Eighteenth Century Political Formations Class 7 Questions and Answers History Chapter 10
Class 7 History Chapter 10 NCERT Textbook Questions and Answers
Question 1.
Match the following-
Subedar | a revenue farmer |
Faujdar | a high noble |
Ijaradar | provincial governor |
Misl | Maratha peasant warriors |
Chauth | a Mughal military commander |
Kunbis | a band of Sikh warriors |
Umara | tax levied by the Marathas |
Answer:
Subedar | provincial governor |
Faujdar | a Mughal military commander |
Ijaradar | a revenue farmer |
Misl | a band of Sikh warriors |
Chauth | tax levied by the Marathas |
Kunbis | Maratha peasant warriors |
Umara | a high noble |
Question 2.
Fill in the blanks
1. Aurangzeb fought a protracted war in the ……………… .
2. Umara and jagirdars constituted powerful sections of the Mughal ……………….. .
3. Asaf Jah founded the Hyderabad state in ………………. .
4. The founder of the Awadh state was …………….. .
Answer:
1. Deccan
2. Administration
3. 18th century
4. Burhan-ul-Mulk Saidat Khan.
Question 3.
State whether true or false.
1. Nadir Shah invaded Bengal.
2. Sawai Raja Jai Singh was the ruler of Indore.
3. Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth Guru of the Sikhs.
4. Poona became the capital of the Marathas in the eighteenth century.
Answer:
1. False
2. False
3. True
4. True
Question 4.
What were the offices held by Saadat Khan?
Answer:
The offices held by Saadat Khan are as follows
- He was appointed Subedar of Awadh in 1722.
- He also held the combined offices of Subedari, diwani and faujdar. (He was responsible for managing the political, financial and military affairs of the province of Awadh.)
Question 5.
Why did the Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal try to do away with the jagirdari system?
Answer:
The Nawab of Awadh and Bengal tried to do away with the jagirdari system in order to reduce Mughal influenc.
For example, Burhan-ul-Mulk, reduced the size of jagirs, and appointed his own loyal servants to vacant positions. The accounts of jagirdars were checked to prevent cheating and the revenues of all districts were reassessed by officials appointed by the Nawab’s court. In the same way Murshid Quli Khan the nawab of Bengal transferred all Mughal jagirdars to Orissa and ordered a major reassessment of the revenues of Bengal. Revenue was collected by cash with great strictness from all zamindars.
Question 6.
How were the Sikhs organised in the eighteenth century?
Answer:
In the eighteenth century, under a number of leaders, the Sikhs organised themselves into a number of bands called jathas and later on misls.
- Their combined forces were known as the grand army.
- The entire body used to meet at Amritsar at the time of Baisakhi and Diwali to take collective decisions known as resolutions of the Guru (gurmatas)f.
- A system called rakhi was introduced, offering protection to cultivators on the payment of a tax of 20 per cent of the produce.
Question 7.
Why did the Marathas want to expand beyond the Deccan?
Answer:
The Maratha kingdom was a powerful regional kingdom to arise out of a sustained opposition to Mughal rule.
- Between 1700 and 1761 the Maratha empire expanded. It gradually chipped away at the authority of the Mughal Empire.
- Expansion brought enormous resources.
- They wanted to crush the Mughal power and gain supremacy in India.
Question 8.
What were the policies adopted by Asaf Jah to strengthen his position?
Answer:
Policies adopted by Asaf Jah to strengthen his position—
- As the Mughal governor of the Deccan provinces, during 1720-22 he had already gained control over its political and financial administration.
- Taking subsequent advantage of the turmoil of Deccan and the competition amongst the court nobility he gathered power in his hands and became the actual ruler of that region.
- He brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who welcomed the new opportunites in the south.
- He appointed mansabdars and granted jagirs.
- Though he was still a servant of the Mughal emperor, he ruled quite independently without seeking any direction from Delhi or facing any interference.
Question 9.
Do you think merchants and bankers today have the kind of influence they had in the eigtheenth century?
Answer:
Yes, to some extent merchants (big businessmen) today, too have some kind of influence upon the leaders and ministers. However, banks, now-a-days, are under the influence of the Central Bank (Reserve Bank of India). All banks run according to the rules and regulations set by the Central Bank.
Question 10.
Did any of the kingdoms mentioned in this chapter develop in your state ? If so, in what ways do you think life in the state would have been defferent in the eighteenth century from what it is in the twenty-first century?
Answer:
One example:
- Hyderabad (now in Andhra Pradesh)
- Now democracy,
- No dictatorship
Question 11.
Find out more about the architecture and culture associated with the new courts of any of the following Awadh, Bengal or Hyderabad.
Answer:
In Bengal, people of all religions were present. Each and everyone was given same status. Both mosques and temples were built. People were free to worship any god. There was no discrimination regarding sex, colour, race and caste.
Question 12.
Collect popular tales about rulers from any one of the following groups of people : the Rajputs, Jats, Sikhs or Marathas.
Answer:
The most outstanding Rajput ruler of the 18th century was Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Amber (1681-1743). He was a distinguished status man, law-maker and reformer. But most of all he showed as a man of science in an age when Indians were oblivious of scientific progress. He founded the city of Jaipur and made it a great seat of science and art. Jaipur was built upon strictly scientific principles and according to a regular plan.
Jai Singh was above everything a great astronomer. He erected observatories with accurate and advanced instruments, some of them of his own invention, at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjan, Varanasi and Mathura. His astronomical observations were remarkably accurate. He had Euclid’s Elements of Geometry/translated into Sanskrit as also several works on trigonometry, and Napier work on the construction and use of logarithms.
Jai Singh was also a social reformer. He tried to enforce a law to reduce the lavish expenditure which the Rajput had to incur on their daughter’s weddings.