NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 15 Empires and Kingdoms: 6th to 10th Centuries
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
The Guptas are gone, but India is not empty — it is crowded. This chapter covers roughly 600 CE to 1200 CE (with the next chapter), six centuries that historians have called ‘post-classical’, ‘late classical’ or ‘early medieval’. Instead of one great empire there are many strong regional kingdoms . Some call this a time of rivalry and disorder; the chapter asks you to look again and see “a land buzzing with new ideas, art, and culture, different in each region, yet all part of one India.” Harṣhavardhana is the last great north Indian emperor of the age. He came to the throne at Kannauj in 606 CE , from the Puṣhyabhūti (Vardhana) dynasty whose earlier capital was Sthāneśhvara . He was a poet and dramatist, patronised Bāṇabhaṭṭa , welcomed the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (in India 630–644 ), an
- Chapter opening
- The opening survey
- The ‘Great King of Kings’
- Harṣha’s signature on the Banskhera copper plate (Fig. 3.5)
- Xuanzang’s route from China to India and back (Fig. 3.7)
- Harṣha’s five-yearly assembly at Prayāga
- A Tripartite Struggle for Kannauj (Fig. 3.3)
- Al-Masūdī on a Rāṣhṭrakūṭa ruler
- Kalhaṇa and the writing of history (Rājatarangiṇī)
- The Deccan and Beyond
Quick revision
| Term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Worth remembering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tripartite | A situation that involves three distinct parties or players | Word box, page 67 | The Pālas, Gurjara-Pratīhāras and Rāṣhṭrakūṭas fought over Kannauj through the 8th and 9th centuries — no lasting victor |
| Sāmanta | A subordinate ruler — the equivalent of a tributary or vassal | ‘Polity and administration’, page 82 | They led armies and ran local administration, but their loyalty could be fragile; the Rāṣhṭrakūṭas were once sāmantas of the Chālukyas and overthrew them |
| Bhukti / rāṣhṭra, maṇḍala | Province and district — the units of directly-ruled territory | Page 82 | Below them came villages, the lowest units, run by headmen, accountants and local committees |
| Sabhā | A village assembly, its members chosen by a set process | Page 82 | The 10th-century Chola inscriptions at Uttaramerur record the selection process — a democratic tradition reaching back 1,500 years to the janapadas |
| Monolithic | Made of a single (‘mono’) stone or rock (‘lithic’) | Word box, page 78 | The Pallava temples of Māmallapuram, the Kailaśhanātha temple at Ellora, and the 10th-century Bāhubalī at Shravanabelagola |
| Dvārapaṇḍita | ‘Scholar gatekeeper’ — the teacher who tested every student seeking admission | Vikramaśhilā, page 69 | Each of Vikramaśhilā’s six colleges had one; nearly 3,000 scholars studied there |
| Mlechchha | Originally, those who did not speak clearly or follow Vedic culture; later, foreigners | Word box, page 92 | The Gwalior inscription says Nāgabhaṭa I “crushed the large army of the powerful Mlechchha king” |
| Idol / image | A worshipped image. The chapter prefers ‘image’, mūrti or vigraha | Word box, page 91 | The book explains why it changes the word — ‘idol’ carries the disapproval of those who condemned image-worship |
| Infidel | For medieval Islam, non-Muslims — especially Hindus, Buddhists or Jains | Word box, page 91 | Quoted from the Chachnāma’s report of bin Qasim’s message to King Dāhar |
| Aspṛiśhya | Literally ‘not to be touched’ | ‘Social life’, page 85 | The term appears in a few texts and points to discrimination against communities regarded as ‘impure’; Xuanzang describes such groups living outside the city |
| Jāti | A community, usually based on occupation or region, in which most people married within the group | Pages 84–85 | Jātis multiplied in this period, but stayed flexible — the Pālas and Kākatīyas were said to be originally Śhūdras and later regarded as Kṣhatriyas |
| Rājatarangiṇī | ‘The River of Kings’ — Kalhaṇa’s 12th-century Sanskrit epic history of Kashmir | Pages 73–74 | He consulted eleven earlier works plus inscriptions, grants and records — and wanted history to teach moral lessons |
| Bhakti | Personal devotion to a deity, placed above Vedic sacrifice | Pages 87–88 | From the 6th century it spread massively across India; the spark came from the Tamil 12 Ālvārs (Viṣhṇu) and 63 Nāyanmārs (Śhiva) |
| Merchant guilds | Associations of traders, artisans and moneylenders | LET’S REMEMBER, page 84 | They supported religious and charitable activities; in south India one guild was active in coastal and inland trade, the other became the largest inter-regional merchant association |
| Goṣhṭhika | A temple’s administration council | ‘The Hūṇas’ challenge’, page 90 | One inscription records a Hūṇa serving on such a council — proof of how completely they assimilated |
| Chachnāma | A 13th-century Persian rendering of an older Arabic account of the Arab conquest of Sindh | Pages 91–92 | A source to be used with care — it is late, and written from the conquerors’ side |
Exercises
- Chapter opening — The Big Questions Page 61
- The opening survey — In-text Question Page 63
- The ‘Great King of Kings’ — LET’S EXPLORE Page 64
- Harṣha’s signature on the Banskhera copper plate (Fig. 3.5) — LET’S EXPLORE Page 64
- Xuanzang’s route from China to India and back (Fig. 3.7) — LET’S EXPLORE Page 66
- Harṣha’s five-yearly assembly at Prayāga — THINK ABOUT IT Page 67
- A Tripartite Struggle for Kannauj (Fig. 3.3) — LET’S EXPLORE Page 68
- Al-Masūdī on a Rāṣhṭrakūṭa ruler — THINK ABOUT IT Page 72
- Kalhaṇa and the writing of history (Rājatarangiṇī) — LET’S EXPLORE Page 74
- Ādi Śhankarāchārya, the Shankaracharya Hill (Fig. 3.14) and the four maṭhas — LET’S EXPLORE Page 74–75
- The Deccan and Beyond — In-text Question Page 75
- The Durga panel at Māmallapuram (Fig. 3.18) — LET’S EXPLORE Page 79
- Inscriptions in two languages — DON’T MISS OUT Page 81
- Other Developments — In-text Question Page 82
- Social life — THINK ABOUT IT Page 85
- The coins of Toramāṇa and Skandagupta (Fig. 3.26) — LET’S EXPLORE Page 90
- The queens of Sindh in the Chachnāma — LET’S EXPLORE Page 91
- Sulaiman on a Gurjara-Pratīhāra ruler — THINK ABOUT IT Page 92
- Words shared by Sanskrit, Arabic and English — THINK ABOUT IT Page 93
- The chapter in six points — Before we move on … Page 95
- End-of-chapter exercise — Questions and activities Page 96