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Target Prelims Special Material

02-03-2024 1.
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Ancient India

Ancient Towns
Dholavira
✓ Dholavira is the fifth greatest metropolis of the Indus Valley Civilization, after Mohen-jo Daro,
Ganweriwala, and Harappa in Pakistan, and Rakhigarhi in Haryana, India.
✓ On the arid island of Khadir in Gujarat, the ancient city of Dholavira, the southern centre of the
Harappan Civilization, is located.

✓ The archaeological site, which was occupied between 3000 and 1500 BCE and is one of the best surviving
urban settlements from the time in Southeast Asia, consists of a fortified city and a cemetery.
✓ Two seasonal streams supplied water to the walled city, which has a highly guarded fortress and
ceremonial grounds, as well as streets and homes of varying percentage quality, indicating a tiered
socioeconomic hierarchy in the region.
✓ The Dholavira people’s tenacity in their quest to live and develop in a tough environment is
demonstrated through a complex water management system.

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✓ The site includes a large cemetery with cenotaphs of six types testifying to the Harappans unique view of
death.
✓ Bead processing workshops and artefacts of various kinds such as copper, shell, stone, jewellery of
semi-precious stones, terracotta, gold, ivory and other materials have been found during archaeological
excavations of the site, exhibiting the culture’s artistic and technological achievements.
✓ Evidence for inter-regional trade with other Harappan cities, as well as with cities in the Mesopotamia
region and the Oman peninsula have also been discovered.
✓ Archaeologist Jagat Pati Joshi found it in 1968.

Rakhigarhi
✓ Rakhigarhi is the largest Harappan site in the Indian subcontinent.

✓ Other large sites of Indus valley Civilization (Harappan civilization) in Indian sub-continent are Harappa,
Mohenjodaro and Ganveriwala in Pakistan and Dholavira (Gujarat) in India.

✓ At Rakhigarhi, the excavations are being done to trace its beginnings and to study its gradual evolution
from 6000 BCE (Pre-Harappan phase) to 2500 BCE.
✓ The site was excavated by Amarendra Nath of ASI.

✓ Rakhigarhi is among the five iconic sites announced by Union Finance Minister during Budget Speech in
2020.
✓ The other such sites are Hastinapur in Uttar Pradesh, Sivasagar in Assam, Dholavira in Gujarat and
Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu.

Ropar
✓ Y D. Sharma discovered Ropar in 1953.

✓ A new form of ceramics and ornaments have been discovered.

✓ Characteristic Harappan pottery cert blades, beads, faience decorations, brus Celts, terracotta calies,
and an engraved seal with typical information pictographs were discovered.

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✓ The region is a shadily inhabited area known for being one of the key Indus Valley Civilization excavation
sites.

✓ The Ropar excavations have provided a thorough understanding of the Indus Valley civilisation and the
Harappa Culture.
✓ Archaeologists estimate that Harappans lived at Ropar until around 2,000 BC.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Medieval India

Suffism
• Sufism is Islam’s mystical branch. Sufis reflect the innermost tenets of Islam.
• It emphasises self-awareness, tolerance, righteousness, and global love for all.
• The word derives from the Arabic word for wool (suf), which refers to the rough wool clothes worn by
ascetics and even prophets.
• Sufism is sometimes traced back to the root word saf,
which implies purity in Arabic.
• Due to the increasing materialism of the Caliphate,
some religious individuals in Persia turned to asceticism at
the beginning of 12 AD. They became known as ‘Sufis.’
• The Sufis attempted to purify their inner selves via
severe introspection and mental effort to erase even the
tiniest trace of selfishness and achieve ikhlas, or absolute purity of intention and action.
• The mystics recognized that, in addition to knowledge of the external sciences, intuitive knowledge was
required to obtain illumination to which reason has no access.
• For them, Dhawq, or direct “taste” of reality, was crucial.
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• They opposed complex ceremonies but did not advocate extreme asceticism as the Bhakti saints did.
Different Sufi Orders in India
• Sufism in India embraced numerous indigenous Indian concepts such as yoga postures, music, and dance.
Sufism has followers among both Muslims and Hindus.
• Sufi orders were divided into two categories:
o Bashara – Followers of Islamic law.
o Beshara – Those who were more open-minded.
• The Bashara Sufis obeyed Islamic law (i.e. Sharia), and the
silsilah (continuity) established by one saint was carried on by his
pupils.
• There were 12 of these silsilas. They include silsilas such as Chishti, Suhrawardi, Firdausi, Qadariya, and
Naqshbandi, among others.
• Sharia was not accepted by the Beshara. They were dubbed ‘Mast qalandars/Malangs/Haidaris’. These
wandering saints were popularly referred to as ‘babas.’ They didn’t leave many written accounts.
• They usually practised very strict asceticism and defied or ignored the ceremonies.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Modern India
Viceroys
Lord Chelmsford
• Lord Chelmsford (1868-1933) served as Viceroy and Governor General of India from 1916 to 1921.
• He was born on August 12, 1868, and attended Winchester and Magdalen College, Oxford.
• He succeeded Lord Hardinge as Viceroy of India in 1916.
• His time in India began in the aftermath of the British army's defeat in
Mesopotamia, and Indian discontent grew as the First World War
progressed.
• Chelmsford, a fellow of All Souls College and a member of London’s
County Council in 1904, was a brilliant student of law who served with
distinction as governor of Queensland from 1905 to 1909 and of New
South Wales from 1909 to 1913.
• He returned to England before World War I and joined his 4th Dorset Territorial Regiment, of which he
was a captain, sailing with it to India, where he took over as viceroy from Lord Hardinge, who had been
wounded earlier in Delhi by a bomb thrown into his howdah.

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• Chelmsford's name has historically been linked to that of his brilliant Liberal secretary of state, Edwin
Montagu, who took Joseph Chamberlain's job at Whitehall in July 1917, promising Indian reforms in his
first important speech to Parliament, which he and Chelmsford agreed to in 1918.
• The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, as embodied in the Government of India Act of 1919, increased the
representation of the Imperial Legislative Council in India by transferring several departments of India's
central government to elected Indian members rather than appointing British officials to run them.
• Furthermore, provincial councils in British India would all have elective majorities in the future, and
elected Indian members would run their various departments.
• The Morley-Minto Reforms (the India Councils Act of 1909) introduced a separate Muslim electorate
formula, which was not only retained, but expanded.
• However, British fears of increasingly vocal and violent Indian nationalism led to the extension of the
wartime martial law suspension of civil liberties during the postwar period, prompting Mahatma Gandhi
and his Congress Party supporters to boycott elections, reducing the value of those "reforms" intended to
bring India closer to independent Dominion status, leaving it more autocratically ruled and disaffected than
ever.
• Brigadier Dyer's massacre of unarmed peaceful Indians trapped inside Amritsar's Jallianwala Bagh in April
1919 radically altered the nature of Anglo-Indian relations, revolutionizing millions of Congress members
and converting thousands of hitherto loyal Anglophile Indian professionals into ardent nationalists
demanding swaraj (freedom).
Significant Events under Lord Chelmsford
Lucknow Session 1916
• Ambica Charan Majumdar presided over the Lucknow Session of 1916. For the first time since Surat's

split in 1907, moderates and extremists met in this session, thanks largely to Annie Besant's efforts.
• Lord Chelmsford was the Viceroy at the time of
Lucknow Session.
• The Viceroy had asked Indians to propose
administrative reforms in the post-World War I
scenario. Until that point, the Muslim League was a
minor political force.
• During this session, both the Congress and the Muslim League signed a pact in which a few items were
added without regard for the consequences.
•These included a proposal to give Muslims one-third representation in central government, separate
electorates for communities, a weightage system for minority representation, and so on.

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• The pact was hailed as a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity at the time, and Jinnah was hailed as the
Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity by Sarojini Naidu, but it later resulted in a dangerous form of
communal politics.
Montagu Declaration 1917
• On 20 August 1917, Edwin Samuel Montagu, Secretary of State for India, delivered the Montagu

Declaration in the House of Commons of the British Parliament, outlining British policy for Indian
administration.
• This statement was titled, "Increasing Association of

Indians in Every Branch of Administration, and the

Gradual Development of Self-Governing Institutions
with a View to the Progressive Realization of
Responsible Governments in India as an Integral Part
of the British Empire."
• The statement had lofty ideals, but Annie Besant called it "unworthy of England to offer and India to
accept," and Tilak called it a "sunless dawn."
• Though some moderates supported it, they were dissatisfied because they saw a significant gap between
making a declaration and actually granting their demand for self-government.
• At this point, there was another schism in Congress, and the extremists formed another front, the All
India Liberal Federation, which quickly faded from sight.
Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms
• The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, also known as the Mont–Ford Reforms, were implemented by the

colonial government to gradually introduce self-governing institutions in British India.

• The reforms are named after Edwin Montagu, who served as Secretary of State for India from 1917 to
1922, and Lord Chelmsford, who served as Viceroy of India from 1916 to 1921.
• The reforms were outlined in the Montagu-Chelmsford Report, which was completed in 1918 and served
as the foundation for the Government of India Act 1919.
• These are all related to constitutional changes. Indian nationalists viewed the reforms as insufficiently
far-reaching, while British conservatives viewed them negatively .
Rowlatt Act (1919)

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• Based on the findings of the Rowlatt Committee, the government enacted the 1919 Anarchical and

Revolutionary Crimes Act, also known as the Rowlatt Act.

• This act empowered the government to imprison anyone
suspected of terrorism for up to two years without a trial. • The
government enacted the Montagu Chelmsford Reforms and the
Rowlatt Act in quick succession, as part of the British 'Carrot and
Stick' policy.
• This action shifted the movement's focus. Gandhi organized a massive protest at all levels of government
in India.
Government of India Act 1919
• This act is referred to as a step toward the "end of benevolent despotism" and the establishment of
responsible government. It covered reforms for ten years, until 1929.
• The key principles of the Montague-Chelmsford report were enshrined in its own preamble.
• The subjects of making law were defined in this act for the central and provincial governments. Provincial
subjects were classified into two types: reserved and transferred.
• It also provided for the appointment of three Indians to the Governor General's six-member council, as
well as the establishment of a bicameral legislature at the centre with two houses, the Legislative Assembly
and the Council of the State.
• For the first time in India, this act also provided for the establishment of a Public Service Commission.
Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy 1919.
• The revolutionary terrorism had the greatest
impact on Punjab and Bengal at the time. Amritsar
and Lahore were under martial law. Brigadier-
General Reginald Dyer was in command of Amritsar.
• On Baisakhi Day, April 13, 1919, more than 5,000
people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar,
unaware that such gatherings are illegal.
• The British General perceived it as a conspiracy.
Despite the fact that the crowd was peaceful and
unarmed, the General ordered that it be fired upon.
• At least 400 people were killed in this fire, many of
whom had jumped into a well to escape bullets.
• The incident shook the nation, and Gandhi called the
Satyagraha movement a "Himalayan Blunder."

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Launch of Non-cooperation and Khilafat Movement
• Mahatma Gandhi launched the non-cooperation movement (NCM) on August 1, 1920, as a peaceful and
nonviolent protest against the Jallianwala Bagh
Massacre.
• The NCM programme included a boycott of
British goods, the adoption of Swadeshi, picketing
of liquor stores, a boycott of government offices,
councils, law courts, educational institutions, and
constructive programmes like Khadi and Charkha.
• Gandhi also combined the Khilafat and Non-cooperation Movements in order to strengthen Hindu-
Muslim unity.
• Gandhi promised Swaraj that if his Non Cooperation programme was fully implemented, he would return
in a year. • As a result of NCM, Congress became the people's party. It now had unprecedented backing
from peasants, workers, and intellectuals.
• The Charkha and Khadi became Indian nationalist symbols. The movement also resulted in a general
awareness of the masses' political rights and privileges.

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