History

7th Class

(700 -1750)

Chapter 1Tracing changes through a thousand years

[Period between 700 – 1750]

-Inventions during this period:

  1. spinning wheel in weaving
  2. irrigation wheel in irrigation
  3. firearms in combat

New food & beverages:

Potatoes, corn, chillies, tea & coffee

People brought these inventions along with them.

This period was a period of economic, cultural, political n social changes

This was a period of great mobility as groups travelled long distances in search of opportunity

Rajputs (Name derived from Rajaputra – the son of a ruler) became important during this period.

From 8th - 14th centuries: [700 – 1400]

Rajput meant - body of warriors who claimed Kshatriya status.

A chivalric code of conduct

Gradual clearing of forests and extension of agriculture during this period

-forest dwellers migrated

-Ppl started tilling lands n Peasant groups arose

-A differentiated society arose

-pplgrpd intojatis

-jatis enforced their own rules thru jatipanchayats (Assembly of elders)

Religious Beliefs altered during this period

-Imp changes in Hinduism

-worship of new deities, construction of temples by royalty

-growing influence of brahmanas as dominant groups in society

-emergence of Bhakti

New religions arrived:

Merchants & migrants first brought the teachings of holy Quran to India in 7th Century[600-700]

Chapter 2: New Kings and Kingdoms

Chapter 3, Chapter 4 [Notes made in Hard copy]

Chapter 5: Rulers and Buildings

From 8th till 18th century 2 kinds of structures were built by kings and their officers:

1).Forts, palaces, tombs

2).Temples, mosques, tanks, wells, caravan serais, bazaars

-Rulers hoped to win praise of people by building these structures for them.

  • Monuments provide an insight into the skills and technology used for construction

Between 7th n 10th centuries architects started adding more rooms, doors n windows.

Trabeate or corbelled style: A horizontal beam is placed across two vertical columns.

Trabeate was used between 8th n 13th centuries to construct temples, mosques, tombs, baolis (large stepped wells)

Temple construction in Early 11th century [1000-1100]:

Kandariya temple: dedicated to Shiva

-built by king Dhangadeva of Chandela dynasty in 999

Rajarajeshwara temple: At Thanjavur, By King Rajarajadeva to worship god Rajarajeshwaram

-2 technological stylistic developments noticeable from 12th century: -

1).Arcuate form was sometimes used wherein a keystone carried the weight of the superstructure above

2).Limestone cement began to be used increasingly.

-Muslim rulers & padshahsdidnot claim to be the incarnations of god but Persian court chronicles describe sultan as 'shadow of god'.

-Why Kings built temples: Kings wanted to emphasise their moral right to be rulers so they constructed temples to proclaim their close relationship with god.

-Why temples were destroyed: In Middle AgesKings built temples to demonstrate their devotion to God and their power and wealth so most enemy rulers displayed their political might and military success by attacking n looting the places of worship of defeated rulers.

-Hauj-isultani or king's reservoir by illtutmish

Mughal Architecture:

Babur was interested in planning n laying of gardens placed within rectangular walled enclosures n divided into four quarters by artificial channels. These were called ChaharBagh

Architectural innovations during akbar's reign:

Central towering dome n tall gateway (pishtaq) became imp aspects of Mughal Architecture, first visible in Humayun's tomb.

-Tombs were built in a eight paradise tradition or hashtbihisht where a central hall was surrounded by 8 rooms.

-Tombs inspired by Central Asian ancestor timur

-During Shah jahan's reign different elements of Mughal arct were fused together.

  • Huge construction activity in Agra and Delhi

Diwan-ikhas or am (ceremonial hall of public and private audience): described as Chihilsutun or forty pillared halls, placed within a large courtyard.

-Audience halls resembled a mosque

-His throne was placed on a pedestal known asQibla

-Behind Shah Jahan's throne were a series of pietradura that depicted Greek god Orpheus playing lute.

-Shah Jahan adapted the river-front garden (in which the dwelling was not in the middle of chaharbagh but at the edge close to the bank of the river) in the layout of TajMahal

The river front garden form was developed to control access to the water. Only select few nobles cud construct in this way rest had to do build houses away from the river.

Cross fertilization of art forms:

In Vrindavan near Mathura the temples were constructed in architectural styles similar to Mughal Palaces of Fatehpursikri.

Chapter 6: Towns, traders & Craftspersons

Temple towns grew near the famous temples.

Kings gave these temples land grants through which they maintained their specialist workers.Temple authorities used their wealth for financing and in banking. Gradually, artisans, workers, traders etc settled near the temples to cater to its needs and to those of pilgrims.Thus grew temple towns.

Emergence of small towns from 8thcentury[700-800]:

They emerged from large villages. They had their mandapika (mandi) to which nearby villagers brought their produce to sell. They had street markets (haats) too.

-Usually samantas or zamindars fortified such towns and levied taxes on artisans, traders & sometimes donated the right to collect taxes to local temples.

Guild - a formal association of people with similar interests. Traders formed guilds to protect their interests. There were many such guilds in South during 8th century. The most famous being,

1).Manigramam

2).Nanadesi

Bidri: Inlay work by craftperson of bidar.

Panchalas or Vishvakarma community: Blacksmiths, goldsmiths etc

Saliyar or Kaikkolars: Weavers

Hampi:

Nucleus of Vijaynagaraempire which was founded in 1336.

Well fortified city .No mortar used .Interlocking was done. Hampi fell to ruin after defeat of Vijaynagara in 1565 by Deccani Sultans

Surat:

It was the Gateway for trade with West Asia through Gulf of Ormuz.

-Cosmopolitan city where people of all castes lived together.

-Textiles of Surat were famous forZari

-SuratHundiswere honoured in far-off markets of Cairo (Egypt), Basra (Iraq) and Antwerp (Belgium)

Hundi 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.

It has also been called as gate to Mecca as many pilgrim ships set sail from here. Suratdeclined towards end of the 17th century due to loss of markets & productivity due to decline of Mughal Empire

-control of sea routes by Portuguese

-Competition from Bombay where English East India company shifted its headquarters in 17th century in 1668.

Masulipatnam or Machlipatnam :

Lies on the delta of krishna river. It became most imp port on andhra coast.

The fort at masulipatnam was built by Dutch. This town declined as company traders moved to Bombay, Calcutta and madras.

In the 16th and 17th centuries:

Independence of craftpersons declined. They lost the liberty of selling their own cloth or weaving their own patterns. They now worked on system of advances and had to reproduce designs supplied to them by European agents.

The 18th century saw,

-the rise of 3 towns namely, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Merchants and artisans were moved into Black towns built by European companies within these cities.

Chapter 7: Tribes, Nomads and settled communities

Under Delhi sultans and Mughals the social hierarchy(Varna proposed by Brahmins in later Vedic period) grew further with distinctions between poor and rich becoming more rigid then before.

Tribal Society:

Tribal people didn’t follow the social rules and rituals prescribed by brahmans.

-No class discrimination followed.

-Had rich customs and traditions

Punjab:

-Khokhar tribe was influential during 13th n 14th centuries.

-Gakkhars became important later

-Kamal khan Gakkhar their chief was a Mansabdar under Akbar

Multan and Sind:

LangahsArghuns dominated before Mughals subdued them.

Balochis: A Tribe in NW. It was divided into small clans.

Gaddis:Shepherd tribe lived in Himalayas

NE: Nagas, Ahoms

Orissa: Mundas

Santhals: Bengal

Chero chiefdoms emerged in 12th century in BiharJharkhand areas and were defeated by Raja Man Singh in 1591.

Maharashtra, Areas of Gujarat - Kolis

K'tka - Berads

Large tribe spread across Central n Western India: Bhils

Present day Chhattisgarh, MP, Maharashtra and AP: Gonds

Nomadic pastoralists moved long distances with their animals. They lived on milk & other pastoral products.

-Exchanged wool, ghee with settled agriculturists for utensils, cloth & other products.

Banjaras were most imp trader nomads. Their caravan was called Tanda

As economy grew and people with new skills were required so smaller castes emerged within Varnas.

Many tribal n social groups were given status of jatis. Spl artisans like smiths, carpenters and masons were now recognised by jatis.

Jati rather than Varna now became the basis for organising society.

Many dominant tribes of Punjab, Sind and the North-West Frontier had adopted Islam quite early.

They continued to reject the caste system.

A closer look:

Gonds:

  • Lived in vast forested region called Gondwana
  • Practiced shifting cultivation
  • Gond clan divided into smaller clans with each having its raja or rai.
  • Administration became centralised with kingdom divided into 'garhs".
  • Each garh was controlled by particular Gond clan.
  • Garh was further divided into units (of 84 villages) called Chaurasi.
  • Chaurasi was further divided into units called barhots which were made up of 12 villages each.
  • Emergence of large states changed the Gond society and it gradually got divided into unequal social classes.
  • Brahmans received grants from Gond rajas and became influential.
  • Garhakatanga'sGond king assumed the title of Sangram Shah.
  • Gonds raised resources by trapping and exporting elephants to other kingdoms.

Ahoms:

  • Migrated to Brahmaputra valley from Myanmar in 13th century.
  • SuppresedBhuyians(landlords) and created a new system
  • they used firearms as early as 1530s
  • Ahom state depended upon forced labour
  • Paiks - those forced to work for the state
  • Ahom society divided into Clans or Khels. Khel controlled several villages.
  • even king couldn’t take away the land given to a peasant by the village community.
  • In reign of Sib Singh (1714-44) Hinduism became important.
  • Buranjis: historical works written in Ahom and then in Assamese.

Tribes of Eastern India

Chapter 8: Devotional Paths to the Divine

Bhakti & Sufi movements evolved from the 8th century.

-Beliefs in cycle of birth & idea that all human beings are not equal gained hold during this period.

People turned to Jainism n Buddhism as according to them it was possible to overcome social differences & break the cycle of rebirth through personal effort.

-Bhakti could deliver from such cycle.

-ideas of Bhakti became popular & even Jainas n Buddhists adopted these beliefs.

Bhakti in South India:

[7th - 9th century]

  • Nayanars (saints devoted to shiva)
  • Alvars (saints devoted to vishnu) emerged.
  • They had members from all castes n untouchables too like PulaiyarPanars.
  • Criticised Buddhists & Jainas n preached that ardent love of Shiva or Vishnu was the path for salvation.
  • drew inspiration from Sangam literature n blended its ideals with values of Bhakti.

Tevaram,Tiruvacakam: compilation of songs of Nayanars

DivyaPrabandham: Compilation of songs by Alvars

In 10th century (900-1000)CholaPandya kings built temples

Hagiographies = Biographies of Nayanars n Alvars

Shankara:

  • philosopher was born in Kerala in 8th century
  • Advocate of Advaita or doctrine of Oneness of the individual soul & the supreme god which is the ultimate reality
  • Brahma the only or ultimate reality was formless
  • World as Maya & illusion

Ramanuja:

  • born in Tamilnadu in 11th Century
  • Influenced by Alvars
  • Path to salvation through devotion to Vishnu
  • Doctrine of Vishishtadvaita or Qualified oneness in that the soul even when united with supreme god remains distinct
  • It began in Karnataka in mid 12th century(around 1150s)
  • against the casteism n treatment of women n believed in equality of human beings
  • against ritual n idol worship
  • Inititated by Basavanna , AllamaPrabhuakkamahadevi
  • From 13th till 17th centuries there were many saint-poets.
  • janeshwar, Namdev, Eknath, tukaram
  • women like Sakkubai n family of chokhamela belonged to untouchable Mahar caste
  • This regional tradition of Bhakti focused on Vithaltemple in Pandharpur as well as personal god residing in the hearts of people.
  • It rejected ritualsim, outward display of piety , social differences
  • It even rejected the idea of renunciation & preferred to live with their families
  • stressed that bhakti lay in sharing others' pain
  • Abhang: marathi devotional hymn
  • Rejected ritualism
  • Believed in meditation of the formless reality and realisation of oneness with it.
  • Practiced Yogasanas
  • These groups became popular in lower castes
  • Sufis were Muslim mystics
  • Rejected outward religiosity n emphasised love n devotion to god n compassion to fellow human beings.
  • Islam propagated Montheism or submission to one god.
  • rejected idol worship
  • Simplified rituals of worship into collective prayers
  • Sufis rejected the elaborate rituals & codes of behavior demanded by Muslim religious scholars.
  • Famous sufis: Ghazzali, rumi n sadi.
  • Like SiddhasNathpanthis & yogis they too believed that heart can be trained to look at the world in a different way
  • Developed training methods using zikr (chanting of a sacred formula), raqs (dancing)
  • Silsilas - genealogy of Sufi teachers
  • Large number of sufis settled in hindustan during 11th century and esp after Delhi sultanate strengthened its establishment.
  • ChishtiSilsila was most influential
  • KhwajaMuinuddinChisti of Ajmer, QutbuddinBakhtiar kaki of delhi, Baba Farid of Punjab, KhwajaNizamuddinAuliya of Delhi &
  • BandanawazGisudaraz of Gulbarga

Khanqahs or Hospices:

Sufi masters held their assemblies here. People believed in miraculous healing powers of Sufi saints so Dargahs or tombs of Sufi saints became centres of pilgrimage gradually

  • Period after 13th century saw Hinduism, Islam, Sufism & various strands of Bhakti influencing each other.
  • Tulsidas - Ramcharitmanas in awadhi (language in east UP)
  • Surdas - krishna:sursagara, surasaravali and sahityalahari
  • Shankaradevaof Assam - devotion to Vishnu: He started the practice of setting up Namghars or houses of recitation n prayer
  • Mirabai: Rajput princess of Mewar in 16th century: She became a disciple of Ravidas (who was from an untouchable caste). Her songs challenged the norms of upper caste & became popular in Rajasthan &Gujarat

[15-16th century]

  • family of weavers in or near city of Benares
  • Sakhis & pads:collection of his verses
  • Gurugranth sahib, PanchVaniBijak contain some of his bhajans

Teachings:

  • rejected all major religious traditions
  • ridiculed all form of external worship
  • against caste system n pre-eminence of priestly class
  • Believed in formless supreme god
  • his verses were in a spoken form of Hindi or in a cryptic language

[1469-1539]

Born at talwandi, Nankana sahib in pakistan

  • estb a centre of worship on river Ravi
  • Followers despite of their caste ate in langar
  • dharmsalor gurudwara
  • appointed Lehna or Guru Angad as his successor

Teachings of Guru Nanak

  • Emphasised 1 god
  • caste, creed , gender irrelevant
  • His idea of liberation was active life with a sense of social commitment & not of internal bliss.

He used following 3 words for essence of his teaching:

  • nam: right worship
  • dam: welfare of others
  • isnan: purity of conduct
  • Angad compiled Guru Nanak's compositions and he added his own to them too ingurmukhi
  • 3 successors of Guru Angad wrote under the name of Nanak and all of their verses were compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604.To this version was added the writing of other figures like Shaikhfarid, Santkabir, Tegbahadur

-In 1706: The compilation was authenticated by Guru Arjan’s son and successor and it is now known as Guru Granth Sahib

  • By the beginning of 17th century the town of Ramdaspur (Amritsar) had developed around central Gurudwara called Harmandar sahib.

-Jahangir perceived Sikhs as a threat and ordered execution of Guru Arjan in 1606.

-The Sikh movement began to get politicized in 17th century and it culminated in 1699 by the estb of Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh.

-The community of Sikhs called KhalsaPanthbecame a political entity.

Chapter 9: The Making of Regional Cultures

Cheras and development of Malyalam:

  • Chera kingdom was established in 9th century in SW part of Peninsula (part of present day Kerala)
  • Malayalam was already spoken there and rulers introduced it into their inscriptions
  • the 1st literary works in 12th century in Malayalam are indebted to Sanskrit
  • Lilatilakam -14th century - grammar n poetics -composed in Manipravalam (diamonds n corals)

Anantavarman:

  • Ruler of Ganga dynasty. He erected a temple for PurushottamaJagannatha at Puri.
  • Derived from Katha, a word used in Sanskrit & other languages for 'story'.
  • Kathaks were originally storytellers in temples of North India, who embellished their performances with gestures & songs.
  • Kathak evolved in to a distinct dance form in 15th n 16th centuries with the spread of Bhakti Movement
  • Rasa lila combined folk dance with basic gestures of Kathak story tellers.
  • it was performed in Mughal courts & that is where it acquired its present features.

-Developed in 2 Gharanas or traditions

1).In Lucknow

2).Courts of Rajasthan (Jaipur)

Under Wajid Ali Shah it grew as a major art form. By 3rd quarter of 19th century Kathak was entrenched as a dance form not only in above 2 regions but in the adjoining areas of Haryana, Punjab, J&K, Bihar, MP

-it was recognised as one of the 6 classical dance forms after independence.

  • -small sized paintings
  • -done in water color on cloth or paper
  • -Earliest were on palm leaf or wood
  • -those found in West india illustrate jaina text
  • -Basohli :Himalayan foothills around the Himachal Pradesh by late 17th century had developed a bold n intense style of miniature paintings.
  • -Bhanudatta'sRasamanjari.

-Invasion by Nadir Shah in 1739 forced these artists to flee to hills where they found ready patrons and it led to the founding ofKangra School of Painting.