Women Caste and Reform Class 8 question answer: History class 8 chapter 7 question answer
| Textbook | Ncert |
| Class | Class 8 |
| Subject | History |
| Chapter | Chapter 7 |
| Chapter Name | Women Caste and Reform ncert solutions |
| Category | Ncert Solutions |
| Medium | English |
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Let’s recall Women Caste and Reform Class 8 question answer
Question 1: What social ideas did the following people support.
Rammohun Roy
Dayanand Saraswati
Veerasalingam Pantulu
Jyotirao Phule
Pandita Ramabai
Periyar
Mumtaz Ali
Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar
Answer 1:
- Rammohun Roy – Abolition of sati, women’s rights, modern education, and rationalism.
- Dayanand Saraswati – Vedic revivalism, women’s education, and caste reform through Arya Samaj.
- Veerasalingam Pantulu – Widow remarriage, women’s education, and social reforms in Andhra Pradesh.
- Jyotirao Phule – Education for lower castes and women, opposition to Brahminical dominance, and social equality.
- Pandita Ramabai – Women’s rights, widow upliftment, and education for girls.
- Periyar – Anti-caste movement, self-respect movement, women’s rights, and rationalism.
- Mumtaz Ali – Women’s rights in Islam, education for Muslim women.
- Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar – Widow remarriage, women’s education, and social reforms in Hindu society.
Question 2: State whether true or false:
(a) When the British captured Bengal, they framed many new laws to regulate the rules regarding marriage, adoption, inheritance of property, etc.
(b) Social reformers had to discard the ancient texts in order to argue for reform in social practices.
(c) Reformers got full support from all sections of the people of the country.
(d) The Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed in 1829.
Answer 2:
- (a) True
- (b) False
- (c) False
- (d) False
Let’s discuss Women Caste and Reform Class 8 question answer
Question 3: How did the knowledge of ancient texts help the reformers promote new laws?
Answer 3: The reformers tried to convince people that widow burning, caste distinctions, child marriage, etc had no sanction in ancient texts. Their knowledge of ancient texts gave them immense confidence and moral support which they utilised in promoting new laws. They did not get feared when people raised voice against the reforms they had brought.
Question 4: What were the different reasons people had for not sending girls to school?
Answer 4: The following were the different reasons people had for not sending girls to school.
(a) They feared that schools would take girls away from home, thereby preventing them from doing their domestic duties.
(b) They felt that travelling through public places in order to reach school would have a corrupting influence on girls.
(c) They felt that girls should stay away from public spaces.
Question 5: Why were Christian missionaries attacked by many people in the country? Would some people have supported them too? If so, for what reasons?
Answer 5: The Christian missionaries were attacked by the people, as they were involved in the religious conversion of poor and tribal people, that is, converting a Hindu into a Christian. These missionaries also set up schools for tribal and poor kids to learn. However, the larger section of people who looked down upon the poor people and tribal people did not like the idea of exposing tribal people to education. Hence, the attacks on Christian missionaries started.
Question 6: In the British period, what new opportunities opened up for people who came from castes that were regarded as “low”?
Answer 6: With the expansion of cities, new demands of labor created. Drains had to be dug, roads laid, buildings constructed and cities cleaned. This required coolies, diggers, carriers, bricklayers, sweepers, rickshaw pullers, etc. This labour came from people who belonged to the “low” caste.
They left their villages and small towns and shifted to the cities to get work. Some went to work in plantations in Assam, Mauritius, Trinidad, and Indonesia. Although it was not easy to work in the new locations, poor people saw this an opportunity to get away from the exploitations of the upper-caste.
Question 7: How did Jyotirao, and other reformer justify their criticism of caste inequality in society?
Answer 7: Jyotirao Phule criticized caste inequality by arguing that the Brahmins and other upper castes, whom he identified as Aryans, were outsiders who had conquered and oppressed the indigenous lower-caste people. He claimed that land and resources originally belonged to the lower castes, who were the true inhabitants of India.
Phule emphasized the need for education and social reforms to uplift the oppressed. Other reformers, like Periyar and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, also challenged caste-based discrimination, advocating for self-respect, equality, and social justice.
Question 8: Why did Phule dedicate his book Gulamgiri to the American movement to free slaves?
Answer 8: Phule dedicated his book ‘Gulamgiri’ to the American movement to free slaves because he wanted to establish a link between the conditions of the lower castes in India and the black slaves in America. As ten years before he wrote his book in 1873; the American Civil War had been fought leading to the end of slavery in America.
Question 9: What did Ambedkar want to achieve through the temple entry movement?
Answer 9: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar started a temple entry movement in 1927 which was participated by his Mahar caste followers. Brahmin priests were outraged when the lower castes used water from the temple tank. Dr. Ambedkar led three such movements for temple entry between 1927 and 1935. He aimed to make everyone see the power of caste prejudices within society.
Question 10: Why were Jyotirao Phule and Ramaswamy Naicker critical of the national movement? Did their criticism help the national struggle in any way?
Answer 10: Jyotirao Phule and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar) were critical of the national movement because they believed it was dominated by upper-caste leaders who ignored social equality. Phule argued that upper-caste nationalists asked Shudras, Muslims, and Parsis to unite for the nation’s progress but would later continue caste-based discrimination.
Periyar initially joined the Congress but left in disappointment after witnessing caste-based seating arrangements at a nationalist feast. He believed that the national movement did not genuinely address the concerns of lower castes.
Their criticism helped the national struggle by forcing upper-caste leaders to reflect on caste discrimination, leading to greater awareness and reforms within the movement.