13 June 2024

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. Several walks of Indian life were greatly affected by the Turkish conquest. Throw light on its socio-cultural impact.

GS I – Medieval History

Introduction:

• The establishment and expansion of the Delhi Sultanate led to the evolution of a powerful and efficient administrative system. At its zenith the authority of Delhi Sultan had extended as far south as Madurai. Although the Delhi Sultanate had disintegrated, their administrative system made a powerful impact on the Indian provincial kingdoms and later on the Mughal system of administration.

Background:

• The Muslim invasions into India had ultimately resulted in the establishment of Delhi Sultanate which existed from A.D. 1206 to 1526.
• Five different dynasties – the Slave, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyids and Lodis – ruled under the Delhi Sultanate.
• The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic state with its religion Islam.
• The Sultans considered themselves as representatives of the Caliph.

Socio-cultural impact of Turkish conquest on India:

• Social-life: The Muslim nobles occupied high offices and very rarely the Hindu nobles were given high position in the government. The Hindus were considered zimmis or protected people for which they were forced to pay a tax called jiziya.
• Local Administration: The provinces under the Delhi Sultanate were called They were initially under the control of the nobles. But the governors of the provinces were called the muqtis or walis. They were to maintain law and order and collect the land revenue. The provinces were divided into shiqs and the next division was pargana.
• Economy: After consolidating their position in India, the Delhi Sultans introduced reforms in the land revenue administration. The lands were classified into three categories:
• i) iqta land – lands assigned to officials as iqtas instead of payment for their services.
• ii) khalisa land – land under the direct control of the Sultan and the revenues collected were spent for the maintenance of royal court and royal household.
• iii) inam land – land assigned or granted to religious leaders or religious institutions.
• iv) The peasantry paid one third of their produce as land revenue, and sometimes even one half of the produce.
• Art and Architecture: The Turks introduced arches, domes, lofty towers or minarets and decorations using the Arabic script. They used the skill of the Indian stone cutters. They also added colour to their buildings by using marbles, red and yellow sand stones.
• i) The most magnificent building of the 13th century was the Qutub Minar which was founded by Aibek and completed by Iltutmish
• ii) Later, Alauddin Khalji added an entrance to the Qutub Minar called Alai Darwaza. The dome of this arch was built on scientific lines.
• Music: New musical instruments such as sarangi and rabab were introduced during this period. Amir Khusrau introduced many new ragas such as ghora and sanam. He evolved a new style of light music known as qwalis by blending the Hindu and Iranian systems. The invention of sitar was also attributed to him.
• Urbanization: During the Sultanate period, the process of urbanization gained momentum. A number of cities and towns had grown during this period. Lahore, Multan, Broach, Anhilwara, Laknauti, Daulatabad, Delhi and Jaunpur were important among them.

Conclusion:

• The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic state with its religion Islam. The Sultans considered themselves as representatives of the Caliph. Not only they extended their rule over North India, but also they penetrated into the Deccan and South India. Their rule in India resulted in far-reaching changes in society, administration and cultural life.

Q2. Works of art give us an insight into how the society relates itself to its surroundings. Elaborate in light of Harappan art.

GS I – Indian Culture

Introduction:

• The arts of the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) emerged during the second half of the third millennium BCE. The forms of art found from various sites of the civilisation include sculptures, seals, pottery, jewellery, terracotta figures, etc.

Art in Harappan Civilisation:

• Stone Statues: Excellent examples of handling three-dimensional volumes, for example male torso figure in red sandstone and bust of a bearded man in soapstone.
• Bronze Casting: Bronze statues were made using the ‘lost wax’ technique. Human as well as animal figures were common examples: Dancing Girl Statue, buffalo with its uplifted head, back and sweeping horns and the goat are of artistic merit.
• Terracotta: Compared to the stone and bronze statues the terracotta representations of human form are crude in the Indus Valley. They are more realistic in Gujarat sites and Kalibangan.
• Deities like bearded man, mother goddess and toy carts, animals were common.
• Seales and tablets: Made of steatite, and occasionally of agate, chert, copper, faience and terracotta, with beautiful figures of animals, such as unicorn bull, rhinoceros, tiger, elephant, bison, goat, buffalo. Rendering of animals in various moods is remarkable, for example Pashupati Seal.
• Commonly used for commercial purposes but usage for amulets for identity cards.
• The standard Harappan seal was a square plaque 2×2 square inches, made from steatite. Every seal is engraved in a pictographic script.
• Square or rectangular copper tablets, with an animal or a human figure on one side and an inscription on the other, or an inscription on both sides have also been found.
• Pottery: It consists chiefly of very fine wheel made wares, very few being hand-made. Plain pottery is more common than painted ware.
• Plain pottery is generally of red clay, with or without a fine red or grey slip. It includes knobbed ware, ornamented with rows of knobs.
• The black painted ware has a fine coating of red slip on which geometric and animal designs are executed in glossy black paint.
• Polychrome pottery is rare and mainly comprises small vases decorated with geometric patterns in red, black, and green, rarely white and yellow. Incised ware is also rare and the incised decoration was confined to the bases of the pans, always inside and to the dishes of offering stands.
• Perforated pottery includes a large hole at the bottom and small holes all over the wall, and was probably used for straining beverages.
• Beads and Ornaments: Produced from every conceivable material ranging from precious metals and gemstones to bone and baked clay, gold and semi-precious stones, copper bracelets and beads, gold earrings and head ornaments, faience pendants and buttons, and beads of steatite and gemstones.
• The beads are in varying shapes—disc-shaped, cylindrical, spherical, barrel-shaped, and segmented. Some beads were made of two or more stones cemented together, some of stone with gold covers. Some were decorated by incising or painting and some had designs etched onto them.

Significance of the art and insights on Harappan Society:

• The sites of Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) like Harappa and Mohenjodaro showcase excellent town planning as well, like houses, planned streets, public baths, drainage systems, storage facilities, etc.
• Eg: The bath in Harappa shows the cleansing ritual of people.
• They tell how the Indus Valley people used stone in construction. The artists and craftsmen of the Indus Valley were extremely skilled in a variety of crafts—metal casting, stone carving, making and painting pottery and making terracotta images using simplified motifs of animals, plants and birds.
• They had public and private wells at most of their sites and their houses were often equipped with bathing areas and toilets. It shows the importance of cleanliness and hygiene.
• They were also technologically very advanced in pyrotechnics and metallurgy. Their craftsmanship is evident in their beads, jewellery, pottery, seals as well as other artifacts made of metals and their alloys.
• Their trade networks were also quite widespread. They had standardized weights and measures.
• They often used standardized bricks in their architecture. Recent research has suggested that Harappan people were probably the first ones to introduce silk and lost-wax casting techniques.
• No large-scale weapons have been discovered from the Harappan sites which also suggests that they did not indulge in warfare.

Conclusion:

• Their artistic versatility showed in the range of materials they used and the forms they made out of it. The patterns, motives and designs found on the articles shows the creativity that existed and judging from the excavated evidences, one can only conclude the people of Indus civilization were indeed true art patrons.