History (CDS-Solved Paper)

Kot Diji is located in the vicinity of several other important historic sites. It is close to the site of East of Mohenjo-daro, a group of mounds that contains the remains of what was one largest city of the Indus civilisation.

The Jatakas were written in Pali around the middle of the first Millennium CE. One story known as the Gandatindu Jataka describes the plight of the subjects of a wicked king. These included elderly women and men, cultivators, herders, village boys and even animals.

When the king went in disguise to find out what his subjects thought about him, each one of them cursed him for their miseries. To escape from this situation, people abandoned their village and went to live in the forest.

The large landowners were known as the Vellalars according to the Tamil Sangam. The cultivators were known as the Uzhavar and it was the Kadaisiyar who were the slaves.

One can get the details of the life style of that period while going through the Jataka stories. Vellalars were, originally an elite caste of Tamil agricultural landlords in Tamil Nadu, Kerala states in India and in neighbouring Sri Lanka.

The Manusmriti is also known as ‘Manav Dharma Shastra’, is the early work on ‘Brahminical Dharma in Hinduism’. According to Manusmriti, the inherited property of parents would be distributed equally among all the sons. Women could not demand their share in these ancestral properties. The women had the right over the gifts given to her during her marriage. It was called the Stridhana or woman’s wealth. This wealth could be inherited by her children later. According to the Manusmriti, women can acquire wealth through Token of affection.

The story, based on a Buddhist text in Pali known as the ‘Majjhima Nikaya’, is part of a dialogue between a king named Avantiputta and a disciple of the Buddha named Kachchana. It reveals Buddhist attitudes towards varna.

Romans liked pepper so much, it was called Yavanpriya. They also imported medicinal plants, ivory, muslin textile, precious stones, sandalwood, indigo. Roman paid back with gold, silver and wine . Tortoise shell (Nutmeg) was not a major item of Indian exports to Rome.

Niccolao Manucci (19th April, 1638–1717) was an Italian writer and traveller. He wrote a memoir about the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal era. His records have been a source of history about Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb, Dara Shikoh, Shah Alam, Raja Jai Singh and Kirat Singh. He spent his entire life in India. Italian doctor Manucci, never returned to Europe, and settled down in India.

The Amara Nayaka system was a major political innovation of the Vijayanagara Empire. Nayakas were military chiefs usually maintained law and order in their areas of control. They maintained forests and kept armed supporters. They used to control and expand fertile land and agricultural settlements.

Tarikh-i-Akbari, also known as Tarikh-i-Qandahari, or Muzaffar Nama, the first chronicle of Emperor Akbar’s reign is unanimously important source of information on the 16th century history of India; particularly the formative years of his career.

It was written by Arif Qandahari. Though the major pre-occupation of modern scholars has been with Abul Fazl’s Akbar Nama and Badauni’s Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh, it supplements in many ways of the former’s works while Farishta in his Gulshan-i-Ibrahimi and Nihawandi in his Maasir-i-Rahimi explicitly acknowledge their indebtedness to it.

Muqarrab Khan was favourite of Mughal emperor Jahangir. Muqarrab Khan of Golconda (titled Khan-Zaman Fateh Jung) was the most experienced commander in Golconda, during the reign of Abul Hasan Qutub Shah. Muqarrab Khan is known to have been an ally of Afzal Khan and defended Golconda’s Southern realms against Maratha raids. Aurangzeb sent the Golconda noble Muqarrab Khan to hunt down and kill Shambhaji. Later in 1687, Aurangzeb ordered Mu’azzam (Shah Alam) to march against the sultanate of Golconda.