NCERT Solutions for Class 6th Social Science Chapter 6 The Beginnings Of Indian Civilisation
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
A civilisation is not just ‘people living long ago’ — it is a checklist. The chapter sets out seven characteristics: some form of government and administration , urbanism (town-planning, water management, drainage), a variety of crafts , trade both internal and external, some form of writing , cultural ideas expressed through art, architecture, literature, oral traditions or social customs, and a productive agriculture — enough to feed not just the villages but also the cities. India's first civilisation grew in the north-west, along two river systems. The Indus (Sindhu) and its five main tributaries watered the plains of the Punjab and Sindh; a little further east flowed the Sarasvatī , from the foothills of the Himalayas through Haryana, Punjab, parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. From about
- Chapter opening
- What Is a Civilisation?
- From Village to City
- Town-Planning
- Water Management
- What Did the Harappans Eat?
- A Brisk Trade
- The Lives of the Ancients
- The End or a New Beginning?
- The chapter in three points
Quick revision
| Term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Worth remembering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civilisation | An advanced stage of human societies, marked by government, urbanism, crafts, trade, writing, cultural ideas and a productive agriculture | Pages 86–87 | The chapter gives seven characteristics — learn them as a list |
| Metallurgy | The techniques of extracting metals from nature, purifying or combining them, and the scientific study of metals and their properties | Margin note, page 86 | Copper + tin = bronze, harder than copper (page 98) |
| Indus-Sarasvatī civilisation | India's most ancient civilisation, also called Indus, Harappan or Sindhu-Sarasvatī civilisation | Page 88; timeline Fig. 6.2, page 87 | About 2600 to 1900 BCE for the city phase |
| Harappans | The name for the inhabitants of this civilisation | Page 88, Don't Miss Out | From Harappa, the first site excavated, in 1920–21 |
| Tributary | A river that flows into a larger river (or lake) | Margin note, page 88 | The Indus has five main tributaries — Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej |
| Sarasvatī River | A river that once flowed from the Himalayan foothills through Haryana, Punjab, parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat; today the seasonal Ghaggar-Hakra | Box, page 90 | First mentioned in the Ṛig Veda; later texts describe it drying up |
| First Urbanisation of India | The growth of villages into towns and then into cities in this region | Page 88 | Villages → towns from c. 3500 BCE; towns → cities c. 2600 BCE |
| Fortification | A massive wall surrounding a settlement or city, generally for protective purposes | Margin note, page 91 | Most Harappan cities seem to have had one |
| Elite | The higher layers of society — rulers, officials, administrators and often priests | Margin note, page 91 | They probably lived in the upper town |
| Upper town / lower town | The two distinct parts of a Harappan city | Page 91 | Dholavira had three zones, not two (Fig. 6.5) |
| Great Bath | A small but elaborate tank at Mohenjo-daro, about 12 × 7 metres, waterproofed with natural bitumen over carefully laid-out bricks | Pages 91–93, Fig. 6.6 | Its purpose is still debated — a royal bath, or a ritual tank |
| Reservoir | A large natural or artificial place where water is stored | Margin note, page 95 | Dholavira: at least six; the largest 73 m long |
| Pulses | A category of crops that includes beans, peas and lentils (dal) | Margin note, page 96 | Grown alongside barley, wheat, millets and sometimes rice |
| Seals | Thousands of small steatite objects showing an animal figure with a few writing signs above it | Pages 98–99, Fig. 6.13 | The script is undeciphered — do not claim it has been read |
| Dockyard | A structure used to receive and send boats for further transportation of goods | Page 98, Fig. 6.12 | Lothal's basin: 217 m × 36 m |
Exercises
- Chapter opening — The Big Questions Page 85
- What Is a Civilisation? — In-text Questions Page 86
- What Is a Civilisation? — THINK ABOUT IT Page 86
- What Is a Civilisation? — LET'S EXPLORE Page 87
- What Is a Civilisation? — In-text Questions Page 87
- From Village to City — In-text Questions Page 88
- From Village to City — LET'S EXPLORE Page 89
- Town-Planning — THINK ABOUT IT Page 91
- Town-Planning — In-text Questions Page 93
- Town-Planning — LET'S EXPLORE Page 93
- Water Management — LET'S EXPLORE Page 95
- Water Management — THINK ABOUT IT Page 96
- What Did the Harappans Eat? — In-text Questions Page 97
- What Did the Harappans Eat? — LET US EXPLORE Page 97
- A Brisk Trade — LET'S EXPLORE Page 99
- The Lives of the Ancients — THINK ABOUT IT Page 102
- The Lives of the Ancients — LET'S EXPLORE Page 102
- The End or a New Beginning? — THINK ABOUT IT Page 102
- The End or a New Beginning? — In-text Questions Page 102
- The chapter in three points — Before we move on ... Page 103
- End-of-chapter exercise — Questions, activities and projects Page 104