AP Intermediate History (BIEAP) cheat sheet

Indus Valley Civilisation (c. 2600–1900 BCE mature phase): Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had grid streets, covered drains, and standardised burnt bricks; Lothal (Gujarat) had a dockyard, Dholavira (Kutch) a water-harvesting and reservoir system.

IVC script is undeciphered and boustrophedon; the civilisation is called Bronze Age and pre-Vedic. Key excavated sites: Kalibangan (fire altars, ploughed field), Chanhudaro (bead-making), Banawali, Rakhigarhi, Surkotada (horse bones claim).

Vedic literature: four Vedas (Rigveda oldest, 10 mandalas), Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads. Rigvedic society had sabha and samiti; the term 'varna' appears in Purusha-sukta (Rigveda X.90); jati is a later, post-Vedic development.

Sixteen Mahajanapadas (Anguttara Nikaya); Magadha rose under Bimbisara, Ajatashatru (Haryanka), then Shishunaga and Nanda dynasties; iron ploughshare and elephants aided Magadha's dominance.

Mauryan Empire (321–185 BCE): Chandragupta founded it with Chanakya/Kautilya (Arthashastra); Ashoka's Dhamma policy follows the Kalinga war (c. 261 BCE), recorded in Major and Minor Rock Edicts and Pillar Edicts in Prakrit, Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts.

Post-Mauryan: Satavahanas in the Deccan (Simuka founder; Gautamiputra Satakarni; matronymics; Prakrit inscriptions; Nasik and Amaravati), Kushanas (Kanishka, Gandhara and Mathura art schools), Shakas (Rudradaman, Junagadh inscription).

Gupta age (4th–6th century CE): Samudragupta's Allahabad Pillar inscription by Harishena; Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya) and the Mehrauli iron pillar; Aryabhata, Kalidasa, Varahamihira; Nalanda university patronised later by Harsha and the Palas.

Sangam literature (Tolkappiyam, Ettuthogai, Pattuppattu) and the Chera, Chola, Pandya kingdoms; Ashokan edicts in the south (Brahmagiri, Siddapura, Jatinga-Rameshwara) show Mauryan reach beyond the Deccan.

Delhi Sultanate five dynasties: Slave/Mamluk (1206, Qutb-ud-din Aibak), Khilji (1290, Alauddin's market control and price regulations), Tughlaq (1320, Muhammad bin Tughlaq's token currency and Daulatabad transfer), Sayyid (1414), Lodi (1451, Ibrahim Lodi defeated at Panipat 1526).

Administrative terms: iqta (revenue assignment), muqti/wali (holder), diwan-i-wizarat (finance), diwan-i-arz (military), diwan-i-insha (correspondence), amil (revenue collector), kharaj (land tax), jizya (poll tax on non-Muslims, reimposed by Aurangzeb 1679).

Vijayanagara Empire (1336, Harihara and Bukka; Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva, Aravidu dynasties): Krishnadevaraya (Tuluva) wrote Amuktamalyada in Telugu; battle of Talikota/Rakshasa-Tangadi (1565) ended Vijayanagara dominance.

Bahmani Kingdom (1347, Hasan Gangu) with capital Gulbarga then Bidar; Mahmud Gawan's madrasa; it fragmented into five Deccan Sultanates (Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, Berar) after 1490.

Mughal Empire: Babur (1526 Panipat, 1527 Khanwa, 1529 Ghaghra), Akbar (1556 Second Panipat; Mansabdari and Zabti/Dahsala revenue systems; Din-i-Ilahi 1582; Ibadat Khana), Shah Jahan (Taj Mahal, Peacock Throne), Aurangzeb (Deccan campaigns, Fatawa-i-Alamgiri).

Bhakti and Sufi movements: Ramanuja (Vishishtadvaita), Madhvacharya (Dvaita), Basava (Lingayat/Virashaiva), Kabir, Nanak, Mirabai, Chaitanya; Sufi silsilas (Chishti, Suhrawardi, Naqshbandi) with khanqah, pir and murid.

Regional kingdoms: Rajputana (Rana Kumbha, Prithviraj Chauhan), Bengal (Ilyas Shahi), Gujarat, Malwa, Kashmir (Zain-ul-Abidin), Assam (Ahom kingdom, Lachit Borphukan at Saraighat 1671), Odisha (Gajapati), and the rise of the Marathas under Shivaji (1674 coronation, Ashta Pradhan council).

Art and architecture: trabeate vs arcuate styles; Sultanate buildings (Qutb Minar, Alai Darwaza, Tughlaqabad, Mandu), Mughal (Humayun's tomb, Fatehpur Sikri, Bibi ka Maqbara), Vijayanagara (Vitthala temple, Hampi), and Deccan Sultanate monuments (Gol Gumbaz, Charminar).

Battle of Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764); Dual Government in Bengal (1765–72); Regulating Act 1773 created Governor-General of Bengal (Warren Hastings); Pitt's India Act 1784 established Board of Control.

Permanent Settlement (1793, Cornwallis, Bengal/Bihar/Odisha, zamindars), Ryotwari (Munro, Madras), Mahalwari (Holt Mackenzie, North-West Provinces); Cornwallis's Cornwallis Code and police reforms.

Revolt of 1857: immediate trigger the Enfield cartridge; leaders Mangal Pandey, Rani Lakshmibai, Nana Saheb, Kunwar Singh, Begum Hazrat Mahal; Government of India Act 1858 ended East India Company rule and created the Secretary of State for India.

Socio-religious reform: Raja Ram Mohan Roy (Brahmo Samaj 1828, sati abolition 1829), Dayanand Saraswati (Arya Samaj 1875, 'Back to the Vedas'), Vivekananda (Ramakrishna Mission 1897), Jyotiba Phule (Satyashodhak Samaj), Periyar (Self-Respect Movement), Aligarh Movement (Syed Ahmad Khan).

Indian National Congress founded 1885 (W.C. Bonnerjee first president, A.O. Hume organiser); Moderates vs Extremists split at Surat 1907; partition of Bengal 1905 and Swadeshi movement; Congress split resolved at Lucknow 1916 with Muslim League pact.

Gandhian mass movements: Champaran (1917), Kheda and Ahmedabad mill strike (1918), Rowlatt Satyagraha (1919, Jallianwala Bagh), Non-Cooperation (1920–22, withdrawn after Chauri Chaura), Civil Disobedience (1930 Dandi March, Gandhi-Irwin Pact 1931), Quit India (1942, 'Do or Die').

Constitutional evolution: Morley-Minto 1909 (separate electorates), Montagu-Chelmsford 1919 (dyarchy in provinces), Government of India Act 1935 (provincial autonomy, federation), Cripps Mission 1942, Cabinet Mission 1946, Mountbatten Plan 1947, Indian Independence Act.

Revolutionary and peasant movements: Anushilan Samiti, Ghadar Party (1913), Hindustan Republican Association (Kakori 1925), Bhagat Singh and HSRA, INA under Subhas Chandra Bose (Azad Hind Fauj, 1943), Tebhaga and Telangana peasant struggles.

Satavahanas (c. 1st century BCE–3rd century CE) ruled the Deccan from Pratishthana; Gautamiputra Satakarni defeated Nahapana; inscriptions in Prakrit at Nasik, Kanheri, Amaravati; land grants to Buddhist monks recorded.

Ikshvakus of Vijayapuri (Nagarjunakonda) succeeded the Satavahanas; patronised Buddhism; later Vishnukundins and Pallavas of Kanchi controlled coastal Andhra; Chalukyas of Badami (Pulakeshin II) and Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi (Kubja Vishnuvardhana) shaped the region.

Kakatiya dynasty (c. 12th–14th century, capital Orugallu/Warangal): Ganapati Deva, Rudrama Devi (one of few ruling queens), Prataparudra II; known for Ramappa temple (Palampet), Thousand Pillar temple, Kakatiya irrigation tanks; fell to Delhi Sultanate (1310/1323).

Vijayanagara and Reddy kingdoms: Kondaveedu Reddys, Rajahmundry Reddys, and Gajapatis of Odisha contested coastal Andhra; Srikrishnadevaraya's Amuktamalyada in Telugu; Hampi and Lepakshi (Nandi, hanging pillar) as heritage sites.

Qutb Shahis of Golconda (1518–1687): capital moved from Golconda to Hyderabad (1591, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah); Charminar, Golconda fort, Telugu literature patronage; annexed by Aurangzeb in 1687.

Asaf Jahi/Nizam rule (1724 onward, Nizam-ul-Mulk) and the Circars: Northern Circars ceded to the British; 1857-era Andhra figures include Veerapandiya Kattabomman (Tamil), and the Rampa and Rani Tribals' revolts (Alluri Sitarama Raju, 1922–24).

Andhra movement: Potti Sriramulu's death (1952) led to Andhra State (1953, Kurnool capital); States Reorganisation Act 1956 created Andhra Pradesh merging Telangana; 2014 Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act created Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh (capital Amaravati).

Andhra cultural markers: Kuchipudi dance (Siddhendra Yogi tradition), Kalamkari (Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti), Kondapalli and Etikoppaka toys, Tirupati temple, Lepakshi, Undavalli caves, and Telugu as a classical language (2008).

Renaissance (14th–17th century Italy): humanism, perspective in art, printing press (Gutenberg, c. 1450); Reformation began 1517 with Luther's Ninety-five Theses; Counter-Reformation via Council of Trent (1545–63).

Age of exploration: Columbus 1492, Vasco da Gama's sea route to India 1498, Magellan's circumnavigation 1519–22; Columbian exchange; Treaty of Tordesillas 1494.

English Revolution: Petition of Right 1628, Civil War 1642, Charles I executed 1649, Cromwell's Commonwealth, Glorious Revolution 1688 and Bill of Rights 1689 establishing parliamentary supremacy.

American Revolution (1775–83): Declaration of Independence 1776, Treaty of Paris 1783; French Revolution 1789 (Bastille), Declaration of the Rights of Man, Reign of Terror, rise of Napoleon (Emperor 1804), Congress of Vienna 1815.

Industrial Revolution began in Britain (textiles, steam engine by Watt 1769, railways from 1825); social consequences: urbanisation, factory acts, Chartism, trade unionism.

World War I (1914–18): trigger assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; alliances Triple Entente vs Triple Alliance; Treaty of Versailles 1919; League of Nations; Russian Revolution 1917 (Lenin, Bolsheviks).

World War II (1939–45): invasion of Poland, Pearl Harbor 1941, Holocaust, atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki 1945; United Nations founded 1945; Cold War blocs NATO (1949) and Warsaw Pact (1955).

Decolonisation and post-war order: Chinese Revolution 1949 (Mao), Cuban Revolution 1959, Non-Aligned Movement (Bandung 1955, Belgrade 1961), collapse of the USSR 1991, globalisation and WTO (1995).

Varna is a four-fold textual classification (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra); jati is the endogamous local group; the Constitution abolishes untouchability (Article 17) and guarantees equality (Article 14).

Family forms: patrilineal and matrilineal (Khasi, Garo, Nair); nuclear vs joint; marriage types in Hindu texts (Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya, Asura, Gandharva, Rakshasa, Paishacha); Special Marriage Act 1954 allows civil marriage.

Major religions and their markers: Hinduism (Vedas, Upanishads), Buddhism (Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, Tripitaka), Jainism (Tirthankaras, ahimsa, Agamas), Sikhism (Guru Granth Sahib), Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism.

Classical dance forms: Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu), Kathak (North India), Kathakali and Mohiniyattam (Kerala), Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh), Odissi (Odisha), Manipuri, Sattriya (Assam), Chhau (mask dance).

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India include Ajanta, Ellora, Khajuraho, Hampi, Fatehpur Sikri, Taj Mahal, Sun Temple Konark, Kaziranga, Sundarbans, Western Ghats, and Ramappa Temple (2021).

Intangible heritage: Kumbh Mela, Durga Puja in Kolkata, Ramlila, Vedic chanting, Kutiyattam, Chhau dance, Kalbelia dance; UNESCO lists these under Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Festivals and fairs: Pongal/Makar Sankranti, Onam, Bihu, Hornbill Festival (Nagaland), Hemis (Ladakh), Thrissur Pooram; each tied to harvest, religion, or tribal identity.

Social change and challenges: Sanskritisation (M.N. Srinivas), dominant caste, casteism, communalism, regionalism, linguism, and the role of reservation policy, Panchayati Raj (73rd Amendment 1992), and women's movements.

Constitutional bodies: Election Commission (Article 324), UPSC (315), CAG (148), Finance Commission (280), Attorney General (76); non-constitutional: NITI Aayog (2015, replaced Planning Commission), NHRC (1993), CVC.

Fundamental Rights (Part III, Articles 12–35) include equality, freedom, against exploitation, religion, cultural and educational rights, and constitutional remedies (Article 32, called the 'heart and soul' by Ambedkar); Fundamental Duties added by 42nd Amendment 1976.

Parliament: Lok Sabha (max 552), Rajya Sabha (max 250); money bill under Article 110 introduced only in Lok Sabha; President's assent under Article 111; ordinance power Article 123.

Economic policy landmarks: 1991 liberalisation (LPG reforms), GST (101st Amendment, 2016), Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016, Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity, UPI digital payments.

India's foreign policy: Panchsheel (1954), Non-Alignment, Look East/Act East, Neighbourhood First, Gujral Doctrine, BRICS, SCO, Quad, G20 presidency 2023 (New Delhi summit).

International organisations: UN (1945, six principal organs), IMF and World Bank (Bretton Woods 1944), WTO (1995), WHO, UNESCO, SAARC (1985), ASEAN (1967), African Union, and the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

Security and environment: nuclear doctrine of No First Use (1999 draft, 2003 statement), NPT non-signatory status, Paris Agreement (2015) and COP summits, International Solar Alliance (2015, India-France).

Current challenges: climate finance, terrorism, cyber security, data protection (DPDP Act 2023), demographic dividend, urbanisation, and Sustainable Development Goals (17 goals, 2030 agenda).