Class 7 Social Science Part 2 Chapter 4: Turning Tides, 11th and 12th Centuries Notes

What is this chapter about?

The previous chapter ended with the Arabs, whose raids had little lasting effect on India. The 11th and 12th centuries were different. Turkic powers from the north-west pushed much deeper into north India, though they met stubborn resistance. The chapter opens with one invasion and closes with another, but between them many Indian kingdoms flourished: they fought the invaders (and one another), sent navies overseas, raised great temples and supported poets, saints and scientists. The book also adds a word of caution: history records wars more than peace, and it is better to study dark periods honestly, but no one living today can be held responsible for them.

Mahmud of Ghazni

The Hindu Shahis ruled from present-day Afghanistan to Punjab and held the Khyber Pass, the main route through the Hindu Kush into the Indus plains. The Turkic Ghaznavids of Ghazni overran them: their ruler Mahmud defeated Jayapala and then, in 1008, his son Anandapala, even though other north Indian rulers had sent help. In all, Mahmud led 17 campaigns into India. He plundered Mathura and Kannauj in 1018 and destroyed the Somnath temple in 1026, carrying off huge treasure, and his armies killed and enslaved many civilians. He met strong resistance, from the Chandellas among others, yet he never tried to rule beyond Punjab. Read more in Ghaznavid and Ghurid invasions.

Mahmud brought with him the Persian scholar al-Biruni, who learned Sanskrit, talked with Indian scholars and wrote a detailed survey of Indian religion, philosophy and science. He also noted that Mahmud’s raids drove learning away to places such as Kashmir and Varanasi. Learning still thrived elsewhere: Bhaskaracharya, born in 1114, wrote Lilavati, a mathematics book full of lively riddles, along with Bijaganita and Siddhantashiromani.

The east and the south

After the Palas, the Senas ruled much of Bengal from Nadiya and hosted the poet Jayadeva, author of the Gitagovindam. In Kalinga, the Eastern Gangas began the Jagannatha temple at Puri. In the Deccan, the Kakatiyas ruled from Orugallu (Warangal), with its stone gateways, and the Hoysalas of Karnataka built the richly carved temples of Belur and Halebidu. See regional kingdoms of the 11th and 12th centuries.

Further south, the Cholas became masters of the seas. Rajaraja I conquered northern Sri Lanka and built the Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur. His son Rajendra I campaigned as far as Bengal, took the title Gangaikondachola and, in 1025, sent a navy against the Srivijaya Empire, which controlled a sea route to China. Read the Chola Empire.

The Ghurids: a turning point

Back in the north, Bhoja Paramara of Malwa was a scholar-king. Meanwhile Muhammad Ghuri of Ghur took Ghazni and moved into India. He was defeated near Mount Abu in 1178 by the Chaulukyas of Gujarat and at Tarain in 1191 by Prithviraja III, but he won the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192 and took Delhi. Unlike Mahmud, he left generals behind to hold the land; one of them, Qutb-ud-din Aibak, later founded the Delhi Sultanate. Another, Bakhtiyar Khilji, destroyed the great monasteries and universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila, ended Sena rule over Bengal, and then lost most of his army in Kamarupa in 1205.

Governance, trade and culture

Constant war meant large armies, so kingdoms needed strong administration to collect tribute and taxes; Muhammad Ghuri’s system was more centralised, with temporary land grants to officers. Trade with China and Southeast Asia grew steadily, though farming remained the base of the economy. Kings and scholars wrote widely, from Someshvara III’s Manasollasa to Bhoja’s treatises, and the Chandellas built the temples of Khajuraho. Ramanujacharya taught vishishtadvaita, and Basavanna founded the Lingayat movement against caste distinctions.

Taking stock

The period brought real change: plunder, the destruction of temples and centres of learning, foreign rule beginning in parts of the north, and Islam spreading as a new faith. But much continued: large parts of the north and all of the south stayed independent, trade and guilds carried on, and Indian culture travelled to Southeast Asia, where Angkor Wat was built. Compare with Part 2 Chapter 3 on the kingdoms of the Deccan and the south, and find every answer in the NCERT solutions for Part 2 Chapter 4.