Theme T1 · Heritage, Art & Culture
Harappan civilisation, early urbanism & civilisational continuity
4PYQs
4GS1
2014–20254 distinct years
1asked 2024–26
What UPSC asks
UPSC asks about Harappan architecture and town planning, and pushes you to connect it to today: lessons for modern urbanisation, and why Indian civilisation survived without a break unlike Egypt or Mesopotamia. Geography's role in shaping ancient India also comes up.
Prepare these
- Harappan town planning: grid layout, drainage, citadel vs lower town, granaries, Great Bath, burnt bricks
- Lessons for present cities: drainage, water harvesting (Dholavira), zoning
- Continuity of Indian civilisation: language, religion, crafts, agriculture practices that survived
- Comparison points with Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece
- Geography of ancient India: rivers, monsoon, Himalayan barrier, passes, coastline
Answer writing
- Use one or two named sites (Dholavira, Lothal, Mohenjo-daro) as evidence in every answer
- For 'present-day relevance' questions, split the body into then vs now and end with a takeaway for smart cities
Directive words in these PYQs: Discuss (2), Explain (1), Comment (1), To what extent (1).
Linked themes
Builds on: study these first
These come earlier in the roadmap. Questions in this theme use them.
Step 28: Earth's interior, plate tectonics, mountains, islands & landformsStep 76: Urbanisation: social problems, segregation & urban poverty
Comes back later in
Later themes that take this one further.
On the map
Map module 8: History on the map: IndiaPractise in the sketch lab: GS1 2025Practise in the sketch lab: GS1 2014
Syllabus lines covered
- GS1-L1 — Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
All 4 PYQs, newest first
- GS1202510 marks · 150 wordsGS1-CUL-01-M2025-Q01
- GS1202310 marks · 150 wordsGS1-CUL-07-M2023-Q01
Explain the role of geographical factors towards the development of Ancient India.
- GS12015GS1-CUL-07-M2015-S01
- GS12014GS1-CUL-01-M2014-S01