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Class 9 State and Society up to 1000 CE: cheat sheet
CBSE Social Science. How states grew from janas to mahajanapadas, Kautilya’s saptanga, the kingdoms of the south, local government, guilds and trade up to 1000 CE.
Key ideas
- Kin-based janas settled into territories called janapadas, which grew into 16 mahajanapadas; Magadha became the most powerful.
- Some mahajanapadas were kingdoms; others, the ganas or samghas, were republics run by assemblies.
- Early assemblies were the sabha (smaller, dealing with justice) and the samiti (larger, discussing policy).
- Kautilya’s saptanga names seven limbs of the state, and a council of ministers (the mantri-parishad) advised the king.
- The Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas ruled the far south; Chola land was divided into mandalam, valanadu, nadu and ur.
- The Uttaramerur inscription shows Chola villages choosing committee members by drawing palm-leaf names from a pot.
- Guilds called shrenis organised crafts and trade and even took deposits; routes like Uttarapatha and ports like Muziris and Arikamedu carried trade.
Remember
| Saptanga | king, ministers, territory, forts, treasury, army, allies |
| Southern emblems | Cholas: tiger; Cheras: bow; Pandyas: fish |
| Chola divisions, largest first | mandalam → valanadu → nadu → ur |
| Mauryan land tax | about one-sixth of the produce |
| Sudarshana Lake | a Mauryan reservoir in Gujarat, later repaired by Rudradaman I |
| Tripartite struggle | Gurjara-Pratiharas, Palas and Rashtrakutas, over Kannauj |
Watch out
- Mixing up the jana (the clan) and the janapada (the land where it settled).
- Thinking every mahajanapada was a kingdom: the ganas or samghas were republics.
- Taking a one-sixth tax as 6%: it is one part in six, so divide the harvest by 6.
Worked example
A farmer harvests 3,000 kg of grain. (a) How much is the Mauryan one-sixth tax? (b) How much is left? (c) If the family eats 450 kg, how much can be sold?
Working: 3,000 ÷ 6; − that; − 450
Answer: (a) 500 kg (b) 2,500 kg (c) 2,050 kg
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