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Gist of History NCERT VII Class (Our Pasts II)

Modern Indian History NCERT

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Chapter 1
TRACING CHANGES THROUGH A THOUSAND YEARS

“Hindustan”-

In 13^th century- Minhaj-i-Siraj, a chronicler who wrote in Persian, he meant the areas of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna.
In 14^th century poet Amir Khusrau used the word “Hind”.
In 16^th century Babur used Hindustan to describe the geography, the fauna and the culture of the inhabitants of the subcontinent.

Historians and their Sources

No printing press
Miniature paintings were sometimes used to illustrate the texts of manuscripts

New Social and Political Groups

New technologies-

Persian wheel in irrigation,
the spinning wheel in weaving, and
firearms in combat

Important group i.e. Rajputs, a name derived from “Rajaputra”, the son of a ruler.
Between the 8^th and 14^th centuries the term was applied to a group of warriors i.e. Kshatriya
The term included- rulers + chieftains+ soldiers+ commanders who served in the armies
Qualities- A chivalric code of conduct- extreme valour and a great sense of loyalty
Other groups- Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Ahoms and Kayasthas (a caste of scribes and secretaries)
Complex societies, and were required to pay Taxes
Ranks were not fixed permanently, and varied according to the power, influence and resources controlled by members of the jati.
Jatis framed their own rules and regulations to manage the conduct of their members.
These regulations were enforced by an assembly of elders, described in some areas as the jati Panchayat.
But jatis were also required to follow the rules of their villages.
Several villages were governed by a chieftain.

Language and region

In 1318 the poet Amir Khusrau noted- Different language in every region of this land:
Sindhi, Lahori, Kashmiri, Dvarsamudri (in southern Karnataka),
Telangani (in Andhra Pradesh),
Gujari (in Gujarat),
Ma‘bari (in Tamil Nadu),
Gauri, (in Bengal)
Awadhi (in eastern Uttar Pradesh) and
Hindawi (in the area around Delhi).

Sanskrit

Did not belong to any region.

It was an old language and “common people do not know it, only the Brahmanas do”.

Region and Empire

Ghiyasuddin Balban (1266-1287)

Delhi Sultan
Empire from Bengal (Gauda) in the east to Ghazni (Gajjana) in Afghanistan in the west and included all of south India (Dravida).
People of different regions – Gauda, Andhra, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat – apparently fled before his armies.
When the Mughal Empire declined in the 18^th century, it led to the re-emergence of regional states

Old and New Religions

Important changes in Hinduism-

Worship of new deities, the construction of temples by royalty and the growing importance of Brahmanas, the priests, as dominant groups in society.
Major developments of this period- emergence of the idea of bhakti
New religions- Merchants and migrants first brought the teachings of the holy Quran to India in the seventh century.
Muslims regard the Quran as their holy book and accept the sovereignty of the one God, Allah, whose love, mercy and bounty embrace all those who believe in Him, without regard to social background.
Many rulers were patrons of Islam and the ulama – learned theologians and jurists.
In the 13^th century, there were the Shia Muslims who believed that the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali, was the legitimate leader of the Muslim community, and the Sunni Muslims who accepted the authority of the early leaders (Khalifas) of the community, and the succeeding Khalifas.

Chapter 2
NEW KINGS AND KINGDOMS

The emergence of new dynasties

By the 7^th century there were big landlords or warrior chiefs in different regions of the subcontinent.
Existing kings often acknowledged them as their subordinates or samantas.
They were expected to bring gifts for their kings or overlords, be present at their courts and provide them with military support.
As samantas gained power and wealth, they declared themselves to be maha-samanta, maha- mandaleshvara (the great lord of a “circle” or region) and so on.
Rashtrakutas in the Deccan; initially they were subordinate to the Chalukyas of Karnataka.
In the mid-eighth century, Dantidurga, a Rashtrakuta chief, overthrew his Chalukya overlord and performed a ritual called hiranya- Garbha (literally, the golden womb).
When this ritual was performed with the help of Brahmanas, it was thought to lead to the “rebirth” of the sacrificer as a Kshatriya, even if he was not one by birth.
At that time Kadamba Mayurasharman and the Gurjara- Pratihara Harichandra were Brahmanas who gave up their traditional professions and took to arms, successfully establishing kingdoms in Karnataka and Rajasthan respectively.
Cave 15, Ellora, showing Vishnu as Narasimha, the man-lion. It is a work of the Rashtrakuta period.

Administration in the kingdoms

New Titles- maharaja-adhiraja (great king, overlord of kings), tribhuvana-chakravartin (lord of the three worlds) and so on.
Often shared power with their samantas as well as with associations of peasants, traders and Brahmanas.
In each of these states, resources were obtained from the producers, i.e., peasants, cattle-keepers, artisans, who were often persuaded or compelled to surrender part of what they produced.
Sometimes these were claimed as “rent” due to a lord who asserted that he owned the land.
Revenue was also collected from traders.
The functionaries for collecting revenue were generally recruited from influential families (i.e. close relatives), and positions were often hereditary (~lar for army)
The most frequently mentioned tax is vetti, taken not in cash but in the form of forced labour, and kadamai, or land revenue.
There were also taxes on thatching the house, the use of a ladder to climb palm trees, a cess on succession to family property, etc.

Warfare for wealth

Rulers belonging to the Gurjara-Pratihara, Rashtrakuta and Pala dynasties fought for control over Kanauj.
Rulers also tried to demonstrate their power and resources by building large temples.
Attacked one another’s kingdoms, they often chose to target temples

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (Afghanistan)

He ruled from 997 to 1030, and extended control over parts of Central Asia, Iran and the north-western part of the subcontinent.
He raided the subcontinent almost every year– his targets were wealthy temples, including that of Somnath, Gujarat.
Much of the wealth Mahmud carried away was used to create a splendid capital city at Ghazni.
He was interested in finding out more about the people he conquered, and entrusted a scholar named al-Biruni to write an account of the subcontinent.
This Arabic work, known as the Kitab-al Hind, remains an important source for historians.
He consulted Sanskrit scholars to prepare this account.

Chauhans or Chahamanas

Other kings who engaged in warfare include the Chahamanas, later known as the Chauhans, who ruled over the region around Delhi and Ajmer.
They attempted to expand their control to the west and the east, where they were opposed by the Chalukyas of Gujarat and the Gahadavalas of western Uttar Pradesh.
The best-known Chahamana ruler was Prithviraja III (1168-1192), who defeated an Afghan ruler named Sultan Muhammad Ghori in 1191, but lost to him the very next year, in 1192.

From Uraiyur to Thanjavur

A minor chiefly family known as the Muttaraiyar (in region Kaveri delta.); subordinate to the Pallava kings of Kanchipuram.
Vijayalaya, who belonged to the ancient chiefly family of the Cholas from Uraiyur, captured the delta from the Muttaraiyar in the middle of the ninth century.
He built the town of Thanjavur and a temple for goddess Nishumbhasudini there.
The successors of Vijayalaya conquered neighbouring regions and the kingdom grew in size and power.
The Pandyan and Pallava territories to the south and north were made part of this kingdom.
Rajaraja I, considered the most powerful Chola ruler, became king in 985 and expanded control over most of these areas.
Rajaraja’s son Rajendra I continued his policies and even raided the Ganga valley, Sri Lanka and countries of Southeast Asia, developing a navy for these expeditions.

Splendid temples and bronze sculpture

The temples of Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram, built by Rajaraja and Rajendra, are architectural and sculptural marvels.
Chola temples often became the nuclei of settlements which grew around them.
The produce of this land went to maintain all the specialists who worked at the temple and very often lived near it – priests, garland makers, cooks, sweepers, musicians, dancers, etc.
Temples were not only places of worship; they were the hub of economic, social and cultural life as well.
Making of bronze images was the most distinctive.
Chola bronze images are considered amongst the finest in the world.

Prashastis and land grants

Prashastis tell us how rulers wanted to depict themselves – as valiant, victorious warriors
These were composed by learned Brahmanas, who occasionally helped in the administration.
Kings often rewarded Brahmanas by grants of land.
These were recorded on copper plates, which were given to those who received the land

Unusual for the 12^th century was a long Sanskrit poem containing the history of kings who ruled over Kashmir.
It was composed by an author named Kalhana.
Unlike the writers of prashastis, he was often critical about rulers and their policies.

Agriculture and Irrigation

Chola Empire

New developments in agriculture.
The river Kaveri branches off into several small channels overflow frequently, depositing fertile soil on their banks.
Cultivation of rice.
Although agriculture had developed earlier in other parts of Tamil Nadu, it was only from the 5^th or 6^th century that this area was opened up for large-scale cultivation.
In the delta region embankments had to be built to prevent flooding and canals had to be constructed to carry water to the fields.
Wells and tanks were constructed to collect rainwater.
Most of the new rulers, as well as people living in villages, took an active interest in planning for irrigation, organising labour and resources

Types of land in Chola Empire

Chola inscriptions mention several categories of land.

Vellanvagai

land of non-Brahmana peasant proprietors

Brahmadeya

land gifted to Brahmanas

Shalabhoga

land for the maintenance of a school

Devadana, tirunamattukkani

land gifted to temples

Pallichchhandam

land donated to Jaina institutions

The administration of the empire

Settlements of peasants, known as ur, became prosperous with the spread of irrigation agriculture.
Groups of such villages formed larger units called nadu.
The village council and the nadu had several administrative functions including dispensing justice and collecting taxes.
Rich peasants of the Vellala caste exercised considerable control over the affairs of the nadu under the supervision of the central Chola government.
The Chola kings gave some rich landowners titles like muvendavelan (a velan or peasant serving three kings), araiyar (chief), etc. as markers of respect, and entrusted them with important offices of the state at the centre.
Brahmanas often received land grants or brahmadeya.
Number of Brahmana settlements emerged in the Kaveri valley and south India.
Each brahmadeya was looked after by an assembly or sabha of prominent Brahmana landholders; efficiently worked
Their decisions were recorded in detail in inscriptions, often on the stone walls of temples.
Associations of traders known as nagarams also occasionally performed administrative functions in towns.
The sabha had separate committees to look after irrigation works, gardens, temples, etc.

For example-

Inscriptions from Uttaramerur in Chingleput district

Chapter 3
THE DELHI SULTANS

Delhi became an important city only in the 12^th century
Delhi first became the capital of a kingdom under the Tomara Rajputs, who were defeated in the middle of the twelfth century by the Chauhans (also referred to as Chahamanas) of Ajmer.
It was under the Tomaras and Chauhans that Delhi became an important commercial centre.
Jaina merchants constructed several temples.
Coins minted here, called Dehliwal
The transformation of Delhi into a capital that controlled vast areas of the subcontinent started with the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate in the beginning of the 13^th century.

Tarikh (singular)/ tawarikh (plural)-

To provide information
Written in Persian, the language of administration under the Delhi Sultans.
The authors of tawarikh were learned men: secretaries, administrators, poets and courtiers, who both recounted events and advised rulers on governance, emphasising the importance of just rule.

The Rulers of Delhi

RAJPUT DYNASTIES

Tomaras early twelfth century - 1165
Ananga Pala 1130 -1145
Chauhans 1165 -1192
Prithviraj Chauhan 1175 -1192

EARLY TURKISH RULERS 1206-1290

Qutbuddin Aybak 1206 -1210
Shamsuddin Iltutmish 1210 -1236
Raziyya 1236 -1240
Ghiyasuddin Balban 1266- 1287

KHALJI DYNASTY 1290 - 1320

Jalaluddin Khalji 1290 - 1296
Alauddin Khalji 1296 -1316

TUGHLUQ DYNASTY 1320 - 1414

Ghiyasuddin Tughluq 1320 -1324
Muhammad Tughluq 1324 -1351
Firuz Shah Tughluq 1351 -1388

SAYYID DYNASTY 1414 - 1451

Khizr Khan 1414 -1421

LODI DYNASTY 1451 - 1526

Bahlul Lodi 1451 -1489

Raziyya Sultan-

In 1236 Sultan Iltutmish’s daughter, Raziyya, became Sultan.
The chronicler of the age, Minhaj-i Siraj, recognised that she was more able and qualified than all her brothers.
But he was not comfortable at having a queen as ruler.
Nor were the nobles happy at her attempts to rule independently.
She was removed from the throne in 1240.
On her inscriptions and coins Raziyya mentioned that she was the daughter of Sultan Iltutmish.
This was in contrast to the queen Rudramadevi (1262-1289), of the Kakatiya dynasty of Warangal, part of modern Andhra Pradesh.
Rudramadevi changed her name on her inscriptions and pretended she was a man.
Another queen, Didda, ruled in Kashmir (980-1003).

From garrison town to empire
The expansion of the Delhi Sultanate

In the early 13^th century the control of the Delhi Sultans rarely went beyond heavily fortified towns occupied by garrisons.
The Sultans seldom controlled the hinterland of the cities and were therefore dependent upon trade, tribute or plunder for supplies.
The state was also challenged by Mongol invasions from Afghanistan and by governors who rebelled at any sign of the Sultan’s weakness.
Its expansion occurred during the reigns of Ghiyasuddin Balban, Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq
These lands were given to peasants and agriculture was encouraged.
The second expansion occurred along the “external frontier” of the Sultanate.
Military expeditions into southern India started during the reign of Alauddin Khalji and culminated with Muhammad Tughluq.
By the end of Muhammad Tughluq’s reign, 150 years after somewhat humble beginnings, the armies of the Delhi Sultanate had marched across a large part of the subcontinent.
They had defeated rival armies and seized cities.
The Sultanate collected taxes from the peasantry and dispensed justice in its realm.

Alauddin Khalji’s campaign into South India

Quwwat al-Islam mosque and minaret built during the last decade of the twelfth century.
This was the congregational mosque of the first city built by the Delhi Sultans, described in the chronicles as Dehli-I kuhna (the old city).
The mosque was enlarged by Iltutmish and Alauddin Khalji.
The minar was built by three Sultans– Qutbuddin Aybak, Iltutmish and Firuz Shah Tughluq.

The Masjid

A mosque is called a Masjid in Arabic, literally a place where a Muslim prostrates in reverence to Allah.
In a “congregational mosque” (masjid-i jami or jama Masjid) Muslims read their prayers (namaz) together.
Members of the congregation choose the most respected, learned male as their leader (imam) for the rituals of prayer.
He also delivers the sermon (khutba) during the Friday prayer.
During prayer, Muslims stand facing Mecca. In India this is to the west. This is called the Qibla.
Begumpuri mosque, built in the reign of Muhammad Tughluq, was the main mosque of Jahanpanah, the “Sanctuary of the World”, and new capital in Delhi.
The Delhi Sultans built several mosques in cities all over the subcontinent.
Moth ki Masjid built in the reign of Sikandar Lodi by his minister.
Mosque of Jamali Kamali, built in the late 1520s.

Administration and Consolidation under the Khaljis and Tughlaq

The consolidation of a kingdom as vast as the Delhi Sultanate needed reliable governors and administrators.
Rather than appointing aristocrats and landed chieftains as governors, the early Delhi Sultans, especially Iltutmish, favoured their special slaves purchased for military service, called bandagan in Persian.
They continued to use bandagan and also raised people of humble birth, who were often their clients, to high political positions.
They were appointed as generals and governors.
Slaves and clients were loyal to their masters and patrons, but not to their heirs.
Like the earlier Sultans, the Khalji and Tughluq monarchs appointed military commanders as governors of territories of varying sizes.
These lands were called iqta and their holder was called iqtadar or muqti.
The duty of the muqtis was to lead military campaigns and maintain law and order in their iqtas.
In exchange for their military services, the muqtis collected the revenues of their assignments as salary.
The harsh conditions of service were rigorously imposed during the reigns of Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq.
Accountants were appointed by the state to check the amount of revenue collected by the muqtis.
Care was taken that the muqti collected only the taxes prescribed by the state and that he kept the required number of soldiers.
As the Delhi Sultans brought the hinterland of the cities under their control, they forced the landed chieftains— the samanta aristocrats— and rich landlords to accept their authority.
Under Alauddin Khalji the state brought the assessment and collection of land revenue under its own control.
The rights of the local chieftains to levy taxes were cancelled and they were also forced to pay taxes.

There were three types of taxes –

on cultivation called Kharaj and amounting to about 50 per cent of the peasant’s produce,
on cattle and
on houses

It is important to remember that large parts of the subcontinent remained outside the control of the Delhi Sultans.
It was difficult to control distant provinces like Bengal from Delhi and soon after annexing southern India, the entire region became independent.
Even in the Gangetic plain there were forested areas that Sultanate forces could not penetrate.
Sometimes rulers like Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq could force their control in these areas but only for a short duration.
Officials of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq
Sultan Muhammad Tughluq appointed Aziz Khummar, a wine distiller, Firuz Hajjam, a barber, Mank a Tabbakh, a cook, and two gardeners, Ladha and Pira, to high administrative posts.
Ziyauddin Barani, a mid- fourteenth- century-chronicler, reported their appointments as a sign of the Sultan’s loss of political judgement and his incapacity to rule.

In this list of Muhammad Tughluq’s failures we sometimes forget that for the first time in the history of the Sultanate, a Delhi Sultan planned a campaign to capture Mongol territory.
Unlike Alauddin’s defensive measures, Muhammad Tughluq’s measures were conceived as a part of a military offensive against the Mongols.

Chieftains and their fortifications

Ibn Battuta, a 14^th century traveller from Morocco, Africa, explained that chieftains sometimes “fortified themselves in mountains, in rocky, uneven and rugged places as well as in bamboo groves.
The chieftains live in the forests which serve them as ramparts, inside which are their cattle and their crops
The Mongols under Genghis Khan invaded Transoxiana in north-east Iran in 1219 and the Delhi Sultanate faced their onslaught soon after.
Mongol attacks on the Delhi Sultanate increased during the reign of Alauddin Khalji and in the early years of Muhammad Tughluq’s rule.
This forced the two rulers to mobilise a large standing army in Delhi which posed a huge administrative challenge.

The Sultanate in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries

Tughluqs, the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties ruled from Delhi and Agra until 1526.
By then, Jaunpur, Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and the entire south India had independent rulers who established flourishing states and prosperous capitals.
Emergence of new ruling groups like the Afghans and the Rajputs
Sher Shah Sur (1540-1545) started his career as the manager of a small territory for his uncle in Bihar and eventually challenged and defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun (1530-1540, 1555-1556).
Sher Shah captured Delhi and established his own dynasty.
Although the Suri dynasty ruled for only fifteen years (1540-1555), it introduced an administration that borrowed elements from Alauddin Khalji and made them more efficient.
Sher Shah’s administration became the model followed by the great emperor Akbar (1556-1605) when he consolidated the Mughal Empire.

Chapter 4
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

Mughals-

Later 16^th century
Expanded their kingdom from Agra and Delhi
Until in the 17^th century they controlled nearly all of the subcontinent.
Imposed structures of administration and ideas of governance that outlasted their rule leaving a political legacy that succeeding rulers of the subcontinent could not ignore
The Mughals were descendants of two great lineages of rulers.
From their mother’s side they were descendants of Genghis Khan (died 1227), ruler of the Mongol tribes, China and Central Asia.
From their father’s side they were the successors of Timur (died 1404), the ruler of Iran, Iraq and modern-day Turkey.

Mughal marriages with the Rajputs-

The mother of Jahangir was a Kachhwaha princess, daughter of the Rajput ruler of Amber (modern-day Jaipur).
The mother of Shah Jahan was a Rathor princess, daughter of the Rajput ruler of Marwar (Jodhpur).

Mughal Relations with Other Rulers

Mughal rulers campaigned constantly against rulers who refused to accept their authority.
But as the Mughals became powerful many other rulers also joined them voluntarily. (Example- Rajputs)
Many of them married their daughters into Mughal families and received high positions.
The Sisodiya Rajputs refused to accept Mughal authority for a long time.
Once defeated, however, they were honourably treated by the Mughals, given their lands (watan) back as assignments (watan jagir).
The careful balance between defeating but not humiliating their opponents enabled the Mughals to extend their influence over many kings and chieftains.
But it was difficult to keep this balance all the time.

Mughal Military Campaigns

Babur (1526- 1530)

1^st Mughal emperor succeeded to the throne of Ferghana in 1494 when he was only 12 years old.
He was forced to leave his ancestral throne due to the invasion of another Mongol group, the Uzbegs.
After years of wandering he seized Kabul in 1504.
In 1526 he defeated the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, at Panipat and captured Delhi and Agra
Afghans were an immediate threat to Mughal authority
Cannons were an important addition in sixteenth-century warfare.
Babur used them effectively in the first battle of Panipat
1527 – defeated Rana Sanga, Rajput rulers and allies at Khanua.
1528 – defeated the Rajputs at Chanderi;
Established control over Agra and Delhi before his death

HUMAYUN 1530-1540, 1555-1556

Humayun divided his inheritance according to the will of his father.
His brothers were each given a province.
The ambitions of his brother Mirza Kamran weakened Humayun’s cause against Afghan competitors.
Sher Khan defeated Humayun at Chausa (1539) and Kanauj (1540), forcing him to flee to Iran.
In Iran Humayun received help from the Safavid Shah.
He recaptured Delhi in 1555 but died the next year after an accident in this building.

AKBAR 1556-1605

Akbar was 13 years old when he became emperor.
His reign can be divided into three periods.

(1) 1556-1570 – Akbar became independent of the regent Bairam Khan and other members of his domestic staff.

Military campaigns were launched against the Suris and other Afghans, against the neighbouring kingdoms of Malwa and Gondwana, and to suppress the revolt of his half-brother Mirza Hakim and the Uzbegs.
In 1568 the Sisodiya capital of Chittor was seized and in 1569 Ranthambhor.

(2) 1570-1585 – military campaigns in Gujarat were followed by campaigns in the east in Bihar, Bengal and Orissa.

These campaigns were complicated by the 1579-1580 revolt in support of Mirza Hakim.

(3) 1585-1605 – expansion of Akbar’s empire. Campaigns were launched in the north-west.

Qandahar was seized from the Safavids, Kashmir was annexed, as also Kabul, after the death of Mirza Hakim.
Campaigns in the Deccan started and Berar, Khandesh and parts of Ahmednagar were annexed.
In the last years of his reign Akbar was distracted by the rebellion of Prince Salim, the future Emperor Jahangir.
In Akbar’s reign jagirs were carefully assessed so that their revenues were roughly equal to the salary of the mansabdar.
By Aurangzeb’s reign this was no longer the case and the actual revenue collected was often less than the granted sum.
There was also a huge increase in the number of mansabdars, which meant a long wait before they received a jagir.
These and other factors created a shortage in the number of jagirs.
As a result, many jagirdars tried to extract as much revenue as possible while they had a jagir.
Aurangzeb was unable to control these developments in the last years of his reign and the peasantry therefore suffered tremendously.

Jahangir 1605-1627

Military campaigns started by Akbar continued.
The Sisodiya ruler of Mewar, Amar Singh, accepted Mughal service.
Less successful campaigns against the Sikhs, the Ahoms and Ahmadnagar followed.
Prince Khurram, the future Emperor Shah Jahan, rebelled in the last years of his reign.
The efforts of Nur Jahan, Jahangir’s wife, to marginalise him were unsuccessful.

Shah Jahan 1627-1658

Mughal campaigns continued in the Deccan under Shah Jahan.
The Afghan noble Khan Jahan Lodi rebelled and was defeated.
Campaigns were launched against Ahmadnagar; the Bundelas were defeated and Orchha seized.
In the north-west, the campaign to seize Balkh from the Uzbegs was unsuccessful and Qandahar was lost to the Safavids.
In 1632 Ahmadnagar was finally annexed and the Bijapur forces sued for peace.
In 1657-1658, there was conflict over succession amongst Shah Jahan’s sons.
Aurangzeb was victorious and his three brothers, including Dara Shukoh, were killed.
Shah Jahan was imprisoned for the rest of his life in Agra.

Aurangzeb 1658-1707

In the north-east, the Ahoms were defeated in 1663, but rebelled again in the 1680s.
Campaigns in the north-west against the Yusufzai and the Sikhs were temporarily successful.
Mughal intervention in the succession and internal politics of the Rathor Rajputs of Marwar led to their rebellion.
Campaigns against the Maratha chieftain Shivaji were initially successful.
But Aurangzeb insulted Shivaji who escaped from Agra, declared himself an independent king and resumed his campaigns against the Mughals.
Prince Akbar rebelled against Aurangzeb and received support from the Marathas and the Deccan Sultanate.
He finally fled to Safavid Iran.
After Akbar’s rebellion Aurangzeb sent armies against the Deccan Sultanates.
Bijapur was annexed in 1685 and Golconda in 1687.
From 1698 Aurangzeb personally managed campaigns in the Deccan against the Marathas who started guerrilla warfare.
Aurangzeb also had to face the rebellion in north India of the Sikhs, Jats and Satnamis, in the north-east of the Ahoms and in the Deccan of the Marathas.
His death was followed by a succession conflict amongst his sons.

Zat ranking-

Nobles with a zat of 5,000 were ranked higher than those of 1,000.
In Akbar’s reign there were 29 mansabdars with a rank of 5,000 zat;
In Aurangzeb’s reign- mansabdars- 79 in number

Mansabdars and Jagirdars

From a small nucleus of Turkish nobles (Turanis) they expanded to include Iranians, Indian Muslims, Afghans, Rajputs, Marathas and other groups.
Those who joined Mughal service were enrolled as mansabdars.
The term mansabdar refers to an individual who holds a mansab, meaning a position or rank.
It was a grading system used by the Mughals to fix (1) rank, (2) salary and (3) military responsibilities.
Rank and salary were determined by a numerical value called zat.
The higher the zat, the more prestigious was the noble’s position in court and the larger his salary.
The mansabdar’s military responsibilities required him to maintain a specified number of sawar or cavalrymen.
The mansabdar brought his cavalrymen for review, got them registered, their horses branded and then received money to pay them as salary.
Mansabdars received their salaries as revenue assignments called jagirs which were somewhat like iqtas.
But unlike muqtis, most mansabdars did not actually reside in or administer their jagirs.
They only had rights to the revenue of their assignments which was collected for them by their servants while the mansabdars themselves served in some other part of the country.

Zabt and Zamindars

The main source of income available to Mughal rulers was tax on the produce of the peasantry.
In most places, peasants paid taxes through the rural elites, that is, the headman or the local chieftain.
The Mughals used one term – zamindars – to describe all intermediaries, whether they were local headmen of villages or powerful chieftains.
Akbar’s revenue minister, Todar Mal, carried out a careful survey of crop yields, prices and areas cultivated for a 10-year period, 1570- 1580.
On the basis of this data, tax was fixed on each crop in cash.
Each province was divided into revenue circles with its own schedule of revenue rates for individual crops.
This revenue system was known as Zabt.
This was not possible in provinces such as Gujarat and Bengal.

Akbar Nama and Ain-i Akbari

Akbar ordered one of his close friends and courtiers, Abul Fazl, to write a history of his reign.
Abul Fazl wrote a three-volume history of Akbar’s reign, titled Akbar Nama (Ain-i Akbari)
It deals with Akbar’s administration, household, army, the revenues and the geography of his empire.
It also provides rich details about the traditions and culture of the people living in India.
The most interesting aspect about the Ain-i Akbari is its rich statistical details about things as diverse as crops, yields, prices, wages and revenues.

Akbar’s Policies

Abul Fazl explained that the empire was divided into provinces called subas, governed by a subadar who carried out both political and military functions.
Each province also had a financial officer or diwan.
For the maintenance of peace and order in his province, the subadar was supported by other officers such as the military paymaster (bakhshi), the minister in charge of religious and charitable patronage (sadr), military commanders (faujdars) and the town police commander (kotwal).
Akbar’s nobles commanded large armies and had access to large amounts of revenue.
While they were loyal the empire functioned efficiently but by the end of the seventeenth century many nobles had built independent networks of their own.
While Akbar was at Fatehpur Sikri during the 1570s he started discussions on religion with the ulama, Brahmanas, Jesuit priests who were Roman Catholics, and Zoroastrians.
These discussions took place in the ibadat khana.
Akbar’s interaction with people of different faiths made him realise that religious scholars who emphasised ritual and dogma were often bigots.
Dogma- A statement or an interpretation declared as authoritative with the expectation that it would be followed without question.
Bigot- An individual who is intolerant of another person’s religious beliefs or culture.
This eventually led Akbar to the idea of sulh-i kul or “universal peace”.
This idea of tolerance did not discriminate between people of different religions in his realm.
Instead it focused on a system of ethics– honesty, justice, peace– that was universally applicable.
Abul Fazl helped Akbar in framing a vision of governance around this idea of sulh-i kul.
This principle of governance was followed by Jahangir and Shah Jahan as well.

The Mughal Empire in 17^th Century & After

Great economic and commercial prosperity.
Poverty also existed; the inequalities were glaring.
The Mughal emperors and their mansabdars spent a great deal of their income on salaries and goods.
This expenditure benefited the artisans and peasantry who supplied them with goods and produce.
But the scale of revenue collection left very little for investment in the hands of the primary producers – the peasant and the artisan.
As the authority of the Mughal emperor slowly declined, his servants emerged as powerful centres of power in the regions.
They constituted new dynasties and held command of provinces like Hyderabad and Awadh.
Although they continued to recognise the Mughal emperor in Delhi as their master, by 18^th century the provinces of the empire had consolidated their independent political identities.

Chapter 5
Rulers and Buildings

Between 8^th- 18^th kings and their officers built two kinds of structures:-
1^st were forts, palaces, garden residences and tombs – safe, protected and grandiose places of rest in this world and the next; 2^nd were structures meant for public activity including temples, mosques, tanks, wells, caravanserais and bazaars.
Kings were expected to care for their subjects, and by making structures for their use and comfort, rulers hoped to win their praise.
They built temples, mosques and wells. However, domestic architecture – large mansions (havelis) of merchants – has survived only from the eighteenth century.

Engineering Skills and Construction

Between 7^th and 10^th centuries architects started adding more rooms, doors and windows to buildings.
Roofs, doors and windows were still made by placing a horizontal beam across two vertical columns, a style of architecture called “trabeate” or “corbelled”.
Between the eighth and thirteenth centuries the trabeate style was used in the construction of temples, mosques, tombs and in buildings attached to large stepped-wells (baolis).

Two technological and stylistic developments are noticeable from 12^th century

(1) The weight of the superstructure above the doors and windows was sometimes carried by arches.

This architectural form was called “arcuate”.

(2) Limestone cement was increasingly used in construction.

This was very high-quality cement, which, when mixed with stone chips hardened into concrete.
This made construction of large structures easier and faster.

1^st balcony of the Qutb Minar.
Qutbuddin Aybak had this constructed around 1199.
Pattern- small arches and geometrical designs.
2 bands of inscriptions under the balcony- These are in Arabic.
The surface of the minar is curved and angular.
Placing an inscription on such a surface required great precision.
Only the most skilled craftsperson could perform this task.
Very few buildings were made of stone or brick 800 years ago.

Why were Temples Destroyed?

Because kings built temples to demonstrate their devotion to God and their power and wealth, it is not surprising that when they attacked one another’s kingdoms they often targeted these buildings.
In the early 9^th century when the Pandyan king Shrimara Shrivallabha invaded Sri Lanka and defeated the king, Sena I (831-851), the Buddhist monk and chronicler Dhammakitti noted he removed all the valuables
The blow to the pride of the Sinhalese ruler had to be avenged and the next Sinhalese ruler, Sena II, ordered his general to invade Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas.

A painting from the Akbar Nama (dated 1590-1595), showing the construction of the water-gate at the Agra Fort.

Building Temples, Mosques and Tanks Temples and mosques were beautifully constructed because they were places of worship.
They were also meant to demonstrate the power, wealth and devotion of the patron.

Rajarajeshvara temple-

Built by King Rajarajadeva for the worship of his god, Rajarajeshvaram.
The king took the god’s name because it was auspicious and he wanted to appear like a god.
Through the rituals of worship in the temple one god (Rajarajadeva) honoured another (Rajarajeshvaram).
The lesser deities in the temple were gods and goddesses of the allies and subordinates of the ruler.
As they worshipped their deities together in the royal temples, it seemed as if they brought the just rule of the gods on earth.
Muslim Sultans and Padshahs did not claim to be incarnations of god but Persian court chronicles described the Sultan as the “Shadow of God”.
An inscription in the Quwwat al-Islam mosque explained that God chose Alauddin as a king because he had the qualities of Moses and Solomon, the great lawgivers of the past.
God Himself created the world out of chaos and introduced order and symmetry.

Constructing places of worship provided rulers with the chance to proclaim their close relationship with God, especially important in an age of rapid political change.
Rulers also offered patronage to the learned and pious, and tried to transform their capitals and cities into great cultural centres that brought fame to their rule and their realm.
Sultan Iltutmish won universal respect for constructing a large reservoir just outside Dehli-i-Kuhna.
It was called the Hauz-i-Sultani or the “King’s Reservoir”.
Rulers often constructed tanks and reservoirs – big and small – for use by ordinary people.
Sometimes these tanks and reservoirs were part of a temple, mosque (small tank in the Jami Masjid) or a Gurdwara (a place of worship and congregation for Sikhs).
In early 11^th century, when the Chola king Rajendra I built a Shiva temple in his capital he filled it with prized statues seized from defeated rulers.
An incomplete list included: a Sun-pedestal from the Chalukyas, a Ganesha statue and several statues of Durga; a Nandi statue from the eastern Chalukyas; an image of Bhairava (a form of Shiva) and Bhairavi from the Kalingas of Orissa; and a Kali statue from the Palas of Bengal.
Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni was a contemporary of Rajendra I.
During his campaigns in the subcontinent he also attacked the temples of defeated kings and looted their wealth and idols.
By destroying temples – especially the one at Somnath – Sultan Mahmud tried to win credit as a great hero of Islam.
In the political culture of the Middle Ages most rulers displayed their political might and military success by attacking and looting the places of worship of defeated rulers.

Gardens, Tombs and Forts

Under the Mughals, architecture became more complex.
Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, and especially Shah Jahan were personally interested in literature, art and architecture.
The gardens were called chahar bagh, four gardens, because of their symmetrical division into quarters.
Beginning with Akbar, some of the most beautiful chahar baghs were constructed by Jahangir and Shah Jahan in Kashmir, Agra and Delhi
Akbar’s architects turned to the tombs of his Central Asian ancestor, Timur.
The central towering dome and the tall gateway (pishtaq) became important aspects of Mughal architecture, first visible in Humayun’s tomb.
The tomb was placed in the centre of a huge formal chahar bagh and built in the tradition known as “eight paradises” or hasht bihisht – a central hall surrounded by eight rooms.
The building was constructed with red sandstone, edged with white marble.
It was during Shah Jahan’s reign that the different elements of Mughal architecture were fused together in a grand harmonious synthesis.
His reign witnessed a huge amount of construction activity especially in Agra and Delhi.
The ceremonial halls of public and private audience (diwan-i khas o am) were carefully planned.
Placed within a large courtyard, these courts were also described as chihil sutun or forty-pillared halls.
Shah Jahan’s audience halls were specially constructed to resemble a mosque.
The pedestal on which his throne was placed was frequently described as the qibla, the direction faced by Muslims at prayer, since everybody faced that direction when court was in session.
The idea of the king as a representative of God on earth was suggested by these architectural features.
The connection between royal justice and the imperial court was emphasised by Shah Jahan in his newly constructed court in the Red Fort at Delhi.
Behind the emperor’s throne were a series of pietra dura inlays that depicted the legendary Greek god Orpheus playing the lute.
The construction of Shah Jahan’s audience hall aimed to communicate that the king’s justice would treat the high and the low as equals creating a world where all could live together in harmony.
In the early years of his reign, Shah Jahan’s capital was at Agra, a city where the nobility had constructed their homes on the banks of the river Yamuna.
These were set in the midst of formal gardens constructed in the chahar bagh format.
The chahar bagh garden describe as the “riverfront garden”.
In this the dwelling was not located in the middle of the chahar bagh but at its edge, close to the bank of the river.
Shah Jahan adapted the river-front garden in the layout of the Taj Mahal, the grandest architectural accomplishment of his reign.
Here the white marble mausoleum was placed on a terrace by the edge of the river and the garden was to its south.
Only specially favoured nobles – like his eldest son Dara Shukoh – were given access to the river.
Tomb of Humayun, constructed between 1562 and 1571.
The throne balcony in the diwan-i am in Delhi, completed in 1648.
The Taj Mahal at Agra completed in 1643.

Region and Empire

The traditions of one region were adopted by another.
In Vijayanagara, for example, the elephant stables of the rulers were strongly influenced by the style of architecture found in the adjoining Sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda
In Vrindavan, near Mathura, temples were constructed in architectural styles that were very similar to the Mughal palaces in Fatehpur Sikri.
The creation of large empires that brought different regions under their rule helped in this cross-fertilisation of artistic forms and architectural styles.
In Bengal, for example, the local rulers had developed a roof that was designed to resemble a thatched hut.
The Mughals liked this “Bangla dome” so much that they used it in their architecture.
The impact of other regions was also evident.
In Akbar’s capital at Fatehpur Sikri many of the buildings show the influence of the architectural styles of Gujarat and Malwa.
Even though the authority of the Mughal rulers waned in 18^th century, the architectural styles developed under their patronage were constantly used and adapted by other rulers whenever they tried to establish their own kingdoms.

Mughal chahar baghs

The chahar bagh in Humayun’s tomb, Delhi, 1562-1571.
Terraced chahar bagh at Shalimar gardens, Kashmir, 1620 and 1634.
The chahar bagh adapted as a river-front garden at Lal Mahal Bari, 1637.

Temple of Govind Deva in Vrindavan, 1590-

The temple was constructed out of red sandstone.
The two (out of four) intersecting arches that made the high ceiling roof
This style of architecture is from north-east Iran (Khurasan) and was used in Fatehpur Sikri.
Decorated pillars and struts holding the extension of the roof in Jodh Bai palace in Fatehpur Sikri.
These follow architectural traditions of the Gujarat region.

Chapter 6
TOWNS, TRADERS AND CRAFTSPERSONS

Centres of trade and artisanal production in central and south India

Temple Towns and Pilgrimage Centres

Thanjavur is also an example of a temple town.
Temple towns represent a very important pattern of urbanisation, the process by which cities develop.
Rulers endowed temples with grants of land and money to carry out elaborate rituals, feed pilgrims and priests and celebrate festivals.

A Network of Small Towns

From the eighth century onwards several small towns probably emerged from large villages.
They usually had a mandapika (or mandi of later times) to which nearby villagers brought their produce to sell.
They also had market streets called hatta (haat of later times) lined with shops.
Besides, there were streets for different kinds of artisans such as potters, oil pressers, sugar makers, toddy makers, smiths, stonemasons, etc.
Usually a samanta or, in later times, a zamindar built a fortified palace in or near these towns.
They levied taxes on traders, artisans and articles of trade and sometimes “donated” the “right” to collect these taxes to local temples, which had been built by themselves or by rich merchants.

KABUL

Politically and commercially important from the sixteenth century onwards.
Kabul and Qandahar were linked to the celebrated Silk Route.
Trade in horses was primarily carried on through this route.
Camels carried dried fruits, dates, carpets, silks and even fresh fruits from Kabul to the subcontinent and elsewhere.
Slaves were also brought here for sale.

Administrative Centres

Thanjavur

Capital of the Cholas
The perennial river Kaveri flows near this beautiful town.
The bells of the Rajarajeshvara temple built by King Rajaraja Chola
The townspeople are all praise for its architect Kunjaramallan Rajaraja Perunthachchan who has proudly carved his name on the temple wall.
Inside is a massive Shiva linga
Besides the temple, there are palaces with mandapas or pavilions.
Kings hold court in these mandapas, issuing orders to their subordinates.
There are also barracks for the army
The town is bustling with markets selling grain, spices, cloth and jewellery.
The Saliya weavers of Thanjavur and the nearby town of Uraiyur are busy producing cloth for flags to be used in the temple festival, fine cottons for the king and nobility and coarse cotton for the masses.
Some distance away at Svamimalai, the sthapatis or sculptors are making exquisite bronze idols and tall, ornamental bell metal lamps

Bronze, bell metal & the “lost wax” technique

A bronze statue of Krishna subduing the serpent demon Kaliya

Bronze is an alloy containing copper and tin.
Bell metal contains a greater proportion of tin than other kinds of bronze.
This produces a bell-like sound.
Chola bronze statues were made using the “lost wax” technique.
First, an image was made of wax.
This was covered with clay and allowed to dry.
Next it was heated, and a tiny hole was made in the clay cover.
The molten wax was drained out through this hole.
Then molten metal was poured into the clay mould through the hole.
Once the metal cooled and solidified, the clay cover was carefully removed, and the image was cleaned and polished.
Gradually a large number of priests, workers, artisans, traders, etc. settled near the temple to cater to its needs and those of the pilgrims.
Towns emerged around temples such as those of Bhillasvamin (Bhilsa or Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh), and Somnath in Gujarat.
Other important temple towns included Kanchipuram and Madurai in Tamil Nadu, and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.
Pilgrimage towns- Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh) and Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu)
Ajmer (Rajasthan) was the capital of the Chauhan kings in the twelfth century and later became the suba headquarters under the Mughals.
Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, the celebrated Sufi saint who settled there in the twelfth century, attracted devotees from all creeds.

Taxes on markets

There were taxes in kind on: Sugar and jaggery, dyes, thread, and cotton, On coconuts, salt, areca nuts, butter, sesame oil, On cloth.
Besides, there were taxes on traders, on those who sold metal goods, on distillers, on oil, on cattle fodder, and on loads of grain.
Some of these taxes were collected in kind, while others were collected in cash

Traders Big and Small

There were many kinds of traders. These included the Banjaras
Several traders, especially horse traders, formed associations, with headmen who negotiated on their behalf with warriors who bought horses.
Since traders had to pass through many kingdoms and forests, they usually travelled in caravans and formed guilds to protect their interests.
There were several such guilds in south India from the eighth century onwards – the most famous being the Manigramam and Nanadesi.
There were also communities like the Chettiars and the Marwari Oswal who went on to become the principal trading groups of the country.
Gujarati traders, including the communities of Hindu Baniyas and Muslim Bohras, traded extensively with the ports of the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, East Africa, Southeast Asia and China.
They sold textiles and spices in these ports and, in exchange, brought gold and ivory from Africa; and spices, tin, Chinese blue pottery and silver from Southeast Asia and China.
The towns on the west coast were home to Arab, Persian, Chinese, Jewish and Syrian Christian traders.
Indian spices and cloth sold in the Red Sea ports were purchased by Italian traders and eventually reached European markets, fetching very high profits.
Spices grown in tropical climates (pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried ginger, etc.) became an important part of European cooking, and cotton cloth was very attractive.

Crafts in Towns

The craftspersons of Bidar were so famed for their inlay work in copper and silver that it came to be called Bidri.
The Panchalas or Vishwakarma community, consisting of goldsmiths, bronze smiths, blacksmiths, masons and carpenters, were essential to the building of temples.
They also played an important role in the construction of palaces, big buildings, tanks and reservoirs.
Similarly, weavers such as the Saliyar or Kaikkolars emerged as prosperous communities, making donations to temples.
Some aspects of cloth making like cotton cleaning, spinning and dyeing became specialised and independent crafts.

The Architectural Splendour of Hampi

Hampi is located in the Krishna-Tungabhadra basin, which formed the nucleus of the Vijayanagara Empire, founded in 1336.
The magnificent ruins at Hampi reveal a well-fortified city.
No mortar or cementing agent was used in the construction of these walls and the technique followed was to wedge them together by interlocking.
The architecture of Hampi was distinctive.
The buildings in the royal complex had splendid arches, domes and pillared halls with niches for holding sculptures.
They also had well-planned orchards and pleasure gardens with sculptural motifs such as the lotus and corbels.
In its heyday in 15^th -16^th centuries, Hampi bustled with commercial and cultural activities.
Moors (a name used collectively for Muslim merchants), Chettis and agents of European traders such as the Portuguese, thronged the markets of Hampi
Temples were the hub of cultural activities and devadasis (temple dancers) performed before the deity, royalty and masses in the many-pillared halls in the Virupaksha (a form of Shiva) temple.
The Mahanavami festival, known today as Navaratri in the south, was one of the most important festivals celebrated at Hampi.
Archaeologists have found the Mahanavami platform where the king received guests and accepted tribute from subordinate chiefs.
Hampi fell into ruin following the defeat of Vijayanagara in 1565 by the Deccani Sultans – the rulers of Golconda, Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Berar and Bidar.

A Gateway to the West: Surat

Surat in Gujarat was the emporium of western trade during the Mughal period along with Cambay (present day Khambat) and somewhat later, Ahmedabad.
Surat was the gateway for trade with West Asia via the Gulf of Ormuz.
Surat has also been called the gate to Mecca because many pilgrim ships set sail from here.
The city was cosmopolitan and people of all castes and creeds lived there.
In 17^th century the Portuguese, Dutch and English had their factories and warehouses at Surat.
There were also several retail and wholesale shops selling cotton textiles.
The textiles of Surat were famous for their gold lace borders (zari) and had a market in West Asia, Africa and Europe.
The state built numerous rest-houses to take care of the needs of people from all over the world who came to the city.
There were magnificent buildings and innumerable pleasure parks.
The Kathiawad seths or mahajans (moneychangers) had huge banking houses at Surat.
It is noteworthy that the Surat hundis were honoured in the far-off markets of Cairo in Egypt, Basra in Iraq and Antwerp in Belgium.
However, Surat began to decline towards the end of 17^th century.
This was because of many factors: the loss of markets and productivity because of the decline of the Mughal Empire, control of the sea routes by the Portuguese and competition from Bombay (present-day Mumbai) where the English East India Company shifted its headquarters in 1668.
The Qutb Shahi rulers of Golconda imposed royal monopolies on the sale of textiles, spices and other items to prevent the trade passing completely into the hands of the various EICs
Fierce competition among various trading groups – the Golconda nobles, Persian merchants, Telugu Komati Chettis, and European traders – made the city populous and prosperous.
As the Mughals began to extend their power to Golconda their representative, the governor Mir Jumla who was also a merchant, began to play off the Dutch and the English against each other.
In 1686-1687 Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb annexed Golconda
This caused the European Companies to look for alternatives.
It was a part of the new policy of the English EIC that it was not enough if a port had connections with the production centres of the hinterland.
The new Company trade centres, it was felt, should combine political, administrative and commercial roles. As the Company traders moved to Bombay, Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) and Madras (present-day Chennai), Masulipatnam lost both its merchants and prosperity and declined in the course of the 18^th century, being today nothing more than a dilapidated little town.

New Towns and Traders

In 16^th and 17^th centuries, European countries were searching for spices and textiles, which had become popular both in Europe and West Asia.
The English, Dutch and French formed EICs in order to expand their commercial activities in the east. Initially great Indian traders like Mulla Abdul Ghafur and Virji Vora who owned a large number of ships competed with them.
However, the European Companies used their naval power to gain control of the sea trade and forced Indian traders to work as their agents.
Ultimately, the English emerged as the most successful commercial and political power in the subcontinent.
The spurt in demand for goods like textiles led to a great expansion of the crafts of spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing, etc. with more and more people taking them up.
Indian textile designs became increasingly refined. However, this period also saw the decline of the independence of craftspersons.
They now began to work on a system of advances which meant that they had to weave cloth which was already promised to European agents.
Weavers no longer had the liberty of selling their own cloth or weaving their own patterns.
They had to reproduce the designs supplied to them by the Company agents.
18^th century saw the rise of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, which are nodal cities today.
Crafts and commerce underwent major changes as merchants and artisans (such as weavers) were moved into the Black Towns established by the European companies within these new cities.
The “blacks” or native traders and craftspersons were confined here while the “white” rulers occupied the superior residencies of Fort St George in Madras or Fort St William in Calcutta.

The changing fortunes of towns

Some towns like Ahmedabad (Gujarat) went on to become major commercial cities but others like Thanjavur shrank in size and importance over the centuries.
Murshidabad (West Bengal) on the banks of the Bhagirathi, which rose to prominence as a centre for silks and became the capital of Bengal in 1704, declined in the course of the century as the weavers faced competition from cheap mill-made cloth from England.

Fishing in Troubled Waters: Masulipatnam

The town of Masulipatnam or Machlipatnam (literally, fish port town) lay on the delta of the Krishna river.
Both the Dutch and English East India Companies (EIC) attempted to control Masulipatnam as it became the most important port on the Andhra coast.
The fort at Masulipatnam was built by the Dutch.

Why did the English and the Dutch decide to establish settlements in Masulipatnam?

This is the chief port of Golconda, where the Right Worshipfull East India Company have their Agent.
It is a small town but populous, unwalled, ill built and worse situated; within all the springs are brackish.

Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus

15^th century
Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese sailor, was one of those who sailed across the Atlantic to the African coast, went round it, crossing over to the Indian Ocean.
Reached Calicut in 1498, and returned to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, the following year.
On the assumption that the earth was round, Christopher Columbus, an Italian, decided to sail westwards across the Atlantic Ocean to find a route to India.
He landed in the West Indies (which got their name because of this confusion) in 1492.
He was followed by sailors and conquerors from Spain and Portugal, who occupied large parts of Central and South America, often destroying earlier settlements in the area.

Chapter 7
TRIBES, NOMADS & SETTLED COMMUNITIES

Society was divided according to the rules of varna
These rules, as prescribed by the Brahmanas, were accepted by the rulers of large kingdoms.
Under the Delhi Sultans and the Mughals, this hierarchy between social classes grew further

Beyond Big Cities: Tribal Societies

Many societies in the subcontinent did not follow the social rules and rituals prescribed by the Brahmanas.
Nor were they divided into numerous unequal classes (i.e. tribes)
Occupation- Agriculture, hunter-gatherers or herders.
Most often they combined these activities to make full use of the natural resources of the area in which they lived.
A tribal group controlled land and pastures jointly, and divided these amongst households according to its own rules.
In various ways, the tribes retained their freedom and preserved their separate culture

Tribal People

Tribal people did not keep written records.
Their customs and oral traditions were passed down to each new generation.
In Punjab, the Khokhar tribe was very influential during 13^th & 14^th centuries. Later, the Gakkhars became more important.
Their chief, Kamal Khan Gakkhar, was made a noble (mansabdar) by Emperor Akbar.
In Multan and Sind, the Langahs and Arghuns dominated extensive regions before they were subdued by the Mughals.
The Balochis were another large and powerful tribe in the north-west
They were divided into many smaller clans under different chiefs.
Western Himalaya- lived the shepherd tribe of Gaddis.
N-E India– the Nagas, Ahoms and Many others
In many areas of present-day Bihar and Jharkhand, Chero chiefdoms had emerged by 12^th century.
Raja Man Singh, Akbar’s famous general, attacked and defeated the Cheros in 1591.
A large amount of booty was taken from them, but they were not entirely subdued.
Under Aurangzeb, Mughal forces captured many Chero fortresses and subjugated the tribe.
Mundas and Santals- Orissa and Bengal

Bronze crocodile, Kutiya Kond tribe, Orissa

How Nomads and Mobile People Lived

Nomadic pastoralists moved over long distances with their animals.
They lived on milk and other pastoral products.
They also exchanged wool, ghee, etc., with settled agriculturists for grain, cloth, utensils and other products.
They bought and sold these goods as they moved from one place to another, transporting them on their animals.
The Banjaras were the most important trader nomads.
Their caravan was called tanda. Sultan Alauddin Khalji used the Banjaras to transport grain to the city markets.
Emperor Jahangir wrote in his memoirs that the Banjaras carried grain on their bullocks from different areas and sold it in towns.
They transported food grain for the Mughal army during military campaigns.
Many pastoral tribes reared and sold animals, such as cattle and horses, to the prosperous people.
Different castes of petty pedlars also travelled from village to village. They made and sold wares such as ropes, reeds, straw matting and coarse sacks.
Sometimes mendicants acted as wandering merchants.
There were castes of entertainers who performed in different towns and villages for their livelihood.

Major Tribes

Maharashtra highlands and Karnataka- Kolis, Berads
Also in Gujarat- Kolis
Further south there were large tribal populations of Koragas, Vetars, Maravars and many others.
Bhils- western and central India.
By the late 16^th century, many of them had become settled agriculturists and some even zamindars.
Many Bhil clans, nevertheless, remained hunter gatherers.
Gonds -Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh

Changing Society: New Castes & Hierarchies

Smaller castes, or jatis, emerged within varnas.
For example, new castes appeared amongst the Brahmanas.
On the other hand, many tribes and social groups were taken into caste-based society and given the status of jatis.
Specialised artisans– smiths, carpenters and masons– were also recognised as separate jatis by the Brahmanas.
Jatis, rather than varna, became the basis for organising society.
Among the Kshatriyas, new Rajput clans became
powerful by the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
They belonged to different lineages, such as Hunas, Chandelas, Chalukyas and others.
Some of these, too, had been tribes earlier.
Many of these clans came to be regarded as Rajputs.
They gradually replaced the older rulers, especially in agricultural areas.
The rise of Rajput clans to the position of rulers set an example for the tribal people to follow.
Gradually, with the support of the Brahmanas, many tribes became part of the caste system.
But only the leading tribal families could join the ruling class.
On the other hand, many dominant tribes of Punjab, Sind and the North-West Frontier had adopted Islam quite early.
They continued to reject the caste system.
The unequal social order, prescribed by orthodox Hinduism, was not widely accepted in these areas.

Deliberations on jati

A 12^th century inscription from Uyyakondan Udaiyar, in Tiruchirapalli taluka (in present-day Tamil Nadu), describes the deliberations in a sabha of Brahmanas.
They deliberated on the status of a group known as Rathkaras (literally, chariot makers).
They laid down their occupations, which were to include architecture, building coaches and chariots, erecting gateways for temples with images in them, preparing wooden equipment used to perform sacrifices, building mandapas, making jewels for the king.

The Gonds

The Gonds lived in a vast forested region called Gondwana – or “country inhabited by Gonds”.
They practised shifting cultivation.
The large Gond tribe was further divided into many smaller clans.
Each clan had its own raja or rai.
The Akbar Nama, a history of Akbar’s reign, mentions the Gond kingdom of Garha Katanga
The kingdom was divided into garhs.
Each garh was controlled by a particular Gond clan.
This was further divided into units of 84 villages called chaurasi.
The chaurasi was subdivided into barhots which were made up of 12 villages each.
The emergence of large states changed the nature of Gond society.
Their basically equal society gradually got divided into unequal social classes.
Brahmanas received land grants from the Gond rajas and became more influential.
The Gond chiefs now wished to be recognised as Rajputs.
So, Aman Das, the Gond raja of Garha Katanga, assumed the title of Sangram Shah.
His son, Dalpat, married princess Durgawati, the daughter of Salbahan, the Chandel Rajput raja of Mahoba.
Dalpat, however, died early.
Rani Durgawati was very capable, and started ruling on behalf of her five-year-old son, Bir Narain.
Under her, the kingdom became even more extensive.
In 1565, the Mughal forces under Asaf Khan attacked Garha Katanga.
A strong resistance was put up by Rani Durgawati.
She was defeated and preferred to die rather than surrender.
Her son, too, died fighting soon after.
Garha Katanga was a rich state.
It earned much wealth by trapping and exporting wild elephants to other kingdoms.
When the Mughals defeated the Gonds, they captured a huge booty of precious coins and elephants.
They annexed part of the kingdom and granted the rest to Chandra Shah, an uncle of Bir Narain.
Despite the fall of Garha Katanga, the Gond kingdoms survived for some time. However, they became much weaker and later struggled unsuccessfully against the stronger Bundelas and Marathas.

The Ahoms

The Ahoms migrated to the Brahmaputra valley from present-day Myanmar in the thirteenth century.
They created a new state by suppressing the older political system of the bhuiyans (landlords).
During 16^th century, they annexed the kingdoms of the Chhutiyas (1523) and of Koch-Hajji (1581) and subjugated many other tribes.
The Ahoms built a large state, and for this they used firearms as early as the 1530s.
By the 1660s they could even make high quality gunpowder and cannons.
However, the Ahoms faced many invasions from the south-west.
In 1662, the Mughals under Mir Jumla attacked the Ahom kingdom.
Despite their brave defence, the Ahoms were defeated.
But direct Mughal control over the region could not last long.
The Ahom state depended upon forced labour.
Those forced to work for the state were called paiks.
A census of the population was taken.
Each village had to send a number of paiks by rotation.
People from heavily populated areas were shifted to less populated places.
Ahom clans were thus broken up. By the first half of the seventeenth century the administration became quite centralised.
Almost all adult males served in the army during war.
At other times, they were engaged in building dams, irrigation systems and other public works.
The Ahoms also introduced new methods of rice cultivation.
Ahom society was divided into clans or khels.
There were very few castes of artisans, so artisans in the Ahom areas came from the adjoining kingdoms.
A khel often controlled several villages.
The peasant was given land by his village community.
Even the king could not take it away without the community’s consent.
Originally, the Ahoms worshipped their own tribal gods.
During the first half of the seventeenth century, however, the influence of Brahmanas increased.
Temples and Brahmanas were granted land by the king.
In the reign of Sib Singh (1714-1744), Hinduism became the predominant religion.
But the Ahom kings did not completely give up their traditional beliefs after adopting Hinduism.
Ahom society was very sophisticated.
Poets and scholars were given land grants.
Theatre was encouraged.
Important works of Sanskrit were translated into the local language.
Historical works, known as buranjis, were also written – first in the Ahom language and then in Assamese.

Tribes of eastern India

The Mongols

pastoral and hunter gatherer tribe
They inhabited the grasslands (steppes) of Central Asia and the forested areas further north.
By 1206 Genghis Khan had united the Mongol and Turkish tribes into a powerful military force.
At the time of his death (1227) he was the ruler of extensive territories.
At different points of time, it included parts of Russia, Eastern Europe and also China and much of West Asia.
The Mongols had well-organised military and administrative systems.
These were based on the support of different ethnic and religious groups.

Chapter 8
DEVOTIONAL PATHS TO THE DIVINE

The Idea of a Supreme God

The idea that all living things pass through countless cycles of birth and rebirth performing good deeds and bad came to be widely accepted.
Similarly, the idea that all human beings are not equal even at birth gained ground during this period.
The belief that social privileges came from birth in a “noble” family or a “high” caste was the subject of many learned texts.
Many people were uneasy with such ideas and turned to the teachings of the Buddha or the Jainas according to which it was possible to overcome social differences and break the cycle of rebirth through personal effort.
Others felt attracted to the idea of a Supreme God who could deliver humans from such bondage if approached with devotion (or bhakti).
This idea, advocated in the Bhagavadgita, grew in popularity in the early centuries of the Common Era.
Shiva, Vishnu and Durga as supreme deities
At the same time, gods and goddesses worshipped in different areas came to be identified with Shiva, Vishnu or Durga.
In the process, local myths and legends became a part of the Puranic stories, and methods of worship recommended in the Puranas were introduced into the local cults.
Eventually the Puranas also laid down that it was possible for devotees to receive the grace of God regardless of their caste status.
The idea of bhakti became so popular that even Buddhists and Jainas adopted these beliefs.

A New Kind of Bhakti in South India– Nayanars & Alvars

The 7^th-9^th centuries saw the emergence of new religious movements, led by the Nayanars (saints devoted to Shiva) and Alvars (saints devoted to Vishnu) who came from all castes including those considered “untouchable” like the Pulaiyar and the Panars.
They were sharply critical of the Buddhists and Jainas and preached ardent love of Shiva or Vishnu as the path to salvation.
They drew upon the ideals of love and heroism as found in the Sangam literature (the earliest example of Tamil literature, composed during the early centuries of the Common Era) and blended them with the values of bhakti.
The Nayanars and Alvars went from place to place composing exquisite poems in praise of the deities enshrined in the villages they visited, and set them to music.
Between 10^th and 12^th centuries the Chola and Pandya kings built elaborate temples around many of the shrines visited by the saint-poets, strengthening the links between the bhakti tradition and temple worship.
This was also the time when their poems were compiled.
Besides, hagiographies or religious biographies of the Alvars and Nayanars were also composed.

Nayanars and Alvars

There were 63 Nayanars, who belonged to different caste backgrounds such as potters, “untouchable” workers, peasants, hunters, soldiers, Brahmanas and chiefs.
The best known among them were Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar and Manikkavasagar.
There are two sets of compilations of their songs – Tevaram and Tiruvacakam.
There were 12 Alvars, who came from equally divergent backgrounds, the best known being Periyalvar, his daughter Andal, Tondaradippodi Alvar and Nammalvar.
Their songs were compiled in the Divya Prabandham.

A bronze image of Manikkavasagar

Philosophy and Bhakti

Shankara, one of the most influential philosophers of India, was born in Kerala in the eighth century.
He was an advocate of Advaita or the doctrine of the oneness of the individual soul and the Supreme God which is the Ultimate Reality.
He taught that Brahman, the only or Ultimate Reality, was formless and without any attributes.
He considered the world around us to be an illusion or maya, and preached renunciation of the world and adoption of the path of knowledge to understand the true nature of Brahman and attain salvation.
Ramanuja, born in Tamil Nadu in the eleventh century, was deeply influenced by the Alvars.
According to him the best means of attaining salvation was through intense devotion to Vishnu.
Vishnu in His grace helps the devotee to attain the bliss of union with Him.
He propounded the doctrine of Vishishtadvaita or qualified oneness in that the soul even when united with the Supreme God remained distinct.
Ramanuja’s doctrine greatly inspired the new strand of bhakti which developed in north India

Basavanna’s Virashaivism

This movement began in Karnataka in the mid-twelfth century.
The Virashaivas argued strongly for the equality of all human beings and against Brahmanical ideas about caste and the treatment of women.
They were also against all forms of ritual and idol worship.

The saints of Maharashtra

From 13^th- 17^th centuries Maharashtra saw a great number of saint-poets, whose songs in simple Marathi continue to inspire people.
The most important among them were Janeshwar, Namdev, Eknath and Tukaram as well as women like Sakkubai and the family of Chokhamela, who belonged to the “untouchable” Mahar caste.
This regional tradition of bhakti focused on the Vitthala (a form of Vishnu) temple in Pandharpur, as well as on the notion of a personal god residing in the hearts of all people.
These saint-poets rejected all forms of ritualism, outward display of piety and social differences based on birth.
In fact they even rejected the idea of renunciation and preferred to live with their families, earning their livelihood like any other person, while humbly serving fellow human beings in need.
A new humanist idea emerged as they insisted that bhakti lay in sharing others’ pain.
As the famous Gujarati saint Narsi Mehta said, “They are Vaishnavas who understand the pain of others.”

Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis

A number of religious groups that emerged during this period criticised the ritual and other aspects of conventional religion and the social order, using simple, logical arguments.
Among them were the Nathpanthis, Siddhacharas and Yogis.
They advocated renunciation of the world.
To them the path to salvation lay in meditation on the formless Ultimate Reality and the realisation of oneness with it.
To achieve this they advocated intense training of the mind and body through practices like yogasanas, breathing exercises and meditation.
These groups became particularly popular among “low” castes.
Their criticism of conventional religion created the ground for devotional religion to become a popular force in northern India.

Islam and Sufism

The sants had much in common with the Sufis, so much so that it is believed that they adopted many ideas of each other.
Sufis were Muslim mystics.
They rejected outward religiosity and emphasised love and devotion to God and compassion towards all fellow human beings.
Islam propagated strict monotheism or submission to one God.
It also rejected idol worship and considerably simplified rituals of worship into collective prayers.
At the same time Muslim scholars developed a holy law called Shariat.
The Sufis often rejected the elaborate rituals and codes of behaviour demanded by Muslim religious scholars.
They sought union with God much as a lover seeks his beloved with a disregard for the world
Like the saint-poets, the Sufis too composed poems expressing their feelings, and a rich literature in prose, including anecdotes and fables, developed around them.
Among the great Sufis of Central Asia were Ghazzali, Rumi and Sadi.
Like the Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis, the Sufis too believed that the heart can be trained to look at the world in a different way.
They developed elaborate methods of training using zikr (chanting of a name or sacred formula), contemplation, sama (singing), raqs (dancing), discussion of parables, breath control, etc. under the guidance of a master or pir.
Thus emerged the silsilas, a genealogy of Sufi teachers, each following a slightly different method (tariqa) of instruction and ritual practice
A large number of Sufis from Central Asia settled in Hindustan from the eleventh century onwards.
This process was strengthened with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, when several major Sufi centres developed all over the subcontinent.
The Chishti silsila was among the most influential orders.
It had a long line of teachers like Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti of Ajmer, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki of Delhi, Baba Farid of Punjab, Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi and Bandanawaz Gisudaraz of Gulbarga
The Sufi masters held their assemblies in their khanqahs or hospices
Devotees of all descriptions including members of the royalty and nobility, and ordinary people flocked to these khanqahs.
They discussed spiritual matters, sought the blessings of the saints in solving their worldly problems, or simply attended the music and dance sessions.
Often people attributed Sufi masters with miraculous powers that could relieve others of their illnesses and troubles.
The tomb or dargah of a Sufi saint became a place of pilgrimage to which thousands of people of all faiths thronged.
Jalaluddin Rumi was a great thirteenth-century Sufi poet from Iran who wrote in Persian.
Chaitanyadeva, a sixteenth-century bhakti saint from Bengal, preached selfless devotion to Krishna-Radha.

New Religious Developments in North India

13^th century saw a new wave of the bhakti movement in north India
Kabir and Baba Guru Nanak rejected all orthodox religions
While Tulsidas and Surdas accepted existing beliefs and practices but wanted to make these accessible to all.

About Tulsidas-

Tulsidas conceived of God in the form of Rama.
Tulsidas’s composition, the Ramcharitmanas, written in Awadhi (a language used in eastern Uttar Pradesh), is important both as an expression of his devotion and as a literary work.
Surdas was an ardent devotee of Krishna.
His compositions, compiled in the Sursagara, Surasaravali and Sahitya Lahari, express his devotion.
Also contemporary was Shankaradeva of Assam (late fifteenth century) who emphasised devotion to Vishnu, and composed poems and plays in Assamese.
He began the practice of setting up namghars or houses of recitation and prayer, a practice that continues to date.
This tradition also included saints like Dadu Dayal, Ravidas and Mirabai.

About Mirabai-

Mirabai was a Rajput princess married into the royal family of Mewar in the sixteenth century.
Mirabai became a disciple of Ravidas, a saint from a caste considered “untouchable”.
She was devoted to Krishna and composed innumerable bhajans expressing her intense devotion.
Her songs also openly challenged the norms of the “upper” castes and became popular with the masses in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
A unique feature of most of the saints is that their works were composed in regional languages and could be sung.
They became immensely popular and were handed down orally from generation to generation.
Usually the poorest, most deprived communities and women transmitted these songs, often adding their own experiences.
Thus the songs as we have them today are as much a creation of the saints as of generations of people who sang them.
They have become a part of our living popular culture

Kabir

Kabir, who probably lived in the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries, was one of the most influential saints.
He was brought up in a family of Muslim julahas or weavers settled in or near the city of Benares (Varanasi).
His ideas from a vast collection of verses called sakhis and pads said to have been composed by him and sung by wandering bhajan singers.
Some of these were later collected and preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib, Panch Vani and Bijak.
Kabir’s teachings were based on a complete, indeed vehement, rejection of the major religious traditions.
His teachings openly ridiculed all forms of external worship of both Brahmanical Hinduism and Islam, the pre-eminence of the priestly classes and the caste system.
The language of his poetry was a form of spoken Hindi widely understood by ordinary people.
He also sometimes used cryptic language, which is difficult to follow.
Kabir believed in a formless Supreme God and preached that the only path to salvation was through bhakti or devotion.
Kabir drew his followers from among both Hindus and Muslims.

Baba Guru Nanak (1469-1539)

Born at Talwandi (Nankana Sahib in Pakistan), he travelled widely before establishing a centre at Kartarpur (Dera Baba Nanak on the river Ravi).
A regular worship that consisted of the singing of his own hymns was established there for his followers.
Irrespective of their former creed, caste or gender, his followers ate together in the common kitchen (langar).
The sacred space thus created by Guru Nanak was known as dharmsal. It is now known as Gurudwara
Before his death in 1539, Guru Nanak appointed one of his followers as his successor.
His name was Lehna but he came to be known as Guru Angad, signifying that he was a part of Guru Nanak himself.
Guru Angad compiled the compositions of Guru Nanak, to which he added his own in a new script known as Gurmukhi.
The three successors of Guru Angad also wrote under the name of “Nanak” and all of their compositions were compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604.
To this compilation were added the writings of other figures like Shaikh Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat Namdev and Guru Tegh Bahadur.
In 1706 this compilation was authenticated by his son and successor, Guru Gobind Singh.
It is now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of the Sikhs.
The number of Guru Nanak’s followers increased through the sixteenth century under his successors.
They belonged to a number of castes but traders, agriculturists, artisans and craftsmen predominated.
This may have something to do with Guru Nanak’s insistence that his followers must be householders and should adopt productive and useful occupations.
They were also expected to contribute to the general funds of the community of followers
By the beginning of 17^th century the town of Ramdaspur (Amritsar) had developed around the central Gurdwara called Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple).
It was virtually self-governing and modern historians refer to the early seventeenth century Sikh community as ‘a state within the state’.
The Mughal emperor Jahangir looked upon them as a potential threat and he ordered the execution of Guru Arjan in 1606.
The Sikh movement began to get politicized in the seventeenth century, a development which culminated in the institution of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.
The community of the Sikhs, called the Khalsa Panth, became a political entity.
The changing historical situation during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries influenced the development of the Sikh movement.
The ideas of Guru Nanak had a huge impact on this development from the very beginning.
He emphasized the importance of the worship of one God.
He insisted that caste, creed or gender was irrelevant for attaining liberation.
His idea of liberation was not that of a state of inert bliss but rather the pursuit of active life with a strong sense of social commitment.
He himself used the terms nam, dan and isnan for the essence of his teaching, which actually meant right worship, welfare of others and purity of conduct.
His teachings are now remembered as nam-japna, kirt-karna and vand-chhakna, which also underline the importance of right belief and worship, honest living, and helping others.
Thus, Guru Nanak’s idea of equality had social and political implications.
This might partly explain the difference between the history of the followers of Guru Nanak and the history of the followers of the other religious figures of the medieval centuries, like Kabir, Ravidas and Dadu whose ideas were very similar to those of Guru Nanak.

Martin Luther and the Reformation

The sixteenth century was a time of religious ferment in Europe as well.

One of the most important leaders of the changes that took place within Christianity was Martin Luther (1483-1546).

Luther felt that several practices in the Roman Catholic Church went against the teachings of the Bible.

He encouraged the use of the language of ordinary people rather than Latin, and translated the Bible into German.

Luther was strongly opposed to the practice of “indulgences” or making donations to the Church so as to gain forgiveness from sins.

His writings were widely disseminated with the growing use of the printing press.

Many Protestant Christian sects trace their origins to the teachings of Luther.

Chapter 9
THE MAKING OF REGIONAL CULTURES

The Cheras and the Development of Malayalam-

The Chera kingdom of Mahodayapuram was established in the ninth century in the south-western part of the peninsula, part of present-day Kerala.
It is likely that Malayalam was spoken in this area.
The rulers introduced the Malayalam language and script in their inscriptions.
In fact, this is one of the earliest examples of the use of a regional language in official records in the subcontinent.
At the same time, the Cheras also drew upon Sanskritic traditions.
The temple theatre of Kerala, which is traced to this period, borrowed stories from the Sanskrit epics.
The first literary works in Malayalam, dated to about the twelfth century, are directly indebted to Sanskrit.
Interestingly enough, a fourteenth-century text, the Lilatilakam, dealing with grammar and poetics, was composed in Manipravalam– literally, “diamonds and corals” referring to the two languages, Sanskrit and the regional language

Rulers and Religious Traditions:
The Jagannatha cult

In other regions, regional cultures grew around religious traditions.
The best example of this process is the cult of Jagannatha (literally, lord of the world, a name for Vishnu) at Puri, Orissa.
To date, the local tribal people make the wooden image of the deity, which suggests that the deity was originally a local god, who was later identified with Vishnu
In 12^th century, one of the most important rulers of the Ganga dynasty, Anantavarman, decided to erect a temple for Purushottama Jagannatha at Puri.
Subsequently, in 1230, king Anangabhima III dedicated his kingdom to the deity and proclaimed himself as the “deputy” of the god.
As the temple gained in importance as a centre of pilgrimage, its authority in social and political matters also increased.
All those who conquered Orissa, such as the Mughals, the Marathas and the English East India Company, attempted to gain control over the temple.
They felt that this would make their rule acceptable to the local people.

The Rajputs and Traditions of Heroism

In 19^th century, the region that constitutes most of present-day Rajasthan, was called Rajputana by the British.
While this may suggest that this was an area that was inhabited only or mainly by Rajputs, this is only partly true.
There were (and are) several groups who identify themselves as Rajputs in many areas of northern and central India.
Rajputs live in Rajasthan.
However, the Rajputs are often recognised as contributing to the distinctive culture of Rajasthan.
These cultural traditions were closely linked with the ideals and aspirations of rulers.
From about the eighth century, most of the present-day state of Rajasthan was ruled by various Rajput families.
Prithviraj was one such ruler.
These rulers cherished the ideal of the hero who fought valiantly, often choosing death on the battlefield rather than face defeat.
Stories about Rajput heroes were recorded in poems and songs, which were recited by specially trained minstrels.
These preserved the memories of heroes and were expected to inspire others to follow their example.
Ordinary people were also attracted by these stories – which often depicted dramatic situations, and a range of strong emotions – loyalty, friendship, love, valour, anger, etc.
Sometimes, women figure as the “cause” for conflicts, as men fought with one another to either “win” or “protect” women.
Women are also depicted as following their heroic husbands in both life and death – there are stories about the practice of sati or the immolation of widows on the funeral pyre of their husbands.
So those who followed the heroic ideal often had to pay for it with their lives.

“Classical” dances

Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu)
Kathakali (Kerala)
Odissi (Orissa)
Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh)
Manipuri (Manipur)

Beyond Regional Frontiers: The Story of Kathak

The term kathak is derived from katha, a word used in Sanskrit and other languages for story.
The kathaks were originally a caste of story-tellers in temples of north India, who embellished their performances with gestures and songs.
Kathak began evolving into a distinct mode of dance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the spread of the bhakti movement.
The legends of Radha-Krishna were enacted in folk plays called rasa lila, which combined folk dance with the basic gestures of the kathak story-tellers.
Under the Mughal Emperor and their nobles, Kathak was performed in the court, where it acquired its present features and developed into a form of dance with a distinctive style.
Subsequently, it developed in two traditions or gharanas: one in the courts of Rajasthan (Jaipur) and the other in Lucknow.
Under the patronage of Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh, it grew into a major art form.
By the third quarter of the nineteenth century it was firmly entrenched as a dance form not only in these two regions, but in the adjoining areas of present-day Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
Emphasis was laid on intricate and rapid footwork, elaborate costumes, as well as on the enactment of stories.
Kathak, like several other cultural practices, was viewed with disfavour by most British administrators in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
However, it survived and continued to be performed by courtesans, and was recognised as one of six “classical” forms of dance in the country after independence.

Painting for Patrons: The Tradition of Miniatures

Another tradition that developed in different ways was that of miniature painting.
Miniatures (as their very name suggests) are small-sized paintings, generally done in water colour on cloth or paper.
The earliest miniatures were on palm leaves or wood.
Some of the most beautiful of these, found in western India, were used to illustrate Jaina texts.
The Mughal emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan patronised highly skilled painters who primarily illustrated manuscripts containing historical accounts and poetry.
These were generally painted in brilliant colours and portrayed court scenes, scenes of battle or hunting, and other aspects of social life.
They were often exchanged as gifts and were viewed only by an exclusive few – the emperor and his close associates
With the decline of the Mughal Empire, many painters moved out to the courts of the emerging regional States.
As a result Mughal artistic tastes influenced the regional courts of the Deccan and the Rajput courts of Rajasthan.
At the same time, they retained and developed their distinctive characteristics.
Portraits of rulers and court scenes came to be painted, following the Mughal example.
Besides, themes from mythology and poetry were depicted at centres such as Mewar, Jodhpur, Bundi, Kota and Kishangarh.
Another region that attracted miniature paintings was the Himalayan foothills around the modern-day state of Himachal Pradesh.
By the late seventeenth century this region had developed a bold and intense style of miniature painting called Basohli.
The most popular text to be painted here was Bhanudatta’s Rasamanjari.
Nadir Shah’s invasion and the conquest of Delhi in 1739 resulted in the migration of Mughal artists to the hills to escape the uncertainties of the plains.
Here they found ready patrons which led to the founding of the Kangra school of painting.
By the mid- eighteenth century the Kangra artists developed a style which breathed a new spirit into miniature painting.
The source of inspiration was the Vaishnavite traditions. Soft colours including cool blues and greens, and a lyrical treatment of themes distinguished Kangra painting.
Remember that ordinary women and men painted as well – on pots, walls, floors, cloth – works of art that have occasionally survived, unlike the miniatures that were carefully preserved in palaces for centuries

Krishna, Radha and her companion, Pahari miniature, Kangra

Pirs and Temples

Pir- A Persian word meaning a spiritual guide.
From the sixteenth century, people began to migrate in large numbers from the less fertile western Bengal to the forested and marshy areas of south-eastern Bengal.
As they moved eastwards, they cleared forests and brought the land under rice cultivation.
Gradually, local communities of fisher- folk and shifting cultivators, often tribals, merged with the new communities of peasants.
This coincided with the establishment of Mughal control over Bengal with their capital in the heart of the eastern delta at Dhaka.
Officials and functionaries received land and often set up mosques that served as centres for religious transformation in these areas.
The early settlers sought some order and assurance in the unstable conditions of the new settlements.
These were provided by community leaders, who also functioned as teachers and adjudicators and were sometimes ascribed with supernatural powers.
People referred to them with affection and respect as pirs.
This term included saints or Sufis and other religious personalities, daring colonisers and deified soldiers, various Hindu and Buddhist deities and even animistic spirits.
The cult of pirs became very popular and their shrines can be found everywhere in Bengal.
Bengal also witnessed a temple-building spree from the late fifteenth century, which culminated in the nineteenth century.
Earlier temples and other religious structures were often built by individuals or groups who were becoming powerful – to both demonstrate their power and proclaim their piety.
Many of the modest brick and terracotta temples in Bengal were built with the support of several “low” social groups, such as the Kolu (oil pressers) and the Kansari (bell metal workers).
The coming of the European trading companies created new economic opportunities; many families belonging to these social groups availed of these.
As their social and economic position improved, they proclaimed their status through the construction of temples.
When local deities, once worshipped in thatched huts in villages, gained the recognition of the Brahmanas, their images began to be housed in temples.
The temples began to copy the double-roofed (dochala) or four-roofed (chauchala) structure of the thatched huts
This led to the evolution of the typical Bengali style in temple architecture.
In the comparatively more complex four-roofed structure, four triangular roofs placed on the four walls move up to converge on a curved line or a point.
Temples were usually built on a square platform.
The interior was relatively plain, but the outer walls of many temples were decorated with paintings, ornamental tiles or terracotta tablets.
In some temples, particularly in Vishnupur in the Bankura district of West Bengal, such decorations reached a high degree of excellence

The Growth of a Regional Language

Bengal- Bengali.

Bengali is now recognised as a language derived from Sanskrit; early Sanskrit texts (mid-first millennium BCE) suggest that the people of Bengal did not speak Sanskritic languages.

How, then, did the new language emerge?

From 4^th-3^rd centuries BCE, commercial ties began to develop between Bengal and Magadha (south Bihar), which may have led to the growing influence of Sanskrit.
During the 4^th century the Gupta rulers established political control over north Bengal and began to settle Brahmanas in this area.
Thus, the linguistic and cultural influence from the mid-Ganga valley became stronger.
In 7^th century the Chinese traveller Xuan Zang observed that languages related to Sanskrit were in use all over Bengal.
From 8^th century, Bengal became the centre of a regional kingdom under the Palas.
Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, Bengal was ruled by Sultans who were independent of the rulers in Delhi
In 1586, when Akbar conquered Bengal, it formed the nucleus of the Bengal suba.
While Persian was the language of administration, Bengali developed as a regional language.
In fact by the 15^th century the Bengali group of dialects came to be united by a common literary language based on the spoken language of the western part of the region, now known as West Bengal.
Thus, although Bengali is derived from Sanskrit, it passed through several stages of evolution.
Also, a wide range of non-Sanskrit words, derived from a variety of sources including tribal languages, Persian, and European languages, have become part of modern Bengali.
Early Bengali literature may be divided into two categories – one indebted to Sanskrit and the other independent of it.
The first includes translations of the Sanskrit epics, the Mangalakavyas (literally auspicious poems, dealing with local deities) and bhakti literature such as the biographies of Chaitanyadeva, the leader of the Vaishnava bhakti movement
The second includes Nath literature such as the songs of Maynamati and Gopichandra, stories concerning the worship of Dharma Thakur, and fairy tales, folk tales and ballads.
The texts belonging to the first category are easier to date, as several manuscripts have been found indicating that they were composed between the late fifteenth and mid-eighteenth centuries.
Those belonging to the second category circulated orally and cannot be precisely dated.
They were particularly popular in eastern Bengal, where the influence of Brahmanas was relatively weak.

Maynamati, Gopichandra and Dharma Thakur

The Naths were ascetics who engaged in a variety of yogic practices.
This particular song, which was often enacted, described how Maynamati, a queen, encouraged her son Gopichandra to adopt the path of asceticism in the face of a variety of obstacles.
Dharma Thakur is a popular regional deity, often worshipped in the form of a stone or a piece of wood.

Fish as Food

Traditional food habits are generally based on locally available items of food.
Bengal is a riverine plain which produces plenty of rice and fish.
Understandably, these two items figure prominently in the menu of even poor Bengalis.
Terracotta plaques on the walls of temples and viharas (Buddhist monasteries) depict scenes of fish being dressed and taken to the market in baskets.
Brahmanas were not allowed to eat non- vegetarian food, but the popularity of fish in the local diet made the Brahmanical authorities relax this prohibition for the Bengal Brahmanas.
The Brihaddharma Purana, a 13^th century Sanskrit text from Bengal, permitted the local Brahmanas to eat certain varieties of fish

Chapter 10
18^th CENTURY POLITICAL FORMATIONS

State formations in the 18^th century.

By 1765, British, had successfully grabbed major chunks of territory in eastern India.

The Crisis of the Empire and the Later Mughals

Mughal Empire reached the height of its success and started facing a variety of crises towards the closing years of the seventeenth century.
These were caused by a number of factors.
Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted the military and financial resources of his empire by fighting a long war in the Deccan.
Under his successors, the efficiency of the imperial administration broke down. It became increasingly difficult for the later Mughal emperors to keep a check on their powerful mansabdars.
Nobles appointed as governors (subadars) often controlled the offices of revenue and military administration (diwani and faujdari) as well.
This gave them extraordinary political, economic and military powers over vast regions of the Mughal Empire.
As the governors consolidated their control over the provinces, the periodic remission of revenue to the capital declined.
Peasant and zamindari rebellions in many parts of northern and western India added to these problems.
These revolts were sometimes caused by the pressures of mounting taxes.
At other times they were attempts by powerful chieftains to consolidate their own positions.
Mughal authority had been challenged by rebellious groups in the past as well.
But these groups were now able to seize the economic resources of the region to consolidate their positions.
The Mughal emperors after Aurangzeb were unable to arrest the gradual shifting of political and economic authority into the hands of provincial governors, local chieftains and other groups
In the midst of this economic and political crisis, the ruler of Iran, Nadir Shah, sacked and plundered the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away immense amounts of wealth.
This invasion was followed by a series of plundering raids by the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali, who invaded north India five times between 1748 and 1761.
Already under severe pressure from all sides, the empire was further weakened by competition amongst different groups of nobles.
They were divided into two major groups or factions, the Iranis and Turanis (nobles of Turkish descent).
For a long time, the later Mughal emperors were puppets in the hands of either one or the other of these two powerful groups.
The worst possible humiliation came when two Mughal emperors, Farrukh Siyar (1713-1719) and Alamgir II (1754-1759) were assassinated, and two others Ahmad Shah (1748-1754) and Shah Alam II (1759-1816) were blinded by their nobles.

Emergence of New States

With the decline in the authority of the Mughal emperors, the governors of large provinces, subadars, and the great zamindars consolidated their authority in different parts of the subcontinent.
Through the eighteenth century, the Mughal Empire gradually fragmented into a number of independent, regional states.
Broadly speaking the states of the eighteenth century can be divided into three overlapping groups:
States that were old Mughal provinces like Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad.
Although extremely powerful and quite independent, the rulers of these states did not break their formal ties with the Mughal emperor.
States that had enjoyed considerable independence under the Mughals as watan jagirs. These included several Rajput principalities.
The last group included states under the control of Marathas, Sikhs and others like the Jats.
These were of differing sizes and had seized their independence from the Mughals after a long-drawn armed struggle.

The Old Mughal Provinces

Amongst the states that were carved out of the old Mughal provinces in the eighteenth century, three stand out very prominently.
These were Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad.
All three states were founded by members of the high Mughal nobility who had been governors of large provinces – Sa‘adat Khan (Awadh), Murshid Quli Khan (Bengal) and Asaf Jah (Hyderabad).
All three had occupied high mansabdari positions and enjoyed the trust and confidence of the emperors.
Both Asaf Jah and Murshid Quli Khan held a zat rank of 7,000 each, while Sa’adat Khan’s zat was 6,000.

Hyderabad

Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder of Hyderabad state, was one of the most powerful members at the court of the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar.
He was entrusted first with the governorship of Awadh, and later given charge of the Deccan.
As the Mughal governor of the Deccan provinces, Asaf Jah already had full control over its political and financial administration.
Taking advantage of the turmoil in the Deccan and the competition amongst the court nobility, he gathered power in his hands and became the actual ruler of that region.
Asaf Jah brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who welcomed the new opportunities in the south.
He appointed mansabdars and granted jagirs.
Although he was still a servant of the Mughal emperor, he ruled quite independently without seeking any direction from Delhi or facing any interference.
The Mughal emperor merely confirmed the decisions already taken by the Nizam.
The state of Hyderabad was constantly engaged in a struggle against the Marathas to the west and with independent Telugu warrior chiefs (nayakas) of the plateau.
The ambitions of the Nizam to control the rich textile-producing areas of the Coromandel coast in the east were checked by the British who were becoming increasingly powerful in that region

Awadh

Burhan-ul-Mulk Sa‘adat Khan was appointed subadar of Awadh in 1722 and founded a state which was one of the most important to emerge out of the break-up of the Mughal Empire.

Awadh was a prosperous region, controlling the rich alluvial Ganga plain and the main trade route between north India and Bengal.
Burhan-ul-Mulk also held the combined offices of subadari, diwani and faujdari.
In other words, he was responsible for managing the political, financial and military affairs of the province of Awadh
Burhan-ul-Mulk tried to decrease Mughal influence in the Awadh region by reducing the number of office holders (jagirdars) appointed by the Mughals.
He also reduced the size of jagirs, and appointed his own loyal servants to vacant positions.
The accounts of jagirdars were checked to prevent cheating and the revenues of all districts were reassessed by officials appointed by the Nawab’s court.
He seized a number of Rajput zamindaris and the agriculturally fertile lands of the Afghans of Rohilkhand.
The state depended on local bankers and mahajans for loans.
It sold the right to collect tax to the highest bidders.
These “revenue farmers” (ijaradars) agreed to pay the state a fixed sum of money.
Local bankers guaranteed the payment of this contracted amount to the state.
In turn, the revenue-farmers were given considerable freedom in the assessment and collection of taxes.
These developments allowed new social groups, like moneylenders and bankers, to influence the management of the state’s revenue system, something which had not occurred in the past.

Bengal

Bengal gradually broke away from Mughal control under Murshid Quli Khan who was appointed as the naib, deputy to the governor of the province.
Although never a formal subadar, Murshid Quli Khan very quickly seized all the power that went with that office.
Like the rulers of Hyderabad and Awadh he also commanded the revenue administration of the state.
In an effort to reduce Mughal influence in Bengal he transferred all Mughal jagirdars to Orissa and ordered a major reassessment of the revenues of Bengal.
Revenue was collected in cash with great strictness from all zamindars. As a result, many zamindars had to borrow money from bankers and moneylenders.
Those unable to pay were forced to sell their lands to larger zamindars.
The formation of a regional state in eighteenth century Bengal therefore led to considerable change amongst the zamindars.
The close connection between the state and bankers – noticeable in Hyderabad and Awadh as well – was evident in Bengal under the rule of Alivardi Khan (r. 1740- 1756).
During his reign the banking house of Jagat Seth became extremely prosperous.

Common features amongst these states-

First, though many of the larger states were established by erstwhile Mughal nobles they were highly suspicious of some of the administrative systems that they had inherited, in particular the jagirdari system.

Second, their method of tax collection differed. Rather than relying upon the officers of the state, all three regimes contracted with revenue-farmers for the collection of revenue.

The practice of ijaradari, thoroughly disapproved of by the Mughals, spread all over India in the eighteenth century. Their impact on the countryside differed considerably.

The third common feature in all these regional states was their emerging relationship with rich bankers and merchants. These people lent money to revenue farmers, received land as security and collected taxes from these lands through their own agents. Throughout India the richest merchants and bankers were gaining a stake in the new political order.

The Watan Jagirs of the Rajputs

Many Rajput kings, particularly those belonging to Amber and Jodhpur, had served under the Mughals with distinction.
In exchange, they were permitted to enjoy considerable autonomy in their watan jagirs.
In 18^th century, these rulers now attempted to extend their control over adjacent regions. Ajit Singh, the ruler of Jodhpur, was also involved in the factional politics at the Mughal court.
These influential Rajput families claimed the subadari of the rich provinces of Gujarat and Malwa.
Raja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur held the governorship of Gujarat and Sawai Raja Jai Singh of Amber was governor of Malwa.
These offices were renewed by Emperor Jahandar Shah in 1713.
They also tried to extend their territories by seizing portions of imperial territories neighbouring their watans.
Nagaur was conquered and annexed to the house of Jodhpur, while Amber seized large portions of Bundi. Sawai Raja Jai Singh founded his new capital at Jaipur and was given the subadari of Agra in 1722.
Maratha campaigns into Rajasthan from the 1740s put severe pressure on these principalities and checked their further expansion.

Seizing Independence

The Sikhs

The organisation of the Sikhs into a political community during the seventeenth century helped in regional state-building in the Punjab.
Several battles were fought by Guru Gobind Singh against the Rajput and Mughal rulers, both before and after the institution of the Khalsa in 1699.
After his death in 1708, the Khalsa rose in revolt against the Mughal authority under Banda Bahadur’s leadership, declared their sovereign rule by striking coins in the name of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh, and established their own administration between the Sutlej and the Jamuna.
Banda Bahadur was captured in 1715 and executed in 1716.
Under a number of able leaders in the eighteenth century, the Sikhs organized themselves into a number of bands called jathas, and later on misls.
Their combined forces were known as the grand army (dal khalsa).
The entire body used to meet at Amritsar at the time of Baisakhi and Diwali to take collective decisions known as “resolutions of the Guru (gurmatas)”.
A system called rakhi was introduced, offering protection to cultivators on the payment of a tax of 20 per cent of the produce.
Guru Gobind Singh had inspired the Khalsa with the belief that their destiny was to rule (raj karega khalsa).
Their well-knit organization enabled them to put up a successful resistance to the Mughal governors first and then to Ahmad Shah Abdali who had seized the rich province of the Punjab and the Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals.
The Khalsa declared their sovereign rule by striking their own coin again in 1765.
Significantly, this coin bore the same inscription as the one on the orders issued by the Khalsa in the time of Banda Bahadur.
The entire body used to meet at Amritsar at the time of Baisakhi and Diwali to take collective decisions known as “resolutions of the Guru (gurmatas)”.
A system called rakhi was introduced, offering protection to cultivators on the payment of a tax of 20 per cent of the produce.
Guru Gobind Singh had inspired the Khalsa with the belief that their destiny was to rule (raj karega khalsa).
Their well-knit organization enabled them to put up a successful resistance to the Mughal governors first and then to Ahmad Shah Abdali who had seized the rich province of the Punjab and the Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals.
The Khalsa declared their sovereign rule by striking their own coin again in 1765.
Significantly, this coin bore the same inscription as the one on the orders issued by the Khalsa in the time of Banda Bahadur.
The Sikh territories in the late eighteenth century extended from the Indus to the Jamuna but they were divided under different rulers.
One of them, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, reunited these groups and established his capital at Lahore in 1799

The Marathas

The Maratha kingdom was another powerful regional kingdom to arise out of a sustained opposition to Mughal rule.
Shivaji (1627-1680) carved out a stable kingdom with the support of powerful warrior families (deshmukhs).
Groups of highly mobile, peasant pastoralists (kunbis) provided the backbone of the Maratha army.
Shivaji used these forces to challenge the Mughals in the peninsula.
After Shivaji’s death, effective power in the Maratha state was wielded by a family of Chitpavan Brahmanas who served Shivaji’s successors as Peshwa (or principal minister). Poona became the capital of the Maratha kingdom.
Under the Peshwas, the Marathas developed a very successful military organisation.
Their success lay in bypassing the fortified areas of the Mughals, by raiding cities and by engaging Mughal armies in areas where their supply lines and reinforcements could be easily disturbed.
Between 1720 and 1761, the Maratha empire expanded.
It gradually chipped away at the authority of the Mughal Empire.
Malwa and Gujarat were seized from the Mughals by the 1720s.
By the 1730s, the Maratha king was recognised as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula.
He possessed the right to levy chauth and sardeshmukhi in the entire region
Chauth- 25 per cent of the land revenue claimed by zamindars. In the Deccan this was collected by the Marathas.
Sardeshmukhi- 9-10 per cent of the land revenue paid to the head revenue collector in the Deccan.
After raiding Delhi in 1737 the frontiers of Maratha domination expanded rapidly: into Rajasthan and the Punjab in the north; into Bengal and Orissa in the east; and into Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu countries in the south
These were not formally included in the Maratha empire, but were made to pay tribute as a way of accepting Maratha sovereignty.
Expansion brought enormous resources, but it came at a price.
These military campaigns also made other rulers hostile towards the Marathas.
As a result, they were not inclined to support the Marathas during the third battle of Panipat in 1761.
Alongside endless military campaigns, the Marathas developed an effective administrative system as well.
Once conquest had been completed and Maratha rule was secure, revenue demands were gradually introduced taking local conditions into account.
Agriculture was encouraged and trade revived. This allowed Maratha chiefs (sardars) like Sindhia of Gwalior, Gaekwad of Baroda and Bhonsle of Nagpur the resources to raise powerful armies.
Maratha campaigns into Malwa in the 1720s did not challenge the growth and prosperity of the cities in the region.
Ujjain expanded under Sindhia’s patronage and Indore under Holkar’s.
By all accounts these cities were large and prosperous and functioned as important commercial and cultural centres.
New trade routes emerged within the areas controlled by the Marathas.
The silk produced in the Chanderi region now found a new outlet in Poona, the Maratha capital.
Burhanpur which had earlier participated in the trade between Agra and Surat now expanded its hinterland to include Poona and Nagpur in the south and Lucknow and Allahabad in the east.

The Jats

Jats consolidated their power during the late 17^th & 18^th centuries
Under their leader, Churaman, they acquired control over territories situated to the west of the city of Delhi, and by the 1680s they had begun dominating the region between the two imperial cities of Delhi and Agra.
For a while they became the virtual custodians of the city of Agra.
The Jats were prosperous agriculturists, and towns like Panipat and Ballabhgarh became important trading centres in the areas dominated by them.
Under Suraj Mal the kingdom of Bharatpur emerged as a strong state.
When Nadir Shah sacked Delhi in 1739, many of the city’s notables took refuge there.
His son Jawahir Shah
While the Bharatpur fort was built in a fairly traditional style, at Dig the Jats built an elaborate garden palace combining styles seen at Amber and Agra.
Its buildings were modelled on architectural forms first associated with royalty under Shah Jahan

Important Terminologies-

Archive-

A place where documents and manuscripts are stored.

Patron-

An influential, wealthy individual who supports another person – an artiste, a craftsperson, a learned man, or a noble

Hinterland-

The lands adjacent to a city or port that supply it with goods and services

Garrison town-

A fortified settlement, with soldiers.

A client is someone who is under the protection of another, a dependent or hanger-on.

A royal architect-

The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s chronicler declared that the ruler was the “architect of the workshop of empire and religion”.

Pietra dura-

Coloured, hard stones placed in depressions carved into marble or sandstone creating beautiful, ornate patterns.

Emporium

A place where goods from diverse production centres are bought and sold

Hundi

It is a note recording a deposit made by a person. The amount deposited can be claimed in another place by presenting the record of the deposit.

Clan-

A clan is a group of families or households claiming descent from a common ancestor. Tribal organisation is often based on kinship or clan loyalties.

Shifting Cultivation-

Trees and bushes in a forest area are first cut and burnt. The crop is sown in the ashes. When this land loses its fertility, another plot of land is cleared and planted in the same way.

Hagiography-

Writing of saints’ lives.

Hospice-

House of rest for travellers, especially one kept by a religious order

Animism-

Attribution of living soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena