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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Analyse the elements of urban civilization in the Harappan Culture. What factors were responsible for its decline?

  • UPSC 2002
  • Indus Valley Civilization

That a Bronze Age society spread across more than a million square kilometres — from Sutkagen-dor on the Makran coast to Alamgirpur near Delhi, from Shortughai in Afghanistan to Daimabad in Maharashtra — could sustain planned cities, standardized crafts, and long-distance trade for nearly seven centuries marks the Harappan Civilization as India's first genuine urban…

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • Planned Settlement Form: Citadel and Lower Town
  • Domestic Architecture, Sanitation and Civic Infrastructure
  • Craft Specialization, Standardization and Economic Organization
  • Writing and Administrative Control
  • How Uniform Was Harappan Urbanism, Really?
  • Discarding the Invasion Thesis
  • …and 3 more sections, with a conclusion

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