A. Tick the correct option.
1. Kautilya wrote the book-
Answer: Arthshastra
2. The period when art of writing was unknown is called-
Answer: Prehistory
3. The study of coins is known as-
Answer: Numismatics
4. Who is the author of Abhigyan Shakuntalam?
Answer: Kalidas
5. The Chinese traveller who visited India was-
Answer: Fa-hien
B. Fill in the blanks.
1. ___________ are the remains of palaces and forts.
2. Jain literature was written in ___________ language.
3. The study of inscriptions is called ___________.
4. Historians divide history into two parts, namely, ___________ and ___________.
5. ___________ literature consists of prose, plays, poetry, etc.
Answer: (1) Monuments (2) Prakrit (3) epigraphy (4) prehistory, history (5) non-religious.
C. Answer the following questions in brief.
1. How does the study of the monuments help the historians?
Answer: Study of monuments help the historians to collect information about the social and economic life, the religious beliefs, dress, art forms etc.
2. The study of history help us to make the present world a better place to live in. How?
Answer: Study of history enables us to come to conclusion by knowing the causes responsible for progress and development of Civilisation, rise and fall of Empire etc.
3. How do skeletal studies help us to identify gender differences?
Answer: It involves the details of the skeletons and listing their findings, skeleton of women generally has broader hip or pelvic area. Jewellery found on the skeletons helps to determine whether the skeleton belongs to a women or men.
4. What are the literary sources of Indian history?
Answer: All written records of the past are known as literary sources. They are religious literature, non-religious literature, secular literature and historical literature.
5. Explain historical literature with an example.
Answer: Historical literature consists of biographic of rulers and biographical sketches. E.g.- Harsh Charitra by Banabhatta.
D. Answer the following questions.
1. Distinguish between archaeological and literary sources.
Answer:
2. How do the archaeological source materials help us to learn about our past?
Answer: Archeological source materials help us to learn about religious, social and cultural conditions of that time. It also informs us the level of development of technology, art forms and identifying gender differences etc.
3. What is more important in history-events, persons, places or dates? Give reasons to justify your answer.
Answer: All are important in history. But in my view person is more important in history on the following grounds –
- A person creates history and events in a particular period or era.
- Without a person date/ place of a particular region is meaningless.
- Culture, progress or event made by a person is found place in history. So, a person is more important.
4. How do secular literary sources throw light on the life of the people in any period of history?
Answer: The secular literature involves foreign pilgrims accounts and also ambassadors. They had come to India from China and Grewe to study or visit the place of interest. Their account was about the social, economic and cultural conditions of that time. They viewed and said conditions and assess without attaching any particular group or community rather impartially viewed.
5. How does the study of coins help the historians?
Answer: The coins play a vital role in illuminating history not known from other sources and help in its reconstruction study of coins modify and amplify history.