Laxmi

The compilation of these History Notes makes students exam preparation simpler and organised.

The Delhi Sultans

How did Delhi become the most state in the sub-continent? What led Delhi to be one of the states everyone wanted to capture? The second most widely spread religion in India after Hinduism is Islam. So how did Islam reach India all the way from Turkey? What were these events? Well, the Sultans of Delhi is one of the primary reasons for the spread of Islamism in India. But who were these Sultans? Let’s rewind the timeline a bit and find answers to these questions.

• The Delhi Sultanate

The compilation of these The Age of Industrialisation Notes makes students exam preparation simpler and organised.

About the Age of Industrialisation

Modernisation began with the age of industrialisation in Europe. Factories came up quickly, generating large-scale production of goods and this led to worldwide trade. New inventions and innovations in technology accelerated this process. European nations expanded their colonies and modernization also reached there. Let us see how it came about in Europe, how it expanded and how it also reached India.

Before The Scene Blew Up

‘Proto- Industrialisation’ was the phase before Industrial Revolution occurred in Europe. There was large-scale production happening even then, but not in factories! Can you imagine how? There was a system where the rural masses produced raw material and sold it to the merchant class.

Then, the merchants would sell that raw material to a craftsman and make his process into the final product. Merchants would then buy the goods and sell them in the market. This mercantile system could no longer survive as the urban guilds were very strong and they monopolized the production and selling of goods.

The Coming of Factories

More colonies for the imperialists meant more raw material at cheap prices, plus a market to dump goods into. Factories started coming about rapidly with inventions of machinery, like the mill invented by Richard Arkwright. The most widely produced item was cotton. The raw material came for cheap from the colonies of India and America. Places like Lancashire and Manchester became hubs of factory production. However, food processing, glassware, pottery, tanning, etc., were produced traditionally.

Human Labour and Inventions

Factories with machinery depended on manual labour to operate. Many of the labour came from villages where they had lost their livelihood as artisans and producers. They lived in harsh conditions, sleeping on pavements on roadsides and even the demand for them was only seasonal. However, hand-made goods were in great demand, as they symbolized class and elegance.

With the coming of more inventions like the ‘Spinning Jenny’ by Hargreaves, the labourers started getting lower wages and unemployed too. They came to hate the machines and even started to attack and destroy them. However, this conflict didn’t last long as the machines led to the building of roads and railways where people were further employed!

India and Industrialisation

India was a rich country with external and internal trade. However, with the coming of imperialism and colonialism, the economy of the country began to dwindle. This happened due to the Britisher’s trade measures like exploiting raw materials, ‘free trade’, and high customs duties for their Indian goods. They took raw materials from India to trade to Europe for a very cheap price (example, cotton), processed it into finer goods (example, cloth) in Britain, and then sold it back at very high prices in India.

Earlier, weavers would auction their goods to the best buyer, but after the British controlled the economy, they became the buyers. The new buyers treated the weavers badly, demanded very high amounts of goods, and even beat them up. Slowly, factory-made goods which were cheaper to make (from places like Manchester and Lancashire) eroded the weavers and industries in India.

Indian industries and weavers slowly died and port cities like Bombay and Calcutta came up due to overseas trade. Yet, there were few men like Dwarkanath Tagore, J. Nusserwanji, etc. who carried out businesses across Central and South Asian networks.

Example:

Question:
What is the Spinning Jenny?
Answer:
Spinning Jenny was a simple machine invented during the 1770s that completely revolutionized the weaving industry. It had eight spindles attached to its mainframe, so a weaver could weave eight threads of the cloth at one time. It is considered to be one of the main aspects of the age of industrialization.

The compilation of these History Notes makes students exam preparation simpler and organised.

The Age of Industrialisation

Did you know the British wanted to keep industrialisation a secret? They wanted the whole world to buy their goods from them. But they couldn’t do so, and the Age of Industrialisation began and lasted for 164 years! As it spread around the world it also reached India. Let us see how it changed our world.

• About the Age of Industrialisation

The compilation of these The Changing World of Visual Arts Notes makes students exam preparation simpler and organised.

The History of Visual Arts

Did you know that recently in 2015 an untitled painting by V.S.Gaitonde sold for around 30 crores? In fact, India has always been known the world over for its rich culture and heritage which includes some stunning visual arts. Let us take a look at the history of visual arts in India and the world.

Visual Arts

Art, in any form, be it a sculpture, a painting, or even a building or a monument is a treat to the eyes. Visual art is the art you can see, touch, and feel in material form. In India, visual arts have a long history. But when European traders, rulers, and travellers came to India, they brought with them their thoughts and ideas of India.

This is reflected in the art forms of its time. And, because artists from the west wanted to depict India with their point of view, they introduced new conventions to Indian visual arts. As a result, the visual arts of India underwent a big change due to colonial rule and its cultural influence on society.

This article will help you understand the two main forms of visual arts that developed in India during and after the colonial period:

• New forms of Imperial art
• New Popular Indian Art

Imperial Art

This art form started developing in the 18th century when European artists travelled to India. They portrayed the country and its culture from the Western point of view. They introduced new techniques, styles, and art forms like:

Realism
An art form where the image looks realistic. Colonial artists started recreating scenes from daily life, battles, and important incidents of the British-ruled Indian society. This kind of visual art seemed more life-like due to the use of oil paints. This was something the earlier Indian art forms never used.

Picturesque Landscape Painting
Another area of interest for colonial artists was the exquisite natural surroundings of India. By introducing picturesque landscape painting, they aimed at showcasing Britain’s new conquests, to the people back in Britain and other parts of Europe.

One such artist duo was Thomas Danielle and his nephew William Danielle. From 1785, they travelled for seven years, across Calcutta, parts of North India, and South India. During this time they painted the rustic landscape, city life, and the British establishments.

Portrait Painting
This was another popular visual art form of colonial India. Unlike the traditional Indian style of miniature portraits, the paintings of the British period were larger than like and looked more realistic. This was certainly due to the interest of the rich and famous Indians and British individuals, who were keen to see themselves on canvas.

Most of the portrait paintings were a depiction of the grandeur and the social status of the elites of that time. Under their patronage, many European artists travelled all the way from Europe to India and were hired as commissioned artists.

History Painting
A significant art form, history painting had taken the visual arts of Imperial India, to another level. The political strength and power of the British Raj made for a great subject for artists. Through visual representation, the artists depicted the accounts of battles, the victories, and supremacy of the monarchy.

One of the first such history paintings was by Francis Hayman in 1762. He painted the victory of the famous Battle of Plassey. The painting is on display at the Vauxhall Gardens in London, till date.

Court Art and Court Artists
During the time when Imperial art was developing in India, the visual arts by the court artists of its time also went through a big change. While some artists tried to incorporate perspective and other styles in painting, others continued with their traditional style. For example, the court of Tipu Sultan still portrayed the earlier style of miniature paintings, the courts of Mir Zafar and Mir Qasam encouraged a blend of colonial and traditional art forms.

Popular Indian Art

Scroll Painting
In the wake of the 19th century, India saw a rise of an entirely new form of visual arts. This was vastly different and unique from the earlier art forms. In Bengal, for example, rural artists like scroll painters (patuas) and potters (kumors) started moving towards Calcutta and started a new trend. Flocking to the religious center- Kalighat, these artists established their haven.

While traditional scroll paintings had a flat effect, these migrated artists started giving a rounded form to their subjects. Almost all paintings in this newfound art form were religious and centered on gods and goddesses. Furthermore, as the society around them started changing rapidly, the Kalighat artists included the social norms, cultures, and values of the new generation Calcutta.

The late 1800 scroll paintings depict the west-influenced men and women, their changing attire, culture, but most of all these in a satirical manner. Soon, these kinds of paintings were reproduced for popular consumption. That was probably when the concept of printing was introduced in this region. The images were engraved in wooden blocks and then transferred on paper, something like you might see today also, only with added technology.

And, eventually, by the late 19th century, the mechanical printing press found its way across different regions of the country, which allowed these artists to produce artworks in large volumes. Thus, visual arts became easily accessible to the common man.

National Art of India

By the later 19th century, as the country was developing a strong sense of nationalism, artists also tried to add this sentiment to their visual arts. One of the first such artists was Raja Ravi Varma, who created a mix of modern and nationalist art. As a descendant of the royal family of Travancore, Kerala, his art forms depicted realistic, oil paintings of the royalties, as well as mythological stories.

In contrast, in Bengal, a group of nationalist artists led by Rabindranath Tagore developed an art form without Western influence. This arm of national visual arts focused on traditional miniature paintings and murals.

Example:

Question 1.
What is portrait painting?
Answer:
The visual art form of depicting a life-size image of a person is considered as portrait painting.

Question 2.
Name one famous Indian artist who popularized national art?
Answer:
Raja Ravi Verma, a descendant of the royal family of Travancore, introduced a mix of modernism and patriotism to produce the national art of that time.

The compilation of these History Notes makes students exam preparation simpler and organised.

The Changing World of Visual Arts

Did you know the first sculptures made in India are all the way from around 1700 BC? During the Indus civilization, there were bronze sculptures of female dancers. Since then Indian art has undergone many transformations. Let us learn about the changing world of visual arts.

• The History of Visual Arts

The compilation of this Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution Notes makes students exam preparation simpler and organised.

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution was an important and noteworthy part of history. Do you know what gave rise to the Russian Revolution? What is Socialism? Who are the Liberals, Radicals, and Conservatives? Let’s find out more about the Russian Revolution.

The Age of Social Change

In the nineteenth century, there were some political changes which mark the beginning of change. This French revolution came into the picture which dramatically changed the social structure. People start debating over the French Revolution Structure in parts of Asia as well.

Liberals, Radicals, and Conservatives
There were three types of groups formed:

Liberals: They believed in a system which accepted all religions and not concentrates on a single religion. They were against dynasty rulers as well. They asked for one vote per property but did not include women in the same.

Radicals: They wanted a nation where the government should be elected by a majority of the population and some of them wanted women to participate in the same.

Conservatives: They were not ready for changes and wanted to discard the idea of changes. At one point they agreed to the upcoming changes but they wanted that at the same time the past should be respected.

Industrial Society and Social Change
There was a requirement of social and economic change and to make that happen Liberals and Radicals started a movement and became revolutionaries. They wanted to implement changes which included the rights of individuals as the high class of society treated individuals as their property and they paid them less and made them work more. They also concentrated on the problem of Housing and Sanitation and planned to educate the individuals.

The Coming of Socialism to Europe

Yet another vision was Socialism, in which they demanded that individuals who benefitted the property should be also helped by the profit maximization. Robert Owen (1771-1858), emphasized on bringing cooperative society into the picture.

Support for Socialism
In the 1870s socialist formed International body-Second International which set up funds for members in distress and demanded more wages and short working hours. In 1905 trade union was formed.

The Russian Revolution
At the beginning of the 20th Century, 85 % of the Russian population was involved in agriculture. Moscow and St Petersburg had Industrialization. There were craftsmen and industry. The government governed the big scale industry to keep a look on working hours and wages.

Socialism in Russia
Socialist society was formed in 1898 and was illegal as per government rules and they wanted that peasants should handle the lands instead of noble and that was not done as peasants were not uninformed some were poor and some rich.

A Turbulent Time: The 1905 Revolution
Russia was an autocratic nation. During this, the price of the goods increased and wages were decreased. Activistic party protested. Many industries were made illegal and operated illegally. Tsar leads to changes in the voting system and did not want his decision to get questioned.

The First World War and the Russian Empire

In 1914, a 1st world war broke. War brought 7 million casualties, destroyed the crops and industry got affected on a large scale and even the railway lines were broken.

Example:

Question:
The communist thinker Karl Marx belongs to …………. country.
a. Russia
b. France
c. Germany
d. Britain
Answer:
The correct answer is the option “c”.
Karl Marx was born into a comfortable middle-class home in Trier on the river Moselle in Germany on May 5, 1818. Das Capital and Communist Manifesto are the world-famous books written by him. He gave communist doctrines for establishing a society free from exploitation and inequalities.

The compilation of these History Notes makes students exam preparation simpler and organised.

Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

We’ve heard about Socialism. But what is Socialism? What is the Russian Revolution? What’s the Age of Social Change? Do you know the meaning of Industrial Society and Social Change? Let’s find out more about Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution.

• The Russian Revolution

The compilation of these Ruling the Countryside Notes makes students exam preparation simpler and organised.

Ruling the Countryside: East India Company in Bengal

Bengal was India’s most fertile and profitable land during the 18th and 19th centuries. The British, and the East India Company, in particular, profited greatly by trading in Bengal. The British began their political control over India with their influence in Bengal. Let us take a look.

East India Company in Bengal

Robert Clive, later known as Clive of India was the first British governor of Bengal. In 1765 the Mughal Emperor of India under duress made the East India company the Diwan of Bengal. But the East India Company were traders not administrators and they had no idea how to rule. And so began the decades of economic and social crisis for the people of Bengal.

Revenue for the Company
East India Company had many challenges to tackle one of which was tackling the locals. They had powers to control them, purchasing and selling things which they needed, and generate revenues by being the new powers in an alien land.

East India Company started buying cotton and silk at a cheap rate by importing gold and silver from Britain and in five years the price doubled of the goods they purchased and they used that revenue to export. Hence, this resulted in the downfall of the Bengal Financial state.

The Need to Improve Agriculture

In 1793 company came up with a Permanent Settlement. In this situation, they made Rajas Zamindars. They collected rent from the poor section and thereafter pay to Company. The amount which was collected was fixed and it was decided that the amount remain same in future.

There were hurdles to this revenue generation system of which, first was Zamindar’s who were not able to pay were removed from zamindar status. Zamindar’s also lost interest in paying more attention to land. When the crops start yielding a good amount of profit it didn’t help the company as the amount decided was fixed.

Mahalwari Settlement (North India) came into the picture in 1822 and was introduced by Holt Machine. In this, the village headman (Mahal) was given the responsibility of collecting the revenue and the amount was not fixed. Another system was Ryotwari Settlement which was introduced by Captain Alexander and the company was directly involved in the collection and the amount was not fixed.

Indigo Produce

Indigo produce to benefit the company as it was used by Italy, France, and Britain to dye cloth. Britain started exporting Indigo in large numbers. During Indigo cultivation the company started expanding in India to meet the rising demand of Europe.

Indigo was cultivated using two methods, Nij and Ryobi. As peasants used to get almost none of the Indigo cultivation they started a riot by refusing to grow Indigo in 1859 March. After the riot, a commission was established wherein it was decided that there would be no forced Indigo Cultivation due to which the Bengal witnessed a dip in Indigo Cultivation and it was shifted to Bihar. In 1977 Champaran Movement led by Gandhiji stopped Indigo Cultivation in Bihar as well.

Example:

Question:
Why were ryots reluctant to grow indigo?
Answer:
The ryots were reluctant to grow indigo as the planters were paid a very low price for indigo. The ryot was not in a position to even recover any cost and earn a profit. Due to this, the planters insisted on cultivating rice for which the soil was much preferred. Apart from these, the plant of indigo had deep roots which harmed the soil fertility, further making the land unfit for the cultivation of rice.

The compilation of these History Notes makes students exam preparation simpler and organised.

Ruling the Countryside

Shah Alam, a successor of Aurangzeb was the Mughal emperor from 1759 to 1806. However, he faced many invasions during his early years on the throne. To protect his kingdom he accepted protection from the British East India Company. In exchange, he granted them the Diwani of Bengal! And this is how a trading company started ruling the countryside of Bengal. Let us take a look.

• Ruling the Countryside: East India Company in Bengal

The compilation of these Rulers and Buildings Notes makes students exam preparation simpler and organised.

Rulers and Buildings of India

Have you ever visited the Taj Mahal? Stunning isn’t it? But did you know that the Taj Mahal is actually a mosque? In fact, a lot of the important national monuments that were built by rulers of ancient times are actually forts, palaces, etc. Let us take a look at the architecture of some important monuments built by rulers.

Monuments

Various grand buildings and structures were built by the rulers. These are known as monuments. There were two types of structures that were built by rulers and their craftsmen that earned the status of monuments:

• Residences of Rulers like Forts, Palaces, Gardens were protected and secure.
• Public Structures like Temple, Mosques, Bazaar, Well, etc.,

Engineering Skills and Construction
During that era, there were immense skilled craftsmen which were required to build phenomenal architecture. They used such technologies which were out of their imagination and were successful to carve beautiful architecture on monuments.

Between the seventh and tenth centuries, craftsmen started building complex architectures which included more rooms, roofs, doors, and windows. However, between the eighth and the thirteenth centuries, various temples, mosques, tombs, and buildings attached to largely stepped wells, also known as baolis, were constructed out of the trabeate style which became quite famous around that time.

Building Temples, Mosques, and Tanks

Temples and Mosques were the places to worship. Temple was also used as a means to demonstrate power and wealth. Rulers used to build the huge temple which depicts the picture of the world they ruled. These temples also included deities of the subordinate.

Islam does not have the belief in incarnations of god but they built beautiful architecture known as mosques to offer their prayers to God. Rulers in the era of politics used religious architecture to gain fame. They build reservoirs and cultural centers. They got involved in building well which was there for common people and ultimately was known for their great deeds.

Why were Temples Destroyed?

As temples were a depiction of Ruler’s power and wealth so when other kingdoms used to attack another kingdom they use to destroy the Temple as they ultimately destroyed the Ruler’s power. For example, Pandyan king Shrimara Shrivallabha invaded Sri Lanka and defeated the Jewel Palace. He then proceeded to destroy monasteries and seize all the golden images from the palace.

Gardens, Tombs, and Forts

During the Mughal period, architecture took a drastic turn giving the world beautiful monuments and buildings which were built by famous emperors like Akbar, Shahjahan, Humayun, Babar, etc., and especially Shahjahan who built the Taj Mahal. He provided India with one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Babur was keen on building Gardens – one of which is Chahar Bagh, they were called so as they were symmetrically divided into four quarters. Similarly Jahangir, Akbar also built these gardens whereas Shahjahan built Tajmahal. They also built an audience hall to communicate the king’s justice. They started building their architecture on the riverfront to add to their beauty.

Region and Empire

During the eighth and eighteenth centuries, there was sharing of ideas of architecture among the religions and different empires. As Mughals adopted the Bengal Dome in their architecture. Akbar’s capital Fatehpur Sikhri show various architectural inspiration from Gujrat and Malwa.

Example:

Question:
What are the kinds of structures built by kings and their officers between the 8th and the 18th century?
Answer:
There were different structures that were built by the kings as well as their officers in between the 8th and the 18th century. These mainly included-

• Various forts, palaces, garden residences, and tombs were specifically built as a symbol of safe, protected, and grandiose places of rest.
• Various temples, mosques, tanks, wells, bazaars, and caravanserais structures were built for public activity.