Friday 13 January 2012

UGC change pattern from June 2012






From June 2012 onwards the pattern for Paper III will be changed.UGC has decided that all the question paper for the test will be objective type. Due to the unhappiness expressed for subjective typr question paper by the students and delay in declaring the results, UGC has taken interviews in changing the pattern of Paper III. Students can expect results much before the next NET exam.
Students appearing for the NET will be able to evaluate their performance immediately after Exam.The UGC, decided that candidates can take carbon prints of their optical reader answer sheets with them for verification at their homes. UGC chairperson Ved Prakash has said that it will enable students to know instantly how well they have attmpted the questions in the test. 
UGC’s NET examination consists of three papers with papers I and II being objection type and paper III being descriptive type, till date. Earlier in June 2010, the structure of paper III of NET exam was revised into 2 essay questions, 3 analytical/evaluation questions, 9 definitional/short answer questions and 5 text-based questions.
“The commission discussed issues pertaining to objectivity in making of paper III, transparency, reducing the inter and intra examiner variability in marking of paper III, delay in declaration of NET results and also recommendations of the NET moderation committee to change paper III from descriptive to objective type on the pattern of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - NET examination,” UGC member said in an interview.
The UGC, which is the highest decision making body for higher education in the country, has also considered the issue of relaxation in marks for differently-abled candidates in the NET examination and decided to reduce minimum qualifying marks for them.
Now differently-abled candidates have to get 35 marks in paper I and II separately and 80 marks combining papers I and II combined and 80 marks in paper III. Even though UGC’s decision has eased the pressure of the student community, the academic community felt that only with descriptive questions one can judge the candidate’s in-depth knowledge of a subject.

Thursday 8 December 2011

ANCIENT INDIA: SOURCES, LITERATURE AND SCIENCE


ANCIENT INDIA: SOURCES, LITERATURE AND SCIENCE

INFORMATION SOURCES FOR ANCIENT INDIA
Indian literary sources
SourceAuthorLanguageDateNotes
Veda SamhitasVariousSanskrit1st m.
BCE
Gives account of life of people in addition to philosophy, religion etc
ArthashastraChanakyaSanskrit4th c. BCECovers Mauryan period under Chandragupta Maurya
Treatise on statecraft, economy and military strategy
Sangam literatureVariousTamilc. 600 BCE – 300 CEPrimarily Dealt with everyday themes
Foreign literary sources
SourceAuthorLanguageDateNotes
IndikaMegasthenesGreek4th c. BCEAmbassador of Seleucus I to court of Chandragupta Maurya
Used by later writers Strabo and Arrian
Describes geography, politics, various kingdoms, caste system
IndicaArrianGreek1st c. CEConsidered one of most important sources about India
Covers travel of Alexander’s officer Nearchus from India to Babylon
Covers geography, esp. Indus and Ganges
Describes social structure
Describes seven castes, physical appearance, absence of slavery
Used Indika (Megasthenes) as source
GeographicaStraboGreek1st c. CEDescriptive history of people and places all over the world
Consists of 17 volumes of material
Fa-HienChineseAround 400 CETravelled to India/Ceylon to obtain Buddhist scriptures
Epigraphical sources
Note that more than 55% of epigraphical inscriptions in India are in Tamil
InscriptionLocationAttributed to
(date)
Notes
Indus valley inscriptionsIVCc. 2600 – 1900 BCEIndus script remains undeciphered
Edicts of AsokaAll over IndiaAsoka
3rd c. BCE
In Praktrit, Sanskrit, Greek
Heliodorus pillarBesnagar
(Madhya Pradesh)
c. 110 BCEIn Sanskrit (Brahmi)
Dedicated by Heliodorus to god Vasudeva
Heliodorus was the Ambassador of Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to court of Sunga king Bhagabhadra
Describes relationship b/w Sungas and Indo-Greeks
Hathigumpha incriptionUdayagiri
(Orissa)
Kharavela
(Kalinga)
(150 BCE)
In Prakrit (Brahmi script)
Main source of info about Kharavela
Mentions conflict with Demetrius
Mentions conflict with Uttarapatha
Rabatak inscriptionRabatak
(Afghanistan)
Kanishka
127-151 CE
In Bactrian (Greek script)
Describes Kushan dynasty
Halmidi inscriptionHalmidi
(Karnataka)
c. 450 CEOldest inscription in Kannada (Brahmi script)
LITERATURE IN ANCIENT INDIA
Important ancient Sanskrit literature
WorkCategoryAuthor
(date)
Notes
MahabharataEpicVyasa
RamayanaEpicValmiki
AshtadhyayiTreatise on grammarPanini
(5th -4th c. BCE)
One of the earliest known grammars of Sanskrit
NiruktaTreatise on grammarYaksa
MrichakatikaPlayShudraka
(2nd c. BCE)
Set in Pataliputra
Hindi film Utsav was based on this
Karnabhara, CharudattaPlayBhasa
(1st BCE – 4thCE)
Bhasa wrote about 13 plays
He is considered to be one of most important Sanskrit authors (after Kalidasa)
UrubhangaPlayBhasaBased on Mahabharata
Depicts story of Duryodhana after fight with Bhima
MadhyamavyayogaPlayBhasaBased on the Mahabharata
MalavikagnimitramPlayKalidasa
(4th -5th CE)
Gupta period
Tells the story of King Agnimitra falling in love with servant girl Malavika
Agnimitra was the son and successor to Pushyamitra Sunga
AbhijanasakuntalamPlayKalidasaTells story of king Dushyanta and his marriage to Shankuntala
Considered to be Kalidasa’s most popular play
VikramaorvasiyamPlayKalidasaStory of king Pururavas in love with celestial Urvashi
RaghuvamsaPoetryKalidasaKings of Raghu dynasty
KumarasambhavaPoetryKalidasaStory of birth of Karthikeya
RtusamharaPoetryKalidasaDescribes six seasons using context of love
MeghadutaPoetryKalidasaStory of a Yaksha sending a message to his lover through a cloud
One of Kalidasa’s most popular poems
RatnavaliPlayHarshavardhana
(590-647 CE)
Story of king Udayana and princess Ratnavali
Contains one of the earliest references to festival Holi
NaganandaPlayHarshavardhanaDescribes prince Jimutavahana’s self-sacrifice to save serpents
PriyadarsikaPlayHarshavardhana
KiratarjuniyaPoetryBharaviDescribes contest b/w Arjuna and lord Shiva
Shishupala VadhaPoetryMagha
Important ancient literature in Tamil
Note that Sangam literature itself contains about 2400 poems by more than 470 poets. For obvious reasons, not all of them can be listed here
WorkCategoryAuthorNotes
EttuthokaiPoetryVarious
(600 BCE-
300 BCE)
Part of Sangam literature
Ettuthokai contains 8 anthologies:
Ainkurunuru, Akananuru, Purananuru, Kalittokai, Kuruntokai, Narrinai, Paripatal, Patirrupattu
Each of these anthologies in turn contain hundreds of poems by multiple authors
Deals with two themes: Akam (personal life) and Puram (war, politics)
PathupattuPoetryVariousPart of Sangam literature
Pathupattu contains 10 idylls (mid length books):
Tirumurugattruppatai, Kurinjipattu, Malaipatukatam, Maturaikkanji, Mullaipattu, Netunalvatai, Pattinappalai, Perumpanatrupatai, Porunaratruppatai, Sirupanatrupatai
Deals mainly with themes of nature
TolkappiyamGrammarTolkappiyarEarliest available work of Tamil literature
AimperumkappiyamEpicsVariousCollection of five large narrative epics
The five epics were: Silappadhigaram, Manimegalai, Sivaka Chintamani, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi
Specific epics described below
SilappadhigaramEpicIlango Adigal
(1st c. CE)
Describes story of Kannagi in her quest to save husband Kovalan
Describes in detail life, politics, trade, settlements of Greeks etc
Story evolves in themes of three: three kingdoms, three heroes, three heroines etc
Considered one of most important ancient Tamil literature
ManimegalaiEpicSeethalai Sathanar
(1st-2nd c. CE)
Story of Manimegalai, daughter of Kovalan
Sequel to Silappadhigaram
Sivaka ChintamaniEpicTirutakkatevarStory of man who becomes king and then renounces throne
ValayapathiEpicUnknownWork lost
KundalakesiEpicNagakuthanarOriginal work lost, only fragments survive
Supposedly describes story of Buddhist monk Kundalakesi
TirukkuralEthicsThiruvalluvarCouplets of ethics
Contains 1330 couplets
Thirukkural remains the book translated into most number of languages in the world
SCIENCE IN ANCIENT INDIA
WorkSubjectAuthorNotes
Vedanga JyotishaAstrologyLagadha
(1st c. BCE)
Describes rules for tracking motion of sun and moon
YavanajatakaAstrologySphujidvaja
1st-2nd c. CE)
Translated it mean “Nativity as per the Greeks”
It is a collection of astrology-related ideas borrowed from Greek world
Gives rules for building horoscopes
Surya SiddhantaAstronomyEstablishes rules to determine motions of stellar objects
Paulisa Siddhanta
(Doctrine of Paul)
AstronomyBased on works of Paul of Alexandria
(c. 378 CE)
Romaka Siddhanta
(Doctrine of the Romans)
AstronomyBased on works of Rome
It is the only Indian work based on the tropical system
Vasishta SiddhantaAstronomyAttributed to sage Vasishta
PanchasiddhantikaAstronomyVarahamihira
(c. 550 CE)
Work that compares five treatises on astronomy viz. Surya Siddhanta, Paulisa Siddhanta, Romaka Siddhanta, Vasishta Siddhanta and Paitamaha Siddhanta
Sulba sutrasMathematicsBaudhayana (c. 800 BCE), Apasthamba (c. 600 BCE), Katyayana (c. 200 BCE)Baudhayana enumerated the Pythagoras theorem. He also described square root of 2 and geometric shapes such as squares and rectangles
Apasthamba and Katyayana developed these principles further
ChandahsastraMathematicsPingala
(4th-2nd c. BCE)
First known description of binary numeral system in the world
Also describes Pascal’s triangle, binomial theorem and Fibonacci numbers
AryabhatiyaAstronomy, mathematicsAryabhata
(c 522 CE)
Introduced decimal value notation
Describes heliocentric model of solar system
Explained lunar and solar eclipses
Gave duration of one year as 365 days 6 hrs 12 min 30 sec
Gave value of pi (3.1416)
Correctly calculated earth’s circumference as 24,835 miles
Aryabhata’s principles are still in use for fixing the Hindu calendar Panchanga
MahabhaskariyaMathematics, astronomyBhaskara I
(c. 600 – 680 CE)
Representation of numbers in positional system
Solved Wilson’s theorem and Pell equation
BrahmasputasiddhantaMathematics, astronomyBrahmagupta
(c. 630 CE)
Describes solution of linear equation
Solve system of simultaneous indeterminate equations
Sum of series
Introduced the concept of zero
Formula for cyclic quadrilaterals
Rebutted the idea that moon is farther from earth than the sun
couertesy-iashelp.com