CBSE Class 9 Social Science Chapter 05 State And Society Up To 1000 Ce MCQs Set 02

Answer: (A) Sabha

Explanation:
The sabha was a compact body of elites focused on judicial functions, unlike the samiti, which was a larger assembly dealing with policy, or the vidhata, which was a popular gathering open to the wider community.

Answer: (A) Purushasukta

Explanation:
It is the Purushasukta that first mentions the fourfold varna categories, which later came to be linked with specific roles and occupations in society.

Answer: (A) Kula (family) to grama (village) to visha to jana

Explanation:
Several families made up a grama, several gramas formed a visha led by a vishapati, and above the visha stood the jana, protected by the raja - so the kula was the smallest unit and the jana the largest.

Answer: (A) The enduring ideal of a single ruler holding authority over the entire subcontinent

Explanation:
These practices reflected a recurring aspiration among rulers across centuries - from the Vedic period through the Cholas - to be recognised as a paramount sovereign over the whole of Bharatavarsha, not just their own kingdom.

Answer: (A) Samaveda

Explanation:
Its hymns, drawn from the Rigveda but arranged for musical chanting, gave rise to a recitation tradition that later shaped the seven-note system used in Indian music.

Answer: (A) The village headman (gramika)

Explanation:
A gramika managed a single village at the lowest rung of administration, whereas the mantri-parishad was a body of senior statesmen - typically including the treasurer, tax collector, legal advisor, and army chief - that advised the king at the centre.

Answer: (A) Mandalam, valanadu, nadu, ur

Explanation:
The Chola kingdom was organised into provinces called mandalams, which were broken down into valanadus (districts), then nadus (groups of villages), with individual villages known as urs forming the smallest unit.

Answer: (A) His military campaign that extended Chola control up to the Ganga region

Explanation:
Much like the earlier Chera king Nedunjeral Adan, who claimed conquests reaching the Himalayas, Rajendra I used this title to project the old ideal of a ruler whose authority stretched across the subcontinent.

Answer: (A) Prabhavati Gupta

Explanation:
Prabhavati Gupta, daughter of Chandragupta II, is cited as an example of a woman exercising direct political authority, distinct from Sembiyan Mahadevi, who was known instead for patronising temple construction during the Chola period.

Answer: (A) Vanigar were associated with trade and commerce

Explanation:
Vanigar were traders or merchants, while Arasar meant kings, Velar meant farmers, and Antanar referred to brahmanas who were often patronised by rulers - so only the Vanigar-trade pairing is correct.

Answer: (A) Its members were also skilled in archery and astrology

Explanation:
This detail is used in the chapter as evidence of occupational mobility - the same guild of weavers had diversified into other skills, showing that occupational identity was not always narrowly fixed.

Answer: (A) The stages involved in farming, from field preparation to harvesting

Explanation:
It describes eight distinct stages of agricultural work, ranging from preparing and weeding fields to harvesting and winnowing crops, pointing to a fairly sophisticated understanding of farming during the post-Mauryan period.

Answer: (A) Karikala Chola

Explanation:
Karikala Chola's dam has been repaired and reused by successive rulers over many centuries.
• It stored and distributed river water for agriculture.
• Its continued use today shows the lasting value of early irrigation engineering.

Answer: (A) That all matter and forms of consciousness are ultimately expressions of one underlying unity

Explanation:
Samatva, or the principle of sameness, holds that all bodies share the same matter and all consciousness reflects one supreme consciousness - an idea the Mahabharata reinforces through characters of different varnas who uphold this shared goodness despite their differences.

Answer: (A) That kingship, though generally hereditary, was not always absolute or automatically passed down

Explanation:
While succession usually followed hereditary lines, these references show that in practice, a ruler's position could be challenged or altered, hinting at limits on what was otherwise assumed to be unquestioned royal power.

Answer: (A) The place where a people first set their feet and settled

Explanation:
Janapada marks the shift from kinship-based belonging to attachment to land - literally, where a jana (people) first set foot and settled down.

Answer: (B) They married only within their own group or community

Explanation:
The margin note defines endogamy plainly: choosing marriage partners only from within one's own social group, clan, or community, rather than outside it.

Answer: (B) The circulation of metallic coins alongside the rise of territorial states

Explanation:
• Territorial states like the mahajanapadas created stable conditions for commerce.
• Silver punch-marked coins came into circulation around the same period.
• Together these gave traders and artisans reason to organise into guilds (shrenis) for regulating trade.

Answer: (B) He acted as the head of a village

Explanation:
Below the aharas (administrative divisions) were villages, and each village was led by a headman called the gramika.

Answer: (A) That occupations within a family were not strictly fixed by birth

Explanation:
The verse shows three different occupations existing within a single household, which historians take as a sign that occupational roles in early Vedic times were flexible rather than rigidly inherited.

Answer: (B) Effective governance depends on cooperation through an organised administrative machinery

Explanation:
Just as a carriage needs more than one wheel to move, the Arthashastra suggests a king cannot govern alone; he needs a well-coordinated body of officials working together with him.

Answer: (B) Managing local matters such as irrigation, gardens, and temple upkeep

Explanation:
Village assemblies delegated specific practical responsibilities to these smaller committees, letting villages handle everyday affairs like water management and temple maintenance without depending on royal officials.

Answer: (A) Kin-based janas, then janapadas, then mahajanapadas, then pan-Indian empires

Explanation:
Vedic society began as kinship-bound janas, which gradually settled into territorial janapadas, expanded into larger mahajanapadas, and eventually consolidated into empires with roughly pan-Indian reach, such as the Mauryan Empire.

Answer: (B) Dharma is whatever sustains and supports the existence of all living beings

Explanation:
This definition ties dharma to sustaining life and order itself rather than to religious ceremony, reflecting the chapter's broader point that dharma means duty and righteous conduct, not religion in the narrow sense.

Answer: (B) As a cosmic order maintaining harmony and balance in nature and society

Explanation:
Rita is described as an all-pervading principle that regulates natural forces, upholds moral values, and keeps the universe in balance - a concept distinct from satya, though closely related to it.