Class 6 History

Kings, Kingdoms Early Republics

NCERT Exercise Solution

State whether true or false:

  1. Rajas who let the ashvamedha horse pass through their lands were invited to the sacrifice.
  2. The charioteer sprinkled sacred water on the king.
  3. Archaeologists have found palaces in the settlements of the janapadas.
  4. Pots to store grain were made out of Painted Grey Ware.
  5. Many cities in mahajanapadas were fortified.

Answer: 1 True, 2 False, 3 False, 4 False, 5 False

Question 1: Who were the groups who could not participate in the assemblies of the ganas?

Answer: Women, shudras and kammakaras were not allowed to participate in the assemblies of the ganas.

Question 2: Why did the rajas of mahajanapadas build forts?

Answer: Building a fort served many purposes. Some of them are as follows:

  1. It was a way to show off the might of the raja.
  2. A fort made a city more secure.
  3. A fortified city was easier to manage.

Question 3: In what ways are present-day elections different from the ways in which rulers were chosen in janapadas?

Answer: In modern days; rulers are chosen through popular vote. But in the janapadas, a ruler was not chosen rather a person was supposed to show his supremacy to become the ruler. To do so, the raja had to perform the ashwadeha yajna so that other rajas in the mahanjanapada would accept his supremacy.

Extra Questions

Question 1: Which yajna was performed by a raja who wished to control a larger territory?

Answer: Ashwamedha yajna

Question 2: What was the main role of the priests?

Answer: Teaching and reading the Vedas and performing yajnas.

Question 3: Who was responsible for safety and security of people in a mahajanapada?

Answer: The raja

Question 4: Which modern city eventually became the capital of Magadha?

Answer: Patna

Question 5: What were the two important changes in agriculture around 2500 years ago?

Answer: Two important changes in agriculture (around 2500 years ago) are as follows:

  1. Use of iron ploughshare
  2. Plantation of rice saplings

Question 6: Why did the raja need to collect taxes?

Answer: Building a fort and maintaining an army involved lot of money. Taxes were the most ideal means to collect a large sum of money on a regular basis. So, the raja needed to collect taxes.

Question 7: Who were the largest contributors towards taxes in a mahajanapada? Tax was collected from them in which form?

Answer: Since the main occupation was agriculture, hence farmers were the largest contributors towards taxes. One-sixth of the farm produce was collected as tax. This was known as bhaga or share.

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