21.

Delhi

Here is an excerpt from Ibn Battuta’s account of Delhi, often spelt as Delhi in texts of the period:

The city of Delhi covers a wide area and has a large population ... The rampart round the city is without parallel. The breadth of its wall is eleven cubits; and inside it are houses for the night sentry and gatekeepers. Inside the ramparts, there are store-houses for storing edibles, magazines, ammunition, ballistics and siege machines. The grains that are stored (in these ramparts) can last for a long time, without rotting ... In the interior of the rampart, horsemen as well as infantrymen move from one end of the city to another. The rampart is pierced through by windows which open on the side of the city, and it is through these windows that light enters inside. The lower part of the rampart is built of stone; the upper part of bricks. It has many towers close to one another. There are twenty eight gates of this city which are called darwaza, and of these, the Budaun darwaza is the greatest; inside the Mandwi darwaza there is a grain market; adjacent to the Gul darwaza there is an orchard ... It (the city of Dehli) has a fine cemetery in which graves have domes over them, and those that do not have a dome, have an arch, for sure. In the cemetery they sow flowers such as tuberose, jasmine, wild rose, etc.; and flowers blossom there in all seasons.

(1) How had Ibn Battatu describe the cities in the Sub-Continent?

(2) What was his description of Delhi?

(3) Mention any four changes in Delhi of today.

OR

The Poor Peasant

An excerpt from Bernier’s description of the peasantry in the countryside:

Of the vast tracts of country constituting the empire of Hindustan, many are little more than sand, or barren mountains, badly cultivated, and thinly populated. Even a considerable portion of the good land remains untilled for want of labourers; many of whom perish in consequence of the bad treatment they experience from Governors. The poor people, when they become incapable of discharging the demands of their rapacious lords, are not only often deprived of the means of subsistence, but are also made to lose their children, who are carried away as slaves. Thus, it happens that the peasantry, driven to despair by so excessive a tyranny, abandon the country.

In this instance, Bernier was participating in contemporary debates in Europe concerning the nature of state and society, and intended that his description of Mughal India would serve as a warning to those who did not recognize the 'merits' of private property

(1) How have the tracts of Hindustan been described by Bernier?

(2) Why did the land remain untilled? Explain.

(3) What happens when the poor peasants are unable to fulfil the demands of their landmarks?

Explain the cause and the contribution of Non-Cooperation Movement to India’s Freedom Struggle. Why did Gandhiji couple Non-Cooperation Movement with Khilafat Movement?

OR

Assess the significance of the Salt March in India’s Freedom Struggle. How did the British Government react to it?

'No, no! You can never be ours'

This is the third story the researcher related:

I still vividly remember a man I met in Lahore in 1992. He mistook me to be a Pakistani studying abroad. For some reason he liked me. He urged me to return home after completing my studies to serve the qaum (nation). I told him I shall do so but, at some stage in the conversation, I added that my citizenship happens to be Indian. All of a sudden his tone changed, and much as he was restraining himself, he blurted out.

'Oh Indian! I had thought you were Pakistani'. I tried my best to impress upon him that I always see myself as South Asian. 'No, no! You can never be ours. Your people wiped out my entire village in 1947, we are sworn enemies and shall always remain so'.

(1) What did the person advice the researcher who met him in Lahore in 1992?

(2) How did the person react on knowing that the researcher was Indian?

(3) What did the Indian try to explain?

(4) Who was right and why? Explain.

The League’s resolution of 1940 demanded: that geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions, which should be so constituted, with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a majority as in the north-western and eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute 'Independent States', in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign.

(1) Explain the background of the League’s Resolution of 1940.

(2) Explain the provision of the Resolution of 1940.

(3) What did Mohd. Iqbal say on this issues in his Presidential Address?

(4) Was the demand of the League reasonable? Comment.