BSEH SS History key terms

A small, usually square steatite object carved with animal motifs and short undeciphered signs, used in the Indus cities for stamping clay tags and sealing goods, and a key source for Indus script and trade.

A set of short, mostly pictographic signs found on seals, pottery and copper tablets of the Harappan civilisation; still undeciphered, so interpretations of Indus society rely on material remains rather than readable texts.

A large stone structure, often a burial chamber, built in the Indian subcontinent from the Iron Age onward; grave goods found inside help historians reconstruct social differences and beliefs about death.

A short dedicatory text recording a gift made to a deity, stupa or monastery by a named donor; because donors are often merchants, artisans or nuns, such inscriptions reveal who could give and be remembered.

The set of moral principles Ashoka promoted in his edicts, stressing respect for elders, tolerance among sects, non-injury and welfare works; it was a royal ethic rather than a new religion.

An official proclamation inscribed or displayed by a ruler. Ashokan edicts on pillars and rocks are primary sources for Mauryan administration, ideas of kingship and the extent of the empire.

The study of inscriptions carved on stone, metal or other durable material. Inscriptions are dated, often named, and survive well, so they are prized evidence for dynasties, land grants and religious patronage.

The study of coins. Coins reveal metal purity, trade contacts, rulers' titles and iconography; finds of Roman coins in India, for example, support arguments about overseas commerce.

A body of Sanskrit texts and genealogies recounting creation, gods, kings and dynastic lists. Historians use them cautiously because they were compiled and revised over centuries and mix myth with memory.

A Sanskrit genre meaning 'thus it was', covering epic narrative such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana. It is treated as literature with historical memory, not as a factual chronicle.

The fourfold Brahmanical social order of brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra. Texts describe it as ideal, but historians distinguish this model from lived social reality and from jati.

A local endogamous birth group, often linked to occupation or region. Jati is distinct from the four-varna model and is the category most visible in everyday social practice and in colonial censuses.

Sanskrit legal and ethical literature, including the Dharmashastras and Dharmasutras, attributed to remembered sages. It prescribes norms for caste, gender and inheritance, and is read as prescriptive rather than descriptive evidence.

A source that states how things ought to be, such as a law code or ritual manual, rather than how they were. Historians read such texts against inscriptions and records to test whether norms were followed.

The Mughal ideal of 'universal peace' promoted under Akbar, involving tolerance across religious communities, abolition of the jizya and debate at the Ibadat Khana; it shaped Mughal court culture and policy.

A tax levied on non-Muslim subjects in Islamic states. Its collection, suspension and reimposition under Mughal rulers are used by historians as indicators of religious policy and political negotiation.

The Mughal system of measuring cultivated land and fixing revenue demand in cash on that measurement, developed under Akbar. It required detailed records and made the state's share predictable.

The Mughal ranking system in which officers held a zat (personal rank) and sawar (cavalry obligation), receiving pay or revenue assignments. It linked military service to status and imperial control.

A temporary assignment of the revenue of a specified area to a Mughal officer in lieu of cash salary. Jagirs were transferable, and their frequent reassignment was meant to prevent local power bases.

The third volume of Abul Fazl's Akbarnama, an administrative gazetteer listing provinces, revenues, ranks, prices and social groups under Akbar; a major source for Mughal economy and administration.

A year-by-year narrative account written at a court or monastery. Chronicles are valuable but must be read for the author's position, audience and purpose, since they justify as well as record.

A devotional movement emphasising personal love and surrender to a chosen deity, expressed in vernacular poetry by figures such as Kabir, Mirabai and the Alvars and Nayanars; it challenged ritual hierarchy and opened new devotional communities.

A chain of spiritual succession linking a Sufi master to earlier teachers. Silsilas organised shrines, disciples and networks that crossed political boundaries and are documented in hagiographies (tazkiras).

A biography of a saint that idealises its subject and emphasises miracles and piety. Such texts are read for the values and communities they represent rather than as neutral factual records.

The 1793 Bengal land revenue arrangement fixing the revenue demand of zamindars in perpetuity in return for regular payment; it created a class of rent-collecting proprietors and shaped rural society.

A colonial revenue system that settled land revenue directly with individual cultivators (ryots), assessing land and collecting from them rather than through intermediaries; it was applied mainly in Madras and Bombay presidencies.

A colonial revenue system settling with the village or estate (mahal) as a unit, with the village body collectively responsible for payment; it was introduced in the North-Western Provinces and parts of Punjab.

The decline of Indian handicraft manufacturing under colonial rule, as machine-made imports and policies displaced weavers and artisans; nationalists cited it as evidence of economic drain.

The nationalist argument that colonial rule transferred Indian resources to Britain through home charges, pensions, profits and unrequited exports, impoverishing India; Dadabhai Naoroji developed the theory.

Literally 'of one's own country': a movement to boycott foreign goods and promote indigenous production, prominent in the anti-Partition agitation of 1905-08 and later linked to Gandhian khadi.

The organised refusal to buy foreign goods, use foreign services or cooperate with colonial institutions. Boycotts were a core technique of nationalist mobilisation from 1905 onward and raised questions of discipline and inclusion.

The deliberate, public breaking of unjust laws to pressure a government, used in the Salt March of 1930; participants accepted arrest and punishment to demonstrate the law's moral illegitimacy.

The Gandhian programme of 1920-22 withdrawing cooperation from colonial institutions, including schools, courts and councils, combined with khadi and Hindu-Muslim unity; it was suspended after Chauri Chaura.

Descriptive writing by colonial officials and scholars classifying Indian castes, tribes and customs. It produced rich detail but often froze fluid social groups into fixed categories used for administration.

Edward Said's term for the Western discourse that represents 'the East' as exotic, static and inferior, thereby justifying colonial control; historians now examine colonial scholarship for such assumptions.

The study of how history has been written: the questions, methods, sources and assumptions of historians. It helps a candidate compare colonial, nationalist, Marxist, subaltern and feminist accounts of the same event.

A school of historical writing, associated with Ranajit Guha, that recovers the agency and perspectives of peasants, workers and other subordinate groups, criticising histories focused only on elites.

Evidence produced in or near the period studied, such as an inscription, coin, court record, letter or photograph. It is interpreted, not simply quoted, because every source has an author and purpose.

An account written later using primary material, such as a textbook, monograph or article. Its value depends on the author's use of evidence, argument and awareness of other interpretations.

Evidence collected by interviewing people about their memories of past events. It captures experiences absent from official records but requires attention to memory, bias and the interviewer's influence.