Lecture 9 - Modern India

We finally started with the Modern India today. I had decided to talk about Modernity in Modern India in general and the discuss the various aspects and phases of it first. We started our discussion by briefly touching upon many schools of thought with their own unique way of looking at Modern India. So, there is no The Modern India but there are many Modern Indias depending upon where you look from.

We then talked about the various aspects of the whole freedom struggle and tried to deconstruct them into interacting bits. The simple fragmentation like Moderate (1885-1905), Extremist (1905-1920), Gandhian (1920-1947), though easy to grasp, is very misleading. We have many components like tribals, peasants, working class, business class - all of them with diverse interests. Convergence of views and objectives is not always possible. Similarly, we have lefts - socialists and communists - sometimes inside Congress and sometimes outside it, sometimes with Congress sometimes opposing it. Then we have women's movement, lower caste movements, romantics and revolutionaries and finally princely states. All of them evolved, over time and not with the same pace. So the interaction of all these components as we saw was very complicated - amongst themselves as well as with the umbrella struggle against the British. At various moments in the struggle (like NCM, CDM, QIM), some of them were with Congress some were not - and the togetherness did not go long enough. So the takeaway was - please consider the faultlines beneath a common struggle against the colonial power while reading any book.

As was earlier decided, we devoted today's lecture to pre-Congress era. We discussed the breakdown of Mughal Compromise and various theories behind it. We then traced the emergence of many regional powers - successor states, rebel states and principalities. We talked about each of them - their autonomy, ascendancy and gradual subjugation. I tried to place the whole situation in India in a global perspective to some extent. The British home politics, European disputes, collapse of the First Empire, the Great Game, all of these affected the unfolding of events in India. This later part of the discussion consumed almost whole of the lecture.

We could not discuss two points today - Firstly the dual system, Cornwallis code as well as Subsidiary Alliance. Additionally, the discussion about the Metropole and Periphery - the unrolling process of subjugation of India - these two topics could not be covered today. I will try to touch upon them briefly tomorrow and we will then move on to the other topics.

I know that a lecture without photos and videos may be a little drab. Especially more so as you already know the story. However, there are many finer points and connecting linkages which are important and easy to miss. Efforts are to bring those forth. And imagining modern times should not be difficult.

Good night.

Test 1 - Religion

Test Analysis - 

Today we had our first test, on religion. I think it was an eye opener for you all. All the questions were seemingly very simple, still many of you could not score much. The questions seem very familiar but arriving at the exact answer is not that easy. It happens because of not-so-deep reading of NCERTs or inadequate revisions of the NCERTs.

First 35/60 questions were from various examinations conducted by UPSC in last 4 years as well as a few of them were from previous MPSC exams. You had a real test of exam there only. Next 15 questions were only factual. Its important to test factual memory as well.

However the last 10 questions were little complicated as they involved choosing from multiple combinations of the sentences given. This is the newer breed of questions UPSC which is concentrating more on. It takes a lot of time read, understand and analyse them, let alone solving them. I deliberately kept them at last as by that time, your brain has exhausted initial vigour and is either under a pressure of finishing the paper on time or has become a little lax. And if one lacks the exact understanding, it becomes even more confusing. You could have gone for calculated guess here. One additional thing you could do is - in GS, there is no time pressure generally as is in the case of CSAT. So, go through the whole paper in the first five minutes. It helps you prepare your mind as there will be no more surprises. And you can attune your cognitive and psychological energies accordingly.

I will go through the scores shortly and arrive at some conclusions. If time permits, we will discuss the overall performance in the class soon. We will have one more test as a module test sometime next week. It will consist of remaining culture portion as well as modern India. I hope you prepare better this time. All the best.

Lecture 8 - Culture

We started with the remaining Classical Dances today after which we went on to discuss Indian Classical Music. Briefly touching its history, we went on to talk about major components and styles of North and South Indian Music. It was followed by a small introduction to Sanskrit Theatre. Lastly we covered half of the 'Literature' of India. We could over only major Vedic, Jaina and Buddhist canonical and non-canonical literature and Tamil literature partly. By then we had consumed available 3 hours of the day.

A handout was given today about the things to be done on your own. You should append that with the following topics - Scientific literature, Turko-Mongol literature, Foreign Accounts (Greco-Roman, Chinese, Arab, Persian, European).

Day after tomorrow we have a test. All the best.

Lecture 7 - Culture

Lecture - 
It was the semi-final day of culture today. We looked into the sculptural development through ages. Most of it is associated with the religious and architectural development. Thus, we focuses more on the aspects and phases which were not covered earlier. We talked about Harappan, Mauryan and Kushana sculpture in quite detailed manner. However we skipped through Gupta and other Deccani/Southern sculptural development summarily. When we reached Chola, we devoted a considerable time to Chola Bronze. We also talked about the lost-wax method. It was followed by a small presentation on the history of Indian coinage - a part of sculpture to a certain extent.

And then we turned our attention to Indian Aesthetics. I was actually a little wary earlier about the prospects of this topic being well received. However, the experience was successful beyond my imagination and proved to be quite useful. We talked about the Indian view of looking at the arts, their meaning, their purpose. We started with Satyam Shivam Sundaram, a kinda Indian Value Theory. We then talked about Rasa Theory in short and then went on to discuss Bharata's Natyashastra, Anandvardhana's Dhvanyaloka and Abhinavgupta's commentary on Natyashastra. The discussion on the Natyashastra went on for about 20-30 minutes wherein we discussed the theory of origin, Tandav-Lasya, Abhinay ways, theory of Music, and musical instruments, their classification, and finally the Rasa theory in detail. And we finished with Ashta-Nayikas. I hope the discussion gave you an idea about how to look at Indian thought as well as to put the things in perspective for analysis.

In the last leg, we started with Classical Dances. After a brief introductory discussion we started picking the dances one by one. However, due to time limit, we could not finish all the dances today. We will continue with the rest tomorrow.

Supplementary Handouts - 

1. Mathura vs Gandhara
2. Additional quasi-classical dances
3. Contemporary Dance
4. Puppetry – a form of theatre
5. Martial Arts
6. UNESCO World Intangible Heritage List
7. Sample Questions 

General Instructions - 
Tomorrow will be the last lecture on the culture. By the end it will be almost 22-23 hours of culture. We should all understand that India is a huge country and its impossible to feel all the aspects of her manifestation let alone teaching in the class. However, I have tried to touch upon all the relevant aspects insofar as the exam is concerned. Still, some part will remain untouched. I will give a list of all such topics in the class tomorrow. I expect you all to go through those topics on your own before the exam at least once.

We discussed about the Modern part of the History today and the feedback was to concentrate more on pre-Congress part of it. It was finalised to give 60% of the time to pre-Congress time and rest to the Congress era.

Exam - 
I think you have had enough time by now to go through the Ancient NCERT. We will have our first exam on this Saturday on Religion. Be prepared. 

Lecture 6 - Architecture and Painting

Ah, the second consecutive marathon lecture. I thank you all sincerely for sitting patiently for almost 4 hours once again to learn about the topics as drab as architecture and painting. Because of 8 hours that we spent since yesterday, we could cover a large ground and are slowly inching towards the end of the Culture module. I do really understand that it takes a lot of patience and understanding behind the support which you all have lent.

Architecture - 
Yesterday was over with the 'regionalisation' of Indian temple architecture. We started with a few stories today and then went on to survey the development of Indo-Islamic architecture. We started with the structural and stylistic changes that were introduced into the Indian 'pasmanzar' by the invading Turks and how that brought out unconscious synthesis of indigenous and foreign elements. We traced the evolution from Khaljis and Slaves to Tughlaqs to finally Lodis. Many 'firsts' were also discussed. True Arch, Salami, Pentagonal dome, Octagonal dome etc were also discussed. Finally, we stopped here with the Lodi initiatives which proved to be lasting.

Then we traveled away from the centre to periphery and saw the development of architecture in provincial towns across India. I could sense the impromptu collective gasp in the class when we saw the beauty of Junagarh structures. Mandu and Jaunpur show a great influence of Tughlaqsqe structural norms like Salami/Bater. We then traveled to the Deccan and covered Bahmani sultanate's Gulbarga phase as well as Bidar phase. Firoza on the walls of Mahmud Gawan's Madrasa indicated the influence that Afaqi's had in the Deccani court vis-a-vis Dakhanis.

Later we discussed the architectural styles of the Great Moguls in detail. It was brought to the notice that Sher Khan introduced many of the forms which were carried forward by the Moguls. Surveying the various decorative elements introduced by the Padshahs for embellishment purpose, we traced their origin either to Persia or to Sultanate or to Indian local tradition. Pietra Dura, Jali work, Rajasthani kiosks etc were studied in some detail. We then saw the buildings of each single Padshah one by one starting from Babur to Aurangzeb and their structural importance. The special talk about concepts behind Mughal gardens and their constituents went for quite a while. The story about Lord Curzon and Taj Mahal was quite an interesting one. It was also seen that the Great Moguls constructed not only religious structures but also a variety of Public Utility Buildings. After having a look at all of them in short, Mughal bridges were also discussed.

As the last leg of architecture, we went through Indo-Saracenic structures in 10 minutes. We discussed the worldview of the Gorasahibs which shaped their ideas which in turn shaped their cities and buildings. A few photos were then talked about as well as the urban architecture was discussed.

Painting - 
After a small break, we turned out attention to Painting. Indian painting is a huge subject in itself and it is humanly impossible to cover everything here, neither it is required. The effort was to introduce a framework in which one would be able to think of any painting/painter with some contextual basis, to develope a sense of aesthetic appreciation and also to introduce most symbolic paintings in India to you summarily - most of which are UNESCO Heritage Sites. As I had said earlier, developments in politics, religion, architecture (and thus painting and sculpture) go hand in hand and are intertwined. By now we had a sufficient idea about the religious development as well as architectural development, it was easy to cover the whole span in short time.

The first part was about the Murals and the second part was about the Miniatures. We started with the primordial man and looked at the thematic representation of their paintings at two places - Lakhudiyar and Bhimbetka. Paintings as they say mirror human emotions and ideas. In form as well as in substance, we tried to interpret some paintings as an illustration to understand the mind of that primeval man in India 10,000 years ago. After talking about Harappa shortly, we shifted to Gupta era and discussed Ajanta and Bagh Caves paintings in some detail. As was evident, Bagh paintings show the cosmopolitanism of that era and are continuation of Ajanta style. Later on, we saw some specimens of Sittanvasal caves of Pandya/Pallava era, Brihadeshwara temple of Chola era and some Vijayanagara paintings as well. We also briefly went through some technicalities like fresco, fresco-secco, tempera etc.

Coming to the Middle ages in India, we traced the development from murals to palm leaves and finally to paper. Turkish invasion introduced many new forms in India and it was a kind of revitalisation. Unfortunately, as we saw, the earliest extant example is only from around 1500 from Mandu. We discussd Mughal paintings quite in detail. Persian, Hindu and European influences, various painters and their specialties, styles of individual emperors, and whole huge project of painting commissioning in Kitabkhana and Tasweerkhana was discussed at length. The shift from portrait and courtly paintings to more naturalistic forms was noticeable as we progressed through the time. Many individual folios from illustrated books were seen on the screen. At the end, a 10 minute discussion on Mogul Calligraphy was pertinent.

And then comes the era of Rajput painting (with its various sub-schools) and Company school which we had already been discussed at the start of the session today. Importantly, Bani Thani of Kishangarh with her lotus eyes was appreciated in the class quite elaborately. The purpose and functionality of Company school paintings were also discussed. However, as I said, there are various other painting schools in India (in both murals as well as miniature/portrait) which are equally important about which a handout was given today mentioning the names. I request all of you to google them as and when time permits you.

The final stage of this evolution of Indian painting is India's own response to British-led forced and selective modernisation. A handout was distributed for a brief on Indian response in the painting realm starting from Nandlal Bose and Abanindranath Tagore to Amruta Shergil and VS Gaitonde and MF Hussain. However, students are requested to do some research on their own at their leisure about this part of the development.

Exam - 
As decided earlier, there will be a test on 'religion' part of the syllabus sometime this week or early next. Please be prepared. I also request you to finish reading Ancient NCERT soon. Sooner you read it, better it is.

Lecture 5 - Architecture

It was a marathon lecture today. From 3.30 to almost 7.30 with 15 minutes break.

First of all, we illustrated the reading of Friday Review. There were many linkages shown - in music, dance etc. Ultimately, it all boils down to the interest with which you can read the supplement. I hope the exercise was fruitful and you will continue reading it weekly.

Today, we started the second part of our culture module i.e. Architecture. Initially, some basic aspects about the culture, difference between arts and crafts, importance of arts history were discussed. Then we talked about different kinds of arts like performative, visual, literary. The discussion then came to the importance of Architecture. There was a little detailed discussion on the exact meaning behind the need to study architecture and how to understand its full import. The discussion then went on to the introduction of stylistic and contextual studies of architecture as well as iconographic and iconological aspects. After skipping through Harappa and Vedic era quickly, we started discussing Mauryan arts in detail. Mauryan secular art, Ashokan pillars were discussed. Then on, we shifted our focus to Buddhist art. In that, chaitya, viharas and stupas were discussed. The discussion on Stupas went on in detail for almost half an hour. We later shifted our attention to Rock-cut architecture where the whole gamut from caves of Early Man to Mahabalipuarm and Kailas Temple of Ellora were discussed. We also saw some beautiful images of Ajanta. And then we reached to free standing temples. Its meaning, classification, geographic peculiarities were followed by Dravida, Nagara and Vesara styles. In Dravida, we talked about 4 phases of Pallava period as well as the Great Living Temples of Chola period. In Nagara, we covered the whole North from Gujarat/Rajathan to Western MP to Chambal to Bundelkhand to Odisha, Bengal and Assam. While discussing Vesara, we traced the evolution from Rashtrakutas to Badami Chalukyas to Hoyasalas to Vijayanagara. And that was all.

Today, we saw many beautiful images of stupas, temples, sculptures and paintings. All these are intricately connected with each other. I think by the end of it, you have evolved a certain degree of appreciation of looking at Indian architecture as well as a sort of pride of being a part of this great civilisation. Tomorrow, we will embark upon even more fascinating phase of architectural evolution - Indo-Islamic Architecture. 

Lecture 4 - Religion

And finally we finished the Religion chapter. Some of you asked why we devoted three full lectures to religion. It was simply because it forms a significant part of our culture. However, the more important to us is the weight it carries in the prelims recently - as many as 13/23 culture-questions asked in the last 4 years were from religion. It mean that 56% of culture questions are from religion. In other words, you can expect on an average 3 questions from the same part this year as well.

Lecture -
After reaching the decline of North Indian religion in Post-Gupta feudal era, we today saw that the resurrection was from the South this time. Briefly touching upon Tolkappiyam and Late Sangam literature, we started discussing Alwars and Nayanars. The temple institution which is the hallmark of South was also discussed in some details and then we went on to talk about Acharyas. After discussing various Acharyas and their role in Chola and post-Chola era, we came back to the North. In North, we discussed Nath Sampraday and debated a few arguments that people generally make about the characteristics of Bhakti Movement. Next discussion was divided into two parts - Monotheist saints and their work (Kabir, Nanak etc) and Saguna Vaishnav saints and their work from different regions of India.

The second half of the lecture comprised of Sufism. In introduction, Islam and growth of sufism outside India was discussed in a few minutes. Then we talked about stages of developments of sufis in India, their various silsilahs, their expansion, relative comparison, relation with the state etc. Along with Suhrawardi, it also included Chishtiya silsilah and its southern branch. The end was done with Naqshbandi silsilah tracing its lineage till Aurangzeb. At the end, we enumerated the contribution by Sufis to India.

No talk on Indian religious history would be complete without the mention of Akbar's religious policy. Its influence, facets and stages of evolution were discussed in brief. This part of the history is actually very rich and complex giving rise to many debates. Though we are not able to pursue the discussion further, I hope I have done enough job to arouse your interest to read on your own.

Issues -
Some issues have been brought to my notice by a few forthcoming students. One is the problem in hearing at the end. Second is about confusion over what to take down in the notebook and what to listen. There are several reasons for this I guess. We shall discuss that on Monday. I will come up with some solutions by then.

Marathon Lecture -
So far we have been through 4 lectures - 1 Introduction and 3 on Religion. We have 2 more lectures at hand insofar as Culture is concerned and we are yet to finish a huge portion. On Monday, we will be meeting for 3 hours instead of regular 2 hours. Our aim will be to finish Architecture on Monday.

Exam -
There will be a test on Religion next weekend. As I promised in the class, more than half of the questions will be from the parts not exactly covered in the class but are in the standard text books. I expect you all to finish reading relevant NCERTs by next weekend and be ready. All the best.