Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION....................................... 5
SECTION I:
“INDIA BEFORE EUROPE”1 ...................... 8
Introduction...........................................................8
Geographic Features of India..............................8
The Term “India”................................................9
Approaches to Indian History ............................10
Keywords: Colonialism, Nation, Modernity...... 10
Indian Society ................................................. 11
Religions........................................................ 11
Caste.............................................................. 13
Gender........................................................... 14
The Early Modern Period:
The Indian Perspective .......................................14
Introduction..................................................... 14
Vijayanagara, 1336–1565................................ 14
The Mughal Empire, 1526–1857 .....................15
Reign of Babur.............................................. 15
Reign of Sher Shah Suri................................ 16
Reign of Akbar.............................................. 16
The World in 1492: Calicut and the Malabar
Coast............................................................... 21
Gujarat............................................................ 21
The Coromandel Coast . ...................................22
Bengal.............................................................23
Section I Summary..............................................23
SECTION II:
THE BRITISH IN INDIA, 1707–1857:
“A FATAL FRIENDSHIP”?2........................25
The Shift from Trade to Rule, 1707–57...............25
British Trade in India......................................25
British-French Rivalries .................................26
Summary: Indian Polities on the Eve of the
Battle of Plassey ..............................................27
The Battle of Plassey (1757) and the Political
Framework of Colonial Rule ..............................27
The Battle of Plassey ........................................27
Company or Government? . .............................30
The Land Revenue System................................ 31
Ideologies of Rule . ........................................... 32
Reign of Shah Jahan...................................... 18
Colonial Expansion in the
Nineteenth Century............................................33
Muhammad Shah and the Decline of
Mughal Power............................................... 19
Lord Wellesley and Tipu Sultan:
The Battle of Seringapatnam, 1799................... 33
The Next Phase of Colonial Expansion..............34
Indirect Rule and Princely India....................... 37
Reign of Aurangzeb...................................... 18
Women in the Mughal Empire..................... 19
Influence of the Mughal Empire................... 19
Sikhism............................................................20
2
India and the World ...........................................21
Infrastructure and Economy.............................. 37
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Section I
“India Before Europe”
13
Introduction
Geographic Features of India
India, home to 1.2 billion people, is the world’s largest
democracy.14 Today, India shares borders with six other
sovereign nation-states. Pakistan, with a population of
196 million, lies to India’s northwest. On India’s northern border lies Nepal (population 31 million) and to its
east Bangladesh (166 million) and the mountainous
kingdom of Bhutan (734,000). Just south of India, separated only by a narrow channel, is the island nation of Sri
Lanka (22 million). Finally, off of India’s southwestern
coast is the island chain of the Maldives (394,000).15
The Indian subcontinent can be divided into three
geographic zones: the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Himalayan Mountains, and the Deccan Plateau.
The Deccan Plateau was formed in prehistoric times
when the Indian tectonic plate ran into Asia, forming the
Himalayan Mountains.16 The Deccan Plateau is mainly
made of granite and is not as well disposed to agriculture as the coastal regions to its east and west. India’s
western Malabar and eastern Coromandel Coasts are divided from the Deccan Plateau by the rocky ghats, long
granite mountain ranges running up and down western
and eastern India. At the start of the Western Ghats, on
the Arabian Sea, lies Bombay. On the other side of the
subcontinent, across the Eastern Ghats, lies Chennai,
formerly Madras, which has served as one gateway for
the transfer of Indian culture to Southeast Asia.17
Mountains form a natural boundary of the South
Asian subcontinent, both to the west and east. The
Kirthar and Sulaiman ranges form a boundary in the
northwest. Though these mountains are formidable, they
have historically been passable, linking India into great
trans-Asian trade and intellectual developments through
passes like the famous Khyber Pass.18 The Tibetan Plateau that lies just beyond the Himalayan Mountains provides many river systems to the north Indian heartland.
This rich agrarian plain is called the Indo-Gangetic
Plain after the two river systems between which it lies,
8
the Indus to the west and the Ganges to the east.19
The land between the Yamuna River and the Ganges
is called the doab (“two rivers”), and the land where five
rivers run off the Indus is called the Punjab (“five rivers”).20 Located in the heart of the doab (the term “doab”
refers to a tract of land lying between two rivers) is India’s
current capital, New Delhi, alongside the Yamuna River.
As the Yamuna traces east, it merges with the Ganges
River at Allahabad, or Prayag as it is known in Hinduism. From there the two rivers flow together across
eastern India toward the equally significant port city of
Calcutta (today called Kolkata). Eventually the Ganges
gives way to the Brahmaputra, which also has its origin
in the Tibetan Plateau, and they finally combine as the
Padma to form the largest delta in the world, south of
Bangladesh’s capital at Dhaka.21
An additional important feature of India’s geography
is its rainfall pattern, mostly concentrated in the two
yearly monsoons that bring much-needed rain in vast
quantities. The monsoons, wind patterns carrying rain
from the Indian Ocean, have shaped the conditions of
agriculture and the rhythms of long-distance shipping
and trade. Beginning in June and July, Indian Ocean air
currents direct moisture in vast sheets to the southeastern Indian coast, where the weather system then travels
north and west across India. Next, the monsoon “retreats,” providing another dose of rainfall for an additional growing season. The first monsoon, blowing from
west to east, historically allowed long-distance shipping
across the Indian Ocean. The second monsoon, blowing
from east to west, would also allow westward seafaring
from India’s Malabar Coast. These favorable climactic conditions contributed to the growth of large-scale,
settled, agrarian empires as well as important shipping
entrepôts such as Calicut. In arid, desert regions, such as
Rajasthan, political organization tended toward smallscale tribal forms of organization, many of which were
not entirely settled.22
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ity, Islam, and Sikhism, despite these religions’ doctrines
of equality. Historians and political thinkers debate the
extent to which caste or jati were shaped by, or even existed prior to, colonial interventions in South Asia. One
apt example of this is the Indian census, initiated on a
decadal basis in 1881.40 Some scholars argue that the
census—and the political representation granted to Indians on the basis of population in an adversarial political system—rigidified formerly flexible social identities.
Others argue that caste was a long-standing feature of
Indian society that pre-dated the British; it was not invented by colonial governance, though it may have been
drastically re-shaped by it. Some anti-caste activists even
argue that British rule was better for low-caste groups
than independent Indian rule, which they claim has
been characterized by upper-caste dominance and continued exploitation.
GENDER
Historians debate the position of women in different
periods of Indian society. One legitimizing ideology for
colonial rule was the imperative to “save” Indian women
from what colonial rulers viewed as inhumane treatment
by Indian men. In this view, civilizational progress and
advancement were indexed by the status of women, and
European women’s status indicated that Europe had
advanced further along a civilizational scale than had
India. Therefore, one strand of nationalist historical
thought sought to argue that Indian women’s status was
better than the British had portrayed it to be and indeed
better than British women’s position in Britain. In part,
this view relied on Indian women’s supposedly superior
spirituality.
Today, historians try to escape from such competitive
analyses of women’s rights and instead focus on recovering the complicated and rich historical experiences of
diverse groups of women in different times and places in
Indian history. They pay special attention to the ways in
which the social construction of identities, that is gender, interacts with the biological identity of male or female. In the Indian scenario, the ways in which men and
women experience the world are influenced not just by
biological sex but also by the ways in which a variety of
social statuses intersect and interact with each other. A
Dalit woman’s experience of the world is very different
from a Brahmin woman’s, for example. This more complex social identity is what historians mean when they
talk about gender.
The Early Modern Period:
The Indian Perspective
Introduction
A view of Indian history that is primarily guided by
concern over the colonial encounter with Great Britain
would seek a counterpart to British raj, or rule, in an
equally mighty empire that pre-dated it. This was the
14
standard view of Indian history for many years: the Mughal Empire was the dominant force in the subcontinent;
its decline allowed British colonial rule to take hold. One
great empire falls, and another rises from its ashes. More
recently, historians have advanced the idea of an early
modern world in which polities in India were key constituents in both regional and world systems. Within
early modern India, and even among competing polities,
a shared political culture emerged that was responsive,
dynamic, capable of incorporating diverse social groups,
and economically and politically sophisticated—in short,
entirely in step with trends across the early modern world.
What is particularly noteworthy about the Indian case is
that the shared culture that emerged was a direct result
of the intermixture of a variety of cultures, languages,
and religions, with each playing an important part but
no one cultural strand dominating the others. This helps
us understand that India’s stunning diversity today is
also a product of a much longer historical trajectory of
inter-mixture, sharing, fusion, and tolerance.
Vijayanagara, 1336–1565
Such a view directs our attention to the Deccan Plateau, where the Sangama kings ruled from the imposing,
sophisticated fort-city of Vijayanagara (literally, “city of
victory”).41 The Sangama kings served first under local
kings and then a sultan in Delhi. As the distant sultan’s
power waned, they were well placed to make their own
kingdom, which became the largest state in south India.
At its height under Devaraya II in the mid-fifteenth century (r. 1432–1446) Vijayanagara successfully borrowed
technology and personnel from its most important rivals, focusing especially on mounted horse warfare,
which gave the kingdom a decisive advantage against its
regional rivals.
Another great phase of consolidation and expansion
took place in the early sixteenth century under the reign
of Krishna Deva Raya (r. 1509–29). Krishna Deva Raya
used his military strengths, well-timed campaigns, and
political marriage alliances to subdue his major competitors in the Deccan, including the Gajapatis and Bahmanis. In 1565 the kingdoms of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur,
and Golconda allied and attacked Vijayanagara in the
Battle of Talikota. This battle famously marked the end
of Vijayanagara dominance in south India, though the
kingdom continued to exist in much-reduced form.
One important source of Vijayanagara’s success was its
centralized and efficient land revenue collection system.
Elite Vijayanagara warriors (nayakas) were entrusted with
the command of the immense amount of territory under
Vijayanagara’s suzerainty. These nayakas collected taxes
and in exchange were expected to produce troops when
called upon and engage in annual expressions of allegiance and gifts to the king. This system was relatively
centralized; the nayaka’s position could be revoked. Such
a transferrable system attempted to check challenges to
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Ruins at Vijayanagara, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
the central authority by preventing the development of
alternative power bases that might threaten the king.
The great success of Vijayanagara over a period of two
centuries attests to the vibrant political culture of late
medieval and early modern Deccan and south India.
The Indian Ocean trade that hinged on the south Indian
coasts42 was important and attractive, as we shall shortly
examine, but much of Vijayanagara’s strength lay in its
domestic trade; at least eight major trade centers were
mentioned in its historical chronicles, the greatest of
which was at Vijayanagara itself. A Portuguese traveler
to Vijayanagara in 1522 wrote that it was “[as] Large as
Rome and very beautiful to the sight…the best-provided
city in the world…[where] everything abounds….”43
The trade of horses in Vijayanagara also illustrates the
dynamism of the Indian economy. A lightweight cavalry was the cornerstone of Vijayanagara military success. Indian horses are a smaller and less warlike breed
than those found in Arabia or Europe. Therefore, the
Portuguese played an important role in supplying Vijayanagara’s horse trade.44 This illustrates the symbiotic
mercenary and militaristic aims of early modern interactions between India and Europe. Many of the trends
of early modernity, such as the increasing sophistication
of administrative and especially revenue systems and the
increasing interdependence of revenue collection, territorial control, and military sophistication, were a product of interactions between Europe and Asia. Though
British colonial ideology claimed to bring modernity to
India, in fact India’s sophisticated polities had developed
their own trajectories toward modernity before European rule.
The Mughal Empire, 1526–1857
We can now place north Indian developments in their
proper context. The Mughal Empire is probably one of
India’s best-known exports. Its imposing and exquisite
monuments, built out of red sandstone and marble, are
not only tourist sites, but in some cases are also still the
homes of military and cultural institutions. The most famous of these, of course, is the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan’s
(also spelled Shahjahan) monument to his wife Mumtaz
Mahal in the north Indian city of Agra. For most of its
history, spanning from about 1526 until 1858, the capital
of the Mughal Empire was located in Delhi or nearby
Agra.
The term Mughal can be a confusing one. It comes
from the term Mongol and is the basis for the modern
English word “mogul.” The Mongols were central Asian,
nomadic raiding groups who fought on horseback and
were centered in Central Asia. Genghis/Chengiz Khan
is one such well-known Mongol. Another was Timurlane
(1336–1405), who converted to Islam. Five generations
later, the Timurid Empire was divided into emirates.
REIGN OF BABUR
Babur, the descendant of both Genghis Khan and
Timurlane resented his “modest patrimony” of Fergana
[modern Uzbekistan] and instead coveted Timurlane’s
great city, Samarkand, about 420 km west. At age fifteen, he managed to besiege it for seven months but had
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15
City of Surat. From a Dutch engraving in John
Ogilby’s 1673 volume Asia.
British Library.
trast to Diu, Surat provided an open port from which
traders could continue their work. Surat, “The Blessed
Port,” was controlled by the Mughal Empire, but its administrators encouraged rather than hindered free trade.
The trading life of Surat was built on the production of
textiles, indigo, and other goods in the Gujarati hinterland, which were purchased by a wide variety of Indian
and non-Indian merchants and shipped to the western
Indian ocean on primarily Muslim-owned ships. With
the entrance of the Portuguese and Dutch, Gujarati
textiles were also bartered in Southeast Asia for spices
like nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon, so that “the prices
of spices were often given in terms of Indian cloth” in
Portuguese agreements in Southeast Asia.86 Central to
the functioning of the Indian Ocean system was the
ability to transport goods within India as well as the hawala network, which allowed merchants to conveniently
transfer money and raise credit, not just across the subcontinent but across the Indian Ocean, using stringent
networks of trust. It was akin to electronic money transfers in the digital age.
In 1600, at the end of her reign, Queen Elizabeth
chartered the East India Company (EIC) as a joint stock
company. Her charter created a company with a monopoly on English trade in the Indies for fifteen years. It was
an early manifestation of the modern corporation. For
such a risky, perhaps even foolhardy, endeavor, the joint
stock company spread risk and limited liability. Whatever capital was invested in such a venture might not be
quickly repaid, if ever. The backing of the Crown gave
the venture both legal and diplomatic security.
The first two expeditions of the EIC were to Sumatra
(Indonesia); in 1603, three short years after its founding,
the EIC was able to ship one million pounds of pepper
back to Great Britain. On its third expedition, the EIC
instead went to Surat, located in modern Gujarat, in
1608. Drawn by the wealth and access the port offered,
the English representative arrived with 25,000 pieces of
22
gold and a letter for Emperor Jahangir from King James.
England offered little to tempt Jahangir since the Portuguese had already established official relations, and he
was not short of pepper, wool, or gold. A second English envoy to Jahangir’s court in 1612 was also dismissed.
When the English defeated the Portuguese at the Battle
of Swali in 1612 off of Surat, English fortunes at the
Mughal court took a turn for the better.
In 1613 Thomas Roe won permission for the EIC to
build a factory (a place to store goods before shipment) at
Surat.87 The Dutch Company established a factory in Surat in 1618. By 1623, the English decided to leave Southeast Asia to the Dutch trading company that dominated
there and focus their energies on India. Using Surat as
a foothold, the English could control the Persian Gulf
and the Arabian Sea as Portuguese power declined. The
Gujarati hinterlands produced cotton textiles that were
in demand in Europe and Southeast Asia. Along with
Bengal, the Punjab, and the Coromandel Coast, it was
one of the four chief cotton textile producing regions of
India.88 Besides cotton textiles, commodities that moved
through Gujarat in the early modern period included
teak and bamboo, spices, silver, carnelian, and camels.89
The Coromandel Coast
Southern Indian kingdoms encouraged trade on the
eastern coast by implementing low taxes on imports and
creating favorable conditions for Indian and European
long-distance traders. Here the primary currency was
gold while in north Indian trading circuits it was silver.90
Bullion was traded for south India’s fine and highly valued textiles. Distinctive textiles of this region included
fine, delicate muslin and chintz, a woven cotton either
hand- or block-printed with intricate designs.91 These
could run both high- and low-end. In a single year in the
seventeenth century, the Spice Islands (Indonesia) imported 400,000 pieces of Coromandel textiles.92
As Vijayanagara declined, new kingdoms arose alongside it; one such was Golkonda, which controlled the
coastal city of Masulipatnam, turning it into the Coromandel Coast’s most important port city. The Golkonda
kings ensured that goods from Gujarat, Bengal, and the
Deccan plateau reached Masulipatnam for the Southeast
Asia trade. To this voluminous trade at the end of the
sixteenth century was added a sea link to the Arabian
Sea.93 Yet because Golkonda also had access to diamond
mines, the decision to build the sea trade was not one of
necessity but of choice. In this period, the Portuguese,
Danes, Dutch, and English all had settlements in Indian
kingdoms along the Coromandel Coast.94 But the Portuguese did not dominate here the way they did at first
in Gujarat.95 Most of this trade was in Indian hands in
the first part of the seventeenth century. Realizing the
rich resource base of calico textiles, saltpeter (potassium
nitrate, required for gunpowder until 1889), and indigo
available from the east coast of India as well as the west,
the EIC bought property from a local ruler in 1640. Half
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o Vijayanagara (1336–1565) was the largest empire
in south India. It relied on cavalry warfare and its
efficient and centralized administrative system to
collect land revenues. It was linked into international and many domestic trade circuits and shared
key features with the Mughal political system.
o The Mughal Empire lasted from 1526 until 1857.
The empire was founded by Babur (r. 1526–30).
Akbar (r. 1556–1605) greatly expanded the empire
and created an atmosphere of religious tolerance.
The Mughal Empire used the mansabdari system
to ensure efficient collection of revenue and to gain
the soldiers and horses it needed for expansion. The
Mughal Empire stretched furthest under Aurangzeb, but quickly became overextended.
o In seventeenth- and eighteenth-century India, the
Marathas represented a major threat to the Mughals due to their guerilla tactics and strong base
in the Maharashtrian countryside. Led by Shivaji
(r. 1630–80), the Marathas were a persistent thorn
in the Mughal side.
24
o The fourth largest Indian religion is Sikhism,
founded in the Punjab by Guru Nanak in the late
fifteenth century. The religion drew together many
faith traditions in its holy text the Adi Granth. On
several occasions, Sikhs were persecuted by the
Mughal state not due to the zeal of Mughal religious policy, but rather because of the political
threat to Mughal power the quickly growing Sikh
community represented.
o There were four regions that participated in the Indian Ocean trade: Malabar, Gujarat, Coromandel,
and Bengal. The Indian Ocean trade was profitable and open. Though European traders came to
India in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, for
the most part they met Indians and others on equal
terms. Their purpose was not territorial domination.
o Most Indian rulers wanted to ensure free trade and
exchange in their ports so that they could reap its
benefits. In contrast, the Portuguese instituted the
cartaza system by which they demanded licenses
from all traders.
o The English East India Company established its
first outpost at Surat. Due to Dutch dominance in
the spice trade with Southeast Asia, the English
Company focused on the textile trade. After establishing an outpost in Surat, it also established
outposts in Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta.
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tors such as the successful employment of Indian intermediaries, the chronology of the entrance of European
powers into India, the development of commercial contract law, chance, and many other factors must be considered. Perhaps the most important reason to discount
this single-factor explanation is that Indian powers were
often as adept and innovative at drawing on new military
technologies as their European counterparts.
Summary: Indian Polities on the Eve of
the Battle of Plassey
Death of the Nawab Anwaruddin Muhammed
Khan in a battle against the French in 1749
(by Paul Philipoteaux).
French installed their chosen candidate as the Nawab of
Arcot by 1750.116
British-French tensions in South India again flared
with the French-Indian or Seven Years’ War. Between
1756 and 1761, the French lost their remaining possessions to the British at a steady rate. In south Indian
skirmishes, the British could turn to their backyard in
Bengal for additional resources, to a ready supply of loyal
soldiers, to their cash reserves and credit networks, and
naval power.117 Moreover, by having such well-developed networks in several strategic locations (Calcutta,
the thriving city of Madras, and Bombay), the English
were never entirely reliant on any one front in a struggle for control with either European or Indian rivals. In
contrast, the French position in Bengal was weak: the
rapid expansion of the French trade had left the company heavily indebted to the great banking house of Jagat Seth, banker to the Nawabs and many others.118 The
entire series of events in South India exemplified how
Indian politics were drawn together with European; in
playing Indian rulers off each other, European powers
advanced distant interests on Indian soil.
Too often English colonial rule in India is explained
by an over-simplistic reliance on military innovation and
strength (especially in arms) as the sole factor. Other fac-
As French prospects in South India diminished—with
the exception of Pondicherry, which remained in French
hands until 1954—India consisted of several zones. On
many parts of the map, political boundaries were by no
means clear. In the case of Bengal, nominal sovereignty
rested with the Mughal Empire in Delhi, but except for
a yearly tribute to the Emperor in Delhi, the Nawabs exercised all the power. As the EIC drew ever deeper into
the Indian economy, though, even Nawabi sovereignty
was not complete, as when the EIC fortified its holdings
or minted coins.
In western India, the Marathas had proven a steady
threat to English interests, prompting the growth of
Bombay. There were several regional powers in South
India and the Deccan, including the Nawab of Arcot,
the Nizam of Hyderabad, and the Maratha at Tanjore.
This relatively diffuse power structure led to French and
English displays of military might and a gradual increase
in European influence at South Indian courts like Arcot,
Hyderabad, and Tanjore as alliances shifted.
In the erstwhile Mughal heartland of North India,
the Rajput kingdoms exemplified by Raja Jai Singh continued to enjoy relative independence and stability. The
area around Delhi and Agra, though closest to the Mughal crown, had suffered heavily from first Persian and
then Maratha raids, but many independent polities effectively created the conditions for agrarian stability and
trade. Finally, to the east lay Awadh, a tempting halfway
point between the de facto English capital at Calcutta and
the Mughal capital at Delhi. Ruled by another Nawab,
a wealthy agrarian heartland with easy access to markets
via its river and well-worn roads, Awadh’s wealth made
it the site of a vibrant cultural efflorescence among elite
classes and a storied ethos of the Nawab’s commitment
to the welfare of his subjects.
The Battle of Plassey (1757)
and the Political Framework
of Colonial Rule
The Battle of Plassey
We left Bengal as young Siraj-ud-Daula stood poised
to take the throne from the Nawab Alivardi Khan.
Headstrong, inexperienced, and perhaps over-eager, the
young Siraj bulldozed rather than cultivated his enemies,
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27
tics can take a violent turn, especially when the
state, as it did in this matter, fails to act to protect secular values and religious minorities.
Bangladesh – Bangladesh is the third largest South
Asian country, with a population of about 166
million. It is situated to India’s east. From 1947–
71, it was a part of Pakistan. In 1971 it won its
independence from Pakistan. The largely deltaic
country’s capital is located at Dhaka. Over the
past three decades, Bangladesh’s textile manufacturing industry has expanded dramatically,
and it forms an important part of Bangladesh’s
economy today, providing millions of jobs to
women in particular.
Battle of Buxar – This battle took place in 1764 between the East India Company and the thenBengali Nawab Mir Kasim. Mir Kasim sought
to restore Indian control of Bengal and in so
doing provoked the EIC. Mir Kasim lost his
struggle, and his predecessor, Mir Jafar, was restored to the throne by the EIC. Importantly,
the 1765 Treaty of Allahabad gave the EIC the
right to collect revenue or “diwani” in eastern
India. This was a crucial step in the Company’s
shift from trade to government.
Battle of Plassey – This battle took place in 1757
between the Nawab of Bengal Siraj-ud-Daula
on the one side and an alliance of the East India
Company, the great financier Jagat Seth, and
Mir Jafar on the other side. The alliance easily bested young Siraj-ud-Daula, and Mir Jafar
took the throne with the backing and control of
the EIC. This settlement is often said to mark
the formal beginning of Britain’s shift from
trade to government in India.
Bharatiya Janata Party – This party is the current
dominant partner in India’s governing coalition, the National Democratic Alliance. The
BJP’s national electoral success is a product of
the political fragmentation in 1990s India. It
held power from 1998 until 2004 and again
won with 281 seats of 545 seats in the Lok Sabha after ten years of Congress dominance. The
party is ideologically committed to Hindutva,
the idea of India as a Hindu nation, though its
“big tent” approach provides space for many
different strands of thought. Currently the BJP
claims to work for more efficient and less cor-
rupt governance as well as populist economic
policies within the context of India’s neoliberal
economy.
Bhonsle, Shivaji (r. 1630–80) – Bhonsle was a
Maratha chieftain who drastically expanded
Maratha territory in western India. He did so
using cavalry and his knowledge of and base in
the countryside of Maharashtra. Shivaji was a
persistent thorn in the side of the Mughal Empire especially during the reign of Aurangzeb.
In fact, Aurangzeb shifted his capital to Aurangabad in the Deccan in a failed attempt to
more effectively subdue Shivaji and south Indian sultanates.
Bhutan – Bhutan is a tiny kingdom to India’s east,
with a population of 734,000. It is a Buddhist
kingdom rated as one of the happiest countries
on earth. In 2005 it changed from an absolute
to a constitutional monarchy. Its capital is located at Thimpu.
Buddhism – Buddhism has very few followers today (0.8 percent of the Indian population) in the
land of its birth. It developed as a “renouncer”
religion in the sixth century bce as a critique of
the Hindu doctrines of karma and rebirth and
caste. It was founded by Gautama Buddha (approximately 563 bce to 483 bce), a prince of the
eastern Indian Shakya tribe who renounced his
position to pursue a life of spirituality, famously
meditating under a pipal tree until he attained
enlightenment. The Buddha realized that the
middle path of renouncing desire would provide
permanent escape from the cycle of rebirth.
Caste – This term is used in reference to the hierarchical division of Indian society based on religious-occupational categories. Caste can refer
to varna or jati.
Civil Disobedience Movement (1930–34) and
the Salt March – These represent the second of
Gandhi’s successful pan-Indian movements for
greater Indian autonomy. Gandhi sent an eleven-point list of grievances to the Viceroy. When
the Viceroy refused his demands, including refusing to repeal a tax on salt, Gandhi launched
a several hundred-mile march to the sea. Based
on a clear-cut moral issue, Gandhi effectively
used salt and Indian-spun cloth as symbols to
inspire devotion to the national cause. The ma-
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91
1790–1839
Reign of Ranjit Singh in Punjab
1793
Permanent Settlement
1798–1805
Governor-Generalship of Wellesley
1799
Fall of Mysore
1813
End of Company’s monopoly of trade
1818
Defeat of the Marathas by the British
1818
Founding of Hindu (Presidency) College of Calcutta
1828
Founding of Brahmo Samaj by Rammohun Roy
1828–35
Governor-Generalship of Bentinck and abolition of sati
1835
Macaulay’s “Minute on Education” criticizes Indian literature and culture
1839–42
First Anglo-Afghan War, part of the Great Game competition between Britain
and Russia over Afghanistan; Britain won a pyrrhic victory, suffering thousands
of casualties
1842
British conquest of Sind
1846
Treaty of Lahore granting Muslim-majority valley of Kashmir to the Dogra line
of Hindu Kings based in Jammu
1848–49
Second Sikh War and conquest of Punjab
1848–56
Governor-Generalship of Dalhousie
1853
Beginning of Railway construction
1856
Annexation of Awadh (Oudh)
1855–56
The Santhal Hool (Uprising)
1857
The Great Mutiny and Revolt
1858
Deposition and deportation to Burma of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur
Shah Zafar
1872
The first all-India census
1875
Foundation of Anglo-Muhammadan Oriental College at Aligarh by Sir Sayyid
Ahmed Khan
1877
Queen Victoria declared the Empress of India/Imperial Assemblage at Delhi
1878–80
The Second Anglo-Afghan War
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USAD Social Science Resource Guide • 2015-2016 • Revised Page