1. The 6th century BCE is generally regarded as an important turning point in early- history. It was an era associated with early states, 2. This period also experienced the development of diverse systems of thought, including Buddhism and jainism.
1. Conservatives were of the opinion that the education of women would turn the World upside down. They would endanger the basis of the whole social fabric. 2. After some time, women became more visible in public life. They began to join new professions in the city as domestic and factory workers, teachers and theater and film actresses.
Memories and Experiences : Millions of people viewed partition in terms of the suffering and challenges of the times. For them it was no mere constitutional divisions or just, the party politics of the Muslim League Congress and others. For them, it meant the unexpected alterations in life as it unfolded between 1946 and 1950 and beyond requiring psychological, emotional and social adjustments. Memories and experiences shape the reality of an event. Oral Narration : Oral history allows historians to broaden the boundaries of their discipline by rescuing from oblivion, the lived experiences or the poor and the powerless. The oral history of partition ‘ has succeeded in exploring the experiences of those men and women whose existence has hitherto been ignored, taken for granted or mentioned only in passing in mainstream history.
1. The Fifth Report was the report on the administration and activities of the East India Company in India. From the time the company established its rule in Bengal in the mid 1760s its activities were closely watched and debated in England. 2. There were many groups in England who were opposed to the monopoly that the East Indian Company had over trade with India and China, who wanted a revocation of the Royal Charter that gave the company this monopoly. 3. Also the private traders wanted a share in India trade and the British Industrialists were keen to open up the Indian market for British manufacturers. Many political groups argued that the conquest of Bengal Was benefiting only the East India Company but not the British National as a whole. 4. Information about company misrule and maladministration was hotly debated in Britain and incidents of the greed and corruption of company officials were widely publicized in the Press. The British Parliament passed a series of Acts in the late 18th century to regulate the control company rule in India. The Acts forced the company to produce regular reports on the administration of India and appointed committees to enquire into the affairs of the company. The Fifth Report was one such report produced by a Select Committee.
Sulh-i-Kul as described by Abul Fazl was absolute peace as the cornerstone of enlightened rule. Mughal chronicles present the empire as comprising many different ethnic and religious communities—Hindus, Jainas, Zoroastrians and Muslims. As the source of all peace and stability the emperor stored above all religions and ethnic groups, mediated among them, and ensured that justice and peace prevailed. In Sulh-i-Kul all religions and schools of thought had freedom of expression but on condition that they did not undermine the authority of state or fight among themselves. The idea of Sulh-i-Kul was implemented through state policies in which nobilities comprising Iranis, Turanis, Afghans, Rajputs, Deccanis all of whom were given positions and awards purely on the basis of their service and loyalty to the king. Akbar abolished the tax of pilgrimage in 1563 and Jizya in 1564 as the two were based on religious discrimination for which instructions were sent to officers of the empire to follow the precept of Sulh- i-Kul in administation. All Mughal emperors gave grants to support the building and maintenance of places of worship.
Epigraphists face limitations of Inscriptional evidence in the following way : (i) Technical limitations : Sometimes the letters are very faintly engraved and thus, there is uncertainty of reconstructions, inscriptions may be damaged or letters missing. It is not always easy to be sure about the exact meaning of the words used in inscriptions, some of which may be specific to a particular place or time. This has led the scholars constandy debating and discussing alternative ways of reading inscriptions. , (ii) Problem of deciphering : Although several thousand inscriptions have been discovered, not all have been deciphered, published and translated. Besides many more inscriptions must have existed, which have not survived the ravages of time. Therefore, what is available at present is probably only a fraction of what was inscribed. (iii) Fundamental problem: Fundamental problem is not everything that we may consider politically or economically significant was necessarily recorded in inscriptions. For example, routine agricultural practices and the joys and sorrows of daily existence find no mention in inscriptions, which focus more often than not on grand, unique events. Besides, the content of inscriptions almost invariably protects the perspective of the persons who commissioned them. Therefore, they need to be juxtaposed with other perspectives so as to arrive at a better understanding of the past. Thus, epigraphy alone does not provide a full understanding of political and economic history for which historians often questioned both old and new evidence.
Archaeologists generally use the following strategies to find out the social and economic differences amongst people living within a particular culture in Harappan civilization. (i) Burials : At burials in Harappan sites the dead were laid in pits which were made in different ways like the hollowed out spaces were lined with bricks. Some graves contained pottery and ornaments, indicating a belief that these could be used in the afterlife. Jewelry has been found in burials of both men and women. An ornament consisting of three shell rings, a jasper bead and hundreds of microbeads was found near the skull of a male was found in excavations at the cemetery in Harappa in the mid 1980’s. Dead were also found burned with copper mirrors in some cases, (ii) Luxuries: Objects of daily use made of ordinary materials like stone or clay which were quarns, pottery, needles, flesh-rubbers were usually found distributed throughout settlements. Archaeologists also found objects which were rare and made of costly, non-local materials or complicated technologies. Thus, little pots of faience were considered precious as they were difficult to make. The distribution of rare artifacts of valuable materials were concentrated in large settlements like Mohenjodaro and Harappa and rarely found in the smaller settlements. For example, miniature pots of faience, used as perfume bottles, were found in Mohenjodaro and Harappa and there were none from small settlements like Kalibangan. Thus, the findings of the above artifacts prove that there were social and economic differences in Harappan culture.
The distinctive physical location of Vijayanagara Empire has helped to meet the requirement of water in the following way : The striking feature about the location of Vijaynagar is the natural basin formed by river Tungabhadra which flows in north easterly direction. A number of streams flow down to the river from the granite hills that seem to form a girdle around the city. Embankments were built along these streams to create reservoirs of varying sizes. Elaborate arrangements had to be made to store rain water and conduct it to the city as Vijaynagar is one of the most arid zones of the peninsula. The most important tank built in the early years of the 15th C was known as Kamalapuram tank, water from this tank was used for irrigating the fields as well as conducted through a channel to the ‘Royal Center’. Another most prominent waterwork to be seen among the ruins is the Hiriya Canal. This canal drew water from a dam across the Tungabhadra and irrigated the cultivated valley that separated the “sacred center from the urban core”. This was built by the kings of the Sangama dynasty.