Dominated by Congress: The critics continued to argue that the Congress in the Constituent Assembly was quite dominating and imposed its thinking on the people of the country through the Constitution drafted by it.

There are many reasons that are being put forward by scholars regarding the decline of the Harappan civilization,

1. climatic change, deforestation, excessive floods, the shifting and/or drying up of rivers, to overuse of the landscape. Although some of these “causes” may hold for certain settlements, but they do not explain the collapse of the entire civilisation.

2. Invasion of Aryans- It is believed by some scholars that invasion of aryan lead to the decline of Harappan civilization however this hypothesis has been refuted.

3. End of an unifying element- It is believed that a strong unifying element perhaps came to an end because we see disappearance of seals, scripts, weight etc.

The name of person who led a new religious movement in Karnataka was Basavanna (1106 - 68). His followers was known as Virashaivas (heroes of Shiva) or Lingayats (wearers of the linga). They worship Shiva in his mani festation as a linga and men usually wear a small linga in a silver case on a loop strong over the left shoulders.

Alvars were devotees of Vishnu and Nayanars were devotees of Shiva. They travelled from one place to another singing in praise of their Gods. Chola kings supported them by giving them land and grants. The temple at Chidambaram, Thanjavar and Gangaikanda Cholapuram were constructed under their patronage.

Two earliest Bhakti movements of Tamii Nadu were the Alvars and the Nayanars . Some of the earliest Bhakti movements (C. sixth century) were led by the Alvars (literally) those who are “immersed” in devotion to Vishnu) and Nayanars (literally, leaders who were devotees of Shiva). They travelled from place to place singing hymns in Tamil in praise of their gods.

According to section 398 of Indian penal code, If, at the time of attempting to commit robbery or dacoity, the offender is armed with any deadly weapon, the imprisonment with which such offender shall be punished shall not be less than seven years.

Kabir described the ‘Ultimate Reality’ by drawing the ranges of traditions such as from Islam, he had drawn the Ultimate Reality as Allah, Khuda, Hazrat and Pir. Several terms from the vedantic traditions, such as Alakh, Nirakar, Brahmana, Atman were also taken.

1. The Stupa was the sacred place. They preserved the relics of Buddha Such as his bodily remains or the objects used by him all these things were buried in the stupas.

2. Tathagata was another name for the Buddha He told Ananda that the honor to his worldly. Remainsis not important. He laid stress on the importance of one's good deeds. The stupas should be erected on the holy places if anybody placed garlands of perfume or saluted them, he will not only get the peace of mind but also profit-and joy.

3.The stupas were built at many places. The most important stupas existed at Bharhut, Sachi and Sarnath.

A. During Epic Age gambling was a very prominent social evil. This practice was followed even by members of a royal family. The social position of women was very humble. They were considered as personal property of their husband. Even a member of a royal family like Yudhisthira staked his wife, Draupadi in gambling.

There was slavery in India during Epic Age.

B. I agree with the second view. I can give the following arguments in support of my view:

Yudhisthira was not a freeman when he had lost himself. He could not stake another person i.e. Draupadi. As later on, Dhritarashtra restored to the Pandavas and Draupadi their personal freedom, it meant that Pandavas were regranted freedom.

C. A comparison of the status of women: At that time (i.e. during the days of the Mahabharata) the women were not enjoying full freedom and equal social status. They were considered person. I property by royal male members. They were even staked even by their life-partners in gambling. On present time women are more awakened. They are equal citizens of a democratic system. Generally, constitution of a country grants them equality, freedom and right

of education and equal opportunity to hold highest public office.

Begums of Bhopal made a great contribution to the preservation of the Stupa of Sanchi. Following are the major contribution made by them.a Shahejahan Begum and her successor Sultan Jahan Begum of Bhopal were the rulers of Bhopal who made generous grants to the preservation of the Stupa of Sanchi.b A museum was built near the stupa and it was built mainly on the financial support of Begum Sultan Jahan Begum. c The support to preserve the stupa came from the Europeans also.d French and British both took the plaster cast copies of the pillars of the stupas to be displayed in the museums at France and Britain. They also contributed financially to preserve the stupa.

The rulers of Vijayanagara made many innovations in the architectural traditions. They added many new features in the temple architecture. These large structures were a show of their imperial authority. For example, they built gopurams and royal gateways. The towers of the central shrines signalled the presence of the temple from a great distance. But the royal gateways surpassed them in height. They reminded the power of the kings. They showed that the kings had full command over the resources, techniques and skills

The Buddhism that first became popular in China during the Han dynasty was deeply coloured with magical practices, making it compatible with popular Chinese Taoism (a combination of folk beliefs and practices and philosophy). ... Many Chinese emperors worshiped Lao-tzu and the Buddha on the same altar. Buddhism entered Han China via the Silk Road, beginning in the 1st or 2nd century CE. The first documented translation efforts by Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE via the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory bordering the Tarim Basin under Kanishka.

Causes for the decline of Buddhism in India are mentioned below:

(a) It became a victim to the evils of Brahmanism against which it had fought in the beginning.

(b) In order to meet the challenge of Buddhism, the Brahmanas reformed their religion.

(c) The Brahmanas stressed the need for preserving the cattle wealth and assured women and Shudras of admission to heaven.

(d) On the other hand, the Buddhist monks were cut off from the mainstream of people’s life. They gave up Pali which was the language of the common men and looked into the Sanskrit which was the language of the intellectuals.

(e) The Buddhist began to practise idol worship on large scale from the first century A.D. onwards. Apart from this, the monks began to receive a lot of gifts from the devotees which made their lives more easier.

There are many reasons that are being put forward by scholars regarding the decline of the Harappan civilization,

1. climatic change, deforestation, excessive floods, the shifting and/or drying up of rivers, to overuse of the landscape. Although some of these “causes” may hold for certain settlements, but they do not explain the collapse of the entire civilisation.

2. Invasion of Aryans- It is believed by some scholars that invasion of aryan lead to the decline of Harappan civilization however this hypothesis has been refuted.

3. End of an unifying element- It is believed that a strong unifying element perhaps came to an end because we see disappearance of seals, scripts, weight etc.

The general problem raised here is peasant involvement in Afro‐Asian nationalist movements. As a case study the focus is M. K. Gandhi's attitude to and activities among Indian peasants from 1917 to 1922 and their response, firstly to his broad span of rural work for social reform and the rectification of particular peasant grievances, and then to his India‐wide passive resistance campaigns on continental issues which had no specifically rural appeal. This analysis underlines the fact that ‘India's peasants’ were no monolithic group. They differed from area to area in economic and social position and were further fragmented by the ties of religion, tribe and caste. Consequently the nature and range of their wider public awareness varied, and their relationships with Gandhi were diverse and complicated. In certain areas he attracted wide support, even adulation, particularly where he campaigned on local grievances. But peasant response to his all‐India calls for passive resistance was geographically restricted, and often dependent on a very garbled understanding of the issues at stake and the expected pay‐offs of the movement. Peasant activists were often outside Gandhi's control; and this threat to cohesion and discipline made him very ambivalent towards wide rural participation. His relationship with India's peasantry illustrated the problems any continental leader or organisation faced in trying to accommodate ‘national’ appeals and tactics to the diverse and often specifically local needs of rural groups — an accommodation which was difficult, dangerous yet essential in some degree if nationalist movements were to be broadly based.

(i) He faced the problem of language. According to him, the Sanskrit language was so distinct from Arabic that it was very difficult to translate the ideas and principles of one language into another.

(ii) Another problem that he faced was that of tradition and religious system. He had to take the help of the Vedas and other Brahmana texts to comprehend these ideas and principles.

1. Indians could develop modernity,secularism, democratic attitude and rationality along with nationalistic
2.new social and religious reformation movement emerged
3. Indians could understand and appreciate their rich tradition

The main features of the Mahajanapadas are as follow:
1. Mahajanapadas were forms of early states and were mostly ruled by kings. However there were oligarchy also known as Gana and Sanghas, where group of people shared power and were collectively known as Rajas.

2. Mahajanapadas had its own capital and it was fortified. It was where the king lived.

3. Mahajanapadas developed gradually a standing armies and bureaucracy.

4. There was the system of taxation, taxes were collected fromt the masses.

5. There developed a notion where king was supposed to come from Kshatriya, with its roles and duties.

Ahmadullah Shah was a maulvi from Faizabad. He had prophesied that the rule of the British would soon come to an end.

The Quit India Movement was Mahatma Gandhi’s third major movement against British rule. It was launched in 8^th August 1942 by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at the All India Congress Session in Bombay. There is evidence that this movement was a mass movement.

I. It was the biggest civil disobedience movement for Independence.

II. After the arrest of all the major leaders in this movement, there were violent protests staged by people across India

III. While Mahatma Gandhi was jailed immediately after the launch of the movement, this did not stop the movement in any way. Younger activists launched a variety of strikes and acts of sabotage all across the country.

IV. Within the underground resistance, political leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan, who was a socialist member of the Congress, were also very active.

V. In districts such as Satara and Medinipur, claims were made for “independent” governments. For example, in Satara in 1943, some of the younger leaders set up their own parallel government.

Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among members of the military against an internal force, but it can also sometimes mean any type of rebellion against any force.