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

Q1. What is the difference between the two maps of India made in 1154 and 1720?
Ans: Al-Idrisi an Arab cartographer made a map in 1154 CE. French cartographer made the map of same area in 1720’s. The two had certain differences:

• Al-Idrisi’s map had south India in place of north India. Sri Lanka was at the top.
• Place names are marked in Arabic. Kanauj is spelt as Qanauj and is shown in Uttar Pradesh.
• French cartographer’s map was made about 600 years later. There were many changes by the time.
• This map is more familiar. Coastal areas are more detailed.
• This map was used by the European sailors and merchants on their voyages.

Q2. How has the term ‘Hindustan’ changed over the centimes?
Ans: The meaning of the term ‘Hindustan’ has changed over the centuries in the following manner:

• In the thirteenth century Minhaj-i-Siraj used the term ‘Hindustan’. He meant areas of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between Ganga and Yamuna. He used this term in a political sense that were a part of the dominions of the Delhi Sultanate. The term never included South India.
• In the sixteenth century poet Babur used the term ‘Hindustan’ to describe the geography, the fauna and the culture of the inhabitants of the subcontinent.
• In fourteenth century poet Amir Khusrau used the term ‘Hind’ in the same sense as Babur did in the sixteenth century.
• ‘Hindustan’ did not carry the political and national meanings as the term ‘India’ does today.

Q3. How are historians to be careful about the term they use as they go on changing with time?
Ans: Historians are to be careful about the terms they use because their meanings go on changing with change in time.
Example:

• We take a simple term ‘Foreigner’.
• It is used today to mean a person who is not an Indian.
• In the medieval period a ‘foreigner’ was any stranger who was not a part of that society or culture.
• In Hindi the term pardesi is used to describe such a person and in persian, ajnabi.
• A city-dweller regarded a forest-dweller as a ‘foreigner’ but two peasants living in the same village were not foreigners to each other, though they belonged to different religions or caste backgrounds.

Q4. What are the sources used by the historians to study the past?
Ans: Historians use variety of sources to study the past. It depends upon the period of their study and nature of study. They use those resources that provide some continuity. Historians still rely on coins, inscriptions, architecture and textual records.
There appeared some discontinuity as well. The variety of textual records increased from 700 to 1750. They slowly replaced other types of available sources. During this period paper gradually became cheaper and easily available.

Q5. What was the result of easy availability of paper in the 14th century?
Ans:

• People used paper to write holy texts, chronicles of rulers, letters and teachings of saints, petitions and judicial records and in preparing accounts and taxes.
• Manuscripts were collected by wealthy people, rulers, monasteries and temples.
• They were placed in libraries and archives.
• They provided a lot of detailed information to historians.
• Manuscripts were difficult to use.

Q6. What was the result of non-availability of printing press in the 13th and 14th centuries?
Ans: Historians faced a lot of difficulties while using manuscripts because:

• There was no printing press in the 13th and 14th centuries. Scribes in those days made manuscripts by hand.
• To copy was not an easy exercise. Scribes could not read the handwriting of the other writers.
• They were forced to guess. So there were small but significant differences in the copy of the scribed.
• These small words or sentences here and there grew over centuries of copying.
• The manuscripts of the same text became a great extent different from the original.

Q7. Describe the problem of dearth of original manuscripts of the authors.
Ans: There is a serious problem because we rarely find the original manuscripts of the authors today.

• We are totally dependent upon the copies made by later scribes.
• The result is that historians have to read different manuscript versions of the same text to guess what the author had originally written.
• On several occasions authors revised their chronicles at different times.
• The fourteenth century chronicler Ziyauddin Barani wrote his chronicle first in 1356 and another version came two years later.
• The two versions differ from each other.
• Historians did not know about the existence of the first version until 1960s.
• It remained lost in large library collections.
• New Social and Political Groups

Q8. How is the study of the thousand years between 700 and 1750 a huge challenge to historians?
Ans: The study of the thousand years between 700 and 1750 is a huge challenge to historians because of

• Scale and variety of developments that occurred during this period.
• At various moments in this period new technologies made their appearance.
• All the innovations, new technologies and crops came along with people. They brought other ideas with them as well.
• In this way, this was a period of economic, political, social and cultural changes.

Q9. Which are the; other new things happening during this period?
Ans: During this period many things were happening like:

• New foods and beverages like potatoes, com, chillies, tea and coffee arrived in the subcontinent.
• Groups of people travelled long distances in search of new opportunities.
• The subcontinent held immense wealth and many possibilities for people to get a fortune.

Q10. What does the word ‘Rajputs’ stand for?
Ans: ‘Rajputs’ word has been derived from Rajaputra’ the son of a ruler. Between the eighth and the fourteenth centuries the term was applied more generally to a body of warriors who claimed Kshatriya caste status. 

• The term included not just rulers and chieftains but also soldiers and commanders.
• They served in the armies of different monarchs all over the subcontinent. 
• A chivalric code of conduct, including extreme valour and a great sense of loyalty were the qualities attributed to Rajputs by their poets and bards.

Q11. What nugor changes occurred between 700 and 1750 A.D.?
Ans:

• Throughout the period between 700 and 1750 there was a gradual clearing of forests and the extension of agriculture. This was a change faster and more complete in some areas than in others.
• Changes in their habitat forced many forest-dwellers to migrate.
•  Others started tilling the land and became peasants.

Regional markets, chieftains, priests, monasteries and temples began to influence them.

• They became part of large complex societies.
• They were required to’ pay taxes and offer goods and services to local lords.

As a result, significant economic and social differences emerged among the peasants.

• Some possessed more productive land.
• Others kept cattle,
• Yet others combined artisanal work with agricultural activity during the lean season.

Q12. How were the people grouped into jatis?
Ans: As society became more uneven people were grouped into jatis or sub-castes and ranked on the basis of their backgrounds and their occupations.
Ranks were not fixed permanently:

• They 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.

Q13. How were the jatis regulated?
Ans: The affairs of jatis were regulated in the following way:

• Jatis formed their own rules and regulations.
• There was an assembly of elders called jati panchayat.
• It enforced the rules and regulations.
• Jatis were also directed to follow the rules of the village.
• Several villages were governed by a chieftain.

Q14. What is the contribution of the medieval period to the Indian history?
Ans: Medieval period (due to its contribution) is considered very important in the Indian history. We can mention its contribution in following points:

• Many modem languages, which we speak nowadays in India, developed at this time.
• Some of the food items we eat and the clothes we wear became popular during this age.
• The history of many of our current religious faiths (such as Islam, Sikhism, etc.) can be traced back to this period.

Q15. What was the extent of Balban’s empire?
Ans: Ghiyasuddin Balban (1266-1287) claimed himself to be the ruler of vast empire. It stretched from Bengal (Gauda) in the east to Ghazni (Gajjana) in Afghanistan in the west. It included all of south India.
People from different regions-Gauda, Andhra, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat fled before his armies came. Historians regard this as exaggerated claims. It is a question of debate why rulers kept claiming about their conquests.

Q16. Explain the features of regions by 700 A.D.
Ans:

• By 700 A.D. regions already possessed distinct geographical dimensions.
• They had their own language and cultural characteristics.
• They were also associated with specific ruling dynasties.
• Thfere was considerable conflict between these states.
• Occasionally dynasties like the Cholas, Khiljis, Tughluqs and Mughals were able to build an empire that was pan-regional, covering various regions. These empires were not equally stable or successful.

Q17. What did the decline of the Mughal Empire lead to in the 18th century?
Ans:

• When the Mughal Empire declined in the eighteenth century, it led to the re-emergence of regional states.
• Years of imperial, pan-regional rule had altered the character of the regions.
• Across most of the subcontinent the regions were left with the legacies of the big and small states that ruled over them.
• This was clear in the emergence of many distinct and shared traditions: in the way of governance, the management of the economy, elite cultures, and language.
• Through the thousand years between 700 and 1750 A.D. the character of the different regions did not grow in isolation.
• They felt the impact of larger pan-regional forces of integration without losing their own character.

Q18. Describe the major development in Hindu religious traditions during the period 700 to 1750 A.D.
Ans:

• The thousand years of history between 700 and 1750 A.D. witnessed major developments in religious traditions.
• It was during this period that important changes occurred in Hinduism.
•  The worship of new deities.
• The construction of temples by royalty.
• Their knowledge of Sanskrit texts earned the Brahmanas a lot of respect in society and support of new rulers or patrons searching for prestige.
• One of the major developments was the emergence of the idea of Bhakti.
• It was of a loving, personal deity that devotees could reach without the aid of priests or elaborate rituals.

Q19. Which new religion came to India during the period between 700 and 1750 A.D.?
Ans: The period between 700 and 1750 A.D. was 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, Jurists and theologians.

• Muslims regard the Quran as their holy book.
• They accept the sovereignty of the one God or Allah.
• Islam was interpreted in a variety of ways by its followers:
• Shia Muslims believed that the prophet’s son-in-law, Ali, was the legitimate leader of the Muslim community.
• Sunni Muslims accepted the authority of the early leaders (Khalifas) of the community, and the succeeding Khalifas.
• There were other important differences between the various schools of law and in theology and mystic traditions.
• The schools of law are Hanafi and Shafi’i, mainly in India.

Q20. How do historians divide the history of India into three periods? What are the drawbacks of this division?
Ans: According to historians time reflects changes in social and economic organisation, in transformation of ideas and beliefs. They do not see it as clock or calender.
The study of time is made somewhat easier by dividing the past into large segments. They are called periods. The periods possess shared characteristics.
In the middle of the nineteenth century British historians divided the history of India into three periods.

• They are ‘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 result of the economy, society or culture.
• Such a division also ignored the rich diversity of the subcontinent. Few historians follow this periodisation today. Most look to economic and social factors to characterise the major elements of different moments of the past.

Q21. Why there is a problem in studying a long period of history as one unit?
Ans:

• Thousand years of history is full of change. 16th and 17th centuries were different from 8th or 11th centuries. Therefore entire period cannot be described as one unit.
• Modem period is associated with material and intellectual progress. But, this does not mean the medieval period had no development at all. All this creates confusion, hence periodisation was required.
• During these thousand years the societies of subcontinent were developed and economies too prospered. This attracted interest of European trading companies.