Test: Class 7 History NCERT Based- 3 - UPSC MCQ

During the medieval period, important changes occurred in what we call Hinduism today. These included the worship of new deities, the construction of temples by royalty and the growing importance of Brahmanas, the priests, as dominant groups in society.

Their knowledge of Sanskrit texts earned the Brahmanas a lot of respect in society. Their dominant position was consolidated by the support of their patrons — new rulers searching for prestige.

Between the seventh and tenth centuries, architects started adding more rooms, doors and windows to buildings.

Roofs, doors and windows were still made by placing a horizontal beam across two vertical columns, a style of architecture called “trabeate” or “corbelled”.

Between the eighth and thirteenth centuries, the trabeate style was used in the construction of temples, mosques, tombs and buildings attached to large stepped-wells (baolis).

Vijayalaya, a feudatory of the Pallava dynasty, took an opportunity arising out of a conflict between the Pandya dynasty and Pallava dynasty in c. 850, captured Thanjavur from Mutharaiyar, and established the imperial line of the medieval Chola Dynasty. Thanjavur became the capital of the Imperial Chola Dynasty.

Char bagh means four gardens, because of their symmetrical division into quarters.

Babur described his interest in planning and laying out formal gardens, placed within rectangular walled enclosures and divided into four quarters by artificial channels.

Charbagh style was brought to India by Mughals. Humayun’s tomb and Taj Mahal in India are the most famous examples of this style.

Nagabhata I (r. c. 730-760 CE) founded the imperial Gurjara Pratihara dynasty.

He defeated the king of Vanga, Vatsa and Matsya. He also defeated combined forces of Arabs and Turks.

But prashasti dedicated to him was found in Gwalior, MP.

Interior of the temple of Govind Deva in Vrindavan, 1590. The temple was constructed out of red sandstone and intersecting arches were used that made the high ceiling roof.

The creation of large empires that brought different regions under their rule helped in this cross-fertilisation of artistic forms and architectural styles. Limestone cement was increasingly used in construction.

This was very high-quality cement, which, when mixed with stone chips hardened into concrete.

The weight of the superstructure above the doors and windows was sometimes carried by arches. This architectural form was called “arcuate”.

Development of Bombay was the reason for the decline of surat.

Surat began to decline towards the end of the seventeenth century because of many factors: the loss of markets and productivity because of the decline of the Mughal Empire, control of the sea routes by the Portuguese and competition from Bombay (present-day Mumbai) where the English East India Company shifted its headquarters in 1668.

First detailed and quite accurate map of Indian Subcontinent was made by a French cartographer. It was very detailed and accurate.

The term “Hindustan”, for example. Today we understand it as “India”, the modern nation-state. When the term was used in the thirteenth century by Minhaj-I-Siraj, a chronicler who wrote in Persian, he meant the areas of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna. He used the term in a political sense for lands that were a part of the dominions of the Delhi Sultan. The areas included in this term shifted with the extent of the Sultanate but the term never included south India within it.

In the medieval period a “foreigner” was any stranger who appeared in a given village, someone who was not a part of that society or culture. New foods and beverages arrived in the subcontinent: potatoes, corn, chillies, tea and coffee from Arab and Persia. These were imported to India.

The spurt in demand for goods like textiles led to a great expansion of the crafts of spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing, etc. with more and more people taking them up.

This period saw the decline of the independence of Crafts Persons. They now began to work on a system of advances which meant that they had to weave cloth which was already promised to European agents.

Weavers no longer had the liberty of selling their cloth. European Companies used their naval power to gain control of the sea trade and forced Indian traders to work as their agents.

Chola kings gave some rich landowners titles like muvendavelan (a velan or peasant serving three kings), araiyar (chief). Chola inscriptions mention several categories of land.

Vellanvagai- land of non-Brahmana peasant proprietors

Brahmadeya- land gifted to Brahmanas.

Shalabhoga -land for the maintenance of a school Devadana, tirunamattukkani-land gifted to temples Palli Chhandam-land donated to Jaina institutions.

Pattern created under the balcony by the small arches and geometrical designs. These are in Arabic. Notice that the surface of the minar is curved and angular. Placing an inscription on such a surface required great precision. Only the most skilled craftsperson could perform this task. Remember that very few buildings were made of stone or brick 800 years ago.

Masulipatnam was the chief port of Golconda. When Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb annexed Golconda in 1686-1687, this caused the European Companies to look for alternatives.

As the Company traders moved to Bombay, Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) and Madras (present-day Chennai), Masulipatnam lost both its merchants and prosperity and decline in the eighteenth century, being today nothing more than a dilapidated little town.

Each Garh was controlled by a particular Gond clan. This was further divided into units of 84 villages called Chaurasi.

The chaurasia was subdivided into barhots which were made up of 12 villages each. The emergence of large states changed the nature of Gond society.

Their equal society gradually got divided into unequal social classes. Brahmanas received land grants from the Gond rajas and became more influential.

The Gond chiefs now wished to be recognised as Rajputs. Above statement shows that they later adapted in the caste system.

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, Afghanistan. He ruled from 997 to 1030, and extended control over parts of Central Asia, Iran and the north-western part of the subcontinent. He raided the subcontinent almost every year – his targets were wealthy temples, including that of Somnath, Gujarat.

The best-known Chahamana ruler was Prithviraja III (1168-1192), who defeated an Afghan ruler named Sultan Muhammad Ghori in 1191, but lost to him the very next year, in 1192.

The ceremonial halls of the public and private audience (diwan-i Khas or am) were carefully planned.

These courts were also described as chihil sutun or forty pillared halls, placed within a large courtyard.

Shah Jahan’s audience halls were specially constructed to resemble a mosque.

The pedestal on which his throne was placed was frequently described as the qibla.

Series of pietra dura inlays were used behind the emperor’s throne only. It depicted the legendary Greek god Orpheus playing the lute.