Indian History & Freedom Struggle

The Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilization (c. 2500-1750 BCE) was a Bronze Age urban culture. Key sites and their rivers/discoverers: Harappa (Ravi, 1921, Daya Ram Sahni), Mohenjodaro (Indus, 1922, R.D. Banerji), Lothal (dockyard, Gujarat), Kalibangan (ploughed field, Rajasthan), Dholavira (water management, Gujarat). Memory aid 'HARMOLDKA': Harappa-Ravi, Mohenjodaro-Indus. The civilization had a planned grid layout, the Great Bath (Mohenjodaro), standardized weights, and undeciphered Boustrophedon script. Mother Goddess and Pashupati seal indicate religion. No definite temples or horse evidence. The economy was based on agriculture and trade (Mesopotamia called it 'Meluha'). Decline causes include floods, Aryan invasion theory, and climate change.

Mauryan Empire (322 BCE): Founded by Chandragupta Maurya with Chanakya (Kautilya, author of Arthashastra). Bindusara succeeded him. Ashoka (268-232 BCE) fought the Kalinga War (261 BCE), embraced Buddhism, and spread Dhamma via rock/pillar edicts. Megasthenes (Greek ambassador) wrote 'Indica'. Mauryan capital: Pataliputra. The Gupta Age (320-550 CE) is the 'Golden Age of India' — Chandragupta I started it; Samudragupta (Indian Napoleon) and Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya, defeated Shakas) expanded it. Fa-Hien visited during Chandragupta II. Achievements: Aryabhata (zero, decimal), Kalidasa (Shakuntala), Nalanda University, and the iron pillar (Mehrauli). Memory tip: Gupta = Gold (science, art, literature flourished).

The Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526) had five dynasties — memory aid 'Slave Khilji Tughlaq Sayyid Lodi' (SKTSL): 1) Slave/Mamluk (1206, Qutub-ud-din Aibak, built Qutub Minar; Iltutmish; Razia Sultana — first woman ruler; Balban). 2) Khilji (1290, Alauddin Khilji — market reforms, Malik Kafur's southern campaigns). 3) Tughlaq (1320, Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq — token currency & capital shift to Daulatabad failures; Firoz Shah Tughlaq). 4) Sayyid (1414). 5) Lodi (1451, Ibrahim Lodi defeated by Babur at First Battle of Panipat 1526). The Vijayanagara (1336) and Bahmani (1347) kingdoms rose in the south during this era.

Mughal succession (memory aid 'BHASJAB'): Babur (1526, founder, won First Panipat) → Humayun (lost to Sher Shah Suri, regained throne) → Akbar (1556-1605, greatest; Din-i-Ilahi, Mansabdari system, abolished Jizya, Navaratnas) → Jahangir (Nur Jahan; art patron) → Shah Jahan (Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Jama Masjid — 'Golden Age of Architecture') → Aurangzeb (last great ruler; reimposed Jizya, expanded to maximum but caused decline). Akbar's key battle: Second Battle of Panipat (1556) vs Hemu. Tansen and Birbal were among Akbar's Navaratnas. The empire effectively declined after Aurangzeb's death (1707).

Key medieval battles to memorize: First Panipat (1526) — Babur vs Ibrahim Lodi (Mughal Empire begins). Khanwa (1527) — Babur vs Rana Sanga. Second Panipat (1556) — Akbar/Bairam Khan vs Hemu. Haldighati (1576) — Akbar (Man Singh) vs Maharana Pratap (indecisive, Pratap retreated). Third Panipat (1761) — Ahmad Shah Abdali vs Marathas (Maratha defeat). Plassey (1757) — Robert Clive vs Siraj-ud-Daulah (British foothold in Bengal). Buxar (1764) — British vs combined forces of Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daula, Shah Alam II. Memory aid: All three Panipat battles changed the ruling power of Delhi.

Shivaji (1630-1680) founded the Maratha Empire; coronated at Raigad (1674) with title 'Chhatrapati'. He developed guerrilla warfare ('Ganimi Kava') and a council of eight ministers called 'Ashtapradhan' (PM = Peshwa). After Shivaji, the Peshwas became de facto rulers — Balaji Vishwanath, Baji Rao I (greatest Peshwa, never lost a battle), Balaji Baji Rao (defeated at Third Panipat 1761). The Marathas expanded across India but their power broke after three Anglo-Maratha Wars (1775-1818), ending with the Peshwa's defeat. Memory tip: Shivaji = guerrilla + Ashtapradhan; Peshwa Baji Rao I = expansion north.

Order of European trading companies arriving in India (memory aid 'Portuguese Dutch English Danish French' = PDEDF): 1) Portuguese — Vasco da Gama reached Calicut (1498); Goa became their base (Alfonso de Albuquerque). 2) Dutch (1602). 3) English East India Company (1600 charter from Queen Elizabeth I). 4) Danish (1616). 5) French (1664). Note: Portuguese came FIRST and left LAST (Goa freed in 1961). The English ultimately won supremacy after defeating the French in the three Carnatic Wars (1746-1763). The Battle of Wandiwash (1760) decisively ended French ambitions in India.

Battle of Plassey (1757): Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah (Nawab of Bengal) — won mainly through the betrayal by Mir Jafar. This gave the British their first political foothold. Battle of Buxar (1764): The British defeated the combined armies of Mir Qasim (Bengal), Shuja-ud-Daula (Awadh), and Shah Alam II (Mughal Emperor) — a decisive military victory. Treaty of Allahabad (1765): The Company gained 'Diwani' (right to collect revenue) of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. Memory aid: Plassey = foothold (betrayal), Buxar = real military supremacy + Diwani. This began the Dual Government in Bengal under Clive.

Important Governors-General: Warren Hastings (first GG of Bengal, 1773). Lord Cornwallis (Permanent Settlement 1793, Zamindari system). Lord Wellesley (Subsidiary Alliance — states surrendered defence to British). Lord William Bentinck (abolished Sati 1829 with Raja Ram Mohan Roy; first GG of India). Lord Dalhousie (Doctrine of Lapse — annexed states with no natural heir; introduced railways 1853, telegraph). Memory aids: Cornwallis = 'C for Collect revenue (Permanent Settlement)'; Dalhousie = 'D for Doctrine of Lapse + Development (railways)'; Bentinck = 'B for Banned Sati'. The Doctrine of Lapse annexed Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur, etc.

Revolt of 1857 ('First War of Independence'): Began at Meerut (10 May 1857), immediate cause was the greased cartridge (Enfield rifle) controversy. Mangal Pandey (Barrackpore) fired the first shot. Leaders: Bahadur Shah Zafar (Delhi, nominal leader), Rani Lakshmibai (Jhansi), Nana Sahib (Kanpur), Tantia Tope, Begum Hazrat Mahal (Lucknow). The revolt failed; in 1858 the Crown took over from the East India Company (Government of India Act 1858). Indian National Congress (INC) was founded in 1885 by A.O. Hume; first session in Bombay presided by W.C. Bonnerjee. Memory aid: 1857 = Sepoy Mutiny; 1885 = Congress born.

Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915. Key movements (memory aid 'CRSQ' — Champaran, Rowlatt/Non-Coop, Salt/Civil Disobedience, Quit India): Champaran Satyagraha (1917, indigo, Bihar — first); Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22, withdrawn after Chauri Chaura incident 1922); Civil Disobedience Movement / Dandi Salt March (1930, 12 March, broke salt law at Dandi); Quit India Movement (1942, 'Do or Die' slogan, Bombay). Jallianwala Bagh Massacre: 13 April 1919, Amritsar, by General Dyer. The Lahore Session (1929) declared 'Purna Swaraj'; 26 Jan 1930 first celebrated as Independence Day. India became independent on 15 August 1947.

Revolutionary nationalists and slogans to remember: Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev — hanged 23 March 1931 (Lahore Conspiracy / Saunders murder); Bhagat Singh threw a bomb in the Central Assembly (1929) with B.K. Dutt. Subhas Chandra Bose — formed Azad Hind Fauj (INA); slogans 'Give me blood, I will give you freedom' and 'Jai Hind'. Slogans: 'Swaraj is my birthright' (Bal Gangadhar Tilak); 'Inquilab Zindabad' (popularized by Bhagat Singh); 'Do or Die' (Gandhi, Quit India 1942); 'Vande Mataram' (Bankim Chandra Chatterjee). Memory aid: Tilak = birthright; Bose = blood; Gandhi = Do or Die.