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Worksheet - Tribes, Nomads and Settled Communities

The document summarizes information about tribal societies, nomadic groups, and settled communities in ancient India. It discusses the main features of tribal societies, including that members were united by kinship and obtained livelihood from activities like agriculture, hunting, gathering, and herding. Some tribes were nomadic. Nomadic pastoralists moved long distances with their animals and exchanged goods for grains and other products. The Banjaras were important nomadic traders who transported grains using oxen-drawn carts. Tribal groups in different parts of India included the Gonds, Cheros, Mundas, Santhals, Koragas, and Bhils. The Ahoms migrated to the Brahmaputra valley and created a powerful state

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1K views

Worksheet - Tribes, Nomads and Settled Communities

The document summarizes information about tribal societies, nomadic groups, and settled communities in ancient India. It discusses the main features of tribal societies, including that members were united by kinship and obtained livelihood from activities like agriculture, hunting, gathering, and herding. Some tribes were nomadic. Nomadic pastoralists moved long distances with their animals and exchanged goods for grains and other products. The Banjaras were important nomadic traders who transported grains using oxen-drawn carts. Tribal groups in different parts of India included the Gonds, Cheros, Mundas, Santhals, Koragas, and Bhils. The Ahoms migrated to the Brahmaputra valley and created a powerful state

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gamerboy1234567890000
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INDIAN SCHOOL SOHAR

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE


CLASS VII
CHAPTER 7 – TRIBES, NOMADS AND SETTLED COMMUNITIES (HISTORY)

Q 1. Give main features of the tribal societies.


A 1. Main features of the tribal societies were as follows:
i) Members of each tribe were united by kinship bonds.
ii) Many tribes obtained their livelihood from agriculture. Others were hunter-gatherers or herders.
iii) Many large tribes evolved in different parts of the subcontinent. Some tribes were nomadic and
moved from one place to another.
iv) A tribal group controlled land and pastures jointly, and divided these amongst households
according to its own rules.
v) They usually lived in forests, hills, deserts and places difficult to reach. Thus, they retained their
freedom and preserved their separate culture.

Q 2. Describe the lifestyle of nomadic pastoralists.


A 2.
i) Nomadic pastoralists moved over long distances with their animals. They lived on milk and other
pastoral products.
ii) They also exchanged wool, ghee, etc., with settled agriculturists for grain, cloth, utensils and other
products.
iii) They bought and sold these goods as they moved from one place to another, transporting them on
the back of their animals.

Q 3. Who were nomads and Itinerant groups?


A 3. Nomads were the wandering people. Most of them were pastoralists who moved from one
pasture to another with their flock and herds of animals.
Itinerant groups, such as craftspersons, pedlars and entertainers travelled from one place to another
practising their different professions.

Q 4. Who were the Banjaras? Why were they important?


A 4.
i) The Banjaras were the most important nomadic traders and were important for the economy.
ii) Their caravan was called ‘tanda’. They owned their oxen and a tanda could have upto seven
hundred persons.
iii) They worked as merchants, buying grain where it was cheaper and carried it to sell at places
where it was costlier.
iv) Sultan Alauddin Khalji used Banjaras to transport grains to city markets.
v) They transported food grains for the Mughal army during military campaigns.

Q 5. What occupations were followed by the pastoral tribes?


A 5. The following occupations were followed by the pastoral tribes:
i) Many pastoral tribes reared and sold animals like cattle and horses, to the prosperous people.
ii) Different castes of petty pedlars made and sold wares such as ropes, reeds, straw matting and
coarse sacks. Mendicants acted as wandering merchants.
iii) There were castes of entertainers who performed in different towns and villages for their
livelihood.

Q 6. Describe the tribal groups of west and central India.


A 6.
i) In many areas of present-day Bihar and Jharkhand, Chero chiefdoms had emerged by the twelfth
century.
ii) The Mundas and Santhals were among the other important tribes that lived in Bihar and Jharkhand
and also in Orissa and Bengal.
iii) The Maharashtra highlands and Karnataka were home to Kolis, Berads and numerous others.
iv) Further South, Koragas, Vetars, Maravars and many others lived in large numbers.
v) Bhils were spread across Western and Central India.By the late sixteenth century, many of them
settled themselves as agriculturists and some even zamindars.
vi) The Gonds were found in great numbers across the present-day states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Q 7. Who were Gonds? What were their occupations?


A 7. Gonds were a tribal group of Central India who lived in a vast forested region called Gondwana
—“country inhabited by Gonds”. They were agriculturists and practised shifting agriculture.

Q 8. Discuss the administration of Gond State.


A 8. The administrative system of Gond kingdom was centralized.
i) The kingdom was divided into Garhs. Each Garh was controlled by a Gond clan and each clan had its
own Raja or Rai.
ii) Garhs were further divided into units of 84 villages called chaurasi, which were further subdivided
into groups of 12 villages called barhots.
iii) The society was divided into unequal social classes. Brahmanas received land grants from Gond
rajas and became more influential.

Q 9. Give an account of the Ahoms and their rule.


A 9.
i) The Ahoms migrated to the Brahmaputra valley from Burma (Myanmar) in the thirteenth century.
ii) They created a new state by suppressing the older political system of the bhuiyans (landlords),
while also annexing and subjugating many other kingdoms.
iii) They built a large state, and for this they used fire-arms as early as the 1530s. By the 1660s they
could even make high quality gunpowder and cannons.

Q 10. Write short notes about the Ahoms with respect to the following:
a) Administration: The Ahom state depended upon forced labour. The forced workers were called
paiks. A census of the population was taken and each village had to send a number of paiks by
rotation. People from heavily populated areas were shifted to less populated places, thus breaking up
the Ahom clans.
b)Agriculture: The Ahoms introduced new method of rice cultivation. The peasants were given land
by the village community which even the king could not take away without the community’s consent.
c) Society: Ahom society was divided into clans or khels, each controlling several villages. Almost all
adult males served in the army during war or were engaged in building dams, irrigation systems and
other public works. There were very few castes of artisans, so artisans came in from the adjoining
kingdoms.
d) Culture: Poets and scholars were given land grants. Theatre was encouraged. Important works of
Sanskrit were translated into the local languages. Historical works, known as buranjis, were also
written-first in the Ahom language and then in Assamese.

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