PSEB SS History cheat sheet

Indus Valley Civilisation sites in Punjab: Harappa (Sahiwal, now Pakistan) and Ropar/Rupnagar on the Sutlej; Ropar is the principal excavated IVC site within Indian Punjab.

The five rivers giving Punjab its name: Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej - Persian 'Punj-ab' means 'five waters'; in Rigvedic texts the region is called Sapta Sindhu (seven rivers).

Vedic period: the Rigveda was composed in the Punjab region; key tribes were the Purus, Bharatas and later the Kuru-Panchala; the Battle of the Ten Kings (Dasarajna) is associated with the Ravi area.

Taxila and the Gandhara region lay at Punjab's north-western edge; Panini's grammar and the university-style centres of Taxila are linked to this zone.

Alexander's invasion (326 BCE) - the Battle of the Hydaspes (Jhelum) against Porus (Puru) and the mutiny at the Beas are standard syllabus events.

Mauryan, Indo-Greek, Kushana and Shahi rule shaped the region; Ashokan edicts and stupas are found at sites such as Sanghol and Ropar.

Sikh tradition: Guru Nanak (born 1469, Nankana Sahib) founded Sikhism; the ten Gurus span 1469–1708, ending with Guru Gobind Singh.

Key Sikh institutions: Khalsa (1699, Anandpur Sahib), Guru Granth Sahib as eternal Guru (1708), the Gurdwara, langar and the Akal Takht (1609).

Maharaja Ranjit Singh (r. 1799–1839, Lahore) unified Misls into the Sikh Empire; the Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845–46, 1848–49) ended in annexation in 1849.

Punjabi language and literature: Gurmukhi script standardised through Guru Angad's work; major poets include Baba Farid, Waris Shah (Heer), Bulleh Shah and Shah Muhammad.

Folk culture: Bhangra and Giddha dances, the dhol, folk songs (Tappe, Boliyan), and festivals such as Baisakhi (harvest and Khalsa foundation), Lohri and Maghi.

Punjabi cuisine staples: makki di roti with sarson da saag, lassi, chhole-kulche; the langar tradition reflects the egalitarian ethic of the community.

Match event to ruler: Guru Arjan compiled the Adi Granth (1604) and built Harmandir Sahib; Guru Hargobind introduced the Akal Takht and militarisation; Guru Tegh Bahadur's martyrdom (1675) precedes the Khalsa (1699).

Distinguish Misls (12 confederacies, 18th century) from the Sikh Empire (Ranjit Singh, 1799 onward) - Misls are decentralised, the Empire is centralised under Lahore.

Treaty of Amritsar (1809) fixed the Sutlej as the boundary between Ranjit Singh's territory and British India; the Treaty of Lahore (1846) followed the First Anglo-Sikh War.

Annexation timeline: First Anglo-Sikh War 1845–46, Second 1848–49, annexation of Punjab 1849, Jallianwala Bagh 1919, Partition 1947, reorganisation of Punjab state 1966 (Punjabi Suba).

For cultural questions, link Baisakhi to both the harvest calendar (Vaisakh) and the founding of the Khalsa; link Lohri to the winter solstice harvest and Maghi to the memory of the Chali Mukte.

For literature questions, attribute Heer to Waris Shah, Sassi-Punnu to Hashim Shah, and Sufi poetry to Baba Farid and Bulleh Shah - do not swap authors.

For archaeology questions, choose Ropar for excavated IVC material in Indian Punjab and Sanghol for Kushana-period stupa and sculpture finds.

For language questions, Gurmukhi is the script, Punjabi the language; Shahmukhi is the Perso-Arabic script used in western Punjab.