Chap 11 – From Barter to Money

by

LET’S EXPLORE – Farmer’s Barter Story (p 231)

Q 1. How would you exchange one ox for many small things? What difficulties might you face?
A.

  • Must hunt for someone who needs an ox.

  • Ox is too big to swap for shoes or medicine – not divisible.

  • May need many swaps (ox → wheat → shoes, sweater, medicine).

  • Carrying wheat is heavy – a portability problem.

  • Wheat spoils or rats eat it – a durability problem.

THINK ABOUT IT (p 232)

Q 2. List the kinds of problems you met in the story above.
A.

  1. Finding the right trading partner (double coincidence of wants).

  2. No common price to judge fairness (no standard value).

  3. Goods cannot be cut exactly (indivisibility).

  4. Heavy or perishable goods (portability & durability).

THINK ABOUT IT (p 233)

Q 3. What are the double-coincidence-of-wants examples in the farmer tale?
A. The farmer needs shoes while the cobbler needs wheat; each wants exactly what the other offers. The same happens with the tailor (sweater) and the chemist (medicine).

THINK ABOUT IT (p 233)

Q 4. Where do you see “no common measure of value”?
A. The farmer and shoemaker must guess how many wheat bags equal one pair of shoes. Each trade needs fresh haggling because no single price tag exists.

THINK ABOUT IT (p 234)

Q 5. How would money help the farmer?
A.

  • Sells ox once, gets easy-to-carry rupees.

  • Pays exact prices; no need to cut an ox in pieces.

  • Saves leftover coins safely for later.

  • Buys goods from any shop, not only wheat-takers.

LET’S EXPLORE – Modern Barter (p 235)

Q 6. Have you seen barter today? What do people feel about it?
A. Yes: old-clothes-for-steel-utensils carts in my lane, friends swap comics, a seed-exchange stall in the weekly market. People enjoy saving cash, but sometimes argue if the trade is “worth it.”

THINK ABOUT IT – Buying a ₹100 Book (p 237)

Q 7. You have ₹50 but the book costs ₹100. What can you do?
A.

  • Pay ₹50 now and promise ₹50 later (deferred payment).

  • Borrow ₹50 from a friend or parent and repay later.

  • Skip buying today, save more and return. Money makes part-payment possible; wheat or an ox cannot.

LET’S EXPLORE – Timeline of Money (p 238)

Q 8. What changes do you notice in the money timeline?
A. Barter → shells → metal coins → paper notes → bank cards (1980s) → online / UPI (2016). Money moves from heavy things to light paper and finally to invisible digital form.

LET’S EXPLORE – Roman Coins in Tamil Nadu (p 239)

Q 9. What do Roman coins in Pudukkottai tell us?
A. South-Indian traders sold spices, pearls, cloth to Roman sailors; Roman gold arrived as payment. It proves long-distance sea trade 2 000 years ago.

LET’S EXPLORE – Class Coin Project (p 241)

Q 10. How can you study old coins?
A. Note metal, year, weight; sketch head and tail pictures; look up the ruler’s name in a history book or RBI museum web-page to check your guess.

LET’S EXPLORE – Problems with Only Coins (p 241)

Q 11. What troubles appeared when people used heaps of coins?
A. Heavy to carry, easy to lose, slow to count, unsafe to store. Big land deals needed sacks of coins, so paper notes were invented.

LET’S EXPLORE – ₹50 & ₹100 Notes (p 242)

Q 12. a) Which heritage pictures are on the back?

  • ₹ 50 – Stone Chariot of Hampi.

  • ₹ 100 – Rāni-ki-Vāv step-well (Gujarat).

b) What helps the visually-impaired?
Raised intaglio lines, large bold numerals, and different note sizes let them feel the value.

END-OF-CHAPTER QUESTIONS & ACTIVITIES (p 244-245)

# Question Simple Answer
1 How does barter work and what goods were used? People swap one thing for another without money—e.g., rice for salt, cloth for cattle, shells for fish.
2 Limitations of barter? Need double-coincidence, no common price, items may spoil, heavy to carry, hard to divide fairly.
3 Three features of ancient Indian coins. Made of gold/silver/copper alloys, stamped with symbols of rulers or gods, fixed weight so everyone trusted their value.
4 How has money changed over time? Barter → shells → metal coins → paper notes → plastic cards → digital UPI on phones.
5 What helped Indian coins spread abroad? High-purity metal, trusted weight, powerful trade links, and rulers stamping clear marks, so foreign traders gladly accepted them.
6 Arthaśhāstra lines: value of one paṇa & human values? If 60 paṇas = yearly wage ≈ 3 kg grain × 365 days ≈ 1 095 kg, then 1 paṇa ≈ 18 kg grain. Fine of 100 paṇas is huge—shows society wanted people to help neighbours, valuing community over money.
7 Outline a skit on persuading use of cowries. Scene 1: Farmer tired of carting grain. Scene 2: Trader shows lightweight shiny shells everyone likes. Scene 3: village meeting—people test shell count, agree to price goats at 40 cowries. End: happy market with shells.
8 RBI security features on notes. Watermark of Mahatma Gandhi, security thread that changes colour, micro-letters “RBI”, see-through numeral, colour-changing ink, raised dots for blind.
9 Survey: Cash or UPI—what do people prefer and why? Grandparents choose cash (no smart phone). Young adults prefer UPI—fast, no change needed. Shopkeeper likes UPI after dark (safer, less theft risk).

Leave a Comment