History: 2016: CBSE: [Delhi]: Set – I

John Marshall was the Director-General of the ASI.He announced the discovery of a new civilization in the Indus Valley to the world. He was the first professional archaeologist to work in India.

Both Lingayats and Nayanars were the devotees of Lord Shiva.Nayanars were not confined to any region whereas Lingayats were popular in Karnataka.

The temperate and cool climate of the Indian hills was seen as an advantage, particularly since the British associated hot weather with epidemics like Cholera and malaria.

First the British government wrongly assumed that Wajid Ali Shah was an unpopular ruler. On the contrary, he was widely loved.

The removal of the Nawab led to the dissolution of the court and its culture. Thus a whole range of people including musicians, dancers, poets, artisans, cooks, retainers, and administrative officials etc. lost their livelihood.

The prince, taluqdar and sepoys were expelled. They all identified firangi raj with the end of their world, created dissatisfaction.

Increase of revenue demand in from 30 to 70 % also created dissatisfaction among peasants, had no reasons to be happy with the annexation.

A citizen should treat any member of a minority community by recognising his/her cultural entities while assuring their cultural rights.

He should not hurt the religious sentiments of any minority community.

It is the duty of every citizen to not hurt the self respect of any person irrespective of his/her religion.

A citizen should train himself in the art of self-discipline where he/she should take care for minority community and would not let them felt as an alienated community.

The few Harappan sites left after 1900 BCE saw major transformation like the change in material culture, marked by the disappearance of the distinctive artifacts of the civilization – weights, seals, special beads. Writing, long-distance trade, and craft specialization also disappeared.

Now fewer materials were used to produce fewer items. House construction techniques also deteriorated and large public structures were no longer produced. Overall, artifacts and settlements indicate a rural way of life in what are called “LateHarappan” or “successor cultures”.

Several causes are believed to be behind this transformation. These range from climatic change, deforestation, excessive floods, the shifting or drying up of rivers, to overuse of the landscape. Some of these “causes” may hold for certain settlements, but they do not explain the collapse of the entire civilization.

After the end of the Harappan civilization, this was also the period during which the Rigveda was composed.

 Agricultural settlements emerged in many parts of the subcontinent, including north India, the Deccan Plateau, and parts of Karnataka.

A new mode of disposal of the dead, including the making of elaborate stone structures known as megaliths, emerged in central and south India from the first millennium BCE.

The most visible turning point was the emergence of early states, empires and kingdoms also new towns appeared during this period.

The urban core of the Vijayanagara Empireprovides very little archaeological evidence of the houses of ordinary people. Archaeologists have found fine Chinese porcelain in certain areas, including in the north-eastern corner of the urban core and suggest that these areas may have been occupied by rich traders. This was also the Muslim residential quarter. Tombs and mosques located here have distinctive functions, yet their architecture is similar to that of the mandapasfound in the temples of Hampi.

The sixteenth-century Portuguese traveller Barbosa described the houses of ordinary people, which have not survived: “The other houses of the people are thatched, but nonetheless well-built and arranged according to occupations, in long streets with many open places.”

Al-Biruni was aware of the inherent problems in understanding Indian social and Brahamanical practices like the barrier of language. According to him, Sanskrit was so different from Arabic and Persian that ideas and concepts could not be easily translated from one language into another.

The second barrier he identified was the difference in religious beliefs and practices.

The third barrier was the self-absorption and consequent insularity of the local population.

Al-Biruni exclusively used the Vedas, the Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita, the works of Patanjali, the Manusmriti, etc., to provide an understanding of Indian society.

• The Paharias lived around the Rajmahal hills.
• The life of the Paharias – as hunters, shifting cultivators, food gatherers, charcoal producers, silkworm rearers – was thus intimately connected to the forest.
• The Piharias frequently raided the settled agriculturists of the plains.
• The British felt the need of extension of settled agriculture. The wanted to clear forests and tame the forest people.
• In 1770s, the British embarked on a brutal policy of extermination of Paharias.
• Santhals were pouring in to the areas clearing forests, cutting down timber, growing rice and cotton.
• As the lower hills were taken over by Santhal settlers, the Paharias receded deeper into the Rajmahal hills.
• If Paharia life was symbolised by the hoe, which they used for shifting cultivation, the settlers came to represent the power of the plough.
• The battle between the hoe and the plough was a long one.