History Class 12 NCERT Notes

● Bricks, Beads and Bones The Harappan Civilisation Class 12 Notes

● Kings, Farmers and Towns Early States and Economies Class 12 Notes
● Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies Class 12 Notes
● Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings Cultural Developments Class 12 Notes
● Through the Eyes of Travellers Perceptions of Society Class 12 Notes
● Bhakti-Sufi Traditions Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts
Class 12 Notes
● An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara Class 12 Notes
● Peasants, Zamindars and the State Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire
Class 12 Notes
● Kings and Chronicles The Mughal Courts Class 12 Notes
● Colonialism and the Countryside: Exploring Official Archives Class 12 Notes
● Rebels and the Raj The Revolt of 1857 and its Representations Class 12
Notes
● Colonial Cities Urbanisation, Planning and Architecture Class 12 Notes
● Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement Civil Disobedience and
Beyond Class 12 Notes
● Understanding Partition Politics, Memories, Experiences Class 12 Notes
● Framing the Constitution The Beginning of a New Era Class 12 Notes

Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones

The Harappan Civilisation
● Harappan Civilisation is also known as Indus Valley Civilisation. It is the oldest
Civilisation of India.
● There is no consensus about the chronology of the Harappan Civilisation.
● Various scholars have given different dates about this period.
● According to Sir John Marshall, “this civilisation flourished between 3250
and 2750 BCE”.
● It was Daya Ram Sahni, who first discovered the sites of Harappan in 1921.
● The main centres of this civilisation are in Pakistan. The same famous sites
of this civilisation (now in Pakistan) are Mohenjodaro and Chanhudaro.
● The main centre where this Civilisation flourished in India are Kalibangan,
Sangol, Pengplor, Lothal, Dholavira and Banawali.
● The urban planning of this civilisation was very magnificent. The houses
were built in a systematic manner. Roads were wide and cut each other at
right angle.
● The people of Indus Valley Civilisation had also made best planning for the
drainage of rainwater and dirty water.
● The caste system was not present in the society. All the people lived
together with mutual love and understanding.% The women held a high
position or rank in the society.
● They were fond of fashion. The economic life the people was very
prosperous.
● The main occupations of the people were the agriculture and domestication
of animals.
● Trade was well developed. Both maternal and external trade was carried
out.
● The people worshipped many gods and goddesses. They worshipped
mother goddesses, Lord Shiva, animal, birds, trees and the Sun.
● They knew arts and crafts. They knew the art of making beautiful
sculptures, toys, pottery, ornaments, etc. They were skilled in the production
of seals.
● The languages used by them on the seals is still to be deciphered. If one is
able to decipher their script inscribed on the seals, it will throw a flood of
the light on the various aspects of the Harappan Civilisation.
● The main sources of our information of Harappan Civilisation is
archaeological materials. The excavation carried out at Indus sites tries to
reconstruct the history of this civilisation.
● During the excavation of Indus sites, many tools, pottery, seals, household
objects, etc. have excavated.
● All these excavated materials are deeply examined by the archaeologists.
● Many historians like Cunningham, R.E.M. Wheeler, John Marshall and G.F.
● Dates have played a valuable role in reconstructing the history of the
ancient past including the Indus Valley Civilisation sites.
● Many Indian archaeologists like Daya Ram Sahni, S.R. Rao, R.S. Bisht and
B.K. Thapar have played a great role in excavations of the Indus sites.
● Indus Valley Civilisation is also known as Bronze Age Civilisation, because
people used bronze extensively for making their pottery, figure lines and
ornaments.
● Almost 1900 BCE, these were explicit signs about the decline of this
civilisation.
● By this time the two most important cities of Indus Valley-Mohenjodaro and
Harappa had been completely declined.
● Around 1200 BCE, this civilisation had completely vanished. Epidemic,
Aryan Invasion, change in the course of the river Indus, excessive floods,
earthquake, etc. may be the main reasons for the decline of this civilisation.
rcheological Evidences of The Harappan Civilisation:

● The Harappan Civilisation is also known as Indus Valley Civilisation. This

civilisation is dated between BCE 2600 and 1990 BCE. It is the oldest
civilisation of India. We know about the civilisation from archaeological
evidences like houses, pots, ornaments, tools and seals used by the people
of that period.
● There were also earlier and later cultures, known as Early Harappan and
Late Harappan Civilisation.
● Cunningham was the first Director General of Archaeological Survey of
India who began archaeological excavations in the Harappan sites.
● Cunningham was unable to find the significance of Harappan Civilisation
and thought that Indian history began with the first cities in the Ganga
valley.
● Daya Ram Sahni, Rakhal Das Baneiji, John Marshall were some of the
important archaeologists associated with the discovery of Harappan
Civilisation. The frontiers of the Harappan civilisation have no connection
with present day national boundaries. The major sites are now in Pakistani
territory.
 ● In India, a number of Harappan settlements were found in Punjab and
Haryana. The main centres where this civilisation flourished in India are
Kalibangan, Lothal, Dholavira, Rakhi Garhi and Banawali.
● Archaeologist tried to classify artefacts in terms of material and in terms of
function by comparing these with present-day things. The problems of
archaeological interpretation are most evident in attempts to reconstruct
religious practices of the Harappan.
● Unusual objects like terracotta figurines of women, stone statuary of men,
motif of unicorn and figure in yogic posture on seals and structures like the
great bath and fire altars may have had a religious significance. Several
reconstructions regarding the Harappan civilisation remain speculative at
present and there is a vast scope for future work.

Seals, Script, Weights of Harappan Civilisation:

● Seals and sealings were used to facilitate long distance communication. If

the bag of goods reached with its sealing intact, it meant that it had not
been tampered with. Seals also conveyed the identity of the sender.
● The Harappan script remains undeciphered to date. The script was not
alphabetical and had many signs between 375 and 400.
● Exchange were regulated by a precise system of weights, usually made of a
stone called chert with no marking. The lower denominations of weights
were binary7 and the higher denominations followed the decimal system.

Food Habits of Harappan People:

● The people of Harappan Civilisation ate a wide range of plant and animal
products including fish and meat, wheat, maize, millet, pulses, rice and
another eatables. For this, cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo and pig were
domesticated by the Harappans.

Agricultural Techniques Using by Harappan People:

● Archaeological evidences suggested that oxen were used for ploughing and
two different crops were grown together. As most of the Harappan sites are
located in Semi-arid lands, it is evident that water from canals and wells
was used for irrigation.
Social and Economic Differences among Harappan People:

● Archaeologists use certain strategies to find out social and economic

differences among people. These include studying burials and artefacts
which can be divided into utilitarian and luxuries.
● Valuable materials are generally concentrated in large settlements, but
rarely found in smaller settlements.

Craft Production of Harappan People:

● Harappans knew the art of making beautiful sculptures, toys, pottery,

ornaments, etc. Chanhudaro was a tiny settlement exclusively devoted to
craft production, including bead-making, shell-cutting, metal-working,
seal-making and weight-making.
● Grinding, polishing and drilling were done for making beads. Nageshwar
and Balakot were specialised centres for making shell objects as both
these settlements are near the coast. Apart from smaller settlements,
larger cities like Mohenjodaro and Harappa were also the specialised
centres for craft production.

Acquiring Materials for Craft:

● The Harappans procured materials for craft production in various ways.

Sometimes they established settlements where raw materials were
available. Another strategy for procuring raw materials may have been to
send expeditions to areas where these were available e.g. Khetri region for
copper (Rajasthan) and South India for gold.
● The Harappan made contact with distant lands like Oman for procuring
copper. The Harappan seals, weights, dice and beads were found in other
countries, Oman, Bahrain and Mesopotamia.

Economic Life and Trade during Harappan Civilisation:

● Economic life of the people was very prosperous The main occupations of
the people were agriculture and domestication of animals.
 ● Trade was well developed. Both internal and external trade were carried out.
Pictures of ships, boats have also been found on seals which throw light on
Harappan contacts with far off places

Religious Belief of Harappan People:

● People of this civilisation worshipped many Gods and Goddesses. They

worshipped Lord Shiva, mother Goddesses, animals, birds, trees and the
sun.

Caste System in Harappan Civilisation:

● The caste system was not present in the society. All people live together
with mutual love and understanding. Women held a high position or rank in
the society.

A Planned Town of Harappan Civilisation Mohenjodaro:

● Mohenjodaro was the most well-known urban site of the Harappan

Civilisation. Although Harappa was the first site to be discovered, it was
badly destroyed by brick robbers.
● The settlement in Harappan civilisation was divided into two sections, one
smaller in terms of land but higher in terms of power known as the Citadel,
the other much larger in terms of area but lower in terms of power was
known as Lower Town.
● All the Harappan cities had carefully planned drainage system. The
residential buildings at Mohenjodaro were centred on a courtyard, had its
own bathrooms, the drains of which were connected to the street drains.
● In Mohenjodaro, many houses had well and their estimated number was
about 700. Structures like warehouse and the Great Bath’ were used for
public purposes.

The End of Harappan Civilisation:

● By 1800 BCE, most of the mature Harappan sites were abandoned. Around
1200 BCE, this civilisation had completely vanished. After 1900 BCE, a rural
 way of life what was known as ‘Late Harappan’ or ‘successor cultures’
emerged.
● The reasons for the end of the civilisation range from climatic change,
deforestation, excessive floods, the shifting and drying up of rivers and to
overuse of the landscape. All these factors may have weakened the
civilisation, but its ultimate extinction is more likely to have been completed
by deliberate and large-scale destruction or by an invasion.

Important Terms:
● Seal: It generally contained animal motifs and signs from a script.
● Hoards: Generally metal objects and jewellery kept by people inside
containers.
● Stratigraphy: The study of historical layers.
● Motif: Name of animal, used by the Harappans on seals to mark some sort
of trademark.
● Proto-Shiva: A seal that shows a figure seated in a yogic posture
surrounded by animals has been designated as Proto-Shiva, an early form
of one of the deities of Hinduism.
● Lingas: The polished stones were often worshipped as symbols of the God
Shiva.
● Shamans: These were the groups of men and women who claimed to have
magical and healing powers and ability to communicate with the other
world.
● Art: It referred to painting, sculpture, pottery and seal making.
● Culture: Term used for a group of objects, distinct in style, found
specifically within a geographical area and period of time.
● Pictographs: Picture-like signs to represent letters or words.
● The Great Bath: Best known building in Mohenjodaro for bath.
● Granaries: Buildings where grains were stored.

Time Line:

● 1862 Alexander Cunningham appointed as the first Director General of

Archaeological Survey of India.
● 1921 D.R. Sahni discovered Harappa.
● 1992 R.D. Banneijee discovered Mohenjodaro
 ● 1924 Sir John Marshall announced the discovery of Indus Valley
Civilisation.
● 1953 Kalibangan was excavated by A. Ghosh.
● 1955 S.R. Rao discovered Lothal.
● 1968 Sanghal was discovered by S.S. Talwar and R.S. Bisht.

Chapter 2 Kings, Farmers and Towns Early

States and Economies
● After the decline of Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), many significant changes
took place in the Indian subcontinent.
● Vedas (Rigveda, Samveda, Yajurveda and Atharveda) and other religious
and literary works are an invaluable source to know the history of that
period.
● In first century BCE, many changes took place regarding the last rites of the
dead in the central and south India. In this period dead bodies were buried
in graves and these graves were surrounded by big stone called as the
megaliths.
● In the 6th century BCE sixteen big kingdoms known as Mahajanapadas
came into existence.
● Among these sixteen Mahajanapadas were-Magadha, Koshala, Vatsa and
Avant whichwere the most powerful. .
● In the 5th century BCE, the powerful Mahajanapadas turned into powerful
empires.
● Magadha was very powerful Mahajanapada. There were several causes
responsible for it.
● Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of Mauryan Empire. He founded
Mauryan Empire by defeating the last ruler of Nanda Dynasty,
Mahajanapadas.
● Megasthenes’s Indica and Kautilya’s Arthashastra provided valuable
information about the Mauryan Empire.
● After the death of Chandragupta Maurya’s his son, Bindusara became the
next ruler who ruled from 298 to 272 BCE.
● After Bindusara, Ashoka occupied the throne in 272 and ruled till 231 BCE.
● After the Kalinga War, Ashoka gave up policy of war and expansion.
● Inscriptions of Ashoka are the most relevant sources to know about
Mauryan period. These inscriptions are written in the Brahmi (Prakrit)
script.
● After the downfall of the Gupta Dynasty many new dynasties came up and
ruled in many parts of India. Some of the dynasties were the Satvahanas,
the Shakas, the Pandyas, the Cholas, Cheras and Kushanas.
● With the emergence of the Gupta, a new age started in the ancient Indian
History.
● The founder of the Gupta Dynasty was Srigupta. He founded this dynasty in
275 CE and ruled till 300. After his death his son Ghatotkacha ruled from
300 CE to 320 CE.
● Ghatotkacha’s successor Chandragupta I sat on the throne in 320 and
assumed the title of Maharajadhiraja. He ruled till 335 CE.
 ● Sumudragupta is one of the greatest rulers of India and was the son of
Chandragupta. He ruled from 335 to 375 CE. After his death
Chandragupta-II ruled till 415.
● The Gupta ruler established a glorious empire with their untiring efforts.
Their rule is called the Golden Age in Indian History. This vast Empire began
to disintegrate at the end of the 5th century CE.

Development after the Harappan Civilization:

● After the decline of the Harappan Civilization, several developments,

including the composition of Rigveda took place in Indian sub-continent.
Evidences of emergence of agricultural settlements, pastoral communities
and new modes of disposal of dead were found.
● The most important development was from 6th century BCE on wards
when various empires and kingdoms emerged. In 1830, James Prinsep
deciphered Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts used in earliest inscriptions and
coins.
● Most of the inscriptions referred a king as Piyadassi, meant ‘pleasant to
behold’ and a few inscriptions mentioned the king as Asoka, one of the
most famous rulers known from Buddhist texts. It gave a new direction to
investigate into early Indian political history, economic and social
developments.

The Mahajanapadas:

● The earliest states emerged in the 6th century BCE which were mentioned
in the early Buddhist and Jaina texts. The earliest 16 states were known as
mahajanapadas. In which Vajji, Magadha, Koshala, Kuru, Panchala,
Gandliara and Avanti were most important. The mahajanapadas had a
capital city, which was often fortified.
● Brahmanas began composing Dharmasutras from the 6th century BCE
onwards. Magadha became the most powerful Mahajanapada. Bimbisara,
Ajatashatru and Mahapadma Nanda were the most ambitious kings of
Magadha. Magadha had its capital in Rajagaha (Rajgir) which was fortified
and later the capital shifted to Pataliputra (Patna).

Mauryan Empire:
 ● Development of Magadha resulted in the emergence of the Mauryan empire
founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 321 BCE. Besides sculptures,
historians have used a variety of sources like written texts of Megasthenes,
Kautilya (Arthashastra), Buddhist) Jaina and Puranic literature, inscriptions
of Asoka to reconstruct the history of Mauryan empire.
● Pataliputra, Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosali, Suvarnagiri were the five major political
centres of Mauryan empire.
● The vast empire was not controlled by a uniform administrative system.
Asoka tried to hold his vast empire together by propagating dharma. He
appointed special officers, known as the Dhamma Mahamatta, to spread
the message of Dhamma.

Asokan Inscription:

● In deciphering Brahmi, the European scholars and Indian scholars

compared Devanagari and Bengali scripts with Brahmi script. After
painstaking work, James Prinsep was able to decipher Asokan Brahmi in
1838.
● Kharosthi was deciphered by studying coins which had both Greek and
Kharosthi scripts. Asoka was mentioned in the inscriptions as
‘Devanampiya’ meant ‘beloved of the God’ and ‘Piyadassi’ meant ‘pleasant
to behold’.
● From the Asokan inscription, we know the anguish of the ruler and the
change in his attitude towards warfare. These inscriptions have been found
in Odisha.

The Limitations of Inscriptions:

● There are technical limitations, like faintly engraved, damaged or missing

letters in inscriptional evidence. Sometimes what we consider politically
and economically significant was not recorded in the inscriptions.
● The content of inscriptions invariably projects the perspective of the person
who commissioned these.
● The inscriptions are unable to reflect about the life of different social
groups including the marginalised groups. Thus, new strategies of analysis
should be adopted.

Emergence of Concept Kingship:

 ● Different rulers in the various parts of India established their empire. This
gave rise to new kingdoms, new communities and towns.

Emergence of New Kingdoms:

● New kingdoms emerged in the Deccan and further South, including the
Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas. Satavahanas and Shakas derived revenues
from long-distance trade. Kushanas ruled over a vast kingdom and
considered themselves as God, adopting the title Devaputra (Son of God).
● Histories of the Gupta rulers were reconstructed from literature, coins and
inscriptions, including Prashastis. The Prayaga Prashasti (also called
Allahabad pillar inscription) by Harisena is the most important source to
know about the Gupta rulers.

Emergence of New Communities:

● Historians examined stories of Jatakas and Panchatantra to know about

the view of common people regarding the rulers. Strategies for increasing
agricultural production were developed, including use of iron-tipped plough
and the use of irrigation through wells and tanks.
● Advancement of agriculture led to emergence of different communities of
people, viz, large landholders, small peasants and landless agricultural
labourers. From early Tamil literature and Pali texts, categories of people
like Gahapati (master of a household), Vellar (large land owners), Uzhavar
(plough men) and Adimai (slaves) are known.
● Inscription gave details about the land grants to Brahmanas and Peasants.
Prabhavati Gupta, daughter of Chandragupta II had access to land, which
she later granted, but common women had no access to lands. Some
historians think that land grant is a strategy to extend agriculture to new
areas; others thought it as the indication of weakening of political power.

Emergence of Towns and Trade:

● Several urban centres emerged in the sub-continent from the 6th century’
BCE. People living in these areas traded artefacts like fine pottery known as
Northern black polished ware, ornaments, tools, weapons, vessels, figurines
made of gold, silver, copper, bronze, ivory, glass, shell and teracotta.
 ● Guilds or Shrenis procured raw materials, regulated production and
marketed the finished product. The trade extended beyond the
sub-continent, Central Asia, East and North Africa, South-East Asia and
China.
● Successful merchants, designated as Masattuvan in Tamil, Set this and
Satavahanas in Prakrit became very’ rich. Exchanges were facilitated by
the introduction of silver, copper and gold coins.
● The first coins to bear the names and images of rulers were issued by the
Indo-Greeks, who established control over the North-Western part of the
sub-continent in 2nd century BCE.
● The first gold coins were issued in 1st century’ CE by the Some of the most
spectacular gold coins were issued by the Gupta rulers. From the 6th
century CE on wards, the use of gold coins wras reduced.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 2 Important Terms:

● Janapada: The land where the people belonging to a clan or tribe had
settled.
● Dhammo Mahanatta: Officer appointed by Ashoka to spread the message
of his Dharma.
● Matriliny: This term is used when descent is traced through mother.
● Tamilakam: The name of the ancient Tamil country which included the
parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
● Megaliths: Stone structures which were built by some communities of
South India over the grave of the dead.
● Vellators: The big zamindars.
● Agrahara: The land which Brahmanas got as land grants.

Time Line:

● 600-500: BCE Emergence of Mahajanapadas

● 544-492: BCE Reign of Bimbisara
● 492-460: BCE Tenure of Ajatsatru
● 269-231: BCE Reign of Ashoka
● 201: BCE Kalinga war was fought
● 335-375: BCE Reign of Sumudragupta
● 375-415: CE Reign of Chandragupta-II
● 1784: Asiatic Society (Bengal) was founded
 ● 1810: Colin Mackenzie collects over 8,000 inscriptions in Sanskrit and
Dravidian languages.
● 1838: Brahmi script James Prinsept deciphered.
● 1877: Alexander Cunningham published a set of Asokan inscriptions.
● 1886: First issue of Epigraphia Camatica, journal of South Indian
inscriptions.
● 1888: First issue of Epigraphia Indica.
● 1965-66: D.C. Sircar published Indian Epigraphy and Indian Epigraphical
Glossary.

Chapter 3 Kinship, Caste and Class Early

Societies
● A number of important changes occurred in the economic and political life
of India during the period from 600 BCE to 600 CE.
● The changes occurred during this period had left a deep mark on the
contemporary society.
● A new change began to occur with the expansion of agriculture.
● Emergence of different crafts and distinct social groups also witnessed
during this period.
● Social disparities began to increase as a result of unequal distribution of
wealth.
● Historian made use of textual tradition for many reasons.
● According to the text written in ancient the most popular and famous is
Mahabharata, which was composed between 500 BCE and 500 CE.
● Historians believed that it was written by Ved Vyasa, but most of the
Historians think that it is the creation of many authors.
● In the beginning, Mahabharata was known by the name of Jail and held only
8800 verses. Later on the number of verses increased to one lakh.
● An important work began in 1919 under the leadership of V.S. Sukthankar, a
famous Sanskrit scholar who took up cudgels to prepare a critical edition of
Mahabharata.
● Many types of social institutions existed in this period these were as
follows;
 ● Monogamous family
● Polyandrous family
● Polygons family
● Consanguineous family
● Patrilineal family
● Matrilineal family
● Neolocal family
● Rural family
● Urban family
● Joint family
● Nuclear family
● Kinship is a system of relation between such relatives which determine our
relationship on the basis of lineage. These relations were based on lineage
or vansha are developed by a family.
● Patriliny means that the descent which is traced from father to son, then
grandson and great grandson.
● Patriliny was prevalent even before the Mahabharata, yet Mahabharata
strengthen it.

Historians often use textual traditions to understand the socio-economic changes of the
society. In this case, it is very necessary to keep in mind who composed what and for
whom. The language and the ways in which the text is circulated are also important.

Kinship, Marriage Rules and Different Practices:

● Families usually form parts of larger network of people defined as relative

or ‘Kinfolks’ while familial ties are often regarded as ‘natural’ and based on
blood they are defined in many different ways.
● It is more difficult to reconstruct the familial relationships of ordinary
people than elite families.
● Mahabharata reinforced the ideal of patriliny as valuable. Under patriliny,
sons could claim the throne or other resources of their fathers when the
latter died.
● The idea of patriliny is also accepted in the Rigveda.
● Daughters had no claims to the resources of the household. Also marrying
them into families outside the kin was desirable. Kanyadan or the gift of a
daughter in marriage was an important religious duty of the father.
 ● From 500 BCE, codes of social behaviour were compiled in Dharmasutras
and Dharmashastras written in Sanskrit. The most important
Dharmashastra was Manusmriti compiled between 200 BCE and 200 CE.
● Codes of social behaviour were given by the Brahmanas. There were eight
forms of marriage, of which the first four were considered as good, while
the remaining were condemned.
● People were classified according to their gotras. Two important rules about
gotras were:
● Women were expected to give up their father’s golra and adopt their
husband’s gotra.
● Members of the same gotra could not many
● In case of Satavahana rulers, it was evident that many of the wives of
Satavahana rulers retained the names of their father’s gotra as against
Brahmanical rule.
● Endogamy or marriage within the kingroup was prevalent among several
communities in South India.

Social Differences:

● The Dharmashastras and Dharmasutras contained rules about the ideal

‘occupations’ of the four categories or varnas.
● Brahmanas were supposed to study and teach the Vedas, perform
sacrifices and get sacrifices performed; Kshatriyas were to engage in
warfare, protect people and administer justice; Vaishyas were engaged in
agriculture, pastoralism and trade; and Shudras were assigned to serve the
three ‘higher’ varnas.
● According to the Shastras, only Kshatriyas could be the kings. But in reality
political power was effectively open to anyone w’ho could muster
(assemble) support and resources and rarely depended on birth.
● Gotami-puta Siri-Satakani was a Brahmana who destroyed the pride of
Kshatriyas. He ordered that there was no inter-marriage amongst members
of the four varnas.
● Jatis which shared a common occupation or profession were sometimes
organised into shrenis or guilds. There were other categories like Nishada
(people living in forest) beyond the four varnas in society. Ekalavya is
supposed to have belonged to this class.
● Sometimes those who spoke non-Sanskrit languages were labelled as
Mlechchhas and looked down upon.
 ● Brahmanical scriptures developed a sharper social divide by classifying
certain social categories as ‘untouchable’.
● Those who performed ‘polluting’ activities like, handling corpses and dead
animals were designated as ‘Chandalas’.
● The Manusmriti laid down the duties of Chandalas, these were—they had to
live outside the village, use discarded utensils and wear clothes of the dead
and ornaments of iron.
● Historians got hints of different social realities about the Chandalas from
the non-Brahmanical texts.

Social Status and Right to Property:

● According to the Manusmriti, the paternal estate was to be divided equally

amongst sons after the death of the parents, with a special share for the
eldest.
● Women had no claim in her paternal estate, but were allowed to retain the
gifts they received on the occasion of their marriage as stridhana.
● According to Brahmanical text, apart from gender, criterion for regulating
access to wealth was varna. The only ‘occupation’ prescribed for Shudras
was servitude (slavery), while a variety of occupations were listed for men
of first three varnas.
● The Buddhists recognised the differences in society, but did not regard
these as natural or inflexible. They rejected the idea of claims to status on
the basis of birth.
● There were other possibilities as well; situations where men who were
generous were respected, while those who were miserly were criticised.
● The Buddhists developed an alternative understanding of social inequalities
and the institutions required to regulate social conflict.
● The institution of kingship was based on human choice, with taxes as a
form of payment for services rendered by the king.

The Mahabharata:

The Great Indian Epic

● VS Sukthankar, a noted Indian Sanskritist, with his team initiated the task of
preparing a critical edition of the Mahabharata. It involved collecting
 Sanskrit manuscripts of the texts written in a variety of scripts, from
different parts of the country.
● First historians accepted the texts written in Sanskrit as the main source,
but later they also relied on works in Pali, Prakrit and Tamil to reconstruct
social histories.

The Singificance of Mahabharata:

● Historians examine whether texts were written in Prakrit, Pali or Sanskrit

languages. They try to find out about the authors whose perspectives and
ideas shaped the text.
● The Sanskrit used in the Mahabharata is far simpler than that of the Vedas.
● Historians classify the contents of the text under two broad heads, ,
narrative containing stories and didactic containing prescription and social
norms.
● Mahabharata has been written in many phases. It is not the work of a single
author. However, it is traditionally attributed to a sage named Vyasa.
● Mahabharata contains vivid descriptions of battles, forests, palaces and
settlements.
● One of the most challenging episodes in the Mahabharata is Draupadi’s
marriage with five Pandavas.
● It suggests polyandry ( the practice of a woman having several husbands)
among ruling elites.
● Some historians think that polyandry is undesirable from the Brahmanical
point of view, but it was prevalent in the Himalayan region due to a shortage
of women during war times.

Different Versions of Mahabharata:

● The versions of the Mahabharata were written in a variety of languages.

● Several stories from specific regions were added in the epic. The story of
the epic was often retold in different ways.
● Writers like Mahashweta Devi interprets the stories of the Mahabharata
differently.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 3 Important terms:

● Kinship: The person belonging the same family.

 ● Polity: The form or process or system of government.
● Kinfolk: Persons of blood relation.
● Patriliny: System of tracing descent from father to son, grandson and so on.
● Matriliny: System of tracing descent from mother side.
● Adi Parvan: Adi Parvan is the first section of the Sanskrit version of the
Mahabharata.
● Indra: A god of warfare, rains and valour, one of the principal deities in the
Rigveda.
● Dharmasutras: These are the texts composed in Sanskrit by Brahmanas.
● Mlechchhas: Shakas were regarded as Mlechchhas. They were the Central
Asian people who had migrated and settled in the northwestern part of the
Subcontinent.
● Majjhima Nikaya: It is a Buddhist text. It forms a part of a dialogue between
a king named Avantiputta and a disciple of Buddha, named Kachchana.
● Gotras: People of the same kind and same vama.
● Shrenis: Unions of craftsmen and traders in Ancient India. It was also called
guilds.
● Chandals: Untouchables of the ancient India who did menial works.
● Mahasammata: It means the great elect. A person chosen by the whole
people.
● Nishad: A hunting community.
● Epic: A long poem about the deeds of great men and women or about a
nation’s past history.
● Dwij: During Later Vedic period, people who adopted sacred thread system
was caUedDwij.
● Endogamy: It refers to the system of marriage within the unit such as caste.
● Polygamy: Practice of having more than one wife.
● Polyandry: Practice of having more than one husband.
● Vamasha: Sanskrit word meaning lineage of a person.

Time Line:

● 500 BCE Ashfadhyayi of Panini, a work of Sanskrit grammar.

● 500-100 BCE Early Buddhist texts including the Tripitaka (in Pali)
● 500 BCE-400 CE Ramayana and Mahabharata (in Sanskrit)
● 200 CE onwards Compilation of the Puranas (in Sanskrit)
● 300 CE Natyashastra of Bharata, a work on dramaturgy (in Sanskrit)
 ● 400-500 CE Sanskrit plays a valuable role in the compilation of Kalidasa’s
works on astronomy and mathematics by Aryabhata and Varahamihira (in
Sanskrit).

Chapter 4 Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings

Cultural Developments
● In the reconstruction of the history of India from 600 BCE to 600 CE, the
historians took the invaluable information from Buddhist, Jain and
Brahmanical texts.
● Besides these texts, temples, stupas, monuments, etc also provide
authentic information.
● The rulers of Bhopal, Shahjahan Begum and her successor played a
significant role in the preservation of the Sanchi Stupa.
● Annans the new sect, that emerged in India in 6th century BCE. Buddhism
and Jainism were most popular.
● Lord Mahavira is regarded as the real founder of Jainism.
● The founder of Buddhism was Lord Buddha.
● Jainism remained continued to India, but Buddha spread to the other
countries.
● Ashoka and Kanishka of Buddhism in distant land.
● Both Jainism and Buddhism gave a rich legacy in different fields of Indian
Society.
● During this period, i.e., 600 BCE to 600 CE, two Brahamanical sects.
Vaishanavism and Shaivism made considerable progress.

In the reconstruction of the history of India from 600 BCE to 600 CE, the historians had
taken information from Buddhist, Jaina and Brahmanical texts. Besides this a large
number of monuments and inscriptions provided significant information.

The Background of Different Religions:

● Tire mid-first millennium BCE is often regarded as a turning point in world

history since it saw the emergence of thinkers like Zarathustra in Iran, Kong
 Zi in China, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle in Greece and Mahavira and Gautama
Buddha in India.
● They tried to understand the mysteries of existence and the relationship
between human beings and the cosmic (connected with the whole
universe) order.
● There were several pre-existing traditions of thoughts, religious beliefs and
practices. All these we know from Rigveda which compiled between 1500
and 100 BCE.
● Sacrifices were performed by the heads of the households for the
well-being of the domestic unit.
● More elaborate sacrifices like Rajasuya and Ashvamedha were performed
by chiefs and kings with the help of Brahmana priests.
● Ideas contained in the Upanishads generated a variety of questions about
life especially meaning of life and possibility of life after death and rebirth.
● Lively discussions and debates took place in Kutagarashala, a hut where
travelling mendicants took shelter.
● Thinkers like Mahavira and Buddha questioned the authority of the Vedas.

The Message of Mahavira:

● According to Jainism, entire world is animated, i.e even stones, rocks and
water have life.
● Non-injury to living beings is central to Jaina philosophy. According to
Jainism, the cycle of birth and rebirth is shaped through Karma.
● To free oneself from the cycle of Karma, asceticism and penance are
required. Jaina monks and nuns took five vows. These are:
● to abstain (to decide not to do something) from killing
● to abstain from stealing
● to abstain from lying
● to observe celibacy (not married and not naring sex)
● to abstain from possessing property.
● Jainism spread to many parts of India. Jaina scholars produced a wealth of
literature in Prakrit, Sanskrit and Tamil languages.

The Buddha: The Enlightened Soul

 ● Gautama Buddha was one of the most influential teachers of that time
whose message spread across the sub-continent, Central Asia to China,
Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.
● Siddhartha was the son of a chief of the Sakya clan. He was deeply
shocked when he saw an old man, a sick man and a corpse. He left the
palace and set out in search of his own truth.
● After attaining enlightment, he came to be known as the Buddha or the
enlightened one.
● For the rest of his life, he taught dhamma or the path of righteous living.

The Teachings of Buddha:

● According to Buddhism, the w’orld is transient (anicca) and constantly

changing and it is also soulless (anatta). Within this transient world, sorrow
(dukkha) is intrinsic to human existence.
● Buddha emphasised individual agency and righteous action as the means
to escape from the cycle of rebirth and attain self-realisation and nibbana.

Followers of the Buddha:

● Buddha founded a ‘Sangha’, an organisation of monks who became

teachers of ‘dhamma’. As they lived on alms, they were known as
‘bhikkhus’.
● Later women also entered the ‘Sangha’ and were known as bhikkhuni.
Buddha’s foster mother, Mahapajapati Gotami was the first woman to
become ‘bhikkhuni’. Buddha’s followers included kings, wealthy men,
gahapatis and also ordinary people like workers, slaves and craft people.
● Buddhism appealed to many people dissatisfied with existing religious
practices and confused by the rapid social changes taking place around
them.

Sculpture of Buddha Period:

● The enlightenment of Buddha was showed by different symbols by many

early sculptors. For e.g. the Bodhi trees (symbolises an event in the life of
Buddha), the empty seat (indicates the meditation of the Buddha), the stupa
(represents the mahaparinibbana), the wheel of dharma (shows first
serman of the Buddha at Sarnath).
 ● Shalabhanjika was another feature of sculptural art which was regarded as
an auspicious symbol and integrated into the decoration of the stupa.
● Some of the finest depictions of animals like elephants, horses, monkeys
and cattle are also found in the stupas.
● Gajalakshmi, the Goddess of good fortune, and the serpent are also found.

New Religious Traditions During Buddha Period:

● Buddha was regarded as a human being who attained enlightenment and

nibbana through his own efforts. Later the concept of Bodhisatta was
developed.
● Buddhism was divided into Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism. This period
also saw the emergence of Shaivism and Vaishnavism.
● In such worship, the bond between the devotee and the God was visualised
as one of love and devotion or bhakti. The temples to house images of
Gods and Goddesses were being built with a tail-structure known as the
Shikhara over the central shrine.
● One of the unique features of early temples was that some of these were
hollowed out of huge rocks, as artificial caves.

Explanation of Religions:

● 19th century European scholars were more familiar with the statues of
Buddha and Bodhisattas which were evidently based on Greek models. But
they were sometimes could not understand the sculptures of gods and
goddesses with multiple arms and heads or with combinations of human
and animal forms.
● Art historians have tried to explain the meaning of sculptures with the help
of textual references (e.g. Puranas), but it was not an easy task.
● Many rituals, religious beliefs and practices were not even recorded in a
permanent visible form, these were only practised by the respective
communities.

Stupas:

● Buddhist literature mentions several Chaityas which are places associated

with the Buddha’s life.
 ● Stupa contained relics (bodily remains of Buddha or objects used by him)
regarded as sacred, the entire stupa came to be venerated as an emblem of
both the Buddha and Buddhism.
● According to a Buddhist text ‘Ashokavadana’, Asoka distributed portions of
the Buddha’s relics to every important town and ordered the construction of
stupas over them.
● By the second century BCE, a number of stupas in Bharhut, Sanchi and
Sarnath were built.
● Stupas were built from the donations made by- king, guilds, common
people ‘bhikkhus’ and ‘bhikkhunis’.
● The structure of stupas comprised several parts, Anda (semi circular
mound of Earth), Harmika (balcony-like structure), Yasthi (like mast) and
Chhatri or umbrella.
● The early Stupas at Sanchi and Bharhut wrere plain but the gateways were
richly carved and installed at the four cardinal points.

The Great Sanchi Stupa:

● The Great Stupa at Sanchi in the state of Madhya Pradesh is one of the
most wonderful ancient buildings. 19th century Europeans were very
interested in the Stupa at Sanchi.
● The rulers of Bhopal, Shahjehan Begum and Sultan Jehan Begum provided
money to preserve the site of Sanchi Stupa.
● John Marshall wrote important volumes on Sanchi.
● The discovery of Sanchi has transformed our understanding of early
Buddhism. It stands as an example of the successful restoration and
preservation of ancient site by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Amaravati Stupas:

● In 1854, Walter Elliot visited Amaravati and collected several sculpture

panels and discovered the remains of Western gateway.
● He came to the conclusion that the structure at Amaravati was one of the
most significant Buddhist stupas.
● Unfortunately, Amaravati did not survive as sculptures from this site were
removed from the site instead of preserving things where they were found.
Class 12 History Notes Chapter 4 Important Terms:
● Vedic Sanskrit: A special kind of Sanskrit in which hyms and verses were
composed.
● Rajsuya Yajna: A special kind of yajna in which sacrifices are performed by
chiefs and kings who depended on the Brahaman to conduct these rituals.
● Tripitaka: Three books of Buddhist sacred text.
● Sanghe: Monastic order.
● Tirthankar: A great teacher in Jainism.
● Stupa: A Sanskrit word which means a heap. Stupa originated as a simple
semi-circular mound of earth, later called ande.

Time Line:

● 468 B.C. Mahavira passed away and attained Nirwan at the age of 72.
● First century B.C.E. Jainism enjoyed the patronage of the Kalinga king
Kharavela.
● Fourth century B.C.E. Jainism spread to Kalinga in Orissa (Odisha).
● 563 B.C.E. Gautama Buddha was bom in a Shakya Kshatriya family in
Kapilavastu.
● 487 B.C.E. The First Buddhist Council.
● 387 B.C.E. The Second Buddhist Council.
● 251 B.C. The Third Buddhist Council.

Chapter 5 Through the Eyes of Travellers

Perceptions of Society
● Many foreign travellers visited India during medieval period. They came to
India for several motives.
● Most of the travellers who came to India wrote their accounts.
● The accounts of these travellers dealt with various aspects. Some travellers
accounts deal with the affairs of the court whereas few accounts are
focussed on religious issues.
● Some travellers create about the contemporary style of architecture and
monuments, whereas other depicts the social and economic life.
● The travellers who visited India presented the true picture of Indian
civilisation in their accounts.
● Al-Biruni, a great scholar of central Asia, came to India in the 11th century.
He arrived India during the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni.
● Al-Biruni was bom on 4 Sept. 973 at Khwarizm in Uzbekistan.
● Al-Biruni was well-versed in many languages. Languages such as Arabic,
Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit were known to him.
● Al-Biruni’s most outstanding work ‘Kitab-ul-Hind’ was written in Ghazni and
was concerned India. It was also known as Tarikh-ul-Hind and
Tahqiq-ma-lil-Hind.
● Al-Biruni has thrown a light on caste system prevailing in the Hindu society.
● According to Al-Biruni’s description India’s economic condition was very
good.
● Al-Biruni’s real name was Abu-Abdullah Muhammad. He was fond of
travelling and wanted to increase his knowledge by establishing his contact
with the people of different countries.
● He travelled thirty years of his life.
● The great traveller of Morocco died in 1377, but the account written by him
‘Rihla’ is of immense wealth.
● After returning to Morocco in 1354 he (Ibn Battuta) was ceremoniously
welcomed by ‘Sultan’, Abu Iram.
● Sultan Abu Iram appointed Ibijuzayy to help Battuta to compile his account
‘Rihla’.
● Rihla was written in Arabic. In it describe whatever he saw in India.
● Undoubtedly Tlihla’ is considered as an invaluable source of Indian History
in the 14th century.
● Francois Bernier was a French traveller who came to India in 17th century.
● Francois Bernier was a great French doctor, philosopher and an historian
who remained in India from 1656 to 1688 and wrote his famous book
entitled. “Travels in the Mughal court”.
● Francois has given great detail about Indian Kharkhenas. Town, land
ownership system and social evil, i.e. sati system.
● Abdur Razzaq the great Iranian scholar came to India in 15th century. He
was born in 1413 and was appointed the Qazi of Samarqand under Shah
Rokh Khan.
● Abdur Razzaq stayed in the court of Vijayanagara empireDeva Raya II from
1442-1443 and gave a vind description about the Vijayanagara kingdom.
 ● Duarte Barbosa was a Portugese official in south India, who travelled
Vijayanagara Empire during the reign of Krishna Deva Raya in 1518.
● Among the other important travellers who came to India in medieval period
were Antonio Monserrate, Peter Mundy, Jean Baptisite Tavernier, Franciso
Pelesart and Nikolo Muncci.

Our knowledge of the past can be enriched through the’descriptions of social life
provided by travellers who visited the sub-continent. Generally, they recorded everyday
activities and practices of common men along with the descriptions of the kings.
Al-Biruni, Ibn Battuta and Francois Bernier were three famous travelers who visited the
sub-continent from 11th century to 17th century.

Al-Biruni and the Kitab-ul-Hind:

● Al-Biruni was born in 973 at Khwarizm in present day Uzbekistan.

● He was well-versed in different languages like Syriac, Arabic, Persian,
Hebrew and Sanskrit.
● In 1017 with the invasion of Khwarizm, he arrived in Ghazni as a hostage.
But gradually developed a liking for the city and interest for India.
● When the Punjab became a part of the Ghaznavid empire, he travelled
widely in the Punjab and other parts of Northern India.
● He spent years in the company of Brahmana priests and scholars by
learning Sanskrit and studying religions and philosophical texts.
● Al-Biruni wrote ‘Kitab-ul-Hind’ in Arabic, in a simple and lucid manner.
● It is a voluminous text including 80 chapters covering subjects like religion,
philosophy, festivals, astronomy, alchemy, manners and customs, social life,
weights and measures, iconography, laws and metrology.
● Al-Biruni was familiar with translations and adaptations of Sanskrit, Pali
and Prakrit texts into Arabic. However, he was also critical about the ways
in which these texts were written, and clearly wanted to improve on them.

Al-Biruni’s View About Indian Society:

● According to Al-Biruni, Sanskrit was so different from Arabic and Persian

that ideas and concepts could not be translated easily from one language
to another.
 ● Al-Biruni tried to explain the caste system by comparing it with other
societies. He tried to suggest that social divisions were not unique to India.
● Al-Biruni depended on the Vedas, the Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita, the works
of Patanjali, the Manusmriti, etc.
● Sanskrit texts laid down the rules of caste system from the point of view of
Brahmanas, but in real life the system was not quite so rigid.

Ibn Battuta and his Book Rihla:

● Ibn Battuta wrote the book ‘Rihla’ in Arabic. This book provides extremely
rich and interesting detail about the social and cultural life in the
sub-continent in the 14th century.
● Ibn Battuta went to far-off places, exploring new worlds and peoples.
● Before coming to India, he travelled extensively to Syria, Iraq, Persia, Yemen,
Oman, Mecca and a few trading ports on the coast of East Africa.
● When he came to Delhi, Muhammad-bin- Tughlaq was the Sultan of Delhi.
The Sultan was impressed by his scholarship and appointed him the ‘qazi’
or judge of Delhi.
● He visited Bengal, Assam, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and China.
● He meticulously recorded his observations about new cultures, peoples,
beliefs, values, etc.
● Travelling was not secure at that time. During his travel, Ibn Battuta was
attacked by bands of robbers several times and was severely wounded.
● Ibn Battuta spent several years travelling through North Africa, West Asia,
parts of Central Asia, the Indian sub-continent and China and recorded
extensively his experiences.

Battuta’s Description of Indian Society:

● In the 14th century, Indian sub-continent had its contact from China in the
East to North West Africa and Europe in the West. Ibn Battuta travelled
through these lands and arrived at Delhi in the 14th century after visiting
sacred shrines, meeting with rulers, learned men and people who spoke
Arabic, Persian, Turkish and other languages. He shared ideas, information
and anecdotes.
● While describing Indian society, Ibn Battuta explained the unfamiliar things
like coconut and paan in a unique way.
 ● Ibn Battuta found the cities of India densely populated and prosperous.
According to him, Delhi was the largest city in India. He also had the same
view for Daulatabad (in Maharashtra).
● The bazaars (markets) were the places of economic transactions and also
the hub of social and cultural activities. There were masjids and temples to
offer prayers and also some bazaars marked with spaces for public
performances by dancers, musicians and singers.
● Ibn Battuta found Indian agriculture very productive because of the fertility
of the soil where farmers tend to cultivate two crops a year.
● Indian manufacturing flourished due to inter-Asian network of trade and
commerce. These were in great demand in both West Asia and South-East
Asia where artisans and merchants were fetching huge profits.
● Indian textiles, specially cotton cloth, fine muslins, silks, brocade and satin
were also in great demand.
● Ibn Battuta was amazed by the efficiency of the postal system which was
of two kinds, the horse-post called ‘uluq’ and the foot-post called ‘dawa’.

Francois Bernier: A French Traveller

● A number of Portuguese, Dutch, English and French travellers came to India

in the 16th and 17th century. Of them, Jesuit Roberto Nobili, Duarte
Barbosa, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and Manucci wrote different aspects of
Indian society.
● French doctor, political philosopher and historian Francois Bernier spent
twelve years (1656 to 1668) in India and was closely associated with the
Mughal court.
● Bernier travelled to several parts of India and wrote detailed accounts by
comparing the situation in India with Europe.
● His works were published in France in 1670-71, and translated into English,
Dutch, German and Italian. His writings became extremely popular.

Bernier and His View About Contemporary Society:

● As compared to Ibn Battuta, Bernier believed in a different intellectual

tradition where he was more critical. He compared and contrasted what he
saw in India with the situation in Europe in general and France in particular.
● Bernier’s book ‘Travels in the Mughal Empire’ is marked by detailed
observations, critical insights and reflection. He constantly compared
 Mughal India with contemporary Europe, generally emphasising the
superiority of the latter.
● According to him, the Mughal emperor owned all the lands and distributed
it among his nobles and it led to disastrous consequences for economy
and society. This perception was supported by most of the travellers of that
period.
● As having no legal right over land, landholders could not pass on their land
to their childern. Thus, they avoid any kind of long-term investment in the
sustenance and expansion of production.
● This crown ownership system of land ruined the agriculture as well as the
living standard of all sections of society, except the ruling aristocracy
w’hich oppressed the peasant class.
● He explained that because of crown ownership of land, Indian society has
no social group or class between the poorest of the poor and the richest of
the rich. He further said, “There is no middle state in India”.
● Bernier described Mughal king as the king of “beggars and barbarians”. But
Abul Fazl gave a different account by describing revenue as a claim made
by the ruler on his subjects for the protection he provides, rather than as
rent on land that he owned.
● Bernier’s descriptions influenced Western theorists from the 18th century
onwards. For instance, French philosopher Montesquieu used this account
to develop the idea of oriental despotism and in the 19th century, Karl Marx
used this account to develop the Asiatic mode of production.
● He also explained that India had a more complex social reality where
artisans had no incentive to improve the quality of their products as profits
were appropriated by the state. But at the same time, he added that the
country used to exchange its manufacturing goods with the precious
metals
● gold and silver, from outside the sub-continent. Whereas he also noticed
existence of a prosperous merchant community as well.
● There were all kinds of towns i.e. manufacturing towns, trading towns,
port-towns, sacred centres, pilgrimage towns, etc.
● The different urban groups included mahajans, sheth, nagarsheth, hakim or
vaid, pundit or mulla, wakii, painters, architects, musicians, calligraphers,
etc.

Views of Travellers about Women:

 ● Slaves were openly sold in markets with horses, camels and other
commodities.
● I bn Battuta mentioned that there was considerable differentiation among
slaves.
● Slaves were generally used for domestic labour and female slaves were
used for the service of Sultan and to keep a watch on the nobles.
● Bernier wrote about the practice of’Sati’. He noted that while some women
seemed to embrace death cheerfully, others were forced to die.
● Women’s labour was crucial in both agricultural and non-agricultural
production.
● Women from merchant families participated in commercial activities.
● Travellers’ accounts provide us important information of that period but
many aspects of social life were unnoticed by them.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 5 Important Terms:

● Hindu: The term “Hindu’ was derived from an old Persian word which was
used in 6th century BCE. It referred to the region towards the east of the
river Sindhu, i.e. Indus.
● Antyaja: Those people who were included in the major four castes prevalent
in the Indian society.
● Tarababad: It means the music market in Daultabad.
● Ulaq: Hose postal system.
● Daw: Foot postal system.
● Camp Towns: Those towns which owed their existence and survival to the
imperial camp.

Time Line:

● 973 – Al-Biruni was bom in Uzbekistan

● 1031 – Kitub-ul-Hind in Arabic by Al-Biruni was published
● 1048 – Death fo Al-Biruni
● 1304 – Ibn Battuta bom at Tangier
● 1333 – Ibn Battuta’s reached Sindh
● 1354 – Ibn Battuta’s return to Morocco
● 1377 – Rihla was published
 ● 1620 – Francisco-Pelsart a Dutch traveller reached India
● 1628 – Petermundy of England visited India
● 1656-68 – Francois Bernier visited India

Chapter 6 Bhakti-Sufi Traditions Changes in

Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts
● From 8th-18th century Bhakti Movement, Islam and Sufi movement played
an important role in the history of medieval India.
● The Alvars and the Nayanars were considered as the founder of Bhakti
movement in southern India.
● The Alvars were the devotees of Lord Vishnu, while the Nayanars followed
Shaivism.
● Both Alvars and Nayanar strongly criticised the social and religious
malpractices prevalent in the society.
● Two women saints-Andal of Alvars and Karaikkal of Ammaiyar of Nayanars
played a valuable role in giving a new direction to the society.
● The Cholas, Pallavas, and Chalukya patronised both Alvar and Nayanar cult.
● Basavanna founded Virashaivas or Lingayats in Karnataka and played a
valuable role in the development of his cult.
● Islam was founded by prophet Muhammad in 7th century in Azabia.
● The pillars of Islam are;
● Reutors Raima
● Namaz
● Ranja
● Zakat
● Hajj
● The holy book of Islam is Quran Shariff. It has been written in Arabic and
has 114 chapters.
● According to Muslim tradition Quran is the compilation of those message
which god (Allah) had sent to prophet Muhammad between 610-632 at
Mecca and Madina through his envoy Archangel Jibris.
● During Medieval period in India Sufism emerged as a powerful
movement.Sufis were so called because of the purity (safa) of their hearts.
They are in the first queue before god. Some others are of
 ● the views that Sufi’s were called so because of their habit of wearing wool
(suf).
● Unity in God, complete self-surrender, charity, Ibadat, love for mankinds, etc.
are the main teaching of Sufism.
● Sufi silsilas begin to emerge in Islamic world.
● The important silsilas of Islam are;
● The Chishti Silsila
● The Suhrawardi Silsila
● The Qadiri Silsila
● The Naqshbandi Silsila
● Data Gunj Bakhsh, Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, Shaikh Qutbuddin. Bakhtiyar
Kaki, Fariduddin Gunj-i Shakar, and Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya are some of
the prominent Sufi Shaikhs in India.
● Ziyarat meant pilgrimage to the tombs of sufi saints. Its main objective was
to seek the spiritual grace from the Sufi.
● Music and dance are an important part of Ziyarat.
● The Sufis believed that music and dance evoke divine ecstasy in human
heart.
● The religious gathering of Sufism is known as Sama.
● The qual is an Arabic word which meant ‘saying’. It was sung at opening or
closing of the qawwals.
● The devotional worship of god with the ultimate objective of attaining
moksha is called Bhakti. The word Bhakti was derived from the root ‘Bhaj’
meaning to adore.
● The Bhaktis who were against the worship of avatars and idol worship are
known as saints. Kabir, Guru Nanak Dev ji and successor of Guru Nanak
Dev ji are the prominent Bhakti Saints.
● The impact of the Bhakti movement on the Indian Society was significant
and far-reaching.

A variety of religious structures like stupas, monastries, temples are found in the
sub-continent by the mid-first millennium CE. Textual resources like the Puranas, music
in different regional languages, hagiographies of saints were also found. These sources
provide us with insight into a dynamic and diverse scenario.

Various Religious Beliefs and Practices:

 ● A wide range of Gods and Goddesses were found in sculpture as well as in
texts. Puranic texts were composed and complied in simple Sanskrit
language which could be accessible to women and Shudras, who were
generally deprived of vedic learning. Many beliefs and practices were
shaped through continuous mingling of Puranic traditions with local
traditions. Jagannatha cult of Odisha was the local deity made of wood by
local tribal specialists and recognised as a form of Vishnu.
● The local deities were often incorporated within the Puranic framework, by
providing them with an identity as wife of the principal deities. For e.g. they
were equated with Lakshmi, wife of Vishnu, or Parvati, wife of Shiva. Tantric
practices were widespread in several parts of sub-continent. It influenced
Shaivism as well as Buddhism.
● The principal deities of the Vedic pantheon Agni, Indra and Soma were
rarely visible in textual or visual representations. All other religious beliefs,
e.g. Buddhism, Jainism, Tantric Practices ignored the authority of the
vedas. The singing and chanting of devotional composition became a
mode of worship particularly true for the Vaishnava and Shaiva sects.

Early Traditions of Bhakti:

● Historians classified bhakti traditions into two broad categories i.e. Nirguna
(without attributes) and Saguna (with attributes).
● In the sixth century, Bhakti movements were led by Alvars (devotees of
Vishnu) and Nayanars (devotees of Shiva). They travelled place to place
singing Tamil devotional songs. During their travels, the Alvars and
Nayanars identified certain shrines and later large temples were built at
these places.
● Historians suggested that the Alvars and Nayanars initiated a movement of
protest against the caste system. Nalayira Divyaprabandham composed by
the Alvars was described as the Tamil Veda.
● Women devotees like Andal, Karaikkal Ammariyar composed devotional
music which posed a challenge to patriarchal norms. Under the patronage
of the Chola rulers, large and magnificent temples were constructed at
Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangai Kondacholapuram.
● Tamil Shaiva hymns were sung in the temples under royal patronage.

The Virashaiva Tradition in Karnataka:

 ● A new movement emerged in Karnataka led by a Brahmana named
Basavanna in the 12th century’.
● His followers were known as Virashaivas (heroes of Shiva) or Lingayats
(Wearers of Lingas). Lingayats continue to be an important community in
the region to date.
● The Lingayats challenged the idea of caste, pollution, theory of rebirth etc
and encouraged post-puberty marriage and the remarriage of widows.
● Our understanding of the Virashaiva tradlition is derived from Vachanas
(literally sayings) composed in Kannada by women and men who joined the
movement.

The Virashaiva Tradition in Karnataka:

● A new movement emerged in Karnataka led by a Brahmana named

Basavanna in the 12th century’.
● His followers were known as Virashaivas (heroes of Shiva) or Lingayats
(Wearers of Lingas). Lingayats continue to be an important community in
the region to date.
● The Lingayats challenged the idea of caste, pollution, theory of rebirth etc
and encouraged post-puberty marriage and the remarriage of widows.
● Our understanding of the Virashaiva tradlition is derived from Vachanas
(literally sayings) composed in Kannada by women and men who joined the
movement.

Emergence of Islamic Traditions:

● In the 13th century, Turk and Afghans invaded India and established the
Delhi Sultanate.
● Theoretically, Muslim rulers were to be guided by the Ulama and followed
the rules of Shari’a.
● Non-Muslims had to pay a tax called Jizya and gained the right to be
protected by Muslim rulers.
● Several Mughal rulers including Akbar and Aurangzeb gave land
endowments and granted tax exemptions to Hindu, Jaina, Zoroastrian,
Christian and Jewish religious institutions.
● All those who adopted Islam accepted the five pillars of the faith that are:
● There is one God, Allah, and prophet Muhammad is his
messenger.
 ● offering prayers five times a day (namaz/salat).
● Giving alms (Zakat).
● Fasting during the month of Ramzan (Sawm).
● Performing the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj).
● People were occasionally identified in terms of the region from which they
came. Migrant communities often termed as Mlechchha meant that they
did not observe the norms of caste, society and spoke languages that were
not derived from Sanskrit.

The Growth of Sufism:

● In the early centuries of Islam, a group of religious minded people called

Sufis turned to asceticism and mysticism in protest against the growing
materialism of the caliphate.
● Sufis were critical of the dogmatic definitions and scholastic methods of
interpreting the Quran and sought an interpretation of it on the basis of their
personal experience.
● By the 11th century, Sufism evolved into a well developed movement.
● The suits began to organise communities around the hospice or Khanqah
(Persian) controlled by a teaching master known as Shaikh, Pir or Murshid.
He enrolled disciples (murids) and appointed a successor (Khalifa).
● Sufi Silsila means a chain, signifying a continuous link between master and
disciple, stretching as an unbroken spiritual genealogy to the Prophet
Muhammad.
● When Shaikh died, his tomb-shrine (dargah) became the centre of devotion
for his followers and practice of pilgrimage or ziyarat to his grave,
particularly on death anniversary or urs (or marriage, signifying the union of
his soul with God) started. The cult of Shaikh transformed into wali.

The Chishtis in the Sub-continent:

● The Chishtis were the most important group of Sufis who migrated to India.
● The Khanqah was the centre of social life.
● Shaikh Nizamuddin’s hospice on the banks of river Yamuna in Ghiyaspur in
the fourteenth century was very famous. The Shaikh lived here and met
visitors in the morning and evening.
● There was an open Kitchen (langar) and people from all walks of life came
here from morning till late night.
 ● Visitors who came here included Amir Hasan Sijzi, Amir Khusrau and
Ziyauddin Barani.
● Pilgrimage (Ziyarat) to tombs of Sufi saints was common. It was a practice
for seeking the Sufis spiritual grace (Barakat).
● The most revered shrine was ‘Gharib Nawaz’, the shrine of Khwaja
Muinuddin at Ajmer.
● This shrine was funded by Sultan Ghiyasuddin Khalji of Malwa. Emperor
Akbar visited several times and constructed a mosque within the
compound of dargah.
● Specially trained musicians or qawwals performed music and dance to
evoke divine ecstasy.
● Baba Farid’s compositions in the local language were incorporated in the
Guru Granth Sahib.
● In Karnataka, the Sufis were inspired by the pre-existing bhakti traditions
and composed Dakhani, Lurinama (lullabies) and Shadinama (wedding
songs).
● Sultans of Delhi always preferred the Sufis although there were instances of
conflict between them.

New Devotional Paths in Northern India:

● Kabir was a poet-saint of 14th-15th centuries.

● Kabir’s verses were compiled in three distinct traditions
● The Kabir Bijak is preserved by the Kabirpanth in Uttar Pradesh.
● The Kabir Granthavali is associated with the Dadupanth in
Rajasthan.
● Many of his verses were included in the Adi Granth Sahib.
● Kabir described the ultimate reality as Allah, Khuda, Hazarat and Pir. He
also used terms from vedantic traditions, like alakh, nirakar, brahmin,
atman, etc.
● Kabir accepted all types of philosophy i.e. Vedantic traditions, Yogic
traditions and Islamic ideas.
● Kabir’s ideas probably crystallised through dialogue and debate.
● The message of Guru Nanak is spelt out in his hymns and teachings, where
he advocated a form of Nirguna bhakti.
● According to Guru Nanak, the absolute or ‘rab’ had no gender or form. His
ideas expressed through hymns called ‘Shabad’ in Punjabi.
 ● Guru Arjan compiled Guru Nanak’s hymns along with the hymns of Baba
Farid, Ravidas and Kabir in the Adi Granth Sahib. Later, Guru Gobind Singh
included the compositions of Guru Tegh Bahadur and this scripture was
known as the ‘Guru Granth Sahib.’
● Mirabai was a famous woman-poet of Bhakti tradition. She composed
many songs that were characterised by intense expression of emotions.
● Mirabai’s song inspired poor and low caste people in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
● Shankaradeva in the late fifteenth century was a leading proponent of
Vaishnavism in Assam.
● He emphasised the need for ‘Naam Kirtan’ and encouraged the
establishment of ‘Satra’ or monas tries and ‘naam ghar’ or prayer halls. His
major compositions include the ‘Kirtana-ghosha’.

Religious Traditions of Northern India:

● Religious traditions included a wide variety, written in several different

languages and styles. These ranged from the direct language of the
Vachanas of Basavanna to the Persian farman of the Mughal Emperors.
● Historians have to understand that religious traditions like other traditions,
are dynamic and change over time.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 6 Important terms:

● Great Tradition: The cultural practices of dominant social categories were
called the Great Tradition.
● Little Tradition: These were that tradition which do not correspond with the
Great Tradition.
● Integration of cult: Modes of worship.
● Jagannatha: The lord of the world.
● Tantricism: Worship of the golden.
● Alvar: Devotees of Vishnu in South India.
● Nayanars: Devotees of Shiva in South India.
● Saguna Bhakti: Bhakti focused on the worship of Shiva, Vishnu and Devi.
● Nirguna Bhakti: Worshipping a shapeless or an abstract form of God.
● Tavaram: Collection of Poems in Tamil.
● mama: Religious scholars of Islamic studies.
● Sharia: Law of governing the Muslim community.
● Maktubat: Letters written by Sufi-saints.
 ● Tazkiras: Biographical account of saints.
● Sangat: Religious society under which the followers assembled both in
mornings and evening to listen Guru’s sermons.

Timeline:

● 1206 – Delhi Sultanate was set up

● 1236 – Death of Shaikh Muinuddin Chishti
● 1469 – Birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji
● 1604 – Compilation of Guru Granth Sahib
● 1699 – Foundation of Khalsa Panth by Guru Gobind Singh Ji Some Major
Religious Teachers in the Subcontinent. This Timeline indicates the period
of the major saints and reforms era
● 500-800 – CE Appar, Sambandar, Sundaramurti in Tamil Nadu
● 800-900 – Nammalvar, Manikkavachakar, Andal, Tondaradippodi in Tamil
Nadu The teaching of these saints influence entire the people of India.
● 1000-1100 – Al Hujwiri, Data Ganj Bakhsh in the Punjab, Ramanujacharya in
Tamil Nadu
● 1100-1200 – Basavanna in Karnataka
● 1200-1300 – Jnanadeva, Muktabai in Maharashtra; Khwaja Muinuddin
Chishti in Rajasthan; Bahauddin Zakariyya and Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar in
the Punjab; Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki in Delhi.
● 1300-1400 -Lai Ded in Kashmir, Lai Shahbaz Qalandar in Sind; Nizamuddin
Auliya in Delhi; Ramananda in Uttar Pradesh; Chokhamela in Maharashtra;
Sharafuddin Yahya Maneri in Bihar
● 1400-1500 – Kabir, Raidas, Surdas in Uttar Pradesh; Baba Guru Nanak in the
Punjab; Vallabhacharya in Gujarat; Mir Sayyid Muhammad Gesu Daraz in
Gulbarga, Shankaradeve in Assam; Tukaram in Maharashtra.
● 1500-1600 – Sri Chaitanya in Bengal; Mirabai in Rajasthan; Shaikh Abdul
Quddus Gangohi, Malik Muhammad Jaisi, Tulsidas in Uttar Pradesh.
● 1600-1700 – Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi in Haryana; Miyan Mir in the Punjab.

Chapter 7 An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara

● The Vijayanagara Empire was the most dignified and glorious empire of
South India. Its Capital was Hampi.
● Hampi was discovered by Colin Mackenzie, the first Surveyor General of
India in 1815.
● His (Colin Mackenzie’s) arduous work, gave a new direction to all the future
researcher.
● Alexander Greenlaw took the first detailed photography of Hampi in 1856,
which proved quite useful for the scholar.
● J.F. Fleet in 1876, began compilation and documentation of the inscription
from the walls of the walls of temples in Hampi.
● John Marshall began the conservation of Hampi in 1902.
● In 1976, Hampi was declared as a site of national importance and in 1986 it
was declared as world Heritage centre.
● Vijayanagara Empire was founded by the two brothers, Harihara and Bukka
in 14th century.
● The ruler of Vijayanagara empire were called Rayas.
● The most powerful ruler of Vijayanagara empire was Krishnadeva Raya.
During his tenure, the empire touched its glory.
● Administration of the Vijayanagara Empire was very good and its people
were very happy.
● The Vijayanagara Empire began to decline by 16th century and this might
empire ended in 17th century.
● Four dynasties ruled over Vijayanagara:
● The Sangama Dynasty
● The Saluvas Dynasty
● The Tuluva Dynasty
● The Aravidu Dynasty
● The Sangama Dynasty founded the empire, Saluva expanded it, Saluva took
it to the pinnacle of its glory, but it begun declined under Aravidu.
● Various causes such as weak central government, weak successors of
Krishnadeva Raya, different dynasties struggles against the Bahamani
Empire, weak empire, etc. contributed in the downfall of the empire.
● The most striking feature of the empire was its water requirement were met
from natural barn formed by the Tungabhadra river.
● The ruler of Vijayanagara also had made vast fortification. The
archaeologist made an elaborated study of roads within the city and the
roads which led one out of the city.
● The Royal centres were located in the south-western part of the settlement,
which included over sixty times.
 ● The sacred centre was situated on the rocky northern end on the bank of
the river Tungabhadra. According to tradition rocky hill served as a shelter
to the monkey Kingdom of Bali and Sugriva which were mentioned in the
Ramayana.

Vijayanagara or ‘City of Victory’ was the home of both a city and an empire. It stretched
from the river Krishna in the North to the extreme South of the Peninsula. People
remembered it as Hampi, a name derived from that of the local mother Goddess,
‘Pampadevi’.

Rise of Vijayanagara:

● Two brothers Harihara and Bukka founded the Vijayanagara empire in 1336.
The rulers of Vijayanagara called themselves as ‘Rayas’.
● Vijayanagara was famous for its markets dealing in spices, textiles and
precious stones. The trade of import of horses from Arabia and Central
Asia was controlled by Arab and Portuguese traders and also by local
merchants (Kudirai Chettis).
● Trade was often regarded as a status symbol for this city. The revenue
derived from trade in turn contributed significantly to the prosperity of the
state.

Dynasties and Rulers of Vijayanagara:

● Vijayanagara was ruled by different dynasties like Sangama, Salavas and

Tuluvas. Krishnadeva Raya belonged to Tuluva dynasty, whose rule was
characterised by expansion and consolidation of Vijayanagara.
● During the rule of Krishnadeva Raya, Vijayanagara flourished under the
conditions of unparalleled peace and prosperity. Krishnadeva Raya
established some fine temples and gopurams and sub-urban township
named Nagalapuram. Alter his death in 1529, his successors were troubled
by rebellious ‘Nayakas’ or military chiefs.
● By 1542, control at the centre had shifted to another ruling-lineage, that of
the Aravidu, which remained in power till the end of the 17th century.
Military chiefs or Nayakas often moved from one area to another
accompanied by peasants broking for fertile land on which to settle. The
Amara-nayaka system, similar to Iqta system of the Delhi sultanate, was a
major political innovation of the Vijayanagara empire.
 ● These were military commanders who were given territories to govern the
‘raya’. The Amara-nayakas sent tribute to the king annually and personally
appeared in the royal court with gifts to express their loyalty.

Geographical Structure and Architecture of Vijayanagara:

● Vijayanagara was characterised by a distinctive physical layout and building

style.
● Vijayanagara was located on the natural basin of the river Tungabhadra
which flows in a North-Easterly direction.
● As this is one of the most arid zones of the Peninsula, many arrangements
were made to store rain water for the city. For e.g. water from
Kamalapuram tank and Hiriya canal was used for irrigation and
communication.
● Abdur Razzaq, an ambassador of Persia, was greatly impressed by the
fortification of the city and mentioned seven lines of forts. These encircled
city as well as its agricultural hinterland and forests.
● The arch on the gateway leading into the fortified settlement and the dome
over the gate were the architectures introduced by the Turkish Sultans and
this was known as Indo-Islamic style.
● There was little archaeological evidence of the houses of ordinary people.
We find description of the houses of ordinary people from the writings of
Portuguese traveller Barbosa.

Hampi:The Historical City:

● The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by Colonel Colin

Mackenzie. To reconstruct the history of the city, sources like the memories
of priests of the Virupaksha temple and the shrine of Pampadevi, several
inscriptions and temples, accounts of foreign travellers and other literature
written in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit played a very important role
in discovering of Hampi.

The Royal Centre of Hampi:

● The royal centre was located in the South-Western part of the settlement
which had more than 60 temples. Thirty building complexes were identified
 as palaces. The king’s palace was the largest of the enclosures and had
two platforms viz. the ‘audience hall’ and the ‘Mahanavami dibba’.
● Located on one of the highest points in the city, the ‘Mahanavami dibba’ is a
massive platform rising from a base of about 11,000 sq ft to a height of 40
ft. Different ceremonies like worship of the image, worship of the state
horse and the sacrifice of buffaloes and other animals were performed in
Vijayanagara. Some beautiful buildings in the royal centre are Lotus Mahal,
Hazara Rama temple, etc.

Temples of Hampi:

● Temple building in this region had a long history. Pallavas, Chalukyas,

Hoysalas, Cholas, all the rulers encouraged temple building. Temples were
developed as religious, social, cultural, economic and learning centres.
Shrines of Virupaksha and Pampadevi w’ere very significant sacred centre.
● The Vijayanagara kings claimed to rule on behalf of the God Virupaksha.
They also indicated their close links by using the title ‘Hindu Suratrana’
(Sanskritisation of the Arabic term Sultan) meaning ‘Hindu Sultan’. In terms
of temple architecture, ‘Rayas’ gopurams or royal gateways and mandapas
or pavilions were developed by the rulers of Vijayanagara.
● Krishnadeva Raya built the hall in front of the main shrine in Virupaksha
temple and he also constructed the Eastern gopuram. The halls in the
temple were used for special programmes of music, dance, drama and
marriages of deities.
● The rulers of Vijayanagara established Vitthala temple. Vitthala, a form of
Vishnu, was generally worshipped in Maharashtra. Some of the most
spectacular gopurams were built by the local Nayakas.

Hampi: As a site of National Importance:

● In 1976, Hampi was recognised as a site of national importance. Over

nearly twenty years, dozens of scholars from all over the world worked to
reconstruct the history of Vijayanagara.
● In the early 1980s detailed survey, using a variety of recording techniques
was done by the Archaeological Survey of India which led to the recovery of
traces of roads, paths, bazaars, etc.
● John M Fritz, George Nichell and MS Nagaraja Rao worked for years and
gave important observation of the site.
 ● The descriptions left by travellers allow us to reconstruct some aspects of
the vibrant life of that times.

Continuing Research About Vijayanagara:

● Buildings that survive convey ideas about the materials and techniques, the
builders or patrons and cultural context of Vijayanagara empire. Thus, we
can understand by combining information from literature, inscriptions and
popular traditions.
● But the investigation of architectural features do not tell us about the
places where ordinary’ people live, what kind of wages did the masons,
stonecutters, sculptors get, how was the building material transported and
so many other questions.
● Continuing research using other sources that available architectural
examples might provide some further clues about Vijayanagara.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 7 Important Terms:

● Karnataka Samrajyamu: Historians used the term Vijayanagara Empire,
contemporaries described it as the
● Karnataka Samrajyamu.
● Gajapati: Literally means the lord of elephants. This was the name of a
ruling lineage that was very powerful in Odisha in the fifteenth century.
● Ashvapati: In the popular traditions of Vijayanagara the Deccan Sultans are
termed as ashavapati of the lord of horses.
● Narapati: In Vijayanagara Empire, the Rayas are called narapati or the lord
of men.
● Yavana: It is a Sanskrit word for the Greeks and other peoples entered the
subcontinent from the north-west.
● Shikara: The top or very high roof of the temples is called Shikhar. Generally,
it can be seen from a reasonable distance by the visitors of the temples.
Under Shikhar we find the idol of main God or Goddess.
● Garbhgrah: This is a central point of the main room located at a central
position of the temple. Generally, every devotee goes near the gate of this
room to pay respect and feelings of devotion to his main duty.

Time line:
 ● 1336 -Foundation of Vijayanagara Empire by Harihara Raya and Bukka
Raya.
● 1483 – Emergence of Saluva Dynasty.
● 1509-1529 Tenure of Krishnadeva Raya.
● 1512 – Krishnadev Raya occupied Raicher Doals.
● 1565 – Battle of Talikata.
● 1570 – Foundation of Aravidu Dynasty.
● 1815 – Col Mackenizie appointed as 1st Surveyor General of India.
● 1856 – Alexander Greenlaw takes the first detailed photographs of
archaeological remains at Hampi.
● 1876 – J.F. Fleet begins documenting the inscription on the temple walls at
the site.
● 1902 – Conservation begins under John Marshall.
● 1986 – Hampi declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

Chapter 8 Peasants, Zamindars and the State

Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire
● During 16th and 17th centuries, nearly 85% of Indian population lived in
villages.
● Agriculture was the main occupation of the people.
● Peasants and landlords were engaged in agricultural production.
● Agriculture, the common occupation of peasants and landlords created a
relationship of co-operation, competition and conflict among them.
● Agriculture was the main source of the revenue of the Mughal Empire. That
was why revenue accessor, collectors and record-keepers always tried to
control the rural society.
● The basic unit of agricultural society was the village. It was inhabitated
mostly by the peasants.
● Peasants were engaged in the agricultural activities through the years.
● Our major sources of the agricultural history of the 16th and 17th centuries
were the chronicles and documents written by the scholars under the
supervision of the Mughal court.
● Ain-i Akbari, written by Abu’l-Fazl has records of arrangements made by the
state for ensuring cultivation, collection of taxes by the state to regulate the
relationship between state and rural zamindar.
● Sources of 17th centuries depict that there were two kinds of peasants.
These were the Khud Kashta and Pahi Kashta.
● Khud Kashta permanently lived in villages. They had their own land and
practised agriculture over there, while the Pahi Kashta cultivated land on a
contractual basis, which originally belonged to someone else.
● Abundance of land, availability of labourers and mobility of the peasants
were the major causes for the expansion of agriculture.
● Rice, wheat and millets were the commonly cultivated crops.
● Agriculture was mainly organised in two major seasons; Rabi and Kharif.
Maximum two crops were sown in a year.
● Monsoon was considered as the backbone of the Indian agriculture during
these days. Hence, agriculture was mainly dependent on rainfall.
● Many new crops like maize, tomatoes, potatoes and chillies were
introduced here from the new world in the 17th century.
● Village panchayat was elected by the assembly of the elders. The headmen
of the panchayat was called Mandal or Muqaddam. He enjoyed his post
until he had the confidence of the elders of village.
● Village panchayat had the right to levy fines and expulsion of anyone from
the community expulsion from the community was a strict step which was
meted out for a limited period.
● It was very difficult to recognise the difference between peasants and
artisans. It was so because both these two groups used to perform both
kinds of works.
● People such as, potters, carpenters, blacksmiths, barbers, goldsmiths, etc.
provided their services to the village men and were compensated through
villagers by a large number of means.
● Jajmani system was also prevalent there. Under this system, blacksmiths,
carpenters and goldsmiths were remumerated by Zamindars of Bengal for
their work by paying them a small daily allowance diet and money.
● Among the landed gentry women enjoyed the right to inherit property.
● The term ‘Jungli’ was used to describe those whose livelihood came from
hunting, gathering and from forest produces.
● Zamindari consolidation was a slow process. It could be done through
various sources like colonisation of new lands, by transfers of rights, with
the order of the state and by purchase. These were those processes which
perhaps permitted lower castes to reach to the ranks of Zamindars.
 ● Zamindars played an important role in colonisation of agricultural land and
helped the setting cultivators by providing them with means of cultivation
and cash loans.
● Ain-i Akbari discussed many matters in details, i.e. the court and
administration of the empire, sources of revenue, literary, cultural and
religious traditions of the people.
● Ain-i-Akbari remained an extraordinary document of its time even after
certain drawbacks.

During the 16th and 17th centuries most of the population of India, i.e. about 85 percent
lived in villages. Both peasants and landed elites were involved in agricultural
production and claimed their rights to have a share of the total produce.

Historical Sources of Agricultural Society and Mughal Empire:

● The basic unit of agricultural society was village, inhabited by peasants

who performed manifold tasks, like-tilling the soil, sowing seeds, harvesting
the crop, etc. Major source for the agrarian history of the 16th and early
17th centuries are chronicles and documents from the Mughal court.

Ain-i-Akbari:

● Most important chronicle was Ain-i Akbari authorised by Akbar’s court

historian Abul Fazl.
● The Ain is made up of five books (daftars), of which the first three books
describe the administration of Akbar’s regime. The fourth and fifth books
(daftars) deal with the religious, literary, and cultural traditions of the people
and also contain a collection of Akbar’s ‘auspicious sayings’.
● Despite of its limitations, Ain remains an extra ordinary document of that
period.

Other Sources:

● The other sources included revenue records of Gujarat, Maharashtra,

Rajasthan and extensive records of the East India Company. All these
provided us with useful descriptions of agrarian relations in Eastern India.
 ● During the Mughal period, pesants were called as raiyat and there were two
kinds of peasants i.e. Khud-Kashta and Pahi-Kashta.
● Khud-Kashta were residents of the village in which they held their lands.
Pahi-Kashta were non-resident cultivators who belonged to some other
village and cultivated lands on contractual basis.
● The constant expansion of agriculture w’as due to the abundance of land,
available labour and the mobility of peasants.
● Monsoons remained the backbone of Indian agriculture, but irrigation
project (digging new canals and repaired old ones) received state support.
● Agriculture was organised around two major seasonal crops, Kharif
(autumn) and the rabi (spring) crops.
● Agriculture in medieval India was not only for subsistence. Mughal state
encouraged peasants to cultivate jins-i-kamil, i.e., perfect crops (cotton,
sugar, etc) for better profit.

Land Revenue System of Mughal Empire:

● Revenue from the land was the economic mainstay of the Mughal empire.
● The office of the diwan, revenue officials and record keeper all became
important for the agricultural domain.
● The land revenue arrangements consisted of two states i.e. first,
assessment (jama) and then actual collection (hasil).
● Both cultivated and cultivable lands were measured in each province.
● At the time of Akbar, lands were divided into polaj, parauti, chachar and
banjar.

The Flow of Silver and its Impact on Economy:

● Voyages of discovery and the opening up of the New World resulted in a

massive expansion of Asia’s, particularly India’s trade with Europe.
● The expanding trade brought in huge amounts of silver bullion into Asia to
pay for goods
● procured from India and a large part of that bullion gravitated towards
India. This was good for India as it did not have natural resources of silver.
● As a result, the period between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries was
marked by a remarkable stability in the silver currency.

Caste Based Village Communities:

 ● There were three constituents of village community, the cultivators, the
panchayat and the village headman (muqaddam or mandal).
● The cultivators were a highly heterogeneous group. Caste inequalities were
there and certain castes were assigned menial tasks and thus faced
poverty.
● There was a direct correlation between caste, poverty and social status at
the lower strata of society.
● Sometimes castes rose in the hierarchy because of their developing
economic conditions.
● In mixed-caste villages the panchayat represented various castes and
communities in the village, though village menial-cum-agricultural worker
were not included in it
● The panchayat was headed by a headman known as muqaddam or mandal.
Panchayat used their funds for community welfare activities.
● The village headman observed the conduct of the members of village
community to prevent any offence against their caste.
● The panchayat had the authority to levy fines and inflict punishment.
● In addition to the village panchayat, each caste or jati in the village had its
own jati panchayat. Jati panchayat enjoyed considerable power in rural
society.
● In most cases, except in matters of criminal justice, the state respected the
decisions of jati panchayats. There were substantial number of artisans in
the villages, sometimes it was as high as 25 percent of the total house
holds.
● Village artisans like potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, barbers, goldsmiths,
etc provided specialized services, in return for which they were
compensated by the villagers.
● Some British officials in the 19th century saw the village as a ‘little republic’
but it was not a sign of rural egalitarianism.
● There was individual ownership of assets and deep inequalities based on
caste and gender distinctions.

Social and Economic Status of Women in Village Communities:

● Women and men had to work shoulder to shoulder in the agricultural fields.
● Men tilled and ploughed, w’hile women sowed, weeded, threshed and
winnowed the harvest. Although biases related to women’s biological
functions did continue.
 ● Many artisanal tasks like spinning yarn, sifting and kneading day for pottery
and embroidery were dependent on female labour.
● Women were considered an important resource in agrarian society because
they were child bearers in a society dependent on labour.
● Sometimes in rural communities the payment of bride-price, remarriage for
both divorced and widowed women were considered legitimate. Women
had the right to inherit property.
● Hindu and Muslim women even inherited zamindaris which they were free
to sell or mortgage.

The Zamindars and their Power:

● The zamindars had extensive personal lands termed milkiyat (property) and
enjoyed certain social and economic privileges in rural society.
● The zamindars often collected revenue on behalf of the state.
● Most zamindars had fortresses as well as an armed contingent comprising
units of cavalry’, artillery and infantry. In this period, the relatively ‘lower’
castes entered the rank of zamindars as zamindaris
● were bought and sold quite briskly.
● Although, there can be little doubt that zamindars were an exploitative
class, their relationship with the peasantry had an element of reciprocity,
paternalism and patronage.

Forests and Tribes:

● Forest dwellers known as ‘jangli’ were those whose livelihood came from
the gathering of forest produce, hunting and shifting agriculture.
● Sometimes the forest was a subversive place, a place of refuge for
troublemakers.
● Forest people supplied elephants to the kings.
● Hunting was a favourite activity for the kings, sometimes it enabled the
emperor to travel extensively in his empire and personally attended the
grievances of his subjects.
● Forest dwellers supplied honey, bees wax, gum lac, etc.
● Like the ‘big men’ of the village community tribes also had their chieftains.
● Many tribal chiefs had become zamindars, some even became kings.
● Tribes in the Sind region had armies comprising of 6,000 cavalry and 7,000
infantry.
Class 12 History Notes Chapter 8 Important Terms:
● Raiyat: It is used to denote a peasant in Indo-Persian sources.
● Hasil: It was the actual amount of revenue collected.
● Khud-kashta Peasants: The peasants who were the residents of the village
in which they had their lands.
● Pahi-kashta: The peasants who generally belonged to another village.
● Shroff: A money changer who also acts as a banker.
● Amin: The officials that were responsible for imperial regulations.
● Pargana: An administrative subdivision.
● Jama: The assessed amount and to be collected as revenue.

Time line:

● 1526 – Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat and became the first
Mughal Emperor.
● 1530-40 – The first phase of Humayun’ reign.
● 1540-55 – Humayun was defeated by Sher Shah in exiled at Safavid court.
● 1555-1605 – Humayun regains his lost territories.
● 1556-1605 – Rule of Akbar
● 1605-1627 – Rule of Jahangir
● 1628-1658 – Rule of Shah Jahan
● 1658-1707 – Rule of Aurangzeb
● 1739 – Nadir Shah attacked India and ransacked Delhi
● 1761 – In the third battle of Panipat, Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the
Marathas.
● 1765 – The diwani of Bengal transferred to the East India Company.
● 1857 – The last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah II was deposed by the British
and exiled to Rangoon.

Chapter 9 Kings and Chronicles The Mughal

Courts
● Chronicles of the Mughal Emperor provides us valuable informations about
the institution of Mughal state. These texts clearly depicted the policies of
Mughal Empire which they sought to impose on their domain.
● Babur was the founder of Mughal Empire. His grandson, Akbar, was
considered as the greatest Mughal Emperor.
● Akbar did not only consolidate his empire but also made it one of the
strongest empires of his time.
● Mughal chronicles were written by mostly Mughal courtiers, who mainly
focused on the events related to the rulers, their family, the court and wars
and the administration.
● Persian was used as the main language.
● Paintings were done on the choronicles to make them attractive.
● Two most important illustrated Mughal official histories were—Akbar Nama
and Badshah Nama.
● According to Abu’l Fazl, the Mughal emperor had the responsibility to
protect the Jan, Mai, names and din of his subject.
● Shahjahan’s daughter Jahanara took part in many architectural planning of
new capital of the empire, Shahjahanbad.
● Imperial Kitabkhana were the main centres for the creation of manuscripts.
Painters played an important role in the creation of Mughal manuscripts.
● Paper-makers required to prepare folio of manuscripts, calligrapher copied
the text, gilders illuminated the pages, painter illustrated the scene from the
text, bookbinders collected the individual folios and set them within
ornamental covers.
● Akbar Nama has three volumes. Every volume contained information of ten
lunar years. Its first two volumes were written by Lahori, which were later on
revised by Wazir Sadullah Khan. The third volume is written by wazir,
because at that time Lahori became very old and was unable to write.
● Gulbadan Begum wrote Humayun Nama. It gives us a glimpse into the
domestic world of Mughals.
● Jharokha darshan was introduced by Akbar. According to the emperor it
began his day at sunrise with a few religious prayer and then used to
appear in a small balcony, i.e. the Jharokha in East direction. Below, a
crowd wanted to have a look of the emperor.
● Court histories of the Mughals were written in Persian language in the 10th
/17th centuries came from different parts of the subcontinents and they are
now the Indian languages.
● All Mughal government officials held rank with two designation—zat and
sawar. In the 17th century, mansabdar of 1,000 Zat or above was ranked as
nobles.
The monarchs of the Mughal Empire considered themselves as legitimate rulers of vast
Indian sub-continent. They appointed court historians to write on accounts of their
achievements. Modern historians called these texts as chronicles, as they presented a
continuous chronological record of events.

The Mughals and Their Empire:

● The name Mughal derives from the term ‘Mongol’. The Mughals were
descendants of the Turkish ruler Timur on the paternal side. Zahiruddin
Babur was related to Ghenghis Khan from his mother’s side.
● Babur was driven from Farghana by the warring Uzbeks. First he
established himself at Kabul and then in 1526 came to Indian
sub-continent.
● Babur’s successor, Nasiruddin Humayun (1530-40, 1555-56) expanded the
frontiers of the empire, but lost it to the Afghan leader Sher Shah Sur. In
1555, Humayun defeated the Surs, but died a year later.
● Jalaluddin Akbar (1556-1605) was the greatest of all the Mughal emperors.
He expanded and consolidated his empire making it the largest, strongest
and richest.
● Akbar had three fairly able successors Jahangir (1605-27), Shah Jahan
(1628-58) and Aurangzeb (1658-1707). After the death of Auranzeb (1707),
the power of Mughal dynasty diminished.

Different Chronicles of Mughals:

● Chronicles commissioned by the Mughal emperors are an important source

for studying the empire and its court.
● The authors of Mughal chronicles were invariably courtiers. The famous
chronicles are Akbar Nama, Shahjahan Nama and Alamgir Nama.
● Turkish was the mother tongue of Mughals, but it was Akbar who made
Persian the leading language of Mughal court.
● Persian became Indianised by absorbing local idioms. Urdu sprang from
the interaction of Persian with Hindavi.
● All books in Mughal India were handwritten manuscripts and were kept in
Kitabkhana . i.e. scriptorium.
● The creation of a manuscript involved paper makers, scribes or
calligraphers, gilders, painters, bookbinders, etc.
 ● Akbar’s favourite calligraphy style was the nastaliq, a fluid style with long
horizontal strokes. Muhammad Husayn of Kashmir was one of the finest
calligraphers at Akbar’s court who was honoured with the title ‘Zarrin
Kalam’ (Golden pen).

The Paintings of Mughal Period:

● Abu’l Fazl described painting as a ‘magical art’, but the production of

painting was largely criticised by the Ulama, as it was prohibited by the
Quran as well as by the ‘hadis’.
● Hadis described life event of prophet Muhammad which restricted the
deception of living beings as they regarded it as function of God.
● The Safavid kings and the Mughal Emperors patronised the finest artists
like Bihzad, Mir Sayyid Ali, Abdus Samad, etc.

Historical Text of Mughals: Akbar Nama and the Badshah.Nama:

● The Akbar Nama written by Abu’l Fazl is divided into three books, of which
the third one is Ain-i Akbari which provided a detailed description of Akbar’s
regime.
● The Badshah Nama was written by Abul Hamid Lahori about the reign of
Shahjahan. Later, it was revised by Sadullah Khan.
● The Asiatic Society of Bengal founded by Sir William Jones in 1784
undertook the editing, printing and translation of many Indian manuscripts,
including Akbar Nama and Badshah Nama.

The Ideal Kingdom of Mughal Empire:

● Iranian Sufi thinker Suhrawardi developed the idea that there was a
hierarchy in which the Divine Light was transmitted to the king who then
became the source of spiritual guidance for his subjects.
● The Mughal artists, from the 17th century onwards began to portray
emperor wearing the haloto symbolise the light of God.
● Abu’l Fazl described the ideal of Sulh-i kul (absolute peace) as the
cornerstone of enlightened rule.
● In sulh-i kul all religions and schools of thought had freedom of expression
but they did not undermine the authority of the state or fight among
themselves.
 ● Akbar abolished the discriminating pilgrimage tax in 1563 and Jizya in
1564.
● Abu’l Fazl defined sovereignty as a social contract i.e., the emperor
protected life, property, honour and faith and in return demanded obedience
and a share of resources.

Capitals and Courts of the Mughals:

● The capital cities of the Mughals frequently shifted during the 16th and
17th centuries.
● Babur took over the Lodhi capital of Agra.
● In 1570, Akbar decided to build a new capital, Fatehpur Sikri.
● Akbar commissioned the construction of a white marble tomb for Shaikh
Salim Chisthi at Sikri. He also constructed Buland Darwaza here after the
victory in Gujarat.
● In 1585 the capital was shifted to Lahore to bring the North-West in control
and to watch the frontier.
● In 1648, under the rule of Shah Jahan, the capital was transferred to
Shahjahanabad with the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, the Chandni Chowk and
spacious homes for the nobility.
● In Mughal Court, status was determined by spatial proximity to the king.
● Once the emperor sat on the throne, no one was permitted to move from
his position without permission.
● The forms of salutation to the ruler indicated the person’s status in the
hierarchy.
● The emperor began his day at sunrise with personal religious devotions and
then appeared on a small balcony, the jharoka for the view (darshan) of his
subjects.
● After that the emperor walked to the public hall of audience (Diwan-i-am) to
conduct the primary business of his government.
● The Mughal kings celebrated three major festivals in a year i.e. the solar
and lunar
● birthdays of the Monarch and Nauroz, the Iranian New Year on the vernal
equinox.
● Grand titles were adopted by the Mughal emperors at the time of
coronation or after a victory.
● The titles like Asaf Khan, Mirza Raja were given to the nobles.
 ● Whenever a courtier met with the emperor, he had to offer nazr (a small
amount of money) or peshkash (a large amount of money).

The Mughal Household:

● The term ‘harem’ was used to refer to the domestic world of the Mughals.
● The Mughal household consisted of the emperor’s wives and concubines,
his near and distant relatives (mother, step-and foster-mothers, sisters,
daughters, daughters-in-law, aunts, children, etc) and female servants and
slaves.
● Polygamy was practised widely by the ruling class.
● Both the Rajputs and the Mughals took marriage as a way at cementing
political relationships and forging alliances.
● After Noor Jahan, Mughal queens and princesses began to control
significant financial resources.
● The bazaar of Chandni Chowk was designed by Jahanara.
● Gulbadan Begum, daughter of Babur wrote ‘Humayun Nama’ which was
considered as an important source of Mughal Empire.

The Officials in Mughal Administration:

● In Mughal period, the nobility was recruited from diverse ethnic and
religious group. In Akbar’s imperial service Turani and Iranian nobles played
a dominant role.
● Two ruling groups of Indian origin, the Rajputs and the Indian Muslims
(Shaikhzadas) entered the imperial service from 1560 onwards.
● The emperor personally reviewed changes in rank, titles and official
postings.
● Akbar designed mansab system which established spiritual relationships
with a select band of his nobility by treating them as his disciples.
● Some important officials were Mir Bakshi (paymaster general), Diwan-i ala
(Finance minister) and sadr-us-sudur (minister of grants and incharge of
appointing local judges or qazis), etc. The keeping of exact and detailed
rewards was a major concern of the Mughal administration.
● The Mir Bakshi supervised the corps of court writers who recorded all
applications and documents of courts.
● News reports and important official documents travelled across the Mughal
Empire by imperial post which included round-the-clock relays of
 foot-runners (qasid or pathmar) carried papers rolled up in bamboo
containers.
● The division of functions established at the centre was replicated in the
provinces (subas),
● The local administration was looked after the level of the paragana by three
semi-hereditary officers, the qanungo (keeper of revenue records), the
chaudhuri (incharge of revenue collection) and the qazi.
● Persian language was made the language of administration throughout, but
local languages were used for village accounts.

Jesuit Missionaries in the Mughal Court:

● Mughal Emperors assumed many titles like Shahenshah, Jahangir, Shah

Jahan, etc,
● All conquerors who sought to make their way into the Indian sub-continent
had to cross the Hindukush mountains. Thus, the Mughal tried to ward off
this potential danger, and tried to control Kabul and Qandahar.
● Europe got knowledge of India through the accounts of Jesuit missionaries,
travellers, merchants and diplomats.
● Akbar was curious about Christianity and the first Jesuit mission reached
the Mughal Court at Fatehpur Sikri in 1580.
● The Jesuit accounts are based on personal observation and shed light on
the character and mind of the emperor.

Akbar’s Quest for Religion:

● Akbar’s quest for religions knowledge led to interfaith debates in the Ibadat
Khana at Fatehpur Sikri, between learned Muslims, Hindus, Jainas, Parsis
and Christians.
● Increasingly, Akbar moved away from the orthodox Islamic ways of
understanding religions towards a self-conceived eclectic form of divine
worship focused on light and sun.
● Akbar and Abu’l Fazl tried to create a philosophy of light and used it to
shape the image of the king and ideology of the state. King was a divinely
inspired individual who had supreme sovereignty over his people and
complete control over his enemies.
● With these liberal ideas, the Mughal rulers could effectively controlled the
heterogeneous population of Indian sub-continent for a century and a half.
Class 12 History Notes Chapter 9 Important terms:
● Chronicles: It is a continuous chronological record of events.
● Manuscript: The handwritten records.
● Divine theory of kingship: The king was believed as the representative of
god, acquired his powers from him and therefore had to be obeyed.
● Sulh-i-kul: It is state policy of religious tolerance.
● Jizya: A tax imposed on non-muslims in lieu of military service.
● Mansabdar: All royal officers were known as mansabdars.
● Chahar taslim: A form of salutation to the emperor which is done four
times.
● Tajwiz: A petion presented to the emperor by a nobleman recommending an
application to the post of a mansabdar.

Time line:

● 1526 – Babur established Mughal dynasty in India.

● 1530 – Humayun succeeds the Mughal throne.
● 1556 – After the second battle of Panipat Akbar succeeds to the throne.
● 1563 – Akbar abolished the pilgrimage tax.
● 1585 – Akbar shifted his capital from Fatehpur Sikri to Lahore.
● 1589 – Babur Nama was translated in Persian and Abu’l Fazl wrote the
Akbar Nama.
● 1605-22 – Jahangir wrote Jahangir Nama.
● 1648 – Shahjahanabad became the new capital of the Mughal Empire.
● 1668 – Alamgir Nama was written by Muhammad Kazim. It gives a
historical account of the first decade of Aurangzeb’s rule.
● 1707 – Aurangzeb died.
● 1857 – The last ruler of the Mughal dynasty was overthrown by the British.

Chapter 10 Colonialism and the Countryside:

Exploring Official Archives
● In India British rule was first of all established in Bengal.
 ● Permanent settlement of land revenue was adopted in Bengal in 1793.
● The economic measure adopted by the British government made India a
consumer of goods manufactured in England.
● By the end of the 18th century when zamindars were facing a crisis, A
group of such peasants, on other hand, was consolidating their position in
the villages.
● With the emergence of the power of zamindars had considerably
diminished. They did not surrender easily. So they devised many ways to
withstand the pressure and keep their central focus on their zamindaris.
● At the end of 18th century, the most adverse effect of the colonial rule fell
on the economic condition of the peasants.
● As a result of the British occupation of India the Indian economy faced
disastrous consequences. To fulfil their vested interests, they shattered
their tradition and structure of Indian economy.
● Because of the decline of Indian industry, Indian weavers and craftswoman
were completely made jobless. The industries in Surat, Dhaka,
Murshidaabad, etc which were once flourishing were destroyed.
● Historians like Percival Spear, P.E. Robat and R.C. Dutt have praised
permanent settlement of land revenue, because
● Government Income became stable
● Administration became efficient
● British rule got stable.
● Permanent settlement of Revenue was also criticised on the basis of—
● It did not proved beneficial for Zamindars.
● It ingrained the interest of cultivators.
● Burden of taxes fell on other classes.
● Mahalwari system of land revenue was implemented in Punjab. The group
of villages were called ‘Mahal’. So the system was known as Mahalwari
system.
● The objective of the Fifth Report was to restrain and control the activities of
East India company in India.

The East India Company of England established its control in the countryside and
implemented its revenue policies. In this chapter, we will discuss what these policies
meant to people and how these changed the daily lives of people.

Bengal and the Zamindars:

 ● Colonial rule was first established in Bengal. In Bengal, East India Company
tried to reorder the rural society and establish new land rights and new
revenue system.
● There was an auction held at Burdwan (present day Bardhaman) in 1797,
which was popularly known as Grand Public Event.
● Company fixed the revenue and each zamindar was supposed to pay. This
fixing of revenue was done under the Permanent Settlement and it become
operational from year 1793.
● The Zamindars who failed to pay the revenue, their estate was auctioned to
recover the revenue. But sometimes it was found that the purchasers at
auction were servants and agents of the zamindar himself, e.g. auction in
Burdwan.

The Problem of Unpaid Revenue:

● The British officials fell that agriculture, trade and the revenue resources of
the state could be developed by encouraging investment in agriculture. This
could be done by securing rights of property and permanently fixing the
rates of revenue demand.
● Company felt that when revenue will be fixed, it will provide opportunity to
individual to invest in agriculture as a means of making profit and company
will also be assured of regular flow of revenue.
● After a prolonged debate amongst company officials, the permanent
settlement was made with the rajas and taluqdars of Bengal.
● Zamindars had several, sometimes even 400 villages under them.
● Zamindars collected rent from the different villages, paid the revenue to the
company, and retained the difference as his income.

Reasons for Non-Payment by Zamindars:

● A number of reasons were responsible for non-repayment of revenue by

zamindars which include that revenue demands were kept very high. It was
imposed at a time when prices of agricultural produce was very low, so
peasants found it difficult to pay.
● Zamindars were also treated by strict laws i.e. the Sunset Law’, which was
completely regardless of the harvest. According to this law, zamindars had
to pay revenue by sunset of the specified date, otherwise zamindari was
liable to be auctioned.
 ● Besides these, permanent settlement and company reduced the power of
Zamindars. Sometimes ryots and village headman-jotedar deliberately
delayed the payments.

Limitations Imposed on Zamindars by the Company:

● Zamindars were important for the company but it also wanted to control
and regulate them, subdue their authority and restrict their autonomy.
● Thus, the zamindars’ troops were disbanded, customs duties abolished and
their ‘cutcheries’ (courts) brought under the supervision of a collector
appointed by the company.
● Zamindars lost their power to organise local justice and local police.
● Over time zamindars were severely restricted and their powers were seized.

The Rise of The Jotedars in Villages:

● The group of prosperous farmers were popularly known as jotedars.

Jotedars were a class of rich peasants.
● They acquired vast areas of land, controlled trade, money lending and
exercise immense- power over the poorer cultivators. Their land was
cultivated through share cropper known as adhiyars or bargadars.
● Within village the power of jotedars was more effective than that of
Zamindars. They fiercely resisted the efforts of Jama to increase the Jama
of village and prevented zamindari official from executing their duties.
● Sometimes they also purchased the auctioned property of zamindar.
Joiedar played an important role in weakening of zamindari system.

The Resistance of the Zamindars:

● To prevent the weakening of their authority, zamindar took series of

steps-like fictitious sale or transferring of property to female- member of
family, manipulated the auctions, withhelding revenue deliberately, threating
or intimidating the people outside their zamindari, if they try to bought an
estate.

The Fifth Report and its Impact on Zamindars:

 ● It was the fifth of a series of report on administration and activities of East
India Company in India. It was submitted to the British Parliament in 1813.
● British Parliament forced the company to produce regular report on the
administration of India and appointed committees to enquire into the
affairs of the company. It became the basis of intense parliamentary
debates on the nature of East India Company’s rule in India.
● Fifth report has shaped our conception of what happened in rural Bengal
during that period and evidence contained in the 5th report are very
important.

The Accounts of Buchanan:

● Francis Buchanan undertook detailed surveys of the areas under the

jurisdiction of the British East India Company.
● Buchanan journey was sponsored by the company and it was planned
according to its need. He had specific instruction about what he had to look
for and what he had to record.
● Buchanan observed the stones, rocks, different layers of soil, minerals, and
stones that were commercially valuable.
● Buchanan wrote about landscape and how these landscapes could be
transformed and made productive.
● His assessments were shaped by commercial interest of the company and
modern western notions of what constituted progress. He was critical of
lifestyle of forest dwellers.

Pastoral Areas of Bengal:

● With gradual passage of time, settled cultivation expanded and reached to

the area of shifting cultivation, swallowing up pasture and forest in the
Rajmahal hills. Shifting cultivation was done with the help of hoe, while
settled cultivation was done through plough.

In the Hills of Rajmahal:

● Francis Buchanan, a physician travelled through Rajmahal hills and he gave

an account about it.
● Originally in the Rajmahal hills Paharias lived. They lived on hunting, shifting
cultivation, food gathering and was intimately connected to forest.
 ● In last decade of 18th century British encouraged forest clearance and
zamindar and jotedar also started to turn uncultivated land into rice fields.
As settled agriculture expanded, the area under forest and pasture
contracted. This sharpened the conflict between Paharias and settled
cultivators.
● Around 1780, Santhal came into these areas. They cleared the forest and
ploughed land.
● As the lower hills were takenover by the Santhal Settlers, the Paharias
receded interior into the Rajmahal hills.

The Santhals became Settlers:

● Zamindars and Britishers after having failed to subdue the Paharias and
transform them into settled cultivators turned to Santhals. The Santhal
appeared to be ideal settlers, cleared the forest and ploughed land.
● After land was granted, population of Santhals increased exponentially and
their villages also increased in number.
● When the Santhal were settling, the Paharias resisted but were ultimately
forced to withdraw deeper into hills. It impoverished the Paharias in the
long term.
● Santhals now lived a settled life, cultivated a range of commerical crops for
market and dealt with traders,’moneylenders. But state was taxing them
heavily, moneylenders (dikus) were charging high interest rate and taking
over their land when debts remained unpaid and zamindars were asserting
control over their land. Later due to problems, Santhal revolted in year
1855-1856, and to pacify them, Britishers carved out new areas for the
Santhals and imposed some special laws within it.

The Revolt in Bombay Deccan:

● One of the way to explore what was happening in the area of Bombay
Deccan is to focus on the revolt of that area. Rebels expressed their anger
and fury.
● Revolt provide information about life of peasant, event associated with
revolt, suppress or control of the revolt. Enquiries about the revolt produced
result that can be explored by Historians.
 ● Through the nineteenth century, peasants in various parts of India rose in
revolt against money lenders and grain dealers, e.g. the revolt occurred in
1875 in the Deccan.
● A movement began at Supa Village in Poona in 1895, where ryots from
surrounding rural areas gathered and attacked the Shopkeepers and
demanded their bahi khatas (account book) and debt bonds. Ryots burnt
the Khatas, looted shop and in few instances burnt the house of Sahukars.
● Later revolt spread from Pune to Ahmednagar and even further terrified
Sahukars fled the village leaving behind their property and belonging.
● British officials controlled these revolts, they established police post in
villages and arrested people and convicted them.

A New Revenue System Started:

● In the 19th century, the British company was keen to expand its financial
resources in its annexed territories through other temporary revenue
settlement policies.
● This was so, because after 1810, the agricultural prices rose and enlarged
the income of the Bengal zamindars but not the company. This was due to
the Permanent Settlement policy in which the revenue demand was fixed
and could not be hiked. Therefore to expand its revenue source, company
started to introduce temporary settlement.
● Policies of officials were also shaped by the economic theories they are
familiar with. In 1820’s, officials were under influence of Ricardian ideas.
David Ricardo was a celebrated Economist in England.
● Ricardian idea states that landowner should claim only to average rent and
when there is surplus, state should tax that surplus. He further says if tax
will not be levied cultivators will likely to turn into rentiers and surplus
income will not be productively invested in improvement of land.
● Ryotwari settlement was introduced in Bombay Deccan as a new revenue
system. In this system, revenue was directly settled with cultivator or ryot.
Average income from soil, revenue paying capacity of ryot was assessed
and proportion of it was fixed as share of the state. In this system, there
was provision for resurvey of land every 30 years.

Revenue Demand and Peasant Debt:

 ● Revenue demand was very high and when harvest were poor, it was
impossible to pay When peasant failed to pay revenue his crops were
seized and fine was imposed on the whole village. In 1830’s, prices fell
sharply, famine struck and due to this l/3rd of cat tle in deccan were killed
and half of human population died. So the problem became very severe, but
the unpaid revenue mounted. In these conditions many peasants deserted
their village and migrated to new places.
● To get over a troubled period, to purchase things for arrange marriages and
to start agriculture, peasant needed money. So they borrowed money from
moneylender. But once loan was taken, they were unable to pay it back. As
debt mounted and loan remained unpaid, peasant dependence on
moneylender increased.
● By 1840’s, officials found that peasants were in alarming level of
indebtness, so they moderated the revenue demand slightly. By 1845,
agricultural price recovered steadily and peasants started expanding
cultivation. But for the purpose of expansion they needed money to buy
seeds etc, so they again turned to moneylender for money.

The Experience of Injustice of the Peasants:

● Peasants got deeper and deeper into debt and now they were utterly
dependent on moneylender for survival but now moneylenders were
refusing their loan. Along with this, there was customary rule that interest
charged cannot be more than principal amount of loan. But in colonial rule
this law was broken and now ryots started to see money lenders as devious
and deceitful. They complained of moneylenders manipulating laws and
forging accounts.
● To tackle this problem, British in 1859 passed Limitation Law that stated
that loan bond would have validity for 3 years only.
● It was meant to check accumulation of interest. But moneylenders now
forced ryot to sign a new bound every 3 years in which total unpaid balance
of last loan was entered as principal amount and interest was charged on
it.
● In petitions to Deccan Riots commission, ryots
● stated how moneylenders were suppressing and oppressing them by
refusing to give receipts when loan were paid back, entered fictitious
figures in bond and forced them to sign and put thumb impression on
bonds or document about which they had no idea and they were not able to
 read. Money lenders also acquired the harvest at low price and ultimately
took over property of peasant. They have no choice because to survive they
needed
● loan but inoneylenders were not willing to give it without bonds.

The Deccan Riot’s Commission and its Report:

● The Government of Bombay set up a Commission to investigate a riot in

Deccan. The Commission held enquirers in district where riot spread,
recorded statements of ryots, sahukars and eyewitnesses, compiled data
on revenue rate, interest rate in different regions and collated reports sent
by district collectors. Report of Commission was tabled in British
Parliament in 1878.
● This report reflected the official thinking of colonial government. It came to
one of the conclusion that peasants were angered by moneylenders, not by
revenue demand of the company. It shows that the colonial government
was reluctant to admit that popular discontent was against the
governments action. Official reports are the invaluable source of
reconstruction of history but they need to juxtaposed with other evidences
also.

Cotton and its Global Condition:

● The American civil war broke in 1861. Due to war, cotton export to Britain
decreased very much. To reduce dependence on America, cotton
cultivation was promoted in India.
● Export merchants gave money to urban sahukars who in turn gave to rural
moneylenders to secure the produce. So now the peasant had access to
money easily and due to this, cotton production increased rapidly. But this
brought prosperity to rich peasants mostly and for small peasants it led to
heavier debt. By 1862 over 90 percent of cotton imports into Britain were
coming from India.
● When in 1865 civil war ended, export of cotton resumed, prices of cotton
and demand of cotton from India decreased. Thus merchants, sahukars
and moneylenders were not extending credit to peasants, instead they
demanded repayment of debts. At the same time revenue demand was also
increased from 50 to 100 percent.
Class 12 History Notes Chapter 10 Important terms:
● Mahals: Estates owned by big zamindars who were called Raja locally.
● Raja: It is the term for Monarch but often refers to the big Zamindars in their
respective local areas.
● Taluqdars: The owners of Taluq, taluq stood for piece of land or territorial
unit.
● Ryots: Ryots means peasants.
● Jotedars: Rich peasants often owning large farmlands. They often
controlled moneylending and trade at local levels. Sometimes village
headman was also called Jotedar.
● Zamindar: The chain between farmer and the company in the system called
permanent settlement. Zaminadars were responsible for collection of land
revenue and depositing the same to the Company. They lived life of comfort
and luxury.
● Amla: Official of Zamindar who would maintain record and collect revenue
from villages.
● Benami: the literal meaning is anonymous. The term was to denote
transactions wherein real person was hidden behind insignificant name or
person.
● Lathy at: The musclemen of Zamindars.
● Sahukar: Trader who was also in money lending business.
● Rentier: A person who lived on rental income.
● Dewani: The Revenue department of state.
● Permanent Settlement: Land revenue system introduced by Cornwallis in
1793 in Bengal. Under this system, the land revenue was collected by
Zamindars. Zamindari rights passed on father to son.
● Ryotwari System: The land revenue system introduced in Madras and
Bombay Presidencies. Under the system, settlement was made directly with
cultivators.

Time line:

● 1765 – East India Company got diwani right for the province of Bengal, in
the wake of Battle of Buxar.
● 1773 – Regulating act enacted by the British Parliament aimed at
controlling the East India Company.
● 1800’s – Santhals began to settle in the hills of Rajmahal.
 ● 1818 – First land revenue settlement done in the Bombay Presidency.
● 1820’s – Prices of agriculture produce decline.
● 1855-56 – Santhals rebel in Rajmahal.
● 1861 – Cotton boom for the Indian cultivators, in the wake of American civil
war
● 1875 – Ryots in Deccan villages rebel.

Chapter 11 Rebels and the Raj The Revolt of

1857 and its Representations
● Since the mid-18th century, Nawabs and Rajas had gradually lost their
power and authority. Their freedom was curtailed, their armed forces were
disbanded and their revenues and territories were taken away.
● Many ruling families such as Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi tried to negotiate
with the company to protect their interest but they did not get success.
● Now the company began to plan to bring an end to the Mughal Dynasty. To
make this plan successful the company took several measures.
● The name of the Mughal king was removed from the coins minted by the
Company.
● In 1849, it was announced that after the death of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the
family of the king would be shifted out of the Red Fort and given another
place in Delhi to reside in.
● In 1856, the Company decided that Bahadur Shah Zafar would be the last
Mughal king, and after his death his descendants would be called princes.
● In the countryside peasants and zamindars resented the high taxes and the
rigid methods of revenue collection.
● The Indian sepoys were unhappy about their pay, allowances and condition
of service. Some of the Company’s rules even violated their religious
sentiments. Thus, everywhere there spread discontentment.
● The responses to the reforms brought in the Indian society by the British
were also not positive, although some reforms were essential.
● The Company passed laws to stop the practice of sati.
● English-language education was promoted.
● In 1850, a new law was passed to make conversion to Christianity easier.
● Some Indians thought that the British were destroying their religion and
their social customs while some wanted to change existing social
practices.
● By and by the people began to view the British as their common enemy and
therefore they rose up against this enemy at the same time.
● In May, 1857 a massive rebellion started that threatened the company’s
very existence in India.
● Sepoy mutinied in several places beginning from Meerut and a large
number of people from different sections of society rose up in rebellion.
● On 29 March 1857, Mangal Pandey, a young soldier, was hanged to death
for attacking his officers in Barrackpore. This was too much for the sepoys.
They refused to do the army drill using the new cartridges, which were
suspected of being coated with the fat of cows and pigs. Thus, tension
grew between the Company and sepoys.
● The sepoys were determined to bring an end to the Company’s rule. From
Meerut they rushed to Delhi.
● As the news of their arrival spread, the regiments stationed in Delhi also
rose up in rebellion. They killed several British officers, seized arms and
ammunitions, set buildings on fire.
● They met the Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar and proclaimed him as
their leader.
● The Mughal Emperor got support from the rulers and chiefs of the country
and together they rose against the British power.
● After the British were routed from Delhi, there was no uprising for a few
days. Then, a spurt of mutiny began.
● Regiment after regiment mutinied and took off to join other troops at nodal
points like Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow. After them, the people of the towns
and villages also rose up in rebellion and rallied around local leaders,
zamindars and chiefs who were prepared to fight the British. Thus, a
widespread revolt shook the British confidence over ruling India.
● The Company had no way out except supressing the revolt with all its
might. It brought reinforcement from England, passed new laws so that the
rebels could be convicted with ease, and then moved into the storm centres
of the revolt.
● The Company recaptured Delhi from the rebel forces in September 1857.
Bahadur Shah Zafar was tried in court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
He along with his wife were sent to prison in Rangoon.
 ● But people in other areas still continued to resist and fought with the
British. The British had to fight for two years to suppress the massive
forces of mass rebellion.
● The British had regained control of the country by the end of 1859 but they
could not carry on ruling the land with the same policies anymore.
● The British Parliament passed a new Act in 1858 and transferred the
powers of the East India Company to the British Crown in order to ensure a
more responsible management of Indian affairs.
● The Governor-General of India was given the title of Viceroy, that is, a
personal representative of the Crown. In this way the British government
took direct responsibility for ruling India.
● All ruling chiefs of the country 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.

Revolt started with an outbreak of mutiny in Meerut on 10th May, 1857. After taking over
the local administration, sepoys alongwith people of surrounding village marched to
Delhi. They wanted the support of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah. Sepoys came to Red
Fort and demanded that the emperor give them his blessings. Bahadur Shah had no
option but to support them.

Revolt of 1857:

● Sepoys’started revolt by capturing the arms from stores and plundering the
treasury, afterward they attacked and ransack all government offices like
jail, treasury-, telegraph office, record room, bungalows etc. Proclamations
in Hindi, Urdu and Persian were put up calling local to join them and
exterminate the foreign rule. When ordinary people joined sepoys, mutiny
changed to revolt, the targets of attack widened.
● During the revolt in towns like Lucknow, Kanpur and Bareilly, the rich people
and moneylenders were also attacked and property were looted, as they
were seen as allies of British and they also oppressed the peasants in the
recent past.

Ways of Communication during Revolt:

 ● There have been evidences of communication among the sepoys of
different regiments before and during the revolt. Their emissaries moved
from one station to other.
● Sepoys or Historians have said, panchayats were there and these were
composed of native officers drawn from each regiments. Some of the
decisions were taken collectively by these panchayats. Sepoys shared a
common lifestyle and many of them came from the same caste, so they sat
together and made their own rebellion.

Famous Leaders and Followers of Revolt:

● To fight the British, leadership and organisation were necessary. For

leadership, rebels turned to those rulers to whom British has overthrown.
Most of these displaced rulers joined the revolt due to pressure of locals or
due to their own zeal.
● At some places religious leaders also took the leadership and inspired
people to fight like fakir in Meerut and religious leaders in Lucknow who
preached destruction of British rule.
● Local leader like Shah Mai in Barout, Uttar Pradesh, and Gonoo, a tribal
leader of Kol tribals in singhbhum mobilised the communities for revolt.

The Role Played by Rumours and Prophecies in Revolt:

● Rumours and prophecies played an important role in outbreak of mutiny

and revolt. There was rumour about the cartridge of Enfield rifle coated with
fat of cow and pigs and mixing of bone, dust with atta.
● Both these rumours were believed and it was thought that it would corrupt
the religion and caste of both Hindus and Muslims.
● There was a fear and suspicion that British wanted Indians to convert them
to Christianity.
● There was also prophecy in the air that British rule would come to an end
on the centenary of Battle of Plassey on 23rd June, 1857. So, these
rumours and prophecies provided important psychological reasons to
revolt against the British rule.
● Reasons to Believe in Rumours
● In the preceding years of f857, many things were introduced by British
which were new to Indian society and they W’ere believed to be aimed at
 reforming Indian society like introduction of Western education, Western
ideas, institutions, schools, colleges and universities.
● British formed new laws banning the Sati system and to allow widow
remarriage. In 1850s, British annexed states like Avvadh, Jhansi and Satara
by refusing adoption and on the basis of misgovernment. New’ land aws
and revenue settlements were made.
● These all above factors made Indians believe that British is changing the
way of their life, custom, rules and replacing them with alien customs and
rule.
● Suspicion was further aggravated with rapid spread of Christian
missionaries and their activities.

Revolt in Awadh:

● Lord Dalhousie describe the Kingdom of Awadh as a Cherry that will drop
into our mouth one day’.
● Lord Wellesley introduced subsidiary alliance in Awadh in 1801. Gradually,
the British developed more interest in the kingdom of Awadh.
● The British were looking at role of Awadh as producer of cotton and indigo
and also as principal market of upper India. .
● By the 1850’s, British conquered all major areas of India like the Maratha
lands, the Doab, the Carnatic, the Punjab and Bengal. The annexation of
Awadh in 1856 completed the territorial annexation which started a century
earlier with the annexation of Bengal.
● Dalhousie displaced Nawab Wazid Ali Shah and exiled to Calcutta on plea
that Awadh is being misgoverned.
● British government wrongly assume that Nawab Wazid Ali was an
unpopular ruler. On the contrary, he w’as widely loved and people bemoaned
for the loss of Nawab.
● The removal of Nawab led to dissolution of courts and decline of culture.
Musicians, dancers, poets, cooks, retainers and administrative officials, all
lost their livelihood.

British Raj and the End of o War:

● With removal of Nawab all taluqdar of the Awadh were also disposed. They
were disarmed and their forts were destroyed. With a new revenue system
 named Summary Settlement, taluqdar lost their very large share of revenue
; from land.
● Wherever possible, taluqdars were removed and settlement was done
directly with peasants. This dispossession of taluqdar meant the complete
break dowm of social order.
● Company directly settled revenue with peasants and revenue now was over
assessed, so peasants were troubled.
● There was no longer any guarantee that in times of hardship or crop failure
the revenue demand of the state would be reduced or the peasant would
get the loan and support during festivals which they earlier used to get from
taluqdar.
● Earlier, British officials had friendly relations with Indian sepoys but later
Indian sepoys were subjected to racial abuse, low pay scale, difference in
service.
● In 1840s, English officer developed a sense of superiority, physical violence
also started and distance between officers and sepoys grew.
● As many Indian serving in Army were from Awadh, i.e. so local people of
Awadh were also aware of unfair behaviour meted out to their brothers.
● Peasants of Awadh were already in trouble because of high revenue and
taluqdar were looking for revenge to gain back their authority.
● All these factors cumulatively led to intense participation of people of
Awadh in revolt of 1857.

Demands of Rebels:

● During the revolt only few proclamations and ‘ishtahars’ (notification) were
issued by rebel leader to propagate their ideas and persuade people to join
the revolt.
● So it is very difficult to reconstruct what happened in 1857 and what were
the demands of rebels. The only way to know in detail about revolt of 1857
is by going through details of British officials and to know their point of
view.
● Proclamation issued by rebel leader appealed to all sections of the
population irrespective of cast and creed. The rebellion was seen as a war
in which both Hindus and Muslims were equally to lose or gain.
● It was remarkable that during uprising, religious division between Hindus
and Muslims was hardly noticeable despite the attempt of British
government.
Rebels Against the Oppression:

● British rule ruined the status of peasants, artisans and weavers. There was
a sense of fear and suspicion that British were determined to destroy the
caste and religion of Hindus and Muslims and convert them to Christianity.
● Proclamation were issued which urged people to come together to save
their livelihood, faith, identity and completely reject the things associated
with firangi raj.
● During the revolt, rebellion attacked all the symbols and office of British
government. Rebellion even targeted the allies of British government,
ransacked moneylenders property and burnt account books.
● All the activities reflected an attempt of rebels to overturn traditional
hierarchies and rebel against all oppression.

The Search of Alternative Power:

● Rebels tried to establish pre-British world of 18th century during the revolt.
● They tried to set up whole administrative machinery on one hand to carry
out day to day activities during the war and on the other hand they tried to
plan how to fight with British.

Repression by the British:

● To reconquer North India, British passed series of law. Whole North India
was put under martial law, military officers and ordinary Britons were given
power to punish Indian suspected of rebellion.
● Britain government brought reinforcement from Britain and arranged double
pronged strategy to capture Delhi. Delhi was captured in late September
only.
● British government faced very stiff resistance in the Awadh and they had to
use military power at gigantic scale.
● In Awadh, they tried to break unity between landlords and peasants by
offering their land back to landlords. Rebel landlords were dispossessed
and loyals were rewarded.

Description of Revolt through Art and Literature:

 ● There are very few records on the rebels point of view. Most of the
narratives of about 1857 revolt were obtained from official account.
● British officials obviously left their version in diaries, letters,
autobiographies and official histories and reports.
● The stories of the revolt that were published in British newspaper and
magazines narrated in detail about the violence of the mutineers and these
stories inflamed public feelings and provoked demand for retribution and
revenge.
● Paintings, etchings, posters, cartoons, bazaar prints produced by British
and Indian also served as important record of revolt.
● Many pictures were drawn by the British painters to offer variety of images
for different events during the revolt. These images provoked a range of
different emotions and reactions.
● Painting like ‘Relief of Lucknow’ painted by Thomas Jones Barker in 1859
commemorate the British heroes who saved the english and repressed the
rebels.

The Honour of English Women:

● Newspaper reports shape the feelings and attitudes of events inflamed

particularly by tale of violence against women and children. There was
public demands in Britain for revenge and retribution.
● The British government w7as asked to protect the honour of innocent
women and ensure safety of helpless children.
● Artists expressed as well as shaped these sentiments through their visual
representations of trauma and suffering.
● Painting ‘In Memoriam’ painted by Joseph Noel Paton in 1859 depicted the
anxious moment in which women and children huddled in a circle looking
helpless and innocent, seemingly waiting for the inevitable dishonour,
violence and death. Painting stirs up the imagination and seek to provoke
anger and fury. These paintings represent rebels as violent and brutish

Feeling of Revenge among Rebels:

● As news about severeness of revolt spread, there was great anger, shock
and demand of retribution, severe repression and grew louder.
 ● Threatened by the rebellion, the British felt that they had to demonstrate
their invincibility. There were innumerable pictures and cartoons in British
press that sanctioned brutal repression and violent reprisal.
● Rebels were executed publicly, blown from cannon or hanged from gallows.
There were mass execution. To instill a sense of fear among the people,
most of these punishments were given in public.
● Governor General Canning declared that gesture of leniency and show of
mercy would help in winning back the loyalty of sepoys. At that time, there
was voice for revenge and idea of Canning was mocked.

Nationalist Imageries of the Revolt:

● Revolt of 1857 was celebrated as first war of Independence. National

movement in 20th century drew its inspiration from the events of 1857.
● Art, literature, history, stories, paintings, films have helped in keeping the
memory of 1857 revolt alive.
● The leaders of the revolt were presented as heroic figure leading country
into battle, rousing the people to righteous indignation against oppressive
imperial rule.
● Nationalist imageries of the revolt had helped to shape the nationalist
imagination.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 11 Important Terms:

● Bell of arms: Store for weapons.
● Firangi: a word of Persian origin, meant white skinned foreigner.
● Mutiny: Rebellion by soldiers.
● Revolt: Mass uprising by people against ruler.
● Enfield Rifle: Whose cartridge was greased with the fat of cow and pig, that
infuriated Hindus and Moslems alike.
● Resident: The representative of the East India Company to the native kings,
located at the latter’s capital.
● Subsidiary Alliance: A treaty that made native kingdoms dependent on the
company for military power. It was brought by Lord Wellessely.

Time line:
 ● 1849 – Governor General Lord Dalhousie announced that after the death of
Bahadur Shah Zafar, the family of the king would be shifted out of the Red
Fort and given another place in Delhi to reside in.
● 1856 – (i) Governor-General Canning decided that Bahadur Shah Zafar
would be the last Mughal king and after his death his descendants would
be recognised as princes.
(ii) The Company passed a new law which stated that every new person
who took up employment in the Company’s army had to agree to serve
overseas if required.
● 29 Mar, 1857 – Mangal Pandey, a young soldier, was hanged to death for
attacking his officer in Barrackpore.
● May, 1857 – Sepoys mutinied in several places.
● 10 May, 1857 – Sepoys rushed to Delhi from Meerut.
● Sep,1857 – Delhi was recaptured from the rebel forces.
● Oct, 1858 – Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar along with his wife was
sent to prison in Rangoon.
● 1858 – A new Act passed by the British Parliament transferred the power of
the East India Company to the British Crown.
● Nov, 1862 – Bahadur Shah Zafar died in the jail.of Rangoon.

Chapter 12 Colonial Cities Urbanisation,

Planning and Architecture
● With the decline to the Mughal Empire in the 18th century, many old lords
lost their importance.
● 18th century marks the emergences of many new kingdoms like Lucknow,
Hyderabad, Poona, Baroda, Nagpur, etc,
● The port towns/cities swat, Masulipatnam, and Dhaka which developed in
the 17th century declined during the mid 18th century with the emergence
of new cities like Madras, Calcutta and Bombay.
● The colonial rule was based on many kinds of data and compilation of
information. Its purpose was to keep an eye on the city life and trading
activities so the statistical data, maps, census and official records of
municipalities were prepared.
 ● The survey of India was constituted in 1878 to prepare the survey map of
India.
● Railway was introduced in India in 1853. The introduction of railway brought
many changes in the life of urban life.
● In the 19th century East India Company established many stations likes,
Shimla, Mount Abu and Darjeeling. These hill stations were set up for
stationing army, for guarding frontiers and for launching invasion against
enemy.
● In 1864, the Viceray John Lahilence, officially shifted his capital at ‘Shimla’
and the official residence of the commander-in-chief was also set up in
Shimla.
● The social life of new cities was bewildering. It had rich and poorest of the
poor people.
● The development in the means of the transportation brought many new
changes in the social life of the people.
● The importance of middle class began to increase in new cities. Here, they
got many new job opportunities which brought a great change in their
perception and outlook.
● New identities and new social groups came into existence in these towns.
● Many new changes occurred in the life of the people. Important changes
were witnessed in the lives of the woman living in the cities. Here they got
many new opportunities of job, which brought new changes in their
perception and outlook.
● The British East India company had first set up its trading activities in Surat.
● The Buildings and architectural style threw an invaluable light at many
things and provided us an important information about the ideal building.
● These buildings also explain the perspective and viewpoints of those who
constructed these building.
● Architectural style do not represent and reflect the prevalent taste. It
moulded tastes, popularised styles, shapes, contours of cultures.

Company agents initially settled in the Madras, Calcutta and Bombay which were
originally fishing and weaving villages. They gradually developed these villages into the
cities. These cities had the mark of colonial government institutions which were set up
to regulate economic activity and demonstrate the authority of new rule.

Towns and Cities in Pre-colonial Times:

 ● Towns and cities before the advent of the British can be discussed under
the following heads

Nature of Towns:

● Towns represent unique form of economic activities and cultures. In town

ruler administrator, artisans, inansabdars and jagirdars, traders, etc were
living. Towns were surrounded by the fortified wall and thrived on the
surplus and taxes derived from agriculture.
● Peasants from the countryside came to the town for pilgrimage or selling
their produce during the lime of famine etc. There are also evidences of
people going to village to sell their goods, crafts etc. People migrated to
villages when towns were attacked.
● The presence of emperor, nobels and other affluent powerful persons in
town and centres meant that a wide variety of service had to be provided
and these towns were seat of power from where administration of empire
works. In the medieval times, Delhi, Agra, Lahore, Madurai and Kanchipuram
etc were famous, towns and cities.

Changes in the 18th Century:

● In the 18th century with decline of Mughal empire, old towns also lost their
grandeur and new towns like Lucknow, Hyderabad, Seringpatnam, Pune,
Nagpur, Baroda, Tanjore, etc were developed and these towns were seat of
local authority. Traders, artisans, administrators and mercenaries migrated
from old Mughal centres to these towns in search of work and patronage.
Many new qasbah (small town in the country side) and garij (small fixed
market) came into existence, but effect of political decentralisation were
uneven (Puducherry).
● European commercial companies had set up their base in different towns,
e.g., Portuguese in Panji, Dutch in Masulipatnam, British in Madras and
French in Pondicherry.
● With expansion in commercial activity towns grew further, gradually by the
end of 18th century land-based empires in Asia were replaced by the
powerful sea-based European empires. Forces of international trade,
mercantilism and capitalism defined the nature of society.
 ● As British took over political control in India from 1757, trade of East India
Company expanded and colonial port cities like Bombay, Calcutta and
Madras emerged as economic and political power.

Development of Town and Cities in Colonial Times:

● A number of records and data were collected by the British as well as

Indian officials which provide information about the colonial cities.
However, according to historians, the figures can be misleading, some may
have correct information and some may have ambiguity.

Colonial Records of Urban History:

● British government kept detailed records, carried regular survey, gathered

statistical data and published official records of their trading activities to
regulate their commercial affairs. British also started mapping as they
believed maps help in understanding landscape topography, planning
development, maintaining security and to gauge possibilities of commercial
activities.
● British government from late nineteenth century started giving
responsibilities to elect Indian representatives to administrate basic
services to towns and it started a systematic annual collection of municipal
taxes.
● First all-India census was carried in 1872 and after 1881 it was carried
decennial (conducted every ten years). But the data record generated and
kept by British government cannot be trusted blindly as it has ambiguities.
People during that time gave evasive answers to officials due to suspicion
and fear.
● Many times false information were given by the locals about mortality,
disease, illness. Always these were not reported. Sometimes the reports
and records kept by British government was also biased. However, inspite
of ambiguity and biasness, these records and data helped in studying about
colonial cities.

Trends of Change:
 ● Urban population of India remained stagnant during 1800s. In the forty
years between 1900 and 1940 the urban population increased from about
10 percent of the total population to about 13 percent.
● Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay were became sprawling cities. They were
entry and exit points of goods from the country. Smaller towns had little
opportunity to grow. Few towns which were situated on the bank of river
like Mirzapur (which specialised in collecting cotton and cotton goods from
Deccan) were growing but with introduction of railways its development
stopped.
● Expansion of railway led to the formation of railway workshops and railway
colonies. Towns like Jamalpur, Waltair and Bareilly developed due to
railways.

Towns: A Unique Identity:

● Colonial towns reflects a number of features These were important in

terms of economic, political and also cultural point of view, which showed a
unique identity. They also tell how power was shifted from Indian rulers to
the European elites.

Ports, Forts and Centra for Services:

● By 18th century Madras, Calcutta, Bombay, all had important ports and
became the economic centre.
● Company built its factories and fortified these settlements for protection.
Fort St. George in Madras, Fort Wiliam in Calcutta, and the fort in Bombay
were famous settlement of that time.
● Indian traders, merchants, artisans who worked with the European
merchant lived outside these forts in their own settlement. Settlement of
European was called ‘White Town’ and settlement of Indians was known as
‘Black Town’.
● Expansion of railways connected the hinterland to these port cities. So it
became convenient to transport raw material and labour to the cities.
● In 19th century, there was expansion of cotton and jute mills in region of
Bombay and Calcutta.
● There were only two proper industrial cities. Kanpur, which was specialised
in leather, woollen and textiles and second city was Jamshedpur, which was
 specialised in steel. However, Industrial development was lagging behind in
India due to discriminatory policies of the British.

A New Urban Milieu:

● Colonial cities reflected the mercantile culture of English. Political power

and patronage shifted from Indian rulers to the merchants of the East India
company.
● Indian traders, merchants, middlemen and interpreter who worked with
company also enjoyed important place in cities.
● Ghats and docks were developed. Along the ports, godowns, mercantile
office, insurance agencies, transport depots and banking developed.
Racially exclusive clubs, racecourses and theatres were built for ruling elite.
● European merchants and agents lived in palatial house in white town while
Indian
● merchants, middlemen, agents had traditional courtyard houses in Black
town.
● The labouring poor provided service to European and Indian master as
cook, palanquin bearer, coachmen, guard, porters and construction and
dock worker. They lived in huts in different parts of the city.
● After revolt the British felt the need that town needed to be more secure of
and better defended. So pastureland and agricultural fields around older
town were cleared and new urban space called Civil Lines were set up and
white people used to live in it. Cantonment were developed as safe
enclaves and here Indian troops lived under European command.
● British considered black town as area characterised by chaos, anarchy, filth
and disease.
● When epidemics of Cholera and Plague spread, they decided to take
stringent measure for sanitation, public health, hygiene and cleanliness

The Development of Hill Stations:

● British Government started developing hill stations initially because of need

of British army. Simla (present day shimla) founded during Gurkha war
(1815-16). Anglo-Maratha war led to development of Mount Abu (1818).
Darjeeling was taken from the ruler of Sikkim in 1835.
 ● The temperate and cool climate of hills were seen as sanitarium (places
where soldiers could be sent for rest and recovery from illness) because
these areas were free from diseases like cholera, malaria, etc.
● Hilly regions and stations became attractive place for European rulers and
other elites. During summer season, for recreation they visited these places
regularly. Many houses, buildings, and Churches were designed according
to European style.
● Later introduction of railway made these places more accessible and upper
and middle class Indians like maharajas, lawyers and merchants also
started visiting these places regularly.
● Hilly regions were also important regarding economy as tea plantation,
coffee plantation flourished in the region.

Social Life in the New Cities:

● In cities life seemed always in a flux, there was a great inequality between
rich and poor.
● New transport facilities like horse drawn carriage, trains, buses had been
developed. People now started travelling, from home to work place using
the new mode of transportation.
● Many public places were created, e.g. public parks, theatres, dubs, and
cinema halls in 20th century. These places provided entertainment and
opportunity for social interaction.
● People started migrating to cities. There were demands of clerks, teachers,
lawyers, doctors, engineers and accountants. There were schools, colleges
and libraries.
● A new public sphere of debate and discussion emerged. Social norms,
customs and practices came to be questioned.
● They provided new. opportunities for women. It provided women avenues to
get out of their house and become more visible in public life.
● They entered new profession as teacher, theatre and film actress, domestic
worker, factory worker, etc.
● Middle class women started to express themselves through the medium of
autobiographies, journals and books.
● Conservatives feared these reforms, they feared breaking existing rule of
society, and patriarchal order.
● Women who went out of the household had to face opposition and they
became object of social censure in those years.
 ● In cities, there were a class of labourers or the working class. Poor came to
cities looking for opportunity, few came to cities to live a new way of life
and desire to see the new things.
● Life in cities were expensive, jobs were uncertain and sometimes migrants
leave their family at native place to save money. Migrants also participated
in the Tamashas (folk theatre) and Swangs (satires) and in that way they
tried to integrate with the life of cities.

Settlement and Segregation in Madras:

● Company first set up its centre at Surat and then tried to occupy east coast.
British and French were engaged in Battle in South India, but with defeat of
France in 1761, Madras became secure and started to grow as commercial
centre.
● Fort St. George became the important centre where Europeans lived and it
was reserved for English men.
● Officials were not permitted to marry Indians. However, other than English
Dutch, Portuguese were allowed to live in the fort as they were European
and Christian.
● Development of Madras was done according to the need of whites. Black
town, settlement of Indians, earlier it was outside the fort but later it was
shifted.
● New Black town resembled traditional Indian town with living quarter
around temple and bazaar. There were caste specific neighbourhoods.
● Madras was developed by incorporating many nearby villages. City of
Madras provided numerous opportunities for local communities.
● Different communities perform their specific job in the Madras city, people
of different communities started competing for British Government job.
● Transport system gradually started to develop. Urbanisation of Madras
meant areas between the villages were brought within the city.

Town Planning in Calcutta:

● Town planning required preparation of a layout of entire urban space and

urban land use.
● City of Calcutta had been developed from three villages called Sutanati,
Kolkata and Govindpur. The company cleared a site of Govindpur village for
building a fort there.
 ● Town planning in Calcutta gradually spread from Fort William to other
parts. Lord Wellesley played very important role in town planning of
Calcutta. Further work of town planning was carried by Lottery committee
with the help of government. Funds for town planning were raised by
Lotteries.
● Committee made a new map for Calcutta, made roads in the city and
cleared riverbank of encroachment. Many huts ‘bustis’ and poors were
displaced to make Calcutta cleaner and disease free and these people were
shifted to outskirt of Calcutta.
● Frequent fires in the city led to making of stricter building regulation.
Thatched roof were banned and tiled roofs were made mandatory.
● By the late nineteenth century official intervention in the city became more
stringent.
● British removed more huts and developed British portion of town at the
expense of other areas.
● These policies further deepened the racial divide of white town and black
town and new division of healthy and unhealthy further rised. Gradually
public protest against these policies
● strengthened anti-imperialistic feeling and nationalism among Indians.
● British wanted the cities like Bombay, Calcutta and Madras to represent the
grandeur and authority of the British Empire. Town planning were aimed to
represent their meticulous and rational planning and execution alongwith
Western aesthetic ideas.

Architecture in Bombay:

● Although, government building primarily serving functional needs like

defence, administration and commerce but they often meant to showcase
ideas of nationalism, religious glory and power.
● Bombay has initially seven islands, later it become commercial capital of
colonial India and also a centre of international trade.
● Bombay port led to the development of Malwa, Sind and Rajasthan and
many Indian merchants also become rich.
● Bombay led to development of Indian capitalist class which came from
diverse communities like Parsi, Marwari, Konkani, Muslim, Gujarati, Bania,
Bohra, Jew and Armenian.
 ● Increased demand of cotton, during the time of American civil war and
opening of Suez Canal in 1869 led to further economic development of
Bombay.
● Bombay was declared one of the most important city of India. Indian
merchants in Bombay started investing in cotton mills and in building
activities.
● Many new buildings were built but they were built in European style. It was
thought that it would:
● give familiar landscape in alien country to European, thus to
feel at home in the colony.
● give them a symbol of superiority, authority and power.
● help in creating distinction between Indian subjects and
colonial masters.
● For public building, three broad architectural styles were used. These
included neo-classical, neo-Gothic and Indo-Saracenic styles.

Building and Architectural Styles:

● Architecture reflected the aesthetic idea prevalent at that time, building also
expressed vision of those who build them. Architectural styles also mould
taste, popularise styles and shape the contours of culture.
● From the late nineteenth century, regional and national tastes were
developed to counter colonial ideal. Style has changed and developed
through wider processes of cultural conflict.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 12 Important Terms:

● Kasbah: A small town in the countryside.
● Ganj: Small size fixed market.
● Census: Counting of population
● White Towns: Towns where only European could live.
● Black Towns: Towns where only Indian could live.
● Civil lines: Urban areas where only white people could settle and live.
● Pet: A Tamil word, which means settlement.
● Purim: A Tamil word stands for a village.
● Dubhasia: Those people who speak English as well as local language.
● Vellars: A local rural community in Madras.
 ● Garermath: The east India company built the Fort William in Calcutta. From
the prospective of its security, a vast open space was left around it. It was
locally known as a garer math or maiden.

Time line:

● 1688 – Bombay was handed over to East India company by the Butanes
Empire.
● 1673 – French established trading centre at Pondichhery.
● 1757 – Battle of Placey
● 1798 – Lord Welleseley appointed as the 1st General of Bangal
● 1807 – Lottery commission was setup at Calcutta.
● 1814 -16 – Shimla was established.
● 1836 – That shed huts were banned in Calcutta.
● 1872 – Attempts were made for 1st census.
● 1878 – Organisation of survey of India
● 1881 – Madras harbour was completed.
● 1896 – Plague began to spread in India cities.
● 1911 – British transfer their capital from Calcutta to Delhi.

Chapter 13 Mahatma Gandhi and the

Nationalist Movement Civil Disobedience and
Beyond
● Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar on 2nd October,
1869.
● Gandhiji left for South Africa as a barrister to argue a case in 1893.
● Gandhiji returned from South Africa in Jan, 1915.
● Gopal Krishna Gokhale- The political Guru of Mahatma Gandhi
● Peasant Movement in Bardoli-1928
● BHU stands for-Benaras Hindu University
● Khilafat Movement-1920
● Peasant Movement in Bardoli-1928
● Resolution of Pooma Swaraj passed in Congress Session in Lahore on 26th
Jan, 1930
● Civil Disobedience Movement begins- March-April 1930
● Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed- March 1931
● Second Round Table Conference held in London-Dee 1930
● Government of India Act promulagated -1935
● Provincial Government formed by Congress in some provinces-193 7
● Second World War broke out- Sep 1939
● Congress Provincial Governments resign- 1939
● Quit India Movement begins- Aug 1942
● India becomes independent- 15th Aug 1947
● In 1905, Bengal, the biggest province of British India and included Bihar and
some parts of Orissa, was partitioned by Viceroy Curzon. It enraged people
all over India. Both the Moderates and the Radicals unitedly oppressed the
British action. This led to the birth of the Swadeshi Movement, which
boycotted British institutions and goods.
● An important development came in 1906 with the formation of the All India
Muslim League at Dacca. The founder members of the League were
Muslim landlords and nawabs. They supported the partition of Bengal and
demanded for separate electorates for Muslims.
● However, in the year 1916, the Congress and the Muslim League decided to
work together for representative government in the country.
● The growth of mass nationalism began to take place after 1919. Peasants,
tribals, students and women became involved in the struggle against the
British rule.
● Mahatma Gandhi emerged as a mass leader. He, first of all, toured the
entire country in order to understand the people, their needs and the overall
situation.
● Afterwards, he led to local movements in Champaran, Kheda and
Ahmedabad in which he got immense success.
● In 1919 Gandhiji started Satyagraha Movement against the Rowlett Act that
the British had just passed. The Act curbed fundamental rights such as the
freedom of expression and strengthened the police powers.
● In April 1919, there were a number of demonstrations and hartals in the
country against this Act. The government used hartal measures to
suppress them. The Jallianwala Bagh atrocities in Amritsar on Baishakhi
Day were a part of this suppression.
● In the year 1920, the British did another wrong known as khilafat
movement. The British imposed a harsh treaty on the Turkish Sultan also
known as Khalifa. This enraged Muslims and Khalifa agitation started
under the leadership of Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali. They wished to
initiate a full-fledged Non-Cooperation Movement. Gandhiji supported their
 call and urged the congress to campaign against Jallianwala massacre,
and demand swaraj.
● During the years 1921-22, the Non-Cooperation Movement gained
momentum because it got a wide support. However, it was abruptly called
off by Mahatma Gandhi when on February 1922 a crowd of peasants set
fire to a police station in Chauri Chaura. twenty two policemen were killed
on that day. It hurt Mahatma Gandhi because he had never thought that
people would go violent. He always wished to drive away the British by
violent methods.
● The Congress now resolved to fight for Purna Swaraj (complete
independence under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru.
● Now efforts began to be made in this direction. In 1930, Gandhiji started
Dandi March against the Salt Law. He got immense support from the
people.
● The combined struggles of the Indian people bore fruit when the
Government of India Act of 1935 prescribed provincial autonomy and the
government announced elections to the provincial legislatures in 1937.
● In September 1939, the Second World War broke out. The Congress leaders
were ready to support the British war effort. But in return they wanted
independence after the war. The British refused to concede the demand.
● A new phase of movement popularly known as Quit India Movement was
initiated in August 1942 under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. As a
result prominent leaders were jailed at once. But the movement spread.
● In between these events the Muslim League began to demand independent
states for Muslims in the north-western and eastern areas of the country.
Mahatma Gandhi was not in favour of this.
● The League began to think that Muslims were a minority and they would
always have to play second fiddle in any democratic structure. The
Congress’s rejection of the Leagues desire to form a joint Congress-League
government in the United Provinces in 1937 further annoyed the League.
● In 1945, the British opened negotiations between the Congress, the League
and themselves for the independence of India. The talks failed because the
League then wanted Pakistan.
● In March 1946, the British cabinet sent a three-member mission to Delhi to
examine the League’s demand for Pakistan and to suggest a suitable
political framework for a free India.
● The Mission suggested that India should remain united and constitute itself
as a loose confederation with some autonomy for Muslim majority areas.
 Neither the Congress nor the League agreed to it. Now, partition of India
became inevitable.
● Finally, Pakistan came into existence. The violence of partition shook both
the newly- independent countries—India and Pakistan. It marred the joy of
independence.

Beginning of Gandhian Era:

● Some times in the history of nationalism an individual with his contribution

is identified with the making of a nation. Mahatma Gandhi is regarded as
the father of Indian nation.
● Gandhi came back to India in January 1915 after leading successful
struggle against discriminatory and oppressive policy of British in South
Africa. For the first time, Gandhi started Satyagraha in South Africa
(non-violent protest ) and promoted harmony between different religious
communities.
● When Gandhi came back to India, he realised that India become politically
more active. Congress had made its reach to major towns and cities and
Swadeshi Movement greatly broadened National Movements appeal
among middle classes.
● Gandhiji’s first major public appearance in India was at opening of Banaras
Hindu University (BHU) in 1916. During his speech, Gandhiji charged the
Indian elite with a lack of concern for the labouring poor sections of our
society.
● Gandhiji said “There can be no spirit of self-government if we take away or
allow other to ’ take away from the peasant almost the whole result of their
labour.”
● Gandhiji’s speech at one level was a statement of the fact that Indian
nationalism was an elite phenomenon in which lawyers, doctors and
landlords were mostly involved. But he wanted that Indian National
Movement should represent Indian people as a whole.

Gandhi as a People’s Leader:

● Gandhiji made the freedom struggle and National Movement representative

of masses.Movement transcended from elite to peasants, working class
and encompassed every section of society. People started venerating
Gandhiji refering to him as ‘Mahatma’. People started appreciating the fact
 that Gandhiji lived like them, dressed like them, spoke their language, stand
with them, empathise with them, and identified with them.
● Gandhiji went among the people in simple dhoti or loincloth. He spent some
part of each day working on Charkha and encouraged other nationalist to
do likewise. The act of spinning helped in breaking traditional caste system
and distinction between mental labour and manual labour.
● Gandhiji appealed to peasants as saviour who can save them from
oppressive taxes, officials and restore dignity and autonomy to their lives.
Gandhiji ascetic lifestyle and love of working with hand, a deep empathy for
poor and peasant won him followers irrespective of caste, creed and
religion.
● A series of Praja mandal were established to promote the nationalist creed
in the princely states. Gandhiji stressed the use of mother tongue in
communication, as the provincial Congress Committees were based on
linguistic region. Many industrialists, entrepreneurs, businessmen started
supporting Congress and Gandhiji.
● Mahatma Gandhi was released from prison in 1924 and now choose to
devote his attention to the promotion of home spun khadi and the abolition
of untouchability. He believed that India need to be free from evils of
untouchability, child marriage, to cultivate a genuine tolerance for one
another and religious harmony.
● He stressed the Indian’s need to be self-reliant on the economic front, so he
promoted Khadi and was against mill-made clothes.

Background of National Movements in India:

● In 1917, Gandhiji successfully led Champaran Movement. Through this

movement he wanted to seek security of the peasants and their freedom to
cultivate crop of their choice. In 1918, he led a strike demanding for better
working conditions for the textile mill workers in Ahmedabad and other
peasant movement asking the state for the remission of taxes in Kheda.
During the First World War (1914-18), the British government instituted
censorship of the
● press and permitted detention without trial. At the recommendation of
Rowlatt Committee, these policies were continued. So in response to it
Gandhiji called for nationwide campaign against Rowlatt Act and Bandh
were observed.
 ● In Punjab opposition was quite intense, Gandhiji was detained while going
to Punjab and many other local Congress leaders were also arrested. In
April 1919, repressive policy took very ugly and tremendous turn when
British Brigadier Dyer ordered his troops to fire on peaceful assembly at
Jallianwalah Bagh in Amritsar. In this incident more than 400 people died.
This shocked the nation and very deep resentment and anger was brewing
inside Indians.
● It was the Rowlatt Satyagraha that made Gandhiji a true national leader.
Emboldened by its success, Gandhji called for campaign of
non-cooperation with British rule. Indians were asked to renunciate all
voluntary associations with British government. Gandhiji believed if
non-cooperation was carried effectively, British would leave the country
within a year.

Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movement:

● To further strengthen the movement and unity among fellow Indians he

joined hand with Khilafat Movement. Khilafat Movement was led by
Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali and it demanded restoration of the respect
of the Caliphate.
● According to Gandhiji by intermixing of Non-Cooperation and Khilafat
Movement, the two major religious commuities i.e. Hindus and Muslims
could collectively bring an end to colonial rule.
● Students refused to go to schools, colleges, lawyers stopped to going
courts, working class went on strike, tribes in Andhra Pradesh violated
forest laws and farmers in Awadh stopped paying taxes.
● American biographer of Mahatma Gandhiji, Louis Fisher wrote
“Non-Cooperation became the name of an epoch in the life of India and
Gandhiji. It was negative enough to be peaceful but positive enough to be
effective. It entailed denial renunciation and self-discipline. It w’as training
for self-rule.” Due to this movement British government was shaken.
● In February 1922, Gandhiji called off Non-Cooperation Movement due to
untowards incident of burning of police stations in Chauri Chaura in which
several constables were burnt to death.
● During the Non-Cooperation Movement, thousands of Indians were put in
jail and Gandhiji was arrested in March in 1922, charged with sedition and
awarded him six years of imprisonment.
The Salt Satyagraha:

● In year 1928, there was Anti-Simon Commission Movement in which Lala

Lajpat Rai was brutally lathicharged and later he succumbed to it. In year
1928, another famous Bordoli Satyagraha took place. So again by the year
1928 political activism started brewing in India.
● In 1929, Congress session was held at Lahore and Nehru was elected as its
President. In this session “Purna Swaraj” was proclaimed as motto, and on
26th January, 1930 Republic day was observed.

Dandi (Salt) March:

● After Republic day observance, Gandhiji announced his plan of march to

break salt law. This law was widely disliked by Indians, as it gave state a
monopoly in manufacture and sale of salt.
● On 12th March, 1930 Gandhiji began his march from ashram to ocean. He
reached to shore and made a salt and thereby making himself criminal in
sight of law. Many parallel salt marches were undertook during this time in
other parts of the country.
● Movement was supported by peasants, working class, factory workers,
lawyers and even Indian officials in British government supported it and
● left their jobs. Lawyer boycotted the courts, peasants stopped paying taxes
and tribal broke forest laws. There were strikes in factories or mills.
● The government responded by detaining the dissenters or Satvagrahis.
60000 Indians were arrested and various high rank leaders of Congress
including Gandhiji were arrested.
● An American magazine, ‘Time’, was initially doubtful on the strength of
Gandhiji and wrote that Salt March would not be successful. But latter it
wrote that this march made the British rulers ‘desperately anxious’.
● These rulers were now started considering Gandhiji as a ‘Saint’ and
‘Statesman’, who was using Christian acts as a weapon against men with
Christian beliefs.

Significance of Dandi March:

● Davdi March was very significant for at least three reasons:

● It brought Mahatma Gandhi and India to attention of the world.
 ● It was the first National Movement in which women
participation was really very notable. Kamladevi
Chattopadhyay, a socialist leader persuaded Gandhi not to
restrict movement to men alone. Many women including
Kamladevi broke salt and liquor laws and courted arrest.
● Third and most significant was that this movement forced the
British to realise that their Raj would not last forever and they
need to devolve some power to Indians.
● In January, 1931 Gandhiji was released from jail and afterwards many
meetings between Gandhi and Irwin took place and these meetings ended
in a Gandhi-Irwin pact. Through this pact Civil Disobedience Movement
would be called off, political prisoner will be released and salt
manufacturers can make salt near coast. This pact was criticised by radical
nationalist, as Gandhiji was unable to obtain commitment of political
Independence for Indians.
● In later part of 1931, Gandhiji went to attend Second Round Table
Conference as representative of Congress and he said his party represent
all of India but his claim was countered by Muslim league, Princely states
and BR
● So, this conference remained inconclusive. Gandhiji returned to India
dejected and resume Civil Disobedience Movement.
● In 1935, a Government of India Act came and it promised some part of
representative government. Two years later, elections were held and out of
11 provinces in 8 provinces Congress government were formed. However in
1939, Congress government resigned from office as British declined their
offer of cooperation in the war in lieu of granting freedom to India after the
end of war.
● In 1940 and 1941 Congress organised individual Satyagraha to pressure the
government. In 1940, Muslim league passed the resolution demanding
autonomy for the Muslim-majority areas of the subcontinent. Now, whole
struggle became complicated and took a shape of three way struggle
between British, Congress and Muslim league.
● In 1942, Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent a mission under Stafford
Cripps to India to try and forge a compromise with Congress and Gandhiji.
However, talks broke down when Congress offered, it will help the British to
defend India from Axis powers. Then the viceroy had to appoint an Indian
as the Defence member of his Executive Council.

Quit India Movement:

 ● After the failure of Cripps Mission, Gandhiji started Quit India Movement in
August, 1948 from Bombay. Immediately, Gandhiji and other senior leaders
were arrested, but younger activists organised strikes and acts of sabotage
all over the country.
● Quit India Movement being a Mass Movement brought into its ambit
hundreds of thousand of ordinary citizens and youths left their colleges and
went to jail. During this time as Congress leaders were in jail, Jinnah and
other Muslim league leaders worked patiently to extend its influence in
Punjab and Sind where it had scarcely any presence.
● In June, 1944 Gandhiji was released from prison, later he held series of
meeting with Jinnah to sort out the differences.
● In 1945, labour government came to power in England and committed itself
to grant Independence to India. In India, Lord Wavell organised meetings
with Congress and league. In elections of 1946, polarization was
completely observed when Congress swept general category but seats
reserved for Muslims. These seats were won by the Muslim League by
overwhelming majority.
● In 1946, Cabinet Mission came but it failed in getting Congress and the
Muslim League agreed on federal system which would have kept India
united and autonomy would have been granted to provinces to a certain
extent.
● After failing of talks Jinnah called for direct action day to press demand for
Pakistan. On 16th August, 1946, riots broke out in Calcutta, later spread to
other parts of Bengal, then to Bihar, United Provinces and Punjab. In riots
both the communities suffered.
● In February 1947, Viceroy Lord Mountbatten replaced Wavell. He called for
one last round of talk and when talks were inconclusive he announced India
would be freed and it will be divided. Finally on 15th August, 1947, power
was transferred to India.

The Last Heroic Days of Mahatma Gandhi:

● Gandhiji marked the day of Independence with a 24 hour fast. The freedom
struggle ended with division of country and Hindus and Muslims seeking
each others life.
● In the months of September and October Gandhiji went around hospitals
and refugee camps giving consolation to people. He appealed to Sikhs, the
 Hindus and Muslims to forget the past and to extend the hand of friendship,
cooperation and peace.
● At the backing of Gandhiji and Nehru, Congress passed resolution on the
right of minorities. It further said party had never accepted partition but it
has been forced on it.
● Congress said India will be a democratic secular country, every citizen will
be equal. Congress tried to assure the minorities in India that their rights
will be protected in India.
● On 26th January, 1948, Gandhiji said, earlier independence day was
celebrated on this day, now freedom has come but it has been deeply
disillusioning. He believed that worst is over. He allowed himself to hope
that though geographically and politically India is divided into two, at heart
we shall ever be friends and brothers helping and respecting one another
and be one for the outside world.
● Gandhiji was shot dead by a Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse. Nathuram
Godse was an editor of Hindu extremist, newspaper who had denounced
Gandhiji as an appeaser of Muslims.
● Gandhiji’s death led to extraordinary pouring of grief, tributes were paid
across the political spectrum in India and appreciation coining from
International figure such as George Orwell, Einstein, etc. Time magazine
compared his death to Abraham Lincoln.

Knowing Mahatma Gandhi:

● There are different sources from which history of the National Movement
and the political career of Gandhiji can be reconstructed.
● Writing and speeches of Mahatma Gandhi and his contemporaries were
important source for knowing the events. Though there is a difference,
speech were meant for public while private letter were meant to express
emotions and thinking that cannot be expressed publicly.
● Many letters written to individuals were personal but they were also meant
for the public. The language of letter was shaped by the awareness that it
might be published, so it often prevent people from expressing their opinion
freely.
● Autobiographies give us an account of past, but one need to be careful
while reading and interpreting it. They are written on the basis of memory of
author.
 ● Government records, official letters were also important source for knowing
the history. But it also have limitations as these were mostly biased so it
needs to be interpreted carefully.
● Newspapers in English and other Vernacular
● languages tracked Gandhiji’s movement, National Movement and sentiment
of Indians regarding freedom movement and Gandhiji. Newspaper should
not be seen as unprejudiced as they were published by people who had
their own political opinions and views.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 13 Important Terms:

● Moderate: A person who is against taking extreme action.
● Repeal: To undo law.
● Radical: A person who welcomes new ideas or opinions.
● Revolutionary Violence: The use of violence to make a radical change within
society.
● Council: An appointed or elected body of people with an administrative
advisory or representative function.
● Knighthood: An honour granted by British crown for exceptional personal
achievement or religious public service.
● Picket: A person or a group of people protesting outside a building or shop
to prevent others from entering.
● Mahanta: Religious functionaries of Sikh gurudwaras.
● Illegal eviction: Forcible and unlawful throwing out of tenants from the land
they rent.
● RSS: It stands for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
● Puma Swaraj: Complete independence.
● Provincial Autonomy: Capacity of the provinces to make relatively
independent decisions while remaining within a federation.
● General Constituencies: Election districts with no reservations for any
religious or other community.
● Refugee: One who has been forced to leave his country or home due to
some political, or social reasons.

Time line:

● 1905 – Bengal got partitioned

● 1915 – Mahatma Gandhi came to India from South Africa.
 ● 1919 – The Rowlatt Satyagraha started. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
took place.
● 1920 – The Non-Coopreation Movement started.
● 1922 – Gandhiji called off the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Chapter 14 Understanding Partition Politics,

Memories, Experiences
● The British policy of Divide and Rule played a key role in spreading of
communal-ism.
● Earlier the British attitude towards the Muslim was not favorable, they think
that they were responsible for the revolt of 1857.
● But soon they felt that due to their behavior Hindus grew stronger, so they
reversed their policy.
● Now, they began to take side with the Muslims and turned against Hindus.
● Bengal was partitioned in 1905 by Lord Curzen. He said Bengal was
partitioned due to administrative problems.
● The real objective of British behind the partition of Bengal was to sow the
seed of disunity between the Hindus and the Muslims.
● By the act of 1909 British government gave the Muslims the right of
separate electorate.
● In, 1916 Lucknow Pact was signed between Congress and the Muslim
League. It was an important landmark step forward in achieving
Hindu-Muslim unity. But it was really an agreement for cooperation in the
political field on the basis of common programme.
● In February 1937, elections to the provincial assembly were held, in which
only few had the right to vote.
● To solve the political crisis of India, Lord Attlee sent Cabinet Mission to
India.
● The Muslim League, on 6th June 1946 accepted the Cabinet Mission Plan
as the foundation of Pakistan was inherent in it, but Congress opposed it.
● To solve the political tangle of India Lord Mount Batten arrived India. He
proposed his plan on 3 June 1947, in which he stated that country would be
divided into two Dominions, i. e. India and Pakistan. It was accepted by
both Congress and Muslim League.
The joy of independence from colonial rule was tarnished by the partition and violence
which was unleashed after the partition. Some of the incidents and facts about partition

● and its disturbing experiences can be known by interviews, books and other
related documents.
● Partition caused at very large scale violence, thousands of people were
killed, innumerable women were raped and abducted. There was large scale
displacement of people across the border, millions were uprooted and
transformed into refugees. In all, approximately 15 million had to move
across the newly created borders.
● Displaced people lost their all immovable property and most of their
movable property, separated from their relatives and friends as well. People
were stripped of their local culture and were forced to begin life from
scratch.
● Speaking of these killings, arson, rape and loot that came along with
partition, observers and scholars have sometimes used the expression
‘holocaust’, with primary meaning of destruction or slaughter on a mass
scale.

Historical Background of Partition:

● There are several events which gave fuel to fire for partition of India and
Pakistan, whether directly or indirectly.
● Politicisation of religion started with separate electorate in 1909. It was
further strengthened by colonial government of India in 1919.
● Community identities no longer indicated simple difference in faith and
belief, they became mean to active opposition and hostility between
communities.
● Communal identities were further consolidated during 1920s and 1930s by
music before rnasjid, by Cow Protection Movement and Shuddhi Movement
of Arya Samaj. Hindus were angered by the rapid spread of tabligh
(propaganda) and tanzim (organisation).
● Middle class publicist and communal activist sought to build greater
solidarity within their communities and mobilising people against other
community. Every communal riot deepened the difference between
communities.

The Provincial Elections of 1937 and its Result:

 ● In 1937, for the first time provincial elections were held. In this election,
Congress won majority in 5 provinces and formed government in 7
provinces out of 11.
● Congress fared badly in reserved constituencies, even Muslim league
performed poorly and captured only few seats of reserved categories. In
United Province, Muslim league wanted to form government with Congress
but Congress rejected it as they had absolute majority. This rejection led to
believe by leagues member that they would not get political power as they
are minority. League also believed that only Muslim party can represent
Muslims and Congress is a Hindu party.
● In 1930’s, league’s social support was fairly small and weak, so league
started working enthusiastically to expand its social support in all the
Muslim dominated areas.
● Congress and its ministries failed in countering the hatred and suspicion
spreaded by league. Congress failed in winning over the Muslim masses.
● Growth of RSS and Hindu Mahasabha also played an important role in
widening the difference between Hindus and Muslims.

The ‘Pakistan’ Resolution:

● On 23rd March, 1940, league passed a resolution demanding a measure of

autonomy for Muslim majority areas of the sub-continent. This resolution
never mentioned partition or a separate state.
● Earlier in 1930, Urdu poet Mohammad Iqbal spoke about re-organisation of
Muslim majority areas in the North-Western India into autonomous unit
within a large federation. He also not imagined a separate country at the
time of his speech.

The sudden Demand of Partition:

● None of the leaders of Muslim league were clear about Pakistan.

● Demand for autonomous area was made in 1940 and within 7 years only
partition took place.
● Even, Jinnah in the beginning may have seen the Pakistan as bargaining
tool for preventing British to grant concession to Congress and to gain
favours for Muslims.

Important Events during Partition: Negotiation and Discussions Started Again

 ● Negotiations between British, Congress and Muslim league began in 1945
but the discussions broke down due to Jinnah’s unrelenting demands about
members of council and communal veto.
● In 1946, again provincial elections were held. In this election, Congress
swept general constituencies and league succeed in gaining large majority
of Muslim vote.
● The League’s success to capture seats reserved for Muslims was
spectacular. It won all 30 reserved constituencies in the centre and 442 out
of 509 seats in the provinces. Therefore, in 1946 league established itself
as dominant party among Muslims.

Cabinet Mission Came to India:

● In March 1946, Cabinet Mission came to India to make a suitable political

framework for India.
● Mission recommended India to be united with three tier confederation. It
grouped provincial assemblies into 3 sections. A for Hindu majority
province, while B and C were for Muslim majority areas of North-West and
North-East. Cabinet Mission proposed a weak centre and provinces will
have power to set up intermediate level executives and legislature of their
own.
● Initially, all parties agreed but later league demanded that grouping should
be made compulsory and should have right to secede from the union. While
Congress wanted that provinces should be given the right to join the group.
So due to differences, talks broke down.
● Now Congress sensed after this failure that partition became inevitable and
took it as tragic but unavoidable. But Mahatma Gandhi and Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan of North-West frontier province continued to oppose the idea
of partition.

Re-Election in the Year 1946:

● After withdrawal from Cabinet Mission, Muslims league decided on direct

action for winning its Pakistan demand. It announced 16th August, 1946 as
‘direct action day’. Initially riots broke out in Calcutta and gradually spread
to other parts of Northern India.
 ● In March 1947, Congress accepted division of Punjab in 2 halves, one will
be Muslim majority and other will be Hindu/Sikh majority. Similarly, Bengal
was a ho divided.

The Withdrawal of Law and Order Situation:

● Large scale bloodshed took place in the year 1947. Governance structure of
the country was totally collapsed, there was complete loss of authority.
British officials were reluctant to take decisions and did not know how to
handle the situation. British were busy preparing to quit India.
● Top leaders barring Gandhiji were engaged in negotiation regarding
Independence. Indian Civil Servants in the affected areas were concerned
for their own life. Problem became more complicated when soldiers and
policemen forgot their professional commitment and helped their
co-religionist and attacked members of other communities.

Condition of Women during the Partition:

● During the partition women suffered the most. Women were raped,
abducted, sold and forced to settle down to a new life with stranger in
unknown circumstances. Some began to develop a new family bond in their
changed circumstances.
● Government of both India and Pakistan showed lack of understanding of
emotions and sometimes forcefully sent women away from their new
relatives. They did not consult the concerned women and undermine their
rights to take decisions.
● Notion of honour drew on a conception of masculinity, defined as
ownership of zan [women] and zamin [land]. Virility, it was believed that lay
in ability to protect your possession i.e. zan and zamin from outsiders.
● So when men feared that their women-wives, daughters, sisters would be
violated by enemy, they killed their women themselves. There was an
incident in village of Rawalpindi, where 90 Sikh women voluntarily jumped
into w’ell for protecting themselves from outsiders.
● These incidents were seen as ‘martyrdom and it is believed that men at that
time had to courageously accept the decision of women and in some cases
even persuade them to kill themselves.

Role of Mahatma Gandhi during Partition:

 ● Using Turmoil, Gandhiji took brave effort to restore peace, toured villages of
Noakhali (East Bengal), villages in Bihar then riots torn Calcutta and Delhi to
stop communal killing and reassure the safety of minority community.
● In East Bengal, he assured safety of Hindus, while in Delhi he told Hindus
and Sikhs to protect Muslims and tried to build a spirit of mutual trust.
● Gandhiji begem a fast to bring about a change in the heart of people. Many
Hindus, Sikh migrants fasten with him. The effect of the fast was ‘electric’
as people started to realise the misdeed what they have done with other
communities. But only with martyrdom of Gandhiji, finally this massacre
ended.

Regional Variations in Partition:

● The partition brought carnage and thousand of lives were lost.

● In Punjab, there was a mass displacement of Hindu and Sikh population
from Pakistani side to Indian side and displacement of Punjabi Muslims to
Pakistan from Indian side.
● Displacement of people in Punjab was very agonising. Property were
looted, women were killed, abducted and raped. There was large scale
massacre.
● In Bengal, people moved across porous border, suffering was less
concentrated and agonising in Bengal in comparison to Punjab. There was
also not total displacement of Hindu and Muslim population in Bengal.
● Some Muslims families of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and
Hyderabad also migrated to Pakistan during 1950s and early 1960’s.
● Jinnah’s theory of two state based on religion failed when East Bengal
separated it from West Pakistan and become independent country as
Bangladesh in 1971.
● In Punjab and Bengal there is huge similarity in both these states. Women
and girls were the prime target of persecution. Attacker treated women
bodies as territory to be conquered.
● Discoursing women of community was seen as dishonouring community.

Help, Humanity and Harmony:

● There is history’ of help, and humanity beneath the debris of violence and
pain of partition. Numerous stories are there when people took an extra
effort to help the victims of partition.
 ● Many stories of caring, sharing, empathy are present, stories of opening of
new opportunities and of triumph over trauma are also present.
● For e.g. the story of Khushdeva Singh, a Sikh doctor’s work, is one of the
finest examples, who helped many migrants whether of Muslim, Hindu or
Sikh communities with affection. He provided them shelter, food, security,
etc in times of partition.

Oral Testimonies and History:

● Oral narratives, memoirs, diaries, family histories, first hand written

accounts helped in understanding the suffering of people during the time of
partition.
● Lives of the affected people changed drastically between 1946-50. They
bore immense, psychological, emotional and social pain.
● Oral testimonies helps us to know about experience and memory in detail.
It enabled historians to write rich and vivid account of suffering and
anguish of people. Official record tells us about policy matters and high
level decision of government and its machinery.
● Oral histories provided historian the experiences of poor and powerless. It
gives information about significant help and empathy of people in easing
out the life of affected person.
● The oral history of partition has succeeded in exploring experiences of
those men and women who were earlier ignored and taken for granted or
mentioned in passing history.
● Some historians casts doubt on oral history as they say oral history lacks
concreteness and chronology. Oral histories are not able to provide overall
bigger picture and are usually touching the tangential issues. Reliability of
oral histories can be corroborated and examined by the evidences from
other sources. Oral history should not be seen as tangential if one has to
know about experience of people.
● Oral histories are not easily available and affected People might not like to
share their sufferings to strangers. The oral historian faces the daunting
task of having to shift, the actual experiences of partition from the web of
constructed memories.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 14 Important Terms:

 ● Unionist Party: This party stood for the interests of all landlords in Punjab. It
was founded in the year 1923.
● Confederation: It refers to a union of fairly autonomous and sovereign
states with a central government.
● Arya Samaj: Founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in the year 1875.
● Muslim League: Founded in the year 1906.
● Hindu Mahasabha: Founded in the year 1915.
● Federal Union: Autonomous federation given autonomous status. Its
Central Government has some limited powers.
● Lucknow Pact: A pact between Congress and Muslim League signed in the
year 1916.
● Pakistan: Came into existence after partition of India. Choudhary Rehmat
Ali, a Punjabi- Muslim student at Cambridge, coined the name ‘Pakistan’ for
the first time in the year 1933.
● Muslim League’s Resolution at Lahore: In 1940, the Muslim League moved
a resolution at Lahore demanding a measure of autonomy for the
Muslim-majority areas.
● General Elections of 1946: In the year 1946, last general elections were held
of pre-independence. Major political parties of India contested the election.
The Indian Congress won massively in the general elections of
constituencies. The Muslim also won in Muslim constituencies.
● Cabinet Mission: A three-member Cabinet Mission arrived in India in March
1946.

Time line:

● 1905 – Partitioned on Bengal

● 1906 – Muslim League was formed
● 1916 – Lucknow Pact was signed
● 22 Dec, 1939 – Deliverance day, observed by Muslim League
● 16 Aug, 1946 – Direct Action Day plan celebrated by Muslim League
● 3 June, 1947 – Declaration and acceptance
● 15 August, 1947 – India became free and emerged as an independent
nation
Chapter 12 Colonial Cities Urbanisation,
Planning and Architecture
● With the decline to the Mughal Empire in the 18th century, many old lords
lost their importance.
● 18th century marks the emergences of many new kingdoms like Lucknow,
Hyderabad, Poona, Baroda, Nagpur, etc,
● The port towns/cities swat, Masulipatnam, and Dhaka which developed in
the 17th century declined during the mid 18th century with the emergence
of new cities like Madras, Calcutta and Bombay.
● The colonial rule was based on many kinds of data and compilation of
information. Its purpose was to keep an eye on the city life and trading
activities so the statistical data, maps, census and official records of
municipalities were prepared.
● The survey of India was constituted in 1878 to prepare the survey map of
India.
● Railway was introduced in India in 1853. The introduction of railway brought
many changes in the life of urban life.
● In the 19th century East India Company established many stations likes,
Shimla, Mount Abu and Darjeeling. These hill stations were set up for
stationing army, for guarding frontiers and for launching invasion against
enemy.
● In 1864, the Viceray John Lahilence, officially shifted his capital at ‘Shimla’
and the official residence of the commander-in-chief was also set up in
Shimla.
● The social life of new cities was bewildering. It had rich and poorest of the
poor people.
● The development in the means of the transportation brought many new
changes in the social life of the people.
● The importance of middle class began to increase in new cities. Here, they
got many new job opportunities which brought a great change in their
perception and outlook.
● New identities and new social groups came into existence in these towns.
● Many new changes occurred in the life of the people. Important changes
were witnessed in the lives of the woman living in the cities. Here they got
many new opportunities of job, which brought new changes in their
perception and outlook.
 ● The British East India company had first set up its trading activities in Surat.
● The Buildings and architectural style threw an invaluable light at many
things and provided us an important information about the ideal building.
● These buildings also explain the perspective and viewpoints of those who
constructed these building.
● Architectural style do not represent and reflect the prevalent taste. It
moulded tastes, popularised styles, shapes, contours of cultures.

Company agents initially settled in the Madras, Calcutta and Bombay which were
originally fishing and weaving villages. They gradually developed these villages into the
cities. These cities had the mark of colonial government institutions which were set up
to regulate economic activity and demonstrate the authority of new rule.

Towns and Cities in Pre-colonial Times:

● Towns and cities before the advent of the British can be discussed under
the following heads

Nature of Towns:

● Towns represent unique form of economic activities and cultures. In town

ruler administrator, artisans, inansabdars and jagirdars, traders, etc were
living. Towns were surrounded by the fortified wall and thrived on the
surplus and taxes derived from agriculture.
● Peasants from the countryside came to the town for pilgrimage or selling
their produce during the lime of famine etc. There are also evidences of
people going to village to sell their goods, crafts etc. People migrated to
villages when towns were attacked.
● The presence of emperor, nobels and other affluent powerful persons in
town and centres meant that a wide variety of service had to be provided
and these towns were seat of power from where administration of empire
works. In the medieval times, Delhi, Agra, Lahore, Madurai and Kanchipuram
etc were famous, towns and cities.

Changes in the 18th Century:

 ● In the 18th century with decline of Mughal empire, old towns also lost their
grandeur and new towns like Lucknow, Hyderabad, Seringpatnam, Pune,
Nagpur, Baroda, Tanjore, etc were developed and these towns were seat of
local authority. Traders, artisans, administrators and mercenaries migrated
from old Mughal centres to these towns in search of work and patronage.
Many new qasbah (small town in the country side) and garij (small fixed
market) came into existence, but effect of political decentralisation were
uneven (Puducherry).
● European commercial companies had set up their base in different towns,
e.g., Portuguese in Panji, Dutch in Masulipatnam, British in Madras and
French in Pondicherry.
● With expansion in commercial activity towns grew further, gradually by the
end of 18th century land-based empires in Asia were replaced by the
powerful sea-based European empires. Forces of international trade,
mercantilism and capitalism defined the nature of society.
● As British took over political control in India from 1757, trade of East India
Company expanded and colonial port cities like Bombay, Calcutta and
Madras emerged as economic and political power.

Development of Town and Cities in Colonial Times:

● A number of records and data were collected by the British as well as

Indian officials which provide information about the colonial cities.
However, according to historians, the figures can be misleading, some may
have correct information and some may have ambiguity.

Colonial Records of Urban History:

● British government kept detailed records, carried regular survey, gathered

statistical data and published official records of their trading activities to
regulate their commercial affairs. British also started mapping as they
believed maps help in understanding landscape topography, planning
development, maintaining security and to gauge possibilities of commercial
activities.
● British government from late nineteenth century started giving
responsibilities to elect Indian representatives to administrate basic
services to towns and it started a systematic annual collection of municipal
taxes.
 ● First all-India census was carried in 1872 and after 1881 it was carried
decennial (conducted every ten years). But the data record generated and
kept by British government cannot be trusted blindly as it has ambiguities.
People during that time gave evasive answers to officials due to suspicion
and fear.
● Many times false information were given by the locals about mortality,
disease, illness. Always these were not reported. Sometimes the reports
and records kept by British government was also biased. However, inspite
of ambiguity and biasness, these records and data helped in studying about
colonial cities.

Trends of Change:

● Urban population of India remained stagnant during 1800s. In the forty

years between 1900 and 1940 the urban population increased from about
10 percent of the total population to about 13 percent.
● Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay were became sprawling cities. They were
entry and exit points of goods from the country. Smaller towns had little
opportunity to grow. Few towns which were situated on the bank of river
like Mirzapur (which specialised in collecting cotton and cotton goods from
Deccan) were growing but with introduction of railways its development
stopped.
● Expansion of railway led to the formation of railway workshops and railway
colonies. Towns like Jamalpur, Waltair and Bareilly developed due to
railways.

Towns: A Unique Identity:

● Colonial towns reflects a number of features These were important in

terms of economic, political and also cultural point of view, which showed a
unique identity. They also tell how power was shifted from Indian rulers to
the European elites.

Ports, Forts and Centra for Services:

● By 18th century Madras, Calcutta, Bombay, all had important ports and
became the economic centre.
 ● Company built its factories and fortified these settlements for protection.
Fort St. George in Madras, Fort Wiliam in Calcutta, and the fort in Bombay
were famous settlement of that time.
● Indian traders, merchants, artisans who worked with the European
merchant lived outside these forts in their own settlement. Settlement of
European was called ‘White Town’ and settlement of Indians was known as
‘Black Town’.
● Expansion of railways connected the hinterland to these port cities. So it
became convenient to transport raw material and labour to the cities.
● In 19th century, there was expansion of cotton and jute mills in region of
Bombay and Calcutta.
● There were only two proper industrial cities. Kanpur, which was specialised
in leather, woollen and textiles and second city was Jamshedpur, which was
specialised in steel. However, Industrial development was lagging behind in
India due to discriminatory policies of the British.

A New Urban Milieu:

● Colonial cities reflected the mercantile culture of English. Political power

and patronage shifted from Indian rulers to the merchants of the East India
company.
● Indian traders, merchants, middlemen and interpreter who worked with
company also enjoyed important place in cities.
● Ghats and docks were developed. Along the ports, godowns, mercantile
office, insurance agencies, transport depots and banking developed.
Racially exclusive clubs, racecourses and theatres were built for ruling elite.
● European merchants and agents lived in palatial house in white town while
Indian
● merchants, middlemen, agents had traditional courtyard houses in Black
town.
● The labouring poor provided service to European and Indian master as
cook, palanquin bearer, coachmen, guard, porters and construction and
dock worker. They lived in huts in different parts of the city.
● After revolt the British felt the need that town needed to be more secure of
and better defended. So pastureland and agricultural fields around older
town were cleared and new urban space called Civil Lines were set up and
white people used to live in it. Cantonment were developed as safe
enclaves and here Indian troops lived under European command.
 ● British considered black town as area characterised by chaos, anarchy, filth
and disease.
● When epidemics of Cholera and Plague spread, they decided to take
stringent measure for sanitation, public health, hygiene and cleanliness

The Development of Hill Stations:

● British Government started developing hill stations initially because of need

of British army. Simla (present day shimla) founded during Gurkha war
(1815-16). Anglo-Maratha war led to development of Mount Abu (1818).
Darjeeling was taken from the ruler of Sikkim in 1835.
● The temperate and cool climate of hills were seen as sanitarium (places
where soldiers could be sent for rest and recovery from illness) because
these areas were free from diseases like cholera, malaria, etc.
● Hilly regions and stations became attractive place for European rulers and
other elites. During summer season, for recreation they visited these places
regularly. Many houses, buildings, and Churches were designed according
to European style.
● Later introduction of railway made these places more accessible and upper
and middle class Indians like maharajas, lawyers and merchants also
started visiting these places regularly.
● Hilly regions were also important regarding economy as tea plantation,
coffee plantation flourished in the region.

Social Life in the New Cities:

● In cities life seemed always in a flux, there was a great inequality between
rich and poor.
● New transport facilities like horse drawn carriage, trains, buses had been
developed. People now started travelling, from home to work place using
the new mode of transportation.
● Many public places were created, e.g. public parks, theatres, dubs, and
cinema halls in 20th century. These places provided entertainment and
opportunity for social interaction.
● People started migrating to cities. There were demands of clerks, teachers,
lawyers, doctors, engineers and accountants. There were schools, colleges
and libraries.
 ● A new public sphere of debate and discussion emerged. Social norms,
customs and practices came to be questioned.
● They provided new. opportunities for women. It provided women avenues to
get out of their house and become more visible in public life.
● They entered new profession as teacher, theatre and film actress, domestic
worker, factory worker, etc.
● Middle class women started to express themselves through the medium of
autobiographies, journals and books.
● Conservatives feared these reforms, they feared breaking existing rule of
society, and patriarchal order.
● Women who went out of the household had to face opposition and they
became object of social censure in those years.
● In cities, there were a class of labourers or the working class. Poor came to
cities looking for opportunity, few came to cities to live a new way of life
and desire to see the new things.
● Life in cities were expensive, jobs were uncertain and sometimes migrants
leave their family at native place to save money. Migrants also participated
in the Tamashas (folk theatre) and Swangs (satires) and in that way they
tried to integrate with the life of cities.

Settlement and Segregation in Madras:

● Company first set up its centre at Surat and then tried to occupy east coast.
British and French were engaged in Battle in South India, but with defeat of
France in 1761, Madras became secure and started to grow as commercial
centre.
● Fort St. George became the important centre where Europeans lived and it
was reserved for English men.
● Officials were not permitted to marry Indians. However, other than English
Dutch, Portuguese were allowed to live in the fort as they were European
and Christian.
● Development of Madras was done according to the need of whites. Black
town, settlement of Indians, earlier it was outside the fort but later it was
shifted.
● New Black town resembled traditional Indian town with living quarter
around temple and bazaar. There were caste specific neighbourhoods.
● Madras was developed by incorporating many nearby villages. City of
Madras provided numerous opportunities for local communities.
 ● Different communities perform their specific job in the Madras city, people
of different communities started competing for British Government job.
● Transport system gradually started to develop. Urbanisation of Madras
meant areas between the villages were brought within the city.

Town Planning in Calcutta:

● Town planning required preparation of a layout of entire urban space and

urban land use.
● City of Calcutta had been developed from three villages called Sutanati,
Kolkata and Govindpur. The company cleared a site of Govindpur village for
building a fort there.
● Town planning in Calcutta gradually spread from Fort William to other
parts. Lord Wellesley played very important role in town planning of
Calcutta. Further work of town planning was carried by Lottery committee
with the help of government. Funds for town planning were raised by
Lotteries.
● Committee made a new map for Calcutta, made roads in the city and
cleared riverbank of encroachment. Many huts ‘bustis’ and poors were
displaced to make Calcutta cleaner and disease free and these people were
shifted to outskirt of Calcutta.
● Frequent fires in the city led to making of stricter building regulation.
Thatched roof were banned and tiled roofs were made mandatory.
● By the late nineteenth century official intervention in the city became more
stringent.
● British removed more huts and developed British portion of town at the
expense of other areas.
● These policies further deepened the racial divide of white town and black
town and new division of healthy and unhealthy further rised. Gradually
public protest against these policies
● strengthened anti-imperialistic feeling and nationalism among Indians.
● British wanted the cities like Bombay, Calcutta and Madras to represent the
grandeur and authority of the British Empire. Town planning were aimed to
represent their meticulous and rational planning and execution alongwith
Western aesthetic ideas.

Architecture in Bombay:
 ● Although, government building primarily serving functional needs like
defence, administration and commerce but they often meant to showcase
ideas of nationalism, religious glory and power.
● Bombay has initially seven islands, later it become commercial capital of
colonial India and also a centre of international trade.
● Bombay port led to the development of Malwa, Sind and Rajasthan and
many Indian merchants also become rich.
● Bombay led to development of Indian capitalist class which came from
diverse communities like Parsi, Marwari, Konkani, Muslim, Gujarati, Bania,
Bohra, Jew and Armenian.
● Increased demand of cotton, during the time of American civil war and
opening of Suez Canal in 1869 led to further economic development of
Bombay.
● Bombay was declared one of the most important city of India. Indian
merchants in Bombay started investing in cotton mills and in building
activities.
● Many new buildings were built but they were built in European style. It was
thought that it would:
● give familiar landscape in alien country to European, thus to
feel at home in the colony.
● give them a symbol of superiority, authority and power.
● help in creating distinction between Indian subjects and
colonial masters.
● For public building, three broad architectural styles were used. These
included neo-classical, neo-Gothic and Indo-Saracenic styles.

Building and Architectural Styles:

● Architecture reflected the aesthetic idea prevalent at that time, building also
expressed vision of those who build them. Architectural styles also mould
taste, popularise styles and shape the contours of culture.
● From the late nineteenth century, regional and national tastes were
developed to counter colonial ideal. Style has changed and developed
through wider processes of cultural conflict.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 12 Important Terms:

● Kasbah: A small town in the countryside.
 ● Ganj: Small size fixed market.
● Census: Counting of population
● White Towns: Towns where only European could live.
● Black Towns: Towns where only Indian could live.
● Civil lines: Urban areas where only white people could settle and live.
● Pet: A Tamil word, which means settlement.
● Purim: A Tamil word stands for a village.
● Dubhasia: Those people who speak English as well as local language.
● Vellars: A local rural community in Madras.
● Garermath: The east India company built the Fort William in Calcutta. From
the prospective of its security, a vast open space was left around it. It was
locally known as a garer math or maiden.

Time line:

● 1688 – Bombay was handed over to East India company by the Butanes
Empire.
● 1673 – French established trading centre at Pondichhery.
● 1757 – Battle of Placey
● 1798 – Lord Welleseley appointed as the 1st General of Bangal
● 1807 – Lottery commission was setup at Calcutta.
● 1814 -16 – Shimla was established.
● 1836 – That shed huts were banned in Calcutta.
● 1872 – Attempts were made for 1st census.
● 1878 – Organisation of survey of India
● 1881 – Madras harbour was completed.
● 1896 – Plague began to spread in India cities.
● 1911 – British transfer their capital from Calcutta to Delhi.

Chapter 15 Framing the Constitution The

Beginning of a New Era
● Indian constitution was prepared by the learned members of the
Constituent Assembly.
● The constitution was framed between December 1946 to December, 1949.
● Each clause of the constitution was discussed by the Constituent
Assembly. All in all, eleven sessions of Constituent Assembly were held and
165 sittings took place.
● Different committees and sub-committees carried out the work of revising
and refining the drafts of the constitution.
● The Constituent Assembly had 299 members. The assembly adopted the
constitution on 26 November 1949, but it came into effect on January 26,
1950.
● The members of the Constituent Assembly were elected on the basis of
provincial election held in 1946.
● Muslim League did not participate in the meeting of Constitutent Assembly.
These meetings were held before the partition of India.
● The Constituent Assembly remained as a one party show as its 82%
members belonged to Congress party.
● The meeting of the Constituent Assembly was influenced by the public
opinion. The arguments of various sections were published in all leading
newspapers and there was a public debate on all proposals.
● Dr. B.R. Ambedkar played an important role in Constituent Assembly. He
acted as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the constitution.
● Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru moved the objective resolution in the Constituent
Assembly.
● Objective Resolution was a historic resolution which defined the ideals of
the constitution of free Indian.
● It proclaimed India as an independent sovereign Republic.
● It guaranteed justice, equality and freedom to all citizens of
India .
● It assured that safeguards shall be provided for all the
minorities, backward and tribal area.
● By 1949, most of the members of the Constituent Assembly agreed that the
resolution of separate electorate is against the interest of minorities.
● A socialist leader and the leader of the peasant movement N.G. Ranga
urged that the word minorities must be interpreted in economic terms.
● Dr. B.R. Ambedkar demanded the separate electorates for scheduled caste.
He raised this issue during the national movement. It was opposed by
Mahatma Gandhi, who said that this would segregate from the rest of the
society.
● K. Santhanam favoured the right to the states because he felt that a
reallocation of powers of the state as well as the centre is necessary.
● The language issue was debated in the Constituent Assembly for many
months.
● Till the decade of 1930s the Congress accepted the Hindustani out to be
given the status of national language. Hindustani which was blend of Hindi
and Urdu was a popular language among most of people of India.
● R.V. Dhulekar favoured the use of Hindi language as a language of
constitution making. He argued that the Hindi must be declared as a
national language not as an official language. He criticised that those who
protested that the Hindi language was being forced on the nation.
● Most of the members of the Assembly were agreed on the fact that all the
adult citizens of India must be granted the right to vote.
● Our constitution is a very long and detailed document. Therefore, it needs
to be amended quite regularly to keep it updated.
● Those who drafted the constitution of India felt that it has to be in
accordance with people’s aspiration and changes in the society. So, they
made provisions to incorporate changes from time to time.
● The constitution describes the institutional arrangements in a very legal
language. It lays downs the procedure for choosing person to govern the
country.
● Constitution declares India as a secular state. Every person is allowed to
practise the religion of his/her choice.
● The Indian Constitution came into effect on 26 January 1950.
● It is the largest Constitution of the world.
● On 16 Jun, 1946 Cabinet Mission presented scheme for the formation of an
Interim Government at Centre.
● On 2nd September 1946, the Indian National Congress formed Interim
Government with Jawaharlal Nehru as the Vice-President.
● On 13 October 1946, Muslim League decided to join the Interim
Government.
● Federal form of government was adopted in which political power is divided
among Centre and States . It means Government works at two levels.
● Citizens of India have been granted Fundamental Rights. These are
important for the progress and development of any individual.
● Division of power was made between the Centre and the States. There are
97 issues in the Union List, 66 issues in the State list and 47 in the
Concurrent List.
● On the subjects of the Union List only Centre can make laws.
● State has the power to make laws on subjects related to the State List.
 ● State and the Centre both have the power to make laws on the subject
related to Concurrent list. But whenever there is a clash, the centre Law will
prevail.
● At present there are 30 states and 7 Union territories in the Union of India.

The constitution of India is the longest constitution in the world. It was framed between
December 1946 and December 1949. It came into effect from 26th January, 1950. A
Constitution is designed to keep the country together and to take it forward. A
constitution is an elaborated and carefully worked out document.

The Making of the Constituent Assembly:

● Members of the constituent assembly were indirectly elected. Members

were elected by provincial legislature. Constituent assembly was
dominated by the Congress.
● The Muslim League boycotted the assembly as it wanted separate
constitution and separate state.
● Though members were mostly from the Congress but views and opinion of
its members were diverse. In constituent assembly, there was intense
debate between the members regarding different ideas and proposals.
● Intense discussion within the constituent assembly was also influenced by
opinion of the public. Public was also asked to send in their views and
ideas.
● Linguistic minorities asked for protection of their mother tongue, religious
minorities demanded for special safeguards. While dalits asked for
abolition of caste suppression and reservation in education and
government jobs.

The Dominant Voices in the Constituent Assembly:

● Out of all 300 members of the constituent assembly, few members like Pt
Nehru,Vallabh Bhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, BR Ambedkar, ICM Munshi and
Alladi Krishna Swamy Aiyar had a remarkable contribution. Pt. Jawaharlal
Nehru, Vallabh Bhai Patel and Rajendra Prasad were representatives of the
National Congress.
● Pt Jawaharlal Nehru moved crucial “objectives resolution” as well as
proposal of National Flag. While Vallabh Bhai Patel played an important role
in negotiating with princely states, merging these princely states with India.
 He drafted several reports and worked for reconciling the opposing point of
view.
● Rajendra Prasad as a President of assembly steered the discussion along
the constructive lines and made sure that all members had a chance to
speak.
● Dr BR Ambedkar joined the cabinet on advice of Gandhiji and worked as law
minister. He was the chairman of drafting committee of the constitution.
KM Munshi and Alladi Krishnaswamy Aiyar were another two lawyers who
played important role in drafting of the Constitution.
● There were two civil servants who gave vital assistance to these leaders,
one among them was B.N. Rao, who worked as constitutional advisor to
government of India and another was S.N. Mukherjee who put up complex
proposal in clear legal language.

The Objective of Indian Constitution:

● On 13th December, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru introduced “Objective

Resolution”. It proclaimed India to be an “Independent Sovereign Republic”
guaranteed its citizen, justice, equality, freedom and assured “adequate
safeguards for minorities, backward and tribal areas, depressed, and
backward classes”.
● Objective resolution outlined the ideals of constitution and provided
frame-work for constitution making.
● Nehru referred to American and French constitution and event associated
with its making. He said that we are not just going to copy them, instead he
said it is important to learn from these, so mistakes can be avoided.
● Nehru said the system of government to be established in India had to fit in
with the temper of our people and should be acceptable to them.
● The objective of the Indian constitution would be to fuse the liberal ideas of
democracy with socialist idea of economic justice, and re-adapt and rework
on all these ideas within the Indian context.

The Aspiration of the People:

● Somnath Lahiri, a communist member said ‘we Indians need to be free

from British influences’. He further said Constituent Assembly was
British-made and was working with British plan.
 ● Nehru said, in his response that it is true, British government played role in
Assembly’s birth and attached conditions to the function of assembly. But,
he also said, we have met because of strength of the people behind us and
we shall go as far as people wish to go alongwith us.
● He believed that members of assembly were elected by provincial
legislature and provincial legislature is elected by Indian people. So here, we
represent our country men.
● The constituent assembly was expected to express the aspirations of
people. Democracy, equality and justice were ideals that people of India
aspires for.

Rights of People:

● The way of defining the rights of people was quiet different. Different
demands were made by different groups of people. These demands, ideas,
opinions were debated, discussed and conflicting idea were reconcilled and
then consensus was made to take collective decision.

The Problem with Separate Electorates:

● Intense debate took place in assembly on the issue of separate electorate.

B. Pocker Bahadur gave powerful presentation for continuation for separate
electorate. He said electorate will help in giving minorities representation in
the political system and in governance of the country. The need of Muslim
could not be understood by non-Muslims-he further said.
● Many nationalist leaders saw separate electorates system as a tool to
divide people on the basis of religion and they also believed that this idea
was finally culminated in partition of the country. Therefore many leaders
were against of it.
● Sardar Patel strongly declared that separate electorate was a poison that
has entered the body of politics of our country and turned one community
against other, caused blood sheds, riots and partition. So for a peace we
need to remove separate electorate.
● GB Pant in a debate said, separate electorate is not only harmful for nation
but also for minorities. He said that majority community had an obligation
to try and understand the problem of minorities and empathise with their
aspirations. Demand of separate electorate would permanently isolate the
 minorities and will make them vulnerable and in addition it will deprive them
of any effective say within government.
● All these arguments against separate electorate was based on the unity of
nation, where every individual is a citizen of a state, and each group had to
be assimilated within the nation.
● The Constitution will grant citizenship and rights, and in return citizens had
to offer their loyalty to the state. Communities could be recognized as
cultural entities and. politically members of all communities are equal to
the member of the state.
● By 1949, most of the Muslim members of constituent assembly were
agreed against separate electorates and removed it.
● Muslims needed to take an active part in the democratic process to ensure
that they had a decisive voice in the political system.

Objective Resolution of the Constitution:

● NG Ranga, a socialist and a leader of peasant movement welcomed the

Objective Resolution and urged that the term minority be interpreted in
economic terms. The real minorities are poor and downtrodden.
● NG Ranga welcomed all legal and civil rights granted by the constitution to
its citizen but said these rights can only be enjoyed when suitable
conditions or opportunities are provided. Therefore to make the condition
of poor and downtrodden better and protect them, there is need of much
more than this resolution.
● Ranga also talked about huge gap between the masses of India and their
representatives in the assembly. Most of members of constituent assembly
does not belongs to masses. But, they are representing them as their
trustees, their companions and trying best to work for them.
● Jaipal Singh a representative, a tribal, spoke in detail about the exploitation,
oppression and discrimination faced by tribal all through the history. He
further said about the need to protect the tribes and to make provisions
that would help them come to the level of the general population.
● Jaipal Singh said, there is a need to break physical and emotional distance
to integrate them into mainstream. He stressed on reservation of seat in
legislature, as it helps them to give their demands voice and people would
be compelled to hear it.

Provision in the Constitution for Depressed Classes of our Country:

 ● Depressed classes form 20-25% population of our country, so they are not
minority but they have faced marginalization continuously.
● Members of Depressed classes suffered systematic marginalization. They
had no access to public places, they were suppressed through distorted
social and moral orders. Depressed classes had no access to education
and had no share in the administration.
● Members of Depressed classes emphasized the problem of untouchability
that could not be resolved through safeguard and protection. To completely
remove this, there is a need to integrate these people into mainstream and
bring attitudinal change in the society.
● The constituent assembly made a provision that abolished untouchability,
Hindu temples be-thrown open to all castes and seats in legislature, jobs in
government offices be reserved for lowest castes. Many recognized that
social discrimination could only be solved through a change in the attitudes
within society.

The Powers of the State:

● Issue of division of power of the government at the centre and at state level
was intensely debated.
● Draft constitution provided three lists of subject i.e. Union List-union
government can make laws on it. State List, State government can make
laws on it and Concurrent List-Both Union and State government can make
laws on listed items.
● More items are listed in Union list. In India-Union government is made more
powerful so that it can ensure peace, security, and can coordinate on the
matter of vital interest and to speak for whole country in the international
sphere.
● However some taxes such as land and property taxes, sales tax and tax on
bottled liquor could be levied and collected by the state on their own.

View of Santhanam on Powers of Centre and State:

● K Santhanam said reallocation of power was necessary, not only to

strengthen the state but also the centre. He said if centre is overburdened
with responsibility it could not function properly. So it is important that
some powers to the state should be transferred.
 ● Again, Santhanam said states should be given appropriate fiscal provision
so that they can work independently and they do not need to depend on
centre for even nominal expenditure,
● Santhanam and many others predicted dark future if allocation is not done
properly. He further said that province might revolt against centre and
centre will break, as excessive power is centralised in the constitution.

Need for Strong Government:

● The need for strong government had been further reinforced by the events
of partition. Many leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, BR Ambedkar,
Gopalaswami Ayyangar etc advocated for strong centre.
● Before Partition the Congress had agreed to grant considerable autonomy
to the provinces. This was agreed to satisfy the Muslim League. But after
partition, there was no political pressure and voilence aftermath of partition
gave further fillip to centralised power.

The Language of the Nation:

● In the Constituent Assembly issues over national language was intensely

debated over months. Language was an emotional issue and it was related
to culture and heritage of the particular region.
● By 1930s, Congress and Mahatma Gandhi accepted Hindustani as National
language. Hindustani language was easy to understand and was a popular
language among large section of India. Hindustani developed with the
interaction of diverse culture and language.
● Hindustani language was chiefly made up of Hindi and Urdu but it also
contained words of another language. But unfortunately, the language also
suffered from communal politics. Gradually, Hindi and Urdu started moving
apart. Hindi started using more Sanskritise words similarly Urdu became
more persianised. Even then, Mahatma Gandhi retained his faith in
Hindustani. He felt that Hindustani was a composite language for all
Indians.

A Plea for Making Hindi as National Language:

 ● RV Dhulekar, a member of constituent assembly made a strong plea to
make Hindi as national language and language in which constitution should
be made. The plea evoked strong opposition.
● Language committee of assembly produced a report in which it tried to
resolve the issue by deciding that Hindi in devanagri script would be an
official language but transition to Hindi world be a gradual process and for
initial 15 years after Independence, English to be used as official language.
● Provinces were allowed to choose one language for official work within the
province.

The Fear of Domination of Hindi:

● SG Durgabai, a member of constituent assembly said that there is intense

opposition against Hindi in South India.
● After the eruption of controversy regarding the language, there is a fear in
the opponent that Hindi is antagonistic to provincial language and it cuts
the root of provincial language and cultural heritage associated with it.
● She had accepted Hindustani as language of people but the language is
being changed. Words from Urdu and regional languages were removed.
This move erodes the inclusive and composite character of Hindustani, and
due to this, anxieties and fear developed in the mind of people of different
language groups.
● Many members felt that issue of Hindi as a national language must be
treated cautiously and the aggressive tenor and speech will only create fear
in non-Hindi speaking people and will further complicate the issue. There
should be mutual understanding between different stake holders.

Class 12 History Notes Chapter 15 Important Terms:

● Constitution: Set of rules and regulations according to which a country is
governed.
● Draft: A premier version of legal document.
● Clause: A distinct section of a document.
● Constituent Assembly: An assembly of people’s representative that writes a
constitution for a country.
● Constituent Amendment: A change in the constitution made by the
supreme legislative body in the country.
Time line:

● 26 July 1945 – Labour Government comes to power in India

● 16th May 1946 – Cabinet Mission announces its constitutional scheme.
● 16th June 1946 – Cabinet Mission presented the scheme for the formation
of an interim government at centre.
● 2 Sept 1946 – Congress forms the interim govt.
● 13 October 1946 – Muslim League decides to join the interim government.
● 11 August 1947 – Jinnah was elected as the president of Constituent
Assembly of Pakistan.
● 14 August 1947 – Pakistan Independence
● 15 August 1947 – India became an independent nation.