NCERT Class 7 History Chapter 9: The Making of Regional Cultures YouTube Lecture Handouts

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NCERT Class 7 History Chapter 9: The Making of Regional Cultures

How to Associate People?

  • Language
  • Food
  • Culture
  • Clothing
  • Dance and Music
  • Regional cultures are product of intermingling of local traditions with ideas from other parts of subcontinent

Cheras

  • Chera kingdom of Mahodayapuram
  • Established in 9th Century
  • In present day Kerala
  • Language: Malayalam
  • Script: Malayalam
  • Earliest example of using regional language in official records
  • Temple theatre of Kerala got stories from Sanskrit epics
  • 1st literary work in Malayalam dated to 12th century
  • 14th century: Lilatilakam, deals with grammar and poetics, was composed in Manipravalam โ€“ literally, โ€œdiamonds and coralsโ€ refers to languages, Sanskrit & regional language

Jagannatha Cult

  • Devotee of Vishnu
  • Puri, Odisha
  • Make wooden image of deity
  • Temple erected in 12th century by Anantavarman, Ganga Dynasty ruler
  • In 1230, king Anangabhima III dedicated his kingdom to deity and proclaimed himself as the โ€œdeputyโ€ of the god
  • Temples gained importance

Rajputs

  • 19th century in Rajasthan (called Rajputana in British times)
  • Linked to ideals and aspirations of rulers
  • Prithviraj โ€“ ideal of hero โ€“ stories recorded in poems and songs
  • Dramatic situations & strong emotions โ€“ loyalty, friendship, love, valour, anger, etc.
  • Women were involved in valor
  • Sati or immolation of widows on funeral pyre of their husbands

Kathak

  • In North India
  • Derived from katha (word used in Sanskrit)
  • Katha were caste of story tellers in North India
  • Evolved as dance in 15th โ€“ 16th century โ€“ Spread of Bhakti Movement
  • Legends of Radha-Krishna enacted in folk plays - rasa lila (combined folk dance with basic gestures of kathak story-tellers)
  • Performed in Mughal courts
  • Developed in two gharanas (Jaipur & Lucknow)
  • Under Wajid Ali Shah, last Nawab of Awadh it grew rapidly
  • By 19th century it spread to Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh
  • Viewed as disfavor by British administrator
  • Recognized as one of six โ€œclassicalโ€ forms of dance in the country after independence

Classical: Performed based on the rules, other classical forms include

  • Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu)
  • Kathakali (Kerala)
  • Odissi (Orissa)
  • Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh)
  • Manipuri (Manipur)

Miniature Paintings

  • Small-sized paintings
  • Done with water color on cloth or paper
  • Earlier once on palm leaves and wood
  • In Western India โ€“ illustrated Jaina teachings
  • Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan โ€“ painters in there rule illustrated manuscripts with historical accounts โ€“ in brilliant colors depicted social life
  • Painters moved from Mughal court to regional centers in Deccan & Rajput courts in Rajasthan
  • Mythology and poetry were depicted at centers like Mewar, Jodhpur, Bundi, Kota and Kishangarh
  • Common in HP โ€“ 17th century โ€“ painting called Basohli - most popular text painted was Bhanudattaีšs Rasamanjari โ€“ artists moved to hills by Nadir Shah Invasion & conquest of Delhi in 1739
  • Kangra School of painting (HP) โ€“ 18th Century โ€“ Miniature paintings with Vaishnavite traditions, soft colors including cool blues and greens, and a lyrical treatment of themes

Bengal

  • Language: Bengali โ€“ derived form Sanskrit texts
  • But early Sanskrit texts (mid-first millennium BCE) suggest that people of Bengal did not speak Sanskriti languages
  • 4th-3rd BC โ€“ ties between Bengal & Magadha (South Bihar) Developed โ€“ brought Sanskrit
  • 4th Century โ€“ Guptas in North Bengal & links with Mid-Gangetic valley became strong
  • 7th Century: Chinese traveller Xuan Zang observed that languages related to Sanskrit were in use all over Bengal
  • 8th century: Under Palas
  • 14th-16th Century: Ruled by Sultans (independent of rulers in Delhi)
  • 1586: Akbar conquered Bengal suba (Persian was language of administration, Bengali developed as a regional language)
  • 15th century: Bengali dialects got united by literary language in West Bengal. Modern Bengali includes non-Sanskrit words and words from tribal language, Persian etc.

Early Bengali literature divided into two categories:

  • Indebted to Sanskrit includes translations of Sanskrit epics, Mangalakavyas (literally auspicious poems, dealing with local deities) and bhakti literature such as biographies of Chaitanyadeva (leader of Vaishnava bhakti movement) โ€“ has manuscripts
  • Non-Sanskrit: Nath (yogic practices) literature such as songs of Maynamati and Gopichandra (son of Maynamati) , stories concerning worship of Dharma Thakur (worshipped in stone or wood) , and fairy tales, folk tales and ballads โ€“ circulated orally, common in eastern Bengal where Brahmans influence was weak

Pirs & Temples

  • 16th Century: People migrated from less fertile areas of West Bengal to more dense and forested areas of SE Bengal
  • Cleared forests โ€“ started rice cultivation
  • Local communities & shifting cultivators merged with new peasant community
  • It coincided with establishment of Sultanate (Mughal) rule & capital at Dhaka โ€“ officials received land & established mosques
  • Pirs: Had supernatural powers, people respected them, community leaders. Included saints or Sufis, daring colonizers and deified soldiers, various Hindu and Buddhist deities and even animistic spirits.
  • 15th -19th Century: Temple building in Bengal. Many of the modest brick and terracotta temples in Bengal were built with support of โ€œlowโ€ social groups like Kolu (oil pressers) and Kansari (bell metal workers)
  • European Trading Communities โ€“ created new economic opportunities
  • Temples began to copy double-roofed (dochala) or four-roofed (chauchala) structure of thatched huts
  • Four-roofed structure: four triangular roofs placed on the four walls move up to converge on a curved line or a point. Temples were usually built on a square platform โ€“ interior was plain & outer wall was decorated
  • Temple excellence - Vishnupur in Bankura district of West Bengal
  • Fish: Traditional food along with rice for Bengalis
  • Terracotta plaques on walls of temples and viharas (Buddhist monasteries) depict scenes of fish being dressed and taken to the market in baskets
  • Bengal Brahmanas โ€“ were allowed to eat fish due to popularity in local diet โ€“ permitted under Brihaddharma Purana, 13th century Sanskrit text from Bengal

Nation โ€“ State in Europe

  • Till 18th century โ€“ were subject to empire - Austro-Hungarian Empire
  • After late 18th century: Identify themselves as member of community with common language โ€“ French or German
  • 19th Century: Rumania school textbooks began to be written in Rumanian rather than Greek
  • In Hungary, Hungarian was adopted as official language instead of Latin.
  • Created consciousness among people that each linguistic community was a separate nation โ€“ later strengthened by movements for Italian and German unification in late 19th century.

โœ Manishika