“Ancient & Medieval History 2026: Must-Know Topics for UPSC, SSC, CDS & PSC Prelims” #upsc #prelims

Añadido: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Hi everyone, welcome to culture quantum.

[00:00:03]I understand that now you are in the phase where your preparation is entering into a very exhausting phase and so as so many thought processes must be going on with you at this point of time even a little bit of predictions even little bit of help from the experts that what is most important becomes very handy. So just like last year we came up with the videos related to the probable topics in the entire history portion and uh it covered the portions from ancient history, medieval history and art and culture and so as modern Indian history.

[00:00:42]Some of the questions were directly from those videos and it gives me little bit of pride and happiness that I was bit helpful to you. So continuing with this endeavor this year also I'm starting with the probable topics of the entire history portion and so as the art and culture.

[00:01:06]So now I'm starting with the ancient and medieval history the probable topics and these predictions are based on the pyqs.

[00:01:15]So as I'm calling right now these predictions as FYQs which means future year questions and it is a meticulously and so as curated list after looking at the various exams conducted by UPSC and so as the trend of the UPSC prelims examination. So let's start with some of the topics and uh I'm starting with ancient history.

[00:01:45]So the very first thing in the ancient history I would like to say to you Gupta period is one very important phase in the Indian history and so as it is a very important theme in the ancient history questions of the prelimin examination. So though I know that you have done many classes in the coaching institutions and you must have studied NCERTTs and many other things but Gupta period you must revise. I'll just give you a little bit of probable topic from the Gupta that they have asked about the ports. They have asked about many administrative stuff. Now the titles could be one thing which can be asked from the Gupta period. So Gupta rulers took the titles like Maharaj, Paramarak and Paramishwar. So once again I'm repeating that Gupta rulers took the titles like Maharaj, Paramishwara and Paramarak. Apart from it they have also taken title like Param Dwat and Param Bhagwat. So Param Dwat and Param Bhagwat titles are the ones with which Gupta rulers tried to associate their names with the gods like god Vishnu, light, god Kartik and many other gods from the Hindu pantheon. So remember that titles could be one thing that can be asked from the Gupta period.

[00:03:04]Now moving further the one very important running theme in the prelims examination is the timeline thing. So very often you are asked to arrange the dynasties according to the timeline and also regional dynasties in the recent past has been more important in the prelims examination and sometimes these are the difficult parts of the prelims paper. So let's see some of the regional dynasty in the post Gupta period from north India also and so as the south India also. So I'm starting with the very first dynasty that is Maitrakas.

[00:03:45]Maitrakas ruled in the area of Sorashtra in Gujarat in between 475 to 776 AD. Sinapati Bhtarak was the founder of this dynasty and they ruled from the city of Walabi which was their capital.

[00:04:02]Apart from it, Dhuain first was one of the very important initial ruler and Dhuin first was the king at the time of the first Jane council which was held at Walabi in 512 AD. Then comes the next important ruler of this dynasty whose name was Dhuain second. And Dhuain second was married to the daughter of Harshwarhan which means that he was contemporary of Hershwadan and he has matrimonial relationship with the Pushabouti dynasty of Taneshwar ruled by Hershwarhan. Wang in his book Syuki has mentioned that Dhuain second attended the Priyag assembly convened by Hershwaran. Another very important ruling dynasty in the post Gupta period was mokaris of the kanoj.

[00:04:56]Moaris of the kanoj their origin is traced back to 510 AD and they were shortlived dynasty. By 6006 this dynasty was completely decimated and it became the part of the pushabouti dynasty of the taneshwar. So first of all, Harihman Mohari was the founder of this dynasty and uh obviously in 100 years there were many rulers but the last ruler of this dynasty was Graman and he was important in many sense. He was a powerful ruler and he exercised good power in the area of Kanoj. Kanoj was one of the most important industrial city of that time.

[00:05:37]Often you must have heard about Kano's relation with the IT. So it was the city of the perfumes from the long time but at this time also it was a very important industrial city. So Graeman got married to Rajishri who was the daughter of the Pushabouti ruler Prabhakar Bdan and it was all good between the two dynasties Moharis of Kanoj and the Pushabis of Taneshwar. But both of them had a common enemy and that common enemy was Shashank god of Bengal.

[00:06:09]And in one such fight Shashank God killed Graman and he also killed the ruler of the Pushabi Rajyaan. And in this situation the rise of new ruler has happened in the history of the ancient India that is Hwaran. Harshwardan was able to free his sister Rajasi from the captivity of the Shrank god and he was also able to free the city of Kanoj and he was also the person who sifted the capital of Pushabhuti dynasty from Taneshwar to Koj. After the decline of the Guptas another dynasty with the name of the Guptas that is later Guptas emerged in the mug.

[00:06:52]Remember that Guptas and later Guptas were not associated with each other. But maybe the Mugad rulers, the later Guptas, they continued with the Gupta name to establish some sort of connection with the Guptas of the Prag and Ujan. So moving forward, this dynasty ruled from 490 to 750 AD and their capital was partly Putra. So it's not the Mugad like the Magad of the past. It's a much weaker mug. Krishna Gupta was the founder of this dynasty and the historical records say that his daughter was married to Aditya Wman who was the mokari ruler of Kanoj.

[00:07:32]Jvit Gupta is considered to be the last ruler of this dynasty. Otherwise there are lesserk known things about this dynasty. Previously in Mkhari episode I was talking about the Gaas of Bengal.

[00:07:49]Gaas were the devoted Hindus of the Bengal and Sashank god was the most important ruler of this dynasty. As far as tenure of this dynasty is concerned, it ran from 554 to 636 AD. Hardly 80 years closer to 80 years they have ruled. But these years were very formidable and they posed challenges to many other dynasties. So as previously I mentioned that Sashank god was the one who killed Graman Mohari and so as he also killed Pushabbouti ruler Rajaan after which Harshadhan came to power.

[00:08:26]Shashank was a formidable enemy and he could not be completely defeated until his death in 636.

[00:08:34]Sashank God was also very much anti to the Buddhist faith of that time and Sashank God was responsible for cutting the sacred bodhi tree under which Buddha got enlightenment in Bodgaya. The old Bodhgaya was Urua. Another very important dynasty from the eastern India after the post Gupta period is the eastern Ganga dynasty of eastern India.

[00:09:02]Eastern Ganga dynasty was a very powerful dynasty. But as far as their history is concerned, their history has three phases. So the first phase is basically the classical period which started from 493 AD and it continued till 1,77 AD. So that was the Eastern Ganga classical period and they ruled from Kolinga.

[00:09:28]After that the second phase of the eastern Ganga dynasty started from 1,77 AD continued till four continued till 1436 AD and in this phase eastern Ganga dynasty ruled from Trialinga. The last phase of this dynasty was from 1436 till 1947 and the last branch of the eastern Ganga dynasty ruled from Kundi. That's why they are called as Kimundi Ganga dynasty also. So three phases classical and second phase is called as imperial and third phase is called as Kundi. Now as far as the eastern Ganga dynasty is concerned they ruled entire modernday Udisa at that time and in fact it also included the areas from Chhattisgarh and modernday Andra. What is the biggest contribution of the eastern Ganga dynasty that they created some of the highly renowned world famous temples.

[00:10:28]The most important ones are Jaganat temple of Puri, Sun temple of Konach, Anantasuv temple of Gohaneshwar, Nar Singhv temple of Simhaalam. So these were the temples which they created and a unique type of the temple architecture started to develop under their patronage and this unique style is called as Odisa style but it maintains a little bit of distinctiveness from the original Naga style. For example, that the temples of Dodisa style has dul sikara which is almost vertical from the base but all of a sudden closer to the top it starts curving. Another very important feature of the Odisa temple that they may have boundary walls and the outer walls of the temples are lavishly decorated but they keep the interior walls completely plain. Another important postbupta period dynasty from the central and so has eastern and so as southern India was the kalachuri dynasty.

[00:11:37]Why I have taken the three areas name because there were three branches of the kalachuris. The first branch was the Kalachuris of Mahismati who ruled from 550 till 625 though only 75 years but they were very strong in the areas of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and also some parts of the Andra. As far as the Mahismati branch of Kalachuri is concerned, they were the earliest patterns of the caves which were created in the Allora and the caves which were associated with the Hinduism.

[00:12:12]So in nutshell Kalachuris of Mahesh Mati were earliest patrons of the some of the Hindu caves of Allora. The next branch of the Kalachuris was the Kalachuri rulers of Tripuri and they ruled from 675 till 1212 from the areas of today's Madhya Pradesh and particularly Tripuri is the area of the Jabalpur. So they ruled from the area of the triuri. Then the third branch of the kalachuri is the kalachuris of the kalyani. So kalyani is nadan karnataka. So founder of the third branch was Bjala second who usered power from the chalukia dynasty of karnataka.

[00:12:57]And their rule was also not for very long period but they ruled for somewhere around 200 years in the 12th century AD when Gupta Empire was emerging in north India. Another formation was happening in southern India after the decline of the Satwahanas. Satwanas were replaced by Ikawakus.aku dynasty has a historical importance, religious, cultural importance because it is believed that Lord Ram belonged to the Ikawaku clan. As far as the historical things of the Ikawakus are concerned, initially they were fuditaries of the Satwahanas and when they were fugitaries of Satwana that time they ruled from Dhani Kot. Dhani Kot is the old name of Amraati.

[00:13:48]In some documents Dharan Kot is also mentioned as Dhanyakatak. But later when they have replaced Satwahanas and they have become ruler so they started to rule from Nagarjuna.

[00:14:00]There is another name of Nagarjuna which is mentioned in many of the historical text that is Sri Parvatya. So Sri Parvatya is another name of Nagarajjuna and as such ikavakus at many places are mentioned as Shri Parvatya.

[00:14:17]As far as this name is concerned it is also indicative of thatakus were devotees of the lord Shiva. Seite faith was very popular in the ikawakus. Vasist Puttra Chamat Moola was the founder of this dynasty and the most important ruler of this dynasty was Matari Puttra Viraush Dut. You can find one resemblance in both the names that both the names are carrying the names of mother. It's a tradition which is continuing from the Satwahan period and in Satwahan period also you must have noticed the names like Goautami, Putra, Satkarnney versus Triputra, Pulamay. So matriineal tradition of the Satwahanas continued in the Ikawakus clan. Also as far as the religious beliefs of the Ikawakus are concerned as I said that they were following the seaite faith but at the same point of time Lord Kartiki was also very popular. For example, Virush was devotey of Lord Kartik who is also known as Murugan Swami, Kuk Subramanya Swami and also known as Mayo.

[00:15:25]So he was devotey of Lord Kartik. But one very important aspect of the Chawakus that their allegiance was not just associated with Hinduism. In fact, it was quite open allegiance and one a very interesting fact about the chawakus that on one hand the rulers the males they seem to be the devotees of the Hindu pantheon on the other hand the queens of the kingdom they were quite much associated with the Buddhism. In fact due to the contribution of the queens of the Ikawaku many stupas, monasteries and Buddhist monuments were created in the Nagarjanakunda Dharan Kota and moreover it is due to their contribution due to their patronage Amraati school of art flourished.

[00:16:14]Karnataka was always the land of many dynasties from the ancient times and one of the very important dynasty in the Karnataka was a Kadamba dynasty.

[00:16:26]So Kadambas ruled in Karnataka from 340 AD to 545 AD near about 200 years. Mayor Sharma was the founder of this dynasty.

[00:16:36]But the most important ruler of this dynasty was Kakusta.

[00:16:41]Initially the capital of the kadamba was Banawasi which is Uttar Kanada district of the modern times and later it is the Kakusta who shifted the capital from Banawasi to the present day Kolar which is in the outskirts of the Bangalore. As far as the achievements of the Kakusta is concerned he is the one who was responsible for territorial expansion of Kadamba dynasty. Apart from it, he is also remembered for constructing many temples related to Hindus and so as many promises associated with the Ginas. So for example he created Kola temple, Kedareshwar temple and many of the vasadis of the Jinas at Shaman Belgola and Halvidu. Another very important fact about Kakusta's tenure is his court poet Duranita who was equally competent in Sanskrit and Canada and Durvanita wrote Kakusta charit which is basically the biography of the Kakusta. Apart from it, it is believed that the earliest Canada writings started to emerge from the Kadamba dynasty period time onwards and they were the one who were patronizing Canada literature and the Canada language. Next important dynasty of Karnataka is the western Ganga dynasty.

[00:18:07]You must not be confused that western Ganga and Eastern Ganga were associated.

[00:18:12]names are similar but western Ganga is completely different from the eastern Ganga dynasty of Udisa. So let's start the history of the western Ganga. They ruled from 350 AD to 1,000 AD. As far as this dynasty is concerned, it was a very prominent dynasty which ruled the today's southern Karnataka, parts of Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala also. As far as the foundation of this dynasty is concerned, Kongari Wman Madhava was the founder of this dynasty and they ruled from the area of the Kolar. Kolar which was capital of the previous dynasty which I mentioned Kadambas. It was also the capital of the western Ganga dynasty. But in the later times western Ganga rulers shifted their capital to Talakad. Talakad is on the banks of river Kadiri. As far as the contribution of the western Ganga dynasty is concerned, their most important contribution was the promotion of the Hinduism and Janism. And moreover, not only they promoted these two religions but also they promoted the structures related to institutional structures related to these two religions. So as the promotion of the Sanskrit language and Canada language. One of the earliest pros of the Canada language is Chawun Raya Puran which was written in 970s by Chawun Raya. So Canada has taken a very big leap during the tenure of the western Ganga dynasty.

[00:19:48]Kalabharas were one very important dynasty from the southern India particularly the area of Tamil Nadu.

[00:19:54]Their rule was somewhere in between 3rd century AD to 6th century AD and very often they are considered as a very mysterious dynasty because they disrupted the sungum age developments and they were not at all having any kind of allegiance to the Tamil culture and Tamil literature. So when we look at the coins of the calabaras their coins were bearing the language praat. So symbols and everything was resembling in the manner of the language praat. Apart from at kalabras they were known for patronizing Buddhism and jarism but they were not known for the patronizing the developments of the sungam age of that time and many a times kalabhara's duration is considered to be dark ages in the history of the Tamil area. Then what about how they their rule came to an end. So it is believed that in the 6th century AD Sim Vishnu of the Palawa dynasty completely defeated Kalabbras and restored the Tamil pride. I know that regional dynasties and names of dynasties their tenure everything is not easy to absorb. So for your convenience my handwritten notes I will be uploading on my telegram channel that is t.me me culture quantum be associated with it and you can download all these notes of these lectures from the telegram channel. When you look at the trend of the UPSC prelims paper and particularly from the ancient and medieval ages you will find that there is a theme which is popular in the question paper that is land grants. different names of the land grants.

[00:21:41]As far as the land grant history is concerned, Satwanas were the first ruler who started the practice of granting the land. So if at all if you get a question that land grant started from the period before Satwana. So automatically it is wrong. Satwahana started the practice of the land grant but it became a very broader practice at the time of the Guptas. And during the tenure of the Guptas, land grants were not only given to the priest or the priestly class but it was also given to the officials and the people who were working in the kingdom. So let's talk about those land grants which were popular at the time of the Guptas and also after the post Gupta period.

[00:22:23]The very first category of the land grant is called as nidharmmas. So they were permanent land endowments meaning it has been permanently given to a person and whatever he wants to do he can do with that. Then the second one is referred as ni dharma ashayana. So ni dharma ashayana is also a permanent land endowment and there is a specific condition which is mentioned that the person who has got ni dharma ashayana cannot be alienated from it and indefinitely he can reap the benefits of the ni dharma ashayana. The third category of the land grant was uprad dharma. Once again the third category of the land grant during Gupta period was Apra dharma and though it is also a land grant which is given to a person who can take all the benefits of it but there is a condition that he cannot make subsequent gift of this land grant. It means that the person can enjoy the benefits of the land but he cannot give it to anybody else. Then comes the fourth category of the land grant which is called as bumhichidra naya. Bumhich chachidra naya is a category of the land which is barren. And if a person who has turned barren land to into a cultivable land. So this land grant is given to the person and moreover these land grants were exempt from paying any kind of rent or taxes to the government. So these were the official category land grants.

[00:23:59]But the land grants which were given to the brahinss and the priestly class they were called as brahada. So if the group of brahinss are given land grant for their service these lands were called as brahada.

[00:24:15]The next land grant given to the brahin society was agrahara or mangalam. These were often entire village given to the Brahmin people and these villages were taxexempt villages. The third category is the Devadan land grant. Devadan land grant was given to the temple endowments or temple institutions. It was meant for the maintenance of the deity and this land grant was given to the temple authorities who could be brahinss also and who could be non- brahinss also in the post Gupta period in the area of Oisa. Karasaw Sassan was one of the land grant and this land grant though it is given to the people but it was not exempted from paying the taxes. So basically the grantee was responsible for paying some portion of the revenue which is generated from this land grant which is called as karas sasan. During the sa mage particularly when the early chola rulers were there and once they were replaced by the palavas. So in both the dynasties there was a special category of the land grant which was called as irripati. So irripati was a land grant which was meant for the revenue which is generated from this land to maintain the irrigation tanks and irrigation tanks in those areas were called as I. So irriati is a land grant meant for maintenance of the irrigation tanks during the tenure of the early cholas and the palavas. Moving further the mainline Chola dynasty or the imperial chola dynasty were also responsible for many of the land grants and in fact there was a categorization classification in the land grants of the mainline Chola dynasty just like the Guptas. So the very first land grant of the mainline Chola dynasty is the Salaboo. Salaboga land grant was meant for maintenance of the schools and it was meant for the education. Then comes Palachandam. Palachandam was another land grant and this land grant was given to the Jan institutions known as Palis.

[00:26:23]Pal means Jan temples, Jan monasteries or Jan basadis. Another very important land grant during the mainline Chola dynasty period is tirona matakandi. Tuna matakandi was given to the temples and it was meant for the maintenance of the deity. Apart from it vagayi was a category of the land which was owned by the nonrahind present proprietors of the chola period. So what does it indicates that during the Chola period particularly this imperial chola period there were the patient proprietors who were non- brahinss also another very important theme in the prelims examination particularly when it comes to the ancient India so measurement units are often asked in exam so let's start with the measurement units which were used during the vic period and particularly ally the length measurements. So the very first is called as angula. Angula is the width of the finger. Then comes after the angula is the hust. Hust is the measurement starting from the elbow until the tip of the middle finger. So it is approximately 45 cm. Then comes the dhanus. So dhanus is basically the length of a dhanush that is bow you know and it comes around 1.9 m. And then another very important unit at this time was yojun. So yujun was for the larger distances which means 12 to 15 kilometer. As far as the weight units of the vic period is concerned. Rati was the smallest unit and rati is basically weight of a gungja seed which comes around.11 g. After the rati is the kers. Kurse is basically made from 16 rtis. So you can do the multiplication and arrive at what is the exact gram weightage of the kers.

[00:28:25]The time unit measurement of the vic period most important was muhurat and muhurat is 48 minute and then comes the guti and nadi both of them are 24 minute duration. So let's talk about the measurement units of the classical period. Which period is called as classical? So basically starting from the moras till the guttas is the classical period. As far as the length unit of the classical period is concerned they continued with the angula and husta. But apart from it they also came up with two more units. The unit is dand which is approximately closer to 3 m and kro which is approximately equivalent to 3.2 km. Then come to weight and volume units. They continued with the concept of the rati. Then comes the swarn which is closer to 11 grams.

[00:29:17]Suarna was followed by t tolah. Very often we use the word t tolah in purchase of the gold. So t tolah is 11.6 g. And then comes don. Don was used for measuring the volume and it is approximately closer to equivalent to 200 liter. In the classical age nartana was the land measurement. And what was narana in a particular day a pair of oxen how much land they can plow is the nartana and it comes around 67 acre apart from it chetra at this point of time was called as agricultural land and some of the popular land measurement units at this time were kulyab donavab adhab so kulyab was the uh largest unit then comes the dronavab and adhab was closer to half acres of land.

[00:30:19]Coins are also one of the very important themes in prelims exam and very often these are the most difficult questions of the prelims exam. So I'll not give you entire list of the coins. I have just curated only two coins. The very first one is or A uri.

[00:30:38]Our was the standard Roman gold coin which was used in the Indo-Roman trade in between 1st century BC till 4th century AD. So it covers the period of the Guptas. Also the second important coin as my perspective is concerned for this year paper is Copeki. Copeki was also the gold coin which was mentioned by the famous traveler to Vijayagar Abdul Razak of Samarand and this Copeki was equivalent to half a vaha. Vaha was the gold coin of the Vijayanagar kingdom and vaha was also called as pagoda. In the coin aspect remember this two that is Copeki mentioned by Abdul Razak and Our which was the standard gold coin of the Hindu Roman trade in between 1st century BC to 4th century AD.

[00:31:35]Recently Ber manuscript was in the news from where it has been found. Bab manuscript has been found from a place called Kucha in Zinziang province of China and it was found in a Buddhist Mahavihar. So what is so special about the Bavar manuscript? Actually it is one of the oldest surviving manuscript which talks about the Indian system of the Ayurveda or Indian medicinal system Ayurved lake of Kashmir which is historically known as Mahapad Malik was also recently in the news and as far as the this lake is concerned it is fed by the Jalam river and moreover this Mahapadma lake there There was one ruler of the Utala dynasty of the Kashmir whose name was Avanti Wman. He took measures to stop the flooding from the Wooler lake or Mahapadma lake into agricultural areas.

[00:32:35]His engineer whose name was Suya. He dredged the river bed of the Jalam river and so as this lake and after dredging embankment was done on this particular Mahapadma lake and he permanently solved the problem of flooding in this area.

[00:32:56]There are many historical personalities which are quite popular and in the recent news the very popular queen of India was Rani Durawati of Gkatanga.

[00:33:05]Rani Dgavti was the daughter of Kiratra the Chandel ruler of the Bundel Khand.

[00:33:09]In 1542 she was married to Dalpata.

[00:33:13]After the death of her husband Dalpata in 1550, she took the re of Gatanga and she started to rule the area as a regent of her son Bir Narayan. It was the Rani Durawati of Gkatanga who defeated Baj Bahadur of Malwa and she was very successful in the Malwa campaign. In 1564, Akbar initiated a campaign against Rani Durawati and he entrusted the task of fighting with Rani Durati with his trusted general Asaf Khan. Though in the initial phase Rani Durati was able to defeat Asaf Khan but in the later part of the fight Akbar was successful and Rani Durawati sacrificed her life defending Kolkatanga.