How to prepare History
STRTEGY FOR HISTORY
History, undoubtedly, remains one of the 'most popular' optional subjects among those who take the Civil Services Main Examination. If you are not intimidated by a big syllabus, this subject has a number of advantages: it is easier to grasp, there is no dearth of study material and it covers an important segment of General Studies paper on account of overlapping themes. A judicious mix of 'hard work' and 'right strategy' can see one through. In contrast to the Prelim Exam which seeks to stress more on facts and extensive coverage of themes, the Main Exam stresses on conceptualisation behind the facts of historical happenings. Listed below is the 'right strategy' for the mains.
ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY
In the new syllabus, there is greater emphasis on sources of early Indian history. The archaeological study of ancient India, from the prehistoric times to the Iron Age has gained currency now. In archaeology, one has to keep oneself abreast with the latest findings. The politico-administrative history from pre-Mauryan period - rise of Mahajanapadas, to post-Gupta period-beginning of feudalism and centrifugal trends has been given more significance in the revised syllabus. You should start from Indus civilisation and trace the evolution up to the post-Gupta period; Major Philosophical thinkers and schools, wherein you should take into account Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain philosophical schools. In science and mathematics, you can start from the contribution of the Harappans to Aryabhatta.
General approach to Ancient India
Society, social divisions, religion coins trade and commerce especially with foreign countries chronological order of the kings
MEDIEVAL INDIAN HISTORY
To make things simpler in this section, you should categorise it into five subsections: This part of the syllabus gives greater emphasis on contemporary historians and sources of the medieval Indian history. Prepare them for short questions; whereas study the Delhi sultanate in totality. Likewise treat the Mughals holistically, giving special emphasis on the age of Akbar; in this unit, include all the provincial dynasties while the Cholas, the Vijayanagar and the Marathas should be prepared for a major question and for the last which is perhaps the most important unit from the examination point of view, you must have a comparative and evolutionary approach. Important topics of this unit are: Society during medieval times; Bhakti movement: Sankaracharya, Ramanuja, Chaitanya, Kabir, Bhakti movement in South India, Lingayats, Maharashtra Dharma; Sufi-movement; architecture from early Sultanate architecture to the Lodis, to name a few.
MODERN INDIAN HISTORY
Modern Indian history requires a chronological study. To put it straight and simple, it will be advisable to prepare for the revised themes unit-wise.
British conquests and Indian reactions: The syllabus mentions Mysore, Punjab, the Marathas and their resistance against the colonial power. You should study the political, social and economic circumstances leading to the 1857 revolt and other uprisings, such as tribal, civil and peasants.
British economic policy: An important aspect of British colonisation was economic exploitation of India and its ruinous impact on Indian society. In this regard pro-nationalistic and leftist ideological viewpoints must be taken into account.
Socio-cultural aspects: It can include sub-topics like Indian Renaissance, Christian missionary activities, evolution of educational and social policies and its role in rise of nationalism in India. Other sub-topics, such as on literary personalities like Tagore, Premchand, S Bharati and others; film and theatre are important as well. It reflects a shift towards cultural evolution of modern India.
Freedom struggle: A thorough and in-depth study of history of Indian nationalism from 1885-foundation of Congress to 1947 - partition and freedom is a must. This section accounts for 90-100 marks in Main General Studies paper too. Sub-divide the particular unit into following section: 1885 to 1916, which includes early Indian nationalism up to 'Home Rule' movement; 1916 to 1945, which is the 'Gandhian era'. You can start form 'Champaran experiment' to 'Quit India movement'. The Gandhian thought and methods of mass mobilisation should be given special emphasis; 1945 to 1947 - a chronological study of this portion will be the right approach. Analyse how and why Indian nationalism, at the end yielded a paradoxical result, which is partition and freedom together; other strands of national movement, which ran parallel to the Congress movement; rise and growth of the revolutionary terrorism; Swarajists movement; social and communist movements; Indian National Army - role of Subhash Chandra Bose and rise and growth of communalism.
Independence to 1964: This unit includes the Nehruvian era and development of an independent Indian polity, Constitution, planned economy and foreign policy.
WORLD HISTORY
There has been a shift towards conceptualisation and generalisation of events than factual study of individual events themselves. You can start with Renaissance, enlightenment and socialist ideas. Similarly undertake a study of all the major revolutions that shaped the modern world history. Moreover, the two World Wars have to be studied as total wars. Going through the new syllabus, one can safely conclude that mastering the European history can fetch more marks now. The second half of this section makes world history more contemporary and relevant. This section now covers important portions of General Studies' paper too.
A good book on international politics or contemporary history will suffice for this portion. You are now expected to have detailed and in-depth understanding of the post-World War II developments, such as the 'Cold War' and division of world into two military blocs, NATO and Warsaw pact; emergence of the 'Third World' and their decision to remain non-aligned; United Nations; decolonisation and factors constraining development of the newly-independent Latin American and African countries.
At the same time you should study the circumstances leading to the end of the 'Cold War' and the US ascendancy in the world, as well as the disintegration of Soviet Union, fall of Berlin wall and the US and the UN victory in the Gulf war. Another important strand of contemporary history is process of integration deciding fate of nations across the globe, which is 'Globalisation'. Continent-wise, Europe has already achieved a major success in this regard in the form of the European Union.
IMPORTANT TOPICS
ANCIENT INDIA
1.Indus Valley civilization
- Extent, places and its features-
- Important Harappan towns and artefacts excavated
- Society, Religion, script, pottery, seals and information from seals.
- Extension
- Town Planning
- Economical Importance, trade and commerce export and import commodities.
- Political Life
- Causes of decline
2. Aryan Civilization:
- Origin
- Vedic literature
- Religion
- Society
- Polity
- Economic Condition
- Difference between Indus and Aryan
3. Religious movements.
Jainism
- About Mahavira and his teachings
- Councils and its outcome
- Jaina literature and important books and the subjects covered in that books causes for decline
Buddhism
- Buddha teachings
- Councils
- Important books
- Causes for decline
4. The Mauryan Empire
Arthasastra in details
- About Ashoka in detail
- Art and Architecture
- Administration
Inscriptions and messages locations and their significance
- Society
5. Central Asian contacts and their results.
Important kings and their significance if any.
- Indo- Greeks coins
- The Shakas new administrative systems introduced by them
- The Parthians
- The Kushanas - Kanishka in detail
6. South Indian History
- Sangam Age
- Satavahanas
- Cholas
- Pallavas art and architecture
7. Gupta Empire
- Administration
- Article and Architecture
- Social development
8. Post-Gupta period
- Harsha in detail
- Feudal System
MEDIVAL INDIA
1. Turkish Invasion
2. Delhi Sultanat
- Rulers and their contribution
- Aibak, Iltumish, Balban, Aluddin Khalji, Mohamad bin Tughluq, Feroz Tughluq, Sikandar Lodi, Ibrahim Lodi in detail
- Administration (Important terms)
- Art and Architecture
3. Vijayanagar Empire
- Krishna Devaraya in detail
- Important temples and books
4. Mughals
- Babar's wars
- Akbar in detail
- Jahangir, Shahjahan, Aurangazeb in detail
- Administration
- Society
- Causes for decline
- Important books (authors)
- Art and Architecture
MODERN INDIA
4. Marathas
- Shivaji in detail
- Administration
- Peshwas and their administration
2. European powers
- Chronological order of European powers in India
- East India Company
- Important Governor General and their contribution
Warren Hastings, Cornwallis, Wellesley, William Bentinck, Dalhousie, Lytton, Rippon, Curzon, and Mount Patten.
- British rule impact on India
- Social and cultural developments/Awakening
3. Reform movements
- In detail
- Founders and their contribution
- Books
4. 1857 Revolt
- In detail
5. Freedom Struggle
- Formation of INC.
- Moderates and Extremist
- Partition Role of Bengal/Surat Split
- Muslim league
- Lucknow pact
- Minto Morley/Montague Chelmsford
6. Gandhian Era
- His experiments
- Non Cooperation Movement
- Civil Disobedience movement
- Gandhi - Irwin Pact
- August Offer
- Quit India Movement
- Cripps mission
- Cabinet Committee
- Partition
7 .Important
- INC meetings and its resolutions
- President, place
8. Extremist
- Terrorist activities
- Bengal
- Maharashtra
- Some other places
9. Subhash Chandra Bose
- INA formation in detail
How to Prepare History
Preparation for Civil Services is not merely an intellectual exercise of gathering facts and thickening store-house of our knowledge about the subject. Indeed, that is an essential task. But such conclusions have inherent dangers. We know perfectly well that the process of 'knowledge - acquiring' is an unending human endeavour which has no time limit. The preparation for Civil Services, in our opinion, can not be and should not be regarded as a gradual and continuous process of knowledge gathering, as its internal philosophy is centered around two themes, i.e. limited number of attempts and secondly, the age limit. Along with these two limits, i.e., attempt-limit and age-limit, there are other variables too. One of the important variables is its competitiveness. Competitiveness demands not an "absolute" knowledge but 'relative knowledge'. It does not care for the "masters" of the subject but it emphasises to select those aspirants who can easily grasp the 'command' of the optional chosen. In any case, the best civil servants are those who can monitor and manoeuvre between the given lines. In other words, success in civil services demands a carefully drawn strategy with potential to place the aspirants suitably in the 'relative' merit list.
Choice of optionals plays an important role at all the three stages of Preliminary, Main and Interview. Here, the most important question that arises is:- should we adopt an integrated approach ? Or, is it advisable to follow specific strategies at specific stages ? The most suitable and less time-consuming method, in our opinion, is the crucial mix of both types of approaches.
As far as preliminary examination of Civil Services is concerned, there exists a general myth, i.e., "collect facts, get through". But as a careful observer, as you are expected to be, it would not be very difficult to mark out those cross-sections of serious aspirants who find themselves unable to clear even the screening test (preliminary exam) despite the multitude of facts collected from various sources. This observation calls for a serious attention to probe deep into the probable factors of such a great failure. One reason is obvious and it leads us to the existing myth about preliminary test, viz., the myth of fact-gathering. In our opinion, fact gathering alone can not help. We have to be vigilant about other variables too. Before going into fact-gathering exercises, the student should be very clear about the 'nature' of facts which are going to play a crucial role in his selection. He may be advised to classify the gathered facts into 'differential' categories in their descending order of importance. Thus, he may have in the end category-A, category-B, category-C and category-D of facts. If one is preparing for Ancient India, for example, 'category-A' of facts may deal with such areas as literary evidences, archaeological evidences, material-culture, numismatics, important trade centres, important trade routes, list of classics with historical significance, nature of coinage, stages of social and state formations and so on and so forth. Such categorization of facts will help the student in the sense that he, then, could save himself from getting confused under the heavy weight of collected data.
Collecting data as much as possible is prone to another danger. In a historical work, data, i.e. facts are generally interwoven with explicit and/or salient 'frame of references' which can be termed as 'concepts' of history. 'Ancient India' of Prof. R.S. Sharma (NCERT) and another book titled 'Material Culture and Social Formation in Ancient India' by the same author, could provide an example of 'salient' and 'explicit' frames of references, respectively. While the former is an example of salient frame of reference with a very strong conceptual base, the latter could serve the example of 'explicit' one. We would like to suggest the aspirants for the collection of facts in such a manner as facts should not be de-attached from their respective frame of references. This is what we may define as "the collection of facts in their conceptual totality". It has become more important these days when questions are prepared in 'salient' but 'strong' frame of references. In other words, facts should be read along with their implicit concepts.
This understanding leads us to another problem, i.e., the "choice of books" which means the choice of 'facts' along with their guiding concepts. In history, we know very well that facts have always been presented and interpreted with the inherent philosophy of historians and their historiography. In other words, there exist those materials of historical work which may be termed "outdated". Books of R.C. Majumdar or Vidya Bhavan series may fall in this category along with books of L. Mukherjee. In our opinion, students should avoid these books or he should be extra-careful in the matter of collecting data as facts, their frame of references or concepts should not transmit in their notes. But in case of another category, termed as 'relevant' category of books, facts along with concepts should be gathered. Careful analysis of the preliminary examination questions can very well reveal that generally two types of questions are asked in the examination viz., the fact-oriented questions and the concept-oriented questions. For the fact-oriented questions, any script could serve the purpose. But for the concept- oriented ones, students are advised to go only by the 'relevant category of books'. In this respect, one should always remember that even the careful glance of the relevant category of books' could serve the purpose of complete fact gathering as even those facts are generally mentioned in these books too, for which we sometimes opt for outdates category.
Regarding syllabus of preliminary examination, we would like to say few more words. Students should not take the risk of categorising the 'topics' of syllabus in order of their relative importance. The general philosophy of the preliminary examination is to give representation to all the topics in the order of their relative significance. But here comes the element of 'biases of head-examiners with probability to in fuse peculiar twists and extended meanings to the topics in syllabus. Here, it seems that even U.P.S.C. has very little alternative to offer. For example, Indus Valley Civilization has been extended to Mehrgarh in 6000 B.C. while the topic should generally cover the events between 3000 and 1800 B.C. You shall have to take care of this element of uncertainty while drawing the framework of strategy for preliminary examination. Here, we are mentioning the names and authors of those books which fall in the category of relevant books.
So far as Main Examination is concerned, the Optional history has been divided into two papers : the first paper consisting of ancient India and Medieval India while the second consists of Modern India & Modern World. In this stage of examination, the preparation made in the first stage becomes crucial. Since the mode of examination is subjective, the candidates are required to present the facts in a coherent order which means the presentation of facts in a strong but acceptable conceptual frame in a precise, consistent and logical form without going into any debate unless asked for. Debates are indeed an exclusive zone of historians; civil servants have nothing to do with it. They are only concerned with 'acceptable' conclusions needed in their bureaucratic discourse. In other words, you are advised to write your answer in a very precise and compact manner with a very strong conceptual frame but not of 'explicit' type but of 'salient' type in methodology followed by NCERT texts. Obviously, NCERT text books should not be treated as neutral books; devoid of any tinge towards a particular style of historiography. In fact, these are the discourse of a particular type of historiography and historians. We have to remember this fact while answering the first as well as second paper in the exam.
In the first paper, the questions are asked in two sections with one compulsory question from each section. Students have to solve three more questions, selecting at least one from the each section. As far as compulsory questions are concerned, one of them is related to the mapping of important cities either of Ancient or Medieval history, generally in an alternative manner. For maps, students are advised to go through initial homework repeatedly which could make sure for them at least 80 to 85% marks in that particular question. The second compulsory question needs no particular home-work and preparation made in the first stage is enough to take care of this part, the only requirement is to provide its facts a logical, concise and presentative framework. In making comments, students should again follow the reasoning developed by NCERT books.
So far as three other questions are concerned, we have to analyse the case of Ancient & Medieval India separately. For Ancient India, examiners bias is clear. They are clearly in favour of Indus & Vedic cultures along with Rise and Growth of Pataliputra, right from 6th century B.C. to Gupta period. If you have prepared these areas, you should be sure of two questions generally. To reduce the likely risk factors, students are expected to go through Buddhism, Jainism & Brahmanism in the above said period, along with historical constructions centred around Arthasastra, Ashokan edicts, and the chronicles of Bana’s Harshacharita You are also advised to concentrate on technological changes, education and learning and the position of women in this period.
For Medieval history, you are sure of one question from the phase of Indian feudalism, i.e. 800 to 1200 A.D. Prepare this portion seriously. Again, examiners are prone to ask another question either from Balban, Alauddin, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq or Firuz Tughlaq. To avoid risk factors students should also take care of Bhakti movement and art & architecture in Medieval India. From Mughal portion, the questions that are asked are of general type relating to administrative, social or religious policies. One question from South India is sure. Students are, therefore, advised to prepare Chola empire, Rashtrakuta empire, Vijayanagar empire and Maratha in detail. Examiners have particular bias towards Maratha & Chola empire.
Second Paper is also divided into two sections with similar arrangement as in the first paper. There are two compulsory questions asked from each section. For Modern India section, you need not make any specific preparation. The preparation made in the first stage is sufficient to take care of this question. But students are advised to go through previous years' questions as these are invariably repeated, though, in different forms. The same is true for the second compulsory question, too.
For optional questions, there exists a pattern. You are in any case sure of one question from tribal, peasant, caste and working class movements (the previous years paper is however exception to this rule). One question is asked from another area comprising of Educational Development, Civil Service, and Christian Missionaries along with the debates involved in therein. Another question is from economic history revolving around 'various stages' of colonial exploitation starting from 'Drain of Wealth' & Revenue Administration to Industrialization, De-industrialization, Commercialization of Agriculture and Rise and Growth of the Capitalist Class. If you have concentrated your attention properly on these issues during your preparation, you should not have any difficulty in examination hall.
Even for the section of modern world, there exists a trend. From Modern-West section, there is necessarily a question. You may have one question from any of the revolutions starting from American & French revolution to Russian, Chinese, English, Industrial and third world's nationalist revolutions. If you have also prepared Italian and German unification, Fascism and Nazism, the great depression, and the second world war along with western penetration in China and Militarism in Japan, you need not study any more.
The strategy outlined above is more than enough to take care of your Main examination. So far as interview is concerned, 'they' are supposed to ask 'general' questions about history. Sometimes, these general questions are tougher than the specific questions asked in Main examination
