UPSC Prelims 2016 · Question 63 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2016 question on Banjaras Medieval Traders
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2016
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectMedieval History
- TopicMiscellaneous Medieval History
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
Banjaras during the medieval period of Indian history were generally
Show answer
Answer: D. traders
Verdict
The answer is traders. The Banjaras of medieval India were trader nomads.
Analysis
The Banjaras were the most important of the trading nomad communities, moving in caravans called tanda and specialising in the bulk overland transport of grain and other goods. Sultan Alauddin Khalji used them to carry grain to the city markets of Delhi, and Jahangir recorded in his memoirs that they carried grain on bullocks from different areas and sold it in towns. They were therefore neither settled agriculturists nor a warrior or weaving community.
Source
NCERT Class VII, Towns, Traders and Craftspersons.
How to crack it
The NCERT chapter that produces this question is about towns, traders and craftspersons, and the same chapter yields questions on urban categories, craft guilds and trading communities more generally. Learning the chapter as a unit rather than the single fact covers several possible questions at once. Note also the reusable idea that pre modern bulk transport in India was performed by mobile specialist communities, which explains why rulers as different as Alauddin Khalji and Jahangir both relied on them.