NCERT Class 7 History 2
NCERT Class 7 History 2
NCERT Class 7 History 2
Contents
Foreword v
In this book xii
Mapp1
A section of the world
map drawn by the
geographer al-Idrisi in
the twelfth century
showing the Indian
subcontinent.
1 TRACING CHANGES...
Map 2
The subcontinent, from
the early-eighteenth
century Atlas Nouveau
of Guillaume de lIsle.
OUR PASTS II 2
Equally important is the fact that the science of
cartography differed in the two periods. When historians
read documents, maps and texts from the past they
have to be sensitive to the different historical
backgrounds the contexts in which information
about the past was produced.
3 TRACING CHANGES...
the medieval period a foreigner was any stranger who
appeared say in a given village, someone who was not
a part of that society or culture. (In Hindi the term
pardesi might be used to describe such a person and
in Persian, ajnabi.) A city-dweller, therefore, might have
regarded a forest-dweller as a foreigner, but two
peasants living in the same village were not foreigners
to each other, even though they may have had different
religious or caste backgrounds.
OUR PASTS II 4
widely available. People used it to write holy texts,
chronicles of rulers, letters and teachings of saints,
petitions and judicial records, and for registers of
r h e
Archive
accounts and taxes. Manuscripts were collected by
A place where
wealthy people, rulers, monasteries and temples. They
documents and
were placed in libraries and archives. These manuscripts manuscripts are
and documents provide a lot of detailed information to stored. Today all
historians but they are also difficult to use. national and state
governments have
There was no printing press in those days so scribes
archives where
copied manuscripts by hand. If you have ever copied a
they keep all their
friends homework you would know that this is not a old official records
simple exercise. Sometimes you cannot read your and transactions.
friends handwriting and are forced to guess what is
written. As a result there are small but significant
differences in your copy of your friends work.
Manuscript copying is somewhat similar. As scribes
copied manuscripts, they also introduced small changes
a word here, a sentence there. These small differences
grew over centuries of copying until manuscripts of the
Fig. 1
A painting of a scribe
making a copy of a
manuscript. This
painting is only
10.5 cm by 7.1 cm in
size. Because of its
size it is called a
miniature. Miniature
paintings were
sometimes used to
illustrate the texts of
manuscripts. They
were so beautiful that
later collectors often
took the manuscripts
apart and sold just the
miniatures.
5 TRACING CHANGES...
Fig. 2
Different kinds of
handwriting could
same text became substantially different from one
make the reading of another. This is a serious problem because we rarely
Persian and Arabic find the original manuscript of the author today. We
difficult. The nastaliq are totally dependent upon the copies made by later
style (on the left) is
cursive and easy to scribes. As a result historians have to read different
read, the shikaste (on manuscript versions of the same text to guess what the
the right) is denser and author had originally written.
more difficult.
On occasion authors revised their chronicles at
different times. The fourteenth-century chronicler
Ziyauddin Barani wrote his chronicle first in 1356 and
another version two years later. The two differ from each
other but historians did not know about the existence
of the first version until 1971. It remained lost in large
library collections.
OUR PASTS II 6
wheel in irrigation, the spinning wheel in weaving, and
firearms in combat. New foods and beverages arrived
in the subcontinent: potatoes, corn, chillies, tea and
coffee. Remember that all these innovations new
technologies and crops came along with people, who
brought other ideas with them as well. As a result, this
was a period of economic, political, social and cultural
changes. You will learn about some of these changes
in Chapters 5, 6 and 7.
This was also a period of great mobility. Groups of
people travelled long distances in search of opportunity.
The subcontinent held immense wealth and the
possibilities for people to carve a fortune. One group of
people who became important in this period were the
Rajputs, a name derived from Rajaputra, the son of a
ruler. Between the eighth and fourteenth centuries the
term was applied more generally to a body of warriors
who claimed Kshatriya caste status. The term included Fig. 3
The Persian wheel.
7 TRACING CHANGES...
not just rulers and chieftains but also soldiers and
commanders who served in the armies of different
monarchs all over the subcontinent. A chivalric code of
conduct extreme valour and a great sense of loyalty
were the qualities attributed to Rajputs by their poets
and bards. Other groups of people such as the
Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Ahoms and Kayasthas (a caste
of scribes and secretaries) also used the opportunities
of the age to become politically important.
OUR PASTS II 8
Region and empire
Large states like those of the Cholas (Chapter 2),
Tughluqs (Chapter 3) or Mughals (Chapter 4)
encompassed many regions. A Sanskrit prashasti (see
Chapter 2 for an example of a prashasti) praising the
Delhi Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban (1266-87) explained
that he was the ruler of a vast empire that stretched
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. Historians regard these as
Map p3
Provinces of the Delhi
Sultanate during
Muhammad Tughluqs
reign according to the
Egyptian source
Masalik al-Absar fi
Mamalik al-Amsar of
Shihabuddin Umari.
9 TRACING CHANGES...
exaggerated claims of conquests. At the same time, they
? try to understand why rulers kept claiming to have
Why do you think control over different parts of the subcontinent.
rulers made such
claims?
Language and region
In 1318 the poet Amir Khusrau noted that there was
a different language in every region of this land: Sindhi,
Lahori, Kashmiri, Dvarsamudri (in southern Karnataka),
Telangani (in Andhra Pradesh), Gujari (in Gujarat), Mabari
(in Tamil Nadu), Gauri, (in Bengal) Awadhi (in eastern
Uttar Pradesh) and Hindawi (in the area around Delhi).
Amir Khusrau went on to explain that in contrast to these
languages there was Sanskrit which did not belong to
any region. It was an old language and common people
do not know it, only the Brahmanas do.
Make a list of the languages mentioned by Amir Khusrau.
Prepare another list of the names of languages spoken
today in the regions he mentioned: underline names that
are similar and circle those that are different.
OUR PASTS II 10
When the Mughal Empire declined in the eighteenth
century, it led to the re-emergence of regional states
(Chapter 10). But years of imperial, pan-regional rule
had altered the character of the regions. Across most
of the subcontinent the regions were left with the legacies ?
of the big and small states that ruled over them. This Find out whether
was apparent in the emergence of many distinct and and for how long
shared traditions: in the realms of governance, the your state was
part of these pan-
management of the economy, elite cultures, and
regional empires.
language. Through the thousand years between 700
and 1750 the character of the different regions did not
grow in isolation. They felt the impact of larger
pan-regional forces of integration without ever quite
losing their distinctiveness.
11 TRACING CHANGES...
This was also the period when new religions
appeared in the subcontinent. 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 beauty 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. And like Hinduism,
Islam was interpreted in a variety of ways by its
followers. There were the Shia Muslims who believed
that the Prophets 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. There
were other important differences between the various
schools of law (Hanafi and Shafii mainly in India), and
in theology and mystic traditions.
OUR PASTS II 12
Few historians follow this periodisation today. Most
look to economic and social factors to characterise the
major elements of different moments of the past. The
histories you read last year included a wide range of
early societies hunter-gatherers, early farmers, people
living in towns and villages, and early empires and
kingdoms. The histories you will be studying this year
are often described as medieval. You will find out more
about the spread of peasant societies, the rise of regional
and imperial state formations sometimes at the cost
of pastoral and forest people the development of
Hinduism and Islam as major religions and the arrival
of European trading companies.
These thousand years of Indian history witnessed
considerable change. After all, the sixteenth and
eighteenth centuries were quite different from the eighth
or the eleventh. Therefore, describing the entire period
as one historical unit is not without its problems.
Moreover, the medieval period is often contrasted with
the modern period. Modernity carries with it a sense
of material progress and intellectual advancement. This
seems to suggest that the medieval period was lacking
in any change whatsoever. But of course we know this
was not the case.
During these thousand years the societies of the
subcontinent were transformed often and economies
in several regions reached a level of prosperity that
attracted the interest of European trading companies.
As you read this book, look out for signs of change and
the historical processes at work. Also, whenever you
can, try and compare what you read in this book with
what you read last year. Look out for changes and
continuities wherever you can, and look at the world
around you to see what else has changed or remained
the same.
13 TRACING CHANGES...
a
Imagine
You are a historian. Choose one of the
themes mentioned in this chapter,
such as economic, social or political
history, and discuss why you think it
would be interesting to find out the
history of that theme.
L
Lets l
recall
OUR PASTS II 14
5. What were some of the major religious developments
during this period?
et s understand
Lets der
et s discuss
Lets sc u
et do
Lets do
15 TRACING CHANGES...
2 NEW KINGS AND KINGDOMS
Map 1
Major kingdoms,
seventh-twelfth
centuries
?
Locate the
Gurjara-Pratiharas,
Rashtrakutas,
Palas, Cholas
and Chahamanas
(Chauhans).
Can you identify
the present-day
states over which
they exercised
control?
OUR PASTS II 16
The emergence of new dynasties
By the seventh 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. Sometimes
they asserted their independence from
their overlords.
One such instance was that of the
Rashtrakutas in the Deccan. Initially
they were subordinate to the Chalukyas
of Karnataka. In the mid-eighth century,
Dantidurga, a Rashtrakuta chief, Fig. 1
overthrew his Chalukya overlord and performed a ritual Wall relief from Cave
called hiranya-garbha (literally, the golden womb). When 15, Ellora, showing
this ritual was performed with the help of Brahmanas, Vishnu as Narasimha,
the man-lion.
it was thought to lead to the rebirth of the sacrificer as It is a work of the
a Kshatriya, even if he was not one by birth. Rashtrakuta period.
OUR PASTS II 18
The achievements of Nagabhata
Many rulers described their achievements in prashastis
(you read about the prashasti of the Gupta ruler
Samudragupta last year).
One prashasti, written in Sanskrit and found in
Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, describes the exploits of
?
Nagabhata, a Pratihara king, as follows: See if you can find
some of the areas
The kings of Andhra, Saindhava (Sind), Vidarbha (part of mentioned in the
Maharashtra) and Kalinga (part of Orissa) fell before him even inscription on
as he was a prince Map 1. Other rulers
He won a victory over Chakrayudha (the ruler of Kanauj) made similar
He defeated the king of Vanga (part of Bengal), Anarta (part claims as well.
Why do you think
of Gujarat), Malava (part of Madhya Pradesh), Kirata (forest they made these
peoples), Turushka (Turks), Vatsa, Matsya (both kingdoms in claims?
north India)
Fig. 2
This is a set of copper
plates recording a
grant of land made by
a ruler in the ninth
century, written partly
in Sanskrit and partly
in Tamil. The ring
holding the plates
together is secured
with the royal seal, to
indicate that this is an
authentic document.
Mapp2
The Chola kingdom
and its neighbours
r
From U u to
Uraiyur t Thanjavur
u
How did the Cholas rise to power? A minor chiefly family
known as the Muttaraiyar held power in the Kaveri
delta. They were 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 the Pallava territories to the
south and north were made part of this kingdom.
OUR PASTS II 22
Rajaraja I, considered the most powerful Chola ruler,
became king in 985 and expanded control over most
of these areas. He also reorganised the administration
of the empire. Rajarajas 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.
d temples
Splendid tte
e p s and
d bronze
o ze sculpture
c l u e
The big temples of Thanjavur and Gangaikonda-
cholapuram, built by Rajaraja and Rajendra, are
architectural and sculptural marvels.
Chola temples often became the nuclei of settlements
which grew around them. These were centres of craft
production. Temples were also endowed with land by
rulers as well as by others. The produce of this land
Fig. 3
The temple at
Gangaikondacholapuram.
Notice the way in
which the roof tapers.
Also look at the
elaborate stone
sculptures used to
decorate the outer
walls.
Fig. 4
A Chola Bronze Sculpture.
Notice how carefully it is decorated.
To find out how these images were made, see Chapter 6.
OUR PASTS II 24
Fig. 5
A ninth century sluice-
gate in Tamil Nadu.
It regulated the outflow
of water from a tank
into the channels that
irrigated the fields.
flooding and canals had to be constructed to carry
water to the fields. In many areas two crops were grown
in a year.
In many cases it was necessary to water crops
artificially. A variety of methods were used for irrigation.
In some areas wells were dug. In other places huge
tanks were constructed to collect rainwater. Remember
that irrigation works require planning organising
labour and resources, maintaining these works and
deciding on how water is to be shared. Most of the new
rulers, as well as people living in villages, took an active
interest in these activities.
n t
The administration of the empire
of e
How was the administration organised? 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.
NEW KINGS AND
25 KINGDOMS
Types of land
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
OUR PASTS II 26
Inscriptions and texts
The working of a sabha according to the Uttaramerur
inscription:
All those who wish to become members of the sabha should be ?
owners of land from which land revenue is collected. Do you think
They should have their own homes. women
They should be between 35 and 70 years of age. participated in
They should have knowledge of the Vedas. these assemblies?
In your view are
They should be well-versed in administrative matters lotteries useful in
and honest. choosing members
If anyone has been a member of any committee in the last of committees?
three years, he cannot become a member of another committee.
Anyone who has not submitted his accounts, as well as those
of his relatives, cannot contest the elections.
IImagine
n
L
Lets l
recall
Rashtrakutas Bengal
OUR PASTS II 28
4. What were the two major cities under the control of
the Chahamanas?
et s understand
Lets der
sabha
Lets
et s discuss
scu
sc u
Lets
et dodo
12. Find out more about taxes that are collected at present.
Are these in cash, kind, or labour services?
OUR PASTS II 30
The rulers of Delhi
Table 1
RAJPUT
RA
R A U DYNASTIES
YNA
Y NA IES
ES
Tomaras early twelfth century 1165
Ananga Pala 1130 1145
Chauhans 1165 1192
Prithviraj Chauhan 1175 1192
KHA S
KHALJI DYNASTY 1 0 - 1320
1290 3
Jalaluddin Khalji 1290 1296
Alauddin Khalji 1296 1316
TUGHLUQ
T H U DYNASTY
NA Y 11320
0 - 1414
4
Ghiyasuddin Tughluq 1320 1324
Muhammad Tughluq 1324 1351
SA
SAYYID D YNA Y
DYNASTY 4
1414 1 5
- 1451
Khizr Khan 1414 1421
L
LODII DYNASTY
Y NA Y 4
1451 1 2
- 1526
Bahlul Lodi 1451 1489
1 2
Fig.1
Four stages in the
preparation of a
manuscript.
1. Preparing the paper.
2. Writing the text.
3. Melting gold to
highlight important
words and passages.
4. Preparing the
binding. 3 4
OUR PASTS II 32
Keep the following additional details in mind: (1) the
authors of tawarikh lived in cities (mainly Delhi) and
hardly ever in villages. (2) They often wrote their histories
for Sultans in the hope of rich rewards. (3) These authors ig ht
Birthright
advised rulers on the need to preserve an ideal social Privileges claimed
b t g
order based on birthright and g n e distinctions.
gender d t on account of
Their ideas were not shared by everybody. birth. For example,
people believed
In 1236 Sultan Iltutmishs daughter, Raziyya, that nobles
became Sultan. The chronicler of the age, Minhaj-i Siraj, inherited their
recognised that she was more able and qualified than rights to govern,
all her brothers. But he was not comfortable at having because they
a queen as ruler. Nor were the nobles happy at her were born in
attempts to rule independently. She was removed from certain families.
the throne in 1240. Gender
n e
distinctions
iin
n iio s
Social and biological
differences between
women and men.
Usually, these
differences are used
to argue that men
are superior to
What Minhaj- i Siraj thought about Raziyya women.
Minhaj-i Siraj thought that the queens rule went against
the ideal social order created by God, in which women
were supposed to be subordinate to men. He therefore
asked: In the register of Gods creation, since her account
did not fall under the column of men, how did she gain
from all of her excellent qualities? ?
On her inscriptions and coins Raziyya mentioned that Express Minhajs
she was the daughter of Sultan Iltutmish. This was in ideas in your own
contrast to the queen Rudramadevi (1262-1289), of the words. Do you
Kakatiya dynasty of Warangal, part of modern Andhra think Raziyya
Pradesh. Rudramadevi changed her name on her shared these
inscriptions and pretended she was a man. Another ideas? Why do
queen, Didda, ruled in Kashmir (980-1003). Her title is you think it was so
interesting: it comes from didi or elder sister, an difficult for a
obviously affectionate term given to a loved ruler by woman to be a
her subjects. ruler?
Map 2
Major cities captured
by Shamsuddin
Iltutmish.
r nd
Hinterland In the early thirteenth century the control of the Delhi
The lands Sultans rarely went beyond heavily fortified towns
adjacent to a city occupied by garrisons. The Sultans seldom controlled
or port that supply i t
the hinterland d of the cities and were therefore
it with goods and dependent upon trade, tribute or plunder for supplies.
services.
Controlling g rs
garrison w
towns in distant Bengal and
a
arr o town
Garrison o wn
own Sind from Delhi was extremely difficult. Rebellion, war,
A fortified even bad weather could snap fragile communication
settlement, with routes. The state was also challenged by Mongol
soldiers. invasions from Afghanistan and by governors who
rebelled at any sign of the Sultans weakness. The
Sultanate barely survived these challenges. Its
expansion occurred during the reigns of Ghiyasuddin
Balban, Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq.
The first set of campaigns along the internal frontier
of the Sultanate aimed at consolidating the hinterlands
of the garrison towns. During these campaigns forests
were cleared in the Ganga-Yamuna doab and hunter-
gatherers and pastoralists expelled from their habitat.
OUR PASTS II 34
These lands were given to peasants and agriculture was
encouraged. New fortresses and towns were established
to protect trade routes and to promote regional trade.
The second expansion occurred along the external
frontier of the Sultanate. Military expeditions into
southern India started during the reign of Alauddin
Khalji (see Map 3) and culminated with Muhammad
Tughluq. In their campaigns, Sultanate armies
captured elephants, horses and slaves and carried away
precious metals.
By the end of Muhammad Tughluqs 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. But how complete
and effective was its control over such a vast territory?
Mapp3
Alauddin Khaljis
campaign into
South India.
i
e Masjid
The
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
Fig. 3
(khutba) during the Friday prayer.
Begumpuri mosque,
built in the reign of During prayer, Muslims stand facing Mecca. In
Muhammad Tughluq, India this is to the west. This is called the qibla.
was the main mosque
of Jahanpanah, the
Sanctuary of the
World, his new capital
in Delhi. See Map 1.
OUR PASTS II 36
The Delhi Sultans built several
mosques in cities all over
the subcontinent. These
demonstrated their
claims to be protectors
of Islam and Muslims. Fig. 4
Mosques also helped Moth ki Masjid, built
to create the sense of a in the reign of
Sikandar Lodi by his
community of believers minister.
OUR PASTS II 38
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.
They also paid their soldiers from these revenues.
Control over muqtis was most effective if their office
was not inheritable and if they were assigned iqtas for
a short period of time before being shifted. These 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. The Sultans
administrators measured the land and kept careful
accounts. Some of the old chieftains and landlords
served the Sultanate as revenue collectors and
assessors. There were three types of taxes (1) on
cultivation called kharaj and amounting to about 50
per cent of the peasants produce, (2) on cattle and
(3) 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
39 THE DELHI SULTANS
that Sultanate forces could not penetrate. Local
chieftains established their rule in these regions.
Sometimes rulers like Alauddin Khalji and
Muhammad Tughluq could force their control in these
areas but only for a short duration.
OUR PASTS II 40
a
Alauddin h
Khalji Muhammad
u m d Tughluq
uq
Tu h u q
ck
Delhi was attacked twice, in a
The Sultanate was attackedk in the early years of
1299/1300 and 1302-03. Muhammad Tughluqs reign. The Mongol army was
As a defensive measure, defeated. Muhammad Tughluq was confident about
Alauddin Khalji raised a large the strength of his army and his resources to plan an
standing army. attack on Transoxiana. He therefore raised a large
standing army.
o t
Alauddin constructed a new n t c in a new garrison town, the
Rather than constructing
garrison town named Siri for oldest of the four cities of Delhi (Dehli-i Kuhna) was
his soldiers. See Map 1. emptied of its residents and the soldiers garrisoned
there. The residents of the old city were sent to the
new capital of Daulatabad in the south.
The soldiers had to be fed. This Produce from the same area was collected as tax to
was done through the produce f d the army. But to meet the need of the large
feed
collected as tax from lands number of soldiers the Sultan levied additional taxes.
between the Ganga and Yamuna. This coincided with famine in the area.
Tax was fixed at 50 per cent of
the peasants yield.
The soldiers had to be paid. a Muhammad Tughluq also paid ai his soldiers cash
Alauddin chose to pay his salaries. But instead of controlling prices, he used a
soldiers salaries in cash rather token currency, somewhat like present-day paper
than iqtas. The soldiers would currency, but made out of cheap metals, not gold and
buy their supplies from silver. People in the fourteenth century did not trust
merchants in Delhi and it was these coins. They were very smart: they saved their
thus feared that merchants gold and silver coins and paid all their taxes to the
would raise their prices. To stop state with this token currency. This cheap currency
this, Alauddin controlled the could also be counterfeited easily.
prices of goods in Delhi. Prices
were carefully surveyed by
officers, and merchants who did
not sell at the prescribed rates
were punished.
Alauddins administrative
dm n r t m n i tr at e measures
Muhammad Tughluqs administrative m ur
measuress were quite successful were a failure. His campaign into Kashmir was a
and chroniclers praised his reign disaster. He then gave up his plans to invade
for its cheap prices and efficient Transoxiana and disbanded his large army.
supplies of goods in the market. Meanwhile, his administrative measures created
He successfully withstood the complications. The shifting of people to Daulatabad
threat of Mongol invasions. was resented. The raising of taxes and famine in the
Ganga-Yamuna belt led to widespread rebellion. And
finally, the token currency had to be recalled.
OUR PASTS II 42
The Three Orders, the Peace of God,
Knights and the Crusades
The idea of the Three Orders was first formulated in France in the
early eleventh century. It divided society into three classes: those
who prayed, those who fought, and those who tilled the land. This
division of society into Three Orders was supported by the Church
to consolidate its dominant role in society. This helped the
emergence of a new warrior group called knights.
The Church patronised this group and used them to propagate
their idea of Peace of God. The attempt was to direct warriors
away from conflict amongst themselves and send them instead on
a campaign against the Muslims who had captured the city of
Jerusalem. This led to a series of campaigns called the Crusades.
These campaigns in the service of God and the Church completely
altered the status of knights. Originally, these knights did not belong
to the class of nobles. But by the end of the eleventh century in
France, and a century later in Germany, the humble origins of these
warriors were forgotten. By the twelfth century, nobles also wanted
to be known as knights.
I magine
et s recalll
Lets
iqta
8. What was the impact of the Mongol invasions on the
tarikh Delhi Sultanate?
garrison
Mongols L d
Lets discuss
Lets
L t s do
12. Find out whether there are any buildings built by the
Delhi Sultans in your area. Are there any other
buildings in your area that were built between the
twelfth and fifteenth centuries? Describe some of these
buildings, and draw sketches of them.
OUR PASTS II 44
4 THE CREATION OF AN EMPIRE:
The Mughal Dynasty
? Fig. 2
A miniature painting (dated 1702-1712) of Timur, his descendants
Do you think this and the Mughal emperors. Timur is in the centre and on his right is
painting suggests his son Miran Shah (the first Mughal emperor Baburs great-great-
that the Mughals grandfather) and then Abu Said (Baburs grandfather). To the left of
claimed kingship Timur are Sultan Muhammad Mirza (Baburs great-grandfather) and
Umar Shaikh (Baburs father). The Mughal emperors Babur, Akbar
as a birthright?
and Shah Jahan are the third, fourth and fifth individuals on
Timurs right and on his left, in the same order, are Humayun,
Jahangir and Aurangzeb.
OUR PASTS II 46
proud of their Timurid ancestry, not least of all because
their great ancestor had captured Delhi in 1398.
They celebrated their genealogy pictorially, each ruler
getting a picture made of Timur and himself. Take a
look at Figure 1, which is somewhat like a group
photograph.
Mughal military
campaigns
Babur, the first Mughal emperor (1526-
1530), 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.
Table 1 charts some of the major Fig. 3
campaigns of the Mughals. Study it carefully and see if Mughal army on
campaign.
you can notice any long-term patterns. You will notice,
for example, that the
Afghans were an Fig. 4
Cannons were an
immediate threat to important addition in
Mughal authority. Note sixteenth century
the relationship between warfare. Babur used
them effectively at the
the Mughals and the first battle of Panipat.
Ahoms (see also Chapter
7), the Sikhs (see also
Chapters 8 and 10), and
Mewar and Marwar (see
also Chapter 9). How
was Humayuns
relationship with Safavid
Iran different from
Akbars? Did the
annexation of Golconda
and Bijapur in
Aurangzebs reign end 47 THE MUGHAL DYNASTY
hostilities in the Deccan?
Ta e 1
Table
mughal emperors
Major campaigns and events
BA R 1526-1530
BABUR 1 - 53
1526 defeated Ibrahim Lodi and his Afghan supporters at
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.
U
HUMAYUN N 1530-1540,
5 - 4 5 - 5
1555-1556
(1) 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
Humayuns cause against Afghan competitors. Sher Khan
defeated Humayun at Chausa (1539) and Kanauj (1540),
forcing him to flee to Iran.
(2) In Iran Humayun received help from the Safavid Shah.
He recaptured Delhi in 1555 but died in an accident the
following year.
B
AKBAR Akbar was 13 years old when he became emperor. His
1556-1605
1605 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 Akbars empire. Campaigns 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 Ahmadnagar were annexed.
In the last years of his reign Akbar was distracted by the
rebellion of Prince Salim, the future Emperor Jahangir.
OUR PASTS II 48
gi 1605-1627
Jahangir - 7
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, Jahangirs wife, to marginalise him were
unsuccessful.
Shah h
h Jahan 1 7 1 8
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 Jahans 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.
ra
Aurangzeb b 1658-1707
58 70
(1) 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 Deccan Sultanate. He finally fled to
Safavid Iran.
(2) After Akbars rebellion Aurangzeb sent armies against
the Deccan Sultanates. Bijapur was annexed in 1685 and
Golcunda 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.
OUR PASTS II 50
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. Look at Table
1 again note that Aurangzeb insulted Shivaji when he
came to accept Mughal authority. What was the
consequence of this insult?
OUR PASTS II 52
and keep very careful accounts. This was not possible
in provinces such as Gujarat and Bengal.
In some areas the zamindars exercised a great deal
of power. The exploitation by Mughal administrators
could drive them to rebellion. Sometimes zamindars
and peasants of the same caste allied in rebelling against
Mughal authority. These peasant revolts challenged the
stability of the Mughal Empire from the end of the
seventeenth century.
OUR PASTS II 54
Fig. 9
Akbar holding
discussions with
learned individuals of
different faiths in the
ibadat khana.
?
Can you identify
the Jesuit priests
in this picture?
sulh- i kul
Jahangir, Akbars son, described his fathers policy of
sulh-i kul in the following words:
As in the wide expanse of the divine compassion there is room
for all classes and the followers of all creeds, so in his
Imperial dominions, which on all sides were limited only the
sea, there was room for the professors of opposite religions,
and for beliefs, good and bad, and the road to intolerance was
closed. Sunnis and Shias met in one mosque and Christians
and Jews in one church to pray. He consistently followed the
principle of universal peace (sulh-i kul).
OUR PASTS II 56
Queens and kings
There were several great monarchs all near contemporaries in
different parts of the world in the sixteenth century.
These included Queen Elizabeth I (1558 1603) of England. Elizabeth
was the last ruler of a dynasty known as the Tudors. Elizabeths rule
was marked by several conflicts foremost amongst these were
conflicts between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestants,
who were attempting to reform the Church. Elizabeth sided with the
latter, and tried to establish the independence of the Church of England
from Roman control, even as she adopted several practices of the
Roman Church. She came into conflict with Philip II, the powerful
ruler of Spain, and defeated a Spanish effort to attack England. Under
her patronage English sailors harassed the Spanish fleet and made it
difficult for them to control the wealth of the Americas. She was a
great patron of the arts and supported the famous English playwright
William Shakespeare. A poet named Edmund Spenser wrote a long
epic poem called The Faerie Queene in her praise.
Find out more about Akbars other contemporaries the ruler of
Ottoman Turkey, Sultan Suleyman, also known as al Qanuni or the
lawgiver (1520 1566); the Safavid ruler of Iran, Shah Abbas (1588
1629); and the more controversial Russian ruler, Czar Ivan IV
Vasilyevich, also called Ivan the terrible (1530 1584).
g e
Imagine
Babur and Akbar were about your age when
they became rulers. Imagine you have
inherited a kingdom. How would you make
your kingdom stable and prosperous?
et s recalll
Lets
mansab Marwar
Mongol governor
Sisodiya Rajput Uzbeg
Rathor Rajput Mewar
Nur Jahan Babur
subadar rank
57 THE MUGHAL DYNASTY
2. Fill in the blanks
coparcenary
zabt
L
Lets n st n
understand
zamindar
OUR PASTS II 58
Lets
et s discuss
scu
sc u
et do
Lets do
et do
Lets do
nar is five
. The band
ns you
r its
r was
by
Aybak and
tutmish
9. Over the
damaged
and
and
Alauddin
mmad
uz Shah
60
the first were forts, palaces and tombs safe, protected Labour for the
and grandiose places of rest in this world and the next;
Agra Fort
the second were structures meant for public activity
including temples, mosques, tanks, wells, caravan Built by Akbar, the
serais and bazaars. Kings were expected to care for their Agra Fort required
subjects, and by making structures for their use and 2,000 stone-cutters,
comfort, rulers hoped to win their praise. Construction 2,000 cement and
activity was also carried out by others, including lime-makers and
8,000 labourers.
merchants. They built temples, mosques and wells.
However, domestic architecture large mansions
(havelis) of merchants has survived only from the
eighteenth century.
Fig. 2a Fig. 2b
Fig. 2a
Screen in the Quwwat
al-Islam mosque, Delhi
(late twelfth century).
Fig. 2b
Corbelled technique
used in the
construction of an arch.
Fig. 4
The Rajarajeshvara temple at Thanjavur had the tallest shikhara
amongst temples of its time. Constructing it was not easy
because there were no cranes in those days and
the 90 tonne stone for the top of the shikhara
was too heavy to lift manually. So the architects
built an inclined path to the top of the temple,
rences placed the boulder on rollers and rolled it all
tice the way to the top. The path started more
he than four kilometres away so that it
of the would not be too steep. This was
es? Can dismantled after the temple was
constructed. But the residents
out that of the area remembered the
ra of the experience of the
vara construction of the
wice as temple for a long time.
t of the Even now a village near
the temple is called
Charupallam, the
? Village of the Incline.
62
Two technological and
stylistic developments are
noticeable from the twelfth
century. (1) The weight of KEYSTONE
the superstructure above
the doors and windows
was sometimes carried by
arches. This architectural Fig. 5a
form was called arcuate. A true arch. The keystone at
the centre of the arch transferred
Compare Figures 2a and the weight of the superstructure
to the base of the arch.
2b with 5a and 5b.
? Fig. 6
A painting from the
Describe what the Akbar Nama (dated
labourers are doing, the 1590-1595), showing
tools shown, and the the construction
means of carrying stones. of the water-gate
at the Agra Fort.
Qibla
(Direction towards Mecca)
64
introduced order and symmetry. Importance of
As each new dynasty came to power, kings wanted w ater
to emphasise their moral right to be rulers. Constructing The Persian terms
places of worship provided rulers with the chance to abad, populated,
proclaim their close relationship with God, especially prosperous, and
important in an age of rapid political change. Rulers abadi, flourishing,
also offered patronage to the learned and pious, and are both derived
tried to transform their capitals and cities into great from the word ab,
cultural centres that brought fame to their rule and meaning water.
their realm.
It was widely believed that
the rule of a just king would be
an age of plenty when the
heavens would not withhold
rain. At the same time, making
precious water available by
constructing tanks and
reservoirs was highly praised.
Sultan Iltutmish won universal
respect for constructing a
large reservoir just outside
Dehli-i kuhna. It was called the
hauz-i Sultani or the Kings
Reservoir. Can you find it on
Map 1 in Chapter 3? Rulers
often constructed tanks and Fig. 8
reservoirs big and small for use by ordinary people. Golden Temple with
Sometimes these tanks and reservoirs were part of a the holy sarovar (tank)
temple, mosque (note the small tank in the jami masjid in Amritsar.
in Fig. 7) or a gurudwara (a place of worship and
congregation for Sikhs, Fig. 8).
66
Shah Jahan were personally
interested in literature, art and
architecture. In his
autobiography, Babur described
his interest in planning and laying
out formal gardens, placed within
rectangular walled enclosures
and divided into four quarters
by artificial channels.
These 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 (see Fig. 9).
There were several important
architectural innovations during
Akbars reign. For inspiration,
Akbars architects turned to the
tombs of his Central Asian
Fig. 10
ancestor, Timur. The central towering dome and the A 1590 painting of
tall gateway (pishtaq) became important aspects of Babur laying out a
Mughal architecture, first visible in Humayuns tomb. chahar bagh in
It was placed in the centre of a huge formal chahar Kabul. Note how the
intersecting channels
on the path create the
characteristic chahar
bagh design.
Fig.11
Tomb of Humayun,
constructed between
1562 and 1571.
Can you see the water
channels?
68
the emperors throne were a series of pietra
i dura
ur inlays
that depicted the legendary Greek god Orpheus playing
the lute. It was believed that Orpheuss music could
calm ferocious beasts until they resided together
peaceably. The construction of Shah Jahans audience
hall aimed to communicate that the kings justice would
treat the high and the low as equals where all could
live together in harmony.
In the early years of his reign, Shah Jahans 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 also
had a variation that historians describe as the river-
front 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. Shah Jahan
Fig. 13
The Taj Mahal at Agra,
completed in 1643.
tion from a map of the river-front garden city of Agra. Note how the garden palaces of
re placed on both banks of the Yamuna. The Taj Mahal is on the left.
e layout of Agra with Shahjahanabad in Delhi in Figure15.
Yamuna River
70
developed this architectural form as a means to
control the access that nobles had to the river. In the
new city of Shahjahanabad that he constructed in
Delhi, the imperial palace commanded the river-front.
Only specially favoured nobles like his eldest son
Dara Shukoh were given access to the river. All
others had to construct their homes in the city away
from the River Yamuna.
Fig. 16
Interior of temple of
Govind Deva in
Vrindavan, 1590.
The temple was
constructed out of red
sandstone. Notice the
two (out of four)
intersecting arches
that made the high-
ceiling roof. This style
of architecture is from
north-west Iran
(Khurasan) and was
used in Fatehpur
Sikri.
72
IIma
ma n
magine
Imagine
You are an artisan standing on a tiny
wooden platform held together by
bamboo and rope fifty metres above
the ground. You have to place an
inscription under the first balcony of the
Qutb Minar. How would you do this?
Lets
et s recalll
KEYWORDS
1. How is the trabeate principle of architecture different Go through the
from arcuate?
chapter and make
your own list of
2. What is a shikhara?
six keywords.
et s understand
Lets der
5. How did a temple communicate the importance
of a king?
L et s Do
Lets
74
6 W NS TRADERS
TOWNS,
WNS
FTSPE
AD
ADE
CRAFTSPERSONS
E D
AND
Map 1
Some important
centres of trade
and artisanal
production in central
and south India.
Temple
Temple Towns
To and Pilgrimage
rimage
rimage Centres
Ce
Thanjavur is also an example of a temple town. Temple
towns r epresent a very important patter n of
urbanisation, the process by which cities develop.
Temples were often central to the economy and society.
Rulers built temples to demonstrate their devotion to
various deities. They also endowed temples with grants
of land and money to carry out elaborate rituals, feed
pilgrims and priests and celebrate festivals. Pilgrims
who flocked to the temples also made donations.
OUR PASTS II 76
nze bell
Bronze, ell metal
ta and
nd the
o
lost ax technique
wax c i e
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 (see Chapter 2)
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.
Fig. 1
A bronze statue of
Temple authorities used their wealth to finance Krishna subduing
trade and banking. Gradually a large number of the serpent demon
priests, workers, artisans, traders, etc. settled near Kaliya.
the temple to cater to its needs and those of the
pilgrims. Thus grew temple towns. 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 centres also slowly developed into
townships. Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh) and
Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu) are examples of two
such towns. Ajmer (Rajasthan) was the capital of the
Chauhan kings in the twelfth century and later
became the suba headquarters under the Mughals.
It provides an excellent example of religious
coexistence. Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, the
TOWNS, TRADERS AND
77 CRAFTSPERSONS
celebrated Sufi saint (see also Chapter 8) who settled
? there in the twelfth century, attracted devotees from
Make a list of all creeds. Near Ajmer is a lake, Pushkar, which has
towns in your attracted pilgrims from ancient times.
district and try to
classify these as A Netwo all Towns
Tow
administrative
Network
Netwo of Small
centres or as From the eighth century onwards the subcontinent was
temple/pilgrim dotted with several small towns. These probably
centres. 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. While
some traders lived in the town, others travelled from
town to town. Many came from far and near to these
towns to buy local articles and sell products of distant
places like horses, salt, camphor, saffron, betel nut and
Fig. 2 spices like pepper.
A city market.
OUR PASTS II 78
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. These rights were
recorded in inscriptions that have survived to this day.
kets
Taxes on markets
The following is a summary from a tenth-century Fig. 3
inscription from Rajasthan, which lists the dues that A wood carver.
were to be collected by temple authorities:
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.
Find out more about present-day taxes on markets:
? who collects these, how are they collected and what
are they used for.
r e s Big
Traders Bi and
n S a
Small
There were many kinds of traders. These included
the Banjaras (see also Chapter 7). 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
TOWNS, TRADERS AND
79 CRAFTSPERSONS
century onwards the most famous being the
Manigramam and Nanadesi. These guilds traded
extensively both within the peninsula and with
Southeast Asia and China.
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
As you can see,
during this period and Muslim Bohras, traded extensively with the ports
there was a great of the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, East Africa, Southeast
circulation of Asia and China. They sold textiles and spices in these
people and goods. ports and, in exchange, brought gold and ivory from
What impact do Africa; and spices, tin, Chinese blue pottery and silver
you think this from Southeast Asia and China.
would have had
on the lives of The towns on the west coast were home to Arab,
people in towns Persian, Chinese, Jewish and Syrian Christian traders.
and villages? Indian spices and cloth sold in the Red Sea ports were
Make a list of purchased by Italian traders and eventually reached
artisans living in European markets, fetching very high profits. Spices
towns. grown in tropical climates (pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg,
dried ginger, etc.) became an important part of
European cooking, and cotton cloth was very attractive.
This eventually drew European traders to India. We
will shortly read about how this changed the face of
trading and towns.
ul
Kabul
With its rugged, mountainous landscape, Kabul (in
present-day Afghanistan) became politically and
commercially important from the sixteenth century
onwards. Kabul and Qandahar were linked to the
celebrated Silk Route. Besides, trade in horses was
primarily carried on through this route. In the
seventeenth century Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a diamond
merchant, estimated that the horse trade at Kabul
amounted to Rs 30,000 annually, which was a huge sum
in those days. 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.
OUR PASTS II 80
r f s i
Crafts T w s
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, bronzesmiths,
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.
Fig. 4
A shawl border.
Fig. 5
A seventeenth-
century candlestand;
brass with black
overlay.
A Closer
os r Look:
ok H a i M
Hampi, a l at m
Masulipatnam
a d S
and r t
Surat
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
Fig. 6 Hampi reveal a well-fortified city. No mortar or
A view of the watch-
tower through a
cementing agent was used in the construction of
broken wall of the these walls and the technique followed was to wedge
enclosure of Hampi. them together by interlocking.
OUR PASTS II 82
r i e city
A fortified t
This is how a Portuguese traveller, Domingo Paes,
described Hampi in the sixteenth century:
at the entrance of the gate where those pass who come
from Goa, this king has made within it a very strong city
fortified with walls and towers; these walls are not like those
of other cities, but are made of very strong masonry such as
would be found in few other parts, and inside very beautiful
rows of buildings made after their manner with flat roofs.
A Gateway
Ga wa
Ga wa to
to the
th West:
th t: Surat
W t: ur
ur
Emporium Surat in Gujarat was the emporium of western trade
A place where during the Mughal period along with Cambay (present-
goods from diverse day Khambat) and somewhat later, Ahmedabad. Surat
production was the gateway for trade with West Asia via the Gulf
centres are of Ormuz. Surat has also been called the gate to Mecca
bought and sold. because many pilgrim ships set sail from here.
The city was cosmopolitan and people of all castes
and creeds lived there. In the seventeenth century the
Portuguese, Dutch and English had their factories and
warehouses at Surat. According to the English
chronicler Ovington who wrote an account of the port
in 1689, on average a hundred ships of different
countries could be found anchored at the port at any
given time.
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
Hundi
West Asia, Africa and Europe. The state built numerous
is a note recording
a deposit made by
rest-houses to take care of the needs of people from
a person. The all over the world who came to the city. There were
amount deposited magnificent buildings and innumerable pleasure
can be claimed in parks. The Kathiawad seths or mahajans
another place by (moneychangers) had huge banking houses at Surat.
presenting the It is noteworthy that the Surat hundis were honoured
record of the in the far-off markets of Cairo in Egypt, Basra in Iraq
deposit. and Antwerp in Belgium.
However, Surat began to decline towards the end of
the seventeenth century. This was because of many
factors: the loss of markets and productivity because
OUR PASTS II 84
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.
Today, Surat is a bustling commercial centre.
sh
Fishing i ro ed Waters:
in Troubled te
a u i a n m
Masulipatnam
The town of Masulipatnam or Machlipatnam (literally,
fish port town) lay on the delta of the Krishna river. In
the seventeenth century it was a centre of intense activity.
Both the Dutch and English East India Companies
attempted to control Masulipatnam as it became the
most important port on the Andhra coast. The fort at
Masulipatnam was built by the Dutch.
o
A poor h r t
fisher w
town
This is a description of Masulipatnam by William
a t of the English East India Company,
Methwold, a Factor
in 1620: Factor
Official merchant
This is the chief port of Golconda, where the Right of the East India
Worshipfull East India Company have their Agent. It is a Company.
small town but populous, unwalled, ill built and worse
situated; within all the springs are brackish. It was first a
poor fisher town afterwards, the convenience of the road
(a place where ships can anchor) made it a residence for
merchants and so continues since our and the Dutch nation
frequented this coast.
Why did the English and the Dutch decide to
? establish settlements in Masulipatnam?
N w Towns
New To n and
d Traders
T d r
In the sixteenth and seventeenth 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 East India
Companies 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
OUR PASTS II 86
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.
The eighteenth 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
Fig. 8
William in Calcutta. The story of crafts and commerce
A Bombay street,
in the eighteenth century will be taken up next year. early nineteenth
over to the Indian Ocean. His first journey took more than a year;
he reached Calicut in 1498, and returned to Lisbon, the capital of
Portugal, the following year. He lost two of
his four ships, and of the 170 men at the
start of the journey, only 54 survived. In
spite of the obvious hazards, the routes
that were opened up proved to be
extremely profitable and he was
followed by English, Dutch and
French sailors.
The search for sea routes to
India had another, unexpected
fallout. 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.
Fig. 9
Vasco da Gama.
Imagine
OUR PASTS II 88
Lets recall
emporium
(a) We know the name of the architect of the
Rajarajeshvara temple from an inscription. Black Town
Lets discuss
Lets do
OUR PASTS II 90
7 I E
TRIBES,
SETTLED
E L
N MA S AND
NOMADS ND
COMMUNITIES
C M
MM NI
M N IE
I I E
yon Big
Beyond ig Cities:
es Tribal
iba
oc ti s
Societies
There were, however, other kinds of
societies as well. 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. Such societies are often
called tribes.
Who
W were
er
er Tribal
i a People?
P o e
Contemporary historians and travellers give very
scanty information about tribes. A few exceptions
apart, tribal people did not keep written records. But
they preserved rich customs and oral traditions. These
were passed down to each new generation. Present-
day historians have started using such oral traditions
to write tribal histories.
Tribal people were found in almost every region of
the subcontinent. The area and influence of a tribe
varied at different points of time. Some powerful tribes
controlled large territories. In Punjab, the Khokhar
tribe was very influential during the thirteenth and
fourteenth 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
OUR PASTS II 92
Map 1
Location of some
of the major Indian
tribes.
How
H w Nomads
o a
add and
a d Mobile
il
o i l
Pe p e Lived
People Li e
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.
Fig. 2
Bhils hunting deer by night.
Fig.3
A chain of mobile traders connected
India to the outside world. Here you
see nuts being gathered and loaded on
the backs of camels. Central Asian
traders brought such goods to India
and the Banjaras and other traders
carried these to local markets.
OUR PASTS II 94
They bought and sold these goods as they moved
from one place to another, transporting them on their Nomads and
animals. itinerant groups
The Banjaras were the most important trader- Nomads are
nomads. Their caravan was called tanda. Sultan wandering people.
Many of them are
Alauddin Khalji (Chapter 3) used the Banjaras to
pastoralists who
transport grain to the city markets. Emperor Jahangir roam from one
wrote in his memoirs that the Banjaras carried grain pasture to another
on their bullocks from different areas and sold it in with their flocks
towns. They transported food grain for the Mughal and herds.
army during military campaigns. With a large army Similarly, itinerant
there could be 100,000 bullocks carrying grain. groups, such as
craftspersons,
pedlars and
h B a ja s entertainers travel
The Banjaras
from place to place
Peter Mundy, an English trader who came to India practising their
during the early seventeenth century, has described different
occupations.
the Banjaras:
Both nomads and
In the morning we met a tanda of Banjaras with14,000 oxen. itinerant groups
They were all laden with grains such as wheat and rice ... often visit the
These Banjaras carry their household wives and children same places every
along with them. One tanda consists of many families. Their year.
way of life is similar to that of carriers who continuously
travel from place to place. They own their oxen. They are
sometimes hired by merchants, but most commonly they are
themselves merchants. They buy grain where it is cheaply
available and carry it to places where it is dearer. From there,
they again reload their oxen with anything that can be
profitably sold in other places In a tanda there may be as
many as 6 or 7 hundred persons They do not travel more
than 6 or 7 miles a day that, too, in the cool weather. After
unloading their oxen, they turn them free to graze as there is
enough land here, and no one there to forbid them.
Changing
Ch
C ng
h ng n Society:
S i y New
N Castes
s s and
n
H ra hi
Hierarchies
As the economy and the needs of society grew, people
with new skills were required. 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.
ib tio o
Deliberations on jati
A twelfth-century inscription from Uyyakondan Udaiyar,
in Tiruchirapalli taluka (in present-day Tamil Nadu),
describes the deliberations in a sabha (Chapter 2) of
Brahmanas.
They deliberated on the status of a group known as
rathakaras (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.
OUR PASTS II 96
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. Here a
developed society was emerging, and rulers used their
wealth to create powerful states.
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. A large
majority joined the lower jatis of caste society. 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.
The emergence of states is closely related to social
change amongst tribal people. Two examples of this Fig. 5
important part of our history are described below. A Gond woman.
o e Look
A Closer L o
Shifting
The Gonds cultivation
Trees and bushes
The Gonds lived in a vast forested region called in a forest area
Gondwana or country inhabited by Gonds. They are first cut and
practised shifting cultivation. The large Gond tribe burnt. The crop is
was further divided into many smaller clans. Each clan sown in the
had its own raja or rai. About the time that the power ashes. When this
of the Delhi Sultans was declining, a few large Gond land loses its
kingdoms were beginning to dominate the smaller fertility, another
Gond chiefs. The Akbar Nama, a history of Akbars plot of land is
reign, mentions the Gond kingdom of Garha Katanga cleared and
that had 70,000 villages. planted in the
same way.
The administrative system of these kingdoms was
becoming centralised. The kingdom was divided into
TRIBES, NOMADS AND
97 SETTLED COMMUNITIES
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
Map 2 son, Dalpat, married princess
Gondwana. Durgawati, the daughter of
Salbahan, the Chandel
Rajput raja of Mahoba.
Dalpat, however, died
Fig. 6 early. Rani Durgawati
A carved door.
Gond tribe, Bastar was very capable, and
area, Madhya Pradesh. 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.
OUR PASTS II 98
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. Discuss why the
Mughals were
They annexed part of the kingdom and granted the rest
interested in the
to Chandra Shah, an uncle of Bir Narain. Despite the
land of the Gonds.
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 the
sixteenth century, they annexed the kingdoms of the
Chhutiyas (1523) and of Koch-Hajo (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.
Map 3
However, the Ahoms faced many invasions from the Tribes of eastern
south-west. In 1662, the India.
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
Concl
Conclusion
Considerable social change took place in the
subcontinent during the period we have been examining.
Varna-based society and tribal people constantly
interacted with each other. This interaction caused both
kinds of societies to adapt and change. There were many
different tribes and they took up diverse livelihoods.
Over a period of time, many of them merged with caste-
based society. Others, however, rejected both the caste
system and orthodox Hinduism. Some tribes established
OUR PASTS II 100
extensive states with well-organised systems of
administration. They thus became politically powerful.
This brought them into conflict with larger and more
complex kingdoms and empires.
The Mongols
Find Mongolia in your atlas. The best-known pastoral and hunter-
gatherer tribe in history were the Mongols. They inhabited the
E LSEWHERE
LSEWHER
Imagine
Lets recall
garh khel
tanda chaurasi
labourer caravan
clan Garha Katanga
Sib Singh Ahom state
Durgawati paik
TRIBES, NOMADS AND
101 SETTLED COMMUNITIES
2. Fill in the blanks:
garh
(d) As tribal states became bigger and stronger, they
chaurasi gave land grants to _________ and ________.
Lets understand
Lets discuss
Lets do
The
Th
Th Idea
Id
Id of
o a Supreme
S p
pr
r e God
d
Before large kingdoms emerged, different groups
of people worshipped their own gods and goddesses.
As people were brought together through the growth
of towns, trade and empires, new ideas began to
develop. 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.
The
h devotee
d v e and
a d the
h LLord
d
This is a composition of Manikkavasagar:
Into my vile body of flesh
You came, as though it were a temple of gold,
And soothed me wholly and saved me,
O Lord of Grace, O Gem most Pure,
Sorrow and birth and death and illusion
You took from me, and set me free.
O Bliss! O Light! I have taken refuge in You,
And never can I be parted from You.
How does the poet describe his relationship
? with the deity?
as v n s Virashaivism
Basavannas i s ai is
We noted earlier the connection between the Tamil
bhakti movement and temple worship. This in turn
led to a reaction that is best represented in the
Virashaiva movement initiated by Basavanna and
his companions like Allama Prabhu and
Akkamahadevi. 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.
DEVOTIONAL PATHS
107 TO THE DIVINE
shai
Virashaiva ha as
as
vachanas
v ha
These are vachanas or sayings attributed to Basavanna:
The rich,
Will make temples for Shiva.
What shall I,
A poor man,
Do?
My legs are pillars,
The body the shrine,
The head a cupola
Of gold.
Listen, O Lord of the meeting rivers,
Things standing shall fall,
But the moving ever shall stay.
T e Saints
The S i t of M h r s r
f Maharashtra
From the thirteenth to the seventeenth 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
Questioning
Qu
Qu tti
i i thee social
o al
al order
or
or r
This is an abhang (Marathi devotional hymn) of Sant
Tukaram:
He who identifies
with the battered and the beaten
Mark him as a saint
For God is with him
He holds
Every forsaken man
Close to his heart
He treats
A slave
As his own son
Says Tuka
I wont be tired
to repeat again
Such a man
Is God
In person.
Here is an abhang composed by Chokhamelas son:
You made us low caste,
Why dont you face that fact, Great Lord?
Our whole life left-over food to eat.
You should be ashamed of this.
You have eaten in our home.
How can you deny it?
Chokhas (son) Karmamela asks
Why did you give me life?
Discuss the ideas about the social order expressed
? in these compositions.
DEVOTIONAL PATHS
109 TO THE DIVINE
N t a t i , S
Nathpanthis, d h s and
Siddhas n Yogis
o i
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.
Fig. 3
A fireside gathering of
ascetics. Is a a
Islam n Sufism
and S fi m
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
OUR PASTS II 110
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.
Fig. 4
Mystics in ecstasy.
DEVOTIONAL PATHS
111 TO THE DIVINE
Fig. 5 A large number of Sufis
A page from a from Central Asia settled in
manuscript of the
Quran, Deccan, late
Hindustan from the eleventh
fifteenth century. century onwards. This process
was strengthened with the
establishment of the Delhi
Sultanate (Chapter 3), when
several major Sufi centres
developed all over the
Hospice
House of rest subcontinent. The Chishti
for travellers, silsila was among the most
especially one influential orders. It had a
kept by a religious long line of teachers like Khwaja Muinuddin
order. 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
h o s p i c e s. D e v o t e e s o f a l l
descriptions including members
of the royalty and nobility, and
ordinary people flocked to these
k h a n q a h s. T h e y d i s c u s s e d
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.
Fig. 6
Devotees of all backgrounds visit
Sufi shrines.
New
ew
ew Religious
e g u Developments
el
D e pm
l p nt
m nt in
i North
N r
rt
t
India
nd
The period after the thirteenth century saw a new wave
Fig. 7
of the bhakti movement in north India. This was an Chaitanyadeva, a
age when Islam, Brahmanical Hinduism, Sufism, sixteenth-century
various strands of bhakti, and the Nathpanths, bhakti saint from
Bengal, preached
Siddhas and Yogis influenced one another. We saw that selfless devotion to
new towns (Chapter 6) and kingdoms (Chapters 2, 3 Krishna-Radha. In
and 4) were emerging, and people were taking up new the picture you see a
group of his followers
professions and finding new roles for themselves. Such
engaged in ecstatic
people, especially craftspersons, peasants, traders and dancing and singing.
labourers, thronged to listen to these
new saints and spread their ideas.
Some of them like Kabir and Baba
Guru Nanak rejected all orthodox
religions. Others like Tulsidas and
Surdas accepted existing beliefs
and practices but wanted to make
these accessible to all. Tulsidas
conceived of God in the form of
Rama. Tulsidass composition, the
Ramcharitmanas, written in Awadhi
(a language used in eastern Uttar
Pradesh), is important both as an
DEVOTIONAL PATHS
113 TO THE DIVINE
Map 1
Major bhakti saints
and the regions
associated with them.
yo
Beyond th Ranas
the na pa e
palace
Fig. 8
Mirabai.
DEVOTIONAL PATHS
115 TO THE DIVINE
A Closer
ose Look:
Loo Kabir
Kab
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).
We have little reliable information about his life. We
get to know of 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.
sea
In search of the T
of Lo
True Lord
Here is a composition of Kabir:
O Allah-Ram present in all living beings
Have mercy on your servants, O Lord!
Why bump your head on the ground,
Why bathe your body in water?
You kill and you call yourself humble
But your vices you conceal.
Twenty-four times the Brahmana keeps
the ekadasi fast
While the Qazi observes the Ramzan
Tell me why does he set aside the eleven
months
To seek spiritual fruit in the twelfth?
Hari dwells in the East, they say
And Allah resides in the West,
Search for him in your heart, in the heart
of your heart;
There he dwells, Rahim-Ram.
Fig. 9
In what ways are the ideas in this poem similar to or
Kabir working on
a loom. ? different from those of Basavanna and Jalaluddin Rumi?
A Closer
C s Look:
L o
ok
k Baba
B a Guru
ur
ur Nanak
N a
We know more about Guru Nanak (1469-1539) than
about Kabir. Born at Talwandi (Nankana Sahib in Fig. 10
Pakistan), he travelled widely before establishing a centre Baba Guru Nanak
at Kartarpur (Dera Baba Nanak on the river Ravi). A as a young man, in
regular worship that consisted of the singing of his own discussion with
holy men.
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 Gurdwara.
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
DEVOTIONAL PATHS
117 TO THE DIVINE
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.
SEWHERE
ELSEWHERE
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.
Fig. 12
Title page of the German Bible translated by Martin Luther.
DEVOTIONAL PATHS
119 TO THE DIVINE
Imagine
Lets recall
bhakti
2. Fill in the blanks:
Sufi
(a) Shankara was an advocate of -.
khanqah
(b) Ramanuja was influenced by the .
(c) , and were
advocates of Virashaivism.
Lets discuss
Lets do
DEVOTIONAL PATHS
121 TO THE DIVINE
9 TH
R
ING OF
THE MAKING
ONAL CULTURES
REGIONAL LTUR
Th R
The
Th a u t and
Rajputs
Ra ut nd
nd
Traditions
T a it
it o s of
o Heroism
r i m
In the nineteenth century, the
region that constitutes most of
present-day Rajasthan, was called
Fig. 3 Rajputana by the British. While this
Jagannatha temple, may suggest that this was an area that was inhabited
Puri.
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. And of course, there are several peoples
other than Rajputs who live in Rajasthan. However,
the Rajputs are often recognised as contributing to
the distinctive culture of Rajasthan.
Fig. 4 These cultural traditions
Prince Raj Singh of
Bikaner. 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 (Chapter 2) was
one such ruler. These rulers
cherished the ideal of the
hero who fought valiantly,
often choosing death on the
battlefield rather than face
THE MAKING OF
125 REGIONAL CULTURES
who followed the heroic ideal often had to pay for it
? with their lives.
Find out whether
there are
traditions of B o R
Beyond gi a Frontiers:
Regional Fr t rs
heroes/heroines The Story
The S a ha
of Kathak
in your town or
village. What are If heroic traditions can be found in different regions in
the qualities different forms, the same is true of dance. Let us look
associated with at the history of one dance form, Kathak, now
them? In what associated with several parts of north India. The term
ways are these kathak is derived from katha, a word used in Sanskrit
similar to or and other languages for story. The kathaks were
different from the originally a caste of story-tellers in temples of north
heroic ideals of India, who embellished their performances with
the Rajputs? 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 emperors 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
Fig. 5
of Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh,
Dance class,
Lakshmana temple, it grew into a major art form. By the third quarter
Khajuraho. 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
ass l dances
Classical nce
The question of defining any art form as classical is
often quite complicated. Do we define something as
classical if it deals with a religious theme? Or do
we consider it classical because it appears to
require a great deal of skill acquired
through long years of training? Or is it
classical because it is performed
according to rules that are laid down,
and variations are not encouraged?
These are questions we need
to think about. It is worth
remembering that many dance
forms that are classified as folk
also share several of the
characteristics considered typical
of classical forms. So, while the
use of the term classical may
suggest that these forms are
superior, this need not always be
literally true.
Other dance forms that are
recognised as classical at present are:
Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu)
Kathakali (Kerala)
Odissi (Orissa)
Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh) Fig. 6
Manipuri (Manipur) Kathak dancers, a court painting.
THE MAKING OF
127 REGIONAL CULTURES
Painting for Patrons: The Tradition
o Min u
Min r
of Miniatures
ur
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
Fig. 7 skilled painters who primarily illustrated manuscripts
Akbar resting containing historical accounts and poetry. These were
during a hunt,
Mughal miniature.
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 (see also Chapter 10). 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
Fig. 9
Krishna, Radha and
her companion,
Pahari miniature,
Kangra.
THE MAKING OF
129 REGIONAL CULTURES
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 sour ce 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.
A Closer
ose Look:
oo Be l
Bengal
The Growth of a Regional Language
As we saw at the outset, we often tend to identify
regions in terms of the language spoken by the
people. So, we assume that people in Bengal always
spoke Bengali. However, what is interesting is that
while 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?
Fig. 10
A page from a
palm-leaf manuscript
From the fourth-third centuries BCE, commercial
of the earliest Bengali ties began to develop between Bengal and Magadha
Ramayana. (south Bihar), which may have led to the growing
Pir Pirs
Pi s and
A Persian word
P d Temples
e p s
meaning a From the sixteenth century, people began to migrate
spiritual guide. 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 fisherfolk 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.
THE MAKING OF
133 REGIONAL CULTURES
Fig. 13
Krishna with gopis,
terracotta plaque
from the Shyamaraya
temple, Vishnupur.
THE MAKING OF
135 REGIONAL CULTURES
Imagine
Lets recall
Lets do
11. Choose one state each from north, west, south, east
and central India. For each of these, prepare a list of
foods that are commonly consumed, highlighting any
differences and similarities that you notice.
THE MAKING OF
137 REGIONAL CULTURES
10 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
IG
I G TE
T E TH
T H EN
E N RY
RY
O I I A FORMATIONS
POLITICAL O A I N
Map 1
State formations in
the eighteenth
century.
h Later
the a e Mughals
M g a s
In Chapter 4 you saw how the 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. See Chapter 4,
Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted the military and Table 1. Which
financial resources of his empire by fighting a long group of people
war in the Deccan. challenged Mughal
authority for the
Under his successors, the efficiency of the imperial longest time in
administration broke down. It became increasingly Aurangzebs reign?
difficult for the later Mughal emperors to keep a check
on their powerful mansabdars. Nobles appointed as
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
139 POLITICAL FORMATIONS
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.
Rich
i h harvests
h r s and empty
d e coffers
p y c f e s
The following is a contemporary writers account of
the financial bankruptcy of the empire:
The great lords are helpless and impoverished. Their peasants
raise two crops a year, but their lords see nothing of either,
and their agents on the spot are virtual prisoners in the
peasants hands, like a peasant kept in his creditors house
until he can pay his debt. So complete is the collapse of all
order and administration that though the peasant reaps a
harvest of gold, his lord does not see so much as a wisp of
straw. How then can the lord keep the armed force he should?
How can he pay the soldiers who should go before him when
he goes out, or the horsemen who should ride behind him?
d Shah
Nadir ah attacks
ah at a
at c Delhi
ac l
The devastation of Delhi after Nadir Shahs invasion
was described by contemporary observers. One
described the wealth looted from the Mughal treasury
as follows:
sixty lakhs of rupees and some thousand gold coins, nearly
one crore worth of gold-ware, nearly fifty crores worth of
jewels, most of them unrivalled in the world, and the above
included the Peacock throne.
Another account described the invasions impact
upon Delhi:
(those) who had been masters were now in dire straits; Fig. 1
and those who had been revered couldnt even (get water to) A 1779 portrait of Nadir
Shah.
quench their thirst. The recluses were pulled out of their
corners. The wealthy were turned into beggars. Those who
once set the style in clothes now went naked; and those who
owned property were now homeless The New City
(Shahjahanabad) was turned into rubble. (Nadir Shah) then
attacked the Old quarters of the city and destroyed a whole
world that existed there
Emergence
rgen
rgen of
f New
Ne States
tes
tes
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
Fig. 2 of the eighteenth century can be divided into three
Farrukh Siyar overlapping groups: (1) States that were old Mughal
receiving a noble
in court. 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. (2) States that had
enjoyed considerable independence under the Mughals
as watan jagirs. These included several Rajput
principalities. (3) 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
The d Mughal
M al Provinces
al vi
vi s
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 Saadat 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
OUR PASTS II 142
Asaf Jah and Murshid Quli Khan held a zat rank of
7,000 each, while Saadat Khans 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 norther n 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 (see Map 2).
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
143 POLITICAL FORMATIONS
Awadh
Burhan-ul-Mulk Saadat Khan
was appointed subadar of
? Awadh in 1722 and founded
In trying to a state which was one of the
consolidate their most important to emerge
rule, why did out of the break-up of the
Mughal subadars Mughal Empire. Awadh was a
also want to prosperous region, controlling
control the office the rich alluvial Ganga plain
of diwan? 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
Fig. 3
political, financial and military Burhan-ul-Mulk
affairs of the province of Awadh. Saadat Khan.
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
Nawabs 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
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 Fig. 4
between the state and bankers noticeable in Alivardi Khan holding
court.
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
145 POLITICAL FORMATIONS
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.
If we take a birds eye view, we can detect three
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.
n Jagirs
T he Watan Jagi of the Rajputs
Jagi uts
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
the eighteenth 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
Raja
aja
aja Jai
i Singh
S h of Jaipur
ai
ai
A description of Raja Jai Singh in a Persian account of
1732:
Raja Jai Singh was at the height of his power. He was the
governor of Agra for 12 years and of Malwa for 5 or 6 years.
He possessed a large army, artillery and great wealth. His
sway extended from Delhi to the banks of the Narmada.
Fig. 5
Mehrangarh Fort,
Jodhpur.
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
147 POLITICAL FORMATIONS
Se ng Independence
Seizing ep de
The Sikhs
The organisation of the Sikhs into a political community
during the seventeenth century (see Chapter 8) 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 Bahadurs leadership, declared their
sovereign rule by striking coins in the name of Guru
What is the Khalsa? Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh, and established their
Do you recall
own administration between the Sutlej and the
reading about
Jamuna. Banda Bahadur was captured in 1715 and
it in Chapter 8?
executed in 1716.
Fig. 6
Guru Gobind Singh,
the tenth guru.
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 Shivajis death,
effective power in the Maratha state was wielded by a
family of Chitpavan Brahmanas who served Shivajis
successors as Peshwa (or principal minister). Poona
became the capital of the Maratha kingdom.
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
149 POLITICAL FORMATIONS
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
Chauth
25 per cent of the
from the Mughals by the 1720s. By the 1730s, the
land revenue Maratha king was recognised as the overlord of the
claimed by entire Deccan peninsula. He possessed the right to
zamindars. In the levy chauth and sardeshmukhi in the entire region.
Deccan this was
After raiding Delhi in 1737 the frontiers of Maratha
collected by the
Marathas.
domination expanded rapidly: into Rajasthan and the
Punjab in the north; into Bengal and Orissa in the
Sardeshmukhi east; and into Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu
9-10 per cent of countries in the south (see Map 1). These were not
the land revenue formally included in the Maratha empire, but were
paid to the head made to pay tribute as a way of accepting Maratha
revenue collector sovereignty. Expansion brought enormous resources,
in the Deccan. 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 Sindhias patronage and Indore
under Holkars. By all accounts these cities were large
and prosperous and functioned as important
The Jats
Like the other states the Jats consolidated their power
during the late seventeenth and eighteenth-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 Fig. 8
trading centres in the areas dominated by them. Under Eighteenth-century
Suraj Mal the kingdom of Bharatpur emerged as a palace complex at
Dig.
strong state. When Nadir Shah sacked Delhi in 1739, Note the Bangla
many of the citys notables took refuge there. His son dome on the
Jawahir Shah had 30,000 troops of his own and hired assembly hall on the
roof of the building.
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
151 POLITICAL FORMATIONS
another 20,000 Maratha and 15,000 Sikh troops to
fight the Mughals.
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 (see Figure
12 in Chapter 5 and Figure 12 in Chapter 9).
governments. In the Western world, this was the situation until the
late eighteenth century. The American (1776-1781) and French
ELSEWH
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EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
153 POLITICAL FORMATIONS
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