NCERT Solutions Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings Cities and States

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 7 · SOCIAL SCIENCE

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 4: New Beginnings:
Cities and States

NCERT Textbook — Exploring Society: India And Beyond (Part I)

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

67 – 82 10 19 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 28 pages

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 7 · SOCIAL SCIENCE · EXPLORING SOCIETY: INDIA AND BEYOND (PART I)

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 4: New Beginnings: Cities
and States
Complete NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States from the
NCERT textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Grade 7 Part 1 (theme: Tapestry of the Past). Every question
of the chapter is answered — The Big Questions, both THINK ABOUT IT boxes (pages 70 and 78), all three
LET'S EXPLORE boxes (pages 70, 74 and 76), the DON'T MISS OUT box on page 77, the in-text question on
page 69, Before we move on … and all four Questions and activities — with the map of the sixteen
mahājanapadas (Fig. 4.3) and the timeline (Fig. 4.8) read directly off the printed page.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part I) (Class 67 – 82
7)

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

10 19

MEDIUM

English

The Big Questions — Page 67
Chapter opening — theme: Tapestry of the Past

THE BIG QUESTIONS

Q1 What is meant by ‘Second Urbanisation of India’?

The ‘Second Urbanisation’ is the name given to the vibrant new phase of city life that began in
the 1st millennium BCE in the Ganga plains, parts of the Indus (or Sindhu) basin and
neighbouring regions, and then spread gradually to other parts of the Subcontinent.
It is called the second one because India had already had a first one:

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

FIRST URBANISATION SECOND URBANISATION

Which Indus / Harappan / Sindhu-Sarasvatī Janapadas and mahājanapadas
civilisation

When 3rd millennium BCE; disintegrated in the early Began in the 1st millennium BCE
2nd millennium BCE

Where Indus (Sindhu) and Sarasvatī basins Ganga plains, parts of the Indus basin,
then all over India

Chief metal Copper and bronze Iron

In between the two came a gap of a whole millennium in which urban life was absent from
India, though there may have been a few towns here and there in north India.

Why it happens: after the Harappan cities broke down, every component of the
urban order disappeared — elaborate private and public structures, crowded streets
and busy markets, specialised occupations (metalsmiths, potters, builders, weavers,
craftspeople), a writing system, a sanitation system, an administration, and behind it
all a state structure with a ruling class. People went back to a rural or village lifestyle.
Cities returned only when the conditions for them returned: farming on a bigger
scale with iron tools, expanding trade networks, and states organised enough to
build and defend a capital.

Did you know? The Second Urbanisation never stopped. The book points out that it
“has continued right up to today” — the town or city you live near is part of the same
long story.

Q2 Why were the janapadas and mahājanapadas an important development in India’s
early history?

Because they were India's first organised states after the Harappan period, and almost
everything that followed — cities, coins, roads, empires — grew out of them.

They brought back the state. Clans settled in a territory called a janapada under a rājā; by
the 8th or 7th centuries BCE several merged into mahājanapadas. The usual list names 16 of
them, stretching from Gandhāra in the northwest to Anga in the east and Aśhmaka in
central India.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

They built the cities. The mahājanapadas' capitals were large, well-fortified cities with a
moat outside the walls and deliberately narrow gateways so guards could control the
movement of people and goods.
They gave India its living cities. Most of those ancient capitals are still lived-in cities today
— ‘modern’ cities that are often 2,500 years old (Mathurā, Ujjayinī/Ujjain, Vārāṇasī,
Rājagṛiha/Rajgir, Vaiśhālī …).
They developed early democratic traditions. The sabhā and samiti advised the rājā; in Vajji
and Malla the assembly even chose him.
They carried a burst of innovation. New schools of thought (late Vedic, Buddhist, Jain) and
their literatures, a renewal of Indian art, iron metallurgy, and India's first coins all belong to
this age.
They connected the Subcontinent. Trade networks and roads such as the Uttarapatha and
Dakṣhiṇapatha linked north to south and east to west, and military campaigns and alliances
between them gave rise to the kingdoms and empires that came next.

Tip: a one-line answer to remember — the janapadas restarted the state, the
mahājanapadas restarted the city.

Q3 What kind of system of governance did they evolve?

They evolved two systems, and it is the second one that makes this chapter special.

MONARCHIES GAṆAS OR SANGHAS (‘EARLY
REPUBLICS’)

Who is the ultimate The rājā The sabhā / samiti
authority

How the rājā gets the Hereditary — usually the son of the Selected by the members of the
post previous rājā assembly

How big decisions are By the rājā, advised by ministers and an By discussion in the assembly and, if
taken assembly of elders necessary, by vote

Examples in the Magadha, Kosala, Avanti Vajji (or Vṛijji), Malla
chapter

What every janapada had in common: an assembly or council called sabhā or samiti, where
matters concerning the clan were discussed. (Both words first appear in the Vedas, India's most
ancient texts.) Most members were probably elders of the clan. The rājā was not expected to

Page 3 of 28

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

rule independently or arbitrarily — a good ruler took advice from those assemblies as well as
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from ministers and administrators, and according to some texts an incompetent ruler could be
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removed by the assembly.

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What a monarch actually did: collect taxes or revenue, maintain law and order, get impressive
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fortifications built around the capital, and maintain an army to defend the territory or wage war
with neighbours.

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Why it matters: in Vajji and Malla the assembly took the major decisions and even ag
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selected the ruler. That is why scholars call them ‘early republics’ — among the
earliest such systems anywhere in the world. a

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Check it yourself: the chapter is careful, and so should you be. Textsm
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was eman established law — the data we have for such remote periods is incomplete.
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In-text Questions — Page 69
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How we know about the Second Urbanisation
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em from two kinds of sources, and the chapter names both:

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really existed. Fig. 4.1 shows the ruins of a major structure at Rājagṛiha (modern Rajgir,
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se moat at Śhiśhupalgarh.
Bihar), capital of Magadha; Fig. 4.4 shows

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shows a gateway and water-filled
ag them — late Vedic, Buddhist and Jain literatures are full of
2. Ancient literature describing
references to these new urban centres.

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Why two sources are better than one: an excavation gives you
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moats, coins and pottery, but it cannot tell you

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the spade and the text agree — for example when a fortified site is dug up exactly
where the texts place a mahājanapada's capital — historians can be confident.
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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip: the chapter itself then answers a second in-text question, ‘how did this phase
emerge?’ — through clans forming janapadas, janapadas merging into
mahājanapadas, iron tools making bigger harvests possible, and trade networks
tying the settlements together.

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 70
Janapadas and Mahājanapadas — why the Ganga plains?

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 Notice how many of the mahājanapadas are concentrated in the Ganga plains.
There are several possible reasons for this, including the growth of agriculture in
the fertile Ganga plains, the availability of iron ore in the mountains and hills (see
below about iron), and the formation of new trade networks.

First, count them on the map (Fig. 4.3). Of the sixteen mahājanapadas, most sit in or along
the Ganga plains — Kuru, Pāñchāla, Śhūrasena, Kosala, Kāśhi, Vatsa, Malla, Vṛijji, Magadha and
Anga. Only Kamboja and Gandhāra lie in the northwest, Matsya and Avanti and Chedi in the
west and centre, and Aśhmaka far south near the Godavari.
Now the three reasons the book offers, and how each one works:

REASON HOW IT HELPS A STATE GROW THERE

Fertile Ganga plains Flat land, thick alluvial soil and plenty of water give a surplus of grain. A surplus feeds
people who are not farmers — soldiers, craftspeople, traders, priests, officials — and that is
exactly what a city is made of.

Iron ore in the Iron ore was available in the hills near the plains (south Bihar and Jharkhand, the Vindhya
mountains and hills edges). Iron axes helped clear forest, iron ploughshares turned heavier soil, and iron
weapons defended what was gained.

New trade networks The Ganga and its tributaries are natural highways; the Uttarapatha ran along the plains.
Goods, coins and ideas moved easily, so settlements on the route grew rich and turned into
cities.

Why they work together: no single factor is enough. Fertile soil without iron tools
gives small clearings; iron without trade gives no wealth; trade without a food
surplus gives no towns to trade between. In the Ganga plains all three came
together — which is why the largest and most powerful states, Magadha and Kosala,
grew exactly there.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Try this: add a fourth reason of your own. Rivers also gave cheap transport and
drinking water, and the plains had good timber and clay for building. Defend your
reason with evidence, the way a historian would.

LET'S EXPLORE — Page 70

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Reading the map of the sixteen mahājanapadas (Fig. 4.3)

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 The most powerful of these new states were Magadha, Kosala, Vatsa and Avanti.
Looking at the map, can you identify their capitals? Also, how many can you match
with Indian cities of today?

KAMBOJA Pushkalavati

Takṣhaśhilā
Takṣhaśhilā
GĀNDHĀRA

KURU

Ahichchhatra
Indraprastha
Śhrāvastī
Śhrāvastī
Virāṭa
Virāṭa PAÑCHĀLA Kushīnāra VṚIJJI
VṚIJJI
Mathurā
KOSALA Vaiśhālī
Vaiśhālī
MATSYA ŚHŪRASENA
ŚHŪRASENA VATSA
MALLA Rājagṛiha
Rājagṛiha
Champā
Kauśhāmbī
Kauśhāmbī
ANGA
AVANTI MAGADHA

Tripuri
CHEDI
Ujjayinī

AŚHMAKA
AŚHMAKA

Coloured patch = one mahājanapada (borders are approximate)
Capital
Blue line = river

Fig. 4.3 (page 71) — the sixteen mahājanapadas, redrawn on India’s real coastline and
rivers. Region patches and capital stars follow the book; the book notes that the borders
are approximate. As in the English edition, one region — the orange patch between
Vatsa and Magadha — is left unnamed and carries no capital star: the printed map
names fifteen of the sixteen.

Read the four red stars on Fig. 4.3. Every one of these four capitals is a living Indian city today —
all four match.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

MAHĀJANAPADA CAPITAL ON THE MAP CITY TODAY STATE TODAY

Magadha Rājagṛiha Rajgir Bihar

Kosala Śhrāvastī Shravasti (Sahet-Mahet) Uttar Pradesh

Vatsa Kauśhāmbī Kosam, near Prayagraj Uttar Pradesh

Avanti Ujjayinī Ujjain Madhya Pradesh

Now do the same for the rest of the map — the count of matches is the real surprise:

MAHĀJANAPADA CAPITAL (FIG. 4.3) MATCHES TODAY

Anga Champā Champapur / Champanagar near Bhagalpur, Bihar

Vṛijji (Vajji) Vaiśhālī Vaishali, Bihar

Malla Kushīnāra Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh

Kāśhi Vārāṇasī Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Kuru Indraprastha Delhi

Pāñchāla Ahichchhatra Ramnagar, Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh

Śhūrasena Mathurā Mathura, Uttar Pradesh

Matsya Virāṭa Bairat, Rajasthan

Chedi Tripuri Tewar near Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh

Gāndhāra Takṣhaśhilā, Pushkalavati Taxila and Charsadda, in today's Pakistan

Kamboja (no capital marked) Region across the far northwest

Aśhmaka (no capital marked) Along the Godavari, in today's Maharashtra/Telangana

Why so many still exist: the capitals were placed where a city works — on a river, on
a trade route, in fertile country, on defensible ground. Those advantages did not go
away, so people never left. As the chapter puts it, these are ‘modern’ cities that are
often 2,500 years old.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
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Check it yourself: the English map (Fig. 4.3) labels fifteen names but leaves the

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orange region between Vatsa and Magadha unnamed. The Hindi edition of the same
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map labels .c it — it is Kāśhi, with its capital Vārāṇasī, the sixteenthagmahājanapada.
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ag

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Compare this map with the map of the regions mentioned in the Mahābhārata (see
.
Q2

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Fig. 5.4 in the chapter ‘India, That Is Bharat’ in Grade 6) and list the names common

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to both maps. What do you think this implies?

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KOSALA Vaiśhālī
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ŚHŪRASENA VATSA

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MATSYA
MALLA Rājagṛiha
Rājagṛiha

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ANGA ANGA

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Blue line = river

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agthe book notes that the borders
.c rivers. Region patches and capital stars follow the book;
Fig. 4.3 (page 71) — the sixteen mahājanapadas, redrawn on

se m
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a Vatsa and Magadha — is left unnamed and carries no capital star: the printed map
c
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names fifteen of the sixteen.

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Names that appear on both maps (Fig. 4.3 of this chapter and Fig. 5.4 of Grade 6):

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

# NAME COMMON TO BOTH MAPS WHERE IT LIES

1 Gandhāra Northwest

2 Kamboja Far northwest

3 Matsya Today's eastern Rajasthan

4 Śhūrasena Mathurā region

5 Pāñchāla Upper Ganga–Yamuna doab

6 Chedi Central India

7 Kosala Middle Ganga plains

8 Kāśhi Around Vārāṇasī

9 Magadha South Bihar

10 Anga East Bihar

11 Avanti Malwa

12 Aśhmaka Godavari region

So 12 of the 16 mahājanapadas carry names already listed in the Mahābhārata. The four that
do not appear on Fig. 5.4 are Kuru (though Kurukṣhetra is named in the Grade 6 text), Vatsa,
Malla and Vṛijji — and the Mahābhārata map has many names, such as Videha, Kalinga,
Vidarbha, Surāṣhṭra, Kerala, Chola and Pāṇḍya, that are not mahājanapadas.
What this implies — three reasonable conclusions:

Continuity of names and territories. The regional names of India are very old and
remarkably stable. The same names travel from the epic tradition into the political map of
the 1st millennium BCE, and several travel on into modern India — Gandhāra → the
Gandhara region, Kāśhi → Varanasi, Magadha → the Magadh division of Bihar, Kerala →
Kerala.
The Mahābhārata preserves real geography. It is a poem, not a history book, but the land
it describes was a land people actually knew. That is why archaeologists and historians take
its region-names seriously as evidence, alongside excavation.
The change was political, not cultural. What changed between the two maps is the kind of
unit — loose regions and clans became organised states with fortified capitals, coins and
taxes. The people and their sense of place stayed put.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Try this: draw a two-column list in your notebook, ‘On both maps’ and ‘On only one
map’, and add today's state for each name. You will end up with a rough map of
India that you can recognise.

LET'S EXPLORE — Page 74
Comparing the First and the Second Urbanisation

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 Fill up the following table with a Yes (or tick mark) or No (or cross mark) in each
square, which provides an interesting comparison between these two phases of
Indian civilisation.

FIRST SECOND
URBANISATION URBANISATION

Ganga plains

Monasteries

Literature

Trade

Warfare

Copper / bronze

Iron

The table as printed on page 74 — the squares are left empty for you to fill in.

The completed table, with the reason for each square:

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

FIRST SECOND WHY
URBANISATION URBANISATION

Ganga No ✗ Yes ✓ The Harappan cities lay in the Indus
plains (Sindhu) and Sarasvatī basins; the
Second Urbanisation began in the
Ganga plains.

Monasteries No ✗ Yes ✓ Buddhism and Jainism, with their
travelling monks and nuns, belong to
the age of the mahājanapadas.

Literature No ✗ Yes ✓ The Harappans had a writing system,
but it is still undeciphered and no
literature survives. The second phase
has late Vedic, Buddhist and Jain
literatures “full of references” to the
new cities.

Trade Yes ✓ Yes ✓ Both phases traded widely — the
Harappans with West Asia, the
mahājanapadas across India and
beyond, which is why coins were
invented.

Warfare No ✗ Yes ✓ The Harappan cities have left no clear
evidence of warfare. This chapter
records “some evidence of warfare
between neighbouring
mahājanapadas”, and iron weapons to
fight it with.

Copper / Yes ✓ Yes ✓ The Harappan civilisation mastered
bronze copper and bronze metallurgy; those
metals did not disappear later —
copper coins were struck in the second
phase.

Iron No ✗ Yes ✓ Iron is the “major shift in technology”
of the Second Urbanisation: iron tools
for farming, and weapons lighter and
sharper than bronze.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the pattern looks like this: read the column of ✗ marks downwards and you
get the difference between the two ages in one glance — a new region (Ganga
plains), a new religious and literary world (monasteries and texts), a new metal
(iron), and the conflict between states that came with it. Read the two ✓✓ rows and
you get what stayed the same: trade and copper–bronze work ran right through
both.

Check it yourself: ‘No’ here means not found so far, not impossible. Historians work
from surviving evidence, and the Harappan script is still unread — if it is ever
deciphered, one of these squares may have to be changed.

LET'S EXPLORE — Page 76
The Varṇa–Jāti System — why societies form groups

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 Why should a complex society divide itself into such groups? Think about several
possible factors why this happens.

Because once a society grows big and complex, no one person can do everything. Dividing the
work into groups is the way large societies get their work done. Several factors push in that
direction:

Specialisation of skills. Metallurgy, weaving, pottery, building, accounting and healing each
take years to learn. It is more efficient for one group to master a skill and supply everyone
else than for every family to attempt all of them.
Passing on knowledge. Before schools and printed books, a craft was learnt at home from a
parent. So the skill and the family became attached to each other, generation after
generation — which is exactly what the chapter says about jāti.
The needs of a state. Governance, administration, defence, town-planning and rituals all
need people who do only that job. A city cannot run on part-time officials.
The food surplus makes it possible. Only when farmers grow more than they eat can other
groups live without farming.
Trade and exchange. Groups that make different things must trade with each other, which
binds them together and makes the division stable.
Identity and belonging. A group gives people customs, festivals, rules about marriage and
food, and support in hard times — the sub-jātis of the chapter.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
The other side, which the chapter is careful to state: in an ideal society all these

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groups would complement each other and work in harmony. But most of the time
o
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these divisions

l a seor influence than others. Equality is an ideal human societies have often
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s
Did you know? The chapter also notes
a could push a whole community of farmers
agl
flexible: a drought or natural calamity
into a city and into new occupations, and some Brahmins turned to trade or even
military activity. The rigidity came much later, especially under British rule.
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List other such professions you expect in a complex society of the 1st millennium
g
Q2
a BCE.

m a s
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l more that such a society must have had — grouped so
The chapter's own list is governance, administration, religion, education, trade, town-planning,

agmany
farming, crafts and arts. Here are
they are easy to remember.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

AREA OF PROFESSIONS YOU WOULD EVIDENCE IN THIS CHAPTER
LIFE EXPECT

Food Farmer, cattle-herder, shepherd, fisherman, Kauṭilya's ideal kingdom has cultivable land
gardener, cook, oil-presser, grain merchant and “good pastures rich in cattle”

Metal and Blacksmith, iron-smelter, coppersmith, Fig. 4.5, the Sanchi smithy panel; Fig. 4.9,
stone goldsmith, stone-cutter, bead-maker, shell- shell and gemstone industries at
worker Kodumanal

Building Mason, brick-maker, carpenter, rampart and Fortifications, ramparts and moats at every
the city moat builder, road-maker, well-digger capital; Fig. 4.7, Śhiśhupalgarh

Everyday Potter, weaver, dyer, tailor, leather-worker, The Harappan list of specialised
crafts basket-maker, barber, garland-maker occupations that the chapter recalls

Trade and Merchant, caravan leader, boatman, cart- Punch-marked coins (Fig. 4.6); the
money driver, moneychanger, mint-worker who Uttarapatha and Dakṣhiṇapatha
punched the coins, weigher

State and Rājā, minister, tax collector, scribe, judge, The rājā collected revenue, kept law and
defence spy, soldier, charioteer, elephant-keeper, order and maintained an army; guards
gatekeeper controlled the narrow gateways

Learning Priest, teacher, reciter of texts, Buddhist and Scholars, monks and nuns travelling across
and belief Jain monk and nun, physician, astronomer India to spread their teachings

Arts Sculptor, painter, musician, dancer, story- “Indian art also underwent a renewal; it will
teller, ivory-carver blossom in the age of empires”

Try this: pick any one profession from the table and write four lines on a day in that
person's life in Rājagṛiha in 500 BCE — what they make, who buys it, what they are
paid in, and which gate of the city they use.

DON'T MISS OUT — Page 77

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Varṇa–Jāti System — where the word ‘caste’ comes from

DON'T MISS OUT

Q1 You may have heard the English word ‘caste’. It comes from a Portuguese word,
casta, as Portuguese travellers to India in the 16th century CE tried to make sense
of Indian society. While a few scholars consider ‘caste’ to refer to varṇas, most take
it to apply to jātis; yet others consider ‘caste’ to refer to the whole varṇa–jāti
system.

The point of this box: ‘caste’ is not an Indian word at all. It is a foreign label pasted on to an
Indian reality, and that is why it is used so loosely.

WORD WHERE IT WHAT IT ACTUALLY REFERS TO
COMES FROM

Varṇa A concept that Four broad categories — Brahmins (preserving and spreading
emerged from Vedic knowledge, performing rituals), Kshatriyas (defending society and
texts the land), Vaishyas (increasing wealth through trade, business or
agriculture), Shudras (artisans, craftspeople, workers or servants)

Jāti Indian society itself A group or community with a specific professional occupation tied to
its livelihood, its skill passed from generation to generation, often
further divided into sub-jātis with their own customs about marriage,
rituals and food

Caste Portuguese casta, Used by a few scholars for varṇa, by most for jāti, and by yet others
used by travellers of for the whole varṇa–jāti system
the 16th century CE

Why the confusion arose: the Portuguese arrived at a society organised in two
overlapping ways at once — a fourfold varṇa idea from texts, and thousands of
living occupational jātis on the ground. They had one word for both, so one word
had to stretch over both. Ever since, ‘caste’ has meant slightly different things to
different writers.

Tip: when you write about this in an exam, name the Indian term you actually mean
— varṇa or jāti — and then say what ‘caste’ is being used for in that sentence. That
single habit removes most of the muddle.

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 78

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Varṇa–Jāti System — inequality and equality

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 Inequalities within society can exist in many forms. Have you encountered any
incident where you or anyone you know might have been made to feel different
from others? Do you think equality is desirable in a society? If so, why? Have you
come across people or initiatives that lessened inequalities?

This is a personal and reflective question, so nobody can hand you the answer. Here is how to
build your own, and a model you can adapt.
What a good answer must contain — four parts:

1. One real incident, described briefly and respectfully. Do not name or shame anyone; write
“a classmate”, “a neighbour”.
2. The form of inequality it shows — wealth, gender, language, region, disability, occupation
of the family, or being new to a place.
3. Your position on equality, with reasons, not just a feeling.
4. One initiative or person you have actually seen or read about that reduced inequality.

Sample answer:
A boy who joined our class in the middle of the year spoke a different language at home and
was laughed at when he read aloud. For two weeks he stopped answering in class altogether.
Our teacher paired every student with a partner for reading practice and asked him to teach the
class ten words of his language; by the end of the month he was the one correcting our
pronunciation. That was an inequality of language and of being an outsider, and it was reduced
simply by changing the rules of the classroom.
Yes, equality is desirable — for three reasons. It is fair: no one chooses the family, language or
place they are born into, so no one should be ranked by it. It is useful: as this chapter shows, a
society is stronger when every group's skills are respected and can be used, and weaker when
talent is wasted because of who someone's parents were. And it is the law: the Constitution of
India guarantees equality before the law and forbids discrimination on grounds of religion, race,
caste, sex or place of birth.
Initiatives that lessen inequality — mid-day meals and free textbooks in schools; scholarships
for students from low-income families; ramps, large-print books and sign-language
interpretation for persons with disabilities; the reservation of seats for women in panchayats; Dr
B.R. Ambedkar's work for equality and the Constitutional provisions that came from it; and,
closer home, a school that seats children by roll number rather than by anything else.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Link it back to the chapter: the book says the varṇa–jāti system gave Indian society
structure and some stability, but in time became rigid and led to discrimination —
and that it was significantly more flexible in earlier periods. That is the historian's
lesson: social arrangements are made by people, and what people made, people can
change.

Before we move on … — Page 81
The chapter in three points

BEFORE WE MOVE ON …

Q1 From the end of the 2nd millennium BCE, janapadas rose in parts of north and
central India; they were smaller states with a rājā at the head taking counsel from
an assembly of elders.

Unpack the point in four steps.

When: from the end of the 2nd millennium BCE — that is, the last centuries before 1000 BCE
— regional cultures in north India gradually reorganised themselves.
How they formed: people formed clans or groups, probably sharing a common language
and common customs, and each clan came to be associated with a territory.
What the name means: janapada is Sanskrit for ‘where the people (jana) have set foot
(pada)’ — that is, where they have settled down. The word itself records the moment when a
wandering group became a settled people.
How they were run: a rājā at the head, but never alone. Each janapada had a sabhā or
samiti — an assembly or council of (mostly) elders — where matters concerning the clan
were discussed, and the rājā was expected to take counsel from it as well as from ministers
and administrators.

Why this is the real ‘new beginning’: for about a thousand years after the
Harappan collapse there was no state and no city in India. The janapada is the
moment the state returns — small, clan-based, and already carrying the habit of
consultation that the mahājanapadas would build on.

Page 18 of 28

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
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The 16 mahājanapadas were the first organised states of the 1st millennium BCE;
se
Q2

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from .the
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1900 1200 800 400
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the Harappan civilisation ends around 1900 BCE, janapadas

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run through roughly 1200–500 BCE,
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neighbours gave rise to bigger kingdoms and then empires, whichm
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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 In the same period, a vast network of roads connected north and south, east and
west, and eventually all regions of the Subcontinent. People, goods, ideas and
teachings travelled along all those roads.

The two routes the chapter names, both mentioned again and again in ancient literature:

ROUTE FROM → TO WHAT MOVED ON IT

Uttarapatha The northwest regions → the Ganga plains → all Trade goods, pilgrims, armies, coins,
(the northern the way to eastern India monks and nuns carrying new
road) teachings

Dakṣhiṇapatha Kauśhāmbī (near Prayagraj), then a capital of one Precious and semiprecious stones, gold
(the southern of the mahājanapadas → across the Vindhya and spices coming north; goods and
road) Range → all the way south ideas going south

And the lateral roads. Many side roads connected these two with other parts of India,
especially the important ports on the western and eastern coasts, which were vibrant centres of
trade. Because the southern regions are rich in precious and semiprecious stones, gold and
spices, they traded profitably not only with the rest of India but with kingdoms and empires
overseas.

Why roads matter to a historian: the same road carries four different things at
once — goods (which is why coins spread from region to region), people (traders,
pilgrims, soldiers), ideas and teachings (Buddhist and Jain monks and nuns walked
these roads), and art styles. A road network is therefore the reason a Subcontinent
full of separate states could still share one civilisation.

Try this: trace the Uttarapatha and the Dakṣhiṇapatha on the map in Fig. 4.3 with
your finger, and name three mahājanapadas each route would have passed through.
The Grand Trunk Road today follows much of the Uttarapatha.

Questions and activities — Page 81

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

End-of-chapter exercise

Q1 Consider the quotation at the start of the chapter and discuss in several groups.
Compare your observations and conclusions on what Kauṭilya recommends for a
kingdom. Is it very different today?

Step 1 — pull Kauṭilya's recommendations out of the quotation. The Arthaśhāstra passage
on page 67 packs six demands into a few lines:

WHAT KAUṬILYA HIS WORDS WHY A KINGDOM NEEDS IT
ASKS FOR

Defence “protected by fortifying the capital and the A state that cannot defend its border
towns at the frontiers” and its capital will not last

Food security, with a “capable of sustaining the population but Surplus grain to feed refugees in a
margin also outsiders in times of calamities” drought or flood

Natural resources “cultivable land, mines, timber forests, Farming, metal, building material,
elephant forests, and good pastures rich in war-elephants, milk and draught
cattle” animals

Water that does not “It should not depend [only on] rain for Rivers, tanks and wells carry the
depend on rain water” kingdom through a failed monsoon

Transport “good roads and waterways” Moving grain, goods, revenue and
armies

A productive “a wide variety of commodities” Many products means trade, taxes
economy and resilience if one fails

Step 2 — the discussion, and the honest conclusion. Split the class into groups, give each
group one row, and ask it to find today's version of that demand. Groups usually arrive at the
same answer:

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

KAUṬILYA, C. 300 BCE INDIA TODAY SAME OR DIFFERENT?

Fortify the capital and frontier Armed forces, border posts, cyber and Same aim, new technology
towns coastal security

Land that can feed outsiders in Food Corporation of India buffer stocks, Same
calamities disaster relief

Mines, forests, pastures Mineral and energy resources, forest and Same, with a new concern —
dairy policy sustainability

Not depend only on rain Dams, canals, tube wells, watershed and Same problem, still unsolved
rainwater harvesting schemes in many districts

Good roads and waterways Highways, railways, ports, airports, inland Same
waterways

A productive economy of Agriculture, industry and services together Same
many commodities

Conclusion: the list is hardly different at all — security, food, water, resources, transport and a
broad economy are still exactly what a government is judged on. What has changed is who
decides and for whom. Kauṭilya advises a king whose kingdom is his to protect; today the same
tasks are carried out by an elected government, answerable to citizens, under a Constitution,
with rights and welfare (education, health, equality) added to the list — and with an
environmental cost that Kauṭilya never had to weigh.

Did you know? Kauṭilya, also known as Chāṇakya, is traditionally placed in the 4th
century BCE, right at the end of the mahājanapada period described in this chapter
— which is why he already thinks in terms of fortified capitals and frontier towns.

Q2 According to the text, how were rulers chosen in early Vedic society?

In two different ways, depending on the state.

In the monarchies — Magadha, Kosala, Avanti and most others — the rājā's position was
hereditary: a rājā would usually be the son of the previous one. He was the ultimate
authority, supported by ministers and an assembly of elders.
In the gaṇas or sanghas — Vajji (or Vṛijji) and the neighbouring Malla — the sabhā or
samiti selected the rājā. Important decisions were taken through discussion and, if
necessary, through a vote, and the selection of the rājā was one of them.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

And in both kinds of state the assembly mattered. Every janapada had a sabhā or samiti —
words that first appear in the Vedas, India's most ancient texts — where matters concerning the
clan were discussed, and most members were probably elders of the clan. The rājā was not
expected to rule independently or arbitrarily; a good ruler took the advice of those assemblies
as well as of ministers and administrators. According to some texts, an incompetent ruler
could be removed by the assembly.

Why scholars call Vajji and Malla ‘early republics’: because the members of the
assembly, not birth, decided who ruled and what was decided. They are among the
earliest such systems in the world — an early democratic tradition in India, centuries
before the mahājanapadas ended.

Check it yourself: the chapter adds a warning worth repeating in your answer —
mentions of assemblies removing a ruler are significant, but they do not prove this
was an established law, because the data we have for such remote periods is
incomplete.

Q3 Imagine you are a historian studying ancient India. What types of sources
(archaeological, literary, etc.) would you use to learn more about the
mahājanapadas? Explain how each source might contribute to your understanding.

The chapter itself names the two main families of sources for this period; a working historian
would use these, and cross-check one against the other.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

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TYPE OF EXAMPLES FROM THIS WHAT IT CAN TELL ME ITS LIMITATION

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SOURCE CHAPTER

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Archaeological Rājagṛiha (Fig. 4.1), That the cities really existed; Stones cannot tell

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— excavated Kauśhāmbī (Fig. 4.4),
Śhiśhupalgarh (Fig. 4.7),
how big they were, their
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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip: if the question carries more marks, add the newer scientific sources — study of
ancient climate, chemical analysis of metals and pottery, and radiocarbon dating,
which is what fixes ‘about 400 BCE’ for the first southern cities.

Q4 Why was the development of iron metallurgy so important for the growth of
urbanism in the 1st millennium BCE? You may use points from the chapter but also
from your knowledge or imagination.

Because a city cannot be fed, built or defended without good tools, and iron was the first metal
cheap and hard enough to give tools to everybody.
The chapter's own points, in order:

Timing. In several regions of India the techniques of extracting and shaping iron were
perfected from the early 2nd millennium BCE, but it took a few centuries for iron to
become part of daily life. By the late 2nd millennium BCE iron tools had become
widespread.
Farming on a bigger scale. Widespread iron tools facilitated agriculture on a bigger scale —
and a bigger harvest is what feeds a city full of people who grow no food.
Better weapons. Iron made better weapons than bronze — lighter and sharper: swords,
spears, arrows, shields. There is some evidence of warfare between neighbouring
mahājanapadas, and such campaigns (and occasional alliances) gave rise to the new
kingdoms and empires that followed.
Technology drives urbanisation. As the chapter says plainly, urbanisation does not happen
without technologies. The First Urbanisation ran on copper and bronze; the Second ran on
iron.

Points you can add from your own knowledge:

IRON TOOL WHAT IT MADE POSSIBLE

Axe Clearing the dense forest of the Ganga plains for fields and settlements

Ploughshare Turning heavy, wet alluvial soil that a wooden plough could only scratch

Sickle Harvesting a large crop quickly, before rain spoils it

Chisel, saw, nails Carpentry, carts, boats, gateways and rampart woodwork

Spade and pickaxe Digging the moats and raising the ramparts round every capital

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why iron and not bronze: bronze needs copper and tin, and tin is scarce, so bronze
stayed expensive and was mostly used by the few. Iron ore is common — it lies in
the hills and mountains close to the Ganga plains — so once people learnt to smelt
and forge it, a farmer, a carpenter and a soldier could each own iron. That is the
difference between a luxury metal and a metal that changes a whole society.

Look again at Fig. 4.5: the Sanchi panel shows a whole smithy at work — some
workers bringing firewood, some carrying water, some stoking the fire, some
beating the iron. Iron-working was not one clever person; it was an organised,
specialised industry, exactly the kind of occupation a city makes room for.

Chapter at a glance
India's ‘First Urbanisation’ ended, and city life vanished for a thousand years. In the
early 2nd millennium BCE the Indus / Harappan / Sindhu-Sarasvatī civilisation disintegrated.
Cities were abandoned or reverted to a village lifestyle, because every part of the Harappan
urban order had gone — big private and public structures, crowded streets and busy
markets, specialised occupations, a writing system, a sanitation system, an administration
and a state structure with a ruling class.
The ‘Second Urbanisation’ began in the 1st millennium BCE in the Ganga plains, parts of
the Indus (Sindhu) basin and neighbouring regions, and spread across the Subcontinent.
We know it from two sources: archaeological excavations and ancient literature (late Vedic,
Buddhist and Jain). This phase has continued right up to today.
Janapadas grew into mahājanapadas. Towards the end of the 2nd millennium BCE clans
settled in territories called janapadas, each led by a rājā. ‘Janapada’ means ‘where the people
(jana) have set foot (pada)’. As trade networks spread, by the 8th–7th centuries BCE some
merged into bigger mahājanapadas — the usual list names 16, from Gandhāra in the
northwest to Anga in the east and Aśhmaka in central India.
Governance had a democratic streak. Every janapada had a sabhā or samiti, words that
first appear in the Vedas. A good rājā took advice from the assembly, ministers and
administrators; some texts say an incompetent ruler could be removed. Most
mahājanapadas were hereditary monarchies, but Vajji (Vṛijji) and Malla were gaṇas or
sanghas where the assembly voted and even chose the rājā — scholars call them ‘early
republics’.
Iron and coins changed everyday life. Iron metallurgy, perfected from the early 2nd
millennium BCE, made tools that allowed farming on a bigger scale and weapons lighter
and sharper than bronze. Growing trade brought India's first coins — silver punch-marked
coins, later copper and gold; each mahājanapada generally issued its own.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Society organised itself as varṇa and jāti, and the whole Subcontinent got connected. Jāti
was an occupational community whose skills passed down the generations; varṇa was the
fourfold Vedic category. Roads such as the Uttarapatha and Dakṣhiṇapatha, plus lateral
roads to the coastal ports, tied north to south. By 300–200 BCE the whole land was one
interconnected region — and the mahājanapadas ceased to exist.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 4 New Beginnings: Cities and States AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT EXAMPLE FROM THE BOOK
APPEARS IN THE
CHAPTER

Second The fresh wave of city life that Pages 68–69 Began in the Ganga plains and the
Urbanisation began in the 1st millennium Sindhu basin; “has continued right
BCE up to today”

Janapada The territory of a clan, led by a Page 69 Sanskrit: ‘where the people (jana)
rājā have set foot (pada)’

Mahājanapada A bigger state formed when Page 69 16 in the usual list, from Gandhāra
early janapadas merged to Anga to Aśhmaka

Sabhā / samiti The assembly or council of the Page 70 The words first appear in the
clan Vedas

Gaṇa / sangha A mahājanapada that was not a Page 72 Vajji (Vṛijji) and Malla — scholars'
monarchy ‘early republics’

Moat A deep, wide ditch round a fort Margin note, page Visible full of water outside the
or fortified city, filled with 70 Śhiśhupalgarh gateway (Fig. 4.7)
water

Punch-marked India's first coins — symbols Pages 74–75 Fig. 4.6, coins from various ancient
coins punched into soft silver cities of north India

Jāti A community with a specific Page 76 Skills in agriculture, metallurgy,
occupation tied to its commerce or a craft, passed down
livelihood generations

Varṇa A fourfold category that Page 76 Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas,
emerged from Vedic texts Shudras

Caste English word from Portuguese DON'T MISS OUT, Used by Portuguese travellers of
casta page 77 the 16th century CE

Uttarapatha Route from the northwest Page 78 Used for trade, pilgrimage and
regions to the Ganga plains military campaigns
and eastern India

Dakṣhiṇapatha Route from Kauśhāmbī across Pages 78–79 Kauśhāmbī is near today's
the Vindhya Range to the south Prayagraj

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