Kerala PSC Plus Two Level key terms

A social reform movement from the 19th and 20th centuries that challenged caste discrimination, untouchability and exclusion from temples and schools, and pushed for education and equality in Kerala.

Social reformer from Kerala who preached 'one caste, one religion, one God', installed the mirror at Sivagiri, founded the SNDP Yogam and campaigned against caste-based inequality.

The 1888 installation of a Shiva idol by Sree Narayana Guru at Aruvippuram, which asserted the right of lower-caste people to consecrate deities without Brahmin priests.

The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, founded in 1903 with Sree Narayana Guru as its head, to organise the Ezhava community for education, social reform and economic uplift.

Kerala reformer and scholar who criticised caste and ritual orthodoxy in works such as Vedadhikara Niroopanam and promoted Sanskrit learning among the excluded.

A 1924-25 non-violent protest in Travancore demanding that all castes be allowed to use the roads around the Vaikom temple; Gandhi supported it and Periyar E.V. Ramasamy took part.

The 1936 proclamation by Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma of Travancore opening Hindu temples to all castes, a landmark outcome of Kerala's social reform struggles.

Malayalam poet of the Renaissance and disciple of Sree Narayana Guru, known for narrative poems such as Nalini, Leela and Duravastha that carry social protest themes.

Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja of Kottayam in Malabar fought the British in the late 18th and early 19th centuries using guerrilla tactics and died in 1805.

The 1921 uprising in Malabar, also called the Moplah Rebellion, which began as a peasant and Khilafat-linked agitation against landlords and British rule and turned violent.

The pattern in which medieval Kerala's land grants, economy, education and art were organised around temples such as those at Thrissur, Sabarimala and Padmanabhaswamy.

A classical Kerala dance-drama known for elaborate costumes and make-up, symbolic hand gestures (mudras) and stories drawn from the epics, performed to percussion and vocal music.

An ancient Kerala martial art using stances, strikes, weapons and body conditioning, traditionally taught in kalaris and often linked to temple and warrior culture.

The marumakkathayam practice among some Kerala communities in which lineage, inheritance and family authority passed through the mother's line rather than the father's.

Kerala's harvest festival, celebrated in the Malayalam month of Chingam, associated with the return of King Mahabali and marked by pookalam, sadya and vallam kali.

The Kollavarsham era used in Kerala, whose months include Chingam, Kanni, Thulam and Medam; Onam falls in Chingam and Vishu in Medam.

Rights guaranteed in Part III of the Indian Constitution, including equality, freedom of speech, life and personal liberty, and constitutional remedies, enforceable through writs.

Guidelines in Part IV of the Constitution that direct the state towards social and economic welfare; they are not enforceable in courts but guide law-making.

The power of the Supreme Court under Article 32 and High Courts under Article 226 to issue writs such as habeas corpus, mandamus, certiorari and quo warranto.

The opening statement of the Indian Constitution declaring India a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic and listing justice, liberty, equality and fraternity as objectives.

Gandhi's 1920-22 campaign of boycotting British schools, courts and titles, which drew wide participation in India and was suspended after the Chauri Chaura violence.

The 1930 campaign launched with the Dandi March against the salt tax, involving deliberate breaking of unjust laws and mass participation across India.

The 1942 movement launched by Gandhi with the slogan 'Do or Die', demanding an immediate end to British rule; it led to mass arrests of Congress leaders.

Seasonal reversal of winds bringing heavy rain; India's southwest monsoon from June to September delivers most of the subcontinent's annual rainfall and shapes its agriculture.

A mountain range running along western India, including Kerala's eastern border, with high rainfall, evergreen forests and high biodiversity; a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Networks of brackish lagoons and canals along the Kerala coast, such as Vembanad Lake, used for transport, fishing and tourism and fed by rivers and the sea.

A reddish, leached soil formed in hot, wet climates, common in Kerala and coastal Karnataka; it hardens on exposure and is used as building brick.

The process by which green plants use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make glucose and release oxygen, with chlorophyll in chloroplasts capturing light energy.

A disciplined way of testing ideas through observation, forming a hypothesis, controlled experiments, measurement and peer review, revising conclusions when evidence contradicts them.

Introducing weakened or inactivated pathogens, or their antigens, to train the immune system to recognise a disease and respond faster on later exposure.

The least common multiple is the smallest number divisible by each of the given numbers; the highest common factor is the largest number dividing each of them.

A ratio compares two quantities of the same kind; a proportion states that two ratios are equal, allowing an unknown term to be found by cross-multiplication.

System software that manages hardware, memory, files and processes and provides services to application programs; examples include Windows, Linux and Android.

RAM is fast volatile working memory that loses data when power is off; ROM is non-volatile memory holding firmware such as the boot instructions.

Software designed to harm or exploit a system, including viruses, worms, trojans and ransomware; protection relies on updates, antivirus tools and cautious behaviour.

A sustained rise in the general price level that reduces the purchasing power of money; in India it is commonly tracked through the Consumer Price Index.

The interest rate at which the Reserve Bank of India lends short-term funds to commercial banks; raising it typically cools inflation and lowering it supports growth.

Gross Domestic Product, the total market value of final goods and services produced within a country in a period, used as the main measure of economic size.

The rule that a verb must match its subject in number and person, so a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject a plural verb.

Voice shows whether the subject acts or is acted upon; in the passive, the object becomes the subject and the verb takes a form of 'be' plus past participle.

The Malayalam grammatical process in which the final sound of one word joins the initial sound of the next to form a compound, with the junction often changing form.

A Malayalam compound word formed by combining two or more words into one unit, whose meaning may be more specific than the parts taken separately.

Literary ornament or figure of speech in Malayalam poetics, such as upama (simile) and rupaka (metaphor), used to heighten the expressive effect of a poem.

Successive phases in Malayalam writing, from the pacha (romantic) and neethi (didactic) periods to modernism and post-modernism, each changing theme, form and language.