History
Ch-8
1: What do you mean by Arretine Ware?
Answer: These wares are the typical of Roman Empire. This
proves that Arikamedu had good relations with the Roman traders.
2: Name the north Indian town that was situated on the
cross roads of two major trade routes.
Answer: Mathura
3: Name the port described by Greek sailor for having
narrow gulf.
Answer: Barygaza
4: Where was Barygaza located?
Answer: Barygaza was located on gulf of Khambhat on the
western coast of India.
5: State the number of occupations taken up by the young
man of the Jataka story.
Answer: Three
6: Name the place where a massive brick structure, which
may have been a warehouse and pottery from the
Mediterranean region have been found.
Answer: Arikamedu
7: In northern India, a village headman was known as
___________.
Answer: Gram bhojaka
8: Village headmen had large number of duties assigned to
him. True/False
Answer: True
9: Who were Vellalar?
Answer: In Tamil region, large land owners were known as
vellalar.
10: Where the largest collection of iron tools and weapons
is found?
Answer: Megalithic burials.
11: Who was the village headman?
Answer: Grama bhojaka
12: What was the old name for Pondicherry?
Answer: Arikamedu
13: Name the place where the Sangam texts were
composed?
Answer: Madurai
14: Name the materials used to make tools like Sickle,
tongs and axe.
Answer: Iron
15: Capital of Kushanas kings, popular for the worship of
Lord Krishna was _________.
Answer: Mathura
16: What was the meaning of the term Jatakas?
Answer: Stories
17: Jatakas means stories which were composed by
ordinary people. True/False
Answer: True
18: Why the earliest coins were called ‘punch marked
coins’?
Answer: Because the designs were punched in to the metal.
19: Of what materials the metal of the coins was made?
Answer: Silver or copper
20: Mathura became the second capital of _________.
Answer: Kushanas
21: What were Shren is?
Answer: The associations formed by crafts persons and
merchants.
22: What were the roles performed by grama bhojaka?
Answer: Grama bhojaka performed the roles of tax collector,
policeman and judge.
23: Who were Grihapatis?
Answer: Independent farmers
24: Who were Dasa karmakara?
Answer: Dasa karmakara were landless people who earned their
living by working on the fields owned by others.
25: Define Sangam Literature.
Answer: The earliest work in Tamil.
26: Jatakas stories are the part of ________ literature.
Answer: Buddhist
27: Jatakas stories were preserved by the Buddhist monks
as narrations of Buddhas previous lives. True/False
Answer: True
28: What was the most probable use of the ring wells?
Answer: As drains
29: What was the Greek name of port of Bharuch?
Answer: Barygaza
30: Name some sites where ‘Northern Black Polished Ware’
has been found.
Answer: Mahasthan, Chandraketugarh, Bangarh, etc.
31: The ‘Northern Black Polished Ware’ is generally found
in the ________ part of the subcontinent.
Answer: Northern
32: Name an important coastal town.
Answer: Arikamedu
33: What was the main function of the shrenis?
Answer: To provide training, procure raw material and distribute
the finished product.
34: Varanasi and Madurai were the famous centres for the
manufacture of paper. True/False
Answer: False
35: Northern black polished ware is a type of _____.
Answer: Pottery
36: Who performed the function of a judge or a policeman
in the villages of northern India?
Answer: Grama bhojaka
37: From the site of Arikamedu, the archaeologists
discovered a ____________.
Answer: Warehouse
38: Where is Arikamedu located?
Answer: Arikamedu is located south of Pondicherry.
39: What was the other name of stamped red glazed
pottery?
Answer: Arretine ware
40: How Arretine ware vessels were often made?
Answer: Arretine ware vessels were often made from moulds in
order to imitate more expensive metal items.
41: The association of the craftsmen and the merchants
was called______________.
Answer: Shrenis
42: Who were uzhavar?
Answer: In the Tamil areas, ordinary ploughmen were uzhavar.
43: Who were Grihapati?
Answer: The Grihapatis were owners of small tracts of land.
44: Who were Kadaisiyar?
Answer: Landless people in the Tamil region.
45: Name the capital of Augustus.
Answer: Rome
46: Which was the first civilization in real sense in Europe?
Answer: Roman civilization
47: A sailor who has described all the ports he visited
belongs to ___________.
Answer: Greek
48: Who wrote “Periplus of the Erythrean Sea”?
Answer: Greek traveller
49: “Rome a city of bricks made it into a city of marble”
was said this?
Answer: Augustus
50: In Madhya Pradesh, a famous Ashoka Stupa is located
at Sanchi. True/False
Answer: True
Short Answer Type Questions
1: State the importance of Arikamedu.
Answer: Arikamedu was an important trade center around 2200
and 1900 years ago. According to Wheeler Arikamedu was a Tamil
fishing village which was formerly a major Chola port dedicated to
bead making and trading with Roman traders.
2: How did the pottery design got its name?
Answer: The pottery design got its name due to its predominant
presense in the northern parts of the sub continent. The pottery
design was popular in the later Vedic period. Some sites where the
NBPW have been found are Mahasthan, Chandraketugarh,
Bangarh, etc.
3: During the period between 200 BCE to 300 BCE India
enjoyed a good deal of prosperity. Explain.
Answer: During the period between 200 BCE to 300 BCE India
enjoyed a good deal of prosperity. The number of artisans and
craftsmen increased particularly in cities. The growth in art and
craft led to specialization and greater technical skill in certain
spheres of production.
4: What were aqueducts? Why did the Roman emperor
build huge aqueducts?
Answer: Aqueducts were huge channels to supply water. The
Roman emperors built these aqueducts to bring water to the city
for the baths, fountains and toilets.
5: What is the sangam literature and when were they
composed?
Answer: Some of the earliest works in Tamil are known as
sangam literature. They were composed around 2300 years ago.
These texts were called Sangam because they were composed and
compiled in assemblies, known as sangam, of poets that were held
in the city of Madurai.
6: List all the women who could be employed by the
superintendent. How were women paid for their work?
Answer: The superintendent could employ widows, young women
who were differently abled, nuns, mothers of courtesans, retired
women servants of the king and women who had retired from
service in temples. The women were paid according to the quality
and quantity of work.
7: Who were dasa and karmakara?
Answer: In the northern part of the country, there were women
and men without land, working on the fields owned by others, they
were known as dasa and karmakara.
8: Name three different kinds of people living in the
villages of Tamil region?
Answer: The three different kinds of people living in most villages
in the southern parts of the subcontinent or the Tamil region were
the landowners known as vellala, ordinary ploughmen known as
uzhavar, and landless labourers such as slaves known as
kadaisiyar and adimai.
9: Who composed Jatakas?
Answer: Jatakas were stories composed by ordinary people and
then written down and preserved by the Buddhist monks.
10: What were the functions of towns?
Answer: Each town was famous for a particular activity. Some
were religious centres, other was trading centres and yet other
was administrative centres.
11: Write short note on the Northern Black Polished Ware.
Answer: Archaeologists, while looking for evidence for fine
pottery, found the Northern Black Polished Ware. It got this name
since it was found in the northern part of the subcontinent, was
black in colour and had a fine luster.
12: What was punch marked coins?
Answer: The earliest coins which were in use for about 500 years
were punch marked coins. They are called as punch marked coins
because the designs were punched on the metal such as silver and
copper.
13: What archaeological sources have been excavated in
Arikamedu?
Answer: The archaeological findings include a massive brick
structure, pottery such as jars, stamped red-glazed pottery from
Mediterranean regions. It is known as Arretine Ware, named after
an Italian city. Roman lamps, glassware and gems have also been
found.
14: Write a note on the shrenis.
Answer: During this period (2500-2000 BC) many craft persons
and merchants formed associations known as shrenis. Their
function was to provide training, procure material, and distribute
the finished product. Then shrenis of merchants organised the
trade. Shrenis also functioned as banks where rich people
deposited their money.
15: Certain occupations were not allowed to form Shrenis.
Who were they?
Answer: Hunters, fishermen and those who followed life
threatening occupations were not allowed to form Shrenis
16: What were the imports that came in from Arikamedu?
What were the exports from the coastal port?
Answer: Wine and olive oil were imported from Rome via
Arikamedu. Textile, beads, semi-precious stones, glass and shell
bangles were the major exports.
Long Answer Type Questions
1: Briefly discuss the different kinds of people living in
villages in the northern parts of the subcontinent.
Answer: Villages in the northern part of the country were mostly
inhabited by the village headman, independent farmers, field
workers and craftsmen. The village headman was known as the
grama bhojaka. He was the largest land owner and generally very
powerful. The independent farmers were called grihapatis, most of
whom were smaller landowners. Then there were people who did
not own land and earned their living by working on the fields
owned by others. This segment was called dasa karmakara. In
most villages, there were also some crafts persons such as the
blacksmith, potter, carpenter and weaver.
2: Mathura has been an important settlement for more
than 2500 years. Explain.
Answer: Many distinctive features made Mathura an important
settlement. Some such features are:
Its location at the cross roads of two major routes of travel and
trade — from northwest to east and from north to south.
There were fortifications around the city.
It was an important centre for the production of some extremely
fine sculpture.
It became the second capital of the Kushanas around 2000 years
ago.
Several inscriptions on surfaces such as stone slabs and statues
were found in Mathura. Buddhist monasteries and Jaina shrines
made Mathura an important religious centre and it was an
important centre for the worship of lord Krishna.
3: Write about Grama bhojaka.
Answer: The villages of the northern India were inhabited by
many groups of people. The village headmen were known as
grama bhojaka. Most of the time the position was held by the
same family. Grama bhojaka carried out multifarious functions in
the village. He was responsible for maintaining the law and order
and settling the disputes among the people.
4: Write short notes on region of Mathura.
Answer: Kushanas kings ruled in the 1st C.E. Mathura was their
capital as it was situated on the cross roads of the trade routes.
Kushanas had the control over the profitable silk route, a branch of
which passes through Mathura in India. Mathura, therefore emerge
as a prominent town as craft and trading center. The worship of
Lord Krishna is still popular in Mathura and it is one of the
pilgrimage centres for Hindu devotees.
5: Why was grama bhojaka powerful?
Answer: Grama bhojaka was the village headman. He was the
largest landowner. He did not cultivate his own land and had
slaves and hired workers to work on his fields. The King had given
him the duty to collect taxes from the village. He functioned as a
judge. He also had to perform the duties of a policeman. This
added to his prestige and made him powerful.
6: What steps were taken to increase the production?
Answer: The kings and kingdoms could not have existed without
the support of prosperous villages. Various effective steps were
taken to increase the production.
New tools and system of transplantation was introduced.
Apart from these, system of irrigation was also used.
Irrigation works that were built during this time included canals,
wells, tanks and artificial lakes
7: Mention some of the evidence which tell us about the
life in early cities.
Answer: The following evidence tell us about the life in early
cities:
Sculptures used to decorate railings, pillars and gateways of
buildings. They depicted scenes of peoples’ lives in towns and
villages, as well as in the forest.
Accounts of travellers and sailors who visited these early cities
Rows of pots or ceramic rings arranged one on top of the other
which seems to have been used as toilets in some cases and as
drains and garbage dumps in others have been found by
archaeologists.
8: Why do you think the kings encouraged building of
irrigation works?
Answer: Building of irrigation work was the other important factor
resulting in the increase of agricultural produce. Kings would have
encouraged these as increase in agricultural produce meant that
there was enough and surplus food for the people. Also tax on
agricultural produce was a major source of state revenue. Hence
more production led to more revenue.
