CBSE Class 8 Answered

Scottish economist and political philosopher James Mill divided Indian history into three periods - Hindu, Muslim and British. In his three volume work ‘History of British India’, he forwarded the viewpoint that all Asian societies were at a lower level of civilisation than Europe. Mill propounded the notion that the period before the British rule was of darkness and that the British rule represented all the forces of progress and civilisation. Before the arrival of the British, India was ruled by Hindu and Muslim despots. Social life was plagued by religious strife, caste-based discrimination and superstition.