Posts

Bhakti Movement in India: Uniting Devotion, Equality, and Social Reform"

Image
Bhakti Movement  The bhakti movement brought about revolutionary changes in moral, social, political perspectives of people of India. It unfolded the uniformities existing among the various religions. The Bhakti movement in India was a significant socio-religious reform movement that emerged around the 7th to 12th centuries and continued to influence Indian society for centuries. It transcended caste, creed, and gender barriers and had a profound impact on Indian culture, literature, and religious practices. The Bhakti movement was characterized by several key features, and here's a detailed explanation of its nature: Devotion and Love: The term "Bhakti" itself translates to "devotion" or "love." The movement emphasized a personal and emotional connection with the divine, wherein the devotee expressed intense love and attachment to the chosen deity. This love was seen as the means to attain spiritual liberation (moksha) and escape the cy

Important Economic terms during Indian medieval history (for upsc,state pcs and various other exams)

Economic terms during Indian medieval period Indian medieval history is a fascinating era marked by significant economic growth and development. From exam point of view, it is crucial to have a solid understanding of the key economic terms associated with this period, as they are often tested on various exams( upsc, state pcs ,etc) .Some of the most important historical economic terms from Indian medieval history that you should be familiar with include: Kosita - shallow wells( kuchha wells) Kohar - brick lined walls Jims-i-kamil - highly grade crops Baoris - step wells Jalhas - lakes and ponds Motasthal - land irrigated by wells( especially in Maharashtra) Abi - irrigated land Khushki - unirrigated land Nancai - wet land Puncai - dry land Zakat -  Transit duty Riaya - peasants Khiraj - land tax Dasavanda - transferable property ( especially in Karnataka) Kamins - people of lowest rung  Patels - Village headmen Amils - revenue collectors Muquaddams - Village head Nankar - portion of

Indian feminist historiography

Image
Indian feminist historiography  Before answering the question what is feminist  historiography, it is important to highlight how gender approach emerged. As human society has evolved, new approaches to age old issues have developed. It is the recent concern and debates about the subordination of women and the need for the empowerment of women which gave rise to the gender sensitive approach to history. It began to be felt that women were ignored in the given conventional version of history. Women’s experiences have often been marginalized in historical narratives, which has led to a dearth of documentation on their lives and contributions. The resultant search for a history inclusive of women has greatly expanded the scope of Historical enquiry - a change that is considered to be a revolution in historiography. Indian feminist historiography aims to critically examine and highlight the role of women in Indian history . It challenges the traditional, patriarchal narratives of history an

Founder of historiography

Image
Founder of modern historiography The question of who is the founder of modern historiography is a matter of some debate among historians and scholars, and different individuals have been credited with this title for various reasons. Some regards Voltaire as the father of modern historiography while others regard Leopold von Ranke as a founder of modern historiography. Let's find out why is it a debatable issue by looking at their approach. Francois Marie Arouet  Francois Marie Arouet, also known as Voltaire (1694-1778), was a prominent Enlightenment philosopher and writer who made significant contributions to the development of modern historiography.Voltaire's approach to history emphasized the critical analysis of primary sources, and he sought to use history as a means of promoting reason and tolerance. He believed that history could be used to expose the errors and abuses of the past, and to inspire social and political reform in the present.Voltaire's most f

Historiography and Approach to categories it

Historiography and Approach to categorise it There is always a confusion among the readers of history that what is historiography and what is the purpose of writing historiography on topics , and also categories of historiography. So this article will clear your doubts regarding the meaning of historiography ,it's purpose,how it is being categorised. What is historiography ? While history is an effort on our part to understand what happened in the past, historiography is about how such efforts were made in the past by people who composed history either by word of mouth or in a written form. Thus historiography is the history of history writing. It is obvious that every person has some sense of history in that he or she has a memory of what happened to him or her in the past . But when a person goes beyond that limited personal memory and tries to find out with deliberation what happened in the past of not only individuals but groups or communities or societies , that is an effort

Varna and Jati- Are they same?

Image
Varna and Jati Today, people have this misconception that ancient Indian society was for centuries together divided into four groups -brahmans, kshatriyas, vaishyas, and shudra -consider Varna to be the basis of jati. This was not so, there are differences between Varna and Jati. Varna and Jati are both hereditary social classifications and they have been used interchangeably but they are not the same thing. Talking about which one is older - Varna is older than jatis . Jatis help in identifying one' s Varna but there are many differences and nature of these differences have changed overtime. Let's see some of those differences: 1. The number of varnas is  four, while the number of jatis are numerous that they can't be counted ( their numbers is still growing). 2. Both Varna and Jati are hierarchical order but there is fixed rankings among the four varnas whereas jatis have fluidity within particular ranges. Like in the Brahmanical

Women leaders of Bihar in Indian freedom struggle

Image
When we talk about Indian freedom struggle Bihar cannot be kept away. Bihar was one of the centers of the freedom movement, and women in Bihar participated in various ways to contribute to the struggle for independence.Let's talk about some of those women leaders of bihar who played a significant role  in bihar as well as in Indian history.   Prabhavati Devi She was an Indian political leader. She got the strength to fight for the nation from Jai prakash Narayan ( her husband) who encouraged her to study and master in spinning the charkha. She was active during 1930s and got captured in Lucknow in 1932 during the call of a Blacklist of unfamiliar merchandise . She established Mahila Charkha Samiti at Patna to include abandoned and deserted women in spinning the charkha( gandhian development model).She was also one of the founding members of the All India Women's Conference. Prabhavati devi did many developmental activities especially for women . However,