History - UPSC MCQ

Religious themes were prohibited in Mughal paintings. They depicted courtly life, battle scenes and mythology. Mughal painting remained confined to the Mughal court and did not reach the people. The Mughal rulers brought Persian painters with them. At the same time they patronized Indian painters and the collaboration between these two schools of painters resulted in the synthesis. Apart from Persian books of fables, themes from Mahabharata were also selected. Indian scenes and landscapes came into vogue. Golden colours considered to be the symbols of prosperity of the Mughals began to be used increasingly. Jahangir had a very discriminating eye and Mughal painting reached its climax of glory during his reign.

Mughal painting during Humayun:           

The foundation of Mughal painting was laid by Humayun during his exile from India in Persia and Afghanistan. Two of Persia’s greatest painters Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad came with him to Delhi and helped to produce some paintings.

Mughal painting during Akbar:

Under his orders ‘Humayunama’ was illustrated. About 1200 paintings were drawn on lines pasted on one side of the manuscript of this book. Abul Fazal has listed 15 outstanding painters like Daswant, Basawan, Kesav and Farrukh Beg. More than 100 painters were recruited from different parts of India. Some of the finest paintings are to be found in the ‘Akbarnama’. Here we find happy blending of both Indian and Persian arts.

Mughal painting during Jahangir:

It is generally stated that during Jahangir’s time, the art of painting reached its climax and with him departed its soul. Jahangir was not only interested in painting; he was also its keen judge. He established a gallery of painting in his own garden.

He wrote in his biography, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri: “As regards myself, my liking for painting and my practice in judging it have arrived at such a point that when any work is brought before, me, either of a deceased artist or of those of the present day, without the names being told to me, I can say at the spur of the moment that it is the work of such and such man. And if there be a picture containing many portraits, and each face is the work of a different master, I can discover which face is the work of each of them. If any person has put in the eye and eyebrow of a face, I can perceive whose work the original face is, and who has painted the eye and eyebrows.”

This statement of Jahangir may be regarded as an exaggeration, yet we have to accept that the emperor was not only interested in painting but also a good judge of the art. Jahangir attracted many artists at his court. Painting became almost an industry with a fine regard for division of labour.

One artist drew the outline of scenes of men and animals; the specialist in landscape drew the background; the colourist filled the colours. Sometimes four or five artists worked on a single painting. European art also attracted Jahangir. Manohar and Basawan excelled in portrait painting, Mansaur specialised in painting rare animals and birds and Abul Hasan was expert in designing colour scheme.

Shah Jahan and painting:

He was more interested in architecture and neglected painting. He reduced the number of court painters. Nevertheless Shahjahan name was illustrated.

Mughal painting during Aurangzeb:

Aurangzeb’s lack of interest in painting reduced all the more the number of court painters. Several artists dismissed from his court found shelter in the courts of several Hindu and Muslim provincial rulers. It resulted in the development of painting in Rajasthan and the Punjab hills (Pahari Painting)

Raja Ram Mohan Roy never said about infallibility of the Vedas. That was by Arya Samaj and Swami Dayanand. RRMR  supported monotheism, opposed idolatry and meaningless rituals

New Lamps for Old is a book written by Aurobindo Ghosh in 1893 

The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Movement was a Civil Disobedience Movement launched by Gandhi for Satyagraha (independence). On July 14th 1942, the Congress Working Committee approved the resolution which declared"the immediate ending of the British rule in India is an urgent necessity both for the sake of India and for the success of the cause of United Nations."And it declared that free India "will assure the success by throwing his great resources in the struggle for freedom and against the aggression of Nazism, Facism and imperialism".

In March 1942, British Government sent Sir Stafford Cripps to India with proposal for a new constitution. This proposal was found unsatisfactory and was rejected both by the Congress & Muslim league.

In May 1942, Gandhi called on Britain to "leave India to God. If this is too much then leave her to anarchy." The historic session of the All India Congress Committee began on the 7th August 1942 and was concluded after midnight of 8th/9th August 1942 at Gowalia Tank Maidan, Mumbai.

The resolution was passed unanimously. The resolution which came to be known as 'Quit India Resolution' created on 'electrifying atmosphere' in the country. Gandhi conferred with his colleagues for the appropriate slogan for the movement against British to leave India. One of them suggested 'Get Out'. Gandhi rejected it as being impolite. Rajagopalachari suggested 'Retreat' or 'Withdraw'. That too was not acceptable. Yusuf Meheraly presented Gandhi a bow with a inscription bearing 'Quit India'. Gandhi said in approval, 'Amen'. That is how the historic slogan was selected. Gandhi in his stirring speech told the people "There is a mantra, short one, that I give you. You imprint it on your heart and let every breath of yours give an expression to it. The mantra is "do or die".  In early hours of 9th August, all the top leaders - Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Azad were arrested and Congress was declared an unlawful organization. With the arrest of all the national leaders, there was nobody to guide the popular agitation. There were hartals and riots by the crowd. Even the private cars were not allowed to proceed unless there was a Gandhi cap on the head of at least one of the passengers.

The movement was accompanied by a mass protest on non-violent lines, in which Gandhi called for “an orderly British withdrawal from India”. Through his passionate speeches, Gandhi moved people by proclaiming “every Indian who desires freedom and strives for it must be his own guide…”. “Let every Indian consider himself to be a free man”, Gandhi declared in his fiery “Do or Die” speech the day the Quit India Movement was declared. The Government issued an order banning public processions, meetings & assemblies. Despite the police warning large crowd had gathered at Gowalia Tank Maidan. Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Indian flag. Lathi charge and tear gas was used by the police to disperse the crowd which had gathered at Gowalia Tank Maidan. The national flag was pulled down and volunteers who went to its rescued were beaten off.

Bhakti movement relied on true devotion as a means to attaining God. It tried to bring respect for mankind moving over the barriers of caste. It was against any rituals and pilgrimage

It is generally accepted that the Bhakti Movement was the result of the combination of a number of factors, which are as follows:
Firstly, the people were not happy with the highly philosophical exposition of Hinduism as given by Shankaracharya and looked for a system which could be easily comprehended by all.
Secondly, the high caste ridden character of the medieval Hindu society with the higher castes committing all sorts of atrocities on the members of lower castes and untouchables,evoked strong reaction and convinced the Hindu saints and philosophers of the need of evolving a movement which did not believe in castes and other distinctions and laid emphasis only on Bhakti or devotion.
Thirdly, the adaptation of Islam by a large number of low caste Hindus convinced the saints and reformers, that unless the rigours of caste system were reduced, it would be difficult to retain the lower caste Hindus in the fold of Hinduism.
Fourthly or finally, it is argued that the impact of Muslims on the Indian society was also largely responsible for the rise of the Bhakti movement. While it may be denied that the Bakhtri movement was the direct result of Islam alone and most of the saints borrowed the principles of universal brotherhood of man, human equality, opposition to idol worship, disbelief in the caste system and Unity of God from Islam, because according to Hindus these principles were known to the Hindus much before the advent of Islam. But i myself strongly oppose and did not recognize this point because, Hindus were crept in these evils from the very beginning of their religion . Besides the above mentioned points or causes, their were various other causes for the rise of the Bhakti movement. I think the third mentioned point or cause, was mainly responsible for the rise of the Bhakti movement in India.
                The word "Bhakti" is derived from the Sanskrit word, "Bhaj" which means devotion and personal attachment to God. In Hindu philosophy and thought, Bhakti is one of the ways to reach God, also the name of an important religious and social movement in medieval India that propagated Bhakti. Sometime in medieval India, a religious movement broke out that emphasized on the devotion to God, as sole means of salvation, collectively known as the Bhakti movement. The Bhakti movement was a continuation of the earlier devotional cult. But what distinguished it now was that the sufi ideas influenced its doctrines, as did also certain Islamic concepts, particularly those of social justice. Their interaction grew till it reached a climax in the 16th century. Its impact, however, continued to shape popular minds and attitudes till the end of the 18th century when new conditions were created with the advent of colonialism.
               Sri Vallabha defines Bhakti as firm and all-surpassing affection of God with full sense of His greatness. It means attachment to God and that presupposes detachment from all other things. The feeling of oneness with God is not its culmination. It is gained through the grace of God and that is won by the purity of heart.
               According to A. L. Srivastava, "Perhaps after the decline of Buddhism, there has never been a more widespread and popular movement in our country than the Bhakti movement. The term Bhakti movement is used for the efforts made by the religious leaders and philosophers to reform the Hindu religion during the 15th and 16th centuries. As most of the religious preachers and philosophers laid emphasis on Bhakti for the attainment of salvation, the movement is popularly known as the Bhakti movement."

In March 1942, a mission headed by Stafford Cripps was sent to India with constitutional proposals to seek Indian support for the war.Stafford Cripps was a left-wing Labourite, the leader of the House of Commons and a member of the British War Cabinet who had actively supported the Indian national movement.

Why Cripps Mission was sent:

i. Because of the reverses suffered by Britain in South-East Asia, the Japanese threat to invade India seemed real now ‘and Indian support became crucial.

ii. There was pressure on Britain from the Allies (USA, USSR, and China) to seek Indian cooperation.

iii. Indian nationalists had agreed to support the Allied cause if substantial power was transferred immediately and complete independence given after the war.

Main Proposals:          

The main proposals of the mission were as follows:

1. An Indian Union with a dominion status; would be set up; it would be free to decide its relations with the Commonwealth and free to participate in the United Nations and other international bodies.

2. After the end of the war, a constituent assembly would be convened to frame a new constitution. Members of this assembly would be partly elected by the provincial assemblies through proportional representation and partly nominated by the princes.

3. The British Government would accept the new constitution subject to two conditions.

(i) any province not willing to join the Union could have a separate constitution and form a separate Union, and (ii) the new constitution- making body and the British Government would negotiate a treaty to effect the transfer of power and to safeguard racial and religious minorities.

4. In the meantime, defence of India would remain in British hands and the governor-general’s powers would remain intact.

Why Cripps Mission Failed:

The Cripps Mission proposals failed to satisfy Indian nationalists and turned out to be merely a propaganda device for US and Chinese consumption. Various parties and groups had objections to the proposals on different points.

The Congress objected to:

(i) The offer of dominion status instead of a provision for complete independence.

(ii) Representation of the states by nominees and not by elected representatives.

(iii) Right to provinces to secede as this went against the principle of national unity.

(iv) Absence of any plan for immediate transfer of power and absence of any real share in defence; the governor- general’s supremacy had been retained, and the demand for governor-general being only the constitutional head had not been accepted.

The Muslim League:

(i) Criticised the idea of a single Indian Union.

(ii) Did not like the machinery for the creation of a constituent assembly and the procedure to decide on the accession of provinces to the Union.

(iii) Thought that the proposals denied to the Muslims the right to self-determination and the creation of Pakistan.

Other groups also objected to the provinces’ right to secede. The Liberals considered the secession proposals to be against the unity and security of India. The Hindu Mahasabha criticised the basis of the right to secede. The depressed classes thought that partition would leave them at the mercy of the caste Hindus. The Sikhs objected that partition would take away Punjab from them.

Sakas and Kushanas were great patrons of Gandhara school of art. The home of the Gandhara school of art is the territory in and around Peshawar in northwestern India. The best of the Gandhara sculpture was produced during the first and second centuries A.D. It originated during the reign of Indo-Greek rulers but the real patrons of this school of art were the Sakas and the Kushanas, particularly Kanishka

Charges on the transfer of finished products from England to India were not a part of 'home charges'.

During the Gupta period society was divided into four castes –brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya and sudra. Each one of these comprised a major caste or varna and had specific duties assigned to them. Fa-hien’s account about the plight of sudras proves the prevalence of caste system and caste prejudices in the Indian society during the Gupta period. The reference to the people of various castes in the epigraphs and literary works also point towards the existence of caste system during this period. The brahmanas were primarily concerned with the study and teachings of Vedas and other scriptures as also the performance of sacrifices and other religious practices. The kshatriyas came next to brahmanas in status and position in the society. Khatriyas, being the ruling class, enjoyed a very high status in the society. The khsatriyas as well as the vaishyas enjoyed with the brahmanas the status of Dvijati or twice born. The Vaisyas because of their immense wealth were also shown due regard. Sudras formed the lower rank of the cast system. They were forced to serve the other three classes.Besides the division of the society into four major castes, the contemporary inscriptions and literature bear ample testimony to the existence of sub castes. However, there were no rigid rules in respect of either inter-caste marriage or inter-dining of the professions. The standard of living in towns was high. The social position of shudras improved. They were permitted to listen to epics and the Puranas and allowed to worship Krishna.

In Tamluk, Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar, also known as Tamrlipta National Government, was a parallel government founded by Satish Samanta during the Quit India Movement. The organization remained active till September 1944 and important activities like cyclone relief work, providing grants to the schools and organization of an armed Vidyut Vahini were undertaken by it. The organization remained active till September 1944 and important activities like cyclone relief work, providing grants to the schools and organization of an armed Vidyut Vahini were undertaken by it. Samanta was also the founder of Haldia Dock and his contributions for its development have helped Haldia to emerge as one of the most preferred industrial areas of West Bengal. .

Qalandars were wandering dervishes. They were against the sufi saints and criticized them of adopting lavish lifestyles and political posts

Sangam literature was finally compiled by 600 AD. Poets who in these assemblies were patronized by kings and chieftains produced the Sangama literature over a period of three to four centuries. Poets, bards and writers, authors came from various parts of South India to Madurai. Such assemblies were called “Sangamas”, and the literature produced in these assemblies was called “Sangama literature”.

In the later Vedic period, the tribal organisations changed its identity and gradually shifted to the territorial identity, and the area of settlement were now regarded as janapadas or states. In transition from tribe to monarchy, they lost the essential democratic pattern of the tribe but retained the idea of government through an assembly representing the tribes. These states consisted of either a single tribe such as Shakyas, Kolias, Malas etc. The people in the lower Ganges Valley and Delta, which were outside the Aryan pale, were not incorporated. There was, therefore, a strong consciousness of the pure land of the Aryans called Aryavarta. Each janapada tried to dominate and subjugate other janapadas to become Mahajanapadas.

The caves at Ajanta date from the 2nd century B.C.E. to 650 C.E and were cut into the mountainside in two distinct phases. Discovered by chance in 1819 by British soldiers on a hunt, the Ajanta Caves have become an icon of ancient Indian art, and have influenced subsequent artists and styles. The caves at the site are not numbered chronologically. Instead, their numbering based on location, beginning with cave 1 on the north side of the horseshoe. All of the caves at Ajanta fall into the category of Vihara (monasteries with residence halls), or Chaitya-grihas (sanctuaries/stupa monument halls). Nevertheless, each cave has its own unique characteristics, making it difficult to write about Ajanta as a whole.The Ajanta caves are engulfed in darkness. In fact, this lack of light is crucial to the experience at Ajanta; demanding the viewer’s time while intensifying a sense of the mysterious. There may have been dim artificial lighting created by oil lamps in the past. However, even today, the majority of the caves remain almost completely dark and without the help of artificial lighting, the caves remain in their original state

The Indian Home Rule Society was started by Shyamji Krishna Verma. The Indian Home Rule Society (IHRS) was an Indian organisation founded in London in 1905 that sought to promote the cause of self-rule in British India. The organisation was founded by Shyamji Krishna Varma, with support from a number of prominent Indian nationalists in Britain at the time, including Bhikaji Cama, Dadabhai Naoroji and S.R. Rana

The main objective of setting up Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 was to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research. This could be possible by promoting the study of Indian languages and scriptures, which will help in understanding India from the point of view of Indians

The Indian Statutory Commission, commonly referred to as the Simon Commission after its chairman Sir John Allsebrook Simon, was sent to India in 1928 (February - March and October 1928 - April 1929) to study potential constitutional reform. In 1930, the Commission published its two-volume report, also known as the Simon Report.

The Simon Commission was dispatched to India in 1928 to review the the Government of India Act 1919. The Commission, appointed by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, did not include any Indian delegates. As a result, theIndian National Congress and a faction of the Muslim League, led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, decided to boycott the Commission. Upon arrival in Bombay on 3 February 1928, the Commission was met by protests. In London, the London Branch of the Indian National Congress planned a demonstration upon the return of the Commission.

The Simon Report was met with disappointment and condemnation throughout India. The Indian National Congress mistrusted the findings of the Commission and the Congress boycotted the Report. Gandhisubsequently started the Civil Disobedience Movement. Mohammed Ali Jinnah made it clear that the report was unacceptable to Hindus, Muslims and Indian nationalists. The Muslims considered the Report to be reactionary; the executive Board of the All-India Muslim Conference called the Report 'unacceptable'. Prominent members of the Legislative Assembly of India such as Mian Mohammed Shah Nawaz, Gaya Prasad Singh, Dr. Ziauddin and M. R. Jayakar criticized it as well. Even the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, made it clear that the Report stood no chance of public acceptance in India.

In London, the Workers' Welfare League of India and the London Branch of the Indian National Congress organized a demonstration against the Commission. Some 200 demonstrators marched from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Station; many of the demonstrators were removed by the police. Shapurji Saklatvala, who led the demonstration, raised the issue in Parliament but was informed that the Home Secretary, Joynson Hicks, had sanctioned this police operation.

In the wake of the Report, a series of Round Table Conferences were set up from 1930 to 1932. The outcome of the Commission and the Conferences was the Government of India Act 1935. The Act ended the dyarchy and direct elections were introduced for the first time. Sind was separated from Bombay, Orissa was separated from Bihar and Burma was separated from India. Provincial assemblies were to include more elected Indian representatives, who could lead majorities and form governments. However, governors retained discretionary powers regarding summoning of legislatures, giving assent to bills and administering certain special regions

During the IVC, Metal working was highly skilled. However, stone sculptures were rare and undeveloped. They made fine jewellery in gold, bronze implements, copper beakers, saws, chisels and knives of different metals.

The Ibadat Khana or “House of Worship” was a prayer or a meeting room built by Akbar at his palace in Fatehpur Sikri. Originally he intended the place to be only for Sunni Muslims to gather and discuss various issues. However, when petty differences between other religious sects and followers got out of control he decided to open the room to every one of all faiths.

Locals and visitors to the city were often invited to participate in debates and discussions in this room. Religious leaders and philosophers from his empire and those who were passing through were encouraged to come to the discussions on Thursday evenings.

Perturbed by the differences of the religious leaders and philosophers, Akbar attempted to bring about reconciliation by creating a new faith, the Din-i-Ilahi or ‘Faith of the Divine.’ This was a laudable effort but found few takers amongst the masses though some elite belonging to Akbar’s court subscribed to it.

Partition of Bengal, (1905), division of Bengal carried out by the British viceroy in India, Lord Curzon, despite strong Indian nationalist opposition. It began a transformation of the Indian National Congressfrom a middle-class pressure group into a nationwide mass movement.

Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa had formed a single province of British India since 1765. By 1900 the province had grown too large to handle under a single administration. East Bengal, because of isolation and poor communications, had been neglected in favour of west Bengal and Bihar. Curzon chose one of several schemes for partition: to unite Assam, which had been a part of the province until 1874, with 15 districts of east Bengal and thus form a new province with a population of 31 million. The capital was Dacca (now Dhaka, Bangl.), and the people were mainly Muslim.

The Hindus of west Bengal, who controlled most of Bengal’s commerce and professional and rural life, complained that the Bengali nation would be split in two, making them a minority in a province including the whole of Bihar and Orissa. They regarded the partition as an attempt to strangle nationalism in Bengal, where it was more developed than elsewhere. Agitation against the partition included mass meetings, rural unrest, and a swadeshi (native) movement to boycott the import of British goods. The partition was carried through despite the agitation, and the extreme opposition went underground to form a terrorist movement.

In 1911, the year that the capital was shifted from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Delhi, east and west Bengal were reunited; Assam again became a chief commissionership, while Bihar and Orissa were separated to form a new province. The aim was to combine appeasement of Bengali sentiment with administrative convenience. This end was achieved for a time, but the Bengali Muslims, having benefitted from partition, were angry and disappointed. This resentment remained throughout the rest of the British period. The final division of Bengal at the partitioning of the subcontinent in 1947, which split Bengal into India in the west and East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) in the east, was accompanied by intense violence.

A Royal Durbar was held at Allahabad in November 1, 1858. A proclamation was issued by Queen Victoria. It was read at the Durbar by Lord Canning, who was the last Governor General and the first Viceroy of India. The important features of the Queen’s Proclamation were the following.

• The Act lay down that henceforth India shall be governed by and in the name of the Queen.

• It abolished the Board of Control and the Court of Directors. The post of a Secretary of State was created. He was to be assisted by a Council of India which was to consist of fifteen members.

• The Doctrine of Lapse was cancelled and the British stopped the policy of annexation.

• A general amnesty (pardon) was granted to the rebels except those who were directly involved in killing the British subjects.

• The office of the Governor General was changed to that of Viceroy of India.

Various views were expressed regarding the nature of the Mutiny. Although the British historians did not give much importance to the Mutiny, the Indian historians called it India’s First War of Independence. So it occupies a unique place in history. Definitely it laid the foundation for the freedom movement in India.

Redcliff committee was constituted in July 1947 to recommend how the Punjab and Bengal regions of the Indian subcontinent were to be divided between India and Pakistan shortly before each was to become independent from Britain. The commission was appointed by Lord Mountbatten, chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe.

Amara Sinha was a Sanskrit grammarian and poet. He is said to have been "one of the nine gems that adorned the throne of Vikramaditya,"

The summary of the societal conditions in early medieval India are as follows:

• Political decentralization: The new policy is characterized by decentralization and hierarchy, features suggested by the presence of a wide range of semi-autonomous rulers, Samantas, Mahasamantas and others and the hierarchized positioning of numerous Rajapurushas employed by royal courts.

• Emergence of Landed intermediaries: This is the hallmark of Indian feudal social formation and is seen to be linked both to the disintegration and decentralization of state authority and to major changes in the structure of agrarian relations. The emergence of landed intermediaries- a dominant landholding social group absent in the early historical period- is linked to the practice of land grants which began with the Satavahan as. I he earliest land grants belonging to the first century BC were given to the Buddhist priests and Brahmans and other religious establishments. However, in the post- gupta period even griministrativP officials were gcantatitml The landed beneficiaries were given both powers of taxation and coercion, leading to the disintegration of the central authority. The secular recipients of the grants and the autonomous holders of land are generally termed as fief holders and free holders.

• Localization of economy: There was a economy to self-sufficient villages as units of production. Thus, ruralisation was an important dimension of the transition process. This change was the result of the decline of early historical urban centres and commercial networks leading to the practice of payment in land grants instead of earlier practice of remuneration in cash, migration of different urban social groups to rural areas, expansion of agrarian space and the crystallization of Jajmani type of relationships in the rural areas. According to one formulation, fief holders and free-holders in rural society emerged as agents of social change in the later phase of early medieval society, generating once again such features of early historical economy as trade, urbanization and a market economy.

• Subjection of the peasantry : likened sometimes to serfdom, characterizing the of the subjection of peasantry , such as immobility, forced labour (vishti) and the payment of revenue at exorbitantly high rates- all point to the nature of stratification in Post-Gupta society. The condition of the peasantry in this pattern of rural stratification was in sharp contrast to what the agrarian structure in early historical India represented, since that structure was dominated by free vaishya peasants and labour services provided by the Shudras. It is important to note here that although the earliest example of sharecroppers being transferred along with the land can be traced in the third century pallava inscription from Andhra, Orissa and Deccan, from the sixth century AD onwards sharecroppers and peasants were particularly asked to stick to the land granted to the beneficiaries. The custom became fairly common in the post-gupta period and the villages transferred to the grantees are known as dhana-jana-sahita, janata-samriddha and saprativasi-jana- sameta. Thus the artisans and peasants were asked not to leave the village granted to the beneficiaries or migrate to tax-free village.

• Proliferation of castes: A striking social development from about the seventh century onwards was the proliferation of castes. The Brahmavaivarta Purana, a seventh century work, counts too castes including 61 castes noted by Manu, but the Vishnudharmottara Purana (8th century) states that thousands of mixed castes are produced by the connection of vaishyas women with men of lower castes. In fact, proliferation affected the brahmanas, the Rajaputs, and above all, the shudras and untouchables. Increasing pride of birth, characteristic of feudal society, and the accompanying self-sufficient village economy, which prevented both spatial and occupational mobility, gave rise to many castes. The guilds of artisans gradually hardened into castes due to lack of mobility in post-gupta times. The absorption of the tribal peoples into the brahmanical fold, though as old as vedic times, was mainly based on conquests. Coupled with the process of large-scale religious land grants. Acculturation assumed enormous dimensions and considerably added to the variety of the shudras and so-called mixed castes. • According to Prof. R.S. Sharma social changes were mainly the product of certain economic developments, such as land grants and large scale transfers of land revenues and land to both secular and religious elements, decline of trade and commerce, loss of mobility of artisans, peasants and traders, unequal distribution of land an power etc. He holds the economic factor responsible for the emergence of certain new castes and decline of certain old ones. Thus the constant transfer of land of land revenues made by princes to priests, temples and officials led to the rise and growth of the scribe or the Kayastha community which undermined the monopoly of Brahmans as writers and scribes. Similarly, the decline of trade and commerce led to the decline in the position of the Vaishyas. The process of proliferation and multiplication of castes was yet another marked feature of the social life of the period

Buddha taught in the language of the ordinary people’s language Pali

Theravada (Pali: thera "elders" + vada "word, doctrine"), the "Doctrine of the Elders," is the name for the school of Buddhism that draws its scriptural inspiration from the Pali Canon, or Tipitaka, which scholars generally accept as the oldest record of the Buddha's teachings. For many centuries, Theravada has been the predominant religion of Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand; today Theravada Buddhists number over 100 million world-wide. In recent decades Theravada has begun to take root in the West — primarily in Europe, Australia and the USA.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact, agreement signed on March 5, 1931, between Mohandas K. Gandhi, leader of the Indian nationalist movement, and Lord Irwin (later Lord Halifax), British viceroy (1926–31) of India. It marked the end of a period of civil disobedience (satyagraha) in India against British rule that Gandhi and his followers had initiated with the Salt March (March–April 1930). Gandhi’s arrest and imprisonment at the end of the march, for illegally making salt, sparked one of his more effective civil disobedience movements. By the end of 1930, tens of thousands of Indians were in jail (including future Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru), the movement had generated worldwide publicity, and Irwin was looking for a way to end it. Gandhi was released from custody in January 1931, and the two men began negotiating the terms of the pact. In the end, Gandhi pledged to give up the satyagrahacampaign, and Irwin agreed to release those who had been imprisoned during it and to allow Indians to make salt for domestic use. Later that year Gandhi attended the second session (September–December) of the Round Table Conference in London.