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8. VITAL VILLAGES, THRIVING TOWNS Use of Iron - began around 3000 years ago, largest collections found in megalithic burials Evidence of Iron tools (axes and iron ploughshare) found - 2500 years ago Irrigation works - canals, wells, tanks, artificial lakes built     WHO LIVED IN THE VILLAGES AND CITIES?     Three kinds of people  In the Tamil region, large landowners (vellalar) , ordinary ploughmen (uzhavar) and landless labourers (kadaisiyar and adimai)       In North the Village headmen (grama bhojaka) the post was hereditary, powerful functioned as judge and sometimes as policemen independent farmers (grihapatis) , workers (the dasa karmakara)  Around 2300 years ago, Sangam literature composed and compiled in assemblies of poets held in Madurai Jatakas - composed by ordinary people, then written and preserved by Buddhist monks Ring wells - rows of pots, or ceramic rings arranged one on the top of the other, used as toilets in some c...

7. ASHOKA, THE EMPEROR WHO GAVE UP WAR Dynasty - members of the same family become rulers one after another Mauryan Rulers - Chandragupta , succeeded by his son Bindusara , then by Ashoka Chandragupta , the founder of Maurya dynasty (> 2300 years ago)  supported by a wise man Chanakya / Kautilya who wrote Arthashastra       EMPIRE included several cities and villages Merchants, officials and crafts persons live in cities, villages of farmers and herders Important cities : Pataliputra, Taxila and Ujjain Empire larger than kingdoms, emperors need more resources and protected by big armies     RULING THE EMPIRE Pataliputra - under direct control, officials appointed to collect taxes and they punished those who disobeyed the ruler's orders, Emperors supervised them Other areas ruled from provincial capital Taxila or Ujjain, royal princes were sent as governors, local customs and rules followed Some other areas - Mauryans collect available resources as tax ...

  6. NEW QUESTIONS AND IDEAS     BUDDHISM Siddhartha(Gautama) - founder of Buddhism, belonged to a small gana (Sakya gana) known as the Buddha or the wise one born 2500 years ago, was a kshatriya, attained enlightenment under a peepal tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar Teachings - mostly in Prakrit, believed in Karma (the result of our actions) life is full of sufferings and unhappiness because of unsatisfied cravings and desires (tanha / thirst) taught people to be kind, respect others Sarnath Stupa - built to mark the place where the Buddha first taught his message passed away at Kusinara Buddhism spread to many parts of the subcontinent and beyond       SIX SCHOOLS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Vaishesika - Konada Nyaya - Gotama Samkhya - Kapila Yoga - Patanjali Purva Mimansa - Jaimini Vedanta / Uttara Mimansa - Vyasa       UPANISHADS later vedic texts later developed by famous thinker Sankaracharya thinkers wanted to know about life after dea...

  5. KINGDOMS, KINGS AND EARLY REBUBLIC Around 3000 years ago, new kinds of rajas emerged, performed sacrifices (Horse sacrifice / Ashvamedha - one such rituals)       VARNAS Priests divided people into four groups Brahmins - expected to study and teach the vedas Kshatriyas - expected to fight battles and protect people Vish / Vaishyas - expected to be farmers, herders and traders Shudras - to serve the other three groups, later they treated some as untouchable(those who perform burials and cremations) Non-acceptance : Kings thought that they were superior to Brahmins, some felt that birth and occupation should not be the basis, some felt everybody can perform rituals and condemned untouchability       JANAPADAS Janapada - the land where jana (people) settled down Settlements found at Purana Qila in Delhi, Hastinapura near Meerut and Atranjikhera near Etah in Uttar Pradesh one special type of pottery - Painted Grey Ware (plates and bowls - for imp...

  6. LOCAL BODIES - RURAL AND URBAN     I.URBAN The urban local bodies are categorized into City Municipal Corporations, Municipalities and Town Panchayats     1.MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS [12] There are 12 corporations in Tamil Nadu Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, Salem, Tirunelveli, Erode, Thoothukudi, Tiruppur, Vellore, Dindigul, Thanjavur The Chennai corporation - 1668, the oldest local body in India Commissioner - Administrative head, an Indian Administrative Service officer Mayor - elected representative of the people, Deputy Mayor - by the ward councillors     FUNCTIONS:   Drinking water supply,  Street Lighting,  Maintenance of Clean Environment, Primary Health Facilities, Laying of Roads, Building flyovers, Space for markets, Drainage System, Solid waste management, Corporation schools, Parks, Play grounds, Birth and Death registration, etc.         REVENUE:  House Tax, Water Tax, Tax on...

6. POPULATION Population - the pivotal element in social studies  Resources, calamities and disasters are all meaningful only in relation to human beings Census of India - official enumeration of population done periodically (for every 10 years) first census held in 1872 , the first complete census held in 1881       POPULATION SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION India's population - 1210.6 million (as on march 2011) accounts for 17.5 % distributed over area of 3.28 million sq. km( 2.4 % of the world) Uttar Pradesh - the most populous state ( 199 million ) - 16% of country's population  Sikkim has a population of 0.6 million and Lakshadweep has only 64,429 people Rajasthan - the biggest state in terms of area, accounts only 5.5 % Half of India's population in 5 states - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh Population density - Number of persons per unit area India - 382 persons per sq.km(densities vary from 1,102 per sq.km in Bihar...

5. NATURAL VEGETATION AND WILDLIFE India - one among the 12 mega biodiversity countries in the world Plant diversity - 47,000 plant species, tenth place in the World and fourth place in Asia 15,000 flowering plants which accounts 6 % in the world Natural vegetation (virgin vegetation) - Plants which has grown naturally without human aid and left undisturbed Cultivated crops, fruits, orchards are vegetation not natural vegetation Endemic  or Indigenous species - virgin vegetation which are purely Indian, Exotic plants - from outside India Flora - Plants, Fauna - Animals Forests - Renewable resource, enhancing environment quality, modify local climate, control soil erosion, provide livelihood Indian state of Forest Report 2011 , the forest cover - 21.05%     FACTORS :       RELIEF       1.LAND          - The nature of land influences the type of vegetation; fertile land(agriculture), undulating and rough terrai...

  4. WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US     ONE OF THE OLDEST BOOKS IN THE WORLD Vedas - the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda Rigveda - the oldest Veda (3500 years ago) includes more than thousand hymns (suktas / well said)praise gods and goddesses  important gods - Agni (the god of fire), Indra (warrior god) and Soma (plant used to prepare special drink) in old or Vedic Sanskrit, composed mostly by men and few by women recited and heard rather than read and written Historians also study Rigveda through written sources Rigveda in dialogue form between Vishvamitra and two rivers (Beas and Sutlej) showed that sage lived in a society where horses and cows were valued animals A Rigveda manuscript on birch bark found in Kashmir ( about 150 years ago) used to prepare earliest printed texts of Rigveda (now preserved in library in Pune, Maharashtra)     LANGUAGE FAMILIES called as family (have words in common) Indo- European language family :  Ind...

  1. ECONOMICS - AN INTRODUCTION Consumer goods - finished goods from market to fulfil the daily needs of the consumers The permanent settlements near the rivers were called 'villages' Farmers or cultivators - who involved in farming and grazing Barter system - In olden days, people exchange goods for other goods but the problem is differences in the value of commodity eg : exchange a bag of rice for enough clothes For that, they invented a tool called money       PRIMARY ACTIVITIES concerned with the production of raw materials Gandhiji said, "the Villages are the backbone of our country"     SECONDARY ACTIVITIES where raw materials converted into finished products Industries can be classified on the basis of raw material, capital and ownership On the basis of raw materials , the industries are classified as More than 50% of the world's populations lives in cities In Tamil Nadu, 47% of people are in cities     TERTIARY ACTIVITIES the produc...

      5.DEMOCRACY After man started to live in groups, tribes were formed(chief as head) The tribal chiefs fought among themselves and victorious chiefs form kingdoms, integrated into empires (monarchy), later came under the British rule       DEMOCRACY AND ITS AIMS After India freed from British rule, we adopted democracy as our ruling system in our constitution Indian Constitution is the longest written constitution in the world Democracy - Government of the people, by the people, for the people ( Abraham Lincoln ) a considerable amount of power lies with the people  (can participate in politics and decision making processes) Greece - the birth place of democracy        POPULAR FORMS OF DEMOCRACY most popular forms of democracy - direct democracy and representative democracy Direct Democracy - only citizens can make law and can make changes in law (politicians can only rule the country) exist in Switzerland Representative dem...

  3.IN THE EARLIEST CITIES     WHAT SPECIAL ABOUT THESE CITIES? Engineers used the high quality Harappan bricks to build railway lines in Punjab These cities were found in the Punjab and Sind in Pakistan, Haryana and Punjab in India, developed about 4700 years ago unique objects - red pottery painted with designs in black, stone weights, seals, special beads, copper tools and paralleled sided long stone blades   divided into citadel (west - smaller but higher) and lower town (east - larger but lower) Strong walls are made with bricks arranged in interlocking pattern Houses(one or two storeys high), drains(with inspection holes for cleaning) and streets were well planned and constructed In Mohenjodaro , citadel had a great bath (special tank made of bricks, coated with plaster, made water- tight with a layer of tar) Kalibangan and Lothal were found with fire altars People - Rulers who planned the construction of special buildings, Scribes (people who knew how...

    4. CLIMATE Climate - sum total of weather conditions and variations over a large area for a long period of time (> 30 years) Weather - state of the atmosphere over an area at any point of time The elements of weather and climate are same (temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, humidity and precipitation) Indian climate - monsoon type (the word 'monsoon' - Arabic word 'mausim' meaning season)  the seasonal reversal in the wind direction during a year     CLIMATIC CONTROLS Latitude - amount of solar energy received varies, the temperature decreases from the equator towards the poles  Altitude - At higher altitudes, the atmosphere becomes less dense and temperature decreases So, hills are cooler during summers Pressure and wind system - depend on latitude and altitude influences temperature and rainfall pattern Distance from the sea - As distances increases, the moderating influence of sea decreases  Continentality - North and Central Ind...