Page 93 - SST Class 07
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keep it under his control for long. In theory, when sunbeams fall on them, the eye dazzled by
however, the Ahoms ruled as vassals of the the flashing back of light.”
Mughals. The Ahoms had a tribal set-up. The village
During the reign of Aurangzeb, when the gover- community was very powerful. Its allotted land to
nor of Bengal visited the Ahom capital of peasants based on their needs. The peasant
Garhaon, one of his scribes recorded a detailed cultivated food crops, particularly rice, on their
description of the city and the people. Here is an land. Peasants and other also had to serve in the
extract from his account: army during war. People lived in houses made of
“'The Raja’s audience hall, stands on 66 pillars, bamboo which was available locally. Tribal gods
each of them is 2 meters round. My pen fails to were worshipped. In the eighteenth century,
describe in detail the other arts and rare inven- some Ahoms adopted Hinduism as their religion.
tions employed in decorating the woodwork of However, worship of tribal gods continued.
this palace. The sides of this palace have been Rudra Singh was the most powerful Ahom ruler.
partitioned into wooden lattices of various He ruled from 1696 to 1714. He and the later
designs and adorned both inside and outside rulers compiled the nineteenth century, Assam
with mirrors of brass, polished so finely that became a part of British India. The Ahoms still
live as a small tribal group in Assam.
Terminology
Nomadic : living the life of a nomad; wandering
Kinship : a sharing of characteristics or origins
Contemporary : living or occurring at the same time
Shifting cultivation : an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then
abandoned and allowed to revert to their natural vegetation while the cultivator
moves on to another plot
Inside Story
Inside Story
g Tribal societies were absolutely different from those which existed in big cities.
g Some tribes were nomadic and kept on moving from one place to another.
g During the medieval period, some tribes became dominant.
g The name Gondwana means ‘country inhabited by Gonds’.
g The Ahoms expanded their territories by defeating the local rulers.
g Rudra Singh was the most powerful Ahom ruler. He ruled from 1696 to 1714.
A. Tick (3) the correct option.
1. The main source of tribals’ livelihood was:
(a) knitting (b) agriculture (c) hunting
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