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
Quick revision
| Term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Worth remembering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkic | Peoples, languages and cultures historically associated with a vast region stretching across Central Asia, all the way to Turkey and Siberia | Word box, page 98 | Both the Ghaznavids and the Ghūrids were Turkic powers based in present-day Afghanistan — not Arabs, who were the invaders of the previous chapter |
| Sultan | A word of Arabic origin meaning ‘authority’ or ‘power’; in the Muslim world it came to mean a sovereign ruler or king | DON’T MISS OUT, page 101 | Mahmūd was the first to assume the title in this story; the ‘sultanates’ it gave its name to — above all the Delhi Sultanate — come in Grade 8 |
| Hindu Shāhis | The dynasty ruling across present-day Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and up to Punjab in the 9th–10th centuries | ‘The Ghaznavid Invasions’, pages 99–101 | They held the Khyber Pass, and “with the help of several other Indian rulers, they resisted several attempted invasions”. Jayapāla and his son Ānandapāla were the last to fight Mahmūd |
| Khyber Pass | One of the main mountain passes through the Hindu Kush range, linking the Subcontinent to Central Asia | Page 100 and Fig. 4.3, Fig. 4.4 | For at least 2,500 years a major trade route and the road Buddhist scholars and monks travelled — and the road many invaders took |
| Booty / plunder | Goods, treasure, cattle and captives seized by an army after a victory | Pages 101–103, 117 | Mahmūd “would return to Ghazni with huge amounts of booty” after each of his 17 campaigns; Bakhtiyār Khiljī “acquired great booty” at the ‘fortress’ near Nālandā |
| Vihāra / bihār / mahāvihāra | A Buddhist monastery; a mahāvihāra is a great monastery that is also a university | Pages 110, 117 and the LET’S EXPLORE on page 117 | Jūzjānī records that “in [their] tongue, they call a college bihār” — the word behind the name Bihar. Nālandā’s own name in ancient inscriptions was Nālandā Mahāvihāra |
| Punitive expedition | A military expedition sent to punish, not to occupy | Page 112, on Rājendra I and Śhrīvijaya | Rājendra’s navy defeated Śhrīvijaya and captured its capital, but “he did not try to occupy the defeated empire”; it was backed by Indian merchant guilds |
| Gangaikoṇḍachola | “The Chola who seized (or brought) Gangā” | Page 111 | Rājendra I’s title after his northern campaigns — a reference both to those campaigns and to the sacredness attached to the Gangā. His new capital was named Gangaikoṇḍacholapuram |
| Land assignment (Ghūrid system) | Temporary grants of land to officers in return for revenue collection and military service | ‘Governance, Trade and Cultural Life’, page 118 | This is the one real administrative change of the period: Muhammad Ghūrī’s system was “more centralised”, and it would be developed further under the Delhi Sultanate |
| Toraṇa | A gateway | Page 108 and Fig. 4.11 | The Kākatīyas built a fort at Orugallu (today’s Warangal) with impressive stone toraṇas; their Thousand Pillar temple stands at Hanamkonda |
| Vachana | A short poem in Kannada | Page 120, on Basaveśhvara | Basavaṇṇa’s vachanas “strikingly convey his spiritual and ethical vision as well as his firm devotion to his Lord” |
| Anubhava Maṇḍapa | Literally, ‘pavilion of experience’ | LET’S EXPLORE, page 121 | Basavaṇṇa’s assembly at Kalyāṇī, open to men and women “from every social, economic, religious or linguistic background”, to discuss all aspects of life |
| Viśhiṣhṭādvaita vedānta | The school of Rāmānujāchārya, which “sees the world and individual souls as real, and emphasises bhakti and surrender to the divine as the path to liberation” | Page 120 | He challenged the then-dominant advaita vedānta of Ādi Śhankarāchārya, met in the previous chapter |
| Lingāyat movement | The movement founded by Basaveśhvara, which “rejected caste distinctions and ritualism and, instead, taught personal devotion and dedicated work” | Page 120 | He “promoted the equal spiritual potential of all men and women”, looking at a person’s inner value rather than social rank |
| Śhikhara | A temple tower | DON’T MISS OUT on Angkor Wat, page 122 | Angkor Wat’s five huge śhikharas symbolise Mount Meru, the mountain at the centre of the cosmos in Hindu mythology |
| Bas-relief | A sculpture carved so that the figures stand out only slightly from a flat background | Fig. 4.1, page 97; Angkor Wat box, page 122 | The chapter opens with a bas-relief of soldiers and elephants from the Lakṣhmaṇa temple, Khajuraho; Angkor Wat’s bas-reliefs show scenes from the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata |
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