NCERT 6th Class (CBSE) Social Science: The Age of Empires and Assemblies

Question: Write a short note on monarchial mahajanapadas?

Answer: Monarchial Mahajanapada:

1. They were ruled by kings. The king was very powerful.
2. He had a large army and many sources of revenue.
3. Kingdoms like Magadha, Vasta, Avanti and Kosala were the greatest of these kingdom.
4. Kingship was pereditary The king’s son succeeded him to the  throne.

Question: Besides agriculture, what were the other source of revenue?

Answer: Besides agriculture, there were many other sources of revenue: craftsmen such as carpenters, potters and weavers paid taxes, either in cash or kind or by offering free service to the king. There were also taxes on buying and selling goods.

Question: How did towns emerge? Name some important towns of this period?

Answer:

1. Villages that grew in size became towns.
2. Towns also grew around centres of craft and trade.
3. Some time craftsmen and artisans come together work as a group Ujjayini,  Ayodhya, kaushambhi. Tamralipti and Champa were the important towns of this period.

Question: How did the small  tribes of earlier period give away to large kingdoms?

Answer:

1.  A big change came about around this time. Iron began to be used on a much large scale.
2. Iron tools helped people to clear the forests where later, bigger settlements developed.
3. The small tribes of the earlier period gave way to large kingdoms. These territories came to be called janapadas. The larger and more powerful janapadas were called mahajanapadas.

Question: What changes in agriculture help farmers to produce more?

Answer:

1. The changes in agriculture which helped farmers to produce more were.
2. First is the iron plough came to be used on a larger scale It was an improvement over the wooden plough.
3. Second, the practice of transplanting paddy, that is growing saplings separately and then planting them in the fields, become common. This ensured that many more plants survived and more grains were produced.