Revision Notes

Class - 7 Social Science (History)

Chapter 1 - Tracing Changes Through a Thousand Years

New and Old Terminologies

• The terms and meaning of words change over time. For example, “Hindustan”,
today means “India”, a country whereas in the thirteenth century, Minhaj-i-Siraj,
a chronicler who wrote in Persian, used it to refer to the areas of Punjab, Haryana
and the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna.

Historians and their Sources

• Coins, inscriptions, architecture and textual records are used to gather information
of the past.
• People gradually started writing holy texts, chronicles of rulers, letters and
teachings of saints, petitions and judicial records, and for registers of accounts and
taxes.
• Manuscripts were written and collected by wealthy people, rulers, monasteries
and temples. They were also placed in temples in monasteries. These contained a
lot of detailed information. Since these were handwritten, they were difficult to
comprehend.
• There were no printing presses and the texts were copied by hands which led to
slight changes in them over time. Since the authentic writer couldn’t be found, the
disparities continued. As a result historians have to read different manuscript
versions of the same text to guess what the author had originally written.
• A fourteenth-century chronicler, Ziyauddin Barani wrote his chronicle first in
1356 and another two years later. The two differ from each other but historians
did not know about the existence of the first version until the 1960s. It remained
lost in large library collections.

New Social and Political Groups

• There were various changes that happened between 700 and 1750 at different

Class VII History www.vedantu.com 1

 moments in this period. New technologies made their appearance like the Persian
wheel in irrigation, the spinning wheel in weaving, and firearms in combat.
• The nastaliq style (on the left) is cursive and easy to read, the shikaste (on the
right) is denser and more difficult.
• Potatoes, corn, chillies, tea and coffee were new food items that arrived in the
subcontinent. New people brought new ideas with them and brought a lot of
economic, political, social and cultural changes.
• Rajputra or Rajputs were Kshatriyas who claimed ruler status. They had a
chivalric code of conduct, extreme valour and a great sense of loyalty.
• Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Ahoms and Kayasthas (a caste of scribes and secretaries)
also used the opportunities of the age to become politically important.
• Ranks were not fixed permanently, and varied according to the power, influence
and resources controlled by vary from area to area.
• Jatis framed their own rules and regulations to manage the conduct of their
members. These regulations were enforced by an assembly of elders, described in
some areas as the jati panchayat. But jatis were also required to follow the rules
of their villages. Several villages were governed by a chieftain.

Region and Empire

• Around 700 many regions already possessed distinct geographical dimensions and
their own language and cultural characteristics.
• There was considerable conflict between these states and occasionally dynasties
like the Cholas, Khaljis, Tughlaqs and Mughals were able to build an empire that
was pan-regional but not all these empires were equally stable or successful.
• Across the subcontinent there were small and big states that were ruled over them
and these led to emergence distincts and shared traditions: in the realms of
governance, the management of the economy, elite cultures, and language.
• These regions felt the impact of larger pan-regional forces of integration without
ever quite losing their distinctiveness.

Old and New Religions

• People’s trust in spirituality was personal but the ideas were also communal. The
belief in religion changed over time as the social and economic organizations of
local communities changed over time.

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• During this period Hinduism saw a change in a way the religion operated. These
included the worship of new deities, the construction of temples by royalty and
the growing importance of Brahmanas, the priests, as dominant groups in society.
• Their knowledge of Sanskrit texts earned the Brahmanas a lot of respect in society
and they were provided a lot of support from the rulers too. These led to the
development of the bhakti movement.
• New religions appeared in the subcontinent. The merchants and migrants first
brought the teachings of the holy Quran to India in the seventh century. Muslims
regard the Quran as their holy book and accept the sovereignty of the one God,
Allah, whose love, mercy and bounty embrace all those who believe in Him,
without regard to social background.
• And like Hinduism, Islam was interpreted in a variety of ways by its followers.
There were other important differences between the various schools of law
(Hanafi and Shafi’i mainly in India), and in theology and mystic traditions.

Thinking about Time and Historical Periods

• In the middle of nineteenth century British historians divided the history of India
into three periods:
1. Hindu
2. Muslim
3. British
• The division was vaguely based on the religion of the major rulers and there were
no other significant basis taken for this categorization and also ignored the rich
diversity of the subcontinent.
• The medieval period talks about hunter-gatherers, early farmers, people living in
towns and villages, and early empires and kingdoms.
• The “medieval” period contrasts with the “modern” period. “Modernity” carries
with it a sense of material progress and intellectual advancement.

Important Questions and Answers

1. Who was known as a foreigner in the past?
Ans: A person who didn't belong to the same society or community was considered
a foreigner in the medieval period. For example: a person who is not a part of the
village would be considered an outsider.

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2. What are the major religious developments that happened during this
period?
Ans: Some major religious developments were:
• People’s trust in spirituality was personal but the ideas were also communal. The
belief in religion changed over time as the social and economic organizations of
local communities changed over time.
• During this period Hinduism saw a change in a way the religion operated. These
included the worship of new deities, the construction of temples by royalty and
the growing importance of Brahmanas, the priests, as dominant groups in society.
• Their knowledge of Sanskrit texts earned the Brahmanas a lot of respect in society
and they were provided a lot of support from the rulers too. These led to the
development of the bhakti movement.
• New religions appeared in the subcontinent. The merchants and migrants first
brought the teachings of the holy Quran to India in the seventh century. Muslims
regard the Quran as their holy book and accept the sovereignty of the one God,
Allah, whose love, mercy and bounty embrace all those who believe in Him,
without regard to social background.
• And like Hinduism, Islam was interpreted in a variety of ways by its followers.
There were other important differences between the various schools of law
(Hanafi and Shafi’i mainly in India), and in theology and mystic traditions.

3. What was the meaning of the word Hindustan over the centuries?
Ans: The terms and meaning of words change over time. For example, “Hindustan”,
today means “India”, a country whereas in the thirteenth century, Minhaj-i-Siraj, a
chronicler who wrote in Persian, used it to refer to the areas of Punjab, Haryana and
the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna.

4. What are the sources that were used by history to study the past?
Ans: The following were the sources used by history:
• Coins, inscriptions, architecture and textual records are used to gather information
of the past.
• People gradually started writing holy texts, chronicles of rulers, letters and
teachings of saints, petitions and judicial records, and for registers of accounts and
taxes.
Class VII History www.vedantu.com 4
• Manuscripts were written and collected by wealthy people, rulers, monasteries
and temples. They were also placed in temples in monasteries. These contained a
lot of detailed information. Since these were handwritten, they were difficult to
comprehend.
• There were no printing presses and the texts were copied by hands which led to
slight changes in them over time. Since the authentic writer couldn’t be found, the
disparities continued. As a result historians have to read different manuscript
versions of the same text to guess what the author had originally written.
• A fourteenth-century chronicler, Ziyauddin Barani wrote his chronicle first in
1356 and another two years later. The two differ from each other but historians
did not know about the existence of the first version until the 1960s. It remained
lost in large library collections.

5. What were the new technological things and advancements that happened
during those thousand years?
Ans: The following were the changes that were made during thousand years:
• There were various changes that happened between 700 and 1750 at different
moments in this period. New technologies made their appearance like the Persian
wheel in irrigation, the spinning wheel in weaving, and firearms in combat.
• The nastaliq style (on the left) is cursive and easy to read, the shikaste (on the
right) is denser and more difficult.
• Potatoes, corn, chillies, tea and coffee were new food items that arrived in the
subcontinent. New people brought new ideas with them and brought a lot of
economic, political, social and cultural changes.

6. What do you mean by the term Rajput? Name the groups that became
important in a thousand years.
Ans: Rajputra or Rajputs were Kshatriyas who claimed ruler status. They had a
chivalric code of conduct, extreme valour and a great sense of loyalty.
Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Ahoms and Kayasthas (a caste of scribes and secretaries) also
used the opportunities of the age to become politically important.
Ranks were not fixed permanently, and varied according to the power, influence and
resources controlled by vary from area to area.

Class VII History www.vedantu.com 5

7. How were the people grouped into jatis and describe how they were
regulated?
Ans: Jatis framed their own rules and regulations to manage the conduct of their
members. These regulations were enforced by an assembly of elders, described in
some areas as the jati panchayat. But jatis were also required to follow the rules of
their villages. Several villages were governed by a chieftain.

8. Which religion came to India during the period between 700 to 1750 AD?
Ans: New religions appeared in the subcontinent. The merchants and migrants first
brought the teachings of the holy Quran to India in the seventh century. Muslims
regard the Quran as their holy book and accept the sovereignty of the one God, Allah,
whose love, mercy and bounty embrace all those who believe in Him, without regard
to social background. And like Hinduism, Islam was interpreted in a variety of ways
by its followers. There were other important differences between the various schools
of law (Hanafi and Shafi’i mainly in India), and in theology and mystic traditions.

Class VII History www.vedantu.com 6