Lesson 2 Rise of New Kingdom
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History Class VII LESSON 2 RISE OF NEW KINGDOM NORTH INDIA ORIGIN OF THE RAJPUTS: The word Rajput has its origin in the Sanskrit language. It comes from the word RAJAPUTRA which means son of a king or ruler in Sanskrit. *Some scholars believe that Rajputs were the descendants of Central Asian tribes. * Most of the scholars agree that they belonged to the Kshatriya clan. *Some Rajputs called themselves Suryavanshi, belonging to the Sun family. *Others called themselves as Chandravanshi, belonging to the Moon family. *Some believe that they were born out of a holy sacrificial fire (agni- kula). *These were the Pratiharas, the Chauhans, the Solankies and the Paramaras. *The Tomars, the Gahadavalas and the Chandellas were three other important Rajput clans. *The Rajputs dominated northern India from about 750AD to 1000 AD. The Tomars;-The Tomar founded Delhi in 8th century. The Chauhans; ruled Delhi and Ajmer. Prithviraj Chauhans was the most powerful Chauhan ruler. Chand Bardai’s popular epic poem, Prithviraj Raso tells us about Prithviraj’s valour and his fight with Muhammad Ghori. The Solankis;They belongs to Gujarat areas. Siddharaja was the most powerful Solanki ruler.The Dilwara temple at Mount-Abu and the Sun temple at Modhera were built by them. The Paramaras; The Paramars were famous Malwa rulers their capital was Dhar. Nilakantheshwara temple at Udaipur was built by them. 1 | P a g e History Class VII The Gahadavalas;Jaichandra was the king of Gahadavalas ruled the region around Kannauj. In 1194 AD, Muhammad Ghori defeated the Gahadavala king Jaichandra. The Chandellas of Bundelkhand;Kirtivarman was the most powerful Chandella ruler. Khajuraho was the capital city of the Chandellas. The Gurjara-Pratiharas: Ruled over western India, parts of western and central Rajasthan and parts of central India. *Nagabhata-1 was the most powerful ruler of the Pratihara dynasty *Vatsaraja and Bhoja were the other important rulers. *Raja Bhoja established the largest empire in northern India. *Mahmud of Ghazni defeated the Pratihara ruler.The dynasty soon came to an end. The Palas;-was founded by GOPALA in 750 AD. The unique feature was that he was an elected king. *Dharmapala and Devapala were two other great Pala rulers.They built a large empire. *Tibetan accounts inform us that the Palas were the patrons of Buddhism. * The famous Vikramshila University of Bihar was founded by Dharampala. THE DECCAN:The Deccan was the region between the rivers Krishna and Narmada. The Rashtrakutas The Rashtrakutas came to power in the 8th century. *Dantidurga was the founder of the Rashtrakutas kingdom. *Govinda ,Amoghavarsha and Krishana111 were famous rulars of Rashtrakutas. 2 | P a g e History Class VII The Rashtrakutas were great patrons of art and architecture. They built the beautiful Kailasa temple in Ellora and rock cut caves at Elephanta near modern Mumbai. Other Kingdoms of the Deccan:- The Chalukyas-Vikramanka was the famous ruler of this dynasty. The Kakatiyas- kingdom lay between the Krishna and Godavari rivers. They were followers of Shaivism. The Yadavas- Bhillama founded the kingdom in 12th century. The Hoysalas of Dvarasamudra-The most powerful king was Vishnuvardhan. Later the kingdom was taken over by the Delhi Sultanate. The Tripartite Struggle- The city of Ganga valley was the major cause of struggle of the rulers of the Gurjara-Pratihara, Rashtrakutas and Pala dynasties. The fertile region of the Gangetic valley the wealth and the resources attracted these rulers. The Muslims invaders from North West:- Mahmud of Ghazni- from Afghanistan want to extend his empire over large part of Central Asia.Money was required to raise a large army. He led the invasion to get hold of the wealth in India. He raided seventeen times, between 1000 AD to 1025 AD. The raid on Somnath temple (1026 AD), in Kathiawar, was the most famous. The Ghorids:- Muhammad Ghori was also invader to reach India. He attacked and conquered Multan in 1175AD, and the rulers of Gujarat in 1178 AD. Prithviraj and Muhammad Ghori wanted to control Punjab and the Ganga valley. This led to the battles that took place at Tarain in 1191 and 1192 AD. The battle of Tarain:- Fought between the forces of Prithviraj Chauhan and Muhammad Ghori.In the first battle , Prithviraj Chauhan gave a crushing defeat to Muhammad Ghori. 3 | P a g e History Class VII In second battle of Tarain Muhammad Ghori returned with preparations and defeated Prithviraj Chauhan, and became the master of Delhi areas and eastern Rajasthan. Southern India:- The Pallavas:- They built their capital at Kanchi. The Cholas defeated them in 9th century. The Pandyass:- They established their capital around Madurai, the Kingdom declined toward the 14th century. The Cholas:-between (8oo and 1200 AD). The Imperial Cholas, were very powerful empire in south India. Their capital was Tanjore. Rajaraja Cholas (985 -1016 AD) He was a brilliant commander with an organized army and navy. To control the trade in international level he captured and control the Malabar Coast and Cholamandalam coast. He built a beautiful temple of Brihadeeshwara in Tanjore. Rajendra Chola (1016 -1044) He continued the policy of conquests. He conquered Sri Lanka and then marched towards north-east, West Bengal to defeat Palas. His army even reached Myanmar. People regard him as Gangai kondachola. Gangaikondacholapuram:- means city(puram) of the Cholas (Chola) to which was brought (Konda) the river Ganga (Gangai). Rajendra Chola filled the entire temple tank with water from the Ganga. People celebrated his victory. His adventurous campaign in south-east Asia:- Indian ships had to travel through the Straits of Molucca, which was under the control of the Kingdom of Sri Vijaya. The merchants had to face great problem for this. They appealed to Rajendra Chols for aid, then large fleet against Sri Vijaya was sent , where he was defeated by the chola navy. 4 | P a g e History Class VII Chola navy. Chola Trade:-The traders during the Chola period dominated trade. The two chief ports ports were Kaveripattinam and Nagapattinam. Trade guilds were established.Cholas carried on international trade. CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CHOLAS:- Temples:-The temples build by the Cholas are spectacular examples of architectural and sculptural marvels. The famous temples of Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram were built by Rajaraja chola and Rajendra Chola. Sculptures:- Bronze images were distinctive feature. Nataraja, image of Lord Shiva as Lord of dance, is one of the finest specimen of Chola art. Language and Literature:- Tamil, Telugu and Kannad developed during Chola period.Copper plate inscription and other inscriptions gives wide information about Cholas. Administration:-The King was the powerful person but was expected to take advice of either his council of ministers or his purohit. The administration was also looked after by the assemblies at the town and village level. For easy and efficient administration, the Cholas Empire was divided into provinces called Mandalams. Each Mandalams were further divided into provinces called Valanadu or districts. Groups of villages formed larger units called nadus. The role of Local self-government were to be followed. The UR and SABHAS were the two important assemblies. Cholas inscriptions mention about large corporations named Manigramams. Agriculture:-Cholas made new developments in agriculture. Cholas learned and introduced the art of growing two crops in a year. They excelled in cultivation of rice. Irrigation:- Cholas had well organized irrigation system. The branches of Kaveri river were divided into several small channels that deposited 5 | P a g e History Class VII fertile alluvial on the banks. Embankments were constructed in the delta region. Artificial water cropping were used. Huge tankswere constructed to collect rainwater. Huge investments done in agriculture even the barren lands were brought under cultivation. 6 | P a g e History Class VII Lesson -3 The Delhi Sultanate (1206 to 1526) Sources for the Sultanate Period:-Inscription,coin and monuments provide a lots of information about this period. Turko-Arab traditions of recording events made court chronicles the most valuable sources of information. Detailed accounts of court proceedings have been provided by Zia-ud –din Barani, Shams-i-Siraj Afif, Minhaj - i- Siraj, Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo, visited India during this period. The Slaves Dynasty:-The rulers of this dynasty were called slaves or Mamluk Sultans.The early Sultans were intelligent and hardworker,so they rose to power and position. Qutbuddin Aibak(1206-1210) He established his control and marched to Delhi. Due to his generous and kind-hearted nature he was honoured with the tittle of Lakh Baksh or giver of lakhs. IItutmish (1210-1236) Faced many problems but his strong will and power, established a strong and consolidated Sultanate. He actually completed the task of Qutbuddin Aibak and therefore regarded as the actual founder of the Delhi Sultanate. Raziya Sultan:- was the capable daughter of IItutmish. All the other nobles in the court were not satisfied with IItutmish decision as they could not tolerate a woman’s rule. Raziya was a dynamic ruler with progressive thinking. She rode elephants like males, hunted and led the army. She was successful establishing law and order in her kingdom. Some of the nobles conspired against her and killed, she died like a brave soldier. Ghiyasuddin Balban (1266-1287) He was an able noble and power ruler of Slave Dynasty. 7 | P a g e History Class VII He organized and strengthened the army. He controlled the raids of Mongals in India. Balban regard sultan in high esteem so he introduced the Persian customs of sijdah and paibos or zaminbos. The Khalji Dynasty:- Jalaluddin Firoz Khalji was not a strong ruler. He had a lenient policy towards the Mangols. He even married one his daughters to Ulugh Khan, the Mongol leader.