Tribes and Tribal Societies Questions & Answers

Hi Everyone!! This article will share Tribes and Tribal Societies Questions & Answers.

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Tribes and Tribal Societies Questions & Answers

Question 1: List the names of major tribes of India found during the medieval period.

Answer: Khokhars, Gakkhars, Langahs, Arghuns, Balochis, Gaddis, Nagas, Ahoms, Chero, Mundas, Santhals, Kolis, Berads, Koragas, Vetards, Marvars, Bhils.

Question 2: What led to the emergence of smaller castes?

Answer: The growing economy and the needs of the society required the people with new skills that led to the emergence of smaller castes or jatis within varnas.

Question 3: Define a tribe.

Answer: A tribe is a group of people in a primitive or barbarous stage of development acknowledging the authority of a chief and usually regarding themselves as having a common ancestor.

Question 4: Name the tribes located in the south of India.

Answer: The Koragas, Vetars, Maravars and many others were located in south of India.

Question 5: What are Buranjis?

Answer: Buranjis are a class of historical chronicles written in the Ahom and Assamese languages.

Question 6: What kind of system of government was followed by the Ahoms?

Answer: The Ahoms followed the system of government which was partly monarchical and partly aristocratic.

Question 7: Give brief information about tribal community.

Answer: Large tribes thrived in different parts of the country. Kinship bonds were very important as members of each tribe were united by this bond. These tribes were divided into many clans which traced their descent from a common ancestor. They usually lived in relative isolation, in places far away from cities where it was difficult for others to reach. The tribes have their own distinct culture. The tribal societies preserved their rich customs and oral traditions, and passed them to the next generation.

Tribes and Tribal Societies Questions & Answers

Question 8: What is ‘shifting agriculture’?

Answer: Trees and bushes in a forest area are first cut and burnt. The crop is sown in the ashes. When this land loses its fertility, another plot of land is cleared and planted in the same way. This is called shifting agriculture.

Question 9: Highlight the lifestyle of nomadic pastoralists.

Answer: Nomadic pastoralists moved from one place to another with their herds of goats and sheep, camels and cattle, lived on milk and other pastoral products produced by their animals. They exchanged wool, ghee, etc. with settled agriculturists for commodities such as cloth, grain, utensils and other products. They bought and sold these goods as they moved from one place to other.

Question 10: What do you mean by transhumance?

Answer: Transhumance is a practise followed by pastoral nomads. It is a kind of mobility zone in high mountains associated with pastoralists. During Summer these communities take their flock of sheep and cattle to higher mountains for gazing. During Winter they come down to lower reaches of mountains where they grow grass.

Question 11: How did the kingdom of Ahom establish?

Answer: In 1228 CE, the Ahom kingdom was established by Sukapha. He established his permanent capital at Charaideo (in easter part of Brahmaputra valley) in 1253 CE. There was marked expansion as well as realignment of several political territorial units during this period. Sukapha won over the chiefs of various tribal groups of the region and even encouraged matrimonial alliances with them. He did away with the older political system of the landlords called bhuiyans. Thus, a small kingdom of Ahoms emerged which ruled till 1826 CE.

Question 12: Give information about religion and art in Ahom society.

Answer: Initially, the Ahoms worshipped their tribal gods. With the increasing influence of the Brahmins, the king granted land to the temples and the Brahmins. Though Hinduism became a major religion during the reign of Sib Singh (1714 CE-1744 CE), the Ahoms did not completely give up their traditional beliefs. Ahom society appreciated poets and scholars by granting them lands. They also encouraged theatre. Historical works also known as buranjis (Ahom chronicles) were first written in the Ahom language and later in the Assamese language. Many important Sanskrit works were translated into local languages.

Question 13: What occupation did the Ahoms take up?

Answer: During war almost all adult males served in the army. They were engaged in building dams, irrigation systems and other public works at other times. They introduced new methods of rice cultivation.

Question 14: Briefly describe the attacks on the Ahoms.

Answer: In the south-west the Ahoms faced many invasions. In 1552 under Mir Jumla, the Mughals attacked the kingdom. The Ahoms were defeated despite their strong defence. However, the Mughals could not have direct control over them for a long time.

Tribes and Tribal Societies Questions & Answers

Question 15: Who were the Cheros?

Answer: Chero chiefdoms had emerged in the present-day Bihar and Jharkhand by the 12th century. They were attacked and defeated by Raja Man Singh, Akbar’s famous general in 1591. Though large amount of booty was taken from them, they were not fully subdued by him. But the Mughal forces under Aurangzeb captured many Chero fortresses and they were ultimately subjugated.

Question 16: Write a short note on the administrative system of the Gond kingdom.

Answer: The Gonds comprise the largest tribal group in India. The large Gond kingdom was divided into garhs. A particular Gond clan controlled each garh. Each garh was further divided into units of 84 villages called chaurasi. The chaurasi was subdivided into barhots which were made up of 12 villages each.

Question 17: Write a note on Garha Katanga.

Answer: Garha Katanga was a rich state. It earned much wealth by trapping and exporting wild elephants to other kingdoms. When the Mughals defeated the Gonds, they captured a huge booty of precious coins and elephants. They annexed part of the kingdom and granted the rest to Chandra Shah, an uncle of Bir Narayan.

Question 18: State some characteristics of the tribal societies?

Answer:

  • Tribal societies are united by kinship bonds.
  • There is no hierarchy among men and groups in tribal societies.
  • Strong, complex, formal organisation are absent in tribal societies.
  • Tribal societies have communitarian basis of land holding.

Question 19: What were the sources of tribal livelihood?

Answer: The tribal people obtained their livelihood from different sources. Many tribes secured their livelihood from agriculture while others were hunter-gatherers and animal herders. They very often combined these activities in order to make full use of natural resources of the area where they lived. Some tribes were nomadic and they wandered from place to place in search of food and pasture lands. Nomadic pastoralists, who moved place to place with their herds of goat or sheep, or camels and cattle, lived on milk and other pastoral products produced by their animals. They exchanged wool, ghee, etc, with settled agriculturalists for commodities such as cloth, grain, utensils and other products. They bought and sold these goods as they moved from one place to another.

Question 20: Write a brief note on paik system.

Answer: The significant feature of Ahom State was the system of forced labour (people were forced to work for the State). It is called paik. Each village had to send a number of paiks who would work on the basis of rotation. They served in the army during war and also participated in building dams, irrigation systems, and other public works.

Tribes and Tribal Societies Questions & Answers

Question 21: Describe the role of Rani Durgavati in the history of Gonds.

Answer: Aman Das was the Gond Raja of Garh-Katanga. His son, Dalpat, married Princess Durgavati, the daughter of Chandel Rajput ruler of Mahoba. After the death of her husband, she started ruling the region on behalf of her minor son Bir Narayan. In the sixteenth century, Akbar had sent Mughal forces under Asaf Khan to conquer the kingdom. Rani Durgavati put up a strong resistance but she was defeated. She preferred to die in honour rather than living in disgrace.

Question 22: The medieval Indian society was bound by the varna system. Give reasons.

Answer: The medieval Indian society was bound by the varna system. The Brahmins commanded great respect in the social hierarchy and rules prescribed by them were largely accepted by the rulers. Under the medieval rulers, the already existing differences between different classes of people and between the rich and poor grew further.

Question 23: The Banjaras were one of the most important trader-nomads of the medieval time. Give reasons.

Answer: The Banjaras were one of the most important trader-nomads of the medieval time. Their caravan was called tanda. Sultan Alauddin Khalji relied on Banjaras to transport grain to the city markets. Emperor Jahangir’s memoirs give an account about the Banjaras who transported food grains for the Mughal army during military campaigns.

Question 24: Describe the role of the Gond tribe in the medieval period.

Answer:

  • During the Medieval period, the Gonds were one of the most important tribe found in large numbers across the present-day states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
  • They occupied a vast forested region called Gondwana (literally, country inhabited by the Gonds).
  • The Gond people widely practised shifting cultivation.
  • The large Gond tribe was divided into many smaller clans and every clan had its own raja or rai.
  • The Akbarnama gives an account of the Gond kingdom of Garh-Katanga that comprised 70,000 villages.

Question 25: Describe any three features of the government system followed by the Ahoms.

Answer:

  • The Ahoms followed the system of government which was partly monarchial and partly aristocratic.
  • The king was the supreme head of the State but he had to act according to the advice of the five hereditary councillors of State.
  • The significant feature of the Ahom State was the system of forced labour (people were forced to work for the State). It is called paik.
  • Each village had to send a number of paiks who would work on the basis of rotation. They served in the army during war and also participated in building dams, irrigation systems and other public works.

So, these were Tribes and Tribal Societies Questions & Answers.

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