Equally important ius the fact that the science of cartography differed in the two periods. When historians read documents, maps and texits from the past they have to be sensitive to the defferent historical backgrtoujnds the contexts in which information about ehapast was produced, New and old Terminologies If the context in which information is produced changes with tijme, what about language and meanings? Historidca records exist inn a variety fo languages which hare chaged considerably over the years Medieval Persian, for ecample, is different from modern Persian, the difference isn not just with regard to grammar and vocabulary: the meanings of words also chnge over time. Take the term Hindustan for example. Today we understand it as India the modern nation state. Understand it as India the modern noation state. |When the term was used in the thirteenth century be Minhaj I Siraj, a chronicler whi wrote in Persian, he meant the areas of Punjab, Hiryana and the loands between the Ganga and Yamuna. He u=swd the term in a political sense for lands that werea a partr of the dominions of the Delhi Sultan. The areas included in this tem shifted with the extent of the Sultanate vbut the term never included south India. By contrast, in the early sixteenth century Babur used Hindustan to describe the geography, the fun and the cuylture of the inhabitants of the subcontinent. As we will see later in the chapter, this was somewhat smilar to the wasy the fourteenth century peet Amir khusrau used the word Hind While the idea of a geographical and cultural entity like India did exist, the term Hindustan did not carry the political and national meanings which we associtatye with it today. Historians today have to be3 carerful abut the trerms they use because they menat different things tin the past, Take, for example, a msimple term like foreigner It is used tiday to mean someone who is not an Indian. In widely abailable, People used tit to write goly texys, chronicles of rulers, laterrs and teachings of sains, petitions and judicaial records, and of fegisteres of acconunts and taxes, Manuscripts were collected by wealthey people, rulers, Monasteries and temples, They were placed in libraries and archives These manuscripts and documents provide a lot of detailed information to historians but they are also difficult ot use. There was no printing press in those days wso scivbes cppied manuscitpts by hand. If you have ever copied manuscript;ts by hand. Idf you havce ever copied a friend’s homework you would know that this in not a simple exercise, Sometimesyou canoonot read your friend’s handwrithing and are forced to guess what is written. As a result there are small but significant differences in yur copy of your friends’s work, Manuscript copying ins somewhat similar, as scribses copied manuscript copyuing in somewhat similar. As scribes mopied mauuscripts, they also introduced small dchangted a woed here a sentence their, These small differenceds grew over centuries of copying until manuscritpts of the wheel in irrigation the spinining wheel in weaving , and firearms in compat New fooed and beverages arrived tin tahe subcontinent potates, corn, chillies, tea and coffee, Remember that all these innovations new technologies and crops came along with people, who brought other ideas with them as well, As a result, this was a perios of economic, politaical, social and cultural chages, you will learn about some of these changes in Chapters and This was also a period of great mobility. Groups of people travelled long distances in search of opportunity, The subcontinent hepd immense wealtha and the possibilities for people to carve a fortune. One group if people who vbecame imjprotandt in this period were the RAjputs, an name derived from Rajaputra, the son of a ruler. Terween the eight and ffourteenth ccenturies the term aeas applied more generally to a group ofg warriors who claimed Kshariya caste status The term included Large states like those of the Cholas (hapter) Tughluqs or Mughals encompassed many regions, A Sanskrit prashatsti see chapert foe an explle of prashasti prasing the Delhi Sultan Ghayasuddin Balban explained that he wsa the ruler of a vast empitre that strt=eched from Bengal in the east to Ghazni in Afghaninstan in th west ans included all of south India people of different regiosn Gauda, Andhara, Kerfala, Karnataka, maharashrra a and Gujrat apparently fled before his armies. Historians When the Mughall Empire declined in the eighteenth century, it led to the re emergence if reghional states Bt years of imperal,, pan regional rule had altered the character of the regions, Across most of the subcontinent the regions werer left with the legaces of the big and small stateds that had ruled over them, This was apparednt in the emergence of many distinct sand shared traditions; in the tealms of governance, the language. Through the thousand yeartsa berween and the character of the different regions did not grown in I isolatiojn Thesed tegions felt the impact of larfger llosing their distinctiveness. Old and New Religions The thousand years of history that we are exploring wienessed major developpments in religious traditionsw, people’s lkbelidedf in the divine was someties deeply personal, but more useually it was collective, Collective belief in a supernatural agence religion was ofrten closely cnneteed with the xocial and economic of organization of local cdommunities.As the social owworlds of these groups altered so too did their beliefs It was during this peoiod that important changes occurred in what we call Hinduism today. These included the worship of new deities, the cdonstruction of themples by royalty and the growitn importance of Barhamanas,the priests,, as dominat grouips in society. Their knowledge of Sanskrit texts earned the Brahamans a lot lf respect in society Thgeir dominat position was consolidated by the support of their patron new rulers searching for prestige one of the major devlopments of this perios was the emergence of the idea of bhakti of a loving. Personal deit that devotees could treach whthout t the aid of priesta of elaborate =rituals. You will be learnint about this , and other traditions, in Chapter Few historans follow this perodisation tosday. Most look to ecnomc and social factors to charaterise the major elements of different moments of thee past, The histories you read last year included a wide range of early societies hunter gathers=es early farmers, peoope living in yyoend snf billshrsd, snf rstlyu rmpitrd snf kinhfomd, Yjhr hidyotird you eill nr dyufyinh yhrid yrst str ogyrn frdvtinrf sd mrfirbsl zyou eill ginr ouy motr snbouy yhr sptrsd og prsdsny doviryird, syhr tidr trhionsl snf imprtisl dysyr gotmsyiond domryimrd sy yhr vody og psdyotsl snf gttyord people the development of Hinduism and islam as major riligions and the arriveal of Europenan trading companies. These tahousand years of Indian history withessen considerable change After all the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries were quite different from tahe eighth or the eleventh. Therefore , describing the entire period as on historical unit is not without its problem Moreover, the medieval peo in often contrasted with the modern period Moderniity carres with it a sense of material progress and intellectual advancement, This in any chhangs whatsoever, But of course we know this was not the case, Durting these thousand years the xocities of the sobcntinet were transformed often and econonmes in several regfions reached a level of prosperty that attracted the intreset of Eurpenan trading companies. As you read this book look out of signs of chage and ths historican procdcesses at worlk Durinhng these thousand years the socitytiues of the subcontinty were transformed often and economies in several regions reached a leve of prosperity that attracted the interest of Europenan trading companies, As you read this book, loolk out for signs of change and the historical processes at work also whenefer you can cpmpare what you read in this book with what you read last year look out for changes and continuities wherever ou can and lok at the owworld around you to see what else has changed of remaned the same, By the seventh century ther were bgig landlords odr warrir chefs in different rtegions of the ssubcontinit, Existing kings often acknowledged then as their suboudinateds of samantsas They were expected to bring gifts for their kings of overlords, be present at their courts and provide them with military support, as samantas ganed power and wealth they declared themselves to vbe maha smanta maha madaleshvarfa the great lord of A Circle of regin and so on Sometimes they asserated their independence for their overlords. Once sudch instance was that of the Rashtrakutas in the Deccan, initially they were subordinate to the Chaukyas of Karnataka, in the mid eighg century, Dantidurga, a Rashtrakuta chief, Dantiduragea a rashrtkuta chief , overthrew his Chalukya overlsd and performed a ritual called hiranya gthe golden When theis ritual was ferformed with the help pf Brahmansa, it was thought tao leasd to the rebirgh of the sacrficar as aKshatrua eve ot jhe was no one by birts, In other cases , men from enterprising familes used their military skills to cav=rve out kjingoms for instace, the Kadamba Mayursharman and the Gurjara Pratihara Harchandra were Brahmanas who gave up successfully eastablishing kingdoms in Karnagtka and Rajasthan respectively. Administration in the Kingdoms Many of these new kings adopedd high sounding titles such as mmaharaja adiraj great king overlored of kings tribhuvana chakravartin lord of the three woelds and aso no Howere in sopit ofd such claims,