NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 16 Turning Tides: 11th and 12th Centuries
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
Two centuries in which the tide turns. The previous chapter ended with Arab incursions that “had little overall impact on India”. The 11th and 12th centuries “tell a different story: invasions by Turkic powers penetrated much deeper into north India, despite stubborn resistance from native kingdoms.” The chapter opens with one invasion (Mahmūd of Ghazni) and closes with another (Muhammad Ghūrī and his generals). Mahmūd of Ghazni: 17 campaigns, no kingdom. The Ghaznavids overran the Hindu Shāhis , who had held the Khyber Pass ; Mahmūd defeated Jayapāla and, in 1008 , Ānandapāla. He raided Mathura (1018) , Kannauj and Somnath (1026) , destroying temples and carrying off treasure, prisoners and children. He “did not attempt to establish a permanent base in India beyond Punjab”, and died in 10
- Chapter opening
- Al-Bīrūnī on the Hindu Shāhiya dynasty
- The rebuilding of the Somanātha temple
- Bhāskarāchārya
- ‘Further South’
- Basavaṇṇa’s Anubhava Maṇḍapa at Kalyāṇī
- The chapter in five points
- End-of-chapter exercise
Exercises
- Chapter opening — The Big Questions Page 97
- The Khyber Pass (Fig. 4.3), painted by a British military officer in about 1847 — LET’S EXPLORE Page 100
- Al-Bīrūnī on the Hindu Shāhiya dynasty — THINK ABOUT IT Page 101
- The rebuilding of the Somanātha temple — LET’S EXPLORE Page 103
- Bhāskarāchārya — In-text Question Page 105
- ‘Further South’ — In-text Question Page 107
- An ancient painting of Rājendra Chola with his guru (Fig. 4.14, Bṛihadīśhvara temple) — LET’S EXPLORE Page 112
- Minhaj al-Siraj Jūzjānī’s account of Bakhtiyār Khiljī’s campaign, in the Tabakāt-i-Nāsirī — LET’S EXPLORE Page 117
- Basavaṇṇa’s Anubhava Maṇḍapa at Kalyāṇī — LET’S EXPLORE Page 121
- The chapter in five points — Before we move on … Page 123
- End-of-chapter exercise — Questions and activities Page 123–124