Important Questions for CBSE Class 7 Social Science Our Past 2 Chapter 3 - The Delhi Sultans

Very Short Answer Questions:                                                                                           

1. Fill in the blanks:

i. Tomara Rajputs established ______ as their capital.

Ans: Tomara Rajputs established Delhi as their capital

ii. ______ was the administrative language of Delhi sultans.

Ans: Persian was the administrative language of Delhi sultans.

iii. In the reign of ______the sultanate reached its farthest extent.

Ans: In the reign of Muhammad Bin Tughluq the sultanate reached its farthest extent. 

iv. Ibn Battuta travelled to _____.

Ans: Ibn Battuta travelled to India.

2. State true and false:

i. Tomaras were defeated by the Chauhans.

Ans: True

ii. Delhi Sultanate was started in $13$th century.

Ans: True

iii. Authors of Tawarikh wrote the history of Sultans for information.

Ans: False

iv. Mosque in English called as Masjid.   

Ans: True

3. Match the following:

Ans: 

4. Choose the correct option:

i. The Suri Dynasty ruled for____

1. $15$Years

2. $10$Years

3. $20$ Years

4. $25$years

  Ans: (a) $15$ years

ii. Mongols attacked on Transoxiana in_____

1. $1219$

2. $1220$

3. $1221$

4. $1222$

Ans: (a) $1219$

5. Define the Following:

i. Maharaja-adhiraja.

Ans: The kings who were at the top of the societal hierarchy used powerful titles. One such title was ‘maharaja-adhiraja’ 

ii. Raziyya Sultan

Ans: Raziyya Sultan was the daughter of Sultan Iltutmish. She ascended the throne of Delhi Sultanate in $1236$. Despite being a highly qualified and talented queen, she was removed from the throne in $1240$ as women in those times was not supposed to have an independent and powerful identity of their own. 

Short Answer Questions:                                                                                              

6. When the Tomara Rajputs were defeated and by whom? Marks                     

Ans: The Tomara Rajputs faced their defeat by the Chahamanas or Chauhans of Ajmer in the middle of the twelfth century. 

7. When was the Delhi Sultanate established?

Ans: At the beginning of the thirteenth century, Delhi Sultanate was established. 

8. How did the archaeologists collect the information about Delhi Sultanate?

Ans: The archaeologists collected information about the Delhi Sultanate by consulting various sources. Some of those sources are as follows—

• Inscriptions

• Coins

• Architecture

• Histories written in Perisan, ‘tawarikh’. 

9. What is a mosque called in Arabic?

Ans:  A mosque is referred to as a ‘masjid’ in Arabic. 

10. What is the meaning of a mosque?

Ans: A mosque is a religious place where the Muslims prostrate to pay their respect to Allah. 

Short Answer Questions:                                                                                              

11. Give a briefing of the ‘Tawarikh’.

Ans: An account of ‘Tawarikh’ is given as follows—

• ‘Tawarikh’ were historical documents 

•  These were written in the Persian language.

• ‘Tawarikh’ used to be penned down by learned and wise men like administrators, poets, courtiers, etc. who resided in cities like Delhi. 

• The authors of ‘Tawarikh’ had great importance to the Sultan. They used to advise the sultan, write about historical events for him to get rewards in return. 

12. Why was Raziyya not accepted as a Sultan?

Ans: Raziyya, the successor of Sultan Iltutmish ascended the throne of Delhi Sultanate in the year $$$1236$. But she was not accepted as a Sultan and removed from the throne within four years because of the following reasons—

• In those times, women were supposed to be less educated and qualified than men and were also not meant to have an independent identity. 

• Raziyya was more talented and qualified as compared to his brothers but due to the lower social status of women, they were not able to accept her as a ruler.

• Moreover, the courtiers and nobles were also dissatisfied with having her as a Sultan and wanted a male Sultan instead. 

13. What are the four stages of making a manuscript?

Ans: The four stages of making a manuscript are as follows—

i. Making of the paper

ii. Penning down the text

iii. Highlighting the important words and phrases with melted gold

iv. Binding of the paper

14. How did the concept of humble birth bring instability?

Ans: The Sultans of the Khalji and Tughluq dynasty often appointed many people of humble birth in high political positions like governors or generals. However, those slaves and clients of a sultan used to show loyalty to that particular Sultan only and not to his successors. New Sultans used to recruit their servants for themselves.  As a result, the accession of a new Sultan frequently witnessed a clash between the old and new nobility. Such conflicts caused instability in the empire at times. In this way, the concept of humble birth used to bring instability. 

15. Why did the large parts of the subcontinent stay away from the rule of Delhi?

Ans: Large parts of the Indian subcontinent stayed away from the rule of the Delhi Sultanate because of the following reasons—

• The distance between many parts of the Indian subcontinent and Delhi is very long. And it was quite difficult for the Sultans to exercise power over such long distances. For instance, Bengal is located at a very far away distance from Delhi; so, it was difficult to control Bengal from Delhi.

• The forested areas in some regions also acted as an obstacle and did not let the Delhi Sultanate enter those regions. This resulted in many local rulers establishing themselves in regions not accessible by Delhi Sultans.

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Long Answer Questions:                                                                                                

16. What were the administrative measures that were taken by Alauddin?

Ans: The attack of the Mongols on the Delhi Sultanate increased on a large scale during the reign of Sultan Alauddin Khalji. To handle the situation, he undertook several administrative measures which are as follows—

• Alauddin arranged a large standing army for protection.

• To permanently station his troop of soldiers, he constructed a garrison town, Siri.

• To feed those soldiers, he introduced the measure of collecting some agricultural produce as tax from lands lying near the Ganga and Yamuna rivers.

• The soldiers were paid salaries in cash.

• To ensure that the soldiers were able to buy commodities at low prices, Alauddin also brought under his control the market prices of goods in Delhi. 

17. How did Muhammad Tughluq administer?

Ans: The early years of Mohammad Tughluq’s reign in the Delhi Sultanate witnessed several attacks from the Mongols. To administer his empire in such situations, he introduced the following steps—

• He increased the size of his standing army, like Alauddin Khalji.

• The oldest city of Delhi, Delhi-I-Kuhna was transformed into a garrison town by him. The soldiers were stationed and its residents were shifted to Daulatabad. 

• Like Alauddin Khalji, he also undertook the system of collecting agricultural produce as taxes from the Ganga and Yamuna regions to feed the soldiers. Apart from this, he also introduced some extra taxes to meet the demand for an increased number of soldiers. 

• He paid salaries in cash to the soldiers.

• He did not introduce any such measure to control prices but introduced the usage of a ‘token’ currency.

18. Why were the Tughluq’s administrative measures a failure?

Ans: Muhammad Tughluq’s administrative measures turned out to be a failure because of the following reasons—

• Firstly, a major step taken by him – campaign in Kashmir did not achieve success.

• He could not achieve his plans of occupying Transoxiana, thus, broke up the large troop of soldiers especially for this purpose.

• The administrative measures like the collection of high taxes introduced by him gave rise to issues and complications. 

• His measure of shifting residents to Daulatabad for creating a garrison town started facing dissatisfaction from people.

• The raising of taxes by him coincided with the occurrence of famine in the Ganga-Yamuna region. This resulted in a massive revolt.

19. Give an account of the emergence of the new dynasties.

Ans:  The emergence of new dynasties can be described as follows—

• Big landlords emerged in various parts of India by the seventh century.

• They were also the warrior chiefs and received huge patronage from the existing monarchs. 

• Over time, they were addressed as ‘samantas’ or subordinates by the kings. Their major tasks involved presenting gifts and military protection to the kings.

• With the passage of time, they gained so much power and wealth, they started declaring themselves as maha-samantas and overpowered the existing kings or overlords. T

• These maha-samantas emerged as the new rulers and thus there emerged new dynasties. For instance, the Rashtrakutas of Deccan overthrew the Chalukyas of Karnataka, despite being the latter’s subordinate initially and established their rule. 

20. Discuss the administration of the kingdoms during the times of new kings.

Ans: The administration of kingdoms during the reign of new kings can be described as follows—

• The new kings were at the top of the societal hierarchy and had high-class titles like ‘maharaja-adhiraja’, ‘tribhuvana-chakravartin’, etc. 

• They shared powers with their subordinates called ‘samantas’ and    other people like Brahmanas, traders, and other peasants. 

• Revenues or rents were collected from traders, peasants, cattle-keepers, and other types of producers.

• Individuals from influential families or the kings’ close relatives were appointed in the task of the revenue collection. 

• These collected revenues served as economic resources financing different works of the empire like forts and temples.