MAHATMA SCHOOLS

(Affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi)

History – Grade VI
Ch - 4 : What Burials and Books tells us?

I. Vocabulary:

1. Vedas
2. Language
3. Hymn
4. Chariot
5. Sacrifice
6. Rajas
7. Jana
8. Megaliths
9. Skeletal
10. Granary

II. Key Concepts

1. Megalith : A Large stone placed to mark a burial or a place

2. Hymns : Sukta or “Well said”
3. Rig Veda : The Oldest Veda composed about 3500 years ago.
4. Dasa : The people who did not perform sacrifices.

III. Very Short Answers

1. Name the four Vedas.

Ans. The Four Vedas are Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda & Atharva
Veda.
2. What is the meaning of “Megaliths”?
Ans. Stone boulders are known as megaliths. (Literally big stones)
3. Name the two words which describe the people.
Ans. The two words used to describe the people are Jana and Vish
4. Name the things which the people include in their offerings.
 Ans. The offerings include Ghee, Grain and in some cases animals.
5. Where was “Inamgaon” site situated?
Ans. The Site is on the river Ghod, tributary of the Bhima.

IV. Short Answers

1. Write about Gods and Goddesses of early Aryans.

Ans. Early Aryans worshipped different forces of nature such as sun,
earth, sky, wind, rain, fire and so on. All these became their gods and
goddesses. These gods were given a human form. Lord Indra was one of
the supreme deities in Rigveda and a symbol of courage and strength.
Lord Indra was the king of the cosmic gods and was called Purandhar-
‘destroyer of enemies’.
2. List some of the common features of all the burials.
Ans. The common features of all the burials are as follows:
Normally, the dead were buried with distinctive pots, which are called
Black and Red Ware.
Tools and weapons of iron were also found buried with the dead.
Sometimes, skeletons of horses, horse equipments and ornaments of
stone and gold were also found buried with the dead.
3. Describe the Dravidian language family.
Ans. Dravidian language family: This language family comprises of
languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. These
languages are spoken in the southern part of India.

4. Mention three important Rigvedic gods.

Ans. Important gods of the Rigvedic age were: Agni, the god of fire;
Indra, a warrior god and Soma, a plant from which a special drink was
prepared.

5. Who composed hymns of the Rigveda and what are its characteristics?
 Ans. The hymns of the Rigveda were composed by sages (rishis).
Priests taught students to recite and memorise each syllable, word, and
sentence, with great care. It was the basic condition that every hymn
should be uttered clearly and with proper pronunciation. Most of the
hymns were composed, taught and learnt by men. A few were
composed by women like Gargi and Vishveshwara.
6. What was the system of distribution of wealth captured in the war?
Ans. Some of the wealth that was captured was kept by the leaders. A
portion was given to the priests and the rest was distributed amongst the
people. Some of this wealth was also used to perform yagnas and offer
sacrifices into the fire for the well-being of the tribe.

V. Long Answers

1. How can we say that the people of Inamgaon were hunters and gatherers?
Ans. The varieties of evidence that have been discovered by the
archaeologists suggest that people at Inamgaon were hunters, gatherers
and farmers.

The evidence were Bones of a number of animals and many bearing cut
marks show that they may have been used as food were also found. This
shows that the people of Inamgaon practiced hunting.

There is evidence that fruits such as ber, amla, jamun, dates and a
variety of berries were collected, which shows that they gathered food.

2. What are the features of the megaliths?

Ans. During the archaeological excavations, megaliths were found in a
circle of stone boulders or a single large stone standing on the ground.
These are the indications that there are burials beneath. Generally the
dead were buried with distinctive pots, which were called Black and
Red Ware. Some tools and weapons of iron and skeletons of horses,
horse equipments and ornaments of stone and gold were buried along
 with the dead. Sometimes, Megaliths contained more than one skeleton.
It reflects that people belonging to the same family were buried in the
same place in different time. Megaliths are commemorated grave areas
marked with stone boulders surroundings.

VI. Mind Map