Question 1

Question 2State two features of the religion of the Harappan people.

Accepted Answer

Two features of the religion of the Harappan people are:Numerous clay figures of a female deity have been found. This was probably the Mother Goddess. A three-faced figure, seated in a yogic posture, surrounded by various animals, is engraved on some seals. Some historians believe it to be an earlier form of Pashupati (Lord Shiva). Hence, it is evident that the Harappan people believed in Mother Goddess and Pashupati.The people of Harappa believed in life after death. This is evident from the fact that excavated graves contain pottery, jewellery and other articles, which they thought would be needed in the afterlife.

Question 2

Question 3What do you know about the Harappan script?

Accepted Answer

It is believed that their writing was pictographic. The script seems to have 250 to 400 pictographs. Writing was from right to left. The Harappan writing can be seen in inscriptions found on seals.

Question 3

Question 4State three causes for the decline of the Harappan Civilisation.

Accepted Answer

Three causes for the decline of the Harappan Civilisation are:Ecological changes led to the decline of agriculture. Shifts in the monsoon pattern and changes in temperature made the area more arid. This forced the people to move to other areas.Natural calamities, such as floods or earthquakes, may have destroyed the cities.Changes in the course of the river Indus may have left the land dry and infertile, and not fit for agriculture.

Question 4

Question 5A three-faced figure, seated in a yogic posture, surrounded by various animals, engraved on Indus Valley seals, is believed by some historians to be:the Mother Goddess.an earlier form of Pashupati.the Harappan king.

Accepted Answer

an earlier form of Pashupati.

Question 5

Question 6Choose one option to match the items given in Column I with those in Column II.Column IColumn IIi. Alexander Cunninghama. Pictographicii. RD Banerjeeb. Played a role in discovery of Mohenjodaroiii. Mohenjodaroc. Director General of Archaeological Survey of British Indiaiv. Great Bathd. Sindv. Harappan scripte. Located at Mohenjodaroi-c, ii-b, iii-d, iv-e, v-ai-b, ii-c, iii-d, iv-e, v-ai-c, ii-b, iii-e, iv-d, v-a

Accepted Answer

i-c, ii-b, iii-d, iv-e, v-a

Question 6

Question 7Choose the correct option to complete the given table.Features of Harappan CivilisationDescriptiontown planningwell-plannedscriptpictographiclong distance trade?ChinaSouth AmericaMesopotamia

Accepted Answer

Mesopotamia

Question 7

Question 1Swasti sees the Harappan script written on a seal. She wonders why historians have not been able to decipher such simple pictures. She concludes that the Harappan script must be very advanced and complex.(a) What assumption is Swasti making about the Harappan script?(b) Explain why this assumption might be incorrect.

Accepted Answer

(a) Swasti is assuming that the Harappan script is advanced and complex because historians have not been able to understand or decipher the simple pictures on the seals.(b) This assumption might be incorrect because historians have not been able to decipher the Harappan script mainly because the script is very short and pictographic, usually with only a few symbols, and there is no bilingual inscription to help understand its meaning. So, the difficulty in reading the script is not necessarily because it is complex, but because there is not enough information to decode it.

Ancient River Valley Civilisation: The Indus Valley

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