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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

‘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?

  • UPSC 1986
  • Indus Valley Civilization

The image of the Vedic war-god Indra as the destroyer of Harappan cities is one of the most famous — and most contested — verdicts in Indian archaeology. It rests on inference from texts and stray skeletons rather than direct proof, which is precisely why it is best described, in Mortimer Wheeler's own phrase, as…

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What the full answer covers

  • The Case Against Indra
  • Why the Verdict Does Not Survive Scrutiny
  • Rival Explanations for the Civilization's End
  • Indus Elements in Later Indian Culture

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