Indian History and Culture

What the official syllabus says

RAS Main Examination, Paper I: General Studies I, Unit I (History), Part B: Indian History & Culture.

• Indian heritage: Fine Art, Performing Art, Architecture & Literature from Indus Civilization to British Era.
• Religious Movements and philosophy in Ancient and Medieval India.
• British Policies and their impact: Political, Economic and Administrative unification of the country.
• Indian National Movement - its various stages & streams, important contributors.
• Socio-religious reform movements in 19th and 20th century and Intellectual awakening.
• Post Independent India - Accession of princely states & Linguistic reorganisation of the states. Development of science and technology. Women Empowerment and women reform movement.

Topics in detail

Indian heritage: art, architecture and literature (Indus to the British era)

• Harappan civilisation: town planning, seals, the bronze dancing girl, the priest-king
• Mauryan and post-Mauryan art: Ashokan pillars, stupas (Sanchi, Bharhut, Amaravati), the Gandhara and Mathura schools of sculpture
• Gupta age: temple beginnings, Sanskrit literature (Kalidasa), science (Aryabhata); the Ajanta paintings of the same period under the Vakatakas
• Temple architecture: Nagara, Dravida and Vesara styles; Pallava, Chola, Chandela and Solanki examples
• Indo-Islamic and Mughal architecture; Mughal and Rajput miniature painting
• Performing arts: classical dances (Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam, Sattriya), Hindustani and Carnatic music
• Literature: Vedic and Sangam literature, Sanskrit classics, Persian and regional literature, Bhakti poetry; colonial architecture

Religious movements and philosophy in ancient and medieval India

• Vedic religion and the Upanishads; the six schools of philosophy (Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, Vedanta); Charvaka
• Jainism (Mahavira, the triratna, Digambara and Shvetambara) and Buddhism (the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, Hinayana and Mahayana, the councils); the Ajivikas
• Rise of Vaishnavism and Shaivism; the Alvars and Nayanars; Shankaracharya's Advaita, Ramanuja and Madhva
• Bhakti movement in north India: Ramananda, Kabir, Ravidas, Tulsidas, Surdas, Mirabai, Chaitanya; Guru Nanak and Sikhism
• Sufism: the Chishti, Suhrawardi and Naqshbandi orders; Akbar's sulh-i-kul

British policies and their impact

• Expansion: subsidiary alliance and the doctrine of lapse
• Land revenue systems: Permanent Settlement (1793), Ryotwari and Mahalwari; commercialisation of agriculture
• Economic impact: drain of wealth, deindustrialisation, railways and telegraphs
• Administrative unification: civil services, police, courts and codified laws; constitutional acts from the Regulating Act (1773) to the Government of India Act (1935)
• Education policy: Macaulay's Minute (1835), Wood's Despatch (1854), universities of 1857

Indian National Movement: stages, streams and contributors

• Early nationalists and the Indian National Congress (1885); moderates and extremists
• Partition of Bengal (1905), the Swadeshi movement and the Surat split (1907); Home Rule Leagues
• Gandhian phase: Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad; Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh (1919); Non-Cooperation; Civil Disobedience and the Dandi March (1930); Quit India (1942)
• Constitutional developments: Simon Commission, Nehru Report, the Lahore session and Purna Swaraj (1929), Round Table Conferences, Poona Pact, provincial ministries of 1937, Cripps and Cabinet Missions, Mountbatten Plan and the Indian Independence Act (1947)
• Streams: revolutionaries (Bhagat Singh, the HSRA), the left, peasants and workers, tribal movements, the Indian National Army, women, and depressed classes (B. R. Ambedkar)

Socio-religious reform and intellectual awakening

• Brahmo Samaj (Raja Ram Mohan Roy), Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj (Swami Dayanand Saraswati), Ramakrishna Mission (Swami Vivekananda), Theosophical Society
• Aligarh movement (Sayyid Ahmad Khan); Satyashodhak Samaj (Jyotiba Phule); Sree Narayana Guru; Young Bengal
• Reform laws: abolition of sati (1829), Widow Remarriage Act (1856), Age of Consent Act (1891), Child Marriage Restraint (Sarda) Act (1929)
• Press, literature and education in the spread of new ideas

Post-independence India

• Accession of the princely states: the Instrument of Accession; Junagadh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir
• Linguistic reorganisation: Dhar Commission, the JVP Committee, Potti Sriramulu and the creation of Andhra State (1953), the States Reorganisation Commission and Act (1956), later states
• Science and technology: atomic energy programme, ISRO and the first satellite Aryabhata (1975), CSIR laboratories, IITs, the Green Revolution, nuclear tests (1974, 1998)
• Women's empowerment and reform: Savitribai Phule, Pandita Ramabai, the All India Women's Conference; the Hindu Code laws, Dowry Prohibition Act (1961), reservation in panchayats and municipalities (73rd and 74th Amendments), the National Commission for Women

Overlaps

Rajasthan's part in these events is on Rajasthan: History, Administration and Integration. The Prelims paper covers the same periods in less depth.