This chapter in Class 6 History introduces students to one of the earliest Indian Civilizations, which once thrived with advanced technology and planning. In this post, we’ll practice a variety of questions from The Beginning of Indian Civilization. Let’s explore each topic clearly and prepare well for the exams.
Easy Level Questions
Q.1 What is a civilization?
Answer: A civilization is a group of people living together in cities with rules, writing, art, and trade.
Q.2 Name any two important cities of the Harappan civilization.
Answer: Harappa and Mohenjodaro.
Q.3 Where is Harappa located today?
Answer: It is in present-day Pakistan, in Punjab province.
Q.4 Name two materials used to make Harappan tools.
Answer: Stone and copper.
Q.5 What was the use of the Great Bath?
Answer: It was used for bathing during religious ceremonies.
Q.6 What was the earliest civilisation of the Indian Subcontinent?
Answer: The Harappan Civilization (also called the Indus Valley Civilization) was the earliest civilization of the Indian subcontinent.
Q.7 Which river made the plains of Punjab and Sindh fertile?
Answer: The Indus River and its tributaries made the plains fertile.
Q.8 What name is given to the people of this civilization?
Answer: They are called Harappans.
Q.9 Which Harappan site is located in Gujarat?
Answer: Lothal
Q.10 What were the two main parts of a Harappan city?
Answer: Upper town (for elites) and lower town (for common people).
Q.11 What were Harappan buildings mostly made of?
Answer: Bricks
Q.12 Name two major cities found in the Sarasvati basin.
Answer: Rakhigarhi and Ganweriwala
Q.13 Where did the Harappans take their waste water?
Answer: Waste water went through underground drains that ran below streets.
Q.14 Where did Harappans build their settlements?
Answer: Along the banks of large and small rivers.
Q.15 Name any two crops grown by the Harappans.
Answer: Wheat and barley.
Q.16 Which plant did Harappans grow to make cloth?
Answer: Cotton
Q.17 Which Harappan site had a large dockyard?
Answer: Lothal
Q.18 What were Harappan seals made of?
Answer: A soft stone called steatite.
Q.19 When did the Harappan civilization begin to decline?
Answer: Around 1900 BCE.
Q.20 Did the Harappans have an army or weapons of war?
Answer: No evidence as such. They seemed to be a peaceful civilization with no army.
Moderate Level Questions
Q.1 Why were river banks chosen for farming?
Answer: Because rivers enrich the soil and provide water for crops.
Q.2 How do we know that Harappans ate fish and meat?
Answer: From bones of animals and fish found during excavations.
Q.3 What proves that the Harappans had contact with distant lands like Iran and Oman?
Answer: Harappan beads and ivory combs were found in Susa (Iran) and Oman.
Q.4 What happened to the Harappan cities during the decline?
Answer: Cities were abandoned one by one, and people moved to smaller villages.
Q.5 What are the two main reasons for the decline of the Harappan civilization?
Answer: Climate change — less rainfall and drier conditions
Drying of the Sarasvati River — important cities lost water supply
Q.6 Name any two Harappan cities that were abandoned after the Sarasvati dried up.
Answer: Kalibangan and Banawali
Q.7 Which river flowed through Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Gujarat in ancient times?
Answer: The Sarasvati River.
Q.8 What is the Ghaggar-Hakra river, and why is it important?
Answer: The Ghaggar-Hakra is the modern name for the ancient Sarasvati River. Many Harappan sites were found along this river.
Q.9 What do the wide streets and planning tell us about Harappan cities?
Answer: It shows that they had advanced town planning, with roads following cardinal directions (north, south, east, west).
Q.10 What was the main purpose of Harappan drainage systems?
Answer: To remove waste water and keep cities clean.
Q.11 What is special about the city of Dholavira?
Answer: Dholavira had large stone reservoirs for storing water.
Difficult level questions
Q.1 Explain how villages developed into cities in the Indus-Sarasvati region.
Answer: Around 3500 BCE, small villages started forming in the fertile plains. With the rise of agriculture, trade, and other exchanges, villages became towns. By 2600 BCE, these towns developed into cities like Harappa and Mohenjodaro.
Q.2 Explain the town structure of large Harappan cities.
Answer:
- Cities had two parts —
- Upper town: Possibly for rulers or rich people
- Lower town: For ordinary people
- Streets were wide and followed a grid pattern.
- Cities had fortifications and buildings for public use like warehouses.
- Houses, both big and small, had equal construction quality.
Q.3 What do the drainage and water systems tell us about Harappan civilization?
Answer: Harappans were advanced and hygienic.
They planned their cities to stay clean and manage water well.
They used engineering skills to build drains, baths, and storage tanks.
Q.4 What spices or ingredients were found in Harappan cooking pots?
Answer: Turmeric, ginger, banana, and dairy products.
Q.5 Describe the dockyard at Lothal.
Answer: It was a large basin, about 217 metres long and 36 metres wide — longer than two football fields. It was used for sending and receiving boats carrying goods.
Q.6 Why are Harappan seals important for historians?
Answer: They show that Harappans had an organized trade system.
Even though we can’t read their writing, the seals show they used symbols for communication and trade.
Seals found in foreign lands prove international trade links.
Q.7 Why is the Harappan civilisation called by different names, and what does each name reveal about its discovery and geographical spread?
Answer: The civilisation discussed in this chapter is known by several names, each based on different factors.
- It is called the Harappan civilisation because Harappa was the first site to be discovered by archaeologists in the 1920s.
- It is also called the Indus Valley Civilisation because many of its settlements were located along the Indus River and its tributaries, especially in modern-day Pakistan.
- Another name, Indus–Sarasvati Civilisation, is sometimes used by scholars because many sites have also been found near the now-dry Sarasvati River, mostly in present-day India.
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