Who was Cunningham? Mention any one account used by him to locate the early settlements of Harappa civilization.


Cunningham was the Director-General of the ASI.

He used the accounts left by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who had visited the subcontinent between the fourth and seventh centuries CE to locate early settlements.

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Explain the strategies for procuring materials by the Harappans for the craft production.


The Strategies for procuring materials by the Harappans for craft production are:

(i)The Harappans procured materials for craft production in various ways . They established settlements such as Nageshwar and Balakot in areas where shell was available.

(ii)Other sites like Shortughai , in far off Afghanistan , the best source of lapis lazuli , a blue stone that was apparently very highly valued. From Lothal and Bharuch –carnelian was procured , steatite from south Rajasthan and North Gujarat.

(iii) Another strategy for procuring raw material may have been to send expeditions to areas such as Khetri region of Rajasthan for copper and South India for Gold.

(iv)Recent Archaeological finds suggest that Harappans procured material from other countries like – they got copper from Oman a region called Magan in Mesopotamian texts. It is likely that communication with Oman , Bahrain or Mesopotamia was by sea. 

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How did architectural features of Mohenjodaro indicate planning? Support with suitable examples.


The examples:

 (i) The settlements is divided into two sections, one smaller but higher and other much larger but lower.

 (ii) Archaeologists designate these as the Citadel and Lower Town respectively. The citadels owes its height to the fact that buildings were constructed on mud brick platforms. It was walled, which meant that it was physically separated from the lower town.

 (iii) One of the most distinctive features of Harappan cities was the carefully planned drainage system. The roads and streets were laid out along an approximate grid pattern, intersecting at right angles.

 (iv) The lower Town at Mohenjodaro provides examples of residential buildings. Every house had its own bathroom paved with bricks, with drains connected through the wall to street drains.

 (v) Many houses had wells, often in a room that could be reached from the outside and perhaps used by passer-by. Some houses have remains of staircases to reach a second storey or the roof.

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On the given political outline map of India locate and label the following with appropriate symbols :

(A) Azamgarh – the centre of revolt of 1857

(B) Surat – a town under British control in 1857.

On the same map three places of Mature Harappan sites are marked as 1, 2 and3. Identify them and write their names on the lines drawn near them.


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Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Irrigating trees and fields

This is an excerpt from the Baburnama that describes the irrigation devices the emperor observed in Northern India:

The greater part of Hindustan country is situated on level land. Many though its towns and cultivated lands are, it nowhere has running waters … For … water is not at all a necessity in cultivating crops and orchards. Autumn crops grow by the downpour of the rains themselves; and strange it is that spring crops grow even when no rains fall. (However) to young trees water is made to flow by means of buckets or wheels …. In Lahore, Dipalpur (both in present-day Pakistan) and those other parts, people water by means of a wheel. They make two circles of rope long enough to suit the depths of the well, fix strips of wood between them, and on these fasten pitchers. The ropes with the wood and attached pitchers are put over the wheel-well. At one end of the wheelaxle a second wheel is fixed, and close to it another on an upright axle. The last wheel the bullock turns; its teeth catch in the teeth of the second (wheel), and thus the wheel with the pitchers is turned. A trough is set where the water empties from the pitchers and from this the water is conveyed everywhere.

In Agra, Chandwar, Bayana (all in present-day Uttar Pradesh) and those parts again, people water with a bucket … At the well-edge they set up a fork of wood, having a roller adjusted between the forks, tie a rope to a large bucket, put the rope over a roller, and tie its other end to the bullock. One person must drive the bullock, another empty the bucket.

(15.1) Explain the irrigation technology as observed by the Emperor.

(15.2) What was the necessity of irrigation?

(15.3) Explain any three factors which are responsible for the expansion of agriculture in India.


(15.1) The irrigation technology as observed by the emperor:

(i)Young trees water is made to flow by means of buckets or wheels.

(ii)People water by means of wheel .Two circles of rope long enough to suit the depths of the well

(iii)Between the circles there are fixed strips of wood fastened with pitchers.

(iv)The ropes with the wood and attached pitchers are put over the wheel well.

(v)At one end of the wheel axle a second wheel is fixed and another on an upright axle.

(vi)The bullock turns the last wheel.

(vii)A trough is set where the water empties and from this the water is conveyed everywhere.

(viii)At the well as they set up a fork of wood having a roller adjusted between the forks, tie a rope to a large bucket pulled by a bullock.

(15.2) The necessity of irrigation was:

(i)The greater part of Hindustan is situated on level land.

(ii)Lack of rainfall.

(iii)It nowhere has running water.

(iv)To water young trees.

(15.3) Three factors which are responsible for the expansion of agriculture in India:

(i)Its level land which can be cultivated without running water.

(ii)Autumn crops can grow by the down pour of the rains.

(iii)Spring crops grow even when no rains fall.

(iv)Better irrigation technology.

(v)The abundance of land.

(vi)Availability of labour.

(vii)Mobility of peasants.

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