(i) The Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas were the three ruling families who became powerful in South India around 2300 years ago.
(ii) Each of the three Chiefs had two centres of power: one on land, and one on the coast.
(iii) The Chiefs did not collect regular taxes. Instead, they demanded and received gifts from the people.
(iv) They also went on military expeditions and collected tributes from neighbouring areas.
(v) They kept some of the wealth and distributed the rest amongst their supporters including members of their family, soldiers and poets.
(vi) Many poets whose compositions are found in the Sangam collection are poems in praise of the chiefs who often rewarded them with precious stones, gold, horses, elephants, chariots and fine cloth.

The Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who visited India were:
(i) Fa Xian, who Came to the sub-continent about 1600years ago,
(ii) Xuan Zang who came around 1400 years ago, and
(iii) I-Qing, who came about 50 years after Xuan Zang.
Their aim was to visit places associated with the life of Buddha as well as the famous monasteries.

The starting of the Bhakti became Central feature of later Hinduism. It was the time when certain deities were worshipped such as Shiva, Vishnu and Goddesses as Durga. Bhakti refers to a persons's devotion to his or her chosen deity. Anybody could follow the path of Bhakti, be it rich or poor, people belonging to 'high' or 'low' caste, man or woman. The concept of Bhakti is also present in sacred book of the Hindus i.e. 'Bhagavad Gita', included in the Mahabharata. This type of worship spread to various parts of the country. The people who followed Bhakti focused on devotion and individual worship of a God or Goddess and not on the performance of elaborate sacrifices.

Each pilgrim left experiences of their journies
• They wrote about the dangers they faced and experiences during their travels to the
 countries and the monasteries.
• They wrote about the books they carried back with them
• Xuan Zang went back China through the land route. He carried statues of Buddha made of
gold, silver and sandalwood
• He also took about 600 manuscripts loaded on about 20 horses He spent his life converting the manuscripts from Sanskrit to Chinese.
• Fa Xian also took many manuscripts with him He also gave us detailed description of his journey and contemporary Indian society.

Buddhism spread to Western and Southern India and caves were made out of hills for monks to live in. The caves were made on the order of kings and queens and also some of the caves are made by farmers and merchants.
Location of the caves were near passes through the Western Ghats. There were roads connecting these ports with cities in the Deccan ran through these passes. The traders used to stop in these caves while they were travelling. Buddhism also spread South Eastwards to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and other parts of South-East Asia including Indonesia. But Theravada Buddhism, the older form of Buddhism was more popular in these areas.

The places where Theravade Buddhism had a strong hold were Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.

(i) Earlier, Buddha's presence was shown in sculptures by using certain signs. Now, statues of Buddha are made.
(ii) The second change was a belief in Bodhisattvas. They were supposed to be persons who attained enlightenment' and remained in the world to teach and help other people.

(i) The best-known of the rulers who controlled the Silk Route were the Kushanas, who ruled over Central Asia and North-West India around 2000 years ago.
(ii) During there rule, a branch of the Silk Route was extended from Central Asia down to the seaports at the mouth of the river Indus, from where silk was shipped westwards to the Roman Empire.
(iii)The Kushanas were amongst the earliest rulers of the sub-continent to issue gold coins. These were used by traders along the' Silk Route.

Some kings tried to control large portions of the Silks Route because they could benefit from taxes, tributes and gifts that were brought by traders travelling along the route. In return, they protected the traders who passed through their kingdoms from attacks by robbers.

Making silk is a complicated process. Raw silk has to be extracted from the cocoons of silk worms, spun into thread and then woven into cloth. Techniques of making silk were first invented in China around 7000 years ago.

About 2000 years ago, wearing silk became the fashion amongst rulers and rich people in Rome because:
(i) It was very expensive, as it had to be brought all the way from China along dangerous roads, through mountains and deserts.
(ii) People living along the route often demanded payments for allowing traders to pass through.

(i) Around 200 years later a dynasty known as the Satavahanas became powerful in Western India.
(ii) The most important ruler of the Satavahanas was Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni. (They all) He and other were known as Lords of the Dakshinapatha.

Traders carried many goods to Rome in ships, across the sea, and by land in caravans. Traders explored several sea routes and followed the coasts. The sailors took advantage of the monsoon winds to cross the seas more quickly.

The word 'Hindu', like the term 'India' is derived from the river Indus. It was used by Arabs and Iranians to refer to the people who lived to the East of the river and their cultural practices, including religious beliefs.

'Muvendar' is a Tamil word which means three chiefs, used for the heads of the three ruling families of South India. They were the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas, who became powerful around 2300 years ago.