Cunningham was the Director-General of the ASI.

He used the accounts left by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who had visited the subcontinent between the fourth and seventh centuries CE to locate early settlements.

The most unique feature of Mohenjodaro was the planned urban centre:

(i) The settlement is divided into two sections, one smaller but higher and the other much larger.

(ii) On the Citadel buildings were constructed on mud brick platforms.

(iii) The Lower Town was walled and buildings were built on platforms.

(iv) There were signs of planning like bricks, sun-dried or baked, were in a standardized ratio.

(v) Roads and streets were laid out along a 'grid' pattern intersecting at right angles, streets with drains were laid out first, and then houses built along them.

Mahabharata is a good source to study the kinfolk's values in the ancient times:

(i) Often people belonging to the same family share food and other resources, and live, work and perform rituals together.

(ii) While familial ties are often regarded as “natural” and based on blood, they are defined in many different ways.

(iii) Some societies regard cousins as being blood relations, whereas others do not.

(iv) Under patriliny, sons could claim the resources (including the throne in the case of kings) of their fathers when the latter died.

(v) This system, called exogamy was practiced which meant that the lives of young girls and women belonging to families that claimed high status were often carefully regulated to ensure that they were married at the “right” time and to the “right” person. This gave rise to the belief that kanyadana or the gift of a daughter in marriage was an important religious duty of the father.

The most important idea in Jainism is that:

(i) The entire world is animated: even stones, rocks and water have life.

(ii) Non-injury to living beings, especially to humans, animals, plants and insects, is central to Jaina philosophy.

(iii) According to Jaina teachings, the cycle of birth and rebirth is shaped through karma.

(iv) Asceticism and penance are required to free oneself from the cycle of karma.

(v) This can be achieved only by renouncing the world; therefore, monastic existence is a necessary condition of salvation.

The rise of Magadha as a powerful Mahajanapada:

(i) Magadha was a region where agriculture was especially productive.

(ii) Besides, iron mines were accessible and provided resources for tools and weapons.

(iii) Elephants, an important component of the army, were found in forests in the region.

(iv) Also, the Ganga and its tributaries provided a means of cheap and convenient communication.

(v) Magadha attributed its power to the policies of individuals: ruthlessly ambitious kings of whom Bimbisara, Ajatasattu and Mahapadma Nanda are the best known, and their ministers, who helped implement their policies.