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Contents1. The Harappan Culture: Bronze Age Civilization .............................................. 1

2. The Later Vedic Phase...................................................................................... 10

3. Territorial States and the First Magadhan Empire .......................................... 19

4. The Delhi Sultanate ......................................................................................... 28

5. Architecture ..................................................................................................... 35

6. Mughal Empire ................................................................................................ 41

7. Social and Cultural Awakening in the first Half of the 19th Century ............. 52

8. The Revolt of 1857 ........................................................................................... 60

9. Growth of New India-Religious and social reform after 1858 ......................... 69

10. Nationalist Movement ...................................................................................... 84

11. Multiple Choice Questions ............................................................................... 95

The Harappan Culture: Bronze Age Civilization 1

THE INDUS or the Harappan culture isolder than the chalcolithic cultures whichhave been treated earlier, but it is far moredeveloped than these cultures. It arose in thenorth-western part of the Indiansubcontinent. It is called Harappan becausethis civilization was discovered first in 1921at the modern site of Harappa situated in theprovince of West Punjab in Pakistan. Itextended from Jammu in the north to theNaramada estuary in the south, and from theMakran coast of Balcuchistan in the west toMeerut in the north-east. The area formed atriangle and accounted for about 1,299,600square kilometers.

Nearly 1500 Harappan sites are knownso far in the subcontinent. Of these, the twomost important cities were Harappa in Punjaband Mohenjodaro (literally the mound of thedead) in Sindh, both forming parts ofPakistan. Situated at a distance of 483kilometres they were linked together by theIndus. A third city lay at Chanhu daro about130 km south of Mohenjodaro in Sindh, anda fourth at Lothal in Gujarat at the head ofthe Gulf of Cambay. A fifth city lay atKalibangan, which means black bangles, innorthern Rajasthan. A sixth called Banawaliis situated in Hissar district in Haryana. Itsaw two cultural phases, pre-Harappan andHarappan, similar to that of Kalibangan. The

Harappan culture is noticeable in its matureand flourishing stage at all these six places.It is also found in its mature phase in thecoastal cities of Sutkagendor and Surkotada,each one of which is marked by a citadel. Thelater Harappan phase is found in Rangpur andRojdi in the Kathiawar peninsula in Gujarat.In addition to these, Dholavira lying in theKutch area of Gujarat shows Harappanfortification and all the three phases of theHarappan culture. These phases also appearin Rakhigarhi which is situated on theGhaggar in Haryana and is much bigger thanDholavira.Town Planning and Structures

The Harappan culture wasdistinguished by its system of town planning.Harappa and Mohenjo-daro each had its owncitadel in each city lay a lower towncontaining brick houses, which wereinhabited by the common people. Theremarkable thing about the arrangement ofthe houses in the cities is that they followedthe grid system. According to it, roads cutacross one another alomost at right angles,and the city was divided into so many blocks.This is true of almost all Indus settlements.

The most important public place ofMohenjo-daro seems to be the Great Bath,comprising the tank which is situated in thecitadel mound. It is an example of beautiful

THE HARAPPAN CULTURE: BRONZE AGE CIVILIZATION

1

2 Gist of NCERT (History)

brickwork. It measures 11.88 × 7.01 metresand 2.43 metres deep. Flights of steps at ei-ther end lead to the surface. There are siderooms for changing clothes. The floor of theBatch was made of burnt bricks. It is sug-gested that the Great Bath served ritual bath-ing, which has been so vital to any religiousceremony in India.

In Mohenjodaro the largest building isa granary, which is 45.71 metres long and15.23 metres wide. But in the citadel ofHarappa we find as many as six granaries.We come across a series of brick platformswhich formed the basis for two rows of sixgranaries. Each granary measured 15.23 × 6.03metres and lay within a few metres of theriver bank. The combined floor space of thetwelve units would be about 838 squaremetres. Approximately it had the same areaas the Great Granary at Mohenjo-daro.Harappa also shows two-roomed barracks,which possibly accommodated laboures.

At Kalibangan also we notice in thesouthen part brick platforms, which may havebeen used for granaries. Thus, it wouldappear that granaries constituted animportant part of the Harappan cities.

The use of burnt bricks in the Hrappancities is remarkable, because in thecontemporary buildings of Egypt mainlydried bricks were used. We find the use ofbaked bricks in contemporary Mesopotamia,but they were used to a much larger extentin the Harappan cities. The drainage systemof Mohenjo-daro was very impressive. Inalmost all cities every big or small house hadits own courtyard and bathroom. InKalibangan many houses had their wells.Water flowed from the house to the streetswhich had drains. Sometimes these drains

were covered with bricks and sometimeswith stone slabs. The street drains wereequipped with manholes. Perhaps no otherBronze Age civilization gave so muchattention to health and cleanliness as theHarappan did.Agriculture

The Indus people produced wheat,barley, rai, peas, etc. They produced twotypes of wheat and barley. A good quantityof barley has been discovered at Banawali.In addition to this they produced sesamumand mustard. As 1800 B.C., the people ofLothal used rice whose remains have beenfound. Foodgrains were stored in hugegranaries in both Mohenjo-daro and Harappaand possibly in Kalibangan. Probably, cerealswere received as taxes from peasants andstored in granaries for the payment of wagesas well as for use during emergencies. Thiscan be said on the analogy of Mesopotamiancities where wages were paid in barley. Theindus people were the earliest people toproduce cotton. Because cotton was firstpeoduced in this are Greeks called it sindon,which is derived from Sindh.Domestication of Animals

Although the Harappans practisedagriculture, animals were kept on a largescale. Ox, buffaloes, goats, sheep and pigswere domesticated. The humped bulls werefavoured by the Harappans. From the verybeginning dogs were regarded as pets. Catswere also domesticated, and signs of the feetof both dogs and cats have been noticed.They also kept asses and camels, which wereobviously used as beasts of burden. Evidenceof the horse comes from a superficial level ofMohenjo-daro and from a doubtful terracottafiguring from Lothal. The remains of the horse


are reported from Sutkotada, situated in westGujarat, and belong to around B.C. but it isdoubtful. In any case the Harappan culturewas not horse-centred. Neither the bones ofhorse nor its representations appear in earlyand mature Harappan culture. Elephants werewell known to the Harappans, who were alsoacquainted with the rhinoceros.Technology and Carafts

The Harappan culture belongs to theBronze Age. The people of Harappa usedmany tools and implements of stone, but theywere well acquainted with the manufactureand use of bronze. Ordinarily bronze wasmade by the smiths by mixing tin with coppermines of Rajasthan, although it could also bebrought from Baluchistan. Tin was possiblybrought with difficulty from Afghanistan.The bronze tools and weapons recoveredfrom the Harappan sites; contain a smallerpercentage of tin. However, the kit of bronzegoods left by the Harappans is cosiderable,which suggests that the bronzesmithsconstituted an important group of artisansin the Harappan society. They produced notonly images and utensils but also various toolsand weapons such as axes, saws, knives andspears. Several other important craftsflourished in the Harappan towns. A piece ofwoven cotton has been recovered fromMohenjo-daro, and textile) impressions foundon several objects. Spindle whorls were usedfor spinning. Weavers wove cloth of wool andcotton. Huge brick structures suggest thatbrick-laying was an important craft. Theyalso attest the existence of a class of masons.The Harappans also practised boat-making.The goldsmiths made jewellery of silver, goldand precious stones; the first two may havebeen obtained from Afghanistan and the last

from south India. The Harappans were alsoexperts in bead-making. The potter’s wheelwas in full use, and the Harappans producedtheir own characteristic pottery, which wasmade glossly and shinning.Trade

Trade was important in the life os theIndus people. The Harappans carried on con-siderable trade in stone, metal, shell, etc,within the Indus culture zone. However, theircities did not possess the necessary raw ma-terial for the commodities they produced.They did not use metal money. Most prob-ably they carried on all exchanges throughbarter. In return for finished goods and pos-sibly foodgrains, they procured metals fromthe neighbouring area sby boats and bullock-carts. They practised navigation of the coastof the Arabian Sea. They knew the use ofwheel, and carts with solid wheels were inuse in Harappa. The Harappa had commeciallinks with one area of Rajasthan, and alsowith Afghanistan and Iran. They had set upa trading colony in northern Afghanistanwhich evidently facilitated trade with Cen-tral Asia. Their cities also carried commercewith those in the land of the Tigris and theEuphrates. Many Harappan seals have beendiscovered in Mesopotania, and it seems thatthe Harappans imitated some consmetics usedby the urban people of Mesopotamia.

The Mesopotamia records from about2350 B.C. onwards refer to trade relationswith Meluha, which was the ancient namegiven to the Indus region. The Mesopotamiantexts speaks of two intermediate trading sta-tions called Dilmun and Makan, which laybetween Mesopotamia and Meluha. Dilmuncan probably be identified with Bahrain onthe Persian Gulf.


Political Organization

We have no clear idea about the politicalorganization of the Harappans. But if we takeinto account the cultural homegeneity of theIndus civilization it can be said that thiscultural homogeneity would not have beenpossible to achieve without a centralauthority.

If the Harappan cultural zone isconsidered identical with the political zone,the subcontinent did not witness such a largepolitical unit until the rise of the Mauryaempire; the remarkable stability of this unitis demonstrated by its continuity for nearly600 years.Religions Practices

In Harappa numerous terracotta figuresof women have been found. Probably theimage represents the goddess of earth. TheHarappans, looked upon the earth as afertility goddess and worshipped her.The Male Deity in the Indus Valley

The male deity is represented on a seal.This god has three horned heads. He isrepresented in the sitting postrure of a yogi,placing one foot on the other. This god issurrounded by an elephant, a tiger, arhinoceros, and has a buffalo below histhrone. At his feet appear two deer. Thedepicted god is identified as PushupatiMahadeva.The Harappan Script

The Harappan invented the art ofwriting like the people of ancientMesopotamia. Although the earliest specimenof Harappan script was noticed in 1853 andthe complete script discovered by 1923, it hasnot been deciphered so far.

There are nearly 4,000 specimens of

Harappan writing on stone seals and otherobjects. Unlike the Egyptians andMesopotamians, the Harappans did not writelong inscriptions. Most inscriptions wererecorded on seals, and contain only a fewwords. Altogether we have about 250 to 400pictographs, and in the form of a picture eachletter stands for some sound, idea or object.the Harappan script is not alphabetical butmainly pictographic.Weights and Measures

Numerous articles used for weightshave been found. They show that in weighingmostly 16 or its multiples were used; forinstance, 16, 64, 160, 320 and 640.Interestingly the tradition of 16 has continuedin India till modern times and till recently 16annas made one rupee. The harappans alsoknew the art of measurement. We have comeacross sticks inscribed with measure marks;one of these is made of bronze.Harappan Pottery

The Harappans were great experts in theuse of the potter’s wheel. We come acrossnumerous pots painted in various designs.Harappan pots were generally decorated withthe designs of trees and circles. The imagesof men also appear on some potteryfragments.

Seals: The greatest artistic creations ofthe Harappan culture are the seals. About2000 seals have been found, and of these agreat majority carry short in-scriptions withpictures of the one-horned bull, the buffalo,the tiger, the rhinocreros, the goat and theelephant.

Images: The Harappan artisans madebeautiful images of metal. A woman dancermade of bronze is the best specimen. Exceptfor a necklac she is naked. We get a few pieces


of Harappan stone sculptures. One steatitestatue wears an ornamented robe over theleft shoulder under the right arm, and itsshort locks at the back of the head are kepttidy by a woven fillet.Origin, Maturity and End

The mature Harappan culture, broadlyspeaking, existed between 2550 B.C. and 1900B.C. Throughout the period of its existenceit seems to have retained the same kind oftools, weapons and houses. The whole styleof life appears to be uniform. We notice thesame town-planning, the same seals, the sameterracotta works, and the same long chetblades. But the view stressing changelessnesscannot be pushed too far. We do noticechangelessness cannot be pushed too far. Wedo notice changes in the pottery of Mohenjo-daro over a period of time. By thenieneteenth century B.C., the two importantcities of the Harappan culture, Harappa andMohenjo-daro, disappeared but the Harappanculture at other sites faded out gradually andcontinued in its degenerate phase in theoutlying fringes in Gujarat, Rajasthan,Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

While the ancient cutlures ofMesopotamia continued to exist even after1900 B.C., the urban Harappan culturedisappeared at Bout that thime. Variouscauses have been suggested. It is held thatthe amount of rainfall in the Indus regionslightly increased around 3000 B.C. and thendecreased in the earlier part of the secondmillennium B.C. This may have adverselyaffected agriculture and stockbreeding. Somedescribe the decline to the decreasing fertilityon account of the increasing salinity of thesoil caused by the expansion of theneighbouring desert. Others attribute it to a

sudden subsidence or uplift of the land whichcaused floods. Earthquakes caused changesin the course of the Indus which led to theinundation of fee hinterland of Mohenjo-daro. And still others point out that theHarappan culture was destroyed by theAryans, but there is very little evidence forthis.

The consequences of the disintegrationof the largest Bronze Age cultural entity arestill to be clarified. We do not know whetherthe urban eclipse led to the migration ofmerchants and craftsmen, and thedissemination of the elements of Harappantechnology and way of life in the countryside.Something is known about the post-urbansituation in Sindh, Punjab and Haryana. Wefind agricultural settlements inside the Indusregion, but their connection with thepreceding culture is not clear. We need clearand adequate information.

ADVENT OF THE ARYANS ANDTHE AGE OF THE RIG VEDA

Original Home and Identity

It Difficult to say that all the earliestAryans belonged to one race, but their culturewas more or less of the same type. They weredistinguished by their common language.They spoke the indo-European languages,which are current in changed forms all overEurope, Iran and the greater part of theIndian subcontinent Originally the Aryansseem to have lives somewhere in the steppesstretching from southern Russia to CentralAsia. Their earlist life seems to have beenmainly postoral, agriculture being asecondary occupation. Although the Aryansused several animals, the horse played themost significant role in their life. Its swiftnessenabled them and some allied people to make


successful inroads on West. Asia from about2000 B.C. onwards.

On their way to India to Aryans firstappeared in Central Asia and Iran, where theIndo-Iranians lived for a long time. We knowabout the Aryans in India from the Rig Veda.The term Arya occurs 36 times in this text,and generally indicates a cultural community.The Rig Veda is the earliest text of the Indo-European languages. It is a collection ofprayers offered to Agni, Indra, Mitra, Verunand others gods by various families of poetsor sages. It consists of ten mandalas or books,of which Books II to VII form its earliesportions. Books I and X seem to have beenthe latest additions.

The Rig Veda has many things incommon with the Avesta, which is the holdesttext in the Iranian language. The two textsuse the same names for several gods and evenfor social classes. But the earliest specimenof the Indo-European language is found inan inscription of about 2200 B.C. from IraqLater such specimens occur in Hittiteinscriptions in Anatolia (Turkey) from thenineteenth to the seventeenth centuries B.C.Aryan names appeal in Kassijte inscriptionsof about about 1600 B.C. from Iraq and inMitanni inscriptions of the fourteenth centuryB.C. from the Aryans appeared in India. Theearliest Aryans lived in the geographical areacovered by eastern Afghanistan, North-WestFrontier Province, Punjab and fringes ofwestern Uttar Pradesh. Some rivers ofAfghanistan such as the river Kubha, and theriver Indus and its five branches, arementioned in the Rig Veda. The Sindhu,identical with the Indus, is the river parexcellence of the Aryans, and it is repeatedlymentioned. Another river, the Saraswati, is

called naditama or the best of the rivers inthe Rig Veda. The whole region in which theAryans first settled in Indian subcontinent iscalled the Land of the Seven Rivers.Tribal Conflicts

We hear of many defeats inflicted byIndra on the enemies of the Aryans. In theRig Veda Indra is called Purandara whichmeans that he was the breaker of forts. TheAryans succeeded everywhere because theypossessed chariots driven by horses, andintorduced them for the first time into WestAsia and India. The Aryan soldiers wereprobably equiped also with coats of mail(vaiman) and better arms.

According to tradition, the Aryans weredivided into five tribed panchajana but theremight have been other tribes also. TheBharatas and the Tritsu were the ruling Aryanclans, and they were supported by priestVasisththa. The country Bharatavarsha waseventually named after the tribe Bharata,which apperas first in the Rig Veda. TheBharata ruling clan was opposed by a host often chiefs, five of whom were heads of Aryantribes and the remaining five of non-Aryanpeople. The battle that was fought betweenthe Bharatas on the one hand, and the hostof ten chiefs on the other is known as theBattle of Ten Kings. This battle was foughton the river Parushni, identical with the riverRavi and it gave victory to Sudas and estab-lished the supremacy of the Bharatas. Of thedefeated tribes, the most Important was thatof the Purus. Subequently the Bharatas joinedhands with the Purus and formed a new rul-ing tribe called the Kurus. The Kurus com-bined with the Panchalas, and they togetherestablished their rule in the upper Gangeticbasin where they played an important partin later Vedic times.


Material Life

The Rig Vedic people possessed betterknowledge of agriculture. Ploughshare ismentioned in the earliest part of the Rig Vedathough some consider it an interpolation.Possibly this ploughshare was made of wood.They were acquainted with sowing, harvest-ing and threshing, and knew about the dif-ferent seasons.

In spite of all this there are so many ref-erences to the cow and the bull in the RigVeda that the Rig Vedic Aryans can be calledpredominantly a pastoral people. Most oftheir wars were fought for the sake of cows.The terms for war in the Rig Veda is gavishthior search for cows. The cow seems to havebeen the most important form, of wealth. TheRig Veda, mentions such artisans as the car-penter, the chariot-maker, the weaver, theleather worker, the potter, etc.

This indicates that they practised allthese crafts. The term aryas used for copperor bronze show that metal-working wasknown. But we have no clear evidence of theexistence of regular trade. The Aryans or theVedic people were acquainted more with landroutes because the word samudra mentionedin the Rig Veda mainly denotes a collectionof water. We may, therefore, this of a pre-iron phase of the PGW which coincided withthe Rig Vedic phase.Tribal Polity

The administrative machinery of theAryans in the Rig period worked with thetribal chief in the centre, because of his suc-cessful leadership in war. He was called rajan.It seems that in the Rig Vedic period the king’spost had become hereditary. We have tracesof election of the king by the tribal assemblycalled the samiti. The king was called theprotector of his tribe.

Several tribal or the clan-basedassemblies such as the sabha, samiti, vidatha,gana are mentioned in the Rig Veda. Theyexercised deliberative, military and religiousfunctions. Even women attended the sabhaand vidatha in Rig Vedic times. But the twomost important assemblies were the sabhaand the samiti. These two were so importantthat the chiefs or the kings showed eagernessto win their-support.

In the day-to-day administration, theking was assisted by a few functionaries. Themost important functionary seems to havebeen the purohita. The two priests whoplayed a major part in the time of Rig Vedaare Vasishtha and Vishvamitra. Vishvamitracomposed the gayatri mantra to widen theAryan world. The next important function-ary seems to be the senani, who used spears,axes, swords, etc. We do not come across anyofficer concerned with the collection of taxes.Probably the chiefs received from the peoplevoluntary offerings called bnali. Presents andspoils of war were perhaps distributed insome Vedic assemblies. The Rig Veda doesnot mention any officer for administeringjustice. Spies were employed to keep an eyeon such unsocial activities.

The officer who enjoyed authority overa large land or pasture ground is calledVrajapati. He led heads of the families calledkulapas, or the heads of the fighting hordescalled gramanis, to battle. In the beginning,the gramani was just the head of a small tribalfighting unit. But when the unit settled, thegramani became the head of the village, andin course of time he became identical withthe Vrajapati. The king did not maintain anyregular or standing army, but in times of warhe mustered a militia whose militaryfunctions were performed by different tribal


groups called vrata, gana, grama, sardlia. Byand large it was a tribal system ofgovernment in which the military elementwas strong.Tribe and Family

Kinship was the basis of social structure,and a man was identified by the clan to whichhe belonged. People gave their primary loy-alty to the tribe, which was called jana. Theterm jana occurs at about 275 places in theRig Veda, and the term janapada or territoryis not used even once. The people were at-tached to the tribe, since the territory or thekingdom, was not yet established.

Another important term which standsfor the tribe in the Rig Veda is vis; it ismentioned 170 times in that text. Probablythe vis was divided into grama or smallertribal units meant for fighting. When thegramas clashed with one another it causedsamgrama. The most numerous varna ofvarishya arose out of the vis or the mass ofthe tribal people.

The term for family (kula) is mentionedrarely in the Rig Veda. It comprised not onlymother, father, sons, slaves, etc., but manymore people also. It seems that family in earlyVedic phase was indicated by the term griha,which frequently occurs in this text. In theearliest Indo-European languages one wordis used for nephew, grandson, cousin, etc. Itseems that several generations of the familylived under the same roof. Because it was apatriarchal society, the birth of a son wasdesired again and again, and especiallypeople prayed to the gods for brave sons tofight the wars. In the Rig Veda no desire isexpressed for daughters, though the desirefor children and cattle is a recurrent themein the hymns. Women could attend

assemblies. They could offer sacrifices alongwith their husbands. We have an instance offive women who composed hymns althoughthe later texts mention 20 such women.

We also notice the practice of levirateand widow remarriage in the Rig Veda. Thereare no examples of child-marriage, and themarriageable age in the Rig Veda seems tohave been 16 to 17Social Divisions

The Rig Veda mentions arya varna anddasa varna. The tribal chiefs and the priestsacquired a larger share of the booty, and theynaturally grew at the cost of their kinsmen,which created social inequalities in the tribe.Gradually the tribal society was divided intothree groups - warriors, priests and thepeople - on the same pattern as in Iran. Thefourth division called the schudras appearedtowards the end of the Rig Vedic period,because it is mentioned for the first time inthe tenth Book of the Rig Veda, which is thelatest addition.

In the age of the Rig Veda differentiationbased on occupations had started. Bat thisdivision was not very sharp. We hear of afamily in which a member says: “I am a poet,my father is a physician, and my mother is agrinder. Earning livelihood through differentmeans we live together...” We hear of giftsof cattle, chariots, horses, slaves, tec. Unequaldistribution of the sopils of war created socialinequalities, and this helped the rise of princesand priests at the cost of the common tribalpeople. But since economy was mainlypastoral and not food-producing, the scopefor collecting regular tributes from the peoplewas very limited. We do not find gifts of landand even those of cereals are rare. We finddomestic slaves but not the wage-earners.


Tribal elements in society were stronger andsocial divisions based on collection of taxesor accumulation of landed property wereabsent. The society was still tribal and largelyegalitarian.Rig Vedic Gods

The most important divinity in the RigVeda is Indra, who is called Purandara orbreaker of forts. Indra played the role of avarlord, leading the Aryan solidies to victoryagainst the demons. Two hundred and fiftyhymns are devoted to him. He is consideredto be the rain god and thought to beresponsbile for causing rainfall.

The second position is held by Agni (firegod) to whom 200 hymns are devoted. Fireplayed a significant part in the life of primitivepeople because of its use in burning forests,cooking, etc.

The cult of fire occupied a central placenot only in India but also in Iran, It Vedictimes Agni acted as a king of intermediarybetween the gods on the one hand, and thepeople on the other. The third importantposition is occupied by Varuna whopersonified water. Varuna was supposed touphold the natural order, and whateverhappened in the world was thought to be thereflection of his desires. Soma was considered

to be the god of plants and intoxi-cating drinkis named after him. The maruts personify thestorm.

This we have a large number of gods.,who represent the different forces of naturein one form or another, but are also assignedhuman activities.We also find some femaledivinites such as Aditi, and Ushas whorepresented the appearance of the dawn. Butthey were not prominent in the time of theRig Veda; in the set-up of the period the malegods were far more imp[ortant than thefemale.

The dominant mode of worshipping thedos was through the recitation of prayers andoffering of sacrifices. Prayers played animportant part in Rig Vedic times. Bothcollective and individual prayers were made.Originally every tribe or clan was the votaryof a special god. It seems that prayers wereoffered to gods in chorus by the members ofa whole tribe. This also happened in the caseof sacrifices. Agni and Indra were invited topartake of sacrifices made by the whole tribe(jana). Offerings of vevetables, barely, etc.were made to gods. But in Rig Vedic timesthe process was not accompanied by any ritualor sacrificial formulae. They asked mainly forpraja (children), pashu (cattle), food, wealth,health, etc.


THE LATER VEDIC PHASE

EXPANSION IN THELATER VEDIC PERIOD (C. 1000-500 B.C.)

THE HISTORY of the later Vedic periodis based mainly on the Vedic texts which werecompiled after the age of the Rig Veda. Thecollections of the Vedic hymns or mantraswere known as the Samhitas. For purposesof recitation, the prayers of the Rig Veda wereset to tune, and this modified collection wasknown as the Sama Veda Samhita. In additionto the Sama Veda. in post-Rig Vedic times twoother collections were: composed. These were- the Yajur Veda Samhita and the AtharvaVeda Samhita. The Yajur Veda contains notonly hymns but also rituasls which have toaccompany their recitation. The Atharva Vedacontains charms and spells to ward off evilsand diseases. The Vedic Samhitas werefollowed by the composition of a series oftexts known as the Brahmanas. These are fullof ritualistic formulae and explain the socialand religious meaning of rituals.

All these later Vedic texts were compliedin the upper Gangetic basin in circa 1000-500B.C. These are called Painted Grey Ware(PGW) sites because they were inhabited bypeople who used earthern bowls and dishesmade of painted grey pottery. They also usediron weapons. With the combined evidencefrom the later Vedic texts and PGW iron-phase archaeology we can fom an idea of the

life of the people in the first half of the firstmillennium B.C. in western Uttar Pradeshand adjoining areas of Punjab, Haryana andRajasthan.

The texts show that the Aryansexpanded from Punjab over the whole ofwestern Uttar Pradesh covered by theGanga-Yamuna doab. The Bharatas andPurus, the two major tribes, combined andthus formed the Rum people. In the beginningthey lived between the Sarasvati and theDrishadvati just on the fringe of the doab.Soon the Kurus occupied Delhi and the upperportion of the doab, the area calledKurukshetra or the land of the Kurus.Gradually they coalesced with a people calledthe Panchalas, who occupied the middleportion of the doab. The authority of theKuru-Panchala people spread over Delhi, andthe upper and middle portion of the doab.The authority of the Kuru-Panchala peoplespread over Delhi, and the upper and middleparts of the doab. They set up their capital atHastinapur situated in the district of Meerut.The history of the Kuru tribe is importantfor the battle of Bharata, which is the maintheme of the great epic called theMahabharata. This war is supposed to havebeen fought around 950 B.C. between, theKauravas and the Pandavas, although bothof them belonged to the Kuru clan. As a result

2

The Later Vedic Phase 11

practically the whole of the kuru clan waswiped out.

Towards the end of the later Vedicperiod, around 600 B.C. the Vedic peoplespread from the board further east of Koshalain eastern Uttar Pradesh and videha in northBihar. Although Koshala is associated withthe story of Rama, it is not mentioned in Vedicliterature.The UGW-Iron PhaseCulture and Later Vedic Economy

Around 1000 B.C. iron appears inDharwar district in Karnataka. Excavationsshow that iron weapons such as arrow-headsand spear-heads came to be commonly usedin western Uttar Pradesh from about 800 B.C.onwards. With iron weapons the Vedic peoplemay have defeated the few adversaries thatmay have faced them in the upper portion ofthe doab. Towards the end of the Vedicperiod kjowledge of iron spread in easternUttar Pradesh and Videha. The earliest ironimplements discovered in this area belong tothe seventh Century B.C., and the metal itselfis called shyama or krishna ayas in the laterVedic texts.

Although very few agricultural toolsmade of iron have been found, undoubtedlyagriculture was the chief means of liveliboodof the later Vedic people. The ShatapathaBrahmana speaks at length about theploughing rituals. According to ancientlegends, janaka, the king of Videha and fatherof Sita, lent his hand to the plought. In latertimes ploughing came to be prohibited, forthe members of the upper vernas.

The Vedic people continued to producebarly, but during this period rice and wheatbecame their chief crops. In subsequent timeswheat became the staple food of the people

in Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh. For thefirst time the Vedic people came to beacquainted with rice in the doab. It is calledvrihi in the Vedic texts, and its remainsrecovered from Hastinapur belong to theeighth century B.C. The use of rice isrecommended in Vedic rituals, but that ofwheat only rarely.

Agriculture and various crafts enabledthe later Vedic people to lead a settled life.Excavations and explorations give us someidea about settlements in later Vedic times.Widespread Painted Grey Ware sites arefound not only in western Uttar Pradesh andDelhi, which was the Kuru-Panchala area butalso in the adjoining paras of Punjab andHaryana, which was the Madras area and inthose of Rajasthan, which was the Matsyaarea. Also we can court nearly 700 sites,mostly belonging to the upper Gangetic basin.

Althoug the term nagara is used in laterVedic texts we can trace only the faintbeginnings of towns towards the end of thelater Vedic period. Hastinapur andKaushambi near Allahabad) can be regardedas primitive towns belonging to the end ofthe Vedic period. They may be calledprotourban sites.Political Organization

In later Vedic times Rig Vedic popularassemblies lost importance, and royal powerincreased at their cost The vidatha completelydisappeared. The sabha and samiti continuedto hold the ground, but their characterchanged. They came to be dominated bychiefs and rich nobles. Women were no longerpermitted to sit on the sabha, and it was nowdominated by nobles and brahmanas.

The formation of bigger kingdoms madethe chief or the king more powerful. Tribal


authority tended to become territorial.Princes or chiefs ruled over tribes, but thedominant tribes gave their names toterritories, which might be inhabited bytribes other than their own. In the beginningeach area was named after the tribe whichsettled there first. At first Panchala was thename of a people, and then it became thename of a region. The term rashtra, whichindicates territory, first appears in thisperiod.

Traces of the election of the chief or theking appear In later Vedic texts. Otherqualities was elected raja. He receivedvoluntary presents called bali from hisordinary kinsmen or the common peoplecalled the vis. But the chief tried to perpetuatethe right to receive presents and enjoy otherprivileges pertaining to his office by makingit hereditary in his family; the post generallywent to the eledest son. However, thissuccession was not always smooth.

The kings influence was strengthenedby rituals. He performed the rajasuyasancrifice, which was supposed to confer su-preme power on him. He performed theashvamedha, which meant unquestioned con-trol over an are in which the royal horse ranuninterrupted. He also performed thevajapeya or the chariot race, in which theroyal chariot was made to win the raceagainst his kinsmen. All these rituals im-pressed the people with the increasing powerand prestige of the king.

During this period collection of taxesand tributes seems to have become common.They were probably deposited with an officercalled sangrihitri. In the discharge of hisduties the king was assisted by the priest,the commander, the chief queen and a few-other high functionaries. At the lower level,

the administration was possibly carried onthe village assemblies, which may have beencontrolled by the chiefs of the dominantclans.Social Organization

The later Vedic society came to bedivided into four vernas called thebrahmans, rajanyas or kahatriyas, vaishyasand shudras. The growing cult of sacrificedenormously added to the power of thebrahmanas.

The vaishyas constituted the commonpeople, and they were assigned to do theproducing functions such as agriculture,cattle-breeding, etc. Some of them alsoworked as artisans. Towerds the end of theVedic period they began to engage in trade.The vaishyas appear to be the only tribute-ayers in later Vedic times, and the brahmanasand kahatriyas are represented as living onthe tributes collected from the vaishyas. Thiswas done with, the help of the priests whoalso fattened at the cost of people or thevaishyas. All the three higher varnas sharedone common feature: they were entitled toupanayana or investiture with the sacredthread according to the Vedic mantras. Thefourth varna was deprived of the sacredthread ceremony and the recitation of thegayatri mantra and with this began theimposition of disabilities on the shudra.

Generally the later Vedic texts draw aline of demarcation between the three higherorders on the one hand, and the shudras onthe other. There were, nevertheless severalpublic rituals connected with the coronationof the king in which the shudras participated,presumably as survivors of the original Aryanpeople. Certain sections of artisans such asrathakara or chariotmaker enjoyed a high


status, and were entitled to the sacred threadceremony. Therefore, even in later Vedic timesvarna distinctions had not advanced very far.

In the family we notice the increasingpower of the father, who could evendisinherit his son. In princely families theright of primogeniture was getting stronger.Male ancestors came to be worshipped.Women were generally given a lowerposition. Althoug some women theologianstookpart in philosophic discussion and somequeens participated in coronation rituals,ordinarily women were thought to beinferior and subordinate to men.

The institution of gotra appeared in laterVedic times. Literally it means the cow-penor the place where cattle belonging to thewhole clan are kept, but in course of time itsignified descent from a common ancestor.People began to practise gotra exogamy. Nomarriage could take place between personsbelonging to the same gotra or having thesame lineage.

Ashramas or four stages of life were notwell established in Vedic times. In the post-Vedic texts we hear of four ashramas-that ofBrahmachari or student, grihastha orhouseholder, vanaprastha or hermit andsannyasin or ascetic who completelyrenounced the worldly life. Only the firstthree are mentioned in the later Vedic texts;the last or the fourth stage had not been wellestablished in later Vedic times though asceticlife was not unknown. Even in post-Vedictimes only the stage of the housholder wascommonly practised by all the varnas.Good, Rituals said Philosophy

The two outstanding Rig Vedic gods,Indra and Agni, lost thieir formerImportance. On the other hand, Prajapati the

creator, came to occupy the supreme positionin the later Vedic pantheon. Some of the otherminor gods of the Rig Vedic period also cameto the forefront. Rudra, the god of animals,became important in later Vedic times, andVishnu came to be conceived as the preserverand protector of the people. In addition, someobjects began to be worshipped as symbolsof vidinity; signs of idolatry appear in laterVedic times. Pushan, who was supposed tolook after cattle, came to be regarded as thegod of the shudras.

People worshiped gods for the samematerial reasons in this period as they did inearlier times. However, the mode of worshipchanged considerably. Prayers continued tobe recited. Sacrifices became far moreimportant, and they assumed both public anddomestic character.

Sacrifices involved the killing of animalson a large scale and, especially thedesctruction of cattle wealth. The guest wasknown as goghna or one who was fed oncattle. Sacrifices were accompanied byformulae which had to be carefullypronounced by the sacrificer. The sacrificerwas known as the yajamana, the performer,of yajna, and much of his success dependedon the magical power of words utteredcorrectly in the sacrifices.

In addition to cows, which were usuallygiven as sacrificial gifts, gold, cloth and horseswere also given. Sometimes the priestsclaimed poetions of territory as dakshina,The Shatapatha brahmana states that in theashvamedha, north, south, east and west allshould be given to the priest.

Towards the end of the Veclie periodbegan a strong reaction against priestlydomination, against cults and rituals,


especially in the land of the Panchalas andVideha where, around 600 B.C., theUpanishads were compiled. Thesephilosophical texts criticized the rituals andlaid stress on the value of right belief andknowledge. They emphasised that theknowledge of the self or atman should beacquired and the relation of atman withBrahma should be properly understood.

JAINISM AND BUDDHISM

NUMEROUS religious, sects arose in themiddle Gangetic plains in the second half ofthe sixth century B.C. Of these sects Jainismand Buddhism were the most important, andthey emerged as the most potent religiousreform movements.Causes of Origin

In post-Vedic times society was clearlydivided into four varnas: brahmanas,kshtriyas, vaishyas and shudras. Each varnawas assigned well-defined functions,although it was emphasised that varna wasbased on birth. The brahmanas, who weregiven the functions of priests and andteachers, claimed the highest status in society.The kshatriyas ranked second in the varnaheiracrchy. The vaishyas were engagerd inagriculture, cattle-rearing and trade.

They appear as principal taxpayers. Theshudras were meant for servint the threehigher varnas, and along with women werebarred from taking to Vedic studies.

Naturally the varna-divided societyseems to have generated tensions. We haveno means to find out the reactions of thevaishyas and the shudras. But the kshatriyas,who functioned as rulers, reacted stronglyagainst the ritualistic domination of thebrahmanas, and seem to have led a kind ofprotest movement against the importance

attached to birth in the varna system. Thekshatriya reaction against the domination ofthe priestly class called brahmanas, whoclaimed various privileges, was one of thecauses of the origin of new religions.Vardhamana Mahavira, who foundedJainism, and Gautama Budha, who foundedBuddhism belonged to the kshatriya clan, andboth disputed the authority of thebrahmanas.

But the real cause of the rise of thesenew religions lay in the spread of a newagricultural economy in north-eastern India.In the middle Gangeic plains, large-scalehabitations began in about 600 B.C., wheniron came to be used in this area. The use ofiron tools made possible clearance,agriculture and large settlements. Theagricultural economy based on the ironploughshare required the use of bullocks, andit could not flourish without animalhusbandry. But the Vedic practice of killingcattle indiscriminately in sacrifices stood inthe way of the progress of new agriculture.But if the new agrarian economy had to bestable, this killing had to be stopped.

The period saw the rise of a largenumber of cities in north-eastern India. Wemay refer, for example, to Kaushambi nearAllahabad, Kusinagar (in Deoria district ofUttar Pradesh).

Banaras, Vaishali (in the newly createddistrict of the same name in north Bihar),Chirand (in Saran district) and Rajgir(situated at a distance of about 100 km south-east of Patna). Besides others these cities hadmany artisans and traders, who began to usecoins for the first time. The earliest coinsbelong to the fifth century B.C., and they arecalled punch-marked coins. They circulated


for the first time in eastern Uttar Pradesh andBihar. The use of coins naturally facilitatedtrade and commerce, which added to theimportance of the vaishyas. In thebrahmanical society the vaishyas rankedthird, the first two being brahmanas andkshatriyas. Naturally they looked for somereligion which would improve their position.Vardhmana Mahavira and Jainism

According to the Jainas, the origin ofJainism goes back to very ancient times. Theybelieve in twenty-four tirthankaras or greatteachers or leaders of their religion. The firsttirthankara is believed to be Rishabhadevwho was born in Ayodhya. He is said to havelaid the foundations for orderly humansociety. The last, twenty-fourth, tirthankara,was Vardhamana Mahavira who was acontem-porary of Gautama Buddha. Thetwenty-third tirthankara was Parshvanathwho was born in Varanasi. He gave up royallife and became an ascetic. Many teachingsof Jainism are attributed to him. Accordingto Jaina tradition, he lived two hundred yearsbefore Mahavira. Mahavir is said to be thetwenty-fourth.

According to one tradition,Vardhamana Mahavira was born is 540 B.C.in a village called Kundagrama near Vaishali,which is identical with Basarh in the districtof Vaishali, in north Bihar. His fatherSiddhartha was the head of a famouskshatriya clan called Jnatrika and the rulerof his own area. Mahavira’s mother wasnamed Trishala, sister of the Lichchhavi chiefChetaka, whose daughter was wedded toBimbisara.

In the biginning, Mahavira led the lifeof a householder, but in the search for truthhe abandoned the world at the age of 30 and

became an ascetic. In the thirteenth year,when he had reached the age of 42, heattained kaivalya.

Through kaivalyahe conquered miseryand happiness. Because of this conquest he isknown as Mahavira or the great hero or jina,i.e. the conqueror, and his followers areknown as Jainas. He propagated his religionfor 30 years, and his mission took him toKoshala, Magadha, Mithila, Champa, etc. Hepassed away at the age of 72 in 468 B.C. at aplace called Pavapuri near modern Rajgir.According to another tradition, he was bornin 599 B.C. and passed away in 527 B.C.Doctrines of Jainism

Jainism taught five doctrines: (i) do notcommit violence, (ii) do not speak a lie, (ii)do not steal, (iv) do not acquire property, and(v) observe continence (brahmacharya. It issaid that only the fifth doctrine was addedby Mahavira: the other four were taken overby him from previous teachers. Jainismattached the utmost importance to ahmsa ornon-injury to living beings in later times,Jainism was divided into two sects:shvetambaras or those who put on whitedress, and digmbaras or those who keepthem-selves naked.

Jainism mainly aims at the attainmentof freedom from worldly bonds. No ritual isrequired for acquiring such liberation. It canbe obtained through right knowledge, rightfaith and right action. These three areconsidered to be the Three Jewels or triratnaof Jainism.

Jainnism prohibited the practice of warand even agriculture for its followers becauseboth involve the killing of living beings.Eventually the Jainas mainly confinedthemselves to trade and mercantile activities.


Spread of Jaiaism

In order to spread the teachings ofJainism, Mahavira organized an order of hisfollowers which admitted both men andwomen. According to a late tradition, thespread of Jainism in Karnataka is attributedto Chandragupta Maurya (322-298 B.C.). Theemperor became a Jaina, gave up his throneand spent the last years of his life in Karnatakaas a Jaina ascetic. The second cause of thespread of Jainism in south India is said to bethe great famine that took place in Magadha200 years after the death of Mahavira. Thefaminie lasted for twelve years, and in orderto protect themselves many a Jaina went tothe south under the leadership ofBhadrabahu, but the rest of them stayed backin Magadha under the leadership ofSthalabahu.

The emigrant Jainas spread Jainism insouth India. At the end of the famine theycame back to Magadha, where theydeveloped differences with the local Jainas.Those who came back from the south claimedthat even during the famine they had strictlyobserved the religious rules; on the otherhand, they alleged, the Jaina ascetics livingin Magadha had violated those rules and hadbecome lax. In order to sort out thesedifferences and to compile the main teachingsof Jainism a council was convened inPataliputra, modern Patna, but the southernJainas boycotted the council and refused toaccept its decisions. From now onwards, thesoutherns began to be called digambaras, andthe Magadhans shvetambaras. However,epigraphic evidence for the spread of Jainismin karnataka is not earlier than the thirdcentury A.D. In subsequent centuries,especially after the fifth century, numerous

Jaina monastic establishments called basadissprang up in Karnataka and were grantedland by the king for their support.

Jainism spread to Kalinga in Orissa inthe fourth century B.C., and in the first cenuryB.C. it enjoyed the patronage of the Kalingaking Kharavela who had defeated the princesof Andhra and Magadha.Contribution of Jainism

Jainism made the first serious attemptto mitigate the evils of the varna order andthe ritualistic Vedic religion. The early Jainasdiscarded Sanskrit language mainlypatronized by the brahmanas. They adoptedPrakrit language of the common people topreach their doctrines. Their religiousliterature was written in Ardhamagadhi, andtexts were finally compiled in the sixthcentury A.D. in Gujarat at a place calledValabhi, a great centre of Education. Theadoption of Prakrit by the Jainas heed thegrowth of this language and its literature.Many regional languages developed out ofPakrit languages, particularly Shauraseni, outof which grew of Marathi language. Theycontributed to the growth of Kananads, inwhich they wrote extensively.Gautam Budhda and Buddhism

Gautama Buddha or Siddhartha was acontrmporary of Mahavira. According totradition he was born in 563 B.C. in a Shakyakshatriya family in Lumbini in Nepal nearKapilvastu, which is a identified withPiprahwa in Basti district and close to thefoothills of Nepal. Gautama’s father seemsto have been the elected ruler of Kapilvastu,and headed the republican clan of theShakyas. His mother was a princess from theKoshala dynasty. Thus, like Mahavira,Gautama also belonged to a noble family.At


the age of 29, like Mahavira again, he lefthome. He kept on wandering for about sevenyears and then attained knowledge at the ageof 35 at Bodh Gaya under a pipel tree. Fromthis time onwards he began to be called theBuddha or the enlightened, Gautam Buddhadelivered his first sermons at Sarnath inBanaras, passed away at the age of 80 in 483B.C. at a place called Kusinagar, identical withthe village called Kasia in the district of Deoriain eastern Uttar Pradesh.Doctrines of Buddhism

Gautama Buddha recommended aneight-fold path (ashtangika marga) for theelimination of human misery. This path isattributed to him in a text of about the thirdcentury B.C. It comprised right observation,right determination, right speech, rightaction, right livelibood, right execise, rightmemory and right meditation. If a personfollows this eight fold path he would notdepend on the machinations of the priests,and will be able to reach his destination.Gautama taught than a person should avoidethe excess of both luxury and a austerity. Heprescribed the middle path.

The Buddha also laid down a code ofconduct for his followers on the same linesas was done by the Jaina teachers. The mainitems in these social conduct are: (i) do notcover the propert of others, (ii) do not com-mit violence, (iii) do not use intoxicants, (iv)do not speak a lie, and (v) do not indulge incorrupt practices. These techining are com-mon to the social conduct ordinend by al-most all religons.Special Features ofBuddhism and the Causes of Its Spread

Buddhism does not recognize theexistence of god and soul (atman). This can

be taken as a kind of reovlution in the historyof Indian religions. It particularly won triesupport of the lower orders as it attackedthe varna system. People were taken into theBuddhist order without any consideration ofcaste. Women also were admitted to thesangha and thus brought on par with men.In comparison with Brahmanism, Buddhismwas liberal and democratic.

The use of Pali, the language of thepeopel, also contributed to the spread ofBuddhism. It facilitated the spread ofBuddhist doctrines among the commonpeople. Gautama Buddha also organized thesangha or the religious order, whose doorswere kept open to every body, irrespectiveof caste and sex. The only condition requiredof the the monks was that they wouldfaithfully observe the rules and regulationsof the sangha. Once they were enrolled asmembers of the Buddhist Church they hadto take the vow of continence, poverty andfaith. So there are three main elements inBuddhism: Buddha, sangha and dhamma.The monarchies of Magadha, Koshala andKaushambi and several republican states andtheir people adopted this religion.

Two hundred years after the death ofthe Buddha, the famous Maurya king Ashokaembraced Buddhism. This was an epoch-making event. Through his agents Ashokaspred Buddhism into Central Asia, West Asiaand Sri Lanka, and thus transformed it intoa world religion. Even today Sri Lanka,Burma (Myanmar), Tibet and parts of Chinaand Japan, profess Buddhism Although.Importance and Influence of Buddhism

Despite its ultimate disppearance as anorganized religion, Buddhism left its abidingmark on the history of India. The Buddhist


showed a keen awareness of the problemsthat faced the people of north-east India inthe the sixxth century B.C.

Undoubtedly the objective of theBuddhist teaching was to secure the salvationof the individual or nirvana.

Buddhism made an important impact onsociety by keeping its doors open to womenand shudras. Since both women and shudraswere placed in the same category byBrahmanism, they were neither given scredthread nor allowed to read the Vedas. Theirconversion to Buddhism freed them from suchmarks of inferiority.

With its emphasis on non-violence andthe sanctity of animal life, Buddhism boostedthe cattle wealth of the country. The earliestBuddhist text Suttanipata declares the cattleto be givers of food, beauty and happiness(annada, Vannada, sukhada), and thus pleadsfor their protection. This teaching camesignificantly at a time when the non-Aryansslaughtered animals for food, and the Aryansin tghe name of religion.

Buddhism created and developed a newawareness in the field of intellect and culture.They enormously enriched Pali by theirwritings. The early Pali literature can bedivided into three categories. The firstcontains the sayings and teachings of the

Buddha, the second deals with the rules tobe observed by members of thesangha, andthe third presents the philosophical expositionof the dhamma. In the first three centuries ofthe Charistian era, by mixing Pali with San-skrit the Buddhists created a new languagewhich is called Hybrid Sanskrit. The literaryactivities of the Buddhist monks continuedeven in the Middle Ages, and some famousApabhrams writing in east India werecomposed by them. The Buddhistmonasteries developed as great centres oflearning, and can be called-residentialuniversities. Mention may be made ofNalanda and Vikramashila in Bihar, andValabhi in Gujrat.

Buddhism left its mark on the art ofancient India. The first human statuesworshipped in India were probably those ofthe Buddha. From the first century A.D.onwards the panel images of GautamaBuddha began to be made. The Greek andthe Indian sculptors worked together tocreate a new kind of art on the north-westfrontier of India, which is known as theGandhara art. For the residence of the monksrooms were hewn out of the rocks, and thusbegan the cave archtecture in the Barabar hillsin Gaya and in western India acround Nasik.Buddhist art flourished in the Krishna deltain the south and in Mathura in the north.


TERRITORIAL STATES AND THE FIRST MAGADHAN EMPIRE

The Mahajanapadas

In the age of the Buddha we find 16large states called Mahajanapadas, They weremostly situated north of the Vindhyas andextended from the north-west frontier toBihar. Of these Magadha, Koshala, Vatsa andAvanti seem to have been considerablypowerful. Beginning from the east we hearof the kingdom of Anga which covered themodern districts of Monghyr and Bhagalpur.It had its capital at Champa, Eventually thekingdom, of Anga was swallowed by itspowerful neighbour Magadha.

Magadha embraced the former districtsof patna, Gaya and parts of Shahbad, andgrew to be the leading state of the time.North of the Ganga in the division of Tirhutwas the state of the Vajjis which includedeight clans. But the most powerful were theLichchhavis with their capital at Vaishaliwhich is identical with the village of Basarhin the district of Vaishali. The Purnas pushthe antiquity of Vaishali to a much earlierperiod, but archaeologically Basarh was notsettled until the sixth century B.C.

Further west we find the kingdom ofKashi with its capital at Varanasi. In thebeginning Kashi appears to be the mostpowerful of the states, but eventually it hadto submit to the power of Koshala.

Koshala embraced the area occupied by

eastern Uttar Pradesh and had its capital atShravasti, which is identical with Sahet-Maheton the borders of Gonda and Bahraichdistricts in Uttar Pradesh. But we see thebeginnings of a mud fort. Koshala containedan important city called Ayodhya, which isassociated with the story in the Ramayana.Koshala also included the tribal republicanterritory of the Shaky as of Kapilvastu. Thecapital of Kapilavastu has been identifiedwith Piprahwa in Basti district. Lumbini,which lies at a distance of 15 km fromPiprahwa in Nepal served as another capitalof the Shakyas. In an Ashokan inscription itis called the birthplace of Gautama Buddhaand it was here that he was brought up.

In the neighbourhood of Koshala lay therepublican clan of the Mallas, One of the capi-tals of the Mallas lay at Kushinara whereGautama Buddha passed away. Kushinara isidentical with Kasia in Deoria district. Fur-ther west lay the kingdom of the Vatsas,along the bank of the Yamuna, with its capi-tal at Kaushambi near Allahabad. The Vatsaswere a Kuru clan who had shifted fromHastinapur and settled down at Kaushambi.Kaushambi was chosen because of its loca-tion near, the confluence of the Ganga andthe Yamuna. We also hear of the older statesof the Kurus and the Panchalas which weresituated in western Uttar Pradesh, but theyno longer enjoyed the political importance

3


which they had attained in the later Veidcperiod.

In central Malwa and the adjoining partsof Madhya Pradesh lay the state of theAvantis. It was divided into two parts. Thenorthern part had its capital at Uggain, andthe southern part at Mahishamati.Rise and Growth of the Magadha Empire

Magadha came into prominence underthe leadership of Bimbisara, who belongedto the Haryanka dynasty. He was acontemporary of the Buddha. He started thepolicy of conquest and aggression whichended with the Kalinga war of Ashoka.Bimbisara acquired Anga and placed it underthe viceroyaity of his son Ajatashatru atChampa. He also strengthened his positionby marriage alliances. He took three wives.His first wife was the daughter of the kingof Koshala and the sister of Parsenajit. Hissecond wife Chellana was a Lichchhaviprincess from Vaishali who gave birth toAjatashatru and his third wife was thedaughter of the chief of the Madra clan ofPunjab.

Magadha’s most serious rival wasAvanti with its capital at Ujjain. Its kingChanda Pradyota Mahasena foughtBimbisara, but ultimately the two thought itwise to become friends. Later when Pradyotawas attacked by jaundice, at the Avanti king’srequest Bimbisara sent the royal physicianJivaka to Ujjain.

The earliest capital of Magadha was atRajgir, which was called Girivraja at that time.If was surrounded by five hills, the openingsin which were closed by stone-walls on allsides. This made Rajgir impregnable.According to the Buddhist chronicles,Bimbisara ruled for 52 years. roughly from

544 B.C. to 492 B.C. He was succeeded byhis son Ajatashatru (492-460 B.C.). Ajatashatrukilled his father and seized the throne forhimself. Throughout his reign he pursued anaggressive policy of expansion. Thisprovoked against him a combination of Kashiand Koshala. There began a prolongedconflict between Magadha and Koshala.Ultimately Ajatashatru got the best of thewar, and the Koshalan king was compelledto purchase peace by giving his daughter inmarriage to Ajatashatru and leaving him insole possession of Kashi.

Although his mother was a Lichchhaviprincess, this did not prevent him frommaking war against Vaishli. He createddissensions in the ranks of the Lichchhavisand finally destroyed their independence byinvading their territory and by defeatingthem in battle. It took him full 16 years todestroy Vaishali. Eventually he succeeded indoing so because of a war engine which wasused to throw stones like catapults. He alsopossessed a chariot to which a mace wasattahced, and it facilitated mass killings. TheMagadhan empire was thus enlarged with theaddition of Kashi and Vaishali.

Ajatashatru faced a stronger rival in theruler of Avanti. Avanti had defeated theVatsas of Kaushambi and now threatened aninvasion of Magadha. To meet this dangerAjatashatru began the fortification of Rajgir.The remins of the walls can be still seen.However, trie invasion did not materializein his lifetime.

Ajatashatru was succeeded by Udayin(460-444 B.C.) His reign is important becausehe built the fort upon the confluence of theGanga and Son at Patna. This was donebecause Patna lay in the centre of the

Territorial States and the First Magadhan Empire 21

Magadhan kingdom, which now extendedfrom the Himalayas in the north to the hillsof Chotanagpur in the south.

Udayin was succeeded by the dynastyof Shishunagas, who temporarily shifted thecapital to Vaishali. Their greatest achievementwas the destruction of the power of Avantiwith its capital at Ujjain. This brought to anend the 100 year old rivalry betweenMagadha and Avanti. From now onwardsAvanti became a part of the Magadhan empireand continued to be so till the end of theMaurya rule.

The Shishunagas were succeeded by theNandas, who proved to be the most powerfulrulers of Magadha. So great was their powerthat Alexander, who invaded Punjab at thattime, did not dare to move towards the east.The nandas added to the Magadhan powerby conquering Kalinga from where theybrought an image of the Jina as a victorytrophy. All this took place in the reign ofMahapadma Nanda. He claimed to be ekarat,the sole sovereign who destroyed all theother ruling princes. It seems that he acquirednot only Kalinga but also Koshala which hadprobably rebelled against him.

The later Nandas turned out to be weakand unpopular. Their rule in Magadha wassupplanted by that of the Maurya dynastyunder which the Magadhan empire reachedthe apex of glory.

THE AGE OF THE MAURYAS

Chandragupta Maurya

THE MAURYA dynasty was founded byChandragupta Maurya, who seems to havebelonged to some ordinary family. Accordingto the brahmanical tradition he was born ofMura, a shudra woman in the court of theNandas. But an earlier Buddhist tradition

speaks of the existence of a kshatriya clancalled Mauryas living in the region ofGorakhpur adjoining the Nepalese terai. Inall likelihood, Chandragupta was a memberof this clan. He took advantage of thegrowing weakness and unpopularity of theNandas in the last days of their rule. Withthe help of Chanakya, who is known asKautilya, he overthrew the Nandas andestablished the rule of the Maurya dynasty.The machinations of Chanakya againstChandragupta’s enemies are described indetail in the Mudrarakshasa, a drama writtenby Vishakhadatta in the ninth century. Severalplays have been based on it in modern times.

Justin, a Greek writer, says thatChandragupta overran the whole of Indiawith an army of 600,000. But Chandraguptaliberated north-western India from thethraldom of Selucus, Chandragupta thus builtup a vast empire which included not onlyBihar and good portions of Orissa and Bengalbut also western and northwestern India, andthe Deccan. Leaving Kerala, Tamil nadu andparts of north-easrtern India the Mauryasruled over the whole of the subcontinent. Inthe north-west they held sway over certainareas which were not included even in theBritish empire.Imperial Organization

The Mauryas organized a very elaboratesystem of administration. We know about itfrom the account of Megasthenes and theArthashastra of Kautilya. Megasthenes wasa Greek ambassador sent by Seleucus to thecourt of Chandragupta Maurya. He lived inthe Maurya capital of Pataliputra and wrotean account not only of the administration ofthe city of Pataliputra but also of the Mauryaempire as a whole. The account of


Megasthenes have been published in the formof a book called Indika, which throwsvaluable light on the administration, societyand economy of Maurya times. The accountof Megasthenes can be supplemented by theArthashastra of Kautilya. Arthashastra givesauthentic information about the Mauryaadministration and economy. On the basis ofthese two sources we can draw a picture ofthe administrative system of Chandra-guptaMaurya. If we believe in a statement of theArthashastra, the king had set a high idealthe happiness of his subjects lay his happinessand in their troubles lay his troubles.According to Megasthenes the king wasassisted by a council.

The empire was divided into a numberof provinces, and each province was placedunder a prince who was a scion of the royaldynasty. The provinces were divided intostill smaller units, and arrangements weremade for both rural and urban administration.Excavations The administration Pataliputra,which was the capital of the Mauryas, wascarried on by six committees, each committeeconsisting of five members. These committeeswere entrusted with sanitation, care offoreigners, registration of birth and death,regulation of weights and measures andsimilar other functions.

The most striking feature of Chandra-gupta’s administration is the maintenance ofa Huge army. According to the account of aRoman writer called Poiny, Chandraguptamaintained 600,000 foot-soldiers, 30,000 cav-alry and 9000 elephants the Mauryas alsomaintained a navy. The administration of thearmed forces, according to Megasthenes, wascarried on by a board of 30 officers dividedinto six committees, consisting of five mem-bers.

Ashoka (273-232 B.C.)

Chandragupta Maurya was succeededby Bindusara, whose reign is important forcontinued links with the Greek princes. Hisson, Ashoka, is the greatest of the Mauryarulers. According to Buddhist tradition hewas so cruel in his early life that he killed his99 brothers to get the throne. But since thestatement is based on a legend, it may wellbe wrong. His biography, prepared byBuddhist writerters, is so full of finction thatit cannot be taken seriously.Ashokan Inscriptions

The history of Ashoka is reconstructedon the basis of his inscriptions. Theseincriptions, numbering 39, are classified intoMajor Rock Edicts, Minor Rock Edicts,Separate Rock Edicts, Major Pillar Edicts andMinor Pillar Edicts. The name of Ashokaoccurs only in copies of Minor Rock Edictfound at three places in Karnataka and at onein Madhya Pradesh.

All the other inscriptions mention onlydevanamptya piyadasi, dear to gods, andleave out the word Ashoka. The Ashokaninscriptions are found in India, Nepal,Pakistan and Afghanistan. Altogether theyappear at 47 places, and their total versionsnumber 182. They were generally placed onancient highways. Composed in Prakrit, theywere writtne in Brahmi script in the greaterpart of the subcontinent. But in its north-western part they appeared in Aramaiclanguage and Kharoshthi script, and in theAfghanistan they were written in bothAramaic and Greek scripts and languages. Heis the first Indian king to speak directly tothe people through his inscriptions whichcarry royal orders. The inscriptions throwlight on the career of Ashoka, his external


and domestic polices, and the extent of hisempire.Impact of the Kalinga War

The ideology of Buddhism guidedAshoka’s state policy at home and abroad.After his accession to the throne, Ashokafought only one major war called the KalingaWar. According to him, 100,000 people werekilled in this war, several lakhs perished, and150,000 were taken prisoners. At any rate itseems that the king war moved by themassacre in this war. So he abandoned thepolicyof physical occupation in favour ofpolicy of cultural conquest. In other words,bherighosha was replaced with dhamma-ghosha. We quote below the worlds ofAshoka from his Thirteenth Major RockEdict:

Ashoka no longer treated foreigndominions as legitimate areas for militaryconquest. He tried to conquer themideologically. He took steps for the welfareof men and animals in foreigh lands, whichwas a new thing considering the conditionof those days. He sent ambassadors of peaceto the Greek kingdoms in West Asia andGreece. He sent mission-aries for thepropagation of Buddhism to Sri Lanka andCentral Asia. As an enlightened ruler Ashokatiled to enlarge his area of political influencethrough propaganda.

It would be wrong to think that theKalinga war made Ashoka an extremepacifist. On the other hand he adopted apractical policy of consolidating his empire.He retained Kalinga after its conquest andincorporated it into his empire. There is alsonothing to show that he disbanded the hugearmy maintained from the time ofChandragupta Maurya. Within the empire he

appointed a class of officers known as therajukas, who were vested with the authorityof not only rewarding people but alsopunishing them, wherever necessary.Internal Policy and Buddhism

Ashoka was converted to Buddhism asa result of the Kalinga war. According totradition hs became a monk, made huge giftsto the Buddhists and undertook pilgrimagesto the Buddhist shrines. The fact of his visitingthe Buddhist shrines is also suggested by thedhamma yatras mentioned in his inscriptions.According to tradition the Buddhist council(Sangiti) was held by Ashoka and missionarieswere sent not only to south India but also toSri Lanka, Burma and other countries tocovert the people there. Brahmi inscriptionsof the second and first centuries B.C. havebeen found Sri Lanka.

Ashoka set a very high ideal for himself,and this was the ideal of paternal kingship.He repeatedly asked his officials to tell thesubjects that the king looked upon them ashis children. As agents of the king, the officialwere also asked to take care of the people.Ashoka appointed Dhammama-hamatras forpropagating dharma among various socialgroups including women. He also appointedrajukas for the administration of justice in hisempire.

He disapporved of rituals, especiallythose observed by women. He forbadekilling certain birds and animals, andcompletely prohibited the slaughter ofanimals in the capital. He interdicted gaysocial functions in which people indulged inrevelries.Ashoka’s Place in History

It is said that the pacific policy ofAshoka rained the Maury a empire, but this


is not true. On the country Ashoka has anumber of achievements to his credit. He wascertainly a great missionary ruler in thehistory of the ancient world. He workedwith great zeal and devotion to his missionand achieved a lot, both at home and abroad.

Ashoka brought about the politicalunification of the country. He bound it furtherby one dharma, one language and practicallyone script called Brahmi which was used inmost of his inscriptions. In unifying thecountry he respected such scripts as Brashmi,Kharoshthi, Aramaci and Greek. Evidentlyhe also accommodated such languages asGreek, Prakrit and Sanskrit and variousreligious sects. Ashoka follwed a tolerantreligious policy. He did not try to foist hisbuddhist faith on his subjects. On the otherhand he made gifts to non-Buddhist and evenanti-Buddhist sects. Ashoka was fired withzeal for missionary activities. He deputedofficials in the far-flung parts of the empire.This helped the cause of ad-ministration andalso promoted cultural contacts between thedeveloped Gangetic basin and the backwarddistant provinces. The material culture,typical of the heart of the empire, spread toKalinga and the lower Deccan and northerBengal. Above all ashoka is important inhistory for his policy of peace, non-aggression and cultural conquest. He had nomodel in early Indian history for pursuingsuch a policy; nor did such an example existin any country except Egypt where Akhnatonhad pursued a pacific policy in the fourteenthcentury B.C. But it is obvious that Ashokawas not aware for his Egyptian predecessor.

However, Ashoka’s policy did not makeany lasting impression on his viceroys andvassals, who declared themselves

independent in their respective areas afterthe retrirement of the king in 232 B.C.Similarly, the policy could not convert hisneighbours, who swooped on the north-western frontier of his empire within 30 yearsof Ashoka’s exit from power in 232 B.C.

THE RISE AND GROWTH OFTHE GUPTA EMPIRE

Background

AFTER THE break-up of the Mauryaempire, the Satavahanas and the Kushansemerged as two large political powers. TheSatavahanas acted as a stablizing factor in theDeccan and south to which they gave politicalunity and economic prosperity on thestrength of their trade with the Romanempire. The Kushans performed the same rolein the north. Both these empires came to anend in the middle of the third, century A.D.

On the ruins of the Kushan empire arosea new empire, whiclvestablished its swayover a good part of the former dominious ofboth the Kushans and Satavahanas. This wasthe empire of the Guptas, who may have beenof vaishya origin. Although the Gupta empirewas not as large as the Maurya empire, it keptnorth India politically united for more thana century from A.D. 335 to 455. The originalkingdom of the Guptas comprised UttarPradesh and Bihar at the end of the thirdcentury A.D. Uttar Pradesh seems to havebeen a more important province for theGuptas than Bihar, because early Gupta coinsand inscriptions have been mainly found inthat state. If we leave out some feudatoriesand private individuals, whose inscriptionshave been mostly found in Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh will stand out as the mostimportant area in respect of the finds of theGupta antiquitiews. Hence Uttar Pradesh


seems to have been the place from where theGuptas operated and fanned out in differentdirections. Probably with their centre ofpower at Prayag they spread in theneighbouring regions.

The Guptas were possibly thefeudatories of the Kushans in Uttar Pradeshand seems to have succeeded them withoutany wide time-lag. At many places in UttarPradesh and Bihar the Kushan antiquities areimmediately followed by the Guptaantiquities. It is likely that the Guptas learntthe use of saddle, reins, but-toned-coats,trousers and boots from the Kushans. Allthese gave them mobility and made themexcellent horsemen. In the Kushan scheme ofthings, horse-chariots and elephants hadceased to be important. Horsemen played themain part. This also seems to have been thecase with the Gupta on whose coins horsemenare represented. Although some Gupta kingsare described as excellent and unrivailedchariot warriors, their basic strength lay inthe use of horses.

The Guptas enjoyed certain materialadvantages. The centre of their operationslay in the fertile land of Madhyadeshacovering Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. They couldexploit the iron ores of central India andsouth Bihar. Further, they took advantage oftheir proximity to the areas in north Indiawhich carried on silk trade with the EasternRoman empire, also known as the Byzantineempire. On account of these favourablefactors the Guptas set up their rule overAnuganga (the middle Gangetic basin),Prayag (modern Allahabad), Saketa (modernAyodhya) and Magadha. In course of timethis kingdom became an all-India empire.The Kushan power in north India came to an

end around A.D. 230 and then a good part ofcentral India fell under the rule of theMurundas, who were possibly the kinsmenof the Kushans. The Murundas continued torule till A.D. 250. Twenty-five years later, inabout A.D. 275, they dynasty of the Guptacame to power.Chandragupta I (A.D. 319-334)

The first important king of the Guptadynasty was Chandragupta I. He married aLichchhavi princess most probably from Ne-pal, which strengthened his position. TheGuptas were possibly vaishyas, and hencemarriage in a kshtriya family gave them pres-tige. Chandragupta I seems to have been aruler of considerable importance because hestarted the Gupta era in A.D. 319-20, whichmarked the date of his accession. Later manyinscriptions came to be dated in the Guptaera.Samudragupta (A.D. 335-380)

The Gupta kingdom was enlargedenormously by Chandragupta I’s son andsuccessor Samudragupta (A.D. 335-380). Hewas the opposite of Ashoka. Ashoka believedin a policy of peace and son-aggression, butSamudragupta delighted in violence andconquest. His court poet Harishena wrote aglowing account of the military exploits ofhis patron. In a long inscription the poetenumerates the peoples and countries thatwere conquered by Samudragupta. Theinscription is engraved at Allahabad on thesame pillar which carries the inscriptions ofthe peace-loving Ashoka. The places and thecountries conquered by Samudragupta can bedivided into five groups. Group one includesprinces of the Ganga-Yamuna doab whowere defeated and whose kingdoms wereincorporated into the Gupta empire. Group


two includes the rulers of the easternHimalayan states and some frontier statessuch as princes of Nepal, Assam, Bengal, etc.,who were made to feel states and somefrontier states such as princes of Nepal,Assam, Bengal, etc., who were made to feelthe weight of Samudraguptas arms. It alsocovers some republics of Punjab, Therepublic, which flickered on the ruins of theMaurya empire, were finally destroyed bySamudragupta. Group three includes theforest kingdoms situated in the Vindhyaregion and known as Atavika raiyas; theywere brought under the control ofSamudragupta. Group four includes twelverulers of the eastern. Deccan and south India,who were conquered and liberated.Samudragupta’s arms reached as far asKanchi in Tamil Nadu, where the Pallavaswere compelled to recognize his suzerainty.Group five includes the names of the Sankasand Kushans, some of them ruling inAfghanistan. It is said that Samudraguptaswept them out of power and received thesubmission of the rulers of distant lands. Theprestige and influence of Samudragupaspread even outside India. According to aChinese source, Meghavarman, the ruler ofSri Lanka, sent a missionary to Samudraguptafor permission to build a Buddhist temple atGaya This was granted, and the temple wasdeveloped into a huge monasticestablishement. If we believe the eulogisticinscription from Allahabad, it would appearthat Samudragupta never knew any defeat,and because of his bravery and generalshiphe is called the Napoleon of India. There isno doubt that Samudragupta forcibly unifiedthe greater part of India under him, and hispower was felt in a much larger area.

Chandragupta II (A.D. 380-412)

The reign of Chandragupta II saw thehigh watermark of the Gupta empire. Heextended the limits of the empire by marriagealliance and conquests. Chandraguptamarried his daughter Prabhavati with aVakataka prince who belonged to thebrahmana caste and ruled in central India.The prince died, and was succeeded by hisyoung son. So Prabhavati became the virtualpaler. As shown by some of her land charters,which betray the influence of the easternGupta writing, she promoted the interests ofher father Chandragupta. ThusChandragupta exercised indirect control overthe Vakataka kingdom in central India. Thisafforded a-great advantage to him. With thisgreat influence in this area, Chandragupta IIconquered western Malwa and Gujarat,which had been under the rule of the ShakaKshtraps for about four centuries by that time.The conquest gave Chandragupta the westersea coast, famous for trade and commerce.This contributed to the prosperity of Malwa,and its chief city Ujjain. Ujjain seems to havebeen made the second capital byChandragupta II.

Chandragupta II adopted the title ofVikramaditya, which had been first used byan Ujjain ruler in 57 B.C. as a mark of victoryover the Shaka Kshatrapas of western. IndiaThe court of Chandragupta II at Ujjain wasadorned by numerous scholars includingKalidasa and Anairasimlia. It was inChandragupta’s time that the chinese pilgrimFahsien (399-414) visited India and wrote anelaborate account of the life of its people.Fall of the Empire

The successors of Chandragupta II hadto face an invashion by the Hunas from


Central Asia in the second half of the fifthcentury A.D. Although in the be-ginning theGupta king Skandragupta tried effectively tostem the march of the Hunas into India, hissuccessors proved to be weak and could notcope with the Huna invaders, who excelledin horsemanship and possibly used strrupsmade of metal. They could move quickly andbeing excellent archiers they seem to haveattained considerable successor not only inIran but also in India.

By 485 the Hunas occupied easternMalwa and a good portion of central Indiawhere their inscriptions have been found. Theinter-mediate regions such as Punjab andRajasthan also passed under their possession.This must have drastically reduced the extentof the Gupta empire at the beginning of thesixth century. Although the Huna power wassoon overthrown by Yashodharaman ofMalwa who belonged to the Aulikarafeaudatory family, the Malwas princesuccessfully chanllenged the authority of theGupta snd set up in 532, pillars of victorycommemorating his conquest of almost thewhole of northern India, Yashodharman’srule was shortlived, but it meant a severeblow to the Gupta empire.

The Gupta empire was furtherundermined by the rise of the feudatories.The governors appointed by the Gupta kingsin north. Bengal and their feudatories inSamatata or south-east Bengal tended tobecome independent. The late Guptas ofMagadha established their power in Bihar..

Alongside them the Maukharis rose to powerin Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and had theircapital at Kanauj. It seems that by 550 Biharand Uttar Pradesh had passed out of Guptahands. By the beginning of the sixth centurywe find independent princes issuing landgrants in their own rights in northern MadhyaPradesh, although they use the Gupta era indating their charaters. The rulers of Valabhiestablished their authority in Gujarat andwestern Malwa. After the reign ofSkandagupta, i.e. A.D. 467, hardly any Guptacoin or inscription has been found in westernMalwa and Saurashtra.

The Gupta state may have found itdifficulut to maintain a large professionalarmy on account of the growing practice ofland grants for religious and other purposes,which was bound to reduce their revenues.Their income may have further been affectedby the decline of foreign trade. Themigration of a guild of silk-weavers fromGujarat to Malwa in A.D. 473 and theiradoption of nonproductive professions showthat there was not much demand for clothproduced by them. The advantages fromGujarat trade gradually disappeared. Afterthe middle of the fifth century the Guptakings made desperate attempts to maintaintheir gold currency by reducing the contentof pure gold in it. But this proved of no avail.Although the rule of the Imperial Guptaslingered till the middle of the sixth centuryA.D., the imperial glory had vanished acentury earlier.


THE DELHI SULTANATE

Struggle for theEstablishment of a Strong Monarchy

Muizzuddin (Muhammad Ghori) wassuceeded (1206) by Qutbuddin Aibak, Turk-ish slave who had played an important partin the expansion of the Turkish Sultanat inIndia after the battle of Tarain. Another slaveof Muizzuddin, Yalduz, succeeded at Ghazni.As the ruler of Ghazni, Yalduz claimed to rueover Delhi as well. This, however was notaccepted by Aibak and from this time, theDelhi Sultanat severed its helped to PreventIndia being drawn into central Asian politics.Illtutamis (1210-36)

In 1210, Aibak died of injuries receivedin a fall from his horse while playing Chaugan(polo). He was succeeded by Iltutmish whowas the son-in-law of Aibak. But before hecould do so, he had to fight and defeat theson of Aibak.

Iltutmish must be regarded as the realconsolidator of the Turkish conquests inNorth India. At the time of his accession, AliMardan Khan had declared himself the kingof Bengal and Bihar, while Qubacha, a fel-low slave of Aibak had declared himself anindependent ruler of Multan and seized La-hore and parts of the Punjab. At first, evensome of the fellow officers of Iltutmish nearDelhi were reluctant to accept his authority.The Rajputs took advantage of the situationto assert their independence. Thus, Kalinjar,

Gwalior and the entire eastern Rajasthan,including Ajmer and Bayana, threw off theTurkish Yoke. During the early year of hisreign, Iltutmish’s attention was concentratedon the north-west. A new danger to his posi-tion arose with the conquest of Ghazni byKhwarizm Shah. In order to avert this dan-ger, Iltutmish marched to Lahore and occu-pied it. In 1220, the Khwarizmi Empire wasdestroyed by the Mongols who founded oneof the strongest empires in History, which atits height extended from China to the shoresof the Mediterranean sea, and from the Cas-pian sea to the river Jaxartes. The danger itposed to India and its effects on the DelhiSultanat will be discussed in a subsequentsection. While the Mongol’s were busy else-where, Iltutmish also ousted Qubacha fromMultan and Uchch.

Secure in the west, Iltutmish was ableto turn his attention elsewhere. In Bengaland Bihar, a person called Iwaz who hadtaken the title of sultan Ghiyasuddin had as-sumed independence. While he made raidson the territory of his neighbours, the Senarulers of East Bengal, and the Hindu rulersof Orissa and Kamrup (Assam) continuedtheir sway. In 1226-27, Iwaz was defeated andkilled in a battle with Iltutmish’s on son nearLakhanauti. Bengal and Bihar passed underthe Suzerainty of Delhi once again. But theywere a difficult charge, and repeatedly chal-

4

The Delhi Sultanate 29

lenged the authority of Delhi. At about thesame time, Iltutmish took step s to recoverGwalior and Bayana. Ajmer and Negor re-mained under his control. He sent expedi-tions against Ranthambhor and Jalor to reas-sert his suzerainty. He also attacked Nagda,the capitals of Mewar (about 22 Km fromUdaipur), but had to beat a retreat at the ar-rival of the Gujarat armies, which had cometo aid the Rana. As a revenge, Iltutmish dis-patched an expedition against the Chalukyasof Gujarat, but it was repulsed with Losses.Raziya (1236-39)

After anxious consideration, Iltutmishfinally decided to nominate his daughter,Raziya, to the throne, and induced the noblesand the theologians (Ulama) to agree to thenomnation the nomination of a woman inpreference to sons was a novel step. In orderto asset brothers as well as against powerfulTurkish nobles, and could rule only for threeyears. Though brief, her rule had a numberof interesting features. it marked the monar-chy and the Turkish chiefs, sometimes called“the forty” or the Chahalgani. Iltutmish hadshown great deference to these Turkishchiefs. After his death, these chiefs, drunkwith power and arrogance, wanted to installon the throne a puppet whom they could con-trol. They soon discovered that though awoman, Raziya was not prepared to play theirgame. She discarded the female apparel andstarted holding court with her face unveiled.She even hunted, and led army in war. TheWazir, Nizam-ul-Mulk Junaidi, who had op-posed her elevation to the throne, and backedto supported a rebellion of nobles againsther, was defeated successfully establishedlaw and order in the length and breath ofher Kingdom. But the attempt to create aparty of noble, Yaqut Khan. Rebellions broke

out at Lahore and sirhind. She personnalyled an expedition against Lahore, and com-pelled the governor to Submit. On the wayto Sirhind, internal rebellion broke out inwhich Yaqut Khan was killed, an Raziya im-prisoned at Tabarhinda (Bhatinda). However,Raziya won over her captor, Altunia, and af-ter marrying him made a renewed attempton Delhi. Raziya fought valiantly, but wasdefeated and killed in fight by bandits.Era of Balban (1246-87)

The struggle between the monarchy andthe Turkish chiefs continued, till one of theTurkish chiefs, Ulugh Khan, Known in his-tory by his later title of Balban, graduallyarrogated all power to himself, and finallyascended the throne in 1265 during the ear-lier period, Balban held the positon of Naibor deputy of Nasiruddin Mahmud, a youngerson of Iltutmish, whom Balban had helpedin securing the throne in 1246. Balban fur-ther strengthened his positon by marryingone of his daughters to the young sultan. Thegrowing authority of Balban alienated manyof the Turkish chiefs who had hoped to con-tinue their former power and influence in theaffairs of government, since NasiruddinMahmud was young and inexperienced.They, therefore, hatched a conspiracy (1250)and outsted Balban from his position. Balbanwas replaced by Imadduddin Raihan whowas an Indian Muslim. Balban agreed to stepaside, but carefully continued to build his owngroup. Within one and a half years of his dis-missal, he managed to win over some of hisopponents. Sultan Mahmud bowed to thesuperior strength of Balban’s group and dis-missed Raihan. After some time, Raihan wasdefeated and killed. Balban got rid of manyof his other rivals by fair or foul means. Heeven went so far as to assume the royal in-


signia, the Chhatr. But he did not assume thethrone himself, probably due to the senti-ments of the Turkish, chiefs. In 1265, SultanMahmud died. Some historians are of theopinion that Balban poisoned the young king,and also did away to the throne.

While Claiming to act as a champion ofthe Turkish nobility, Balban was not preparedto share power with anyone, not even withmembers of his own family. His desporters.Balban was determined to finally break thepower of the Chahalgani, i.e., the Turkishnobles, and to exalt the power and prestigeof the monarchy. He did not hesitate even topoison his cousin, Sher Khan, to achieve thisobjective.

At the same time, in order to win theconfidence of the public, he administeredhighest in the land were to be spared if theytransgressed his authority. To keep himselfwell informed, Balban appointed strong cen-tralized army, both to dela with internalenterenched themselves in the Punjab andposed a serious danger to the Delhi Sultanat.For the purpose, he reorganized them mili-tary department (Diwan-I-arz), and pen-sioned off those soldiers and troopers whowere no longer fit for service. Since many ofthe troopers were Turks who had come toIndia in the time of Iltutmish, they raised ahue and cry against this decision, but Balbanwas not moved. The law and order situationin the area around Delhi and in the doab haddeteriorated. In the Ganga-Jamuna doab andAwadh, roads were, poor and were infestedwith robbers and Dacoits, The Mewatis hadbecome so bold as to plunder people uptothe outskirts of Delhi. To deal with these el-ements, Balban adopted a policy of “Bloodand Iron”. Robbers were mercilessy pursuedand put to Death.

THE DELHI SULTANATE-II

(Circa 1200-1400)

AFTER THE death of Balban in 1286,there was again confusion in Delhi for sometime. Balban’s chosen successor. PrinceMuhammad, had died earlier in a battle withthe Mongols. A second son, Bughra Khan,preferred to rule over Bengal and Biharalthough he was invited by the nobles at Delhito assume the throne. Hence, a grandson ofBalban was installed in Delhi. But he was tooyoung and inexperienced to cope with thesituated.The Khaljis (1290-1320)

For these reasons, a group of Khaljinobles led by Jalaluddin Khalji, who had beenthe warden of the marchese in the north-westand had fought many successful engagementsagainst the Mongols, overthrew the incom-petent successful engagements against theMongols, overthrew the incompetent succes-sors of Balban in 1290. The Khalji rebellionwas welcomed by the non-Turkish sectionsin the nobility. Jalaluddin Khalji ruled onlyfor a brief peiod of six years. He tried tomitigate some of the harsh aspects of Baiban’srule. He was the first ruler of the DelhiSultanat to clearly put forward the view thatthe state should be based on the willing sup-port of the governed, and that since the largemajority of the people in India were Hindus,the state in India could not be truly Islamicstate. Alauddin Khalji (1296-1316) came to thethrone by treacherously muraenng his uncleand father-in-law, Jalaluddin Khalji. As thegovernor of Awadh, Alauddin had accumu-lated a vast treasure by invading Deogir inthe Deccan. Alauddin framed a series of regu-lations to prevent the nobles from conspir-ing against him. They were forbidden to hold


banquest or festivities, or to form marriagealliances without the permission of the sul-tan. To discourage festive parties, he bannedthe use of wines and intoxicants. He also in-stituted a spy service to inform the sultan ofall that the nobles said and did.

By these harsh methods, Alauddin Khaljicowed down the nobles, and made themcompletely subservient to the crown. The oldnoblity was destroyed, and the new nobilitywas taught to accept anyone who could as-cend the throne of Delhi. This becarrn ap-parent after Alauddin Khalji’s death in 1316.His favourite, Malik Kafur, raised a minorson of Alauddin to the throne and irrprisoned or blinded his other sons, withoutencountering any opposition from the nobles.Soon after this, Kafur was killedThe Tughlaqs (1320-1412)

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq established a newdynasty which ruled till 1412. The Tughlaqsprovided three competent rulers:Ghiyasuddin, his son Muhammad bin Tuglaq(1324-51) , and his nephew Firoz ShahTughlaq (1351-88). The first two of these sul-tanas ruled over an empire which comprisedalmost the entire country. The Turkish rulershad strong reasons for coveting Malwas andGujarat. Not only were these areas fertile andpopulous, they controlled the western sea-ports and the trade routes connecting themwith the Ganga valley. Another reasons forthe sultans of Delhi to establish their rule overGujarat was that it would secure them a bet-ter control over the supply of horses to theirarmies. The import of Arabi, Iraqi and Turkihorses to India from the western seaportshad been an important item of trade sincethe eight century.

Early in 1299, an army under two ofAlauddin Khalji’s noted generals marched

against Gurajat by the way of Rajasthan. Ontheir way, they raided and captured Jaisalmeralso. The Gujarat ruler, Rai Karan, was takenby surprise, and fled without offering a fight.The famous temple of Somnath was plun-dered and saked. It was here that Malik Kafur,who later led the invasions of south India,was captured. He was presented to Alauddin,and soon rose in his estamation.Rajasthan

After the conquest of Gujarat, Alauddinturned his attention to the consolidation ofhis rule over Rajasthan. The first to invite hisattention was Ranthambhor which was be-ing ruled by the Chauhan successors ofPrithviraj. Its ruler, Hamirdeva, had em-barked on a series of war like expeditionsagainst his neightbours. Alauddin despatchedan army commanded by one of his reputedgenerals but it was repulsed with losses byHamirdeva. Finally, Alauddin himself had tomarch against Ranthambhor. The famouspoet, Amir Khusrau, who went along withAlauddin, has given a graphic description ofthe fort and its investment. After threemonths of close seige, the fear jauhar cer-emony took place: the women mounted thefuneral pyre, and all the men came out to fightto the last. This is the first description wehave of the jauhar in Persian. All the Mon-gols, too, died fighting with the Rajputs. Thisevent took place in 1301.

Alauddin, next, turned his attention to-wards Chittor which, after Ranthambhor, wasthe most powerful state in Rajasthan. It was,therefore necessary for Alauddin to subdueit. Apart from this, its ruler Ratan Singh hadannoyed him by refusing permission to hisarmies to march to this, its ruler Ratan Singhhad annoyed him by refusing permission tohis armies to march to Gujarat through Mewar


territories. There is a popular legend thatAlauddin attached Chittor because he cov-eted Padmini, the beautiful queen of RatanSingh. However, many modern historians donot accept this legnd because its mentionedfor the first time more than a hundred yearslater. In this story, Padmini is the princess ofSinghal dvipa and Ratan Singh crosses theseven seas to reach her and brings her backto Chittor after many adventures which ap-pear improbable. The Padmini legend is a partof this account.

Alauddin closely invested Chittor Af-ter a resistance by Mewar besieged for sev-eral months Alauddin stormed the fort(1303). The Rajputs performed jauhar andmost of the warriors died fighting. Alauddinalso overran Jalor which lay on the route toGujarat.Deccan and South India

In 1306-7, Alauddin planned two cam-paigns. The first was against Rai Karan whoafter his expulsion from Gujarat, had beenholding Baglana on the border of Malwa. RaiKaran fought bravely, but he could not resistfor long. The second expedition was aimedagainst Rai Ramachandra, the ruler of Deogir,who had been in alliance with Rai Karan. Inan earlier campaign, Rai Ramchandra hadagreed to pay an yearly tribute to Delhi. Thishad failled into arrers. The command of thesecond army was entrusted to Alauddinsslave, Malik Kafur. Rai Ramchandra who sur-rendered to Kafur, was honourably treatedand carried to Delhi where, after some time,he was restored to his dominaions with thetitle of Rai Rayan. A gidt of one lakh tonkaswas given to him along with a gloden col-oured canopy which was a symbol ofrulership. he was also given a district of

gujarat. One of his daughters was marriedto Alauddin. The Alliance with RaiRamachandra was to prove to be of greatvalue to Alauddin in his further aggrandise-ment in the Deccan.

Between 1309 and 1311, Malik Kafur ledtwo campaigns in south India - the firstagainstWarangal in the Telegana area and the otheragainst Dwar Samudra and Mabar (modernKarnataka) and Madurai (Tamil Nadu). Thecourt poet, Amir Khusrau made them thesubject of a book. For the first time, Muslimarmies penetrated as far south as Madurai,and brought back untold wealth. The traderoutes to south India were well known andwhen Kafur’s armies reached Paintan inMabar, they found a colony of Muslim mer-chants settled there. The ruler even had acontingent of Muslim tropps in his army.These expeditions greatly raised Kafur inpublic estimation and Alauddin appointedhim malik-naib or vice-gegent of the empire.Following the accession of GhiyasuddinTughlaq in 1320, a sustained and vigorousforward policy was embarked upon. Afterreorganizing his armies, the attacked againand this time no quarter was given to theRai. This was followed by the conquest ofMabar which was also annexed. Muhammadbin Tughlaq them raided Orissa, and returnedto Delhi with rich plunder. Next year, he sub-dued Bengal which had been independentsince the death of Balban. Thus, by 1324, theterritories of the Delhi Sultanat reached upto Madurai. The last Hindu principality in thearea, Kampili in South Karnataka, was an-nexed in 1328. A cousin of Muhammad binTughlaq, who had rebelled, had been givenshelter there, thous providing a convenientexcus for attacking it.


One of the first requirements of the newrulers was houses to live in, and places ofworship. They at first converted temples andother existing buildings into mosques. Exam-ples of this are the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosquenear the Quatab Minar in Delhi and the build-ing at Ajmer called Arhai Din ka Jhonpra. Theonly new construction in Delhi was a facadeof three elaborately carved arches in frontof the deity room (garbha griha) which wasdemolished. In their buildings, the Turksused the arch and the dome on a wide scale.Neither the arch nor the dome was a Turk-ish or Muslim invention. The Arabs borrowedthem from Rome through the Byzantine em-pire, developed them and made them theirown.

The use of the arch and the dome had anumber of advantages. The dome rosehigher. Many experiments were made inputting a round dome on a square buildingand in raising the dome higher and higher.In this way, many lofty and impressive build-ing were constructed. The arch and the domedispensed with the need for a large numberof pillars to support the roof and enabled theconstruction of large halls with a clear view.Such places of assembly were useful inmosques as well as in palaces. Howeever, thearch and the dome needed a strong cement,otherwise the stones could not be held inplace. The Turks used fine quality light mor-

tar in their buildings. Thus, new architecturalforms and mortar of a superior kind becamewidespread in north India, with the arrivalof the Turks.

The arch and the dome were known tothe Indians earlier, but they were not usedon a large scale. The Turkish rulers used boththe dome and arch method as well as the slaband beam method as well as slab and beammethod in their buildings. In the sphere ofdecoration, the Turks eschewed representa-tion of human and animal figures in the build-ings. Instead, they used geometrical and flo-ral designs, combining them with panels ofinscriptions containing verses from theQuran. Thus, the Arabic script itself becamea work of a art. The combination of thesedecorative devices was called Arabesque.They also freely borrowed Hindu motifs suchas the bell motif, the bel motif, swastika, lo-tus, etc.

The most magnificent building con-structed by the Turks in the thirteenth cen-tury was the Qutab Minar. This taperingtower, originally 71.4 metre high, build byIltutmish, was dedicated to the Sufi saint,Qutab-ud-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki, who wasgreatly venerated by all the people of Delhi.Although traditions of building towers areto be found both in India and West Asia, theQutab Minar is unique in many ways.

The Khalji period saw a lot of building

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activity. Alauddin built his capital at Siri, afew kilometres away from the site aroundthe Qutab. But he added an entrance door tothe Qutab This door, which is called the AlaiDarwaza, has arches of very pleasingproportions. It also contains a dome which,for the first time was built on correct scientificlines. Thus, the art of building the arch andthe dome on scientific lines had beenmastered by the Indian craftsmen by thistime. Ghiyasuddin and Muhammad Tughlaqbuilt the huge place-fortress complex calledTughlaqabad. By blocking the passage of theJamuna, a huge artificial lake was createdaround it. The tomb of Ghiyasuddin marks anew trend in architecture. To have a goodskyline, the building was put upon a highplatform. Its beauty was heightened by amarble dome.

A striking feature of the Tughlaq archi-tecture was the sloping, walls. This is calledbetter and gives the effect of strength andsolidity to the building. However, we do notfind any batter in the buildings of FirozTughlaq. A second feature of the Tughlaq ar-

chitecture was the deliberate attempt to com-bine the principles of the arch, and the linteland beam in their buildings. This is found ina marked manner in the buildings of FirozTughlaq. In the Hauz Khas, which was a pleas-ure resort and had a huge lake around it, al-ternate stories have arches, and the lintel andbeam. The same is and had a huge lakearound it, alternate stories have arches, thelintel and beam. The same is to be found insome buildings of Firuz Shah’s new fortwhich is now called the Kotla. The Tughlaqsdid not generally use the costly red sand-stone in their buildings but the cheaper andmore easily available greystone. Another de-vice used by the Lodis was placing theirbuildings, especially tombs, on a high plat-form, thus giving the Building a feeling ofsize as well as a better skyline. Some of thetombs were placed in the midst of gardens.The Lodi Garden in Delhi is a fine exampleof this. Some of the tombs were of an oc-tagonal shap[e. Many of these features wereadopted by the Mughlas later on and thenculmination is to be found in the Taj Mahalbuilt by Shah Jahan.

Architecture 35

The Sufi Movement

Mystics, who are called Sufis, had risenin Islam at a very early stage these saintswanted to have nothing to do with the state- a tradition which continued later on. Someof the early Sufis, such as the woman mysticRabia and Mansur bin Hallj laid great em-phasis on love as the bond between God andthe individual soul. But their pantheistic ap-proach led them into conflict with the ortho-dox elements who had Mansur executed forheresy Despite this setback, mystic ideas con-tinued to spread among the Muslim masses.

Al-Ghazzaili (1112), who is veneratedboth by the orthodox elements and the Sufis,tried to reconcile mysticism with Islamic or-thodoxy. This he was able to do in a largemeasure. He gave a further blow to the ra-tionalist philosophy by arguing that positiveknowledge of God and his qualities cannotbe gained by reason, but only by revelation.Thus, the revealed book, Quaran, was vitalfor a mystic. Around this time, the Sufis wereorganised in 12 orders or silsilahs. Thesilsilahs were generally led by a prominentmystic who lived in a khanqah or hospicealong with his disciples. The like between theteacher or pir and his disciples or mufids wasa vital part of the Sufi system. Every pirnominated a successor or wali to carry onhis work. The monastic organisation of theSufis, and some of their practices such as

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penanee, fasting and holding the breath aresometimws traced to the, Buddhist andHindu yogic influence. Buddhism was widelyprevalent in Central Asia before the adventof Islam, and the legend of the Buddha as asaintly man had passed into the Islamic leg-end. Yogis continued to visit West Asia evenafter the advent of Islam and the yogic book,Amrit-kund, had been translated into Per-sian from Sanskrit.

The Sufi orders are broadly divided intotwo: Ba-shara, that is, those which followedthe Islamic Law (shara) and be-shara, that is,those which were not bound by it Both typesof orders prevailed in India, the latter beingfollowed more by wandering saints. Althoughthese saints did not establish an order, someof them became figures of popular venera-tion, often for the Muslims and Hindus alike.The Chishti and Suharwardi Silsilahs

Of the bashara movements, only twoacquired significant influence and followingin north India during the thirteenth and four-teenth centuries. These were the Chisti andSuharwardi silsilahs. The Chisti order wasestablished in India by Khwaja MuinuddinChishti who came to India around 1192,shortly after the defeat and death of PrithviRaj Chauhan. After staying for some time inLahore and Delhi he finally shfted to Ajmerwhich was an important political centre andalready had a sizable Muslim population.


Among the disciples of Shaikh Muinuddinwere Bakhtiyar Kaki and his disciple Farid-ud-Din Ganj-j-Shakar. Farid-ud-Din confinedhis activities to Hansi and Ajodhan (in mod-ern Haryana and the Punjab, respectively).He was deeply respected in Delhi, so muchso that streams of people would throngaround him whenever he visited Delhi. Hisoutlook was so broad and humane that someof his verses are later found quoted in theAdi-Granth of the Sikhs.

The most famous of the Chisti saints,however, were Nizamuddin Auliya andNasiruddin Charigh-i-Delhi. These early Sufismingled frely with people of the lower classes,including the Hindus. They led an austere,simple life, and conversed with people intheir dialect, Hindawi or Hindi. NizamuddinAuliya adopted yogic breathing exercises, somuch so that the yogis called him a sidh orperfect. After the death of NasiruddinChiragh-i-Delhi in the middle of the four-teenth century, the Chishtis did not have acommanding figure in Delhi.

The Suharwardi order entered India atabout the same time, as the Chistis, but itsactivities were confined largely to the Pun-jab and and Multan. The most well-knownsaints of the order were Shaikh ShihabuddinSuharwardi and Hamid-ud-Din Nagore.Unlike the Chistis, the Suharwardi saints didnot believe in leading a life of poverty. Theyaccepted the service of the state, and someof them-held important posts in the ecclesi-astical department. The Chistis, on the otherhand, preferred to keep aloof from state poli-tics and shunned the company of rulers andnobles.The Bhakti Movement

However, the real development ofBhakti took place in south Indian between

the seventh and the twelfth century. As hasbeen noticed earlier, the Shaiva nayanars andthe Vaishnavite alvarsh disregarded theausterities preached by the Jains and theBuddhists and preached personal devotionto God as a means of salvation. Theydisregarded the rigidities of the caste systemand carried their message of love andpersonal devotion to God to various parts ofsouth India by using the local languages.Although these were many points of contactbetween south and north India, thetransmission of the ideas of the Bhakti saintsfrom south to north India was a slow andlong drawn-out process. The ideas of Bhaktiwere carried to the north by scholars as wellas by saints. Among these, mention may bemade of the Maharashtrian saint, Namadeva,who flourished in the first part of thefourteenth century, and Ramananda who isplaced in the second half of the fourteenthand the first quarter of the fifteenth century.

Namadeva was a tailor who had takento banditry before he became a saint. Hispoetry which was written in Marathibreathes a spirit of intense love and devotionto God. Namadeva is said to have travelledfar and wide and engaged in discussions withthe Sufi saints in Delhi. Ramanda, who was afollower of Ramanuja, was born at Prayag(Allahabad) and lived there and at Banaras.He substituted the worship of Rama in placeof Vishnu. He enrolled disciples from allcastes, including the low castes. Thus hisdisciples included Ravidas, who was acobbler by caste; Kabir, who was a weaver;Sena, who was a barber; and Sadhana, whowas a butcher. Namadeva was equally broad-minded in enrolling his disciples. The seedsscattered by these saints fell on fertile soil.The brahmanas had lost both in prestige and

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power following the defeat of the Rajputrulers and the establishment of the TurkishSultanat. As a result, movements, such as theNath Panthi movement challenging the castesystem and the superiority of the brahmanas,had gained great popularity.

These concided with the Islamic ideasof equality and brotherhood which had beenpreached by the Sufi saints. People were nolonger satisfied with the old religion; theywanted a religion which could satisfy boththeir reason and emotions. It was due tothese factors that the Bhakti movement be-came a popular movement in north Indiaduring the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Among those who were most critical ofthe existing social order and made a strongplea for Hindu-Muslim unity, the names ofKabir and Nanak stand out. These is a gooddeal of undertainty about the dates and earlylife of Kabir. Legend has it that he was theson of a brahmana widow who abandonedhim after his birth and that he was broughtup in the house of a Muslim weaver.

He learned the profession of hisadopted father, but while living at Kashi, hecame in contact with both the Hindu andMuslim saints. Kabir, who is generally placedin the fifteenth century, emphasised the unityof God whom he calls by several names, suchas Rama, Hari, Govinda, Allah, Sain, Sahib,etc. He strongly denounced idol-worship, pil-grimages, bathing in holy rivers or takingpart in formal worship, such as namaz. Nordid he consider it necessary to abandon thelife of a normal householder for the sake of asaintly life Kabirstrongly denounced thecaste system, especially the practice ofuntouchability, and emphasized the funda-mental unity of man. He was opposed to allkinds of discrimination between human be-

ings, whether on the basis of castes or reli-gion, race, family or wealth.

Guru Nanak, from whose teachings thesikh religion was derived, was born in aKhatri household in the village of Talwandi(now called Nankana) on the bank of theriver Ravi in 1469. Sometime later, he had amystic vision and forsook the world. He com-posed hymns and sang them to the accompa-niment of the rabab, a stringed instrumentplayed by his faithful attendant, Mardana. Itis said that Nanak undertook wide tours allover India and even beyond it, to Sri Lankain the south and Mecca and Medina in thewest. He attracted a large number of peopletowards him and his name and fame spreadfar and wide before his death in 1538. LikeKabir, Nanak laid emphasis on the one God,by repeating whose name and dwelling on itwith love and devotion one could get salva-tion without distinction of caste, creed orsect. However, Nanak laid great emphasis onthe purity on character and conduct as thefirst condition of approaching God, and theneed of a guru for guidance. Like Kabir, hestrongly denounced idol worship, pilgrim-ages and other formal observances of thevarious faiths. He advocated a middle pathin which spritual life could be combned withthe duties of the householder.

Nanak had no intention of founding anew religion. His catholic approach aimed atbridging distinctions between the Hindus andthe Muslims, in order to create an atmosphereof peace, goodwill and mutual give and take.This was also the aim of Kabir.The Vaishnavite Movement

Apart from the non-sectarian movementled by Kabir and Nanak, the Bhaktimovement in north India developed aroundthe worship of Rama and Krishna, two of the


incarnations of the god Vishnu. Thechildhood escapades of the boy Krishna andhis dalliance with the milk-maids of Gokul,especially with Radha, became the themes ofa remarkable series of saint-poets who livedand preached during the 15th and early 16thcenturies. They used the love between Radhaand Krishna in an allegoric manner to depictthe relationship of love, in its aspects of theindividual soul with the supreme soul. Likethe early Sufis, Chaitanya popularisiedmusical gathering or kirtan as a special formof mystic experience in which the outsideworld disppeared by dwelling on God’sname.

The writings of Narrsinha Mehta inGujarat, of Meera in Rajasthan, of Surdas inwestern Uttar Pradesh and of Chaitanya in

Bengal and Orissa reached extraordinaryheights of Iyrical fervour and of love whichtranscended all boundaries, including thoseof caste and creed. this is seen most clearlyin the life of Chaitanya. Born and schooledin Nadia which was the centre of Vedanticrationalism, Chaitanya’s tenor of life waschanged when he visited Gaya at the age of22 and was initiated into the Krishna cult bya recluse. He became a god-intoxicated devo-tee who incessantly uttered the name ofKrishna Chaitanya is said to have travelledall over India, including Vrindavan, when herevived the Krishna cult. But the one whoprobably influenced the saint poets most wasVallabha, a Tailang brahmana, who lived inthe last part of the fifteenth and the earlypart of the sixteenth century.


Sanskrit Literature

Following the great Sankara, works inthe field of Advaita philosophy by Ramanuja,Mad-hava, Vallabha, etc., continued to bewritten in Sanskrit. Besides philosophy,works in the field of kavya (poetical narra-tive), drama, fiction, medicine, astronomy,music, etc., continued to be written. A largenumber of commentaries and digests on theHindu law (Dharmashastras) were preparedbetween the twelfth and the sixteenth cen-tury. The great Mitakshara of Vijneshwar,which forms one of the two principal Hinduschools of law, cannot be placed earlier thanthe twelfth century. Most of the works wereproduced in the south, followed by Bengal,Mithila and western India under the patron-age of Hindu rulers. The Jains too, contrib-uted to the growth of Sanskrit. HemachandraSuri was the most eminent of these. Littleattempt was made to translate Islamic worksof Persian literature into Sanskrit. Possibly,the only exception was the translation of thelove story of Yusuf and Zulaikha written bythe famous Persian poet, Jami This might betaken to be an index of the insularity of out-look which had been mentioned by Albaruniearlier.Arabic and Persian Literature

Althoug the greatest amount of litera-ture produced by the Muslims was in Arabicwhich was the language of the Prophet and

was used as the language of literature fromSpain to Banghdad, the Turks who came toIndia were deeply influenced by the Persianlanguage which had become the literary andadministrative language of Central Asia fromthe tenth century onwards. In India, tghe useof Arabnic remained largely confined to anarrow circle of Islamic scholars andphilolophers, most of the original literatureon the subject being written in Arabic. A fewworks on science and astronomy were alsotranslated into Arabic. In course of time, di-gests of the Islamic law were prepared inPersian with the help of Indian scholars. Themost well-known of these were prepared inthe reign of Firuz Tughlaq.

With the arrival of the Turks in Indiaduring the tenth century, a new language inIran and Central Asia from the tenth centuryonwards and some of the greatest poets ofthe Persian language, such as Firdausi andSadi, lived and composed their works be-tween the tenth and fourteenth centuries.From the beginning the Turks adopted Per-sian as the language of literature and admin-istration in the country. Thus, Lahoreemerged as the first centre for the cultiva-tion of the Persian language. However, themost notable Persian writer of the period wasAmir Khusrau. Born in 1252 at Patiali (nearBadayun in western Uttar Pradesh), AmirKhusrau took pride in being an Indian. He

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says: I have praised India for two reasons.First, because India is the land of tmy birthand our country. Love of the country is animportant obligation... Hindustan is likeheaven. Its climate is better than that ofKhurasan... it is green and full of flowers allthe year round... The brahmanas here are aslearned as Aristotle and there are many schol-ars in various fields...

Khusrau has praised the Indian lan-guages, including Hindi (which he callsHindavi). He was also an accomplished mu-sician and took part in religious musical gath-erings (ama) organised by the famous Sufisaint, Nizamuddin Auliya. Khusrau it is said,gave up his life the day after he learnt of thedeath of his pir. Nizamuddin Auliya (1325).He was buried in the same compound.

Apart from poetry, a strong school ofhistory writing in Persian developed in In-dia during the period. The most famous his-torians of this period were Ziauddin Barani,Afif and Isami.Through the Persian language,Indian was able to develop close cultural re-lations with Central Asia and Iran. In courseof time, Persian became not only the languageof administration and diplomacy, but also thelanguage of the upper classes and theirdependents, at first in north India and laterof the entire country with the expansion ofthe Delhi Sultanat to the south and the es-tablishment of Muslim kingdoms in differ-ent parts of the country.

At first, there was little interchange be-tween the two. Zia Nakhshabi was the firstto translate into Persian Sanskrit storieswhich were related by a parrot to a womanwhose husband had gone on a journey. Thebook Tuti Nama (Book of the Parrot), writ-ten in the time of Muhammad Tughlaq,proved very popular and was translated from

Persian into Turkish and into many Europeanlanguages as Well. He also translated the oldIndian treatise on sexology, the Kok Shastra,into Persian. Later, in the time of Firuz Shah,Sanksrit books on medicine and music weretranslated into Persian. Sultan Zain-ul-Abidinof Kashmir had the famous historical workRajatarangini and the Mahabharata translatedinto Persian. Sanskrit works on medicine andmusic.Regional Languages

During this period, literary works ofhigh quality were produced in many of theregional languages as well. Amir Khusrau hadnoted the existence of regional languages andremarked: The use of the common languageby the Bhakti saints was, undoubtedly, animportant factor in the rise of these lan-guages,. In fact, in many parts of the coun-try, these early saints fashioned these lan-guages for literary purposes. It seems that inmany regional kingdoms of the pre-Turkishperiod, regional languages, such as Tamil,Kan-nada, Marathi, etc. were used for ad-ministrative purposes, in addition to San-skrit. This must have been continued underthe Turkish rule, for we hear of Hindi know-ing revenue accountants appointed in theDelhi Sultanat. Later, when, the DelhiSultanat broke up, local languages, in addi-tion to Persian, continued to be used for ad-ministrative purpose in many of the regionalkingdoms. Thus, literature in Telugu devel-oped in south India under the patronage ofthe Vijayanagara rulers. Marathi was one ofthe administrative languages in the Bahmanikingdom, and later, at the court of Bijapur.Nusrat Shah of Bengal had the Mahabharataand the Ramayana translated into Bengali.Maladhar Basu also translated the BhagavataGita into Bengali under his partronage.


WHEN HUMAYUN was retreatingfrom Bikaner, he was gallantly offered shelterand help by the Rana of Amarkot. It was atAmarkot, in 1542, that Akbar, the greatest ofthe Mughal rulers, was born. When Humayundied, Akbar was at Kalangaur in the Punjab,commanding operations against the Afghanrebels there. He was crowned at Kalanaur in1556 at the young age of thirteen years andfour months.

Akbar succeeded to a difficult position.The Afghans were still strong beyond Agra,and were regrouping their forces under theleadership of Hemu for a final showdown.Kabul had been attacked and besieged.Sikandar Sur, the defeated Afghan ruler, wasloitering in the Siwalik Hills, However,Bairam Khan, the turor of the prince and aloyal and favourite officer of Humayun, roseto the occasion. He became the wakil of thekingdom, with the title of Khan-i-Khanan andrallied the Mughal forces. The threat fromthe side of Hemu was considered the mostserious. Adil Shah had appointed him thewazir with the title of Vikramajit, andentrusted him with the task of expelling theMughals. Hemu captured Agra, and with anarmy of 50,000 cavalry, 500 elephants and astrong park of artillery marched upon Delhi.

In a well-contested battle, Hemudefeated the Mughals near Delhi and

occupied the city. However, Bairam Khantook energetic steps to meet the situation. Hisbold stand put new heart into battle betweenthe Mughals and the Afghan forces led byHemu, took place once again at Panipat (5November 1556). Although Hemu’s artilleryhad been captured earlier by a Mughaldetachment, the tide of battle was in favourof Hemu when an arrow hit him in the eyeand he fainted, the leaderless Afghan armywas defeated, Hemu was captured andexecuted.Early Phase -Contest with the Nobility (1556-67)

Bairam Khan remained at the helm ofaffairs of the empire for almost four years.During the period, he kept the nobility fullyunder control. Meanwhile, Akbar wasapproaching the age of maturity. BairamKhan had offended many powerful personswhile he held supreme power. There wasfriction on small points which made Akbarrealise that he could not leave the affiars ofthe state in someone else’s hands for anylength of time.

Akbar played his cards deftly. He leftAgra on the pretext of hunting, and reachedDelhi. From Delhi he issued a farmandismissing Bairam Khan from his office, andcalling upon all the nobles to come andsubmit to him personally. Once Bairam Khan

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realised that Akbar wanted to take power inhis own hands, he was prepared to submit,but his opponents were keen to ruin him.They heaped humiliation upon him till fie wasgoaded to rebel. Finally, Bairam Khan wasforced to submit Akbar received himcordially, and gave him the option of servingat the court or anywhere outside it or retiringto Mecca.

Bairam Khan chose to go to Mecca.However, on his way, he was assassinated atPatau near Ahmedabad by an Afghan whobore him a personal grudge. Bairam’s wifeand a young child were brought to Akbar atAgra. Akbar married Bairam Khan’s widowwho was his cousin, and brought up the childas his own son. This child later becamefamous as Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan andheld some of the most important offices andcommands in the empire. During BairamKhan’s rebellion, groups and individuals inthe nobility had become politically active.They included Akbar’s foster-mother, MahamAnaga, and her relations.

Though Maham Anaga soon withdrewfrom politics, her son, Adham Khan was animpetuous young man who assumedindependent airs when sent to command anexpedition against Malwa. Removed from thecommand, he laid claim to the post of thewazir, and when this was not conceded, hestabbed the acting wazir in his office. Akbarwas enraged and had him thrown down fromthe parapet of the fort so that he died (1561).Between 1561 and 1567 they broke out inrebellion several times, forcing Akbar to takethe field against them. Each time Akbar wasinduced to pardon them. When they againrebelled in 1565, Akbar was so exasperatedthat he vowed to make Jaunpur his cpiatal

till he had rooted them out. Meanwhile, arebellion by the Mirzas, who were Timuridsand were related to Akbar by marriage, therethe areas west of modern Uttar Pradesh intoconfusion. Encouraged by these rebellions,Akbar’s half-” brother, Mirza Hakim, whohad seized control of Kabul, advanced intothe Punjab, and besieged Lahore. The Uzbekrebels formally proclaimed him their ruler.Early Expansion of the Empire (1560-76)

Following Bairam Khan’s regency, theterritories of the Mughal empire had beenexpanded rapidly. Apart from Ajmer,important conquests during this periodcaptured earlier were that of Malwa andGharh-Katanga. Malwa was being ruled, atthat time, by a young prince, Baz Bahadur.The expedition against Malwa was led byAdmam Khan, son of Akbar’s foster-mother,Maham Anaga. Baz Bahadur was badlydefeated (1561) and the Mughals tookvaluable sopils, including Rupm-ati.However, she preferred to commit suicideto being dragged to Adham Khan’s karem.Due to the senseless cruelties of Adham Khanand his succeessor, there was a reactionagainst the mughals which enabled BazBahadur to recover Malwa.

After dealing with Bairam Khan’srebellion, akbar sent another expedition toMalwa. Baz Bahadur had to flee, and forsome time he took shelter with the Rana ofMewar. After wandering about from one areato another, he finally repaired to Akbasr’scourt and was enrolled as a Mughalmansabdar. The extensive country of Malwathus came under Mughal rule. At about thesame time, mughal arms overran thekingdom of Gharh-Katanga. The kingdom ofGarh-Katanga included the Naramada valley

Mughal Empire 43

and the northern portions, of presentMadhya Pradesh. It had been weldedtogether by one Aman Das who flourishedin the second half of the fifteenth century.Aman Das had helped Bahadur Shah ofGujarat in the conquest of Raisen and hadreceived from him the title of Sangram Shah.

The kingdom of Ghar-Kartangaincluded a number of Gond and Rajputprincipalities. It was the most powerfulkingdom set up by the Gonds. We do notknow, however, to what extend these figuresare dependable. Sangram Shah had furtherstrengthened his position by marrying off hisson to a princess of the famous Chandellarulers of Mahoba. This princess, who isfamous as Durgavati, became a widow soonafterwards. But she installed her minor sonon the throne and ruled the country withgreat vigour and courage. Meanwhile, thecupidity of Asaf Khan, the Mughal governorof Allahabad, was roused by the stories ofthe fabulous wealth and the beauty of theRani. Asaf Khan advanced with 10,000 cavalryfrom the side of Bundeikhand. Some of thesemi-independent rulers of Garha found it aconvenient moment to throw off the Gondyoke. The Rani was thus left with a small force.Though wounded, she fought on gallantly.Finding that the battle was lost and that shewas in danger of being captured, she stabbedherself to death. Asaf Khan then stormed thecapital, Chauragarh, near modern Jabalpur.Out of all the plunder Asaf Khan sent onlytwo hundred elephants to the court, andretained all the rest for himself.” Kamaladevi,the younger sister of Rani, was sent to thecourt.

When Akbar had dealt with therebellion of the Uzbek nobles he forced Asaf

Khan to disgorge his illegal gains. Herestored the kingdom of Garh-Katanga toChandra Shah, the younger son of SangramShah, after taking ten forts to round off thekingdom of Malwa.

During the next ten years, Akbarbrought the major part of Rajasthan underhis control and also conquered Gujarat andBengal. A major step in his campaign againstthe Rajpur states was the siege of Chittor.Chittor fell (1568) after a gallant siege of sixmonths. At the advice of his nobles, RanaUdai Singh had retired to the hills leavingthe famous warriors, Jaimal and Patta, incharge of the fort. The rajput warriors diedafter extracting as much vengeance aspossible. In honour of the gallant Jaimal andPatta, Akbar ordered that two stone statuesof these warriors, seated on elephants, beerected outside the chief gate of the fort atAgra.

The fall of Chittor was followed by theconquest of Ranthambhor reputed to be themost powerful forteress in Rajasthan. Jodhpurhad been conquered earlier. As a result ofthese victories, most of the Rajpur rajas,including those of Bikaner and Jaisalmer,submitted to Akbar. Only Mewar continuedto resist.

In 1572, Akbar advanced on Ahmedabadvia Ajmer. Ahmedabad surrendered withouta fight. Akbar then turned his attention tothe Mirzas who held Broach, Baroda andSurat. At Cambay, Akbar saw the sea for thefirst time and rode on it in boat. A group ofPortuguese merchants also came and met himfor the first time. The Portuguese dominatedthe Indian seas by this time, and had ambitionof establishing an empire in India. Akbar’sconquest of Gujarat frustrated these designs.


While Akhar’s armies were besiegingSurat, Akbar crossed the river Mahi andassaulted the Mirzas with a small body of200 men which included Man Singh andBhagwan Das of Amber. For some time,Akbar’s life was in danger. But theimpetuosity of his charge routed the Mirzas.Thus, Gujarat came under Mughal control.However, as soon as Akbar had turned hisback, rebellions broke out all over Gujarat.Hearing the news, Akbar marched out ofAgra aride traversed across Rajasthan in ninedays by means of camels, horses and carts.On the eleventh day, he reched Ahmedabad.In this journey, which normally took sixweeks, only 3000 soldiers were able to keepup with Akbar. With these he defeated anenemy force of 20,000 (1573).

After this, Akbar turned his attentionto Bengal. The Afghans had continued todominate Bengal and Bihar. Internal fightsamong the Afhans, and the declaration ofindependence by the new ruler, Daud Khan,gave Akbar the opportunity he was seeking.In a stiff battle in Bihar in 1576, Daud Khanwas defeated and executed on the spot.

Thus ended the last Afghan kingdom innorthern India. It also brought to an end thefirst phase of Akbar’s expansion of theempire.Administration

During the decade following the con-quest of Gujarat, Akbar found time to lookat the administrative problems of the empire.

One of the most important problemsfacing Akbar was the system of land revenueadministration. Sher Shah had instituted asystem by which the cultivated area wasmenasured and a crop rate (ray) was drawnup, fixing the dues of the peasant crop-wise

on the basis of the productivity of land.Akbar adopted Sher Shah’s system. But it wassoon found that the fixing of central sched-ule of prices often led to considerable delyas,and resulted in great hardships to the peas-antry.

Akbar, therefore, reverted to a system-of Annual assessment. The quangos, whowere hereditary holders of land as well aslocal officials conversant with localconditions, were ordered to report on theactual produce, state of cultivation, localprices, etc. After returning from Gujarat(1573), Akbar paid-personal attention to theland revenue system, Officials called karoriswere appointed all over north India. Theywere responsible for the collection of a croreof dams (Rs 2,50,000), and also checked thefacts and figures supplied by the quangos.On the basis of the information provided bytheist regarding the actual produce, localprices, productivity, etc., in 1580, Akbarinstituted a new system called the dahsala.Under this system, the average produce ofdifferent crops as well as the average pricesprevailing over the last ten year werecalculated. One third of the average producewas the state share. The slate demand was,however, stated in cash. This was done byconverting the state share into money on thebasis of a schedule of avberage prices overthe past ten years. Thus, the produce of abigha of land under share was given inmanunds. But on the basis of average prices,the state demand was fixed in rupees perbigha.

There were number of advanteges ofthis system. As soon as the area sown by thepeasant had been measured by means of thebamboos linked with iron rings, the peasantsas well as the state knew what the dues were.

Mughal Empire 45

The peasant was given remission in the landrevenue if crops failed on account of drought,floods, etc. The system of measurement andthe assessment based upon it is called the zabtisystem. Akbar introduced this system in thearea from Lahore to Allahabad, and in Malwaand Gujarat. The dahsala wsystem was afurther development of the zabti system.

A number of other systems ofassessment were also followed under Akbar.The most common and, perhaps, the oldestwas called batai or ghalla-bakhshi. In thissystem, the produce was divided betweenthe peasants and the state in fixed proportion.The crop was divided after it had beenthrashed, or when it had been cut and tiedin stacks, or while it was standing in the field.

A third system which was widely usedin Akbar’s time was nasaq. It seems that itmeant a rough calculation of the amountpayable by the peasant on the basis of whathe had been paying in the past. It is also calledkankut.

Land which remained under cultivationalmost every year was called polaj. When itremained uncultivated it was called parati(fellow). Parati land paid at the full (polaj)rate when it was cultivated. Land which hadbeen fallow for two to three years was calledchachar, and if longer than that, banjar.

The dahsala was not a ten-yearsettlment. Nor was it a permanent one, thestate retaining the right to modify it.However, with some changes, Akbar’ssettlement remained the basis of the landrevenue system of the Mughal empire till theend of the seventeenth century. The zabtisystem is associated with Raja Todar Mal andis sometimws called Todar mal’s bandobast.Todar Mal was a brilliant revenue officer who

had first served under Sher Shah. But he wasonly one of a team of brilliant revenue officialswho came to the forefront under Akbar.Organisation of Government

Hardly any changes were made byAkbar in the organisation of local governmentThe pargana and the sarkar continued asbefore. The chief officers of the sarkar werethe faujdar and the amalguzar, the formerbeing in charge of law and order, and thelatter responsbile for the assessement andcollection of the land revenue. The territoriesof the empire were divided into jagir, khalisaand inam. Income from khalisa villages wentdirectly to the royal exchequer. The inamlands were those which were allotted tolearned and religious men. The amalguzarwas required to exercise a generalsupervision over all types of holdings so thatthe imperial rules and regulations for theassessment and collection of land revenuewere followed uniformly. Even there, Akbarencouraged them to follow the imperialsystem.

Akbar paid great attention to theorganisation of the central and provincialgovernments. His system of centralgovernment was based on the structure ofgovernment which had eveolved under theDelhi Sultanat, but the functions of thevbarious departments were carefullyreorganised, and menticulous rules andregulations were laid down for the conductof affairs. Thus, he gave a new shape to thesystem and breathed new life into it.

The Central Asian and Timurid traditionwas of having an all-powerful wazir underwhom various heads of departmentscunfctions. He was the principal link betweenthe ruler and the administration. In course


of time, a separate department, the militarydepartment, had come into being. Thejudiciary had always been separate. Thus, inpractice, the concept of an all-powerful wazirhad been given up. However, in his capacityas wakil, Bairam khan had exefcised thepower of an all-powerful wazir.

Akbar reogganised the centralmachinery of administration on the basis ofthe division of power between variousdepartments, and of checks and balances.While the post of wakil was not abolished, itwas stripped of all power and became largelydecorative. The head of the revenuedepartment continued to be the wazir. Hewas not generally a person who held a highposition in the nobility. Many nobles heldmansabs which were higher than his./ Thus,he was no longer the principal adviser to theruler, but an expert in revenue affairs. Toemphasise this point, Akbar generally usedthe title of diwan or divan-i-ala in preferenceto the word wazir. Sometimes, severalpersons were asked to discharge the dutiesof diwan jointly. The diwan was responsiblefor all income and expenditure, and heldcontrol over kahlisa, jagir and inam lands.

The head of the military department wascalled the mir bakhshi. It was the mir bakhshiand not the diwan who was considered thehead of the nobility. Therefore, only theleading grandees were appointed to this post.Recommendations for appointment tomansabs or for promotions, etc. were madeto the emperor through the mir bakhshi.Once the emperor had accepted arecommendation, it was sent to the diwanfor confirmation and for assigning a jagir tothe appointee. The same procedure wasfollowed in case of promotions.

The mir bakhshi was also the head ofthe intelligence and information agenceies ofthe empire. Intelligence officers (barids) andnews reporters (waqia-navis) were posted toall parts of the empire. There reports werepresented to the emperor at the courtthrough the mir bakhshi.

It will thus be seen that the diwan andthe mir bakhshi were almost on a par with,and supported and checked, each other.

The third important officer was the mirsaman. He was in charge of the imperialhoushold, including the supply of all theprovisions and articles for the use of theinmates of the harem or the femaleapartments. The maintenance of etiquette atthe court, the control of the royal bodyguard,etc, were all under the overall supervision ofthis officer.

The fourth important department wasthe judicial department headed by the chiefqazi. It fell into bad odoour due to thecorruption and venality of Akbar’s chief qazi,Abdun Nabi.CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS

THERE WAS an outburst of many-sidedcultural activity in India under the Mughalrule. The traditions in the field ofarchietecture, painting, literature and musiccreated during this period set a norm anddeeply influenced the succeedinggenerations. It his sense, the Mughal periodcan be called a second classical age followingthe Gupta age in northern India. In thiscultural development, Indian traditions wereamalgamated with the Turko-Iranian culturebrought to the country by the Mughals. TheTimurid court at Samarqand had developedas the cultural centre of West and CentralAsia. Babur was conscious of this cultural

Mughal Empire 47

heritage. He was critical of many of thecultural forms existing in India and wasdetermined to set proper standards. Thedevelopment of art and culture in variousregiosns of India during the fourteenth andfifteenth centuries had led to a rich andvaried development from which it waspossible to draw upon. But for this, thecultural efflorescence of the Mughal agewould hardly have been possible. Peoplesfrom different areas of India, as well aspeoples belonging to different faiths andraces contributed to this culturaldevelopment in various ways. In this sense,the culture developed during the period wastending towards a truly national culture.Architecture

The Mughals built magnificent forts,palaces, gates, public buildings, mosques,baolis (water tank or well), etc. They also laidout many formal gardens with running water.In facts, use of running water even in theirpalaces and pleasure resorts was a specialfeature of the Mughals. Babur was very fondof gardens and laid out a few in theneighbourhood of agra and Lahore. Some ofthe Mughal gardens, such as the Nishat Baghin Kashmir, the Shalimar at Lahore, the Pinjorgarden in the Punjab foothilas, tec. havesurvived to this day. A new impetus toarchitecture was given by Sher Shah. Hisfamous mauoleum at Sasaram (Bihar) and hismosque in the old fort at Delhi are consideredarchitectur\al marvels. They form the climaxof the pre-Mughal style of architecture, andthe starting point for the new.

Akbar was the first Mughal ruler whohad the time and means to undertakeconstruction on a large scale. He built a seriesof forts, the most famous of which is the fort

at Agra. Built in red sandstone, this massivefort had many magnificent gates. The climaxof fort building was reached at Delhi whereShah Jahan built his famous Red Fort.

In 1572, Akbar commenced a palace-cum-fort complex at Fatehpur Sikri, 36kilometers from Agra, which he completedin eight years. Built atop a hill, along with alarge artificial lake, it included manybuildings in the style of Gujarat and Bengal.These included deep eaves, balconies, andfanciful kiosks. In the Panch Mahal built fortaking the air, all the types of pillars uded invarious temples were employed to supportflat roofs. The Gujarat style of architectureis used most widely in the palace builtprobably his Rajput wife of ow wives.Buildings of a similar type were also built inthe fort at Agra, though only a few of themhave survived. Akbar took a close personalinterest in the work of construction both atAgra and Fatehpur Sikri. Persian or CentralAsian influence can be seen in the glazed bluetiles used for decoration in the walls or fortiling the roofs. But the most magnificentbuilding was the mosque and the gatewayto it called the Buland Darwaza or the LoftyGate, built to commemorate Akbar’s victoryin Gujarat. The gage is in the style of what iscalled a half-dome portal. What was done wasto slice a dome into hald. The sliced portionprovided the massive outward facade of thegate, while smaller doors could be made inthe rear wall where the dome and the floormeet. This devise, borrowed from Iran,became feature in Mughal buildings later.

With the consolidation of the empire,the Mughal architecture reached its climax.Towards the end of Jahangir’s reign beganthe practice of putting up buildings, entirely


of marble and decorating the walls with floraldesigns made of semi-precious stones. Thismethod of decoration, called pietradurabecame even more popular under Shah Jahjanwho used it on a large scale in the Taj Mahal,justly regarded as a jewel of the builder’s art.The Taj Mahal brought together in a pleasingmanner all the archietectural formsdeveloped by the Mughals. Humauyun’stomb built at Delhi towards the beginning ofAkbar’s reign, and which had a massive domeof marble, may be considered a precursor ofthe Taj. The double dome was another featureof this building. This devise enabled a blggerdome to be built with a smaller one inside.the chief glory of the Taj is the massive domeand the four slender minarets linking theplatform to the main building. Thedecorations are kept to a minimum, delicatemarble screens, pietra dura inlay work andkiosks (chahatris) adding to the effect. Thebuilding gains by being placed in the mindstof a formal garden.

Mosque-building also reached its climaxunder Shah Jahan, the two most noteworthyones being “the Moti Masjid in the Agra fortbuilt like the Taj entirely in marble, and theother the Jama Masjid at Delhi build tin redsandstone. A lofty gate tall, slender minarets,and a series of domes are a feature of theJama Masjid.

Although not many buildings werebuild up by Aurangzeb who was economy-minded, the Mughal archietctural traditionsbased on a combination of Hindu and Turko-Iranian forms and decorative designs, con-tinued without a break into the eighteenthand early nineteenth centuries. Thus, Mughaltraditions influenced the palaces and torts ofmany provincial and local kingdoms. Eventhe Harmandir of the Sikhs, called the

Golden, Temple at Amritsar which was re-built several times during the period wasbuilt on the arch and dome principle and in-corporated many features of the Mughal tra-ditions of architecture.Painting

The Mughals made distinctivecontribution in the field fo painting. Theyintroduced new themes depicting the court,battle scenes and the chase, and added newcolours and new forms. They created a livingtradition of painting which continued towork in different parts of the country longafter the glory of the Mughals haddisappeared. The richness of the style, again,was due to the fact that India had an oldtradition of painting. The wall-paintings ofAjanta are an eloquent indication of its vigour.After the eighth century, the tradition seemsto have decayed, but palm-leaf manuscriptsand illustrated Jain texts from the thirteenthcentury onwards show that the tradition hadnot died.

Aprt from the Jains, some of theprovincial kingdoms, such as Malwa andGujarat extended their patronage to paintingduring the fifteenth century. But a vigorousrevival began only under Akbar. While at thecourt the court of the Shah of Iran, Humayunhad taken into his service two master painterswho accompanied him to India. Under therirleadership, during the reign of Akbar,painting was organised in one of the imperialestablishments (karkhanas). A large numberof painters from different parts of thecountry were invited, many of them formlowly castes. From the beginning, bothHindus and Muslims joined in the work. ThusDaswant and Basawan were two of thefamous painters of Akbars court. the scholl

Mughal Empire 49

developed rapidly, and soon became acelebrated centre of production. Apart fromillustrating Persian books of fables, thepainters were soon assigned the task ofillustrating the Persian text of theMahabharata, the historical work AkbarNama, and others Indian themes and Indianscenes and landscapes, thus, came in vogueand helped to free the school from Persianinfluence. Indian colours, such as peacockblue, the Indian red, etc. began to be used.Above all, the somewhat flat effect of thePersian style began to be replaced by thefoundedness of the Indian brush, giving thepictures a three-dimensional effect.

Mughal painting hunting, battle andcourt scenes, under Jahangir, special progresswas made in portrait painting and paintingof animals. Mansur was the great name inthis field. Portrait painting also becamefashionable.

Under Akbar, European painting wasintroduced at the court by the Portuguesepriests. Under their influence, the principlesof foreshortening, whereby near and distantpeople and things could be placed inperspective was quietly adopted.

While the tradition continued underShah Jahan, Aurangzeb’s lack of interest inpainting led to a dispersal of the artists todifferent places of the country. This helpedin the development of painting in the statesof Rajasthan and the Punjab hills.

The Rajasthan style of paintingcombined the themes and earlier traditionsof western India or Jain school of paintingwith Mughal forms and styles. Thus, inaddition to hunting and court scenes, it hadpaintings on mythological themes, such as thedalliance of Krishna with Radha, or the

Barahmasa, that is, the seasons Ragas(melodies). The Pahari school continued thesetraditions.Language, Literature and Music

The important rule of Persian andSanskrit as vehicles of thought andgovernment at the all India level, and thedevelopment of regional languages, largelyas a result of the growth of the BhaktiMovement, have already been mentioned.Regional languages also developed due to thepatronage extended to them by local andregional rulers.

These trends continued during thesixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By thetime of Akbar, knowledge of Persian hadbecome so widespread in north India that hedispensed with the tradition of keepingrevenue records in the local language(Hindawi) in addition to Persian. However,the tradition of keeping revenue records inthe local language continued in the Deccanistates till their extinction in the last quarterof the seventeenth century.

Persian prose and poetry reached aclimax under Akbar’s reign. Abul Fazl whowas a great scholar and a stylist, as well asthe leading historian of the age, set a style ofprose-writing which was memulated formany generations. The leading poet of theage was his brother Faizi who also helped inAkbar’s translation department. Thetranslation of the Mahabharata was carriedout under his supervision. Utbi and Naziriwere the two other leading Persian poets.Though born in Persia, they were among themany poets and scholars who migrated fromIran to India during the period and made theMughal court one of the cultural centres ofthe Islamic world. Hindus also contributed


to the growth of Persian literature. Apartfrom literary and historical works a numberof famous dictionaries of the Persianlanguage were also compiled during theperiod.

Although not much significant andoriginal work was done in Sanskrit duringthe period, the number of Sanskrit worksproduced during the period is quiteimpressive. As befor, most of the works wereproduced in south and east India under thepatronage of local rulers, though a few wereproduced by brahmanas employed in thetranslation department of the emperors.

Regional languages acquired stabilityand maturity and some of the finest lyricalpoetry was produced during this period. Thedalliance of Krishna with Radha and themilkmaids, pranks of the child Krishna andstories from Bhagawat figure Iargely inIyrical poetry in Bengali” Oriya, Hindi,Rajasthani and Gujarat! during this period.Many devotional hymns to Rama were alsocomposed and the Mahabharata translatedinto the regional languages, especially if theyhad not been translated earlier. A fewtranslations and adaptations from Persianwere also made Both Hindus and Muslimscontributed in this. Thus, Also composed inBengal and also translated from Persian. InHindi, the Padmavat, the story written bythe Sufi saint, Malik muhammad Jaisi, usedthe attack of Alauddin Khalji on Chittor asan allegory to expound Sufi ideas on therelations of soul with God, along with Hiduideas about maya.

Medieval Hindi in the Brij form, mat isthe diaalect sopken in the neighbourhood ofAgra, was also patronised by the Mughalemporors and Hindu rulers. From the time

of Akbar, Hindi poets began to be attachedto the Mughal court. A leading Mughal noble,Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan, produced afine blend of Bhakti poetry with Persian ideasof life and human relations. Thus, the Persianand the Hindi literary traditiona began toinfluence each other. But the most influentialHindi poet was Tulsidas whose hero wasRama and who used a dialect of Hindi spokenin the eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh. Pleadingfor a modified caste system based not onbirth but on individual qualities, Tulsi wasessentially humanistic poet who upheldfamily ideals and complete devotion to Ramaas a way of salvation open to all, irrespectiveof caste.

In south India, Malyalam started itsliterary career as a separate language in itsown right. Marathi reached its apogee at thehands of Eknath and Tukaram. Asserting theimportance of Marath, Eknath exclaims. “IfSanskrit was made by God, was Prakrit bomof thieves and knaves? Let these errings ofvanity along. God is no partisan of tongues.To Him Prakrit and Sanskrit are alike. Mylanguage Marathi is worthy of expressing thehighest sentiments and is rich laden with thefruits of divine knowledge.”

This undoubtedly expresses thesentiments of all those writing in locallanguage. It also shows the confidence andthe status acquired by these languages. Dueto the writings of the Sikh Gurus, Punjabireceived a new life.Music

Another branch of cultural life in whichHindus and Muslims cooperated was music.Akbar patronize Tansen of Gwalior who iscredited with composing many new melodies(ragas). Jahangir and Shah Jahan as well as

Mughal Empire 51

many Mughal nobles followed this example.There are many apocryphal stories about theburial of music by the orthodox Aurangzeb.Recent research shows the Aurangzebbanished singing from his court, but notplaying of musical instruments. In fact,Aurangzeb himself was an accomplishedveena player. Music in all forms continued tobe patronized by Aurangzeb’s queens in the

harem and by the noble. That is why thelarges number of books on classical Indianmusic in Persian were written duringAurangzeb’s reign. But some of the mostimportant development in the field of musictook place later on in the eighteenth centuryduring the reign of Muhammad Shah(1719-48).

Gist of NCERT

Indian HistoryISBN: 9789382732785

Book Code: F16


IMMENSE intellectual and culturalstrirings characterised 19th century India. Theimpact of modern Western culture andconsciousness of defeat by a foreign powergave birth to a new awakening. There wasan awareness that a vast country like Indiahad been colonised by a handful of foreignersbecause of internal weaknesses of Indiansocial structure and culture. ThoughfulIndians began to look for the strengths aridweaknesses of their society and for ways andmeans of removing the weaknesses. While alarge number of Indian refused to come toterms with the West and still put their faithin traditional Indian ideas and institutions,others gradually came to hold that elementsof modern Western though bad to imbibedfor the regeneration of their society. Theywere impressed in particular by modernscience and the doctrines of reason andhumanism. While differeing on the nature andextent of reforms, nearly all 19th centuryintellectuals shared the conviction that socialand religious reform was urgently needed.Rommohan Roy

The central figure in this awakening wasRammohan Roy, who is rightly regarded asthe first leader of modern India. RammohanRoy was moved by deep love for his peopleand country and worked hard all his life fortheir social, religous, intellectual and political

regeneration. He was pained by thestagnation and corruption of contemporaryIndian society which was at that timedominated by caste and convention. Popularreligion was full of superstitions and wasexploited by ignorant and corrupt priests.The upper classes were selfish and oftensacrificed social interest to their own narrowinterests. to their own narrow interests.Rammohan Roy possessed great love andrespect for the traditional philosophicsystems of the East; but, at the same time, heculture alone would Indian society. Inparticular, he wanted his countrymen toaccept the rational and scientific approach andthe principle of human dignity and socialequality of all men and women. He alsowanted the introduction of Modern capitalsmand industry in the country.

Rammohan Roy represented a synthesisof the though of East and West. He was ascholar who knew over a dozen languagesincluding Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, English,French, Latin , Greek-and Hebrew. As ayoung man he had studied Sanskrit literatureand Hindu philosophy at Varansi and theQuaran and Persian and Arabic literature atPatna. He was also well-acquianted withJainism and other religious movements andsects of India. Later he made an intensivestudy of Western thought and culture. To

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL AWAKENINGIN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

7

Social and Cultural Awakening in the First Half of the 19th Century 53

study the Bible in the original he learnt Greekand Hebrew. In 1809 he wrote in Persian hisfamous work Gift to Monotheists in whichhe put forward weighty arguments againstbelief in many gods and for the worship of asingle God.

He settled in Calcutta in 1814 and soonattracted a band of young men with whosecooperation he started the Atmiya Sabha.From now on he carried on a persistentstruggle against the religious and social evilswhich were widely prevalent among theHindus in Bengal, In particular he vigorouslyopposed the worship of idols, the rigidity ofcaste, and the prevalence of meaninglessreligious rituals. He condemned the priestlyclass for encouraging these practices. He heldthat all the principal ancient texts of theHindus preached monotheism or worship ofone God. He published the Bengali translationof the Vedas and of five of the principalUpanishads to prove his point. He also wrotea series of trans and pamphlets in defence ofmonotheism.

While citing ancient authority for hisphilosophical views, Rammohan Roy reliedultimately on the power of human reasonwhich was in his view the final touchstone ofthe truth of any doctrine, Eastern or Western.He believed that the philosophy of Vedantawas based on this principle of reason. In anycase, one should not hesitate to depart fromholy books, scriptures and inheritedtraditions if human reason so dictates and ifsuch traditions are proving harmful to thesociety, But Rammohan Roy did not confinehis application of the rational approach toIndian religions and traditions alone. In thishe disappointed his many missionary friendswho had hoped that his rational critique of

Hinduism would lead him to embraceChristianity, Rammohan Roy insisted onapplying rationalism to Chirstianity too,particularly to the elements of blind faith init. In 1820, he published his Precepts of Jesusin which he tried to separate the moral andphilosophic meassage of the New Testament,which he praised, from its miracle stories. Hewanted the high moral message of Christ tobe incorporated in Hinduism. This earned forhim the hostility of the missionaries.

Thus, as far as Rammohan was con-cerned there was to be so blind reliance onIndia’s own past or blind aping of the West.On the other hand, he put forward the ideathat new India, guided few reasons shouldacquire and treasure all that was best in theEast and the West, Thus he w-anted India tolearn from the West; but this learning was tobe an intellectual and creative processthrough which India culture and thoughtwere to be renovated; it was not to be animposition of Western culture on India. He,threfore, stood for the reform of Hinduismand opposed its supresession Christianity. Hevigorously defended Hindu religion andphilosophy from the ignorant attacks of themissionaries at the same time. He adoptedan extremely friendly attitude towards otherrelgions. He believed that basically allregligions prereach a common message andthat their followers are all brothers under theskin.

All his life Rammohan Roy paid heavilyfor his daring religious outlook. Theorthodox condemned him for criticizingidolatry and for his philosophic aminirationof Christianity and Islam. They organized asocial boycott against him in which even hismother joined. He was branded a heretic andan outcaste.


In 1828 he founded a new religioussociety, the Brahma Sabha, later known as theBrahmo Samaj, whose purpose was to bebased on the twin pillars of reason, and theVadas and Upanishads. It was also toincorporate the teachings of other religions.The Brahmo Samaaj laid emphasis on humandignity, opposed idolatry, and criticized suchsocial evils as the practice of sati.

Rammohan Roy was great thinker. hewas also a man of action. There was hardlyany aspect of nation-building which he leftuntouched. In fact, just as he began the reformof Indian society. The best example of his life-long crusade against social evils was thehistoric agitation he organized against theinhuman custom of women becoming sati.Beginning in 1818 he set out to rouse publicopinion on the question. On the one hand heshowed by citing the authority of the oldestsacred books that the Hindu religion at itsbest was opposed to the practice; on the other,he appealed to the reason and humanity andcompassion of the people. He visited theburning ghats at Calcutta to try to persuadthe relatives of widows to give up their planof self-immolation. He organized groups oflike minded the relatives of widows to giveup their plan of self-immolation. Heorganized groups of like-minded people tokeep a strict check on such, performances andto prevent any attempt to force the widowsto become sati. When the orthodox Hinduspetitioned to Parliament to withhold itsapproval of Bentick’s action of banning therite of sati, he organized a counter-petitionof enlightened Hindus in favour of Bentick’saction.

He was a stout champion of women’srights. He condemned the subjugation of

women and opposed the prevailing idea thatwomen were inferior to men in intellect orin a moral sense. He attacked polygamy andthe degraded state to which widows wereoften reduced. To raise the status of womenhe demanded that they be given the right ofinheritance and property.

Rammohan Roy was one of the earliestpropagators of modern education which helooked upon as a major instrument for thespread of modern ideas in the country. In1817, David hare, who had come out to Indiain 1800 as a watchmaker but who spent hisentire life in the promotion of moderneducation in the country founded the famousHindu College. Rammohhun Roy gave mostenthusiastic assistance to Hare in this and hisother educational projects. In addition, hemaintained at his own cost an English schoolin Calcutta from 1817 in which, among othersubjects, mechanics and the philosophy ofVoltaire were taught. In 1825 he establisheda Vedanta College in which courses both inIndia learning and in Western social andphysical sciences were offered.

Rammohan Roy was equally keen onmaking Bengali the vehicle of intellectualintercourse in Bengal. He compiled a Bengaligrammar. Through his translations,pamphlets and journals he helped evolve amodern and elegant prose style for thatlanguage. Rammohan represented the firstglimmerings of the rise of nationalconsciousness in India.

The vision of an independent andresurgent India guided his thoughts andactions. He believed that by trying to weedout corrupt elements form Indian religionsand society and by preaching the Vedanticmessage of worship of one God he was laying


the foundations for the unity of Indian societywhich was divided into divergent groups. Inparticular he opposed the rigidities of thecaste system which he declared, “has beensource of want of unity among us”. Hebelieved that the caste system was doublyevil: it created inequality and it dividedpeople and “deprived them of patrioticfeeling”. Thus, according to him one of theaims of religious reform was political uplift.

Rammohan Roy was a pioneer of Indianjournalism. He brought out journals inBengali, Persian, Hindi and English to spreadscientific; literary and political knowledgeamong the people, to educate public opinonon topics of current interest, and to representpopular demands and grievances before theGovernment.

He was also the initiator of publicagitation on political question in the country.He condemned the oppressive practices ofthe Bengal zamindars which had reduced thepeasants to a miserable condition. Hedemanded that the maximum rents paid bythe actual cultivators of land should bepermanently fixed so that they too wouldenjoy the benefits of the PermanentSettlement of 1793. He also protested againstthe attempts to impose taxes on taxes on tax-free lands. He demanded the abolition of theCompany’s trading rifht and the removal ofheavy export duties on Indian goods. He alsoraised the demands for the Indianization ofthe superior services; separation of theexecutive and the judiciary, trial by jury, andjudicial equality between Indians andEuropeans.

Rammohan was a firm believer ininternationalism and in free cooperation“between nations. Feet Rabindranath Tagore

has rightly remarked: “Rammohan was theonly person in his time, in the whole worldof man, to realize completely the significanceof the Modern Age. He knew that the idealof human civilization does not lie in theisolation of Independence, but in thebrotherhood of interdendence of individualsas wail as nations in all spheres of thoughtand activity”. Rammohan Roy took a keeninterest in international events andeverywhere he supported the cause of libertydemocracy, and nationalism and opposedinjustices oppression and tyranny in everyform. The new of the failure of the Revolutionin Naples in 1821 made him so sad that feecancelled all his social engagements on theother hand he celebrated the success of theRevolution in Spanish America in 1823 bygiving a public dinner. He condemned themiserable condition of Ireland under theoppressive regime of absentee Englishlandlordism. He publicly declared that thewould emigrate from the British Empire ifParliament failed to pass the Reform Bill.

Rammohan was fearless as a lion. Hedid not hesitate to support a just cause. Allhis life he fought against social injustice andinequality even at great personal loss andhardship. In his life of service to society heoften clashed with his family, with richzamindars and powerful missionaries, andwith high officials and foreign, authorities.Yet he never showed fear nor sharank fromhis chosen course.

Rammohan was the brightest star in theIndian sky during the first falf of the 19thcentury, but he was not a lone star. He hadmany distinguished associates, followers andsuccessors. In the field of education he wasgreatly helped by the Dutch watchmaker


David Hare and the Scottish missionaryAlexander Duff. Dwarkanath Tagore was theforemost of his Indian associates. He otherprominent followers were Prasanna KumarTagore, Chandrashekhar Deb and TarachandChakravarti, the first secretary of the BrahmaSahha.Derozio and Young Bengal

A radical trend arose among the Bengaliintellectuals during the late 1820s and the1830s. This trend was more modern than evenRammohan Roy’s and was known as theYoung Bengal movement. Its leader and in-spirer was the young Anglo-Indian. HenryVivian Derozio who was born in 1809 andwho taught at Hindu College from 1826 to1831. Derozio possessed a dazzling intellectand followed the most radical views of thetime drawing his inspiration from the greatFrench Revolution. He was a brillinat teacherwho, in spite of his youth, attached to him-self a host of bright and droing students. Heinspired these students to think rationally andfreely, to question all authority, to love lib-erty, equality and freedom, and to worshiptruth. Derozio and his famous followers,known as the Derozians and Young Bengal,were fiery patriots. Derozio was perhaps thefirst nationalist poet of modern India.

Derozio was removed from the HinduCollege in 1831 because of his radicalism anddied to cholera soon after at the young ageof 22. The Derozians attacked old anddecadent customs, rites and traditions. Theywere passionate advocates of women’s rightsand demanded education for them. They didnot, howeever, succeed in creating amovement because social conditions were notyet ripe for their ideas to flourish. They didnot take up the peasant’s cause and there was

no other class or group in Indian society atthe time which could support their advancedideas. Moreover they foregot to maintaintheir links with the people. In fact, theirradicalism was bookish; they failed to cometo grips with the Indian reality. Even so, theDerozians carried forward Rammohan’stradition of educating the people in social,economic and political questions throughnewspapers, pamphlets and publicassociations. They carried on public agitationon public questions such as the revision ofthe Company’s Charter, the freedom of thePress, better treatment for Indian labour inBritish colonies abroad, trial by fury,protection of the Press, better treatment forIndian labour in British colonies abroad, trialby fury, protection of the ryots fromoppressive zamindars, and employment ofIndians in the higher grades of governmentservices. Surendranath Banerjee, the famousleader of the nationalist movement, describedthe Derozians as “the pioneeers of the moderncivilization of Bengal, the conscript fathersof our race whose virtues will exciteveneration and whose failings will be treatedwith gentlest cosideration”.DebendranathTagore and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

The Branhamo Samaj had in themeanwhile continued to exist but withoutmuch life till Debendranath Tagore, father ofRabindranath Tagore, revitalized it.Debendranath was a product of the best inthe traditional Indian learning and the newthought of the West. In 1839 he founded theTatvabodhini Sabha to propagate RammohanRoy’s ideas. In time it came to include mostof the prominent followers of Rammohan andDerozio and other independent thinkers like


Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and AkshayKumar Dutt. The Tatvabodhini Sabha and itsorgan the Tatvabodhini Patrika promoted asystematic study of India’s past in the Bengalilanguage. It also helped spread a rationaloutlook among the intellectuals of Bengal. In1843 Debendranath Tagore reorganised theBrahmo Samaj and put new life into it. Thesamaj actively supported the movement forwidow remarriage, abolition of polygamywomen’s education improvement of theryots condition and temperance.

The next towering personality to appearon the Indian scene was Pandit IshwarChandra Vidyasagar, the great scholar andreformer. Vidyasagar dedicated his entire lifeto the cause of social reform. Born in 1820 ina very poor family, he struggled throughhardship to educate himself and in the endrose in 1851 to the position of the principalship of the Sanskrit College Though he was agreat Sanskrit scholar, his mind was open tothe best in Western thought, and he came torepresent a happy blend of Indian andWestern culture. His greatness lay above allin his streling character and shining intellect.Possessed of immense courage and a fearlessmind he practised what he believed. Therewas no lag between his beliefs and his action,between his thought and his practice. He wassimple in dress and habits and direct in hismanner. He was a great humanist whopossessed immense sympathy for the poor,the unfortunate and the oppressed.

In Bengal, innumerable stroriesregarding his high character, moral qualitiesand deep humanism are related till this day.He resigned from government service for hewould not tolerate undue official interference.His generosity to the poor was fabuulous.

He seldom possessed a warm coat for heinviriably gave it to the first naked beggarhe met on the street.

Vidyasagar’s contribution to the mak-ing of modern India is many sided. Heevolved a new methodology of teaching San-skrit. He wrote a Bengali primer whiche isused till this day. By his writings he helpedin the evolution of a modern prose style inBengali. He opened the gates of the Sanskritcollege to non-brahmin students for he wasopposed to the monopoly of Sanskrit studiesthat the priestly caste was enjoy at the time.He was determined to break the priestlymonoploy of scriptural knowledge. To freeSanskrit studies from the harmful effects ofself-imposed isolation, he introduced thestudy of Wester though in the Sanskrit Col-lege. He also helped found a college which isnow named after him.

Above all Vidyasagar is rememberedgratefully by his countrymen for hiscontribution to the uplift of India’s downtrodden womanhood. Here he proved aworthy successor to Rammohun Roy. Hewaged a long struggle in favour of widowremarriage. His humanism was aroused tothe full by the sufferings of the Hinduwidows. To improve their lot he gave his alland virtually ruined himself. In 1855, he raifedhis powerful voice, backed by the weight ofimmense traditional learning in favour ofwidow remarriage. Soon a powerfulmovement in favour of widow remarriagewas started which continues till this day.Later in the year 1855, a large number ofpetitions from Bengal, Madras, Bombay,Nagpur and other cities of India werepresented to the Government asking it topass an act legalising the remarriage ofwidows. This agitation was successful and


such a law was enacted. The first lawfulHindu widow remarriage among the uppercastes in our country was celebrated inCalcutta on 7 December 1856 under theinspiration and superivision of Vidyasagar.Widows of many other castes in differentparts of the country already enjoyed this rightunder customary law. An observer hasdescribed the ceremony in the followingwords:

For his advocacy of widow re-marriage,Vidyasagar had to face the bitter enmity ofthe orthodox Hindus, At times even his lifewas threatened. But he fearlessly pursued hischosen course. Through his efforts, whichincluded the grant of monetary help to needycouples twenty-five widow-remarriageswere performed between 1855 and 1880.

In 1850, Vidyasagar protested againstchild-marriage. All his life he campaignedagainst polygamy. He was also deeplyinterested in the education of women. As aGovernment Inspector of Schools, heorganised thirty-five girls schools, many ofwhich he ran at his own expense. As Secretaryto the Bethune School he was one of thepioneers of higher education for women.

Some even believed that educatedwomen would lose their husband. The firststeps in giving a modern education to girlswere taken by the missionaries in 1821, butthese efforts were marred by the emphasison Christian religious education. TheBethune School had great difficulty insecuring students. The young students wereshouted at and abuded and sometimes eventheir parents were subjected to social boycott.Many believed that girls who had receivedWestern education would make slave of theirhusbands.

Pioneers of Reform in Western India

The impact of Western ideas was feltmuch earlier in Bengal than in Western Indiawhich was brought under effective Britishcontrol as late as 1818, Bal Shastri Jambekarwas one of the first reformers in Bombay. Heattacked Brahmanical orthodoxy and tried toreform popular Hinduism. In 1832, he starteda weekly, the Darpan, whith the objective ofchasing away the mist of effor and ignorancewhich clouded men’s minds, and sheddingover them the light of knowledge, in whichthe people of Europe have advanced so farbefore the other nations of the world”. 1849,the the Praramahansa Madali was founjdedin Maharashta. Its founders believed in oneGod and were primarily interested inbreaking caster rules. At its meetingsmembers took food cooked by low-castepeople.

They also believed its permitting widowremarriage and in the education of women.Branches of the Mandali’s influence on youngpeople, R.G. Bhandarkar, the famoushistorian, later recalled: “When we went forlong wals in the evening. we talked aboutthe evils of caste distinctions, how muchdamage was done by this division betweenhigh and low, and how true progess for thiscountry could never be acieved withoutremoving these distrinctions”. In 1848, severaleducated young men formed the StudentsLiterary and Scientific Society, which had twobranches, the Gujarat and the Marathi DnyanPrasarak Mandalis. The Society organisedlectures on popular science and socialquestions. One of the aims of the society wasto start shcool at Poona and soon many otherscholls came up. Among the active promotersof the these schools were Jagannath Shankar


Seth and Bhau Daji. Phule was also a pioneerof the widow remarriage movement inMaharashtra. Vishnu Shastri Pundit foundedthe Widow Remarriage Association in the1850s Another prominent worker in this fieldwas Karsondas Mulji who started the SaiyaPrakash m Gujarati in 1852 to advocatewidow remarriage.

An outstanding champion of newlearning and social reform in Maharashtrawas Gopal Hari Deshmukh, who becamefamous by the pen-name ‘Lokahitawadi’. Headvocated fee reorganisation of the Indiansociety on rational principles m & modernhumanistic and secular values. Jotiba Phule,born in a low caste Mali family, was alsoacutely aware of the socially degradedposition of non-Brahmins and untouchablesin Maharashtra. All his life he carried on acampaign against upper caste domination andBrahmanical, supremacy.Dadabhai Naorojiwas another leading social reformer ofBombay. He was one of the founders of an

association to reform the Zoroastrian religionand the Parsi Law Association which agitatedfor the grant of a legal status to women andfor uniform laws of inheritance and marriagefor the Parsis. From the very beginning, itwas, in the main, through the Indianlanguage press and literature that thereformers, carried on their straggle. Toenable. To enable Indian languages to playthis role successfully, they undertook suchhumdrum tasks as preparation of languageprimers, etc. For example, both IshwarChandra Vidyasagar and RabindranathTagore wrote Bengali primers which arebeing used till this day. In fact, the spread ofmodern and reformist ideas among the massof people occurred primarily through Indianlanguages.We should also remember that thesigniciance of the 19th century reformers laynot in their number but in the fact that theywere the trend, setters-it was their thoughtand activity that were to have decisive impacton the making of a new India.

Gist of NCERT

Geography

ISBN: 9789382732761Book Code: F17


The Revolt of 1857

A MIGHTY popular revolt broke out inNorthern and Central India in 1857 andnearly swept away the British rule. It beganwith a mutiny of the sepoys or the Indiansoldiers of the Company’s army but soonengulfed wide regions and involved themasses.General Causes

The Revolt of 1857 was much more thana mere product of sepoy discontent. It wasin reality a product of the character andpolicies of colonial rule, of the accumulatedgrievances of the people against theCompany’s administration and of theirdislike for the foreign regime. For over acentury, as the British had been conqueringthe country bit by bit, popular discontent andhatred against foreign, rule had been gainingstrength among the different sections ofIndian society. It was this discontent thatburst forth into a mighty popular revolt.

Perhaps the most important cause of thepopular discontent was the economicexploitation of the country by the British andthe complete destruction of its traditionaleconomic fabric; both impoverished the vastmass of peasants, artisans and handicrafts-men as also a large number of traditionalzamindars and chiefs. We have traced thedisastrous economic impact of early British

rule in another chapter. Other general causeswere the British land and land revenuepolicies and the systems of law andadministration. In particular, a large numberof peasant proprietors, subjected toexorbitant land revenue demand, lost theirlands to traders and money lenders andfound themselves hopelessly involved indebt. The new landlords, lacking ties oftradition that had linked the old zamindarsto peasants, pushed up rents to ruinousheights and evicted them in case of non-payments. The economic decline of thepeasantry found expression in twelve majorand numerous minor-famines from 1770 to1857. Similarly, many zamindars wereharassed by demands for higher land revenueand threatened with forfeiture of theirzamindari lands and rights and loss of theirstatus in the villages. They resented their losseven more when they were replaced by rankoutsiders — officials. merchants and money-lenders. In addition, common people werehard hit by the prevalence of corruption atthe lower levels of administration. The police,petty officials and lower law courts werenotoriously corrupt. William Edwards, aBritish official, wrote in 1859 while discussingthe causes of the Revolt that the police were“a scourge to the people and that “theiroppressions and exactions form one of the

THE REVOLT OF 1857

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The Revolt of 1857 61

chief grounds of dissatisfaction with ourgovernment”. The petty officials lost noopportunity of enriching themselves at thecost of the ryots and the zamindars. Thecomplex judicial system enabled the rich tooppress the poor. Flogging, torture andjailing of the cultivators for arrears of rentor land revenue or interest on debt werequite common. Thus the growing poverty ofthe people made them desperate and led themto join a general revolt in the hope ofimproving their lot.

Another basic cause of the unpopularityof British rule was its very foreignness. TheBritish remained perpetual foreigners in thecountry. They had a feeling of racialsuperiority and treated Indians withcontempt and arrogance. As Sayyid AhmadKhan wrote later: “Even natives of the highestrank never came into the presence of officialsbut with an inward fear and trembling”. Theirmain aim was to enrich themselves and thengo back to Britain along with their wealth.The people of India were aware of thisbasically foreign character of the new rulers.They refused to recognize the British as theirbenefactors and looked with suspicion uponevery act of theirs. They had thus a vaguesort of anti-British feeling which had foundexpression even earlier than the Revolt innumerous popular uprisings against theBritish.

The annexation of Awadh by LordDaihousie in 1856 was widely resented inIndia iii general and in Awadh in particular,More specifically, it created an atmosphereof rebellion in Awadh and in the Company’sarmy. Daihousie’s action angered theCompany’s sepoys, 75,000 of whom camefrom Awadh. Lacking an all-India feeling,

these sepoys had helped the British conquerthe rest of India. But they did possess regionaland local patriotism and did not like that theirhomelands should come under theforeigner’s- sway. Moreover, the annexationof Awadh adversely affected the sepoy’spurse. He had to pay higher taxes on the landhis family held in Awadh.

The excuse Dalhousie had advanced forannexing Awadh was that he wanted to freethe people from the Nawab’smismanagement and taluqdars oppression,but,, in practice, the people got no relief.Indeed, the common man had now to payhigher land revenue and additional taxes onarticles of food, houses, ferries, opium, andjustice. The dissolution of the Nawab’sadministration and army threw out of jobsthousands of nobles, gentlemen and officialstogether with their retainers and officers andsoldiers, and created unemploy-ment inalmost every peasant’s home. Thesedispossessed taluqdars, numbering nearly21,000, anxious to regain their lost estates andposition, became the most dangerousopponents of the British rule. The annexationof Awadh, along with the other annexationsof Dalhousie, created panic among rulers ofthe native states. This policy of annexationand subordination was, for example, directlyresponsible for making Nana Sahib, the Raniof Jhansi and Bahadur Shah their staunchenemies. Nana Sahib was the adopted son ofBaji Rao II, the last Peshwa. The Britishrefused to grant for Nana Sahib the pensionthey were paying to Baji Rao II, the lastPeshwa, and forced him to live at Kanpur,far away from his family seat at Poona.Similarly, the British insistence on theannexation of Jhansi -incensed the proud Rani


Lakshmibai who wanted her adopted son tosucceed her deceased husband. The house ofthe Mughals was humbled when Dalhousieannounced in 1849 that the successor toBahadur Shah would have to abandon thehistoric Red Fort and move to a humblerresidence at the Qutab on the outskirts in1856, Canning announced that after BahadusShah’s death the Mughals would lose the titleof kings and would be known as mereprinces.

An important factor in turning thepeople against British rule was their fear thatit endangered their religion. This fear waslargely due to the activities of the Christianmissionaries who were “to be seeneverywhere — in the schools, in the hospitals,in the prisons and at the market places”.These missionaries tried to convert peopleand made violent and vulgar public attackson Hinduism and Islam. The actualconversions made by them appeared to thepeople as living proofs of the threat to theirreligion. Popular suspicion that the alienGovernment supported the activities of themissionaries was strengthened by certain actsof the Government and the actions of someof its officials. In 1850, the Governmentenacted a law which enabled a convert toChristianity to inherit his ancestra1property.Moreover, the Government maintained at itscost chaplains or Christian priests in the army.Many officials, civil as well as military,considered it their religious duty toencourage missionary propaganda and toprovide instruction in Christianity ingovernment schools and even in jails.

The conservative religious and socialsentiments of many people were also hurt bysome of the humanitarian measures which the

Government had undertaken on the adviceof Indian reformers. They believed that analien Christian government had no right tointerfere in their religion and customs. Theabolition of the custom of Sati, the legalisationof widow remarriage, and the opening ofWestern education to girls appeared to themas examples of such undue interference. TheRevolt of 1857 started with the mutiny of theCompany’s sepoys. The sepovs were after alla part of Indian society and, therefore, feltand suffered to some extent what otherIndians did. The hopes, -sires, and, despairsof the other sections of society, especially thepeasantry, were reflected in them. an Act waspassed under which every new recruit undertook to serve even oversas. if required. Thishurt the sepoys sentiments as, according tothe current religious beliefs of the Hindus,travel across the sea was forbidden and ledto loss of caste. The sepoys also hadnumerous other grievances. A wide gulf hadcome .‘into existence between the officers andthe sepoys who were often treated withcontempt by their British officers. A moreimmediate cause of the sepoys’ dissatisfactionwas the recent order that they would not begiven the foreign sendee allowance (baita)when serving in Sindh or in the Punjab. Thisorder resulted in a big cut in the salaries of alarge number of them. The annexation ofAwadh, the home of many sepoys, furtherinflamed their feelings.The Immediate Cause

By 1857, the material for a mass up-heaval was ready, only a spark was neededto set it afire, The episode of the greased car-tridges provided this spark for the sepoysand their mutiny provided the general popu-lace the occasion to revolt. The new Enfield


rifle had been first introduced in the army.Its cartridges had a greased paper coverwhose end had to be bitten off before thecartridge was loaded into the rifle. The greasewas in some instances composed of beef andpig fat. The sepoys, Hindu as well as Mus-lim, were enraged. The use of the greasedcartridges would endanger their religion.Many of them believed that the Governmentwas deliberately trying to destroy their reli-gion and convert them to Christianity. Thetime to rebel had come.The Beginning and Course of the Revolt

The Revolt began at Meerut, 58 km fromDelhi, on 10 May 1857 and then, gatheringforce rapidly it cut across Northern India asif like sword, It soon embraced a vast areaform the Punjab in the north and the Narmadain the south to Bihar in the east and Rajputanain the west.

Even before the outbreak at Meerut,Mangal Pande had become a martyr atBarrackpore. Mangal Pande, a young soldier,was hanged on 29 March 1857 for revoltingsingle-handed and attacking his superiorofficers. And then came the explosion atMeerut. On 24 April, ninety men of the 3rdNative Cavalry refused to accept the greasedcartridges. On 9 May, eighty-five of themwere dismissed, sentenced to 10 yearsimprisonment and put into fetters. Thissparked off a general mutiny among theIndian soldiers, stationed at Meerut. Thevery next day, on 10 May, they released theirimprisoned comrades, killed their officers,and unfurled the banner of revolt. As ifdrawn by a magnet, they set off for Delhiafter sunset. When the Meerut soldiersappeared in Delhi the next morning, the localinfantry joined them, killed their own

European officers, and seized the city.The rebellious soldiers now proclaimed

the aged and powerless Bahadur Shah theEmperor of India Delhi was soon to becomethe centre of the Great Revolt and BahadurShah its great symbol. This spontaneousraising of the last Mughal king to theleadership of the country was recognition ofthe fact that the long reign of the Mughaldynasty had made it the tracliti6nal symbolof India’s political unity. With this single act,the sepoys had trans-formed a mutiny ofsoldiers into a revolutionary. This is whyrebellious sepoys from all over the countryautomatically turned their steps towardsDelhi and all Indian chiefs who took part inthe Revolt hastened to proclaim their loyaltyto the Mughal Emperor. Bahadur Shah, inturn, under the instigation and perhaps thepressure of the sepoys, and alter initialvacillation wrote letters to all the chiefs andrulers of India urging them to organize aconfederacy of Indian states to fight andreplace the British regime.

The entire Bengal Army soon rose inrevolt which spread quickly. Awadh,Rohilkhand, the Doab, the Bundelkhand,Central India, large parts of Bihar, and theEast Punjab all shook off British authority. Inmany of the princely states, rulers remainedloyal to their British overlord but the soldiersrevolted or remained on the brink of revolt.Many of Indores troops rebelled and joinedthe sepoys. Similarly over 20,000 of Gwalior’stroops went over to Tantia Tope and the Rantof Jhansi. Many small chiefs of Rajasthan andMaharashtra revolted with the support of thepeople who were quite hostile to the British.Local rebellions also occurred in Hyderabadand Bengal.


The tremendous sweep and breadth ofthe Revolt was matched by its depth.Everywhere in Northern and Central India,the mutiny of the sepoys triggered popularrevolts of the civilian population. After thesepoys had destroyed British authority, thecommon people rose up in arms often fightingwith spears and axes, bows and arrows, lathisand sickles, arid crude muskets. They tookadvantage of the Revolt to destroy themoney-lenders’ account books and recordsof debts. They also attacked the British-established law courts, revenue offices(tehsils) and revenue records, and thanas. Itis of some importance to note that in manyof the battles commoners far surpassed thesepoys in numbers. According to oneestimate, of the total number of about 150.000men who died fighting the English in Awadh,over 100,000 were civilians.

The popular character of the Revolt of1857 also became evident when the Britishferried to crush it. They had to wage avigorous and ruthless war not only againstthe rebellious sepoys but also against- thepeople of Delhi Awadh, North-WesternProvinces and Agra, Central lndias aridWestern Bihar, burning entire villages andmassacring villagers and urban people.

Much of the strength of the Revolt of1857 lay in Hindu-Muslim unify Among thesoldiers and the people as well as among theleaders there was complete cooperation asbetween Hindus and Muslims. All the rebelsrecognized Bahadur Shah, a Muslim, as theirEmperor. Also the first thoughts of the Hindusepoys at Meerut was to march straight toDelhi. The Hindu and Muslim rebels andsepoys respected each other’s sentiments. Forexample, wherever the Revolt was successful,

orders were immediately issued banningcow-slaughter out of respect for Hindusentiments. Moreover, Hindus and Muslimswere. equally well represented at all levelsof the leadership. The role of Hindu-Muslimunity in the Revolt was indirectlyacknowledge later by Aitchison, a seniorBritish official, complained: “In this instancewe could not play off the Mohammedansagainst the Hindus’. In fact the events of 1857clearly bring cut that the people and politicsof India were basically not communal inmedieval times and before 1858.

The storm-centres of the Revolt of 1857were at Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly,Jhansi, and Arrah in Bihar. At Delhi thenominal and symbolic leadership belongedto the Emperor Bahadur Shah, but the realcommand lay with a Court of Soldiers headedby General Bakht Khan who had led therevolt of the Bareilly troops and broughtthem to Delhi. In the British army he hadbeen an ordinary subedar of artillery. Bakht-Khan represented the popular and plebeianelement at the headquarters of the Revolt.The Emperor Bahadur Shah was perhaps theweakest link in the chain of leadership of theRevolt. His weak personality, old age andlack of qualities of leadership, ctreatedpolitical weakness at the nerve centre of theRevolt and did incalculable damage to it.

At Kanpur the Revolt was led by NanaSahib, the adopted son of Baji Rao II, the lastPeshwa. Nana Sahib expelled the Englishfrom help of the sepoys and proclaimedhimself the Peshwa. At the same time heacknowledged Bahadur Shah as the Emperorof India and declared himself to be hisGovernor. The chief burden of fighting onbehalf of Revolt was Nana Sahib fell on the


shoulders of Tantia Tope, one of his mostloyal servants, Tantia Tope has won immortalfame by his patriotism, determined lighting,and skillful guerrilla operations. Azimullahwas another loyal servant of Nana Sahib. Hewas an expert in political propagandaUnfortunately, Nana Sahib tarnished hisbrave record by deceitfully killing the Britishgarrison at Kanpur after he had agreed togive them safe conduct.

The revolt at Lucknow was led byHazrat Mahal, the Begum of Awadh, who hadproclaimed her young son, Birjis Kadir, as theNawab of Awadh. Helped by the sepoys atLucknow, and by the zamindars and peasantsof Awadh, the Begum, organized an. all-outattack on the British, Compelled to give upthe city, the latter entrenched themselves inthe Residency building. In the end, the siegeof the Residency failed, as the small Britishgarrison fought back with exemplaryfortitude and valour.

One of the great leaders of the Revoltof l957s and perhaps one of the greatestheroines of Indian history, was the youngRani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. The young Ranijoined the rebels when the British refused toacknowledge right to adopt an heir to theJhansi’s gaddi, annexed her state, andthreatened to treat her as an instigator of therebellion of the sepoys at Jhansi- The Ranivacillated for some time. But once she haddecided to throw in her lot with the rebels,she fought valiantly at the head of her troops.Tales of her bravery and courage andmilitary’ skill have inspired her countrymenever since. Driven out of Jhansi by the Britishforces after a fierce battle in which “evenwomen were seen working the batteries anddistributing ammunition’, she administered

the oath to her followers that ‘with our ownhands we shall not our Azadshahi(independent rule) bury”. She capturedGwalior with the help of Tantia Tope and hertrusted Afghan guards Maharaja Sindhia,loyal to the British, made an attempt to fightthe Rani but most of his troops deserted toher. Sindhia sought refuge with the Englishat Agra. The brave Rani died fighting on 17June 1858, clad in the battle dress of a soldierand mounted on a companion, a Muslim girl.

Kunwar Singh, a ruined anddiscontented zamindar of Jagdishpur nearArrah, was the chief organizer of the Revoltin Bihar. Though nearly 80 years old, he ‘asperhaps the most Outstanding military leaderand strategist of the Revolt. MaulaviAhmudullah of Faizabad was anotheroutstanding leader of the Revolt. He was anative of Madras where he had startedpreaching armed rebellion. In January 1857he moved towards the north to Faizabadwhere he fought a large-scale battle againsta company of British troops sent to stop himfrom preaching sedition When the generalrevolt broke cut in May, he emerged as oneof its acknowledged leaders in Awadh. Thegreatest heroes of the Revolt were, however,the sepoys, many of whom displayed greatcourage in the field of battle and thousandsof whom unselfishly laid down their lives.More than anything else, it was theirdetermination and sacrifice that nearly ledto the expulsion of the British from India Inthis patriotic struggle, they sacrificed eventheir deep religious prejudices They hadrevolted on the question of the greasedcartridges but now to expel the hatedforeigner they freely used the samecartridges in their battles.


The Weaknesses ofthe Revolt and its Suppression

Even though spread over a vast territoryand widely popular among the people, theRevolt of 1857 could not embrace the entirecountry or all the groups and classes of Indiansociety- It did not spread to South India andmost of Eastern and Western India becausethese regions had repeatedly rebelled earlier.Most rulers of the Indian states arid the bigzamindars selfish to the core and fearful ofBritish might, refused to join in. On thecontrary, the Sindhia of Gwalior, the Holkarof Indore, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Rajaof Jodhpur and other Rajput rulers, theNawab of Bhopal, the rulers of Patiala,Nabha, Jind, and other Sikh chieftains ofPunjab, the Maharaja of Kashmir, the Ranasof Nepal, and many other ruling chiefs, anda large number of big zamindars gave activehelp to the British in suppressing the Revolt.In fact, no more than one per cent of the chiefsof India joined the Revolt. Governor GeneralCanning later remarked that these rulers andchiefs “acted- as the breakwaters to the stormwhich would have otherwise swept us in onegreat wave”. Madras, Bombay Bengal andthe Western Punjab remained undisturbed,even though the popular feeling in—theseprovinces favoured ‘the rebels. Moreover,except for the discon-tented and thedispossessed zamiridars, the middle andupper classes were mostly critical of therebels; most of the propertied classes wereeither cool towards them or actively hostileto them. Even many of the taluqdars (bigzamindars) of Awadh, who had joined theRevolt, abandoned it once the Governmentgave them an assurance that their estateswould be returned to them, This made itvery’ difficult for the peasants and soldiers

of Awadh to Sustain a prolonged guerrillacampaign.

The money-lenders were the chieftargets of the villagers attacks. They were,therefore, naturally hostile to the Revolt. Themerchants, too, gradually became unfriendly.The rebels were compelled to impose heavytaxation on them in order to finance the waror to seize their stocks of foodstuffs to feedthe army. The merchants often hide theirwealth and goods and refused to give freesupplies to the rebels. The zamindars ofBengal also remained loyal to the British.They were after all a creation of the British.Moreover, the hostility of Bihar peasantstowards their zamindars frightened theBengal zamindars. Similarly, the bigmerchants of Bombay, Calcutta and Madrassupported the British because their mainprofits came from foreign trade andeconomic connections with the Britishmerchants.

The modern educated Indians also didnot support the Revolt. They were repelledby the rebels appeals to superstitions andtheir opposition to progressive socialmeasures. As we have seen, the educatedIndians wanted to end the backwardness oftheir country. They mistakenly believed thatthe British rule would help them accomplishthese tasks of moderni-zation while rebels,led by zamindars, old rulers and chieftainsand other feudal elements, would take thecountry backward. Only later did theeducated Indians learn from experience thatforeign rule was incapable of modernizingthe country and that it would insteadimpoverish it and keep it backward. Therevolutionaries of 857 proved to be more far-sighted in this respect; they had a better,


instinctive understanding of the evils offoreign rule and of the necessity to get rid ofit. On the other hand, they did not realise, asdid the educated intelligentsia, that thecountry had fallen prey to foreignersprecisely because it had stuck to rotten andoutmoded customs, traditions andinstitutions. They failed to; see that nationalsalvation lay not in going back to feudalmonarchy hut in going forward to a modernsociety, a modern economy, scientificeducation and modern political institutions.In any case, it cannot be said that theeducated Indians were anti-national or loyalto a foreign regime. As events after 1858 wereto show, they were soon to lead a powerfuland modern national movement againstBritish rule.

Whatever the reasons for the disunityof Indians, it was to prove fatal to the Revolt.But this was not the only weakness fromwhich the cause of the rebels suffered. Theywere short of modern weapons and othermaterials of var. Most of them fought withsuch ancient weapons as pikes and swords.They were also poorly organised. The sepoyswere brave and selfless but they were alsoill- disciplined. Sometimes they behavedmore like a riotous mob than a disciplinedarmy. The rebel units did not have commonplans of military action, or authoritativeheads, or centralized leadership. Theuprisings in different parts of the countrywere completely uncoordinated. The leaderswere joined together by a common feelingof hatred for the alien rule but by nothingelse. Once they overthrew British power froman area, they did not know what sort ofpolitical power or institutions to create in itsplace. They were suspicious and jealous ofone another and often indulged in suicidal

quarrels. Similarly, the peasantry havingdestroyed revenue records and moneylenders books, and overthrown the newzamindars, became passive, not knowingwhat to do next.

In fact, the weakness of the Revolt wentdeeper than the failings of individuals. Themovement had little understanding ofcolonialism, which had overpowered India,or of the modern world. It lacked a forward-looking programme, coherent ideology, apolitical perspective or a vision of the futuresociety and economy. The Revolt representedno societal alternative to be implementedafter the capture of power. The diverseelements which took part in the Revolt wereunited only by their hatred of British rule,but each of them had different grievances anddiffering conceptions of the politics of freeIndia. This absence of a modern andprogressive programme enabled thereactionary princes and zamindars to seizethe levers of power of the revolutionarymovement. But the feudal character of theRevolt should not be stressed over much.Gradually the soldiers and the people werebeginning to evolve a different type ofleadership. The very effort to make theRevolt a success was compelling them tocreate new types of organisation. Forexample, at Delhi, a court of administrators,consisting of ten members, six army men andfour civilians, was established. All itsdecisions were taken by a majority vote. Thecourt took all military and administrativedecisions in the name of the Emperor. Similarefforts to create new organisationalstructures were made in other centres of therebellion. As Benjamin Disraeli warned theBritish Government at the time, if they didnot suppress the Revolt in time, they would


“find other characters on the stage, withwhom to contend, besides the princes ofIndia.

In the end, British imperialism, with adeveloping capitalist economy and at theheight of its power the world over, andsupported by most of the Indian princes andchiefs, proved militarily too strong for therebels. The British Government pouredimmense supplies of men, money and armsinto the country, though Indians had later torepay the entire cost of their ownsuppression. The Revolt was suppressed.Sheer courage could not win against apowerful and determined enemy whoplanned its every step. The rebels were dealtan early blow when the British captured Delhion 20 September 1857 after prolonged andbitter fighting. The aged Emperor BahadurShah was taken prisoner. The Royal Princeswere captured and butchered on the spot.The Emperor was tried and exiled toRangoon where he died in 1862, lamentingbitterly the fate which had buried him Taraway from the city of his birth. Thus the greatHouse of the Mughals was finally andcompletely extinguished.

With the fall of Delhi the focal point ofthe Revolt disappeared. The other leaders ofthe Revolt carried on the brave but unequalstruggle, with the British mounting apowerful offensive against them. JohnLawrence, Outram, Have lock, Neil,Campbell, and Hugh Rose were some of theBritish commanders who earned militaryfame in the course of this campaign. One byone, all the great leaders of the Revolt fell.

Nana Sahib was defeated at Kanpur. Defiantto the very end and refusing to surrender,he escaped to Nepal early in 1859, never tobe heard of again. Tantia Tope escaped intothe jungles of Central India where he carriedOR bitter and brilliant guerrilla warfare untilApril 1859 when he was betrayed by azamindar friend and captured while asleep-He was put to death after a hurried trial on15 April 1859. The Rani of Jhansi had died onthe field of battle earlier on 17 June 1858. By1859, Kunwar Singh, Bakht Khan, KhanBahadur Khan of Bareilly, Rao Sahib, brotherof Nana Sahib, and Maulavi Ahmadullah wereall dead, while the Begum of Awadh wascompelled to hide in Nepal.

By the end of 1859, Bntish authorityover India was fully re-established, but theRevolt had not been in vain. It is a gloriouslandmark in our history. Though it was adesperate effort to save India in the old wayand under traditional leadership, it was thefirst great struggle of the Indian people forfreedom from British imperialism, it pavedthe way for the rise of the modern nationalmovement. The heroic and patriotic struggleof 1857, and the series of rebellions precedingit, left an unforgettable impression on theminds of the Indian people, establishedvaluable local traditions of resistance toBritish rule, and served as a perennial sourceof inspiration in their later struggle forfreedom. The heroes of the Revolt soonbecame household names in the country, eventhough the very mention of their names wasfrowned upon, by the rulers.


GROWTH OF NEW INDIA -RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL REFORM AFTER 1858

THE RISING tide of nationalism anddemocracy, which led to the struggle forfreedom, also found expression in movementsto reform and democratise the socialinstitutions and religious outlook of theIndian people. Many Indians realised thatsocial and religious reformation was anessential condition for the all-rounddevelopment of the country on modern linesand for the growth of national unity andsolidarity. The growth of nationalistsentiments, emergence of new economicforces, spread of education, impact of modernwestern ideas and culture, and increasedawareness of the world not only heightenedthe consciousness of the backwardness anddegeneration of Indian society but furtherstrengthened the resolve to reform.

After 1858, the earlier reforming ten-dency was broadened. The work of earlierreformers, like Raja Rammohan Roy and Pan-dit Vidyasagar, was carried further by majormovements of religious and social reformsReligious Reform

Filled with the desire to adapt theirsociety to the requirements of the modernworld of science, democracy and nationalism,and determined to let no obstacle stand inthe way, thoughtful Indians set out to reformtheir traditional religions, for religion wasin those times a basic part of peoples life and

there could be little social reform withoutreligious reform. While trying to remain trueto the foundations of their religions, theyremodeled them to suit the new needs of theIndian people.Brahmo Samaj

The Brahmo tradition of Raja RammohanRoy was carried forward after 1843 byDevendranath Tagore, who also repudiatedthe doctrine that the Vedic scriptures wereinfallible, and after 1866 by Keshub ChandraSen. The Brahmo Samaj made an effort toreform Hindu religion by removing abusesand by basing it on the worship of one Godand on the teachings of the Vedas andUpanishads even though it repudiated thedoctrine of the infallibility of the Vedas. Italso tried to incorporate the best aspects ofmodern western thought.

Most of all it based itself on humanreason which was to be the ultimate criterionfor deciding what was worthwhile and whatwas useless in the past or present religiousprinciples and practices. For that reason, theBrahmo Samaj denied the need for a priestlyclass for interpreting religious writings.Every individual had the right and thecapacity to decide with the help of his ownintellect what was right and what was wrongin a religious book or principle. Thus theBrahmos were basically opposed to idolatry

9


and superstitious practices and rituals, in factto the entire Brahmanical system. They couldworship one God without the mediation ofthe priests. The Brahmos were also greatsocial reformers. They actively opposed thecaste system and child-marriage andsupported the general uplift of women,including widow remarriage, and the spreadof modern education to men and women.

The Brahmo Samaj was weakened byinternal dimensions in the second half of the19th century. Moreover, its influence wasconfined mostly to urban educated groups.Yet it had a decisive influence on theintellectual, social, cultural and political lifeof Bengal, and the rest of India in the 19thand 20th centuries.Religious Reform in Maharashtra

Religious reform was begun in Bombayin 1840 by the Parmahans Mandali whichaimed at fighting idolatry and the castesystem. Perhaps the earliest religiousreformer in western India was Gopal HariDeshmukh, known popularly as Lokahitwadi, who wrote in Marathi, made powerfulrationalist attacks on hindu orthodoxy. andpreached religious anti social equality.

He also said that if religion did notsanction social reforms then religion shouldbe changed, for after all religion was madeby human beings and scriptures, written longago. might not remain relevant to later times.Later the Prarthana Samaj was started withthe aim of reforming hindu religious thoughtand practice in the light of modernknowledge. It preached the worship of oneGod and tried to free religion of casteorthodoxy and priestly domination. Two ofits great leaders were R G. Bhandarkar, thefamous Sanskrit scholar and historian, and

Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842-1901). It waspowerfully influenced by the Brahmo Samaj.Its activities also spread to south India as aresult of the efforts of the Telugu reformer,Viresalingam. One of the greatest rationalistthinkers of modern India, Gopal GaneshAgarkar, also lived and worked inMaharashtra at this time. Agarkar was anadvocate of the power of human reason. Hesharply criticised any blind dependence ontradition or false glorification of India’s past.Ramakrishna and Vivekananda

Ramakrishna Parmahamsa (1834-86 wasa saintly person who sought religioussalvation in the traditional ways ofrenunciation, meditation and devotion(bhakti). In his search for religious truth orthe realisation of God, he lived with mysticsof other faiths, Muslims and Christians. Heagain and again emphasised that there weremany roads to God and salvation and thatservice of men was service of God, for manwas the embodiment of God.

It was his great disciple, Swami Viveka-nanda (1863-1902), who popularised hisreligious message and who tried to put it ina form that would suit the needs ofcontemporary Indian society. Abode all,Vivekananda stressed social action.Knowledge unaccompanied by action in theactual world in which we live was useless,he said. He too, like his guru, proclaimed theessential oneness of all religions andcondemned any narrowness in religiousmatters. Thus, he wrote in 1898; “For ourown motherland a junction of the two greatsystems, Hinduism and Islam is the onlyhope’. At the same time, he was convincedof the superior approach of the Indianphilosophical tradition. He himself

Growth of New India - Religious and Social Reform After 1858 71

subscribed to Vedanta which he declared tobe a fully rational system.

Vivekananda criticised Indians forhaving lost touch with the rest of the worldand become stagnant and mummified. Hewrote: ‘The fact of our isolation from all othernations of the world is the cause of ourdegeneration and its only remedy is gettingback into the current of the rest of the world.Motion is the sign of life.”

Vivekananda condemned the castesystem and the current Hindu emphasis onrituals and superstitions, and urged thepeople to imbibe the spirit of liberty, equalityand free-thinking.

Like his guru, Vivekananda was also agreat humanist. Shocked by the poverty,misery and suffering of the common peopleof the country.

The only God in whom I believe, thesum total of all souls, and above all, my Godthe wicked, my Cod the afflicted, my Godthe poor of all races.

In 1897 Vivekanand founded the Rama-krishna Mission to carry on humanitarianrelief and social work. The Mission had manybranches in different parts of the country hadcarried on social service by opening schools,hospitals and dispensaries, orphanages.,libraries, etc. It thus laid emphasis not onpersonal salvation but on social good or socialservice.Swami Dayanand and the Arya Samaj

The Arya Samaj undertook the task ofreforming Hindu religion in north India. Itwas founded in 1875 by Swami (1824-83).Swami Dayannd believed that selfish andignorant priests had perverted Hindu religionwith the aid of the Puranas which, he said,were full of false teachings. For his own’

inspiration, Swami Dayanand went to theVedas which he regarded as infallible, being-the inspired word of God, and as the fountof all knowledge. He rejected such laterreligious thought as conflicted with theVedas. This total dependence on the Vedasand their infallibility gave his teachings anorthodox colouring, for infallibility meant thathuman reason was not to be the final decidingfactor. However, his approach had arationalist aspects because the Vedas, thoughrevealed were to be rationally interpreted byhimself and others, who were human beings.Thus individual reason was the decisivefactor.

He believed that every person had theright of direct access to God. Moreover,instead of supporting Hindu orthodoxy, heattacked it and led a revolt against it. Theteachings he derived from his owninterpretation of the Vedas wereconsequently similar to the religious andsocial reforms that other Indian reformerswere advocating. He was opposed to idolatry,ritual and priesthood, and particularly to theprevalent caste practices and popularHinduism as preached by brahmins. He alsodirected attention towards problems of menas they lived in this real world and awayfrom the traditional belief in the other world.He also favoured the study of westernsciences. Interestingly enough, SwamiDayanand had met and had discussions withKeshab Chandra Sen, Vidyasagar, JusticeRanade, Gopal Hari Deshmukh and othermodern religious and social reformers. Infact, the ideas of the Arya Samaj with itsSunday meeting resembled the practices ofthe Brahmo Samaj and the Prarthana Samajin this respect.


Some of Swami Dayanand’s followerslater started a network of schools and collegesin the country to impart education onwestern lines. Lala Hansraj played a leadingpart in this effort. On the other hand, in 1902,Swami Shradhananda started the Gurukulnear Hardwar to propagate the moretraditional ideals of education.

The Arya Samajists were vigorottsadvocates of social reform and workedactively to improve the condition of women,and to spread education among them. Theyfought untouchability and the rigidities of thehereditary caste system. They were thusadvocates’ of social equality and promotedsocial solidarity and “consolidation. Theyalso inculcated a spirit of self-respect and self-reliance among the people. This promotednationalism. At the same time, one of theArya Samaj’s objectives was to prevent theconversion of Hindus to other religions.

This led it to start a crusade againstother religions. This crusade became acontributory factor in the growth ofcommunalism in India in the 20th century.While the Arya Samaj’s reformist worktended to remove social ills and to unitepeople, its religious work tended, thoughperhaps unconsciously, to divide the growingnational unity among Hindus, Muslims,Parsis, Sikhs and Christians. It was not seenclearly that in India national unity had to besecular and above religion so that it wouldembrace the people of all religions.The Theosophical Society

The Theosophical Society was foundedin the United States by Madam H.P. Blavatskyand Colonel H.S. Olcott, who later came toIndia and founded the headquarters of theSociety at Adyar near Madras in 1886. The

Theosophist movement soon grew ‘in Indiaas a result of the leadership given to it byMrs. Annie Besant who had come to India in1893. The Theosophists advocated the revivaland strengthening ancient religious of Hin-duism Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. Theyrecognised the doctrine of the transmigra-tion of the soul. ‘They also preached the uni-versal brotherhood of man. As religious re-vivalists, the Theoso-phists were not verysuccessful. But they made a peculiar contri-bution to developments in modern India. Itwas a movement led by westerners, who glo-rified Indian religious and theosophical tra-ditions. This helped Indians recover their self-confidence, even though it tended to givethem a sense of false pride in their past great-ness.

One of Mrs. Besants many achievementsin India was the establishment of the CentralHindu School at Benaras which was laterdeveloped by Madan Mohan Malaviya intothe Benaras Hindu University.Syed Ahmad-Khan and the Aligarh School

Movements for religious reform werelate in emerging among the Muslims. TheMuslim upper classes had tended to avoidcontact with western education and culture,and it was mainly after the Revolt of 1857that modern ideas of religious reform beganto appear. A beginning in this direction wasmade when the Muhammedan LiterarySociety was founded at Calcutta in 1863. ThisSociety promoted discussion of religious,social and political questions in the light ofmodern ideas and encouraged upper andmiddle class Muslims to take to westerneducation. The most important reformeramong die Muslims was Syed Ahmad Khan(1817-98). He was tremendously impressed


by .modern scientific thought and workedall his life to reconcile it with Islam. This hedid, first of all, by declaring that the Quranalone was the authoritative work for Islamand all other Islamic writings were secondary.Even the Quran he interpreted in the light ofcontemporary rationalism and science. In hisview any interpretation of the Quran thatconflicted with human reason science ornature was in reality a misister-pretation. Norwere religious tenets immutable, he said. Ifreligion tenets change with time, it wouldbecome fossilised as had happened in India.All his life he struggled against blindobedience to tradition, dependence oncustom, ignorance and irrationalism. Heurged the people to develop a criticalapproach and freedom of thought So long asfreedom of thought is not developed, therecan be no civilised life,” he declared. He alsowarned against fanaticism, narrowmindedness, and exclusiveness, and urgedstudents and others to be broadminded andtolerant. A closed mind, he said, was thehallmark of social and intellectualbackwardness.

Sayyid Ahmad Khan was a greatbeliever in religious toleration. He believedthat all religions had a certain underlyingunity which could be called practicalmorality. Believing that a persons religion washis or her private affair, he roundlycondemned any sign of religious bigotry inpersonal relations. He was also opposed tocommunal friction. Appealing to Hindus andMuslims to unite.

Moreover, Hindus, Parsis and Christianshad freely contributed to the funds of hiscollege whose doors were also open to allIndians. For example, in 1898, there were 64

Hindu and 285 Muslim students in thecollege. Out of the seven Indian teachers, twowere Hindu, one of them being a Professorof Sanskrit. However, towards the end of hislife, he been to talk of Hindu domination toprevent his followers from joining the risingnational movement. This was unfortunate,though basically he was not a communalist.He only wanted the backwardness of theMuslim middle and upper classes to go. Hispolitics were the result of his firm belief thatimmediate political progress was not possiblebecause the British.

Government could not be easilydislodged. On the other hand, any hostilityby the officials might prove dangerous to theeducational effort which he saw as the needof the hour. He believed that only whenIndians had become as modern in theirthinking and actions as the English were,could they hope to successfully challengeforeign rule. He, therefore, advised allIndians and particularly the educationallybackward Muslims to remain aloof frompolitics for some time to come. The time forpolitics, he said, had not yet come. In fact, hehad become so committed to his college andthe cause of education that he was willing tosacrifice all other interests to them.Consequently, to prevent the orthodoxMuslims from opposing his college, hevirtually gave up his agitation in favour ofreligious reform. For the same reason, hewould not do anything to offend thegovernment and, on the other hand,encouraged communalism and separatism.This was, of course, a serious political error,which was to have harmful consequences inlater years. Moreover, some of his followersdeviated from his broad-mindedness and


tended later to glorify Islam and its pastwhile criticizing other religions.

Sayyid Ahmads reformist zeal alsoembraced the social sphere. He urgedMuslims to give up medieval customs waysof thought and behaviour. In particular hewrote in favour of raising women’s status insociety and advocated removal of purdahand spread of education among women. Healso condemned the customs of polygamy andeasy divorce.

Sayyid Ahmad Khan was helped by aband of Joyal followers who are collectivelydescribe as the Aligarh School. Chiragh Au,the Urdu poet Altaf Husain Hali, NazirAhmad and Maulana Shibli Nomani weresome of the other distinguished leaders ofthe Aligarh School.Muhammad Iqbal

One of the greatest poets of modernIndia, Muhammad Iqbal (1876-1938) alsoprofoundly influenced through his poetry thephilosophical and religious outlook of theyounger generation of Muslims as well as ofHindus. Like Swami Vivekananda, heemphasised the need for constant change andceaseless activity and condemned resignationcontemplation, and quiet contentment. Heurged the adoption of a dynamic outlook thatwould help change the world. He wasbasically a humanist. In fact, be raised humanaction to the status of a prime virtue. Manshould not submit to nature or powers thatbe, he said, but should control this worldthrough constant activity. Nothing was moresinful in his eyes than the passive acceptanceof things as they were. Condemning ritualismand other-worldly attitude, he urged men towork for and achieve happiness in this worldof the living. In his earlier poetry, he extolled

patriotism, though later he encouragedMuslim separatism.Religious Reform among the Parsis

Religious reform was begun among theParsis in Bombay in the middle of the 19thcentury. In 1851, the Rehnumai MazdayasanSabha or Religious Reform Association wasstarted by Naoroji Furdonji, DadabhaiNaoroji, S.S. Bengalee, and others. Itcampaigned against the entrenchedorthodoxy in the religious field and initiatedthe modernization of Parsi social customsregarding the education of women, marriageand the social position of women in general.In course of time, the Parsis became sociallythe most westernized section of Indian society.Religious Reform among the Sikhs

Religious reform among the Sikhs wasbegun at the end of the 19th century whenthe Khalsa College was started at Amritsar.But the reform effort gained momentum after1920 when the Akali Movement rose in thePunjab. The main aim of the Akalis was topurify the management of the gurudwarasor Sikh shrines. These gurudwara had beenheavily endowed with land and money bydevout Sikhs But they had come to bemanaged autocratically by Corrupt andselfish mahants. The Sikh masses led by theAkalis started in 1921 a powerful satyagrahaagainst the mahants and the Governmentwhich aided them.

The Akalis soon forced the Governmentto pass a new Gurudwara Act in 1922 whichwas later amended in 1925. Sometimes withto aid of the Act, but often through directaction, the Sikhs gradually turned out of thegurudwaras the corrupt mahants, eventhough hundreds of lives had to be sacrificedin the process.


Apart from the reform movements andindividual reformers discussed above, therewere numerous other similar movements andindividuals during the 19th and 20thcenturies.

The religious reform movements ofmodern tines had an underlying unity -mostof them were based on the twin doctrines ofReason (Rationalism) and Humanism, thoughthey also sometimes tended to appeal to faithand ancient authority to bolster their appeal.Moreover, it was to the rising middle classesand the modem educated intellectuals thatthey appealed most. They tried to free fromanti-intellectual religious dogmas and blindfaith the human intellect’s capacity to thinkand reason They opposed the ritualistic, su-perstitious, irrational and obscurantist ele-ments in Indian religions. Many of them aban-doned, though to varying degrees, the prin-ciple of authority in religion and evaluatedtruth in any religion and its holy books byits conformity to logic reasons, are science.

Some of these religious reformersappealed to tradition and claimed that theywere merely reviving the pure doctrines,beliefs and practices of the past. But, in fact,the past could not be revived. Often therewas no agreed picture of the past. Theproblems that an appeal to the past oftencreated were posed by Justice Ranade, whohas himself often asked the people to revivethe best tradition of the past, in the following:What shall we revive? Shall we revive theold habits of our people when the most sacredof our castes indulged in all the abominations,as we now understand them, of animal foodand intoxicating drink? Shall we revive thetwelve forms of sons, or eight forms ofmarriage, which included capture, andrecogised mixed and illegitimate

intercourse?... Shall we revive the hacatombsof animals sacrificed from year’s end toyear’s end, in which even human beings werenot spared as propitiatory offering to God?... Shall we revive the sati, and infanticidecustoms?

And he came to the conclusion that thesociety as a living organism is constantlychanging and can never go back to the past.The dead and-the buried or burnt are dead,buried, and burnt once for all, and the deadpast cannot, therefore, be revived.” he wrote.Every reformer, who appealed to the past,so interpreted it as to make it appear to agreewith the reforms he was suggesting. Oftenthe reforms and the outlook were new, onlytheir justification was based on an appeal tothe past. Many of the ideas which conflictedwith, modern scientific knowledge wereusually declared to be a later accretion ormisinter-pretation. And since the orthodoxcould not accept this view, the religiousreformers came into conflict with theorthodox sections and became, at least in thebeginning, religious and social rebels.

Similarly, Sayyid Ahmed Khan arousedthe anger of the traditionalists. They abusedhim, issued fatwas (religious decrees) againsthim and even threatened his life.

The humanist aspect of the religiousreform movements was expressed in thegeneral attack on priesthood and rituals, andthe emphasis on the individual’s right tointerpret religious scriptures in the light ofhuman reason and human welfare. Asignificant feature of humanism wasexpressed in a new humanitarian moralitywhich include the notion that humanity canprogress and has progressed and that moralvalues are, ultimately, those which favour


human progress. The social reformmovements were an embodiment of this newhumanitarian morality.

Though the reformers tried to reformtheir religions, their general outlook wasuniversalistic. Rammohan Roy saw differentreligions as particular expression of auniversal God and religious truth. SayyidAhmad Khan said that prophets had the samefaith or din and every people had been sentprophets by God. Keshab Chandra Senexpressed the same idea as follows: “Ourposition is not that truths are to be found inall religions, but all established religions aretrue.

Apart from purely religiousconsiderations, these religious reformmovements fostered among Indians greaterself-respect, self-confidence, and pride in theircountry. By interpreting their religious pastin modern rational terms and by weeding outmany of the corrupting and irrationalelements from the 19th century religiousbeliefs and practices, the reformers enabledtheir followers to meet the official taunt thattheir religions and society were decadent andinferior.

The religious reform movements helpedmany Indians to come to terms with themodern world. In fact they arose to recastthe old religions into a new modern mouldto suit the needs of new social groups ofsociety. Thus pride in the past did not preventIndians from accepting the essential -superiority of the modern world in generaland modern science in particular. Of course,some people insisted that they were merelygoing back to the original, most ancientscriptures which were suitably interpreted.As a result of the reformed outlook, many

Indians began to acquire a modern, this-worldly, secular and national outlook in placeof a narrow outlook dominated byconsiderations of caste and religion, thoughthe latter tendency by no means came to anend. Moreover, more and more people beganto think in terms of promoting their physicaland cultural welfare in this world in place ofpassively accepting their lot and waiting forimprovement in life after death. Thesemovements also-to some extent endedIndia’s cultural and intellectual isolation fromthe rest of the world and enabled Indians toshare in the stream of world ideas. At thesame time, they were no longer bewitchedby everything in the West; those who copiedthe West blindly were increasingly lookeddown upon. In fact, while adopting a criticalattitude towards backward elements oftraditional religions and culture andwelcoming positive elements of modernCulture, most of the religious reformers—opposed blind imitation of the West andwaged an ideological struggle against thecolonialisation of Indian culture and thought.The problem here was to maintain a balancebetween the two aspects. Some went too farin modernisation and tended to encouragecolonialisation of culture; others defendedtraditional thought, culture and institutionsto the extent of glorifying them and opposingany introduction of modern ideas andculture. The best of reformers argued thatmodern ideas and culture could be bestimbibed by integrating them into Indiancultural streams.

Two negative aspects of the religiousreform movements may also be noted. Firstly,all of them catered to the needs of a smallpercentage of the population -the urbanmiddle and upper classes. None of them could


reach the vast masses of the peasantry andthe urban poor, who continued by and largeto lead their lives in the traditional, custom-ridden ways. This was because they basicallygave voice to the urges of the educated andurban strata of Indian society.

The second limitation, which laterbecame a major negative factor, was thetendency to look backward, appeal to pastgreatness, and to rely on scriptural authority,these tended to go against the positiveteachings f the reform movementsthemselves. They undermined to some extentthe supremacy of human reason and scientificoutlook.

They encouraged mysticism in newgarbs, and fostered pseudo-scientificthinking. Appeals to past greatness createdfalse pride and smugness, while the habit offinding a Golden Age in the past acted as acheck on the full acceptance of modern scienceand hampered the effort to improve thepresent. But, most of all, there tendenciestended to divide Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, andParsis as also high caste Hindus from lowcaste Hindus. Any over-emphasis on religionin a country containing many religions wasbound to have a divisive effect. Moreover,the reformers put a one-sided emphasis onthe religious and philosophical aspects of thecultural heritage. These aspects were,moreover, not a common heritage of allpeople. On the other hand, art andarchitecture, literature, music, science andtechnology, etc., in which all sections ofpeople had played an equal role, were notsufficiently emphasised.

In addition, the Hindu reformersinvariably confined their praise of the Indianpast to its ancient period. Even a broad-

minded man like Swami Vivekananda talkedof the Indian spirit or India’s pastachievements in this sense alone. Thesereformers looked upon the medieval periodof Indian history as essentially an era ofdecadence. This was not only unhistorical butalso socially and politically harmful. It tendedto create the notion of two separate peoples.Similarly an uncritical praise of the ancientperiod and religions could not be fullyacceptable to the persons coming from lowercastes who -had for centuries suffered underthe most destructive caste oppression whichhad developed precisely during the ancientperiod. The result of all these factors was thatinstead of all Indians taking an equal pridein their past material and culturalachievements and deriving inspiration fromthem, the past became a heritage of the few.Moreover the past itself tended to be torninto compartments on a partisan basis. Manin the Muslim middle classes went to theextent of turning to the history of West Asiafor their traditions and moments of pride.Increasingly, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs andParsis, and later on lower-caste Hindus whohad been influenced by the reformmovements tended to be different from oneanother. On the other hand, the Hindu andMuslim masses who followed traditionalways untouched by the reform movementsstill lived in harmony, practising theirdifferent religious rituals. To some extent theprocess of the evolution of a compositeculture that had been going on for centurieswas arrested; though in other spheresnational unification of the Indian people wasaccelerated. The evil aspects of thisphenomenon became apparent when it wasfound that, along with a rapid rise of nationalconsciousness, another conscious-ness


communal consciousness - had begun to riseamong the middle classes. Many other factorswere certainly responsible for the birth ofcommunalism in modern times; but,undoubtedly, the nature of the religiousreform movements also contributed to it.Social Reform

The major effect of national awakeningin the 19th century was seen in the field ofsocial reform. The newly educated personsincreasingly revolted against rigid socialconventions and outdated customs. Theycould no longer tolerate irrational anddehumanizing social practices. in their revoltthey were inspired by the humanistic idealsof social equality and the equal worth of allindividuals.

Nearly all the religious reformers con-tributed to the social reform movement. Thiswas because the backward features of Indiansociety, such as the caste system or inequal-ity of the sexes, had religious sanctions in thepast. In addition, certain other organisationslike the Social Conference, Servants of IndiaSociety, an, the Christian missionaries workedactively for social reform. Many prominentpersons Jotiba Govind Phule, Gopal HanDeshmukh, Justice Ranade. K T. Telang. B.M.Malabari. O.K Karve, Sasipada Banerjee, B.C.Pal. Viresalingam, Sri Narayn Guru. E.V.Ramaswami Naiker and B.R. Ambedkar, andmany others - also played an important role.In the 20th century, and especially after 1919.the national movement became the mainpropagator of social reform. Increasingly, thereformers took recourse to propaganda in theIndian language to reach the masses. Theyalso used novels, dramas, poetry, short sto-ries, the Press and, in the thirties, the cinemato spread their views.

While social reform was linked withreligious reform in some cases during the19th century, in later years it was increasinglysecular in approach. Moreover, many peoplewho were orthodox in their religiousapproach participated in it. Similarly, in thebeginning social reform had largely been theeffort of newly educated Indians belongingto higher castes to adjust their socialbehaviour to the requirements of modemwestern culture and values. But gradually itpenetrated down to the lower strata ofsociety and began to revolutions strata ofsociety and began to revolutionize andreconstruct the social sphere. In time the ideasand ideals of the reformers won almostuniversal acceptance and are today enshrinedin the Indian Constitution.

The social reform movements tried inthe main to achieve two objectives: (a) eman-cipation of women and extension of equalrights to them; and (b) removal of casterigidities and in particular the abolition ofuntouchability.Emancipation of Women

For countless centuries women in Indiahad been subordinated to men and sociallyoppressed. The various religions practised inIndia as well as the personal laws based onthem consigned women to a status inferiorto that of men. The condition of upper classwomen was in this respect worse than thatof peasant women. Since the latter workedactively in the fields alongside men, theyenjoyed relatively greater freedom ofmovement and in some respects a betterstatus in the family than the upper classwomen. For example, they seldom observedpurdah and many of them had the right toremarry. The traditional view often praised


the role of women as wives and mothers butas individuals, they were assigned a verylowly social position. They were supposedto have no personality of their own apartfrom their ties to their husbands. They couldnot find any other expression to their inborntalents or desires except as housewives. Infact, they were seen as just adjuncts to men.For example, a woman could only marry onceamong Hindus, a man was permitted to havemore than one wife. Among Muslims too thiscustom of polygamy prevailed. In large partsof the country women had to live behind thepurdah.

The custom of early marriage prevailed,and even children of eight or nine weremarried Widows could not remarry and hadto lead an ascetic and new life. In many partsof the country, the horrifying custom of Batior self-immolation of widows prevailed.Hindu women had no right to inheritproperty, nor did they enjoy the right toterminate an undesirable marriage. Muslimwomen could inherit property but only halfas much as a man could; and in the matter ofdivorce even theoretically there was noequality between husband and wife. In fact,Muslim women dreaded divorce.

The social position of Hindu and Muslimwomen as well as their values were similar.Moreover, in both cases they wereeconomically and socially totally dependenton men. Lastly, the benefit of education wasdenied to most of them. In addition, womenwere taught to accept their subjection andeven to welcome it as a badge of honour. Itis true that occasionally women of thecharacter and personality of Razia Sultana,Chand Bibi or Ahilya Bai Holkar arose inIndia. But the’ were exceptions to the general

pattern, and do not in any way change thepicture.

Moved by the humanitarian andegalitarian impulses of the 19th century, thesocial reformers started a powerfulmovement to improve the position of women.While some reformers appealed to doctrinesof individua-lism and equality, othersdeclared that true Hinduism or islam orZoroastrianism did not sanction the infe-riorstatus of women and that true religionassigned them a high social position.

Numerous individuals, reform societies;and religious organizations worked hard tospread education among women, toencourage widow remarriage, to improve theliving conditions of widows, to preventmarriage of young children, to bring womenout of the purdah, to enforce- girl They werebound to assert their monogamy, and toenable middle class rights as human beingswomen to take up professions or public.

Another Important development wasemployment. After the l880s, when the birthof a women’s movement in the Dufferinhospitals (named after Lady country. Up tothe l920s enlightened men Dufferin the wifeof the Viceroy) were started, efforts weremade to make modern medicine and childdelivery techniques available to Indianwomen.

The movement for the liberation of themost outstanding of women received a greatstimulus from the rise of the militant nationalmovement in the 20th century. Women playedan active and important role in the strugglefor freedom. They participated in largenumbers in the agitation against the partitionof Bengal and in the Home Rule movement.After 1918, they marched in political


processions, picketed shops selling foreigncloth and liquor, spun and propagated khadi.went to jail in the non-cooperationmovements, faced lathis is, tear gas andbullets during public demonstrations,participated actively in the evolutionaryterrorist movement, and voted in electionsto legislatures and even stood as candidates.Sarojini Naidu, the famous poetess, becamethe president of the National Congress.Several women became ministers orparliamentary secretaries in the popularministries of 1937. Hundreds of them becamemembers of municipalities and other organsof local government. When the trade unionand kisan movements arose in the 1920s,women were often found in their forefront.More than any other factor, participation inthe national movement contributed to theawakening of Indian women and theiremancipation. For how could those who hadbraved British jails and bullets be declaredinferior. And how could they any longer beconfined to the home and be satisfied withthe life of a doll or a slave girl? They werebound to assert their rights as human beings.

Another important development wasthe birth of a women’s movement in thecountry. Up to the 1920s enlightened men hadworked for the uplift of women. Now awareand self-confident women under-took thetask. They started many organisations andinstitutions for the purpose, the mostoutstanding of which was the All IndiaWomen’s Conference founded in 1927.

Women’s struggle for equality took abig step forward with the coming ofindependence. “Articles 14 and 15 of theIndian Constitution (1950) guaranteed thecomplete equality of men and women. The

Hindu Succession Act of 1956 made thedaughter an equal co-heir with the son. TheHindu Marriage Act of 1955 permitteddissolution of marriage on specific grounds.Monogamy was also made mandatory onmen as well as women. But the evil customof dowry still continues even though thedemanding of dowry has been banned. TheConstitution gives women equal right towork and to get employment in stateagencies. The Directive Principles of theConstitution lay down the principle of equalpay for equal work for both men and women.Of course many visible and invisible obstaclesstill remain in putting the principle of theequality of sexes into practice. A proper socialclimate has still to be created. But the socialreform movements, the freedom struggle,women’s own movement, and theConstitution of free India have made a bigcontribution in this direction.Struggle Against Caste

The caste system was another majortarget of attack for the social reformmovement. The Hindus were at this timedivided into numerous castes (jatis). Thecaste into which a man was born determinedlarge areas of his life. It determined whomhe would marry and with whom he woulddine. It largely determined his profession asalso his social loyalties. Moreover, the casteswere carefully graded into a hierarchy ofstatus. At the bottom of the ladder came theuntouchables or scheduled castes as theycame to be called later, who formed about 20per cent of the Hindu population. Theuntouchables suffered from numerous andsevere disabilities and restrictions, which ofcourse varied from place to place. Their touchwas considered impure and was a source of


pollution. In some parts of the country,particularly in the south, their very shadowwas to be avoided, so that they had to moveaway if a brahrnin was seen or heard coming.An untouchables dress, food, place ofresidence, all were carefully regulated. Hecould not draw water from wells and tanksused by the higher castes; he could do so onlyfrom wells and tanks specially reserved foruntouchables. Where no such well or tankexisted, he had to drink dirty water fromponds and irrigation canals. He could notenter the Hindu temples or study theshastras. Often his children could not attenda school in which the children of caste Hindusstudied. Public services such as the police andthe army were closed to him. Theuntouchables were forced to take up menialand other such jobs which were consideredunclean’, for example, scavenging, shoe-making, removing dead bodies, skinningdead animals, tanning hides and, skins.Usually denied ownership of land, many ofthem worked even as tenants-at-will andfield labourers.

The caste system was an evil in anotherrespect. Not only was it humiliating andinhuman and based on the anti-democraticprinciple of inequality by birth, it was a causeof social disintegration. It splintered peopleinto numerous groups. In modern times itbecame a major obstacle in the growth of aunited national feeling and the spread ofdemocracy. It may also be noted that casteconsciousness particularly with regard tomarriage prevailed also among Muslims,Christians, and Sikhs, who practiseduntouchability though in a less virulent form.British rule released many forces whichgradually undermined the caste system. Theintroduction of modern industries and

railways and buses and growing urbanisationmade it difficult to prevent mass contactamong persons of different castes, especiallyin the cities. Modern commerce and industryopened new fields of economic activity to all.For example, a brahmin or upper castemerchant could hardly miss the opportunityof trading in skins or shoes nor would heagree to deny himself the opportunity ofbecoming a doctor or a soldier. Free sale ofland upset the caste balance in many villages.The close connection between caste andvocation could hardly continue, in a modernindustrial society in which the profit motivewas increasingly becoming dominant.

In administration, the British intro-duced equality before law, took away thejudicial functions of caste panchayats, andgradually opened the doors of administrativeservices to all castes. Moreover, the neweducational system was wholly secular and,therefore, basically opposed to castedistinctions and .caste outlook.As moderndemocratic and rationalist ideas spreadamong Indians, they began to raise their voiceagainst the caste system. The Brahmo Samaj,the Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj theRamakrishna Mission, the Theosophists, theSocial Conference, and nearly all the greatreformers of the 19th century, attacked it.Even though many of them defended thesystem of four varnas, they were critical ofthe caste (Jan) system. In particular theycondemned the inhuman practice ofuntouchability. They also realised thatnational unity and national progress inpolitical, social and economic fields could notbe achieved so long as millions weredeprived of their right to live with dignityand honour.


The growth of the national movementplayed a significant role in weakening thecaste system. The national movement wasopposed to all those institutions whichtended to divide Indian people. Commonparticipation in public demonstrations, giantpublic meetings, and satyagraha strugglesweakened caste consciousness. In any casethose who were fighting for freedom fromforeign rule in the name of liberty andequality could hardly support the castesystem which was totally opposed to theseprinciples. Thus, from the beginning, theIndian National Congress and in fact theentire national movement opposed. casteprivileges and fought for equal civic rightsand equal freedom for the development ofthe individual without distinctions of caste,sex or religion.

All his life Gandhiji kept the abolitionof untouchability in the forefront of his publicactivities. In 1932, he founded the All IndiaHarijan Sangh for the purpose. His campaignfor the root and removal ounrnuchability’was on the grounds of humanism and reason.He argued that there was no sanction foruntouchability in Hindu shastras. But, if anyshastra approved of untouchability, it shouldbe ignored for it would then .be going againsthuman dignity. Truth, he said, could not beconfined within the covers of a book.

Since the middle of the 19th century,numerous individuals and organizationsworked to spread education among theuntouchables (or depressed classes andscheduled castes as they came to be calledlater), to open the doors of schools and tem-ples to them, to enable them to use publicwells and tanks, and to remove other socialdisabilities and distinctions from which theysuffered.

As education and awakening spread,the lower castes themselves began to stir.They became conscious of their basic humanrights and began to rise in defence of theserights. They gradually built up a powerfulmovement against the tradi-tional oppressionby the higher castes. In Maharashtra, in thesecond half of the 19th century, Jyotiba Phule,born in a lower caste family, led a lifelongmovement against Brahmanical religiousauthority as part of his struggle against uppercaste domination. He regarded moderneducation as the most important weapon forthe liberation of the lower castes He was thefirst to open several schools for girls of thelower castes. Dr; B.R. Ambedkar, whobelonged to one of the scheduled castes,devoted his entire life to fighting against castetyranny. He organised the All India ScheduledCastes Federation for the purpose. Severalother scheduled caste leaders founded theAll India Depressed Classes Association. InKerala, Sri Narayan Guru organised a lifelong struggle against the caste system. Hecoined the famous slogan: “One religion, onecaste and one God for mankind. In southIndia, the nonbrahmins organised during the1920s the Self-Respect Movement to fight thedisabilities which brahmins had imposedupon them. Numerous sat agraha movementswere organised all over India jointly by theupper and depressed castes against the banon the latter’s entry into temples and othersuch restrictions.

The struggle against untouchabilitycould not, however, be fully successful underalien rule. The foreign government was afraidof arousing the hostility of the orthodoxsections of society. Only the government of afree India could under-take a radical reformof society. Moreover, the problem of social


uplift was closely related to the problem ofpolitical and economic uplift. for example,economic progress was essential for raisingthe social status of the depressed castes; soalso were the spread of education andpolitical rights. This was fully recognised byIndian leaders.

The Constitution of 1950 has providedthe legal framework for the final abolition ofuntouchability. It has declared that‘“untouchability’ is abolished and its practicein any form is forbidden. The endorsementof any disability arising out of‘untouchability’ shall be an offence punishablein accordance with law”. The Constitution

further forbids any restriction the use ofwells, tanks, and bathing ghats, or on theaccess to shops, restaurants, hotels andcinemas. Furthermore, one of the DirectivePrinciples it has laid down for the guidanceof the government says: “The State shallstrive to promote the welfare of the peopleby securing and protecting as effectively asit may a social order in which justice, social,economic and political, shall inform all theinstitutions of the national life’. The struggleagainst the evils of the caste system, however,still remains an urgent task before the Indianpeople, especially in the rural areas.

Gist of NCERT

Indian Economy

ISBN: 9789351720256Book Code: F22


The Partition of Bengal

The conditions for the emergence ofmilitant nationalism had thus developedwhen in 1905 the partition of Bengal wasannounced and the Indian national movemententered its second stage. On Curzon issuedan order dividing the province of Bengal intotwo parts: Eastern Bengal and Assam with apopulation of 31 million and the rest of Bengalwith a population of 54 million, of whom 18million were Bengalis and 36 million Biharisand Oriyas. It was said that the existingprovince of Bengal was-too big to beefficiently administered by a single provincialgovernment. However, the officials whoworked out the plan had also other politicalends in view. They hoped to stem the risingtide of nation-alism in Bengal, considered atthe time to be the nerve centre of Indiannation-alism.

The nationalists saw the act of partitionas a challenge to Indian nationalism and notmerely an adminis-trative measure. They sawthat it was a deliberate attempt to divide theBengalis territorially and on religiousgrounds for in the Eastern part Muslimswould be in a big majority and in the Westernpart Hindus and thus to disrupt and weakennationalism in Bengal.

It would also be a big blow to thegrowth of Bengali language and culture. They

pointed out that administrative efficiencycould have been better secured by separatingthe Hindi speaking Bihar and the Oriyaspeaking Orissa from the Bengali speakingpart of the province. Moreover the officialstep had been taken in utter disregard ofpublic opinion. Thus the vehemence ofBengal’s protest against the partition isexplained by the fact that it was a blow tothe sentiments of a very sensitive andcourageous people.The Anti-Partition Movement

The Anti-Partition Movement was thework of the entire national leadership ofBengal and not of any one section of themovement. Its most prominent leaders at theinitial stage were moderate leaders likeSurendranath Banerjea and Krishna KumarMitra; militant and revolutionary nationaliststook over in the later stages. In fact both themoderate and militant The Anti-PartitionMovement was initiated on 7 August 1905.On that day a massive demonstration againstthe partition was organised in the Town Hallin Calcutta. From this meeting delegatesdispersed to spread the movement to the restof the province.

The partition took effect on 16 October1905. The leaders of the protest movementdeclared it to be a day of national mourningthroughout Bengal. It was observed as a day

NATIONALIST MOVEMENT

10

Nationalist Movement 85

of fasting. There was a hartal in Calcutta.People walked barefooted and bathed in theGanga in the early morning hours.Rabindranath Tagore composed the nationalsong, Amar Sonar Bangla, for the occasionwhich was sung by huge crowds paradingthe streets. This song was adopted as itsnational anthem by Bangladesh in 1971 afterliberation. The streets of Calcutta were fullof the cries of ‘Bande Mataram whichovernight became the national song of Bengaland which was soon to become the themesong of the national movement. Theceremony of Raksha Bandhan was utilised ina new way. Hindu and Muslims tied the rakhion one another’s wrists as a symbol of theunbreakable unity of the Bengalis and of thetwo halves of Bengal.

In the afternoon, there was a greatdemonstration when the veteran leaderAnanda Mohan Bose laid the foundation ofa Federation Hall to mark the indestructibleunity of Bengal. He addressed a crowd ofover 50,000.The Swadeshi and Boycott

The Bengal leaders felt that meredemonstrations, public meetings andresolutions were not likely to have mucheffect on the rulers. More positive action thatwould reveal the intensity of popular feelingsand exhibit them at their best was needed.The answer was Swadeshi and Boycott. Massmeetings were held all over Bengal whereSwadeshi or the use of Indian goods and theboycott of British goods were proclaimed andpledged. in many places public burning offoreign cloth were organised and shopsselling foreign cloth were picketed.

An important aspect of the SwadeshiMovement was the emphasis placed on self

reliance or Atmasakti’. Self-reliance meantassertion of national dignity, honour and selfconfidence. In the eco-nomic field, it meantfostering indigenous industrial and otherenterprises. Many textile mills, soap andmatch factories, handloom weaving concerns,national banks, and insurance companieswere opened. Acharya P.C. Ray organised hisfamous Bengal Chemical Swadeshi Stores.Even the great poet Rabindranath Tagorehelped to open a Swadeshi store.

The Swadeshi Movement had severalconsequences in the realm of culture. Therewas a flowering of nationalist poetry, proseand journalism. The patriotic songs writtenat the time by poets like RabindranathTagore, Rajani Kant Sen. Syed Abu Moham-med and Mukunda Das are sung in Bengalto this day. Another self-reliant, constructiveactivity undertaken at the time was that ofNational Education. National educationalinstitutions where literary, technical, or physi-cal education’ was imparted were opened bynationalists who regarded the existing sys-tem of education as denation-alising and, inany case, inadequate. On 15 August 1906, aNational Council of Education was set up. ANational College with Aurobindo Ghose asPrincipal was started in Calcutta.The Role of Students,Women, Muslims and the Masses

A prominent part in the Swadeshiagitation was played by the students ofBengal. They practised and propagatedSwadeshi and took the lead in organisingpicketing of shops selling foreign cloth. Thegovernment made every attempt to suppressthe students. Orders were issued to penalisethose schools and colleges whose studentstook an active part in the Swadeshi agitation;their grants-in-aid and other privileges were


to be with-drawn, they were to bedisaffiliated, their students were not to hepermitted to compete for scholarships andwere to be barred from all service under thegovernment.

Disciplinary action was taken againststudents found guilty of anticipating in thenationalist agitation. Many of them werefined, expelled from schools and colleges,arrested, and sometimes beaten by the policewith lathis.

The students, however, refused to becowed down. A remarkable aspect of theSwadeshi agitation was the activeparticipation of women in the movement. Thetraditionally home-centred women of theurban middle classes joined processions andpicketing. From then on they were to takean active part in the nationalist movement.

Many prominent Muslims joined theSwadeshi Movement including Abdul Rasul,the famous barrister, Liaquat Hussain, thepopular agitator, and Guznavi, thebusinessman. Maulana Abul Kalam Azadjoined one of the revolutionary terroristgroups. Many other middle and upper classMuslims, however, remained neutral or, ledby the Nawab of Dhaka, (who was given aloan of Rs. 14 lakh by the Government ofIndia), even supported Partition on the pleathat East Bengal would have a Muslimmajority. In this communal attitude, theNawab of Dhaka and others were encouragedby the officials. In a speech at Dhaka, LordCurzon declared that one of the reasons forthe partition was “to invest theMohammedans in Eastern Bengal with aunity which they have not enjoyed since thedays of the old Mussalman Viceroys andKings”.

All India Aspect of the Movement

The cry of Swadeshi and Swaraj wassoon taken up by other provinces of India.Movements in support of Bengal’s unity andboycott of foreign goods were organized inBombay, Madras and northern India. Theleading role in spreading the Swadeshi Move-ment to the rest of the country was playedby Tilak. Tilak quickly saw that with the in-auguration of this movement in Bengal, a newchapter in the history of Indian nationalismhad opened. Here was a challenge and anopportunity to lead ? popular struggle againstthe British Raj and to unite the entire coun-try in one bond of common sympathy.Growth of Militancy

The leadership of the Anti-PartitionMovement soon passed to militantnationalists like Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal andAurobindo Ghose. This was due to manyfactors.

Firstly, the early movement of protestled by the Moderates failed to yield results.Even the Liberal Secretary of State, JohnMorley, from whom much was expected bythe moderate nationalists, declared thePartition to be a settled fact which would notbe changed. Secondly, the Governments ofthe two Bengals, parti-cularly of hast Bengal,made active efforts to divide Hindus andMuslims. Seeds of Hindu-Muslim disunity inBengal politics were perhaps sown at thistime. This embittered the nationalists. But,most of all, it was the repressive policy ofthe government which led people to militantand revolutionary politics. The Governmentof East Bengal, in particular, tried to crushthe nationalist movement. Official attemptsat preventing student participation in theSwadeshi agitation have already been


mentioned above. The singing of BandeMataram in public streets in East Bengal wasbanned. Public meetings were restricted andsometimes forbidden. Laws controlling thePress were enacted. Swadeshi workers wereprosecuted and imprisoned for long periods.Many students were awarded even corporalpunishment. From 1906 to 1909, more than550 political cases came up before Bengalcourts. Prosecutions against a large numberof nationalist newspapers were launched andfreedom of the Press was completelysuppressed Military police was stationed inmany towns where it clashed with thepeople. One of the most notorious examplesof repression was the police assault on thepeaceful delegates of the Bengal ProvincialConference at Barisal in April 1906. Many ofthe young volunteers were severely beatenup and the Conference itself was forciblydispersed. In December 1908, nine Bengalleader, including the venerable KrishnaKumar Mitra and Ashwini Kumar Dutt, weredeported. Earlier, in 1907, Lala Lajpat Rai andAjit Singh had been deported following riotsin the canal colonies of the Punjab. In 1908,the great Tilak was again arrested and giventhe savage sentence of 6 years imprisonment.Chidambaram Pillai in Madras andHarisarvottam Rao and other in Andhrawereput behind bars.

As the militant nationalists came to thefore, they gave the call for passive resistancein addition to Swadeshi and Boycott. Theyasked the people to refuse to cooperate withthe Government and to boycott governmentservice, the courts, government school andcolleges and municipalities and legislativecouncils, and thus, as Aurobindo Ghose putit, to make the administration under present

condition impossible. The militant nationalisttried to transform the Swadeshi and AntiPartition agitation into a mass movement andgave the slogan of independence from foreignrule. Aurobindo Ghose openly declared:‘Political freedom is the life breath of a nation.Thus, the question of partition of Bengalbecame a secondary one and the question ofIndia s freedom became the central questionof Indian politics. The militant nationalistsalso gave the call for self-sacrifice withoutwhich no great aim could be achieved.

It should be remembered, however, thatthe militant nationalists also failed in givinga positive lead to the people. They were notable to give effective leadership or to createan effective organisation to guide theirmovement. They aroused the people but didnot know how to harness or utilise the newlyreleased energies of the people or to find newforms of political struggle. Passive resistanceand non-cooperation -remained mere ideas.They also failed to reach the real masses ofthe country, the peasants. Their movementremained confined to the urban lower andmiddle classes and zamindars. They had cometo a political dead end by the beginning of1908. Consequently, the governmentsucceeded to a large extent in suppressingthem.

Their movement could not survive thearrest of their main leader, Tilak and theretirement from active politics of BipinChandra Pal and Aurobind Ghose.

But the upsurge of nationalist sentimentscould not die. People had been aroused fromtheir slumber of centuries; they had learned’to take a bold and fearless attitude in politics.They had acquired self-confidence and self-reliance and learnt to participate in new


forms of mass mobilization and politicalaction. They now waited for a newmovement to arise. Moreover, they were ableto learn valuable lessons from theirexperience. Gandhiji wrote later that “afterthe Partition, people saw that petitions mustbe backed up by force and that they must becapable of suffering”. The Anti-Partitionagitation in fact marked a greatrevolutionary leap forward for Indiannationalism. The later national movementwas to draw heavily on its legacy.Growth of Revolutionary Nationalism

Government repression and frustrationcaused by the failure of the leadership toprovide a positive lead to the peopleultimately resulted in revolutionaryterrorism. The youth of Bengal found allavenues of peaceful protest and politicalaction blocked and out of desperation theyfell back upon individual heroic action andthe cult of the bomb. They no longer believedthat passive resistance could achievenationalist aims. The British must, therefore,be physically expelled. As the Yugantar wroteon 22 April 1906 after the Barisal Conference:‘The remedy lies with the people themselves.The 30 crores of people inhabiting India mustraise their 60 crores of hands to stop this curseof oppression. Force must be stopped byforce. But the revolutionary young men didnot try to generate a mass revolution. Instead,they decided to copy the methods of the Irishterrorists and the Russian Nihilists, that is,to assassinate unpopular officials. Abeginning had been made in this directionwhen, in 1897, the Chapekar brothersassassinated two unpopular British officialsat Poona. In 1904, V.D. Savarkar hadorganized the Abhinava Bharat a secret

society of revolutionaries. After 1905, severalnewspapers had begun to advocaterevolutionary terrorism. The Sandhya theYugantar in Bengal and the Kal inMaharashtra were the most prominentamong them.

In December 1907 an attempt was madeto the life of the Lieutenant Governor ofBengal, and in April 1908 Khudiram Bose andPrafulla Chaki threw a bomb at a carriagewhich they believed was occupied byKingsford, the unpopular Judge atMuzaffarpur. Prafulla Chaki shot himselfdead while Khudi Boss tried and hanged. Theera or revolutionary terrorism had begun.Many secret societies of terrorist youth cameinto existence. The most famous of these werethe Anushilan Samiti whose Dhaka Sectionalone had 500 branches, and soonrevolutionary terrorist societies became Iactive in the rest of the country also. Theybecame so bold as to throw a bomb at theViceroy Lord Hardinge, while he was ridingon an elephant m a state procession at Delhi.The Viceroy was wounded.

The revolutionaries also established cen-tres of activity abroad. In London, the leadwas taken by Shri Krisbnavarma, V.D.Savarkar, and Har Dayal, while in EuropeMadame Cama and Ajit Singh were theprominent leaders. Terrorism too graduallypetered out. In fact, terrorism as a politicalweapon was bound to fail It could not mobi-lize the masses; in fact it had no base amongthe people. But the terrorist did- make a valu-able contribution growth of nationalism inIndia. As historian has put it, “they gave usback the pride of our manhood. Because oftheir heroism, the terrorists became im-mensely popular among their compatriotseven though most of the politically conscious


people did not agree with their political ap-proach.The Indian National Congress 1905-1914

The agitation against the partition ofBengal made a deep impact on the IndianNational Congress. All sections of theNational Congress united in opposing thePartition. its session of 1905, Gokhale thePresident of the Congress, roundlycondemned the Partition as well as theNational Congress also supported theSwadeshi and Boycott Movement of Bengal.

There was much public debate anddisagreement between the moderate and themilitant nationalists. The latter wanted toextend the Swadeshi and Boycott movementfrom Bengal to the rest of the country and toextend the Boycott to every form ofassociation with the colonial government. TheModerates wanted to confine the Boycottmovement to Bengal and even there to limitit to the boycott of foreign goods. There wasa tussle between the two groups for thepresident ship of the National Congress forthat year (1906). In the end, DadabhaiNaoroji, respected by all nationalists as a greatpatriot, was chosen as a compromise.Dadabhai electrified the nationalist ranks byopenly declaring in his presidential addressthat the goal of the Indian national movementwas” ‘self-government’ or Swaraj like that ofthe United Kingdom or the Colonies”.

But the differences dividing the twowings of the nationalist movement could notbe kept in check for long. Many of themoderate nationalists did not keep pace withevents. They were not able to see that theiroutlook and methods, which had served areal purpose in the past, were no longeradequate. They had failed to advance to the

pew stage of the national movement. Themilitant nationalists, on the other hand, werenot willing to be held back. The split betweenthe two came at the Surat accession of theNational Congress in December 1907. Themoderate leaders having captured themachinery of the Congress ‘excluded themilitant elements from it.

But, in the long run, the split did notprove useful to either party. The moderateleaders lost touch with the youngergeneration of nationalists. The BritishGovernment played the game of ‘Divide andRule’. While suppressing the militantnationalists, it tried to win over moderatenationalist opinion so that the militantnationalists could be isolated and suppressed.To placate the moderate nationalists: itannounced constitutional concessionsthrough the Indian Councils Act of 1909which are known as the Morle Minto Reformsof 1909. In 1911, the Government alsoannounced the annulment of the Partition ofBengal. Western and Eastern Bengals wereto be reunited while a new provinceconsisting of Bihar and Orissa was to becreated at the same time the seat of theCentral Government was shifted fromCalcutta to Delhi.

The Morley-Minto Reforms increasedthe number of elected members in theImperial’ Legislative Council and theprovincial councils. But most of the electedmembers were elected indirectly, by theprovincial councils in the case of the ImperialCouncil and by municipal committees anddistrict boards in the case of provincialcouncils. Some of the elected seats werereserved for landlords and British capitalistsin India. For instance, of the 68 members of


the Imperial Legislative Council, 36 wereofficials and 5 were nominated non officials.Of the 27 elected members, 6 were torepresent the big landlords and 2 the Britishcapitalists. Moreover, the reformed councilsstill enjoyed no real power, being merelyadvisory bodies. The reforms in no waychanged the undemocratic and foreigncharacter of British rule or the fact of foreigneconomic exploitation of the country. Theywere, in fact, not designed to democratizeIndian adminis-tration. Morley openlydeclared at the, time: “If it could be said thatthis chapter of reforms led directly ornecessarily to the establishment of aparliamentary system in India, I for onewould have nothing at all to do with it”. Hissuccessor as the Secretary of Sate, LordCrewe, further clarified the position in 1912.“There is a certain section in India whichlooks forward to a measure of self-government approaching that which has beengranted in the dominions. I see no future forIndia on those lines”. The real purpose of theReforms of 1909 was to confuse the moderatenationalists to divide the nationalist ranks,and to check the growth of unity amongIndians.

The Reforms also introduced the systemof separate electorates under which allMuslims were grouped in separateconstituencies from which Muslims alonecould be elected. This was done in the nameof protecting the Muslim minority. Bi inreality this was a part of the policy of dividingHindus and Muslims and thus maintainingBritish supremacy in India. The system ofseparate electorates was based on the notionthat the political and economic interests ofHindus and Muslims were separate. Thisnotion was—unscientific because religions

cannot be the basis of political and economicinterests or of political groupings. What iseven more important, this system provedextremely harmful in practice. It checked theprogress of India’s unification which hadbeen a, continuous historical process. Itbecame a potent factor in the growth ofcommunalism -both Muslim and Hindu- inthe country. Instead of removing theeducational and economic backwardness ofthe middle class Muslims and thus integratingthem into the mainstream of Indiannationalism, the system of separateelectorates ended to perpetuate theirisolation from the developing nationalistmovement. It encouraged separatisttendencies. It prevented people fromconcentrating on economic and politicalproblems which were common to all Indians,Hindu or Muslim.

The moderate nationalists did not fullysupport the Morley-Minto Reforms. Theysoon realised that the Reforms had not reallygranted much. But they decided to cooperatewith the government in working the reforms.This cooperation with the government andtheir opposition to the programme of themilitant nationalists proved very costly tothem. They gradually lost the respect andsupport of the public and were reduced to asmall political group.The Nationalist and the First World War

In June 1914, the First World War brokeout between Great Britain, France, Russia andJapan on one side (joined later by Italy andUSA), and Germany, Austria-Hungary, andTurkey on the other. In India the years of theWar marked the maturing of nationalism.

In the beginning, the Indian nationalistleaders, including Lokamanya Tilak, who had


been released in June 1914, decided tosupport the way effort of the government inthe mistaken belief that grateful Britainwould repay India’s loyalty with gratitudeand enable India to take a long step forwardon the road to self-government. They did notrealise fully that the different powers werefighting the First World War precisely tosafeguard their existing colonies.The Home Rule Leagues

At the same time, many Indian leaderssaw clearly that the Government was notlikely to give any real concessions unlesspopular pressure was brought to bear uponit. Hence, a real mass political movement wasnecessary. Some other factors were leadingthe nationalist movement in the samedirection. The World War, involving mutualstruggle between the imperialist powers ofEurope, destroyed the myth of the racialsuperiority of western nations over the Asianpeoples. Moreover the War led to increasedmisery among the poorer classes of Indians.For them the War had meant heavy taxationand soaring prices of the daily necessities oflife. They were getting ready to join anymilitant movement of protest. Consequently,the war years were years of intensenationalist political agitation.

But this mass agitation could not becarried out under the leadership of theIndian National Congress, which hadbecome, under Moderate leadership, apassive and inert political organisation withno political work among the people to itscredit. Therefore, two Home Rule Leagueswere started in 1915 16, one under theleadership of Lokamanya Tilak and the otherunder the leadership of Annie Besant, anEnglish admirer of Indian culture and the

Indian people, and S. Subramaniya Iyer. Thetwo Home Rule Leagues worked incooperation and carried out intensepropaganda all over the country in favour ofthe demand for the grant of Home Rule orself-government to India after the War. It wasduring this agitation that Tilak gave thepopular slogan: “Home Rule is my birthrightand I will have it’. The two Leagues maderapid progress and the cry of Home Ruleresounded throughout the length andbreadth of India. Many moderate nation-alists, who were dissatisfied with theCongress inactivity, joined the Home Ruleagitation. The Home Rule Leagues soonattracted the governments anger. In June1917, Annie Besant was arrested. Popularprotest forced the govern-ment to release herin September 1917.

The war period also witnessed thegrowth of the revolutionary movement. Theterrorist, groups spread from Bengal andMaharashtra to the whole of northern India.Moreover, man Indians began to plan aviolent rebellion to overthrow British rule.Indian revolutionaries in the United Statesof America and Canada had established the.Ghadar (Rebellion) Party in 1913. Most of themembers of the party were Punjabi Sikhpeasants and ex-soldiers, who had migratedthere in search of livelihood, and who facedthe fun brunt of racial and economicdiscrimination. Lala Har Dayal, MohammedBarkatullah, Bhagwan Singh, Ram Chandraand Sohan, Singh Bhakna were some of theprominent leaders of the Ghadar Party. Theparty was built around the weekly paper theGhadar which, carried the caption on themasthead: Angrezi Ka Dushman (An Enemyof British Rule). “Wanted brave soldiers”, theGhadar declared, “to Stir up Rebellion in


India. Pay death; Price -martyrdom Pensionliberty; Field of Battle India’. The ideologyof the party was strongly secular. In thewords of Sohan Singh Bhakna, who laterbecame a major peasant leader of Punjab: “Wewere not Sikhs or Punjabis. Our religion waspatriotism’. ‘The party had active membersin other countries such as Mexico, Japan,China, Philippines, Malaya, Singapore,Thailand, Indo-China and East and SouthAfrica.”

The Ghadar Party was pledged to wagerevolutionary war against the British in India.As soon at the First World War broke out in1914, the Ghadarites decided to send armsand men to India to start an uprising withthe help of soldiers and local revolutionaries.Several thousand men volunteered to go backto India. Millions of dollars were contributedto pay for their expenses. Many gave theirlife-long savings and sold lands and otherproperty. The Ghadarites also contactedIndian soldiers in the Far East, South-EastAsia and all over India and per-suadedseveral regiments to rebel. Finally, 21February 1915 was fixed as the date for anarmed revolt in the Punjab. Unfortunately,the authorities came to know of these plansand took immediate action. The rebelliousregiments were disbanded and their leaderswere either imprisoned or hanged. Forexample, 12 men of the 23rd Cavalry wereexecuted. The leaders and members of theGhadar Party in the Punjab were arrested ona mass scale and tried. Forty-two of themwere hanged, 114 were transported for life,and 93 were sentenced to long terms ofimprisonment. Many of them after theirrelease founded the Kirti and Communistmovements in the Punjab. Some of theprominent Ghadar leaders were: Baba

Gurmukh Singh, Kartar Singh Saraba, SohanSingh Bhakna, Rahmat Ali Shah, BhaiParmanand, and Mohammad Barkatullah.

Inspired by the Ghadar Party, 700 menof the 5th Light Infantry at Singaporerevolted under the leadership of JamadarChisti Khan and Subedar Dundey Khan. Theywere crushed after a bitter battle in whichmany died. Thirty-seven other were publiclyexecuted, while 41 were transported for life.

Other revolutionaries were active inIndia and abroad. In 191 during an unsuc-cessful revolutionary attempt Jatin Mukherjeepopularly known as ‘Bagha Jatin’ gave his lifefighting a battle with the police at Balasore.Rash Bihari Bose, Raja Mahendra Pratap, LalaHardayal, Abdu1 Rahim, MaulanaObaidullah Sindhi, Champa-karaman Pillai,Sardar Singh Rana, and Madame Cama weresome of the prominent Indians who carriedon revolution-ary activities and propagandaoutside India where they gathered the sup-port of socialists and other anti-imperialists.Lucknow Session of the Congress (1916).

The nationalists soon saw that disunityin their ranks was injuring their cause andthat they must put up a united front beforethe Government. The growing nationalistfeeling in the country and the urge fornational unity produced two historicdevelopments at the Lucknow session of theIndian National Congress in 1916. Firstly, thetwo wings of the Congress were reunited.The old contro-versies had lost their meaningand the split in the Congress had led topolitical inactivity. Tilak, released from jail in1914, immediately saw the change in thesituation and set out to unify the two streamsof Congressmen. To conciliate the moderatenationalists, he declared:


I may state once for all that we aretrying in India, as the Irish Home rulers havebeen all along doing in Ireland, for a reformof the system of administration and not forthe Over throw of Government; and I haveno hesitation in saying that the acts ofviolence which have been committed in thedifferent parts of India are not onlyrepugnant to me, but have, in my opinion,only unfortunately retarded to a great extent,the pace of our political progress.

On the other hand, the rising tide ofnationalism compelled the old leaders towelcome back into the Congress LokamanyaTilak and other militant nationalists. TheLucknow Congress was the first unitedCongress since 1907. It demanded furtherconstitutional reforms as a step towards self-government.

Secondly, at Lucknow, the Congress andthe All India Muslim League sank their olddifferences and put up common politicaldemands before the Government While theWar and the two Home Rule Leagues werecreating a new sentiment in the country andchanging the character of the Congress, theMuslim League had also been undergoinggradual changes. We have already notedearlier that the younger section of theeducated Muslims was turning to boldernationalist politics. The War period witnessedfurther developments in that direction.Consequently, in 1914, the governmentsuppressed the publication of the Al-Hilal ofAbul Kalam Azad and the Comrade ofMaulana Mohamed Ali. It also interned theAli Brothers Maulanas Mohamed Ali andShaukat Ali and Hasrat Mohani and AbulKalam Azad. The League reflected, a leastpartially, the political militancy of its younger

members. It gradually began to outgrow thelimited political outlook of the Aligarh schoolof thought and moved nearer to the policiesof the Congress.

The Unity between the congress and theleague was brought about by the singing ofthe Congress-league pact, known popularlyas the Lucknow pact. An important role inbringing the two together was played byLokamanya Tilak and Mohammed Au Jinnahbecause the two believed that India could winself- government only through Hindu-Muslim unity. Tilak declared at the time Ithas been said, gentlemen, by some that weHindus have yielded too much to ourMohammedan brethren. I am Sure ‘Irepresent the sense of the Hindu communityall over India when I say that we could nothave yielded to much’. I would not care ifthe rights of self- government are granted tothe Mohammedan community only- ... Iwould not care if they are granted to thelower and the lowest classes of the Hindupopulation. ... When we have to fight, againsta third party, it is a very important thing thatwe stand on this platform united, united inrace, united In religion, as regard all differentshades of political creed.

The two organisations passed the sameresolutions at their sessions, put forward ajoint scheme of political reforms based onseparate electorates, and demanded that theBritish Government should make adeclaration that it would confer self-government on India at an early date. TheLucknow Pact marked an important stepforward in Hindu-Muslim unity.Unfortunately, it did not involve the Hinduand Muslim masses and it accepted thepernicious principle of separate electorates.


It was based on the notion of bringingtogether the educated Hindus and Muslimsas separate political entities; in other words,without secularization of their politicaloutlook which would make them realize thatin politics they had no separate interests asHindus or Muslims. The Lucknow Pact,therefore, left the way open to futureresurgence of communalism in India politics.

But the immediate effect of thedevelopments at Lucknow was tremendous.The unity between the moderate nationalistand between the National Congress and theMuslim League aroused great politicalenthusiasm in the country. Even the BritishGovernment felt it necessary to placate thenationalists. Hitherto it had relied heavily onrepression to quieten the nationalist agitation.

Large number of radicial nationalist andrevolutionaries had been jailed or internedunder the notorious Defence of India Act andother similar regulations. The governmentnow decided to appease nationalist opinionand announced on 20 August 1917 that itspolicy in India was the gradual developmentof self-governing institutions with a view tothe progressive realization of ResponsibleGovernment of India as an integral part ofthe British Empire”. And in July 1918 theMontague Chelmsford Reforms wereannounced. But Indian nationalism was nappeared. Infact, the Indian nationalmovement was soon to enter its third andlast phase- the era of mass struggle or theGhandian Era.

Gist of NCERT

General Science

ISBN: 9789351720188Book Code: F20


1. Consider the following statements andmark the option which is correct.

(i) The last 11 hymns are known asBalakhilya which are considered asthe oldest part of Rigveda.

(ii) Mandalas are further divided intoAstakas and upanishadas.

(iii) Rigveda comprises of 1028 hymns.(iv) Third Mandala of Rigveda is

composed by Manu.(a) i, ii & iii (b) ii, iii & iv(c) i & iii (d) all of the above.


(i) The third Mandala of Rigvedacomprises of Gayatri Mantra,composed by Viswamitra.

(ii) Fourth Mandala depicts the wordHaryupia which has been relatedwith Harappa.

(iii) Ninth Mandal is dedicated toSoma.

(iv) Tenth Mandala describes about thefour varnas.

(a) i, iii & iv(b) i, ii & iv(c) i, ii, iii & iv (d) i only


(i) First type Krishna’s description has

been found in MundakaUpanishada.

(ii) Gaytri Mantra is dedicated toSoma, who was deity of Sun family.

(iii) Veda means knowledge.(iv) Rigveda is divided into 10

Mandalas.(a) i, ii, iii & iv (b) iii only(c) i, iv (d) iii & iv


(i) Atharvaveda is related to someNon-Aryan traditions like magicalcharm & spell.

(ii) Somaveda is an elaborateelucidation of Rituals.

(iii) Aitreya and Kausilaki Brahmanasare related with Rigveda.

(iv) Satpath Brahamana, related withYajurveda, describes about Aryan’sextention in Gangeticvalley.

(a) ii & iv (b) ii only(c) i, iii & iv (d) all of the above.


(i) Aryankas are philosophical incontent.

(ii) Rituals related to agriculture havealso been described in SatpathBrahman related with Yajurveda.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION


(iii) Upanishadas are called Vedanta.(iv) Total number of Upanishadas are

108, but according toShankracharya number ofUpanishadas is 15.

(a) i & iii(b) all of the above.(c) none of the above(d) i, ii & iii

6. Which of the following is not correctregarding the Upanishadas?

(i) Upanishadas mainly revolvesaround South and Brahma.

(ii) Chandogya Upanishad depictsSatyamev Jayte.

(iii) Upanishadas are called Vedanta.(iv) Katha Upanishad give reference to

first type Krishna.(a) i & iii(b) i, ii & iv(c) all of the above(d) ii & iv

7. Which of the following is not correct.(i) Tenth Mandala describes about the

four varnas known as Brahman,Kshtriya, Vaishya & Sudra.

(ii) Mundaka Upanishad describes thestory of Yama & Nachiketa.

(iii) Atharva veda, Samveda andYajurveda are collectively knownas Trayee.

(iv) Krishna-Yajurveda comprises thedescription in prose.

(a) ii & iii (b) i & iv(c) i & iii (d) iii & iv

8. Which of the following is correct.(i) Rig means Hymns.

(ii) Third Mandal of Rigveda iscomposed by Viswamitra.

(iii) Tenth Mandal is dedicated toSoma.

(iv) Philosophy about unity of Atma &Parmatma has been described inUpanishadas.

(a) all of the above(b) iii only (c) i, ii & iv(d) none of the above.


(i) The second to seventh Mandala ofRigveda are known as family text.

(ii) Except 78 hymns all other hymnsof Samveda have been taken fromRigveda.

(iii) Tenth Mandala is also known asPurusha Sukta.

(iv) Fourth Mandala consists ofreferences of Agricultural work.

(a) ii & iii (b) i only(c) all of the above(d) i & iv

10. The last 11 hymns, which are consideredas the oldest part of Rig Veda are knownas(a) Purusha Sukta(b) Trayee(c) Aryankas (d) Balakhilya

11. Who was the greatest author onChhanda Shastra(a) Panini (b) Valmiki(c) Pingal (d) Yaska


(i) Yaska is the first known writers onSikha.

(ii) There are three Sutra related torituals namely Dharma, Sraut andGrihya.

Multiple Choice Question 97

(iii) Valmiki wrote Katyayan Vartikaand Astadhyayi.

(iv) Nirukta refers to the Etymology.(a) i, ii & iv(b) ii only(c) none of the above(d) i & iii

13. Consider the following statements andmark the option which is not correct.

(i) Panini was a greatest Grammarianand he wrote Astadhyayi, PatanjaliMahabhasya & Katyayan Vartika.

(ii) Panini for the first time used theword ‘Sanskrit’ as nomenclature ofthe literacy language.

(iii) Harivanshapuran of Mahabharatcomprises genealogy of the rulers.

(iv) manu is called Adikavi.(a) i & iii (b) ii & iv(c) ii & iii (d) i, ii & iv

14. Which is known as Sat Saharsi Samhita?(a) Manu Smriti(b) Yajnalkya Smriti(c) Parasar Smriti(d) Mahabharat

15. Which is the earliest Smriti?(a) Yajnovalkya Smriti(b) Manu Smriti(c) Narad Smriti(d) Parasar Smriti.

16. Consider the following statements andmark the option which is true.

(i) Geeta is a part of Bhisma Parva.(ii) Harivanshapuran of Mahabharat

compirises of genealogy of therulers.

(iii) Mahabharta is also known asPanchasu veda.

(iv) Yaj nalkya Smriti first described theorigin of Kayasthas.

(a) i, ii & iv (b) i & ii(c) iii only (d) all of the above.

17. Which Smriti describes the classes ofBrahmanas who were against acceptingalms.(a) Narad Smriti(b) Yajnalkya Smriti(c) Parasar Smriti(d) Manu Smriti.

18. Which is not the feature of Puranas(a) Sarg (b) Vansa(c) Chhanda (d) Manvantar

19. Consider the following statements andmark the option which is not correct.

(i) Vayu Puran mentions aboutGeography of Indian Culture andabout prominent Indian Dynasties.

(ii) Sulva Sutra means genealogy.(iii) Vishnu dharmottara Puran depicts

about wall paintings andiconometry.

(iv) Manu-Smriti describes aboutrituals related with Manu Missionof Seth.

(a) i & iii (b) ii & iii(c) none of the above(d) ii & iv

20. Match the following1. Ashvini Kumars A. belonged to Kushava

period & wrotecharak Samhita

2. Vagbhata B. wrote Astang thidyawhich mentionsabout eight MajorOrgans of HumanBody.

3. Dhanvantri C. were physicians ofCelestial world whogot Knowledge of


Ayurveda fromBrahma.

4. Charaka D. is considered asfather of Ayurveda.

A B C D(a) 1 2 3 4(b) 4 2 1 3(c) 3 4 2 1(d) 2 3 1 4

21. Who wrote Asva Chikitsa(a) Palkappya(b) Charka(c) Dhanvantri(d) Salihanna


(i) Atharva Veda gives first handinformation about AyurvedaSystem.

(ii) Shshurut wrote Shrshrut Samhitawhich also refers to surgicaloperation.

(iii) Palkappya wrote on Gaja Chikitsa.(iv) Srimad Bhagvat Purana is the

greatest puran in respect to Bhakticult.

(a) i & ii(b) i & iii(c) none of the above(d) all of the above.

23. Match the following1. Vriksha Parasa A. is considered as

earliest text onastrology as well asastronomy.

2. Aryabhatta B. describes aboutnumerous. Medicinalherbs and plants.

3. Vedang Jyotisha C. wrote BrahmsphutaSidhanta.

4. Brahm Gupta D. wrote SuryaSidhantika.

A B C D(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (iv) (ii) (i) (iii)(c) (iii) (i) (ii) (iv)(d) (iii) (i) (iv) (ii)24. Match the following

(i) Sulva Sutra A. described Decimalsystem and aboutzero.

(ii) Bhas Kara charya B. describes about vedicAlters.

(iii) Aryabhatta C. wrote Lilavati.(iv) Shilpa Sutra D. Manual of

Architecture.A B C D

(a) (iii) (ii) (i) (iv)(b) (iii) (i) (ii) (iv)(c) (ii) (iv) (i) (iii)(d) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)


(i) Earliest information about paintingand iconometry is given inVishnudharmottara Purana.

(ii) Sulva Sutra is the earliest textwhich comprises information onGeometry.

(iii) Bhasa wrote 8 palys(Sivapanvashaduttam and PratisnaYangandhanaiyan are his mostfamous plays).

(iv) Buddha charitam was written byAsvagosh.

(a) i, ii & iii (b) iii(c) i, ii & iv (d) ii, iii & iv

26. Match the following(i) Sudraka A. Swapan

Vashaduttam(ii) Visakhadutta B. Sutra Lankar(iii) Asvagosh C. Devi Chandra

Guptam(iv) Bhasa D. Mricheha Katikam


A B C D(a) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)(b) (iii) (iv) (ii) (i)(c) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)(d) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)


(i) Kamandaka’s - Nitisar describesabout Saptang theory of State andenlightened despolism of Mauryaperiod.

(ii) Arthashastra was written duringGupta period.

(iii) Sutta pitak provides teachings andpreachings of Lord Buddha.

(iv) Vinay pitak provides Monasticalrules and discipline & order.

(a) i & ii (b) ii & iii(c) all of the above (d) iii & iv

28. Match the following(i) Milindpanho A. Monastical discipline(ii) Nayadhani B. Bhavat Geeta of

Kathasutra Buddhims(iii) Acharang Sutra C. Written in Pali by

Nagsena(iv) Dhanind Pad D. Gospel of Mahavira.

A B C D(a) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(b) (iii) (i) (iv) (ii)(c) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)(d) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

29. Consider the following statements andmark the option which is incorrect.

(i) Only two of Ashoka’s inscriptionwere written in Kharosthi scriptwhich were found in Mansehsa andSahbajgarhi.

(ii) Dhandeva’s inscription ofPushyamitra describe about theAsvamegha Yajur performed byhim.

(iii) Helioderus pillar inscription alsocalled as Besnagar Garudadhivajwhich describes about the cult ofPanchvrishti Veera.

(iv) Girnar inscription was firstinscription of Sanskrit Languageabout saka ruler Rudradaman I

(a) i & ii (b) i & iv(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.

30. Match the following(i) Allahabad A. depicts Sakanda

inscription Gupta’s victory overhunas

(ii) Aihole B. Belongs to the periodinscription of Chandra Gupta

Vikramditya(iii) Bhitari C. describes about

inscription Samudra Gupta’sconquests

(iv) Udaigiri D. Depicts the name ofinscription Kalidasa

A B C D(a) (iii) (i) (iv) (ii)(b) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(c) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(d) (ii) (iv) (i) (iii)

31. Match the following(i) Indo Bacterians A. coins have trident

symbol of Lord Shiva(ii) Kushavas B. coins depicts

Buddah’s figure.(iii) Vim Kedphises C. introduced gold cins

in India with thefigure of King,Queen & Datementioned on them.

(iv) Kanishka D. issued purest goldcoins in India whichwere called Dinaras.

A B C D(a) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)(b) (iv) (iii) (i) (ii)(c) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(d) (iii) (iv) (ii) (i)



(i) Kushavas & Kunindas never issuedsilver coins.

(ii) Chandragupta Vikramaditya wasthe first to issue silver coin.

(iii) Paper Rupees were first issued byLord canning.

(iv) Our earliest coin was made ofGold.

(a) i, ii & iii (b) ii & iv(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.

33. Which was the most frequently depictedanimal.(a) Elephant(b) Unicorn(c) Rhino (d) Tiger.


(i) Pashupati Seal has been forundfrom Lothal.

(ii) The Harappan bricks were madein ratio of 1:2:4.

(iii) For small measurement binarysystem and for big measurementdecimal system were used inharappa.

(iv) Persian Gulf seals have been foundin Lothal.

(a) i, ii & iii (b) ii & iv(c) ii, iii & iv(d) all of the above.

35. Match the following(i) Cemetrics A. Daimabad

‘H’ & R 37’(ii) Dockyard B. Mohanjodaro

(iii) Pashupati Mahadev C. HarappaSeal

(iv) Copper Chariot D. Lothal

A B C D(a) (iv) (iii) (i) (ii)(b) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)(c) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(d) (i) (iii) (ii) (iv)

36. Remains of Horse bones have beenfound from.(a) Lothal (b) Surkotada(c) Kalibangan (d) Dholavira

37. A Seal depicting Mother Goddess witha plant growing form her womb hasbeen found from:—(a) Harappa (b) Kalibangan(c) Daimabad (d) Mohanjodara

38. There has been an absence of seal in(a) Alamgirpur (b) Mohanjodaro(c) Harappa (d) Lothal

39. A stone cut water Reservoir has beendiscovered from(a) Surkotada (b) Kalibangan(c) Dholavira (d) Harappa.


(i) The predominence of MotherGoodess denotes people’s faith infertility cult.

(ii) Mainly offensive weapons werefound in Harappa.

(iii) Six types of pottery have beendiscovered from Kalibangan.

(iv) Painting on a jar resembling thestory of the cunning for thePanchtantra has been found fromLothal.

(a) i, & iv(b) all of the above.(c) none of the above(d) iii only.


41. Match the following(i) Harappa A. copper elephant(ii) Daimabad B. Bronze Dancing girl

(iii) Mohanjodaro C. Granary outsidecitadel

(iv) Furrow Marks D. KalibanganA B C D

(a) (ii) (i) (iii) (iv)(b) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(c) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)(d) (ii) (iii) (i) (iv)


(i) The first man made port was foundin Harappa.

(ii) The main crops of Indus Valleycivilization were wheat & Barley.

(iii) The Largest Harappan Settlemtn inIndia is Rakhigarhi in Haryana.

(iv) The Largest number of settlementsare in Ghaggar-Hakar Valleys.

(a) i & ii(b) all of the above(c) ii, iii & iv(d) none of the above.

43. Match the following(i) Mohanjodaro A. Daya Ram Sahni(ii) Chanhudaro B. S.R. Rao

(iii) Harappa C. R.D. Banerjee(iv) Lothal D. M.G. Majumdar

A B C D(a) (iii) (i) (ii) (iv)(b) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(c) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(d) (i) (ii) (iv) (iii)

44. Match the following(i) Ghaggat A. Mohanjodaro(ii) Ravi B. Kalibangan

(iii) Indus C. Lothal(iv) Bhogava D. Harappa

A B C D(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

(b) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(c) (iii) (i) (iv) (ii)(d) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)


(i) Rice Husk has been found fromLothal & Rangpur.

(ii) Evidence of signage on wall hasbeen discovered from Dholavira.

(iii) A thirteen roomed house from theoverlap period has been discoveredfrom Bhagvanpura.

(iv) The steatite figure of a beardedman has been recovered fromMohanjodaro.

(a) All of the above (b) ii & iii(c) none of the above(d) i & iv

46. Match the following(i) Mohanjodaro A. Absence of Mother

Goddess figurines(ii) Chanhudaro B. Assembly Hall &

Collegiate Building(iii) Rangpur C. Bead Making factory(iv) Harappa D. Sandstone Make

DancerA B C D

(a) (i) (iii) (ii) (iv)(b) (iii) (i) (ii) (iv)(c) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)(d) (ii) (iv) (i) (iii)


(i) Broken Ivory were used as a scalein Chanhudaro.

(ii) During Burial bodies wereextended in North-South Direction.

(iii) Ganerinkla site is situated inBahwalpur, Pakistan.

(iv) The ‘Great Bath’ of MohanjodaroMeasures 12 × 7 × 3 mts.


(a) i, ii & iii(b) ii & iii(c) ii & iv(d) all of the above

48. Which was the most frequently depictedanimal.(a) Elephant(b) Unicorn(c) Rhino (d) Tiger.


(i) Pashupati Seal has been forundfrom Lothal.

(ii) The Harappan bricks were madein ratio of 1:2:4.

(iii) For small measurement binarysystem and for big measurementdecimal system were used inharappa.

(iv) Persian Gulf seals have been foundin Lothal.

(a) i, ii & iii (b) ii & iv(c) ii, iii & iv (d) all of the above.

50. Match the following(i) Cemetrics A. Daimabad

‘H’ & R 37’(ii) Dockyard B. Mohanjodaro

(iii) Pashupati Mahadev C. HarappaSeal

(iv) Copper Chariot D. LothalA B C D

(a) (iv) (iii) (i) (ii)(b) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)(c) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(d) (i) (iii) (ii) (iv)

51. Remains of Horse bones have beenfound from.(a) Lothal (b) Surkotada(c) Kalibangan(d) Dholavira

52. A Seal depicting Mother Goddess witha plant growing form her womb hasbeen found from:—(a) Harappa (b) Kalibangan(c) Daimabad (d) Mohanjodara

53. There has been an absence of seal in(a) Alamgirpur (b) Mohanjodaro(c) Harappa (d) Lothal

54. A stone cut water Reservoir has beendiscovered from(a) Surkotada (b) Kalibangan(c) Dholavira(d) Harappa.


(i) The predominence of MotherGoodess denotes people’s faith infertility cult.

(ii) Mainly offensive weapons werefound in Harappa.

(iii) Six types of pottery have beendiscovered from Kalibangan.

(iv) Painting on a jar resembling thestory of the cunning for thePanchtantra has been found fromLothal.

(a) i, & iv (b) all of the above.(c) none of the above(d) iii only.

56. Match the following(i) Harappa A. copper elephant(ii) Daimabad B. Bronze Dancing girl(iii) Mohanjodaro C. Granary outside

citadel(iv) Furrow Marks D. Kalibangan

A B C D(a) (ii) (i) (iii) (iv)(b) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(c) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)(d) (ii) (iii) (i) (iv)



(i) The first man made port was foundin Harappa.

(ii) The main crops of Indus Valleycivilization were wheat & Barley.

(iii) The Largest Harappan Settlemtn inIndia is Rakhigarhi in Haryana.

(iv) The Largest number of settlementsare in Ghaggar-Hakar Valleys.

(a) i & ii(b) all of the above(c) ii, iii & iv(d) none of the above.

58. Match the following(i) Mohanjodaro A. Daya Ram Sahni(ii) Chanhudaro B. S.R. Rao

(iii) Harappa C. R.D. Banerjee(iv) Lothal D. M.G. Majumdar

A B C D(a) (iii) (i) (ii) (iv)(b) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(c) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(d) (i) (ii) (iv) (iii)

59. Match the following(i) Ghaggat A. Mohanjodaro(ii) Ravi B. Kalibangan

(iii) Indus C. Lothal(iv) Bhogava D. Harappa

A B C D(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(c) (iii) (i) (iv) (ii)(d) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)


(i) Rice Husk has been found fromLothal & Rangpur.

(ii) Evidence of signage on wall hasbeen discovered from Dholavira.

(iii) A thirteen roomed house from the

overlap period has been discoveredfrom Bhagvanpura.

(iv) The steatite figure of a beardedman has been recovered fromMohanjodaro.

(a) All of the above(b) ii & iii(c) none of the above(d) i & iv

61. Match the following(i) Mohanjodaro A. Absence of Mother

Goddess figurines(ii) Chanhudaro B. Assembly Hall &

Collegiate Building(iii) Rangpur C. Bead Making factory(iv) Harappa D. Sandstone Make

DancerA B C D

(a) (i) (iii) (ii) (iv)(b) (iii) (i) (ii) (iv)(c) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)(d) (ii) (iv) (i) (iii)


(i) Broken Ivory were used as a scalein Chanhudaro.

(ii) During Burial bodies wereextended in North-South Direction.

(iii) Ganerinkla site is situated inBahwalpur, Pakistan.

(iv) The ‘Great Bath’ of MohanjodaroMeasures 12 × 7 × 3 mts.

(a) i, ii & iii (b) ii & iii(c) ii & iv (d) all of the above.

63. Assertion : Vedas are also known asShruttReason : Vedas have bee passed on fromone generation to another throughverbal transmission.(a) Assertion is correct, Reason is

incorrect


(b) Assertion is incorrect, Reason iscorrect

(c) Assertion is correct, Reason iscorrect

(d) Assertion is incorrect, Reason isincorrect


(i) Origin of Indian Music has beendepicted from Sam Veda.

(ii) Sabha & Samiti are mentioned astwin daughtrs of Prajapati in RigVeda.

(iii) Kshtriyas precedence overBrahamanas is decpited from Ait.

(a) i, & iii (b) i & ii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.

65. Which one of the folliwng is theupanishad of Rigveda.(a) Katha Upanishad(b) Chandogya Upanishad(c) Mundka Upanishad(d) Aitareya Upanishad

66. Which of the following Mandala iscompletely devoted to the Vedic GodSoma.(a) I (b) VIII(c) IX (d) X


(i) The Upveda of Rigveda isAjurveda.

(ii) Satpatha Brahmana related toYajurveda is lengthiest of all theBrahmanas.

(iii) Sam Veda contains Hymns sung byparticular type of priests known asudgatori.

(iv) The Upveda of Samveda is Adhwaryu.

(a) i, iii & iv (b) i, ii & iii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.

68. Match the following(i) Rigveda A. Dhanurveda(ii) Yajurveda B. Gandharveda(iii) Samveda C. Shilpveda(iv) Atharva veda D. Ajurveda

A B C D(a) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)(b) (ii) (iii) (i) (iv)(c) (i) (iv) (iii) (ii)(d) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)

69. In which Upanishad is mentioned‘Satyamed Jayate?(a) Chandogya Upanishad(b) Prasana Upanishad(c) Isa Upanishad(d) Mundaka Upanishad

70. Match the following(i) Satpath A. deals

Brahman with philosophy,Meta-physies

(ii) Aryankas B. called Apauru-sheya Meaningnot created byHumans butdivine.

(iii) Upanishads C. describes thestory of VidehMadahu andagriculturalrituals.

(iv) Vedas D. deals withmysti-cism,Moral valuesand philo-sophicaldoctrines.


A B C D(a) (ii) (iv) (i) (iii)(b) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(c) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(d) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)

71. Consider the following statements andmark the whichever is correct.

(i) Garbadharna is the ceremony tocasue onception.

(ii) Niskramana is the ceremony oftaking the child out of house andshowing the sun.

(iii) Diuksharaman ceremony refers tolearning of Alphabet.

(iv) Jatakarman ceremony isperformed for the new born child.

(a) i, ii & iv(b) none of the above(c) all of the above(d) iii only

72. Match the following schools ofPhilosophy with their chief expounders.

(i) Sankhya A. Gautam(ii) Mimansa B. Patanjali

(iii) Nyaya C. Kapil(iv) Yoga D. Jaimini

A B C D(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(c) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)(d) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)

73. Which school of philosophy is alsoknown as Lokayat(a) Jaimini(b) Buddhism(c) Charvak(d) Bhagvatism

74. Match the following opponents of LordBuddha with their school of Philosophy/ Beliefs.

(i) Ajit Kesh Kamblin A. Fatalism(ii) Sanjay Vethali- B. Atomist

putta(iii) Pakudh Katya- C. Materialism

yam(iv) Puran Kashyap D. Materialism

Synicism.A B C D

(a) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(c) (ii) (i) (iii) (iv)

75. Match the following symbols with theirevents in Lord Buddha’s Life.

(i) Birth A. Stupa(ii) First Sermon B. Lotus and Bull(iii) Nirvana C. Dharam Chakra(iv) Paranirvana D. Bodhi Tree

A B C D(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)(c) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)(d) (iii) (ii) (i) (iv)

76. Who was the founder Mahayan sect ofBuddhism.(a) Vasumitra(b) Nagarjuna(c) Rahul Bhadra(d) Asang


(i) Lord Mahavira got Kaivalya atJrimbhakgram and his discipleswere called Ganadhara.

(ii) Gautami was the first woman whojoined the Sangha of Buddha.

(iii) Dhammapad is known as theBhagvatgita of Buddhism.

(a) all of the above(b) ii & iii(c) none of the above(d) only i



(i) The Sacred literature of Saivas isknown ast Saivagama.

(ii) The collection of the Songs of 63Nayanars is known as Sangam.

(iii) Wema Kadphises, the KushavaKing adopted Saivism.

(a) all of the above(b) none of the above(c) 1 & iii (d) ii & iii


(i) Ashoka the great founded theMauryana Empire with help of hisBrahmin Minister Chankya.

(ii) Asthashastras is contains 15chapters.

(iii) Magasthenes in his book Indikagives reference to absence of usury.

(a) i, & iii (b) ii & iii(c) i & ii(d) none of the above.

80. Match the following(i) Junagarh Rock A. Jaluka was the

inscription of successor ofRudradaman I Ashoka in

Kashmir(ii) Rajatarigini B. Construction of

Sudarsana Lake(iii) Jatakas C. Social & Economic

conditionsA B C

(a) (ii) (i) (iii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (i) (ii) (iii)(d) (iii) (i) (ii)

81. Match the following(i) Amatyas A. concerned with

econo-mic functions& some militaryduties.

(ii) Tirthas B. Highest category ofofficials & wereEighteen in numbers.

(iii) Adhyakshya C. functioned inadministrative andjudicial capacity.

(iv) Mahamattas D. The Arthashastrauses this term in thesense of a Minister.

A B C D(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)(c) (iii) (ii) (i) (iv)(d) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)

82. Match the following(i) LakshanandhyokshaA. Mint(ii) Sansthadhyasksha B. commerce/ fixed

price(iii) Panyadhayaksha C. Market

A B C(a) (ii) (i) (iii)(b) (i) (iii) (ii)(c) (iii) (ii) (i)


(i) Pulisanj were the public relationofficers who reported publicopinion to the King.

(ii) Vyavharika Mahamatta were thejudicial officers.

(iii) Gudha - Purusha were the secretagents mentioned in Arthashastra.

(a) all of the above(b) only ii(c) none of the above (d) i & iii

84. Which committee was entrusted withthe work related to Manufacturedgoods?(a) Fifth committee(b) First committee(c) Third committee(d) Sixth committee.


85. Which among the following was avoluntary offering?(a) Sita (b) Kora(c) Bali (d) Vivit


(i) The Kaushambi Pillar was broughtto Allahabad by Jehangir.

(ii) The Topra & Merrut Pillars werebrought to Delhi by Firoz ShahTughlaq.

(iii) The Bairat Inscription was broughtto Calcutta by cunningham.

(a) ii (b) i & iii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.


(i) The Major Rock edicts at Mansheva& Shahbazgarhi are in Kharoshthiscript.

(ii) Major rock edicts are fourteen innumber.

(iii) The Queen’s edict is on Allahbadpillar.

(a) only i(b) only iii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.

88. In which of the Edicts is found themention of Ashoka’s conversion toBuddhism and his reverence for hisreligion.(a) Kalinga Edicts(b) Bhabru Edicts(c) Major Pillar Edicts(d) Minor Rock Edicts


(i) Chandragupta defeatedMenander.

(ii) Wima Kadiphises assumed the titleDeva ______ which was inspired bythe title Swargpulra of the chineseemperor.

(iii) Shake Rule was founded by Masoor Moga.

(a) ii(b) i & iii(c) all of the above(d) ii & iii

90. Which Greek King issued bilingualcoins?(a) Allexander (b) Demetrivs(c) Manander (d) Antaaliokus

91. Match the following(i) Shakas A. Parmbhagvat

(ii) Heliodorus B. coins bear theimage of Buddha& Shiva

(iii) Wima Kadiphises C. was defeated byPushyamitraShunga

(iv) Demetrivs D. Capital wasPurushpur(Peshwar)

A B C D(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (ii) (iv) (i) (iii)(c) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)(d) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)


(i) Kanishka introduced the Saka era.(ii) St. Thomas reached India during

the time of Pahalava KingGondophernes.

(iii) The Junagarh / Girnar Inscriptionof Rudraaman is the firstinscription in chaste Sanskrit.


(a) i & ii (b) all of the above(c) iii(d) none of the above

93. Who patronised Mathura Art & built astupa at Purushpur?(a) Kijula Kadiphises(b) Rudradaman(c) Wima Kadiphises(d) Moga


(i) Hathigumpha Inscription ofKharvela of Kalinga is also sourcesof Sangam Age.

(ii) Wima Kadiplises, inspired by histeacher Parva convened a buddhistconvict at Kandalvana in Kashmir.

(iii) Greeks introduced Hellinistic Artinto India, the impact of which canbe seen in the Gandhara Art.

(a) ii(b) none of the above(c) i & iii (d) all of the above

95. Match the following(i) First Sangam A. Madurai(ii) Second Sangam B. Tenmadurai

(iii) Vird Sangam C. KavatuparaniA B C

(a) (i) (ii) (iii)(b) (iii) (i) (ii)(c) (iv) (iii) (i)

96. Match the following(i) First Sangam A. August &

Tolkappiyar(ii) Second Sangam B. Nakkirar

(iii) Vird Sangam C. AugustA B C

(a) (ii) (iii) (i)(b) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (iii) (ii) (i)

97. Which of the following term was usedfor Supreme Court in the Sangam Age?(a) Puhar (b) Sangam(c) Maharum (d) Korai

98. Match the following term of SangamAge?

(i) Panchvaram A. Spies(ii) Enadi B. Ministerial

Council(iii) Orar C. Senapati

A B C(a) (i) (ii) (iii)(b) (iii) (i) (ii)(c) (ii) (iii) (iv)


(i) Devdana is a single plot of land ofvillage to an individual Brahmin orgroup of Brahmins.

(ii) Apad Dharma implies what a manmay legitimately do when hecannot earn a living by the normaldeeds performed by his class.

(iii) Niyoga was the practice ofallowing a widow to cohabit withher husbands younger brother tillthe birth of a male child.

(a) ii(b) i & iii(c) all of the above(d) ii & iii

100. Match the following(i) Ghatiyantra A. An imporant guild in

Kerala.(ii) Manigraman B. Irrigation Device(iii) Shrotriyas C. Learned Brahmins

who had the know-ledge of Vedas.

A B C(a) (i) (ii) (iii)(b) (ii) (i) (iii)(c) (iii) (ii) (i)


101. Match the following(i) Sadbhaga A. Customs & Tolls(ii) Bali B. Land Revenue

(iii) Shulka C. A petty cess besidesKing’s normal share.

A B C(a) (iii) (i) (ii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (ii) (i) (iii)


(i) Nandeshi was a guild of teachershaving membership from differentregions and castes.

(ii) Dvija refers to three upper classes.Brahmans, Kshtriyas andVaishayas.

(iii) Uparika came into vogue duringthe Guptas.

(a) none of the above(b) iii(c) i & ii(d) all of the above


(i) Vishwarup wrote a commentaryknown as Balasera onYavjnavalkyas Smriti.

(ii) Pratipada Panchika a commentaryon Kautilya’s Arthashastra waswritten by Bhattaswami.

(iii) Vijananeshwar wrote acommentary on Manu Smriti.

(a) i & iii (b) all of the above(c) i & ii(d) none of the above.


(i) Manu : Brahmin can lend to wickedpeople at low interests.

(ii) Apasthamba: Sudras and womenhave right to study the Puranas.

(iii) Yajnavalkya : Women has a rightto inheritence.

(a) i & ii(b) ii & iii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.

105. Match the following(i) Fahien A. Indians had no

sense of History.(ii) Alberuni B. There was no

provision ofdeath sentence.

(iii) Hieun Tsang C. India yield morethan fairnessrequires.

A B C(a) (ii) (i) (iii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (iii) (ii) (i)


(i) Patanjali wrote Mahabhashya onthe grammar of Panini.

(ii) Panchtantra is the earliest storycollection book of Gupta period.

(iii) Hitopadesh, the second famouscollection of Indian stories waswritten by Vishnu Sharma.

(a) i & iii (b) ii(c) i & ii (d) all of the above.

107. Which of the following contains thedescription of the King Dushyant ofHastinapur?(a) Mudra Rakshas(b) Mrichchkatika(c) Abhijanashakuntlam(d) Hitopadesh



(i) The two famous plays ofVishakhandutta are Mudrarakshasand Devichandra Guptam

(ii) Mrichchhatika contains the lovestory Brahman charudatta & thefamous courtesan Vasantsena.

(iii) The First text of Sanskrit Grammaris Ashtadhyayi written by Panini.

(a) i & ii(b) all of the above(c) iii(d) none of the above.

109. Arrange the following in theirchronological order.

(i) Bhoja of Gujar-Pratibara Dynasty(ii) Hindushahis of Punjab & Kabul

(iii) Rashtra Kutas of Deccan.(iv) Chalukya Dynasty of Kalyani(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (ii) (iii) (i) (iv)(d) (iii) (i) (ii) (iv)


(i) Capture of Tanjore by Vijayalaya(ii) Shankracharya & his philosophy of

Advaitavada(iii) Construction of Khajuraho Temples(iv) Establishment of Monastry at

Nalanda by King Balaputra ofSumatra.

(a) (i) (ii) (iv) (iii)(b) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)(c) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)(d) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)


(i) Chahamanas (Chauhans) ofSakambhari (Ajmer)

(ii) Reign of Rajaraja chola.(iii) Reign of Rajendra chola.(iv) Gahadvalas of Kannauj.(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (ii) (iii) (i) (iv)(d) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)


(i) Paramaras (Pamars) of Dhar(Malw(a)

(ii) Kakatiyas of Warangal.(iii) Senas of Bengal.(iv) Solankis of Kathiawar.(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (iv) (iii) (i) (ii)(c) (i) (iv) (ii) (iii)(d) (ii) (iv) (iii) (i)

113. Arrange the following according totheir chronological order.

(i) Construction of Lingaraja Templeand Jagannath Temple.

(ii) Construction of KhajurahoTemples.

(iii) Construction of Sun Temple atKonark.

(a) (i) (ii) (iii)(b) (iii) (i) (ii)(c) (ii) (i) (iii)


(i) Mohhamad Bin Tughlaq’sexpedition to karachi.

(ii) First Battle of Panipat & defeat ofIbrahim Lodhi.

(iii) Second Battle of Tarain & defeatof Prithviraj.

(iv) Reign of Rana Kumbha in Mewar.


(a) (iii) (i) (iv) (ii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(c) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)(d) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)


1. Battle of Bilgram and Second &final defeat of Humayun by SherShah.

2. Battle of Ghagra and Babur’sdefeat of Afghans under Mohd.Lodhi.

3. Battle of Dharmat in which Darawas defeated by Aurangzeb.

4. Battle of Chausa & first defeat ofHumayun by Sher Shah.

(a) (1) (2) (3) (4)(b) (3) (4) (1) (2)(c) (2) (4) (1) (3)(d) (3) (2) (1) (4)


1. Rebellion of Prince Khullan2. Revolt of Jats under Gokla3. Rebellion of Prince Khusrau4. Revolt of Chatrasal Bundela.

(a) (1) (3) (4) (2)(b) (3) (1) (2) (4)(c) (4) (3) (2) (1)(d) (3) (1) (2) (4)


1. Peshwaship of Balaji Baji Rao.2. Death of Aurangzeb at Aurangzeb.3. Third Battle of Panipat between

Marathas & Afghans.4. Peshwaship of Balaji Vishvanath.

(a) (2) (4) (1) (3)(b) (1) (2) (3) (4)

(c) (3) (4) (2) (1)(d) (2) (3) (4) (1)

118. Match the following1. Pala A. Ajay Raj2. Chandela B. Rao Siha3. Chauhan C. Gopal4. Rathore D. Nanunka

(a) 2 - A 3 - D 1 - C 4 - B(b) 1 - C 2 - D 3 - A 4 - B(c) 4 - A 3 - B 2 - C 1 - D

119. Match the following(i) Kachhavaha A. Rana Kumbha

(ii) Rashtra Kuta B. Bhoja(iii) Parmar C. Man Singh(iv) Sisodia D. Krishna I

A B C D(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (ii) (i) (iii) (iv)(c) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(d) (iv) (iii) (i) (ii)


(i) The four class dominated by earlyRajputs arose from the ruins ofolder Pratihara Kingdom.

(ii) The Solankis established theircontrol in Malwa with their capitalat Dhar near Indore.

(iii) All the four classes of early Rajputsclaimed their descent fromMythical figure who arose out ofvast sacrificial fire pit near Mt. Abu.

(a) i & iii (b) ii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.


(i) The Temple Arthitecture or SouthIndian style of Architecutrereached the pinnacle of gloryduring the cholas reign.


(ii) Brihadeshwar temple atGangaikonda Cholapuram wasbuilt by Rajendra.

(iii) The system of canals in South is acontribution of the cholas.

(a) i & iii(b) all of the above(c) none of the above(d) ii

122. Match the following(i) Devdeya A. were famous for

Bronze statue ofNataraja.

(ii) Vijayalaya B. the village granted toGod.

(iii) Cholas C. built the Vijayalayacholeswa temple atNaritamalai.

A B C(a) (iii) (i) (ii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (iii) (ii) (i)

123. Match the following(i) Ur. A. its membership was

restricted to Brahmanof the village.

(ii) Nagarani B. a general assem-blyof village consistingof tax payingresidents.

(iii) Sabha C. was found morecommonly in tradecentres such as citiex& towns.

A B C(a) (i) (ii) (iii)(b) (iii) (i) (ii)(c) (ii) (i) (iii)

124. Match the following(i) Varium (a) Tank committee(ii) Eri Varium (b) Executive

Committee of Sabha.(iii) Nayattar (c) Judicial committee.

A B C(a) (ii) (i) (iii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (iii) (i) (ii)

125. Who built the Rajarajjeshwar Temple atTanjore?(a) Parantaka I (b) Rajaraja(c) Rajendra Chola(d) Vijayalaya


(i) Tiruvasakam was the Master pieceof Tamil Literature producedduring chola period.

(ii) The Tanjore temples has Murals onPuranas and Scutplunes of Rajarajaand his Queen Lok Mahadevi.

(iii) The cholas continued the Pratiharasarchitectural style.

(a) ii (b) ii & iii(c) i & ii(d) none of the above.

127. Who built the Korangnath Temple atSrinivasnattur?(a) Parantaka I (b) Vijayalaya(c) Rajendra (d) Rajaraja


(i) Qutubaddin Aibek was thefounder of Delhi Sultanate & wasthe first independent ruler.

(ii) Qutubuddin Aibek built twoMosques. Quwan-ul-Islam Mosqueat Delhi and Dhai Din Ka Jonparaat Amer.

(iii) Qutubuddin Aibek laid foundationof Qutub Minar after the name ofa Sufi Saint Khwaja QutubuddinBakhtiyar Kaki.


(a) i & iii (b) ii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.

129. Who introduced the Silver Tankk & Jitaltwo principal coins.(a) Ghaisuddin Balban(b) Qutubuddin Aibek(c) Shamsuddin Iltutmish(d) Alauddin Khilji

130. Match the following(i) Ghaisuddin Balban A. created Tukan-i-

chanhalgani aselected body ofTurkish Nobles.

(ii) Shamsuddin B. inscribed-zillahIltutmish or coins

(iii) Qutubuddin Aibek C. was founder of theslave Dynasty.

A B C(a) (i) (ii) (iii)(b) (iii) (ii) (i)(c) (ii) (i) (iii)

131. Who built the ‘Alai Darwaja’ and SiriFort?(a) Ghiasuddin Tughlaq(b) Firoz Shah Tughlaq(c) Alauddin Khilji(d) Mohd. Bin Tughlaq


(i) Mohd. bin Tughlaq formulated thefamine code to provide relief tofamine affected people.

(ii) Firoz Shah Tughlaq made ‘IqtaSystem’ Hereditary.

(iii) Mohd. bin Tughlaq was on badterms with the famous Sufi saintNizamuddin Auliya.

(a) i & iii(b) all of the above

(c) none of the above(d) iii


(i) Firoz Shah Tughlaq creaed Diwan-i-khairat for helping poor Muslimparents in the Marriage of theirdauther.

(ii) Mohd. bin Tughlaq was known asa ‘Prince of Moneyers’.

(iii) Firoz Shah Tughlaq wrote in versesin persian under the name ofGhirlakhi

(a) i & iii (b) ii & iii(c) i & ii(d) none of the above

134. Match the following(i) Wazir A. Diwan-I-Arz

(ii) Azia-i- B. Diwan-Mumalik i-Wazirat

(iii) Sarr-ur- C. Diwan-i-Inshasudur

(iv) Dabir-i- D. Diwan-Mumalik i-RisalatA B C D

(a) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(c) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)(d) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)


(i) Sikandar Bahlol Ibrahim Lodhi wasfounder of city of Agra.

(ii) Alauddin Khilji started the practiceof old-age pension.

(iii) Mohd. bin Tughlaq was the firstSultan to advance Loans known assondhar to peasants for diggingwells to extend cultivation.


(a) ii (b) i & iii(c) none of the above(d) all of the above.

136. Match the following(i) Muftis A. Intelligence Agents(ii) Barid B. Exponder of Law

(iii) Kotwal C. Minister incharge ofArmy.

(iv) Arz-i-Mamalik D. Head of cityadministration

A B C D(a) (ii) (iv) (i) (ii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(c) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)(d) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)


(i) Dhai-din Ka Jhopsa was originallya sanskrit college and temple builtby the great chauhan emperorVigrahraja Visaldeva.

(ii) Zakat was a religious tax, paid byMuslims as a charity for theWelfare of their co-religiones.

(iii) Amir Khusro’s real name wasAbdul Hasan.

(a) All of the above(b) i & ii (c) iii(d) none of the above


(i) Amir Khusro created a new literarystyle in Persian which came to beknown as Sabaq-i-Hind.

(ii) Amir Khusro was disciple ofNizammudin Auliya.

(iii) He introduced the perso-arobicragas etc.

(a) iii (b) i & ii(c) none of the above(d) all of the above.

139. Match the following(i) Urdu A. composed verses in

Hindavi usingpersian

(ii) Amir Khusro B. Literal meaning ofthe word is Army orcamp.

(iii) Sher Shah Suri C. Built old Fort.A B C

(a) (ii) (i) (iii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (iii) (i) (ii)


(i) Babur founded a new capital cityof Fatehpur Sikri.

(ii) Babur was a skilled Musiciansplayed Naqqara.

(iii) The mode of caligraphy favouriteto Akbar was ‘Nastaliq’.

(a) i & iii (b) all of the above(c) ii & iii(d) none of the above.

141. Match the following(i) Jehangir A. established royal

Karkhana forpainting.

(ii) Akbar B. was antagonistictowards miniaturepaintings.

(iii) Aurangzeb C. sent Bisan Dara torussia.

A B C(a) (ii) (iii) (i)(b) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (iii) (i) (ii)

142. Match the following(i) Zil-i-ilahi A. Dara Shikoh(ii) Alamgir B. Akbar(iii) Shah-i-Buland Iqbal C. Aurangzeb

A B C(a) (i) (ii) (iii)(b) (iii) (i) (ii)(c) (ii) (iii) (i)


143. Who introduced ‘Du-Aspah’ & ‘Site-Aspah’ system?(a) Shahjahan(b) Aurangzeb(c) Jehangir(d) Akbar


(i) Aurangzeb confronted a numberof rebelluris including Jats underRajaram & Chauraman; Sikhs andRajputs.

(ii) Dara Shikoh was a devotee ofQadiri order of Sufis.

(iii) Shahjahan executed Guru ArjunDev with charge of giving help ofthe prince Khusrao after his Revoltin 1606.

(a) i & iii (b) i & ii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.

145. Match the following:(i) Aurangzeb A. built Magnificent

edifices like Red Fort,Jama Masjid.

(ii) Babar B. was ragarded as‘Zind Pir’

(iii) Shahjahan C. introduced Gaz-i-ilahiof 41 digits a newyard for landMeasurement.


146. Who among the following is the Headof Royal Household?(a) Sarkar (b) Subah(c) Mir Bakshi (d) Khan-i-Saman.


(i) The Revenue official at the level ofPargana was Amil.

(ii) The village affairs were lookedafter by the Panchayat whose headwas called Lambardar.

(iii) Atharva Veda was translated intoPersian by Haji Ibrahim Sirhindi.

(a) i & ii(b) none of the above(c) all of the above(d) iii

148. Match the following:(i) Nal Damyanti A. translated into

Persian by MullaShah Mohd.

(ii) Ramayana B. translated intopersian by Faizi.

(iii) Rajtarangini C. translated intopersian by AbdulQadir Badayuni.

A B C(a) (iii) (i) (ii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (ii) (iii) (i)


(i) Akbar established Royal Karhanafor painting.

(ii) Shalimar garden was laid out byShahjehan.

(iii) Jehangir was a painter himself andloved paintings on animal & Birds.

(a) i & iii(b) none of the above(c) all of the above(d) ii

150. Which one the following is the actualcollection from Land?(a) Hasil(b) Jama(c) Khalisa (d) Dasturs


151. Match the following:(i) Al-Tamgha A. efficient troops

not under thecontrol ofEmperor.

(ii) Amir B. Jagirs given toMuslim Nobles.

(iii) Ahadis C. Commander ofHundred.

A B C(a) (i) (ii) (iii)(b) (ii) (iii) (i)(c) (iii) (i) (ii)


(i) Sawar was a Mughal rank thatdetermined the number of cavalarymen.

(ii) Watan Jagirs was an area wherethere was objection made by theZamindars.

(iii) Waqf was the grants for religiousand educational institutions.

(a) i & iii (b) ii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above

153. During whose tenure the practiceRevenue farming of ‘Ijara’ was started.(a) Bahadur Shah(b) Farruk Siyar(c) Jahandar Shah(d) Mohd. Shah


(i) Banda Bahadur, the sikh leader wasdefeated and captured by FarrukhSiyar.

(ii) Muhammad Shahs original namewas Raushan Akhtar.

(iii) Bahadur Shah II was deposed and

tried for waging war against theBritish.

(a) ii & iii(b) all of the above(c) none of the above(d) i only


(i) Guru Ramdas was the politicalguru of Shivaji.

(ii) Shivaji adopted the title ofChattarpati and KshtriyaKulavatamsa.

(iii) Sivaji belonged to Bhonsle Clan.(a) all of the above(b) ii(c) none of the above(d) ii & iii

156. Match the following(i) Peshwa A. Baroda(ii) Bhonsle B. Indore(iii) Gackwad C. Poona(iv) Holkar D. Nagpur

A B C D(a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(b) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)

157. Match the following(i) Peshwa A. Prime Minister(ii) Sar-i-Naubat B. Royal Corres-

pondence(iii) Sachiv C. Chief of Armed

forcesA B C

(a) (i) (iii) (ii)(b) (iii) (ii) (i)(c) (ii) (i) (iii)


(i) Shivaji’s Biography by Sabhasad isknown as Bakhar.


(ii) Watandars were the local lnadedelements in Maratha Kingdom.

(iii) The lowest unit of the country wastermed as Prants in the MarathaKingdom.

(a) i & ii (b) iii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.


(i) Balaji Vishwanath introducedSaranjami System.

(ii) Baji Rao I campaigned against theSidis of Janjira.

(iii) Deshmukhs were equivalent toChandharib of North and Desaisof Gujarat.

(a) none of the above(b) ii & iii (c) all of the above(d) only i

160. Match the following:(i) Barbosa A. Achyutdevaraya(ii) Nicolo B. Krishnadeva

Saya(iii) Nuniz C. Devaraya I


161. Match the following(i) Balaji Visvanath A. Greatest exponent of

Guerilla tacties afterShivaji.

(ii) Madhav Rao B. IntroducedSaran-jamisystem.

(iii) Baji Rao I C. defeated HaiderAli.

A B C(a) (iii) (i) (ii)(b) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (ii) (iii) (i)


(i) The first Anglo Maratha war foughtdue to conflict for power betwennarayan Rao and Raghunath Rao.

(ii) Mamlatdar was the subedar ofbigger provinces under thePeshwas.

(iii) During the invasion of Ahmad ShahAddali nominal Head of theMaratha Army was Viswas Rao.

(a) i & ii(b) i & iii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above.


(i) Baji Rao I propounded concept ofHindu Pad Padshahi and was alsothe real architect of Marath Empire.

(ii) Moksha Mahal were the Landgrants given during the time ofMarathas.

(iii) During the reign of Baji Rao I theMaratha Capital shifted fromSatara to Poona.

(a) all of the above(b) i & ii(c) ii & iii(d) none of the above.

164. Arrange the following according totheir charonological order.

(i) Baji Rao I(ii) Narayan Rao

(iii) Madhav Rao(iv) Balaji Vishwanath(a) (i) (iii) (ii) (iv)(b) (iv) (ii) (i) (iii)(c) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)


165. Match the following(i) Harihar II A. won Orissa for Vijay

Nagar(ii) Devraya II B. was defeated by

Firoz Shah Bah-manialso built dam onTunga-bhadra.

(iii) Krishna Deva Raya C. inducted a largenumber of Mus-limsin his Army.

(iv) Dev Ray I D. sent an expedi-tion toSri Lanka.

A B C D(a) (iii) (iv) (ii) (i)(b) (iii) (ii) (iv) (i)(c) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(d) (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)

166. Who among the following assumed thetitle of Abhinav Bhoj.(a) Harihar II (b) Rama Raja(c) Devraya II(d) Krishna deva Singh

3. Who was responsible for the defeatof Vijaynagar in the Battle ofTalikotta in 1565?

(a) Krishna deva Singh(b) Rama Raja(c) Harihar II(d) Devraya I

167. Which was the most common animalfound in the pillars of the architectureof Vijaynagar Empire?(a) Bull (b) Unicorn(c) Horse (d) Elephant

168. Which of the following temples is anexample of Wall inscriptions on whichstories of Ramayana & the Mahabharataare inscribed?(a) Tadapatri (b) Varadraja(c) Parvati (d) Vithalswami

169. The Political Treatise ofAmuktamalyamada in Telugu waswritten by:—

(a) Harihar II(b) Dev Raja II(c) Krishna Devraya(d) Rama Raja

170. Who entered into a treaty with thePortuguese to obtain the Monopoly ofHorses?(a) Rama Raja(b) Krishna Devaraya(c) Harihar II (d) Devraya I

171. Who allied with the Reddy Kingdom todefeat Firoz Shah Bahmani?(a) Devraya II (b) Harihar II(c) Krishna Devaraya(d) Devraya I

172. Match the following(i) Shanksacharya A. His commentary on

Vedanta is com-piledin Sribhashya andGita bhashya.

(ii) Kabir B. admitted to his sectdisciples from allcastes, _____ andeven among theMuslims.

(iii) Ramanuja C. gave birth to thephilosophy ofEktavad of Vedanta.

(iv) Ramananda D. Representative poet-saint of NirgunaBhakti sect.

A B C D(a) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)(b) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(c) (iv) (iii) (i) (ii)(d) (iii) (i) (ii) (iv)


(i) Dadu Dayal was a devotee ofNirankar Brahma & Staumehsupporter of Nirguna school ofBhakti cult.

(ii) Guru Nanak started Langar & has


work was compiled in the AdiGranth.

(iii) Chaitanya was the most radicaldisciple of Ramananda.

(a) ii & iii (b) all(c) 1 & 2 (d) none

174. Who among the following said, “Godis the breath of all Breaths”(a) Shankracharya(b) Kabir (c) Guru Nanak(d) Chaitanya

175. Who among the following is also knownas crypto - Buddhist?(a) Ramanuja(b) Ramananda(c) Shankarcharya(d) Chaitanya

176. Match the following(i) Dadu Dayal A. declared that Allah &

Ram were names ofthe same God.

(ii) Shankaracharya B. devotee of NirankarBrahma & ______supported ofNirguna School ofBhakti cult.

(iii) Kabir C. emphasized TrueEducation



(i) Shankar dev is also famous asChaitanya of Assam.

(ii) Tulsidas depicted Rama as theincarnaton of Vishnu.

(iii) Nimbarkacharya published theTheory of Dwaith Advaitvad(Dualism - non dualism).

(a) ii & iii (b) i & ii(c) all of the above(d) none of the above

178. Who among the following is also knownas “Kabir of the Deccan”(a) Basava(b) Nimbarkacharya(c) Madhvacharya(d) Tukaram


(i) Narsi Mehta was exponder ofLingayat Sect and wrote Vachanas.

(ii) Madhvacharya expounded thetheory of Dwaitvad (Dualism) &was a devotee of Vishnu.

(iii) Eknath was the saint ofMaharashtra Dharma.

(a) none of the above(b) i & ii only (c) all of the above(d) ii & iii

180. Match the following(i) Mirabai A. author of Ramcharit

Manas(ii) Tulsidas B. follower of Krishna

cult of Vaishnavism.(iii) Basava C. composed Marathi

commentary ofBhagvat Gita.

(iv) Jnanadeva D. expounder ofLiagayat Sect.

A B C D(a) (iii) (iv) (ii) (i)(b) (i) (iii) (ii) (iv)(c) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)(d) (ii) (iii) (i) (iv)


(i) Mimbarkacharya identifiedBrahmana with Krishna. He was aTelugu Brahmin of Andhra


Pradesh who spent most of histime in Vrindavan.

(ii) The first great theme of the poetryof Surdas constiutes Krishna’s BalLila.

(iii) Namdev Said, “Hindu is Blind,then Muslim squint who knows it,is wiser than both, he is the servantof that name”.

(a) all of the above(b) i & iii(c) none of the above(d) ii & iii


(i) Guru Nanak believed in thedoctrine of Karma and the theoryof transmigration of souls.

(ii) Ramanand was representative ofSagun Bhakti sect.

(iii) Kabir defeated Buddhist scholasticTeachers.

(a) i & iii(b) all of the above(c) i & ii(d) none of the above

183. Match the following(i) Nizamuddin Auliya A. Firdausi

Order(ii) Sheikh Bahauddin B. Chisti Order

Zakaria(iii) Sheikh Abdulla C. Sushra Wardi

order(iv) Badruddin D. Shattariya

Samarqandi orderA B C D

(a) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)(b) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)(c) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)(d) (ii) (iii) (i) (iv)

184. Match the following(i) Sheikh Nuruddin A. Qadiriya

order(ii) Sheikh Abdul Qadir B. Rishi

Movement(iii) Sajid Mohd. bin C. Chisti order

Yusuf-al Hussaini(iv) Baba Farid D. Gesu Daraz

A B C D(a) (ii) (iv) (i) (iii)(b) (iii) (ii) (iv) (i)(c) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)(d) (iv) (ii) (iii) (i)

185. Who among the following was alsoknown as ‘Sidh’ or perfect for hisMastery over jogic practices.(a) Nizammuddin Auliya(b) Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti(c) Baba Farid(d) Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki

186. Which of the following, literally means‘Wondering Dervishes’?(a) Kubrawiyya order(b) Qalandariya order(c) Chisti order(d) Shattariya order


(i) Sheikh Nuruddin started RishiMovement and incorporatedteachings of Yogi Lalla also calledLal Ded in Kashmir.

(ii) The founder of Shattariya order inIndia & his disciples marchedwearing soldiers uniform beatingdrums.

(iii) Iltutmish was a devotee ofQutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kak anddedicated the Qutub Minar to him.

(a) i & ii


(b) none of the above(c) all of the above(d) ii & iii

188. Match the following(i) Kanqah A. those who followed

sharia.(ii) Be-shara B. Monastic organisa-

tion of the sufi.(iii) Ba-shara C. those who did not

strictly follow Sharia(iv) Furrow Marks D. Kalibangan

A B C D(a) (ii) (i) (iii) (iv)(b) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(c) (iv) (iii) (ii) (iv)(d) (iii) (i) (ii) (iv)

189. Consider the following statements.(1) Haider Ali was the founder of

Mysore.(2) In the first Anglo Mysore war

British defeated Haider Ali.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) Both 1 & 2 (b) 1 only(c) 2 only (d) Neither 1 nor 2

190. Consider the following statements.(1) Srirangapatnam treaty signed after

the Second-Anglo Mysore War.(2) Tipu Sultan died in 1799.

Which of the above statements is /are true.


191. Consider the following statements.(1) Wallesely was the Governor at the

time of the fourth Anglo-Mysore.(2) Tipu assumed the title of Sultan in

1786.(3) Devaraja & Nanaraja was related

to Hyderabad.


(a) 1 & 2 (b) 2 & 3(c) 1 & 3(d) All of the above

192. Consider the following statements.(1) Martanda Verma was the founder

of Travancore.(2) During Mysorean invasions on

Travancore Rama Varma was theRuler.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) Both 1 & 2 (b) 1 only(c) 2 only(d) Neither 1 nor 2

193. Consider the following statements.(1) Treaty of Salabai was the outcome

of Second Anglo-Maratha War.(2) Arthur Wellesley was the main

Architect of Second Anglo-MarathaWar.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) All of the above(b) 1 only(c) Neither 1 nor 2 (d) 2 only

194. Match the followingPlace Ruler

(1) Nagpur (a) Bhosle(2) Baroda (b) Sindia(3) Indore (c) Gaikwad(4) Gwalior (d) Holkar

(a) 1 - a 2 - b 3 - c 4 - d(b) 1 - a 2 - c 3 - d 4 - a(c) 1 - b 2 - d 3 - a 4 - c(d) 1 - c 2 - a 3 - b 4 - d

195. Consider the following statements.(1) Treaty of Rajpurghat with Lord

Lake (British) signed with Bhosle.


(2) Dalhousie was the Architect ofThird Anglo-Maratha War.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) Neither 1 nor 2(b) 1 only(c) 2 only (d) Both 1 & 2

196. Consider the following statements.(1) Guru Gobind Singh was the

contemporary to Bahadur Shah I.(2) Banda Bahadur’s revolt was

suppressed by Aurangzeb.Which of the above statements is /are true.


197. Consider the following statements.(1) Jats Revolt against the Mughal

authority started from the time ofAurengzeb.

(2) Churaman & Bodan Singh foundedthe Jat State of Bharatpur.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) Both 1 & 2 (b) 1 only(c) Neither 1 nor 2 (d) 2 only

198. In the Later Mughal period there aresome states were established by theMughal provincial governors, whichstate is not in that list.(a) Awadh (b) Bengal(c) Hyderabad(d) None of these

199. Consider the following statements.(1) Ahmad Shah to grant the title of

Burhan-ul-mulk to Saadat Khan.(2) Chin Qulich Khan took the title of

Nizam-ul-mulk Asaf Khan.

(3) Chin Qulich Khan was the leaderof the Turani Party.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 2 & 3 (b) 1 & 3(c) All of the above (d) 1 & 2

200. Consider the following statements.(1) British supported Nasir Jung in a

war of succession against MuzaffarJung.

(2) Nizam of Hyderabad was neutralin the second Anglo-Mysore War.Which of the above statements is /are true.


201. Consider the following statements.(1) Murshid Kuli Khan was

contemporary to Jahadar Shah.(2) Anwar-ud-din as the Nawab of

Carnatic murdered by ChandaSahib with the help of French.Which of the above statements is /are true.


202. According to their Ruling periodArrange the following Bengal Success.(1) Shuja-ud-din(2) Murshid Kuli Khan(3) Alivardi Khan(4) Siraj-ud-daula.(a) 1, 2, 3, 4(b) 2, 1, 4, 3(c) 2, 1, 3, 4 (d) 4, 3, 1, 2

203. Under the tenure of Siraj-ul-daula aalliance made by some people todethrone him who was not in thatalliance.


(a) Jagat Seth (b) Raja Janki Ram(c) Manik Chand(d) None of these

204. Consider the following statementsabout Black hole tragedy.(1) During Black hole tragedy

Murshid Kuli Khan was theNawab of Bengal.

(2) Holwell was one of the Survivorof this tragedy.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 2only (b) 1 only(c) Neither 1 nor 2 (d) Both 1 & 2

205. Consider the following statementsabout Battle of Plassey.(1) The English continued fortification

of Fort Willium dissegarding theorders of Nawab was one of themain reasons of Battle.

(2) Mir Jafar dethroned Sir-ud-daulawith the help of Clive.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 only (b) Both 1 & 2(c) 2 only (d) Neither 1 nor 2

206. Consider the following statements.(1) British were granted the

Zamindari of Burdwan,Midnapore & Chittagon by MirJafar.

(2) As an Nawab of Bengal Mir Kasimwas the replacement of Mir Jafar.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 2 only(b) 1 only(c) Both 1 & 2(d) Neither 1 nor 2

207. Consider the following statementsabout Battle of Buxar.(1) Mir Kasim formed in alliance with

Shah Alam II & Shuja-ud-daula ofAwadh.

(2) The combined forces defeatedBritishers.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) Both 1 & 2(b) 2 only

(c) 1 only(d) Neither 1 nor 2

208. Consider the following statementsabout Treaty of Allahabad.(1) Treaty of Allahabad was signed in

1765.(2) Mir Kasim granted the diwani of

Bengal, Bihar & Orissa to thecompany.

(3) Treaty of Allahabad gave thediwani rights from Nawab to thecompany.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) All of the above(b) 1 & 2(c) 1 & 2(d) 2 & 3 only

209. Consider the following statementsabout the Regulating Act of 1773.(1) Act established the office of

Governor-General at Fort William.(2) Warren Hastings was appointed as

the Governor of Bengal in 1773.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 only (b) 2 only(c) Neither 1 nor 2 (d) Both 1 & 2


210. Match the followingYear Incidents

(1) 1698 (a) Farrukhsiyargranted duty freetrading rights to EastIndia Company

(2) 1665 (b) Dutch Companyreceived exemptionfrom paying tolls

(3) 1717 (c) Britishers gotZamindari rights inKolikata, Sultanutia& Gobindapur.

(4) 1652 (d) East India Companygranted exemptionfor paying toll tax.

(a) 1 - c 2 - b 3 - a 4 - d(b) 1 - c 2 - a 3 - b 4 - d(c) 1 - c 2 - d 3 - b 4 - a(d) 1 - d 2 - c 3 - a 4 - b

211. Consider the following statements.(1) Till the first half of the eighteenth

century in terms of trade. Indiawas superior to any EuropeanCountry.

(2) The Economic Hisotry of Indiawritten by Dadabhai Naoroji.Which of the above statements is /are true.


212. Consider the following statements.(1) The two most important forms of

drain of wealth were HomeCharges & Council Bills.

(2) Council Bills were the actual meansthrough which money wastransferred.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 only (b) 2 only(c) Both 1 & 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2

213. Consider the following statementsabout permanent settlement.(1) Warren Hastings known as the

father of permanent settlement.(2) The land revenue under permanent

settlement was to be fixed.(3) The Zamindars were to pay a fixed

amount of revenue by the sun-setof a particular day.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) All of the above (b) 1 & 2(c) 1 & 3 (d) 2 & 3

214. Consider the following statementsabout Ryotwari Settlement.(1) Thomas Munro give the shape to

Ryotwari settlement.(2) The Ryotwari Settlement

technically created individualproprietary rights in land whichwere vested in peasants.Which of the above statements is /are true.


215. Consider the following statementsabout Mahalwari.(1) Holt Mackenzie devised the

Mahalwari system.(2) The settlement was to be made

village by village & estate (Mahal)by estate.

(3) The state reserved to itself the rightof direct management of theagricultural economy.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 & 2 (b) All of the above(c) 2 & 3 (d) 1 & 3


216. Consider the following statements.(1) Ramakrishna Mission was

established by Swami Paramhansain 1896.

(2) Sir Sayaid Ahmed Khan foundedthe Aligarh Scientific Society.

(3) M.G. Ranade started VidhawaVivaha uttejaka Mandal Society forWidow remarriage.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 & 2 (b) 2 & 3(c) 1 & 3 (d) All of the above

217. Consider the following statements.(1) Arya Samaj was founded by

Dayanand Saraswati in 1885.(2) Dayanand Saraswati established

Gaurakshini Sabhas.Which of the above statements is /are true.


218. Consider the following statements.(1) ‘A nation in making’ written by

Dadabhai Naoroji.(2) Hindu College was founded in

Calcutta with encouragement fromDavid Hare & Rammohan Roy.

(3) Asiatic Society of Bengal foundedby David Hare.Which of the above statements is /are true.


219. Consider the following statementsabout Raja Ram Mohan Roy.(1) Raja Saheb viewed British Rule as

beneficial.(2) The three main influences inthe

Raja’s thought were Vedantic,Islamic & Christianity.

(3) He was the founder of BrahmaSamaj.Which of the above statements is /are true.


220. Consider the following statementsabout Brahmo Samaj.(1) Tattvabodhini Patrika was the

mouth piece of Brahmo Samaj.(2) In 1865 there ws asplit when

Keshav Chand Sen & his followersbroke away.

(3) The role of the Brahmo Samaj asthe first intellectual movement.Which spread the ideas of rational& enlightment in Modern India.

(a) All of the above (b) 1 & 2 only(c) 2 & 3 only (d) 1 & 3

221. Consider the following statementsabout Arya Samaj.(1) Arya Samaj was founded by

Dayanand Saraswati at Rajkot.(2) The Samaj does not believe in caste

based on birth.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 only (b) Both 1 & 2(c) 2 only(d) Neither 1 nor 2

222. Consider the following statementsabout Swami Vivekanand.(1) Vivekanand represent Hinduism to

the parliament of Religiousconvened at Chicago in 1893.

(2) He was the founder ofRamakrishna Mission.



(a) 2 only (b) Both 1 & 2(c) 1 only(d) Neither 1 nor 2

223. Consider the following statementsabout Theosophical society.(1) Society was founded by Madame

Blavatsky & Colonel Olkott.(2) Society’s headquarter was in Adyar

(Madras).Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 only(b) 2 only(c) Neither 1 nor 2(d) Both 1 & 2

224. Consider the following statements.(1) M.G. Ranade widely accepted as

the ‘father of renaissance’ inwestern India.

(2) Prarthana Samaj was founded in1867.Which of the above statements is /are true.


225. Consider the following statements.(1) Mahima movement was founded

in Orissa.(2) Dev Samaj founded by Keshav

Chand Sen.Which of the above statements is /are true.


226. Consider the following statements.(1) Bharat Dharma Mahamandala was

an orthodox organization ofeducated Hindus.

(2) Madras Hindu Social reformsAssociation was founded byViresalingam Pantulu.Which of the above statements is /are true.


227. Consider the following statements.(1) Dharma Sabha was founded by

Radhakant Deb.(2) Gopal Hari Deshmukh was

popularly known as Lokahi tawadi.(3) Radhswami movement was

founded by Shiv Dayal Saheb.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 & 2 (b) 2 & 3(c) 1 & 3(d) All of the above

228. Consider the following statements.(1) The Seva Sadan was founded by

Behram J. Malabari.(2) The Servants of India Society was

founded by Tilak.Which of the above statements is /are true.


229. Consider the following statements.(1) Indian National Social conference

was founded by M.G. Ranade.(2) The Social Service league was

founded by Narayan Malhar Joshi.Which of the above statements is /are true.



230. Consider the following statements.(1) Rahanumai Mazdayan Sabha was

a social religious reform of theMuslim in India.

(2) Syed Ahmed Khan was the firstMuslim President of congress.Which of the above statements is /are true.


231. Consider the following statementsabout Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.(1) At the time of the Rebellion of 1857

Syed Ahmad was the Amin ofBijnor.

(2) He founded MuhammandanAnglo-Oriental College at Aligarh.

(3) He was the founding member ofIndia National Congress.Which of the above statements is /are true.


232. Consider the following statements.(1) Faraidi Movement spread in East

Bengal.(2) Syed Ahmad Barelwi was the

founder of Wahabi movement.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 & 2 only (b) 1 only(c) 2 only (d) Neither 1 nor 2

233. Consider the following statements.(1) Mirza Ghulam Ahmad known as

the father of Ahamadiyamovement.

(2) This movement was based on theprinciples of a universal religion ofall humanity.



234. Consider the following statementsabout movement.(1) The movement was founded by

Qasim Nahautavi & Rashid AhmadGangohi.

(2) To coperated with the congress inits activites was the main objectiveof this movement.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 only (b) 2 only(c) Both 1 & 2(d) Neither 1 nor 2

235. Consider the following statements.(1) Jyotiba Phule was the founder of

Satya Shodhak Samaj.(2) Aravippuram movement launched

by Ramaswami Naikar.(3) Self Respect movement launched

by Narain Guru.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) All of the above (b) 2 & 3(c) 1 only (d) 1 & 3

236. Consider the following statements.(1) Widow Marriage Act passed in

1856.(2) D.K. Karve founded India’s first

Women’s University in Bombay.(3) The Child Marriage restrint Act

popularly known as Sarda Act.Which of the above statements is /are true.



237. Consider the following statementsabout Illbert Bill.(1) Illbert Bill was introduced in

Legislative Council during the eraof Lord Ripon.

(2) Bill arrested that the Indian Judgeswere not fit to administer Justiceof a white offender.

(3) The Anglo Indian Community wasin favour to this Bill.Which of the above statements is /are true.


238. Which Governor General once said thatIndians are cheats.(a) Lord Curzon(b) Lyutton(c) Dalhousie(d) Minto

239. Consider the following statements.(1) British Indian Association Founded

in 1851.(2) The Indian League was founded by

Surendranath Banerjee.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 only(b) Both 1 & 2(c) Neither 1 nor 2 (d) 2 only

240. Consider the following statements.(1) Prarthna Samaj founded in 1867 by

Ranade.(2) Madras Mahajan Sabha was

founded in 1884.Which of the above statements is /are true.


241. Consider the following statements.(1) Saligram idol eare is related to

Lokmanya Tilak.(2) Vernacular Press Act passed during

Lord Lytton’s tenure.(3) W.C. Banerjee was the first

president of Indian NationalCongress.Which of the above statements is /are true.


242. Consider the following statements.(1) Lord Curzon known as the father

of Indian Nationalism.(2) Muslim League came into existence

in 1906.Which of the above statements is /are true.


243. Consider the following statementsabout the provisions of Indian councilAct of 1861.(1) Indians could be nominated to the

Supreme Legislative Council.(2) The members were to be

nominated by Governor-General.(3) Local Legislations to be set up in

Mumbai.Which of the above statements is /are true.


244. Consider the following statementsabout Indian Council Act of 1892.(1) The number of members of councils

of Bengal & North-Western


provinces was to be raised to 20 &15 respectively.

(2) The Act allowed the members todiscuss the budget & offersuggestions for its improvement.Which of the above statements is /are true.


245. Consider the following statements.(1) New Lamps for old (Book) written

by Aurbindo Ghosh.(2) Tilak used the Ganpati Festival to

raise awareness Nationalism.(3) Gaorakshini Sabha founded by

Tilak.Which of the above statements is /are true.


246. Consider the following statements.(1) Hindu mela or National Mela

founded by Nabagopal Mitra.(2) The extremists made the demand

for Swaraj or Home Rule.Which of the above statements is /are true.


247. Consider the following statements.(1) The Swadeshi-cum Boy cott

movement was launched onAugust 7, 1905 at a meeting inCalcutta Town Hall.

(2) National College was formed bySurendranath Banerjee in 1906.Which of the above statements is /are true.


248. Consider the following statements.(1) During partition of Bengal (1905)

Gokhale was the congresspresident.

(2) In 1907 Surat Congress session theextremist suggest Lajpat Rai’sname for the presidentship.

(3) British government councilpartition of Bengal in 1911.Which of the above statements is /are true.


249. Which Vice-Roy’s tenure in India knownas the full of missions, omissions &commissions.(a) Lord Lytton (b) Lord Curzon(c) Lord Irwin (d) Lord Ripon

250. Consider the following statements.(1) Bhupendra Datta edited Yugantar

during National movement.(2) Aurbindo Ghosh was related to

Yugantar.(3) Collector of Nasik Mr. Jackson was

assassinated in 1915.Which of the above statements is /are true.


251. Consider the following statements.(1) Savarkar brothers started an

association which was called MitraMela in 1904.

(2) India House founded by Shyam JiKrishna Verma.

(3) ‘Indian War of Independence’ wasoriginally written in English.



(a) All of the above (b) 2 & 3(c) 1 & 2 only (d) 1 & 3

252. Consider the following statements.(1) Curzon Willie was shot dead by

Madan Lal Dhingra.(2) Ghadar Party was established in

USA.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 only (b) 2 only(c) Neither 1 nor 2(d) Both 1 & 2

253. Consider the following statementsabout Kamagata Maru incident.(1) Kamagata Maru incident hapen in

1916.(2) Baba Gurdit Singh was related to

this incident.Which of the above statements is /are true.


254. Consider the following statementsabout Ghadar Party.(1) Lala Har Dayal along with others

founded Ghadar party.(2) The party established its branches

in Hong Kong, Manila, Bangkok,Shanghai & Panama.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) Both 1 & 2(b) 1 only(c) 2 only(d) Neither 1 nor 2

255. Consider the following statementsabout Morley-Minto reform.

(1) It increased the membership ofnon officials in the imperial &provincial legisltive councils.

(2) The Act provided for theappointment of an Indian to theViceroy’s executive council.

(3) The members could introducelegislative proposals but could notenact laws.Which of the above statements is /are true.


256. Consider the following statements.(1) Delhi Darbar was held in 1911

during the viceroyalty of LordHardinge.

(2) Amir Chand, Avadh Bihari,Balmukund & Basanta KumarBiswas received capital punishmentin Lahore Bomb case.Which of the above statements is /are true.


257. Consider the following statementsabout Lucknow pact (1916).(1) In the Central Legislature one third

of the elected Indian membersshould be muslims.

(2) Ras Bihari Bose the congresspresident in 1916.Which of the above statements is /are true.



258. Consider the following statementsabout montague - Chelmsford reform.(1) Set up dyarchy in provinces.(2) The transferred department were

given to Indian Ministers.(3) The Governor was to preside over

bothe wings of the executive.(4) A Second Indian was to be added

to the Governor - General’sexecutive council.Which of the above statements is /are true.


259. Consider the following statements.(1) Lord Irwin appointed the sedition

committee or Rowlatt commission.(2) Sir Sankaran Nair resigned his

membership of the Viceroysexecutive council in the protest ofJallianwala Massacre.

(3) Udham Singh shot ded Michael O’Dywer.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) All of the above (b) 1 & 2 only(c) 2 & 3 (d) 1 & 3

260. Consider the following statements.(1) October 17, 1919 was observed as

the Khilafat day at an all Indiascale.

(2) At a special session of the Indiannational congress at Calcutta(September 1920) passed theresolution to launch the non-cooperation movement.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) Both 1 & 2 (b) 1 only

(c) 2 only(d) Neither 1 nor 2

261. Consider the following statementsabout the programme of Noncooperation movement.(1) Surrender of titles & honorary

offices.(2) Withdrawal of children from

schools & colleges(3) Boycott of foreign goods.


(a) 1 & 2 (b) All of the above(c) 2 & 3 (d) 1 & 3

262. Consider the following statements.(1) The non cooperation movement

were suspended after the ChauriChaura Incident.

(2) Gandhi Ji faced trial (March 192(2)in Mumbai.

(3) Gandhi took full responsibility ofChauri Chaura.Which of the above statements is /are true.


263. Consider the following statements.(1) The founder of the Indian

Communism was M.N. Roy.(2) M.N. Roy founded communist

party of India in Kanpur.Which of the above statements is /are true.


264. Match the followingParty State

(1) Labur Swaraj party (A) Madras(2) Kirti Kishan party (B) Bengal


(3) Congress Labour (C) PunjabParty

(4) Labour Kisan Party(D) Mumbai(a) 1 - a 2 - b 3 - c 4 - d(b) 1 - b 2 - c 3 - d 4 - a(c) 1 - c 2 - d 3 - b 4 - a(d) 1 - d 2 - a 3 - c 4 - b

265. Consider the following statements.(1) All India trade Union Congress

held its first session in Kanpur.(2) Meerut conspiracy case’s accused

were defended by J.L. Nehru, M.A.Ansari & M.C. Chagla.Which of the above statements is /are true.


266. Consider the following statementsabout CSP.(1) Congress socialist party was

formed in 1934.(2) J.L.Nehru & base did not support

CSP.(3) The Cabinet Mission plan was

rejected by CSP.Which of the above statements is /are true.


267. Consider the following statements.(1) Under the presidentship of C.R.

Das, Swaraj party formed in 1922.(2) Swaraj party win 42 out of 101

elective seats in the centrallegislative assembly.Which of the above statements is /are true.


268. Consider the following statements.(1) Hindu Mahasabha founded in 1918

under the presidentship of MadanMohan Malviya.

(2) Fazl-i-Husain was related tounionist party of Punjab.Which of the above statements is /are true.


269. Consider the following statements.(1) The Nagpur Flag satyagraha was

started in mid-1923.(2) Vaikom Satyagraha was fought for

temple entry.Which of the above statements is /are true.


270. Consider the following statements.(1) Simon Commission enumerated

two features of Indian states,British territory & not Britishsubjects.

(2) The Government of India Act of1935 proposed a system offederation.Which of the above statements is /are true.


271. Consider the following statements.(1) The Butler Committees report

(1929) rankly said that the princeshad no sovereign authority.

(2) Gandhi start Salt Satyagraha inAugust 1929.Which of the above statements is /are true.



272. Consider the following statementsabout All India states people’sconference.(1) It took shape in 1927.(2) Balwant Rai Mehta, Manilal

Kothari & G.R. Abhayankar wasthe leader.

(3) Its headquarter was based in Delhi.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) All of the above(b) 1 & 3 only

(c) 1 & 2 only (d) 2 & 3273. Consider the following statements

about Simon Commission.(1) Indian statutory commission

known as Simon Commission.(2) Commission consisted 9 members.(3) Sir John-Simon was the Chief of

Simon Commission.Which of the above statements is /are true.


274. Consider the following statements.(1) Indian National Congress meet in

Calcutta to boycott SimonCommission.

(2) Muslim League supported SimonCommission.Which of the above statements is /are true.


275. Of the 29, four revolutionaries weresentenced to death in Kakori case. Whichis not in the list.

(a) Chandra Shekhar Azad.(b) Roshan Lal(c) Rajender Lahiri(d) Asfaqullah Khan

276. Consider the following statements.(1) Bhagat Singh & Batu Keshwar Dutt

threw two crude bombs in centrallegislative Assembly.

(2) Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev & Rajguruwere hanged on March 23, 1931.Which of the above statements is /are true.


277. Consider the following statements.(1) Subhas Chandra Bose was related

to the Anushilan group.(2) Indian Republican Army was

founded by Surya Sen.Which of the above statements is /are true.


278. Consider the following statementsabout Nehru report.(1) Nehru report was headed by

Motilal Nehru.(2) The list of central & provincial

subjects shall be provided in theschedule.

(3) Universal adult franchise for allthose who have attained the ageof 18.Which of the above statements is /are true.



279. Consider the following statementsabout the main points of Jinnah’s 14points Charter.(1) In the central legislature muslim

reporesentation shall be 1/3rd ofthe total seats.

(2) The residuary powers should vertin the provinces.

(3) Separation of Sindh should bepostponed.Which of the above statements is /are true.


280. Consider the following statementsabout the Lahore session of congress(1929).(1) Lahore session held under the

presidentship of J.L. Nehru.(2) The congress issues a call to the

countrymen to celebrate 26 January1930 as poorna Swarajya day.Which of the above statements is /are true.


281. Consider the following statementsabout the programmes of civildisobedience movement.(1) Picketing of shops dealing in liquor.(2) Ban fire of foreign cloth.(3) Boy cott of law courts.


(a) 1 & 2 (b) All of the above(c) 1 only (d) 2 only

282. Consider the following statements.(1) Abdul Ghaffar Khan formed

Khudai Khidmatgar.

(2) The Hindu Muslim Unity wastotally missing in Civildisobedience movement.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 only (b) 2 only(c) Neither 1 nor 2(d) Both 1 & 2

283. Consider the following statements.(1) Muslim League did not participate

in the First Round TableConference.

(2) Ambedkar participate in all theround table conference.Which of the above statements is /are true.


284. Consider the following statementsabout Gandhi-Irwin pact features.(1) Return of confiscated lands not yet

sold to third parties.(2) Immediate release of all political

prisoners.(3) Pact was concluded on 5 March

1931.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 & 2 only (b) 2 & 3(c) All of the above (d) 1 & 3

285. Consider the following statements.(1) Gandhi attended the Second

Round Table Conference.(2) The 2nd Round table conference

was meeting in the context of worldeconomic crisis.Which of the above statements is /are true.


(a) 1 only (b) Both 1 & 2(c) Neither 1 nor 2 (d) 2 only

286. Consider the following statements.(1) Communal award announced on 10

August 1932.(2) The Award gave recognition to the

Harijans as a minority.(3) Award accepted the demand of

Muslims, Sikhs, Indian for separateelectorate.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) All of the above(b) 1 & 2 only

(c) 2 & 3 (d) 1 & 3287. Consider the following statements

about pund pact.(1) Agreement was sign on 26

September 1932.(2) 148 seats were reserved against 71

in the award.Which of the above statements is /are true.


288. Consider the following statementsabout 3rd round table conference.(1) The invitation for the conference

was sent only to those perons whowere loyal to the government.

(2) The Biggest outcome of thisconference was Government ofIndia Act 1935.Which of the above statements is /are true.


289. Consider the following statementsabout the provincial elections of 1937.(1) In the Punjab, the Unionist party

& the Muslim League formed acoalition government int heprovincial election of 1937.

(2) H.S. Suhrawardy became premierof Sindh.Which of the above statements is /are true.


290. “I would like to see the Punjab, NWFP,Sindh & Baluchistan” amalgamated intoa single state”.

Who had given this statementduring national movement.

(a) Jinnah (b) Mohammad Ali(c) Md. Iqbal (d) Khali Kujamma

291. Consider the following statements.(1) Muslim League appointed a

committee heaed by Raja of Pirpurto investigate Muslim complaintsagainst the congress governments& submit a report.

(2) Asbab-e-Bagawat written by Md.Ali Jinnah.Which of the above statements is /are true.


292. Consider the following statements.(1) Muslim League celebrated the day

December 22, 1939 as thedeliverance day.

(2) Muslim League at Karachi Session(1940) passed the in famousPakistan Resolution.Which of the above statements is /are true.



293. Consider the following statements.(1) Muslim League supported the

August Offer (1940).(2) August offer came in the form of a

statement by the Viceroy on 8August 1940.Which of the above statements is /are true.


294. Consider the following statements.(1) Gandhi termed Cripps proposal as

a post-dated cheque on a crashingbank.

(2) In Satara a parallel governmentwas set up during Quit Indiamovement.Which of the above statements is /are true.


295. Consider the following statements.(1) Rash Behari Bose was the chairman

of Indian Independence league.(2) Subhash Chandra Bose founded

Azad Hind Fauz.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 2 only (b) Both 1 & 2(c) Neither 1 nor 2(d) 1 only

296. Consider the following statements.(1) Subhash Chandra Bose established

a provisional Government of FreeIndia at Germany.

(2) Bose acclaimed as Netaja byGerman Women.Which of the above statements is /are true.


297. Consider the following statementsabout Raja Gopalachari Formula.(1) Any transfer of population shall

only be an abslutely voluntarybasis.

(2) In the event of separation mutualagreement shall be entered.

(3) Jinnah Supported Formula.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) All of the above(b) 1 & 2 only(c) 2 & 3 (d) 1 & 3

298. Consider the following statementsabout Wavell plan.(1) The executive council would work

under the Government of India Act1935.

(2) Hindus & Muslims would haveequal representation in theexecutive council.

(3) New Government would work likea provisional national government.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 & 2 only (b) 2 & 3(c) All of the above (d) 1 only

299. Consider the following statementsabout Simla Conference.(1) Assembled at Simla on 25th June

1945.(2) Abul Kalam Azad participate as

Congress President.(3) Gandhi did not attend the

conference.Which of the above statements is /are true.


(a) 1 & 2 only (b) 2 & 3 only(c) 1 & 3(d) All of the above

300. Consider the following statementsabout Royal Indian Navy Mutiny.(1) Royal Indian navy rose in rebellion

on 18 February 1946.(2) Talwar (Ship) went on hunger

strike.(3) B.C. Dutt was the leader of this

mutiny.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) All of the above(b) 1 & 2 only(c) 2 & 3(d) 1 & 3

301. There was three members in the CabinetMission. Which is not in the list.(a) Pethick Lawrence(b) Sir John Simon(c) A.V. Alexander(d) Stafford Cripps.

302. Consider the following statements.(1) Appointment of the cabinet mission

was a virtual declaration of India’sindependence.

(2) Cabinet Mission plan consisted ofa federal government with alimited number of subjectsWhich of the above statements is /are true.


303. Consider the following statementsabout recommendations of CabinetMission Plan.(1) The Unity of India had to be

retained.

(2) The princely states would retain allsubjects.

(3) The constituent assembly was toconsist of 209.Which of the above statements is /are true.


304. Consider the following statementsabout the elections to the constituentAssembly.(1) Congress Captured 199 seats.(2) Out of 78 Muslim seats League got

73.(3) 210 general seats alloted to the

British Indian provision.Which of the above statements is /are true.


305. Consider the following statements.(1) Direct Action day (Muslim league)

fixed for August 16, 1946.(2) Initially League supported the

Cabinet Mission Plan.Which of the above statements is /are true.

(a) 1 only(b) Both 1 & 2(c) 2 only (d) Neither 1 nor 2

306. Consider the following statementsabout the Interim Government.(1) The Interim Government was

sworn in on September 2, 1946.(2) It was composed of 14 members.(3) Jawahar Lal nehru was nominated

as its Vice President.Which of the above statements is /are true.


(a) 1 & 2(b) 2 & 3(c) 1 & 3(d) All of the above

307. Consider the following statements.(1) Constituent assembly met for the

first time on December 6, 1946.(2) Muslim League refused to Join

Constituent Assembly.Which of the above statements is /are true.


308. Consider the following statementsabout Mountbatten plan.(1) Punjab & Bengal Legislative

assembly would be divided intotwo sections.

(2) The work of the existingconstituent assembly was not to beinterrupted.

(3) The district of Sylhet in Assamwould decide its choice by meansof a referendum.Which of the above statements is /are true.


309. Consider the following statementsabout partition council.(1) Partititon committee consisting of

Vallabhai Patel & Rajendra Prasadas congress representative.

(2) Md. Ali Jinnah represented MuslimLeague.

(3) The council functioned through asteering committee of two seniorofficials H.M. Patel for India &Chaudhri Md. Ali for Pakistan.



310. Consider the following statementsabout Indian Independence Act 1947.(1) Passed by British Parliament in July

1947.(2) Congress refused this proposal.


(a) 1 & 2(b) 1 only(c) 2 only(d) Neither 1 nor 2

311. Consider the following statements.(1) The states reorganisation

commission came into effect inNovember 1953.

(2) Dar Committee was appointed toexamine the demands for thecreation of linguistic states.Which of the above statements is /are true.


312. Consider the following statements.(1) A Shuddi campaign in the Punjab

& United province started by AryaSamaj.

(2) The Lahore session of the Leaguein 1940 proclaimed muslims as anation & talked about independentstates.Which of the above statements is /are true.



313. (1) Annexation of Awadh(2) Role of Christian Missionaries(3) Military Grievances(4) Administrative CauseWhich of the above causes are the reasonfor revolt of 1857.(a) All of the above (b) 1 & 2(c) 2 & 3 (d) 2, 3 & 4

314. Consider the following statements.(1) Lord Canning was the Governor -

General during Revolt of 1857.(2) The British adopted the policy of

no prisioners in revolt of 1857.(3) Maulvi Ahmad-ullah was the

leader of Lucknow during 1857revolt.


315. Consider the following statementsabout changes of port 1857 revolt.(1) English East India Company rule

came to end by the Act of 1858.(2) The Board of Directors & the

Board of Control were abolished.

(3) Lord Canning held a Darbar atNew Delhi.Which of the above statements is /are true.


316. Consider the following statements.(1) Book the Indian Musalmans

written by Sir Benjamin Dissaeli.(2) Indian Councils Act passed in 1861.


(a) Both 1 & 2 (b) 1 only(c) Neither 1 nor 2(d) 2 only

317. “The whole insurrection is a greatMohanedan conspiracy & the sepoys aremerely the tools of the Musalmans.”

Who had given this statement (inthe context of 1857).

(a) Alfred Lyall(b) G.B. Malleson(c) Disraeli(d) All of the above


Answers

1. (c) 2. (a) 3. (d) 4. (c) 5. (d) 6. (d) 7. (a) 8. (c) 9. (c) 10. (d)11. (c) 12. (a) 13. (d) 14. (d) 15. (b) 16. (d) 17. (c) 18. (c) 19. (d) 20. (b)21. (d) 22. (d) 23. (d) 24. (b) 25. (c) 26. (c) 27. (d) 28. (a) 29. (d) 30. (b)31. (c) 32. (a) 33. (b) 34. (c) 35. (a) 36. (b) 37. (d) 38. (a) 39. (c) 40. (b)41. (d) 42. (c) 43. (b) 44. (c) 45. (a) 46. (b) 47. (d) 48. (b) 49. (c) 50. (a)51. (b) 52. (d) 53. (a) 54. (c) 55. (b) 56. (d) 57. (c) 58. (b) 59. (c) 60. (a)61. (b) 62. (d) 63. (c) 64. (a) 65. (d) 66. (c) 67. (b) 68. (a) 69. (d) 70. (b)71. (c) 72. (b) 73. (c) 74. (a) 75. (c) 76. (a) 77. (a) 78. (c) 79. (b) 80. (a)81. (c) 82. (b) 83. (a) 84. (a) 85. (c) 86. (c) 87. (c) 88. (b) 89. (d) 90. (b)91. (c) 92. (b) 93. (c) 94. (d) 95. (b) 96. (a) 97. (c) 98. (b) 99. (d) 100. (b)

101. (a) 102. (d) 103. (c) 104. (c) 105. (a) 106. (c) 107. (c) 108. (b) 109. (d) 110. (b)111. (a) 112. (c) 113. (c) 114. (a) 115. (c) 116. (b) 117. (a) 118. (b) 119. (d) 120. (a)121. (d) 122. (a) 123. (b) 124. (c) 125. (d) 126. (a) 127. (a) 128. (c) 129. (c) 130. (c)131. (c) 132. (d) 133. (c) 134. (a) 135. (b) 136. (d) 137. (a) 138. (d) 139. (a) 140. (c)141. (a) 142. (b) 143. (c) 144. (b) 145. (b) 146. (d) 147. (c) 148. (a) 149. (c) 150. (a)151. (c) 152. (a) 153. (c) 154. (b) 155. (a) 156. (c) 157. (a) 158. (a) 159. (c) 160. (b)161. (a) 162. (c) 163. (b) 164. (c) 165. (a) 166. (c) 167. (b) 168. (c) 169. (d) 170. (c)171. (a) 172. (b) 173. (c) 174. (b) 175. (c) 176. (b) 177. (c) 178. (d) 179. (d) 180. (c)181. (a) 182. (c) 183. (b) 184. (c) 185. (a) 186. (b) 187. (c) 188. (d) 189. (d) 190. (b)191. (a) 192. (c) 193. (d) 194. (b) 195. (a) 196. (c) 197. (d) 188. (d) 199. (a) 200. (c)201. (b) 202. (c) 203. (d) 204. (a) 205. (b) 206. (a) 207. (c) 208. (b) 209. (d) 210. (a)211. (b) 212. (c) 213. (d) 214. (a) 215. (b) 216. (a) 217. (b) 218. (c) 219. (d) 220. (a)221. (b) 222. (c) 223. (d) 224. (a) 225. (b) 226. (c) 227. (d) 228. (a) 229. (b) 230. (c)231. (d) 232. (a) 233. (b) 234. (c) 235. (c) 236. (d) 237. (d) 238. (a) 239. (b) 240. (c)241. (d) 242. (a) 243. (b) 244. (c) 245. (b) 246. (a) 247. (c) 248. (d) 249. (b) 250. (a)251. (c) 252. (d) 253. (b) 254. (a) 255. (c) 256. (d) 257. (b) 258. (a) 259. (c) 260. (a)261. (b) 262. (d) 263. (a) 264. (b) 265. (c) 266. (d) 267. (a) 268. (c) 269. (b) 270. (d)271. (a) 272. (c) 273. (b) 274. (d) 275. (a) 276. (c) 277. (b) 278. (d) 279. (a) 280. (c)281. (b) 282. (d) 293. (a) 284. (c) 285. (b) 286. (a) 287. (c) 288. (d) 289. (a) 290. (c)291. (b) 292. (a) 293. (b) 294. (c) 295. (d) 296. (a) 297. (b) 298. (c) 299. (d) 300. (a)301. (b) 302. (c) 303. (d) 304. (a) 305. (b) 306. (c) 307. (d) 308. (a) 309. (c) 310. (a)311. (a) 312. (b) 313. (a) 314. (b) 315. (c) 316. (d) 317. (a)

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