Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

JAC Board Class 7th Social Science Solutions History Chapter 10 Eighteenth Century Political Formations

JAC Class 7th History Eighteenth Century Political Formations InText Questions and Answers

Page 139

Question 1.
See Chapter 4, Table 1. Which group of people challenged Mughal authority for the longest time in Aurangzeb’s reign?
Answer:
The Marathas under the leadership of Shivaji challenged Mughal authority for the longest time in Aurangzeb’s reign.

Page 144

Question 2.
In trying to consolidate their rule, why did Mughal subadars also want to control the office of diwan?
Answer:
In trying to consolidate their rule, Mughal subadars also want to control the office of diwan because they were very ambitious, aspiring and power hungry and diwan office was the main point.

Page 148

Question 3.
What is the Khalsa? Do you recall reading about it in Chapter 8?
Answer:
Guru Gobind Singh in the seventeenth century, organised group of warriors known as Khalsa and requested the presence of the institution of Sikhs. Five persons were chosen called as Panj Pyare who took the water of immorality. There are five features which distinguish Sikhs from others.,which are known as 5Ks. These are Kesh (hair), Kara (iron bracelet), Kangha (comb), Kripan (dagger) and Kacchera (underwear).

Page 152

Question 4.
Imagine, you are a ruler of an eighteenth century kingdom. Tell us about the steps you would take to make your position strong in your province, and what opposition or problems you might face while doing so.
Answer:
In order to make my position strong, I would reform military and financial systems of my province. I would end corruption in the administration. The most expected problem would be the attack of some other kingdom. I would be ready to face any such attack.

JAC Class 7th History Eighteenth Century Political Formations Textbook Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Match the following:

subadar	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:

subadar	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

Fill in the blanks:

Question 2.
(a) Aurangzeb fought a protracted war in the ………..
(b) Umara and jagirdars constituted powerful sections of the Mughal ………..
(c) Asaf Jah Founded the Hyderabad state in ………..
(d) The founder of the Awadh state was …………
Answer:
(a) Aurangzeb fought a protracted war in the Deccan
(b) Umara and jagirdars constituted powerful sections of the Mughal administration
(c) Asaf Jah Founded the Hyderabad state in 1724
(d) The founder of the Awadh state was Burhan-ul-Mulk Sa’adat Khan

Question 3.
State ’T’ for true and ’F’ for false.
(a) Nadir Shah invaded Bengal.
(b) Sawai Raja Jai Singh was the ruler of Indore.
(c) Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth Guru of the Sikhs.
(d) Poona became the capital of the Marathas in the eighteenth century.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) False
(c) True
(d) True

Question 4.
What were the offices held by Saadat Khan?
Answer:
Sa’adat Khan held the integrated offices of subadari, diwani and faujdari. Actually, he was responsible for managing the political, financial and military affairs of the province of Awadh.

(Let’s Discuss)

Question 5.
Why did the Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal try to do away with the jagirdari system?
Answer:
The Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal tried to do away with the jagirdari system to decrease Mughal influence in the regions by reducing the number of officeholders (jagirdars) appointed by the Mughals. They also 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 Naw’ab’s court. In an effort to reduce the Mughal influence in Bengal, Murshid Question uli Khan transferred all Mughal jagirdars to Orissa and ordered a major reassessment of the revenues of Bengal. Revenue was collected in cash with great strictness from all zamindars. As a result, many zamindars had to borrow money from bankers and moneylenders.

Question 6.
How were the Sikhs organised in the eighteenth century?
Answer:
The Sikhs were organised in the eighteenth century in the following way:

• They organised themselves into a number of bands known as jathas and later on mis Is.
• They had a combined forces which was known as dal Khalsa or grand army.
• In Amritsar during Baisakhi and Diwali, the whole body of people used to meet to take collective decisions called as the ‘resolutions of the Guru (gurmatas).’
• Guru Gobind Singh organised
  the army with the influence and inspiration that their destiny was to rule.
• The well knit Sikh organisation, put a strong resistance on Mughal governors first, then to Ahmad Shah Abdali who had captured the strong province of Punjab and siezed Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals.
• The Sikh territories in the late eighteenth century extended from the Indus to the Jamuna, but they were divided under different rulers.
• One of them, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, reunited these groups and established his capital at Lahore in 1799.

Question 7.
Why did the Marathas want to expand beyond the Deccan?
Answer:
The Marathas wanted to expand beyond the Deccan to challenge and decrease the Mughal influence. By the 1720s, they seized Malwa and Gujarat from the Mughals and by 1730s, they were recognised as the overlord of the entire Deccan.

Question 8.
What were the policies adopted by Asaf Jah to strengthen his position?
Answer:
The policies adopted by Asaf Jah to strengthen his position were:

• He brought trained and skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who wanted to explore the new opportunities in the south.
• He recruited mansabdars and granted jagirs to them.
• Without Mughal interference, he ruled independently. The Mughals rarely confirm the decisions that were taken by Asaf Jah.

Question 9.
Do you think merchants and bankers today have the kind of influence they had in the eighteenth century?
Answer:
Merchants were more influential and powerful than the bankers in the eighteenth century than today. Banks were not so organised and merchants used to provide more loan opportunities at higher rates of interests. Nowadays, banks are more influential. They provide financial assistance and loans at lower rates and act as a shield of protection of public money. They also provide subsidy on lower rates. This happened due to the spread of education.

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 different in the eighteenth century from what it is in the twenty first century?
Answer:
Students need to do by their own as if they stay in any of the region where any kingdom developed.
Hint: If we take up Punjab as the region then there developed many states in the eighteenth century, the East India Company started capturing the regions and other rulers were present. But, in twenty first century, we are a democratic country.

(Let’s Do)

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:
The architecture and culture associated with the new courts of any one of the following:

• The rulers of Awadh does not discriminate between the Muslims and Hindus. They had a very secular political policies.
• Temples and mosques were constructed.
• Lucknow became the cultural city due to the economic prosperity and peace in the state. Lucknow was an important city of Awadh. It also developed as an important centre of art and craft.
• Students can also mention about Hyderabad and Bengal with the help of parents and teachers.

Question 12.
Collect popular tales about rulers from any one of the following groups of people: the Rajputs, Jats, Sikhs or Marathas.
Answer:
Students need to do it at their own.
(Hint : Can take inputs from various sources such as internet, books, journals and teachers.)

JAC Class 7th History Eighteenth Century Political Formations Important Questions and Answers

Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.
Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded north India.
(a) 4 times
(b) 2 times
(c) 5 times
(d) 3 times
Answer:
(c) 5 times

Question 2.
The governors of big and large provinces were called
(a) Governor General
(b) Jagirdar
(c) Subedars
(d) Misl
Answer:
(c) Subedars

Question 3.
Shivaji was the
(a) founder of Maratha Kingdom
(b) founder of Sikh community
(c) founder of Mughal Kingdom
(d) None of these
Answer:
(a) founder of Maratha Kingdom

Question 4.
The founder of Hyderabad state was
(a) Alamgir II
(b) Sa’adat Khan
(c) Nadir Shah
(d) Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah
Answer:
(d) Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah

Question 5.
Bengal and Awadh were founded by
(a) Asaf Jah and Farrukh Khan
(b) Murshid Quli Khan and Sa’adat Khan
(c) Murshid Quli Khan and Asaf Jah
(d) Sa’adat Khan and Asaf Jah
Answer:
(b) Murshid Quli Khan and Sa’adat Khan

Question 6.
……… is held responsible for the decline of Mughal empire.
(a) Bahadur Shah Zafar
(b) Shahjahan
(c) Jahangir
(d) Aurangzeb
Answer:
(d) Aurangzeb

Question 7.
Raja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur held the governorship of
(a) Amber
(b) Gujarat
(c) Malwa
(d) Jaipur
Answer:
(b) Gujarat

Question 8.
Burhan-ul-Mulk Sa’adat Khan was appointed subadar of Awadh in
(a) 1722
(b) 1728
(c) 1732
(d) 1742
Answer:
(a) 1722

Question 9.
Skilled soldiers and administrators were brought by Asaf Jah from
(a) eastern India
(b) central India
(c) western India
(d) northern India
Answer:
(d) northern India

Question 10.
Before and after the establishment of the Khalsa in 1699, many battles were fought against the Rajput and Mughal rulers by
(a) Guru Gobind Singh
(b) Guru Nanak
(c) Banda Bahadur
(d) Guru Arjan Dev
Answer:
(a) Guru Gobind Singh

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
Name three states that were sculpted out in the eighteenth century from the old Mughal provinces.
Answer:
The three states that were sculpted out in the eighteenth century from the old Mughal provinces are Awadh, Hyderabad and Bengal.

Question 2.
The Jats became powerful under whose leadership?
Answer:
The Jats becaine powerful under the leadership of Churaman.

Question 3.
Who became the leader of the Sikhs after the death of Guru Gobind Singh?
Answer:
Banda Bahadur became the leader of the Sikhs after the death of Guru Gobind Singh.

Question 4.
When and where did Nadir Shah, the ruler of Iran invaded?
Answer:
In 1739, Delhi was invaded by Nadir Shah, the ruler of Iran.

Question 5.
Which place was established as the capital during Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s reign?
Answer:
Lahore was established as the capital during Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s reign.

Question 6.
Who was Jawahir Shah and how many troops he had on his own?
Answer:
Jawahir Shah was the son of Nadir Shah and he had 30,000 troops on his own.

Question 7.
Who was the tenth Sikh guru?
Answer:
Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth Sikh guru.

Question 8.
Which two important trading centres were governed and ruled by the Jats?
Answer:
The two important trading centres governed and ruled by the Jats were Panipat and Ballabhgarh.

Question 9.
What do you understand by the term ‘chauth’?
Answer:
Zamindars claimed 25 per cent of the land revenue which was known as chauth. This was collected by the Marathas in the Deccan.

Question 10.
Which ruler raided the rich province of the Punjab and the Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals in mid 17th century?
Answer:
Ahmad Shah Abdali had raided the rich province of the Punjab and the Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals.

Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
When did the Khalsa declare its sovereign rule and mint its own coin? Who issued these coins and what was inscripted in the coins?
Answer:
The Khalsa declared its sovereign rule and minted its own coin in 1765. Banda Bahadur issued these coins and ‘Deg O Tegh O Fateh’ was inscripted on these coins.

Question 2.
What is the difference between Faujdari and Ijaradari.
Answer:
Military administration is related to Faujdari whereas ijaradari means the practice in which the revenue farmers collected taxes from other farmers and paid to the state.

Question 3.
Give a brief on administration of Marathas.
Answer:
The Marathas developed a powerful and effective administrative system. They established and initiated revenue demands which gradually took local conditions into account. Agriculture was encouraged and trade was revived. This allowed Maratha chiefs who were known as sardars to raise powerful armies.

Question 4.
With which states was the state of Hyderabad was in war?
Answer:
The state of Hyderabad was continuously in war against the Marathas in the west and with independent Telegu warrior chief called as Nayakas in the Deccan plateau.

Question 5.
In what manner Burhan-ul-Mulk Sa’adat Khan minimized the Mughal influence in the Awadh region?
Answer:
Burhan-ul-Mulk Sa’adat Khan tried to minimize the Mughal influence in the Awadh region in the following way:

• First, he decreased the number of jagirdars, i.e., office holders appointed by the Mughals.
• He also decreased the size of the jagirs and appointed their own loyal and faithful servants to unoccupied positions.
• Jagirdars accounts were checked to prevent cheating and revenues of all regions were re-assessed by officials who were appointed by Burhan-ul- Mulk.

Question 6.
What do you mean by sardeshmukhid Who possessed the right to levy it?
Answer:
Sardeshmukhi means that in the Deccan 9-10 per cent of the land revenue paid to the head revenue collector. Maratha king possessed the right to levy it in the entire Deccan region.

Question 7.
Which foreign invader came in the middle of the economic and political crisis in 1739? What was the effect of it?
Answer:
Nadir Shah, the-.ruler of Iran came in – the middle of the economic and political crisis in 1739. He seized and raided the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away huge amounts of wealth. This invasion was followed by the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali who had a series of devastating raids in north India for five times between 1748 and 1761.

Question 8.
What steps were taken by Murshid Quli Khan to reduce the effect and influence of the Mughals in Bengal ?
Answer:
Murshid Quli Khan transferred all the Mughal jagirdars to Orissa and ordered a major re-assessment of the revenues of Bengal to reduce the Mughal influence. Cash was collected as revenues with strictness from all zamindars. Hence, all the zamindars had to borrow money from moneylenders and those who were unable to pay, they were forced to sell their lands and assets to big and rich zamindars.

Question 9.
In which way moneylenders and bankers achieve influential position in the state of Awadh?
Answer:
The state of Awadh depended on local bankers and mahajans for loans and sold the right to collect tax to the highest bidders. These ‘revenue farmers’ were known as ijaradars who agreed to pay the state a fixed sum of money. The revenue – farmers were given eminent freedom in the assessment and collection of taxes. All these developments enabled new social groups such as moneylenders and bankers to influence the management of the state’s revenue system something which had not occurred in the past.

Question 10.
During the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, how did the Jats integrated and merged their power?
Answer:
During the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Jats were flourishing and successful agriculturists. They had integrated their power under Churaman, their chief. They captured territories situated to the west of the city of Delhi and by the 1680s they had begun to rule the region between the two imperial cities of Delhi and Agra. Panipat and Ballabhgarh became important trading centres in the areas ruled by them. The kingdom of Bharatpur emerged as a strong state under Suraj Mai.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
Explain the reasons of decline of Mughal empire.
Answer:
Decline of Mughal empire in the seventeenth century happened due to following reasons:

• Emperor Aurangzeb exhausted and spent his military and financial resources of empire by fighting a long battle in the Deccan.
• Ii became very tough and difficult for later Mughal Emperors to regulate the powerful mansabdars.
• The governors and mansabdars established independent kingdoms in different areas.
• Peasants and zamindars became rebellions due to increasing taxes.
• Nadir Shah seized and raided the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away huge amounts of wealth.
• This invasion was followed by the Afghan ruler, Ahmad Shah Abdali, who invaded and raided north India five times between 1748 and1761
• Thus the empire was further incapacitated by the competition amongst different groups of nobles.

Question 2.
Discuss briefly the states of the eighteenth century into three overlapping groups.
Answer:
The states of the eighteenth century can be separated into three overlapping groups:

• States such as Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad were old Mughal provinces. Though they were extremely powerful and quite independent, the rulers of these states did not break their formalities with the Mughal emperor.
• States that had enjoyed considerable independence under the Mughals were watan jagirs. These included several Rajput principalities. Watan jagirs were the persons who collected taxes from each village and gave them to mansabdars and mansabdars gave the taxes to the state authority.
• The last group included states under the control of Marathas, Sikhs and some others like the Jats. These were of different sizes and had seized their independence from the Mughals after a long-drawn armed struggle

Question 3.
Discuss briefly the states of the eighteenth century into three overlapping groups.
Answer:
The states of the eighteenth century can be separated into three overlapping groups:
1. States such as Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad were old Mughal provinces. Though they were extremely powerful and quite independent, the rulers of these states did not break their formalities with the Mughal emperor.

2. States that had enjoyed considerable independence under the Mughals were watan jagirs. These included several Rajput principalities. Watan jagirs were the persons who collected taxes from each village and gave them to mansabdars and mansabdars gave the taxes to the state authority.

3. The last group included states under the control of Marathas, Sikhs and some others like the Jats. These were of different sizes and had seized their independence from the Mughals after a long-drawn armed struggle.

Question 4.
How did Sikhs appear as a stronger community?
Answer:
During seventeenth century, Sikhs became political community. The Khalsa was established to protect the Sikh community from the Mughals. Under Guru Gobind Singh, they fought many battles against the Mughals. After the death of Guru Gobind Singh, Banda Bahadur established the administration over the territories between Sutlej and Jamuna. In this manner Sikhs appeared as a stronger community.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Solutions