IAS Prelims (GS) preparation 2018
Day # 2 (March 25, 2017)
Topics of the Day - History 6th NCERT chapter 5 to 7 key points
- 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 are 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.
-The priests divided people into four groups, called varnas.
A.The first varna was that of the brahmin. Brahmins were expected to study (and teach) the Vedas, perform sacrifices and receive gifts.
B. In the second place were the rulers, also known as kshatriyas. They were expected to fight battles and protect people.
C.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.
D.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.
- The word janapada literally means the land where jana set its foot, and settled down.
-About 2500 years ago, some janapadas became more important than others, and were known as mahajanapadas.
-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.
-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.
-Magadha became the most important mahajanapada in about two hundred years.
-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.
-Parts of Magadha were forested.
-Elephants, which lived in the forest, could be captured and trained for the army.
-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.
-Magadha had two very powerful rulers, Bimbisara and Ajatasattu, who used all possible means to conquer other janapadas.
-Mahapadma Nanda was another important ruler. He extended his control up to the northwest part of the subcontinent.
-Rajagriha (present-day Rajgir) in Bihar was the capital of Magadha for several years.
-Later the capital was shifted to Pataliputra (present-day Patna).
-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.
-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.
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.