Social Studies [2 Mark Questions]

We often wonder as to how people lived in the past, what they ate, what clothes they wore, and what house they lived in. The answer to all these questions is available in ‘history’.

The earliest cities flourished on the banks of the river Indus. Later, about 2500 years ago, cities developed on the banks of the river Ganga and its tributaries and along the seacoasts.

Archaeologists have found tools, weapons, pots, pans, ornaments & coins of earlier people.

The books dealt with all kind of subjects like religious beliefs practices. the lives of the kings medicine and science. In addition there were epics, poem and plays. The most epics of India are Ramayana and Mahabharata. I would like to read these two books.

Historians find it difficult to put past events in a chronological sequence for a better understanding. Birth of Jesus Christ has been taken as year 0. Any event before that is called Before Christ (BC) and any event after the birth of Jesus is called Anno Domini (AD).

The literary sources include:
Religious Literature: Religious literature like the Vedas, the Puranas and Mahabharata of Hindus, Pitaka of Buddhists and Angas of Jains are examples of this type of literature.

History, of man started when.Man learnt how to write. They began to keep records of the times. This period is known as history. The time before man began writing is called prehistoric era. Prehistory is the period that begins with the appearance of human beings about 5 million years ago and ends with the invention of writing.

The period for which we have written records is called historical age or period, while the period for which we have no written records is called pre-historical age or period.

Tributaries are smaller rivers that flow into a larger river, e.g. river Son is a tributary of river Ganga.

The burial sites give a wealth of information. For instance, in Burzahom in Kashmir, the burials that have been found are very interesting. The dead were buried in pits lined with lime. Sometimes, pets were buried with their masters. The association of tools and weapons with the skeletal remains also suggests their belief in life after death.

Archaeological sources (for example: physical remains inscriptions, coins, etc.).
Literary sources (such as religious books, manuscripts, foreign, travellers’ accounts etc.).

Coins help in studying history as they give very useful information. Also, the places from which they were discovered give an idea of the size and extent of the kingdom. From the metal used for the coin, historians can guess whether the kingdom was rich or poor. Coins also give information about the religion, clothes and even the pastimes of the people.

Three different languages and scripts were used in the inscriptions found from the Rosetta town. These were Greek and two forms of Egyptian.

We know a great deal about the kings and the battles they fought because they kept records of what they did, such as, about their lives, victories, marriages, coronation to the throne etc.

India got its name from river Indus by Persians and Iranians.Indus is called Sindhu in Sanskrit. While the Arab traders gave the name Hindustan to the land beyond Indus.

In the earlier times, writings were done on relatively hard surface such as backed clay, stone or metal. Since these objects were imperishable these writings usually survived for a long time.

Inscriptions are written on hard surfaces. Many were written several hundreds of years ago. All inscriptions contain both scripts and languages. Languages which were used, as well as script have changed over time. Scholars understand the written words by the process of decipherment.
One of the most famous stories of decipherment comes from Egypt where there were kings and queens about 5000 years ago. An inscribed stone was found in Rosetta, which contained inscriptions in three different languages. Scholars were able to read the inscriptions by identifying the sounds for which the Egyptian letter stood. Eg. Lion stood for L, and a bird for A.

The word India comes from the Indus called Sindhu in Sanskrit. The two words we generally use for our country are India and Bharat. About 2500 years ago, the Iranians and Greeks who came through the northwest were familiar with the Indus, called it the Hindos or the Indos. The land to the east of the river (i.e., the Indus) called India.
About 35000 years ago in Rigveda (the earliest composition in Sanskrit), the name Bharata was mentioned which was used by a group of people who lived in the north¬west. Later, it was used for the country.

Rasheeda’s question was how could anyone know what had happened so many years ago. There are various ways by which people can about the past.
• The remains left by the early man in the form of tools, weapons, pottery, jewelry etc.
• After the man had learned the art of writing he wrote on leaves and bark of the trees and even on hard material. We have been able to read the script of these people (in any case).