‘prakriti’ or a raw material is refined it becomes ‘Sanskriti’ and when broken or damaged it becomes ‘vikriti’

This type of painting is a most famous painting of Rajasthan, mainly found in the Bhilwara district.

The unique features of phad paintings are the bold lines and a two dimensional treatment of figures with the entire composition arranged in sections.

The earliest text dealing exclusively with performing arts is Bharata’s Natyashashtra (compiled between second century BC and second century AD) which has six chapters on music. Another major text is Matanga’s Brihaddesi compiled between eight and ninth century AD. In this work ragas were first named and discussed at great length. Sangeet Ratnakara written by Sarangdeva in the thirteenth century mentions 264 ragas.

Jayadeva of Orissa produced the most brilliant raga kavya, the Gita Govinda, each song of which was set in a raga and was composed on the theme of love of Radha and Krishna.

Abhinavagupta’s (993-1055) Abhinavabharati provides useful information about music.

Baiju Bawra was also a well known musician during Akbar’s time.

Despite contrasting features between Hindustani and Carnatic music, one can find some

similarities, for example, the Carnatic alapana is similar to alap in Hindustani classical. Tilana in Carnatic resembles Tarana of Hindustani. Both lay stress on tala or talam.

Kashmir’s Gulraj is usually a folklore and Pandyani of Madhya Pradesh is a narrative put to music. Muslims sing Sojkhwani or mournful songs

Yakshagana, a form of Kathakali in Kerala, tells us stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata whereas Kathak and Manipuri are mostly related to the stories of Krishna and his leela (exploits).

Bhutia or Lepcha dance of Sikkim. Similarly we also have some dances which are called martial dances like Chholia of Uttranchal, Kalari paittu of Kerala, Thang-taa of Manipur among the more famous ones.

Many names were given to the forms of folk theatre in different provinces like: 1) Bengal - Jatra, Kirtania Natak 2) Bihar-Bideshia 3) Rajasthan - Raas, Jhumar, Dhola Maru 4) Uttar Pradesh - Raas, Nautanki, Svaang, Bhaand 5) Gujarat - Bhawaii 6) Maharashtra - Larite, Tamasha 7) Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka - Kathakali, Yakshagana Kuntleshwar Daityam is a drama that testifies to the fact that Kalidasa belonged to the Gupta Age.

Kushilavas

The practice of singing heroic tales became popular. As a result professional singers called kushilavas came into existence.

The Harappan people had constructed mainly t

three types of buildings-dwelling houses pillared halls and public baths.

In the 6th century B.C. India entered a significant phase of her history. There arose two new religions - Jainism and Buddhism

While Buddhists and Jains began to build stupas, Viharas and Chaityas, the first temple building activity started during the Gupta rule.

The Amaravati school developed under the patronage of the Satavahanas of the Andhra region.

Gupta period

temple at Bhitrigaon (Kanpur district) are two fine examples of this period..

Nagara style. Most of them consisted of the shikaras (spiral roofs), the garbhagriha (sanctum) and the mandap (pillared hall).

The sun temple at Konark was built in thirteenth century by the eastern Ganga ruler Narshimha Deva I. The temple is dedicated to Surya (the sun god) and has been designed as a twelve-wheeled chariot.

Mount Abu in Rajasthan is known for the Dilwara temple dedicated to Jain tirthankaras. These were built in pure white marble and adorned with exquisite sculpture. These were built under the patronage of Solanki rulers.

The architecture of Mughal style started during Akbar’s rule. The first building of this rule was Humayun’s Tomb at Delhi.

The Panch Mahal is a pyramidal structure in five storeys. It was build on the pattern of a Buddhist Vihara.

Lutyens

Rashtrapati

Fort William is situated at the banks of river Hooghly. It was established by the British, initiated by Robert Clive in 1696; it got completed by 1780.

The basic purpose of setting up Fort William was to prevent attacks from invaders.

The construction of Writers Buildingbegan as early as in 1690. It got its name owing to the fact that it served as the dwelling place for the junior writers of the East India Company. This Gothic structure came into existence during the tenure of Lt. Governor Ashley Eden (1877).

Later, when Alauddin Khilji became the Sultan, it was Siri that became the centre of power. T

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq constructed the city called Tughlaqabad. This was designed as a fortified town. After Ghiyasuddin’s death, Mohammed Bin Tughlaq (1320-1388) enclosed the earlier cities of Delhi into a single unit and named it Jahanpanah.

Ibn Batuta, who served in the court of Mohammed Bin Tughlaq

It was the Mughal ruler Humayun, who built Dinpanahon the mound of ancient Indraprastha.

Aryabhatta (499 AD). His Aryabhattiya is a concise text containing 121 verses.

description of the movement of the sun and the moon and the calculation of the eclipses. The reason he gave for eclipse was that the earth was a sphere and rotated on its axis and when the shadow of the earth fell on the moon, it caused Lunar eclipse and when the shadow of the moon fell on the earth, it caused Solar eclipse

All these observations have been described by Varahamihira in Panch Siddhantika

Apastamba in second century BC, introduced practical geometry involving acute angle, obtuse angle and right angle.

The three main contributions in the field of mathematics were the notation system, the decimal system and the use of zero.

Brahmagupta’s Brahmasputa Siddhanta is the very first book that mentioned ‘zero’ as a number, hence, Brahmagupta is considered as the man who found zero.

Aryabhatta discovered algebra and also formulated the area of a triangle, which led to the origin of Trignometry

The Surya Siddhanta is a very famous work. Varahamihira’s Brihatsamhita of the sixth century AD is another pioneering work in the field of astronomy. His observation that the moon rotated around the earth and the earth rotated around the sun found recognition and later discoveries were based on this assertion.

Jahangir, in his Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, recorded his observations and experiments of weeding and hybridisation. He described about thirty-six species of animals.

Akbar showed special interest in producing good breeds of domestic animals, elephants and horses.

Hamsadeva compiled Mrga-pasi-sastra in the thirteenth century which gives a general, though not always scientific account of some of the beasts and birds of hunting.

Tuzuk-i--Baburi gives an account of the casting of cannons.

Ain-i-Akbari speaks of the ‘Regulations of the Perfume Office of Akbar’.

medical knowledge. Firoz Shah Tughlaq wrote a book, Tibbe Firozshahi.

Baudhayan

The value of piwas first calculated by him.

Pythagoras theorem today is already found in Baudhayan’s Sulva Sutra

Aryabhattiya,which is a summary of mathematics of his time. There are four sections in this scholarly work. In the first section he describes the method of denoting big decimal numbers by alphabets. In the second section, we find difficult questions from topics of modern day Mathematics such as number theory, geometry, trigonometry and Beejganita (algebra). The remaining two sections are on astronomy. Aryabhatta showed that zero was not a numeral only but also a symbol and a concept. Discovery of zero enabled Aryabhatta to find out the exact distance between the earth and the moon. The discovery of zero also opened up a new dimension of negative numerals.

science of astronomy was well advanced. It was called Khagol-shastra.

Aryabhatta stated his theory that ‘earth is round and rotates on its own axis’

He explained that the appearance of the sun moving from east to west is false by giving examples.

He also correctly stated that the moon and the planets shined by

reflected sunlight. He also gave a scientific explanation for solar and lunar eclipse

He introduced negative numbers and operations on zero into mathematics.

Bhaskaracharya

He is famous for his book Siddanta Shiromani. It is divided into four sections: Lilavati (Arithmetic), Beejaganit (Algebra), Goladhyaya (Sphere) and Grahaganit (mathematics of planets). Bhaskara introduced Chakrawat Method or the Cyclic Method to solve algebraic equations.

. According to Kanad, material universe is made up of kanas, (anu/atom) which cannot be seen through any human organ.

Varahamihira was another well known scientist of the ancient period in India. He lived in the Gupta period.

Another theory, which has attracted the world of science is the earthquake cloud theory given by Varahmihira in his Brhat Samhita.

The thirty second chapter of this samhita is devoted to signs of earthquakes.

Varahamihira was one of the nine gems, who were scholars, in the court of Vikramaditya. Varahamihira’s predictions were so accurate that king Vikramaditya gave him the title of ‘Varaha’.

Nagarjuna

he main aim of his experiments was to transform base elements into gold, like the alchemists

In his treatise, Rasaratnakara, he has discussed methods for the extraction of metals like gold, silver, tin and copper.

is the oldest medical system of our planet.

A treatise on Ayurveda, Atreya Samhita,is the

oldest medical book of the world. Charak is called the father of ayurvedic medicine and Susruta the father of surgery.

In Susruta Samhita, the method of selecting and preserving a dead body for the purpose of its detailed study

Susruta’s greatest contribution was in the fields of Rhinoplasty (plastic surgery) and Ophthalmic surgery (removal of cataracts).

Charak is considered the father of ancient Indian science of medicine. He was the Raj Vaidya (royal doctor) in the court of Kanishka. His Charak Samhitais a remarkable book on medicine.

Charak also knew the fundamentals of Genetics.

The term Yogahas been derived from the Sanskrit work Yoktra. Its literal meaning is “yoking the mind to the inner self after detaching it from the outer subjects of senses”. Like all other sciences, it has its roots in the Vedas.

Physical yoga is called Hathyoga. Generally, it aims at removing a disease and restoring healthy condition to the body. Rajayoga is mental yoga. Its goal is self realization and liberation from bondage by achieving physical mental, emotional and spritiual balance.

Patanjali also wrote a work on medicine and worked on Panini’s grammar known as Mahabhasaya.

Patanjali also wrote a work on medicine and worked on Panini’s grammar known as Mahabhasaya.

Faizi, at the behest of Akbar, translated Bhaskara’s Bijaganit. Akbar ordered to make Mathematics as a subject of study, among others in the education system . Naisiru’d –din-at –tusi, was another scholar of Mathematics.

Jahangir, in his work - Tuzuk-i-jahangiri- recorded his observations and experiments on breeding and hybridization. . He described about 36 species of animals. His court artists, specially, Mansur,

. The Siddha system mostly prevalent in Tamil Nadu

The Unani medicine system came to India along with the Muslims

The Tibbi Aurangzebi, dedicated to Aurangzeb, is based on Ayurvedic sources.

Dr. Bose is famous all over the world as the inventor of Crescograph that can record even the millionth part of a millimeter of plant growth and movement.

Bose instruments, to prove that even metals react to outward stimuli. Bose’s instruments have shown, how even steel and metals used in scissors and machinery get tired and regain efficiency after a period of rest.

The process of learning generally began with a religious ceremony, ‘Upanayana’ (sacred thread ceremony).

The Maitrayani Upanishad teaches us that the supreme knowledge (gyan) is the result of learning (vidya), reflection (chintan) and austerity (tapas).

Fa-Hien also spent several years in the monastery at Pataliputra, studying Buddhist religious books.

‘ghatikas’, or colleges attached to the temples emerged as new centres of learning. The‘ghatikas’, provided Brahmanical education.

Pali was one of the early variants of Prakrit.

ost of the Buddhist canonical writings are in Prakrit and Pali

‘Apabhramsha’ was used by Jain writers in Gujarat and Rajasthan for the composition of poetry.

chool education were known as ‘makhtabs’, while those of higher learning were called ‘madrasas’.

Akbar gave grants to educational institutions. He started a College near Jama Masjid.

The beginning of oriental scholarship was made by Warren Hastings in 1781 when he started the Calcutta Madrasa. His endeavour was primarily due to administrative reasons. Eleven years later, in 1792, Jonathan Duncan, a Resident of Varanasi started a Sanskrit college to educate native Hindus to assist the Europeans.

William Bentinck adopted English as the official language of the government. Lord Hardinge in 1844, decided to grant employment to Indians who had received English education.

untouchables (antyajas)

were called the fifth varna (panchamd). Chandala is the term used loosely for many types of untouchables.

Megasthenes could not find slaves in India. And he was certainly wrong in his judgement. Slavery was an established institution and the legal relationship between the owner and slave was clearly defined.

The

‘Arthashastra’ states that a man could be a slave by birth, by voluntarily selling himself, by being captured in war, or as a result of a judicial punishment. The sanskrit word for slave is ‘dasa’

Traditionally the family in India is governed by two schools of sacred law and customs. These are based on‘Mitakshara’ and‘Dayabhaga’. Most families of Bengal and Assam follow the rules of ‘Dayabhaga’ while the rest of India generally follows ‘Mitakshara’.

marriage is of many kinds such as hypergamous (man of so called high caste and woman of low caste) or anuloma and hypogamous (man of low caste and woman of high caste) or pratiloma

‘Pravara’ relates to the “rules of prohibited degrees” which are very strict where marriage is forbidden between persons with a common paternal ancestor within seven generation or a maternal ancestor within five.

Barring the Rig-Vedic period women seem to occupy very low status in society.

Ibn Battutah, a foreign traveller, mentions that in the medieval period, permission from the Sultan had to be taken for the performance of ‘sati’.

the practice of keeping a veil on the faces for women became widespread among the upper class women. The Arabs and the Turks adopted this custom from the Iranians

Pandit Vishnu Shastri founded Widow Marriage Association in 1860.

“Girls are the world’s most squandered gift. They are precious human beings with enormous potential, but across the world, they are generally the last to have their basic needs met and first to have their basic rights denied.”

SOCIO-CULTURAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA

1 CASTE SYSTEM

.2 ISSUES RELATED TO WOMEN

Gender Discrimination

2 Dowry System

.3 SUBSTANCE ABUSE/ADDICTION

4 COMMUNALISM

5 ISSUES RELATED TO THE ELDERLY

6 ISSUES OF POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT

6.1 Beggary

PROBLEMS OF CHILDREN

7 PROBLEMS OF CHILDREN

SPREAD OF INDIAN CULTURE THROUGH TRADERS, TEACHERS, EMISSARIES AND MISSIONARIES

ndian culture first entered China with two monk scholars—Kashyapa Martanga and Dharmarakshita who went to China in AD 67 on the invitation of the Chinese Emperor Ming Ti.

The philosophy of‘dhyana yoga’ reached Korea in the eighth to ninth century AD.

Buddhism was given the status of State Religion. Thousands of Japanese became monks and nuns. Sanskrit was accepted as the sacred language in Japan. Monks were given special training

Tibet Tibet is situated on a plateau to the north of the Himalayas. The people of Tibet are Buddhists. The Tibetan king Naradev

Sri Lank

King Ashoka made great efforts to propagate Buddhism outside India. He sent his son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra to Sri Lanka to spread the message of the Buddha

It is said that they carried a cutting of the Bodhi tree from Bodhgaya which was planted there. At that time Devanampiya Tissa was the king of Sri Lanka.

The first monasteries built there are Mahavihar and Abhayagiri.

Pali became their literary language. Buddhism played an important role in shaping Sri Lankan culture. The Dipavansa and Mahavamsa are well known Sri Lankan Buddhist sources.

Pali became their literary language. Buddhism played an important role in shaping Sri Lankan culture. The Dipavansa and Mahavamsa are well known Sri Lankan Buddhist sources.

Myanmar

People coming from the port towns of Amaravati and Tamralipti often settled down in Myanmar after the second century AD. The people who had migrated included traders, brahmins, artists, craftsmen and others.

In Burma, Pagan was a great centre of Buddhist culture from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. It is still famous for its magnificent Pagodas. King Aniruddha was a great builder

Till the year 1939, Thailand was called Siam, its original name.

Ayutthiya (Ayodhya) is one such place where large number of temples still stand though today most of the temples there are in ruins. There are four hundred temples in Bangkok, the present capital of Thailand. Cambodia

Angkor Vat is supposed to be the abode of Vishnu, that is, Vaikunthadhama. Its five towers are said to be the five peaks of the Sumeru mountain. The king Suryavarman is portrayed there as an incarnation of Vishnu who had attained a place in heaven because of

Scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharata are engraved on the walls of this temple. The largest among all of them is the scène ofSamudra manthan that is churning of the ocean.

Another grand temple constructed at Yashodharapura in the eleventh century, known as Baphuon, is embellished by scenes from the epics such as the battle between Rama and Ravana, Shiva on mount Kailasha with Parvati and the destruction of Kamadeva.

The Indians learnt many new things from the foreigners for examples minting of gold coins from the people of Greece and Rome. They learnt the art of making silk from China. They learnt how to grow betel from Indonesia. They established trade contact with the foreigners. The art and culture of the various countries got itself reflected over the Indian culture, but than this was reflected in the other countries also.