Indian History, Freedom Struggle and Polity

1. Chapter at a Glance

History and Polity together give about 20–25 questions in NDA GAT and 30–35 in CDS GK, with 4–6 in AFCAT. NDA focuses on the freedom struggle, Indian culture and broad world history; CDS goes deeper into ancient and medieval India and asks statement-based polity questions. This chapter gives a compact but complete outline: ancient India, medieval India, modern India and the national movement, a short world-history section, and the essentials of the Indian Constitution.

2. Ancient India

• Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilisation (c. 2600–1900 BCE): planned cities with grid streets and drainage; sites Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (now Pakistan), Lothal (dockyard, Gujarat), Kalibangan (ploughed field, Rajasthan), Dholavira (water management, Gujarat), Rakhigarhi (Haryana). The script is undeciphered.
• Vedic period: the Rig Veda is the oldest Veda; the Vedic people were pastoral at first. Later Vedic society saw the varna system become rigid and kingdoms (janapadas) grow.
• Sixth century BCE: sixteen mahajanapadas; Magadha rose under the Haryanka, Shishunaga and Nanda dynasties. Buddhism and Jainism arose: Gautama Buddha (born Lumbini, enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, first sermon at Sarnath, death at Kushinagar) and Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara.
• Mauryan Empire (c. 322–185 BCE): founded by Chandragupta Maurya with Chanakya (Kautilya, author of the Arthashastra). Ashoka's Kalinga war (c. 261 BCE) led to his policy of dhamma; his edicts are in Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts. The Sarnath lion capital is India's national emblem.
• Post-Mauryan: Kushanas (Kanishka; Gandhara and Mathura schools of art), Satavahanas, Sangam age in the Tamil region.
• Gupta Empire (c. 320–550 CE): called a "classical age" — Samudragupta (conquests), Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya; Kalidasa at his court; Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hien visited), Aryabhata (astronomy, zero and place value developed), Nalanda founded under Kumaragupta I.
• Post-Gupta: Harshavardhana of Kannauj (Hiuen Tsang visited); Chalukyas, Pallavas (Mahabalipuram temples), Rashtrakutas (Kailasa temple, Ellora), Cholas (strong navy; Brihadeshwara temple, Thanjavur, built by Rajaraja I).

3. Medieval India

• Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526): Slave (Mamluk) dynasty — Qutb-ud-din Aibak (began the Qutub Minar), Iltutmish, Razia Sultan (first woman ruler of Delhi), Balban; Khalji — Alauddin Khalji (market reforms, resisted Mongols); Tughlaq — Muhammad bin Tughlaq (token currency, shifting the capital to Daulatabad), Firoz Shah; Sayyid; Lodi — Ibrahim Lodi defeated at the First Battle of Panipat (1526).
• Vijayanagara Empire (founded 1336 by Harihara and Bukka; capital Hampi); greatest ruler Krishnadeva Raya; declined after the Battle of Talikota (1565). The Bahmani kingdom was its rival in the Deccan.
• Mughal Empire: Babur (Panipat 1526, Khanwa 1527); Humayun (defeated by Sher Shah Suri, who built the Grand Trunk Road and issued the rupiya); Akbar (Second Panipat 1556, mansabdari system, Din-i-Ilahi, Fatehpur Sikri, revenue reforms by Todar Mal); Jahangir; Shah Jahan (Taj Mahal, Red Fort); Aurangzeb (last great Mughal; empire largest in extent).
• Marathas: Shivaji (crowned 1674 at Raigad; Ashtapradhan council; chauth and sardeshmukhi); later the Peshwas. The Third Battle of Panipat (1761) was fought between the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali.
• Bhakti and Sufi movements: Kabir, Guru Nanak (founder of Sikhism), Mirabai, Tulsidas, Chaitanya; Sufi orders — Chishti (Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi).

4. Modern India and British Rule

• Europeans: Portuguese (Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498), Dutch, English (East India Company, 1600), French.
• Battle of Plassey (1757) — Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah; Battle of Buxar (1764) — the British defeated the combined forces of Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daulah and Shah Alam II, gaining the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha (1765).
• Policies: Permanent Settlement (Cornwallis, 1793); Subsidiary Alliance (Wellesley); Doctrine of Lapse (Dalhousie). Dalhousie also introduced railways (1853) and the telegraph.
• Revolt of 1857: began at Meerut on 10 May 1857; leaders — Bahadur Shah Zafar (Delhi), Rani Lakshmibai (Jhansi), Nana Sahib and Tantia Tope (Kanpur), Begum Hazrat Mahal (Lucknow), Kunwar Singh (Bihar). After it, the Government of India Act 1858 ended Company rule; the Crown took over.
• Social reformers: Raja Ram Mohan Roy (Brahmo Samaj, abolition of sati 1829), Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (widow remarriage, 1856 Act), Swami Dayanand Saraswati (Arya Samaj), Swami Vivekananda (Ramakrishna Mission), Jyotiba Phule (Satyashodhak Samaj), Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (Aligarh movement).

5. The National Movement

6. World History in Brief (NDA)

• Renaissance (14th–16th century, Italy) revived learning; the printing press (Gutenberg) spread ideas; the Reformation (Martin Luther, 1517) split Western Christianity.
• Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century (steam engine — James Watt).
• American Revolution (Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776) and French Revolution (1789; liberty, equality, fraternity).
• World War I (1914–18) was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; it ended with the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and the League of Nations.
• Russian Revolution (1917) brought the Bolsheviks under Lenin to power.
• World War II (1939–45) began with Germany's invasion of Poland; it ended after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945). The United Nations was founded on 24 October 1945.
• The Cold War divided the world into US-led and Soviet-led blocs; NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955); India led the Non-Aligned Movement (first summit Belgrade, 1961).

7. The Constitution of India

• The Constituent Assembly first met on 9 December 1946; Dr Rajendra Prasad was its permanent president and Dr B. R. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee. The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 (Constitution Day) and came into force on 26 January 1950.
• The Preamble declares India a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic ("socialist", "secular" and "integrity" were added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976).
• Borrowed features: parliamentary system and rule of law (UK); fundamental rights and judicial review (USA); directive principles (Ireland); federation with a strong centre (Canada); concurrent list (Australia); emergency provisions suspending rights (Germany); fundamental duties (former USSR).
• Fundamental Rights (Part III, Articles 12–35): equality (14–18), freedom (19–22), against exploitation (23–24), religion (25–28), cultural and educational (29–30), constitutional remedies (32). The right to property was removed in 1978 and is now a legal right under Article 300A.
• Directive Principles (Part IV, Articles 36–51) are not enforceable in courts but are fundamental in governance. Fundamental Duties (Part IV-A, Article 51A) — now 11.
• Writs under Article 32: habeas corpus (produce the body — against illegal detention), mandamus (command to perform a duty), prohibition, certiorari, quo warranto (by what authority).

8. Union and State Government

• President: elected by an electoral college of elected MPs and elected MLAs; minimum age 35; term 5 years; can be impeached for violation of the Constitution (Article 61). The President is the Supreme Commander of the armed forces.
• Vice-President: ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha; elected by all members of both Houses of Parliament.
• Prime Minister and Council of Ministers: collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha; the size of the council is capped at 15% of the Lok Sabha (91st Amendment).
• Parliament = President + Lok Sabha + Rajya Sabha. Lok Sabha maximum 552 (now 543 elected); Rajya Sabha maximum 250 (238 elected + 12 nominated). Money bills start only in the Lok Sabha; the Speaker decides whether a bill is a money bill. Joint sittings are presided over by the Speaker.
• Judiciary: Supreme Court (Article 124), judges retire at 65; High Court judges retire at 62. The Supreme Court is the guardian of the Constitution; the basic structure doctrine comes from Kesavananda Bharati (1973).
• Emergencies: national (Article 352), President's Rule in states (356), financial (360 — never imposed).
• Local government: 73rd Amendment (Panchayats, Part IX) and 74th Amendment (Municipalities, Part IX-A), both 1992.
• Constitutional bodies: Election Commission (324), UPSC (315), Finance Commission (280), CAG (148), Attorney General (76).

9. Post-Independence India — Integration, Wars and Security (1947–1999)

CDS and NDA papers increasingly ask about events after 1947, especially those that shaped India's armed forces. This section links political history with military history so that you can answer both kinds of questions from one set of notes.

10. Master Fact Table (articles and numbers)

11. Master Summary Table

12. Mind Map

13. Tips and Tricks

14. Important One-Liners

• Lothal was a Harappan port town with a dockyard.
• Gautama Buddha delivered his first sermon at Sarnath.
• Kautilya wrote the Arthashastra.
• Ashoka changed his policy after the Kalinga war.
• Aryabhata was a Gupta-period mathematician-astronomer.
• Razia Sultan was the first and only woman ruler of the Delhi Sultanate.
• Sher Shah Suri introduced the silver rupiya.
• Akbar's revenue system was designed by Raja Todar Mal.
• Shivaji was crowned at Raigad in 1674.
• The Revolt of 1857 began at Meerut.
• Gandhi's first satyagraha in India was at Champaran (1917).
• The Purna Swaraj resolution was passed at Lahore in 1929.
• The Quit India resolution was passed on 8 August 1942.
• The Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950.
• Dr B. R. Ambedkar called Article 32 the heart and soul of the Constitution.
• The President is the Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces.
• Financial emergency (Article 360) has never been declared.

15. PYQ-Based Questions with Detailed Answers

16. Quick Revision Summary