Themes in Indian History - Part III

In Poona, Jyotirao Phooley, though a Mali by caste and of comparatively little education, started the association called the Satyashodhak Samaj in 1873 for asserting the worth of man irrespective of caste. He demanded representation of all classes of the Hindus in all the local bodies, in services and institutions and also established a primary school for the so-called untouchables in Poona.

Source Attribution:

• Spectrum
• Bipin Chandra
• Old NCERT

Paṇini (4th century BCE or 6th to 5th century BCE) was an ancient Sanskrit grammarian and a revered scholar in ancient India. Considered the father of linguistics, Paṇini likely lived in the northwest Indian subcontinent during the Mahajanapada era. Hence statement 1 is not correct. He is said to have been born in Shalatula of ancient Gandhara, a small town at the junction of the Indus and Kabul rivers, Pakistan.

Pāṇini is known for his text Ashtadhyayi, a sutra-style treatise on Sanskrit grammar, comprising 3,959 verses or rules on linguistics syntax and semantics across eight chapters, which is the foundational text of the Vyākaraṇa branch of the Vedanga. Ashtadhyayi is admired for its simplicity and its rigorous and consistent use of meta language. Sutras are like mathematical formulae, allowing a lot of information to be conveyed using a few words. Since Panini uses sutras, the Ashtadhyayi is crisp. Panini also lays down rules to resolve conflicts between sutras. Ashtadhyayi is augmented with ancillary texts such as Sivasutras (special order of phonemes), dhatupatha (list of verbal roots), ganapatha (various sets of nouns), and linganusaasana (system for deciding the gender).

Pushyamitra Sunga (185 BC TO 151 BC): Pushyamitra Shunga was the founder and first ruler of the Shunga Empire in East India. He was a follower of Hinduism. Pushyamitra was originally a Senapati (General) of the Maurya Empire. In 185 BCE, he assassinated the last Mauryan Emperor, Brihadratha Maurya, during an army review and proclaimed himself emperor.

Chandragupta II, also called Vikramaditya, was a powerful emperor (reigned c. 380–c. 415 CE) of northern India. He was the son of Samudra Gupta and grandson of Chandragupta I. During his reign, art, architecture, and sculpture flourished, and the cultural development of ancient India reached its climax. Chandragupta II was known for his deep interest in art and culture, and nine gems or Navratna adorned his court. The group comprised of:

• Kalidasa
• Vetala Bhatta
• Varahamihira
• Vararuchi
• Amarasimha
• Dhanvantari
• kshapanak
• Shanku
• Ghatakarpura

Kalidasa was a famous Sanskrit writer and poet in the court of Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya). He was the author of three famous plays:

• Abhijnanasakuntalam: tells the story of King Dushyanta and Shakuntala
• Malavikagnimitram: tells the story of the love of King Agnimitra with Malavika
• Raghuvamsa (“Raghu Dynasty”) and Kumarasambhava

Amarasimha: Amarasimha was one of the nine Gems in the court of Vikramaditya of the Gupta era. He is notably known for his famous Sanskrit thesaurus Amarakosha, also known as Namalinganushasana.

Source Citation: NCERT: Class 6 History Our Past 1

Vijayanagara or city of victory was the name of both a city and an empire. The empire was founded in the fourteenth century. In its heyday, it stretched from the river Krishna in the north to the extreme south of the peninsula, in the Krishna-Tungabhadra doab. It was founded by Harihara and Bukka, in 1336. In the memories of people living in the Krishna-Tungabhadra doab, they remembered it as Hampi, a name derived from that of the local mother goddess, Pampadevi.

Source: NCERT: Themes in Indian History Part II

There were many kinds of traders in the medieval period; these included the Banjaras. They were the most important trader nomads. Their caravan was called tanda. Sultan Alauddin Khalji used the Banjaras to transport grain to the city markets. Emperor Jahangir wrote in his memoirs that the Banjaras carried grain on their bullocks from different areas and sold it in towns.

Source: NCERT: Class VII Chapter 6 Towns, Traders and Craftspersons

Devaraya I in around 1410 A.D. got a barrage constructed across the Tungabhadra river and commissioned a 24 km long aqueduct from the Tungabhadra river to the capital. The account provided by Nuniz gives details of the projects undertaken by Deva Raya I that brought prosperity to the Kingdom. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Source: Satish Chandra: Medieval India NCERT Chapter 9