Origin, date, extent, characteristics, decline, survival and significance, art and architecture.
PYQs: Indus Valley Civilization (1985-2024)
- ‘On circumstantial evidence Indra stands convicted.’ Explain, and discuss briefly different views about a sudden end of the Indus Valley civilization. How would you explain the presence of those elements in Indian culture and civilization which are found to have existed in the Indus Valley period? (1986)
- “The Indus Civilization had an abrupt end.” Discuss the statement and explain how the Indus Civilization could influence Indian culture in its later history. (1988)
- Write brief essay on External trade of the Harappans. (1991)
- Write brief essay: The burial customs in the Indus Civilization. (1993)
- Discuss the pattern of trade during the Indus Valley civilization. How far did it affect the nature of contemporary settlements in the Indian sub-continent? (1994)
- Write brief essay on: The Religion of the Indus Civilization. (1996)
- “The continuity of the Indus Civilization into later ages was not confined to the religious and spiritual fields alone.” Analyse the statement. (1997)
- Discuss salient features of the Indus Valley Civilization. Mention important places from where relics of civilization have been recovered so far. Examine causes of its decline. (1999)
- Analyse the elements of urban civilization in the Harappan Culture. What factors were responsible for its decline? (2002)
- Discuss the distribution and significance of farming cultures outside the Indus system. (2008)
- Evaluate the significance of seals and sealings in the reconstruction of socioeconomic and religious life of the Harappan people. (2012)
- Discuss the water management and its conservation planning in the Harappan (Indus-Saraswati) cities. (2013)
- Do you think the Harappan civilization had a diversity of subsistence base? (2014)
- The decline of Harappan civilization was caused by ecological degradation rather than external invasion. Discuss. (2015)
- Explain why the majority of the known Harappan settlements are located in the semi-arid areas with saline groundwater. (2016)
- “Archaeological evidence does not give direct access to the possible social and political dimensions of the decline of the Harappan civilization. What it does indicate very clearly is that the Harappan culture underwent a gradual process of deurbanization” ? Comment. (2018)
- Did the mastery over agriculture act as a leverage for the rise of Harappan towns and cities? Discuss. (2019)
- Do you agree that ecological factors influenced the flow and ebb of the Harappan Civilization? Comment. (2021)
- The urban character of the Harappan Civilization was a result of neither of any outside influence nor a sudden act but a gradual evolution of regional socio-economic factors. Comment. (2022)
- The Indus-Saraswati cultural zone exhibited both homogeneity and diversity. Discuss. (2023)
- Harappan art contributes to our understanding of their aesthetic sensibilities in addition to spiritual and ritualistic life. Comment. (2024)