i) By the 11th and 12th centuries Rajput clans became powerful amongst some tribes. The Rajput became the rulers in different parts of India which inspired the tribal people.
ii) Gradually with the support of the Brahmans, many tribes included in the caste system. 
iii) Only the leading tribal families could join the ruling class. A large majority of tribes joined the lower jatis of caste society.
vi) Many dominant tribes of Punjab, Sind and North-West Frontier adapted Islam to reject the orthodox Hindu casteism.

Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu) dance form is among the leading dance forms of India. It is the product of 19-20th century reconstructions of Sadir, the art of temple dancers called Devadasis. It was described in the treatise.
Natya Shastra by Bharata. It is known for its grace, purity, tenderness, expression and sculpturesque poses. Lord Shiva is considered the God of this dance form. It is most popular today and is practiced by male and female dancers all over the world.
The word Bharatanatyam combines, 'Bhavam' meaning expression, 'ragam' meaning music, 'thalam' meaning rhythm and 'Natyam' meaning dance.
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Sanskrit are traditionally used in the music of Bharatnatyam.

Present day taxes on markets are collected as licence fees for each shop.
It is the duty of the Municipal Corporation in big cities and Municipal Committee in small towns to collect the taxes. The agencies work with the help of different agencies to collect these taxes. These taxes collected are used for the welfare of the public, roads, sewage, infrastructure development.

Shah Jahan's diwan-i-khas was designed in such a way that it fused together in a grand harmonious synthesis. It was carefully planned. It was placed within a large courtyard. Behind the Emperor's throne, there were a series of pietra-dura inlays.
It depicted the legendary God Orpheus playing the lute. The diwan-i-khas aimed to communicate the king's justice would treat the high and the low as equals, creating a world where everyone could line in harmony. It reflected the image of a paradise in itself.

Water supply for the city of Thanjavur came from wells and tanks.

Abul Fazl, one of Akbar's close friends and courtiers wrote a three-volume history of the reign of Akbar. It was titled as Akbar Nama.
The 1st volume speaks about the Akbar's ancestors, the 2nd volume recorded the events of Akbar's reign. Ain-i-Akbari is the 3rd volume. It deals with Akbar's administration, household, army, the revenues and the geography of the Empire, This book also provides details about the traditions and cultures of the Indian people. It is rich in statistical details about things as diverse as crops, yields, prices, wages, and revenues.

The Khaljis and the Tughluq's raised people of humble birth who were often their clients, to high political positions. They were appointed as generals and governors. However, the slaves and clients were loyal to their masters and patrons but not to their heirs. Heirs were the new rulers, they neglected such appointed man of high posts. This led to conflict between old and new nobility.

The two major cities under the control of the Chahamanas were Delhi and Ajmer.

These two sects of Islam got divided after the Death of Prophet Mohammad.
Shia Muslims followed the teachings of Prophet Mohammad's son-in-law, Ali and regarded him as the legitimate leader of the Muslim community.
Sunni Muslims, however, accepted the authority of the early leaders (Khalifas) of the community and the succeeding Khalifas.

Rulers made the exaggerated claims of conquests as they wanted to show others that they had control over large areas. They were the real rulers of the country. No other ruler could fight or challenge them. They showed power to make others fearful towards them.

The mosques in Fig. 2, 3 and 4 show an evolution in the architectural tradition that culminates in Shah Jahan's mosque in Delhi. In Fig. 1 the earlier mosque is shown which is plain and rough. Only a centre hall mosque is there. Thereafter, in fig. 2, the mosque had many supporting masjids in the left and right side of the main hall.
Fig. 3 Moth ki Masjid, showed many soft skills, craftwork carved on the pillars, walls, Arabic calligraphy. The facade was decorated with Arabic calligraphy and vegetal motifs in the fig. 3 and 4. Craftsmen used corbelled arches, a technique commonly used in India. Different types of red sandstone marble were used to create such monuments. These all spoke highly about the art and culture that flourished during the Delhi Sultanate.

It is a bronze statue of Krishna subduing the serpent demon Kaliya. It was a story that during the childhood days of lord Krishna. A playing ball went into the river Yamuna. No boy dared to take the bailout of the river. Lord Krishna went into the water, fought with the serpent demon 'Kaliya'. Then he made the serpent to surrender to him. Thus, it was a win over evil. He in the last came outside the water, danced on the head of the serpent and made everyone surprised. 

The picture shows a scribe.
(b) He is making a copy of a manuscript.
(c) This painting is small in size, Because of smaller size, it is called as miniature  (10.5 cm by 7.1 ern).
(d) The two features of miniatures are 
(i) Miniature is used to illustrate the text of manuscripts
(ii) Miniatures are so beautiful that later collectors of manuscripts took the
manuscripts apart and just sold the miniatures.

The watan jagirs of the Rajputs:
(i) Many Rajput kings mostly of Amber and Jodhpur, had served under the Mughals with distinction.
(ii) In exchange, they were permitted to enjoy considerable autonomy in their watan jagirs.
(iii) In the eighteenth century, these rulers attempted to extend their control over adjacent regions.
(iv) Ajit Singh, the ruler of Jodhpur, was also involved in the factional politics at the Mughal court.
(v) These Rajput families claimed the subedari of the rich provinces of Gujarat and Malwa.
Raja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur held the governorship of Gujarat.
Sawai Raja [ai Singh of Amber was governor of Malwa.
(vi) These offices were renewed by Emperor Jahandar Shah in 1713.
(vii) They also tried to extend their territories by seizing portions of imperial territories adjacent to their watans.
Nagaur was conquered and annexed to the house of Jodhpur.
Amber seized large portions of Bundi. Sawai Raja [ai Singh founded his new capital at Jaipur.
He was given the subedari of Agra in 1722.
(viii) Maratha campaigns into Rajasthan from the 1740s put severe pressure on these principalities and checked their further expansion.

The town of Masulipatnam or Masulipatnam (literally, fish port town) lay on the delta of the Krishna river. As Masulipatnam became the most important port on the Andhra coast so both the Dutch and English East India Companies attempted to control it. The fort at Masulipatnam was built by the Dutch.
To prevent the trade passing completely into the hands of the various East India Companies, the Qutb Shahi ruler of Golconda imposed royal monopolies on the sale of textiles, spices and other items.
Fierce competition among various trading groupsthe Golconda nobles, Persian merchants, Telugu Komati Chettis, and European traders made the city popular and prosperous.
In 1686-1687 Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb annexed Golconda. This caused the European Companies to look for alternatives.
As the Company traders moved to Bombay, Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) and Madras (present-day Chennai), Masulipatnam lost both its merchants and prosperity and finally declined in the eighteenth century. Now it is not more than a dilapidated little town.

Regional influence on Art :
(i) Along with increase in construction activity between the eighth and eighteenth century, there was a significant sharing of ideas across regions.
(ii) The traditions of one region were adopted by the other. In Vrindavan, near Mathura, temples were constructed in architectural style, similar to the Mughal palaces in Fatehpur Sikri. Vijayanagara's architecture was influenced by the Sultanate of Bijapur and Golconda. For example, their elephant stables.
(iii) Mughal rulers were specifically skilled in adapting regional architectural styles in the construction of their own buildings
In Bengal, the local rulers had developed a roof that was designed to resemble a thatched hut.
The Mughals liked this "Bangla dome" to such extent, that they widely used it in architecture.
The impact of other regions was also evident.
In Akbar's capital at Fatehpur Sikri, many of the buildings have the impact of the architectural styles of Gujarat and Malwa.

Guru Nanak and (1469-1539) born at Talwandi (Nankana Sahib in Pakistan). He travelled widely before establishing a centre at Kartarpur (Dera Baba Nanak on the river Ravi). A regular worship that consisted of the singing of his own hymns was established there for his followers.
Irrespective of their previous creed, caste or gender, his followers ate together in the common kitchen (langar). The holy space thus created by Guru Nanak was known as dharmsal. It is now known as Gurdwara.
Before his death in 1539, Guru Nanak appointed one of his followers as his successor. His name was Lehna but later he came to be known as Guru Angad, representing that he was a part of Guru Nanak himself.
Guru Angad compiled the compositions of Guru Nanak, to which he added his own new script known as Gurmukhi.
The three successors of Guru Angad also wrote under the name of 'Nanak' and all of their compositions were compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604. In 1706 this compilation was authenticated by his son and successor, Guru Gobind Singh. It is now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of the Sikhs.

We can rarely find original manuscripts of the authors. This is a severe problem today.
(i) We are entirely dependent on the copies made by later scribes.
(ii) As a consequence, the historians have to go through different manuscripts (versions) of the same text to identify what the author had originally written.
(iii) At times various authors revised their chronicles.
(iv) For example, Z. Barani wrote his first chronicle book in 1356 and another version came two years later. The two versions differed from one another and the historians did not even know about the existence of the first version till 1960s as it had remained lost in massive library collection.

Yes, I have seen tribal people when I went for a visit to Chhattisgarh last year. Some states where tribal people live in India include Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and some parts of north-eastern states.

In the series of Bharatnatayam, Kathakali, Odissi. Kuchipudi and Manipuri, other dance form is Kathak. It developed in the 15th and 16th century, with the spread of Bhakti movement. It developed in two traditions or gharanas i.e. Rajasthan (Jaipur) and Lucknow. Under the patronage of Wajid All Shah, it grew into major art form.

(i) The Sufi masters held their assemblies in their khanqahs or hospices.
(ii) They discussed spiritual matters.
(ill) Devotees of all groups including members of the royalty and nobility, and ordinary people flocked
to these khanqahs.
(iv)They sought the blessings of the saints in solving their worldly problems.
They also simply attended the music and dance sessions

Shankara considered the world around to be an illusion or maya and preached renunciation of the world and adoption of the path of knowledge to understand the true nature of Brahman and attain salvation while according to Ramanuja salvation can be attained through intense devotion to Vishnu, who in his grace helps the devotees to attain the bliss of union with him.

 Akbar is holding discussions with learned individuals of different faiths in the Ibadat Khana. This miniature painting is an illustration to the Akbar Nama. This miniature painting was prepared by Nar Singh, CE.1605.