Initial Conquest of India by Turks and Their Slaves - IOSR

IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (JHSS) 

ISSN: 2279-0837, ISBN: 2279-0845. Volume 5, Issue 4 (Nov. - Dec. 2012), PP 01-14 

www.Iosrjournals.Org 

Initial Conquest of India by Turks and Their Slaves 

Mustafa Sareer 

Research Scholar Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh,Utter Pradesh 202002 

The very word „Turk‟ or „Türk‟ appears as the name of a central-Asian nomad people only from the 

sixth century A.D. onwards.When in 552 the „Turk‟ Qaghnate was founded on the Orkhon river in Mongolia. 

The Chinese name for the Turks was Tu-kuch, which was apparently derived from Türküt, The Mongol plural of 

Türk.The Greeks called them Tourkoi, The Arabs Atrak (sg.Turk), while in New Persian they became known as 

Turkan (sg.Turk). In Sanskrit they were called Turushkāh, while the Tibetians identified all Turks with the 

Qarlugh tribe, and hence referred to the Turks usually as Garlog. Originally,Türk was an ethnonym which was 

associated with a small tribe headed by the Ashina clan; it meant „The Strong One‟ and fell within the semantic 

range of a whole series of tribal names which connoted „Force‟, „Violence‟, „Ferociousness‟ and so on. These 

original Türks or Türkü had, in the first half of the fifth century, become vassals of another nomadic empire, that 

of the Juan-Juan. In the middle of the sixth century, however, the Turks destroyed the Juan-Juan empire while 

founding there own there own nomad state. This state reached at its greatest extent from the Great Wall to the 

Oxus and even beyond,covering therefore not only the whole of the inner and outer Mongolia but also settled 

areas far to the west. Intermittently it lasted upto the middle of the eighth century. 

The origin of the Turks, as of other Central-Asian peoples, are obscure since the earliest tribal 

nomenclature is full of unresolved complexities, the evidence is scanty, fragmented and shrouded in legend. 

Byzantine and Chinese records of the early stages of the Turkish development are also exceedingly complicated 

and do not always supplement the earliest Turkish records in a sufficiently informative way. Just as the greek 

and Roman sources used the name „Scythians‟ for a variety of „Barbarian‟ tribes and the Byzantine sources used 

the name „Turk‟ in the same loose way. So the Chinese used a word like „hu‟ „Barbarian‟ or a „tribal‟ name like 

„Hiung-nu‟, for various ethnic groups (which were moreover in constant flux). The idea prevailed in the Chinese 

accounts that the Turkish-speaking tribes of the seventh century were all descended from the Hiung-nu, which in 

practice meant little more than that they were neither Chinese nor Iranian. Al-Biruni, in his Kitab al-Hind, dates 

the beginning of the days of the Turks‟ (āyyām at-turk) from the time when they seized power in Ghazna under 

the Sāmāni dynasty and sovereignty fell to Nasir ad-Daula Sabuktigin. In all appearences this was an age when 

linkages between nomadic steppe populations of Central Asia and the sedentary civilizations of the middle East, 

China and India crossed a critical threshold whereby a series of conquests was set off which climaxed with the 

„Mongol Storm‟ in the thirteenth century. These conquests were the result of an enhanced effectiveness of the 

social and military organization of the Central-Asian nomads which allowed them to transcend earlier tribal 

limitations. We also find, at this time, increasing numbers of detribalized Turks being imported into the Islamic 

world as military slaves. A situation arises hich saw the people of Turko-Mongol origin-rather than Arabs or 

Iranians- becoming the most important ruling elites of the Islamic Middle East and India henceforward. In the 

west, it was the Turks who took parts of Anatolia and Asia Minor from Byzantium, defying Latin Christianity 

(which responded with the crusades), and ultimately opening the way for the establishment of Ottoman power in 

parts of Europe. In the East, in al-Hind, the Turks added the Punjab and subsequently most of the Gangetic plain 

or Hindustan to the conquests of Islam, establishing the Sultanate of Delhi in the thirteenth century. 

Originally, by definition almost, the Turks (including those that conquered India) came from Central 

Asia. The early Arabic texts often refer to all inhabitants of the Central-Asian steppes as Turks indiscriminately, 

but this is an area of which the boundaries are nowhere given. The expression „Central Asia‟ is vaguely 

understood to refer the landlocked region between the Ukraine or Rumania, Hungary and the Chinese wall 

which is completely isolated from oceanic influences and hence is largely an arid and in part cold zone. In the 

fifth and sixth century the Turks are known to have been tributary to the Juan-Juan and to have served as their 

Blacksmith slaves and Iron workers. From the year 545 A.D. the Turks began to rid themselves of Juan-Juan 

overlordship. A year later their leader was in a position to demand a Juan-Juan princess in marriage. Ten years 

later the Turks had defeated the Juan-Juan decisively. Recognition by the western Wei was acquired soon. 

Bumin became the Turks first Emperor ruling from the Great Wall to the borders of Iran,as well as in the far 

north. A victory over the Hephthalites followed, and control over the entire steppe can now be said, for the first 

time to have been in the hands of a single ethnic group in the sense of a nomad human population with shared 

ancestry, myths, histories and cultures, having an association with a specific territory and a sense of solidarity. 

The most crucial date in the Turkish encounter with Islam is perhaps 751 A.D., the year of the battle of Talas 

river, when an alliance of Arabs, Tibetans and Qarlug Turks achieved a victory over the Tang Chinese. From 

that date onwards Turkish peoples began to assimilate within the sedentary Muslim world in considerable 

www.iosrjournals.org 

1 | Page

Initial Conquest Of India By Turks And Their Slaves 

numbers. The Qarlugh Turks or „Qarakhanids‟(who may still have been claiming Ashina Descent) were the first 

to undergo almost complete sedentarization, after moving into Farghana, an area which in the ninth century was 

gradually becoming Islamicized. The Qarlughs established capitals at Kashgar in Sinkiang and Balasaghum in 

the valley of the Chu river. Their rulers converted to Islam after the middle of the tenth century, and in 961 A.D. 

This was followed by the conversion of some 100,000 Turkish „Tents‟ in the area. More precise and reliable 

knowledge emerged among the Muslims by the ninth century, when the Samanids extended the frontier along 

the Syr Darya and Turks began to enter the Caliphate as military slaves. 

There do not appear to have been any Turkish invasion on the North-western frontier or elsewhere, and 

we do not hear at all of Muslim Turks in al-Hind, before the late tenth and eleventh century.If we could identify 

various groups from central Asia which migrated into the subcontinent in earlier times, these were not the 

Turkish. The first real evidence of Turks in al-Hind comes from Kashmir during Lalitaditya Muktapida‟s reign. 

This king, while extending his powers into central Asia, is recorded to have recruited soldiers from the western 

Central-Asian highlands and Tukharistan. Al-Biruni has recorded that the people of Kashmir celebrated an 

annual festival to commemorate the victory of their king Muttai (Muktapida) over the Turks. Indian vernacular 

sources describe the conquest at length as „The opening of the gates of Hind‟. 

While inscriptions in sanskrit which survived from these centuries frequently mention the violent 

erruptions of the Turushkas, the „Country Conquering Turks‟ , „Beef-eating barbarians (mlecchas)‟ , „Shaka 

princes‟ , or at a somewhat later stage, of the „Mongols‟ (Mudgalas). To piece together a coherent narrative to 

the conquest, however , from the late tenth to the early thirteenth century, would be impossible on the basis of 

the Indian materials alone. It is disconcertingly difficult even with the aid of the Arabic and Persian sources. The 

latter however, on the most basic level, deal with sequences of events (rather than individual events), and they 

allow us to distinguish two stages in the conquest: the first, commonly called, The Ghaznavid Period, from 977 

to 1186 A.D. ; and the second, The Ghurid Period, from 1186 to 1206 A.D. 

Mahmuds dynasty, The Ghaznavids or Yaminids (352-582/962-1186), was a Turkish stock; its 

effective founder, Mahmuds father Sabüktagin, had been a Turkish slave commander. At its greatest extent, the 

Ghaznavid empire embraced an area from Rayy and Isfahān in Persia as far as Hānsi in the eastern Punjab. 

Mahmud himself, who conducted no less than seventeen expeditions against Pagan Indian rulers and who also 

rooted out the Ismailis from the cities of Multan and Mansura, was rewarded by the „Abbasid Caliph for his 

services to Sunni Islam with the laqab of Yamin-al-Dawla‟(“Right Hand of the State”). The main concern of the 

Ghaznavid Turks, from the beginning, appears to have been to penetrate into the major river valleys, of the 

Indus first,then the „Five River Land of Punjab‟ and finally the „Two River Land-The Ganga-Yamuna 

Doab‟.The very earliest expansion towards east,into al-Hind began under Alptagin, in the period 933-963 A.D., 

when his general Sabuktagin raided Lamghan and Multan. 

In the first year of his reign, in 977-8 A.D.,Sabuktagin also conquered Bust, the second most important 

fortified city in Sijistan (after Zaranj).Qusdar, another fortified Muslim town in Turan (Sind), which gave its 

name to an entire sub region, fell to the Ghaznavid in the same year and then the entire province of Qandhar. On 

a third occasion,in 991 A.D,the assembled army of a coalition of Indian Kings headed by the Hindu Shahi was 

dispersed, after which Ghaznavid power was established in virtually all areas of the west of the Indus. 

Sabuktagins son and successor Mahmud (r.998-1030), obtaining caliphal sanction (mauqif-i-Khilafat) for his 

actions, expanded the Ghaznavid empire as far as the Caspian Sea, and from Samarqand to Ray, while invading 

Hind about seventeen times and ultimately establishing permanent control over the Punjab. During renewed 

campaining into Lamghan, and to Peshawar (Ar. Parshawar), Waihind, on the road from Peshawar to Lahore, 

was taken from the Hindu Shahi. In 1004-05 followed the conquest of Bhatinda or Tabarhind,which,together 

with Bhatnair, Sirsa and Abahr,was one of the four important forts in the path of any invader from the North- 

West, and had to be reduced in order to gain access to the trans-Gangetic plain. Nagarkot (Bhima Naghara) was 

taken in 1008, and again Waihind. Much further inland (Al-Utbi says in the middle of al-Hind). The capture of 

Narayan (present Narayanpur, near Alwar,Rajasthan) appears to have been aimed at gaining another route of 

access to the Ganges- Yamuna Doab.Similarly, Nardin (Nandana, Nanduna) on the northern spur of the salt 

range in the Jud hills, still in the hands of a Hindu Shahi subordinate, was taken to gain command over the main 

route to the Doab,‟the most glorious victory of islam since the time of the Prophet. When the Turkish armies, 

after opening these gates, finally broke through to the middle country, the Temple City of Thaneswar (Ar. 

Tanisar, Tanishar), to the north of Delhi, was destroyed first, probably in 1011 (The city was entered 

unopposed), then Mathura (Matra, Mahura, Matura)(also entered without opposition), on the Yamuna, then the 

capital city,Kanauj (Qanauj, Qannauj), which was still governed by a Pratihara ruler that Al-Utbi refers to as 

„The pre-eminent Indian King‟ (muqaddam-i-muluk-i-hind). Mahmud returned to Ghazna after this, but in the 

fall of the same year 1019 crossed the Yamuna again,and now possibly for the first time,the Ganges, in attack on 

the Chandellas, by that time the most powerful rulers of the North India in Jejakabukti (Bundelkhand), 

Khajuraho, and Gwalior. Lahore was taken without opposition some year later. The forts of Kalanjar and 

Gwalior (Gwaliyar) were taken from the Chandella ruler in 1022-3. Somnath the wealthy harbor and pilgrimage 


2 | Page


centre in Saurashtra-Gujrat (which had been deemed safe behind the desert and boasted „the greatest idol of al- 

Hind‟),was destroyed in 1025-6. Mahmuds son and successor Masud(r.1030-41) did not abandon plunder raids 

and military campaigns deep into India, beyond the confines of the area which was now the formal Ghaznavid 

dominion under an investure patent sent from Baghdad in 1030-31. In 1030-31 a significant new initiative was 

the first invasion of Awadh under Sayyid Salar Masud Ghazi, a nephew of Mahmud, who had been born in 

1015.From a military point of view, it was a complete failure, and hardly any of the invaders returned alive. An 

account of it is given in an historical romance written by a sufi,`Abd ar-Rehman Chishti‟ during the reign of the 

Mughal emperor Jahangir entitled `Mirat-i-Masudi‟.This work is said by its author to have been mainly based on 

a book called the `Tawarikh-i-Mahmudi‟ written by Mahmud Ghaznavi, a servant of Amir Sabuktigin and one 

of the followers of Sayyid Salar who related events of which he had personal knowledge. There are numerous 

tombs scattered all over the northern districts of Awadh,which are said to cover the remains of martyers of 

Sayyid Salars army. Bahraich was probably reached in 1033, and Sayyid Salar appears to have been able to 

repeatedly defeated the local rais on the bank of river Kosala(probably Kauriala), until reinforcements arrived in 

the Hindu camp and the `Prince of martyrs‟ fell with virtually all his followers. Bahraich is still celebrated for 

the shrine of Sayyid Salar. Another successful attempt to seize the wealth of Banaras undertaken by a rebellious 

governor of the Punjab,Ahmad Nayaltigin, a son of Mahmud,in 1033.Nayaltigin joined by the ghazis and the 

army of Lahore crossed the Ganges and going down the left bank arrived at Banaras,`where no army of Islam 

had ever reached‟,plundering the markets and returning with great spoil. By 1033,the year of famine, it was 

becoming clear that the great age of Ghaznavid conquests was drawing to a close.The Seljuqs were rapidly 

emerging as the dominant power in the eastern Islamic world. 

The Ghaznavids retained their possessions in the northern and eastern Afghanistan, as well as their 

Indian conquests for a century more,until the rise of the Ghurids.In the year 1079-80 there are reports of new 

campaigns under Ibrahim but the dates are not sure. Between 1066-1070,one of the Ibrahims sons appears to 

have led an army of Ghazis and 40,000 cavalry into the doab.Inscriptions of the Gahadavalas from 1090 

mentions a tax, called the `Turushkadanda‟,`Turkish Punishment‟,which was possibly a defence tax 

(Turkenhilfe) or an amount which was set apart to be paid as tribute to the Ghaznavids.After the death of Masud 

III in 1118,however, Seljuq suzerainty was established over Ghazna.The real menace to the Ghaznavids came 

not from the Seljuqs but from the Shansabanis of Ghur. 

Muizz-ud-Dins family, the Shansabanids, as designated by Minhaj-i-Siraj originated among the petty 

princes (muluk-sing. malik) of Ghur, the mountainous region east of Herat. The dynasty was designated as 

Shansabani‟s by Minha-i-Siraj as they descended from an ancestor named Shansab.In 12th century an event of 

supreme importance for the history of central Asia happened and it was the rise of Khwarizm and Ghor and their 

eventual struggle for the mastery of Khurasan. Atsiz, the founder of khwarizms greatness, was originally a loyal 

vassal of Sanjar until jealously the latter‟s courtiers drove him to open revolt in 533/1138. Sanjar defeated him 

and appointed his nephew Sulaiman to his office. As soon as Sanjar‟s back was turned Atsiz advanced and 

drove Sulaiman out of Khwarizm. Sanjar defeated him two more times in 538-1143 and 542/1147 respectively. 

Before Atsiz‟s death in 551/1156 he had annexed Jand and Mankishlagh and had imposed something like 

suzerainty over the Khan of Samarqand. Arsalan-II, the successor of Atsiz, followed his father‟s imperialist 

policy with steadfast resolution. He provoked the Qarakhitai‟s to invade his territories in 567/1172, first by 

siding with Khan of Samarqand in a conflict with Qarlughs and then by refusing to continue the annual tribute, 

Khwarizmi army was decisively defeated. In Khurasan the Khwarizm Shah failed to make much headway; the 

Ghuzz and lately, the Qarakhitai, arrested his efforts. His preoccupations, however provided opportunity to the 

rulers of the petty principality of Ghor, to extend their power quietly at the cost of the war leaders holding the 

province. From their insignificant position as the chiefs of the mountain fortress of Ghor, they came into 

prominence during the reign of Ghaznavid Bahram, who perfidiously murdered Malik Qutubuddin Hasan, a 

Ghorid prince who had taken refuge at his court and been married to one of Bahram‟s daughters. This roused the 

wrath of Saifuddin Suri, brother of the murdered prince, who thereupon invaded Ghazni and drove Bahram from 

the city. He soon returned in 543-1148 and taking advantage of the absence of the Ghoride troops, then 

wintering at home, seized Saifuddin and sent his head to Sanjar. Alauddin Hussain, Saifuddin‟s younger brother, 

then advanced on Ghazni and wreaked a terrible vengeance. After plundering the city he set fire to the buildings, 

which were left burning for seven days, and massacred the whole population. This action, which earned him the 

unenviable nickname of „Jahan Soz‟ (The world Burner), and he took for himself the title of Sultan. It was 

Husayn‟s nephew Ghiyath-ud-Din Muhammad b. Sam (558-599/1163-1203), who expelled the Ghuzz from 

Ghazna in 569/1173 and installed there his younger brother Muizz-ud-Din (formerly Shihab-ud-Din) 

Muhammad. Under Ghiyath-ud-Din and Muizz-ud-Din, who throughout cooperated more or less harmoniously, 

the Shansabanids or Ghurids, since they had reduced to Subordinate Status the other maliks of the region 

emerged as one of the great powers of the Islamic world. Their political seat was the fortress of Firuzkuh, 

identified by Andre Maricq in 1957 with ruins at Jam on the middle Hari Rud, some 200 Km. east of Herat. 

Encouraged by the Caliph, from whom he obtained the title Qasim Amir Al-Muminin (Partner of the 


3 | Page


Commander of Faithful), Giyath-ud-Din engaged in a duel for Khurasan with the Khwarizmshahs, in which, 

prior to his death in 599/1203 the Ghurids definitely had the better of it. Muizz-ud-Din, who like Giyath-ud-Din 

bore the title of Sultan, ably seconded his bother‟s efforts; but he also looked eastwards. 

The Ghurid conquest of Hind was initiated from Ghazna. Having defeated the Ghuzz at Ghazna in 

1173, Giyath-ud-Din had placed the city in the charge of his younger brother Muizz-ud-Din, the future 

„Conqueror of Hind‟ (Khursau-i-hindgir); who „ascended the throne of Ghazna like Mahmud‟. One difference 

was that Muizz-ud-Din received Ghazana as a family appanage. Once installed at Ghazna, Muizz-ud-Din was 

not slow to appropriate the Ghaznawids role as the standard bearer of orthodox Islam in the subcontinent. He 

made war on the Ismāilis in Multan and captured the city in (571/1175-6) and then captured Daybul in Indus 

Delta in 578/1182-3. Certainly he is praised for his warfare against the Shiis. The annexation of the remaining 

Ghaznawid territories was undoubtedly his principal goal. A series of campaigns from 577/1181-2 onwards 

secured first tribute from Khusraw Malik and then,in 582/1186, the capitulation of Lahore. Khusraw Malik was 

sent to Giyath-ud-Din and later put to death in captivity.The beginning of Turkish ascendency over the Islamic 

world was contemporaneous with the emergence of a new fighting order is Indian society. The Arab had to face 

Brahmin dynasty in Sindh, the Turks faced the Rajput. After the end of Harsha‟s empire in 7th Century saw a 

new aristocracy taking gradual shape. This was the „Rajput‟ (not encountered in the Muslim sources before the 

sixteenth century) who for the next few centuries championed a resuscitated Brahmanism and controlled the 

destiny of North India. He had points of resemblance with the Turk. To both, the sword was the means of 

achieving glory; philosophical speculation held no attraction for either of them; clannishness and a blind loyalty 

characterized the two peoples; a kind of feudalism featured both the political systems. But the Rajput excelled 

the Turks in reckless bravery and a chivalrous sense of honor that led him to commit self-destruction rather than 

suffer defeat or go down in his own estimation. 

The Arabs had faced an effete people in Sind, to the Turks was opposed this virile warrior race who 

ruled the country from the Siwalikh to the Vindhyas. But the Rajput thirst for military glory proved his nemesis, 

for it led to constant wars and to political disintegration. The Gurjara-Pratihara Empire had given a way to a 

multi-state system in which a ceaseless struggle for lord – paramountcy was the order of the day. Twelfth 

century India was indeed, a tempting prize for the land hungry Turks. 

The nature had provided a narrow entrance to the Ganges valley (a belt of land not exceeding three 

hundred miles in breadth and skirted by the forbidding Himalayas and central India wilderness on either side) 

which is not difficult to guard. The Aravalli hills from the southwest and the Siwalikh (Sapadalaksha) from the 

north-east approach each other across the plain separating the Punjab from the Ganges valley, leaving a 

conveniently narrow gap not more than a hundred miles in width. Through this gap, or to use a commoner term 

bottleneck, alone, the Ganges valley or to use the name given by the Muslims, Hindustan could be approached 

militarily from the west. The ordinary route from beyond the Sulaiman mountains in those days was not the 

well-known Khaiber pass, nor the Bolan in the south, but through the Gomal, which led to Dera Ismail Khan 

and thence to upper Sind Sagar Doab. The Khaiber, Bolan and the less accessible Kurram and Tochi passes 

were not used by trading caravans to the same extent as the Gomal passage which was the normal military route. 

Throughout the 13th Century the first point of attack for an invading army from beyond the Sulaiman 

range was Multan or Uch and not Lahore or Peshawar. From Ghazni the shortest route to Punjab was through 

the Kurram, Tochi and Gomal Passes and Khaiber involved a long detour through the north. Politically the 

Khaiber area was not safe.The tribes inhabiting the northern Sind Sagar Doab were perpetually hostile. His 

(Muizz-ud-din) earliest incursion into the Dār al-Harb had ended in disaster. Passing through Multan and Uchh 

in 1178/574, he struck across the Rajputana desert and arrived with an exhausted army at the foot of Mt. Abu 

where he found the fresh troops of Mularaja II waiting to oppose his progress. In the engagement, fought near 

hill of Kayadra. In an opposition which was not of Muizz-ud-din‟s choosing he suffered a signal defeat. It was 

the defeat not only of his forces but also of his plans. For him Hindustan now appeared to have only one 

practicable approach and the annexation of the Ghaznawid Punjab became more a strategic than a political 

necessity. The next few years accordingly found him making a determined and gradual advance through 

Khusrau Malik‟s dominion. Peshawar was taken in 1179; Sialkot fell in 1185, and Lahore, after three 

expeditions was finally occupied in 1186, and with his own governor installed at Lahore, he now found himself 

in possession of the Indus basin and in a strategic position to advance further into the fertile plains of India. His 

was only the most successful of the many attempts made by the Turks from the northwest to obtain a foothold in 

Hindustan all of which may therefore be regarded as preliminaries to Tarian. Muizz-ud-din brought to 

successful end a century of reconnoitering activity, a programme of military action of which he was not the 

conqueror. On these occassions the Muslim invaders were repeatedly repulsed. 

The Chauhanas who ruled the territory extending from Ajmer to Delhi and thus guarded the entrance 

into Hindustan felt pressure of Muslim invasions. Durlava II of Sambher is said to have lost his life in fighting 

the Turks, Ajayadeva is credited with having repeatedly defeated the Muslim intruders. In the reign of 

Vigraharaja IV they advanced on Balbera (modern Rupnagar in Kishangarh). The Delhi pillar inscription of this 


4 | Page


kind dated V.S. 1220/1163A.D record his extermination of the malecchas and restoration of the country to the 

Aryas.A more definite evidence of the threatening advance of the Turks is furnished by an inscription of 

Prithviraja I recording the fortification of the frontier town of Hansi to check the progress of “the Hammira who 

has become the cause of anxiety to the world. The mention of Hansi along the Pakpattan indicates the tract 

through which the Turkish attacks were being delivered. Subsequently, at a date which is variously given as 

583/1187-8 or 587-1191 Muizz-ud-Din invaded eastern Punjab and established a garrison at Tabarhindh 

(Bhatinda), situated about a hundred miles north of Hansi. He left Ziauddin of Tulak with 12,000 troops to hold 

it till his return. But Prithviraja in person and his subordinate Govindraja of Delhi recovered the fortress. In the 

battle fought near the village of Tarain, not far from the fort. In this battle Muizz-ud-din was decisively beaten. 

Prithviraj immediately invested the fortress but it took him thirteen months to force Ziauddin to surrender. 

Muizz-ud-din returned in 588/1192 and once more met his chauhana adversary on the field of Tarain. He 

divided his forces into five divisions, four of which engaged the enemy on all sides. At the end of the day the 

fifth division, kept in reserve, attacked the exhausted enemy and thus decided the issue, Khandi Rai (Govinda 

Rai) was killed and Prithviraja trying to escape, was captured near Sarsuti. and at Ajmer he was put to death. 

This victory laid the whole Chauhana kingdom at Muiz-ud-din's feet Hansi, Kuhram and Sarsuti, all places of 

military importance, were immediately occupied and garrisoned. This victory at Tarain also seems to have 

constituted a turning point in two respects. Firstly, the Hindu chiefs of the eastern Punjab undertook to pay 

tribute to Muizz-ud-din. And in the second place, it is from this moment that we can date the establishment of a 

permanent Muslim force in the region, at Indraprashta (Indrapat), near Delhi. But not on uniform basis. At 

Inderpat near Delhi an occupation army was stationed under the command of Qutubuddin Aibak who was to act 

as Muizz-ud-din's representative in India. The conqueror then returned to his central Asian projects (leaving 

Aibak with wide powers to consolidate and extend the conquests) where from he returned to India for each cold 

season to take charge of the war against the infidel. 

In Ramzan 588/1192 Aibak defeated and slain a Hindu chief whom Hasan Nizami calls Jatwan in 

Bagar. He then crossed the Jumna to establish a military base in upper Doab. The greater part of the region was 

held, under the Gahadavalas, by Dor Rajputs with their strong hold at Baran. By treachery the Baran was 

captured. Meerut was also occupied and both the places were garrisoned and fortified and they became the 

spearheads of attack from the north on the Gahadvala dominions. The camp at Inderpat was clearly a temporary 

residence and could hardly satisfy the growing needs of a political capital. Ajmer situated well inside Rajputana, 

appeared unsuitable. Delhi was a better alternative, its situation and historical traditions provided the necessary 

features. In 589/1193 Aibak moved his forces against the Tomara ruler of city and occupied it with comparative 

ease. Delhi thus became the capital of Muizz-ud-din's Indian dominion. Aibak was busy in suppressing the 

Harriraja, the brother of late Chauhana king who besieged Ranthambhor and with dispossessed ruler of Delhi 

when according to Hasan Nizami, Aibak was sent to Ghazni by his master where he stayed for six months and 

on his return in 590/1194, Aibak crossed the Jumna a second time and captured Kol (Koil, Aligarh). Muizz-uddin 

assisted by the Aibak invaded Banaras, Whose ruler Jayachandra met them in the vicinity of Chandwar on 

the Jumna, between Kanouj and Etah. Jayachandra was defeated and killed in this battle. This victory added 

another great Kindgdom as far as Monghyr to the Shansabani empire. Malik Husamuddin Ughulbak became its 

first commandant (Muqti). Next year in 592/1195-6. Muizz-ud-din again came to India and moved against 

Bayana, the capital of the Jadon Bhatti Rajputs. Without any difficulty the city was conquered as the ruler do not 

give resistance. Then Thangir (Tahangarh) and fortified Vijayaymandirgarh were occupied and garrisoned under 

Bahauddin tughril. After that Muizz-ud-din captured the strong fort of Gwalior, held by the Parihara prince 

named Sallakshanapala, by Hasan Nizami. 

In 592/1196 Aibak re-occupied Ajmer, thwarting an attempt by the tribal Mhers, in alliance with the 

dispossessed chauhans and Chalukyas, to retake it. In 1197, Aibak plundered Nahrwala (Anhilwara) in Gujarat, 

although the province was not subdued. In 594/1197-8, Badaun was captured followed by the second occupation 

of Banaras. Next year in 595/1198-9, “Chantarwal (Chandwar) and Kanauj were captured. The opening of the 

Thirteenth century saw the Turkish forces engaged against the last surviving imperial Rajputs of Bundelkhand 

(Jejakabhukti) and in 599/1202 Turks attacked Kalinjar the military capital of Paramardideva and conquered it 

and also its principal forts Mahoba and Khajuraho were then occupied and grouped into a military division 

under the command of Hasan Arnal. Badaun appears to have been the starting point for further conquests, first 

in Awadh, and then in Bihar and Bengal, undertaken by Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar (Ikhtiyaruddin) Muhammad 

Bakhtiyar. A Khaliji troop under the Malik Husammuddin Ughulbak, the commander of Banaras and Awadh 

division. Proceeding into Magadha, region east of the Karamanasa river he initiated raids into Maner and Bihar 

and obtained ample resources. Bakhtiyar obtained Aibak‟s commendation for a final attack on the monastery 

town which must have been Uddandapura Juzjani describes the whole of this fortress and city as a vihara, which 

he explains, is a madrasa‟ or „place of learning in the Hindwi Language‟ inhabited largely by Shaven-headed 

brahmans‟, that is by Buddhist monks, which were all slain. Tibetan author of the early seventeenth century, 

Tarantha, in his „History of Buddhism in India‟, writes that the Stag-gzigs‟, „Turks‟ „overran the whole of 


5 | Page


Magadha and massacred many ordained monks in Uddandapura. In the account of the Tibetan pilgrim 

Dharmasvamin, who visited eastern India in the years 1234-36, the vihara of Uddandapura is mentioned twice 

as the residence of a Turushka military commander.hammad bin Bakhtiyar, having received a robe of honour for 

his earlier victory from Aibak, again set out for Bihar and then to Nadiya or as Minjah calls it „Nodia‟, a Sena 

capital, which he took possession of in May 1204, finally driving Lakhsmana Sena to Sankanat (what Juzjani 

refers to as Sankakot not far from Vikramapura, where Lakshmana Sena‟s descendants are archeologically 

recorded to have ruled for the next three generations) and Bang, where the latters reign soon came to an 

end.Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar left Nadiya in desolution, despatching a large part of its accumulated treasure to 

Aibak, and transferring the seat of Muslim government to Lakhnauti, a northern Sena capital on the Ganges near 

Gaur in Maldah district. Within two years from the raid on Nadia he began making preparations for a third 

adventure, an expedition to the northeast, to conquer “Tibet and China.”Minhaj possibly hints at the real purpose 

of the expedition when he speaks of the trading routes, numbering about 35, that carried a brisk trade in Tangan 

horses from “Karambattan” (possibly Kumrikotah in Bhutan) and “Tibet” to Kamrup and thence to the districts 

of North Bengal. Bakhtiyar wanted to have monopoly of this important breed. From Lakhnauti he arrived, 

according to Minhaj, at „Bardhankuti‟ whence for ten days he marched northwards along the river named 

Bangmati, “Three times as broad as the Ganges.” He was badly crushed their and on the retreat at Devkot he 

was assassinated by one of his own lieutenants, named Ali Mardan. 

At the same time the Muizz-ud-din was defeated at Andkhud in 601/1204 which provoked rebellions in 

various parts of the empire, and his last years were taken up with their suppression. On settling the affairs at 

Lahore, Muizz-ud-din left for Ghazni and on the way at Damyak while engaged in evening prayers, he met his 

death at the hands of an assassin, on 3rd Shaban, 602/march 15th, 1206. The murder was ascribed to Mulahida, 

a term applied for, Qaramitah and Ismaili Shaias and also to non-Muslims. The Turks had overrun the whole of 

north India, but on Muizz-ud-din‟s death found themselves in effective possession only of Sind and parts of the 

Punjab and the Gangetic valley with Rajput resistance increasing in extent. Muizz-ud-din left no son; his 

nephew Ghiuasuddin Mahmud showed no promise of leadership. Three among Muizz-ud-dins officers held 

important commands and nourished ambitions of sovereignty – Tajuddin Yalduz held Karman and Sankuran, 

Nasiruddin Qubachah a son-in-law of Yalduz and incharge of Uch. And most capable among them was 

Qutbuddin Aibak. After 2nd battle of Tarain, he was left incharge of Indian conquests Aibak in 1206, 24 

June/17th Zilqad, 602 proceeded from Delhi to Punjab and ascended „the Throne of the Sultanate of Lahore‟ 

(takht-i-saltanat-i-lohor). Ibn Battuta, exclude Qutubuddin Aibak, from the list of Muslim Kings of Delhi 

because the latter ascended the throne in Lahore and not in Delhi Aibak was given the title of Sultan‟ (laqab-i- 

Saltani, Khitab-i-Saltāni) as well as the title of Bādshāh‟ (Khitāab-i-bādshāhi) and a canopy of state (chatr) and 

„Staff‟ (dūrbash) in 1205 by Ghiyasuddin Mahmud when he became the Ghurid suzerain at Firūzkūh. Aibak did 

not issue any coinage in his name, but restricted himself in circulating coins as a local governor in the name of 

his suzerain. Aibak captured Ghazna and in the capital set on the imperial throne ( dār al-mulk-i-ghaznin bar 

takti-i-bādshāhi) for forty days in the year 1208 A.D. The oldest Muslim inscription in Palwal, of that year, 

refers to Aibak as „riqāb al-Imām Saiyid at-turk wa-l-„ajam‟, The master of the rulers of the Turks and the 

Persians‟. Died in 607-1210 of injuries received in a fall from his horse while playing chaugan, Aibak contested 

many battles in Hindustan but as a Sipāhsālār or „Chief Commander‟ of the army in Hind, and none is recorded 

in the four years between 1206 and his death in Lahore in 1210-11. 

After Aibak, his adopted son, Arām Shāh ruled for less than a year in 1210-11. He also did not issue 

any coinage and is not mentioned by Ibn Batuta in his list of Delhi Sultans. He was defeated by Iltutmish 

Governor of Badaun (Slave of Aibak, and hence the slave of a slave) who was invited by the citizens of Delhi 

on the death of Aibak. At this time as Juzjani writes, the dominions of Hindustan (mamālik-i-hindustān) became 

divided in four parts: the „mamlakat-i-dihli‟ which went to Iltutmish, the „mamlakat-i-lakhnauti‟ which was 

brought under subjection by the Khalaj Chiefs, the mamlakat-i-sind which was taken by Qabacha, and the 

„mamlakat-i-lohor‟ which was seized „sometimes by Qabacha and sometimes by Iltutmish‟. All the three 

sovereigns were engaged in a contest for primacy which was ultimately won by the Delhi ruler- Iltutmish. 

In the words of Ibn Batutah, Sultan Shamsad-Din Iltutmish who became „the first who ruled in the city 

of Delhi with independent power. Iltutmish conquered many territories and expanded the Delhi Sultanate. He 

conquered the territories in the Chinab and Jehlum valleys. Uch, Bhakar, Lahore, Twelve celebrated fortresses 

in Debal (Hassan Nizami), Siwistan (Sehwan) lak (Lakki Pass,) Nandanah in Salt Range (recorded by Minhaj), 

Bihar, Lakhanauti, First in 624/1226-7 (by iltutmish‟s son and then in Nov. 8. 1230.) Ranthambhor, Mandor, 

Bayana, Thangir, Lawah, Kasili,Sambhar, Malwah, Bhilsa, Ujjain-in 632/1234-5. Gwalior in 629/1231. 

Iltutmish, like the later Delhi monarchs in his inscriptions uses the title „maula muluk al-arab wa-lajam‟ 

(„King of the kings of the Arabs and the Persians‟), which had been used already by Masud, as well as by 

earlier Muslim kings in view of their conquest of the non-Arab nations which they styled „ajami‟. He also uses 

the title „maula muluk al-turk wa-l-ajam‟ as well as „Saiyid as-salatin at-turk wa-l-ajam‟ (Master of the kings of 

the Turks and the Persian) or „riqab al-imam maula muluk at-turk wa-l-ajam‟ and also „Hindgir‟, „(Conqueror of 


6 | Page


Hind‟), „Shah-i-Sharq‟, („King of the East‟) (at his death in 1236) and „Saltan Saltatin ash-sharq‟, („The Sultan 

of the Sultans of the East‟). The latter title occurs with Iltutmish for the first time, as does the title 

„Shahanshah‟,(„King of Kings‟), which had been associated with the emperors of Persia. Iltutmish was the first 

ruler is India to receive sanction for his rule from the Abbaside Caliph in Baghgad whose emissaries he received 

on 22nd Rabi, I, 626/19th February 1229. He introduced a new coinage system which remained essentially the 

same up to 1387; the silver tanka of one tola weight (172 gm) and the copper jital, distinct from Delhiwalas as 

well as the fractional coins of copper. Shamsuddin Iltutmish died on 20 Shaban 633/29 April 1236 of an illness 

contracted during his expedition to the northwest. He took up Aibaks unfinished work and against heavy odds 

and on imperfect foundation, built up a state whose sovereignty required great diplomatic skill to presence. A 

calculating and skill full organizer, to him the sultanate owed the first outline of its administrative system. Aibak 

outlined the Delhi Sultanate and its sovereign status; Iltutmish was unquestionably its first king who made the 

kingship hereditary for his children. 

The Ghurid annexation of Indian territories was not merely for loot and plunder as their predecessors 

had done before, but the Ghurid conquest of India was done with proper planning, as it increased their wealth 

and also they do not let the conquered territories to slip out of there hands. They do not conquered the rural 

areas as they were less important and having less wealth within them. The Ghurid conquered the much 

important towns, cities and the places having some strategic position whether laying on a trade route, nearness 

to some important town or city,places of military importance like Hansi,Kuhram,Sarsuti or a place from where 

the Ghurids found it easy to conquer the other areas like Baran,Meerut became the spearheads of attack from the 

north on the Gahadvala dominions. 

By following this strategy they annexed the most important areas of Dar-ul-Harab or Hindustan as 

muslims called it and they developed them more and more,the towns got developed into cities,cities into 

metropolitans,headquarters got developed into provincial headquarters etc. and thus the urbanism developed in 

India with the muslim conquest. 

I. Endnotes 

H.Escedy,‟Tribe and Tribal Society in the 6 th Century Empire‟,Acta Orientalia Hungarica,25 (1972); 

P.B.Golden,‟ „Imperial Ideology and the Sources of Political Unity amongst the Pre-Cinggisid Nomads of 

Western Eurasia‟, Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi,II (1982),pp.39-62; idem,History of the Turkic Peoples, 

pp.115-53. 

H.Hoffmann,‟Die Qarluq in der Tibetaischen Literatur‟,Oriens,III,2 (1950),pp.190-208.Cf.Wink, 

Andre,Al-Hind,The Making of the Indo-Islamic World,Vol. II,The Slave Kings and The Islamic Conquest 11th- 

13th cen.,Oxford University Press(1999),p.60.[Hereafter Al-Hind,II] 

G.Clauson,Turkish and Mongolian Studies(London,1962),p.1-3,6,11,14. 

Ibid,p.8-9,11. 

Al Biruni,Kitab fi Tahqiqi mali-I-Hind (Hyderabad,India,1958),p.16[Hereafter Al Biruni,Kitab al-Hind] 

Definitions of Central Asia vary a great deal with different scholars,as do those of Inner Asia. 

A.M.Khazanor, for instance, refers Central Asia merely as the area which is flanked in the north by the Aral Sea 

and the Kazakh steppes, in the south by the Kopet-Dagh and Hindukush, in the west by the Caspian Sea, and in 

the east by the Pamirs‟ (Nomads and Oases in Central Asia; in J.A. Hall and I.C. Jarvie (eds), Transition to 

Modernity: Essays on Power, Wealth and Belief (Cambridge,1992),p.69). In Sinor (ed)., The Cambridge History 

of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge,1990). On the other hand, there is the concept of Inner Asia, which is equated 

with the Central Eurasia, and both of these are defined as cultural rather than geographical concepts; thus, the 

boundaries of this area fluctuated because the essential historical feature of Central Eurasia/Inner Asia, as Sinor 

sees it, is that its socities were usually characterized predominantly by pastoral nomadism rather than sedentary 

agriculture. In this conception, Seljuq – Turkish Anatolia in the eleventh century,for example, becomes part of 

Inner Asia in so far as nomads displace a Byzantine agricultural peasantry. Muta is mutandis, this should apply 

to Iran in the thirteenth century as well. 

L.Kwanten, Imperial Nomads: a History of Central Asia,500-1500(Philadelphia,1979),p.20, 32; C.I. 

Beckwith, „Aspects of the Early History of the Central Asian Guard Corps in Islam’,Archivum Eurasia.Medii 

Aevi,IV(1984), p.32; Golden,P.B.’Imperial Ideology and the Sources of Political Unity amongst the Pre- 

Cinggisid Nomads of Western Eurasia’,Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi.II (1982),p.42-43; Codrington,K.de.B.,„A 

Geographical Introduction to the history of Central Asia’,The Geographical Journal,CIV (1944),p.86. 

This definition of an ethnic community is proposed by A.D.Smith, The Ethnic Origins of 

Nations(Oxford,1986),p.32 and adopted for the Turks by Golden,P.B.,An Introduction to the History of Turkic 

Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State formation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East 

(Wiesbaden,1992),p.1-2.Such community does not need to be able to refer to a common biological descent; in 

fact,they are always „polyethnic‟ and political in character, with members who were born into it as well as 


7 | Page


others who joined it, a community of „descent through tradition‟ and through recognition of the political 

leadership of a charismatic clan. 

Stein,M.A. (ed),Kalhana‟s Rajtarangini (Delhi, 1960),IV,p.131-64;Wink Andre,Al-Hind: The Making 

of the Indo-Islamic World,I.Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam,7th-11th centuries 

(Leiden,1990).p.239-243.[Hereafter Al-Hind,I] 

Al-Biruni,Kitab al-Hind,p.486 

Cf.Harishchandra,Bharat-durdasha,Act 3,in: R.S.Mc Gregor, Hindi Literature from its Beginnings to 

the Nineteenth Century (Wiesbaden, 1984),p.3. 

Other terms that are used include Tajika and Yavana (Ionians).On the term mleccha, see T.R.Sharma, 

Personal and Geographical Names in the Gupta Inscriptions (Delhi, 1978),p.149-52. For the use of Tajika or 

Tayi, see J.Newman, „Islam in the Buddhist Kalacakra Tantra‟ (Paper presented to the 1989 Annual Meeting of 

the American Academy of Religions, Annaheim,CA.1989), and D.C.Sircar, Studies in the Geography of Ancient 

and Medieval India (Delhi,1971),p.126-7,131. For „Shaka Princes‟ , see Epigraphia Indica, Arabic and Persian 

Supplement,1913-14 (Calcutta, 1917; reprint Delhi, 1987),p.35-45. For Mudgalas,see G.Buhler, The 

Jagaducharita of Sarvanada: a Historical Romance from Gujrat (Vienna,1892),p.19. For Yavanas, see Sircar, 

Studies in Geography,p.396; Epigraphia Indica,III, p. 338-9; A.K. Narain , The Indo-Greeks 

(Delhi,1980),p.165-9. 

C.E.Bosworth,’The Imperial Policy of the Early Ghaznavids’,Islamic Studies 1 (1962), part 3, p.49-82, 

represented in his Medieval History.For a brief survey of the dynasty, see B.Spuler, „Ghaznavids’ , Ch.Pellat et 

al.(eds.), The Encyclopaedia of Islam,new edition (Leiden,1954- in progress). The standard works are Bosworth, 

The Ghaznavids. Their Empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran 994:1040, 2 nd edition (Beirut, 1973); idem, The 

Later Ghaznavids,Splendour and Decay: The Dynasty in Afghanistan and Northern India 1040-1186 

(Eidenburgh,1977). 

Al-Hind, I, p.126. 

Al-Utbi,Tarikh al-Yamini (Delhi, 1847),p.20-21,23[Hereafter Al-Utbi];Al-Utbi, Tarikh al-Yamini: Persian 

translation by Jurbadqani(1206 AD) (Tehran,1334 H),p.33-35[Hereafter Jurbadqani]; Tarikh-i-Farishta 

(Lucknow,1864),p.18-19; Alami.A, Conquetes de Mahmud al- Ghaznawi d’apres le Kitab al Yamini d’Utbi,2 

vols (Doctorat d’Etat,Paris,III,1989).p.93-9. [Hereafter Alami.] 

Al-Utbi,p.26; Jurbadqani,p.38-39,152; Tarikh- i- Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.19-20;Al- Hind,I,p. 126,216. 

Al-Utbi,p.161-3; Jurbadqani,p.138-9; Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.23;M.Nazim (ed.),Zayn al-Akhbar of 

Gardizi (Berlin,1928),p.62.[Hereafter M.Nazim] 

M.Nazim ,p.63,65; Alami,I,p.400-3, 405-16; Al-Utbi,p.179; Jurbadqani,p.155-6; Tarikh-i-Farishta 

(Lucknow,1864),p.24; Al-Hind,I ,p.126. 

Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.26-27; 1 Al-Utbi,p.278-86; Jurbadqani,p.187-8; M.Nazim ,p.69; Alami, II 

p.454-57. 

„Tawassut dyar al-hind‟,‟waista mamalik-i-hind‟ (Al-Utbi,p.303;Jurbadqani,p.198.) 

Al-Utbi,p.329-36; Jurbadqani,p.210-2; Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.28; M.Nazim,p.72; Alami,II 

,p.500-17. 

Al-Utbi,p.336-8; Jurbadqani,p.213-4; Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.27-28; 

Sachau,E.C.(trans.),Alberuni‟s India (New Delhi,1983),p.117; M.Nazim,p.71-72; Alami,p.484-91. 

Al-Utbi,p.395-400; Jurbadqani,p.242-4; Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.29; M.Nazim,p.75-76; Alami,II 

,p.525-8. 

Jurbadqani,p.244-5; Al-Utbi,p.400-1; Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.29; Al-Hind,I,p.286,290; 

Alami,II,p.528-32. 

Al-Utbi,p.415; Jurbadqani,p.251-2; C.J.Tornberg (ed.),Ibn al-Athir, Al-Kamil fi l-Tarikh, 12 vols (Leiden,1853- 

1869),VII,p.301[Hereafter C.J.Tornberg]; Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.31; Al-Hind,I,p.286; 

Alami,II,p.547-58. 

M.Nazim,p.78-79; Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.31; Alami,II,p.562-6. 

M.Nazim,p.79-80; Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.31; Alami,II,p.566-71. 

Al-Hind,I,p.68,185,218,307; Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864),p.32-35;C.J.Tornberg,IX,p.241-2,345-6; 

M.Nazim,p.87-88;Alami,II,p.571-85. 

Gazetteer of the province of Oudh.3 vols (Lucknow and Allahabad,1877-78),III,p.487 

Gazetteer of Oudh,I,p.112. 

Cf.T.Mahmood,`The Dargah of Sayyid Salar Masud Ghazi in Bahraich:Legend,Tradition and Reality’,in: Ch. 

Troll (ed.),Muslim Shrines in India (New Delhi,1984). 

W.H.Morley (ed.),Tarikh-i-Baihaqi (Calcutta,1862),p.323-9,495-8,500-38. 

Al-Hind,II,p.126. 


8 | Page


Bosworth; Later Ghaznavids,splender and decay:the dynasty in Afghanistan and Northern India 1040- 

1186(Edinburgh,1977),111-22[Hereafter Bosworth,Later Gaznavids] ,p.61-68; Tarikh-i-Farishta 

(Lucknow,1864),p.48-49;C.J.Tornberg,X,p.72-74. 

A. Maricq and G. Weit; Le minaret de Djam. La decouverte de la capitale des sultans Ghorides (XII-XIII 

siecles) (paris, 1959),p 31-44, contain a historical survey of the dynasty down to C. 1200;Cf Jackson Peter;The 

Delhi Sultanate,A Political and Military History,Cambridge University Press,1999,more generally, see C.E. 

Bosworth,The Early Islamic History of Ghur,Central Asiatic Journal,6 (1961); Ch.Pellat et al.(eds.),The 

encyclopaedia of Islam,new edition (Leiden,1954); A.D.H. Bivar, ‘Ghur’ ibid. For what follows, see also 

Bosworth; Later Ghaznavids,p.111-22; idem, ‘The political and dynastic history of the Iranian world (A.D. 

1000-1217)‟, in J.A. Boyle (ed). The Cambridge history of Iran, V. The Saljuq and Mongol periods (Cambridge, 

1968), 157-66, 185-92. 

.J.Tornberg, XI, p. 168.; Juwaini Alauddin Ata Malik;Tarikh-i-Jahan Gusha-e-Juwaini,ed. Abdul Wahab 

Qazwini.2 vols.,London,Gibb memorial series,1912-1916.Vol.III a facsimile edition,by 

E.D.Ross,London,1931.Eng trans.J.A.Boyle,2 vols,Manchester,1958, places the event in 565/1169.[Hereafter 

Juwaini], Cf.A.B.M. Habibullah, Foundation of Muslim rule in India, Allahabad, 1961; p. 105.[Hereafter 

Habibullah Foundation]. 

Juwaini. II, p. 10 for these periodical conflicts in which the help of Qarakhitai and the Seljug or the Khwarizm 

Shah was invariably sought by the two contending parties, see Bartold;Turkistan down to the Mongol 

Invasion,Eng. Trans. By H.A.R. Gibb,London,1928,2 nd ed.1958 op.cit, p. 333ff.[Hereafter Bartold] 

C.J.Tornberg, Xi. P. 168; Juwaini, idem, places the event in 565/1169, but Bartold upholds the above date. 

Hamdullah Mustaufi Qazwini; Tarikh-i-Guzidah,Fascimile ed.,Gibb Memorial series, London, 1913,p. 

460,[Hereafter, Guzidah];Al-Rawandi Abu Bakr Muhammad. b.Ali;Rahatus-Sudur 

ed,M.Iqbal,Cambridge,1922, p. 175.[Hereafter, Rawandi] 

Minhaj,Abu Umar b. Siraj Juzjani;Tabaqat-i-Nasiri,(a) ed.Nasau Lees,Khadim Hussain,and Abdul Hai 

Bib.Ind.Calcutta,1864.(b)English trans.By H.G.Raverty,2 Vols,Bib.Ind Calcutta,1897, p. 55 

ff.[Hereafter,Minhaj] It is not certain who was the antagonist of Alauddin at Ghazni for the accounts are not 

unanimous as to the date of Bahrams death and the accession of his son, Khursau.Minhaj, p. 24-5, states that 

Bahram was driven out of Ghazni by Alauddin, and places his death in 552/1156. An anecdote on p. 115, 

however implies that it was khusrau who apposed Alauddin, Guzidah, I, p. 406, and C.J.Tornberg, xi, p. 85, date 

Bahram‟s death in 544/1149 and 548/1153, respectively.Baizawi,Abu Said Abdullah;Nizamat- 

Twarikh.Bm.Add.16708.f.51a, states Bahram died before Alauddin‟s march on Ghazni, which must have 

occurred soon after 544, the year in which Saifuddin‟s head was sent to Sanjar.Cf Habibullah Foundation. 

C.J.Tornberg, xi, p. 74. places Alauddin‟s sack of Ghazni after his defeat by Sanjar in 547, which seems 

improbable. He further state that Alauddin placed his brother Saifuddin on the throne of Ghazni and on bahram 

Subsequently murdering the latter, once again marched to sack the city. But Bahram died in the meantime and 

his successor Khusrau had fled to Punjab. Guzidah supports this but confuses Khusrau with his son Khursrau 

Malik, last of the Ghaznawids. According to Minhaj, Khursrau left Ghazni only on the approach of the Ghuzz 

who then occupied it for 10 years. The dates 552/1157 and 555/1160 for the accessions of Khusrau and his son, 

Khusrau Malik, quoted by Raverty: op. cit, p. 114, note from their suppositious coins described in a manuscript 

entitled Tafsil-i-Sikkah, do not prove anything, since the legends given their in are fictitious and the works was 

admittedly compiled late in the 18 Century. 

A.M. Husain (ed).; Futuh-us-Salatin of Isami (Agra, 1938). 

Fakhre Mudabbir(Muhammad b. Mansur b. Said Qurashi);Shajarat (or Bahr) al-Ansab, partial edn. by Sir E. 

Denison Ross;Tarikh [sic]-i-Fakhr al-Din Mubarakshah (London,1927), 19-20. Habibullah, Foundation, 36-7. 

S.H. Hodivala, Studies in Indo-Muslim history (Bombay, 1939-57, 2 vols), I, 141, for Daybul, See S. 

Qudratullah Fatimi; „The Twin Ports of Daybul’, in Hamida Khuhro (ed.), Sind through the centuries (Oxford 

and Karachi, 1981), 97-105; Al-Hind, I,p. 181-3. 

For this term see. B.D. Chattopadhayaya; „Origin of the Rajputs: the political, economic and social processes in 

early medieval Rajasthan’, IHR 3 (1976), 59-82, repr.in his The Making of early medieval India (Oxford and 

Delhi, 1994), 57-88. 

For an account of the dynasty achievements see Majumdar; The Gurjara – Pratihara Empire. 

On one or two occasions when Muizzuddin came to Peshawar he might have used the Khaiber, but the 

southern routes were more convenient. The troops of the Khwarizan Shah, with a view to capture Yalduz, the 

rulers of Ghazni, in 1215, are stated to have seized the frontier routes into Hindusthan, “Leading towards Gardiz 

and Karaha pass”, that is the Kurram valley; Yalduz had to take a more southeasterly route, through the „Sang-i- 

Surkh‟ mountains, which according to the Reverty, op. cit. p. 505, is the name given to three or four passes; 

Minhaj p. 135. Through the province of „Karman and Sankuran,‟ the old name of the tract between the Salt 

Range and Gardiz south of the „Safed Koh‟, passed the lower route into Hindustan usually used by Muizz-uddin; 

Minhaj, p. 132; Raverty. Op. cit pp. 498-9; see also Raverty,H.G; Notes on Afghanistan,London,1880. pp. 


9 | Page


80-84. It was probably within this area that the passes of the “Sang-i-Surkh” (Red Mountain) were situated 

through which both Yalduz and Aibak retreated from Ghazni. Minhaj, p. 194-35; Sec also Raverty; Notes on 

Afghanistan, pp. 38-9; Trans. Tabakat-i-Nasiri, p. 538, note. 

Minhaj, p. 116. It mentions Bhima as the reigning king of Anhilwara, but inscriptions and other Hindu records 

ascribe this victory to Mularaja II; Indian Antiquary, 1877, p. 186 and 198. See also 

Forbes,A.K.,Rasmala:Hindoo Annals of the Province of Goozerat in Western India,2 vols (London, 1924). (ed. 

Rawlinson) I, p. 199; Ojha,Gourishankar.H; Rajputaneka Itihasa,Ajmer,1927, i, p. 220. Cf. Ray,H.C.; Dynastic 

History of Northern India.3 Vols.Calcutta University 1931-35, ii, p. 1004-5, A fragmentary inscription at Kiradu 

near Mt. Abu, dated V.S. 1235 (1178 A.D. records the repair of a temple broken by a Turushka army, possibly 

referring to Muizz-ud-din‟s invasion, Epigraphia lndica, xi, p. 72). 

N. Lees etal.; (eds) Tabaqat-i-Nasiri of Abu Umar al-Juzjani (Calcutta, 1894), p. 116-18; Ferishta,Qasim b. 

Hindu Khan;Tarikh-i-Ferishta (Lucknow, 1864), p. 52-57; A.M. Husian (ed); Futuhus-Salatin of Isami (Agra, 

1938), vs. 1315-22[Hereafter Isami]; I.H. Siddiqui; Perso-Arabic Sources of Information on the Life and 

conditions in the sultanate of Delhi (New Delhi, 1992) p. 57. 

N. Janardan Kirtane; „The Hammira Mahakavya of Nagachandra Suri’, Indian Antiquary (1890), p. 202, 215- 

17. 

Ojha; Rajputana, i. p. 266. 

Indian Antiquary, 1890, p. 202; Sarda,H.N; Ajmer,Historical and Descriptive.Ajmer,1911.p. 79. 

Indian Antiquary, 1890, p. 215-17. 

1 Indian Antiquary, xii, p. 17. Thomas,Edward;Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi,London1871, p. 

59,[Hereafter,Thomas Chronicles] noticed a coin of one Kilhana with the Arabic legend reading „Sina‟ on the 

observe, which, according the him, is found only on the coins of Masud III. Kilhana in that case must originally 

have been Masud‟s feudatory who had latter rebelled and fortified the route from Pakpattan. 

Ishwariparasad;History of Medieval India,Allahabad,1925, p. 177, states that Sirhind, in Patiala, 100 

miles n.w. of Karnal was the first place captured. He relies on the printed text of Minhaj, p. 118, which has 

Sirhindah and in this is supported by later histories of like the Anonymous;Mirat-i-Jahan Numa,B.M.Or.1998 f. 

50a, and Nurul Haqq Dehlavi; Zubdatul-Twarikh,I.O.1805 f.7b.(Cf Habibullah Foundation),Ferishta and Bakshi, 

Nizamuddin; Tabaqat-i-Akbari,(a)ed.De and Husain,3 Vols,Calcutta,1927-41.(b)Trans.B.De.3 Vols Cal.1913- 

40, however have Bhatindah; Ferishta, i. p. 5 and 7; Tabaqati-i-Akbari ,i. p. 37 Raverty, op. cit, p 457, note 3, 

however informs us that in all the Miss. Collated by him it is written Tabarhinda, which is also found in 

Sirhindi,Yahya;Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi,(a)ed.M.Hidayat Husain , Bib.Ind. Calcutta , 1931. (b)Eng. Trans.by 

K.K.Basu,Baroda,1932 p. 7, Badauni, i. p. 49 and Haji Dabir, ii, p. 677.Habibullah opines that no such place is 

known to have ever existed no one acquainted with the hurried style of writing Persian Characters can fail to see 

that transposition of a few dots and a careless joining of letters are all that is required to make Bhatindah read 

Tabarhindah and even Sirhind.Sirhind seems to be very improbable,for the shortest route from Lahore to 

Hindustan lay through western Patiala in which Bhatindah is situated. No remains of any strong fort, such as 

that which withstood Prithviraja‟s assault for over a year, were found in Sirhind. On the other hand in 

Bhatindah, Garrick noticed a strong massive fort and also heard local legends respecting Muizz-ud-din‟s attack 

on the place; Cunningham Reports, xxiii, p. 2-3. According to Raverty, op. cit; p. 458, note, the Lubbut-twarikhi-Hind, 

states that “Tabarhindah is now known as Bhatindah”. But Ishwariprasad asserts that Shirhind was 

known as Bhatindah.Cf Habibullah,Foundation. 

1 (Minhaj, p.119). 

1 Minhaj, p. 118. Ferishta, pp. 5-7 and Tabaqati-i-Akbari, i. p.37, state that is was fought at Narain, near Tarain, 

"in the district of Sirsuti."). 

1 For details of the Tactics followed see Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi, p.9). 

1 Minhaj p.120. 

1 Hasan Nizami;Tajul-Maasir(a)I.O.1486,(b)I.O.209,(c)B.M.Add.7623,(d)Add.7624, f. 44b. Minhaj states that 

he was immediately executed. For the absurd story of Chand Bardai of how prithviraja, blinded and kept in 

conferment at Ghazni, was yet able with the help of Chand himself, to slay Muizz-ud-din before his own 

execution, see Chand Bardai;Prithviraja Raso,ed.M.V.Pandia and Sam Sundar Das,Nagari Pracharini Sabha , 

Benaras,1913 vi: also Raj Darshani, f. 49a. 

Minhaj, p.120; Fakhruddin Mubarakshah,(Known as Fakhre Mudabbir);Tarikh-i-Fakhruddin 

Mubarakshah,ed.E.D.Ross,London,1867, p. 22). 

Ibn al-Athir,Izzal-Din,al-Kamil fi‟l-Ta‟rikh,ed.C.J.Tornberg; Ibn-El-Athiri Chronicon quod perfectissimum 

inscribitur (Leiden,1851-76,12 vols.); repr.(with different pagination) Dar al-Sader (Beirut,1386/1966,12 

vols.)(references are to both editions,in that order), XI, 115/174, wa-iltazamu lahu bil-awwal.Cf.Jackson 

Peter;The Delhi Sultanate,A Political and Military History,Cambridge,1999; Tajul Maathir. Fol. 50b. for the 

chieftains of the Delhi region specifically(Cf Habibullah Foundation) 


10 | Page


1 Tajud Din Hasan Nizami‟s;Taajul-Maathir(The Crown of Glorious Deeds),translated by Bhagwat Saroop,saud 

Ahmad Dehlavi,Delhi,1998.[Hereafter Bhagwat Saroop Taaj-ul-Maathir],p.70. 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Taajul-Maathir,p.101. 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Tajul-Maathir,p.84. 

1 Minhaj, p. 139, dated the capture of Meerut in 587/1191, but he is more correct in assigning it to 588/1192, on 

p. 120). 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Tajul-Maathir,p.101. places the conquest of Delhi towards the end of 588/1192, as is done 

also in Minhaj, p.120, Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi, p.11 Tabaqat-i-Akbari, i.p. 38-39, and Ferishta, I, p.58. Thomas 

read the date on the Qutub Minar inscriptions as 587.Thomas Chronicles, p.22. But this may also be read as 589. 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Tajul-Maathir,p.114. Ibn Battuta;Kitabur Rahlah,also called,Tuhfatun Nuzzar fi gharaib-ilamsar:ed.(a)Cairo,1870-71, 

(b)With a French trans.Defremery and Sanguinatti,Paris, 4 Vols,1853-59, (c) 

Abridged Eng. Trans.H.A.R. Gibb,London,1929, (d) Eng.trans.(of the travels in India,Maldive and Ceylon) by 

Mahdi Husain,Baroda,1953, ii, p. 19-20, relates a curious story of how his master summoned him secretly to 

confound his enemies who accused him of disloyalty. 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Tajul-Maathir,p.146. Minhaj places it in 589; p. 120. 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Tajul-Maathir,p.151.Mulla Ahmad Thattawi and others, Tarikh-i-Alfi,B.M.(a) Or,142,(b) 

Or,162. f. 485, states that Jayachandra with an army of hundred thousand horses and seven hundred elephants, 

was himself marching against Muiz-ud-din Territories(Cf Habibullah Foundation). 

1 Written Kanwar Pal by Bhagwat Saroop Taajul-Maathir,p.201.; Kumarapala is mentioned in the annals of the 

ancestors of the Jadon Bhatti dynasty of Kerauli, Cunningham; Reports, xx, p. 67-8. 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Tajul-Maathir,p.201. Minhaj, p. 114, dates the event in 591/1195, but Fakhre Mudabbir p. 23, 

confirms Hasan Nizami. A locally current couplet in Hindi has preserved the date and name of the Muslim 

officer, Cunningham; Reports, VI, p.55. 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Tajul-Maathir,p.205. According to Cunningham, he is probably to be identified with 

Lahangdeo, the fifth king of the list of Hiraman Munshi's Gwalior Namah.B.M.Add. 16709. 7.9a(Cf Habibullah 

Foundation) See also the version of Motiram and Khushal. I.O.Ms. 860 f.8b.(Cf Ibid).The prince, Sallakshana 

Sinha, is mentioned in a fragmentary inscription, Discovered in Jhansi, as being engaged in fighting the Jevanas. 

It is however, without date;Epigraphia Indica,Govt Press,Delhi, I, p. 214-5. 

1 

Tarikh-i-Farishta, p. 58-59; Kirtane; Hammira Mahakavya, p. 62; Tajul-Maathir, ff. 42b-54a(Cf Habibullah 

Foundation) 

1 Minhaj, p. 140;Farishta, p. 59;Bhagwat Saroop Tajul Maathir,p.225. 

1 

Fakhre Mudabbir, p. 24. the Tajul-Maathir, f. 176b mentions Aibak's stay in Badaun in 599/1202-3(Cf 

Habibullah Foundation). 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Tajul-Maathir,p.244, Fakhre Mudabbir, p. 25; Cf. Cunningham; Reports, ii, p. 456 who 

erroneously asserts that Kalinjar was attacked twice, in 1196 and again in 1202.Farishta, p. 62. 

1 This simpler form of the name found in A.B.M. Habibullah, p. 69 and also in the printed text of B.M. Mss. of 

The Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, inspite of Raverty‟s craze for the izafat inserted between Muhammad and Bakhtiyar as a 

substitute for bin. 

1 N.Lees etal(ed.)Tabakat-i-Nasiri, p. 146-7 

1 Minhaj; p. 147 

1 N.Lees etal(ed.)Tabakat-i-Nasiri, p. 147-8 

1 Ibid, p. 148 

1 D. Chttopadhyaya (ed.); Tarantha‟s History of Buddhism in India (Calcutta 1980), p. 319. 

1 Ibid. 

1 N.Lees etal (ed.) Tabakat-i-Nasiri, p. 150-1;Richard M. Eaton; Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier,1204- 

1760,Berkeley and Los Angeles,University of California Press,1993, p. 32, note 10. 

1 Imperial Gazetteer of India,(Oxford, 1908), xii, p. 18; journal of Asiatic society of Bengal,Calcutta. Old 

series:in two parts separately for Antiquities and Natural Sciences.New series(since 1905): Journal and 

Proceedings.In progress:Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal issued separately for Letters,Science and 

Yearbook. (N.S.), ii, p. 282. 

1 Minhaj, p. 152. 

1 Ibid, p. 154 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Tajul-Maathir,p.273; Minhaj, p. 124. 

1 Bhagwat Saroop Tajul-Maathir,p.273; Minhaj, idem, Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi, p. 12; Haji Dabir;Zafarle- 

Walihi,edited under the title of”An Arabic History of Gujrat” by E.D.Ross,London,1921; p. 602, See also 

Reverty, op. cit. p-458, note. 

1 Raverty, op. cit, p. 531, note, 8 argues at great length that the name should really be pronounced as Kabajah, 

but the above form is confirmed in Hindi script on one of his coins; Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1887, 

p. 171. 


11 | Page


1 Also Aybek, Aybeg, Skt. Shuduvadina, Shutubadina (Indian Antiquary, xix, p. 186; Epigraphia Indica; Arabic 

and Persian Supplement,Government Press,Delhi(1913-14)(Since 1951 issued as „Arabic-Persian supplement to 

Epigraphia India), p. 43) 

1 N.Lees etal (ed.)Tabakat-i-Nasiri, p. 140;M.Hidayat Husaini (ed.) Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi, p. 14, 16; Ferishta, 

p. 63. 

1 Thomas,Chronicles, p. 34, 37: H.Nelson Wright; The coinage and Metrology of Sultans of Delhi (New Delhi, 

1974), p. 69. 

1 M.Hidayat Husaini (ed.)Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi. P. 15;N.Lees etal (ed.)Tabakat-i-Nasiri, p. 140;Ferishta, p. 

63;A.M. Husain (ed.)Futuhus-Salatin, vs. 1974-1996. 

1 Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica,Govt.Press,Delhi(since 1951 issued as „Arabic and Persian supplement to 

Epigraphia India‟) 1911-12, p. 2. 

1 N.Lees etal(ed.)Tabakat-i-Nasiri, p. 141;M.Hidayat Husaini (ed.) Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi, 15; Cf. Mirat-i- 

Jahan Numa, f. 53, which places his death in 609/1212, whereas Aibak‟s latest inscription is dated Ramzan, 

607/1210.(Cf Habibullah Foundation). 

1 Raverty, p. 529, note 4; N.Lees etal (ed.)Tabakat-i-Nasiri, p. 141-2; Ferishta, p. 64; Nelson Wright, coinage 

and Metrology, p. 69; Defremery and Sanguinetti Ibn Batutah 111, p. 164. 

1 N.Lees etal(ed.)Tabakat-i-Nasiri, p. 141-2. 

1 Defremery and Sanguinetti, Ibn Batautah, III, p. 164. Battuta actually refers to this king as „Lamlish‟. There is 

a number of variant spellings of the name, but the proper name appears to have been Iltutmish, „holder of the 

realm (Cf. S. Digby, ‘Iletmish or Iltutmish? A reconsideration of the Name of the Delhi Sultan’, Iran, 8 (1970), 

p. 57-64; Thomas Chronicles, p. 43-44,, 71; Nelson wright, coinage and Metrology, p. 70). In Sanskrit his name 

was revealed Lititimisi, or he was referred to as Suritan Sri Samasadin or Samusdina, or simply. The „Turushka 

lord‟ (Turushkadhipamadaladan) (Z.A. Desai; ‘Inscriptions of the Mamluk Sultans of Delhi’, in: Z.A. Desai 

(ed.); Epigraphia Indica, Arabic and Persian Supplement (1966) (Delhi, 1967), p. 1-18; „Reference to 

Muhammadan‟s AD 730-1320 in: The Journal of Indian History, 15 (1936), p. 177. 

1 Minhaj, p. 179, where it is included in Iltutmishs conquests, it is called Nardin by Utbi,Abu Nasr;Tarikh-i- 

Yamini,also called Kitab-i-Yamini,Arabic text,ed.Ali and Sprenger,Delhi,1847, p. 260: For some years the latter 

Hindu-Sahiya Kings made it their capital for its location see Raverty: op. cit. p. 534, note i., Imperial Gazetteer 

of India, xviii, p. 349; also Nazim,Muhammad; Life and Times of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna,Cambridge,1931, 

p. 91. 

1 Minhaj, p. 164. 

1 Minhaj, p. 174. This date is also, like that on the Daulat Shah Cion, doubtful, for Raverty found 628 in some of 

the older manuscripts, Haji Dabir, ii, p. 698, however, has 627. 

1 These places are listed in Iltutmish‟s conquests; Minhaj, p. 179, At Kaman, near Thangir, he built the mosque 

now known as the Chausat Khamba, See Cunningham; Report, xx, pp. 11 and 56. 

1 Minhaj, p. 236 

1 Minhaj, p. 176, 

1 Epigraphia Indica, Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1913-14, p. 14-15. 

1 Ibid, Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica, 1911-12, p. 3, 27-30; A.M Husain (ed.) Futuhus-Salatin, p. 123-4. 

1 Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica, 1911-12, op. cit; p. 27; Z.A. Desai, „Inscription of the Mamluk Sultans of Delhi‟, 

Epigraphia Indica: Arabic and Persian supplement (1966), ed. Z.A. Desai (Delhi, 1967), (p. 1-18p. 17). 

1 There is a rear coin of Iltutmish which contains only the name of the Caliph and which was probably issued to 

commemorate the arrival of the Caliphal diploma of investiture (Thomas, Chronicles, p. 46; Nelson wright, 

Coinage and Metrology, p. 18; N.Lees etal (ed.) Tabakat-i-Nasiri, p. 174; Ferishta, p. 66). 

1 S. Moosvi;„Numismatic evidence and the economic history of the Delhi sultanate’, Proceedings of the Indian 

History congress (1989-90), p. 207-8. 

1 Minhaj, p. 176. 

1 A.B.M. Habibullah, Foundation of Muslim rule in India, Allahabad, 1961; p. 105. 

1 Minhaj,p.120;Fakhre Mudabbir,p.22. 

1 Minhaj,p.139 

References 

[1] Abu Bakr Muhammad Al-Rawandi. b.Ali;Rahatus-Sudur ed,M.Iqbal,Cambridge,1922 

[2] Al Biruni,Kitab fi Tahqiqi mali-I-Hind (Hyderabad,India,1958) 

[3] Alami.A, Conquetes de Mahmud al- Ghaznawi d‟apres le Kitab al Yamini d‟Utbi,2 vols (Doctorat d‟Etat,Paris,III,1989) 

[4] Al-Utbi, Tarikh al-Yamini: Persian translation by Jurbadqani(1206 AD) (Tehran,1334 H) 

[5] Al-Utbi,Abu Nasr;Tarikh-i-Yamini,also called Kitab-i-Yamini,Arabic text,ed.Ali and Sprenger,Delhi,1847 

[6] Al-Utbi,Tarikh al-Yamini (Delhi, 1847) 

[7] Baizawi,Abu Said Abdullah;Nizamat-Twarikh.Bm.Add.16708.f.51a 

[8] Bakshi, Nizamuddin; Tabaqat-i-Akbari,(a)ed.De and Husain,3 Vols,Calcutta,1927-41.(b)Trans.B.De.3 Vols Cal.1913-40 

[9] Bartold;Turkistan down to the Mongol Invasion,Eng. Trans. By H.A.R. Gibb,London,1928,2nd ed.1958 op.cit, p. 333ff 


12 | Page


[10] Beckwith,C.I., „Aspects of the Early History of the Central Asian Guard Corps in Islam‟,Archivum Eurasia.Medii Aevi,IV(1984), 

[11] Bosworth,C.E., The Ghaznavids. Their Empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran 994:1040, 2nd edition (Beirut, 1973) 

[12] Bosworth,C.E.,‟The Imperial Policy of the Early Ghaznavids‟,Islamic Studies 1 (1962) 

[13] Bosworth,C.E.,The Early Islamic History of Ghur,Central Asiatic Journal,6 (1961) 

[14] Bosworth,C.E.,The Later Ghaznavids,Splendour and Decay: The Dynasty in Afghanistan and Northern India 1040-1186 

(Eidenburgh,1977). 

[15] Boyle,J.A., (ed). The Cambridge history of Iran, V. The Saljuq and Mongol periods (Cambridge, 1968) 

[16] Buhler,G., The Jagaducharita of Sarvanada: a Historical Romance from Gujrat (Vienna,1892), 

[17] Ch.Pellat et al.(eds.), The Encyclopaedia of Islam,new edition (Leiden,1954- in progress). 

[18] Chand Bardai;Prithviraja Raso,ed.M.V.Pandia and Sam Sundar Das,Nagari Pracharini Sabha , Benaras,1913 vi: also Raj Darshani, 

f. 49a. 

[19] Chattopadhayaya,B.D., „Origin of the Rajputs: the political, economic and social processes in early medieval Rajasthan‟, IHR 3 

(1976), repr.in his The Making of early medieval India (Oxford and Delhi, 1994), 57-88. 

[20] Chttopadhyaya,D. (ed.); Tarantha‟s History of Buddhism in India (Calcutta 1980) 

[21] Clauson,G.,Turkish and Mongolian Studies(London,1962) 

[22] Codrington,K.de.B.,„A Geographical Introduction to the history of Central Asia‟,The Geographical Journal,CIV (1944), 

[23] Dabir Haji;Zafarle-Walihi,edited under the title of”An Arabic History of Gujrat” by E.D.Ross,London,1921 

[24] Desai,Z.A., „Inscriptions of the Mamluk Sultans of Delhi‟, in: Z.A. Desai (ed.); Epigraphia Indica, Arabic and Persian Supplement 

(1966) (Delhi, 1967) 

[25] Digby,S., „Iletmish or Iltutmish? A reconsideration of the Name of the Delhi Sultan‟, Iran, 8 (1970) 

[26] Eaton, M. Richard; Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier,1204-1760,Berkeley and Los Angeles,University of California 

Press,1993, 

[27] Epigraphia Indica, Arabic and Persian Supplement,1913-14 (Calcutta, 1917; reprint Delhi, 1987) 

[28] Epigraphia Indica; Arabic and Persian Supplement,Government Press,Delhi(1913-14)(Since 1951 issued as „Arabic-Persian 

supplement to Epigraphia India) 

[29] Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica,Govt.Press,Delhi(since 1951 issued as „Arabic and Persian supplement to Epigraphia India‟) 1911-12 

[30] Escedy,H.,‟Tribe and Tribal Society in the 6th Century Empire‟,Acta Orientalia Hungarica,25 (1972); Golden,P.B., „Imperial 

Ideology and the Sources of Political Unity amongst the Pre-Cinggisid Nomads of Western Eurasia‟, Archivum Eurasiae Medii 

Aevi,II (1982) 

[31] Fakhre Mudabbir(Muhammad b. Mansur b. Said Qurashi);Shajarat (or Bahr) al-Ansab, partial edn. by Sir E. Denison Ross;Tarikh 

[sic]-i-Fakhr al-Din Mubarakshah (London,1927) 

[32] Ferishta,Qasim b. Hindu Khan;Tarikh-i-Ferishta (Lucknow, 1864) 

[33] Forbes,A.K.,Rasmala:Hindoo Annals of the Province of Goozerat in Western India,2 vols (London, 1924). (ed. Rawlinson) 

[34] Gazetteer of the province of Oudh.3 vols (Lucknow and Allahabad,1877-78) 

[35] Golden,P.B.,An Introduction to the History of Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State formation in Medieval and Early Modern 

Eurasia and the Middle East (Wiesbaden,1992), 

[36] Golden,P.B.‟Imperial Ideology and the Sources of Political Unity amongst the Pre-Cinggisid Nomads of Western 

Eurasia‟,Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi.II (1982), 

[37] Habibullah,A.B.M., Foundation of Muslim rule in India, Allahabad, 1961 

[38] Hall,J.A. and Jarvie,I.C. (eds), Transition to Modernity: Essays on Power, Wealth and Belief (Cambridge,1992) 

[39] Hasan Tajud Din Nizami‟s;Taajul-Maathir(The Crown of Glorious Deeds),translated by Bhagwat Saroop,saud Ahmad 

Dehlavi,Delhi,1998 

[40] Hodivala,S.H.,Studies in Indo-Muslim history (Bombay, 1939-57, 2 vols) 

[41] Hoffmann,H.,‟Die Qarluq in der Tibetaischen Literatur‟,Oriens,III,2 (1950), 

[42] Husain,A.M., (ed). Futuh-us-Salatin of Isami (Agra, 1938). 

[43] Husian,A.M.,(ed); Futuhus-Salatin of Isami (Agra, 1938) 

[44] Ibn Battuta;Kitabur Rahlah,also called,Tuhfatun Nuzzar fi gharaib-il-amsar:ed.(a)Cairo,1870-71, (b)With a French trans.Defremery 

and Sanguinatti,Paris, 4 Vols,1853-59, (c) Abridged Eng. Trans.H.A.R. Gibb,London,1929, (d) Eng.trans.(of the travels in 

India,Maldive and Ceylon) by Mahdi Husain,Baroda,1953, ii 

[45] Imperial Gazetteer of India,(Oxford, 1908), 

[46] Ishwariparasad;History of Medieval India,Allahabad,1925 

[47] Jackson Peter;The Delhi Sultanate,A Political and Military History,Cambridge University Press,1999 

[48] Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1887 

[49] Journal of Asiatic society of Bengal,Calcutta. Old series:in two parts separately for Antiquities and Natural Sciences.New 

series(since 1905): Journal and Proceedings.In progress:Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal issued separately for 

Letters,Science and Yearbook. (N.S.) 

[50] Juwaini Alauddin Ata Malik;Tarikh-i-Jahan Gusha-e-Juwaini,ed. Abdul Wahab Qazwini.2 vols.,London,Gibb memorial 

series,1912-1916.Vol.III a facsimile edition,by E.D.Ross,London,1931.Eng trans.J.A.Boyle,2 vols,Manchester,1958 

[51] Juzjani, Minhaj,Abu Umar b. Siraj;Tabaqat-i-Nasiri,(a) ed.Nasau Lees,Khadim Hussain,and Abdul Hai 

Bib.Ind.Calcutta,1864.(b)English trans.By H.G.Raverty,2 Vols,Bib.Ind Calcutta,1897 

[52] Kirtane, N. Janardan,„The Hammira Mahakavya of Nagachandra Suri‟, Indian Antiquary (1890) 

[53] Kwanten,L., Imperial Nomads: a History of Central Asia,500-1500(Philadelphia,1979) 

[54] Mahmood,.T.,`The Dargah of Sayyid Salar Masud Ghazi in Bahraich:Legend,Tradition and Reality‟,in: Ch. Troll (ed.),Muslim 

Shrines in India (New Delhi,1984). 

[55] Maricq,A. and Weit,G., Le minaret de Djam. La decouverte de la capitale des sultans Ghorides (XII-XIII siecles) (paris, 1959) 

[56] Mc Gregor,R.S., Hindi Literature from its Beginnings to the Nineteenth Century (Wiesbaden, 1984) 

[57] Mirat-i-Jahan Numa,B.M.Or.1998 f. 50a 

[58] Morley,W.H., (ed.),Tarikh-i-Baihaqi (Calcutta,1862) 

[59] Mubarakshah, Fakhruddin,(Known as Fakhre Mudabbir);Tarikh-i-Fakhruddin Mubarakshah,ed.E.D.Ross,London,1867, p. 22). 

[60] Munshi Hiraman, Gwalior Namah.B.M.Add. 16709. 

[61] N. Lees etal.; (eds) Tabaqat-i-Nasiri of Abu Umar al-Juzjani (Calcutta, 1894) 

[62] Narain,A.K., The Indo-Greeks (Delhi,1980), 

[63] Nazim,Muhammad; Life and Times of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna,Cambridge,1931 

[64] Nazim.M., (ed.),Zayn al-Akhbar of Gardizi (Berlin,1928), 


13 | Page


[65] Nelson,H. Wright; The coinage and Metrology of Sultans of Delhi (New Delhi, 1974) 

[66] Newman,J., „Islam in the Buddhist Kalacakra Tantra‟ (Paper presented to the 1989 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of 

Religions, Annaheim,CA.1989) 

[67] Nurul Haqq Dehlavi; Zubdatul-Twarikh,I.O.1805 f.7b 

[68] Ojha,Gourishankar.H; Rajputaneka Itihasa,Ajmer,1927 

[69] Qazwini Hamdullah Mustaufi; Tarikh-i-Guzidah,Fascimile ed.,Gibb Memorial series, London, 1913 

[70] Raverty,H.G; Notes on Afghanistan,London,1880. 

[71] Ray,H.C.; Dynastic History of Northern India.3 Vols.Calcutta University 1931-35 

[72] S. Moosvi;„Numismatic evidence and the economic history of the Delhi sultanate‟, Proceedings of the Indian History congress 

(1989-90) 

[73] S. Qudratullah,S. Fatimi; „The Twin Ports of Daybul‟, in Hamida Khuhro (ed.), Sind through the centuries (Oxford and Karachi, 

1981) 

[74] Sachau,E.C.(trans.),Alberuni‟s India (New Delhi,1983) 

[75] Sarda,H.N; Ajmer,Historical and Descriptive.Ajmer,1911 

[76] Sharma,T.R., Personal and Geographical Names in the Gupta Inscriptions (Delhi, 1978) 

[77] Siddiqui,I.H.,Perso-Arabic Sources of Information on the Life and conditions in the sultanate of Delhi (New Delhi, 1992) 

[78] Sinor (ed)., The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge,1990). 

[79] Sircar,D.R., Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India (Delhi,1971) 

[80] Sirhindi,Yahya;Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi,(a)ed.M.Hidayat Husain , Bib.Ind. Calcutta , 1931. (b)Eng. Trans.by K.K.Basu,Baroda,1932 

[81] Smith,A.D., The Ethnic Origins of Nations(Oxford,1986) 

[82] Stein,M.A. (ed),Kalhana‟s Rajtarangini (Delhi, 1960) 

[83] Tarikh-i-Farishta (Lucknow,1864), 

[84] Thattawi Mulla Ahmad and others, Tarikh-i-Alfi,B.M.(a) Or,142,(b) Or,162. 

[85] The Journal of Indian History, 15 (1936) 

[86] Thomas,Edward;Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi,London1871 

[87] Tornberg,C.J., (ed.),Ibn al-Athir, Al-Kamil fi l-Tarikh, 12 vols (Leiden,1853-1869) 

[88] Wink Andre,Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World,I.Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam,7th-11th centuries 

(Leiden,1990). 

[89] Wink, Andre,Al-Hind,The Making of the Indo-Islamic World,Vol. II,The Slave Kings and The Islamic Conquest 11th-13th 

cen.,Oxford University Press(1999) 


14 | Page



Www.Iosrjournals.Org 

Local perspective, aspiration and women empowerment in 

housing development in Africa: Nigeria 

Raimi A. Asiyanbola 

Department of Geography and Regional Planning, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, 

Nigeria, 

Paper submitted for presentation at the First International Conference on Society, Technology and Sustainable 

Development organized by the Department of Social Work, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus 

and School of Social Work, the University at Buffalo, State University of NewYork held at the Amrita Institute of 

Medical Sciences, Kochi, India on June 3-5, 2011 

Abstract: The paper examines the local perspective on the involvement aspiration of women in housing 

development in Ibadan, Nigeria. The aim of the paper is twofold. The first aim is an examination of the local 

perspective about women’s involvement in housing development. The second aim is an examination of the 

influence of local perspective on housing development involvement aspiration of women as indicated by the 

actual housing development involvement of women, women’s level of knowledge about the development of their 

household house, and women’s intension to be involved in housing delivery. The null hypotheses tested in the 

paper is that there is no significant relationship between the local perspective about women’s involvement in 

housing development and (i) actual housing development involvement of women, (ii) women’s level of 

knowledge about the development of their household house, and (iii) women’s intension to be involved in 

housing delivery. The data used in the paper were derived from a larger household survey on gender and 

housing study carried out by the author in Ibadan, Nigeria. Correlation statistical technique was used to test the 

hypotheses. The literature shows that the local perspective is that decisions on housing development are male 

dominated. Significant negative relationship is found between local perspective and (i) actual housing 

development involvement of women, (ii) women’s level of knowledge about the development of their household 

house, and, (iii) women’s intention to be involved in housing delivery. This result suggests that women 

empowerment could be greatly enhanced through a reorientation of the mindset of the society about some of the 

local perspective that hinders women’s involvement in development activities. 

Keywords: Local perspective; aspiration; women empowerment; housing development. 

I. Introduction 

Housing is universally acknowledged as one of the most basic human needs with a profound impact on 

general well-being. According to the definition given by the World Health Organization (WHO), housing is a 

residential environment that includes the physical structure that man uses for shelter, all necessary services, 

facilities, equipment, and devices needed or desired for the physical and mental health and social well-being of 

the family and individual. It is therefore critical for the achievement of health for all, employment, social 

stability and economic development. As a prerequisite for survival, housing only ranks second to food 

(Onibokun, 1985; Adeniyi, 1985). It is also one of the indicators of a person‟s standard of living and of his 

place in society. Housing reflects the cultural, social and economic values of a society as it is the best physical 

and historical evidence of civilization in a country (Onibokun, 1985). 

Housing encompasses far more than living space and shelter (Knox, 1992). Its nature and value are 

determined by its varied services, which include neighbourhood amenities, access to education, health facilities 

and security, in addition to shelter. The worth of housing depends upon quality consideration, such as design, 

density, building materials and floor spaces and on access to employment and other income earning 

opportunities, public facilities, community services and market. Housing is a durable good unlike most 

consumer goods. It is a fixed location asset and it constitutes the largest space user in the city and has played a 

major role in shaping urban regions (Harthorn, 1992). 

In recent years, various countries of the world and different international bodies have recognized the 

significance of the involvement of women in development and have devoted considerable attention to women‟s 

contribution to economic progress. These countries and organizations have emphasized the need to actively 

involve women in the design and implementation of various development programmes so as to make them more 

active and effective participants in the socio-economic cum cultural activities of their countries and/or 

associations (Agbola, 1990a; 1990b; Moser, 1992, 1993; Young, 1995; UNCHS, 1996; etc). 

Although there has been increased focus on the actual and potential involvement of women in 

development generally and with special emphasis on agriculture and the industry, only in recent times has there 


15 | Page

Local perspective, aspiration and women empowerment in housing development in Africa: Nigeria 

been an interest in their housing situation (Agbola, 1990a). Various scholars have asserted that women, as the 

major consumers and users of shelter and infrastructure, must not only be consulted at every turn of the housing 

development process, they should actively participate (Agbola, 1990b). Observation from the literature shows 

that in both theory and practice this has not been the case, particularly with respect to women‟s participation in 

the built environment (Peterson et al, 1978; Cater and Trevor, 1989; Agbola, 1990a; Short, 1996; Johnston, 

1998; Amole, 1998; Olatubara, 2003). In feminist geography one of the three main themes identified in the early 

work is patriarchal power, which illustrated the „blindness‟ of (urban and other) geographers to the „embodiment 

of conventional gender divisions‟ in the built environment on both large (the structuring of urban land-use 

patterns) and small (the design and layout of buildings) scales (Cater and Trevor, 1989; Short, 1996; Johnston, 

1998). Cater and Trevor (1989) argues that this is no accident but the logical outcome of male power and female 

powerlessness – all the crucial decisions about the built structures of cities and regions were and are still being 

taken by males and they have constructed man-oriented geographic space. Even where women have been 

included in the calculations, this has been women as seen through men‟s eyes; women‟s needs as defined by 

men and not by women themselves (Cater and Trevor, 1989). Peterson et al (1978) have taken environmental 

scale or setting as a starting point and examined the degree of control exerted by women and men over 

environmental settings at different points on the scale. They consider environments ranging from the “home” to 

the “world” and relate this to the spheres in which women and men are concentrated. It becomes clear that men 

are dominant (in a control sense) at the scale of the “world”, city, and region by virtue of their political, 

economic, and employment roles. Women, on the other hand, tend to occupy spaces at the home and 

neighbourhood levels. Peterson et al (1978) notes that despite women‟s numerical concentration at the home and 

neighbourhood scales, key decisions about these spheres tend to be made by institutions operating at the 

citywide, regional, or national scales and few women penetrate into these spheres, particularly in positions of 

power. In a review of the effect of design on women, Hayden and Wright (1976) have noted that women have 

been most closely associated with domestic environments, but almost always as passive clients. They have had 

to accept spatial and social traditions that confine to certain kinds of structures, and they have had to transform 

their homes and lives according to the changing standards of advertising, zoning legislation, welfare policy, or 

neighbourhood pressure for conformity (Hayden and Wright, 1976). 

The focus of professionals engaged in the business of creating dwellings and dwelling environments 

has been on households defined and interpreted more often as household heads, whereas women are the primary 

and major consumers and users of these environments. For instance, it is common for the architect, in preparing 

a programme of requirements for the design of owner-occupied residences, to involve in the process, only the 

household head (usually a man) who has commissioned him to design a house. Little or no importance is 

attached to the specific requirements, values, roles and attitudes of women with respect to both the dwelling and 

its environment (Amole, 1998). 

II. Local Perspective On Women Involvement In Housing Development 

In Nigeria, patriarchy structure has been a major feature of the traditional society (Aina 1998). It is a 

structure of a set of social relations with material base which enables men to dominate women (Stacey 1993; 

Kramarae 1992; Lerner 1986; Humm 1989; Aina 1998). It is a system of social stratification and differentiation 

on the basis of sex, which provides material advantages to males while simultaneously placing severe 

constraints on the roles and activities of females. There are clearly defined sex roles, while various taboos 

ensure conformity with specified gender roles (Aina 1998). Traditionally men do not participate in domestic 

work including child rearing – such tasks are considered to be the exclusive domain of women. Males are 

classed as having the following qualities: strength, vigor, virile/powerful courage, self-confidence and the ability 

to meet the outside world i.e. animal and human intruders head on and deal with it effectively. These qualities 

were reflected in the kinds of work that men engaged in. Men were responsible for much of what was thought 

of as “heavy” labour. Men in short provided for their families (Bernard 1981; Aweda 1984; Carrigan et al, 

1987; Stock 1995; Silberschmidt, 1999 etc.). Women oversee the domestic chores. They kept houses, processed 

and cooked all foods. They also help in the planting and harvesting of food crops and cash crops. They were 

primarily responsible for the bearing and rearing of children from birth on; men were only called upon to assist 

when extraordinary discipline was considered necessary especially for the boys (Aweda, 1984). 

Empirical evidence on women‟s actual experience of housing is rare in Nigeria. As Agbola (1990a) and 

Asiyanbola (1997) notes, there has been little contribution of researches on women‟s housing situation. Most of 

the available literatures on this issue are works carried out in developed countries. As observed by Wood (1994), 

most of such studies while addressing a wide range of issues with regard to women and housing, have focused 

on women and the meaning of house, economic constraints, weakness in the law relating to family breakdown 

and inadequacies in homeless persons‟ legislation, general problems of allocation systems, housing concerns of 

specific groups of women, education, training and employment issues, gender roles and the form of the built 


16 | Page


environment. Of importance here are planning policies, architecture and design. These are argued to be gender 

blind (Wood, 1994). 

An exception to the research orientation common in the developing countries is Agbola‟s work (1990b) 

and Olatubara‟s work (2003) in which they examined the role of women in housing development and women 

participation in residential location decision-making respectively in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Agbola (1990b) 

observes that most women living with their husbands show alarming disinterestedness in the land acquisition 

process and contribute relatively minimally to the finance of the building. Women-headed households 

shouldered the whole responsibility themselves at all stages of the housing development process. He also 

observes that women professionals are few and those living with their husbands assist their husbands in land 

acquisition and finance. Women on construction sites are found to be mostly uneducated, earns very low income 

which is often used for food to feed the family. He observes that women are more involved in housing 

maintenance than in any other housing development activities. He notes further that top on the list of problems 

inhibiting women‟s participation in the housing development was male dominance, followed by poverty, lack of 

concern and illiteracy respectively (Agbola, 1990). Olatubara‟s work examines the level of women‟s 

participation in the choice of where the household resides in the urban centre and which house is selected as 

well as the association between decision-making on choice of residential district and age of the respondent, rent 

contribution by respondent, position of wife, availability of vehicle in the household, residential density and 

income of respondent. His findings shows male dominance in decision-making, significant joint decision 

between husband and wife and the economic status of the women as an important factor that makes them to 

participate more or less in residential location decision (Olatubara, 2003). 

Findings from the study from which the data for this paper is derived have shown among others that 

there is low involvement of women in housing development; the general perception of women is that housing 

provisions are the responsibilities of male head of households; building activities are viewed more as men‟s job; 

men are found to have applied more for building plan registration and certificates of occupancy than women; 

men are found to own more plots of land, more number of houses and housing plots than women (Asiyanbola 

and Filani, 2007; 2008a; 2008b). Thus as shown in the literature, the local perspective is that male head of 

household dominate decisions on critical aspects of housing development. 

The second aim of the paper is to examine the influence of local perspective on housing development 

involvement aspiration of women as indicated by the actual housing development involvement of women, 

women‟s level of knowledge about the development of their household house, and women‟s intension to be 

involved in housing delivery. This aim builds on the existing works by providing insight on the influence of 

local perception on the housing development involvement aspiration of women in Nigeria. The importance of 

this aim lies in the fact that in sociological and psychological tradition there has been a widespread acceptance 

of the assumption that there is a close correspondence between the ways in which a person behaves towards 

some object and his/her (sic) beliefs, feelings and intentions with respect to that object (Fishbein and Ajzen, 

1975:336). Indeed, Allport (1968) attributes to Plato the idea that the mind is constituted of, and human action 

determined by, the three faculties of affection (feeling), conation (striving) and cognition (thought). Although 

the relationship between some attitudes and expected behaviour has proved to be less than ideal, “the best single 

predictor of an individual‟s behaviour will be a measure of his (sic) beliefs, feelings and intention to perform 

that behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975; Merlo and McDonald, 2002). It is in these traditions that the study 

seeks to examine the influence of the local perspective as reflected by the general beliefs and feelings about 

women‟s involvement in housing development on actual housing development involvement of women, 

women‟s level of knowledge about the development of their household house and women‟s intension to be 

involved in housing delivery. The null hypotheses tested in the paper is that there is no significant relationship 

between the local perspective on women‟s involvement in housing development and (i) actual housing 

development involvement of women, (ii) women‟s level of knowledge about the development of their 

household house, and (iii) women‟s intension to be involved in housing delivery. 

Ibadan city, which is the case study, is located in the South-western part of Nigeria. The total 

population size of the wider Ibadan region was 1,258,625 according to the 1963 census and 1,991,367 in 1991 

out of which 988,923 are male while 1,002,444 are female (Afolayan, 1994). The city was for a long time the 

largest city in tropical Africa. Although, it has now been surpassed by Lagos, it remains a truly Nigerian city. 

By virtue of its historical, political, administrative, cultural and socio-economic importance over the years, there 

is hardly any major ethnic or sub-ethnic group in Nigeria that is not represented in this city (Mabogunje 1968; 

Filani et al 1994). Thus any study undertaken in the city can mirror what happens to women of diverse ethnic 

origin in Nigeria. It is important to note that the literature on this important city is ever expanding representing 

different academic and research interests (see, Filani et al 1994). 


17 | Page


III. Method Of Data Collection And Analysis 

Data used in the paper were obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 721 households in Ibadan, Oyo 

State, Nigeria. The survey was undertaken between November 1999 and March 2001. The sampling frame 

utilized was the total number of estimated households in Ibadan municipal area as of 1999. The average 

household size declared for Nigeria in the result of the National Population Commission (NPC) 1995/96 

household survey is 4.48. This was used to divide the projected 1999 population of each locality as defined by 

the National Population Commission (NPC) in the Ibadan municipal area to get an estimate of the number of 

households. To make for effective and objective coverage, due to non availability of the list of all households in 

each locality in Ibadan, the number of questionnaires administered in each locality was proportional to the total 

number of estimated households in each locality. For the purpose of intra-urban analysis, each of the locality in 

Ibadan municipal area as defined by the National Population Commission (NPC) was accordingly sorted into 

four residential areas – high density residential area (comprising traditional core high density residential area of 

Ibadan and non-traditional core high density residential area), medium density residential area and low density 

residential area - according to where it was located following existing studies on Ibadan metropolis (Mabogunje, 

1962, 1968; NISER, 1988; Ayeni, 1982; 1994; Filani et al, 1994; Abumere, 1994). For example, the traditional 

core high density or indigenous areas of Ibadan correspond roughly with Mabogunje‟s (1962) core and older 

suburbs and Ayeni‟s (1982) high density residential areas. Also the non-traditional core high density residential 

areas roughly correspond with NISER‟s (1988) new unplanned fringe and part of Ayeni‟s high density. The 

medium density roughly corresponds with Ayeni‟s (1982) classification of medium density residential areas and 

Mabogubje‟s (1962) newer eastern and western suburbs as well as post 1952 developments and NISER‟s (1988) 

intermediate zone. Both non-traditional core high density and medium density residential areas correspond with 

Abumere‟s (1994) zone of market forces. The low density residential areas correspond with Ayeni‟s (1982) 

classification of low density residential areas, Mabogunje‟s (1962) Bodija/Reservation and Estates, NISER‟s 

(1988) zone of planned settlement and Abumere‟s (1994) government zone or institutional zone (see Fig. I). 

Key 

Lake s 

Ra il Line 

Majo r Ro ad 

Du al C arriage wa y / E xpress wa y 

Residential Zones 

Trad ition al core high d ensity 

No n t ra dition al co re hig h d en sit y 

Med ium de nsity 

Low d ens it y 

NISER 

UNIVERSIT Y OF 

IBADAN 

T o O yo 

OJOO 

OR OGUN 

AGBOW O 

OD OGBO ARM Y 

BAR RACKS 

APAT A 

To Eruwa 

To Abeo kuta 

IDO RD 

M OOR 

PLAN TATION 

IDI - ISIN 

OD O ON A 

OLUYOLE 

EXT ENSION 

JERICH O 

GR A 

AD EOYO 

STAT E 

HOSPIT AL 

OD O ON A 

ELEW E 

IYAGANKU 

IJOKOD O 

ELEYELE 

SABO 

OKE BOLA 

CHALLENGE 

FELELE 

THE POLYT ECHN IC , 

IBAD AN 

EKOT EDO 

DUGBE 

OKE ADO 

SAN GO 

OKE IYUN U 

OR EMEJI 

MOKOLA 

OKE ARE 

ELET A 

MOLETE 

BER E 

SAN YO 

UCH 

OKE 

AR EMO 

OLD BODIJA 

SEC RETAR IAT 

OW OD E 

ILETITU N 

AGOD I 

GR A 

OJE 

KON GI 

IKOLABA 

OD IN JO 

AGU GU 

ASH I 

OLOR UNSOGO 

APER IN 

BASOR UN 

IW O R OAD 

NEW IFE ROAD 

T o Lag os 

LAGELU IN D.ESTATE 

N 

4 0 4 Kilometers 

Fig. I: Ibadan showing residential density areas 

Source: Adapted from Mabogunje (1962); NISER (1988); Ayeni (1982; 1994); Abumere (1994) 


18 | Page


The classification of high density into two – traditional core and non-traditional core – was based on 

the observation that these two residential areas which are usually classified together in Ibadan are distinct in 

social and physical patterns. This was observed from the literature, reconnaissance survey and consultation with 

town planners. In terms of socio-economic status and housing condition non-traditional core high density 

residential areas are better off. Also, in terms of ethnic status, traditional core areas are relatively homogeneous 

in the sense that majority of the residents are indigenes of Ibadan. In the non-traditional core high-density 

residential areas, residents are of different ethnic background. 

The sampling procedure adopted was that of sampling along the major streets in each locality in which 

systematic random sampling was used in the selection of houses. From each selected houses, a household, 

particularly a woman and her spouse (if any) were interviewed. Information was collected on the general beliefs 

and feelings about the relative involvement of women and men in housing development, women‟s actual 

involvement, women‟s level of awareness of the development of their household house, and women‟s intention 

to be involved in housing delivery. Correlation statistics was used to test the hypotheses. 

3.1 Dependent variable - Local perspective (General beliefs and feelings about the relative involvement of 

women and men in housing development) 

Three variables are used to indicate the local perspective, that is, general beliefs and feelings about the 

involvement of women in housing development. Traditionally, male head of households are responsible for 

providing for their households. Thus, the first indicator is the view of household housing provision as male head 

of household responsibility. The responses are: men only, women only, men and women equally, women 

partially, women rarely, and women never. A code of 1 is assigned where men only are involved; otherwise a 

code of 0 is assigned. Again, males are classed as having the following qualities: strength, vigor, virile/powerful 

courage, self-confidence and the ability to meet the outside world i.e. animal and human intruders head on and 

deal with it effectively. These qualities were reflected in the kinds of work that men engaged in. Men were 

responsible for much of what was thought of as „heavy‟ labour. Building activities job involves „heavy‟ labour, 

thus, the second indicator is the view of building activities job as male job. The responses are: wholly men‟s job, 

wholly women‟s job, or partially women‟s job. A code of 1 is assigned if wholly men‟s job, otherwise a code of 

0 is assigned. As stated previously, the Nigerian society is patriarchal - a structure of a set of social relations 

with material base which enables men to dominate women. As such, the third variable is an indicator of male 

dominance in decision-making - the view that men majorly are involved in decisions on each of the critical 

aspects of household housing development that have been identified in the literature (Agbola, 1990b): land 

acquisition and preparation, housing design and planning, housing development finance, building material 

production/procurement, housing construction, and housing maintenance which comprises housing structural 

defects repairs, housing non-structural repairs, housing preventive maintenance, housing improvement and 

housing modernization. Respondents were asked to state from their perception and knowledge of their culture 

the involvement of women/men in various critical aspects of housing development decisions. The responses 

are: men only, women only, men and women equally, women partially, women rarely, and women never. A 

code of 1 is assigned where men only are involved; otherwise a code of 0 is assigned. 

3.2 Independent variables 

3.2.1 Women’s actual involvement in housing development 

Three variables are used to indicate women‟s actual involvement in housing development. The first and 

second variables are the actual number of plots of land and houses owned by women respectively. In each case, 

women respondents were asked to state the number of plots of land and houses owned. The third variable is a 

measure of the actual involvement of women in the development of the various critical aspects of the house 

owned and occupied by their households. In this case, women respondents were asked to state whether they are: 

wholly involved, partially involved, or not involved in the development of the following critical aspects of 

house owned and occupied by their households: land acquisition and preparation, housing design and planning, 

housing development finance, building material production/procurement, housing construction, and housing 

maintenance which comprises housing structural defects repairs, housing non-structural repairs, housing 

preventive maintenance, housing improvement and housing modernization. A code of 1 is assigned where 

women are wholly involved or partially involved otherwise a code of 0 is assigned. 

3.2.2 Women’s awareness/knowledge of the development of the various critical aspects of the house owned 

and occupied by their households 

On women‟s awareness/knowledge of the development of the various critical aspects of the house 

owned and occupied by their households, women respondents were asked to state whether they are aware or not 

aware of the following critical aspects of housing development: land acquisition and preparation, housing design 

and planning, housing development finance, building material production/procurement, housing construction, 


19 | Page


and housing maintenance which comprises housing structural defects repairs, housing non-structural repairs, 

housing preventive maintenance, housing improvement and housing modernization.. A code of 1 is assigned 

where women are aware otherwise a code of 0 is assigned. 

3.2.3 Women’s intention to be involved in housing development 

Three variables are used to indicate women‟s intention to be involved in housing development. The 

first variable is women‟s desire to own a house. In this case women respondents were asked if they want to own 

a house. The response is coded in binary form. A code of 1 is assigned where a woman want to own a house 

otherwise a code of 0 is assigned. The second variable is women‟s willingness to build a house alone. The 

response is coded in binary form. A code of 1 is assigned where a woman is willing to build a house alone 

otherwise a code of 0 is assigned. The third variable is the ability of women to build a house alone. The response 

is coded in binary form. A code of 1 is assigned where a woman says she is able to build a house alone 

otherwise a code of 0 is assigned. Table 1 shows the definition of variables used in the analysis. 

IV. Influence of Local Perception on the Housing Development Involvement 

Aspiration of Women 

Table 2 shows the result of the correlation analysis between the local perspective on the involvement of 

women in housing development and women‟s actual involvement and level of knowledge about the critical aspects 

of their household housing development, as well as women‟s intention to be involved in housing delivery. 


20 | Page


The table shows that there is a significant relationship between the local perspective and women‟s 

actual involvement and level of knowledge about the critical aspects of their household housing development, as 

well as women‟s intention to be involved in housing delivery. The result shows a negative relationship between 

the local perspective about the involvement of women in housing development and women‟s actual involvement 

in the development of their household house (-.269), women‟s level of knowledge about the critical aspects of 

their household housing development (-.184), and women‟s intention to be involved in housing delivery (-.093). 

This result implies that as long as the society holds onto the traditional beliefs about the involvement of women 

in housing development, the fewer will be the involvement of women in housing development. 

V. Conclusion 

The paper examines the local perspective on the housing development involvement aspiration of 

women in Ibadan, Nigeria. The literature shows that the local perspective is that decisions on housing 

development are male dominated. The correlation analysis result shows significant negative relationship 

between local perspective and (i) actual housing development involvement of women, (ii) women‟s level of 

knowledge about the development of their household house, and, (iii) women‟s intention to be involved in 

housing delivery. The study suggests that women‟s aspirations to be involved in development activities could be 

greatly enhanced through a reorientation of the mindset of the society about some of the local perspectives that 

hinder women‟s involvement in development activities. This could be achieved through gender education, 

enlightenment, awareness and consciousness raising of the society. 

VI. Acknowledgement: 

The author is grateful to Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) 

for providing small grant for thesis writing for the PhD research project from which the data for this paper is 

derived. 

References: 

[1] Abumere S. I. (1994) “Residential differentiation in Ibadan: Some sketches of an explanation” in Filan M. O.; Akintola F. O.; and 

Ikporukpo C. O. (eds.) Ibadan Region Rex Charles Publication Ibadan, pp. 72-84 

[2] Adeniyi,E.O. (1985) “Housing in Nigerian National Development” In Onibokun Poju (ed.) Housing in Nigeria: (A book of reading), 

NISER, Ibadan, pp. 91-104. 

[3] Afolayan, A.A. (1976) Behavioural approach to the study of migration into, and mobility within the metropolitan Lagos. 

(Unpublished Phd thesis, Department of Geography, University of Ibadan, Ibadan) 

[4] Agbola, T. (1986). “The Nature of Housing Subsidies in Nigeria”. Journal of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Vol. Vi and 

vii, December, pp. 86-98. 

[5] Agbola, (1990a) The Role of Women in Housing Development. (Centre for Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Social 

Sciences, University of Ibadan, Ibadan). 

[6] Agbola T. (1990b) “The Nature of women‟s Involvement in Housing Development: A survey of the Literature”. African Urban 

Quarterly Vol. 5, Nos. 3 and 4, pp. 178-185. 

[7] Agbola, T. (1998) The Housing of Nigerians: A Review of Policy Development and Implimentation. Research Report, No. 14, 

Development Policy Centre, Ibadan, Nigeria. 

[8] Aina, Olabisi I. (1998) “Women, Culture and Society” in Amadu Sesay and Adetanwa Odebiyi (eds.) Nigerian Women in Society 

and Development. Dokun Publishing House, Ibadan, pp. 3-32. 

[9] Allport, G. W. (1968) “The historical background of modern social psychology”. In G. Lindzey and E. Aronson (eds) The handbook 

of social psychology, second edition. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company: Reading, Massachusetts. 

[10] Amole Dolapo (1998) “Planned residential environments in Nigeria; implications for women” in 

[11] Amole Bayo (ed.) Habitat studies in Nigeria: some qualitative dimensions. Shaneson, Ibadan, pp. 79-91 

[12] Asiyanbola R. A. and Filani M. O. (2008a) “Gender and involvement in housing development in Ibadan, Nigeria” Gender and 

Behaviour (Published by The Ife Centre for Psychological Studies, Ile-Ife, Nigeria) Vol. 6, No. 2. pp. 1982-2007 


21 | Page


[13] Asiyanbola R. A. and Filani M. O. (2008b) “Gender and house ownership in Africa – Nigeria: An empirical study” International 

Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (Published by the Postgraduate School, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun 

State, Nigeria) Vol. 1, No. 1. pp. 1-12 

[14] Asiyanbola R. A. and Filani M. O. (2007) “Perception and involvement of women 

[15] in housing development in Nigeria” Journal of Environment and Culture (Published by the Department of Archaeology and 

Anthropology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria) Vol. 4, Number 2, pp. 1-22 

[16] Asiyanbola R. A. (1997) “Housing Studies and gender Issues: A Review of literature” In Bayo Amole (ed). The House in Nigeria 

history Place, environment and development Proceedings of a National symposium 23 rd – 24 th July held at the Conference Centre, 

Obafemi Awolowo University , Ile Ife pp. 89 – 92. 

[17] Aweda A. David (1984) “Sex-Role Inequalities in the African Family: Contemporary Implications”. Ife Social Sciences Review 

Vol. 7, No. 1 & 2 pp. 188-197. 

[18] Ayeni B. (1994) “The metropolitan area of Ibadan its growth and structure” in Filan M. O.; Akintola F. O.; and Ikporukpo C. O. 

(eds.) Ibadan Region Rex Charles Publication Ibadan, pp. 72-84. 

[19] Ayeni B. (1982) Map of Land-use Patterns in Ibadan, Unpublished cited in Abumere S. I. (1994) “Residential differentiation in 

Ibadan: Some sketches of an explanation” in Filan M. O.; Akintola F. O.; and Ikporukpo C. O. (eds.) Ibadan Region Rex Charles 

Publication Ibadan, pp. 72-84 

[20] Bernard Jessie (1981) “The Good-Provider Role: Its Rise and Fall” American Psychologist, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 1-12. 

[21] Carrigan Tim, Connell Bob, and Lee, John (1987) “The „Sex-Role‟ Framework and the Sociology of Masculinity” in Weiner Gaby 

and Arnut, Madeleine (eds.) Gender Under Scrutiny: New Inquiries in Education. London: Hutchinson. 

[22] Cater, J. and Trevor, J. (1989) Social Geography, London: Edward Arnold 

[23] Filani, M.O.; Akintola, F.O. and Ikporukpo, C.O. (eds.) (1994) Ibadan Region, Rex Charles, Ibadan, Nigeria. 

[24] Fishbein, m. and I. Ajzen (1975) Belief, attitude, intention and behaviour: An introduction to theory and research. Addison-Wesley 

Publishing Company: Reading, Massachusetts; pp. 336. 

[25] Hartshorn, A. Truman (1992) Interpreting the city: An Urban Geography. John Wiley, New York. 

[26] Hayden, D. and Wright G. (1976) “Architecture and Urban Planning” Signs 1, 923:933. 

[27] Humm, M. (1989) The Dictionary of Feminist Theory. Harvester Wheatsheaf, London.Johnston, R.J. (1998) Geography and 

Geographers: Anglo-American Human Geography Since 1945. Edward Arnold: London. 

[28] Knox Paul (1992) Urban Social Geography: An Introduction, Longman & John Wiley, New York. Kramarae Cheris, (1992) “The 

Condition of Patriarchy”. In Kramarae C. and Spender D. (eds.) The Knowledge Explosion: Generations of Feminist Scholarship. 

Athene Series, Teachers College Press, London, pp. 397-405 

[29] Lerner G. (1986) The Creation of Patriarchy. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Mabogunje, A. (1962) “The Growth of Residential 

Districts in Ibadan”. The Geographical Review, 52(1), 56-77. 

[30] Mabogunje, A. L. (1968) Urbanization in Nigeria, London University Press, London, pp. 186-237. 

[31] Merlo Rosangela and McDonald (2002) Outcomes of home-ownership aspirations and their determinants. Australian National 

University Research Centre, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. 

[32] Moser C, O.N (1992) “Housing” in Ostrgaard Lise (ed.) Gender and Development: a Practical Guide. Routledge, London, pp. 76- 

93. 

[33] Moser Caroline O.N. (1993) Gender, Planning and Development: Theory, Practice and Training, Routledge, London. 

[34] NISER, (1988) Socio-Economic Survey of Ibadan City Report of a Survey Commission by the Ibadan Metropolitan Planning 

Authority (IMPA), NISER, Ibadan.Olatubara C. O. (2003) “The participation of women in residential location decision-making in 

Ibadan, Nigeria” Journal of the NITP, Vol. XVI, No. 1, October, pp.19-33 

[35] Onibokun „Poju (1983) Issues in Nigeria Housing, NISER, Ibadan, pp. 45-65. 

[36] Onibokun, G.A. (ed.) (1985) Housing in Nigeria: (A Book of Readings), NISER, Ibadan, pp. 65-83. 

[37] Peterson Rebecca: Wekerle Gerda, R. and Morley David (1978) “Women and Environments: An Overview of an Emerging Field”. 

Environment and Behaviour, vol. 10, No. 4, p. 511-534. 

[38] Short, J. P. (1996) The Urban Order: An Introduction to Cities, Culture and Power. Blackwell, U.S.A. 

[39] Silberschmidt Margrethe (1999) Women Forget that Men are the Masters” Gender Antagonism and socio-economic change in 

Kisii District, Kenya. Nordiska Afrikairstitutet, Sweden. 

[40] Stacey, Jackie (1993) “Untangling Feminist theory” In: Richardson D, Robinson, V. (eds.) Introducing Women’s Studies: Feminist 

Theory and Practice. Macmillian London, pp. 49-73. 

[41] Stock Robert (1995) Africa South of the Sahara: a Geographical Interpretation. Guilford Press New York. 

[42] UNCHS (1996) An Urbanizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements, United Nations Centre for Human Settlements 

(HABITAT) Oxford University Press. 

[43] Woods Robertsa (1994) „Introduction‟ In Gilroy Rose and Woods Roberta (eds.) Housing women, Routledge, London. 

[44] Young Kate (1995) Planning Development with women: Making a World of Difference. Macmillan, London. 


22 | Page


ISSN: 2279-0837, ISBN: 2279-0845. Volume 5, Issue 4(Nov. - Dec. 2012), PP 23-33 


Internal Conflicts and African Development: The Nigerian 

Experience 

Nwanegbo, Chukwuemeka Jaja 

Department of Political Science Anambra State University, Igbariam Campus 

Abstract: The work was guided by the interest to find out what the causes of internal conflicts in Africa are, the 

impacts and the general affect on the under-development nature of Africa in general and Nigeria in particular. 

To get these objectives achieved, some leading questions were asked to help enquiring into these areas. First, it 

tries to find out if high incidence of poverty accounts for the persistence of internal conflicts in Nigeria and 

secondly, to know whether the low level of development in Africa today is a consequence of persisting internal 

conflicts. Guided by the relative deprivation theory, the paper came up with the findings that internal conflict 

and undemocratisation stalls the Nigerian development and indeed African development. Based on these, the 

paper made the suggestions in the form of conflict resolution strategy that could put the African countries out of 

contentions and conflicts and in the part of development. 

Key words: Conflict, Internal Conflicts and Development. 


Literature on conflict all over the world and Africa specifically is littered with the notion of the 

predominance of internal or inter-group conflict over international conflicts (Vogt and Aminu, 1996; Okafor, 

1997; Okwueze, 1997; Riley, 1998; Elaigwu, 2005; Nwanegbo, 2005b, 2006, 2008). Hardly would one read 

the dailies or listen to the radio, both local and foreign or the television without getting the news of domestic 

problems. It is obtainable worldwide but assumes chronic level in the Africa Countries. Indeed, Riley (1998) 

noted that most African conflicts were intra-statal rather than interstatal, although they do have a much broader 

impact by fuelling regional parallel economics in light arms and assets, generating displaced refugee 

populations, and creating exiled communities. Most African conflicts are thus becoming highly internationalized 

both in their effects and in the efforts of various parties to prevent, manage or resolve them. 

It follows that the consequences of internal conflict are much and not only on the warring states alone 

but also to the other countries either bordering with them, existing within the same regional line or having 

interest of the conflicting nations. It hinders the countries politically, economically and also on social stability 

and consequently, all of them leads to problems of development in Africa. 

Development in this context goes beyond individual country’s development. It has to do with African 

development. Conflict creates refugee problem to other countries, it sets neighbouring and interested countries 

apart, and it distracts and distorts the principles on which regional developmental organizations are based. For 

instance, Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS) virtually left its traditional economic 

interest and objectives and went into very expensive peacekeeping operation. It breeds crimes and other social 

ills in the warring country and accommodating neighboring countries. 

One highly supported argument in the African underdevelopment is the unequal relationship existing 

between African countries and the western capitalist countries. This was both on unequal exchange and or terms 

of relationship and international division of labour. These lead to the establishment of the continental/regional 

organizations like the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Economic Commission of West African States 

(ECOWAS) in Africa, simply to enhance unity, cooperation and co-ordination of resources to pull through the 

excruciating relationship of the countries and continent with the western capitalism. Some other organizations 

also were established by other International Organizations to enhance third world development (at least on the 

economic side) like United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Food and Agricultural Organization 

(FAO), World Bank etc. Still, they could not, for as long as they have existed, engendered development in 

Africa or even economic progress. Record of underdevelopment for all these long, keeps rising. But noticeably, 

rising with it is the records of internal conflict in most countries in Africa. Even those countries not known 

before for destructive conflict now top the list. This calls for investigation. Hence, this work seeks to investigate 

the place of internal conflict and its effect on African underdevelopment conditions (raise pertinent questions) 

and accordingly explore the ways of mitigating the incidence of conflict and hence achieve the much-needed 

development in Africa. 

In the cause of this study, we limited our empirical study to Nigerian experience. The reason for 

selecting Nigeria is because Nigeria presents a good example of an average African country with numerous 

ethnic groups, religious groups, interest groups and other forms of groupings and also has experienced 


23 | Page

Internal Conflicts and African Development: The Nigerian Experience 

difficulties in the effort to achieve stability and in nation building. There have also been conflicts of various 

dimensions in Nigeria; religious, political, ethnic, intra-communal, inter-community conflicts over land and 

natural resources, positions and representations, and more still, full scale intra-country civil war etc. We 

therefore hope that the result of Nigerian analysis will form a good analytic foundation for generalizing on the 

effect of internal conflicts in Africa and would lead us to resourceful conclusion. 

II. Problematizing Internal Conflicts in Nigeria 

In most recent years, there has been unimaginable rate of conflicts in Nigeria and the threat of others. 

In a study conducted in 2005, Elaigwu (2005) identified over one hundred and forty (140) recorded cases of 

internal conflicts in Nigeria between 1980 and about June 2005, with over one hundred (100) of the cases 

coming up between 1999 and 2005 alone. People have been easily mobilized into confronting the other group 

and the workers, civil society and the students have also been easily mobilized to confront one set of people, 

policy, activity or the other. The process and plan towards achieving success in these confrontations have even 

taken upper position in the minds of the leaders instead of planning for national development. Positions of 

political leaders of various groups in Nigeria and their preparedness to initiate or respond to conflicts even in 

both verbal (oral) confrontations justify the above position. Infact, this has been so widespread that you will 

hardly think of any region, ethnic group or organization that is not at anytime structuring its mind towards 

having an advantage over the other group or people and the other group poised at stopping them. As Oche 

(2000) explains, this situation has so much deteriorated to the extent that it has assumed the dimensions of a 

scourge. This position is underscored by the changing character, increased frequency and intensity as well as the 

deplorable implications and costs (Nwanegbo, 2006: 120). 

Looking at what happened during the Nigeria civil war and the devastation on the country; one would appreciate 

the enormity of the consequence of conflicts. In the early stage of the civil war, Oyediran (1979: 126) recorded 

that over 100,000 lives were lost. Prior to that, more than 50,000 persons have either lost their lives or had parts 

of their body maimed during the carnage in the North against the Igbo people in 1966. 

Another very devastating consequence of internal conflict is the problem of refugees on the host 

communities. The refugees create as much devastating effect to their host communities like the wars themselves 

do to those fighting. Instances can be seen in the Tiv-Jukun conflict, Zango-Kataf, Ife-Modake, Omasi-Igah, etc 

(Nwanegbo, 2005b). They were also quite devastating in effect and created insecurity for farming and other 

businesses (see Nnoli, 1998). It also happened in some other African countries; Somalia, (UN Report, 1993: 3- 

6), Rwanda, Liberia before the interference of ECOMOG in 1989, etc (Vogt & Amina, 1996 in Nwanegbo, 

2005: 5). 

Politics and ethno-religion are two most common areas of conflicts in Africa. Many also are linked up to group 

struggle for political leadership. 

If we take the geo-natural fact that African countries and precisely Nigeria is a country endowed with 

the quality of resources that could ordinarily, if well utilized, put the country into forefront of the world 

countries (See NEPAD-Full Text, 2003), we would understand that something is basically wrong with the 

continent. Nigerian State has enormous resources in agriculture, in the economy, multi-pluralist democratic 

political advantage, and in personnel. But instead of these pulling her ahead, there has been series of distracting 

and disturbing conflicts, which ranged from full-scale war, riots, massacre, situation and preparation of wars. 

These scare away both national and foreign investments, leads to unending legal battles that keep resources 

engaged in unproductive exercises, loss of productive labour force, etc. 

Furthermore, with inter-group conflicts among African nations (for those that went out of proportion), 

the countries involved becomes detached from enhancing generic development in Africa. The African 

organizations established for the development purposes also turns concentration of efforts and resources to 

preventing, managing and resolving conflicts rather than carrying out the initial responsibility. Also other 

international organizations that dwell on third world development see humanitarian works of taking care of 

refugees, providing welfare to war destitute, food, drugs, and resettlement etc, as primary needs of African 

countries (See UN Secretary General’s Report, 1998). While doing this, the basic efforts towards African 

development rather suffers. This is outside the destruction that is caused by wars and conflicts on existing 

structures and establishments. 

This work, commits itself to finding the place of these conflicts on the persistence and deepening of 

poverty in Africa which most scholarly works have attempted to explain from different backgrounds and the 

which condition still seems intractable in Africa today. Though this study may not go into analyzing every 

conflict that took place in Africa in searching form the answer, but will make conscious effort to draw instances 

from specific cases in Nigeria, review it and use it to answer certain pertinent questions bothering on “whether 

high incidence of poverty account for persisting internal conflicts in Nigeria”? Secondly, to know “if low level 

of development is a consequence of persisting internal conflicts in Nigeria”? 


24 | Page


III. Relative Deprivation Thesis and the Foundation of Internal Conflicts in Nigeria 

Previous researches and scholarly endeavours have advanced theoretical bases for understanding the 

reason for conflicts. These postulations, which arose out of hypothetical explanations, all drive towards 

rationalizing conflicts within human societies and further serve as body of knowledge towards achieving 

research ends. Though they are many good ones, this work relies on the “Relative Deprivation” theory of 

conflict as a suitable instrument for explaining internal conflicts in Africa. In discussing the theory, this work 

understands the problems facing the African societies as arising from contests by various groups over means of 

development. African societies lack in the basic variables of development from either the understanding of the 

modernization scholars and the dependency scholars. As a polity, most African states have not developed the 

operational variables to sustain the system. These variables which includes under the “Capability” and political 

institutionalization, the participatory variable of political mobilization, political integration and political 

representation (Jaquaribe, 1969) are lacking in most African societies. Rather, in line with Varma’s (1975) 

postulation, African societies parade the state systems which have largely taken resort to more of coercion than 

consensus. The consequence as he offered further is not only the development of tension but also a complete 

dissolution of the entire society. The society exists in bits. Demands from the state thence take the form of group 

and sub-group demands for participation and representation in the common good, while each maintains a 

different good and goal. Denial or perceived denial from equal participation in this effort amount to deprivation 

and leads to the wide complain of relative deprivation. 

Relative Deprivation theory is of the view that interface with goal directed behaviour creates frustration 

which in turns, leads to aggressive response usually directed against the reputed to be the cause of the frustration 

(See Gurr, 1968; Dowse and Hughes, 1972). The proponents of this view see conflict as the outcome of 

deprivation of groups in society vis-à-vis other groups; that is, what one should get relative to what others whom 

one identifies as one’s peers or equal are getting. This condition derives out of scarcity and usually, competition 

for scarce socio-economic resources remains the basic causative factor for inter-ethnic conflict (Nwanegbo, 

2005), and generally, mostly, conflicts among human existents. It has to do with recognizing justice. Without 

recognition of justice (in sharing and public interest), in exchange and distribution of resources, problem arises. 

According to Zartman (1997: 124), unequal divisions are unacceptable and most time negotiation stalemates. 

Thus unequal norms can also be interpreted as a different kind of equality, not in exchange for the other party’s 

contribution but in exchange for one’s contribution. The justifying criterion shifted from an international 

(between parties) to an internal (within party) exchange. Such equalizing is the meaning and purpose of equality 

in the legal sense, where various instances of compensatory justice are involved to temper the severity of partial 

justice principles (Duetsh, 1985; Homans, 1961; Adams, 1965; Messe, 1971). 

Relative Deprivation is very suitable in the attempt at finding out the place of conflict in Africa’s 

underdevelopment. Firstly, it links the numerous problems of conflicts in Africa to a cause. It helps us to 

understand that the numerous problems in Africa are predominantly contention for the resources (as will be seen 

in the next section). To make this argument’s sustainable, we should know that resources are scarce relative to 

human needs every where, but of peculiar circumstance is Africa having been exploited, and as post colonial 

states and being still, an appendage of the imperialist countries of the world Junior partners in the international 

division of labour and thence, subjected to unequal exchange and denied of investible surpluses from their 

economy. The scarcity generated by this, leads to high struggle for the few resources and as groups, inordinately 

lumped together, conflict ensures in various magnitudes. 

The essence of this is that conflict is permanently generated when there is a disagreement among 

various interests in the society over the appropriation of the resources. Those deprived, then, in many ways try 

to get advantage or disrupt the skewed appropriation. Their instruments could either be their ethnic group, their 

religious group, their corporate group etc. It is relevant in understanding also that the problem of development in 

Africa is not totally removed from the various country’s social injustices which colonialism, through its 

developed and transferred government structure introduced to African’s heterogeneous societies and untechnically 

merged nations (Coleman, 1986). To Elaigwu (2005) the conflicts (political) in Nigeria can be traced 

to two factors, which borders on Nigerian federalism. They are the structural imbalance in the federal system, 

and the differential spread in the pattern of western education. Though, as rightly stated, these situations do not 

just spark off… conflicts (Nnoli, 1978). As could be deciphered from the earlier explanation of relative 

deprivation thesis, it arose out of insufficiency. It has to be re emphasized again that when items are insufficient 

only few would have access to it. When such few are in control, the remaining people may start seeing 

themselves as being deprived. They would naturally make efforts to balance the situation or change their 

disadvantaged position. Failure to achieve the balance usually leads to frustration, then confrontations, struggle, 

conflicts and violence. This as has been mentioned is specific on political conflicts and does not therefore 

explain the entire conflicts as none politically motivated conflicts are numerous. 

This situation is exacerbated, as it is in the case of Nigeria and in most other African countries where 

the State is the major provider of employment. Political parties are largely, either regionally or ethnically based. 


25 | Page


Hence, the multi-ethnic character of Nigerian State makes conflict even more likely, leading to an often-violent 

politicization of ethnicity. Infact, as it is now, the rival communities perceive that their security, perhaps their 

very survival as a corporate group, can be ensured only through control of state power. The situation has 

deepened since the 1980s when the federal government introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) 

as a way or revamping the economy. Things got worse, largely due to insincere implementation of the economic 

adjustment policy (see Obasi, 1986). Consequently, many industries closed down, as they could no longer 

source their raw materials from the international market. This led to loss of jobs as many people were retrenched 

from their jobs in the “Austerity Measure” and SAP policies. Embargo was also placed on the recruitment of 

new workers to the public service. As Albert (2005), Albert et al (1994) and Osaghae et al (1994) variously 

found out, it was the social dislocations (job losses, breakdown of family ties, erratic educational calendars 

occasioned by incessant teachers’ strikes and so on) that resulted from these, that goaded several thousands of 

Nigerians towards both criminal and political violence. Ethnic groups began to clash with each other as they 

competed aggressively for control of the limited social, economic and environmental resources within their 

localities. Religious groups were not left out of the melee; they started to manipulate their exclusive identities in 

ways that heightened social tension in the country (Albert, 2003). The situation has increased both in the extent 

and in the intensity of occurrence since 1999. 

Onyeaji (2001: 142) has noted that extreme poverty prevalent in many African states is a veritable 

source of civil strife. In an earlier research, Nnoli (1978) was of the opinion that politics (and their consequent 

conflicts) though blurred, are inter-ethnic socio economic competition. In reality he said, Nigerian politics was 

the struggle among various factions first to dominate the wealth in their region of origin and, second to use this 

regional dominance as a springboard for the acquisition of some of the non-regional wealth. In the pursuit of 

these objectives, these petty bourgeois and comprador bourgeois leaders elicited the support of the various other 

classes by an appeal to ethnicity. This was why many scholars and analysts think that ethnicity was central to 

the course of the conflicts in Africa (Onyaji, 2001; Abdullahi, 2001; Ugbana, 1977). But since this control was 

not an end in itself, it was employed in the services of the leaders’ underlying political motivation, the use of 

political power to achieve interclass economic dominance. 

Considering that the real people involved directly in these conflicts in Nigeria are usually youths and 

young adults that see involvement in such group conflicts as means of ensuring their means of existence or 

survival in the face of harsh economy, there becomes a need to answer the question on the impact of poverty in 

the raging of conflicts in Nigeria. 

IV. Poverty and Conflicts in Nigeria 

One of the fundamental postulations of this work is that “there is a strong relationship between high 

incidence of poverty and persisting internal conflicts in Nigeria”. The intention of the work here is to find out to 

what extent the poverty situation has helped to generate and or sustain conflicts in Nigeria. 

First, it is known that African countries are poor. Infact as Onu (2003) presented it; the economic situation of 

African Countries has always been precarious. It had 16 out of the 21 poorest countries of the world as at 2003 

and the situation has rather worsened instead of improving. The progressive record of African debt problems 

testifies to this. 

The situation we find in Nigeria, our case study depicts the poor conditions of African states. It has 

been on record that a great number of Nigerians are really living in an unprotected condition. Infact, the basic 

needs of life are clearly and unfortunately lacking. This situation of abysmal condition and vulnerability of 

Nigerians is presented by Asobie (2008: 2) very palpably as thus: 

Poverty is at the heart of Nigerians socioeconomic problems. Poverty manifests as hunger, ill-health or poor 

health, illiteracy and low level of formal education. It also takes the form of inadequate housing, poor clothing, 

malnourished off- springs, and even early demise … they (Nigerians) live … not really like humans. They are 

compelled to exist, nay vegetate, at a level that is fit more for animals, than for humans. They share the rainfilled 

holes, which constitute the main source of their driving water with pigs and goats, cats and dogs, ducks 

and fowls. They buy the left-over food items in the market: rotten tomatoes; ill preserved meat; and the hides of 

cattle. Our people die in their thousands every day from ignorance, disease and they eat by chance and 

therefore survive by chance, but ultimately, they suffer with certainty, early miserable death. 

Under this circumstance, many people have been exposed to various forms of unimaginable social 

insecurity and to all sorts of social crisis both interpersonal and inter-group conflicts (Nwanegbo, 2009). 

There is a complete drop in the individual members’ capacity to satisfy his basic needs of food, 

clothing and shelter. In 2000 only 72% of urban residents and 49% of rural residents had access to safe drinking 

water. Only 48% of urban residents and 30% of rural residents had access to adequate sanitation. Unfortunately, 

the record is not improving. There is a high rate of unemployment. The NBS Report indicated that 20% of 

people between ages 15 and 24 are unemployed. While generally, 6% of the people above 15 were unemployed 

(see Nwanegbo, 2009). 


26 | Page


Those persons that in one way or the other found themselves in the position of responsibilities and 

authority do not want to loose them. They also strive so hard to not only secure their leadership and juicy 

positions, but also to wrestle the power and positions out of their contenders. This situation was explained by 

Nnoli (1978) that “…the Nigerian privileged and ruling classes are very desirous of perpetuating the inherited 

socioeconomic organization of the society, with its accompanying interethnic situation (and the attendant crises) 

because of the benefits they derive from it…”. And because the youths are not engaged due to high level of 

unemployment and underemployment, they are easily mobilized. First because they are not busy and vulnerable, 

and secondly because they see the contest as a means of guaranteeing for themselves the means of living. 

If we look at some situations of Nigeria we may find correlation between the positions expressed 

above. The Tiv riot we analyzed above, just like the Kano riot, the Western Nigerian Election crises, the Pogrom 

had more of the field soldiers from the great number of unemployed and underemployed youths. The June 12 

political crisis, though started as Pro-democracy groups’ mobilization against perceived attempt of the military 

to stultify the democratization process going on in the country then, but was high jacked by the large number of 

street touts and unemployed youths in Lagos. What therefore was planned to be a peaceful resistance of the 

military’s anti-democratic agenda then turned into a nation wide violent crisis. In the Aguleri-Umuleri, war, 

what explains the innate inducement for the sustenance of the war was the fact that after the was, a good number 

of the combatants that acquired the weapons either became part of the crime problems in Anambra state or 

became members of the vigilante services that operates every in the state recently. Ijaw-Uhrobo-Itsekiri situation 

is not different from the above explained situations. Meanwhile, if you get to the Niger-Delta environment of the 

wars, you would see palpable poverty even up till this moment. 

Some other political violence and of the recent time were also sustained by mobilizing a group of 

unemployed youths and either using them as paid tugs or making them to believe that they were (are) fighting 

for their community values that will sustain them too. For this, we can say that there is a strong relationship 

between deep poverty, desperation, expectation and reactions as well as sustenance of the conflicts in Nigeria 

V. Conflicts and Development in Nigeria 

The second supposition is that, “Low level of development appears to be a consequence of internal 

conflicts in Nigeria”. To adequately look at this hypothesis, we may need to literarily look at the consequences 

of conflict and from there, we may find out if and how it affects development. As Oyediran (1979: 35) and 

Pogrom (1966) presented it; 

Period of wars are periods of destruction, savagery and carnage. Apart from soldiers who die at war front, the 

civilian populace are equally subjected to torture and killing, as in Nigeria 1966-70, Liberia, Rwanda, Samalia, 

Burundi, etc. During the early stages of the Nigerian civil war, over 100,000 lives were lost (Oyediran, 

1979:35)… Prior to that period, more than 50,000 have either lost their lives or have parts of their body 

maimed during the carnage in the North against the Ibos in 1966-67 (program, 1966). 

Conflicts have impeded peace and progressive development of African nations since their flag 

independence. It hinders political development, it affects rapid economic growth, and it distorts socio-cultural 

equilibrium and lead to environmental deterioration. The consequences are enormous. It retards and destroys all 

the sector of the societal life. These areas not growing impliedly mean the sectors not developing. We shall take 

briefly on the aspects mentioned as thus; political, economic, social and environmental consequences of 

conflict. 

VI. Political Consequences 

What makes a nation state is the ability of a collection of people and groups of people to belong 

together within a geo-political environment as a nation. The psychology of the people is therefore very central to 

the building of nationhood that guarantees the state demands and individuals or groups willingness. In African 

societies so lumped together by colonialism this psychology is very vital to the being of the countries. War and 

conflict simply cracks the foundations and exposes the line of differences. Sometimes it makes it endemic and 

for a long time after it remains a monster in the country’s way of achieving nation- state. 

Good governance and laws sometimes remain the only factor or factors that sustain the states. But with conflict, 

good and acceptable government is not guaranteed as even elections into the government reflect the divisions. It 

equally affects the voting pattern as well as appointments and government policies etc. Nigerian instance 

provides a good case for study. The Igbos (Easterners) still remained, after thirty-eight years, losers of war. At 

the nuclear level areas with boundary disputes, etc continues to experience charged elections and skewed 

government policies at the local government level. 

At the continental level, political development, with the wave of global state, starts from having a 

continental state. This state could as well be as we have in Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) or African 

Union of today. It could also end at sub-regional level live ECOWAS and others. The main thing is that they 


27 | Page


provides a big family stance for Africa, Legislate for continental development, settle conflicts or better still, 

prevent conflict as well as present a solid political structure enough to cut off imperial encroachment. Conflicts 

within countries (as we have now) misdirect these political bodies, divide them and hinder their progress. 

VII. Economic Consequences 

Literature on conflict has more patronage of economic discussion on consequences (See Oluyole, 1958; 

lauer, 1978; Ikpeze, 1997). This underscores the fact that the economic cost of conflicts is much. One economic 

truth that is constant for ages now is that resources are scarce and needs is at the same time innumerable. For 

this, human being have to ration their need according to mean to exist and develop. Issues pertaining to the 

allocation of society’s resources to competing ends are therefore, for the same reason above, central in the 

interface between armed struggle (whether intra or inter-country) and economic growth and development. 

Economic growth, defined simply as a statistical increase in the Gross National Product (GNP) depend inter-alia 

on resources availabilities (Ikpeze, 1997:1). Economic development on the other hand, denoting an “upward 

movement of the entire social system according to Myrdal (1968:189), depends not only on resource 

availabilities but also on the pattern of resource use and, in particular, on the composition and distribution of 

output.Based on the above, a submission could be made that anything that causes distortion towards the 

achievement of the above, hinders economic growth and development. This is what military expenditure 

(specifically) and conflict (generally) tends to achieve in a country’s economy. According to Ikpeze (1997:1), 

for the entire social system to experience an upward shift, the structure of production has to tilt in favour of 

civilian consumption, there has to be greater participation by the citizenry in the production of the GNP, and the 

national income must be more equitably distributed, even as its rate of growth is increasing. He went further, 

that given that resources are everywhere scarce relative to needs, all military uses of resources are bound to 

compromise economic development because they divert resources away from civilian application, example 

education, health and physical infrastructure. Sharing the same opinion, Oyediran (1979:43-46) state that all the 

period of war, there is acute imbalance in budgetary allocations as defence or military allocations are given 

priority over and above other sectors of the economy, as during the Nigerian civil war. To see and appreciate the 

contrast between the magnitude of global military outlay and basic human needs in less developed countries (see 

Ikpeze, 1997; United Nations Study Series, 1983; McHale, 1969 etc). 

Before going into the analysis of the economic effects on conflict, it should be in place to state that 

African countries, precisely, Sub-Saharan countries have for the reasons of proliferation of armed conflict 

within states tended to consistently in recent year, spent a higher proportion of the GDP on military than 

industrialized nations (see Human Development Report, 1994; and Ikpeze, 1997:3). 

Financial expenditure is not the only form of economic cost of a conflict/war. They still include; natural 

resources (minerals and raw materials), human resources (manpower), and material resources (capital and 

technology), at any point in time, these resources are finite…. And given that they are finite, their allocation to 

military purposes, 

i. Necessarily compete with the allocation for socio-economic development; 

ii. Is liable to distort priorities in the allocation of resources not used directly by the military sector, and 

iii. Can aggravate conflict situations emanating from resource constraints with the risk of diverting additional 

resources to military uses. Financial outlays therefore are incapable of capturing the ramification alone. 

In comparison, the opportunity cost of armed conflict in terms of diversion and distortion encompasses 

i. The industrial production (forgone) 

ii. The depletion of important and non- renewable minerals, notably those used either in the manufacture of 

military equipment (Aluminum, copper, Nickel, platinum) used in military operation (petroleum); 

iii. The diversion of a significant proportion of scientific and Research and 

Development (R&D) efforts to military purposes; 

iv. The assignment of an undue proportion of the population as the regular soldier, Para-military forces, and 

civilians in defence activities; 

v. Competition with civilian demands for land (what ever purpose, be it industrial, agricultural, recreational, or 

environmental) (Ikpeze, 1997:11-12). 

This situation it must be emphasized is applicable to both international and internal conflicts. 

Conflicts lead to high importation and depletion of foreign reserve, it diverts resources from the said country’s 

economic capacity to produce basic goods and services and thence avoid scarcities in future. The above two, 

conspire to put pressure on prices, often leading to the institution of cumbersome controls (such as rationing), 

and foster the development of an underground economy with its attendant distortion. This also leads to severe 

scarcity. It also leads to the flight of the existing capital away from the country or Zone in conflicts. In Nigeria it 

led to even brain drain, sanctions and others. 

Conflict and war also lead to dislocation of people from their base. This leads to disruption of 

economic activity, unemployment, and underemployment for those not engaged in military operation and 


28 | Page


refugee problem that generically affects the neighbouring countries too. Some people have, even in the face of 

negative consequences, tried to justify military spending but we may not bother ourselves about them as those 

reasons have been debunked and criticized extensively. What matters mostly is that a war economy results in “a 

tremendous wreck of human, monetary and natural resources” (Eitzen, 1974). 

VIII. Social Problems 

Social development has been described as the process by which the well-being of any society and its 

people is ensured through collective action Vis-à-vis the changes taking place in politics, economics and social 

life of the people (Akukwe, 1978). Its basic aim according to Uzuegbunam (1997) is to ensure that the quality of 

human living reaches an acceptable standard. Social development is a very broad concept which includes 

activities covering all aspect of life namely politics, economics, social, religious etc, while typical social 

development programmes includes the following; family welfare services, Health, Housing, Education, 

Rehabilitation, Corrections, Community development, Youth service and Women and Development 

(Uzuegbunam, 1997:3-4; Nnoli, 1978:285), poverty disease, illiteracy, hunger and starvation (Igbo, 1997:7). 

Igbo, quoting the Federal Government Social Development Policy of 1989 sees social development as “the 

process of continuous improvement of the social structure, institutions and programmes in order to create a 

social condition in which the rights of citizens are advanced and protected; their welfare enhanced; and their 

effective functioning and self actualization ensured”. 

Just like it is of the political and economic situation, internal conflict and infact conflict as a whole 

hinders social development. Enumerating the consequences of conflict on the earlier itemized social structures, 

we have; 

1. Education: 

The educational services here include more of formal training programmes acquired at pre-primary, 

primary, secondary and tertiary levels in Africa. They need building and equipments, teachers and teaching aids, 

free meal etc. to effectively operate. During high level conflicts like is experienced in some Africa states 

(Nigerian Civil War, other Nigerian developed crises, Rwandan, Sierra Leone conflicts), school building were 

turned into military barracks and training schools, some teachers join army (either voluntarily or by 

conscription). The students themselves do get involved both as soldiers or in “Boys Company” and 

consequently education halts, facilities get destroyed and the students get the negative military violent 

orientation, which hinders proper education even after the conflict. 

2. Medical Care: 

Medical services are not spared, both in Personnel, Structures and Services. For instance, most major 

hospitals turns into military hospitals, nurses and doctors convert into the army. Drugs become insufficient; 

women, the aged and children suffer as the bulk of the civilian population. It also exposes people to health 

hazards and epidemic. 

3. Agriculture: 

This is affected in many ways. Firstly, the land that is very essential for Agricultural production 

becomes battlefield or occupied by enemies during war. Even the very few spaces of land that may be 

unhampered with, still, in most occasions remain uncultivated and unused, as the active age in the society in 

different ways will be engaged in military operation. Even when foods come in either through importation or as 

aids, it is channeled into sustaining the operation men first. Hunger and squalor therefore is imminent in war 

situation. 

4. Security: 

One of the “basic needs” of man according to Igbo (1997) is security-freedom from poverty, want, 

diseases, hunger and danger … and war brings these, most serious of them being security from danger. The war 

causes not only death of soldiers but also of civilians. Life is full of insecurity and uncertainty under conflict 

situation. 

5. Social Amenities: 

Social amenities like schools, Houses, Hospitals, Markets, Electricity, Water Treatment and Generating 

plants, Waste disposal facilities etc get greatly affected by civil conflicts. They are neglected (not maintained), 

destroyed (as part of military strategy) or converted for military uses. 


29 | Page


6. Family Welfare Services: 

These includes pre-marital and marital counseling, single parent services, services for abused spouses, 

services for neglected and abused children and elderly- those facilities, not physically created or seen, but they 

enhance human psycho- physically stability and development of individual and family units. These facilities are, 

under conflict situations neglected and/ or are not provided, thereby hindering social development on that line. 

7. Rehabilitation And Correction: 

Rehabilitation for Blind, Crippled, defected human, which comes through trainings to enhance their 

self-sustainability and stability, are punctured during conflicts. This brings them back to the street either begging 

or for the deviants, committing crimes. 

8. Community Development: 

This is summarily stopped, while the already developed communities are destroyed both physically, 

socially and psycho- culturally. Youth’s services and women development face the same fate too. The aboveexplained 

costs of conflict did not include the invaluable cost of loss of lives, which is individual’s inalienable 

right. Unfortunately, this is usually the first to be mortgaged. They have been recorded as the worst affected by 

war. Oyediran (1979:35) Pogrom (1966) Vogt and Aminu (1996) UN (1995:1) Green (1994:34) all recorded the 

enormity of human loss of lives during violent conflicts. 

IX. Environmental 

The environment has always formed a central part of the developmental focus. This is because it is in 

the environment that development takes places and also, it is from the environment that good development 

stems (See Nwanegbo, 2005). Conflict has led to environmental degradation, poverty and hindered rapid 

economic growth and development. 

For clarity of the position taken above, it should be understood that ecologically, African continent is 

filled with environmental problems arising from natural disposition and development activities of man…. 

neglected to engage in internal wars. These problems have attracted foreign aids in many ways and from many 

countries and organization totaling about US $ 954 million (as at 1997), which has been classified as gains to 

Africa (Boutrous- Ghali 1995:35 commission on Global governance, 1995; Ogoge and Igbozurike, 1997). These 

aids, if sustained and managed, could improve our environment and enhanced the tapping of the abundant 

natural resources embedded in our soil. Conflict rather scares away international communities and foreign on 

that area. 

On the other hand according to Phil-Eze (1997) other consequences of conflict on environment are; 

i. Pollution by war equipments on the environment by gases, chemicals and toxics, radio-actives, 

ii. Destruction of the forest by the heavy equipments like armored tanks, 

iii. Water pollution by chemical and others 

iv. Scaring away of foreigners and conservation experts 

v. Neglect of environments by government agencies that then engages in war prosecution, 

vi. Refugee problems to neighbouring countries and cities and it’s consequent effect in their own environment 

like over-population, destruction of their forests, over-cultivation and grazing of their lands, social and 

cultural breakdown, economic cost on the host towns and countries etc. 

From the discussions above, it can be clearly argued that conflicts indeed hinder development. Again as 

earlier exhaustively discussed, it is clear that despite the celebrated argument on the affect of dependency on 

Africa development, that some other basic things also inhibits the capabilities of the African countries to propel 

development on their own inspite of the enormous human and material resources available for that. Therefore, it 

could be right to say that among other things, the level of conflicts in the continent is also a major inhibition to 

the development. 

X. Responding to Situations of Conflict 

It has been widely accepted that one of the most potent ways of managing conflicting situation is by 

understanding and making use of the early warning signals (see SCA, 2003; Otite and Albert, 1999; UN, 2004). 

The early warning mechanisms are therefore widely regarded as serving an important role in conflict prevention 

but without early action, early warning is of little use (Nwanegbo, 2006). Hence the critical concern now is on 

following an early warning with effective action (UN, 2004:5). Such early response may involve diplomatic 

efforts, a peacekeeping deployment or a humanitarian intervention (if it is of international or involves bigger 

groups within a country, such that can attract international organization’s attention). Others are peace talks, 

negotiators, government interventions and others, if it is between communities and some other smaller groups 

that cannot easily draw attentions of international bodies. 


30 | Page


One thing that is pertinent is that conflict within human society is practically unavoidable. Issues 

relating to conflict prevention therefore are better seen as the ways to reduce conflicts and its impact by 

addressing those things that leads to conflict, making sure they are avoided and or designing measures to 

prevent escalation of latent conflicts. This can be done through solving those problems that creates anxiety and 

pressure and consequently frustration. Nwanegbo (2005) has identified certain basic causes of conflict and 

strategies for their resolution for Nigerian cases, and presented as follows; 

Democratization: 

Much of the causes of internal conflicts…in Africa (and in Nigeria) may be traced to the undemocratic 

character of the states. There is no gain saying that countries need to democratize the political system. As 

Obianyo (1997:11) asserts, any country that attempts to deny its citizens that singular opportunity of 

contributing towards the political development of their nation is doomed for persistent political instability and 

group conflicts. Nnoli (1998:18) contends that state violence accounts for the most important conflicts in 

Africa… and even those conflict that are associated with development, inevitably interface with state violence. 

Democracy goes beyond multi-party elections. It includes mutual tolerance and consensus building in the 

pursuit of common concerns. Hence Nwanegbo (2005a) contend that civilian regime does not necessarily mean 

democratic government. Unfortunately, Nnoli explains further, “the long period of military rule in Nigeria has 

induced a commandist and authoritarian culture guided by the belief that all matters are quick and effective 

action (also, See Adekanye, 1993). This is inimical to peaceful co-existence among individuals, groups, 

communities and zones. This co-existence must be nurtured by painstaking efforts at the involvement of the 

people in decision making at all levels of policy making. They should not be consumers of policy but also and 

more importantly, as authors of policies. There should be cultivation of an attitude of patient negotiation, 

mediation, trust, tolerance and faith in one another capable of directing the people’s energy into reaching 

consensus in all public affairs” (Uju, 1997:7-8; Otite, 1999). This, though as earlier said does not mean only 

multi-party election, but still free and fair election is the beginning of it all. That should be strived for. It 

enhances responsible government. Responsible government formed through democratic process will, in addition 

to providing basic necessities of life, also provide the necessary communication and mediation to arrive at the 

consensus (Nwanegbo, 2005a) and create opportunities for the realization and attainment of individual talents 

and abilities in Nigeria (See again Nwanegbo, 2005a). 

Social Justice/Even Development: 

Social injustice seems to be the basis of conflict in Nigeria. Social justice in the contest depicts making 

citizens to be adequately catered for by the Country with the resources that generates from them and their 

environment. For instance, letting the people from the Oil producing areas of the Country benefit from the 

largess from the crude oil that renders their Country-home un-inhabitable. It also includes equity or bridge in the 

gaps, in the resource ownership between the owners of means of production and the owners of labour, or better 

still, catering well enough for the producers. “If citizens are made to taste the fruit of their labour through 

harmonization of income and the provision of those amenities that make life worth-living, conflicts will be 

reduced . Give the man food; shelter, clothing, free or subsidized healthcare and other such amenities (with 

freedom of conscience) and his violent tendencies will be reduced (Nnoli, 1998:18). 

The other aspect of this, which is encompassing is the equitable distribution of national resources through even 

development. Publicly owned resources (both material resources and or positions) have to be equitably shared 

so that no group in the system feels cheated. Any time any group feel alienated or relatively deprived, the 

tendency of stereotype and group conflicts becomes high. Previous study identifies the areas of conflictual 

tendencies in the Federal set-up as; appointments of key positions in other Federal and State government (and 

even local government) and secondly, distribution of social amenities. Okoye (1991:35) in agreement, explained 

further that these two areas are the sources of conflict in the Nigerian body politic. When balance in this area is 

achieved, ethnocentrism will be reduced in Nigeria, as multiplicity of ethnic group has never really been the 

problem but interethnic struggles. 

Structural Repositioning: 

The societies should be structurally posited in such a manner that those political behaviour patterns that 

encourage monopoly of power and resources should be administratively removed. In this case, the zoning 

formular in the Federal set-up should be managed better than it is being done now. This would go a long way 

towards enhancing equity in resource distributions. 

Emphasis on Peaceful Settlement: 

Peaceful settlement of problem through negotiations, judicial settlements, arbitrations etc. should be 

seen as more potent in bringing peaceful settlement. Wilmot and Hocker (1998:48-49) identified some of them 

as elemental but good ideas of dealing with conflicts. These ideas as presented by Otite (1999) includes “the 


31 | Page


clarification of communication and the checking of perceptions which in turn invoke the following; speaking out 

what is in one’s mind or heart, listening carefully, expressing strong feelings appropriately, remaining rational, 

asking questions, maintaining a spirit of give and take, avoiding harmful statements, asking directly what is 

going on, telling others one’s opinion, looking for flexible “shades of gray” solutions, recognizing the power of 

initiating a co-operative move, identifying conflict patterns, and engaging in negotiations of agreements and 

settlements”. He asserts clearly that appropriate communication skills and channels are crucial in conflict 

management. It should be adopted and used early enough to avoid the overt conflict itself before attempt at 

solution. Though still, it should be stated that, this could be possible if the earlier three measures have been put 

in place. 

National Consciousness and Education: 

Ignorance has also played a lot of roles in the actual situation of war and in the generation of conflicts. 

Most times, the combatants are drawn from the ignorant and uneducated ones by the bourgeoisie to fight and or 

cause problems in a system. Based on this, attempt should be made to embark on a consciousness exercise for 

the citizenry so as to educate them on the need to maintain peaceful co-existence with one another. As the 

members of the ruling class do not take part personally in these crisis and their children too, and as they go into 

generating crisis in the system when their personal interest is at state, it then means that if the real combatants 

are made better aware of their positions, they would probably not be easily used any longer. For this, free and 

probably compulsory education at least to secondary level is suggested to maintain at least minimal 

consciousness among Nigerians. 

XI. Conclusion 

The work was guided by the interest to find out what the causes of internal conflicts in Africa are, the 

impacts and the general affect on the under-development nature of Africa in general and Nigeria in particular. 

To get these objectives achieved, some leading questions were asked to help enquiring into these areas. The 

work guided by the relative deprivation theory came up with findings that internal conflict and 

undemocratisations stalled the Nigerian development and indeed African development. Based on these, the 

paper made the suggestions in form of conflict resolution strategy that could put the African countries out of 

contentions and conflicts. 

Bibliography 

Books 

[1] Abel, T. (1941) “The Element of Decisions in the Pattern of War” American Sociological Review, Vol. 1. 

Adams, J. S. (1965) “Inequality in Social Exchange”, in L. Berkowritz, (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, New 

York: Academic Press. 

[2] Ake, C. (1972) “Development for What and by Whom”, a Paper Presented to a Conference on Development Strategies organized 

By The Dag Hammerkjoid, Tanzania in Arusha, Tanzania. 

[3] Amuwo, K. (1995) General Babangida, Civil Society and the military in Nigeria: Anatomy of a Personal Rulership Project, Talence 

CEDEX: Centre D’ Etude D’ Afrique Noire institute d’ Etudes Poliliques de Bordeaux. 

[4] Barongo, Y. B. (1987) “Ethnic Pluralism and Democratic Stability: The Basis for Conflict and Consensus”, in S.E. Oyovbaire (ed.), 

Democratic Experiment in Nigeria: Interpretative Essay, Benin: Omega Publishers. 

[5] Bladwin, R. E. (1972) Economic Development and Growth, (2nd ed.), New York: John Wiley.Brooke, C. (ed.) (1952) As Others 

See Us, London: Longman Boutrous-Ghali, B. (1995) An Agenda For Development, United Nations: New York, Champion 11 Oct. 

2001C. G. G. (1995) The Commission for Global Governance: Our Global Neighborhood, New York: Oxford University press 

[6] Coleman, J. (1988) Intimate Relation in Marriage and Family, New York: The Macmillan Company and the Free Press. 

[7] Dowse, R. E. and Hughes, J. A. (1972) Political Sociology, London: Chichester University Press. 

[8] Drenadorf, Raft (1976) Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Conflict, Stanford: Stanford University Press. 

[9] Duetsh, M. (1985) Distributive Justice, Hew Haven: Yale University Press. 

[10] Egwu, S. G. (2002) “Civil Society and the struggle for Democracy and Human Rights in Nigeria” in Nnamdi Azikiwe Journal of 

Political Science, Vol.2, No. 2. Eitzen, D.S. (1974) Social Structure and Social Problems in Africa, Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 

[11] Elaigwu, J.I (2005) ”Crisis and Conflict Management in Nigeria since 1980” Lead paper presented at NDA National Conference on 

Governance and Conflict Management 15-17 th June Vol. 1. 

[12] Emmanuel, A. (1962) Unequal Exchange: A Study of the Imperialism of Trade, (With additional comments by Bethlehem). New 

York: Monthly Review press. 

[13] Ernesto, L. (1978) Politics of Ideology in Marxist Theory, London: New Left Books.Falana, R. (2001) “Embracing Peace in the 

Niger-Delta Area”, in Radio Nigeria: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Abuja: Northwood Resources Ltd. 

[14] Faleti, S. A. (2006) “Theories of Social Conflict”, in S. G. Best (ed), Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies in West Africa, 

Ibadan: Spectrum Books. 

[15] Francis, D. J. (2006) “Peace and Conflict Studies: An African Overview of Basic Concepts”, in S. G. Best (ed.), Introduction to 

Peace and Conflict Studies in West Africa, Ibadan: Spectrum Books. 

[16] Frank, A.G (1969) Capitalism and Underdevelopment In Latin America, New York: Monthly Review Press. Gbulie, B. (1981) 

Nigerian’s Five Major, Onitsha: African Educational Publishers. 

[17] Goulet, D. (1971) The Cruel choice: A New Concept on the Theory of Development. New York: Athenaeum. 

[18] Homans, G. C. (1961) Social Behaviour, New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.Ikejiani, O. and Ikejiani, O.M. (1985) Nigeria: 

Political Imperative Desiderata For Nationhood and Stability, Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers. 

[19] Ikejiani, O. M (1996) Issues and Concepts in the Nigerian Conflict (1966-1970) Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers. 


32 | Page


[20] Isard, W. (1992) Understanding Conflict and the Science of Peace, Cambridge M.A: Blackwell. 

[21] Kelly, J. (1969) Organizational Behaviour. Hornewood: Irwin-Doysey. 

[22] Kay, Geoffrey (1975) Development and Underdevelopment: A Marxist Analysis, London: Macmillan. 

[23] Kirkpatrick, E. M (ed.) (1983) Chambers 20 th Century Dictionary W & R Chambers Ltd.Killick, T and Martin, M. (1989a) “African 

Debt: The search for solution”. In United Nation African Recovery Programme Briefing paper. Vol 1.June, United Nation 

Department of Public Information, New York. 

[24] Killick T, and Martin, M. (1989b) “African Debt: The search for solution”. In United Nation African Recovery Programme Briefing 

paper. Vol 3 No 1-3 October. United Nation Department of Public Information, New York. 

[25] Lauer, R.H. (1978) Social Problems and Quality of life, Dubuque, Iowa: W.M. C. Brown Company Publishers.Mabonguje, A.L. 

(1981) The Development Process: A Spatial Perspective, New York: Holmes and MeierPublishers. 

[26] Messe, L. (1971) “Equity in Bilateral Bargaining”, in Journal of Personal and Social Psychology, Vol. 3. 

McEnery, J.H. (1985) “Towards a New Concept of Conflict Evaluation”, Conflict: All welfare short of war, Vol. 6, No. 1. New 

York: Crane Russak.McHale, J. (1969) The Future of the Future, New York: George Brazilla 

[27] Mustapha, T. (1987) Sustainable Development: Constraint And Opportunities, London: Butterworth. Myrdal, G. (1968) Asian 

Drama, New York: New Webster Dictionary of Modern English. 

[28] Nigerian Pogrom Crisis (1966) The Organized Massacre of Eastern Nigerians Vol. 3: Enugu, Nigerian: Publicity Division of the 

Ministry of Information, Eastern Nigeria, 1966, 

[29] Nnoli, O. (ed) (1981) Path to Nigeria Development, CODESRIA: Dakar, Senegal. 

[30] Nnoli, O. (1998) “General Survey of Conflicts in the South- Eastern Zone of Nigeria” Paper presented at the South-East Zonal 

Conference on Enhancing Peaceful Co-existence in Nigeria. Enugu, 29-30 th April, Organized by Pan-African Centre for Research 

on Peace and Conflict Resolution (PACREP) Enugu. 

[31] Nnoli, O. (2003) “Communal Conflict and Population Displacement: An Introductory Note” in O. Nnoli (ed), Communal Conflict 

and Population Displacement in Nigeria, Enugu: PACREP Book Series, No. 1. 

[32] Nwanegbo, C. J. (2005a) Internal Conflict and African Development: An Overview of Nigerian Situation, Awka: Pond Publishers. 

[33] Nwanegbo, C.J. (2005b) “Them Against Us: A Critical Appraisal of the Bourgeoisie / State Sponsored Conflicts in Anambra State” 

in A.M Yakubu, R.T. Adegboye, C.N Ubah and B, Dogo (eds.) Crisis and Conflict Management in Nigeria Since 1980, Vol. 2 

Governance and Conflict Management, Nigeria Defence Academy Book Series No. 1. 

[34] Nwanegbo, C.J. (2006) “Inter–Group Conflicts in Africa: Causes, Consequences and Management (A Nigerian Perspective)” in E. 

A. Obi and O.S.A. Obikeze (eds.) Contemporary Social Issues in Nigeria, Onitsha: Bookpoint Publishers.Obasi, I. N. (1999) State- 

Labour Relations Under SAP in Nigeria, Ibadan: Sam Bookman Publisher. 

[35] Obi, C. (1999) “Oil and Democratization in Nigeria”, in Association of African Political Scientists (AAPS) Newsletter, January- 

April. 

[36] Obianyo, N. (1997) “The Cost of Inter-Group Wars: Consequences for Social Development”. Paper presented at PRIN’S National 

Conference on Inter-Group Conflicts and Africa Development, Nsukka 3-5 th Dec.Oche, O. (2000) “Contemporary Conflict in Africa 

and Other Roles of the OAU and Sub Regional Organisation in conflict management” Nigerian journal of International Affairs, Vol. 

26 No. 1 

[37] Ogege, D.O. & Igbozurike, U. M. (1997) “perspectives in Environmental Management” Proceedings of NEST ANNUAL 

workshops 1991-1995, NEST, Ibadan, Nigeria. 

[38] Okafor, F.U (1997) New Strategies for Cubing Ethnic and Religious Conflicts in Nigeria, Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers. 

[39] Okoye, I.K (1991) National Consciousness in Nigeria, Onitsha: Etukokwu Press 

[40] Otite, O. (1999) “On Conflict, their Resolution and Transformation”, in O. Otite and I. O. Albert (ed.) Community Conflicts in 

Nigeria: Management, Resolution and Transformation, Ibadan: Spectrum Books Ltd. 

[41] Oyediran, O. (ed) (1979) Nigerian Government and Politics Under Military Rule 1966- 79, Macmillan Press. 

[42] Pear, T. H. (ed) (1950) Psychological Factors of Peace and War, London: Hutchinson and co. 

[43] Post, K. W. J. and Vicker, M. (1973) Structure and Conflict in Nigeria; 1960-1966, London: Heinemann.Pye, Lucian (1966) Aspect 

of Political Development, Boston: Little Brown. 

[44] Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE), NO. 77, VOL. 25 Sept. 1998. 

[45] Riley, S. (1998) “Conflict, Civil Society and Peace Building in west-Africa”, in Review of African political Economy, No. 77, 

Volume. 25 September. 

[46] Rodney, W. (1982) How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Enugu: Ikenga Publishers. 

[47] Rostow, W.W. (1960) The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non- Communist Manifesto, Cambridge: University Press. 

[48] Sills, D. (1968) “Modernization: Political Aspects”, The International Encyclopedia of Social Science, Vol. IV. New York: The 

Macmillan Company and Free Press. 

[49] Thirlwall, A.P. (1989) Growth and Development with Special Reference to Developing Economies (4 th ed) London: 

Macmillan.Ugbana, O. (1977) Ethnic Minority Problems in Nigerian Politics, 1960-1965, Stockholm, Uppsala. 

[50] Uju, J.O.R. (1997) “Strategies For Preventing Inter-Group Conflict in African States”, Paper Presented at PRIN” National 

Conference on Inter-Group Conflict and African Development Nsukka, Dec 3-5th. 

[51] United Nation (1993) Disarmament: Study series. NO. 11 Economic and Social Consequences of the Arms Race and Military 

expenditures. 

[52] United Nations (1998) Report of the United Secretary-General to the Security Council on “The causes of Conflict and the 

promotion of durable and sustainable Development in Africa”. 

[53] Uzuegbu, C.N. (1997) “The Cost of Inter-Group War: Consequences for Social Development” PRIN Conference on Inter-group 

conflict. Nsukka 3-5-Dec. 

[54] Vogt, M.A & Aminu, L.S. (eds.) (1996) PeaceKeeping as A Security Strategy in Africa: Chad and Liberia as Case Studies Vol.1. 

Enugu: Fourth Dimension.Weeks, D. (1992) The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution, New York: Putnam Tharcher. 


33 | Page




The Influential Effect of Folk Arts - Pot Chitra in Present Trend 

of Fashion in Bangladesh: An Overview 

1 Najmul Kadir Kaikobad, 2 Helena Nazneen Zobaida, 3 Md Zafar Alam Bhuiyan, 

4 Mahmudur Rahman, 5 S. M. Ashiqur Rahman, 

1 

Assistant Dean & Center Head, Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology, City campus, Lalmatia, 

Dhaka, Bangladesh 

2 Coordinator & Lecturer, Fundamental of Art & Design, Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology, 

City campus, Lalmatia, Dhaka, Bangladesh 

3 Assistant Proctor & Lecturer of Fashion Design, Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology, City 

campus, Lalmatia, Dhaka, Bangladesh 

4 Lecturer, Fundamental of Art & Design, Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology, City campus, 

Lalmatia, Dhaka, Bangladesh 

5 Senior Motion Graphics Designer,Desh TV, Dhaka, Bangladesh 

Abstract: Recognizing Pot Chitra as formalized folklore, the word Pot Chitra has been analyzed. The customs 

of picture painting and the making of elongated Pot Chitra have been discussed. Amongst the thousands of 

materials or objects in the folk arts it is not difficult to understand the worldly characteristics. Sometimes, the 

divine philosophies and the realistic philosophies have been the guide amongst these topics. The formation of 

art and its rhythmic outlines were attained by the artist‟s aesthetic mind. Therefore, the mass, volume and types 

of art-forms can be found, such as, pottery, carpentry and engraving, architecture, metal crafts, shell crafting, 

ivory crafting, mask making etc. Similarly in the graffiti, quilt-making, mat-crafting etc, and even in the 

ornament craft, the aesthetic rhythm of art is evident. Folk art, the integrated part of Bengal, displays a rich 

vocabulary of motifs. These motifs are deeply rooted in strong religious beliefs and underlay a strong 

symbolism. These motifs signify the desire for “self expression” and manifestation of the artisan‟s aspirations. 


Fashion in Bangladesh is growing and becoming increasingly fruitful in its endeavors. More and more 

designers are popping up, making an effort to bring the industry up to international standards. In the process, 

however, it is sad to say that, in many cases, the glamour and glitter of other, more advanced industries around 

the world, such as India, influence our fusionist designers as so much that we often lose our own sense of 

fashion and merely follow the trends set by others. Being India as a neighboring country is hard for 

Bangladesh's self image. As it is, we tend to measure our success according to the success of the Indians, never 

taking into account that they are far older as a nation. In addition, we look to India for trend in many different 

aspects of our daily lives, be it arts, music, entertainment or even fashion. Let's not be denied the fact that many 

Bangladeshi women and girls or boys are quite happy trying to look like the latest Bollywood actress or actor. In 

fact, how many times have one walked into a sharee store and had a chumki-ala, shaded sharee thrown in one 

direction, claiming it was the latest thing in India, even naming it after the movies in which beautiful doll-like 

actresses with impossibly thin figures wear. We constantly fall into the trap of idealizing everything the Indians 

do. Those who can afford to do so always go to India for wedding shopping, rather than doing any major 

shopping in Bangladesh. And already there are a handful of big stores in the Gulshan area which strongly look 

like shops in India. Rather than taking pride in what sets us apart from other nation: our culture, our traditions 

and our heritage. We spend all our time copying Indian trends while we slowly lose our own sense of style. 

Gone are the days of Tangail Handloom and Jamdanis, because Bollywood has not thought them worthy of 

glamorizing. Our designers have no choice but to keep bringing in more Indian trends in order to keep their 

clients happy. 

Our analysis is about Bangladeshi fashion design deals only with the surface such as block, batik, 

embroidery, hand paint etc. These aspects are very strong in the fashion industry, but unfortunately surface work 

is only a part of designing. There are many different aspects that are not touched upon as much as they should 

be here, such as fittings, patterns or even forecasting and also the relevance of what works with our 

surroundings. For example, many people don't distinguish that the colors and fabrics that are relevant for 

summers; for an example mainly light colors and fabrics that breathe - are not necessarily relevant for other 

seasons, such as winter, in which designers can use darker colors and more heavy fabrics. Using handloom 

fabrics that are both 'colorful and cultural,' we feel that we can create design such as depict the innocent and 

pure beauty of the indigenous community of Bangladesh. 


34 | Page

The Influential Effect Of Folk Arts - Pot Chitra In Present Trend Of Fashion In Bangladesh: An Overview 

We believe in this research work will prove that our country is so rich, but we just don't understand it 

or know about it. There are so many opportunities for us and we have a variety of things to choose from, but we 

do not take advantage of what we have. We are surrounded by so many cultures that can contribute to fashion 

such as Pot Chitra. 

Pot Chitra is a kind of folk arts. Identifying Pot Chitra as formalized folklore, the word Pot Chitra has 

been analyzed. The customs of picture painting and the making of elongated Pot Chitra have been discussed. 

The Pot Chitra was classified to the contexts. Some primitive processes of making brush and the ink exist which 

are very own of the Potuas. The processes vary in different districts. In some cases there are some similarities as 

well. There are a number of different patterns and bright colors in Pot Chitra that we can use and bring into the 

mainstream market in order for people to see what we have. In this research paper, we try to show the fusion of 

stylish fittings and traditional patterns merged into an interesting blend which symbolizes the strength of a 

fashion industry that wants to hold onto its roots but at the same time move forward. 

In addition, our local boutiques design also reminds us that there are many aspects of Bangladesh that 

the majority of us have not explored or educated ourselves about. We constantly look into the other nations for 

reassurance and acceptance, all the while not promoting and taking pride in the beauty that we have within our 

grasp. While these designs are western patterns, at least it is important that we are supporting these forgotten 

cultures by showcasing their worth and bringing them out of the shadows that they have been hiding under for 

far too long. 

II. Glossary Of Terms 

• Pot Chitra: "Pot" means "scroll" and “Chitra” means Painting 

• Potua: "Potua" or "Chitrakar" means "Painter". 

• Tangail Hand Loom: One types of Bangladeshi Hand Loom 

• Jamdanis: One types of Bangladeshi Hand Loom 

• Chumki-ala: Name of Boutique Shop 

• Gazi : Victor 

• Gazir Pot: One types of Scroll Painting of South-West Bangle (Part of Bangladesh & India) 

• Kalighat Pot: One types of Scroll Painting of West Bengal (Province of India) 

• Gayen: Lead singers or narrators of Scroll Painting 

• Puranic: Mythological 

• Pala Gaan: Live Drama 

• Slokas: Mythological Folk stories 

• Sabitri-Shottoban, Ram-Sita-Rabon and Korno: Characters from Ramayan and Mahabharat 

• Sutrodhar: Carpenter 

• Malakar: One type of Artisans who create handy crafts by using paper, one type of soft tree locally called 

„Shola‟ etc. 

• Chumki-ala: One type of Surface Design 

• Sharee: Bengali traditional costume for women 

• Bollywood: Film city of India 

• Bratachari camp: 

• Guru Sadoy Dutta: He was a eminent civilian who oganize Bengole movement colled Bratachari 

movement. 

• Bratachari movement: Bengali National movment 

• Shakher Nandi: urn-shaped pot of capricious inclination 

• Alpona: Design by Bengali folk motif 

• Pata-chitra: One types of Pot Chitra 

• Janmashtomi: Birth day of Sri Krishna (Spiritualist of Hindu Religion) 

• Shetal Pati: One type weave mat 

• Bel: Wood Apple 

• Lokkhi: Goddess of Hindu Religion 

• Dhotis / Lungis: Bengali traditional costume for men 

• Arshilota: A narrow embroidered wrapper to roll and store away a woman's comb, mirror, eye kohl, 

vermilion, sandal paste, oil bottle, etc. 

• Ashon: One type of mat 

• Batwa thoiley: 

• Ghilaf: Arabic word also Cover 

• Jainamaz: Mats used by Muslims to say prayers 

• Galicha: Floor covering 


35 | Page


• Bostani, guthri: A square wrapper for books and other valuables 

• Dhakni: Covering cloths of various shapes and sizes 

• Daster khan: A spread for eating place, used at meal time 

• Balisher chapa or Oshar - A flat single piece pillow cover 

• Rumal: Handkerchief - Small and square in shape 

• Ekushey: 21 st of February which is calibrate as International Mother Language day 

• Taaga: Thin cotton thread used by village women, children to hang something with neck, waist, and arms 

• Panjabis: Bengali traditional costume for men 

III. Literature Review 

For our research we have choose primary and secondary sources to collect the data. We have made 

through study books like Banglar Lokoshilpo by Dr. P. Ghosh, Proshango: Pot, Potua o Potua Shangeet by Dr. 

C. Mayti, Gagir Gan: Shilpo Riti by A. Ahmed, Potua Roghu Nather Shilpo Bhubon by D. Hosson, Openti 

Bioscope by S. Shom, Bangalir Attoporichoy by Mustafa N. Islam, Banglar Lokonattao Palagan: Prokriti o 

Proyog by Raji. A. Alim, Foklor Shangrohosala by Shahed M. Sayed, Shanskritik Oaytijha Abong Nrittoshilpor 

Bistar by K. Lohani, Banglar Loko Shanskriti by W. Ahmed and other related books. More information was 

gathered from „Openti Bioscope‟ where detailed description is given about Bengali Folk Art like Pot Chitra. 

This book was very helpful in providing in depth explanations and references of other designers who will know 

the details information about Pot Chitra. 

A. Patua Quamrul Hassan 

Quamrul Hassan (1921-1988) occupies the most distinguished place in Bangladesh's fine arts after 

master artist Zainul Abedin (1914-1976). His creative talents were multifaceted and his art works are 

characterized by constant reinvention and experimentation. His continual experimentation also facilitated a 

better understanding of the various media and their potential. Besides familiarity, this also gave him a facile 

competence in and control over diverse forms and expressions of art. A natural affinity for tradition lies at the 

heart of Quamrul's aesthetics. He has been eminently successful in blending the folk with the modern, the 

indigenous with the western - creating a modern diction that retains its links to indigenous forms and 

expressions sustained over centuries. His works are distinctive because of this matchless blending of the arts and 

styles of the East and the West. There has been an additional embellishment at times by a measured touch of 

Chinese art, profound in the heart of his hearts, Quamrul was passionately engaged in the pursuit for beauty all 

through his life. This is best celebrated in the portrayal of the Bengali women and the vitality of feminine beauty 

in his works. Quamrul Hassan has also been deeply committed to his roots and the social responsibility born of 

this sense of belongings. He has been closely associated with the progressive inclination in politics. 

Nationalism, devotion and a tremendous sense of the present and of worldliness were strong in him. He has 

never diverged away from the quest of humanism and the Bengali inheritance. He was against all forms of 

ignorance and backwardness and was convinced in the progressive values of mankind. All through his life, he 

has been a free intellectual. 

The folk-rootedness in Quamrul was not a exterior thing; it was a heart element of his inspirations. His 

sense of heritage was engraved deeply in his attitude towards life and his own philosophy. As a result, elements 

of myths have greatly prejudiced his works. This would be abundantly clear from a close study and analysis of 

his works, the assemble of his forms and figures, the choice and use of colours and lines as well as the nuances 

he weaves into them. A sequential approach would help identify some of the sources of Qamrul's passion for the 

folk.First, it would be recalled that Quamrul Hassan participated in a month long Bratachari camp (December 

1939) a year after he got admitted into Kolkata Government Art School (July 1938). Guru Sadoy Dutta's (1882- 

1941) Bratachari movement was started with a view to re-establishing the glorious heritage of Bengalis as a 

rejection of and expression of resistance against British colonial rule. Quamrul Hassan was so influenced by the 

ideas of this movement that he continued to hold on to these ideas until his last days. It was here at the 

Bratachari camp that he came across potuas and the traditional potua artists of Bengal. He learnt about the 

significance of this age-old art form from Guru Sadoy Dutta. He was attracted by the style, especially the use of 

basic colours, methods of drawing figures in profile, the inherent, two-dimensional features, the unprompted 

nature of lines etc. Quamrul Hassan used all these features in his own works. He entered a pata painting in the 

Muslim Art Exhibition in 1946 for the first time. We find various motifs and expressions of folk art entering his 

world of art form of dolls, birds and fishes from Rajshahi's shakher Nandi (urn-shaped pot of capricious 

inclination), the 'evil' owl, fox, snake, crocodile, lizard, or vultures etc. parallel to "beauteous and innocent" 

animals like peacocks, chicken, cows, horses, elephants, turtles, cats, storks and goats. Keeping in mind these 

three sources, one may proceed to analyze the nature and extent of the folk affinity in Quamrul Hassan. It is 

clear that he has drawn elements, both of style and substance, from the folk arts, but his works are not overtly 

folk. Quamrul Hassan did not forget even for a moment nor did he allow us to forget that he was a modern artist, 


36 | Page


not a folk craftsman. For this reason, elements and features of the folk have blended with modern western styles 

in his paintings with such fascinating competence. Quamrul Hassan has achieved a distinguishing expression in 

his art and his aesthetic vision through a blending of these two trends. 

B. Potua Shambhu Acharya: 

Potua Shambhu Acharya was discovered by the researcher Dr. Tofael Ahmed from Munshigonj after 

his (Dr. Tofael Ahmed) visit in Kolkata Museum. Being an inspired person as a researcher Dr. Tofael Ahamed 

reveled the talent Potua Shambhu Acharya and his family which has a virtually successful tract in creating Pot 

Chitra in his style. Potua Shambhu Acharya is the 9 th generation of his family tree who are traditionally artist 

from inner inspiration transpiring from the generation to generation. He is skilled and self sufficient with his 

creation, using different media to draw his Pot Chitra in the coarse canvas. His creation is different from others 

as he claims that he is fond of beautifulness from the elements or factors of his drawing. Potua Shambhu 

Acharya is merely not a Potua but a researcher of his time which could be claimed to the living treasure of folk 

arts. Folk singers collect the Pot Chitra from him and spread to the rural and urban areas of Bangladesh as their 

predecessors did in the past. He is living source of inspirations and creation a new arena in this age bridging 

with the past and future. 

C. Potua Raghunath Chakroborty 

Pot Chitra or story telling through depicting images on canvas has always been a traditional form of art 

and entertainment. The trail goes a long way back to the Middle Ages when story telling was an important form 

of entertainment in Bengal. Poets told tales of gods, saints and the virtuous, of kings and queens, through their 

writings. Artist‟s portrayed these verses through colors and motifs. The age-old folk art survived centuries to tell 

the tales. It still continues to entertain the art enthusiasts. Raghunath Chakravarty does not have any academic 

training. He did however found inspiration from his mother and later on from renowned Pot Chitro artist 

Shambhu Acharya. The stroke of the brush came to him naturally. "I learned from my mother. She used to paint 

Pot Chitro and decorate the house with alpona whenever there was an occasion, “he said." “From then on I had 

colors in my mind, I just started to compose in my head and started painting with a brush,” Raghunath however 

personalized the art. 

Attractive the lives of the ordinary folks, everyday struggle, “the beauty of the rural landscape", said 

Raghunath. Raghunath's favourite theme is the eternal love between mother and child. In his work the theme 

keep coming back along with boat race, the weavers and the carpenters at work, rural wife's cooking 

preparation, the bangles seller lady, women fetching water, ethnic women at work and many moves. Use of 

bright colors has always been a basic feature of the Pot Chitra, Raghunath did not manage this part vibrant 

colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, deep purple brightened his creations. 

Yellow is never brighter, red more festive, green more alive or blue more serene as they are in „patachitra'. 

Patua Raghunath Chakroborty says, "Colors don't overlap in `pata chitra', as in other mediums and 

styles. 'Patuas' (painters of this form) paint with locally produced vegetable colors, which not only make the 

scroll paintings very bright but also, add life to them.” The scene apparently lasts over 50-60 years a remarkable 

feat for water color. Chakroborty has moved always from the traditional scroll style and put each scene on a 

single frame, giving it a contemporary feel while retaining its indigenous appeal; alongside religious themes, 

these works also highlight everyday events and people. Reghunath Chakroborty, originally from Gaibandha, has 

been living in Dhaka since 1992. A self-trained artist, Chakroborty did not go to any art school. The source of 

inspirations behind pursuing 'pata-chitra': Patua Shambhu Acharya. Why does he prefer this particular art 

form?" It‟s indigenous, inexpensive and its allure is uncomplicated. Materials like oyster shell powder, yellow 

squash, and gum made from tamarind seed and 'bel' (wood-apple) is easily available and I make my own brush 

for line-work Subjects are varied. The `Pata-Chitra' at the exhibit features myths and deities like 

„Janmashtomi‟, „Sita‟, „Lokkhi‟ as well as everyday scenes and objects like a lotus blossom, boatmen taking a 

break, a village belle putting her trinkets on, and the eternal. 

IV. Folk Arts To Fashion Design 

We have seen and shown in the above that Bangladesh is profoundly sound in Folk arts .In some spaces 

it has very fundamental implications regarding the lifestyle, business, or the other modern activities in every 

sphere of the country. Here we have analysed the situations where folk arts are playing a very important role in 

the fashion context of the country. In the followings, we have got the scope to discuss about some of the 

organizations working in Bangladesh and working as flagships of the country especially for Fashion both 

exposure, marketing and its development. 


37 | Page


AARONG 

In our country the major fashion house is Aarong which was developed with the aim to facilitate the 

marketing of the rural crafting goods so that then the Bangladesh rural people could be self employed after the 

liberation war of the country by Ayesa- Abed Foundation (one of the welfare project of BRAC). BRAC used to 

give the trainings and financial supports to its VO (Village Organization) Members with opening of a marketing 

unit named Aarong in Dhaka. The main products of Aarong were Naksi Kantha, shetal pati (fine mat with one 

type of cane), potteries, toys, home textile, hand fans, showpieces, etc. Aarong successfully made the marketing 

with its good name inside the country even other parts of the world. Now, most all the necessary items are 

available in Aarong from garments, jewelries, crafting materials. The garments of Aarong have its own motifs 

which completely separated from others with its patent right. For example Aarong‟s motifs are: a Kantha in 

Bengali. A light quilted covering made from the old sharees / dhotis / lungis and sometimes from sheet cloths in 

large spread (Naksi Kantha in Bengali). An embellished quilt embroidered in traditional motifs and innovative 

style. Puja floor spread (Ashon in Bengali): Cloth spread for sitting at a place of worship or for an honored 

guest. Cosmetic wrapper (Arshilota in Bengali): A narrow embroidered wrapper to roll and store away a 

woman's comb, mirror, eye kohl, vermilion, sandal paste, oil bottle, etc. Often, a tying string is used to bind the 

wrap, as in was a practice in the past. Wallet: Small envelop shaped bag for keeping money, betel leaves, etc. 

Cover for the holy Quran (Ghilaf in Arabic and Bengali): Envelope shaped bag to cover the holy Quran. Prayer 

mats (Jainamaz in Bengali): Mats used by Muslims to say prayers. Floor spread (Galicha in Bengali): Floor 

covering. Cloths wrapper (Bostani, guthri in Bengali): A square wrapper for books and other valuables. Cover 

(Dhakni in Bengali): Covering cloths of various shapes and sizes. Ceremonial meal spread (Daster khan in 

Bengali): A spread for eating place, used at meal time. Pillow cover (Balisher chapa or oshar in Bengali): A flat 

single piece pillow cover. Handkerchief (Rumal): Small and square in shape. Modern fashion goods and home 

textiles: The newer uses are found for Nakshi Kanthas, such as bedspreads, wall hangings, cushion covers, 

ladies' purses, place mats, jeweler‟s boxes, dress fronts, skirts border and sharees. 

Aarong has its different but own style not only in the motifs but colors, craftsmanship, decoration even 

in the fabric making with its specific design. On the other hand, the folk motifs mainly Kolka and its variations 

are being used by Aarong, which are popular its customers and well-wishers. By checking out their sharees to 

draw inspirations we get the colors such as, somber black and white, somber grey and zealous red. Moreover, 

the calligraphy motifs give the perfect expressions for Ekushey. We also get inspiring embellishments of block 

prints, screen prints, machine embroideries and geometrics on the elegant silk, half-silk, Muslin and cotton 

sharees. On the other hand, the Taaga collection offers a variety of fashionable attires. Relaxed and graceful, 

and harmonized with the passion of the juncture, the cotton outfits have tribal and folklore motifs in blacks, 

whites and reds. The shalwar-kameezes in grave black and white with hints of fervent red are the catch of the 

collection. With smart cuts, pockets and flairs, the long length kameezes are decorated with bold work of 

appliqué, tinsel, screen prints, cutworks, block prints and embroideries. The men's collection is not covering 

behind as well. Completed with symbolic colors, designs and Nakshi Kantha and calligraphy motifs, the 

panjabis reflect the zeal of Ekushey- of grief, pride and reverence. 

KUMUDINI CRAFT 

Kumudini Craft is famous for its creation with Bengal folk motifs. It has a wide range of craft products 

with folk motifs in Bangladesh and overseas. These products have their own excellent design and fine 

craftsmanship. Here the golden history of Bengal folk motifs and craftsmanship are reveled. We know that the 

story of Bangladeshi Handicrafts comes from one the oldest civilizations of the world. The enormous cultural 

and ethnic assortment has enabled a variety of motifs, techniques and crafts to flourish on this land. 

Kumudni enjoys in-house facilities for the designing, sales, assembly and distribution of our products 

throughout the world. Its products are engraved out of the best quality raw materials and pass through severe 

quality tests at every stage of manufacturing with many floral, cultural even religious motifs. Its production unit 

is equipped with sophisticated tools and equipment with the skilled workers to develop, create or explore the 

folk motifs in the garments and other handicrafts. Kumudini Handicraft was established in 1980, particularly for 

the rural women. At present more than 25,000 artisans all over Bangladesh are able to earn their living through 

their association with. In order to have more manpower and engage a larger number of people all over 

Bangladesh, Kumudini Handicraft with the NGOs such Banchte Shekha, BRDB, Gono Unnayan Prochesta, 

Aranya, MCC, Save the Children Fund, World Vision Craft, HEED, Jagoroni and many others. Kumudini 

Handicraft‟s motto is to uplift the status both financial and social of Bangladeshi women, particularly of rural 

areas, by providing occasion for them to display ingenuity in craftsmanship under proper quality control and 

through their efforts to revive the traditional crafts and specialized textiles in Bangladesh. 

Kumudini‟s variety of crafts include Nakshi Kantha, famous Jamdani and other fine textiles, 

endorsement of natural vegetable dyes, terracotta, ceramics, mats and basketry, wood and leather products 

among others. 


38 | Page


Kumudinis Motifs of the Nakshi Kantha are deeply influenced by religious belief and culture. Even 

though no specific strict symmetry is followed, a finely embroidered Naksi Kantha will always have a focal 

point. Most Nakshi Kanthas will have a lotus as focal point, and around the lotus there are often undulating 

vines or floral motifs, or a Sharee border motif. The motifs may include images of flower and leaves, birds and 

fish, animals, kitten forms even toilet articles. 

While most Naksi Kantas have some initial pattern, no two Naksi Kantas are same. While traditional motifs are 

repeated, the individual touch is used in the variety of stitches, colors and shapes. The unique motifs found in 

Naksi Kantha and other garments, products of Kumudini are as follows: 

The lotus motif is the most common motif found in Naksi Kanthas. This motif is associated with Hindu 

iconography and thus is also very popular in the Naksi Kantha. The lotus is the divine seat of God Krishna. It is 

also a symbol of cosmic harmony and essential womanhood. The lotus is also the symbol of eternal order and of 

the union of earth, water and, sky. It represents the life-giving power of water, and is also associated with the 

sun for the opening and closing of the petals. It is also the symbol of the recreating power of life. With the 

drying up of water, the lotus dies and with the rain it springs to life again. The lotus is associated with purity and 

the Goddess Laksmi, the Goddess of good fortune and abundance. There are various forms of lotus motifs, from 

the eight-petaled astadal padma to the hundred petaled satadal. In the older Naksi Kanthas, the central motif is 

almost always a fully bloomed lotus seen from above. 

V. Conclusion 

Bangladesh is rich by its cultural heritage in the context of it cultural heredity. Our curiosity knows no 

bound about Pot, Potua and Pot Music. Once Potua with a pot bag on the back of the shoulder used to visit 

houses and showing their pot started to sing to cool down the mind of the listeners. It was full of many charming 

histories of Ramayan, Mahabharat and Monsha and so on. The pot story thus created an enchanting lovely 

atmosphere of many romantic characters like, Sabitri-Shottoban, Ram-Sita-Rabon and Korno. From the birth of 

painting, we see that the artists were not related within a single profession. Rather, it was seen that they used to 

lead their life with multi professions. Implication of Folk arts in the fashion context is very vital in Bangladesh. 

Nowadays, Fashion industry is booming in this country as the nation is in swept in the globalization. There is 

huge scope that Bangladesh is the second largest garment manufacturing country world. Fashion can be richer 

by its new dimension mingled with the folk arts of Bangladesh. 

Bibliography 

Books: 

[1] Ahmed. W. (2001) Banglar Loko Shanskriti, Goti Dhara, Dhaka. 

[2] Ahmed. A. (1998) Gagir Gan: Shilpo Riti, Bangla Academy, Dhaka. 

[3] Ghosh. P. Dr. (2004) Banglar Lokoshilpo , Okkhor Binnash, Dhaka. 

[4] Guptto. S. Shankor (2010) Banglar Mukh Ami Dekhiashi, Bornaon, Dhaka. 

[5] Hosson. D. (2009) Potua Roghu Nather Shilpo Bhubon, Bornaon, Dhaka. 

[6] Islam. N. Mustafa (2001) Bangalir Attoporichoy, Bornaon, Dhaka. 

[7] Islam. K. Dr. Prof. (2012) Adhunik Bangla Kobitar Loko Shongskritir Shorup Anneshon , Pranto Prokasion, Dhaka. 

[8] Jhahan. A. Jahangir. (2012) Loko Vashar Suluk Shandhan, Shikha Prokashoni, Dhaka. 

[9] Jhahan. A. Jahangir. (2011) Shangskar Lokachar Lokobishawsh, Mukto Chinta Prokashona, Dhaka. 

[10] Lohani. K. (2010), Shanskritik Oaytijha Abong Nrittoshilpor Bistar, Ittadi, Dhaka. 

[11] Morshed. M. Abul Kalam. (2011) Noboborsha o Banglar Loko Shongskritir, Shuci Potro, Dhaka. 

[12] Moniruzzaman. Md. (2012) Bangladesher Itihash o Oitijha, Mizan Publisher, Dhaka. 

[13] Mayti. C. Dr. (2001) Proshango: Pot, Potua o Potua Shangeet, Shahitto Lok, Calcutta. 

[14] Phathan. M. Habibulla. (2012) Bangla probader Loko Kahini, Anindo Prokash, Dhaka. 

[15] Raji. A. Alim (2010) Banglar Lokonattao Palagan: Prokriti o Proyog, Bangla Academy, Dhaka. 

[16] Shom. S. (1993) Openti Bioscope, Camp, Calcutta. 

[17] Shahed M. Sayed (2010) Foklor Shangrohosala, Bangla Academy, Dhaka. 

Web Sites: 

[18] Loving Bengal, Available from , [Internet], [Accessed February 02, 2012] 

[19] Sheindia, Available from , [Internet], [Accessed May 21, 2012] 

[20] Rang-bd, Available from , [Internet], [Accessed May 21, 2012] 

[21] Style, Available from, [Internet], [Accessed May 21, 

2012] 

[22] Dress-shop-bd, Available from , [Internet], [Accessed May 21, 2012] 

Electronics Media: 

[23] Alpo Shalpo Golpo (2010), Episode 3, Subject: Gazir Pot, Duration: 14 Minutes 23 Second, Telecast: Desh TV. 


39 | Page




Women and Development in India: An issue of marginalization of 

female labour 

Dr. Sriparna Guha 

Department of Business Administration, Narula Institute of Technology 

Abstract: In most of the countries, including India status of women is inferior to men. Women’s opportunities 

are said to be restricted by ideas among employers that only certain low level limited jobs can be performed by 

women. Women are thus said to be crowded into certain segments of the employment markets where wages and 

conditions are lower than their male counterparts. This situation aggravated due to the pressure of 

globalization. This phenomenon can be called marginalization of female labour”. Although rapid economic 

development has expanded women's job opportunities, most women are concentrated in lower-status jobs and 

the informal sector. Indian women, in spite of enjoying better status and position compared to other developing 

countries, have low levels of participation in economic activity. In such setting, this study aims to take a fresh 

look at the current situation of gender equality in the labour market in India and examine the trend of women’s 

employment status using both macro and micro level data and finally evaluates the effects of employment on 

economic independence relative to men. In the micro-level analysis the study examines the factors that led to 

the marginalization of women's labor force. The results suggest that women's work patterns in terms of formal 

vs. informal employment are determined by the family organization rather than by labor market . 

Key words: employment, empowerment, gender, globalization, marginalization 


Throughout the world participation of women in labourforce are increasing. Though women have 

increased their participation in technology but that participation is still below their counterparts. Professional 

work is one of societies‟ most contested areas of equality. The rise of professional projects is closely linked to 

power and occupational control which parallel gender, class and race clevages (Parry and Parry,1976). Now –adays 

most important question is no longer whether women participate in labourforce but most important 

questions are what types of careers women choose and what factors influence their choice in the light of 

evidence that women are found in what could be describe (d) as “ feminine” occupations . Different research 

works have tried to identify the beliefs and perceptual biases that can lead to faulty conclusions about an 

individual and social action. From the study of Stangor,(1988) it has been found that gender stereotypes lie at 

the heart of many of our perceptions of the workplace and the people that operate within it. The constellation of 

traits and attributes that are thought to uniquely describe men and women are called descriptive stereotypes. 

These stereotypes are applied to individuals that one encounters in work settings and become the basis for 

inferring their internal, stable characteristics. Thus even in situations in which person A may have very little 

knowledge about person B, he or she will infer a set of characteristics about A from the general category of man 

or woman to which person B belongs .In contrast to descriptive stereotypes, prescriptive stereotypes refer to the 

set of attributes and characteristics that (concentrates on the issue of) how men and women should be. This 

paper attempts to analyse the current situation of gender equality in the Indian labour market and examine the 

trend of women‟s employment status. The structure of the paper is as follows: besides the introduction, section 

II will give the review of related literature, Section –III deals with secondary data and analyses the status of 

women and their threats and opportunities in the current economy, finally Section-IV gives conclusion from the 

data analysis and suggestion. 

II. Review Of Literature 

In a study of Gladmin & Thompson (1995) a significant increase in the quality of women life related 

with their income rise (has been found) in case of developing countries. It is echoed with Amartya Sen‟s 

freedom perspective that economic unfreedom can breed social unfreedom. 

According to Standing (1996) in the process of globalization with an expansion of the export oriented 

sector has introduces grater flexibility to the benefit of women workers in terms of absorption of women into 

paid work and also shift in the gender differentiated structure of occupations. But these views have been 

contradicted by other scholars who argue that in spite of increase in women employment the labour market 

remain highly segregated. 

According to Stiglitz (2002), it is believed that globalization is not increasing the well being for those most in 

need of promised economic benefit. 


40 | Page

Women and Development in India: An issue of marginalization of female labour 

In a study consisting of 40 countries it is found that women are employed in a narrow range of 

industries while men spread over a wider array of occupation (Anker,1998) Berk (1985) suggests that the 

persistence of women‟s responsibility for the domestic sphere arises because couples “do” gender. Couples “do” 

gender to legitimate social arrangements based on gender category (West and Zimmerman, 1987). Hochschild 

(1989) argues that where men‟s beliefs about relative gender power are threatened by wives‟ earning power, 

couples seek a balance by having the breadwinning wife do more domestic tasks regardless of the “logic of the 

pocketbook.” Empirical support for this conjecture has been found in the United States (Brines, 1994) and 

Australia (Bittman et al., 2003): as wives become the primary breadwinners, they do more of the domestic tasks 

to reinforce traditional gender identities. The division of labour is part of the on-going negotiation process of 

marriage and can affect marital outcomes. Some models of the family contend that increases in women‟s labour 

force participation result in greater marital instability because of women‟s decreasing need for men‟s economic 

production (Becker, 1981, 1985) or increasing competition for occupational status (Parsons, 1953). Empirical 

evidence of the direct relationship between women‟s employment and marital instability, however, is mixed 

(Brines and Joyner, 1999; Bumpass, Martin, and Sweet, 1991; Hoffman and Duncan, 1995; Ruggles, 1997; 

South, 2001), or effects are contingent on other factors (Aberg, 2003; Schoen et al., 2002; South and Lloyd, 

1995). In contrast, Oppenheimer (1988, 1997) argues that women‟s employment is now desirable for family 

economic flexibility. Sweeney (2002) found evidence that employed women in the U.S. are more likely to marry 

than unemployed women. Similarly, Moffitt (2000) reports that U.S. marriage rates have been declining at a 

faster rate among the least-educated women. In contrast, the greater income associated with more highlyeducated, 

dual-career couples appears to off-set any negative effects of more educated women‟s economic 

independence (Moffitt, 2000). 

Gender is a cultural construct of sex roles, a definition of “Masculine” and “Feminine” and of the 

prerogatives of male and female. While culturally and historically –bound, gender commonly is a function of 

power relations and the social organization of inequality. Feminist scholars define gender as the social 

organization of sexual difference or a system of unequal relationships between the sexes. De Lauretis in 1987 

has elaborated on the concept and the social fact of gender in the following way: 

The cultural conceptions of male and female as two complementary yet mutually exclusive categories 

into which all human beings are placed constitute within each culture a gender system that correlates sex to 

cultural contents according to social values and hierarchies. 

Black (1995) develops a model of employer discrimination in an equilibrium search model. In his 

model there are two types of worker, A and B who have identical marginal products and value of non market 

time. Workers receive utility from working both from the wages they receive and from job satisfaction. There 

are also two types of employers, non–discriminatory employers and discriminatory employers who have distaste 

for employing type B workers and therefore will never offer type B workers a job. Black shows that his model 

produces the standard results from search theory-workers form a reservation utility level that is a function of 

their utility from home production and their cost of search. Workers then sequentially search over jobs until the 

utility level from a job exceeds their reservation utility level. Black goes on to show that the presence of 

discriminatory employers lowers the reservation utility level of type B workers. This is because searching over 

the jobs with discriminatory employers is costly but offers no benefits since discriminatory employers will never 

employ a type B worker. This in turn implies that type B workers will accept a job with a lower utility level due 

to both lower wages and lower job satisfaction. Black also shows that the wages of type B workers will be lower 

even if the marginal employer has no taste for discrimination. Since all employers know that type B workers 

have a lower reservation utility level, they will use their market power (which exists in an equilibrium search 

model) to offer type B workers a lower wage. Black also shows that an increase in the number of discriminatory 

employers has an ambiguous effect on the length of search for type B workers relative to type A workers. This is 

because, while the higher fraction of prejudiced employers makes it harder for type B workers to find a nonprejudiced 

employer who is willing to employ them and therefore leads to more search, it also reduces the 

reservation level of utility for these workers which leads to less search. Therefore, the overall effect is 

ambiguous. 


41 | Page


Status of Women: Threats and opportunities 

Table No. 1: Women employment and unemployment scenario in India: 

Employment Growth 1983-1994 1994-2000 2000-2005 

Rural 

Male 1.93 0.80 2.20 

Female 1.37 0.03 3.61 

Total 1.73 0.51 2.70 

Urban 

Male 3.23 2.86 3.28 

Female 3.78 1.50 5.41 

Total 3.34 2.58 3.71 

Total 

Male 2.25 1.35 2.51 

Female 1.67 0.19 3.90 

total 2.06 0.98 2.95 

Source: NSSO Employment and Unemployment Survey Reports (year?) 

From Table No.1 we found that there is a employment growth in case of Women compare to their counterpart 

specifically urban area. 

Table No.-2: Average Daily wage (in Rs.) of regular and casual workers (15-59 years) 2004-2005 

Male Female Index of gender bias in wage 

payment 

Regular 

Rural 144.93 85.53 0.59 

Urban 203.28 153.19 0.75 

Casual 

Rural 55.03 34.94 0.63 

Urban 75.1 43.88 0.58 

Source: Employment report of GOI, 2010 

In case of casual worker there is also gender biasness and they received low wages. From table No. 3 it 

has been found that gender bias in casual wage payment is low in rural areas (o.63) than in urban a reas 

(0.58).The opposite picture can be found in case of rural workers. According to Deaton and Dreze , (2002) rural 

casual labour constitutes the single largest segment of the total workforce in India. Among rural casual 

labourers, agricultural labourers occupy a predominant position. The rural agricultural wage rate hence is 

considered as one of the most robust indicators of economic well being not only of agricultural labourers but 

also of the overall rural population. The main point to discuss about what type jobs they chosen that means 

descent work. From different studies it has been found that gender relation plays a significant role in case of 

education, wealth and employment. In most societies women work longer hours than men when both paid and 

unpaid work are included and have lower earnings, low level of education and also less access to credit. Gender 

is considered the basis for division between “productive” and “reproductive” activities. The former refer to 

income-generating activities which are generally linked to markets while the latter relate to the care and 

development of people and capacity to work. 

Table No.-3 Average wage earnings received per day by female casual labourers 

Average wage earnings received per day by female casual labourers in 

1999-2000 2004-05 

Rural Rs. 29.01 (gender gap: Rs.15.83) Rs. 36.15 (gender gap: Rs. 20.38) 

Urban Rs. 37.71 (gender gap: Rs. 24.55) Rs. 44.28 (gender gap: Rs. 31.23 ) 

Source: NSSO survey 

As per Census 2001, the work participation rate for females is 25.7 percent whereas that of males is 

51.9 percent. As per Census 2001, Indian female population consists of 14.68 percent main workers, 10.95 


42 | Page


percent marginal workers and the remaining 74.37 percent non workers. As per the fifth Economic Census 2005, 

at all India level, percentage of total adult female workers in the total persons employed is 19.3 percent. 

As per NSSO (2004-05), at all India level, the share of women in wage employment in non agricultural sector is 

20.23 percent in 2004-05 vis-a- vis 16 percent in 1999-2000. 

Table No.-4: Sex Ratio (number of females per 1000 males) –Census 1951-2001 

Sex ratio 

Year Rural Urban All India 

1951 965 860 946 

1961 963 845 941 

1971 949 858 930 

1981 951 879 934 

1991 938 894 927 

2001 946 900 933 

Source:Census Report 

From the above table it has been found that sex ratio has been decreased from 965 in 1951 to 946 in 2001 in 

rural areas and in case of India sex ratio has declined from 946 in 1951 to 933 in 2001. But most significant 

point is that sex ratio in the urban area increased though it has been decreased but after 1971 it increased. 

Table No.: 5:Work Participation Rates (WPR) by sex 1981 - 2001 (Census) 

Year Female Male (%) Persons (%) 

1981 19.7 52.6 36.7 

1991 22.3 51.6 37.5 

2001 25.7 51.9 39.3 

Source:Census Report 

Above table indicates that work participation rate is increased to 25.7 percent in 2001 from 19.7 

percent in 1981 in case of female but in case of male work participation rate is decreased to 51.9 percent in 2001 

from 52.6 percent in the year of 1981. 

Table No.-6: Population by work status- Census 2001 

Main workers Marginal Workers Non workers 

Persons Male Female Person Male Female Persons Male Female 

s 

All 3130.05 2401.48 728.57 892.3 348.67 543.63 6263.76 2571.42 3692.33 

India (100%) 

(100%) 

Rural 2291.87 1691.01 600.85 807.7 297.38 510.32 4325.35 1827.64 2497.71 

(73.22%) 

(82.47%) 

Urba 838.18 710.47 127.72 84.6 51.29 33.31 1938.41 743.79 1194.62 

n (26.78%) 

(17.53%) 

Source: Census,2001 

Table No. 7: Women Employment in organized sector (in lakh) 

As on 31/3/2004 As on 31/3/2005 % change 

Public 28.9 29.21 1.07 

Private 20.44 20.95 2.5 

Total 49.34 50.16 1.66 

Source: M/o Labour & Employment 

(Organized sector consists of all public sector establishments and private non- agricultural establishments 

employing 10 or more workers) 

In this table we found that 50.16 lakh women are employed in the organized sector consisting 58.23 

percent in public sector and 41.77 percent in private sector in the year on 2005. 


43 | Page


TableNo.8: Female employment in Central Government (Census of Central Government employees, 

DGET) 

Sr. No 

Female employment 

Number (1991) Share to total 

employment (%) 

Number (2001) Share to total 

employment %) 

Communications & IT 79740 12.02 75451 12.21 

Railways 61788 3.73 70030 4.63 

Defence (Civilian) 36412 6.92 53132 9.01 

Others 11059 11.98 93187 8.06 

Total 288999 7.58 291800 7.53 

Source: Census, 1991 and 2001 

From this table we found that female employment has decreased from 7.58 percent in 1991 to 7.53 

percent in 2001 in case of employment in Central Government. Different studies clearly indicate that women 

participation in labour is less than their counterpart. According to the social identity theory, attitudes towards an 

individual are shaped by his or her membership in a social group and evaluation of one‟s groups in social 

comparison to specific other groups in terms of gender, race, class occupation etc. This is the key source of ingroup 

identification. So an individual when considered them the member of a group then he or she tried to 

develop and maintain a positive identity of their ingroup in contrast to the out-group. One‟s own social identity 

is a factor which may affect the perception of discrimination. From different studies it has been found that there 

is a positive relationship between social identities and perceived of discrimination. 

Table No.9: Literacy rates, 1951-2001 (Census) 

Census year Person (%) Male (%) Female (%) Male –female gap 

(%) 

1951* 18.3 27.2 8.9 18.3 

1961* 28.3 40.4 15.4 25.1 

1971* 34.5 46.0 22.0 24.0 

1981** 43.6 56.4 29.8 26.6 

1991** 52.2 64.1 39.3 24.8 

2001** 64.8 75.3 53.7 21.6 

*aged 5+, ** aged 7+ 

Source :Census of India(year?) 

Table No. 9 is showing that male-female gap in case of literacy is a decreasing trend for the last two 

decades. Globalisation and technological development creates) windows of opportunities in front of women. So 

the most important question is to find out the opportunities and make women more strong in terms of economic 

equality not be identified as future burden. 

III. Conclusion: 

Now- a-days gender discrimination is still an important issue for every organization because 

individuals reporting that they perceive discrimination based on gender in the workplace. From different studies 

it has been found that women perceive more gender discrimination (Gutek, Cohen, & Tsui, 1996). Women 

perceive more gender discrimination than do men, and these perceptions are associated with lower feelings of 

power and prestige on the job, more work conflict, more hours spent on paid work activities, and a lessened 

willingness to make the same career choices (Gutek et al., 1996). Perceived gender bias against women is also 

an important issue as it relates to equal employment opportunities. It is very difficult to define women 

empowerment using a single criterion because it is very much associated with multifaceted facts and 

dimensions. It is doubtless to comment that the women have already come out from the molluscan shell and kept 

her footprint on every nook and corner of society. But they still lack access to equality. In this case the quality of 

the employment should be addressed. For a specific time period for a particular society the relationship between 

men and women regulated by the sum of social norms, conventions and practices. Because of globalisation 

women have gained opportunities in case of employment. But there is no evidence that they enhance their 

capability to negotiate better wage and better working conditions. 


44 | Page


References: 

[1] Agarwal,Bina(1986) “ Women poverty and Agricultural Growth in India” in the Journal of Peasant studies Vol.13. No. 4 July 1987 

[2] Anker ,R (1998) , “ Gender and Jobs : Sex segregation of occupations in the world,ILO ,Geneva 

[3] Dandekar, V.M.. (1982): „Integration of Women in Economic Development‟, Economic and Political Weekly, Oct 30th, 1982, 

pp1762-1786. 

[4] Deshpande and Deshpande (1998): „Impact of Liberalisation on Labour Market in India: What do Facts from NSSO‟s 50th Round 

Show?‟ Economic and Political Weekly, Vol XXXIII, No 22, May 30-June 5. 

[5] Hirway, Indira (2002): „Employment and unemployment situation in the 1990‟s: How good are the NSS data?‟, Economic and 

Political Weekly, May 25th, 2002 

[6] Lim, Linda. 1990. “Women‟s work in export factories: The politics of a cause”, in Tinker, Irene (ed.), Persistent inequalities. 

Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

[7] Mendoza, Ronald. 2003. “The multilateral trade regime: A global public good for all?”, in Kaul, Inge, Conceição, Pedro, le 

Goulven, Katell, and Mendoza, Ronald (eds.), Providing global publicgoods: Managing globalization. New York, Oxford 

University Press. 

[8] Sen, Gita and Chiranjib Sen (1985): „Women‟s Domestic Work and Economic Activity: Results from National Sample Survey‟, 

Economic and Political Weekly, April 27th, 1985. pp.WS49-WS55. 

[9] Sundaram, K (2001b): „Employment and Poverty in India in the Nineteen Nineties: Further Results From NSS 55th Round 

Employment-Unemployment Survey, 1999-2000‟, paper presented at the International Seminar on „Understanding Socio-Economic 

Changes through National Surveys‟ Organised by the National Sample Survey Organisation, May 12-13, New Delhi. 

[10] Sundaram, K (2001a): „Employment –Unemployment Situation in the Nineties: Some Results from NSS 55th Round Survey‟, 

Economic and Political Weekly, March,17 


45 | Page




Love and Death in Kamala Markandeya’s Some Inner Fury 

A.Phaniraja Kumar 1 , Janardhanreddy.K 2 

1 Research Scholar, Dept. of English, Rayalaseema University, Kurnool, A.P, India, 

2 Research Scholar, Dept. of English, Rayalaseema University, Kurnool, A.P, India, 

Markandeya‟s SOME INNER FURY depicted the kind of love as it existed in the westernized upper 

class Indian families of the 1940s though some uncommonness characterizes the relationship of Mira and 

Richard. Probably one can find it some traces of Kamala Markandeya herself when she had married Taylor and 

had finally settled in England. 

The two themes which are closely intertwined in Some Inner Fury are of love and death. The personal 

relationships operate on many levels, between Mira, and an Indian girl, and Richard, an Englishman and 

between Kitsamy, a westernized husband, and Premala, a typical Indian wife. The entire novel is colored and 

also with freedom seeking colonized Indians and colonizing Britishers. The themes of love and death interact 

with and intensify each other, Richard‟s death tests Mira‟s love in the same way as Premala‟s death tests 

Kitsamy. 

The entire novel revolves round by the cautious love between Mira and Richard, and the cold 

relationship between Premala‟s and Kitsamy. As its title shows the novel deals with some inner fury of passion, 

love and anger between Mira and Richard and Premala and Kitsamy. As the gale of freedom movements lashes 

the subcontinent, the personal relations between Indian and Englishmen are swept away, leaving nothing intact. 

The theme of the novel is “the tragic participation of disunity and catastrophe in personal relationship.” 

The novel begins with Mira going over the scene of Richard‟s death in the mob fury, ruminating over a 

little silver box containing the remarks of her world of love. From the very beginning of the novel, Mira‟s 

actions show an unconscious liking for „Richard which can be taken as the first stage of love and which is 

gradually transformed into deep love. In the second stage, love is no longer an occasional spark originating from 

Mira‟s act of clumsiness and innocence and it turns into a visible flame. In the third stage Mira meets Richard 

in his second visit though Govind disapproves of it. They are in deep love, not yet in the form of visible 

conflagration. He thinks of marrying her, Mira cannot put his image away. When both of them go to 

Kanyakumari that everything about him becomes great. 

Mira and Richard act as unmarried husband and wife, Richard talks of fever and ache and persuades 

her on uninhabited coast for a sexual act which is the lamination of love. Mira feels 

“Slowly my senses awoke and responded, the buds of feeling scrolled and opened one by one. In the 

trembling silence I heard the blood begin its clamour, felt its frantic irregular beat- then the world fell away, 

forgotten in this wild abandoned rhythm, lost in the sweep and surge of love”. 

She becomes warm and contented implying the completion of sexual act and talks of tenderness that 

comes to a man afterwards. In the fourth stage, violence and disruptions are introduced in their love. When the 

lovers blissfully happy and their love at its peak seems secure against all dangers of the world, political violence 

threatens its very existence. Mira tells that an Englishman and an Indian girl have no business to be in love and 

that East and the West should never meet. In the fifth stage, Mira parts company with Richard, sacrificing her 

personal love for the larger love of the nation, and identifying herself with the Indian mob. 

“We had known love together whatever happened the sweetness of that 

Knowledge would always remain. We had drunk deeply of the choice 

Of happiness, which is not given to many even to hold? Now it was time to set it down and go.” 

Taken on symbolical level, the parting of Mira and Richard is the parting of India and England. In 

contrast to Mira - Richard relationship which is based on love without marriage the relationship of Premala and 

Kitsamy reduces to marry a girl without first knowing her. His love for a silk haired English girl called Sylvia 

could not have been turned into a marriage. His opposition to marry Premala arose in the absence of his 

acquaintance with her. 

In the first stage Premala begins to live with Richard‟s mother and Kitsamy comes in contact with her. 

In the second stage begins with marriage of Premala and Kitsamy and then the latter‟s efforts to modernize her. 

Kitsamy likes playing tennis, Premala does not. He asks her to put on shorts for which she has no liking. She 

prizes honesty which for kit signifies nothing. Her desire of playing on Veena is in contrast with kits absence of 

liking for classical music. She knows Gita which Kit has forgotten their natures are opposed to each other. 

Premala tries for adjustment with her husband but they continue to remain poles apart. In the third stage, 

Premala‟s love for Kit is extinguished. Premala‟s love has been one sided, it was because of her love that she 

tried so hard to please him. In the fourth stage, the absence her husband‟s love breeds frustration in Premala. 


46 | Page

Love and Death in Kamala Markandeya’s Some Inner Fury 

Having none of her own, she adopts a child and shares with the village people the warmth of love. This 

unsatisfactory marriage leads Premala for doing social service. 

Some Inner Fury does not have a typical happy ending in marriage which is an obsessed ideal of the 

country. The absence of concretized fruition of love testifies that human lives are bound to be barren in the 

forced marriage of the East and the West and more so in the impending struggle between the Indians and the 

British. The deaths of Kitsamy and Richard can be taken as the death of love in which the Englishmen and the 

Westernized Indians are sacrificed for the nation and national interests for Premala‟s unhappiness is caused by 

the westernized Kitsamy as the latter‟s is by the traditional Premala. Rather than being lover, they become each 

other‟s architects of unhappiness. 

Reference: 

[1] Some Inner Fury by Kamala Markandaya , published by Penguin Book India, ISBN: 9780143102533, 

2009. 


47 | Page




Influencing factors of Mental Health of Adolescents at School Level 

Dr. P. Lavanya Kumari 

UGC Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Population Studies, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, 

Andhra Pradesh , INDIA, 

Abstract: Mental health(MH) is a state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is 

able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands 

of everyday life. Their behaviour has impact on National Health Indicators like maternal and infant 

mortality.Adolescents are vulnerable to STIs, HIV/AIDS and Sexual-Abuse when there is negative impact of 

parents, teachers and their peer group especially upon their mental health. Several studies have emphasised 

serious concerns relating to adolescents that need urgent attention towards their mental health at school level 

itself. Caring, supportive environment will promote optimum development of Physical, Emotional and Mental 

health among Adolescents. Hence, the factors ‘Parent Child Relation (PCR)’ ‘School Environment (SE)’ and 

‘Peer Relation (PR)’ are considered and their influence on mental health of adolescents is studied in this paper. 

Results disclose that there is high significant influence of good peer relation and healthy school environment on 

mental health of adolescents whereas ‘Parent Child relation’ has influenced moderately. It has been observed 

that the contribution of ‘Parent Child Relation’, ‘Peer Relation’ and ‘School Environment’ towards ‘Mental 

Health’ is more in girls than boys. Adolescents of Private Schools have strong parent child relation when 

compared to the adolescents of Government schools. But age and class of the adolescents have not shown any 

influence on their Mental Health due to PCR, SE and PR as there is no much gap among them. 

Keywords: Mental Health (MH), Parent Child Relation(PCR), Peer Relation(PR) and School Environment(SE) 


Mental Health is a state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use 

his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday 

life. According to Schreiber (1951), mental health means the ability of an individual to pursue reasonable, 

purposeful goals; use his capacities and talents fruitfully. As part of one‟s overall health, mental and emotional 

health or wellbeing is a necessary condition to enableone to manage one‟s life successfully. It gives him or her 

capacity to live life in fulfillment of what he or she wants to achieve in accordance to the available resources. 

This condition also provides an individual the capacity to be resilient to the stresses he meets and to respond to 

these challenges without having to compromise his well-being. This also makes him productive and fruitful for 

himself and his community. 

Mental health is important as it affects everything one does – how one sleeps, what one eats, the risk 

one will take and the types of things one does to relax and enjoy one self. Some of the criteria for good mental 

health are 

‣ Adequate feeling of security 

‣ Adequate self-evaluation 

‣ Adequate spontaneity and emotionality 

‣ Efficient contact with reality 

‣ Adequate bodily desires and the ability to gratify them 

‣ Adequate self-knowledge 

‣ Integration and consistency of personality 

‣ Adequate life goals 

‣ Ability to learn from experience 

‣ Ability to satisfy the requirements of the group 

‣ Adequate emancipation from the group or culture 

According to National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health, „every child and adolescent 

deserves to experience joy, have high self-esteem, have friends, acquire a sense of efficacy, and believe that he 

or she can succeed in life‟. 


48 | Page


World Mental Health Day – October 10, 2008 

"Mental health is of paramount importance for personal well-being, family relations and an individual’s ability 

to contribute to society,” Mr. Ban said in his message on World Mental Health Day, observed annually on 10 

October. 

1.1 Need for the study 

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has identified emotional and behavioral problems as 

serious barriers for teaching and learning. NIMH reports that between 5-9 percent or 2.5-5.0 million children are 

not learning and achieving in school because of these barriers. So the mental health and psychological services 

is a high priority need for developing healthy children. 

Hence this paper aims at to study the contribution of „Parent Child Relation(PCR)’, „Peer 

Relation(PR)’ and „School Environment(SE)’ on the „Mental Health(MH)’ of adolescents particularly school 

going children. 

1.2 Parent-Child Relation(PCR) 

Parent-child connectedness can be defined as the degree of closeness experienced in the relation that 

children have with their parents. According to research, how children experience the connection with their 

parents seems to be more important than how the parent reports or perceives the level of connection. The 

parent-child relation consists of a combination of behaviors, feelings, and expectations that are unique to a 

particular parent and a particular child. The relation involves the full extent of a child's development. 

In recent years, more and more research has been published showing the importance of parent-child 

connectedness as a protective factor related to several youth health outcomes including pregnancy, HIV/STD, 

drug abuse, tobacco use, and delinquency. In fact, at a recent World Health Organization (WHO) meeting in 

Geneva, family connectedness was identified as one of the top five protective factors related to youth wellbeing. 

1.3 Peer Relation(PR) 

Peers are people of about the same age who share similar interests or activities. Friends are special 

peers with whom we form close personal relations. The quality of adolescents‟ friendships is also important 

because of the numerous influences that having supportive, meaningful peer relations has impact on adolescent 

adjustment. The importance of peers during early adolescence coincides with changes in individuals' needs for 

intimacy. As children begin to share secrets with their friends, loyalty and commitment develop. During 

adolescence, the search for intimacy intensifies, and self-disclosure between best friends becomes an important 

pastime. Teenagers, especially girls, spend a good deal of time discussing their innermost thoughts and feelings, 

trying to understand one another. The discovery that they tend to think and feel the same as someone else 

becomes another important basis of friendship. It is true that adolescents from more troubled households tend to 

be more influenced by peers than parents. And, in situations where parents are unable to relax their authority, 

teenagers are more likely to become peer oriented. However, in most cases, peer influence compliments the 

influence of parents. 

1.4 School Environment 

The school is the most significant social context in the life of a child as almost one third of a day is 

spent here. The school is not only an organization to teach cognitive skills and to impart information; it is also a 


49 | Page


social system in which the child learns the rules of morality, social conventions, attitudes and modes of relating 

to each other. Thus, for an adolescent, the school life signifies both adjustment and achievement, entailing the 

emotional as well as the cognitive aspects of life. 

As school is the second most intimate environment next to the home it has fascinating influence on the 

child‟s academic performance, it acts as an agency equipped with multiple opportunities that stimulates the child 

to explore, investigate and experiment in many ways. 

School takes the child on well guided tour into areas beyond the home circle. School experiences play 

an important value formation. Many values learnt at home will be reinforced, some will be challenged or 

shaken, other will perhaps be discarded. The school serves as a testing ground on which the child develops and 

strengthens his sense of identity. 

II. Review 

2.1 Studies on impact of Parent Child Relation on Mental Health of Adolescents 

The importance of good parent-child relation in the healthy development of individuals in later life has 

been well documented in literature. Parents play a key-role in providing a sound mental health for their 

children.According to Suman et.al (2003) 31 the achievement is higher in children who perceive their parents as 

loving and demanding. Steinberg et.al (1992) 28 reported that adolescents who described their parents as 

authoritative-warm, firm and democratic had better school performance and stronger school engagement. In 

addition, parental authoritativeness was associated with higher levels of school involvement and more 

encouragement of academic success. Uma Devi et.al (2004) 33 is bringing forth efforts to strengthen family 

environments to have emotionally intelligent citizens of tomorrow. Prahbhjot Molhi (2000) 21 in his article 

describes effective discipline requires that parents in the context of a positive, supporting relation use 

disciplining strategies that help to increase desired behaviour and at the same time reduce or eliminate 

inappropriate behaviour. 

Sudhakotyal et.al‟s (1998) 29 findings revealed that parental expectations have given rise to academic 

stress and strain in the youths of today. Socio-personal factors like joint family, non-working mothers and 

fathers in business, low parented education and family income also act as adverse stresses. Shanty, K.J et.al 

(1998) 26 makes it clear that intensity of discipline significantly influence the direction and type of aggressive 

reaction to frustrating situations. Suman L.N et.al (1997) 30 proved that the achievement motivation was higher 

when adolescents perceived their parents as loving and demanding. Kamaljeet Kaur Mehta (1994) 17 explored the 

parent child Relation (PCR) on children and found that the PCR to be a significant predictor of intelligence in 

preschool children.Sowaid, M et.al (1987) 27 found that restrictive attitude of father and protecting attitudes of 

both father and mother is inversely related to achievement and motivation of Paharia students. Loving attitude of 

father is positively related to achievement and motivation. Sociologists and psychologists have suggested that 

parental involvement with child is a pivotal process through which parents influence academic competence 

(Brody, Stoneman & Flor 1995) 2 . 

2.2 Studies on impact of Peer Relation on Mental Health of Adolescents 

Colarossi and Eccles (2003) 7 have found that support from friends is related to lower depression and 

higher self-esteem in adolescents. Studies have shown that support from an adolescents‟ peer group has 

consistently been associated with adjustment, specifically lower depression and hyperactivity, higher leadership, 

and better social skills (Rueger et al. 2010) 24 . Contradictory evidence comes from other studies that have shown 

positive correlations between peer support and negative outcomes such as externalizing problem behaviors 

(Rueger et al. 2010) 24 . In one study, researchers Scholte, Van Lieshout, and Van Aken (2001) 25 found that 

adolescents who reported that they did not have a best friend experienced lower levels of social support and 

tended to report feeling lonely and isolated from peers. Because of the increasing importance and impact of 

supportive peer relations for both positive and negative outcomes, it is important to consider the factors that 

influence adolescents‟ ability to form supportive friendships. 

Integration into a peergroup is likely to help adolescents develop a high level of school coherence and 

confidence in their ability to influence their presenting situations and to achieve desired academic performance 

(Hepler, 1994; Keefe &Bemdt, 1996; Kemple, 1991; Wentzel, 1991) 14 . Research has publicized that children 

who are accepted by their peers are more inclined to follow rules and stay out of trouble (Wentzel& Asher, 

1995) 35 , which is likely associated with higher academic performance. A variable that captures such behavior, 

avoidance of problem behavior, is entered into the analysis as a third potential bridge between peer group 

acceptance and academic performance. 

Available research suggests that peer group acceptance may be associated with poorer academic 

performance among adolescents from lower socio-economic homes (Cauce, Felner, & Primavera, 1982; Luther, 

1995) 4 . The level of social toxicity (Garbarino, 1995) 13 in many lower socio-economic neighborhoods creates a 

poor environment for individual development and the formation of peer relations that encourage academic 


50 | Page


success (DuRent, Getts, Cadenhead, Emans, & Woods, 1995) 11 . Low-income parents may have less time and 

fewer resources than higher socio-economic parents to supervise their children and to provide them with 

structured recreational and social activities (Garbarino, 1992) 12 . In these situations, peers may play a more active 

and determining role in influencing theacademic performance of adolescents.According to Collins, (2003) 8 ; 

Connolly & Goldberg, (1999) 9 ,peer relations may have mental health benefits, including the provision of social 

support, enhancement of self-esteem, preparation for adult relations, and the development of intimacy. 

The peer group is important for adolescent social and emotional development because youngsters 

derive a sense of belonging and acceptance from peers (La Greca & Prinstein, 1999) 20 . Longitudinal studies 

also have linked childhood peer rejection to symptoms of internalized distress in adolescence, suggesting a 

causal role for peer rejection (Coie, Lochman, Terry, & Hyman, 1992) 6 and Kupersmidt & Patterson, 1991) 19 . 

Prospective studies also indicate that symptoms of depression predict subsequent peer rejection. Vernberg 

(1990) 34 followed early adolescents over a school year, finding that depressive symptoms early in the year, 

predicted higher levels of peer rejection 6 months later. Similarly, Little and Garber (1995) 21 found that 

symptoms of depression among early adolescents predicted an increase in peer rejection over a 3-month period 

2.3 Studies on impact of School enviroment on Mental Health of Adolescents 

Ramanath Kundu and Jayanti Basu (1991) 18 indicated that academic achievement and neu roticism 

were related to each other and could be predicted from various modes of frustration reactions. Devi.S and 

K.Mayuri (2003) 10 concluded that school factors like well qualified teachers, good curriculum and subject 

matter on time, impressive method of teaching and teacher-student interaction have contributed significantly 

with the academic achievement. Study of Suneetha, B. et.al (2001) 32 reveals that out of 9 factors observed, 

majority of them exhibited significant positive correlation with academic achievement. So it was concluded that 

school, the second most intimate environment next to home has fascinating effect on the child‟s high 

performance at school. Cairns and Lloyd (2005) 3 extracted that the school work and exams was the most cited 

cause of stress for young people of 16 years old. Anonymous (2004) 1 has examined trends between 1983 and 

2003 in young people‟s emotional health and wellbeing, as reported through their young people and health 

survey and has found that young people are increasingly more likely to worry quite a lot about school and career 

problems. 

III. Methodology 

This section deals with the methodology adopted for the study. It includes the research approach, 

design for the study, the setting, sample and sampling technique, development of the tools, pilot study, data 

collection procedure and data analysis. 

3.1 Research approach 

Survey method has been adopted to study the primary aim of the researcher i.e to observe the influence 

of Parent-Child Relation (PCR), School Environment(SE) and Peer Relation(PR) on Mental Health(MH) of 

adolescents at high school level and also to find the impact of demographic variables such as school, class and 

sex on mental health of adolescents. 

3.2 Population 

The population for the present study consists of both boys and girls studying 8 th to 10 th classes from 

Government and Private schools in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. 

3.3 Sample and Sampling Technique 

The survey was conducted at Government and Private high schools located at Chittoor district. Five 

Government Schools and Five Private Schools are selected at random and from each school 30 students in 

which 15 boys and 15 girls are selected. Further such a care has been taken by researcher that 5 boys and 5 girls 

must include from each of 8th, 9 th and 10 th classes so that the total students from Government and Private 

schools are 150 each. The sample distribution according to class and sex is exhibited in the following table. 

Sex and class distribution of the adolescents for the study 

School 

8 th class 9 th class 10 th class 

Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls 

Total 

Government 25 25 25 25 25 25 150 

Private 25 25 25 25 25 25 150 

Total 

50 50 50 50 50 50 

100 100 100 

300 


51 | Page


3.4 Demographic variables 

1. School: It is high school run by Government or Private management. 

2. Sex: Adolescent boy or girl who were included for the study. 

3.5 Study variables 

1. Mental Health(MH): It refers to the adolescent‟s Mental Health. To measure the mental health of 

adolescents one hundred questions are selected from the mental health analysis (MHA) consisting of 200 

“Yes” or “No” type questions, developed by Clark,W.W, Tiegs, E.W. and Thrope, L.P.Manual (1959) 5 , 

and its Reliability and Validity is checked again. 

2. Parent-Child Relation(PCR): It refers to the child‟s interpretation of his/her interaction with parents. A 

standardized tool is adapted from Rao N (1989) 23 to quantify the relation. 

3. School Environment(SE): It refers to the adolescent‟s perception of social, emotional and physical 

climate of the educational institution in which he/she is studying. A tool is considered from 

Joyce.L.Epstein & Jame M.Mcpartland (1976) 16 to assess the School Environment. 

4. Peer Relation(PR): It refers to the adolescent‟s perceived psychosocial behaviour of his/her friend. Peer 

relation scale was taken from James R. Ciesla and Ping Yao(2011) 15 in order to measure the relation 

between adolescents and their friends. 

3.6 Statistical Analysis 

Collected data is properly coded and systematically analysed using appropriate statistical techniques 

viz., frequencies, percentages, cross tabulations, chi-square test , independent sample t-tests, Simple and 

Multiple linear regressions with the help of SPSS.20. Results are summarised as per the levels of significance. 

IV. Results And Discussion 

4.1 Impact of School on Mental Health, Parent Child Relation, Peer Relation and School Environment 

Table-1: Mental Health by School 

Level of Mental Health 

Total 

Poor Average Good 

44 67 39 150 

Govt. School 

29.3% 44.7% 26.0% 100.0% 

SCHOOL 

37 72 41 150 

Private School 

24.7% 48.0% 27.3% 100.0% 

81 139 80 300 

Total 

27.0% 46.3% 26.7% 100.0% 

χ 2 value 0.835, p-value 0.659 

Table-1 reveals that, 27% of adolescents from both Government and Private Schools have poor status 

of mental health and the remaining adolescents (73%) are with moderately better status of Mental Health. It is 

also evident (p>0.05) that type of school has no definite association with mental health of adolescents. 

SCHOOL 

Total 

Table-2: Parent Child Relation by School 

Level of Parent Child 

Relation 

Total 

Low Moderate High 

Govt. 55 63 32 150 

School 

Private 

School 

χ 2 value 21.78**, p-value 0.000 

36.7% 42.0% 21.3% 100.0% 

20 87 43 150 

13.3% 58.0% 28.7% 100.0% 

75 150 75 300 

25.0% 50.0% 25.0% 100.0% 

From table-2, the Chi-square test (p

SCHOOL 


Table-3: Peer Relation by School 

Govt. School 


Total 

χ 2 value 1.034, p-value 0.596 

Level of Peer Relationship 

Total 

Low Moderate High 

43 68 39 150 

28.7% 45.3% 26.0% 100.0% 

37 67 46 150 

24.7% 44.7% 30.7% 100.0% 

80 135 85 300 

26.7% 45.0% 28.3% 100.0% 

The Chi- square test (p>0.05) from table-3 is supporting that, the type of school in which the children 

are studying, has not influenced the relation with their friends. Irrespective of school where they study, 

adolescents have the same level of peer relationship. 

SCHOOL 

Table-4: School Environment by School 

Govt.School 


Total 

χ 2 value 3.182, p-value 0.204 

Level of School Environment 

Total 

Poor Average Good 

39 73 38 150 

26.0% 48.7% 25.3% 100.0% 

44 58 48 150 

29.3% 38.7% 32.0% 100.0% 

83 131 86 300 

27.7% 43.7% 28.7% 100.0% 

Table-4 indicates that the type of school has no association with Level of School Environment. It is 

also interesting to note that adolescents from Private school have high (32%) school environment inventory than 

that of Government school (25%). Statistically, there is no association between type of school and its 

environment which means that irrespective of physical facilities, the social and emotional environment between 

the teacher and students might have led the adolescents to express the same opinion towards their school. 

Hence it can be concluded that the type of school has influence only on Level of Parent Child Relation, 

in which private school children have good relation than the children from Government schools, but not on 

Mental Health, Peer Relation and School Environment. The same conclusion can be observed from the 

summary of independent sample t-test showed in table-5 with respect to average scores also. 

Table-5: Independent sample t-test by School 

Variable School N Mean Std. Deviation t-value p-value 

Mental Health 

Parent Child Relation 

Peer Relation 

School environment 

Govt. 150 73.56 9.405 1.177 0.240 

Private 150 74.72 7.560 

Govt. 150 116.41 24.065 4.590** 0.000 

Private 150 127.47 17.080 

Govt. 150 35.98 5.965 1.493 0.136 

Private 150 36.94 5.139 

Govt. 150 42.57 8.672 1.219 0.224 

Private 150 43.75 7.988 


53 | Page


4.2 Impact of Sex on Mental Health, Parent Child Relation, Peer Relation and School Environment 

Table-6: Independent sample t-test by gender 

Variable Gender N Mean Std. Deviation t-value p-value 

Mental Health 


Peer Relation 

School Environment 

Boys 150 73.53 7.860 1.245 0.214 

Girls 150 74.75 9.151 

Boys 150 120.91 22.112 0.827 0.409 

Girls 150 122.97 21.009 

Boys 150 36.13 5.161 1.035 0.301 

Girls 150 36.79 5.966 

Boys 150 43.02 8.253 0.290 0.772 

Girls 150 43.30 8.459 

Table-6 reveals that there is no significant difference between Boys and Girls with respect to Mental 

Health, Parent Child Relation, Peer Relation and School Environment since p-values are greater than 0.05. 

From this observation author wanted to examine whether influence of PCR, PR and SE on MH in boys and girls 

is at same level or not. Further three Simple Linear Regression models had been built for boys and girls 

separately. Results are exhibited in table-7. 

4.3 Contribution of Parent Child Relation, Peer Relation and School Environment on Mental Health by 

Sex (Regression Analysis) 

Table-7: Regression models on Mental Health of Adolescents 

Model Predictors Male Female 

1 


Score (PCR) 

MH= 44.036** + 0.242(PCR )** 

(R 2 =0.462) 

MH = 32.518** + 0.343(PCR )** 

(R 2 =0.622) 

2 Peer Relation Score (PR) 

3 School Environment (SE) 

MH = 24.643** + 1.353(PRS )** 

(R 2 =0.789) 

MH = 45.269** + 0.657(SE )** 

(R 2 =0.476) 

MH = 22.794** + 1.412(PRS )** 

(R 2 =0.848) 

MH = 40.345** + 0.795(SE )** 

(R 2 =0.540) 

4 PCR, PR and SE 

Dependent Variable: Mental Health (MH) 

MH= 19.687** + 0.088 (PCR)** + 1.001(PR)** + 0.168 (SE)** 

(R 2 =0.873) 

From the table-7, it can be observed that only 46% of Mental Health of boys is explained by the Parent 

Child Relation where as this is 62% in girls. In second model, Peer Relation explains 46% and 62% of Mental 

Health of boys and girls respectively. Similarly by the third model it can be identified that 48% and 54% of 

Mental Health is explained by School Environment in boys and girls respectively. In all the models Mental 

Health of girls is highly influenced by Parent Child Relation, Peer Relation and School Environment when 

compared to that of boys. It can be viewed in figure-1. 


54 | Page


Finally a Multiple Linear Regression model enlightens that Mental Health of adolescents at school is 

highly influenced by Peer Relation then by School Environment and then by Parent Child Relation. 

Hence it can be inferred that a good Parent Child Relation, Peer Relation and School Environment enhances the 

Mental Health of girls more than boys. 

V. Acknowledgements 

Author is very grateful to the authors who developed tools for various measures used in this study and 

also to Head Masters of the opted high schools in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh for providing necessary 

information. 

VI. Conclusion 

In this paper three influencing factors of Mental Health are studied and found that irrespective of 

gender, adolescents have the same level of Parent Child Relation (PCR), Peer Relation (PR), School 

Environment (SE) and Mental Health (MH). But adolescents of Private Schools have strong significant parent 

child relation when compared to the adolescents of Government schools. Interestingly girls have been highly 

and positively influenced by the relation with parents, relation with friends and also by good school environment 

with respect to their Mental Health than that of boys. Moreover, Peer Relation and School Environment are 

highly influencing the adolescent‟s Mental Health than by their relation with parents. 

References 

[1] Anonymous, 2004, Trends: young people and emotional health and well being. School Health Edu. Unit, England, pp. 25-28. 

[2] Brody, G. H., Stoneman, Z., & Flor, D. (1995). Linking family processes and academic competence among rural African American 

youths. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 567–579. 

[3] Cairns E., and Lloyd, K. (2005), Stress at Sixteen (Research Update), Belfast: Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive (ARK). 

[4] Cauce, A. M., Felner, R. D., & Primavera, J. (1982). Social support in high-risk adolescents: Structural components and adaptive 

impact. American Journal of Community Psychology, 10, 417- 428. 

[5] Clark,W.W, Tiegs, E.W. and Thrope, L.P.Manual (1959), Mental Health Analysis, California Test Bureau. 

[6] Coie, J.D., Lochman, J.E., Terry, R. & Hyman, C. (1992). Predicting early adolescent disorder from childhood aggression and peer 

rejection. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 5,783-792. 

[7] Colarossi, L.G., and Jacquelynne S. Eccles. 2003. "Differential effects of support providers on adolescents' mental health." Social 

Work Research, 27(1), 19-30. 

[8] Collins, W. A. (2003). More than myth: The developmental significance of romantic relations during adolescence. Journal of 

Research on Adolescence, 13, 1–24. 

[9] Connolly, J. A., Craig, W., Goldberg, A., & Pepler, D. (1999). Conceptions of cross-sex friendships and romantic relations in early 

adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28, 481–494. 

[10] Devi,S. and Mayuri,K. (2003). The effects of family and School on the Academic Achievement of Residential School Children. 

Journal of Community Guidance and Research 20(2): 139-149. 

[11] DuRant, R. H., Getts, A., Cadenhead, C, Emans, S. J., & Wood, E. R. (1995). Exposure to violence and victimization and 

depression, hopelessness, and purpose in life among adolescents living in and around public housing. Developmental and 

Behavioral Pediatrics, 16, 233-237. 

[12] Garbarino, J. (1992). Children and families in the social environment (2nd ed.). New York: Walter de Gmyter. 

[13] Garbarino, J. (1995). Raising children in a socially toxic environment. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 

[14] Hepler, J. B. (1994). Evaluating the effectiveness of a social skills program for preadolescents. Research on Social Work Practice. 

4, 411-435. 

[15] James R. Ciesla and Ping Yao(2011), Validation of a Targeted Peer Relations Scale for Adolescents Treated for Substance Use 

Disorder: An Application of Rasch Modeling, Substance Abuse Vol.5, pp-35-44. 


55 | Page


[16] Joyce.L.Epstein & Jame M.Mcpartland (1976). The Concept of Measurement of Quality of School life, American Educational 

Research Journal, Vol.13, No.1 pp.15-30. 

[17] KamlajeetKaur Mehta (1994), “Parent child relation-An imp. envtal variable influencing intelligence of children, Journal of 

Psychological Researches Vol-38 PP 10-13.) 

[18] Kundu, Ramanath; Basu, Jayanti (1991). Frustration reactions as predictors of academic achievement and personality dimensions of 

school children. Psychological Studies, Vol 36(3), 146-155. 

[19] Kupersmidt, J. B., & Patterson, C. J. (1991). Child-hood peer rejection, aggression, withdrawal, and perceived competence as 

predictors of self-reported behavior problems in preadoles-cence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychol-ogy, 19, 427-449. 

[20] La Greca, A. M., & Prinstein, M. J. (1999). The peer group. InW. K. Silverman & T. H. Ollendick (Eds.), Developmental issues in 

the clinical treatment of children and adolescents (pp. 171–198.) Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. 

[21] Little, S.A., & Garber, J. (1995). Aggression, depression, and stressful life events predicting peer rejection in children. Development 

and Psychopathology, 7, 845-856. 

[22] PrahbhjotMalhi (2000), Guiding Parents in effective disciplining strategies that work, journal of community guidance and research, 

vol 17, pp 129-141. 

[23] Rao N 1989. Parent Child Relation Scale. Agra:National Psychological Corporation. 

[24] S. Rueger, C. Malecki, M. Demaray 2010. Relation between multiple sources of perceived social support and psychological and 

academic adjustment in early adolescence: Comparisons across gender. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39 (2010), pp. 47–61. 

[25] Scholte RHJ, van Lieshout CFM, van Aken MAG. Perceived relational support in adolescence: dimensions, configurations, and 

adolescent adjustment. J Res Adolesc. 2001;11:71–94. 

[26] Shanty, K.J &Anita Ravindran (1998) Parental Discplinary practices and adolescent reactions to frustration, Journal of community 

guidance & Research, vol 15 pp 55-61. 

[27] Sowaid.M et al (1986), A study of Parent child interaction and achievement motivation among tribal high school students, Journal 

of Institute of Educational Research 10(3), pp. 24-27 

[28] Steinberg L; Lamborn, S.D; Dornbusch, S.M & Darling N (1992) Impact of parenting practices on adolescent achievement 

Authoritative parenting school involvement and encouragement to succeed. Child Development, 63, 1266-1281. 

[29] SudhaKatyal&PromilaVasudeva (1998) affect of socio-personal Factors on Academic stress among Adolescents, Indian Journal 

ofApplied Psychology, vol 35 pp 35-37. 

[30] Suman L.N (1997) Parent-Child relation and achievement motivation journal of psychological researches, vol 41 pp 66-73. 

[31] Suman L.N and A.Umapathy (2003), Parent Child Relation And Achievement Motivation, Indian Psychological review, 61, 20 -27. 

[32] Sunitha, B., and Mayuri,K., (2001). Age and Gender differences on factors affecting high academic achievement. Journal of 

Community guidance and Research 18(2): 197 – 208. 

[33] Uma Devi L & Royal U.J.R (2004) Adolescents perception About Family Environment and Emotional Intelligence, Indian 

psychological Review, vol 62, pp 157-167. 

[34] Vernberg, E. M. (1990). Psychological adjustment and experiences with peers during early adolescence: Reciprocal, incidental, or 

unidirectional relations? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology,18, 187–198. 

[35] Wentzel, K. R. & Asher, S. R. (1995). The academic lives of neglected, rejected, popular, and controversial children. Child 

Development. 66, 754-763. 

[36] World Health Report 2001 - Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope, World Health Organization, 2001. 


56 | Page




A Study of Social Realism in Kamala Markandaya’s Nectare in a 

Sieve 

Dr. S. Shanmugam 

Assistant Professor Of English Cum Principal Sri Vidya Mandir College Of Arts And Science, Neikkarapatty, 

Salem-636 010, Tamil Nadu, India. 

Abstract: In our day-to-day life, everyone is facing many problems. Facing the problems is not important, but 

sustaining it very important. Every newspaper is coming out every day at least with a suicide. Kamala 

Markandaya’s contribution is different, because her characters try to survive in every angle. Kamala 

Markandaya is an Indo–Anglian novelist. She has also studied the fatalism of the Indians and their passive 

acceptance of the given lot. Human relationship, especially the husband and wife relationship which causes 

much maladjustment leading to the disintegration of the family are also examined. Kamala Markandaya’s 

novels are complex work of art and it is possible to read them on several levels. She has deftly delineated fully 

developed and charming character in her novels. The people most respected in Markandaya’s world are those 

who are loyal, vital, sincere and compassionate. Her characters are devoid of individuality; for instance, in 

Nectar in a Sieve Rukmani and Nathan are representatives of uprooted peasants. Like the Shakespearean 

comedy, Kamala Markandaya’s fiction is a woman’s world. A fine feminine sensibility pervades her world of 

fiction. This fatalism and spirit of calm acceptance are seen clearly in Nectar in a Sieve in the lives of the 

central character. Nathan and Rukmani silently suffer what life inflicts upon them. They do not grumble or 

complain, but accept silently. Mutual love, trust, sympathy, reconciliation and co-operation are the cures for all 

social evils. Her novel, the rural novel, the domestic novel, and psychological novel establish her true merit as a 

social critic. The rural, social and moral picture of modern India that emerges from them serves as an eyeopener 

to the various faults and flaws found in it. It makes an impassioned plea for practising the nobler values 

of love, kindness humanity, sympathy, understanding and friendship in their life. Thus giving the persons in 

ideal human conduct, and laying the foundations of a better and jester and social order in which all strife, 

misunderstanding, hatred, jealousy, cruelty, enmity, suffering and injustice will yield place to the greatest 

happiness. Besides, this novel is a representative of her expressions of social condition. Her manifold virtues 

have made her a great novelist. 

In our day-to-day life, everyone is facing many problems. Facing the problems is not important, but 

sustaining it very important. Every newspaper is coming out every day at least with a suicide. Kamala 

Markandaya‟s contribution is different, because her characters try to survive in every angle. 

Kamala Markandaya is an Indo–Anglian novelist. She has also studied the fatalism of the Indians and 

their passive acceptance of the given lot. Human relationship, especially the husband and wife relationship 

which causes much maladjustment leading to the disintegration of the family are also examined with help of 

Social Realism. Kamala Markandaya‟s novels are complex work of art and it is possible to read them on several 

levels. She has deftly delineated fully developed and charming character in her novels. The people most 

respected in Markandaya‟s world are those, who are loyal, vital, sincere and compassionate. 

She has been a laurel both in India and abroad. Dr. A.V. Krishna Rao opines that Kamala 

Markandaya‟s novels, in comparison with those of her contemporary woman writers, seem to be more fully 

reflective of the awakened feminine sensibility in modern India as she attempts to project the image of the 

changing traditional society. Kamala Markandaya‟s treatment of Indian rural life is comprehensive and all– 

embracing. It is realistic and trustful. Through her treatment, she has focused attention on the wretched. Plight of 

the poor and the destitute and has shown a way of life remarkable for its heroic endurance and innate goodness. 

Nectar in a Sieve deals with the peasants and their activities, problems and anxieties, hopes and expectations, 

and joys and sorrows. It is therefore natural to find in it an emphasis on rural ethos and rural value system. 

Dr.K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar says, “women are natural story-tellers!” (435). 

Kamala Markandaya‟s fiction suffers from a serious defect, that is, she has no vision of life. Her 

characters narrate, describe and generalize but there is no depth and psychological conflict in them. She tells a 

story but does not proper into the minds of the characters. Internal conflict in a person is seldom presented with 

skill and dexterity. There is also another defect in her fiction, that is, vagueness and generalization. Her 

characters are devoid of individuality; for instance, in Nectar in a Sieve Rukmani and Nathan are 

representatives of uprooted peasants. Like the Shakespearean comedy, Kamala Markandaya‟s fiction is a 

woman‟s world. A fine feminine sensibility pervades her world of fiction. 


57 | Page

A Study Of Social Realism In Kamala Markandaya’s Nectare In A Sieve 

Now it will be appropriate to refer to the contemporary poets, critics and novelists regarding their views on 

Kamala Markandaya‟s fiction. A.V.Krishna Rao says, 

Kamala Markandaya‟s novels, in comparison with those her contemporary women writers, seem to be 

more fully reflective of the awakened feminine sensibility in modern India as she attempts to project the image 

of the changing traditional society. (55) 

The theme of Nectar in a Sieve is poverty, starvation and degradation caused by it. Here it is mainly 

studied in a rural setting, though the theme of urban poverty, exodus and footlessness is also dealt with. The plot 

of Nectar in a Sieve is easily devisable into two parts-The first part dealing with the life of Rukmani and Nathan 

in the village, and the second with the life in the city. In the first part of the novel is narrated the story of 

Rukmani‟s marriage with Nathan and their best efforts to survive not only the vagaries of nature but also the 

disturbances wrought by the tannery recently set up near their village. In the second part, it is presented the 

plight of the couple trying to get accommodation in the city. 

The structural scheme of the novel is unveiled to the reader in a flashback technique. According to this 

scheme the story begins where the novel ends. The novel ends with a tragic, and it seems that the novelist 

cleverly contrived it in order to elicit the reader‟s sympathy for the poor and the destitute as Rukmani is. The 

overall impression of the novel on the reader‟s mind is that the story is somewhat tempered with and that the 

pilot has not been allowed to grow naturally. 

The Indian culture is basically spiritual and Indians are proud of their cultural heritage. The villagers 

have a profound, unshakable faith in religion and god. Their view of life is fatalistic. This fatalism and spirit of 

calm acceptance are seen clearly in Nectar in a Sieve in the lives of the central character. Nathan and Rukmani 

silently suffer what life inflicts upon them. They do not grumble or complain, but accept silently. 

Traditionally the Indian woman accepted the framework of the family with a blind faith and rarely showed a 

rebellious trend. She continued to be docile self–sacrificing, plaint, loving and capable of suffering. They suffer, 

submit and adjust themselves to circumstances. Kamala Markandaya has portrayed this aspect of woman‟s life 

in Nectar in a Sieve with sensitivity and instinctive understanding. 

In general, Kamala Markandaya‟s novels acknowledge the concrete social, political, and economic 

barriers that stand in the way of woman‟s search for empowerment as well as the Andocentric bias that 

permeates all levels of Hindu–Indian culture. As K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar opines in his Indian writing in English, 

“Rukmani is symbolic of mother India who is compassion and sufferance who must indeed suffer alt hurts and 

survive all disasters”(435). 

Besides, she deals with the women who are considered to be the weaker sex physically and mentally 

and they need protection from father, husband and sons at different stages in life. The best way to judge the 

position of a nation is to find out the status of its women. Woman plays a critical role in every situation. Women 

in India, especially in the rural areas, are regarded as women within the home and around it. Moving away from 

the vicinity of home gives them the images of an undesirable character. 

The novel, Nectar in a Sieve is the story of peasant woman Rukmani, whose rustic life is distributed by 

rapid industrialization. As Kamala Markandaya is primarily a humanitarian novelist, her large-heartedness, 

humanitarian sympathies, abundant kindliness, good nature and generosity are reflected everywhere in her 

description of the various social problems. Her plot-construction, character portrayal, tragic vision, her study of 

social manners, and criticism of life is imbued with her humanitarian sympathies. She aims at removing the 

misery of the poverty-stricken masses in India. The note of distinction pervades her novels. The moral aim of 

her novels is to get the wrongs of the poor rights. Thus, her novels show her as a crusader for the welfare of 

humanity. 

Mutual love, trust, sympathy, reconciliation and co-operation are the cures for all social evils. Her 

novel, the rural novel, the domestic novel, and psychological novel, establish her true merit as a social critic. 

The rural, social and moral picture of modern India that emerges from them serves as an eye-opener to the 

various faults and flaws found in it. It makes an impassioned plea for practising the nobler values of love, 

kindness humanity, sympathy, understanding and friendship in their life. Thus giving the persons in ideal human 

conduct, and laying the foundations of a better and jester, social order in which all strife, misunderstanding, 

hatred, jealousy, cruelty, enmity, suffering and injustice will yield place to the greatest happiness. 

In the day-to-day‟s life, whenever the news paper is opened in the morning, the interesting cases are 

obvious – elopement, stealing, rape, etc. Sometimes, these may lead to suicide. But, the important characters of 

Kamala Markanda try to survive. They accept the fatalism and they do not grumble at all. That is life – full of 

ups and downs. They have proved it. This is a model for all. In short, the novel is a realistic presentation of the 

suffering, hunger and starvation, poverty and disease, portrayed of social evils, inter-racial relations, conflict 

between tradition and modernity, the theme of the east and west encounter, loneliness and exploration of the 

psyche of man which is the fate of the Indian people even today. Besides, this novel is a representative of her 

expressions of social condition. Her manifold virtues have made her a great novelist. 


58 | Page

A Study Of Social Realism In Kamala Markandaya’s Nectare In A Sieve 

References: 

[1] Arora, Sudhir Kumar, A Study of Kamala Markandaya’s Women, New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers Limited, 2006. 

[2] Bai, K.Meera, Method and Narrative Techniques in Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve, New Delhi, 1991. 

[3] Bhatnagar.K.C. Realism in Major Indo-English Fiction, Prakash Book Depot., Bareily,1980. 

[4] Bhatnagar, M.K. „Kamala Markandaya’ A Critical Spectrum, Atlantic Publishers Limited, New Delhi, 2002. 

[5] Iyengar, K.R. Srinivasa, Indian Writing in English, Sterling Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi, 1983. 

[6] Markandaya, Kamala. Nectar in a Sieve, Jaico Publishing House, Mumbai, 1955. 

[7] Rao, A.V.Krishna, The Indo-Anglian Novel and the Changing Tradition, Rao and Raghavan, Mysore, 1972. 


59 | Page

Initial Conquest of India by Turks and Their Slaves - IOSR

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?