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f:gtne -

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Bnlh magi 'n
Ftt/(fd rn pa" i

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 .
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 There were several cities in the empire (marked The places where
with black dots on the map). These included the inscriptions of Ashoka
have been found are
capital Pataliputra, Taxila, and Ujjain. Taxila was marked with red dots.
a gateway to the northwest, including Central These were included
Asia, while Ujjain lay on the route from north to within the empire.
south India. Merchants, officials and craftspersons Name the countries where
probably lived in these cities. Ashokan inscriptions have
been found. Which Indian
In other areas there were villages of farmers and states were outside the
herders. In some areas such as central India, there empire?
were forests where people gathered forest produce
and hunted animals for food. People in different
parts of the empire spoke different languages.

Map : 5
The Mauryan Empire: showing the principal
cities and some of the places where
inscriptions were found.

Inscriptions were found

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For free CSAT Videos – Join Youtube – CIVIL SERVICES WITH NEELESH from a kingdom to an
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Rationalised 2023-24

Chapter 7-8.indd 63 22 April 2022 02:36:28

 Find Prayaga (the old name for Allahabad),
Ujjain and Pataliputra (Patna) on the map. These
were important centres of the Gupta rulers.
What was the difference between the way
in which Samudragupta treated the rulers of
Aryavarta and Dakshinapatha?
Can you suggest any reasons for this difference?

MAP : 7
Showing Important Cities and Kingdoms

87 
new empires and
kingdoms

Rationalised 2023-24

Chapter 9-10.indd 87 22 April 2022 02:53:31

 Region and Empire
Large states like those of the Cholas (Chapter 2),
Tughluqs (Chapter 3) or Mughals (Chapter 4)
encompassed many regions. A Sanskrit prashasti
(see Chapter 2 for an example of a prashasti ) praising
the Delhi Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban (1266-1287)
explained that he was the ruler of a vast empire that
stretched from Bengal (Gauda) in the east to Ghazni
(Gajjana) in Afghanistan in the west and included all
of south India (Dravida). People of different regions –
Gauda, Andhra, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and
Gujarat – apparently fled before his armies. Historians

Map 3
Provinces of the Delhi
Sultanate during
Muhammad Tughluq’s
reign according to
the Egyptian source
Masalik al-Absar fi
Mamalik al-Amsar of
Shihabuddin Umari.

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Rationalised 2023-24

Unit 1 to 4.indd 9 11-05-2022 10:37:12

 2 kings and
kingdoms

M any new dynasties emerged after the

seventh century. Map 1 shows the major ruling
dynasties in different parts of the subcontinent
between the seventh and twelfth centuries.

Map 1
Major kingdoms,
seventh-twelfth
centuries

?
Locate the
Gurjara-Pratiharas,
Rashtrakutas,
Palas, Cholas
and Chahamanas
(Chauhans).
Can you identify
the present-day
states over which
they exercised
control?

our pasts – ii 16

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 Map 2
The Chola kingdom
and its neighbours.

The successors of Vijayalaya conquered neighbouring

regions and the kingdom grew in size and power. The
Pandyan and the Pallava territories to the south and
north were made part of this kingdom. Rajaraja I,
considered the most powerful Chola ruler, became
king in 985 and expanded control over most of these
areas. He also reorganised the administration of
the empire. Rajaraja’s son Rajendra I continued his
policies and even invaded the Ganga valley, Sri Lanka
and countries of Southeast Asia, developing a navy for
these expeditions.
Splendid Temples and Bronze Sculpture
The big temples of Thanjavur and Gangaikonda-
cholapuram, built by Rajaraja and Rajendra, are
architectural and sculptural marvels.
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 Map 1
Military campaigns
under Akbar and
Aurangzeb.

Mughal Traditions of Succession

The Mughals did not believe in the rule of primogeniture,
where the eldest son inherited his father’s estate.
Instead they followed the Mughal and Timurid Mughal marriages
custom of coparcenary inheritance, or a division of with the Rajputs
the inheritance amongst all the sons. Which do you
The mother of
think is a fairer division of inheritance: primogeniture Jahangir was
or coparcenary? a Kachhwaha
princess, daughter
of the Rajput
Mughal Relations with Other Rulers ruler of Amber
(modern- day
The Mughal rulers campaigned constantly against
Jaipur). The
rulers who refused to accept their authority. But as mother of Shah
the Mughals became powerful many other rulers Jahan was a Rathor
also joined them voluntarily. The Rajputs are a good princess, daughter
example of this. Many of them married their daughters of the Rajput
ruler of Marwar
into Mughal families and received high positions. But (Jodhpur).
many resisted as well.
41 the mughals

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 Map 1
Location of some
of the major Indian
tribes.

tribe in the north-west. They were divided into many

smaller clans under different chiefs. In the western Clan
Himalaya lived the shepherd tribe of Gaddis. The A clan is a group
distant north-eastern part of the subcontinent too was of families or
entirely dominated by tribes – the Nagas, Ahoms and households
many others. claiming descent
from a common
In many areas of present-day Bihar and Jharkhand, ancestor. Tribal
Chero chiefdoms had emerged by the twelfth century. organisation is
Raja Man Singh, Akbar’s famous general, attacked often based on
and defeated the Cheros in 1591. A large amount of kinship or clan
booty was taken from them, but they were not entirely loyalties.
subdued. Under Aurangzeb, Mughal forces captured
many Chero fortresses and subjugated the tribe. The
Mundas and Santals were among the other important
tribes that lived in this region and also in Orissa
and Bengal.
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Unit 5 to 7.indd 51 17-05-2022 12:16:15

 Map 1
Major bhakti saints
and the regions
associated with them.

The essence of
Shankaradeva’s
devotion came to
be known as Eka
Sarana Nama
Dharma (supreme
surrender to
the One). The
teachings of
expression of his devotion and as a literary work. Surdas Shankaradeva
was an ardent devotee of Krishna. His compositions, were based on the
Bhagavad Gita
compiled in the Sursagara, Surasaravali and Sahitya
and Bhagavata
Lahari, express his devotion. Also contemporary was Purana. He also
Shankaradeva of Assam (late fifteenth century) who encouraged the
emphasised devotion to Vishnu, and composed poems establishment
and plays in Assamese. He began the practice of setting of satra or
up namghars or houses of recitation and prayer, a monasteries for
practice that continues to date. transmission of
knowledge. His
This tradition also included saints like Dadu Dayal, major compositions
Ravidas and Mirabai. Mirabai was a Rajput princess included
married into the royal family of Mewar in the sixteenth Kirtana-ghosha.
century. Mirabai became a disciple of Ravidas, a saint
from a caste considered “untouchable”. She was
devotional paths
71 to the divine

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 8 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
POLITICAL FORMATIONS

I f you look at Maps 1 and 2 closely, you will see

something significant happening in the subcontinent
during the first half of the eighteenth century. Notice
how the boundaries of the Mughal Empire were
reshaped by the emergence of a number of independent

Map 1
State formations in the
eighteenth century.

our pasts – ii 94

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 kingdoms. By 1765,
notice how another
power, the British, had
successfully grabbed
major chunks of territory
in eastern India. What
these maps tell us is
that political conditions
in eighteenth-century
India changed quite
dramatically and within
a relatively short span
of time.
In this chapter, we
will read about the
emergence of new
political groups in the
subcontinent during
the first half of the
eighteenth century –
roughly from 1707,
when Aurangzeb died,
till the third battle of
Panipat in 1761. Map 2
British territories in
the mid-eighteenth
The Crisis of the Empire and century.

the Later Mughals

In Chapter 4, you saw how the Mughal Empire reached
the height of its success and started facing a variety
of crises towards the closing years of the seventeenth ?
century. These were caused by a number of factors. See Chapter 4,
Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted the military and Table 1. Which
financial resources of his empire by fighting a long group of people
war in the Deccan. challenged Mughal
authority for the
Under his successors, the efficiency of the imperial longest time in
administration broke down. It became increasingly Aurangzeb’s reign?
difficult for the later Mughal emperors to keep a check
on their powerful mansabdars. Nobles appointed
as governors (subadars) often controlled the offices
eighteenth-century
95 political formations

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Unit 8.indd 95 17-05-2022 12:40:39

 Fig. 14 a – India, 1797 Fig. 14 b – India, 1840

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Fig. 14 a, b, c – Expansion of British

territorial power in India
Look at these maps along with a present-day
political map of India. In each of these maps,
try and identify the different parts of India
that were not under British rule.

Fig. 14 c – India, 1857

20 OUR PASTS – III

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 From where did these forest
people get their supplies of rice
and other grains? At times they
exchanged goods – getting what
they needed in return for their
valuable forest produce. At other
times, they bought goods with the
small amount of earnings they
had. Some of them did odd jobs
in the villages, carrying loads
or building roads, while others
laboured in the fields of peasants
and farmers. When supplies of
forest produce shrank, tribal
people had to increasingly wander
around in search of work as
labourers. But many of them – like
the Baigas of central India – were
reluctant to do work for others.
The Baigas saw themselves as
people of the forest, who could
only live on the produce of the
forest. It was below the dignity of
a Baiga to become a labourer.
Tribal groups often needed
to buy and sell in order to be
able to get the goods that were Fig. 3 – Location of some tribal
not produced within the locality. This led to their groups in India
dependence on traders and moneylenders. Traders came
around with things for sale, and sold the goods at high
prices. Moneylenders gave loans with which the tribals
met their cash needs, adding to what they earned. But
the interest charged on the loans was usually very
high. So for the tribals, market and commerce often
meant debt and poverty. They therefore came to see
the moneylender and trader as evil outsiders and the
cause of their misery.

Some herded animals

Many tribal groups lived by herding and rearing animals.
They were pastoralists who moved with their herds of
cattle or sheep according to the seasons. When the grass
in one place was exhausted, they moved to another area.
The Van Gujjars of the Punjab hills and the Labadis of
Andhra Pradesh were cattle herders, the Gaddis of Kulu
were shepherds, and the Bakarwals of Kashmir reared
goats. You will read more about them in your history
book next year.

TRIBALS, DIKUS AND THE VISION OF A GOLDEN AGE 41

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 2. All ruling chiefs of the country were assured that their territory
would never be annexed in future. They were allowed to pass on
their kingdoms to their heirs, including adopted sons. However, they
were made to acknowledge the British Queen as their Sovereign
Paramount. Thus the Indian rulers were to hold their kingdoms as
subordinates of the British Crown.
3. It was decided that the proportion of Indian soldiers in the army
would be reduced and the number of European soldiers would be
increased. It was also decided that instead of recruiting soldiers from
Awadh, Bihar, central India and south India, more soldiers would be
recruited from among the Gurkhas, Sikhs and Pathans.
4. The land and property of Muslims was confiscated on a large
scale and they were treated with suspicion and hostility. The British
believed that they were responsible for the rebellion in a big way.
5. The British decided to respect the customary religious and
social practices of the people in India.
6. Policies were made to protect landlords and zamindars and
give them security of rights over their lands.
Thus a new phase of history began after 1857.

 Main centres of the Revolt

 Other centres of the Revolt Fig. 16 – Some
important centres of
the Revolt in North
India

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 61

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 2.1 How Did these Changes Affect the Lives of Pastoralists?
These measures led to a serious shortage of pastures. When grazing
lands were taken over and turned into cultivated fields, the available
area of pastureland declined. Similarly, the reservation of forests
meant that shepherds and cattle herders could no longer freely pasture
their cattle in the forests.

As pasturelands disappeared under the plough, the existing animal

stock had to feed on whatever grazing land remained. This led to
continuous intensive grazing of these pastures. Usually nomadic
pastoralists grazed their animals in one area and moved to another
area. These pastoral movements allowed time for the natural
restoration of vegetation growth. When restrictions were imposed
on pastoral movements, grazing lands came to be continuously used
and the quality of patures declined. This in turn created a further
shortage of forage for animals and the deterioration of animal stock.
Underfed cattle died in large numbers during scarcities and famines.

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India and the Contemporary World

Fig.11 – Pastoralists in India.

This map indicates the location of only those
pastoral communities mentioned in the
chapter. There are many others living in
various parts of India.

106

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Fig.13 – Pastoral communities in Africa.
The inset shows the location of the Maasais in Kenya and Tanzania.

We will discuss some of these changes by looking at one pastoral

community – the Maasai – in some detail. The Maasai cattle herders
live primarily in east Africa: 300, 000 in southern Kenya and another
150,000 in Tanzania. We will see how new laws and regulations took
away their land and restricted their movement. This affected their
lives in times of drought and even reshaped their social relationships.

Pastoralists in the Modern World

3.1 Where have the Grazing Lands Gone?
One of the problems the Maasais have faced is the continuous loss of
their grazing lands. Before colonial times, Maasailand stretched over
a vast area from north Kenya to the steppes of northern Tanzania.
In the late nineteenth century, European imperial powers scrambled On Tanganyika
for territorial possessions in Africa, slicing up the region into different
Britain conquered what had been German East
colonies. In 1885, Maasailand was cut into half with an international Africa during the First World War. In 1919
boundary between British Kenya and German Tanganyika. Tanganyika came under British control. It
Subsequently, the best grazing lands were gradually taken over for attained independence in 1961 and united with
white settlement and the Maasai were pushed into a small area in Zanzibar to form Tanzania in 1964.

109

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 2 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY

Manda

e lum
Jh ab
en
Ch

i
av
R
Harappa
j Rakhigarhi
tle
Su Banawali

Gan
Mitathal
Kalibangan

Yam

ga
s
du
Ganweriwala

In

una
You will find certain
abbreviations, related to Mohenjodaro Kot Diji
dates, in this book. l
ba
BP stands for Before h am
Sutkagendor Amri Chanhudaro C
Present
Balakot
BCE stands for Before
Common Era

rmati
CE stands for the Common Arabian Sea Dholavira

Saba

i
Era. The present year is

ah
M
2015 according to this
dating system. Map 1 Lothal

c. stands for the Latin Some important Nageshwar Rangpur

da
Mature Harappan sites ma
word circa and means Nar
“approximate.” Sketch map not to scale

1. Beginnings
There were several archaeological cultures in the
region prior to the Mature Harappan. These cultures
Early and Mature
were associated with distinctive pottery, evidence of
Harappan cultures agriculture and pastoralism, and some crafts.
Look at these figures for the Settlements were generally small, and there were
number of settlements in Sind virtually no large buildings. It appears that there
and Cholistan (the desert area was a break between the Early Harappan and the
of Pakistan bordering the Thar Harappan civilisation, evident from large-scale
Desert).
burning at some sites, as well as the abandonment
SIND CHOLISTAN
Total number 106 239
of certain settlements.
of sites
2. Subsistence Strategies
Early Harappan 52 37
sites
If you look at Maps 1 and 2 you will notice that the
Mature Harappan culture developed in some of the
Mature 65 136 areas occupied by the Early Harappan cultures.
Harappan sites These cultures also shared certain common elements
Mature Harappan 43 132 including subsistence strategies. The Harappans ate
settlements on a wide range of plant and animal products, including
new sites fish. Archaeologists have been able to reconstruct
Early Harappan 29 33 dietary practices from finds of charred grains and
sites abandoned seeds. These are studied by archaeo-botanists, who
are specialists in ancient plant remains. Grains
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30 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY

KAMBOJA Map 1
Early states and their capitals

Pushkalavati

GANDHARA Taxila

Indraprastha
Ahichchhatra
MALLA
KURU
SHURASENA PANCHALA Kusinagara
Shravasti
Mathura VAJJI (VRIJJI)
KOSHALA ANGA
MATSYA Vaishali
KASHI Champa
MAGADHA
Kaushambi Varanasi Rajgir
VATSA
CHEDI VANGA
AVANTI

Ujjayini

Arabian Sea
Bay of Bengal

ASHMAKA
Sketch map not to scale

Ü Which were the areas

where states and cities were
most densely clustered?
Oligarchy refers to a form of
government where power is
exercised by a group of men.
The Roman Republic, about
which you read last year, was
an oligarchy in spite of its name.
century BCE onwards, Brahmanas began composing
Sanskrit texts known as the Dharmasutras. These
laid down norms for rulers (as well as for other
social categories), who were ideally expected to be
Kshatriyas (see also Chapter 3). Rulers were advised
to collect taxes and tribute from cultivators, traders
and artisans. Were resources also procured
from pastoralists and forest peoples? We do not
really know. What we do know is that raids on
neighbouring states were recognised as a legitimate
means of acquiring wealth. Gradually, some states
acquired standing armies and maintained regular
bureaucracies. Others continued to depend on
militia, recruited, more often than not, from the
peasantry.

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KINGS, F ARMERS AND TOWNS 33

Map 2
Distribution of Asokan inscriptions

Mansehra
Shahbazgarhi
Taxila

Kandahar
Kalsi
Topra Meerut
Bahapur
Nigalisagar Rummindei
Rampurwa
Bairat Lauriya Nandangarh
Lauriya Araraj
Sarnath
Bhabru Gujarra Pataliputra
Kaushambi Sahasram
Ahraura

Ujjayini Sanchi

Girnar

Shishupalgarh
Arabian Sea Jaugada
Sopara
KALINGA

Sannati

Maski
Gavimath Udegolam
Palkigundu Rajula Mandagiri
Nittur
Jatinga Rameshwar Brahmagiri
Siddapur Bay of Bengal

p MAJOR ROCK EDICTS

CHOLAS
MINOR ROCK EDICTS
PILLAR INSCRIPTIONS KERALAPUTRAS
PANDYAS

Sketch map not to scale Ü Could rulers have

engraved inscriptions in areas
that were not included within
this is unlikely. The regions included within the their empire?
empire were just too diverse. Imagine the contrast
between the hilly terrain of Afghanistan and the
coast of Orissa. Please share these notes to help fellow
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Suvarnagiri (literally, the golden mountain) was
possibly important for tapping the gold mines
of Karnataka.

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KINGS, F ARMERS AND TOWNS 43

Map 3
Some important kingdoms
and towns
Taxila
KUSHANAS

Kanauj Shravasti
Mathura GUPTAS Vaishali
Varanasi Pataliputra
Kaushambi Rajgir Mahasthan

SHAKAS Vidisha Chandraketugarh

Ujjayini

VAKATAKAS
Bharukachchha
ARABIAN SEA
Shishupalgarh
Sopara Paithan
SATAVAHANAS

Dhanyakataka

BAY OF BENGAL
CHOLAS
Kodumanal
Puhar
CHERAS
PANDYAS

Sketch map not to scale

Ü Were there any cities in the

By the second century BCE, we find short votive region where the Harappan
inscriptions in a number of cities. These mention civilisation flourished in the
the name of the donor, and sometimes specify his/ third millennium BCE?
her occupation as well. They tell us about people
who lived in towns: washing folk, weavers, scribes,
carpenters, potters, goldsmiths, blacksmiths,
officials, religious teachers, merchants and kings.
Sometimes, guilds or shrenis, organisations of
craft producers and merchants, are mentioned as
well. These guilds probably procured raw
materials, regulated production, and marketed the
finished product. It is likely that craftspersons
used a range of iron tools to meet the growing Votive inscriptions record gifts
demands of urban elites. made to religious institutions.

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56 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY

Map 1
Hastinapura The Kuru Panchala region and neighbouring areas
KURU

Indraprastha
SAKYA
SHURASENA G Kapilavastu
an
ga Shravasti
Mathura MALLA Lumbini
Virata
Pava
KOSHALA
Ya
MATSYA m Kushinagara
un Ayodhya
a
Vaishali
VATSA Pataliputra
Sarnath
Varanasi
Kaushambi
Bodh Gaya

Ujjayini

AVANTI Sketch map not to scale

in some situations brothers succeeded one another,

sometimes other kinsmen claimed the throne, and,
in very exceptional circumstances, women such as
Prabhavati Gupta (Chapter 2) exercised power.
The concern with patriliny was not unique to ruling
families. It is evident in mantras in ritual texts such
as the Rigveda. It is possible that these attitudes
were shared by wealthy men and those who claimed
high status, including Brahmanas.
Source 1

Producing “fine sons”

Here is an excerpt of a mantra from the Rigveda, which was probably inserted
in the text c. 1000 BCE, to be chanted by the priest while conducting the marriage
ritual. It is used in many Hindu weddings even today:
I free her from here, but not from there. I have bound her firmly there, so
that through the grace of Indra she will have fine sons and be fortunate in
her husband’s love.
Indra was one of the principal deities, a god of valour, warfare and rain.
“Here” and “there” refer to the father’s and husband’s house respectively.

Ü In the context of the mantra, discuss the implications of marriage

from the point of view of the bride and groom. Are the implications
identical, or are there differences?

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7. Stupas
We have seen that Buddhist ideas and practices
emerged out of a process of dialogue with other
traditions – including those of the Brahmanas, Jainas
and several others, not all of whose ideas and
practices were preserved in texts. Some of these
interactions can be seen in the ways in which sacred
places came to be identified.
From earliest times, people tended to regard
Chaitya may also have been
certain places as sacred. These included sites derived from the word chita,
with special trees or unique rocks, or sites of awe- meaning a funeral pyre, and by
inspiring natural beauty. These sites, with small extension a funerary mound.
shrines attached to them, were sometimes
described as chaityas.
Buddhist literature mentions several chaityas.
It also describes places associated with the

Map 1
Major Buddhist sites
Gan

s
du
ga

In Ya Lumbini
m un Shravasti
a Kusinagara

Sarnath Barabar
Bodh
Bharhut Gaya

Narmada Sanchi

nadi
Maha
Ajanta
Nasik Go
Junnar da
va
ri
Karle
ARABIAN Nagarjunakonda
SEA Amaravati
Krishna
BAY OF
BENGAL

Krishna

Sketch map not to scale

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120 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II

Map 1
Places visited by Tirmidh
Ibn Battuta in Andkhoy Qunduz
Afghanistan, Balkh
Sind and Punjab.
Many of the
Parwan
place-names
have been spelt as Kabul
Ibn Battuta would
have known them. Ghazna

Qandahar
j
tle
Su

Ajudahan
Abuhar
Multan
Sarasati

Ü Use the scale on the map to Uja

Hansi Dehli
calculate the distance in miles
between Multan and Delhi.
Ind
us

0 100 200 300

ARABIAN SEA Lahari

Sketch map not to scale

Travelling was also more insecure: Ibn Battuta

was attacked by bands of robbers several times.
In fact he preferred travelling in a caravan along
with companions, but this did not deter highway
robbers. While travelling from Multan to Delhi,
for instance, his caravan was attacked and many
of his fellow travellers lost their lives; those
travellers who survived, including Ibn Battuta,
were severely wounded.
2.2 The “enjoyment of curiosities”
As we have seen, Ibn Battuta was an inveterate
traveller who spent several years travelling through
north Africa, West Asia and parts of Central Asia
(he may even have visited Russia), the Indian
subcontinent and China, before returning to his
native land, Morocco. When he returned, the local
ruler issued instructions that his stories be recorded.

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174 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II

Bidar Warangal
Map 1
Gulbarga
South India, Golconda

Bh
c. fourteenth-eighteenth century Bijapur

im
a
Krishna
Tungabhadra
Hyderabad
Goa Vijayanagara •
Masulipatnam

Pe
nn

al
ar

eng
Chitradurga
Bhatkal • Ikkeri

f B
y o
Basrur

Ba
(Barcelor) Chandragiri
• Kolar •Mylapore
Ara

Mangalore Kanchipuram
•
bia
n S

Mysore Gingee
ea

Cannanore•
Chidambaram

Ka
ve
Calicut

ri
Thanjavur

i
iga
Va Madurai
Cochin•
Ramanathapuram
Quilon Tirunelveli

Ü Identify the present-day states Sri Lanka

that formed part of the empire. Indian Ocean
Sketch map not to scale

dynasty ruled from Penukonda and later from

Yavana is a Sanskrit word used
for the Greeks and other peoples
who entered the subcontinent
from the north west.
Chandragiri (near Tirupati).
Although the armies of the Sultans were responsible
for the destruction of the city of Vijayanagara, relations
between the Sultans and the rayas were not always
or inevitably hostile, in spite of religious differences.
Krishnadeva Raya, for example, supported some
claimants to power in the Sultanates and took pride
in the title “establisher of the Yavana kingdom”.
Similarly, the Sultan of Bijapur intervened to resolve
succession disputes in Vijayanagara following the
death of Krishnadeva Raya. In fact the Vijayanagara
kings were keen to ensure the stability of the
Sultanates and vice versa. It was the adventurous
policy of Rama Raya who tried to play off one Sultan
against another that led the Sultans to combine
together and decisively defeat him.

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214
Source 5
Amin was an official responsible
for ensuring that imperial
regulations were carried out in
the provinces.
Ü What principles did the
Mughal state follow while
classifying lands in its territories?
How was revenue assessed?
THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II
Classification of lands under Akbar
The following is a listing of criteria of classification excerpted
from the Ain:
The Emperor Akbar in his profound sagacity classified
the lands and fixed a different revenue to be paid by
each. Polaj is land which is annually cultivated for each
crop in succession and is never allowed to lie fallow.
Parauti is land left out of cultivation for a time that it
may recover its strength. Chachar is land that has
lain fallow for three or four years. Banjar is land
uncultivated for five years and more. Of the first two
kinds of land, there are three classes, good, middling,
and bad. They add together the produce of each sort,
and the third of this represents the medium produce,
one-third part of which is exacted as the Royal dues.

Map 1 Samarqand
The expansion of the Mughal Empire
Balkh
Babur’s reign, 1530
Ü What impact do you think
Akbar’s reign, 1605
the expansion of the empire Kabul
Aurangzeb’s reign, 1707
would have had on land revenue
Qandahar
collection? Lahore

Panipat
Delhi
Agra
Amber
Ajmer Patna
Rohtas
The mansabdari system
The Mughal administrative
system had at its apex a military-
cum-bureaucratic apparatus
( mansabdari ) which was
responsible for looking after the
civil and military affairs of the
Goa Bay of Bengal
state. Some mansabdars were Arabian Sea
paid in cash (naqdi), while the
majority of them were paid
through assignments of revenue
(jagirs) in different regions of the
empire. They were transferred
periodically. See also Chapter 9.
Sketch map not to scale

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REBELS AND THE RAJ 267

Map 1
Territories under British
control in 1857

Source 3
Sketch map not to scale
The Nawab has left

Another song mourned the

which did not wail out the cry of agony in separation plight of the ruler who had to
of Jan-i-Alam.” One folk song bemoaned that “the leave his motherland:
honourable English came and took the country’’ Noble and peasant all wept
(Angrez Bahadur ain, mulk lai linho ). together
This emotional upheaval was aggravated by and all the world wept and
immediate material losses. The removal of the Nawab wailed
led to the dissolution of the court and its culture.
Alas! The chief has bidden
Thus a whole range of people – musicians, dancers, adieu to
poets, artisans, cooks, retainers, administrative
officials and so on – lost their livelihood. his country and gone
abroad.
2.3 Firangi raj and the end of a world
A chain of grievances in Awadh linked prince, Ü Read the entire section
taluqdar, peasant and sepoy. In different ways they and discuss why people
came to identify firangi raj with the end of their mourned the departure of
world – the breakdown of things they valued, Wajid Ali Shah.
respected and held dear. A whole complex of emotions

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REBELS AND THE RAJ 275
Source 7
4. Repression
Villagers as rebels
It is clear from all accounts that we have of 1857
that the British did not have an easy time in putting
down the rebellion. An officer reporting from rural
Before sending out troops to reconquer North Awadh (spelt as Oude in the
India, the British passed a series of laws to help following account) noted:
them quell the insurgency. By a number of Acts, The Oude people are
passed in May and June 1857, not only was the gradually pressing down on
whole of North India put under martial law but the line of communication
military officers and even ordinary Britons were from the North … the Oude
given the power to try and punish Indians people are villagers …
suspected of rebellion. In other words, the ordinary these villagers are nearly
processes of law and trial were suspended and it intangible to Europeans
melting away before them
was put out that rebellion would have only one
and collecting again. The
punishment – death. Civil Authorities report
Armed with these newly enacted special laws these villagers to amount
and the reinforcements brought in from Britain, the to a very large number of
British began the task of suppressing the revolt. men, with a number of guns.
They, like the rebels, recognised the symbolic value
of Delhi. The British thus mounted a two-pronged
Ü What, according to
attack. One force moved from Calcutta into North
this account, were the
India and the other from the Punjab – which problems faced by the
was largely peaceful – to reconquer Delhi. British British in dealing with
these villagers?

Map 2
The map shows
the important
centres of revolt
and the lines of
British attack
Sketch map not to scale
against the rebels.
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ALL INDIA RANK 442 UPSC CSE 2021

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