NCERT Class 9 SST Chapter 3 Question Answers: Resistance and Resilience (1000–1700 CE)
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 SST Part 2 Chapter 3: Resistance and Resilience (1000–1700 CE)
Textbook Exercise Questions & Answers
Question 1: Choose the most appropriate answer.
Resistance and resilience are closely connected because:
a. Resistance always involves warfare.
b. Resilience enables communities to endure difficulties and sustain resistance.
c. Resistance is possible only when a kingdom has a large army.
d. Resilient societies avoid all forms of conflict.
Answer:
b. Resilience enables communities to endure difficulties and sustain resistance.
Explanation: Resilience provides the inner strength, social stability, and economic capability to withstand hardship, which forms the backbone of any political or military resistance.
Question 2: Why and how did groups such as the Sikhs, Marathas, and Rajputs assert their political power and identity during periods of changing political authority?
Answer:
During the period of shifting imperial rule, these groups asserted their power using distinct military, strategic, and cultural methods:
- The Sikhs: In response to severe political hostility and persecution from Mughal authorities, the Sikhs organized under the Khalsa order with a distinct martial code. They formed armed units called misals (confederacies) that united peasant communities into military structures to protect their land and religious identity.
- The Marathas: Guided by the vision of Swarājya (self-rule) under Chhatrapati Śhivājī, the Marathas built a network of hill forts across tricky terrain. They used swift guerrilla tactics and formed strategic alliances, which prolonged warfare and ultimately exhausted Mughal political and economic resources.
- The Rajputs: Rulers like Mahārāṇā Pratāp of Mewar put up strong military resistance by utilizing local knowledge and forming key alliances with local tribal groups like the Bhils. Other Rajput rulers used diplomatic negotiations and strategic alliances with Mughal power to maintain local autonomy and safeguard their lands.
Question 3: Why did some Rajput rulers decide to negotiate alliances with the Mughal power?
Answer:
Some Rajput rulers chose negotiation and strategic alliances with the Mughals for the following reasons:
- Safeguarding Sovereignty and Land: Negotiating allowed rulers to preserve internal control over their ancestral territories without undergoing destructive wars.
- Administrative Integration: It enabled Rajput elites to hold high ranks in the imperial hierarchy (such as the mansabdari system) while retaining their local governance.
- Ensuring Stability: Alliances prevented continuous bloodshed and protected agricultural output and trade, ensuring long-term socio-economic stability for their people.
Question 4: Imagine a market in a port town of India such as Surat, Masulipatnam, or Puducherry. You are a foreign trader from Italy or France and want to make a deal of cotton textiles. How would you secure the product in the local market? Whose help would you seek and what kind of challenges would you face in terms of language, quality of product, prices of commodities, etc.?
Answer:
- How to Secure the Product: As a foreign trader, I would conduct transactions using a hunḍī (a credit note/bill of exchange) to avoid carrying large amounts of gold or silver cash across long distances safely.
- Whose Help to Seek: I would rely on local intermediaries:
- Dubhaśhīs: Local interpreters and translators who bridged language gaps.
- Sarrāfs & Gumasthas: Money-changers and commercial agents who verified currency values and managed financial contracts.
- Local Brokers: Merchant networks that connected traders directly with weavers, dyers, and bleachers.
- Challenges Faced:
- Language Barrier: Communicating with local craftspeople required bilingual interpreters.
- Quality Control: Ensuring uniform quality across multiple independent weaver families.
- Currency Exchange & Price Fluctuations: Calculating exchange rates across different regional coinages with local money-changers (sarrāfs).
Question 5: Analyse the various functions of forts and fortresses. How did rulers perceive the importance of forts in terms of strategic concerns?
Answer:
Functions of Forts:
- Defense and Military Base: Forts acted as strongholds against enemy sieges and served as launching pads for swift guerrilla attacks.
- Administration and Law: They functioned as regional capitals, centers of judicial authority, and revenue collection hubs.
- Self-Sustaining Sanctuaries: Forts contained residential complexes, armouries, deep water wells, and food storage facilities to survive long blockades.
Strategic Importance to Rulers:
Rulers viewed forts as vital strategic assets. Forts in mountainous or rugged terrains (like Raigad and Sinhagad in the Maratha empire) allowed smaller armies to defend against massive enemy forces. They also served as safe fallback capitals during major invasions, ensuring the survival of the state.
Question 6: What architectural changes occurred in temple construction during the period under study? How do these changes reflect upon the resilient nature of Indian civilisation?
Answer:
- Architectural & Functional Changes:
- Temples grew from devotional shrines into massive multi-functional urban complexes, managing land grants, funding irrigation, and operating as regional financial institutions.
- Grand architectural projects were built as acts of political and cultural assertion—such as Rānā Jagat Singh building the Jagdish Temple in Udaipur as an assertion of independent identity alongside imperial structures.
- Despite frequent destruction during invasions, temples were continually restored and rebuilt by local rulers, merchant guilds, and communities.
- Reflection of Resilience:
The continuous construction, expansion, and rapid rebuilding of temples demonstrated that Indian civilization could protect and sustain its spiritual, economic, and artistic heritage despite external pressures.
Question 7: A kingdom has limited military resources but possesses fertile agricultural land, strong local support, and detailed knowledge of its terrain. Explain two ways in which these resources could contribute to the kingdom’s resilience when faced with a threat.
Answer:
- Effective Guerrilla Warfare via Terrain & Local Support: Detailed knowledge of hills, riverways, and dense forests allows a smaller army to use guerrilla tactics rather than open battlefield combat. Local communities (like the Bhil tribe helping Maharana Pratap or the local populations assisting Ahom commanders) act as guides, scouts, and suppliers.
- Sustained Endurance Through Agrarian Surplus: Fertile land yields reliable food and revenue, enabling the state to build granaries, feed its population, and sustain defenders during long sieges or conflicts.
Question 8: Consider the following statement: “A tradition becomes more resilient when people can carry it with them.” Do you agree? Explain using examples from the Bhakti tradition.
Answer:
Yes, I completely agree. Physical structures like temples or monuments can be damaged, but traditions embedded in people’s minds, songs, and daily habits cannot be destroyed.
Examples from the Bhakti Tradition:
- Use of Local Vernacular Languages: Bhakti saints composed poetry in the everyday language of the masses—such as Tulsidas writing Rāmcharitmānas in Awadhi, Eknath in Marathi, and Sankardev in Assamese. This allowed ordinary people to carry spiritual wisdom wherever they went.
- Community Singing (Sankīrtan & Satsang): Devotional singing groups gathered in public spaces or homes without needing fixed buildings or institutional permission, keeping traditions vibrant and portable.
- Regional Translations of Epics: Translating the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata into regional languages allowed families across regions to pass down cultural principles at home.
Question 9: Voices from the Past — Write a short first-person account explaining what resilience means from that person’s perspective.
Option 1: An Ahom Commander (e.g., Lachit Borphukan)
“I am an Ahom commander guarding the Brahmaputra valley. To me, resilience does not mean matching a massive empire soldier-for-soldier on an open plain. It means mastering our winding river channels, dense forests, and monsoon seasons. Using our swift bāchārī boats and river defense strategies at Saraighat, we turn our challenging geography into an unbreakable wall. Even when capital cities fall or treaties are forced upon us, our spirit endures until we reclaim our freedom.”
Option 2: A Bhakti Saint (e.g., Sant Kabir or Tulsidas)
“I am a humble devotee singing of the Divine in the simple language of everyday folk. To me, resilience means keeping devotion, love, and equality alive when society faces instability and distress. Kings may build or lose forts, but the verses we compose in Awadhi or Braj live inside the hearts of peasants, weavers, and children. No army can conquer a song that people sing together in satsang.”
Question 10: Design a Fort — Labelled Plan & Explanation
(Students can draw a simple diagram showing an outer wall with watchtowers, an inner residential area, a central administrative block, deep water wells, grain storehouses, and a hidden escape tunnel.)
Explanation of Design Resilience:
This fort design ensures survival during a prolonged siege. Dedicated food storage and internal water wells guarantee that defenders and civilians will not starve or run out of clean water. High defensive walls and watchtowers provide early warning against surprise attacks, while the administrative area keeps government operations running smoothly. Finally, a hidden escape route allows leaders or troops to evacuate or bring in secret supplies if the fort is surrounded.