2. Identify different dynasties that existed in India.

I. The Caliphate (632-1258)
It was a republican institution created at Medina soon after the death of Prophet Muhammad. The first four caliphs were elected. The fifth caliph, however, inaugurated monarchical rule which was held successively by two families. The Caliphate, therefore, had three phases.
(A) The Rightly-Guided? Caliphs (632-661)
There were four of them who ruled over an expanding empire from Medina and Kufa. Only one of them figures in our citations:
3. Usmãn (646--656)
It was during his reign that one of his military commanders, Abd ar-Rahmãn bin Samûrah, succeeded in occupying Seistan and parts of Zabul for a short time in 653.
(B) The Ummayads (661-749)
This dynasty, founded by the fifth caliph, had fourteen kings who ruled from Damascus. Only one of them figures in our citations:
6. Al-Walîd I (705-715)
It was during his reign that one of his generals, Muhammad bin Qãsim, succeeded in occupying Sindh and some parts of the Punjab between 712 and 715.
Another general, Qutaibah bin Muslim al-Bãhîlî, operated mostly in Khurasan and Transoxiana which were cradles of Hindu culture at that time but not parts of India proper. He is also credited with the conquest of Balkh where he destroyed a famous Buddhist Vihãra.
(C) The Abbãsids (750-1258)
This dynasty succeeded the Umayyads and moved the seat of the Caliphate to Baghdad. Starting with the nineteenth caliph it had thirty-seven rulers, the last of whom was killed by Halãkû, the Mongol conqueror, in 1258. After the reign of the eighth caliph, Mu?tãsim (833-842), of this dynasty, the rulers were non-entities and power passed into the hands of Turkish dynasties which rose one after another. Only two of them figure in our citations:
2. Al-Mansûr (754-775)
It was in his reign that his governor of Sindh, Hashãm bin ?Amrû al-Taghlabî, led an expedition to Kandahar on the west coast of India in 756.
3. Al-Mahdî (775-785)
He sent, a naval expedition to the coast of Saurashtra in 776.
II. The Saffãrid Dynasty of Seistan (871-900)
This Persian-Turkish dynasty arose when the Abbãsid Caliphate had weakened. It occupied Zabul and Sindh which included Multan at that time. It had only 2 rulers both of whom figure in our citations:
1. Yã?qûb bin Laith (871-875) 2. ?Amrû bin Laith (875-900)
III. The Qarãmitah Dynasty of Multan (980-1175)
After the Saffãrids lost their hold on Sindh, Multan separated from the province and became an independent Muslim kingdom. By 980 it had become a stronghold of the Qarãmitah sect of the Isma?ilîs. Jalam bin Shaibãn who figures in our citations cannot be placed in any dynastic succession, nor assigned a reign-period. The only thing we know about him is that he destroyed the image of the famous Ãditya Temple at Multan and killed its priests.
IV. The Yamînî or Ghaznivid Dynasty (977-1186)
The Saffãrid dominions in Khurasan, Seistan and Zabul had been taken over by the Sãmãnids, a dynasty which had arisen more or less at the same time as the Saffãrids and had its seat at Bukhara. Alptigîn, the Sãmãnid governor of Khurasan, rebelled, occupied Ghazni in 963 and declared independence. The dynasty founded by him proved incompetent and the throne was seized in 977 by Subuktigîn, a manumitted slave of Alptigîn. Subuktigîn became the founder of the Ghaznivid Dynasty which came to be known as the Yamînî Dynasty as well when the caliph at Baghdad was mighty pleased with the iconoclastic exploits of Subuktigîn?s son, Mahmûd, and conferred on him the appellation of Yamînu?d-Daulah.
The Yamînî Dynasty had 18 rulers, the last two of whom functioned from Lahore after Ghazni was occupied by the Seljûks. Five of these rulers figure in our citations.
1. Amîr Subuktigîn (977-997) 2. Sultãn Mahmûd (997-1030) 3. Sultãn Mas?ûd I (1030-1042) 4. Sultãn Ibrãhîm (1059-1099) 5. Sultãn Mas?ûd III (1 099-1151)
V. The Shanshabãnî or Ghûrid Dynasty (1149-1206)
This dynasty arose in the Ghûr region of Afghanistan and had its seat at Firuz Koh. To start with, the rulers were tributaries of the Ghaznivids. They started becoming independent as the Ghaznivids got involved in a struggle with the Seljûks and suffered a decline. We have counted the Ghûrid rulers from Alãu?d-Dîn Jahãnsûz who stormed and burnt down Ghazni in 1149. Ghazni was, however, occupied by the Seljûks soon after and, later on, by the Guzz Turks. It was only in 1175 that the Ghûrids succeeded in reoccupying it.
The Ghûrid king, Ghiyãsu?d-Dîn Muhammad bin Sãm, who had succeeded his uncle Alãu?d-Dîn Jahãnsûz at Firuz Koh, appointed his younger brother, Shihãbu?d-Dîn Muhammad bin Sãm, as the governor of Ghazni. Shihãbu?d-Dîn (1175-1206) occupied Sindh and Multan, ousted the last Ghaznivid ruler from Lahore, defeated the Chauhãns of Ajmer and the GãhaDvãDs of Kanauj, and extended his conquests upto the borders of Bengal. His conquests were consolidated mainly by his able general, Qutbu?d-Dîn Aibak. Another general of his, Ikhtiyãru?d-Dîn Bakhtiyãr Khaljî, ousted the Senas of Bengal from Lakhnauti and led an unsuccessful expedition into Assam and Bhutan. Meanwhile, Shihãbu?d-Dîn had become the king of Ghûr on the death of his brother in 1203 and styled himself as Muizzu?d-Dîn Muhammad bin Sãm. He is popularly known as Muhammad Ghûrî, and regarded as the founder of Muslim rule in India. He was murdered in 1206 and the Shanshabãnî dynasty came to an end.
Muhammad Ghûrî, Qutbu?d-Dîn Aibak, and Ikhtiyãru?d-Dîn Bakhtiyãr Khaljî figure in our citations.
VI. The Khwãrizmian Dynasty (1121-1231)
This powerful dynasty had its seat at Khwãrizm (modern Khiva in the Turkmenian Republic of the erstwhile U.S.S.R). It had 6 rulers. It was overthrown by Chingiz Khãn, the Mongol conqueror, in 1220 when its fifth ruler died in flight. The sixth and the last ruler, Jalãlu?d-Dîn Mankbarnî, who figures in our citations, escaped to Sindh in 1222 and tried to establish a new kingdom. He had, however, to leave in 1223 via Makran and wandered to various places in Iran and Iraq till he was killed by the Kurds in 1231.
VII. The Mamlûk or Slave Dynasties of Delhi (1206-1290)
These were the three dynasties founded successively by Qutbu?d-Dîn Aibak, Shamsu?d-Dîn Iltutmish and Ghiyãsu?d-Dîn Balban, all of whom were manumitted slaves. With their seat at Delhi, the three dynasties had 10 rulers. The founder of the first dynasty, Qutbu?d-Dîn Aibak, figures in our citations mostly as a viceroy of Muhanmmad Ghûri, though he ruled as a sultãn also from 1206 to 1210. The third ruler Shamsu?d-Dîn Iltutmish (1210-1236), the founder of the second Mamlûk Dynasty, also figures in our citations. He was a slave of Qutb?d-Dîn Aibak and became king after ousting Aibak?s son. He extended his sway over the whole of North India by garrisoning a number of cities and towns and led expeditions against centres of Rãjpût power in Rajasthan, Bundelkhand and Malwa. He is regarded as the real builder of Muslim power in India, though Afghanistan, Sindh and a large part of the Punjab had, meanwhile, passed under Mongol occupation.
VIII. The Khaljî Dynasty of Delhi (1290-1320)
It succeeded the third and the last Mamlûk Dynasty and had only 3 rulers. All of them figure in our citations:
1. Jalãlu?d-Dîn (1290-1296) 2. Alãu?d-Dîn (1296-1316) 3. Mubãrak Shãh (1316-1320)
With his seat at Delhi, Alãu?d-Dîn extended Muslim hegemony or rule over Gujarat, Rajasthan, Malwa, Maharashtra, Telingana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by subduing or overthrowing one Rãjpût dynasty after another. The expedition to Gujarat was led by his brother and general, Ulugh Khãn, while those to Maharashtra, Telingana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were commanded by his slave, Malik Kãfûr. He himself was in charge of expeditions to Rajasthan and Malwa.
IX. The Tughlaq Dynasty of Delhi (1320-1412)
This dynasty which took over at Delhi from the Khaljîs had 10 rulers, though its power declined steeply after the death of the third in 1381 and more or less disappeared after the invasion of Tîmûr in 1398. Five rulers of this dynasty figure in our citations:
1. Ghiyãsu?d-Dîn Tughlaq (1320-1325) 2. Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325-1351) 3. Fîrûz Shãh (1351-1388) 4. Tughlaq Shãh bin Fîrûz Shãh (1388-1389) 5. Nasîru?d-Dîn Muhammad Shãh (1389-1394)
Muhammad bin Tughlaq had reconquered South India which had slipped out of the Muslim stranglehold after the eclipse of the Khaljîs. But he lived to see the disintegration of his southern domain. Soon after, the Muslim Bahmanî Sultanate rose in the Deccan and the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in the South.
X. The Shãh Mîr Dynasty of Kashmir (1339-1561)
Islamic power prevailed in Kashmir because the latter-day Hindu Rãjãs had employed a large number of Muslims in their army and administration. Most of these Muslims were refugees sent out by the Mongol invasion of Islamdom in the thirteenth century, even though some of them strutted around as Sayyids and Sufis. The founder of the Shãh Mîr Dynasty had only to stage a coup d?etat. The dynasty had 14 rulers of whom two figure in our citations:
6. Sikandar Butshikan (1389-1413) 7. Fath Shãh (1489-1499 and 1505-1516)
XI. The Bahmanî Dynasty of the Deccan (1347-1527)
The founder of this dynasty consolidated a widespread rebellion against Tughlaq rule in the Deccan, and proclaimed himself a sultãn. It had its seat at Gulbarga before it moved to Bîdar in 1422. It had 15 rulers. The last five of them were kings only in name because power at Bidar passed into the hands of the Barîd Shãhî Dynasty and elsewhere into those of four other dynasties-the Nizãm Shãhîs of Ahmadnagar, the ?Ãdil Shãhîs of Bijapur, the Imãd Shãhîs of Berar and the Qutb Shãhîs of Golconda-towards the close of the fifteenth century. Six Bahmanî rulers figure in our citations:
1. Alãu?d-Dîn Hasan (1347-1358) 2. Mujãhid Shãh (1375-1378) 3. Fîrûz Shãh (1379-1422) 4. Ahmad Shãh Walî (1422-1435) 5. Alãu?d-Dîn Ahmad Shãh II (1436-1458) 6. Muhammad Shãh II (1463-1480)
XII. The Muslim Dynasty of Gujarat (1392-1572)
The founder of this dynasty was a Rãjpût who was converted to Islam in the reign of Fîrûz Shãh Tughlaq. It had 10 rulers before Gujarat was conquered by the Mughals in 1527. Six of them figure in our citations:
1. Muzaffar Shãh I (1392-1410) 2. Ahmad Shãh I (1411-1443) 3. Qutbu?d-Dîn Ahmad Shãh II (1451-1458) 4. Mahmûd BegDhã (1458-1511) 5. Muzaffar Shãh II (1511-1526) 6. Bahãdur Shãh (1526-1537)
XIII. The Sharqî Dynasty of Jaunpur (1394-1479)
It was founded by a favourite eunuch of Fîrûz Shãh Tughlaq soon after the latter?s death, and was overthrown by Bahlûl Lodî, the founder of the Lodî Dynasty of Delhi/Agra. One of its 6 rulers figures in our citations.
4. Mahmûd bin Ibrãhîm (1440-1457).
XIV. The Khaljî Dynasty of Malwa (1435-1531)
Malwa had become independent of Delhi under the Ghûrî Dynasty founded in 1390. It had 4 rulers when it was overthrown by the Khaljî Dynasty in 1435. The second dynasty also had 4 rulers. Two of them figure in our citations:
1. Mahmûd Shãh I (1435-1469) 2. Ghiyãsu?d-Dîn (1469-1500)
XV. Lodî Dynasty of Delhi/Agra (1451-1526)
The Tughlaq Dynasty had been succeeded at Delhi by the Sayyid Dynasty which ruled form 1412 to 1451. It was a weak dynasty and its last ruler invited Bahlûl Lodî, his governor of the Punjab, to take over. The second Lodî ruler shifted the capital from Delhi to Agra in order to be better able to dominate and expand into Central India. Of the 3 rulers of the Lodî Dynasty two figure in our citations:
2. Sikandar Lodî (1489-1517) 3. Ibrãhîm Lodî (1517-1526)
XVI. The Nizãm Shãhî Dynasty of Ahmadnagar (1490-1630)
This dynasty was founded by one of the Bahmanî governors who was a Brahmin convert from Maharashtra. It had 11 rulers till its kingdom was annexed by the Mughals. One of them figures in our citations:
4. Murtazã Nizãm Shãh (1565-1588)
XVII. The ?Ãdil Shãhî Dynasty of Bijapur (1490-1686)
Founded by another of the Bahmanî governors, it had 9 rulers till the kingdom was conquered by the Mughals. One of them figures in our citations:
5. ?Alî I ?Ãdil Shãh (1557-1580)
XVIII. The Qutb Shãhî Dynasty of Golconda (1507-1687)
Founded by a third Bahmanî governor, it had 7 rulers till it was overthrown by the Mughals. Four of them figure in our citations:
1. Qulî Qutb Shãh (1507-1543) 2. Ibrãhîm Quth Shãh (1550-1580) 3. Muhammad Qulî Qutb Shãh (1580-1612) 4. Abdu?llãh Qutb Shãh (1626-1672)
XIX. The Mughal Dynasty of Agra/Delhi (1526-1857)
Founded by a new Islamic invader, Zahîru?d-Dîn Bãbar, this dynasty had 21 rulers. But after 1712 when its seventh ruler died, the Mughal kings became playthings in the hands of powerful ministers and court factions. The Dynasty received a shattering blow from the invasion of Nãdir Shãh in 1739. After the death of its fourteenth ruler, Muhammad Shãh, in 1748, its empire disintegrated very fast. In due course, Mughal rule became more or less confined to the Red Fort at Delhi where, too, the king lived at the mercy of the Marathas and, later on, the British. Nine Mughal rulers figure in our citations:
1. Bãbur (1526-1530) 2. Humãyûn (1530-1538 and 1556) 3. Akbar (1556-1605) 4. Jahãngîr (1605-1628) 5. Shãh Jahãn (1628-1658) 6. Aurangzeb (1658-1707) 7. Bahãdur Shãh (1707-1712) 8. Farrukh Siyar (1713-1719) 9. Muhammad Shãh (1720-1748)
XX. The Sûr Dynasty of Agra/Delhi (1540-1556)
This dynasty rose to power by overthing the second Mughal king, Humãyûn, and was in turn overthrown by him. It had four rulers, the last one of whom did not belong to the bloodline. Its first two rulers figure in our citations:
1. Sher Shãh (1540-1545) 2. Islãm Shãh (1545-1554)
XXI. The Karrãnî Dynasty of Bengal (1563-1576)
This dynasty arose when Sulaimãn Karrãnî, the governor of Bihar from the days of Sher Shãh Sûr, moved to Gaur in Bengal after the death of Islãm Shãh Sûr and declared himself an independent king of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Soon after, he moved his capital to Tandah. There were three rulers in this line, of whom the first, Sulaimãn, (1563-1573), figures in our citations.
XXII. The Mughal Sûbãhdãrs of Bengal (1717-1757)
The Mughal governors of Bengal (which included Bihar and Orissa also) became independent for all practical purposes after the passing away of Bahãdur Shãh, the Mughal emperor, in 1712. Murshid Qulî Khãn I who had become Sûbãhdãr in 1717 nominated his son-in-law, Shujãu?d-Dîn, to succeed him. The capital of Bengal had meanwhile been moved from Dacca to Murshidabad. Murshid Qulî Khãn II who figures in our citations was Shujãu?d-Dîn?s son-in-law and was made the deputy governor in 1728 with his seat at Dacca. This first line of the independent Sûbãhdãrs of Bengal was overthrown in 1739 by Alîvardî Khãn whose grandson and successor, Sirãju?d-Daulah, was defeated by the British in 1757 in the Battle of Plassey.
XXIII. Abdãlî or Durrãnî Dynasty of Afghanistan (1747-1818)
The dynasty arose when, on the death of Nãdir Shãh the Persian adventurer, one of his generals, Ahmad Khãn Abdãlî, styled himself as Ahmad Shãh Durr-i-Durrãn (Pearl of the Age) and set up an independent principality in Afghanistan in 1747. With his seat at Qandhar he led seven invasions into the Punjab and farther afield. In one of his invasions (1762), he blew up the Harimandir at Amritsar, filled up the sacred tank with the debris, and desecrated the holy site by slaughtering cows on it. He died in 1773 and figures in our citations.
XXIV. Muslim Usurpers in Mysore (1761-1799)
There were only two of them, Hyder ?Alî (1761-1781) and his son, Tîpû Sultãn (1782-1799). The second who died fighting the British in 1799, figures in our citations.
XXV. Sufis or Warrior Saints
Fourteen sufis or warrior saints figure in our citations. The list of this type of iconoclasts should have been much larger. But we could not get hold of the appropriate histories, most of which are in private collections. The histories that are printed these days are quite often edited in order to eschew ?controversial materials?.
http://www.bharatvani.org/books/htemples2/app1.htm

3. Know their culture and beliefs.

India's culture is marked by a high degree of syncretism[54] and cultural pluralism.[55] It has managed to preserve established traditions while absorbing new customs, traditions, and ideas from invaders and immigrants; multicultural concerns have long informed India’s history and traditions, constitution and political arrangements.[56] Many Indian cultural practices, languages, customs, and monuments are examples of this co-mingling over centuries.
Notable architectural creations, such as the Taj Mahal and other examples of Mughal architecture, examples of Dravidian architecture are the result of traditions that combined elements from several parts of the country and abroad. The vernacular architecture displays notable regional variation.
Indian music is highly diversified. Classical music is mainly split between the North Indian Hindustani and South Indian Carnatic traditions. Highly regionalised forms of popular music include filmi and folk music like bhangra. Many classical dance forms exist, including bharatanatyam, kathakali, kathak, kuchipudi, manipuri, odissi and yakshagana. They often have a narrative form and are usually infused with devotional and spiritual elements.
The earliest literary traditions in India were mostly oral and were only later transcribed. Most of these are represented by religious texts such as the Vedas, the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana; Sangam literature from Tamil Nadu is among India's oldest. Among many notable Indian writers of the modern era, using both Indian languages and English, Rabindranath Tagore is perhaps the most famous.
The Indian film industry is the world's most prolific; its most recognisable face is the Mumbai-based "Bollywood," which produces commercial Hindi films and is the largest producer of feature films in the world.[57] Other strong cinema industries are based on the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, and Marathi languages.
The cuisine of India is diverse, as ingredients, spices and cooking methods vary from region to region. Rice and wheat are the nation's main staple foods.[58] The country is notable for its wide variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian cuisine. Spicy food[57] and sweets are popular in India.
Traditional Indian dress greatly varies across the regions in its colours and styles and depends on various factors, including climate. Popular styles of dress include the sari for women and the lungi or dhoti for men.
India's national sport is field hockey, even though cricket is the most popular sport in India. In some states, particularly those in the northeast and the coastal states of West Bengal, Goa, and Kerala, football is the more popular sport. In recent times, tennis has also gained popularity. Chess, commonly held to have originated in India, is also gaining popularity with the rise of the number of recognized Indian grandmasters. Traditional sports include kabaddi, kho-kho, and gilli-danda, which are played nationwide. India is home to the age-old discipline of yoga and to the ancient martial arts, Kalarippayattu and Varma Kalai.
Indian festivals come in a vast variety; many are celebrated irrespective of caste and creed. The most popular holidays are Diwali, Holi, Onam, Dussehra, the two Eids, Christmas, Ugadi, and Vaisakhi. India has three national holidays. Other sets of holidays, varying between nine and twelve, are officially observed in the individual states. Religious practices are an integral part of everyday life and are a very public affair. Traditional Indian family values are highly respected, although urban families now prefer a nuclear family system due to the socio-economic constraints imposed by the traditional joint family system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_India