The Indus Valley civilisation is also known as the Harappan civilisation because the first site of the archaeological remains of the Indus Valley civilisation was found at the modern site of Harappa, West Punjab, Pakistan.

Fatehpur Sikri

Shaikh Salim Chishti (1478-1572) is one of the most revered Sufi saints of the Mughal period in India. This khanqah, or hospice, was his original home and is located near the present-day World Heritage site of Fatehpur Sikri.

A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. The General Assembly monitors the performance of UN Peacekeeping through its Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations. It was established in 1965 to conduct a comprehensive review of all issues relating to peacekeeping.

Causes of popularity of Khwaja Muinuddin Dargah were:

(i)    Chisti Silsila was the must popular among all the people related with sufism. It became very popular in India. It was introduced in India by Khwaja Muinuddin Chisti at the end of 12th century at Ajmer. The main centres of Chisti Silsila was Ajmer. The saints of this order generally kept aloof from the royal court and politics. They believed in spiritual exercise - Yoga and music.

(ii)    Many Indian customs were adopted by them. It is said by religious scholars that the Chisti customs were similar to Hindu customs. In 16th century the prominent saint in this seat was Shaikh Salim Chisti, who was the contemporary of Mughal emperer Akbar.

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 Indus (or Harappan) people used a pictographic script. Some 3500 specimens of this script survive in stamp seals carved in stone, in moulded terracotta and faience amulets, in fragments of pottery, and in a few other categories of inscribed objects.

Following are the important features of the town planning of the Harappan cities:

1. The Harappan cities were generally divided into two main parts - the raised area; known as the ‘Citadel’, and the lower town. The Citadel was more in height because the buildings in it were built on mud brick platforms. This area was separated from the lower town by a wall. The Citadel had within its fold important buildings like the Great Bath, the assembly hall, the granary and the workshops. The lower town, on the other hand had residential dwellings.
2. The main streets of the Harappan cities were built according to the grid pattern. They were built from north to south and from east to west.
3. The houses built on the corners of streets were rounded in order to allow the passage of carts. The main road in the city of Mohenjo-daro was 10.5 meters wide and 800 meters long.
4. The house drains relayed all the waste water to the drains built in streets.
5. The streets were so designed as to cross the main road of the city at right angles, thus dividing the city into square or rectangular blocks.

Seals and sealing were used mainly for the long distance communication and it was also used by many associations and merchants for stamping purposes. They were usually made of steatite.

Harappan seals usually have line of writing which is still undeciphered and they also bear figures of real animals.

Mahajanapadas were states that existed between 6th and 4th BC centuries. Buddhist and Jain texts mention sixteen Mahajanapadas. The name of all these are not uniform in all texts but some names are common and uniform which means they were the powerful ones. These Mahajanapadas are Vajji, Magadha, Kaushal, Kuru, Panchal, and Gandhar.
The important features of the Mahajanapadas are as follows.
1.Most of the Mahajanapadas were ruled by powerful kings. However, there were some Mahajanapadas where rule was in the hands of people, we call them republics. In some states the king and the subject had collective control on the economic resources of the state.
2.Every Mahajanapadas had its own capital. The capital normally would be surrounded by fort. The fortification of the capital was needed for protection and economic resources.
3.It was around 6th Qentury BC, Brahmins began to compile scripture called “Dharmshastra” which states rules of morality including that of monarch. Herein it was mentioned that the king should be Kshatriya.
4.The main job of the king was collection of taxes from farmers, traders, craftsmen. They also accepted donations.
5.It was considered fair to plunder neighbouring countries for riches.
6.Gradually Mahajanapadas began to have full time army and officials. Soldiers were from the ranks of farmers.

Harappa and Mohenjo-daro

By 2600 BCE, the small Early Harappan communities had become large urban centers. These cities include Harappa, Ganeriwala, and Mohenjo-daro in modern-day Pakistan, and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Rupar, and Lothal in modern-day India.

• Harappan Civilisation is also known as Indus Valley Civilisation. It is the oldest Civilisation of India.
• There is no consensus about the chronology of the Harappan Civilisation.
• Various scholars have given different dates about this period.
• According to Sir John Marshall, “this civilisation flourished between 3250 and 2750 BCE”.
• It was Daya Ram Sahni, who first discovered the sites of Harappan in 1921.
• The main centres of this civilisation are in Pakistan. The same famous sites of this civilisation (now in Pakistan) are Mohenjodaro and Chanhudaro.
• The main centre where this Civilisation flourished in India are Kalibangan, Sangol, Pengplor, Lothal, Dholavira and Banawali.
• The urban planning of this civilisation was very magnificent. The houses were built in a systematic manner. Roads were wide and cut each other at right angle.
• The people of Indus Valley Civilisation had also made best planning for the drainage of rainwater and dirty water.
• The caste system was not present in the society. All the people lived together with mutual love and understanding.% The women held a high position or rank in the society.
• They were fond of fashion. The economic life the people was very prosperous.

The duties laid down in ‘Manusmriti’ for the Chandals:

(i) They had to live outside the village.

(ii) They had to use discarded utensils.

(iii) They had to wear clothes of the dead and ornaments of iron.

(iv) They could not walk about in villages and cities at night.

(v) They had to dispose of the bodies of those who had no relatives and serve as executioners.

Divya Shila, also known as 'slab of divine light', is a pious stone or pillar located near Yamunotri and Surya Kund. The devotees visiting Yamunotri temple have to worship Divya Shila before entering the temple premises.

Religious beliefs of the people of Indus Valley Civilisation:

• Seals form an important source of information about the religious life of the Harappans. Apart from the discovery of fire altar from Kalibangan, no cult objects, temples or places of worship have been found.
•  From the seals which have been discovered , it has been concluded that religion during the Harappan times bore traces of later Hinduism as images of pashupati, goddess and sacred trees and animals have been discovered.
• In one of the figures, a plant is shown as growing out of a woman’s body. Historians believe it to be Mother Earth, who was also worshipped in Middle East and Europe.
• No place of worship such as temples were found in any of the cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation. 

Following are the important features of the town planning of the Harappan cities:

1. The Harappan cities were generally divided into two main parts - the raised area; known as the ‘Citadel’, and the lower town. The Citadel was more in height because the buildings in it were built on mud brick platforms. This area was separated from the lower town by a wall. The Citadel had within its fold important buildings like the Great Bath, the assembly hall, the granary and the workshops. The lower town, on the other hand had residential dwellings.
2. The main streets of the Harappan cities were built according to the grid pattern. They were built from north to south and from east to west.
3. The houses built on the corners of streets were rounded in order to allow the passage of carts. The main road in the city of Mohenjo-daro was 10.5 meters wide and 800 meters long.
4. The house drains relayed all the waste water to the drains built in streets.
5. The streets were so designed as to cross the main road of the city at right angles, thus dividing the city into square or rectangular blocks.

Seals, Script, Weights of Harappan Civilisation: Seals and sealings were used to facilitate long distance communication. If the bag of goods reached with its sealing intact, it meant that it had not been tampered with. Seals also conveyed the identity of the sender.

The Great Bath—a rectangular structure which resembled a swimming pool—was an important structure at Mohenjodaro. It was a large complex with six entrances, a central bathing pool, dressing rooms on all sides and an adjacent well. Steps lead to the bottom of the pool from two sides. Water from an adjacent well was used to fill the pool with fresh water, and an outlet in the corner was used to drain dirty water. It was made up of baked bricks and was made watertight with a layer of bitumen or natural tar. The Great Bath was perhaps used by important people on special occasions.

Indus Valley Civilization which is also referred as Harappan civilization is of the largest cities of its time.This civilization was discovered in 1920 - 22 with the excavation of two of its most important sites i.e , Harappa on the banks of the river Ravi and Mohenjodaro on the banks of the Indus. The Indus Valley civilization is called the Harappan civilization because Harappa was the first site where the unique archaeological evidences of the civilization were discovered.

After the failure of First Round Table Conference efforts were made by the Government to make an agreement that  the congress  would attend the next Round Table Conference.
The Viceroy, Lord Irwin, was authorised to hold talks with Mahatma Gandhi. Finally, Gandhi and Irwin made an agreement on 5 March 1931.
The agreement is called Gandhi-Irwin pact
By this pact Government agreed to release most of the civil disobedience volunteers, against whom there was no allegation of violence.
The Congress suspended the Civil Disobedience Movement and agreed to participate in the second Round Table Conference.