History: 2009: CBSE: [Delhi]: Set – II

Account of Abul Fazl informs us that majority of zamindars were Brahmins and Rajputs. Therefore, on the basis of their caste, they enjoyed superior and influential status in the village society. Zamindars provided certain services to the state like collection of land revenue and helped the rulers by supplying their own contingents whenever required by the state.

Shakas were considered as mlechchchas by the Brahmins. King Rudradaman was the most famous king; he rebuilt the Sudarshana lake.

The Northern frontier of the Vijayanagara was the bone of contention between the rulers because it was a highly fertile area drained by river Tungabhadra and its tributaries. This area was popular for the production of spices, which were in great demand in Europe and responsible for the great wealth of Vijayanagara.

The first All India Census was attempted in 1872. The data collected through census gave details of the growth of population in the urban cities. It helped the municipal authorities to collect the municipal taxes systematically.

Ryotwari system was introduced in Bombay Deccan. The most striking feature of the system was that it removed the intermediaries between the East India Company and the peasants or Ryot.

Historians and Scholars have written about the sufferings of women in the violence at the time of partition. Women were raped, abducted, sold and were forced to settle in new places with strangers. They had to undergo suffering both physically and mentally. Most of the women accepted their fate and began to develop new family bonds. But Indian and Pakistani governments believed that the women were on the wrong side of border and paid little attention to these issues in terms of relationships. Women were not even consulted and their rights to take decisions about their own lives were undermined by both governments. Thus they were again separated from their new partners and relatives. As per the estimates, about 30,000 women were “recovered” overall.

Francis Buchanan was a physician; he came to India in 1794. He travelled to various parts of the country. He marched everywhere with a large army of people – draughtsman, surveyors, palanquin bearers, coolies. The costs were borne by the East India Company since it needed the information about the available natural resources that could be exploited by the British. Buchanan was an extraordinary observer; he observed the stones and rocks and the different strata and layers of soil. He searched for minerals and stones that were commercially valuable. He recorded all signs of iron ore, mica, granite and saltpetre. He carefully observed local practices of salt-making and iron ore mining. Buchanan’s assessment was shaped by the commercial concerns of the Company and modern Western notions of what constituted progress. He was inevitably critical of the lifestyles of forest dwellers and felt that forests had to be turned into agricultural lands.

Travellers came from different social and cultural environments. They were more attentive to everyday activities and practices which were often ignored by the native writers. It is a different perspective that makes the accounts of the travellers more interesting but, sometimes they took social inequalities for granted as “natural” state of affairs. This was due to the fact that the travellers were already aware of these differentiations in other societies. The division of society on the basis of caste didn’t arouse any curiosity in Al Biruni because he was aware of the social division that was practiced in the Persian society. The slave system and their condition in India was also one of the areas where travellers remained silent. This is because the slave system was not unique for them. In most parts of the world, slave system was practised.

Archaeologists classify their finds on the basis of two principles. First is classification in terms of material such as stone, clay, metal, bone, ivory, etc. The second and more complicated is in terms of function; archaeologists decide whether an artefact is a tool or an ornament, or both, or has some ritualistic purpose. An understanding of the function of an artefact is often shaped by its resemblance with present-day things such as beads, querns, stone blades and pots.
Archaeologists also try to identify the function of an artefact by investigating the context in which it was found: was it found in a house, in a drain, in a grave, in a kiln? Sometimes, archaeologists have to take recourse to indirect evidence. For instance, though there are traces of cotton at some Harappan sites, to find out about clothing we have to depend on indirect evidence including depictions in sculpture. Archaeologists have to develop frames of reference. We have seen that the first Harappan seal that was found could not be understood till archaeologists had a context in which to place it – both in terms of the cultural sequence in which it was found and in terms of comparison with finds in Mesopotamia.

Stupas are considered as a place where the relics of Buddha have been buried. These relics include his bodily remains or the objects used by him. Since they contained relics regarded as sacred, the entire stupa came to be venerated as an emblem of both the Buddha and Buddhism. The early stupas of Sanchi and Bharhut were plain. The only attraction was the stone railings, which resembled a bamboo or wooden fence and the gateways, which were richly carved and installed at the four cardinal points. Entrance gate was made on the eastern side and the worshipper walked around the mound in a clockwise direction, keeping the mound on the right. In the sculpture of the Sanchi, Jataka tales have been inscribed on the gateways. Many symbols like Bodhi tree, a wheel and so on were made to represent the incidence of Buddha’s life.