History Optional · Paper I · Ancient India
Indus Valley Civilization Notes · PYQs · Solved Answers
Free notes, every previous year question and the solved answers for Indus Valley Civilization (Paper I, Ancient India), arranged so you can read a topic and immediately see how UPSC has asked it. Syllabus: Origin, date, extent, characteristics, decline, survival and significance, art and architecture.
22
Solved PYQs
1986–2025
Years covered
23
Questions listed
12
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Paper I · Unit 03
Indus Valley Civilization notes
Topic-wise notes for this unit in syllabus order. Read a topic, then open its previous year questions below.
Free notes
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Decline and Survival of Indus Valley Civilisation
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Harappan Religious and Funerary Beliefs
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Harappan Script
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Harappan Trade
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Indus Valley Civilisation: Date and Extent
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Indus Valley Civilisation: Origin
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Indus Valley Civilization: Architecture
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Indus Valley Civilization: Art and Crafts
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Indus Valley Civilization: Characteristics and Significance
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Political System of Harappa Civilization
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Seals of Harappan Civilization: Seals and Sealings
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Subsistence Pattern of Harappan Civilisation
Free practice
Previous year questions: Indus Valley Civilization
Every question UPSC has asked from this unit, year-wise, with a link to its solved answer.
Topic-wise question list
Year-wise question papers
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UPSC History Optional Question Paper 2026
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UPSC History Optional Question Paper 2025
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History Optional Question Paper: 2024
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History Optional Question Paper: 2023
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History Optional Question Paper: 2012
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History Optional Question Paper: 2011
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History Optional Question Paper: 2013
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History Optional Question Paper: 2014
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History Optional Question Paper: 2015
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History Optional Question Paper: 2016
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History Optional Question Paper: 2017
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History Optional Question Paper: 2018
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History Optional Question Paper: 2019
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History Optional Question Paper: 2021
History PYQ Master Pack
Solved PYQ answers: Indus Valley Civilization
Topic-wise model answers, newest exam year first. Members open the full answer; everyone else sees the question and can join the pack.
PYQ Solutions
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“The Harappans were not an artistic people.” Comment.
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Harappan art contributes to our understanding of their aesthetic sensibilities in addition to spiritual and ritualistic life. Comment.
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The Indus-Saraswati cultural zone exhibited both homogeneity and diversity. Discuss.
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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.
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Do you agree that ecological factors influenced the flow and ebb of the Harappan Civilization? Comment.
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Did the mastery over agriculture act as a leverage for the rise of Harappan towns and cities? Discuss.
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“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.
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Explain why the majority of the known Harappan settlements are located in the semi-arid areas with saline groundwater.
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The decline of Harappan civilization was caused by ecological degradation rather than external invasion. Discuss.
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Do you think the Harappan civilization had a diversity of subsistence base?
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Discuss the water management and its conservation planning in the Harappan (Indus-Saraswati) cities.
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Evaluate the significance of seals and sealings in the reconstruction of socio-economic and religious life of the Harappan people.
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Discuss the distribution and significance of farming cultures outside the Indus system.
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Analyse the elements of urban civilization in the Harappan Culture. What factors were responsible for its decline?
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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.
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“The continuity of the Indus Civilization into later ages was not confined to the religious and spiritual fields alone.” Analyse the statement.
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Write brief essay on: The Religion of the Indus Civilization.
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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?
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Write brief essay: The burial customs in the Indus Civilization.
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Write brief essay on External trade of the Harappans.
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“The Indus Civilization had an abrupt end.” Discuss the statement and explain how the Indus Civilization could influence Indian culture in its later history.
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‘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?
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