General Knowledge · Class 5 · History and people
How we know about old kings
No one alive today ever met Emperor Ashoka. So how do we know what he said?
Small test at the end: scroll down to the end of this page for five short questions that check what you have learnt. Tap an answer, then press Check answer. Go to the questions ↓
Jump to: Read first · Try it away from the screen · Check it yourself · Check yourself · For teachers
Read first
6 facts. The questions below make you use them, not just remember them.
- Historians learn about the past from sources: words carved in stone or metal (inscriptions), coins, old buildings, and books written long ago.
- Emperor Ashoka ruled about 2,300 years ago. He had his messages carved on rocks and pillars across India, asking people to be kind and to respect all faiths.
- For hundreds of years nobody could read Ashoka's writing, called Brahmi. In 1837 a scholar named James Prinsep worked it out.
- The lion capital from Ashoka's pillar at Sarnath is India's national emblem. You can see it on every rupee note.
- Coins tell us a king's name, his looks and how far his kingdom reached. Some gold coins of the Gupta king Samudragupta show him playing a veena.
- Archaeologists dig carefully, one layer at a time. Deeper layers are usually older.
Offline
Try it away from the screen
Look at a coin or a rupee note at home. Write down everything it tells you: the year, the language, the pictures. What would a historian 1,000 years from now learn from it?
Make it on paper. Keep it with you. Nothing to upload.
Check it yourself
Ask "how do we know?" about any history story. A good history book tells you its sources: an inscription, a coin, a building or an old book.
Check yourself
Five questions about what this page teaches. Choose an answer and press Check answer, or open "See the answer and why". Nothing is saved or sent: your choices stay on this screen and disappear when you leave or reload the page.
How do you want to answer? You choose, and you can change at any time.
See the answer and why
- A. Ashoka's lion pillar at Sarnath Correct. Yes. Its four lions face four directions.
- B. The walls of the Red Fort in Delhi Not this one. The Red Fort is much later, built for Shah Jahan.
- C. A seal from Harappa Not this one. Harappan seals are much older, and the emblem is not from them.
- D. A gold coin of Samudragupta Not this one. Gupta coins are famous, but the emblem comes from Ashoka's pillar.
See the answer and why
- A. 189 Correct. Yes. 2026 − 1837 = 189 years.
- B. 199 Not this one. Check the tens: 1837 + 199 is 2036.
- C. 179 Not this one. Check the tens: 1837 + 179 is 2016, not 2026.
- D. 289 Not this one. Check the hundreds: 2026 − 1837 is less than 200.
See the answer and why
- A. The pot, because deeper layers are usually older Correct. Yes. Layers pile up over time, so the bottom ones came first.
- B. The coin, because metal lasts longer Not this one. Metal can last long, but the layer tells us the age.
- C. They must be the same age, since they were dug up on the same day Not this one. The day they were found tells us nothing about how old they are.
- D. There is no way to tell Not this one. The layers give a good clue: deeper is usually older.
See the answer and why
- A. Someone dropped them last year Not this one. They were found in old layers, with other old things, so they are old.
- B. South Indian kings made coins with Roman faces on them Not this one. The coins were made in Rome and carried here by traders.
- C. People there traded with Rome Correct. Yes. Traders from the Roman world came for pepper, cloth and gems.
- D. Rome ruled south India Not this one. Rome never ruled India. Coins travel through trade.
See the answer and why
- A. Everything carved on stone must be true Not this one. Kings carved what they wanted people to believe. Historians still check.
- B. Stone is easy to carry Not this one. Stone is heavy. Most inscriptions are still where they were carved.
- C. Stone is the most beautiful material of all Not this one. Beauty is not what makes a source useful.
- D. It lasts a long time and was made when it happened Correct. Yes. Stone survives, and the words come from that time.
For teachers and grown-upsWhere the facts come from, and how to use this round.
Sources and notes
- Prinsep's decipherment of Brahmi: 1837 (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal). The emblem was adopted on 26 January 1950.
- Roman coin hoards in south India are linked to the trade at ports such as Muziris; see NCERT Class 6 and 12 history.
- The last question is a good place to discuss that inscriptions can be one-sided.