CBSE Class 7 Social Science Chapter 04 Turning Tides 11th And 12th Centuries MCQs Set 02

Answer: (B) Peoples, languages and cultures linked to Central Asia stretching to Turkey and Siberia

Explanation:
The chapter's side-note defines Turkic broadly as a term covering peoples, languages and cultures spread across a vast belt from Central Asia to Turkey and Siberia, not a religion or a single dynasty.

Answer: (B) Its beauty and decoration were beyond description by any writer or painter

Explanation:
Al-Utbi wrote that even the pens of writers and pencils of painters could not capture the temple's beauty and decoration, showing how impressive Mathura's temple was before Mahmud destroyed it.

Answer: (B) They had accumulated enormous wealth from devotees' offerings over centuries

Explanation:
The chapter explains that big temples held vast treasure built up from generations of devotee offerings, making them prime targets for plunder alongside any religious motive Mahmud may have had.

Answer: (B) Al-Biruni

Explanation:
Al-Biruni, besides writing his encyclopaedic survey of India, rendered Patanjali's classic yoga text into Arabic after learning Sanskrit and studying with Indian scholars.

Answer: (B) The Jagannatha temple at Puri and the Sun temple at Konark

Explanation:
As the Eastern Gangas consolidated power along the eastern coast, they began the Jagannatha temple at Puri and, later, the grand Sun temple at Konark.

Answer: (B) He was tolerant enough to support a request from the Srivijaya ruler despite his own faith

Explanation:
• Rajaraja was predominantly Shaivite in personal belief.
• Yet he permitted the Srivijaya ruler to build a vihara at the port of Nagapattinam.
• This points to a degree of religious accommodation alongside strong diplomatic and trade ties across the Bay of Bengal.

Answer: (C) Vijayabahu I

Explanation:
After the Cholas held northern Sri Lanka for roughly fifty years, the Sri Lankan king Vijayabahu I fought several battles and finally pushed them out, later cementing ties with India through marriage.

Answer: (A) The Solanki dynasty

Explanation:
The chapter notes this Gujarat-Rajasthan dynasty is also called the Solanki dynasty, and cautions readers not to confuse it with the separate Chalukya dynasty that ruled in the Deccan.

Answer: (B) He left trusted commanders, including Qutb-ud-din Aibak, to consolidate his conquests

Explanation:
Unlike Mahmud, who simply plundered and left, Muhammad Ghuri wanted lasting territorial control, so he entrusted generals such as Qutb-ud-din Aibak with holding and expanding the newly won lands.

Answer: (B) College or monastery, related to the word vihara

Explanation:
Jujjani recorded that in the local language a college was called 'bihar', a term clearly derived from vihara, helping later readers connect this account to the Nalanda Mahavihara.

Answer: (B) It was spread across three multi-storey buildings holding lakhs of manuscripts

Explanation:
The chapter describes Nalanda's library as occupying three multi-storey buildings crammed with an enormous number of manuscripts, which is why the fire that followed Bakhtiyar Khilji's raid reportedly burned for months.

Answer: (B) It shows a fragment of Nalanda's intellectual life persisted even after the devastation

Explanation:
Even after the raid left Nalanda largely ruined, this small surviving class hints at how deeply rooted its learning tradition was, clinging on faintly rather than vanishing overnight.

Answer: (C) Samarangana Sutradhara

Explanation:
Among his many writings, Bhoja Paramara's Samarangana Sutradhara stands out as a wide-ranging technical work covering building design and mechanical devices.

Answer: (B) This motif had long been used on Indian coinage since the Kushanas, making it a familiar and acceptable design

Explanation:
The chapter notes that the Lakshmi image had appeared on coins since Kushana times, so adopting a widely recognised motif was likely a practical way to make the new currency acceptable to local populations.

Answer: (B) Trade, art, literature and learning continued to thrive despite the disruptions of war

Explanation:
Even amid plunder and conquest in parts of the north, the chapter stresses that merchant guilds adapted, temples kept rising, and literary and scientific work continued — pointing to resilience rather than total disruption.

Answer: (A) Ajayameru (Ajmer)

Explanation:
The Chahamanas, after extending their control over Delhi, Haryana and much of Rajasthan, ruled from Ajayameru, which is present-day Ajmer. Dhillika was a city they later conquered, not their original capital.

Answer: (A) A dispute over control of a key sea route used for trade with China

Explanation:
Chola trade with China depended partly on a route through the Strait of Malacca, controlled by the Srivijaya king; this rivalry over maritime commerce, not religion or diplomacy, sparked the conflict.

Answer: (A) A 9th-century king of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty

Explanation:
There were two well-known kings named Bhoja in Indian history — one from the Gurjara-Pratihara line in the 9th century, and the Paramara scholar-king who ruled Malwa two centuries later. The chapter explicitly warns not to mix them up.

Answer: (B) He sent scholars to study at Nalanda

Explanation:
Despite driving the Cholas out of northern Sri Lanka after years of conflict, Vijayabahu I married a Kalinga princess, showing that cultural and marital bonds persisted even amid warfare.

Answer: (A) Repeated costly conflicts with neighbours like the Western Chalukyas, Pandyas and Sri Lankan rulers

Explanation:
• Frequent wars drained the Chola treasury over time
• Chief rivals included the Western Chalukyas, the Pandyas and Sri Lankan kings
• This financial strain, more than any single defeat, led to the empire's decline
• The Pandyas ultimately absorbed the weakened Chola state

Answer: (A) To show that India-Srivijaya relations were largely cultural and cooperative, not just conflictual

Explanation:
Right after describing Rajendra Chola's naval attack on Srivijaya, the chapter adds this example so readers don't wrongly assume the two regions were always at odds — the donation and the granted request for monastery land point to genuine goodwill alongside occasional conflict.

Answer: (A) It was more centralised, with officers given temporary land assignments in exchange for revenue collection and military service

Explanation:
Most administrations of the period followed similar patterns to earlier ones, but Muhammad Ghuri's system stood out for its greater centralisation, tying land grants directly to service obligations — a model later expanded under the Delhi Sultanate.

Answer: (A) Agriculture

Explanation:
Trade with China and Southeast Asia grew steadily, and guilds thrived, but the chapter is direct in stating that agriculture — supported by irrigation projects from various rulers — remained the backbone of the economy, just as it still is today.

Answer: (A) Toranas

Explanation:
The Kakatiyas fortified their capital with elaborately carved stone toranas, or gateways, one of which still stands as a well-known landmark of Warangal today.

Answer: (A) Jayadeva

Explanation:
The Senas, unlike their Buddhist-leaning Pala predecessors, promoted Hindu literature and patronised poets such as Jayadeva, whose Gitagovindam became a celebrated Sanskrit composition on Krishna and Radha. Someshvara III instead wrote an encyclopaedic work called Manasollasa, while Basaveshvara was a Kannada poet-reformer unrelated to the Sena court.