satishchandra flawed history

8/13/2019 SatishChandra Flawed History

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Flawed NarrativesHistory in the old NCERT Textbooks

A random survey of

Satish Chandras Medieval India (NCERT 2000 _________

By

M eenakshi J ain


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INTROD CTION

I would not care whether truth is pleasant or unpleasant, and in

consonance with or opposed to current views. I would not mind inthe least whether truth is, or is not, a blow to the glory of mycountry. If necessary, I shall bear in patience the ridicule and

slander of friends and society for the sake of preaching truth. But still I shall seek truth, understand truth, and accept truth. This should be the firm resolve of a historian.

- ir !adunath arkar

With hindsight, it must be conceded that the NCERTs decision todiscontinue textbooks authored by stalwarts of the Marxist school of

historiogra hy has triggered a !eritable shift in the countrys intellectual tem late"#nd it was robably a rehending recisely such a fallout that leftist scholars hadmounted a cam aign of un recedented ferocity to stall the new textbooks, e!engoing to the extent of ha!ing sym athi$ers file a case in the %u reme Court against

NCERTs ro osed curriculum re!ision"

%trangely, no one bothered to ask why scholars of hitherto un&uestionableeminence were so erturbed at being dislodged from schoolrooms, when theirstatus, ex ertise and dominance remained unchallenged at the uni!ersity le!el,where they were also more likely to encounter students who could a reciate thefiner oints of their scholarshi " 'erha s since these scholars were, abo!e all,

ur!eyors of an ideology, the indoctrination of young minds from a rimary stageitself was crucial to their agenda" That is why they had in the first instance re ared history rimers, which were for decades rammed down the throats ofhel less school children"

The medie!al era of (ndian history was the s ecial focus of Marxistinterest" Their contribution to the study and ro er a reciation of this eriod wasnot entirely a negati!e de!elo ment" To the extent that Marxist methodology layss ecial stress on the role of material forces in the sha ing of history, they wereable to make a significant contribution in highlighting the ex loitati!e nature ofthe state under %ultanate and Mughal rulers, who a ro riated the bulk of theagrarian roduce, lea!ing the easants in ab)ect o!erty"

*ut Marxist methodology in (ndia is not recogni$ed for its em hasis oneconomic determinism alone" (t is associated with an acti!e hostility to (ndiasnati!e ci!ili$ation and its achie!ements" (t is noted for its blatant bias towards the(slamic ad!ent that commenced in this eriod" Non+ artisan scholars describe the(slamic thrust into the sub+continent as one of the most rolonged instances ofcultural encounter in world history, and acce t that notwithstanding the eacefulentry of #rab traders, a substantial art of Muslim settlement was achie!ed bycon&uest" rom a erusal of standard secondary works alone, -" " Richards hasnoted ./ instances of military conflict between the first #rab assault on %ind andthe commencement of #lauddin 0hal)is 1eccan cam aigns" 2-" " Richards,

345


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"ower, #dministration and $inance in %ughal India, 6ariorum, 7..89" :econcludes that an examination of rimary sources would re!eal many more suchincidents" #nd yet, it has been an endea!our of (ndian Marxists to negate thishistory of sustained resistance of (ndians to (slamic incursions"

urther, they ha!e sought to under lay the (slamic abhorrence of idolatryand olytheism and its assault on the sacred s aces of this land" Though thenumerical su eriority of :indus com elled the in!aders to grant them the status ofdhimmis, the issue was too com lex to be so resol!ed, and continued to exercisethe Muslim mind throughout these centuries" ;ohanan riedmann has obser!edthat the conciliatory trend in (ndian (slam was always weaker than the orthodoxone, and the few rulers who ado ted it failed to ins ire their successors 2xford ?ni!ersity 'ress, 4//89"

Effacing the harshness of (slamic rule in (ndia has been the rimaryob)ecti!e of (ndian Marxist historians" E!en rulers of the notoriety such asMahmud of @ha$ni and #urang$eb ha!e been reci ients of their kind bene!olence"R" C" Ma)umdar has drawn attention to a ty ical, though not so well+known, caseof Marxist intellectual )ugglery" # +omprehensive istory of India !ol" !9,

ublished under the aus ices of the (ndian :istory Congress, he says, eulogi$es the*engal ruler :usain %hah, for his atronage of *engali writers and 6aishna!asaints, and asserts that the creati!e genius of the eo le reached its $enith underhim" The truth howe!er, Ma)umdar states, is that Chandidas, the greatest6aishna!a oet, receded :usain %hah, and the two oets of distinction who li!edin his reign, en)oyed no royal fa!ours"

urther, the 6aishna!a leader, Chaitanya had no connection whatsoe!erwith the *engal %ultan" (n fact after he became a sannyasi, Chaitanya s ent almosttwenty years in exile in the :indu kingdom of >rissa" When he once !isited alocality near the residence of :usain %hah, many eo le in @auda feared for hissafety and begged him to de art" Contem orary 6aishna!a literature attests to thehostility of the Aa$i of Na!ad!i who e!en rohibited kirtans " #nd yet in defianceof such damning e!idence, # +omprehensive istory of India has no &ualms indeclaring that


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%edieval India 2NCERT 4///9 7 was art of the Marxist offensi!e at the schoolle!el" # brief criti&ue of the work is hereby resented, with a !iew to ex lain tothe general reader the ob)ections that non+Marxists ha!e to Marxist historiogra hy,and to share a larger concern for !eracity and ob)ecti!ity in the resentation of the

ast, howsoe!er un alatable the ast may be" Merely labeling such endea!ors as


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debate, proof-reading oversights, spelling errors, minor discrepancies indefinition of technical terms and other such trivialities have beenoverlooked so as not to derail the discussion. The emphasis is on

substantive issues of interpretation and presentation, and even here, only samples of faulty reasoning and construction are enumerated. This in noway claims to be an e/haustive study.

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"#$ %&'ienti(i') History*(ndian Marxists take immense ride in resenting what they claim is a

scientific analysis of the ast" %ome exam les of this Gmethodology are gi!en below" (t may be seen that Marxist narrati!e is bede!iled by a non-Indian ers ecti!e, which casts a shadow o!er its !ery !eracity and moti!ations"

7" Though ur orted to be a text on GMedie!al (ndia, %atish Chandras book begins with a discussion on Euro e in the aftermath of the breaku of theRoman em ire, followed by a descri tion of Euro ean feudalism, the #rabworld from the H th to the 7/ th centuries, and last but not least, East and%outh+East #siaI

That (ndia does not merit e!en a subsection in the o ening cha ter erha s best illustrates the Marxist alienation from the (ndic ers ecti!e and theirutter reliance u on foreign categories and eriodi$ations for understandinge!ents in (ndia" E!en though the !ery first aragra h of the book admitsthat de!elo ments in Euro e and #sia only


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F" Cha ter D tilted nlyafter this extended digression do we come to the %ayyids and the odis"

H" Cha ter 77 is titled


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." Cha ter 74" %her %hahs Ra) ut olicy 2 7 F+7 L9 makes no mention ofhis treatment of the Ra) uts of Raisin" (nstead, in the subsection entitled


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+#$ Missin, - Exa./les o( &oviet style /0r,in, o( Indian history 1!hole dynasties and events have sim"ly disa""eared#

'urging history of its incon!enient moments ha!ing been a !enerable traditionin the communist world, it comes as no sur rise that (ndias ast too isconsiderably s ruced u " Whole kingdoms and dynasties that flourished betweenthe death of :arsha in #1 L D and the establishment of the 1elhi %ultanate in #174/L find no mention in the text" This half millennium dominated by !igorous newruling houses was an age of efflorescence, of monumental tem les, literaryflowering and intense hiloso hical s eculation" #nd yet so much of that defining

eriod of (ndian history is sim ly effaced" #mong rulers, dynasties and e!entsmissingB+

7" The @ahada!alas, a leading ruling house of North (ndia, in the forefront of thestruggle against the Turkish in!asions" They are also credited with amassi!e rogramme of tem le construction in #yodhya" >ne of the mostim ortant :indu law com endium, the 1ritya 1alpataru was written intheir reign" *ut it is only the last ruler of this line, -ayachandra, who meritsan unflattering mentionB


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L" -ayasimha %iddhara)a, regarded as the greatest of the kings of @u)arat" #renowned warrior and builder of the Rudra Mahakala tem le at %iddha ura, he was also the atron of the famous -ain scholar :emachandra" #lso

missing are 0umara ala, renowned as the last great royal ro onent of-ainism, and Naiki 1e!i, &ueen regent who defeated the forces ofMuhammad of @hur near Mt" #bu"

D" The famous 0arkota dynasty of 0ashmir, which boasted of rulers likealitaditya, who made the dynasty the most owerful in (ndia after the

@u tas" #!anti!arman, the sagacious ruler of the ?t ala dynasty, whocommissioned an engineering ro)ect for the drainage and irrigation of the!alley which ro!ided much relief from floods, besides increasing the landunder culti!ation, also goes unsung"

H" The %ena kings of *engal, 6i)ayasena and the famous *allalasena, are ignored"

." The %hailodbha!a dynasty of >rissa, the 0aras, renowned for ha!ing had atleast fi!e female rulers" The 0esaris, the Eastern @angas and the laterEastern @angas, builders of the famous ingara)a, -agannath and %unTem le, also do not merit attention" The three tem les are merelymentioned in a sur!ey on tem le building in north (ndia"

7/" The Chalukyas of 0alyani, including their distinguished ruler 6ikramaditya6(, atron of scholars like *ilhana and 6i)naneshwara, are also missing"

77" Rudramade!i of the 0akatiya dynasty, who ruled for almost 8F years, does notfind e!en a listing"

74" The text ignores the sheer dynamism of (ndian society during the centuries"The mo!ement of tribal grou s from forest and astoral settings to settledagriculture, their contribution to state formation, the rise and integration oftribal and local deities to regional and all+(ndia status, the economicintegration of the country through mobile communities of itinerant tradersand merchants, are all o!erlooked in reference for a static and stereoty edrigidity that has long been re)ected by modern scholarshi " The ersistent

artici ation of :indu easants in warfare throughout this eriod isobliterated as art of the attem t to ro)ect :indu society as a closed unit inwhich multi le occu ations were ruled out and mo!ement im ossible"

78" The e!idence of the growth of urban centres and a flourishing economy in thekingdoms of the 'ratiharas, 'aramaras, Chahamanas, among others, are allsu ressed with a !iew to !alidate the discredited thesis of the Marxisthistorian 'rof" R"%" %harma that trade and economy suffered a distinctdecline in the three centuries after the death of :arsha"

7 " There is sim ly no discussion on the nature of the olity established by

'ro het Muhammad, and its de endence on the twin conce ts of 2ihad and

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ummah " The dhimmi system and status granted to non+Muslims re&uireshonest discussion, gi!en that the bulk of the eriod gra les with theexclusi!ist nature of the state established by (slamic rulers in (ndia"

7F" The #rab in!asion of %ind is not only ecli sed from Marxist history, so too are

four centuries of stiff :indu resistance in %ind, 0abul and Pabul" >nly the:indushahis from the time of -ay ala are mentioned"

7L" The iconoclasm of %ubuktigin, father of Mahmud of @ha$ni, as recorded bythe chronicler, #bu Nasir ?tbi is o!erlooked"

7D" The sheer number of :indu !ictims of (slamic in!aders has been carefullyexcised" ifty thousand defenders lost their li!es in )ust one attack ofMahmud of @ha$ni on %omnath, which surely deser!es anacknowledgement" %omnath, it may be recalled, was ra$ed se!eral timesthereafter"

7H" %ayyid %alar Masud, Mahmuds ne hew, who launched a fresh series ofTurkish attacks on (ndia"

7." The highly refined system of racial discrimination racticed by the Turks in(ndia and the fact that the so+called egalitarian message of (slam did notwin any con!erts in the twelfth century"

4/" (ltutmishs destruction of the Mahakala 1e!a tem le in ?))ain is ignored"(ndeed there is an unmistakable tendency to o!erlook acts of Muslim!andalism" Richard Eaton has admitted that at least H/ tem les weredestroyed by Muslim iconoclasts" #lthough this is regarded as aridiculously low figure in some &uarters, e!en the ma)or instances in hislist are ski ed o!er in the textbook"

47" The text nowhere mentions that all 1elhi %ultans sought in!estiture from theCali h as art of their commitment to the wider world of (slam"

44" #lauddin 0hal)is execution of three thousand mu3addams during thecam aign against Chittor"

48" iru$ Tughla&s attack on >rissa tem les is briefly referred to, but surely itshould be s ecified that it was the famous -agannath tem le that was the!ictim of his iconoclastic fury" The killings of thousands of inhabitants ofthe region is similarly ex unged"

4 " The 6i)ayanagar kingdoms great scholar %ayana, whose commentaries on the6edic texts are highly rated e!en today, finds no lace in the text"

4F" The de ortation of thousands of easants across the (ndus as art of the acification of the countryside is ignored"

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4L" #kbars massacre of 8/,/// easants who had taken shelter at Chittor ort, andhis letting 8// ele hants loose on the besieged eo le there" The authormerely says,


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84" While mentioning -ahangirs dealings with %haikh #hmad %irhindi it isnowhere stated that after the release of the latter from rison, the Em erorconferred a robe of honour and a thousand ru ees on him and ga!e him

ermission to stay on at the im erial cam , where in fact %irhindi stayedfor three years, deli!ering sermons, some of which were heard by theem eror"

88" %hah -ahans destruction of the massi!e tem le *ir %ingh *undela hadconstructed near his alace and construction of a mos&ue on the site andhis order of 7L88 rohibiting the re air of shrines, and destruction of new

laces of worshi in *anaras"

8 " %hah -ahans harassment of the %ikh @uru :argobind is not art of the mainnarrati!e dealing with the Em eror, but is again hidden in a general cha teron cultural and religious de!elo ments"

8F" The a ro riation of re!enues by a !ery small cli&ue" (n the year 7L D+ H amere F mansabdars consumed more then three fourths of the re!enues ofthe state"

8L" The general unacce tability of 1aras !iews within his community, isinex licably ignored by the foremost ro onents of (ndias com ositecultureI

8D" The se!erity of the )i$ya tax, which had a determining role in lower castecon!ersion to (slam, finds no mention" (t has been estimated that as muchas 7F ercent of the total income of the state during #urang$ebs timecame from the )i$ya"

8H" #urang$ebs exclusi!e recruitment of Muslims nobles of the erstwhile states of*i)a ur and @olcunda into Mughal ser!ice and his dismissal of *rahminand Telugu officials, are cons icuously e!aded"

8." The strong tradition of rebellion and agrarian resistance in Mughal (ndia findslittle s ace in the text, which is truly sur rising gi!en that Marxists ha!e

generally been obsessed with the role of economic forces in determininghistory"

/" The long+standing olicy of settling #fghans in areas of resurgence with a!iew to effecting their acification, is &uietly o!erlooked"

7" %ur risingly there is no mention of %hah)ahanabad and ahore ort in thediscussion on Mughal architecture, though hotogra hs of the former ha!e

been ro!ided"

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2#$ 3et Tr0th 4revail - &a./les o( 'on(0sion5 ob(0s'ation5 distortion%l"

No"'age no"

Text

7 1uring the early eriod, the #rabs dis layed a remarkable ca acityof assimilating the scientific knowledge and administrati!e skills ofthe ancient ci!ili$ations they had o!errun" They had no hesitation inem loying non+Muslims, such as Christians and -ews, and also non+#rabs, articularly the (ranians many of whom were Poroastriansand e!en *uddhists, for running the administration"

$%servation B The #rab em loyment of non+Muslims was dictated bycircumstances" '"M" :olt, #nn 0"%" ambton, *ernard ewis, eds", The+ambridge istory of Islam, 2!ol+(#, Cambridge ?ni!ersity 'ress, 7.DH, " HH9 forexam le notes,


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@a)a atis of >rissa, and the 6ithalas!ami tem le for a 6itthala image broughtfrom an ex edition to 'andhar ur 2for the details see R" :" 1a!is, 4ives 5f Indian

Images , 'rinceton ?ni!ersity 'ress, 7..D9"

# rare instance of !andalism by a :indu king comes from 0ashmir" 0ingalitaditya once romised safe conduct to the ruler of @auda and offered as suretythe image of 6ishnu 'arihasakesa!a" :e howe!er went back on his word and hadthe @auda ruler killed" #n outraged grou of the latters followers went to0ashmir disguised as ilgrims, and made for the 'arihasakesa!a tem le whichhoused the image" They sei$ed a sil!er image of Ramas!ami which they mistookfor 'arihasakesa!a and broke it to ieces, e!en as alitadilyas soldiers ouncedon them and killed them"

:indu destruction of *uddhist and -ain laces of worshi too cannot be laced


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region and the monarch his re resentati!e" Well known exam les are the cult of'urusottama K-agannath in >rissa, and the relationshi between the @uhila rulersof Mewar and the %ai!ite deity Ekalinga"

Tem les were built from the legitimate rofits of trade and hence wereoften found on trade routes" *y linking their construction with lunder, the authorseems to be attem ting to establish an artificial arity with the conduct of theTurks"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

47 Many others 2writers9 took their themes from the 7amayana and %ahabharata, thus bringing these classics nearer to the eo le"""many folk or o ular themes are also to be found in these literatures"

o ular themes which were not deri!ed from %anskrit and whichreflect o ular sentiments and emotions are called desi or rural inTelugu"

$%servation B The Ramayana and Mahabharata were ne!er inaccessible to the o ulace" (ndeed the e ics were a medium through which hiloso hic thoughtsand insights were routinely ex ressed at the o ular le!el" #s :" Pimmer has

ointed out, 2 "hilosophies 5f India , ed", -ose h Cam bell *ollingen %eries 6(, 'antheon *ooks, 7.F8, 4L9 the erfectly a ro riate ictorial scri t ofmythology reser!ed the hiloso hical ideas without in any way damaging theirsense" (n the symbolic form, ideas did not ha!e to be diluted to be o ulari$ed"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

F 48 (n northern (ndia, this eriod is considered a eriod of stagnation ande!en of decline" The main reason for this was the setback to tradeand commerce between the se!enth and the tenth century" This, inturn, led to a decline of towns and town life in the region" Thesetback to trade and commerce was, in art, due to the colla se inthe West of the Roman em ire with which (ndia had flourishing and

rofitable tradeJ" #s a result, there was remarkable aucity of newgold coins in north (ndia between the eighth and the tenth century"

The situation gradually changed with the emergence of a owerfuland extensi!e #rab em ire in West #sia and North #fricaJ"oreign trade and commerce in northern (ndia began to re!i!e

gradually from the tenth century onwards"

$%servation BThis !iew of the ost+@u ta eriod has been seriously &uestionedand seems art of the Marxist rocli!ity to de!alue (ndian accom lishments and tolink the so+called (ndian economic reco!ery in the tenth century to the (slamicad!ent"

#ndre Wink 2 #l- ind, The %aking of The Indo-Islamic 8orld , >xford ?ni!ersity'ress, 7../, !ol" (, " 44/ +4449, for exam le notes,

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%l" No"

'age no"

Text

L 4 (n some of the 1harmashastras which were written during this eriod, a ban is ut on tra!el beyond the areas where the mun2a grassdoes not grow or where the black ga$elle does not roam, that is,outside (ndiaJ >f course, not e!erybody took these bansseriouslyJ 'erha s, the ban was meant for brahmanas only or wasmeant to discourage too many (ndians going to the areas dominated

by (slam in the West and *uddhism in the East for fear of their bringing back heretical religious ideas which may be embarrassingand unacce table to the brahmanas and to the ruling grou s"

$%servation B There is e!idence of (ndian contacts with the wider world from thetime of the (ndus ci!ili$ation" #s *urton %tein 2 # istory of India , *lackwell,7..H"9 has erce ti!ely ointed out, it was only when the Muslims came todominate the (ndian >cean that sea+faring became a taboo for :indus" #s for thethreat from the heretical ideas of (slam, the Rashtrakuta rulers had ermittedMuslim traders to reach (slam in their domains" %e!eral centuries later *arbosarecords that the 6i)ayanagar kings allowed e!ery man to


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'radesh and Ra)asthan" #mong others who also claimed to be Ra) uts were theChandellas of *undelkhand and the @ahada!alas" The Ra) ut category remainedthe means by which an u wardly mobile social grou could enhance its status"

(t is well recogni$ed that hierarchical ranking was not clearly defined ando erational o!er large arts of the subcontinent e!en as late as colonial times" Thestatus of the same caste often !aried from locality to locality" #t the !illage le!el,the agricultural castes, the so+called sudras, were numerically re onderant andeconomically and olitically owerful 2see, for exam le, M"N" %rini!as, ocial+hange in %odern India , #llied 'ublishers, 7.LL9"

Many Englishmen themsel!es commented on the flexibility of the system"The ethnogra her Thurston, for exam le, came across a Tamil ro!erb to theeffect that rissa is the most well known exam le of thistrend" 2 or details of this henomenon see #" Eschmann et" al ., The +ult of

!agannath and the 7egional Tradition of 5rissa, Manohar, 7.DH9"

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%l" No"

'age no"

Text

. 4. The %atsya "urana authori$es the husband to beat his erring wife2though not on the head or the breasts9 with the ro e or a s lit

bamboo" Women continued to be denied the right to study the6edas" urthermore, the marriageable age for girls was lowered,thereby destroying their o ortunities for higher education" Theomission of all reference to women teachers in the dictionarieswritten during the eriod shows the oor state of higher educationamong women" :owe!er, from some of the dramatic works of the

eriod, we find that the court ladies and e!en the &ueens maids+in+waiting were ca able of com osing excellent %anskrit and 'rakrit!erses" 6arious stories oint to the skill of rincesses in the finearts, es ecially in ainting and music" 1aughters of high officials,courtesans and concubines were also su osed to be highly skilled in!arious arts, including oetryJ" (t a ears that with the growth ofthe ractice of large number of women being maintained by thefeudal chiefs, and with the resultant dis utes about ro erty, therewas a tendency for the rite of sati to s read"

$%servation B # classic case of doubles eak" The author first laments the declinein the education of women and then goes on to say that e!en the &ueens maids+in+waiting were ca able of com osing excellent %anskrit and 'rakrit !erses"1aughters of high officers are also described as skilled in !arious arts"

There are se!eral exam les of women artici ating in the olitical rocessin the :indu kingdoms of this eriod" # Rashtrakuta rincess, Chandrobalabbe,daughter of #mogha!arsha (, for exam le, administered Raichur doab for sometime" The 0ara dynasty boasted of at least fi!e female rulers" Muhammad of @hurwas defeated near Mount #bu by a force led by the regent &ueen, Naiki 1e!i in#177DH+." 0ashmir in the mid+tenth century was ruled by the famous &ueen1idda" The 0akatiyas had a woman ruler, Rudramade!i, for almost thirty+fi!eyears 2#174L7+74.F9" @anga 1e!i, wife of 'rince 0am ana of 6i)ayanagar,com osed the %adurai vi2aya, described as one of the finest e ics of resistance inmedie!al literature"

The henomenon of sati was noted e!en by the @reeks who accom anied#lexander and can hardly be attributed to ro erty dis utes among wi!es" %urelyMarx did not ha!e this in mind when he talked of economic forces sha ing history"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

7/ 84 The belief grew 2among :indus9 that a worshi er could attain whathe desired by uttering magical words 2 mantra 9 and making !ariouskinds of mystic gestures" They also belie!ed that by these ractices,and by !arious kinds of austerities and secret rites, they could attainsu ernatural owers, such as the ower to fly in the air, to become

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in!isible, to see things at a distance, etc" Man has always yearned forcontrol o!er nature in this manner" (t is only with the growth ofmodern science that many of these yearnings ha!e been fulfilled"Many :indu yogis also ado ted these ractices"

$%servations B Ty ical of Marxist alienation from the s iritual ethos of this land"


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finds little mention in the text" %ind held out for o!er se!en decades" TheTurkshahi and later :indushahi dynasties offered a similar fight in 0abul andPabul" The Ra) ut states of North (ndia fre&uently combined against the in!aders"# Ra) ut confederacy aided both -ai al and #nand al" The Chandellas,

'aramaras, Chahamanas, 0alachuris and Chalukyas all consistently confronted thein!aders"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

78 8D Mahumds raids into (ndia alternated with battles in Central #sia"or his lundering raids into (ndia the gha;is came handy to him"Mahmud also osed as a great but shikan or


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This led to a growing ga between the Ra) ut ruling grou s and the eo le most of whom were non+Ra) uts"

$%servation B The o en nature of the Ra) ut category has been acknowledged by

se!eral historians" 1irk 0olff 2 )*, Cambridge ?ni!ersity 'ress,7../9, for exam le, notes the inclusion of many categories of easants amongstthem" :e cites the exam le of 'asis, se!eral of whom became Ra) uts by gi!ingtheir daughters to 'anwars and other Ra) ut families 2 77H+.9"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

7F 7 The %ufis reached the gos el of lo!e, faith and dedication to theone @od" They directed their reachings mainly towards the Muslimsettlers but they influenced some :indus also" Thus, a rocess ofinteraction between (slam and :indu religion and society wasstarted" ahore became a centre of #rabic and 'ersian languages andliterature" :indu generals, such as Tilak, commanded the @ha$na!idarmies in which :indu soldiers also were recruited"

$%servation B Most %ufis at one time or another regarded con!ersion as one oftheir rimary ob)ecti!es in (ndia" The establishment of the Chishti hos ice at#)mer and the %uhrawardi khan&ah in Multan in the thirteenth century were asmuch a missionary as a religio+mystical acti!ity" #)mer, it has been ointed out,was the heartland of the :indu military aristocracy"

%ufis are also known to ha!e artici ated in warfare"


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Ra) uts, and successfully established law and order in the length and breadth of her kingdom"

$%servation B The Ranthambor ex edition and the one against @walior were the

only two cam aigns undertaken in Ra$iyas reign and both ended in failure" :erreign was so turbulent that there was no &uestion of her successfully establishinglaw and order" This is art of the Marxist tendency to glorify e!en the failures ofthe Turkish rulers"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

7D . *ut there is no doubt that with his 2*albans9 accession to the thronethere began an era of strong, centrali$ed go!ernment"

$%servation B *alban has been erroneously resented as a strong monarch" M":abib, and 0"#" Ni$ami, 2eds", The ?elhi ultanate, 6ol.) of, # +omprehensive istory of India, 'eo les 'ublishing :ouse,7.D/, " 4.49 ha!e highlighted manyinstances of his military weakness and concluded that,


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@od9 and dee ly regretted his inability to enforce the full gamut of (slamic lawsand regulations in the country" :e lamented to his relati!e, Malik #hmad Cha ,


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to him" :owe!er, it seems that he did not try to establish directadministration o!er the Ra) ut states" The Ra) ut rulers wereallowed to rule but had to ay regular tribute, and to obey the ordersof the %ultan" Muslim Ggarrisons were osted in some of theim ortant towns, such as #)mer, Nagaur, etc" Thus, Ra)asthan wasthoroughly subdued"

$%servations & :abib and Ni$ami 2ibid", 8.D9 say that


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%l" No"

'age no"

Text

4 LH Muhammad Tughla& undertook a number of measures to im ro!eagriculture" Most of these were tried out in the doab region"Muhammad Tughla& did not belie!e in #lauddin 0hal)is olicy oftrying to reduce the khuts and mu3addams 2headmen in the !illages9to the osition of ordinary culti!ators" *ut he did want an ade&uateshare of the land re!enue for the state" The measures he ad!ocatedhad a long term im act, but they failed disastrously during hisreignJ :istorians are of the o inion that the trouble started due too!er+assessment" #lthough the share of state remained half as in thetime of #lauddin, it was fixed arbitrarily, not on the basis of actual

roduce 'rices were also fixed artificially for con!erting the roduceinto money"

$%servation B Muhammad bin Tughla& in fact resorted to e!en more stringentmeasures than #lauddin 0hal)i" To begin with, the o ressi!e taxation system,hitherto confined to the 1oab, was extended to other territories, including @u)arat,Malwa, the 1eccan, and *engal" %econdly, the rate of taxation was greatlyenhanced" Whether the %ultan im osed additional taxes or recalculated existingones in a manner detrimental to the easantry, it is indis utable that theextraordinarily harsh exactions ro!oked wides read easant re!olts"

(t is not clear what the author means by saying that rissa was beyond iru$sca acity" (t can hardly be cited as an exam le of his magnanimity"

%l" 'age Text

34D5


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No" no"4L D7 These narrow !iews of iru$ Tughla& were certainly harmful" #t the

same time, iru$ Tughla& was the first ruler who took ste s to ha!e:indu religious works translated from %anskrit into 'ersian, so thatthere may be a better understanding of :indu ideas and ractices"Many books on music, medicine and mathematics were alsotranslated from %anskrit into 'ersian during his reign"

$%servation B (t was mainly medical works that iru$ ordered to be translatedfrom %anskrit into 'ersian" >ther works translated were also for their racticalknowledge, as for exam le, a treatise on :indu astronomy and astrology andworks on music and wrestling"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

4D D7 iru$ also took a number of humanitarian measures" :e bannedinhuman unishments such as cutting of hands, feet, nose, etc", fortheft and other offences" :e set u hos itals for free treatment of the

oor, and ordered the kotwals to make lists of unem loyed ersons,and ro!ided dowries for the daughters of the oor" :owe!er, it islikely that these measures were basically designed to hel Muslimsof good families who had fallen into bad times" This, again, showsthe limited nature of the state in (ndia during the medie!al times":owe!er, iru$ did em hasi$e that the state was not meant merely

for awarding unishments and collecting taxes, but was a bene!olentinstitution as well" (n the context of the medie!al times, the assertionof this rinci le of bene!olence was a !aluable one, and iru$deser!es credit for it"

$%servation B This is a deliberate attem t at obfuscation" The author himselfadmits that iru$s acts of bene!olence were confined to Muslims" To then raisehim for asserting the rinci le of bene!olence can only be described asmisleading" iru$ was known for his harsh treatment of his :indu sub)ects and hisfanaticism"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

4H D8 The raid into (ndia 2by Timur9 was a lundering raid, and its moti!ewas to sei$e the wealth accumulated by the sultans of 1elhi o!er thelast 4// yearsJ Timur then entered 1elhi and sacked it withoutmercy, large number of eo le, both :indu and Muslim, as well aswomen and children losing their li!es"

$%servation B Timur re eatedly states in his memoirs, the Tu;uk-i-Timuri , that he

had a two+fold ob)ecti!e in in!ading :industan"


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infidels,= and thereby ac&uire,


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87 H4 %la!ery had existed in (ndia as well as in West #sia and Euro e for along time" The ositions of different ty es of sla!es Kone born in thehousehold, one urchased, one ac&uired and one inherited isdiscussed in the :indu hastras. %la!ery had been ado ted by the#rabs and, later, by the Turks also" The most usual method ofac&uiring a sla!e was ca ture in war" E!en the %ahabharataconsidered it normal to ensla!e a risoner of war" The Turks

racticed this on a large scale in their wars, in and outside (ndiaJ (tcan be argued that the condition of sla!e was better than that of adomestic ser!ant because the master of the former was obliged to

ro!ide him food and shelter, while a free erson may star!e todeath"

$%servation B #ndre Winks study indicates that the sla!e trade in the #rab worldcannot rightly be com ared with ractices mentioned in the Mahabharata" :e

notes that +


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%l" No"

'age no"

Text

88 H +HF

#s for the :indu sub)ects, from the time of the #rab in!asion of%indh, they had been gi!en the status of ;immis or rotected eo lewho acce ted the Muslim rule and agreed to ay tax called 2i;yah "This was really a tax in lieu of military ser!ice, and was aid on agraduated scale according to means, women, children and theindigent, who had insufficient means, being exem t from it" The

brahmanas also remained exem t, though this was not ro!ided forin the Muslims law" #t first, 2i;yah was collected along with landre!enue" (n fact it was difficult to distinguish 2i;yah from landre!enue since all the culti!ators were :indus" ater, iru$ whileabolishing many illegal cesses, made 2i;yah a se arate tax" :e le!iedit on the brahmana also" %ometimes, the theologians who were incharge of collecting it tried to use it to humiliate and harass the:indus" :owe!er, 2i;yah by itself could not be a means to force the:indus to con!ert to (slam" (n general, it might be said that medie!alstates were not based on the idea of e&uality, but on the notion of

ri!ileges" *efore the Turks, the Ra) uts and, to some extendQ the brahmanas formed the ri!ileged sections" They were re laced bythe Turks"

$%servation B The rinci al reason that the )i$yah was not continually le!ied on:indus throughout the %ultanate eriod was that the state did not ha!e the

administrati!e a aratus re&uired for this enormous exercise" The Muslim hold on ower was also tenuous and s oradic beyond the rinci al centres of theirauthority" (n the countryside, )i$ya was subsumed within the land tax and notcollected se arately" (n urban areas, howe!er, where :indus were in more directcontact with Muslim authorities, )i$ya was charged on an indi!idual basis and wasa true oll tax"

-i$ya symboli$ed discrimination on religious grounds since it was im osedonly on non+Muslims" Medie!al chronicles attest that it was used to con!ert oorersections of society" iru$ Tughla& confessed in his autobiogra hy,


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8 HF *ut as soon as the Turks were settled, they started building their ownmos&ues" Their olicy towards tem les and laces of worshi of the:indus, -ains, etc", rested on the Muslim law 2 sharia 9 which forbadenew laces of worshi being built


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%hah as a sworn enemy of :induism" urther, after becoming a sannayasiChaitanya s ent 4/ years in the :indu kingdom of >rissa, which is surely acomment on :usain %hahs


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*ohras of @u)arat by G#bdullah 0harra$i, tribes of Wakhan and the #fridi 'athans by Nasir+i 0husrau, and the 0ho)as of @u)arat by (smaili missionaries like Nur%atgar" (n the @ha$nawi ahore organi$ed roselyti$ion was begun by %haykh(smail *ukhari 2c" 7//F9Q and al+:u)wiri is re orted in hagiological tradition toha!e con!erted Rai Ra)u a :indu general of the @ha$nawids to (slam" Thefoundation of the Chishti hos ice at #)mer and the %uhrawardi hos ice at Multan inthe thirteenth century was as much a missionary as a religio+mystical acti!ity" Thechoice of #)mer by Mu Gin al+din Chishti in the !ery heartland of :indu militaryaristocracy is es ecially significant" %haykh arid al+din @an)+i %hakar and #buG#li Aalandar 2d" 784 9 among Chishti mystics are s ecially noted in hagiogra hiesfor their missionary achie!ements" The Chishti missionaries resumed their work,after two generations of inacti!ity under Ni$am al+din #wliya and his immediatesuccessors, under ressure from Muhammad bin Tughlu&"(n the Aadiri order missionary work was undertaken by 1aud 0irmani in thesixteenth century and was later taken u as a common ractice by that order" The0ubrawiya order a lied itself to con!ersion on a large scale and %ayyid G#li:amadani is credited to ha!e taken with him an entourage of D// masha&ikh toundertake the roselyti$ation of 0ashmir= 2 " H 9"-ayasis 'adma!at was recogni$ed as an (ndian fable 2afsana+:indi9 and

not a work on (slamic mysticism in :indi"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

8D 74. %anskrit continued to be a !ehicle for higher thought and a mediumfor literature during the eriod under re!iew" (n fact, the roductionof works in %anskrit in different branches was immense and erha sgreater than in the receding eriod" ollowing the great %ankara,

works in the field of #d!aita hiloso hy by Ramanu)a, Madh!a,6allabha, etc", continued to be written in %anskrit" The s eed withwhich their ideas were widely disseminated and discussed indifferent arts of the country showed the im ortant role which%anskrit continued to lay during the eriod" There was a network ofs eciali$ed schools and academies in different arts of the country"(ncluding areas under Muslim domination" These schools andacademies were not interfered with and continued to flourish" (n fact,many of them took ad!antage of the introduction of a er tore roduce and disseminate older texts"

$%servation B #" #hmad, 2 tudies in Islamic +ulture In The Indian 0nvironment ,>xford, Clarendon 'ress, 7.L , 47H9 says,


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without saying that while %ankara largely receded the (slamic reign in (ndia,Ramanu)a and Madh!acharya were basically outside (slams s here of influence"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

8H 74.+78/

# large number of commentaries and digests on the :indu law21harmashastras9 were re ared between the twelfth and thesixteenth century" The great %itakshara of 6i)naneshwar, whichforms one of the two rinci al :indu schools of law, cannot be

laced earlier than the twelfth century" #nother famous commentatorwas Chandeswar of *ihar who li!ed in the fourteenth century" Mostof the works were roduced in the south, followed by *engal,Mithila and western (ndia under the atronage of :indu rulers" The-ains, too, contributed to the growth of %anskrit" :emachandra %uriwas the most eminent of these" >ddly enough, these works largelyignored the resence of the Muslims in the country" ittle attem twas made to translate (slamic works or 'ersian literature into%anskrit" 'ossibly, the only exce tion was the translation of the lo!estory of ;usuf and Pulaikha written by the famous 'ersian oet,-ami" This might be taken to be an index of the insularity of outlookwhich had been mentioned by #lbiruni earlier" Refusal to face theexisting reality may be one reason why much of the writing of the

eriod is re etiti!e and lacks fresh insight or originality"

$%servation B %heldon 'ollock 2rientalism Notes on %anskrit and 'ower beyond the Ra)=, in Carol #" *reckenridge and 'eter !an der 6eer eds",5rientalism and the "ostcolonial "redicament, ?ni!ersity of 'ennsyl!ania 'ress,7..89 has noted the


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(ndia shows that the Turkish ruling class was no longer re ared to beha!e as a foreign ruling class and that the ground had been re ared for a cultural ra rochement between them and the (ndians"

$%servation B #mir 0husrau ioneered a genre of writing called Ge ic ofcon&uest, which laid


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ther e!idence of orthodoxy includes a farman of #kbar, robably of this eriod to Aa$i #bd al+%amad, the muhtasib of *ilgram, and other officials of thetown


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The osition of Ra) uts declined further under #urang$eb" (n 7LD7 -aswant%ingh was a ointed to the low ost of thanedar of -amrud, while Ram %ingh of#mber was dis atched to the east" *oth were made to languish in these out ostsfor considerable eriods" 2%ee irdos #nwar, -

(@)> Manohar, 4//7" and #f$al :usain, The ne of the first actions which #kbar took, after he had taken owerin his own hands, was to abolish the oll tax or 2i;yah which the non+Muslims were re&uired to ay in a Muslim state" #lthough it was nota hea!y tax, it was disliked because it made a distinction betweensub)ect and sub)ect" #t the same time, #kbar abolished the ilgrimtax on bathing at holy laces such as 'rayag, *anaras, etc" :e alsoabolished the ractice of forcibly con!erting risoners of war to(slam" This laid the essential foundation of an em ire based on e&ualrights to all citi$ens, irres ecti!e of their religious beliers"

$%servation : -i$ya cannot be described as a light tax" (t has been calculated that itamounted to one months wages of an unskilled urban labourer" (rfan :abib hasdescribed the tax as


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No" no"F 7D7 #kbar also re!ised the educational syllabus, laying more em hasis

on moral education and mathematics, and on secular sub)ects such asagriculture, geometry, astronomy, rules of go!ernment, logic,history, etc" :e also ga!e atronage to artists, oets, ainters andmusicians so much so, that his court became famous for the galaxyof famous eo le there or the navaratna "

$%servation B >nly 'ersian oets were atroni$ed by #kbar" *adauni uts theirnumber at 7LH" #kbar was also the first (ndo+(slamic king of north (ndia toformally declare 'ersian as the sole language of administration 2in 7FH49" @hulam:usain Tabatabai records,


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D 4/4 Thus, during medie!al times as during earlier times, (ndia continuedto ro!ide a home to many eo le who came from outside" *ut theseimmigrants ra idly assimilated themsel!es into the (ndian societyand culture, while at the same time, retaining some of their s ecialtraits" This accounts for the richness and di!ersity which has been as ecial feature of (ndian culture" ?nder -ahangir and %hah -ahan, the

bulk of the nobles already consisted of those who had been born in(ndia" %imultaneously, the ro ortion of #fghans, (ndian Muslims2:industanis9, and :indus in the nobility continued to rise"

$%servation B The (slamic in!asions differed from the in!asions of anti&uity inthat while the early foreigners embraced the s iritual ethos of this land, (slamsought to im ose its faith, scri t, language, laws and customs" (t faced resistancefrom an e!ol!ed nati!e faith that resisted being su lanted in its ancestral home"#s for the misleading statement on the nobility, it has been dealt with elsewhere in

this sur!ey"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

H 4/8 #lthough s ending, not hoarding was the dominant characteristic ofthe ruling class of the time, with only a few nobles remaining out ofdebt and be&ueathing large sums of money to their children, thenobility did, directly or indirectly, contribute to the de!elo ment ofthe economy"

$%servation B (rfan :abib has totally re udiated this !iew oint" :e has describedthe Mughal nobility as contributing little to economic growth" 2%ee


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No" no"F/ 447 Medie!al :indi in the *ri) form, that is the dialect s oken in the

neighbourhood of #gra, was also atroni$ed by the Mughalem erors and :indu rulers" rom the time of #kbar, :indi oets

began to be attached to the Mughal court" # leading Mughal noble,#bdur Rahim 0han+i+0hanan, roduced a fine blend of *hakti

oetry with 'ersian ideas of life and human relations" Thus, the'ersian and the :indi literary traditions began to influence eachother" *ut the most influential :indi oet was Tulsidas whose herowas Rama and who used a dialect of :indi s oken in the eastern

arts of ?ttar 'radesh" 'leading for a modified caste system basednot on birth but on indi!idual &ualities, Tulsi was essentially ahumanistic oet who u held family ideals and com lete de!otion toRama as a way of sal!ation o en to all, irres ecti!e of caste"

$%servation B #$i$ #hmad has drawn attention to the fact that arallel :indu andMuslim intellectual traditions de!elo ed at #bkars court" 'ersian literature of this

eriod was uninfluenced by %anskrit e!en as %anskrit and :indi remained immuneto 'ersian cultural traditions" :e says

xford,Clarendon 'ress, 7.L , 4849"

Tulsidas moreo!er recei!ed no atronage whatsoe!er from #kbar"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

F7 448 Thus, there was no atmos here of confrontation between the %ikhsand the Mughal rulers during this eriod" Nor was there anysystematic ersecution of the :indus, and hence, no occasion for the%ikhs or any grou or sect to stand forth as the cham ion of the:indus against religious ersecution" The occasional conflict

between the @urus and the Mughal rulers was ersonal and oliticalrather than religious" 1es ite some dis lay of orthodoxy by %hah-ahan at the beginning of his reign and a few acts of intolerance,such as the demolition of


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belief that there were no fundamental differences between :induismand (slam"

$%servation B -ahangir clearly stated in his autobiogra hy that his hostility to @uru

#r)un had a religious dimension" < (n @oindwal, which is on the ri!er *iyah 2*eas9 ,= hewrote, < there was a :indu named #r)un, in the garments of sainthood and sanctity, so much sothat he had ca ti!ated many of the sim le+hearted of the :indus, and e!en of the ignorant andfoolish followers of (slam, by his ways and manners, and they had loudly sounded the drum of hisholiness" They called him @uru and from all sides stu id eo le crowded to worshi and manifestcom lete faith in him" or three or four generations 2of s iritual successors9 they had ke t this showarm" Many times it had occurred to me to ut a sto to this !ain affair or to bring him into theassembly of the eo le of (slam "=

#fter the execution of the @uru by -ahangir, his son and successor, @uru:argobind, took to martial acti!ities" :e girded two swords, 'iri and Miri, tosymboli$e the com lementarily of s iritual and tem oral authority" :eencouraged his followers to engage in martial acti!ity and built the fort of ohgarhfor defensi!e ur oses" :e was im risoned by -ahangir for two years and harassed

by %hah -ahan as well" :e left the ro!ince of ahore to reside in the territory of aRa) ut !assal of the Mughals due to this ersecution"

1aras !iews on the @ita and the 6edas elicited little su ort among the oliticaland religious elites in his community" :is anthology ertained to the ? anishads,not to 6edas ro er"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

F4 448+44

#mong the Muslims, too, while the trend of tauhid continued a ace,and was su orted by many learning %ufi saints, a small grou of theorthodox ulama reacted against it and the liberal olicies of #kbar"The most renowned figure in the Muslim orthodox and re!i!alistmo!ement of the time was %haikh #hmad %irhindiJ (t will thus beseen that the influence of the orthodox thinkers and reachers waslimited, being necessarily confined to narrow circlesJ The recurrentcycles of liberalism and orthodoxy in (ndian history should be seenagainst the situation which was rooted in the structure of (ndiansociety" (t was one as ect of the struggle between entrenched

ri!ilege and ower on the one hand, and the egalitarian andhumanistic as irations of the mass of the eo le on the other"

$%servation B The dominant trend among the %ufis and ulama was in fact towardsorthodoxy" #fter %irhindi, %hah Waliullah began a mo!ement to urge (slam of all

agan 2:indu9 influence and ractice" The Wahhabi mo!ement has been describedas


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ensioned off" (nstrumental music and naubat 2the royal band9 were,howe!er, continued" %inging also continued to be atroni$ed by theladies in the harem, and by indi!idual nobles" (t is of some interest tonote, as has been mentioned before, that the largest number of'ersian works on classical (ndian music were written in #urang$ebsreign and that #urang$eb himself was roficient in laying theveena "

$%servation B (s the author trying to a laud #urang$eb for his sensiti!ity to:indus The fact is that the Em eror alienated e!ery section of :indu society,e!en Ra) ut royal families which had ser!ed the Mughals for centuries" The :indu$amindars mentioned here, re!olted continually in his reign" The in!ocation of aneconomic dimension to the uritanical olices of the Em eror is comical" #s forthe 'ersian works in (ndian classical music, since they were not the result of theem erors atronage, they cannot be cited as an achie!ement of #urang$ebs

reign"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

FF 48/ To romote trade among the Muslims who de ended almostexclusi!ely on state su ort, #urang$eb at first largely exem tedMuslim traders from the ayment of cess" *ut he soon found that theMuslim traders were abusing it, e!en assing off the goods of :indumerchants as their own to cheat the state" %o #urang$eb re+im osedthe cess on Muslim traders, but, ke t it at half of what was chargedfrom othersJ %imilarly, he tried to reser!e the osts of peshkars andkaroris 2 etty re!enue officials9 for Muslims but soon had to modifyit in the face of o osition from the nobles and lack of &ualifiedMuslims"

$%servation B The discriminatory treatment of :indu traders and the artialitytowards Muslims was moti!ated by communal considerations" The osts of

peshkars and karoris were reser!ed for Muslims in order to encouragecon!ersions" (n an article in 0ssays on %edieval Indian istory, >xford?ni!ersity 'ress, 4//8, 888+ 9, %atish Chandra himself notes that the bulk ofthe recorded cases of con!ersions in!ol!ed either small $amindars or etty stateem loyees or their wards+


45/57

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

FL 48/+487

#urang$ebs order regarding tem les was not a new one" (treaffirmed the osition which had existed during the %ultanat eriodand which had been reiterated by %hah -ahan early in his reign" (n

ractice, it left wide latitude to the local officials as to theinter retation of the words


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tem les built in >rissa during the last ten to twel!e years were alsodestroyed" *ut it is wrong to think that there were any orders for thegeneral destruction of tem les" :owe!er, the situation was differentduring eriods of hostilities" Thus, during 7LD.+H/ when there was astate of war with the Rathors of Marwar and the Rana of ?dai ur,many tem les of old standing were destroyed at -odh ur and its

arganas, and at ?dai ur"

$%servation B Exce t for attem ting to exonerate #urang$eb, it is difficult tocom rehend %atish Chandras analyses of the Em erors olicy on tem les" Thefact remains that the destruction of tem les was a recurring feature of #urang$ebsreign" -"%" @rewal, 2The ikhs of the "un2ab. The New Cambridge :istory >f(ndia, 7../, LD9 for exam le notes,


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was to be collected by honest, @od+fearing Muslims, who werees ecially a ointed for the ur ose, and its roceeds were reser!edfor the ulama " (t was thus a big bribe for the theologians amongwhom there was a lot of unem loyment" *ut the disad!antages outweighted the ossible ad!antages of the ste "

$%servation B The roceeds from the )i$ya ha!e been estimated to constitute about7F ercent of the total state income towards the end of #urang$ebs reign" (n the!illages )i$ya was le!ied at a flat rate of er cent in the khalisa and )agirs lands"(ncome from the towns under this head was also considerable"

Com laints against the high rate of the )i$ya tax came from se!eral arts ofthe country" (n *urhan ur, for exam le, while Rs" 4L,/// was collected as )i$ya inone year, the following year the amount was raised to Rs" 7/H,/// for half the citywards"

-i$ya always had a religious dimension which is why it could rally Muslimo inion" *y stating that the )i$ya was to be collected by @od+fearing Muslims, isthe author im lying that the :indus therefore had no ob)ection to aying the taxurther, what is the e!idence of unem loyment among the theologians The factthat the Em eror was solicitous of their welfare surely has some im lications"

%l" No"

'age no"

Text

F. 484+488

#lthough #urang$eb considered it legitimate to encouragecon!ersion to (slam, e!idence of systematic or large+scale attem tsat forced con!ersion is lacking" Nor were :indu noblesdiscriminated against" # recent study has shown that the number of:indus in the nobility during the second half of #urang$ebs reignsteadily increased, till the :indus including Marathas formed aboutone+third of the nobility as against one+fourth under %hah -ahan"

$%servation B %ince the mis+re resentation of facts is so blatant, it would be inorder to &uote #thar #li 2 The %ughal


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North+West like his father or great grand+father" :e was, therefore, not likely to goout of his way to offer exce tional inducements to Turani and (rani nobles todesert their masters for Mughal ser!ice"

>n the the hand, there is no e!idence that #urang$eb e!er consciously setout to G(ndianise the nobility" %uch G (ndianisation as occurred was urely the result ofhistorical circumstances, and not of a deliberate olicy "=

2(bid", "84 9


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%ometimes this led him to ado t contradictory olices which harmedthe em ire"

$%servation B The state, the author concedes, was


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egalitarian religious mo!ement= turned into


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6#$ &i'7

This is a random, brief selection of bloo ers in %atish Chandras textbook" Theintention is merely to highlight the genuine roblems of com rehension faced bythe student reader"

&l#No#

4a,eno#

80otation (ro. text

"# 7 These tribes came in may wa!es, and indulged in a great deal of ra!aging and lundering in the territories of the old Roman em ire"

4" 7 The *y$antine em ire was a large and flourishing em ire which continued totrade with #sia after the colla se of the Roman em ire in the West"

8" 8 No king could ho e to maintain out of his own resources the large body ofca!alry needed and to ro!ide them with armour and e&ui ment" :ence, the

army was decentrali$ed, assigning to the fief+holders the res onsibility ofmaintaining a fixed force of ca!alry and infantry for the ser!ice of the king"" 8 (t also made ossible a ca!alry charge with lances held tightly to the body,

without the rider being thrown off by the shock of the im act" The earlierde!ice was either a wooden stirru or a iece of ro e which only ro!ided atoe+hold"

F" 8 The 'o e, who was the head of the Catholic Church, became not only areligious head, but one who exercised a great deal of olitical and moralauthority as well"

L" 8 :owe!er, some of the monasteries which became exceedingly wealthy beganto beha!e like feudal lords"

D" #lthough the #bbasid Cali hs were orthodox Muslims, they o ened wide thegate of learning from all &uarters as long as it did not challenge thefundamental tenets of (slam"

H" F Chinas society and culture had attained a climax in the eighth and ninthcenturies under Tang rule"

." F The Mongols wrought great death and destruction in China" *ut to theirhighly disci lined and mobile ca!alry forces, the Mongol rulers were able tounify North and %outh China under one control for the first time"

7/" L #ccording to a ninth century #rab writer, the em ire was so large that e!enthe fastest !essel could not com lete a round tri of it in two years"

77" D Make a chart showing the hierarchy of the authority of the feudal system ofEuro e"

74" H Each of these em ires, although they fought among themsel!es, ro!idedstable conditions of life o!er large areas, and ga!e atronage to arts andletters"

78" 7/ 1uring the eighth and ninth centuries, many (ndian scholars went withembassies to the court of the Cali h at *aghdad"

7 " 7/+77

The kingdom was founded by 1antidurga who fixed his ca ital at Manyakhetor Malkhed near modern %hola ur"

7F" 74 :e 2the king9 sat in a magnificent darbar" The infantry and ca!alry werestationed in the courtyard"

7L" 74 The court was not only a centre of olitical affairs and of )ustice, but of

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cultural life as well" 1ancing girls and skilled musicians attended the court"7D" 74 Thinkers of the time em hasi$ed absolute loyalty and obedience to the king

because of the insecurity of the times"7H" 74 While kings stro!e to maintain law and order within their kingdoms, their

arms rarely extended far enough"7." 78 Ele hants were su osed to be elements of strength and were greatly ri$ed"

4/" 78 The regular troo s were often hereditary and sometimes drawn from differentregions all o!er (ndia"

47" 78 When called u on sometimes, a son of the !assal chiefs was re&uired to stayin attendance of the o!erlord to guard against rebellion"

44" 78 The visayapatis and these smaller chiefs tended to merge with each other,and, later on, the word samanta began to be used indiscriminately for both ofthem"

48" 78 (t seems that their main ur ose was the reali$ation of land re!enue and someattention to law and order"4 " 7 *ut he did ha!e the general duty of rotecting brahmanas and the di!ision of

society into four states or !arnas"4F" 7 This really meant that olitics and religion were in essence, ke t a art,

religion being essentially a ersonal duty of the king"4L" 7L *y the end of the . th century, the Cholas had defeated both the 'alla!as of

0anchi and weakened the 'andyans, brining the southern Tamil country2Tondamandala9 under their control"

4D" 7L (n the north, Ra)ara)a annexed the north+western arts of the @anga region innorth+west 0arnataka, and o!erran 6engi"

4H" 7H The 6enetian tra!eller, Marco 'olo, who !isited 0erala in the thirteenthcentury, says that all the soldiers in the body+guard burnt themsel!es in thefuneral yre of the monarch when he died+a statement which may well be anexaggeration"

4." 48 @enerally s eaking, new elements as well as elements of continuity arefound in e!ery historical eriod but the extent and direction of change !aries"

8/" 4F Much of the trade to China was carried in (ndian shi , the teak+wood ofMalabar, *engal and *urma ro!iding the base of a strong tradition of shi

building"87" 4F Thus, growth of (ndias foreign trade in the area was based on a strong na!al

tradition, including shi building and a strong na!y, and the skill andenter rise of its traders"

84" 4F #n im ortant factor in the growth of the Chinese shi s was the use of a rimiti!e Mariners com ass+an in!ention which later tra!eled from China tothe West"

88" 4. #s in the earlier eriod, women were generally considered to be mentallyinferior"

8 " 8H The Ra) ut organi$ation of society had both ad!antages and disad!antage">ne ad!antage was the sense of brotherhood and egalitarianism which

re!ailed among the Ra) uts" *ut the same trait made it difficult to maintaindisci line among them"

8F" / #fter the @ha$na!id con&uest of the 'un)ab, two distinct atterns of relations

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between the Muslims and the :indus were at work" >ne was the lure for lunder which resulted in raids into the @angetic !alley and Ra) utana by thesuccessors of Mahmud"

8L" 7 Meanwhile, e!ents had not been standing still in north (ndia" The Chauhan ower had been steadily growing" The Chauhan rulers had defeated andkilled a large number of Turks who had tried to in!ade Ra)asthan, most

robably from the 'un)ab side, and had ca tured 1elhi 2called 1hillika9 fromthe Tomars around the middle of the century"

8D" 8 Thus, the battles of Tarain and Chandawar laid the foundations of theTurkish rule in north (ndia" The task of consolidating the con&uest thus won

ro!ed, howe!er, to be an onerous task which occu ied the Turks for almostF/ years"

8H" 8 Mo!ing !ery stealthily, the 0hal)i chief disguised himself as a horse+merchant, and a arty of 7H ersons entered the %ena ca ital"

8." 1ue to the large number and si$e of the ri!ers, *akhtiyar 0hal)i found itdifficult to kee hold of Nadia"

/" Tired and weakened by hunger and illness, the Turkish army had to face a battle in which there was a wide ri!er in front and the #ssamese army at the back"

7" D :e was succeeded by (ltutmish who was the son+in+law of #ibak" *ut beforehe could do so, he had to fight and defeat the son of #ibak"

4" H While he made raids on the territory of his neighbours, the %ena rulers ofEast *engal, and the :indu rulers of >rissa and 0amru 2#ssam9 continuedtheir sway"

8" . *alban constantly sought to increase the restige and ower of the monarchy,

because he was con!inced that, that was the only way to face the internal andexternal dangers facing him"" F/ The historian, *arani, who was himself a great cham ion of the Turkish

nobles, ut the following words in *albans mouthsB JF" F/ (n order to im ress the eo le with the strength and awe of his go!ernment,

*alban maintained a magnificent court"L" F/ *alban died in 74HL" :e was undoubtedly one of the main architects of the

%ultanat of 1elhi , articularly of its form of go!ernment and institutions"D" F7 1ue to the fluid situation in West #sia, the 1elhi %ultanat was not able to

attain these frontiers, osing a ersistent danger to (ndia"H" L4 This emboldened the sultans to undertake a series of internal reforms and

ex eriments, aimed at im ro!ing the administration, strengthening the army,to gear u the machinery of land re!enue administration, and to take ste s toex and and im ro!e culti!ation and to ro!ide for the welfare of the citi$ensin the ra idly ex anding towns"

." D4 The local $amindars and ra)as took ad!antage of the situation to assume airsof inde endence"

F/" D8 1isintegration of the olitical fabric was, thus, )ust beneath the surface andany weakness in the central administration set off a chain of e!ents leading to

olitical disintegration"F7" H/ The runner continually clanged a bell as he ran so that the man on the next

relay may be able to see him from the tower and get ready to take his burden"

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F4" H/ Not all these crafts were new, but their ex ansion and im ro!ement, basedon the legendary skill of the (ndian craftsman, and agricultural growth weretwo of the most im ortant factors which made the second half of thefourteenth century a eriod of growth and relati!e affluence"

F8" H7 These robes generally consisted of im orted cloth !el!et, damask or wool onwhich brocade, !el!et and costly materials were used"

F " H7 #lauddin sternly re ressed the nobles, but the gay mode of life re!i!ed underhis successors"

FF" H8 Regarding ro erty, the commentators u hold the widows right to the ro erty of a sonless husband, ro!ided the ro erty was not )oint, i"e", had been di!ided"

FL" HD 1escribe the conditions during the %ultanat eriod of women in society"

FD" .L :e cherished his sub)ects, and his solicitude for their welfare became ro!erbial"

FH" .L :is reign marked a new era in Telugu literature when imitation of %anskritworks ga!e lace to inde endent works"

F." .L (n a series of wars he com letely defeated the *i)a ur ruler to inflicthumiliating defeats on @olconda and #hmadnagar"

L/" .D The conce t of kingshi among the 6i)ayanagara rulers was high"

L7" 747 The tomb of @hiyasuddin marks a new trend in architecture" To ha!e a goodskyline, the building was ut u on a high latform"

L4" 744 #nother de!ice used by the odis was lacing their buildings, es eciallytombs, on a high latform, thus gi!ing the building a feeling of si$e as well

as a better skyline"L8" 787 (n course of time, 'ersian became not only the language of administration

and di lomacy, but also the language of the u er classes and theirde endents, at first in north (ndia and later of the entire country with theex ansion of the 1elhi %ultanat to the south and the establishment of Muslimkingdoms in different arts of the country"

L " 787 The rise to maturity of many of these languages and their use as means forliterary works may be considered a striking feature of the medie!al eriod"

LF" 788 Ex lain how the cultural features of 'ersia and (ndia got assimilated into theculture of the %ultanat eriod"

LL" 78L *abur had crossed the (ndus with a force of 74,///, but this had been swelled by his army in (ndia, and the large number of :industani nobles and soldierswho )oined *abur in the 'un)ab" E!en then, *aburs army was numericallyinferior" *abur strengthened his osition by resting one wing of his army inthe city of 'ani at which had a large number of houses, and rotected theother by means of a ditch filled with branches of trees"

LD" 78. %ince artillery was ex ansi!e it fa!oured those rulers who had largeresources at their command" :ence the era of large kingdoms began"

LH" 78.+7 /

*abur introduced a new conce t of the state which was to be based on thestrength and restige of the Crown, absence of religious and sectarian

bigotry, and the careful fostering of culture and the fine arts"

L." 7 7 *ahadur %hah did not dare face the Mughals" :e abandoned Chittor which he

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had ca tured, and his fortified cam , and fled to Mandu after s iking hisguns, but lea!ing behind all his rich e&ui age"

D/" 7 D No one was allowed to le!y customs at roads, ferries or towns any whereelse"

D7" 7 D %her %hah directed his go!ernors and amils to com el the eo le to treatmerchants and tra!elers well in e!ery way, and not to harm them at all" (f amerchant died, they were not to sei$e his goods as if they were unowned"

D4" 7 D :is attem t to fix standard weights and measures all o!er the em ire werealso hel ful for trade and commerce"

D8" 7 H %her %hahs excessi!e centrali$ation of authority in his hands was a source ofweakness, and its harmful effects became a arent when a masterfulso!ereign like him ceased to sit on the throne"

D " 7F/ %her %hah was not a bigot in the religious s here, as is e!ident from hissocial and economic olicy"

DF" 7F4 The leaderless #fghan army was defeated, :emu, was ca tured andexecuted" Thus, #kbar had !irtually to recon&uer his em ire"

DL" 7F # art from #)mer, im ortant con&uests during this eriod ca tured earlierwere that of Malwa and @arh+0atanga"

DD" 7FL *ut it was soon found that the fixing of central schedule of rices often led toconsiderable delays, and resulted in great hardshi s to the easantry" %incethe rices fixed were generally those re!ailing at the (m erial Court, andthus were higher than in the countryside, the easants had to art with alarger share of their roduce"

DH" 7F. The horses were classified into six categories, and the ele hants into fi!eaccording to &uality, the number and &uality of horses and ele hants being

carefully rescribed"D." 7L Therefore, Rana 'rata s refusal to bow before the Mughals had little effect

on most of the other Ra) ut states which reali$ed that in the existingsituation, it was im ossible for small states to stand out for long in fa!our ofcom lete inde endence" Moreo!er, by allowing a large measure of autonomyto the Ra) ut ra)as, #kbar established an em ire which those Ra) ut ra)as didnot consider harmful to their best interests"

H/" 7LF The younger son of Maldeo, Chandrasen, who was the son of the fa!ourite&ueen of Maldeo, succeeded to the gaddi.

H7" 7LH # true ruler was distinguished by a aternal lo!e towards his sub)ects withoutdistinction of sect or creed, a large heart so that the wishes of great and smallare attended to, rayer and de!otion and a daily increasing trust in @od whois considered as the real ruler"

H4" 7LH+7L.

We are told that that he s ent whole nights in thoughts of @od, continually ronounced his name, and for a feeling of thankfulness for his success, hewould sit many a morning alone in rayer and contem lation on a large flatstone of an old building near his alace in #gra"

H8" 7L. #t first, #bdun Nabi was sheared of his ower, and sardrs were a ointed ine!ery ro!ince for distributing charitable lands"

H " 7D/ *adayuni says that the members had four grades of de!otion, !i$", sacrificeof ro erty, life, honour and religion"

HF" 7D7 *adayuni ascribed to #kbars head being turned by many unworthy flatterers

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7.D bodyguards 2 walashahis 9 and armed alace guards" They were ca!alrymen but ser!ed on foot in the citadel and the alace"

.." 7.D The footmen 2 piyadgan 9 formed a numerous but miscellaneous body" Manyof them consisted of matchlock+bearers 2 bandu3chi 9 and recei!ed salariesranging between three and se!en ru ees a months" This was the infantry

ro er"7//" 7.D The artillery consisted of two sections+hea!y guns which were used for

defending or assaulting fortsQ these were often clumsy and difficult to mo!e"The second was the light artillery which was highly mobile and mo!ed withthe em eror whene!er he wanted" The Mughals were solicitous of im ro!ingtheir artillery and, at first, many >ttomans and 'ortuguese were em loyed inthe artillery de artment"

7/7" 7.D The de!elo ment of the infantry had taken a different road in Euro e"7/4" 7.D The success of the Mughals against the ?$beks who could match themsel!es

with the 'ersians at the time of the *alkh cam aigns suggests that theMughal army was not inferior to the Central #sian and 'ersian armies in ano en contest" (ts ma)or weakness was in the na!al s here, articularly in thefield of sea+warfare"

7/8" 4// The easant not only shifted his culti!ation from one cro to the otherde ending on rices, but was also willing to ado t new cro s, if he found it

rofitable to do so"7/ " 4/8 Though essentially feudal in character, since land was its main source of

income, it had de!elo ed many characteristics of bureaucracy" (t was also becoming more commerce and money+minded"

7/F" 474 (n the 'anch Mahal built for taking the air, all the ty es of illars used in

!arious tem les were em loyed to su ort flat roofs"7/L" 44/ They created a li!ing tradition of ainting which continued to work indifferent arts of the country long after the glory of the Mughals haddisa eared"

7/D" 448 Tukaram, who states that he was born a sudra used to do pu2a to the god withhis own hand"

7/H" 4F8 Thus, indi!idual failure and the breakdown of the system reacted on eachother"

satishchandra flawed history

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