In the 6th century BC, very big states were established in north India. They were called Mahajanapadas. They were sixteen in number.
Important Mahajanapadas: (i) Megadha (ii) Koshala (iii) Kuru (iv) Avanti (v) Panchala (vi) Vajji (vii) Gandhara.

(a) Fortification : (i) The different parts of the city of Vijayanagara were enclosed with the great fortress walls. There were seven lines of forts. These encircled not only the city of Vijayanagara but also its agricultural land and forests. The outermost wall linked the hills surrounding the city. This wall was built with wedge shaped blocks of stone. They fixed well into each other and had no use of mortar or cementing agent. The inner portion of the walls was of earth packed with rubble.

(ii) This fortification enclosed agricultural tracts like cultivated fields, gardens and forests. The modern archaeologists have found an evidence of an agricultural tract between the sacred centre and the urban core. To irrigate this tract, there was an elaborate canal system which drew water from the Tungabhadra. The agricultural tracts were incorporated within the fortified area with a purpose. In the medieval periods, sieges were laid to starve the defenders into submission. These sieges could last even for months and years. So the rulers built large granaries within fortified areas. So the rulers of Vijayanagara adopted an elaborate strategy to protect their agricultural belt.

(iii) However a second line of fortification surrounded the inner core of the urban complex. A third line of fortification went round the royal centre. There were well guarded gates to enter the fort. These gates led to the major roads. They had distinctive architectural features. There was an arch on the gateway and a dome over the gate.

(b) Roads : The roads linked different parts of the city of Vijayanagara. They also led out of the city. They went through the whole valley. They avoided rocky terrain. Many important roads started from temple gateways. They were lined by bazaars.

While so many zamindars were facing a crisis in end of the 18th century (during the British East India Company), the group of rich peasants were consolidating their position in villages known as jotedars. In the report of survey conducted by Francis Buchanan we come to know about the Dinazpur District of North Bengal. In this report we get a detailed description of jotedars.

Position as a landholder : By the early 19th century the rich class peasants or jotedars had acquired vastarea of land sometimes as much as several thousand acres.
As a trader and moneylender : The position of the jotedars should not big estimated only by huge areas of the land. They had establish their control on local trade as well as money lending business. They use to exercise immense power over the poorer cultivators of the region.
A large part of land of the jotedars was cultivated through share-croppers (they were called adhiars or bargadars) who brought their own plough, laboured in the field and handed over half the produce to jotedars after harvest.

The following measures were taken to ensure unity among the rebels:
(i) In all their proclamations, the rebels repeatedly appealed to all sections of society. They did not take caste or creed into consideration.
(ii) Many proclamations were made by the Muslim princes. A few others were issued in their names. But all such proclamations took into consideration the sentiments of the Hindus.
(iii) The rebellion had an equal participation of both the Hindus and the Muslims. They had equally to lose or gain.
(iv) Many pamphlets were issued which glorified the co-existence of different communities under the Mughal Empire. Bahadur Shah appealed to all the Muslims to fight in the name of Muhammad. He also exhorted the Hindus to rise against the white people in the name of Mahavir. There was a complete unity between the Hindus and the Muslims.

(a) The British annexed Awadh on grounds of mal-administration and wrongly assumed that the Nawab was an unpopular ruler. On the contrary he was greatly loved and his departure from Lucknow was marked by widespread grief and sorrow.

(b) The emotional grief of the people was aggravated by immediate material losses. Awadh’s annexation led to the dissolution of the court and its culture. A whole range of people-musicians, dancers, poets and artisans lost their livelihood.
(c) The annexation also dispossessed the taluqdars of the region. The taluqdars had earlier maintained armed retainers, built forts and enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. But immediately after the annexation, the taluqdars were disarmed and their forts destroyed.
(d) The British land revenue policy further undermined the position and authority of the taluqdars. The 1856 Summary Settlement was based on the belief that the taluqdars were interlopers with no permanent stakes in land. Thus the settlement sought to remove taluqdars wherever possible and the number of taluqdars came down. Many taluqdars of southern Awadh lost more half of the total number of villages they had previously held.
(e) The grievances of the peasants were carried over into the sepoy lines since the vast majority of the peasants were recruited from the village of Awadh. Low wages, ill-treatment by the British officers, difficulty in taking leave and the issue of the greased cartridges among other intensified their discontent.

Archaeologists reconstruct the past in the following manners:
(i) They excavate the ancient sites related with culture or civilisation. They find out remains from the site such as seal, material remains of houses, buildings, pots, ornaments, tools, coins, weights, measurements and toys etc.
(ii) Sometimes they find skull a, tones, teeth, jaws, and some articles kept with the bodies. Archaeologists take help of botanists, who are specialists in ancient plant remains. They also study the animal bones found at different sites with the help of zoologist.
(iii) Archaeologists try to identify the tools and implements used for cultivation and harvesting. They try to find out traces of means of irrigation such as wells, canals, tanks etc.
(iv) They used present day analogies to try and understand what ancient artefact were used for. Sometimes they compare the ancient findings with present day articles.
(v) Archaeologists observe the different layers of sites and try to find out different things which give pictures of socio-economic conditions, religions and cultural life of the past people in different times.
(vi) In order to identify centres of craft production, archaeologists usually look for the following: raw material such as stone needles, shells, copper ore; tools; unfinished objects; rejects and waste material. In fact, waste is one of the best indicators of craft work. For instance, if shell or stone is cut to make objects, then pieces of these materials will be discarded as waste at the place of production.