History Class 7 Chapter 10 2016

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CHAPTER 10 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY POLITICAL FORMATIONS

KEY WORDS

a) Subadari : was the highest revenue official in the Mughal Empire.

b) Dal khalsa : was the grand army of Sikh jathas, raised by the tenth Guru

Gobind Singh, to fight against the Mughals.

c) misl : a smaller band of Sikh warriors , within a Sikh jatha.

d) Faujdari: was a post of Mughal military administration given to a noble.

e) Ijaradari : was a new variation in the jagirdari system. Under it a

group of farmers were contracted out to a middle men, for collection of

revenue from them.

a) Chauth : was 25 per cent of land revenue claimed by the Marathas

f) Sardeshmukhi : Nine to ten per cent of the land revenue levied by the

Marathas, and paid to the head revenue collector.

Q1 Match the following

b) Subadar : provincial governor

c) Faujdar : a Mughal military commander

g) Ijaradar : a revenue farmer

d) Misl : a band of Sikh warriors

e) Chauth : tax levied by the Marathas

f) Kunbis : a Maratha peasant warrior

g) Umara: a high noble

Q2. Fill in the blanks:

a) Aurangzeb fought a protracted war in the Deccan.

b) Umara and jagirdars constituted powerful sections of the Mughal revenue

system

c) Asaf Jah was given charge of the Deccan subadari in Hyderabad

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d) The founder of the Awadh nawabi was Burhan-ul-mulk Sa’adat Khan.

Q3. State whether true or false:

a) Nadir Shah invaded Bengal. False

b) Sawai Raja Jai Singh was the ruler of Indore. False

c) Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth Guru of the Sikhs . True

d) Poona became the capital of the Marathas in the eighteenth century. True

Q4. What were the offices held by Sa’adat Khan?

Answer. All the three offices of political, financial and military administration

, subadar ( political) diwani,(financial) and faudari (military ) were held by

Sa’adat Khan in Awadh, from 1722.

Q5. Why did the Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal try to do away with the

jagirdari system?

Answer. The Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal tried to reduce the number of

jagirdars and the size of the jagirdari to increase their influence, and to reduce

cost of salary paid to the multiple officials.

Q6. How were the Sikhs organised in the eighteenth century?

Answer. The Sikhs were organised as jathas of warriors, comprising of smaller

units called misl. All the jathas together comprised the dal Khalsa, or the grand

army. The dal khalsa would meet in Amritsar, on Baisakhi and Diwali to take

collective decisions called ‘resolutions of the Guru’ or gurumat. The Sikh also

imposed a tax of 20 per cent of the produce to peasants, in return for protection

to cultivators. This was called the ‘rakhi’ system.

Q7. Why did the Marathas want to expand beyond the Deccan?

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Answer. The Marathas , under Shivaji, had successfully challenged the

Mughals in the Deccan. They had developed a very successful military

organisation, that needed more tax resources for its upkeep. Therefore, they

wanted to expand beyond Deccan to secure more wealth and political power.

For this they avoided the Mughal fortified towns and attacked the

weaker areas. After defeating the provincial rulers, they did not annex their

kingdoms. Instead they made them pay regular tributes in gold and grains,

thereby accepting Marathas, as a sovereign power.

Q8. What were the policies adopted by Asaf Jah to strengthen his position?

Answer. Asaf Jah was the subadar for the Deccan province of Hyderabad. He

concentrated all administrative power in his own hands. To neutralise the

competition among the mughal nobles in his court, he brought skilled

administrators and soldiers from the northern parts of the empire, and appointed

them as jagirdars in the Deccan. Hyderabad was engaged in wars with the

Marathas and the Telugu nayakas. He tried to control the rich textile producing

areas of the Coromondal coast in the east.

Q9. Do you think merchants and bankers today have the kind of influence they

had in the eighteenth century?

Answer. Yes. The merchants and bankers in the eighteenth century gave loans

to traders and peasants at high rates of interest, after keeping their lands as

security. Today also, many family based bankers have continued their interest

based financing businesses. They have flourished because they are more

accessible and their procedure is very simplified. Even after more than six

decades after Independence , the local merchants and bankers are the only

source of finance in rural areas. This is because the regular banking system is

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yet to reach most rural areas, and even where it has reached, their procedures

are lengthy, and corrupt practices exist.

Source : Pictures downloaded from the internet.

Note : For map of full extension of Maratha empire see page 6

Image of painting of Shivaji’s court

Capital Raigad,

Later Sataraand Pune

Languages Marathi, Sanskrit[1]

Religion Hinduism

Government Monarchy

Chattrapathi

- 1674–1680 Shivaji (first)

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Maratha coin

Maratha Kingdom, Chatrapati Shivaji. (1674-1680 )

Paisa , Quarter Paisa and Silver Pagoda

-

1808–1818 Pratapsingh (last)

Peshwa

-

1674–1689 Moropant

Pingle (first)

-

1795–1818 Baji Rao II (last)

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Coin of Sikh kingdom

Map of Extension of the Mughal Empire from Akbar to Aurangzeb - 1707

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Map indicting extension of control of British over Marathas and the last

Mughals as in 1806

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Maratha Empire after death of Aurangzeb in 1707

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Sikh kingdom on map of India

Maharaj

Ranjit Singh

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Sikh coin

Mahasthangarh the oldest archaeological site of Bengla is of 700 BC , is

presently in Bangladesh

Map of Bengal province and other Deccan kingdoms

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Map showing regional kingdom