NCERT Solutions Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 the Gupta Era an Age of Tireless Creativity

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 7: The Gupta Era: An Age
of Tireless Creativity

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

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

145 – 166 12 22 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 33 pages

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

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

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 7: The Gupta Era: An Age of
Tireless Creativity
Complete NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity,
from Theme B Tapestry of the Past of the textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Grade 7, Part 1). Every
question in the chapter is answered — The Big Questions, all six LET’S EXPLORE boxes, THINK ABOUT IT,
the two DON’T MISS OUT boxes that ask something, Before we move on … and all seven Questions and
activities.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part I) (Class 145 – 166
7)

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

12 22

MEDIUM

English

The Big Questions — Page 145
Chapter opening — Theme B, Tapestry of the Past

THE BIG QUESTIONS

Q1 Who were the Guptas? Why is the Gupta period sometimes called the ‘classical age’
in Indian history?

ANSWER

Who they were: the Guptas were a dynasty that rose in the 3rd century CE, just as the Kuṣhāṇa
Empire of the north and northwest was weakening. The chapter is careful to say that there are
various theories about their origin, but that it is widely believed they began as regional rulers
in a region near present-day Uttar Pradesh. From there they grew into the strongest power of
their time, with their capital at Pāṭaliputra (present-day Patna), and ruled from the 3rd to the
6th century CE.
The three rulers the chapter builds its story around:

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

RULER WHAT HE IS REMEMBERED FOR

Chandragupta I The early expansion of the empire; his coins (Fig. 7.4, showing him with his
queen Kumāradevī) and his strategic alliances, which laid the foundation of a
strong empire

Samudragupta The warrior king of the prayāga praśhasti; his ambition was dharaṇi-bandha, ‘to
unify the Earth’. He also supported art, learning and trade — one of his coins
shows him playing the veena

Chandragupta II A devotee of Viṣhṇu; the Iron Pillar at Mehrauli was set up in his reign, and its
‘Vikramāditya’ inscription speaks of a king named ‘Chandra’. Art, architecture, literature and
science flourished especially in his time

Why ‘classical age’: because a long stretch of peace and stability let people do more than
survive — and the results in almost every field became the standard that later ages looked back
to.

Peace and stability

→ a strong economy, so the state could support scholars, artists and scientists

→ knowledge of earlier eras was consolidated and compiled into texts

→ outstanding work in literature, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, metallurgy and art

→ historians call it the ‘classical age’ of India

Literature — Sanskrit flourished: Kālidāsa’s works and many of the major Purāṇas.
Science and mathematics — Āryabhaṭa and Varāhamihira recorded major advances in
mathematics and astronomy.
Medicine — medical texts compiled and refined theories and practice; Āyurveda was
codified in this period.
Metallurgy — the rust-resistant Iron Pillar still stands as the proof.
Art — Sārnāth’s Buddha sculptures, the Ajanta caves, the rock-cut caves of Udayagiri. ‘Gupta
art’ set high standards of aesthetics and beauty that had a lasting impact.

Careful: ‘classical age’ is a label given by some historians, not a name the Guptas
used. It describes the quality of the work produced — it does not mean life was good
for everybody. Faxian himself records that the chanḍālas were treated as outcastes
and made to live outside the city.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 What was happening in the rest of the subcontinent at this time?

ANSWER

The Guptas were the biggest power, but never the only one. Fig. 7.2 and Fig. 7.8 show at least
three other kingdoms sharing the map between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE.

KINGDOM WHERE CAPITAL RELATION WITH THE GUPTAS

Vākāṭakas The central part of the Nandivardhana Allies. Chandragupta II’s
subcontinent (near present-day daughter Prabhāvatī Gupta
Nagpur) married a Vākāṭaka prince and
later ruled as regent, keeping the
two houses close

Pallavas Parts of present-day Kānchipuram Rose after the Sātavāhanas,
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, whose tributaries they had
Telangana and Andhra probably been, and ruled till the
Pradesh latter half of the 9th century CE.
Samudragupta defeated a Pallava
ruler but let him keep his throne

Kāmarūpa The Brahmaputra valley — Samudragupta defeated its ruler
(Varman — broadly present-day too, but again did not take direct
dynasty) Assam — and northern control
parts of present-day
Bengal and Bangladesh

Two things were happening everywhere, not only in Gupta lands:

Art and learning were spreading. The Ajanta caves were carved with the support of both
the Guptas and the Vākāṭakas. The Pallavas, mostly devotees of Śhiva, built magnificent
temples and rock-cut caves, and ghaṭikās — centres of learning begun under the
Sātavāhanas — made Kānchipuram a great educational centre. In Kāmarūpa, temples and
monasteries flourished as hubs of learning.
A pattern of overlordship, not annexation. Samudragupta beat the Pallava and the
Kāmarūpa rulers and then reinstated them as tribute-paying kings. This kept peace at low
cost — and, as the chapter says, ‘by now, we have seen this pattern recur quite a few times’.

Why the Guptas preferred tribute to conquest: think of what moving an army
meant — soldiers, elephants, horses, cooks and support staff, plus food for all of
them. Holding a distant province permanently would have cost far more than it
earned. A defeated king who paid tribute and supplied the army was cheaper,
quicker and safer.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

DON’T MISS OUT — Page 149
Why Chandragupta II carries a ‘II’ after his name

DON’T MISS OUT

Q1 Have you noticed the ‘II’ in Chandragupta II’s name?

ANSWER

Yes — and it is a clue, not a decoration. Historians added the number, because there had
already been another Chandragupta in the same dynasty: his grandfather. Without the
numbers we could never tell the two apart in an inscription.
Three men in this book share almost the same name. Keep them straight like this:

NAME DYNASTY REMEMBER HIM BY

Chandragupta Maurya Met in an earlier chapter — a completely different dynasty, centuries
Maurya before the Guptas. Do not confuse him with the Guptas

Chandragupta I Gupta The grandfather. Crucial in the early expansion of the empire;
remembered for his coins (Fig. 7.4, with queen Kumāradevī) and
strategic alliances

Chandragupta II Gupta The grandson, also called Vikramāditya; devotee of Viṣhṇu, Garuḍa
on his inscriptions; the Iron Pillar king, called ‘Chandra’ in its
inscription

Why the same name came round again: in many Indian families the first son is
named after his grandfather — a tradition still followed today. So a royal family
repeating ‘Chandragupta’ every second generation was doing something completely
ordinary. The Roman numerals are a modern convenience added by historians to
sort them out.

Tip: in an exam, if a question says ‘the Iron Pillar was erected in the reign of’, the
answer is Chandragupta II. If it says ‘laid the foundation of the Gupta Empire with
coins and alliances’, the answer is Chandragupta I.

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 150

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Fig. 7.5, an inscription by Harisena — the prayāga praśhasti

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 Why do you think kings chose to proclaim their achievements in the form of
inscriptions?

ANSWER

Because an inscription does four things at once that no other medium of the time could do.

WHAT AN HOW WE CAN SEE IT IN THIS CHAPTER
INSCRIPTION GIVES
A KING

Permanence Stone and metal outlast palm-leaf manuscripts, cloth and memory. The Iron
Pillar inscription is over 1,600 years old and still readable; Harisena’s
prayāga praśhasti (Fig. 7.5) survives while the Gupta court is long gone

A public announcement A pillar stands in a public place where everyone passes — travellers, traders,
pilgrims, rival envoys. The message reaches people the king will never meet

Legitimacy and warning The list of kings Samudragupta defeated tells neighbours what happens to
those who resist. The chapter says many kings, ‘fearing his might,
submitted without protest’ — the inscription itself did part of the fighting

A record for the future Harisena writes not only of wars but of the king’s support for art, learning
and trade. The king wanted to be remembered as a complete ruler, not
merely a conqueror

Why it happens: in an age without printing, newspapers or photographs, a king’s
fame had to be fixed to something that could not be edited, lost or forgotten.
Carving it into stone was the strongest form of ‘publishing’ available — which is why
grand titles (mahārājadhirāja, samrāṭ, chakravartin) also appear on inscriptions and
coins.

Read like a historian: a praśhasti is written by the king’s own court poet. Harisena
was paid to praise. So the inscription is excellent evidence of what the king wanted
people to believe, and only fair evidence of what actually happened. Historians
corroborate it with coins, other inscriptions and travellers’ accounts before accepting
a claim.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 151

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Looking back at the Grade 6 chapter ‘Timeline and Sources of History’

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 In the Grade 6 chapter ‘Timeline and Sources of History’, we listed multiple sources
that help us understand the past. Compile a list of the sources we have referred to
so far in the chapter. What did we learn from each source?

ANSWER

Up to page 151 the chapter has already used four kinds of source. Sort them the way
historians do — archaeological (things people made and left behind) and literary (things
people wrote).

SOURCE TYPE WHAT WE LEARNT FROM IT

The Iron Pillar, Archaeological — a Over 1,600 years old, weighs 6 tonnes, still does not rust
Mehrauli (Fig. 7.3) monument — evidence of advanced metallurgy. It was probably first
erected before the Udayagiri caves in Madhya Pradesh and
brought to Delhi centuries later

The inscription on Archaeological — Speaks of a king named ‘Chandra’, identified with
the Iron Pillar an inscription Chandragupta II; it was dedicated to Viṣhṇu and
celebrates the king’s achievements

The prayāga Archaeological — Samudragupta’s ambition to be dharaṇi-bandha; his many
praśhasti, Harisena’s an inscription wars; that defeated kings were reinstated and paid
pillar inscription at tribute; and that he supported art, learning and trade
Prayagraj (Fig. 7.5)

Gold coins (Figs. Archaeological — Fig. 7.4: Chandragupta I with queen Kumāradevī, and
7.4, 7.6, 7.7) numismatic Lakṣhmī seated on the reverse — a marriage alliance
advertised. Fig. 7.6: Samudragupta playing the veena — a
cultured king. Fig. 7.7: the sacrificial horse of the
aśhvamedha yajña, with the queen holding a chauri on
the reverse

The Viṣhṇu Purāṇa Literary Names the key regions of the empire: Anugaṅga (the
middle-Gangetic basin), Prayāga, Sāketa (Ayodhya) and
Magadha — though the empire at its peak was larger than
this

The map, Fig. 7.2 A modern The extent of the empire, its capital Pāṭaliputra, its
and Fig. 7.8 reconstruction, built important cities, and the neighbours — Vākāṭaka,
from all the above Kāmarūpa, Pallava

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What the exercise is really teaching: notice how the same fact arrives twice by
different roads. The Iron Pillar inscription says ‘Chandra’; the coins and the praśhasti
give the dynasty its shape; the Viṣhṇu Purāṇa supplies the region names. When two
independent sources agree, a historian’s confidence rises. That is corroboration.

Try this: keep this table open as you finish the chapter and add the rows that come
later — Faxian’s travelogue (page 153), the copper-plate land grants (page 156),
the archaeological finds from Socotra Island (page 156), and the sculptures, caves
and temples of pages 160–163.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 151

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Fig. 7.8 — the extent of the Gupta Empire on a modern political map
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where the Guptas ruled (see Fig. 7.8). Mark these states on the map and count how
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marks with triangles, the rivers, and the regions and neighbours named around them.
Note: the book’s legend has a tan patch for ‘Gupta Empire’, but no such shading is
actually printed on the map — so the empire has to be read from the cities and the
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1. Find the cities marked with triangles on Fig. 7.8 — Indraprastha, Sāketa, Prayāga, Kāśhī,
Vaiśhālī, Pāṭaliputra,gTāmralipti, Ujjayinī — and mark where each lies on the modern map.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

2. Trace the boundaries the chapter gives in words: the empire covered ‘most of present-day
north and west India, along with parts of central and east India’ (page 151).
3. Now shade outwards from the cities to those limits, and stop where the neighbours begin —
Vākāṭaka in the centre-south, Pallava in the far south, Kāmarūpa in the northeast. Those
three were not Gupta territory.
4. Count the states and Union territories your shading touches.

A reasonable answer. Working this way you should land on roughly 13–14 states and 2 Union
territories — about 15 in all:

REGION PRESENT-DAY STATES / UTS THE CLUE ON FIG. 7.8

North Punjab, Haryana, Delhi (UT), Chandigarh (UT), Indraprastha, Sāketa, Kāśhī; the
Himachal Pradesh (lower hills), Uttarakhand, Uttar Chenab–Sutlej–Ganga rivers
Pradesh

West Rajasthan, Gujarat The Great Indian Desert and the Rann
of Kachchh lie inside the shaded area

Central Madhya Pradesh, parts of Chhattisgarh Ujjayinī, and the Narmada as the
rough southern edge

East Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, parts of Odisha Prayāga, Vaiśhālī, Magadha,
Pāṭaliputra and the port of Tāmralipti

Sample answer: “I marked 16 areas in all — 13 states (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar,
Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha) and 2 Union territories (Delhi and Chandigarh) — 15 in all.
My friend counted 12 because she left out Odisha, Chhattisgarh and the hill states.”

Why your count and your friend’s will differ — and why that is the point: an
ancient empire had frontiers, not fixed borders. Its edges moved with each reign,
and a tributary kingdom was ‘inside’ the empire in one sense and independent in
another. Modern state lines were drawn 1,500 years later and cut straight across
those old regions. So any two honest students will get slightly different numbers.

A note on the printed map: the legend of Fig. 7.8 shows a khaki patch for ‘Gupta
Empire’, but on the printed page the tint sits very faintly over the green relief and is
hard to see. Use the labelled cities and the names of the neighbouring kingdoms
(Vākāṭaka, Kāmarūpa, Pallava) to fix the boundary, exactly as described in the
method above.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 153
A Traveller’s Account of Indian Society in the Gupta Age — Faxian’s travelogue

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Read the excerpt from Faxian given above and identify the key features of the
society he describes. Write down your observations and compare your notes with
your friends — you might be surprised to see how differently others interpret the
same text!

ANSWER

Go line by line through the excerpt and turn each sentence into a feature. Six come out clearly.

FEATURE OF FAXIAN’S OWN WORDS
GUPTA SOCIETY

A large and contented “The people are numerous and happy”
population

Light-handed “they have no need to register households or attend to officials” — no
government compulsory registration, little interference in daily life

A simple land-revenue “Those who farm royal land pay a portion of their grain” — a share of the
system produce, paid only by those farming royal land

Paid, organised state “The king’s guards and attendants have salaries” — officials were paid, not left
servants to squeeze the people

Rich, well-run cities and “The cities are the greatest in the Middle Kingdom … the inhabitants are rich,
a strong merchant class prosperous”; “many wealthy Vaishya elders and foreign merchants, with
beautiful homes”; “The lanes are kept in good order”

Organised public “Heads of Vaishya families establish houses for charity and medicines … the
charity and free poor, orphans and the sick are cared for … doctors provide treatment, and the
healthcare needy receive food and medicines”

Now the part the excerpt leaves out. The chapter warns on the very next page that such
accounts “reflect only the writer’s perspective and focus at one point in time and for a limited
portion of the society they describe”. Elsewhere in the same travelogue Faxian describes the
harsh treatment of the chanḍālas, who were regarded as outcastes and made to live outside
the city limits. So the excerpt is true — but partial.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why two readers get two answers: a reader who notices ‘no need to register
households’ sees a free society; a reader who notices ‘those who farm royal land
pay a portion of their grain’ sees a state that lived off peasants; a reader who
notices ‘wealthy Vaishya elders and foreign merchants’ sees an unequal society
where charity, not rights, protected the poor. All three are honest readings of the
same paragraph. That is why historians look at more sources to corroborate before
drawing conclusions.

Also ask: Faxian was a Buddhist pilgrim from China, travelling to sacred sites and
collecting manuscripts. He saw mainly cities, monasteries and the people who
hosted travellers. A farmer in a distant village, or a chanḍāla outside the wall, would
have written a very different account.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 155

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Fig. 7.10, an artist’s reimagination of Prabhāvatī Gupta sitting in her court

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Observe the painting of Prabhāvatī Gupta sitting in her court (Fig. 7.10). Take note
of the details — her attire, posture, the people around her, and the setting of the
court. What do these elements tell you about her life, role, and the time she lived
in? Discuss your observations in groups and share your insights with the class.

What Fig. 7.10 shows — an artist’s colour illustration of Prabhāvatī Gupta in
her court:
On the left, Prabhāvatī Gupta sits on a carved dark-wood throne with a
rounded back, a magenta cushion and a bolster; her feet rest on a low
footstool set on a round yellow-and-orange rug.
Her attire: a red-orange bodice and a long red skirt, a gold sunburst
crown over braided hair, two gold necklaces, armlets, broad bangles, a
jewelled waistband, anklets, red slippers and large earrings.
Her posture: seated upright and calm, looking slightly to her right,
towards the visitors. A small child — a young prince in a white dhoti with
a gold necklace — sits on her lap, held by her arm.
Behind the throne a woman attendant in a white sari and gold jewellery
stands holding a white chauri (fly-whisk).
On the right, a court official in a white robe and turban stands reading
from a sheet in his hands, and below him two bearded elders in turbans
and plain robes kneel on the floor with folded hands.
The setting: heavy carved pillars, a pink canopy overhead and a tall
ornate archway on the right — the pillared audience hall of a court.

Fig. 7.10, page 155 — “An artist’s reimagination of Prabhāvatī Gupta sitting in her court”.
Described here; see the textbook for the picture itself.

ANSWER

Read the picture in four layers — what she wears, how she sits, who surrounds her, and where
she is — and each layer tells you something the text on page 155 confirms.

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WHAT YOU SEE IN FIG. 7.10 WHAT IT TELLS YOU

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Attire — a jewelled crown, heavy gold She is royalty in her own right, not a guest at someone else’s court.

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earrings; and jewellery-making were highly developed crafts

Posture — seated upright at the centre on a She is the one holding court. Height and centrality are the

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raised, carved throne with a cushion and a painter’s way of showing authority: the decisions are hers
footrest, everyone else lower than her
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A small child seated on her lap
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chauri (fly-whisk) object appears in the queen’s hand on the aśhvamedha coin, Fig.

a g 7.7. Waving it over a person marks that person as the sovereign

om a s
agl
Elders and courtiers seated on the floor A working court: ministers, priests and scribes who advise,

. c
sem
before her — bearded men in plain white petition and keep records. Their folded hands show her authority

a
robes and turbans, hands folded in respect, was accepted, not resented. The manuscript is a reminder that

agl
one holding a manuscript or writing tablet decisions were written down — like the copper-plate grants of page
156

co m
.
Setting — tall carved pillars, an arched A stone-built palace hall. It matches what we know of Gupta and

em
as
doorway, a patterned floor covering Vākāṭaka architecture, with its carved pillars and arched forms —
m l
.co a g
the same vocabulary you see in the Ajanta caves (Fig. 7.17)

a s em
agl What it says about her time: a woman could hold real political power in 5th-
century India — she kept the Vākāṭaka–Gupta alliance alive, is associated with
se m
com g l a
. a
building seven temples to Viṣhṇu and his avatars, and left inscriptions of her own.
m
ase
Her power came through her family (daughter of Chandragupta II, widow of a

agl
Vākāṭaka prince, mother of two kings), but she exercised it herself.

co m
Honest caution: the caption calls this ‘an artist’s reimagination’. It was painted
m .
o m l a se
recently, from what historians know — it is not a Gupta-period portrait. So treat

m agcheck each one against the
.cevery detail as a modern historian’s reconstruction, and
l a se
g
written evidence, as we did in the table above. Comparing a reconstruction with the
a c
sources is itself a good history exercise.
m .
m a s e
m . co agl
a se
agl 159
LET’S EXPLORE — Page

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Meeting Āryabhaṭa and Varāhamihira with Bhavisha and Dhruv’s time machine

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Let’s join Bhavisha and Dhruv with their time machine in the time of the Guptas.
You are getting an opportunity to meet Āryabhaṭa and Varāhamihira—what would
you ask them? Divide the class into two groups and create a series of questions for
an interview with them.

ANSWER

How to build good interview questions. A weak question can be answered with ‘yes’ or a date.
A strong one asks how they found out, what they got wrong, or what they would say to us.
Aim for six to eight questions per group, moving from easy to hard, and base every one on
something the chapter actually says about that scholar.
Group 1 — Sample questions for Āryabhaṭa (Kusumapura, c. 500 CE):

1. You wrote in the Āryabhaṭīya that the Earth spins on its axis, and that this is why day and
night alternate. Everyone around you could see that the Sun moves across the sky. What
made you decide it was the Earth that turns?
2. How did you measure the length of the year as 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes and 30
seconds without any clock? What instruments did you use?
3. You explained solar and lunar eclipses correctly at a time when many people feared them.
How did people react to your explanation?
4. You also gave a fair estimate of the size of the Earth. What did you measure to get it?
5. Which of your mathematical techniques do you think was the hardest to work out — and
which are you proudest of?
6. Why did you write such a short treatise? Was it meant to be memorised?
7. Who taught you, and who did you argue with, at Kusumapura?

Group 2 — Sample questions for Varāhamihira (Ujjayinī):

1. Your Bṛihat Samhitā moves from astronomy to weather forecasting, architecture, town
planning and farming. Why put all of these in one book — do you see them as one subject?
2. How did you forecast the weather? Which signs in the sky, the plants or the animals did you
trust most?
3. What advice did you give for choosing the site of a new town, and would you give the same
advice to a town planner today?
4. You were an astronomer and an astrologer. Where do you draw the line between what can
be calculated and what cannot?
5. How did you decide when to keep a piece of traditional knowledge and when to reject it?
6. What did Ujjayinī give you that another city could not?
7. If you could ask Āryabhaṭa one question, what would it be?

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip for the class activity: let each group first write the questions, then swap —
Group 1 answers as Āryabhaṭa using only what the chapter and the library give
them, and Group 2 answers as Varāhamihira. Answering in character forces you to
notice how little we actually know about these men, and how much we know about
their work. End by listing which questions cannot be answered from the evidence
we have — that list is a real history lesson.

Why these two are paired in the chapter: both lived in the same period, both
worked at famous centres of learning (Kusumapura near Patna; Ujjayinī), and both
show the same method — observe the world, reason logically, and combine that
with traditional knowledge. That method, not any single result, is why the chapter
calls Varāhamihira a pioneer in science.

DON’T MISS OUT — Page 160
The codification of Āyurveda in the Gupta period

DON’T MISS OUT

Q1 Did you know that Āyurveda got codified during the Gupta period?

ANSWER

Yes — and note the exact word: codified, which the margin defines as ‘arranged or written in an
organised and systematic way’. Āyurveda was not invented in the Gupta age. Its roots go back
several centuries BCE. What the Gupta period did was gather scattered knowledge, put it in
order and give it its final written shape.

Centuries of practice and oral learning (from several centuries BCE)

→ compiled, edited and systematically arranged in the Gupta period

→ the Charaka Saṃhitā and the Suśhruta Saṃhitā reach their final form

→ the foundation of Ayurvedic practice still in use today

What those two texts contain:

Cataloguing and diagnosing diseases — naming and classifying illnesses so they can be
recognised.
Treatments for a wide range of conditions.
The importance of diet in maintaining good health — prevention, not only cure.

Page 16 of 33

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The preparation of medicines.
Surgical techniques that were advanced for their time.

Why codification matters so much: knowledge that lives only in one physician’s
memory dies with that physician. Once it is written down in an organised way it can
be copied, taught, checked and improved by people who never met the author —
which is exactly why we can still read these texts 1,500 years later. This is the same
thing the chapter says was happening across the Gupta age: ‘knowledge from
previous eras was consolidated and compiled into numerous texts’.

Remember the big idea: Āyurveda emphasises holistic healing — a deep
connection between mind, body and nature. It treats the person, not just the
disease.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 160

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Fig. 7.15.1 and 7.15.2, ‘Various aspects of Gupta art’ (page 162)

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Take a close look at the samples of Gupta sculptures shown in Fig 7.15.1. and 7.15.2.
By looking at the attributes, can you guess which deities are depicted here? Write
your observations in the space provided and share your thoughts during the class
discussion!

What Fig. 7.15.1 and Fig. 7.15.2 show — two photographs of Gupta-period
sculpture:
Fig. 7.15.1 — a tall rounded shaft of dark red sandstone standing on a
white base. On the front, one human face is carved: half-closed eyes, a
calm half-smile, long ear-lobes with earrings and a bead necklace at the
throat. Above the forehead the matted hair (jaṭā) is piled up in thick
rolls, and a crescent moon is set in it.
Fig. 7.15.2 — a standing male figure carved in sandstone, with four arms
and a large circular halo behind the head, its rim covered with bands of
carved ornament. He wears a tall crown, heavy earrings, necklaces,
armlets, a dhoti tied with a sash, and a long garland looping down past
the knees on both sides. The upper arms are broken; the lower left hand
still holds a rounded object.

Fig. 7.15.1 and 7.15.2, page 162 (“Various aspects of Gupta art”) — photographs of
sculpture, described here; see the textbook for the photographs.

ANSWER

In Indian sculpture a deity is identified by its attributes — the objects it holds, what it wears,
what it stands on. Read the attributes and the names follow.

Page 18 of 33

as e
a g l
Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
FIG. 7.15.1 FIG. 7.15.2

m as e
What you
.co carved on its front; piled-up matted hair
A tall rounded stone shaft with a single face
a g l
A standing male figure with four
see
a s em arms; a tall, richly worked crown; a

ag l (jaṭā) in thick coils; a crescent moon tucked
into the hair; a mark on the forehead
large decorated halo behind the head;
a long garland and necklaces; a conch
between the brows; heavy earrings and a (śhaṅkha) held in one lower hand

co m
. ag
bead necklace

se m
l a
ag— and the shaft
The give- The crescent moon in the matted hair, plus The four arms with the conch, the
away the mark of a third eye kirīṭa crown and the ornate halo
attribute itself, which is a liṅga

co m
em.
The deity Śhiva — a mukha-liṅga, that is, a liṅga with the Viṣhṇu

m l as
.co
god’s face emerging from it

a g
a s em
a gl Why this identification is safe: the crescent moon and the matted jaṭā belong to
Śhiva alone — he is Chandraśhekhara, ‘the one with the moon in his hair’. The conch

om a s
agl
is one of Viṣhṇu’s four emblems (conch, discus, mace, lotus), and a many-armed god
in a tall crown with a great halo is the.cstandard Gupta way of showing him. The
a s em confirmations that these are the right gods
agl were devout followers of Viṣhṇu (page 156), and
chapter itself gives you two independent
for this period: the Gupta rulers
the Udayagiri caves are famous for carvings of deities, especially Viṣhṇu.
co m
m .
o m l a se
g sacred rivers, and again
.cfrom Ahichchhatra in western Uttar Pradesh represent India’s
Also look at Fig. 7.15.3, the third image — the caption identifies it for you. Two terracotta

m a
se vāhana settles the identification:
figures

g l athe
a
m
Ganga stands on a makara — a mythical creature akin to a crocodile.

a se
com g l
Yamuna stands on a tortoise.

m . a
ase
Both have water flowing over their heads and carry a pot — reminders that they are rivers.

agl
Try this: make a two-column list in your notebook — attribute and deity. Crescent
moon and matted hair → Śhiva. Conch, discus, garland → Viṣhṇu. Makara → Ganga.
co m
m .
e
Tortoise → Yamuna. Garuḍa → Viṣhṇu (the chapter tells us Garuḍa appears on

ommuseum without reading the label first. g l as
.cany
Chandragupta II’s inscriptions). Once you know the list, you can identify sculptures in
m a
l a se
ag
.c
s e m
m a
.co165
Before we move on … — Page
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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The chapter in three points, with the timeline of Fig. 7.19 (page 164)

BEFORE WE MOVE ON …

Q1 The Gupta kings consolidated their power through military campaigns, land grants
and matrimonial alliances to ensure stability in the empire.

ANSWER

Three tools, used together. Notice that only the first one involves fighting.

TOOL HOW IT WORKED THE CHAPTER’S EXAMPLE

Military Defeat a king, then reinstate Samudragupta, whose ambition was dharaṇi-
campaigns him as a tribute-paying ruler bandha; the prayāga praśhasti lists his victories. He
instead of annexing his land. defeated a Pallava ruler and the ruler of
Others submitted without a fight Kāmarūpa but left both on their thrones
simply out of fear

Land grants Divide the empire into Many such copper plates have been found by
provinces and grant land to archaeologists in recent times. The system
local rulers, priests and ensured proper tax collection while giving local
chieftains — recorded on leaders some control over their regions
copper plates so the terms
could not be disputed

Matrimonial Bind a neighbouring dynasty to Prabhāvatī Gupta, daughter of Chandragupta II,
alliances your own by marriage, so its married a Vākāṭaka prince. As regent she
army becomes a friend rather ‘ensured that the ties between the Vākāṭakas and
than a threat the Guptas remained strong’. Fig. 7.4 shows the
earlier alliance of Chandragupta I with
Kumāradevī advertised on a coin

Why this produced stability: conquest by itself creates enemies who wait for you to
weaken. The Guptas instead made it worth more to cooperate than to rebel — the
defeated king kept his throne, the local chief kept his land and a share of its revenue,
the neighbouring dynasty gained a royal in-law. The empire held together because
the people inside it had something to lose.

Q2 The period saw remarkable contributions in the fields of art, literature, science and
mathematics.

ANSWER

This is the sentence behind the label ‘classical age’. Here is the whole of it in one table.

Page 20 of 33

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

FIELD WHO / WHAT THE CONTRIBUTION

Literature Kālidāsa; the Sanskrit poetry of exquisite refinement. The Meghadūtam — a
Purāṇas banished yakṣha sends his message to his beloved through a
passing cloud, and the poem describes in detail the landscapes
and weather of north India on the way. Many major Purāṇas took
shape in this age

Astronomy & Āryabhaṭa The Āryabhaṭīya, c. 500 CE: formulas for the motions of the Sun,
mathematics Moon and planets; the Earth spins on its axis, which explains day
and night; the length of the year; a fair estimate of the size of the
Earth; the correct explanation of solar and lunar eclipses;
techniques of calculation and equation-solving still taught today

Science, Varāhamihira The Bṛihat Samhitā from Ujjayinī — astronomy, astrology, weather
broadly forecasting, architecture, town planning, farming

Medicine Āyurveda The Charaka Saṃhitā and Suśhruta Saṃhitā were compiled and
given their final shape — diagnosis, treatment, diet, preparation of
medicines and surgery

Metallurgy The Iron Pillar, A 6-tonne pillar standing in the open for over 1,600 years without
Mehrauli rusting, protected by a thin layer formed from the special iron and
oxygen in the air

Art & Sārnāth, Ajanta, Sārnāth — exquisite sculptures of the Buddha. Ajanta
architecture Udayagiri, (Maharashtra) — caves carved with the support of the Guptas and
Deogarh Vākāṭakas, a stūpa with a seated Buddha emerging, the painting
of Bodhisattva Padmapāṇi. Udayagiri (MP) — rock-cut caves with
carvings of deities. Deogarh (UP) — the Daśhāvatāra temple with
Viṣhṇu on Śheṣhnāg. ‘Gupta art’ set high standards of beauty that
lasted

Why all of it happened at once: the chapter gives the chain plainly — a prolonged
period of peace and stability strengthened the economy, which let the state
support scholars, artists and scientists, which produced cultural and intellectual
growth. Chandragupta II kept himself ‘surrounded by many learned men, poets and
artists’. Creativity needs peace and a patron; the Gupta age had both.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 Other than the Guptas, dynasties like Vākāṭakas, Pallavas, and Varmans ruled in
their respective regions, making this period full of cultural and intellectual
vibrancy.

ANSWER

Fig. 7.19 on page 164 shows the four together — and the striking thing is how much they
overlap. This was never a one-empire age.

Prabhāvatī Gupta Chandragupta II
Samudragupta Āryabhaṭa
Kālidāsa Varāhamihira

300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650
CE

Vākāṭakas — allies of the Guptas

Kāmarūpa (Varman dynasty) — continues beyond

Guptas

Pallavas — continues to the late 9th century

Fig. 7.19 redrawn. Four powers, all alive at the same time. The Guptas are only the widest band, not
the only one — and both Kāmarūpa and the Pallavas outlast them.

DYNASTY REGION AND CAPITAL WHAT MADE IT CULTURALLY VIBRANT

Vākāṭakas The central part of the Allies of the Guptas through Prabhāvatī Gupta.
subcontinent; capital The Ajanta caves were carved with the support
Nandivardhana, near present- of the Guptas and the Vākāṭakas. Prabhāvatī is
day Nagpur linked with seven Viṣhṇu temples, some at
Ramagiri (Ramtek hill), Maharashtra

Pallavas Parts of present-day Tamil Nadu, Great patrons of art and architecture; mostly
Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra devotees of Śhiva; magnificent temples and rock-
Pradesh; capital Kānchipuram cut caves. Kānchipuram, the ‘city of a thousand
temples’, became a major centre of learning,
helped by the ghaṭikās

Varmans The Brahmaputra valley — A prominent cultural and political centre where
(Kāmarūpa) broadly present-day Assam — temples and monasteries flourished as hubs of
with northern parts of present- learning. Its ancient name Prāgjyotiṣha appears
day Bengal and Bangladesh in the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, which
names its king Bhagadatta

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why this matters for how you read history: it is easy to think of the past as one
empire at a time, handing over to the next like a relay race. The timeline shows the
truth — the bands overlap. Political power was divided, yet art, learning and
religion travelled freely across the boundaries, which is exactly why the chapter calls
the whole period, and not only the Gupta Empire, culturally and intellectually
vibrant.

Questions and activities — Pages 165–166
End-of-chapter exercise

Q1 Imagine you receive a letter from someone living in the Gupta Empire. The letter
starts like this: “Greetings from Pāṭaliputra! Life here is vibrant and full of
excitement. Just yesterday, I witnessed …” Complete the letter with a short
paragraph (250–300 words) describing life in the Gupta Empire.

ANSWER

What a good answer must contain. Before writing, decide who you are — a trader’s daughter,
a student at a vihāra, a copper-plate scribe — and then fold in at least five things the chapter
actually tells us, so the letter is history and not just imagination:

The city: Pāṭaliputra, capital of the Guptas; cities of the Gangetic plains were ‘the greatest’,
with lanes ‘kept in good order’.
Charity and medicine: Vaishya elders funded houses for charity and free medicines; the
poor, orphans and the sick were cared for.
Trade: textiles, spices, ivory and gemstones going out to the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia
and China; foreign merchants living in the city.
Tax and government: land tax as the main revenue; farmers of royal land paying a share of
grain; officials on salaries; grants written on copper plates.
Learning and art: Sanskrit poetry, astronomers, the Buddhist vihāras and Nālandā,
sculpture and temple-building.
The honest bit: not everyone shared in it — the chanḍālas lived outside the city limits.

Sample answer (about 270 words):
“Greetings from Pāṭaliputra! Life here is vibrant and full of excitement. Just yesterday, I
witnessed a procession of the king’s guards riding down to the river ghat, and behind them a
line of carts loaded with bales of cotton cloth, sacks of pepper and small sealed boxes of
gemstones, all bound for Tāmralipti. From there, my uncle says, the goods sail to the
Mediterranean, to Southeast Asia and to China. A Roman-looking merchant argued with a dyer
in three languages and finally paid in gold.

Page 23 of 33

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Our lane is swept every morning and the drains run clear. At the corner stands the charity house
co m
se
built by the elders of our Vaishya quarter; anyone who is ill may go in, and the physician gives
m.
o m g l a
.c
food and medicine without asking for money. My mother took our neighbour’s orphaned son

m a
se
there last month.

l a
ag
Father farms land belonging to the king outside the city, so at harvest he gives a portion of the
grain as tax; the officials who come to measure it are paid a salary, and they do not trouble us.

co m
Yesterday a scribe let me watch him hammer letters into a copper plate — a grant of land the

m .
king has given to a village priest, he said, so that no one can argue about it a hundred years
e ag
from now.
g l as
a
In the evenings a teacher recites Kālidāsa in the square, and an astronomer from Kusumapura
told us that the Earth itself turns, which is why the Sun seems to move! Not everyone here is

co m
m.
fortunate, though — the chanḍālas must live outside the walls, and I think of that too. Write
soon.”
m as e
.co a g l
a s emkeep it to one voice and one day. A letter that lists facts reads like a textbook; a
gl
Tip:
a letter that describes one morning and lets the facts show up inside it reads like a

s
person.
m a
m .co agl
l a se
a g
Which Gupta ruler was also known as the ‘Vikramāditya’?
Q2

co m
m .
ANSWER

m as e
.co
Chandragupta II.
a g l
a s emchapter says it directly: “Chandragupta II, also known as ‘Vikramāditya’, was one of the
gl renowned rulers of the Gupta dynasty.” Remember him by four things:
The
a
se m
mreign. a
The inscription on the Iron Pillar of Delhi speaks of a king named ‘Chandra’, identified with
him; the 6-tonne pillar was erected inco
. a g l
emViṣhṇu’s mount (vāhana) Garuḍa often appears on his
his

a s
agl
He was a devotee of Viṣhṇu, and
inscriptions.
Art, architecture, literature and science flourished particularly during his time; he kept

c o m
.
himself surrounded by learned men, poets and artists.

m a s em
He was the father of Prabhāvatī Gupta and the son of Samudragupta.

.co agl
m Don’t mix them up: Chandragupta I was his grandfather (coins and alliances);
l a se
ag
c
Chandragupta Maurya belonged to a different dynasty altogether, centuries earlier.
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

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m .
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.co


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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 “Periods of peace support the development of various aspects of sociocultural life,
literature, and the development of science and technology.’ Examine this statement
in the light of the Gupta empire.

ANSWER

The Gupta Empire supports the statement almost point for point. The chapter itself supplies the
mechanism: “the prolonged period of peace and stability during the Gupta period promoted
notable achievements in various fields”, and “this stability strengthened the economy, allowing
the state to support scholars, artists, and scientists”.

Peace and stability

→ trade and agriculture grow, so revenue grows (land tax, plus taxes on mines, irrigation,

trade and crafts)

→ the state can spend on temples, infrastructure, scholars and artists

→ knowledge of earlier ages is consolidated and compiled into texts

→ a ‘classical age’ in literature, science, medicine, metallurgy and art

The evidence, field by field:

ASPECT OF WHAT PEACE MADE POSSIBLE
LIFE

Sociocultural Faxian found people ‘numerous and happy’, cities prosperous, lanes in good order,
life and charity houses giving free food and medicine. The rulers, though devout followers
of Viṣhṇu, also patronised Buddhist institutions such as Nālandā and other vihāras
— an inclusive and open approach that only a secure state can afford

Literature Kālidāsa and the major Purāṇas; Sanskrit poetry of great refinement. Chandragupta
II’s patronage of poets and learned men enriched his court

Science and Āryabhaṭa at Kusumapura and Varāhamihira at Ujjayinī — both worked at
mathematics established centres of learning, which need generations of quiet to build

Medicine and Āyurveda codified in the Charaka and Suśhruta Saṃhitās; metallurgy advanced
technology enough to produce the rust-free Iron Pillar

Art and Sārnāth, Ajanta, Udayagiri, Deogarh. A cave like those at Ajanta takes decades of
architecture continuous work and steady funding — it simply cannot be carved during a war

But examine the statement, do not just agree with it. Three qualifications are fair:

Page 25 of 33

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Gupta peace was itself won by war. Samudragupta fought many campaigns before this
stability existed. Peace was the result of power, not a substitute for it.
Peace was not equally good for everyone. The chanḍālas were still treated as outcastes
and kept outside the city.
Creativity did not stop when the Guptas declined, nor did it happen only inside their borders
— the Pallavas and Kāmarūpa built temples and centres of learning at the same time, and
the Ajanta caves were funded by the Vākāṭakas as well.

The balanced conclusion: peace does not by itself create great literature or science
— people do. But peace, a strong economy and a ruler willing to spend on talent
together give those people the time, the safety and the money to work. On that
reading, the Gupta Empire is one of the clearest examples in Indian history of the
statement being true.

Q4 Recreate a scene from a Gupta ruler’s court. Write a short script, assign roles like
the king, ministers, and scholars, and enact a role play to bring the Gupta era to
life!

ANSWER

Method. Pick one decision for the court to take — that gives the scene a spine. Assign six to
eight roles, give each speaker a fact from the chapter to carry, and keep it to three or four
minutes. Use the chapter’s own vocabulary: mahārājadhirāja, praśhasti, copper plate, chauri,
tribute, vihāra.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

ROLE WHAT THIS CHARACTER BRINGS TO THE SCENE

Chandragupta II Takes the final decision; devotee of Viṣhṇu; wants his reign recorded
‘Vikramāditya’

Chief minister Revenue: land tax, plus taxes on mines, irrigation, trade and crafts; what the
treasury can afford

Army commander The cost of moving soldiers, elephants, horses, cooks and supplies; which
tributary kings must provide for them

Harisena, the court poet Offers to compose a praśhasti; argues for a pillar inscription rather than a
palm-leaf record

Āryabhaṭa (visiting Asks for support for the study of the heavens; mentions that the Earth turns
scholar) on its axis

A Vaishya merchant Reports on trade with the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and China, and the
stop at Socotra Island; asks for safe roads

Envoy from the Brings greetings from Prabhāvatī Gupta and keeps the alliance alive
Vākāṭakas

Scribe Silently hammers the day’s land grant onto a copper plate; reads it aloud at
the end

Sample script (opening, about one minute of playing time):
Herald: Hail the mahārājadhirāja, Chandragupta Vikramāditya! (All rise; an attendant waves the
chauri.)
King: Be seated. Minister, what does the treasury say?
Minister: The land tax has come in well, mahārāja. With the dues from the mines and the trade
tolls, we may build — or we may pay the army. Not both.
Commander: Then let it be the army. A campaign to the south moves ten thousand men, with
elephants, horses and cooks. Even the tributary kings will complain of feeding them.
Merchant: (bowing) Mahārāja, if the roads are kept safe, the trade will pay for the army by itself.
Our cloth and pepper reach the Mediterranean by way of Socotra; last season a Roman ship
paid in gold.
Harisena: And when it is done, my lord, let it be written. Palm leaf rots; stone does not. Grant
me a pillar and in a hundred generations they will still read what you were.
Āryabhaṭa: Grant me something smaller, mahārāja — a room at Kusumapura, and instruments.
I believe it is the Earth that turns, not the sky, and I would prove it.
King: (after a pause) The roads shall be made safe. Harisena shall have his stone. And the
astronomer shall have his room — a king is remembered by what his scholars discover as much
as by what his soldiers take. Scribe, set it on copper.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

To make the enactment work: costumes are less important than one prop each —
a chauri of paper strips, a ‘copper plate’ of card, a rolled manuscript, a coin. End the
scene with the scribe reading the grant aloud; it gives the play a clean finish and
revises the copper-plate system for the whole class.

Q5 Match the two columns: Column A — (1) Kānchipuram, (2) Ujjayinī, (3) Udayagiri, (4)
Ajanta, (5) Pāṭaliputra; Column B — (a) Known for vibrant cave paintings that depict
the Jātaka tales, (b) Famous for rock-cut caves featuring intricate carvings of Hindu
deities, especially Viṣhṇu, (c) Capital of the Guptas, (d) Known as ‘a city of a
thousand temples’, (e) A prominent centre of learning in ancient India.

ANSWER

COLUMN ANSWER COLUMN B WHY
A

(1) (d) Known as ‘a city of a The Pallava capital, in present-day Tamil
Kānchipuram thousand temples’ Nadu; the chapter uses exactly this phrase
for it

(2) Ujjayinī (e) A prominent centre of ‘A city famous for its tradition of learning and
learning in ancient India scholarship’ — where Varāhamihira lived
and wrote the Bṛihat Samhitā

(3) Udayagiri (b) Famous for rock-cut In Madhya Pradesh — ‘the rock-cut caves
caves with carvings of and detailed carvings of deities at Udayagiri’.
Hindu deities, especially The Iron Pillar was probably first erected in
Viṣhṇu front of these caves

(4) Ajanta (a) Known for vibrant cave In Maharashtra, carved with the support of
paintings that depict the the Guptas and Vākāṭakas; Fig. 7.17 shows
Jātaka tales the painting of Bodhisattva Padmapāṇi

(5) Pāṭaliputra (c) Capital of the Guptas Present-day Patna, as stated in Fig. 7.2

Answer key: 1 → d, 2 → e, 3 → b, 4 → a, 5 → c.

Watch out for the trap: two names in this list sound alike but are different places.
Udayagiri in Madhya Pradesh (Gupta rock-cut caves, Viṣhṇu) is not the Udayagiri–
Khandagiri caves of Odisha from the previous chapter. Read the state name before
you answer.

Page 28 of 33

as e
a g l
Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Who were the Pallavas and where did they rule?
e
Q6

m l as
.co a g
a
ANSWER
s em
a
Whoglthey were: a dynasty that rose in south India while the Guptas ruled the north. Their
origins are not clearly known, but they appear to have been a tributary power under the

co m
ag
Sātavāhanas — met in the previous chapter — and to have gained power as the Sātavāhanas

m .
e
declined. They ruled until the latter half of the 9th century CE.

g l as
a
Where they ruled: they gradually consolidated their power over parts of present-day Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Their capital was Kānchipuram, in

m
present-day Tamil Nadu.
co
What they are remembered for:
em.
m l as
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Patrons of art and architecture — most of them were devotees of Śhiva, and they are
a g
a s em with building magnificent temples and rock-cut caves.
credited

a gl A great centre of learning — Kānchipuram, often called the ‘city of a thousand temples’,
became one of the major centres of learning in the south, helped by the ghaṭikās, centres of

a s
comare mentioned in the prayāga praśhasti. During agl
learning that had first emerged under the Sātavāhanas.
.
s em defeated a Pallava ruler but did not take over
Their place in Gupta history — the Pallavas
a
agl keep their thrones as long as they accepted his rule and
his southern campaigns Samudragupta
the region; he let the local kings

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paid tribute, which helped maintain peaceful relations.

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o m l a
Did you know? Fig. 7.19 shows the Pallava band running past the right edge of the
g
m .c — they outlasted the Guptas by roughly three centuries.
a
ase
timeline

agl
se m
com g l a
.
Organise an exploration trip with your teachers to a nearby historical site,
a
Q7

s e m
museum, or heritage building. After the trip, write a detailed report describing your

g l aobservations
a
experience. Include key about the site’s historical significance, the
architecture, artefacts, and any interesting facts you learned during the visit.

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Reflect on how the trip enhanced your understanding of history.

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em
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ANSWER

em a
s
Method — plan the trip in three stages.
l a
ag 1. Before you go: find out who built the site and when, and note two or three questions you
c
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e
want answered. Carry a notebook, a pencil (many museums do not allow pens) and, where
m a s
. co agl
photography is permitted, a camera. Check the rules — never touch carvings and never

e m
as
write on walls.

a g l

com
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

2. At the site: sketch rather than only photograph — sketching forces you to look. Copy any
label or inscription exactly. Note the material (sandstone? brick? terracotta?), the condition,
and anything that is obviously a later repair.
3. After: write the report within two days, while the details are fresh.

What a good report must contain — use these as your headings:

SECTION WHAT GOES IN IT

1. Introduction Name and location of the site, date of visit, who went, why this site was chosen

2. Historical Who built it and when; which dynasty or period; why it was built; what happened
significance to it later

3. Architecture Material, plan, notable features — pillars, arches, domes, a śhikhara, a rock-cut
chamber; carvings and what they show

4. Artefacts Sculptures, coins, inscriptions, pottery, tools. For each: what it is, what it is made
of, and what it tells you about the people who used it

5. Interesting facts Two or three things you did not know before — from the guide, the labels, or your
own observation

6. Reflection How seeing the real thing changed what the textbook had told you

7. Photographs / Labelled, with a one-line caption for each
sketches

Sample answer (an extract from sections 3, 4 and 6):
“Architecture. The temple is built of dressed red sandstone blocks laid without mortar, on a
raised platform about a metre high. The doorway is framed by three carved bands — a creeper,
a row of small human figures, and a plain moulding — and river goddesses stand at the base of
the door jambs. Our guide pointed out that one of them stands on a crocodile-like creature: the
makara of the Ganga, exactly as in Fig. 7.15.3 of our textbook.
Artefacts. In the site museum we saw a case of terracotta plaques, a broken stone panel
showing two warriors in a chariot, and four small gold coins. A label said the coins showed a
king on one side and a seated goddess on the other. I had read that description of Gupta coins
in class, but seeing how small they were — smaller than a one-rupee coin — was a surprise.
Reflection. The trip changed history from a list of names into a set of objects made by people.
Standing in front of a wall someone carved fifteen hundred years ago, I understood why our
chapter kept insisting that we look at sources — an inscription is not a fact printed in a book, it
is a real line of letters cut into real stone by a person who wanted to be remembered. I also
noticed how much has been lost: half the carvings are worn smooth. That made me understand
why historians must corroborate several sources before they can say anything with
confidence.”

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip: if no historical site is near your school, a local museum, an old temple or
mosque, a stepwell, a colonial-era railway station or even an old milestone will do.
Every place has a past; the exercise is about learning to read it.

Chapter at a glance
A new power fills the gap left by the Kuṣhāṇas. By the 3rd century CE the Kuṣhāṇa
Empire weakened and new kingdoms appeared. The Guptas, believed to have begun as
regional rulers near present-day Uttar Pradesh, rose to become the strongest of them,
with their capital at Pāṭaliputra (present-day Patna). Their empire flourished from the 3rd
to the 6th century CE.
Three rulers to remember. Chandragupta I — coins showing him with his queen
Kumāradevī, and strategic alliances. Samudragupta — the warrior king of the prayāga
praśhasti, whose ambition Harisena calls dharaṇi-bandha, ‘to unify the Earth’; his coins
show him playing the veena. Chandragupta II ‘Vikramāditya’ — a devotee of Viṣhṇu, in
whose reign the rust-free Iron Pillar at Mehrauli was set up.
Rule through others, not only from the centre. The empire was divided into provinces,
and land was granted to local rulers, priests and chieftains — the grants carefully inscribed
on copper plates. Defeated kings were often reinstated as tributaries. Marriage was a
tool of policy too: Prabhāvatī Gupta, daughter of Chandragupta II, married a Vākāṭaka
prince and later ruled as regent, a ‘mother of two kings’.
A prosperous, trading society — seen through one traveller’s eyes. The Chinese pilgrim
Faxian (early 5th century CE) describes numerous, happy people, charity houses and free
medicines. But the same traveller also records the harsh treatment of the chanḍālas, kept
outside the city — a reminder to check several sources and perspectives before drawing
conclusions. Land tax was the main revenue; trade ran to the Mediterranean, Southeast
Asia and China, with Socotra Island a key stop.
Why it is called the ‘classical age’. Long peace let scholars and artists work. Kālidāsa
wrote the Meghadūtam; Āryabhaṭa (Kusumapura, c. 500 CE) said the Earth spins on its axis
and explained eclipses; Varāhamihira (Ujjayinī) compiled the Bṛihat Samhitā; Āyurveda was
codified in the Charaka and Suśhruta Saṃhitās; and metallurgy gave us the Iron Pillar. Art
flourished at Sārnāth, Ajanta, Udayagiri and Deogarh.
Decline — and neighbours who mattered. From the 6th century CE the Hūṇa attacks from
Central Asia and the rise of powerful regional rulers wore the empire down. Meanwhile the
Pallavas ruled from Kānchipuram, the ‘city of a thousand temples’, and the Varman
dynasty ruled Kāmarūpa in the Brahmaputra valley. Samudragupta defeated both but let
them keep their thrones as tributaries — a pattern we have now seen many times.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT WORTH REMEMBERING
APPEARS IN THE
CHAPTER

prayāga praśhasti A pillar inscription at ‘The warrior king’, It also names the Pallavas and
Prayagraj praising page 149 Kāmarūpa — proof that both
Samudragupta’s were touched by Samudragupta’s
achievements, composed by campaigns
his court poet Harisena

dharaṇi-bandha ‘To unify the Earth’ — the Page 149 The reason behind his many
ambition Harisena attributes wars and his long list of defeated
to Samudragupta kings

aśhvamedha yajña A Vedic horse sacrifice LET’S REMEMBER, Commemorated on a special
performed by ambitious kings page 150 coin (Fig. 7.7): the sacrificial
to build mighty empires and horse on one side, the queen
leave a legacy holding a chauri on the reverse

mahārājadhirāja, Grand titles adopted by Gupta ‘New kings … new They deliberately replaced the
samrāṭ, rulers, claiming supreme titles’, page 154 simpler earlier titles rājan and
chakravartin authority mahārāja

Regent ruler One who governs a kingdom Margin note, page Prabhāvatī Gupta ruled the
temporarily for a monarch 155 Vākāṭakas this way; an
unable to do so inscription calls her a ‘mother of
two kings’

Outcastes People rejected by a social or Margin note, page Faxian’s chanḍālas, made to live
cultural group — here, those 154 outside the city limits — the side
considered too low to be part of society his cheerful excerpt
of the varṇa system leaves out

Copper-plate land Land given to local rulers, ‘Governance and Shows the Guptas ruled through
grants priests and chieftains, with administration’, local leaders instead of
the grant inscribed on copper page 156 controlling everything from the
plates centre

Iron Pillar of Delhi A 6-tonne iron pillar at Pages 147–148 A thin protective layer, formed
Mehrauli, over 1,600 years by the special iron and oxygen
old, set up in the reign of from the air, keeps it from
Chandragupta II rusting

Āryabhaṭīya Āryabhaṭa’s short treatise on Page 158 Says the Earth spins on its axis;
mathematics and astronomy, gives the year as 365 days, 6
written around 500 CE hours, 12 minutes, 30 seconds

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT WORTH REMEMBERING
APPEARS IN THE
CHAPTER

Bṛihat Samhitā Varāhamihira’s encyclopedic Page 158 Astronomy, astrology, weather
work, written at Ujjayinī forecasting, architecture, town
planning — even farming

Meghadūtam Kālidāsa’s poem, ‘The Cloud Page 159 A banished yakṣha sends a
Messenger’ message to his beloved through
a passing cloud

Charaka Saṃhitā & The foundational Āyurveda DON’T MISS OUT, Diagnosis of diseases, diet,
Suśhruta Saṃhitā texts, compiled and given page 160 preparation of medicines and
final shape in the Gupta surgery — plus holistic healing
period

ghaṭikās Centres of learning that first ‘Meanwhile in the They made Pallava
emerged under the South …’, page 161 Kānchipuram a major centre of
Sātavāhanas education in the south

Prāgjyotiṣha An ancient name for the Pages 161–162 The Kāmarūpa kingdom of the
Brahmaputra valley of Assam Varman dynasty; the
Mahābhārata names its king
Bhagadatta

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