Indian history Notes # 12

Source: VIII NCERT History Chapter 6

• For administrative purposes, colonial India was divided into three presidencies - Bombay, Madras and Bengal.
• The most splendid capital of all was built by Shah Jahan. 
• Shahjahanabad was begun in 1639 and consisted of a fort-palace complex and the city adjoining it. Lal Qila or the Red Fort, made of red sandstone, contained the palace complex. To its west lay the Walled City with 14 gates. The main streets of Chandni Chowk and Faiz Bazaar were broad enough for royal processions to pass. A canal ran down the centre of Chandni Chowk.
• Delhi during Shah Jahan’s time was also an important centre of Sufi culture. It had several dargahs, khanqahs and idgahs.
• Dargah - The tomb of Sufi saint.
• Khanqah - A sufi house often used as a rest house for travellers and a place where people come to discuss spiritual matters.
• Idgah - An open prayer place for muslims.
• Jama Mashid was the first mosque in India with minarets and full domes.
• In 1803, the British gained control of Delhi after defeating the Marathas.
• In 1911 Delhi became capital of British India. 
• The establishment of the Delhi College in 1792 led to a great intellectual flowering in the sciences as well as the humanities, largely in the Urdu language.
•  Many refer to the period from 1830 to 1857 as a period of the Delhi renaissance.
• In the 1870s, the western walls of Shahjahanabad were broken to establish the railway and to allow the city to expand beyond the walls. 
• The Delhi College was turned into a school, and shut down in 1877.
•  In 1877, Viceroy Lytton organised a Durbar in Delhi to acknowledge Queen Victoria as the Empress of India. 
• In 1911, when King George V was crowned in England, a Durbar was held in Delhi to celebrate the occasion. The decision to shift the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi was announced at this Durbar. 
• New Delhi was constructed on Raisina Hill.
• Two architects, Edward Lutyens and Herbert Baker, were called on to design New Delhi and its buildings. 
• Harbert Baker designed Union building in the city of Pretoria in south Africa.
• The Delhi Improvement Trust was set up 1936, and it built areas like Daryaganj South for wealthy Indians. Houses were grouped around parks.
• The Mughal aristocracy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries lived in grand mansions called havelis which were large walled compounds with mansions, courtyards and fountains.

Indian History Notes # 11

Source: VI NCERT History Chapter 11 & 12

CHAPTER - 11

• Harisena composed a poem in sanskrit about samudragupta which was inscribed on the Ashokan pillar at Allahabad.
• Prashasti were poems composed in praise of rulers.
• We came to know more about Gupta rulers through their inscriptions and coins.
• Banabhatta, court poet of Harshavardhan wrote Harshavardhana biography called harshacharita in sanskrit.
• Xuan Zang spent a lot of time in the court of Harshavardhana.
• Harshavardhan conquered both Magadha and Bengal.
• Pulakeshin II, a ruler of Chalukya dynasty stopped Harshavardhana when he tried to cross Narmada to march into Deccan.
• Kanchipuram was the capital of Pallavas Kingdom.
• Aihole, the capital of Chalukyas was an important trading centre.
• Ravikirti was the court poet of Pulakeshin II.
• Samantas were the military leaders who provided troops to King whenever he needed. King in return gives land for them.
• The ur was a village assembly found in areas where the land owners were not brahmins.

CHAPTER - 12

The Iron pillar at Mehrauli,Delhi is made of iron, 7.2 m high and weighs over 3 tonnes.There is an inscription on the pillar mentioned the name of a ruler Chandra.

A small box known as relic casket containing the bodily remains of the Buddha or his followers or things they used was placed at the centre or heart of the Stupa.

A path known as Pradakshina patha was laid around the stupa.This was surrounded with railings.

A famous tamil epic, the silappadikaram, was composed by a poet Ilango, was the story of a merchant  named kovalan who fell in love with the courtesan Madhavi.

Manimekalai was a tamil epic composed by Sattanar about the story of the daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi.

Meghadhuta was a famous poem of Kalidasa.

Aryabhatta, a mathematician and astronomer wrote a book in sanskrit known as Aryabhatiyam.

Aryabhatta stated thatday and night were caused by the rotation of the earth on its axis. He developed a scientific explanation for eclipses.He also found a way to calculate the circumference of a circle.

Paper was invented in china by a man named Cai Lun.

Indian History Notes # 10

Source: VI NCERT History Chapter 10

• South India was famous for gold, Pepper, spices and precious stones.
• Pepper was very much valued in the Roman empire and it was called as Black gold.
• Sangam poems mention the muvendar, a tamil word which means three chiefs, used for the heads of three ruling families, the cholas, cheras, and pandyas.
• Each of the three chiefs had two centres of power - one inland and one on the coast.
• Puhar or Kaveripattinam, the port of the cholas, and Madurai, the capital of pandyas were considered very important.
• The most important ruler of the satavahana was Gautamiputra shri Satakarni.
• He and other satavahana rulers were known as lords of the Dakshinapatha, literally the route leading to south.
• Techniques of making silk was first invented in China.
• Some people of China who went to distant places on foot, horseback and camels, carried silk with them. The path they followed came to be known as Silk route.
• Kushanas rulers were the best known rulers who controlled the silk route.
• Peshawar and Mathura were Kushanas power of centres.
• The Kushanas were amongst the earliest rulers of the subcontinent to issue gold coins.
• Kanishka was the most famoue Kushana ruler.
• Ashvagosha who composed a biography of the Buddha, Buddhacharitha, was lived in Kanishka court.
• Mahayana buddhism came into prominence during Kanishka rule.
• Many statues of the Buddha were were made in Mathura.
• FaXian, Xuan Zang and I-Quing were famous pilgrims who visited places associated with the life of Buddha.
• Nalanda was the famous Buddhist monastery where Xuan Zang and other pilgrims spent time studying.

12th NCERT History Part I chapter 1 to chapter 4

chapter 1

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

Indian History Notes # 9

• In the Tamil region, large land owners were known as Vellalar, ordinary ploughmen were known as uzhavar, and landless labourers, including slaves, were known as Kadaisiyar and adimai.
• In the northern part of the country, the village headman was known as the grama bhojaka. 
• Grama bhojaka was often the largest landowner.
• Grihapatis were other independent farmers who own small land.
• Dasa Karmakara were men and women who did not own a land.
• Some of the earliest works in tamil, known as Sangam literature, were composed around 2300 years ago. These texts were called Sangam because they were supposed to have been composed and compiled in the assemblies (sangams) of poets that were held in the city of Madurai.
• Jatakas were stories that were probably composed by ordinary people, and then written down and preserved by Buddhist monks.
• Mathura has been important settlement for more than 2500 years.
• Mathura was also a center where some extremely fine sculpture was produced.
• Mathura became the second capital of the Kushanas.
• Mathura was also a religious centre - there were buddhist monastries,Jaina shrines and it was an impotant centre for the worship of Krishna.
• Northern black polished ware was found in the northern part of the sub continent, usually black in colour and has a fine sheen.
• Many crafts persons and merchants formed associations known as shrenis.
• The shrenis of crafts provided training, procured raw material and distributed finished product.
• The shrenis of merchants organised the trade.
• Shrenis also served as banks.
• Rules for spinning and weaving were mentioned in the chapter 8 of Arthashastra.
• Arikamedu(in pondicherry) was a coastal settlement where ships unloaded goods from distant lands.
• Massive brick structure, Pottery from the mediterranean region such as amphorae(tall double handled jars that contained liquids such as wine or oil) and stamped red glazed pottery, known as Arretine Ware, which was named after a city in Italy, Roman lamps,  glassware, gems were found at Arikamedu.

Source:6th NCERT History chapter 9

 

Indian history notes # 8

Source: 6th NCERT History Chapter 8

Mauryas:

• The Mauryans were a dynasty with three important rulers - Chandragupta Maurya, his son Bindusara, and Bindusara son Ashoka.
• Chandragupta Maurya was supported by a wise man named Kautilya or Chanakya.
• Chanakya mentioned his ideas in a book called Arthashastra.
• Megasthenes was an ambassador who was sent to the court of chandragupta by the Greek ruler of west Asia named Seleucus Nicator.
• Pataliputra, Taxila and Ujjain were the main cities in the mauryan Empire.
• Pataliputra wa the capital city of Mauryan Empire.
• Taxila was a gateway to the North west.
• Ujjain lay on the route from north to south India,
• Royal Princes were sent to the provinces as Governor.

Ashoka:

• The most famous ruler of Mauryan dynasty was Ashoka.
• Ashoka fought kalinga war to conquer Kalinga.
• He is the only king in the history of the world who gave up conquest after winning.
• He decided to observe Dhamma.
• He appointed officials, Known as the Dhamma Mahamatta who went from place to place teaching people about dhamma.
• He also spread other messengers to spread ideas about dhamma to other lands, such as Syria, Egypt, Greece and SriLanka.
• Most of Ashoka's inscriptions were in prakrit and were written in the Brahmi script.

General awareness: Indian History Notes # 7

Source: VI NCERT History Chapter 7

Gautama Buddha:

• Also Known as Siddhartha.
• He was a kshatriya and belongs to sakya gana.
• He attained enlightenment under peepal tree at BodhGaya in Bihar.
• He gave his first sermon at Sarnath.
• He taught life is full of sufferings because of desires which he called tanha.
• He taught in the language of common people, prakrit.
• He passed away in kusinara.

Upanishads:

• Upanishad literally means "approaching and sit near".
• These are the texts about the conversations between teachers and students.
• Most of the upanishad thinkers were men.
• Garbi was a famous woman upanishad thinker.
• Satyakama Jabala was a slave accepted by a brahmin teacher gautama. Jabala was named after his mother Jabali. Jabala became a great thinker.
• Panini was famous as he prepared grammar for sanskrit.

Mahavira:

• Vardhamana Mahavira was a kshatriya prince.
• He belongs to Vajji Sangha.
• He also taught his teachings in Prakrit.
• Followers of Mahavira became known as Jains.
• The word Jaina derived from the term Jina which means Conqueror.

Sangha:

• Those who left their homes to gain true knowledge were lived in associations known as Sangha.
• Vinaya Pittaka prescribes the rules made for Buddhist sanghas.
• Both Men and Women can join sangha.
• Men were called Bhikkus while women were called bhikkunis.

Monastries or viharas:

• Bhikkus and bhikkunis used to stay in viharas which were made of wood or bricks and caves dug in the hills.

Ashramas:

• Brahmins developed 4 ashramas system which represents the stage of life.They were brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and  Sannyasa

Zooraster:

• He was an Iranian Prophet.
• His teachings were recorded in a book called Avestha.
• The basic teachings of Zooraster contained in the maxim"Good thoughts, Good words and Good deeds".
• Zoorastrianism was a major religion in Iran.
• Many Zoorastrians migrated from Iran and settled in the coastal towns of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
• They were the ancestors of today's Parsis. 

 

General awareness: Indian polity notes # 1

• Election commission of India is a constitutional body set up in accordance with the constitution on January 25, 1950.
• Article 324 in the constitution vested the superintendence,direction and control of elections in an election commission.
• Originally the commission had only a chief Election commissioner but for the first time two additional commissioners were appointed in 1989. It was discontinued in 1990. Again in 1993 two additional commissioners were appointed.Since then this has been in operation.
• The chief election commissioner and election commissioners are appointed by the President.
• They have tenure of six years or up to the age of 65years, which ever is earlier.
• The chief election commissioner can be removed from the office only by the impeachment by parliament.
• Other election commissioners may be removed by the president on the recommendation of the chief election commissioner.
• Chief election commissioner and election commissioners enjoy the status as available to the judges of the supreme court of India.
• Sukumar sen was the first chief election commissioner of India.
• V.S.Ramadevi was the first woman chief election commissioner of India.
• H.S.Brahma is the current chief election commissioner of India.    

Model Questions
Q.1Which of the following statement is false about election commission of India
a Election commission consists of chief election commissioners and 2 election commissioners.
b.Election commissioners are appointed by the president.
c.Chief Election commissioner enjoy the status of Chief Justice of India.
d.Election commission is a constitutional body.

Q.2 Who was the first chief election commissioner of India?
a. B.B.tandon
b. M.S.Gill
c. T.swaminathan
d.Sukumar Sen                                           

General awareness: Indian History notes # 6

(Source: 6th NCERT History Chapter 6)

1.       The priests divided people into four groups, called varnas.

2.       The first varna was that of the brahmin. Brahmins were expected to study (and teach) the Vedas, perform sacrifices and receive gifts.

3.       In the second place were the rulers, also known as kshatriyas. They were expected to fight battles and protect people.

4.       Third were the vish or the vaishyas. They were expected to be farmers, herders, and traders. Both the kshatriyas and the vaishyas could perform sacrifices.

5.       Last were the shudras, who had to serve the other three groups and could not perform any rituals. Often, women were also grouped with the shudras. Both women and shudras were not allowed to study the Vedas.

6.       The word janapada literally means the land where jana set its foot, and settled down.

7.       About 2500 years ago, some janapadas became more important than others, and were known as mahajanapadas.

8.       Most mahajanapadas had a capital city, many of these were fortified. This means that huge walls of wood, brick or stone were built around them.

9.       As the rulers of the mahajanapadas were (a) building huge forts (b) maintaining big armies,

they needed more resources. And they needed officials to collect these. So, instead of depending on occasional gifts brought by people, as in the case of the raja of the janapadas, they started collecting regular taxes.

•        Taxes on crops were the most important. This was because most people were farmers. Usually, the tax was fixed at 1/6th of what was produced. This was known as bhaga or a share.

•        There were taxes on crafts persons as well. These could have been in the form of labour. For example, a weaver or a smith may have had to work for a day every month for the king.

•        Herders were also expected to pay taxes in the form of animals and animal produce.

•        There were also taxes on goods that were bought and sold, through trade.

•        And hunters and gatherers also had to provide forest produce to the raja.

10.   Magadha became the most important mahajanapada in about two hundred years.

11.   Many rivers such as the Ganga and Son flowed through Magadha. This was important for (a) transport, (b) water supplies (c) making the land fertile.

12.   Parts of Magadha were forested.

13.   Elephants, which lived in the forest, could be captured and trained for the army.

14.   Forests also provided wood for building houses, carts and chariots. Besides, there were iron ore mines in the region that could be tapped to make strong tools and weapons.

15.   Magadha had two very powerful rulers, Bimbisara and Ajatasattu, who used all possible means to conquer other janapadas.

16.   Mahapadma Nanda was another important ruler. He extended his control up to the north-west part of the subcontinent.

17.   Rajagriha (present-day Rajgir) in Bihar was the capital of Magadha for several years.

18.   Later the capital was shifted to Pataliputra (present-day Patna).

19.   While Magadha became a powerful kingdom, Vajji, with its capital at Vaishali (Bihar), was under a different form of government, known as gana or sangha.

20.   In a gana or a sangha there were not one, but many rulers. Sometimes, even when thousands of men ruled together, each one was known as a raja. These rajas performed rituals together. They also met in assemblies, and decided what had to be done and how, through discussion and debate.

 

General awareness: Science Notes # 2

• Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe.
• Hydrogen is the 3rd most abundant on the surface of the earth.
• Hydrogen contains one proton and one electron and it is the first element in the periodic table.
• Harold C.Urey got nobel prize for separating hydrogen isotope of mass number 2.
• The mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen is called Water gas or synthetic gas.It is called synthetic gas as it is used for the synthesis of methanol and number of hydrocarbons.
• Hydrogen is lighter than air.
• Largest single use of hydrogen is in the synthesis of ammonia which is used in the manufacture of nitric acid and nitrogenous fertilisers.
• Hydrogen is used in the preparation of vanaspathi, as a rocket fuel in the space research and also in fuel cells for generating electrical energy.
• Water that includes calcium and magnesium salts in the form of hydrogencarbonate, chloride and sulphate in water makes water hard.
• Hardness of water is of two types
• a. permanent hardness
• b. Temporary hardness
• Temporary hardness is due to the presence of magnesium and calcium hydrogen carbonates. It can be removed by boiling and clarks method.
• In Clarks method calculated amount of lime is added to hard water. It precipitates out calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide.
• Permanent hardness is due to the presence of soluble salts of magnesium and calciun in the form of chlorides and sulphates in water.
• Permanent hardness is removed by 
• a. treatment with washing soda(sodium carbonate)
• b.calgon's method (sodium hexameta phosphate is called calgon).
• c. Zeolite/Permutit process : (hydrated sodium aluminium silicate is Zeolite/Permutit)
• Hydrogen peroxide acts a both acidic and alkaline media.
• Hydrogen peroxide uses:    as a hair bleach,  as a mild disinfectant, synthesis of hydroquinone, tartaric acid and others
• Heavy water is used as moderator in nuclear reactors.
• Hydrogen on the industrial scale is prepared by water gas shift reaction from petrochemicals.

General awareness: Indian History notes # 5

Source: 6th NCERT History Chapter 5

There are four vedas– the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda.

The oldest Veda is the Rigveda, composed about 3500 years ago.

The Rigveda includes more than a thousand hymns, called sukta.

Three gods are especially important: Agni, the god of fire; Indra, a warrior god; and Soma, a plant from which a special drink was prepared.

Sanskrit is part of a family of languages known as Indo-European.

Some Indian languages such as Assamese, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri and Sindhi, and many European languages such as English, French, German, Greek, Italian and Spanish belong to this family. They are called a family because they originally had words in common.
Languages used in the north-east belong to the Tibeto-Burman family; Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam belong to the Dravidian family; and the languages spoken in Jharkhand and parts of central India belong to the Austro-Asiatic family.

There are many prayers in the Rigveda for cattle, children (especially sons), and horses.

The practice of erecting megaliths began about 3000 years ago, and was prevalent throughout
the Deccan, south India, in the north-east and Kashmir.

About 2000 years ago, there was a famous physician named Charaka who wrote a book on medicine known as the Charaka Samhita. There he states that the human body has 360 bones.

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General awareness: Indian History notes # 4

Source: 12th NCERT History Part-I Chapter 3

·         In 1919 under the leadership of a noted Indian Sanskritist V.S. Sukthankar initiated the task of preparing a critical edition of Mahabharata.

·         ‘Kula’     -              Families

·         Jnati       -              Larger network of Kinfolk

·         Vamsha                -              Lineage

·         Mansusmriti mentioned 8 forms of marriage

·         Each gotra was named after a Vedic seer.

·         2 rules about gotra

A.      Women on marriage attain husband’s gotra

B.      Members of same gotra could not marry

·         Metronymics     -              Names derived from that of the mother.

·         The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad contains a list of successive generations of teachers and students, many of whom were designated by metronymics.

·         Satavahana rulers were identified through metronymics. But succession is patrilineal.

·         The Shungas and Kanvas, the immediate successors of the Mauryas were Brahmanas.

·         Jatis which shared a common occupation or profession were sometimes organized into Shrenis or Guilds.

·         ‘Venik’means  Merchants

·         Mrichchhakatika written by Shudraka portrayed hero Charudatta as both a Brahmana & a Sarthavaha or merchant.

·         Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian wrote that untouchables have to sound a clapper in the streets so that people could avoid seeking them.

·         Acc. To manusmriti , A men can acquire wealth in 7 ways

1.       Inheritance

2.       Investment

3.       Finding

4.       Work

5.       Purchase

6.       Acceptance of gifts from good people

7.       Conquest

·         Where as a women can acquire wealth in 6 ways acc. To Manusmriti.

·         Buddhist text in Pali, Majjhima Nikaya, is part of a dialogue between a king named Avantiputta and a disciple of the Buddha named Kachchana.

·         The text ‘Suttapitaka’ suggested that ‘Mahasammata’ the great elect, was chosen by the people.

·         Didactic refers something that is meant for purposes of instructions.Didactic section of the Mahabharata is the Bhagavad Gita.

·         The original story of Mahabharata was probably composed by charioteer bards known as Sutas.

·         In 1951-52, the archaeologist B.B.Lal excavated at a village named Hastinapur in the Meerut (Uttar Pradesh).