Current Affairs UPSC

  THE DELHI SULTANATE     Struggle for the Establishment of a Strong Monarchy             Muizzuddin (Muhammad Ghori) was succeeded (1206) by Qutbuddin Aibak, Turkish slave who had played an important part in the expansion of the Turkish Sultanat in India after the battle of Train. Another slave of Muizzuddin, Yalduz, succeeded at Ghazni. As the ruler of Ghazni, Yalduz claimed to rue over Delhi as well. This, however was not accepted by Aibak and from this time, the Delhi Sultanat severed its helped to Prevent India being drawn into central Asian politics.   Illtutamis (1210-36)             In 1210, Aibak died of injuries received in a fall from his horse while playing Chaugan (polo). He was succeeded by Iltutmish who was the son-in-law of Aibak. But before he could do so, he had to fight and defeat the son of Aibak.                         Iltutmish must be regarded as the real consolidator of the Turkish conquests in North India. At the time of his accession, Alt Mardan Khan had declared himself the king of Bengal and Bihar, while Qubacha, a fellow slave of Aibak had declared himself an independent ruler of Multan and seized Lahore and parts of the Punjab. At first, even some of the fellow officers of Iltutamish near Delhi were reluctant to accept his authority. The Rajputs took advantage of the situation to assert their independence. Thus, Kalinjar, Gwalior and the entire eastern Rajasthan, including Ajmer and Bayana, threw off the Turkish Yoke. During the early year of his reign, Iltutamish's attention was concentrated on the north-west. A new danger to his position arose with the conquest of Ghazni by Khwarizm Shah. In order to avert this danger, Iltutamish marched to Lahore and occupied it. In 1220, the Khwarizmi Empire was destroyed by the Mongols who founded one of the strongest empires in History, which at its height extended from China to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and from the Caspian Sea to the river Jaxartes. The danger it posed to India and its effects on the Delhi Sultanat will be discussed in a subsequent section. While the Mongol's were busy else-where, Iltutamish also ousted Qubacha from Multan and Uchch.               Secure in the west, Iltutamish was able to turn his attention elsewhere. In Bengal and Bihar, a person called Iwaz who had taken the title of sultan Ghiyasuddin had assumed independence. While he made raids on the territory of his neighbours, the Sena rulers of East Bengal, and the Hindu rulers of Orissa and Kamrup (Assam) continued their sway. In 1226-27, Iwaz was defeated and killed in a battle with Iltutamish's on son near Lakhanauti. Bengal and Bihar passed under the Suzerainty of Delhi once again. But they were a difficult charge, and repeatedly challenged the authority of Delhi. At about the same time, Iltutamish took step s to recover Gwalior and Bayana. Ajmer and Negor remained under his control. He sent expeditions against Ranthambhor and Jalor to reassert more...

  ARCHITECTURE                One of the first requirements of the new rulers was houses to live in, and places of worship. They at first converted temples and there existing buildings into mosques. Examples of this are the Quwwatul-Islam mosque near the Quatab Minar in Delhi and the building at Ajmer called Arhai Din ka Jhonpra. The only new construction in Delhi was a façade of three elaborately carved arches in front of the deity room (garbha griha) which was demolished. In their buildings, the Turks used the arch and the dome on a wide scale. Neither the arch nor the dome was a Turk- ish or Muslim invention. The Arabs borrowed them from Rome through the Byzantine empire, developed them and made them their own.               The use of the arch and the dome had a number of advantages. The dome rose higher. Many experiments were made in putting a round dome on a square building and in raising the dome higher and higher. In this way, many lofty and impressive building were constructed. The arch and the dome dispensed with the need for a large number of pillars to support the roof and enabled the construction of large halls with a clear view. Such places of assembly were useful in mosques as well as in palaces. However, the arch and the dome needed a strong cement, otherwise the stones could not be held in place. The Turks used fine quality light mortar in their buildings. Thus, new architectural forms and mortar of a superior kind became widespread in north India, with the arrival of the Turks.               The arch and the dome were known to the Indians earlier, but they were not used on a large scale. The Turkish rulers used both the dome and arch method as well as the slab and beam method as well as slab and beam method in their buildings. In the sphere of decoration, the Turks eschewed representation of human and animal figures in the buildings. Instead, they used geometrical and floral designs, combining them with panels of inscriptions containing verses from the Quran. Thus, the Arabic script itself became a work of a art. The combination of these decorative devices was called Arabesque. They also freely borrowed Hindu motifs such as the bell motif, the bel motif, swastika, lotus, etc.               The most magnificent building constructed by the Turks in the thirteenth century was the Qutab Minar. This tapering tower, originally 71.4 metre high, build by Iltutmish, was dedicated to the Sufi saint, Qutab-ud Din Bakhtiyar Kaki, who was greatly venerated by all the people of Delhi. Although traditions of building towers are to be found both in India and West Asia, the Qutab Minar is unique in many ways.               The Khaiji period saw a lot of building activity. Alauddin built his capital at Siri, a few kilometers away from the site around the Qutab. But he added an entrance more...

 15TH And 16TH CENTURY RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT   The Sufi Movement Mystics, who are called Sufis, had risen in Islam at a very early stage these saints wanted to have nothing to do with the state- a tradition which continued later on. Some of the early Sufis, such as the woman mystic Rabia and Mansur bin Hallj laid great emphasis on love as the bond between God and the individual soul. But their pantheistic approach led them into conflict with the orthodox elements who had Mansur executed for heresy Despite this setback, mystic ideas continued to spread among the Muslim masses.   Al-Ghazzaili (1112), who is venerated both by the orthodox elements and the Sufis, tried to reconcile mysticism with Islamic orthodoxy. This he was able to do in a large measure. He gave a further blow to the rationalist philosophy by arguing that positive knowledge of God and his qualities cannot be gained by reason, but only by revelation. Thus, the revealed book, Quaran, was vital for a mystic. Around this time, the Sufis were organised in 12 orders or silsilahs. The silsilahs were generally led by a prominent mystic who lived in a khanqah or hospice along with his disciples. The like between the teacher or pir and his disciples or mufids was a vital part of the Sufi system. Every pir nominated a successor or wali to carry on his work. The monastic organization of the Sufis, and some of their practices such as penanee, fasting and holding the breath are sometimws traced to the, Buddhist and Hindu yogic influence. Buddhism was widely prevalent in Central Asia before the advent of Islam, and the legend of the Buddha as a saintly man had passed into the Islamic legend. Yogis continued to visit West Asia even after the advent of Islam and the yogic book, Amrit-kund, had been translated into Persian from Sanskrit.   The Sufi orders are broadly divided into two: Ba-shara, that is, those which followed the Islamic Law (shara) and be-shara, that is, those which were not bound by it Both types of orders prevailed in India, the latter being followed more by wandering saints. Although these saints did not establish an order, some of them became figures of popular veneration, often for the Muslims and Hindus alike.   The Chishti and Suharwardi Silsilahs Of the bashara movements, only two acquired significant influence and following in north India during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. These were the Chisti and Suharwardi silsilahs. The Chisti order was established in India by Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti who came to India around 1192, shortly after the defeat and death of Prithvi Raj Chauhan. After staying for some time in Lahore and Delhi he finally shfted to Ajmer which was an important political centre and already had a sizable Muslim population.   Among the more...

 LITERATURE   Sanskrit Literature Following the great Sankara, works in the field of Advaita philosophy by Ramanuja, Mad-hava, Vallabha, etc., continued to be written in Sanskrit. Besides philosophy, works in the field of kavya (poetical narrative), drama, fiction, medicine, astronomy, music, etc., continued to be written. A large number of commentaries and digests on the Hindu law (Dharmashastras) were prepared between the twelfth and the sixteenth century. The great Mitakshara of Vijneshwar, which forms one of the two principal Hindu schools of law, cannot be placed earlier than the twelfth century. Most of the works were produced in the south, followed by Bengal, Mithila and western India under the patronage of Hindu rulers. The Jains too, contributed to the growth of Sanskrit. Hemachandra Suri was the most eminent of these. Little attempt was made to translate Islamic works of Persian literature into Sanskrit. Possibly, the only exception was the translation of the love story of Yusuf and Zulaikha written by the famous Persian poet, Jami this might be taken to be an index of the insularity of outlook which had been mentioned by Albaruni earlier.   Arabic and Persian Literature Althoug the greatest amount of literature produced by the Muslims was in Arabic which was the language of the Prophet and was used as the language of literature from Spain to Banghdad, the Turks who came to India were deeply influenced by the Persian language which had become the literary and administrative language of Central Asia from the tenth century onwards. In India, tghe use of Arabnic remained largely confined to a narrow circle of Islamic scholars and philolophers, most of the original literature on the subject being written in Arabic. A few works on science and astronomy were also translated into Arabic. In course of time, digests of the Islamic law were prepared in Persian with the help of Indian scholars. The most well-known of these were prepared in the reign of Firuz Tughlaq.   With the arrival of the Turks in India during the tenth century, a new language in Iran and Central Asia from the tenth century onwards and some of the greatest poets of the Persian language, such as Firdausi and Sadi, lived and composed their works be- tween the tenth and fourteenth centuries. From the beginning the Turks adopted Persian as the language of literature and administration in the country. Thus, Lahore emerged as the first centre for the cultivation of the Persian language. However, the most notable Persian writer of the period was Amir Khusrau. Born in 1252 at Patiali (near Badayun in western Uttar Pradesh), Amir Khusrau took pride in being an Indian. He says: I have praised India for two reasons. First, because India is the land of tmy birth and our country. Love of the country is an important obligation... Hindustan is like heaven. Its climate is better than that of Khurasan... it is green more...

  MUGHAL EMPIRE   WHEN HUMAYUN was retreating from Bikaner, he was gallantly offered shelter and help by the Rana of Amarkot. It was at Amarkot, in 1542, that Akbar, the greatest of The Mughal rulers, was born. When Humayun died, Akbar was at Kalangaur in the Punjab, commanding operations against the Afghan rebels there. He was crowned at Kalanaur in 1556 at the young age of thirteen years and four months.               Akbar succeeded to a difficult position. The Afghans were still strong beyond Agra, and were regrouping their forces under the leadership of Hemu for a final showdown. Kabul had been attacked and besieged. Sikandar Sur, the defeated Afghan ruler, was loitering in the Siwalik Hills, However, Bairam Khan, the turor of the prince and a loyal and favourite officer of Humayun, rose to the occasion. He became the wakil of the kingdom, with the title of Khan-i- Khanan and rallied the Mughal forces. The threat from the side of Hemu was considered the most serious. Adii Shah had appointed him the wazir with the title of Vikramajit, and entrusted him with the task of expelling the Mughals. Hemu captured Agra, and with an army of 50,000 cavalry, 500 elephants and a strong park of artillery marched upon Delhi.               In a well-contested battle, Hemu defeated the Mughals near Delhi and November 1556). Although Hemu's artillery had been captured earlier by a Mughal detachment, the tide of battle was in favour of Hemu when an arrow hit him in the eye and he fainted, the leaderless Afghan army was defeated, Hemu was captured and executed.   Early Phase Contest with the Nobility (1556-67)             Bairam Khan remained at the helm of affairs of the empire for almost four years. During the period, he kept the nobility fully under control. Meanwhile, Akbar was approaching the age of maturity. Bairam khan had offended many powerful persons while he held supreme power. There was friction on small points which made Akbar realise that he could not leave the affiars of the state in someone else's hands for any length of time.               Akbar played his cards deftly. He left Agra on the pretext of hunting, and reached Delhi. From Delhi he issued a farman dismissing Bairam Khan from his office, and calling upon all the nobles to come and submit to him personally. Once Bairam Khan realised that Akbar wanted to take power in his own hands, he was prepared to submit, but his opponents were keen to ruin him. They heaped humiliation upon him till fie was goaded to rebel. Finally, Bairam Khan was forced to submit Akbar received him cordially, and gave him the option of serving at the court or anywhere outside it or retiring to Mecca.               Bairam Khan chose to go to Mecca. However, on his way, he was assassinated at Patau near Ahmedabad by an Afghan who bore him a personal grudge. Bairam's more...

  SOCIAL AND CULTURE AWAKENING IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY   IMMENSE intellectual and cultural strirings characterized 19th century India. The impact of modern Western culture and consciousness of defeat by a foreign power gave birth to a new awakening. There was an awareness that a vast country like India had been colonised by a handful of foreigners because of internal weaknesses of Indian social structure and culture. Thoughtful Indians began to look for the strengths arid weaknesses of their society and for ways and Means of removing the weaknesses. While a large number of Indian refused to come to terms with the West and still put their faith in raditional Indian ideas and institutions, others gradually amen to hold that elements of modern Western though bad to imbibed for the regeneration of their society. They were impressed in particular by modern science and the doctrines of reason and humanism. While differing on the nature and extent of reforms, nearly all 19th century intellectuals shared the conviction that social and religious reform was urgently needed.   Rommohan Roy             The central figure in this awakening was Rammohan Roy, who is rightly regarded as the first leader of modern India. Rammohan Roy was moved by deep love for his people and country and worked hard all his life for their social, religious, intellectual and political regeneration. He was pained by the stagnation and corruption of contemporary Indian society which was at that time dominated by caste and convention. Popular religion was full of superstitions and was exploited by ignorant and corrupt priests. The upper classes were selfish and often sacrificed social interest to their own narrow interests, to their own narrow interests. Rammohan Roy possessed great love and respect for the traditional philosophic systems of the East; but, at the same time, he culture alone would Indian society. In particular, he wanted his countrymen to accept the rational and scientific approach and the principle of human dignity and social equality of all men and women. He also wanted the introduction of Modem capitalism and industry in the country.               Rammohan Roy represented a synthesis of the thought of East and West. He was a scholar who knew over a dozen languages including Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, English, French, Latin, Greek-and Hebrew. As a young man he had studied Sanskrit literature and Hindu philosophy at Varansi and the Quaran and Persian and Arabic literature at Patna. He was also well-acquainted with Jainism and other religious movements and sects of India. Later he made an intensive study of Western thought and culture. To study the Bible in the original he learnt Greek and Hebrew. In 1809 he wrote in Persian his ramous work Gift to Monotheists in which he put forward weighty arguments against belief in many gods and for the worship of a single God.               He settled in Calcutta in 1814 and soon attracted a band of young men with whose more...

  THE REVOLT OF 1857     The Revolt of 1857             A MIGHTY popular revolt broke out m Northern and Central India in 1857 and nearly swept away the British rule. It began with a mutiny of the sepoys or the Indian soldiers of the Company's army but soon engulfed wide regions and involved the masses.   General Causes             The Revolt of 1857 was much more than a mere product of sepoy discontent. It was in reality a product of the character and policies of colonial rule, of the accumulated grievances of the people against the Company's administration and of their dislike for the foreign regime. For over a century, as the British had been conquering the country bit by bit, popular discontent and hatred against foreign, rule had been gaining strength among the different sections of Indian society. It was this discontent that burst forth into a mighty popular revolt.               Perhaps the most important cause of the popular discontent was the economic exploitation of the country by the British and the complete destruction of its traditional economic fabric; both impoverished the vast "mass of peasants, artisans and handicrafts men as also a large number of traditional zamindars and chiefs. We have traced the disastrous economic impact of early British rule in another chapter. Other general causes were the British land and land revenue policies and the systems of law and administration. In particular, a large number of peasant proprietors, subjected to exorbitant land revenue demand, lost their lands to traders and money lenders and found themselves hopelessly involved in debt. The new landlords, lacking ties of tradition that had linked the old zamindars to peasants, pushed up rents to ruinous heights and evicted them in case of non-payments. The economic decline of the peasantry found expression in twelve major and numerous minor-famines from 1770 to 1857. Similarly, many zamindars were harassed by demands for higher land revenue and threatened with forfeiture of their zamindari lands and rights and loss of their status in the villages. They resented their loss even more when they were replaced by rank outsiders-officials, merchants and money- lenders. In addition, common people were hard hit by the prevalence of corruption at the lower levels of administration. The police, petty officials and lower law courts were notoriously corrupt. William Edwards, a British official, wrote in 1859 while discussing the causes of the Revolt that the police were "a scourge to the people and that "their oppressions and exactions form one of the chief grounds of dissatisfaction with our government". The petty officials lost no opportunity of enriching themselves at the cost of the ryots and the zamindars. The complex judicial system enabled the rich to oppress the poor. Flogging, torture and jailing of the cultivators for arrears of rent or land revenue or interest on debt were quite common. Thus the growing poverty of the people made them desperate and led them to join more...

  Growth of New India-Religious and Social Reform After 1858   THE RISING tide of nationalism and democracy, which led to the struggle for freedom, also found expression in movements to reform and democratise the social institutions and religious outlook of the Indian people. Many Indians realised that social and religious reformation was an essential condition for the all-round development of the country on modem lines and for the growth of national unity and solidarity. The growth of nationalist sentiments, emergence of new economic forces, spread of education, impact of modem western ideas and culture, and increased awareness of the world not only heightened the consciousness of the backwardness and degeneration of Indian society but further strengthened the resolve to reform. After 1858, the earlier reforming tendency was broadened. The work of earlier reformers, like Raja Rammohan Roy and Pandit Vidyasagar, was carried further by major movements of religious and social reforms.   Religious Reform             Filled with the desire to adapt their society to the requirements of the modern world of science, democracy and nationalism, and determined to let no obstacle stand in the way, thoughtful Indians set out to reform their traditional religions, for religion was in those times a basic part of peoples life and there could be little social reform without religious reform. While trying to remain true to the foundations of their religions, they remodeled them to suit the new needs of the Indian people.   Brahmo Samaj             The Brahmo tradition of Raja Rammohan Roy was carried forward after 1843 by Devendranath Tagore, who also repudiated the doctrine that the Vedic scriptures were infallible, and after 1866 by Keshub Chandra Sen. The Brahmo Samaj made an effort to reform Hindu religion by removing abuses and by basing it on the worship of one God and on the teachings of the Vedas and Upanishads even though it repudiated the doctrine of the infallibility of the Vedas. It also tried to incorporate the best aspects of modern western thought.               Most of all it based itself on human reason which was to be the ultimate criterion for deciding what was worthwhile and what was useless in the past or present religious principles and practices. For that reason, the Brahmo Samaj denied the need for a priestly class for interpreting religious writings. Every individual had the right and the capacity to decide with the help of his own intellect what was right and what was wrong in a religious book or principle. Thus the Brahmos were basically opposed to idolatry and superstitious practices and rituals, in fact to the entire Brahmanical system. They could worship one God without the mediation of the priests. The Brahmos were also great social reformers. They actively opposed the caste system and child-marriage and supported the general uplift of women, including widow remarriage, and the spread of modern education to men and women.               The Brahmo Samaj was weakened by internal dimensions in the more...

  Nationalist Movement     The Partition of Bengal             The conditions for the emergence of militant nationalism had thus developed when in 1905 the partition of Bengal was announced and the Indian national movement entered its second stage. On Curzon issued an order dividing the province of Bengal into two parts: Eastern Bengal and Assam with a population of 31 million and the rest of Bengal with a population of 54 million, of whom 18 million were Bengalis and 36 million Biharis and Oriyas. It was said that the existing province of Bengal was-too big to be   efficiently administered by a single provincial government. However, the officials who worked out the plan had also other political ends in view. They hoped to stem the rising tide of nationalism in Bengal, considered at the time to be the nerve center of Indian nationalism.               The nationalists saw the act of partition as a challenge to Indian nationalism and not merely an administrative measure. They saw that it was a deliberate attempt to divide the Bengalis territorially and on religious grounds for in the Eastern part Muslims would be in a big majority and in the Western part Hindus and thus to disrupt and weaken nationalism in Bengal.               It would also be a big blow to the growth of Bengali language and culture. They pointed out that administrative efficiency could have been better secured by separating the Hindi speaking Bihar and the Oriya speaking Orissa from the Bengali speaking part of the province. Moreover the official step had been taken in utter disregard of public opinion. Thus the vehemence of Bengal's protest against the partition is explained by the fact that it was a blow to the sentiments of a very sensitive and courageous people.   The Anti-Partition Movement             The Anti-Partition Movement was the work of the entire national leadership of Bengal and not of any one section of the movement. Its most prominent leaders at the initial stage were moderate leaders like Surendranath Banerjea and Krishna Kumar Mitra; militant and revolutionary nationalists took over in the later stages. In fact both the moderate and militant The Anti-Partition Movement was initiated on 7 August 1905. On that day a massive demonstration against the partition was organised in the Town Hall in Calcutta. From this meeting delegates dispersed to spread the movement to the rest of the province.               The partition took effect on 16 October 1905. The leaders of the protest movement declared it to be a day of national mourning throughout Bengal. It was observed as a day of fasting. There was a hartal in Calcutta. People walked barefooted and bathed in the Ganga in the early morning hours. Rabindranath Tagore composed the national song, Amar Sonar Bangia, for the occasion which was sung by huge crowds parading the streets. This song was adopted as its national anthem by Bangladesh in 1971 after liberation. The streets of Calcutta were more...

  India - Location   The mainland of India, extends from Kashmir in the north to Kanniyakumari in the south and Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Gujarat in the west. India's territorial limit further extends towards the sea upto 12 nautical miles (about 21.9 km) from the coast.   (See the box for conversion).             Statute mile= 63,360 inches             Nautical mile= 72,960 inches             1 Statute mile= about 1.6 km (1.584 km)             1 Nautical mile= about 1.8 km (1.852 km)   Our southern boundary extends upto \[6{}^\circ 45\] N latitude in the Bay of Bengal. If you work out the latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India, they are roughly about 30 degrees, whereas the actual distance measured from north to south extremity is 3,214 km, and that from .east to west is only 2/933 km. What is the reason for this difference? This difference is based on the fact that the distance between two longitudes decreases towards the poles whereas the distance between two latitudes remains the same everywhere.   From the values of latitude, it is understood that the southern part of the country lies within the tropics and the northern part lies in the sub-tropical zone or the warm temperate zone. This location is responsible for large variations in land forms, climate, soil types and natural vegetation in the country.   There is a general understanding among the countries of the world to select the standard meridian in multiples of 7°30 of longitude. That is why 82°30 E has been selected as the 'standard meridian' of India. Indian Standard Time is ahead of Greenwich Mean Time by 5 hours and 30 minutes.   There are some countries where there are more than one standard meridian due to their vast east-to-west extent. For example, the USA has seven time zones.   Now, let us observe the extent and its implications on the Indian people. From the values of longitude, it is quite discernible that there is a variation of nearly 30 degrees, which causes a time difference of nearly two hours between the easternmost and the westernmost parts of our country. What is the use of the standard meridian? While the sun rises in the northeastern states about two hours earlier as compared to Jaisalmer, the watches in Dibrugarh, Imphal in the east and Jaisalmer, Bhopal or Chennai in the other parts of India show the same time. Why does this happen?   Name a few place in India through which the standard meridian passes?   India with its area of 3.28 million sq. km accounts for 2.4 per cent of the world's land surface area and stands as the seventh largest country in the world.   Structure and Physiography Current estimation shows that the earth is approximately 4600 million years old. Based on the variations in its geological structure and formations, Indian can be divided into three geological divisions. These geological regions broadly follow the more...