The History and Culture of the Indian People is a series of eleven volumes on the history of India, from prehistoric times to the establishment of the modern state in 1947. Historian Ramesh Chandra Majumdar was the general editor of the series, as well as a major contributor. The entire work took 26 years to complete. The set was published in India by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai.
The first volume (1951) is about the Vedic period. It has 27 chapters by 11 contributors. Three chapters and part of a fourth were written by R. C. Majumdar. Other contributors to the first volume are V. M. Apte, A. D. Pusalker and B. K. Ghosh. The volume discusses the archaeology, geology, flora, fauna and other aspects of this period and includes a chapter on the paleolithic, neolithic and copper ages by H. D. Sankalia. This volume was first published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd in London though it was prepared under the auspices of Bharatiya Itihasa Samiti, a part of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Its subsequent editions and other volumes were published in India by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
The sixth volume (1960) is on the Sultanate period of medieval India. This volume consists of 19 chapters by 19 contributors. Six chapters and parts of four other chapters were written by R. C. Majumdar. Other significant contributors to this volume are S. Roy, A. K. Majumdar, P. M. Joshi, N. Venkat Ramanayya, S. K. Chatterjee and S. K. Saraswati.
The seventh volume (1974) is on the Mughal era. This volume has 24 chapters by 28 contributors. Only parts of two chapters were written by R. C. Majumdar. The most significant contributors to this volume are J. N. Chaudhuri, G. S. Sardesai, A. L. Srivastava, Abdur Rashid and S. Roy.
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Upon the appearance of the first volume in the series, in a review in the Isis journal M.F. Ashley Montagu described it as:
... the first volume of the first genuine history of India.... [and that it] is likely to remain for many generations the most important of all histories of India, and, indeed, renders all others obsolete if not superfluous. [1]
Marxist historian D. N. Jha however describes the first three volumes thus:
... as informative as they are revivalist and Hindu chauvinist in approach. [2]
Historian John Keay describes the work as:
... a standard work of many volumes commissioned in the 1950s to celebrate India's liberation from foreign rule and foreign scholarship. [3]
Kshatriya is one of the four varnas of Hindu society and is associated with the warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term kṣatriyaḥ is used in the context of later Vedic society wherein members were organised into four classes: brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, and shudra.
The Deccan sultanates were five late-medieval Indian kingdoms—on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range—that were ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. The sultanates had become independent during the break-up of the Bahmani Sultanate. The five sultanates owed their existence to the declaration of independence of Ahmadnagar in 1490, followed by Bijapur and Berar in the same year. Golconda became independent in 1518, and Bidar in 1528.
Medieval India refers to a long period of post-classical history of the Indian subcontinent between the "ancient period" and "modern period". It is usually regarded as running approximately from the breakup of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century CE to the start of the early modern period in 1526 with the start of the Mughal Empire, although some historians regard it as both starting and finishing later than these points. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the early medieval and late medieval eras.
Ramesh Chandra Majumdar was a historian and professor of Indian history. Majumdar is a noted historian of modern India. He was a former Sheriff of Kolkata.
Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava, more commonly known as A.L. Srivastava, born 16 September 1899, in Andhana, Uttar Pradesh, died 12 July 1973, in Agra district, was an Indian historian specialising in medieval, early modern and modern history of India.
The Malwa Sultanate was a late medieval Islamic sultanate in the Malwa region, covering the present day Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and south-eastern Rajasthan from 1392 to 1562. It was founded by Dilawar Khan, who following Timur's invasion and the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate, in 1401/2, made Malwa an independent realm. In 1562, the Sultanate was conquered by the Mughal empire from its last ruler, Baz Bahadur and it became a subah of the empire. The Sultanate was predominantly ruled by Afghan, and Turco-Afghan dynasties throughout its existence.
The Gujarat Sultanate, or the Sultanate of Guzerat, was a late medieval Indian kingdom established in the early 15th century in Western India, primarily in the present-day state of Gujarat, India. The kingdom was founded by Muzaffar Shah I who was appointed as Tughlaq governor of Gujarat after the death of his father in 1371. Following Timur's invasion of the Delhi Sultanate, Delhi was devastated and its rule weakened considerably, so he declared himself independent in 1394, and formally established the Sultanate. The next sultan, his grandson Ahmad Shah I moved the capital to Ahmedabad in 1411. His successor Muhammad Shah II subdued most Rajput chieftains. The prosperity of the sultanate reached its zenith during the rule of Mahmud Begada. He also subdued most Gujarati Rajput chieftains and built a navy off the coast of Diu. In 1509, the Portuguese empire wrested Diu from the Sultanate in the Battle of Diu (1509). The Mughal emperor Humayun attacked Gujarat in 1535 and briefly occupied it, during which Bombay, Bassein & Daman would become a Portuguese colony, thereafter Bahadur Shah was killed by the Portuguese while making a deal in 1537. The end of the sultanate came in 1573, when Akbar annexed Sultanate of Guzerat into his empire. The last ruler Muzaffar Shah III was taken a prisoner to Agra. In 1583, he escaped from the prison and with the help of the nobles succeeded to regain the throne for a short period before being defeated by Akbar's minister Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan.
The Gajapati Empire, was an empire established by the Suryavamsa dynasty or Routray dynasty, who were a medieval Hindu dynasty from the Indian subcontinent, which was a medieval dynasty from the Indian subcontinent, it originated in the region of Trikalinga and reigned from 1434 to 1541 CE. It succeeded the reign of the Eastern Gangas. Under the Emperor Kapilendra Deva, the Gajapati empire stretched from lower Ganga in the north to Kaveri in the south.
The Ilyas Shahi dynasty was the first independent dynasty to set the foundations of the late medieval Sunni Muslim Sultanate of Bengal. Hailing from the Sistan region, their rule extended from 1342 to 1487, though interrupted with an interregna by their slaves as well as the House of Ganesha.
Ala-ud-Din Hasan Bahman Shah whose original name was Zafar Khan or Hasan Gangu, was the founder of the Bahmani Sultanate.
Khwaja Nizam-ud-Din Ahmad Bakshi was a Muslim historian of late medieval India. He was son of Muhammad Muqim-i-Harawi. He was Akbar's Mir Bakhshi. His work, the Tabaqat-i-Akbari, is a comprehensive work on general history covering the time from the Ghaznavids (986-7) up to the 38th year of Akbar's reign. The author quoted twenty-nine authorities in his work, some of which are entirely lost to us now.
Raja Ganesha was a Hindu Zamindar ruler of Bengal, who took advantage of the weakness of the first Ilyas Shahi dynasty and seized power in Bengal. Contemporary historians of the medieval period considered him as an usurper. The Ganesha dynasty founded by him ruled over Bengal from 1415−1435. His name mentioned in the coins of his son, sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah as Kans Jha or Kans Shah. The Indo-Persian historians mentioned his name as Raja Kans or Kansi. A number of modern scholars identified him with Danujamardanadeva, but this identification is not universally accepted. In the Arakanese accounts and also in Bengal and Mithila history, it is noticed that Raja Ganesha along with his Mithila Brahman friend, Raja Shiva Singh had combined their forces and defeated Ibrahim Sharqi of Jaunpur Sultanate who invaded Northern-Eastern India which created Bengal-Jaunpur conflict.
The Nayakas of Kalahasti were a line of rulers of Kalahasti and Vandavasi principalities. Members of the group include Damarla Chennapa Nayaka, after whom the city of Chennai is named. These Nayakas served as vassals of the late Vijayanagara Empire, then held by the Aravidu Dynasty and headquartered at Chandragiri and Vellore.
The Bengal Sultanate–Kamata Kingdom War was a late 15th century conflict between the Kamata Kingdom and the Bengal Sultanate. As a result of the conflict the Khen dynasty was overthrown and the Bengal Sultanate extended its domain up to the Hajo in what is present day western Assam by 1502. Nevertheless, the Sultanate administration was removed in about ten years by the Assamese Bhuyans led by Harup Narayan.
Damajadasri III was a ruler of the Western Satraps. His reign lasted possibly from c. 251 AD to 256 AD.
The Varna Ratnakara, Maithili: वर्ण रत्नाकर,, literally "Ocean of description", is the oldest prose work of Maithili language, written in 1324 CE by the Maithil scholar, priest and poet Jyotirishwar Thakur. The author was a part of the court of King Harisimhadeva of the Karnat dynasty whose capitals were in both Simraungadh and Darbhanga.
Gangu or Gangadhar Shastri Wabale was a Brahmin ruler of the Deccan. Ala-ud-din Hasan Bahman Shah, the founder of the Bahmani Sultanate, was a servant and general in his service.
Dānyāl, Prince of Bengal, also known as Dulāl Ghāzī, was the eldest son of the Sultan of Bengal Alauddin Hussain Shah. He performed official duties and engagements on behalf of his father. In 1495, Danyal secured a peace treaty with the Delhi Sultanate in Bihar, and served as the regional Governor of Bihar under the Bengal Sultanate. He was appointed as the Governor of Kamata following its conquest in 1498.
Haider Shah Miri also known by his given name Hāji Khān or simply by his regnal name Haider Shah was the twelfth Sultan of Kashmir.