Medieval History

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CONTENTS

Sl. No. TOPICS Pg. No.

GENERAL GEOGRAPHY

1. India Between 750-1200 AD ...................................................................5-31

2. Establishment and Expansion of the Delhi Sultanate ........................ 32-51

3. Emergence of Regional States in India ................................................ 52-63

4. Religious Movements in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries .............. 64-79

5. Mughal Dynasty .................................................................................... 80-90

6. Administration Under Mughals ......................................................... 91-107

7. Later Mughals .................................................................................... 108-116

8. The Maratha State.............................................................................. 117-120

9. European Arrival ............................................................................... 121-128

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[4] Chronicle IAS Academy

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Chronicle IAS Academy [5]

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INDIA BETWEEN

750–1200 AD

CHRONICLEIAS ACADEMYA CIVIL SERVICES CHRONICLE INITIATIVE

The period between AD 750 and AD 1200is referred to as an early medieval period ofIndian History. It was earlier treated byhistorians as a ‘dark phase’. It was so becauseduring this time the whole country was dividedinto numerous regional states which were busyfighting with each other. But recent studies haveindicated that, though politically divided, Indiawitnessed a growth of new and rich culturalactivities in the fields of art, literature andlanguage. In fact, some best specimens of templearchitecture and Indian literature belong to thisperiod. Thus, far from being ‘dark’ it may betreated as a bright and vibrant phase of Indianhistory.

The political developments afterHarshavardhan, can be best understood if wedivide the period from AD 750 to AD 1200 intwo parts (a) AD 750–AD 1000; (b) AD 1000–AD 1200. The first phase was marked by thegrowth of three important political powers inIndia. These were Gurjara Pratiharas in northIndia, Palas in eastern India and Rashtrakutasin South India. These powers were constantlyfighting with each other with an aim to set uptheir control on Gangetic region in northernIndia. This armed conflict among these threepowers is known as ‘Tripartite struggle’. In thesecond phase we notice the breakup of thesepowers. It resulted in the rise of many smallerkingdoms all over the country. For example, innorthern India, the disintegration of thePratihara Empire brought to the forefrontvarious Rajput states under the control ofdifferent Rajput dynasties such as theChahmanas (Chauhans), Chandellas,Paramaras. etc. These were the states whichfought and resisted the Turkish attacks fromnorthwest India led by Mahmud Ghaznavi andMohammad Ghori in the 11th and 12thcenturies, but had to yield ultimately as theyfailed to stand united against the invaders.

MAJOR DYNASTIES

The Pallava dynasty emerged in South Indiaat a time when the Satavhana dynasty was onthe decline, Shivaskandavarman is said to have

been the founder of the Pallava dynasty. Duringtheir reign, the Pallava rulers made Kanchi theircapital and extended the kingdom from theKrishna in the south to a region further north ofthe Arabian Sea. The chronology of the Pallavakings is vague, but texts suggest that they weremost powerful between 330 and 550. Thenoteworthy rulers during this period were:Simhavarama I, Sivaskkandavarma I,Veerakurcha, Shandavarma II, KumaravishnuI, Simhavarma II, and Vishnugopa. Vishugopais said to have been defeated in battle bySamudragupta after which the Pallavas becomeweaker and the Cholas and the Kalaharirepeatedly attacked their kingdom and robbedit of its wealth and territories. It wasSimhavishnu, the son of Simhavarma II, whoeventually crushed the Kalabhras’ dominance in575 and re-established his kingdom. There alsoseems have been an enmity between the Pallavaand Pandya kingdoms. However, the realstruggle for political domination was betweenthe Pallava and Chalukya realms. The Pallavahistory between 600 and 900 is full of accountsof wars between the Pallava and theChaluakaya rulers.

In 670, Parameshwaravarma I came to thethrone and restricted the advance of theChlukyan king Vikramaditya I. However, theChalukyas joined hands with the Pandya kingArikesari Maravarma, another promients enemyof the Pallavas, and defeated Parameshwarava-rma I. Parameshwaravarma I died in 695 andwas succeeded by Narasimhavarma II, a peace-living ruler. During his reign, clashes betweenthe Pallavas and chalukyas were few. He is alsoremembered for building the famousKailashanatha temple at Kanchi. He diedgrieving his elder son’s accidental death in 722.His youngest son, Parameshwaravarma II, cameto power in 722. He was a patron of arts andhad little interest in fighting. He proved to be avery soft opponent to his contemporaryChalukya king, Vikramaditya II, who had thesupport if the Ganga king, Yereyqppa. He diedin 730 with no heirs to the throne, which left thePallava kingdom in a state of disarray.


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Nandivarma II came to power after someinfighting for the throne among relatives andofficials of the kingdom. He waged war againstthe Pandyas and crushed them at a time whenthey got no support from the Chalukyas; Instead,the Chalukyan king Deertivarma (son ofVidramaditya II) waited for the defeat ofPandyas at the hands of Pallavas, andimmediately afterword waged war against thewar-torn Pallava army and defeated it. However,Nandivarma married the Rashtrakuta princessReetadevi, and reestablished the Pallavakingdom. He was succeeded by Dantivarma(796-846) who ruled for 54 long years.Dantivarma was defeated by the Rastrakut king,Dantidurga, and subsequently by the Pandyas.He was succeeded by Nandivarma III in 846.Accounts in the Tamil book Nandikkalubalakomsay that the Pallava kings who followed werepowerful. Nandivarma III was succeeded byNrupatungavarma, who had two brothers,Aparajitavarma and Kampavarma. The Cholaking provoked Aprajita varma into waging a civilwar in the Pallava kingdom. Subsequently,Aprajita Varma captured the throne but had topay heavy costs to the Cholas for their help.Later, incompetent kings and political instabilityreduced the Pallavas to petty kingdom. Thisbrought the Cholas to formidable position in thesouth Indian political stage.

THE CHALUKYAS

History of the Chalukyas, the Karnatakarulers, can be classified into three eras: 1) theearly western era (6th -8th century), theChalukyas of Badami; 2) the later western era(7th - 12th century), the Chalukyas of Kalyani;3) the eastern chalukya era (7th - 12th century),the chalukyas of Vengi. The Chinese traveler,Hieun Tsang, gives an elaborate account of theChalukyas in his travelogue. Pulakesin I (543-567) was the first independent ruler of Badamiwith Vatapi in Bijapur as his capital. KirthivarmaI (566-596) succeeded him at the throne. Whenhe died, the heir to the throne, Prince PulakesinII, was just a baby and so the king’s brother,Mangalesha (597-610), was crowned thecaretaker ruler. Over the years, he made manyunsuccessful attempts to kill the prince but wasultimately killed himself by the prince and hisfriends. Pulakesin II (610-642), the son ofPulakesin I, was a contemporary ofHarshavardhana and the most famous of theChalukyan kings. He increased the size of his

kingdom by annexing the entire Andhrakingdom. His reign is remembered as the greatestperiod in the history of Karnataka. He defeatedHarshavardhana on the banks of the Narmada.In the north, pulakeshin II subdued the Latas,Malavas, and Gurjara. He also annexed the threekingdoms of Maharashtra, Konkan, andKarnataka. After conquering the Kosalas and theKalingas, and eastern Chalukyan dynasty wasinaugurated by his brother KubjaVishnuvardana. This dynasty absorbed theAndhra country by defeating the Vishnukundinking Vidramendravarman III. Moving south,pulakeshin II allied himself with the Cholas,Keralas, and Pandyas in order to invade thepowerful Pallavas. By 631, the Chalukyan empireextended from sea to sea. However, Pulkeshin IIwas defeated and probably killed in 642, whenthe Pallavas, in retaliation for an attack on theircapital, captured the chalukyan capital atBadami.

The Chalukyas rose to power once againunder the leadership of Vikramaditya I (655-681),who defeated his contemporary Pandya,Pallava, Cholas and Kerala rulers to establish thesupremacy of the Chalukyan empire in theregion. He was succeeded by his sonVinayaditya(681-696), who was an ableadministrator. He had many victories to hisaccount, prominent among them credit againstYashovarma being the once (king of Kanauj). Hewas succeeded by his son Vijayaditya (696-733),who was succeeded by his son Vikramaditya II(733-745) who defeated the Pallava kingNandivarma II to capture a major portion of thePallava kingdom. However, Vikramaditya II’sson, Kirtivarma II (745), was disposed by theRastrakuta ruler, Bhantidurga, who establishedthe Rashtrakuta dynasty as a force to reckon within Karnataka’s Political scenario.

THE PANDYAS OF MADURAI (6TH TO14TH CENTURY)

The pandyas were one of the most ancientdynasties to rule south India and are mentionedin Kautilya’s Arhasastra and Megasthenes’Indica. The Sangam age started from a Pandyaking and, as per Sangam literature, there wereat least twenty kings in this dynasty. The mostprominent among them was Nedunzalian, whomade Madurai his capital. Pandya rulersexercised a clan-rule under several Lineages,each bearing Tamil names ending with suffixes


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such as Valuti and Celiyan. The Pandyasacquired their resources in inter-tribal conflictswith the cheras and Cholas, and luxury goodsfrom their maritime trade with countries furtherwest. The Pandyas founded a Tamil Literaryacademy called the Sangam, at Madurai Theyadopted the Vedic religion of sacrifice andpatronized Brahmin priests. Their powerdeclined with the invasion of a tribe called theKalabhras. After the Sangam Age, this dynastylost its significance for more than century, onlyto rise once again at the end of the 6th century.Their first significant ruler was Dundungan (590-620) who defeated the Kalabars and brought thepandyas back to the path of glory. The list knownPandya king, Parakramadeva, was defeated byUsaf Khan, (a viceroy of Muhmmad-bin-Tughlaqwhen the Tughlaq dynasty was in process ofextending their kingdom up to Kanyakumari.

THE CHOLAS(9TH TO 13TH CENTURY)

The Chola dynasty was one of the mostpopular dynasties of south India which ruledover Tamil Nadu and parts of Karnataka withTanjore as its capital. Rock edicts II and XII ofAshoka rare the earliest historical documents torefer to the Cholas. Early Chola rulers were thekarikala Cholas who ruled in the 2nd century.After them, the Chola dynasty remainedinsignificant for centuries before resurfacingwhen, in 850, Vijayalaya captured Tanjoreduring the Pandya-Pallava wars. Tocommemorate his accession, he built a temple atTanjore,

The king was the central head who washelped by a council of ministers. However, theadministration was democratic. Land revenueand trade tax were the main sources of income.Society was divided into Brahmins and non-Brahmins. The temple was the cultural and socialcentre, where art and literature flourished. Thegiant statue of Gomateswara at Shravanbelagolawas also built during this period. Vijayalaya’sson Aditya I (871-901) succeeded him to throne.Aditya died in 907 leaving the throne to his sonParantaka I (907-955) who was king for the next48 years. But it was Rajaraj I (985-1014) whowas the founder of newly organized Cholakingdom. He snatched back lost territories formthe Rashtrakutas and become the most powerfulof the Chola rulers. Rajendra Chola (1014-144),son of Rajaraja I, was an important ruler of this

dynasty who conquered Orissa, Bengal, Burmaand the Andaman and Nicobar Island. TheCholas dynasty was at its zenith during his reign.The last ruler of the Chola Dynasty was RajendraIII (1246-79). He was a weak ruler whosurrendered to the pandyas. Later, Malik Kafurinvaded this Tamil state in 1310 andextinguished the Chola empire.

Rajaraja I (985-1014) who was known by avariety of titles such as mummadi choladeva.Jayandonada, and chola-martanda, began themost glorious epoch of the Cholas. He used hismilitary powers to rebuild the Chola empire andraise himself to a position of supremacy in thesouth. One of the earliest exploits of Rajaraja Iwas the subjugation of the Cheras, whose fleethe destroyed at Kandalur. He then took Maduraiand captured the panday king, Amarabhujanga.At this time the affairs of Srilanka were in a stateof disarray; hence, he invaded the island andannexed its northern part which became aCholas province under the name Munnadi cola-mandalam. Rajaraja I then overran the easternChalukyan country of Vengi. The conquests ofRajaraja I included Kalinga and “ the old islandsof the sea numbering 12,000”, which have beengenerally identified with the Laccadives and theMaldivas. Rajaraja’ is also famous for thebeautiful siva temple which he constructed atThanjavur. It is called Rajarajeswava after hisname and is specially admired for its hugeproportions, simple design, elegant sculpters,and fine decorative motifs. On the walls of thetemple, is engraved an account of Rajaraja’secploits.

Rajendra I gangaikonda (1014-44) secceededRajaraja I. A few years after coming to the throne,he annexed the whole of Sri Lanka's, northernpart having been previously conquered byRajarajaI. The following year he reasserted theChola supermacy over the kings of Kerala andthe Pandyan country. Rajendra I also directedhis arms towards the North, and his armiesmarched triumphantly as far as the Ganga andthe dominions of the Pala king Mahipala. It wasdoubtless an audacious campaign and tocommemorate it he adopted the title ofgangaikonda, Rajendra I invited a number ofHiavas form Bengal in to his kingdom. The cholamonarch’s achievements were not invited toland. He possessed a fowerful fleet which gainedsuccesses across the Bay of Bengal. It is said thathe vanquished Sangramavijayottungavarmanand conquered kataha or Kadaram (Sumatra).


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Presumably, the expediton was undertaken tofurther commercial intercourse between theMalay peninsula and South India. Rajendra Ifounded a new capital called after him-Gangaiknoda-Cholapuram, indentified withmodern Gangakundapuram in the Tiruchirapllidistrict of Tamil Nadu. It has magnificent placeand a temple adorned with exquisite granitesculptures.

Kulottunga I (1070-1122) was anothersignificant Chola ruler. Kulottunga I united thetwo kingdom of the eastern Chalukyas of Vengiand the Cholas of Thanjavur. Kullottunga Iintroduced certain reforms in the internaladministration of the kingdom. Of these, themost important was that he got the landresurveyed for taxation and revenue purposes.Despite being a devout Shaiva by faith, he isknown to have made grants to the Buddhistshrines at Megapatam. After a long reign ofabout half a century, Kulottunga I passed awaysometime in 1122 and was succeeded by his son,Vikrama Chola, surnamed Tyagasamudra, whohad earliar held the viceroyalty of Vengi.Vikrama Chola (1118-33) and his immediatesuccessors, Kulottunga II (1133-47), Rajaraja II(1147-62) and Rajadhiraja II (1162-78), were allweak rulers under whom the power of thecholas rapidly declined and their place was takenby the Hoysalas of Dwarsamundra and Pandyasof Madurai.

The Cholas (like the Pallavas) undertook vastirrigational projects. Apart from sinking wellsand excavating tanks, they built mighty stonedams across the Kaveri and other rivers, and cutout channels to distribute water over large tractsof land One of the most remarkable achieve-ments belongs to the time of Rajendra I. He dugan artificial lake which was filled with waterform the Klerun and the Vellar rivers near hisnew capital, Gangaikonda Chlapuram. The Cho-las also constructed grand trunk roads whichserved as artorvals along important roads, andpublic ferries were provided across rivers.

The Chola rulers were mainly worshippersof Siva, but they were not intolerant of otherprevaints faiths. Rajaraja I, and ardent Saivahimself, built and endowed temples of Vishnuand made gifts of the Buddhist Vihara atNegapatam. Kulottuga I, also a Shaiva, isrecorded to have granted a village to a Buddhistvihar. The jains also appear to have pursued theirfaith in peace and harmony.

SOUTH INDIAN VILLAGE SYSTEM

The organisation which was responsible forthe continuity of life and tradition in the midstof frequent political changes in south India wasthe village, and the vitality of this institute isattested by hundreds of inscriptions from all artsof south India. The degree of autonomy at thesouth Indian village level was quite remarkable.Participation of royal officials in village affariswas more as advisors and observers than asadministratiors.

Type of Villages

The village with an intercaste population,paying taxes to the king in the form of landrevenue, was the most frequent type.

Brahmadeya or agrahara villages werevillages granted to Brahmins and inhabitedentirely by them. These were less common thanthe first type, but much more porsperous,because of their exemption from tax.

Devadan were villages granted to god, theyfunctioned more or less in the same manner sathe first type except that the revenues form thesevillages were donated to temple, and, hence,received by the temple authorities and not bythe state.

During the Pallava period, the first two typewere predominant, but under the Cholas whentemples become the centres of life, the third ofthe last type gained more popularity.

The emperor was the pivot on which thewhole machinery of the state turned. Hedischarged his onerous duties and responsibilitieswith the advice and help of ministers and otherhigh offcers. The inscriptions of the Cholas provethat there system of administration was highlyorganise and efficient. Public revenue wasderived mainly from land and collected in kind,or in cash, or in both, by village assemblies. Landwas possessed by individual and communities.There were peasant proprietorship and otherforms of land tenure. The state’s demand of landrevenue seems to have been one third of the grossproduce in the time of Rajaraja I. The other itemsof public income were customs and tolls, whichwere taxes on various kinda of professions,mines, forests. salt, etc. There were occasionalfamines, general or local; the visitation of 1152evidently belonged to the former category,though there is evidence of the sympathetic


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administration of the tax system-Kulottunga Iearned fame by abolishing toll some cases ofoppression are on record. The chief items ofpublic expenditure were the regular expenses ofthe king and his court, army and navy, civiladministrative staff, roads, and irrigation tanksand channels besides temples and religiousendowments.

The village assembly held society togetherthrough its unique feature of an autonomous self-sufficient village. The village was the primaryunit of society and polity. From inscriptionalrecords we are able to trace the presence of atleast three types of assembly held societytogether through its unique feature of anautonomous self-sufficient village. The villagewas the primary unit of society and polity, frominscriptional records we are able to trace thepresence of at least three types of assemblieswhich played a regular part in localadministration, namely (a) the ur, (b) the sabhaor mahasabha and (c) the nagaram. The ur wasevidently the more common type of assembly ofthe normal villages. Land was held by all classesof people who were, therefore, entitled tomembership in the local assembly. The sabha wasapparently an exclusively Brahmin assembly ofthe brahmadeya villages where, all the landbelonged to the Brahmins.

The nagaram was an assembly of merchantsand belonged to localities where traders andmerchants were in a dominate position.

Functioning and constitution of assemblies

The functioning of assemblies differed formplace to place according to local conditions. Theur was open to all the tax paying adults of thevillage, but in effect, the older members playedmore prominent role with some forming a smallexecutive body, the ur had an executive body,called alunganam, whose numerical strengthand the manner of the appointment of itsmembers are not clear. The sabha had a morecomplex machinery, and it funtctioned verylargely through its committees called thevariyams. Both usually constituted smallercommittees of different sizes from among theirmembers for specialised work.

Election to the executive body and othercommittees of the ur of sabha appears to havebeen conducted by draw of lots form amongthose who were eligible, though amendments tothe constitution and working of the ur or sabha

were made whenever necessary. TheUttaramerur Inscription, behinging to the reignof Parantaka I (10th century), gives us detailabout the functioning and constitution of thelocal sabha. It mentions not only qualifications,ranging from property and education to honesty,but also disqualification of the local sabha. Itmentions not only qualifications, ranging formproperty and education to honesty, but alsodisqualifications such as lunacy and corruption.Other inscriptions also give similar information,though there are a few variations. The assemblygenerally met in the premises of the temple. Theassemblies collected the assessed land revenuefor the government or the temple (assessmentcould be either joint or individual). They leviedadditional tax for a particular purpose such asthe construction of a water tank. They settledagrarian disputes such as conflicts over tenuresand irrigation rights. They maintained records,particularly those pertaining to charities andtaxes on larger assemblies.

The two Uttaramerur inscriptions of thetwelfith and fourteenth years (919 and 921) ofthe Chola monarch Parantaka I may beconsidered great landmarks in the history of theChola village assemblies. In these inscriptions,we see the completion of the transition from theappointment of individual executive officers (thevariyar) by the sabha to the establishment of afairly elaborate committee system. By this means,important sections of local administration wereentrusted to committees (Variyam) of six ortwelve members according to the importance oftheir functions. The first inscription laid downrules for the election of the various committees,and the second inscription, dated two years later,amended these rules with a view to removingsome practical difficulties that had beenexperienced in their working.

THE CHERAS(9TH TO 12TH CENTURY)

The Chera kingdom was another historicalTamil chiefdoms of southern India, whichcontrolled the Cauvery river valley. It first arosesome time after the 3rd century BC withKaruvur-Van-chi as its inland political centreand Muchiri on the Kerala cost as its port oftrade, where merchants exchanged pepper forgold and wine from the Raman empire. TheCheras exercised a clan rule under differentLingages. Its rulers apparently fought intertribal


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conflicts with the Cholas and Pandyas, andsubjugated minor chiefs of the Velir clan. TheChera kingdom o Makotai was established in the9th century in the Periyar valley of Derala, withMakotaipuram (kodungallur) and Quilon as itsfirst and second capital. The kingdom acquiredan agrarian base through land grants toBrahmins and Brahmin institutions, such astemples to Siva and Vishnu, trading ventureswith Arab and Jewish lands providedcommercial resources. Contemporary texts givean account of the ruling dynasty’s legendaryorigins and history. Makotai was supposedlyhostile to the Pandyas but friendly with theMushakas of Kerala. Despite a series of defensivewares, constant invasions by the Cholas ofTanjavur led to the disintegration of the Makotaikingdom by the early 12th century.

THE RASHTRAKUTA

The term ‘rashtakuta’ means designatedofficers-in-charge of territorial division calledrashtra. The originally belonged to Lattatura ormodern Latur of Maharashtra. They werefeudatories under the Chalukyas of Badami. TheRashtrakutas were descendants of the nobleswho governed under the Andhras. They werefollower of jainism. Dhantidurga (735-756)established this kingdom. His ancestors weresubordinates of the Chalukyas. They overthrewthe Chalukyas and ruled up to 973. Dhantidurgawas succeeded by his son Krishna I (756-774).Krishna I is credited to have built the Kailasatemple at Ellora. He is also said to have totallyeclipsed the contemporary Chalukya rulers.Other kings of this dynasty were Govinda II (774-780), Dhruva (780-790), Govinda III (793-814)and Amoghavarsa Nrupatunga I (814-887). Theextend of the Amoghavarsa’s empire can beestimated from the accounts of the Arabiantraveller, Sulaiman, who visited his court in 1851and wrote in his book that ‘his kingdom was oneof the four great empires of the world at thattime.’ However, Amoghavarsha lacked themaratial spirit of his predecessors, partly due tohis leanings towards religion and literature. Theprinciples, appealed to him. He was a patron ofliterature and patronished men of letters, suchas Kinasena, the author of Adipurana,Mahaviracharya, the author of GanitasaraSamgraha and Saktayana, the author ofAmonghavriti. Amoghavarsha himself wroteKavirajamarga which is the earliest Kannadawork on poetics.

Among Amoghavarsha’s successors, twosignificant Rashtrakuta rulers were Indra III(915-27) and Krishna III (939-5-65). Indra IIIdefeated the Paratihara king Mahipala I,plundered his capital Kanauj, and challengedthe eastern Chalukyas. The Arab traveler Al-Mashdi, who visited India during this period,calls the Rashtrakuta king the, ‘greatest king ofIndia.’ Krishna III, fourth in succession fromIndra III, invaded the Chola kingdom and hisarmy reached Rameswaram, where he built apillar of victory and a temple. In about 963 heled an expedition of northern India and broughtVengi under his control by putting his nomineeon the throne. But by waging wars almost againstall his neigbours, he aliennated them and createdserious problems for his successors. During thereign of his successors, the situation worsenedon account of the internal dissensions includingthe wars of succession. Taking advantage of thissituation, the Paramaras of Malwa, who werethe feudatories of the Rashtrakuta, declared theirindependence and invaded the Rashtrakutakingdom and plundered the Rashtrakuta capitalManyakheta (modern Malkhed, Maharashtra)in 972-73. Soon, other feudatories of theRashtrakutas also became independent. Thus, bythe end of 10th century the Rashtakutascompletely disappeared form the scene,

The dynasty of the Dhalukyas of Kalyani wasfounded by Tailapa after overthrowings theRashtrakutas in 974-75, The dynasty foundedby him, with its capital at Kalyani (Karnataka),is known as the later Chalukyas of the Chalukyasof Kalyani (the early Chalukyas being theChalukyas of Badami). Tailapa ruled for twenty-three years form 974 to 997. He made extensiveconquests during his reign. By defeating theGangas, he conquered North Mysore. He foughta protracted war with the Paramaras of Malwaand eventually took Paramara Munja, prisonerand executed him in his capital. He opened thelongdrawn phase of wars against the Cholas ofThanjavur, by attacking Uttama Chola. TheChaluky-Chola power struggle become a regularfeature during the period of his successors. Thislead to weakening of the dynasty and decline ofits financial resources.

CAUSES OF TRIPARTITE STRUGGLE

Causes for Tripartite Struggle between thePratiharas, Palas and Rashtrakutas are as follows:


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1. To acquire supremacy over Kanauj, assymbol of prestige.

2. Te get control over the rich resources ofthe Gangetic valley.

3. To get control over Gujarat and Malwawhose nearness to the coast was veryimportant for forging trade.

4. Lust for war booty, and importantsource for maintaining a huge army.

5. Desire to impress the smaller kingdomswith the sense of their power anddemand respect.

The Rashtrakutas were tolerant in religiousmatters and patronised not only Saivism as will.The Rashtrakuta rulers were even tolerant ofIslam. They permitted Muslim merchants tosettle, build their mosques and preach theirreligion in the Rashtrakuta dominions. Theirtolerant policies gave a great impetus to tradeand commerce.

In the field of literature also, their tolerantspirit is visible. They equally patronised Sanskrit,Prakrit, Apaghransa, a forerunner of manymodern India languages, and Kannada Theypatronised the arts liberally. The rock-cut cavetemples at Ellora-Brahmanical. Buddhist and jainare the symbols of their religious toleration andare one of the splendours of Indian art. TheKailash Temple, built by the Rashtrakut kingDrishna I, is an unrivalled and stupendous pieceof art. The ancient Indian rock-cut architecturereached its zenith under the Rashtrakutas.

The last great Chalukya ruler wasVikramakitya VI (1076-1126) who, on hiscoronation, withdrew the Saka era and introdu-ced the Chalukya-Vikram era. Vikramaditya VIwas a great patron of writers. Bilhana, the authorof the Vikramankadevacharita andVijananeshvara, the commentator of theMitakshara commentator on the Smritis,adorned his court. In 1085, he invaded Kanchiand annexed some Chola territories in Andhra.He fought numerous wars against the Hoysalasof Dwarasamudra, the Kakatiyas of Warangal.The Yadavas of Devagiri and the Kadambas ofGoa, who were all the feudatories of theChalukyas. Despite defeating them he could notsuppress their power and within three decadesof this death. Most of the leading Khalukyanfeudatories asserted their imdependence onceagain, by the middle of the twelfth century, TheChalukyan kingdom of Kalyan, had become

almost extinct and their place was taken by thekaktiyas of Warangal, the Hoysalas ofDwarasamudra and the Yadavas of Devigiri.

THE PRATIHARAS(8TH TO 10TH CENTURY)

The Pratihars were also called Gurjar-Pratihars probably because they originated fromGurjarat or Southwest Rajasthan. It is believedthat originally they were a branch of theGurjaras, which was one of the nomadic centralAsian tribes that poured into India along withthe Hunas following the disintegration of theGupat Empire. As rulers, the Pratiharas cameinto prominence in the middle of the eightcentury when their king, Nagabhatta I, defendedwestern India form the Arab incursions formSindh into Rajasthan. He was able to leave tohis successors a powerful principality comprisingMalwa and parts of Rajputana and Gujarat.

After the Nagabhatta I regin, the Pratiharassuffered a series of defeats mostly at the handsof the Rashtrakutas. The Pratihara powerregained its lost glory only after only after thesuccession of Mihirbhomja, popularly known asBhoja. He had a long reign of 46 years and hisevenful career drew the attention of the Arabtraveler, Sulaiman. He reestablidhed thesupremacy of his family in Bundelkhand andsubjugated Jodhpur. The Daulatpura copperplate of Bhoja shows that the pratihara king hadsucceeded in reasserting his authority overcentral and eastern Rajputana. Mihirbhoja wassucceeded by his son Mahendrapala I whosemost notable achievement was the conquest ofMagadha and northern Bengal. MahendrapalaI was a Liberal patron of literature. The mostbrilliant writer in his court was Rajasekhara whohas to his credit a number of literary works-Karpuramanjari, Bala Ramayana, Bala andBharta, Kavyamimamsa.

Mahendrapala’s death was followed by ascramble for the possession of the throne. BhojaII seized the throne, but half brother, Mahipalasoon usurped the throne. The Rashtrkutas againchallenged the strength of the Pratihara empireand its ruler, Indra III, completely devastated thecity of Kanauj. However, the withdrawal ofIndra III to the Deccan enabled Mahipala torecover form the fatal blow. Mahendrapala II,son and successor of mahipala, was able to keephis empire intact. But it received a shatteringblow during the reign of Devapala, when theChandelas become virtually independent. The


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process of decline of the Pratihara empire whichhad begun with Devapal accelerated during thereign of Vijayapala.

Thus, we find that the Pratiharas emergedas one of the most powerful empires of the earlymedieval period. The Arab traveler Al-Masudi,who visited India in the year 915-16, also refersto the power and resouces of the king of Kanaujwhose kingdom extended up to Sind in the westand touched the Rashtrakuta kingdom in thesouth.

THE PALAS(8TH TO 11TH CENTURY)

Sulaiman, an Arab merchant who visitedIndia in the 9th century has termed the Palaempire as Rhumi. The Pala Empire was foundedby Gopal in 750. It is believed that he was electedas the king by the notable men of the area to endthe anarchy prevailing there after the death ofSasanka of Bengal. Gopala was an ardentBuddhist and is supposed to have built themonastery at Odantapuri (Sharif district ofBihar). Gopala was succeeded by his sonBharmapla who raised the Pala kingdom togreatness. The kingdom expanded under himand it comprised the whole of Bengal and Bihar.Besides, the kindom of Kanauj was adependency, ruled by Dharmapal’s ownnominee. Beyond Kanuja, there were a largenumber of vassal states in the Punjab, Rajputana,Malwa and Berar whose rulers acknowledgedDharmapala as their overlord.

However, Dharmapala’s trimphant careerwas soon challenged by his pratihara adversary.After a reign of 32 years Dharmapal died, leavinghis extensive dominions unimpaired to his sonDevapala. Devapala ascended the throne in 810and Ruled for 40 years. He extended his controlover Pragjyotishpur (Assam), parts of Orissa andparts of Modern Nepal Devapal was a greatpatron of Buddhism and his fame spred to manybuddhist countries outside India. As a Buddhist,he founded the famous mahavihara ofVkramasial near Bhagalpur. He also creditedwith the construction of a vihara at Somapura(Paharpur). He also patronised Haribhadra, oneof the great Buddhist authors.

Balaputradeva, a king of the BuddhistSailendras, ruling Java, sent an ambassador toDevapala, asking for a grant of five villages inorder to endow a monastery at Nalanda.

Devapala granted the request and appointedViradeva, as head of Nalanda Monastery.Devapala’s court was adorned with the Buddhistpoet Vijrakatta, the author of Lokesvarasataka.

The glory of the Pala empire suffered withthe death of Devapala. The rule of his successorswas marked by a steady process of disintegration.A series of invasions led by the Chandellas andthe Kalachuris dismembered the Pala Empire.

THE SENAS(11TH TO 12TH CENTURY)

The Sena dynasty ruled Bengal after thePalas. Its founder was Samantasena describedas a ‘brahmakshatriya’. The title brahmaksha-triya shows that Samantasena was a brahmin,but his successors called themselves simply Ks-hatriyas. Samantasena’s son Hemantasena tookadvantage of the unstable political situation ofBengal and carved out an independent princi-pality. Vijayasena, son of Hemantasena, broughtthe family into the limelight by comquering near-ly the whole of Bengal. Vijayasena assumed sev-eral immaterial titles like paramesvara, param-abhattaraka, and maharajadhiraja. He had twocapitals, which was one, at Vijaypuri of Bang-ladesh. The famous poet Sriharasha composecthe Vijayaprasasti in memory of Vijayasena. Vi-jayasena was succeeded by his son, Ballalasena.Ballalasena was a great scholar. He wrote fourworks of which two are extant, the Banasagaraand the Adbhutasagara. The first is an exten-sive work on omens and portents, and the sec-ond on astronomy. Lakshmanasena succeededBallalasena in 1179. The reign of Lakshmanase-na was remarkable for patronising literature. Hewas a devout Vaishnava and, Jayadeva, the fa-mous Vaishnava poet of Bengal and author ofthe Gita Govinda lived at his court. His reign sawthe decline of the Sena power because of inter-nal rebellions. The invasion of Bakhtiya Khaljigave it a crushing blow. A detailed account ofthe invasion of Bakhtiya Khalji has been givenin Tabakat-i-Nasiri.

THE EASTERN CHALUKYAS (OF VENGI)(8TH TO 10TH CENTURY)

Vishnuvardhana was the founder of thedynasty of the eastern Chalukyas of Vengi.Pulakesin II of Badami subdued the king ofPishtapura (Pitapuram in the Godavari district)and the vishnukundin king and appointed his


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younger brother, Vishnuvardhana, vicerory ofthe newly conquered territories. Very soon, theViceroyalty developed into an independentkingdom and Vishnuvardhana became thefounder of dynasty known as the easternChalukyas of Vengi (Vijayawada). This is theearliest reference of Jainism in the telugu country.Vishnuvardhana himself was a Bhagavata.Vishnuvarkhana was succeeded by his sonJayasimha I. His fater, Jayasimha was also aBhagavata. He was succeeded byVishnuvardhana II, Vijayasiddhi, jayasimha II,Vikramaditya, Vishnuvardhana III and then byVijayadity one after another. His reign withesseda great political revolution in the Deccan whenthe imperial Chalukyas were overthrown by theRashtrikutas who began a protracted struggleagainst the eastern Chalukyas.

Vijayaditya was succeeded by his brother’sson Bhima. His succession was disputed by hisuncle, Yaddamalla, who seized Vengi with thehelp of the Rashtrakuta king, Krishna II. TheChalukyan nobles, however, succeeded inrestoring the kingdom to its lawful master afterdefeating Krishna II. He was a devotee of Sivaand built the temples of Bhimavaram andDraksharamam in the east Godavari district.

THE YADAVAS (OF DEVGIRI)(12TH TO 13TH CENTURY)

The first member of the dynasty wasDridhaprahara. However, Seunachandra I, theson of Dridhaprahar, was the first to securefeudatory status for his family from theRashtrakutas. The importance of this chief canbe assessed from the fact that the territory ruledby the Yadavas came to be known as Seuna-desa. Meanwhile, the great Chalukyan powerwas already on the read to decline. The Yadavasnaturally took advantage of the situation andasserted their independence. Bhillama, thus, laidthe foundationof the yadava Empire whichendured for about a century.

Simhana was the most powerful ruler of thefamily. As the Hoyasalas proved a great obstacleto the further expansion of the kingdom in thesouth, Simhana launched a successful campaignagainst them. Elated by his successes in thesouth, Simhana waged war against hishereditary enemies in the north-the Paramarasof malwa and the Chalukyas of Gujarat. Hedefeated and killed the Paramara kingArjumavarman. Thus, the Yadava kingdom

reached the zenith of its glory and power in thereign of Simhana. Many among the Hoyasalas,the Kakatiyas, the Paramaras and the Chalukyasdared to challenged his supremacy in the Deccan.

Simhana was not merely a wirrior, but wasalso a patron of music and literature.Singitaratnakara of Sarangadeva, an importantwork on music, was written in his court.Anantadeva and Changadeva were the twofamous astronomers who also adorned his court.Changadeva established a college of astronomyat Patana in Khandesh in memory of hisillustrious grandfather, Bhaskaracharya.Anantadeva wrote a commentary onBharahmagupta’s Brahmasphhutra Siddhantaand Varahamihira’s Brihat Jataka.

Sankaradeva was probably the last of theYadava rulers. After his accession, hiimmediately repudiated the authority ofAlauddin. Malik kafur easily defeatedKankaradeva, put him to death and annexed theYadav kingdom.

The period between the 9th and 11th centurysaw the energence of warrior castes-militaryruling clans which ultimately coalesced into asingle caste, that of the Rajputs, the term beingderived, from the Sanskrit word rajaputra. Thefour Rajput clans that claimed a special statusduring his time were the Prathiharas, theChalukyas, the Chauhans (also calledChahamanas) and the Dolankis.

Western and Central India provide us withexample of a fresh spurt in the emergence of localstates. For example, the Rajput clans such as theGujarara, Prathihar, Guhila, Paramara,Chahamana as well as the Kalachuriwa andChandella exploited political uncertainties of thepost-Gupa era in western and central India. Theydonimated the political scene for centuries,especially during the period exending from theeighth to the thirteenth centuries. The picture ofthe political processes that resulted in thereplacement of old dynasties by new Rajputpowers of uncertain origin is not clear.Nonetheless an attempt has been made to workout some essential traits of the nature of thedistribution of political authority. Unlikenorthern and eastern India, the region showedsome influence of Iineage-at least in some partsof the region. Even in these parts, the dispersalof administrative and fiscal powers along withthe changes in the bureaucratic set-up-all basedon new landholding-set the tome of fedualpolity.


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The problem of the origin of Rajput dynastiesis highly complex and controversial. Theirgotrochhara makes them Kshatriyas of theLunar family (somavamshi) while on the basicof old davyas some maintain that they were ofthe solar race. The myths of solar origin regardthem as Kashtriya created in Kaliyuga to wipe-out the mlecchas (foreigners). Rajasthani bardsand chroniclers regard them as fire-born(agnikula). According to the agnikula mythrecorded by a court poet, the founder of thehouse of the Paramaras originated form thefirepit of sage Vasistha on Mount Abu. The manwho thus sprang out of the fire forcibly wrestedthe wish-granting cow of sage Vasishtaha formsage Vishwamitra and restored it to the former.Sage Vasistha gave him the fitting name ofparamara-slayer of the enemy. From him spranga race, which was regarded with high esteemby virtuous kings. The Parakara inscription alsodeclare th origin of the Paramaras form thefirepit of sage Vasishtha on the Mount Abu. TheRajasthani bards went a step further anddescribed the five origin not only to theParamaras but also to the Prathiharax, theChalukyas of Gujarat and the Chahamanas. Thepractice of new social groups claiming Dshatriyastatus become widespread in the early medievalperiod. Kshatriya status was one of the varioussymbols that the emergent social groups soughtfor the legitimation of their newly acquiredpower. The early medieval and medieval Rajputclans, representing a mixed caste andconstituting a fairly large section of petty chiefsholding estates, achieved political eminencegradually, There was a direct relationship aKshatriya lineage. In this context, it is importantto note that these dynasties claimed descent fromancient Kshatriyas long after their accession topower.

A preliminary idea of the processes idea ofthe processes involved may be formed by tryingto defind the term rajput. In the early medievalperiod too, as in other periods, it may not be atall easy to distinguish the Rajputs from the nonRajputs, despite the clear evidence regardingcertain recognisable clans and frequentreferences to the Rajaputras in inscriptions andliterature. If the early medieval and medievalreferences to the Rajputras in general are takeninto account, they represented a mixed caste andconstitited a fairly large section of petty chiefsholding estates. The criterion for inclusion in thelist of Rajput clans was provided by the

contemporary status of a clan at least in the earlystages of the crystallisation of Rajput power.

There are two important pointers to theprocess of the emergence of the Rajputs in theearyl medieval records. As these records suggest,at one level the process may have to be has to betraced not only in the significant expansion ofthe number of settlements but also in someepigraphic references, suggesting an expansionof an agrarian economy.

However, to conceive of the emergence of theRajputs only in terms of colonisation would beto take a wrong view of the total processinvolved, and here we come to the second pointerprovided by the records. The fact that the mobilityto the Kshatriya status was in operationelsewhere in the same period, prompts one tolook for its incidence also in Rajasthan, The casesof two groups who are included in the list ofRajput clans are significant in this context. Oneis that of the Medas who are considered to havereached the Rajput status form a tribalbackground. The other is that of the Hunas. Theinclusion of these two groups in the Rajput clanstructure is sufficient to believe that the structurecould be composed only of such groups as wereinitially closely linked by descent, ‘foreign’ or‘indigenous’.

AGRARIAN ANDPOLITICAL STRUCTURES

From about the beginning of the eighthcentury, there emerged a political set up inwestern India and central India in which newsocial groups acquired political power by variousmeans such as settlement of new areas. Thepattern of the emergence of the Rajputs, whichwas partly a clan-based organisation of politicalauthority, shows some deviations formdevelopments outside western India. However,the mobility of new powers towards kshatriyastatus for legitimation was not specific to westernIndia as a similar process was in operationelsewhere in early medieval India. After seekinglegitimacy for their new Kshatriya role, the rulingclans of western and central India formulateddetailed geneologies in the period of theirtransition form feudatory to independent status.They consolidated their political position bymeans of specific patterns of land distributionand territorial system. Some other prominentfeatures of the polity and the agrarianstruchtures in the region are:


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• organisation of bureaucracy which couldconnect different modes in their politicalstructures marked by different foci orlevels of power.

• Dominance of landlord-subordinaterelations.

• Landholding as an important componentof the samanta status.

• Integration of local polities into largerstatus polities.

• Certain amount of land-based rankingassociated with politico-administrativeroles and services.

• Wielding of vast-administrative andfinancial powers by vassals and officersto the extent of sub-infeudation.

INDIAN FEUDALISM

This period (from 750 to 1200) in Indianhistory has been termed as a period of ‘IndianFedualism’ by a few historians. They believedthat a number of changes took place in Indiansociety. One significant change was the growingpower of a class of people who are variouslycalled Samantas, Ranaks, Rauttas etc. Theirorigins were very different. Some weregovernment officers who were defeated rajaswho continued to enjoy the revenue of limitedareas. Still others were local hereditary chiefs ortribal leaders who had carved out a sphere ofauthority with the help of armed supporters. Incourse of time these revenue-bearing lands beganto be considered hereditary and monopoly of afew families. The hereditary chiefs began toassume many of the functions of the government.They not only assessed and collected landrevenue but also assumed more and moreadministrative power such as the right lands totheir followers without the prior permission ofthe rulers. This led to an increase in the numberof people who drew sustenace form the landwithout working on it.

The salient features of Indian feudalism wereas follows.

1. Emergence of hierarchical landedintermediaries. Vassal and officers ofstate and other secular assignes hadmilitary obligations and were calledSamonta. Subinfeudation (varying indifferent regions) by these donees to get

their land cultivalted led to the growthof different strata of intermediaries. Itwas a hierarchy of landed aristocarats,tenants, share croppers and cultivators.This hierarchy was also reflected in thepowers, administrative structure, wherea sort of lord vassal relationshipemerged. In other words, Indianfeudalism consisted of the unequaldistribution of land and its produce.

2. Prevalence of forced labour. The rightof extracting forced labour (Vishti) isbelieved to have been exercised by theBrahmanas and other grantees of land.Forced labour was originally aprerogrative of the king or the state. Itwas transferred to the grantees, pettyofficials, village authorities and other.As a result, a kind of serfdom emerged,in which agricultural labourers werereduced to the position of semi-serfs.

3. Due to the growing claims of greaterover them by rulers and intermediares,peasants also suffered an curtailmat oftheir land rights. Many were reducedto the positon of tenants facing ever-growing threat of eviction. A numberof peasants were only share- croppers(ardhikas). The strain on the peasantrywas also caused by the burden oftaxation, coercion and increase in theirindebtness.

4. Surplus was extracted through variousmethods. Extra economic coercion wasa conspicuous method, new mechanismsof economic subordination also evolved.

5. It was relatively a closed villageeconomy. The transfer of humanresources along with land to thebeneficiaries shows that in such villagesthe peasants, craftsmen and artisanswere attached to the village and, hence,were mutually dependent. Theirattachment to land and to service grantsensured control over them by thebeneficeries.

Recently, the validity of the feudel formationin the context of medieval India has beenquestioned. It has been suggested that themedieval society was characterised by self


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dependent of free-peasant production. Thepeasants had control over the means and theprocesses of production. It is added that therewas relative stability in social and economicstructure and there was not much change in thelevel of techniques of the surplus than over aredistribution of means of production. Theappropriation of agrarian surplus to the stateformed the chief instrument of exploition. Thehigh fertility of land and the low subsistence levelof the peasants facilitated the stateappropriation of the surplus in condition ofrelative stability.

This line of approach does not take note ofsuperior right and inferior rights of one party oranother over land. In fact, in early medievaltimes, in the same piece of land, the peasant heldinferior right and the landlords held superiorright. The landgrants clearly made the positionof the landlords strong over the land ascompared to that of peasants. The critique offeudal polity does not take note of massiveevidence in support of the subjection andimmobility of peasantry, which is anindispensable element in the feudal system. Someof these factors are stated below.

1. It weakened the position of the ruler,and made him more dependent on thefeudal chiefs, many of whommaintained their own military forceswhich could be used to defy the ruler.

2. The internal weaknesses of the Indianstates became crucial in their contestwith the Turks later on.

3. the small states discouraged trade, andencouraged an economy in whichvillages or groups of villages tended tobecome largely self-sufficient.

4. The domination of the feudal chiefs alsoweakened village self-government.

5. The feudel order had a few advantagesas well. In an age of disorder andviolence, the stronger feudal chiefsprotected the lines and property of thepeasants and other without which dailylife could not have functioned. Some ofthe feudal chief protected the lives andproperty of the peasants and otherswithout which daily life could not havefunctioned. Some of the feudal chief also

took an interest in the extension andimprovement of cultivation.

Economically, the first phase, i.e, AD 750–AD 1000, is believed to be one of decline. It isevident from the absence of coins for exchangeand the decayed condition of towns inorthernIndia. But in the second phase after AD 1000,we notice a revival of trade activities. Not onlydo we come across new gold coins, there are alsonumerous references to trade goods and towns.What could be the reason for it? There seem tobe two main reasons for it. One, there wasincrease in agricultural activities on account ofland grants in fresh areas. It led to surplusproduction of goods for exchange. And second,the Arab traders had emerged on the coastalareas of India as important players ininternational sea trade. The Arabs had acquireda foothold in Sind in AD 712 and later, gradually,they set up their settlements all along the sea fromArabia to China. These settlements served asimportant channels for the sale and purchase ofIndian goods, and thus helped in the growth ofIndian external trade. In south India, the Cholakings maintained close commercial contact withsoutheast Asia (Malaya, Indonesia etc) andChina.

EXTENT OF SOCIAL MOBILITY

Several irregular or mixed castes arementioned in the Kharmasastras as coming intoexistence as a result of the anuloma andpratiloma connections, especially the latter.Some of the latter types of castes are the antyajaor lowest castes. The later Vedic Literaturementions about eight mixed castes besides thefour regular varnas. Vasistha raises their numberto ten, Budhayana to fifteen, Gaulama toeighteen, Manu to about sixty, but the samemixed origin is not given to the same caste in allthe texts. The Brahmavaivarty Parana, a workof the early medieval period, raises the numberof the mixed castes to over one hundred.

However, the above theory only partlyexplains the proliferation of castes (jatis). Instead,it seems to be an afterthought provide place forthe numerous tribal peoples in the fourfold. It isobvious that the Nisadas, Ambasthas, andPulkasas, were originally tribal communities, butonce they were admitted into the Brahmanicalsociety, ingenious origins within the frameworkof the varna system were suggested for them,and here, the fuction of mixed castes ofvarnasamkara came in handy,


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The first systematic attempt at describing thesamskaras is found in the Grihyasutras. Thenumber of samkaras in the Grihyasutras fluctuatebetween twelve and eighteen. In course of time,sixteen became the classical number comprisingthe following:

1. Garbhadhana (conception),

2. Pumsavana (engendering a male issue),

3. Simantonnayan (parting the hair),

4. jatakaramn (natal rites), and severingof navel string

5. Namakarana (naming)

6. Nishdramana (first outing),

7. Chudakarana (tonsure),

8. Darnavedha (piercing the ear lobes),

9. Vidyarambha or akshararambha(learning the alphabet),

10. Upanayan (holy thread ceremony andchoosing the child’s teacher),

11. Vedarambha (first study of the Vedas)

12. Kesanta (cutting the hair),

13. Samavartana (graduation and returninghome after completing education),

14. Vivaha (marriage), and

15. Antyesti (Funeral).

Most of the Dharmasastras mention eightforms of marriage, of which the first four areapproved forms and the last four unapprovedforms are brahma, prajapatya, daiva and arsa.The distinction between the brahma andprajapataya forms of marriage is not all thatclear in both these forms, marriage wasperformed according to the prescribed religiousceremonies. In the daiva form the bride was givenin marriage to a priest, who officiated at asacrifice. In the arsa form, the marriageceremony was duly performed, but a part of theceremony was the presentation of a bull and acow by the bridegroom to the bride-price.’

The last four unapproved forms of marriageare asura, paisacha, rakshasa and gandharva.Asura vivaha or marriage was marriage bypurchese. In the paisacha form of marriage, thebride was abducted in an unfair manner. Therakshasa vivaha was marriage by capture. Thegandharva vivaha was a love marriage.

The four approved forms of vivahas weregenerally meant for the three lower varnas ofKshatriyas, Vaishya and Sudra. Within these, therakshasa and gandharva forms are permissibleespecially for the kshatriyas. The Asura vivahain considered to be universal in ancient times.But it is condemned by the Dharmasastras instrong terms, probably because of its connectionwith the lower vanas. The paisacha vivaha isthe worst of all marriages-Baudhayanaprescribes it for the Vaishyas and Sudras. This isalso corroborated by Manu. These prescriptionswere probably intended to validate the mariiagepractices of those tribes who were absorbed astwo lower varnas in ancient society. Therakshasa form is prescribed by Manu for thekshatriyas. Gandharva Vivaha, confined by someto only the kashtriyas, was probably followedby men and women of the other varnas as well.This can be inferred from the rules laid down inthe Dharmasastras as well numerous examplesfound in the general Ieterary works.

Though there is neither literary norepigraphic evidence about the practice of wideremarriage in ancient India, it was probablypracticed particularly by the lower varmas. Apassage of Manu states that it cannot take placeamong the Brahmins, which implies that it cantake place among the three other varmas.

Niyoga (levirate) was certainly practiced bythe Sudras in the early centuries of the Christianera, which infact strengthens aur presumptionabout the existence of widow remarriage amongthe lower varnas.

Position Of Women

The very high standard of learning, cultureand as round progress reached by Indian womenduring the Vedic age is a well-known fact. Thebest proof of this is the fact that the Rigveda, theoldest known literature in the wholeworld,contains hymns by as many as twenty-seven women, called brahmavakinis of womenseers. Saunaka in his Brihaddevata (5th centuryBC), a work on the rigveda, has mentioned thename of these twenty-seven women seers.

In the Ramayana and the Mahabharata too,we find many instance of the two types of Indianwomen, ascetic and domestic. A magnificentexample of a brahmavadini in the Ramayana isAnasuya, wife of the Sage Atri. Anothercelebrated woman. She was the disciple of thegreat sage Matanga and had her hermitage on


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the bank of the lake Pampa On the other hand,the highest manifestation of domestic perfectionin the Ramayana, is found in the inimitablepersonality of Sita, the idol of Nidianwomanhood. The Mahabharata too isresplendent with a galaxy of great womenfulfilling their destinies. For instance. Suitable,who was a great scholar, for want of a suitablebridegroom, became an ascetic for life androamed about from place to place in search ofknowledge. Other celebrated brahmavakinis ofthe Mahabharata are the daughter of Sandklyadescribed as a Brahmani and Siva had whomastered the Vedas. Far more numerous are theinstances of women who led dedicated lives athome, e.g., Kunti and Draupadi. One of the mostcelebrated women of the Puranas is Makalasa,the escort of king Ritdhvaja. She was at once agreat scholar, a saintly woman and dutifulhousewife. Another saintly woman of thePuranas is Devahuti, wife of the great sagePrajapati Kardama and mother of the greatersage Kapila. The propounder of the samkhyasystem of Indian philosophy. Her philosophicaldiscourses with her learned husband and songo to prove her unique spiritual attainments,even though she lived a household life. Theposition of women in India graduallydeteriorated as the golden Vedic ideals of unityand equality began to fade off through thepassage of time. During the period of the Smritis,women were bracketed with the Sudras, andwere denied the right to study the Vedas, to utterVedic mantras, and to perform Vedic rites.

Hence, during such an age, it was not to beexpected that women would continue to enjoythe old privilege of choosing a life of celibacy andasceticism. Since women and property arebracketed together in several reference in theepics, Smritis and Puranas, there is no doubt thatwoman herself was regarded as a sort ofproperty. She could be given away or loaned asany item of property. Manu and Yajnavalkya,for example, hold that a woman is neverindependent. This was like the attitude of atypical patriarchal society based on privateproperty. Because of this attitude, theBrahmanical law did not allow any proprietaryrights to to women; the provision for stridhanais of a very limited character and does not extendbeyond the wife’s rights to jewels, ornamentsand presents made to her. Manu declares thatthe wife, the son and the salve are unpropertied,whatever they earn is the property of those towhom they belong. This sort of social philosophy

took strong roots in the Gupta and post-Guptaperiods, although the institution of monogamousfamily and private property had been developedmuch earlier.

THE ARABS IN SIND

The establishment of Arab rule in Sind in 712A.D. was preceded by a number of efforts topenetrate India. The view that the Arabs indeedwere not interested in territorial acquisition tillthe ruler of Sind in 700 A.D. provoked them, isnot accepted by the book ‘A ComprehensiveHistory of India’. This book relies on the authorityof baladhuri, who is regarded as the most reliableauthority on the subject. According to the book,the Arabs made systematic inroads on the threekingdoms of Kabul, Zabul and Sind. Very oftenthe first two were united in resisting theaggression of the Arabs. Baladhuri says that after650 A.D. the Arabs entered India. One moreexpedition was sent by the Caliphate of Ali toconquer Kabul but was frustrated. Anotherattempt was made in 698 A.D., which was stillless successful. The weakness of the Arabs wasundoubtedly due to internal troubles andweakness of the Caliphate during the last daysof Umayyids, but after the establishment ofpowerful Abbasid Caliphate the earlier designswere repeated. Kabul was conqured but againescaped from the control of the Caliphate. Zebulwas conquered only in 870 A.D.

Although both Kabul and Zabul succumbedto Islam the heroic resistance they offeredchecked the spread of Islam into thesubcontinent. Few countries in the world, thattoo small principalities like these, have defied thearms of Islam so bravely and for so long 2000years.

Good number of details are found regardingthe history of Sind in the 7th Century A.D. inChachnama, a Persian translation of an oldArabic history of the conquest of Sind by theArabs. An expedition of the Arabs was sentagainst Debal some time before 643 A.D.Baladhuri speaks of Muslim victory butChachnama says that the Muslims weredefeated. The conquest of Sind was abandonedfor some time. When then new Calipha Uthmanattempted to conquer, he too left it after asetback. During the days of Caliphate of Ali, awell-equipped Muslim Army came along theland route. According to Baladhuri, the Muslimswere put to rout. After this, a series of expeditions


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were sent to conquer an outpost of Sind, whichall ended in failure.

The Arabs resumed their aggression againstSind only after 705 A.D. An Arab ship fell in thehands of pirates near Debal. A Muslim governordemanded their release and also the arrest of thepirates. It appears, Dehar refused to oblige. As amatter of fact, the governor for Iraq wasappointed for both the areas of Hindi and Sind.For long time the Arabs chafed at their failure toconquer Sind. Thus, the governor Hajja merelyseized the policy as a pretext to defeat andconquer Sind.

After making elaborate preparation,Mohammad-Bin-Kasim, the son-in-law of Hajjaj,was sent with a well equipped army. Headvanced to Makran and laid siege to Debal in711 A.D. The capital was captured then,Muhammad advanced along the Indus toconquer the whole area. It appears that veryoften treachery led to the Arab conquest of SindMuhammad advanced against Multan andsucceeded in capturing it. According toChachanam, Muhammad himself advanced tothe frontier of Kashmir.

The triumph and career of Muhammad wassuddenly cut short by political changes at home.Since the new Caliph was the sworn enemy ofHajjaj. Muhammad was taken prisoner, insultedand tortured to death.

This development made Jaisimha, the son ofDaher, to re-occupy Bahmansbad. The Caliphsent an army to subdue the rebels. They evenparleyed with Jaisimha. Junaid, the Governor ofSind, defeated Jaisimha and took him prionser.Thus ended the dynasty of Daher and theindependence of Sind.

The comperatively easy conquest ofMuhammad, son of Kasim, should not make usforget the long resistance offered by Sind to theArabs.

Later, Junaid sent several expeditions to theinterior of India. They were signally defeated bythe Pratihara king Nagabhatta - I Pulakesin, theChalukya chief of Gujarata, and probably alsoby Yasovarman. These defeats forced the Arabsto confine themselves to Sind. The Arabs lostcontrol of Sind during the last years ofUmayyids. The Abbasid Caliphs once againstarted to re-establish their power in Sind. Aclaim was made. The Arabs once againconquered Multan and Kashmir but the evidence

shows that Lalitadiya thrice defeated the Arabs.It was some time between 800 and 830 A.D. thatthe Arabs fully re-conquered the lost areas. Itwas during this period that the Arabs forcesprobably advanced as far as Chittor but theresistance offered by Indian kings probably forcedthem to retreat.

After the collapse fo the Abbasid power, Sindbecame virually independent and was dividedinto two independent states. Neither of themcould become powerful.

Significance:

It is no longer believed that the Arab conquestof Sind was a mere episode in the history of India.What this event reveals is the sea change thatcave over Hindu Civilisation by 1000 A.D. A fewMuslim traders earlier settled in the Malabarregion. But the might of Islam was experiencedin Sind. This challenge was met by rulers of theday. It is now well-known that the politicalambitions of the successors of Muhammad-bin-Kasim were check mated by Lalitaditya, Bhojaand a few other rulers. This particular resistancebears testimony to the political consciousness ofthe day. It is this consciousness that was totallyabsent in India when Mahumud of Ghazniraided the country and soon he was followedby Ghori who succeeded in establishing Islamicrule in India. It is surprising to note that whenthe Sahiyas checkmated the Arab penetrationin the north-west and rulers within Indiacontained the penetration of Arabs in Sind, noconcerted efforts were made by Indian rulersafter 1000 A.D. to defeat the invaders except forthe first battle of Tarain to some extent. Instead,we hear that Hinduism retreated into its ownshell, a fact sharply revealed by the observationsof Alberuni.

Apart from this significance, the Arab rulein Sind led to interaction between two cultures.It is held by some historians that Sind was thebirth-place of later-day Sufism which in turnoccasioned the emergence of the famous bhakticult in the middle ages.

Apart from this consequence, the Arabconquest of sind also led to the transmission ofIndian culture-Panchtantra and scientific lore ofancient India like the digital system andknowledge of medicine. It is to be kept in mindthat after the collapse of the Roman empireintellectuals began to gather in Baghbad,meaning city of god in Sanskrit. The intellectual


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speculations that the city facilitated by theinteraction of Greek and Roman heritage withthat of the Indian lay at the base of theRenaissance movement in Europe in the 16thcentury. “We know definitely from Masudin IbnHauqal that Arab settlers lived side by side withtheir Hindu fellow-citizens for many years onterms of amity and peace, and Amir Khusravmentions that the Arab astronomer Abu Masharcome to Benaras and studied astronomy therefor ten years.

Finally, the significance of the Arab conquestof Sind lies in the tolerance that was shown toHinduism by Islam. Although jaziya wascollected, the Arab governors chose to leaveHindu religious practices untouched. What Indiawitnessed after the invasion of Mahmud ofGhazni was not Islamic influence as pioneeredby the Arabs but central-Asian culture of theTurkish, nomad who carried the banner of Islam.In other words, what the history of Arabs in Sindconveys is the fact that persecution of otherreligious was not the avowed doctrine of Islam.

The Arabs had to leave India towards theend of the 9th century. After the Arabs, the Turksinvaded India. They were attracted mainly bythe fabulous wealth lying in the garbhagriha ofthe temples.

THE GHAZAVIDS

The empire of the Ghaznavids was built onthe ruins of the Abbasid Caliphate concentratedin west and central Asia. From the end of the9th Century, the abbasid empire disintegratedand a series of aggressive, expansionist statesarose. These states were independent in all butthey accepted the nominal suzeriegnty of theCaliph who legitimised their position by grantingthem a formal letter or manshu. In course of time,the rulers of these states began to be calledsultans. Most of these Sultans were Turks. TheGhaznavids and the seljuq states were productsof the acculturation of the Turks had expandedinto the institutions of settled societies. Underthe Seljuq umbrella. The Turks had expandedinto the Meditarranean and Byzatine territories.Anatolia (modern Turkey) was conquered andsettled by the Ottoman Turks. The Turks werenomadas and lived in areas now known asMongolistan and Sinkiang since the 8th century.They had been filtration into the region calledMawara-un-nahar, i.e., Transoxiana, which wasthe transitional zone between central Asia and

the land of ancient civilisations in east Asia. TheIranian rulers of the area and the AbbasidCaliph recruited the Turk as mercenaries andslaves for their personal needs and security aftergetting them converted into Islam. These Turksquickly assimilated the Iranian Language andculture and became Islamised and Persianised.

After the disintegration of the Abbasidempire, the most powerful dynasty which arosein the region was the Samanid dynasty (874-999_. The Ghaznavids were displaced by theSeljukids, and then by the Khwarizmi empirewhich had its capital at Merv. These empiresfought with each other and this led to the growthof militarism which spelt immediate danger toIndia. Such a danger had become imminent alsoowing to the fact that west and central Asia areconnected to India geographically acrossmountain barriers having number of pass. Thenomadic and seminomadic hordes haveconstantly tried to enter India through thesemountain passes, attracted by India’s well-watered plains with fertle soil. extending fromthe Punjab to the eastern borders of Bengal.

Mahmud of Ghazni (997-1030)

He was also known as “But-Shikan”(destroyer of the image) seventeen plunderingexpeditions betweened 1000 and 1027 into northIndia. Annexing Punjab as his eastern province.He claimed to have come here with twinobjectives of spreading Islam in India, andenriching himself by taking away wealth fromIndia. The contemporary Persian sourcesmention that his motive was primarily spreadingIslam and that is why the got the title of Ghazni.But recent research has provide that a religiousmotive was highlighted by him in order to winover the Caliphiate (Khalifa) at Baghdad and thereal intention of his invasion in India was to lootthe wealth hidden in the garbhagriha of theIndian temples. The invader’ effective use of thecrossbow while galloping gave them a decisiveadvantage over their Indian opponents, theRajputs. Mahmud’s conquest of Punjab foretoldominous consequences for the rest of India.However, the Rajputs appear to have been bothunprepared and unwilling to change theirmilitary tactics which ultimatly collapsed in theface of the swift and punitive cavalry of theTurks. In 1025, he attacked and raided the mostcelebrated Hindu temple of Somnat, near thecoast in the extreme south of Kathiawar(Gujarat). Bhima I, the Chalukyan ruler of


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Anhilwara, could not put much resistence andthe temple was looted.

Al Beruni who wrote Kitab-ul Hind, andfirdausi, who wrote Shah Namah, were the courtHistorians of Mahmud Ghazni and give a goodaccount of the polity and society on the eve ofMahmud’s invasion.

In political and military terms, the invasionsof Mahmud of Ghazni were the actualprecursors of the Delhi Sultanate. Beginnning in1000, when the Shahiya King Jaypala wasrouted, the incursion became almost an annualfeature of Mohmud and came to an end onlywith his death in 1030. After taking Multan, heoccupied punjab. Later, Mahmed made incursioninto the Ganga-Yamina doab. The major interestof Mahmud in India was its fabulous wealth,vast quantities of which (in the form of cash,jewellery, and golden images) had been depositedin temples. From 1010 to 1026, the invasionswere thus directed toward the temple-towns ofThaneswar, Mathura, Kannauj and finallySomnath. The ultimate result was thebreakdown of Indian resistance, paving the wayfor Turkish conquests in the future. Moreimportantly, the aftermath of the campaigns hadexposed the inadequacy of Indian politics tooffer a united defence against external threats.

Within a short time of Mahmud’s death, hisempire met the fate of other empires. Newlyemerging centres of powers, formed aroundgrowing clusters of Turkish soldier adventurers,replaced the older ones. The Ghaznavidepessissions in Khurasasn and Transoxiana werethus annexed, first by the Seljuqs, and later bythe Khwarizm Shah. In their own homeland,Afghanistan, their hegemony was brought to anend by the principlity of Ghor under theShansibani dynasty. However, in the midst ofthese buffetings, the Ghaznavid rule survived inpunjab and sind till about 1175.

Since Indian historians have traced theTurkish success to the peculiar social structurecreated by Islam, Jadunath Sarkar, for instance,lays stress on the unique characteristic whichIslam imparted to the Arabs, Berbers, Pathnasand Turks. First, equality and social solidarityas regards legal and religious status. UnlikeIndia, the Turks were not divided into castes thatwere exclusive of each other. Secondly, andabsolute faith in god and his will which gavethem drive and a sense of mission. Finally, Islamsecured the Turkish conquerors from

drunkenness which, accorkding to Sarkar, wasthe ruin of the Rajputas, Marathas, and otherIndian rulers. Whatever partial truth in mightcontain, this explanation too seems insufficientlygrounded in history. A more compreshensiveview of the Indian debacle most perhaps hadinto account at least two major factors: theprevailing sociopolitical system in Indian and hermilitary perparedness.

After the fall of the Gurjark-Pratiharaempire, no single state took its place. Instead,there arose small independent powers likeGhadavalas in Kannauj, Parmars in Malva,chlukyas in Gujarat, Chauhans in Ajmer,Tomars in Delhi, Chadellas in Bundelkhand, etc.far from being united, they tended to operatewithin the confines of small territories and werein a state of perpetual internal conflicts. Lack ofcentralised power was an important factor inemasculating the strength and efficiency of thearmed forces. Fakhi Mudhbbir in his Adab-ulHarb wa-al Shuja’s mentions that Indian forcesconsisted of ‘feudal levies’. Each militarycontingent was under the command of itsimmediate overlora/chief and not that of theking. Thus, the army lacked ‘unity of command’.Besides, since only few castes and clans took tothe country; when the Turks came, we find theindian masses hardly came to the rescue of theirkings. The concept of physical pollution (chhut)also hampered millitary efficiency since it madethe division of labour impossible; the soldiers hadto do all their work on their own, from fightingto the fetching of water.

Another important reason for the success ofthe Turks was their superior miltary technologyand art of war. These nomads could be creditedwith introducnig the horses for warfare withgreater skill. The Turks used iron stirrps andhorse shoes that reinforced their striking powerand the stamina of the cavalry. While horse shoesprovided greater mobility to the horse, the stirrupgave the soldiers a distinct advantage.

Muhammad Ghori (Shahabuddin Muhammad)

In AD 1173 Shahabuddin Muhammad (AD1173–1206) also called Muhammad of Ghorascended the throne of Ghazni. The Ghoris werenot strong enough to meet the growing powerand strength of the Khwarizmi Empire; theyrealised that they could gain nothing in CentralAsia. This forced Ghori to turn towards India tofulfil his expansionist ambitions. MuhammadGhori was very much interested in establishing


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permanent empire in India and not merelylooting its wealth. His campaigns were wellorganised and whenever he conquered anyterritory, he left a general behind to govern it inhis absence. His invasions resulted in thepermanent establishment of the TurkishSultanate in the region lying north of theVindhya Mountains.

Conquest of Punjab and Sind

Muhammad Ghori led his first expedition inAD 1175. He marched against Multan and freedit from its ruler. In the same campaign hecaptured Uchch from the Bhatti Rajputs. Threeyears later in AD 1178 he again marched toconquer Gujarat but the Chalukya ruler ofGujarat, Ghima II defeated him at the battle ofAnhilwara. But this defeat did not discourageMuhammad Ghori. He realised the necessity ofcreating a suitable base in Punjab beforeventuring on the further conquest of India. Helaunched a campaign against the Ghaznavidpossessions in Punjab. As a result Peshawar wasconquered in AD 1179–80 and Lahore in AD1186. The fort of Sialkot and Debol werecaptured next. Thus by AD 1190 having securedMultan, Sind and Punjab, Muhammad Ghorihad paved the way for a further thrust into theGangetic Doab.

ESTABLISHMENT AND EXPANSION OFTHE DELHI SULTANATE

The First Battle of Tarain (AD 1191)

Muhammad Ghori’s possession of Punjaband his attempt to advance into the GangeticDoab brought him into direct conflict with theRajput ruler Prithivaraja Chauhan. He hadoverrun many small states in Rajputana,captured Delhi and wanted to extend his controlover Punjab and Ganga valley. The conflictstarted with claims of Bhatinda. In the first battlefought at Tarain in AD 1191, Ghori’s army wasrouted and he narrowly escaped death.Prithviraj conquered Bhatinda but he made noefforts to garrison it effectively. This gave Ghorian opportunity to re-assemble his forces andmake preparations for another advance intoIndia.

The Second Battle of Tarain (AD 1192)

This battle is regarded as one of the turningpoints in Indian History. Muhammad Ghori

made very careful preparations for this conquest.The Turkish and Rajput forces again came faceto face at Tarain. The Indian forces were morein number but Turkish forces were well organisedwith swift moving cavalry. The bulky Indianforces were no match against the superiororganisation, skill and speed of the Turkishcavalry. The Turkish cavalry was using twosuperior techniques. The first was the horse shoewhich gave their horses a long life and protectedtheir hooves. The second was, the use of ironstirrup which gave a good hold to the horse riderand a better striking power in the battle. A largenumber of Indian soldiers were killed. Prithvirajtried to escape but was captured near Sarsuti.The Turkish army captured the fortresses ofHansi, Sarsuti and Samana. Then they movedforward running over Delhi and Ajmer.

After Tarain, Ghori returned to Ghazni,leaving the affairs of India in the hand of histrusted slave general Qutbuddin Aibak. In AD1194 Muhammad Ghori again returned to India.He crossed Yamuna with 50,000 cavalry andmoved towards Kanauj. He gave a crushingdefeat to Jai Chand at Chandwar near Kanauj.Thus the battle of Tarain and Chandwar laidthe foundations of Turkish rule in Northern India.

The political achievements of MuhammadGhori in India were long lasting than those ofMahmud of Ghazni. While Mahmud Ghazniwas mainly interested in plundering MuhammadGhori wanted to establish his political control.His death in AD 1206 did not mean thewithdrawal of the Turkish interests in India. Heleft behind his slave General Qutbuddin Aibakwho became first Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate.

CULTURAL TRENDS (750-1200)

Religious Conditions: Importance Of Temples

And Monastic

Temples held an important place in thepredominantly agrarian economy of medievalIndia, especially in south India. Even thoughtemples rose to power during the Pallava period,they gradually consolidated their position underthe Cholas with the help of royal patronage. Theimportance of temples was more visible duringthe early medieval period largely because of thefact that land grants during this period weregiven more prolifically. During this period wesee the emergence of great royal temples whichsymbolised the power of the ruling kingdom.


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From the 10th to 13th centuries, a large numberof temples were built in various regionalkingdoms. On account of the royal support andpatronage they received, temples had an accessto agricultural produce and a control of society.They were also used to counter the divisive forcesprevailing in those kingdoms. Temples flourishedon the landgrants and cash endowments by thecrown, merchant guilds and others which, inturn, made them the biggest employer, moneylender and consumer of goods and service. Itssocial role, based on this economic substructure,pivoted around its role of preserving andpropagating education and culture.

Sources both archaeological and literary likeMitakshara, Pratagmanjari and Tahkike Hind,help a lot to reconstruct the socio-economic roleof temples. All these are corroborated by copperplates, stone inscriptions and numismaticfindings.

Land endowments were the most importantresources of the temples in medieval south India.The landgranted to the temples had twofunctions: first, to yield and income with whichto maintain a specified ritual service in the nameof the donor, and second, to provide a productiveplace to invest funds granted to the temples forthe performance of services in the first place, theyincreasingly led to an expansion of templepersonnel who were paid in kind or throughallotment of land. This resulted in the growth offeudal land tenure which is evident from variousepigraphic references to tenants fiscalconcessions and immunities which accompaniedmany grants perhaps caused greater economicbondage of the peasantry and weakened thecentral authority.

There were various ritual functionariesattached to temples who were given monetaryendowments by the temple out of their incomefrom the landgrant and donations from variousquarters. These functionaries included membersof educational institutions (mathas) reciters ofSanskrit and Tamil sacred works, teachers,scholars, musicians and poets. They also receiveda share of consecrated food offering of thedeities. The economic value of consecrated foodhad an important funciton in the endowmentof money to the temple. The secondarydistribution of consecrated food to the devoteespermitted the temple functionaries to resourcesof the temple.

Temples also discharged vital responsibilities

towards agricultural development, e.g.,providing irrigation facilities to agriculturists.Temples also had economic functions in theirvaried roles as landholders, employers, consumerof goods and services, and banks. They alsodischarged the function of money lenders anddepositories. The continuous handling of fundsand receipts of gifts in cash, goods, preciousmetals and services gave the temples capitalwhich the usually reinvested in productive ways.We have evidences the loans given by templesto village assemblies for economically productivepurposes. They also granted loans to cultivators,traders and artisans in reutrn for various articlesgiven as interest ranging usually between 12.5percent to 15 percent.

As per as the social role of temple isconcerned, they were the centre of activity asassemblies and schools. Caste consciousness hadbecome a marked feature with the society dividedvertically between the Brahmanas and the non-Brahmanas. The medium of education in thetemples was sanskrit. Debates were held invarious mathas and colleges regardingphilophical aspects of Hindu theology.Sankaracharya’s ideas continued to be developerand improved upon and theories andphilosophies of other teachers were alsodiscussed. It is to be noted that Ramanuja, thefamous Vaishnava philosopher, spent afavourable part of his life teaching at the famoustemple of Shrirangam.

Thus, temples in medieval India, specially insouth India, had developed some sort of touristindustry lide in modern times. Pilgrims flockedto temples during the festivals (which were quitefrequent) in huge numbers, and hence, thesenecessitated employment to guilds, priests, inn-keepers, food-shelters etc. In effect, they becomeminiature towns.

North

1. In the north, a shikhara rises above thechief room. The shikhara has a globalbulge in the middle and tapers to a pointat the top.

2. Temples lack gateway (gopuram).

3. Temples are mostly of brick solid andmortar.

4. Temples are smaller in size.

5. Temple were mainly centres of religiousactivity.


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South

1. A pyramidal tower (vemana) story upon storey, above the garbhagriha (chiefdeity room)

2. Temples have very lofty and sitegateways called gopurams.

3. Temples are made mostly of rocks.

4. Temples are generally bigger and moreairy.

5. Temples were not only centres religiousactivity but also social and economicalactivities.

Sankaracharya

Sankaracharya was a Nambudiri Brahmanborn in Kaladi, Malabar. He was originally aworshiper of Seva. He gave an entirely new turnto the Hindu revival movement by providing itwith a solid philosophical background throughthe reinterpretation of ancient Indian scriptures,particularly the Upanishads. Sankaracharyaadvocated the philosophy of “Advaita” themonism of the Vedanta by giving a brilliantexposition to the entire range of the Vedicreligions and spiritual thought. Having lost hisfather in his childhood, Sankaracharya becomea sanyasi, while in his teens and began to roamabout in search of true knowledge and wisdom.A genius by birth and intensely religious byoutlook and social heritage, he receivedinstruction in religious scriptures and philosophyat Kashi. Sankaracharya renewed andsystematised Vedanta philosophy by stressing onits main principle of monism (advaita or absolutenon-dualism). Sankaracharya started a vigorouscampaign for the revial of Hinduism based onthe solid foundation of Vedic philosophy andancient Indian cultural tradition in order tocheck the growth of Buddhism and Jainism. Herecognised the ascetic order of sanyasis on thepattern of Buddhist sangha and launched acampaign for the popularisation of Hinduism.He composed extensive commentaries on theBrahmasutra and chief upanishad and traveledall around India to highlight the cultural unityof India. The mathas also began propagating thecentre of Vedic religion. The mathas, amongmany, included Jaganathpuri in the east, Sringeriin the South, Dwarka in the west and Badrinathin the north.

Sankaracharya was an orthodox Brahminfor whom the Vedic literature was sacred andunquestionably true. In order to harmonise themany paradoxes of Vedic tradition, that had totrade recourse to a philosophy of “doublestandard of truth” (already known inBuddhism). It meant that on the every day levelof truth, the world was preduce by Brahma, andit went through an evolutionary process similarto that taught by the Sankhya school ofphilosophy. But on the highest level of truth, thewhole universe including the God was unreal,i.e., the world in maya, an illusion and figmentof imagination. Therefore, Shankarcharyabelieved that ultimately the only reality was theBrahman, the impersonal world soul of theUpanishads with which the individual soul wasidentical.

Sankaracharya also believed that god and thecreated world was one and the difference whichis evident is due to ignorance. According to him,the way to salvation was to realise by means ofmeditation and knowledge that god and thecreated beings were one and the some. At thedeepest level of meditation “nirvikalpasamadhi”, the complete identity between godand the individual is realised. It is the goal ofeveryone to know, realise, feel and display inaction this identity. When this is accomplishedall sufferings and births and deaths cease. Thisidentity has been termed as “ sachidanandBrahman” by Sankaracharya.

Sankaracharya’s ‘Brahman’ is not reallydifferent from the concept of ‘nirvana’ ofMahayana Buddhism. It is a fact which was well-recognised by his opponents who called him“crypto-Buddhist.” However, Shankarcharyaproved the Buddhist scholars wrong and wasable to show that Buddhist metaphysics wasonly a poor imitation of the metaphysics ofsnatan dharma.

The philosophy of Sankaracharya had farreaching consequences for the India society. Forexample the monastic Sankaracharya (mathas)which he established in the four corners of Indiaserved as an effective step towards the physicaland spiritual unification of India. By Jainism buthis real greatness lies in his brilliant dialectic. Bythe able use arguements he reduced all theapparently self-contradicting passages of theUpanishads to a consistent system which hasremained the standard of Hinduism to this day,Sankaracharaya passed away at Kedar Nath at


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the age of 32 Ramanuja combined Sankara’sAdvaitavada with the Vaishnava Pancharatratheology which claimed that Vishnu is the veryfoundation of the universe. The impact ofRamanuja’s writings and his long service aspriest of the fomous Vishnu temple at Srinangammade his ideas widely known among theVaishnavites and he is justly regarded as thefounder of Srivashnavism. The VedanticPhilosophy of Sankaracharya was revivedVivekanand in the second half of the 19th century.

Sufism

Sufism or tasawwuf is the name for variousmystical and movements in Islam. It aims atestablishing direct communion between god andman through personal experience of mysterywhich lies within Islam. Every religion gives riseto mystical tendencies is its fold at a particularstage of its evolution. In this sense, Sufism was anatural development within Islam based on thespirit of Quaranic Piety. The Sufis whileaccepting the shariat did not confine theirreligious practice to formal adherence andstressed cultivation of religious experience aimedat a direct perception of god.

There developed a number of Sufi orders ofsilsilah in and outside India. All these orders hadtheir specific characteristics. However, therewere a number of features which are commonto all Sufi orders.

1. Sufism as it developed in the Islamicworld came to stress the importance oftraversing the Sufi path (tariqa) as amethod of establishing directcommunion with divine reality(haqiqat).

2. According to the Sufi beliefs, the novicehas to pass through a succession of“stations” of “stages” (maqamat) andchanging psychological conditions or“states” (hal) to experience god.

3. The sufi path could be traversed onlyunder the strict supervision of a spiritualdirector (sheikh, pir or murshid) whohad himself successfully traversed andconsequently established directcommunion with god.

4. the disciple (murid) progressed throughthe “stages” and “states” by practising

such spiritual exercise as self-mortifica-tion, recollection of god’s name to at-tain concentration (zikr) and contem-plation.

5. The sufis organised impassioned musi-cal recitals (soma). The practice of samawas intended to induce a mystical stateof ecstasy. However, some sufi ordersdid not approve of certain forms of samaand the ulema were particularly hostileto the practice.

6. Yet another feature of sufism is theorganisation of the Sufis into vatiousorders (silsilah). Each of these silsilah,e.g. suhrawardi, qadiri, chishti, weerfounded by a leading figure who lenthis name to it. A silsilah consisted ofpersons who had become disciples of aparticular Sufi.

7. The hospice (dhanqah) was the centreof the activities of a sufi order. It wasthe place where the pir impartedspiritual training to his disciples. Thepopularity of the khanqah and itscapacity fo attract disciples dependedon the reputation of the pir. Khanqahswere supported by endowment andcharity.

By the time the various Sufi orders begantheir activities in India from the beginning of the13th century, Sufism had already grown into afull-fledge movement in different parts of theIslamic world. Sufism acquired distinctcharacteristics in the Indian environment but itsgrowth in India, particularly in the initial phase,was linked in many ways with the developmentthat occurred in Sufi beliefs and practice in theIslamic world during the period between 17thand 13th centuries. The growth of Sufism in thecentral lands of islam during this period can bedivided into three broad phases.

GROWTH OF SUFISM INISLAMIC WORLD

The Formative Stage (Upto 10th Century)

Early Sufis applied an esoteric meaning toverses in the quran which stressed on suchvirtues as repentance (tauba), abstinence,


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renunciation, poverty, trust in god (gawakkul)etc. Mecca, Madin, Basra, and Kufa were theearliest centres of Sufism. Sufism at Basrareached its height during the time of the womanmystic Rabia. Other regions of the Islamic worldwhere Sufism spread to Iranian regions, ittended to express greater individualism,divergent tendencies, and heterodox doctrinesand practices under Persian influence. The mostfamous of the early Sufis in the Iranian regionswas Bayazid Bistami from Dhurasan. InBaghdad, Al junaid was the most well-knownof the early Sufis. Al junaid won the approval ofthe Islamic orthodoxy and represented thecontrolled and disciplined side of Sufism and,therfore, those Sufis who followed his line areregarded as sober. Both Junaid and Bistamiexercised profound influences on theircontemporary and later Sufis. Two contrastingtendencies initiated by them come to bedistinguished as Junaidi and Bistami, or Iraqi andDhurasani,

Another prominents early sufi from Baghdadwas Mansur al-Hallaj who started his career aspupil of Al Junaid but later developed the methodof Bayazid Bistami. His mystical formula “I amgod” played an important role in the evolutionof Sufi ideas in Iran and then in India. The Ulemaconsidered, imprisoned and finally hanged. Hisideas provided the basis for the development ofthe doctrine of “Insane-i-kamil” (the perfectman).

Growth of the Organised Sufi Movement

(10th-12th Century)

Sufism began to acquire the form of anorganised movement with the establishment ofthe Turkish rule under the Ghaznavis and thenunder the Seljuqs in various parts of central Asiaand Iran in the later 10th and 11th centuries.The period marks the development of twoparallel institutions in the Islamic world-themadarasa system (seminary, higher religiousschool) in its new form as an official institutionof orthodox Islamic learning and the Khanqahsystem as an ogranised, endowed an permanentcentre for Sufi activities.

This stage is also characterised by theappearance of Sufi literary texts which arguedand codified the Sufi ideas and doctrines. Al-Ghazzali was the most outstanding sufi author.One of the most authentic and celebrated manual

of sufism was Kashful Mahjub written by Al-Hujwiri.

Another salient feature of Sufism during thisperiod was the emergence of Sufi poetry inPersian. While Arabic literature on mysticism isin prose, Persian literature is in poetry. Sufipoetry in Persian in the form of narrative poems(mannavis) reached its peak during the 12th and13th centuries.

Formation of Sufi Orders of Silsilah (Late

12th and 13th Centuries)

Few decades before Sufism began to exercisean influence on Indian society and religious life,organised Sufi movement reached its peak in theIslamic world in the form of various tariqa (paths)or Sufi orders. These orders began to crystallisewhen, from the end of the 12th century, eachone of the Sufi entries began to perpetuate thename of one particular master and his spiritualancestry and focused on its own tariqa consistingof peculiar practices and chain through whichsuccessive spiritual heirs (khalifa) traced theirspiritual inheritance to the founder of the order.

The founders of various silsilahs accepted theIslamic law and ritual practices of Islam. Thelink between orthodox Islam and silsila foundersis also clear from the fact that many of the latterwere professional Sufists. However, the gave anesoteric orientation to orthodox Islamic ritualsand introduced many innovation, particularlyin their religious practices, which were notalways in consonance with the orthodox outlook.Though the silsilah founders laid emphasis onstrict adherence to Islamic law, many silsilahslater did develop many heterodox beliefs andpracties.

The silsilahs which become popular in Iran,central Asia and Baghdad, played a significantrole in the growth of sufism in various parts ofthe Islamic world including the suhrawardifounded by shaidh Shahabuddin Suhrawardk;the Qadiri formed by Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani,the Dhawajagan, but later came to be associatedwith the name of Bahauddin Naqshbandi. TheSufies who had received their training in thesesilsilahs began to establish their branches in theircountries or in new countries such as India.Gradually, these branches become independentSufi schools with own characteristics andtendencies.


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LITERATURE AND SCIENCE

Under the Cholas

Education based on the epics and thePuranas was imparted during this time throughdiscourses in temples. There colleges and otherinstitutions for higher education. The period wasmarked by the growth of Tamil classics such asSibakasindamani, Kamban’s Ramayana, andothers. Very few books were composed inSanskrit, Rajaraja I was the subject of two works-adrama (Rajarajesvara Natakam) and a kavya(Rajaraja Vijayam).

Under the Chalukyas of Kalyani

The Chaludya period withnessed aphenomenal growth in literature, both inSanskrit and Kannada. Among the sanskritwriters of the period, the foremost in Bihana, thecourt poet of Vidramaditya VI. Vidramankacha-rita of Bihana is a mahakavaya. Bihana wrotemany other works. The great jurist Vijramaditya,wrote the famous Mitaksara, a commentary onthe Yanjavalkya Smriti, Somesvara III was theauthor of encyclopadedic work, Manasollasa orAbhilashitarha-chintamani.

Under the western Chalukyas, kannadaLiterature reached great heights. The threeLiterary gems, Pampa, Ponna and Ranna,contributed to the development of Kannadaliterature in the 10th century. Of the three,Ranna was the court poet of Satyasraya, whilethe other two belonged to earlier decades.Nagavarma I was another poet of fame. He wasthe author of Chandombudhi, the ocean ofprosody, the earliest work on the subject inKannada. He also wrote karnataka-kandambariwhich is based on Bana’s celebrated romance inSanskrit. The next writer of note was Dugasimha,a minister under Jayasimha II, who wroteAnchatantra. The Veer Saina mystics, especiallyBasava, contributed to the development ofKannada language and literature, particularprose literature. They brought into existence theVachana Literature to convey high philosophicalideas to the common man in simple language.

Under the Yadavas

The Senas gave a great impetus to thedevelopment of Sanskrit Literature. The familyof the famous astronomer and mathematicianBhasdaracharya belonged to this period.

Bhaskaracharya’s father, Mahesvari (known askavisvara), wrote two works on astrology,Sekhara and Laghutika. Of the numerous worksof Bhaskaracharya, the most famous areSiddhanta Siromani (composed in 1150) andKaranakuthuhala, the first being the best treatiseon algebra to be found in Sanskrit Literature. Hisson Lakshmidhara and his grandsonChangadeva were the court astrologers of jaitugiand Simhana respectively. Bhaskaracharya’sgrand-nephew Anantadeva, a protege ofSimhana, was a master of the three branches ofastronomy and wrote a commentary on theBrihat Jataka of Varahaminira and also on onechapter of Brahmasphuta Siddhana ofBrahmagrupta.

Under the kakatiyas

The kakatiya rules extended liberalpatronage to Sanskrit. Several eminent Sanskritwriters and poets authored inscriptions whichmust be regarded as kavyas in miniature. Ofthese writers, Achinterdra was commissioned byRudradeva to compose the Prasati embodies inthe Anumakonda inscription.

Telugu literature also flourished in theKakatiya Kingdom. Several inscriptions werecomposed party or wholly in Telugu verse, likethe inscriptions at Gudur of (Beta II), karimnagar(Gangakhara), Upparapalle (Kata) andKonnidena (Opilisiddhi). The new religiousmovement led Vaishnavism and Virasaivismgave a great impetus to Telugu literature. Severalworks on the two great national epics, theRamayana and the Mahabharata.

begun by Nannayuabnhatta in the 11thcentury AD, was completed by TikkanaSomayaji, the minister and poet Laureate of theTelugu Chola King Manuma siddhi II of Nellrein the middle of the 13th century AD.

Alberuni’s India

Abu’l Rayan Alberuni was a philosopherscientist, whose Ditab al Hind was the first andmost important discussion on Indian sciences,religion and society by an outsider. He was notjust a historian. His Knowledge and interestcovered many other areas such as astronomy,geography, logic, medicine, mathematics,philosophy, religion and theology, He wasprobably born in 973 AD. He was attached toMahmud’s court and accompanied him to Indiaduring various raids.


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Alberuni’s Kitab al Hind or Tahkik-i Hind isthe survey of Indian based on his study andobservations in India between 1017 and 1030.To get a proper grip of the situation, he learnedSanskrit so that he might go to the sources ofHindu thought and religion. He learnt Sanskritto acquire first hand information. He read thereligion texts and met the learned Indians.

His approach was scientific and religiousprejudices do not mar the quality of hisobservations. He quoted form the Bhagavat Gita,Bishnu Puran, Kapil’s Sankhya and the work ofPatanjali. Alberuni’s observation of Indiansociety can be studied under six major sub-heads:

• Caste-ridden society

• Closed society

• Stagnant knowledge

• social evils

• Religious beliefs

• Scientific knowledge.

Caste-ridden Society

The complete caste structure of Indian societydid not go unnoticed by Alberuni. One notableobservation of Alberuni was that the Vaishyaswere also fast degeneration to the rank ofSudras. He notes the absence of any significantdifference between the Vaishyas and the sudras,who lived together in the same town and villageand mixed together in the same house. By the11th century it seems that the Vaishyas come tobe treated as Sudras virtually and legally. Thealliance of convenience between the Brahmanasand the ruling Kshatriyas was a fact thatAlberuni refers to indirectly. He also refers to aclass of untouchables which existed in the societycalled antyaja. Alberuni lists eight antyaja castesbelow the status of the Sudras. Some of the namesof untouchable castes that are mentioned by himare: Bhodhatu, Bhedas, Chandala, Doma, andHodi.

Closed Society

The closed attitude of society, lackingdynamism did not go untouched by Alberuni.He informs us that traveling to far off places wasconsidered by the Brahmins. The area withinwhich a Brahmana could live was fixed and aHindu was not generally permitted to enter theland of the Turks. All this makes sense in thecontext of “feudal localism” which ruled out or

other types of connection between one region ofthe country and another.

Alberuni further says that the isolationistattitude of Indians was further buttressed by afalse sense of superiority. In his opening chapteritself alberuni writers that the Indians belivedthat there is no country like theirs, no nation liketheirs, no king like theirs, no religion like theirs,no science like theirs, no science like theirs.” TheIndian are by nature niggardly in communicationwhat they know and they do not believe inexchange of ideas. They had the greatest possiblecare to with hold their knowledge from men ofanother caste, from among their own people,and even more from nay outsider.

Stagnant Knowledge

It is indeed unfortunate that Alberuni visitedIndia at a time when knowledge was at a lowebb. While the rich heritage of the pastknowledge is highlighted by Alberuni when herefers to the various ‘sidhantas’ and the progressmade in astronomy and mathematics, but hepaints a very pathetic picture of the 11th century,He says “The Indians are in a state of utterconfusion, devoid of any logical order, and theyalways mix up with silly notions of the crowd.Ican only compare their mathematical andastronomical knowledge to a mixture of pearlsand sour dates. Both kind of things are equal intheir eyes since they cannot raise themselves tothe method of a strictly scientific deduction.”

Social Evils

Alberuni mentions evil social practiceswithin the Indian society like child-marriage,sati, the low position of women in general andwidows in particular. He mentions that Hindusmarry at a very young age, If a wife loses herhusband due to death she cannot remarry, Awidow has only two options, either the remaina widow as long as she lives, or to burn herself(sati). The latter option was generally preferredbecause as a widow she was ill-treated.

Religious Beliefs and Practices

Alberuni, who had carefully studied theHindu religion’s philosophy and institutions,found no difficulty in marking out the trinitygods (three deities of the Hindu religion) andphilosophy of the Upanishads. He says that thebelief in a multitude of gods is vulgar and is atypical of the un-educated. Educated Hindusbelieve god to be one and Eternal. Hindus


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considered the existence of god as real. becauseeverything that exists, exists through god.

Alberuni had also learned all about theHindu concept of transmigration of soul. Heexplains that Indians believed that every act ofthis life will be rewarded or punished in the lifeto com, and the final emancipation of a humanbeing is possible only through true knowledge,He terms all these beliefs of the Indian as narrow-mindedness. He says that insularity at every levelwas the characteristic feature of India in the 11thcentury and the price of this insularity was thedisruption of the country be the coming of theTurks.

Scientific Knowledge and legal System

Although Alberuni is critical of the scientificknowledge of Indians, sometimes he has praisedtheir knowledge. He made great effort tounderstand the Indian legal system. He notesevery practical aspect of the legal system andpoints out the difference between these and thelegal theories as expounded in the law books likeManusmriti. He also praises the weights andmeasure system and distance measurementsystem of Indians. He also notices the manyvariations of the Indian alphabets. He providesinteresting geographical data and takes intoaccount local astronomical and mathematicaltheories.

While making his profound observation,Alberuni, did not pay a partisan role andcondemned Mahmud Ghazni’s destructiveactivities. He was perhaps the first Muslim tohave undertaken the study of Indian society onsuch a major scale.

Where Alberuni was not very sure of his ownknowledge, he frankly admitted it. His criticalassessment of Indian customs and ways of life,festivals, ceremonies is particularly interesting.He says that the fact that Indians had starteddepending on tradition heavily was a hindranceto genuine intellectual quest. He felt that learningand scientific spirit suffered because they hadbeen sub-ordained to religion.

Art And Architecture

The Cholas continued and developed the arttradition of the Pallavas and pandyas, whomthey succeeded. During the nearly four certurieslong rule, the entire Tamil country was studdedwith temples and Chola art traditional wereadopted and followed in Sri Lanka and other

parts of south India. The replacement of brickby stone structure went on steadily under thecholas. The chief features of Chola temples aretheir massive vimanas of towers and spaciouscourtyards. In the Brihadeswara of Rajarajesvaratemple, dedicated to Siva, the vimana of toweris about 57 metres high upon a square, comprisingthirteen successive storeys. It is crowned by asingle block of granite, 7.5 metres high and about80 tonnes in weight. Similarly, Rajendra Ierected a splendid temple at his new capital,Gangakonda Cholapram. Some Chola templesat Thanjavur and Kalahasti contain beautifulprotrait images of royal personages, like thoseof Rajaraja I and his queen Lodamahadevi andof Rajendra I and his queen Cholamahadevi,The Cholas also encouraged plastic art; the metaland stone images cast during the period areexquisitely executed and display a wounderfulgivour, dignity and grace. The masterpiece ofchola sculpture is the famous Nataraja of thedancing Siva image at the great temple ofChidambaram. Numerous such images were alsomoulded in bronze. This Nataraja has beendescribed as the “cultural epitome” of the cholaperiod. The Cholas also patronised painting. Ofthe Chola paintings, the most important are thosein the pradakshina passage of the Rajarajesvaratemple.

Temple architecutre, particularly theDravida or south Indian style of architecture,reached the pinnacle of glory under the Cholas.The chief feature of a Chola temple is the vimanaor the story, which was later eclipsed by therichly ornamented gopuram of gateway. Underthe Cholas, temples became the centre of life,particularly in the rural areas. The villageassembly invariably held its meetings in thetemple mandapas, which became an additionalfeature of the Chola temple architecture.

The best example is, the Siva or theBrihadesvara of the Rajarajesvara temple, builtin 1009 by Rajaraja I. Tanjore. It is a fittingmemorial to the material achievements of theCholas under Rajaraja I. Apart from being thetallest (216 feet) of all Indian temples of themedieval period, it is a masterpiece of southIndian architecture. In this temple, a carving ofa man’s head with a European hat is found onone side of the temple (in a subsidiary structure),which is believed to be that of Marco Polo (late13th century), the Venetian traveler, The templeof Gangaikonda Cholapurm (also dedicated toSiva or Brihadesvara), the creation of Rajendra


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I, was meant to excel its predecessor in everyconceivable way. Erected around 1030, thegreater elaboration in its appearance attested tothe more affluent state of the chola empire underRajendra I. It is larger in plan though not as tallas the previous one.

The Chola period also witnessed great stridesin the field of sculpure. The three main classesof Chola sculpture are portraits, icons anddecorative sculptures.

There are three well-preserved and nearlylife-size portraits on the walls of theDuranganatha temple at Srinivasanallyur, andseveral others in the Nagesvara temple atKumbhakonam. The Chola sculptors startedbronze-casting sometime around the middle ofthe 9th century. The Cholas are particularlyknown for their Nataraja bronzes (bronzestatues of Nataraja of the dancing Siva) whichare master pieces of this Nagesvara temple atDumbhakonam. A group of three bronzes ofRama, Lakshmana and Sita wth Hanuman attheir feet from Tirkkadaiyur (Tanjore District) isone of the finest products of Chola bronze-marking of the reign of Rajaraja I.

Chola wall paintings are to be found on thewalls of the Vijayala Cholesvara andRajarajesvara temples. On the walls of theVijalaya Cholesvara temple, large painted figuresof Mahakala, Devi and Siva are still visible.

The Hoysalas were also great patrons of art.In many cases, the Hoysala temples are not singlebut double, having all essential parts duplicated.One more noteworthy feature is that the templeitself appears to be the work of a sculptor andnot of a builder, This is best illustrated in theHoysalesvara temple at Halebid, whose plinthconsists of nine bands and each band hadthousands of decorative figures in variouspostures. Hence, the Hoysala temples have beenaptly described as sculptors’ architecture. Thereare a number of temples in the Mysore territorywhich exhibit amazing display of sculpturalexuberance. The most typical and well-knownexamples are the temples of Desava atSimnathpur, Chenna Desava at Belur andHoysalesvara at Halebid. The Keasva atSimnathpur, Chenna Kesava at Belur andHousalesvara at Halebid. The Desava temple atSomnathpur, near Seringapatnam erected about1268, is still in a perfect state.

The other major centers of Dravida style areMammallapuram (Mahabalipuram) with the

seven pagodas, kailashnath and Vaikuntah Pe-rumal temples at Kanchi, and Parshurameshvartemple at Gudimallam.

The temples of Orissa represent the Nagarastyle of architecture. Few of the famous templesbuilt during 7th and 13th centuries includeLingaraja temple at Bhuvaneshwar, Jagannathtemple at Puri and Sun temple at Konark. Thetemples built by Chandel rulers at Khajuragobetween 950 and 1050 are also famous for theirarchitectural beauty.

Contact With Southeast Asia

Indians have been moving out from ancienttime to different parts of the world for trade andother activities. As far as the Indian contact withSoutheast Asia is concerned, it appears to be asold as fifth century B.C. Jatakas the Buddhisttexts belonging to this period refer to Indiansvisiting Suvarnadvipa (island of gold), which isidentified with Java. Such early contacts withSoutheast Asia are confirmed by the recentarcheological finds of pearls and ornaments ofagate and carnelian, the semi-precious stones ofIndian origin, from the coastal sites in Thailand,Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. These finds belong toas far back as first century BC. According to theChinese traditions, the first kingdom in Southeast Asia was founded at Funan (Cambodia) inthe fourth century AD by a brahman known asKaundinya who had come from India and hadmarried the local princess. However, Indian andSoutheast Asian contacts became closer from 5thcentury AD onwards when inscriptions inSanskrit language start appearing in many areas.It reached its peak during AD 800–AD 1300when many kings and dynasties with Indiannames emerge all over Southeast Asia TheSoutheast contact was largely on account oftrade. Southeast Asia is rich in cardamom,sandal wood, camphor, cloves etc. which formedimportant items of trade between India and theWest. Initially, the Indian traders appear to havesettled along the coast, but gradually they shiftedtheir network to the interior. Along with thetraders came the priests particularly theBuddhist and brahmanas, to meet the ritualrequirements of the Indian settlers. It thuscreated a situation for the spread of Indian socialand cultural ideas in South east Asia. But it mustbe noted that Indian contact did not uproot thelocal culture. It was rather a case of peacefulintermixing of Indian concepts with localcultural features. Therefore, for example, while


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Sanskrit was accepted as a language of court andreligion in Southeast Asia the regional languagescontinued to be used side by side , and we findmany inscriptions in mixed Sanskrit and locallanguage. Similarly, the concept of varna wasknown to the south east Asians and brahmanaswere respected in society, but social divisionswere not rigid as it was in India.

The most important empire which come tobe founded in South east Asia in the 8th CenturyAD was the Shailendra empire. It comprisedJava, Sumatra, Malay- Pennisula and other partsof the Southeast Asian region. They were aleading naval power and on account of theirgeographical position controlled the tradebetween China and India as well as othercountries in the west. The Shailendra kings werefollowers of Buddhism and had close contactwith the Indian rulers. One of the kings of thisempire, built a monastery at Nalanda in the ninthcentury, and at his request the Pala kingDevapala of Bengal granted five villages for its

upkeep. Similarly in the eleventh centuryanother king was permitted by the Chola kingRajaraja I to build a Buddhist monastery atNagapattam on the Tamil Coast. The Shailendrasalso built a beautiful temple dedicated to Buddhaat Barabudur in Java. It is situated on the top ofa hillock and consists of nine gradually recedingterraces.

Besides Buddhism, the worship of Hindugods such as Vishnu and Siva was also quitepopular in southeast Asia. The temples dedicatedto them have been found at various places. Theyshow distinct traces of Indian influence andinspiration. One of the most famous temples,dedicated to Vishnu, is Angkorvat temple builtin the 12th century by Surya Varman II, the kingof Kambuja (Cambodia). It is surrounded by amoat, filled with water. It has a huge gopuram(gateway) and number of galleries, the walls ofwhich are decorated with sculptures based onthemes drawn from Mahabharat andRamayana.

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The rulers who ruled substantial parts of theNorth India between AD1200 to AD1526 weretermed as Sultans and the period of their rule asthe Delhi Sultanate. These rulers were of Turkishand Afghan origin. They established their rulein India after defeating the Indian rulingdynasties which were mainly Rajputs innorthern India. The main ruler who wasoverthrown by the invading Turk MuhammadGhori from Delhi was Prithvi Raj Chauhan.These Sultans ruled for more than 300 years (fromaround AD 1200 to AD 1526). The last of theDelhi Sultan, Ibrahim Lodi was defeated by theMughals under the leadership of Babur inAD1526 who established the Mughal Empire inIndia. During this period of around threehundred years five different dynasties ruledDelhi. These were the Mamluks (AD 1206–AD1290) (popularly known as slave dynasty), theKhaljis (AD 1290–AD 1320), the Tughlaqs (AD1320–AD 1412), the Sayyids (AD 1412–AD 1451)and the Lodis (AD 1451– AD 1526). All thesedynasties are collectively referred as the DelhiSultanate.

THE MAMLUK SULTANS

With Qutbuddin Aibak, begins the period ofMamluk Sultans or the slave dynasty. Mamlukis an Arabic word meaning “owned”. It wasused to distinguish the imported Turkish slavesmeant for military service from the lower slavesused as domestic labour or artisan. The MamlukSultans ruled from AD 1206 to 1290.

••••• Qutbuddin Aibak (AD 1206–1210)

Qutbuddin Aibak was a Turkish slave whohad risen to high rank in Muhammad Ghori’sarmy. After Muhammad Ghori’s death in AD1206, the control of his Indian possessions waspassed on to Qutbuddin Aibak. Aibak was thefirst independent Muslim ruler of NorthernIndia, the founder of Delhi Sultanate.

Aibak had to face many revolts from Rajputsand other Indian chiefs. Tajuddin Yaldauz, theruler of Ghazni, claimed his rule over Delhi.Nasiruddin Qabacha, the governor of Multan


ESTABLISHMENT AND

EXPANSION OF THE

DELHI SULTANATE

and Uchch aspired for independence. Aibak wasable to win over his enemies by conciliatorymeasures as well as a display of power. Hedefeated Yaldauz and occupied Ghazni. Thesuccessor of Jaichand, Harishchandra haddriven out the Turks from Badayun andFarukhabad. Aibak re-conquered both Badayunand Farukhabad.

Qutbuddin Aibak was brave, faithful andgenerous. Due to his generosity he was knownas “Lakh Baksh”. Most of the scholars considerAibak as the real founder of Mulsim rule in India.

••••• Iltutmish (AD 1210–1236)

In AD 1210, Aibak died of injuries receivedin a fall from his horse while playing chaugan(Polo). After his death a few amirs raised his sonAram Shah to the throne in Lahore. But AramShah was incapable ruler and the Turkish amirsopposed him. The Turkish chiefs of Delhi invitedthe governor of Badayun (son-in-law ofQutbuddin Aibak) “Iltutmish” to come to Delhi.Aram Shah proceeded against him at the headof the army from Lahore to Delhi but Iltutmishdefeated him and became the Sultan with thename of Shamsuddin. The credit of consolidatingthe Delhi Sultanate lies largely with him. WhenIltutmish ascended the throne, he found himselfsurrounded with many problems. Othercommanders of Muhammad Ghori like Yaldauz,Qubacha and Ali Mardan rose in defiance again.The chief of Jalor and Ranthambore joinedGwalior and Kalinjar in declaring theirindependence. Apart from this, the rising powerof Mongols under Chenghiz Khan threatenedthe North West Frontier of the Sultanate.

Iltutmish took up the task of consolidatinghis position. He defeated Yaldauz in AD 1215in the battle of Tarain. In AD 1217 he drove awayQabacha from Punjab. In AD 1220, whenChenghiz Khan destroyed the Khwarizm expire,Iltutmish realised the rpolitical necessity ofavoiding a confrontation with the Mongols. Thuswhen Jalaluddin Mangbarani, the son of theShah of Khwarizm, while escaping from theMongols, sought shelter at Iltutmish’s court,


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Iltutmish turned him away. He thus saved theSultanate from destruction by the Mongols.

From AD 1225 onwards, Iltutmish engagedhis armies in suppressing the disturbances in theEast. In AD 1226–27 Iltutmish sent a large armyunder his son Nasiruddin Mahmud whichdefeated Iwaz Khan and brought Bengal andBihar back into the Delhi Sultanate. Similarly acampaign was also launched against the Rajputchiefs. Ranthambore was captured in AD 1226and by AD 1231 Iltutmish had established hisauthority over Mandor, Jalore, Bayana andGwalior.

There is no doubt that Iltutmish completedthe unfinished work of Aibak. The DelhiSultanate now covered a sizeable territory.Besides this, he also organised his trusted noblesor officers into a group of “Forty” (Turkan-i-Chahalgani). He was a farsighted ruler and heconsolidated and organised the newly formedTurkish Sultanate in Delhi. Iltutmish established‘Group of Forty’ (Turkan-i-Chahalgani). Thesewere Turkish amirs (nobles) who advised andhelped the Sultan in administering the Sultanate.After the death of Iltutmish, this group assumedgreat power in its hands. For a few years theydecided on the selection of Sultans one after theother. The group was finally eliminated byBalban.

Iltutmish effectively suppressed the defiantamirs of Delhi. He separated the Delhi Sultanatefrom Ghazni, Ghor and Central Asian politics.Iltutmish also obtained a ‘Letter of Investiture’in AD 1229 from the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdadto gain legitimacy. Iltutmish made a significantcontribution in giving shape to administrativeinstitution such as iqtas, army and currencysystem. He gave the Sultanate two of its basiccoins– the silver ‘Tanka’ and the copper ‘Jittal’.To affect greater control over the conqueredareas Iltutmish granted iqtas (land assignmentsin lieu of cash salaries) to his Turkish officers ona large scale. The recipients of “iqtas” called the“iqtadars” collected the land revenue from theterritories under them. Out of this theymaintained an armed contingent for the serviceof the state, enforced law and order and mettheir own expenses. Iltutmish realized theeconomic potentiality of the Doab and the iqtaswere distributed mainly in this region. Thissecured for Iltutmish the financial andadministrative control over one of the most

prestigious regions of North India. (You will readdetails of administration in lesson 12)

••••• Raziya (AD 1236–40)

The problem of successor troubled Iltutmishduring his last days. Iltutmish did not considerany of his sons worthy of the throne. His ownchoice was his daughter Raziya hence henominated her as his successor. But after hisdeath his son Ruknuddin Firoz ascended thethrone with the help of army leaders. Howeverwith the support of the people of Delhi and somemilitary leaders, Raziya soon ascended thethrone. Despite her obvious qualities, Raziya didnot fare significantly better primarily because ofher attempts to create a counter nobility of non-Turks and invited the wrath of the Turkishamirs. They were particularly incensed over herdecision to appoint the Abyssinian, MalikJamaluddin Yaqut, as the amir-i-akhur (masterof the horses); the recruitment of a few othernon-Turks to important posts further inflamedmatters. The nobility realized that, though awoman, Raziya was not willing to be a puppetin their hands, therefore the nobles startedrevolting against her in the provinces. Theyaccused her of violating feminine modesty andbeing too friendly to an Abbyssinian noble,Yaqut. She got killed after she was defeated bythe nobles. Thus her reign was a brief one andcame to end in AD 1240.

••••• Nasiruddin Mahmud (1246–66 AD)

The struggle for power between Sultan andthe Turkish Chiefs “Chahalgani” which beganduring the reign of Raziya continued. AfterRaziya’s death, the power of Chahalganiincreased and they became largely responsiblefor making and unmaking of kings. Behram Shah(AD 1240–42) and Masud Shah (AD 1242–46)were made Sultans and removed in succession.After them, in AD 1246, Ulugh Khan (laterknown as Balban) placed the inexperienced andyoung Nasiruddin (grandson of Iltutmish) onthrone and himself assumed the position of Naib(deputy). To further strengthen his position, hemarried his daughter to Nasiruddin. SultanNasiruddin Mahmud died in AD 1265.According to Ibn Battuta and Isami, Balbanpoisoned his master Nasiruddin and ascendedthe throne.

••••• Balban (AD 1266–87)

The struggle between the sultan and theTurkish nobles continued, till one of the Turkish


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chiefs, Ulugh Khan, known in history by thename of Balban, gradually arrogated all powerto himself and finally ascended the throne in AD1266. When Balban became the Sultan, hisposition was not secure. Many Turkish chiefswere hostile to him; the Mongols were lookingforward for an opportunity for attacking theSultanate, the governors of the distant provinceswere also trying to become independent rulers,the Indian rulers were also ready to revolt at thesmallest opportunity.

The law and order situation in the areaaround Delhi and in the Doab region haddeteriorated.In the Ganga-Yamuna doab andAwadh, the roads were infested with the robbersand dacoits, because of which thecommunication with the eastern areas hadbecome difficult. Some of the Rajput zamindarshad set up forts in the area, and defied thegovernment. The Mewatis had become so boldas to plunder people up to the outskirts of Delhi.To deal with these elements, Balban adopted astern policy. In the Mewat many were killed. Inthe area around Badayun, Rajput strongholdswere destroyed.

Balban ruled in an autocratic manner andworked hard to elevate the position of the Sultan.He did not allow any noble to assume greatpower. He even formulated the theory ofkingship. The historian Barani, who was himselfa great champion of the Turkish nobles, says thatBalban remarked ‘whenever I see a base bornignoble man, my eyes burn and I reach in angerfor my sword (to kill him).” We do not know ifBalban actually said these words but his attitudetowards the non-Turks was that of contempt.Balban was not prepared to share power withanyone, not even with his own family.

Balban was determined to break the powerof the Chahalgani. To keep himself wellinformed, Balban appointed spies in everydepartment. He also organised a strongcentralized army, both to deal with internaldisturbances, and to repel the Mongols who hadentrenched themselves in the Punjab and poseda serious threat to the Delhi Sultanate. Balbanre-organised the military department (diwan-i-arz) and deployed army in different parts of thecountry to put down rebellion. The disturbancesin Mewat, Doab, Awadh and Katihar wereruthlessly suppressed. Balban also securedcontrol over Ajmer and Nagaur in easternRajputana but his attempts to captureRanthambore and Gwalior failed. In AD 1279,

encouraged by the Mongol threats and the oldage of Sultan the governor of Bengal, Tughril Beg,revolted, assumed the title of Sultan and had thekhutba read in his name. Balban sent his forcesto Bengal and had Tughril killed. Subsequentlyhe appointed his own son Bughra Khan as thegovernor of Bengal. By all these harsh methods,Balban controlled the situation. In order toimpress the people with the strength and aweof his government, Balban maintained amagnificent court. He refused to laugh and jokein the court, and even gave up drinking wine sothat no one may see him in a non-serious mood.He also insisted on the ceremony of sijada(prostration) and paibos (kissing of the monarch’sfeet) in the court. Balban was undoubtedly oneof the main architects of the Sultanate of Delhi,particularly of its form of government andinstitutions. By asserting the power of themonarchy, Balban strengthened the DelhiSultanate. But even he could not fully defendnorthern India against the attacks of theMongols. Moreover, by excluding non-Turkishfrom positions of power and authority and bytrusting only a very narrow racial group he mademany people dissatisfied. This led to freshdisturbances and troubles after his death. Balbanadopted a policy of consolidation rather thanexpansion. He introduced a new theory ofkingship and redefined the relations between theSultan and nobility. Through these measuresBalban strengthened the Delhi Sultanate.

Balban died in AD 1287. After his death thenobles raised his grandson Kaiquabad to thethrone. He was soon replaced by his son,Kaimurs, who remained on the throne for a littleover three months. During Balban’s reign, Firozhad been the warden of the marches in north-west and had fought many successful battlesagainst the Mongols. He was called to Delhi asAriz-i-Mumalik (Minister of War). In AD 1290Firoz took a bold step by murdering Kaimursand seized the throne. A group of Khalji noblesled by him established the Khalji dynasty. Somescholars call this event as the ‘dynastic revolution’of AD 1290. It brought to an end the so calledslave dynasty and Firoz ascended the throneunder the title of Jalaluddin Khalji.

THE KHALJIS (AD 1290–1320)

••••• Jalaluddin Khalji (AD 1290–1296)

Jalaluddin Khalji laid the foundation of theKhalji dynasty. He ascended the throne at the


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age of 70 years. Although Jalaluddin retainedthe earlier nobility in his administration, but therise of Khaljis to power ended the monopoly ofnobility of slaves to high offices. Jalaluddin ruledonly for a short span of six years. He tried tomitigate some of the harsh aspects of Balban’srule. He was the first ruler of the Delhi Sultanateto clearly put forward the view that the stateshould be based on the willing support of thegoverned, and that since the large majority ofthe people in India were Hindus, the state inIndia could not be a truly Islamic state.

Jalaluddin tried to win the goodwill of thenobility by a policy of tolerance. He avoidedharsh punishments, even to those who revoltedagainst him. He not only forgave them but attimes even rewarded them to win their support.However many people including his supporters,considered him to be a weak sultan.

Jalaluddin’s policy was reversed by AlauddinKhalji who awarded drastic punishments to allthose who dared to oppose him.

••••• Alauddin Khalji (AD 1296–1316)

Alauddin Khalji was Jalaluddin’s ambitiousnephew and son-in-law. He had helped his unclein his struggle for power and was appointed asAmir-i-Tuzuk (Master of Ceremonies). Alauddinhad two victorious expeditions during the reignof Jalaluddin. After the first expedition of Bhilsa(Vidisa) in AD 1292, he was given the iqta ofAwadh, in addition to that of Kara. He was alsoappointed Arizi-i-Mumalik (Minister of War). InAD 1294, he led the first Turkish expedition tosouthern India and plundered Devagiri. Thesuccessful expedition proved that Alauddin wasan able military commander and efficientorganiser. In July AD 1296, he murdered hisuncle and father-in-law Jalaluddin Khalji andcrowned himself as the Sultan.

Alauddin decided to revive Balban’s policiesof ruthless governance. He decided to curb thepowers of the nobles and interference of Ulemain the matters of the state. He also faced, a fewrebellions in succession during the early years ofhis rule. According to Barani, the author ofTarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, Alauddin felt that therewere four reasons for these rebellions: 1) Theinefficiency of the spy system, 2) the generalpractice of the use of wine, 3) Social intercourseamong the nobles and inter marriage betweenthem and 4) the excess of wealth in thepossession of certain nobles.

In order to prevent the reoccurrence of theserebellions, Alauddin formulated certainregulations and implemented them. (1) Familiesthat had been enjoying free land to supportthemselves should pay land tax for theirholdings. This curbed the excess of wealthowned by some people. (2) The Sultanreorganized the spy system and took measureto make it more effective. (3) The use of liquorand intoxicants was prohibited. (4) The nobleswere ordered not to have social gatherings orinter-marriages without his permission.Alauddin established a huge permanent,standing army to satisfy his ambition of conquestand to protect the country from Mongol invasion.

Market Regulations of Alauddin Khalji

Alauddin’s measures to control the marketswere one of the most important policy initiative.Since Alauddin wanted to maintain a largearmy, he therefore, lowered and fixed the priceof the commodities of daily use. To control theprices, Alauddin set up three different marketsfor different commodities in Delhi. These marketswere the grain market (Mandi), cloth market(Sarai Adl) and the market for horses, slaves,cattles, etc. To ensure implementation, Alauddinappointed a superintendent (Shahna-i-Mandi)who was assisted by an intelligence officer.Apart from Shahna-i-Mandi, Alauddin receiveddaily reports of the market from two otherindependent sources, barid (intelligence officer) andmunhiyans (secret spies). Any violation ofSultan’s orders resulted in harsh punishment,including expulsion from the capital, impositionof fine, imprisonment and mutilation.

Control of prices of horses was veryimportant for the Sultan because without thesupply of good horses at reasonable price toarmy, the efficiency of the army could not beensured. Low price in the horse market wereensured by putting a stop to the purchase ofhorses by horse dealers and brokers (dalals) inDelhi market.

Expansion of Delhi Sultanate

Under Alauddin Khalji the territorialexpansion of the Delhi Sultanate, beyond NorthIndia, was the most important achievement.

Alauddin first began his territorial conquestwith a campaign against Gujarat. Alauddin wasmotivated by his desire to establish a vast empireand obtain the wealth of Gujarat. The riches ofGujarat were to pay for his future conquests and


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her sea port was to ensure a regular supply ofArab horses for his army. In AD 1299, an armyunder two of Alauddin’s noted generals UlughKhan and Nusarat Khan marched againstGujarat. Rai Karan the ruler of Gujarat fled, thetemple of Somnath was captured. An enormousbooty was collected. Even the wealthy Muslimmerchants were not spared. Many slaves werecaptured. Malik Kafur was one among themwho later became the trusted commander of theKhalji forces and led the invasions to South India.Gujarat now passed under the control of Delhi.

After the annexation of Gujarat, Alauddinturned his attention towards Rajasthan.Ranthambore was the first target. Ranthamborewas reputed to be the strongest fort of Rajasthanand had earlier defied Jalaluddin Khalji. Thecapture of Ranthambore was necessary to breakthe power and morale of the Rajputs. Theimmediate cause of attack was that the ruler ofRanthambore Hamirdeva gave shelter to tworebellious Mongol soldiers and refused to handover them to the Khalji ruler. Hence an offensivewas launched against Ranthambore. To beginwith the Khalji forces suffered losses. NusratKhan even lost his life. Finally Alauddin himselfhad to come on the battle filed. In AD 1301, thefort fell to Alauddin.

In AD 1303, Alauddin besieged Chittor,another powerful state of Rajputana. Accordingto some scholars, Alauddin attacked Chittorbecause he coveted Padmini, the beautiful queenof Raja Ratan Singh. However many scholarsdo not agree with this legend as this is firstmentioned by Jaisi in his Padmavat more thantwo hundred years later. According to AmirKhusrau, the Sultan ordered a general massacreof the civil population. Chittor was renamedKhizrabad after the name of Sultan’s son KhizrKhan. Alauddin however returned back quicklyto Delhi as Mongol army was advancing towardsDelhi. In AD 1305, Khalji army under Ain-ul-Mulk captured Malwa. Other states such asUjjain, Mandu, Dhar and Chanderi were alsocaptured. After the conquest of Malwa,Alauddin sent Malik Kafur to the South andhimself attacked Siwana. The ruler of SiwanaRaja Shital Deva defended the fort bravely butwas ultimately defeated. In AD 1311, anotherRajput kingdom Jalor was also captured. Thusby AD 1311, Alauddin had completed theconquest of large parts of Rajputana and becamethe master of North India.

Deccan and South India

The imperialist ambitions of Alauddin werenot satisfied with the conquest of the north. Hewas determined to conquer south as well. Thewealth of the southern kingdoms attracted him.The expeditions to the south were sent underMalik Kafur, a trusted commander of Alauddinwho held the office of the Naib.

In AD 1306–07, Alauddin planned freshcampaign in Deccan. His first target was RaiKaran (the earlier rule of Gujarat), who had nowoccupied Baglana, and defeated him. The secondexpedition was against Rai Ramachandra, theruler of Deogir who had earlier promised to paytribute to Sultan but did not pay. Ramachandrasurrendered after little resistance to Malik Kafurand was treated honourably. He was kept aguest at Alauddin’s court and was given a giftof one lakh tankas and the title of Rai Rayan. Hewas also given a district of Gujarat and one ofhis daughters was married to Alauddin.Alauddin showed generosity towardsRamachandra because he wanted to haveRamachandra as an ally for campaigns in theSouth.

After AD 1309 Malik Kafur was despatchedto launch campaign in South India. The firstexpedition was against Pratab Rudradeva ofWarangal in the Telengana area. This siege lastedfor many months and came to an end when Raiagreed to part with his treasures and pay tributeto Sultan. The second campaign was againstDwar Samudra and Ma’bar (modern Karnatakaand Tamil Nadu). The ruler of Dwar Samudra,Vir Ballala III realized that defeating Malik Kafurwould not be an easy task, hence he agreed topay tribute to Sultan without any resistance. Inthe case of Ma’bar (Pandya Kingdom) a directdecisive battle could not take place. However,Kafur plundered as much as he could includinga number of wealthy temples such as that ofChidambaram. According to Amir Khusrau,Kafur returned with 512 elephants, 7000 horses,and 500 mans of precious stone. The Sultanhonoured Malik Kafur by appointing him NaibMalik of the empire. Alauddin’s forces underMalik Kafur continued to maintain a control overthe Deccan kingdoms. Following the death ofAlauddin in AD 1316, the Delhi Sultanate wasplunged into confusion.

Malik Kafur sat on the throne for a few days,only to be deposed by Qutbuddin Mubarak


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Shah. During this period, rebellions broke out inDeogir but were harshly suppressed. QutbuddinMubarak Shah was soon murdered andKhusrau ascended the throne. However he toodid not last long as some dissatisfied officers, ledby Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, defeated and killedhim in a battle. Thus only four years after thedeath of Alauddin, the Khalji dynasty came toend and power passed into the hands of theTughlaqs.

THE TUGHLAQS (AD 1320–1412)

The founder of the Tughlaq dynasty wasGhazi Malik who ascended the throne asGhiyasuddin Tughlaq in AD 1320 and thisdynasty ruled till AD 1412. Giyasuddin rose toan important position in the reign of AlauddinKhalji. After a brief rule Ghiyassuddin Tughlaqdied in AD 1325 and his son MuhammadTughlaq ascended the throne. Under theTughlaqs the Delhi Sultanate was furtherconsolidated. Many outlying territories werebrought under the direct control of the Sultanate.

The Deccan and South

The regions of the Deccan which wereconquered by the Khaljis had stopped payingtribute and were proclaiming independentstatus. Muhammad Tughlaq while a prince(called Juna Khan) led the early expeditionsagainst Rai Rudra Dev who was defeated aftera prolonged conflict and Warangal was nowannexed under direct control of the Sultanate.Ma’bar was also defeated. Now the whole regionof Telangana was divided into administrativeunits and made part of the Sultanate. In contrastto Allauddin Khalji’s policy the Tughlaqsannexed the Deccan region. MuhammadTughlaq even decided to transfer his capital fromDelhi to Deogir and renamed it as Daultabad.

In fact he wanted to control the northernregion from this place. Substantial number ofnobles, religious men and craftsmen shifted tothe new capital. It seems that the idea was totreat it as the second capital and not abandonDelhi. Later the whole scheme was given up.However, the plan improved ties between thenorth and south. Apart from territorialexpansion the social, cultural and economicinteractions also grew.

East India

Bhanudeva II, the ruler of Jajnagar in Orissa

had helped Rai Rudra Dev of Warangal in hisbattle against Delhi Sultans. Ulug Khan led anarmy against him in AD 1324 Bhanudeva II wasdefeated and his territory annexed. In Bengalthere was discontent of nobles against theirSultan. The dissatisfied nobles invited theTughlaq prince to invade their ruler. The armyof Bengal was defeated and a noble Nasiruddinwas installed on the throne.

North West

The Mongol invasions from the North-Westregion were rocking the Sultanate on regularintervals. In AD 1326–27 a big Mongol assaultunder Tarmashirin Khan took place.

Transfer of Capital

One of the controversial measures ofMuhammad bin Tughlaq was that he transferredhis capital from Delhi to Deogir (Daultabad).According to Dr. Mahdi Hussain, the Sultanwanted to maintain both Delhi and Daultabadas his capitals. As per Barani, in AD 1326–27,Sultan decided to shift his capital from Delhi toDeogir (Daultabad) in the Deccan because it wasmore centrally located. According to Ibn Batuta,the people of Delhi used to write letterscontaining abuses to the Sultan, therefore, inorder to punish them Sultan decided to shift thecapital. Isami say that it was a place at a saferdistance from the North West frontier and thus-safe from the Mongols. In view of differentversions it is difficult to assign one definite reasonfor this shift.

The entire population was not asked to leaveonly the upper classes consisting of shaikhs,nobles, ulema were shifted to Daultabad. No.attempt was made to shift the rest of thepopulation. Though Muhammad bin Tughlaqbuilt a road from Delhi to Deogir and set up resthouses but the journey was extremely harsh forthe people. Large number of people died becauseof rigorous travelling and the heat. Due togrowing discontent and the fact that north couldnot be controlled from south, Muhammaddecided to abandon Daultabad.

Muhammad Tughlaq decided to secure thefrontier. The region from Lahore to Kalanurincluding Peshawar was conquered and newadministrative control was established. Besides,the Sultan also planned invasions of Qarachilregion (In present day Himachal) and Qandharbut did not succeed. In fact these schemes


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resulted in heavy loss. Muhammad Tughlaq wasvery innovative in adopting new policies. Hestarted a new department for the developmentof Agriculture. It was called Diwan-i Kohi.Peasants were given financial support to help inarranging seeds for cultivation. This loan wasalso given in case of crop failures. Anotherimportant measure was to introduce tokencurrency to tide over the shortage of Silver.However, this scheme failed causing greatfinancial loss to the sultanate.

Token Currency

Another controversial project undertaken byMuhammad bin Tughlaq was the introductionof “Token Currency”. According to Barani, theSultan introduced token currency because thetreasury was empty due to the Sultan’s schemesof conquest as well as his boundless generosity.Some historians are of the opinion that there wasa shortage of silver world wide at that time andIndia too faced the crisis therefore, the Sultanwas forced to issue copper coins in place of silver.

Muhammad introduced a copper coin (Jittal)in place of silver coin (tanka) and ordered that itshould be accepted as equivalent to the tanka.However, the idea of token currency was newin India and it was difficult for traders andcommon people to accept it. The State also didnot take proper precautions to check theimitation of coins issued by the mints.Government could not prevent people fromforging the new coins and soon the new coinsflooded the markets. According to Barani thepeople began to mint token currency in theirhouses. However the common man failed todistinguish between copper coin issued by theroyal treasury and those which were locallymade. Thus the Sultan was forced to withdrawthe token currency.

Muhammad Tughlaq was succeeded by hiscousin Firuz Tughlaq. Under him no newterritories could be added to the Sultanate. Hemanaged to keep large areas intact with greatefforts. However, the political control of Delhigradually weakened during the rule of Firuz’ssuccessors. The invasion of Timur in AD 1398left the sultanate desolate. By the end of Tughlaqrule (AD 1412) the Sultanate was confined to asmall territory in north India. A number ofregions proclaimed independent status. In theeast Bengal and Orissa enjoyed completeautonomy. In eastern UP and large parts of Bihara new independent kingdom of Sharqis emerged.

In the Deccan and South Vijaynagar empire andBahmani kingdom became political powers.Large parts of Punjab were occupied byindependent nobles. Gujarat and Malwa becamefully independent. Rajput states in Rajasthan nolonger treated Delhi Sultans as their overlords.

SAYYID DYNASTY (1414–1450 AD)

After defeating the army of Delhi in 1398Timur appointed Khizr Khan as the ruler ofMultan. Khizr Khan defeated Sultan DaulatKhan and occupied Delhi and founded Sayyiddynasty. He did not assume the title of Sultanbut was comfortable with Rayati-Ala. Theauthor of the Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi, YahyaSirhindi claims that the founder of the Sayyiddynasty was a descendant of the prophet.

Khizr Khan was the most competent Sayyidrule of the dynasty. After Khizr Khan’s deathMubarak Shah (AD 1412–34) and MuhammadShah (AD 1434–45) ascended the throne oneafter another. All of these rulers tried to controlrebellious regions like Katehar, Badaun, Etawah,Patiali, Gwalior, Kampil, Nagaur and Mewatbut they failed due to the conspiracy of thenobles.

In 1445 AD, Alam Shah ascended the throneand became the Sultan. He proved a totallyincompetent Sultan. Alam Shah’s Wazir HamidKhan invited Bhalol Lodi to take charge of thearmy and after realizing that it would be difficultto continue as Sultan, Alam Shah left forBadaun.

RECONSOLIDATION UNDER LODIDYNASTY (1451–1526)

With the help of a few nobles Bahlol Lodi(AD 1451–1489) took charge of the army, andbecame the Sultan. Thus he laid the foundationof Lodi dynasty whose rulers were Afghans. TheLodis were the last ruling family of the Sultanateperiod and the first to be headed by the Afghans.

Sultan Bahlol Lodi was a capable general.He was aware of the fact that to establish hiscontrol over Sultanate he would require helpand support of Afghan nobles. The Afghannobles wanted Sultan to treat them as an equalpartner rather than an absolute monarch. Toplacate them Bahlol publicly declared that heconsidered himself one of the Afghan peers andnot the king. He did not sit on the throne nor


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did he insist on his nobles standing in his court.This policy worked well throughout his long reignand he did not face any trouble from his powerfulAfghan nobles.

Bahlol Lodi successfully suppressed therevolts in Mewat and Doab. In AD 1476 hedefeated the Sultan of Jaunpur and annexed itto Delhi Sultanate. He also brought the ruler ofKalpi and Dholpur under the Suzerainty ofDelhi. However, he failed to reoccupy Bengal,Gujarat and the Deccan.

After the dealth of Bahlol Lodi, SikandarLodi (AD 1489–1517) ascended the throne.Sikandar Lodi showed little tolerance towardsthe non-mulsims. He re-imposed jaziya on non-mulsims. Sikandar Lodi believed in the superiorposition of the Sultan vis-a-vis the nobles. Hecompelled nobles and amirs to show formalrespect to the Sultan in darbar and outside andtreated them harshly. He re-annexed Bihar,Dholpur, Narwar and some parts of the kingdomof Gwalior and Nagor to the Delhi Sultanate.

After the death of Sikandar Lodi in AD 1517his nobles helped Ibrahim Lodi to become Sultan.His reign proved a period of revolts. Firstly hisown brother Jalal Khan rebelled. Sultan IbrahimLodi got him murdered. Bihar declared itsindependence. Daulat Khan the governor ofPunjab also rebelled. Sultan’s behaviour causedmuch dissatisfaction. The rebellions Daulat Khansent an invitation to Babur at Kabul to invadeIndia. Babur defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodi in AD1526 in the battle at Panipat.

Summing up the end of the Sultanate, ascholar states “The Sultanate of Delhi, whichhad its birth on the battlefield of Tarain in AD1192, breathed its last in AD 1526 a few milesaway on the battlefield of Panipat”.

CHALLENGES FACED BY THESULTANATE

With the establishment of the Mughal Empirethe rule of Delhi sultanate came to an end.During more than 300 years of its rule the Delhisultanate went through various ups and downsbut survived as a political force. Here we wouldlike to discuss the major challenges the sultanatefaced.

1. Attacks by Mongols and others

Since its inception the major threat to thesultanate came in the form of Mongol invasions.

Mongols were nomadic groups who inhabitedthe steppes north of China and east of LakeBaikal. They formed a huge nomadic empireunder Chengiz Khan in the 12thcentury. From13th century onwards they repeatedly attackedthe Delhi Sultanate. The Sultans as a policyappeased them and also at times confronted.Balban and Allauddin Khalji confronted themwith full military might. During Khalji’s timeMongols under Qultlug Khwaja even besiegedDelhi and caused a lot of damage. The lastsignificant attack of Mongols was by Tarmashirinduring the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq. A lotof energy and resources of the Sultans were spentin facing these invasions but they could notdestroy the sultanate.

Another important attack which shook thefoundation of the sultanate was by Timur in1398. The weakness of the Delhi Sultanate wasmade even worse by Timur’s invasion of Delhi(1398). Timur was a son of the Chief of Chagtaibranch of Turks. When he invaded India he wasthe master of almost whole of Central Asia.Timur’s raid into India was a plundering raidand his motive was to seize the wealthaccumulated by the Sultans of Delhi over the last200 years. Sultan Nasiruddin and his WazirMallu Iqbasl faced Timur but were defeated.Timur entered Delhi and stayed for 15 days. Heordered general massacre and large number ofHindu and Muslim including women andchildren were murdered. Before leaving IndiaTimur’s invasion indicated the downfall of DelhiSultanate. Delhi Sultanate lost control overPunjab. Timur appointed Khizr Khan, the rulerfor Multan who controlled Punjab also. After thefall of Tughlaq dynasty he occupied Delhi andbecame the ruler of Delhi Sultanate. He laid thefoundation of Saiyyid Dynasty.

2. Inner Conflict of Nobility

Three hundred years of Delhi Sultanatewitnessed five dynasties ruling over it. The mainreason for change of dynasties and deposing ofrulers was a constant struggle between theSultan and the nobility (Umara). Soon after thedeath of Aibak they started fighting over thequestion of succession. Finally Iltutimish emergedvictorious. Iltutimish created a group of loyalnobles called Turkan-i-Chihiligani (‘The Forty’).After the death of Iltutimish various factions ofthe group of forty got involved in making theirfavourite son/daughter as the sultan. In tenyears five sultans were changed. After that theSultan who occupied the throne (Nasiruddin


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Mahmud) for 20 years hardly ruled and one ofthe powerful noble Balban was defacto sultan.The same Balban succeeded Nasiruddin after hisdeath. Almost similar events happened after thedeath of each powerful sultan (Balban, AlauddinKhalji, Firoz Tughlaq and others.) Since therewas no well defined law of succession each nobletried to either crown himself or support somefavourite heir of the dead sultan. Finally Afghansreplaced the Turks as sultan with the accessionof Bahlol Lodi.

3. Provincial Kingdoms

Another consequence of this conflict wasdeclaration of independence by variousprovincial heads in the regions. As a result anumber of independent Afghan and Turkishkingdoms emerged. Important ones of suchstates were Bengal (Lakhnouti), Jaunpur, Malwa,Gujarat, the Bahmani kingdom in the Deccanetc. Quite often these states were at war withthe Sultanate. The whole process weakened thesultanate.

4. Resistance by Indian Chiefs

The sultans had to face the resistance fromIndian chiefs at regular intervals. The Rajputchiefs in Rajputana (Mewar, Ranthambhor,Chittor etc.), Warangal, Deogiri & Ma’bar inDeccan and South, the king of Dhar, Malwa inCentral India, Jajnagar in Orissa and a host ofsmaller chieftains were constantly at war evenafter successive defeats. All these strugglesweakened the sultanate.

The Delhi sultanate was considerablyweakened after the Khalji and Tughlaq reign.Finally the invasion of Babur in AD 1526 broughtit to an end. Now a much more centralised andstrong empire under the Mughals establisheditself in India and ruled for a further period ofmore than two hundred years. We will discussit in our next lesson on the Mughal Rule. Butbefore moving to the Mughals we provide you abrief account of the provincial kingdoms.

EVOLUTION OF THE ADMINISTRATIVESTRUCTURE UNDER DELHI SULTANATE

When Qutubuddin Aibak established himselfas an independent Sultan at Lahore, theavailable administrative apparatus wascontinued in the initial phase. The prevailingstructure was not altered or disturbed and as

long, as the local rulers recognised the supremacyof the Sultan in Delhi, they were allowed tocollect taxes and send it to the central treasuryas tribute. The central officials in these areas weremainly to help the local rulers in theiradministrative tasks. With the expansion andconsolidation of the Delhi Sultanate, newadministrative institutions also started emerging.The administrative structures and institutionsintroduced in India were influenced by theMongols, Seljukids etc, brought by the new rulers.The existing administrative institutions indifferent parts of the country also contributedin giving shape to the new system.

The Sultans were aware of the fact that theyhad to rule over a subject population that waslargely non-Islamic. Thus the Sultans of Delhihad to introduce particular measures to suit theprevailing conditions in the Sultanate. From theadministrative point of view, the local leveladministration, it seems, was left mainly in thehands of village headmen etc. The large extentof the Sultanate necessitated the evolution ofadministrative structure separately for the centreand provinces. Thus, during the Sultanateperiod, administrative institutions emerged atdifferent levels - central, provincial and local.

Administrative System

The government established by the Turks wasa compromise between Islamic political ideas andinstitutions on the one hand and the existingRajput system of government on the other.Consequently, many elements of the Rajputpolitical system, with or without changes,became part and parcel of the Turkishadministration in India.

MUSLIM POLITICAL IDEAS

Theological Basis Muslims believe thatIslamic society and govermet should be organisedon the basis of divine injunctions of the Quran.The sayings and doings of Prophet Muhammad,collectively known as hadis, began to besupplemented with the above. The ulema(Muslim theologians) gave vrious ruligns on thebasis of the Quran and the hadis to meet differentsituations and problems, which are togetherknown as the Sharia (Islamic Law).

Secular Basis Moreover , Zawabit (rules andregulations framed by the Sultans) were also usedfor a smooth and efficient running of theadministration.


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Allah-Prophet Relationship According tothe Qurun, the real master and sovereign of thewhole universe is Allah: Allah has sent to alllands, through the ages: his prophets for thetransmission of his message, Muhammad beingthe last one. While it is the duty of the governedto obey the ruler, it is equally the duty of theruler to discharge his functions efficiently.

Caliphate In principle, the entire Muslimfraternity should have only a single monarch.But when the caliphate or the empire of thecaliphs became very extensive and disintegrativeforces began to gain the upper hand, the ulemaor Muslim jurists developed the theory ofgovernors by usurpation and said that whomthe caliph did not oppose he approved.

Similarly they held that only an elected headcould be the ruler. But when the caliphatebecame a hereditary monarchy they evolved anew doctrine of election. Now election by elevenor five or even by s single person enjoying theconfidence of the people was regarded as electionby the people. This legalised nomination by aruling sovereign as election by the people. In theabsence of any widespread uprisings against aruler it was held that acquiescence wastantamount to approval or election by thepeople.

Caliph-Sultan Relationship Most of theSultans kept up the pretence of regarding thecaliph as the legal sovereign while theythemselves were the caliph’s representatives.Most of them included the name of the caliph inthe khutba (prayer) and the sikka (coin) andadopted titles indicative of their subordinationto the caliph.

As against this, three rulers emphasised theirown importance. Balban used to say that afterthe Prophet the most important office was thatof the sovereign and called himself the ‘Shadowof God’. Muhammad bin Tughlaq assumed thisstyle during the early years of his reign andalthough Balban had retained the name of thecaliph in the khutba and sikka , Muhammadmade no mention of caliph anywhere. But,despite all this, neither of them had the audacityto call himself the caliph. The only person whohad done this was Qutub-ud-din MubarakKhalji.

But only three Sultans sought, and sacred amansur or letter of investiture’ from the caliph.The first among them was Iltutmish. Next

Muhammad bin Tughlaq tried to pacify theulema by securing an investiture from theAbbasid caliph in Egypt. After him Firoz alsosought and secured it twice.

The real object of honouring the office of thecaliph is interesting. Muslims in general regardedit as incumbet on the Sultan to show respect tothe caliph, and opposition to the Sultan, whohad been recognised by the caliph as his deputy,was regarded as contrary to the Hod Law. Hencethe Sultans kept up the pretense of subservienceto the caliph just to exploit the popular Muslimsentiments in their favour.

Law of Succession According to Islamicideals, essential attributes of a sovereign requiredthat he should be a male adult, suffering fromno physical disability, a freedom Muslim, havingfaith in Islam and acquinted with its doctrines,and he should be elected by the people.

However in practice there were severalviolations of the prescribed criteria for beingelected to the throne. Raziya was raised to thethrone despite her womanhood. Minority provedno bar in the case of Muhammad bin Tughlaq.Qutub-ud-din Aibak’s authority was recognisedeven before his manumission. Kaiqubadremained the Sultan as a paralytic. Nasir-ud-dinKhusrau had no special reverence for Islam andyet he was accepted as the Sultan of Delhi. Ala-ud-din Khalji frankly admitted his ignorance ofthe sharia but nobody dubbled him a unfit torule on that score. As far as election wasconcerned, it had never existed in Islam. At best,support of a few leading men was regarded astantamount to election by the people. This farceor peculiar type of election by the people. Thisfarce or peculiar type of election was tried in thecase of Iltutmish, Ghiyasud-din Tughlaq andFiroz Tughlaq.

Theory of Kingship The doctrine of farr orfarrah (supernatural effulgence or radiance) wasfirst enunciated in the Shah Namah by firdausi,according to whom the God endows the rulerswith farr, which symbolises the divine favour.Among the Delhi Sultans, Balban was the firstto exhibit his aware-ness of the doctrine whenhe remarked that ‘the king’s heart is the mirrorof the divine attributer’. Later Amir Khusrauobserved that Kaiqubad was endowed with thefarr.

Limits to Sultan’s Authority in the framingof new rules and regulations the authority of the


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Sultan was circumscribed and every ruler couldnot govern the kingdom in complete disregardof the advice of the ulema or theologians as Ala-ud-din Khalji and Muhammad Tughlaq hadbeen able to do. The power of the nobility alsoblunted their authority to some extent. Whenthere was a weak ruler on the throne, the nobles,and the ulema particularly, dominated him. Butduring the reign of Balban, Ala-ud-din Khalji orMuhammad Tughlaq, these checks provedineffective. The Sultans were not powerfulenough to rule the land in complete disregard ofthe sentiments of the Hindus. And, thenumericial inferiority of the Muslims gave themlittle or no opportunity to interfere with localgovernment.

During the Sultanate period theadministrative apparatus was headed by theSultan who was helped by various nobles. Therewere various other offices along with the officeof the Sultan. Theoretically, there was a councilof Ministers Majlis-i-Khalwat to assist the Sultan.

(i) The Sultan

The Sultan was the central figure in theadministrative set up. He was the head of thecivil administration and Supreme Commanderof the army. He made all the appointments andpromotions. He also had the right to removeanybody from the service. He had absolutepower in his hand. He was also the head of theJudiciary. He used to confer titles and honoursupon people. Theoretically the Sultan had anexalted position but in actual practice differentSultans enjoyed varying power. The position ofthe Sultan was always under pressure from thepowerful group of nobility and Ulema. Sultansof Delhi, particularly the powerful Sultans,adopted various strategies to keep these groupsunder control. Balban kept the nobles firmlyunder his control. Thus the personality of theSultan played a significant role in theadministrative structure of the Sultanate. Underthe capable and strong Sultans, theadministration and the administrative structurefunctioned well but under the inefficient andweak ruler the same was under pressure.

(ii) Nobility

The nobles were the most importantfunctionaries of the state and enjoyed high socialstatus. In the initial stage they were thosecommanders who came with the victoriousarmy. Over a period of time their descendants

formed the main strength and some Indiangroups also emerged. The position and powerof the nobility varied from time to time as hasbeen mentioned above. Nobles, particularly thosewho were based at Delhi, emerged as a verypowerful group and at times even played a rolein the selection of the sultan.

The nobility was not a homogeneous class.There were different groups within the nobilityand often there were inter group clashes andrivalries. The clash between Turkish and Tajiknobles started during the time of Iltutmish andbecame intense after his death. The group ofchahalgan (group of 40 nobles), which wascreated by Iltutmish, also emerged verypowerful.

Balban was the first Sultan to bring thenobility firmly under his control (interestingly,he had been a part of chalalgan earlier).Qutubuddin Aibak and Iltutmish had consideredthe nobles at par with themselves. Balbanmaintained distance from the nobility andenforced strict code of conduct for himself andfor the nobility. No loose talk or laughter wasallowed in the court. He also emphasized on highblood and made it a criteria for occupying highpositions and offices.

With the expansion of the Delhi Sultanatethere were also attempts on the part of differentsections of the society to join the nobility. Initiallyit was the preserve of the Turks only. Duringthe rule of the Khalji and Tughlags the doors ofthe nobility were opened to people of diversebackgrounds. The low caste people, both Hindusand Muslims, joined the nobility and could riseto high positions especially under MuhammadBin Tughlaq. During the Lodi period the Afghanconcept of equality became important when theSultan was considered “first among equals”.Thus the nobles enjoyed equal status with theSultan. Some of the Lodi Sultans like SikandarLodi and Ibrahim Lodi found this uncomfortableand tried to bring the nobles under their control.The nobles resisted this which resulted in thetrouble for both the Sultans.

(iii) Ulema

The religious intellectual group of Muslimswas collectively referred as Ulema. People of thisgroup managed religious matters and interpretedreligious regulations for Sultan. They were alsoincharge of judicial matters and worked as Qazisat various levels. It was quite influential group


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and commanded respect of Sultan and nobility.They also had influence among Muslim masses.This group used to pressurize the sultan to runthe Sultanate as per the religious laws of Islam.The Sultan and nobles generally tried to run theadministrative affairs as per the need of staterather than religious laws. Sultan like AlauddinKhalji could ignore the opinions of Ulema on anumber of issues but some followed their line.

Central Administration

As already mentioned the administrativesystem was headed by the Sultan. There were anumber of departments which were assigneddifferent responsibilities. These departmentswere managed by influential nobles. We willprovide a brief account of a few departments.

(i) Wizarat

After Sultan, the most important office wasthe Diwan-i-Wizarat, headed by the wazir. It wasa key position in the royal court and his role wasof a general supervisor over all departments,though he was one of the four importantdepartmental heads. He was the chief advisorto the Sultan. The main functions of the wazirwere to look after the financial organization ofthe State, give advice to the Sultan, and onoccasions to lead military expeditions at Sultan’sbehest. He also supervised the payment to thearmy. The wizarat or the office of wazir also kepta check on land revenue collections, maintaineda record of all the income and expenditureincurred by the state and thus controlled orrecorded the salaries of all royal servants,handled the charitable donations such as Waqfs,Inams etc. Further, the Mints, the intelligencedepartments, the royal buildings and otherbodies affiliated to the royal court weresupervised by the wizarat. The wazir had directaccess to the Sultan and it was on his wisdom,sincerity and loyalty that the position of theSultan depended greatly.

There were several other departments whichworked under the wizarat. They were entrustedwith specific functions. These included Mustaufi-i-Mumalik (Auditor General), Mushrif-i-Mumalik(Accountant General), Majmuadar (Keeper ofloans and balances from treasury). Later someother offices were brought under the supervisionof the Wizarat like Diwan-i -Waqoof (to superviseexpenditure), Diwan-i-Mustakharaj (to look intothe arrears of revenue payments), Diwan-i-AmirKohi (to bring uncultivated land into cultivationthrough state support).

(ii) Diwan-i-Arz

This department was set up to look after themilitary organization of the empire. It washeaded by Ariz-i-Mumalik. He was responsiblefor the administration of military affairs. Hemaintained royal contingent, recruited thesoldiers, ensured the discipline and fitness of thearmy, inspected the troops maintained by theIqta-holders, examined the horses and brandedthem with the royal insignia. During times ofwar, the ariz arranged military provisions,transportation and administered the army atwar, provided constant supplies and was thecustodian of the war booty. Alauddin Khaljiintroduced the system of Dagh (branding) andhuliya (description) and cash payment to thesoldiers in order to strengthen his control overthe army. The contingent stationed at Delhi wascalled hasham-i-qalb and Provincial contingentswere called hasham-i-atraf.

(iii) Diwan-i-Insha

This department looked after the statecorrespondence. It was headed by Dabir-i-Khas.He drafted and despatched royal orders andreceived reports from various officers. The Dabirwas the formal channel of communicationbetween the centre and other regions of theempire. He was also a sort of private secretaryof the Sultan and was responsible for writingthe farmans.

The Barid-i-Mumalik was the head of the statenews gathering and dealt with intelligence. Hehad to keep information of all that washappening in the Sultanate. At local level therewere barids who used to send regular newsconcerning the matters of the state to the centraloffice. Apart from barids, another set of reportersalso existed who were known as Munihiyan.

(iv) Diwan-i-Rasalat

This department dealt with theadministration of Justice. It was headed by Sadr-us-Sadr who was also the qazi-i-mumalik. He wasthe highest religious officer and took care ofecclesiastical affairs. He also appointed the qazis(judges) and approved various charitable grantslike waqf, wazifa, Idrar, etc.

The Sultan was the highest court of appealin both civil and criminal matters. Next to himwas Qazi-i-mumalik. The Muhtasibs (PublicCensors) assisted the judicial department. Theirmain task was to see that there was no public


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infringement of the tenets of Islam. He was alsoto supervise and enforce the public morals andconduct.

(v) Other Departments

Apart from these, there were a number ofsmaller departments at the centre which helpedin the everyday administration of the empire.Wakil-i-dar looked after the royal household andmanaged the personal services of the Sultan.Amir-i-Hajib looked after the royal ceremonies.He used to act as an intermediary between theSultan and subordinate officials and betweenSultan and the public. Sar-i-Jandar looked afterthe royal body guards. Amir-i-Akhur looked afterthe establishment of horses and Shahnah-i-fillooked after the establishment of elephants.Amir-i-Majlis looked after the arrangement ofmeetings and special ceremonies. The Royalworkshops (Karkhanas) played an importantrole in the administrative system of the Sultanate.

The needs of the royal household were metthrough Karkhanas. The Karkhanas were of twotypes - (i) Manufactories (ii) Store House. UnderFeroz Tughlaq, there were as many as 36Karkhanas. Each Karkhana was supervised bya noble who had the rank of a Malik or a Khan.The Mutasarrif was responsible for the accountsand acted as immediate supervisors in variousdepartments.

Department Purpose

Diwan-i-Risalat - Department of appeals

Diwan-i-Ariz - Military department

Diwan-i-Bandagan - Department of slaves

Diwan-i-Qaza-i-Mamalik - Department ofjustice

Diwan-i-Isthiaq - Department of pensions

Diwan-i-Mttstakhraj - Department of arrears

Diwan-i-Khairat - Department of charity

Diwan-i-Kohi - Department of agriculture

Diwan-i-lnsha -Department of correspond-ence

Provincial Administration

The administration in the areas that wereoutside the core political area was carried out ina number of ways. It depended on the degree ofpolitical control which was exercised over theareas. The territorial expansion and

consolidation of the sultanate was a processwhich continued throughout the 13th and 14thcenturies. Some of the newly conquered areaswere brought directly under the control of theSultanate and some other areas remained semiautonomous. Thus different Control mechanismswere adopted by the Sultan for these areas. Inthe areas that were loosely affiliated to theSultanate, a few officials were appointed by theCentre as a symbol of imperial presence buteveryday administration remained in localhands. The interest of the centre in these areaswas mostly economic, i.e. the collection of therevenue.

The provinces were placed under the chargeof the Governors who were responsible for theoverall administration of the area. This involvedensuring the collection of revenue, maintaininglaw and order and keeping rebellious elementsunder control. He was a deputy of the Sultan inhis area. Since the officials were frequentlytransferred and not familiar with the areas, theywere generally dependent on local officials toperform their duties. The collection of therevenue was not possible without the help of thelocal officials. Thus the governor and the localpower blocs worked in close association witheach other. At times the combination createdproblems for the Sultan as the governors used tobecome powerful with the help provided by thelocal rulers and rise in rebellion against theSultan. During the 14th century the provinceswere partitioned into Shiqs for administrativeconvenience. The shiqs were administered by theShiqdar. Subsequently the Shiqs got transformedinto Sarkar during the Afghan period. Faujdarwas another officer along with Shiqdar at theprovincial level. Their duties are not clearlyarticulated, and often the role of the two seemto overlap. The Shiqdar assisted the governor inthe maintenance of law and order and providedmilitary assistance. He also supervised thefunctioning of the smaller administrative units.The duties of the Faujdar were similar to theShiqdar. The Kotwals were placed under theFaujdar.

The other important officers at the provinciallevel were Barids (intelligence officer andreporter) and Sahib-i-Diwan (who maintained thefinancial accounts of the provincial income andexpenditure).

Iqta System

The institution of the Iqta had been in force


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in early Islamic world as a form of reward forservices to the state. In the caliphateadministration it was used to pay civil andmilitary officers. After the establishment of theSultanate iqta system was introduced by theSultans. To begin with the army commandersand nobles were given territories to administerand collect the revenue. The territories thusassigned were called iqta and their holders asiqtadar or muqti.

In essence this was a system of payment tothe officers and maintenance of army by them.Gradually rules and regulations were laid downto organize the whole system. Through the yearsit became the main instrument of administratingthe Sultanate. Further the sultans could get alarge share of the surplus production fromdifferent parts of the vast territories through thissystem.

From the 14th century we hear of Walis ormuqtis who are commanders of military andadministrative tracts called Iqta. Their exactpowers varied according to circumstances. In duecourse the muqti was given complete charge ofthe administration of the iqta which includedthe task of maintaining an army. The muqti wasto help the sultan with his army in case of need.He was expected to maintain the army and meethis own expenses with the revenue collected.From the time of Balban the muqti was expectedto send the balance (fawazil) of the income to thecentre after meeting his and the army’s expenses.This means that the central revenue departmenthad made an assessment of the expected incomeof the Iqta, the cost of the maintenance of thearmy and the muqti’s own expenses. This processbecame even more strict during the time ofAlauddhin Khalji. As the central control grew,the control over muqti’s administration alsoincreased. The Khwaja (probably same as Sahib-i-Diwan) was appointed to keep a record of theincome of the Iqtas. It was on the basis of thisrecord that the Sultan used to make his revenuedemands. A barid or intelligence officer was alsoappointed to keep the Sultan informed. Duringthe reign of Muhmmad-bin-Thughlaq a numberof governors were appointed on revenue sharingterms where they were to give a fixed sum tothe state. During the time of Feroze ShahTughlaq the control of state over iqtas wasdiluted when iqtas became hereditary.

Local Administration

The village was the smallest unit of adminis-

tration. The functioning and administration ofthe village remained more or less the same as ithad existed in pre Turkish times. The main vil-lage functionaries were khut, Muqaddam andPatwari. They worked in close coordination withthe muqti in the collection of revenue and inmaintaining law and order etc. A number of vil-lages formed the Pargana. The important Par-gana officials were Chaudhary, Amil (revenuecollector) and Karkun (accountant). Village andpargana were independent units of administra-tion, and yet there were inter related areas. Incertain cases the province had a local ruler (Rai,Rana, Rawat, Raja) who helped the governor inhis duties. In such cases the local rulers wererecognised as subordinates of the Sultan.

MARKET REFORMS OFALAUDDIN KHALJI

The market reforms of Alauddin Khalji wereoriented towards administrative and militarynecessities. Medieval rulers believed thatnecessities of life, especially food grains, shouldbe available to the city folk at reasonable prices.But few rulers had been able to control the pricesfor any length of time. Alauddin Khalji was moreor less the first ruler who looked at the problemof price control, in a systematic manner and wasable to maintain stable prices for a considerableperiod. It has been pointed out that AlauddinKhalji instituted the market control because afterthe mongol seige of Delhi, he wanted to recruita large army. All his treasures would have soonexhausted if he was to spend huge resources onarmy. With low prices the sultan could recruit alarge army with low expenses. Whatever maybe the reason for the market reforms, elaborateadministrative arrangements were made toensure that the market control was followedstrictly.

Alauddin fixed the prices of all commoditiesfrom grain to cloth, slaves, cattles etc. He alsoset up three markets at Delhi, the first for foodgrains, the second for cloth of all kinds and forexpensive items such as sugar, ghee, oil, dry fruitsetc. and the third for the horses, slaves and cattle.For controlling the food prices, Alauddin triedto control not only the supply of food grains fromthe villages, and its transportation to the city bythe grain merchants, but also its properdistribution to the citizens. A number ofmeasures were taken to see that prices laid downby the Sultan were strictly observed. An officer


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(Shehna) was in charge of the market to see thatno one violates the royal orders. Barids(intelligence officers ) and munhiyan (secret spies)were also appointed. Alauddin also tried toensure that there were sufficient stocks of food-grains with the government so that the tradersdid not hike up prices by creating an artificialscarcity, or indulge in profiteering. Granarieswere set up in Delhi and Chhain (Rajasthan).The Banjaras or Karwaniyan who transported thefood grains from the country side to the city wereasked to form themselves in a body. They wereto settle on the banks of Yamuna with theirfamilies. An official (Shehna) was appointed tooversee them. To ensure the regular supply offood grains to the Banjaras, a number ofregulations were made. All the food grains wereto be brought to the market (mandis) and soldonly at official prices.

The second market for cloth, dry fruits, gheeetc. was called Sarai-i- adl. All the clothes broughtfrom different parts of the country and also fromoutside were to be stored and sold only in thismarket at government rates. To ensure anadequate supply of all the commodities, all themerchants were registered and a deed takenfrom them that they would bring the specifiedquantities of commodities to the Sarai-i-adl everyyear. The Merchants who, brought commoditiesfrom long distances including foreign countrieswere given advance money on the condition thatthey would not sell to any intermediaries. Incases of costly commodities an officer was toissue permits to amirs, maliks etc. for thepurchase of these expensive commodities inaccordance with their income. This was done toprevent any black marketing of these expensiveproducts.

The third market dealt with horses, cattleand slaves. The supply of horses of good qualityat fair prices was important for the army.Alauddin did away with the middleman or dallalwho had become very powerful. It was decidedthat the government fixed the quality and pricesof the horses. Similarly, the prices of slave boysand girls and of cattle were also fixed. But thesereforms didn’t last long and after the death ofAlauddin these reforms got lost.

RURAL CLASSES

Peasantry: The peasantry, known as thebalahars, paid one thrd of their produce as landrevenue, sometimes even one half of the produce.

Besides land revenue, they paid certain othertaxes which prove that taxation during thisperiod was as much, if not higher than, as in theprevious period. In other words, the peasantswere always living at the subsistence level whichwas easily denied by the frequent wars, thusresulting in large scale, and not so infrequent,famines.

Maqaddams and Small Landlord: They hada better standard of life, for they readily misusedtheir power in order to exploit the ordinarypeasants.

Autonomous Chieftains: They constitutedthe most prosperous rural section Though theywere now a defeated ruling class, they were stillpowerful in their respective areas and continuedto live a luxurious life as in the pre-Muslimperiod.

Improvement of Agriculture

The Sultans undertook efforts to enhanceagricultural production by providing irrigationalfacilities and by advancing takkavi loans fordifferent agricultural purpose. They alsoencouraged peaseants to cultivate cash cropsinstead of food crops, and superior crops (wheat)in place of inferior ones (barley). There was anoverall improvement in the quality of Indianfruits and the system of gardening. Waste landswere granted to different people therebyextending the cultivated area.

The Indian agriculture has always dependedon various sources of water both natural andartificial, for its irrigational requirements, viz -rain, wells, river, tanks, canals, lakes, etc. Dams,lakes and water reservoirs were some of theimportant means of irrigation. In south India,the state, local chiefs and temple managementsconstructed a number of dams over rivers forthis purpose. The Madag lake, for instance, wasbuilt by the Vijaynagar rulers on the Tungbhadrariver to meet the irrigational need of the adjoiningterritories. Lakes and water reservoirs such asthe Dhebar, Udaisagar, Rajasamand andJaisamand (all in Mewar); Balsan (Marwar) andMansagar (Amber) etc. served as importantsources of irrigation in medieval Rajasthan.

Wells, as a common source of irrigation, wereuniformly spread in different parts of thecountry. A number of artificial devices were usedto lift water from wells. Pulleys were employedover wells for this purpose. Another deviceworked on the lever principle. In this method,


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fork of an upright beam was kept in a swingingposition with its one end tied with a long ropeand the other carried a weight heavier than thefilled bucket. The Persian wheel which began tobe used in India from the Sultanate period,however, was the most advanced water liftingdevice of this period. In this method, a garlandof pots was attached to the rim of a wheel, agear mechanism was also attached to it, and withthe help of animal power this wheel was madeto rotate.

The Delhi Sultans, in particular, promotedcanal irrigation. Ghiyassuddin Tughlaq (A.D1320–1325) built a number of canals for thispurpose. However, Firuz Shah Tughlaq laid thelargest network of canals. Four such canals arefrequently mentioned in contemporary sources.These were - (i) from Sutlej to Ghaggar, (ii)Opening from the Nandavi and Simur hills toArasani, (iii) from Ghaggar, reaching upto thevillage to Hiransi Khera, and (iv) excavated fromYamuna and extended upto Firuzabad.

GROWTH OF COMMERCE ANDURBANIZATION

During the Sultanate period, the process ofurbanization gained momentum. A number ofcities and towns had grown during this period.Lahore, Multan, Broach, Anhilwara, Laknauti,Daulatabad, Delhi and Jaunpur were importantamong them. Delhi remained the largest city inthe East. The growth of trade and commerce wasdescribed by contemporary writers. Indiaexported a large number of commodities to thecountries on the Persian Gulf and West Asia andalso to South East Asian countries. Overseastrade was under the control of Multanis andAfghan Muslims. Inland trade was dominatedby the Gujarat Marwari merchants and MuslimBohra merchants. Construction of roads andtheir maintenance facilitated for smoothtransport and communication. Particularly theroyal roads were kept in good shape. Sarais orrest houses on the highways were maintainedfor the convenience of the travelers.

Barani, a contemporary historian, gives anexcellent account of their riches. Politicalunification of major parts of India removed thepolitical as well as economic barriers.Introduction of the institution of dalals or brokers(dalal, meaning one who acts as an intermediary,is Arbic in origin), facilitated commercialtransactions on a large scale. Construction of

new roads and maintenance of old onesfacilitated easy and smooth transport andcommunication. Sarais or rest houses weremaintained on the roads for the convenience oftraders and merchants.

Cotton textile and silk industry flourished inthis period. Sericulture was introduced on a largescale which made India less dependent on othercountries for the import of raw silk. Paperindustry had grown and there was an extensiveuse of paper from 14th and 15th centuries. Othercrafts like leather-making, metal-crafts andcarpet-weaving flourished due to the increasingdemand. The royal karkhanas supplied the goodsneeded to the Sultan and his household. Theymanufactured costly articles made of gold, silverand gold ware. The system of coinage had alsodeveloped during the Delhi Sultanate.

Causes for Changes in Urban Economy

The foremost cause was the immigration ofartisans and merchants from the Islamic East toIndia, bringing with them their crafts, techniquesand practices. Secondly, there was an abundantsupply of docile trainable labour obtainedthrough large scale enslavement. Finally, theDelhi Sultans established a revenue systemthough which a large share of agriculturalsurplus was appropriate for consumption intowns.

Contemporary historians like Isami give usa good account of the immigration of artisansand merchants to India. The large number ofcaptive obtained for enslavement in the militarycampaigns were trained as artisans by theircaptors, and they later became free artisans byobtaining or buying their freedom. Thus theimmigration and enslavement were responsiblefor the growth of urban centres and crafts, andtheir sustenance was provided by the increasein the revenues with the establishment of the newland revenue system. The ruling class, whoappropriated a large part of the country’ssurplus, spent most of it in towns.

Coins of Delhi Sultanate

The gold coins which Muhammad of Ghurstruck in imitation of the issues of the Hindukings of Kanauj, with the goddess Lakshmi onthe obverse, are without a parallel in IslamicHistory. For the first forty years the currencyconsisted almost entrirely of copper and billon:hardly have any gold coins been struck and silvercoins of the earlier Sultans are scarce.


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Iltutmish, however, issued several types ofthe silver tanka, the earliest of which has aportrait of the king of horseback on the obverse.The latest type bears witness to the diploma ininvestiture he had received from the Khalifa ofBaghdad, AI Mustansir.

Gold, though minted by Masud, Nasir-ud-din Mahmud, Balban and Jalal-ud-din Khalji,was not common until Ala-ud-din Khalji hadenriched his treasury by conquests in south India.These gold coins are replicas of the silver inweight and design. Ala-ud-din, whose silverissues are very plentiful, changed the design bydropping the name of the caliph from the obverseand substituting the self laudatory titles. Thesecond Alexander, the right hand of theKhalifate. His successor, Mubarak, whose issuesare in som respects the finest tof the whole series,employed the old Indian square shape for somof his gold, silver and billon. On his coins appearthe even more arrogant titles, The supreme headof Islam, the Khalifa of the Lord of heaven andearth. Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq was the firstIndian sovereign to use the title Ghazi(Champion of the faith).

Most of the coins struck in billon by theseearly Sultans, including Muhammad of Ghur,are practically uniform in size and weigh (about56 grains). Numerous varieties were struck. TheIndian type known as the delhiwala, with thehumped bull and the sovereign’s name in Nagarion the reverse, and the Delhi Chauhan type ofhorseman on the obverse, lasted till the reign ofMasud. Another type with the Horsemanobverse and the Sultan’s name and titles inArabic on the reversem survived till Nasir-ud-din Mahmud’s reign. The billon coins of Ala-ud-din Khalji are the first to bear dates. The earliestcopper of this period is small and insignificant.Some coins, as well as a few billon pieces, bearthe inscription adl, which may mean simplycurrency. All copper is dateless.

Muhammad bin Tughluq, has been called thePrince of moneyers. Not only do his coins surpassthose of his predecessors in execution, especiallyin calligraphy but his large output of gold, thenumber of his issues of all denominations theinterest of the inscriptions, reflecting hischaracter and activities, his experiments with thecoinage, entitle him to a place among the greatestmoneyers of history. For his earliest gold andsilver pieces he retained the old 172.8 grainstandard of his predecessors. His first experimentwas to add to tesem in the first years of his reign,

gold dinars of 201.6 grains and silver aslis of 144grains weight. Muhammad bin Tughluq’s goldand silver issues, like those of his predecessors,are identical in type. One of the earliest and mostcurious of these was struck both at Delhi andDaulatabad, in memory of his father. It bearsthe superscription of Ghiyas-ud-dinaccompanied by the additional title, al-Shahid(the Martyr). The early gold and silver, of whichabout half a dozen different types exist, wereminted at eight different places, including Delhi.And at least twenty five varieties of his bullioncoinage are known. From inscriptions on thetoken currency we learn the nams of theirvarious denominations. There appear to havebeen two scales of division, one for use at Delhiand other for Daulatabad and the south. In theformer the silver tanka was divided into fortyeight, and in the latter into fifty jitals.

The gold of Firoz Shah is fairly common, andsix types are known. Following his predecessorsexample he inscribed the name of the caliph onthe obverse and his own name on the reverse.Firoz associated the name of his son, Fath Khan,with his own on the coinage. Gold coins ofsubsequent kings are exceedingly scarce; theshortage of silver is even more apparent. Onlythree silver pices of Firoz have ever come to light,but the copper coins are abundant.

The coinage of the later rulers, thoughabounding in varieties is almost confined tocopper and billon pieces. During the wholeperiod, with but two exceptions, one mint nameappears, Delhi. The long reign of Firoz seems tohave established his coinage as a popularmeadium of exchange and this probablyaccounts for the prolonged series of hisposthumous billon coins, extending over a periodof forty years. Some of these and of theposthumous issues of his son, Muhammad andof his grandson, Mahmud, were struck byDaulat Khan Lodhi and Khizr Khan. Thecoinage of the Lodhi family, despite thedifference in standard, bears a close resemblanceto that of the Sharqi King of Jaunpur.

EVOLUTION OFINDO-PERSIAN CULTURE

The establishment of the Delhi sultanatemarket a new phase in the cultural developmentof the country. When the Turks came to Indiathey not only had a well defined faith in Islamto which they were deeply attached, they also


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had definite ideas of government artsarchitecture, etc. The interaction of the Turkswith the Indians who had strong religious beliefs,well defined ideas of arts, architecture andliterature resulted in the long one with many upsand down.

ART AND ARCHITECTUREUNDER SULTANATE

Architecture: The assimilation of differentstyles and elements to create a new one is wellrepresented by the architecture of the Sultanateperiod. Many of the characteristics of Indianarchitecture are obvious in the buildings of theMuslim rulers. This was because though thebuildings were designed by Muslim architects tosuit the requirements of their religious ideas,Hindu craftsmen actually built them. The newfeatures brought by the Turkish conquerors were:

(i) the dome;

(ii) lofty towers:

(iii) the true arch unsupported by beam:

(iv) the vault. This showed advancedmathematical knowledge andengineering skill. They also brought withthem an expert knowledge of the use ofconcrete and mortar, which hadhitherto been little used in India. TheSultans of Delhi were liberal patrons ofarchitecture and they erected numeroussplendid edifices The use of arch andthe dome had a number of advantages.The dome provided a pleasing skyline.The arch and the dome dispensed withthe need for a larger number of pillarsto support the roof and enabled theconstruction of large halls with a clearview. Such place of assembly were usefulin mosques as well as in palaces. Thearch and the dome needed a strongcement otherwise the stones could notbe hel in place. The Turks used finequality mortar in their buildings.

The architectural device generally used bythe Indians consisted of putting one stone overanother, narrowing the gap till it could becovered by a caping stone or by putting a beamover a slab of stones which is known as the slaband beam method.The Turks eschewedrepresentation of human and animal figures in

the buildings. Instead, they used geometrical andfloral designs, combining them with panels ofinscriptions containing verses from the Quran.Thus the Arbic script itself became a work of art.The combination of these decorative devices wascalled arabesque. They also freely borrowedHindu motifs such as the bell motif, lotus etc.The skill of the Indian stone cutters was fullyused. They also added colour to their buildingsby using red sand stone, yellow sand stone andmarble.

Development and Growth

Ilbari were the first to converted templesand other existing buildings into mosques.Examples of his are the Quwwat-ul-islammosque near the Qutub Minar in Delhi (whichhad originally been a Jaina temple thenconverted into a Vishnu temple by som Hindus,and finally into the mosque by the Turks) andthe building at Ajmer called Arhai Din KaJhonpra (which had been a monastery) anexquisitely carved mehrab of white marble anda decorative arch screen. The first example oftrue or voussoired arch is said lo be the tomb ofGhiyas-ud-din Balban in Mehrauli. The mostmagnificent building constructed by the Turks(founded by Aibak and completed by Iltutmish)in the 13th century was the Qutub Minar atDelhi. The tower standing at 71.4 metres wasdedicated to the sufi sant, Qutub-ud-dinBakhtiyar Kaki. Although traditions of buildingtower are to be found both in India and WestAsia, the Qutub Minar is unique in many ways.It derives its effect mainly from the skillfulmanner in which the balconies have beenprojected yet linked with the main tower the useof red and white sand stone and marble in panelsand in the top stages, and the ribbed effect.

In the Khalji period the usage of voussoiredarch and dome was established once and for all.The monuments show a rich decorativecharacter. Ala-ud-din built his capital at Siri, afew kilometres away from the site around theQutub, but hardly anything of this city survivesnow. Ala-ud-din planned a tower twice thehight of the Qutub, but did not live to completeit. But he added an entrance door to the Qutub,called the Alai Darwaza. It has arches of verypleasing proportions. It also contains a domewhich, for the first time was built on correctscientific lines.

The Tughlaq buildings show stark simplicityand sobriety. It is marked by the sloping walls


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or the batter which gives the effect of strengthand solidarity to the building. However we donot find any batter in the buildings of Firoz:Secondly, they attempted to combine theprinciples of the arch and the dome with the slaband beam in their buildings. This is found in amarked manner in the building of Firoz. In theHauz Khas alternate stories have arches and thelintel and beam. The same is to be found in somebuildings of Firoz’s Kotla fort. Finally theTughluqs generally used the cheaper and moreeasily available greystone. Since it was onot easyto carve this type of stone their buildings haveminimum decoration. Ghiyas-ud-din andMuhammad Tughluq built the huge palace cumfortress complex called Tughluqabad. ByBlocking the passage of the Yamuna a hugeartificial lake was created around it. The tombof Ghiyasuddin built by Muhammad Tughluq,marks a new trend in architecture. To have agood skyline, the building was put up on a highplatform. Firoz Shah Tughluq built the famousHauz Khas (a pleasure resort) and the Kotla(fort) at Delhi.

The Lodhis further developed the traditionof combining many of the new devices broughtby the Turks with indigenous forms. Both thearch and the beam are used in their buildings.Balconies, kiosks and caves of the Rajsthani-Gujrati style are used. Another device used bythe Lodhis was placing their buildings, especiallytombs, on a high platform, thus giving thebuilding a feeling of size as well as a betterskyline. Some of the tombs are placed in the midstof gardens. The Lodhi garden in Delhi is a fineexample of this. Some of the tombs are of anoctagonal shape. Many of these features wereadopted by the Mughals later on and theirculmination is to be found in the Taj Mahal builtby Shah Jahan.

Music: The Turks inherited the rich Arabtradition of music which had been furtherdeveloped in Iran and Central Asia. Theybrought with them a number of new musicalinstruments, such as the rabab and sarangi andnew musical modes and regulations.

Amir Khusrau introduced many new ragassuch as ghora and sanam. He evolved a new styleof light music known as qwalis by blending theHindu and Iranian systems. The invention of sitarwas also attributed to him. The Indian classicalwork Ragadarpan was translated into Persianduring the reign of Firoz Tughlaq. Pir Bhodan, a

Sufi saint was one of the great musicians of thisperiod. Raja Man Singh of Gwalior was a greatlover of music. He encouraged the compositionof a great musical work called Man Kautuhal.

Persian Literature

The Delhi Sultans patronized learning andliterature. Many of them had great love forArabic and Persian literature. Learned men camefrom Persia and Persian language gotencouragement from the rulers. Besides theologyand poetry, the writing of history was alsoencouraged. Some of the Sultans had their owncourt historians.

The most famous historians of this periodwere Hasan Nizami, Minhaj-us-Siraj, ZiauddinBarani, and Shams-Siraj Afif. Barani’s Tarikhi-Firoz Shahi contains the history of Tughlaqdynasty. Minhaj-us-Siraj wrote Tabaqat-i- Nasari,a general history of Muslim dynasties up to 1260.

Amir Khusrau (1252-1325) was the famousPersian writer of this period. He wrote a numberof poems. He experimented with several poeticalforms and created a new style of Persian poetrycalled Sabaqi- Hind or the Indian style. He alsowrote some Hindi verses. Amir Khusrau’sKhazain-ul-Futuh speaks about Alauddin’sconquests. His famous work Tughlaq Nama dealswith the rise of Ghyiasuddin Tughlaq.He wasalso an accomplished musician and took part inreligious musical gatherings (samas) organisedby the famous Sufi saint, Nizamuddin Auliya.Other important Persian poets were Mir HasanDehlawi Badra Chach, etc.

Apart from poetry a strong school of historywriting in Persian developed in Indna during theperiod. The most famous historians of the periodwere Zia-ud-din Barani, Shams-i-Shiraj Afif andIsami. Zia Nakshabi was the first to translateSanskrit works into Persian. His book TutiNamah (book of the parrot), written in the timeof Muhammad Tughluq, was Persian translationof Sanskrit stories which were related by a parrotto a woman whose husband had gone on ajourney. Zia also translated the old Indiantreatise on sexology, the Kok Sastra, into Persian.Later, in the time of Firoz, Sanskrit books onmedicine and music were translated into Persian.Sultan Zian-ul-Abidin of Kashmir had thefamous historical work, Rajatarangini, and theMahabharata translated into Persian. Sanskritworks on medicine and music were alsotranslated into Persian at his instance.


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Al-Beruni - Kitab fi tahqiq ( Indian sciences),Qanun-i-Masudi (astronomy), Jawahir-fil-Jawahir (mineralogy) . Abu Bakr wrote ChachNamah. Amir Khusrau - Khazain-ul-Futuh,

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Tughluq Namah, Miftah-ul-Futuh, Khamsah.Firoz Tughluq - Futuhat-i-Firoz Shahi. Zia-ud-din Barani - Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi. Ibn Battutah -Kitab-ul-Rahla. Firdausi - Shah Namh.


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EMERGENCE OF REGIONAL

STATES IN INDIA


The Delhi Sultanate expanded as a result ofthe annexation of the states like Bengal, Bihar,Gujarat, Malwa, various Rajput states ofRajasthan, like Ranthambor, Jalore, Nagore,Ajmer, the Deccan states of Warangal,Telengana, Yadavas of Deogir, and the southernstates of the Hoysalas of Dwarsamudra, Pandyasof Madurai, and so on. We have already studiedabout the various campaigns of Alauddin Khaljiand the shift of capital from Delhi to Daultabadin the Deccan, during Mohammad bin Tughlaq'speriod. Those states that were annexed to theSultanate formed various provinces and wereplaced under the administration of the provincialgovernors. From the establishment of the DelhiSultanate in the thirteenth century till itsdownfall in the fifteenth century, there was aconstant interaction between the provinces thatwere once upon a time independent states andthe centre, that is, Delhi. However, rebellionsfrom these areas never seized. We all know thatas a prince, Muhammmad bin Tughlaq spent hisentire career in crushing the rebellions in theDeccan, Orissa and Bengal.

Though these regions were now a part of theDelhi Sultanate, the regional characteristics oflanguage, art, literature and religion remained.In fact, when Islam reached here, it acquired aregional flavour. These states already hadsettlements of Muslim merchants and Muslimsemployed in the army. Though there was hardlyany regional ruling dynasty, the provincialgovernors of the Sultanate allied with the localrajas and zamindars and asserted theirindependence. Most of the regional states thatcame up after the fourteenth century when theDelhi Sultanate was declining were a result ofthe rebellions of the governors. The establishmentof Vijayanagar and the Bahamani were a resultof the assertion of power by the provincialofficers, like Harihara and Bukka and AlauddinHasan Bahman Shah respectively. During thesame period, Bengal in the east and Multan andSind in the west became independent. FerozShah Tughlaq tried to regain the lost territoriesbut could not do so. He tried unsuccessfully totake over Bengal. He attacked and plundered

Jajnagar (Orissa) but did not annex it. Heplundered Kangra and suppressed revolts inGujarat and Thatta.

With the death of Feroz Shah Tughlaq in1338, the decline of the Sultanate began. As wehave just mentioned, a large number of localgovernors became powerful and asserted theirindependence in the provinces. The relationshipbetween the Sultan and the nobles worsened.The conflict with the local rulers and zamindarsas well as regional and geographical tensionsweakened the Sultanate further. The decliningSultanate received the final blow with theinvasions of Timur in 1398 AD. Timur was aTurk who had come from Central Asia toplunder the wealth of India. Timur entered Delhiand mercilessly killed both the Hindus andMuslims and massacred women and children aswell.

Fifteen years after the Timur's raids in Delhi,the Delhi Sultanate declined. The Sultanates inGujarat, Malwa and Jaunpur near Varanasiemerged as powerful regional kingdom. Gujaratand Jaunpur were constantly engaged in tensionwith the Lodhis of the Delhi Sultanate (1451 to1526 AD). New regional states independent ofthe Delhi sultanate arose in Central and SouthIndia too, out of which the prominent ones werethe Gajapatis of Orissa, the Bahamanis and theVijayanagara Empire. The Lodhi Sultans likeBahlol Lodhi (1451-1485) and Sikander Lodhi(1489-1526) tried to keep these regionalkingdoms under control.

Finally, during the rule of Ibrahim Lodhi(1517-1526), Bihar declared its independence.Daulat Khan, the governor of Punjab rebelledand invited Babur to invade India in 1526.

GUJARAT

On account of the excellence of itshandicrafts and its flourishing seaports, as wellas the richness of its soil, Gujarat was one of therichest provinces of the Delhi Sultanate. AfterTimur's invasion of Delhi, both Gujarat andMalwa become independent in all but name.


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However, it was not till 1407 that Zafar Khanformally proclaimed himself the ruler, with thetitle Muzaffar Shah (1392-1410).

The real founder of the kingdom of Gujaratwas, however, Ahmad Shah I (1411-43), thegrandson of Muzaffar Shah. During his longreign, he brought the nobility undr control,settled the administration and expanded andconsolidated the kingdom. He shifted the capitalfrom Patan to the new city of Ahmedabad, thefoundation of which he laid in 1413. He was agreat builder, and beautified the town with manymagnificent places and bazars, mosques andmadrasas. He drew on the rich architecturaltraditions of the jains of Gujarat to devise a styleof building which was markedly different fromDelhi. Some of its features were: slender turrets,exquisite stone-carvings, and highly ornatebrackets. The jama Masjid in Ahamdabad andthe Tin Darwaza are fine examples of the styleof architecture during his time.

The most famous Sultan of Gujarat wasMahmud Begarha. Mahmud Begarha ruled overGujarat for more than 50 years (from 1458 to1511). he was called begarha because hecaptured two of the most powerful forts (garhs),Girnar in Saurashtra (now called junagarh) andcmapaner in south Gujarat.

Mahmud Begarha also had to deal with thePortuguese who were interfering with Gujarat'strade with the countries of west Asia. He joinedhanda with the ruler of Egypt to check theportuguese naval power, but he was notsuccessful.

Many works were translated from Arabicinto Persian during his reign. His court poet wasudayaraja who composed in Sanskrit. MahmudBegarha had a striking appearance. He had aflowing beared which reached uptl his waist,and his moustache was so long that he tied itover his head. According to a traveller Barbosa,from his childhood, Mahmud had beennourished on some poison so that if a fly settledon his hand, it swelled and immediately laydead. Mahmud was also famous for hisvoracious appetite. It is said that for breakfasthe ate a cup of honey, a cup of butter and onehundred to one hundred and fifty plantains. Heate 10 to 15 kilos of food a day and we are toldthat plates of meat patties (samosas) were lacedon both sides of his pillow at night in case he felthungry! Under Mahmud Begarha, the Gujaratkingdom reached its zenith and emerged as one

of the most powerful and well administeredstates in the country.

JAUNPUR

Jaunpur is now in Varanasi division ineastern Uttar Pradesh on the banks of riverGomati. It was a prosperous province in theeastern part of the Delhi Sultanate. The governorof Jaunpur was Malik Sarwar, who was aprominent noble during Feroz Shah Tughlaq'speriod. In 1394, Sultan Nasiruddin MohammadShah Tughlaq made him a minister and gave himthe title of Sultanu-Sharq which means themaster of the east. Thereafter, he was known asMalik Sarwar Sultanus Sharq. After Timur'sinvasion and the weakening of the DelhiSultanate, Malik Sarwar took advantage of aweak political situation and declared himselfindependent. Malik Sarwar was succeeded byhis son Mubarak Shah Sharqi. The Sultan struckcoins in his name.

During his period, the ruler of the Delhisultanate was Mahmud Shah Tughlaq, who triedto annex Jaunpur, but failed. Thereafter, therewere constant tensions between the variousrulers of Jaunpur and Delhi Sultanate. TheSharqi Sultans made several attempts to conquerDelhi, but they could never be successful. In1402, Ibrahim Shah Sharqi, Mubarak Shah'sbrother became the Sultan and ruled Jaunpurfor thirty four years. Ibrahim was also a scholar,well versed with Islamic theology and law, musicand fine arts. He was a great patron ofarchitecture. A distinct style of architectureevolved called the Sharqi style that had someHindu influence. At its height, the SharqiSultanate extended from Aligarh in westernUttar Pradesh to Darbhanga in north Bihar inthe east and from Nepal in the north toBundelkhand in the south. It was during thereign of Hussain Shah Sharqi (1458-1505) that aprolonged war with Bahlol Lodhi started. BahlolLodhi attacked Jaunpur in 1484 and HussainShah had to flee. Finally, Sikandar Lodhi whosucceeded Bahlol Lodhi annexed Jaunpur.Hussain Shah died and the Sharqi dynasty cameto an end.

KASHMIR

Kashmir is in the northern part of India. Inthe eleventh century, the rulers were followersof Saivism, and Saivism became the centralreligion in Kashmir. It was a closed kingdom.


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Albiruni, the Arab traveller who visited Indiaduring this period remarked in his work, Al-Hind that no one, not even Hindus from outsidewas allowed access to Kashmir. In 1320s, theruling dynasty of Kashmir could not check thedevastating Mongol invasions. It therefore, lostall public support. In 1339, Shamsuddin Shahdeposed the Saiva ruler and became the ruler ofKashmir. From this period onwards, Islaminfluenced the Kashmiri society. A group of Sufisaints known as the Rishis propagated a religionthat combined features of Hinduism and IslamSufi saints and refugees migrated from CentralAsia to Kashmir and further influenced thesociety and religion. Gradually, the poorersection of the population started converting toIslam. The state encouragement to Islam tookplace when the Kashmiri Sultan, Sikandar Shah(1389-1413), issued an order that all Hindusespecially, the brahmanas living in his kingdomshould embrace Islam or leave his kingdom.

It is said that these orders were issued at theinstance of the king's minister, Suha Bhatt whowas a Hindu and had recently converted to Islam.

Perhaps, one of the greatest rulers of Kashmirwas Zainul Abidin (1420-1470). He was anenlightened ruler and called back those Hinduswho had left the state due to the persecution ofSikandar Shah. He abolished jaziya andprohibited cow slaughter and gave the Hindusimportant state posts. A large number of templeswere repaired and new ones constructed.

Abul Fazl, the court historian of the MughalEmperor Akbar noted that Kashmir had onehundred and fifty big temples. Sultan ZainulAbidin married the daughters of the Hindu rajaof Jammu. Some scholars call Zainul Abidin asthe Akbar of Kashmir. Under him, Kashmirbecame prosperous and he was called the BudShah or the great king of Kashmiris.

The Sultan contributed to the agriculturaldevelopment of Kashmir by constructing damsand canals. Agricultural records were main-tained. During the period of famine and othernatural calamities, relief in terms of loans andgrains and fodder was provided to the peasants.Sultan also introduced reforms in the currency.He introduced market control and fixed pricesof the commodities. Traders and merchants wereasked to sell the commodities at fixed prices.Sultan also subsidized the import of the com-modities which were scarce in the state. To makeup for the shortage of salt, he imported salt from

Ladakh and helped the traders in every possibleway. Sultan also paid attention to the develop-ment of handicrafts. He sent some people to Sa-marqand for training of paper making and bookbinding. Sultan also encouraged stone cuttingand polishing and many other crafts. He intro-duced carpet and shawl making, which makeKashmir famous till day. Sultan also founded thetowns of Zaingir, Zainket and Zainpur and laidout the islands on the Dal Lake that can be seentill today. His chief engineering achievement wasthe Zaina Lanka, an artificial island in the Wool-ur Lake on which he built his palace andmosque.

He was a great scholar of Persian, Sanskrit,Tibetan and Arab languages and patronised theSanskrit and Persian scholars. Under hispatronage, the Mahabharat and Kalhana'sRajatarangini were translated into Persian andmany Persian and Arabic works were translatedinto Hindi. He himself was a poet and wrotepoetry under the pen name 'Qutb'.

After him weak rulers ascended the throneof Kashmir and there was confusion. Takingadvantage of this, Mirza Haider, Babur's relativeoccupied Kashmir. In 1586, Akbar conqueredKashmir and made it a part of the MughalEmpire.

BENGAL

Bengal was an important regional kingdomunder the Palas in the eighth century and theSenas in the twelfth century. Bengal was theeasternmost province of the Delhi Sultanate. Thelong distance, uncomfortable climate and poormeans of transport and communications madeit difficult for the Delhi Sultanate to control thisprovince. Therefore, it was easy for Bengal toassert its independence. Ghiyasuddin Tughlaqtried to solve the problem by partitioning Bengalinto three independent administrative divisions:Lakhnauti, Satgaon and Sonargaon. However,the problems remained and finally Bengalemerged as an independent regional state in thefourteenth century.

In 1342, one of the nobles, Haji Ilyas Khanunited Bengal and became its ruler under thetitle of Shamsh-ud-din Iliyas Shah and laid thefoundation of the Ilyas Shah dynasty. He triedto annex Bengal and raided Orissa and Tirhutand forced them to pay tribute. Such expansionsalarmed the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate, whotried to occupy Bengal several times but were


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not successful. One of the important rulers ofthe Ilyas Shah dynasty was Ghiyasuddin Azam.He was a learned man and promoted Persianliterature. He was well known for dispensing freeand fair justice to people. It is said that once hekilled a son of a widow by accident. The widowfiled a complaint with Qazi who summoned theruler to the court. When the case was decided,Azam told the Qazi that had he not dischargedhis duties honestly he would have killed him.Azam had cordial relations with China. Therewas a prosperous trading relationship betweenBengal and China. The port of Chittagaong wasan important centre for exchange of goods. Ondemand from the king of China, Azam also sentBuddhist monks from Bengal. Pandua and Gaurwere the capitals of Bengal.

In 1538, Bengal was annexed by Sher ShahSuri. In 1586, Akbar conquered Bengal, andmade it into a suba. While Persian was thelanguage of administration, Bengali developedas a regional language. The establishment ofMughal control over Bengal coincided with therise of agrarian settlements in the forested andmarshy areas of southeastern Bengal. Soon after,with the spread of rice cultivation, this areabecame heavily populated with the localcommunities of fisher folks and peasants. TheMughals established their capital in the heart ofthe eastern delta at Dhaka. Officials andfunctionaries received land grants and settledthere. Alauddin Hussain Shah (1439 to 1519)was another important ruler of Bengal. He wasvery efficient, and gave high administrative poststo the Hindus and is said to have paid respect toChaitanya of the Vaisnava sect. He came intoconflict with Sikandar Lodhi and had to makepeace with him.

This was a fertile and prosperous province.It had flourishing seaports and was famous forits handicrafts. Alauddin Khalji was the firstSultan to annex it to Delhi Sultanate and sincethen it remained under the Turkish governorsof the Sultanate. After Timur's invasion, in 1407,Zafar Khan who was then the governor becamethe independent ruler and after sometimeassumed the title of Muzaffar Shah. ZafarKhan's father was a Rajput who had given hissister in marriage to Feroz Shah Tughlaq.Ahmad Shah (1411-1441), was one of theimportant rulers of Gujarat. He founded the cityof Ahmadabad and made it his capital in 1413.He built beautiful buildings, like Jama Masjid andTeen Darwaza and beautified the city withgardens, palaces and bazaars.

Ahmad Shah was influenced by the Jainaarchitectural traditions of Gujarat. He was anefficient administrator and consolidated theregional state of Gujarat. He subdued the Rajputstates, Jhalawar, Bundi and Durgapur. He wassupposed to be an orthodox Muslim whoimposed jaziya on the Hindus and destroyedseveral temples. However, the picture wascomplex. At the same time, he appointed Hindusto important administrative positions. AhmadShah fought equally fiercely against the Hinduas well as the Muslim rulers. His main enemywere the Muslim rulers of Malwa. The rivalrybetween Gujarat and Malwa was bitter andprevented both the regional states fromconcentrating on larger political gains in northIndian politics. He was famous for impartingjustice. He publicly executed his son-in-law whohad murdered an innocent. The author of Mirat-i-Ahmadi has rightly said that the impact of thisjustice lasted till his reign.

Perhaps the most important ruler of Gujaratwas Mahmud Begarha. He was called MahmudBegarha as he had captured two powerful fortsor garh, Girnar (Junagarh) in Saurashtra and thefort of Champaner from the Rajputs in southGujarat. Both these forts were of strategicimportance. The fort of Girnar was in theprosperous Saurahstra region and also provideda base for operations against Sindh. The Sultanfounded a new town called Mustafabad at thefoot of the hill. This town with many beautifulmonuments became the second capital ofGujarat. Similarly, the fort of Champaner wascrucial to control Malwa and Khandesh.Mahmud constructed a new town calledMuhammadabad near Champaner.

According to another version, he was calledBegarha as his moustaches resembled the hornsof a cow (begarha). Mahmud is supposed to havehad a flowing beard which reached up to hiswaist. His moustache was supposed to be so longthat he tied it over his head. According to aforeign traveller, Duarto Barbosa, right from hischildhood, Mahmud was given some poison ashis food which made him so poisonous that if afly settled on his head, it would meet instantdeath. Mahmud was also famous for hugeappetite. It is said that for breakfast he ate a cupof honey, a cup of butter and one hundred tohundred and fifty bananas. In total, heconsumed ten to fifteen kilos of food everyday.Mahmud Begarha ruled for 52 years. He wasalso a great patron of art and literature. Many


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works were translated from Arabic to Persianin his court. His court poet was Udayaraja, whocomposed poetry in Sanskrit.

In 1507, Mahmud led an expedition againstthe Portuguese who had settled on the westerncoast and monopolised the trade there, causingimmense harm to the Muslim traders. To breakthe Portuguese trade monopoly he sought thehelp of the Sultan of Turkey but could not getmuch headway and finally had to give thePortuguese a site for a factory in Diu. He died in1511. During the rule of his successors Akbarconquered and annexed Gujarat in 1572 AD.

VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE

Political History

Vijayanagar was founded in 1336 byHarihara and Bukka of the Sangama dynasty.They were originally served under the Kakatiyarulers of Warangal. Then they went to Kampiliwhere they were imprisoned and converted toIslam. Later, they returned to the Hindu fold atthe initiative of the saint Vidyaranya. They alsoproclaimed their independence and founded anew city on the south bank of the Tungabhadrariver. It was called Vijayanagar meaning city ofvictory. The decline of the Hoysala kingdomenabled Harihara and Bukka to expand theirnewly founded kingdom. By 1346, they broughtthe whole of the Hoysala kingdom under theircontrol. The struggle between Vijayanagar andSultanate of Madurai lasted for about fourdecades. Kumarakampana's expedition toMadurai was described in the Maduravijayam.He destroyed the Madurai Sultans and as aresult, the Vijayanagar Empire comprised thewhole of South India up to Rameswaram.

The conflict between Vijayanagar Empireand the Bahmani kingdom lasted for many years.The dispute over Raichur Doab, the regionbetween the rivers Krishna and Tungabhadraand also over the fertile areas of Krishna-Godavari delta led to this long- drawn conflict.The greatest ruler of the Sangama dynasty wasDeva Raya II. But he could not win any clearvictory over the Bahmani Sultans. After hisdeath, Sangama dynasty became weak. The nextdynasty, Saluva dynasty founded by SaluvaNarasimha reigned only for a brief period (1486-1509).

Krishna Deva Raya (1509 - 1530)

The Tuluva dynasty was founded by Vira

Narasimha. The greatest of the Vijayanagarrulers, Krishna Deva Raya belonged to theTuluva dynasty. He possessed great militaryability. His imposing personality wasaccompanied by high intellectual quality. Hisfirst task was to check the invading Bahmaniforces. By that time the Bahmani kingdom wasreplaced by Deccan Sultanates. The Muslimarmies were decisively defeated in the battle ofDiwani by Krishna Deva Raya. Then he invadedRaichur Doab which had resulted in theconfrontation with the Sultan of Bijapur, IsmailAdil Shah. But, Krishna Deva Raya defeatedhim and captured the city of Raichur in 1520.From there he marched on Bidar and capturedit.

Krishna Deva Raya's Orissa campaign wasalso successful. He defeated the Gajapathi rulerPrataparudra and conquered the whole of Te-lungana. He maintained friendly relations withthe Portuguese. Albuquerque sent his ambassa-dors to Krishna Deva Raya.

Though a Vaishnavaite, he respected allreligions. He was a great patron of literature andart and he was known as Andhra Bhoja. Eighteminent scholars known as Ashtadiggajas wereat his royal court. Allasani Peddanna was thegreatest and he was called AndhrakavitaPitamaga. His important works includeManucharitam and Harikathasaram. PingaliSuranna and Tenali Ramakrishna were otherimportant scholars. Krishna Deva Raya himselfauthored a Telugu work, Amukthamalyadhaand Sanskrit works, Jambavati Kalyanam andUshaparinayam.

He repaired most of the temples of southIndia. He also built the famous Vittalaswamy andHazara Ramaswamy temples at Vijayanagar.He also built a new city called Nagalapuram inmemory of his queen Nagaladevi. Besides, hebuilt a large number of Rayagopurams.

After his death, Achutadeva and Venkatasucceeded the throne. During the reign of RamaRaya, the combined forces of Bijapur,Ahmadnagar, Golkonda and Bidar defeated himat the Battle of Talaikotta in 1565. This battle isalso known as Raksasa Thangadi. Rama Rayawas imprisoned and executed. The city ofVijayanagar was destroyed. This battle wasgenerally considered to mark the end of theVijayanagar Empire. However, the Vijayanagarkingdom existed under the Aravidu dynasty forabout another century. Thirumala, Sri Ranga


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and Venkata II were the important rulers of thisdynasty. The last ruler of Vijayanagar kingdomwas Sri Ranga III.

Administration

The administration under the VijayanagarEmpire was well organized. The king enjoyedabsolute authority in executive, judicial andlegislative matters. He was the highest court ofappeal. The succession to the throne was on theprinciple of hereditary. Sometimes usurpation tothe throne took place as Saluva Narasimha cameto power by ending the Sangama dynasty. Theking was assisted by a council of ministers in hisday to day administration. The Empire wasdivided into different administrative units calledMandalams, Nadus, sthalas and finally intogramas. The governor of Mandalam was calledMandaleswara or Nayak. Vijayanagar rulersgave full powers to the local authorities in theadministration.

Besides land revenue, tributes and gifts fromvassals and feudal chiefs, customs collected atthe ports, taxes on various professions were othersources of income to the government. Landrevenue was fixed generally one sixth of theproduce. The expenditure of the governmentincludes personal expenses of king and thecharities given by him and military expenditure.In the matter of justice, harsh punishments suchas mutilation and throwing to elephants werefollowed.

The Vijayanagar army was well-organizedand efficient. It consisted of the cavalry, infantry,artillery and elephants. High-breed horses wereprocured from foreign traders. The top-gradeofficers of the army were known as Nayaks orPoligars. They were granted land in lieu of theirservices. These lands were called amaram.Soldiers were usually paid in cash.

Social Life

Allasani Peddanna in his Manucharitamrefers the existence of four castes - Brahmins,Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras - in theVijayanagar society. Foreign travelers left vividaccounts on the splendour of buildings andluxurious social life in the city of Vijayanagar.Silk and cotton clothes were mainly used fordress. Perfumes, flowers and ornaments wereused by the people. Paes mentions of thebeautiful houses of the rich and the large numberof their household servants. Nicolo Conti refersto the prevalence of slavery. Dancing, music,

wrestling, gambling and cock-fighting weresome of the amusements. Chidambaram speakthe glorious epoch of Vijayanagar. They werecontinued by the Nayak rulers in the later period.The metal images of Krishna Deva Raya and hisqueens at Tirupati are examples for casting ofmetal images. Music and dancing were alsopatronized by the rulers of Vijayanagar.

Different languages such as Sanskrit, Telugu,Kannada and Tamil flourished in the regions.There was a great development in Sanskrit andTelugu literature. The peak of literaryachievement was reached during the reign ofKrishna Deva Raya. He himself was a scholar inSanskrit and Telugu. His famous court poetAllasani Peddanna was distinguished in Teluguliterature. Thus the cultural contributions of theVijayanagar rulers were many-sided andremarkable.

Sources

The history of Vijayanagar Empire constitutesan important chapter in the history of India.Four dynasties - Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva andAravidu - ruled Vijayanagar from A.D. 1336 to1672. The sources for the study of Vijayanagarare varied such as literary, archaeological andnumismatics. Krishnadevaraya's Amukthama-lyada, Gangadevi's Maduravijayam and AllasaniPeddanna's Manucharitam are some of the in-digenous literature of this period.

Many foreign travelers visited theVijayanagar Empire and their accounts are alsovaluable. The Moroccan traveler, Ibn Battuta,Venetian traveler Nicolo de Conti, Persiantraveler Abdur Razzak and the Portuguesetraveler Domingo Paes were among them wholeft valuable accounts on the socio-economicconditions of the Vijayanagar Empire. Thecopper plate inscriptions such as the Srirangamcopper plates of Devaraya II provide thegenealogy and achievements of Vijayanagarrulers. The Hampi ruins and other monumentsof Vijayanagar provide information on thecultural contributions of the Vijayanagar rulers.The numerous coins issued by the Vijayanagarrulers contain figures and legends explainingtheir tittles and achievements.

Bahmani Kingdom

The Deccan region was a part of theprovincial administration of the Delhi Sultanate.In order to establish a stable administration inthe Deccan, Mohammad bin Tughlaq appointed


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amiran-i-sada/ Sada Amir, who were theadministrative heads of hundred villages. From1337 the conflict between the officers in Deccanand Delhi sultanate accelerated. This led to theestablishment of an independent state in theDeccan in 1347 with the capital at Gulbarga inAndhra Pradesh. Its founders Hasan Ganguassumed the title Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shahas he traced his descent from the mythical heroof Iran, Bahman Shah and the kingdom wasnamed after him, the Bahamani Sultanate. AfterMohammad bin Tughlaq there were no attemptsby the Delhi Sultanate to control the Deccanregion. Therefore, the Bahamani Sultans withoutany checks annexed the kingdom.

There were a total of fourteen Sultans rulingover this kingdom. Among them, AlauddinBahman Shah, Muhammad Shah I and FirozShah were important. Ahmad Wali Shah shiftedthe capital from Gulbarga to Bidar. The powerof the Bahmani kingdom reached its peak underthe rule of Muhammad Shah III. It extended fromthe Arabian sea to the Bay of Bengal. On thewest it extended from Goa to Bombay. On theeast, it extended from Kakinada to the mouth ofthe river Krishna. The success of MuhammadShah was due to the advice and services of hisminister Mahmud Gawan. One of the importantacquisitions was the control over Dabhol, animportant port on the west coast.

Under Bahman Shah and his sonMuhammmad Shah, the administrative systemwas well organised. The kingdom was dividedinto four administrative units called 'taraf' orprovinces. These provinces were Daultabad,Bidar, Berar and Gulbarga. Muhammad Idefeated the Vijayanagar kingdom andconsequently Golconda was annexed toBahamani kingdom. Every province was undera tarafdar who was also called a subedar. Someland was converted into Khalisa land from thejurisdiction of the tarafdar. Khalisa land wasthat piece of land which was used to runexpenses of the king and the royal household.Further the services and the salary of every noblewas fixed. Those nobles who kept 500 horseswere given 1000,000 huns annually. If short ofthe stipulated troops, the tarafdar would haveto reimburse the amount to the centralgovernment. Nobles used to get their salary eitherin cash or in form of grant of land or 'jagir'Bahamani ruler depended for military supporton his amirs. There were two groups in the ranksof amirs: One was the Deccanis who were

immigrant Muslims and had been staying for along time in the Deccan region. The other groupwas Afaquis or Pardesis who had recently comefrom Central Asia, Iran and Iraq and had settledin the Deccan region recently. Between boththese groups there was always tension toappropriate better administrative positions.Because of their feuds, the stability of theBahamani Sultanate was affected. For the firsttime in India both these kingdoms usedgunpowder in the warfare. The Bahamanis werealready familiar with the use of firearms. Theyemployed Turkish and Portuguese experts totrain the soldiers in the latest weaponry ofwarfare.

One of the most important personalities inthe Bahamani kingdom was Mahmud Gawan.Mahmud Gawan's early life is obscure. He wasan Iranian by birth and first reached Deccan asa trader. He was granted the title of 'Chief of theMerchants' or Malikut-Tujjar by the Bahamaniruler, Humayun Shah. The sudden death ofHumayun led to the coronation of his minor sonAhmad III. A regency council was set for theadministration and Mahmud Gawan was itsimportant member. He was made wazir or theprime minister and was given the title of'Khwaju-i-Jahan.' The history of Bahmanikingdom after this period is actually the recordof the achievements of Mahmud Gawan. Despiteof being an Afaqui he was liberal and wanted acompromise between the Afaquis and theDeccanis. He controlled the kingdom in anefficient manner and provided it stability. Gawanconquered the Vijayanagar territories up toKanchi. On the western coast, Goa and Dhabolwere conquered. Losing these important portswas a great loss for Vijayanagar. Bahamanistrengthened its trading relations with Iran andIraq after gaining control over Goa and Dabhol.

Gawan carried out many internal reformsand attempted to put an end to the strife in thenobility. In order to curb the military power ofthe tarafdar, Gawan ordered that only one fortof each province was to be under the directcontrol of the provincial tarafdar. The remainingforts of the province were placed under a Qiladaror commander of the forts. The Qiladar wasappointed by the central Government. However,soon after his death, the governors declared theirindependence and the Bahamani kingdom brokeup. In the fifteenth and the sixteenth century,some amirs in Bidar, Ahmadnagar, Golconda


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and Bijapur and Berar established independentsultanates of their own and formed new states.These were the Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar,the Adil Shahis of Bijapur, the Qutb Shahis ofGolconda, and the Imad Shahis of Berar and theBarid Shahis of Bidar. They formed a league ofstates and strengthened them by matrimonialalliances. They maintained the traditional rivalrywith the Vijayanagar rulers. Golconda andBijapur entered into matrimonial alliances andled the Battle of Talikota against Vijayanagar.They finally succumbed to the Mughal armies.

The Sufis were greatly venerate by theBanmani rulers. Initially, they migrated to theDeccan as religious auxiliaries. of the Khaljis andthe Tughluqs the infant Bahmani kingdomrequired the support of the Sufies for popularlegitimiation of their authrotiry, the Sufis whomigrated to the bahmani kingdom were chieflyof the Dhishti, Qadiria and Shattari orders. Bidaremerged as one of the most important centres ofthe Qadiri ordr. Syed Muhammad Gesu Baraz,the famous Chishti saint of Delhi, migrated toGulbaraga in 1402-3, enjoyed the greatesthonour.

Malwa and Mewar

The state of Malwa was situated on the highplateau between the rivers Narmada and TaptiIt commanded the trunk routes between Gujaratand northern India, as also between Gujarat andnorth and south India. As long as Malwacontinued to be strong, it acted as a barrier tothe ambitions of Gujarat, Mewar, the Bahmanisand the Lodi Sultans of Delhi.

During the fifteenth century, the kingdomof Malwa remained at the height of its glory, Thecapital was shifted from Dhar to Mandu, aphace which was highly defensible and whichhad a great deal of natural beauty. Here, therulers of Malwa constructed a large number ofbuildings, the ruins of which are still impressive.Unlide the Gujarat style of architecture, theMndu architecture was massive and was madeto look even more so by using a very lofty plinthfor the buildings. The large-scale use of colouredand glazed tiles provided variety to the buildings.The best known among them are jama Masjid,the Hindola Mahal and the Jahaz Mahal.

One of the early rulers of Malwa, Hushangshah, adopted a broad policy of religioustoleration. Hushang shah extended hispatronage to the Jains who were the principal

commercial merchants and banders of the era.Thus, Nardeva Soni, a successful merchant, wasthe treasurer of Hushang Shah, and one fo hisadvisers. Mohmud Khalji (1436-69), who isconsidered the most powerful of the Malwarulers, destroyed many temples during hisstruggle with Rana Kumbha of Mewar, and withthe neighboring Hindu rajas.

This rise of mewar during the fifteenthcentury was an important factor in the politicallife of north India. With the comquest ofRanthambhar by Alauddin Khalji, the power ofthe Chauhans in Rajputana had finally come toan end. From its ruins, a number of new statesarose. The state of Marwar with its capital atjodhpur (founded 1465) was one of these.Another state of consequence in the area wasthe Muslim principality of Nagaur. Anmer whichhad been the seat of power of the Mulsimgovernors change hands several times, and wasa born of contention among the rising Rajputstates.

The early history of the state of Mewar isobscure. Though it dated back to the eightcentury, the ruler who raised it to the status of apower to be reckoned with was Rana Kumbha(1433-68AD). After cautiously consolidating hisposition by defeating his internal rivals, Kumbhaembarked upon the conquest of Bundi, Kotah,and Dungarpur on the Gujarat Border.

Marwar was under Mewar occupation, butsoon it become independent after a successfulstruggle waged under the leadership of RaoJodha.

Kumbha was a patron of learned men, andwas himself one. He composed a number ofbooks, some of which can still be read. The ruinsof his palace and the victory tower (kirtistambha) which he built at chittor show that hewas an enthusiastic builder as well. Hi dugseveral lakes and reservoirs for irrigationpurposes. Some of the temples built during hisperiod show that the art of stome-cutting,sculpture, Some of the temples built during hisperiod show that the art of stone cutting,sculpture, etc., were still at a high level.

Kumbha was murdered by his son, Uda,who wanted to gain the throne. Though Udawas soon ousted, he left a bitter trail. After along fratricidal conflict with his brothers, RanaSanga (1509-28), a grandson of Kumbha,ascended the gaddi of Mewar in 1509. The mostimportant development between the death of


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Kumbha and the rise of Sanga was the rapidinternal disintegration of Malwa. The ruler,Mahmud II, had fallen out with medini Rai, thepowerful Rajput leader of eastern Malwa whohad helped him to gain the throne. the malwaruler appealed for help to Gujarat, while MediniRai repaired to the court of Rana Sanga. In abattle in 1517, the Rana defeated Mahmud II andcarried him a prisoner to Chittor but it is claimedhe released him after six month, keeping one ofhis sons as a hostage, Eastern Malwa, includingChanderi, passed under the overlordship ofRans Sanga.

The developments in Malwa alarmed theLodi rulers of Delhi who were keenly watchingthe situation. The Lodi ruler, Ibrahim Lodi,invaded Mewar, but suffered a sharp reverse atthe handa of Rana Sanga at Ghatoli. IbrahimLidiwithdrew in order ot consolideat his internalposition. Meanwhile, Babur was knocking at thegates of India.

Thus, by 1525, the political situation in northIndia was changing rapidly, and a deccisiveconflict for supermacy in north India seemed tobe ineviatble. Rana Sanga was defeated by Baburin the battle of Khanua in 1527.

GROWTH OF REGIONAL LITERATURE

One of the greatest impact that the rise ofthe bhakti movement during the medieval periodhad on the cultural patterns of different regionswas the growth of regional literature, eitherthrough mystic saints or sometime under thepatronage of regional states.

Hindi

The Hindi language probably prosperedunder the influence of Bhakti saints in the earlymedieval period. First stage of Hindi literature,known as adi kala (1206-13-18) was the richestperiod in the history of Hindi literature. Majorcontribution wave made by nirguna and sagunasaint- poets and mystic poets. Nirguna saint-poets were Kabir, Guru Nanak, DaduSundaradasa, etc. Mystic poets were Jayasi(Padamavati), Nur Muhammad (Indravati),Uthman (Chitravali), etc. Several secular poetslike Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan alsocontributed to the growth of Hindi. The Thirdstage, known as riti kla (riti means love) andcovering the period 1643-1850, was essentiallysecular. The important poets of this period wereKesavadasa, Chintamani, Mati Rama, Bihari, etc.

Urdu

Urdu emerged due to the interaction ofPersian and Indian language in the militarycamps of Alauddin Khalji. The Deccan was thecradle of Urdu and the language flourished firstin the kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda. Theearliest available work in Deccan Urdu is amystical prose treatise, Mirajul- Ashiqin by saintGesu Daraz (early 15th century). Shah MiranjiShamsul (Khush Namah) and BurhanuddinJanam (Irshad Namah) of Bijapur, MuhammadQuli and Ghawasi (Tuti Namah) of Golcondawere the most famous Urdu writers of theDeccan. Urdu arrived in north India in a moredeveloped form during the Mughal period.Hatim, Mitrza Jan-i-Janum, Mir Taqi,Muhammad Rafi Sauda and Mir Hassan werethe most important Urdu writers of north Indiain the 18th century.

Bengali

Bengali literature was mainly in the form offolk songs and influenced by the philosophy ofthe Sahaja cult. The second stage began with theMuslim conquest of Bengal in the 13th centuryand continued till the end of the 17th century.Three main trends in this stage were-Vaishnavapoetry-important poets were Chandidasa,Chaitanya, Govindasa and KrishnadasaKaviraja (Chaitanaya Charitamruta in 16thcentury); translations and adaptation fromclassical Sanskrit-Kasirama (Mahabharata),Kristtivasa Ojha (Ramayana) and other works;mangal kavya form of poetry - sectarian in spirit,it narrated the struggle of gods against theirrivals. Main contributors were Manikadatta andMukundarama.

Oriya

Although Oriya originated in the eighthcentury, major works in the language appearedonly in the 13th and 14th centuries. ImportantOriya writers were Sarladasa (Mahabharata inthe 14th century), Balramadasa andJagannadadasa and Jagannadadasa belonged toa group known as pacha sakha or the fivesaassociates, of the 15th century. The bhaktimovement of Chaitanya and the Vaishnavapoets made a lasting influence on Oriyaliterature.

Punjabi

Baba Farid (13th century), a mystic poet wasthe pioneer of a new school of poetry in Punjabi,


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A major contributions to Punjabi poetry towardsthe end of the 15th century was made by GuruNanak. Later Sikh gurus also contributed to theenrichment of Punjabi. Guru Arjun complied theAdi Granth in 1904 and also wrote Sukhmani,one of the longest and greatest of medieval mysticpoems. The contribution Guru Gobind Singh isalso invaluable. Punjabi prose made immenseprogress and a number of religious andphilosophical works were translated fromSanskrit to Punjabi between 1600 and 1800.

Gujarati

The first phase from the 13th to 15thcenturies, was marked by two main forms-theprabandha (narrative poem) and the mukta(shorter poem); Important poets of this phasewere Sridhara and Bhima, exponents of the firsttype and Rajasekhara, Jayasekhara andSomasundara who wrote in the second type. Thesecond phase, from the 15th to 17th century, wasthe golden age of Gujarati literature. Majorcontributors during this period were NarasimhaMehta, Bhalana and Akho.

Marathi

Marathi literature emerged in the latter ofthe 13th century. A major contribution wasmade by saint-poets of the Natha cult (foundedby Gorakhanatha) such as Mukundaraja (Vivek-Sindhu). The saint- poets of the Mahanubhavacult also contributed to Marathi prose and poetry(like Lilachrita, Sidhanta Sutropatta, etc.) otherimportant contributors were Jananadeva(Jnanesvari and Amritanubhava are sacredbooks for Marathis), Eknatha, Tukaram(abhangas), Ramdas and Vamana Pandit. The17th century saw the compilation of secularpoetry in the form of povadas (ballads describingthe warfare skills and selfless valour of theMarathas) and lavanis (romantic works).

Telugu

A group of poets called kavitraya wereNannaya (11th century), Tikkansa (13th century)and Yerrapragada (13th and 14th century). Theytranslated the Mahabharata into Telegu. Theirother works included Nanraya's Andhra sabdaChintamani and Tikkana's NarvachanotharaRamayana. Other important writers wereBhaima Kavi (Bhimesvara Puranam of the 17thcentury), Name Choda (Kumarasambhava of the18th century), Somanatha (Basava Puranam ofthe 13th century), Srinatha (Srinagaranaisada,Sivaratri Mahatyam, Kasikhanda, etc. of the 14th

and the 15th centuries), Bammera Potana(Bhagavatam of 15th century), Vemana (Sataka),Krishna Deva Raya and his poets and Molla(Ramayana by a poetess of a low caste of the16th century).

Tamil

The literature of the alvars of Vaishnavasaints was known as Prabhanda, the mostimportant among them being Nalayiram(consisting of hymns composed by the 12 alvarsincluding Tirumalisia Alvar, Nammalvar, etc.)The literature of the nayanars or Saiva saints wasknown as Tevaram, important being Appar,Sambhandar and Sundrar. Their works wereknown as Tirumarai. Kamban's Ramayana alsocalled Ramanataka was written during theChola period. Sekkilar's Turyttondar Puranam,also known as Periya Puranam, was composedduring the Chola period. This is a biography of63 nayanaras. Pugalendi's Nalavenba wascomposed in the 15th century.

Kannada and Malayalam

Kannada and Malayalam are two such southIndian languages which emerged under thepatronage of medieval regional kingdoms.

The earliest extant work in Kannada isKavirajamaraga by Rashtrakuta Amoghavarsha1. The poets known as ratnatraya are Pampa(18th century). Their works are: Pampa's AdiPurana and Papa Bharata. Poona's Santi Purana;Rana's Ajitanatha Purana and Gadhayudha.Narahari, known as 'Kannada Valmiki', wroteTaravi Ramayana, and Virupaksha Pandit wroteChenna Basava Purana (16th century)

The earliest literary work in Malaylam isUnmunili Sandesam, a work by unknown writerof 14 century. Ramanuja Elluttoccan (greatestof all) wrote Harinamakirtanam BhagavatamKilippattu, and other works.

ART AND CULTURE

Regional styles of architecture came intovogue usually after these states had thrown offthe allegiance to Delhi and proceeded to developand form to suit their individual requirements.They were distinct form the Indo-Islamic stylepracticed at Delhi and often displayed definitelyoriginal qualities. In the areas which have astrong indigenous tradition of workmanship inmasonry, regional styles of Islamic architecture


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produced the most elegant structures. On theother hand, where these traditions were not sopronounced, the buildings constructed for theregional states were less distinctive. In some casestotally novel tendencies, independent of both theindigenous and the imperial Sultanate traditions,are also visible.

Bengal

The establishment of an independent Muslimpower in Bengal took place within a gap of fiveyears since the capture of Delhi by the Turks.But an independent building style, distinct fromthe one prevalent at Delhi, developed at thebeginning of the fourteenth century and lastedfor a period of nearly 250 years. Bengali stylespread in all parts of the region, but most of theprominent buildings were located within theboundary of the Malwa district which had beenthe strategic centre of the region due to theconfluence of the two rivers, the Ganga and theMahananda. Here lie the remains of the twoprincipal cities-Gaur and Pandua-which, in turn,enjoyed the status of the capital seat of theregional ruling style of this region we have todepend mostly on the buildings extant in thesetwo cities and a few important exampleselsewhere. The Building art of Bengal is generallydivided into the following three phases of whichthe first two are considered preliminary stagesand the third its ultimate development into aspecific style.

Jaunpur

The Sharqi kindom of Jaunpur was foundedby Malik Sarwar, a noble of Firuz Shah Tughlug,in 1394. In the wake of Timur's invasion andransack of Delhi. Jaunpur took over from thecapital as a centre for scholars and writers. Thesurviving buildings constructed under theSharqis are located in the capital city Jaunpur.The Sharqi architecture of Jaunpur carries adistinct impact of the Tughlug style., thebattering effect of its bastings and minarets andthe use of arch-and-beam combination in theopenings being the two most prominent features,However, the most striking feature of theJaunpur style is the design of the façade of themosques. It is composed of lofty propylons withsloping sides raised in the centre of the sanctuaryscreen. The propylons consist of a huge recessedarch ramed by tapering square minar, ofexceptional bulk and solidity, divided intoregisters. The best examples can be seen in theAtala Majid and the Jami Masjid. Evidently, the

propylon was the keynote of Jaunpur style andoccurs in no other manifestation of indo-Islamicarchitecture.

Gujarat

The regional style of architecture that cameinto being in western India towards thebeginning of the 14th century is almostexclusively confined to Gujarat.

The regional style flourished for a period ofsome two hundred and fifty years beginningearly in the 14th century. The founders of theGujarat style of Indo-Islamic architecture were,in facrt, the governors of the Khalji Sultans ofDelhi.

There were three different phases of theGujarat style:- The first phase lasting for the firsthalf of the 14th century marked by thedemolition of the Hindu temples and theirreconversion into Muslim buildings. The secondphase prevailing mostly during the first half ofthe 15th century and showed signs of hesitantmaturity of a distinctive style. The third phasewas the matured phase of Gujarati architecture.

Malwa

In central India, the development of Indo-Islamic architecture remained confined withinthe Malwa regional which became anindependent kingdom at the turn of the 15thcentury. The regional manifestations of Indo-Islamic architecture in Malwa are locatedessentially within the confines of two cities, Dharand Mandu, though some buildings may also beseen at Chanderi. The Sultans of Dhar andMandu have left a rich architectureal legacy, themain buildings being mosques, tombs andpalaces. The buildings at Dhar and Manduderive many features from the Tughluqarchitecture such as the battered walls, fringedarch and the arch-beam combination. But soonwe also notice the emergence of distinctivefeatures which give the Malwa style ofarchitecture a character of its own. Perhaps themost important is an innovative technique bywhich the two separate structural systems of thearch and the lintel have been combined in Malwaarchitecture. In no other early type ofarchitecture has this problem of using arch andbeam as structural elements been moreartistically solved. Another notable feature of theMalwa buildings is the construction of stately


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flights of steps of considerable length leading totheir entrances. This became necessary duet tothe use of unusually high plinths on which mostof the important buildings are raised. Thisarchitectural impulse died in 1531 with defeatof the last Malwa ruler, Mahmud II, at the handsof Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Malwa wastemporarily brought under the Mughals byHumayun in 1535 and was finally conqueredby Akhar in 1564.

Deccan

The Indo-Islamic architecture that developedin the Deccan from 14th century onwards underthe Bahmanis acquired a definitely regionalcharacter quite early in its growth. But thisarchitecture followed a different pattern inevolution than other regional styles. As opposedto the growth of regional styles in northern India,architecture in the Deccan seems to have ignoredto a very large extent the pre-Islamic arttraditions of the region.

In practice, the Deccan style of architectureconsisted basically of the fusion of; thearchitectural system in vogue at Delhi under theSultans, particularly the Tughluq form and anentirely extraneous source that is, thearchitecture of Pesia.

Bidar

The Bahmani capital was transferred toBidar, a fortress town in 1425 ruled by AhmanShah (1422-36). Soon the new capital saw aflurry of building activity. Within its walls sprangup palaces with large audience halls andhammams, a madrasa, and royal tombs.

Vijaynagar

The Vijaynagar style of architecture wasscattered throughout south India, but the finestand most characteristic group of buildings is tobe seen in the city of Vijaynagar itself. This city,in fact, had a great advantage as a site for largescale building activity in that it abounds ingranite and a dark green chlorite stone, both usedextensively as building material. The use ofmonolithic multiple pillars in the temple atVijaynagar testify this this fact. The expanse ofthe city of Vijaynagar at the height of its glorymeasured some 26 sq. km., and it ws enclosedwith a stone wall. Besides palaces and temples,the city had extensive waterworks and manysecular buildings such elephant stables and thelotus Mahal.

The use of pillars of architectural as well asdecorative purpose is on an unprecedented scale.Numerous compositions are used in raising thepillars, but the most striking and also the mostfrequent is one in which the shaft becomes acentral core with which is attached an unpraisedanimal of a supernatural kind resembling a horseor a hippograph. Another distinguishing featureis the use of huge reverse-curve leaves at thecornice. This feature has been borrowed into thestyle from the Deccan and gives the pavilions adignified appearance. Pillars form an integralpart of Vijaynagar style, is elaborated into thevolute teminating in an inverted lotus band. Theoccurrence of this pendant is an index reliableof the building in the Vijaynagar group. Theglory of the Vijaynagar empire ended in 1565 atthe battle of Talikota when the combined armyof the Sultans of the Deccan inflicted a crushingdefeat on the Vijaynagar ruler Rama Raya.

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RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN

THE FIFTEENTH AND

SIXTEENTH CENTURIES


Since the dawn of history, India has been thecradle of religious movements. In the previouschapters we have religious movements. In theprevious chapters we have discussed the vedicand Later Vedic (i.e. Upanishadic) ideas to theemergence of Bhagavatism and other Brahmanicsects, such as Shaivism, Saktism etc. In the earlymedieval period two parralled movements, inHinduism and Islam, respectively representingthe Bhakti and Sufi movements emerged in India,which reached their fullest development in thefifteenth and sixteent centuries. Both thesereligious developments have hardly anything todo with the coming of Islam or with the so-called'Muslim rule in India'. The seeds and th Bhaktimovements are to be found in the Upanishads,Bhagvad Gita, Bhagavata Purana, etc. Thevarious Sufi saints had come to settle down inIndia in the eleventh-twelfth centuries, theearliest and the most well known being SheikhMuinuddin Chisti, who made Ajmer his homewhen Prithviraj Chauhan (III) was still rulingover there. The greatest merit of both theseparallel religious movements is that they freedthe Indian society from the dogmatic beliefs,ritualism, caste and communal gatred and so on.It was in the true spirit of Indian history andculture that both these movements prosperedwithout even the least ill-will an conflict. On thecontrary, both contributed to each other'sreligious ideas and practices. Both thesemovements were democratic movements, whichpreached simple religion in the language of themasses and neither craved for political patronagenor bothered for the political developmentsaround them.

At any rate, one can easily find manycommon points in the Bhakti and SufiMovements. In both, the elements ofintellectuality went hand in hand with that ofdevotion and in both ritualism andceremonialism were not as important as thesearch of and love for one Supreme Reality. Loveand liberalism were the keynotes of the Sufi andBhakti movements. Mystic discipline in both wascanalised towards the moral advancement of the

individual and society by making them riseabove the barriers of colour, creed, wealth, powerand position.

The Indo-Muslim strands gave woven intothe texture of India's national existence a newdesign of 'composite culture' by intertwining thetheads of the Bhakti Marg with the Islamic Sufi(mystic) traditions, the Indian social customswith the values of man and social ethics reflecteda new ethos. It is not surprising, therefore, torealize that the composite culture in Indiaoriginated in an environment of reconciliationrather then refutation. cooperation rather thanconfromation, co-existance rather than mutualannihilation.

SUFISM

Origin

In the medieval Indian environment Sufismwas the most interesting aspect of Islam. It cameto India before the establishment of the Sultanateof Delhi but after the foundation of the Turkishrule, a large Group of Sufis form different Lslamiccountries migrated to India and establishedthem-selves in many parts of Hindustan. Theearly Sufi's traced their ideas to some verses ofthe Quran and traditions (Hadith) of the Prophet.Tothese, however, they gave a mysticinterpretation. Regarding the orgin of the word"Sufi", numerous explantions have been offered.According to one view, the Sufi saints woregarments of coarse wool (suf) as a badge ofpoverty and from the word "suf" the name ofterm Sufi has been derived. Generally, scholarstrace its origin by the word safa. They say thatthose who were pious people were called Sufis.Abu Nasral Sarraj. the author of an Arabictreatise on Sufism, derived from suf (wool). Somescholars have traced its origin to the Greek wordsophia (knowledge).

It appears that the first writer to use the wordSufi is Jahiz of Basar (A.D. 869). According tojami, the use of the word sufi was first appliedto Abu Hashim of Dufa before A.D. 800.


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According to Aul-kusheri this word wasintroduced in A.D. 811. Within fifty years itdenoted all the mystics of Iraq, and two centurieslater sufya was applied to the whole body ofmsslim mystics.

The Sufi Thought

Sufism is a common term given to Islamicmysticism. But it was not organised in a singlesect and its religious doctrines were also notcommon; instead they were organised intovarious silsilaha of religious doctrines of orders.They accepted the Prophethood of Mohammadand the authority of the Quran, but in course oftime they absorbed a variety of ideas andpractices from different sources, such asChristianity, Neo-Platonism, Zoroastrianism,Buddhism and Hindu Philosophical systems(Vedanta and Yoga). Sufism in its advancedstage was like a "stream which gathers volumesby joining the tributaries from many lands". Forinstance, the concept of a relationship betweenGod and the Soul as one between the belovedand the lover was adopted by the Sufis in India.Pacifism and non-violence, which were imbibedby the Indian Sufi sains, are also peculiar toChristianity and Hinduism. Some of the asceticpracties, involving the starving and torturing ofthe body, and ceremonies were also of Indianorigin.

The Muslim mystics or the Sufies of the firsttwo centuries of the Hejira era were asceties, menof dee preligious feelings, who laid great stresson the principles of tauba (repentance) andtawakkul (trust in God). These early mystics ofIslam were fundamentally inspired by the Quraicconception of a transcendent God. Theircontemplation remained confined within thelimits of the Quran and the prectice of theprophet.

Sufi mysticism sprang from the doctrine ofWahadutual wujud of the unity of Being, whichidentified the Haq (the createo) and khalq (thecreating). This doctrine means that God is theunity behind all plurality and the Reality behindall phenomenal appearances. The Sufis were soabsorbed in this idea that a moment's diversionform the thought of the Absolute was uberableto them. In their journey ot cahive union withthe Absolute, they had to pass throuth ten stageswhich were: tauba (repentance), wara(abstinence), Quhd (peity), fagr (poverty), sabr(patience), shukr (gratitude), Khuf (fear), raja(hope), tawakkul (conterntment) and riza

(submissioin to the divine will). In passingthrough these stages of spiritual development,the Sufi felt excessive love and yearing for God.This Sufis had a two-fold objective view, namely,their own spiritual development and the serviceof humanity, Union of the Human soul withGod, through lovin devotion was the essence ofthe Sufi faith,

The sufis, by their examples, by worda andconduct, set and ethical standard, Theyattempted to bridge the gulf between orthodoxyand religion of faith and devotions. They spokethe language of the masses and gave impetus tolinguistic assimilation and to a cultural synthesis.They played a silent but important part in thepropagation of their faith more by their exampleand service, than through any efforts atimportunate persuasion. They imparted Some ofthe Sufis were scholars and men of vast eruditonand acted as teachers. They won the hearts ofthe people by their love and liberalism, sincerityof purpose, charity, piety and social service, Theyexercised considerable influence on kings,officials and nobles for the good of the people.They shunned wealth and power and deptthemselves aloof from the din and bustle ofworldly life. Through generally liberal and broad-minded in outlook, some of the Sufi saints, whowere noted for their piety and learning, werepuritanical in attitude and uncompromising onquestions of strict adherence to the shariat.

Sufism was not to be made a means oflivelihood. They stressed the importance ofearning. Religious literature tells us about manysaintly people who earned their livelihood bytheir professional pursuits and recognised thedignity of labour. Shaikh Ainuddin Qassab(butcher), a disciple of Hazrat HamiduddinNagori, was a saintly man, he sold meat in Delhi,Shaikh Abdul Ishaq Gazrioni was a weaver. Weare told that many saintly personages werefarmers and cultivated fields. Shaidh QasimJuzri was an agriculturist. Some saints chooseto beg in order to crush their ego. It gave thempeace of mind, which helped them toconcentrate on God. It also made them realisethat everything belinged to god and people werethe custodians. The Sufis did not encouragecelibacy and complete renunciation of the worldfor attainment of spiritual personality. Theirmoral precepts and ideal love of God did notmean complete abandonment fo family life. Theirmoral precepts and ideal love of God did notmean complete abandonment of family life,


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Excepting a few outstanding saints, the Sufiswere all married and did not shun the life of ahouseholder. The typical materi alistic approachwas discouraged, but the necessities of life hadot be worded for. One was not to sit idle afterputting on a loin cloth; but at the same time, oneshould not devote all the time for earning one'sbread. The Sufis were broadk-minded people,who recognised the truth in other faiths. Inextending their help to others they made nodistinction on the basis of caste or creed. The Sufisaints showed great interest in learning Yoga;and the Hindu yogis and siddhas frequentlyvisited the hermitages of the Sufi saints.

The Sufis in India, particularly of the Chistiand of the Suhrawardi orders, adopted Samaand Raqs (audition and dancing) as a mode ofinvocation to God. They did not sanction anyking of music. Majlis-iSama, which theysactioned, was totally different from Majlis-iTarab of musical entertainment. To the Sufismusic was a means to and end. Sama exhilaratedtheir spiritual spirit and lifted the veil betweenthem and God, and helped them in attaining thesuperme stage of ecstatic swoon.

The practice of spiritual preceptorship,known as piri muridi, was also prevalent inSufismm. Those who enteried into a particularfraternity of Sufi saints were called murids(disciple). The murid had to pledge absolutesubmission and devotion to his spiritual guidecalled pir.

In the eleventh and twelfth ecnturies, Lahoeran Multan attracted many well-known Sufisfrom other countries. The greatest figure in thehistory of sufism in India was KhwajaMuinuddin Chisti who arrived at Lahore formGhazni in 1161 and settled down at Ajmer wherehe died in 1235-36. He was the founder of theChisti order of Sufis in India. To this orderbelinged Shakh fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar (1175-1265) who is known in the Sikh tradition as BabaFarid. His mantle fell upon Shaikh NizamuddinAuliya (1238-1325). In the thriteenth century theSuhrawardi order was established in India byShaikh Bahauddin Zakariya. The Suhrawardisthough that living in Luxury and activitiesparticipation on political affairs were nothindrances to spiritual progress. During thefifteenth century two new Sufi orders- theShuttaris and the Qadiris- were founded in Indiaby Shaikh Abdullag Shattri and Sayyid GhauWala Pir, respective. Thus the Sufis were dividedin silsilahs or orders named after the founder of

each sect and they lived in and maintained thedhanqahs or hermitages which were vastcomplexes.

The Sufi Orders (of Silsilas)

The Sufis were organised into orders ofsilsilahs named after the name or surname of thefounder of the particular order, such as Chisti,Suhrawardi, Naqshbandi etc. Each Sufi orderhad a dhangah or hermitage, where peopleThronged for spiritual solace and guidence fromthe Sufi saints. In the sixteenth century there wereas many as fourteen Sufi orders in India, asmentioned by Abul Fazl. Of the various orders,largely founded outside India, only two-theSuhrawardis and the Chistis-were the first tosucceed in establishing themselves firmly onIndian soil. Two sub-orders, the Firdausi and theShuttari offshoots of the Suhrawardi order, wereactive in Bihar and Bengal. Sindh and Multanhad become the centres of the spiritual activitesof the saints of the suhrawardi order, The chiefcentres of the Chisti silsilah, the most popularorder, were Ajmer, Narnaul, Sarwal, Nagaur,Hansi, Ayodhya, Badaun and other towns ofU.P. The Chisti order was very popular and itachieved extraordinary successdue to the liberaland catholic outlook of many of its sints ofoutstanding personality and long period of theirspiritual activity in India. Many of their practiceswere akin to those of the Hindus and they, morethan the members of other silsilahs, adaptedthemselves to the non-Mulsim environment. Itis one of the eternal glories of the Chisti orderthat it produced great spiritual luminaries likeKhawaja Muiniddin Chisti, Khwaja QutbuddinBakhtiyar Kaki, Khqaja Fariduddin Masud Ganj-i-Shakar, Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya andShaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i-Dehlvi, ShaikhAlauk Haq, Shaikh Adhi Seraj and Nur QutbAlam of Pandua, Saidh Husamuddin Mnikpuri,Burhanuddin Gharib and Hazrat Gesu Baraz ofthe Deccan.

The Sufis, especially of the Chisti and Firduasiorders, identified themselves with the commonmasses, their weal and woe, their grindingpoverty and distress. It was a part of theirdiscipline to serve the needy and the oppressed.The saints of the Chisti order regarded moneyas carrion, They subsisted on Futuh and Nazur(unasked for money and persents). Very oftenthey had to strave. Once, when the wife of BabaFarid reported that their son was about to die ofstarvation, he replied that he was helpless. Godhas so decreed and he was dying, Bab Farid wore


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wornotu and patched garments, When he died,there was nothing in this house was demolishedto provide unbaked bricks for his grave. In thesixteenth century the most notable Chisti saintwas Shaikh Salim Chisti of Fatehpur Sikri whowas a contemporary of Akbar, and the emperorgreatly venerated him.

Although Abul-Fazl in Ain-i-Abbarimentions 14 Sufi silsilas as active in India by the16th century, the fact remains that in terms oftheir following and better-organisation, only sixsilsilas should be recognised as active andfifluential. Of these, the Chistiyay, founded inIndia by Khwaja Muin-un-din Chisti (popularlyknown as Khwaja Ajmeri) (though begun byKhwaja Abdul Chisti-d. 966 - in Iran) attractedthe largest of devotees, both Muslims andHindus, and also made a profound impact onthe course of the new Bhakti movement amongthe Hindus that, gained momentum in the 14thcentury, and sperad out to many parts of thecountry in the next three hundred years.

Prominent Sufi Saints

The only other silsila active in the Sultanateperiod (1206-1526) was the Suhrawardia, withits headquarter in Multan and later extendingto Sindh, which was established in India bySheikh Bahauddin Zakaria (d. 1192). Then camethe Firdausi silsila, mainly restriced to Bihar, thatwas spread by the prolific wirter of mysticliterature Shaikh Sharfuddin Yahua Muniriaround the 13th century, followed by theQadiriya and the Shuttarria silsila in the middleof the 15 the century.

Yet he had a great fondness for AmirDhusrau, the mystically inclined aristocrat anda versatile genius, who used to send his days withthe sultans and nights of devotion at theKhanqah of Nizamuddin Aulia. It is in his poemsand ordres, sung over the centuries by thequwwals (religious singers), that saintNizamuddin figures prominently.

Shaikh Nizamuddin's liberal and tolerantoutlook, offended the orthodox clergy but helpedthe spread of his message throughout the countryand gained for him the popular title, Mahbood-i-Illahi (the belived of the God). His tomb in Delhi,built by Sutan Muhammud-bin-Tughlak, (despitethe Sints wish: "I want no monument over mygrave: Let me rest in board and open plain") Thisremains even after six and a half centuries anconstant place of Pilgrimage, and massive

congregation of people of all castes and creeds,Hindus and Muslims.

Shaikh Nizamuddin Aulia's successordspread through the country, one to Hansi,another to Gulbarga, a third in Bengal,l and tworemained in Delhi, of whom Shaidh NasiruddinMuhamud (d.1356), who was later known asChirag-i-Delhi (the lamp of Delhi) was acharismatic saint, whose 100 'conversation' (asreported in Dhairul Majalis) reflected melancholyat the state of affairs in social and economic life,caused by political upheavals, badadministration, price rise and general anarchy,

With the death of Chirag-i-Delhi, the firstphase of Chisti silsila ends. One of his successorwas syed muhammad Gesu Daraz was a prolificwriter of over thirty books on Tasawwuf(mysticism). His love for the poor and the needyand his defence of the rights of man earned himthe title of Bandanawaz (benefactor of God'screatures).

He was one of the early poets and writers inthe Urdu language- a new language that hadgrown as a synthesis of persian, Turkish andArabic on the one hand and of the Indian dialectsKhari Boli Braj and Punjabi on the other, withits base in Sanskrit syntax and etymology drawnfrom many sources. His famous couplet, thatreflected the credo of the mysticism and bhakti,was one of the first specimens of Urdu Poetry,His one of the famous couplets is: "infidelity iswelcome to the infidels and Islam to the Shaikh.But to us lovers, love and the content andharmony of our hearts is enough."

The Qadriya silsila was established in Indianby Shaba Nayamatullag Qadiri, and the theShattaria silsila by Shah Abdullag Shuttari (d.1458). The former spread mainly in MadhyaPradesh and Gujrat regions. In the reign of Akbar(1556-1605), the last of six major silsilas, theNaqshbandiah was established by Khwaja BaqiBallah (1563-1603) and its most famous aint wasShaikh Ahmed Sirhindi (d.1625) Known asMujeddid Alif Sani (The Reformer of the 10thcentury).

Prince Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of ShahJahan, become the follower of the Qadiri orderand visited Mian Mir (1550-1635) at Lahore,When Mian Mir died, Dara become a disciple ofhis successor named Mullah Shah Badakhshi.Shaikh Ahmed Sarihindi, a contemporary ofAkbar and Jahangir, was a great Sufi saint of


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the Naqshbandi order. He attacked the MysticPhilosophy of the Unity of Being (wahadat-ul-wujud) and rejected it. In its place he expoundedthe philosophy of Apparentism (Wahadat-ul-shud). He said that the relationship between manand God is that of a slave and the master, andnot that of a lover and the believed, as the Sufisgenerally believed. In short, Shaikh Ahmad'sobject was to harmonise the doctrine ofmysticism with the teachings of orthodox Islam,and that is why he is known as Mujaddid, i.e.the renovator of Islam.

Medieval Indian traditons remember PrinceDara Shikoh not so much as a Mughal Prince,but as a mystic philosoper, In his Persian work,Majmaul Bahrian, there are interestingdiscussion on the Sufi and Hindu cosmologies.The great dream of his life was th brotherhookof all faiths and unity of mankind. One of hisgreat devottes esa Sarmsad, who was executedduring the reign of Aurangzeb for the Livberalityof his religious views.

In the 17th Century Sufism shattered thechains of sectarian beliefs and preached the unityof mandin. Such Sufi sanits were known as YariSaheb, who flourished about A.D. 1668-1725,was free from all sectarianism. He says that theeyes should be painted with the dust of the guru'sfeet as with collyrium. His peoms, in which thename of Allah is mentioned along with the ofRama and Hari, are full of abstruse metaphysicalturths, He says, 'This creation is a painting ofthe Creator on the canvas of void ehth the brushof love. He who has not experienced this joythrough love will never know it throughreasoning. Men and women are, as bubbles inthe ocean of divine live'.

Sufi Saints of Sindh: Sindh was also a greatCentre of neo-sufism and a number of Sufi saintsflourished there. Any account of the mystics ofSind must begin with Shah Karim, who livedabout A.D. 1600. He received his first religiousinspiration from a Vaishnava saint nearAhmedabad, who initiated him into themysteries of Om. This symbol served as a beacon-light to him.

The next mystic worthy of mention is ShahInayat, a universally respected figure. When theHindus of Sind, under the oppression of theKalhora kings, were fleeing in number to savetheir life and faith, it was he who sheltered manysuch fugitive families in his own hermitage. Hisfaith, that God is not the property of anyparticular sect finally led to his execution.

But it is Shah Latif who holds the highestplace among the mystics of Sindh. He was thegreatest poet and singer of the province, and hissongs are sung by people even now. His shrineat Bhit was a weekly meeting- place for bothHindus and<is;o,s pf eotjer sex, for spiritualcommunion.

It was not unusual to find in Sindh a Hinduas the guru of the Muslims, or a Muslim as thegrur of the Hindus. The songs of the Sufi mysticpoets Dedil and. Bekas are still widely sung bySindhi men and women. The real name of Bedaswas Mohammed Husain, he died at the age oftwenty-two, but has lift a deep impression onthe religious life of Sind. The poets Rohal andQutub also belong to the same fraternity, andgave left behind them songs, that are as sweetas they are profound. At their shrines bothHindus and Muslim used to congregate and keepall night vigils, singing religious songs.

Bulle Shah: No account on neo-Sufismwould be complete without a reference to BulleShah.

Bulle shah was probably born in A.D. 1703,in a Sayyuid family in the city of Constantinople(Istanbul), and at a very young age he walkedall the way to Punjab hankering for spiritualtruth, In the Indian mode of religious practice,he found precisely what he was seeking, andsettled down to a life of meditation and worshipat Kasur, He was a fierice critic of the Quranand all other scriptures, and neither the Hindunor the Muslim theologians could excel him indebates. He was buried also at Kasur, and theplece attractts numerous pilgrims and holy men.

Bulle Shah says: 'You will find god neitherin the mosque nor in the Ka'aba, neither in theQuran and other holy books nor in formalprayers. Bulla, you will not find salvation eitherin Mecca or in the Ganga; 'you will find it onlywhen you lay down your ego'.

'I found the highest peace and joy when Idiscovered Allah within my own heart: throughdeath I have reached the life eternal; I am everjourneying forward.'

'O Bulla, intoxicate thyself with the wine ofdivine love, Men will slander you and call youby a hundred names; when they abuse you withthe name of kafir, say, "yes, friend, you are right".


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The Hindu Impact on Sufism

According to Alberuni, the Sufi theories ofthe soul are similar to those in Patanjali's YogaSutra. Like the Youga Sutar, Sufi works alsostated that 'the bodies are the source of the soulsfor the purpose for acquiring recompense'.Albeurni also identifies the Sufi doctrine fo divineloves as self-annihilation with parallel passagesfrom the Bhagavad Gita.

By the thirteenth century, the Indian Sufiswere confronted with the Kanphata (split-earned) yogis or the Nath followers ofGorakhnath. Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya'sdescription of the human body into regions ofSiva and Sakti. The area from the head to thenavel. associated with Siva, was spiritual; thearea below the naval. associated with Sakti, wasprofane. Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya was alsoimpressed with the yogic theory that a child'smoral character was determined by the day ofthe month on which he was conceived.

The Hatha yogic treatise Amritakunda,which had been translated into Arabic andPersian in the thritheenth century, had a lastingeffect on Sufism. Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i-Dehlve observed that controlled greathing is theessence of Sufism. Controlled greathing isinitially a deliberate action but later becomesautomatic. He urged practising articulatedbreathing lide the perfect yogis, known assiddhas. Yogic postures and breath controlbecome an integral part of Chistiya Sufic practice,and controlled breathing was incomporatedfinally as a vital aspect in all the Sufi ordersexcept the Indian Naqshbandiyyas.

The Sufi theory of wahadat-ul-wujud andSufi analogies for it were remarkably similar tothose of the yogis. Sheikh Hamiduddin Nagori'sHindi verses reflect that yogic influence. TheNath doctrines had fo-reaching influence on theChishtiya Sheikh Abdul Quddus Gangohi(d.1537). His Rushadnama contains Hindi versescomposed by him and his spiritual guides aredesigned to support the truth of the wahadat-ul-wujud doctrine, The imperceptible Lord(Alakh Niranjana), he says, is invisible, but thosewho are able to perceive Him, are lost tothemselves, In another verse, the shaikh identifiesAlakh Niranjana with God (Khuda). Referencesto the yogi saint Gorakhanath in theRushadanama equate him with Ultimate Realityof Ablsolute Truth. some references to thosenames imply 'perfect man' or 'perfect siddha'.

The union of sakti-the sun- and Siva-the moon-is. according to the Shaikh, symbolised by prayersperformed hanging upside down with the legssuspended from a roof or the branch of a tree,Here we find very clear evidence of the practicesof Hindus tantirism influenceing Sufi beliefs.

The cross-fertilisation of Sufi beliefs withthose expressed by the Kashmiri Shaivite womanyogi Lalla of Lal Ded (Lall Yogesveri) is reflectedin the Fishi movement of Shaikh Nuruddin Rishi(d. 1439) of kashmir. The Shaikh's teachings areembodied in his Kashmiri verses, some of whichare almost identical with those composed by Lal.Through them the shaikh emerges as an ardentdevotee of God trying of reach the Unknowablein the reart by lighting the lamp of love.Nuruddin and his disciples preferred to callthemselves rishis, using the well known term forthe Hindu sages. Their main theme wasuniversal love. They served the people withoutconsidering caste and tried to turn Kashmir intoa geaven for the neglected sections fo society.Shaikh Nuruddin believed that, although eatingmeat was permitted by the shariat, it entailedcruelty to animals, and he exhorted people tobecome a vegatarian.

The Nath ideas found great popularity infifteenth-century Bengal. The Amritakunda, atext on Hatha yoga, was first translated intoArabic in Bengal in the early thirteenth century.Sayyid Murataza (d.1662) later write the Yoga-Qulandar, identifying the Qalandriyya disciplineof Abu Ali Qalandar with yoga practices. SayyidSulatan (d. 1668) of Chittagong also composeda number of bengali works on Muslim themes ofunion with God, with Hindus and yogicovertones. The Haqaiq-i-Hindi by Abul Wahik(d. 1608) of Bilgram (near Lucknow) wasintended to crush orthodox opposition to ghe useof vaishnavite themes in Hindi poetry recited bythe Chishtiyya Sufies to arouse ecstasy. To GesuDaraz, Hindi poetry was more subtle and elegantand transported the Sufies to higher planes ofmystical ecstasy than Persian verses did.

The sixteenth century saw a tremendousincrease in the volume of Hindi poetry. Naturallyits recitation at Sufi gathering required somedefinec. Mir Abul wahid sought to justify thispractice by giving Islamic equivalents for featuresof the Drishna legend such as Drishna, Radha,Gopi, Braj, Goku, Yamuna, Gang, Mathura, andthe flute in his Haqaiq-i-Hindi. He pleads thatthis identification renders unobjectionable thetranspot of Sufi into ecstasy on hearing Hindu


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Vaishnative poetry. The translation of Sanskritworks into Persian at Akbar's court had madeMuslims aware of the Vedanta School of Hinduphilosophy. Jahangir identified the highest formof Sufism with vedanta.

The Sufi saints preached in the language ofthe masses and made immense contribution tothe development of Hindi and proviniciallanguages including Bengali, punjabi, Kashmiri,etc. The Sufis, despite their strict adherence tothe laws of the shariat and practices oforthodoxy, instead of criticising the religion,mythology and folklore of the Hindus, werebroad-minded enough to study them in theirHindi verses. Some went to the extent of quotingverses from Hindi poems while deliveringdelivering religious sermons from the pulpits.Badauni tells us that Makhdum ShaikhTaqiuddin Waiz Rabbani used to readoccasionally verses form Chandian of MullaDaud relating to the love of Lorik, and Chanda,Once when a certain person asked the Shaikhthe reason of choosing to recite Hindi verses inhis religious sermons, the saint replied that thewhole thing is full of divine and pleasing subject,Malik Muhammad jayasi, though an orthodoxMuslim, was also a good Sufi and that hasmentioned Hindu gods and goddesses and hasshown his familarity with Vedanta, Yoga andNath cults. The Muslim author of the Mrigavatiand Madhumalati, of Manasat, and other Hindipoems had already paved the way for Jayasi,The Sufi poet Qutban not only write in thelanguage of the people of the locality, but wasalso fully conversant with Hindu mythology, Hehad neither contempt nor prejudice for theHindu Scriptures and mythology.

BHAKTI MOVEMENT

The Bhakti movement is much older than theSufi movements. It philosophical concept hadbeen fully enunciated in the Upanishads andsubsequently, the Bhagavad Gita emphasisedlove and devotion as pathways to God. In thesixth century A.D. The Bhagavata purana placedthe concept of bhakti on a very high pedestal.During the post-Bhagavata phase passionatelove and devotion to one personal god become acharacteristic feature of the Indian religiousthought.

But the concept of bhakti was placed on afirmer ground in South India, whenShankaracharya revived the philosophy of

Advaita or Vedanta. After Shankara, twelveTamil Vaishnava saints collectively known asAlvars made the concept of bhakti more popular.The Alvars were followed by theVaishnavaacharyas who gave the Bhakti cult ametaphysical foundation. According to thisschool of thought the 'Supreme Being' is not'attributeless' but saguna, possissing qualities ofgoodness and beauty to an infinite degree, Theearly leadera of the Bhakti movement to NorthIndia and is rightly regarded as a bridge betweenthe bhakti movement of Suth and North India.

Features of Bhakti movement

1. The concept of Bhakti means single-minded devotion to one God. The objectof the devotee's adoration is to securethe grace of God for the sake ofaslvation.

2. The Bhakti cult discarded the rituals andsacrifices as modes of worship andinstend emphasis ed the purity of reartand mind, humanism and devation asthe simple way to realisation of God.

3. The Bhakti movement was essentiallymonotheistic and the devoteesworshipped one personal God, whocould either have form (saguna) or beformless (nirguna). The followers of theformer, knowh as vaishhavas, werefuther subdivided into of Krishna - bothincarnations of Vishnu - as theirpersonal God, respectively. The followersof Nirguna Bhakti discarded idolworship. They said that, God isomnipresent and resides within theheart of man.

4. On the philosophical side, the Sagunaand Nirguna both believed in theUpanishadic philosophy of advaita,with minor variation suggested byvarious Bhakti saints.

5. The Bhakti saints of North as well asSouth India regarded knowledge (jana)as a consitituent of bhakti. Since, thatknowledge could be gained through ateacher of guru, the Bhakti movementgreatly emphasised securing trueknowledge form a guru.

6. The Bhakti movement was an egalitarianmovement, which completely discardthe disciminations based on caste ofcreed. The saints of the Bhakti


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movement were staunch wupporters ofsocial unity and purity of mind,character and soul. The doors of Bhaktiwere opened for the lowest classes andeven untouchables. Many of the saits ofthe Bhakti movement were from thelower classes.

7. The Bhakti movement also discarded thepriestly domination as well as rituals.According to the Bhakti saints, theindividual could realise God throughdevotion and personal effort. Therefore,there was no place for sacrifices anddaily rituals in the Bhakti movement.

8. The Bhakti saints preached in the simplelanguage of the masses and, therefore,immensely contributed to thedevelopment of modern Indianlanguages, such as Hindi, Marathi,Bengali and Gujarati.

It can thus be seen that the Bhakti cult was awidespread movement that the Bhakti cult wasa widespread movement that embrached thewhole of the subcontinent of India for severalcenturies. It was a movement of the people andaroused intense interest among them. Perhapsafter the decline of Buddhism there had neverbeen a more widespread and popular movementin our country than the Bhakti movement.Although its basic principles of love and devotionto a personal God were purely Hindu and theprinciples of unity of Godhead on which itsteaching rested were also mainly Hindu. Themovement was profoundly influenced by Islamicbelief and practices. The Bhakti movement hadtwo main objects in view. One was to reformthe Hindu religion so as to enable it to withstandthe onslaught of Islamic propaganda andproselytism. Its second object was to bring abouta compromise between Hinduism and Islam andto foster friendly relations between Hindu andMuslim communities. It succeeded in realising,to a great extent, the first object of bringing aboutthe simplification of worship and liberalising thetraditional caste rules. "The high and the lowamong the Hindu public forgot many of theirprojedices and believed in the message of thereformers of the Bhakti cult, that all people wereequal in the eyes of God and that birth was nobar to religious salvation".

Bhakti Saints and Reformers

The cult of bhakti was followed by a host ofsaints of northern India. The moving spirit were

Ramananda, Kabir, Nanak, chaitanya andothers. The leaders of the Bhakti movement ofthe early period were mostly of southernextractions. The Bhakti movement associatedwith the southern group was more scholasitcthan popular, which was not the case with thenorthern group. The bhaktas of the latter groupdid not ponder over the subtle questions ofmetaphysics. The were essentially eclectic, broad-minede and latitudinarian in their views andoutlook. Caste was not a factor in the new Bhaktimovement. Many of the Bhakti poets rose formlower castes. Their message was both for the richand the poor, the high caste and the low, theeducated and the illiterate.

Ramanuja (twelfth century): The earliestexponent of the Bhakti movement was the greatVaishnava teacher Ramanuja who flourished inthe early years of the twelfth century in theSouth. His ideas laid the foundation of a vigorouspopular movement for the uplift of the people.The next leader of the Bhakti movement wasNimarbaka, a contemporary of Ramanuja. Hebelieved in the philosophy of Vishistadvaita andlaid emphasis on surrender to God.

Ramananda (fifteenth century):Ramananda, who flourished in the first half ofthe fifteenth century, was the first great Bhaktisaint of North India. He opened the door ofbhakti ot all without any distinction of birth,caste, creed or sex. He was a worshipper of Ramaand believed in two great principles, namely, (a)perfectlove for God and (b) human brotherhood.Ramananda adopted Hindi as the medium ofhis discourses and his message directly reachedthe common people. In his teachings the casterigours were greatly softened and even Shudraswere considered equal in the eyes of GodRamananda did away with the insular socialbehaviours of the Hindus by throwing hisspiritual door wide open for members of allcastes. Religion now become a question of faith,emotion an devotion. As a result of his teaching,a member of the despised classes could reach hisGod without an intermediary.

His unique contribution to Indian spirituallife was the spirit of synthesis obseved in histeaching. He accepted all that was true and ofpermanent value in our spiritual heritage- thephilosophy of meditation (yoga and knowledgefrom the North and the absolute surrender(prapatti) of the Bhakti cult from the South - andrejected all that was untrue, ephemeral, or rigidlysectarian. There is a popular verse to this effect:


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'Bhakti arose forst in the Dravida land;Ramananada brought it to the North; and Kabirspread it to the seven continents and ninedivisions of the world.'

Ramananda borrowed ideas from viriousreligious schools, vitalized them with the loveand devotion of his heart, and founded a newpath of spiritual realization. we do not comeacross many of his saying, but the radiantpersonality of his disciples- the men he created-constituted his living message. His one song isincorporated in the Granth Sahib.

Though Ramananda used the popular nameof Rama, his God was the one God of love andmercy, without any imperfection-not the eternalBrahman of the Vedanta, but the beloved, thefriend, and the lord of one's heart. WhenRamananda perceived that there is only one Godwho is the origin of all, all the distinctions of casteand creed vanished for him, and he sawhumanity as one large family, and all men asbrothers. One man is higher than another, notthrough his birth, but only through his love andsympathy. So he started preaching to all withoutany reserve, and his fundamental teaching wasthe gospel of love and devotion. He also gave upthe use of Sanskrit and started preaching in thelanguage of the people, thus laying thefoundation of modern vernacular literatures.

It is said that his first twelve followers were:

Ravidasa the cobbler, Kabir the weaver,Bhanna the jat peasant, Sena the barber, Pipathe Rajput, bhvananda, Sudhanda,Surasurananda, Parmananda, Mahananda, andSri Ananda. But some of them were notpersonally initiated by him; they were drawn tohis ideas long after his demise.

Ravidasa (Raidas): (Fifteenth Century) Hewas one of the most famous disciples ofRamananada. He was a cobbler by birth, but hisreligious life was as exalted and pure as it wasdeep. There are over thirty hymns of Ravidasacollected in the Granth Sahib of the Sikha. Kabiralso has expressed more than once his deepreverence for him. Ravidasa was the worshipperof the one infinite God, who is above and beyondall religious sects and without beginning or end.He preached that the Lord resides eithin therearts of his devotees, and cannot be accessedthrough the performance of amy rites andceremonies. Only one who has felt the pangs ofdivine love will find Him, and the highestexpression of religion in life is the service of man,

Kabir (1440-1510): Kabir, the most radicaldisciple of Ramananda, gave a positive shape tothe social philosophy of his illustrious teacher,In his trenchant arguments against the barrierof castes. Ramananda prepared the way forKabir. The later made a sincere attempt at areligious and national synthesis out of conflictingcreeds. Kabir was neither a theologian nor aphilosopher. he appears before us as teacher. hehad the courage ot condemn what he consideredto be sham and counterfeit in both Hinduism andIslam.

The central theme of Kabir's teaching isbhakti "kabir refused to acknowledge castedistinction or to recognise the authority of thesix school of Hindu philosophy, or the fourdivisions of life prescribed by the Brahmans. Heheld that religion without bhakti was no religionat all. and that asceticism, fasting and alms-giving had no value if unaccompanied by bhajan(devotional worship)". By means of ramaini,sakhas and sakhis he imparted religiousinstruction to Hindus and Muslims alike, He hadno perference for either religion. He thoughtaloud and never made it his object merely otplease his hearers. He thoroughly scrutinised thebases of ritualism. he incessantly fought toremove the fitualistic wuperstitions like visitingplaces of pilgrimage.

Kabir was a great satirist and ridiculed allthe institutions of his time. He opposed thePopular belief in the institution of sati. He wasequally against the veiling of women. Kabirrefused to recognise the superiority of Brahminsas a class. He refused to believe that birth in aparticular caste was due to the deeds in aprevious life. He advocated perfect equality ofShudras and Brahmins. Both Shudras andBrahmins were born in the same way, he said.

Kabir provides us with a code of ethics. hecondemned pride and selfishness and advocatedthe cultivation of the quality of humility. Kabirwas a spokesmen for the poor and downtroddensection of society. He condemned the sense ofhumility and simplicity of the poor as well asthe vanity and pride of the rich; By suchcondemnations; Kabir preached the commonbrotherhood of man and sought to remove thedistinction between Hindus and the Musilms.

Though he led a religious life, Kabir married,and it is said that the name of his wife was Loi.His son Kamal was both a thinker and a devotee.when, after his father's name, he answered, "My


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father had striven throughout his life aganist allforms of sectarianisn; how can I, his son, destroyhis ideal and thereby commit his spiritualmurder?" This remark estranged many of Kabir'sdisciples from Kamal.

After Kabir's death, his Muslim disciplesorganized themselves in Maghar, where theyfounded a monastery; hindu disciples wereorganized into an order by Surat Gopala, withtheir centre in Varanasi.

The chief scripture of this sect is the well-known Bijak a compilation of Kabir's couplets.In course of time, this centre leaned more andmore towards Vedantic doctrines.

Kabir believed in a simple and natural life,He himself wove cloth and sold it in the marketlike any ordinary weaver. He did not interpretreligious life as a life of idleness; he held that allshould toil and earn and help each other, butnone should hoard money. There is no fear ofcorruption form wealth, if it is dept constantlyin circulation in the service of humanity.

Kabir tried to express simple thoughts of asimple hearts in the common language of thepeople. He said, 'O Kabir, Sahskrit is the waterin a well. the language of the people is theflowing stream'. His simple words had infinitepower.

Malukdasa (1574-1682): One of the manyfollowers of Kabir, he was born towards the endof the sixteenth century in the District ofAllahabad. He was kind and compassionate,and, though religious man, he lived the life of ahouse holder. The monasteries of his sect arefound all over North India and even beyond,from Bihar to Kabul. he too preached againstthe worship of images and other external formsof religion, and his followers rely entirely on thegrace of God for their salvation. He was againstmortification of the flesh, and taught that thetrue path of spirituality lay in the simple devotionof the heart.

Dadu (1544-1603) : The most famous of thefollowers of Kabir's ideals was Dadu, he wasborn of Brahmana parents in Ahmedabad inA.D. 1544 and died in 1603 in the village ofNarana of Narayana in Rajasthan, where hisfollowers (Dadu-panthis) have now their chiefcentre. The great dream of his life was to uniteall the divergent faiths in one bond of love andcomradeship, and he founded theBrahmasampradaya or Parabrahma-

sampradaya to give effect to this great ideal. Hissayings possess great depth and liberality andshow clear traces of the influence of Kabir.

Dadu believed not in the authority ofscriptures, but in the value of self-realization. Toattain this realization, we must divest ourselvesof all sense of the ego and surrender our livesentirely to God. All men and women are asbrothers and sister in the presence of God. Heresides within the hearts of men, and it is therethat we must meditate on Him. Union with Godis possible only through love and devotion, andit is deepened not by prayers, but by joining ourservice to His service of the universe. We areunited with God when, shedding all sins andimpurities, we sincerely surrender ourselves tothe divine will.

Dadu taught : 'Be humble and free fromegotism; be compassionate and devoted inservice; be a hero, fearless and energetic; free yourmind from sectarianism, and from all themeaningless forgiving by nature and firm in yourfaith. The path of realization becomes easier, ifyou can find a true teacher.'

He himself was very simple by nature andfirm in your faith, and his prayers were full ofdepth and sweetness. he was a householder, andhe believed that, the natural life of a householderwas best suited for spiritual realization.

At the request of Dadu, his disciples made acollection of the devotional writings of all thedifferent sects, calculated to help men in theirstriving towards god, such an anthology of thereligious literature of different sects was perhapsthe first of its kind in the world, for the GranthSahib was first compiled in A.D. 1604, while thisanthology was completed some years befor A.D.1600. This collection includes many sayings ofMuslim saints like Kazi Kadam, Shaikh Farid,Kazi Mohommed, Shaikh Bahawad, andBakhna.

Among the many disciples of Dadu,Sundaradasa (A.D. 1597-1689), Rajjab, andother were distinguished personalities. Dadupersuaded his disciples to render into simpleHindu from Sanskrit the abstruse philosophicaltruths. He also made it a practice among themthe writer in Hindi, prose and verse, Daduadmitted both Hindus and Muslims to hisdiscipleship, and there have been many gurusin his sect who came form the Muslim families.Even today, in Rajjab's branch of Dadu's sect,


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andy one who attains to the height of spiritualrealization is accepted as the head of the order,whether he be a Hindu or a Muslim. The songsand prayers of Rajjab are universal in appeal andsuperb for their spirit of devotion.

Rajjab says: ' There are as many sects as thereare men; thus has come into being the diversityof spiritual endeavour. The sacred stream of theGanga rises from the blessed feet of Narayana,but the feet of the Lord are in the hearts of thedevotees. Thus, from the heart of every devoteeflows a Ganga of thoughts. If I can unite all thestreams of thoughts in this world, such aconfluence would indeed be the holiest of places.'He Further said: ' This universe is the veda, thecreation is the Qur'an.'

Guru Nanak (1469-1538): The Bhaktimovement in northern India, which had beengathering strength ever since the time ofRamanda, got another ardent bhakta in GuruNanak. He was preceded by an evolution of ideasand he followed the path blaxed by his illustriouspredecessors. He founded a new religion whichhas survived as a permanent element in theIndian society.

Guru Nanak, sharing to the full the eclecticspirit of his time, sought for a creed capable ofexpressing Hindus and Muslim devotion alike.He use both Hindu and Muslim nomenclaturesfor God, rama, Govinda, Hari, Murari, bad andRahim. He wanted to domlish the wall that stoodin the way of the two communities and unitethem.

The social teaching of Guru Nanak werebasically a reaffirmation of the ethical ideascommon to the medieval monotheistic religiousdoctrine of human equality. He held that it wassheer folly to think in terms of caste, A man wasto be honoured for his devotion to God and notfor his social position. he says. "God knows man'svirtues and inquires not his caste; in the nextworld there is no caste." Guru Nanak started freecommunity kitchens called Guru ka longer. Hisfollowers. Guru Nanak did not believe in thedoctrine of chhut (theological contamination)which had compartmentalised society.

He conceived of God as nirakara (formless).He discarded the worship of images andrepudiated idolatry. Being a man of deep andstrong conviction. he defined explicitly the ethics,norms and usages of public life, he resented thesurvival of superstition which seemed to be amark of cultural backwardness. He educated

people to distinguish superstitions form religiousvalues. The superstitions and formalism of bothHindustan and Islam were condemned.

Unlike Kabir, Nanak was a well-educatedma. He had studied Persian and Hindi, besideshis mother-tongue Punjabi. he travelled all overIndia and also to some countries of Central Asiaincluding Arabia, and come in contant with menof diverse professions, pursuits and creeds. Hewrote inspiring poems and songs which werecollected in a book form subsequently publishedas the Adi Grantha. He was recognised as aGuru, and died at Krtarpur in 1528.

Nanak was a revolutionary religiousreformer, he proclaimed that there is nodistinction between man and man, all were bornequal in the eyes of God. He felt that the realcause of the misery of the people was theirdisunity born of diversity of belief. He considerededucation essential for the attainment of true andcomplete life, True education helps the soul tounfold itself like a lotus of countless petals.

The universalism of his message andreasonableness of his precepts brought about amoral renaissance in India. He preached to thehigh and the high and the low without anydistinction of caste, creed or colour.

Guru Nanak was a monist and hismonotheism, unlike that of some other bhaktas.was undiluted. He did not believe in theincarnation of God. he regarded himself as theprophet of God who had come for the divineCourt. He taught that there is one God in theworld and the no other and that Nanak, thecaliph (son) of God, speaks truth. Nanak looksupon God as one Lord and the commander ofall. The universe is His domain and from Hisbrilliance everything is brilliant. All is illuminedby the light of His apperance.

Nanak says that devotion cannot existwithout virtue. Truth is no doubt great butgreater is truthful living. The qualities which oneshould cultivate assiduously are humility,charity, forgiveness and sweet words.Remembrance of god is the primary duty of aseeder of truth remember the name of God andgive up everything else, Simran is the practice ofdevotion to God. He (God) is high and worthyof worship. God is not outside but within everyindividual. He that pervades the universe alsodwells in the body. Speak the truth, then youwould realise God within you. Nanak believed


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in God as the omnipotent reality, but maintainedthat the separate individuality of the human soulcould attain union with him through love anddevotion.

Nanak's mission was to reform the Hindusreligion on the basis of unity of the Godhead andto bring about friendly realation between theHindus and Muslims.

Chaitanya (1486-1533): Perhaps the greatestsaint if not the greatest leader, of the Bhaktimovement was Chaitanya There had beenVaishnavism in Bengal long before his birth. Butthe activities of Chaitanya who is the founder ofmodern Vaishanvism in Bengal gave a greatinpetus to Vaishhavism and made it popular allover Bengal and Orissa. Chaitanya's originalname was Vishwambhar and he was born atNavadwip in February 1486. The boy was giventhe name of Nimai. His father Jagannath Mishrawas a religious and scholarly man and his motherShachi too was deeply religious and pious.Vishwambhar was sent to a private school tolearn and afterwards entrusted to a well-knownPandit, Ganga Das, for higher studies. He wasan exceptionally brilliant student and is said tohave mastered the Sanskrit language andliterature, grammar and logic, at the early ageof fifteen, Shortly after he completed hiseducation, he was give the title of Vidyasagar(the ocean ; of learning). While he was a student,his father died. He was married to a girl namedLakshmi but she died of shake-bite. He marriedagain and this lady survived her husband'ssanyas and death. He was not yet 22 when hereceived diksha (initation) from a saintly man,named Ishwar Prui, Whom he met at Gayaduring a pilgrimage. The motive whichinfluenced him to adopt asceticism was probablydiverse and complex; at best, it is left obscure.Chaitanya settled permanently at puri where hedied.

After sanyas he felt himself free from allworldly bounds and his heightened emotionsand ecstasies become marked. He said, "I shallwander form house to house giving the holyname of God to all. The Chandals, lowest caste,women and children all will stand with wonderand love to hear his name. Even boys and girlswill sing his praise." Chaitanya loved God as noman before or after him ever loved. he preachedthe religion of intense faith in one Supreme Beingwhom he called Drishna or Hari. He was freefrom ritualism, and his wordhip consisted in love

and devotion, song and dance, so intense andfull of emotion that devotees felt God's Presencein a state of ecstasy.

He was a great exponent of Krishnite formof Vaishnavism. He adored Krishna and Radhaand attempted to spiritualies their lives inVrindaban, he preached to all irrespective ofcaste and creed. His influence was so profoundand lasting that he is considered by his followersas an incarnation of Krishna of Vishnu.

Chaitanya accepted that Krishna along is themost perfect God. Vaishnavism, as preached byChaitanya, created an unprecedented sensationand enthusiasm in Gengal and its neighbouringreligions. like Orissa and Assam. AlthoughChaitanya had many followers, he did not seemto have directly organised them into a sect ofcult. It was his followers and devoted disciples,who after the master's death, systematised histeachings and organised themselves into a sectcalled Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

Mirabai (1498-1546): Mirabai was one of thegreatest saints of sixteenth century India. She wasthe only child of Ratna Singh Rathor of Merta.She was born at the village of Kudvi in Mertadistrict in or about A.D. 1498 and was marriedto Rana Singa's eldest son and heir-apparentBhoraj in 1516. She was highly religious fromher childhood, and like her father and grandfa-ther, was a follower of the Krishna cult of Vaish-navism. After her husband's death she devotedherself entirely to religious pursuits. Her fameas a sincere devotee of Krishna dnd a patron ofmen of religion speread far and wide and drewhermits of both sexes from distant places to Chit-tor. Owing to the strained relations with the rul-ers of Mewar, she went to reside with her uncleBiram Deva who was the chief of Merta. Andthere too she continued her daily routine. Sheremained engrossed in spiritual meditation andin religious music and dance. She also contin-ued having kirtan in the company of other reli-gious men and women. In this way she spendyears at Merta; but when that city was invadedand captured by Maldeva of Jodhpur; she de-cided to undertake pilgrimage to Dwarka. Thereshe lived the life of a dovotee and died in 1546.

Mira is said to have composed numerouspoems, all of them being devotional songs. Herlyrics, however, are her chief title to fame. Theyare written in Brijbhasha and partly inRajasthani, and some of her verses are inGujarati. These lyrics are saturated with super


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abundant feeling of love and devotion and areso melodious that they instantaneously arousethe tenderest human feelings and pangs of loveand devotion. Mira addressed her lyrics toKrishna whose persence she felt in every act ofher daily life. The lyrics are full of passion andspiritual estasy.

Vallabhacharya (1479-1531) : Vallabha-charya was the next great saint of the Krishnacult of Vaishnavism. He was born at varanasi in1479. His father lakshman Bhatt from Telenga-nga was on a pilgrimage along with his familyto Kashi, where his second son Vallabhacharyasaw the light of day. He travelled much and hetook his residence in Varindaban where he start-ed prieaching the Krishna cult. He worshippedLord Krishna under the title of Srinath ji. Likekabir and Nanak, he did not consider marriedlife a hindrance to spiritual progress. He was theauthor of a number of scholarly works in San-skrit and Brijbhasha.

Vallabhacharya's philosophy centres roundthe cenception of one personal and loving God.He believed in the marga (path) of pushti (grace)and bhakti (devotion). He looked upon SriKrishna as the highest Brahma, purushotamaand parmanand (the highest bliss).

According to Vallabhacharya, God can berealised only by the one. he chooses and for thischoice one has to practiise bhakti. In theexpression of pushtimarga, the word margameans path or way and the word pushti meansgrace of God Mukti or salvation can be attainedby it and in no other way. Devotion or bhaktimust be without any object in view and withoutany desire of fruit. It should be accompained bylove and service.

Surdas (sixteenth-seventeenth century): Noaccout of the Bhakti movement can be completewithout describing the two great Hindu poets,Surdas and Tulsidas. Both were saints of a highorder, but not preachers and reformers in theformal sense, and neither of them founded a sector cult. We have not much information aboutthe principal events of Surdas's life, not even thedates of his birth and death.

Surdas was the devotee of Lord Krishna andRadha. He believed that salvation can beachieved only through the devotion of Krishnawho is Saguna God. Three of his works are verypopular. They are Sur Sarawali, Sahitya Ratnaand Sur Sagar. The Sur sagar, which is said tocontain 1,25,000 verses, is not only saturated

with love and devotion, but is also notable fordepiction Krishna as a child. Surdas hasdisplayed a masterly knowledge of childpsychology and also expressed his sinceredevotion to the Almighty. Surdas's works andhis stray poems have produced a tremendousinpact on the Indian Masses.

Tulsidas (1532-1623): Tulsidas is consideredby modern scholars as greater than Surdas, bothas a poet and as a devotee. He was born in aSaryuparian Brahmin family in of about 1532 inVaranasi.

His father's names was Atmaram Dubey andhis mother was Hulsi. On account of his wifeRatnavali's taunt, he took to the life of a religioushermit. It is presumed that he began writing hisRam Charit Manas in 1574, when he was 42years of age. Besides this, he wrote several otherbooks. such as Gitwali, Kaviawali, Vinay Patrika,etc. The Ram Charit Manas is an expsoition ofreligious devotion of the highest category.Tulsidas was the worshipper of Rama and hewas drawn as ideal picture of his mation of Godand believed that man could reach him onlythrough bhakti.

Tulsidas died at the age of 91, in 1623. "He isconsidered even now as a great Vaishnavabhakta and acharya who lived in the hearts ofmillions of men and women, through hisimmortal Vinaya Patrika and Rom CharitManas".

MINOR SECTS AND SAINTS

Sankardev (1449-1568): He was the greatestreligious reformer of medieval Assam. Hismessage centred around absolute devotion toVishnu of his incarnation Krishna. Its essencewas monotheism, and it came to be known asEka-Sarana-dharma (religion of seeding refugein one). he did not recognise a female associateof the Supreme Deity (Lakshmi, radha, Sita, etc.).He insisted upon Niskama Bhakti. He recognisedthe sanctityu of the Bhagavat Purana A compof it was placed on the alter-like the GramthaSahib in the Sidh Guradwaras. He preached therejection of ritualism including idol worship.

Sankardva denounced the caste system andpreached his ideas to the masses through theirmother tongue. His creed, generally known asMahapurshiya dharma, exercised widespreadand far-reaching influence on all aspects of lifein Assam.


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Narsi (Narsimha) Mehta (Fifteenth Century):Narasi or Narasimah Mehta was a well-knownsaint of Gujarat, who flourished in the secondhalf of the fifteenth century. He wrote songs inGujarati depicting the live of Radha and Drishna,which are included in the Suratasangrama. Hewas the author of Mahatam Gandhi's favouriteBhajan Vishnava jana To Teno Kahiye.

Jagjivan (Seventeenth Century): He was thefounder of a sect known as Satnami (ofSatyanami). He taught that spiritual realizationwas possible only through the grace of God, andhe insisted on purity as the essence of a religiouslife. This aspiration was to unite the two streamsof Hindu and Muslim religious life through live.

There were some other sects known by thesame name of Satnami, both before and afterJagjivan's time. One of these was founded byGhasidasa of the Cobbler caste. The followers ofthis faith do not touch animal food or wine, donot believe in imagewordhip and thoughconsidered 'untouchables', do not acknowledgethe superiotiry of the Brahamna and other castes.According to them, superiority consists in purityof character and conduct and devotion to God.

Lalgir of Lalbeg (Seventeenth Century):Another religious man of the same caste wasLalgir of Lalbeg, who founded a sect known asAladhanmi or Aladhgir, which has a greatfollowing in Bikaner. The followers of this sectdo not worship images, but meditate upon theinvisible. One who cannot be perceived by thesenses. The primary requirements of a religiouslife, according to them, are nonviolence,catholicity, charity, and purity. 'Do not beanxious about the next world,' this way, 'youwill attain the highest bliss in this. Heaven andhell are within you.' They great each other withthe words 'Aladh Kaho' (take the name of Godwho is invisible).

The Aladhnami sect also does notacknowledge the superiority of the higher castes.They are not sorry that they are debarred fromentering the temples, for they regard these as lowplaces, where one is diverted from the truth. Themonks of this sect are note for their gentle andrestrained behaviour. They do not mind if theyare refused alms.

Dariya Saheb (Seventeenth Century): Hebelonged to a will-known Kshatriya family ofUjjain. Dariya Saheb was deeply influenced inhis religious life by the teachings of Kabir. Hisfollowers pray like the Muslims in a standing

posture called Kornis, while their prayers in thesitting posture are known as sazda. They do notbelieve in scriptures, rites and observanes.pilgrimages, vows, vestments, of mantra. Theworship of images of incarnations. caste-distinction, the partaing of meat of wine, andall forms of violence are strictly forbidden in thissect.

There was nother Dariya Saheb who wasborn in A.D. 1676 in Marwar, in a Muslim familyof cottontraders. On account of a strongsimilarity of Kabir's and Dadu's teachings, he isbelieved by some to be an incarnation of Dadu.He has many followers in Rajasthan, where themonsteries of his set are scattered in differentplaces. He worshipped God under the name ofRama and Parabrahman. The section entitledbrahma-parichaya in his collected poems dealswith the mysteries of yoga His sect includes bothhouseholders and ascetics among its members,and his songs are very popular with both Hindusand Muslims.

Shivanarayan (Early 18th Century): he wasborn in a Rajput family in the ballia District ofUattar Pradesh about A.D. 1710. He was a puremonist, and was completely against image-worship. He believed God to be without formand attributes. Any use of animal food orintoxicants is strictly forbiddin in his sect, andthe path laid down is one of single-mindeddevotion, purity of life, self-restraint, and lovefor humanity. This sect was open to members ofall creeds and castes, and the union of all formsof faith in orn universal religion was the dreamof Shivanarayana's life, Shivanarayan wasinpired, Through not directly, by the ideas ofDara Shikoh, and his philosophy containselements form both the Hindu and th Islamicreligious tradition. It is said that the later MughalEmperor Mohammed Shah (A.D. 1719-48) wasconverted to his faith, and the poets wali Allah,Abru, and Nazi also has a deep reverence forhis spiritual life and teachings.

THE BHAKTI MOVEMENT IN MAHARASH-TRA (MAHARASHTRA DHARMA)

The liberal religion preached by the saintpoets of Maharashtra is popularly known asMaharashtra Dharma, which was a stream ofthe medieval Bhakti movement, but socially itwas more profound, unitary and far more liberalin the field of social reforms. The Bhakti cult inMaharashtra centred around the shrine of


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Vithoba or Vitthal the presiding diety ofPandharpur, who was regarded as amainfeatation of Krishna. This movement is alsoknown as the Pnadharpur movement led to thedevelompent of Marathi literature, modificatonof caste exclusiveness, sanctification of family life,elevation of the status of women, spread of thespirit of humaneness and toleration,subordination of ritual to love and faith, andlimitation of the excesses of polytheism.

The Bhakti movement in Maharashtra isbroadly divided into two sects. The first schoolof mystics is known as Varakaris, of the milddevatees of God Veththala of prndharpur, andthe second as Dharakaris, or the heroic followersof the cult of Ramadasa, the devotee of GodRama. The former are more rational, practical.and concrete in their thoughts. The differencebetween the two schools is, however, onlyapparent and not real, realization of God as thehighest end of human life being common to both.The three great teachers of the Vithoba cult werejnaneswar Jnandeva or, Namdeva and Tukaram.

The dates of birth and of other importantevents in the lives of all Maharashtra saintsexpects Ramadasa are only approximatelyknown. It is, however, historical fact thatNivrttinatha and jnaneswar are the founders ofthe mystical school in Maharasthra, which laterdeveloped an assumed different forms at thehands of Namadeva Ekanatha, and Tukarama.

Bhakti Saints of Maharashtra

Jnaneswar of Jnanadeva: One of the earliestBhakti Saints of Maharashtra Jnaneswarflourished in the 13th century. He wrote theMarathi commentary on the Gita known asJnaneswari, which deserves to be reckonedamong the world's best mystical compositions.his other works are Amratanubhava andchangadeva Prasasti.

Namadeva: Namadeva was born in a tailor'sfamily. we are told that as a child he was verywild and in his youth he took to, vagabond life,but certain sudden incidents moved him to thepath of spirituality, transformin him to a greatsaint and a gifted poet. His Marathi poems havegenuine marks of simplicity, devotion andmelody, he was suddenly coverted to thespiritual life, when he heard the piteous cries andcurses of the helpless wife of one of his victims.

He passed the major part of his life atPandharpur, and was mainly responsible for

building up the glorious tradition of the schoolof thought known as Varakarisampradaya. Hewas initiated into mystic life by Visoba Khechara,who convinced Namadeva of the all-pervadingnature of God. He travelled with his youngercotemporary, Jnaneswar. Some of his lyricalverses are included in the Granth Sahib. Thedominant note of his thoughts is earnest andwhole-hearted devotion to God. Purification ofthe heart is possible only through suffering, andGod can be realized through pure love. He wrotea number of abhangas to show people the pathto God through repetition of His name.

Ekanatha: He was born at Paithan(Aurangabad). His life was an object-lesson inthe reconciliation of practical and spiritual life,He observed no distinction of caste and creed,and once gave to the pariahs the food preparedas an offering to his forefathers. His sympathiesknew no limits; he poured the holy waters ofthe Godavari (brought from a long distance atthe risk of life for the worship of the Lord) intothe throat of an ass that was dying of thirst. Hepublished for the first time a reliable edition ofthe Jnaneswari. He was a voluminous writer, andhis commentary on four verses of the Bhagavatais famous. It was his custom to sing Kertana(devotional composition) every day, and heobserved it ti the last day of his life, His mysticexperiences are expressed most explicitly tin thisabhangas. He popularized the vedantaphilosophy and the mystic teachings of earliersaints. He passed away in A.D. 1598.

Tukaram : Tukaram was born in the familyof a farmer. He had some cattle and landedproperty, but lost them all in great famine,together with his parents, one of his two wives,and a son. He become a bankrupt and gotdisgusted with his life. His other wife was ashrew, who abused his companion-devo-tees.Trouble both at home and outside, Tukaramatook to the study of the works of Jnaneswar,Namadeva, and Ekanatha, and began tomeditate on God in solitary places on the hills ofBhamhanatha and Bhandara.

He wrote several abhangas, which embodyhis teachings and are widely recited inMaharashtra. He was contemporary of Shivajiand refused to accept the offer of rich presentsmade by him.

Ramdasa: He was born in 1608. Hewandered throughout India for twelve years andfinally settled at Chaphal on the banks of the


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Krishna where he built a temple. He was thespiritual guide of Shivaji. Ramdasa was born ina period of political upheaval, and could not butbe partly affected by it. But he regarded therealization of God as primary, and political asonly of secondary, importance in life. He was asaint of practical temperament andsystematically organized his order. Heestablished his monasteries throughoutMaharashtra to serve as centres of spiritual andpractical activities. In his monumental work.Dasabodha, be combined his vast knowledge ofvarious sciences and arts with the synthesizingprinciple of spiritual life. He also wrote manyabhangas and some minor works, all of whichinspire a deep love for the life of God-realisation.

The greatest contributioon of the Bhaktimovement in Maharastra was in uniting thepeople of Maharashtra into a nation, whichgreatly helped in the rise of the Marathamovement under Shivaji.

The Mahanubhava Panth: Another religiouscult founded in Maharasthra around this timewas Mahanubhava Panth. The cult fell intodisrepute and incurred unpopularity among theMharashtrians, perhaps because of its allegeddisbelief in the caste system, disregard of theteachings of the Vedas, and non-adherence tothe asrama system. The leaders and followers ofthe cult had to carry on their spiritual

propaganda and activities under great restraintsenforced by the State. All their holy works were,therefore, written in symbolic script, a key todecipher which was supplied for the first timeby V.K. Rajavade, Govinda Prabhu, a greatmystic, was the founder of this cult, andChakradhara its first apostle. Nagadevaoranized the cult on a systematic basis. Bhaskara,Kesavaraja Suri, Damodara Pandita, Visvantha,and narayana pandita were, amongst others, themost learned and important followers of the cult.Of the women follower Mahadamba was anadvanced mystic and a poetess of no mean orde,The Mahanubhavas were, in reality, thefollowers of the Bhagvata, and the Sutraphatha(a collection of aphorisms of Chakradhara) asthe standard and classical religious works. SriKrishna and Dattatreya were their prominentdeities. Devotion to Krishna is, in their openion,the only way to the realization of God. This was,therefore, primarily a cult of Sri Krishnal Butlater they accepted Dattatreya - a trinity in unityof Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, representing theprinciples of creation, sustenance, anddissolution of the universe, with emphasis onVishnu, of Vishnu as Krishna Thus thMahanubhava cult seems the combine the cultof Krishna, represented by the Nathas ofMaharashtra, with that of Dattatreya,represented by Narasimaha Saraswati andJanardana Svamin.

��


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BABUR

Babur ascended the throne at Farghana, asmall principality in Transoxiana, in 1494 at theage of twelve after the death of his father. Thesituation in Central Asia was not stable andBabar had to face a lot of resistance from thenobility itself. Although he was able to captureSamarqand but very soon he had to retreatbecause of desertion of some of his nobles. Healso lost Farghana to the Uzbegs.

Thus, the early years of Babur's rule in centralAsia were tough. During this whole period hehad plans of moving towards Hindustan. Andfinally from 1517 onwards he made decisivemoves towards India. A few developments inIndia at that time also helped him to act on plansof invading India.

Timurids

Babur traced his lineage from Timur the greatconqueror of Central Asia and to Chengiz Khanthe distinguished conqueror. From mother's sidehe was a descendant of Mongols and fromfather's side the great commander Timur. Becauseof the lineage of Timur the Mughals are alsoreferred as Timurids.

The unstable political situation in India afterSikandar Lodi's death convinced him of politicaldiscontentment and disorder in the Lodi Empire.Meanwhile there was conflict between someAfghan chiefs with Ibrahim Lodi. Prominentamong them was Daulat Khan Lodi, theGovernor of a large part of Punjab. The Rajputking of Mewar Rana Sanga was also assertinghis authority against Ibrahim Lodi and wastrying to increase his area of influence in northIndia. Both of them sent word to Babur to invadeIndia. Invitations from Rana Sanga and DaulatKhan Lodi might have encouraged Babur'sambitions.

Babur was successful in capturing Bhira(1519-1520), Sialkot (1520) and Lahore (1524)in Punjab. Finally, Ibrahim Lodi and Babur'sforces met at Panipat in 1526. Babur's Soldiers

MUGHAL DYNASTYCHRONICLEIAS ACADEMYA CIVIL SERVICES CHRONICLE INITIATIVE

were less in number but the organization of hisarmy was superior. Ibrahim Lodi was defeatedin the battle of Panipat. Success at the Battle ofPanipat was a great achievement of Babur'smilitary tactics. Babur had an active army of only12000 soldiers while Ibrahim's army had anestimated strength of 100,000 soldiers. When faceto face in the battle field Babur's tactics wereunique. He effectively applied the Rumi(Ottoman) method of warfare. He encircledIbrahim's army from two flanks. In the centrehis cavalry mounted attack with arrows and gunfires by expert ottoman gunners. The trenchesand barricades provided adequate defenceagainst march of the enemy. The Afghan armyof Ibrahim Lodi suffered heavy causalities.Ibrahim Lodi died in the battle field. Babur wasthus able to take control of Delhi and Agra andgot the rich treasure of Lodis. This money wasdistributed among Babur's commanders andsoldiers. Victory at Panipat provided Babur afirm ground to consolidate his conquests. Butnow he was faced with a few problems:

i. His nobles and commanders were eagerto return to Central Asia because theydid not like the climate of India.Culturally also, they felt very alienated.

ii. Rajputs were rallying around under theleadership of Rana Sanga the king ofMewar and wanted to expel the Mughalforces

iii. The Afghans, though defeated atPanipat, were still a formidable force ineastern parts of UP, Bihar and Bengal.They were re-grouping to reclaim theirlost powers. To begin with Baburconvinced his companions and noblesto stay back and help in consolidatingthe conquered territories. Aftersucceeding in this difficult task, he senthis son Humayun to face the easternAfghans. Rana Sanga of Mewarsucceeded to muster support of a largenumber of Rajput chiefs. Prominentamong these were Jalor, Sirohi,


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Dungarpur, Amber, Merta etc. MediniRai of Chanderi, Hasan Khan of Mewatand Mahmud Lodi younger son ofSikander Lodi also joined Rana withtheir forces. Possibly, Rana Sangaexpected Babur to return to Kabul.Babur's decision to stay back must havegiven a big jolt to Rana Sanga'sambitions. Babur was also fully awareof the fact that it would be impossiblefor him to consolidate his position inIndia unless he shattered Rana's power.The forces of Babur and Rana Sangamet at Khanwa, a place near FatehpurSikri. Rana Sanga was defeated in 1527and once again the superior militarytactics of Babur succeeded. With thedefeat of Rana the biggest challenge innorth India was shattered. Though theMewar Rajputs received great shock atKhanwa, Medini Rai at Malwa was stillthreatening to challenge the authorityof Babur. In spite of great valour withwhich the Rajputs fought in Chanderi(1528), Babur faced little difficulty inovercoming Medini Rai. With his defeat,resistance across Rajputana wascompletely shattered.

But Babur had to tackle the Afghans. TheAfghans had surrendered Delhi, but they werestill powerful in the east (Bihar and parts ofJaunpur). The success against the Afghans andRajputs at Panipat and Khanwa was verysignificant but the resistance was still present.However, these victories were a step forward inthe direction of the establishment of Mughalempire. Babur died in 1530. Still the rulers ofGujarat, Malwa and Bengal enjoyed substantialmilitary power and were not suppressed. It wasleft to Humayun to face these regional powers.

HUMAYUN'S RETREAT AND AFGHANREVIVAL (1530-1540)

After the death of Babur in 1530, his sonHumayun succeeded him. The situation underHumayun was quite desperate. The mainproblems faced by Humayun were:

i. The newly conquered territories andadministration was not consolidated.

ii. Unlike Babur, Humayun did notcommand the respect and esteem of

Mughal nobility.

iii. The Chaghatai nobles were notfavourably inclined towards him andthe Indian nobles, who had joinedBabur's service, deserted the Mughalsat Humayun's accession.

iv. He also confronted the hostility of theAfghans mainly Sher Khan in Bihar onthe one hand and Bahadurshah, theruler of Gujarat, on the other.

v. As per the Timurid tradition Humayunhad to share power with his brothers.The newly established Mughal empirehad two centres of power - Humayunwas in control of Delhi, Agra andCentral India, while his brother Kamranhad Afghanistan and Punjab underhim.

Humayun felt that the Afghans were abigger threat. He wanted to avoid a combinedopposition of Afghans from east and the west.At that time Bahadur Shah had occupied Bhilsa,Raisen, Ujjain and Gagron and wasconsolidating his power. While Humayun wasbesieging Chunar in the east, Bahadur Shah hadstarted expanding towards Malwa andRajputana. In such a situation Humayun wasforced to rush back to Agra (1532-33).

Continuing his expansionist policy, BahadurShah attacked Chittor in 1534. Chittor hadstrategic advantage as it could provide a strongbase. It would have helped his expansion inRajasthan particularly towards Ajmer, Nagorand Ranthambhor. Humayun captured Manduand camped there because he thought that fromhere he can block Bahadur Shah's return toGujarat. Humayun's long absence from Agraresulted in rebellions in Doab and Agra and hehad to rush back. Mandu was now left underthe charge of Mirza Askari, the brother ofHumayun. During the period when Humayunwas busy in Gujarat to check Bahadurshah, SherShah started consolidating himself in Bihar andBengal. Sher Shah wished to establish himselfas the undisputed Afghan leader. He invadedthe Bengal army and defeated them in the battleof Surajgarh. Sher Shah could extract quite awealth from Bengal which helped him to raise abigger army. Now he started attacking Mughalterritories of Banaras and beyond. Humayunwas quite suspicious of Sher Shah's ambitionsbut failed to estimate his capabilities. He asked


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his governor of Jaunpur, Hindu Beg to check themovements of Sher Shah. Meanwhile Sher Shahcaptured Gaur (1538) the capital of Bengal. WhileHumayun was moving towards Bengal SherShah took control of route to Agra makingcommunication difficult for Humayun. On theother hand, Hindal Mirza, brother of Humayun,who was supposed to provide supplies for hisarmy, declared his independence. Now,Humayun decided to return to Chunar. Whenhe reached Chausa (1539), he encamped on thewestern side of the river Karmnasa. Sher Shahattacked Humayun at the bank of the river anddefeated him. Sher Shah declared himself as anindependent king. Humayun could escape butmost of his army was destroyed. With difficultyhe could reach Agra. His brother Kamran movedout of Agra towards Lahore leaving Humayunwith small force. Sher Shah now moved towardsAgra. Humayun also came forward with hisarmy and the armies of the two clashed atKannauj. Humayun was defeated badly in thebattle of Kannauj (1540).

Second Afghan Empire (1540-1555)

After a gap of 14 years Sher Shah succeededin establishing the Afghan rule again in India in1540. Sher Shah and his successors ruled for 15years. This period is known as the period ofsecond Afghan Empire.

The founder of this Afghan rule Sher Khanwas a great tactician and able militarycommander. We have already discussed hisconflict with Humayun. After defeatingHumayun he became sovereign ruler in the year1540 and assumed the title of Sher Shah.

Sher Shah followed Humayun on his flighttill Sindh in the North West. After expellingHumayun he started consolidating his positionin Northern and Eastern India. He defeated andconquered Malwa in 1542 which was followedby Chanderi. In Rajasthan he led campaignsagainst Marwar, Ranthambhore, Nagor, Ajmer,Merta Jodhpur and Bikaner. He defeatedrebellious Afghans in Bengal. By 1545 he hadestablished himself as the supreme ruler fromSindh and Punjab to whole of Rajputana in theWest and Bengal in the East. Now he turnedtowards Bundel Khand. Here while besiegingthe fort of Kalinjar he died in 1545 in anaccidental blast of gun powder. During his briefrule Sher Shah introduced very importantchanges in administration and revenue system.The most important ones were:

Central Administration

While displaying due deference to theAfghan socio-customs, Sher Shah had theforesight to realize that the Afghans mustgradually be weaned away from a tribal andparochial outlook and trained to think in termsof an empire.

He however, disfavoured the Mughalconcept of delegating undue initiative andauthority to the Wazirs. His ideal was to establishan undiluted despotism, where all power flowedfrom the monarch.

The Wazirs were substituted by a band ofsecretaries, who merely implemented the king'sorders. The important secretaries were modelledafter the system of the Delhi Sultans.

Diwani-i-Wizarat was headed by a Wazirwho acted as the financial secretary. He lookedafter the departments of revenue, audits andaccount. Since Sher Shah possessed adequateknowledge of revenue affairs, he took specialinterest in this departments.

Diwani-i-Ariz was looked after by Ariz-i-Mamalik. As the military secretary, heimplemented emperor's military policy,particularly the framing of rues and theassignments of salaries. There was also Mir-i-Atish in charge of artillery, who in rank wasequivalent to the secretaries.

Diwan-i-Insha looked after the correctdrafting of the imperial orders and the recordsof the government.

Diwan-i-Qaza or the Chief Qazi constitutedthe highest criminal court in the realm.

Diwan-i-Rasalat or Muhatsib was inchargeof the public trusts.

Barid-i-Mamalik was the head of theintelligence department and was obliged toreport every important incident to the king.Under him, there were a number of news-writersand spies who were posted in all the towns andmarkets, including the series and every importantlocality, who fed the Sultan with the dailyhappenings of the empire.

Provincial Administration

There was no clear demercation of either theprovinces or the duties of the governor. Similarly,there is no mention of Subas. Considering thatthere ware provinces before and after Sher


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Shah's reign on the basis of historical continuity,there must have been provinces or Subas underSher Shah.

The only exception was Bengal, where theconstant turmoil, convinced with of the futilityof placing the province under the one individual.He, therefore, divided it into a number ofdivisions, under respective Jagirdars.

No definite information, however, isavailable of Sher Shah's deliberate organizationof the Provincial administration, though in a vastempire, Sher Shah with his flair foradministration could not have overlooked theimportant of a well organized provincialadministration as a link between the central andthe local government.

Administration At District Level And Below

A province comprised a number of Sarkars,which were further sub divided into Parganas.Here, Sher Shah seems to have retained theexisting size of the Shiqas and the Parganas. Theword Shiq came to be used under the Tughlaqsand denoted a sub-division of privince.

There were two chief officers of the Sarkarsas Chief Shiqdar or Shiqdar-i-Shiqdaran andChief Munsif r Munsif-i-Munsiftan.

The Chief Shiqdar enjoyed tremendousprestige and power and the Faujdar of Akbar'sreign was modelled on him. His chief duty wasto maintain law and order in the district and hewas given a respectable force to command. Whilehe had no direct responsibility to collect the land-revenue, he was obliged to render assistance insecuring the collection by using coercion, ifnecessary. Besides, he also supervised the workof the various Shiqdars in the Parganas.

The Munsif-Munsifan's primary function wasto supervise the assessment and collection ofrevenue. He also supervised the work of thesubordinate Munsifs. To prevent corruption andnepotism, they were transferred every year ortwo.

Apart from these two officers, the chroniclesdo not mention any other officers. Anadministrative hierachy of the clerks andaccountants, however, must have existed torender help.

Each Sarkar comprised of a number ofParganas. The Shiqdar or Amil was incharge ofthe Pargana. But his chief function was to collect

the land-revenue. Besides, there was a Munsifor Amin, who supervised the measurement ofthe land and settled disputes regarding the sizeof the holdings. The interests of cultivators, theircustoms and practices, were protected by asemi-official Qanungo, the Pargana recordkeeper, whose office was usually hereditary. TheShiqdar was assited by two clerks known asKarkuns who kept the records in Hindi andPersion. The treasure and cash were kept byKhazanadar or Fotadar.

In each village, there was the hereditaryoffice of the Muqaddam, Mukhiya or the headman, who acted as the chief link between thegovernment and the village. He was responsiblefor the collection of the land-revenue from thevillages and was also allowed a precentage ofthe collection. He was helped by a Patwari, anofficial, who was not appointed by thegovernment but was maintained by the villagers.He was also the village record-keeper.

Military Organisation

Sher Shah initiated the practice f paying thesoldiers fixed salaries from the treasury. In a bidto bring the soldiers in direct touch with himself,Sher Shah as their commander-in-chief and thepay master general, recruited soldiers himself andfixed their salaries after personally inspectingthem.

Sher Shah strictly enforced the Khilji policyof branding of horses (Dagh) and preparingdescriptive rolls (Huliya) of the soldiers. He thusattempted to eliminate corruption by preventingthe practice of proxy at the time of militaryreview.

The central army consisted of 1,50,000cavalry, 50,000 infantry and an elephant forceof 5,000. Sher shah's military set-up did not havea regular artillery. The army was posted incantonments spread all over the country, ofwhich Rohtas and Delhi were the mostimportant.

There is no contemporary mention of thedetails of the army divisions though one division(Fauj), was placed under Faujdar. Besides, these,additional troops were supplied by the provincialgovernors in times of emergencies.

Judicial System

From the comparative silence of thecontemporary chronicles it may be inferred that


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Sher Shah did not introduce any innovations injudicial department. Neverthless, his severe butjust rule resulted in treating all, including his kithand kin, as equals before law.

He held that, "justice is the most excellent ofreligious rites and it is approved both by thekings of the infides and the faithful" andconsisted in giving fair and honest deal to allmen. He made no difference between the highand the low or rich and the poor and impartedjustice to all with equal vigour. Sher Shah himselfacted as the highest court and personally decidedthe cases of nobles and high officials.

The civil cases of the Muslims were decided,as in the past, by the Kazi, Another officer, MirAdl, is mentioned but his functions are notspecified. The Criminal law was uniform andrigorously imposed. Robbers, thieves as also theoppressors of the cultivators were severelypunished. Flogging, amputation of limbs andexecutions were freely imparted.

Police System

As for the police, there was no separatedepartment. Sher Shah largely acted on theaxiom of local responsibility for maintainingpeace.

The Shiqdars and the Shiqdar-i-Shiqdaranwere responsible for the maintenance of law andorder in Parganas and Sarkars. Just as the villageheadmen were obliged to look after their areas.

The largest responsibility rested with theMuqaddams and Chowdharies, who wereseverely punished, in case they failed to detectthe crimes.

Sher Shah thus attempted to involve thepeople at large in the maintenance of law andorder in their regions.

Land Revenue System

Sher Shah's most striking contribution wasmade in the field of revenue.

The Turko-Afghan Sultans, with theexception of Tughlaqs, had formulated nodeliberate principles of land revenue. Generallyunconcerned with the production yield,standardisation of crops and welfare schemesfor the peasants, the Sultans has confined theirattention to a strict collection of the land-revenue.

The incidence of the land-revenue varied

from Sultan to Sultan with the maximum ceilingat fifty per cent under Ala-ud-di Khilji. Whilethe lack of a scientific method of assessmenthandicapped the peasants vis-a-vis the collectors,the system of granting Jagirs and assisgnmentsof revenue, further failed to promote any directrelations between the state and the peasant. Theabsence of any royal inclination towards therevenue affairs, only encouraged the hereditaryclass of revenue collectors, namely, theMuqaddams and Chowdharies, who were in solepossession of the revenue secrets, to misuse theirpower and practice corruption and atrocities onthe peasants.

Sher Shah, therefore, inherited the intricateproblems of conciliating and structing thepeasantry relations with the state and fixing arational demand based on a correct assessmentof the produce. Sher Shah, however, as the onlysovereign who is known to have gained apractical experience in managing a small bodyof peasants before rising to the throne came withhis scheme of revenue settlement ready made andsuccessfully tested by experiment. It was but anextension of the system introductioned by himat Sasaram.

As a monarch, he unilatereally decided thatthe best system of assessment must be based onactual measurement. According, the empire wassurveyed. In order to ensure the accuracy ofmeasurement and honestry of collection he fixedthe wages of the measurers and the collectors.

The uniform system of measurement in spiteof strong opposition from some quarters, wasenforced all over the empire, with the exceptionof Multan where political turmoil couldendanger the security of the State. But there too,a record was kept of the settlement madebetween the government and the cultivator, andthe latter was given a title deed (Patta) in whichconditions of the settlement were specificallystated.

According to the schedule of Sher Shah'sassessment rates the revenue on perishablearticles was fixed in cash rates, but for all theprincipal staple crops, the land was classifiedinto three classes-good, middling and bad. Afterthe average produce of the three was added, one-third of the total was taken as the averageproduce of each bigha for revenue purposes. Ofthis, one-third was demanded as the share ofthe government. It could be paid in cash or inkind though the former mode was preferred. In


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case of cash payments, the state demand wasfixed according to the prices prevalent in thenear markets and a schedule of crop of crop rateswas preserved indicating the method and therates of assessment.

The state gave a patta to each cultivator,which specified the state demand. He was alsoobliged to sign a qabuliat (deed of agreement)promising to honour the revenue due from him.Both the documents contained information onthe size of the plot.

Sher Shah's revenue settlement has beenunanimously acclaimed. And it has beencontended hat it provided the basis for TodarMal's bandobust in Akbar's reign, as also for theRyotwari system in British India.Notwithstanding its obvious strengths it wouldbe unrealistic to describe his revenue settlementas a master-piece; for the system was not withoutdefects.

Sher Shah was the first ruler who consideredthe welfare of the people as essential for theinterests of the state. He was benign in times ofdrought and famine. The state, under suchcircumstances, would lend money and materialto the cultivators. Besides, his standinginstruction to the army not to damage any cropsand in any damage, to adequately compensate.

Currency Reforms

He removed the currency which had debasedunder the later Turko-Afghan regimes andinstead issued well executed coins of gold, Silverand Copper of a uniform standard. His silverrupee which weighed 180 grams and contained175 grains of silver was retained throughout theMughal period as also by the British East IndiaCompany, till 1885. Besides the coins of smallerfractions of a rupee, the copper coins too hadfractions of half quarter, eighth and sixteenth.

Promotion Of Trade And Commerce

Sher Shah gave every possible encourage-ment to the trade and commerce and took anumber of measures for this purpose. He didaway with all the internal custom duties withthe exception of the two. These two duties werecharged at the time of entry of the goods in thekingdom and at the time of the actual sale. For-eign goods were permitted to enter Bengal dutyfree. Sher Shah paid special attention tot he safe-ty and convenience of the merchants and hadissued specific instructions to his officers in thisregards.

Promotion Of Education

Sher Shah not only took necessary measuresto ameliorate the condition of the people but alsopaid attention to the promotion of education. Hegave liberal grants to both the Hindu andMuslim educational institutions. The Hinduswere free to regulate their educationalinstitutions and Sher Shah did not interfere intheir working. Similarly, the Muslim educationalinstitution were mainly attached with mosquesand imparted elementary education to thechildren. The taught Persian and Arabic. SherShah also established Madrasas for highereducation. To help the poor and brilliant studentshe awarded liberal scholarships. Sher Shah alsomade liberal provisions for the support of blind,the old, the weak, widows etc.

Religious Policy

Generally Sher Shah tried to keep religion anspolitics separate and did not follow anysystematic policy of prosecution as was done bythe rulers of Delhi before him. On the whole hispolicy towards the Hindus was very tollerant.Sher Shah persued a liberal policy towards theHindus without offending his Muslim subjects.

Sher Shah believed that Islam should be givenits due position of supremacy but this should notbe done at the cost of regarding Hinduism. Inthose days, this attitude and policy was moreuseful and appropriate, according to which he(Sher Shah) could openly favour the Hinduswithout displeasing the Muslim as well.

Public Works

The building of a fresh net work of the roadsans serais all over the empire galvanished tradeand tradesmen into action. Of his four greatroads: (I) One ran from sonargaon in Bengalthrough Agra, Delhi and Lahore to the Indus ;(ii) from Agra to Mandu; (iii) from Lahore toMultan. Primarily planned for military purposes,they proved equally effective for the growth oftrade ans commerce. Along both sides of theseroads, Sher Shah ordered the planting of fruittrees and the sinking of fresh wells.

Another important feature of the publicworks comprised the building of the Serais,which higherto were neither so well planned norwell spread. The Serais were fully furnished, withwell equipped kitchens and cooks for both theHindus and the Muslims. Sher Shah also repairedabout 1,700 Caravan Serais for the efficiency of


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the royal posts. Soon, the Serais functioned aspost offices and marketing centres and Sher Shahposted news-readers in the various Serais to keepabreast of the local gossip.

CAUSES OF THE DOWNFALLOF SUR EMPIRE

The Sur empire founded by Sher Shah felldue to many causes. First, his successors werethoroughly incompetent and unfit to carry onhis work of reconstruction. Islam Shah wasresponsible for the destruction of many of thosenobles who had a lot under Sher Shah.Muhammad Adil was worse than hispredecessor. He added to the discontentmentprevailing among the Afghan chiefs. The rise ofHemu made them jealous.

Secondly, in the time of Muhammad Adil,there were five Afghan rulers struggling forpower. There was no national solidarity amongthe Afghans. They were quarreling amongthemselves. This spelled their ruin.

Thirdly, Sher Shah worked with the ideal ofbringing about regeneration among the Afghansand did all that he could to bring them on acommon platform. There was no such feelingamong the Afghans chiefs or his successors. Theyall struggled for personal gain.

Fourthly, the character of the Afghandeteriorated. They lost all sense of self-respect.They did not honour their sword. They did notattach importance to the sanctity of their word.Such a character can not create or maintainempire.

Fifthly, the successors of Sher Shah ignoredthe lot of the peasantry. Nothing was done toprotect them. The nobles became tyrants andcrushed the people.

Sixthly, the example of Sher Shah wasforgotten. The forts which he built in variousparts of the country for purposes of defence,became centres of michief and sedition. A lot ofmoney was wasted on punitive expenditions andbootless skirmishes. There was no propercollection of revenues. The officers kept the sameto themselves.

Seventhly, the Afghans did not bother to givejustice to the people. The latter were ruled in anarbitrary manner. All kinds of punishementswere inficted on them. There was no regard forlife or property. There was no bureaucracy

devoted to the task of the state and no militaryclass to die for its defence. There was absolutelyno discipline anywhere.

AKBAR

Akbar was one of the greatest monarchs ofIndia. He succeeded the throne after his fatherHumayun's death. But his position wasdangerous because Delhi was seized by theAfghans. Their commander-in-Chief, Hemu, wasin charge of it. In the second Battle of Panipat in1556, Hemu was almost on the point of victory.But an arrow pierced his eye and he becameunconscious. His army fled and the fortunefavoured Akbar. The Mughal victory wasdecisive.

During the first five years of Akbar's reign,Bairam Khan acted as his regent. Heconsolidated the Mughal empire. After five yearshe was removed by Akbar due to court intriguesand sent to Mecca. But on his way Bairam waskilled by an Afghan.

Akbar's military conquests were extensive.He conquered northern India from Agra toGujarat and then from Agra to Bengal. Hestrengthened the northwest frontier. Later, hewent to the Deccan.

Relations with Rajputs

The Rajput policy of Akbar was notable. Hemarried the Rajput princess, the daughter of RajaBharamal. It was a turning point in the historyof Mughals. Rajputs served the Mughals for fourgenerations. Many of them rose to the positionsof military generals. Raja Bhagawan Das andRaja Man Singh were given senior positions inthe administration by Akbar. One by one, allRajput states submitted to Akbar.

But the Ranas of Mewar continued to defydespite several defeats. In the Battle ofHaldighati, Rana Pratap Singh was severelydefeated by the Mughal army led by Man Singhin 1576. Following the defeat of Mewar, most ofthe leading Rajput rulers had accepted Akbar'ssuzerainty. Akbar's Rajput policy was combinedwith a broad religious toleration. He abolishedthe pilgrim tax and later the jiziya. The Rajputpolicy of Akbar proved to be beneficial to theMughal state as well as to the Rajputs. Thealliance secured to the Mughals the services ofthe bravest warriors. On the other hand itensured peace in Rajasthan and a number of


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Rajputs who joined the Mughal service rose toimportant positions.

Religious Policy

Akbar rose to fame in the pages of historydue to his religious policy. Various factors wereresponsible for his religious ideas. The mostimportant among them were his early contactswith the sufi saints, the teachings of his tutorAbdul Latif, his marriage with Rajput women,his association with intellectual giants like ShaikhMubarak and his two illustrious sons - Abul Faiziand Abul Fazl - and his ambition to establish anempire in Hindustan.

In the beginning of his life, Akbar was a piousMuslim. He abolished the pilgrim tax and in1562, he abolished jiziya. He allowed his Hinduwives to worship their own gods. Later, hebecame a skeptical Muslim. In 1575, he orderedfor the construction of Ibadat Khana (House ofworship) at his new capital Fatepur Sikri. Akbarinvited learned scholars from all religions likeHinduism, Jainism, Christianity andZoroastrianism. He disliked the interference ofthe Muslim Ulemas in political matters. In 1579,he issued the "Infallibility Decree" by which heasserted his religious powers.

In 1582, he promulgated a new religion calledDin Ilahi or Divine Faith. It believes in one God.It contained good points of all religions. Its basiswas rational. It upholds no dogma. It was aimedat bridging the gulf that separated differentreligions. However, his new faith proved to be afailure. It fizzled out after his death. Even duringhis life time, it had only fifteen followersincluding Birbal. Akbar did not compel anyoneto his new faith.

Land Revenue Administration

Akbar made some experiments in the landrevenue administration with the help of RajaTodar Mal. The land revenue system of Akbarwas called Zabti or Bandobast system. It wasfurther improved by Raja Todar Mal. It wasknown as Dahsala System which was completedin 1580. By this system, Todar Mal introduced auniform system of land measurement. Therevenue was fixed on the average yield of landassessed on the basis of past ten years. The landwas also divided into four categories - Polaj(cultivated every year), Parauti (once in twoyears), Chachar (once in three or four years) andBanjar (once in five or more years). Payment ofrevenue was made generally in cash.

Mansabdari System Akbar introduced theMansabdari system in his administration. Underthis system every officer was assigned a rank(mansab). The lowest rank was 10 and thehighest was 5000 for the nobles. Princes of royalblood received even higher ranks. The ranks weredivided into two - zat and sawar. Zat meanspersonal and it fixed the personal status of aperson. Sawar rank indicated the number ofcavalrymen of a person who was required tomaintain. Every sawar had to maintain at leasttwo horses. The mansab rank was nothereditary. All appointments and promotions aswell as dismissals were directly made by theemperor.

JAHANGIR (1605-1627)

When Akbar died, prince Salim succeededwith the title Jahangir (Conqueror of World) in1605. Jahangir's rule witnessed a spate ofrebellions. His son Khusrau revolted but wasdefeated and imprisoned. One of his supporters,Guru Arjun, the fifth Sikh Guru, was beheaded.

Nur Jahan

In 1611, Jahangir married Mehrunnisa whowas known as Nur Jahan (Light of World). Herfather Itimaduddauala was a respectable person.He was given the post of chief diwan. Othermembers of her family also benefited from thisalliance. Nur Jahan's elder brother Asaf Khanwas appointed as Khan-i-Saman, a post reservedfor the nobles. In 1612, Asaf Khan's daughter,Arjumand Banu Begum (later known asMumtaj), married Jahangir's third son, princeKhurram (later Shah Jahan). It was believed bysome historians that Nur Jahan formed a groupof "junta" and this led to two factions in theMughal court.

This drove Shah Jahan into rebellion againsthis father in 1622, since he felt that Jahangir wascompletely under Nur Jahan's influence.However, this view is not accepted by some otherhistorians. Till Jahangir became weak due to illhealth, he only took important political decisions.It is revealed from his autobiography. However,it is clear that Nur Jahan dominated the royalhousehold and set new fashions based on Persiantraditions. She encouraged Persian art andculture in the court. She was a constantcompanion of Jahangir and even joined him inhis hunting.

The rise of Shah Jahan was due to his


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personal ambitions. He rose in revolt against hisfather who ordered him to go to Kandahar. Thisrebellion distracted the activities of the empirefor four years. After Jahangir's death in 1627,Shah Jahan reached Agra with the support ofthe nobles and the army. Nur Jahan was given apension and lived a retired life till her deatheighteen years later.

SHAH JAHAN (1627-1658)

Shah Jahan launched a prolonged campaignin the northwest frontier to recover Kandaharand other ancestral lands. The Mughal army lostmore than five thousand lives during thesuccessive invasions between 1639 and 1647.Then Shah Jahan realized the futility of hisambition and stopped fighting.

His Deccan policy was more successful. Hedefeated the forces of Ahmadnagar and annexedit. Both Bijapur and Golkonda signed a treatywith the emperor. Shah Jahan carved fourMughal provinces in the Deccan - Khandesh,Berar, Telungana and Daulatabad. They wereput under the control of his son Aurangazeb.

War of Succession

The last years of Shah Jahan's reign wereclouded by a bitter war of succession among hisfour sons - Dara Shikoh (crown prince), Shuja(governor of Bengal), Aurangazeb (governor ofDeccan) and Murad Baksh (governor of Malwaand Gujarat). Towards the end of 1657, ShahJahan fell ill at Delhi for some time but laterrecovered. But the princes started fighting forthe Mughal throne.

Aurangazeb emerged victorious in thisstruggle. He entered the Agra fort after defeatingDara. He forced Shah Jahan to surrender. ShahJahan was confined to the female apartments inthe Agra fort and strictly put under vigil. But hewas not ill-treated. Shah Jahan lived for eightlong years lovingly nursed by his daughterJahanara. He died in 1666 and buried beside hiswife's grave in the Taj Mahal.

AURANGAZEB (1658-1707)

Aurangazeb was one of the ablest of theMughal kings. He assumed the title Alamgir,World Conqueror. His military campaigns in hisfirst ten years of reign were a great success. Hesuppressed the minor revolts. But he facedserious difficulties in the latter part of his reign.

The Jats and Satnamis and also the Sikhs revoltedagainst him. These revolts were induced by hisharsh religious policy.

Deccan Policy

The Deccan policy of the Mughals startedfrom the reign of Akbar, who conqueredKhandesh and Berar. Jahangir fought againstMalik Amber of Ahmadnagar. During the ShahJahan's reign, Aurangazeb, as governor ofDeccan, followed an aggressive Deccan policy.When he became the Mughal emperor, for thefirst twenty five years, he concentrated on thenorthwest frontier. At that time, the Maratharuler, Sivaji carved out an independent Marathakingdom in the territories of north and southKonkan. To contain the spread of the Marathas,Aurangazeb decided to invade Bijapur andGolkonda. He defeated Sikandar Shah of Bijapurand annexed his kingdom. Then, he proceededagainst Golkonda and eliminated the Kutb Shahidynasty. It was also annexed by him. In fact,the destruction of the Deccan kingdoms was apolitical blunder on the part of Aurangazeb. Thebarrier between the Mughals and the Marathaswas removed and there ensued a directconfrontation between them. Also, his Deccancampaigns exhausted the Mughal treasury.According to J.N. Sarkar, the Deccan ulcerruined Aurangazeb.

Religious Policy

Aurangazeb was a staunch and orthodoxMuslim in his personal life. His ideal was totransform India into an Islamic state. He createda separate department to enforce moral codesunder a high-powered officer called Muhtasib.Drinking was prohibited. Cultivation and use ofbhang and other drugs were banned.Aurangazeb forbade music in the Mughal court.He discontinued the practice of Jarokhadarshan.He also discontinued the celebration of Dasarahand royal astronomers and astrologers were alsodismissed from service.

Initially Aurangazeb banned theconstruction of new Hindu temples and repairof old temples. Then he began a policy ofdestroying Hindu temples. The celebratedtemples at Mathura and Benares were reducedto ruins. In 1679, he reimposed jiziya and pilgrimtax. He was also not tolerant of other Muslimsects. The celebration of Muharram was stopped.He was also against the Sikhs and he executedthe ninth Sikh Guru Tej Bahadur. This had


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resulted in the transformation of Sikhs into awarring community.

His religious policy was responsible forturning the Rajputs, the Marathas and Sikhs intothe enemies of Mughal empire. It had alsoresulted in the rebellions of the Jats of Mathuraand the Satnamis of Mewar. Therefore,Aurangazeb was held responsible for the declineof the Mughal empire.

The Revolts Against Aurangzeb

The generally upheld view is thatAurangzeb's religious persecution of the Hindusalienated the various sections of the Hinducommunity who retaliated by resorting to arms.However, it would be a misnomer to group allthe non-Muslim communities of Marathas,Rajputs, Bundelas, Sikhs and Satnamis under thesame banner and term their uprisings as a Hindureaction to Aurangzeb's policy of religiouspersecution. Firstly they had no commonpolitical aspirations that could bind themtogether. In fact, the marathas including Shivaji,hwn raiding the countryside proved equallyruthless towards the Hindus and the Muslimsof Surat, Carnatic and Konkan. Of the Rajputstoo, there is enough evidence to corroborate thatRani Hadi, at one stage was pliable to theimperial proposal of destroying the temples inthe Jodhpur principality as the price for securingimperial support for Ajit Singh's candidature tothe Jodhpur throne. Similarly, Raja Ram Singh,son of Jai Singh, did help the Mughals indestroying the temples. Religion undoubtedlywas a contributory factor in alienating theRajputs, as also the other Hindu communities.Primarily, however, it was Aurangzeb's failureto correctly appraise Shivaji's ability and inabilityto feel the deep sensitivity of the Rajput traditionsthat alienated these communities. Similarly, forthe other communities, besides his anti-Hindumeasures, there were political, social andeconomic factors of equal intensity that drovethem into rebellion. As for Aurangzeb'soperations within the narrow orthodoxframework, it led him to interpret these uprisingsas Hindu rebellions against the Muslim State andtherefore, deserving of utmost ruthlesspunishment which in turn could refrain the otherHindu and Muslim subjects from indulging insimilar activities as also impress the orthodoxMuslims of the Emperor's sincerity towardsIslam.

Revolt of the Jats

Bold, brave and ferocious with a deep senseof loyalty towards their tribal organisation, theJat peasantry was more akin to any martialcommunity. They were notorious for cattle-liftingwho frequently, raided the traders between Agraand Delhi. Confined to the not so fertile regionsof west of Agra, they constituted the marginalsections of peasantry. Conseqeuntly, they alwaysfelt the economic pressure of the stringentMughal measures for than their counterparts inthe fertile regions of Punjab. Under Jahangir andShahjahan too, they had deployed arms in orderto express their economic discontentment. Thesituation worsened under Aurangzeb whenAbdur Nabi, the Faujdar of mathura, throughextreme stringency, successfully collected a sumof over thirteen lakhs for the state treasury. Healso hurt their religious sentiments by building amosque on the ruins of a Hindu temple. In 1669A.D. the Jats under their leader Gokul, revolted.They killed the Faujdar and plundered thePargana of Sadabad. The rebellion soon spreadto other districts. Aurangzeb, furious, wasdetermined to ruthlessly suppress the rebellion.Gokul and his limbs were publicly displayed. TheJats, however, remained defiant and in 1686 A.D.once again rose in revolt, under Rajaram. He too,was slain but his nephew, Churaman, continuedthe Jat resistance till Aurangzeb's death.

Revolt of the Satnamis

They were a peasant religious brotherboodwho resided in Narnol. Its other memebrsbelonged to the low professions. Firmly unitedand militant, they never hesitated to use arms toaid the harassed members. Thus when a Satnamicultivator was killed by a Muslim soldier, thewhole tribe arose to seek to seek revenge andbroke into rebellion. When, of the Mughal efforts,they could not be quelled, the Mughals resortedto ruthless warfare. Over a thousand Satnamiswere slain before peace was secured in theregion. The Jats and the Satnamis revolts onlyconvinced Aurangzeb of the disloyalty of theHindus to the Mughals state who thereforeneeded to be ruthlessly suppressed. Moreover, italso convinced him that only the emergence ofan Islamic state would reduce the Hindus to theirproper place in State.

The Revolt of the Sikhs

The Sikh organisation was founded by GuruNanak, a devout social reformer, as a peacefuluniversal brotherhood which was free from the


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shackles of caste and community. Under the nextthree Gurus too, the community remainedpeaceful and enjoyed amicable relation withAkbar who granted Guru Ram Das a piece ofland which became renowned as Amritsar. Thefifth Guru, Arjan Singh, proved a more dynamicand zealous organiser. He wielded thecommunity into one compact whole. He also thefirst Guru who actively participated in politics.Consequently, the Mughal-Sikh conflict can betraced to Jahangir's reign. He ordered ArjanSingh's execution. This was done on purelygrounds for sheltering the fugitive Khusrav andin no way was it accompanied by the religiouspersecution of the Sikhs. Nevertheless, the actdeeply embittered the Sikhs against the Mughals.Under their next leader, Har Gobind, thecharacter of the Sikh movement, for the firsttime, became more militant, while its democraticsocial set up attracted the Jat peasantry in largenumbers. Henceforth, any harshness towardsthe peasantry was regarded as an oppression bythe Mughal state towards the Sikhs. The militarycharacter was further developed under GuruTeg Bahadur who in order to strengthen the Sikhinterests encouraged the creation of a state withinthe state.

In the earlier years of Aurangzeb's reign,there was no conflict between Teg Bahadur andAurangzeb. However once the Guru publiclycondemned Aurangzeb's anti-Hindu measuresas is clearly evident from the support that herendered to the Hindu population of Kashmir,Aurangzeb became suspicious of the Guru'smotives.

Their relation rapidly deteriorated andultimately resulted in the gruesome murder ofTeg Bahadur in 1675 A.D. According to thelegendary sources, when his head was struck off,a paper was found containing the words Sir diasar na dia (he gave his head but not his secret).While Guru Teg Bahadur's persecution was notaccompanied by the annihilation of the sons;(Ram Rai continued to live at the Mughal courtand his sons were granted mansabs).Nevertheless, his execution did horrify thecountry. The last Guru, Gobind Singh, wasdetermined to militarily strengthen hiscommunity. To unite them, he formed thebrotherhood of Khalsa which free of caste andcreed, advocated equality of mankind. To thisend, he initiated the practice of drinking water,conservated by a sword or dagger (Amritchakna). To distinguish the member from othercommunities, they were asked to wear five

things-Kanghi (comb), Kachha (underwear),Kara (iron bangle), Kesh and Kirpan (sword).Henceforth, the Guru lived like a regal monarch,holding court, building forts with the help of hisfollowers who were as zealously dedicated tothe cause of Skihism as the soldiers of Islam. Theirexpansionist activities inevitably led ta a clashof arms with the Mughals. The Sikhs weredefeated, his two sons were executed while theGuru ultimately escaped and settled atAnandpur. Aurangzeb, himself, fastapproaching his end, felt remorsed. With nocause for further altercation, he promised theGuru an honourable reception. While the Guru,en route, received news of the Emperor's demise.

Guru Govind Singh himself was murderedby an Afghan in 1708 A.D. The news of hismurder once again created an explosiveatmosphere in Punjab, a land which was hithertoclam. It also accentuated the anit-Muslimsentiments in the country and affected thepeasants loyalty towards the Mughal empire.Guru Gobind's aspirations of founding a Sikhstate were completed by Banda, who the Guruhad nominated as his military successor.

Personality and Character of Aurangazeb

In his private life, Aurangazeb wasindustrious and disciplined. He was very simplein food and dress. He earned money for hispersonal expenses by copying Quran and sellingthose copies. He did not consume wine. He waslearned and proficient in Arabic and Persianlanguages. He was a lover of books. He wasdevoted to his religion and conducted prayersfive times a day. He strictly observed the Ramzanfasting.

In the political field, Aurangazeb committedserious mistakes. He misunderstood the truenature of the Maratha movement andantagonized them. Also, he failed to solve theMaratha problem and left an open sore. Hispolicy towards Shia Deccan Sultanates alsoproved to be a wrong policy.

His religious policy was also not successful.Aurangazeb was an orthodox Sunni Muslim.But his move to apply his religious thoughtrigidly in a non-Muslim society was a failure.His antagonistic policies towards non-Muslimsdid not help him to rally the Muslims to his side.On the other hand it had strengthened politicalenemies of the Mughal Empire. Deccansultanates were partly due to his hatred of theShia faith.


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The Mughals retained many features of theadministrative system of the Sultanate andShershah .Under Shershah the administrativeunits of Pargana (a group of villages), sarkar (agroup of parganas) and groups of sarkars (somewhat like subas or province) were placed underspecific offices.The Mughals formalized a newterritorial unit called suba. Institutions of Jagirand Mansab system were also introduced by theMughals.Thus change and continuity bothmarked the Mughal administrative structurewhich brought about a high degree ofcentralisation in the system.

CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION

(i) The Emperor

The Emperor was the supreme head of theadministration and controlled all military andjudicial powers.All officers in Mughaladministration owed their power and positionto the Emperor.The Emperor had authority toappoint, promote, and remove officials at hispleasure.There was no pressure institutional orotherwise on the Emperor. For smoothfunctioning of the empire a few departmentswere created.

(ii) Wakil and Wazir

The institution of Wizarat (or Wikalat sinceboth were used interchangeably) was present insome form during the Delhi Sultanate also. Theposition of Wazir had lost its preeminent positionduring the period of Afghan rulers in the DelhiSultanate. The position of the wazir was revivedunder the Mughals. Babur's and Humayun'swazir enjoyed great powers.The period duringwhich Bairam Khan (1556-60) was regent ofAkbar, saw the rise of wakil-wazir withunlimited powers. Akbar in his determinationto curb the powers of wazir later on took awaythe financial powers from him.This was a bigjolt to wazir's power.

(iii) Diwan-i-Kul

Diwan-i Kul was the chief diwan. He was

responsible for revenue and finances.Akbar hadstrengthened the office of diwan by entrustingthe revenue powers to the diwan. The diwanused to inspect all transaction and payments inall departments and supervised the provincialdiwans. The entire revenue collection andexpenditure of the empire was under his charge.The diwans were to report about state financeto the Emperor on daily basis.

(iv) Mir Bakshi

Mir Bakshi looked after all matters pertainingto the military administration. The orders ofappointment of mansabdars and their salarypapers were endorsed and passed by him. Hekept a strict watch over proper maintenance ofthe sanctioned size of armed contingents andwar equipage by the mansabdars. The newentrants seeking service were presented to theEmperor by the Mir Bakshi.

(v) Sadr-us Sudur

The Sadr-us Sudur was the head of theecclesiastical department. His chief duty was toprotect the laws of the Shariat. The office of theSadr used to distribute allowances and stipendsto the eligible persons and religious institutions.It made this office very lucrative during the firsttwenty-five years of Akbar's reign. Thepromulgation of Mahzar in 1580 restricted hisauthority. According to Mahzar Akbar's viewwas to prevail in case of conflicting views amongreligious scholars.This officer also regulated thematters of revenue free grants given for religiousand charitable purposes. Later several restrictionswere placed on the authority of the Sadr foraward of revenue free grants also. Muhtasibs(censors of public morals) were appointed toensure the general observance of the rules ofmorality. He also used to examine weights andmeasures and enforce fair prices etc.

(vi) Mir Saman

The Mir Saman was the officer in-charge ofthe royal Karkhanas. He was responsible for allkinds of purchases and their storage for the royalhousehold. He was also to supervise the

ADMINISTRATION

UNDER MUGHALS



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manufacturing of different articles for the use ofroyal household.

PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION

The Mughal Empire was divided into twelveprovinces or subas by Akbar.These wereAllhabad, Agra, Awadh, Ajmer, Ahmedabad,Bihar, Bengal, Delhi, Kabul, Lahore, Malwa andMultan. Later on Ahmednagar, Bearar andKhandesh were added. With the expansion ofMughal empire the number of provincesincreased to twenty. Each suba was placedunder a Subedar or provincial governor who wasdirectly appointed by the Emperor. The subedarwas head of the province and responsible formaintenance of general law and order. He wasto encourage agriculture, trade and commerceand take steps to enhance the revenue of thestate. He was also to suppress rebellions andprovide army for expeditions. The head of therevenue department in the suba was the Diwan.He was appointed by the Emperor and was anindependent officer. He was to supervise therevenue collection in the suba and maintain anaccount of all expenditures.He was also expectedto increase the area under cultivation. In manycases advance loans (taqavi) were given topeasants through his office. The Bakshi in theprovince performed the same functions as wereperformed by Mir Bakshi at the centre. He wasappointed by the imperial court at therecommendations of the Mir Bakshi. He wasresponsible for checking and inspecting thehorses and soldiers maintained by themansabdars in the suba. He issued the paybillsof both the mansabdars and the soldiers. Oftenhis office was combined with Waqainiqar. In thiscapacity his duty was to inform the centre aboutthe happenings in his province.

The representative of the central Sadr (Sadr-us sudur) at the provincial level was called Sadr.He was responsible for the welfare of those whowere engaged in religious activities and learning.He also looked after the judicial department andin that capacity supervised the works of theQazis.

There were some other officers also who wereappointed at the provincial level. Darogai-i-Dakwas responsible for maintaining the communi-cation channel. He used to pass on letters to thecourt through the postal runners (Merwars).Waqainavis and waqainigars were appointed to

provide reports directly to the Emperor.

LOCAL ADMINISTRATION

The provinces or subas were divided intoSarkars. The Sarkars were divided into Parganas.The village was the smallest unit ofadministration. At the level of Sarkar, there weretwo important functionaries, the faujdar and theAmalguzar. The Faujdar was appointed by theimperial order. Sometimes within a Sarkar anumber of Faujdars existed. At times, theirjurisdiction spread over two Sarkars even if thesebelonged to two different subas. Faujdari wasan administrative division whereas Sarkar wasa territorial and revenue division. The primaryduty of the faujdar was to safeguard the life andproperty of the residents of the areas under hisJurisdiction. He was to take care of law and orderproblem in his areas and assist in the timelycollection of revenue whenever force wasrequired. The amalguzar or amil was the revenuecollector. His duty was to assess and supervisethe revenue collection. He was expected toincrease the land under cultivation and inducethe peasants to pay revenue willingly. He usedto maintain all accounts and send the dailyreceipt and expenditure report to the provincialDiwan.

At the level of Pragana, the Shiqdar was theexecutive officer. He assisted the amils in the taskof revenue collection. The amils looked after therevenue collection at the Pargana level. Thequanungo kept all the records of land in thepargana. The Kotwals were appointed mainlyin towns by the imperial government and wereincharge of law and order. He was to maintaina register for keeping records of people comingand going out of the towns. The Muqaddam wasthe village head man and the Patwari looked afterthe village revenue records. The services of theZamindars were utilized for the maintenance oflaw and order in their areas as well as in thecollection of revenue. The forts were placedunder an officer called Qiladar. He was inchargeof the general administration of the fort and theareas assigned in Jagir to him. The portadministration was independent of theprovincial authority. The governor of the portwas called Mutasaddi who was directlyappointed by the Emperor. The Mutasaddicollected taxes on merchandise and maintaineda customhouse. He also supervised the minthouse at the port.


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MILITARY SYSTEM

The Mughal emperors maintained a largeand efficient army till the reign of Aurangzeb.Thecredit of organising the Mughal nobility andarmy systematically goes to Akbar. The steel-frame of Akbar's military policy was themansabdari system. Through it he set up abureaucracy which was half-civil andhalfmilitary in character.

The word mansab means a place or position.The mansab awarded to an individual fixed bothhis status in the official hierarchy and also hissalary. It also fixed the number of armedretainers the holders of mansab was to maintain.The system was formulated to streamline rankof the nobles, fix their salary and specify thenumber of cavalry to be maintained by them.Under the mansab system ranks were expressedin numerical terms. Abul Fazl states that Akbarhad established 66 grades of Mansabdars rangingfrom commanders of 10 horsemen to 10,000horsemen, although only 33 grades have beenmentioned by him.Initially a single numberrepresented the rank, personal pay and the sizeof the contingent of the mansabdar. Later therank of mansabdar came to be denoted by twonumbers - Zat and-Sawar. The Zat denotedpersonal rank of an official and the Sawarindicated the size of contingents maintained bythe mansabdars. Depending on the strength ofcontingent Mansabdars were placed in threecategories. Let us take the example of amansabdar who had a rank of 7000 zat and7000 sawar (7000/7000). In the first Zat andSawar ranks were equal (7000/7000). In thesecond, Sawar rank was lower than the Zat butstopped at half, or fifty percent, of the Zat rank(7000/4000). In the third, Sawar rank was lowerthan fifty percent of the Zat rank (7000/3000).Thus the Sawar rank was either equal or lessthan the Zat. Even if the Sawar rank was higher,the mansabdar's position in the official hierarchywould not be affected. It will be decided by theZat rank.For example, a mansabdar with 4000Zat and 2000 Sawar was higher in rank than aMansabdar of 3000 Zat and 3000 Sawar. Butthere were exceptions to this rule particularlywhen the mansabdar was serving in a difficultterrian amidst the rebels. In such cases the stateoften increased the Sawar rank without alteringthe Zat rank. Some times Sawar rank was alsoincreased for a temporary period to meetemergency situations.

Jahangir introduced a new provision in theSawar rank. According to it a part of Sawar rankwas termed du-aspa sih-aspa in case of selectmansabdars. For this part additional paymentat the same rate 8,000 dams per Sawar wassanctioned. Thus if the Sawar rank was 4000out of which 1000 was du-aspa sih-aspa, salaryfor this Sawar was calculated as 3,000 × 8,000 +(1,000 × 8,000' × 2) = 40,000,000 dams.Withoutdu-aspa sih-aspa, salary for the 4,000 Sawarwould have stood at (4,000 × 8,000) = 32,000,000dams. Thus the mansabdar was to maintaindouble number of Sawars for the du-aspa sih-aspa category and was paid for it. Jahangirprobably introduced this provision to promotenobles of his confidence and strengthen themmilitarily. By this provision he could increase themilitary strength of his nobles without effectingany change in their Zat rank. Any increase intheir Zat rank would not only have led tojealously among other nobles but also anadditional burden on the treasury.

Shahjahan introduced the month-scale inthe, mansabdari system to compensate the gapbetween Jama (estimated income) and hasil(actual realisation).The mansabaars weregenerally paid through revenue assignmentsJagirs. The biggest problem was that calculationwas made on the basis of the expected income(Jama) from the Jagir during one year. It wasnoticed that the actual revenue collection (hasil)always fell short of the estimated income. In sucha situation, the mansabdar's salary was fixed bya method called monthscale. Thus, if a Jagiryielded only half of the Jama, it was calledShashmaha (six monthly), if it yielded only onefourth, it was called Sihmaha (three monthly).The month scale was applied to cash salariesalso. There were deductions from the sanctionedpay also. During the reign of Shahjahan themansabdars were allowed to maintain 1/5 to1/3 of the sanctioned strength of the Sawar rankwithout any accompanying reduction in theirclaim on the maintenance amount for the Sawarrank.

Aurangzeb continued with all these changesand created an additional rank called Mashrut(conditional). This was an attempt to increasethe sawar rank of the mansabdar temporarily.Aurangzeb added one another deduction calledKhurakidawwab, towards meeting the cost forfeed of animals in the imperial stables.


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JAGIRDARI SYSTEM

The system of assignment of revenue of aparticular territory to the nobles for their servicesto the state continued under the Mughals also.Under the Mughals, the areas assigned weregenerally called Jagir and its holders Jagirdars.The Jagirdari system was an integral part of themansabdari system which developed underAkbar and underwent certain changes duringthe reign of his successors. During Akbar's periodall the territory wasbroadly divided into two:Khalisa and Jagir. The revenue from the firstwent to imperial treasury, and that from Jagirwas assigned to Jagirdars in lieu of their cashsalary. Salary entitlements of mansabdars werecalculated on the basis of their Zat and Sawarranks. The salary was paid either in cash (in thatcase they were called Naqdi) or through theassignment of a Jagir, the latter being thepreferable mode. In case the payment was madethrough the assignment of a Jagir, the office ofthe central Diwan would identify parganas thesum total of whose Jama was equal to the salaryclaim of the mansabdars. In case the recordedJama was in excess of salary claim the assigneewas required to deposit the balance with thecentral treasury. On the other hand, if it wasless than the salary claim the short fall was paidfrom the treasury.

However, none of the assignments waspermanent or hereditary. The Emperor couldshift part or the entire Jagir from one part of theimperial territory to another at any time. Theratio between Jagir and Khalisa kept fluctuatingduring the Mughal rule. During Akbar's periodKhalisa was only 5% of total revenue, underJahangir it was 10%, under Shahjahan itfluctuated between 9 to 15%. In the latter partof Aurangzeb's reign there was a great pressureon the Khalisa as the number of claimants forJagir increased with the increase in the numberof mansabdars. The jagirdars were alsotransferred from one Jagir to another (but incertain cases they were allowed to keep their Jagirin one locality for longer period of time). Thesystem of transfer checked the Jagirdars fromdeveloping local roots. At the same time, itsdisadvantage was that it discouraged theJagirdars from taking long term measures for thedevelopment of their areas.

There were various types of Jagirs. TankhaJagirs were given in lieu of salaries, MashrutJagirs were given on certain conditions, and

Watan Jagirs were assigned to Zamindar or rajasin their local dominions. Altamgha Jagirs weregiven to Muslim nobles in their family towns orplace of birth. Tankha Jagirs were transferableevery three to four years. Watan Jagirs werehereditary and non transferable. When aZamindar was made a mansabdar, he was givenTankha Jagir apart from his watan Jagir atanother place, if the salary of his rank was morethan the income from his watan Jagir.

The Jagirdars were allowed to collect onlyauthorized revenue in accordance with theimperial regulations. The jagirdars employedtheir own officials like amil etc.The imperialoffice kept watch on the Jagirdars. The Diwanof the suba was supposed to prevent theoppression of the peasants by the Jagirdars. Aminwas posted in each suba to see that Jagirdarswere following imperial regulations. Faujdarused to help the Jagirdas if they faced anydifficulty in the collection of revenue.

RELIGION-DIN-ILLAHI

The Mughal rulers except Aurangazebadopted a tolerant religious policy. Practicallyall-religious communities existed in India duringthe Mughal period. The Hindus, the Muslim, theChristians, the Buddhist, Sikhs, the Parsis andthe Jains were the prominent religiouscommunities among them. The Hinduconstituted majority among the population whilethe ruling class belonged to the Muslims.Shershah, the forerunners of Akbar adopted apolicy to religious toleration. Akbar was,however, the finest among the monarchs ofmedieval India who raised the policy of religioustoleration to the Pinnacle of secularism. The sociopolitical condition of the country was such thatAkbar thought it advisable to adopt independentvoices in religious matters. The non Muslimconstituted the majority of his Indian subjects.Without winning their confidence and activesupport Akbar could not hope to establish andconsolidate the Mughal Empire in India.

Akbar did not discriminate between hissubjects on the basis of religion. He abolishedpilgrim tax through out his dominions close uponits heels Akbar took the most revolutionary stepin 1564, in granting religious freedom to theHindu; it was the abolition of Jaziya. This was apoll tax charged from the Hindus in theircapacity as Zammis. Being a youth of courageand conviction he wiped out the traditional


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religious disability from which the Hindusubjects of the Muslim rulers been suffering sincelong. Sheik Mubarak a liberal minded scholar ofSufi, His son Abul Faizi and Abul Fazl influenceAkber's religious policy greatly under theirinfluence Akbar became all the more liberal andto grant towards people of diverse religious faith.He removed all restrictions on the constructionand maintenance of Hindu temples, Churchesand other places of worship. In order to pleasethe Hindu subjects Akbar adopted their socialcustoms and practices, mixed freely with themand appreciated their cultural values. Akbarwanted to create a spirit of love and harmonyamong his people by eliminating all racial,religious and cultural barriers between.In orderto achieve this objective he ordered in 1575 theconstruction of Ibadat Khana - The house ofworship at Fatehpursikri to adorn the spiritualkingdom. He initiated the practice of holdingreligious discourses there with the learned menand the saints of the age. To begin with Akbarused to invite only the Muslims theologians andsaints, including the ulema, sheikhs, sayyadi etcto take part in these deliberations. But they failedto arrive at agreed opinion on many Islamicbelief and practice and in the midst ofdeliberations on very sober and toughtprovocating aspects of divinity, displayed spiritof intolerance towards each other. The rivalgroup of theologians drew their swords to settlethe religious issues at stake. Akbar was shockedto witness the irresponsible behaviour of thoseself conceited greedy and intolerant Mullahs.Indisgust he threw open the gates of the IbadatKaham to the priest and scholars of otherreligious faith including Hinduism, Jainism,Zorastrianism and Christianity.

As a result of the religious discourses held atthe Ibadat Khance. Akbar belief in the orthodoxSunni Islam was shaken. In 1579 a proclamationcalled the Mahzar, was issued. It recognizedAkbar in his capacity as the just monarch andamir ul momnin to be the Imam-i-Adil viz.Thesupreme interpreter or arbitrator of the Islamiclaw in all controversial issues pertaining toecclesiastical or civil matters.

After the issue of Mahzar, religious discoursecontinued to be held at the Ibadat Khana.Akbarmixed freely with Muslim dovines, Sufi saintsHindu, mystics, and sanyasis and Jain scholars.As a result of this Akbar came to the conclusionthat if some tree knowledge was thuseverywhere to be found, why should truth be

confined to one religious or creed like IslamAkbar gradually turned away from Islam andset up a new religion which was compoundedby many existing religions - Hinduism,Christianity, Zorastrianism etc. Howevermodern historians are not inclined to accept thisview. The word used by Ahul Fazl for the socalled new path was Tauhid-i-Ilahi whichliterally means Divine Monotheism. The worddin or Faith was not applied to it till 8 years later.The Tauhid-i-Ilahi was really on order of thesufistic type. Those who were willing to join andthose whom the emperor approved wereallowed to become members. Sunday was fixedas the day for initialism.

Din Ilahi was not a new religion Akbar's realobjects was to unite the people of his empire intoan integrate national community by providinga common religious cum spiritual platform orthe meeting ground.Din Ilahi was asocioreligious association of like-mindedintellectuals and saints. Akbar becomes thespiritual guide of the nation.The members of theDin Ilahi abstained form meat as far as possibleand do not dine with or use the utensils of thebutchers, fishermen, did not marry old womenor minor girls. The members were to greet eachother with the words Allah-u- Akbar or God isgreat. The number of persons who actuallyjoined the order was small, many of themconsisting of personal favourites of Akbar. Thusthe order was not expected to play an importantpolitical role. The Din Ilahi virtually dies withhim. Principles of Tawahid-i-Ilahi or Din-i-Ilahiaimed at achieving a synthesis of all religions,Akbar's Din-i-llahi's major principles include:

(i) God is great (Allah-o-Akbar)

(ii) Initiations would be performed onSunday.

(iii) The novice would place his head at theemperor's feat. The emperor would raisehim up and give him the formula(Shast).

(iv) The initiates would abstain from meatas far as possible and give a sumptuousfeast and alms on their birthday.

(v) There would be no sacred scriptures,place of worship or rituals (exceptinitiation).

(vi) Every adherent should take oath ofdoing well to everybody.


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(vii) Followers should show respect to allreligions.

Akbar's efforts at social reform are alsonoteworthy. He raised the age of marriage. Heeven tried to makl education broad-based andsecular. Jahangir and Shah Jahan pursued thesame toleran policy though at times there wereaberrations. Aurangzeb was a staunch Sunnibut he was intolerant of other faith. He reversedthe policy of Akbar, and this partly led to thedecline of Mughal power after his death.

RELIGIOUS THOUGHT ABUL FAZL

Orthodox Religious Thought

Akbar's religious experiments had no impacton the Muslim masses among who he made noattempt to propagate the Tauhit-i-Ilahi. AMulslim revivalist movement began in the closingyears of his reign under the leadership of theNaqshbani Sufis. They supported jahangir'saccession to the throne, The Sunni orthodoxysponsored by them was patronised by Shahjaha. it was also an important factor inAurangzeb's victory over Dara who weakenedhimself politically by his efforts to revive Akbar'seclecticism. Aurangzeb's accession heralded thefinal triumph of Sunni orthodoxy.

Among the Shias there was a general beliefthat the Hidden Imam, al-Mahdi, wouldreappear, restore the purity of Islam, and re-establidh justic, peace and prosperity. Thisexpectation of the establishment of the kingdomof God on earth was shared by the Sunnis despitetheir differences with the Shias about thesuccession to the Imamate (Caliphate).

From time to time bold impostors arose andlaid claim to Mahdiship. This is known as themahdavi movement. One such pretender,Ruknuddin of Delhi, was put to death by FiruzShah Tughluq. Nearly a century later SayyidMuhammad of Jaunpur claimed to be the Mahdi,incurred the displeasure of Sultan MahmudShah I of Gujarat, and was banished to Mecca.His teachings were imbibed by Mian AbdullahNiyazi and Shaikh Alai who were suppressedby Islam Shah Sur. The Mahdavi movementpractically fizzled out in the second half of thesixteenth century.

Abul Fazl represented Akbar as a mujaddid(religious reformer). According to an Apostolictradition a mujaddid was expected to appear

towards the end of the first millennium after thehijra. This tradition lay behind the compilationof an important historical work of Akbar's reign,Tarikh-i-Alfi, which, however, was leftincomplete. Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, a pupil ofthe Naqshbandi saint Khwaja Baqi Billah, whodied in Delhi towards the close of Akbar's reign,was known as Mujaddid alf sani (reformer ofthe second millennium).

Unorthodox Religious Thought

During the Mughal period the Chishti schoolof Sufis lost ground and it produced nooutstanding saint who could reinvigorate itsteachings. Due to aloofness from politics andadministration it was also out of tune with theprevailing political and social conditions.

The Naqshbandi school attached itself closelyto the court and the mobility and degradedSufism to the Status of a nandmaid of orthodoxIslam. Its programme took and aggressive formin the nobles of the imperial court and gave widecurrency-throuth tracts and letters-to the ideathat Akabar's liberal policy had polluted thepurity of Islam and led to the political, social andcultural degeneration of Muslims. He aimed atpurging which appeared to be un-Islamic. Histechings were not confined to the reform of Islam;he advocated a crusade against the Hindus.

Shah Jahan was an orthodox Sunni, but hisfavourite eldest son Dara was a believer inAkbbar's eclecticism. During the latters reigh theconflict between orthodoxy and mysticismcontinued. It was resolved in favour of theorthodox Sunni School of thought through warof succession which saw Aurangzeb ascend thethrone. Before and after his accession to thethrone Aurangzeb maintained contact withKhwaja Muhammad Masum, son of ShaikhAhmad Sirhindi. On the other hand Darda andJahanara were disciples of a Qadiri Sufi saint,Mulla Shah, a persian well known for religioustolerance.

The Qadiri school of Sufis found a footholdin Iindia in Adbar's reign. Its principal centrewas Uch in Sind. One of the early advocates ofits teachings in India was Shaikh Abdul a well-known theological scholar Haq of Delhi andcontemporary of Akbar, Jahangir and ShahJahan. Mir Muhammad, better known as mainMir, who lived at lahore and was a highlyrespected fiend of the Sikha was also a memberof this School.


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Aurangzeb's religious and political ideaswere totally irreconcilable with the mysticismand liberalism generally associated with Sufism.he ruled according to the shariat and thisnecessitated codification of its principles in a rigidform (Fatawa-i-Alamgiri).

Abdul Fazl's Background

The most important historical writer of theage of the great Mughals is Abul Fazl Allami.Born in 1550, he was murdered at the instigationof prince Salim in 1602. his father, ShaikhMubarak, was a famous scholar and sufi; heplayed an important role in the development ofAkbar's religious views and policy. his brotherFaizi was a poet laureate in Akbar's court. Hewas himself a first-rate scholar and writer, a firmbeliever in eclecticism, an able and loyal servantof the state, a man of extraordinary industry,and an intimate friend of Adber.

Commissioned by the Emperor to write ahistory of his reign, he produced twooutstanding works. His narration of facts andhis chronology are generally accurate. But hisstyle, though brilliant, is too rhetorical andinvolved to made a direct appeal to the reader.It is also marked by the flattery of his patronwhom he considered a superman. On the whole,Abul Fazl connot be regarded as a fully objectiveand impartial historian.

His Writings and Historiography

Abul Fazl's Akbarnama is a voluminouswork. After narrating the history of the Mughalroyal family form Timur to Humayun, it dealswith the history of Akbar's reign, year by year,down to 1602. It explains the reasons behind themeasures taken by the Emperor and covers everyaspect of the history of the period. Inayatullah'sTakmil-i-Akbarnama is a cotinuation of AbulFazl's work carrying down the narrative toAkbar's death.

Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari is the principalsource for Akbar's administratice institution. Itdeals primarily with Akbar's regulations in alldepartments and on all subjects and includes,besides some extraneous matter, a valuable andminute statistical account of his empire withhistorical and other notes.

There is a collection of Abul Fazl's letters(Ruqqat-i-Fazl) to akbar and members of theimperial family. This collection has been usefulin throwing light on several historical events.

ECONOMY

Khudkashta : Those peasants living in theirown villages, owning their own lands andimplements. Two obligations to the state-payment of revenue regularly and cultivation ofhis land. Some of them rented out their sparelands and implements to the other twocategories. They were called mirasdars inMaharashtra and gharuhala or gaveti inRajasthan. Their economic and social superiorityover the other two categories of peasants.Economic superiority since they paid only thecustomary revenue to the state and not any othertax as was paid by the other two categories.Social superiority due to their land ownershiprights, and being the core of the villagecommunity.

Pahis : Those who were basically outsidersbut cultivated the rented lands in a village eitherwhile staying in the neighbouring village or bystaying in the same village. Their division intotwo groups: non-residential pahis and residentialpahis. The former came from the neighbouringvillages and cultivated the rented lands withoutconstructing residences in that village. The lattercame from the far-off vllages and cultivated therented lands by constructing the residences inthe village. The residential pahis could transformthemselves into khudkashta, if they had theirown implements, possession of implements beingmore important than that of lands, which werein abundance. They were known as uparis inMaharashtra.

Muzariyams : Those who belonged to thesame village, but who did not have either landsor implements and hence wee heavily dependenton the khudkashta for their supply. Theirdivision two groups; tenants-at-will and thosewho had hereditary tenant rights. They formedthe poorest section of the peasantry and can becompared with the share croppers of the laterperiod.

CONDITION OF ZAMINDARS

Autonomous Zamindars : They were thehereditary rulers of their respective territories.Economically and militarily they formed aformidable class. They could be divided intothree groups on the basis of the overlordship ofthe Mughals over them- those who joinedMughal imperial over them- those who joinedMughal imperial service and were granted


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mansabs and jagirs; those who did not joinMughal service and hence were not givenmansabs and jagirs, but had the obligations ofrendering military service to the Mughals whencalled upon to do so; and those who neverrendered military service but paid tributes andpersonal homage to the Mughals. The Mughalsnormally did not interfere in the internal affairsof these autonomous zamindars.

Intermediary Zamindars : Those who hadownership rights over his personal lands but hadonly zamindari rights, i.e., hereditary right tocollect revenue from the peasants for the state,over a wider area. For this service to the state,they were entitled for a portion of the surplusproduce. They formed the back-bone of Mughalrevenue administration.

Primary Zamindars : Those who hadownership rights over his personal lands andzamindari rights over his zamindari, butdid notperform the hereditary function of collectingrevenue for the state. He got only his malikanaor customary share of the surplus produce, butnot the nankar or additional share of the surplusproduce, which he could have got if he hadperformed his hereditary function.

Thus, the rights of the zamindars co-existedwith those of the state and the actual producer.The economic condition of the zamindars as aclass was much better than that of the peasantry.Bigger zamindars led as ostentatious a life as thenobles, but the smaller zamindars lived more orless like the peasantry.

STATE OF AGRICULTURE

Main Crops : Foreign travellers' accounts aswell as the Ain-i-Akbari show that cereals,millets, oil-seeds, sugarcane, cotton, hemp,indigo, poppies and betel were grownextensively. Ajmer sugarcane was perhaps thebest in quality in the 16th century. Europeandemand resulted in a tremendous increase inindigo production in India, centered in Sarkhij(Gujarat) and Bayana (near Agra). Tobacco,which was brought to the Mughal court fromBijapur during Akbar's reign and the smokingof which was prohibited by Jahangir, became avery valuable crop and was extensivelycultivated. Chilli as well as potato wereintroduced in India by the Portuguese, whileBabur brought many Central Asian fruits withhim.

Irrigation : During Akbar's reign, FirozShah's Yamuna canal was repaired for the firsttime. Under Shah Jahan it was reopened fromits mouth at Khizrabad to serve Delhi and cameto be known as the Nahr-i-Bihisht (Channel ofHeaven). It was also used for irrigation.

Slow Growth : Agriculture was carried onin the same way as in the ancient times, therebeing little change in the methods of cultivationand agricultural implements. Despite theexpansion in the area under cultivation, thegrowth in agricultural production was quiteslow, i.e., it was not able to keep in pace withthe growth in the needs of the people as wellthe state.

Causes : This slow growth or near stagnationin agricultural production (in comparison withthe rapidly increasing requirements of the time)was due to certain factors- lack of new methodsof cultivation to counter the trend of decliningproductivity of the soil; increased amount of landrevenue; the attempts of the zamindars and theupper caste and rich peasants to prevent thelower castes and the rural poor from settling newvillages and thus acquiring proprietary rights inland; the jajmani system, a reciprocal system thatexisted in rural India, encouraged productionmainly meant for local consumption and not forthe market.

GROWTH IN TRADE

Urbanisation : The Mughals, forming themain part of the ruling class and being outsiders,found it convenient to settle down in towns andcities, rather than in villages where they wouldbe treated as aliens. Unlike the British of the laterperiod, they made India their home and spentall their income in India itself particularly in thetowns and cities, by encouraging handicrafts, artand architecture, literature, and the like.

Traders and Merchants : Economically andprofessionally, this was a highly stratified class.Economically, they could be divided into bigbusiness magnates owning hundreds of ships,rich merchants and traders of towns, and pettyshopkeepers. Professional specialisation wasprevalent in the form of wholesale traders, retailtraders, banjaras or those specialised in thecarrying trade, shroffs or those specialised inbanking, etc. The shroffs developed theinstitution of hundis or bills of exchange. Big andrich merchants lived in an ostentatious manner


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and aped the manners of the nobles. But smallmerchants lived a simple life.

Though European novelties were verypopular with the Mughal aristocracy, the samecannot be said about their mechanicalinventions. But what is interesting is the requestmade by Bhimji Parikh, a broker of the EnglishEast India Company, for a printing press possiblyto print his bills. Though a printer wasaccordingly sent in 1671, the experiment was nota success and no further information on Parikh'spioneering efforts at printing in India areavailable.

Others : The class of officials ranged frombig mansabdars to ordinary soldiers and clerks.Other urban groups or classes included those ofthe artisans, handicraftsmen, teachers anddoctors.

Causes for Growth of Trade• Political and economic unification of the

country under Mughal rule and theestablishment of law and order overextensive area.

• Improvement of transport andcommunications by the Mughals.

• Encouragement given by the Mughals tothe monetisation of the economy or thegrowth of money economy.

• Arrival of the European traders from thebeginning of the 17th century onwardsand the growth of European trade.

Items of Trade and Commerce

Exports : Textiles, especially various kinds ofcotton fabrics, indigo, raw silk, salt petre, pepper,opium and various kinds of drugs andmiscellaneous goods.

Imports : Bullion, horses, metals, perfumes,drugs, China goods especially porcelain and silk,African slaves and European wines.

COINS OF SURS AND MUGHALS

Sur Coinage : Sher Shah was ruler of greatconstructive and administrative ability, and thereform of the coinage, though completed byAkbar, was in a great measure due to his genius.His innovations lay chiefly in two directions :first, the introduction of a new standard of 178grains for silver, and one of about 330 grains for

copper, with its half, quarter, eighth andsixteenth parts. These two new coins weresubsequently known as the rupee and the dam.The second innovation saw a large increase inthe number of the mints: at least twenty threemint names appear on the Sur coins. Genuinegold coins of the Sur kings are exceedingly rare.The rupees are fin broad pieces; the obversefollows the style of Humayun's silver; the reversebears the Sultan's name in Hindi, often veryfaulty. In the margin are inscribed the specialtitles of the Sultan, and sometimes the mint. Ona large number of both silver and copper coinsno mint name occurs.

Mughal Coinage

The importance attached to the currency bythe Mughal emperors is revealed in the accountsgiven by Akbar's minister, Abul Fazl, in the Ain-i-Akbari, and by Jahangir in his memoirs, theTuzuk-i-Jahangiri, and by the number ofreferences to the subject by historians throughoutthe whole period. From these and from a studyof the coins themselves scholars have collected amass of materials, from which it is now possibleto give a fairly comprehensive account of theMughal coinage.

Abul Fazl and Jahangir mention a largenumber of gold and silver coins, varying from2,000 tolahs to a few grains in weight. Giganticpieces are also mentioned by Manucci, Hawkinsand others; and Manucci says that Shah Jahan'gave them as presents to the ladies'. They werealso at times presented to ambassadors, andappear to have been merely used as a convenientform in which to store treasure.

Types of Coins : The standard gold coin ofthe Mughals was the muhar, of about 170 to 175grains, the equivalent of nine rupees in AbulFazl's time. Half and quarter muhars are knownto have been issued by several emperors, and avery few smaller pieces, also.

The rupee, adopted from Sher Shah'scurrency, is the most famous of all Mughal coins.The name occurs only once, on a rupee of Agraminted in Akbar's forty-seventh regnal year.Halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths werealso struck. In Surat the half rupee appears tohave been in special demand.

In addition to the regular gold and silvercurrency, special small pieces were occasionallystruck for largess; the commonest of these is thenisar, struck in silver by Jahangir, Shah Jahan


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and Aurangzeb. Jahangir also issued similarpieces, which he called nur afshan and khairqabul.

The Mughal copper coinage is based on SherShah's dam which with its half, quarter andeighth, continued to be struck until the fifth yearof Aurangzeb. The name dam occurs only onceon a half dam of Akbar. The usual term employedis fulus (copper money) or sikkah fulus (stampedcopper money). The name nisfi (half dam),damra (quarter dam), damri (one eighth of adam) also appear on Akbar's copper.

Main features : Perhaps the most distinctivefeature of the Mughal coinage is the diversity ofmints. Akbar's known mints number seventy six.Copper was struck in fifty nine of these, thelargest number recorded for any emperor, whilesilver is known from thirty nine. Aurangzeb'sconquests in the Deccan raised the silver mintsto seventy, whereas copper mints sank to twentyfour.

Such was the coinage of the Great Mughals.Considering it as the output of a single dynasty,which maintained the high standard and purityof its gold and silver for three hundred years,considering also its variety, the number of itsmints, the artistic merit of some of its series, theinfluence it exerted on contemporary andsubsequent coinages, and the importance of itsstandard coin-the rupee- in the commerce oftoday, the Mughal currency surely deserves torank as one of the great coinages of the world.

MUGHAL ART

The Mughal emperors were great buildersand they constructed many noble edifices andmonuments. The Indo-Muslim style ofarchitecture gained remarkable progress. Babarhimself was a patron of art, even though he hada poor opinion of Indian artists and craftsmen.Agra was rebuilt and beautified and gardenswere laid out. Humayun had little time to engagehimself in artistic activities; but a mosque of hisis still seen in Punjab decorated in Persian style.In the reign of Akbar, Mughal architecturereached a high level of perfection.The emperortook keen interest in buildings. In the words ofAbul Fazl, "He planned splendid edifices anddressed the works of his mind and heart ingarments of stone and clay". He favoured boththe Hindu and Persian styles of architecture.Atthe same time; he borrowed artistic ideas from avariety of sources and applied them in the

construction of his edifices and monuments. Itmay also be noted that, unlike Shah Jahan whohad an attraction for white marble for theconstruction of his buildings, Akbar preferredred sandstone.

The tomb of Humayun at Delhi is one of theearliest of Akbar's buildings. It was designed afterTimur's tomb at Samarkhand and represented astriking departure from the traditional Indianstyle. It was surrounded by a large geometricalgarden and enclosed by a high wall.The Red Fortat Agra which contained as many as 500buildings of red sandstone was anotheroutstanding achievement of Akbar in the fieldof architecture. The Jahangiri Mahal and AkbariMahal located within the Agra Fort weredesigned and built by Indian craftsmen whowere experts in the construction of Hindutemples and Buddhist Viharas.

The greatest achievement of Akbar as abuilder was the city of Fatehpur Sikri. Sr. Smithhas observed that "nothing like Fatehpur Sikriever was created or can be created again".Hecalls it a "romance in stone", while Fergussonfinds in it "the reflex of the mind of a greatman".The city of Fatehpur Sikri is a cluster ofreligious edifices and residential mansions builtmainly of red sandstone.The Jam-i-Masjid builtafter the model of the mosque at Mecca isconsidered to be the glory of Fatehpur Sikri andis one of the largest mosques in India.The BulandDarwaza which is 176 ft. high is a landmark ofthe city. It is the highest gateway in India andone of the biggest of its kind in the world. Thetomb of the Sufi saint Shaik Salim Chishtispecially built of white marble is another starattraction at Fatehpur Sikri.It contains carvingsnoted for "the richness and delicacy ofdetails".The house of Birbal, a double-storeyedbuilding which has been lavishly decorated,combines within itself the best features of theHindu and Muslim style of architecture. TheDiwan-i-Khas which accommodated Akbar'shousehold has an architectural beauty of its own.Its ornamental work is exceedingly delicate.TheDiwan-i-Am is also a richly carved edifice.Akbarused to sit in its balcony whenever he held hisDurbar.In addition to the buildings mentionedabove, there are other important buildings alsoat Fatehpur Sikri, viz., the, Panch Mahal, thehouse of Mariam, Turkey Sultan's building, HathiPole (the Elephant Gate), Hiran Minar, etc.

Jahangir who was more interested in fine artsand gardening did not take much interest in


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buildings.Still his reign is noted for tworemarkable edifices, viz., Akbar's tomb atSikandra and the tomb of Itimad-ud-daulah, thefather of Nurjahan, at Agra.The former buildingshows a combination of Hindu and Muslimstyles while the latter is the first full edifice builtentirely of white marble in the Mughal period.

The reign of Shah Jahan was the Golden Ageof Mughal architecture. It may be noted at theoutset that his architecture is different from thatof Akbar in some of its features. He preferredwhite marble to red sandstone which wasfavoured by Akbar.Percy Brown even calls ShahJahan's reign "a reign of marble". His buildingshave some of the finest inlay work in the world.The carvings are richer and more delicate.Though both Hindu and Muslim styles continuedto influence the artist there is much less evidenceof mixture of the two styles in the architecturalworks of Shah Jahan than in those of Akbar orJahangir. One of the earliest architectural worksof Shah Jahan was the Red Fort which he builtin the new city of Shajahanabad near Delhi.Itwas modeled after the Agra Fort and contained50 palaces, the most notable among them beingthe Moti Mahal, Sheesh Mahal and Rang Mahal.The Juma Masjid at Delhi and the Moti Masjidat Agra are massive structure noted for thearchitectural grandeur. The former was built byShah Jahan for the ceremonial attendance ofhimself and the members of his court.

The Moti Masjid was built by the emperor inhonour of his daughter Jahanara and is one ofthe most beautiful mosques in the world.ShahJahan also built at Lahore certain buildings likethe tombs of Jahangir, Nur Jahan, and AliMardan Khan and they are also typical examplesof Mughal architecture.

The most outstanding of Shah Jahan's edificesis the world famous Taj Mahal built by him atAgra as a mausoleum for his wife MumtazMahal.Built of pure white marble it has wonpraise from all quarters.It has been variouslydescribed by art critics as a "dream in marbledesigned by Titans and finished by jewelers", "awhite gleaming tear drop on the brow of time"and "India's noblest tribute to the grace of Indianwomanhood". The Taj is supposed to have beenbuilt at enormous cost spread over a period of22 years. A unique feature of the building is thatits colour changes in the course of the day andin moonlight. An admirer of the Taj even said ofit that "it is Mumtaz Mahal herself, radiant inher youthful beauty, who lingers on the banks

of the Jamuna in the early morn, in the glowingmid-day sun or in the silver moonlight".The Tajhas survived to this day as the king of allbuildings in India and the most splendidmonument of conjugal love and fidelity in theworld.

With the accession of Aurangzeb the Mughalstyle of architecture declined. The emperor, beingeconomy-minded, built only very little. The bestof his buildings was the Badshahi mosque atLahore which was completed in 1764. Thoughnot of much architectural value, it is noted forits great size and sound construction. Aurengzebalso built a mosque with lofty minarets on thesite of the Viswanatha temple at Benares andanother one at Mathura at the site of the KesavaDeva temple.His own tomb which he built atAurangabad is also a notable specimen ofMughal architecture.

Painting had made tremendous progress inIndia prior to the coming of the Turks in Indiaand as Hinduism and Buddhism spread overapart of Asia, it penetrated in other countriesthrough them and influenced the art of paintingthere.

But during the period of the Delhi Sultanateit practically vanished in larger parts of Indiabecause the Turk and Afghan rulers prohibitedit in deference to the direction of Koran. But, theMughal emperors revived this art and once againit reached the stage of perfection.

The Mughal school of painting represents oneof the most significant phases of Indian art. Infact, the school developed as a result of happyblending of Persian and Indian painting both ofwhich had made remarkable progressindependently of each other.

Babur and Humayun came in contact withPersian art and tried to introduce it inIndia.Babur and Humayun did not accept theprohibition of Islam concerning the art ofpainting. When Humayun got shelter in Persia,he came in contact with two disciples of thefamous Persian painter Bihzed namely AbdulSamad and Mir Sayyid. He invited them to cometo him. Both of them joined him when hereached Kabul and came to India along withhim. Humayun and Akbar took lessons inpainting from Abdul Samed. But, it was just thebeginning.

When Akbar became the emperor, heencouraged painters at his court and helped in


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the growth of this art. He established separatedepartment of painting under Abdul Samad andordered to prepare painting not only on thebooks which was the usual practice so far butalso to prepare frescoes on palace-wall inFatehpur Sikri. He invited renowned painter fromChina and Persia, employed the best talents ofthe country at his court, assigned them workaccording to their individual taste and aptitudeand provided them all facilities to make use oftheir capabilities. These facilities provided byAkbar helped hundred of artists to grow andmature their art, resulted in the reparation ofthousands for painting and in the formation ofthat school of painting which we now call theMughal school of painting. There were atleastone hundred good painters at his court amongwhom seventeen were prominently recognisedby the emperor. Many of them were Persian but,a number of them were Hindus. Abdul Samad,Farrukh Beg, Jamshed, Daswant, Basawan,Sanwalds, Tarachand, Jagannath, Lal Mukand,Harivansh etc. were among the most prominentpainters at his court. Thus, the credit of origin ofthe mughal school of painting goes to Akbar. Healso the way of its growth.

Jahangir was not only interested in paintingbut was also its keen judge. Mughal paintingmarked the zenith of its rise during the perod ofhis rule. Jahangir established a gallery of paintingin hos own garden. Surely, there must have beenother galleries as well in other palaces.

The cause of the progress of painting duringthe reign of Jahangir was not only this that hewas interested in it and patronized artists at hiscourt because he himself possessed knowledgeof that art. he wrote in his biography, Tuzuk-i-Jahangire : As regards myself, my liking forpainting and my practice in judging it havearrived at such a point that when any work isbrought before me, either of deceased artist orof those of the present day, without the namesbeing told to me, I can say at spur there be apicture containng many portraits and each facebe the work of a different master, I can discoverwhich face is the work of each of them. If anypeson has put in the eye and eyebrow of a face,I can perceive whose work is the original faceand who has painted the eye and eyebrows.

We may regard this statement of Jahangir asan exaggeration, yet we have to accept that theemperor was not only interested in painting butalso a good judge of the art. Jahangir attractedmany artists at his court. He also got completed

the works taken up by the artists during the life-time of his father.

He rewarded the artists well. Abul Hasanwas given the title of Nadir-u-Zaman whileMansur was titled Nadir-u-Asar. Besides, fromhis prominent court artists were Aga Raza,Muhammad Nadir, Muhammad Murad, BishanDas, Manohar, Madhav, Tulsi and Govardhan.

Shah Jahan was more interested inarchitecture than painting. Yet, he providedpatronage to painting. The art of colour-combination and portrait suffered but the art ofdesigning and pencil drawing developed duringthe period of his rule. But, the number of paintersreduced at his court and therefore the artcertainly declined during his rule. Among therenowned painters at his court were Fakir Ullah,Mir Hasim, Anup, Chittra, etc.

Aurangzeb withdrew the royal patronagewhich was given to the artists. He turned themout of his court and even destroyed certainpaintings because the practice of this of this artwas prohibited by Islam. The art of painting, thussuffered at the court of this mughal. But itbrought out some advantages indirectly. Thepainters dismissed from the emperor's courtfound shelter in the courts of different Hinduand Muslim provincial rulers. It resulted in thegrowth of different regional schools of art andbrought this art closer to the people.

Among the Later Mughal emperors, a fewtried to encourage painting but they lackedsufficient resources. Thus, the mughal school ofpainting received a serious setback after the ruleof Shah Jahan and continued to deteriorateafterwards. During the later part of theeighteenth centruy it was influenced by theEuropean painting which harmed it further andit lost its originality.

COURT CULTURE-MUSIC, DANCE

The Mughals appreciated music.Babur is saidto have composed songs.Akbar was a lover ofmusic. His court was adorned by famousmusicians like Tansen of Gwalior and BazBahadur of Malwa. Shah Jahan was fond ofvocal and instrumental music. The two greatHindu musicians of his time were Jagannath andJanardhan Bhatta. But Aurangzeb who was apuritan dismissed singing from his court.However, ironically, the largest number of bookson classical music was written in his reign.


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Development Of Music During The Mughal

Period

All the Mughal rulers with the exception ofAurangzeb loved and encouraged music.Numerous musicians, Hindu and Muslim, Indianand foreign, adorned the court of Akbar. Theywere divided into seven groups. Each one playedthe music on each day of the week. The courtextended its patronage to both vocal andinstrumental music.

Tansen was perhaps the greatest musicianof the age to whom huge amount were paid aspresents and rewards by Akbar. He wasoriginally in the service of the Rajput king ofRewa and belonged to the Gwalior school ofMusic.

Baz Bahadur of Malwa was also a skilledmusician, who on leaving Malwa, got into theservice of Akbar.

Jahangir and Shahjahan also extended theirpatronage to music. The two chief vocalists ofShahjahan's court were Ramdas andMahapattar. A musician by name Jagannath sodlighted him with his performance that theemperor is said to have weighed him in gold andgiven it to him as his fee.

Development of music received impetus inthe court of Muhammed Shah Rangila. Twofamous vocalists Sadarang & Adarangcontributed to singing. Several forms of musicdeveloped during his reign. Music received adeath blow during the reign of Aurangzeb whodismissed his court musicians and prohibitedsinging. The reign of Md. Shah witnesseddevelopment in the field of music. New forms ofmusic like Tarana, Dadra etc. emerged Sadarang& Adarang were two famous men associatedwith Khayal.

DEVELOPMENT OF LITERATUREDURING THE MUGHAL PERIOD

Literature made tremendous progress duringthe period of rule of the Mughals. Both originaland translated works were produced in largenumbers. Besides, not only literature grew inPersian, Sanskrit and Hindi languages but workswere produced in Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu andother regional languages as well. Persian wasmade the state-language by Akbar which helpedin the growth of its literature. Besides, all Mughal

emperors, except Akbar were well-educated andpatronised laearning.

Babur was a scholar. He wrote his biographyTuzuki-i-Babri, in Turki language and it was sobeautifully written that it was translated intoPersian thrice. He also wrote poems both in Turkiand Persian and his collection of poems Diwan(Turki) became quite famous.

Humayun had good command over bothTurki and Persian literature. Besides, he hadsufficient knowledge of philosophy, mathematicsand astronomy. He patronized scholars of allsubjects.

Akbar himself was not educated but hecreated those circumstances which helped inthe growth of literature during the perod of hisrule. gave encouragement to Persian languageand famous works of different languages likeSanskrit, Arabic, Turki, Greek etc. weretranslated into it. He established a separateddepartment for this purpose. Many scholars roseto eminence under his prtronage.

Jahangir was also well-educated. He wortehis biography, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, himself for thefirst seventeen years of his rule and got preparedthe rest of it by Mautmid Khan. Not much wasdone concerning translation work but a feworiginal works repute were written during theperiod of his rule.

Shah Jahan also gave protection to scholars.His son Dara Shikoh was also well-educate andarranged for the translation of many Sanskrittexts in Persian. Aurangzeb was also a scholarthough he hated writings of verses and bookson history.

During the period of the Later Mughals,Persian remained the court-language till the ruleof Muhammad Shah. Afterwards, it wasreplaced by Urdu. Yet, good works wereprdocued by many scholars in Persian evenafterwards. Thus, Persian got the maximumincentive to grow during the rule of the Mughalsand therefore made very good progress.

History Writing in Persian

Largest number of good books written inPersian were either autobiographies or books onhistory. Among writings on history, Humayun-Nama of Gulbadan Begum, Akbarnama andAin-i-Akbari of Abul Fazl, Tabkat-i-Akbari ofNizamuddin Ahmad, Tazkiratul-waqiat of


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Jauhar, Tuhfa-i-Akbarshahi alias Tarikh-i-SherShah of Abbas Sarwani, Tarikh-i-Alfi whichcovers nearly one thousand years of history ofthe Islam and was written by the combinedefforts of many scholars, Muntkhabut-Tawarikhof Badayuni, Tarikh-i-Salatin-Afghana ofAhmad yadgar, Tarikh-i-Humayun of BayazidSultan and Akbarnama of Faizi Sarhindi werewritten during the period of the rule of Akbar.

Jahangir wrote his biography, Tuzuk-i-Jahangire. Mautmid Khan completed it and alsowrote lkbalnama-i-Jahangire. Massara-Jahangirof Khawja Kamgar, Makhzzan-i-Afghani ofNiamatullah; Tarikh-i-Farishta of MuhammadKasim Farishta and Massare-i-Rahini of MullaNahvandi were also written during the periodof rule of Jahangir.

Among the famous work written during theperiod of reign of Shah Jahan werePadshahnama of Amini Qazvini,Shahjahanama of Inayat Khan and Alam-i-Saleh of Muhammad Saleh.

Aurangzeb discouraged writings of history.Yet, a few goods works were produced duringhis rule. Among them, the most famous oneswere Muntkhab-ul-Lubab, Alamgirnama ofMirza Muhammad Kazim, Nuskha-Dilkusha ofMuhammad Saki, Fatuhat-i-Alamgiri of IswarDas and Khulasa-ut-Tawarikh of Sujan Rai.

Historical works were written under thepatronage of the later Mughals as well asprovincial rulers. Among the, the most reputedwere Siyarul-Mutkharin of Gulam Hussain,Tawarikh-i-Muzaffari of Muhammad Ali andTawarikh-Cahar-Gulzar-i-Suzai of HarcharanDas.

Translation

Besides original work, books in otherlanguages were translated into Persian. Amongthe Sanskrit text, Mahabharat was translated bythe joint efforts of Naki Khan, Badayuni, AbulFazal, Faizi etc. Badayuni translated Ramayanainto Persian. He also started translatingAtharvaveda while it was completed by HajiIbrahim Sarhindi. Faizi translated Lilavati, ShahMuhammad Sahabadi translated Rajtarangini,Abul Fazl translated Kahilya Dimna, Faizitranslated Nal Damyanti and Maulana Sheritranslated Hari-Vansha. All these works weretranslated during the period rule of Akbar.During the reign of Shah Jahan, his eldest son,Dara Shikoh provided incentive to this work and

got translated fifty two Upanishads, BhagvataGita and yagavasistha. He himself wrote anoriginal treatise titled Majma-Bahreen in whichhe described that Islam and Hinduism weresimply the two paths to achieve the same God.Many texts written in Arabic, Turki and Greekwere also translated into Persian during the ruleof the mughal emperors. Bible was translated intoPersian and many commentaries on koran werealso translated in it. Aurangzeb with the help ofmany Arabic texts got prepared a book of lawand justice in Persian which was titled Fatwah-i-Alamgire.

Poetry

Poems in Persian were also written thisperiod though this type of work could not achievethe standard of prose-writing. Humayun wrotea few verses. Abul Fazl named fifty nine poetsat the court of Akbar. Among them Faizi, Gizaliand Urfi were quite famous.Jahangir and NurJahan were also interested in poetry. Jahan Aradaughter of Shah Jahan and Zebunnisa,daughter of Aurangzeb were also poetesses.The letters written by the emperors and noblesalso occupy important place in the Persianliterature of that time. Among them, letterswritten by Aurangzeb, Abul Fazl, Raja Jai Singh,Afzal Khan, Sadulla Khan etc. have beenregarded of good literary value.

Works in Hindi

By the time Mughal rule was established inIndia, had development as a literary language.But, it received no encouragement form Babur,Humayun and Sher Shah. Yet, many goodbooks were written by individual efforts, Amongthem Padmavata and Yugavata have beenregarded works of repute. Akbar extended hispatronage to Hindi which helped in its growth.Besides, private initiative also patricipated in itsgrowth. Among the court-scholars, theprominent ones were Raja Birbal, Raja ManSingh, Raja Bhagwan Das, Narhari and HariNath. Nand Das, Vitthal Nath, Parmanand Das,Kumbhan Das etc. Worked independently of thecourt and enriched Hindi literature.

However, the most famous scholars of Hindiat that time were Tulsi Das and Sur Das. TulsiDas wrote nearly twenty-five texts, the bestamong them being the Ramcharitmansa and theVinaypatrika. Tulsi Das had no connection withthe court. He passed his life mostly in Banaras.The same way, tough Sur Das lived in Agra but


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had no direct connection with the court of theemperor. He was blind. Yet, he composedhundreds of poems also occupy a prominentplace in Hindi literature.

Besides, Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana andRashan also made equally good contributiontowards Hindi-literature by their writings.Abdur Rahim wrote hundreds of verses hwileRashkahn wrote many love-poems dedicated toLord Krishna and also a text titled Prem-Vatika.Thus, the period of the rule of Akbar wascertainly the golden period of Hindi literature.

Jahangir and Shah Jahan also gaverecoginition to scholars of Hindi. The Youngerbrother of Jahangir used to write poems in Hindiand Jahangir extended his patronage to manyscholoars of Hindi like Buta, Raja Suraj Singsh,Jadrup Gosai, Raja Bishan Das and Rai ManoharLal.

Shah Jahan also patronised many scholarsof Hindi at his court. Sundar Kavi Rai who wroteSundar-Srangar, Senapati, author of KavitaRatnakar, Kavindera Acharya who wrote hispoem Kavindra Kalpataru in Avadhi mixed withBraj-Bhasa, Siromani Misra, Banarsi Das,Bhusan, Mati Rai, Vedang Rai, Hari Nath etc.were at his courts. Many other scholars of Hindiflourished outside the court as well. Kavi Deva,Dadu who started a new religious sect namedDadu-Panth and Prannath who started anotherreligious sect named Pran-Panthi and lived atPanna wrote many religious poems. Bihari, arenowned poet of Hindi also wrote his coupletsduring this ery time and received patronage ofRaja Jai Singh. Keshava Das, the famous poet ofHindi lived in Orcha and wrote many textsamong which Kavi-Priya, Rasik-Priya andAlankar-Manjari occupy important place inHindi literature. Aurangzeb gave no patronageto Hindi literature. Yet, Hindi literaturecontinued to grow because of both privateinitiative and patronage of Hindus rulers.

The Mughals did 'not have any systematicorganisation for imparting education. Some sortof elementary education was imparted inmaktabs and pathsalas. Further it was mainlyconfined to the upper sections of society and theclergy. Most Mughal emperors were educatedand so were their ladies. Gulbadan Begum wasan accomplished lady. She wrote the Humayunnamah. Nur Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal, JahanaraBegum and Zeb-un-Nisa were highly educatedladies.

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION ANDSTATUS OF WOMEN

During the medieval period Indian societywas divided into two broad divisions based onreligion. In English documents and records ofthe period the Hindus are referred to as 'Gentoos'(Gentiles) and the Muslims as 'Moors'. The twocommunities differed with respect to socialmanners and etiquette; even their forms ofsalutation festivals. The social rites andceremonies of the two communities, on occasionsof birth and marriage, for instance, weredifferent. Although these differencesoccasionally provoked tension and even hostility,a system of peaceful coexistence developed andeven fraternizing on social occasions and in fairswas not uncommon.

MUSLIM SOCIETY

As a result of continuous immigration fromthe Muslim countries of central and West Asiathe Muslim population retained the mixedcharacter which it had acquired during theprevious centuries. In the north-western regionthe central Asians and Persians, who enteredIndia during the reigns of Babur and hissuccessors, Lived side by side with the Muslimimmigrants of the pre-Mughal period. In coastalregions the immigrants were primarily traders,hailing originally form Arabia and the PersianGulf. As a result of their regular or irregularunions with the local Hindus or converts anumber of Muslim communities of mixed originhad come into existence, e.g., the Navayats ofwestern India, the Mappillas or Moplabar, andthe Labbais of the Coromandel cost. There werealso a considerable number of Muslims ofAbyssinian origin, most of whose ancestors wereoriginally imported as slaves. As large parts ofAfghanistan formed an integral part of theMughal Empire, Afghans living in India couldhardly be placed in the category of immigrants.

Muslims of foreign origin, formally united byIslam, had racial and religious differences whichinfluenced politics and society. The Turanis(Central Asians) and the Afghans were Sunnis;the Persians (Iranians) were Shias. There wasmuch rivalry for political prominence and socialpromotion among these Muslims of diverseorigins. however, Muslims of foreign originconsidered as a distinct group, constituted theprincipal element in the ruling class of the


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Mughal period. They claimed superiority to theHindustani Muslims, i.e., Hindu converts andtheir descendants on the basis of birth, race andculture.

The overwhelming majority of the Muslimswere descendants of hindu converts; but therewas a tendency on their part to claim foreigndescent with a view to securing political andsocial advantages. They were generally lookeddown upon by bonafide Turanians and Iranians;but they were received on equal terms in mosquesduring the Friday prayers and also on occasionsof principal religious festivals. There was no barto inter-marriage on racial on racial grounds. AMuslim of low birth could rise to a high rank inthe nobility by dint of ability of through thefavour of fortune. The Muslim society had fargreater internal mobility than the Hindu society.

Apart form racial and religious differences,i.e., Shia-Sunni disputes, there were clear-cutsocial differences within the Muslim society.Three classes are mentioned in a sixteenth-century Persian work: (a) the ruling classcomprising the imperial family, the nobility andthe army; (b) the intelligentsia, comprisingtheologians (ulema0, judges (qazis), men oflearning and men of letters; © the class cateringto pleasures, comprising classification isobviously incomplete and unsatisfactory. Forexample, it does not make a not of the producingclasses-the peasants and the artisans-whofarmed the backbone of state and society, andthe lower ranks of the official bureaucracy of theminor officials.

HINDU SOCIETY

Hindu society in the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries was characterised byconflicting trends of liberalism and catholicityon the one hand and exclusiveness andconservatism on the other.

Some of the Vaishnava and Tantric teachersrecognized, to some extent, the religious andsocial rights of women as also of the Sudras. somenon-Brahmin followers of Chaitanya becomespiritual perceptors (gurus) not only of the threelower castes but also of Brahmins. InMaharashtra Tukaram, a Sudra, and in theBrahmins. villey Sankardev and Madhavdev,who were Kayasthas, had Brahmin disciples.

But the Brahmin authors of the nibandhastried to maintain the integrity of the ancient

socio- religious system (Varnasrama dharma) byregulatin the life and conduct of all classes ofHindus in the minutest details in conformity withtraditional caste rules. Some writters of the Smritinibandhas had royal patrns and their injuctioncarred political sanction. One of them, KeshavaPandit, was judge under the Maratha KingSambhaji.

But there were eminent authors likeRaghunandan and Ramnath of Bengal. Pitambarof Kamrup and Kamalakar Bhatta ofMaharashtra whose authority was accepted bythe Hindu society even though it was acceptedby the Hindu society even though it was notbacked by royal patronage. their influenceeffectively counteracted the liberal trends. Theraised their voice against the usurping of theprivileges of the Brahmins by the lower castes.

POSITION OF WOMEN

Purdah System: With the advent of Islam,new forces appeared on the Indian horizon. strictveiling of women was the common practiceamong the Muslim in their native land. Naturallyin a foreign country like India, greater stress waslaid upon it. The Hindus adopted purdah as aprotective measure. The tendency to imitate theruling class was another factor which operatedin favour of introducing purdah among theHindu families. Seclusion thus became a sign ofrespect and was strictly observed among thehigh-class families of both communities. Barbosahas referred to the strict observation of purdahby the women of Bengal. Barring some notableMuslim families, the south Indians did not adoptpurdah. In the Vijayanagar Empire, purdah wasconfined only to the members of the royalhousehold. No such coercive purdah system wasobserved among the Hindu middle class wasobserved among the Hindu middle class andcertainly not among the Hindu masses.

Child Marriages: The custom, in those days,did not allow girls to remain in their parents'home for more than six to eight years after birth.The rigidity of the custom together with thecelebration of the marriage at a very early ageleft no room whatsoever for either the bride orbridegroom to have time to think of a partner oftheir own choice. Dowry was demanded whilein some castes and localities the bride-price wasalso known to be prevalent.

Monogamy: Monogamy seems to have beenthe rule among the lower stretum of society in


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both communities during the medieval period.In spite of the decision of ulema in the IbadatKhana in Akbar's times, that a man might marryany number of wives by mutah but only four bynikah, Akbar had issued definite orders that aman of ordinary means should not possess morethan one wife unless the first proved to be barren.Polygamy was the privilege of the rich.

Position of Widows: Divorce andremarriage, common among Muslims, wereprohibited for Hindu women. Widow-remarriage, except amongst the lower castepeople, had completely disappeared in Hindusociety during the medieval age. The custom ofsati was prevalent. Even betrothed girls had tocommit sati was prevalent. Even betrothed girlhad to commit sati on the funeral pyres of theirwould-be-husbands. Those widows who wouldnot burn themselves with their husbands weretreated harshly by society.

Custom of Sati: Some of the Delhi Sultansdid try to discourage the custom of sati whichprevailed among a large section of the Hindupopulation, particularly the upper classes andthe Rajputs. Though sati was only voluntary inthe south and not enjoined upon widows, it is

difficult to account for its wide popularity in theVijayanagar Empire, whose rules do not seemto have put up any restriction on its observance.Muhammad Tughluq was, in all probability, thefirst medieval ruler who place restrictions on itsobservance. Thourgh Akbar did not forbid thesati altogether, he had issued difinite orders tothe kotwals that they should not allow a womanto be burnt against her inclination. Aurangzebwas the only Mughal who issued definite orders(1664) for bidding sati in his realm altogether.

Economic Position: Economically, a Muslimwoman was entitled to a share in the inheritancewith absolute right to dispose it off. Unlike herHindu sister, she retained the right even aftermarriage. Mehr, or entente nuptial settlement,was another safeguard for Muslim womenwhereas a Hindu woman had no right to theproperty of her husband's parents. A Hinduwoman was only entitled to maintenance andresidence expenses besides movable property likeornaments, jewellery, etc. Thus, form the legalpoint of view, women were reduced to a positionof dependency in every sphere of life, Thewomen in the south under the Cholas (8th to13th century), however, had the right to inheritproperty.

��


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LATER MUGHALSCHRONICLEIAS ACADEMYA CIVIL SERVICES CHRONICLE INITIATIVE

The unity and stability of the Mughal Empirewas shaken during the long and strong reign ofEmperor Aurangzeb. However, in spite ofsetbacks and adverse circumstances the Mughaladministration was still quite efficient and theMughal army strong at the time of his death in1707. This year is generally considered toseparate the era of the great Mughals from thatof the lesser Mughals. After the death ofAurangzeb the Mughal authority weakened, itwas not in a position to militarily enforce itsregulations in all parts of the empire. As a resultmany provincial governors started to assert theirauthority. In due course of time they gainedindependent status. At the same time manykingdoms which were subjugated by theMughals also claimed their independence. Somenew regional groups also consolidated andemerged as political power with all thesedevelopments, the period between 1707 and1761 (third battle of Panipat, where AhmedShah Abdali defeated the Maratha chiefs)witnessed resurgence of regional identity thatbuttressed both political and economicdecentralization. At the same time, intraregionalas well as interregional trade in local rawmaterials, artifacts, and grains created strong tiesof economic interdependence, irrespective ofpolitical and military relations.

PASSING OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

In 1707, when Aurangzeb died, seriousthreats from the peripheries had begun toaccentuate the problems at the core of the empire.The new emperor, Bahadur Shah I (or ShahAlam; ruled 1707-12), followed a policy ofcompromise, pardoning all nobles who hadsupported his rivals. He granted themappropriate territories and postings. He neverabolished jizya, but the effort to collect the taxwere not effective. In the beginning he tried togain greater control over the Rajput states of therajas of Amber (later Jaipur) and Jodhpur. Whenhis attempt met with firm resistance he realizedthe necessity of a settlement with them. However,the settlement did not restore them to fullycommitted warriors for the Mughal cause. The

emperor's policy toward the Marathas was alsothat of half-hearted conciliation. They continuedto fight among themselves as well as against theMughals in the Deccan. Bahadur Shah was,however, successful in conciliating Chatrasal, theBundela chief, and Churaman, the Jat chief; thelatter also joined him in the campaign againstthe Sikhs.

Jahandar Shah (ruled 1712-13) was a weakand ineffective ruler. His wazir Zulfiqar Khanassumed the executive direction of the empirewith unprecedented powers. Zulfiqar believedthat it was necessary to establish friendlyrelations with the Rajputs and the Marathas andto conciliate the Hindu chieftains in general inorder to save the empire. He reversed the policiesof Aurangzeb. The hated jizya was abolished.He continued the old policy of suppressionagainst the Sikhs. His goal was to reconcile allthose who were willing to share power withinthe Mughal institutional framework. ZulfiqarKhan made several attempts at reforming theeconomic system.

He failed in his efforts to enhance therevenue collection of the state. When FarrukhSiyar, son of the slain prince Azimush-Shan,challenged Jahandar Shah and Zulfiqar Khanwith a large army and funds from Bihar andBengal, the rulers found their coffers depleted.In desperation, they looted their own palaces,even ripping gold and silver from the walls andceilings, in order to finance an adequate army.Farrukh Siyar (ruled 1713-19) owed his victoryand accession to the Sayyid brothers, AbdullahKhan and Husain Ali Khan Baraha. The Sayyidsthus earned the offices of wazir and chiefbakhshi and acquired control over the affairs ofstate. They promoted the policies initiated earlierby Zulfiqar Khan. Jizya and other similar taxeswere immediately abolished. The brothers finallysuppressed the Sikh revolt and tried to conciliatethe Rajputs, the Marathas, and the Jats.However, this policy was hampered bydivisiveness between the wazir and the emperor,as the groups tended to ally themselves with oneor the other. The Jats once again startedplundering the royal highway between Agra and


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Delhi. Farrukh Siyar deputed Raja Jai Singh tolead a punitive campaign against them butwazir negotiated a settlement over the raja'shead. As a result, throughout northern Indiazamindars either revolted violently or simplyrefused to pay assessed revenues. On the otherhand, Farrukh Siyar compounded difficulties inthe Deccan by sending letters to some Marathachiefs urging them to oppose the forces of theDeccan governor, who happened to be thedeputy and an associate of Sayyid Husain AliKhan. Finally, in 1719, the Sayyid brothersbrought Ajit Singh of Jodhpur and a Marathaforce to Delhi to depose the emperor. The murderof Farrukh Siyar created a wave of revulsionagainst the Sayyids among the various factionsof nobility, who were also jealous of theirgrowing power. Many of these, in particular theold nobles of Aurangzeb's time, resented thewazir's encouragement of revenue farming,which in their view was mere shop keeping andviolated the age- old Mughal notion of statecraft.In Farrukh Siyar's place the brothers raised tothe throne three young princes in quicksuccession within eight months in 1719. Two ofthese, Rafi- ud- Darajat and Rafi- ud- Dawlah(Shah Jahan II), died of consumption. The third,who assumed the title of Muhammad Shah,exhibited sufficient vigour to set about freeinghimself from the brothers' control.

A powerful group under the leadership ofthe Nizam-ul-Mulk, Chin Qilich Khan, and hisfather's cousin Muhammad Amin Khan, the twoeminent nobles emerged finally to dislodge theSayyid brothers (1720). By the time MuhammadShah (ruled 1719-48) came to power, the natureof the relationship between the emperor and thenobility had almost completely changed.Individual interests of the nobles had come toguide the course of politics and state activities.In 1720 Muhammad Amin Khan replacedSayyid Abdullah Khan as wazir; after AminKhan's death (January 1720), the office wasoccupied by the Nizam-ul-Mulk for a brief perioduntil Amin Khan's son Qamar-ud-Din Khanassumed the title in July 1724 by a claim ofhereditary right. The nobles themselves virtuallydictated these appointments. By this time thenobles had assumed lot of powers. They used toget farmans issued in the name of emperor intheir favours. The position of emperor waspreserved as a symbol only without real powers.The real powers seated with important groupsof nobles. The nobles in control of the centraloffices maintained an all-empire outlook, even

if they were more concerned with the stabilityof the regions where they had their jagirs.Farmans (mandates granting certain rights orspecial privileges) to governors, faujdar, andother local officials were sent, in conformity withtradition, in the name of the emperor. Individualfailings of Aurangzeb's successors alsocontributed to the decline of royal authority.Jahandar Shah lacked dignity and decency;Farrukh Siyar was fickle-minded; MuhammadShah was frivulous and fond of ease and luxury.Opinions of the emperor's favourites weighed inthe appointments, promotions, and dismissalseven in the provinces.

Bahadur Shah I (1707-1712) Aurangzebdied in 1707. A war of succession startedamongst his three surviving sons viz. Muazzam-the governor of Kabul, Azam-the governor ofGujarat and Kam Baksh-The governor ofBijapur. Muazzam defeated Azam and KamBaksh and ascended the Mughal throne with thetitle of Bahadur Shah. He pursued pacifist policyand was therefore also called Shah Bekhaber.

He also assumed the title of Shah Alam I. Hemade peace with Guru Gobind Singh andChatrasal. He granted Sardeshmukhi toMarathas and also released Shahu. He forcedAjit Singh to submit but later in 1709. recognisedhim as the Rana Marwar. He defeated BandaBahadur at Longarh and reoccupied Sirhird in1711

Jahandar Shah (1712-13) ascended thethrone with the aid of Zulfikhar Khan. Hisnephew, Farrukh Siyar, defeated him. Heabolished Jiziya .

Farrukh Siyar (1713-1719) ascended thethrone with the help of Sayyid brothers.Abdullah Khan and Hussain Khan who wereWazir and Mir Bakshi respectively Farrukh Siyarwas killed by the Sayyid brothers in 1719. BandaBahadur was captured at Gurudaspur andexecuted.

Mohammad Shah (1719-48). During hisreign Nadir Shah raided India and took awaythe peacock throne and the Kohinoor diamond.He was a pleasure loving king and was nicknamed Rangeela.

Nizam ul mulk was appointed Wazir in 1722but he relinquished the post and marched to theDeccan to found the state of Hyderabad.

Bengal acquired virtual independence duringthe governorship of Murshid Quli Khan.


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Saddat Khan Burhan-ul-Mulk who wasappointed governor of Awadh by him laid downthe foundation of the autonomous state.

Ahmed Shah's (1748-1754) During his reign,Ahmed Shah Abdali(one of the ablest generalsof Nadir Shah) marched towards Delhi And theMughals ceded Punjab and Multan.

Alamgir (l754-l759) During his reign AhmedShah Abdali occupied Delhi. Later, Delhi wasalso plundered by the Marathas.

Shah Alam II (1759-1806) During his reignNajib Khan Rohilla became very powerful inDelhi so much so that Shah Alam II could notenter Delhi. The Battle of Buxar (1764) wasfought during his reign.

Akbar Shah II (1806-37), During his reignLord Hastings ceased to accept the sovereigntyof Mughals and claimed an equal status.

BahadurShah II (1837-1862), The lastMughal king , who was confined by the Britishto the Red Fort. During the revolt of 1857 he wasproclaimed the Emperor by the rebellions. Hewas deported to Rangoon following the 1857rebellion.

DECLINE AND DISINTEGRATIONOF MUGHAL EMPIRE

Historians have held divergent views aboutthe main causes for the downfall of the Mughalempire. J.N. Sarkar blames the rottenness at thecore of Indian society to be the main cause ofthe disintegration. English Historian Irwin wasconvinced that military inefficiency was the rootcause while another Historian Sydney Owenbelieved that the fall of the Mughal empire wasdue to the degeneracy of its sovereign. SatishChandra opines that the roots of thedisintegration of the Mughal empire may befound in the Medieval Indian economy. 7Themain causes for the downfall of the Mughalempire are the following.

1. The Mughal system of government beingdespotic much depended on the personalityof the emperor. Under a strong monarchall went well with the administration butafter Aurangzeb all the Mughal rulers wereweaklings and therefore unable to meet thechallenges from within and without. Thusthese imbecile emperors were unable tomaintain the integrity of the empire.

2. In the later stages of the Mughal rule, thenobles discarded hard life of militaryadventure and took to luxuries living. Thenew nobility were at best courtiers andrivaled one another in the subtle art offlattery and finesse. Instead of 'Knights ofromance'. The nobles had no spirit to fightand die for the empire because the laterMughal emperors ceased to be impartialjudges.The decay in the ranks of the upperclasses deprived the state of the servicesof energetic military leaders and capableadministrators.

3. Towards the end of Aurangzeb's reign theinfluential nobles of the court were dividedinto several factions such as Persian,Turani and Indian Muslims whoorganized themselves into pressuregroups. The Turani and the Persian groupwere together known as 'the Foreignparty' were pitched against the IndianMuslim supported by Hindus which wastermed as 'the Hindustani party'. Eachgroup tried to win the emperor to its view-points and poison his ears against theother faction. These groups kept thecountry in a state of perpetual politicalunrest, did not forge a united front evenin the face of foreign danger, and foughtbattles, upsetting the peace of the countryand throwing administration to dogs.

4. The Mughal military system was defective.The army was organized on the feudalbasis where the common soldier owedallegiance to the mansabdar rather thanthe emperor. During the last Mughalperiod, when the emperors grew weak,this defect assumed alarming proportions.Another defect of the Mughal army ofeighteenth century was their composition.The soldiers were usually drawn fromCentral Asia who came to India to makefortunes,not to loose them. These soldierschanged sides without scruples and wereconstantly plotting either to betray orsupplant their employers. Irwine points aseries of fault such as indiscipline, wantof cohesion, luxurious habits, inactivity,bad commissariat and cumbrousequipment among the degenerate Mughalsexcept the personal courage they had. In


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fighting capacity the Mughal army wasnothing more than an armed rabble.Bernier compares them to a herd ofanimals that fled at the first shock. TheMughal artillery proved ineffective againstthe guerilla tactics of the Marathas.

5. The Mughal government was essentiallya police government and failed to effect afusion between the Hindus and Muslimsand create a composite nation. TheMughal government confined its attentionmainly to the maintenance of internal andexternal affair and collection of revenue.The effort made by Akbar to weld thepeople into a nation was undone by thebigotry of Aurangzeb and weaksuccessors.

6. The absence of the law of primogenitureamong the Mughals usually meant a warof succession which provided the countrywith the ablest son of the dying emperoras the ruler. Under the later Mughals asinister factor entered in the law ofsuccession which was 'the survival of theweakest'. The princes of the royal dynastyreceded to the background while strugglewas fought by leaders of rival factionsusing royal princes as nominalleaders.Powerful and influential noblesacted as 'king makers', making andunmaking emperors to suit their personalinterests. This system weakened the bodypolitic and crippled it financially andmilitarily.

7. Under the later Mughals the financialcondition worsened much more quicklyon one hand the outlying provincesasserted their independence one by oneand ceased the payment of revenue to thecentre, while the numerous war ofsuccessions and political convulsionscoupled with the lavish living of theemperors emptied the royal treasury onthe other hand. The crisis of the Jagirdarisystem heightened in this period.Aurangzeb's long wars in the Deccanbesides emptying the royal treasury almostruined the trade and Industry of thecountry. These conditions accentuated inthe eighteenth century.

8. The most powerful external factor thatbrought about the downfall of the MughalEmpire was the rising power of theMarathas under the Peshwas. ThePeshwas inaugurated the policy of GreaterMaharashtra and popularized the idealof 'Hindu-pad padshahi'. Though theMarathas were unable in laying thefoundation of a stable empire in India,they played a major role in bringing aboutthe decline of the Mughal Empire..

9. The invasions of Nadir shah gave death-blows to the shattered Mughal Empire.He deprived the Mughals of their wealthand exposed to the world the militaryweakness of the empire and its utter de-generation. The unsocial elements whichwere so far afraid of the prestige of theempire rose in rebellion and circumscribedthe very authority of the empire.

10. The coming of the Europeans furtheradded pace to the disintegration of theMughal Empire. They outfitted Indianprinces in every sphere whether it waswar, diplomacy or trade and commerce.The Mughals did not keep up pace withthe race of civilization and blew away bya dynamic and progressive west.

11. Although the expansion of the MughalEmpire reached its zenith during the reignof Aurangzeb, the disintegration of theempire also began simultaneously due tohis policies. Firstly; Aurangzeb sought torestore the Islamic character of the state.His policy of religious bigotism provedcounter productive and provokedAurangzeb general discontent in thecountry. It resulted into the rebellions ofMarathas, the Sikhs, the Bundelas and theJats. The imperialistic designs and narrowreligious policy of Aurangzeb turned theRajputs, reliable supporters of the imperialdynasty, into enemies. The destruction ofHindu temples and the reimposition of'Jizyah' led to the uprising of Santamisand others. Secondly, the policy ofAurangzeb inspired the Sikhs (in Punjab)and Marathas (in Maharashtra) to roseagainst the imperial empire, Maratharesistance to Mughai rule assumedAurangzeb national character and the


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whole people participated in the strugglefor the defence of their religion andliberties. They demoralized the MughalArmies through guerrilla mode of warfareand broke their spirit of superiority.Thirdly, the aggressive policy ofAurangzeb towards the Shia Sultanatesof Bijapur and Golkunda marked thebeginning of acute difficulties. Theconquest of these kingdoms removed thestrongest local check on Maratha activitiesand left them free to organize resistanceto the Mughal imperialism. Lastly, theDeccan policy of continuous warfare inthe Deccan which continued for twentyseven years, drained the resources of theempire.These undue wars put upAurangzeb great financial drain on thetreasury. The cream of brave andcourageous Mughal soldiers perished inthe long drawn wars. The Deccan ulcerproved fatal to the Mughal empire andpaved the way for hasty disintegration ofthe Mughal empire.

THE RISE OF REGIONALPOLITIES AND STATES

The states that arose in India during thephase of Mughal decline and the followingcentury (roughly 1700 to 1850) varied greatly interms of resources, longevity, and essentialcharacter. Some of them- such as Hyderabad inthe south, was located in an area that hadharboured regional state in the immediate pre-Mughal period and thus had an older local orregional tradition of state formation. Others werestates that had a more original character andderived from very specific processes that hadtaken place in the course of the late sixteenthand seventeenth centuries. In particular, manyof the post- Mughal states were based on ethnicor sectarian groupings- the Marathas, the Jats,and the Sikhs. In due course, the enrichment ofthe regions emboldened local land and power-holders to take up arms against externalauthority. However, mutual rivalry and conflictsprevented these rebels from consolidating theirinterests into an effective challenge to theempire. They relied on support from kinsfolk,peasants, and smaller zamindars of their owncastes. Each local group wanted to maximize itsshare of the prosperity at the expense of the

others. The necessity of emphasizing imperialsymbols was inherent in the kind of powerpolitics that emerged. Each of the contenders inthe regions, in proportion to his strength, lookedfor and seized opportunities to establish hisdominance over the others in the neighbourhood.They all needed a kind of legitimacy, which wasso conveniently available in the long-acceptedauthority of the Mughal emperor. They had nofear in collectively accepting the symbolichegemony of the Mughal centre, which hadcome to co-exist with their ambitions.

The gradual weakening of the centralauthority set in motion new types of provincialkingdoms. Nobles with ability and strengthsought to build a regional base for themselves.The wazir Chin Qilich Khan himself, showedthe path. Having failed to reform theadministration, he relinquished his office in 1723and in October 1724 marched south to establishthe state of Hyderabad in the Deccan. TheMughal court's chief concern at this stage wasto ensure the flow of the necessary revenue fromthe provinces and the maintenance of at leastthe semblance of imperial unity. Seizing uponthe disintegration of the empire, the Marathasnow began their northward expansion andoverran Malwa, Gujarat, and Bundelkhand.Then, in 1738-39, Nadir Shah, who hadestablished himself as the ruler of Iran, invadedIndia.

THE MARATHA POWER

There is no doubt that the single mostimportant power that emerged in the longtwilight of the Mughal dynasty was theMarathas. The most important Maratha warriorclan was of the Bhonsles, Sivaji Bhonsle, emergedas the most powerful figure in the southernpolitics. The good fortune of Sivaji did not fall tohis sons and successors, Sambhaji, and hisyounger brother, Rajaran. For a time it appearedthat Maratha power was on the decline. But arecovery was effected in the early eighteenthcentury, in somewhat changed circumstances.

A particularly important phase in this respectis the reign of Sahu, who succeeded Rajaram in1708. Sahu's reign, lasted for four decades upto1749. It was marked by the ascendancy of alineage of Chitpavan Brahman ministers, whovirtually came to control central authority in theMaratha state. The Bhonsles were reduced tofigureheads. Holding the title of peshwa (chief


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minister), the first truly prominent figure of thisline is Balaji Visvanath, who had helped Sahuin his rise to power. Visvanath and his successor,Baji Rao I (peshwa between 1720 and 1740),managed to bureaucratise the Maratha state toa far greater extent than had been the case underthe early Bhonsles. They systematized thepractice of tribute gathering from Mughalterritories, under the heads of sardeshmukhi andchauth (the two terms corresponding to theproportion of tribute collected). They seem tohave consolidated methods of assessment andcollection of land revenue and other taxes, onthe lines of the Mughals. Much of the revenueterminology used in the documents of thepeshwa and his subordinates derives fromPersian. This suggests a greater continuitybetween Mughal and Maratha revenuepractices.

THE MARATHA CONFEDERACY

By the close of Sahu's reign, a few powerfulMaratha Kingdoms were in complete control oftheir territories. This period saw the developmentof sophisticated networks of trade, banking, andfinance in the territories under their control. Thebanking houses based at Pune, had theirbranches in Gujarat, Ganges Valley, and thesouth. Attention was also paid to the Maritimeaffairs. Bala ji Visvanath took some care tocultivate the Angria clan, which controlled a fleetof vessels based in Kolaba and other centres ofthe west coast. These ships posed a threat notonly to the new English settlement of Bombay,but to the Portuguese at Goa, Bassein, andDaman. On the other hand, there also emergeda far larger domain of activity away from theoriginal heartland of the Marathas. Of thesechiefs, the most important were the Gaikwads(Gaekwars), the Sindhias, and the Holkars. Also,there were branches of the Bhonsle family thatrelocated to Kolhapur and Nagpur, while themain line remained in the Deccan heartland, atSatara. Let us examine their areas of influence.

THE BHONSLES OF NAGPUR

Unlike the Kolhapur Bhonsles and thedescendants of Vyamkoji at Thanjavur, both ofwhom claimed a status equal to that of theSatara raja, the line at Nagpur was clearlysubordinate to the Satara rulers. A crucial figurefrom this line is Raghuji Bhonsle (ruled 1727-55),who was responsible for the Maratha incursions

on Bengal and Bihar in the 1740s and early1750s. The relations of his successors, Janoji,Sabaji, and Mudhoji, with the peshwas and theSatara line were varying, and it is in this sensethat these domains can be regarded as onlyloosely confederated, rather than tightly boundtogether. Other subordinate rulers who emergedunder the overarching umbrella provided by theSatara ruler and his peshwa were equallysomewhat opportunistic in their use of politics.

THE GAIKWADS OF BARODA

The Gaikwads, gathered prominence in the1720. Initially they were subordinate not only tothe Bhonsles but also to the powerful Dabhadefamily. However, it was only after the death ofSahu, when the power of the peshwas wasfurther enhanced, that the position of theGaikwads truly improved. By the early 1750s,their rights on large portion of the revenues ofGujarat were recognized by the peshwa. Theexpulsion of the Mughal governor of the Gujaratprovince from his capital of Ahmadabad in 1752set the seal on the process. The Gaikwadspreferred, however, to establish their capital inBaroda, causing realignment in the network oftrade and consumption in the area. The rule atBaroda of Damaji (d. 1768) was followed by aperiod of some turmoil. The Gaikwads stillremained partly dependent on Pune and thepeshwa, especially to intervene in moments ofsuccession crisis. The eventual successor ofDamaji, Fateh Singh (ruled 1771- 89), did notremain allied to the peshwa for long in the late1770s and early 1780s, he chose to negotiate asettlement with the English East India Company,which eventually led to increased Britishinterference in his affairs. By 1800, the Britishrather than the peshwa were the final arbitersin determining succession among the Gaikwads,who became subordinate rulers under them inthe nineteenth century.

THE HOLKARS OF LNDORE

In the case of the Holkars the rise in statusand wealth was particularly rapid and marked.Initially they had very little political power.However by 1730s their chief Malhar Rao Holkarconsolidated his position. He was granted a largeshare of the chauth collection in Malwa, easternGujarat, and Khandesh. Within a few years,Malhar Rao consolidated his own principalityat Indore, from which his successors controlled


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important trade routes as well as the crucialtrading centre of Burhanpur. After him, controlof the dynastic fortunes fell largely to his son'swidow, Ahalya Bai, who ruled from 1765 to 1794and brought Holkar power to great glory.Nevertheless, their success could not equal thatof the next great chieftain family, the Sindhias.

THE SINDHIAS OF GWALIOR

The Sindhias carved a prominent place forthemselves in North Indian politics in the decadesfollowing the third battle of Panipat (1761).Again, like the Holkars, the Sindhias were basedlargely in central India, first at Ujjain, and later(from the last quarter of the. 18th century) inGwalior. During the long reign of MahadajiSindhia (1761-94) family's fortunes were trulyconsolidated.

Mahadaji, proved an effective and innovativemilitary commander. He employed a largenumber of European soldiers in his force. Hispower grew rapidly after 1770. During thisperiod he managed to make substantial inroadsinto North India that had been weakened byAfghan attacks. He intervened with some effectin the Mughal court during the reign of ShahAlam II. The Mughal king made him the "deputyregent" of his affairs in the mid-1780s. Hisshadow fell not only across the provinces ofDelhi and Agra but also on Rajasthan andGujarat, making him the most formidableMaratha leader of the era. The officials of theEast India Company were very cautious indealing with him. His relations with the actingpeshwa, Nana Fadnavis at Pune were fraughtwith tension.

Eventually, the momentum generated byMahadaji could not be maintained by hissuccessor Daulat Rao Sindhia (ruled 1794-1827),who was defeated by the British and forced bytreaty in 1803 to surrender his territories both tothe north and to the west. The careers of someof these potentates, especially Mahadaji Sindhia,illustrate the potency of Mughal symbols evenin the phase of Mughal decline. For instance,after recapturing Gwalior from the British,Mahadaji took care to have his control of thetown sanctioned by the Mughal emperor.Equally, he zealously guarded the privileges andtitles granted to him by Shah Alam, such as amiral-umara ("head of the amirs") and na'ib wakii-i mutlaq ("deputy regent"). In this he was notalone. Instances in the 18th century of states that

wholly threw off all pretense of allegiance to theMughals are rare. Rather, the Mughal system ofhonours and titles, as well as Mughal- derivedadministrative terminology and fiscal practices,continued despite the decline of imperial power.

HYDERABAD

Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder ofHyderabad state, was one of the most powerfulmembers at the court of the Mughal EmperorFarrukh Siyar. He was entrusted first with thegovernorship of Awadh, and later given chargeof the Deccan. As the Mughal governor of theDeccan provinces, Asaf Jah already had fullcontrol over its political and financialadministration. Taking advantage of the turmoilin the Deccan and the competition amongst thecourt nobility, he gathered power in his handsand became the actual ruler of that region.

Asaf Jah brought skilled soldiers and admin-istrators from northern India who welcomed thenew opportunities in the south. He appointedmansabdars and granted jagirs. Although hewas still a servant of the Mughal emperor, heruled quite independently without seeking anydirection from Delhi or facing any interference.The Mughal emperor merely confirmed the de-cisions already taken by the Nizam.

The state of Hyderabad was constantlyengaged in a struggle against the Marathas tothe west and with independent Telugu warriorchiefs (nayakas) of the plateau. The ambitionsof the Nizam to control the rich textile-producing areas of the Coromandel coast in theeast were checked by the British who werebecoming increasingly powerful in that region

THE NAWABS OF BENGAL

Murshid Quli Khan who started his careeras Diwan of Bengal under Aurangzeb becamevirtually independent with the growingweakening of the central authority. However,he regularly sent tribute to the Mughal emperor.Ali Vardi Khan deposed the family of MurshidQuli Khan and made himself the Nawab in 1739.These Nawabs brought stability and peace andpromoted agriculture, trade and industry. Equalopportunities were given to both Hindus andMuslims. But the Nawabs could not visualise thelong term implications of the presence of theEuropean trading companies and neglectedmilitary preparedness.


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In 1756-1757, the successor of Ali VardiKhan, Siraj- ud - Daulah had to fight the EnglishEast India Company over the trading rights. Hisdefeat in the battle of Plassey in June 1757 pavedthe way for subjugation of Bengal as well asIndia.

THE NAWABS OF AWADH

With the weakening central control theMughal suba of Awadh also saw emergingambitions of a provincial governor- Saadat KhanBurhan ul Mulk. Saadat Khan disciplined thelocal zamindars and gave shape to a well paid,well armed and well trained army. Before hisdeath in 1739, Saadat Khan made the provincialhead a hereditary position. His successors SafdarJung and Asaf ud Daulah not only played verydecisive role in the politics of northern India butalso gave a long term administrative stability tothe nawabi of Awadh. Under the Nawabs firstlyFaizabad and then Lucknow became the culturalrival of Delhi in the spheres of arts, literatureand crafts. Regional architecture reflected itselfin the form of Imambarah and other buildings.The evolution of dance form Kathak was theoutcome of cultural synthesis.

THE SIKHS OF PUNJAB

The Mughal force supressed the Sikhs underBanda Bahadur. But this did not put an end toSikh resistance to Mughal authority. In the 1720sand 1730s, Amritsar emerged as a centre of Sikhactivity, mainly because of its preeminence as apilgrimage centre. Kapur Singh, the mostimportant of the Sikh leaders of the time,operated from its vicinity. He gradually set aboutconsolidating a revenue-cum military system.Some Sikh groups also started consolidatingthemselves as political force. These activitiesdiscouraged the attempts by the Mughalgovernors of Lahore Suba to set up anindependent power base for themselves in theregion. First Abdus Samad Khan and then hisson Zakariya Khan attempted to controlsovereign power. After the latter's demise in1745, the balance shifted still further in favourof the Sikh warrior- leaders, such as Jassa SinghAhluwalia. He later on founded the kingdom ofKapurthala. The mushrooming of pockets underthe authority of Sikh leaders was thus a featureof the two decades preceding Ahmed ShahAbdali's invasion of the Punjab. This process wasevident in the eastern Punjab and Bari Doab.

Though the principal opposition faced by Abdaliin his campaigns of the 1750s and 1760s in thePunjab came from the Sikhs, Marathas alsoplayed a role of significance on this occasion.Eventually, by the mid- 1760s, Sikh authorityover Lahore was established, and the Afghanswere not able to consolidate their early gains.Under Ahmad Shah's successor, Timur Shah(ruled 1772-93), some of the territories and townsthat had been taken by the Sikhs (such as Multan)were recovered, and the descendants of AhmadShah continued to harbour ambitions in thisdirection until the end of the century. But by the1770s, they were dealing with a confederationof about 60 Sikh chieftains, some of these wereto emerge as princely states under the British-such as Nabha and Patiala.

The Sikh chiefdoms continued many of theadministrative practices initiated by theMughals. The main subordinates of the chiefswere given jagir assignments. The Persianizedculture of the Mughal bureaucracy continued tohold sway. It was one such chief, Ranjit Singh,grandson of Charhat Singh Sukerchakia, whoeventually welded these principalities for a brieftime into a larger entity. Ranjit Singh's effectiverule lasted four decades, from 1799 to 1839. Thepower of the English East India Company wasgrowing in all parts of the country during thisperiod. Within ten years of his death, the Britishhad annexed Punjab. His rise to power was basedon superior military force, partly serviced byEuropean mercenaries and by the strategiclocation of the territories that he had inheritedfrom his father. Ranjit Singh's kingdomrepresented the culmination of nearly a centuryof Sikh rebellions against Mughal rule. It wasbased on the intelligent application of principlesof statecraft. He used as his capital the greattrading city of Lahore, which he captured in1799. Having gained control of the trade routes,he imposed monopolies on the trade in salt,grain, and textiles from Kashmir to enhance hisrevenues. Using these earnings, he built up anarmy of 40,000 cavalry and infantry. By the year1809 he was undisputed master of the most ofPunjab.

JAIPUR AND OTHERRAJPUTANA STATES

Jaipur (earlier Amber) in eastern Rajasthan,was a Rajput principality controlled by theKachwaha clan. In the early eighteenth century,


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the ruler Jai Singh Sawai took steps to increasehis power manyfold. This was done by: (i)arranging to have his jagir assignment in thevicinity of his home territories and (ii) by takingon rights on land revenue through farming (forcollection of land tax rights on a parcel of landthat are rented by the state to an individual),which was gradually made permanent. By thetime of his death in 1743, Jai Singh (after whomJaipur came to be named) had emerged as thesingle most important ruler in the region. Mostof the larger Rajput states were constantlyinvolved in petty quarrels and civil wars. AjitSingh of Marwar was killed by his own son.

In the 1750s Suraj Mal the Jat ruler ofBharatpur, like Jai Singh- adopted a modifiedform of Mughal revenue administration in histerritories. However, by this time, the fortunesof the Jaipur kingdom were seriously in question.Under threat from the Marathas, recourse had

to be taken to adopt short- term fiscal exactions.At the same time a series of crop failures in the1750s and 60s adversely affected fragileagriculture. The second half of the eighteenthcentury was thus marked by an economicdepression, accompanied by a decline in thepolitical power of Jaipur. During this periodJaipur became a vulnerable target for theambitions of the Marathas, and of MahadajiSindhia in particular.

The states discussed so far, with the exceptionof Maratha, were all landlocked. This did notmean that trade was not an important elementin their makeup, for the kingdom of Ranjit Singhwas crucially linked to trade. However, lack ofaccess to the sea greatly increased thevulnerability of a state, particularly in an erawhen the major power was the English EastIndia Company, itself initially a maritimeenterprise.

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THE MARATHA STATECHRONICLEIAS ACADEMYA CIVIL SERVICES CHRONICLE INITIATIVE

The emergence and growth of the Marathastate during the 17th century was an importantepisode in the history of India. The Territorywhich include modern state of Bombay Konkan,Kandesh, Berar, part of Madhya Pradesh, andpart of Hyderabad state was Maratha state. Thehistory of the rise of the Marathas is the historyof the rise of an organized group of peopleinhabiting the territory of Maharashtra.Different factors contributed in the rise ofMaratha nationalism and political power of theMarathas. The geographical condition ofMaharashtra helped in the rise of the Marathas.Larger part of Maharashtra is plateau whereman has to struggle hard for his existence. Thismade Marathas courageous and sturdy. Theplateau provided every facility for defenceincluding the construction of farts at every hilltop-while it was difficult for Aurangzeb foreigninvader to get supplies besides the difficulty ofmovement with larger armies in an unknownland. The plateau also provided good facility forguerilla-warfare to the Marathas. The rise of theMarathas was the result of the efforts of entireMaratha people who on the basis of unity of theirlanguages, literature, community and homelandgave birth to Maratha nationalism and desiredto create and independent state of their own.The Marathas developed the story spirit ofnationalism which made them the mostpowerful group of people in India.The saints ofBhakti Movement in Maharashtra had spreadthe idea of equality which helped for the growthof unity among in people.

The Marathas had important positions in theadministrative and military system of Deccanstates. Although a number of influential Marathafamilies exercised local authority in some area,the Maratha did not have any large wellestablished state as Rajaputs had. The credit forsetting up such a large state goes to ShahjiBhonsali and his son Shivaji.

Shivaji: Shivaji was born in 1627. He wasthe son of Shahji Bhonsle and Jija Bai.ShahjiBhonsle acted as the king maker inAhammednagar. After its extinction, transferred

his service to Bijapur. Shivaji spent his childhoodunder the protection of a Brahmin official calledDadaji Kondadev. While Jija bai built up thecharacter of Shivaji, Kond Dev trained him inthe art of fighting and administration.Shivajiaimed to create an independent kingdom of hisown right from the beginning of his career. Hisprimary aim was to carve out an independentkingdom for himself in Maharashtra.M.G.Ranade has cleared the aim of Shivaji by dividingevents of his life into four parts. During the firstsix years of his political career, Shivaji simplydesired to organize the neighbouring Marathachiefs under him. He had to fight against Bijapurto active this purpose. During the course of nextten years he encouraged Maratha nationalismand attempted to extend the territory under hisrule. He fought against the ablest nobles ofBijapur during this period and succeeded. Hecame in to conflict with the growing power ofthe Mughals Towards the Deccan. He succeededagainst the Mughals as well. Between the period1674-80 the legalized his kingdom, held hiscoronation and assumed the title of Chatrapathi.Even during the period of Tutelage of KundaDev, Shivaji started capturing hill forts nearPoona against his wishes. At the age of 20 yearshe started his adventures on a wider scale. Manycourageous Maratha leader gathered round him.In 1643 Shivaji captured the fort of the singhgarhfrom Bijapur and then gradually the forts ofChaken,Purandar,Varanati,Torna, Supa,Tikona, Lohgarch, Rairi were taken over.Shivajihad won over many of his officers of Bijapur tohis side by bringing them.The conquest of Javlimade him in disputed master.

Shivaji came into conflict with the Mughalsfirst in 1657. Aurangazeb had attacked Bijapur,which sought his help Shivaji could realize thatit was in his interest also to check the power ofthe Mughals from penetrating in the Deccan.Therefore he helped Bijapur and attacked southwest territory of the Mughals. He looted Junarand troubled the Mughals at several places. Butwhen Bijapur made peace with the Mughals, healso stopped raids on Mughals territory. WithAurangazeb away in the north, Shivaji resumed


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his career of conquest at the expense of Bijapur.He captured Konkan. Bijapur now decided totake stern action Afzalkhan who was a reputedcommander of Bijapur was deputed for his taskin 1659. With a large army, He tried to terrifyShivaji by wholesale destruction of temples,agriculture and populace with in his territoriesAfzalkhan assured Shivaji that if he would cometo meet him in person and agreed to accept thesuzerainty of Bijapur he would so given theadditional territory as Jagir. Shivaji got scant ofAfzalkhan and decided the pay him in the somecoins. He agreed to meet Afzalkhan after asolemn promise of his personal safety.Convincedthat this was a trap. Shivaji went prepared andmurdered khan in cunning but daring manner,Shivaji put his leaderless army to rout capturedall goods and equipment including his artillery.Flushed with victory, the Maratha troopsoverran the powerful fort of Panhala and pouredin to south Konkan and Kolhapur districtsmaking extensive conquest.

Shivaji's exploits made him a legendaryfigure. His name passed from house to house andwas credited with magical powers. Peopleflocked to him from the Maratha areas to joinhis army. Meanwhile, Aurangazeb wasanxiously watching the rise of a Maratha powerso near the Mughal frontier. Aurangazebinstructed the new Mughal governor of Deccan,Shiasta Khan to invade Shivaji dominion. At firstthe war went bodly for Shivaji Shaista Khanoccupied Poona and made it his headquarter.He sent army to capture Konkan fromShivaji.The Mughal secured their contest onnorth Konkan. Driven into a corner Shivaji madebold stroke. He infiltrated in to the camp ofShaista Khan at Poona and at night attackedKhan, killing his son, and one of his captainsand wounding khan. This daring attack put theKhan in to disgrace. In anger Aurangazebtransferred Shaista Khan to Bengal. MeanwhileShivaji made another bold move. He attackedSurat and looted it in to his hearts content,returning home laden with Treasure.

After the failure of Shaista Khan Aurangazebdeputed Raja Jai Singh of Amber to deal withShivaji.Full military and administrative authoritywas conferred on Jai singh so that he was not inany way dependent on the Mughal victory inthe Deccan, unlikes his predecessors, Jia singhdid not under estimate the Marathas. He madecareful diplomatic and military preparation. Heappealed to all the rivals and opponents of Shivaji

in order to isolate Shivaji. Marching to Poona,Jai Singh decided to strike at the heart of Shivajiterritories fort purendar where Shivaji hadlodged his family and his treasure. Jai singhclosely besieged Purandar (1665) be acting offall the Maratha attempt to relieve it. With thefall of the fart at sight, Shivaji opened negotiationwith Jai Singh. In 1665 the treaty of purandarwas signed between two. The following termswere agreed upon.

1. Shivaji surrendered 23 of his forts, andterritory which yielded annual revenue of4 lakhs of heen.

2. Shivaji was left with only 12 forts andterritory which yielded annual revenue ofone lakh him.

3. Shivaji accepted the suzerainty of theMughals.

4. Shivaji agreed to support the Mughalsagainst Bijapur.

5. Shivaji agreed to pay forty lakhs of him toothe Mughals in 13 years.

This term of the treaty embittered the relationof Bijapur with Shivaji. In 1666 Shivaji went toAgra to meet emperor Aurangazeb, Jia Singhtempted Shivaji that there was every possibilityof getting governorship of Mughals territory inthe Deccan if he would go to meet the emperorin person. He assured Shivaji of his personalsafety.Shivaji visited Agra along with his sonShambhuji. He was presented before theemperor by Ram Singh, son of Jai Singh. Theemperor neglected his presence and offered hima place to stand among the officers of the rankof 5,000 mansab. Shivaji felt humiliated and leftthe court immediately Ram singh kept Shivaji inthe Jaipur Bhavan but virtually he was a prisonerthere, since Shivaji had come to Agra on JaiSingh assurance, Aurangazeb wrote to Jai Singhfor advice. Jai singh strongly argued for a lenienttreatment for Shivaji. But before any decisioncould be taken, Shivaji escaped from detention.

There is no doubt that Shivaji's visit to Agraproved to be turning point in Mughal relationswith the Marathas Aurangazeb attached littlevalue to the alliance with Shivaji.For him Shivajiwas just a petty bhumia (land holders). In 1670AD Shivaji again started fighting against theMughals and succeeded in capturing many fartsfrom among those which he had surrounded toby the treaty of Purandar. He conquered fortslike singhgarh, Purandar, Kalyan Mahuli etc.


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and successfully raided to the territories of theMughals in Deccan. He also plundered Surat in1670 for the second time. Thus with in a fewyears; Shivaji captured many farts and territoriesfrom the Mughals and Bijapur.

In 1674 Shivaji held his coronation, assumedthe title Chatrapathi and made Raigarh hiscapital. In 1677-78 AD Shivaji attacked eastKarnatak on the pretext of getting share of hisfathers jagir from his brother. He then conqueredthe forts of Jinji and vollore and the territorybetween rivers Thungabhadra and Kaveri inKarnataka. The Karnatak expedition was the lastmajor expedition of Shivaji. Shivaji died in 1680shortly after his return the Karnatak expedition.

SHIVAJI'S ADMINISTRATION

Shivaji had laid the foundation of a soundsystem of administration. His administrativesystem was largely borrowed from theadministrative practices of the Deccan state. Likeall other medieval rulers, Shivaji was a despotwith all powers concentrated in his hands. Hepossessed all executive and legislativepower.'Shivaji' was a great organizer andconstructive civilian administrator. The one ofthe novelty of Shivajis administration was theintroduction of Maratha language as the statelanguage.

(i) Central Administration

The king was at the helm of the affairs. Theadministration was divided into eightdepartments headed by ministers who are sometimes called Ashta pradhan. The eight ministerswere (1) Peshwa who looked after the financesand general administration. (2) Sari-Naubat whowas the Senapati. (3) Majumdar looked after theaccounts. (4) Waqai navis looked after theintelligence, post and household affairs (5)Surnavis or Chitnis looked after officialcorrespondence (6) Dabir looked after foreignaffairs (7) Nyayadhish looked after justice and(8) Pandit Rao looked after ecclesiastical affairs.

The ashtapradhan was not a creation ofShivaji. Many of these officers like Peshwa,Majumdar, Waqai navis, Dabir and Surnavishad existed under the Deccani rulers also. Allthe members of the astha pradhan except PanditRao and Nyaydhish were asked to lead militarycampaigns. Under Shivaji these offices wereneither hereditary nor permanent. They held theoffice at the pleasure of the king. They were also

frequently transferred. Each of the ashta pradhanwas assisted by eight assistants diwan,Majumdar, Fadnis, Sabnis; Karkhanis, Chitnis,Jamadar and Potnis. Chitnis dealt with alldiplomatic correspondences and wrote all royalletters. The Fadnis used to respond to the lettersof commanders of the forts. The potnis lookedafter the income and expenditure of the royaltreasury.

(ii) Provincial and Local Administration

The provincial administration was alsoorganized on the Deccani and Mughal system.All the provincial units already existed under theDeccani rulers. Shivaji reorganized and incertain cases renamed them. The provinces wereknown as Prants.The Prants were under thecharge of subedar. Over a number of Subedarthere were Sarsubedar to control and supervisethe work of subedar. Smaller than prant wereTarfs which were headed by a havaldar. Thenthere were Mauzas or villages which were thelowest unit of administration. At the level ofvillage, Kulkarni used to keep accounts andmaintained records while Patil had legal andpolicing power. At the level of Pargana,Deshpande used to keep account and maintainrecords while Deshmukh had legal and policingpowers. The Police officer in rural area wascalled Faujdar and in urban area was calledKotwal. The Maratha polity did not have unifiedcivilian-cummilitary rank. Under the Marathasperformance based Brahmin elites manned thecentral bureaucracy and the localadministration. In this capacity they were calledKamvishdar who enjoyed wide powers of taxassessment and collection. They adjudicatedcases, provided information about localconditions and kept records. Later on, the BritishDistrict collector was modelled on this Marathaofficer only.

ARMY

Cavalry and infantry constituted theprimary part of the army of Shivaji. The pagacavalrymen were called the bargirs. They wereprovided horses by the state while the silahdarspurchased their armies and horses themselves.The paga cavalry was well organized. Twentyfive horsemen formed a unit which was placedunder a havildar. Shivaji preferred to give cashsalaries to the regular soldiers, though some timethe chief received revenue grants strict disciplineswas maintained in the army. The plunder taken


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by each soldiers during compaign was strictlyaccounted for, farts and security occupied animportant place in the army organization ofShivaji. Shivaji maintained a navy as well. Shivajihad 400 ships of different kind. The navy wasdivided in to two parts and each part wascommanded by darive Nayak and mai Nayakrespectively.

FINANCE AND REVENUE

The revenue system seems to have beenpatterned on the system of Malik Ambar landrevenue; Trade Tax etc. were the primary sourceof the fixed income of Shivaji.But income fromthese sources was not sufficient to meet theexpenditure of the state. Therefore Shivajicollected the chauth and Sardeshmukhi from theterritory which was either under his enemies orunder his own influence. The chauth was 1/4part of the income of the particular territorywhile the Sardeshmukhi was 1/10. Shivajicollected these taxes simply by force of his army.These taxes constituted primary source of theincome of Shivaji and after wards helped in theextension of the power and territory of theMarathas. The revenue system of Shivaji wasRytowari in which the state kept direct contactwith peasants. Shivaji mostly avoided the systemof assigning Jagir to his officers and wheneverhe assigned Jagir to them, the right of collectingthe revenue was kept with state officials.

SCCESSORS

Sambhaji (1680-89). The war of successionbetween Sambhaji, the elder son, and Rajaram,the younger son, of Sivaji, resulted in the victoryof the former and imprisonment of the later.

Sambhaji provided protection and support toAkbar, the rebellious son of Aurangzeb. ButAkbar failed against his father and departed toPersia. Sambhaji was also captured atSangamesvar by a Mughal noble and executed.

Rajaram (1689-1700) : Rajaram was releasedand succeeded to the throne with the help ofthe ministers at Raigarh. He fled from Raigarhto Jinji in 1689 (Jinji remained his base till 1698)due to a Mughal invasion in which Raigarh wascaptured along with Sambhaji's wife and son(Shahu) by the Mughals. Jinji fell to the Mughal(1698) and Rajaram escaped to Visalgarh(Maharashtra). Rajaram died at Satara, whichhad become the capital after the fall of Jinji.Rajaram's administrative changes included thecreation of the new post of Pratimdhi, thus takingthe total number of ministers to nine.

Sivaji II and Tarabai (1700-1707) : Rajaramwas succeeded by his minor son Sivaji II underthe guardianship of his mother Tarabai. Heattacked Berar (1703), Baroda (1706) andAurangabad.

Shah (1707-1749) : Shahu was released bythe Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah and this wasthe beginning of civil war (1707-14) between himand Tarabai. Tarabai's army was defeated byShahu at the battle of Khed (1700) and Shahuoccupied Satara. The final defeat andimprisonment of Tarabai by Shahu came in1714. But the southern part of the Marathakingdom with its capital at Kolhapur continuedto be under the control of the decendants ofRajaram (Sivaji II and later Sambhaji II).

Shahu's reign saw the rise of Peshwaship andtransformation of the Maratha kingdom into anempire based on the principle of confederacy.

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EUROPEAN ARRIVALCHRONICLEIAS ACADEMYA CIVIL SERVICES CHRONICLE INITIATIVE

DUTCH

Formation of the Company : In March, 1602,by a charter of the Dutch parliament the DutchEast India Company was formed with powersto make wars, concluded treaties, acquireterritories and build fortresses.

Establishment of Factories : The Dutch setup factories at Masulipatam (1605), Pulicat(1610), Surat (1616), Bimilipatam (1641), Karikal(1645), Chinsura (1653), Kasimbazar,Baranagore, Patna, Balasore, Negapatam (all in1658) and Cochin (1663).

Overthrow of Portuguese : In the 17thcentury, they supplanted the Portuguese as themost dominant power in European trade withthe East, including India. Pulicat was their centrein India till 1690, after which Negapatamreplaced it.

Beginning of Anglo-Dutch Rivalry : In themiddle of the 17th century (1654) the Englishbegan to emerge as a formidable colonial power.After 60-70 years of rivalry with the English, theDutch power in India began to decline by thebeginning of the 18th century. Their finalcollapse came with their defeat by the Englishin the battle of Bedera in 1759.

Loss of Settlement : One by one the Dutchlost their settlement to the English. Theirexpulsion from their poessessions in India by theBritish came in 1795.

ENGLISH

Arrival of Mildenhall : Before the East IndiaCompany establised trade in the India, it was amerchant adventurer, John Mildenhall whoarrived in India in 1599 by the overland route,ostensively for the purpose of trade with Indianmerchants.

Formation of the Company : Popularlyknown as the 'English East India Company', itwas formed by a group of merchants known asthe 'Merchant Adventures' in 1599. A charter tothe new Company was granted by Queen

Elizabeth (December, 1600) giving it themonopoly of Eastern trade for 15 years. A freshcharter even before the expiry of the first charterwas granted by James I (1609), giving it amonopolgy for an indefinite period.

Decision to open a factory at Surat :Following the decision of the East IndiaCompany to open a factory at Surat (1608),Captain Hawkins arrived at Jahangir's court(1609) to seek permission. Jahangir althoughinitially willing to grant permission later refuseddue to Portuguese pressure. But when aPortuguese fleet was defeated by the Englishunder Captain Best at Swally (near Surat) in1612, a farman was issued by Jahangirpermitting the English to erect a factory at Surat(1613).

Arrival of Thomas Roe : Sir Thomas cameto India as ambassador of James 1 to Jahangir'scourt in 1615 and stayed there till the end of 1618,during which period he obtained the emperor'spermission to trade and erect factories indifferent parts of the empire. He left India forEngland in February, 1619.

Establishment of Factories

West Coast : The English established factoriesat Agra, Ahmadabad, Baroda and Broach by1619, all of which were placed under the controlof the President and council of the Surat factory.The company acquired Bombay from Charles IIon lease at an annual rental of ten pounds in1668. Gerald Aungier was its first governor from1669 to 1677. Surat was replaced by Bombay asthe headquarters of the Company on the westcoast in 1687.

South-eastern Coast : Factories wasestablished at Masulipatam (1611) andArmagaon near Pulicat (1626). In 1639 FrancisDay Armagaon near Pulicat (1626). In 1639Francis Day obtained the site of Madras fromthe Raja of Chandragiri with permission to builda fortified factory, which was named Fort St.George. Madras soon replaced Masulipatam asthe headquarter of the English on thecoromandal coast, and in 1658 all the English


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settlement in eastern India (Bengal, Bihar andOrissa) and the Coronmandal were placedunder the control of the president and councilof Fort St. George.

Eastern India : Factories were set up atHariharpur and Balasore in Orissa (1633), atHugli in 1651, followed by those at Patna, Dacca,Kasimbazar in Bengal and Bihar. In 1690 afactory was established at Sutanuti by JobCharnock and the zamindari of the three villagesof Sutanuti, Kalikata and Govindpur wasacquired by the British (1698). These villages latergrew into the city of Calcutta. The factory atSutanuti was fortified in 1696 (the British usedthe rebellion of Shobha Singh, a zamindar ofBurdwan as an excuse to do this) and this newfortified settlement was named 'Fort William' in1700. A council with a president for FortWillaim was created (Sir Charles Eyre was thefirst president) and all settlements in Bengal,Bihar and Orissa were placed under it (1700).

Anglo-Mughal Relations

The relations between the Mughals and theEnglish were marked by the desire to dominateeach other. Initially, Hugli was sacked and warwas declared on the Mughal emperor,Aurangzeb, in 1686 by the English. The Mughalsretaliated by the capture of all Englishsettlements in Bengal (1687). The British beganhostile activities under Sir John Child on the westcoast, seizing Mughal ships and harasing hajpilgrims. The Mughals retaliated by capturingEnglish factories all over the empire (1688-1689).The British finally surrendered but werepardoned by the emperor (1690) and weregranted a farman.

The farman of 1691 granted by Aurangzebexempted the Company from payment ofcustoms duties in Bengal in return for an annualpayment and a second one granted by FarukhSiyar in 1717 confirmed the privileges of 1691and extended them to Gujarat and the Deccan.

Problems of The Company at Home

The Company had to face several problemsat home. A rival company by a group ofmerchants under Sir William Courten wasformed in 1635 and was granted a licence totrade in the East by Charles 1. There was rivalrybetween the two companies for a while whichwas ended with their amalgamation in 1649. TheEast India Company was transformed into a

joint-stock company by a charter of Cromwellin 1657.

In 1694 the British Parliament passed aresolution giving equal rights to all Englishmento trade in the East. A new rival company,known as the 'English Company of MerchantsTrading to the East Indies' (1698) was formed,which sent Sir William Norris as ambassador toAurangzeb to secure trading privileges for itself.But Sir William failed in his mission. There wasruinous competition between the two for a whilebut they finally agreed to come together in 1702.Their final amalgamation came in 1708 by theaward of the Earl of Goldolphin under the titleof 'the United Company of Merchants ofEngland Trading to the East Indies'. This newcompany continued its existence till 1858.

FRENCH

The French East India Company was formedby Colbert under state patronage in 1664. Thefirst French factory was established at Surat byFrancois Caron in 1668. Later Maracara set upa factory at Masulipatam in 1669.

A small village was acquired from theMuslim governor of Valikondapuram by FrancoisMartin and Bellanger de Lespinay in 1673. Thevillage developed into Pondicherry and its firstgovernor was Francois Martin. AlsoChandernagore in Bengal was acquired from theMughal governor in 1690.

The French in India declined between 1706and 1720 which led to the reconstitution of theCompany in 1720. The French power in Indiawas revived under Lenoir and Dumas(governors) between 1720 and 1742. Theyoccupied Mahe in the Malabar, Yanam inCoromandal (both in 1725) and Karikal in TamilNadu (1739). The arrival of Dupleix as Frenchgovernor in India in 1742 saw the beginning ofAnglo French conflict (Carnatick wars) resultingin their final defeat in India.

DANISH

The Danes formed an East India Companyand arrived in India in 1616. They establishedsettlements at Tranquebar (in Tamil Nadu) in1620 and at Serampore (Bengal) in 1676.Serampore was their headquarters in India.However, they failed to strengthen themselvesin India and were forced to sell all theirsettlements in India to the British in 1845.


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NATURE AND CHARACTEROF EUROPEAN COMMERCE

Role of European Companies Portuguese

The Portuguese seizure of power in theIndian Ocean at the beginning of the 16thcentury proceeded with amazing rapidity, andfor more than a century they remained lords ofthe waters and sent many precious shiploads toLisbon. The armed control of the sea trade wasquite easy for the Portuguese, for they found aflourishing and unprotected free trade systemwhen they entered this ocean. Except for anoccasional pirate, bearing rather primitive arms,there was nobody in these waters who had madeit his business to sue force for the control of trade.

This prevailing free trade system of the IndiaOcean, with all its flexibility, was neverthelessvery vulnerable. For this trade was not restrictedexclusively to luxury goods, like spices, precioustextiles, gold and ivory. Though they played amajor role in this trade, there was alsoconsiderable division of labour in the course ofwhich some ports had become entirelydependent of long-distance grain shipments. Asno duties and other protection costs distorted theprice level in this free trade system, everythingwas much cheaper here than in theMediterranean where the Egyptians and theVenetians operated a tight monopolgy.

What the Portuguese did was to protect theMediterranean practice in the Indian Ocean.They were keen observers and quickly seizedupon the strategic points from which they couldcontrol the vast network of Asian maritimetrade. Their fortified outposts served as customsstations where Asian merchants had to acquirecartazes (letters of protection) which saved themfrom being attacked and ransacked by thePortuguese on the High seas.

The Portuguese king soon made the spicetrade, particularly pepper trade, a royalmonopolgy. Their spice imports rose from lessthan a quarter of a million pounds in 1501 tomore than 2.3 million pounds per year by 1505,when Venetian merchants found that they couldbuy barely one million pounds of spice inAlexandria, though their annual purchase 1495had been 3.5 million pounds. Arab and Veentianmerchants remained in the spice tradethroughout the centruy of Portuguese power inAsia, but the balance of trade had shifted

dramatically, and the Portuguese persisted inshort-circuiting Arab middlemen carriers as theEuropean demand for spices continued toincrease.

The Portuguese king never wanted toundersell the Venetians, a sthey had initiallysuspected. He adjusted his sole price to theVenetian once, while simultaneously forcing hisIndian suppliers to part with their pepper at acheap rate. For the royal monopolist it was anideal system; buy the pepper at a cheap fixedrate in India and sell at a high fixed price inEurope. Once this system was established, it wasvery well suited for sub-contracting thus savingthe king trouble and giving him an assuredincome.

A comparison of the Portuguese budget inthe years 1506 and 1518 shows a striking changein the structure of state finance due to peppermonopolgy. The income from pepper monopolgyrose from 1,35,000 cruzados (one cruzado beingequal to 3.6 grams of gold) in 1506 to 3,00,000cruzados in 1518. Though there was an increasein other sources of income during the period, thepepper monopolgy certainly dewarfed all othersources. The enormous profit derived from thismonopolgy made their annual investment of50,000 cruzados in it appear rather moderate.Thus, the Portuguese got good value for moneyin this respective.

Another source of income which became asimportant to the Portuguese king as the peppermonopolgy was the sale of the offices of captainsand customs collectors in the Indian Oceanstrongholds. The Portuguese collected customsat Ormuz on the Persian Gulf and other placearound the Indian Ocean. The offices of thosewho collected these customs were auctioned bythe king at short intervals, usually three years.So this was another royal money estate whichyielded income without any risk. In this way theking became a rent receiver rather than a royalentrepreneur.

Dutch

The Dutch invaded the Indian Ocean withdramatic speed at the beginning of the 17thcentury, just as the Portuguese had done ahundred years earlier. Several favourablepreconditions accounted for this Dutch success,such as a good educational system, advancementin science and technology, their ability to acquirenautical information from the Portuguese,


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existence of a huge merchant marine and easyaccess to sufficient wood for shipbuilding.

Unlike the situation in Portugal, the Dutchstate had no hand in business, and the monopolywhich was granted to the Dutch East IndianCompany (VOC) referred to spices only.Furthermore, monopoly control stopped oncethe shipments reached Amsterdam, where thegoods were freely auctioned to the highestbidder. These auctions provided a good idea ofwhat the market would take, and they alsohelped to introduce new commodities, such astextiles, which were not covered by anymonopoly.

Throughout the 17th century the DutchCompany operated on a much larger scale thanits English counterpart. Nevertheless, the Dutchwere deeply concerned about British competitionand tried their best to outdo them. While fightingagainst the domination of the seas by theSpanish and the Portuguese, the Dutch laidstress on the principle of freedom of the seas.But as early as the second decade of the 17thcentury they refused all other powers, includingthe British, an access to the Indonesian SpiceIslands, because only in this way, they argued,could they be compensated for the protectionthey furnished.

While the Dutch zealously guarded theirterritorial control in Indonesia at a very earlystage, they showed no such ambitions in India.This was perhaps due to the fact that theyprocured textiles to an increasing extent in India,and these were not covered by a monopoly. Thetextile trade which became more important tothe Dutch required methods of control other thanthe physical occupation of area of production.It was more important in this case tie downproducers and middlemen by means of creditand advance and to organise the acquisition ofthe right type of textiles which were popularwith customers abroad.

As a consequence of their adaptation to thetextile trade, the Dutch factories experienced agreat deal of structural change. Initially, suchfactories were expected only to store goods forthe annual shipment; in due course, however,they became centres whose influence extendedfar into the interior of the country as they placedorders, distributed patterns, granted andsupervised credit, etc. The Dutch, who had manyfactories on India's east coast, were alsorepresented at the court of the Sultan of

Golconda whose realm was an important sourceof textiles for them.

Thus, the Dutch used India, particularlysouth India, as a major source for the purchaseof cotton cloth as well as of slaves for their spiceisland plantations. Dutch investments inCoromandal cloth, which would then be soldfor spices in Indonesia, proved a most profitableway of diminishing the 'specie drain' (drain ofgold and silver bullion) from home. Thistechnique of 'triangular trade' was quicklylearned and followed by the English, who wereequally anxious to reduce the eastern flow ofbullion.

The Dutch invasion of the Indian Oceanbrought about a revolution in international tradewhich the Portuguese had never accomplished.The flow of commodities in the Mediterraneanwas completely reversed. The trade of the Levant(eastern) Mediterranean region), following is itsrevival in the late 16th century; experienced asudden decline. West European ship nowsupplied the ports of the Levant with the goodswhich had been sent from there to the West onlya few years earlier. Venice suffered the samedecline, and was soon no more than a regionalport of Italy.

Asian maritime trade was not as immediatelyaffected by this trade revolution as theMediterranean trade was. There were greatIndian ship owners who dispatched so manyships every year to the ports of Arabia of thePersian gulf that they easily outnumbered all theEuropean ships in the Indian Ocean at that time.The Dutch participated in this Indian Oceantrade as well. Just as they were Europe's biggestshipping agents, they now offered their servicesto Asian merchants to an ever-increasing extent.If these merchants did not have ships of theirown they were glad to entrust their goods toEuropean whose ships were armed and couldthus defend themselves against piracy.

English

The English East India Company, foundedin London two years before the Dutch Company,operated on much the same terms including saleby auction. And in the East, from their premierbase at Surat, the English soon gained controlover the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf,destroying Portuguese power by seizing Ormuzin 1622. Thereafter, Persian silk competed withGujarati calico as England's favourite textiles


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from the East (calico was still used mostly forhousehold linens, table clothes and towels inBritain and western Europe, becoming popularfor apparel only after 1660).

English annual imports of Indian calico'pieces' (12 to 15 yards in length) jumped from14,000 in 1619 to over 2,00,000 in 1625; thedemand for Persian silk grew less swiftly. Indigoand saltpetre were the other major imports fromIndia, and the fact that both products wereproduced in the eastern Gangetic plain,especially in Bihar, stimulated British efforts toestablish factories on the east coast as well asthe west coast of the Indian subcontinent.

The English merchants, anxious to reduce theeastern flow of their bullion, soon learned thatby investing their gold in south Indian weavers,whose products could easily be sold in Indonesiafor spices, they were able to buy four times thevalue of pepper and cloves for the same amountof gold. Small wonder that their interest inestablishing a factory along the Coromandalcoast quickly intensified. From these ports insouth eastern India, they soon sought moreimmediate access to the mainstream of produceflowing down from the Gangetic plain to the Bayof Bengal.

The factories of the English Company, likethose of the Dutch ones, experienced a similarkind of structural change after their adaptationto the textile trade. But, since the English had noaccess to the spice Islands particularly after theirmassacre by the Dutch at Amboyna in 1623, theyconcentrated on India and on the textile tradeto an ever-increasing extent. Nonetheless, in the17th century the English were still lagging behindthe Dutch even in this field.

European piracy increased in the IndianOcean as individual entrepreneurs were quickto learn their nautical and commercial lessons.However, not all of the European 'interlopers'were pirates. Some of them simply earned a livingin the 'country trade, as the intra-Asian tradewas called. The British private traders were veryactive in this field, and though the East IndiaCompany officially decried the activities of theseinterlopers (who crossed the Asian seas withoutany respect for monopoly rights granted by royalcharter), there emerged a kind of symbiosisbetween them and the Company. The Companyitself concentrated on intercontinental trade, andthe 'country traders' made their deals with theservants of the company and made use of the

infrastructure and the protection networkprovided by the company without contributingto its maintenance. This gave them acomparative advantage in the intra-Asian tradeand the Company did well in specialising in theintercontinental connection and leaving the'country trade' to others.

French

Another major European power, which wasdestined to play an important part in the historyof India in the 18th century, was still ratherinsignificant in the Indian context of the late 17thcentury. Colbert organised the French Companyon federal lines. But this was counter-productive,because the Company was organised by thegovernment and there were no privatecapitalists. Colbert had to persuade the bigdignitaries to subscribe funds for this purpose,and whoever contributed did so only in order toplease the king.

The commercial success of the company wasmore limited than the imperial vision of some ofits great officials, like governor Dupleix, AdmiralLa Bourdonnais and General de Bussy. But afterits reorganisation in 1685, the company startedmanaging its trade with bureaucratic precision.In peace time it could even make some profit,although it was debarred from the lucrativetextile trade because of French mercantilistpolicy. However, the frequent interruption ofthis trade due to European wars drove theCompany to the verge of Bankruptcy. It was onlyafter the merger of the French West IndiesCompany with the French East India Companyin 1719 that France caught up with the newpattern of international trade, which linkedIndian Ocean trade with trans-Atlantic trade.

IMPACT OF EUROPEANSON INDIA'S FOREIGN TRADE

With the arrival of the Europeans,particularly the Dutch and the English, therewas a tremendous increase in the demand forIndian textiles for both the Asian markets andlater the European market. The Asian marketsfor Indian textiles were developed over a longperiod. There markets were extensive andwidespread and there was great diversity in theirdemand. This intra-Asian trade in Indian textilesseems to have operated in two ways. Firstly,there was a bilateral trade between theCoromandal and various parts of South East


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Asia such as Malacca, Java and the Spice Islands.In this trade, the Coromandal textiles acted as alink in a multilateral trade, embracing theCoromandal, South-East Asia, West Asia, andthe Mediterranean. In this trade, Coromandaltextiles were exchanged for South-East Asianspices which were in turn meant for the WestAsian and Mediterranean markets. TheEuropean market for Indian textiles actuallydeveloped around the middle of the 17thcentury, and thereafter it grew by leaps andbounds.

The intra-Asian trade witnessed severecompetition among the various groups ofmerchants, such as the Portuguese, the Dutch,the English, the Danes, and the Indiansconsisting of both the Moors and the Chettis,whereas the European market for Indian textileswas dominated entirely by the Europeancompanies, particularly the English and theDutch, with the Indian merchants actingessentially as middleman.

European participation in the foreign tradeof India showed a marked increase in the secondhalf of the 17th century. This increase can beseen clearly in the sharp rise in their investments,a large part of which was in textiles meant forthe Asian markets as well as the Europeanmarket. Though initially European investmentin Indian textiles considerably exceeded thoseordered for the European market, by the end ofthe 17th century the situation was reversed withtwo-thirds of it going for the European marketand only one third for the European market andonly one-third for the Asian market. Among thevarious European companies competing forIndian textiles, the main rivalry was between theDutch and the English, with the former initiallyhaving an edge but the latter gradually gainingsupremacy by the turn of the 17th century andthe beginning of the 18th century.

With regard to the textile varieties that wereexported from the coromandal to South EastAsia and other Asian markets, and later toEurope, the European records give us a very longlist. The various types, in order of importance,were long-cloth, salempors, moris (chintz),guinea-cloth, bethiles, allegias, sarassas, tapis,and the like. All these varieties were beingexported even during earlier periods to severalAsian markets such as the Moluccan SpiceIslands,Java, Sumatra, Borneo, the alayPeninsula, siam, Tenasserim, Pegu, Arakan,

Persia, Arabia, and the Red Sea ports. But thespecialty of the period under study was theincreased European orders which, thoughmatching the already existing varieties,demanded measurements large than those in theAsian markets. Consequently the Indian weavershad to change their methods and their looms toaccommodate this European demand. Many ofthem did so quite profitably, but it neccessitatedlong-term contracts and rendered spot ordersimprobable.

The Indian economy, more specifically itstextile trade and industry, during the second halfof the 17th century, was a seller' (i.e. producers')market. For, when the three Europeancompanies- English, Dutch and French (whichhad entered the fray in the 1670s) werecompeting in the open market, making largeorders from India, and these were supplementedby European private trade and Indian trade, theweavers had greater flexibility and large freedomof operation. The interchangeability of goodsordered by these various buyers, who wereaiming at broadly the same export market, madeit possible for weaver produced was bought upby one or the other eager customers. If, forinstance, any cloth produced by the weaver wasrejected by the companies, then the weaver couldsell it to English private traders. This situationexisted in many parts of the country where thethree companies as well as the other buyers werein free competition.

CHANGES IN THEORGANISATION OF TRADE

One important feature of the tradeorganisation of India in the 17th and early 18thcenturies is that indigenous merchants weregenerally mentioned in their individual capacityrather than as part of a mercantile organisation,an indication that the great merchant guilds ofthe medieval period were fast declining.

Besides, the dividing line betweenindependent merchants and merchants actingon behalf of the European companies was a verythin one. In several cases, in fact, a merchantfunctioned in both capacities. But the companyrecord specifically mention several indigenousmerchants as their rivals and competitors.

Many of the native merchants, however,found that it was more profitable and less riskyto act on behalf of the companies rather than


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make voyages on their own. In the organisationalset-up of the companies, their function wasfourfold; purchasing cloth for the company andacting as a link between it and the weavers;supervising weavers and minimising thecompany's risk by taking on bad debts; ensuringquality and timely delivery; and saving thecompany the necessity of laying out vast sumsof money by making the initial advancesthemselves.

With regard to the mercantile groups andtheir activities, the Hindus as a whole continuedto dominate the commecial world of thecoronmandal-overseas and coastal trading,wholesaling and retailing, brokerage, bankingand shroffing. Among Hindu merchants, themost important were Telugu merchantile castes,viz, the komatis and balijas (belonging to theright hand faction- valankai), and beru chettis(left hand faction- idankai). Prominent Hinduindividual merchants were asi Viranna (casaVerona), Malaya and his brother Chinanna,Narasimha Rama Chetti, Ben Rama Chetti,Kesara Chetti, Seshadri; Varadappa and KoneriChetti.

Muslim merchants of the Coromandal,indiscriminately referred to by the European asMoors, shared the domination of the overseasand coastal trade of the Coromandal with theHindu merchants. The so-called Moors consistedof the Golconda Muslim merchants and theChulia merchants of south Coromandal, both ofwhom had diverse ethnic origins. Other majormerchant groups in the coromandal wereGujaratis and Armenians, who seem to havemade Coromandal their home. Among theMuslim merchants, the most importantpersonalities were Mir Jmla, Khwaja Nizam, MirKamal-ud-din, Mirza Muhammad, khwajaHassan Ali, Mir Qasar and Khwaja Araby. Anumber of them had close political connections,and enjoyed a good bargaining position in theirrelations with the companies.

Indian merchant relationship withEuropeans tended to become institutionalised bythe beginning of the period under study, first inthe form of chief merchants and later in the so-called joint-stock companies of association of theindigenous merchants, both of which had originsin the medieval Indian commercial practicesthough influenced and inspired by the Europeancommercial innovations. Both the institutionswere an outcome of the European need to put

the whole ordering and delivery process on afirm and sturdy footing, and their desire to ensurebetter maintenance of standards and greatercontrol over the suppliers.

In all the European settlements in India, thereevolved an office of chief merchant, held by oneof two of the most prominent merchants of thesettlement. This tendency to deal with one or twostrong and powerful individuals, was strongerwith one or two strong and powerful individuals,instead of a large number of diverse merchants,was stronger with the English than with theDutch, while the french fell some where inbetween in this respect.

With regard to the merchant associations, allthe available evidence suggests that they firstcame into existence in the 1660s in the Dutchsettlements in India with the initiative andFrench companies companies followed suit, andencouraged the Indian merchants to form suchassociations in their settlements. These merchantassociation, however, began to decline rapidlyas the 18th century advanced.

By the Very nature of things a certain groupof people, known as dalals (brokers) becomeindispensable to the trade organisation of Indiaduring this period, though broderage as anestablished commercial practice and brokers asa distinct commercial group existed in Indiathroughout the medieval period. The brokersacted as a link between the producers,wholesaler, retailers, and consumers. Besides theprimary job of procuring goods at cheaper ratesfor their clients, they performed a variety offunctions. There was a hierarchical divisionamong the brokers, each one of them was animportant link in the over all set-up ofcommercial organisation. As mentioned earlier,most of the indigenous merchants of Indiaduring this period belonged to the variouscategories of broders.

BRITISH- FRENCHMONOPOLISTIC AMBITIONS

In the beginning of the eighteenth century,the English and the French were competing witheach other to establish their supremacy in India.Both of them used the political turmoil prevalentin India as a result of the decline of the MughalEmpire in their favour and indulged in internalpolitics. The Anglo-French rivalry in India wasmanifest in the Carnatic region and in Bengal.


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The Carnatic Wars

The downfall of the Mughal Empire led tothe independence of Deccan under Nizam-ul-Mulk. The Carnatic region also formed part ofthe Nizam's dominion. The ruler of the Carnaticaccepted the suzerainty of the Nizam. In 1740,the Austrian War of Succession broke out inEurope. In that war England and France werein the opposite camps. They came into conflictin India also. The French governor ofPondicherry, Dupleix opened attack on theEnglish in 1746 and thus began the First CarnaticWar (1746-1748). The English sought help fromthe Nawab of Carnatic, Anwar Uddin. But theFrench concluded a treaty with his rival ChandaSahib. The English army crushed a defeat on theFrench in the Battle of Adyar, near Madras. Inthe meantime, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chappellewas concluded in 1748 to end the AustrianSuccession War. Thus the First Carnatic Warcame to an end. But the English and Frenchcontinued to take opposite sides in the internalpolitics of India. This had resulted in the SecondCarnatic War (1749-1754). Dupleix supportedthe cause of Muzafar Jang, who wanted tobecome the Nizam of Hyderabad and ChandaSahib, an aspirant for the throne of Arcot. Thetroops of these three defeated Anwar Uddin,who was with the British in the First CarnaticWar, and killed him in the Battle of Ambur in1749. After this victory, Muzafar Jung becamethe Nizam and Chanda Sahib the Nawab ofArcot. Muhammad Ali, son of Anwar Uddinescaped to Tiruchirappalli. The English senttroops in support of him. In the meantime, theBritish commander Robert Clive captured Arcot.He also inflicted a severe defeat on the French atKaveripakkam. Chanda Sahib was captured andbeheaded in Tanjore. Meanwhile Dupleix wasreplaced by Godeheu as the French governor.The war came to an end by the Treaty ofPondicherry in 1754.

The outbreak of the Seven Years War (1756-1763) in Europe led to the Third Carnatic War(1758-1763). Count de Lally was the commanderof the French troops. The British General Sir EyreCoote defeated him at Wandiwash in 1760. Inthe next year, Pondicherry was captured anddestroyed by the British troops. The Seven YearsWar came to an end by the Treaty of Paris in1763. The Third Carnatic War also ended. The

French agreed to confine its activities inPondicherry, Karaikkal, Mahe and Yenam. Thusthe Anglo-French rivalry came to a close withBritish success and French failure.

The causes for the French failure can besummed up as follows:

1. Commercial and naval superiority of theEnglish.

2. Lack of support from the Frenchgovernment.

3. French had support only in the Deccanbut the English had a strong base inBengal.

4. English had three important ports -Calcutta, Bombay and Madras but Frenchhad only Pondicherry.

5. Difference of opinion between the FrenchGenerals.

6. England's victory in the European warsdecided the destiny of the French in India.

Establishment of British Power in Bengal

Bengal remained one of the fertile andwealthy regions of India. The Englishascendancy in Bengal proved to be the basis forthe expansion of English rule in India. Theconflict between the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daula and the English led to the Battle of Plasseyheld on 23 June 1757. Robert Clive, theCommander of the British troops emergedvictorious by defeating the Nawab's army. Theeasy English victory was due to the treachery ofMir Jabar, the Commander of Nawab's army.However, the victory of the British in the Battleof Plassey marked the foundation of the Britishrule in India.

In 1764, the English once again defeated thecombined forces of the Nawab of Oudh, theMughal Emperor and the Nawab of Bengal inthe Battle of Buxar. The English militarysuperiority was decisively established. In 1765,Robert Clive was appointed as the Governor ofBengal. In the same year, the Treaty of Allahabadwas concluded by which the Mughal Emperorgranted the Diwani rights to the English EastIndia Company. Thus the British power in Indiawas thoroughly established.

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1. Who among the following shifted his capi-tal from Delhi to Agra?(a) Ala-ud-din Khilji(b) Ferozshah Tughlaq(c) Sikander Lodi(d) Nasiruddin Muhammad

2. Sikkhism owes its origin to the teachingsof(a) Guru Nanak(b) Guru Teg Bahadur(c) Guru Ram Das(d) Guru Govind Singh

3. Which one of the following rulers forbadethe Kalima being inscribed on coins?(a) Aurangzeb(b) Shah Jahan(c) Akbar(d) Humayun

4. In which one of the following battles wasHumayun finally defeated and made togo into exile?(a) The Battle of Kannauj(b) The Battle of Chausa(c) The Battle of Chunar(d) The Battle of Machhiwara

5. Alberuni, who wrote many books on his-tory, science and astrology, lived in thecourt of(a) Ala-ud-din-Khilji(b) Ghiyas-ud-din Balban(c) Mohammad Ghazni(d) Mohammad Ghori

6. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq failed as a Kingmainly because of(a) Inability of the people to appreciate

his novel schemes(b) Forign invasions(c) His liberal attitude to his enemies(d) Lack of political will

7. The Panipat War of 1761 was foughtbetween(a) Ahmed Shah Abdali and the

Marathas(b) Lodi and Babar(c) Hemu and Akbar(d) Ahmed Shah Abdali and Nadir Shah

8. Which of the following monuments wasnot built by the rulers of Delhi Sultanate?(a) Qutab Minar(b) Red Fort(c) Ferozshah Fort(d) Tuhglaqabad Fort

9. Which of the following is not included inMughal paintings?(a) Portraits(b) Islamic themes(c) Flowers and plants(d) Hunting scenes

10. The capital of Mysore during Tipu Sultan'srule was(a) Hyderabad(b) Bangalore(c) Thaneshwar(d) Srirangapatanam

11. What was the major cause of the defeatof Marathas in the Third Battle of Panipatin 1761?(a) Peshwa's son Vishwas Rao was killed

in the battle.(b) Marathas gave up the guerilla meth-

ods of warfare and engaged theirarmy in a pitched battle against theenemy.

(c) The strength of enemy's army wasmore than the Marathas.

(d) None of the above

12. Which of the following pairs is not cor-rectly matched(a) Chandragupta Maurya - Megasthenes(b) Chandragupta Vikramaditya - Hiuen

Tsang(c) Sultan Mahmud - Alberuni(d) Akbar - Abul Fazal

13. Ibrahim Lodi was elevated to the throneat Agra in the year(a) 1517 (b) 1571(c) 1715 (d) 1751

14. The third battle of Panipat was(a) Mughals and Rajputs(b) Mughals and Afghans(c) Rajputs and Sikhs(d) Marathas and Afghans

MEDIEVMEDIEVMEDIEVMEDIEVMEDIEVAL HISTAL HISTAL HISTAL HISTAL HISTORORORORORYYYYYCHRONICLEIAS ACADEMYA CIVIL SERVICES CHRONICLE INITIATIVE


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15. Who among the following Sultans of Delhichose his high offices exclusively fromamong the turkish families?(a) Ala-udd-in Khilji(b) Firoz Shah Tuglaq(c) Mohammad-bin-Tughlaq(d) None of above

16. Akbar founded Din-i-Ilhai primarily to(a) Ensure racial and communal har-

mony(b) Establish a brotherhood of faiths(c) Put an end to differences between the

Hindus and the Muslims(d) Form a religious club

17. Who among the following the followingBhakti leaders used the medium of dramaincorporating themes from the Puranasto spread his ideas?(a) Jnanadeva in Marathi(b) Chandidasa in Bengali(c) Shankaradeva in Assamese(d) Purandaradasa in Kannada

18. The two principal monuments of Ala-ud-din Khilji's reign - the Jama'at KhanaMasjid and Alai Darwaza - were con-structed at(a) Agra(b) Delhi(c) Dhar(d) Gulbarga

19. Match the columns:(a) Amir Khurso 1. 16th century(b) Din-i-Illahi 2. 12th century(c) Qutab Minar 3. 14th century(d) Chand Bardai 4. 13th century

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

20. Ala-ud-din Khilji had abolished the Jagirsystem which was later revived by(a) Mohammad Tughlaq(b) Feroz Shah Tughlaq(c) Bahlol Lodi(d) Ibrahim Lodi

21. Who brought the Islam religion to Indiafor the first time?(a) Muhammad bin Qasim(b) Muhammad Ghori(c) Mahmud of Gazni(d) Qutub-ud-din Aibak

22. Babar was invited to India by(a) Ibrahim Lodi(b) Mohammad Lodi(c) Sikandar Lodi(d) Daulat Khan Lodi

23. The court poet of Akbar was(a) Tulsidas(b) Faizi(c) Abdur Rahim Khan Khana(d) Qudar Khan

24. Why did Md. Bin Tughlak change hiscapital from Delhi to Hyderabad/Deogiri?(a) Because he wanted to improve trade

in the Deccan(b) Because he wanted to spread Islam

in the Deccan(c) Because he wanted to punish the

people of Delhi(d) Because he wanted to escape from

Mongolian invasion

25. Ain-i-Akbari gives information about In-dia(a) Customs and manners(b) Economic condition(c) Religion and Philosophy(d) All of the above

26. Which one of the following was the firstfort constructed by the British in India?(a) Fort William(b) Fort St. George(c) Fort St. David(d) Fort St. Angelo

27. Who among the following Europeans werethe last to come to pre independence Indiaas traders?(a) Dutch(b) English(c) French(d) Portuguese

28. Who among the following wrote the poem,Subh-e-Aza-di?(a) Sahir Ludhiyanvi(b) Faiz Ahmad Faiz(c) Muhammad Iqbal(d) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

29. With whose permission did the Englishset up their first factory in Surat?(a) Akbar (b) Jahangir(c) Shahjahan (d) Aurangzeb


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30. The invasion of Timur destroyed(a) Tuglaq Dynasty(b) Khiliji Dynasty(c) Maurya Dynasty(d) Gupta Dynasty

31. In the battle of Haldighati(a) Mohammad Gauri defeated Prithviraj

Chauhan(b) Rana Pratap defeated Akbar(c) Akbar defeated Rana Pratap(d) Ibrahim Lodi defeated Babar

32. When Timur invaded India at about theclose of the fourteenth century, the dy-nasty that ruled the Sultanate of Delhiwas(a) Lodhis(b) Sayyids(c) Tughlaqs(d) Khiljis

33. Medical encyclopedias and pharmacopeaswere composed at this time, the mostfamous being that of Charaka who was acontemporary of(a) Chandragupta Maurya(b) Ashoka(c) Kanishka(d) Samudragupta

34. Who amongst the following, is believedto have been the 'destroyer' of the Khiljidynasty, including Alaud-din-Khilji?(a) Nasir-ud-din Khusrau Shah(b) Malik Kafur(c) Ghazi Malik(d) Qutub-ud-din Mubarak Shah

35. Who among the following Delhi Sultans,died in consequence of a fall, from hishorse while playing Chaugan or Polo?(a) Muhammad of Ghor(b) Qutub-ud-Aibak(c) Illutmish(d) Ghiyas-ud-din Balban

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1. (c)

2. (a)

3. (a)

4. (a)

5. (c)

6. (a)

7. (a)

8. (d)

9. (b)

10. (d)

11. (b)

12. (b)

13. (a)

14. (d)

15. (d)

16. (b)

17. (b)

18. (b)


ANSWERS

(MEDIEVAL HISTORY)

19. (a)

20. (b)

21. (a)

22. (d)

23. (b)

24. (d)

25. (d)

26. (b)

27. (c)

28. (b)

29. (b)

30. (a)

31. (c)

32. (c)

33. (c)

34. (b)

35. (b)

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Medieval History

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Transcript of Medieval History