Chapter 4 — New Beginnings: Cities and States | Solutions
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Tapestry of the Past · Exploring Society, Grade 7
gees104.pdf — worked solutions
New Beginnings: Cities and States — Chapter Solutions
Every in‑text question (Think About It / Let’s Explore) and every end‑of‑chapter exercise from the janapadas, mahājanapadas and Second Urbanisation chapter, answered in full — with the chapter’s own maps, coins and ruins alongside each solution.
These are the “Think About It” and “Let’s Explore” boxes scattered through the chapter (pages 68–78), taken up in the order they appear.
Think About It · Page 70
Q Why are so many mahājanapadas concentrated in the Ganga plains?
Answer
Fertile land: The Ganga plains carried thick alluvial soil, which meant agriculture could support a much larger population and produce a surplus of food.
Iron ore in nearby hills: The Chota Nagpur plateau and the hills to the south of the plains had accessible iron ore, which fed the new iron-tool and iron-weapon technology of this period.
Trade networks: The Ganga and its tributaries acted as natural highways, so new trade routes connecting janapadas grew up along the plains, encouraging towns to develop into full-fledged states.
Together, food surplus + raw material + trade routes gave the Ganga plains everything a janapada needed to grow into a mahājanapada — which is exactly why the map on page 71 shows most of the sixteen states clustered there.
Let’s Explore · Page 70
Q The most powerful mahājanapadas were Magadha, Kosala, Vatsa and Avanti. Identify their capitals from the map, and match as many as you can with Indian cities of today.
Answer
Magadha
Rājagṛiha
→ Rajgir, Bihar
Kosala
Śhrāvastī
→ near Balrampur/Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh
Vatsa
Kauśhāmbī
→ Kosam, near Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
Avanti
Ujjayinī
→ Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
Fig. 4.3 (from the chapter) — locate Rājagṛiha, Śhrāvastī, Kauśhāmbī and Ujjayinī on this map.
All four capitals can be matched with living towns/cities today — which is the fascinating point the chapter makes on page 70: most mahājanapada capitals are still inhabited, “modern” cities that are often 2,500 years old.
Q Compare this map with the map of regions mentioned in the Mahābhārata (Grade 6, Fig. 5.4). List the names common to both maps — what does this imply?
Answer
Common names: Several mahājanapadas share their names with kingdoms/janapadas described in the Mahābhārata — for example Kuru (capital Indraprastha), Pāñchāla, Matsya, Chedi, Gāndhāra and Kamboja all appear in both the epic’s geography and the list of sixteen mahājanapadas.
What it implies: The janas (clans) and their territories remembered in the Mahābhārata were not purely legendary — they correspond to real regions that continued to exist and later grew into the historically attested mahājanapadas.
This shows a real continuity between the late Vedic/epic age and the age of the janapadas — the political geography of north India did not appear overnight; it evolved out of clan territories that were already known by these names centuries earlier.
Since Fig. 5.4 of the Grade 6 book isn’t reproduced here, use this list of overlapping names (Kuru, Pāñchāla, Matsya, Chedi, Gāndhāra, Kamboja) as your comparison points when you check it against your own Grade 6 textbook map.
Let’s Explore · Page 74
Q Fill up the comparison table between the First Urbanisation (Harappan) and the Second Urbanisation.
Answer
First Urbanisation
Second Urbanisation
Ganga plains
No
Yes
Monasteries
No
Yes
Literature
No*
Yes
Trade
Yes
Yes
Warfare
No**
Yes
Copper/bronze
Yes
Yes
Iron
No
Yes
* The Harappans had a script, but it remains undeciphered, so we have no readable literature from them — unlike the Second Urbanisation, which is documented in late Vedic, Buddhist and Jain texts. ** Archaeologists have found very little evidence of organised warfare or large weapon-caches at Harappan sites, while the chapter explicitly mentions evidence of warfare between neighbouring mahājanapadas.
Let’s Explore · Page 76
Q Why should a complex society divide itself into groups (based on occupation, class, etc.)?
Answer
Division of labour: As tasks became more specialised — farming, metallurgy, trade, administration, ritual — no single person or family could master all of them, so society naturally split into groups, each mastering one skill.
Efficiency and skill transfer: Passing a skill (say, ironworking or pottery) down within a family or community meant expertise deepened generation after generation.
Organising a bigger population: A janapada or city with thousands of people needs some group to govern, some to defend, some to produce food, and some to trade — otherwise the whole system collapses into disorder.
Trade-off: The same division that brings order also opens the door to inequality, since some groups end up with more wealth, power or status than others — as the chapter itself points out on page 76.
Q List other professions you would expect in a complex society of the 1st millennium BCE.
Q Inequalities within society can exist in many forms. Have you ever felt made to feel different? Is equality desirable, and have you seen anything that lessened inequality?
Answer — a guide for your own reflection
This is a personal, open-ended reflection question, so there’s no single “correct” answer — but here’s how to structure a strong response:
Recall a real, specific incident — at school, in your neighbourhood, or something you observed — where someone was treated differently because of background, gender, ability, language or economic status.
Explain why equality matters: a fair society lets every person’s talent and effort count, rather than their birth deciding their opportunities — this builds trust and allows everyone to contribute their best to the community.
Give an example of something that reduced inequality — e.g., a school scholarship scheme, a law guaranteeing equal wages, a community initiative, reservation policies, or simply a teacher/friend who stood up against unfair treatment.
Discuss your answer with classmates in small groups, as the textbook suggests — comparing different experiences is the real purpose of this exercise.
Exercise Questions
The four “Questions and activities” from the end of the chapter (page 81), answered in full.
Question 1
1 Consider the quotation at the start of the chapter. Discuss what Kauṭilya recommends for a kingdom. Is it very different today?
Answer
“The kingdom shall be protected by fortifying the capital and the towns at the frontiers… It should have good roads and waterways. It should have a productive economy, with a wide variety of commodities….” — Kauṭilya, Arthaśhāstra
What Kauṭilya recommends:
Security: fortify the capital and frontier towns so the kingdom is defensible from outside attack.
Self-sufficiency in a crisis: the land must be able to feed not just its own people but also outsiders/refugees during calamities like famine or war.
Rich natural resources: fertile farmland, mines, timber and elephant forests, and good pastures for cattle.
Reliable water supply: the kingdom should not depend only on rainfall — meaning irrigation and water management are essential.
Connectivity: good roads and waterways to move people, goods and armies.
A diverse, productive economy: a wide variety of commodities, so the kingdom isn’t dependent on a single product or trade.
Is it different today?
Not fundamentally. Modern nations still prioritise border security and defence infrastructure, food security and irrigation (dams, canals, water-grids replace “good waterways”), transport networks (highways, railways, ports instead of ancient roads), and a diversified economy so they aren’t dependent on one industry. The scale and technology have changed completely, but the underlying principles of statecraft — security, self-sufficiency, connectivity and economic diversity — that Kauṭilya listed over 2,000 years ago remain the goals every government still works towards.
Question 2
2 According to the text, how were rulers chosen in early Vedic society?
Answer
An assembly advised the ruler: Each janapada had an assembly or council called the sabhā or samiti — words that first appear in the Vedas — where matters concerning the clan were discussed, mostly by the elders.
The rājā did not rule alone: A good ruler (rājā) was expected to take advice from this assembly, along with his ministers and administrators, rather than ruling independently or arbitrarily.
Accountability: Some texts even mention that an incompetent ruler could be removed by the assembly — though the chapter cautions this wasn’t necessarily an established law, since our evidence for such a remote period is incomplete.
Direct election in some states: In at least two later mahājanapadas — Vajji (Vṛijji) and Malla — the sabhā/samiti held even greater power: it discussed issues, voted when necessary, and directly selected the rājā. These gaṇa/saṅgha-type states functioned as early republics rather than hereditary monarchies.
So, while most mahājanapadas were hereditary monarchies (the rājā’s son usually succeeded him) advised by an assembly, a few — Vajji and Malla — were genuinely democratic, with the ruler chosen by the assembly’s vote.
Question 3
3 Imagine you are a historian studying ancient India. What types of sources (archaeological, literary, etc.) would you use to learn more about the mahājanapadas? Explain how each source contributes.
Answer
Archaeological excavations: Digging at the sites of ancient capitals confirms that these urban centres really existed and reveals their layout, fortifications and moats.
Ancient literature: Late Vedic, Buddhist and Jain texts are full of references to these new urban centres, giving us names, events and descriptions that excavation alone cannot.
Coins: Punch-marked silver (and later copper/gold) coins issued by individual mahājanapadas tell us about their trade networks, economy and rough chronology.
Art and sculpture: Panels like the one at Sanchi, showing craftspeople at work, reveal details of daily economic life — such as metal-working — that texts rarely describe.
Fig. 4.1 — Ruins at Rājagṛiha, capital of Magadha: archaeology confirms fortified capitals really existed.Fig. 4.4 — Ruins of a complex at Kauśhāmbī, capital of the Vatsa mahājanapada.
Fig. 4.7 — Gateway at Śhiśhupalgarh: fortifications and a water-filled moat, with a deliberately narrowed entrance to control movement.Fig. 4.6 — Punch-marked silver coins: numismatic evidence of trade and economy.
Together, ruins + texts + coins + art give a historian four independent, cross-checking windows into the same period — where one source is silent (say, exact building layouts), another (excavation) fills the gap, and where excavation cannot tell us about beliefs or events, literature does.
Question 4
4 Why was the development of iron metallurgy so important for the growth of urbanism in the 1st millennium BCE?
Answer
Better agricultural tools: Iron ploughshares and axes were tougher and sharper than bronze ones. They could clear the dense forests of the Ganga plains and break up its heavier clayey soil, bringing far more land under cultivation.
Bigger food surplus: More land under the plough, worked with better tools, produced a food surplus large enough to feed people who were not themselves farmers — like rulers, soldiers, priests, artisans and traders — which is exactly what a city needs to exist.
Stronger weapons: Iron also made lighter, sharper swords, spears, arrows and shields than bronze, which changed warfare and helped some states expand and absorb their neighbours — turning janapadas into larger mahājanapadas.
Fuelled trade and specialisation: Surplus food and new tools freed up specialist craftspeople (like the smiths shown in the Sanchi panel below) to work full-time at their trade, deepening the division of labour that complex urban society depends on.
Fig. 4.5 — A Sanchi stūpa panel showing a smithy: workers bring firewood and water, stoke the fire and beat the iron.
In short, iron metallurgy is the technological engine behind the Second Urbanisation — much as copper/bronze metallurgy had once powered the First (Harappan) Urbanisation.
Quick Reference
i Chapter timeline, at a glance
From the chapter
Fig. 4.8 — Harappan civilisation (First Urbanisation) fades by ~1900 BCE; janapadas emerge from ~1200 BCE; mahājanapadas (Second Urbanisation) flourish c. 800–300 BCE.
Fig. 4.9 — Shell and gemstone industries at Kodumanal (Tamil Nadu): evidence that urbanisation and craft-trade also flourished in the south from around 400 BCE, alongside the Chola, Chera and Pāṇḍya kingdoms.
