings of Europe were royally served and were rich and powerful.
(ii) They should not follow the example of Mughal rulers and become rulers of deserts, beggars and barbarians…etc
