An expected rise in global temperature is an inevitable threat to crop productivity and may have serious concerns on food security. In northern India, winter-sown chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) come across with abrupt high temperature during the terminal reproductive stage which leads to reduction in the production. Priming chickpea with mild drought at the seedling stage may induce tolerance to heat stress at a later stage. We analyzed 11 days old seedlings of two contrasting chickpea varieties (PBG1 and PBG5) primed with mild drought stress for 3 days, recovered for another 6 days, and finally exposed to different levels of heat stress (30 °C, 32 °C, 34 °C, and 36 °C) for 12 h. Both damage and defense parameters were analyzed at different stages i.e. before and after priming and finally after exposure to varying degrees of stress. Our study revealed that priming improved membrane integrity by reducing percent electrolyte leakage and lipid peroxidation up to 34 °C, whereas mitochondrial efficiency (2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) reduction) could not be influenced. Superoxide dismutase, catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activity increased proportionately with the increase in temperature (up to 34 °C only). Later, activity declined at higher temperatures. Changes in the expression level of Small Heat Shock Proteins (sHSP18.5 and 22.7) were also established by RT-PCR. Primed plants showed increased expression of sHSP at 36 °C. Overall, priming with drought reduced the membrane damage and increased antioxidative enzymes, also modulated expression of sHSP18.5 and 22.7; thus, improved the heat tolerance up to 34 °C. This study has highlighted the role of drought priming in the acclimation to heat stress and corroboration of antioxidative enzymes and sHSP’s.