Ancient River Valley Civilisation: The Indus Valley
Solutions for History & Civics, Class 6, ICSE
Answer In Brief
4 questionsAnswer:
Both Harappan men and women wore ornaments. Men wore fillets, necklaces, finger rings, and amulets, while women wore earrings, bangles, bracelets, necklaces, girdles, anklets, and head-dresses. The rich wore ornaments made of gold, silver and ivory, while the poor wore jewellery made of shell, bone and copper.
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.
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.
Multiple Choice Questions
7 questionsChoose one option to match the items given in Column I with those in Column II.
| Column I | Column II |
|---|---|
| i. Alexander Cunningham | a. Pictographic |
| ii. RD Banerjee | b. Played a role in discovery of Mohenjodaro |
| iii. Mohenjodaro | c. Director General of Archaeological Survey of British India |
| iv. Great Bath | d. Sind |
| v. Harappan script | e. Located at Mohenjodaro |
- i-c, ii-b, iii-d, iv-e, v-a
- i-b, ii-c, iii-d, iv-e, v-a
- i-c, ii-b, iii-e, iv-d, v-a
Answer:
i-c, ii-b, iii-d, iv-e, v-a
Picture Study
1 questionThis is a picture of a fragment of an artefact found at one of the Harappan sites.
(a) What kind of material is the artefact made of?
(b) What kind of an artefact does this fragment belong to?
(c) What can you tell about the craft skills of the Indus people by looking at the fragment?
Answer:
(a) The artefact appears to be made of terracota (reddish-brown baked clay).
(b) The fragment likely belongs to a Painted and Glazed pot of Harappan times.
(c) This artefact shows that the Harappan people were expert potters. They could create symmetrical and durable pots in various shapes and sizes using the potter's wheel. The pots were generally glazed and painted.
Reflective Learning
2 questionsSwasti 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.
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.
Which of the following statements might best explain why changes in the course of the river Indus led to the decline of the Indus Valley Civilisation?
- The wild animals moved away to find another source of water and there was nothing left to hunt for the Indus Valley people.
- The land was left dry and infertile, and not fit for agriculture.
- New plants that required less water began to grow in the region, and the Indus Valley people did not have knowledge about these plants.
Answer:
The land was left dry and infertile, and not fit for agriculture.