December 2025
In short: India's historical anniversaries, discoveries and heritage news this month — distilled for SI/Constable Prelims.
Current Affairs — India › History · 13 min read · Free to read · English & Telugu
Bilingual study notes for the Andhra Pradesh Police SI & Constable exams (SLPRB AP) by AP Police Hub, a product of Anvil Academy.
December 2025's History thread — the Communist Party of India's 100th foundation day, a new study that rewrites the Indus Valley Civilization's decline as centuries of drought rather than one catastrophe, ancient and medieval India's maritime power from Magadha's navy to Shivaji's fleet, and Majuli's 392-year-old royal bird-sanctuary festival alongside the Rashtrakuta-era Ellora Caves.
December 2025 — At a Glance
December 2025 had no dedicated History section in either monthly digest — but it carried unusually substantial historical content tucked inside Culture items. The Communist Party of India marked its 100th foundation day on 26 December, prompting a look back at its Tashkent origins, its formal establishment at the 1925 Kanpur Conference, and its role in the freedom struggle and Constitution-making. A new peer-reviewed study overturned the old single-catastrophe explanation for the Indus Valley Civilization's decline, pointing instead to four centuries-long droughts. The commissioning voyage of the Indian Navy's traditionally built INSV Kaundinya carried a rich historical brief on India's maritime power across the ages — from Magadha's navy to the Chola and Maratha fleets. And two heritage stories closed out the month: Assam's Majuli marked 392 years since Asia's first protected royal bird sanctuary, while the Jordan-India twinning of Petra with Maharashtra's Ellora Caves drew fresh attention to the caves' own Rashtrakuta-era history.
1. Communist Party of India — A Century of Political History
Founding outside India — Tashkent, 1920
- Background — The CPI marked its 100th foundation day on 26 December 2025. It was founded outside India in Tashkent (then Soviet Turkistan), 1920, by a group of 7 revolutionaries united by opposition to British rule and inspired by the October Revolution (1917).
- Founding members — M.N. Roy, Evelyn Trent-Roy, Abani Mukherjee, Rosa Fitingov, Mohd. Ali, Mohd. Shafiq (elected Secretary) and M.P.T. Acharya.
Formal establishment inside India — Kanpur, 1925
- The Kanpur Conference — The CPI was formally established inside India through a resolution adopted at the Kanpur Communist Conference (1925), bringing together various communist groups active across British India. First President: Singaravelu Chettiar; first general secretaries: S.V. Ghate and J.P. Bagerhatta.
- Ideology & other leaders — Followed Marxist-Leninist ideas, aiming at political freedom alongside social and economic liberation; other prominent leaders included A.K. Gopalan, S.A. Dange, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, P.C. Joshi, Ajay Ghosh and P. Sundarraya.
Role in the freedom struggle and Constitution-making
- Mobilising the masses — Through CPI-led organisations like the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC, 1920), the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and the All India Students' Federation (1936) — building huge worker, peasant and student participation in the national movement.
- First to demand complete independence — CPI was the first to demand full independence, through an open letter to the Ahmedabad (1921) and Gaya (1922) sessions of the INC; such a resolution was formally passed only later, at the Lahore session, 1929.
- Social reform & the Constitution — CPI leaders A.K. Gopalan and P. Krishna Pillai led the Guruvayur temple-entry satyagraha for Dalits in Kerala; the idea of a Constituent Assembly was first put forth by M.N. Roy (1934); CPI's advocacy influenced constitutional ideals of secularism, equality, universal suffrage and the abolition of the zamindari system.
- Ban and the 1964 split — The British government declared CPI illegal in 1934; the ban was lifted in 1942. In 1964, following the Soviet-China ideological rift, CPI split into the pro-Soviet CPI and the pro-China CPI (Marxist).
2. The Indus Valley Civilization — Rethinking Its Decline
The new drought study
- The finding — A study published in the journal *Communications Earth & Environment* found that the Harappan civilisation's downfall was not a single catastrophic event, but resulted from a series of prolonged droughts — four major drought events, each spanning over 85 years, occurring between 2425 and 1400 BCE, that impacted nearly the entire region.
- The chain of causes — Dwindling resources: hydrological changes desiccated rivers, lakes and soils, prompting frequent relocation. Declining trade: low water levels hindered river-borne trade and made agriculture harder, forcing migration. Decline was further compounded by diminished food supply and a fragile governance structure.
Older rival theories of IVC decline
Major historical theories of the IVC's decline| Theory | Evidence / proponent |
|---|
| Catastrophic Flooding (Raikes's Hypothesis) | Houses at Mohenjodaro were found covered with silty clay, with evidence of rebuilding activity. |
| Earthquakes | An earthquake is theorised to have raised flood-plain levels, blocking the river's passage to the sea and forcing water back into the cities. |
| Changes in the course of rivers | The Indus apparently shifted about 30 miles from Mohenjodaro; the Ghaggar-Hakra in Rajasthan dried up (D.P. Agarwal). |
| Barbarian invasions | The Rig Veda mentions a place called Hariyupiya (probably Harappa), where the Aryans are said to have fought a battle. |
| Gradual ecological imbalance | Historian Fairservis emphasised the fragile ecological balance of these semi-arid areas being disturbed by population growth and depleting resources; D.P. Agarwal pointed to climate change. |
3. Maritime India Through the Ages
The Indian Navy's traditionally built stitched-plank vessel INSV Kaundinya — its construction method and its Porbandar-to-Muscat voyage are covered in this month's Science digest — carried, in the source material, a rich standalone brief on India's maritime power across the ages. That historical sweep, genuinely distinct from the ship's own engineering story, is presented here.
Ancient foundations
- IVC & Vedic beginnings — The Indus Valley Civilization had maritime trade links with Mesopotamia, proven by Harappan seals found there; the Rig Veda mentions sea voyages, ships, merchants and Varuna, the god of the sea.
- Magadha's navy & the Arthashastra — The Magadha navy is regarded as the world's first recorded naval force; Chanakya's Arthashastra describes a department of waterways, naval warfare, ports and ship regulation.
Trade networks & cultural expansion
- The Cholas, Cheras & Pandyas — Indian merchants sailed the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean; the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas had thriving maritime trade with the Roman Empire, Arabia and Southeast Asia; the Vijayanagar and Bahmani kingdoms imported horses from Iran and Iraq via the port of Goa.
- Spreading Buddhism & Hindu culture — Ashoka's children, Mahendra and Sanghamitra, sailed from Tamralipti to Sri Lanka to spread Buddhism; Indian maritime contacts carried Hinduism, Buddhism, art, architecture and scripts to Southeast Asia — as at Borobudur (Java) and Angkor Wat (Cambodia).
Naval power peaks — Chola and Maratha fleets
- Rajendra Chola I — Launched major overseas naval expeditions, conquering Sri Lanka and defeating the Sailendra (Sri Vijaya) Empire; the Cholas and Cheras mastered monsoon wind navigation.
- Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj — Built sea forts like Sindhudurg and Vijaydurg and raised a navy of over 500 ships, later led effectively by Sarkhel Kanhoji Angre, who remained undefeated at sea.
Maritime diplomacy
- Cross-ocean royal missions — Meghavarman of Sri Lanka sent a mission to Samudragupta to seek permission to build a Buddhist temple at Gaya; the Sailendra dynasty sent embassies to the Pala rulers and built a monastery at Nalanda.
4. Heritage in the News
Charaichung Festival, Majuli — reviving Asia's first royal bird sanctuary
- What — Assam's Majuli hosted the Charaichung Festival, commemorating the 392-year-old legacy of 'Charaichung', established in 1633 CE by the Ahom king Swargadeo Pratap Singha — regarded as Asia's first protected royal bird sanctuary.
- About Majuli — Majuli is the world's largest river island, in the Brahmaputra River, Assam — a seat of Assamese Vaishnavite culture (satras) as well as this Ahom-era conservation legacy.
Ellora Caves — a millennium-old monument to religious coexistence
- The news hook — India and Jordan signed a twinning agreement between the UNESCO Heritage sites of Petra and Maharashtra's Ellora Caves, both renowned for rock-cut architecture — a story whose Petra side and the twinning itself are covered in this month's Science digest.
- Ellora's own history — Located in the Charanandri hills, near the Elaganga river; carved between 600–1000 CE, predominantly by the Rashtrakuta and Yadava dynasties; the rock-cut caves, carved into basalt cliffs from top to bottom, house Hindu, Buddhist and Jain monuments side by side — including mural paintings related to all three faiths — illustrating the site's religious tolerance.