CBSE Class7 - Our Pasts-II - THE MAKING OF REGIONAL CULTURES (#cbseclass7Notes)

THE MAKING OF REGIONAL CULTURES

Lord Jagganath, Subhadra and Balbhadra
image credits:wikipedia 

Q & A based NCERT Chapter

Q1: Who were the rulers of Mahodayapuram in Ninth century? Presently it belongs to which Indian state?

Answer: The Chera rulers established Mahodayapuram in Ninth century. It is part of Kerala now.


Q2 (NCERT): Match the following:

Anantavarman	Kerala
Jagannatha	Bengal
Mahodayapuram	Orissa
Lilatilakam	Kangra
Mangalakavya	Puri
Miniature	Kerala

Answer:

Anantavarman	Orissa
Jagannatha	Puri
Mahodayapuram	Kerala
Lilatilakam	Kerala
Mangalakavya	Bengal
Miniature	Kangra

Q3: Name the rulers who introduced the Malayalam language and script in their inscriptions for the first time.

Answer: Chera rulers




Q4(NCERT): What is Manipravalam? Name a book written in that language.

Answer: Manipravalam literally means “diamonds and corals” referring to the two languages, Sanskrit and the regional language. Lilatilakam is written in that language.


Q5: Where is the  Jagannatha Temple located? How the icon of the Jagannatha is built?

Answer: The Jagannatha Temple is located at Puri, Orissa. The local tribal people make the wooden image of the deity.


Q6: Who built the Purushottama Jagannatha temple at Puri?

Answer: In the twelfth century, Anantavarman, ruler of the Ganga dynasty built the Purushottama Jagannatha temple at Puri.


Q7: Name the king who dedicated his kingdom to the Jagannatha deity and proclaimed himself as the “deputy” of the god.

Answer: King Anangabhima III


Q8: Name the three deities of the Jagannatha Cult.

Answer: Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra



Q9: Why did the Mughals, the Marathas and the officials of the East India Company try to control the Jagannatha temple?

OR

Q(NCERT): Why did conquerors try to control the temple of Jagannatha at Puri?

Answer: Because they felt that this would make their rule acceptable to the local people.


Q10: What name was given to the region of present-day Rajasthan?

Answer: Rajputana


Q11: How the stories about Rajput heroes were preserved by the locals of Rajasthan?

Answer: Stories about Rajput heroes were recorded in poems and songs, which were recited by specially trained minstrels. These poems and songs depicted dramatic situations, and a range of strong emotions – loyalty, friendship, love, valour, anger, etc.


Q12(NCERT): Why did minstrels proclaim the achievements of heroes?

Answer:
(i) Minstrels proclaim the achievements of heroes to preserve the memories of heroes.
(ii) These stories were expected to inspire the common people to follow their example.
(iii) Ordinary people were attracted by these stories which depicted dramatic situations.
(iv) People also get attracted by the range of strong emotions loyalty, friendship, love, valour, anger etc. in the poems or songs.


Q13(NCERT): Who were the major patrons of Kathak?

Answer: The Mughal emperors and their nobles, Wajid Ali Shah - the last Nawab of Awadh, the courts of Rajasthan and Lucknow were the major patrons of Kathak.


Q14: From which Sanskrit word the term kathak is derived from?

Answer: Katha - means story.


Q15: How did Kathak evolve as a dance form?

Answer: The term kathak is derived from katha, a word used in Sanskrit and other languages for a story. The kathaks were originally a caste of storytellers in temples of north India, who embellished their performances with gestures and songs.
Kathak began evolving into a distinct mode of dance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the spread of the bhakti movement. The legends of Radha-Krishna were enacted in folk plays called rasa-lila, which combined folk dance with the basic gestures of the kathak story-tellers.

Later it spread to other states of North India and was recognised as one of six “classical” forms of
dance in the country after independence.


Q16: What are the two gharanas of Kathak.

Answer: Rajasthan (Jaipur) Gharana and the Lucknow Gharana.


Q17: Name the six “classical” forms of Indian dance.

Answer:
① Kathakali (Kerala)
② Odissi (Orissa)
③ Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh)
④ Manipuri (Manipur)
⑤ Kathak (Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan)
⑥ Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu)


Q18: What are miniature paintings?

Answer: Miniatures (as their very name suggests) are small-sized paintings, generally done in watercolour on cloth or paper. The earliest miniatures were on palm leaves or wood.

Kangra Miniature Painting.
By Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Gallery - Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Gallery[1], Public Domain, Link

Q19: How did miniature paintings evolved and spread to different parts of India sub-continent?

Answer:
① Miniature paintings were initially in western India. These were used to illustrate Jaina texts.
② Later it was patronised by Mughal kings. It emerged as a blend of Persian and India miniature style.
③ With the decline of the Mughal Empire, many painters moved out to the courts of Western India and Rajputana (Rajasthan).
④ After Nadir Shah's invasion, some artists escaped to Himalayan foothills (Himachal Pradesh) and founded an intense style of miniature painting called Basohli and Kangra school of painting.


Q20: What are the salient features of Kangra school of painting?

Answer: By the mid-eighteenth century the Kangra artists developed a style which breathed a new spirit into miniature  painting. The source of inspiration was the Vaishnavite traditions. Soft colours including cool blues and greens, and a lyrical treatment of themes distinguished Kangra painting.


Q21: Why do we know much more about the cultural practices of rulers than about those of ordinary people?

Answer:

① We know much more about the cultural practices of rulers because their achievements or works were safely preserved in the palaces for centuries.

② The rulers used to hire specially trained minstrels to write their achievements in poems or songs.

③ Ordinary women and men painted as well – on pots, walls, floors, cloth – works of art that have occasionally survived


Q22: From which language has Bengali been derived originally? How did it evolve into modern Bengali?

Answer: Originally it derived from Sanskrit. It evolved and included a wide range of non-Sanskrit words, from a variety of sources like local tribal languages, Persian, and European languages.


Q23: Differentiate between the two categories of early Bengali literature.

Answer: Early Bengali literature is divided into two categories:
Ⓐ Based on Sanskrit
Ⓑ Independent of Sanskrit

Based on Sanskrit	Independent of Sanskrit
Includes translations of the Sanskrit epics e.g. the Mangalakavyas, bhakti literature such as the biographies of Chaitanyadeva	includes Nath literature such as the songs of Maynamati and Gopichandra, stories concerning the worship of Dharma Thakur, and fairy tales, folk tales and ballads.
Easier to date. Composed between the late fifteenth and mid-eighteenth centuries	circulated orally and cannot be precisely dated
Popular among Brahmanas	Popular among non-Brahmanas

Q24: Who were the Naths in early Bengali literature?

Answer: The Naths were ascetics who engaged in a variety of yogic practices. The Nath literature includes the songs of Maynamati and Gopichandra, stories concerning the worship of Dharma Thakur, and fairy tales, folk tales and ballads.


Q25: Who is a Pir?

Answer: Pir is a Persian word meaning a spiritual guide. Pir also functioned as teacher and adjudicator and was sometimes ascribed with supernatural powers.


Q26: Define Animism.

Answer: It is an attribution of a living soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena. It is often associated with the cult of pirs.


Q27(NCERT): Why were temples built in Bengal?

Answer:

⑴ Bengal witnessed a temple-building spree from the late fifteenth century which culminated in the nineteenth century.
⑵ In Bengal, temples were built by the powerful men to demonstrate the power and proclaim their deity.
⑶ Creation of new economic opportunities by the European trading companies.
⑷ People proclaimed their status through the construction of temples when their social and economic position improved.
⑸ Many of the modest brick and terracotta temples in Bengal were built with the support of several “low” social
groups, such as the Kolu (oil pressers) and the Kansari (bell metal workers).



Q28(NCERT)What are the important architectural features of the temples of Bengal?

Answer: Important architectural features of the temples of Bengal:

⑴ The double-roofed (dochala) or four-roofed (chauchala) structure of the thatched huts.
⑵ Four triangular roofs were placed on the four walls move up to converge on a curved line or a point.
⑶ Temples were usually built on a square platform.
⑷ Outer walls of many temples were decorated with paintings, ornamental tiles or terracotta tablets.


Q29: What is Brihaddharma Purana?

Answer: Brihaddharma Purana, a thirteenth-century Sanskrit text from Bengal, permitted the
local Brahmanas to eat certain varieties of fish.