Consider the following statements about the Rigvedic period:
I. Irrigation from wells allowed agriculture to expand away from flood plains and strips on river margins into the present Punjab and Haryana plains having underground water levels reasonably close to the surface.
II. Draught-animal power was employed to draw up water out of the wells.
Which of the following information support/supports the above statements?
- 1.There is evidence in the Rigveda of the use of ashma chakra (stone pulley wheel) and ahava (strapped wooden pails) to draw up water.
- 2.Mention has been made in the Rigveda of the use of implements like parashu/kulisha (axe) and datra/sreni (sickle).
- 3.There is a history of the use of ox, even before the Rigveda, for ploughing the land and pulling the carts.
Select the answer using the code given below:
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only
The two statements are about well irrigation and animal power. The Rigveda knows irrigation from wells, and a long prior use of oxen for ploughing and carts makes it plausible that the same animals worked the wells. Axes and sickles say nothing about wells or draught animals.
- ✓ 1. The Rigveda knows irrigation from wells: the Vedic Heritage Portal (Ministry of Education) notes that Rigveda VII.49.2 lists well water among the kinds of irrigation water. UPSC's official key counts this item as supporting; we could not confirm the water-lifting detail in the item from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
- ✗ 2. Axes (for clearing land) and sickles (for harvesting) are farming tools, but they have no bearing on drawing water from wells or on draught-animal power.
- ✓ 3. Harappan seals and terracottas show the bull, terracotta plough models come from Banawali and Cholistan, and a ploughed field was found at Kalibangan; oxen already served as draught animals before the Rigveda.
Remember · Inference questions: keep only the evidence that bears on the claim. Well irrigation and older ox use support the Rigvedic statements; tool lists do not.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part I, Chapter 1 “Representations on seals and terracotta sculpture indicate that the bull was known, and archaeologists extrapolate from this that oxen were used for ploughing.”
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part I, Chapter 1 “terracotta models of the plough have been found at sites in Cholistan and at Banawali (Haryana).”
- Vedic Agriculture (Sukumar Chattopadhyay, BHU), Vedic Heritage Portal, Ministry of Education, Government of India ↗ “The Ṛgveda (VII.49.2) describes four types of irrigated water (1) rain (divyāḥ), (2) from well (khanirtimā), natural (svayaṃjāḥ)”
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part I, Chapter 1 “Archaeologists have also found evidence of a ploughed field at Kalibangan (Rajasthan), associated with Early Harappan levels”
Question and answer: UPSC's provisional GS Paper I (2026, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·