Test: Political Socio-Economic Life - UPSC MCQ

► Statement 1 is correct - The population of Indus civilization was cosmopolitan in character, having four ethnic types, viz., Proto-Australoid, Mediterranean, Mongoloid and Alpine.
► Statement 2 is incorrect - The construction of planned cities and roads, drainage system, organized trade and uniformity of the means of weights and measurements proved that there existed a strong centralized government.

Theocracy is a form of  government in which a religious institution is the source from which all authority derives.

► Statement 1 is correct & Statement 2 is incorrect - Wheat and barley were the staple foods and besides that sesame, lentils and cotton were also grown.
► Statement 3 is incorrect - The staple food of the people comprised wheat, barley, milk and some vegetables like peas, sesamum and fruits like date palms. The diet also included Non-vegetarian components such as Mutton, pork, poultry, fish etc.

Many spindles were discovered at the Harappan sites. This proves the use of cotton for weaving cloths.

► Statement 1 is correct - Most of the house-hold articles were made of pottery or metals like copper and bronze. The art of pottery attained wonderful excellence at Mohenjo-Daro.
► Statement 2 is incorrect - The copper was scarce, common men could hardly afford to possess copper weapons. The ruling class had a monopoly of the copper weapons.

The bones and skeletons of horses have been found at Kalibangan and Sukanjodaro in the upper layers which shows that horses were also domesticated.

Import/export of other metals and stones – Silver –imported from Afghanistan and Turquoise from Iran. Besides ivory works, combs, pearls, cotton goods were exported to West Asia from the Indus cities.

• Foreign Trade with Mesopotamia – It was inhabited by Sumerians at that time, present-day southern Iraq.

• Foreign trade with Oman - copper was imported from Oman - chemical analysis shows Omani copper and Harappan artifacts seems to have traces of nickel which indicates common origin.

• Import/export of other metals and stones – Silver –imported from Afghan istan and Turquoise from Iran.

The first agriculture appears to have developed at the closing of the last Pleistocene glacial period, or Ice Age (about 11,700 years ago). From around 9,500 BC, the Neolithic founder crops such as wheat and barley were cultivated. Rice was domesticated in China between 11,500 and 6,200 BC.

► Statement 1 : Gold, copper, tin and several semi-precious stones were imported. Main exports were several agricultural products such as wheat, barely, peas, oil seeds etc.
► Statement 2 : Hunting and bull fighting were common pastimes, not banned. Marbles, balls and dice were also used for games.
► Statement 3 : The chief female deity was the Mother Goddess represented in terracotta figurines. In latter times, Linga worship was prevalent. Trees and animals were also worshipped by the Harappans. They also believed in ghosts and evil forces and used amulets as protection against them.
► Statement 4 : Lothal is an important Harappan centre.

A sealing at Umma is reported to have been associated with a bale of cloth -evidently an export from India.

The Indus Valley civilization grew wheat and barley as their staple food. Besides this, they also grew peas, sesamum, lentils and other pulses. In some places, particularly Gujarat, they also grew millets. It has not been proved if they consumed rice or not. Though they fed wild rice to their cattle, rice did not become an important crop until the post-Harappan phase. Fruits were also included in their diet, notably, melon, pomegranate, coconut fruit and banana. 

The discovery of the Lothal port and dock in 1955 highlighted the maritime of IVC. The structure was connected to the old riverbed of Sabarmati. That the trade was at least partly sea-borne is proved by the discovery of the ancient dockyard at Lothal which connected the Bhogavar river with the Gulf of Cambay.

There was no special difference between the dress of men and women. The clothes consisted of some lower garment like dhoti and upper garment like shawl. Dress or f abri c has not survived, but statues and figurines suggest two pieces of clothes were used by both men and women.

The script remained un-deciphered but same. Trade links were good with Mesopotamia but both civilizations had nothing in common between them.

Apart from written evidence of Mesopotamian records which shows that they had relations with Meluha, that is, an ancient Indus region from about 2350 B.C, cotton fabrics of Harappan seals have also been found in Sumer, which was the center of Mesopotamian civilization.

Please go through the section of ‘Tertiary activity’ under the heading of Economic condition of the period in the module – 2 of IVC if you are facing problem in this question.

LINK

Political, Social & Economic Life of the people during IVC

Please add on these facts to your knowledge.

The entry port for trade between the Indus trading centres and Mesopotamia was Bahrain. It was called ‘Dilmun’ in the Mesopotamian texts.