NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 5 Rani Abbakka — Let us think and reflect
Book page 214 & 215 Updated on2026-09-05
Q1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. “Portuguese envoy: Our Governor has sent me to remind you that the annual tribute from Ullal is long overdue and… / Rani Abbakka: We are a sovereign country. We don’t pay tribute to Portugal. And we don’t take orders from the Portuguese! / Portuguese envoy: Your Majesty, you will regret your stand. / Abbakka ordered merchant ships to be built and in alliance with the Zamorin of Kozhikode, she defied the Portuguese and established a hugely profitable trading relation with Arabia.” — 1. What does the word ‘tribute’ mean in this context?
Answer
Here tribute means a fixed payment in money or goods that a weaker state was forced to make, year after year, to a stronger power as a sign of submission.
The opening panel of the story explains the arrangement: Ullal “had been captured by the Portuguese and had become a vassal — they were required to pay a tribute to the colonial power”. That is why Abbakka's refusal is not merely about money: to stop paying tribute is to declare that Ullal is nobody's vassal.
Careful — same word, two meanings: in the first text of this unit, ‘tribute' means something said or done to show respect (“it is a tribute to some of the bravest Indians”). Here it means a forced payment. Always let the sentence around a word decide its meaning.
Q2.
2. Complete the sentence with a suitable reason. Rani Abbakka says, “We are a sovereign country” because __________.
Answer
Rani Abbakka says, “We are a sovereign country” because Ullal has its own crowned ruler and its own government with complete authority over its land, its trade and its people — it does not belong to Portugal, and therefore owes the Portuguese neither tribute nor obedience.
Why she says it in that particular moment: the envoy has just spoken as though the payment were an old, settled fact. In one sentence Abbakka rejects the whole arrangement, not just this year's bill — and she follows it up with action, building her own merchant ships and trading with Arabia through her alliance with the Zamorin of Kozhikode.
Q3.
3. Identify whether the following statement is true or false. The Portuguese envoy threatened Rani Abbakka.
Answer
True.
His words are “Your Majesty, you will regret your stand.” That is a warning of punishment to come — a threat, made politely. And it was carried out: the Portuguese later apprehended her returning merchant ships and then attacked Ullal itself.
Q4.
4. Choose a word given in brackets to replace the underlined word. “… she defied the Portuguese and established a hugely profitable trading relation with Arabia.” (defeated/disobeyed)
Answer
disobeyed
“…she disobeyed the Portuguese and established a hugely profitable trading relation with Arabia.”
Why not ‘defeated': at this point in the story there has been no battle. Defy means to refuse openly to obey — which is exactly what building her own ships and trading with Arabia amounted to. The defeat of the Portuguese comes later, on pages 211 and 212.
Q5.
5. Choose the option that lists the qualities of Rani Abbakka, based on this extract. (i) bold (ii) thoughtful (iii) capable (iv) generous (v) determined — A. (i), (ii), and (v) B. (ii), (iii), and (iv) C. (i), (iii), and (v) D. (ii), (iv), and (v)
Answer
C. (i), (iii), and (v) — bold, capable and determined.
Quality
Evidence in the extract
bold
She tells a colonial envoy to his face, “We don't take orders from the Portuguese!”
capable
She builds merchant ships, forms an alliance with the Zamorin of Kozhikode, and makes the Arabia trade “hugely profitable” — the work of an able ruler, not just a brave one
determined
Threatened with regret, she does not retreat; she goes ahead and trades anyway
generous
Nothing in the extract shows giving or charity
Q6.
Answer the following questions. 1. Rani Abbakka spoke to her mother on her deathbed. How might these words have made her mother feel?
Answer
Hiriya Abbakka was dying in grief and helplessness — “Alas, Abbakka! I lie here helpless, while the Portuguese…” Her daughter answered: “Hush, Mother! You must not tire yourself with such thoughts. I am here. And I will not rest till I have driven them out of the west coast!”
Those words would have brought her mother comfort, pride and peace:
Comforted, because “I am here” told her she was not alone in her last hours.
Relieved, because the unfinished work of her life would not die with her.
Proud, because the daughter she had raised had her own courage and more.
At peace, because a queen's last fear — what happens to my people now? — had just been answered.
Look ahead: the story closes with Abbakka's thought as she surveys the burning Portuguese camp — “Mother, your dream has come true. Ullal is free!” The promise made at the bedside is the thread that holds the whole story together.
Q7.
2. What does the support of the people of Ullal and the soldiers for Rani Abbakka suggest about their mindset?
Answer
It suggests a people who valued freedom and self-respect above safety, and who judged a ruler by courage rather than by custom or gender.
They refused to accept foreign rule as normal. Ullal had been paying tribute for years, yet the moment a leader offered another way, the crowd shouted “Victory to Rani Abbakka Devi.”
They chose loyalty over orders. When the king of Bangadi commanded, “Stop her! Seize her!!”, not a single soldier stirred — “such was the spell cast by the brave queen… They decided to follow their brave leader.”
They were ready to pay the price. They knew the Portuguese fleet and cannon; a four-day battle followed; still they fought.
They accepted a woman as a war leader without hesitation, at a time when the neighbouring rajas would not even risk an alliance.
Q8.
3. How might the people of Ullal have felt when the mighty Portuguese were defeated?
Answer
They would have felt an enormous joy and relief, mixed with pride and a new confidence — and with sorrow for those they had lost in four days of fighting.
Relief above all: “The Portuguese beat a hasty retreat in defeat, never to trouble Ullal again.” The tribute, the threats and the fear of the guns across the river were over.
Pride in their queen, who had said she would fight “single-handed, if need be” and had been proved right, and pride in themselves for having stood by her.
Confidence: the rajas had said “Impossible! We are no match for them.” Ullal had just shown that this was not true.
Grief too, for the dead of a four-day battle — a defeated fleet is still a burning shore. The last panel shows Abbakka standing quietly among the wreckage, not celebrating.
Q9.
4. Why do you think Rani Abbakka’s victory against the Portuguese would have inspired other rulers to go against a foreign power?
Answer
Because it destroyed the one thing that kept the other rulers obedient — the belief that the Portuguese could not be beaten.
It broke a myth. At the meeting of rajas the answer had been, “Impossible! We are no match for them… I would advise you not to provoke them.” Ullal, a small principality, then defeated them. Fear, not strength, had been holding the others back.
It showed a method, not just a mood. Abbakka did not merely fight — she built merchant ships, allied with the Zamorin of Kozhikode and opened her own trade with Arabia. Rulers could see that economic independence was possible too.
It proved that alliances work. Her tie with Kozhikode, and later her help to Venkatappa Nayak of Keladi in taking Fort Mangalore, showed what neighbouring states could do together.
It shamed the powerful. The Portuguese Governor of Goa himself raged, “What! A mere woman defeating the mighty Portuguese! You have made us the laughing-stock of the local rulers.” Once the local rulers were laughing rather than trembling, the spell was broken — and, as the story's last panel records, the Portuguese were eventually driven out of Mangalore altogether by Shivappa Nayak of Keladi.