Question

Which of the following was the decision of Indian history made by James Mill?
A) Early ages, middle ages and modern age.
B) Old age, middle age, modern age and contemporary age
C) Ancient, medieval and modern
D) Hindu, Muslim and British

Answer 1

Hint: He was a historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher from Scotland.
He is counted as one of the founders of the economics school of Ricardi. The monumental work ‘The History of British India’ was also published by him.

Complete answer:
Now let us look into the given options
Option A) Early ages, middle ages and modern age – is an incorrect answer because it was not a decision of the Indian history made by James Mill. Thus, it is incorrect here.
Option B) Old age, middle age, modern age and contemporary age – is an incorrect answer because this decision of Indian history was not made by James Mill. Thus, it is incorrect here.
Option C) Ancient, medieval and modern – is an incorrect answer because this is the decision of the Indian history which was not made by James Mill. Thus, it is incorrect here.
Option D) Hindu, Muslim and British – is a correct answer because Hindu, Muslim and British was the decision of the Indian history made by the James Mill. He was the first writer to divide the Indian history into three parts: Hindu, Muslim and British, a classification which has proved surpassingly influential in the field of Indian historical studies, but which is seen in the recent decades as being deeply problematic.

Hence, option D is the correct answer.

Note: James Mill was born on 6 April 1773 in Scotland and died on 23 June 1836 in London, England. Indian history is divided into three periods - Hindu, Muslim and British by the James Mill. This periodisation came to be widely accepted.