PSEB SS PHC key terms

A Bronze Age city in present-day Sahiwal district, Punjab, excavated from the 1920s, whose brick streets, drains and seals revealed the Indus Valley Civilisation to the world.

A major Indus Valley city in Sindh with a citadel mound, Great Bath and grid streets; Pakistani excavations there used the term 'Mound of the Dead' for the site.

South Asia's earliest urban culture, roughly 3300-1300 BCE, known for planned cities, standardised weights, undeciphered script and extensive trade with Mesopotamia and the Gulf.

Indian archaeologist who directed the first excavations at Harappa in 1921, establishing the site's antiquity and setting the stage for the identification of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Ancient Gandhara city and university centre near present-day Rawalpindi, with Dharmarajika stupa and Sirkap ruins; a UNESCO World Heritage Site showing Greek, Buddhist and Central Asian influence.

Region around Peshawar and Taxila whose Buddhist art blended Hellenistic realism with Indian themes, producing the classic schist and stucco Buddha images of the Kushan era.

Hilltop Buddhist monastery near Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, founded in the 1st century CE and surviving intact; its ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kushan emperor (c. 127-150 CE) whose realm included Gandhara and Punjab; he patronised Buddhism, convened a council, and issued coins blending Greek, Persian and Indian imagery.

King of the Paurava kingdom between the Jhelum and Chenab who fought Alexander the Great at the Hydaspes in 326 BCE and was later restored to his throne as an ally.

326 BCE battle on the Jhelum river in which Alexander defeated Porus using a concealed river crossing; the costly victory contributed to the Macedonian army's refusal to march further east.

Macedonian king whose 326 BCE campaign crossed the Indus into Punjab, defeating Porus and founding cities, before his troops mutinied at the Beas and forced a retreat.

Ancient Punjab city known for the shrine of Shah Rukn-e-Alam and Bahauddin Zakariya, a medieval centre of Sufism and trade, and site of the 1848 siege during the Second Anglo-Sikh War.

Mystical tradition within Islam emphasising inner devotion, music and poetry; Punjab's Sufi shrines and qawwali at places like Multan and Pakpattan shaped regional culture.

12th-13th century Sufi saint of Pakpattan whose Punjabi verses are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, making him a shared figure of Punjabi Muslim and Sikh heritage.

Title of Ali Hujwiri, an 11th-century Sufi scholar buried in Lahore; his shrine is a major pilgrimage site and his Persian treatise Kashf al-Mahjub is a classic of Sufi literature.

14th-century Sufi saint of Multan whose octagonal brick tomb, built under the Tughlaq dynasty, is an early masterpiece of Punjab's Islamic architecture.

Punjabi Sufi poet (1680-1757) of Kasur whose kafi verses, including 'Bulleya', challenge ritual hypocrisy and caste pride and remain central to Punjabi literary and musical culture.

Punjabi poet (1722-1798) best known for Heer Ranjha, a tragic romance in verse that is regarded as a masterpiece of Punjabi literature and a window on rural society.

Punjabi tragic romance of Heer and Ranjha, retold by several poets and most famously by Waris Shah; it explores love, family honour and social pressure in rural Punjab.

Punjabi folk tragedy of Sohni, who swims the Chenab each night on a baked clay pot to meet Mahiwal; a tale of love, deception and drowning central to Punjabi folklore.

Oral traditions of Punjab including folk tales, riddles, songs and romances such as Heer Ranjha and Mirza Sahiban, passed down by bards and preserved in later literary collections.

Energetic Punjabi folk dance traditionally performed at harvest, especially Baisakhi, with dhol drumming; it has become a global symbol of Punjabi identity.

Women's folk dance of Punjab performed in a circle with clapping and boliyan couplets, often at weddings and festivals, expressing wit and social commentary.

Double-headed barrel drum central to Punjabi music, driving Bhangra rhythms and accompanying weddings, harvest celebrations and folk performances across the region.

Mid-April harvest festival in Punjab marking the wheat harvest and, for Sikhs, the founding of the Khalsa in 1699; celebrated with Bhangra, fairs and processions.

The Sikh community of initiated members established by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 at Anandpur, with the five Ks and the Khalsa code of discipline and equality.

Tenth Sikh Guru (1666-1708), founder of the Khalsa in 1699, poet and warrior who declared the Guru Granth Sahib the eternal Guru before his death in Nanded.

Sikh scripture compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604 and finalised by Guru Gobind Singh; it contains hymns of Sikh Gurus and saints including Baba Farid, and is revered as the eternal Guru.

Sikh ruler (1780-1839) who unified Punjab under a single state with its capital at Lahore, modernised his army and is remembered as the founder of the Sikh Empire.

State ruled by Ranjit Singh and his successors from Lahore between 1799 and 1849, covering Punjab, Kashmir and Peshawar until its annexation by the British after the Anglo-Sikh Wars.

1809 agreement between Ranjit Singh and the British fixing the Sutlej as the empire's eastern boundary, halting Sikh expansion eastward and shaping later Anglo-Sikh relations.

British takeover of Punjab in 1849 after the Second Anglo-Sikh War, following the battles of Chillianwala and Gujrat and the surrender of the Sikh army at Rawalpindi.

1848-49 conflict between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company, marked by the siege of Multan and battles at Chillianwala and Gujrat, ending in British annexation of Punjab.

1940 resolution passed at the All-India Muslim League session in Lahore, demanding autonomous Muslim-majority regions; it became a landmark in the movement for Pakistan.

Political campaign from the late 1930s to 1947, led by the All-India Muslim League, that sought a separate Muslim state and culminated in the creation of Pakistan in August 1947.

Punjab's historic capital, home to the Lahore Fort, Badshahi Mosque, Shalimar Gardens and the 1940 Lahore Resolution venue; a centre of Mughal, Sikh and colonial heritage.

Mughal congregational mosque built by Emperor Aurangzeb in 1673 beside the Lahore Fort, for centuries among the largest mosques in the world and a symbol of Lahore.

Building style of the Mughal empire (16th-18th centuries) seen in Punjab's forts, gardens and mosques, using red sandstone, marble inlay, domes, arches and charbagh garden layouts.

Mughal terraced garden laid out in Lahore under Shah Jahan in 1641, with fountains, water channels and pavilions; a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the Lahore Fort.