These DAV Class 6 SST Book Solutions and DAV Class 6 SST Chapter 8 Question Answer – Studying the Past are thoughtfully prepared by experienced teachers.
DAV Class 6 SST Ch 8 Question Answer – India – Studying the Past
DAV Public School Class 6 SST Chapter 8 Question Answer – Studying the Past
Something To Know
A. Tick (✓) the correct option.
Question 1.
Kautilya wrote the book –
(a) Meghdoot
(b) Arthshastra
(c) Ramayana
(d) Harashacharita
Answer:
(b) Arthshastra
Question 2.
The period when art of writing was unknown is called
(a) Prehistory
(b) Ancient history
(c) Medieval history
(d) Modern history
Answer:
(a) Prehistory
Question 3.
The study of coins is known as
(a) Architecture
(b) Numismatics
(c) Calligraphy
(d) Epigraphy
Answer:
(b) Numismatics
Question 4.
Who is the author of Abhigyan Shakuntalam?
(a) Kautilya
(b) Tulsidas
(c) Mahatma Buddha
(d) Kalidas
Answer:
(d) Kalidas
Question 5.
The Chinese traveller who visited India was
(a) Alexander
(b) Columbus
(c) Megasthenes
(d) Fa-hien
Answer:
(d) Fa-hien
B. Fill in the blanks.
1. …………… are the remains of palaces and forts.
2. Jain literature was written in …………. language.
3. The study of inscriptions is called ……………
4. Historians divide history into two parts namely …………… and ……………
5. …………….. Literature consists of prose, plays, poetry, etc.
Answer:
1. Monuments
2. Prakrit,
3. epigraphy
4. prehistory; history
5. Non-religious.
C. Answer the following questions in brief.
Question 1.
How does the study of the monuments help the historians?
Answer:
Monuments are the remains of temples, stupas, palaces and forts. These ancient buildings help the historians to collect information about the social and economic life, the religious beliefs, dress, art and architecture of that time.
Question 2.
The study of history help us to make the present world a better place to live in. How?
Answer:
The study of history helps us to learn about the great people, culture, art and architecture of the earlier times. It motivates us to make the present world a better place to live in.
Question 3.
How do skeletal studies help us to identify gender differences?
Answer:
The skeleton of a woman generally has broader hip or pelvic area for child bearing. Jewellery found on the skeletons also helps in determining whether the skeleton belongs to a woman or a man.
Question 4.
What are the literary sources of Indian history?
Answer:
The literary sources of Indian history include religious literature, non¬religious literature and historical literature. Religious literature consists of the Vedas of Hindus, Pitakas of Buddhists and Angas of Jains. Non¬religious literature consists of prose, poetry, plays, grammar, etc. Historical literature consists of autobiographies of the ancient rulers and biographical sketches.
Question 5.
Explain historical literature with an example.
Answer:
Historical literature consists of autobiographies of the ancient rulers and biographical sketches like Harshacharita.
D. Answer the following questions.
Question 1.
Distinguish between archaeological and literary sources.
Answer:
The archaeological sources are-inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculptures, paintings, articles of daily use and skeletons.
1. Inscriptions – These are writings engraved on rocks, pillars, clay tablets, the walls of the temples and caves. They tell us about the kings, their empires and achievements, as well as society and the language of that period.
2. Coins – These were made of different materials in earlier times such as lead, copper, bronze, iron, silver, gold, etc. They give us information about the art, religion, rulers, the use of different metals and the level of development of technology.
3. Monuments – The remains of temples, stupas, palaces and forts help the
historians to collect information about the social and economic life, the religious beliefs, dress, art and architecture of that period.
4. Skeletons – The students of skeletal studies check the bone structure of a skeleton and list their findings. The skeleton of a woman generally has broader hip or pelvic area. Jewellery found on the skeleton belongs to a woman or a man.
The different literary sources are-religious literature, non-religious literature and historical literature.
1. Religious literature – It consists of vedas of Hindus, pitakas of Buddhists and Angas of Jains. They tell us about the religious beliefs, society, customs and traditions of that time. The Puranas and the epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana also enrich our knowledge.
2. Non-religious literature – It consists of prose, plays, poetry, grammar as well as writings of Kautilya and Kalidasa. The secular literature throws light on life of that period. The account of events by foreign pilgrims and travellers like Fa-hien and Megasthenese also give us knowledge about the ancient Indian history and culture.
3. Historical literature – It consists of autobiographies of the ancient rulers and biographical sketches.
Question 2.
How do the archaeological source materials help us to learn about our past?
Answer:
The archaeological source materials include inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculptures, paintings, articles of daily use and skeletons. These things provide us valuable information about the past. For example, buildings excavated from Mohen-jo-daro provide useful information about the Indus valley civilization.
Question 3.
What is more important in history-events, persons, places or dates? Give reasons to justify your answer.
Answer:
All is equally important. They help us to understand what people did and when and where, and how they lived in the past; about their economy, occupations; about their rulers and the battles they fought. We need to know our past to be able to understand our present. For example, various people have conquered India and ruled over it in the past. Thousand of people fought and gave up their lives to make India independent.
We will value the freedom we now enjoy better when we know the cost at which we obtained it. We can learn from mistakes made by people in the past, and it helps us make better decisions in the present and for the future. Thus, events, persons, places, dates, altogether help us to know about the past.
Question 4.
How do secular literary sources throw light on the life of the people in any period of history?
Answer:
Secular literary sources throw light on the life of the people of that period. The account of events, by foreign pilgrims and travelers like Fa-hien (Chinese) and ambassadors like Megasthenes (Greek) who visited India in earlier times, are also important sources of information about ancient Indian history and culture.
Question 5.
How does the study of coins help historians?
Answer:
Coins give us useful information about art, religion, rulers, the use of different metals and the level of development of technology. Some coins also had battle scenes, faces of kings and queens, or scenes from the life of the ruler engraved on them. Historians use the information found on coins to counter-check facts.
Value-Based Question
Once, a foreign traveler came to meet Kautilya. It was dusk and darkness had just started to set in. When he entered his room, he saw that Kautilya was busy writing under the light of an oil lamp. With a smiling gesture Kautilya politely asked him to sit for a while. He then quickly finished the work. After completing the work, he extinguished the oil lamp and lit another lamp. The traveler was curious to know why Kautilya did so.
He asked Kautilya “Is this a custom in your country, when a guest arrives at your house?” Kautilya replied, “No my dear, actually when you entered, I was working on an official task. The oil filled in that lamp was bought from the money of the National Treasury. Now, when 1 am talking to you, this is a personal and friendly conversation. So, 1 cannot use that lamp now,”
Question 1.
Why did Kautilya decide to light another lamp?
Answer:
Kautilya decided to light another lamp because when he was doing official work, the oil filled in that lamp was brought from the money of the National Treasury. But during a personal and friendly conversation with a foreign traveler, he couldn’t use that lamp.
Question 2.
What message does the story convey to the present-day public servants or elected representatives of the people?
Answer:
The story gives a message to the public servants or elected representatives of the people that they should use the national money genuinely and wisely.
Map Skill
On the outline political map 6s India, locate and label the following places:
(a) One of the cities of Harappan civilization.
(b) One place ot Ashokan inscription found.
(c) Place where Red Fort is situated.
(d) One of the archaeological sites.
Answer:
Something To Do
Question 1.
Take any five different coins of free India. Study them carefully. List the information that you can get from them like the metal used, dates, languages, pictures, denomination or any other information.
Answer:
Do yourself.
Question 2.
Solve the crossword.
Answer:
ACROSS (→)
- Handwritten records
- Information about past
- Religious books of Jains
- Language of Vedas
DOWN (↓)
- Ancient building
- Study of coins
- Home of ancient man
- Language of Buddhist literature.
Question 3.
Do you ever wonder how the age of ancient tools, bones and other materials was determined? Read the following information and discuss with your teacher. Carbon dating is a method of estimating the age of materials. This method, developed by Willard F. Libby can date samples that are as old as 50,000 years. It has proven to be useful in archaeology, geology, geophysics and other branches of science.
Carbon dating is based on the fact that plants and animals contain carbon in a ratio that matches the percentages found in the atmosphere for as long as they are alive. This is true because most life on Earth is carbon-based; plants absorb it through photosynthesis and animals absorb it by eating plants or animals that eat plants.
Once an organism dies, the carbon intake stops and the percentage of carbon-14 decreases. To calculate the date of an object, researchers compare the percentage of carbon-14 it contains to the normal percentage found in the atmosphere. The lower the ratio, the older the object.
Answer:
Do yourself.
DAV Class 6 Social Science Chapter 8 Question Answer – Studying the Past
A. Tick (✓) the correct option.
Question 1.
The written records of dates, names of places and people are found on
(a) Bhojpuri
(b) palm leaves
(c) pillars
(d) all of these
Answer:
(d) all of these
Question 2.
The study of inscriptions is called
(a) numismatics
(b) epigraphy
(c) history
(d) archaeology
Answer:
(b) epigraphy
Question 3.
Which of the following was not used for making coins?
(a) copper
(b) paper
(c) iron
(d) bronze
Answer:
(b) paper
Question 4.
The Greek traveler who visited India was
(a) Fa-hien
(b) Xian Zang
(c) Megasthenese
(d) Kautilya
Answer:
(c) Megasthenese
Question 5.
Pitakas are associated with
(a) Buddhists
(b) Jains
(c) Hindus
(d) All of these
Answer:
(a) Buddhists
Question 6.
History is a systematic description of
(a) recent events
(b) past events
(c) present events
(d) none of these
Answer:
(b) past events
Question 7.
A historian studies the source materials and draws
(a) sources
(b) effects
(c) conclusions
(d) none of these
Answer:
(c) conclusions
Question 8.
Before the invention of paper, people wrote on
(a) notebooks
(b) cloth
(c) Bhojpuri
(d) none of these
Answer:
(c) Bhojpuri
Question 9.
Which of the following was not used in the old books?
(a) Prakrit
(b) Sanskrit
(c) Tamil
(d) Hindi
Answer:
(d) Hindi
B. Very Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1.
How do we get knowledge about prehistory?
Answer:
We get knowledge about prehistory from the remains of tools, bones, pottery and weapons that have been excavated.
Question 2.
Mention any two objects that archaeologists may find.
Answer:
They may find ancient inscriptions and coins.
Question 3.
What do inscriptions on rocks, pillars and the walls of temples tell us?
Answer:
They tell us about the kings, their empires and their achievements as well as society and the language of that period.
Question 4.
How does the jewelry found on the skeleton help the students of skeletal studies?
Answer:
The jewelry found on the skeleton help them in determining whether the skeleton belongs to a woman or a man.
C. Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1.
People in the earliest times used to travel from one place to another. But their journeys were full of dangers. What type of dangers did they face?
Answer:
It is true that people in the earliest times used to travel from this place to that. But their journeys were dangerous. The hills, and high mountains including the Himalayas, deserts, rivers and seas created dangers for them. But they never got afraid of them. Instead they overcame them and continued to travel.
Question 2.
Who are archaeologists? What do they do?
Answer:
Archaeologists dig certain places and find ancient inscriptions, coins, pots or buildings. The study of these remains tell the archaeologists about the religious, social and cultural conditions of that time. These archaeologists give us valuable information about the past and enrich our knowledge.
Question 3.
How can you say that historians and archaeologists are like detectives?
Answer:
Historians often use the word ‘source’ to refer to the information found from manuscripts, inscriptions and archaeology. Once sources are found, learning about the past becomes an adventure, as we reconstruct it bit by bit. So, historians and archaeologists are like detectives who use all these sources like clues to discover about the past.
D. Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1.
What is history and why do we need to study it? Define prehistory and history.
Answer:
History is the study of change over time and progress from the past to the present world. It is based on facts and not on imagination. It helps us to learn about the great people, culture, art and architecture of the earlier times. History motivates us to make the present world a better place to live in. Historians divide the history into two parts –
(a) Prehistory refers to that period when the art of writing was unknown. Our information about prehistory depends upon the remains of tools, bones, pottery and weapons that have been excavated.
(b) History refers to the period after the invention of writing. The written records, dates, names of places and people may be on bhojpatras, palm leaves or pillars are source of information. History is generally categorised into three periods, namely, Ancient, Medieval and Modem.
Question 2.
What are the different ways to find out about the past?
Answer:
The following are the different ways to find out about the past:
1. Manuscripts. These were handwritten matter. They were usually written on the palm leaves or the barks of the birch tree. While many of these manuscripts got destroyed, many have survived in temples and monasteries. These books dealt with all kinds of subjects such as religious beliefs and practices, the lives of kings, medicines and sciences. These manuscripts also included epics, poems, plays and many other things.
2. Inscriptions. These are writings on relatively hard surfaces such as stone or metal. Sometimes, kings got their orders inscribed in order to make common people aware of them. Some inscriptions kept records of victories in battle.
3. Archaeological excavations or evidences. Archaeology means the study of cultures of the past and of periods of history by examining the remains of buildings and objects found int he earth. Archaeologists explore and dig earth to find tools, weapons, pots, pans, ornaments and coins. These things provide us valuable information about the past.