NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 6 The chapter in three points — Before we move on ...

Book page 103 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.

The Indus, Harappan or Sindhu-Sarasvatī civilisation is one of the oldest of the world. Its inhabitants, the Harappans, created planned cities with efficient water management, diverse crafts and a brisk trade.

Answer

Unpack this sentence and you have the first two-thirds of the chapter. Every phrase in it is backed by a specific piece of evidence.

Phrase	The evidence behind it
“one of the oldest of the world”	Cities from about 2600 BCE. Only Mesopotamia (about 4000 BCE) and Egypt (about 3100 BCE) are older among the civilisations on Fig. 6.2
“planned cities”	Built “according to precise plans”; wide streets oriented to the cardinal directions; fortifications; an upper town and a lower town (three zones at Dholavira); the same quality of construction for small and big houses
“efficient water management”	Bathing areas connected to covered drains below the streets; about 700 brick wells at Mohenjo-daro; six or more reservoirs at Dholavira, the largest 73 m, linked by underground drains for water harvesting and distribution; the Great Bath, waterproofed and refillable
“diverse crafts”	Carnelian bead drilling and decoration; shell bangles cut from hard conch; copper and bronze work; ivory carving; cotton weaving; pottery; toys and games
“a brisk trade”	Internal and external; land routes, rivers and the sea; beads at Susa (Iran) and an ivory comb in Oman; the 217 × 36 m dockyard at Lothal; thousands of seals to identify goods and traders

Three names, one civilisation. Use whichever the question uses, but know why the book prefers ‘Harappan’ or ‘Indus-Sarasvatī’: the first is neutral, the second is geographically honest, and ‘Indus Valley’ is neither.

Tip: if a question asks you to “describe the town-planning of the Harappan cities”, the four words plan – streets – fortification – two towns will get you started, and the four words bathrooms – drains – wells – reservoirs will finish the answer.

Q2.

A productive agriculture brought a variety of crops to the cities.

Answer

This is the seventh characteristic of a civilisation, met in full — and it is the one all the others rest on.

What they grew or raised	Details from the chapter
Cereals	Barley, wheat, some millets, and sometimes rice
Pulses	Beans, peas and lentils (dal)
Vegetables	“A variety of vegetables”
Cotton	They were the first in Eurasia to grow cotton, and wove it into cloth
Animals and fish	Domesticated animals for meat; fishing in both rivers and the sea — known from the large numbers of animal and fish bones found in excavations
In the cooking pots	Dairy products, and — surprisingly — turmeric, ginger and banana

Two conditions made it possible. First, location: settlements were created along the banks of large or small rivers, “not just for easy access to water, but also for agriculture, since rivers enrich the soil around them”. Second, tools: they made farming implements including the plough — and the small clay model from Banawali in Haryana (Fig. 6.9) shows a shape modern-day farmers still use.

The sentence that explains the whole civilisation: “this intense agricultural activity was managed by hundreds of small rural sites or villages. Then as now, the cities could survive only if enough agricultural produce from rural areas reached them on a daily basis.” A Harappan city is really the visible tip of a very large countryside — and when that countryside was hit by drought and a dying river, the tip was the first thing to go.

Did you know? Cotton is the Harappans' quietest world record. Growing it, spinning it and weaving it was done here first in all of Eurasia — and Indian cotton cloth went on being one of the world's most wanted goods for the next four thousand years.

Q3.

The civilisation eventually declined, probably because of climatic and environmental changes; people returned to a rural lifestyle.

Answer

Read that sentence carefully: it says “declined”, not “was destroyed”, and “probably”, not “certainly”. Both words are chosen on purpose.

Around 2200 BCE → a climatic change affecting much of the world: less rain, a drier phase
→ agriculture becomes harder, food supply to the cities falls
The Sarasvatī dries up in its central basin → Kalibangan, Banawali suddenly abandoned
Around 1900 BCE → cities abandoned one by one; the administration ceases to exist
→ Harappans scatter over hundreds, if not thousands, of small rural settlements

Why “probably”. The book adds, “There could have been other factors.” Nobody was there to record what happened, and no readable text survives. Two causes are agreed on; the rest is open.

Why “returned to a rural lifestyle” and not “disappeared”. The people did not die out and were not driven out. They moved to where food and water were easier to get — the point of the THINK ABOUT IT on page 102 — and they took their skills with them. “Although the cities disappeared, much of the Harappan culture and technology survived and was passed on to the next phase of Indian civilisation.”

The lesson the chapter itself draws: “these two remind us of how much we depend on climate and the environment for our well-being.” A civilisation with the best drains in the ancient world, brilliant crafts and sea-going trade could not out-plan a change in the rainfall. That is worth thinking about in a century when the climate is changing again.

Careful: older books blamed an ‘Aryan invasion’ for the end of these cities. This chapter is explicit that there is no trace of warfare or invasion, and no army or weapons of war. If you write ‘invasion’ in an answer, you are writing something the evidence contradicts.

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