NCERT Solutions for Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 6 The Beginnings Of Indian Civilisation
Updated on 2026-09-05
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
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