Vii his chp 1-180510053028 social (1).pdf

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1. Dr. ABDUL KALAM ACADEMY
MARAI MALAI NAGAR-603209, TAMIL NADU
CBSE CLASS –VII
HISTORY

2. THE MEDIEVAL AGE
Prof. RAJ

3. This chapter contains information about…
The time period of the medieval period.
The major political developments in the age.
Importance of Geographical knowledge like maps
and names of places in the medieval period.
Names of medieval scholarswho visited India
Medieval documents and the languageused
New social, political groups and religious groups
which arose in the medieval period.

4. Major Topics of the Chapter
•Introduction
•Major Political Developments
•Importance of Geographical Knowledge
•Keeping Records
•New Social and Political Groups
•Old and New Religions

5. Three periods of history
The history of the world can be divided into
three broad periods:
•Ancient
•Medieval
•Modern

6. Medieval Age
•The medieval period in India spans over a
millennium (1000 years) from 8
th
century AD
to 18
th
century AD.
•But in Europe the medieval age began in the
5
th
century AD.

7. Twophases of Medieval Age in India
The Medieval period in India can be divided
broadly into two phases:
Early medieval period (8
th
century AD to 13
th
century AD) and
Later medieval period (13
th
century AD to 18
th
century AD).

8. Early Medieval Period
•The Early Medieval Period (8
th
to 13 century
AD) saw power struggles among regional
kingdoms of both North and South.
•The Rajputsin North India and the Cholasin
South India were the prominent kingdoms.
•The distinctive cultural characteristics of the
regional kingdoms spreadin the new regions
that came under them.

9. Later Medieval Age
•Muslimconquerors from Central Asia
especially the Turks, the Afghans and the
Mughals ruled India.
•The Khaljis, the Tughluqsand the Mughals
established mighty dynasties.
•Islamic customs influenced political,
economic, social and cultural life in India and a
Indo-Islamic culture grew in a big way.

10. European traders
•Towards the end of the 15
th
century,
Europeans began direct trade with Indian
seaports.
•Portuguesecame first followed by the English,
the Dutch and the French.
•By the mid 18
th
century, the Britishbeat the
French to be the dominantpolitical force in
India.
•This marked the beginning of the Modern Age.

11. Importance of GeographicalKnowledge
•Geographic knowledge especially mapshelped
to understand a region better.
•Geographical features of a region and the
region’s location with respect to other regions
explains why a region prospered or remained
isolatedor was invadedfrequently.

12. Cartographyand Medieval India
•Cartography or map making was unknownin
ancient India.
•The worldwide growth of trade and the
expansion of empires during the medieval period
created the need for accurate maps.
•The Arabsand the Europeanswho undertook
long journeys over land and sea developed
cartography.
•India was introduced to cartographyby the Arabs
and the Europeans.

13. Al-Idrisiand his upside down map
•Al-Idrisiis a 12
th
century cartographer from
Morocco.
•His upside down map (the map has the south
shown at the top) has Arabia at the centreand
India to its left.
•Above India is an island which could be Sri Lanka.
•Below Arabia is Turkey and further down Europe.
•But by the end of the medieval period
cartography became more accurate.

14. Medieval Maps of India
•Most medieval maps of India were drawn by
sailorswho were more familiar with the
coastal regions.
•Hence, these maps show the coastal areas in
more detail than the interior regions.

15. Place names
•Medieval maps and writings of medieval
authors provide valuable information about
the geographical feature and the names of
places in those times.
•But the names of places mentioned in those
documents and maps may have changed over
time.
•Historians have to find out the present names
and matchit with old names.

16. Medieval Scholars who visited India
•Alberuni,a famous Central Asian scholar came
to India and mastered Sanskrit and translated
some Sanskrit texts into Arabic. He also wrote
a book called Kitab-al-Hindon India.
•IbnBatutahcame to India from Tangier (North
Africa)in the 14
th
century. His work Rihla
describes his travels in India.
•Their writings give us the valuable
geographical informationon medieval India

17. Record Keeping
•In the medieval kingdoms in India, records
were maintainedproperly.
•At that time, paper came into wide use as a
writing material.
•These documents area now preserved in the
archives(a place where historical documents
are maintained by the government.

18. Nature of the medieval documents
•Medieval records of land revenue and land
grants, works of religious literature and
secular works such as travelwriting, history
and science are preserved till date.

19. Prashastis/ Rajatarangini
•Most of the historical works are prashastisor
eulogies which are writing praising somebody,
usually a ruler.
•One exception is Kalhana’sRajatarangini–a
history of Kashmir in Sanskrit verse written in
the 12
th
century.
•As a true historian, Kalhanareferred to
different original documents, inscriptions and
coins to check the facts.

20. Growth of new languages …
•Most scholars and officials all over India wrote either in
Sanskritor in Persian.
•But regional languages came into wide use in regional
kingdoms.
•Telenganiwas used in Telengana, Kashmiriin Kashmir,
Awadh(a form of Hindi) in Uttar Pradesh, Gujariin Gujarat
and Gauriin Bengal.
•Many literary works were composed in these languages
and they provide valuable historical information.

21. Historians’ Problems
•All medieval documents were manuscripts
(handwritten documents) as there was no
printing press at that time.
•Scribes(writers) made copies of original
documents and some of them put in their own
thoughts in their own language changing the
original text.
•Later historians had to check these documents
with other sources to ascertain the truth in case
the original document was lost.

22. Historians’ problem continued
•Another problem which confronts the
historians is that the languages used in the
documents have changed.
•Historians are not able to read the documents
because the handwriting of the scribes are
illegible or because the script (lettering) is no
longer in use.

23. Historian problems continued…
•Here are two examples to show how the usages and
expressions changed with time.
•The term mlechchhawas used during ancient times for
all non-Aryan people including hill and forest dwellers.
•During the early medieval period, the term referred to
all foreigners culturally different people from kings to
untouchables.
•Gradually when some untouchables were absorbed
into the varna(caste system), the term came to be
applied for meat eating people and those who did not
observe caste rules.

24. Historians’ problem continued
•The term Hindustanreferred to different territories at
different times.
•Around 3
rd
century AD, the southern part of the Indus
plain was called Hindustan in an inscription of the
Sassaniansof Persia who ruled over this region.
•In the early medieval period, the Arabs referred to the
land between the Indus and the Ganga-Yamuna Doab
as Hindustan and its people Hinduderived from the
word Sindhuor Indus.
•In the later medieval period, the whole of India except
the extreme south was called Hindustan.
•Today, the county India, is also called Hindustan.

25. New Social and Political Groups
•During the medieval period, many new social
groups emerged.
•Some of these groups also became politically
powerful.
•Among them were the Rajputsfrom Rajasthan
and its surroundings, the Sikhs, who were a
religious group of Punjab, the Jatsof Harayana,
who were farmers, the Ahoms, who conquered
and ruled Assam, and the Marathas, who were
warriors of Maharashtra.

26. New social groups got absorbed…
•New social groups were absorbed into the caste
system.
•For example, the Rajputs, being heroic and noble,
got Kshatriya(warrior) status.
•With the expansion of agriculture and trade,
wealthy landowners and traders acquired higher
social status.
•Forest dwellers, tribal herders who took to
agriculture were absorbed into the Shudracaste.

27. Brahmans enter low caste profession
•High caste Brahmans entered low caste
professions like agriculture, tradeand craftin
the medieval age.

28. Subcastes-Jatis
•The growth of new professions gave rise to a large
number of subcasteseach called a Jati.
•A jaticonsisted of people who were in the same
profession.
•Prominent among the jatisthat emerged were the
Kayasthas-a subcasteof scribes.
•The Kayasthasrose to prominence because record
keeping had become an important profession.
•The jatishad their own rulesand regulations
administered by elders. Besides, all the jatishad to
follow the civil rules of towns and villages.

29. Portuguese and potatoes
•Many foreigners settled in coastal cities and near
the north western border.
•These foreigners brought along their culture,
customs, religion, crafts, technologies and even
fruits and vegetables.
•Sericulture came from Chinaand Persian water
wheel from Persia.
•Turksbrought plums, peaches, oranges and
lemons.
•Portuguesebrought potatoes, tomatoes and
chillies.

30. Old and New Religions
•Hinduism went through some changes.
•New deitiescame to be worshipped.
•Tribal ideas of worship entered Hinduism.
•Building temples became an important
activity.
•The deities worshipped in these temples often
represented the qualities that an ideal ruler
was expectedto have.

31. Brahmans became wealthy and powerful
•Rulers patronisedlearned Brahmans and
granted them tax-free land.
•Thus, many Brahmans became wealthyand
powerful.
•They used their power to made the caste rules
and religious norms very rigid.

32. Islam
•Islam, the religion of the Muslims, arose in
Arabia in the 7
th
century AD.
•Islam is centredon the belief in one God,
Allah, and the teachings of His last prophet,
Muhammad.
•The teachings are contained in the holy book
called the Quran.

33. Shia and Sunni
•After Prophet Muhammad’s death, a Caliph, or Khalifa,
succeeded him as the religious and political head of the
Muslim community.
•Later, the community split into two manor sects-Shiaand
Sunni.
•The Shias regard Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali as the
Prophet’s true successor.
•They believe that a caliph is appointed by divine will.
•But the Sunnis believe that a caliph should be chosenby
the whole community.
•Apart from the Quran, they follow the Sunnah(customs
and laws based on the deeds and words of Muhammad).

34. Islam and India
•Islam was brought to India by Arabtraders.
•Later, Muslim conquerors ruled India
according to Islamic law and the ulema
(experts in Islamic law)received their
patronage.
•Among the various schools of Islamic law that
had developed, the Hanafischool became
popular in India. Turks made it popular in
India.

35. Bhakti Movement
•Towards the end of the ancient period, around
the 7
th
century AD, several Hindu religious
thinkers of South India started challenging the
Brahman domination.
•They stressed on bhakti(personal devotion to
God) without the help of a middle man (Brahman
priest). This is called the Bhakti Movement.
•In North India, it began only around the 13
th
century AD.
•Bhakti Movement attractedpeople all sections of
society.

36. Sufism
–From around the 8
th
century, some Muslimsbegan
to be influencedby Hindu, Greek and Buddhist
religious ideas.
•This gave rise to a faith called Sufism.
•Sufi philosophy is basically Islamic.
•Besides devotion to one God, it preaches
brotherhood among men.
•After the Turkishinvasions, many Sufi saints
came to India to spread their faith.

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