Class 8 History Chapter 6 Question Answers - Our Pasts III (Part - II)

Q1: Where were classes held under the system of pathshalas?
Ans: In some places classes were held under a banyan tree, in other places in the corner of a village shop or temple, or at the guru’s home.

Q2: Why were classes not held during harvest time in pathshala system?
Ans: Classes were not held during harvest time in pathshala system because rural children had to work in the fields during harvest time.

Q3: How were Oriental institutions like the Calcutta Madrasa and Benaras Sanskrit College viewed by the British?
Ans: These institutions were seen as “temples of darkness that were falling of themselves into decay”.

Q4: Why was the Hindu College established in Benaras?
Ans: The Hindu College was established in Benaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration of the country.

Q5: How does Mahatma Gandhi view literacy?
Ans: According to Mahatma Gandhi literacy is not the end of education nor even the beginning. It is only one of the means whereby man and woman can be educated. Literacy in itself is not education.

Q6: What do you mean by wood’s despatch?
Ans: In 1854, the Court of Directors of the East India Company in London sent an educational despatch to the Governor-General in India. Issued by Charles Wood, the President of the Board of Control of the Company, it has come to be known as Wood’s Despatch.

Q7: Why did Mahatma Gandhi want to teach children handicrafts?
Ans: He argued that education ought to develop a person’s mind and soul. Literacy – or simply learning to read and write – by itself did not count as education. People had to work with their hands, learn a craft, and know how different things operated. This would develop their mind and their capacity to understand.

Q8: What do you mean by Tagore’s abode of peace?
Ans: Tagore was of the view that creative learning could be encouraged only within a natural environment. So he chose to set up his school 100 kilometres away from Calcutta, in a rural setting. He saw it as an abode of peace (santiniketan), where living in harmony with nature, children could cultivate their natural creativity.

Q9: What type of education was given to the children in pathshalas?
Ans:  Teaching was oral, and the guru decided what to teach, in accordance with the needs of the students.

Q10: What task was assigned to the pandit by the Company?
Ans: The Company assigned the pandit to visit the pathshalas and try to improve the standard of teaching.

Q11: What different languages did William Jones study?
Ans: Jones was a linguist. He had studied Greek and Latin at Oxford, knew French and English, had picked up Arabic from a friend, and had also learnt Persian.

Q12: What did Thomas Macaulay urge the British government in India?
Ans: Thomas Macaulay urged that the British government in India stop wasting public money in promoting Oriental learning, for it was of no practical use.

Q13: Why was the East India Company opposed to missionary activities in India?
Ans: Until 1813, the East India Company was opposed to missionary activities in India. It feared that missionary activities would provoke reaction amongst the local population and make them suspicious of British presence in India.

Q14: Why did William Jones feel the need to study Indian history, philosophy and law?
Ans: William Jones felt the need to study Indian history, philosophy and law because only those texts could reveal the real ideas and laws of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of these texts could form the basis of future development in India.

Q15: What does vernacular mean? Why did the British use this term in colonial countries like India?
Ans: Vernacular is a term generally used to refer to a local language or dialect as distinct from what is seen as the standard language. In colonial countries like India, the British used the term to mark the difference between the local languages of everyday use and English – the language of the imperial masters.