An oxbow lake is a lake that forms when a meander in a river is cut off from the rest of the river. It is shaped like a crescent, or the bow of an oxen yoke. A river meanders because of obstacles and patterns of erosion and deposition of sediments.

There were a number of factors that led to the decline of the Mughal Empire. Emperor Aurangzeb fought a long war in the Deccan. As a result, the military and financial resources of his empire got depleted.

The Chola dynasty was in power from the latter half of the 9^th century to the beginning of the 13^th century. It was at its peak during the medieval period. Vijayalaya an ancient chiefly family of the Cholas captured the Kaveri delta from the Muttaraiyars. He built a temple devoted to goddess Nishumbhasudini at Thanjavur and made it his capital. Gradually, the kingdom grew in size with conquering the neighbouring regions of Pandyan and Pallava.

Todar Mal was Akbar’s revenue minister. He carried out a careful survey of crop yields, prices and areas cultivated for a 10-year period i.e. from 1570 to 1580. Based on this data, tax was fixed on each crop in cash. Each province was divided into revenue circles. Each circle had its own schedule of revenue rates for individual crops. This revenue system was called zabt. It was prevalent in the areas where Mughal administrators could survey the land and keep very careful accounts. But it was not possible in provinces; such as Gujarat and Bengal. The zamidars exercised great deal of power in some areas. Their exploitation by Mughal administrators forced them to rebel against it. These revolts collectively by zamindars and peasants challenged the stability of the empire from the end of the 17th century.

The sources used by historians in the period 700 to 1750 (the Medieval Period) were quite different from the ones used in the period of Gupta dynasty and Hashavardhana. There is definitely some continuity in the sources used by the historians of both the distinct periods. For example, for obtaining information they still relied on

• Coins
• Inscriptions
• Acrhitecture
• Textual records

Any stranger who appeared say in a given village, someone who was not a part of that society or culture was considered a 'foreigner' in the past. 

A body of Muslim scholars who are recognized as having specialist knowledge of Islamic sacred law and theology. 'For example, Muslim scholars, or ulama, were hierarchically organized and sanctioned by the state, and Ottoman sultans often issued decrees with the force of law.

Sea Waves

The up and down movements of water in the sea are known as sea waves. The lower part is called wave trough whereas, the upper part of the wave is called wave crest. The distance between two adjacent crests is the wavelength and the vertical distance between the crest and the trough is the wave height.

P waves, or Primary waves are the first waves to hit the seismographs when an earthquake strikes. They are longitudinal waves which means that the direction of motion and propagation are the same.
S waves, also called secondary waves and shear waves, are the second waves to hit the seismographs. They are transverse waves, which means that the motion is perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. S waves can only travel through solids and scientists have been successful to map the interior of the earth by studying the routes of these waves.

Surface waves are those waves that travel on the surface of the earth. The destruction caused by earthquakes is primarily done by these waves.

• Earthquake waves are of two types — body waves and surface waves.

P- Waves

• P-waves are also known as the Primary waves. They are the first waves to arrive at the surface.
• The characteristics of P-waves are like sound waves. They travel through all three mediums- solid, liquid and gas.
• These waves have a tendency to vibrate parallel to the direction of wave propagation. This causes density differences in the material through which they travel.
• These waves are responsible for elongating and squeezing of material.

S- Waves

• S- Waves arrive after some time after the happening of Earthquake and they are called secondary waves.
• A significant characteristic of these S-waves is that they travel only through a solid medium.
• The direction of vibration of this S-wave is perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation, thereby creating crests and troughs in the material of their transmission.

There were three types of taxes-

1. The tax levied on crops was called 'kharaj' which was about 50 percent of the peasant's produce.
2. The second tax was on the cattle.
3. The third tax was on the Houses.

Having a bicameral structure means having a Lower and Upper house, that mimics the structure of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (Legislativ Assembly/Vidhan Sabha and Legislative Council/Vidhan Parishad) Currently the 6 states that have a bicameral structure are: Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra,Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir. The remaining 22 states have a unicameral structure, which means they have only the Legislative Assembly and not the Legislative Council.

Air Pressure

Air exerts pressure in all directions. The pressure exerted by air is called the air pressure, which is the thrust exerted by air per unit area. The weight of the air acting on a unit surface area is called the atmospheric pressure.

To show that air exerts pressure, take a glass and fill it with water. Cover the mouth of the glass with an index card. Now hold the card in place and invert the glass over a sink and remove your hand from the card. The card sticks to the glass. This is because air exerts pressure on the card  from below to keep the card in place. Here the pressure exerted by air upwards is more than the pressure exerted by water downwards. 

1. He is the constitutional head of the state.
2. All executive orders of the State Government are taken in his name.
3. He appoints the Chief Minister - leader of the majority party in the State Legislative Assembly or the leader of the coalition party which wins the elections.
4. On advice of the Chief Minister, he appoints the members of the Council of Ministers.
5. High dignitaries such as Advocate General, Chairman and members of the respective State Public Commission are also appointed by him.
6. Under Article 167 (c) of the Constitution, he has the right to seek information from the Chief Minister.
7. He is a part of the state legislature and can summon, adjourn or prorogue the state legislature.
8. He addresses the commencement of the first session of the state legislature every year.
9. No bills can be passed in the state legislature until it has been approved and signed by the Governor.
10. In certain cases, the Governor can withhold the bill and pass it to the President for his approval.
11. He can issue ordinances when the state legislature is not in session. However, these ordinances cease to operate at the end of 6 weeks when the state legislature meets again.
12. He also nominates 1/6th of the members of the Legislative Council or Vidhan Sabha.

Earth's crust is a thin shell on the outside of Earth, accounting for less than 1% of Earth's volume. It is the top component of lithosphere: a division of Earth's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle. The lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates that move, allowing heat to escape from the interior of the Earth into space.

The crust lies on top of the mantle, a configuration that is stable because the upper mantle is made of peridotite and so is significantly more dense than the crust. The boundary between the crust and mantle is conventionally placed at the Mohorovičić discontinuity, a boundary defined by a contrast in seismic velocity.

Geologic provinces of the world (USGS)
  Shield
  Platform
  Orogen
  Basin
  Large igneous province
  Extended crust
Oceanic crust:
  0–20 Ma
  20–65 Ma
  >65 Ma
The crust of Earth is of two distinct types:

Oceanic: 5 km (3 mi) to 10 km (6 mi) thick[2] and composed primarily of denser, more mafic rocks, such as basalt, diabase, and gabbro.
Continental: 30 km (20 mi) to 50 km (30 mi) thick and mostly composed of less dense, more felsic rocks, such as granite.

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arrow_backDecline of the Mughals
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In the 18th century, many political reasons led to the decline of the Mughal Empire. Aurangzeb’s campaigns in the Deccan region decreased his military and financial power. His administrative system also started collapsing, as the governors started consolidating power in their own provinces.

Aurangzeb’s successors were unable to keep a check on the mansabdars and the subhedars.

To recover revenues, the governors started increasing the taxes and kept these with themselves. This led to uncontrollable revolts by the peasants and zamindars.

During this time, the empire also faced an attack from Nadir Shah of Iran, in 1739, and Ahmad Shah Abdali of Afghanistan five times - between 1748 and 1761 weakening the empire further.

The nobles divided into those supporting the Iranian and the Turanis nobles.Their power struggle led to the assassination of two Mughal emperors, Farrukh Siyar in 1719 and Alamgir II in 1759, blinding Emperors Ahmad Shah and Shah Alam II as well.

The decline of the Mughal authority led to three types of states in the subcontinent – old Mughal states, independent states under the Mughals, and states which became independent of the Mughal rule.

Rainfall can be defined as the precipitation in the liquid form. 
Rainfall has been classified into three main types based on the origin –

• Convectional rainfall
• Orographic or relief rainfall
• Cyclonic or frontal rainfall

The two ways in which Article 15 addresses inequality are: (i) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, ***, place of birth or any of them. (ii) No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion/ race, caste, ***, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to : (a) access to shops, public restaurants, hotels, and places of public entertainment; (b) the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads, and places of public resort maintained by the funds of State or meant for public use.  

True statement
The control of the Cholas from Uraiyur to Thanjavur was done by Vijayalaya who belonged to the ancient family of the Cholas from Uraiyur.