Historical Terms : Daily Current Affairs

Historical Terms

The term 'vap' means 'to sow'
These terms were used during the Gupta period for land measurements
Dronavapa meant 1.5-2 acres of land
Kulyavapa meant 12-16 acres of land
Kulyavapa was the area required to sow 'one kulya of grain'.
Similarly, Dronavapa was the area required to sow 'one Drona of grain'
Other terms like Angula, hasta, Adhavapa etc were also used indicating absence of uniform and fixed system of measurement.

The Diwan-i-Am, or Hall of Audience, is a room in the Red Fort of Delhi, Agra fort, and Fatehpur Sikri fort where the Mughal emperors received members of the general public and heard their grievances
The Diwan-i-Am consists of a front hall, open on three sides and backed by a set of rooms. The hall is 100 ft x 60 ft and divided into 27 square bays on a system of columns which support the arches.
With an impressive façade of nine engraved arch openings, the hall was ornamented with gilded and white shell lime chunam plaster work.
In the centre of the eastern wall stands a marble canopy (jharokha) covered by a "Bengal" roof. A marble dais below the throne, inlaid with semi-precious stones, was used by the prime minister (wazir) to receive petitions. The emperor was separated from the courtiers by a gold-plated railing, while a silver railing ran around the remaining three sides of the hall. The audience ceremony is known as Jharokha Darshan.
Behind the canopy, the wall is decorated with panels inlaid with multi-coloured pietra dura stones. They represent flowers and birds and are reputedly carved by Austin de Bordeaux, a Florentine jeweler
The Red Fort hall was later restored by Lord Curzon.
Bernier gives a full account of the splendid appearance of the Red Fort Diwan-i-aam during the rule of Aurangzeb, as well as the 17th century merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.

The Mughal emperors used to meet his ministers and advisers in the private audience hall called Diwan-i-Khas, where special business relating to foreign relations and internal administration was attended to.
It is not a large structure, but it is conceived in an unusual manner.
Externally, the structure is a rectangle in plan with two storeys having a flat terraced roof with pillared kiosks rising over each corner.
The interior arrangements are quite unique. It is a single chamber whose principal feature is a large pillar occupying the central position with a massive expanding capital supporting a circular stone platform.
From the platform, stone bridges radiate along each diagonal of the hall to connect with hanging galleries which surround its upper portion.
The idea behind this arrangement is that the Emperor would occupy the central position while presiding over the representatives from various religious communities gathered there.

Diwan-i-risalat or the minister of foreign affairs was in charge of dealing with diplomatic correspondences and the ambassadors. He was an important officer as all the Sultans were curious to maintain diplomatic relations with the Central Asian powers.
The Sultanate government was a centralized entity having democratic nature of an Islamic State. The Sultan used to appoint numerous ministers. At the time of slave dynasty, there were four ministers: the Wazir, the Ariz-i-mamalik, the diwan-i-insha, and the diwan-i-rasalat. Sometimes there was also the post of naib-i-mamalik, who was next only to the Sultan.

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