Chapter 7 Tribes Nomads and Settle Communities

Chapter 7 Tribes, Nomads and Settled Communities
1. Match the following:

a. Chaurasi
b. caravan
c, paik
d. khel
e. Ahom State
f. Garha Katanga
2. Fill in the Blanks:

a. jatis
b. Buranjis
c. Akbar Nama
d. poets and scholars
3. State whether true or false:

a. true
b. false
c. false
d. false
4. What kinds of exchanges took place between nomadic pastoralists and settled
agriculturists?
Nomadic pastoralists exchanged wool, ghee etc. with settled agriculturists for
grain, cloth, Utensils and other products.
5. How was the administration of the Ahom state organised?
 Ahom Society was divided into Clans or Khels.
 A khel often controlled several villages.
6. What changes took place in Varna based society?
 Smaller castes or jatis emerged within varnas.
 On the other hand, many tribes and social groups were taken into caste-
based society and given the status of jatis.
 Specialised artisans such as smiths, carpenters and masons were also
recognised as separate jatis by the Brahmanas.
 Jatis rather than varna became the basis for organising society.
 Among the Kshatriyas, new Rajput clans became powerful.
 Many tribes became part of the caste system. But only the leading tribal
families could join the ruling class. A large majority joined the lower jatis of
caste society.
7. How did tribal societies change after being organised into a State?
 After being organized into a State, tribal societies gradually got divided into
unequal social classes.
 The leading families joined the ruling class, while the others joined the jatis.
8. Were the Banjaras important for the economy? or
How were banjaras useful to different emperors and kings?
 Sultan Alauddin Khalji used the Banjaras to transport grain to the city
markets.
 Emperor Jahangir wrote in his memoirs that the Banjaras carried
grain on their bullocks from different areas and sold it in towns.
 They transported food grain for the Mughal army during military campaigns.
9. In what ways was the history of the Gonds different from that of the Ahoms?
Were there any similarities?
 The histories of Ahoms and Gonds were different .While Gonds were
completely annexed by the Mughals the Ahoms managed to reclaim their
independence soon after their annexation.
 The similarities between both are that they rose from the small tribal
communities to powerful tribal States that modelled themselves on other
centralised kingdoms.
10. What are the characteristic features of the tribal people?
 Members of each tribe were united by kinship bonds.
 Some tribes were nomadic and moved from one place to another.
 Some tribes retained their freedom and preserved their separate culture.
11. What was the varna system of the Indian society?
 In large parts of the subcontinent, society was divided according to the
rules of Varna.
 These rules, as prescribed by the Brahmanas, were accepted by the rulers of
large kingdoms.
 The difference between the high and low, and between the rich and poor,
increased. Under the Delhi Sultans and the Mughals, this hierarchy between
social classes grew further.
12. How did tribal societies change after being organised into a State?
The emergence of large states changed the nature of tribal societies like the Gond
society and the Ahom society.
The Gond Society.
 Their basically equal society gradually got divided into unequal social classes.
 Brahmanas received land grants from the Gond rajas and became more
influential.
 The Gond chiefs now wished to be recognised as Rajputs. So, Aman Das, the
Gond raja of Garha Katanga, assumed the title of ‘Sangram Shah’.
The Ahom Society.
 The Ahoms built a large state which brought many changes in the Ahom
society.
 The influence of Brahmanas increased.
 Temples and Brahmanas were granted land by the king.
 In the reign of Sib Singh, Hinduism became the predominant religions.
But the Ahom Kings did not completely give up their traditional beliefs
after adopting Hinduism.
13. How did tribal societies differ from other societies in the sub-continent?
 They did not follow the social rules and rituals prescribed by the
Brahmanas. Nor were they divided into numerous unequal classes.
 Members of each tribe were united by kinship bonds.
 Many tribes obtained their livelihood from agriculture. Others were
hunter-gatherers or herders.
 Some tribes were nomadic and moved from one place to another.
 A tribal group controlled land and pastures jointly, and divided these
amongst households according to its own rules.
14.Who were Gonds? What was the system of administration of the Gond society?
 The Gonds lived in a vast forested region called Gondwana.

 They practised shifting cultivation. The large Gond tribe was further
divided into many smaller clans.
 Each clan had its own raja or rai. The administrative system of Gond
kingdoms was becoming centralised.
 The kingdom was divided into garhs. Each garh was controlled by a
particular Gond clan.
 This was further divided into units of 84 villages
called chaurasi. The chaurasi was subdivided into barhots which were
made up of 12 villages each.
15. Who were Ahoms? How was the administration of the Ahom state organised?
 The Ahoms were the tribal people who migrated to the Brahmputra valley
from present-day Myanmar in the 13th century.
 They created a new state by suppressing the older political system of the
bhuiyans i.e. landlords
 The Ahom state depended upon forced labour. Those forced to work for the
state were known as peaks.
 A census of the population was taken. Each village had to send a number of
paiks by rotation.
 People of densely populated areas were shifted to thinly populated areas.
Ahom clans were thus broken up.
 By the first half of the 17th century the administration became quite
centralised.

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Chapter 7 Tribes, Nomads and Settled Communities

1. Match the following:

2. Fill in the Blanks:

3. State whether true or false:

 The Gonds lived in a vast forested region called Gondwana.

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