Questions and Answers - Recent questions and answers in History

Answered: Explain the deep relationship between human beings and the other life on earth.

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 23:46:52 +0000

Bearing witness” is the Quaker term for living life in a way that reflects fundamental truths. Bearing witness is about getting relationships right. The group of Quakers in the eighteenth century who built a movement to end slavery were bearing witness to the truth that slavery was wrong. Yet bearing witness to right relationships is not limited to Quakers. It is something done by inspired people of all faiths and cultures when they live life according to cherished values built on caring for other people and being stewards of the earth’s gifts. The mass movement to end apartheid in South Africa, Rachel Carson’s triggering of the environmental movement in the 1960s, and the campaign of Mothers Against Drunk Driving to make roads safer are just a few examples of people coming together to bear witness to what they knew was right.

The global economy today is overwhelming the ability of the earth to maintain life’s abundance. We are getting something terribly wrong. At this critical time in history, we need to reorient ourselves in how we relate to each other and to the earth’s wonders through the economy. We need a new mass movement that bears witness to a right way of living on our finite, life-giving planet.

Right Relationship

Over just the last two decades, science has radically altered its view of the arrangement both of life and of non-living components of the earth. New understandings are emerging that place relationship at the center. Biology and physics are moving away from a “reductionist” view of function, in which the activity of a living cell or an ecosystem, for example, is explained by being reduced to its parts, rather than including the relationship between those parts as essential to our understanding. Today scientists are admitting that this three-hundred-year-old scientific doctrine is far too simplistic, and are finding that physical substances work and exist in terms of highly complex, interdependent, and changeable contexts and relationships. So, for example, the relationships between genes in the human body, rather than only their individual functions, are the key to the countless ways that human genes can produce genetic traits and characteristics. We are now learning that relationship is the key to the survival of our species on the social and political level, as well. This essay is about relationship writ large, and about how to move to right relationship from wrong relationship in our individual and collective economic lives.

Answered: Write a short note on a Holy city Makkah.

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 23:44:53 +0000

Mecca is a holy place of Muslims in Saudi Arabia where it is believed that the prophet Muhammad lived and taught more than 1,300 years ago. Mecca is the holiest city in Islam. Mecca had become an important place in the history by the time when Prophet Mohammed (peace is upon him) was born in about 570 AD. Mecca, the holy place has fallen with yearly ebb and flow of pilgrims as a result of growing Muslim community in the World and eventually the spread of Islam. The economic status of the city greatly depends on the large number of pilgrims visiting every year and their accommodation, feeding and transportation. (Ahmed Z.U. 1992).

Prophet Mohammed (peace is upon him) was born in Makkah and was descended with the Holy Quran, and since then the propagation for Islam was launched. In the heart of the city is the Holy Mosque in the centre of which the Holy Kaaba is located, The Maqam of Prophet Ibrahim, his son Ismaiel’s stone (May God bless them), Zamzam well in which water has been pouring from hundreds of years, and Safa and Marwah where Muslims make Saie. There are other holy shrines of Mina, Muzdalifa, and Arafat near Makkah. Arafat is located at the Mount Arafat where pilgrims perform the main ritual of Hajj as the day of Arafat.

Hajj is scheduled according to the lunar calendar and so moves 11 days earlier each year on the Gregorian calendar. Due to seasonal variation over time, the Hajj occurs at different times each year (Yamin M. et al 2009). It becomes difficult in summers as the temperatures in Saudi Arabia are very high. Unlike other Saudi Arabian cities, Mecca retains its warm temperature in winter, which can range from 17 °C at midnight to 25 °C in the afternoon. Summer temperatures are considered very hot and break the 40 °C mark in the afternoon dropping to 30 °C (86 °F) in the evening. Rain usually falls in Mecca in small amounts between November and January.

Tourism at Mecca

Mecca, the holy city in Saudi Arabia is believed to be the centre of the Islamic world. The journey to Mecca as the Hajj is popular to the Muslims all over the world but the Mecca travel is forbidden for non-Muslims. There are billions of people coming to Mecca for Hajj from all over the world. The Hajj in Mecca is the largest pilgrimage in the world.

The Mecca city is Saudi Arabia is increasingly called Makkah. It is similar to the pronunciation of the Arabic word than does the English translation called Mecca. Non-Muslims are not permitted to enter the premises of Mecca, Saudi Arabia at any time of the year due to the fact that the Mecca travel and the Hajj are only intended for Muslims. It has happened in the past that several non-Muslims have entered Mecca; the penalties of it are quite harsh including deportation and jail time.

Tourism in Mecca involves some advance planning. There is a special visa required by every Muslim who wishes to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. There is a valid visa required to enter the Hajj grounds. In case of Saudi citizens, permission is necessary. The foreign pilgrims intend to perform Hajj applies for a visa by furnishing information and undergoing some medical examination. The visa is granted by Saudi government by approval of the Hajj management in Saudi Arabia. Each pilgrim is assigned to a group of Hajj management called Munazzim once their visa is granted. Munnazim is responsible for their travel and accommodation arrangements in the Hejaz (Yamin M. et al 2009). In addition, a letter from the local mosque stating that the person is a Muslim is also required. Women who are under 45 years of age must travel with a male or a mahram considered being the head of the family. There should be a proof of their relationship. On the other hand, women over 45 years of age must carry a permission letter from her husband or her father along with the proof her being a part of the Mecca tourism group. The visa to travel Mecca does not permit to travel outside of Mecca and if anyone wants to travel other cities, they must apply for additional visa.

Answered: Write a note on Coastal Plain

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 23:42:56 +0000

A coastal plain is a flat, low-lying piece of land next to the ocean. Coastal plains are separated from the rest of the interior by nearby landforms, such as mountains.

In western South America, a large coastal plain lies between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. In the United States, coastal plains can be found along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Coastal plains can form in two basic ways. Some start as a continental shelf, a flat piece of land located below sea level. When the ocean level falls, the land is exposed, creating a coastal plain. Sometimes, these coastal plains can extend far inland. Fossils of marine organisms have been found in the landlocked U.S. state of Kansas, for instance. Kansas was part of a vast coastal plain that formed when the Western Interior Seaway was forced to the Gulf of Mexico about 100 million years ago. The Western Interior Seaway was a large sea that split the continent of North America from what is now the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean during the Cretaceous period.

A coastal plain can also develop when river currents carry rock, soil and other sedimentary material into the ocean. Layers of this deposited sediment build up over time, creating a flat or gently sloping landscape

Answered: What causes the change in rocks?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 23:40:38 +0000

Rocks are formed on Earth as igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic rocks. Igneous rocks form when rocks are heated to the melting point which forms magma. Sedimentary rocks are formed from the cementing together of sediments, or from the compaction (squeezing together) of sediments, or from the recrystallization of new mineral grains which are larger than the original crystals. Metamorphic rocks form from heat and pressure changing the original or parent rock into a completely new rock. The parent rock can be either sedimentary, igneous, or even another metamorphic rock. The word "metamorphic" comes from Greek and means "To Change Form"

The diagram above shows you how the rocks on Earth have been changed continually over time from one rock type to another. This changing of rock types is called the "Rock Cycle".

Solid rock can be changed into a new rock by stresses that cause an increase in heat and pressure. There are 3 main agents that cause metamorphism. Factors that cause an increase in Temperature, Pressure, and Chemical changes are the three agents that we are going to study.

Temperature increases can be caused by layers of sediments being buried deeper and deeper under the surface of the Earth. As we descend into the earth the temperature increases about 25 degrees Celsius for every kilometer that we descend. The deeper the layers are buried the hotter the temperatures become. The great weight of these layers also causes an increase in pressure, which in turn, causes an increase in temperature.

The descending of rock layers at subduction zones causes metamorphism in two ways; the shearing effect of the plates sliding past each other causes the rocks coming in contact with the descending rocks to change. Some of the descending rock will melt because of this friction. When rock melts it is then considered igneous not metamorphic, but the rock next to the melted rock can be changed by the heat and become a metamorphic rock. The diagram above shows you where metamorphic rock (YELLOW ZONE) can be produced at a subduction zone.

There are 3 factors that cause an increase in pressure which also causes the formation of metamorphic rocks. These factors are;

The huge weight of overlying layers of sediments.

Stresses caused by plates colliding in the process of mountain building.

Stresses caused by plates sliding past each other, such as the shearing stresses at the San Andreas fault zone in California.

Factors that cause chemical changes in rocks also contribute to the formation of metamorphic rocks. Very hot fluids and vapors can, because of extreme pressures, fill the pores of existing rocks. These fluids and vapors can cause chemical reactions to take place, that over time, can change the chemical makeup of the parent rock.

Metamorphism can be instantaneous as in the shearing of rocks at plate boundaries or can take millions of years as in the slow cooling of magma buried deep under the surface of the Earth.

Answered: What was the shape and Material of the measuring instrument of Indus Valley?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 22:49:01 +0000

Weights and scales of measurments have been found in Indus Valley which are made of stones in quadrilateral shape.

Overview

The Indus River Valley Civilization, 3300-1300 BCE, also known as the Harappan Civilization, extended from modern-day northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India.

Important innovations of this civilization include standardized weights and measures, seal carving, and metallurgy with copper, bronze, lead, and tin.

Little is understood about the Indus script, and as a result, little is known about the Indus River Valley Civilization’s institutions and systems of governance.

The civilization likely ended due to climate change and migration.

Geography and time-frame

In 1856, British colonial officials in India were busy monitoring the construction of a railway connecting the cities of Lahore and Karachi in modern-day Pakistan along the Indus River valley.

As they continued to work, some of the laborers discovered many fire-baked bricks lodged in the dry terrain. There were hundreds of thousands of fairly uniform bricks, which seemed to be quite old. Nonetheless, the workers used some of them to construct the road bed, unaware that they were using ancient artifacts. They soon found among the bricks stone artifacts made of soapstone, featuring intricate artistic markings.

Though they did not know it then, and though the first major excavations did not take place until the 1920s, these railway workers had happened upon the remnants of the Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated, in what was then the Punjab province of British India and is now in Pakistan. Initially, many archaeologists thought they had found ruins of the ancient Maurya Empire, a large empire which dominated ancient India between c. 322 and 185 BCE.

Before the excavation of these Harappan cities, scholars thought that Indian civilization had begun in the Ganges valley as Aryan immigrants from Persia and central Asia populated the region around 1250 BCE. The discovery of ancient Harappan cities unsettled that conception and moved the timeline back another 1500 years,situating the Indus Valley Civilization in an entirely different environmental context

Answered: What do you know about the drainage system of Indus Valley?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 22:36:02 +0000

There was an excellent drainage system of filthy water. Narrow and wide drains were made in proper oredr for the outlet of dirty water. Narrow drains had been covered by bricks and wide drains by large marble slabs. The stinking water had been brought together with wide drains to flow it out from the cities.

One of the most remarkable achievements of the Indus Valley people was their sophisticated city planningof which their drainage and sanitary system was significant.

Features:

Highly efficient drainage system:Almost every house had a bathroom. The bath and kitchen waters, as well as drainage from the latrines, and the roof drainage entered the street drains through tightly brick-lined puts, which was connected to the main sewerwhich inturn was connected to the bigger sewerage outlets, which ensured the channel of dirt out of the city. The main drain was covered by brick slabs or corbelled brickarchesEg: Great Bath at Moen-Jo-Daro and Lothal sanitation.

In order to check the maintenance,inspection holes were provided.

Theyhad elaborate brick-linked drainage system for the removal of rainwater

For water, the big houses had their own wells,other wells would serve groups of smaller houses.

In some houses thedrainage water discharged into large pottery jars places in the street at the foot of the vertical drains in the street walls and in few houses there were pits which mayhave been the ancient precursors of our present day septic tanks and grit chambers.

Underground drainage at Lothal is the most unique. It shows a expert mansonry with sewer watertight; drops at regular intervals acted like an automatic cleaning device. A wooden screen at the end of the drains held back solid wastes.

Houses also had rubbish chutes built into the walls and Public rubbish bins were also provided at convenient places.

Mohenjadaro:

It has the worlds first known main drainage system. It has acentral system that connected every household in the city. Every house had a drinking waterwell with a private bathroom. Earthenware waste pipes carried sewage from each home into coveredchannels that ran along the centres of the city’s main streets into the nearby agricultural fields, rivers, orstreams.

The drains took waste from kitchens, bathrooms, and indoor toilets. The main drains even hadmovable stone slabs as inspection points. The houses had excellent plumbing facilities for provision ofwater. Toilets had brick seats. The toilet was flushed with water from jars.

The waste flowed out through clay pipes into a drain in the street. Waste was carried away alongthe drains to ‘soak pits’ (cesspits), Cleaners dug out the pit and took the waste away. They also took awayrubbish from bins on the side of houses. Each street and lane had one or two drainage channels, with brickor stone covers, which could be lifted to remove obstructions in the drains.

Answered: How Nasiruddin ruled his territory?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 22:28:06 +0000

Nasiruddin ruled for twenty years but real powers were rested with Balban. He administrated the kingdom properly. He chastized severely to Hindus, Rajputs and Khokhars

Answered: How Mughals occupied Hindustan?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 22:26:08 +0000

Ibrahim Lodhi was a very strict ruler. All the chieftains and the rich turned against him and they invited Babar to attack Hindustan for occupation. Babar attacked Hindustan and occupied Hindustan.

The Mughal Emperors, from the early 16th century to the mid 19th century, built and ruled the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughals were a branch of the Timurid dynasty of Turco-Mongol origin from Central Asia. Their power rapidly dwindled during the 18th century and the last of the emperors was deposed in 1857, with the establishment of the British Raj.[1] Mughal emperors were of direct descent from Timur (generally known in western nations as Tamerlane), and also affiliated with Genghis Khan, because of Tamerlane’s marriage with a Genghisid princess.

The Mughals also had significant Indian Rajput and Persian ancestry through marriage alliances, as emperors were born to Rajput and Persian princesses.[2][3] Only the first two Mughal emperors, Babur and Humayun, were fully Central Asian (Turkic people), whereas Akbar was half-Persian (his mother was of Persian origin), Jahangir was half-Rajput and quarter-Persian, and Shah Jahan was three-quarters Rajput.[4]

At their Empire's greatest extent in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Mughals controlled much of the Indian subcontinent, extending from Bengal in the east to Kabul and Sindh in the west, Kashmir in the north to the Kaveri basin in the south.[5] Its population at the time has been estimated as between 110 and 150 million (a quarter of the world's population), over a territory of more than 4 million square kilometres (1.2 million square miles

Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire (also referred to as Baburid Empire, Baburid Dynasty) was founded by Zahiriddin Muhammad Babur, a Timurid prince and ruler from Central Asia. Babur was a direct descendant to the Timurid Emperor Tamerlane on his father's side and also had links to Chagatai, the second son of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, on his mother’s side.[7] Ousted from his ancestral domains in Turkistan by Sheybani Khan, the 14-year old Prince Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass.[7] Babur's forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526.[7] The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India.[7] The instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun, who was driven out of India and into Persia by rebels.[7] Humayun's exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal Courts, and led to increasing West Asian cultural influence in the Mughal court. The restoration of Mughal rule began after Humayun’s triumphant return from Persia in 1555, but he died from a fatal accident shortly afterwards.[7] Humayun's son, Akbar, succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped consolidate the Mughal Empire in India

Answered: Which welfare works were done by Feroz Shah Tughlaq?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 22:23:11 +0000

Feroz Shah Tughlaq did several welfare works for public. Scholarships were awarded to widows, crippled and poor people.Unemployees were listed and were given employments. Many health centres were set up where patients treated freely.

Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1309 – 20 September 1388) was a Turkic Muslim ruler of the Tughlaq Dynasty, who reigned over the Sultanate of Delhi from 1351 to 1388.[1][2] His father's name was Rajab (the younger brother of Ghazi Malik) who had the title Sipahsalar.[citation needed] He succeeded his cousin Muhammad bin Tughlaq following the latter's death at Thatta in Sindh, where Muhammad bin Tughlaq had gone in pursuit of Taghi the ruler of Gujarat. For the first time in the history of Delhi Sultanate, a situation was confronted wherein nobody was ready to accept the reins of power. With much difficulty, the camp followers convinced Firuz to accept the responsibility. In fact, Khwaja Jahan, the Wazir of Muhammad bin Tughlaq had placed a small boy on throne claiming him to the son of Muhammad bin Tughlaq,[3] who meekly surrendered afterwards. Due to widespread unrest, his realm was much smaller than Muhammad's. Tughlaq was forced by rebellions to concede virtual independence to Bengal and other provinces.

Rule

We know of Firuz Shah Tughlaq in part through his 32-page autobiography, titled Futuhat-e-firozshahi..[4][5] He was 45 when he became Sultan of Delhi in 1351. He ruled until 1388. At his succession, after the death of Muhammad Tughlaq, he faced many rebellions, including in Bengal, Gujarat and Warangal. Nonetheless he worked to improve the infrastructure of the empire building canals, rest-houses and hospitals, creating and refurbishing reservoirs and digging wells. He founded several cities around Delhi, including Jaunpur, Ferozpur, Hissar, Firuzabad, Fatehabad.[6] Most of Firozabad was destroyed as subsequent rulers dismantled its buildings and reused the spolia as building materials,[7] and the rest was subsumed as New Delhi grew.

Moderation

Tughlaq was a fervent Muslim. He made a number of important concessions to theologians. He tried to ban practices that the orthodox theologians considered un-Islamic, an example being his prohibition of the practice of Muslim women going out to worship at the graves of saints. He persecuted a number of Muslim sects which were considered heretical by the theologians.[citation needed] Tughlaq took to heart the mistakes made during his cousin Muhammad's rule. He decided not to reconquer areas that had broken away, nor to keep further areas from taking their independence. He was indiscriminately benevolent and lenient as a sultan.[8] He decided to keep nobles and the Ulema happy so that they would allow him to rule his kingdom peacefully.

"The southern states had drifted away from the Sultanate and there were rebellions in Gujarat and Sindh", while "Bengal asserted its independence." The Sultan led expeditions to against Bengal in 1353 and 1358. The Sultan captured Cuttack, desecrated the Jagannath Temple, Puri, and forced Raja Gajpati of Jajnagar in Orissa to pay tribute. Most of the Jajnagar raid has been disproved by KC Panigrahi. The Original Muslim chroncilers refer to a raid, which, demolished Jagannath Temple and destroyed stone Idols. Subsequent Archaeological evidence disproves the complete demolition to the Temple even though structural superficial damages have been seen. Also, Jagannath Mandira does not have stone Idols. The Daru Brahma is a wooden Idol which is replaced after every Nabakalabera that happens once every 14-16 years based on an Odia Panchanga. This implies the raid while true , does not sound like a large scale invasion, but, more of a Hit and run incident. This is not uncommon for Medieval chroniclers.

Answered: Followers of which religion visit the tomb of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishiti and who benefit from his teachings?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 22:12:45 +0000

The Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and followers of other religions also visit the tomb of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishiti and there is a great benefit in his teachings for all humanity.

Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, r.a. was born in Seistan (East Persia) also known as Sajistan, around 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.) in a well respected family. His father, Khwaja Ghayasuddin, r.a. and mother, Syeda Bibi Ummalwara (alias Bibi Mahe-Noor), were the descendants of Hazrat Ali, r.a. through his sons Imam Hassan and Imam Hussain. Khwaja Sahib lost both his father and mother at an early age of sixteen years. He inherited an orchard and millstone which were his means of livelihood. One day when Khwaja Sahib was working in his orchard, a pious dervish and majzoob, Ebrahim Qandoozi, came and took his seat under the shade of a tree. When Khwaja Sahib saw him, he brought a bunch of grapes and presented it to his guest. The visitor ate the grapes and was delighted. He then took something out of his bag, chewed it, then offered it to his young host. Khwaja Sahib ate it without any hesitation, and at once the light of wisdom and knowledge dawned upon the young Khwaja. Immediately he disposed of all of his worldly belongings and distributed the money amongst the poor. Having thus broken all the ties with worldly affairs, he set off for Samarkand and Bokhara then the great centres of learning for religious education and knowledge.

Spiritual Guidance

When Khwaja Sahib had acquired the best knowledge and wisdom of the time, he travelled widely in search of a Pir (spiritual guide) who could provide him with the best spiritual guidance. He came to know of Hazrat Khwaja Usman Harooni , r.a, who was the greatest scholar and unrivalled spiritual guide of that period. In the very first meeting, Khwaja Sahib completely submitted himself to his Murshid and remained in the company of this great divine spiritual leader, for twenty years and served him devotedly, passing through the various stages of spiritual life. Thus the great Murshid trained and elevated Khwaja Sahib to the highest spiritual attainments.

Hajj and the Prophet's (s.a.w.s) Command

As the great Khwaja Sahib became accomplished and perfect in every respect, the divine tutor honoured him with the robe and took him to Hajj. Both then proceeded to Mecca and performed the Hajj, and then went to Medina and stayed there for some time, to receive blessings from the prophet of Islam (s.a.w.s.)

One night, while in a trance, he was ordered by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.): "O Muinuddin! you are a prop of our faith. Proceed to India and show the Path of Truth to the people there." In compliance with the above spiritual command, Khwaja Sahib left Medina for India. He continued his journey, passing through Isfahan, Bokhara, Herat, Lahore and Delhi meeting several prominent Sufis of the period. He arrived at the barren and desolate land of Rajputana which is now known as Rajasthan. On his way to India, he enrolled large numbers of people into his fold and blessed thousands of others with spiritual power.

Khwaja Sahib at Ajmer, India

Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, r.a., arrived in Ajmer at the age of 52 years around 587 A.H. (1190 A.D.), on his divine mission, unique in the annals of Islam. His only armour for the success of his great mission was the greatest "invisible power" that pervades and sustains the whole universe. At that time, Ajmer was ruled by Prithvi Raj Chauhan, the famous Rajput king. In his court, he had a large number of powerful magicians with Ajai Pal as their leader. Khwaja Sahib stayed on a hill close to Ana Sagar lake now known as the Chillah Khwaja Sahib. When the news spread that a very pious Dervish had come to Ajmer, people began to flock to him in increasing numbers. Whoever came to him, received the kindest treatment and blessings. People were so much inspired by his divine teachings and simplicity that they began to embrace Islam. Many became his disciples. Even Ajai pal submitted himself to the divine powers of Khwaja Sahib, gave up all his magic and became his disciple.

Meanwhile, Shahabuddin Ghori again attacked India, in 1192 A.D., and in the famous battle of Tarain, defeated Prithvi Raj. When Shahabuddin Ghori came to know of the presence of Khwaja Sahib at Ajmer, he personally came to see him at his place, and enjoyed the grace of his meeting.

Khwaja Sahib continued his noble magnificent mission, showing the Path of Truth to the people. He also sent his disciples and successors to the different part of the country who also served the people and preached the tenets of Islam. A few of his prominent successors are:

Answered: What do you know about the Art of Calligraphy in the 14th century?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 22:10:21 +0000

The Art of Calligraphy had been closed connected with Islamic culture. The Muslim calligraphers have written Quranic verses and traditions of the Holy Prophet in usual form of Arabic script, plain round Persian writing and other scripts with great devotion and skill.

Beyond Representation surveys Chinese painting and calligraphy from the eighth to the fourteenth century, a period during which Chinese society and artistic expression underwent profound changes. A fourteenth-century Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) literati landscape painting presents a world that is totally different from that portrayed in the monumental landscape images of the early Sung dynasty (960–1279). To chronicle and explain the evolution from formal representation to self-expression is the purpose of this book. Wen C. Fong, one of the world's most eminent scholars of Chinese art, takes the reader through this evolution, drawing on the outstanding collection of Chinese painting and calligraphy in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Focusing on 118 works, each illustrated in full color, the book significantly augments the standard canon of images used to describe the period, enhancing our sense of the richness and complexity of artistic expression during this six-hundred-year era.

Placing equal emphasis on stylistic analysis, social context, and cultural values. Professor Fong considers several issues in Chinese art history: style and its social functions, the changing fortunes of the artist, antiquity and synthesis as guiding principles, and the Chinese view of creativity and change. In this exploration he highlights three areas of artistic accomplishment: narrative painting, the depiction of landscape, and the calligraphy and calligraphic painting of the scholar officials. Moving from art to history he outlines the schism within the Confucian state during the later Sung and the Yuan dynasties between the ruling imperial ideology and the humanist philosophy of the scholar officials, with the consequent rise of literati painting as the true voice of the Chinese artistic sensibility. The branching off into official and private narrative is mirrored in religious painting: while professional craftsmen continued the practice of courtly techniques in the painting of icons, Taoist and Ch'an Buddhist painters adopted scholarly aesthetic principles to create new, highly individualistic images and styles. Unlike narrative representation, which had a long history of development prior to the Sung, landscape painting began to emerge as a preeminent art form in the tenth century, reaching its zenith during the Northern Sung (960–1177), a golden age of art and cultural development. From the second half of the eleventh century, painters turned increasingly from more objective naturalistic landscape to landscape imbued with human emotion, breaking away from officially sanctioned pictorial conventions to create more symbolic representations of single flowers, rocks, and trees.

By the time of the Yuan dynasty, following the Mongol conquest of 1279, objective representation in art had been replaced by imagery that drew on the artist's inner response to the world. At this time, the painter began to inscribe poems and incorporate calligraphy in his works, the meaning of the painted subject made complex by personal and symbolic associations enhanced by its expression in language. With the multiple relations between word, image, and calligraphy forming the basis of a new art, Chinese painting entered its richest and most diverse stage of development.

Answered: What was the belief of Hindus about Somnath temple?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 22:02:51 +0000

Somnath was a famous sacred temple of Hindus. Hindus believed that he who would attack Somnath , himself will be annihilated. When Mahmood Ghaznavi came to know of this, he attacked Somnath and conquered it.

The Somnath temple located in Prabhas Patan near Veraval in Saurashtra on the western coast of Gujarat, is believed to be the first among the twelve jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva. It is an important pilgrimage and tourist spot of Gujarat. Destroyed and reconstructed several times in the past, the present temple was reconstructed in Chaulukya style of Hindu temple architecture and completed in May 1951.

Quotes

There are various accounts of why and how Mahmood Ghazni attacked Somnath. In his book Pakistan or The Partition of India, Dr B.R. Ambedkar refers to the raids on Somnath and quotes the description given by Al’Utbi, the historian of Mahmood Ghazni: ‘He demolished idol temples and established Islam. He captured…cities, and destroyed the idolaters, gratifying Muslims. He then returned home and promulgated accounts of the victories obtained for Islam…and vowed that every year he would undertake a holy war against Hind.’

L.K. Advani, My Country My Life (2008). ISBN 978-81-291-1363-4

Perhaps no other pilgrimage in India combines the eternal with the historical as vividly as that to the Somnath temple.... Whenever I have visited Prabhas Patan and watched the waves of the sea lapping up the feet of the Somnath temple, I have wondered how much of India’s timeless history has been witnessed by this imposing and lonely-looking shrine.

Munshi’s novel provides a poignant account of how Somnath was both a witness to, and a target of, foreign invasions during the medieval period. Mahmood Ghazni, a Turkish sultan of the province of Ghazni in Afghanistan, attacked India seventeen times in a span of twenty-five years between the years AD 1001-26. Somnath was a particularly coveted target for him. Muslim chronicles indicate that 50,000 Hindus died in the battle for Somnath in AD 1024. The Shiva lingam was destroyed by the sultan himself. After the battle, Mahmood and his troops are believed to have carried away vast amounts of gold and other riches stored in the temple. They are also said to have taken Hindu statues and buried them at the entrance of a mosque in Ghazni so that the faithful could trample on them. Munshi’s novel describes not only the destruction and pillage of the Somnath temple, and the betrayal by some Hindus on account of petty caste considerations, but also the heroic defence by its devotees, who would reconstruct it after each successive attack.

L.K. Advani, My Country My Life (2008). ISBN 978-81-291-1363-4

Describing Somnath temple as a symbol of national faith, the President elaborated: ‘By rising from its ashes again, this temple of Somnath is to say proclaiming to the world that no man and no power in the world can destroy that for which people have boundless faith and love in their hearts… Today, our attempt is not to rectify history. Our only aim is to proclaim anew our attachment to the faith, convictions and to the values on which our religion has rested since immemorial ages.’

It is not out of place here to mention that the news of the reconstruction of the Somnath temple met with angry condemnation in Pakistan. A public meeting was held in Karachi to denounce the Indian government’s action.

The Somnath temple today stands as a sobering reminder that a weak nation that cannot defend itself against external attacks stands to lose much more than its political freedom; it risks losing its cultural heritage, which is the heart and soul of India. By reconstructing the Somnath temple, as one of the early acts of the Government of India, Sardar Patel and Munshi, with the blessings of Mahatma Gandhi and Rajendra Prasad, made it a proud testimony of India’s determination to erase the history of bigoted alien attacks and regain its lost cultural treasure

Answered: Write a short note on Hinduism

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 21:58:34 +0000

Hinduism is an ancient religion. It is based on experiments and social traditions. According to Hinduism the good or bad deeds of human do not get wasted. A human being reborns after death in good or bad form. It is based on his or her good or bad acts.

Hinduism is a religion with various Gods and Goddesses. According to Hinduism, three Gods rule the world. Brahma: the creator; Vishnu: the preserver and Shiva: the destroyer. Lord Vishnu did his job of preserving the world by incarnating himself in different forms at times of crisis.

The three Lords that rule the world have consorts and they are goddesses too. Consort of Brahma is Sarasvati; goddess of learning. Vishnu's consort is Lakshmi; goddess of wealth and prosperity. Shiva's consort is Parvati who is worshipped as Kali or Durga.

Besides these Gods and Goddesses there are a number of other Gods and Goddesses. To name a few of them, there is Ganesh; who has an elephant's head and he is also a son of Shiva and Parvati, Hanuman; who is an ape, Surya; Lord of sun, Ganga Ma; Goddess of river Ganges; Samundra; Lord of the sea, Indra; king of the Gods ( but he isn't an important God), Prithvi; Goddess of earth, Shakti; Goddess of strength. The Hindus call their Goddesses 'Ma' meaning mother.

Some gods have more than one name. Shiva is also known as Shankar, Mahadev, Natraj, Mahesh and many other names. Ganesh is also called Ganpati. God Vishnu incarnated 9 times to do his job and in his every appearance he had a different form which are also worshipped as Gods. Among his appearances, he appeared as Rama, Krishna, Narsimha, Parsuram and Buddha. Krishna also has different names, Gopal; Kishan; Shyam and other names. He also has other titles with meanings like 'Basuri Wala' which means the flute musician and 'Makhan Chor' which means the butter stealer. There are also Gods who can change their forms, for example: Parvati can change into Kali or Durga.

Not all of these Gods are worshiped by all Hindus. Some Hindus worship only Vishnu. Others worship only Shiva. Others worship only the Goddesses and call these Goddesses collectively as Shakti meaning strength. Many of these Goddess worshipers worship Parvati in her images as Kali or Durga. People who worship Shiva or Vishnu also worship characters and images connected with these Gods. Vishnu worshipers (Vaishnaites) also worship his appearances. Shiva's worshipers (Shaivites) also worship images of bull called Nandi, who was Shiva's carrier and a unique stone design connected to Shiva. There are also Hindus who worship all the Gods. There are some Gods who are worshiped all over India like Rama and Krishna and other Gods who are worshiped more in one region than the other like Ganesh who is worshiped mainly in west India. Hindus also worship Gods according to their personal needs. People who engage in wrestling, body building and other physical sports worship Hanuman, who in Hindu legends was an ape with lot of physical strength. Businessmen worship Lakshmi, Goddess of wealth.

Though these Hindus worship different idols, there are many Hindus who believe in one God and perceive in these different Gods and Goddesses as different images of the same one God. According to their beliefs idolatry is the wrong interpretation of Hinduism.

Hindus believe in reincarnation. The basic belief is that a person's fate is determined according to his deeds. These deeds in Hinduism are called 'Karma'. A soul who does good Karma in this life will be awarded with a better life in the next incarnation. Souls who do bad Karma will be punished for their sins, if not in this incarnation then in the next incarnation and will continue to be born in this world again and again. The good souls will be liberated from the circle of rebirth and get redemption which is called 'Moksha' meaning freedom. Hindus normally cremate their dead ones, so that the soul of the dead would go to heaven, except in a few cases of Hindu saints, who are believed to have attained 'Moksha'.

The main Hindu books are the four Vedas. They are Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. The concluding portions of the Vedas are called Upanisads. There are also other holy books like Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharta etc. The different Gods and Goddesses in the Hindu mythology are derived from these books. Ramayana and Mahabharta are the most popular Hindu books.

The main story of Ramayana is the story of Lord Rama. Rama was born in a royal family and was suppose to be the king, but because of his step- mother, he was forced to exile from his kingdom for fourteen years. During this period his consort Sita was kidnapped by a demon called Ravan, who was king of Lanka. Rama with the help of his brother, Lakshman, and an army of monkeys under the leadership of Hanuman, rescued Sita. Many Indians believe that the present day Sri Lanka was then the kingdom of Lanka.

Mahabharta is a family epic. In this epic the Pandva family and the Kaurav family who are cousins fight with each other for the control over a kingdom. Kaurav family, which consisted of 100 brothers rule an empire. The five Pandva brothers ask for a small kingdom which belongs to them. The Kauravs refuse to give the Pandvas the kingdom so there is a war between the Pandvas and the Kauravs in which it is believed that all the kingdoms of that period in India took part. In this war the Pandvas, with the help of Lord Krishna win the war. Before the commencement of the war, while the two armies are facing each other, one of the Pandva brothers Arjun gets depressed. Arjun is depressed because he has to fight against people whom he knows, loves and respects. At this point Krishna, (who was also a king of a kingdom, and participated in this war only as the chariot driver for Arjun) convinces Arjun to fight. Krishna lectures Arjun about life, human beings and their religious duties. He explains to Arjun that he belongs to a warrior caste and he has to fight for that's his destination in this incarnation. Those chapters in the Mahabharta which are Krishna's discourses on religious philosophy are called Bhagvad Gita. Because of it's importance the Bhagvad Gita is considered as a separate holy book. Another Hindu holy book that deals with religious duties is 'Law of Manu' or the 'Dharma Shastra'.

Answered: Which things still can be witnessed that showa Ashoka's beliefs in Buddhism?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 21:41:22 +0000

Ashoka issued golden commands and ordered to engrave them upon rocks and pillars so that people could read them. These commands still can be witnessed all over India and Pakistan which shows his beliefs in Buddhism.

Answered: Which circumstances gave birth to Buddhism?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 21:35:58 +0000

Some key facts about Buddhism include:

Followers of Buddhism don’t acknowledge a supreme god or deity. They instead focus on achieving enlightenment—a state of inner peace and wisdom. When followers reach this spiritual echelon, they’re said to have experienced nirvana.

The religion’s founder, Buddha, is considered an extraordinary man, but not a god. The word Buddha means “enlightened.”

The path to enlightenment is attained by utilizing morality, meditation and wisdom. Buddhists often meditate because they believe it helps awaken truth.

There are many philosophies and interpretations within Buddhism, making it a tolerant and evolving religion.

Some scholars don’t recognize Buddhism as an organized religion, but rather, a “way of life” or a “spiritual tradition.”

Buddhism encourages its people to avoid self-indulgence but also self-denial.

Buddha’s most important teachings, known as The Four Noble Truths, are essential to understanding the religion.

Buddhists embrace the concepts of karma (the law of cause and effect) and reincarnation (the continuous cycle of rebirth).

Followers of Buddhism can worship in temples or in their own homes.

Buddhist monks, or bhikkhus, follow a strict code of conduct, which includes celibacy.

The Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama, who later became known as “The Buddha,” lived during the 5th century B.C. Gautama was born into a wealthy family as a prince in present-day Nepal.

Although he had an easy life, Gautama was moved by suffering in the world. He decided to give up his lavish lifestyle and endure poverty.

When this didn’t fulfill him, he promoted the idea of the “Middle Way,” which means existing between two extremes. Thus, he sought a life without social indulgences but also without deprivation.

After six years of searching, Buddhists believe Gautama found enlightenment while meditating under a Bodhi tree. He spent the rest of his life teaching others about how to achieve this spiritual state.

Answered: Who were called "forty chiefmen"?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 21:29:29 +0000

Sultan Illtutmish established justice in public. Sultan made a "majlis" of his loyals that advised the king. People who joined the majlis were called "forty chiefmen".

Answered: What is the basic aim of History?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 21:23:21 +0000

The basic aim of History is to keep the new generation up-to-date about the country and its traditions, so that they can lay out plans for future.

Like all other subjects in the School Curriculum, history has its own aims or purposes. Ghate has aptly said. "An aim is the conscious purpose which we keep before our minds while doing a thing or after having done". In general, the aims of teaching history are the same as that of education-for example, the all-round development of children. Aims are usually general and long term goals which are desired to be realized through teaching history.

Aims of Teaching History

History aims at helping students to understand the present existing social, political, religious and economic conditions of the people. The present is in fact the child of the past. It is a development of the past. Without the knowledge of history we cannot have the background of our religion, customs institutions, administration and so on. Our present conditions are thus the result of the past problems.

Ghate has rightly pointed out that to understand the present; we must see the past which is hidden in it. Some people consider it to be so important that they are in favor of teaching history backwards. They would start with present items and then go back in reverse order till they reach the Stone Age. It is to be realized that history is a study of the present and not of the dead past. We are not interested in the past for its own sake. We have no time to tell grandma's tales of the past.

The teaching of history helps the students to explain the present, to analyze it and to trace its course. Cause-and-effect relationship between the past and the present is lively presented in the history. History thus helps us to understand the present day problems both at the national and international level accurately and objectively. This understanding enables us to lead useful and efficient lives. We should feel "that history is interesting and that it has a real bearing on our everyday life and that it is, therefore, worthwhile taking trouble to assimilate its facts."

Thus, it may be concluded that there are mainly two aims of teaching history-(l) the UTILITARIAN AIM and INTELLECTUAL AIM. The former emphasizes that history gives us a body of useful information necessary for understanding the current problems. It creates interest as well as love for reading historical figures, characters, events and facts which are found necessary for solving the present problems effectively. Secondly, the reading of history trains memory, reasoning, presentation of facts systematically and successfully. It enables students to analyze & weigh evidences and take right decisions. All this helps in intellectual development of children.

Answered: According to Balban what a king shoulod do?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 21:20:04 +0000

According to Balban "The king should make the estate affairs of his country better and establish peace and order instead of invading on the other countries".

Answered: What is the main function of the urs of Baba Farid?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 21:17:07 +0000

The main function of this urs is the opening of the "Blessed Door". Millions devotees participate in this festival.

The Shrine of Baba Farid (Punjabi and Urdu: بابا فرید درگاہ‎) is a 13th-century Sufi shrine located in Pakpattan, Pakistan, that is dedicated to the Sufi mystic Fariduddin Ganjshakar, popularly known as Baba Farid. The shrine is one of the most important in Pakistan,[1] and was among the first Islamic holy sites in South Asia[2] – providing the region's Muslims a local focus for devotion.[2] The shrine is also revered by Sikhs, who include Baba Farid's poetry into the Guru Granth Sahib - regarded by Sikhs to be the eternal Guru.[3]

The shrine played a central role in the conversion of local tribes to Islam over the course of several centuries.[4] Chiefs of the highly revered shrine once controlled a politically autonomous state that was defended by soldiers drawn from local clans that pledged loyalty to the shrine and descendants of Baba Farid.[2] Today the shrine is considered to be the most significant in Punjab,[1] and attracts up to two million visitors to its annual urs festival

Location

The shrine is located in the town of Pakpattan, in the Pakistani province of Punjab, near the right bank of the Sutlej River.

Background

Turkish settlers had arrived in the region around Pakpattan in the 13th century a result of pressures from the expanding Mongol Empire,[2] and so the city already had a Muslim community with its own mosque by the time of Baba Farid's arrival. Baba Farid established a Jama Khana, or convent, in what was then known as Ajodhan that attracted large masses of devotees who would gather at the convent daily in hopes of securing ta'widh, or written blessings and amulets.[2] Devotees would in turn offer a futuh, or gift to the shrine in return.[2]

By the 13th century, the belief that the spiritual powers of great Sufi saints were attached to their burial sites was widespread in the Muslim world,[2] and so a shrine was built to commemorate the burial site of Baba Farid after he died in 1265.

In keeping with Sufi tradition in Punjab, the shrine maintains influence over smaller shrines throughout the region around Pakpattan that are dedicated to specific events in Baba Farid's life.[6] The secondary shrines form a wilayat, or a "spiritual territory" of the shrine,[6] with Pakpattan serving as the capital of Baba Farid's spiritual territory, or wilayat.[6] The shrine and its wilayat also bound local tribes together with a collective identity based on reverence for the shrine.

History

Establishment

By the time of Baba Farid's death, the belief that the spiritual powers saints were attached to their burial sites was widespread in the Muslim world,[2] and so following the death of Baba Farid in 1265, a shrine was built at the place of his burial near his convent. The shrine complex eventually grew to encompass not only the tomb itself, but also a mosque, a langar, and several other related buildings.[2]

In 1281, Sheik Ala ad-Din Mauj Darya was appointed as spiritual successor of Baba Farid. Under his authority, the shrine's popularity grew spectacularly,[2] and the countryside around the shrine began to revere the shrine.[7] In 1315, the Sufi mystic Amir Khusrow noted in detail that the 50th anniversary of Baba Farid's death was celebrated by an urs festival which attracted devotees who heard recitations of the saints deeds, and were treated to entertainment by an ensemble of dervishes.[2]

Various secondary shrines devoted to Baba Farid also began to be established around the 14th century that extended the shrine's spiritual territory, or wilayat,[2] though the shrines were built by commoners, rather than royal patrons.[2] The network of shrines defined tracts in Punjab as being areas belonging to the spiritual kingdom of Baba Farid, where spiritual powers of the saint could protect travelers.[2] It was noted that beyond borders of Baba Farid's wilayat lay the wilayat belonging to the Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya in Multan

Answered: Why Urdu is spoken in all parts of the Subcontinent?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:46:45 +0000

Urdu came into existence by the combination of all languages that of period. It is spoken in all parts of the Subcontinent due to this reason. \rdu spoken in India is not very different from Urdu spoken in Pakistan.

The difference you would see, would be mainly because that in Pakistan the medium of education for a large number of people is Urdu… so if a non-Urdu speaker (like a Punjabi, Pathan, Baloch or Sindhi) would speak Urdu, it would very much influenced by ‘kitabi’ Urdu… which a puritan would call ‘translated’ Urdu. They would be not very generous with using metaphors, sayings and idioms. The same thing is seen in their written Urdu, though to a lesser extent.

Many of the people answering here has said that Urdu in Pakistan is influenced by Punjabi. I do not think it is true. The truth is other way round. Punjabi is much influenced by Urdu. Punjabi-speaking writers of Urdu has enriched its vocabulary a lot but they have not affected its syntax. True that some people would say ‘main ne jana hai’ instead of ‘mujhe jana hai’ but sooner or later they would be corrected by someone more educated.

Don’t go by the Urdu spoken in Pakistani media. Many of the media persons are young people educated in English medium and their foundation in Urdu is not very strong. If you want to hear good Urdu, watch Pakistani tv dramas of 70s, 80s and 90s. You will not only find good Urdu, but also see how regional differences affect the accent. A drama for Quetta (Balochi, Brahvi influences) or Peshawar (Pashto, Hindko influences) center of PTV would sound differently. Lahore center would have its own color (Punjabi, Pothohair, Saraiki) and Karachi center would provide the purest form of Urdu spoken in Pakistan, along with the Sindhi influences, as the writers their are native speakers of Urdu or Sindhi. Television dramas of today are not a very good indicator of the Urdu spoken in Pakistan, all of them seem colored in the same shade.

Look out for dramas like Waaris, Samandar, Raat, Khwahish, Pyas and Din (Lahore center) and Ankahi, Tanhayian, Khuda ki Basti, Aakhri Chattan (Karachi center). All of these are available on Youtube with many more.

Answered: What was the religion of the Indus Valley people?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:44:09 +0000

The religion of the Indus Valley Civilization could not be gussed through any composition. However, there have been found portraits of gods and mother godsses on stemps, which reflect that they used to worship the statues and gods. Clay statues were also made for worshipping purposes.

For well over 1,000 years, sacred stories and heroic epics have made up the mythology of Hinduism. Nothing in these complex yet colourful legends is fixed and firm. Pulsing with creation, destruction, love, and war, it shifts and changes. Most myths occur in several different versions, and many characters have multiple roles, identities, and histories. This seeming confusion reflects the richness of a mythology that has expanded and taken on new meanings over the centuries.

Hinduism stood for a wide variety of related religious traditions native to India. Historically, it involved the evolution since the pre-Christian epoch. In turn, it looked back to age-old belief of the Indus Valley Civilization followed by the Vedic religion.

INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

The Indus Valley Civilization ensued during the Bronze Age (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE). It mostly spread along the Indus and the Punjab region, extending into the Ghaggar-Hakra river valley and the Ganga-Yamuna Doab, surrounding most of what is now Pakistan, the western states of modern-day India, as well as extending into south-eastern Afghanistan, and the easternmost part of Baluchistan, Iran.

The geography of the Indus Valley put the civilizations that arose there in a similar situation to those in Egypt and Peru, with rich agricultural lands being surrounded by highlands, desert, and ocean. Of late, Indus sites had been discovered in Pakistan's north-western Frontier Province as well. Other smaller isolated colonies were found as far away as Turkmenistan. Coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor in Western Baluchistan to Lothal in Gujarat. An Indus Valley site was located on the Oxus River at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan,

By 2600 BCE, early communities turned into large urban centres. Such inner-city centres included Harappa, Ganeriwala, Mohenjo-Daro in Pakistan, and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Rupar, and Lothal in India. In total, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the region of the Indus and the tributaries.

Steatite seals had images of animals, people (perhaps gods), and other types of inscriptions, including the yet un-deciphered writing system of the Indus Valley Civilization. A number of gold, terra-cotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses showed the presence of some dance form. Also, these terra-cotta figurines included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs. Sir John Marshall reacted with surprise when he saw the famous Indus bronze statuette of a slender-limbed dancing girl in Mohenjo-Daro:

Answered: Portraits of which animals were found in Harrapa?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:42:00 +0000

Portraits of the bull, rhinocerous, lion and elephant have been found in Harrapa.

Harappan Collection

The first gallery on the ground floor of National Museum is called the Harappan gallery. The collections in this gallery grew out of the discoveries of the pioneering excavations made during early 20th century, and later after the Indian independence in 1947. The Harappan civilization is believed to be one of the oldest world civilizations together with Egypt and Mesopotamia. Objects in this gallery remain the richest and most important of their kind in the world.

The Harappan civilization developed along the mighty river, Indus and for that reason it is also known as the Indus Valley Civilization. Most of the exhibits in this gallery come from important centers of the Harappan Civilization and ancient towns like Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Nal (now in present-day Pakistan), Dholavira, Kalibangan, Lothal and Rakhigarhi (in India).

The Harappan civilization is identified as a Bronze-age civilization because many objects have been found that are made up of copper based alloys. For example, the gallery displays the famous ‘dancing girl,’ a bronze figurine that provides an insight into the advances made in art and metallurgy, as well as the hairstyle and ornaments prevalent during the period. The gallery depicts the comparative chronology of four major Bronze Age civilizations in 3rd millennium B.C.E. which existed simultaneously across the world. It also shows the major Harappan sites and representation of the layout of a street from Dholavira which, gives the visitor a picture of the urban civilization that flourished during the time.

Harappan Collection

The Harappan civilization produced many seals, a representation of which is displayed in the gallery. A remarkable seal depicts a man in ‘yogic’ posture, surrounded by animals, leading to the speculation that this could be ‘Pashupati’, an early form of Shiva. Many of the seals have inscriptions, the characters and symbols in a language that has not yet been deciphered. These seals give useful information about the civilization of Indus Valley and can be seen in different geometrical shapes.

There are also a few famous examples of the Harappan terracotta figurines. These offer the most intimate insight into the people of Harappan age, since many of the representations seem to have been taken from daily life. Another remarkable collection is the variety of toys, animal-like objects and household implements.

Weights made of Chert in different shapes and of different denominations are exhibited in one of the wall cases. Some well- shaped bronze tools and elaborate jewellery of semi-precious stones are also displayed in other showcases. Polished stone pillars are on show to present an idea of how these stones, made up of parts, were used in architecture – a unique feature of Harappan masonry.

Answered: Why the evacuation of local community was started in Indus Valley?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:38:22 +0000

People of Indus Valley were civilized and peaceful. Aryan assailants destroyed their graceful civilization. Aryans attacked Indus Valley inhabitants and pushed the local community towrads South-East.

A WELL-PLANNED STREET grid and an elaborate drainage system hint that the occupants of the ancient Indus civilization city of Mohenjo Daro were skilled urban planners with a reverence for the control of water. But just who occupied the ancient city in modern-day Pakistan during the third millennium B.C. remains a puzzle.

"It's pretty faceless," says Indus expert Gregory Possehl of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The city lacks ostentatious palaces, temples, or monuments. There's no obvious central seat of government or evidence of a king or queen. Modesty, order, and cleanliness were apparently preferred. Pottery and tools of copper and stone were standardized. Seals and weights suggest a system of tightly controlled trade.

The Indus Valley civilization was entirely unknown until 1921, when excavations in what would become Pakistan revealed the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro (shown here). This mysterious… Read More

The city's wealth and stature is evident in artifacts such as ivory, lapis, carnelian, and gold beads, as well as the baked-brick city structures themselves.

A watertight pool called the Great Bath, perched on top of a mound of dirt and held in place with walls of baked brick, is the closest structure Mohenjo Daro has to a temple. Possehl, a National Geographic grantee, says it suggests an ideology based on cleanliness.

Wells were found throughout the city, and nearly every house contained a bathing area and drainage system.

City of Mounds

Archaeologists first visited Mohenjo Daro in 1911. Several excavations occurred in the 1920s through 1931. Small probes took place in the 1930s, and subsequent digs occurred in 1950 and 1964.

The ancient city sits on elevated ground in the modern-day Larkana district of Sindh province in Pakistan.

During its heyday from about 2500 to 1900 B.C., the city was among the most important to the Indus civilization, Possehl says. It spread out over about 250 acres (100 hectares) on a series of mounds, and the Great Bath and an associated large building occupied the tallest mound.

According to University of Wisconsin, Madison, archaeologist Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, also a National Geographic grantee, the mounds grew organically over the centuries as people kept building platforms and walls for their houses.

Answered: What is meant by the Cradle of Civilizations?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:34:02 +0000

Indus Valley, Dajla, Farat and Neil Valley are called "Cradle of Civilization".

The term "cradle of civilization" refers to locations where, according to current archeological data, civilization is understood to have emerged. Current thinking is that there was no single "cradle", but several civilizations that developed independently, with the Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt) understood to be the earliest.[1] Other civilizations arose in Asia among cultures situated along large river valleys, such as the Indo-Gangetic Plain in Ancient India[2] and the Yellow River in Ancient China.[3] The extent to which there was significant influence between the early civilizations of the Near East and those of East Asia is disputed. Scholars accept that the civilizations of Mesoamerica, mainly in modern Mexico, and Norte Chico in present-day Peru emerged independently from those in Eurasia.[4]

Scholars have defined civilization using various criteria such as the use of writing, cities, a class-based society, agriculture, animal husbandry, public buildings, metallurgy, and monumental architecture.[5][6] The term cradle of civilization has frequently been applied to a variety of cultures and areas, in particular the Ancient Near Eastern Chalcolithic (Ubaid period) and Fertile Crescent, Ancient India and Ancient China. It has also been applied to ancient Anatolia, the Levant and Iranian plateau, and used to refer to culture predecessors—such as Ancient Greece as the predecessor of Western civilization[7]—even when such sites are not understood as an independent development of civilization, as well as within national rhetoric

History of the idea

The concept "cradle of civilization" is the subject of much debate. The figurative use of cradle to mean "the place or region in which anything is nurtured or sheltered in its earlier stage" is traced by the Oxford English Dictionary to Spenser (1590). Charles Rollin's Ancient History (1734) has "Egypt that served at first as the cradle of the holy nation".

The phrase "cradle of civilization" plays a certain role in national mysticism. It has been used in Eastern as well as Western cultures, for instance, in Indian nationalism (In Search of the Cradle of Civilization 1995) and Chinese nationalism (Chinese;— The Cradle of Civilization[8] 2002). The terms also appear in esoteric pseudohistory, such as the Urantia Book, claiming the title for "the second Eden", or the pseudoarchaeology related to Megalithic Britain (Civilization One 2004, Ancient Britain: The Cradle of Civilization 1921).

Rise of civilization

Further information: Neolithic Revolution, Urban revolution, and Chalcolithic

The earliest signs of a process leading to sedentary culture can be seen in the Levant to as early as 12,000 BC, when the Natufian culture became sedentary; it evolved into an agricultural society by 10,000 BC.[9] The importance of water to safeguard an abundant and stable food supply, due to favourable conditions for hunting, fishing and gathering resources including cereals, provided an initial wide spectrum economy that triggered the creation of permanent villages.[10]

The earliest proto-urban settlements with several thousand inhabitants emerged in the Neolithic. The first cities to house several tens of thousands were Memphis and Uruk, by the 31st century BC (see Historical urban community sizes).

Historic times are marked apart from prehistoric times when "records of the past begin to be kept for the benefit of future generations";[11] which may be in written or oral form. If the rise of civilization is taken to coincide with the development of writing out of proto-writing, the Near Eastern Chalcolithic, the transitional period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age during the 4th millennium BC, and the development of proto-writing in Harappa in the Indus Valley of South Asia around 3300 BC are the earliest incidences, followed by Chinese proto-writing evolving into the oracle bone script, and again by the emergence of Mesoamerican writing systems from about 900 BC.

Answered: How the arrival of Aryans affected the local community?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:28:46 +0000

A new civilization came into existance with the arrival of Aryans. Slowly each occupation became inheritance. The people belonging to different castes did not get marry to each other. Women were not given share in the property. The local community had become their slave.

ARYANS. Definition of the term “Aryan.” The name “Aryan” (OInd. āˊrya-, Ir. *arya- [with short a-], in Old Pers. ariya-, Av. airiia-, etc.) is the self designation of the peoples of Ancient India and Ancient Iran who spoke Aryan languages, in contrast to the “non-Aryan” peoples of those “Aryan” countries (cf. OInd. an-āˊrya-, Av. an-airiia-, etc.), and lives on in ethnic names like Alan (Lat. Alani, NPers. Īrān, Oss. Ir and Iron. “Aryan” is thus basically a linguistic concept, denoting the closely related Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages (including Nūrestānī), which together form the Indo-Iranian or Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family, sharing a linguistic and cultural development separate from the other IE. tribes. The use of the name “Aryan,” in vogue especially in the 19th century, as a designation of the entire Indo-European language family was based on the erroneous assumption that Sanskrit was the oldest IE. language, and the untenable view (primarily propagated by Adolphe Pictet) that the names of Ireland and the Irishmen were etymologically related to “Aryan.” (For the Iranian attestations of the word, see H. W. Bailey on Arya above. For the etymological problems see also H. Siegert, “Zur Geschichte der Begriffe “Arier” und “arisch”,” Wörter und Sachen 22, N.F. 4, 1941/42, pp. 73-99. M. Mayrhofer, Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen I, Heidelberg, 1956, pp. 49, 52, 79; III, Heidelberg, 1976, pp. 623, 633f.)

The Aryan parent language. The common ancestor of the historical Aryan or Indo-Iranian languages, called the Aryan parent language or Proto-Aryan, can be reconstructed by the methods of historical comparative linguistics. The Indian group or Indo-Aryan (especially Vedic, the language of the Vedas), Avestan, and Old Persian show some remarkable correspondences, especially in the religious language (one could translate whole Av. sentences word by word according to the phonetic laws into correct Vedic). By comparison of the (Old) Indo-Aryan with the (Old) Iranian languages a Proto-Aryan language can be reconstructed, which must be counted as the most archaic of all IE. languages.

A number of exclusive innovations separate Indo-Aryan and Iranian from the other IE. language, e.g., (1) the merger of IE. *a, e, o and *ā, ē, ō into Indo-Ir. *a and *ā respectively (also in the diphthongs), (2) the development of IE. *ə into Indo-Ir. *i, (3) the change of IE. *s after *i, u, r, k into Indo-Ir. *š (Ir. *š, OInd. ṣ), (4) the gen. plur. ending *-nām in the vocalic stem classes, etc. In addition there are important correspondences in the vocabulary, especially in the field of religion and mythology, including morphological elements, such as suffixes and stem-formations, and phraseology. (See Chr. Bartholomae, “Vorgeschichte der iranischen Sprachen,” in Geiger and Kuhn, Grundr. Ir. Phil. I/1, 1895-1901, pp. 1-151. A. Erhart, Struktura indoíránských jazykûʷ [The structure of the Indo-Ir. languages], Brno, 1980.)

Answered: What Sultan Ghaisuddin did for the development of agriculture?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:22:46 +0000

Sultan encouraged the farmers and ordered the officers to receive maximum revenue from them. He withdrew all the taxes which were seemed to be burden on the public. He ordered to dig canals and in his period the prices of grain were low.

Taking root around 12,000 years ago, agriculture triggered such a change in society and the way in which people lived that its development has been dubbed the “Neolithic Revolution.” Traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyles, followed by humans since their evolution, were swept aside in favor of permanent settlements and a reliable food supply. Out of agriculture, cities and civilizations grew, and because crops and animals could now be farmed to meet demand, the global population rocketed—from some five million people 10,000 years ago, to more than seven billion today.

There was no single factor, or combination of factors, that led people to take up farming in different parts of the world. In the Near East, for example, it’s thought that climatic changes at the end of the last ice age brought seasonal conditions that favored annual plants like wild cereals. Elsewhere, such as in East Asia, increased pressure on natural food resources may have forced people to find homegrown solutions. But whatever the reasons for its independent origins, farming sowed the seeds for the modern age.

Plant Domestication

The wild progenitors of crops including wheat, barley, and peas are traced to the Near East region. Cereals were grown in Syria as long as 9,000 years ago, while figs were cultivated even earlier; prehistoric seedless fruits discovered in the Jordan Valley suggest fig trees were being planted some 11,300 years ago. Though the transition from wild harvesting was gradual, the switch from a nomadic to a settled way of life is marked by the appearance of early Neolithic villages with homes equipped with grinding stones for processing grain.

The origins of rice and millet farming date to the same Neolithic period in China. The world’s oldest known rice paddy fields, discovered in eastern China in 2007, reveal evidence of ancient cultivation techniques such as flood and fire control.

In Mexico, squash cultivation began around 10,000 years ago, but corn (maize) had to wait for natural genetic mutations to be selected for in its wild ancestor, teosinte. While maize-like plants derived from teosinte appear to have been cultivated at least 9,000 years ago, the first directly dated corn cob dates only to around 5,500 years ago.

Corn later reached North America, where cultivated sunflowers also started to bloom some 5,000 years ago. This is also when potato growing in the Andes region of South America began.

Farmed Animals

Cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs all have their origins as farmed animals in the so-called Fertile Crescent, a region covering eastern Turkey, Iraq, and southwestern Iran. This region kick-started the Neolithic Revolution. Dates for the domestication of these animals range from between 13,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Answered: Who was Amir Hajib?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:18:07 +0000

Amir Hajib was the supreme officer of the court who managed all the ceremonies. He presented to the visitors before king's court.

Answered: What information we get from the clay tablets which are found in Iraq?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:16:03 +0000

The clay tablets which are found in Iraq at different points inform us that those people used to carry trading goods to Indus Valley. Agreements of exchange of goods under barter system also existed there.

Answered: Which things are not found in Indus Valley Cities?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:10:51 +0000

Grand palaces, temples and tombs are not found in Indus Valley cities.

he Gupta Empire (A.D. 320 to 647) was marked by the return of Brahmanism (Hinduism) as the state religion. It also regarded as the classical period or golden age of Hindu art, literature and science. The Gupta established a strong central government which also allowed a degree of local control. Gupta society was ordered in accordance with Hindu beliefs. This included a strict caste system. Peace and prosperity created under Gupta leadership enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors. [Source: Regents Prep]

Steven M. Kossak and Edith W. Watts from The Metropolitan Museum of Art wrote: “The Gupta emperors (4th–6th century) conquered and unified a large portion of northern India and, like the Mughals, created a powerful central state surrounded by kingdoms loyal to it. Under royal patronage, this period became India’s classical age of literature, theater, and visual art. The aesthetic canons that came to dominate all the arts of later India were codified during this time. Sanskrit poetry and prose, including the work of the great dramatist Kalidasa, flourished, and the concept of zero was conceived which led to a more practical system of numbering. Arab traders adapted and further developed the concept, and from western Asia the system of “Arabic numerals” traveled to Europe. [Source: Steven M. Kossak and Edith W. Watts, The Art of South, and Southeast Asia, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]

Akhilesh Pillalamarri wrote in The National Interest: “The Gupta Empire (320-550 C.E.) was a great empire but also had a mixed record. Like the previous Maurya Empire, it was based in the Magadha region and conquered much of South Asia, though unlike that empire, its territory was limited only to what is today North India. It was under Gupta rule that India enjoyed the height of its classical civilization, its golden age, when much of its famous literature and science was produced. Yet, it was also under the Guptas that caste became rigid while the decentralization of power to local rulers continued. After a period of initial expansion, the empire stabilized and did a good job of keeping out invaders (like the Huns) for two centuries. Indian civilization expanded into much of Bengal during this time, which was previously a lightly inhabited swampy area. The main achievements of the Guptas during this era of peace were artistic and intellectual. During this period, zero was first used and chess invented, and many other astronomical and mathematical theories were first elucidated. The Gupta Empire collapsed due to continuous invasion and fragmentation from local rulers. Power at this point increasingly shifted to regional rulers outside of the Ganges valley. [Source: Akhilesh Pillalamarri, The National Interest, May 8, 2015 <|>]

The origins of Gupta is not clearly known, It emergence as a major empire occurred when Chandragupta I (Chandra Gupta I) married into royalty in the A.D. 4th century. Based in the Ganges Valley, he established a capital at Pataliputra and united north India in A.D. 320. His son Samaudrahupta extended the influence of the empire southward. Hindu religion and Brahmin power revived under peaceful and prosperous reign.

The Gupta dynasty reached its peak during the reign of Chandragupta II (A.D. 375 to 415). His empire occupied much of what is now northern India. Following a series of victories against the Scythians (A.D. 388-409) he expanded the Gupta empire into western India and what is now the Sind area of Pakistan.Though the last strong Gupta king, Skanadagupta, held off invasions by the Huns in the 5th century, subsequent invasion weakened the dynasty. An invasion by the White Huns destroyed the much civilization around 550 and the empire finally collapsed completely in 647. Inability to exert control over a large area had as much to do with the collapse as the invasions.

The world population was around 170 million at the of the birth of Jesus. In A.D. 100 it had risen to around 180 million. In 190 it rose to 190 million. At the beginning of the 4th century the world population was around 375 million with four fifths of the world's population living under the Roman, Chinese Han and Indian Gupta empires.

Book: Hinds, Kathryn, India’s Gupta Dynasty. New York: Benchmark Books, 1996.

Answered: How much Hinduism was revived in the Gupta Empire?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:02:45 +0000

The Gupta age actually is the age of revival of Hinduism. Hinduism reached its peak. Many temples were constructed. Sinsikrat was promoted. Math and music got a fame. Hindus' religious leaders started their efforts to make their religion attractive.

The Gupta Empire (A.D. 320 to 647) was marked by the return of Brahmanism (Hinduism) as the state religion. It also regarded as the classical period or golden age of Hindu art, literature and science. The Gupta established a strong central government which also allowed a degree of local control. Gupta society was ordered in accordance with Hindu beliefs. This included a strict caste system. Peace and prosperity created under Gupta leadership enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors. [Source: Regents Prep]

Steven M. Kossak and Edith W. Watts from The Metropolitan Museum of Art wrote: “The Gupta emperors (4th–6th century) conquered and unified a large portion of northern India and, like the Mughals, created a powerful central state surrounded by kingdoms loyal to it. Under royal patronage, this period became India’s classical age of literature, theater, and visual art. The aesthetic canons that came to dominate all the arts of later India were codified during this time. Sanskrit poetry and prose, including the work of the great dramatist Kalidasa, flourished, and the concept of zero was conceived which led to a more practical system of numbering. Arab traders adapted and further developed the concept, and from western Asia the system of “Arabic numerals” traveled to Europe. [Source: Steven M. Kossak and Edith W. Watts, The Art of South, and Southeast Asia, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]

Akhilesh Pillalamarri wrote in The National Interest: “The Gupta Empire (320-550 C.E.) was a great empire but also had a mixed record. Like the previous Maurya Empire, it was based in the Magadha region and conquered much of South Asia, though unlike that empire, its territory was limited only to what is today North India. It was under Gupta rule that India enjoyed the height of its classical civilization, its golden age, when much of its famous literature and science was produced. Yet, it was also under the Guptas that caste became rigid while the decentralization of power to local rulers continued. After a period of initial expansion, the empire stabilized and did a good job of keeping out invaders (like the Huns) for two centuries. Indian civilization expanded into much of Bengal during this time, which was previously a lightly inhabited swampy area. The main achievements of the Guptas during this era of peace were artistic and intellectual. During this period, zero was first used and chess invented, and many other astronomical and mathematical theories were first elucidated. The Gupta Empire collapsed due to continuous invasion and fragmentation from local rulers. Power at this point increasingly shifted to regional rulers outside of the Ganges valley. [Source: Akhilesh Pillalamarri, The National Interest, May 8, 2015 <|>]

The origins of Gupta is not clearly known, It emergence as a major empire occurred when Chandragupta I (Chandra Gupta I) married into royalty in the A.D. 4th century. Based in the Ganges Valley, he established a capital at Pataliputra and united north India in A.D. 320. His son Samaudrahupta extended the influence of the empire southward. Hindu religion and Brahmin power revived under peaceful and prosperous reign.

The Gupta dynasty reached its peak during the reign of Chandragupta II (A.D. 375 to 415). His empire occupied much of what is now northern India. Following a series of victories against the Scythians (A.D. 388-409) he expanded the Gupta empire into western India and what is now the Sind area of Pakistan.Though the last strong Gupta king, Skanadagupta, held off invasions by the Huns in the 5th century, subsequent invasion weakened the dynasty. An invasion by the White Huns destroyed the much civilization around 550 and the empire finally collapsed completely in 647. Inability to exert control over a large area had as much to do with the collapse as the invasions.

The world population was around 170 million at the of the birth of Jesus. In A.D. 100 it had risen to around 180 million. In 190 it rose to 190 million. At the beginning of the 4th century the world population was around 375 million with four fifths of the world's population living under the Roman, Chinese Han and Indian Gupta empires.

Book: Hinds, Kathryn, India’s Gupta Dynasty. New York: Benchmark Books, 1996.

Answered: Who gave the title of Shahbaz to a famous saint and why he is called Lal Shahbaz?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:00:43 +0000

Bu Ali Qalandar awarded Sheikh Usman with the title of Shahbaz, which became the part of his name. Since he was used to wear red dress, so he is called Lal Shahbaz.

Syed Usman Marvandi[3] (1177 – 1274), popularly known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (Sindhi: لعل شھباز قلندر‎), was a Sufi saint and religious-poet of present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan[4][5]. He is highly regarded and respected by both Muslims and Hindus because he preached religious tolerance between the faiths.[1][2] He was called Lal ("ruby-colored") after his usual red attire and "Shahbaz" to denote a noble and divine spirit and "Qalandar" as he was a wandering holy man.[1] The spiritual song "Dama Dam Mast Qalandar" glorifies Lal Shahbaz Qalandar's teachings, and the song is widely used in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Originally written in the 13th century, the song has been sung by various singer since then, and is widely popular in the sub-continent

Life

Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, son of Ibrahim Kabeeruddin,[2] was born in Maiwand, today's Afghanistan.[1] His ancestors had migrated from Baghdad, Iraq and settled in Mashhad, Iran before moving to Maiwand. He lived when the Ghaznavid and Ghurids ruled in the Indus region(today's Punjab, Pakistan).[6]

A contemporary of Rumi, he travelled around the Muslim world and settled in Sehwan, Sindh where he was eventually buried.[7] There is evidence of his presence in Sindh in 1196 when he met Pir Haji Ismail Panhwar of Paat and he is believed to have arrived in Sehwan around 1251. There he established a meeting house (khanqah), taught in the Fuqhai Islam Madarrsah and wrote his treatises Mizan-us-Surf, Kism-e-Doyum, Aqd and Zubdah. Lal Shahbaz lived a celibate life.[1]

In Multan, he met Baha-ud-din Zakariya of the Suhrawardiyya order, Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar of the Chishtiyya and Syed Jalaluddin Bukhari. The friendship of these four became legendary, they were known as the Chahar Yar (In Persian "the four friends").[2] According to some historians, the four friends visited various parts of Sindh, Punjab (in present-day Pakistan) and southern part of India.[2]

Shahbaz became a profound scholar of religions, fluent in many languages including Pashto, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Sindhi and Sanskrit. This was also the time period when Ghiyas ud din Balban (reigned: 1266 – 1287) ruled India.

Following his death, Hindus within Sindh began to identify Lal Shahbaz Qalandar as an incarnation of their patron deity, Jhulelal. This connection was emphasized by the popular spiritual song Dama Dam Mast Qalandar which referred to him by the name Jhulelal. Over time, the Jhulelal has become a nickname for him, among both Hindu and Muslim Sindhis

Answered: What Indus Valley people used to do with their dead bodies?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:58:09 +0000

The Indus Valley people burried their dead bodies as well as burnt them

The Harappan civilization was one of the earliest civilizations in the Indus valley area. It’s time period roughly extends from around 2500-1900 BC. The civilization owes its name to the city of Harappa, where the burial sites were found. The funerary practices of the Harappan people help us in forming and shaping ideas about their culture and conceptions of the natural, super-natural, life and death.

There are over fifty-five burial sites in the Indus valley were found Harappa. The principal sites are Harappa Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Lothal, Rojdi, and Ropar. The burials are interpreted primarily as reflections of social structure and hierarchy. This interpretation tends to be in sync with the Tainter school of thought. The strongest evidence for this interpretation would be burial sites in Harappa, cemetery R-37 and Cemetery H.

R-37 is the smaller site compared to cemetery H, and has about 200 burials. Archaeologists believe it was a restricted cemetery that was used by a particular group or family that lived in Harappa. The “strong genetic affinities among female population (n=84)” (ii, 263,264) in the R-37 cemetery prove that the cemetery was only used by the members of a closely related family or group. These genetic affinities that are exhibited in the female population show that the Harappan people practiced natural locality, a system in which the newlywed couple moved to live with the woman’s side of the family. Therefore clearly the R-37 cemetery proves that individuals of high class and status in a society were treated very differently and had a separate burial site.

In general, the burials in the Harappan period were all in brick or stone lined rectangular or oval pits. The body was usually interred clothed shrouded or in a wooden coffin in the north south direction in a straight direction. It was important that the body did not come into contact with the ground. The only evidence of wooden coffins is the presence of a wooden stain in the body of the corpse. The bodies of the individuals were usually buried with their jewelry which usually consisted of bangles made from shell, steatite beads, etc, and the men usually wore earrings. Copper mirrors have been found only amongst the bodies of the females which show a specificity of grave goods by gender. The burials at Kalibangan, the other large burial site are of three types. Type 1 – the bodies were buried in a supine position similar to R-37 with skeletal remains. Type 2 – pot burials in circular pits. Type 3 – Large pots which were found interred in rectangular or circular pits with no skeletal remains. Type- 1 burials are very similar to the ones at R-37, and have skeletal remains in the supine position. The pot burials are an interesting and rare type of burial in which the bodies of the individual are crammed into pots and buried. This type of burial is quite unique and quite violent comparatively. The Type 3 burials at Kalibangan don’t have any skeletal remains in them but there are a few areas where the earth is charred which could possibly be because of cremation. But “the most important individual in the cemetery is an older male. He was interred in a old brick chamber with 70 pottery vessels” (Wright 216). The man was also decked in jewelry of expensive nature which includes jade and gold beads and other fine stones. Clearly this individual is of high importance in the society we can tell by the energy expenditure associated with this funeral. On average an individual has 0 to 40 pottery vessels interred as grave goods, but the individual who had 70 pots was clearly outranked others in the cemetery proving that the Harappan civilization was a society which gave a lot of importance to hierarchy and status.

A few unique burials were found in the grave sites of Lothal, Ropar, and Rojdi. In Ropar a man was found buried with a dog. In Rodji two infants were found buried beneath the floor of a house. In Lothal three multiple burials have been found. This could possibly be the practice of sati but it is doubtful. The unique burials in this site show that not all burials were solely centered on social hierarchy and status.

Answered: Why Turk chiefs stood against Sultan Nasiruddin?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:56:15 +0000

When Sultan ascended the throne he sent Balban to punish the Mongols because they started blood shed in Multan and Lahore. Balban crushed severely the rebellion of his brother Kishl-o-Khan. Seeing all powers in the hands of Balban, Turk chiefs stood against Nasiruddin.

Answered: Skeletons of which animals were present in Indus Valley?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:50:33 +0000

Skeletons from one of the world’s oldest civilizations—the Indus Valley or Harappan Civilization—have been unearthed in India. Scientists hope to be able to examine their genetic makeup to learn more about these ancient people.

The Indus Valley Civilization of India, Afghanistan and Pakistan covered about 2 million square miles (5.2 million square km) at its height and was extant from about 4500 to 1800 BC.

The skeletons were dated to about 5,000 years old and were unearthed in a cemetery in Rakhigarhi, a city of the ancient civilization. Rakhigarhi, in modern the state of Haryana, is the biggest Harappan or Indus Valley Civilization site, bigger even than the famed Mohenjo-daro .

Archaeologists have found various structures and many different types of artifacts at Rakhigarhi, including, toys, tools, fish hooks, copper tools, bone hairpins, beads of minerals and ivory, pottery with various designs, chert weights for trade or taxation, and jewelry from outside the vicinity. They also found seals with tigers inscribed on them.

The Harappan Civilization is one of the three oldest urban civilizations, along with Egypt and Mesopotamia, but it is the least understood. Its script is yet to be deciphered, and the knowledge of social structures and life during that period is scant. Rakhigarhi promises to change this as new discoveries continue to be made. It is one of the few Harappan sites which has an unbroken history of settlement—Early Harappan farming communities from 6000 to 4500 BC, followed by the Early Mature Harappan urbanization phase from 4500 to 3000 BC, and then the highly urbanized Mature Harappan era from 3000 BC to the mysterious collapse of the civilization around 1800 BC. That’s more than 4,000 years of ancient human history packed into its rich soil.

The skeletons, of two men, a woman and a child, were found in Mound 7 of the nine known mounds at Rakhigarhi. The different mounds contain different clues to the Harappan Civilization’s genesis and lifeways. Presently under excavation are mounds 4, 6 and 7.

“We are currently excavating vertically from mound number 4. Our aim is to try to reconstruct the complete cultural sequence of the Rakhigahri which includes figuring out when did the first settlers come here, what changes happened when they entered in the urbanization phase,” Nilesh Jadhav, the co-director of the dig, told Hindustan Times . “We have found early Harappan stuff [at Mound 6], like pottery and antiquities. This proves that when the first settlers came to Rakhigarhi they settled near or on mound number six.”

Another researcher, Malavika Chatterjee, said toys found during excavations give clues to spiritual life.

Answered: What was the end of Raja Dahir?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:47:15 +0000

Fall of the flag discouraged the Hindus. Muslims fought over boldly entered over the fort and captured the city. Raja Dahir fled away from the battle field and was killed later.

Raja Dahar (Sindhi: راجا ڏاھر‎; Sanskrit: राजा दाहिर, IAST: Rājā Dāhir; 663 – 712 CE) was the last Hindu ruler of the Brahmin Dynasty of Sindh (present-day Pakistan). In 711 CE, his kingdom was conquered by the Ummayad Caliphate led by General Muhammad bin Qasim. He was killed at the Battle of Aror at the banks of the Indus River, near modern-day Nawabshah.

Reign in the Chach Nama

The Chach Nama is the oldest chronicles of the Arab conquest of Sindh. It was translated in Persian by an Arab Muhammad Ali bin Hamid bin Abu Bakr Kufi in 1216 CE[1] from an earlier Arabic text believed to have been written by the Thaqafi family (relatives of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi).

Dahir's kingdom was invaded by King Ramal of Kannauj. According to legend Raja Dahir granted refuge to a Muslim Muhammad Haris Allafi, who killed the governor of Makran. He also fought for Dahir during attack over Sindh by ruler of Kannauj in 687 CE.[2]

War with the Umayyads

"I am going to meet the Arabs in the open battle, and fight them as best as I can. If I crush them, my kingdom will then be put on a firm footing. But if I am killed honourably, the event will be recorded in the books of Arabia and India, and will be talked about by great men. It will be heard by other kings in the world, and it will be said that Raja Dahir of Sindh sacrificed his precious life for the sake of his country, in fighting with the enemy

The primary reason cited in the Chach Nama for the expedition by the governor of Basra, Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, against Raja Dahir, was a pirate raid off the coast of Debal resulting in gifts to the caliph from the king of Serendib (modern Sri Lanka) being stolen.[4] Meds (a tribe of Scythians living in Sindh) also known as Bawarij had pirated upon Sassanid shipping in the past, from the mouth of the Tigris to the Sri Lankan coast, in their bawarij and now were able to prey on Arab shipping from their bases at Kutch, Debal and Kathiawar.

Hajaj's next campaign was launched under the aegis of Muhammad bin Qasim. In 711 bin Qasim attacked at Debal and, on orders of Al-Hajjaj, freed the earlier captives and prisoners from the previous (failed) campaign. Other than this instance, the policy was generally one of enlisting and co-opting support from defectors and defeated lords and forces. From Debal Hajaj moved on to Nerun for supplies; the city's Buddhist governor had acknowledged it as a tributary of the Caliphate after the first campaign, and capitulated to the second. Qasim's armies then captured Siwistan (Sehwan) received allegiance from several tribal chiefs and secured the surrounding regions. His combined forces captured the fort at Sisam, and secured the region west of the Indus River.

By enlisting the support of local tribes Jats, Meds, Bhuttos, and Buddhist Jat rulers of Nerun, Bajhra, Kaka Kolak and Siwistan as infantry to his predominantly-mounted army, Muhammad bin Qasim defeated Dahir and captured his eastern territories for the Umayyad Caliphate

Sometime before the final battle, Dahar's vizier approached him and suggested that Dahar should take refuge with one of the friendly kings of India. "You should say to them, 'I am a wall between you and the Arab army. If I fall, nothing will stop your destruction at their hands.'" If that wasn't acceptable to Dahar, said the vizier, then he should at least send away his family to some safe point in India. Dahar refused to do either. "I cannot send away my family to security while the families of my thakurs and nobles remain here."[5]

Dahir then tried to prevent Qasim from crossing the Indus River, moving his forces to its eastern banks. Eventually, however, Qasim crossed and defeated forces at Jitor led by Jaisiah (Dahir's son). Qasim fought Dahir at Raor (near modern Nawabshah) in 712, killing him. After Dahar was killed in the Battle of Aror on the banks of the River Indus, his head was cut off from his body and sent to Hajjaj bin Yousuf.

Answered: Which crops were produced in Indus Valley?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:40:46 +0000

The signs of crops which have been found from the settlements, it is said on this base that the wheat, millet barley, pease, Powered by www.testvitals.com 2018/11/13 17:45 Indian millet, sesame-seed, rice, linseed and cotton were produced. The signs of grapes, melon and dates have been found among fruits.

INDUS VALLEY. The food on which the diverse peoples of ancient India lived is a subject that has received some attention since archaeologists can recover bones, teeth, and carbonized seeds from their excavations. The period covered in this entry has come to be called the Indus Age (Possehl, 1999), that period in Pakistan and northwestern India which stretches from the beginnings of farming and herding around 7000 b.c.e. through the Early Iron Age to about 500 b.c.e. This period encompasses the Indus Civilization (2500–1900 b.c.e.), the Indian subcontinent's first period of urbanization (Fig. 1).

It was centered on the Indus Valley and the Punjab, but there were important settlements in southern Baluchistan, Gujarat, northern Rajasthan, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh (Fig. 2).

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From the point of view of soil, water, and climate, these are regions suitable for the growing of wheat and barley and the raising of cattle, sheep, and goats on a significant scale. This is the constellation of plants and animals on which the earliest farmers and herders thrived, from the Mediterranean Sea to the lands of the Indus civilization.

A glimpse at an early period of farming and herding in this region is available from the site of Mehrgarh, on the Kachi plain of the Indus Valley. Around 7000 b.c.e., the inhabitants of this village lived mostly on domesticated, naked six-row barley, along with two other varieties of domesticated barley. Einkorn, emmer, and hard wheat were present in smaller amounts. The noncereals include the Indian jujube, a cherry-sized fruit; grapes; and dates. Sugar would have come from honey.

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The use of domesticated rice by the peoples of the Indus civilization is not fully documented. However, by the second millennium b.c.e., it was the staple food grain at the site of Pirak, near Mehrgarh on the Kachi plain.

The animal economy of early Mehrgarh was dominated by twelve species of what can be termed "wild big game": gazelle, swamp deer, nilgai, blackbuck, onager, spotted deer, water buffalo, sheep, goat, cattle, pig, and elephant. These are animals that would have lived on the Kachi plain itself and the hills that surround it. The virtual absence of fish and bird remains suggests that the swampy environments near Mehrgarh were little exploited, but no screening was undertaken at the Mehrgarh site, and the recovery of fish and bird bone was therefore somewhat compromised.

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Meadow has noted the following concerning the subsistence economy of early Mehrgarh:

Goats were kept from the time of the first occupation of the site.

Cattle and sheep are likely to have been domesticated from local wild stock during Periods I and II (c. 7000–5000 b.c.e.).

Size diminution in goats was largely complete by late Period I, in cattle by Period II, and in sheep perhaps not until Period III.

The development of animal keeping by the ancient inhabitants of Mehrgarh took place in the context of cereal crop cultivation, the building of substantial mud brick structures, and the existence of social differentiation and long distance trade networks as attested by the presence of marine shells, lapis lazuli, and turquoise in even the earliest graves (p. 311).

From this evidence one can see that the development of food production and the domestication of the plants and animals appears to have been a local phenomenon, not one that came to the subcontinent by diffusion from the west.

Answered: Chandaragupta II ruled for how many years and what was his title?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:25:56 +0000

Chandaragupta II ruled for 38 years and he became famous with the title of "Bikrema Jeet".

Samudragupta was succeeded by his son Chandragupta II popularly known as Vikramaditya. He ruled from 380 AD to 413 AD.

According to some scholars the immediate successor of Samudragupta was his son Ramagupta, the elder brother of Chandragupta II.

This has been mentioned by Visakhadutta in his drama Devi Chandragupta. In between Samudragupta and Chandragupta II for a period of five years (375 to 380) Ramagupta became the ruler. He was a weak and feeble ruler and was unable to uphold royal power and authority and thus his rule was polluted with disgrace.

Chandragupta II the second great ruler of the Gupta dynasty was one of the ablest rulers of India. But this theory is not corroborated by any unimpeachable evidence. In fact depending on the drama it is imprudent to accept the theory of Ramagupta and his ascendency immediately after Samudragupta. It is further said that Chandragupta II was specially selected by his father for his ability and competence and ruled from 375 AD to 414 AD. Like his father Chandragupta II spearheaded the policy of world conquest. The iron pillar discovered at Mehrauli near Kutub Minar at Delhi bears a Sanskrit inscription.

The inscription referred to a king Chandra who defeated the kings of Vanga. Chandragupta waged many wars against the chiefs of Bengal and maintained peace there. Chandragupta was the worthy son of a worthy father. He took up the heroic legacy of his father and earned further glories for the Gupta dynasty. He is identified with the famous Vikramaditya of the Indian tradition, a king of many legends who ruled from Ujjayini. For his acts as a hero and a wise king Chandragupta Vikramaditya obviously became a centre of many legends and stories.

Conquests:

Mehrauli iron pillar throws some light about the conquests of Vikramaditya. After defeating the king of Vanga or Bengal Chandragupta waged war and crossed seven mouths of river Sindhu and conquered Vahlika in the Beas Valley bordering Kashmir. On the basis of this theory it is accepted that his territory was extended towards north-western province. Chandragupta thought of subduing his enemies who were constant threats to the security and independence of Aryavarta and the Gupta empire. He therefore undertook a series of campaigns.

Answered: What was the belief of the followers of Jainism?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:17:20 +0000

Followers of this religion believed, one can get salvation only by acting upon "Ahansa" means not to harm any soul. This religion emphasized on leading a spiritual life and they did not believe in animal's sacrificing.

You should read enough of the materials presented in this section concerning the tradition of Jainism in order to understand how this tradition displays the characteristics or elements that make a tradition one that would be termed a “religion.   The tradition presented in the materials below is one of the world’s living religions. You reading should indicate why this is so.

·         THE ABSOLUTE: what do the believers hold as most important? What is the ultimate source of value and significance? For many, but not all religions, this is given some form of agency and portrayed as a deity (deities). It might be a concept or ideal as well as a figure.

THE WORLD: What does the belief system say about the world? Its origin? its relation to the Absolute? Its future?

HUMANS: Where do they come from? How do they fit into the general scheme of things? What is their destiny or future?

THE PROBLEM FOR HUMANS: What is the principle problem for humans that they must learn to deal with and solve?

THE SOLUTION FOR HUMANS: How are humans to solve or overcome the fundamental problems ?

COMMUNITY AND ETHICS: What is the moral code as promulgated by the religion? What is the idea of community and how humans are to live with one another?

AN INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY: Does the religion offer an explanation for events occurring in time? Is there a single linear history with time coming to an end or does time recycle? Is there a plan working itself out in time and detectable in the events of history?

·         RITUALS AND SYMBOLS: What are the major rituals, holy days, garments, ceremonies and symbols?

· LIFE AFTER DEATH: What is the explanation given for what occurs after death? Does he religion support a belief in souls or spirits which survive the death of the body? What is the belief in what occurs afterwards? Is there a resurrection of the body? Reincarnation? Dissolution? Extinction?

·    RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER RELIGIONS: What is the prescribed manner in which believers are to regard other religions and the followers of other religions?

Jainism was born in India about the same period as Buddhism. It was established by Mahavira (c. 599 - 527 BC) in about 500 B. C. He was born near Patna in what is now Bihar state. Mahavira like Buddha belonged to the warrior caste. Mahavira was called ‘Jina’ meaning the big winner and from this name was derived the name of the religion.

In many senses Jainism is similar to Buddhism. Both developed as a dissension to the Brahmanic philosophy that was dominant during that period in north-east India. Both share a belief in reincarnation which eventually leads to liberation. Jainism is different to Buddhism in its ascetic beliefs. Both these religions emphasize non-violence, but non-violence is the main core in Jainism. Mahavira just like Buddha isn’t the first prophet of his religion. In Jainism like Buddhism there is a belief in reincarnation which eventually leads to liberation. Neither of these religions their religious philosophy around worship. But Jainism is different than Buddhism in its ascetic beliefs. Both these religions emphasis on non-violence, but in Jainism non-violence is its main core.

Jains believe that every thing has life and this also includes stones, sand, trees and every other thing. The fact that trees breath came to be known to the science world only from the 20th century. Mahavira who believed that every thing has life and also believed in non-violence practically didn’t eat anything causing his self- starvation to death. Mahavira was also extremely ascetic and walked around completely naked because of his renouncement of life. After years of hardship and meditation he attained enlightenment; thereafter he preached Jainism for about 30 years and died at Pava (also in Bihar) in 527 BC.

Mahavira’s religion followers are less extreme than him in diets. They are vegetarians. But the religious Jains will do everything possible to prevent hurting any being. They won’t walk in fields where there are insects to prevent the possibility of stepping on them. They also cover their mouth to prevent the possibility of swallowing small invisible microbes. They mostly do not work in professions where there is a possibility of killing any living being like in agriculture instead professions like banking and business. But it is not clear what came first, businessmen who adopted Jain philosophy because it was easy for them to follow or Jainish philosophy which convinced the Jains to adopt non violent professions.

Answered: How and who restored the glory of Delhi empire?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:13:56 +0000

After coming into power Behlol Lodhi crushed the rich lanlords. He annexed Mewar, Jaunpur and Gawalyar. He suppressed the rebellion of Sarhind. In this way the glory of Delhi empire was restored.

Answered: What is Gandhara art?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:07:26 +0000

Gandhara art is a collection of various statues of Buddha and engravings of Buddha in stones. Gandhara is not only name of an art rather it reflects a whole civilization.

Gandhara art, style of Buddhist visual art that developed in what is now northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan between the 1st century BCE and the 7th century CE. The style, of Greco-Roman origin, seems to have flourished largely during the Kushan dynasty and was contemporaneous with an important but dissimilar school of Kushan art at Mathura (Uttar Pradesh, India).

The Gandhara region had long been a crossroads of cultural influences. During the reign of the Indian emperor Ashoka (3rd century BCE), the region became the scene of intensive Buddhist missionary activity. And in the 1st century CE, rulers of the Kushan empire, which included Gandhara, maintained contacts with Rome. In its interpretation of Buddhist legends, the Gandhara school incorporated many motifs and techniques from Classical Roman art, including vine scrolls, cherubs bearing garlands, tritons, and centaurs. The basic iconography, however, remained Indian.

The materials used for Gandhara sculpture were green phyllite and gray-blue mica schist which in general, belong to an earlier phase, and stucco, which was used increasingly after the 3rd century CE. The sculptures were originally painted and gilded.

Gandhara’s role in the evolution of the Buddha image has been a point of considerable disagreement among scholars. It now seems clear that the schools of Gandhara and Mathura each independently evolved its own characteristic depiction of the Buddha about the 1st century CE. The Gandhara school drew upon the anthropomorphic traditions of Roman religion and represented the Buddha with a youthful Apollo-like face, dressed in garments resembling those seen on Roman imperial statues. The Gandhara depiction of the seated Buddha was less successful. The schools of Gandhara and Mathura influenced each other, and the general trend was away from a naturalistic conception and toward a more idealized, abstract image. The Gandhara craftsmen made a lasting contribution to Buddhist art in their composition of the events of the Buddha’s life into set scenes.

Answered: How was Sultan Ghaisuddin as a ruler?

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:02:27 +0000

Sultan Ghaisuddin was good administrator and a just ruler. In his reign the boundries of the empire touched the river Narbada in South India. Deccan became the ransom payer state in his period and Bengal was also occupied.

Ghiyasud-din Tughlaq or Ghazni Malik was a child of Turkish father and Jat mother. Earlier he used to serve Ala-ud-Din Khilji and was the Governor of his border regions. He was also called as Ghazi Tuglaq.

The Tughlaq Dynasty

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq 1320-24 AD

Muhammad Tughlaq 1324-51 AD

Firoz Shah Tughlaq 1351-88 AD

Mohammad Khan 1388 AD

Ghiyassuddin Tughlaq Shah II 1388 AD

Abu Baqr 1389-90 AD

Nasiruddin Muhammad 1390-94 AD

Humayun 1394-95 AD

Nasiruddin Mahmud 1395-1412 AD

He was the first ruler and the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. From a common individual, he rose to the position of a provincial legislative leader of Dinapur under Mubarak Khalji. He repulsed the Mongol trespassers many times. He murdered Khurso Khan, and turned into the Sultan. Khusrau Khan, the last ruler of the Khilji administration was executed by Ghazni Malik, who raised the throne accepting the title Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq. It was not a simple throne for him as confusion was winning all around and the far off areas were attempting to pronounce their freedom. But Ghiyas-ud-Din raised the kingdom nicely with his intelligence, capacities and quality he succeeded in keeping up peace and request. He was a wise and liberal ruler.

In 1323, he crushed the leader of Warrangal and annexed his region. A war of progression was going ahead in Bengal. Ghiyas-ud-din utilized such a situation and attacked Bengal. He smothered the revolutionaries and along these lines Bengal likewise turned into a piece of his domain.

His Conquest:

Exploiting the confusion that won in India after the demise of Ala-ud-Din Khilji, the surrounding governors attempted to declare their freedom. Not long after taking the throne, Ghiyas-ud-Din had to give careful consideration to this side also.

After Ala-ud-Din died, the leader of Warrangal, Pratap Rudra Deva II, affirmed his autonomy; so two campaigns in 1321 and 1323 were sent against him. He was defeated in a fight and his realm was added to the Delhi Sultanate.

In Bengal, a common war was going ahead between the two grandsons of Bughra Khan. Exploiting this crack, the Sultan attacked Bengal and brought an incredible segment of that state under his control.

On his way over from the Bengal Sultan crushed the Raja of Tirhut and added his territories too.

Achievements

He re-established the food laws of Ala-ud-Din

He crushed the revolts in the unfriendly provinces with sturdy influence and resorted harmony, law and order

He structured a improved postal system

He encouraged agriculture

His Death

Ghiyas-ud-Din was not bound to appreciate a long rule. When he came back to Delhi from the Bengal endeavour he was cheerfully welcomed by his child Juna Khan in the new structure that was exceptionally developed for this reason in Afghanpura, close to his new capital Tughlakabad.

The structure tumbled down and the Sultan died under it in 1325 A. D. There is a debate on the inquiry whether the Sultan's demise was the consequence of some conspiracy or it happened coincidentally.

Answered: The mystics used which languages to promote their ideas and what was its result?

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 01:56:55 +0000

The mystics used local languages like Sindhi, Punjabi and Kashmiri instead of Sanskrit to promote their ideas, As a result, the local languages got promotion.

Answered: What were the imports and exports of Indus Valley with Egupt?

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 01:55:24 +0000

Building stones, skins, gold, emerald, ropes and dry goods had been brought from Egypt to Indus Valley. In exchange of these goods utensils, wool and wood had been exported to Egypt.

When we think of IVC, we tend to limit our geography to the blue spots — Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa along the river Indus of Sindhu. But in the times of the IVC, there was another mighty river flowing parallel to Indus, a few hundred kilometres to the east. We now know it as much desiccated Ghaggar-Hakra river. In its glory days, it was called Sarsvati.

There are very large concentrations of IVC sites along the riverbed of ancient Sarasvati, marked in purple. Down south from Mohenjo-Daro there are more of these concentrations. The outer limits of the civilisation found so far are marked with red spots.

Among them Lothal near Dholka features a large dockyard and Shortugai near Rostaq is assumed to be a trading outpost of a town. Sutkagan Dor near Gwadar was almost at the borders of the next civilisation, while Alamgirpur was an outpost on the verge of the Ganges River Valley. The southern parts of IVC was know as Meluhha to westerners.

Having set the geographies of IVC, let’s take a look at the world around it.

There was very little in the east apart from nomadic Aryan tribes and forest dwelling Dravidian tribes, but the west was civilised. Elam was right next door, which ran into the Mesopotamian civilisations of Akkadia, Sumeria, Babylonia and Assyria, extending into the Caucasus, Egypt and the Levant.

In the north there was the Oxus Valley Civilisation along river Amu-Darya. Concentrations of Oxus Valley artefacts were found in northern Pakistan and near Mohenjo-Daro. Along the Persian Gulf there were Dilmun and Magan civilisations.

Throughout these areas Indus valley seals and Sumerian tablets were found, along with artefacts originating in one place were found in another.

Answered: Which changes took place after the enthronement of Jalaluddin Feroz Khilji?

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 01:52:42 +0000

After his enthronement the monopoly of Turks ended and Government posts wereopened for other communities.

The slave or the Mamluk Dynasty was replaced by Khilji Dynasty as the ruling dynasty of India. The founder of Khilji Dynasty was Jalal ud din Firuz Khilji. He killed the last descendent of Slave Dynasty and declared himself the sultan of Delhi sultanate at the age of 70 years in 1290 AD. The Khilji clan traced their origin to Afghan village of Khalji. Jalal-ud-din Firuz Khilji’s original name was Malik Firuz. He was not cruel by nature. When Balban’s nephew Malik Chhajju imposed a war on Jalal-ud-din Firuz Khilji, the former was defeated and captured alive but was forgiven by the Sultan of Delhi.

Mangols attacked India during Jalaluddin Khilji’s times under Halaku but avoided an open war after some negotiations.

Mongols attacked once again under Ulugh Khan. He accepted Islam and was given sultan’s daughter in marriage. He settled near Delhi.

Jalal-ud-din Khilji pardoned criminals whether it was a conspirator or a traitor. This policy was not appreciated by his courtiers and nobles. They were actually exasperated by his kind behavior. As a result, Jalaluddin Khilji was killed by his nephew and son-in-law Alauddin Khilji who succeeded him as the new king of Khilji Dynasty.

Alauddin Khilji

The real name of Alauddin Khilji was Ali Gurshap. He sat on the throne of Delhi Sultanate in 1296 AD after killing his uncle Jalal ud din Firuz Khilji. Allauddin Khilji was known as the most powerful ruler of Delhi sultanate. Despite the fact that Alauddin was illiterate, he was an able soldier. He excelled in commanding the army. He expanded the territory of Delhi Sultanate to down south. During his time the empire extended from Indus to Bengal and from Himalayas to Vindyas. He defeated the ruler Raja Ramchandra and forced him to flee to hills.

Answered: efforts of Sultan Muhammad Ghori, Sultan Qutubuddin Aibak and Ameer Khusru for the development of Culture and Literature? a) Sultan Muhammad Ghori

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 01:46:17 +0000

Sultan Muhammad Ghori and Sultan Qutubuddin Aibak constructed mosques and schools. Ameer Khusru is considered among great poets and writers. He wrote five Persian collected odes dewans and ten verses comprising couplets (Masnawian).

Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori (Persian: م, born Shihab ad-Din (1149 – March 15, 1206), also known as Muhammad of Ghor, was Sultan of the Ghurid Empire along with his brother Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammad from 1173 to 1202 and as the sole ruler from 1202 to 1206.

Mu'izz ad-Din was one of the greatest rulers of the Ghurid dynasty and is credited with laying the foundation of Muslim rule in the Indian subcontinent, which lasted for several centuries. He reigned over a territory spanning over parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, north India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Mu'izz ad-Din took the city of Ghazni in 1173 to avenge the death of his ancestor Muhammad ibn Suri at the hands of Mahmud of Ghazni and used it as a launching-pad for expansion into northern India.[2] In the meantime, he assisted his brother Ghiyath in his contest with the Khwarazmian Empire for the lordship of Khorasan in Western Asia. In 1175, Mu'izz captured Multan from the Hamid Ludi dynasty, which were Muslim Pashtun, and also took Uch in 1175. He also annexed the Ghaznavid principality of Lahore in 1186, the last haven of his Persianised rivals.[2] After the death of Ghiyath in 1202, he became the successor of the Ghurid Empire and ruled until his assassination in 1206.

A confused struggle then ensued among the remaining Ghuri leaders, and the Khwarizmi were able to take over the Ghurid Sultanate in about 1215. Though the Ghurids' empire was short-lived, and petty Ghurid states remained in power until the arrival of the Timurids, Mu'izz's conquests laid the foundations of Muslim rule in India. Qutbu l-Din Aibak, a former slave (Mamluk) of Mu'izz, was the first Sultan of Delhi

Early life

Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad was born in 1149 in the Ghor region of what is now Afghanistan. The exact date of his birth is unknown. His father, Baha al-Din Sam I, was the local ruler of the Ghor region at the time.[2] Mu'izz also had an elder brother named Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad. During their early life, Mu'izz and Ghiyath were imprisoned by their uncle Ala al-Din Husayn, but were later released by the latter's son Sayf al-Din Muhammad.[3] When Sayf died in 1163, the Ghurid nobles supported Ghiyath, and helped him ascend the throne. Ghiyath shortly gave Mu'izz control over Istiyan and Kajuran. However, the throne was challenged by several Ghurid chiefs; Mu'izz aided Ghiyath in defeating and killing a rival Ghurid chief named Abu'l Abbas.

Early campaigns

Ghiyath was then challenged by his uncle Fakhr al-Din Masud, who claimed the throne for himself, and had allied with Tadj al-Din Yildiz, the Seljuq governor of Herat, and Balkh.[4] However, the coalition was defeated by Ghiyath and Mu'izz at Ragh-i Zar. The brothers managed to kill the Seljuq governor during the battle, and then conquered Zamindawar, Badghis, Gharjistan, and Urozgan. Ghiyath, however, spared Fakhr al-Din and restored him as the ruler of Bamiyan. Mu'izz, after returning from an expedition from Sistan, was shortly awarded with Kandahar by his brother. In 1173, the two brothers invaded Ghazni, and defeated the Oghuz Turks who had captured the city from the Ghaznavids. Mu'izz was then appointed as the ruler of Ghazni.[4][5]

In 1175, the two brothers conquered Herat from its Seljuq governor, Baha al-Din Toghril, and also managed to conquer Pushang. The ruler of Sistan, Taj al-Din Harb ibn Muhammad, shortly acknowledged the sovereignty of the Ghurids, and so did the Oghuz Turks dominating Kirman.[6]

During the same period, the Khwarazmian Sultan Shah, who was expelled from Khwarezm by his brother Tekish, took refuge in Ghor and requested military aid from Ghiyath. Ghiyath, however, did not help the latter. Sultan Shah managed to get help from the Kara-Khitan Khanate, and began plundering the northern Ghurid domains

Answered: What were the effects of lack of military training on Delhi empire?

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 01:42:59 +0000

Delhi kingdom did not pay any attention to give military training to a common man of the state. People were relaxed and enjoyed merry making which made military aggression finished.

The Delhi Sultanate could never recover from Muhammad bin Tughluq’s misrule and Timurlane’s pillaging, which happened mere decades later. The Sultanate was essentially no more.

After Muhammad bin Tughluq’s inept administration (which you can look up here: Shivaprasad Poovandur's answer to Muhammad bin Tughlaq undertook several experiments during his reign. What was the motivation behind these? What were their results?), the fate of the Sultanate changed. The economy was weak and a few provinces seceded to form independent or semi-independent kingdoms. Firuz Shah, Muhammad’s successor, did try to bring a reversal of fortunes, but his successors were caught up in a civil war. The tottering state of the Tughluq Sultanate seemed inviting to Timur and he invaded. Timur pillaged, reaved, killed infidels and carted off wealth from the subcontinent.

The Sayyids were mostly bound to the Timurids, often sending them a good part of the revenue as tribute. To be blunt, they were vassals of the Timurid Empire. The Delhi Sultanate ended with the Tughluq dynasty. The Sayyids encountered great resistance from the Turkic nobility of Delhi, to whom they were outsiders.

Answered: Name the famous gods of Aryans

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 01:40:36 +0000

Their famous gods were, surya, Agni and Indar.

The ancient Aryans performed different rituals to worship their gods and goddesses, who were closely associated with the forces of nature. One of those rituals is called Agnicayana. Agnicayana is a ritual where they build a altar-like fireplace made of bricks. The ritual ends with the sacrifice of a goat. Many of the ancient Aryan rituals are still practiced today.

Bailey

Why and how were sacrifices performed to the ancient Aryan deities?

The Devas were the three main ancient Aryan nature gods: they were celestial (Varuna: controller of the cosmos), atmospheric (Indra: ruler and warrior of the sky), and terrestrial (Agni: god of fire). Agni played a key role in sacrifices because he "ate up" and then transported sacrifices to the other Devas: plants, animals, a sacred drink called “soma,” and clarified butter (ghee). The fire sacrifice was carried out by priests, who followed complicated instructions from the Rig Veda. People thought that their sacrifices were food for the Devas. In return, the gods kept men, their crops, and their animals healthy, helped them to do well in battle, and ensured a long and happy life.

Brynna

Why was Indra the favorite god of the Aryans?

Indra was the favorite god of the ancient Aryans because he was the bringer of rain. After every summer, the Aryan people would sing, dance, and pray to him for rain. According to mythology, it was Indra who once freed the water and sunshine from the hills and clouds and in doing so, saved the humans. He is also seen as the bringer of children. In one wedding hymn, Indra is asked for children, but particularly, a son. Whenever these things of good fortune would happen for the Aryans, they would celebrate Indra in the hope that he would keep bringing good gifts.

Answered: What Indus Valley men and women used to wear for decoration?

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 01:38:37 +0000

Women used to wear necklace, strings of beads and bangles for decoration. They were so used to wear "Lahanga" (long skirt). Men used to wear Shawl.

The earliest evidence for normal weave textiles at Harappa is found in this impression on a Ravi Phase bead from Harappa, dating to around 3300 BC and discovered between 1995 and 1998.

Textiles are rarely preserved and Harappan figurines are usually unclothed, so there is not much evidence of Harappan clothing. Small fragments of cloth preserved in the corrosion products of metal objects show that the Harappans wove a range of grades of cotton cloth. Flax was grown and may have been used for fibres (alternatively it was grown for its oilseed). Native Indian species of silkworm may have been utilised for silk (inferior to Chinese silk), as they were a little later in South Asia. It is not known whether the Harappans raised woolly sheep, but their trade with Mesopotamia probably brought them abundant supplies of Mesopotamian woolen textiles. The Harappans also probably continued the earlier tradition of making clothing from leather. Dyeing facilities indicate that cotton cloth was probably dyed a range of colours, although there is only one surviving fragment of coloured cloth, dyed red with madder; it is likely that indigo and turmeric were also used as dyes.

The limited depictions of clothing show that men wore a cloth around the waist, resembling a modern dhoti and like it, often passed between the legs and tucked up behind. The so-called "Priest-king" and other stone figures also wore a long robe over the left shoulder, leaving bare the right shoulder and chest. Some male figurines are shown wearing a turban. Woman's clothing seems to have been a knee-length skirt. Figurines and finds in graves show that Harappans of both sexes wore jewellery: hair fillets, bead necklaces and bangles for men; bangles, earrings, rings, anklets, belts made of strings of beads, pendants, chokers and numerous necklaces for women, as well as elaborate hairstyles and headdresses.

The only evidence we have is from iconography and figurines as far as dress styles are concerned, and it is not sure that these even represent what was worn by everyday people. Quite possibly dress may have been based on lengths of cloth that were folded and draped in different ways. Such cloth could have been made of linen, cotton, or wool/animal hair. Skins also may have been used for cold weather and to make items like belts, quivers, etc. Reeds/straw may have been woven for foot wear, although how often foot wear may have been used is not known. Evidence comes not so much from preserved textiles but from pseudomorphs preserved because of proximity to copper and from impressions made into clay. An early form of silk was used to string tiny beads and wound copper necklaces.

Answered: Why Gautam Buddha left royal palace?

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 01:36:30 +0000

As Gautam Buddha grew up, he realized the miseries of the people around him. He strictly disliked the caste and creed system. He was keen to change that system. So he left the royal palce at the age of 29 to get spiritual knowledge and change the system

Answered: What Hindus did to save Somnath temple?

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 01:26:28 +0000

This temple had countless treasures and the figures of gods were studded with the jewels of diamonds, pearls, gold and silver. Rajas of Northern India with their great forces came to protect this temple but failed. The worshippers offered huge wealth of rubbies so that idols of Somnath might not broken.

Home to one of the 12 Jyotirlings of India, the temple city of Somnath or Prabhas Patan is situated in the state of Gujarat on the Arabian Sea.

Best time to visit: The climate of Somnath is mild with the temperature ranging between 20°C and 28°C in the winters and between 28°C and 34°C in the summers. One can visit the place round the year but the best season to visit is winters – from October to March.

History: It is said that the original temple of Somnath was built by the Moon God and was made of gold. After it was razed to the ground, it was rebuilt with silver by Ravana. When the silver temple was knocked down, it was reconstructed in wood by Krishna. And when this was pulled down, an edifice of stone was erected by Bhimdev.

This is the first among the twelve Jyotirlings. Since ancient times, Prabhas Patan has been a pilgrimage center, being the confluence of the mythological Saraswati, Hiranya and Kapila. Legend has it that Lord Shiva’s Kalbhairav linga is situated at Prabhas. It is also associated with the moon as the Moon God is also said to have worshipped this Shivling. This is also the reason why this temple is popularly known as Somnath, the one named after the moon.

Remains found from the region and descriptions in the writings of Indians and foreigners suggest that the place was a colony of the Aryans in the ancient times. This temple of religious as well as historical significance is believed to have been built sometime around AD 4.

In AD 1026, Mahmud of Ghazni first looted the temple, and then came Afzal Khan, the commander of Ala-ud-din Khilji and later Aurangzeb. It is said that the temple was looted and destroyed as many as seventeen times.

The Iron man of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was instrumental in the construction of the present temple, an edifice reminding visitors of the splendor of the original Somnath temple. Renowned temple architect Prabhaschandar designed it and the first President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad installed the Jyotirling in the new temple on May 11, 1951.

Tourist attractions

The present temple, Kailash Mahameru Prasad is built in the Chalukya style of temple architecture and reflects the inherent skill of sompuras, Gujarat’s master masons. It has the shikhara, the Garbhagriha, the sabha mandap and the nritya mandap. It has been built in such a position that there is no land between the Somnath temple and Antarctica. This fact finds mention in the inscription found on the protection wall of the temple.

The museum at Somnath houses the remains of the earlier temples but in the form of a clutter of old carved stones littering a courtyard. It also houses pottery shards, a seashell collection, a glass case of water bottles containing samples from the rivers Danube, Nile, St Lawrence, Tigris, Plate, Murray, and seawater from Tasmania, and New Zealand.

The Bhalka Tirth is the place where Lord Krishna was mistaken for a deer and wounded by an arrow while sleeping in a deerskin. The place is situated on the confluence of three rivers. There is a sun temple (Suraj Mandir) nearby that was also knocked down by Mahmud of Ghazni.