SSC Stenographer 2026 – 12 September 2026 Shift 2 · Town planning and structures
Q1. Which civilization is called India's "first urbanization"?
- (a) Maurya
- (b) Indus Valley
- (c) Gupta
- (d) Vedic
Answer & solution
Answer: (b) Indus Valley
Answer: Option 2 — Indus Valley
The Harappan (Indus Valley) civilisation, mature between 2600 and 1900 BCE, built the subcontinent's first planned cities.
Grid streets, baked-brick houses, covered drains and granaries — that is why it is called the first urbanisation.
The second urbanisation came a thousand years later in the Ganga valley (6th century BCE) with the Mahajanapadas.
Revision note — The Indus Valley civilisation
• A Bronze Age culture of c. 3300–1300 BCE (mature phase 2600–1900 BCE).
• Harappa was excavated in 1921 by Daya Ram Sahni and Mohenjo-daro in 1922 by R. D. Banerji, under John Marshall of the ASI.
• Cities were laid out on a grid, divided into a raised citadel and a lower town, with standardised bricks in the ratio 1 : 2 : 4 and covered street drains.
• Landmarks: the Great Bath and Granary at Mohenjo-daro, the dockyard at Lothal, the reservoirs at Dholavira (UNESCO World Heritage, 2021), the ploughed field at Kalibangan.
• The largest Indian site is Rakhigarhi (Haryana); the largest overall is Mohenjo-daro (Sindh).
• The people used copper, bronze, gold and silver but did not know iron; the Indus script, written on steatite seals, remains undeciphered.
• Second urbanisation (c. 600 BCE): iron tools, Northern Black Polished Ware, coinage, and cities such as Rajagriha, Kaushambi, Ujjain and Shravasti.
Do not mix these up
• First vs second urbanisation — first = Harappan cities (Bronze Age, Indus basin); second = Mahajanapada cities (Iron Age, Ganga basin).
• Harappan vs Vedic — the Harappans were urban and iron-less; the Vedic people were rural and pastoral, and the later Vedic age knew iron.
Also asked from this topic: the Harappan site with a dockyard (Lothal); the metal unknown to the Harappans (iron); the site where the bronze Dancing Girl was found (Mohenjo-daro).
The Harappan (Indus Valley) civilisation, mature between 2600 and 1900 BCE, built the subcontinent's first planned cities.
Grid streets, baked-brick houses, covered drains and granaries — that is why it is called the first urbanisation.
The second urbanisation came a thousand years later in the Ganga valley (6th century BCE) with the Mahajanapadas.
Revision note — The Indus Valley civilisation
• A Bronze Age culture of c. 3300–1300 BCE (mature phase 2600–1900 BCE).
• Harappa was excavated in 1921 by Daya Ram Sahni and Mohenjo-daro in 1922 by R. D. Banerji, under John Marshall of the ASI.
• Cities were laid out on a grid, divided into a raised citadel and a lower town, with standardised bricks in the ratio 1 : 2 : 4 and covered street drains.
• Landmarks: the Great Bath and Granary at Mohenjo-daro, the dockyard at Lothal, the reservoirs at Dholavira (UNESCO World Heritage, 2021), the ploughed field at Kalibangan.
• The largest Indian site is Rakhigarhi (Haryana); the largest overall is Mohenjo-daro (Sindh).
• The people used copper, bronze, gold and silver but did not know iron; the Indus script, written on steatite seals, remains undeciphered.
• Second urbanisation (c. 600 BCE): iron tools, Northern Black Polished Ware, coinage, and cities such as Rajagriha, Kaushambi, Ujjain and Shravasti.
Do not mix these up
• First vs second urbanisation — first = Harappan cities (Bronze Age, Indus basin); second = Mahajanapada cities (Iron Age, Ganga basin).
• Harappan vs Vedic — the Harappans were urban and iron-less; the Vedic people were rural and pastoral, and the later Vedic age knew iron.
Also asked from this topic: the Harappan site with a dockyard (Lothal); the metal unknown to the Harappans (iron); the site where the bronze Dancing Girl was found (Mohenjo-daro).