UPMSP Intermediate History - Code 128 cheat sheet
UPMSP Intermediate History - Code 128 · Keep the key ideas within reach.
Archaeology, Epigraphy and the Study of Ancient India
Archaeology studies material remains (pottery, tools, structures, burials); epigraphy studies inscriptions, and numismatics studies coins - three independent but complementary source families.
Key inscription decipherments: Brahmi and Kharosthi by James Prinsep (1837); Ashokan edicts read through the rock edicts at Girnar, Kalsi, Sopara, Dhauli, Jaugada and the pillar edicts at Topra, Meerut, Lauriya.
Ashokan inscriptions use Prakrit in Brahmi (most of the subcontinent) and Kharosthi (northwest); the Kandahar bilingual uses Greek and Aramaic.
Paleography dates inscriptions by letter form; the Brahmi script's evolution from Ashokan to Gupta times is the standard chronological yardstick.
Excavation terms: stratigraphy (layers/succession), in situ (original position), assemblage (associated finds), and typology (classification of artefacts by form).
Scientific dating: radiocarbon (C-14) for organic material, thermoluminescence for pottery, dendrochronology for wood, and AMS for tiny samples.
Post-Gupta land-grant charters (tamra-patras) record donors, donees, boundaries and privileges - primary evidence for agrarian expansion and administrative decentralisation.
Foreign accounts: Megasthenes' Indica (Mauryan), Fa-Hien and Hiuen Tsang (Gupta and Harsha periods), and Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind (early 11th century).
Harappan Civilisation and Early Indian History
Harappan chronology (conventional): Early Harappan c. 3300–2600 BCE, Mature Harappan c. 2600–1900 BCE, Late Harappan c. 1900–1300 BCE.
Mature Harappan sites: Mohenjo-daro and Harappa (Indus), Kalibangan and Rakhigarhi (Ghaggar), Lothal and Dholavira (Gujarat), Chanhudaro, Sutkagendor, Ganweriwala.
Mohenjo-daro features: Great Bath, Great Granary, citadel and lower town, grid street plan, covered drains, and the 'Priest-King' steatite bust.
Lothal: dockyard with inlet channel, bead factory, rice husk evidence; Dholavira: three-part town, water reservoirs, large signboard of ten signs.
Harappan script is undeciphered, boustrophedon in direction, with about 400–600 signs; seals are mostly steatite with unicorn, bull and pipal motifs.
Decline theories: river changes (Ghaggar-Hakra), floods, tectonic activity, deforestation and salinity; the Late Harappan shows de-urbanisation and shift eastward.
Vedic corpus chronology: Rigveda (early, c. 1500–1000 BCE), later Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads; Sapta Sindhu as the Rigvedic heartland.
Sixteen Mahajanapadas listed in the Anguttara Nikaya; Magadha's rise under Bimbisara, Ajatashatru and the Haryankas, with capitals Rajagriha then Pataliputra.
Political, Social and Economic History of Ancient India (Mauryas to Guptas)
Chandragupta Maurya (c. 321 BCE) founded the empire with Chanakya/Kautilya; Megasthenes was Seleucid envoy at his court; Bindusara succeeded him; Ashoka ruled c. 268–232 BCE.
Kalinga war (c. 261 BCE) recorded in Rock Edict XIII; Ashoka's dhamma policy appears in Major and Minor Rock Edicts and Pillar Edicts.
Mauryan administration: Arthashastra's saptanga theory, adhyakshas (superintendents), rajukas and pradeshikas, espionage (gudhapurushas), and the Dhammamahamatta officers.
Post-Mauryan: Sungas, Kanvas, Satavahanas (Gautamiputra Satakarni), Indo-Greeks, Shakas (Rudradaman, Junagadh inscription), Kushanas (Kanishka, c. 127 CE era).
Gupta rulers: Chandragupta I (Gupta era 319–20 CE), Samudragupta (Allahabad pillar prashasti by Harishena), Chandragupta II (Mehrauli iron pillar, Udayagiri), Skandagupta (Huna defence).
Land-grant economy: growing practice of agrahara and devagrahara grants in Gupta and post-Gupta times, with fiscal immunities and rise of intermediaries.
Trade: Indo-Roman trade via Red Sea ports (Arikamedu, Muziris) evidenced by Periplus Maris Erythraei and Roman coin hoards; guilds (shrenis) and shresthis managed commerce.
Society: varna order elaborated in Dharmashastras (Manusmriti), with untouchability and jati formation visible by the Gupta period; women's property rights discussed in smriti texts.
Religious Traditions, Culture and Society in Early India
Vedic religion: Rigvedic deities (Indra, Agni, Varuna, Ushas), yajna-centred ritual, Sabha and Samiti as assemblies, and the Upanishadic shift to atman-brahman.
Buddhism: Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, Pratityasamutpada (dependent origination), and Nirvana; Tripitaka = Sutta, Vinaya, Abhidhamma Pitakas.
Buddhist councils: First at Rajagriha, Second at Vaishali, Third at Pataliputra under Ashoka, Fourth at Kashmir under Kanishka.
Jainism: Tirthankaras with Rishabhanatha first and Mahavira 24th; doctrines of ahimsa, anekantavada, syadvada, and triratna (right faith, knowledge, conduct).
Bhakti and Puranic traditions: Vishnu, Shiva and Devi cults; Bhagavata and Vaishnava movements; Alvars and Nayanars in the south (6th–9th centuries).
Six schools of Indian philosophy: Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta; Samkhya's purusha-prakriti dualism and Vedanta's Advaita of Shankara.
Art and architecture: stupas (Sanchi, Bharhut, Amaravati), chaityas and viharas (Ajanta, Ellora, Karle), rock-cut caves, and Gupta-period temple beginnings (Deogarh, Bhitargaon).
Sangam literature (Tolkappiyam, Ettuthogai, Pattuppattu) and Tamilakam society: Chera, Chola and Pandya polities with trade ports and varna-free social descriptions.
Delhi Sultanate and Regional Kingdoms
Five dynasties: Slave (1206–1290), Khalji (1290–1320), Tughlaq (1320–1414), Sayyid (1414–1451), Lodi (1451–1526).
Mamluk rulers: Qutb-ud-din Aibak, Iltutmish (iqtadari system, Chahalgani), Raziya, Balban (sijda, paibos, Persian Nauroz), and the Mongol-defence policy.
Alauddin Khalji: market control regulations, 50% kharaj, dagh and chehra, standing army, and conquest of Ranthambhor, Chittor, Malwa and Deccan campaigns under Malik Kafur.
Muhammad bin Tughlaq's measures: transfer of capital to Daulatabad, token currency, Khurasan and Qarachil expeditions, and taxation of the Doab.
Firoz Shah Tughlaq: canals, Diwan-i-Khairat, Diwan-i-Bandagan, and imposition of jizya as a separate tax.
Administration: iqta (revenue assignment), muqti/wali, diwan-i-wizarat, diwan-i-arz (military), diwan-i-insha (correspondence), and the ulema's role.
Regional kingdoms: Bahmani (Hasan Gangu, 1347), Vijayanagara (Harihara and Bukka, 1336), Bengal, Gujarat, Malwa, Jaunpur, and the Rajput states of Mewar and Marwar.
Sufi and Bhakti figures: Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, Nizamuddin Auliya, Kabir, Guru Nanak, and Chaitanya - key to the period's cultural synthesis.
Mughal Empire and Early Modern India
Babur won the First Battle of Panipat (1526) using artillery and tulughma tactics; defeated Rana Sanga at Khanwa (1527) and the Afghans at Ghaghra (1529).
Sher Shah Suri: Grand Trunk Road, rupiya coin, sarais, and the revenue system later refined by Todar Mal under Akbar.
Akbar's measures: Mansabdari (zat and sawar ranks), Dahsala bandobast (1580), Din-i-Ilahi (1582), abolition of jizya, and Rajput matrimonial alliances.
Mughal administration: suba, sarkar, pargana; diwan, bakshi, mir bakshi, sadr-us-sadr, mir saman, and the vakil's declining role.
Jahangir: chain of justice, Nur Jahan's influence, and campaigns in Mewar and the Deccan; Shah Jahan: Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Peacock Throne.
Aurangzeb: reimposition of jizya (1679), Deccan wars against the Marathas, and the Jat, Satnami and Sikh revolts.
Maratha power: Shivaji's coronation (1674), Ashta Pradhan council, chauth and sardeshmukhi, and expansion under the Peshwas.
Decline debates: jagirdari crisis, administrative centralisation failures, agrarian pressure, and the rise of regional powers - contrasted with the 'prosperity' thesis of revisionist historians.
Colonialism, Expansion of British Rule and Popular Resistance
Battles: Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764) gave the Company Bengal revenues; Dual Government (1765–72) under Clive; Regulating Act 1773 and Pitt's India Act 1784 followed.
Subsidiary Alliance (Wellesley) and Doctrine of Lapse (Dalhousie) were key annexation instruments; Awadh annexed 1856 on misgovernment grounds.
Permanent Settlement (1793, Cornwallis) fixed revenue with zamindars; Ryotwari (Munro, Madras) and Mahalwari (North-Western Provinces) followed.
Deindustrialisation: one-way free trade after 1813 Charter Act, tariff discrimination, and the drain of wealth analysed by Dadabhai Naoroji ('Poverty and Un-British Rule in India').
Peasant and tribal revolts: Indigo Revolt (1859–60), Santhal Hul (1855–56), Munda Ulgulan (1899–1900), Deccan Riots (1875), and Pabna agrarian league.
Revolt of 1857: immediate trigger the greased cartridges; leaders Mangal Pandey, Nana Saheb, Rani Lakshmibai, Kunwar Singh, Begum Hazrat Mahal; suppressed by 1858.
Consequences of 1857: Company rule ended, Crown rule by Government of India Act 1858, army reorganised, and the policy of non-interference in religion.
Forest and revenue laws: Forest Act 1878, Indian Forest Act 1927, and the 1893–94 famine commissions shaping colonial agrarian policy.
Indian National Movement and Constitutional Development
Congress founded 1885 (A. O. Hume); moderates' methods were petitions and resolutions; extremists (Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal) advocated swadeshi and boycott after the 1905 Bengal partition.
Partition of Bengal 1905 and annulment 1911; Swadeshi Movement; Muslim League founded 1906; Morley-Minto Reforms 1909 introduced separate electorates.
Gandhian movements: Champaran (1917), Kheda and Ahmedabad mill strike (1918), Rowlatt Satyagraha (1919), Non-Cooperation (1920–22), Civil Disobedience (1930–34), Quit India (1942).
Jallianwala Bagh (13 April 1919); Khilafat alliance; Chauri Chaura (1922) led to withdrawal of Non-Cooperation.
Constitutional steps: Government of India Acts 1919 (dyarchy in provinces) and 1935 (provincial autonomy, federation proposal), and the 1946 Cabinet Mission plan.
Revolutionary nationalism: Anushilan Samiti, Ghadar Party (1913), Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (1928), Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, and the INA of Subhas Chandra Bose (1943–45).
Social reform and labour: Brahmo Samaj (1828), Arya Samaj (1875), Satyashodhak Samaj (1873), and the Factory Acts of 1881 and 1891.
Key sessions: Lahore 1929 (Purna Swaraj), Karachi 1931 (Fundamental Rights resolution), and the 1940 Lahore resolution of the Muslim League.
Partition, Independence and Nation-Building
Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947) provided for partition and independence; Indian Independence Act passed by the British Parliament in July 1947; independence on 15 August 1947.
Radcliffe Line demarcated Punjab and Bengal boundaries; the Radcliffe Award was published after independence, causing disputes over Gurdaspur, Ferozepur and Malda.
Partition violence and migration: roughly 14–15 million displaced, with massive refugee flows across Punjab and Bengal and the recovery of abducted women.
Integration of princely states: Instrument of Accession, Sardar Patel and V. P. Menon's role; Junagadh, Hyderabad (Operation Polo, 1948) and Kashmir (1947–48) were contested cases.
Linguistic reorganisation: Potti Sriramulu's fast led to Andhra (1953); States Reorganisation Act 1956 created linguistic states; Bombay split into Maharashtra and Gujarat in 1960.
Constitution-making: Constituent Assembly first met 9 December 1946, Objectives Resolution moved by Nehru, Constitution adopted 26 November 1949 and enforced 26 January 1950.
Early nation-building: First Five-Year Plan (1951), Green Revolution, public-sector industrialisation, and the Non-Aligned Movement (Bandung 1955, Belgrade 1961).
Refugee rehabilitation: Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation, the 1948 Evacuee Property Act, and resettlement townships such as Faridabad and Nilokheri.
Historical Sources, Historiography and Map Work
Source types: primary (inscriptions, coins, charters, contemporary chronicles) versus secondary (later histories, textbooks); literary, archaeological and archival categories overlap.
Colonial historiography: James Mill's periodisation (Hindu, Muslim, British) and the 'Orientalist' and 'Utilitarian' schools; nationalist historiography reacted with an indigenous agency emphasis.
Marxist historiography: mode-of-production analysis, feudalism debate for early India (R. S. Sharma), and class-based readings of the national movement.
Subaltern studies (Ranajit Guha, 1982) recovered peasant and marginal voices; gender history (Uma Chakravarti) and Dalit historiography extended the field.
Chronicles: Kalhana's Rajatarangini (12th century Kashmir), Minhaj-us-Siraj's Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, Barani's Tarikh-i-Firozshahi, Abul Fazl's Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari.
Archival sources: proceedings of the Home Department, Fortnightly Reports, and private papers (Nehru, Gandhi, Ambedkar) held at the National Archives of India.
Map work: locate Harappan sites, Ashokan edict sites, 1857 centres (Meerut, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi), and Congress session cities on an outline map of India.
Chronology anchors: 1757 Plassey, 1857 revolt, 1885 Congress, 1905 Bengal partition, 1919 Jallianwala Bagh, 1930 Dandi, 1942 Quit India, 1947 independence.