NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History - Important Questions and Women, Caste and Reform

Q1. What was the condition of women in the earlier days ?

1. Women were married at an early age. 
2. Women were forced to burn themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands. Woman who died in this manner, whether willing or otherwise, were called “sati” meaning virtuous women. 
3. Women’s right to property were also restricted. 
4. Women had virtually no access to education. In many parts of the country people believed that if a woman was educated, she would become a widow. 

Q2. Describe the social conditions in the earlier times. ?

1. Brahmans and Kshatriyas considered themselves as “upper castes”. 
2. Other such as traders and moneylenders (often referred to as Vaishyas) were placed after them. 
3. Then came peasants and artisans such as weavers and potters (referred to as shudras). 
4. At the lowest sung were those who laboured to keep cities and villages clean or worked at jobs that upper castes considered “polluting”, that is it could lead to the loss of caste status. 
5. The upper castes also treated many of these groups at the bottom as “untouchable”. 

Q3. Describe the contribution of the following towards the upliftment of women. ?

Q4. Why in the earlier days most parents were apprehensive of sending their girls to schools ?

Ans. Most parents were apprehensive of sending their girls to school because they feared that schools would take girls away from home, prevent them from doing their domestic duties. Moreover, girls had to travel through public places in order to reach school. Many people felt  that this would have a corrupting influence on them. They felt that the girls should stay away from public spaces. 

Q5. Discuss few examples of educated women and the impact they had on society. ?

1. Muslim women like the Begums of Bhopal played a notable role in promoting education among women. They founded a primary school for girls at Aligarh. 

2. Another remarkable women Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain started schools for Muslim girls in Patna and Calcutta. She was a fearless critic of conservative ideas, arguing that religions leaders of every faith accorded an inferior place to women. 

3. By the 1880s, Indian women began to enter universities. Some of them trained to be doctors, some became teachers. Many women began to write and publish their critical  views on the place of women in society. 

4. Tarabia Sinde:- a women educated at home at Poona, published a book, Stripurushtulna, ( A comparison between women and Men), criticizing the social differences between men and women.. 

5. Pandita Ramabai:- A great scholar of Sanskrit, felt that Hinduism was oppressive towards women, and wrote a book about the miserable lives of upper –caste Hindu women. She founded a widows’ home at Poona to provide shelter to widows who had been treated badly by their husband’s relatives. Here women were trained so that they could support themselves economically. 

Q6. Describe the role of the following organizations towards abolition of caste based discrimination. ?

1. Brahma Samaj: - The Brahma Samaj formed in 1830, prohibited all forms of idolatry and sacrifice believed in the Upanishads, and forbade its members from criticizing other religions practices. It critically drew upon the ideals of religious especially of Hinduism and looking at their negative and positive dimensions. 

2. Prarthana Samaj: - Established in 1867 at Bombay, the prarthana samaj sought to remove caste restrictions, abolish child marriage, encourage the education of women, and end the ban on widow remarriage. Its religious meetings drew upon Hindus, Bhuddhist and Christian texts. 

3. Paramhans Mandali: - In Bombay, the Paramhans Mandali was founded in 1840 to work for the abolition of caste. Many of these reformers and members of reform associations were people of upper castes. 

Q7. How did new opportunities open up for the people of the lower caste under the British ?

During the course of the nineteenth century, Christian missionaries began setting up schools for tribal groups and “lower” – caste children. These children were thus equipped with some resources to make their way into a changing world. 

At the same time, the poor began leaving their villages to look for jobs that were opening up in the cities. There was work in the factories that were coming up, and jobs in municipalities. 

There were new demands of labour –drains had to be dug, roads, laid, buildings constructed, and cities cleaned. 

Q13. What did Ambedkar want to achieve through the temple entry movement ?

Ans. In 1972, Ambedkar started a temple entry movement, in which his Mahar caste followers participated. Brahman priests were outraged when the Dalits used water from the temple tank. Ambedkar led three such movements for temple entry between 1927 and 1935. His aim was to   make everyone see the power of caste prejudices within society. 

Q14. Why were Jyotiba Phule and Ramaswamy Naicker critical of the national movement Did their criticism help the national struggle in any way ?

They were critical of the national movement run by the upper caste leaders because they held that this would serve the purpose of the upper caste. After the movement these people again would talk of untouchability. Even Periyar left the congress in the earlier days of an incidence of untouchability. 

Yes, their criticism helped the national movement struggle as unity. In forceful speeches, writings and movements of such lower caste leaders did lead to rethinking and self – criticism among upper caste nationalist leader.