The Gist of NCERT - Indian History

144 Pages·2015·2.52 MB·English

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Contents
1.The Harappan Culture: Bronze Age Civilization..............................................1
2.The Later Vedic Phase......................................................................................10
3.Territorial States and the First Magadhan Empire..........................................19
4.The Delhi Sultanate.........................................................................................28
5.Architecture.....................................................................................................35
6.Mughal Empire................................................................................................41
7.Social and Cultural Awakening in the first Half of the 19th Century.............52
8.The Revolt of 1857...........................................................................................60
9.Growth of New India-Religious and social reform after 1858.........................69
10.Nationalist Movement......................................................................................84
11.Multiple Choice Questions...............................................................................95
1
The Harappan Culture: Bronze Age Civilization 1
THE HARAPPAN CULTURE: BRONZE AGE CIVILIZATION
THE INDUS or the Harappan culture is Harappan culture is noticeable in its mature
older than the chalcolithic cultures which and flourishing stage at all these six places.
have been treated earlier, but it is far more It is also found in its mature phase in the
developed than these cultures. It arose in the coastal cities of Sutkagendor and Surkotada,
north-western part of the Indian each one of which is marked by a citadel. The
subcontinent. It is called Harappan because later Harappan phase is found in Rangpur and
this civilization was discovered first in 1921 Rojdi in the Kathiawar peninsula in Gujarat.
at the modern site of Harappa situated in the In addition to these, Dholavira lying in the
province of West Punjab in Pakistan. It Kutch area of Gujarat shows Harappan
extended from Jammu in the north to the fortification and all the three phases of the
Naramada estuary in the south, and from the Harappan culture. These phases also appear
Makran coast of Balcuchistan in the west to in Rakhigarhi which is situated on the
Meerut in the north-east. The area formed a Ghaggar in Haryana and is much bigger than
triangle and accounted for about 1,299,600 Dholavira.
square kilometers. Town Planning and Structures
Nearly 1500 Harappan sites are known
The Harappan culture was
so far in the subcontinent. Of these, the two
distinguished by its system of town planning.
most important cities were Harappa in Punjab
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro each had its own
and Mohenjodaro (literally the mound of the
citadel in each city lay a lower town
dead) in Sindh, both forming parts of
containing brick houses, which were
Pakistan. Situated at a distance of 483
inhabited by the common people. The
kilometres they were linked together by the
remarkable thing about the arrangement of
Indus. A third city lay at Chanhu daro about
the houses in the cities is that they followed
130 km south of Mohenjodaro in Sindh, and
the grid system. According to it, roads cut
a fourth at Lothal in Gujarat at the head of
across one another alomost at right angles,
the Gulf of Cambay. A fifth city lay at
and the city was divided into so many blocks.
Kalibangan, which means black bangles, in
This is true of almost all Indus settlements.
northern Rajasthan. A sixth called Banawali
The most important public place of
is situated in Hissar district in Haryana. It
Mohenjo-daro seems to be the Great Bath,
saw two cultural phases, pre-Harappan and
comprising the tank which is situated in the
Harappan, similar to that of Kalibangan. The
citadel mound. It is an example of beautiful
2 Gist of NCERT (History)
brickwork. It measures 11.88 × 7.01 metres were covered with bricks and sometimes
and 2.43 metres deep. Flights of steps at ei- with stone slabs. The street drains were
ther end lead to the surface. There are side equipped with manholes. Perhaps no other
rooms for changing clothes. The floor of the Bronze Age civilization gave so much
Batch was made of burnt bricks. It is sug- attention to health and cleanliness as the
gested that the Great Bath served ritual bath- Harappan did.
ing, which has been so vital to any religious
Agriculture
ceremony in India.
The Indus people produced wheat,
In Mohenjodaro the largest building is
barley, rai, peas, etc. They produced two
a granary, which is 45.71 metres long and
types of wheat and barley. A good quantity
15.23 metres wide. But in the citadel of
of barley has been discovered at Banawali.
Harappa we find as many as six granaries.
In addition to this they produced sesamum
We come across a series of brick platforms
and mustard. As 1800 B.C., the people of
which formed the basis for two rows of six
Lothal used rice whose remains have been
granaries. Each granary measured 15.23 × 6.03
found. Foodgrains were stored in huge
metres and lay within a few metres of the
granaries in both Mohenjo-daro and Harappa
river bank. The combined floor space of the
and possibly in Kalibangan. Probably, cereals
twelve units would be about 838 square
were received as taxes from peasants and
metres. Approximately it had the same area
stored in granaries for the payment of wages
as the Great Granary at Mohenjo-daro.
as well as for use during emergencies. This
Harappa also shows two-roomed barracks,
can be said on the analogy of Mesopotamian
which possibly accommodated laboures.
cities where wages were paid in barley. The
At Kalibangan also we notice in the
indus people were the earliest people to
southen part brick platforms, which may have
produce cotton. Because cotton was first
been used for granaries. Thus, it would
peoduced in this are Greeks called it sindon,
appear that granaries constituted an
which is derived from Sindh.
important part of the Harappan cities.
Domestication of Animals
The use of burnt bricks in the Hrappan
Although the Harappans practised
cities is remarkable, because in the
agriculture, animals were kept on a large
contemporary buildings of Egypt mainly
scale. Ox, buffaloes, goats, sheep and pigs
dried bricks were used. We find the use of
were domesticated. The humped bulls were
baked bricks in contemporary Mesopotamia,
favoured by the Harappans. From the very
but they were used to a much larger extent
beginning dogs were regarded as pets. Cats
in the Harappan cities. The drainage system
were also domesticated, and signs of the feet
of Mohenjo-daro was very impressive. In
of both dogs and cats have been noticed.
almost all cities every big or small house had
They also kept asses and camels, which were
its own courtyard and bathroom. In
obviously used as beasts of burden. Evidence
Kalibangan many houses had their wells.
of the horse comes from a superficial level of
Water flowed from the house to the streets
Mohenjo-daro and from a doubtful terracotta
which had drains. Sometimes these drains
figuring from Lothal. The remains of the horse
The Harappan Culture: Bronze Age Civilization 3
are reported from Sutkotada, situated in west from south India. The Harappans were also
Gujarat, and belong to around B.C. but it is experts in bead-making. The potter’s wheel
doubtful. In any case the Harappan culture was in full use, and the Harappans produced
was not horse-centred. Neither the bones of their own characteristic pottery, which was
horse nor its representations appear in early made glossly and shinning.
and mature Harappan culture. Elephants were Trade
well known to the Harappans, who were also
Trade was important in the life os the
acquainted with the rhinoceros.
Indus people. The Harappans carried on con-
Technology and Carafts
siderable trade in stone, metal, shell, etc,
The Harappan culture belongs to the within the Indus culture zone. However, their
Bronze Age. The people of Harappa used cities did not possess the necessary raw ma-
many tools and implements of stone, but they terial for the commodities they produced.
were well acquainted with the manufacture They did not use metal money. Most prob-
and use of bronze. Ordinarily bronze was ably they carried on all exchanges through
made by the smiths by mixing tin with copper barter. In return for finished goods and pos-
mines of Rajasthan, although it could also be sibly foodgrains, they procured metals from
the neighbouring area sby boats and bullock-
brought from Baluchistan. Tin was possibly
carts. They practised navigation of the coast
brought with difficulty from Afghanistan.
of the Arabian Sea. They knew the use of
The bronze tools and weapons recovered
wheel, and carts with solid wheels were in
from the Harappan sites; contain a smaller
use in Harappa. The Harappa had commecial
percentage of tin. However, the kit of bronze
links with one area of Rajasthan, and also
goods left by the Harappans is cosiderable,
with Afghanistan and Iran. They had set up
which suggests that the bronzesmiths
a trading colony in northern Afghanistan
constituted an important group of artisans
which evidently facilitated trade with Cen-
in the Harappan society. They produced not
tral Asia. Their cities also carried commerce
only images and utensils but also various tools
with those in the land of the Tigris and the
and weapons such as axes, saws, knives and
Euphrates. Many Harappan seals have been
spears. Several other important crafts
discovered in Mesopotania, and it seems that
flourished in the Harappan towns. A piece of
the Harappans imitated some consmetics used
woven cotton has been recovered from
by the urban people of Mesopotamia.
Mohenjo-daro, and textile) impressions found
The Mesopotamia records from about
on several objects. Spindle whorls were used
2350 B.C. onwards refer to trade relations
for spinning. Weavers wove cloth of wool and
with Meluha, which was the ancient name
cotton. Huge brick structures suggest that
given to the Indus region. The Mesopotamian
brick-laying was an important craft. They
texts speaks of two intermediate trading sta-
also attest the existence of a class of masons.
tions called Dilmun and Makan, which lay
The Harappans also practised boat-making.
between Mesopotamia and Meluha. Dilmun
The goldsmiths made jewellery of silver, gold
can probably be identified with Bahrain on
and precious stones; the first two may have
the Persian Gulf.
been obtained from Afghanistan and the last
4 Gist of NCERT (History)
Political Organization Harappan writing on stone seals and other
We have no clear idea about the political objects. Unlike the Egyptians and
organization of the Harappans. But if we take Mesopotamians, the Harappans did not write
into account the cultural homegeneity of the long inscriptions. Most inscriptions were
Indus civilization it can be said that this recorded on seals, and contain only a few
cultural homogeneity would not have been words. Altogether we have about 250 to 400
possible to achieve without a central pictographs, and in the form of a picture each
authority. letter stands for some sound, idea or object.
the Harappan script is not alphabetical but
If the Harappan cultural zone is
mainly pictographic.
considered identical with the political zone,
the subcontinent did not witness such a large Weights and Measures
political unit until the rise of the Maurya Numerous articles used for weights
empire; the remarkable stability of this unit have been found. They show that in weighing
is demonstrated by its continuity for nearly mostly 16 or its multiples were used; for
600 years. instance, 16, 64, 160, 320 and 640.
Religions Practices Interestingly the tradition of 16 has continued
in India till modern times and till recently 16
In Harappa numerous terracotta figures
annas made one rupee. The harappans also
of women have been found. Probably the
knew the art of measurement. We have come
image represents the goddess of earth. The
across sticks inscribed with measure marks;
Harappans, looked upon the earth as a
one of these is made of bronze.
fertility goddess and worshipped her.
Harappan Pottery
The Male Deity in the Indus Valley
The Harappans were great experts in the
The male deity is represented on a seal.
use of the potter’s wheel. We come across
This god has three horned heads. He is
numerous pots painted in various designs.
represented in the sitting postrure of a yogi,
Harappan pots were generally decorated with
placing one foot on the other. This god is
the designs of trees and circles. The images
surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, a
of men also appear on some pottery
rhinoceros, and has a buffalo below his
fragments.
throne. At his feet appear two deer. The
depicted god is identified as Pushupati Seals: The greatest artistic creations of
Mahadeva. the Harappan culture are the seals. About
2000 seals have been found, and of these a
The Harappan Script
great majority carry short in-scriptions with
The Harappan invented the art of
pictures of the one-horned bull, the buffalo,
writing like the people of ancient
the tiger, the rhinocreros, the goat and the
Mesopotamia. Although the earliest specimen
elephant.
of Harappan script was noticed in 1853 and
Images: The Harappan artisans made
the complete script discovered by 1923, it has
beautiful images of metal. A woman dancer
not been deciphered so far.
made of bronze is the best specimen. Except
There are nearly 4,000 specimens of
for a necklac she is naked. We get a few pieces
The Harappan Culture: Bronze Age Civilization 5
of Harappan stone sculptures. One steatite sudden subsidence or uplift of the land which
statue wears an ornamented robe over the caused floods. Earthquakes caused changes
left shoulder under the right arm, and its in the course of the Indus which led to the
short locks at the back of the head are kept inundation of fee hinterland of Mohenjo-
tidy by a woven fillet. daro. And still others point out that the
Origin, Maturity and End Harappan culture was destroyed by the
Aryans, but there is very little evidence for
The mature Harappan culture, broadly
this.
speaking, existed between 2550 B.C. and 1900
The consequences of the disintegration
B.C. Throughout the period of its existence
of the largest Bronze Age cultural entity are
it seems to have retained the same kind of
still to be clarified. We do not know whether
tools, weapons and houses. The whole style
the urban eclipse led to the migration of
of life appears to be uniform. We notice the
merchants and craftsmen, and the
same town-planning, the same seals, the same
dissemination of the elements of Harappan
terracotta works, and the same long chet
technology and way of life in the countryside.
blades. But the view stressing changelessness
Something is known about the post-urban
cannot be pushed too far. We do notice
situation in Sindh, Punjab and Haryana. We
changelessness cannot be pushed too far. We
find agricultural settlements inside the Indus
do notice changes in the pottery of Mohenjo-
region, but their connection with the
daro over a period of time. By the
preceding culture is not clear. We need clear
nieneteenth century B.C., the two important
and adequate information.
cities of the Harappan culture, Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro, disappeared but the Harappan ADVENT OF THE ARYANS AND
THE AGE OF THE RIG VEDA
culture at other sites faded out gradually and
continued in its degenerate phase in the Original Home and Identity
outlying fringes in Gujarat, Rajasthan,
It Difficult to say that all the earliest
Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
Aryans belonged to one race, but their culture
While the ancient cutlures of was more or less of the same type. They were
Mesopotamia continued to exist even after distinguished by their common language.
1900 B.C., the urban Harappan culture They spoke the indo-European languages,
disappeared at Bout that thime. Various which are current in changed forms all over
causes have been suggested. It is held that Europe, Iran and the greater part of the
the amount of rainfall in the Indus region Indian subcontinent Originally the Aryans
slightly increased around 3000 B.C. and then seem to have lives somewhere in the steppes
decreased in the earlier part of the second stretching from southern Russia to Central
millennium B.C. This may have adversely Asia. Their earlist life seems to have been
affected agriculture and stockbreeding. Some mainly postoral, agriculture being a
describe the decline to the decreasing fertility secondary occupation. Although the Aryans
on account of the increasing salinity of the used several animals, the horse played the
soil caused by the expansion of the most significant role in their life. Its swiftness
neighbouring desert. Others attribute it to a enabled them and some allied people to make
6 Gist of NCERT (History)
successful inroads on West. Asia from about called naditama or the best of the rivers in
2000 B.C. onwards. the Rig Veda. The whole region in which the
On their way to India to Aryans first Aryans first settled in Indian subcontinent is
appeared in Central Asia and Iran, where the called the Land of the Seven Rivers.
Indo-Iranians lived for a long time. We know Tribal Conflicts
about the Aryans in India from the Rig Veda.
We hear of many defeats inflicted by
The term Arya occurs 36 times in this text,
Indra on the enemies of the Aryans. In the
and generally indicates a cultural community.
Rig Veda Indra is called Purandara which
The Rig Veda is the earliest text of the Indo-
means that he was the breaker of forts. The
European languages. It is a collection of
Aryans succeeded everywhere because they
prayers offered to Agni, Indra, Mitra, Verun
possessed chariots driven by horses, and
and others gods by various families of poets
intorduced them for the first time into West
or sages. It consists of ten mandalas or books,
Asia and India. The Aryan soldiers were
of which Books II to VII form its earlies
probably equiped also with coats of mail
portions. Books I and X seem to have been
(vaiman) and better arms.
the latest additions.
According to tradition, the Aryans were
The Rig Veda has many things in
divided into five tribed panchajana but there
common with the Avesta, which is the holdest
might have been other tribes also. The
text in the Iranian language. The two texts Bharatas and the Tritsu were the ruling Aryan
use the same names for several gods and even clans, and they were supported by priest
for social classes. But the earliest specimen Vasisththa. The country Bharatavarsha was
of the Indo-European language is found in eventually named after the tribe Bharata,
an inscription of about 2200 B.C. from Iraq which apperas first in the Rig Veda. The
Later such specimens occur in Hittite Bharata ruling clan was opposed by a host of
inscriptions in Anatolia (Turkey) from the ten chiefs, five of whom were heads of Aryan
nineteenth to the seventeenth centuries B.C. tribes and the remaining five of non-Aryan
Aryan names appeal in Kassijte inscriptions people. The battle that was fought between
of about about 1600 B.C. from Iraq and in the Bharatas on the one hand, and the host
Mitanni inscriptions of the fourteenth century of ten chiefs on the other is known as the
B.C. from the Aryans appeared in India. The Battle of Ten Kings. This battle was fought
earliest Aryans lived in the geographical area on the river Parushni, identical with the river
covered by eastern Afghanistan, North-West Ravi and it gave victory to Sudas and estab-
Frontier Province, Punjab and fringes of lished the supremacy of the Bharatas. Of the
western Uttar Pradesh. Some rivers of defeated tribes, the most Important was that
Afghanistan such as the river Kubha, and the of the Purus. Subequently the Bharatas joined
river Indus and its five branches, are hands with the Purus and formed a new rul-
mentioned in the Rig Veda. The Sindhu, ing tribe called the Kurus. The Kurus com-
identical with the Indus, is the river par bined with the Panchalas, and they together
excellence of the Aryans, and it is repeatedly established their rule in the upper Gangetic
basin where they played an important part
mentioned. Another river, the Saraswati, is
in later Vedic times.
The Harappan Culture: Bronze Age Civilization 7
Material Life Several tribal or the clan-based
The Rig Vedic people possessed better assemblies such as the sabha, samiti, vidatha,
knowledge of agriculture. Ploughshare is gana are mentioned in the Rig Veda. They
mentioned in the earliest part of the Rig Veda exercised deliberative, military and religious
though some consider it an interpolation. functions. Even women attended the sabha
Possibly this ploughshare was made of wood. and vidatha in Rig Vedic times. But the two
They were acquainted with sowing, harvest- most important assemblies were the sabha
ing and threshing, and knew about the dif- and the samiti. These two were so important
ferent seasons. that the chiefs or the kings showed eagerness
In spite of all this there are so many ref- to win their-support.
erences to the cow and the bull in the Rig In the day-to-day administration, the
Veda that the Rig Vedic Aryans can be called king was assisted by a few functionaries. The
predominantly a pastoral people. Most of most important functionary seems to have
their wars were fought for the sake of cows. been the purohita. The two priests who
The terms for war in the Rig Veda is gavishthi played a major part in the time of Rig Veda
or search for cows. The cow seems to have are Vasishtha and Vishvamitra. Vishvamitra
been the most important form, of wealth. The composed the gayatri mantra to widen the
Rig Veda, mentions such artisans as the car- Aryan world. The next important function-
penter, the chariot-maker, the weaver, the ary seems to be the senani, who used spears,
leather worker, the potter, etc. axes, swords, etc. We do not come across any
This indicates that they practised all officer concerned with the collection of taxes.
these crafts. The term aryas used for copper Probably the chiefs received from the people
or bronze show that metal-working was voluntary offerings called bnali. Presents and
known. But we have no clear evidence of the spoils of war were perhaps distributed in
existence of regular trade. The Aryans or the some Vedic assemblies. The Rig Veda does
Vedic people were acquainted more with land not mention any officer for administering
routes because the word samudra mentioned justice. Spies were employed to keep an eye
in the Rig Veda mainly denotes a collection on such unsocial activities.
of water. We may, therefore, this of a pre- The officer who enjoyed authority over
iron phase of the PGW which coincided with a large land or pasture ground is called
the Rig Vedic phase. Vrajapati. He led heads of the families called
Tribal Polity kulapas, or the heads of the fighting hordes
called gramanis, to battle. In the beginning,
The administrative machinery of the
the gramani was just the head of a small tribal
Aryans in the Rig period worked with the
fighting unit. But when the unit settled, the
tribal chief in the centre, because of his suc-
gramani became the head of the village, and
cessful leadership in war. He was called rajan.
in course of time he became identical with
It seems that in the Rig Vedic period the king’s
post had become hereditary. We have traces the Vrajapati. The king did not maintain any
of election of the king by the tribal assembly regular or standing army, but in times of war
called the samiti. The king was called the he mustered a militia whose military
protector of his tribe. functions were performed by different tribal