The two movements brought a new form of religious expression amongst Muslims and Hindus. The Sufis were mystics who called for liberalism in Islam. They emphasised on an egalitarian society based on universal love. The Bhakti saints transformed Hinduism by introducing devotion or bhakti as the means to attain God. Several textual sources tell us about the Bhakti and Sufi traditions. These sources include compositions attributed to poet saints. Hagiographies or biographies of saints written down by their followers also form an important source of the Bhakti and Sufi traditions.

The Ajmer Sharif Dargah’s annual income is reportedly above Rs 200 crore. However, when we contacted Syed Wahid Hussain Chishti, Secretary, Anjuman Committee of the Dargah to enquire about its contribution to relief work in Nepal, Chisti said the committee is yet to decide on what it should do to help Nepal.

Caritas India, which is the “official development arm of the Catholic Church in India”, earned in excess of Rs 100 crore in the last financial year, according to its annual report. Its website describes it as an organisation to “assist the Church in India in efforts to eradicate poverty, reach relief and rehabilitation in times of disasters and organize communities for self advancement”. An official of Caritas India told Newslaundry that the organisation has collected Rs 30 lakh for relief efforts in Nepal but curiously hasn’t been “able” to send the money because of legal hurdles.

The Mahabharata is a colossal epic running over 100,000 verses with depictions of social categories and situations.

It was composed over a period of about 1,000 years (c. 500 BCE onwards)

Some of the stories it contains may have been in circulation even earlier.

The central story is about two sets of warring cousins.

The text also contains sections laying down norms of behaviour for various social groups. Occasionally (though not always), the principal characters seem to follow these norms.

The Quit India Movement started on 9 August, 1942. The main reason for its beginning was that during the Second World War, Japan had occupied Burma. It was feared that Japan might attack India to harm the British interests. At this time, Congress passed a resolution to start the Quit India Movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. This resolution was passed as many leaders of the Congress felt that Japan would not attack India if the British left it. Besides the resolution for Quit India Movement, the Congress also resolved not to accept anything less than complete independence for India.

Beginning and Progress of the Movement : The Quit India Movement was started on 9 August, 1942 under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. He challenged the British to quit India. Soon after there were slogans of “Quit India” all over the country. The British put their full might to repress this movement. Most of the political leaders were arrested. It infuriated the people who started plundering government offices, railway stations and post offices. The British became more adamant and they put innumerable people behind the bars. The whole country was turned into a prison. Till February, 1943, the Quit India continued with success. But after that, it lost its momentum because of the repressive policy of the government. It came to an end slowly and steadily.

The integration of cults means that there was composition, compilation and preservation of Puranic texts in simple Sanskrit verse, explicitly meant to be accessible to women and Shudras, who were generally excluded from Vedic learning. The Brahmanas also accepted and reworked the beliefs and practices of these and other social categories. The example of this integration of cults is at Puri, Orissa where the principal deity was identified as Jagannatha (literally, the lord of the world), a form of Vishnu. Here the deity is represented in a very different way. In this case, a local deity, whose image was and continues to be made of wood by local tribal specialists, was recognised as a form of Vishnu. At the same time, Vishnu was visualised in a way, that was very different from that in other parts of the country. Such instances of integration were evident amongst goddess cults as well where the local deities were provided an identity as the wife of the principal male deities – Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu or Parvati, the wife of Shiva.

Archaeologists can re-construct dietary practices from findings of charred grains and seeds. These are examined by archaeo-botanists, who are experts in ancient plant remnants. Grains found at ancient sites comprise barley, wheat, millets chickpea, sesame, lentils, and also rice.

The rulers of Vijayanagara made many innovations in the architectural traditions. They added many new features in the temple architecture. These large structures were a show of their imperial authority. For example, they built gopurams and royal gateways. The towers of the central shrines signalled the presence of the temple from a great distance. But the royal gateways surpassed them in height. They reminded the power of the kings. They showed that the kings had full command over the resources, techniques and skills.

The rulers of Vijayanagara also got built mandapas or pavilions. Besides there were long and pillared corridors that ran around the shrines. There were two main temples—The Virupaksha Temple and the Vitthala Temple. The Virupaksha Temple was built over the centuries. It was constructed in the 9th-10th centuries. But after the establishment of Vijayanagara Empire, it was substantially enlarged. Krishnadeva Raya built a hall in front of the main shrine. It marked his accession to the throne. It was decorated with delicately carved pillars.

Many temple complexes had chariot streets. These streets extended from the temple gopuram in a straight line. They were paved with slabs of stone. They were lined with pillared pavilions. The merchants set up their shops in these pavilions. In other words, the rulers of Vijayanagara built impressive buildings.

The revolt of 1857 shook the foundation of British East India Company and disclosed their inefficiency in handling the Indian administration. The major impact was the introduction of Government of India act which abolished the rule of British East India Company and marked the beginning of British raj that bestowed powers in the hands of the British government to rule India directly through representatives.

(1) British conspiracy against Siraj-ud-daula -
The British conspired to remove the Nawab of Bengal Siraj-ud-daulah from power, as the British wanted to make the Nawab a puppet in their hands. For this, the British joined the Nawab's commander Mir Jafar with the greed to make him the Nawab of Bengal. The British had already turned courtiers like Amichand and Jagat Seth towards them. The British were very clever, so they found the rich people who were angry with the Nawab and got them on their side. For this reason, the army of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah did not fight with full loyalty in the plains.
(2) Tension between British and Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula
Tensions were going on in the relations between the British and Siraj-ud-Daula. There were several reasons for this, including the fact that the British did not send any gifts to Siraj-ud-daulah when they became the Nawabs of Thebalas, the British gave aid and refuge to the Nawab's rebels, the Nawab imposed fairly strict restrictions on the British trade.
(3) Fortifications by the British -
At this time, the British and the French started the fortifications of Calcutta and Qasim Bazar. Siraj-ud-daula opposed it. The French agreed to the order of the Nawab, but the British, not caring for him, continued the fortification, which angered the Nawab.
 (4) Right over Qasim Bazaar and Calcutta -
Enraged by the fortifications by the British, the Nawab won by sending his army to Kasim Bazar and Calcutta. Many British were also arrested.
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 It is divided into five volumes. The first volume deals with the family of the emperor. The second gives details about the imperial servants, the military and the civil apparatus. The third volume elaborates on the administrative structure of the Mughal empire. It lists out and explains all the regulations prescribed for the judicial and executive departments and divisions of the empire. The fourth volume delas with Hindu philosophy, social customs, literature and science. Lastly, the fifth book contains the wise saying uttered by Emperor Akbar. It also gives details about the ancestry and biography of the author of ‘Ain-i-Akbari’.

• The Harappan seal is possibly the most distinctive artefact of the Harappan or Indus valley civilisation. Made of a stone called steatite, seals like this one often contain animal motifs and signs from a script that remains undeciphered.
• Seals and sealings were used to facilitate long distance communication. If the bag of goods reached with its sealing intact, it meant that it had not been tampered with. Seals also conveyed the identity of the sender.

• Gandhiji was admired worldwide as a great social reformer, political leader and thinker.
• As a politician, he transformed Indian National Movement into a broad Mass Movement.
• Through a unique method of non-violence, he won civic rights and eventually Independence for India’s people. Due to this, he was followed by a number of people in his campaign for swaraj or ‘Home rule’.
• He worked to reconcile all classes and religious sects, especially Hindus and Muslims.
• When he came from jail in 1924, he devoted his attention to encourage the home spun cloth (Khadi) and to eradicate untouchability from the society He wanted to remove child marriage. He stressed on Hindu-Muslim harmony.
• In Dandi March (salt law) in 1930, he also allowed women to participate at a large scale.

The first war of Independence was a period of rebellions in northern and central India against British  and it is referred to as the Sepoy Mutiny. It was a vision of Unity which brought the Hindu and Muslims together when Indian soldiers rebelled against their British officers over violation of their religious feelings.

• The rebellion was widely followed by the Muslim uprising, and there was equal participation by the Hindus when the British Army inducted a new type of rifle whose cartridge was said to be greased in cow and pig fat.
• Since the Hindus consider the cow a sacred animal and do not eat beef, on the other hand the  Muslims consider it an offense to consume pork. The entire Indian part of the British Army rose in rebellion against the British.
• This was widely acknowledged as the first ever united rebellion against colonial rule in India which was driven by Mangal Pandey who was a Sepoy in the colonial British army

US and Soviet Union
The Cold War referred to the competition, the tensions and a series of confrontations between the US and Soviet Union. It never escalated into a hot war, i.e. a full-scale war between these two powers

The Non- Alignment Movement formally came into existence in 1961 with the meeting of its founding members:

1. Jawaharlal Nehru of India.
2. Josip Broz of Yugoslavia.
3. Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt.
4. Sukarno of Indonesia.
5. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.

• The storm-centers of the Revolt of 1857 were −
  • Delhi,
  • Kanpur,
  • Lucknow,
  • Jhansi, and
  • Arrah in Bihar.

The Sunset Law stated that if the zamindar did not pay his dues by sunset of the specified date his zamindari would be auctioned off.  According to the ‘ Sunset Law if payment did not come in by sunset of the specified date, the zamindari was liable to be auctioned.