UPSC CORE · NCERT HISTORY · SHARMA CH 8: THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION (SITES, TOWN PLANNING, ECONOMY, RELIGION, DECLINE)
Harappan Civilisation 🏛️
NCERT-aligned UPSC Core History topic from NCERT Class 11/12 + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar). Every item is anchored to a real location on India's map — built for boards (CBSE, ICSE, state) and UPSC aspirants.
📚 NCERT TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT
Class UPSC History — NCERT Class 11/12 + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar) — Chapter: Sharma Ch 8: The Harappan Civilization (sites, town planning, economy, religion, decline).
29LOCATIONS
329QUESTIONS
UPSC CORENCERT LEVEL
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Key locations covered (29)
- Discovery + Geographical Spread — NW Subcontinent
- Town Planning — The Greatest Feature — Harappan zone
- Mohenjo-daro — Mound of the Dead — Sindh, Pakistan
- Lothal — The Dockyard Port — Gujarat
- Dholavira — UNESCO 2021 Marvel — Gujarat (Kutch)
- Other Major Sites — Kalibangan, Banawali, Rakhigarhi, Surkotada — NW India
- Harappan Economy + Trade — Harappan zone + Mesopotamia
- Harappan Religion + Society — Mohenjo-daro · Pashupati seal + religious figurines context
- Harappan Script + Seals — Harappa · 5,000+ inscribed seals discovered here
- Harappan Decline — Theories — Mohenjo-daro · centerpiece of Harappan decline studies
- Harappan Art + Crafts — Mohenjo-daro · Dancing Girl bronze + Priest-King + ceramics
- Harappa — Punjab (Pakistan)
- Mohenjo-daro — Sindh (Pakistan)
- Kalibangan — Rajasthan
- Lothal — Gujarat
- Rakhigarhi — Haryana
- Banawali — Haryana
- Alamgirpur — Uttar Pradesh
- Chanhu-daro — Sindh (Pakistan)
- Surkotada — Gujarat
- Sutkagen-dor — Balochistan (Pakistan)
- Kot Diji — Sindh (Pakistan)
- Amri — Sindh (Pakistan)
- Desalpur — Gujarat
- Bhagwanpura — Haryana
- Ropar — Harappan deep — Punjab
- Manda — Harappan deep — Jammu & Kashmir
- Mitathal — Harappan deep — Haryana
- Harappan — civilization concept — Pan-India
Sample questions (12 of 329)
When and how was the Harappan civilisation discovered?
1826 — Charles Masson described Harappa's ruins. 1856 — Burnes brothers used Harappa bricks for railway ballast. 1921 — DAYA RAM SAHNI (ASI) excavated HARAPPA. 1922 — RAKHALDAS BANERJEE excavated MOHENJO-DARO. 1924 — Sir John Marshall (DG ASI) ANNOUNCED to the world that India had a civilisation contemporary with Mesopotamia + Egypt — pushed Indian history back by 2,000 years.
How big was the Harappan zone?
About 1.5 MILLION sq km — bigger than ancient Egypt + Mesopotamia COMBINED. Stretched from SUTKAGEN-DOR (westernmost, Makran coast in Iran-Pakistan border) to ALAMGIRPUR (easternmost, Meerut, UP); from MANDA (northernmost, J&K, Chenab) to DAIMABAD (southernmost, Maharashtra). 1500+ known sites in India + Pakistan.
Three phases of Harappan culture?
(i) EARLY HARAPPAN (~3300-2600 BCE) — pre-urban village cultures (Amri, Kot Diji, Sothi-Siswal, Rehman Dheri). (ii) MATURE HARAPPAN (~2600-1900 BCE) — the great urban phase with all classic features. (iii) LATE HARAPPAN (~1900-1300 BCE) — decline; cities abandoned; population dispersed east + south.
Harappan civilization SIZE + EXTENT?
Covered ~1.5 MILLION sq km — LARGEST of all 4 ancient civilizations (Mesopotamia ~0.4M, Egypt ~0.3M, China Yellow River ~0.6M). Spread from MAKRAN coast (Sutkagen-dor in W Pakistan) to ALAMGIRPUR (UP, eastern); from MANDA (J&K, north) to DAIMABAD (Maharashtra, south).
HARAPPAN PHASES — Early, Mature, Late?
EARLY HARAPPAN (~3300-2600 BCE) — formative, regional cultures (Hakra ware, Kot Diji, Sothi-Siswal). MATURE HARAPPAN (~2600-1900 BCE) — peak urbanism + uniformity across 1.5M sq km. LATE HARAPPAN (~1900-1300 BCE) — decline, deurbanisation; sub-cultures (Cemetery H, Jhukar, Rangpur).
Geographic ANCHOR points of Harappan zone?
WESTERN: Sutkagen-dor (Makran coast). EASTERN: Alamgirpur (UP near Delhi). NORTHERN: Manda (J&K). SOUTHERN: Daimabad (Maharashtra). Heartland: INDUS basin (Mohenjo-daro, Harappa) + GHAGGAR-HAKRA basin (Kalibangan, Banawali, Rakhigarhi) + GUJARAT (Lothal, Dholavira).
Which dynasty / civilisation does the term 'Harappan' refer to?
Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation (named after Harappa, first excavated site)
How many Harappan sites have been discovered to date?
Over 1500 (Pakistan + India)
Mature Harappan phase dates are?
c. 2600-1900 BCE
The Harappan civilisation belongs to which age?
Bronze Age (Chalcolithic — copper + bronze, but no iron)
Harappan sites form a quadrilateral whose corners are?
Sutkagen-dor (W), Alamgirpur (E), Manda (N), Daimabad (S)
The total area of Harappan civilisation is approximately?
1.5 million sq km
All 329 questions are available in the interactive map quiz.
About this topic
This topic is part of the NCERT UPSC Core History syllabus, specifically the textbook NCERT Class 11/12 + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar), drawn from the chapter Sharma Ch 8: The Harappan Civilization (sites, town planning, economy, religion, decline). Content is cross-referenced against the latest NCERT textbook editions + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra for history; G.C. Leong, Savindra Singh for geography; the UPSC Civil Services prelims + mains syllabus).
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