Tracing Changes Through a Thousand Years Question Answers: NCERT Class 7 Social Science - Our Past-2 (History)

Exercise 1
Q:
A:

A person who was a unknown or who was not the part of society or culture was considered as a foreigner or pardeshi or anjabi. In this sense, a forest – dweller was a foreigner for city – dweller. But two peasants that were living in the same village were not foreigners to each other even though they may have different religious.


Q:
A:

Historians splits the past into different periods on the basis of continuity as well as economic and social factors to featurise the major elements of various different moments of the past. This continuity is based on- coins, inscriptions, architecture , textual records etc.
- The historians faced various problems because time itself reflects changes in the social and economic, organization, in the persistence and transformation of ideas and beliefs too.
- Therefore, describing the entire period as one historical unit is not without having any problems.
- Modernity also carries a sense of material progress and intellectual advancement. But they had to face the troubles in doing so as discontinuity did exist. Textual records increased heavily.




Q:
A:

Some of the technological changes associated with this period are as given below:
1. Persian wheel in the irrigation technique.
2. Fire arms in combat.
3. Spinning wheel in weaving.
4. New foods and beverages like potato, corn, chillies, tea and coffee.


Q:
A:

The major religious development during this period:
1. Some of the major significant religious developmentoccurred in the Hinduism which included the worship of new deities.
2. Hindus initiated the construction of temples by the royalty.
3. Importance of brahmanas and the priests had arose and they had became dominance group of the society.
4. There was also the emergence of the idea of devotion i.e. of a loving, personal deity etc.
5. Many rulers were patrons of islam and the ulama there.

6. The merchants and migrants brought with them the learnings of quran, the holy book of muslims.


Q:
A:

Hindustan changed over in centuries refers in several ways. In the 13th century muihaj – i- siraj used the Hindustan term to describe the areas of Punjab, Haryana and the area that are lying between ganga and Yamuna. He used this term 'Hindustan' in a political sense that was a part of the dominion of delhi sultan. In the 16th century, Babar used the same term to represent the geography, the fauna and the culture same sense as babar did, in 16th century. But the term Hindustan never carried the political and national meanings as India does today.


Q:
A:

The affairs of jatis were regulated in the various ways that are as follows:
- Jatis formed their own rules and regulations.
- There was an assembly of elders called jati panchayat which used to enforce the rule etc.

- jatis were also directed to follow the rules of village.
- Several villages were governed by a chieftain


Q:
A:

Pan – regional empire describes the empire crossing its region and spreading over various other regions. The dynasties such as cholas, khaljis, tughluqs and mughals expand their empires pan regional. Most of the regions across the subcontinent were left with the legacies of the large and small states that had ruled over them.


Q:
A:

The historians faced the various difficulties in using manuscripts that are as follows:
- Manuscripts are in dilapidated conditions sometimes even too bad to touch.
- Their copies have been destroyed by the scribes – sentences and words here and there.
- Some of these are written in shikaste (illegible) script.