Introduction: Tracing Changes Through a Thousand Years PDF

INTRODUCTION: TRACING CHANGES THROUGH A THOUSAND YEARS Map 1 A section of the world map drawn by the...

INTRODUCTION: TRACING CHANGES THROUGH A THOUSAND YEARS Map 1 A section of the world map drawn by the geographer al-Idrisi in the twelfth century showing the Indian subcontinent from land to sea. T ake a look at Maps 1 and 2. Map 1 was made in 1154 CE by the Arab geographer Al-Idrisi. The section reproduced here is a detail of the Indian subcontinent from his larger map of the world. Map 2 Cartographer was made in the 1720s by a French cartographer. The A person who two maps are quite different even though they are of the makes maps. same area. In al-Idrisi’s map, south India is where we island at the top. Place-names are marked in Arabic, 1 INTRODUCTION: TRA... Map 2 The subcontinent, from the early-eighteenth- century Atlas Nouveau of Guillaume de l’Isle. and there are some well-known names like Kanauj in Uttar Pradesh (spelt in the map as Qanauj). Map 2 was made nearly 600 years after Map 1, during this period, information about the subcontinent had changed considerably. This map seems more familiar to us and the coastal areas in particular are surprisingly detailed. This map was used by European sailors and merchants on their voyages. ? Look at the areas in the interior of the subcontinent on Map 2. Are they as detailed as those on the coast? Follow the course of the River Ganga and see how it is shown. Why do you think there is a difference in the level of detail and accuracy between the coastal and inland areas in this map? 2  Equally important is the fact that the science of cartography differed in the two periods. When historians read documents, maps and texts from the past, they have to be sensitive to the different historical backgrounds – the – in which information about the past was produced. New and Old Terminologies If the context in which information is produced changes with time, what about language and meanings? Historical records exist in a variety of languages which have changed considerably over the years. Medieval Persian, for example, is different from modern Persian. The difference is not just with regard to grammar and vocabulary; the meanings of words also change over time. Take the term “Hindustan”, for example. Today we understand it as “India”, the modern. When the term was used in the thirteenth century by meant the areas of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna. He used the term in a political sense for lands that were a part of the the term never included south India. By contrast, in the early sixteenth century, Babur used Hindustan to describe the geography, the fauna and the culture ? of the inhabitants of the subcontinent. As we will see Can you think of later in the chapter, this was somewhat similar to the any other words way the fourteenth-century poet Amir Khusrau used whose meanings the word “Hind”. While the idea of a geographical change in and cultural entity like “India” did exist, the term different contexts? “Hindustan” did not carry the political and national meanings which we associate with it today. Historians today have to be careful about the terms they use because they meant different things in the past. Take, for example, a simple term like “foreigner”. It is used today to mean someone who is not an Indian. 3 INTRODUCTION: TRA... In the medieval period, a “foreigner” was any stranger who appeared say in a given village, someone who was not a part of that society or culture. (In Hindi the term might be used to describe such a person and in Persian,.) A city-dweller, therefore, might have regarded a forest-dweller as a “foreigner”, but two peasants living in the same village were not foreigners to each other, even though they may have had different religious or caste backgrounds. Historians and their Sources Historians use different types of sources to learn about the past depending upon the period of their study example, you read about rulers of the Gupta dynasty and Harshavardhana. In this book we will read about the following thousand years, from roughly 700 to 1750. You will notice some continuity in the sources used by historians for the study of this period. They still rely on coins, inscriptions, architecture and textual records for information. But there is also considerable discontinuity. The number and variety of textual records increased dramatically during this period. They slowly displaced other types of available information. Through this period, paper gradually became cheaper and more The value of paper Compare the following: (1) In the middle of the thirteenth century a scholar wanted to copy a book. But he did not have enough paper. So he washed the writing off a manuscript he did not want, dried the paper and used it. (2) A century later, if you bought some food in the market you could be lucky and have the shopkeeper wrap it for you in some paper. When was paper more expensive and easily available ? – in the thirteenth or the fourteenth century? 4 widely available. People used it to write holy texts, chronicles of rulers, letters and teachings of saints, petitions and judicial records, and for registers of Archive accounts and taxes. Manuscripts were collected by A place where wealthy people, rulers, monasteries and temples. They documents and were placed in libraries and archives. These manuscripts manuscripts are and documents provide a lot of detailed information to stored. Today all national and state governments have There was no printing press in those days so scribes archives where copied manuscripts by hand. If you have ever copied a they keep all their friend’s homework you would know that this is not a and transactions. friend’s handwriting and are forced to guess what is differences in your copy of your friend’s work. Manuscript copying is somewhat similar. As scribes copied manuscripts, they also introduced small changes – a word here, a sentence there. These small differences grew over centuries of copying until manuscripts of the Fig. 1 A painting of a scribe making a copy of a manuscript. This painting is only 10.5 cm by 7.1 cm in size. Because of its size it is called a miniature. Miniature paintings were sometimes used to illustrate the texts of manuscripts. They were so beautiful that later collectors often took the manuscripts apart and sold just the miniatures. 5 INTRODUCTION: TRA... Fig. 2 Different kinds of handwriting could same text became substantially different from one make the reading of another. This is a serious problem because we rarely Persian and Arabic nastaliq are totally dependent upon the copies made by later style (on the left) is cursive and easy to scribes. As a result, historians have to read different read, the shikaste (on manuscript versions of the same text to guess what the right) is denser the author had originally written. On occasion authors revised their chronicles at different times. The fourteenth-century chronicler and another version two years later. The two differ from each other but historians did not know about It remained lost in large library collections. New Social and Political Groups The study of the thousand years between 700 and 1750 is a huge challenge to historians largely because of the scale and variety of developments that occurred over the period. At different moments in this period, new technologies made their appearance – like the Persian 6 wheel in irrigation, the spinning wheel in weaving, and in the subcontinent – potatoes, corn, chillies, tea and coffee. Remember that all these innovations – new technologies and crops – came along with people, who brought other ideas with them as well. As a result, this was a period of economic, political, social and cultural changes. You will learn about some of these changes in Chapter 5. This was also a period of great mobility. Groups of people travelled long distances in search of opportunity. The subcontinent held immense wealth and the possibilities for people to carve a fortune. One group of people who became important in this period were the Rajputs, a name derived from “Rajaputra”, the son of a ruler. Between the eighth and fourteenth centuries, the term was applied more generally to a group of warriors who claimed Kshatriya caste status. Fig. 3 The Persian wheel. 7 INTRODUCTION: TRA...  The term included not just rulers and chieftains but also soldiers and commanders who served in the armies of different monarchs all over the subcontinent. A chivalric code of conduct – extreme valour and a great sense of loyalty – were the qualities attributed to Rajputs by their poets and bards. Other groups and Kayasthas (a caste of scribes and secretaries) also used the opportunities of the age to become politically important. Habitat Refers to the Throughout this period there was a gradual environment of clearing of forests and the extension of agriculture, a region and a change faster and more complete in some areas the social and than in others. Changes in their habitat forced many economic lifestyle forest-dwellers to migrate. Others started tilling the of its residents. land and became peasants. These new peasant groups chieftains, priests, monasteries and temples. They became a part of large, complex societies, and were required to pay taxes and offer goods and services to local lords. As a result, significant economic ? and social differences emerged amongst peasants. Of the technological, kept cattle, and some combined artisanal work with economic, social agricultural activity during the lean season. As society and cultural became more differentiated, people were grouped into changes described or sub-castes and ranked on the basis of their in this section, backgrounds and their occupations. Ranks were not which do you think were most significant in the the The status of the same could vary from town or village in area to area. which you live? Jatis framed their own rules and regulations to manage the conduct of their members. These regulations were enforced by an assembly of elders, described in some areas as the jati panchayat. But jatis were also required to follow the rules of their villages. they were only one small unit of a state. 8 Region and Empire (see Chapter 2 for an example of a ) praising explained that he was the ruler of a vast empire that stretched from Bengal (Gauda) in the east to Ghazni (Gajjana) in Afghanistan in the west and included all of south India (Dravida). People of different regions – Gauda, Andhra, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Map 3 Provinces of the Delhi Sultanate during Muhammad Tughluq’s reign according to the Egyptian source Masalik Mamalik al-Amsar of Shihabuddin Umari. 9 INTRODUCTION: TRA...  regard these as exaggerated claims of conquests. ? At the same time, they try to understand why rulers kept claiming to have control over different parts of Why do you think rulers made such the subcontinent. claims? Language and region In 1318, the poet Amir Khusrau noted that there was a different language in every region of this land: Sindhi, Lahori, Kashmiri, Dvarsamudri (in southern Karnataka), Telangani (in Andhra Pradesh), Gujari (in Gujarat), Ma‘bari (in Tamil Nadu), Gauri, (in Bengal) … Awadhi (in eastern Uttar Pradesh) and Hindawi (in the area around Delhi). Amir Khusrau went on to explain that in contrast to these languages, there was Sanskrit which did not belong to any region. It was an old language and “common people do not know it, only the Brahmanas do”. Make a list of the languages mentioned by Amir Khusrau. Prepare another list of the names of languages spoken today in the regions he mentioned. Underline the names that are similar and circle those that are different. Did you notice that the names by which languages ? are known have changed over time? By 700 many regions already possessed distinct geographical dimensions and their own language and cultural characteristics. You will learn more about these in Chapter 7. They were also associated with like the Cholas, Khaljis, Tughluqs and Mughals were able to build an empire that was pan-regional – spanning diverse regions. Not all these empires were equally stable or successful. 10  When the Mughal Empire declined in the eighteenth century, it led to the re-emergence of regional states had altered the character of the regions. Across most of the subcontinent, the regions were left with the legacies ? of the big and small states that had ruled over them. Find out whether This was apparent in the emergence of many distinct and for how long your state was a and shared traditions: in the realms of governance, part of these the management of the economy, elite cultures and pan-regional language. Through the thousand years between 700 empires. and 1750, the character of the different regions did not grow in isolation. These regions felt the impact of larger pan-regional forces of integration without ever quite losing their distinctiveness. Old and New Religions The thousand years of history that we are exploring witnessed major developments in religious traditions. People’s belief in the divine was sometimes deeply personal, but more usually it was collective. Collective belief in a supernatural agency – religion – was often closely connected with the social and economic ? Do you remember organisation of local communities. As the social worlds what Amir of these groups altered, so too did their beliefs. Khusrau had to say regarding It was during this period that important changes Sanskrit, occurred in what we call Hinduism today. These knowledge and included the worship of new deities, the construction Brahmanas? of temples by royalty and the growing importance of Brahmanas, the priests, as dominant groups in society. Patron Brahmanas a lot of respect in society. Their dominant position was consolidated by the support of their wealthy individual patrons – new rulers searching for prestige. who supports another person – One of the major developments of this period was the an artiste, emergence of the idea of bhakti – of a loving, personal a craftsperson, a deity that devotees could reach without the aid of learned man, or priests or elaborate rituals. You will be learning about a noble. this, and other traditions, in Chapter 6. 11 INTRODUCTION: TRA...  This was also the period when new religions appeared in the subcontinent. Merchants and to India in the seventh century. Muslims regard the as their holy book and accept the sovereignty of the one God, Allah, whose love, mercy and bounty embrace all those who believe in Him, without regard to social background. Many rulers were patrons of Islam and the learned theologians and jurists. And like Hinduism, Islam was interpreted in a variety of ways by its that the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali, was the legitimate leader of the Muslim community, and the early leaders (Khalifas) of the community, and the succeeding Khalifas. There were other important and mystic traditions. Thinking about Time and Historical Periods Historians do not see time just as a passing of hours, days or years – as a clock or a calendar. Time also in the persistence and transformation of ideas and beliefs. The study of time is made somewhat easier by dividing the past into large segments – periods – that possess shared characteristics. In the middle of the nineteenth century, British historians divided the history of India into three periods: “Hindu”, “Muslim” and “British”. This division was based on the idea that the religion of rulers was the only important historical change, and that there were rich diversity of the subcontinent. 12  Few historians follow this periodisation today. Most look to economic and social factors to characterise the major elements of different moments of the past. The histories you read last year included a wide range of early societies – hunter-gatherers, early farmers, people living in towns and villages, and early empires and kingdoms. The histories you will be studying this more about the spread of peasant societies, the rise of regional and imperial state formations – sometimes at the cost of pastoral and forest people – the development of Hinduism and Islam as major religions and the arrival of European trading companies. These thousand years of Indian history witnessed considerable change. After all, the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries were quite different from the eighth or the eleventh. Therefore, describing the entire period as one historical unit is not without its problems. Moreover, the “medieval” period is often contrasted with the “modern” period. “Modernity” carries with it a sense of material progress and intellectual advancement. This seems to suggest that the medieval period was lacking in any change whatsoever. But of course we know this was not the case. During these thousand years, the societies of the subcontinent were transformed often and economies in several regions reached a level of prosperity that attracted the interest of European trading companies. As you read this book, look out for signs of change and the historical processes at work. Also, whenever you can, compare what you read in this book with continuities wherever you can, and look at the world around you to see what else has changed or remained the same. 13 INTRODUCTION: TRA...  Imagine You are a historian. Choose one of the themes mentioned in this chapter, such as economic, social or political history, and discuss why you think history of that theme. Let’s recall 1. Who was considered a “foreigner” in the past? KEYWORDS 700. (b) The Marathas asserted their political importance during this period. manuscript (c) Forest-dwellers were sometimes pushed out of their lands with the spread of agricultural settlements. region periodisation Manipur and Kashmir. (a) Archives are places where _______________ are kept. (b) _______________ was a fourteenth-century chronicler. (c) _____, _____, _____, _____ and _____ were some of the new crops introduced into the subcontinent during this period. this period. 14 5. What were some of the major religious developments during this period? Let’s understand 6. In what ways has the meaning of the term “Hindustan” changed over the centuries? 7. How were the affairs of regulated? Let’s discuss manuscripts? 10. How do historians divide the past into periods? Do they face any problems in doing so? Let’s do 11. Compare either Map 1 or Map 2 with the present-day map of the subcontinent, listing as many similarities 12. Find out where records are kept in your village or city. Who writes these records? Is there an archive? Who manages it? What kinds of documents are stored there? Who are the people who use it? 15 INTRODUCTION: TRA...  2 KINGS AND KINGDOMS M any new dynasties emerged after the seventh century. Map 1 shows the major ruling dynasties in different parts of the subcontinent between the seventh and twelfth centuries. Map 1 Major kingdoms, seventh-twelfth centuries ? Locate the Gurjara-Pratiharas, Rashtrakutas, Palas, Cholas and Chahamanas (Chauhans). Can you identify the present-day states over which they exercised control? 16 The Emergence of New Dynasties By the seventh century, there were big landlords or warrior chiefs in different regions of the subcontinent. Existing kings often acknowledged them as their subordinates or They were expected to bring gifts for their kings or overlords, be present at their courts and provide them with military support. As gained power and wealth, they declared themselves to be , (the great lord of a “circle” or region) and so independence from their overlords. One such instance was that of the Rashtrakutas in the Deccan. Initially they were subordinate to the Chalukyas of Karnataka. In the mid-eighth century, Dantidurga, a Rashtrakuta chief, overthrew his Chalukya overlord and Fig. 1 Wall relief from Cave performed a ritual called (literally, the 15, Ellora, showing golden womb). When this ritual was performed with Vishnu as Narasimha, the help of Brahmanas, it was thought to lead to the the man-lion. It is a work of the Rashtrakuta period. not one by birth. In other cases, men from enterprising families used their military skills to carve out kingdoms. For instance, the Kadamba Mayurasharman and the ? Do you think Gurjara-Pratihara Harichandra were Brahmanas who being born as gave up their traditional professions and took to arms, a Kshatriya was successfully establishing kingdoms in Karnataka and important in Rajasthan respectively. order to become a ruler during this period? Administration in the Kingdoms Many of these new kings adopted high-sounding titles such as (great king, overlord of kings), (lord of the three worlds) and so on. However, in spite of such claims, 17 KINGS AND KINGDOMS  they often shared power with their as well as with associations of peasants, traders and Brahmanas. In each of these states, resources were obtained from the producers – that is, peasants, cattle-keepers, artisans – who were often persuaded or compelled to these were claimed as “rent” due to a lord who asserted that he owned the land. Revenue was also collected from traders. Four hundred taxes! The inscriptions of the Cholas who ruled in Tamil Nadu refer to more than 400 terms for different kinds of taxes. The most frequently mentioned tax is vetti, taken not in cash but in the form of forced labour, and kadamai, or land revenue. There were also taxes on thatching the house, the use of a ladder to climb palm trees, a cess on succession to family property, etc. ? Are any such taxes collected today? ? In what ways establishment, as well as for the construction of temples was this form of administration turn expected to lead to the acquisition of wealth in the different from form of plunder, and access to land as well as trade routes. the present-day system? The functionaries for collecting revenue were generally recruited from influential families, and positions were often hereditary. This was true about the army as well. In many cases, close relatives of the king held these positions. Prashastis and Land Grants contain details that may not be literally true. But they tell us how rulers wanted to depict themselves – as valiant, victorious warriors, for example. These were composed by learned Brahmanas, who occasionally helped in the administration. 18  The “achievements” of Nagabhata Many rulers described their achievements in prashastis (you read about the prashasti of the Gupta ruler Samudragupta last year). One prashasti, written in Sanskrit and found in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, describes the exploits of ? Nagabhata, a Pratihara king, as follows: Also, see if you The kings of Andhra, Saindhava (Sind), Vidarbha (part of can find some Maharashtra) and Kalinga (part of Orissa) fell before him of the areas mentioned in the even as he was a prince … inscription on He won a victory over Chakrayudha (the ruler of Kanauj) … Map 1. He defeated the king of Vanga (part of Bengal), Anarta (part Other rulers made of Gujarat), Malava (part of Madhya Pradesh), Kirata (forest similar claims as peoples), Turushka (Turks), Vatsa, Matsya (both kingdoms well. Why do you think they made in north India) … these claims? Kings often rewarded Brahmanas by grants of land. These were recorded on copper plates, which were given to those who received the land. Fig. 2 This is a set of copper plates recording a grant of land made by a ruler in the ninth century, written partly in Sanskrit and partly in Tamil. The ring holding the plates together is secured with the royal seal, to indicate that this is an authentic document. 19 KINGS AND KINGDOMS  What was given with the land This is a part of the Tamil section of a land grant given by the Cholas: We have demarcated the boundaries of the land by making earthen embankments, as well as by planting thorny bushes. This is what the land contains: fruit-bearing trees, water, land, gardens and orchards, trees, wells, open spaces, pasture-land, a village, anthills, platforms, canals, ditches, and deep lakes. He who receives the land can collect taxes from it. He can on betel-leaves, that on woven cloth, as well as on vehicles. He can build large rooms, with upper stories made of baked bricks, he can get large and small wells dug, he can plant trees and thorny bushes, if necessary, he can get canals constructed for irrigation. He should ensure that water is not wasted, and that embankments are built. List all the possible sources of irrigation mentioned ? in the inscription, and discuss how these might have been used. poem containing the history of kings who ruled over Kashmir. It was composed by an author named Kalhana. He used a variety of sources, including inscriptions, documents, eyewitness accounts and earlier histories, to write his account. Unlike the writers of , he was often critical about rulers and their policies. Warfare for Wealth You may have noticed that each of these ruling time, they tried to control other areas. One particularly 20 prized area was the city of Kanauj in the Ganga valley. For centuries, rulers belonging to the Gurjara- Pratihara, Rashtrakuta and Pala dynasties fought for ? Look at Map 1 and control over Kanauj. Because there were three “parties” suggest reasons why these rulers it as the “tripartite struggle”. wanted to control Rulers also tried to demonstrate their power and Kanauj and the resources by building large temples. So, when they Ganga valley. attacked one another’s kingdoms, they often chose to target temples, which were sometimes extremely rich. One such ruler is Mahmud of Ghazni, Afghanistan. He raided the subcontinent 17 times (1000–1025) with a religious motive. His targets were wealthy temples, including that of Somnath, Gujarat. Much of the wealth Mahmud carried away was used to create a splendid capital city at Ghazni. ? Other kings who engaged in warfare included the Look at Map 1 Chahamanas, later known as the Chauhans, who again and ruled over the region around Delhi and Ajmer. They discuss why the attempted to expand their control to the west and Chahamanas the east, where they were opposed by the Chalukyas may have wanted of Gujarat and the Gahadavalas of western Uttar to expand their Pradesh. The Chahamana ruler was Prithviraja III territories. (1168 –1192), who defeated a Turk ruler named Sultan Muhammad Ghori in 1191, but lost to him the very next year, in 1192. A Closer Look: The Cholas From Uraiyur to Thanjavur How did the Cholas ri se t o pow er ? A minor chiefly family known as the Muttaraiyar held power in the Kaveri delta. They were subordinate to the Pallava kings of Kanchipuram. Vijayalaya, Cholas from Uraiyur, captured the delta from the Muttaraiyar in the middle of the ninth century. He built the town of Thanjavur and a temple for goddess Nishumbhasudini there. 21 KINGS AND KINGDOMS Map 2 The Chola kingdom and its neighbours. The successors of Vijayalaya conquered neighbouring regions and the kingdom grew in size and power. The Pandyan and the Pallava territories to the south and north were made part of this kingdom. Rajaraja I, considered the most powerful Chola ruler, became areas. He also reorganised the administration of the empire. Rajaraja’s son Rajendra I continued his these expeditions. Splendid Temples and Bronze Sculpture The big temples of Thanjavur and Gangaikonda- cholapuram, built by Rajaraja and Rajendra, are architectural and sculptural marvels. 22  Fig. 3 The temple at Gangaikondacholapuram. Notice the way in which the roof tapers. Also look at the elaborate stone sculptures used to decorate the outer walls. Chola temples often became the nuclei of settlements which grew around them. These were centres of craft production. Temples were also endowed with land by rulers as well as by others. The produce of this land went into maintaining all the specialists who worked at the temple and very often lived near it – priests, garland makers, cooks, sweepers, musicians, dancers, etc. In other words, temples were not only places of worship; they were the centres of economic, social and cultural life. Amongst the crafts associated with temples, the making of bronze images was the most distinctive. Chola bronze images are considered amongst the sometimes images were made of devotees as well. 23 KINGS AND KINGDOMS  Agriculture and Irrigation Many of the achievements of the Cholas were made possible through new developments in the river Kaveri branches off into several small channels before emptying into the frequently, depositing fertile soil on their banks. Water from the channels also provides the necessary moisture for agriculture, particularly the cultivation of rice. Although agriculture had developed earlier in other parts of Tamil Nadu, it was century that this area was opened up for large-scale cultivation. Forests had to be cleared in some regions; land had to be levelled in other areas. In the delta region, embankments canals had to be constructed to carry crops were grown in a year. In many cases it was necessary to water crops artificially. A variety of methods were used for irrigation. In some areas wells were dug. In other places huge tanks were constructed to collect rainwater. Remember that irrigation works require planning – organising Fig. 4 A Chola bronze sculpture. Notice how carefully it is decorated. 24  Fig. 5 A ninth-century sluice gate in Tamil Nadu. It regulated the from a tank into the channels that irrigated A sluice gate is labour and resources, maintaining these works and traditionally a wood or metal barrier which deciding on how water is to be shared. Most of the is commonly used to new rulers, as well as people living in villages, took an control water levels active interest in these activities. rivers and canals. The Administration of the Empire of peasants, known as , became prosperous with the spread of irrigation agriculture. Groups of such villages formed larger units called. The village council and the performed several administrative functions including dispensing justice and collecting taxes. Rich peasants exercised considerable control over the affairs of the under the supervision of the central Chola government. The Chola kings gave some rich landowners titles like (a or peasant serving three kings), (chief), etc., as markers of respect, and entrusted them 25 KINGS AND KINGDOMS  Types of land Chola inscriptions mention several categories of land: vellanvagai land of non-Brahmana peasant proprietors brahmadeya land gifted to Brahmanas shalabhoga land for the maintenance of a school devadana, tirunamattukkani land gifted to temples pallichchhandam land donated to Jaina institutions We have seen that Brahmanas often received land grants or. As a result, a large number of Brahmana settlements emerged in the Kaveri valley as in other parts of south India. Each was looked after by an assembly or of prominent Brahmana landholders. These recorded in detail in inscriptions, often on the stone walls of temples. Associations of traders known as also occasionally performed administrative functions in towns. Inscriptions from Uttaramerur in Chingleput district, Tamil Nadu, provide details of the way in which the was organised. The had separate committees to look after irrigation works, gardens, temples, etc. Names of those eligible to be members of these committees were written on small tickets of palm leaf; these tickets were put into an earthenware pot, from which a young boy was asked to take out the tickets, one by one for each committee. 26 Inscriptions and texts Who could be a member of a sabha? The Uttaramerur inscription lays down: All those who wish to become members of the sabha should be owners of land from which land revenue is collected. ? Do you think They should have their own homes. women They should be between 35 and 70 years of age. participated in They should have knowledge of the Vedas. these assemblies? In your view are They should be well-versed in administrative matters lotteries useful and honest. in choosing If anyone has been a member of any committee in the last members of three years, he cannot become a member of another committee. committees? Anyone who has not submitted his accounts, and those of his relatives, cannot contest the elections. While inscriptions tell us about kings and powerful men, here is an excerpt from the Periyapuranam, a twelfth- century Tamil work, which informs us about the lives of ordinary men and women. On the outskirts of Adanur was a small hamlet of Pulaiyas (a name used for a social group considered “outcastes” by Brahmanas and Vellalas), studded with small huts under old thatches and inhabited by agrarian labourers engaged ? Were there any in menial occupations. In the thresholds of the huts covered Brahmanas in this with strips of leather, little chickens moved about in groups; hamlet? dark children who wore bracelets of black iron were prancing Describe all the about, carrying little puppies … In the shade of the marudu activities that were taking place (arjuna) trees, a female labourer put her baby to sleep on a in the village. sheet of leather; there were mango trees from whose branches Why do you drums were hanging; and under the coconut palms, in little think temple hollows on the ground, tiny-headed bitches lay after whelping. inscriptions The red-crested cocks crowed before dawn calling the brawny ignore these activities? Pulaiyar (plural) to their day’s work; and by day, under the shade of the kanji tree spread the voice of the wavy-haired Pulaiya women singing as they were husking paddy … 27 KINGS AND KINGDOMS  Imagine You are present in an election for a Describe what you see and hear. Let’s recall 1. Match the following: Gurjara-Pratiharas Western Deccan Rashtrakutas Bengal Palas Gujarat and Rajasthan Cholas Tamil Nadu 2. Who were the parties involved in the “tripartite struggle”? a member of a committee of the in the Chola empire? 4. What were the two major cities under the control of the Chahamanas? Let’s understand 5. How did the Rashtrakutas become powerful? 6. What did the new dynasties do to gain acceptance? 28 7. What kind of irrigation works were developed in the Tamil region? Let’s discuss KEYWORDS were any kingdoms in the state in which you live. 10. Contrast the “elections” in Uttaramerur with present- temple day panchayat elections. Let’s do 11. Compare the temple shown in this chapter with any present-day temple in your neighbourhood, highlighting any similarities and differences that you notice. 12. Find out more about taxes that are collected at present. Are these in cash, kind, or labour services? 29 KINGS AND KINGDOMS  DELHI: 12th TO 15th CENTURY I n Chapter 2 we saw that regions like the Kaveri delta became the centre of large kingdoms. Did you notice that there was no mention of a kingdom with Delhi as its capital? That was because Delhi became an important city only in the twelfth century. of a kingdom under the Tomara Rajputs, who were defeated in the middle of the twelfth century by the Chauhans (also referred to as Chahamanas) of Ajmer. Map 1 Selected Sultanate It was under the Tomaras and Chauhans that Delhi cities of Delhi, became an important commercial centre. Many rich thirteenth-fourteenth centuries. several temples. Coins minted here, c all ed , ha d a wide circulation. The transformation of Delhi into a capital that controlled vast areas of the subcontinent started with the foundation of the Delhi thirteenth century. Take a look at dynasties that together made the - cities in the area that we now - 30  The rulers of Delhi Table 1 RAJPUT DYNASTIES Tomaras Early twelfth century 1165 Chauhans 1165 1192 EARLY TURKISH RULERS Qutbuddin Aybak 1206 –1210 KHALJI DYNASTY TUGHLUQ DYNASTY SAYYID DYNASTY Khizr Khan 1414 –1421 LODI DYNASTY 31 DELHI: 12TH TO 15TH...  Understanding Delhi under the Sultans Histories are known as (singular)/ (plural), in Persian, the language of administration under the Delhi Sultans. ? The authors of were learned men: Do you think the secretaries, administrators, poets and courtiers, circle of justice who both recounted events and advised rulers on is an appropriate governance, emphasising the importance of just rule. term to describe the relationship between the king The circle of justice and his subjects? Fakhr-i Mudabbir wrote in the thirteenth century: A king cannot survive without soldiers. And soldiers cannot live without salaries. Salaries come from the revenue collected from peasants. But peasants can pay revenue only when Birthright they are prosperous and happy. This happens when the king Privileges claimed promotes justice and honest governance. on account of birth. For example, people believed that nobles inherited their Keep the following additional details in mind: rights to govern, (1) the authors of lived in cities (mainly because they were Delhi) and hardly ever in villages. (2) They often wrote born in certain their histories for Sultans in the hope of rich rewards. families. (3) These authors advised rulers on the need to preserve an “ideal” social order based on birthright Gender and gender distinctions. Their ideas were not shared distinctions by everybody. Social and biological In 1236 Sultan Iltutmish’s daughter, Raziyya, differences b e c a m e S u l t a n. Th e c h r o n i c l e r o f t h e a g e , between women Minhaj-us-Siraj, recognised that she was more able and men. Usually, these differences are used to argue comfortable at having a queen as ruler. Nor were the that men are nobles happy at her attempts to rule independently. superior to women. She was removed from the throne in 1240. OUR PASTS – II 32  What Minhaj-us-Siraj thought about Raziyya: What other important female rulers of India did? Minhaj-us-Siraj thought that the queen’s rule went against the ideal social order created by God, in which women were supposed to be subordinate to men. He therefore asked: “In the register of God’s creation, since her account did not fall under the column of men, how did she gain from all of her excellent qualities?” On her inscriptions and coins Raziyya mentioned that she was the daughter of Sultan Iltutmish. This was in contrast to the queen Rudramadevi (1262–1289), of the Kakatiya dynasty of Warangal, part of modern Andhra Pradesh. Rudramadevi changed her name on her inscriptions and pretended she was a man. Another queen, Didda, ruled in Kashmir (980–1003). Her title is interesting: it comes from “didi” or “elder sister”, an obviously affectionate term given to a loved ruler by her subjects. ? Express Minhaj’s ideas in your own words. Do you think Raziyya shared these ideas? Why do you think it was so difficult for a woman to be a ruler? A Closer Look: Administration under the Khaljis and Tughluqs The consolidation of a kingdom as vast as the Delhi Sultanate needed reliable governors and administrators. Rather than appointing aristocrats and landed chieftains as governors, the early Delhi Sultans, especially Iltutmish, favoured their special slaves purchased for military service, called in Persian. They were carefully trained to man some Since they were totally dependent upon their master, the Sultan could trust and rely upon them. 33 DELHI: 12TH TO 15TH...  Slaves rather than sons The Sultans were advised: A slave, whom one has brought up and promoted, must be looked after for it needs a whole lifetime and good luck to ? Can you think of any reason why a slave would be better than a son? The Khaljis and Tughluqs continued to use Client and also raised people of humble birth, who were often Someone who their clients, to high political positions. They were is under the appointed as generals and governors. However, this protection of another; a also introduced an element of political instability. dependent or Slaves and clients were loyal to their masters and hanger-on. patrons, but not to their heirs. Sultans had their own servants. As a result the accession of a new monarch The patronage of these humble people by the Delhi Sultans also shocked many elites and the authors of Persian criticised the Delhi Sultans for Officials of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq Sultan Muhammad Tughluq appointed Aziz Khummar, a wine distiller, Firuz Hajjam, a barber, Manka Tabbakh, a cook, and two gardeners, Ladha and Pira, to high administrative posts. Ziyauddin Barani, a mid-fourteenth-century chronicler, reported their appointments as a sign of the Sultan’s loss of political judgement and his incapacity to rule. ? Why do you think Barani criticised the Sultan? OUR PASTS – II 34  Like the earlier Sultans, the Khalji and Tughluq There were also monarchs appointed military commanders as other Taxes governors of territories of varying sizes. These lands levied– were called and their holder was called 1. Khums or. The duty of the was to lead military 2. Zakat campaigns and maintain law and order in their. 3. Jizyah In exchange for their military services, the 1. Khums was collected the revenues of their assignments as salary. Consisted of one- They also paid their soldiers from these revenues. Control over was not inheritable and if they were assigned on mines and for a short period of time before being shifted. These harsh conditions of service were rigorously imposed 2. Zakat was one during the reigns of Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq. Accountants were appointed by the state to check the amount of revenue collected by the. Care was taken that the collected only the taxes prescribed by the state and that he kept the required number of soldiers. As the Delhi Sultans brought the hinterland of the cities under their control, they forced the landed chieftains – the aristocrats – and rich landlords to accept their authority. Under Alauddin Khalji the state brought the assessment and collection of land revenue under its own control. The rights of the local chieftains to levy taxes were cancelled and they were also forced to pay taxes. The Sultan’s administrators measured the land and kept careful accounts. Some of the old chieftains and landlords served the Sultanate as revenue collectors and assessors. There were three types of taxes: (1) on cultivation called and amounting to about 50 per cent of the peasant’s produce, (2) on cattle and (3) on houses. It is important to remember that large parts of the subcontinent remained outside the control of provinces like Bengal from Delhi and soon after annexing southern India, the entire region became independent. Even in the Gangetic plain, there 35 DELHI: 12TH TO 15TH... for it although were forested areas that Sultanate forces could not there were penetrate. Local chieftains established their rule in instances of even these regions. Sometimes rulers like Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq could force their control in evading this these areas but only for a short duration. Chieftains and their fortifications muslim traders were obliged to Ibn Battuta, a fourteenth-century traveller from Morocco, Africa, explained that chieftains sometimes (alms tax) both under the Delhi Sultans and the Mughals. 3. Jizyah was a non-Muslims who had been given the Describe the ways in which the chieftains arranged collected along ? for their defence. with the land tax Shah Tughlaq The Mongols under Genghis Khan invaded Transoxiana in north-east Iran in 1219 and the Delhi Source: Sultanate faced their onslaught soon after. Mongol attacks on the Delhi Sultanate increased during the Administrative reign of Alauddin Khalji and in the early years of system of Delhi Muhammad Tughluq’s rule. This forced the two rulers Sultanat, Kitab to mobilise a large standing army in Delhi which posed Mahal Publishers. a huge administrative challenge. The Sultanate in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries Take a look at Table 1 again. You will notice that after the Tughluqs, the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties ruled OUR PASTS – II 36 Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and the entire south India had independent rulers who established also the period which saw the emergence of new ruling groups like the Afghans and the Rajputs. small but powerful and extremely well administered. manager of a small territory for his uncle in Bihar and eventually challenged and defeated the Mughal (1540 –1555), it introduced an administration that borrowed elements from Alauddin Khalji and made became the model followed by the great emperor Akbar (1556 –1605) when he consolidated the Mughal Empire. Imagine You are a peasant in Alauddin Khalji’s or Muhammad Tughluq’s reign and you cannot pay the taxes demanded by the Let’s recall 2. What was the language of administration under the extent? 4. From which country did Ibn Battuta travel to India? 37 DELHI: 12TH TO 15TH...  Let’s understand 5. According to the “circle of justice”, why was it important for military commanders to keep the interests of the peasantry in mind? 6. What is meant by the “internal” and “external” frontiers KEYWORDS 7. What were the steps taken to ensure that performed their duties? Why do you think they may Let’s discuss garrison Do you think the authors of would provide information about the lives of ordinary men and Mongols women? gender more readily today? 10. down forests? Does deforestation occur for the same reasons today? Let’s do 11. Find out whether there are any buildings built by buildings in your area that were built between the buildings, and draw sketches of them. 38  THE MUGHALS (16th TO 17th CENTURY) R uling as large a territory as the Indian subcontinent with such a diversity of people and cultures was an the Middle Ages. Quite in contrast to their predecessors, the Mughals created an empire and accomplished what had hitherto seemed possible for only short periods of time. From the latter half of the sixteenth century, they expanded their kingdom from Agra and Delhi, until in the seventeenth century they controlled nearly all of the subcontinent. They imposed structures of administration and ideas of governance that outlasted their rule, leaving a political legacy that succeeding rulers of the subcontinent could not ignore. Today the Prime Minister of India addresses the nation on Independence Day from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi, the residence of the Mughal emperors. Fig. 1 The Red Fort. 39 THE MUGHALS  Who were the Mughals? The Mughals were descendants of two great lineages of rulers. From their mother’s side they were descendants of Genghis Khan (died 1227), the Mongol ruler who ruled over parts of China and Central Asia. From their father’s side, they were the successors of Timur (died 1404), the ruler of Iran, Iraq and modern-day Turkey. However, the Mughals did not like to be called Mughal or Mongol. This was because Genghis Khan’s memory Fig. 2 was associated with the massacre Mughal army on campaign. of innumerable people. It was also linked with the Uzbegs, their Mongol competitors. On the other hand, the Mughals were proud of their Timurid ancestry, not least of all because their great ancestor had captured They celebrated their genealogy pictorially, each ruler getting a picture made of Timur and himself. Mughal Military Campaigns he was only 12 years old. H e was forced to leave his ancestral th rone due to the invasion of Fig. 3 another Mongol group, the Uzbegs. Cannons were an A f t e r y e ar s o f w a n d e r i n g , h e important addition seized Kabul in 1504. In 1526 he in sixteenth-century warfare. Babur used them effectively in the and Agra. 40  Map 1 Military campaigns under Akbar and Aurangzeb. Mughal Traditions of Succession The Mughals did not believe in the rule of primogeniture, where the eldest son inherited his father’s estate. Instead they followed the Mughal and Timurid Mughal marriages custom of coparcenary inheritance, or a division of with the Rajputs the inheritance amongst all the sons. Which do you The mother of think is a fairer division of inheritance: primogeniture Jahangir was or coparcenary? a Kachhwaha princess, daughter of the Rajput Mughal Relations with Other Rulers ruler of Amber (modern- day The Mughal rulers campaigned constantly against Jaipur). The rulers who refused to accept their authority. But as mother of Shah the Mughals became powerful many other rulers Jahan was a Rathor also joined them voluntarily. The Rajputs are a good princess, daughter example of this. Many of them married their daughters of the Rajput ruler of Marwar into Mughal families and received high positions. But (Jodhpur). many resisted as well. 41 THE MUGHALS  Mughal authority for a long time. Once defeated, however, they were honourably treated by the Mughals, given their lands back as assignments. The careful balance between defeating but not humiliating their opponents enabled the the time. Mansabdars and Jagirdars As the empire expanded to encompass different regions, the Mughals recruited diverse bodies of people. From a small nucleus of Turkish nobles (Turanis) they expanded to include Iranians, Indian Muslims, Afghans, Rajputs, Marathas and other groups. Those who joined Mughal service were enrolled as. The term refers to an individual who holds a , meaning a position or rank. It was Zat ranking and salary were determined by a numerical value Nobles with a called. The higher the , the more prestigious zat of 5,000 was the noble’s position in court and the larger were ranked his salary. higher than Th e m i li ta r y r esp onsi bi li ti es those of 1,000. required him to maintain a specified number of In Akbar’s reign there were 29 or cavalrymen. The brought his mansabdars cavalrymen for review, got them registered, their with a rank of horses branded and then received money to pay them 5,000 zat; by as salary. Aurangzeb’s received their salaries as revenue reign the number assignments called which were somewhat like of mansabdars. But unlike , most did not had increased to actually reside in or administer their. They only 79. Would this had rights to the revenue of their assignments which have meant more was collected for them by their servants while the expenditure for themselves served in some other part of the state? the country. 42  In Akbar’s reign, these were carefully assessed so that their revenues were roughly equal to the salary of the. By Aurangzeb’s reign, this was no longer the case and the actual revenue collected was often less than the granted sum. There was also a huge increase in the number of which meant a Fig. 4 long wait before they received a. These and other A mansabdar on march with his factors created a shortage in the number of. sawars. As a result, many tried to extract as much revenue as possible while they had a. Aurangzeb was unable to control these developments in the Fig. 5 Details from a last years of his reign and the peasantry therefore miniature from suffered tremendously. Shah Jahan’s reign depicting corruption in his father’s Zabt and Zamindars administration: The main source of income available to Mughal receiving a bribe and rulers was tax on the produce of the peasantry. In (2) a tax-collector punishing poor most places, peasants paid taxes through the rural peasants. elites, that is, the headman or the local chieftain. The Mughals used one term – zamindars – to describe all intermediaries, whether they were local headmen of villages or powerful chieftains. Akbar’s revenue minister, Todar Mal, carried out a careful survey of crop yields, prices and areas cultivated for a 10-year period, was divided into revenue circles with its own schedule of revenue rates for individual crops. This revenue system was known as. It was prevalent in those areas where Mughal administrators could survey the land and keep very careful accounts. This was not possible in provinces, such as Gujarat and Bengal. 43 THE MUGHALS  In some areas, the zamindars exercised a great deal of power. The exploitation by Mughal administrators and peasants of the same caste allied in rebelling against Mughal authority. These peasant revolts challenged the stability of the Mughal Empire from the end of the seventeenth century. Akbar Nama and Ain-i Akbari Akbar ordered one of his close friends and courtiers, Abul Fazl, to write a history of his reign. Abul Fazl wrote a three-volume history of Akbar’s reign, titled Akbar Nama. The first volume dealt with Akbar’s ancestors and the second volume recorded the events of Akbar’s reign. The third volume is the Ain-i Akbari. It deals with Akbar’s administration, household, army, the revenues and the geography of his empire. It also provides rich details about the traditions and culture of the people living in India. The most interesting aspect about the Ain-i Akbari is its rich statistical Fig. 6 details about things as diverse as crops, Akbar recieving the Akbar Nama yields, prices, wages and revenues. from Abul Fazl. Nur Jahan’s influence in Jahangir’s court Mehrunnisa married the Emperor Jahangir in 1611 and received the title Nur Jahan. She remained extremely loyal and supportive to the monarch. As a mark of honour, Jahangir struck silver coins bearing his own titles on one side and on the other the inscription “struck in the name of the Queen Begum, Nur Jahan”. The adjoining document is an order (farman) of Nur Jahan. The square seal states, “Command of her most Sublime and Elevated Majesty Nur Jahan Padshah Begum”. Fig. 7 The round seal states, “by the sun of Shah Nur Jahan’s farman. Jahangir she became as brilliant as the moon; may Nur Jahan Padshah be the lady of the age”. 44  Sulh-i kul Jahangir, Akbar’s son, described his father’s policy of sulh-i kul in the following words: As in the wide expanse of the divine compassion there is room for all classes and the followers of all creeds, so … in his Imperial dominions, which on all sides were limited only by the sea, there was room for the professors of opposite religions, and for beliefs, good and bad, and the road to intolerance was closed. Sunnis and Shias met in one mosque and Christians and Jews in one church to pray. He consistently followed the principle of “universal peace” (sulh-i kul). The Mughal Empire in the Seventeenth Century and After The administrative and military efficiency of the Mughal Empire led to great economic and commercial prosperity. International travellers described it as the fabled land of wealth. But these same visitors were also appalled at the state of poverty that existed side by side with the greatest opulence. The inequalities were glaring. Documents from the twentieth year of were only 445 in number out of a total the total number of – received 61.5 per cent of the total estimated revenue of the empire as salaries for themselves and their troopers. The Mughal emperors and their spent a great deal of their income on salaries and goods. who supplied them with goods and produce. But the scale of revenue collection left very little for investment in the hands of the primary producers – the peasant and the artisan. The poorest amongst them lived from hand to mouth and they could hardly consider investing in additional resources – tools and supplies – 45 THE MUGHALS to increase productivity. The wealthier peasantry and in this economic world. The enormous wealth and resources commanded by the Mughal elite made them an extremely powerful group of people in the late seventeenth century. As the authority of the Mughal emperor slowly declined, his servants emerged as powerful centres of power in the regions. They constituted new dynasties and held the command of provinces like Hyderabad and Awadh. Although they continued to recognise the Mughal emperor in Delhi as their master, by the eighteenth century the provinces of the empire had consolidated their independent political identities. Imagine You have inherited a kingdom. (Remember Babur and Akbar were about your age when they became rulers). How would you make your kingdom stable and prosperous? Let’s recall 1. Match the following: Marwar Mongol Uzbeg Sisodiya Rajput Mewar Rathor Rajput rank Nur Jahan Jahangir 2. Fill in the blanks: Ahmadnagar, and _________________. 46  (b) If determined a rank and salary, indicated his (c) Abul Fazl, Akbar’s friend and counsellor, helped him frame the idea of so that he could govern a society composed of many religions, cultures and castes. the Mughals? 4 What was the relationship between the and KEYWORDS the ? Mughal Let’s understand 5. What was the role of the zamindar in Mughal administration? 6. How were the debates with religious scholars important in the formation of Akbar’s ideas on governance? primogeniture 7. Why did the Mughals emphasise their Timurid and not their Mongol descent? coparcenary zamindar Let’s discuss the stability of the Mughal Empire? from diverse backgrounds and not just Turanis and Iranis? 47 THE MUGHALS  of many social and cultural units. Does this pose a challenge to national integration? 11. Peasants were vital for the economy of the Mughal Empire. Do you think that they are as important today? Has the gap in the income between the rich and the poor in India changed a great deal from the period of the Mughals? Let’s do 12. The Mughal Empire left its impact on the different regions of the subcontinent in a variety of ways. Find out if it had any impact in the city, village or region in which you live. 48  1 Environment After the long vacation, when Ravi started going to school again, he noticed that the only playground next to his school was dug up. People said that a huge building with many flats will be constructed there. Ravi was almost in tears, when he realised that the big playground with its soft grass, marigolds and butterflies is gone for ever. He shared his feelings with his classmates. In the assembly, the Principal too sadly observed, “See how our environment Environment is our is changing.” basic life support In the class Ravi asked his teacher, “What is system. It provides environment?” “Whatever you see in your surroundings,” the air we breath, the said the teacher. water we drink, the Ravi thought aloud, “That means, the school building, food we eat and the tables, chairs in the classroom, even that open field, the land where we live. road, the garbage, my friends – all are parts of our How do human environment”! beings modify this “Yes” said the teacher, “but wait….. Some objects are natural environment? The car fumes pollute created by nature – for example, mountains, rivers, trees, the air, water is animals. Others are made by people – for example roads, collected in a pot, cars, clothes, books”. food is served in Now work in pairs. Make a list with your classmate vessels and land is sitting next to you, of the creations of nature and by used to build human beings. factories. Human beings make cars, mills, factories and manufacture containers. This is how human beings modify natural environment. Ravi, Paramjeet, Jessy, Mustafa, Asha were all excited about making the list. “Why is our environment changing?” asked Iqbal. “It’s all because of our needs. They are Reprint 2024-25  Parks r e) Ai her Water s p (Hydrosphere) mo (At Buildings Bridges Hu Natural Human ma man de made Land Components (Lithosphere) Roads of Environment Living Things Industries Monuments (Biosphere) Human Individual Political Situation Family Economic Community Religion Educational Fig. 1.1: Components of Environment increasing day by day; we are therefore modifying and at times even destroying our natural surroundings”, the teacher replied. From the above conversation you Biotic Abiotic understand that the place, people, things and The world of The world of nature that surround any living organism is living non-living called environment. It is a combination of organisms. elements. natural and human made phenomena. While e.g. plants e.g. land. the natural environment refers to both biotic and animals. and abiotic conditions existing on the earth, 2 OUR ENVIRONMENT Reprint 2024-25 human environment reveals the activities, creations and Word Origin interactions among human beings. Environment: French NATURAL ENVIRONMENT word Environer/ Environner meaning Land, water, air, plants and animals comprise the natural “neighbourhood”. environment. You are familiar with the meaning of lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere from your previous class. Let us learn some more facts about these domains. Lithosphere is the solid crust or the hard top layer of the earth. It is made up of rocks and minerals and covered Let’s do by a thin layer of soil. It is an irregular surface with various landforms such as mountains, plateaus, plains, Look at your valleys, etc. Landforms are found over the continents surroundings. Make a and also on the ocean floors. list of uses that the Lithosphere is the domain that provides us forests, land in your grasslands for grazing, land for agriculture and human neighbourhood is settlements. It is also a source of mineral wealth. being put to. Atmosphere Let’s do Biosphere Where does the water Hydrosphere you use in your home and school come from? Make a list of Lithosphere different uses of water in our daily life. Have you seen anyone wasting water? How? Fig. 1.2: Domains of the Environment The domain of water is referred to as hydrosphere. It Let’s do comprises various sources of water and different types of water bodies like rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, etc. It is Observe the sky while essential for all living organisms. coming to school. The atmosphere is the thin layer of air that Make a note whether surrounds the earth. The gravitational force of the the day is cloudy, earth holds the atmosphere around it. It protects us rainy, sunny, foggy etc. ENVIRONMENT 3 Reprint 2024-25  Glossary from the harmful rays and scorching heat of the sun. It consists of a number of gases, dust and water vapour. Ecosystem: It is a The changes in the atmosphere produce changes in system formed by the the weather and climate. interaction of all Plant and animal kingdom together make biosphere living organisms with each other and with or the living world. It is a narrow zone of the earth the physical and where land, water and air interact with each other to chemical factors of support life. the environment in What is ecosystem? which they live, all linked by transfer of At an NCC camp that Ravi’s class was attending, Jessy energy and material. exclaimed, “What a heavy downpour. It reminds me of my home in Kerala. You should come and see how it pours and pours and pours over the lush green fields and coconut plantations.” Let’s do Heera from Jaisalmer exclaimed, “We get no rains. Sketch or bring We see only ‘kikar’ and sand, as far as the eyes can photographs of your see.” “But you also find camels”, said Ravi. place like the students in the story. Fig. 1.3: A Pond Ecosystem 4 OUR ENVIRONMENT Reprint 2024-25  Heera says, “Not just camels. If you visit our desert, Do you know? you will see snakes, lizards and many insects too.” Ravi wondered, “Why do the animals, the vegetation On 5 June every year the World Environment and the way people live vary from place to place? Are Day is celebrated. they all related to each other?” “Oh yes, very much so”, the teacher replied. All plants, animals and human beings depend on their immediate surroundings. Often they are also Glossary interdependent on each other. This relation between the living organisms, as well as the relation between the Barter System: organisms and their surroundings form an ecosystem. It is a trade in which There could be an ecosystem of large rain forest, goods are exchanged without the use of grassland, desert, mountains, lake, river, ocean and even money. a small pond. Do you think the park in which Ravi and his friends played formed an ecosystem? HUMAN ENVIRONMENT Human beings interact with the environment and modify it according to their need. Early humans adapted themselves to the natural surroundings. They led a simple life and fulfilled their requirements from the nature around them. With time needs grew and became Let’s do more varied. Humans learn new ways to use and change environment. They learn to grow crops, domesticate Talk to some elderly animals and lead a settled life. The wheel was invented, person in your neighbourhood and surplus food was produced, barter system emerged, trade collect information started and commerce developed. Industrial revolution about– enabled large scale production. Transportation became The trees in his/ faster. Information revolution made communication her neighbourhood easier and speedy across the world. when he/ she was Have you ever thought why you love eating a juicy your age. watermelon in summer and hot roasted peanuts in The indoor games winter? A perfect balance is necessary between the he/she played. natural and human environment. Humans must learn His/her favourite to live and use their environment in a harmonious way. fruit at your age. How did they make Nurie, a girl from Mizoram from Ravi’s class often talks themselves about the lush green surroundings of her place. Seeing comfortable during Ravi upset at having lost his playground, Nurie invited hot summers and him to visit her home state during the coming vacation. cold winters? Ravi’s teacher asked the students to draw the landscape, Display your answers houses and activities of the people and places they visit on a wall/bulletin during the holidays. board. ENVIRONMENT 5 Reprint 2024-25  Exercises 1. Answer the following questions. (i) What is an ecosystem? (ii) What do you mean by natural environment? (iii) Which are the major components of the environment? (iv) Give four examples of human made environment. (v) What is lithosphere? (vi) Which are the two major components of biotic environment? (vii) What is biosphere? 2. Tick the correct answer. (i) Which is not a natural ecosystem? (a) Desert (b) Aquarium (c) Forest (ii) Which is not a component of human environment? (a) Land (b) Religion (c) Community (iii) Which is a human made environment? (a) Mountain (b) Sea (c) Road (iv) Which is a threat to environment? (a) Growing plant (b) Growing population (c) Growing crops 3. Match the following. (i) Biosphere (a) blanket of air which surrounds the earth (ii) Atmosphere (b) domain of water (iii) Hydrosphere (c) gravitational force of the earth (iv) Environment (d) our surroundings (e) narrow zone where land water and air interact (f) relation between the organisms and their surroundings 4. Give reasons. (i) Man modifies his environment (ii) Plants and animals depend on each other 5. Activity. Imagine an ideal environment where you would love to live. Draw the picture of your ideal environment. 6 OUR ENVIRONMENT Reprint 2024-25  2 Inside Our Earth The earth, our homeland is a dynamic planet. It is constantly undergoing changes inside and outside. Have Do you know? you ever wondered what lies in the interior of the earth? What is the earth made up of? The deepest mine in the world, is in INTERIOR OF THE EARTH South Africa. It is Crust Just like an onion, the Lithosphere about 4 km. deep. In search for oil earth is made up of Mantle engineers have dug a several concentric Core-mantle hole about 6 km. layers with one inside boundary deep. another (Fig. 2.1). The To reach to the Inner core Outer uppermost layer over core centre of the earth the earth’s surface is (which is not called the crust. It is the possible!) you will thinnest of all the have to dig a hole layers. It is about 35 km. 6000 km. deep on on the continental the ocean floor. masses and only 5 km. Fig. 2.1: Interior of the Earth on the ocean floors. The main mineral constituents of the Continental Oceanic continental mass are Crust Continent Ocean Crust silica and alumina. It is thus called sial (si-silica and al-alumina). The oceanic crust mainly consists of silica and magnesium; it is therefore called sima (si-silica and ma-magnesium) (Fig. 2.2). Just beneath the crust is the mantle which extends up to a depth of 2900 km. below the crust. Fig. 2.2: Continental Crust and Oceanic Crust Reprint 2024-25  Do you know? The innermost layer is the core with a radius of about 3500 km. It is mainly made up of nickel and iron and is The crust forms only called nife (ni – nickel and fe – ferrous i.e. iron). The 1 per cent of the central core has very high temperature and pressure. volume of the earth, 84 per cent consists ROCKS AND MINERALS of the mantle and 15 per cent makes The earth’s crust is made up of various types of rocks. the core. Any natural mass of mineral matter that makes up the The radius of the earth’s crust is called a rock. Rocks can be of different earth is 6371 km. colour, size and texture. There are three major types of rocks: igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks. When the molten magma cools, it becomes solid. Word Origin Rocks thus formed are called igneous rocks. They are also called primary rocks. There are two types of igneous Igneous: Latin word rocks: intrusive rocks and extrusive rocks. Ignis meaning fire. Can you imagine lava coming out from the volcanoes? Lava is actually fiery red molten magma coming out from Sedimentary: Latin word sedimentum the interior of the earth on its surface. When this molten meaning settle down. lava comes on the earth’s surface, it rapidly cools down Metamorphic: Greek and becomes solid. Rocks formed in such a way on the word metamorphose crust are called extrusive igneous rocks. They have a meaning change of form. very fine grained structure. For example, basalt. The Deccan plateau is made up of basalt rocks. Sometimes the molten magma cools down deep inside the earth’s crust. Solid rocks so formed are called intrusive igneous Glossary rocks. Since they cool down slowly they form large grains. Granite is an example of such a rock. Grinding Fossils: The remains stones used to prepare paste/powder of spices and grains of the dead plants and are made of granite. animals trapped in Ro