HISTORY OF INDIA

INDEX
S.NO TOPIC PAGE NO.
ANCIENT HISTORY 4-41
1. INDIAN PREHISTORY 5-6
1. The paleolithic age
2. The mesolithic era
3. The neolithic era

2. INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION 7-11

1. Geographical extent
2. Town planning
3. Excavations & excavators
4. Agriculture
5. Trade and commerce
6. Art and craft
7. Religious life
8. Script
9. Political organization

3. VEDIC PERIOD 12-15

1. Background
2. Region
3. Political organization
4. Social life
5. Rivers in Rigveda
6. Economy
7. Religion
4. LATER VEDIC PERIOD 16-19
1. Region
2. Political
3. Social life
4. Vedic period-important fact
5. Pottery
6. Religion
7. Vedic literature

5. JAINISM 20-25
1. Mahavira
2. Soul and karma
3. Shvetambar & digambara
4. Jain art
5. Jain literature
6. Jain metaphysics

6. BUDDHISM 26-30
1. Gautama buddha
2. Five great events in buddha's life and their
symbols
3. Teachings of buddha
4. Division of buddhism
 5. Buddhist scriptures
6. Buddhist council
7. Spread of buddhism
8. Decline of Buddhism
7. THE MAGADHA EMPIRE 31-32
8. THE MAURYAN PERIOD 33-35
9. SANGAM AGE 36
10. POST MAURYANS 37
11. THE SATAVAHANAS OR THE ANDHRAS 38
12. THE GUPTA DYNASTY 39-40
13. FEATURES OF GUPTA EMPIRE 40-41

MEDIEVAL HISTORY 42-73

1. 1. Sources of medieval indian history 43-44
2. Rise of islam and Sufism
2. DELHI SULTANATE 45-59
1. Ilbari dynasty
2. Khilji dynasty
3. Tughluq dynasty
4. Sayyid dynasty
5. Lodi dynasty
6. Political theory
7. Central government
8. Important officials
3. THE MUGHALS 60-69
4. THE MARATHAS 70-72
5. THE RISE OF PESHWAS 73

MODERN INDIAN HISTORY 74-139

1. 1. Later Mughals 75-88
2. Rise of autonomous states
3. Coming of Europeans
4. Establishment of British power in Bengal
2. REVOLT OF 1857 89-91
3. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL MOVEMENTS 92-96
4. BRITISH EDUCATIONAL POLICY IN INDIA 97-105
1. Land revenue system in India under Britishers
2. Phases of economic policy in India
3. Drain of wealth theory
4. Books & authors
5. Newspapers and journals

5. IMPORTANT NATIONAL EVENTS & 106-120

IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES
1. Indigo Revolt
2. The Indian National Congress
3. Partition of Bengal
4. Swadeshi Movement
5. Muslim League
6. Surat Session Of Indian National Congress
7. Anti-Rowlatt Satyagrah
 8. The Cripps Mission
9. Home Rule Movement: Annie Besant & Tilak
10. Lucknow Session-1916
11. Khilafat Movement In India
12. The Non-Cooperation Movement
13. Civil Disobedience Movement
14. Round Table Conference
15. Communal Award And Poona Pact
16. Gandhi’s Harijan Campaign
17. Rajagopalachari Formula
18. August Offer
19. Individual Satyagraha
20. Shimla Conference
21. Cabinet Mission
22. Interim Government
23. Mountbatten Plan
24. Indian Independence Act
GOVERNOR GENERALS OF BRITISH INDIA 121-130
1. British Viceroys of India
2. Indian National Congress
3. History Of INC
MODERN INDIA PERSONALITIES 131-133
1. M.K. Gandhi
2. Dadabhai Naoroji
3. Gopal Krishna Gokhale
4. Bal Gangadhar Tilak
5. B. R. Ambedkar
6. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
7. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
8. Subhash Chandra Bose
9. Jawaharlal Nehru
INDIAN CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 134-139
Indian Freedom Struggle-Timeline
ANCIENT
INDIAN
HISTORY
 INDIAN PREHISTORY
 The fossils of the early human being have not been found in India. A hint of the earliest human presence in
India is indicated by stone tools of about 250,000 BC obtained from the deposits.
 However, recent reported artifacts from Bori in Maharashtra suggest the appearance of human beings in
India around 1.4 million years ago.
 From their first appearance to around 3000 BC humans used only stone tools for different purposes.
 This period is, therefore, known as the Stone Age, which has been divided into Paleolithic (early or Old
Stone) Age, Mesolithic (Middle Stone) Age, and Neolithic (New Stone) Age.

THE PALEOLITHIC AGE

(500,000 BC – 8000 BC)
 In India it developed in the Pleistocene period or the Ice Age.
 The earliest traces of human existence in India go back to 500,000 BC.
 The Paleolithic sites are spread in practically all parts of India except the alluvial plains of Indus and
Ganga.
 The people of this age were food gathering people who lived on hunting and gathering wild fruits and
vegetables.
 Man during this period used tools of unpolished, undressed rough stones and lived in cave and rock
shelters. They had no knowledge of agriculture, fire or pottery of any material.
 They mainly used hand axes, cleavers, choppers, blades, scrapers and burin. Their tools were made of hard
rock called ‘quartzite’. Hence Paleolithic men are also called ‘Quartzite Men’.
 Homo sapiens first appeared in the last of this phase.
 It has been pointed out that Paleolithic men belonged to the Negrito race.
 The Paleolithic Age in India has been divided into three phases according to the nature of stone tools used
by the people and also according to the nature of change in the climate – Early or lower Paleolithic, Middle
Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic.
 The Early Paleolithic Age covers the greater part of the Ice Age. Its characteristic tools are hand axes,
cleavers and choppers. Such tools have been found in Soan and Sohan river valley (now in Pakistan) and in
the Belan Valley in the Mirzapur district of UP In this period climate became less humid.
 Middle Paleolithic Phase is characterized by the use of stone tools made of flakes mainly scrapers, borers
and blade like tools. The sites are found in the valleys of Soan, Narmada and Tungabhadra rivers.
 In the Upper Paleolithic Phase, the climate became warm and less humid. This stage is marked by burins
and scrapers. Such tools have been found in AP Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bhopal and Chhota Nagpur
plateau.

THE MESOLITHIC ERA: 8000-6000BC

 In this age, climate became warm and dry. Climate changes brought about changes in fauna and flora and
made it possible for human beings to move to new areas. Since then, there haven’t been major changes in
the climate.The characteristic tools of the Mesolithic Age are known as Microliths-pointed, cresconic
blades, scrapers, etc, all made of stone.
 The people lived on hunting, fishing and food gathering; at a later stage they also domesticated animals.
 The last phase of this age saw the beginning of plane cultivation.
 Various Mesolithic sites are found in the Chhotanagpur region, Central India and also south of the Krishna
River.
 In the Belan valley of Vindhyas, all the three phases of the Paleolithic followed by the Mesolithic and then
by the Neolithic have been found in sequence. Similar is the case with the middle part of the Narmada
valley.

THE NEOLITHIC ERA :( 6000 BC – 1000 BC)

  In India Neolithic Age is not earlier than 6000 BC and at some places in South and Eastern India; it is as
late as 1000 BC.
 During this phase people were again depending on stone implements. But now they used stones other than
quartzite for making tools, which were more lethal, more finished and more polished.
 Neolithic men cultivated land and grew fruits and corn like ragi and horse gram. They domesticated cattle,
sheep and goat.
 They knew about making fire and making pottery, first by hand and then by potters wheel. They also
painted and decorated their pottery.
 They lived in caves and decorated their walls with hunting and dancing scenes. They also knew the art of
making boats. They could also weave cotton and wool to make cloth.
 In the later phase of Neolithic phase people led a more settled life and lived in circular and rectangular
houses made of mud and reed.
 Important sites of this age are Burzahom and Gufkral in J&K (famous for pit dwelling, stone tools and
graveyard in house), Maski, Brahmagiri, Tekkalakota in Karnataka, Paiyampatti in Tamil Nadu, Piklihal
and Hallur in AP, Garo hils in Meghalaya, Chirand and Senuwar in Bihar (known for remarkable bone
tools), Amri, Kotdiji, etc.
 Koldihawa in UP revealed a threefold cultural sequence: Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Iron Age.

CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD
 The end of the Neolithic period saw the use of metals of which copper was the first. Consequently, several
cultures came to be based on the use of stone and copper imple-ments.
 Such a culture is called chalcolithic which means the stone-copper phase.
 The most extensive excavations have been done at the Chalcolithic sites like Jorwe, Nevasa, Daimabad,
Inamgaon, Prakash, Nasik, etc. in Maharashtra.
 Several Chacolithic sites have been found in Allahabad district, Chirand (near Patna) and Pandu Rajar
Dhibi and Mahishadal in Bengal.
 INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

Ancient Civilizations in India

 The Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization thriving along the Indus River and the Ghaggar-
Hakra River in what is now Pakistan and north-western India. Among other names for this civilization is
the Harappan Civilization, in reference to its first excavated city of Harappa.
 An alternative term for the culture is Saraswati-Sindhu Civilization, based on the fact that most of the Indus
Valley sites have been found at the Halkra-Ghaggar River.
 R.B. Dayaram Sahni first discovered Harappa (on Ravi) in 1921. R.D. Banerjee discovered Mohenjodaro
or ‘Mound of the Dead’ (on Indus) in 1922. Sir John Marshal played a crucial role in both these.
 Harappan Civilization forms part of the proto history of India and belongs to the Bronze Age.
 Mediterranean, Proto-Australoid, Mongoloids and Alpines formed the bulk of the population, though the
first two were more numerous.
 More than 100 sites belonging to this civilization have been excavated.
 According to radio-carbon dating, it spread from the year 2500 – 1750 BC.
 Copper, bronze, silver, gold were known but not iron.

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT
 Covered parts of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Gujarat, Rajasthan and some parts of Western UP. It extended
from Manda in Jammu in the north to Daimabad in the south and from Alamgirpur in W. UP to
Sutkagendor in Baluchistan in the west.
  Major sites in Pakistan are Harappa (on Ravi in W Punjab), Mohenjodaro (on Indus), Chanhu-Daro
(Sindh), etc. In India, major sites are Lothal, Rangpur and Surkotda (Gujarat), Kalibangan (Rajasthan),
Banwali (Hissar), and Alamgirpur (Western UP).
 Largest and the latest site in India is Dholavira in Gujarat. Dr. J.R Joshi and Dr. R.S. Bisht were involved
in it.
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION TOWN PLANNING

 Elaborate town-planning. It followed the Grid System. Roads were well cut, dividing the town into large
rectangular or square blocks. Lamp posts at intervals indicate the existence of street lightning. Flanking the
streets, lanes and by-lanes were well-planned houses.
 Used burnt bricks of good quality as the building material. Elsewhere in the contemporary world, mud-
bricks were used.
 Houses, often of two or more storey, varied in size, but were quite monotonous a square courtyard, around
which were a number of rooms. No window faced the streets. The houses had tiled bathrooms.
 Good drainage system. Drains were made of mortar, lime and gypsum and covered with large brick slabs
for easy cleaning. Shows developed sense of health and sanitation.
 The towns were divided into 2 parts: Upper part or Citadel and Lower Part. The Citadel was an oblong
artificial platform some 30-50 feet high and about 400-200 yards in area It was enclosed by a thick (13 m at
Harappa) crenelated mud-brick wall. In Citadel public buildings, granaries, important workshops and
religious buildings were there. In lower part people used to live.
 In Mohanjodaro, a big public bath (Great Bath) measuring 12 m by 7 m and 2.4 m deep, has been found.
Steps led from either end to the surface, with changing rooms alongside. It was probably used for ritual
bathing.

EXCAVATIONS & EXCAVATORS

River Year Excavators

Chanhudaro (on Indus) 1931 M.G Majumdar

Sutkogendor (on Dasak) 1927 Sir Aurel Stein

Kotdip (on Indus) 1955 Fazl Ahmed Khan

Ropar (on Satluj) 1953 Y.D. Sharma

Banwaii (on Saraswati) 1973 R.S.Bisht

Lothal (on Bhogwa) 1954 S.R.Rao

Rangpur (on Mahar) 1931-53 M.S.Vats, B.B. Lal, S.R. Rao

Amri (on Indus) 1929 N.G. Majumdar

Kalibangan (on Ghaggar) 1961 B.B.Lai

Sorkotda - 1964 J. Joshi

Alamgirpur (on Hindon) 1958 Y.D. Sharma

AGRICULTURE
 The Indus people sowed seeds in the flood plains in November, when the flood water receded, and reaped
their harvests of wheat and barley in Apr, before the advent of the next flood.
 Grew wheat, barley, rai, peas, sesamum, mustard, rice (in Lothal), cotton, dates, melon, etc. The Indus
people were the first to produce cotton.
 In Kalibangan, fields were ploughed with wooden ploughs.
 Domesticated animals on large scale. Besides the cattle, cats and dogs were domesticated. Horse wasn’t in
regular use but elephant was. Remains of horse at Surkotda and dogs with men in grave at Ropar have been
discovered.
 Produced sufficient to feed them.
 Food grains were stored in granaries.

TRADE AND COMMERCE

 Well-knit external and internal trade.
 There was no metallic money in circulation and trade was carried through Barter System.
 Weights and measures of accuracy existed in Harappan culture (found at Lothal). The weights were made
of limestone, steatite, etc and were generally cubical in shape.
 16 was the unit of measurement (16, 64,160, and 320).
 Flint tool-work, shell-work, bangle making, pottery making, etc were practiced. Raw material for these
came from different sources: gold from N.Karnataka, silver and lapis lazuli from Afghanistan and Iran,
copper from Khetri and Baluchistan, etc.
 Bead making factory existed in Chanhudaro and Lothal. They were items of export.
 A dockyard has been discovered at Lothal. Rangpur, Somnath and Balakot functioned as seaports.
Sutkagendor and Sutkakoh functioned as outlets.
 The inland transport was done with bullock carts.
 Every merchant or mercantile family probably had a seal bearing an emblem, often of a religious character,
and a name or brief description, on one side. The standard Harappa seal was a square or oblong plaque
made of steatite stone. The primary purpose of the seal was probably to mark the ownership of property,
but they may have also served as amulets.
 The Mesopotamian records from about 2350 BC onwards refer to trade relations with Meluha, the ancient
name of the Indus region. Harappan seals and other material has been found at Mesopotamia. Also traded
with Sumer.

ART AND CRAFT

 The Harappan culture belongs to the Bronze Age.
 Bronze was made by mixing tin and copper. Tools were mostly made of copper and bronze. For making
bronze, copper was obtained from Khetri in Rajasthan and from Baluchistan, and tin from Afghanistan.
 Cotton fabrics quite common woolen in winter.
 Very fond of ornaments (of gold, silver, ivory, copper, bronze, precious stones) and dressing up.
Ornaments were worn by both men and women. Women wore heavy bangles in profusion, large necklaces,
ear-rings, bracelets, fingure-rings, girdles, nose studs and anklets.
 The Harappans were also expert bead makers.
 Potter’s wheel was in use.
 Their pottery was red or black pottery.
 Played dice games.
 Their favourite pastime was Gambling.
 The Harappans most notable artistic achievement was their seal gravings, esp. those of animals.
  The red sandstone torso of a man is particularly impressive for its realism.
 However, the most impressive of the figurines is perhaps the bronze image of the famous dancing girl
(identified as devadasi), found at Mohenjodaro.
 For their children, they made cattle-toys with movable heads, model monkeys which could slide down a
string, little toy-carts, and whistles shaped like birds, all of terracotta.

RELIGIOUS LIFE
 Main object of worship was the Mother Goddess. But the upper classes preferred a god with two horns,
much similar to Pasupati Siva.
 Represented on the seal is a figure with three horned heads in a yogic posture.
 He is surrounded by an elephant, a tiger and a rhinoceros, and below his throne is a buffalo.
 Near his feet are two deer.
 Pashupatinath represented male deity.
 Phallus (lingam) and yoni worship was also prevalent.
 Many trees (pipal), animals (bull), birds (dove, pigeon) and stones were worshipped.
 Unicorn was also worshipped. However, no temple has been found, though idolatry was practiced.
 At Kalibangan and Lothal fire altars have been found.
 Although no definite proof is available with regard to the disposal of the dead, a broad view is that
probably there were three methods of disposing the dead – complete burial, burial after exposure of the
body to birds and beasts, and cremation followed by burial of the ashes.
 The discovery of cinerary urns and jars, goblets or vessels with ashes, bones and charcoal may, however,
suggest that during the flourishing period of the Indus Valley culture the third method was generally
practiced.
 In Harappa, there is one place where evidence of coffin burial is there.
 The people probably believed in ghosts and evil spirits, as amulets were worn.
 Dead bodies were placed in the north-south orientation.

SCRIPT
 The script is not alphabetical but pictographic (about 400 undeciphered pictographs).
 The script has not been deciphered so far, but overlaps of letters show that it was written from right to left
in the first line and left to right in the second line.
 This style is called ‘Boustrophedon’.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
 There is no clear idea of the political organization of the Indus Valley people.
 Perhaps they were more concerned with commerce and they were possibly ruled by a class of merchants.
 Also, there was an organization like a municipal corporation to look after the civic amenities of the people.