CHSE Odisha Elective History cheat sheet
CHSE Odisha Elective History · Keep the key ideas within reach.
Ancient India (Prehistory to c. 1200 CE)
Palaeolithic tools in India are classified as Soanian (chopper-chopping, Soan valley) and Acheulian (handaxe-cleaver, Madrasian tradition); Mesolithic sites include Bhimbetka and Bagor, with microliths and early rock art.
Neolithic Mehrgarh (Balochistan, c. 7000 BCE) shows wheat-barley farming, mud-brick houses and early cotton; South Indian Neolithic is marked by ash mounds (Utnur, Kupgal) and cattle herding.
Harappan urbanism (c. 2600–1900 BCE) features grid streets, standardised burnt bricks (ratio 4:2:1), covered drains, Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro and granaries at Harappa; script remains undeciphered and read right-to-left in short seals.
Vedic corpus: Rigveda Samhita oldest; sabha and samiti are assemblies, rajan is a chief; varna appears in Purusha-sukta (Rigveda X.90); Later Vedic texts show janapadas, iron (krishna ayas) and painted grey ware.
Mauryan administration: Arthashastra of Kautilya, Megasthenes' Indica, Ashokan edicts (Rock and Pillar) in Prakrit, Brahmi and Kharoshthi; Dhamma-mahamattas and provincial governors (kumaras/aryaputras) are key features.
Post-Mauryan: Satavahanas, Kushanas (Kanishka, Gandhara and Mathura art schools), Indo-Roman trade evidenced by Periplus and Roman coin hoards; Sangam literature and Chera-Chola-Pandya polities in the far south.
Gupta period: land-grant inscriptions (Aihole, Poona plates), Kumaragupta's Nalanda, Aryabhata's Aryabhatiya (499 CE), and temple beginnings at Deogarh and Bhitargaon mark early structural temples.
Post-Gupta to 1200 CE: Harsha's Kanauj assembly, Xuanzang's Si-yu-ki, Pallava rathas at Mahabalipuram, Chola Brihadeshwara temple (Rajaraja I), and Chola naval raids on Srivijaya under Rajendra I.
Medieval India (c. 1200–1750 CE)
Delhi Sultanate dynasties in order: Mamluks (Slave), Khaljis, Tughlaqs, Sayyids, Lodis; Alauddin Khalji's market regulations and Muhammad bin Tughlaq's token currency and Daulatabad transfer are standard exam items.
Iqta system: revenue assignments to nobles (muqtis) in lieu of salary; khums (one-fifth of booty) and kharaj (land tax) are key fiscal terms; Firoz Shah Tughlaq imposed jizya as a separate tax.
Vijayanagara (1336) and Bahmani (1347) kingdoms: amara-nayaka system, Krishnadevaraya's Amuktamalyada, and the Bahmani's Golconda-Bijapur rivalry after 1500.
Mughal land revenue: Todar Mal's zabti/dahsala (ten-year average) under Akbar; mansabdari ranks zat and sawar; jagir assignments; Aurangzeb reimposed jizya (1679).
Bhakti-Sufi movements: Kabir, Nanak, Mirabai, Chaitanya; Chishti silsila (Moinuddin Chishti, Nizamuddin Auliya); Sufi khanqah and urs practices.
Maratha rise: Shivaji's coronation (1674), ashta-pradhan council, chauth and sardeshmukhi levies; Peshwa expansion under Baji Rao I and the Third Battle of Panipat (1761).
Regional kingdoms: Bengal Sultanate, Jaunpur, Gujarat, Malwa, Rajput states; Ahom kingdom in Assam (Lachit Borphukan, Saraighat 1671) resisted Mughal expansion.
Decline of Mughals after Aurangzeb: jizya, jagirdari crisis, rise of successor states (Awadh, Hyderabad, Bengal) and Nadir Shah's 1739 invasion with the Peacock Throne seizure.
Modern India (1750–1947): Colonial Rule, Reform and Nationalism
Battle of Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764) led to Diwani rights (1765); Permanent Settlement (1793, Cornwallis) in Bengal, Ryotwari (Munro) in Madras, Mahalwari in NW Provinces.
Revenue and commercial policies: drain of wealth (Dadabhai Naoroji's Poverty and Un-British Rule), deindustrialisation, Charter Acts (1813, 1833), and the 1833 Act ending Company trade monopoly.
Revolt of 1857: immediate triggers (greased cartridges, Doctrine of Lapse), leaders (Rani Lakshmibai, Nana Saheb, Kunwar Singh, Bakht Khan); Government of India Act 1858 ended Company rule.
Socio-religious reform: Brahmo Samaj (Rammohan Roy, 1828), Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj (Dayanand Saraswati, 1875), Ramakrishna Mission (1897), Aligarh Movement (Syed Ahmad Khan).
Congress phases: Moderates (1885–1905, petition politics), Extremists (1905–1919, Swadeshi and Boycott after Bengal Partition), Home Rule Leagues (Tilak, Annie Besant), Lucknow Pact 1916.
Gandhian mass movements: Champaran (1917), Kheda, Ahmedabad mill strike, Non-Cooperation (1920–22), Civil Disobedience with Dandi March (1930), Quit India (1942).
Constitutional developments: Morley-Minto 1909 (separate electorates), Montagu-Chelmsford 1919 (dyarchy), Government of India Act 1935 (provincial autonomy), Cripps Mission 1942, Cabinet Mission 1946.
Partition and independence: Direct Action Day (1946), Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947), Indian Independence Act 1947; Radcliffe Line; integration of princely states by Sardar Patel.
Post-independence India and Contemporary World Affairs
Integration: Instrument of Accession; Junagadh, Hyderabad (Operation Polo 1948), Kashmir (1947–48 war, UN ceasefire); Goa annexed 1961 (Operation Vijay); Sikkim merged 1975.
Linguistic reorganisation: Potti Sriramulu's fast led to Andhra (1953); States Reorganisation Act 1956; Bombay split into Maharashtra and Gujarat (1960); Punjab-Haryana (1966).
Economic policy: Five-Year Plans from 1951 (Planning Commission), Green Revolution (1960s, wheat in Punjab-Haryana), White Revolution (Operation Flood), 1991 LPG reforms under Manmohan Singh.
Foreign policy: Non-Alignment (Bandung 1955, NAM Belgrade 1961), Panchsheel 1954, Indo-Pak wars 1965 and 1971 (Bangladesh creation, Shimla Agreement 1972), Sino-Indian War 1962.
Nuclear and space: Pokhran-I 1974 (Smiling Buddha), Pokhran-II 1998, NSG waiver 2008; ISRO founded 1969, Aryabhata 1975, Chandrayaan-1 (2008), Mangalyaan (2013).
Internal politics: Emergency 1975–77 (Article 352, Shah Commission), 42nd Amendment, Mandal Commission report implemented 1990, Babri Masjid demolition 1992 and Ayodhya verdict 2019.
Contemporary world: Cold War bipolarity, decolonisation in Africa, Cuban Missile Crisis 1962, Vietnam War, fall of Berlin Wall 1989, USSR dissolution 1991, post-Cold War unipolarity and rise of BRICS.
Global institutions: UN (1945, San Francisco), IMF and World Bank (Bretton Woods 1944), WTO (1995, Marrakesh), SAARC (1985), ASEAN, and India's role in peacekeeping missions.
History of Odisha (Ancient, Medieval and Modern)
Kalinga war (c. 261 BCE): Ashokan Rock Edict XIII records remorse; Kalinga described as a powerful state with a large army; Dhauli and Jaugada are the two Kalinga edict sites.
Mahameghavahana dynasty: Kharavela of the Hathigumala inscription (1st century BCE) records his campaigns, Jain patronage, and public works; Udayagiri-Khandagiri caves belong to this era.
Early medieval Odisha: Bhaumakaras (Buddhist rulers, 8th–10th c.), Somavamsis (builders of Lingaraja temple, Bhubaneswar), and Ganga dynasty (Eastern Gangas of Kalinganagar).
Ganga period: Anantavarman Chodaganga built the Jagannath temple at Puri (12th c.); Narasimhadeva I built the Sun Temple at Konark (c. 1250); Odia script and literature developed.
Suryavamsi Gajapatis: Kapilendra Deva founded the dynasty (1434); Purushottama Deva and Prataparudra Deva ruled; Govinda Vidyadhara and Mukunda Deva ended Gajapati power; Panchasakha and Chaitanya's influence.
Mughal and Maratha rule: Odisha under Mughal subah (after 1568, Katak), then Maratha control from 1751 (Nagpur Bhonsles); revenue systems and Kataki Bhasha administration.
British occupation: Treaty of Deogaon (1803) ceded Odisha to British; Paika Rebellion (1817, Bakshi Jagabandhu); Na'anka famine (1866); Odia language movement and Fakir Mohan Senapati.
Modern Odisha: Utkal Sammilani (1903, Madhusudan Das), separation from Bihar-Orissa province, Odisha became a separate province on 1 April 1936 (first linguistic state); merger of princely states after 1947.
World History: Major Revolutions and 20th-Century Developments
American Revolution (1776 Declaration, 1783 Treaty of Paris): causes include mercantilism, Stamp Act 1765, Townshend Acts, Boston Tea Party 1773; influences include Locke and Montesquieu.
French Revolution (1789): causes include fiscal crisis, Estates-General, Third Estate; key events Bastille (14 July 1789), Declaration of Rights of Man, Reign of Terror, Napoleon's rise (1799).
Industrial Revolution: begins in Britain (coal, iron, cotton textiles, canals/railways); Watt's steam engine, Arkwright's water frame; social effects include urbanisation and Chartism.
Russian Revolution 1917: February Revolution ends Tsardom, October Revolution (Lenin, Bolsheviks), Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Civil War; Comintern founded 1919.
World War I (1914–18): causes include alliances, militarism, nationalism, Sarajevo assassination; Treaty of Versailles 1919 and League of Nations.
World War II (1939–45): Axis and Allied powers, appeasement, Munich Pact 1938, Pearl Harbor 1941, Holocaust, atomic bombings; UN founded 1945.
Decolonisation and Cold War: Indian independence 1947, Ghana 1957, Algerian independence 1962; NATO (1949) and Warsaw Pact (1955); Korean and Vietnam wars.
Post-1989 order: fall of Berlin Wall (1989), German reunification (1990), Soviet dissolution (1991), globalisation, 9/11 (2001) and subsequent wars.
Historical Method, Sources and Historiography
Primary vs secondary sources: primary includes inscriptions, coins, charters, diaries, oral testimony, photographs; secondary includes later monographs and textbooks that interpret primary evidence.
Source criticism: external criticism tests authenticity, provenance and date; internal criticism tests credibility, bias and consistency of the content.
Archaeology: stratigraphy (Law of Superposition), typology, radiocarbon dating (half-life c. 5,730 years), thermoluminescence for pottery, dendrochronology for wood.
Epigraphy and numismatics: Ashokan Brahmi, Kharoshthi, later Odia script; coins reveal dynastic chronology, metal purity, trade contacts and iconography.
Colonial historiography: James Mill's periodisation (Hindu, Muslim, British) and Orientalist writings; nationalist historiography (R.C. Majumdar, Tara Chand) responded to colonial claims.
Cambridge School (Anil Seal, Gordon Johnson) emphasised elite competition; Subaltern Studies (Ranajit Guha, 1982) focused on peasant and marginal voices; Marxist historiography (D.D. Kosambi) used materialist analysis.
Oral history and memory: interviews, folklore, ballads (e.g., Odia folk traditions) require corroboration; oral sources can preserve perspectives absent from written records.
Historiographical writing: footnote citation, bibliography separation of primary and secondary, avoidance of anachronism, and the distinction between fact, inference and interpretation.