Exercise - Question:

Que: Make a list of the occupations of the people who lived within the Mauryan empire.

Ans:

(1) Farming                      (2) Pastoral farming

(3) Food gathering in forest       (4) Masorny 

(5) Carpentry                      (6) Stone cutting and craftsperson 

Que: Complete the following sentences:

(a) Officials collected ———————— from the area under the direct control of the ruler.

(b) Royal princes often went to the provinces as ———

(c) The Mauryan rulers tried to control ———————— and ———————— which were important for transport.

(d) People in forested regions provided the Mauryan officials with ————————

Ans:

(1) Taxes  (2) Governors  (3) Road and river  (4) Tribute

Que: State whether true or false:

(a) Ujjain was the gateway to the north-west.

(b) Chandragupta’s ideas were written down in the Arthashastra.

(c) Kalinga was the ancient name of Bengal.

(d) Most Ashokan inscriptions are in the Brahmi script.

Ans:

(1) F (2) F (3) F (4) T

Que: What were the problems that Ashoka wanted to solve by introducing dhamma?

Ans:

(i) There were a number of problem that troubled ashoka. 

(ii) People in the empire followed different religious and this sometimes led to conflict.

Que: What were the means adopted by Ashoka to spread the message of dhamma?

Ans:

(1) He appointaned officers known as dharamamatras to spreed and explain the message.

(2) He wrote his message on rock and pillars which were erected in different parts of the empire.

Que: Why do you think slaves and servants were ill-treated? Do you think the oders of the emperor would have improved their condition? Give reasons for your answer.

Ans: The slaves were mostly prsoners of war and sarvent did not menial jobs.They were ill-treated. The orders of the emperor could have made the slave free. If the servent were ill-treated the master could be punished.

Additional - Question:

Que: Who was Chanakya?

Ans: Chanakya (or Kautilya) was a wise man who served Chandragupta Maurya.

Que: Who lived in the Mauryan cities?

Ans: Merchants, officials, and craftspersons lived in Mauryan cities.

Que: Giue one point of difference between empires and kingdoms.

Ans:  Empires need more resources than kingdoms do as they are larger,

Que: Give one point of information given by the Arthashastra

Ans: The Arthashastra tells that the northwest of the Mauryan empire was important for blankets, and south for stones,

Que: What all was given as tribute by people in forested areas?

Ans: People living in the forested areas gave elephants, timber, honey, wax, etc. as a tribute.

Que: What was special about Ashoka as a ruler?  

Ans: Ashoka was the first ruler who tried to take his message to his subject through inscriptions.

Que: What change came upon Ashoka after the Kalinga war?

Ans: Ashoka saw that there was a lot of violence in the war and many people were killed. So he decided he would not fight any more wars,

Que: What was the purpose of Ashoka’s ‘dhamma’?    

Ans:  Ashoka wished to instruct his subjects, for which he introduced his ‘dhamma’.

Que: Name some countries where Ashoka spread his ‘dhamma’.

Ans: Ashoka’s ‘dhamma’ reached Syria, Egypt, Greece and Sri Lanka among other sounds.          ,

Que: Where has the Rampurwa Bull been placed now?

Ans: The Rampurwa Bull is now In the Rashtrapati Bhavan.    

Que: Write a short note to describe the Mauryan people.

Ans: The Mauryan cities had mainly merchants, officials and craftspersons. In the village farmers and herders lived. In forested areas, people gathered forest produce and hunted animals for food. People in different parts of the empire used various different languages. They also probably ate diverse kinds of food and the same can be said about the clothes they wore.

Que: How was Ashoka unique?

Ans:  Ashoka was the most famous Mauryan ruler. He was known to take his message amongst the people through inscriptions. His inscriptions were in the people’s language Prakrit. Ashoka also remains the only king in history who gave up war after winning one. This he did after he observed the violence in the Kalinga war. Ashoka then became a Buddhist and got the idea of the ‘dhamma’.

Que: Describe governance in the Mauryan empire.

Ans: The Mauryan empire consisted of severed different parts which were ruled over differently.

• The Empire’s capital. The areas adjacent to Pataliputra, the capital of the empire, were under the direct control of the emperor. Officials were supposed to collect taxes from the inhabitants in strict obedience of the ruler’s order.
• The Provincial capitals. There were provinces with their own capitals, e.g. Taxila and Ujjain in the northwest and central India respectively. There was obviously some amount of control from the emperor in Pataliputra: Royal princes were sent as governors.
• Other areas. In the other areas, the Mauryans controlled roads and rivers, , which were vital for transport. Resources, whatever available, were collected as a tribute.