NCERT Solutions for Class 7 History Chapter 8 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

The 18th-century political formations in India were very dramatic, with the country changing at a very rapid pace. During the first half of the century, the Mughal Empire dwindled as a result of the emergence of independent kingdoms. The second half also saw the British creating a strong presence in eastern India. 

1. Match the following

Subadar	A revenue farmer
Faujdar	A high noble
Ijaradar	Provincial governor
Misl	Maratha peasant warriors
Chauth	A Mughal military commander
Kunbis	A band of Sikh warriors
Umara	Tax levied by the Marathas

Answer:

Subadar	Provincial governor
Faujdar	A Mughal military commander
Ijaradar	A revenue farmer
Misl	A band of Sikh warriors
Chauth	Tax levied by the Marathas
Kunbis	Maratha peasant warriors
Umara	A high noble

2. Fill in the blanks.

(a) Aurangzeb fought a protracted war in the ____________________.

(b) Umara and jagirdars constituted powerful sections of the Mughal _______________.

(c) Asaf Jah founded the Hyderabad state in _____________________.

(d) The founder of the Awadh state was ______________________.

Answer: (a) Aurangzeb fought a protracted war in the Deccan.

(b) Umara and jagirdars constituted powerful sections of the Mughal administration.

(c) Asaf Jah founded the Hyderabad state in 1724.

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

“WATER POLLUTION: CAUSES, IMPACTS, AND SOLUTIONS FOR A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT”

3. State whether true or false.

(a) Nadir Shah invaded Bengal.

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

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

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

Answer: (a) False

(b) False

(c) True

(d) True

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

Answer: The offices held by Sa’adat Khan were subadari, faujdari and diwani.

5. Why did the Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal try to do away with the jagirdari system?

Answer:  Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal tried to do away with the jagirdari system because:

1. They were suspicious of this system that they inherited.
2. Their methods of tax collection were different, they hired “revenue farmers to collect the taxes”.
3. They used practice of Ijaradari rather than jagirdari.
4. They wanted to expand and receive land as security against loans.
5. They knew the loopholes of the system and that how jagirdars become powerful if not checked in time.

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

Answer: The organisation of the Sikhs into a political community during the seventeenth century helped in regional state-building in Punjab. Several battles were fought by Guru Gobind Singh against the Rajput and Mughal rulers, both before and after the institution of the Khalsa in 1699. Under a number of able leaders in the eighteenth century, the Sikhs organised themselves into several bands called jathas, and later on, misls. Their combined forces were known as the grand army (dal khalsa). Guru Gobind Singh inspired the Khalsa with the belief that their destiny was to rule (raj karega khalsa). Their well-knit organisation enabled them to put up a successful resistance to the Mughal governors first and then to Ahmad Shah Abdali, who had seized the rich province of the Punjab and the Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals. The Sikh territories in the late eighteenth century extended from the Indus to the Jamuna, but they were divided under different rulers. One of them, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, reunited these groups and established his capital at Lahore in 1799.

NCERT Solutions for Class 7 History Chapter 7 The Making of Regional Cultures

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

Answer: The Marathas wanted to expand beyond the Deccan to decrease the Mughal influence. Between 1720 and 1761, the Maratha Empire expanded. By the 1720s, they seized Malwa and Gujarat from the Mughals, and by the 1730s, the Maratha King was recognised as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula.

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

Answer:  After being the actual ruler of the Deccan, Asaf Jah began to adopt some policies to strengthen his position :

• He brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who welcomed the new opportunities in the south.
• He appointed mansabdars and granted jagirs.
• He ruled independently without Mughal interference. The Mughal emperor merely confirmed the decisions already taken by Asaf Jah.