Medieval India

Chapter 1:

“India”, the modern nation state. When the term was used in the 13th century by Minhaj-i Siraj, a chronicler who wrote in Persian, he meant the areas of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna. He used the term in a political sense for lands that were a part of the dominions of the Delhi Sultan.

Early 16th century Babur used Hindustan to describe the geography, the fauna and the culture of the inhabitants of the subcontinent.

The 14thcentury poet Amir Khusrau used the word “Hind”.

Historians and their sources

Manuscripts were collected by wealthy people, rulers, monasteries and temples. They were placed in libraries and archives. Miniature paintings were sometimes used to illustrate the texts of manuscripts.

The 14th 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.

Between 700 and 1750 new technologies made their appearance.

New social and political groups

This was a period of economic, political, social and cultural changes.

One group of people who became important in this period was the Rajput’s, a name derived from “Rajaputra”, the son of a ruler.

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.

People were grouped into Jatis or sub-castes and ranked on the basis of their backgrounds and their occupations. Jatis framed their own rules and regulations to manage the conduct of their members.

Region and empire

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.

Occasionally dynasties like the Cholas, Khaljis, Tughluqs and Mughals were able to build an empire that was pan-regional – spanning diverse regions.

When the Mughal Empire declined in the eighteenth century, it led to the re-emergence of regional states. But years of imperial, pan-regional rule had altered the character of the regions.

Medieval India

Old and new religions

Hinduism:

Hinduism today, these included the worship of new deities, the construction of temples by royalty and the growing importance of Brahmanas, the priests, as dominant groups in society. Their knowledge of Sanskrit texts earned the Brahmanas a lot of respect in society by the support of their patrons— new rulers searching for prestige.

Emergence of the idea of bhakti — of a loving, personal deity that devotees could reach without the aid of priests or elaborate rituals.

Muslim:

Merchants and migrants first brought the teachings of the holy Quran to India in the seventh century. Muslims regard the Quranas 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 ShiaMuslims, Ali, was the legitimate leader of the Muslim community, and the SunniMuslims who accepted the authority of the early leaders (khalifas) of the community, and the succeeding Khalifas.

Chapter 2: The emergence of new dynasties

Big landlords or warrior chiefs in different regions of the subcontinent. Existing kings often acknowledged them as their subordinates or samantas. Samantas gained power and wealth, they declared themselves to be maha-samanta, mahamandaleshvara(the great lord of a “circle” or region).

Rashtrakutas in the Deccan were subordinate to the Chalukyas of Karnataka. In the mid-eighth century, Dantidurga, a Rashtrakuta chief, overthrew his Chalukya overlord and performed a ritual called hiranya-garbha (literally, the golden womb).

The Kadamba Mayurasharman and the GurjaraPratihara Harichandra were Brahmanas who gave up their traditional professions and took to arms, successfully establishing kingdoms in Karnataka and Rajasthan respectively.

Administration in the kingdoms

New kings adopted high-sounding titles such as maharaja-adhiraja (great king, overlord of kings), tribhuvana-chakravartin (lord of the three worlds).

The inscriptions of the Cholas who ruled in Tamil Nadu refer to more than 400 terms for different kinds of taxes. The most frequently mentioned tax is vetti, taken not in cash but in the form of forced labour, and kadamai, or land revenue.

Resources were obtained from the producers, that is, peasants, cattle-keepers, artisans, who were often persuaded or compelled to surrender part of what they produced.

Medieval India

The functionaries for collecting revenue were generally recruited from influential families, and positions were often hereditary.

Prashastis and land grants

Prashastis contain details that may not be literally true.

Kings often rewarded Brahmanas by grants of land. These were recorded on copper plates, which were given to those who received the land.

Kalhana He used a variety of sources, including inscriptions, documents, eyewitness accounts and earlier histories, to write his account.

Warfare for wealth

For centuries, rulers belonging to the Gurjara-Pratihara, Rashtrakuta and Pala dynasties fought for control over Kanauj. Because there were three “parties” in this long drawn conflict, historians often describe it as the “tripartite struggle”.

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, Afghanistan. He ruled from 997 to 1030, and extended control over parts of Central Asia, Iran and the north-western part of the subcontinent. He raided the subcontinent almost every year – his targets were wealthy temples, including that of Somnath, Gujarat.

A scholar named al-Biruni to write an account of the subcontinent. This Arabic work, known as the Kitab-al Hind.

The Chahamanas, later known as the Chauhans, who ruled over the region around Delhi and Ajmer.

They attempted to expand their control to the west and the east, where they were opposed by the Chalukyas of Gujarat and the Gahadavalas of western Uttar Pradesh.

The best-known Chahamana ruler was Prithviraja III (1168-1192), who defeated an Afghan ruler named Sultan Muhammad Ghori in 1191, but lost to him the very next year, in 1192.

From Uraiyur to Thanjavur

A minor chiefly family known as the Muttaraiyar held power in the Kaveri delta. They were subordinate to the Pallava kings of Kanchipuram.

Medieval India

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 Pandyan and the Pallava territories to the south and north were made part of this kingdom.

Rajaraja I, considered the most powerful Chola ruler, became king in 985 and expanded control over most of these areas. He also reorganised the administration of the empire.

Rajaraja’s son Rajendra I continued his policies and even raided the Ganga valley, Sri Lanka and countries of Southeast Asia, developing a navy for these expeditions.

Splendid temples and bronze sculpture

The big temples of Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram, built by Rajaraja and Rajendra, are architectural and sculptural marvels.

Temples were not only places of worship; they were the hub of economic, social and cultural life as well.

Chola bronze images are considered amongst the finest in the world. While most images were of deities, sometimes images were made of devotees as well.

Agriculture and irrigation

Agriculture is from 5th to 6th Century.

Irrigation works require planning – organising labour and resources, maintaining these works and deciding on how water is to be shared.

The administration of the empire

Settlements of peasants, known as ur, became prosperous with the spread of irrigation agriculture. Groups of such villages formed larger units called nadu. The village council and the nadu had several administrative functions including dispensing justice and collecting taxes.

Rich peasants of the Vellala caste exercised considerable control over the affairs of the nadu under the supervision of the central Chola government.

The Chola kings gave some rich landowners titles like muvendavelan (a velan or peasant serving three kings), araiyar (chief), etc. as markers of respect, and entrusted them with important offices of the state at the centre.

Associations of traders known as nagarams also occasionally performed administrative functions in towns.

Adanur was a small hamlet of Pulaiyas (a name used for a social group considered “outcastes” by Brahmanas and Vellalas).

China under the Tang dynasty

Medieval India

Tang dynasty, which remained in power for about 300 years (from 7th to 10thcenturies). Its capital, Xi’an, was one of the largest cities in the world, visited by Turks, Iranians, Indians, Japanese and Koreans. The Tang Empire was administered by a bureaucracy recruited through an examination, which was open to all who wished to appear for it. This system of selecting officials remained in place, with some changes, till 1911.

Chapter 3: THE DELHI SULTANS

Delhi first became the capital of a kingdom under the Tomara Rajputs, who were defeated in the middle of the twelfth century by the Chauhans (also referred to as Chahamanas) of Ajmer.

It was under the Tomaras and Chauhans that Delhi became an important commercial centre. Many rich Jaina merchants lived in the city and constructed several temples. Coins minted here, called dehliwal.

The foundation of the Delhi Sultanate in the beginning of the thirteenth century.

The Delhi Sultans

Tarikh (singular) / Tawarikh (plural), written in Persian, the language of administration under the Delhi Sultans.

The authors of Tawarikh were learned men: secretaries, administrators, poets and courtiers, who both recounted events and advised rulers on governance, emphasising the importance of just rule. These authors advised rulers on the need to preserve an “ideal” social order based on birthright and gender distinctions.

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.

Birthright Privileges claimed on account of birth.

Gender distinctions Social and biological differences between women and men, argue that men are superior to women.

In 1236 Sultan Iltutmish’s daughter, Raziyya, became Sultan. The chronicler of the age, Minhaj-i Siraj, recognised that she was more able and qualified than all her brothers. She was removed from the throne in 1240.

Queen Rudramadevi (1262-1289), of the Kakatiya dynasty of Warangal, part of modern Andhra Pradesh. Rudramadevi changed her name on her inscriptions and pretended she was a man.

Queen, Didda, ruled in Kashmir (980-1003). Her title is interesting: it comes from “didi” or “elder sister”, an obviously affectionate term given to a loved ruler by her subjects.

Medieval India

Medieval India

From garrison town to empire the expansion of the Delhi Sultanate

In the early thirteenth century the control of the Delhi Sultans rarely went beyond heavily fortified towns occupied by garrisons. The Sultans seldom controlled the hinterland of the cities. Controlling garrison towns in distant Bengal and Sind from Delhi was extremely difficult.

The state was also challenged by Mongol invasions from Afghanistan and by governors who rebelled at any sign of the Sultan’s weakness.

Hinterland the lands adjacent to a city or port that supply it with goods and services.

Garrison town a fortified settlement, with soldiers.

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.

The second expansion occurred along the “external frontier” of the Sultanate.

Military expeditions into southern India started during the reign of Alauddin Khalji and culminated with Muhammad Tughluq. In their campaigns, Sultanate armies captured elephants, horses and slaves and carried away precious metals.

By the end of Muhammad Tughluq’s reign, 150 years after somewhat humble beginnings, the armies of the Delhi Sultanate had marched across a large part of the subcontinent. They had defeated rival armies and seized cities.

Moth Ki Masjid built in the reign of Sikandar Lodi by his minister. Mosque of Jamali Kamali, built in the late 1520s.

Medieval India

Administration and Consolidation under the Khaljis and Tughluqs

The early Delhi Sultans, especially Iltutmish, favoured their special slaves purchased for military service, called bandagan in Persian. The Khaljis and Tughluqs continued to use bandagan and also raised people of humble birth appointed as generals and governors.

Authors of Persian tawarikh criticised the Delhi Sultans for appointing the people of humble birth “low and base-born” to high offices.

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.

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.

The rights of the local chieftains to levy taxes were cancelled and they were also forced to pay taxes. 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 peasant’s produce, (2) on cattle and (3) on houses.

Chieftains and their fortifications

The Mongols under Genghis Khan invaded Transoxiana in north-east Iran in 1219 and the Delhi Sultanate faced their onslaught soon after.

Mongol attacks on the Delhi Sultanate increased during the reign of Alauddin Khalji and in the early years of Muhammad Tughluq’s rule.

Muhammad Tughluq’s first time in the history of the Sultanate, a Delhi Sultan planned a campaign to capture Mongol territory.

Medieval India

The Sultanate in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries

The Sayyid and Lodi dynasties ruled from Delhi and Agra until 1526.

By then, Jaunpur, Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and the entire south India had independent rulers who established flourishing states and prosperous capital.

Emergence of new ruling groups like the Afghans and the Rajputs.

Sher Shah Sur (1540-1545) started his career as the manager of a small territory for his uncle in Bihar and eventually challenged and defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun (1530-1540, 1555-1556). Sher Shah captured Delhi and established his own dynasty.

Although the Suri dynasty ruled for only fifteen years (1540-1555), it introduced an administration that borrowed elements from Alauddin Khalji and made them more efficient.

Sher Shah’s administration became the model followed by the great emperor Akbar (1556-1605) when he consolidated the Mughal Empire.

The “Three Orders”, the “Peace of God”, Knights and the Crusades

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. Emergence of a new warrior group called knights. The Church patronised this group and used them to propagate their idea of “Peace of God”. A campaign against the Muslims who had captured the city of Jerusalem. This led to a series of campaigns called the Crusades. By the twelfth century, nobles also wanted to be known as knights.

Chapter 4: The Mughal Dynasty

From the latter half of the sixteenth century they expanded their kingdom from Agra and Delhi until in the seventeenth century they controlled nearly the entire subcontinent.

Today the Prime Minister of India addresses the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi, the residence of the Mughal emperors, on Independence Day.

The Mughals were descendants of two great lineages of rulers.

From their mother’s side they were descendants of Genghis Khan (died 1227), ruler of the Mongol tribes, China and Central Asia.

From their father’s side they were the successors of Timur (died 1404), the ruler of Iran, Iraq and modern-day Turkey.

Babur, the first Mughal emperor (1526-1530), succeeded to the throne of Ferghana in 1494 when he was only 12 years old.

In 1526 he defeated the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, at Panipat and captured Delhi and Agra.

Cannons were an important addition in sixteenth century warfare. Babur used them effectively at the first battle of Panipat.

Medieval India

Mughal traditions of succession

Primogeniture, where the eldest son inherited his father’s estate. Coparcenary inheritance or a division of the inheritance amongst all the sons.

Medieval India

Mughal marriages with the Rajputs

The mother of Jahangir was a Kachhwaha princess, daughter of the Rajput ruler of Amber (modern day Jaipur).

Medieval India

The mother of Shah Jahan was a Rathor princess, daughter of the Rajput ruler of Marwar (Jodhpur).

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).

Mansabdars and jagirdars

Those who joined Mughal service were enrolled as mansabdars. Mansabdars received their salaries as revenue assignments called jagirs which were somewhat like iqtas.

There was also a huge increase in the number of mansabdars which meant a long wait before they received a jagir.

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

Zabt and zamindars

Akbar’s revenue minister, Todar Mal, carried out a careful survey of crop yields, prices and areas cultivated for a ten-year period, 1570-1580.

Each province was divided into revenue circles with its own schedule of revenue rates for individual crops. This revenue system was known as zabt.

These peasant revolts challenged the stability of the Mughal Empire from the end of the seventeenth century.

Abul Fazl wrote a three volume history of Akbar’s reign titled, Akbar Nama.

The first volume dealt with Akbar’s ancestors The second volume recorded the events of Akbar’s reign. The third volume is the Ain-i Akbari. It deals with Akbar’s administration, household, army,

the revenues and geography of his empire.

The most interesting aspect about the Ain-i Akbari is its rich statistical details about things as diverse as crops, yields, prices, wages and revenues.

Akbar’s policies

The empire was divided into provinces called subas, governed by a subadar who carried out both political and military functions. Maintenance of peace and order in his province, the subadar was supported by other officers such as the

Military paymaster (bakhshi), the minister in charge of religious and charitable patronage (sadr), military commanders (faujdars) and the town police commander (kotwal).

Nur Jahan’s influence in Jahangir’s court

Medieval India

Mehrunnisa married the Emperor Jahangir in 1611 and received the title Nur Jahan. The adjoining document is an order (Farman) of Nur Jahan.

While Akbar was at Fatehpur Sikri during the 1570s he started discussions on religion with the ulama, Brahmanas, Jesuit priests who were Roman Catholics and Zoroastrians in the ibadat khana.

It made him realise that religious scholars who emphasised ritual and dogma dogma were often bigots. This eventually led Akbar to the idea of sulh-i kul

This eventually led Akbar to the idea of sulh-i kul or “universal peace”.

Abul Fazl helped Akbar in framing a vision of governance around this idea of sulh-i kul. This principle of governance was followed by Jahangir and Shah Jahan as well.

Dogma a statement or an interpretation declared as authoritative with the expectation that it would be followed without question

Bigot An individual who is intolerant of another person’s religious beliefs or culture.

The Mughal Empire in the seventeenth century and after

The administrative and military efficiency of the Mughal Empire led to great economic and commercial prosperity. The inequalities were glaring.

Documents from the twentieth year of Shah Jahan’s reign inform us that the highest ranking mansabdars were only 445 in number out of a total of 8,000.

This small number – a mere 5.6 per cent of the total number of mansabdars– received 61.5 per cent of the total estimated revenue of the empire as salaries for themselves and their troopers

Authority of the Mughal emperor slowly declined, his servants emerged as powerful centres of power in the regions, constituted new dynasties and held command of provinces like Hyderabad and Awadh. in the eighteenth century the provinces of the empire had consolidated their independent political identities.

Chapter 5:

RULERS AND BUILDINGS

Qutb Minar, Qutbuddin Aybak had this constructed around 1199.

Between the eighth and the eighteenth centuries kings and their officers built two kinds of structures:

The first were forts, palaces and tombs – safe, protected and grandiose places of rest in this world and the

The second were structures meant for public activity including temples, mosques, tanks, wells, caravan serais and bazaars.

Merchants, they built temples, mosques and wells. However, domestic architecture – large mansions (havelis) of merchants.

Medieval India

The Agra Fort - Built by Akbar, the Agra Fort required 2,000 stone-cutters, 2,000 cement and lime-makers and 8,000 labourers.

Engineering Skills and Construction

Placing a horizontal beam across two vertical columns, a style of architecture called “trabeate” or “corbelled”.

Temple Construction in the Early Eleventh Century

The Kandariya Mahadeva temple dedicated to Shiva was constructed in 999 by King Dhangadeva of the Chandela dynasty.

The Rajarajeshvara temple at Thanjavur had the tallest shikhara amongst temples of its time.

Two technological and stylistic developments are noticeable from the twelfth century.

The weight of the superstructure above the doors and windows was sometimes carried by arches. This architectural form was called “arcuate”.

Limestone cement was increasingly used in construction. This was very high quality cement, which, when mixed with stone chips hardened into concrete.

Building Temples, Mosques and Tanks

The largest temples were all constructed by kings. The other, lesser deities in the temple were gods and goddesses of the allies and subordinates of the ruler.

Muslim Sultans and Padshahs did not claim to be incarnations of god but Persian court chronicles described the Sultan as the “Shadow of God”.

As each new dynasty came to power, kings wanted to emphasise their moral right to be rulers.

Sultan Iltutmish won universal respect for constructing a large reservoir just outside Dehli-i kuhna. It was called the hauz-i Sultani or the “King’s Reservoir”.

In the early ninth century when the Pandyan king Shrimara Shrivallabha invaded Sri Lanka and defeated the king, Sena I (831-851).

Similarly in the early eleventh century, when the Chola king Rajendra I built a Shiva temple in his capital he filled it with prized statues seized from defeated rulers

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni was a contemporary of Rajendra I. During his campaigns in the subcontinent he also attacked the temples of defeated kings and looted their wealth and idols.

Gardens, Tombs and Forts

Under the Mughals, architecture became more complex. Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, and especially Shah Jahan were personally interested in literature, art and architecture.

Rectangular walled enclosures and divided into four quarters by artificial channels. these gardens were called chaharbagh, four gardens.

Medieval India

The central towering dome and the tall gateway (pishtaq) became important aspects of Mughal architecture, first visible in Humayun’s tomb.

It was placed in the centre of a huge formal chaharbag and built in the tradition known as “eight paradises” or hasht bihisht– a central hall surrounded by eight rooms.

The ceremonial halls of public and private audience (diwan-i khas or am) were carefully planned.

These courts were also described as chihil sutunor forty-pillared halls, placed within a large courtyard.

The connection between royal justice and the imperial court was emphasised by Shah Jahan in his newly constructed court in the Red Fort at Delhi.

The emperor’s throne was a series of pietra dura inlays that depicted the legendary Greek god Orpheus playing the lute.

Shah Jahan’s capital was at Agra, a city where the nobility had constructed their homes on the banks of the river Yamuna.

The chaharbag garden also had a variation that historians describe as the “river front garden”.

Shah Jahan adapted the river-front garden in the layout of the Taj Mahal, the grandest architectural accomplishment of his reign.

Region and Empire

Temple of Govind Deva in Vrindavan, 1590. The temple was constructed out of red sandston. In Vrindavan, near Mathura, temples were constructed in architectural styles that were very similar to the Mughal palaces in Fatehpur Sikri.

Chapter 6: TOWNS, TRADERS AND CRAFTSPERSONS

Many towns combined several functions – they were administrative centres, temple towns, as well as centres of commercial activities and craft production.

Administrative Centres

Thanjavur, the capital of the Cholas, as it was a thousand years ago.

Rajarajeshvara temple built by King Rajaraja Chola, the townspeople is all praise for its architect Kunjaramallan Rajaraja Perunthachchan.

The town is bustling with markets selling grain, spices, cloth and jewellery.

The Saliya weavers of Thanjavur and the nearby town of Uraiyur are busy producing cloth for flags to be used in the temple festival, fine cottons for the king and nobility and coarse cotton for the masses.

Svamimalai, the sthapatisor sculptors are making exquisite bronze idols and tall, ornamental bell metal lamps.

Medieval India

Temple Towns and Pilgrimage Centres

Temples were often central to the economy and society. They also endowed temples with grants of land and money to carry out elaborate rituals, feed pilgrims and priests and celebrate festivals.

Bronze, bell metal and the “lost wax” technique

Bronze is an alloy containing copper and tin.

Chola bronze statues were made using the “lost wax” technique.

Temple authorities used their wealth to finance trade and banking.

Bhillasvamin (Bhilsa or Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh), and Somnath in Gujarat, Temple towns included Kanchipuram and Madurai in Tamil Nadu, and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

Pilgrimage centres are Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh) and Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu) are of two such towns.

Ajmer (Rajasthan) was the capital of the Chauhan kings in the twelfth century. Near Ajmer is a lake, Pushkar, which has attracted pilgrims from ancient times.

Traders Big and Small

Manigramam and Nanadesi, these guilds traded extensively both within the peninsula and with Southeast Asia and China.

Communities like the Chettiars and the Marwari Oswal are principal trading groups of the country. Gujarati traders, including the communities of Hindu Baniyas and Muslim Bohras, traded extensively with the ports of the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, East Africa, Southeast Asia and China.

They sold textiles and spices in these ports and, in exchange, brought gold and ivory from Africa; and spices, tin, Chinese blue pottery and silver from Southeast Asia and China.

The towns on the west coast were home to Arab, Persian, Chinese, Jewish and Syrian Christian traders.

Spices 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.

Crafts in Towns

The craftspersons of Bidar were so famed for their inlay work in copper and silver that it came to be called Bidri.

The Panchalas or Vishwakarma community, consisting of goldsmiths, bronzesmiths, blacksmiths, masons and carpenters, were essential to the building of temples.

Weavers such as the Saliyar or Kaikkolars emerged as prosperous communities, making donations to temples.

Medieval India

Murshidabad (West Bengal) on the banks of the Bhagirathi, which rose to prominence as a centre for silks and became the capital of Bengal in 1704.

Some towns like Ahmedabad (Gujarat) went on to become major commercial cities but others like Thanjavur shrank in size and importance over the centuries.

Hampi, Masulipatnam and Surat

Hampi is located in the Krishna-Tungabhadra basin, which formed the nucleus of the Vijayanagara Empire, founded in 1336, well-planned orchards and pleasure gardens with sculptural motifs such as the lotus and corbels.

Fifteenth sixteenth centuries, Hampi bustled with commercial and cultural activities. Moors (a name used collectively for Muslim merchants), Chettis and agents of European traders such as the Portuguese, thronged the markets of Hampi.

Temples were the hub of cultural activities and devadasis (temple dancers) performed before the deity, royalty and masses in the many-pillared halls in the Virupaksha (a form of Shiva) temple.

The Mahanavami festival, known today as Navaratri in the south, was one of the most important festivals celebrated at Hampi.

Hampi fell into ruin following the defeat of Vijayanagara in 1565 by the Deccani Sultans – the rulers of Golconda, Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Berar and Bidar.

Surat

Surat in Gujarat was the emporium of western trade during the Mughal period along with Cambay (present day Khambat) and somewhat later, Ahmedabad.

Surat was the gateway for trade with West Asia via the Gulf of Ormuz. Surat has also been called the gate to Mecca because many pilgrim ships set sail from here.

In the seventeenth century the Portuguese, Dutch and English had their factories and warehouses at Surat.

The textiles of Surat were famous for their gold lace borders (zari) and had a market in West Asia, Africa and Europe.

Surat hundis were honoured in the far-off markets of Cairo in Egypt, Basra in Iraq and Antwerp in Belgium.

Surat began to decline towards the end of the seventeenth century, by the decline of the Mughal Empire, control of the sea routes by the Portuguese and competition from Bombay (present-day Mumbai) where English East India Company shifted its headquarters in 1668.

Masulipatnam

Medieval India

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. The fort at Masulipatnam was built by the Dutch.

The Qutb Shahi rulers of Golconda imposed royal monopolies on the sale of textiles, spices and other items to prevent the trade passing completely into the hands of the various East India Companies.

Various trading groups – the Golconda nobles, Persian merchants, Telugu Komati Chettis, and European traders – made the city populous and prosperous.

In 1686-1687 Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb annexed Golconda.

Company traders moved to Bombay, Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) and Madras (present-day Chennai), Masulipatnam lost both its merchants and prosperity and declined in the course of the eighteenth century.

New Towns and Traders

Great Indian traders like Mulla Abdul Ghafur and Virji Vora who owned a large number of ships.

European Companies used their naval power to gain control of the sea trade and forced Indian traders to work as their agents.

The spurt in demand for goods like textiles led to a great expansion of the crafts of spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing, etc.

Indian textile designs became increasingly refined, this period also saw the decline of the independence of craftspersons.

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 William in Calcutta.

Chapter 7: TRIBES, NOMADS AND SETTLED COMMUNITIES

Tribal Societies

Many tribes obtained their livelihood from agriculture, others were hunter-gatherers or herders.

Medieval India

Most often they combined these activities to make full use of the natural resources of the area in which they lived. The tribes retained their freedom and preserved their separate culture.

Nomads and Mobile People Lived

Nomadic pastoralists moved over long distances with their animals. They lived on milk and other pastoral products. They also exchanged wool, ghee, etc., with settled agriculturists for grain, cloth, utensils and other products.

The Banjaras were the most important trader nomads. Their caravan was called tanda.

Sultan Alauddin Khalji used the Banjaras to transport grain to the city markets.

Nomads are wandering people. Many of them are pastoralists who roam from one pasture to another with their flocks and herds.

Medieval India

Similarly, itinerant groups, such as craftspersons, pedlars and entertainers travel from place to place practising their different occupations.

Both nomads and itinerant groups often visit the same places every year.

New Castes and Hierarchies

New castes appeared amongst the Brahmanas, many tribes and social groups were taken into caste-based society and given the status of jatis.

Specialised artisans – smiths, carpenters and masons – were also recognised as separate jatis by the Brahmanas.

Jatis, rather than Varna, became the basis for organising society.

Among the Kshatriyas, new Rajput clans became powerful by the eleventh and twelfth centuries. They belonged to different lineages, such as Hunas, Chandelas, Chalukyas and others.

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

A large majority joined the lower jatis of caste society, 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.

The Gonds

The Gonds lived in a vast forested region called Gondwana – or “country inhabited by Gonds”. They practised shifting cultivation.

The large Gond tribe was further divided into many smaller clans. Each clan had its own raja or rai.

Gond kingdom of Garha Katanga that had 70,000 villages, the kingdom was divided into garhs, each garh was controlled by a particular Gond clan.

This was further divided into units of 84 villages called chaurasi. The chaurasi was subdivided into barhots which were made up of 12 villages each.

Brahmanas received land grants from the Gond rajas and became more influential. The Gond chiefs now wished to be recognised as Rajputs.

Aman Das, the Gond raja of Garha Katanga, assumed the title of Sangram Shah. His son, Dalpat, married princess Durgawati, the daughter of Salbahan, the Chandel Rajput raja of Mahoba.

Dalpat died early. Rani Durgawati was very capable, and started ruling on behalf of her five-year-old son, Bir Narain.

In 1565, the Mughal forces under Asaf Khan attacked Garha Katanga. She was defeated and preferred to die rather than surrender. Her son, too, died fighting soon after.

Medieval India

When the Mughals defeated the Gonds, they captured a huge booty of precious coins and elephants. They annexed part of the kingdom and granted the rest to Chandra Shah, an uncle of Bir Narain.

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.

They used firearms as early as the 1530s, By the 1660s they could even make high quality gunpowder and cannons.

In 1662, the Mughals under Mir Jumla attacked the Ahom kingdom. Despite their brave defence, the Ahoms were defeated.

The Ahom state depended upon forced labour. Those forced to work for the state were called paiks.

The Ahoms also introduced new methods of rice cultivation

Ahom society was divided into clans or khels, a khel often controlled several villages.

Originally, the Ahoms worshipped their own tribal gods. In the reign of Sib Singh (1714-1744), Hinduism became the predominant religion.

Important works of Sanskrit were translated into the local language. Historical works, known as buranjis, were also written – first in the Ahom language and then in Assamese.

Chapter 8: DEVOTIONAL PATHS TO THE DIVINE

The Idea of a Supreme God

The belief that social privileges came from birth in a “noble” family or a “high” caste was the subject of many learned texts.

The idea of a Supreme God who could deliver humans from such bondage if approached with devotion (or bhakti). This idea, advocated in the Bhagavadgita, grew in popularity in the early centuries of the Common Era.

Shiva, Vishnu and Durga as supreme deities came to be worshipped through elaborate rituals.

The Puranas also laid down that it was possible for devotees to receive the grace of God regardless of their caste status.

The idea of bhakti became so popular that even Buddhists and Jainas adopted these beliefs.

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

Medieval India

The seventh to ninth centuries saw the emergence of new religious movements, led by the Nayanars (saints devoted to Shiva) and Alvars (saints devoted to Vishnu) who came from all castes including those considered “untouchable” like the Pulaiyar and the Panars.

Between the tenth and twelfth centuries the Chola and Pandya kings built elaborate temples around many of the shrines visited by the saint-poets, strengthening the links between the bhakti tradition and temple worship.

Philosophy and Bhakti

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.

The Saints of Maharashtra

From the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries whose songs in simple Marathi.

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.

A new humanist idea emerged as they insisted that bhakti lay in sharing others’ pain.

Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis

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, a popular force in northern India.

Islam and Sufism

Medieval India

Sufis were Muslim mystics. Islam propagated strict monotheism or submission to one God. Muslim scholars developed a holy law called Sharian.

The great Sufis of Central Asia were Ghazzali, Rumi and Sadi.

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 teacher.

A large number of Sufis from Central Asia settled in Hindustan from the eleventh century onwards. This process was strengthened with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate.

The Chishti silsila was among the most influential order. It had a long line of teachers like Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti of Ajmer, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki of Delhi, Baba Farid of Punjab, Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi and Bandanawaz Gisudaraz of Gulbarga.

The tomb or dargah of a Sufi saint became a place of pilgrimage to which thousands of people of all faiths thronge.

New Religious Developments in North India

This was an age when Islam, Brahmanical Hinduism, Sufism, various strands of bhakti, and the Nathpanths, Siddhas and Yogis.

Kabir and Baba Guru Nanak rejected all orthodox religions.

Medieval India

Tulsidas conceived of God in the form of Rama. Tulsidas’s composition, the Ramcharitmanas, written in Awadhi (a language used in eastern Uttar Pradesh).

Surdas was an ardent devotee of Krishna, His compositions, compiled in the Sursagara, Surasaravali and Sahitya Lahari.

Shankaradeva of Assam (late fifteenth century) who emphasised devotion to Vishnu, and composed poems and plays in Assamese.

This tradition also included saints like Dadu Dayal, Ravidas and Mirabai.

Mirabai became a disciple of Ravidas, a saint from a caste considered “untouchable”.

A unique feature of most of the saints is that their works were composed in regional languages and could be sung.

Kabir

Kabir, who probably lived in the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries, was one of the most influential saints. He was brought up in a family of Muslim julahas or weavers settled in or near the city of Benares (Varanasi).

Kabir believed in a formless Supreme God and preached that the only path to salvation was through bhakti or devotion.

Baba Guru Nanak

Guru Nanak (1469-1539) born at Talwandi (Nankana Sahib in Pakistan), a centre at Kartarpur (Dera Baba Nanak on the river Ravi).

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.

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, 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.

By the beginning of the seventeenth century the town of Ramdaspur (Amritsar) had developed around the central Gurdwara called Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple).

Seventeenth century Sikh community as ‘a state within the state’. The Mughal emperor Jahangir looked upon them as a potential threat and he ordered the execution of Guru Arjan in 1606.

The Sikh movement began to get politicized in the seventeenth century, a development which culminated in the institution of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. The community of the Sikhs, called the Khalsa Panth, became a political entity.

Medieval India

He himself used the terms nam, dan and isnan for the essence of his teaching, which actually meant right worship, welfare of others and purity of conduct.

His teachings are now remembered as nam-japna, kirt-karna and vand-chhakna, which also underline the importance of right belief and worship, honest living, and helping others. Thus, Guru Nanak’s idea of equality had social and political implications.

Chapter 9: THE MAKING OF REGIONAL CULTURES

Regional cultures today are often the product of complex processes of intermixing of local traditions with ideas from other parts of the subcontinent.

The Cheras and the Development of Malayalam

The Chera kingdom of Mahodayapuram was established in the ninth century in the south-western part of the peninsula, part of present-day Kerala.

The rulers introduced the Malayalam language and script in their inscriptions.

One of the earliest examples of the use of a regional language in official records in the subcontinent

The first literary works in Malayalam, dated to about the twelfth century, are directly indebted to Sanskrit

A fourteenth-century text, the Lilatilakam, dealing with grammar and poetics, was composed in Manipravalam – literally, “diamonds and corals” referring to the two languages, Sanskrit and the regional language.

Rulers and Religious Traditions: The Jagannatha Cult

Cult of Jagannatha (literally, lord of the world, a name for Vishnu) at Puri, Orissa.

Rulers of the Ganga dynasty, Anantavarman, decided to erect a temple for Purushottama Jagannatha at Puri. Subsequently, in 1230, king Anangabhima III dedicated his kingdom to the deity and proclaimed himself as the “deputy” of the god.

The Mughals, the Marathas and the English East India Company, attempted to gain control over the temple.

The Rajputs and Traditions of Heroism

In the nineteenth century, the region that constitutes most of present-day Rajasthan, was called Rajputana by the British.

The Rajputs are often recognised as contributing to the distinctive culture of Rajasthan.

From about the eighth century, most of the present-day state of Rajasthan was ruled by various Rajput families. Prithviraj.

These rulers cherished the ideal of the hero who fought valiantly.

Medieval India

Stories about Rajput heroes were recorded in poems and songs, which were recited by specially trained minstrels.

There are stories about the practice of sati or the immolation of widows on the funeral pyre of their husbands.

The Story of Kathak

The term Kathak is derived from katha, a word used in Sanskrit and other languages for story. The kathaks were originally a caste of story-tellers in temples of north India, who embellished their performances with gestures and songs.

Kathak began evolving into a distinct mode of dance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the spread of the bhakti movement.

The legends of Radha-Krishna were enacted in folk plays called rasa Lila, which combined folk dance with the basic gestures of the Kathak story-tellers.

Under the Mughal 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.

It developed in two traditions or gharanas: one in the courts of Rajasthan (Jaipur) and the other in Lucknow.

Under the patronage of Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh, it grew into a major art form.

Kathak one of six “classical” forms of dance in the country after independence.

Other dance forms that are recognised as classical at present are: Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu) Kathakali (Kerala) Odissi (Orissa) Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh) Manipuri (Manipur).

The Tradition of Miniatures

Miniatures (as their very name suggests) are small-sized paintings, generally done in water colour on cloth or paper.

The earliest miniatures were on palm leaves or wood. Some of the most beautiful of these, found in western India, were used to illustrate Jaina texts.

The Mughal emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan patronised highly skilled painters who primarily illustrated manuscripts containing historical accounts and poetry.

With the decline of the Mughal Empire, many painters moved out to the courts of the emerging regional states.

Themes from mythology and poetry were depicted at centres such as Mewar, Jodhpur, Bundi, Kota and Kishangarh

By the late seventeenth century this region had developed a bold and intense style of miniature painting called Basohli. The most popular text to be painted here was Bhanudatta’s Rasamanjari.

Medieval India

Nadir Shah’s invasion and the conquest of Delhi in 1739 resulted in the migration of Mughal artists to the hills.

By the mid eighteenth century the Kangra artists developed a style which breathed a new spirit into miniature painting. The source of inspiration was the Vaishnavite traditions.

Soft colours including cool blues and greens, and a lyrical treatment of themes distinguished Kangra painting.

Bengal

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.

From the fourth-third centuries BCE, commercial ties began to develop between Bengal and Magadha (south Bihar).

During the fourth century the Gupta rulers established political control over north Bengal and began to settle Brahmanas in this area. Thus, the linguistic and cultural influence from the mid-Ganga valley became stronger.

From the eighth century, Bengal became the centre of a regional kingdom under the Palas.

Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, Bengal was ruled by Sultans who were independent of the rulers in Delhi.

In 1586, when Akbar conquered Bengal, it formed the nucleus of the Bengal suba.

While Persian was the language of administration, Bengali developed as a regional language.

In fact by the fifteenth century the Bengali group of dialects came to be united by a common literary language based on the spoken language of the western part of the region, now known as West Bengal.

Non-Sanskrit words, derived from a variety of sources including tribal languages, Persian, and European languages, have become part of modern Bengali.

Early Bengali literature may be divided into two categories – one indebted to Sanskrit and the other independent of it.

Translations of the Sanskrit epics, the Mangalakavyas (literally auspicious poems, dealing with local deities) and bhakti literature such as the biographies of Chaitanyadeva, the leader of the Vaishnava bhakti movement.

Nath literature such as the songs of Maynamati and Gopichandra, stories concerning the worship of Dharma Thakur, and fairy tales, folk tales and ballads.

Pirs and Temples

Officials and functionaries received land and often set up mosques that served as centres for religious transformation, community leaders who also functioned as teachers and adjudicators and

Medieval India

were sometimes ascribed with supernatural powers. People referred to them with affection and respect as pirs.

The cult of pirs became very popular and their shrines can be found everywhere in Bengal.

Bengal also witnessed a temple-building spree from the late fifteenth century, which culminated in the nineteenth century.

Many of the modest brick and terracotta temples in Bengal were built with the support of several “low” social groups, such as the Kolu (oil pressers) and the Kansari (bell metal workers).

When local deities, once worshipped in thatched huts in villages, gained the recognition of the Brahmanas, their images began to be housed in temples.

The temples began to copy the double-roofed (dochala) or four-roofed (chauchala) structure of the thatched huts. This led to the evolution of the typical Bengali style in temple architecture.

Fish as Food

Bengal is a riverine plain which produces plenty of rice and fish.

Terracotta plaques on the walls of temples and viharas (Buddhist monasteries) depict scenes of fish being dressed and taken to the market in baskets.

Bengal Brahmanas, The Brihaddharma Purana, a thirteenth-century Sanskrit text from Bengal, permitted the local Brahmanas to eat certain varieties of fish.

Chapter 10: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY POLITICAL FORMATIONS

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

Emergence of new political groups in the subcontinent during the first half of the eighteenth century – roughly from 1707, when Aurangzeb died, till the third battle of Panipat in 1761.

Medieval India

The Crisis of the Empire and the Later Mughals

Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted the military and financial resources of his empire by fighting a long war in the Deccan.

It became increasingly difficult for the later Mughal emperors to keep a check on their powerful mansabdars.

Nobles appointed as governors (subadars) often controlled the offices of revenue and military administration (diwani and faujdari) as well.

The Mughal emperors after Aurangzeb were unable to arrest the gradual shifting of political and economic authority into the hands of provincial governors, local chieftains and other groups.

In the midst of this economic and political crisis, the ruler of Iran, Nadir Shah, sacked and plundered the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away immense amounts of wealth. This invasion was followed by a series of plundering raids by the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali, who invaded north India five times between 1748 and 1761.

The empire was further weakened by competition amongst different groups of nobles. They were divided into two major groups or factions, the Iranis and Turanis (nobles of Turkish descent).

The later Mughal emperors were puppets in the hands of either one or the other of these two powerful groups. Two Mughal emperors, Farrukh Siyar (1713-1719) and Alamgir II (1754-1759) were assassinated, and two others Ahmad Shah (1748-1754) and Shah Alam II (1759-1816) were blinded by their nobles.

Emergence of New States

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.

The states of the eighteenth century can be divided into three overlapping groups:

States that were old Mughal provinces like Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad. Although extremely powerful and quite independent, the rulers of these states did not break their formal ties with the Mughal emperor.

States that had enjoyed considerable independence under the Mughals as watan jagirs. These included several Rajput principalities.

The last group included states under the control of Marathas, Sikhs and others like the Jats. These were of differing sizes and had seized their independence from the Mughals after a long-drawn armed struggle.

The Old Mughal Provinces

Medieval India

Mughal provinces in the eighteenth century, three stand out very prominently, members of the high Mughal nobility who had been governors of large provinces – Sa‘adat Khan (Awadh), Murshid Quli Khan (Bengal) and Asaf Jah (Hyderabad).

Asaf Jah and Murshid Quli Khan held a zat rank of 7,000 each, while Sa’adat Khan’s zat was 6,000.

Hyderabad

Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder of Hyderabad state, was one of the most powerful members at the court of the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar. He was entrusted first with the governorship of Awadh, and later given charge of the Deccan.

As the Mughal governor of the Deccan provinces, Asaf Jah already had full control over its political and financial administration.

Asaf Jah brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who welcomed the new opportunities in the south. He appointed mansabdars and granted jagirs.

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.

The Nizam’s army

The Nizam has a swaree (sawari) of 400 elephants, several thousand of horsemen near his person who receive upwards 100 Rupees nominal pay (and) are extremely well mounted and richly caparisoned.

Awadh

Burhan-ul-Mulk Sa‘adat Khan was appointed subadar of Awadh in 1722.

Awadh was a prosperous region, controlling the rich alluvial Ganga plain and the main trade route between north India and Bengal. Burhan-ul-Mulk also held the combined offices of subadari, diwani and faujdari.

He was responsible for managing the political, financial and military affairs of the province of Awadh.

Burhan-ul-Mulk tried to decrease Mughal influence in the Awadh region by reducing the number of office holders (jagirdars) appointed by the Mughals.

He also reduced the size of jagirs, and appointed his own loyal servants to vacant positions.

He seized a number of Rajput zamindaris and the agriculturally fertile lands of the Afghans of Rohilkhand.

Medieval India

The state depended on local bankers and mahajans for loans. These “revenue farmers” (ijaradars) agreed to pay the state a fixed sum of money.

The revenue-farmers were given considerable freedom in the assessment and collection of taxes.

New social groups, like moneylenders and bankers, to influence the management of the state’s revenue system.

Bengal

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.

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.

Many zamindars had to borrow money from bankers and moneylenders. Those unable to pay were forced to sell their lands to larger zamindars.

The close connection between the state and bankers – noticeable in Hyderabad and Awadh as well – was evident in Bengal under the rule of Alivardi Khan (r. 1740-1756).

During his reign the banking house of Jagat Seth became extremely prosperous.

Three common features amongst these states:

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.

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.

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

The Watan Jagirs of the Rajputs

Amber and Jodhpur, had served under the Mughals with distinction.

They were permitted to enjoy considerable autonomy in their watan jagirs. In the eighteenth century, 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.

Medieval India

These offices were renewed by Emperor Jahandar Shah in 1713.

Nagaur was conquered and annexed to the house of Jodhpur, while Amber seized large portions of Bundi.

Sawai Raja Jai Singh founded his new capital at Jaipur and was given the subadari of Agra in 1722.

Maratha campaigns into Rajasthan from the 1740s put severe pressure on these principalities and checked their further expansion.

Seizing Independence

The Sikhs

Several battles were fought by Guru Gobind Singh against the Rajput and Mughal rulers, both before and after the institution of the Khalsa in 1699.

After his death in 1708, the Khalsa rose in revolt against the Mughal authority under Banda Bahadur’s leadership, declared their sovereign rule by striking coins in the name of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh, and established their own administration between the Sutlej and the Jamuna.

Banda Bahadur was captured in 1715 and executed in 1716.

The Sikhs organized themselves into a number of bands called jathas, and later on misls.

Their combined forces were known as the grand army (dal khalsa). The entire body used to meet at Amritsar at the time of Baisakhi and Diwali to take collective decisions known as “resolutions of the Guru (gurmatas)”.

A system called Rakhi was introduced, offering protection to cultivators on the payment of a tax of 20 per cent of the produce.

Guru Gobind Singh had inspired the Khalsa with the belief that their destiny was to rule (raj karega khalsa).

Successful resistance to the Mughal governors first and then to Ahmad Shah Abdali who had seized the rich province of the Punjab and the Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals.

The Khalsa declared their sovereign rule by striking their own coin again in 1765. Coin bore the same inscription as the one on the orders issued by the Khalsa in the time of Banda Bahadur.

The Sikh territories in the late eighteenth century extended from the Indus to the Jamuna but they were divided under different rulers

Maharaja Ranjit Singh, reunited these groups and established his capital at Lahore in 1799.

The Marathas

Shivaji (1627-1680) carved out a stable kingdom with the support of powerful warrior families (deshmukhs).

Medieval India

Groups of highly mobile, peasant pastoralists (kunbis) provided the backbone of the Maratha army.

After Shivaji’s death, effective power in the Maratha state was wielded by a family of Chitpavan Brahmanas who served Shivaji’s successors as Peshwa (or principal minister). Poona became the capital of the Maratha kingdom.

Under the Peshwas, the Marathas developed a very successful military organisation. Their success lay in bypassing the fortified areas of the Mughal.

Between 1720 and 1761, the Maratha Empire expanded.

Malwa and Gujarat were seized from the Mughals by the 1720s. By the 1730s, the Maratha king was recognised as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula. He possessed the right to levy chauth and sardeshmukhi in the entire region.

After raiding Delhi in 1737 the frontiers of Maratha domination expanded rapidly: into Rajasthan and the Punjab in the north; into Bengal and Orissa in the east; and into Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu countries in the south.

These 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.

The Marathas developed an effective administrative system as well. Agriculture was encouraged and trade revived.

This allowed Maratha chiefs (sardars) like Sindhia of Gwalior, Gaekwad of Baroda and Bhonsle of Nagpur the resources to raise powerful armies.

Maratha campaigns into Malwa in the 1720s did not challenge the growth and prosperity of the cities in the region.

Ujjain expanded under Sindhia’s patronage and Indore under Holkar’s. By all accounts these cities were large and prosperous and functioned as important commercial and cultural centres.

The silk produced in the Chanderi region now found a new outlet in Poona, the Maratha capital.

Burhanpur which had earlier participated in the trade between Agra and Surat now expanded its hinterland to include Poona and Nagpur in the south and Lucknow and Allahabad in the east.

The Jats

Jats consolidated their power during the late 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.

The Jats were prosperous agriculturists, and towns like Panipat and Ballabhgarh became important trading centres.

Medieval India

Under Suraj Mal the kingdom of Bharatpur emerged as a strong state, His son Jawahir Shah had 30,000 troops of his own and hired another 20,000 Maratha and 15,000 Sikh troops to fight the Mughals.

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.

Chapter 11: Through the Eyes of Travellers

Vijayanagara (Chapter 7) in the fifteenth century comes from Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi, a diplomat who came visiting from Herat.

Al-Biruni who came from Uzbekistan (eleventh century), Ibn Battuta who came from Morocco, in northwestern Africa (fourteenth century) and the Frenchman François Bernier (seventeenth century).

Al-Biruni and the Kitab-ul-Hind

Al-Biruni was born in 973, in Khwarizm in present day Uzbekistan, arrived in Ghazni as a hostage.

Punjab became a part of the Ghaznavid empire.

The Kitab-ul-Hind

Al-Biruni’s Kitab-ul-Hind, written in Arabic.

He was familiar with translations and adaptations of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit texts into Arabic – these ranged from fables to works on astronomy and medicine.

Sindhu (Indus). The Arabs continued the Persian usage, Turks referred to the people east of the Indus as “Hindu.

Ibn Battuta’s Rihla

Ibn Battuta’s book of travels, called Rihla, written in Arabic.

Set off for India in 1332-33.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Sultan of Delhi, Sultan was impressed by his scholarship, and appointed him the qazi or judge of Delhi, he fell out of favour and was thrown into prison, ordered in 1342 to proceed to China as the Sultan’s envoy to the Mongol ruler.

It took forty days to travel from Multan to Delhi.

Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi, who visited south India in the 1440s.

Mahmud Wali Balkhi, who travelled very widely in the 1620s, and Shaikh Ali Hazin, who came to north India in the 1740s.

Some of these authors were fascinated by India, and one of them – Mahmud Balkhi – even became a sort of sanyasi for a time.

Medieval India

François Bernier A Doctor with a Difference

Portuguese arrived in India in about 1500.

Jesuit Roberto Nobili, even translated Indian texts into European languages.

A Portuguese writer is Duarte Barbosa, who wrote a detailed account of trade and society in south India.

French jeweller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who travelled to India at least six times.

François Bernier, a Frenchman, was a doctor, physician to Prince Dara Shukoh, the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan, and a Danishmand Khan, an Armenian noble at the Mughal court.

Comparing “East” and “West”

He dedicated his major writing to Louis XIV, the king of France.

India as a bleak situation in comparison to developments in Europe.

Between 1670 and 1725 his account was reprinted eight times in French, and by 1684 it had been reprinted three times in English.

Making Sense of an Alien World Al-Biruni and the Sanskritic Tradition

“Barriers” that he felt

Sanskrit was so different from Arabic and Persian, concepts could not be easily translated, difference in religious beliefs and practices, insularity of the local population.

Al-Biruni’s description of the caste system

Attempted to suggest that social divisions were not unique to India.

within Islam all men were considered equal.

In spite of his acceptance of the Brahmanical description of the caste system, Al-Biruni disapproved of the notion of pollution.

Sun cleanses the air, and the salt in the sea prevents the water from becoming polluted.

The conception of social pollution, intrinsic to the caste system, contrary to the laws of nature.

The categories defined as antyaja (literally, born outside the system) were often expected to provide inexpensive labour to both peasants and zamindars.

Ibn Battuta and the Excitement of the Unfamiliar

Ibn Battuta found Indian agriculture very productive because of the fertility of the soil, which allowed farmers to cultivate two crops a year.

Integrated with inter-Asian networks of trade and commerce.

Medieval India

Indian manufactures being in great demand in both West Asia and Southeast Asia, fetching huge profits for artisans and merchants. Indian textiles, particularly cotton cloth, fine muslins, silks, brocade and satin.

A unique system of communication

Efficiency of the postal system which allowed merchants to not only send information and remit credit, dispatch goods required at short notice.

Took fifty days to reach Delhi from Sind, the news reports of spies would reach the Sultan through the postal system in just five days.

The horse post, called uluq,is run by royal horses stationed at a distance of every four miles. The foot-post has three stations per mile; it is called dawa, that is one-third of a mile.

This foot-post is quicker than the horse-post; and often it is used to transport the fruits of Khurasan which are much desired in India.

Bernier and the “Degenerate” East

He was far more preoccupied with comparing and contrasting.

Bernier’s Travels in the Mughal Empire is marked by detailed observations, critical insights and reflection.

Lack of private property in land in the former. private property, and saw crown ownership of land as being harmful for both the state and its people.

Mughal Empire the emperor owned all the land and distributed it among his nobles, and that this had disastrous consequences for the economy and society.

Landholders could not pass on their land to their children. So they were averse to any long-term investment in the sustenance and expansion of production.

The absence of private property in land had, therefore, prevented the emergence of the class of “improving” landlords. It had led to the uniform ruination of agriculture, excessive oppression of the peasantry.

“There is no middle state in India.”, king of “beggars and barbarians” one reason: crown ownership of land.

Abu’l Fazl, the sixteenth-century official chronicler of Akbar’s reign, describes the land revenue as “remunerations of sovereignty”, protection he provided rather than as rent on land that he owned. It is possible that European travellers regarded such claims as rent because land revenue demands were often very high.

French philosopher Montesquieu, for instance, used this account to develop the idea of oriental despotism, according to which rulers in Asia (the Orient or the East) enjoyed absolute authority over their subjects, who were kept in conditions of subjugation and poverty, arguing that all land

Medieval India

belonged to the king and that private property was non-existent. According to this view, everybody, except the emperor and his nobles, barely managed to survive.

Asiatic mode of production by Karl Marx before colonialism, surplus was appropriated by the state (internally) egalitarian village communities. The imperial court presided over these village communities, respecting their autonomy as long as the flow of surplus was unimpeded. This was regarded as a stagnant system.

A more complex social reality

Artisans had no incentive to improve the quality of their manufactures, since profits were appropriated by the state.

Vast quantities of the world’s precious metals flowed into India, as manufactures were exported in exchange for gold and silver.

Large kingdom of Bengale (Bengal), for instance, surpassing Egypt itself, not only in the production of rice, corn, and other necessaries of life, but of innumerable articles of commerce which are not cultivated in Egypt; such as silks, cotton, and indigo.

During the seventeenth century about 15 per cent of the population lived in towns.

Bernier described Mughal cities as “camp towns”, towns that owed their existence, and depended for their survival, on the imperial camp, existence when the imperial court moved in and rapidly declined when it moved out.

They did not have viable social and economic foundations but were dependent on imperial patronage, question of landownership, Bernier was drawing an oversimplified picture.

Merchants often had strong community or kin ties, and were organised into their own caste-cum occupational bodies.

In western India these groups were called mahajans, and their chief, the sheth.

In urban centres such as Ahmedabad the mahajans were collectively represented by the chief of the merchant community who was called the nagarsheth.

Other urban groups included professional classes such as physicians (hakim or vaid), teachers (pundit or mulla), lawyers (wakil), painters, architects, musicians, calligraphers, etc.

Women Slaves, Sati and Labourers

Indispensable for carrying women and men on palanquins or dola.

Treatment of women as a crucial marker of difference between Western and Eastern societies.

Medieval India

Chapter 12: Bhakti- Sufi Traditions Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts

Hagiographies or biographies of saints written by their followers (or members of their religious sect).

Manikkavachakar, a devotee of Shiva

A Mosaic of Religious Beliefs and Practices

Worship of the major deities – Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess – each of whom was visualised in a variety of forms.

“Great” Sanskritic Puranic traditions and “little” traditions throughout the land.

Puri, Orissa, where the principal deity was identified, by the twelfth century, as Jagannatha (literally, the lord of the world), a form of Vishnu

“Great” and “little” traditions- Robert Redfield in the twentieth century to describe the cultural practices of peasant societies.

Medieval India

Peasants also followed local practices that did not necessarily correspond with those of the great tradition.

Local deity, whose image was and continues to be made of wood by local tribal specialists, was recognised as a form of Vishnu. At the same time, Vishnu was visualised in a way that was very different from that in other parts of the country.

Goddess were forms of worship that were classified as Tantric, open to women and men, and practitioners often ignored differences of caste and class within the ritual context. Especially in the eastern, northern and southern parts of the subcontinent.

A Buddhist goddess, Marichi.

The principal deities of the Vedic pantheon, Agni, Indra and Soma, become marginal figures.

Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess in Vedic mantras, these have little in common with the elaborate Puranic mythologies those engaged in Tantric practices frequently ignored the authority of the Vedas.

Poems of Prayer Early Traditions of Bhakti

Religions often classify bhakti traditions into two broad categories: saguna (with attributes) and nirguna (without attributes). Nirguna bhakti on the other hand was worship of an abstract form of god.

Alvars (literally, those who are “immersed” in devotion to Vishnu) and Nayanars (literally, leaders who were devotees of Shiva).

Alvar named Tondaradippodi

The chaturvedin (Brahmana versed in the four Vedas) and the “outcaste”, the Chaturvedins who are strangers and without allegiance to your service.

Attitudes towards caste

Least attempted to reform the system, bhaktas hailed from diverse social backgrounds ranging.

Alvars, the Nalayira Divyaprabandham, was frequently described as the Tamil Veda, presence of women.

Andal, a woman Alvar, saw herself as the beloved of Vishnu; her verses express her love for the deity. These women renounced their social obligations, but did not join an alternative order or become nuns.

Karaikkal Ammaiyar, a devotee of Shiva, adopted the path of extreme asceticism.

Appar, a Nayanar saint.

Compilations of devotional literature, the compositions of the 12 Alvars were compiled in an anthology known as the Nalayira Divyaprabandham (“Four Thousand Sacred Compositions”).

Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar form the Tevaram.

Medieval India

Relations with the state

Pallavas and Pandyas (c. sixth to ninth centuries CE).

Buddhism and Jainism had been prevalent. Interestingly, one of the major drawing supports from merchant and artisan communities.

Occasional royal patronage- hostility by suggesting that it was due to competition between members of other religious traditions for royal patronage.

Chola rulers (ninth to thirteenth centuries) supported Brahmanical and bhakti traditions. Shiva temples, including those at Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram, were constructed under the patronage of Chola rulers.

Nayanars and Alvars were revered by the Vellala peasants.

Kings also introduced the singing of Tamil Shaiva hymns in the temples under royal patronage, taking the initiative to collect and organise them into a text (Tevaram).

The Virashaiva Tradition in Karnataka

Basavanna (1106-68) who was initially a Jaina and a minister in the court of a Chalukya king. His followers were known as Virashaivas (heroes of Shiva) or Lingayats (wearers of the linga).

A linga and men usually wear a small linga in a silver case on a loop strung over the left shoulder.

Death the devotee will be united with Shiva and will not return to this world, not practise funerary rites such as cremation, ceremonially bury their dead.

Lingayats challenged the idea of caste and the “pollution” attributed to certain groups by Brahmanas. Questioned the theory of rebirth, marginalised within the Brahmanical social order, disapproved in the Dharmashastras, such as post-puberty marriage and the remarriage of widows.

Vachanas (literally, sayings) composed in Kannada by women.

Religious Ferment in North India

Rajput states emerged, Brahmanas occupied positions of importance. Naths, Jogis and Siddhas are artisanal groups, including weavers.

New religious leaders questioned the authority of the Vedas, and expressed themselves in languages spoken by ordinary people. Religious leaders were not in a position to win the support of the ruling elites.

Turks which culminated in the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate (thirteenth century). This undermined the power of many of the Rajput marked changes in the realm of culture and religion.

New Strands in the Fabric Islamic Traditions

In 711 a Arab general named Muhammad Qasim conquered Sind, Ulama (plural of alim, or one who knows) are scholars of Islamic studies, religious, juridical and teaching functions.

Medieval India

Theoretically, Muslim rulers were to be guided by the ulama, who were expected to ensure that they ruled according to the Shari‘a.

Zimmi, meaning protected (derived from the Arabic word zimma, protection) such as the Jews and Christians, and lived under Muslim rulership, they paid a tax called jizya and gained the right to be protected by Muslims.

Mughals came to regard themselves as emperors of not just Muslims but of all peoples, Shari‘a evolved from the Qur’an, hadis, qiyas and ijma gave land endowments and granted tax exemptions to Hindu.

The Shari‘a is the law governing the Muslim community. It is based on the Qur’an and the hadis, Qiyas (reasoning by analogy) and ijma (consensus of the community).

The popular practice of Islam

Five “pillars” of the faith: that there is one God, Allah, and Prophet Muhammad is his messenger (shahada); offering prayers five times a day (namaz/salat); giving alms (zakat); fasting during the month of Ramzan (sawm); and performing the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).

Khojahs, a branch of the Ismailis (a Shi‘a sect), ginan (derived from the Sanskrit jnana, meaning “knowledge”), devotional poems in Punjabi, Multani, Sindhi, Kachchi, Hindi and Gujarati.

Orientation towards Mecca, evident in the placement of the mihrab (prayer niche) and the minbar (pulpit).

The Shah Hamadan mosque in Srinagar, on the banks of the Jhelum, is often regarded as the “jewel in the crown” of all the existing mosques of Kashmir. Built in 1395, it is one of the best examples of Kashmiri wooden architecture.

Musalman or Muslim was virtually never used; Turks and Afghans were referred to as Shakas, Yavanas (a term used for Greeks); Mlechchha, indicating that they did not observe the norms of caste society and spoke languages that were not derived from Sanskrit. “Hindu” was used in a variety of ways, not necessarily restricted to a religious connotation.

Matrilocal residence is a practice where women after marriage remain in their natal home in Kerala.

The Growth of Sufism

Critical of the dogmatic definitions and scholastic methods of interpreting the Quran and sunna (traditions of the Prophet) adopted by theologians. Instead, they laid emphasis on seeking salvation through intense devotion and love for God by following.

Sufism in Islamic texts is tasawwuf. Suf meaning wool, referring to the coarse woollen clothes worn by sufis. Safa meaning purity. Suffa the platform outside the Prophet’s mosque.

Khanqahs and silsilas

Hospice or khanqah (Persian) controlled by a teaching master known as shaikh (in Arabic), pir or murshid (in Persian).He enrolled disciples (murids) and appointed a successor (khalifa).

Medieval India

Silsila literally means a chain, signifying a continuous link between master and disciple,

Shaikh died, his tomb-shrine (dargah, a Persian term meaning court), practice of pilgrimage or ziyarat to his grave, death anniversary or urs (or marriage, signifying the union of his soul with God).

People sought their blessings to attain material and spiritual benefits. Thus evolved the cult of the shaikh revered as wali.

Names of silsilas- Chisht in central Afghanistan, Wali (plural auliya) or friend of God was a Sufi who claimed proximity to Allah, Grace (barakat), miracles (karamat).

Outside the khanqah- scorned the khanqah and took to mendicancy and observed celibacy, ignored rituals and observed extreme forms of asceticism. Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris deliberate defiance of the Shari‘a they were often referred to as be-shari‘a.

The Chishtis in the Subcontinent

Shaikh Nizamuddin’s hospice (fourteenth century) on the banks of the river Yamuna in Ghiyaspur, open kitchen (langar), seeking discipleship, amulets for healing.

Amir Khusrau, Even today Hujwiri is revered as Data Ganj Bakhsh or “Giver who bestows treasures” and his mausoleum is called Data Darbar or “Court of the Giver”.

Chishti devotionalism: ziyarat and qawwali

Pilgrimage called ziyarat for seeking the Sufi’s spiritual grace (barakat). Most revered shrine is that of Khwaja Muinuddin, popularly known as “Gharib Nawaz” (comforter of the poor). Muhammad bin Tughlaq, Sultan Ghiyasuddin Khalji of Malwa, trade route linking Delhi and Gujarat.

Akbar to visit the tomb. He went there fourteen times.

Jahanara’s biography of Shaikh Muinuddin Chishti, titled Munis al Arwah (The Confidant of Spirits)

Jahanara- her father (Emperor Shah Jahan) mystical chants performed by specially trained musicians or qawwals to evoke divine ecstasy. Sufis remember God either by reciting the zikr (the Divine Names). Sama (literally, “audition”), Sama was integral to the Chishtis.

Languages and communication

Baba Farid composed verses in the local language, which were incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib, long poems or masnavis.

Prem-akhyan (love story) Padmavat composed by Malik Muhammad Jayasi. Romance of Padmini and Ratansen, the king of Chittor, Trials were symbolic of the soul’s journey to the divine.

Pre-existing bhakti tradition of the Kannada vachanas of the Lingayats and the Marathi abhangs of the sants of Pandharpur.

Bijapur, Karnataka- Dakhani (a variant of Urdu), Lurinama or lullabies and shadinama or wedding songs

Medieval India

Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya, introducing the qaul (Arabic word meaning “saying”), a hymn sung at the opening or closing of qawwali, followed by Sufi poetry in Persian.

Sufis and the state

No means a situation of absolute isolation from political power. Sultans in turn set up charitable trusts (auqaf) endowments for hospices and granted tax-free land (inam), cash and kind.

Kings did not simply need to demonstrate their association with Sufis; they also required legitimation from them.

Turks set up the Delhi Sultanate, they resisted the insistence of the ulama on imposing shari‘a, sought out the Sufis – who derived their authority directly from God – and did not depend on jurists to interpret the shari‘a.

Kings often wanted their tombs to be in the vicinity of Sufi shrines and hospices, Prostration and kissing of the feet, high-sounding titles, and sultan-ul-mashaikh (literally, Sultan amongst shaikhs).

The dargah of Shaikh Salim Chishti (a direct descendant of Baba Farid) constructed in Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar’s capital.

Other Sufis such as the Suhrawardi under the Delhi Sultans and the Naqshbandi under the Mughals

New Devotional Paths Dialogue and Dissent in Northern India

Kabir have been compiled in three distinct but overlapping traditions. The Kabir Bijak is preserved by the Kabirpanth. Kabir Granthavali is associated with the Dadupanth in Rajasthan and many of his compositions are found in the Adi Granth Sahib.

Kabir’s poems have survived in several languages and dialects. In simple language, nirguna poets, the sant bhasha, ulatbansi (upside-down sayings).

The lotus which blooms without flower” or the “fire raging in the ocean”.

Alakh (the unseen), nirakar (formless) were drawn from yogic traditions.

Monotheism and iconoclasm to attack Hindu polytheism and idol worship, zikr and ishq (love) to express the Hindu practice of nam-simaran (remembrance of God’s name).

Kabirdas (Kabir itself is an Arabic word meaning “great”), Muslim family belonging to the community of weavers or julahas.

Bhakti by a guru, perhaps Ramananda.

Baba Guru Nanak (1469-1539) born in Nankana Sahib near the river Ravi. He advocated a form of nirguna bhakti. Absolute or “rab” had no gender or form. His ideas through hymns called “shabad” in Punjabi. Congregational worship (sangat) involving collective recitation.

Angad to succeed him as the preceptor (guru). Baba Guru Nanak did not wish to establish a new religion.

Medieval India

Guru Arjan compiled Baba Guru Nanak’s hymns. Other religious poets like Baba Farid, Ravidas (also known as Raidas) and Kabir in the Adi Granth Sahib. These hymns, called “gurbani”.

Guru Gobind Singh included the compositions of the ninth guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and this scripture was called the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Gobind Singh also laid the foundation of the Khalsa Panth (army of the pure) and defined its five symbols: uncut hair, a dagger, a pair of shorts, a comb and a steel bangle. Under him the community got consolidated as a socio-religious and military force.

Mirabai, the devotee princess (c. fifteenth-sixteenth centuries): Woman poet within the bhakti tradition, Rajput princess from Marta in Marwar who was married against her wishes to a prince of the Sisodia clan of Mewar, Rajasthan. Her preceptor was Raidas, a leather worker; followers are mainly “low caste” in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Shankaradeva- Vaishnavism in Assam, Bhagavati dharma because they were based on the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana, focused on absolute surrender to the supreme deity. Naam kirtan in sat sanga or congregations of pious devotees. Satra or monasteries, naam ghar or prayer halls, Kirtana-ghosha.

Medieval India

Chapter 3: An Imperial Capital Vijayanagara (c. fourteenth to sixteenth century)

Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by an engineer and antiquarian named Colonel Colin Mackenzie. An employee of the English East India Company, he prepared the first survey map of the site

Based on the memories of priests of the Virupaksha temple and the shrine of Pampadevi. Subsequently, from 1856

Colin Mackenzie became famous as an engineer, surveyor and cartographer. In 1815 he was appointed the first Surveyor General of India

Rayas, Nayakas and Sultans

Two brothers, Harihara and Bukka, founded the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336.

The Vijayanagara kings competed with contemporary rulers – including the Sultans of the Deccan and the Gajapati rulers of Orissa – for control of the fertile river valleys and the resources generated by lucrative overseas trade

Popular traditions of Vijayanagara the Deccan Sultans are termed as ashvapati or lord of horses and the rayasare called narapati or lord of men. Local communities of merchants known as kudirai Chettis or horse merchants

Vijayanagara was also noted for its markets dealing in spices, textiles and precious stones

The first dynasty, known as the Sangama dynasty, exercised control till 1485

They were supplanted by the Saluvas, military commanders, who remained in power till 1503 when they were replaced by the Tuluvas

Krishnadeva Raya belonged to the Tuluva dynasty

Land between the Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers (the Raichur doab) was acquired (1512), the rulers of Orissa were subdued (1514) and severe defeats were inflicted on the Sultan of Bijapur (1520)

Krishnadeva Raya is credited with building some fine temples and adding impressive gopurams to many important south Indian temples, a suburban township near Vijayanagara called Nagalapuram after his mother.

Krishnadeva Raya’s death in 1529, by 1542 control at the centre had shifted to another ruling lineage, that of the Aravidu, which remained in power till the end of the seventeenth century.

Medieval India

In 1565 Rama Raya, the chief minister of Vijayanagara, led the army into battle at Rakshasi-Tangadi (also known as Talikota), where his forces were routed by the combined armies of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda.

Sultans were responsible for the destruction of the city of Vijayanagara, relations between the Sultans and the rayas were not always or inevitably hostile.

The amara-nayaka system was a major political innovation of the Vijayanagara Empire, derived from the iqta system of the Delhi Sultanate were military commanders who were given territories to govern by the raya.

Yavana is a Sanskrit word used for the Greeks and other peoples who entered the subcontinent from the North West.

Vijayanagara the Capital and its Environs

Vijayanagara is the natural basin formed by the river Tungabhadra which flows in a north-easterly direction

Tank was built in the early years of the fifteenth century and is now called Kamalapuram tank, Water from this tank not only irrigated fields nearby but was also conducted through a channel to the “royal centre”.

Hiriya canal, this canal drew water from a dam across the Tungabhadra and irrigated the cultivated valley that separated the “sacred centre” from the “urban core”. This was apparently built by kings of the Sangama dynasty

The fort was entered through well-guarded gates, which linked the city to the major roads. The arch on the gateway leading into the fortified settlement as well as the dome over the gate are regarded as typical features of the architecture introduced by the Turkish Sultans. Art historians refer to this style as Indo-Islamic.

Mandapas found in the temples of Hampi. Wells, rainwater tanks as well as temple tanks may have served as sources of water to the ordinary town dwellers.

The Royal Centre

the “mahanavami dibba”is a massive platform rising from a base of about 11,000 sq. ft to a height of 40 f. Mahanavami (literally, the great ninth day) of the ten-day Hindu festival during the autumn months of September and October, known variously as Dusehra (northern India), Durga Puja (in Bengal) and Navaratri or Mahanavami (in peninsular India).

An elevation is a vertical view of any object or structure.

Lotus Mahal, so named by British travellers in the nineteenth century, most beautiful buildings in the royal centre is the Lotus Mahal, so named by British travellers in the nineteenth century.

Hazara Rama temple, this was probably meant to be used only by the king and his family.

The Sacred Centre

Medieval India

Temple building in the region had a long history, going back to dynasties such as the Pallavas, Chalukyas, Hoysalas and Cholas.

Temples developed as significant religious, social, cultural and economic centres. Site of Vijayanagara was inspired by the existence of the shrines of Virupaksha and Pampadevi. All royal orders were signed “Shri Virupaksha”, usually in the Kannada script.

“Hindu Suratrana”. This was a Sanskritisation of the Arabic term Sultan, meaning king, so it literally meant Hindu Sultan.

Chapter 14: Peasants, Zamindars and the State Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (c. sixteenth-- - seventeenth centuries)

Yavana is a Sanskrit word used for the Greeks and other peoples who entered the subcontinent from the North West.

The Mughal state, which derived the bulk of its income from agricultural production. Agents of the state – revenue assessors, collectors, record keepers – sought to control rural society so as to ensure that cultivation took place and the state got its regular share of taxes from the produce.

Peasants and Agricultural Production

Medieval India

The central purpose of the Ain was to present a vision of Akbar’s empire where social harmony was provided by a strong ruling class.

Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period most frequently used to denote a peasant was raiyat (plural, riaya) or muzarian.

Sources of the seventeenth century refer to two kinds of peasants – khud-kashta and pahi-kashta.

Residents of the village in which they held their lands. The latter were non-resident cultivators who belonged to some other village, but cultivated lands elsewhere on a contractual basis.

Cultivation was based on the principle of individual ownership. Peasant lands were bought and sold in the same way as the lands of other property owners

The abundance of land, available labour and the mobility of peasants were three factors that accounted for the constant expansion of agriculture.

The Mughal provinces of Agra produced 39 varieties of crops and Delhi produced 43 over the two seasons. Bengal produced 50 varieties of rice alone

Agriculture was organised around two major seasonal cycles, the kharif (autumn) and the Rabi (spring). Jins-i kamil (literally, perfect crops) in our sources.

The spread of tobacco

This plant, which arrived first in the Deccan, spread to northern India in the early years of the seventeenth century

Akbar and his nobles came across tobacco for the first time in 1604. Tobacco had become a major article of consumption, cultivation and trade all over India.

Agricultural prosperity and population growth, agricultural production was a slow demographic growth.

50 million people between 1600 and 1800, which is an increase of about 33 per cent over 200 year.

The Village Community

There were three constituents of this community – the cultivators, the panchayat, and the village headman (muqaddam or mandal).

Castes such as the Ahirs, Gujars and Malis rose in the hierarchy because of the profitability of cattle rearing and horticulture.

The distinction between artisans and peasants in village society was a fluid on Cultivators and their families would also participate in craft production – such as dyeing, textile printing, baking and firing of pottery, making and repairing agricultural implements.

A “little republic” made up of fraternal partners sharing resources and labour in a collective.

Women in Agrarian Society

Medieval India

Artisanal tasks such as spinning yarn, sifting and kneading clay for pottery, and embroidery were among the many aspects of production dependent on female labour.

They could inflict draconian punishments if they suspected infidelity on the part of women.

Hindu and Muslim women inherited zamindaris which they were free to sell or mortgage. Women zamindars were known in eighteenth-century Bengal. One of the biggest and most famous of the eighteenth-century zamindaris that of Rajshahi had a woman at the helm.

Forests and Tribes

Forest dwellers were termed jangli in contemporary texts.

The forest was a subversive place – a place of refuge (mawas) for troublemakers.

Pargana was an administrative subdivision of a Mughal province.

Peshkash was a form of tribute collected by the Mughal state.

The capture of wild elephants was declared a royal monopoly by the Ahom kings.

The Zamindars

The zamindars held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat, meaning property. Milkiyat lands were cultivated for the private use of zamindars.

Control over military resources was another source of power.

The Rajputs and Jats adopted these strategies to consolidate their control over vast swathes of territory in northern India.

Allowed the consolidation of clan- or lineage-based zamindari. Peasant-pastoralists (like the Sadgops) carved out powerful zamindaris in areas of central and southwestern Bengal.

Land Revenue System

The Mughal state tried to first acquire specific information about the extent of the agricultural lands in the empire and what these lands produced before fixing the burden of taxes on people. The land revenue arrangements consisted of two stages – first, assessment and then actual collection.

In his list of duties of the amil-guzar or revenue collector, Akbar decreed that while he should strive to make cultivators pay in cash, the option of payment in kind was also to be kept open.

The Flow of Silver

The Mughal Empire was among the large territorial empires in Asia that had managed to consolidate power and resources during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

These empires were the Ming (China), Safavid (Iran) and Ottoman (Turkey).

The period between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries was also marked by a remarkable stability in the availability of metal currency, particularly the silver rupya in India.

Medieval India

The Ain was part of a larger project of history writing commissioned by Akbar. This history, known as the Akbar Nama, comprised three books. The first two provided a historical narrative. The Ain- i Akbari, the third book, was organised as a compendium of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire.

The Ain is made up of five books (daftars), of which the first three books describe the administration.

The first book, called manzil-abadi, concerns the imperial household and its maintenance. The second book, sipah-abadi, covers the military and civil administration and the

establishment of servants. The third book, mulk-abadi, is the one which deals with the fiscal side of the empire and

provides rich quantitative information on revenue rates, followed by the “Account of the Twelve Provinces”.

The fourth and fifth books (daftars) deal with the religious, literary and cultural traditions of the people of India and also contain a collection of Akbar’s “auspicious sayings”.

Henry Blochmann edited it and the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta (present-day Kolkata), published it in its Bibliotheca Indica series.

The standard translation of Volume 1 is that of Henry Blochmann (Calcutta 1873) The other two volumes were translated by H.S. Jarrett (Calcutta 1891 and 1894).

Medieval India

Chapter 15: Kings and Chronicles the Mughal Courts (c. sixteenth-- - seventeenth centuries)

The Mughals and Their Empire

The name Mughal derives from Mongol. They referred to themselves as Timurids, as descendants of the Turkish ruler Timur on the paternal side.

Babur, the first Mughal ruler, was related to Ghenghiz Khan from his mother’s side. He spoke Turkish and referred derisively to the Mongols as barbaric hordes.

The founder of the empire, Zahiruddin Babur, was driven from his Central Asian homeland, Farghana, by the warring Uzbeks. He first established himself at Kabul and then in 1526 pushed further into the Indian subcontinent.

His successor, Nasiruddin Humayun (1530-40, 1555-56) expanded the frontiers of the empire, but lost it to the Afghan leader Sher Shah Sur

Humayun took refuge in the court of the Safavid ruler of Iran. In 1555 Humayun defeated the Surs, but died a year later.

Jalaluddin Akbar (1556-1605) the greatest of all the Mughal emperors, for he not only expanded but also consolidated his empire, making it the largest, strongest and richest kingdom of his time.

Akbar had three fairly able successors in Jahangir (1605-27), Shah Jahan (1628-58) and Aurangzeb (1658-1707), much as their characters varied.

After 1707, following the death of Aurangzeb, the power of the dynasty diminished.

The prestige of the Mughal ruler did not lose its aura. In 1857 the last scion of this dynasty, Bahadur Shah Zafar II, was overthrown by the British.

The Production of Chronicles

Events centred on the ruler, his family, the court and nobles, wars and administrative arrangements. Their titles, such as the Akbar Nama, Shahjahan Nama, Alamgir Nama, that is, the story of Akbar, Shah Jahan and Alamgir (a title of the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb).

The centre of manuscript production was the imperial kitabkhana. Although kitabkhana can be translated as library, it was a scriptorium, that is, a place where the emperor’s collection of manuscripts was kept and new manuscripts were produced.

A folio in nastaliq, the work of Muhammad Husayn of Kashmir (c.1575-1605), one of the finest calligraphers at Akbar’s court, who was honoured with the title “zarrin qalam” (golden pen) in recognition of the perfectly proportioned curvature of his letter.

Akbar’s favourite was the nastaliq, a fluid style with long horizontal strokes.

The Painted Image

Names of painters – such as that of Bihzad – contributed to spreading the cultural fame of the Safavid court far and wide.

Medieval India

Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad, who were made to accompany Emperor Humayun to Delhi.

The Akbar Nama and the Badshah Nama

Abu’l Fazl both shaped and articulated the ideas associated with the reign of Akbar.

In his role as court historian, Abu’l Fazl both shaped and articulated the ideas associated with the reign of Akbar

The author of the Akbar Nama, Abu’l Fazl grew up in the Mughal capital of Agra. He was widely read in Arabic, Persian, Greek philosophy and Sufism. Beginning in 1589, Abu’l Fazl worked on the Akbar Nama for thirteen years, repeatedly revising the draft.

Abu’l Fazl fell victim to a conspiracy hatched by Prince Salim, and was murdered by his accomplice, Bir Singh Bundela.

A pupil of Abu’l Fazl, Abdul Hamid Lahori is known as the author of the Badshah Nama.

The Badshah Nama is this official history in three volumes (daftars) of ten lunar years each. Lahori wrote the first and second daftars comprising the first two decades of the emperor’s rule (1627-47).

These volumes were later revised by Sadullah Khan, Shah Jahan’s wazir. Third decade which was then chronicled by the historian Waris.

Nawab of Awadh gifted the illustrated Badshah Nama to King George III in 1799.

Since then it has been preserved in the English Royal Collections, now at Windsor Castle. In 1997 for the first time, the Badshah Nama paintings were shown in exhibitions in New Delhi, London and Washington.

The Asiatic Society of Bengal, founded by Sir William Jones in 1784, undertook the editing, printing and translation of many Indian manuscripts.

Edited versions of the Akbar Nama and Badshah Nama were first published by the Asiatic Society in the nineteenth century.

The Ideal Kingdom

Abu’l Fazl placed Mughal kingship as the highest station in the hierarchy of objects receiving light emanating from God (farr-i izadi).

Abu’l Fazl describes the ideal of sulh-i kul (absolute peace) as the cornerstone of enlightened rule.

Abu’l Fazl defined sovereignty as a social contract: the emperor protects the four essences of his subjects, namely, life (Jan), property (mal), honour (namus) and faith (din), and in return demands obedience and a share of resources.

Capitals and Courts

Babur took over the Lodi capital of Agra, though during the four years of his reign. During the 1560s Akbar had the fort of Agra constructed with red sandstone quarried from the adjoining regions.

Medieval India

In the 1570s he decided to build a new capital, Fatehpur Sikri, direct road to Ajmer, where the dargah of Shaikh Muinuddin Chishti had become an important pilgrimage centre.

Akbar commissioned the construction of a white marble tomb for Shaikh Salim Chishti next to the majestic Friday mosque at Sikri.

The enormous arched gateway (Buland Darwaza) was meant to remind visitors of the Mughal victory in Gujarat.

In 1585 the capital was transferred to Lahore. In 1648 the court, army and household moved from Agra to the newly completed imperial capital, Shahjahanabad.

In 1633 the wedding of Dara Shukoh and Nadira, the daughter of Prince Parwez, was arranged by Princess Jahanara and Sati un Nisa Khanum, the chief maid of the late empress, Mumtaz Mahal.

The Imperial Household

The term “harem” is frequently used to refer to the domestic world of the Mughals. It originates in the Persian word haram, meaning a sacred place.

Polygamy was practised widely in the Indian subcontinent, especially among the ruling groups.

The Rajput clans as well as the Mughals marriage were a way of cementing political relationships and forging alliances.

After Nur Jahan, Mughal queens and princesses began to control significant financial resources. Shah Jahan’s daughters Jahanara and Roshanara enjoyed an annual income often equal to that of high imperial mansabdars.

Humayun Nama written by Gulbadan Begum. Gulbadan was the daughter of Babur, Humayun’s sister and Akbar’s aunt.

The Imperial Officials

Two ruling groups of Indian origin entered the imperial service from 1560 onwards: the Rajputs and the Indian Muslims (Shaikhzadas).

A Rajput chief, Raja Bharmal Kachhwaha of Amber, to whose daughter Akbar got married. Akbar’s finance minister, Raja Todar Mal, who belonged to the Khatri caste.

Iranians gained high offices under Jahangir, whose politically influential queen, Nur Jahan (d. 1645), was an Iranian

The diwan-i ala (finance minister) and sadr-us sudur (minister of grants or madad-i maash, and in charge of appointing local judges or qazis). The three ministers occasionally came together as an advisory body, but were independent of each other

Beyond the Frontiers

Europe received knowledge of India through the accounts of Jesuit missionaries. The Jesuit accounts are the earliest impressions of the Mughal court ever recorded by European writers

Medieval India

Questioning Formal Religion- Akbar’s religious views matured as he queried scholars of different religions and sects and gathered knowledge about their doctrines.