History - Administration under Akbar
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Like other Muslim monarchs, Akbar was, at least in theory, subordinate to the wishes of entire Muslim population (millat), which, in turn, was guided by the Muslim learned divines called the Ulema. Akbar sought to remove this check to his will and became the supreme authority over his Muslim subjects by promulgating the Infallibility Decree (Mahzar) in September 1579.
Akbar believed that the king must be absolutely tolerant to every creed and must establish universal peace in his dominion.
As per Abul Fazal’s Akbarnama, Akbar appeared three times every day for State business. Early at sunrise he used to be ready at jhroka-i-darshan to show himself to his subjects. Here he was accessible to the common people and listened to their complaints. Next, he used to hold an open court which generally lasted for four and a half hours. Peo-ple from both sexes were allowed to submit their petitions and the emperor used to decide the cases on the spot.
In the afternoon Akbar used to hold a full durbar in the Diwan-i-Aam. Here he attended to daily routine busi-ness, particularly relating to forces, workshops and to the appointment and promotion of mansabdars and granting of jagirs.
In the evening and often during night Akbar used to meet his ministers and advisers in the private audience hall called Diwan-i-Khas, where special business relating to for-eign relations and internal administration was attended to.
Late in the night, Akbar used to discuss confidential matters related to war, foreign policy and internal adminis-tration in a room called Daulat Khana, which became known in the times of Jehangir as Gusal Khana, owing to its proximity to the royal bathroom.
The Central government under Akbar consisted of four departments, each presided over by a minister. These ministers were: Vakil (Prime Minister), Diwan or Wazir (Finance Minister), Mir Bakhshi (Pay-Master General), and Sadar-us-Sadur (Chief Sadar).
The Mughal ministers did not constitute a Cabinet in the modern sense of term. They were basically secretaries. The initiation of the policies was in the hands of the emperor.
The first finance minister of Akbar was Muzaffar Khan.
Todar Mal, Muzaffar Khan and Shah Mansur were the three most notable finance ministers of Akbar and all the three were skilled financiers and first-rate administrators.
The Diwan or finance minister was assisted by Diwan-i-Khalsa, who was incharge of Khalsa (crown or reserved) lands; Diwan-i-Jagirs, who was incharge of the lands that were given in lieu of service or as free grants (sayurghal); Sahib-i-Taujih, who was incharge of military accounts; and Diwan-i-Bayutut, whose duty was to super-vise the accounts of various workshops attached to the court.
The Mir Bakhshi or Pay-Master General ranked next to the imperial Diwan. His office corresponded to the Diwan-i-Ariz of the Sultanate period.
The Mir Bakhshi was required to maintain a regis-ter in which names, ranks and salaries of mansabdars were recorded. All orders of appointment to mansabs of all ranks were passed through his office. One of his most important duties was to prepare a list of guards who had to keep watch around the royal palace.
The Chief Sadar or Sadar-us-Sadur discharged three-fold duties, namely, to act as the religious adviser to the emperor, to disburse the royal charity, and to function as the chief justice of the empire.
After Akbar reorganized his administration and rejected the Islamic theory of government, the Chief Sadar ceased to be the supreme religious adviser.
Akbar divided his empire into well-defined provinces or subas, and established uniform administration in them. In 1602, the provinces numbered 15.
The three provinces of South (Dakhin), namely, Khandesh, Berar and Ahmadnagar, were constituted into a single viceroyalty and were placed under Prince Daniyal.
In each suba, there was a governor, styled as Sipah Salar, a diwan, a bakhshi, a sadar, a qazi, a kotwal, a mir bahar and a waqaya navis.
The Sipah Salar (governor) was the head of the province. He was popularly called subahadar and some-times only ‘suba’.He was appointed by the emperor and was responsible for the welfare of the people of his province, as also administer even-handed justice. He was also entrusted with the work of realizing tribute from the vassal States situated within the boundaries of his suba.
The provincial Diwan was the second most important officer of the suba. He was appointed on the recommendation of the Imperial Diwan.
There were two parallel and mutually independent authorities in every province. The Sipah Sadar was the head of the military, police and executive services, while the Diwan was the head of the civil and revenue branch—he reported directly to the Imperial Diwan and was not subordinate to the governor.
Generally one officer was appointed to discharge the functions of both the Sadar and the Qazi.
Waqaya Navis was incharge of posting news-writers and spies in all important places in the province. Generally a separate officer was given this job, but at times the provinical Bakhshi was given the dual charge.
The Kotwal was incharge of internal defence, sani-tation and peace in the provincial capital. He was the supreme administrator of all thanasof the province.
The Mir Bahar was incharge of customs and boats and ferry taxes, and port duties in coastal towns.
Each province or suba was divided into a num-ber of districts or Sarkars. Every district had a faujdar, an amalguzar, a qazi, a kotwal, a bitikchi and a khazandar.
The head of the district was faujdar. He had three principal duties to perform: First, to maintain peace and tranquility in his jurisdiction, to keep the roads free from robbers and thieves, and to enforce imperial regulations; Secondly, being a military officer, he was incharge of a small force or local militia. It was his duty to keep this army ready for service; Thirdly, he was required to assist the amalguzar (the collector) in the work of revenue collection.
Amalguzar or the revenue collector was the second most important official of a district. He was also required to punish robbers and other miscreants in order to protect the peasantry.
The Bitikchi was an important assistant of amal-guzar. His duty was to prepare necessary papers and records regarding the nature of land and its produce and it was on the basis of these records that the assessment was made by amalguzar.
Each sarkar (district) was divided into a number of parganas or mahals. The pargana was the lowest fiscal and administrative unit of administration.
There were four principal officers in every pargana. They were: the shiqdar, the amil, the fotadar and the karkun. Besides, as in the times of Sher Shah Suri, there were two other semi-official functionaries: the qanungo and the chaudhri.
The Shiqdar was the executive officer of the par-gana and was responsible for its general administration.
The amil (sometimes called the Munsif) had to discharge the same duties in the pargana as the amalguzar in the sarkar.
The Fotadar was the treasurer of the pargana. The karkuns were the writers and kept land record.
The Qanungo was the head of the patwaris of the pargana and kept records of the crops, the revenue demands, actual payments, arrears, etc.
The Mughals had no navy, but as their eastern and western frontiers touched seas, they had large num-ber of sea-ports in their possession. All sea-ports were treated as independent administrative units. For exam-ple, Surat was classed as a sarkar and comprised several parganas.
Every town of considerable importance had an independent kotwal appointed to take charge of municipal duties, besides police work. In small towns, these duties were looked after by amalguzar.
The uniforms of the kotwal and the city police were of red colour.
Akbar recognised the village panchayats as a legally established court of justice and upheld its decisions.
Akbar introduced the mansabdari system to organ-ise his armed forces more effectively.
All imperial officers, except the qazis and the sadars, were enrolled as members of the mansabdari sys-tem and were required to maintain some troops propor-tionate to their ranks. All the vassal chiefs, who were rulers of semi-independent States, were also enlisted as mansabdars.
Some mansabdars commanded troops that were recruited directly by the State and not by the mansabdar concerned. Such troops were called dakhilli or supplemen-tary troops.
Ahadis were the gentlemen troopers who were recruited individually and were under the command of a separate mansabdar or officer, and had a diwan and a bakhshi of their own. Ahadis were considered very efficient and loyal troops and were paid high salaries.
An officer was incharge of each branch of the army and was known as Mir Atish.
Many elephants were trained to catch enemy soldiers and dash them against the ground. Such elephants carried two soldiers and two guns called gajnals.
Akbar’s army consisted of officers and troops of several nationalities, over two-thirds of whom were foreign-ers. Thus, it was not a national army, and was not bound by common interests and common sentiment of love for the country.
The fiscal sources of Mughal empire under Akbar were divided into two main divisions—central and local.
The central revenue was derived from Commerce, Mint, Presents, Inheritance, Salt, Customs and Land. Of these the land revenue was the most lucrative and important.
Akbar abolished the religious taxes charged from Hindus, such as the pilgrims’ tax and the jaziya. Zakat, which was of two kinds, namely, first a religious tax from the Muslims only, and second, on cattle and some other articles, lapsed gradually.
Akbar undertook a series of experiments to improve the revenue collection and management. The first of the experiments was undertaken in 1563, when Akbar appointed Aitmad Khan to look after the affairs of the Khalisa lands which comprised the provinces of Agra, Del-hi and a part of Lahore.
Friday 6 April 2012
History - Mughal Empire – 4
History - Mughal Empire – 4
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Mughals belonged to a branch of the Turks named after Chaghtai, the second son of Chingez Khan, the famous Mongol leader.
The foundation of the Mughal empire in India was laid by Babur, who was a Chaghtai Turk. He descended from his father’s side from Timur and was connected on his mother’s side with Chingez Khan.
In 1494, at the age of 11 years, Babur inherited the small principality of Farghana, now a province of Chinese Turkistan.
Babur was later deprived of his own patrimony of Farghana and had to spend his days as homeless wanderer for about a year. During this time, while staying with a village headman, he heard the story of Timur’s exploits in India from a old lady and this inspired him to begin preparations to conquer India.
Babur occupied Kabul in 1504 and after this it took him 12 years to advance into the heart of India.
Daulat Khan, the most powerful noble of Punjab, who was discontended with Ibrahim Lodhi, invited Babur to invade India.
Babur occupied Lahore in 1524 but had to retreat to Kabul after Daulat Khan turned against him once he realised that Babur had no desire to give up his Indian conquests.
Babur attacked and occupied Punjab again in November 1525.
On April 21, 1526, Babur proceeded against Ibrahim Lodhi and met him at Panipat (First Battle of Panipat). Although Ibrahim Lodhi’s troops were vastly superior, Babur managed a victory by superior strategy and use of artillery, and quickly occupied Delhi and Agra.
The first battle of Panipat marked the foundation of Mughal dominion in India.
Babur faced the toughest resistance to his expansion plans from the Rajput king Rana Sangha.
Rana Sangha, along with rulers of Marwar, Amber, Gwalior, Ajmer and Chanderi, as also Sultan Mahmood Lodi, whom Rana Sangha had acknowledged as ruler of Delhi, met Babur in a decisive contest at Kanhwa, a village near Agra, on March 16, 1527. The aim was to prevent the imposition of another foreign yoke on India. Babur triumphed over them by using similar tactics as in Panipat. Another major reason for defeat of Indian forces was non-joining of several Afghan chiefs.
While the battle of Panipat marked the defeat of titular Sultan of Delhi, the battle of Kanhwa resulted in defeat of the powerful Rajput confederacy.
Babur met the allied Afghans of Bihar and Bengal on the banks of Gogra, near Patna, and inflicted a crushing defeat on them on May 6, 1529. This battle led to a considerable portion of northern India submitting to him.
Babur died at Agra, at the age of 47, on December 26, 1530. His body was first laid at Arambagh in Agra, but was later taken to Kabul, where it was buried in one of his favourite gardens.
During his four-year stay in India, Punjab, territory covered by United Provinces, and North Bihar were conquered by Babur. Rajput State of Mewar also submitted to him.
Babur’s Memoirs were translated into Persian by Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khananni at the time of Akbar in 1590.
Babur’s son Humayun ascended the throne of India three days after Babur’s death.
Humayun was devoid of wisdom and discretion, as well as strong determination and perseverance of his father. Thus, as a king he was a failure.
Six months after his accession, Humayun besieged the fortress of Kalinjar in Bundelkhand, gained a decisive victory over Afghans at Douhrua and drove out Sultan Mahmood Lodhi from Jaunpur, and even defeated Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. His victories, however, were short-lived due to weakness of his character.
Humayun’s forces were defeated by Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri at Chaunsa near Buxar in June 1539.
On May 17, 1540, the Mughals and the Afghans met again opposite Kannauj. Humayun’s hopelessly demoralised army was defeated at the battle, commonly known as battle of Kannauj—also known as battle of the Ganges or Bilgram. Thus, the sovereignty of India once more passed to the Afghans. Humayun had to leave the life of a wanderer for 15 years.
The intense rivalry of Humayun’s brothers—Kamran, Askari and Hindal— also made it difficult for Humayun to pool all his resources and fight back.
During his wanderings in deserts of Sindh in 1952, Humayun married Hamida Banu Begum, daughter of Sheikh Ali Amber Jaini, who had been a preceptor of Humayun’s brother Hindal.
On November 23, 1542, Humayun was blessed with a son, Akbar, at Amarkot.
Amarkot’s Hindu chief Rana Prasad promised Humayun help to conquer Thatta and Bhakker.
Humayun, however, could not conquer Bhakker, nor could he secure asylum. He, thus, left India and threw himself on the generosity of Shah Tahmashp of Persia.
Shah of Persia helped Humayun with a force of 14,000 men on his promising to confirm to Shia creed, to have the Shah’s name proclaimed in his Khutba and to cede Kandhar to him on his success.
With Persian help Humayun captured Kandhar and Kabul in 1545 but refused to cede Kandhar to Persia.
Civil war among the Suris, after the death of Sher Shah Suri, gave Humayun an excellent opportunity to reclaim the throne of Delhi. In February 1555, he captured Lahore, and after a few months captured Delhi and Agra also.
On January 24, 1556, Humayun died following an accidental fall from the staircase of his library in Delhi.
On February 14, 1556, at the age of 13, Akbar was proclaimed as the successor of Humayun.
At the time when Akbar ascended to the thrown, the country had ceased to enjoy the benefits of reforms of Sher Shah Suri, through the follies and quarrels of his successors, and was also effected by a terrible famine.
At the time when Humayun died, Potuguese were in possession of Goa and Diu. The Suris were still in occupation of the Sher Shah’s dominion. From Agra to Malwa, and the confines of Jaunpur, owned the sovereignty of Adil Shah. Delhi to the smaller Rohtas on the road to Kabul was in hands of Shah Sikander. The borders of the hills to the boundaries of Gujarat belonged to Ibrahim Khan. Sind and Multan had become independent from the imperial control. Orissa, Malwa, Gujarat and the local chieftains of Gondwana had also became independent. South of the Vindhyas lay the extensive Vijayanagar empire and the Muslim Sultanates of Khandesh, Berar, Bidar, Ahmadnagar and Golkunda expressed no interest in northern politics.
Hemu, general and minister of Adil Shah Suri opposed the Mughals soon after accession of Akbar.
Hemu occupied Agra and Delhi by defeating Tardi Beg, the Mughal governor of Delhi.
Hemu assumed the title of Raja Vikramjit or Vikramaditya after his victory in Delhi.
Akbar, alongwith his trusted guardian Bairam Khan, challenged Hemu at Panipat, resulting in the second battle of Panipat. A chance arrow hit in the eye resulted in Hemu falling unconscious, which led to his soldiers dispersing in confusion. The battle marked the real beginning of the Mughal rule in India and set it on the path of expansion.
Sikander Suri surrendered to Akbar in 1557 and was granted a fief in the eastern province. He was later expelled by Akbar and died as a fugitive.
Ibrahim Suri, after wandering from place to place, found asylum in Orissa, where he was killed about 10 years later. With his death there remained no one from the Suri clan to challenge Akbar’s claim to sovereignty.
Sher Shah Suri effected the revival of Afghan power and established a glorious, though short, regime in India by ousting the newly established Mughal authority.
Originally, Sher Shah’s name was Farid. His grandfather, Ibrahim, was an Afghan of Suri tribe and lived near Peshawar. His father’s name was Hassan.
Farid was conferred the title of Sher Khan by Bahar Khan Lohani, independent ruler of Bihar, for having shown gallantry by killing a tiger single-handed.
Sher Shah joined the Babur’s camp in April 1527 and remained in it till June 1528. In return for his services, Babur restored the jagir of Sasaram to him.
The war against allied troops of Bengal Sultan and the Lohanis of Surajgarh, on the banks of Kiul river was a turning-point in the career of Sher Shah. It made him the undisputed ruler of Bihar.
The victory in battle with the Mughal forces led by Humayun, at Chaunsa near Buxar, led to Sher Shah becoming de facto ruler of the territories ruled by the Mughals.
On May 17, 1540, in the Battle of Kannauj, Sher Shah’s forces gave a crushing defeat to Humayun’s forces and the sovereignity of India once again passed to the Afghans.
Sher Shah died on May 22, 1545 from an accidental explosion of gun-powder.
Sher Shah divided his empire into 47 units (sarkars), each of which was sub-divided into several paraganas.
The paragana had one Amin, one Shiqdar, one treasurer, one Hindi text writer and one Perisan writer to keep accounts.
Shiqdar-i-Shiqdaran and Munsif-i-Munsifan supervised the works of the paragana officers.
Sher Shah’s land revenue reforms have unique importance in the adminis-trative history of India. They served as the model for future agrarian systems.
Sher Shah settled the land revenue directly with the cultivators, the State demand being fixed at one-fourth or one-third of the average produce, payable in either kind or cash.
For actual collection of revenue the services of officers like Amins, Muqadams, Shiqdars, Qanungos and the Patwaris were taken.
The rights of tenants were recognised and the liabilities of each were clearly defined in the kabuliyat (deed of agreement) and the patta (title-deed).
Sher Shah connected the impor-tant places by a chain of excellent roads. The longest of these was the Grand Trunk Road, which still survives and extended from Sonargaon in East Bengal to the Indus. One road ran from Agra to Burhanpur, another from Agra to Jodhpur and a fourth from Lahore to Multan.
Sarais or rest-houses were set-up at different places along the roads. These also served the purpose of post-houses.
Sher Shah re-organised the army, borrowing largely the main principles of Ala-ud-din Khilji’s military system.
After Sher Shah’s death, his son Jalal Khan was proclaimed king under the title of Sultan Islam Shah, commonly known as Salim Shah.
Salim Shah was a strong and efficient ruler but he died young in November 1554 and disorder soon followed.
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Mughals belonged to a branch of the Turks named after Chaghtai, the second son of Chingez Khan, the famous Mongol leader.
The foundation of the Mughal empire in India was laid by Babur, who was a Chaghtai Turk. He descended from his father’s side from Timur and was connected on his mother’s side with Chingez Khan.
In 1494, at the age of 11 years, Babur inherited the small principality of Farghana, now a province of Chinese Turkistan.
Babur was later deprived of his own patrimony of Farghana and had to spend his days as homeless wanderer for about a year. During this time, while staying with a village headman, he heard the story of Timur’s exploits in India from a old lady and this inspired him to begin preparations to conquer India.
Babur occupied Kabul in 1504 and after this it took him 12 years to advance into the heart of India.
Daulat Khan, the most powerful noble of Punjab, who was discontended with Ibrahim Lodhi, invited Babur to invade India.
Babur occupied Lahore in 1524 but had to retreat to Kabul after Daulat Khan turned against him once he realised that Babur had no desire to give up his Indian conquests.
Babur attacked and occupied Punjab again in November 1525.
On April 21, 1526, Babur proceeded against Ibrahim Lodhi and met him at Panipat (First Battle of Panipat). Although Ibrahim Lodhi’s troops were vastly superior, Babur managed a victory by superior strategy and use of artillery, and quickly occupied Delhi and Agra.
The first battle of Panipat marked the foundation of Mughal dominion in India.
Babur faced the toughest resistance to his expansion plans from the Rajput king Rana Sangha.
Rana Sangha, along with rulers of Marwar, Amber, Gwalior, Ajmer and Chanderi, as also Sultan Mahmood Lodi, whom Rana Sangha had acknowledged as ruler of Delhi, met Babur in a decisive contest at Kanhwa, a village near Agra, on March 16, 1527. The aim was to prevent the imposition of another foreign yoke on India. Babur triumphed over them by using similar tactics as in Panipat. Another major reason for defeat of Indian forces was non-joining of several Afghan chiefs.
While the battle of Panipat marked the defeat of titular Sultan of Delhi, the battle of Kanhwa resulted in defeat of the powerful Rajput confederacy.
Babur met the allied Afghans of Bihar and Bengal on the banks of Gogra, near Patna, and inflicted a crushing defeat on them on May 6, 1529. This battle led to a considerable portion of northern India submitting to him.
Babur died at Agra, at the age of 47, on December 26, 1530. His body was first laid at Arambagh in Agra, but was later taken to Kabul, where it was buried in one of his favourite gardens.
During his four-year stay in India, Punjab, territory covered by United Provinces, and North Bihar were conquered by Babur. Rajput State of Mewar also submitted to him.
Babur’s Memoirs were translated into Persian by Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khananni at the time of Akbar in 1590.
Babur’s son Humayun ascended the throne of India three days after Babur’s death.
Humayun was devoid of wisdom and discretion, as well as strong determination and perseverance of his father. Thus, as a king he was a failure.
Six months after his accession, Humayun besieged the fortress of Kalinjar in Bundelkhand, gained a decisive victory over Afghans at Douhrua and drove out Sultan Mahmood Lodhi from Jaunpur, and even defeated Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. His victories, however, were short-lived due to weakness of his character.
Humayun’s forces were defeated by Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri at Chaunsa near Buxar in June 1539.
On May 17, 1540, the Mughals and the Afghans met again opposite Kannauj. Humayun’s hopelessly demoralised army was defeated at the battle, commonly known as battle of Kannauj—also known as battle of the Ganges or Bilgram. Thus, the sovereignty of India once more passed to the Afghans. Humayun had to leave the life of a wanderer for 15 years.
The intense rivalry of Humayun’s brothers—Kamran, Askari and Hindal— also made it difficult for Humayun to pool all his resources and fight back.
During his wanderings in deserts of Sindh in 1952, Humayun married Hamida Banu Begum, daughter of Sheikh Ali Amber Jaini, who had been a preceptor of Humayun’s brother Hindal.
On November 23, 1542, Humayun was blessed with a son, Akbar, at Amarkot.
Amarkot’s Hindu chief Rana Prasad promised Humayun help to conquer Thatta and Bhakker.
Humayun, however, could not conquer Bhakker, nor could he secure asylum. He, thus, left India and threw himself on the generosity of Shah Tahmashp of Persia.
Shah of Persia helped Humayun with a force of 14,000 men on his promising to confirm to Shia creed, to have the Shah’s name proclaimed in his Khutba and to cede Kandhar to him on his success.
With Persian help Humayun captured Kandhar and Kabul in 1545 but refused to cede Kandhar to Persia.
Civil war among the Suris, after the death of Sher Shah Suri, gave Humayun an excellent opportunity to reclaim the throne of Delhi. In February 1555, he captured Lahore, and after a few months captured Delhi and Agra also.
On January 24, 1556, Humayun died following an accidental fall from the staircase of his library in Delhi.
On February 14, 1556, at the age of 13, Akbar was proclaimed as the successor of Humayun.
At the time when Akbar ascended to the thrown, the country had ceased to enjoy the benefits of reforms of Sher Shah Suri, through the follies and quarrels of his successors, and was also effected by a terrible famine.
At the time when Humayun died, Potuguese were in possession of Goa and Diu. The Suris were still in occupation of the Sher Shah’s dominion. From Agra to Malwa, and the confines of Jaunpur, owned the sovereignty of Adil Shah. Delhi to the smaller Rohtas on the road to Kabul was in hands of Shah Sikander. The borders of the hills to the boundaries of Gujarat belonged to Ibrahim Khan. Sind and Multan had become independent from the imperial control. Orissa, Malwa, Gujarat and the local chieftains of Gondwana had also became independent. South of the Vindhyas lay the extensive Vijayanagar empire and the Muslim Sultanates of Khandesh, Berar, Bidar, Ahmadnagar and Golkunda expressed no interest in northern politics.
Hemu, general and minister of Adil Shah Suri opposed the Mughals soon after accession of Akbar.
Hemu occupied Agra and Delhi by defeating Tardi Beg, the Mughal governor of Delhi.
Hemu assumed the title of Raja Vikramjit or Vikramaditya after his victory in Delhi.
Akbar, alongwith his trusted guardian Bairam Khan, challenged Hemu at Panipat, resulting in the second battle of Panipat. A chance arrow hit in the eye resulted in Hemu falling unconscious, which led to his soldiers dispersing in confusion. The battle marked the real beginning of the Mughal rule in India and set it on the path of expansion.
Sikander Suri surrendered to Akbar in 1557 and was granted a fief in the eastern province. He was later expelled by Akbar and died as a fugitive.
Ibrahim Suri, after wandering from place to place, found asylum in Orissa, where he was killed about 10 years later. With his death there remained no one from the Suri clan to challenge Akbar’s claim to sovereignty.
Sher Shah Suri effected the revival of Afghan power and established a glorious, though short, regime in India by ousting the newly established Mughal authority.
Originally, Sher Shah’s name was Farid. His grandfather, Ibrahim, was an Afghan of Suri tribe and lived near Peshawar. His father’s name was Hassan.
Farid was conferred the title of Sher Khan by Bahar Khan Lohani, independent ruler of Bihar, for having shown gallantry by killing a tiger single-handed.
Sher Shah joined the Babur’s camp in April 1527 and remained in it till June 1528. In return for his services, Babur restored the jagir of Sasaram to him.
The war against allied troops of Bengal Sultan and the Lohanis of Surajgarh, on the banks of Kiul river was a turning-point in the career of Sher Shah. It made him the undisputed ruler of Bihar.
The victory in battle with the Mughal forces led by Humayun, at Chaunsa near Buxar, led to Sher Shah becoming de facto ruler of the territories ruled by the Mughals.
On May 17, 1540, in the Battle of Kannauj, Sher Shah’s forces gave a crushing defeat to Humayun’s forces and the sovereignity of India once again passed to the Afghans.
Sher Shah died on May 22, 1545 from an accidental explosion of gun-powder.
Sher Shah divided his empire into 47 units (sarkars), each of which was sub-divided into several paraganas.
The paragana had one Amin, one Shiqdar, one treasurer, one Hindi text writer and one Perisan writer to keep accounts.
Shiqdar-i-Shiqdaran and Munsif-i-Munsifan supervised the works of the paragana officers.
Sher Shah’s land revenue reforms have unique importance in the adminis-trative history of India. They served as the model for future agrarian systems.
Sher Shah settled the land revenue directly with the cultivators, the State demand being fixed at one-fourth or one-third of the average produce, payable in either kind or cash.
For actual collection of revenue the services of officers like Amins, Muqadams, Shiqdars, Qanungos and the Patwaris were taken.
The rights of tenants were recognised and the liabilities of each were clearly defined in the kabuliyat (deed of agreement) and the patta (title-deed).
Sher Shah connected the impor-tant places by a chain of excellent roads. The longest of these was the Grand Trunk Road, which still survives and extended from Sonargaon in East Bengal to the Indus. One road ran from Agra to Burhanpur, another from Agra to Jodhpur and a fourth from Lahore to Multan.
Sarais or rest-houses were set-up at different places along the roads. These also served the purpose of post-houses.
Sher Shah re-organised the army, borrowing largely the main principles of Ala-ud-din Khilji’s military system.
After Sher Shah’s death, his son Jalal Khan was proclaimed king under the title of Sultan Islam Shah, commonly known as Salim Shah.
Salim Shah was a strong and efficient ruler but he died young in November 1554 and disorder soon followed.
Thursday 5 April 2012
History - Mughal Empire – 2
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In 1577 Akbar undertook the reform of the currency and appointed Khwaja Abdus Samad Shirazi, a noted painter and calligraphist, to be the superintendent of the imperial mint at Delhi.
Besides Delhi, provinical mints were located at Lahore, Jaunpur, Ahmedabad, Patna and Tanda (in Bengal).
The silver coin issued during Akbar’s reign was round in shape, like its modern successor, and was known as rupee. It weighed 172 grains.
Akbar also introduced a square rupee called Jalali, but it was not as popular as the round rupee.
The chief copper coin was the dam or paisa or fulus. It weighed 323.5 grains or almost 21 grams.
The ratio between the dam and the rupee was 40 to 1. The lowest copper coin was jital. 25 jitals made one paisa.
The most common gold coin was the Ilahi, which was equal to 10 rupees in value.
The biggest gold coin was the shahanshah. It weighed a little over 101 tolas and was used mostly in high value business transactions.
The coins bore calligraphic inscriptions containing name and titles of the emperor and the place and year of mintage. Very few coins had figures inscribed on them.
The judicial system of Mughals was based on Islamic law. As it was not possible in practice to enforce Islamic law on Hindus, a compromise was effected. While criminal cases continued to be decided according to the Islamic law in all cases, Hindu law was administered in deciding civil and religious disputes in which the parties were Hindus.
Although Akbar had rejected the Islamic theory of kingship, he made no fundamental change in the judicial system. One important change introduced by Akbar in the judicial system was to restrict the scope of Islamic law and to extend that of general or customary law of the land so as to make it include as many causes as possible.
Akbar did not apply Islamic law of capital punishment for apostasy from Islam or for propagating Hinduism or Christianity.
Akbar appointed Hindu judges to decide the causes of Hindus.
The king was the highest judge in the Mughal empire. The next judicial authority was the qazi, who was appointed by the emperor and worked during his pleasure.
Originally, the chief qazi’s main qualifications used to be his knowledge of Islamic theology and his narrow sec-retarian views. Akbar, however, appointed to this post men of liberal religious outlook and broad sympathies towards all sections of the society.
Chief qazi was paid his salary in cash, as also was given an assignment of land entitled Madad-i-Mash or sub-sistence allowance.
Qazis were assisted by muftis, whose main duty was to interpret the law and issue a fatwa.
Akbar’s police administration was divided into three categories of urban, district and village police.
In all cities and towns kotwal headed the local police. His main duty was to see that the life of the city con-tinued undisturbed. Besides, he had to examine weights and measures, keep an eye on the currency and enforce Akbar’s social legislation.
Kotwal was personally held responsible for the value of property stolen in case he failed to discover the thief.
The kotwal was authorised to inflict punishment on offenders. However, he was not empowered to inflict capital punishment.
In the district the law and order was maintained by the faujdar. His main duties were the policing of the roads of the district and suppressing of disorders of all kinds.
The village headman was responsible for policing at the village level.
The imperial service during Akbar’s reign was organized on bureaucratic principles, but was military in organization and outlook.
The most flourishing towns during Akbar’s regime were Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Delhi, Allahabad, Benaras, Lucknow, Lahore, Multan, Ujjain, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Patna, Rajmahal and Dhaka.
The most important industry of the time was culti-vation of cotton and manufacture of cotton cloth. The prin-cipal centres of cotton manufacture were Jaunpur, Benaras, Patna, Burhanpur, Lucknow, Khairabad and Akbarpur.
Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Lahore were important centres of silk-weaving.
The principal outlets for foreign sea-borne trade during Akbar’s regime were Cambay, Surat and Broach in Gujarat, Lahori Bandar in Sindh, Bassein, Chaul and Dabul (modern Bhabol) in the Ratnagiri district, Goa and Bhatkal, Calicut and Cochin in Malabar, and Negapatnam and Masulipatnam on the east coast, and Satgaon, Sripur, Chatgaon and Sonarghat in Bengal.
Two main land routes for exports were Lahore to Kabul and beyond, and from Multan to Kandhar and beyond.
Gold and silver were not allowed to be exported during the Akbar’s regime. Only imports were allowed.
Among the popular indoor games during Akbar’s reign were chaupar, phansa and pachisi. Akbar was particularly fond of chandalmandal and pachisi.
The Tajak, a well-known work of Astronomy, and the Tazuk-i-Baburi, or the memoirs of Babur, were translat-ed into Persian during Akbar’s reign.
The Mahabharat was rendered into Persian by Naqib Khan, Abdul Qadir Badayuni and Shaikh Sultan of Thanesar and was named Razm-nama, the book of wars.
The Lilawati, a Sanskrit treatise on Mathematics, was rendered into Persian by Faizi.
Among the notable works of literature during Akbar’s regime were: Abul Fazal’s Akbar-Nama and Ain-i-Akbari, Nizamud-Din Ahmad’s Tabqat-i-Akbari, Gula-badan Begam’s Humayun-Nama and Jauhar’s Tazkirat-ul-Waqayat. Abbas Sarwani produced the Tohfa-i-Akbar Shahi alias Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi.
Akbar ordered the compilation of the history of 1000 years of Islam, and Naqib Khan Mullah Mohammad of Thatta and Jaffer Beg were commissioned to write out the work. The book, with an introduction by Abul Fazi, became known as the Tarikh-i-Alfi.
The reign of Akbar was golden age of Hindi poet-ry. The most notable luminaries of Hindi were Tulsi Das, Sur Das, Abdur Rahim Khan Khana, Ras Khan and Birbal.
Among the famous works of Tulsi Das were Ram-charitmanas and Vinaya Patrika.
Akbar created a separate department of painting and Khwaja Abdus Samad, one of the best painters of his court, was placed at its head.
Abdus Samad was a Persian who had come from Shiraz. He was given the title of Shirin-qalam or ‘sweet pen’.
Daswanth, Basawan, Kesu, Lal, Mukand, Madhu, Jagan, Mahesh, Tara, Khem Karan, Sanwla, Haribansh and Ram were some well-known Hindu painters during Akbar’s reign. They were experts in portrait painting.
According to Abul Fazal eight modes of calligra-phy were in vogue at Akbar’s court, of which the eighth kind, named Nastaliq, was specially favoured by Akbar.
The most important calligraphist at Akbar’s court was Mohammed Hussain Kashmiri, who was given the title of Zarin Qalam. Some of the other famous cal-ligraphists were Maulana Baqir, Mohammed Amin of Mashad, and Mir Hussein Ralanki.
The Ain-i-Akbari gives names of 36 first-rate musi-cians in Akbar’s court. They were arranged in seven divisions. Each division was required to entertain Akbar for one fixed day in the week.
Akbar himself was a skilled musician and was an expert performer on Naqqara (kettle drum).
Tansen was the most notable musician of the age. He had been trained in a school established at Gwalior by Raja Man Singh Tomar.
Baba Ram Das was another famous musician of Akbar’s court and was ranked next only to Tansen.
Sur Das, besides being a great poet, was also a musician of Akbar’s court.
The gigantic forts at Agra, Lahore and Allahabad were built by Akbar.
The Agra fort resembles that of Gwalior. It has two main gateways, namely, the Delhi gate and the Amar Singh gate. Inside, about 500 buildings of red sandstone were built. Most of these were later pulled-down by Shahjehan.
The greatest architectural achievement of Akbar was his new capital at Fatehpur Sikri. Three sides of Fateh-pur Sikri are covered by a wall and the fourth side by an artifical lake. The walls have nine gates, of which Buland Darwaza, built of marble and sandstone, is “one of the most perfect architectural achievements in the whole of India”.
Decorative carving was an important feature of Mughal architecture.
Mughals brought the concept of geometrically designed gardens to India. The chief characteristic of Mughal gardens was artificial irrigation in the form of chan-nels, basins or tanks, and dwarf waterfalls.
The most important garden associated with Akbar is at Sikandra. In the centre of this garden stands his mausoleum.
Akbar was illiterate. But, he acquired knowledge of theology, literature, philosophy, history, etc. by having books read out to him every day.
Akbar was the first ruler of Medevial India to discard the Islamic basis of sovereignty and to lay down the principle that the king was the father of all his subjects, irrespective of caste, race or religion.
Akbar sought to strengthen the society by doing away with its evils. He tried to abolish Sati, child-marriage and old-age marriage. He did not allow circumcision before the age of 12, and allowed Muslim converts to go back to their original religion if they liked.
Akbar attempted to give his empire cultural unity by making Persian the court language and by providing in that language (either by translation or original composition) the best Hindu and Muslim thought, religious as well as secular.
Most of the fine arts, such as architecture, painting and music were nationalised and made the common property of the Hindus and Muslims alike.
Akbar gave his empire the political and administrative unity of the highest kind possible in that age, by giving all the provinces the same system of administration, the same set of officials, the same administrative methods, the same revenue system and the same coinage.
http://careerprakashan.com/
In 1577 Akbar undertook the reform of the currency and appointed Khwaja Abdus Samad Shirazi, a noted painter and calligraphist, to be the superintendent of the imperial mint at Delhi.
Besides Delhi, provinical mints were located at Lahore, Jaunpur, Ahmedabad, Patna and Tanda (in Bengal).
The silver coin issued during Akbar’s reign was round in shape, like its modern successor, and was known as rupee. It weighed 172 grains.
Akbar also introduced a square rupee called Jalali, but it was not as popular as the round rupee.
The chief copper coin was the dam or paisa or fulus. It weighed 323.5 grains or almost 21 grams.
The ratio between the dam and the rupee was 40 to 1. The lowest copper coin was jital. 25 jitals made one paisa.
The most common gold coin was the Ilahi, which was equal to 10 rupees in value.
The biggest gold coin was the shahanshah. It weighed a little over 101 tolas and was used mostly in high value business transactions.
The coins bore calligraphic inscriptions containing name and titles of the emperor and the place and year of mintage. Very few coins had figures inscribed on them.
The judicial system of Mughals was based on Islamic law. As it was not possible in practice to enforce Islamic law on Hindus, a compromise was effected. While criminal cases continued to be decided according to the Islamic law in all cases, Hindu law was administered in deciding civil and religious disputes in which the parties were Hindus.
Although Akbar had rejected the Islamic theory of kingship, he made no fundamental change in the judicial system. One important change introduced by Akbar in the judicial system was to restrict the scope of Islamic law and to extend that of general or customary law of the land so as to make it include as many causes as possible.
Akbar did not apply Islamic law of capital punishment for apostasy from Islam or for propagating Hinduism or Christianity.
Akbar appointed Hindu judges to decide the causes of Hindus.
The king was the highest judge in the Mughal empire. The next judicial authority was the qazi, who was appointed by the emperor and worked during his pleasure.
Originally, the chief qazi’s main qualifications used to be his knowledge of Islamic theology and his narrow sec-retarian views. Akbar, however, appointed to this post men of liberal religious outlook and broad sympathies towards all sections of the society.
Chief qazi was paid his salary in cash, as also was given an assignment of land entitled Madad-i-Mash or sub-sistence allowance.
Qazis were assisted by muftis, whose main duty was to interpret the law and issue a fatwa.
Akbar’s police administration was divided into three categories of urban, district and village police.
In all cities and towns kotwal headed the local police. His main duty was to see that the life of the city con-tinued undisturbed. Besides, he had to examine weights and measures, keep an eye on the currency and enforce Akbar’s social legislation.
Kotwal was personally held responsible for the value of property stolen in case he failed to discover the thief.
The kotwal was authorised to inflict punishment on offenders. However, he was not empowered to inflict capital punishment.
In the district the law and order was maintained by the faujdar. His main duties were the policing of the roads of the district and suppressing of disorders of all kinds.
The village headman was responsible for policing at the village level.
The imperial service during Akbar’s reign was organized on bureaucratic principles, but was military in organization and outlook.
The most flourishing towns during Akbar’s regime were Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Delhi, Allahabad, Benaras, Lucknow, Lahore, Multan, Ujjain, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Patna, Rajmahal and Dhaka.
The most important industry of the time was culti-vation of cotton and manufacture of cotton cloth. The prin-cipal centres of cotton manufacture were Jaunpur, Benaras, Patna, Burhanpur, Lucknow, Khairabad and Akbarpur.
Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Lahore were important centres of silk-weaving.
The principal outlets for foreign sea-borne trade during Akbar’s regime were Cambay, Surat and Broach in Gujarat, Lahori Bandar in Sindh, Bassein, Chaul and Dabul (modern Bhabol) in the Ratnagiri district, Goa and Bhatkal, Calicut and Cochin in Malabar, and Negapatnam and Masulipatnam on the east coast, and Satgaon, Sripur, Chatgaon and Sonarghat in Bengal.
Two main land routes for exports were Lahore to Kabul and beyond, and from Multan to Kandhar and beyond.
Gold and silver were not allowed to be exported during the Akbar’s regime. Only imports were allowed.
Among the popular indoor games during Akbar’s reign were chaupar, phansa and pachisi. Akbar was particularly fond of chandalmandal and pachisi.
The Tajak, a well-known work of Astronomy, and the Tazuk-i-Baburi, or the memoirs of Babur, were translat-ed into Persian during Akbar’s reign.
The Mahabharat was rendered into Persian by Naqib Khan, Abdul Qadir Badayuni and Shaikh Sultan of Thanesar and was named Razm-nama, the book of wars.
The Lilawati, a Sanskrit treatise on Mathematics, was rendered into Persian by Faizi.
Among the notable works of literature during Akbar’s regime were: Abul Fazal’s Akbar-Nama and Ain-i-Akbari, Nizamud-Din Ahmad’s Tabqat-i-Akbari, Gula-badan Begam’s Humayun-Nama and Jauhar’s Tazkirat-ul-Waqayat. Abbas Sarwani produced the Tohfa-i-Akbar Shahi alias Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi.
Akbar ordered the compilation of the history of 1000 years of Islam, and Naqib Khan Mullah Mohammad of Thatta and Jaffer Beg were commissioned to write out the work. The book, with an introduction by Abul Fazi, became known as the Tarikh-i-Alfi.
The reign of Akbar was golden age of Hindi poet-ry. The most notable luminaries of Hindi were Tulsi Das, Sur Das, Abdur Rahim Khan Khana, Ras Khan and Birbal.
Among the famous works of Tulsi Das were Ram-charitmanas and Vinaya Patrika.
Akbar created a separate department of painting and Khwaja Abdus Samad, one of the best painters of his court, was placed at its head.
Abdus Samad was a Persian who had come from Shiraz. He was given the title of Shirin-qalam or ‘sweet pen’.
Daswanth, Basawan, Kesu, Lal, Mukand, Madhu, Jagan, Mahesh, Tara, Khem Karan, Sanwla, Haribansh and Ram were some well-known Hindu painters during Akbar’s reign. They were experts in portrait painting.
According to Abul Fazal eight modes of calligra-phy were in vogue at Akbar’s court, of which the eighth kind, named Nastaliq, was specially favoured by Akbar.
The most important calligraphist at Akbar’s court was Mohammed Hussain Kashmiri, who was given the title of Zarin Qalam. Some of the other famous cal-ligraphists were Maulana Baqir, Mohammed Amin of Mashad, and Mir Hussein Ralanki.
The Ain-i-Akbari gives names of 36 first-rate musi-cians in Akbar’s court. They were arranged in seven divisions. Each division was required to entertain Akbar for one fixed day in the week.
Akbar himself was a skilled musician and was an expert performer on Naqqara (kettle drum).
Tansen was the most notable musician of the age. He had been trained in a school established at Gwalior by Raja Man Singh Tomar.
Baba Ram Das was another famous musician of Akbar’s court and was ranked next only to Tansen.
Sur Das, besides being a great poet, was also a musician of Akbar’s court.
The gigantic forts at Agra, Lahore and Allahabad were built by Akbar.
The Agra fort resembles that of Gwalior. It has two main gateways, namely, the Delhi gate and the Amar Singh gate. Inside, about 500 buildings of red sandstone were built. Most of these were later pulled-down by Shahjehan.
The greatest architectural achievement of Akbar was his new capital at Fatehpur Sikri. Three sides of Fateh-pur Sikri are covered by a wall and the fourth side by an artifical lake. The walls have nine gates, of which Buland Darwaza, built of marble and sandstone, is “one of the most perfect architectural achievements in the whole of India”.
Decorative carving was an important feature of Mughal architecture.
Mughals brought the concept of geometrically designed gardens to India. The chief characteristic of Mughal gardens was artificial irrigation in the form of chan-nels, basins or tanks, and dwarf waterfalls.
The most important garden associated with Akbar is at Sikandra. In the centre of this garden stands his mausoleum.
Akbar was illiterate. But, he acquired knowledge of theology, literature, philosophy, history, etc. by having books read out to him every day.
Akbar was the first ruler of Medevial India to discard the Islamic basis of sovereignty and to lay down the principle that the king was the father of all his subjects, irrespective of caste, race or religion.
Akbar sought to strengthen the society by doing away with its evils. He tried to abolish Sati, child-marriage and old-age marriage. He did not allow circumcision before the age of 12, and allowed Muslim converts to go back to their original religion if they liked.
Akbar attempted to give his empire cultural unity by making Persian the court language and by providing in that language (either by translation or original composition) the best Hindu and Muslim thought, religious as well as secular.
Most of the fine arts, such as architecture, painting and music were nationalised and made the common property of the Hindus and Muslims alike.
Akbar gave his empire the political and administrative unity of the highest kind possible in that age, by giving all the provinces the same system of administration, the same set of officials, the same administrative methods, the same revenue system and the same coinage.
Wednesday 4 April 2012
istory - Mughal Empire –
History - Mughal Empire – 2
http://careerprakashan.com/
In 1577 Akbar undertook the reform of the currency and appointed Khwaja Abdus Samad Shirazi, a noted painter and calligraphist, to be the superintendent of the imperial mint at Delhi.
Besides Delhi, provinical mints were located at Lahore, Jaunpur, Ahmedabad, Patna and Tanda (in Bengal).
The silver coin issued during Akbar’s reign was round in shape, like its modern successor, and was known as rupee. It weighed 172 grains.
Akbar also introduced a square rupee called Jalali, but it was not as popular as the round rupee.
The chief copper coin was the dam or paisa or fulus. It weighed 323.5 grains or almost 21 grams.
The ratio between the dam and the rupee was 40 to 1. The lowest copper coin was jital. 25 jitals made one paisa.
The most common gold coin was the Ilahi, which was equal to 10 rupees in value.
The biggest gold coin was the shahanshah. It weighed a little over 101 tolas and was used mostly in high value business transactions.
The coins bore calligraphic inscriptions containing name and titles of the emperor and the place and year of mintage. Very few coins had figures inscribed on them.
The judicial system of Mughals was based on Islamic law. As it was not possible in practice to enforce Islamic law on Hindus, a compromise was effected. While criminal cases continued to be decided according to the Islamic law in all cases, Hindu law was administered in deciding civil and religious disputes in which the parties were Hindus.
Although Akbar had rejected the Islamic theory of kingship, he made no fundamental change in the judicial system. One important change introduced by Akbar in the judicial system was to restrict the scope of Islamic law and to extend that of general or customary law of the land so as to make it include as many causes as possible.
Akbar did not apply Islamic law of capital punishment for apostasy from Islam or for propagating Hinduism or Christianity.
Akbar appointed Hindu judges to decide the causes of Hindus.
The king was the highest judge in the Mughal empire. The next judicial authority was the qazi, who was appointed by the emperor and worked during his pleasure.
Originally, the chief qazi’s main qualifications used to be his knowledge of Islamic theology and his narrow sec-retarian views. Akbar, however, appointed to this post men of liberal religious outlook and broad sympathies towards all sections of the society.
Chief qazi was paid his salary in cash, as also was given an assignment of land entitled Madad-i-Mash or sub-sistence allowance.
Qazis were assisted by muftis, whose main duty was to interpret the law and issue a fatwa.
Akbar’s police administration was divided into three categories of urban, district and village police.
In all cities and towns kotwal headed the local police. His main duty was to see that the life of the city con-tinued undisturbed. Besides, he had to examine weights and measures, keep an eye on the currency and enforce Akbar’s social legislation.
Kotwal was personally held responsible for the value of property stolen in case he failed to discover the thief.
The kotwal was authorised to inflict punishment on offenders. However, he was not empowered to inflict capital punishment.
In the district the law and order was maintained by the faujdar. His main duties were the policing of the roads of the district and suppressing of disorders of all kinds.
The village headman was responsible for policing at the village level.
The imperial service during Akbar’s reign was organized on bureaucratic principles, but was military in organization and outlook.
The most flourishing towns during Akbar’s regime were Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Delhi, Allahabad, Benaras, Lucknow, Lahore, Multan, Ujjain, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Patna, Rajmahal and Dhaka.
The most important industry of the time was culti-vation of cotton and manufacture of cotton cloth. The prin-cipal centres of cotton manufacture were Jaunpur, Benaras, Patna, Burhanpur, Lucknow, Khairabad and Akbarpur.
Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Lahore were important centres of silk-weaving.
The principal outlets for foreign sea-borne trade during Akbar’s regime were Cambay, Surat and Broach in Gujarat, Lahori Bandar in Sindh, Bassein, Chaul and Dabul (modern Bhabol) in the Ratnagiri district, Goa and Bhatkal, Calicut and Cochin in Malabar, and Negapatnam and Masulipatnam on the east coast, and Satgaon, Sripur, Chatgaon and Sonarghat in Bengal.
Two main land routes for exports were Lahore to Kabul and beyond, and from Multan to Kandhar and beyond.
Gold and silver were not allowed to be exported during the Akbar’s regime. Only imports were allowed.
Among the popular indoor games during Akbar’s reign were chaupar, phansa and pachisi. Akbar was particularly fond of chandalmandal and pachisi.
The Tajak, a well-known work of Astronomy, and the Tazuk-i-Baburi, or the memoirs of Babur, were translat-ed into Persian during Akbar’s reign.
The Mahabharat was rendered into Persian by Naqib Khan, Abdul Qadir Badayuni and Shaikh Sultan of Thanesar and was named Razm-nama, the book of wars.
The Lilawati, a Sanskrit treatise on Mathematics, was rendered into Persian by Faizi.
Among the notable works of literature during Akbar’s regime were: Abul Fazal’s Akbar-Nama and Ain-i-Akbari, Nizamud-Din Ahmad’s Tabqat-i-Akbari, Gula-badan Begam’s Humayun-Nama and Jauhar’s Tazkirat-ul-Waqayat. Abbas Sarwani produced the Tohfa-i-Akbar Shahi alias Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi.
Akbar ordered the compilation of the history of 1000 years of Islam, and Naqib Khan Mullah Mohammad of Thatta and Jaffer Beg were commissioned to write out the work. The book, with an introduction by Abul Fazi, became known as the Tarikh-i-Alfi.
The reign of Akbar was golden age of Hindi poet-ry. The most notable luminaries of Hindi were Tulsi Das, Sur Das, Abdur Rahim Khan Khana, Ras Khan and Birbal.
Among the famous works of Tulsi Das were Ram-charitmanas and Vinaya Patrika.
Akbar created a separate department of painting and Khwaja Abdus Samad, one of the best painters of his court, was placed at its head.
Abdus Samad was a Persian who had come from Shiraz. He was given the title of Shirin-qalam or ‘sweet pen’.
Daswanth, Basawan, Kesu, Lal, Mukand, Madhu, Jagan, Mahesh, Tara, Khem Karan, Sanwla, Haribansh and Ram were some well-known Hindu painters during Akbar’s reign. They were experts in portrait painting.
According to Abul Fazal eight modes of calligra-phy were in vogue at Akbar’s court, of which the eighth kind, named Nastaliq, was specially favoured by Akbar.
The most important calligraphist at Akbar’s court was Mohammed Hussain Kashmiri, who was given the title of Zarin Qalam. Some of the other famous cal-ligraphists were Maulana Baqir, Mohammed Amin of Mashad, and Mir Hussein Ralanki.
The Ain-i-Akbari gives names of 36 first-rate musi-cians in Akbar’s court. They were arranged in seven divisions. Each division was required to entertain Akbar for one fixed day in the week.
Akbar himself was a skilled musician and was an expert performer on Naqqara (kettle drum).
Tansen was the most notable musician of the age. He had been trained in a school established at Gwalior by Raja Man Singh Tomar.
Baba Ram Das was another famous musician of Akbar’s court and was ranked next only to Tansen.
Sur Das, besides being a great poet, was also a musician of Akbar’s court.
The gigantic forts at Agra, Lahore and Allahabad were built by Akbar.
The Agra fort resembles that of Gwalior. It has two main gateways, namely, the Delhi gate and the Amar Singh gate. Inside, about 500 buildings of red sandstone were built. Most of these were later pulled-down by Shahjehan.
The greatest architectural achievement of Akbar was his new capital at Fatehpur Sikri. Three sides of Fateh-pur Sikri are covered by a wall and the fourth side by an artifical lake. The walls have nine gates, of which Buland Darwaza, built of marble and sandstone, is “one of the most perfect architectural achievements in the whole of India”.
Decorative carving was an important feature of Mughal architecture.
Mughals brought the concept of geometrically designed gardens to India. The chief characteristic of Mughal gardens was artificial irrigation in the form of chan-nels, basins or tanks, and dwarf waterfalls.
The most important garden associated with Akbar is at Sikandra. In the centre of this garden stands his mausoleum.
Akbar was illiterate. But, he acquired knowledge of theology, literature, philosophy, history, etc. by having books read out to him every day.
Akbar was the first ruler of Medevial India to discard the Islamic basis of sovereignty and to lay down the principle that the king was the father of all his subjects, irrespective of caste, race or religion.
Akbar sought to strengthen the society by doing away with its evils. He tried to abolish Sati, child-marriage and old-age marriage. He did not allow circumcision before the age of 12, and allowed Muslim converts to go back to their original religion if they liked.
Akbar attempted to give his empire cultural unity by making Persian the court language and by providing in that language (either by translation or original composition) the best Hindu and Muslim thought, religious as well as secular.
Most of the fine arts, such as architecture, painting and music were nationalised and made the common property of the Hindus and Muslims alike.
Akbar gave his empire the political and administrative unity of the highest kind possible in that age, by giving all the provinces the same system of administration, the same set of officials, the same administrative methods, the same revenue system and the same coinage.
http://careerprakashan.com/
In 1577 Akbar undertook the reform of the currency and appointed Khwaja Abdus Samad Shirazi, a noted painter and calligraphist, to be the superintendent of the imperial mint at Delhi.
Besides Delhi, provinical mints were located at Lahore, Jaunpur, Ahmedabad, Patna and Tanda (in Bengal).
The silver coin issued during Akbar’s reign was round in shape, like its modern successor, and was known as rupee. It weighed 172 grains.
Akbar also introduced a square rupee called Jalali, but it was not as popular as the round rupee.
The chief copper coin was the dam or paisa or fulus. It weighed 323.5 grains or almost 21 grams.
The ratio between the dam and the rupee was 40 to 1. The lowest copper coin was jital. 25 jitals made one paisa.
The most common gold coin was the Ilahi, which was equal to 10 rupees in value.
The biggest gold coin was the shahanshah. It weighed a little over 101 tolas and was used mostly in high value business transactions.
The coins bore calligraphic inscriptions containing name and titles of the emperor and the place and year of mintage. Very few coins had figures inscribed on them.
The judicial system of Mughals was based on Islamic law. As it was not possible in practice to enforce Islamic law on Hindus, a compromise was effected. While criminal cases continued to be decided according to the Islamic law in all cases, Hindu law was administered in deciding civil and religious disputes in which the parties were Hindus.
Although Akbar had rejected the Islamic theory of kingship, he made no fundamental change in the judicial system. One important change introduced by Akbar in the judicial system was to restrict the scope of Islamic law and to extend that of general or customary law of the land so as to make it include as many causes as possible.
Akbar did not apply Islamic law of capital punishment for apostasy from Islam or for propagating Hinduism or Christianity.
Akbar appointed Hindu judges to decide the causes of Hindus.
The king was the highest judge in the Mughal empire. The next judicial authority was the qazi, who was appointed by the emperor and worked during his pleasure.
Originally, the chief qazi’s main qualifications used to be his knowledge of Islamic theology and his narrow sec-retarian views. Akbar, however, appointed to this post men of liberal religious outlook and broad sympathies towards all sections of the society.
Chief qazi was paid his salary in cash, as also was given an assignment of land entitled Madad-i-Mash or sub-sistence allowance.
Qazis were assisted by muftis, whose main duty was to interpret the law and issue a fatwa.
Akbar’s police administration was divided into three categories of urban, district and village police.
In all cities and towns kotwal headed the local police. His main duty was to see that the life of the city con-tinued undisturbed. Besides, he had to examine weights and measures, keep an eye on the currency and enforce Akbar’s social legislation.
Kotwal was personally held responsible for the value of property stolen in case he failed to discover the thief.
The kotwal was authorised to inflict punishment on offenders. However, he was not empowered to inflict capital punishment.
In the district the law and order was maintained by the faujdar. His main duties were the policing of the roads of the district and suppressing of disorders of all kinds.
The village headman was responsible for policing at the village level.
The imperial service during Akbar’s reign was organized on bureaucratic principles, but was military in organization and outlook.
The most flourishing towns during Akbar’s regime were Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Delhi, Allahabad, Benaras, Lucknow, Lahore, Multan, Ujjain, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Patna, Rajmahal and Dhaka.
The most important industry of the time was culti-vation of cotton and manufacture of cotton cloth. The prin-cipal centres of cotton manufacture were Jaunpur, Benaras, Patna, Burhanpur, Lucknow, Khairabad and Akbarpur.
Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Lahore were important centres of silk-weaving.
The principal outlets for foreign sea-borne trade during Akbar’s regime were Cambay, Surat and Broach in Gujarat, Lahori Bandar in Sindh, Bassein, Chaul and Dabul (modern Bhabol) in the Ratnagiri district, Goa and Bhatkal, Calicut and Cochin in Malabar, and Negapatnam and Masulipatnam on the east coast, and Satgaon, Sripur, Chatgaon and Sonarghat in Bengal.
Two main land routes for exports were Lahore to Kabul and beyond, and from Multan to Kandhar and beyond.
Gold and silver were not allowed to be exported during the Akbar’s regime. Only imports were allowed.
Among the popular indoor games during Akbar’s reign were chaupar, phansa and pachisi. Akbar was particularly fond of chandalmandal and pachisi.
The Tajak, a well-known work of Astronomy, and the Tazuk-i-Baburi, or the memoirs of Babur, were translat-ed into Persian during Akbar’s reign.
The Mahabharat was rendered into Persian by Naqib Khan, Abdul Qadir Badayuni and Shaikh Sultan of Thanesar and was named Razm-nama, the book of wars.
The Lilawati, a Sanskrit treatise on Mathematics, was rendered into Persian by Faizi.
Among the notable works of literature during Akbar’s regime were: Abul Fazal’s Akbar-Nama and Ain-i-Akbari, Nizamud-Din Ahmad’s Tabqat-i-Akbari, Gula-badan Begam’s Humayun-Nama and Jauhar’s Tazkirat-ul-Waqayat. Abbas Sarwani produced the Tohfa-i-Akbar Shahi alias Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi.
Akbar ordered the compilation of the history of 1000 years of Islam, and Naqib Khan Mullah Mohammad of Thatta and Jaffer Beg were commissioned to write out the work. The book, with an introduction by Abul Fazi, became known as the Tarikh-i-Alfi.
The reign of Akbar was golden age of Hindi poet-ry. The most notable luminaries of Hindi were Tulsi Das, Sur Das, Abdur Rahim Khan Khana, Ras Khan and Birbal.
Among the famous works of Tulsi Das were Ram-charitmanas and Vinaya Patrika.
Akbar created a separate department of painting and Khwaja Abdus Samad, one of the best painters of his court, was placed at its head.
Abdus Samad was a Persian who had come from Shiraz. He was given the title of Shirin-qalam or ‘sweet pen’.
Daswanth, Basawan, Kesu, Lal, Mukand, Madhu, Jagan, Mahesh, Tara, Khem Karan, Sanwla, Haribansh and Ram were some well-known Hindu painters during Akbar’s reign. They were experts in portrait painting.
According to Abul Fazal eight modes of calligra-phy were in vogue at Akbar’s court, of which the eighth kind, named Nastaliq, was specially favoured by Akbar.
The most important calligraphist at Akbar’s court was Mohammed Hussain Kashmiri, who was given the title of Zarin Qalam. Some of the other famous cal-ligraphists were Maulana Baqir, Mohammed Amin of Mashad, and Mir Hussein Ralanki.
The Ain-i-Akbari gives names of 36 first-rate musi-cians in Akbar’s court. They were arranged in seven divisions. Each division was required to entertain Akbar for one fixed day in the week.
Akbar himself was a skilled musician and was an expert performer on Naqqara (kettle drum).
Tansen was the most notable musician of the age. He had been trained in a school established at Gwalior by Raja Man Singh Tomar.
Baba Ram Das was another famous musician of Akbar’s court and was ranked next only to Tansen.
Sur Das, besides being a great poet, was also a musician of Akbar’s court.
The gigantic forts at Agra, Lahore and Allahabad were built by Akbar.
The Agra fort resembles that of Gwalior. It has two main gateways, namely, the Delhi gate and the Amar Singh gate. Inside, about 500 buildings of red sandstone were built. Most of these were later pulled-down by Shahjehan.
The greatest architectural achievement of Akbar was his new capital at Fatehpur Sikri. Three sides of Fateh-pur Sikri are covered by a wall and the fourth side by an artifical lake. The walls have nine gates, of which Buland Darwaza, built of marble and sandstone, is “one of the most perfect architectural achievements in the whole of India”.
Decorative carving was an important feature of Mughal architecture.
Mughals brought the concept of geometrically designed gardens to India. The chief characteristic of Mughal gardens was artificial irrigation in the form of chan-nels, basins or tanks, and dwarf waterfalls.
The most important garden associated with Akbar is at Sikandra. In the centre of this garden stands his mausoleum.
Akbar was illiterate. But, he acquired knowledge of theology, literature, philosophy, history, etc. by having books read out to him every day.
Akbar was the first ruler of Medevial India to discard the Islamic basis of sovereignty and to lay down the principle that the king was the father of all his subjects, irrespective of caste, race or religion.
Akbar sought to strengthen the society by doing away with its evils. He tried to abolish Sati, child-marriage and old-age marriage. He did not allow circumcision before the age of 12, and allowed Muslim converts to go back to their original religion if they liked.
Akbar attempted to give his empire cultural unity by making Persian the court language and by providing in that language (either by translation or original composition) the best Hindu and Muslim thought, religious as well as secular.
Most of the fine arts, such as architecture, painting and music were nationalised and made the common property of the Hindus and Muslims alike.
Akbar gave his empire the political and administrative unity of the highest kind possible in that age, by giving all the provinces the same system of administration, the same set of officials, the same administrative methods, the same revenue system and the same coinage.
Sunday 1 April 2012
UPSC Exams History Notes – 1
UPSC Exams History Notes – 1
http://careerprakashan.com/
Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan: He lived during the reign of Akbar. He translated Babur’s Memoirs from Turkish to Persian.
Abdussamad: He was hon¬oured with the award of “zari¬qalam” by Akbar.
Ages, Chronological order of: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic
Agrahara: Tax-free villages granted to the learned Brahmanas in ancient India were known as Agrahara.
Akot: is a town, about 42 km from Akola, from where a stone idol of Lord Adinath, the first Jain Teerthankara, was found in 1993.
Alien Powers in India, chronological sequence of: Indo-Greeks, Scythians, Kushanas, Huns.
Amarasimha: was one of the nine gems in the court of the legendary Vikramaditya. His work Amarkosha occupies a dominant position in Sanskrit lexicography.
Amoghavarsha-I: was the long ruling Rashtrakuta king (A.D. 814-78). He represented the height of development of his dynasty.
Asanga: was a Buddhist philosopher. He was the origi¬nator of Buddhist Yogachara idealism.
Ashvaghosha: was the spiritual adviser of Kanishka (the Kushan emperor) who took a leading part in the Fourth Buddhist Council at Srinagar which was presided by Vasumitra. He was a renowned Mahayana Sanskrit scholar and author of Sariputra-prakarana and Buddha Charitam. He was the greatest literary figure at Kanishka’s court.
Atisa Dipankara: was the most famous teacher of Vikramasila university founded in A.D. 810 by king Dharmapala of Pala dynasty.
Battle of San Thomas: This battle during the Carnatic Wars (1746-61) definitely proved for the first time the superiority of European arms and discipline over the traditional Indian methods of warfare.
Battle of Waihand: was fought between Mahmud Ghaznavi and Anandpala.
Bhaskaravarman: was the king of Kamarupa (Upper Assam). He was a contempo¬rary of king Sasanka of Gauda and was his arch-enemy. Bhaskaravarman was the east¬ern ally of king Harsha.
Bilhana: was a Sanskrit historian and poet born in Kashmir. He left Kashmir about
A.D. 1065 and became the court poet at Kalyana where he wrote an epic, Vikramadeva-charita to celebrate the reign of Vikramaditya-VI, the Chalukya king of Kalyana.
Blue Water Policy: The “Blue Water” policy is attrib¬uted to Don Francisco de Almeida, the first Viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in India. His “Blue Water” policy was to be powerful at the sea instead of building fortresses on Indian land.
Boghaz Koi inscriptions: are important in Indian history because inscriptions of the four¬teenth century B.C. discovered here mention the names of Vedic gods and goddesses.
Brahmagupta: (598-660) of Ujjain, was a great mathemati¬cian of his time.
Brahui: is a language of Baluchistan. Linguistically, it is Dravidian.
Busa Munda Revolt: occurred in Bihar.
Catching the butterflies and setting them free: was the prominent feature of the foreign policy of Samudragupta.
Chandernagore: was a French possession before its merger with India.
Charvaka: is known as the greatest of the materialistic philosophers of ancient India.
Chauth: was a tax levied by Marathas—a contribution exacted by a military leader, which was justified by the exi¬gencies of the situation.
Coinage in Ancient India: Coins in ancient India were made of metal—copper, silver, gold, or lead. Nishka and Satamana in the Vedic texts were taken to be names of coins, but they seem to be only prestige objects. Coins made of metal first appeared in the age of Gautama Buddha. The earliest were made largely of silver though a few copper coins also appear. Coins made of burnt clay belong to the Kushan peri¬od i.e., the first three Christian centuries.
Dadu: was the saint from Gujarat who preached non-sec¬tarianism in medieval times. He founded the “Brahma-Sampardaaya” (the sect of Brahma).
Dahar (or Dahir): was the Brahmana king of Sind who was defeated by the Arab inva¬sion in A.D. 712 by Mohammad¬bin-Kasim, nephew and son-in¬law of al-Hajjaj, governor of Irak. The Indian ruler (Dahar) offered a brave resistance in the battle near Raor but was defeat¬ed and killed.
Darius: was the Iranian ruler who penetrated into north-west India in 516 B.C. and annexed Punjab, west of Indus, and Sindh.
Devapala: (A.D. 830-850) was successor to Dharmapala, the famous Pala ruler. He estab¬lished the third important Pala university of Somapura. He shifted his capital to Monghyr from where he maintained diplomatic relations with the Sailendra kings of Sumatra.
Dhammapada: was the first major work to say that sal¬vation by means of devotion is open to humans regardless of birth, gender or station in life.
Dharmachakra: In the Gandhara art, it is the preaching mudra associated with the Buddha’s First Sermon at Sarnath.
First Congress Split: took place in 1907 at Surat.
First metal used by man: Copper.
First Muslim invaders of India: Arabs were the first Muslim invaders of India.
First Sultan of Delhi: was Qutb-ud-din who succeeded Muhammad Ghuri as sovereign of the new Indian conquests, and from 1206 may be reckoned as the first Sultan of Delhi.
First to issue gold coins in India: Mauryas.
First to set up department of agriculture: Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq was the first to set up a department of agriculture in India.
First to start sea trade with India: Portugal.
Gautamiputra Satakarni: was the great king of Satavahana dynasty.
Gayatri mantra: is con¬tained in Rig Veda.
Gopuram: It has been the main feature of the South Indian temple architecture.
Hasan Gangoo: entitled Zafar Khan was founder of the Bahmani kingdom in Deccan.
Ibadat Khana: is a build¬ing at Fatehpur Sikri where Akbar held discussions on reli¬gious matters.
Ibn-Batuta: was a great scholar and traveller from South Africa who came to India in
A.D. 1333 during the reign of Mohammad Tughlak and wrote about him.
Iqta: It was the land-grant system adopted by Ala-ud-din Khilji to grant his officers as reward for services rendered. Qutabuddin Aibak was assigned the first iqta in India by Mohd of Ghor.
Jimutavahana: was a famous jurist of medieval India (fifteenth century). His work Dayabhaga is a commentary on the srutis, specially on Manu.
Kalachuri era: counted from A.D. 248, it was mostly current in Central India. Their capital was Tripuri near Jabalpur. Kalachuris were the feudatories of the Pratiharas but soon acquired independence.
Karshapana: was the most commonly used coin in the Chola kingdom.
Khiraj: was the land tax imposed by Mohd-bin-Qasim after the Arabs’ occupation of Sind.
Magazines started by National leaders: Young India (M.K. Gandhi); Kesari (B.G. Tilak); New India (Annie Besant); Bengali (S.N. Bannerji).
Maski Rock edict: This minor Rock-edict is the only edict in which Ashoka refers to himself as the king of Magadha.
Moplah Rebellion: broke out in Malabar (Kerala) in August 1921.
Nastaliq: was a Persian script used in medieval India.
Nauroj festival in India: Balban introduced the famous Persian festival of Nauroj in India.
Nicolo Conti: was the Italian foreign traveller who vis¬ited Vijayanagar about A.D. 1420 during the reign of Deva Raya-II.
Palas: who controlled most of Bengal and Bihar, was the third power involved in the three-sided conflict between Rashtrakutas and Pratiharas over the control of Kanauj. Pala dynasty was established by Gopala in the eighth century A.D. He attained renown from the fact that he was not hereditary king but was elected.
Paragana: During the rule of the so-called Slave dynasty in India, the empire was divided into provincial units called Paraganas placed under the charge of a military officer.
Prakrit: This language received royal patronage during the reign of Satavahanas.
Rajsekhar: was the Sanskrit poet who lived in the court of Mahendrapala-I.
Ratika: or rati is a weight between 1.5 to 3 Gunjas; between 5 to 8 grains of rice. It was the basic weight (measure) in ancient India.
Ratnakara: denoted the Arabiasn Sea in ancient Indian historical geography.
Rishabha: is supposed to be the mythical founder of Jainism.
Sardeshmukhi: was an additional levy of 10%, which Shivaji demanded on the basis of his claim as the hereditary Sardeshmukh (chief headman) of Maharashtra.
Shahrukh: It was silver coin of the Mughals. Sharada script: The Kashmiri language was origi¬nally written in Sharada script.
Subuktigin: was the first Turkish invader of India.
Tanka: was a silver coin of the Sultanate period of India.
Tehqiq-i-Hind: Alberuni’s work on India. It contains obser¬vations on Indian civilization which are remarkably incisive and acute.
Turushkadanda: was a tax collected by the Gahadavalas during the early medieval India.
Vagbhata: is regarded as unrivalled in his knowledge of the basic principles of Ayurveda.
Vatapi (or Badami): now in the Bijapur district of Karnataka, where Pulakesin I, founder of the Chalukya dynasty in the middle of the sixth century, established him¬self as lord of Vatapi or Badami (capital of Chalukyas). It is well-known for Chalukyan sculpture found in the cave temples here.
Vidushaka: the constant companion and confidant of the hero in Sanskrit dramas, was nearly always a Brahmin.
Vikramasila University: was a great Tantrik University founded by the Pala king Dharmapala in A.D. 810. It was a hotbed of moral corruption, sorcery and idolatry. In A.D. 1198, the soldiers if Ikhtiar Khilji raised the structure to the ground and killed every monk in the University.
Wood's Despatch of 1854: It related to educational reforms. Lord Dalhousie took measures to carry out the scheme embodied in the famous despatch of Sir Charles Wood (July 1854) which embraced ver¬nacular schools throughout the districts, and above all the glori¬ous measures of grants-in-aid to all schools, without reference to caste or creed.
Yakshagana: was the south Indian dance tradition that appeared for the first time in the Vijayanagar period.
Zabti System: was intro¬duced by Akbar for land rev¬enue administration. In Zabti system, land was measured and assessment of land revenue was based upon it. books competition
http://careerprakashan.com/
Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan: He lived during the reign of Akbar. He translated Babur’s Memoirs from Turkish to Persian.
Abdussamad: He was hon¬oured with the award of “zari¬qalam” by Akbar.
Ages, Chronological order of: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic
Agrahara: Tax-free villages granted to the learned Brahmanas in ancient India were known as Agrahara.
Akot: is a town, about 42 km from Akola, from where a stone idol of Lord Adinath, the first Jain Teerthankara, was found in 1993.
Alien Powers in India, chronological sequence of: Indo-Greeks, Scythians, Kushanas, Huns.
Amarasimha: was one of the nine gems in the court of the legendary Vikramaditya. His work Amarkosha occupies a dominant position in Sanskrit lexicography.
Amoghavarsha-I: was the long ruling Rashtrakuta king (A.D. 814-78). He represented the height of development of his dynasty.
Asanga: was a Buddhist philosopher. He was the origi¬nator of Buddhist Yogachara idealism.
Ashvaghosha: was the spiritual adviser of Kanishka (the Kushan emperor) who took a leading part in the Fourth Buddhist Council at Srinagar which was presided by Vasumitra. He was a renowned Mahayana Sanskrit scholar and author of Sariputra-prakarana and Buddha Charitam. He was the greatest literary figure at Kanishka’s court.
Atisa Dipankara: was the most famous teacher of Vikramasila university founded in A.D. 810 by king Dharmapala of Pala dynasty.
Battle of San Thomas: This battle during the Carnatic Wars (1746-61) definitely proved for the first time the superiority of European arms and discipline over the traditional Indian methods of warfare.
Battle of Waihand: was fought between Mahmud Ghaznavi and Anandpala.
Bhaskaravarman: was the king of Kamarupa (Upper Assam). He was a contempo¬rary of king Sasanka of Gauda and was his arch-enemy. Bhaskaravarman was the east¬ern ally of king Harsha.
Bilhana: was a Sanskrit historian and poet born in Kashmir. He left Kashmir about
A.D. 1065 and became the court poet at Kalyana where he wrote an epic, Vikramadeva-charita to celebrate the reign of Vikramaditya-VI, the Chalukya king of Kalyana.
Blue Water Policy: The “Blue Water” policy is attrib¬uted to Don Francisco de Almeida, the first Viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in India. His “Blue Water” policy was to be powerful at the sea instead of building fortresses on Indian land.
Boghaz Koi inscriptions: are important in Indian history because inscriptions of the four¬teenth century B.C. discovered here mention the names of Vedic gods and goddesses.
Brahmagupta: (598-660) of Ujjain, was a great mathemati¬cian of his time.
Brahui: is a language of Baluchistan. Linguistically, it is Dravidian.
Busa Munda Revolt: occurred in Bihar.
Catching the butterflies and setting them free: was the prominent feature of the foreign policy of Samudragupta.
Chandernagore: was a French possession before its merger with India.
Charvaka: is known as the greatest of the materialistic philosophers of ancient India.
Chauth: was a tax levied by Marathas—a contribution exacted by a military leader, which was justified by the exi¬gencies of the situation.
Coinage in Ancient India: Coins in ancient India were made of metal—copper, silver, gold, or lead. Nishka and Satamana in the Vedic texts were taken to be names of coins, but they seem to be only prestige objects. Coins made of metal first appeared in the age of Gautama Buddha. The earliest were made largely of silver though a few copper coins also appear. Coins made of burnt clay belong to the Kushan peri¬od i.e., the first three Christian centuries.
Dadu: was the saint from Gujarat who preached non-sec¬tarianism in medieval times. He founded the “Brahma-Sampardaaya” (the sect of Brahma).
Dahar (or Dahir): was the Brahmana king of Sind who was defeated by the Arab inva¬sion in A.D. 712 by Mohammad¬bin-Kasim, nephew and son-in¬law of al-Hajjaj, governor of Irak. The Indian ruler (Dahar) offered a brave resistance in the battle near Raor but was defeat¬ed and killed.
Darius: was the Iranian ruler who penetrated into north-west India in 516 B.C. and annexed Punjab, west of Indus, and Sindh.
Devapala: (A.D. 830-850) was successor to Dharmapala, the famous Pala ruler. He estab¬lished the third important Pala university of Somapura. He shifted his capital to Monghyr from where he maintained diplomatic relations with the Sailendra kings of Sumatra.
Dhammapada: was the first major work to say that sal¬vation by means of devotion is open to humans regardless of birth, gender or station in life.
Dharmachakra: In the Gandhara art, it is the preaching mudra associated with the Buddha’s First Sermon at Sarnath.
First Congress Split: took place in 1907 at Surat.
First metal used by man: Copper.
First Muslim invaders of India: Arabs were the first Muslim invaders of India.
First Sultan of Delhi: was Qutb-ud-din who succeeded Muhammad Ghuri as sovereign of the new Indian conquests, and from 1206 may be reckoned as the first Sultan of Delhi.
First to issue gold coins in India: Mauryas.
First to set up department of agriculture: Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq was the first to set up a department of agriculture in India.
First to start sea trade with India: Portugal.
Gautamiputra Satakarni: was the great king of Satavahana dynasty.
Gayatri mantra: is con¬tained in Rig Veda.
Gopuram: It has been the main feature of the South Indian temple architecture.
Hasan Gangoo: entitled Zafar Khan was founder of the Bahmani kingdom in Deccan.
Ibadat Khana: is a build¬ing at Fatehpur Sikri where Akbar held discussions on reli¬gious matters.
Ibn-Batuta: was a great scholar and traveller from South Africa who came to India in
A.D. 1333 during the reign of Mohammad Tughlak and wrote about him.
Iqta: It was the land-grant system adopted by Ala-ud-din Khilji to grant his officers as reward for services rendered. Qutabuddin Aibak was assigned the first iqta in India by Mohd of Ghor.
Jimutavahana: was a famous jurist of medieval India (fifteenth century). His work Dayabhaga is a commentary on the srutis, specially on Manu.
Kalachuri era: counted from A.D. 248, it was mostly current in Central India. Their capital was Tripuri near Jabalpur. Kalachuris were the feudatories of the Pratiharas but soon acquired independence.
Karshapana: was the most commonly used coin in the Chola kingdom.
Khiraj: was the land tax imposed by Mohd-bin-Qasim after the Arabs’ occupation of Sind.
Magazines started by National leaders: Young India (M.K. Gandhi); Kesari (B.G. Tilak); New India (Annie Besant); Bengali (S.N. Bannerji).
Maski Rock edict: This minor Rock-edict is the only edict in which Ashoka refers to himself as the king of Magadha.
Moplah Rebellion: broke out in Malabar (Kerala) in August 1921.
Nastaliq: was a Persian script used in medieval India.
Nauroj festival in India: Balban introduced the famous Persian festival of Nauroj in India.
Nicolo Conti: was the Italian foreign traveller who vis¬ited Vijayanagar about A.D. 1420 during the reign of Deva Raya-II.
Palas: who controlled most of Bengal and Bihar, was the third power involved in the three-sided conflict between Rashtrakutas and Pratiharas over the control of Kanauj. Pala dynasty was established by Gopala in the eighth century A.D. He attained renown from the fact that he was not hereditary king but was elected.
Paragana: During the rule of the so-called Slave dynasty in India, the empire was divided into provincial units called Paraganas placed under the charge of a military officer.
Prakrit: This language received royal patronage during the reign of Satavahanas.
Rajsekhar: was the Sanskrit poet who lived in the court of Mahendrapala-I.
Ratika: or rati is a weight between 1.5 to 3 Gunjas; between 5 to 8 grains of rice. It was the basic weight (measure) in ancient India.
Ratnakara: denoted the Arabiasn Sea in ancient Indian historical geography.
Rishabha: is supposed to be the mythical founder of Jainism.
Sardeshmukhi: was an additional levy of 10%, which Shivaji demanded on the basis of his claim as the hereditary Sardeshmukh (chief headman) of Maharashtra.
Shahrukh: It was silver coin of the Mughals. Sharada script: The Kashmiri language was origi¬nally written in Sharada script.
Subuktigin: was the first Turkish invader of India.
Tanka: was a silver coin of the Sultanate period of India.
Tehqiq-i-Hind: Alberuni’s work on India. It contains obser¬vations on Indian civilization which are remarkably incisive and acute.
Turushkadanda: was a tax collected by the Gahadavalas during the early medieval India.
Vagbhata: is regarded as unrivalled in his knowledge of the basic principles of Ayurveda.
Vatapi (or Badami): now in the Bijapur district of Karnataka, where Pulakesin I, founder of the Chalukya dynasty in the middle of the sixth century, established him¬self as lord of Vatapi or Badami (capital of Chalukyas). It is well-known for Chalukyan sculpture found in the cave temples here.
Vidushaka: the constant companion and confidant of the hero in Sanskrit dramas, was nearly always a Brahmin.
Vikramasila University: was a great Tantrik University founded by the Pala king Dharmapala in A.D. 810. It was a hotbed of moral corruption, sorcery and idolatry. In A.D. 1198, the soldiers if Ikhtiar Khilji raised the structure to the ground and killed every monk in the University.
Wood's Despatch of 1854: It related to educational reforms. Lord Dalhousie took measures to carry out the scheme embodied in the famous despatch of Sir Charles Wood (July 1854) which embraced ver¬nacular schools throughout the districts, and above all the glori¬ous measures of grants-in-aid to all schools, without reference to caste or creed.
Yakshagana: was the south Indian dance tradition that appeared for the first time in the Vijayanagar period.
Zabti System: was intro¬duced by Akbar for land rev¬enue administration. In Zabti system, land was measured and assessment of land revenue was based upon it. books competition
Friday 30 March 2012
Causes of poverty during British Rule
Causes of poverty during British Rule
http://careerprakashan.com/
What were the causes of poverty and famines in Indian society during the British rule? Also assess the role of British government in mitigating the misery of the suffering millions.
The British had primarily come to India to pursue their trade and economic interests. Right from the days of East India Company, the British followed such economic policies as led to rapid transformation of Indian economy into a colonial economy, whose nature and structures were determined by the needs of British economy. In other words, Indian economy was driven into a situation of producing cheaper raw materials to meet the requirements of industry in Britain. While the Indian agriculture was forced to serve the interests of the British industry, there was almost complete dependence of Indian economy on the finished goods produced in England. Hence, there was a double drain of India’s wealth to Britain —firstly in the form of cheaper raw material being exported out of India and secondly in the form of import of finished goods from England into the country.
The British policy not only kept the Indian economy poor, but also blocked the way for systematic development of modern industry in India. With liberal and duty-free access to the British imports, the traditional artisans and craftsmen in India were also ruined. Once Railways were built, British manufactured goods made inroads into the hinterland of the country and ruined such workmen even in the interior rural areas.
The condition of the peasantry was no better. While the rates of agricultural produce were low and a large majority was engaged in contract farming at low remunerations, the demands of land revenue were huge. Even in the years of low yields, the land revenue demands were not toned down. As a result, the poor farmers were left with very little to feed their families. Many of them plunged into debt with the traditional moneylenders who gradually grabbed their lands and the poor peasants ended up working as hapless agricultural labourers on their own lands.
During the centuries of economic exploitation, the drain of Indian wealth was so high that the agrarian society of India was pushed to the verge of starvation. The poverty of the people culminated in various famines in the country. Earlier famine occurred in U.P. in 1860-61, that took a toll of over two lakh lives. It was followed by a severe famine in 1865-66 in the areas of Orissa, Bengal, Bihar and Madras in which almost 20 lakh people perished. Again, more than 14 lakh people died in the famine of 1868-70 in western U.P., Bombay, Rajputana and Punjab. Even more severe famines followed in the years 1876-78, 1896-97 and 1899-1900 in which more than one crore people died—a phenomenon that is unthinkable today. The series of famines continued in the twentieth century also and the last in the series was the great famine of Bengal in 1943 in which almost 30 lakh people died of starvation.
Though extreme poverty in India caused by the policies of economic exploitation of the British was mainly responsible for such a large number of deaths, the British government hardly took any serious action to make available the food grains in the affected areas. Zamindars were rather busy in recovering their share of land revenue from the famine-affected population. Though it was in the knowledge of the British that a large majority of Indian peasant families lived mostly on one meal a day, yet no effective steps were taken by them to overcome the plight of poor people in a resource rich country.
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What were the causes of poverty and famines in Indian society during the British rule? Also assess the role of British government in mitigating the misery of the suffering millions.
The British had primarily come to India to pursue their trade and economic interests. Right from the days of East India Company, the British followed such economic policies as led to rapid transformation of Indian economy into a colonial economy, whose nature and structures were determined by the needs of British economy. In other words, Indian economy was driven into a situation of producing cheaper raw materials to meet the requirements of industry in Britain. While the Indian agriculture was forced to serve the interests of the British industry, there was almost complete dependence of Indian economy on the finished goods produced in England. Hence, there was a double drain of India’s wealth to Britain —firstly in the form of cheaper raw material being exported out of India and secondly in the form of import of finished goods from England into the country.
The British policy not only kept the Indian economy poor, but also blocked the way for systematic development of modern industry in India. With liberal and duty-free access to the British imports, the traditional artisans and craftsmen in India were also ruined. Once Railways were built, British manufactured goods made inroads into the hinterland of the country and ruined such workmen even in the interior rural areas.
The condition of the peasantry was no better. While the rates of agricultural produce were low and a large majority was engaged in contract farming at low remunerations, the demands of land revenue were huge. Even in the years of low yields, the land revenue demands were not toned down. As a result, the poor farmers were left with very little to feed their families. Many of them plunged into debt with the traditional moneylenders who gradually grabbed their lands and the poor peasants ended up working as hapless agricultural labourers on their own lands.
During the centuries of economic exploitation, the drain of Indian wealth was so high that the agrarian society of India was pushed to the verge of starvation. The poverty of the people culminated in various famines in the country. Earlier famine occurred in U.P. in 1860-61, that took a toll of over two lakh lives. It was followed by a severe famine in 1865-66 in the areas of Orissa, Bengal, Bihar and Madras in which almost 20 lakh people perished. Again, more than 14 lakh people died in the famine of 1868-70 in western U.P., Bombay, Rajputana and Punjab. Even more severe famines followed in the years 1876-78, 1896-97 and 1899-1900 in which more than one crore people died—a phenomenon that is unthinkable today. The series of famines continued in the twentieth century also and the last in the series was the great famine of Bengal in 1943 in which almost 30 lakh people died of starvation.
Though extreme poverty in India caused by the policies of economic exploitation of the British was mainly responsible for such a large number of deaths, the British government hardly took any serious action to make available the food grains in the affected areas. Zamindars were rather busy in recovering their share of land revenue from the famine-affected population. Though it was in the knowledge of the British that a large majority of Indian peasant families lived mostly on one meal a day, yet no effective steps were taken by them to overcome the plight of poor people in a resource rich country.
Wednesday 28 March 2012
Provisions of Panchayati Raj Institutions
Provisions of Panchayati Raj Institutions
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What are the provisions relating to the Panchayati Raj Institutions in Indian Constitution?
The original Constitution of India did not contain elaborate provisions with respect to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India, though village Panchayats as units of local administration had been functional since the early British days. As per Article 40 of the Constitution, a Directive exists in the Directive Principles of State Policy under which the State is required to take steps to organise village Panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.
Acting on the strength of this Directive, many State governments had enacted their Panchayati Raj Acts and had adopted two or three tier system of PRIs. In the meanwhile, several Committees appointed by the government of India, including Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, submitted their reports, which were also considered and selectively adopted by various State governments. But, by mid-eighties it was realised that many States were not very keen to promote the PRI and elections to these institutions were not held for many years on one pretext or the other. It was, thus, decided to add some specific provisions to the Constitution itself, on the basis of which the legislatures of various States would enact detailed laws to ensure uniformity in provisions, regularity in holding elections and empowerment of the people, particularly the downtrodden at the grass root level.
Hence, 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 was passed which sought to insert a new Part IX to the Constitution in the form of Articles 243A to 243-O. The provisions of this Constitutional Amendment required the State legislatures to enact own laws to enforce the new Constitutional provisions. These constitutional provisions provide for a uniform three tier system of the PRIs, with Gram Panchayats at village level, Panchayat Samitis at the intermediate (Block) level and Zila Parishads at the District level. The States with less that 20-lakh population need not have the intermediate tier. While the elections to all the seats at Gram Panchayat level are to be direct, elections to other two tiers take place as per the laws of the State concerned.
73rd Constitutional Amendment also provides for reservation of seats for various categories. As a landmark provision that may have far reaching implications for socio-economic and political empowerment of the rural women, it is provided that not less than one-third of the total seats are to be reserved for women in all three tiers. While the reservations for SC and ST candidates are subject to the provisions under Article 334, the same for women do not have any limiting factor.
It has been made mandatory to hold elections to all the PRIs within six months of the expiry of their previous term. Every such institution is required to function for five years after the date of its first meeting. In case any such institution is dissolved as per law, fresh elections are required to be held within six-month period.
Minimum age prescribed for a candidate seeking election to any office of the PRIs is 21 years. These provisions relating to timely elections as well as free and fair elections to the PRIs are to be implemented by the State Election Commissioner, who is to be appointed by the Governor in every State. The State Election Commissioner can be removed only on the same grounds and in the same manner as in case of the Judge of a High Court.
The Constitution enlists 29 items, including land improvement, rural development schemes, minor irrigation, primary education, fisheries, animal husbandry, development of women and children, etc., which can be assigned by the States to the PRIs. The States can assign various taxes, duties and levies to the Panchayats for effectively carrying out and supervising the works assigned to them. With a view to distribute economic resources to the PRIs, assign certain taxes, duties and tolls to them and give them grants in aid. The Constitution provides that every five years, the State governments would appoint a State Finance Commission who would make recommendation to the State government in this regard.
http://careerprakashan.com/
What are the provisions relating to the Panchayati Raj Institutions in Indian Constitution?
The original Constitution of India did not contain elaborate provisions with respect to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India, though village Panchayats as units of local administration had been functional since the early British days. As per Article 40 of the Constitution, a Directive exists in the Directive Principles of State Policy under which the State is required to take steps to organise village Panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.
Acting on the strength of this Directive, many State governments had enacted their Panchayati Raj Acts and had adopted two or three tier system of PRIs. In the meanwhile, several Committees appointed by the government of India, including Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, submitted their reports, which were also considered and selectively adopted by various State governments. But, by mid-eighties it was realised that many States were not very keen to promote the PRI and elections to these institutions were not held for many years on one pretext or the other. It was, thus, decided to add some specific provisions to the Constitution itself, on the basis of which the legislatures of various States would enact detailed laws to ensure uniformity in provisions, regularity in holding elections and empowerment of the people, particularly the downtrodden at the grass root level.
Hence, 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 was passed which sought to insert a new Part IX to the Constitution in the form of Articles 243A to 243-O. The provisions of this Constitutional Amendment required the State legislatures to enact own laws to enforce the new Constitutional provisions. These constitutional provisions provide for a uniform three tier system of the PRIs, with Gram Panchayats at village level, Panchayat Samitis at the intermediate (Block) level and Zila Parishads at the District level. The States with less that 20-lakh population need not have the intermediate tier. While the elections to all the seats at Gram Panchayat level are to be direct, elections to other two tiers take place as per the laws of the State concerned.
73rd Constitutional Amendment also provides for reservation of seats for various categories. As a landmark provision that may have far reaching implications for socio-economic and political empowerment of the rural women, it is provided that not less than one-third of the total seats are to be reserved for women in all three tiers. While the reservations for SC and ST candidates are subject to the provisions under Article 334, the same for women do not have any limiting factor.
It has been made mandatory to hold elections to all the PRIs within six months of the expiry of their previous term. Every such institution is required to function for five years after the date of its first meeting. In case any such institution is dissolved as per law, fresh elections are required to be held within six-month period.
Minimum age prescribed for a candidate seeking election to any office of the PRIs is 21 years. These provisions relating to timely elections as well as free and fair elections to the PRIs are to be implemented by the State Election Commissioner, who is to be appointed by the Governor in every State. The State Election Commissioner can be removed only on the same grounds and in the same manner as in case of the Judge of a High Court.
The Constitution enlists 29 items, including land improvement, rural development schemes, minor irrigation, primary education, fisheries, animal husbandry, development of women and children, etc., which can be assigned by the States to the PRIs. The States can assign various taxes, duties and levies to the Panchayats for effectively carrying out and supervising the works assigned to them. With a view to distribute economic resources to the PRIs, assign certain taxes, duties and tolls to them and give them grants in aid. The Constitution provides that every five years, the State governments would appoint a State Finance Commission who would make recommendation to the State government in this regard.
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