Tracing Changes Through A Thousand Years Ago

Tracing Changes Through A Thousand Years Ago

History

Introduction

• A map of the Indian sub-continent, made by a famous Arab geographer -- al-Idrisi -- in 1154, shows south India in the north and Sri Lanka at the top. But another map of the same area made by a French cartographer (a person who makes maps) in 1720 is quite different from what al-Idrisi made.

• Historians have to be very careful when they use old things to study history, because the methods of making maps and texts differ from time to time, and not everything written in the past was correct.

New and Old Terminologies

• Historical records, languages, and the meaning of words change with time.

• In the Mughal era, 'Hindustan' was the most common term for India.

• In the 13th century, the term Hindustan was used by the Persians and Mughals to mean the areas around the Indus-river valley in north-west India (Punjab, Haryana, and the lands between the Ganga and the Yamuna rivers), but not south India.

• Babur also used the term Hindustan to explain the geographies and cultures of the subcontinent in the early 16th century, and that was similar to the way Amir Khusrau (a famous poet) did it in the 14th century.

Historians and Their Sources

• Historians rely upon old coins, inscription, architecture, and textual records for information for their studies.

• In the medieval period, gradually, paper became widely available and cheaper. People started using it to write holy texts, chronicles of rulers, letters and teachings of saints, petitions and judicial records, and for registers of accounts and taxes.

• Manuscripts provide a lot of information to historians; however, they are difficult to use as they manuscripts were handwritten.

• To know what the author had actually written, historians have to read different manuscript versions of the same text.

  
  

New Social and Political Groups

• The 1000 years between 700 to 1750 was a period of large-scale economic, political, social, and cultural changes.

• There were many developments in technologies. For example, the Persian wheel for irrigation, the spinning wheel for weaving, and powerful firearms for big fights were invented in that period. 

• People who traveled in search of opportunities not only brought new ideas but also new foods and beverages with them.

• Many 'Rajputs' became famous in India before the rise of the Mughal empire; initially the term only included sons of rulers, but later it also included soldiers and commanders. Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Ahoms, and Kayasthas also become important in the Indian subcontinent in that period.

Regions and Empires

• The Cholas and the Mughals controlled many parts of India, from Bengal to Afghanistan, and historians are still trying to find the reason why rulers kept claiming to have control over other regions.

• The Chola, Khilji, Tughluqs, and Mughal dynasties built big empires, known as pan-regions; however, all those empires were not equally stable, and often fought with each other.

• Mughal empire declined and the British Raj became more powerful in India in the 18th century.

• With the decline of the Mughal empire, many small rulers and kingdoms came up across India. But almost all of them continued to be influenced and affected by the major changes happening across the Indian sub-continent.

Old and New Religions

• In the thousand years between 700 and 1750, there were many changes in the religions and beliefs of people, and they were connected to the larger socio-economic trends across the world.

• Hinduism became stronger in India; many deities came to be worshiped, and royal families built huge temples.

• Hinduism became stronger in India; many deities came to be worshiped, and royal families built huge temples.

• The idea of an individual's bhakti (direct worship of a personal deity), without the need for priests, also became popular.

• The idea of an individual's bhakti (direct worship of a personal deity), without the need for priests, also became popular.

Thinking about Time and Historical Periods

• Time is not simply the passing of hours, days, or years, but it is the reflection of changes that happen everywhere, all the time. But we can study time in an easier way by dividing it into periods or eras.

• A British historian divided the Indian history into three periods: Hindu, Muslim, and British, but no one follows that classification today because it is considered very narrow.

• Instead, the period between 700 and 1750 is called the 'medieval' period, meaning it was the time between the 'old' and the 'modern' periods.

Multiple Choice

Maps are so popular because they present information about the world in a simple, visual way. Maps teach us about the world by showing us sizes and shapes of countries, locations of features such as rivers and mountains, and approximate distances between places. Al-Idrisi was one of the most famous map makers in the medieval times, about 2,000 years ago. What is a person who makes maps called?

• Mapographer

• Cartographer

Multiple Select

The melodious poem "Saare jahaan se accha, Hindustan hamara..!" has been popular in India for over a century now. Mahatma Gandhi, when he was imprisoned in the 1930s, is said to have sung it over a hundred times. Minhaj-i Siraj used the term 'Hindustan', which is of Persian origin, in the 13th century. At that time, Hindustan meant the land on the other side of the river Indus (pronounced 'hind' in Arabic), and included the areas of modern-day Punjab, Haryana, and the lands between two famous rivers of India. Identify those two rivers that Minhaj-i Siraj mentioned in his definition of Hindustan.

• Ganga and Narmada

• Ganga and yamuna

Multiple Choice

When the term 'Hindustan' was formally used in the 13th century by Minhaj-i Siraj, he meant the areas of Punjab, Haryana, and the lands between the rivers Ganga and the Yamuna. Amir Khusrau, a Sufi musician and poet, was another notable Persian traveller to India. What term did Amir Khusrau use for India?

• Hind

• Sind

Multiple Choice

Stanny found an old coin in the backyard of his house, and it made him very curious indeed. He asked about it to his father who is a historian (a person who studies the past). Stanny's father uses different types of sources such as manuscripts, inscriptions, paintings, and coins to learn about the past, but the coin was so old that even he could not identify it. Why is the study of the thousand years between 700 and 1750 a big challenge to historians?

• The varieties of developments that occurred over those period are vast; many things changed very quickly in those thousand years

• Modern tools and equipment were not available at that time.

Multiple Select

In the past, people in India were divided in to Jatis (castes and sub-castes). A person's jati was decided and ranked by his occupation, and people had to follow the local rules of their villages. Several villages were governed by kings or chieftains. What was an assembly of village elders known as in those days?

• the Jati Panchayat

• the Rural Panchayat

Multiple Choice

To make the study of History easier, we can divide the past into large parts or segments, just as we divide our school years into semesters and months. History is usually classified as ancient, medieval, and modern. But when the British came to the Indian subcontinent, their historian James Mill divided the history of India into three very narrow parts. Which parts were those?

• Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh

• Hindu, Muslim, and British

Interesting Facts

• The name Babur is from the Persian word 'babr', meaning tiger.

• Many scientists believe that learning new languages can boost your brain-power.

• Al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta in Morocco.