NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 6 End-of-chapter exercise — Questions and activities

Because the regions that had made up one empire were being reorganised into new, competing kingdoms, and the map of India was redrawn.

Three things were reorganised together:

• Territory — Śhungas in the north, Chedis in Kalinga, Sātavāhanas in the Deccan, Cholas, Cheras and Pānḍyas in the south, Indo-Greeks, Śhakas and Kuṣhāṇas in the northwest.
• Power — no single overlord; several kingdoms of different sizes, constantly rising and falling.
• Culture — a dialogue of cultures producing new styles of art and architecture, with a dominance of Indian themes.

Sangam literature (about 150 words):

Sangam literature is the oldest literature of south India, composed in Tamil between roughly the 2nd or 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. The word sangam comes from the Sanskrit sangha, meaning ‘association' or ‘coming together' — here, an assembly of poets. So many poets flourished then that the whole period is called the ‘Sangam Age'. The literature is not one book but several collections or anthologies of poems by many hands. Its themes are of two kinds: personal emotions such as love, and public or social values such as heroism and generosity; both are expressed “with great skill and delicacy”. The poems name the three ‘crowned kings' — the Cholas, Cheras and Pānḍyas — and describe their capitals, wars, gifts and trade. Because of this, historians consult Sangam poetry constantly to study the society and culture of the ancient South. The epic Silappadikāram was composed soon after these collections.

The rulers of the Sātavāhana dynasty. The chapter says that “in the Sātavāhana tradition, princes were often named after their mothers”.

Why they did so:

1. The mother's status counted. Gautamī Balaśhrī was “a powerful queen who donated land to Buddhist monks and had an important inscription carved in Nāśhik” — a woman of real influence in the kingdom.
2. It strengthened the king's claim by naming the distinguished family he came from on his mother's side.
3. It publicly honoured the mother, showing the respect given to women in that society.
4. It identified him precisely, since several princes of the dynasty carried the same throne-name ‘Sātakarṇi'.

How to do it well. Choose one kingdom and build the note on five points: (1) where and when it ruled; (2) its main rulers; (3) its economy — farming, trade, coins; (4) its art, architecture or literature; (5) why you chose it, in your own words. Then keep a tally of the class's choices on the board and see which kingdom wins.

Sample answer (about 250 words) — the Sātavāhanas:

I have chosen the Sātavāhanas, who ruled large parts of the Deccan from the 2nd century BCE to the 3rd century CE, to the south of the Śhunga empire. They are sometimes called the ‘Andhras'. Their empire covered present-day Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra, with different capitals at different times — the most famous being Amrāvatī and Pratiṣhṭhāna (Paithan).

What makes them interesting to me is that they were a trading power. Their coins have been found from Gujarat to Andhra Pradesh, on both coasts, and many of them show a ship with two masts — proof of advanced shipbuilding and of sea trade reaching the Roman Empire. They exported spices, textiles, sandalwood, ivory and gold-plated pearls, and imported glass and perfumed ointments. Agriculture in the Krishna–Godavari valleys gave them a stable base, and tolls collected at places like the Naneghat caves added to the treasury.

I also admire two things about their society. First, princes were named after their mothers — Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi after Gautamī Balaśhrī, a queen who donated land and had an inscription carved at Nāśhik. Second, although the kings were devotees of Vāsudeva, they granted tax-free land to Vedic scholars, Jaina and Buddhist monks alike, and paid for the magnificent Karla caves.

I chose the Sātavāhanas because they show that prosperity, tolerance and respect for women can go together — and because a coin with a ship on it is a wonderful piece of evidence.

What a good answer must contain. Design your kingdom the way the kingdoms in this chapter were built, and say why at every step:

• A name and location — and a reason drawn from the land (a river, hills, a coast).
• An emblem like the Chola tiger, the Chera bow or the Pānḍya twin fish — one clear image that says something about your kingdom.
• A title — remember Kaṇiṣhka's mahārāja rājadhirāja devaputra and Khāravela's bhikṣhu-rāja.
• Values, rules and regulations, and two or three unique features.

Sample answer:

Name: Nadīpura, ‘the city of the river'. Location: on the bend of a river where it meets the hills, so that both farming and trade are possible.

Royal emblem: a peacock standing on a wheel. The peacock is a bird of my region and stands for beauty and watchfulness; the wheel stands for movement, trade and the turning of the seasons. It is easy to draw, so it can be stamped on a coin, a flag or a milestone — exactly what an emblem must be.

Title: Sarvajana-mitra, ‘friend of all people'. I would not take a title of conquest. Like Khāravela, who called himself the ‘respector of every sect', I want my title to state my duty rather than my power.

Values: justice above all — the Silappadikāram shows how a single unjust judgment destroyed a king and a city; respect for every school of thought; and care for water, since water made the Kāveri delta the ‘rice bowl of the South'.

Rules and regulations: (1) no one may be punished without proof heard in public; (2) one tenth of the harvest as tax, with none from a failed crop; (3) every village to maintain its tank, and the kingdom to pay for it; (4) free schooling for all children; (5) traders to pay a toll at the border, and to receive a rest house and safe roads in return.

Unique features: a bridge-dam like the Kallaṇai; a hall where poets meet every year, in the spirit of the Sangam; and coins carrying the emblem on one side and a plough on the other, to honour the farmer.

Method. Take a blank outline map of the Subcontinent. Mark the coasts and three or four rivers first (Ganga, Narmada, Godavari, Kāveri) so that you have landmarks. Then plot each site with a dot and a label, and add a small legend. Work north to south so that you do not crowd one corner.