Class 7 History Chapter 1 Question Answers - Tracing Changes Through a Thousand Years 1

Q1. Which were the sources used to learn the past?
Ans: 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.

Q2. How did the manuscripts of the same text become different from one another?
Ans: 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.

Q3. What were the new technology and crops that came in subcontinent during the period?
Ans: 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.

Q4. Write the name of other groups who became politically important.
Ans: Other group of people such as the Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Ahoms and Kayasthas also used the opportunities of the age to become politically important.

Q5. Why did people use the paper?
Ans: 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.

Q6. Why has study been a great challenge between 700 and 1750?
Ans: 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.

Q7. What do you understand about the Rajputs?
Ans: 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.

Q8. Which factors forced many forest-dwellers to migrate?
Ans: 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 peasants.

Q9. Describe, how the new groups of peasants were important group.
Ans: The new groups of peasants gradually began to be influenced by regional markets, chieftains, priests, monasteries and temples. They became part of large complex societies and were required to pay taxes and offer goods and services to local lords.
As a result, significant economic and social differences emerged amongst peasants. Some possessed more productive land, others also kept cattle, and some combined artisanal work with agricultural activity during the lean season.

Q10. What was written about Ghiyasuddin Balban in the Prashasti?
Ans: A prashasti praising the Delhi Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban explained that was the ruler of a vast empire that stretched from Bengal in the east to Ghazni in Afghanistan in the west and including all of south India. People of different regions-Gauda, Andhra, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat apparently fled before his armies. Historians regard these as exaggerated claims.

Q11. What changes occurred in Hinduism during the period?
Ans: During this period important changes occurred in what we call Hinduism today. 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.
The knowledge of Sanskrit texts earned the Brahmanas a lot of respect in society. One of the major developments of this period was the emergence of the idea of Bhakti.

Q12. How were the jatis classified in the society during the period 700-1750?
Ans: 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 of jatis 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.

13. What has been written by Amir Khusrau regarding the languages?
Ans: Amir Khusrau noted (1318) that there was different language in every region of this land. In southern Karnataka, Sindhi, Lahori, Kashmiri, Dvarsamudri; in Andhra Pradesh-Telangani; in Gujarat-Gujari; In Tamil Nadu-Ma’bari; In Bengal-Gauri; in eastern UP-Awadhi; around Delhi-Hindawi. In contrast to these languages there was Sanskrit which did not belong to any region. It was an old language and ‘common people do not know it, only the Brahmanas do’.

Q14. Describe the variety of ways interpreted by the Islamic followers.
Ans: 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.