Kerala +2 History cheat sheet

Harappan civilisation (c. 2600–1900 BCE mature phase): standardised cubical weights in ratios 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32; chert blades, carnelian beads, and a script of roughly 400+ signs that remains undeciphered.

Harappan urban features to cite: grid street plans (Mohenjodaro, Harappa), burnt-brick drainage, the Great Bath at Mohenjodaro, granaries at Harappa and Lothal dockyard; Lothal and Dholavira show water-management works.

Vedic corpus sequence: Rigveda Samhita (earliest, hymns), then Samaveda, Yajurveda, Atharvaveda; each Veda has Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka, Upanishad layers. Rigvedic society: sabha, samiti, vidatha, gana; rajan not yet hereditary.

Mahajanapadas: sixteen in the Buddhist Anguttara Nikaya; Magadha's rise aided by iron (Krishnagiri/Son region), Ganga riverine trade, and elephants. Mauryan administration: artha/ danda, adhyakshas, rajukas, pradeshika, dhamma-mahamattas under Ashoka.

Ashokan edicts: Prakrit in Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts; Major Rock Edicts, Pillar Edicts, Minor Rock Edicts; the 13th Major Rock Edict records the Kalinga war remorse; Junagadh rock carries Rudradaman's later inscription over Ashoka's.

Gupta era begins 319–320 CE; key markers are the Allahabad pillar prashasti of Samudragupta (composed by Harishena), Chandragupta II's silver coins, and the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hsien's account; Nalanda emerges as a major monastic university.

Chola administration: ur (village assembly), sabha/ mahasabha of brahmadeya villages, nadu and valanadu territorial units, and the Uttaramerur inscription of Parantaka I detailing election by lot (kudavolai).

Delhi Sultanate dynasties in order: Slave (1206–1290), Khalji (1290–1320), Tughlaq (1320–1414), Sayyid (1414–1451), Lodi (1451–1526). Alauddin Khalji's market regulations and Muhammad bin Tughlaq's token currency and Daulatabad transfer are standard case studies.

Mughal revenue: Todar Mal's zabt (dahsala) system under Akbar; mansabdari ranks zat and sawar; jagir assignments. Vijayanagara's amara-nayaka system and the Krishna-Tungabhadra tank irrigation are comparable medieval themes.

Battle of Plassey 1757 and Buxar 1764; Diwani of Bengal obtained 1765. Permanent Settlement 1793 (Cornwallis, Bengal/Bihar/Orissa), Ryotwari (Munro, Madras), Mahalwari (North-Western Provinces) - know the settlement, region, and revenue-fixing agent for each.

Revolt of 1857: immediate trigger the greased cartridges at Meerut (10 May 1857); leaders include Nana Saheb and Tantia Tope (Kanpur), Rani Lakshmibai (Jhansi), Kunwar Singh (Bihar), Begum Hazrat Mahal (Lucknow). Government of India Act 1858 ended Company rule; Queen's Proclamation.

Socio-religious reform: Brahmo Samaj (Rammohan Roy, 1828), Prarthana Samaj (Atmaram Pandurang), Arya Samaj (Dayanand Saraswati, 1875), Ramakrishna Mission (Vivekananda, 1897), Satyashodhak Samaj (Jyotiba Phule, 1873), Aligarh Movement (Syed Ahmad Khan).

INC founded 1885 (Bombay, first session; W.C. Bonnerjee president; A.O. Hume convenor). Split at Surat 1907 (moderates vs extremists); reunited Lucknow 1916 with the Congress–League Lucknow Pact.

Gandhian mass movements: Champaran 1917 (indigo), Kheda 1918 (revenue), Ahmedabad mill strike 1918; Non-Cooperation 1920–22 (withdrawn after Chauri Chaura, Feb 1922); Civil Disobedience 1930 (Dandi March, 12 March–6 April); Quit India 1942 ('Do or Die').

Key acts and reports: Rowlatt Act 1919, Jallianwala Bagh 13 April 1919, Simon Commission 1928, Poorna Swaraj at Lahore 1929, Poona Pact 1932 (Gandhi–Ambedkar), Government of India Act 1935, Cripps Mission 1942, Cabinet Mission 1946, Mountbatten Plan 3 June 1947.

Press and associations: Bengal Gazette (Hickey, 1780), Sambad Kaumudi and Mirat-ul-Akhbar (Rammohan Roy), Kesari and Maratha (Tilak), Young India and Harijan (Gandhi). Pre-Congress bodies: Landholders' Society 1838, British Indian Association 1851, Indian Association 1876 (Surendranath Banerjea).

Economic critique: deindustrialisation, drain of wealth (Dadabhai Naoroji, R.C. Dutt), famines under British rule; peasant movements such as Indigo Revolt 1859, Pabna 1873, Deccan riots 1875, Moplah 1921, Bardoli 1928.

American Revolution: Stamp Act 1765, Boston Tea Party 1773, Declaration of Independence 4 July 1776 (Jefferson, drawing on Locke), Treaty of Paris 1783. Causes: mercantilist navigation acts, 'no taxation without representation'.

French Revolution phases: Estates-General May 1789, Tennis Court Oath, Bastille 14 July 1789, Declaration of the Rights of Man, August 1789; republic September 1792; Terror 1793–94 under Robespierre; Directory 1795; Napoleon's coup 1799.

French Revolution ideas and documents: Third Estate (Sieyes, 'What is the Third Estate?'), Jacobin and Girondin factions, Civil Constitution of the Clergy, metric system and calendar reforms; influence of Enlightenment thinkers Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau.

Industrial Revolution markers: enclosure and agricultural surplus in Britain, cotton textiles, Watt's steam engine (1769), railways from 1830 (Liverpool–Manchester), factory acts from 1833, Chartist demands in the People's Charter 1838.

Russian Revolution 1917: February revolution ends Tsardom (abdication of Nicholas II); October revolution brings Bolsheviks under Lenin to power; slogans 'Peace, Land, Bread'; Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918; civil war and NEP 1921.

First World War causes: alliance blocs (Triple Alliance 1882, Triple Entente 1907), Balkan nationalism, Moroccan crises, arms race; trigger the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo, 28 June 1914. Key events: trench warfare, Verdun, entry of USA 1917, armistice 11 Nov 1918, Treaty of Versailles 1919.

Second World War: rise of fascism (Mussolini 1922 march on Rome, Hitler Chancellor 1933); appeasement at Munich 1938; Nazi–Soviet Pact 1939; invasion of Poland 1 Sept 1939; Pearl Harbor Dec 1941; D-Day 1944; Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 1945.

League of Nations and UN: League covenant 1919, failures over Manchuria and Abyssinia; UN founded 1945 (San Francisco), Security Council veto, UNESCO and WHO as specialised agencies; decolonisation in Asia and Africa after 1945.

Nationalism in Europe: Italian unification (Cavour, Garibaldi, Mazzini; 1861/1871), German unification under Bismarck (blood and iron; 1871), Greek and Balkan independence from Ottoman rule, and the principle of self-determination invoked in 1919.

Stone Age sites: Edakkal caves (Wayanad) with Neolithic petroglyphs; Marayur and Tenmalai rock shelters; Megalithic culture marked by dolmens, cists, umbrellas (kudakallu), topikkallu and iron implements, urn burials.

Early historic ports and trade: Muziris (Pattanam/Paravur) on the Periyar, linked to Roman trade; references in the Periplus, Pliny, and Tamil Sangam texts; pepper exported in exchange for Roman gold.

Chera dynasty: Sangam-era Cheras with capital at Vanchi; later Kulasekharas of Mahodayapuram (c. 800–1102 CE). The Jewish copper plates of Bhaskara Ravi Varman (c. 1000 CE) and Syrian Christian tradition linked to St Thomas are key sources.

Medieval kingdoms: the Second Chera breakup produces the 'Naduvazhi' period; Venad, Kochi, Kozhikode (Samuthiri/Zamorin) rise. Kozhikode's Kunjali Marakkars resist the Portuguese; Vasco da Gama reaches Kappad near Kozhikode in May 1498.

Bhakti and temple culture: Adi Shankara (Kalady) and Advaita; Poonthanam and Ezhuthachan's Adhyatma Ramayanam (Kilipattu); Vadakkan Pattukal ballads of Tacholi Othenan; Krishnanattam, Ramanattam and later Kathakali; Koodiyattam and Chakyar Koothu as Sanskrit theatre.

Travancore: Martanda Varma (1729–58) and the Battle of Colachel (1741) against the Dutch; Thrippadidanam dedication; Dharma Raja; Velu Thampi Dalawa's revolt (1808–09); Swathi Thirunal's music patronage.

Colonial Kerala: Malabar under direct British rule after 1792; Travancore and Kochi as princely states with British residents. Key revolts: Pazhassi Raja (Wayanad), Kurichiya revolt 1812, Mappila outbreaks, and the Malabar Rebellion 1921.

Social reform and nationalism: Sree Narayana Guru (SNDP 1903, 'one caste, one religion, one god'), Chattampi Swamikal, Ayyankali (Sadhu Jana Paripalana Yogam 1907), Vakkom Moulavi, and the Vaikom Satyagraha 1924–25, Guruvayur Satyagraha 1931–32, Temple Entry Proclamation 1936.

Political formation: Travancore State Congress, Kochi Praja Mandalam, Malabar's Congress activity; Punnapra-Vayalar 1946; integration of Travancore–Kochi in 1949 and formation of Kerala state on 1 November 1956 on linguistic lines; first communist ministry 1957 under E.M.S. Namboodiripad.

Primary vs secondary source rule: a primary source is produced contemporaneously by a participant or eyewitness (inscription, coin, charter, diary, photograph); a secondary source interprets primary material after the fact (monograph, textbook, later chronicle).

External criticism tests authenticity (date, authorship, provenance, handwriting, material); internal criticism tests credibility and meaning (bias, motive, consistency with other evidence). Both steps precede interpretation.

Source types for Indian history: archaeological (excavation strata, artefacts, monuments), epigraphic (inscriptions on stone/copper plates), numismatic (coins giving rulers' names, dates, metal purity), archival (records, gazettes, correspondence), oral, and visual.

Epigraphy cautions: prashastis are eulogies composed for patrons, so claims of conquest need corroboration; copper-plate grants record land donations and reveal agrarian and administrative detail but only for the beneficiary's perspective.

Numismatics: coin legends, dynastic symbols, and find-spots help fix chronology and trade contacts; Roman coin hoards in Kerala indicate Indo-Roman commerce; coin debasement can indicate fiscal stress.

Historiographical schools: colonial/imperialist (see James Mill's periodisation), nationalist (recovering indigenous agency), Marxist (class and mode of production), subaltern (Ranajit Guha; peasant and marginal voices), feminist (recovering women's work and agency), and Annales/ social history.

Periodisation critique: Mill's Hindu–Muslim–British division imposes religious categories on a complex past; alternative divisions use economic or political criteria. Dates BCE/CE are conventions, not value judgments.

Oral history method: record the interview, note the narrator's position and context, cross-check against documents; memory is reconstructive, so corroboration is required before acceptance as fact.

Objectivity: historians select evidence under the pressure of present questions; 'objectivity' means transparency about method and evidence, not absence of perspective. Footnoting and citation allow replication and challenge.

Ancient site-to-region pairs to place: Harappa and Mohenjodaro (Indus, Punjab/Sindh), Lothal (Gujarat, Gulf of Khambhat), Dholavira (Kachchh), Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Ropar (Punjab), Taxila (north-west), Pataliputra (Patna, Bihar), Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh), Amaravati (Andhra), Nalanda (Bihar).

Mauryan geography: capital Pataliputra; Kalinga (Odisha) conquered c. 261 BCE; rock edicts at Girnar (Gujarat), Sopara (Maharashtra), Dhauli and Jaugada (Odisha), Sarnath and Kaushambi (UP); frontier contact with Seleucid and Greek kingdoms in the north-west.

Medieval and southern sites: Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Hampi (Vijayanagara, on the Tungabhadra), Thanjavur (Brihadeshvara temple, Chola), Madurai, Kanchipuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Kollam, Quilon and Muziris on the Kerala coast.

Kerala map essentials: northern district Wayanad (Edakkal), Kozhikode with Kappad landing site, Thrissur (Guruvayur, Kodungallur), Ernakulam (Kalady, Kochi), Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram and Padmanabha temple; Western Ghats run along the eastern border, backwaters along the coast.

Modern India map: 1857 centres (Meerut, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi, Bareilly, Arrah); Congress sessions (Bombay 1885, Calcutta 1906, Surat 1907, Lucknow 1916, Lahore 1929, Karachi 1931, Tripuri 1939); Dandi on the Gujarat coast; Chauri Chaura in UP.

World map: Sarajevo, Verdun, Versailles, Ypres, Stalingrad, Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Hiroshima and Nagasaki; revolutionary centres Paris, Boston, Petrograd; industrial cities Manchester and Liverpool.

Source-based question routine: read the passage twice, identify author, date, occasion and audience; separate what the source asserts from what the historian infers; then answer only from the given extract plus verified context, quoting short phrases as evidence.

Cartographic conventions: use the legend, note scale and direction, distinguish physical (rivers, relief) from political (boundaries) maps; when placing a site, give river, modern state, and neighbouring landmark to secure the mark.

Comparing sources: when two sources conflict, state the conflict explicitly, weigh proximity to the event, independence of the witnesses, and corroboration by a third type (e.g., an inscription versus a coin versus a traveller's account).