Topic 3 AP Exam Practice
Multiple-Choice Questions
Questions 1 to 3 refer to the excerpt below.
“The Hindus believe that there is no country but theirs, no nation like theirs, no kings like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like theirs. They are haughty, foolishly vain, self-conceited, and stolid. They are by nature [reluctant] in communicating that which they know, and they take the greatest possible care to withhold it from men of another caste among their own people, still much more, of course, from any foreigner. . . . Their haughtiness is such that, if you tell them of any science or scholar in Khorasan [a region in southwest Asia] and Persia, they will think you to be both an ignoramus and a liar. If they traveled and mixed with other nations, they would soon change their mind, for their ancestors were not as narrow-minded as the present generation is.”
Al-Beruni, Muslim scholar at the court of Mahmud of Ghazni,
early 11th century
1. Which element of Al-Beruni’s point of view does he express most clearly in this passage?
- (A) He was a monotheist writing about people he considered polytheists.
- (B) He was a non-Hindu who was writing about Hindus.
- (C) He belonged to a group that had been conquered by the people he was writing about.
- (D) He grew up in a region to the west of the region he was describing.
2. Which part of India’s history most directly supports al-Beruni’s claim about how the Hindu culture he observed differed from earlier culture in India?
- (A) The decreasing importance of the caste system
- (B) The policies on religion of Ashoka
- (C) The development of the Bhakti movement
- (D) The raids by Mahmud of Ghazni
3. The intended audience of this excerpt most likely consisted of
- (A) young Hindus in Khorasan and Persia
- (B) the older generation of Vaishyas in South Asia
- (C) Buddhists who might not be familiar with Hindus
- (D) Muslims who lived in South Asia
Short-Answer Questions
1. Use the passage below to answer all parts of the question that follows.
“ ‘Moreover, you should not say this, since even fools know that wives should follow their husbands. For thus it is said:
• Moonlight goes with the moon, the lightning clings to the cloud, and women follow their husbands . . . .
• A woman who follows after her husband shall surely purify three families: her mother’s, her father’s, and that into which she was given in marriage. . . .
• What profit is there in the life of a wretched woman who has lost her husband? Her body is as useless as a banyan tree in a cemetery. . . .’
Thus speaking she fell at the king’s feet, begging that a fire be provided for her. And when the king heard her words . . . he caused a pyre to be erected . . . and gave her leave . . . . and in his presence [she] entered the fire together with her husband’s body.”
Anonymous collection of stories about a semi-legendary king in South Asia named Vikrama, assembled between the 11th and 13th centuries
2. Answer all parts of the question that follows.