Consolidation under the Khaljis

and Tughluq
that Delhi became an important
commercial centre.
appointed military commanders as
governors of territories of varying
century, the transformation of Delhi
sizes which were called iqta and
into a capital started with the
their holder was
foundation of the Delhi Sultanate.
called iqtadar or muqti.
in the area that we now know as
remained outside the control of the
Delhi.
Delhi Sultans.
Finding Out about the Delhi
Sultans
provinces like Bengal from Delhi.
are the sources of information on the
rule in these regions.
Sultans of Delhi.

language of administration under the Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq could

Delhi Sultans. force their control in these areas but
only for a short duration.
daughter, Raziyya became Sultan.

in 1240. invaded Transoxiana in north-east

The Expansion of the Delhi Iran in 1219.
Sultanate

challenged by Mongol invasions from Sultanate increased during the reign

Afghanistan. of Alauddin Khalji and in the early

occurred during the reign of The Sultanate in the Fifteenth and

Ghiyasuddin Balban and further
Sixteenth Centuries
expansion under Alauddin Khalji and
Muhammad Tughluq.
Lodi dynasties ruled from Delhi and
Agra until 1526.
aimed at consolidating the
hinterlands of the garrison towns.
Gujarat, Rajasthan and the entire
south India had independent rulers
Sultanate. who established flourishing states
 The Khokhar tribe was very
the emergence of new ruling groups influential during the thirteenth and
like the Afghans and the Rajputs. fourteenth centuries.
-1545) started Later, the Gakkhars became more
his career as the manager of a small important.
territory for his uncle in Bihar and In Multan and Sind:
eventually challenged and defeated The Langahs and Arghuns
the Mughal emperor Humayun dominated extensive regions.
(1530-1540, 1555-1556). and In the North-West:
prosperous capitals. The Balochis
In the western Himalaya:
The Gaddis.
In north-eastern part of the
subcontinent:
The Nagas, Ahoms and many
others.
In many areas of present-day Bihar
and Jharkhand:
In large parts of the subcontinent,
Chero chiefdoms had emerged by
society was already divided according the twelfth century.
to the rules of varna. The Mundas and Santals were
These rules, as prescribed by the other important tribes that lived in
Brahmanas, were accepted by the rulers this region and also in Orissa and
Bengal.
of large kingdoms. In Maharashtra highlands,
Beyond Big Cities: Tribal Societies Karnataka and southern regions:
Tribes who lived beyond the cities Kolis, Berads, Koragas, Vetars,
did not follow the social rules and Maravars and others.
In Western and central India:
rituals prescribed by the Brahmanas.
The large tribe of Bhils.
Many large tribes thrived in In present-day states of
different parts of the subcontinent. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,
They usually lived in forests, hills, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh:
The Gonds
deserts and places difficult to reach.
In Punjab:
The caste-based and tribal societies
How Nomads and Mobile People
also depended on each other for their
Lived
diverse needs.
Who were Tribal People?
long istances with their animals.
Tribal people were found in almost
every region of the subcontinent.
pastoral products.
etc., with settled agriculturists for
as
grain, cloth, utensils and other equal society gradually got divided
products. into unequal social classes.
Garha Katanga was a rich state of
important trader-nomads. Gond. When the Mughals defeated
the Gonds, they annexed part of the
sold animals, such as cattle and kingdom and granted the rest to
horses, to the prosperous people. Chandra Shah.
Changing Society: New Castes and
Hierarchies weaker and later struggled
unsuccessfully against the stronger
taken into caste-based society and Bundelas and Marathas.
given the status of jatis. The Ahoms

carpenters and masons were also Brahmaputra valley from present-

recognised as separate jatis by the day Myanmar in the thirteenth
Brahmanas. century.

clans became powerful by the annexed the kingdoms of the

eleventh and twelfth centuries. Chhutiyas (1523) and of Koch-Hajo
(1581) and subjugated many other
many tribes became part of the caste tribes.
system.
A Closer Look firearms as early as 153
Gonds they could make high-quality
gunpowder and cannons.
region called Gondwana.
Mughals but Mughal control could
not last long.
into many smaller clans and each
clan had its own raja (king). forced labour.
ive system of these
kingdoms was becoming centralised. century the administration became
quite centralised.
changed the nature of Gond society Ahom society was divided into
clans or khels.
popular that even Buddhists and
tribal gods. Jainas adopted these beliefs.
-1744, Hinduism A New Kind of Bhakti in South
became the predominant religion. India Nayanars and Alvars

the emergence of new religious

DEVOTIONAL PATH movements, led by the Nayanars
(saints devoted to Shiva) and Alvars
TO THE DIVINE (saints devoted to Vishnu).
Since the eighth century, the legacy of
various kinds of bhakti and Sufi from place to place composing
movements have evolved. exquisite poems in praise of the
The Idea of a Supreme God deities.
Before the existence of large
kingdoms, different groups of people centuries the Chola and Pandya kings
worshipped their own gods and built elaborate temples
goddesses. strengthening the links between the
The belief that social privileges bhakti tradition and temple worship.
came from birth in a family Philosophy and Bhakti
or a caste was the subject of Shankara born in Kerala, one of the
many learned texts. most influential philosophers of India
Many people were uneasy with advocated Advaita or the doctrine of
such ideas and turned to the the oneness of the individual soul and
teachings of the Buddha or the Jainas. the Supreme God.
Others felt attracted to the idea of Ramanuja, born in Tamil Nadu in the
a Supreme God who could deliver eleventh century, was deeply
humans from such bondage if influenced by the Alvars described best
approached with devotion (or means of attaining salvation was
bhakti). through intense devotion to Vishnu.
Virashaivism
different areas came to be identified Virashaiva movement initiated by
with Shiva, Vishnu or Durga. Basavanna and his companions like
Allama Prabhu and Akkamahadevi
.
 This movement began in Karnataka in In the eighth and ninth centuries
the mid-twelfth century. religious scholars developed different
The Virashaivas argued strongly for aspects of the Holy Law (Shariat) and
the equality of all human beings theology of Islam.
and against Brahmanical ideas about The Sufis often rejected the elaborate
caste and the treatment of women. rituals and codes of behaviour
The Saints of Maharashtra demanded by Muslim religious
From the thirteenth to the seventeenth scholars.
centuries Maharashtra saw a great A large number of Sufis from Central
number of saint-poets such Asia settled in Hindustan from the
as Dnyaneshwar (Gyaneshwar), eleventh century onwards.
Namdev, Eknath and Tukaram as The Sufi masters held their
well as women like Sakhubai and the assemblies in their khanqahs or
family of Chokhamela, who belonged hospices.
to the Mahar caste. New Religious Developments in
These saint-poets rejected all forms of North India
ritualism.
Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis century saw a new wave of the
A number of religious groups bhakti movement in north India.
that emerged during this period
criticised the ritual and other aspects of peasants, traders and labourers,
conventional religion and the social thronged to listen to these new saints
order. and spread their ideas.
These were the Nathpanthis,
Siddhacharas and Yogis. Guru Nanak rejected all orthodox
To them the path to salvation lay in religions.
meditation on the formless Ultimate
Reality and the realisation of oneness accepted existing beliefs and
with it. practices but wanted to make these
Islam and Sufism accessible to all.
Sufis were Muslim mystics
who rejected outward religiosity and like Dadu Dayal, Ravidas and
emphasised love and devotion to God Mirabai.
and compassion towards all
saints is that their works were
fellow human beings.
composed in regional languages and to get
could be sung. politicised in the seventeenth
A Closer Look: Kabir century.

fifteenth-sixteenth centuries, was importance of the worship of one

one of the most influential saints. God.

verses called sakhis and pads which gender was irrelevant for attaining
was sung by wandering bhajan liberation.
singers.

forms of external worship. THE MAKING OF

A Closer Look: Baba Guru Nanak
-1539)
REGIONAL
born at Talwandi and travelled CULTURE
widely before establishing a centre at Each region has its kind of language,
Kartarpur. food, clothes, poetry, dance, music
and painting.
Guru Nanak appointed one of his The Cheras and the Development
followers as his successor known as of Malayalam
Guru Angad.
Mahodayapuram was established in
compositions of Baba Guru Nanak the ninth century in the south-
and added a new script known as western part of the peninsula, part of
Gurmukhi. present-day Kerala.

followers increased through the Malayalam language and script in

sixteenth century under his their inscriptions.
successors.
Malayalam, dated to about the
century the town of Ramdaspur twelfth century, are directly indebted
(Amritsar) had developed around the to Sanskrit.
central Gurdwara called Harmandar Rulers and Religious Traditions:
Sahib (Golden Temple). The Jagannatha Cult
best example of this process is
the cult of Jagannatha (literally, lord Rajasthan (Jaipur) and the other in
of the world, a name for Vishnu) at Lucknow.
Puri, Orissa. By the third quarter of the
nineteenth century it was firmly
most important rulers of the Ganga established as a dance form in the
dynasty, Anantavarman, decided to adjoining areas of present-day
erect a temple for Purushottama Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and
Jagannatha at Puri. Kashmir, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
The Rajputs and Traditions of Painting for Patrons: The
Heroism Tradition of Miniatures
-sized
region that constitutes most of paintings.
present-day Rajasthan, was called
Rajputana by the British. Jahangir and Shah Jahan patronised
highly skilled painters.
the hero who fought valiantly.
Empire, many painters moved out to
recorded in poems and songs. the courts of the emerging regional
Beyond Regional Frontiers: The states.
Story of Kathak
distinctive characteristics.
katha, a word used in Sanskrit and
other languages for story. miniature paintings developed in the
Himalayas from the seventeenth
of story-tellers in temples of north century.
India. A Closer Look: Bengal
The Growth of a Regional
mode of dance in the fifteenth and Language
sixteenth centuries with the spread -a-days, People in Bengal
of the bhakti movement. spoke Bengali.

their nobles, Kathak was performed centuries BCE, commercial ties began
in the court. to develop between Bengal and
Magadha, which led to the growing
gharanas: one in the courts of influence of Sanskrit.
Gupta rulers established political onwards, temple construction
control over north Bengal and began started on a large scale.
to settle Brahmanas in this area. Fish as food

traveller Xuan Zang observed that in the riverine plains of Bengal. Thus,
languages related to Sanskrit were in these became the staple food items.
use all over Bengal.

Bengal, it formed the nucleus of the

Bengal suba. EIGHTEENTH-
developed as regional language.
CENTURY
POLITICAL
Bengali group of dialects came to be
united by a common literary
FORMATIONS
language. The Crisis of the Empire and the
Later Mughals
divided into two categories: By the end of the seventeenth century,
Sanskritic and Nath literature. Mughal Empire was shrinking. There
Pirs and Temples are various factors behind this:
Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted
began to migrate in large numbers the military and financial resources of
from the less fertile western Bengal his empire by fighting a long war in the
to the forested and marshy areas of Deccan.
south-eastern Bengal. Under his successors, the efficiency
of the imperial administration broke
order and assurance in the unstable down.
conditions of the new settlements. Peasant and zamindari rebellions in
many parts of northern and western
were the source of order and India.
stability for the early settlers. In the midst of this economic and
political crisis, the ruler of Iran, Nadir
colonisers, Hindu and Buddhist Shah, sacked and plundered the city of
deities and spirits. Delhi in 1739 and took away
 The empire was further weakened immense amounts of wealth.
by competition amongst different constantly engaged in a struggle against
groups of nobles. They were divided the Marathas to the west and
into two major groups or factions, the with independent Telugu warrior chiefs
Iranis and Turanis. (nayakas) of the plateau.
Emergence of New States Awadh
Through the eighteenth century, the Founded by: Burhan-ul-Mulk
Mughal Empire gradually divided into Khan.
a number of independent, regional Awadh was a prosperous region,
states. controlling the rich alluvial Ganga
Broadly these independent states can plain and the main trade route between
be divided into three groups: north India and Bengal.
States that were old Khan tried to decrease
Mughal provinces like Awadh, Bengal Mughal influence in the Awadh region.
and Hyderabad. He reduced the size of jagirs, and
States that had enjoyed considerable appointed his own loyal servants
independence under the Mughals as to vacant positions.
watan jagirs. These included several The state sold the right to collect tax
Rajput principalities. to the highest bidders called ijaradars.
States under the control of Bengal
Marathas, Sikhs and others like the Murshid Quli Khan
Jats. These had seized
their independence from the Mughals power that went with formal subadar
after a long-drawn armed struggle. office.
The Old Mughal Provinces
Hyderabad administration of the state.
Founded by: Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf
Jah (1724-1748) was powerful member great strictness from all zamindars.
at the court of the Mughal Emperor
Farrukh Siyar. 1740-1756), the banking house of
Asaf Jah brought skilled soldiers and Jagat Seth became extremely
administrators from northern India. prosperous.
He appointed mansabdars and The Watan Jagirs of the Rajputs
granted jagirs.
The state of Hyderabad was to enjoy considerable autonomy in
their watan jagirs The Marathas
-1680) carved out a
rulers now attempted to extend their stable Maratha kingdom with the
control over adjacent regions. support of powerful warrior families
(deshmukhs).
governorship of Gujarat and Sawai
Raja Jai Singh of Amber was power in the Maratha state was
governor of Malwa. exercises by a family of Chitpavan

territories by seizing portions of successors as Peshwa (or principal

imperial territories neighbouring minister).
their watans.
Maratha empire expanded.
from the 1740s checked their further
expansion. recognised as the overlord of the
Seizing Independence entire Deccan peninsula.
The Sikhs
effective administrative system as
Sikhs built regional state, Punjab. well.

Gobind Singh against the Rajput and the areas controlled by the Marathas.
Mughal rulers. The Jats

rose in revolt against the Mughal during the late seventeenth and
eighteenth-centuries.
leadership.
acquired control over territories
1715 and executed in 1716. situated to the west of the city of
Delhi.
eighteenth century extended from The Jats were prosperous
the Indus to the Jamuna but they agriculturists.
were divided under different rulers.
the areas under Jats were Panipat
these groups and established his and Ballabgarh.
capital at Lahore in 1799.