Sample Material of Our IAS Mains History Study Kit
Subject: History (Optional)
Topic: Early Medieval India
Dynasties emerged from the mobilization of warriors inside and around farming communities; but they also came from pastoral, hunting, and mountain societies. It is accepted that there is a period of overlap during which one phase blends into the other. This interim period is now called “early medieval India”, with the medieval period, properly speaking, regarded as beginning with the establishment of Turkish rule in Delhi in A.D. 1206. Multiple sovereignties formed ranked layers as a king (raja) became a great king (maharaja) or “king of kings” (maharajadhiraja) by adding the names of more subordinate rulers (samantas) to the list of those who bowed to him.
Sources
The interregnum between the death of Harsha in the mid-seventh century A.D. and the rise of the Delhi Sultanate nearly six hundred years later is often viewed as a tedious epoch in Indian history, with few redeeming features. The opening of the eighth century witnessed the ascendancy of Yashovarman in Kanauj. A reputed warrior, he is even said to have allied with China against the growing power of the Arabs. He is also remembered as the patron of the great Sanskrit litterateur, Bhababhutti, as well as Vakpati, composer of the Prakrit poem, Gaudavaho (“Slaying of the king of Gauda”). In the eighth century, Lalitaditya of Kashmir made the Karkota dynasty the most powerful in India since that of the Guptas. He routed the Arabs of Sind and established his mastery over Kanauj, and was also the builder of the magnificent Martand Temple.
The great monarchs of the line included Indra, Dantidurga, and Krishna who built the famous rock-cut Kailash temple at Ellora. The dynasty entered a new phase with the accession of Dhruv, who launched its northern expansionist drive. Several tribal groups made the transition from pastoral economies to settled agriculture, as a consequence of which agrarian society was considerably expanded. Local and tribal forces also began to contribute to state formation. In Orissa, for instance, the Shailodbhavas, who came down from the Mahendragiri mountains and settled near the Rishikulya river, established a kingdom in the central regions. The great Sankaracharya renewed Vedanta philosophy and incorporated several doctrinal and organisational features of Buddhism and Jainism into Hinduism. He organised the sanayasis into ten Orders and established four spiritual centres at Badrinath. Puri. Dwarka and Sringeri. The great Bhakti saints included Appar, Sambandar and Manikkavasagare whose writings were collected in the Tirumurai, known as the Tamil Veda. The twelfth book, Periva Puranani. was composed by the poet Shekkilar at the behest of the Chola King, Kulottunga I.
Among the creative geniuses of the time was the poet Kamban, Composer of the Tamil Ramayana. Kannada received a boost from the compositions of Pampa, Ponna and Ranna on the lives of the Jain Tirthankaras. as well as the Mahabharata. A new era in Telugu literature was inaugurated with Nanniah’s translation of the Adi and Sabha Parvas of the Mahabharata. This was continued by Tikkana, from the Virata Parva to the end. Arab authors of the ninth and tenth centuries also portrayed India as a land of great wealth. They described the Rashtrakuta ruler of the western Deccan as the third or fourth greatest sovereign of the world. Literary works like the Prithviraja-Vijaya-Kavya and the Hammira-Mahakavya provide stirring narratives of important events of the early medieval period. There are also historical accounts like the Rajmala, the official chronicle of the ruling family of Tipperah, and the Rajatarangini of Kalhana. The documentation of history continued under the Mughals. The leading historians of the age include Abul FazI (AkbarNama). Nizamuddin Ahmad (Tubagat-i-Akbari). Badauni (Muntakhab al-tawarikh), Abdul Hamid Lahori ( Badshahnama) and Khafi Khan (Muntakhab-ul-Lubab).
Sufi literature constitutes another valuable source of information. Several biographies (tazkirahs) of Sufi saints and compilation of their sayings (malfuzat) are available. among the most important in the latter category being the Fawadul Fawaid. Both Abul Fazl (court chronicler of Emperor Akbar) and AliMuhammad Khan, diwan of Gujarat and author of the Mirat-i-Ahmadi (1748), enjoyed unprecedented access to state papers, on which they based their works. Sayyid Ahmed and Khuda Baksh extended their canvas beyond political matters and emphasised Islamic achievements in the fields of art, literature, science and religion. Mohammad Habib published a small but influential book. Mahmud of Ghaznin (1927), which stressed the economic motives underlying the Sultan’s invasions of India.
