RAS question
The Indus Valley Civilization's town planning was characterised by:
Correct answer: (D) Grid pattern with roads cutting at right angles.
Indus Valley Civilisation town planning was marked by an approximate grid of roads and streets intersecting at right angles.
Explanation
Grid-pattern planning was a defining feature of Indus Valley Civilisation towns because NCERT, Themes in Indian History, Part I: Bricks, Beads and Bones treats planned urban layout as a distinctive feature of Harappan cities. In Mohenjodaro, NCERT notes that roads and streets in the Lower Town were laid out in an approximate grid and intersected at right angles. This urban pattern was not just a neat street map: NCERT also links the layout to drainage, saying that streets with drains seem to have been laid out first and houses built along them so domestic waste water could flow into street drains. The Citadel and Lower Town division, standardised bricks, and covered drains all reinforce deliberate Harappan planning rather than casual settlement.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) A circular arrangement of houses differs from NCERT's account of roads and streets laid out in an approximate grid and intersecting at right angles.
- (B) A star-shaped fort layout does not belong to NCERT's account of Harappan urbanism; NCERT, Themes in Indian History, Part I: Bricks, Beads and Bones discusses the Citadel and Lower Town instead.
- (C) A random settlement without planning contradicts NCERT's account of planned streets, drains, and houses arranged along the street network.
Concept
Harappan urbanism belongs to Ancient History, especially the use of archaeological evidence to understand planning. The grid layout, Citadel-Lower Town division, and drainage system recur in RAS because they are standard markers of Indus Valley Civilisation material culture.