Assam HSLC Class 10 Elective History flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Harappan seals

Small square steatite objects bearing animal motifs and an undeciphered script, used in the Indus Valley Civilisation probably for trade, ownership and ritual identification.

Ashoka's dhamma

A moral policy of tolerance, non-violence and welfare proclaimed in Ashoka's edicts after the Kalinga war around 261 BCE, rather than a sectarian religion.

Mahajanapadas

Sixteen large territorial states of the sixth century BCE in north India, listed in Buddhist texts; Magadha among them became the base of the Mauryan empire.

Allahabad pillar inscription

A eulogy composed by the poet Harisena for the Gupta ruler Samudragupta, recording his conquests and giving key evidence for Gupta political history.

Mansabdari system

Akbar's ranking system for officers, expressed in zat (personal rank) and sawar (cavalry maintained), which fixed salary and obligation to the Mughal state.

Token currency experiment

Muhammad bin Tughlaq's issue of copper coins valued as silver, which failed because widespread forgery destroyed confidence and forced withdrawal.

Vijayanagara empire

South Indian empire founded in 1336 by Harihara and Bukka, with its capital at Hampi; noted for temple architecture, irrigation works and foreign travellers' accounts.

Chishti silsila

A Sufi order established in India by Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, emphasising devotion, music and closeness to ordinary people rather than state power.

Battle of Buxar

A 1764 victory of the English East India Company over the combined forces of the Mughal emperor, Awadh and Bengal, leading to the grant of Diwani in 1765.

Dandi March

Gandhi's 1930 march from Sabarmati to Dandi to make salt in defiance of the salt law, launching the Civil Disobedience Movement across India.

Chauri Chaura

A 1922 incident in which a mob burned a police station, prompting Gandhi to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement because of the violence.

Government of India Act 1919

A British reform introducing dyarchy in the provinces, separating transferred and reserved subjects, and expanding legislative councils while retaining control at the centre.

Cabinet Mission 1946

A British delegation proposing a three-tier federal structure with grouping of provinces; its plan shaped the Constituent Assembly but failed on the grouping issue.

Paik system

The Ahom labour and military organisation in which adult male paiks served the state in rotation, grouped into gots of four and larger khel units.

Buranjis

Ahom court chronicles written first in Tai-Ahom and later in Assamese, recording dynastic events, wars and administration; a major primary source for Assam's history.

Battle of Saraighat

A 1671 river battle in which Lachit Borphukan's Ahom fleet defeated the Mughal army under Ram Singh, halting Mughal expansion into the Brahmaputra valley.

Treaty of Yandabo

The 1826 treaty ending the First Anglo-Burmese War, by which the Burmese ceded Assam and neighbouring territories to the British, beginning colonial rule in Assam.

Moamoria rebellion

A late eighteenth-century uprising of the Moamoria Vaishnava sect against Ahom authority, which weakened the state and contributed to Burmese intervention.

Ninety-Five Theses

Martin Luther's 1517 propositions attacking indulgences, which spread rapidly through printing and became the starting point of the Protestant Reformation.

Treaty of Versailles

The 1919 settlement ending World War I with Germany, imposing territorial losses, disarmament and reparations, and creating the League of Nations.

Non-Aligned Movement

A grouping of states formed at Belgrade in 1961, led by Nehru, Nasser and Tito, seeking independence from both Cold War blocs rather than neutrality as such.

Glorious Revolution

The 1688 overthrow of James II in favour of William and Mary, followed by the Bill of Rights 1689, which limited royal power and strengthened Parliament.

External criticism

The branch of source criticism that establishes a document's authenticity, authorship, date and provenance before its content is assessed for reliability.

Stratigraphy

The archaeological principle that lower deposits are generally older than upper ones, allowing relative ordering of occupation layers at a site.

Numismatics

The study of coins, which yields evidence of rulers, dates, metallurgy, trade contacts and economic conditions, especially where written records are scarce.

Subaltern historiography

An approach associated with Ranajit Guha that writes history from the perspective of peasants and other subordinate groups, questioning elite-dominated narratives.

Radiocarbon dating

A method measuring the decay of carbon-14 in organic remains to estimate age, reported with a laboratory error range and calibrated against known curves.

Chalcolithic culture

A phase using both stone and copper tools, associated in India with early farming settlements such as those of the Deccan and the Ganga valley before iron use.

Rihla of Ibn Battuta

A fourteenth-century travel account by a Moroccan visitor describing the Delhi Sultanate under Muhammad bin Tughlaq, valuable but shaped by the author's perspective.

Permanent Settlement 1793

Cornwallis's revenue arrangement in Bengal fixing land revenue with zamindars in perpetuity, converting them into landlords and creating a new propertied class.

Assam Association

An organisation formed in 1903 by Assamese elites to discuss administrative and educational issues, which later moved toward nationalist politics.

Marshall Plan

A United States programme from 1948 supplying economic aid to rebuild Western Europe, intended also to contain the spread of Soviet influence.

UNESCO World Heritage

The 1972 convention under which states nominate sites of outstanding universal value for international recognition and protection obligations.