The Nayanars and Alvars led religious movements in south India during the seventh to ninth centuries. The Nayanars were devotees of Shiva while the Alvars were the devotees of Vishnu. They came from all castes including those considered 'untouchable like the Pulaiyar and the Panars. They preached the love of Shiva or Vishnu as the path to salvation. They went from place to place composing beautiful poems in praise of the deities enshrined in the villages they visited and set them to music. There were 63 Nayanars who belonged to different caste backgrounds. There were 12 Alvars who came from equally divergent backgrounds.

To mark*

To maro their presence and greatness. They very well knew the importance of these heritages. Therefore, these temples were the way of showing the rich culture and pride.

The Bhakti and Sufi thinkers used the languages of the common people to expressh their opinions. They often spoke in local languages. So they were well-understood by the common people. Had they used a few distinct languages, they would not have reached to all the people. They would have gone extinct. Hence their use of the local languages proved very significant.

(i) Sanskrit was used by traditional Bhakti saints to sing hymns at different occasions, places of worship and ceremonies.

(ii) The Alvars and Nayanars of Tamil Nadu travelled from place to place singing hymns in Tamil in praise of their Gods. These developed as centres of pilgrimage. Singing compositions of these poet-saints became part of temple rituals in these shrines, as did worship of the saint images.

(iii) Kabir’s poems have survived in several languages and dialects, and some are composed in the special language of nirguna poets, the sant bhasha. Others, known as ulatbansi (upside-down sayings), are written in a form in which everyday meanings are inverted.

(iv)    Baba Guru Nanak, Baba Farid, Ravidas (Raidas), composed their hymns in various languages such as Punjabi and Hindi etc.

(v)    Amir Khusrau wrote and sang in Hindavi or Persian, Punjabi, Urdu and some other form oflanguages.

(vi)    It was not just in sama that the Chishtis adopted local languages. In Delhi, those associated with the Chishti Silsila conversed in Hindavi, the language of the people. Other sufis such as Baba Farid composed verses in the local languages, which were incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib.

(vii)    Other writers, thinkers, saints etc. composed long poems or masnavis to express ideas of divine love using human love as an allegory. For example, the prem-akhyan (love story) Padmavat composed by Malik Muhammad Jayasi revolved around the romance of Padmini and Ratansen, the king of Chittor. Their trials were symbolic of the soul’s journey to the divine. Such poetic compositions were often recited in hospices, usually during sama.

(viii) The poets of Bigapur and Karnatana wrote short poems in Dakhani, a variant of Urdu.

The need of a strong centre was one of the heated debates in the Constituent Assembly. Jawaharlal Nehru argued for a strong centre along with Dr B. R. Ambedkar. K. Santhanam from Madras however favoured more powers to the state. But the Constituent Assembly realised the importance of having a strong centre. It protected the powers of the centre in the following ways:-

1. The Drafting Committee provided three lists of subjects—Union, State and Concurrent Lists. While subjects of key importance such as defence, home and finance were placed under the Union List, subjects such as agriculture and irrigation were placed under the State List. Both union and state governments had the right to make laws in the Concurrent List. However, the union government was more powerful while making laws on the subjects included in the Concurrent List.
2. The union government was given control over mineral and key industries.
3. Article 356 gave the union government absolute power over the state government as it could then take over the administration of the state during an emergency.
4. The central government had all powers while levying taxes such as custom duties and company taxes. The union government shared income tax and excise duties with the state governments.

Thus, the Constituent Assembly of India protected the powers of the central government.

Change in discourse of national movement:

• Gandhi rejected violent nationalism.
• Gandhi used terms like swaraj, swadeshi, and Indian civilization instead of nation.
• Gandhi’s nationalism was based on satya, ahimsa, karmayoga, ramarajya, tapasya, and moksha etc.
• Class movements to mass movements: champaran satyagraha (1917), Kheda movement (1918), Khilafat movement (1919), non- cooperation movement (1920), civil-disobedience movement (1930), Quit India movement(1942) – these all were mass movements.
• Gandhiji boycotted foreign goods.
• Passive resistance and non-violence became motto.
• Love the enemies and voluntary surrendering to authorities became norm.

National movement was inclusive and representative:

• Women participation: thousands of women came out of their homes and participated in salt satyagraha.
• Working class and professionals participated: lawyers, teachers, professors also joined the national movement.
• Students also boycotted class and participated in the movement in large scale.
• All religion participated: irrespective of religion and caste all people took part in mass movement.
• Business class participated: gave financial assistance and rejected imported goods.

Some of the flaws in Gandhi’s ideology:

• Alliance with Muslim league on religious grounds during non-cooperation movement strengthened the Muslim league as an independent entity, though it brought leaders together but failed to bring Hindus and Muslims together.
• Support of Gandhiji to WW-I – British government didn’t do anything substantial instead brought Black act. Failure to commute death sentence of Bhagat singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru to Life imprisonment. Though cause of opposition to communal award was good but system of joint electorate didn’t let true representatives of depressed classes to lead.

Conclusion:

Gandhi’ arrival was watershed in the national movement; it changed the discourse in significant way. It can be holistically said national movement was inclusive and representative as it covered whole India and its people

Buddha’s teachings and philosophy have been reconstructed from stories, found mainly in the Sutta Pitaka. Although some stories have described his miraculous powers, others have suggested that the Buddha tried to convince people through reason and persuasion and not by displaying his supernatural powers. In one story narrated in the Sutta Pitaka, a griefstricken woman whose child had died came to Buddha. Buddha politely convinced her about the death rather than bring her son back to life. According to the Buddhist philosophy, the world is transient and constantly changing. It is also soulless and there is nothing permanent. With this transient world, sorrow is intrinsic to human beings.

After the death of Buddha, his followers compiled his teachings. These scriptures came to be known as the Tripitakas. Vinay Pitaka has laid down rules for nuns and monks residing in monasteries, Sutta Pitaka contains Buddha’s teachings and Abhidhamma Pitaka contains philosophical debates.

The statement of eminent epigraphist D.C Sirkar has highlighted the important of inscription as single sources of information that touch upon all areas of our life. Following are the main areas we get information about from the inscriptions.
(i) Determination of states’s boundaries: The inscription were cared in the territories of the kings and even more important is not often close to the borders. This helps us find out boundaries of kingdoms and their expansion thereto.
(ii) Names of kings: the names of the kings are mentioned in the inscriptions. The names and titles used by Asoka the great got revealed through inscription only.
(iii) Historic events: the important historical events are mentioned in the inscriptions. The best example is how the event of the killing war is mentioned in the inscription and how Asoka takes to Dhamma.
(iv) Information about conduct of kings: inscription describe the conduct a character of the kings quit well. It is through the inscription only that we know Asoka worked for the welfare of the masses.
(v) Informed about administration: inscription gave information about administration. It is through the inscription. We know that we know Asoka appointed his son as a viceroy.

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The main features of Mauryan administration were:

• There were five important political centres in the Mauryan Empire: Patliputra (the capital city) and the provincial centres of Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosali and Suvarnagiri.
• It was not possible for such a large empire to have a uniform administrative system so historians believe that the administrative control was perhaps strongest in the capital and in provincial centres.
• Communications along the land and riverine routes were developed to administer the Empire.
• The army was an important tool for not only extending the territories of the empire but also for administering them.
• Committees and sub-committees were formed for coordinating military activities. They looked after the navy, horses, chariots, elephants, recruiting soldiers and managing transport and food supplies for soldiers.
• Asoka held his Empire together by propagating the doctrine of Dhamma, whose principles were simple and universally applicable. The doctrine propagated the ideas of peace, non-violence and respect towards elders. Dhamma mahamatt as were appointed to spread the principles of Dhamma.
• The last feature of the Mauryan administration is evident in the Asokan inscriptions that we have studied. It is because Ashoka inscribed the main features of his policy of ‘dhamma’. According to the inscriptions, he had also appointed Special officers called Dhamma Mahamtras to spread Dhamma.<button aria-label="like this post" title="like this post">
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a. The neighboring desert encroached on the fertile area and made it infertile. b. Regular floods destroyed the area. c. Aryan invaders killed people and destroyed the Indus Valley Civilization. The Harappan people were peace loving. They did not have weapons to attack others or to defend themselves. They had implements for hunting or farming. So they could not defend themselves against the invaders. The destruction of these people by Aryans was a sad event in history. The Aryans lived in villages and knew nothing of urban life. Thus it took hundred of years again for India to have beautiful cities like Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. d. The end was partly caused by changing river patterns. These changes included the drying up of the Hakra River and changes in the course of the Indus River. The river changes disrupted agricultural and economic systems, and many people left the cities of the Indus Valley region. e. Earthquakes and Epidemics caused destruction.

There are many reasons put forth by the scholars regarding end of the Harappan civilization:

(i) Climatic change,  Deforestation,  Excessive Flood, Drying up of rivers,  Earthquake, Landslide etc. These reasons could explain end of one or two settlements. Hoever it cannot explain the end of whole civilization.

(ii) some scholars believes that it was the invasion of Aryan that lead to the end of Harappan civilization. As there are mentions in Rigveda how Lord Indra also known as Puramdar or the "destroyer of fort"has destroyed forts. R E M Wheeler believes that it is not possible such civilization could just vanish unless it was destoyed and was taken over by a new one. There also was evidence of large number of skeleton to prove the point. However this argument has been refuted and no longer holds true.

(iii) Other scholars believe that it was due to the end of one unifying element, it could be state or a ruler. Because after 1800 BCE we find that there are sudden disappearance of seals, weights and other uniform productions. Which scholars believe could be possible if there was an unifying element because such uniformity in size, weights etc could not coincident.

However the mentioned points are all hypothesis and we are still not sure of what could have brought such civilization to an end.

The Buddhist stupas are said to be stories in stone. This is because many story scenes from Buddhist texts have been depicted on the stupas. On the Sanchi stupa, art historians have identified some scenes which are based on stories in Vessantara Jataka.

• Ziyarat meant pilgrimage to the tombs of sufi saints. Its main objective was to seek the spiritual grace from the Sufi.
• Pilgrimage, called Ziyarat to the tombs of Sufi saints is very common all over the Muslim world. For more than seven centuries people of various creeds, classes and social backgrounds have travelled to the dargahs of the five great chisthi saints and expressed their devotions. This practice is an occasion for seeking the sufi’s spiritual grace (barakat).

The Purusha Sukta is a most commonly used Vedic Sanskrit hymn. It is recited in almost all Vedic rituals and ceremonies. It is often used during the worship of the Deity of Vishnu or Narayana in the temple, installation and fire ceremonies, or during the daily recitation of Sanskrit literature or for one's meditation.

The Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda says that the four Vamas emerged because of the sacrifice of Purusha, the primeval man. The four vamas were Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. These Vamas had different jobs. 

During the Early historic era we see that the Brahmanas producing different texts. And there is close proximity between Brahmanas and the ksatriyas. Through there knowledges the brahmans began to prescribe roles to the diffrent section of the society. And we see that the main role of Ksatriya was to rule over the people and it was ksatriya who had the right to rule, collect taxes, raid etc. But After the decline of the Mauryan empire we see many groups from central asia, such as Shakas and Kushanas forming empire and whose social background were not clear. And we see that the throne was open to anyone who had the power to grap it.

For example in the kingdoms of Tamilakam (the name of the ancient Tamil country, which included parts of present-day Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, in addition to Tamil Nadu) Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas, were ruled by chiefs or kings. And the positiond of chief were not hereditary like the Mauryas.

We also see that many rulers who came from central asia like Shakas , satavahanas had vey obscure social backgrounds. However one of the most important idea that emerged during the Kushanas (c. first century BCE first century CE), who ruled over a vast kingdom extending from Central Asia to northwest India. They began to portray themselves as divine, there are evidence of kushana rulers statue inside temple.

During this time we also see that the position of king or ruler were not secure, for example we see that the Gupta Empire forged a huge empire depended on huge samantas, men who maintained themselves through local resources including control over land. They offered homage and provided military support to rulers. Powerful samantas could become kings: conversely, weak rulers might find themselves being reduced to positions of subordination.

Thus we see that after Mauryas there was a huge change in the idea of kingship.

A stūpa is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics that is used as a place of meditation. A related architectural term is a chaitya, which is a prayer hall or temple containing a stupa.

Milkiyat was extensive personal lands held by zamindars. It was used for cultivation for the private use of zamindars. It was cultivated often with the help of servile or hired labour. They were free to sell, mortgage these lands at will.

Jharokha Darshan was a daily practice of addressing the public audience (darshan) at the balcony (jharokha) at the forts and palaces of medieval kings in India. It was an essential and direct way of communicating face-to-face with the public, and was a practice which was adopted by the Mughal emperors.

Communalism is a situation when a particular community tries to promote its own interest at the cost of other communities. Communal politics is based on the idea that religion is the principal basis of social community.

A n s w e r 
Swadeshi is a Sanskrit word meaning 'swa'- 'self' and 'desh' - 'country'. Swadeshi, hence, means things that has been manufactured in one's own country, i.e., India.

(a) Mahatma Gandhi felt that Hindustani was a language that the common people could easily understand

(b) Hindustani which was a blend of Hindi and Urdu was popular among a large section of the people. Moveover it was a composite language enriched by the interaction of diverse cultures.

(c) Over the years words and terms from many different sources had been incorporated into this language making it easily understood by people from various regions.

(d) According to Mahatma Gandhi Hindustani would be the ideal language of communication between dieverse communities. It would help to unify Hindus and Muslims and the people from the north and south.

(e) From the end of the 19th century onwards language become associated with the politics of religious identities. Hindustani also began to change but Mahatma Gandhi retained his faith in the composite character of Hindustani.

• The world is transient (anicca) and constantly changing. It is also soulless as there is nothing permanent or eternal in it.
• Within this transient world, sorrow (dukkha) is intrinsic to human existence.
• By following the path of moderation between severe penance and self-indulgence, human beings can use above these worldly pleasures.
• He advised kings and gahapatis to be humane and ethical. Buddha regarded the social world as the creation of humans rather than of divine origin.
• He emphasised individual agency and righteous action as the means to escape from the cycle of rebirth and attain self-realisation and nibbana (literally means the extinguishing of ego and desire).
  This ends the cycle of suffering for those who renounced the world.
• The words to his followers were “Be lamps into yourselves as all of you must work out your own liberation.”

In English translations of Buddhist texts, householder denotes a variety of terms. • The term was used for Small Peasants & Large Landholders: “Gahapati” word used in Buddhist Literature. •The term Gahapati was often used in Pali texts to designate the second and third category. • A gahapati was the owner, master or head of household, who exercised control over the women,children,slaves and workers who shared a common residence.

The Owner, master or head of household

Owner of the resource - land, animal and other thing that belonged to the house hold.

 

Nayakas were military chiefs usually mentioned law and order in their areas of control. They maintained forests and kept armed supporters. They use to control and expand fertile land and agricultural settlements. They usually submitted to kings (to the authority of Vijayanagara). 

The amara-nayaka system was a major political innovation of the Vijayanagara Empire. It is likely that many features of this system were derived from the Iqta system of the Delhi Sultanate. The amara-nayakas were military commanders who were given territories to govern by the raya. These chiefs were known as nayakas and they usually spoke Telugu or Kannada. Many nayakas submitted to the authority'of the kings of Vijayanagara but they often rebelled and had to be subdued by military action. Meaning of Amara : Amara believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word Samara, meaning battle or war.

Nayakas were the militants of Vijaynagar Empire. They were most powerful group as they control the protection of fortresses. They keep on moving for one place to another and often accompanied by Peasants in search of fertile land in order to settle down.

Amar Nayaka was most innovative and influential system devised by the rulers of Vijayanagar empire They are commanders who was given the independent territory to maintain. There main responsibilities is to collect the taxes from merchant peasants and craftsman and retain some of the portion for their personal use. In return they provide the dominant fighting forces to the Vijayanagar kings who brought peninsular dominion under their control.

Many of the Harappan cities were divided into two or more parts. The part to the west was smaller but higher as compared to other parts. This part small and high part of the cities is described as citadel.

The citadel was built on a raised platform . Ppublic buildings like the Great Bath was built in the citadel

 

During the period of the 10th Century to the 17th Century, an important trend noticed in the religious life in India is the worship of God in many forms. Many God and Goddesses appear in the scultures and texts but they are various forms of the original deities only. These original deities are Vishnu, Shiva, and Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Parvati.
Historians have noticed the two marked trends in the socio-religious life of those days. The first was dissemination of the Brahminical ideas. The Brahminical texts were reproduced in simple Sanskrit. They were now made available to women and shudras, who did not have access to Brahminical literature by and large. The second was the Brahmins who were working on the beliefs and practices. It was a process of evolution, wherein traditional classical traditions were getting new shapes continuously as they were being impacted by the traditions of common people throughout the land.
Now let us look at the two of the following examples.
1.A very good example of the above description is the temple of Jagannatha at Puri
in Orissa. The temple is of Lord Jagannatha who is another form of Vishnu only. The word Jagannatha means one who owns the world.
2.There were many local gods; their statues were often created by wood and stones by tribals. Even families began to have Kul Devata. The Goddeses were also created in wood and stone. They all were in various forms only often of Vishnu.