Kingdoms Kings and an Early Republic

CBSE Class -VI Social Science

NCERT Solutions
History Chapter 6
Kingdoms Kings and An Early Republic

Question 1. State whether True or False.
Answer. (a) Rajas who let the ashvamedha horse pass through their lands were invited to the sacrifice. (True)
(b) The charioteer sprinkled sacred water on the king. (False)
(c) Archaeologists have found palaces in the settlements of the janapadas. (False)
(d) Pots to store were made out of Painted Grey Ware. (False)
(e) Many cities in the mahajanapadas were fortified. (True)

Question 2. Fill in the chart given below with the terms: hunter-gatherers, farmers, traders, craft persons and herders.
Answer. Those who paid taxes

	Farmer	Traders
Hunters and gatherers	The Raja of the Mahajanapada	Herders
	Craft persons

The rajas(rulers) of Mahajanapada started collecting taxes from the people in various forms as follows:
Hunter-gatherers: They had to provide forest produce to the raja.
Farmers: The tax was fixed at 1/6th of what was produced by them.
Traders: Taxes on goods that were bought and sold, through trade.
Craft persons: Taxes on crafts persons as well. These could have been in the form of labour
Herders: Paid taxes in the form of animals and animal produce.

Question 3. Who were the groups who could not participate in the assemblies of the ganas?
Answer.Women, Slaves and Kammakaras could not participate in the assemblies assemblies of the ganas. Often, women were also grouped with the shudras. The priests also said that these groups were decided on the basis of birth.

Question 4. Why did the rajas of the Mahajanapada build forts?
Answer. Forts were built by the rajas of the Mahajanapada because people were afraid of attacks from other kings and needed protection. It is also likely that some rulers wanted to show how rich and powerful they were by building large, tall and impressive walls around their cities. Also in this way, the land and the people living inside the fortified area could be controlled more easily by the king making the administration more easier.

Question 5. In what ways are present-day elections different from the ways in which rulers were chosen in janapadas.
Answer. Present-day elections in India, are conducted based on the democracy and idea of universal adult franchise, where every person above the age of 18 years has a right to vote. Voting is based on the principle of one man-one vote. Whereas, the rulers who performed the ashvamedha sacrifice or horse sacrifice were recognised as the rulers of janapadas. Some janapadas grew in size and became mahajanapadas.

Question 6. Find the state in which you live in the political map on page 136. Were there any janapadas in your state? If Yes, name them. if not, name the janapadas that would have been closest to your state, and mention whether they were to the east, west, north or south.
Answer.Following is the list of 16 janapadas and mahajanapadas with their respective location. Go through the table to find the janapada or mahajanapada that would have been in or closest to your state.
List of Ancient Janapadas and Mahajanapadas

Janapadas & Mahajanapadas	Location
Anga	Modern districts of Monger and Bhagalpur in Bihar.
Magadha	Covered the modern districts of Patna, Gaya, and parts of Shahabad.
Malla	Covered the modern districts of Deoria, Basti, Gorakhpur and Siddarthnagar in eastern UP.
Vajji	Situated north of the river Ganga in Bihar.
Kosala	Covered modern day districts of Faziabad, Gonda, Bahraich of eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Kashi	Located in the region around Varanasi (modern Banaras).
Chedi	Covered present day Bundelkhand region.
Kuru	Covered modern Haryana and Delhi.
Vatsa	Covered modern districts Allahabad, Mirzapur.
Panchala	Covered the area of present western UP up to the east of river Yamuna up to Kosala janapada.
Matsya	Covered the areas of Alwar, Bhartpur and Jaipur in Rajasthan.
Sursena	Covered the area around Mathura.
Avanti	Covered the western India (modern Malwa).
Ashmaka	Situated in the southern part of the India between the rivers Narmada and Godavari.

Question 7. Find out whether any of the groups mentioned in answer 2 pay taxes today.
Answer. The groups mentioned are hunter and gatherers, farmers, traders, craft persons herders.
Farmers & Herders : According to the Income Tax Act, 2013 agricultural income is exempt in India.
Traders and craft persons pay taxes today.

Question 8. Find out whether any of the groups mentioned in answer 3 have voting right at present.
Answer. The people who could not participate in the assemblies (mentioned in answer 3) were women, slaves and Kammakaras.
In the present times, slavery has been abolished. Every democracy is based on the principle of universal adult franchise. Everyone has the right to vote in the election after a specific age(18 years in case of India).

Kingdoms Kings and an Early Republic - Solutions