Socio-Cultural and Technological Development in Medieval India

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This volume contains well researched papers based on primary sources and archaeological explorations, and presents new findings on medieval Indian administration, culture, science and technology. It also has a study of new literary sources, both Persian and Europeans, with a full section to literary sources. The section on state and administration highlights Central Asian and European influence on statecraft and the army. Mysticism and its impact on medieval policy, architecture and the new genre of literature known as 'Shahr Ashob' helps in the reconstruction of the eighteenth-century history of ShahJahanabad.

The chapter on science and technology studies the military technology of the Delhi Sultanate, and the impact of metal technology of the later Mughal period on the state of Bikaner, in the skill development of both urban and rural workers. This chapter also includes a study of water harvesting and agricultural produce.

This volume covers a large canvas of medieval Indian history examining many unexplored aspects of the period.

Ali Athar is the former Chairman and Coordinator of the Centre of Advanced Study Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University His contribution to the field of military history has been acknowledged in the Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization (Cambridge, New York), Themes on Indian History (Oxford), and Warfare and History (Oxford), and he has been extensively cited by authors on the history of warfare. He is also the former Coordinator of the Musa Dakri Museum of Aligarh Muslim University and has published Military Technology and Warfare in the Sultanate of Delhi, Reinterpreting History of the Delhi Sultanate; Medieval India: Ideas, Traditions and Cultural Values; Exploring Medieval India through Persian Sources; and History on Stones: Inscriptions of Aligarh Muslim University.

THE PRESENT VOLUME, Socio-Cultural and Technological Development in Medieval India contains thirteen well researched papers on various themes of medieval India such as literary sources, State and administration, Society and Culture, and Science and Technology. All these papers are based on primary sources and rigorous research. I acknowledge the contribution of colleagues and scholars included in this volume. It would not have been possible to take up this volume without their firm support and cooperation. I express my deep gratitude to all of them for their priceless sustenance.

I am indebted to late Professor Iqtidar Hussain Siddiqui, Professor of History, former Chairman and Coordinator, Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University for his valuable advice in the preparation of this book. But, because of his untimely demise in the month of November, 2017, he could not see the present shape of the book. I am especially grateful to Dr Jibraeil, Assistant Professor, Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University for collecting research papers from the scholars of the country and for taking pains in going through the first proof reading of the manuscripts. I am also obliged to my colleague Dr Syed Bashir Hasan, Assistant Professor, Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh for rendering help and for giving his valuable suggestions to complete this book in the present shape.

My wife Shaheen, my daughter Shigufta and son Zubair were very cooperative and motivating in my pursuance of editing this volume. I am extremely grateful for their support.

THE PRESENT VOLUME entitled Socio-Cultural and Technological Development in Medieval India contains thirteen well researched and documented chapters on various themes of medieval India. All these chapters are written by eminent scholars based on the primary sources and rigorous research. The book has been divided into four main sections, viz., Literary Sources, State and Administration, Society and Culture, and Science and Technology. In each section authors have discussed different elements of society, culture, administration and technology to methodically support the title of the book.

The first section with three chapters discusses the 'Literary Sources' In the first chapter, titled 'Mulla Abdul Qadir Badaoni's Najat-ur-Rashid: A Study of the Sidelight on History and Culture under Akbar', Iqtidar Husain Siddiqui discusses the culture under Akbar in the light of Abdul Qadir Badaon's work Najat-ur Rashid. It presents Badaoni's view on different aspects of Islam, social ethics and religious practices in the light of the Holy Koran and the Hadith (utterance of the Prophet).

Rashmi Upadhyaya, in the second chapter, endeavoured on Women's patronage to water bodies in medieval India. She presents epigraphic data regarding the patronage of women to the construction of water bodies in India from thirteenth to eighteenth century. It is interestingly revealed that the construction much of the water bodies in different regions was led by women belonging to the royal families. However, evidence are also traced out in this direction regarding the contribution of women belonging to the families of feudatories and administrators. In some rare cases the common women belonging to aristocratic background contributed to the construction and maintenance of such sources of water. The overall inscriptional account in the article indirectly represents the independent position and prestigious status of women belonging to the upper strata of the society in medieval India.