UPSC Previous Year Questions (Prelims): Indus Valley Civilisation | History for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Correct Answer is Option (c)

Correct Answer is Option (a)

• Dholavira is notable for an advanced water-management system adapted to an arid environment.
• The site shows careful engineering: channels, stone-built dams, a series of large reservoirs and stepped tanks to collect and conserve rainwater, and canals linking them. These features indicate planned urban water harvesting and storage to secure supply during dry periods.

Correct Answer is Option (c)
Sohgaura is associated with a Mauryan-period copper plate (the Sohgaura copper plate), which records administrative measures such as famine relief. It is therefore not a Harappan site. By contrast, Chanhudaro, Kot Diji and Desalpur are established Harappan settlements.

Correct Answer is Option (b)

• Statement 1 — Incorrect. Excavations have not revealed palaces or large temples. Public and civic structures (e.g., the Great Bath, granaries, wells) dominate the urban plan, suggesting civic priorities rather than monumental royal or temple architecture.
• Statement 2 — Correct. Archaeological finds include numerous female terracotta figurines (interpreted as mother-goddess types) and seals like the so-called Pashupati seal (interpreted by some as a male deity). These indicate the presence of both masculine and feminine religious motifs.
• Statement 3 — Incorrect. There is no clear evidence for widespread use of horses or horse-drawn chariots in Harappan contexts. Horses and chariots become more prominent in the later Vedic period.

Correct Answer is Option (c)

• Statement 1 — Correct. The urban planning, standardised weights and measures, advanced drainage and public utilities point to a civic-focused society. Though religious artefacts exist, they do not dominate the archaeological record as monumental religious structures would.
• Statement 2 — Correct. Archaeological evidence (spindle whorls, impressions of cloth, and cotton remains) shows that cotton was cultivated and used in textile production during the Harappan period; this makes the Indus civilisation among the earliest in the world to use cotton.

Correct Answer is Option (b)

• Lothal – Dockyard (2): Lothal (Gujarat) has a carefully constructed dock or basin adjoining a river channel, which points to active maritime trade and harbour engineering.
• Kalibangan – Ploughed field (1): Kalibangan (Rajasthan) revealed traces of furrowed or ploughed fields, showing organised agricultural practice.
• Dholavira – Inscription of ten large signs (4): Dholavira (Kutch, Gujarat) produced a large public inscription containing about ten prominent Harappan signs, noteworthy for its scale and clarity.
• Banawali – Terracotta replica of a plough (3): Banawali (Haryana) yielded a terracotta model of a plough, indicating the use and familiarity of agricultural implements.

Correct Answer is Option (a)
Harappan seals commonly depict animals such as the unicorn (stylised bull), elephant, rhinoceros and tiger. The cow is notably absent on seals and most animal motifs do not represent domestic cows; thus (a) is the correct choice.

Correct Answer is Option (d)
The sequence is:
4. Urban culture — Harappan urbanisation (c. 2500–2000 BCE).
3. Iron plough — Iron implements including ploughshares appear later (evidence around the 1st millennium BCE, with some sites c. 700 BCE).
2. Punch-marked silver coins — Early coinage in India begins with punch-marked silver issues from around the 6th–2nd century BCE.
1. Gold coins — Pure gold coinage appears later, introduced by Indo-Greek or subsequent rulers (around the 2nd century BCE and later). This ordering gives 4, 3, 2, 1.