HISTORY (VII)- LESSON-1 TRACING CHANGES THROUGH A THOUSAND YEARS (QUESTION ANSWERS)

 

HISTORY (VII)- LESSON-1

TRACING CHANGES THROUGH A THOUSAND YEARS

(QUESTION ANSWERS)

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NCERT EXERCISE

1. Who was considered a “foreigner” in the past?

Answer: According to the medieval period, any stranger who did not belong to a certain society or culture and was not a part of that particular village was regarded as a foreigner. For example, a city-dweller, therefore, might have regarded a forest-dweller as a foreigner.

2. State whether true or false:

(a) We do not find inscriptions for the period after 700.

(b) The Marathas asserted their political importance during this period.

(c) Forest-dwellers were sometimes pushed out of their lands with the spread of agricultural settlements.

(d) Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban controlled Assam, Manipur and Kashmir.

Answer:

(a) False

(b) True

(c) True

(d) False

3. Fill in the blanks:

1.    Archives are places where _________ are kept.

2.    _____________ was a fourteenth-century chronicler.

3.    _______, _______, _______, ________ and ________ were some of the new crops introduced into the subcontinent during this period.

Answer:

(a) Archives are places where manuscripts are kept.

(b) Ziyauddin Barani was a fourteenth-century chronicler.

(c) Potatoes, corn, chillies, tea and coffee were some of the new crops introduced into the subcontinent during this period.

4. List some of the technological changes associated with this period.

Answer: Following are some of the technological changes that were associated with this period:

1.    The Persian Wheel in irrigation

2.    The Spinning Wheel in weaving

3.    Firearms in combat

5. What were some of the major religious developments during this period?

Answer: Some of the important and major religious developments that took place during this particular period are :

1.    Worship of new deities

2.    Construction of temples by royalty

3.    The growing importance of Brahmanas; the priests, as dominant groups in society.

4.    The emergence of the idea of bhakti – of a loving, personal deity that devotees could reach without the aid of priests or elaborate rituals.

5.    The appearance of many new religions occurred during this period. During the 7th century, the merchants and the migrants introduced the teachings of the Holy Quran in India.

6. In what ways has the meaning of the term “Hindustan” changed over the centuries?

Answer: The meaning of the term ‘Hindustan’ has eventually changed over the past centuries. Today, the term ‘Hindustan’ is referred to denote India. But during the 13th century, the term was used by Minhaj-i-Siraj – a chronicler (in a political sense) of lands that belonged to the Delhi Sultan. During the 14th century, the term ‘Hind’ was used by Amir Khusrau to refer to the culture and people of the Indus river. Whereas, during the early 16th century, Babar used the term ‘Hindustan’ to describe the culture, geography and fauna of the inhabitants of the sub-continent.

7. How were the affairs of Jatis regulated?

Answer: During this period, several social and economic differences emerged among the people, which led to the introduction of Jatis or sub-castes, where people were ranked on the basis of their occupations and backgrounds. The affairs of jatis were regulated by an assembly of elders known as the jati panchayat in some areas. The jatis were required to follow the rules of their villages, which were governed by a chieftain.

8. What does the term pan-regional empire mean?

Answer: A pan-regional empire is referred to an empire which is expanded over several regions of diverse cultures, geography and religion. For example, the dynasties of the Mughals, Cholas, Khaljis and the Tughluqs.

 

9. What are the difficulties historians face in using manuscripts?

Answer: During the past, the historians faced a lot of difficulties in using the manuscripts. Due to the lack of printing press during those periods, the historians had to scribe the manuscripts by hand and copying the manuscripts with new changes was not an easy job. Small differences and mistakes grew over the centuries of copying, until manuscripts of the same text became substantially different from one another. As a result, we rarely find the original manuscript of the author today.

 

OTHER IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

 1. What do you understand about the cartographer?
Answer: The cartographer is a person who makes maps.

 2. Who was Al-Idrisi?
Answer: Al-Idrisi was an Arab geographer and was an Arabian.

 3. What was made by Al-Idrisi?
Answer: Al-Idrisi made a detail of the Indian subcontinent from his large map of the world in 1154 CE.

 4. By whom was the term Hindustan used first of all?
Answer: First of all, the term Hindustan was used by Minhaj-i-Siraj in 13th century. He was a Persian chronicler.

 5. What did Minhaj-i-Siraj meant by the term ‘Hindustan’?
Answer: He meant the areas of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna. The term was used in a political sense for lands that were a part of the dominions of the Delhi Sultan but it never included south India.

 6. What did Babur meant by Hindustan?
Answer: Babur used Hindustan to describe the geography, the fauna and the culture of the inhabitants of the subcontinent.

 7. Who used the word ‘Hind’ and when?
Answer: Amir Khusrau used the word “Hind” in the 14th century.

 8. From which language is the word ‘ajnabi’ related?
Answer: Persian.

 9. How did the scribes copy manuscripts in absence of Printing Press?
Answer: By hand.

 10. From which word ‘Rajput’ derived?
Answer: The word ‘Rajput’ was derived from “Rajaputra”, the son of a ruler.

 11. Name the language in which prashasti of Ghiyasuddin Balban has been written.
Answer: In Sanskrit.

 12. Which was the new religion that appeared in the subcontinent?
Answer: The new religion which appeared in the subcontinent was Islam.

 13. Give the name of the holy book of Islam.
Answer: Quran.

 14. Who brought Islam and when?
Answer: In 7th century merchants of Arab brought teachings of Islam.

 15. In how many periods was the history divided by the British historians?
Answer: In the middle of the 19th century, British historians divided the history of India into three periods- Hindu, Muslim and British.

SHORT ANSWERS TYPE

 1. Which were the sources used to learn the past?
Answer: Historians used different types of sources to learn about the past depending upon the period of their study and the nature of their investigation such as on coins, inscriptions, architecture and textual record for information.

 2. Why did people use the paper?
Answer: Paper became cheaper and more widely available and hence people used it to write texts, chronicles of rulers, letters and teachings of saints, petitions and judicial records, and for registers of accounts and taxes.

 3. How did the manuscripts of the same text become different from one another?
Answer: In the absence of Printing Press, scribes copied manuscripts by hand. They also introduced small changes-a word, a sentence. These small differences grew over centuries of copying until manuscripts of the same text became substantially different from one another.

 4. Why has study been a great challenge between 700 and 1750?
Answer: The study of the thousand years between 700 and 1750 has been a huge challenge to historians largely because of the scale and variety of developments that occurred over the period.

 5. What were the new technology and crops that came in subcontinent during the period?
Answer: New technology like Persian wheel in irrigation, the spinning wheel in weaving and firearms in combat, new foods and beverages potatoes, corn, chillies, tea and coffee arrived in the subcontinent. All these innovations-new technologies and crops came along with people, who brought other ideas with them as well.

 6. What do you understand about the Rajputs?
Answer: The term Rajput was applied more generally to a group of warriors who claimed Kshatriya caste status. The term included not just rulers and chieftains but also soldiers and commanders who served in the armies of different monarchs all over the subcontinent.

 7. Write the name of other groups who became politically important.
Answer: Other group of people such as the Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Ahoms and Kayasthas also used the opportunities of the age to become politically important.

 8. Which factors forced many forest-dwellers to migrate?
Answer: There was a gradual clearing of forests and the extension of agriculture throughout this period. This forced many forest-dwellers to migrate. Others started tilling the land and became peasant

9. Describe the variety of ways interpreted by the Islamic followers.
Answer: Islam was interpreted in variety of ways by its followers. There were the Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims. Shia who believed that the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali was the legitimate leader of the Muslim community while Sunni accepted the authority of the four Khalifas which also includes Ali as an one and last Khalifa.