Literary Heritage of India Class 10 GSEB Solutions Social Science Chapter 4

Gujarat Board Class 10 Social Science Literary Heritage of India Textbook Questions and Answers

I. Answer the following questions in detail: 
Question 1. How many Vedas are there in India and which are they?
Answer:
There are four Vedas in India.
(1) Rigveda: It is the oldest of all the four Vedas and hence the oldest of the Indian literature. It consists of 1028 verses. It is a wonderful work divided into 10 divisions. Most of the verses are prayers of God. These prayers were used during the yagnas. Among them, the verses that preach about worshipping Usa (The Goddess of drawn) are fascinating. This work was composed by people residing in Sapt Sindhu region.
(2) Samveda: It was composed to focus on the process of recitation of verses. Hence, it is known as the Gangotri of music.
(3) Yajurveda: It is called a veda of Yognas. It is composed in both the forms: prose and verse. This describes the hymns recited at time of Yogyas, the religious practices and rituals.
(4) Atharvaveda: It describes various types of rituals and sanskaras.

Question 2. Write a note on Takshashila Vidhyalaya.
Answer:
Takshashila: Ancient university of Takshashila was located at Rawalpindi. It was the capital city of ancient Gandhar region. It is believed that Takshashila University got its name after the name of ‘Taksha’, the son of Bharata, brother of Lord Rama. Takshashila was a renowned center of learning during the 7th century. The university imparted education in 64 subjects. The subjects included teachings of Vedas, military science, Gajvidhya, archery, grammar, philosophy, warlord, astronomy, astrology, etc. Students were free to study the subjects of their interest.

The teacher-student ratio was 1:20. Most of the students stayed at the ashram to study and practice with guru. ‘Jivak’, the disciple of Lord Buddha, studied Ayurveda at Takshashila. Chanakya, the writer of ‘Arthashastra’ and the mentor of Chandragupta Mauiya also studied here. Moreover, students from distant places like Varanasi, Rajgriha, Mithila and Ujjain used to visit Takshashila in large numbers to study. Princess of Varanasi, Prasenjit, the king of Kaushal, the great grammarian Panini, etc. studied here. Chinese scholar Fa-Hien visited Takshashila in the beginning of 5th century.

Question 3. Describe Medieval literature:
Answer:
The medieval literature is discussed in following points:
Literature developed in North India:
During the beginning of Medieval age, the language of literature in north India was Sanskrit. Two great works were written in Kashmir namely, Somdeva’s Kathasaritsagar and Kalhana’s Rajatarangini. Rajatarangini is of great importance as it depicts the histoiy of Kashmir. It is considered as the first historical book of India. Jaydeva wrote ‘Geetgovind’.

Literature developed in Apabharams:
Those languages which did not strictly follow the norms of the Sanskrit language i.e. deviated were called Apabharams. Hindi is one such language originated from Apabharams. One of the earliest works in the form of Hindi was ‘Prithviraj Raso’ by Chandbardai. It is about the heroic deeds of Prithviraj Chauhan.

Literature developed in South India:
Sanskrit and Telugu literature got more encouragement in the region of kings of Vijayanagar. Raja Krishnadevrai, the great king of Vijayanagar wrote the ‘Amukta Malayd’. Works on Jainism in Kannada language. Poet Pampa composed ‘Adipuran’ and Vjkramarjun Vijayant’. The poet Ponna wrote ‘Shantipuran’ describing the life of 16th Jain Tirthankaras. The poet Ranna composed books namely ‘Ajitnathpuran’ and Gada Yudh’. Poet Kamban composed ‘Ramayana’ in Tamil language. Also, several other famous literary works were written in Tamil language.

Development of Indian languages during the Delhi Sultanate:
Indian languages and composition got a good encouragement during the Delhi Sultanate. During that period, two forms of Delhi language namely ‘Khadi Boli’ and ‘Brij Bhasha’ began to be used for writing literature. Many devotional songs were composed in these two languages.

Moreover, many heroic poems and stories were composed in Rajasthani language, which is similar to Hindi and Gujarati. The heroic works like ‘Alha’, Tidal’ and Visaldev Raso’were popular at the time. A book called ‘Chandrayan’ written by Mulla-Daod is the oldest book in Awadhi language.

Literature in Persian language: Persian was the language of court of Delhi Sultanate. Ziauddin Barani wrote the Tarikh-e-Firoz Shahi which gives an account of the region of the Khilji and Tughluq kings. He also wrote a book on political theory called Fatwa- e-Jahangiri.

Amir Khusro was the most outstanding literary figure of the Delhi Sultanate. He was a poet, historian, mystic saint and composer of music. He did several works in Persian language. He wrote the ‘Ashiquea’, the ‘Nah’, ‘Sipiher1, the ‘Kiratual Sadayan’, the ‘Khazain-ul-Futuh’ and several other works of poetry. He also composed verses in many other languages. He wrote a number of billingual quatrains and verses in Hindi and Persian languages.

Literature in Bhojpuri and Awadhi:
Bhojpuri and Awadhi were the major dialects during those days. Kabir, the great saint and poet mainly composed his work in ‘Sadhukhadi’. Among them, Kabir’s dohas have become a part of folklore. Malik Muhammad Jayasi wrote ‘Padmavati’ in Awadhi. Tulsidas wrote ‘Ramcharit Manas’ in Awadhi.

Apart from the main languages, there were several literatures done in other languages. Some of them are discussed below:

Kritta Vasa wrote Ramayana in Bengali. Famous poet Chandidas wrote hundreds of lyrics under the patronage of the rulers. Saint Chaitanya began the tradition of writing devotional songs. Narsinh Mehta wrote devotional songs in Gujarati and Namdev and Saint Eknath in Marathi. Important developments took place in Kashmir under Zainulabidin. Under his patronage, many Sanskrit works like the ‘Mahabharata’ and Rajtarangini were translated into Persian.

Development of literature during the Mughal period:
Babar, the first Mughal ruler, was one of the most prominent Turkish poets. He wrote a valuable autobiography Tuzuk-e-Babar’ in Turkish. This was later translated into Persian under the name Babamama. Gulbadan Begum, sister of emperor Humayun, wrote ‘Humayunnama’. Jahangir wrote his great autobiography, Tuzuk-e- Jahangiri. Tulsidas and Surdas wrote during the Mughal period.

The great poet Keshavdas wrote on love and separation. Rahim’s ‘dohas’ are still popular all over India. Abul Fazl wrote the ‘Ain-e-Akbari’ and the ‘Akbamama’. Abul Fazl’s brother Faizi was great Persian Poet and he translated many Sanskrit works into Persian. Akbar had established an independent department for translation of Sanskrit works like the Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Atharvaveda, the Bhagwad Gita and the Panchatantra.

Development of literature in Urdu language:
One of the most significant developments during the medieval period was the birth of Urdu language. Urdu language produced great poets like Wali, Mir Dard, Mir Taqi mir, Nazir Akbarabadi, Abdullah Khan, Galib, Iqbal and others. Urdu prose also developed in the early 18th century when the translation of most of the historical works from Sanskrit into Urdu began. Muhammad Hussain Azad’s Darbar-e-Akbari’ is one of the best works of Urdu language.

II. Answer the following questions pointwise:
Question 1. Give information about Vallabhi Vidhyapith.
Answer:
Ancient city of Vallabhi which is presently known as Vallabhipur is located in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Vallabhi was a very famous center of education in 7th century.

• The rulers and people of Vansh dynasty together made Vallabhi a well renowned and a huge center of education.
• It was a world-renowned university preaching knowledge of arts and science.
• Vallabhi was the center of Hinayana cult of Buddhist religion.
• Buddhist scholars like Sthirmati and Gunmati were among the most renowned and leading principals of Vallabhi University in the middle of 7th century.
• The brahmin students from the distant areas of plains of Ganga and Yamuna used to come here for higher studies. Chinese traveler ‘I-Tsang’ noted that Vallabhi competed with famous education center Nalanda.
• Vallabhi was also a capital and an international port from480AD to 775AD.
• The rulers of Vallabhi belonged to Maitrak dynasty.
• It is important to note that even though these rulers were not Buddhists, they helped the development of Vallabhi University.
• In 775 AD, the Arabs attacked Maitraks and defeated them. This led to the closure of the university.
• The university had a tradition of writing names of famous scholars on the university gate.
• Scholars passing from this university used to display their intelligence and skills to the kings and earn higher ranks in the Court.
• Knowledge, worship and a specific system of education made the university famous all over India and abroad. Hence, students from India and abroad used to come to study here. It was an international university in the real sense.
• Almost all the branches of knowledge were taught here.
• The expenses of university were taken care through the charity obtained from the kings and landlords.

Question 2. Give information about Nalanda Vidyapith.
Answer:
The ancient Nalanda University was situated at Badgaon village of Patna district in Bihar.

• The university was divided into seven huge halls or say rooms or sections.
• There were 300 rooms for delivering lectures.
• Special monasteries were built so that students could stay in the university.
• Many villages were donated to the university so that it could survive, teach maximum students and flourish.
• Whatever the university earned from the donation of these villages it used to spend it for the free food and clothing facilities for the students.
• The area where the books were kept was known as ‘dharmgunj’.
• During 5th to 11th century BC, Nalanda was a very reputed center of learning.
• Nalanda gave more importance to Buddhism and Jainism.
• Mahavir Swami had performed fourteen chaturmas in Nalanda. Hence, this ancient university also became an important pilgrimage centre for Jains.
• In the 5th century Kumar Gupta built a monastery here. Since then fame of Nalanda increased more.
• The university had a collection of thousands of precious manuscripts.
• The university had the best of education as well as books.
• Such was the glory of Nalanda that its students were considered the ideal students of India.
• Nalanda was a pious place of Indian culture.
• Students from various parts of the country as well as world used to come here for study and research.
• The great traveller Huen-Tsang came from China to study at Nalanda in 7th century.
• While returning he took 657 books from the university.
• Today, the great university exists only in ruins. But amidst the ruins, one can visualize the glorious culture of India.

III. Answer the following in short.
Question 1. Write a note on Yajurveda.
Answer:
Yajurveda is called a Veda of yagnas. It is composed in both the forms namely, the prose and verse.

Question 2. Write information is given in Yajurveda.
Answer:
Yajurveda describes the hymns recited at time of Yagnas done during the religious rituals.

Question 3. Which philosophical principles have been explained in Shrimad Bhaqwad Gita?
Answer:
The Bhagwad Gita is a part of India’s greatest epic Mahabharata. Geeta is the holy book of Hindus. It describes deep philosophical principles. It conveys the message of achieving ‘moksha’ or salvation through ‘Gyana’, ‘Karma’ and ‘Bhakti’.

IV. Answer the following questions selecting the correct option from these given below:
Question 1. ______ is the most ancient book of Indian literature.
(a) Rigveda
(b) Yajurveda
(c) Samveda
(d) Atharvaveda
Answer:
(a) Rigveda

Question 2. In which language is Buddhist literature written?
(a) Pali
(b) Hindi
(c) Brahmi
(d) Gujarati
Answer:
(a) Pali

Question 3. Which is the oldest language of Dravidians?
(a) Tamil
(b) Telugu
(c) Kannada
(d) Gujarati
Answer:
(a) Tamil

Question 4. Which is the first literary composition of poet Chandbardai in the Hindi literature?
(a) Prithviraj Raso
(b) Vikramankdev Charit
(c) Kaviraj Marg
(d) Malayalam
Answer:
(a) Prithviraj Raso

Question 5. Which is the literary composition of Maharshi Panini?
(a) Ashjtadhyayi
(b) Prithviraj Raso
(c) Vikramankdev Charit
(d) Chandrayan
Answer:
(a) Ashjtadhyayi