Module - 2

Indian History through the ages

Medieval India

I. Essay Questions (5 Marks)

1.

A. The Muslims first came to India in the 8th century mainly as traders.

They were facinated by the socio-cultural scenario in this country dicided to make India their
home.
The immigrant Muslims also entered into matrimonial alliances with the local people and learned
to live together in harmony. There was mutual exchange of ideas and customs.
From central Asia Muslims brought with them their religion.
The Hindus and muslims influenced each other equally in dress, speech, manners, customs
and intellectual persuits.
The important result of this contact was the rise of both the Bhakti and sufi movements.

2. Write about sufi movement.

A. Sufism is a common term used for Islamic mysticism.

The sufis were liberals.

They believed in the essential unity of all religions.

They preached spirituality through music and through the mystical doctrines of union with God.

Sufism originated in Iran and found congenial atmosphere in India with turk Turkish rule.

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 The important pioneer sufis are Moinuddin chisti, Nizamuddin Auliya, Fariduddin Ganj -e-shaker.

The sufis emphaszied respect for all human beings.

The sufis were organised into orders or silsilahs.

These silsilas were named after the founders such as chishti, suhra wardi, Qudi and Naqhbandis.

According to Abul Fazl the author of Ain-i-Akbari, there were as many as 14 silsilas in India
during 16 century.

Ajmer, Nagaur and Ajodhan or Pak pattan (in pakistan) developed as important centres of the
sufis. Poetry and music, which were originally in Persian, but later switched to Hindawi or
Hindustani.

Slowly they attached the Hindus who started visiting the dargahs in large number.

3. Describe the political situation in North India in medieval times.

A. The first sultans Delhi, who ruled from 1206-90 were Mamluk Turks. They were followed by
Khiljis Tughlaqus, sayyids and Lodis who ruled northern India from Delhi till 1526.
From 1526 to 1707 Mughals ruled from Agra and Delhi as their capitals.
Local Afghan ruler, shershah ruled for about 15 years (1540-55)
Shershah's reign stands out for his outstanding achievements.
Mughal emperor Akbar's rule is an important period in Indian history.
He developed a liberal and friendly relations with the Hindus.
His greater contribution was the political unification. He started a faith called Din-1- Illahi.
After Mughals Marathas in south, sikhs in north western India, the invasion of Nadir shah and
Ahmed shah Abdali destroyed Mughal power. Economically India was still the biggest exposter
in the world and had great wealth, but it was left far behind in the march towards modernisation.

4. Discuss the cultural development in Mideival India.

A. The cultural synthesis characteristic of the medieval period is witnessed in the field of art and
architecture.
A new style of architecture known as the Indo Islamic style was born out of fusion.
The Mughal rulers were great lovers of nature. They too pleasure in speanding their time in
building beautiful forts and gardens.

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 The famous Mughal gardens like shalimar and Nishat Bagh are important element of our cultural
heritage.

There were water ways and fountains criss-crossing these gardens and finally there were gardens
with stages or levels.

A better example can be seen in India at pinjore Gardens situated on Chandigarh - Kalka road
where we have seven stage garden.

This impressed the British so much that they created a three stage garden in the vice - Regal
Lodge (Now the Rastrapati Bhavan) The peitradura or coloured stone in lay work on marble
became very popular in the days of ShahJahan.

The finest examples of this type of work are available in the Red fort in Delhi and the Taj Mahal
at Agra, Fatehpur sikri, Forts of Agra and Lahore.

During this period in our history, Mo sques, tombs of kings and dargas came to dominate the land
scape.

5. Examine the role played by Bhakti Movement.

A. One of the most significant aspects of our culture during medieval period has been the Bhakti
movement.

In north India, it developed into two streams the nirguna and the saguna bhakti. The Nirguna
Bhaktas were devotees of formless God even while calling him Rama, Govinda, Hariot Raghunath.

The saguna Bhakatas were devotees of Rama and Krishna.

The Best examples are Tulasidas, Surdas and Raskhan.

The first important feature of the Bhakti movement was the concept of oneness of God and
brother hood of man. It did not discriminate on the basis of caste or gender.

The second important feature was 'self-surrender' to god, who is all pervasive and capable of
solving all the problems of devotees.

The third important thing was intense personal devotion to God.

Another important thing was emphasis on good moral life.

It was felt that chanting the name of God, constantly supposedely purified soul and prepared one
for his grace.

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 A true devotee does not want heaven or moksha. He only wants to chant the Lord's name and
wants to be reborn again and again to sing prises of the Lord.

In addition, came the guru or spiritual teacher, whose function was to provide people with hope
strength and inner courage.

6. How is the development of Folk Art during Medieval period ? (or)

Give an account of Folk Arts during Medical period.

A. The harvesting time and advent of rains became occations for dances and merry making. The
Gods were invoked and special pujas offered in the temple.

The month of sawan and the call of cuckoo (koil) was an occasion enjoying of the swings. It is
important to note that almost every region developed its own peculiar dance form with a local
flavour. Garba, Kalbelia, Bhangra, Gidda, Bamboo dance, Lavani and innumerable other dances,
came into existence.

Education was not considered very important for women but did not prevent them to showing
their talent in various fields.

In Rajastan, girls came up beautiful needle work designs on odhanis, shirts and ghagras.

Rajastanies ghagras, Punjabi's phulkaries, In Luknow chikan work shirts, salwars odhanies and
sarees are beautifully created.

The tamasha and the lavani developed in Maharastra; the pandavanis in central India and merasis
in Northern India, applied their art with slight modification.

So also the puppeteer, the band and the mime moved from place to place, enterlaining people in
various ways. The acrobat and the Juggler also could be seen moving from place to place.

In some areas the martial arts were developed, while wrestling has been popular all over India.

7. Indian Painting - Discuss the role of Mughals.

A. Another area which was influenced by Islamic culture was painting.

Humayun brought painters with him to India. The famous among them were Mir Sayid Ali and
Abdus samad. They revived the tradition of manuscript painting.

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 Example of which is Dastan-e-Amir Hamza which has nearly 1200 paintings.

The period also witnessed the flowering portrait and miniature paintings.

Seasons or baramaspaintings were also given a phisical shape.

For no where else in the world except inchina perhaps have the artists tried to paint music or
seasons.
Akbar, Jahangir, shahjahan were extended their patronage to painting.
Akbar encourage a largenumber of Hindu painters like Daswant and Basawan Lal.
There was a fusian of persian and Indian styles of painting in their period.
The Mughal school of painting reached zenith under Jahangir. Hiscourt was adorned with famous
painters like uslad and Abul Hasan Mansur was famous for his meniature painting.
Aurangzeb stopped patronising painting.
Besides Mughal school, the Rajput and the pahari schools also developed.
Artists were employed on monthly salaries.
They illustrated works changeznama, zafarnama and Ramayana.

8. Discuss the rise of the new faiths during Medival period.

A. Due to sufism and Bhakti movement another new religious faith was flourished. That is Sikhism.
The orthodox sikhs believe that this religion was revealed by God to Guru Nanak; whose
spirit entered the second and the subsequent gurus till 10th Guru. Guru Gobing singh was
10th guru. The sikhs basically belive in a formless God, these seeds were present in Bhakti
movement. In 1699 Guru Gobind singh created the Khalsa which means "The pure".
He also imposed a vow of five 'K's. i.e. kesh (long hair and a beard) Kangha (comb) Kada
(a metallic Bangle Kripan (a sword) and a kaccha (an underwear extending to a little above
the knees), Bassically this was the dress of sikh fighter, as well as his distinguish mark in
Punjab.
The parsior zoro astrain religion was founded by zarathushtra or zoroaster, in the 8th century
B.C. Parsis settled in Nav sari in Gujarath. They spread almost all parts of India..
Dadabhai Naoroji and Jamshedji Tata are out standing figures are parsis. They have contributed
a lot to India. Parsi or Zoroastrian religion preached monotheism and worship of Agni. Their
Holy book is 'Zend Avesta'.

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 9. How was south India during Medival Age ?
A. Between 9-11 A.D, a dynasty known as cholas was ruling cholamandalam region in South India.
The cholas developed a strong army besides a powerful Navy. Rajendra chola to have conqured
some Indonesiun islands.
They also developed democratic inistitutions. Literature, finearts, sclupture and metal casting of
the highest order flourished under their patronage.
The 14th century saw a rise of a new state called vijayanagara empire and north of Tungabhadra
river rose a new Islamic state, called Bahmani.
Bahmani and vijayanagara kingdoms were pitted against each other over the rich Raichur Doab.
In the chola mendalam region, The Tamil, In karnataka kannada, in Andhra. Telugu and in
Kerala Melayalam flourished.
Between 14th and 16th centuries, vijayanagara achieved great heights.
During chola period, kanchi became a great seat of learning. The vijayanagara kings also became
great patrons of art and learning.
This is the condition of South India during Midival period.

10. Examine the role played by the Bhakti movement during Medieval times.
A. Hinduism, Jainism and Buddism were important religions during ancient India.
But many changes were taken place in Indian religious system.
With the influence of Islam sufism was emerged sufis believed in the essential unity of all religions
They preached spirituality through music.
Their piety, tolereance, sympathy, concept of equality and friendly attitude attrached many
Hindus.
They preached unity of God.
Sufis were organised in 16 orders or silsilahs. They helped for the development of this movement
was emerged. The important philosophy of their moment is Bhakti.
Another important feature of the Bhakti movement was the concept of oneness of God and
brother hood of man.
Guru was given prominent place.
The beautiful expression in the religious poetry of the medieval times and mistics and beautiful
literary compositions, that is their geet, quwali etc united the people as nothing else could have
done. It also stimulated the development of regional lauguages.

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 Another important religion sikhism believed in a form less God, equality of manking, need of guru
and pahul tradition. The seeds for the birth and growth of this religion were present in the Bhakti
movement, in its nirgun branch.

Zoroastrianism was founded by zoroaster in 8th century A.D. in Persia when they came to India
it also speread in India and contributed great leaders.

The cultural stream in India continued to assimilate all the new commers and resulting cultural
interaction gave Indian culture its characteristic multi dimential, multiligual, multi relegious and yet
composite nature.

II. Short Questions (3 Marks)

1. Write a note about Islam.

A. Profet Mohammad was born in AD 571 in the Quraysh tribe of Arabia, preached Islam in 7th
century A.D. He migrated to Madina from Mecca in AD 622 and this marked the beginning
of the Hijira Era. The Holy book of Islam is Quran the 5 fundamental principles of Islam are:

1. Tauhid (belief in Allah)

2. Namaz (prayers, five times a day)

3. Roza (fasting in the month of Ramjen)

4. Zakat (alms giving)

5. Haj (The pilgrimage to Mecca)

Prophat Mohammad's saying are preserved in what is called the Hadith or Hadees.

Islam talked of the existence of one God.

2. What are Silsilas ?

A. The sufis were organised into orders or silsilahs. These silsilahs were named after the founders
such as chishti, suhrawadi, Qudiand Naquishbandis. According to Abul-Fazl and Ain-1-Akbari
there were 14 silsilahs in India during the 16th century. Each other had its own khanquh which
served as a shelter for the sufi saints and for destitutes, and later developed as a centre of
learning.

3. What are the main featurs of sufism ?

A.Sufism is a common term used for Islamic mysticism.

1. The sufis were very liberal in thier religious outlook.

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 2. They believed in the essential unity of all religions.
3. In other to attain a state of mystical eestacy, They listened to poetry and music.
4. They preached unity of God and self-surrender unto him in almost the same way of the Nirgun
Bhakti.
5. Their piety, tolerance, sympathy, concept of equality and friendly attitude attrached many
Hindus.
6. They preached spirituality through music and through the mystical doctrines of union of God.

4. What do you understand about Akbar ?

A. Mughal emperor Akbar who ruled from 1556-1605 was a great ruler in the history of India.
He made sincere effort to foster the spirit of love and harmony among Indians. He developed
friendly relations with Hindus. To fulfil his imperialist ambitions he entered into matrimonial
alliances with the Rajput rulers.
His greatest contribution was the political unification of the country and the establishment of
powerful central government.
He established a faith called Din-i-Illahi which encompassed ideas from various religions.

5. Mughal are famous for the building of gardens - Explain.

A. The Mughal rulers were great lovers of nature. They took pleasure in spending their time in
building beautiful gardens.
The famous Mughal gardens are shalimar and Nishat bagh.
There are water ways and fountains criss-crossing these gardens.
A better example than shalimar garden is at pinjore gardens situated on the chandigarh - Kalka
road. This impressed British so much that they created a three stage garden in the vice-Regal
Lodge.
It was on these lines that the famous vrindavan Gardens in Mysore was built.

6. What are the main features of Bhakti moment ?

A. The main features of Bhakti moment are :
1. The concept of oneness of God
2. Brother hood of man
3. No discrimination on the basis of caste gender.

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 4. 'Self - surrender' unto God, who is all pervasive and capable of solving all problems of the
devotees.
5. A true devotee does not want heaven or moksha. He only wants to chant the Lord's name
and wants to be reborn again and again to sing praises of the Lord.

7. What are the contributions of Mughals towards Indian music.

A. The Mughal emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, patronised several musicians.
Tansen, who lived at the court of Akbar, sang the classical ragas and also composed some new
ones.
Shah Jahan himself was quite a good singer. Many music concerts were taken place in Rajastan.
During the Turko-Afghan rule of India, a synthesis of Indo Iranian music had started.
It is interesting to note that Aurangzeb was against music but the largest number of books on
classical Indian music in persian were written during his regin. In the North, a distinct school
known as the Hindustani school of music grew out of it.
Khayal, Thumri, Ghazal were elaborated during this period.

8. Explain various type of folk dances.

A. The rural masses got opportunities to display their creative skills in many fields. People developed
their own regional and local folk traditions of dance and music.
The Garba, Kalbelia, Bhangra, Giddha, Bemboo dance, Lavani are innumerable dances came
into existence. Tamasha, Lavani, Pandavansis developed in North and central India.

9. Write about rise of modern Indian languages during Medival period.

A. A several modern Indian languages were emerged during medival period.
Urdu originated around Delhi in 14th century. Deccan states of Bijapur and Golconda sub
sequenlty became the cradles of Urdu literature.
The famous poet Amir Khusrau, who composed poetry in this language, also played some part in
making it popular.
Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, KhariBoli, Punjabi, Gujaraty and Marathi in north India.
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam in south India in their persent form developed in this
period.
Kashmiri and sindhi also took shape and developed their script and language.

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10. What are the features of Sikhism ?
A. Sikhs mostly belog to punjab. Their Guru is Guru Nanak, 10th Guru was Guru Gobind singh.
Main features.
1. Formless God
2. Equality man kind, need of Guru and the rahul tradition
3. Wearing Khalsa
4. Adi Granth is the Guru
5. Music is important in this religian
6. Guru Granth sahib, is their Guru.

III. Very short Question 1Mark.

1. How did Muslims come to India.
2. What is impact of Khanqahon sufis ?
3. How did Hinduism influenced by sufism ?
4. Under whose rule the Grand trunk Road was constructed.
5. What is 'Pietradura'.
6. What were developed Bhakti movement ?
7. The name of Calipha and sultans were read in ?
8. This contains 1200 Paintings?
9. Who was the Great musician in Akbar's court ?
10. Who declared themselves as Badshaws.
11. To which religion Dada Bhai Nauroji belongs ?
12. What was the reason for the not accepting the new entrence of others in Parsi religion ?

IV. Fill in the blanks (1 mark)

1. Prophet Mohmmad migrated to ..........
2. The year of Hijira marked in .............
3. Grand Trunk Road is extending from .......... to ............
4. The style of architecture during Midival period is known as ..........

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 5. During Bhakti movement they did not discriminate on the basis of .......... and ............
6. The needle work an ghagras created by ..........
7. Punjabi girls created ..........
8. The synthesis of Indo Persian music is .......... in North India.
9. The famous poet Amir Khusran played an important role in making .......... popular.
10. The meaning of sijda is .................. or sijda means ..........

V. Match the following.

1.
1. Khanquah ( ) a. A Tribe in which prophet Mohammed was born
2. Silsilahs ( ) b. alms giving
3. Quraysh ( ) c. shelter for the sufi
4. Zakat ( ) d. orders of sufis

2.
1. Mansure ( ) a. Great Musician
2. Daswant ( ) b. Miniature painter
3. Mir sayyad Ali ( ) c. A painter in Akbar's court
4. Shajehan ( ) d. A painter who was brought by Humayan
3.
1. Khalsa ( ) a. Akbar
2. Din-i- Illahi ( ) b. Protecter of faith, (emperor)
3. Parsi ( ) c. Guru Govbinda sing
4. Badhusha ( ) d. Zoroaster

4.
1. Nanak ( ) a. Rama charith manas
2. Kabir ( ) b. Sagun poet or Bhaktas
3. Tulasidas ( ) c. Nirgun poet or bhakta
4. Surdas ( ) d. Dohas

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Multiple Choise

1. Delhi was ruled by this dynasty during 1206-90 A.D. ( )

a) Khilzies b) Mughals
c) Sultans d) Lodies
2. They were read in the Khutbas ( )
a) Sayyads b) Tuglaques
c) Mughals d) Mamuluk Turks
3. The founder of Din-1-Illahi ( )
a) Shajahan b) Shershah c) Akbar d) Jahangir
4. They took pleasure in spending their time is beautiful gardens ( )
a) Sultans b) Mughals
c) Pallavas d) Cholas
5. Rastrapati Bhawan's oldname during Mughals ( )
a) Vice-Regal Lodge b) Vice Roy Bhawan
c) Bagla of shajahan d) Vrindavan Building
6. This movement has two streams. Saguna and Nirgun streams ( )
a) Bhakti movement b) Sufism c) Buddishm d) Jainism
7. Rashan was a devotee of ( )
a) Raheem b) Ram c) Lord srikrishna d) Allah
8. He entered into materimonial alliances with Rajaputs ( )
a) Pallavas b) Chalukyas
c) Mughals d) Sultans
9. Seasons or baramasas paintings were also given a phisical shape started during this period
( )
a) Humayun b) Auranzeb c) Jahangir d) Shajahan
10. Mughal rulers encouraged this .......... ( )
a) Sijda b) Prostration with Hands
c) Not prostrating d) Complete Prostration

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 11. The seeds for the birth of sikh religion were present in ( )
a) In Islam b) Bhakti movement
c) In zoroastrian d) In sufism
12. Cholas introduced democratic inistitutian at ( )
a) Urban areas b) Towns
c) Mandals d) Villages

Answers

III. 1. As traders 2. Jainism, Buddism

3. In the form of siddas, and yogic postures 4. Sher shah sur
5. Colour stones inlay work 6. Regional languages
7. Friday prayers by the Imams 8. Dastan-e-Amir Hamza
9. Tansen 10. Mughal rulers
11. Parsi or zoro astrian 12. no new entrants are accepted under any
circumstances
IV. 1. Macca 2. 622 A.D
3. Agra, Delhi 4. Indo-Islamic
5.Caste orgender 6. Rajastani girls
7. Phul karis 8. Hindustani
9. Amir Khusrau 10. Sijda
V. 1. 1. C 2. D 3. A 4. B
2. 1. B 2. C 3. D 4. A
3. 1. C 2. A 3. D 4. B
4. 1.C 2. D 3. A 4. B
VI. 1. C 2. C 3. C 4. B 5. A 6. C
7.C 8.C 9.A 10.A 11. B 12. D

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