IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : India History From 8th to 15th Century - Lifestyle and Popular Cultures

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

History India From 8th to 15th Century

Lifestyle and Popular Cultures

Structure

34.0 Objectives '
34.1 Introduction I
34.2 Life Prior to l2OO
34.3 The New Ruling Classes
34.3.1 Ideologidrll Composition of the New Ruling Classes
34.3.2 Royal Pdtern of Consumption
34.4 The Religious Aristocracy
34.5 The Political Atistocracy
34.6 Lifestyle of the Masses
34.7 Position of Women
34.8 Slaves and Serkints
34.9 Urban Life
34.10 Rural Life
34.10.1 Peasants
34.10.2 The Dwelings of the Peasants
34.11 Games and Arlmusements
34.12 Let Us Sum Up
34.13 Key Words
34.14 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

34.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unk, you will know about the:

social stratification! during the Sultanate period,
lifestyles of the rota1 household, ulema, aristocracy, merchants, landed
aristocracy, peasant* and slaves,
Hindu social orddr,
positibn of women!in the Hindu society,
nature and compo$ition of the slaves,
urban life, and '
pastime and entehrtainment.

34.1 INTRODUCTION

The lifestyle of a people indicates their specific situation in a hierarchical society. In
early medieval India, social formations were structured upon the ensuing
contradictions that existed between a centralised State and its subject peasantry. In a
principally agrarian economy, the social surplus produced by the peasants was
extracted and distributed by a small ruling class among themselves. This led to their
lavishly luxurious lifestyle that stands out in sharp contrast to that of the artisans and
the urban poor.