Important Questions Class 8 Social Science Our Pasts 3 Chapter 8

Q.1 Read the source given and answer the following question:

In 1927, Ambedkar said:

We now want to go to the Tank only to prove that like others, we are also human beings … Hindu society should be reorganized on two main principles – equality and the absence of casteism.

1. Which section of the society was represented by Ambedkar?
2. Where did Ambedkar go for higher studies?
3. Which principles did he suggest to reorganize the Hindu society?
4. When did he start the Temple Entry Movement?

Ans

1. Ambedkar became the spokesperson of the sufferings of the Dalits of the Hindu society who fought for their elementary human rights.
2. After finishing school, Ambedkar went to the US for higher studies.
3. Ambedkar suggested that Hindu society could be reorganized on the principles of equality and the absence of casteism.
4. In 1927, Ambedkar started a Temple Entry Movement, in which his Mahar caste followers participated.

Q.2 Read the source given and answer the following question:

Tarabai Shinde wrote:

Isn’t a woman’s life as dear to her as yours is to you? It’s as if women are meant to be made of something different from men altogether, made from dust from earth or rock or rusted iron whereas you and your lives are made from the purest gold. … You’re asking me what I mean. I mean once a woman’s husband has died … what’s in store for her? The barber comes to shave all the curls and hair off her head, just to cool your eyes. … She is shut out from going to weddings, receptions, and other auspicious occasions that married women go to. And why all these restrictions? Because her husband has died. She is unlucky: ill fate is written on her forehead. Her face is not to be seen, it’s a bad omen.

1. This source is taken from which literary evidence?
2. Why were restrictions imposed on widows?
3. How did a widow suffer after her husband’s death? [1 + 1 + 2 = 4]

Ans

1. This source is taken from a book, Stripurushtulna, written by Tarabai Shinde.
2. Many restrictions were imposed on the widows because her husband was dead. She was considered unlucky. It was considered a bad omen to see her face.
3. After her husband’s death, a widow had to live alone; restrictions were imposed on her eating habits also. Her hair was shaved off. She was not allowed to attend weddings, receptions, and other auspicious occasions. She hardly made any public appearance and was denied all the freedom, which a married woman accessed.

Q.3 Outline the widow remarriage reform movement in India.

Ans

The widows in India had to suffer many atrocities like sati (funeral pyre burning) and ostracism. In the nineteenth century, many reformers across India began to work towards the cause of widow remarriage. These developments are outlined as follows:
1. Raja Rammohun Roy pointed out that the ancient texts did not give sanction to sati (widow burning).
2. Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar cited ancient texts to prove that widows were allowed to remarry.
3. In the Madras Presidency, Veerasalingam Pantulu formed an association for widow remarriage.
4. Young intellectuals and reformers in Bombay pledged themselves to the cause of widow remarriage.
5. Swami Dayanand’s Arya Samaj provided its support to the cause of widow remarriage.

Q.4 Name any two social evils to which women in Indian society were subjugated in India.

Ans

Two major social evils to which Indian women were subjugated were Child marriage and Sati.

Q.5 Name any two religions in India that allowed men to marry more than one wife in the early 19^th century India.

Ans

Hindu and Muslim are two major religions that allowed men to marry more than one wife in early 19^th century India.

Q.6 What is the literal meaning of the word “Sati”?

Ans

The word “Sati” means a ‘virtuous woman’.

Q.7 What formed the basis for the division of Indian society?

Ans

The society in India was divided among the lines of castes or the Varna system.

Q.8 Who was the founder of the Arya Samaj?

Ans

Swami Dayanand Saraswati was the founder of the Arya Samaj.

Q.9 What did Raja Ram Mohan Roy do to oppose the caste system?

Ans

Raja Ram Mohan Roy translated an old Buddhist text that criticized the caste system.

Q.10 Who was the founder of the Ramakrishna Mission?

Ans

The Ramakrishna Mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897.

Q.11 Name the countries where the lower caste people went for plantation work.

Ans

The poor lower caste people went to work in plantations in Mauritius, Trinidad and Indonesia.

Q.12 How many “Varnas” are there? Name them.

Ans

There are four Varnas. They are Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras.

Q.13 What was the occupation of Madigas?

Ans

Madigas were experts at cleaning hides, tanning them for use, and sewing sandals.

Q.14 Explain the term “Sati”?

Ans

Sati was a Hindu religious practice in which widows entered the funeral pyre of their husbands either willingly or were being forced.

Q.15 What works were done by the “untouchable” people?

Ans

The “Untouchable” people laboured to keep cities and villages clean or did the jobs that the upper castes considered polluting or leading to the loss of caste status.

Q.16 Name the leaders who lent their support for the equality and freedom of women in the twentieth century India.

Ans

In the twentieth century India, Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose were the important leaders who lent their support for the equality and freedom of women.

Q.17 Name one social reformer who used the religious texts to argue in favour of widow remarriage.

Ans

Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar was one of social reformers who used the ancient religious texts to argue in favour of widow remarriage.

Q.18 When was the Child Marriage Restraint Act Passed?

Ans

The Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed in 1929.

Q.19 Why did the poor leave their villages and go to cities in the nineteenth century?

Ans

The poor people left their villages and went to the cities in search of jobs in the newly built up factories and municipalities.

Q.20 Who gave the Statement government of the people, by the people, for the people, Shall not perish from the earth?

Ans

This is the statement of Abraham Lincoln urging people to give up the practice of racial discrimination during the American Revolution of 1776.

Q.21 Describe Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s role in the development of women education.

Ans

Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain started schools for girls in Patna and Calcutta and pointed out the inferior place given to women by the religious leaders in the Islamic community.

Q.22 Who set up schools for tribal groups and “lower” caste children in India for the first time?

Ans

During the 19^th century, Christian missionaries set up schools for tribal groups and “lower” caste children in India for the first time.

Q.23 How did the poor lower caste people see availability of the job opportunity in cities?

Ans

The poor lower caste people saw the availability of the job opportunity as an outlet to get away from the oppressive hold of the upper caste landowners.

Q.24 Who were the Madigas?

Ans

Madigas were an important untouchable caste of present-day Andhra Pradesh.

Q.25 What was the response of the nationalist leaders to the demands for female suffrage (the right to vote)?

Ans

The Nationalist leaders promised women that they would be given suffrage along with men in independent India.

Q.26 Which occupations were assigned to each Varna?

Ans

The Brahmans and Kshatriyas were considered as “upper castes” and were supposed to teach and study religious scriptures. The Vaishyas were traders and moneylenders. They were placed after the two Upper castes. The fourth Varna was the Shudras, who were peasants and artisans such as weavers and potters. At the lowest rung was the labouring class. They were responsible to do all the menial works, like cleaning the villages and cities.

Q.27 Who were “the untouchable”? What was their social condition in the Indian Society?

Ans

In the Hindu caste system, there are four Varnas– the Brahmans, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas and the Shudras. Apart from these four groups, there were people at the lowest rung of the society known as the ‘untouchables’ by “upper caste people”. They are also known as the fifth Varnas.

The “Upper Caste” people did not allow the untouchables to enter temples, draw water from the wells or bathe in the public ponds where higher castes people bathe. The untouchables were seen as inferior human beings.

Q.28 What was the main feature of Child Marriage Restraint Act?

Ans

According to the Child Marriage Restraint Act, no man below the age of 18 and women below the age of 16 could marry.

Q.29 Who were the social reformers? Name any popular Indian Social reformer.

Ans

1. Social reformers were the people who believed that social changes were necessary for society and unjust and superstitious practices need to be done away with.
2. They thought that the best way to bring about changes was to persuade people to give up old practices.
3. Raja Rammohun Roy, the founder of the Brahma Samaj, is a well-known social reformer in India.

Q.30 What was the reaction of Hindu nationalists and orthodox Muslims towards the improved social condition of women?

Ans

By the end of the 19^th century, women were actively working for their reform. The early 20^th century saw the formation of political pressure groups to force through the laws for women’s suffrage.
1. All these activities alarmed the orthodox people in society.
2. Hindu nationalists felt that women were adopting western ways and that this would corrupt Hindu culture and family values. Orthodox Muslims were also worried about the impact of these changes.

Q.31 Read the following passage and answer the questions given below it:

When did you ever afford them a fair opportunity of exhibiting their natural capacity? How then can you accuse them of want of understanding? If, after instruction in knowledge and wisdom, a person cannot comprehend or retain what has been taught him, we may consider him as deficient; but if you do not educate women how can you see them as inferior. (4 Marks)

1. Which social reformer began a campaign against the practice of Sati?
2. In which year was Sati banned?
3. What practice was adopted by various reformers to criticize the practice of Sati?
4. What was the social status of women in the nineteenth century?

Ans

1. Raja Rammohun Roy started a campaign against the practice of Sati.
2. Sati was banned in the year 1829.
3. Through their writings, various reformers tried to show that the practice of Sati had no sanction in ancient texts.
4. In the nineteenth century, women were considered inferior to men. Most women had virtually no access to education.

Q.32 What were the activities carried out by women to improve their social conditions?

Ans

1. By the 1880s, to improve their condition, Indian women began to enter universities. Some of them trained to be doctors, some became teachers. Women wrote books, edited magazines, established schools, and training centers. They also set up women’s associations.
2. From the early 20^th century, they formed political pressure groups to demand female suffrage, better health care, and education. They joined the nationalist and socialist movements from the 1920s to realize their demands.

Q.33 How did Muslim women manage to get education?

Ans

Many reformers felt that it was necessary to provide education to girls to improve the condition of women.
1. Most of the Muslim women were taught by women at home. Some reformers such as Mumtaz Ali reinterpreted verses from the Koran to argue for women’s education.
2. Not all women from the Muslim community got the opportunity to educate themselves during the 19^th century only the aristocratic Muslim women in North India learned to read the Koran in Arabic.

Q.34 What kind of works did the cities provide to the poor who migrated from the villages?

Ans

During the course of the 19^th century, cities were expanding. With the expansion of the cities, the demand for labor also rose. Poor people started moving from the villages and small towns to the cities in search of jobs. Many of these migrants were of low castes.

1. They got jobs in the factories and municipalities. They were offered jobs like digging up drains, laying roads, constructing buildings, and clean cities.

2. So they worked as diggers, carriers, bricklayers, sewage cleaners, sweepers, palanquin bearers, and rickshaw pullers.

Q.35 Who wrote the book Gulamgiri and to whom it was dedicated?

Ans

Jyotirao Phule wrote the book Gulamgiri meaning ‘Slavery’, in 1873. He can legitimately be called the father of the Dalit consciousness and upsurge in India.
1. He dedicated this book to all Americans who had fought to free slaves in the American Civil War.
2. Through his dedication to the book, he tried to build a connection between the conditions of the “lower” castes in India with the black slaves in America.

Q.36 When was the Singh Sabha Movement started? What were its activities?

Ans

The Singh Sabha movement was the reform movement of the Sikhs. The first Singh Sabhas were formed at Amritsar in 1873 and Lahore in 1879.
1. The Singh Sabha wanted to rid Sikhism of superstitions, caste distinction, and practices that were considered as non-Sikh.
2. They worked for the promotion of education among the Sikhs. They combined modern education with Sikh teachings.

Q.37 Who started temple entry movement and what was the aim of the movement?

Ans

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar started the temple entry movement in 1927 in which his Mahar Caste followers participated. Ambedkar led three such movements for temple entry between 1927 and 1935. The movement aimed to:
1. Break the Brahmanical domination in the temples by using water from the temple tank. This action outraged Brahman priests.
2. Make everyone see the power of caste prejudice in society.

Q.38 Why did E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker criticize the Hindu religious scriptures?

Ans

1. E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker fought for the dignity of the untouchables. He founded the Self Respect Movement.
2. He strongly criticized Hindu religious scriptures such as the codes of Manu, the ancient lawgiver, the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Ramayana.
3. He argued that these texts had been used to sustain and perpetuate the Brahmanical caste system over lower castes and the discrimination and domination of men over women.

Q.39 What was the Non-Brahman movement? What were the arguments of its leaders?

Ans

The Non-Brahman movement was started by the leaders of the non-Brahman upper castes during the early 20^th century. These non-Brahman castes had gained access to education, wealth, and influence. Their major argument was that Brahmans were heirs of Aryan invaders from the north who had conquered southern lands from the natives of the region especially the indigenous Dravidian races. They were also opposed to the Brahmanical claims to power.

Q.40 How did the orthodox Hindus face the challenges of the Non-Brahman Movements?

Ans

1. The forceful speeches, writings, and movements of lower caste leaders led to the foundation of orthodox Hindu associations like Sanatan Dharma Sabhas and the Bharat Dharma Mahamandal in the north and Brahman Sabha in Bengal.
2. These orthodox Hindu associations tried to uphold the caste distinctions as a feature and foundation of Hinduism. They also tried to show how the caste system was sanctified by Hindus religious scriptures.

Q.41 When was the Brahmo Samaj established and what were its ideologies?

Ans

The Brahmo Samaj was founded in 1830 by Raja Rammohun Roy.

1. It was actually a community of people, who gathered regularly to worship the ‘Supreme Being’.

2. It prohibited all forms of idol worship and sacrifices and believed in the Upanishads.

3. It asked its members not to criticize practices of other religions. It critically drew upon the ideas of Hinduism and Christianity by looking at their negative and positive dimensions.

Q.42 Who started the Young Bengal Movement? What were its ideologies?

Ans

The Young Bengal Movement was started by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio. He was a teacher at Hindu College in Kolkata in the 1820s.
1. He propagated radical and rational ideas among his students and encouraged them to question traditional and religious customs.
2. They openly denounced the Hindu religion.
3. The supporters of the Young Bengal Movement were influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution. They preached the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
4. His followers demanded education for women and tried to spread freedom of thought and expression.

Q.43 When was the Prarthana Samaj established? And what were its activities?

Ans

The Prarthana Samaj was established in 1867 in Bombay.
1. It believed in the unity of God and denounced idol worship. People of all religions such as Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians attended its religious meetings.
2. It tried to eradicate caste restrictions, abolish child marriages, and encourage education for women. It also tried to put an end to the ban on widow remarriage.

Q.44 When was the Veda Samaj founded? And what were its ideologies?

Ans

The Veda Samaj was established in 1864 in Madras by K Sridharalu Naidu. It was one of the most important and influential socio-religious movements in South India.

1. It was inspired by the ideas of the Brahmo Samaj.

2. It tried to eradicate the caste system, encouraged widow remarriage and education for women.

3. Its followers believed in one God. They condemned the superstitions and rituals of orthodox Hinduism.

Q.45 Who is the founder of the Aligarh Movement? What were its objectives?

Ans

Sayyid Ahmed Khan is the founder of the Aligarh Movement.
1. He also established the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 at Aligarh. It later became the Aligarh Muslim University.
2. The movement tried to promote educational reform among the people of the Muslim community. It offered modern education and western science to Muslims.
3. Another objective of the movement was to reinterpret the teaching of Islam and bring the Muslims in harmony with modern science and philosophy.

Q.46 What were the reasons for the debates and discussions about social customs and practices from the early 19^th century?

Ans

From the early nineteenth century, there were debates and discussions about social customs and practices due to the development of new forms of communication among the common people.

1. Books newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets were printed for the first time.

2. This type of communication was cheaper and more accessible to ordinary people.

3. The masses could read these and express their ideas in their own languages.

4. All kinds of social, political, economic, and religious issues were debated and discussed by the people.

Q.47 Write a note about the role of Raja Rammohun Roy in reforming Hindu society.

Ans

Raja Rammohun founded a reform association known as the Brahmo Samaj. He was keen to spread modern ideas through the knowledge of western education in India. He demanded equality for women and expressed the sufferings of women and their burdens at home through his writings. He had great concern for the life of widows and struggled to eradicate the Sati practice. Due to his continuous pressure, the British government banned the practice of Sati legally in 1829.

Q.48 Explain with examples the social reformers’ efforts to improve the social condition of the widows.

Ans

1. The first efforts for improving the social condition of the widows came from Raja Rammohun Roy. His continuous efforts led to the enactment of a law that banned the practice of the Sati legally in 1829 by the British Government.

2. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a prominent social reformer, used the ancient religious scriptures to advocate that widows could go for remarriages. On his suggestion Widow, Remarriage Act was passed in 1856 permitting widow remarriage.

3. By the second half of the 19^th century the movements favoring widow remarriage created awareness in various parts of the country. Veerasalingam Pantulu formed an association in the Telugu-speaking areas of the Madras presidency.

4. In the north Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj also supported widow remarriage.

Q.49 How did people react to the establishment of schools for girls in India?

Ans

Due to the efforts of many social reformers in Bombay, schools were established for girls. People were afraid of the girl schools.

1. They feared that the schools would separate girls from the home and their domestic works would be crippled.

2. Since the girls had to walk a long distance to reach schools, the people thought that this would create a corrupting influence on them.

3. They also expected girls to stay away from the public spaces and wanted to confine them inside their homes.

4. Due to all these reasons, some of the most educated women were taught at home by their liberal fathers and husbands.

Q.50 Write the names and roles of social reformers from the Muslim community who fought for the education of their women.

Ans

1. One of the important social reformers who fought for the education for girls was

Mumtaz Ali. She used the Koran to argue for women’s education from the early 20^th century

2. Muslim women reformists like the begums of Bhopal promoted education among women. They established a primary school for girls at Aligarh.

3. Another important Muslim woman social reformer was Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. She started school for Muslim girls in Patna and Calcutta. She strongly criticized the conservative ideas and questioned the inferior place given to women by the religious leaders.

Q.51 How did women write about their suppressed position in the society? Explain with example.

Ans

By the 1880s, Indian women joined universities to educate themselves. Some of them became doctors and teachers. Many of them wrote their critical views and reactions on the suppressed place of women in society and published them. For example,
1. Tarabai Shinde, an educated woman from Poona, wrote her book Stripurushtulna. The book compared men and women and criticized the social differences between them.
2. Another remarkable woman writer was Pandita Ramabai. She was a great scholar of Sanskrit and argued that Hinduism was oppressive towards women. She wrote a book elaborating on the miserable condition of upper-caste Hindu women. She also founded a widows’ home at Poona to provide shelter to widows who had been ill-treated.

Q.52 Write about the efforts of the upper caste people to eradicate the caste system.

Ans

Some of the early social reformers were from the upper caste community and criticized the caste system.
1. Rammohun Roy translated old Buddhist texts that criticized the caste system strongly.
2. The Prarthana Samaj, despite its adherence to the tradition of Bhakti, believed in the spiritual equality of all castes.
3. In Bombay, the Paramhans Mandali was formed in 1840 to work for the abolition of caste.
4. All these upper-caste critics and reformers violated caste taboos, on food and touch, in their secret meetings to get rid of the hold of caste discriminations in their lives.

Q.53 Write about the emergence of the lower caste movements during the Second-half of the 19^th Century.

Ans

Many of the lower caste movements emerged during the second half of the 19^th century, protesting the caste discrimination of the upper caste people and demanding social equality and justice. Some of these movements are:

1. Ghasidas, a lower-caste leader, founded the Satnami movement in central India. He worked among the leather workers and tried to improve their social status.

2. In eastern Bengal, Haridas Thakur founded Matua Sect to work among ‘low’ caste Chandala cultivators. Haridas questioned Brahmanical texts that supported the caste system.

3. In Kerala, Sri Narayana Guru from the ‘low’ caste Ezhava community was a popular leader. He proclaimed the ideas of unity of all people within one sect, single caste, and one guru.

Q.54 What were the major arguments of Jyotirao Phule on the caste system?

Ans

1.Jyotirao Phule was born in 1827 and was one of the remarkable “lower caste” leaders.
2. He founded the Satyashodhak Samaj to propagate caste equality.
3. Phule strongly criticized the Brahmans for their claim that they were superior to others.
4. He argued that the Aryans were foreigners who came from outside the subcontinent and subjugated the children of the natives.
5. Phule argued that the land belonged to indigenous people and of the low castes, and the upper castes had no right on their land and power.
6. He proposed that Shudras (laboring castes) and Ati-Shudras (untouchables) should unite to fight against the caste prejudices being practiced by the upper caste people.

Q.55 Who was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and what were his childhood experiences of the caste discrimination in Indian Hindu society?

Ans

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was the champion of the lower caste untouchables and fought against the Hindu caste system. He was born in a Mahar family, an untouchable caste in Maharashtra. He experienced caste discrimination from his early days.
1. In school, he was forced to sit outside the classroom on the ground.
2. He was prevented from drinking water from the taps used by the children of upper – castes.
After his schooling, he went for higher studies in the United States and returned to India in 1919. He wrote extensively about upper-caste power in contemporary society.

Q.56 Who was the founder of the Self Respect Movement? What were his major arguments?

Ans

The Self Respect Movement was started by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker popularly known as Periyar by his followers. To protect the dignity of the untouchables, he started the Self Respect Movement.
1. He argued that untouchables were the true upholders of an original Tamil and Dravidian Culture, and later Brahmans subjugated them.
2. He showed with evidence that all religious authorities treat social divisions and inequality as God-given.
3. He suggested that untouchables should free themselves from practicing all religions to achieve social equality.