NCERT Class 6 History – Comprehensive Bullet-Point Notes

Preliminary Material: Cover, Publication & Foreword

  • Textbook: “Our Pasts–I”, NCERT History for Class VI (2018–19 edition)
  • Published by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT); ISBN 81\text{-}7450\text{-}493\text{-}1; first edition 2006, many reprints till 2017
  • Emphasis of NCF-2005:
    • Link school life to real life, discourage rote-learning and strict subject boundaries
    • Child-centred, activity-based pedagogy; creativity over memorisation
    • Flexible time‐table, rich classroom discussion, hands-on activities
  • NCERT encourages feedback for continuous improvement

Why Study History? (Introductory Essay by Prof. Neeladri Bhattacharya)

  • History = Social Science branch explaining how the present evolved from myriad pasts
  • Imagines life without fire, cultivation, roads—reveals gradual change
  • Past ≠ only kings; includes hunters, peasants, craft-persons, traders, ordinary women, men & children
  • Historians like detectives → examine artefacts, inscriptions, coins, bones, plants, buildings, written records
  • Skills gained: empathy, open-mindedness, critical thinking, ability to “see” other worlds
  • Guiding questions: “Who am I? How does my society work? How did it come to be?”

Chapter 1 What, Where, How and When?

  • Key questions Rasheeda’s curiosity: “How do we know what happened 100 years ago?”
  • What can we know? food, clothes, houses, beliefs, games, art, science
  • Spatial anchors
    • Narmada valley: earliest hunter-gatherers
    • Sulaiman & Kirthar hills: early farmers (\approx 8000 yrs ago)
    • Vindhyas & Garo hills: rice cultivation
    • Indus & tributaries: first cities (\approx 4700 yrs ago)
    • Ganga & Son: later cities, Magadha kingdom (\approx 2500 yrs ago)
  • Movements & interactions: livelihood search, disasters, trade, conquest, pilgrimage, teaching → cultural exchange
  • Names of land: ‘India’ from Sindhu/Indus via Iranians/Greeks; ‘Bharata’ from Rigvedic tribe
  • Sources
    • Manuscripts (palm leaf, birch bark) – hand-written
    • Inscriptions (stone/metal) – royal orders, records
    • Archaeology – tools, buildings, pottery, coins, bones, charred seeds
  • ‘Pasts’ plural: diversity of experiences; some groups recorded, others silent
  • Dating systems: BC/AD, BCE/CE, BP; scripts vs. languages; decipherment example: Rosetta Stone (Greek + Egyptian)

Chapter 2 On the Trail of the Earliest People

  • Hunter-Gatherer life
    • Food via hunting, fishing, gathering diverse plants (tropical richness)
    • Reasons for mobility: resource depletion, animal migration, seasonal fruiting, water sources, social visits
  • Stone tools
    • Oldest (Palaeolithic) >2 mya; uses: cut meat, scrape hides, chop roots; techniques: stone-on-stone & pressure-flaking
  • Sites & habitats
    • Habitation sites, factory sites; Bhimbetka rock shelters; Kurnool caves (traces of fire)
  • Changing environment \sim 12{,}000 yrs ago → warmer, grasslands, more herbivores → beginnings of herding & fishing; wild cereals observed
  • Chronology
    • Palaeolithic (Old Stone, 2 mya–12k BCE) → Lower, Middle, Upper (covers 99\% human history)
    • Mesolithic (Middle Stone, 12k–10k BCE) microliths
    • Neolithic (New Stone, 10k BCE onward)
  • Art: rock paintings (M.P., U.P.) depict animals; France’s Lascaux parallel

Chapter 3 From Gathering to Growing Food

  • Domestication (~12k yrs ago)
    • Wheat & barley (Sulaiman hills), rice (Vindhyan north), sheep, goat, cattle, dog (first tamed)
    • Process: selection of disease-free, high-yield traits → domestic forms (smaller horns/teeth)
  • New lifestyle
    • Sedentary villages; storage (clay pots, baskets, pits)
    • Animals as ‘store’ of food (meat & milk)
  • Archaeological evidence (grain + bones table) → sites: Mehrgarh, Koldihwa, Mahagara, Chirand, Hallur, Paiyampalli etc.
  • Mehrgarh (Pakistan): earliest village; barley/wheat, sheep/goat → later cattle; square houses with storage; burials with goat skeletons
  • Daojali Hading (Assam): jadeite, fossil-wood tools, hint of China trade
  • Neolithic tools: polished axes, mortars & pestles; pottery; cotton cultivation (\sim 7000 yrs ago)
  • Tribal social pattern: land/forest common property; occupations gendered yet shared; leadership via age, bravery, ritual knowledge

Chapter 4 In the Earliest Cities (Harappan Civilisation)

  • Timeline & spread: c.2700–1900 BCE; Indus & tributaries + Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Sindh
  • Urban planning
    • Citadel (west, higher) & lower town (east)
    • Baked-brick interlocking walls; Great Bath (Mohenjodaro); fire-altars (Kalibangan, Lothal); granaries
    • Standardised houses with courtyard, bathrooms, wells; covered drainage with inspection holes
  • Crafts & trade
    • Materials: stone, shell, faience, copper, bronze, gold, silver
    • Beads (carnelian), weights (chert), long stone blades, seals (pictographic script)
    • Cotton textiles; spindle whorls
    • Raw materials: copper (Rajasthan/Oman), tin (Afghanistan/Iran), gold (Karnataka), lapis & stones (Gujarat/Afghanistan)
  • Food production: wheat, barley, pulses, rice, sesame, etc.; plough (toy model); possible irrigation due to low rainfall; mixed herding strategies
  • Dholavira & Lothal (Gujarat): three-part city, stone inscriptions; dockyard + bead workshop
  • End (after 1900 BCE): urban decline, script vanishes; theories: drying rivers, floods, deforestation, loss of authority → eastward migration

Chapter 5 What Books and Burials Tell Us

  • Rigveda (\sim 1500–1000 BCE)
    • >1000 hymns (suktas) to Agni, Indra, Soma; oral tradition in Vedic Sanskrit; composed by rishis incl. women
    • Insights on cattle/horse/chariot warfare; gifts & yajnas; jana & vish; early varna concept; dasa/dasyu opponents → later ‘slave’
  • Languages: Indo-European family links (mother/matr/matr), Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burman
  • Megaliths (c.1000 BCE onward)
    • Stone circles marking burials (peninsular India, NE, Kashmir)
    • Grave goods: Black-and-Red Ware, iron weapons, horse remains → social differentiation
    • Brahmagiri grave with 33 gold beads etc. vs. pot-only burials
  • Inamgaon (Maharashtra, 3600–2700 yrs ago)
    • Pit burials; granary; skeleton in huge funerary jar; millet, wheat, barley; bones of cattle, deer, fish → mixed economy
  • Skeletal analysis: sexing via pelvic bone; Charaka’s 360 bones count (includes cartilage/joints)

Chapter 6 Kingdoms, Kings and an Early Republic

  • Rise of Janapadas (>3000 yrs ago) via ashvamedha & big sacrifices; rajas recognized
  • Janapada → Mahajanapada (~600–300 BCE)
    • Fortified capitals; paid armies; punch-marked coins; systematic taxes
    • Magadha: Ganga & Son rivers, elephants, iron mines; capitals Rajagriha → Pataliputra; rulers Bimbisara, Ajatasattu, Mahapadma Nanda
    • Vajji sangha (Vaishali): gana-sangha oligarchy; Buddhist praise for democratic practices
  • Varna ideology (Later Vedic): brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, shudra; hereditary; social debates on inequality; untouchability emergence
  • Agricultural change: iron ploughshare, transplantation paddy; dasa/dasi & kammakara labour

Chapter 7 New Questions and Ideas

  • Buddhism (Siddhartha Gautama, \sim 6–5 cent. BCE)
    • Four Noble Truths: \text{suffering} linked to \text{tanha} (desire); Eightfold Path; karma; ahimsa; use of Prakrit; egalitarian sangha
    • Story of Kisagotami; monasteries (viharas); Buddhist Councils; spread to Sri Lanka, SE Asia, Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan
  • Upanishads
    • Atman–Brahman unity; dialogues (e.g., Gargi, Satyakama Jabala); ascetic speculation; later synthesised by Shankaracharya
  • Jainism (Mahavira, 24^{\text{th}} Tirthankara, c.500 BCE)
    • Five vows incl. extreme ahimsa; agamas compiled at Valabhi \sim 1500 yrs ago; traders’ support; monasticism
  • Sangha organisation: Vinaya Pitaka rules; bhikkhu/bhikkhuni; hierarchical but open to various varnas with permissions
  • Ashrama system (brahmacharya→sannyasa) for twice-born males; gender exclusion

Chapter 8 Ashoka, the Emperor Who Gave Up War

  • Mauryan Empire (Chandragupta, Bindusara, Ashoka) 321–185 BCE
    • Capital Pataliputra; provincial centres Taxila & Ujjain; direct/indirect control; espionage; Arthashastra policies
  • Ashoka (r.272/268–231 BCE)
    • Kalinga war (c.261 BCE) → remorse; inscriptions (Prakrit, Brahmi, Kharosthi, Greek, Aramaic)
    • Dhamma: ethical code (respect elders, non-violence, tolerance, welfare); dhamma-mahamattas; animal hospitals; rest-houses; foreign emissaries (Syria, Egypt, S-Lanka)
    • Lion capital (our emblem); stone pillars; rock edicts (e.g., Kandahar bilingual, Girnar, Dhauli)
  • Administration: hereditary officers, land revenue; megasthenes’ Indica description of splendour & paranoia

Chapter 9 Vital Villages, Thriving Towns

  • Technological change: widespread iron (\sim 2500 yrs ago); plough, axes; irrigation (wells, tanks, canals)
  • Rural social structure
    • Tamil: vellalar (big), uzhavar (ploughmen), kadaisiyar/adimai (landless/slaves)
    • North: grama-bhojaka (hereditary head, tax collector, judge), grihapatis, dasa-karmakaras
  • Sangam literature: urban-rural trade (Puhar poem)
  • Early coins: punch-marked silver c.600–100 BCE
  • Urban archaeology: ring wells, drains, Sanchi reliefs, Bharuch Greek account (imports/exports)
  • Mathura multi-functional city: trade hub, sculptures, religious centre, Kushana capital; inscriptions note goldsmiths, weavers etc.
  • Shrenis (guilds): craft & trade regulation, banking role
  • Arikamedu (Puducherry): Roman trade; amphorae, Arretine ware, local bead industry, dyeing vats; Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions

Chapter 10 Traders, Kings and Pilgrims

  • Long-distance trade
    • Pepper ‘black gold’, gemstones, silk; monsoon sea routes; inland caravans
  • Southern polities (muvendar): Cholas, Cheras, Pandyas (2300 yrs ago) with dual capitals (coast + inland); gift/tribute economy; Sangam praise poetry
  • Satavahanas (Deccan): Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni ‘lord of dakshinapatha’; harishena prashasti (Chapter 11)
  • Silk Route: Chinese monopoly; Kushana control; taxes; gold coins; cultural exchange
  • Kanishka (78–100 CE): Mahayana Buddhism, Buddha statues (Mathura & Gandhara), Bodhisattvas; Buddhist council
  • Theravada in Sri Lanka & SE Asia; cave monasteries Western Ghats (trade route hostels)
  • Pilgrims: Fa Xian, Xuan Zang, I-Qing; carried scriptures, art; Nalanda university (strict merit-gate!)
  • Bhakti rise: devotion to Vishnu, Shiva, Durga; egalitarian ideal; Bhagavad Gita doctrine; temple worship; deity iconography

Chapter 11 New Empires and Kingdoms

  • Gupta Empire (c.320–550 CE)
    • Samudragupta Allahabad pillar prashasti: Aryavarta annexation, Dakshinapatha subordination, gana-sangha tribute, foreign marriages
    • Genealogies: Kumara Devi (Lichchhavi) lineage; Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya) conquers Shakas; court luminaries Kalidasa & Aryabhata
  • Harshavardhana (606–647 CE): Banabhatta’s Harshacharita; Xuan Zang account; capital Kanauj; conflict with Chalukya Pulakeshin II
  • Southern powers
    • Pallavas (Kanchipuram → Kaveri delta)
    • Chalukyas (Aihole, Vatapi; Raichur Doab); Ravikirti prashasti on Pulakeshin II
  • Administration: land revenue, hereditary posts, multi-office holders, nagara-shreshthi, sarthavaha leadership; samantas (feudatories)
  • Local assemblies: sabha (brahmin villages), ur (non-brahmin), nagaram (merchant guild) — functional committees for irrigation, roads, temple management
  • Army: king’s standing troops + samanta forces; land-grant remuneration

Chapter 12 Buildings, Paintings and Books

  • Iron pillar Mehrauli: 7.2\,\text{m},\;3 tonnes, c.1500 yrs old, rust-resistant; inscription to ‘Chandra’ (Gupta)
  • Stupa architecture: relic casket, mud-brick core, stone slabs, pradakshina patha, railings, toranas; Sanchi, Amaravati
  • Rock-cut & structural temples: Bhitargaon brick shikhara, Mahabalipuram monolithic rathas, Durga temple Aihole, Jaina caves Orissa; garbhagriha, mandapa
  • Patronage chain: kings/queens fund; guilds & commoners gift décor (Sanchi ivory workers)
  • Ajanta murals: Buddhist Jataka scenes, natural pigments, torch-light painting technique
  • Literature
    • Tamil epics: Silappadikaram (Ilango), Manimekalai (Sattanar) — merchant Kovalan & righteous Kannagi
    • Kalidasa’s Sanskrit works (Abhijnana Shakuntalam, Meghaduta) — court & nature themes
    • Puranas (old tales): cosmology, genealogy, worship rules; open to all varnas + women
    • Mahabharata & Ramayana: compiled c.1500–2000 yrs ago; Vyasa & Valmiki authorship; Bhagavad Gita philosophy
    • Jataka & Panchatantra animal stories → moral instruction; depicted on stupas (Monkey-King relief at Bharhut)
  • Science & Maths
    • Aryabhata: earth rotation causes day/night; eclipse theory; \pi approximation; Aryabhatiyam
    • Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya advances; invention of symbol 0 → decimal place-value system
  • Medicine (Ayurveda): Charaka Samhita, Sushruta surgical treatise
  • Paper invention in China (c.100 CE) → spread via Silk Route, Arabs → India, Europe
  • Gradual technological innovation (stone → bronze → iron → steel) mirrors social complexity
  • Trade routes (land & sea) foster cultural, religious, linguistic exchanges; precursor to globalisation
  • Ethical thought (Buddha’s dhamma, Ashoka’s edicts, Bhakti egalitarianism) debate hierarchy & violence
  • Heritage conservation: old buildings require ramps, interpretive signage, tactile models & Braille for universal access
  • Maths & science heritage (zero, astronomy, metallurgy) underpin modern STEM pursuits

Chronological Spine (Quick Reference)

  • c.7000\,\text{BCE} First farming at Mehrgarh; silk invention China
  • 2700\,\text{BCE} Harappan urban zenith
  • 1500–1000\,\text{BCE} Rigveda composition
  • 600–300\,\text{BCE} Mahajanapadas, Buddha & Mahavira
  • 321–185\,\text{BCE} Mauryan Empire; Ashoka c.268–231\,\text{BCE}
  • 200\,\text{BCE}–300\,\text{CE} Sangam age; Satavahanas; Kushanas (Kanishka 78–100\,\text{CE})
  • 320–550\,\text{CE} Gupta Empire; Kalidasa, Aryabhata, iron pillar
  • 606–647\,\text{CE} Harshavardhana; Xuan Zang tour
  • 609–642\,\text{CE} Pulakeshin II vs. Harsha; Pallava–Chalukya temples
  • After 700\,\text{CE} emergence of Rashtrakutas, early Islam contacts, spread of Bhakti & science