Project History

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DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

VISAKHAPATNAM, A.P., INDIA
PROJECT TITLE:
Critical examination of ancient and medieval history
SUBJECT:
History
NAME OF THE FACULTY
Prof. Dr. Viswachandranath Madasu
Name of the Candidate: Syed Owais Talib

Roll No. 2016107
Semester: 1st semester
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Acknowledgement
Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my respected History professor,

Prof. Dr. Viswachandranath Madasu for giving me a golden opportunity to take up this project
regarding Critical examination of Ancient and Medieval History and sincere thanks for the
continuous support of my study and related research, for his patience, motivation, and immense
knowledge. His guidance helped me in all the time of research. I could not have imagined having
a better advisor and mentor for my research.
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Abstract
India has a lot of rich history. Indias history starts from the Indus valley civilization (3000
BCE). During the period between Indus valley civilization and 1857 revolt, there had been many
changes in administration, military techniques and taxation laws during the reign of various
kings. No rule ever existed without flaws. Most of the books and articles available on the history
of India have a complimentary view towards the rule of dynasties. These books see only the
positive side of history. Having a critical view of history is more important than having the
complimentary view. By having the critical view, we can examine the mistakes made by rulers
and consequences they faced due to their mistakes.
Here are some flaws in the history of ancient and medieval India.
The caste system was introduced by the misinterpretation of Vedas by Brahmans, this led
to exploitation of lower castes.
The Mauryan rulers were against violence and killing of animals. This led the pastoralists
who reared animals for sacrifices and soldiers lose their jobs as the state was against
wars.
The Gupta dynastys administration was highly decentralized and all the important
positions in the administration were held by Brahmans. As the administration was highly
decentralized there were many conflicts between state and provinces and some
provisional heads even declared their provision as independent from the state.
Mahmud bin Qasim and his successors were directly under the command of Khalifa and
the clerical group.
The early Muslim rulers were not familiar with the Hindu customs and laws. They solved
the disputes between Hindus according to the Islamic law. Their Hindu subjects were
unhappy because of this.
Shah Jahan spent a lot of money on the construction of monuments and structures. Which
depleted the royal treasury. When Aurangzeb came to power there was not enough money
for him to face continuous wars that he fought against Rajputs and Marathas. This
weakened the Mughal empire.
Aurangzeb re-introduced Jiziya tax on non-Muslims which was stopped by Akbar. The
wastage of huge money by his father on building of monuments and demand of money to
sustain continuous wars led him to re-introduce the taxes on non-Muslims.
There are many such flaws that existed in history of India which should be brought to the notice
of the people.
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Content
1. Objectives/Aim of the study .5

2. Significance & Benefit of the study .5
3. Scope of study ..5
4. Research methodology .....5
5. Introduction ..6
6. Ancient history..7
a. Later Vedic Period .7
b. Rule under Mauryan Empire...9
c. Guptas rule11
7. Medieval history ..13
a. Delhi Sultanate....13
b. Vijayanagar Empire.15
c. Rule of Mughals..16
8. Conclusion.19
9. Bibliography..20
Objectives/Aims of the Study
This study aims at Critically examination of Ancient and Medieval history. To find out
and highlight the flaws done the rulers of the past.
Significance & Benefit of the study

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This study helps us to know about the flaws of the Ancient and Medieval dynasties.
There are number of flaws in the rule of some highly praised rulers which are rarely highlighted
present history books written by some well-known historians. We need to know about the flaws
of the history to try to avoid such mistakes in the present period and if such problem arises then
what how could it be dealt.
Scope of Study
The researcher wants to study about Ancient and Medieval history with special
reference to their critical examination.
Research methodology
This project is purely doctrinal type and both on primary and secondary sources are taken
such as websites, books, journals and internet sources. The referencing style followed in this
project is BLUE BOOK 19th Edition's format of citation. This Research process deals with
collecting and analysing information to answer questions. The Research is purely descriptive in
its boundaries of the topic.
Body of the project
Introduction
India has very rich history. Indian history starts from the Indus valley civilization i.e. 3000 B.C.
During the period between Indus valley civilization and 1857 revolt, there had been many
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changes in administration, military techniques and taxation laws during the reign of various
kings. Some policies of the rulers were very successful and some had very bad effects. The
negative side of these policies should also be seen by the people. We need to know the mistakes
done by the erstwhile rulers so as to learn from their mistakes. It also helps us to know how to
overcome problems faced by the people in the past if such problem arises in the present time.
Every period has its own flaws, no rule ever existed without flaws.
There needs to be someone who criticizes the past so as to make people aware about the flaws
which existed in the history. Most of the historians praises the ruler for their policies but very
few take the burden of criticizing the past and bring the flaws of the past to the public notice.
This project is aimed to criticize the administration and other policies of rulers of ancient and
medieval India.
Ancient history
Later Vedic Period

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The early Vedic period was the period of peace and equality. But as the time passed, there have
been many changes in the administration and religious beliefs.
The king become absolute authority unlike the early Vedic age. He levied taxes like Bali,
Sulka and Bhaga.
The king became immune to all punishments and was unaccountable for his activities.
The Sabha of the early Vedic age which was the house of commoners where local issues
were discussed died. The Sabha lost its importance in the later Vedic age.
The priestly class started indirectly controlling the administration during the later Vedic
age.
In the later Vedic age, the discrimination between men and women started. Women in the
later Vedic age were not allowed to perform rituals alongside men as compared to early
Vedic age where women equally participated in the ritual and holy activities.
Women were not allowed to attend the political assemblies.
The birth of a girl child was seen as undesirable as birth of a girl child in the family was
seen as a misery. The social evil of child marriage and dowry started in the society.
Women were confined between the four walls of the house and they were not allowed to
work as men used to do. This was completely opposite to the practice which was
followed in the early Vedic society.
The women and Sudras lost the right to property and they could not own any property.
Around 1000 B.C. Manu created Manusmriti and in it he had divided the people on the
basis of their castes. He proposed the theory that the Brahmins were created from the
head of Brahma, Kshatriyas from the shoulders, Vaisyas from the thighs and Sudras from
the feet.
This created the caste system and the discrimination started. The Sudras were considered
as the lowest class and they had the duty to serve other three castes. The conditions of
Sudras were miserable. They were treated as untouchables and they did not have any
right to approach the sacred fire, i.e. perform sacrifices, or read the sacred texts. They
were further denied the rite of burning the dead body.
The practice of sacrifice was started by the learned class for their own benefit, as they
used to charge heavy fee for performing sacrifices. It was mandatory on the part of the
ruler to perform rituals and sacrifices for the welfare of his state. The learned class started
collecting heavy fee from the royals for performing these rituals.
These rituals used to take place for months if not years. The ruler had to bear all the
expenses of the learned class during these rituals which included their stay, fee and all the
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other expenses of the learned class. This had put a huge pressure on the royal treasury and
the ruler had to collect huge taxes from the general public.
The Brahmins started misinterpreting the Vedas as per their own benefit. Due to their
misinterpretations the condition of society deteriorated.
The misinterpretations lead to disturbance in the society as discrimination of Sudras and
Women started.
Some Brahmins who were against the misinterpretations made their own literature i.e.
Aranyakas. This led to the division in the Hindu religion and subsequently led to
conflicts in the later years.
Rule under Mauryan Dynasty:
The major flaw of the Mauryan administration was it being centralized

administration. Being a centralized administration, all the control was in the hands of
the king and he was supreme in taking any decision. The king being at his capital
could not control and have check on its administration which was spread over a very
large area.
Mauryan bureaucracy was highly centralized, with the ruler -or king- as the key
figure towards whom loyalty was directed. A change of king meant a re-alignment of
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loyalty or, worse, even a change of officials. The system of recruitment was arbitrary,
with local governors choosing their officers, and the same pattern is likely to have
been repeated throughout the hierarchy of the office. This might have been avoided if
some form of recruitment had been adopted to eliminate the possibility of particular
social groups and local cliques monopolizing administrative control. The building of
institutions requires some distancing from personal concerns and choices, with the
replacement of these by social and civic concerns.1
The higher officials in the administration were extremely well paid. The chief
minister, the purohita, and the army commander were paid 48,000 panas, the treasurer
and chief collector 24,000 panas; whereas the ministers were paid 12,000 panas; the
soldiers, clerks and accountants were paid 500 panas. Thus the ratio of the clerks
salary to that of the chief minister or soldier to that of the military commander works
out to be 1:96.2 According to these figure we can derive that the higher officials were
very highly paid and the lower officials were paid very poorly as compared to higher
officials. Thus such scheme could have led to the drain of the royal treasury.
The judicial system under the Mauryans was headed by the officials who were also
administrative officers such as Pradesika, Mahamatras and Rajukas. When the cases
against the state or the administration came before the court, these people were to
judge them. Being as judicial officers as well as administrative official, these people
can do biasness in cases involving the state.
The lack of any representative institution to stabilize public opinion was one of the
problem. The system used by the Mauryans, as also by other imperial systems, was
espionage. This had created manifold tensions in both political and administrative
activity.3
Theres suggestion that the Mauryan economy was under considerable pressure was
more likely cause for the decline of the empire. The need of vast revenue to maintain
the army, and to finance the salaries of the upper levels of bureaucracy, the cost of
1 Romila Thapar, Early India, Penguin Books India, Noida, 2003, p.g. no. 206
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establishing settlements on newly cleared land were also reasons which strained the
treasury.4
The decline of Mauryan empire is largely attributed to the policies of Ashoka. He is
accused of causing a revolt of the Brahmans because of his pro-Buddhist policy. His
policies were of non-violence and sacrifices were prohibited. The Brahmins who used
to earn by performing the sacrifices were forced to adopt other occupations such as
agriculture, rearing of cattle and joining army etc. which led their outrage against
Mauryans.
As sacrifices and killing of animals were prohibited by Ashokas policies, this led to
the farmers and pastoralists to go in to loss as their cattle was no longer was sold in
large number.
As Ashoka followed non-violence, the military was not maintained and the soldiers
had to lose their jobs and were forced to adopt other occupations.
He also did not allow holding of religious gatherings. Even if it was not allowed to
prevent the spread of epidemics. The administration might have allowed the
gatherings by regulating. Not allowing people for religious gathering would have
been a restriction on following of ones religion.
Guptas rule
The Gupta dynasty was a Hindu dynasty and the laws in the reign of Guptas were as per
the Manu-dharma Shastra and interpretations of the Vedic texts.
Unlike the laws of Mauryans which were secular, the laws of Guptas were mostly
Hinduism oriented and mostly supported the Brahmins. Brahmins were exempted from
various punishments whereas the Sudras were subjected to severe punishments even for
petty crimes.
They made interpretations of the religious texts which supported their administration and
also other Hindu empire existed at that time i.e. Satavahana Empire.
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Everything was based on the caste of the person. Even in the court of justice, there was
injustice because the upper caste people were given more preference.
The interest on the loans were very high for the lower caste and low for the upper caste
people, due to this the lower caste people used to get indebted and burdened to pay the
money and the upper caste people could easily invest in trade.5
The land grant system existed during the Guptas reign. Temples were given huge lands
as Agraharas and these lands were exempted from taxes. The temple authorities could
give these lands for cultivation and collect taxes from these lands. Gradually, the state
lost the power upon these lands.
Land grants were also given to the officials instead of paying them salaries. Like the
Agraharas these lands were also exempted from taxes and the officials used to collect
taxes from the residents of villages which were granted to him as his salaries.
The Gupta dynastys administration was highly decentralized and all the important
positions in the administration were held by Brahmans. As the administration was highly
decentralized there were many conflicts between state and provinces and some
provisional heads even declared their provision as independent from the state.
There was no spy or intelligence system and there was no surveillance on the officials.
The officials were blindly trusted thinking that they wont commit any wrong because of
the fear of his religion. It was believed that if anyone performs his duty well then he will
reach Kaivalya. Only on this basis officials were trusted.
The guilds srenis existed at the time of Guptas who controlled all the trade and
production activities. These srenis had influence on the administration. The policies were
made in favour of the guilds as the kings had some business interests involving guilds.
The guilds had business relations with foreign countries and most of them traded with
foreign countries even without the permission of the king.
The Sudra lives became more miserable under the reign of Guptas as they implemented
rules and laws which created hardships for them and due to this some even changed their
religion.
5 Romila Thapar, Early India, Satish Chandra, p.g. no.252

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Medieval History of India
Delhi Sultanate
Mahmud bin Qasim and his successors were directly under the command of Khalifa and
the clerical group.
During the reign of Delhi sultanate, there were many rebellions. It happened every time
that a ruler died, many parts of empire would declare independence from the empire.
After the successor had taken the throne, it had to fight battles to regain the territories
which had declared independence. This shows us that there was great instability in the
empire during the transfer of throne from the king to his successor.
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Frequent battles for regaining their lost territories also meant that a huge amount of
money is spent on wars from the royal treasury. This was also a huge burden on the royal
treasury.
Balban refused to entertain for important government post anyone who did not belong to
the noble family.6
Balban used to have a wrong attitude towards the low born people, whether Turks or non-
Turks.
He was so hungry and greedy for power that he did not wanted to share the power with
any one, not even with his sons. He even went to a level of poisoning his own cousin,
Sher Khan.
The law and order situation around Delhi and Doab had deteriorated. In Ganga-Jamuna
doab and Awadh, the roads were infested with robbers and dacoits.
By largely excluding the non-Turks from the positions of power and authority and by
trying to base the government on a very narrow group, he made many people dissatisfied.
Which led to fresh disturbance and troubles after his death.7
Jalaluddin Khalji tried to gain the goodwill of the nobility by a policy of tolerance and
avoiding harsh punishments. This was considered to be a weak policy even by his
supporters as they did not suit to those times.
Alauddin Khalji had adopted severe steps against the rebellions. He even gave harsh
punishments to the wife and children of the rebels, which was unjust and inhumane
practice to punish the innocent.
The attempt of Muhamad bin Tughlaq to bring entire south India under the Delhi
sultanate led to serious political consequences. For this he had shifted the capital from
Delhi to Deogir. Many nobles tried to take advantage of this situation to declare
independence there.8
During the journey of people from Delhi to the newly made capital, many of them died
and those who reached there felt homesick. Again the ruler shifted his capital back to
Delhi as he felt that just as he could not control south India from Delhi, he could not
6 Satish Chandra, The history of medieval India, Orient Blackswan, Delhi, 2009, pg. no. 82
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control north India from the newly made capital in the south. 9 As a result of this
experiment of his, there was loss of loss of many lives and money
He introduced the token currency of bronze coins. But he could not prevent the forgery of
these coins which devalued the currency. He had to again exchange these coins for the
silver tankas, which affected the prestige of the sovereign and also the caused wastage of
money.
There were many frequent rebellions during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Many
of them came from the ambitious nobles, particularly in the outlying areas.
The early Muslim rulers were not familiar with the Hindu customs and laws. They solved
the disputes between Hindus according to the Islamic law. Their Hindu subjects were
unhappy because of this.
Vijayanagar Empire
Military conflicts between the Vijayanagar and the Bahmani kingdom was a regular
feature and lasted as long as these kingdoms continued. These military conflicts resulted
in widespread devastation of the contested areas and the neighboring territories, and a
loss of life and property.
Both sides sacked and burnt towns and villages, imprisoned and sold into slavery men,
women and children, and committed various other barbarities.10
In the large centrally controlled area, the king granted territory with a fixed revenue to the
military chiefs. These chiefs also had to pay a sum of money to the central exchequer.
They formed a powerful section and sometimes it was difficult for the government to
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control them. These internal weaknesses of the Vijayanagar empire contributed to its
defeat in the battle of bannihatti and its subsequent disintegration.
In the eagerness of the old feuds between the Vijayanagar and the Bahmani empire, Both
the kingdoms largely ignored the dangers to them and to their commerce by the rise of
the power of the Europeans in India.
The later rulers of the Tuluva Dynasty were able to play off the various Muslim rulers of
south India against each other. By creating misunderstanding among them and making
them fight battles against each other.
Rama Raja, who was the last ruler of the Vijayanagar empire maintained balance of
power which was favourable to his rule between the three Muslim empires i.e.
Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda. Due to this mischief played upon these empires,
these empires came together and destroyed Vijayanagar completely in the battle of
Rakshasa-Tangadi.
Rule of Mughals
Humayun faced challenges from Sher Khan and Bahadur Shah. Sher Khan had
surrendered to Humayun and he was allowed to retain his fort. This decision of Humayun
of accepting the proposal of Sher Khan and blindly trusting him was the biggest mistake
of Humayun. Sher Khan slowly strengthen his forces and started attack on Humayun.
Humayun due to his inability and lack of preparation lost his kingdom to Sher Khan. He
was so cowardly that he seek asylum in Persia and stayed there till Sher Khan died. He
attacked to regain his kingdom when Islam Shah, who was a weak successor of Sher
Khan came to power.
Akbar adopted the Sher Shahs system of land revenue in which revenue was to be
calculated every year based on central schedule of prices. This created the problem of
land revenue. But later this system was changed.
During the reign of Akbar, the salaries payed to the army men varied based on their
descent. The Iranians and Turkish people received higher salary than the Rajputs and
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Hindustanis. This is the clear indication of biasness on the basis of descent in the Akbars
army.
Nur Jahan along with her father and brother and in alliance with Khurram formed a group
or junta, which managed Jahangir so that without its backing and support no one could
advance in their career.11 This indicates that Jahangir was in control of Nur Jahan and
junta and was not take decisions without their consent.
Shah Jahan was a lot of money on construction of the monuments. A large amount of
money spent on their construction built a burden on the royal treasury. This meant that
there were not enough monetary reserves with the successors of Shah Jahan to face
continuous wars against Maratha and Rajputs.
Aurangzeb being an orthodox Muslim, opposed all practices which were not in
accordance to sharia, and compelled all his subjects to live life according to it.
He followed this practice vigorously after becoming emperor of India. In the first year of
his reign, he issued orders to the governor of Orissa to demolish all temples in the
province.12
In the twelfth year of his rule, he ordered the demolition of all important and famous
temples within his empire. Mosques were built at the sites of different temples. In Mewar
alone, he is said to have demolished 240 temples. The most famous of the temples
destroyed were those of Keshva (Krishan Janmabhoomi) in Mathura, Vishwanath in
Varanasi and Somnath in Kathiawar.13
Aurangzebs predecessors, especially Akbar had appointed a large number of Hindus in
the various departments, but Aurangzeb followed the policy of removal of the Hindus
from these jobs. The Hindus were not allowed to occupy high administrative or executive
posts. A general order prohibiting the employment of the Hindus in the revenue
department was passed in 1670.14
12 http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/the-religious-policy-of-aurangzeb-and-its-
effects/2820
effects/2820
effects/2820
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But as it resulted in the complete breakdown of the efficiency, the order was slightly
modified and Hindus were allowed to work on certain limited posts in the revenue
department.15
He also re-imposed the Jiziya tax upon the non-Muslims. He also abolished celebration of
some non-Muslims religious festivals Nauroz, which is a Zoroastrian festival.
Aurangzeb imposed tax on import of goods, Muslims were to pay only the half the tax of
what people of other religions had to pay. This is also a discrimination and biasness.
Aurangzeb issued order that except Rajputs, no Hindu could ride an elephant, a horse and
a palanquin. Holi and Diwali festivals were allowed to be celebrated with certain
restrictions. The Hindiis could no longer put on fine clothes. The Hindus were not
allowed to burn their dead on the banks of the river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. Similar
restrictions were placed at Delhi on the river Jamuna.16
Aurangzeb failed to understand the true nature of the Maratha movement, disregarded Jai
Singhs advice to befriend Shivaji.
Soldiers and citizens were also given free rein to deface architectural imagessuch as
faces, flowers, and vineseven on the walls of Mughal palaces. Untold thousands of
images were destroyed in this way.17
Aurangzeb began to enact and enforce a series of edictswith less tolerance for non-
Muslims, and with harsh punishments. Most significantly, Aurangzeb initiated laws that
specifically interfered with non-Muslim worship.18
"Aurangzeb's ultimate aim was conversion of non-Muslims to Islam. Whenever possible
the emperor gave out robes of honor, cash gifts, and promotions to converts. It quickly
became known that conversion was a sure way to the emperor's favor." (Richards 1996,
177).19
effects/2820
effects/2820
17 http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Aurangzeb
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He failed to solve the Maratha problem which left an open sore of the weakening of the
empire.
He interfered with the Sikh religion and also killed the Sikh leader which caused a
rebellion from the Sikhs. The made a constant battle against the Mughals by forming
khalsas.
In 1688, when he forbade music at the royal court and took other puritanical steps in
conformity with strict injunctions of Muslim law, he affected both Hindus and Muslims.20
He failed to unite with the Deccani states against the Maratha rulers.
Aurangzeb had suspiciousness and had narrow and cold temperament, which also caused
problem in his reign.
When he died, the imperial treasury was almost empty. He left barely 12 crores of rupees
not very much more than the inheritance of a great Mughal noble like Asaf Khan.
Towards the end of his reign, the imperial finances were in such straits that the diwan
anxiously waited for the receipt of the Bengal revenue, so that the expenses of the Deccan
campaign could be met.21
Conclusion
India has a very rich history which starts from the Indus Valley civilization (3000BC). In such a
long history, flaws are the part of it as these are inevitable. Even the greatest ruler who had ruled
exceptionally well would have also done at least a small mistake in his rule, whether it be in his
administration, taxation policies, religious policies or personal decisions.
Even the great rulers like Ashoka and Akbar had made mistakes in their own policies. Due the
policy of dhamma by Ashoka, many people had to suffer by losing their jobs. Akbar who is
hailed as the secular ruler did inequality on the basis of place of origin in payment of salaries to
the military officials.
These mistakes and flaws are rarely shown or highlighted by any well-known historians.
Knowing about these flaws or mistakes done in the past helps us avoid such mistakes in the
20 http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/ikram/part2_15.html
21 http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/ikram/part2_15.html
19 | P a g e
contemporary times and if any such problem arises then it also helps to find out the solution to
the problem.
Bibliography
Books
The history of the Early India by Romila Thapar, Penguin Books India, Noida, 2003.
The history of medieval India by Satish Chandra, Orient Blackswan, Delhi, 2009.
Websites
http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/the-religious-policy-of-aurangzeb-and-its-
effects/2820
20 | P a g e
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Aurangzeb
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/ikram/part2_15.html

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DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

NAME OF THE FACULTY

Prof. Dr. Viswachandranath Madasu

Name of the Candidate: Syed Owais Talib

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my respected History professor,

1. Objectives/Aim of the study .5

Objectives/Aims of the Study

Significance & Benefit of the study

Body of the project

Later Vedic Period

Rule under Mauryan Dynasty:

The major flaw of the Mauryan administration was it being centralized

5 Romila Thapar, Early India, Satish Chandra, p.g. no.252

Medieval History of India

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