Indian History

Land Reforms in India (Short Notes) | UPSC – IAS

Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural land.

There are four main categories of reforms:

• Abolition of intermediaries (rent collectors under the pre-Independence land revenue system);
• Tenancy regulation (to improve the contractual terms including security of tenure);
• A ceiling on landholdings (to redistributing surplus land to the landless);
• Attempts to consolidate disparate landholdings;

Land distribution has been part of India’s state policy from the very beginning. Independent India’s most revolutionary land policy was perhaps the abolition of the Zamindari system (feudal landholding practices).

Objectives of Land Reforms | UPSC – IAS

Land-reform policy in India had two specific objectives:-

• The first is to remove such impediments to increase in agricultural production as arise from the agrarian structure inherited from the past.
• The second objective, which is closely related to the first, is to eliminate all elements of exploitation and social injustice within the agrarian system, to provide security for the tiller of soil and assure equality of status and opportunity to all sections of the rural population.

Other Significant Objectives of Land Reforms

The other important objective of land reforms in India is to make provision for more rational use of scarce land resources. It can be done by changing the conditions of holdings, ceilings on land holdings. This helps cultivation process in a most economical manner without any wastage of land, labour and capital.

• Abolition of Intermediaries
  • It was to be done so that ownership of land can be  clearly identified with management and operation of land. The owner himself should operate and manage the land.
• Land ceilings
  • To meet the land hunger of working  cultivators.
  • To reduce disparity in agricultural incomes in ownership and in the use of land.
  • To increase employment opportunities in the rural sector.
• Consolidation of holdings
  • For more efficient management.
• Encouragement of co-operative joint farming
  • To overcome the difficulties presented by tiny holdings.
  • Larger financial resources could be invested and employment opportunities  increased.
• Settlement and Regulation of tenancy
  • To confirm the rights of occupancy of tenants, secure their possession of tenanted land and  also rents on leased land.

History of Land Reforms | UPSC – IAS

• Since its independence in 1947, there has been voluntary and state initiated/mediated land reforms in several states with dual objective of efficient use of land and ensuring social justice.
• The most notable and successful example of land reforms are in the states of West Bengal and Kerala. Other than these state sponsored attempts of reforming land ownership and control, there was another attempt to bring changes in the regime which achieved limited success; famously known as Bhoodan movement (Government of India, Ministry of Rural Development 2003).
• Some other research has shown that during the movement, in Vidarbha region, 14 percent of the land records are incomplete, thus prohibiting transfer to the poor. 24 percent of the land promised had never actually become part of the movement. The Gramdan which arguably took place in 160,000 pockets did not legalise the process under the state laws

At the time of independence

• Ownership of land was highly concentrated
• Landlords used to extract maximum rental from tenants
• Tenants were left with no money after paying the rental and thus made no effort to develop agriculture
• They had neither resource nor knowledge
• Land was not organized and thus number of small fragments existed
• Often cultivators were shifted from one farm to another by landlords on their whims and fancies.
• Cultivators often had to supplement their farm income by working as hired laborers like their poorer landless counterparts.

Women and Land Reforms | UPSC – IAS

In all Government land transfers, women’s claims should be directly recognized.

• According to the new policy, all new land distribution among landless poor families will be in women’s name.
• In all land distribution schemes (land related to surplus land, custodial land, or under the land ceiling act), the land should be distributed to rural landless women workers.
• The policy recommends 50 percent of land holdings given to forest communities should go to women.
• Under the policy, elderly women and widows too would gain title to land.
• The policy advises the states to consider the adoption of a group approach in land cultivation. Thus, group titles to women’s group should be granted.
• The policy also asked the state to assess all uncultivated arable land with the Government, and give women’s groups such land in the long term for group cultivation.
• Women constitute nearly 40 percent of the agricultural workforce in the country. More importantly, 75 percent of all female workforce and 85 percent of all rural female workforce in the country at present, was involved in agriculture.

In recent days, rural households are increasingly becoming female headed households, due to widowhood, desertion, or male out-migration.

• The Eleventh Five Year Plan recognised that agricultural productivity was increasingly getting dependent on the ability of women to function effectively as farmers and strongly, and had also made a recommendation to ensure effective and independent land rights for women.
• The Twelfth Five Year Plan emphasised enhancing women’s land access from all three sources – direct government transfers, purchase or lease from the market and inheritance.
• The land rights can serve multiple functions in rural women’s lives and would empower them to challenge the socio-economic and political inequalities prevalent in the rural-semi feudal society

How did Buddhism emerge and spread? | UPSC – IAS

Buddhism was born in India, within the culture of Hinduism, and then charted its own path. Like Hinduism, it questioned the reality of the earthly world and speculated on the existence of other worlds. Unlike Hinduism, however, Buddhism had a founder, a set of originating scriptures, and an order of monks. In opposition to Hinduism, it renounced hereditary caste organization and the supremacy of the brahmin priests. Buddhism spread to Southeast Asia, gaining acceptance as the principal religion of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam until today. It won multitudes of adherents throughout the rest of Asia as well, in Sri Lanka, Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. Yet in India itself, Buddhism lost out in competition with Hinduism and its priesthood, virtually vanishing from the subcontinent by about the twelfth century c.e.

The Origins of Buddhism | UPSC – IAS

All we know of the Buddha’s life and teaching comes from much later accounts, embellished by his followers. While there is much doubt about almost every aspect of the Buddha’s life and teachings, the accounts that exist tell the following story.

The life of the Buddha. | UPSC – IAS

Siddhartha Gautama was born about 563 b.c.e. in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains of what is now Nepal. His father, a warrior chief of the kshatriya caste, received a prophecy that Siddhartha would become either a great emperor or a great religious teacher. Hoping that his son would follow the former vocation, the chief sheltered him as best he could so that he would experience neither pain nor disillusionment.

When he was 29 years old, Siddhartha started to grow curious about what lay beyond the confines of his father’s palace. Leaving his wife, Yasadhara, and their son, Rahula, he instructed his charioteer to take him to the city, where he came across a frail, elderly man. Never having encountered old age, Siddhartha was confused. His companion explained that aging was an inevitable and painful part of human experience. As Siddhartha took further excursions outside the palace, he soon came to see that pain was an integral part of life, experienced in illness, aging, death, and birth. The search for a remedy for this pervasive sorrow became his quest.

On his fourth and final trip he met a wandering holy man who had shunned the trappings of wealth and material gain. Siddhartha decided to do likewise. Bidding farewell to his family for the last time, he set out on horseback in search of an antidote to sorrow and a means of teaching it to others.

For six years Siddhartha wandered as an ascetic. Nearing starvation, however, he gave up the path of asceticism. Determined to achieve enlightenment, he began to meditate, sitting under a tree at Bodh Gaya near modern Patna, in India. Mara, the spirit of this world, who tempted him to give up his meditation with threats of punishment and promises of rewards, tested his concentration and fortitude. Touching the ground with his hand in a gesture, or mudra, repeated often in sculptures of the Buddha, Siddhartha revealed these temptations to be illusions. On the forty-ninth day of meditation he reached enlightenment, becoming the Buddha, “He Who Has Awakened.” He had found an antidote to pain and suffering. He proceeded to the Deer Park at Sarnath, near Banaras, where he delivered his first sermon, beginning by setting forth the Four Noble Truths of suffering. The source of suffering, he taught, was personal desire and passion:

A new consciousness could be achieved by a combination of disciplining the mind and observing ethical precepts in human relationships. In the face of continuing rebirths into the pain of life, the Buddha taught that right living could bring release from the cycle of mortality and pain, and entry into nirvana, a kind of blissful nothingness. On the metaphysical plane, the Buddha taught that everything in the universe is transient; there is no “being.” There exists neither an immortal soul nor a god, neither atman nor Brahman. The Buddha’s teachings about the illusion of life and about rebirth and release were consistent with Hindu concepts of maya, samsara, and moksha, but the Buddha’s denial of god put him on the fringes of Hindu thought. His rejection of caste as an organizing hierarchy and of the Hindu priests as connoisseurs of religious truth won him powerful allies—and powerful opponents. Although much of the Hindu priesthood opposed the Buddha’s teachings, the kings of Magadha and Kosala, whose territories included most of the lower Gangetic plain, befriended and supported him and the small band of followers gathered around him. The Buddha taught peacefully and calmly until about 483 b.c.e., when, at the age of 80, he died, surrounded by a cadre of dedicated monks and believers, the original Buddhist Sangha (order of monks). The threefold motto of all devout Buddhists became “I seek refuge in the Buddha; I seek refuge in the Doctrine; I seek refuge in the Sangha.”

The Sangha | UPSC – IAS

The Sangha was open to all men regardless of caste, and thus drew the antagonism of brahmins, although some did join. For a time, women were permitted to form their own convents, but only under special restrictions. Today, Buddhist nuns exist only in Tibet.

The monks wore saffron robes and shaved their heads. They practiced celibacy and renounced alcohol, but did not have to take a vow of obedience to the order and were intellectually and spiritually free. Decisions were made through group discussion, perpetuating the pattern of the early republics of the north Indian hills. Monks studied, disciplined their spirits, meditated, and did the physical work of their monasteries. At first they wandered, begging for their living, except during the rainy months of the monsoon. But as monasteries became richer, through donations of money and land, the monks tended to settle down. They also tended to give up begging, which diminished their contact with the common people.

The emergence of mahayana Buddhism | UPSC – IAS

A series of general councils began to codify the principles, doctrines, and texts of the emerging community. The first council, convened shortly after the Buddha’s death, began the continuing process of collecting his teachings. The second, about a century later, began to dispute the essential meaning of Buddhism. The third, convened at Pataliputra, Asoka’s capital, revealed more of the differences that would soon lead to a split over the question of whether the Buddha was a human or a god. By this time an array of Buddhist caityas, or shrines, was growing. In addition to monasteries, great stupas, or monuments filled with Buddhist relics, were built at Barhut, Sanchi, and Amaravati (see map, below). Between 200 b.c.e. and 200 c.e. there were more Buddhist than Hindu shrines in India. Theological discussion flourished, with a heavy emphasis on metta, or benevolence; nonviolence; dharma, or proper behavior (although not related to caste, since Buddhism rejected hereditary caste); and tolerance for all religions.

The fourth general council, convened in the first century c.e. in Kashmir, codified the key doctrines of Buddhism as they had developed from earliest times. These were the principles of the Theravada (“Doctrine of the Elders”) branch of Buddhism, which we have been examining and which is today the prevailing form in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, except for Vietnam.

By now, however, a newer school of Mahayana Buddhism had been growing for perhaps two centuries and had become a serious challenge to Theravada. Mahayana means “the Greater Vehicle,” and its advocates claimed that their practices could carry more Buddhists to nirvana because they had bodhisattvas to help. A bodhisattva was a “being of wisdom” on the verge of achieving nirvana but so concerned about the welfare of fellow humans that he postponed his entrance into nirvana to remain on earth, or to be reborn, in order to help others. In addition, Mahayana Buddhism taught that religious merit, achieved through performing good deeds, could be transferred from one person to another. It embellished the concept of nirvana with the vision of a Mahayana heaven, presided over by Amitabha Buddha, a Buddha who had lived on earth and had now become a kind of father in heaven. Subsequently, Mahayanists developed the concept of numerous heavens with numerous forms of the Buddha presiding over them. They also developed the concept of the Maitreya Buddha, a suffering servant who will come to redeem humanity.

Some theologians note the similarity of the concept of this Maitreya Buddha to the Christian Messiah, and some suggest that the Buddhists may have borrowed it. They also suggest that Christians may have borrowed the narratives of the virgin birth of the Buddha and of his temptation in his search for enlightenment, and applied them to Jesus. There are significant similarities in the stories of these two men/gods and their biographies. Further, Mahayanists spoke of three aspects of the Buddha: Amitabha, the Buddha in heaven; Gautama, the historical Buddha on earth; and the most revered of all the bodhisattvas, the freely moving Avalokiteshvara. Theologians ask: To what degree do these three Buddhist forms correspond to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of Christianity as it was developing at the same time? How much borrowing took place between India and the Mediterranean coast, and in which direction?

Within India, Mahayana Buddhism began to challenge Hinduism more boldly than Theravada had. Wishing to compete for upper-caste and upper-class audiences, Mahayanists began to record their theology in Sanskrit, the language of the elite, rather than the more colloquial Pali language, which Theravada had preferred. Mahayana theologians, most notably Nagarjuna (fl. c. 50–150 c.e.), elaborated Buddhist philosophy and debated directly with brahmin priests. Buddhist monasteries established major educational programs, especially at Nalanda in Bihar, where the Buddha had spent much of his life, and at Taxila, on the international trade routes in the northern Punjab.

Key Terms Explained | UPSC – IAS

• Mudra – A hand gesture with specific meaning or significance in Indian classical sculpture and dance. One specific mudra, for example, indicates teaching, another fearlessness, another revelation, etc.
• Nirvana – In Theravada Buddhism, the blissful nothingness into which a soul that had lived properly entered after death, and from which there would be no further rebirth. (Compare nirvana among Jains, below.) In Mahayana Buddhism, nirvana became an abode of more active bliss, a kind of heaven, filled with heavenly activities.
• Bodhisattva – A “being of wisdom” worthy of entering nirvana, but who chooses to stay on earth, or be reborn, in order to help others. In Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddha himself is considered also to be one of the bodhisattvas.

Sacred writings of Buddhism | UPSC – IAS

• Tripitaka –“The Three Baskets”: Vinaya, on the proper conduct of Buddhist monks and nuns; Sutta, discourses attributed to the Buddha; and Abhidhamma, supplementary doctrines. Written in Pali.
• The Mahayanas – (Mahayana is Sanskrit for “Greater Vehicle.”) The body of writings associated with the school of Buddhism dominant in Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan. Includes the famous allegory the Lotus Sutra, the Buddhist “Parable of the Prodigal Son.”
• Milindapanha – Dialogue between the Greek king Milinda and the Buddhist monk Nagasena on the philosophy of Buddhism.
• Buddha’s four noble Truths – Suffering is always present in life; desire is the cause of suffering; freedom from suffering can be achieved by overcoming desires; the Eightfold Path provides the means to accomplish this.

Hinduism | Origin, History, Beliefs, & Facts

This post begins with a brief history of early Hinduism, the most ancient of existing major religions, and analyzes its evolution as the principal cultural system of the Indian subcontinent. Buddhism emerged out of Hinduism in India and spread throughout central, eastern, and southeastern Asia, defining much of the cultural and religious life of this vast region.

What is unique in the history of Hinduism ?

Hinduism began before recorded time. The other major religions of the world claim the inspiration of a specific person or event Abraham’s covenant; the Buddha’s Enlightenment; Jesus’ birth; Muhammad’s revelation – but Hinduism emerged through the weaving together of many diverse, ancient religious traditions of India,some of which precede written records. Hinduism evolved from the experience of the peoples of India.

Hinduism is the oldest of the world’s leading religions, although its geographic range has been mostly confined to the peoples of south Asia, where its impact has been profound, exemplified by the sacred geography of the subcontinent. Rivers, mountains, and regions associated with divine mythology are important, and networks of pilgrimage centers and temples provide cultural unity.

The Origins of Hinduism | UPSC IAS

Because Hinduism preserves a rich body of religious literature written in Sanskrit, the language of the Aryan immigrants of 1700–1200 b.c.e., scholars believed until recently that Hinduism was a product of that migration. Even the excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, which uncovered a pre-Aryan civilization, did not at first alter these beliefs. But as excavation and analysis have continued, many scholars have come to believe that the Indus valley civilization may have contributed many of Hinduism’s principal gods and ceremonies.

Excavated statues seem to represent the god Shiva, the sacred bull Nandi on which he rides, a man practicing yogic meditation, a sacred tree, and a mother goddess. Archaeologists increasingly argue that the Aryans absorbed religious beliefs and practices, along with secular culture, from the Indus valley and from other groups already living in India when they arrived. Contemporary anthropological accounts support this idea that Hinduism is an amalgam of beliefs and practices. These accounts emphasize Hinduism’s remarkable ability to absorb and assimilate tribal peoples and their gods. Today, 100 million people, about ten percent of India’s population, are officially regarded as adivasis, original inhabitants (previously referred to as “tribals”). These peoples were living in India before the arrival of the Aryans, and they have largely attempted to escape Aryan domination by retreating into remote hilly and forested regions, where they could preserve their own social systems.

Hindus have, however, pursued them and their lands, building temples in and around tribal areas. These temples recognize tribal gods and incorporate them with the mainstream deities in an attempt to persuade the adivasis to accept Hindu religious patterns. Indeed, one of Hinduism’s most important gods, Krishna, the blue/ black god, was apparently a tribal god who gained national recognition. As India’s peoples have been diverse, so its evolving religious system is diverse.

The concept of “Hinduism” as a unified religion comes from outsiders. Greeks and Persians first encountering India spoke of India’s belief systems and practices collectively as “Hinduism,” that is, the ways of the peoples on the far side of the Indus River. When Muslims began to arrive in India, beginning in the eighth century c.e., they adopted the same terminology.

Sacred Geography and Pilgrimage | UPSC IAS

Hinduism is closely associated with a specific territory, India. Almost all Hindus Live in India or are of Indian descent. Within India itself a sacred geography has developed. Places visited by gods and by saints, as well as places of great natural sanctity, have become shrines and pilgrim destinations.

Pilgrims traveling these routes have created a geography of religious/national integration, and modern transportation in the form of trains, buses, and airplanes has increased the pilgrim traffic throughout India.

Some of the most important shrines are at the far corners of India, such as Dwarka on the far west coast, Badrinath in the far north, Puri on the east coast, and Rameshwaram near the southern tip. Travel to all these shrines would thus provide the pilgrim with a “Bharat Darshan,” a view of the entire geography of India. Such pilgrimage routes have helped to unify both Hinduism And India.

Each locality in city and village is also knit together by religious shrines, ranging from the simple prayer niche, containing pictures and statues of the gods of the kind found in even the most humble home; through neighborhood shrines, nestled perhaps in the trunk of an especially sacred tree; to local and regional temples.

The Central Beliefs of Hinduism | UPSC – IAS

Hinduism has none of the fixed dogmas of most otherworldly religions, and great flexibility and variety of beliefs exist under the general term “Hindu.” Nevertheless, sacred texts do provide a set of beliefs and orientations toward life that are very widely shared. Over time, the introduction of new texts to the Hindu legacy marked the evolution of Hinduism as a living, changing system of beliefs and practices.

The Rigveda. Between about 1500 and 1200 b.c.e. brahmin priests of the nomadic pastoralist Aryan peoples entering India composed the Rigveda, a collection of 1028 verses of Sanskrit poetry, the oldest and most venerated of the four books called, collectively, Vedas. These verses invoke many early gods, including –

• Agni, the god of various kinds of fire;
• Indra, a phallic god of rain and fertility;
• Surya, god of the sun; and
• Varuna, the sovereign of the world who assures that the cosmic law is maintained.

They include references to music, dance, and acting as modes of worship Vedic worship also takes the form of animal sacrifice offered on sacred altars. The Rigveda speculates on the creation of the world and on the significance of life in this world, but it does not pretend to offer conclusive answers:

Caste System in Hinduism | UPSC – IAS

The Rigveda also introduces the mythic origin and rationale of the caste system, one of the most distinctive features of Hindu life. Caste began, the Rigveda suggests, in a primeval sacrifice of a mythical creature, Purusha. He was carved into four sections, each symbolizing one of the principal divisions of the caste system.

Apparently, the Aryans were even then thinking of a social system that separated people by occupation and sanctioned that separation through religion. The caste system that developed in India was probably the most rigidly unequal and hierarchical of any in the world. Caste status was hereditary, passing from parent to child at birth. Each caste was subject to different local legal rules, with upper castes being rewarded more generously and punished less severely than lower. Only upper castes were permitted to receive formal education, and the separate castes were not to intermarry nor even to dine with one another. Their vital fluids were distinct and different, and the blood and semen of one group were not to mingle with those of another. The food fit for one group was not necessarily appropriate for others: brahmin priests were to be vegetarians, but kshatriya warriors were to eat meat.

Commentators throughout the centuries have searched for additional roots of the caste system, more grounded in social, economic, and political rationales. Many have seen India’s caste system as a means of ordering relationships among the multitude of immigrant groups in India’s multiethnic population, consolidating some at the top and relegating others to the bottom. Others have seen caste as the result of a frozen economic system, with parents doing all they could to make sure that their children maintained at least the family’s current occupational status. They sacrificed the possibility of upward mobility in exchange for the security that they would not fall lower on the social scale.

Many suggested that the system was imposed on the rest of the population by an extremely powerful coalition of brahmin priests and kshatriya warrior–rulers. Such dominant coalitions are common in world history, and the Indian situation was simply more entrenched than most. Historians employ the insights of anthropologists as they attempt to understand the historical origins and basis of the caste system. Anthropological observation shows that the four generalized castes of the Vedas are not the actual groupings that function in practice today.

Instead, India has tens of thousands of localized castes, called jatis—indeed, there are thousands of different brahmin groups alone. In practice, caste is lived in accordance with the accepted practices of these local groupings, in the 750,000 villages, towns, and cities of India. From customary law to dining patterns to marriage arrangements, caste relationships are determined locally, and there is no national overarching religious system to formulate and enforce rules. Residents of any given village, for example, may represent some 20 to 30 castes, including all the various craftworkers and artisans.

There may be more than one caste claiming brahmin status, or kshatriya, vaishya, or shudra status. Anthropologists therefore differentiate between the mythological four varna groups of the Vedic caste system and the thousands of jati groups through which caste is actually lived in India. Both historians and anthropologists are convinced that the same multitude of castes that they find “on the ground” today existed also in the past. Eventually “outcastes,” or “untouchables,” emerged, people who were outside the caste system because of the “polluting” work they performed, which might include dealing with dead animals or handling those who died.

Throughout Indian history there have been revolts against the hierarchy of the caste system. In the twentieth century and into the present century the government of India has acted assertively to eliminate the historic discrimination of the caste system,” Nevertheless, through the millennia, caste has usually been more important than government in determining the conditions of life of most people. Personal identity and group loyalty were formed far more by caste locally than by government, which tended to be remote.

Hinduism in Southeast Asia | UPSC – IAS

Hinduism did not generally attract, nor did it seek, converts outside India, but Southeast Asia was an exception. Here, the initiative for conversion grew out of politics, as it had in southern India. The powers of the Hindu temple and the brahmin priesthood were imported to validate royal authority in Southeast Asia from as early as the third century c.e. to as late as the fourteenth century.

Trade contacts between India and Southeast Asia date back to at least 150 b.c.e. Indian sailors carried cargoes to and from Burma (Myanmar), the Straits of Malacca, the Kingdom of Funan in modern Cambodia and Vietnam, and Java in modern Indonesia. By the third century c.e., Funan had accepted many elements of Indian culture, religion, and political practice. Chinese envoys reported a prosperous state with walled cities, palaces, and houses. Sanskrit was in use, as was some Indian technology for irrigation and farming. By the fifth century it appears that Sanskrit had spread, Indian calendars marked the dates, and Indian gods, including Shiva and Vishnu, were worshiped, as were representations of the Buddha (see below). Hindu temples began to appear with brahmin priests to staff them.

Sacred writings of Hinduism | UPSC – IAS

• Vedas -The most sacred of the Hindu scriptures, meaning “divine knowledge.” They consist of collections of writings compiled by the Aryans: Rigveda (hymns and praises), Yajurveda (prayers and sacrificial formulas), Samaveda (tunes and chants), and Atharva-Veda (Veda of the Atharvans, the priests who officiate at sacrifices)
• Upanishads – Philosophical treatises, centering on the doctrine of Brahma.
• Brahmanas – Instructions on ritual and sacrifice.
• Ramayana – An epic poem, telling how Rama (an incarnation of the god Vishnu) and his devotee Hanuman, the monkey god, recover Rama’s wife, Sita, who has been abducted by the demon king Ravana. Mahabharata “Great Poem of the Bharatas.” Includes the
• Bhagavad-Gita – (“Song of God”) and consists of 18 books and 90,000 stanzas. The central narrative of civil war, and the innumerable sidebars, emphasize the struggle to do one’s duty faithfully.

Major Hindu Gods and Goddesses | UPSC – IAS

A shrine with images of one or more of the thousands of gods in the pantheon can be found in every devout Hindu home. The most widely worshiped gods are probably Shiva with his consort Parvati, and Vishnu with his consorts Lakshmi and Saraswati. But most Hindus offer at least some form of devotion to more than one god.

• Brahma – The creator god, whose four heads and arms represent the four Vedas (scriptures), castes, and yugas (ages of the world).
• Ganesh – The elephant-headed god, bringer of good luck.
• Kali – Shiva’s fierce consort—the goddess of death—is shown as a fearsome, blood-drinking, four-armed black woman.
• Krishna – The eighth avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu, depicted with blue or black skin. He is honored for his skills as a lover and a warrior; with his consort Radha.
• Rama – The personification of virtue, reason, and chivalry; with his consort Sita, revered for her loyalty.
• Shiva – God of destruction, whose dancing in a circle of fire symbolizes the eternal cycle of creation and destruction.
• Sitala – Mothers traditionally pray to this goddess to protect their children from disease, especially smallpox.
• Vishnu – The preserver, a kindly god, who protects those who worship him, banishes bad luck, and restores good health; with his consorts Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and the arts.

Key Terms Explained | UPSC – IAS

• Atman – The soul of each individual person, identical in its substance to Brahman, the universal power. Thus each individual soul is part of the great soul of the universe.
• Samsara The process and cycle of living, dying, and being reborn. maya Illusion. The manifest world in which we appear to live is only illusion; there is a reality beyond what we experience here on earth.
• Dharma The duty of each person, determined in large part by his or her caste.
• karma – The doctrine that actions have their own appropriate consequences. A person’s actions carry their own rewards (or punishments) because they set the directions of his or her life.
• Bhakti – Devotion to god; a personal dedication to and worship of god, often through meditation, music, chanting, dance – different from more formal rituals.

Stagnation and Deterioration of Agriculture  | NCERT – UPSC | IAS | PCS

As a result of overcrowding of agriculture, excessive land revenue demand, growth of landlordism, increasing indebtedness, and the growing impoverishment of the cultivators, Indian agriculture began to stagnate and even deteriorate resulting in extremely low yields per acre

• At a time when agriculture all over the world was being modernised and revolutionised, Indian agriculture was technologically stagnating, hardly any modern machinery was used.
• There was a sudden and quick collapse of the urban handicrafts which had for centuries made India’s name a byword in the markets of the entire civilised world
• The peasant was also progressively impoverished under British rule, his material condition deteriorated and he steadily sank into poverty. In the very beginning of British rule in Bengal, the policy of Clive and Warren Hasting of extracting the largest possible land revenue had led to such devastation
• By 1815, half the total land in Bengal had passed into hands of money-lenders, merchants, and rich peasants who usually got the land cultivated by tenants. The new zamindars, with increased powers but with little or no avenues for new investments, resorted to land-grabbing and sub-infeudation.Warren Hastings’ policy of auctioning the rights of revenue collection to the highest bidders, (Izaredari System)

Economic Impact of British Rule in India | UPSC – IAS

• De-industrialisation – Ruin of artisans and handicrafts (In – Detail)
• Impoverishment of peasantry—ruralisation of India (In – Detail)
• Emergence of new land relations—ruin of old zamindars. (In – Detail)
• Stagnation and deterioration of agriculture.
• Commercialisation of Indian agriculture.
• Development of modern industry.
• Rise of Indian national bourgeoisie.
• Economic drain.
• Famine and poverty.

Ruin of Artisans and Craftsmen | UPSC – IAS | NCERT

There was a sudden and quick collapse of the urban handicrafts which had for centuries made India’s name a byword in the markets of the entire civilised world.

Causes & impact | UPSC – IAS

• This collapse was caused largely by competition with the cheaper imported machine-goods from Britain. (influx of foreign goods)
• British imposed a policy of one-way free trade on India after 1813
• Indian goods made with primitive techniques could not compete with goods produced on a mass scale by powerful steam-operated machines.
• ruin of Indian industries, particularly rural artisan industries, proceeded even more rapidly once the railways were built. Therailways enabled British manufactures to reach and uproot the traditional industries in the remotest villages of the country
• The cotton weaving and spinning industries were the worst hit.
• forcing them to sell their goods below the market price and to hire their service below the prevailing wage, compelled a large number of them to abandon their ancestral professions
• The high import duties and other restrictions imposed on the import of Indian goods into Britain and Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries, combined with the development of modern manufacturing industries in Britain, led to the virtual closing of the European markets to Indian manufacturers after 1820.
• The British. policy of exporting raw materials also injured Indian handicrafts by raising the prices of raw materials like cotton and leather. This increased the cost of handicrafts and reduced their capacity to compete with foreign goods.
• The tragedy was heightened by the fact that the decay of the traditional industries was not accompanied by the growth of modern machine industries as was the case in Britain and western Europe. Consequently, the ruined handicrafts-men and artisans failed to find alternative employment. The only choice open to them was to crowd into agriculture.

Conclusion | UPSC – IAS

• Thus British conquest led to the de-industrialisation of the country and increased dependence of the people on agriculture
• Between 1901 and 1941 alone the percentage of population dependent on agriculture increased from 63.7 per cent to 70 percent. This increasing pressure on agriculture was one of the major causes of the extreme poverty of India under British rule.
• In fact India now became an agricultural colony of manufacturing Britain which needed it as a source of raw materials for its industries.
• Moreover, the British rule also upset the balance of economic life in the villages,The gradual destruction of rural crafts broke up the union between agriculture and domestic industry in the countryside and thus contributed to the destruction of the self-sufficient village economy.
• India had been for centuries the largest exporter of cotton goods in the world, it was now transformed into an importer of British cotton products & an exporter of raw cotton

**gradual disappearance of Indian rulers and their courts who were the main customers of town handicrafts also gave a big blow to these industries.

Ruin of Old Zamindars and Rise of New Landlord-ism | UPSC – IAS

British economic policy favoured the rise of a new landlordism, as the high revenue demands forced traditional landowners to sell their land. Rich money-lenders and others bought this land and there was a spread of growth of intermediaries

• By 1815, half the total land in Bengal had passed into hands of money-lenders, merchants, and rich peasants who usually got the land cultivated by tenants. The new zamindars, with increased powers but with little or no avenues for new investments, resorted to land-grabbing and sub-infeudation.Warren Hastings’ policy of auctioning the rights of revenue collection to the highest bidders, (Izaredari System)

The Permanent Settlement of 1793 | UPSC – IAS

• A remarkable feature of’ the spread of landlord-ism was, the growth of sub-infeudation or intermediaries. Since the cultivating tenants were generally unprotected and the overcrowding of land led tenants to compete
  
• With one another to acquire land, the rent of land went on increasing. The zamindars and the new landlords found it convenient to sublet their right to collect rent to other eager persons on profitable terms
• Increase in number of intermediaries to be paid gave rise to absentee landlordism and increased the burden on the peasant.
• Zamindar had no incentive to invest in the improvement of agriculture. The interests of the zamindars lay only in the perpetuation of British rule and in opposing the national movement
• But the condition of the zamindars soon improved radically. In order to enable the zamindars to pay the land revenue in time, the authorities increased their power over the tenants by extinguishing the traditional rights of the tenants. Consequently, they rapidly grew in prosperity

Stagnation and Deterioration of Agriculture | UPSC – IAS

As a result of overcrowding of agriculture, excessive land revenue demand, growth of landlordism, increasing indebtedness, and the growing impoverishment of the cultivators, Indian agriculture began to stagnate and even deteriorate resulting in extremely low yields per acre.

• At a time when agriculture all over the world was being modernised and revolutionised, Indian agriculture was technologically stagnating, hardly any modern machinery was used.

Impoverishment of the Peasantry | UPSC – IAS

The peasant was also progressively impoverished under British rule, his material condition deteriorated and he steadily sank into poverty. In the very beginning of British rule in Bengal, the policy of Clive and Warren Hasting of extracting the largest possible land revenue had led to such devastation

Temporary & permanent settlement | UPSC – IAS

• In both temporary & permanent settlement zamindari areas a lot of peasants remained unenviable. They were left to the mercies of the zamindars who raised rents to unbearable limits, compelled them to pay illegal dues and to perform forced labour or beggar, and oppressed them in diverse other ways

Ryotwari and Mahalwari | UPSC – IAS

• Condition of the cultivators in the Ryotwari and Mahalwari areas was no better.Here, Government took the place of the zamindar and levied excessive land revenue which was in the beginning fixed as high as one-third to one-half of the produce. Heavy assessment of land was one of the main causes of the growth of poverty and the deterioration of agriculture in the 19th century.
• The evil of high revenue demand was made worse by the fact that the peasant got little economic return for it. The Government spent very little on improving agriculture.
• It devoted almost its entire income to meeting the needs of British-Indian administration, making the payments of direct and indirect tribute to England, and serving the ·interest of British trade and industry. Even the maintenance of law order tended to benefit the merchant and the money-lender rather than the peasant.
• In Pre-British times, the money-lender was subordinated to the village community. He could not behave in a manner totally disliked by the rest of the village. For instance, he could not charge usurious rates of interest. In fact, the rates of interest were fixed by usage and public opinion.
• By introducing transfer-ability of land the British revenue system enabled the money-lender or the rich peasant to take possession of land. Even the benefits of peace and security established by the British through their legal system and police were primarily reaped by the money-lender in whose hands the law placed enormous power

Poverty and Taxation | UPSC – IAS

The pressure of taxation and growing poverty pushed the cultivators into debt which in turn increased their poverty. In fact, the cultivators often failed to understand that the money-lender was an inevitable cog in the mechanism of imperialist exploitation and turned their anger against him as he appeared to be the visible cause of their impoverishment. For instance, during the Revolt of 1857, wherever the peasantry rose in revolt, quite often its first target of attack was the moneylender and his account books.

The rigid manner of its collection land revenue had to be paid promptly on the fixed dates even if the harvest had been below normal or had failed completely,

Conclusion and Analysis  | UPSC – IAS

The loss of land and the overcrowding of land caused by de-industrialization and lack of modern industry compelled the landless peasants and ruined artisans and handicrafts-men to become either tenants of the money-lenders and zamindars by paying rack-rent or agricultural labourers at starvation wages. Thus the peasantry was crushed under the triple burden of the Government, the zamindar or landlord, and the money-lender

What was Grand Delhi Durbars & why they were organized ?

The meaning of Delhi Durbar is ,”Court of Delhi”, was a mass assembly at Coronation Park in Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar.

How many times Grand Delhi Darbars/Durbars Held ?

It was held three times, in 1877, 1903, and 1911. let’s discuss all of them one by one-:

Highlights Of Grand Delhi Durbar 1877

• A Grand Darbar was organized at Delhi on January 1, 1877, in which Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India. Queen Victoria was proclaimed with title “Kaisar-i-Hind” at this Durbar.
• The Empress of India Medal to commemorate the Proclamation of the Queen as Empress of India was struck and distributed to the honored guests. Ramanath Tagore was made a Maharaja by Lord Lytton, viceroy of India
  **famine was darkening over southern India at this time of period

Highlights Of Grand Delhi Durbar 1903

• The durbar was held to celebrate the succession of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra as Emperor and Empress of India. Lord Curzon was viceroy at that time Special medals known as Delhi Durbar Medals, were struck, firework displays, exhibitions and glamorous dances held.

Highlights Of Grand Delhi Durbar 1911

• Durbar was held to commemorate the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India. The Congress passed a resolution condemning the pomp and show of this Durbar at the cost of the poor Indians.
• In this Durbar, the King declared that Capital of India will be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi.
• In the same Durbar it was also declared the Partition of Bengal is cancelled.

Blue –  No official religion | Red – States with Religion

 Secularism in India – Features, Impact and Problems | UPSC – IAS

The concept of secularism as embodied in the Constitution of India cannot be viewed in the sense in which it is viewed in the West, but in the context of the following provisions of the Constitution:

The Constitution guarantees:-

• Freedom of conscience,
• Freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion and
• also Freedom to establish religious institutions and manage or administer their affairs.
• It prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion and
• Guarantees legal and social equality to all by providing for equality before law and  Equal protection of laws, prohibiting discrimination with regard to places of public importance and
• Providing for equal opportunity in matters of public employment.
• The Constitution also guarantees religious minorities the right to conserve their script, language and culture.

The provisions would naturally indicate that the Constitution of India endeavors to build up in India the philosophy of secularism on freedom, equality and tolerance in the field of religion. And viewed in this context it is clear that the Constitution does not build a wall of separation between the state and religion.

Thus, the distinguishing features of a secular democracy as contemplated by the constitution are:

• That the state will not identify itself with or be controlled by any religion;
• While the state guarantees to everyone the right to profess whatever religion one chooses to follow (which includes also the right to be an agnostic or an atheist), it will not accord any preferential treatment to any of them;
• That no discrimination will be shown by the state against any person on account of his religion and faith;
• That the right of every citizen, subject to any general condition to enter any office under the state will be equal to that of his fellow citizens.

Although the term secularism was not in the original text of the Constitution, secularism was a subject of animated discussion when the Constituent Assembly look up for consideration the provisions dealing with the freedom of religion.

Indian Constitution the Supreme Court observed: “There is no mysticism in the secular character of the state. Secularism is neither anti-God nor pro-God; it treats alike the devout, the agnostic and the atheist. It eliminates God from the matter of the state and ensures no one shall be discriminated against on the ground of religion.

Basic outline of the secularism is enshrined in the following Articles of the Constitution:

• Preamble: It is true that the word ‘secular’ did not first occur either in Article 25 or 26 or in any other Article or Preamble of the Constitution. But the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976, the Preamble was amended and for the words ‘Sovereign Democratic Republic‘ the words ‘Sovereign, socialist, secular, Democratic Republic’ were substituted.
• No State Religion.

It follows from that:

• No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly run by state funds.
• Even though religious instruction is imparted in educational institutions recognised by state or receiving aid from the state, no person at lending such institution shall be compelled to receive that religious instruction without the consent of himself or of his guardian. In short, while religious instruction is totally banned in state-owned educational institutions, in other denominational institutions it is not totally prohibited but it must not be imposed upon people of other religions without their consent (Article 28).
• Freedom of Conscience: Every person is guaranteed the freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess, practice and propagate his own religion, subject only:
• to restrictions imposed by the state on the interest of public order, morality and health.
• to regulations or restrictions made by state relating, to any economic, financial, political or outer secular activity which may be associated with religious practice, but do not really related to the freedom of conscience;
• to measures of social reform and for throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus.

Freedom to Manage Religious Affairs:

• To establish and maintain institutions (or religious and charitable purposes.
• To manage its own affairs in matters of religion;
• To own and acquire movable and immovable property; and
• To administer such property in accordance with law (Article 26)

Conclusion| UPSC IAS

• Secularism has to play a decisive role at present stage of Indian democracy.
• It is so because today when the Indian democracy seems to face the challenge of narrow divisive trends and tendencies, a rational and scientific approach which is the basis of secularism has become a matter of utmost importance.
• Communal disturbances which have distinguished the public life in the recent past, as well the birth and growth of narrow and divisive trends and obscurantist theories are mainly the result of ignorance can be fought not by legislation alone, nor by a negative fiat alone, but by education, and in the process of educating the traditional Indian mind, secularism and all that it stands for the political leaders have to play a major role.

Who is Dr br Ambedkar ?

• Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar (1891-1956) is considered the father of the Indian Constitution and is also the best known leader of the Dalits. Because Dr Ambedkar fought for the rights of the Dalit community.
• He was born into the Mahar caste, which was considered untouchable. The Mahars were poor, owned no land and children born to them also had to do the work their parents did.
• Dr Ambedkar was the first person from his caste who completed his college education and went to England to become a lawyer.
• Bhim Rao Ambedkar encouraged Dalits to send their children to school and college. He also urged Dalits to take on different kinds of government jobs in order to move out of the caste system.
• Ambedkar led many efforts of Dalits to gain entry into temples.
• Later in life he converted to Buddhism in his search for a religion that treated all members equally. Dr Ambedkar believed that Dalits must fight the caste system and work towards a society based on respect not just for a few but for all persons.

 Why Dr BR Ambedkar is called ‘Modern manu’ ?

Dr BR Ambedkar is called Modern Manu because of Hindu Code Bill which he drafted. Dr Ambedkar drafted a radical and most progressive Hindu Code Bill which would have regulated the socio-religious laws of Hindus. It was bundle of several laws that aimed to modify and reform Hindu Personal Law in India. He aimed for broader individual liberty and equality of men and women in Hindu Social system.

Some of the radical and bold measure adopted in Hindu Code Bill for women included are as follows:-

• The property including both movable and immovable property should be acquired by a woman,
• the acquisition of property should be made by a woman before and after marriage even during by the widowhood from her parents or husband.
• Dowry system would be paid as a condition and consideration, the share of the property of each unmarried daughter shall be half that of each son and the share of each married daughter shall be one quarter of that of each son.

Delhi Proposals December 1927 | UPSC – IAS

Earlier, in December 1927, a large number of Muslim leaders had met at Delhi at the Muslim League session and evolved four proposals for Muslim demands to be incorporated in the draft constitution. These proposals, which were accepted by the Madras session of the Congress (December 1927), came to be known as the ‘Delhi Proposals’. These were

• Joint electorates in place of separate electorates with reserved seats for Muslims;
• One-third representation to Muslims in Central Legislative Assembly;
• Representation to Muslims in Punjab and Bengal in proportion to their population;
• Formation of three new Muslim majority provinces— Sindh, Baluchistan and North-West Frontier Province.

Nehru Report of 1928 | UPSC – IAS

The Nehru Report of 28–30 August, 1928 was a memorandum outlining a proposed new dominion status constitution for India. It was prepared by a committee of the All Parties Conference chaired by Motilal Nehru with his son Jawaharlal Nehru acting as secretary.

The Nehru Report confined itself to British India, as it envisaged the future link-up of British India with the princely states on a federal basis. Nehru report Recommendation are as follows:-

• Dominion status
• No separate electorates, but joint electorates with reserved seats for minorities.
• Linguistic provinces.
• Nineteen fundamental rights including equal rights for women, right to form unions, and universal adult suffrage.
• Responsible government at center and in provinces
• Full protection to cultural and religious interests of Muslims.
• Complete dissociation of state from religion.

Nehru Report of 1928 significance – first major attempt to draft a constitutional framework for the country. 

• As  an answer to Lord Birkenhead’s challenge, an All Parties Conference met in February 1928 and appointed a subcommittee under the chairmanship of Motilal Nehru to draft a constitution
• Nehru Committee – were unanimous except in one respect  – while the majority favoured the “dominion status” as the basis of the Constitution, a section of it wanted “complete independence” as the basis, with the majority section giving the latter section liberty of action. younger section regarded the idea of dominion status in the report as a step backward.
• Main Personalities involved – Tej Bahadur Sapru, Subhash Bose, M.S. Aney, Mangal Singh, Ali Imam, Shuab Qureshi and G.R.

Amendments Proposed by Jinnah | UPSC – IAS

At the All Parties Conference held at Calcutta in December 1928 to consider the Nehru Report, Jinnah, on behalf of the Muslim League, proposed three amendments to the report:

• One-third representation to Muslims in the Central Legislature
• Reservation to Muslims in Bengal and Punjab legislatures proportionate to their population, till adult suffrage was established
• Residual powers to provinces.

These demands not being accommodated, Jinnah went back to the Shafi faction of the Muslim League and in March 1929 gave fourteen points which were to become the basis of all future propaganda of the Muslim League.

Jinnah’s Fourteen Demands | UPSC – IAS

• Federal Constitution with residual powers to provinces.
• Provincial autonomy.
• No constitutional amendment by the centre without the concurrence of the states constituting the Indian federation.
• All legislatures and elected bodies to have adequate representation of Muslims in every province without reducing a majority of Muslims in a province to a minority or equality.
• Adequate representation to Muslims in the services and in self governing bodies.
• One-third Muslim representation in the Central Legislature.
• In any cabinet at the centre or in the provinces, one third to be Muslims.
• Separate electorates.
• No bill or resolution in any legislature to be passed if three fourths of a minority community consider such a bill or resolution to be against their interests.
• Any territorial redistribution not to affect the Muslim majority in Punjab, Bengal and NWFP.
• Separation of Sindh from Bombay.
• Constitutional reforms in the NWFP and Balochistan.
• Full religious freedom to all communities.
• Protection of Muslim rights in religion, culture, education and language.

Not only were the Muslim League, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Sikh communalists unhappy about the Nehru Report, but the younger section of the Congress led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Bose were also angered. The younger section regarded the idea of dominion status in the report as a step backward, and the developments at the All Parties Conference strengthened their criticism of the dominion status idea. Nehru and Subhash Bose rejected the Congress’ modified goal and jointly set up the Independence for India League.

Why Wood’s Despatch is called Magna Carta of Indian Education ?

Wood’s Despatch is called Magna-Carta of English Education in India because it professed the promotion of the western education in India. In accordance with Wood’s despatch, Education Departments were established in every province and universities were opened at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857 on the model of the London University.

• Later more universities were opened in Punjab in 1882 and at Allahabad 1887

Charles Wood was a British Liberal politician and Member of Parliament. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1846 to 1852. Later he became the President of the Board of Control of the East India Company. In 1854 he sent the “Wood’s despatch” to the Governor General Lord Dalhousie.

Main provisions of the Wood’s Despatch Act of 1854 are as Follows :-

• An education department was to be set in every province.
• Universities on the model of the London University be established in big cities such as Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.
• At least one government school be opened in every district.
• Affiliated private schools should be given grant in aid.
• The Indian natives should be given training in their mother tongue also.

Demerits of the Wood’s Despatch of 1854 are as follows :- (UPSC | IAS | PCS)

• The Wood’s Despatch could not manage the education system well.
• Mass education did not become a reality.
• The grant-in-aid system did not work well as there was paucity of funds and irregularity of the release of funds.
• The Despatch was more interested in promoting Western knowledge and culture.
• The Department of Public Instruction could not promote the interest of education and the education in the universities could not be related to Indian conditions.
• The Despatch did not promote vocational education as was required. in fact, the idea was postponed indefinitely.
• Women education continued to be neglected.
• The Despatch produced a class of clerks and accountants but did not develop character and leadership qualities among students