NCERT 7 HISTORY CHAPTER 1

 1. TRACING CHANGES THROUGH A THOUSAND YEARS

• Cartography - the study and practice of making maps
• science of cartography differed in these two periods, produced with different historical backgrounds and contexts
• Map 1 -  made in 1154 CE by Arab geographer Al-Idrisi, showing Indian subcontinent from land to sea
• South India where we would find North India and Sri Lanka at top (upside down map) 
• marked in Arabic, important places like kanauj in U.P were also marked 
• Map 2 - 600 years after Map 1, made in 1720s by French cartographer 
• used by European sailors, had detailed account on coastal areas 

    NEW AND OLD TERMINOLOGIES 

• Historical records changed over time - not only grammar and vocabulary; the meanings of words also changed 
• Term 'Hindustan' used in 13th century by Minhaj-i-siraj, chronicler in Persian (meant the areas of punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and the Yamuna)
• Babar used same term 'Hindustan' in 16th century - to describe the geography, the fauna and the culture of the inhabitants of sub-continent 
• similarly, 14 th century poet Amir Khusrau used the word 'Hind' 
• Another term 'foreigner' used today to mean someone who is not an Indian
• In medieval period, a 'foreigner' used for any stranger who was not a part of that society or culture (in Hindi, Pardesi and in Persian, Ajnabi)

    HISTORIANS AND THEIR SOURCES

• sources for discovering the past - coins, inscriptions, architecture and textual records
• paper became cheaper and widely available
• they used to write holy texts, chronicles of rulers, letters and teachings of saints, petitions and judicial records and for registers of accounts and taxes with the paper
• manuscripts were placed in libraries and archives
• no printing press, so scribes copied manuscripts by hand which made huge differences from the original text over centuries
• Author revised their chronicles at different times, 14 th century chronicler Ziyauddin Barani - wrote first chronicle in 1356 and another version two years later 
• Handwriting style - nastaliq (cursive and easy to read) and shikaste (denser and more difficult)

    NEW SOCIAL AND POLITICAL GROUPS

• Between 700 and 1750 - new technologies developed, new wheel in irrigation, the spinning wheel in weaving and firearms in combat
• Period of economic, political, social and cultural change
• Rajputs - group of warriors, not just rulers and chieftains but also soldiers and commanders, had extreme valour and a great sense of loyalty 
• other political groups - Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Ahoms, Kayasthas (caste of scribes and secretaries)
• significant and economic differences emerged amongst the peasants 
• society differentiated into Jatis / sub-castes, ranked on basis of backgrounds and occupations
• Jati panchayats - an assembly of elders to frame their own rules and regulations

     REGION AND EMPIRE

• Sanskrit Prashasti - praising Delhi Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban, a ruler of a vast empire that stretched from Bengal in the east to Ghazni in Afghanistan in the west and included all parts of South India
• Mughal empire brought many legacies in the big and small states 
• In the realms of governance, emergence of many distinct and shared traditions, the management of the economy, elite cultures and language in the thousand years

    OLD AND NEW RELIGIONS

• Important changes in Hinduism - construction of temples, growing importance of Brahmanas, 
• emergence of the idea of Bhakti (loving, personal deity without the aid of priests / elaborate rituals)
• Muslims regard Quran as their holy book from 7 th century and accept the sovereignty of one god Allah
• differences between the various schools of law( Hanafi and Shafi'i)
• Shia muslims - Prophet muhammad's son-in-law, Ali was the legitimate leader of muslim community
• Sunni muslims - accepted the authority of the early leaders (Khalifas) of the community

     THINKING ABOUT TIME AND HISTORICAL PERIODS

• Time reflect changes in transformation of ideas and beliefs
• Medieval history - more about the spread of peasant societies, the rise of regional and state formations, development of Hinduism and Islam as major religions
• societies of the subcontinent were transformed often and economies in several regions reached a level of prosperity that attracted the interest of European trading companies