TNPSC Free Notes History

இந்தக் கட்டுரையில், TNPSC குரூப் 1, குரூப் 2, குரூப் 2A, குரூப் 4 மாநிலப் போட்டித் தேர்வுகளான TNUSRB, TRB, TET, TNEB போன்றவற்றுக்கான முறைகள் இலவசக் குறிப்புகளைப் பெறுவீர்கள்.தேர்வுக்கு தயாராவோர் இங்குள்ள பாடக்குறிப்புகளை படித்து பயன்பெற வாழ்த்துகிறோம்.

Society

Basic unit
 Large areas of land were under forest.
 As Agriculture was the prime occupation of the society, the Village community was the
chief institution of social organisation.
 The Muqaddam, the privileged headman of the village, formed the Panch (Panchayat),
an administrative organ of the village.
 The Panch was responsible for the collection and maintenance of accounts at the village
level.
 The Panch allotted the unoccupied lands of the village to artisans, menials and servants
for their service to the village.
Classes in society
Middle Class
The middle class consisted of
 Small Mansabdars
 Petty shopkeepers
 Hakims (doctors)
 Musicians
 Artists
 Petty officials of Mughal administration.

Salaried Class
 There was a salaried class and received grants called Madad-i-Mash from the Mughal
emperor, local rulers and zamindars.
 This section often became part of the rural gentry and a link between the village and the
town.
 The inequality in the standard of life amongst the privileged and the underprivileged
classes was clear.

POOR PRIVILEGED

House Mudhouse Fine houses with fruit trees and running

water.

Clothing Men – Langota
Women – Saree

Finest clothing

Footwea
r

Not common Common

Food Wheat chapatis with pulses and

vegetables.

Meat and rice, Iranian cuisine style.

The nobles
 While the most upper caste Hindus and Rajputs were zamindars, in certain localities
Muslim zamindars existed.
 In Mughal social structure, the nobles came mostly from Central Asia and Iran.
 Afghans, Indian Muslims (shaikhzadas), Rajputs and Marathas also obtained the status
of nobility.
 It is estimated that during the reign of Akbar over 15% of the nobility consisted of
Rajputs.
 The Rajputs appointed Kayasths and Khatris for various positions in government
administration.
 Rajput nobles of repute during Akbar
1. Raja Man Singh
2. Raja Todar Mal
3. Raja Birbal
 Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb employed Marathas in their nobility. For example,
Shaji, father of Shivaji, served Shah Jahan for some time.
 The caste system was a dominant institution in society.

Position of women
 The Hindu women had an only limited right of inheritance.
 Widow remarriage was not permitted among upper-caste Hindu women.
 Mughal administration discouraged the practice of sati that was prevalent among
communities of the higher caste.
 Muslim brides were entitled to receive mehr (money mandatorily paid by the groom) at
the time of marriage.
 They also had the right to inherit property, though it was not equal to the share of the
male members of the family.
Economy
Forest-based economy
 The Mughal economy was a forest-based agricultural economy.
 The forests provided the raw materials for the craftsmen.
 Timber went to carpenters, woodcarvers and shipwrights, lacquerware makers
 Wild silk to reelers and weavers
 Charcoal to iron miners and metalsmiths.
 Hence the relationship between manufacturing and the forest was very close.
Agriculture
 Landless agricultural labourers without the right to property formed almost a quarter of
the population.
 Zamindars and village headmen possessed large tracts of land in which they employed
labourers and paid them in cash and kind.
 Well irrigation was the dominant mode of irrigation.
 The Ain-i-Akbari lists the various crops cultivated during the Rabi and Kharif seasons.
Crops
 Tobacco and maize were introduced in the seventeenth century.
 Chilli and groundnut came later.
 The pineapple was introduced in the sixteenth century.
 Grafted varieties of mango came to be developed by the Portuguese.
 Potato, tomato and guava came later.
 Indigo was another important commercial crop during the Mughal period.

 Sericulture underwent spectacular growth in Bengal to the extent that it became the
chief supplier of silk to world trade.
 Akbar promulgated the Zabt System (introduced by Todar mal).
 Money revenue rates were now fixed on each unit of area according to the crops
cultivated.
 The schedules containing these rates for different localities applicable year after year
were called dasturs.
Urban economy
 The urban economy was based on the craft industry.
 The cotton textile industry employed large numbers of people.
 Iron, copper, diamond mining and gun making were other chief occupations.
 Kharkhanas were workshops where expensive craft products were produced.
 The royal kharkhanas manufactured articles for the use of the royal family and nobility.
 The excess production of the artisans was diverted to the merchants and traders for
local and distant markets.
Trade and Commerce
 The political integration of the country with efficient maintenance of law and order
ensured brisk trade and commerce.
 Banjaras were specialised traders who carried goods in a large bulk over long distances.
 Bengal was the chief exporting centre of
 Rice
 Sugar
 Muslin
 Silk
 Foodgrains.
 The movement of goods was facilitated by letters of credit called Hundi.
 The network of sarais enabled traders and merchants to travel to various places.
 The traders came from all religious communities.
 Prominent trading communities
 The Bohra Muslims of Gujarat
 Marwaris of Rajasthan
 Chettiars on Coromandel coast
 Muslims of Malabar.

Religion
 The Mughal period witnessed a continuing assertion of all the basic elements in puranic
traditions.
 The different sects of Hinduism yet shared the same idiom and the same or similar
deities.
 Tulsidas (Ramcharitmanas) a great proponent of Rama cult in his popular verses of
devotion portrayed Rama as a god incarnate.
 The expression of bhakti was deeply emotional as the object of bhakti (devotion) was
Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu.
 Poets and saints emerged from various parts of the country.
 They were critical of rituals, and criticised the caste system.
 Rather than using Sanskrit for expressing their devotion, they employed the language of
the common people.
 Some of the major religious figures like Vallabhacharya and his son Vitthalnath
propagated a religion of grace.
 Surdas, an adherent to this sect, wrote Sur-Saravali in the local language.
 Eknath and Tukaram were Bhakti poets from Maharashtra.
 The Dasakuta movement, a bhakti movement in Karnataka, popularised by Vyasaraya,
turned out to be a lower-class movement.
 The most important figure of the Bhakti movement was Kabir.
 Said to be a weaver, Kabir propounded absolute monotheism, condemned image
worship and rituals, and the caste system.
 The Satnami sect in Haryana credited its origin to Kabir and his teachings.
 Sanskrit and Persian were the languages of administration.
Sikhism
 Sikhism originated as a popular monotheistic movement.
 Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhs, contained the sayings of Muslim saint Shaikh
Farid and of Bhakti poets such as Namdev, Kabir, Sain and Ravidas.
 Guru Nanak believed in one God who was formless and omnipresent.
 He condemned image worship and religious rituals.
 He stressed ethical conduct, kindness to all human beings and condemned caste system.
Sufism
 India was a fertile soil for the prevalence of Sufism or Muslim mysticism that had its
origin in Iran.

 It was accepted by the orthodox theologians as long as it fulfilled the obligations of the
shariah.
Christianity
 Along with the European traders came the Christian missionaries like Roberto De Nobili,
Francis Xavier.
 The early missionaries were Catholics.
 The first Lutheran missionaries under Danish patronage arrived in 1706 at Tranquebar.
 Ziegenbalg translated the New Testament of the Bible into Tamil in 1714, and soon the
Old Testament as well.
Science and Technology
 The Madrasas continued to be concerned principally with Muslim theology and its vast
literature.
 In great learning centres like Varanasi, astrology was taught.
 There was no institution in India, as noted by the French traveller Bernier, to the
standards of colleges and universities in Europe.
 This made the imparting of scientific subjects almost impossible.
 Attention was, however, given to mathematics and astronomy.
 Akbar’s court poet Faizi translated Bhaskaracharya’s famous work on mathematics,
Lilavati.
 Despite the presence of Europeans, there was no influence of them on the Indian
society during the Mughal period.
 The method of water-lift based on pin-drum gearing known as Persian wheel had been
introduced during Babur’s time.
 A complicated system of water lift by a series of gear-wheels had been installed in
Fatehpur Sikri.
 Akbar was also credited with popularizing the device of cooling water using saltpetre.
 He is also the first known person in the world to have devised the ‘ship’s camel’, a barge
on which the ship is built to make it easier for the ship to be carried to the sea.
 Indians continued to use the expensive bronze cannon, long after these had become
obsolete in Europe.
 This was because of India’s inability to make cast iron even in the seventeenth century.’

Art & Architecture

 Architectural progress during the Mughals is a landmark in world art.
 Mughal buildings were noted for the massive structures decorated with bulbous domes,
splendorous minarets, cupolas in the four corners, elaborate designs, and pietra dura
(pictorial mosaic work).
 The mosques built during the time of Babur and Humayun are not of much architectural
significance.
 The Sur dynasty left behind a few spectacular specimens in the form of the Purana Qila
at Delhi, and the tombs of Sher Shah and Islam Shah at Sasaram in Bihar.
 The Purana Qila with a raised citadel and the tombs on a terraced platform surrounded
by large tanks were novel features.
 During Akbar’s reign, Humayun’s tomb was enclosed with gardens and placed on a
raised platform.
 Built by Indian artisans and designed by Persian architects it set a pattern to be followed
in the future.
 The Agra fort built with red sandstone is a specimen where Rajput architectural styles
were also incorporated.
 The new capital city of Akbar, Fatehpur Sikri enclosed within its walls several inspiring
buildings.
 The magnificent gateway to Fatehpur Sikri, the Buland Darwaza, built by Akbar with red
sandstone and marble is considered to be a perfect architectural achievement.
 The tomb of Itimad-ud-daula, father of Nurjahan, built by Jahangir was the first Mughal
building built completely with white marble.
 Mughal architecture reached its apex during the reign of Shah Jahan.
 The Taj Mahal is a marble structure on an elevated platform, the bulbous dome in the
centre rising on a recessed gateway with four cupolas around the dome and with four
free-standing minarets at each of its corners is a monument of universal fame.
 The Red Fort in Delhi, encompassed by magnificent buildings like Diwan-i Aam, Diwan-i-
Khas, Moti Mahal and Hira Mahal reflect the architectural skills of the times of Shah
Jahan.
 The Moti Masjid inside the Agra Fort made exclusively of marble, the Jama Masjid in
Delhi, with its lofty gateway, series of domes and tall and slender minarets are the two
significant mosques built by Shah Jahan.
 He also established a new township, Shah jahanabad (present-day Old Delhi) where Red
Fort and Jama Masjid are located.
 Aurangzeb’s reign witnessed the construction of Badshahi mosque in Lahore and the
marble tomb of Rabia ud daurani, known as Bibi-ka-maqbara (Tomb of the Lady) at
Aurangabad.
 The Shalimar Gardens of Jahangir and Shah Jahan are showpieces of Indian horticulture.

 Apart from the many massive structures, the Mughals contributed many civil works of
public utility, the greatest of them being the bridge over the Gomati river at Jaunpur.
 The most impressive feat is the West Yamuna Canal which provided water to Delhi.
 The temple of Govind Dev at Vrindavan near Mathura and Bir Singh’s temple of
Chaturbhuj at Orchchaa (Madhya Pradesh) display Mughal influence.
Paintings
 The Mughals achieved international recognition in the field of painting.
 Mughal miniatures are an important part of the museums of the world.
 Ancient Indian painting traditions kept alive in provinces like Malwa and Gujarat along
with the central Asian influences created a deep impact in the world of painting.
 The masters of miniature painting, Abdu’s Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali, who had come to
India from Central Asia along with Humayun inspired Indian painters.
 The primary objective of painting was to illustrate literary works.
 The Persian text of Mahabharata and Akbar Namah were illustrated with paintings by
various painters.
 Daswant and Basawan were famous painters of Akbar’s court.

Music and Dance
 According to Ain-i-Akbari, Tansen of Gwalior, credited with composing of many ragas,
was patronised by Akbar along with 35 other musicians.
 Jahangir and Shah Jahan were patrons of music.
 Though there is a popular misconception that Aurangzeb was against music, a large
number of books on Indian classical music were written during his regime.
 Paintings in Babur Namah and Padshah Namah depict woman dancing to the
accompaniment of musical instruments.
Literature
 Persian, Sanskrit and regional languages developed during the Mughal rule.
 Persian was the language of administration in Mughal Empire and the Deccan states.
 It influenced even the Rajput states where Persian words were used in administration.
 Abul Fazal patronised by Akbar compiled the history of Akbar in Akbar Nama.
 He described Mughal administration in his work Ain-i-Akbari.
 Akbar Namah was emulated by Abdul Hamid Lahori and Muhammad Waris in their joint
work Padshah Nama, a biography of Shah Jahan.
 Later Muhammad Kazim in his Alamgir Nama, a work on the reign of the first decade of
Aurangzeb, followed the same pattern.

 Babur’s autobiography written in Chaghatai Turkish was translated into Persian by
Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan.
 Dabistan is an impartial account of the beliefs and works of different religions.
 Persian literature was enriched by translations of Sanskrit works.
 The Mahabharata was translated in Persian under the supervision of Abul Faizi, brother
of Abul Fazal and a court poet of Akbar.
 The translation of Upanishads by Dara Shukoh, entitled Sirr- I-Akbar (the Great Secret),
is a landmark.
 The Masnawis of Abul Faizi, Utbi and Naziri enriched Persian Poetry in India.
 Sanskrit literature of this period is noted for the kavyas and historical poetry.
 Akbar’s astronomer Nilakantha wrote the Tajika Neelakanthi, an astrological treatise.
 Shah Jahan’s court poet Jaganatha Panditha wrote the monumental Rasagangadhara.
 The greatest contribution in the field of literature during the Mughal rule was the
development of Urdu as a common language of communication for people speaking
different dialects.
 Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan composed Bhakti poetry with a blend of Persian ideas of
life and human relations in the Brij form of Hindi.
 Tulsidas who wrote in Awadhi, the Hindi dialect spoken in the eastern Uttar Pradesh,
was very popular for his devotional ideals.
 Marathi literature had an upsurge due to the literary contribution of Eknath, Tukaram,
Ramdas and Mukteshwar during this period.
 Eknath questioned the superiority of Sanskrit over other languages.
 The verses of Tukaram kindled monotheism.
 Mukteshwar composed Ramayana and Mahabharata in literary Marathi.
 Krishnadevaraya, the Vijayanagar ruler, through his Amuktamalyada (an epic poem on
the Tamil woman poet, Andal) and his court Poet Allasani Peddana with his Manu
Charitra were the leading beacons of Telugu literature during this period.
 In Assamese language the tradition of Bhakti poetry was emulated by Shankara Deva
who initiated a new literary tradition.
 Assamese literary works were produced in the fields of astronomy, arithmetic, and
treatment of elephants and horses.
 Ramayana and Mahabharata were also retold in the Assamese language.
 The Chaitanya cult which portrayed the love of Krishna and Radha in poetic verses
promoted Bengali literature.
 The Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs compiled by Guru Arjun Dev in which
the verses of the Sikh Gurus as well as Shaikh Farid and other monotheists are a
landmark in the evolution of Punjabi language.
 During this period Tamil literature was dominated by Saivite and Vaishnavite literature.

 Kumaraguruparar, a great Saiva poet, is said to have visited Varanasi in the late
seventeenth century.
 He composed important literary works such as Meenakshiammai Pillai Tamil and
Neethineri Vilakkam.
 Thayumanavar wrote highly devotional verses he formulated a sanmarga that tried to
bridge differences.
 The Christian missionaries like Roberto de Nobili and Constantine Joseph Beschi
(Veeramamunivar) contributed much to Tamil language.
 The empire the Mughals built at the national level made an everlasting impact on India
as they knit the fragments into a single political unit, well aided by an effective central
administration.
 Multiple identities also got synthesized in the process leading to the evolution of a
unique culture that is Indian.

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