CIVIL SERVICES (PRELIMS) SPECIAL

Quick Revision Notes

on Indian History
Indian History forms an
important part of the General
Awareness paper of Civil Services (Prelims) Examination.
Based on analysis of types of
questions asked in previous
years, we have compiled this
feature to help you to be better
prepared for the examination, as
also to make your preparation
easier. This will be a regular feature in the magazine and in
coming months we will also
provide you with similar notes
on Indian Constitution and
other topics.
Beginning of
Magadhan Ascendancy
and beyond
1. Magadha kingdoms
most remarkable king was
Srenika or Bimbisara, who
was anointed king by his
father at the young age of 15.
2. The capital of Bimbisaras kingdom was Girivraja. It was girded with
stone walls which are among
the oldest extant stone structures in India.
3. The most notable
achievement of Bimbisara
was the annexation of neighbouring kingdom of Anga or
East Bihar. He also entered
into matrimonial alliances
with ruling families of
Kosala and Vaishali. The
Vaishali marriage paved the
way for expansion of Magadha northword to the borders of Nepal.
4. Gautama Buddha and
Vardhaman Mahavira preached their doctrines during
the reign of Bimbisara.
5. The modern town of
Rajgir in the Patna district

was built by Bimbisara. He

had named it Rajagriha or the
kings house.
6. Bimbisara was succeeded by his son Ajatshatru. Tradition affirms that Bimbisara was murdered by Ajatshatru.
7. To repel the attacks of
the Vrijis of Vaishali, Ajatshatru fortified the village of
Pataligrama, which stood at
the confluence of Ganga and
Sona rivers. This fortress,
within a generation, developed into the stately city of
Pataliputra (modern day
Patna).
8. According to the
Puranas, the immediate successor of Ajatshatru was
Darsaka, after whom came
his son Udayi.
9. The name of Darsaka
also occurs in a play named
Svapna-Vasavadatta, attributed to Bhasa, which represents him as a brother-in-law
and contemporary of Udayana, king of Kausambi.
However, Jain and Buddhist
writers assert that Udayi was
son of Ajatshatru.
10. Bimbisaras dynastic
lineage ended with the Nanda dynasty taking over the
reigns of Magadha. The first
king of Nanda dynasty was
Mahapadma or Mahapamapati
Nanda. He was succeeded by
his eight sons, of whom the
last was named DhanaNanda.
11. Dhana-Nanda was
overthrown
by
Chandragupta Maurya, the
founder of a new and more
illustrious dynasty.
12. Among the State

functionaries, the Purohit

was of special importance in
Kasi-Kosala, as we learn
from Ramayan and several
Jatakas. In Kuru-Panchal and
Matsya countries it was the
Senapati who held the special place.
13. The armies of the
period usually consisted of
infantry, cavalry, chariots
and elephants. While rulers
of deltaic regions were
known to maintain small
naval fleets, a big naval
department came into being
only during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya.
14. The Indian infantry
usually carried long bows
and iron-tipped arrows
made of cane. They used to
wear cotton garments. The
chariots of the cavalry were
drawn by horses or wild
asses and carried six soldiers
apiecetwo bowmen, two
shield bearers and two
charioteers.
15. Greek writers bear
testimony to the fact that in
the art of war Indians were
far superior to other peoples
of Asia. Their failure against
foreign invaders was often
due to inferiority in cavalry.
Indian commanders pinned
their faith more in elephants
than horses.
16. The oldest source of
revenues was the bali. Bhaga, the kings share of reaped
corn, became the most
important source of State
revenue in course of time.
Among the most important
revenue officials was the
Grama-bhojaka or village
head-man.

362 ! NOVEMBER 2003 ! THE COMPETITION MASTER

17. The early Buddhist

texts refer to six big cities
that flourished during the
days of the Buddha. These
were: Champa (near Bhagalpur), Rajagriha (in Patna
district), Sravasti (SahethMaheth), Saketa (Oudh),
Kausambi (near Allahabad)
and Benaras (Varanasi).
18. The usual recreations of women during the
Magadhan era were singing,
dancing and music. Little
princesses used to play with
dolls called panchalikas.
19. The chief pastimes
of knights were gambling,
hunting, listening to tales of
war and tournaments in
amphitheatres.
Buddhist
texts refer to acrobatic feats,
combats of animals and a
kind of primitive chess
play.
20. The principal seaports of the period were:
Bhrigukachcha
(Broach),
Surparaka (Sopara, north of
Mumbai), and Tamralipti
(Tamluk in West Bengal).
21. The chief articles of
trade during the Magadhan
era were: silk, muslin,
embroidery, ivory, jewellery
and gold. The standard unit
of value was the copper
Karshapana, weighing a little more than 146 grains. Silver coins, called Purana or
Dharana, were also in circulation. The weight of a silver
coin was a little more than 58
grains, which is one-tenth of
that of the Nishka known to
the Vedic texts.
22. The first undoubted
historical reference to
image-worship by an Aryan

CIVIL SERVICES (PRELIMS) SPECIAL

tribe occurs in passage of
Curtis, who states that an
image of Herakles was carried in front of Paurava
army as it advanced against
Alexander.
23. The early Magadhan period saw development of variant languages
from Sanskrit. In the towns
and the villages a popular
form of Sanskrit, Prakrit,
was spoken. This had local
variations; the chief western variety was called
Shauraseni and the eastern
variety Magadhi. Pali was
another local language. The
Buddha, wishing to reach
wider audience, taught in
Magadhi.
Persian and
Macedonian Invasions
24. Cyrus, the founder
of the Achaemenian empire
of Persia, destroyed the
famous city of Kapisa near
the junction of the Ghorband
and Panjshir rivers northeast of Kabul.
25. The successor of
Cyrus, Darius sent a naval
expedition to the Indus
under the command of Skylax. This expedition paved the
way for the annexation of the
Indus valley as far as the
deserts of Rajputana. The area
became the most populous
satrapy of the Persian
empire and paid a tribute proportionately larger than all the
rest360 Eubic talents of
gold dust, equivalent to
more than a million
sterling.
26. Once the Persian
hold over Indian possessions
became weak, the old territory of Gandhara was divided
into two parts. To the west of
Indus river lay the kingdom
of Pushkalavati in the modern district of Peshawar; to
the east was Takshasila in
present district of Rawalpin-

di. Tradition affirms that

Mahabharata was first recited
in Takshasila.
27. In 331 B.C., Alexander inflicted heavy blows
on the king of Persia and
occupied his realm. In 327
B.C. Alexander crossed the
Hindukush and resolved to
recover the Indian satrapies that had once been
under his Persian predecessors.
28. To secure his communications, Alexander garrisoned a number of strongholds near modern Kabul
and passed the winter of
327-326 B.C. in warfare with
fierce tribes of Kunar and
Swat valleys.
29. Alexander finally
crossed Indus river in 326
B.C. using a bridge of boats.
Ambhi, the king of Taxila
gave him valuable help in
this.
30. Alexanders march
faced a major hurdle when it
reached the banks of
Hydaspes (modern Jhelum)
river, near the town of
Jhelum. Here he faced stiff
resistance from Paurava
king (Porus).
31. After crossing the
Akesines (Chenab) and the
Hydraotes (Ravi), Alexander
stormed Sangala, the stronghold of the Kathaioi, and
moved on to the Hyphasis
(Beas). He wished to press
forward to the Ganga valley,
but his war-worn troops
refused. Alexander erected 12
towering altars to mark the
utmost limit of his march, and
then retraced his steps to
Jhelum.
32. During the return
journey, Alexander received
a dangerous wound while
storming a citadel of the
powerful tribe of the
Malawas. He returned to
Babylon after a long and
treacherous journey and

died soon after in 323 B.C.

33. The Persian conquest unveiled India for the
first time to the Western
world and established contact between the people of
both regions.
34. The introduction of
new
scriptsAramaic,
Kharoshti and the alphabet
style Yavanani by Panini
can be traced to Greek
source.
35. The Macedonian
garrisons were swept away
by Chandragupta Maurya.
However, these were not
wiped out completely.
Colonies like Yavana continued to serve the king of
Magadha just as they served
the Macedonians, and
carved out an independent
kingdom only after the sun
set of Magadha.
36. One positive outcome of Alexanders invasion was that Greeks of later
ages got to learn lessons in
philosophy and religion
from Indian Buddhists and
Bhagavatas and Indians
learned use of coins, honoured Greek astronomers
and learned to appreciate
Hellenistic art.
37. One of the most
remarkable
things
in
the foreign policy of
Alexander was his encouragement of inter-racial
marriages. He was the first
ruler known to history who
contemplated the brotherhood of man and the unity
of mankind. The White
Kafirs
of
Kafiristan,
classed in Ashokas edicts
as definitely Greeks, are
said to be descended
from Alexander s men.
Of the ruling Frontier
families,
eight
claim
direct lineage from the son
born to Alexander by
Cleophis queen of the
Assakenoi.

363 ! NOVEMBER 2003 ! THE COMPETITION MASTER

Jainism and
Buddhism
38. The parents of
Mahavira were Siddhartha,
a Janatrika chief of Kundapura, and Trishala, a Kshatriya lady related to the ruling families of Vaishali and
Magadha.
39. Mahavira married a
princess named Yashoda.
40. Mahavira forsook
the world at the age of thirty
and roamed as a naked
ascetic in several parts of
eastern India and practiced
severe penance for 12 years.
Half of this time was
spent with a mendicant
(beggar) friar (brother)
named Goshala who subsequently left him and became
the leader of the Ajivika
sect.
41. In the 13th year of
penance, Mahavira attained
the highest spiritual knowledge called Kevala-jnana,
on the northern bank of river
Rijupalika, outside Jrimbhikagrama, a little known
locality in eastern India. He
was now known as a
Kevalin (omniscient), a Jina
(conqueror) and Mahavira
(the great hero).
42. Mahavira became
the head of a sect called
Nigranthas (free from Fretters), known in later times as
Jains or followers of Jina
(conqueror).
43. Mahavira died at
Pava in south Bihar, after
wandering for 35 years as a
religious teacher, at the age
of 72.
44. The Jains believe
that Mahavira was not the
founder of a new religious system, but the last of a long
succession of 24 Tirthankars
or ford-makers across the
stream of existence.
45. The 23rd teacher,
Parsav, the immediate predecessor of Mahavira, was a

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prince of Benaras and
enjoined on his disciples the
great four vows of non-injury,
truthfulness, abstention from
stealing and non-attachment.
Mahavira added the vow of
Brahamcharya or continence
to this.
46. Jainism was atheistic in nature, the existence of
God being irrelevant to its
doctrine. It believes that universe functions according to
an eternal law and is continually passing through a
series of cosmic waves of
progress and decline. Everything in the universe, material or otherwise, has a soul.
The purification of the soul
is the purpose of living, for
the pure soul is released
from the body and then
resides in bliss.
47. Jains believe that by
following the three-fold
path of right Belief, right
Knowledge and right Conduct, souls will be released
from transmigration and
reach the pure and blissful
abode or Siddha Sila.
48. Jainism spread
rapidly among the trading
community. The emphasis on
non-violence prevented agriculturists from being Jainas, since
cultivation involved killing
insects and pests.
49. According to the tradition of the Svetambara
Jains, the original doctrine
taught by Mahavira was
contained in fourteen old
texts styled Purvas.
50. Close to 4th century
B.C., due to a famine in
south Bihar, important sections of Jains, headed by
Bhadrabahu, fled to Mysore.
51. To revive the knowledge of sacred texts, which
was passing into oblivion
following the famine in
south Bihar and fleeing of
majority of Jains, a council
was convoked by those who

were left behind in Pataliputra, which resulted in compilation of the 12 Angas which
are regarded as the most important part of the Jain canon.
Another council was held at
Valabhi in Gujarat in 5th or
6th century A.D. which
made a final collection of the
scriptures and reduced them
to writing.
52. The followers of
Bhadrabahu, on their return
to the north, refused to
acknowledge the Angas and
came to be known as Svetambaras (clad in white) as
they wore white garments
notwithstanding the injunctions of Mahavira. The original followers came to be called
Digambaras (sky-clad or
naked).
53. Gautama Buddha
was born as Siddhartha to
Suddhodana, a Raja or noble
of Kapilvastu (in the Nepal
Terai to the north of Basti
district of Uttar Pradesh)
and Maya, a princess of
Devadaha, a small town in
the Sakya territory. Maya died
while giving birth to Siddhartha and he was brought up
by his aunt and step-mother
Prajapati Gautami.
54. The site of nativity of
Gautama Buddha is marked
by the celebrated Rummindei Pillar of Ashoka.
55. Siddhartha was married to Yashodara at the age
of 16. Yashodara was also
known as Bhadda Kachchana, Subhadraka, Bimba
or Gopa.
56. The Great Renunciation took place when Sidhartha reached the age of 29.
For six years he lived as a
homeless ascetic. At Uruvila
he practiced the most rigid
austerities only to find that
they were of no help to him
to achieve his goal.
57. Sidhartha finally sat
under a pipal or Banyan tree

at modern Bodh Gaya, after

taking a bath in the stream of
river Nairanjana, modern
Lilajan. Here he attained the
supreme knowledge and
insight and became known
as Buddha or the Enlightened One, Tathagata (he
who attained the truth) and
Sakya-muni or the sage of
the Sakya clan.
58. The first sermon by
Buddha was given in the
Deer Park near Sarnath, in
the neighbourhood of
Benaras. This sermon was
called the Turning of the
Wheel of Law, and was the
nucleus of the Buddhist teachings.
59. Among Buddhas
early converts was his
cousin Devadatta who, subsequently broke away and
founded a rival sect that survived in parts of Oudh and
western Bengal till the Gupta period.
60. The Buddha is said
to have died at the age of 80
at Kusinagar, modern Kasia
in the Gorakhpur district of
Uttar Pradesh.
61. Buddha taught his
followers the four Noble
Truths (Arya Satya) concerning suffering, the cause
of suffering, the destruction
of suffering and the way that
leads to the destruction of
sorrow.
62. As per Buddhist
teachings, salvation is possible through the Eightfold Path, which consisted
of eight principles of
action, leading to a balanced, moderate life (right
views, resolves, speech
conduct, livelihood, effort,
recollection and meditation, the combination of
which was described as
Middle Way).
63. The doctrine of karma was essential to the Buddhist way of salvation.

364 ! NOVEMBER 2003 ! THE COMPETITION MASTER

Unlike the brahmanical idea,

karma was not used to
explain away caste status,
since Buddha rejected caste.
64. Buddhism was atheistic, in as much as God was
not essential to the Universe,
there being a natural cosmic
rise and decline.
65. The acceptance of
nuns in the Buddhist monasteries was a revolutionary
step from the point of view
of the status of women.
66. The earliest surviving form of Buddhism,
called Theravada, is still
predominant in Sri Lanka
and South-East Asian countries.
67. Shortly after the
death of Buddha a great
Council (Sangiti) was held
at Rajagriha to compile the
religious doctrine (Dharma)
and the monastic code
(Vinaya). A second council
was convoked a century later at Vaishali which condemned the rules in respect
of the ten points and revised
the scriptures.
68. A fresh condemnation of heresy took place
during the reign of Ashoka,
under whose patronage a
third council was summoned at Pataliputra by a
learned monk, Tisaa Moggaliputta, 236 years after
Buddhas death.
69. The fourth council
was held under Kanishka
which prepared elaborate
commentaries
(Upadesh
Shastras and Vibhasha Shastras) on the sacred texts.
70. According to Sri
Lankan tradition, the sacred
texts and commentaries
were written down in books
in first century B.C. during
the reign of King Vattagamani Abhaya. Later, the
texts, as distinguished from
the commentaries, came to
be known as Pali.