Important Questions: Tracing Changes Through a Thousand Years | Social Studies (SST) Class 7 PDF Download

Q1: Why do you think that there were many literary sources of medieval period?
Ans: The number and variety of textual records increased dramatically during this period. They slowly displaced other types of available information. Through this period paper gradually became cheaper and more widely available. People used it to write holy texts, chronicles of rulers, letters and teachings of saints, petitions and judicial records, and for registers of accounts and taxes. Manuscripts were collected by wealthy people, rulers, monasteries and temples. They were placed in libraries and archives.

Q2: List some of the technological changes associated with this period.
Ans: Some of the technological changes associated with this period were the Persian wheel in irrigation, the spinning wheel in weaving, and firearms in combat.

Q3: Our information about the medieval period is much more than the ancient period. Give reason.
Ans: The number and variety of textual records increased dramatically during this period. They slowly displaced other types of available information. Through this period paper gradually became cheaper and more widely available. People used it to write holy texts, chronicles of rulers, letters and teachings of saints, petitions and judicial records, and for registers of accounts and taxes. Manuscripts were collected by wealthy people, rulers, monasteries and temples. They were placed in libraries and archives.

Q4: Which century marked the beginning of the medieval period? Why?
Ans: The eighth century is taken as the beginning of the medieval period because society, economy, politics, religion and culture underwent many changes during this century.

Q5: What are the difficulties historians face in using manuscripts?
Ans: The difficulties historians face in using manuscripts:

• There was no printing press in those days so scribes copied manuscripts by hand which was sometime difficult to read and understand.
• As scribes copied manuscripts, they also introduced small changes – a word here, a sentence there. These small differences grew over centuries of copying.
• Original manuscript of the author is rarely found today. So, they have to depend upon the copies made by later scribes. As a result historians have to read different manuscript versions of the same text to guess what the author had originally written.

Q6: What was the extent of Delhi Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban’s empire?
Ans: Delhi Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban’s empire stretched from Bengal (Gauda) in the east to Ghazni (Gajjana) in Afghanistan in the west and included all of south India (Dravida).

Q7: Why are coins and inscriptions important for the study of medieval period?
Ans: Coins are important for study as –

• It tells us about the reigning periods of kings and gives us dates of important political events.
• It tells us about the economy of the kingdom and trade with other regions.

Inscriptions are useful source of history because –

• They record royal proclamations, religious instruction and gifts given by rulers to temples and villages.
• It tells us about the important events in the king’s life, about the people of particular time and even narrates the achievement of king.

Q8: How do Sunni and Shia Muslims differ?
Ans: There were the Shia Muslims who believed that the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali, was the legitimate leader of the Muslim community, and the Sunni Muslims who accepted the authority of the early leaders (Khalifas) of the community, and the succeeding Khalifas.

Q9: How were the affairs of jatis regulated?
Ans: Affairs of jatis were regulated in the following ways:

• As society became more differentiated, people were grouped into jatis or sub-castes and ranked on the basis of their backgrounds and their occupations.
• Ranks were not fixed permanently, and varied according to the power, influence and resources controlled by members of the jati. The status of the same jati could vary from area to area.
• Jatis framed their own rules and regulations to manage the conduct of their members. These regulations were enforced by an assembly of elders, described in some areas as the jati panchayat. But jatis were also required to follow the rules of their villages.
• Several villages were governed by a chieftain. Together they were only one small unit of a state.

Q10: Mention the manner in which history was divided by historians during the middle of the 19^th century.
Ans: In the middle of the nineteenth century British historians divided the history of India into three periods: “Hindu”, “Muslim” and “British”. This division was based on the idea that the religion of rulers was the only important historical change, and that there were no other significant developments – in the economy, society or culture.

Q11: Which group became important during medieval period? Enumerate various changes which this group has undergone.
Ans: One group of people who became important in this period were the Rajputs, a name derived from “Rajaputra”, the son of a ruler. Between the eighth and fourteenth centuries the term 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.

Q12: What do you know about chronicles?
Ans: A chronicle is a record of the rule of the kings and life at the court. Most kings had court chroniclers who wrote in detail about what happened during their reign. Some important chronicles of the medieval period are:

• Rajatarangini by Kalhana, which is a history of the king of Kashmir.
• Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi by Zia-ud-din Barani, which describes the history of the Sultans of Delhi till the reign of Firoz Shah Tughluq.
• Tarikh-e-Ferishta by Ferishta, which is a record of the history of the Delhi Sultans, from the time of Turks till the seventeenth century.

Q13: What are the archaeological sources of the medieval period?
Ans: Archaeological sources of the medieval period are:

• Inscriptions –Writings or drawings found on stones, pillars, clay or copper tablets and walls of caves, temples and monuments.
• Archaeological remains and Monuments – Ancient ruins, remains and monuments recovered as a result of excavation and exploration.
• Coins – Ancient coins were mostly made of gold, silver, copper or lead. Some of the coins contain religious and legendary symbols which throw light on the culture of that time. Coins also contain the figures of kings and gods.

Q14: What were some of the major religious developments during this period?
Ans: Some of the major religious developments during this period were:

• It was during this period that important changes occurred in Hinduism. These included the worship of new deities, the construction of temples by royalty and the growing importance of Brahmanas, the priests, as dominant groups in society.
• There was emergence of the idea of bhakti among the people.
• This was also the period when new religions appeared in the subcontinent. Merchants and migrants first brought the teachings of the holy Quran to India in the seventh century.
• Many rulers were patrons of Islam and the ulama – learned theologians and jurists.

Q15: Write a short note on foreign travellers who visited India during Medieval Period.
Ans: Foreign travellers who visited India during Medieval Period

• Ibn Batuta- He came from Morocco in the 14^th century AD wrote about the reign on Mohammad-bin-Tughlaq.
• Nicole Conti – He came from Venice and gave an account of the kingdom of Vijaynagar and its war with Bahmani kings.
• Abdur Razzaq – He came from Persia and visited the kingdom of Vijaynagar.
• William Hawkins – He came from England and visited the court of Jahangir. His narrative describes the magnificence of the Mughal court.
• Al-Beruni – He came from Central Asia in the 11^th century AD and wrote Tahqiq-i-Hind giving a wealth of information on the culture and economy of medieval India.