PSEB Matric Punjab History and Culture cheat sheet

Punjab History and Culture (Class 10 Syllabus)

• Indus Valley Civilisation sites in Punjab: Harappa (Sahiwal, now Pakistan) lies on the Ravi; the Punjab plains also yielded Ropar/Rupnagar on the Sutlej, an important excavated Harappan-affiliated site.

• Vedic period: the Punjab (Sapta Sindhu, 'land of seven rivers') was the core area of Rigvedic settlement; the Rigveda is the oldest Indo-Aryan text and hymns refer to rivers such as the Sindhu, Vitasta (Jhelum) and Asikni (Chenab).

• 16 Mahajanapadas: Gandhara and Kamboj lay in the north-west; the region later formed part of the Achaemenid empire under Cyrus and Darius I, evidenced by the Behistun inscription and Greek historians.

• Alexander's invasion (326 BCE): the Battle of the Hydaspes (Jhelum) against Porus/Puru took place in the Punjab; Alexander's army mutinied at the Beas, ending his eastward advance.

• Mauryan rule: Chandragupta Maurya's empire included Punjab; Ashoka's inscriptions and the spread of Buddhism are attested in the region (e.g. Sanghol and Sugh/Shrughna sites).

• Indo-Greek, Shaka and Kushana rule followed; the Kushana emperor Kanishka (c. 1st–2nd century CE) is linked with the spread of Mahayana Buddhism and with Punjab's trade routes.

• Medieval Punjab: the Ghaznavid raids of Mahmud of Ghazni (from 1000 CE) targeted temples such as Thanesar and the Somnath campaign; later the Ghurids and the Delhi Sultanate ruled the region.

• Guru Nanak Dev Ji (1469–1539), born at Talwandi (Nankana Sahib), founded Sikhism; his teachings stress Ik Onkar (one God), Naam Japna, Kirat Karni and Vand Chakna, rejecting caste and ritualism.

• Succession of Sikh Gurus: Guru Angad (Gurmukhi script standardised), Guru Amar Das (langar and Manji system), Guru Ram Das (founded Amritsar, 1574), Guru Arjan (compiled the Adi Granth, 1604; martyred 1606).

• Guru Hargobind introduced the doctrine of Miri-Piri (spiritual and temporal authority) and built the Akal Takht; Guru Har Rai and Guru Har Krishan followed; Guru Tegh Bahadur was martyred at Delhi in 1675.

• Guru Gobind Singh (1675–1708) founded the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib on Baisakhi 1699, gave the Panj Piare and the five Ks, and declared the Guru Granth Sahib the eternal Guru.

• Banda Singh Bahadur (1670–1716) led the first Sikh uprising against Mughal authority, captured Sirhind in 1710 and established an early Sikh state before his execution in 1716.

• Misls and Ranjit Singh: after the decline of Mughal power, Sikh misls emerged; Ranjit Singh (1780–1839) captured Lahore in 1799, was crowned Maharaja in 1801, and built a modern army with European officers.

• Anglo-Sikh Wars: First (1845–46) ended with the Treaty of Lahore and the cession of Jalandhar Doab; Second (1848–49) ended with annexation of Punjab by the British in 1849.

• Colonial Punjab: under British rule Lahore and then Chandigarh became administrative centres; the 1857 revolt, canal colonies (Chenab, Lyallpur), and the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre shaped Punjab's nationalist politics.

• Freedom movement: the Ghadar Party (1913, San Francisco), the Komagata Maru incident (1914), Bhagat Singh and the HSRA, Lala Lajpat Rai, and the Akali movement (Gurdwara Reform, 1920s) are key syllabus topics.

• Partition 1947: Punjab was divided between India and Pakistan; Radcliffe Line drawn; mass migration and violence occurred; East Punjab (later Punjab, Haryana and Himachal) was reorganised by the Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966.

• Punjabi culture: Bhangra and Giddha are folk dances; the dhol, tumbi and algoza are instruments; Heer-Ranjha, Sohni-Mahiwal and Mirza-Sahiban are classic Punjabi folk romances; Waris Shah wrote Heer.

• Punjabi literature: Baba Farid's verses are in the Guru Granth Sahib; Bulleh Shah, Sultan Bahu and Shah Hussain wrote Sufi kafis; modern writers include Bhai Vir Singh, Amrita Pritam and Shiv Kumar Batalvi.

• Festivals and fairs: Baisakhi (harvest and Khalsa foundation), Lohri, Maghi, Teej, and the Hola Mohalla at Anandpur Sahib; Punjab's crafts include phulkari embroidery and jutti footwear.