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Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1)

Class 7 · Foundation (Classes 6–9)

Ch 5 · The Rise of Empires

Real UPSC Prelims questions from 2016–2026, linked to this book. Try each one first, then open the answer. 2026 answers follow UPSC's provisional answer key.

Prelims 2019 · Q7

Which one of the following is not a Harappan site?

  1. (a)Chanhudaro
  2. (b)Kot Diji
  3. (c)Sohgaura
  4. (d)Desalpur
Show answer

UPSC's answer: (c)

NCERT answers it: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 5 (The Rise of Empires); Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Theme 1 (Bricks, Beads and Bones: The Harappan Civilisation).

How to solve it with NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Theme 1 (Map 1), shows Kot Diji and Chanhudaro as Harappan sites. Class 7 Exploring Society (Part 1), ch 5, names Sohgaura (Uttar Pradesh) as the find-spot of a 4th–3rd century BCE inscription. That is Mauryan times, about 1,500 years after the Harappans. Answer (c).

Hindi version: UPSC's official question paper (2019), question 7 ↗

Prelims 2020 · Q30

Who among the following rulers advised his subjects through this inscription?

"Whosoever praises his religious sect or blames other sects out of excessive devotion to his own sect, with the view of glorifying his own sect, he rather injures his own sect very severely."

  1. (a)Ashoka
  2. (b)Samudragupta
  3. (c)Harshavardhana
  4. (d)Krishnadeva Raya
Show answer

UPSC's answer: (a)

NCERT answers it: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 5 (The Rise of Empires).

How to solve it with NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society (Part 1), ch 5, quotes Ashoka's edict in which his Dhamma officers look after all sects, and asks whether he was tolerant of other beliefs. Advice not to praise your own sect by running down others carries the same Ashokan message. Answer (a).

Hindi version: UPSC's official question paper (2020), question 30 ↗

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