Historical Sites for the Map Question — UPSC History Optional Notes

1. The Pattern

Position: Question 1 (Section A) is compulsory, as is Question 5; of the remaining six questions candidates answer three, with at least one from each section.

Format: an outline map of India is printed in the question-cum-answer booklet with places marked by dots and numbers or letters, together with a list of short descriptions or a question asking you to identify the places.

Marks: the usual pattern is 20 places for 2.5 marks each, a total of 50 marks; the instruction asks for a short descriptive note of about 30 words on each place.

Two kinds of instruction: sometimes the paper gives clues (for example, 'a Neolithic site') and asks you to identify and mark the place; sometimes the places are marked and you must name them; read the instruction carefully every year.

Range: places come from all of ancient and medieval India: prehistoric, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Harappan, megalithic, Mauryan and Buddhist, Jain, temple sites, capitals, battle sites, ports and inscription sites.

Borders: sites in present-day Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan (Mehrgarh, Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Taxila, Lumbini, Paharpur, Shortughai) can appear because the outline map covers the subcontinent.

2. What Examiners Look For

Correct identification: the right place name is essential; a wrong identification usually earns nothing for the note.

Accurate marking: where you must mark the place yourself, put the dot in the right area relative to rivers, coasts and state boundaries.

A precise 30-word note: period or dynasty, what was found or what happened, and why it matters; avoid vague praise.

Specific evidence: names of excavators, inscriptions, monuments, finds or battles with dates (for example, 'Inamgaon, Jorwe phase, c. 1400–1000 BCE; houses, granaries, urn burials; excavated by Deccan College').

Neat presentation: number each note to match the map, write the place name first in capitals or underline it, and keep notes of even length.

3. Building a Site List

Start with repeated places: sites UPSC has asked more than once, such as Inamgaon, Bhimbetka, Burzahom, Mehrgarh, Dholavira, Brahmagiri, Adichanallur, Kaushambi, Sopara, Sannati, Arikamedu, Nagarjunakonda, Uttaramerur, Hampi, Shravanabelagola, Chanderi, Gaur and Champaner.

Cover by period: use the six place topics in this chapter, which together list about 200 sites grouped by period and region.

Cover by region: make sure each state has at least five or six sites; candidates often neglect the north-east, Odisha, Andhra and Telangana, Kerala and Kashmir.

Multi-period sites: many places have several layers (Brahmagiri: Neolithic, megalithic, Ashokan edict; Eran: Chalcolithic and Gupta inscriptions; Nevasa: Palaeolithic and Chalcolithic); learn all the layers.

Link with Paper I chapters: while reading each chapter of these notes, add its places to your list with a one-line note.

4. Mapping Skills

Learn the physical frame first: rivers (Indus, Ghaggar-Hakra, Ganga, Yamuna, Son, Narmada, Tapi, Godavari, Krishna, Tungabhadra, Kaveri, Vaigai), hills (Aravallis, Vindhyas, Western and Eastern Ghats) and coasts.

Use river anchors: Hampi on the Tungabhadra, Nagarjunakonda on the Krishna, Burzahom near Srinagar on the Jhelum valley, Arikamedu near Puducherry on the coast, Kaushambi on the Yamuna near Prayagraj.

Use modern cities as anchors: Inamgaon near Pune, Bhimbetka near Bhopal, Uttaramerur near Kanchipuram, Sopara near Mumbai, Champaner near Vadodara.

Clusters: learn sites in clusters, such as the Kachchh Harappan cluster (Dholavira, Surkotada, Shikarpur, Bagasra), the Bagalkot Chalukya triangle (Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal) and the Malda cluster (Gaur, Pandua).

Practise on blank maps: mark 20 places a week without help, then check against an atlas; repeat the places you got wrong.

5. Writing the 30-Word Note

Template: place + present state or district + period or dynasty + main finds or events + significance, in two or three short sentences.

Example 1: 'Burzahom (Srinagar, Kashmir): Neolithic site, from c. 3000 BCE; pit dwellings, bone tools, burials of dogs with humans; shows a distinct northern Neolithic with Central Asian links.'

Example 2: 'Uttaramerur (Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu): Chola inscriptions of Parantaka I (919 and 921 CE) on the temple walls detail the election of village sabha committees by lot (kudavolai).'

Example 3: 'Champaner (Panchmahal, Gujarat): capital of Mahmud Begarha from 1484; Jami Masjid and fortifications; taken by Humayun in 1535; UNESCO World Heritage Site (2004).'

Avoid: long histories, doubtful statistics, and claims you are not sure of; it is better to write a short correct note than a long inaccurate one.

6. Sources and Reference Tools

Atlases: the Historical Atlas of India and Irfan Habib's An Atlas of the Mughal Empire (1982) are standard references; school atlases help for modern boundaries.

Textbooks: Upinder Singh's A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India has maps and site descriptions for most ancient places; Satish Chandra's medieval volumes cover Sultanate and Mughal sites.

ASI resources: the Archaeological Survey of India's Indian Archaeology: A Review reports excavations year by year; ASI and UNESCO pages give the status of World Heritage Sites.

Recent finds: follow news on excavations (Keezhadi, Rakhigarhi, Sinauli, Vadnagar) but use only well-reported facts with the year.

7. Revision Plan

Phase 1 (learning): read one place topic a week and make flash cards with the place on one side and the 30-word note on the other.

Phase 2 (mapping): mark each topic's places on a blank map from memory; aim for 90 per cent accuracy.

Phase 3 (mixed practice): take mixed sets of 20 places from all periods in 30 minutes, which is roughly the time to give this question in the exam.

Phase 4 (final revision): revise the list of repeated places and your error list in the last month.

Time management: attempt the map question first while you are fresh; about 25 to 35 minutes is a reasonable budget for 50 marks.

8. Common Mistakes

Confusing similar names: Pandua (Malda) and Pandua (Hooghly); Kalyan (Maharashtra port) and Kalyani (Chalukya capital in Karnataka); Udayagiri (Odisha, Jain caves) and Udayagiri (near Vidisha, Gupta caves).

Wrong state after reorganisation: many districts have been renamed or split (Aurangabad is now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar; Osmanabad is Dharashiv; Ahmednagar is Ahilyanagar); naming the state correctly is enough if you are unsure of the district.

Ignoring later layers: a site known for a Neolithic find may also have a famous inscription or temple; mention the most important layer first.

Leaving places blank: if unsure, use regional clues (river, coast, neighbouring sites) to make a reasoned identification.

1. Palaeolithic Sites

South India: Attirampakkam (Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu) has Acheulian handaxes dated to about 1.5 million years ago by Shanti Pappu and colleagues (2011); a later study (2018) dated Middle Palaeolithic tools there to about 385,000 years ago.

Karnataka: the Hunsgi and Baichbal valleys (Yadgir) studied by K. Paddayya include Isampur, an Acheulian quarry-cum-workshop where tool-making debris lies in place.

Andhra Pradesh: Jwalapuram (Kurnool region) has Middle Palaeolithic tools above and below the ash of the Toba eruption (c. 74,000 years ago), studied by Michael Petraglia's team (2007); the Billa Surgam caves gave Upper Palaeolithic bone tools and animal fossils.

Central India: Hathnora (Sehore, Madhya Pradesh) in the Narmada valley yielded a partial hominin skull found by Arun Sonakia in 1982; Bhimbetka (Raisen) has Acheulian levels in some shelters.

Deccan: Nevasa (Ahilyanagar, Maharashtra) gave its name to the 'Nevasan' Middle Palaeolithic flake industry identified by H.D. Sankalia.

Pioneers: Robert Bruce Foote found a handaxe at Pallavaram near Madras in 1863, the first recognised Palaeolithic tool in India.

2. Mesolithic Sites

Bhimbetka: rock shelters in the Vindhyan hills near Bhopal, discovered by V.S. Wakankar in 1957; paintings of hunting, dancing and animals, mostly Mesolithic and later; UNESCO World Heritage Site (2003).

Rajasthan and Gujarat: Bagor (Bhilwara), excavated by V.N. Misra, is among the largest Mesolithic sites, with microliths and early evidence of domesticated sheep and goat; Langhnaj (Mehsana) was excavated by Sankalia.

Ganga plains: Sarai Nahar Rai and Mahadaha (Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh), excavated by G.R. Sharma and colleagues, have hearths and human burials, including double burials.

Belan and Madhya Pradesh: Chopani Mando (Prayagraj) in the Belan valley shows hut floors and a sequence into the Neolithic; Adamgarh (Narmadapuram) has rock shelters with evidence of early animal domestication.

Microliths: tiny blades and geometric tools hafted in wood or bone are the hallmark of the Mesolithic.

3. Neolithic Sites by Region

North-west: Mehrgarh (Kachhi plain, Balochistan, Pakistan), excavated by Jean-François Jarrige from 1974, shows farming of wheat and barley and herding of cattle, sheep and goat from about 7000 BCE.

Kashmir: Burzahom (Srinagar) and Gufkral (Pulwama) have pit dwellings, bone tools and polished stone harvesters; Burzahom also has burials of dogs with their masters.

Ganga valley and Vindhyas: Koldihwa and Mahagara (Prayagraj) and Lahuradewa (Sant Kabir Nagar) have early rice and cattle pens; Chirand (Saran, Bihar) is rich in bone and antler tools.

South India: Brahmagiri (Chitradurga), Sanganakallu and Tekkalakota (Ballari), Piklihal (Raichur) and Utnur (Mahbubnagar, Telangana) belong to the southern Neolithic of cattle herders and millet farmers.

Ash mounds: F.R. Allchin's excavation at Utnur (1957) showed that the ash mounds were the burnt remains of cattle dung from periodic burning of cattle pens.

North-east: Daojali Hading (Dima Hasao, Assam) has polished stone tools and cord-marked pottery, linked to South-East Asian Neolithic traditions.

4. Chalcolithic Cultures

Ahar-Banas culture (Rajasthan): Ahar (Udaipur), Gilund (Rajsamand) and Balathal (Udaipur), c. 3000–1500 BCE; copper smelting, black-and-red ware, mud-brick and stone houses.

Kayatha culture (Malwa): Kayatha (Ujjain), excavated by V.S. Wakankar, c. 2400–2000 BCE, with copper axes and sturdy painted pottery.

Malwa culture: Navdatoli (Khargone), opposite Maheshwar on the Narmada, excavated by Sankalia; Eran (Sagar) has a fortified Chalcolithic settlement below its Gupta-period remains.

Deccan (Jorwe culture): Jorwe, Nevasa and Daimabad (Ahilyanagar) and Inamgaon and Chandoli (Pune), c. 1400–700 BCE; painted red ware, rectangular houses and urn burials of children.

Inamgaon: excavated by M.K. Dhavalikar and colleagues of Deccan College (1968–83); a large village on the Ghod river with granaries, a large house identified as a chief's, an embankment and channel interpreted as irrigation works, and burials in urns.

Daimabad: on the Pravara river; its sequence includes Savalda, late Harappan, Malwa and Jorwe phases; a hoard of four bronze objects (a chariot with rider, a rhinoceros, an elephant and a buffalo) was found in 1974.

5. Sources and Methods

Stone-tool typology: handaxes and cleavers (Acheulian), flakes (Middle Palaeolithic), blades (Upper Palaeolithic) and microliths (Mesolithic).

Dating: radiocarbon for later periods; cosmogenic nuclide, palaeomagnetic and luminescence dating for the oldest sites such as Attirampakkam.

Plant and animal remains: charred grains, husk impressions in pottery and animal bones show the shift to farming and herding.

Rock art: Bhimbetka's paintings depict hunting, communal dances and animals, a rare window into belief and social life.

6. Analysis and Debates

Origins of farming: Mehrgarh shows an early, largely local transition to agriculture in the north-west, though wheat and barley have Near Eastern wild ancestors; scholars debate the weight of diffusion against local development.

Early rice: very early dates claimed for rice at Koldihwa and Lahuradewa (7th–6th millennium BCE) are debated; some scholars think the grains were wild or the dates insecure.

Regional Neolithics: Kashmir's pit dwellings, the south's ash mounds and the north-east's cord-marked pottery show several centres rather than one route of spread.

Chalcolithic character: these were rural, non-urban cultures contemporary with or later than the Harappans, using copper alongside stone blades.

Decline of the Jorwe culture: Dhavalikar linked the shrinking of Late Jorwe settlements (after c. 1000 BCE) to increasing aridity and a shift towards more mobile life.

Social ranking: at Inamgaon the large central house, differences in burials and storage pits have been read as signs of an emerging chiefdom.

7. Using It in the Exam

Note structure: 'Site (district, state): period, c. date; main finds; excavator if known; significance.'

Model note: 'Bhimbetka (Raisen, Madhya Pradesh): rock shelters in the Vindhyas found by V.S. Wakankar (1957); Palaeolithic to historic occupation; Mesolithic paintings of hunting and dancing; UNESCO site (2003).'

Model note: 'Inamgaon (Pune, Maharashtra): Chalcolithic Malwa and Jorwe village on the Ghod river, c. 1600–700 BCE; granaries, chief's house, irrigation channel, urn burials; excavated by Dhavalikar.'

Location anchors: Burzahom near Srinagar; Bhimbetka south of Bhopal; Hunsgi in north Karnataka; Inamgaon east of Pune; Ahar beside Udaipur; Chirand at the Ganga–Ghaghara confluence.

Multi-layer sites: remember Brahmagiri (Neolithic, megalithic, Ashokan edict), Eran (Chalcolithic, Gupta inscriptions) and Nevasa (Palaeolithic, Chalcolithic, early historic).

Keywords: Acheulian, microlith, pit dwelling, ash mound, black-and-red ware, Jorwe ware, urn burial, chiefdom.

Avoid: giving precise dates for disputed early rice or for the oldest tools without saying they are estimates.

1. Discovery and Extent

Early reports: Charles Masson noticed the ruins of Harappa in the 1820s; Alexander Cunningham visited and published a Harappan seal in 1875.

Excavations: Daya Ram Sahni excavated Harappa (1921) and R.D. Banerji Mohenjo-daro (1922); John Marshall announced the new civilisation in 1924.

Extent: about 1.5 million square kilometres, from the Makran coast to the upper Ganga-Yamuna doab and from Jammu to the Godavari basin.

Phases: Early Harappan (c. 3200–2600 BCE), Mature Harappan (c. 2600–1900 BCE) and Late Harappan (c. 1900–1300 BCE), with regional variants.

2. Core Sites in Pakistan

Harappa (Sahiwal, Punjab): on an old course of the Ravi; citadel, working platforms, 'granary' (function debated), Cemetery R-37 and the later Cemetery H.

Mohenjo-daro (Larkana, Sindh): Great Bath, a large building called the granary or great hall, the bronze 'dancing girl' and the steatite 'priest-king'; UNESCO site (1980).

Chanhu-daro (Sindh): no citadel; a bead-making and craft centre excavated by N.G. Majumdar and Ernest Mackay.

Kot Diji (Khairpur, Sindh): fortified Early Harappan settlement, excavated by F.A. Khan in the 1950s.

Sutkagen-dor (Balochistan): westernmost site near the Iranian border, on the Makran trade route; Ganweriwala in Cholistan is among the largest, mostly unexcavated sites.

3. Ghaggar-Hakra and North-West India

Rakhigarhi (Hisar, Haryana): the largest Harappan site in India; excavated by Amarendra Nath (1997–2000) and Vasant Shinde (from 2013); a 2019 study of ancient DNA from a female skeleton found no steppe pastoralist ancestry.

Kalibangan (Hanumangarh, Rajasthan): identified by A. Ghosh (1953) and excavated by B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar (1960–69); Early Harappan ploughed field, fire altars, a separate lower town.

Fatehabad cluster (Haryana): Banawali (R.S. Bisht, 1974) with a terracotta plough model and barley; Bhirrana with very early dates claimed for its Hakra-ware levels; Kunal with silver ornaments in an Early Harappan context.

Northern and eastern limits: Manda (Jammu) on the Chenab, Ropar (Rupnagar, Punjab), the first site excavated after 1947, and Alamgirpur (Meerut) on the Hindon, the easternmost Mature-Late Harappan site.

Late Harappan and after: Hulas (Saharanpur) and Bhagwanpura (Kurukshetra), where J.P. Joshi found an overlap of Late Harappan and Painted Grey Ware.

Sinauli (Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh): a cemetery excavated in 2005–06 and again in 2018 by the ASI; burials with copper swords, a helmet and wheeled vehicles described as chariots, c. 2000–1800 BCE; their identity and the 'chariot' label are debated.

4. Gujarat and Kachchh

Dholavira (Kachchh): on Khadir island in the Rann; excavated by R.S. Bisht (1990–2005); citadel, middle and lower town, rock-cut reservoirs and a signboard of ten large signs; UNESCO site (2021).

Lothal (Ahmedabad): excavated by S.R. Rao (1955–60); a brick basin he identified as a dockyard (some scholars see it as a reservoir), bead factory and a Persian Gulf seal.

Other Kachchh sites: Surkotada (bones claimed as horse remains, a debated claim), Shikarpur and Bagasra (Gola Dhoro), a shell-bangle and bead workshop.

Saurashtra: Rangpur and Rojdi represent the regional 'Sorath' Harappan and Late Harappan phases, with rice husk evidence at Rangpur.

Outpost: Shortughai (northern Afghanistan) on the Amu Darya was a Harappan trading settlement linked to lapis lazuli from Badakhshan.

Southern limit: Daimabad (Ahilyanagar, Maharashtra) on the Pravara has a Late Harappan phase and is usually taken as the southernmost site with Harappan material.

5. Megalithic Sites

Nature: megaliths are burials or memorials marked by large stones, built mainly between c. 1200 BCE and the early centuries CE; most contain iron objects and black-and-red ware.

Types: cists with port-holes (Brahmagiri), dolmens, stone circles (Junapani), menhirs (Burzahom later phase), urn burials (Adichanallur) and rock-cut chambers (Kerala).

Tamil Nadu: Adichanallur (Thoothukudi) on the Tamraparani, excavated by Alexander Rea (1899–1905) and again by the ASI from 2004; Kodumanal (Erode), excavated by K. Rajan, a craft and trade centre with beads, iron working and Tamil-Brahmi; Porunthal (Dindigul), where rice in a burial jar and Tamil-Brahmi on potsherds were dated by Rajan to about the 5th century BCE.

Karnataka: Brahmagiri (Chitradurga), excavated by Wheeler (1947), and Maski (Raichur), where megaliths lie close to the Ashokan edict; Hallur (Haveri) gave early iron dates of about 1000 BCE.

Vidarbha: Junapani, Mahurjhari and Naikund (Nagpur district) have stone circles, horse ornaments and, at Naikund, an iron-smelting furnace.

Kerala: megalithic rock-cut burial chambers and umbrella stones (topikal) and hood stones (kudakkal) occur widely, for example at Porkalam (Thrissur), excavated by B.K. Thapar in 1948.

Dating problem: megaliths are hard to date because many were reused; radiocarbon dates from settlement layers (Hallur, Naikund) are more reliable than grave goods alone.

6. Analysis and Debates

Urban planning: grid-like streets, covered drains, standard bricks (ratio 1:2:4) and weights show strong regulation, though no palace or temple has been firmly identified.

Decline: Mortimer Wheeler's theory of an Aryan invasion is rejected; George Dales called the 'massacre' at Mohenjo-daro a myth; explanations now include climate change, shifts of the Ghaggar-Hakra and Indus rivers, and the breakdown of trade.

De-urbanisation: Gregory Possehl and others describe a 'localisation' phase in which settlements continued in smaller, regional forms.

Ancient DNA: the Rakhigarhi genome (2019) supports local continuity with later South Asians, but its implications for language history remain debated.

Megaliths and the Sangam age: megalithic communities used iron for farming and war; scholars link them to the chiefdoms described in Sangam poems; recent radiocarbon dates from Tamil Nadu have pushed the start of iron earlier, but these claims are still being assessed.

7. Using It in the Exam

Model note: 'Dholavira (Kachchh, Gujarat): Mature Harappan city on Khadir island; three-part plan, rock-cut reservoirs, signboard of ten signs; excavated by R.S. Bisht; UNESCO site (2021).'

Model note: 'Adichanallur (Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu): megalithic urn-burial site on the Tamraparani; iron weapons, bronze objects, black-and-red ware; excavated by Rea and the ASI; background to the Sangam age.'

Location anchors: Kalibangan on the Ghaggar near the Pakistan border; Rakhigarhi north-west of Delhi; Lothal at the head of the Gulf of Khambhat; Dholavira in the Great Rann; Adichanallur near Tirunelveli.

Keywords: citadel, lower town, dockyard, reservoir, fire altar, seal, black-and-red ware, cist, urn burial, Tamil-Brahmi.

Avoid: calling the Lothal dock or the Surkotada horse certain; say 'identified as' or 'claimed'.

Recent finds: quote only well-reported points with years (Rakhigarhi DNA 2019; Sinauli 2018; Dholavira UNESCO 2021).

1. Magadha and the Middle Ganga Plain

Rajgir (Rajagriha): early capital of Magadha under Bimbisara and Ajatashatru, ringed by hills and a long stone 'cyclopean' wall; the First Buddhist Council was held near the Saptaparni cave.

Pataliputra (Patna): capital from Udayin onwards and of the Mauryas; Megasthenes described its wooden walls; D.B. Spooner excavated an eighty-pillared hall at Kumrahar (1912–15), and remains of a timber palisade were found at Bulandibagh.

Vaishali: capital of the Licchavis of the Vajji confederacy, site of the Second Buddhist Council; the Ashokan lion pillar stands at Kolhua; Jain tradition places Mahavira's birth at Kundagrama nearby.

Bodh Gaya: where the Buddha attained enlightenment; the Mahabodhi temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2002).

Nalanda and Vikramashila: Nalanda mahavihara (UNESCO, 2016), where Xuanzang studied in the 7th century; Vikramashila (Bhagalpur), founded by the Pala king Dharmapala; Pawapuri, where Mahavira attained nirvana, lies near Nalanda.

Ashokan pillars in north Bihar: Lauriya Nandangarh has an intact lion pillar; Rampurva (West Champaran) yielded a bull capital and a lion capital.

2. Uttar Pradesh and the Buddhist Circuit

Sarnath (Varanasi): site of the first sermon; the Ashokan lion capital, India's national emblem, and the Dhamek stupa.

Kushinagar: the Buddha's mahaparinirvana; the reclining Buddha of the Gupta period in the Parinirvana temple.

Shravasti (Sahet-Mahet): capital of Kosala; the Jetavana monastery gifted by the merchant Anathapindika.

Kaushambi: capital of the Vatsas (king Udayana) on the Yamuna; G.R. Sharma excavated its massive ramparts and the Ghositarama monastery; Ashoka's Schism edict on the Allahabad pillar is addressed to the officers of Kaushambi.

Piprahwa (Siddharthnagar): W.C. Peppé found a relic casket with a Brahmi inscription in 1898; K.M. Srivastava's excavations (1970s) led him to identify the area with Kapilavastu, which is disputed by claims for Tilaurakot in Nepal.

Lumbini (Nepal): the Rummindei pillar records Ashoka's visit to the Buddha's birthplace and the reduction of the village's tax; UNESCO site (1997); Sankisa (Farrukhabad) has an Ashokan elephant capital.

3. Central and Western India

Sanchi (Raisen): the Great Stupa, begun under Ashoka, enlarged in the Shunga period, with carved gateways (toranas) of the 1st century BCE–1st century CE; UNESCO site (1989).

Bharhut (Satna): Shunga-period stupa whose railings with labelled Jataka scenes were found by Alexander Cunningham (1873) and are now in the Indian Museum, Kolkata.

Vidisha and Besnagar: the Heliodorus pillar, set up by an envoy of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas in honour of Vasudeva, is early evidence of Bhagavata worship.

Ujjain: capital of Avanti; Ashoka served here as a prince-governor; a major trade centre on routes to the western coast.

Girnar (Junagadh, Gujarat): a rock bearing Ashoka's fourteen major rock edicts and Rudradaman's Sanskrit inscription (c. 150 CE) on the repair of the Sudarshana lake, first built under Chandragupta Maurya.

Western Deccan caves: Karle (Pune) has the largest early chaitya hall; Nashik (Pandavleni) has the inscription of Gautami Balashri praising Gautamiputra Satakarni; Ajanta (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) has caves from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE.

4. North-West and the Himalaya

Taxila (Pakistan): excavated by John Marshall (1913–34): the Bhir mound (Mauryan and earlier), Sirkap (Indo-Greek and Saka-Parthian) and Sirsukh (Kushan); UNESCO site (1980).

Edicts in Kharosthi: Shahbazgarhi (Mardan) and Mansehra in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa carry the major rock edicts in Kharosthi script.

Kandahar (Afghanistan): a Greek-Aramaic bilingual edict of Ashoka found in 1958, showing the western reach of Mauryan rule.

Kalsi (Dehradun): the major rock edicts on a boulder near the Yamuna, with an elephant engraved and labelled.

5. Odisha

Dhauli (Khordha) and Jaugada (Ganjam): Ashoka's major rock edicts with the two Separate Kalinga Edicts in place of edicts XI–XIII; Dhauli has a rock-cut elephant.

Sisupalgarh (Khordha): a fortified early historic city near Bhubaneswar excavated by B.B. Lal (1948).

Udayagiri and Khandagiri: Jain rock-cut caves; the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela of Kalinga (c. 1st century BCE) records his campaigns and his support for Jainism.

6. Deccan and Andhra

Sannati (Kalaburagi, Karnataka): on the Bhima; Ashokan edicts found in the Chandralamba temple (1989) and, at nearby Kanaganahalli, a stupa panel showing a king labelled 'Raya Asoko', a rare portrait of Ashoka.

Amaravati: Satavahana-period stupa on the Krishna with fine limestone reliefs, many now in the Government Museum, Chennai, and the British Museum.

Nagarjunakonda: Vijayapuri, capital of the Ikshvakus (3rd–4th century CE); Buddhist monasteries, stupas and Brahmanical temples; excavated by A.H. Longhurst and later by R. Subrahmanyam before the Nagarjuna Sagar dam flooded the valley; monuments rebuilt on the island and the hill nearby.

Bhattiprolu: stupa relic caskets with inscriptions in an early southern Brahmi script, usually dated to about the 2nd century BCE.

7. Jain Sites

Shravanabelagola (Hassan, Karnataka): tradition links Chandragupta Maurya and Bhadrabahu with Chandragiri hill; the Gommateshwara (Bahubali) statue was set up around 983 CE by Chavundaraya, minister of the Western Gangas.

Mathura: the Kankali Tila Jain stupa and sculptures with donors' inscriptions of the Kushan period; also the centre of the Mathura school of sculpture.

Other Jain centres: Pawapuri (Mahavira's nirvana), Udayagiri-Khandagiri (Kharavela) and later Mount Abu (Dilwara) and Palitana.

8. Sources and Debates

Ashokan edicts: major rock edicts, minor rock edicts and pillar edicts, first deciphered by James Prinsep (1837); their locations mark routes and provincial centres.

Travellers: Faxian (early 5th century) and Xuanzang (7th century) described Buddhist sites, and Cunningham used Xuanzang's account to identify many of them in the 19th century.

Nature of the Mauryan state: Romila Thapar described a metropolitan core, core areas and peripheral areas, rather than a uniform centralised empire; edict sites in the periphery lie along routes and resource zones.

Patronage: donor inscriptions at Sanchi, Bharhut, Karle and Amaravati show that merchants, artisans, monks, nuns and lay women paid for most of the construction, not only kings.

Debates: Kapilavastu (Piprahwa or Tilaurakot), the date of the Bhattiprolu script and the authenticity of the Chandragupta-Shravanabelagola tradition remain debated.

9. Using It in the Exam

Model note: 'Kaushambi (Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh): capital of the Vatsas on the Yamuna; massive ramparts and Ghositarama monastery excavated by G.R. Sharma; Ashoka's Schism edict on the Allahabad pillar addresses its officers.'

Model note: 'Sannati (Kalaburagi, Karnataka): early historic site on the Bhima; Ashokan edicts and the Kanaganahalli stupa with a panel labelled Raya Asoko, a rare image of Ashoka.'

Model note: 'Nagarjunakonda (Andhra Pradesh): Ikshvaku capital Vijayapuri on the Krishna, 3rd–4th century CE; stupas, viharas, Brahmanical temples; relocated before the Nagarjuna Sagar dam.'

Keywords: mahajanapada, NBPW, stupa, chaitya, vihara, major and minor rock edict, Kharosthi, donor inscription, Satavahana, Ikshvaku.

Location anchors: Kaushambi south-west of Prayagraj; Sanchi north-east of Bhopal; Dhauli south of Bhubaneswar; Sannati on the Bhima in north Karnataka; Nagarjunakonda on the Krishna at the Telangana-Andhra border.

1. The Chalukyas of Badami and the Deccan

Badami (Vatapi): capital fortified by Pulakeshin I (c. 543 CE); rock-cut cave temples, one dated 578 CE under Mangalesha; the Pallava Narasimhavarman I captured it in 642 CE and took the title 'Vatapikonda'.

Aihole: early experimental temples (Lad Khan, Durga); the Meguti Jain temple bears Ravikirti's Sanskrit prashasti (634 CE) recording Pulakeshin II's victory over Harsha.

Pattadakal: coronation centre with temples in both northern and southern styles; the Virupaksha temple was built by queen Lokamahadevi (c. 745 CE) to mark Vikramaditya II's victory over the Pallavas; UNESCO site (1987).

Ellora (Rashtrakuta): the Kailasa temple, carved from a single rock under Krishna I (8th century); the Ellora caves include Buddhist, Hindu and Jain groups; UNESCO site (1983).

Manyakheta (Malkhed): Rashtrakuta capital from Amoghavarsha I in the 9th century; the Kannada work Kavirajamarga is associated with his court.

Elephanta: island cave temple near Mumbai with the three-headed Mahesamurti (6th century; patron debated); UNESCO site (1987).

Kalyani (Basavakalyan): capital of the later (Western) Chalukyas from the mid-11th century; Vijnaneshvara wrote the Mitakshara at the court of Vikramaditya VI; associated with Basava and the Virashaiva movement in the 12th century.

2. Pallavas, Cholas and Pandyas

Kanchipuram: Pallava capital and a centre of learning (ghatika); Kailasanatha temple of Narasimhavarman II Rajasimha (c. 700 CE); Vaikuntha Perumal temple with panels on Pallava history.

Mamallapuram: port of the Pallavas named after Narasimhavarman I Mamalla; Pancha Rathas, the great relief known as Arjuna's Penance or the Descent of the Ganga, and the Shore Temple of Rajasimha; UNESCO site (1984).

Thanjavur: Chola capital; the Brihadisvara (Rajarajeshvaram) temple completed by Rajaraja I in 1010 CE, with long inscriptions on donations and temple staff.

Gangaikonda Cholapuram: new capital of Rajendra I, built after his campaign to the Ganga (c. 1020s); its temple and a large tank.

Darasuram: Airavatesvara temple of Rajaraja II (12th century); with Thanjavur and Gangaikonda Cholapuram it forms the 'Great Living Chola Temples' UNESCO group.

Uttaramerur: Parantaka I's inscriptions of 919 and 921 CE describe how the sabha of this brahmadeya village chose committee members by lot (kudavolai), with property, age and learning qualifications.

Kalugumalai (Pandya): the unfinished rock-cut Vettuvan Koil (8th century) and Jain sculptures and inscriptions on the same hill.

3. Hoysalas and Southern Karnataka

Belur: Chennakeshava temple built by Vishnuvardhana in 1117 CE; star-shaped plan and fine soapstone carving.

Halebidu (Dwarasamudra): Hoysala capital; the Hoysaleshvara temple; the city was sacked by Malik Kafur's army in 1311.

Somanathapura: Keshava temple (1268 CE) built by Somanatha, a general of Narasimha III; Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.

4. North and Central India

Thanesar and Kannauj: Thanesar was the Pushyabhuti capital; Harsha ruled from Kannauj, which later became the prize of the tripartite struggle of the Palas, Pratiharas and Rashtrakutas.

Gwalior: the Teli ka Mandir (8th–9th century) and the Chaturbhuj temple inscription of 876 CE, which contains one of the earliest dated uses of a zero symbol in India.

Khajuraho: Chandela temples (c. 950–1050 CE) such as the Lakshmana and Kandariya Mahadeva temples, with Jain temples nearby; UNESCO site (1986); Kalinjar was the dynasty's chief fort.

Paramara sites: Dhar was the capital of Bhoja; Bhojpur (Raisen) has his unfinished Shiva temple, with architectural drawings engraved on nearby rocks.

Sirpur (Chhattisgarh): the brick Lakshmana temple (7th century) and Buddhist monasteries on the Mahanadi.

5. Western India

Modhera: Sun temple (c. 1026–27 CE) of the Chaulukya (Solanki) king Bhima I, with a stepped tank (Surya Kund).

Somnath: temple on the Saurashtra coast raided by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1025–26; rebuilt several times.

Mount Abu (Dilwara): white marble Jain temples; Vimala Vasahi (1031) built by Vimala, minister of Bhima I, and Luna Vasahi (1230) by the brothers Vastupala and Tejapala.

Osian: group of Pratihara-period temples near Jodhpur, including the Mahavira Jain temple and the Sachiya Mata temple.

6. Eastern India and Kashmir

Bhubaneswar: the Kalinga style of temples from the Parashurameshvara (7th century) and Mukteshvara to the Lingaraja (11th century).

Konark: Sun temple built as a chariot by Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty (c. 1250); UNESCO site (1984); Puri's Jagannath temple was begun under Anantavarman Chodaganga (12th century).

Paharpur (Somapura, Bangladesh): great Buddhist vihara built by the Pala king Dharmapala; UNESCO site (1985).

Kashmir: the Martand Sun temple (Anantnag) of Lalitaditya Muktapida (8th century) and the temples of Avantipur (Pulwama) built by Avantivarman (9th century).

7. Sources and Debates

Inscriptions: royal prashastis (Aihole), land-grant copper plates and temple inscriptions (Thanjavur, Uttaramerur) are the main sources for these dynasties.

Texts: Mayamata and Manasara describe temple building; Kalhana's Rajatarangini (1148–49) covers Kashmir.

Temple and state: Burton Stein (Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India, 1980) saw the Chola state as segmentary, with temples integrating local society; Noboru Karashima used inscriptions to argue for a stronger Chola centre.

Feudalism debate: R.S. Sharma linked land grants to Brahmins and temples to 'Indian feudalism'; B.D. Chattopadhyaya (The Making of Early Medieval India, 1994) stressed state formation and the integration of local cults.

Uttaramerur debate: its 'elections' are sometimes called village democracy, but they applied to a Brahmin assembly with property and learning qualifications.

Temple raids: Richard Davis (Lives of Indian Images, 1997) showed that Indian kings also carried off rival dynasties' images as trophies, which places Mahmud's raids in a wider context.

8. Using It in the Exam

Model note: 'Aihole (Bagalkot, Karnataka): early Chalukya temple centre; Lad Khan and Durga temples; Ravikirti's Meguti inscription (634 CE) records Pulakeshin II's victory over Harsha.'

Model note: 'Uttaramerur (Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu): Chola brahmadeya village; Parantaka I's inscriptions (919, 921 CE) describe selection of sabha committees by kudavolai, with eligibility rules.'

Keywords: prashasti, brahmadeya, sabha, ur, nagara, dravida, vesara, vimana, shikhara, mandapa, tripartite struggle.

Location anchors: the Bagalkot triangle on the Malaprabha; Thanjavur and Darasuram in the Kaveri delta; Belur and Halebidu near Hassan; Khajuraho in Bundelkhand; Konark on the coast north-east of Puri.

Avoid: mixing up the two Chalukya capitals (Badami and Kalyani) or the two Pandua and Udayagiri pairs; give dynasty names in full.

1. The Delhi Sultanate

Tarain (Taraori, Karnal): Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Muhammad of Ghur in 1191, but lost the second battle in 1192, opening the Ganga plain to Turkish rule.

Delhi: the Qutb Minar (begun by Qutbuddin Aibak and completed by Iltutmish), the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque and Alauddin Khalji's Alai Darwaza (1311); successive cities at Siri, Tughlaqabad and Firozabad.

Ajmer: the Adhai din ka Jhonpra mosque of Aibak's time and the dargah of the Chishti saint Muinuddin, later a centre of Akbar's pilgrimages.

Rajput forts: Alauddin Khalji took Ranthambore (1301) from Hammir Deva and Chittor (1303); Chittor was besieged again by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat (1535) and Akbar (1567–68).

Daulatabad (Devagiri): Yadava capital taken by Alauddin (1296); Muhammad bin Tughluq ordered the transfer of the capital and much of Delhi's elite here in 1327, a move later reversed.

Warangal: Kakatiya capital with the Thousand Pillar temple; conquered by Ulugh Khan (Muhammad bin Tughluq) in 1323; the Kakatiya Ramappa temple at Palampet (Mulugu) is a UNESCO site (2021).

2. Provincial Sultanates

Bengal: Pandua (Malda), capital of the Ilyas Shahis, has the huge Adina mosque (1375) of Sikandar Shah; Gaur (Lakhnauti) has the Bara Sona Masjid and Dakhil Darwaza and was the main capital of the Husain Shahis.

Jaunpur: capital of the Sharqi sultans from the 1390s; the Atala mosque (1408) with its great propylon shows the Sharqi style.

Malwa (Mandu): the Ghuri and Khalji sultans built Hoshang Shah's marble tomb, the Jahaz Mahal and the palaces linked with Baz Bahadur and Rupmati; Akbar's forces took Malwa in 1561–62.

Gujarat: Ahmad Shah founded Ahmedabad (1411); Mahmud Begarha captured Champaner (1484) and made it his capital; Humayun took Champaner in 1535.

Chanderi (Ashoknagar): fort of the Malwa sultans and later of Medini Rai; Babur captured it in 1528; famous for its weaving.

3. The Bahmanis and the Deccan Sultanates

Gulbarga (Kalaburagi): first Bahmani capital (1347) under Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah; the fully roofed Jami mosque and the dargah of the Chishti saint Gesu Daraz.

Bidar: Bahmani capital from c. 1429; the madrasa of the minister Mahmud Gawan (1472); origin of Bidri metalware.

Successor sultanates: Bijapur (Adil Shahi; Gol Gumbaz, 1656), Golconda (Qutb Shahi; diamond trade; Charminar in Hyderabad, 1591), Ahmadnagar (Nizam Shahi; Chand Bibi's defence against the Mughals, 1595–96; fell in 1600), Berar and Bidar.

Mughal conquest: Ahmadnagar fell in 1600 and finally in 1633; Aurangzeb took Bijapur in 1686 and Golconda in 1687.

4. Vijayanagara

Hampi (Vijayanagara): founded c. 1336 by Harihara and Bukka on the Tungabhadra; the Virupaksha, Vitthala and Hazara Rama temples, the royal enclosure and the Mahanavami platform; UNESCO site (1986).

Talikota (Rakshasa-Tangadi), 1565: the allied Deccan sultanates defeated Vijayanagara under Rama Raya; Hampi was sacked.

Later capitals: Penukonda and then Chandragiri under the Aravidu dynasty; in 1639 the English obtained the site of Madras from a local Nayaka under the Chandragiri ruler.

Lepakshi: the Veerabhadra temple (16th century), with ceiling murals and a giant monolithic Nandi.

Foreign visitors: Abdur Razzaq (1443), Domingo Paes (c. 1520) and Fernao Nuniz described the city's markets, festivals and army.

5. Mughal Battles

Panipat (1526): Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi using field guns and the tulughma flanking tactic; Panipat (1556) saw Akbar's forces under Bairam Khan defeat Hemu.

Khanwa (1527): near Fatehpur Sikri, Babur defeated Rana Sanga of Mewar and his Rajput-Afghan coalition.

Chausa (1539): Sher Shah defeated Humayun on the Ganga; at Kannauj (1540) Humayun was driven out of India; Sher Shah's tomb stands at Sasaram.

Kalanaur (1556): Akbar was enthroned here in Punjab on news of Humayun's death; the brick platform (Takht-i-Akbari) survives.

Haldighati (1576): Man Singh's Mughal army fought Maharana Pratap; Asirgarh (1601) was Akbar's last conquest.

6. Mughal Capitals and Monuments

Agra: Akbar built the red sandstone Agra fort (1565–73); Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal (begun 1632) for Mumtaz Mahal, who had died at Burhanpur in 1631.

Fatehpur Sikri: Akbar's capital (1571–85) near the hospice of Shaikh Salim Chishti; the Buland Darwaza, the Ibadat Khana (debates from 1575) and the Panch Mahal; UNESCO site (1986).

Sikandra: Akbar's tomb, completed under Jahangir (1613), with a five-storeyed design and minarets on the gateway.

Lahore: the fort, the Badshahi mosque (1673) and the Shalimar gardens (1641–42); Jahangir's tomb at Shahdara.

Aurangabad: the Bibi ka Maqbara (1660s), built in memory of Aurangzeb's wife Dilras Banu; Aurangzeb is buried at nearby Khuldabad.

7. Marathas

Purandar (1665): Shivaji signed a treaty with Jai Singh, surrendering 23 forts.

Raigad: Shivaji's capital where he was crowned in 1674.

8. Sources and Debates

Narrative sources: Minhaj's Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, Barani's Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, Ibn Battuta's Rihla (Delhi and Daulatabad under Muhammad bin Tughluq), Babur's memoirs (Panipat, Khanwa, Chanderi) and Abul Fazl's Akbarnama.

Vijayanagara: Burton Stein saw it as a loose, segmentary state relying on nayakas; the John Fritz and George Michell project at Hampi studied the city's sacred and royal zones.

Indo-Islamic architecture: arches, domes, calligraphy and gardens combined with Indian trabeate construction and craft; Catherine Asher (Architecture of Mughal India, 1992) shows how regional styles fed Mughal building.

Location factors: capitals grew at river crossings, hill forts and trade routes (Gaur on the Ganga, Champaner on a hill, Golconda near diamond mines, Hampi on the Tungabhadra).

9. Using It in the Exam

Model note: 'Hampi (Vijayanagara district, Karnataka): capital of Vijayanagara on the Tungabhadra from c. 1336; Virupaksha and Vitthala temples; described by Paes; sacked after Talikota (1565); UNESCO site.'

Model note: 'Gaur (Malda, West Bengal): capital of the Bengal sultans (Lakhnauti); Bara Sona Masjid and Dakhil Darwaza; brick and terracotta style; declined in the 16th century.'

Model note: 'Chanderi (Ashoknagar, Madhya Pradesh): fort of the Malwa sultans and Medini Rai; captured by Babur in 1528; known for its handloom saris.'

Keywords: Indo-Islamic, propylon, citadel, nayaka, tulughma, Chishti dargah, regional sultanate.

Avoid: confusing Pandua (Malda) with Pandua (Hooghly), or Bidar's Bahmani phase with the later Barid Shahis.

1. Indo-Roman Trade: Background and Sources

Monsoon route: from about the 1st century BCE Greek and Roman Egyptian ships used the monsoon winds to sail directly from the Red Sea to India's western and southern coasts.

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century CE), a Greek merchant's guide, names Barygaza (Bharuch), Souppara (Sopara), Kalliena (Kalyan), Muziris, Nelkynda, Kolchoi (Korkai), Poduke and inland marts such as Paithana (Paithan) and Tagara (Ter).

Pliny the Elder (Natural History, 1st century CE) complained that India drained the Roman empire of about fifty million sesterces a year (his figure); Ptolemy's Geography (2nd century) lists many Indian ports.

Tamil sources: Sangam poems describe Yavana ships bringing gold and returning with pepper at Muciri (paraphrase), and the Pattinappalai and Silappadikaram describe Puhar's markets.

Muziris papyrus: a 2nd-century CE loan contract (now in Vienna) concerning a cargo carried on the ship Hermapollon from Muziris, showing the scale of the trade.

Archaeology: amphorae (wine and oil jars), Arretine and rouletted ware, Roman coin hoards (especially in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka), beads and Tamil-Brahmi graffiti.

2. Ports of the South

Arikamedu (Puducherry): excavated by Mortimer Wheeler (1945), who called it an Indo-Roman trading station; later work by Vimala Begley showed a long-lived Indian settlement with bead-making that traded with Rome and South-East Asia.

Muziris and Pattanam (Ernakulam, Kerala): excavations from 2007 led by the Kerala Council for Historical Research at Pattanam found amphorae, beads and brick structures; its identification with Muziris is widely accepted but not certain.

Kaveripattinam (Puhar): Chola port at the mouth of the Kaveri; wharf structures and a Buddhist vihara found by the ASI.

Korkai and Alagankulam: Korkai was the Pandya pearl-fishing port at the mouth of the Tamraparani; Alagankulam at the mouth of the Vaigai yielded Roman coins and rouletted ware.

Keezhadi (Sivaganga): an urban settlement on the Vaigai excavated by the ASI (2015–17) and the Tamil Nadu archaeology department (from 2018); brick buildings, drains and Tamil-Brahmi graffiti; the state's reports date its early levels to about the 6th century BCE, a dating still debated.

3. Ports and Marts of the West

Barygaza (Bharuch): at the Narmada's mouth, the leading port of western India in the Periplus, linked to Ujjain and the interior.

Sopara (Palghar): ancient Shurparaka; fragments of Ashoka's major rock edicts and a stupa relic casket were found by Bhagwanlal Indraji in 1882; a port of the Satavahana age.

Kalyan (Thane): Periplus's Kalliena, connected by passes such as Nanaghat to the Satavahana heartland.

Inland centres: Paithan (Pratishthana), the Satavahana capital on the Godavari, and Ter (Tagara), named in the Periplus as marts sending cloth and goods to the coast.

4. Ports of the East

Tamralipti (Tamluk, West Bengal): the main port of eastern India; Faxian sailed from here to Sri Lanka in the early 5th century, and Yijing landed here in the 7th century.

Chandraketugarh (North 24 Parganas): early historic site with fine terracottas and seals showing ships; some scholars link it to Ptolemy's 'Gange'.

Odisha coast: Palur (Ganjam), probably Ptolemy's departure point for South-East Asia, and Manikpatna (Puri) on the Chilika lagoon, with Chinese ceramics of the medieval period.

Bay of Bengal links: Buddhist monasteries, rouletted ware and beads connect these ports with Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.

5. Medieval and Early Modern Ports

Cambay (Khambhat): the great port of the Gujarat sultanate, later silted; Gujarati merchants traded to the Red Sea and Malacca.

Calicut (Kozhikode): port of the Zamorin; visited by Ibn Battuta and by Zheng He's Chinese fleets; Vasco da Gama arrived nearby in May 1498.

Portuguese bases: Cochin (fort from 1503), Old Goa (taken from Bijapur by Albuquerque in 1510; churches now a UNESCO site, 1986) and Diu (naval battle of 1509; fort from 1535).

Mughal and Golconda ports: Surat (English factory under a Mughal farman, 1613; raided by Shivaji in 1664 and 1670), Masulipatnam (Dutch and English factories from 1605 and 1611; painted cotton) and Hooghly (Portuguese expelled by Shah Jahan, 1632).

Dutch on the Coromandel: Pulicat (Fort Geldria, 1613) was the Dutch headquarters on the Coromandel coast for much of the 17th century.

6. Inscription Sites

Mehrauli iron pillar (Delhi): Sanskrit inscription of a king Chandra, usually identified with Chandragupta II; the pillar's resistance to rust shows Gupta-era metallurgy; it was probably moved to Delhi from elsewhere.

Prayagraj pillar: carries Ashoka's edicts, Harishena's prashasti of Samudragupta listing his conquests, and a Persian record of Jahangir.

Bhitari (Ghazipur): Skandagupta's pillar inscription on his wars, including against the Hunas.

Mandasor (Mandsaur): the silk weavers' guild inscription (dated 436 and 473 CE) on the Sun temple they built and repaired, and Yashodharman's inscriptions (c. 532 CE) claiming victory over Mihirakula.

Deccan and south: Nanaghat (Pune), queen Naganika's Satavahana inscription recording Vedic sacrifices and gifts; Talagunda (Shivamogga), Kakusthavarman's record of the Kadamba founder Mayurasharma; Halmidi (Hassan), traditionally the earliest Kannada inscription (c. 450 CE, date debated).

Other records: Rabatak (Afghanistan, found 1993), Kanishka's Bactrian-language genealogy of the Kushans; Sohgaura (Gorakhpur) and Mahasthan (Bangladesh), early Brahmi records on storehouses and relief in times of distress; Banskhera (Shahjahanpur), a copper plate of Harsha bearing his signature.

7. Debates

Scale of Roman trade: E.H. Warmington (1928) saw a large drain of Roman gold; Manfred Raschke and later scholars warned against over-reading Pliny; most now accept that the trade was large but uneven over time.

Trade and religion: Himanshu Prabha Ray argues that Buddhist monasteries along trade routes supported merchants and seafaring.

Indian Ocean history: K.N. Chaudhuri and Ashin Das Gupta stress that Asian merchants dominated the Indian Ocean before and alongside European companies.

Keezhadi dating and the Sangam age: early dates for Tamil-Brahmi at Keezhadi and Porunthal are debated, with implications for the history of writing in India.

8. Using It in the Exam

Model note: 'Arikamedu (Puducherry): early historic port, c. 2nd century BCE–2nd century CE; Roman amphorae, Arretine and rouletted ware, beads; excavated by Wheeler (1945); Indo-Roman and South-East Asian trade.'

Model note: 'Sopara (Palghar, Maharashtra): ancient Shurparaka, port on the western coast; fragments of Ashoka's major rock edicts and a stupa found by Bhagwanlal Indraji (1882); Periplus's Souppara.'

Model note: 'Mandasor (Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh): silk weavers' guild inscription (436, 473 CE) on their Sun temple; Yashodharman's records of victory over the Huna Mihirakula.'

Keywords: Periplus, monsoon route, amphorae, rouletted ware, Yavana, emporium, prashasti, guild (shreni), factory, farman.

Avoid: treating Pattanam-Muziris or early Keezhadi dates as settled; use 'identified with' and 'dated by the excavators to'.

1. UPSC 2026: the map question

Example 1 (UPSC 2026, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim : (i) Harappan burial site; (ii) Harappan site with radial town planning; (iii) Jain cave painting; (iv) Large Megalithic dolmen complexes; (v) Ancient port; (vi) Ancient capital; (vii) Meso-Chalcolithic site; (viii) Group of early medieval temples; (ix) Ancient capital; (x) Megalithic site; (xi) Neolithic site; (xii) Terra-cotta ring wells; (xiii) Mauryan fort; (xiv) Ancient Buddhist site; (xv) Mesolithic site; (xvi) Megalithic burial site; (xvii) Neolithic ash mound site; (xviii) Site with evidence of monastery, Stupa and Shiva temple; (xix) Chalcolithic and early historic site with five occupational phases; (xx) Buddhist site.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) Harappan burial site: Juna Khatiya, Gujarat (Kachchh) — Large Harappan-period cemetery in Lakhpat taluka, found in 2016 and excavated by the University of Kerala from 2019; nearly 200 of an estimated 500 graves, many rectangular and stone-lined, were opened, yielding pottery, beads and a few skeletal remains.

(ii) Harappan site with radial town planning: Banawali, Haryana (Fatehabad) — Harappan town on the dry Ghaggar (Saraswati) excavated by R.S. Bisht; streets radiating from the centre instead of a grid, a fortified acropolis, a terracotta plough model and barley, with pre-Harappan to late phases.

(iii) Jain cave painting: Sittanavasal, Tamil Nadu (Pudukkottai) — Jain rock-cut cave (Arivar Koil) with mural paintings of a lotus pond, fish, elephants and dancers (c. 9th century, Pandya period); the nearby Eladipattam caverns bear Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions.

(iv) Large Megalithic dolmen complexes: Hire Benakal, Karnataka (Koppal) — One of the largest megalithic necropolises of India (c. 800 to 200 BCE), with hundreds of dolmens, port-holed cists and stone circles on a hill, and rock paintings in nearby shelters.

(v) Ancient port: Alagankulam, Tamil Nadu (Ramanathapuram) — Early historic Pandya port near the Vaigai mouth (c. 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE) that yielded Roman amphorae, rouletted ware, Roman coins and potsherds inscribed in Tamil-Brahmi. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Korkai, Periyapattinam)

(vi) Ancient capital: Uraiyur, Tamil Nadu (Tiruchirappalli) — Early Chola capital on the Kaveri praised in Sangam poems and identified with Argaru of the Periplus, famed for fine muslin; excavations yielded black-and-red ware and rouletted ware. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Karur (Vanji), Kaveripattinam)

(vii) Meso-Chalcolithic site: Pandu Rajar Dhibi, West Bengal (Purba Bardhaman) — Chalcolithic mound on the Ajay excavated by P.C. Dasgupta; microliths below and alongside black-and-red ware, copper objects, rice and burials (c. 2nd millennium BCE) show the Mesolithic to Chalcolithic transition in Bengal. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Mahisdal, Dihar)

(viii) Group of early medieval temples: Bateshwar, Madhya Pradesh (Morena) — Group of about 200 small sandstone temples of Shiva and Vishnu (c. 8th to 10th century, Gurjara-Pratihara period) near Padavali, rebuilt from ruins by the ASI from 2005 under K.K. Muhammed.

(ix) Ancient capital: Vidisha (Besnagar), Madhya Pradesh (Vidisha) — Ancient capital of Akara (east Malwa) on the Betwa, seat of Shunga princes such as Agnimitra; the Garuda pillar of the Greek envoy Heliodorus (c. 113 BCE) records his devotion to Vasudeva.

(x) Megalithic site: Mahurjhari, Maharashtra (Nagpur) — Vidarbha megalithic cemetery of stone-circle burials (early Iron Age) excavated by S.B. Deo; iron tools and weapons, copper and gold ornaments, horse bits and black-and-red ware were found. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Junapani, Naikund)

(xi) Neolithic site: Mahagara, Uttar Pradesh (Prayagraj) — Neolithic village in the Belan valley with circular huts, a cattle pen, polished celts, querns, cord-impressed pottery and rice, excavated under G.R. Sharma; its dates are debated. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Koldihwa, Jhusi)

(xii) Terra-cotta ring wells: Bangarh (Kotivarsha), West Bengal (Dakshin Dinajpur) — Ancient Kotivarsha, a district seat of Pundravardhana; K.G. Goswami's excavations (1938-41) found structural phases from Mauryan to medieval times, with a rampart, NBPW, brick houses, drains and ring wells. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Champa (Bhagalpur), Chandraketugarh)

(xiii) Mauryan fort: Sisupalgarh, Odisha (Khordha) — Fortified early historic city near Bhubaneswar (from c. 3rd century BCE) with a square plan, massive ramparts and gateways, excavated by B.B. Lal in 1948; often identified with Tosali or Kalinganagari.

(xiv) Ancient Buddhist site: Phanigiri, Telangana (Suryapet) — Hilltop Buddhist complex of the Krishna valley tradition with a mahastupa, chaityas and viharas, carved limestone panels of Jataka stories and an important Ikshvaku-period inscription. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Nelakondapalli, Gajulabanda)

(xv) Mesolithic site: Birbhanpur, West Bengal (Paschim Bardhaman) — Mesolithic site on the Damodar excavated by B.B. Lal in 1957; quartz and chert microliths and post-holes of hut floors show hunter-gatherer settlement on the laterite uplands of Bengal.

(xvi) Megalithic burial site: Sanur, Tamil Nadu (Chengalpattu) — Megalithic burial site in Madurantakam taluk excavated by N.R. Banerjee and K.V. Soundara Rajan in 1950 and 1952; its graves yielded black-and-red ware and iron objects typical of the early Iron Age megaliths of the Tamil coast. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Amirthamangalam, Perumbair)

(xvii) Neolithic ash mound site: Pallavoy, Andhra Pradesh (Anantapur) — Southern Neolithic ash mound site, where dung from cattle pens was periodically burnt into ash mounds, excavated by V. Rami Reddy; polished stone axes and grey ware show a pastoral economy. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Kupgal, Utnur)

(xviii) Site with evidence of monastery, Stupa and Shiva temple: Benisagar, Jharkhand (West Singhbhum) — Site in Majhgaon block near the Odisha border, around a large tank; ASI excavations since 2003 exposed two panchayatana temple complexes with Shiva lingas, sculptures of Surya, Lakulisha and Bhairava, and a 5th-century Brahmi seal. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Itkhori, Khiching)

(xix) Chalcolithic and early historic site with five occupational phases: Noh, Rajasthan (Bharatpur) — Excavated by R.C. Agrawala (1963-67), it showed five phases: Ochre Coloured Pottery, black-and-red ware, Painted Grey Ware, NBPW and Shunga-Kushan; also known for a colossal yaksha statue.

(xx) Buddhist site: Suryapahar, Assam (Goalpara) — Hill site with rock-cut Shiva lingas, images of Jain tirthankaras and Buddhist votive stupas (c. 5th to 12th century), showing Shaiva, Jain and Buddhist traditions side by side in early Assam. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Hajo)

2. UPSC 2025: the map question

Example 2 (UPSC 2025, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim : (i) Neolithic site; (ii) Mesolithic site; (iii) Paleolithic site; (iv) Neolithic site with stone artefacts; (v) Site of Indus Valley Civilization; (vi) Early Harappan site with a fire-pit; (vii) Late Harappan site; (viii) The Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP) site; (ix) Mesolithic site; (x) Megalithic site; (xi) Mahajanapada of South India; (xii) Site of Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana; (xiii) Major Rock Edict of Asoka; (xiv) Asokan Minor Rock Edict; (xv) Commercial centre of the Mauryas; (xvi) Saka-Kushan coin hoard; (xvii) An inscription mentioning Ashvamedha Sacrifice; (xviii) Site of Post-Mauryan period burnt brick house; (xix) Terracotta craft centre of Post-Mauryan period; (xx) Important port of the Pallava period.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) Neolithic site: Kiari, Ladakh (Leh) — High-altitude site on the upper Indus in eastern Ladakh which, with nearby Giak, has yielded handmade pottery, stone tools and animal bones of a Neolithic-type culture, evidence of early settlement in the trans-Himalayan region.

(ii) Mesolithic site: Langhnaj, Gujarat (Mehsana) — Mesolithic site on a sand dune in north Gujarat excavated by H.D. Sankalia; microliths, bones of wild and some domestic animals and over a dozen human burials were found, with pottery in later levels. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Chandravati, Bagor, Tilwara)

(iii) Paleolithic site: Lakhmapur, Karnataka (Belagavi) — Palaeolithic landscape in the Malaprabha valley of the Kaladgi basin, surveyed and excavated by Michael Petraglia and colleagues; late Acheulian handaxes and early Middle Palaeolithic prepared cores lie along a quartzite ridge with springs, showing raw-material quarrying.

(iv) Neolithic site with stone artefacts: Koldihwa, Uttar Pradesh (Prayagraj) — Belan valley site with Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Iron Age levels; polished celts, querns and cord-impressed pottery with rice husk in the clay, for which G.R. Sharma proposed very early dates.

(v) Site of Indus Valley Civilization: Rojdi, Gujarat (Rajkot) — Sorath Harappan settlement on the Bhadar river (c. 2500 to 1700 BCE) with a stone fortification wall, regional pottery and millet remains, showing the distinctive local Harappan culture of Saurashtra.

(vi) Early Harappan site with a fire-pit: Rakhigarhi, Haryana (Hisar) — Its Early Harappan (Hakra and Sothi) layers have mud-brick houses and fire-pits, and the settlement grew into the largest Harappan city in India; excavated by Amarendra Nath and later Vasant Shinde.

(vii) Late Harappan site: Alamgirpur, Uttar Pradesh (Meerut) — Easternmost Harappan site, on the Hindon, excavated by Y.D. Sharma in 1958-59; Late Harappan pottery, faience, terracotta and a trough bearing a cloth impression; the first Harappan site found in the Ganga-Yamuna doab.

(viii) The Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP) site: Lal Qila, Uttar Pradesh (Bulandshahr) — Ochre Coloured Pottery site with mud structures, hearths, copper objects and remains of rice and barley, excavated by Aligarh Muslim University; part of the OCP-Copper Hoard complex of the doab.

(ix) Mesolithic site: Thenmala (Chenthuruni), Kerala (Kollam) — Rock shelter in the southern Western Ghats where quartz microliths were found in a dated early Holocene context, one of the few excavated Mesolithic sites of Kerala.

(x) Megalithic site: Junapani, Maharashtra (Nagpur) — Vidarbha megalithic cemetery of stone-circle burials (early Iron Age) excavated by S.B. Deo, yielding black-and-red ware, iron tools, copper objects and horse ornaments; cup-marked stones lie nearby.

(xi) Mahajanapada of South India: Ashmaka (Assaka), capital Potana (Bodhan), Telangana (Nizamabad) and adjoining Maharashtra — The only one of the sixteen mahajanapadas of the Anguttara Nikaya lying south of the Vindhyas, on the Godavari; its capital Potali or Paudanya is often identified with Bodhan.

(xii) Site of Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana: Kushinagar (Kusinara), Uttar Pradesh (Kushinagar) — Malla capital where the Buddha attained mahaparinirvana; the Mahaparinirvana stupa and temple hold a 5th-century reclining Buddha donated by Haribala; the cremation stupa is at Ramabhar.

(xiii) Major Rock Edict of Asoka: Erragudi, Andhra Pradesh (Kurnool) — Near Gooty, boulders bear Ashoka's fourteen Major Rock Edicts together with a Minor Rock Edict, the most complete group of his edicts in South India and evidence of Mauryan control of the Deccan.

(xiv) Asokan Minor Rock Edict: Sasaram, Bihar (Rohtas) — On a hill near the town is Ashoka's Minor Rock Edict I, which mentions 256 nights spent on tour; the town also has Sher Shah Sur's tomb (1545) set in a tank.

(xv) Commercial centre of the Mauryas: Tamralipti (Tamluk), West Bengal (Purba Medinipur) — Major port on the Rupnarayan from Mauryan times, trading with Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia; Faxian sailed from here, and excavations yielded NBPW, rouletted ware, terracotta and coins.

(xvi) Saka-Kushan coin hoard: Ujjain (Ujjayini), Madhya Pradesh (Ujjain) — Ancient Ujjayini on the Shipra, capital of Avanti and later a seat of the Western Kshatrapas (Sakas); a mint town whose coins carry the Ujjain symbol, it has yielded Saka and Kushan-period coins; N.R. Banerjee exposed a massive mud rampart.

(xvii) An inscription mentioning Ashvamedha Sacrifice: Ayodhya (Saketa), Uttar Pradesh (Ayodhya) — Dhanadeva's Ayodhya stone inscription (c. 1st century BCE) describes Pushyamitra Shunga as the performer of two Ashvamedha sacrifices; Saketa was a major early historic city of Kosala.

(xviii) Site of Post-Mauryan period burnt brick house: Sanghol, Punjab (Fatehgarh Sahib) — Site occupied from Harappan to Kushan times with burnt-brick houses of the post-Mauryan town, coin moulds and seals, and a Kushan stupa whose 117 Mathura-style railing pillars carry carved yakshis.

(xix) Terracotta craft centre of Post-Mauryan period: Chandraketugarh, West Bengal (North 24 Parganas) — Port-city on the Vidyadhari (c. 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE) famed for moulded terracotta plaques of yakshis, couples and animals and for seals in Kharoshthi-Brahmi; often linked to the Gange of the Periplus.

(xx) Important port of the Pallava period: Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram), Tamil Nadu (Chengalpattu) — Pallava port and art centre named after Narasimhavarman I Mamalla; the rathas, the Arjuna's Penance relief and Rajasimha's Shore Temple form a UNESCO site, and ships sailed from here to Southeast Asia.

3. UPSC 2024: the map question

Example 3 (UPSC 2024, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim : (i) Prehistoric site; (ii) Area of petroglyphs; (iii) Neolithic site; (iv) Harappan site; (v) Buddhist monastery; (vi) Chalcolithic site; (vii) Neo-Chalcolithic site; (viii) Megalithic site with rock art; (ix) One of the Mahajanapadas’ capital and associated with Buddha’s miracle; (x) Hominid fossil find site; (xi) Major rock edict of Ashoka; (xii) Ancient trade centre; (xiii) Stone inscription recording land grants with tax exemptions; (xiv) Shiva temples named after family relationships; (xv) Place of art-related inscription; (xvi) Place of inscription of three languages; (xvii) Temple site where three styles of temple architecture are found; (xviii) Jain pilgrimage site; (xix) Shiva temple of Gupta period; (xx) Megalithic monumental site.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) Prehistoric site: Gudahandi, Odisha (Kalahandi) — Hill site with rock shelters bearing prehistoric paintings in red and black of geometric designs and animals, along with stone tools; part of the rich prehistoric rock art of western Odisha.

(ii) Area of petroglyphs: Konkan geoglyphs (Ratnagiri), Maharashtra (Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg) — Laterite plateaus with hundreds of petroglyphs, or geoglyphs, of animals, humans and geometric forms at sites such as Barsu and Devache Gothane, attributed to prehistoric times and placed on UNESCO's tentative list.

(iii) Neolithic site: Barudih, Jharkhand (Singhbhum region) — Neolithic site of the Chota Nagpur plateau that yielded polished stone celts, ring-stones and handmade pottery, among the main evidence for early farming communities in the Singhbhum region.

(iv) Harappan site: Rakhigarhi, Haryana (Hisar) — Largest Harappan site in India, in the Ghaggar plain, with Early to Mature Harappan phases, fire altars, a cemetery and bead workshops; ancient DNA from a burial published in 2019 showed no Steppe ancestry.

(v) Buddhist monastery: Moghalmari, West Bengal (Paschim Medinipur) — Large Buddhist monastery (c. 6th to 12th century) excavated by Calcutta University from 2003; stucco figures, bronzes and sealings bearing the name of the vihara mark it as a major monastic centre near Tamralipti.

(vi) Chalcolithic site: Navdatoli, Madhya Pradesh (Khargone) — Chalcolithic village on the Narmada opposite Maheshwar, excavated by H.D. Sankalia in the 1950s; Malwa ware, round and square huts, wheat, rice, lentils, copper objects and microlithic blades show a farming culture of the 2nd millennium BCE. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Kayatha)

(vii) Neo-Chalcolithic site: Jodhpura, Rajasthan (Jaipur) — Site on the Sabi river belonging to the Ganeshwar-Jodhpura copper-using culture, with Ochre Coloured Pottery, copper objects and later Painted Grey Ware levels; it links Chalcolithic Rajasthan with the Khetri copper zone.

(viii) Megalithic site with rock art: Kumittipathi, Tamil Nadu (Coimbatore) — Rock shelter near Madukkarai with white-painted figures of people, animals and a procession, attributed to megalithic communities of the Kongu region, whose cairns and urn burials lie in the same area. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Mallapadi, Chandrapuram)

(ix) One of the Mahajanapadas’ capital and associated with Buddha’s miracle: Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh (Shravasti) — Capital of the Kosala mahajanapada; the Buddha spent many rainy seasons at the Jetavana gifted by Anathapindika and performed the Twin Miracle here; its ruins are at Saheth-Maheth.

(x) Hominid fossil find site: Hathnora, Madhya Pradesh (Sehore) — On the Narmada, where Arun Sonakia found the Narmada hominin skull in 1982, the only Middle Pleistocene hominin fossil from India (archaic Homo), found with Acheulian tools.

(xi) Major rock edict of Ashoka: Kalsi, Uttarakhand (Dehradun) — At the Yamuna-Tons confluence a quartz boulder bears Ashoka's fourteen Major Rock Edicts with an incised elephant labelled gajatame; it is the only Major Rock Edict in the Himalayan region.

(xii) Ancient trade centre: Dantapuram, Andhra Pradesh (Srikakulam) — Identified with Dantapura, an early capital of Kalinga linked in Buddhist tradition with the tooth relic; excavations revealed a fortified early historic settlement, a Buddhist stupa and finds of long-distance trade.

(xiii) Stone inscription recording land grants with tax exemptions: Nashik (Pandavleni caves), Maharashtra (Nashik) — Cave inscriptions of Gautamiputra Satakarni and Vasishthiputra Pulumavi record grants of land to Buddhist monks with immunities from royal officers and soldiers, early evidence of tax-exempt land grants.

(xiv) Shiva temples named after family relationships: Tala, Chhattisgarh (Bilaspur) — Site of the Devrani-Jethani temples (c. 6th century), two Shiva temples named after sisters-in-law; the Jethani temple is ruined, and a colossal Rudra-Shiva image was found near the Devrani temple. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Sirpur, Barsur (Mama-Bhanja temple))

(xv) Place of art-related inscription: Kudumiyamalai, Tamil Nadu (Pudukkottai) — Rock-cut Shiva shrine with the famous music inscription (c. 7th century) giving notation for the seven-stringed vina, usually attributed to the Pallava king Mahendravarman I; a key source for early South Indian music. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Sittanavasal, Mamandur)

(xvi) Place of inscription of three languages: Maski, Karnataka (Raichur) — Site of Ashoka's Minor Rock Edict, the first to name the emperor as Devanampiya Asoka, discovered in 1915; the site also has Neolithic, megalithic and early historic remains and later records.

(xvii) Temple site where three styles of temple architecture are found: Pattadakal, Karnataka (Bagalkot) — UNESCO site on the Malaprabha where Chalukya temples show Nagara and Dravida styles side by side; the Virupaksha temple was built by queen Lokamahadevi (c. 740) after Vikramaditya II's victory over the Pallavas.

(xviii) Jain pilgrimage site: Palitana (Shatrunjaya hill), Gujarat (Bhavnagar) — The holiest Shvetambara Jain tirtha, with over 800 temples on Shatrunjaya hill associated with Rishabhanatha; most shrines were rebuilt from the 16th century onwards under merchant patronage.

(xix) Shiva temple of Gupta period: Dah Parbatiya, Assam (Sonitpur, near Tezpur) — Ruins of a Gupta-period Shiva temple (c. 5th to 6th century) whose carved stone doorframe shows the river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna; it is the oldest surviving sculptural relic of Assam.

(xx) Megalithic monumental site: Vangchhia (Kawtchhuah Ropui), Mizoram (Champhai) — Megalithic site with hundreds of menhirs and memorial stones engraved with human figures, animals and weapons, besides rock-cut pools; it is the first ASI-protected archaeological site in Mizoram.

4. UPSC 2023: the map question

Example 4 (UPSC 2023, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim: (i) Neolithic site; (ii) Site of Mother and Child Terracotta Figure; (iii) Hoard of Gupta Coin; (iv) Site of Botanical remains; (v) Harappan site with mud-brick platform; (vi) Mauryan reservoir site; (vii) Capital of Maitraka dynasty; (viii) Dockyard; (ix) Rock shelter; (x) Stone axe factory; (xi) Satavahana inscription site; (xii) Minor rock inscription of Asoka; (xiii) Buddhist Stupa; (xiv) Mesolithic site; (xv) Iron smelting workshop; (xvi) Megalithic site; (xvii) Temple site dedicated to Surya; (xviii) Roman factory site; (xix) Site of Muvar Koil (Temple of Three); (xx) Megalith stone site.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) Neolithic site: Burzahom, Jammu and Kashmir (Srinagar) — Neolithic site of the Kashmir valley (c. 2700 to 1000 BCE) with pit-dwellings, bone tools, polished stone axes and harvesters, dog burials and an engraved hunting scene, followed by megalithic menhirs.

(ii) Site of Mother and Child Terracotta Figure: Kannauj (Kanyakubja), Uttar Pradesh (Kannauj) — Ancient city on the Ganga occupied from the Painted Grey Ware and NBPW phases; its early historic levels yielded terracotta figurines, and it later became the imperial capital of Harsha, the Pratiharas and the Gahadavalas.

(iii) Hoard of Gupta Coin: Bayana, Rajasthan (Bharatpur) — In 1946 the largest known hoard of Gupta gold coins was found at Hullanpura near Bayana; its more than 1,800 surviving pieces cover rulers from Chandragupta I to Skandagupta, with many rare types, and were catalogued by A.S. Altekar.

(iv) Site of Botanical remains: Lahuradewa, Uttar Pradesh (Sant Kabir Nagar) — Lake-side site that yielded charred cultivated rice dated to about the 7th millennium BCE, with cord-impressed pottery and animal bones; key botanical evidence for very early farming in the middle Ganga plain.

(v) Harappan site with mud-brick platform: Ojiyana, Rajasthan (Bhilwara) — Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic settlement (3rd to 2nd millennium BCE) on a hill slope south-west of Beawar, excavated by the ASI around 2000; houses of sun-dried mud brick on bedrock, white-painted black-and-red ware, copper tools, beads and terracotta bull figurines.

(vi) Mauryan reservoir site: Junagadh (Girnar, Sudarshana lake), Gujarat (Junagadh) — Sudarshana lake was built by Chandragupta Maurya's governor Pushyagupta and given conduits under Ashoka; Rudradaman's Junagadh inscription (c. 150 CE) records its repair, and Skandagupta's governor repaired it again.

(vii) Capital of Maitraka dynasty: Valabhi (Vala), Gujarat (Bhavnagar) — Capital of the Maitrakas (c. 475 to 776 CE); a great Buddhist centre of learning praised by Xuanzang and Yijing, and seat of the Jain council under Devarddhi Kshamashramana that wrote down the Shvetambara canon.

(viii) Dockyard: Lothal, Gujarat (Ahmedabad) — Harappan port town near the head of the Gulf of Khambhat; S.R. Rao interpreted its large brick basin as a dockyard, and found a bead factory, a warehouse, fire altars and a Persian Gulf seal.

(ix) Rock shelter: Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh (Raisen) — UNESCO rock-shelter complex in the Vindhyas with over 700 shelters, many painted; occupied from the Lower Palaeolithic to historic times, with Mesolithic scenes of hunting and dancing; discovered by V.S. Wakankar in 1957.

(x) Stone axe factory: Nevasa, Maharashtra (Ahilyanagar) — Site on the Pravara where H.D. Sankalia found Acheulian handaxes and cleavers and the Middle Palaeolithic flake tools named Nevasian, made where suitable stone was at hand, followed by Chalcolithic and early historic levels.

(xi) Satavahana inscription site: Nashik (Pandavleni caves), Maharashtra (Nashik) — The Pandavleni Buddhist caves bear Satavahana inscriptions, notably Gautami Balashri's prashasti of Gautamiputra Satakarni and Ushavadata's donative records, key sources for the Satavahana-Kshaharata conflict in the Deccan.

(xii) Minor rock inscription of Asoka: Erragudi, Andhra Pradesh (Kurnool) — Ashokan site near Gooty where boulders carry both the fourteen Major Rock Edicts and the Minor Rock Edict, the fullest set of Ashoka's edicts in South India; some lines are written right to left.

(xiii) Buddhist Stupa: Phanigiri, Telangana (Suryapet) — Buddhist site (c. 1st century BCE to 4th century CE) with a mahastupa, apsidal chaityas and viharas; carved limestone friezes and an inscription of the Ikshvaku period make it a key centre of Krishna valley Buddhism.

(xiv) Mesolithic site: Renigunta, Andhra Pradesh (Tirupati) — Prehistoric site near Tirupati known for a blade-and-burin industry and later microlithic tools, evidence of the late Pleistocene to early Holocene shift from Upper Palaeolithic to Mesolithic life in South India.

(xv) Iron smelting workshop: Naikund, Maharashtra (Nagpur) — Vidarbha megalithic site where S.B. Deo and A.P. Jamkhedkar excavated an iron-smelting furnace with slag, tuyeres and iron objects, direct evidence that megalithic communities smelted iron locally. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Junapani, Mahurjhari)

(xvi) Megalithic site: Paiyampalli, Tamil Nadu (Tirupattur) — Site with Neolithic dwelling pits and later megalithic burials containing iron objects and black-and-red ware; radiocarbon dates place the iron-using phase in the later 1st millennium BCE.

(xvii) Temple site dedicated to Surya: Mandasor (Dashapura), Madhya Pradesh (Mandsaur) — The Mandasor inscription, composed by Vatsabhatti, records that a guild of silk weavers from Lata built a Sun temple in 437 CE under Kumaragupta I and repaired it in 473 CE.

(xviii) Roman factory site: Arikamedu, Puducherry — Indo-Roman trading station (c. 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE) on the Ariyankuppam river; Wheeler's 1945 excavation found Arretine ware, amphorae, warehouses and bead-making; probably the Poduke of Ptolemy.

(xix) Site of Muvar Koil (Temple of Three): Kodumbalur, Tamil Nadu (Pudukkottai) — Seat of the Irukkuvel chiefs, allies of the Cholas; the Muvar Koil (Temple of Three), built by Bhuti Vikramakesari in the late 9th or 10th century, has early Chola-style vimanas, two of which survive.

(xx) Megalith stone site: Maski, Karnataka (Raichur) — Raichur doab site with Neolithic-Chalcolithic, megalithic and early historic phases; its cairn circles and cist burials stand beside Ashoka's Minor Rock Edict that names him Devanampiya Asoka.

5. UPSC 2022: the map question

Example 5 (UPSC 2022, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim: (i) Palaeolithic site; (ii) Mesolithic site with burials; (iii) Neolithic pit-dwelling; (iv) Early village settlement; (v) Neolithic site; (vi) Neolithic-Chalcolithic site; (vii) Harappan UNESCO site; (viii) Megalithic burial site; (ix) Place of Second Sangam; (x) Earliest Satavahana capital; (xi) Place of inscribed statue of Ashoka; (xii) First Gupta hoard of coins; (xiii) Hoard of metal sculptures; (xiv) Ancient port; (xv) Oldest Jesuit church; (xvi) Centre of Gandhara art; (xvii) Buddhist monastery; (xviii) Place of earliest Vishnu temple; (xix) Shiva and Buddhist temple complex; (xx) Earliest Chaitya Griha.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) Palaeolithic site: Didwana, Rajasthan (Nagaur region) — Palaeolithic site on the eastern margin of the Thar; the 16R dune and Singi Talav yielded Lower and Middle Palaeolithic tools in dated sand layers, showing human occupation when the Thar was wetter.

(ii) Mesolithic site with burials: Sarai Nahar Rai, Uttar Pradesh (Pratapgarh) — Mesolithic site beside an ox-bow lake of the Ganga plain; G.R. Sharma's excavations found microliths, hearths, animal bones and several extended human burials, some with grave goods, the classic evidence of Mesolithic burial.

(iii) Neolithic pit-dwelling: Burzahom, Jammu and Kashmir (Srinagar) — Kashmir Neolithic site (c. 2700 BCE onwards) with pit-dwellings dug into the loess, bone tools, polished stone axes, a harvester, dogs buried with humans and a hunting scene engraved on a stone slab.

(iv) Early village settlement: Mehrgarh, Pakistan (Balochistan, Kachhi plain) — Earliest farming village of South Asia (c. 7000 BCE) near the Bolan pass; mud-brick houses and granaries, wheat and barley, domesticated cattle, goats and sheep, and burials with ornaments of shell and lapis lazuli.

(v) Neolithic site: Edakkal caves, Kerala (Wayanad) — Rock shelter on Ambukuthi hill whose walls carry engraved petroglyphs of human figures, animals and symbols, ascribed to the Neolithic and later periods; one of the finest prehistoric rock art sites of peninsular India.

(vi) Neolithic-Chalcolithic site: Chirand, Bihar (Saran) — Neolithic-Chalcolithic site near the Ganga-Ghaghra confluence; antler and bone tools, microliths, polished celts, rice, wheat and lentil and mud-plastered floors, followed by Chalcolithic black-and-red ware levels.

(vii) Harappan UNESCO site: Dholavira, Gujarat (Kachchh) — Harappan city on Khadir island in the Rann, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021; tripartite plan, stone architecture, large water reservoirs, an open ceremonial ground and the ten-sign signboard inscription.

(viii) Megalithic burial site: Maski, Karnataka (Raichur) — Raichur doab site with Neolithic and megalithic burials such as cists and pit graves, and Ashoka's Minor Rock Edict, the first edict found that names the emperor as Devanampiya Asoka.

(ix) Place of Second Sangam: Kapatapuram, Tamil Nadu (traditionally near the Kanyakumari coast) — According to the Iraiyanar Agapporul commentary, seat of the second Tamil Sangam under Pandya patronage, believed to have been swallowed by the sea; the third Sangam later met at Madurai.

(x) Earliest Satavahana capital: Dhanyakataka (Dharanikota-Amaravati), Andhra Pradesh (Palnadu, earlier Guntur district) — Satavahana centre on the lower Krishna, regarded by many as an early Satavahana capital and later the seat of Vasishthiputra Pulumavi; site of the great Amaravati stupa with its carved limestone reliefs.

(xi) Place of inscribed statue of Ashoka: Kanaganahalli, Karnataka (Kalaburagi) — Buddhist stupa site near Sannati on the Bhima; it yielded a carved panel showing Ashoka with his queens labelled Raya Asoka, the only inscribed portrait of the emperor, besides many Satavahana-period reliefs.

(xii) First Gupta hoard of coins: Kalighat, West Bengal (Kolkata) — Here, beside the Hooghly, the first hoard of Gupta gold coins was found in 1783; this Kalighat hoard started the systematic study of Gupta coinage and of the dynasty's rulers and titles.

(xiii) Hoard of metal sculptures: Kurkihar, Bihar (Gaya) — In 1930 a hoard of over two hundred Pala-period bronze and metal images of Buddhist and some Hindu deities (c. 9th to 12th century) was found here, a major source for the Pala school of metal sculpture.

(xiv) Ancient port: Bharuch (Bhrigukachchha, Barygaza), Gujarat (Bharuch) — Chief port on the Narmada estuary; the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes Barygaza's trade in cotton cloth, spices, wine and coins with the Roman world in the period of the Western Kshatrapas.

(xv) Oldest Jesuit church: Old Goa (Basilica of Bom Jesus), Goa (North Goa) — Jesuit church consecrated in 1605 that holds the relics of St Francis Xavier; part of the UNESCO-listed Churches and Convents of Goa and a landmark of Jesuit baroque architecture in India.

(xvi) Centre of Gandhara art: Hadda, Afghanistan (Nangarhar, near Jalalabad) — Buddhist monastic centre of Gandhara art (c. 1st to 7th century CE) near ancient Nagarahara, known for stucco and schist images of the Buddha with Hellenistic features; visited by Faxian and Xuanzang. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Bamiyan, Begram (Kapisa), Taxila)

(xvii) Buddhist monastery: Paharpur (Somapura Mahavihara), Bangladesh (Naogaon) — Great Buddhist monastery built by the Pala king Dharmapala in the late 8th century; a cruciform central shrine decorated with terracotta plaques, surrounded by 177 cells; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

(xviii) Place of earliest Vishnu temple: Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh (Lalitpur) — Dashavatara temple (c. 500 CE) on the Betwa, among the earliest Hindu stone temples, a Vishnu shrine on a panchayatana plan with panels of Sheshashayi Vishnu, Gajendramoksha and Nara-Narayana.

(xix) Shiva and Buddhist temple complex: Sirpur, Chhattisgarh (Mahasamund) — Capital of the Panduvamshis of Dakshina Kosala (7th to 8th century); brick Lakshmana temple, Gandheshwar Shiva temple and Buddhist viharas on the Mahanadi show Shaiva and Buddhist traditions flourishing together.

(xx) Earliest Chaitya Griha: Bhaja, Maharashtra (Pune) — Rock-cut Buddhist caves near Lonavala (c. 2nd century BCE); the apsidal chaitya with imitation wooden arches and original wooden beams is among the earliest chaitya-grihas, and a vihara bears reliefs once read as Surya and Indra.

6. UPSC 2021: the map question

Example 6 (UPSC 2021, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim: (i) Paleolithic site; (ii) Mesolithic site; (iii) Neolithic site; (iv) Neolithic-Chalcolithic site; (v) Harappan site; (vi) Proto-historic and historic site; (vii) Inscriptional site; (viii) Jain monastic site; (ix) Coin hoard; (x) Paleolithic site; (xi) Terracotta site; (xii) Rock-cut caves; (xiii) Ancient learning centre; (xiv) Political and cultural centre; (xv) Buddhist site; (xvi) Ancient port; (xvii) Early historic site; (xviii) Ivory hoard; (xix) Buddhist monastic centre; (xx) Temple complex.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) Paleolithic site: Attirampakkam, Tamil Nadu — Acheulian site near Chennai on the Kortallaiyar; handaxes are dated to about 1.5 million years ago, and Middle Palaeolithic tools of about 385,000 years ago suggest early technological change in India.

(ii) Mesolithic site: Langhnaj, Gujarat — Mesolithic site on sand dunes in Mehsana district, excavated by H.D. Sankalia; microliths, human burials and bones of rhinoceros, deer and other wild animals show a hunting-gathering life.

(iii) Neolithic site: Daojali Hading, Assam — hill site in Dima Hasao district excavated by M.C. Goswami and T.C. Sharma (1961–63); polished shouldered celts, grinding stones, jadeite and cord-marked pottery link it to the south-east Asian Neolithic.

(iv) Neolithic-Chalcolithic site: Mehrgarh, Balochistan (Pakistan) — Kachhi plain site near the Bolan Pass with Neolithic farming from about 7000 BCE and later Chalcolithic phases with copper, wheel-made painted pottery and crafts, leading towards the Harappan civilisation.

(v) Harappan site: Manda, Jammu and Kashmir — on the Chenab near Akhnoor (Jammu district); the northernmost Harappan site, excavated by J.P. Joshi (1976–77), with Pre-Harappan, Harappan and later levels, probably a base for procuring Himalayan timber.

(vi) Proto-historic and historic site: Ropar (Rupnagar), Punjab — Sutlej site at the Shivalik foothills excavated by Y.D. Sharma (1953–55), the first Harappan site dug in independent India, with Harappan levels followed by Painted Grey Ware, NBPW, Kushana and later historic layers.

(vii) Inscriptional site: Sohgaura, Uttar Pradesh — Gorakhpur district; a copper plate in early Brahmi (c. 3rd century BCE), often called Mauryan, orders that storehouses of grain be kept ready for times of famine, one of the oldest such administrative records.

(viii) Jain monastic site: Udayagiri and Khandagiri, Odisha — twin hills near Bhubaneswar with about thirty Jaina rock-cut caves (c. 1st century BCE) carved as monks' dwellings; the Rani Gumpha and Kharavela's Hathigumpha inscription are the best known.

(ix) Coin hoard: Bayana, Rajasthan — Bharatpur district; a hoard found in 1946 of about 2,000 Gupta gold coins (dinars), from Chandragupta I to Skandagupta, the largest Gupta coin hoard and a key source for Gupta history.

(x) Paleolithic site: Hunsgi, Karnataka — Hunsgi valley in Yadgir district; K. Paddayya's surveys found many Acheulian camp sites with limestone handaxes and cleavers, giving a model of Lower Palaeolithic settlement and seasonal movement.

(xi) Terracotta site: Chandraketugarh, West Bengal — early historic city in North 24 Parganas on the Vidyadhari, occupied from about the 3rd century BCE, known for finely moulded terracotta plaques and figurines, seals with ship motifs and beads.

(xii) Rock-cut caves: Udayagiri (Vidisha), Madhya Pradesh — about twenty Gupta rock-cut caves (early 5th century) near Vidisha, with the colossal Varaha panel showing Vishnu rescuing the earth and inscriptions of the reign of Chandragupta II, one dated 401 CE.

(xiii) Ancient learning centre: Valabhi, Gujarat — Bhavnagar district; capital of the Maitrakas (5th–8th century) and a great Buddhist centre of learning that Yijing compared with Nalanda; a Jaina council here put the Agamas in writing.

(xiv) Political and cultural centre: Sirpur (Shripura), Chhattisgarh — Mahanadi capital of the Panduvamshis of Dakshina Kosala (6th–8th century), with the brick Lakshmana temple built by queen Vasata, Buddhist viharas such as Anand Prabhu Kuti, and Jaina remains.

(xv) Buddhist site: Sankisa, Uttar Pradesh — Farrukhabad district, ancient Sankashya, where the Buddha is believed to have descended from the Trayastrimsha heaven; Faxian and Xuanzang visited it, and an Ashokan elephant capital and stupa ruins survive.

(xvi) Ancient port: Bharuch (Barygaza), Gujarat — at the mouth of the Narmada; the Periplus describes it as the chief port of western India under the Shaka Kshatrapas, exporting textiles and importing wine, metals and Roman coins.

(xvii) Early historic site: Keezhadi, Tamil Nadu — on the Vaigai near Madurai (Sivaganga district); excavations since 2015 by the ASI and Tamil Nadu archaeology revealed a Sangam-age urban settlement with brick structures, ring wells, industrial remains and Tamil-Brahmi graffiti on pottery.

(xviii) Ivory hoard: Begram, Afghanistan — ancient Kapisa, a Kushana summer capital; Joseph Hackin's excavation (1937) found the Begram hoard of Indian ivories with Roman glass, bronzes and Chinese lacquer of the 1st–2nd century CE.

(xix) Buddhist monastic centre: Paharpur (Somapura Mahavihara), Bangladesh — Naogaon district; built by the Pala king Dharmapala (late 8th century), one of the largest Buddhist viharas south of the Himalaya, with a cruciform terraced temple and terracotta plaques; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.

(xx) Temple complex: Kedarnath, Uttarakhand — Rudraprayag district at the head of the Mandakini valley; a stone Shiva temple, one of the twelve jyotirlingas and a Char Dham shrine, traditionally restored by Adi Shankaracharya, whose samadhi lies behind it.

7. UPSC 2020: the map question

Example 7 (UPSC 2020, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim. (i) Paleolithic site; (ii) Paleolithic Factory site; (iii) Neolithic site; (iv) Early and Mature Harappan site; (v) Chalcolithic site; (vi) Site of Coin and Seal Moulds; (vii) Ancient Administration Centre; (viii) Ancient Political Headquarter; (ix) Ancient Temple site; (x) Pre and Proto Historic site; (xi) Ancient Capital City; (xii) Place of Shaiva Temple; (xiii) World Heritage Centre of Temple complex; (xiv) An Inscriptional site; (xv) Place of Jain Temple; (xvi) Largest Buddhist Monastery; (xvii) Ancient Temple Complex; (xviii) Place of oldest Mosque; (xix) Temple Complex dedicated to Shiva; (xx) Ancient Education Centre.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) Paleolithic site: Paisra, Bihar — Lower Palaeolithic site in the Munger hills excavated by P.C. Pant and Vidula Jayaswal; Acheulian handaxes and cleavers lay with traces of hut floors, a rare open-air living site of early hunter-gatherers in eastern India.

(ii) Paleolithic Factory site: Isampur, Karnataka — Acheulian quarry-cum-workshop (factory site) in the Hunsgi valley, Yadgir district; K. Paddayya found limestone blocks, cores, flakes and handaxes left where they were made, dated to about 1.2 million years ago.

(iii) Neolithic site: Koldihwa, Uttar Pradesh — Belan valley Neolithic site (Prayagraj) with circular huts, cord-impressed pottery and rice husk, claimed by G.R. Sharma as evidence of very early rice cultivation, though its early radiocarbon dates are disputed.

(iv) Early and Mature Harappan site: Padri, Gujarat — Bhavnagar district on the Gulf of Khambhat coast of Saurashtra; Vasant Shinde's excavation found pre-Harappan levels with distinctive Padri ware beneath Mature Harappan occupation, showing a local Early Harappan tradition.

(v) Chalcolithic site: Navdatoli, Madhya Pradesh — on the Narmada opposite Maheshwar; H.D. Sankalia's excavation showed a Malwa culture farming village (c. 1700 BCE) with painted Malwa ware, rectangular and round huts, and wheat, lentils and rice.

(vi) Site of Coin and Seal Moulds: Sunet, Punjab — mound near Ludhiana that yielded Yaudheya coins together with clay coin moulds and seals, showing a minting centre of the early centuries CE where coins of the Yaudheya republic were cast locally.

(vii) Ancient Administration Centre: Srihatta (Sylhet), Bangladesh — early medieval administrative unit (mandala) in the Surma valley; the Paschimbhag copper plate of the Chandra king Srichandra (10th century) records large land grants in Srihatta mandala to brahmanas and mathas. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Mahasthangarh (Bogura), Vikramapura)

(viii) Ancient Political Headquarter: Karur, Tamil Nadu — on the Amaravati river, identified with Karuvur (Vanji), an early Chera capital of Sangam poems; it has yielded Roman, punch-marked and early Chera coins, and Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions at nearby Pugalur name Chera kings.

(ix) Ancient Temple site: Martand, Jammu and Kashmir — ruined Sun temple on the Mattan plateau near Anantnag, built by the Karkota king Lalitaditya Muktapida (8th century), the finest Kashmiri monument, with a peristyle courtyard, trefoil arches and fluted pillars. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Shankaracharya temple (Srinagar), Avantipur)

(x) Pre and Proto Historic site: Ganeshwar, Rajasthan — Sikar district near the Khetri copper belt; R.C. Agrawala's excavations found a Mesolithic phase followed by the Ganeshwar-Jodhpura copper culture (3rd–2nd millennium BCE), with copper arrowheads, fish-hooks and celts that supplied Harappan towns.

(xi) Ancient Capital City: Sisupalgarh, Odisha — fortified early historic city near Bhubaneswar, excavated by B.B. Lal (1948); a square rampart with gateways (c. 3rd century BCE–4th century CE), often identified with Kalinganagari, the capital of Kharavela.

(xii) Place of Shaiva Temple: Ramappa (Palampet), Telangana — Rudreshwara Shiva temple built in 1213 CE by Recherla Rudra, general of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva, famed for its bracket figures of dancers and light floating bricks; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021.

(xiii) World Heritage Centre of Temple complex: Pattadakal, Karnataka — Chalukyan temples (7th–8th century) on the Malaprabha mixing Nagara and Dravida styles; queen Lokamahadevi built the Virupaksha temple to mark Vikramaditya II's victory over the Pallavas; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

(xiv) An Inscriptional site: Goa Velha (Gopakapattana), Goa — port-capital on the Zuari of the Kadambas of Goa (11th–14th century), whose copper-plate and stone inscriptions record land grants, temple endowments and busy maritime trade with the Arabian Sea world. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Bicholim, Chandor (Chandrapura))

(xv) Place of Jain Temple: Ellora, Maharashtra — Caves 30–34 are Jaina rock-cut temples of the Rashtrakuta age (9th–10th century), including the two-storeyed Indra Sabha and the Jagannatha Sabha, with images of Tirthankaras, Ambika and Gommateshvara.

(xvi) Largest Buddhist Monastery: Tawang Monastery, Arunachal Pradesh — Galden Namgyal Lhatse, founded in 1680–81 by Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso at the wish of the fifth Dalai Lama; a Gelugpa monastery and the largest Buddhist monastery in India.

(xvii) Ancient Temple Complex: Masrur, Himachal Pradesh — Kangra district; a monolithic complex of about fifteen Nagara-style shrines cut from a single sandstone ridge (c. 8th century), facing a tank and often compared with Ellora as the rock-cut temple of the Himalaya.

(xviii) Place of oldest Mosque: Kodungallur, Kerala — near ancient Muziris in Thrissur district; the Cheraman Juma Masjid, by tradition founded in the 7th century by Malik ibn Dinar, is regarded as the oldest mosque in India and reflects early Arab trade.

(xix) Temple Complex dedicated to Shiva: Bhoramdeo, Chhattisgarh — Kabirdham district; an 11th-century Nagara Shiva temple built under the Phani Nagavanshi rulers, whose erotic sculpture recalling Khajuraho earns it the popular title Khajuraho of Chhattisgarh; the Madwa Mahal lies nearby.

(xx) Ancient Education Centre: Nalanda, Bihar — great Buddhist mahavihara of the Gupta and Pala periods, with monasteries, temples and a library; Xuanzang and Yijing describe thousands of monks studying here; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

8. UPSC 2019: the map question

Example 8 (UPSC 2019, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim. (i) Brick temple site; (ii) Early Harappan site; (iii) Ancient seaport and trade centre; (iv) Stone age site; (v) Neolithic site; (vi) Archaeological site; (vii) Ancient capital city; (viii) Ancient capital; (ix) Harappan site; (x) Ancient inscriptions site; (xi) A Rock-cut cave site; (xii) Ancient capital city; (xiii) Famous temple site; (xiv) Centre of School of art; (xv) Ancient inscriptional site; (xvi) Ancient education centre; (xvii) Pre-Harappan site; (xviii) Chalcolithic period site; (xix) Early inscriptional site; (xx) Ancient petroglyphs site.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) Brick temple site: Bhitargaon, Uttar Pradesh — Gupta-period brick temple (c. 5th century CE) in Kanpur district on a raised plinth, with a tall pyramidal shikhara and terracotta panels; the oldest surviving brick temple of its kind in India.

(ii) Early Harappan site: Banawali, Haryana — Fatehabad district on the dried Sarasvati (Ghaggar) course; R.S. Bisht (1974–77) found Pre-Harappan levels of Kalibangan type beneath a fortified Harappan town with radiating streets and a terracotta plough model.

(iii) Ancient seaport and trade centre: Muziris (Pattanam), Kerala — Chera port near Kodungallur at the mouth of the Periyar; the Periplus and the Muziris papyrus describe its pepper trade with Rome, and Pattanam has yielded amphorae, beads and Roman pottery.

(iv) Stone age site: Chopani Mando, Uttar Pradesh — Belan valley site (Prayagraj) excavated by G.R. Sharma; its Epipalaeolithic, Mesolithic and proto-Neolithic phases yielded microliths, beehive-shaped hut floors, hand-made pottery and wild rice, tracing the shift towards settled life.

(v) Neolithic site: Burzahom, Jammu and Kashmir — Neolithic site near Srinagar (c. 2700 BCE onwards) with pit dwellings, bone tools, polished stone harvesters, dogs buried with humans and a stone slab engraved with a hunting scene.

(vi) Archaeological site: Ropar (Rupnagar), Punjab — on the Sutlej at the Shivalik foothills; Y.D. Sharma (1953–55) found Harappan levels, then Painted Grey Ware and NBPW, and a man buried with a dog.

(vii) Ancient capital city: Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh — city on the Yamuna near Prayagraj, capital of the Vatsa mahajanapada under Udayana; G.R. Sharma excavated its massive rampart, a so-called palace and the Ghositarama monastery, visited by the Buddha according to tradition.

(viii) Ancient capital: Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh — capital of Avanti on the Shipra under Chanda Pradyota; Ashoka served here as viceroy, it later became a seat of the Western Kshatrapas, and it was a major halt on the trade route to Bharuch.

(ix) Harappan site: Lothal, Gujarat — Harappan town in Ahmedabad district near the Gulf of Khambhat; S.R. Rao's excavation (1955–60) revealed a brick basin read as a dockyard, a warehouse, a bead factory and a Persian Gulf seal.

(x) Ancient inscriptions site: Girnar (Junagadh), Gujarat — one rock bears Ashoka's fourteen Major Rock Edicts, Rudradaman's Sanskrit inscription (150 CE) on repairing the Sudarshana lake, and Skandagupta's record of its later repair.

(xi) A Rock-cut cave site: Nashik (Pandavleni), Maharashtra — about two dozen Buddhist rock-cut caves on Trirashmi hill (2nd century BCE–2nd century CE); inscriptions of queen Gautami Balashri praise Gautamiputra Satakarni, and others record gifts of Ushavadata, son-in-law of Nahapana.

(xii) Ancient capital city: Banavasi, Karnataka — on the Varada river in Uttara Kannada; capital of the Kadambas founded by Mayurasharma (4th century CE), with the Madhukeshwara temple; known earlier as Vanavasi, where Ashoka's missionaries were sent.

(xiii) Famous temple site: Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu — Chola capital; the Brihadishvara (Rajarajeshvara) temple, completed by Rajaraja I in 1010, has a vimana about 66 m high, Chola frescoes and long inscriptions; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

(xiv) Centre of School of art: Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh — on the Krishna near Dharanikota; its Mahachaitya stupa (2nd century BCE–3rd century CE), with limestone reliefs of the Buddha's life, defines the Amaravati school of art of the Satavahana age.

(xv) Ancient inscriptional site: Hathigumpha (Udayagiri hill), Odisha — cave inscription near Bhubaneswar (c. 1st century BCE) in which the Chedi king Kharavela of Kalinga records his reign year by year; Ashoka's edicts at Dhauli lie a few kilometres away.

(xvi) Ancient education centre: Nalanda, Bihar — Buddhist mahavihara founded under Kumaragupta I, patronised by Harsha and the Palas; Xuanzang and Yijing studied here, and it declined after about 1200 CE; now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

(xvii) Pre-Harappan site: Mehrgarh, Balochistan (Pakistan) — on the Kachhi plain near the Bolan Pass; J.-F. Jarrige's excavations showed farming from about 7000 BCE, with wheat, barley, domesticated cattle and mud-brick houses, before the Harappan civilisation.

(xviii) Chalcolithic period site: Inamgaon, Maharashtra — Chalcolithic farming village on the Ghod river (Pune district), excavated by H.D. Sankalia and M.K. Dhavalikar, with Malwa and Jorwe phases, a flood-control embankment, granaries and urn burials beneath house floors.

(xix) Early inscriptional site: Mahasthangarh, Bangladesh — ancient Pundranagara in Bogura district; its Brahmi inscription (c. 3rd century BCE) orders relief from a famine store and is the earliest inscription of Bengal; a walled city from Mauryan to medieval times.

(xx) Ancient petroglyphs site: Kupgal (Sanganakallu), Karnataka — granite hills near Ballari with hundreds of petroglyphs of humped cattle, hunters and dancers, bruised from the Neolithic onwards, and natural ringing rock gongs; Sanganakallu nearby was an important Neolithic settlement.

9. UPSC 2018: the map question

Example 9 (UPSC 2018, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim. (i) Megalithic burial site; (ii) Chalcolithic site; (iii) Cave paintings; (iv) Paleolithic site; (v) Political and Cultural centre; (vi) Terracotta centre; (vii) Harappan site; (viii) Vaishnava cultural site; (ix) Painted Grey Ware site; (x) Chalcolithic site; (xi) Early agricultural centre; (xii) Early Harappan site; (xiii) An ancient temple; (xiv) Political and Cultural centre; (xv) An ancient sea port; (xvi) Buddhist centre; (xvii) Inscriptional site; (xviii) An ancient capital; (xix) A Jaina centre; (xx) An ancient capital.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) Megalithic burial site: Adichanallur, Tamil Nadu — Iron Age urn-burial site on the Tamiraparani in Thoothukudi district, excavated by Alexander Rea (1899–1905); the urns held iron tools and weapons, bronze objects, gold diadems and black-and-red pottery.

(ii) Chalcolithic site: Gilund, Rajasthan — Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic site in Rajsamand district (c. 3000–1700 BCE), excavated by B.B. Lal (1959–60) and later by V. Shinde and G. Possehl; mud-brick structures, black-and-red ware and a bin of clay seal impressions.

(iii) Cave paintings: Ajanta, Maharashtra — about thirty Buddhist rock-cut caves in the Waghora valley (2nd century BCE–5th century CE); their murals of Jataka stories, mostly of the Vakataka age under Harishena, are the finest surviving ancient Indian paintings.

(iv) Paleolithic site: Attirampakkam, Tamil Nadu — Acheulian site on the Kortallaiyar river near Chennai; Shanti Pappu and colleagues dated its handaxes to about 1.5 million years ago, and its Middle Palaeolithic tools to about 385,000 years ago.

(v) Political and Cultural centre: Hampi (Vijayanagara), Karnataka — capital of the Vijayanagara empire (c. 1336–1565) on the Tungabhadra, with the Virupaksha and Vitthala temples, the royal enclosure and Mahanavami platform; sacked after Talikota (1565); a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

(vi) Terracotta centre: Chandraketugarh, West Bengal — early historic urban site in North 24 Parganas (c. 3rd century BCE onwards), famed for finely moulded terracotta plaques of yakshis and ornate female figures.

(vii) Harappan site: Kuntasi, Gujarat — Harappan site near the head of the Gulf of Kutch (Morbi district), excavated by M.K. Dhavalikar in the late 1980s; a fortified manufacturing and trading post with bead-making and copper working, linked to coastal exchange.

(viii) Vaishnava cultural site: Besnagar (Vidisha), Madhya Pradesh — ancient Vidisha at the Betwa–Bes confluence; the Garuda pillar raised by Heliodorus, Indo-Greek envoy of Antialcidas (late 2nd century BCE), honours Vasudeva, and nearby Udayagiri has the Gupta Varaha panel. (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Eran)

(ix) Painted Grey Ware site: Thapli, Uttarakhand — village on the Alaknanda near Srinagar in Garhwal; excavations by H.N.B. Garhwal University found Painted Grey Ware, showing that this Ganga-plain culture of the early first millennium BCE reached the Himalayan valleys.

(x) Chalcolithic site: Inamgaon, Maharashtra — Chalcolithic village on the Ghod river, Pune district (c. 1600–700 BCE), excavated by Sankalia and Dhavalikar; Malwa and Jorwe phases, embankment, granaries and urn burials.

(xi) Early agricultural centre: Koldihwa, Uttar Pradesh — Neolithic site in the Belan valley (Prayagraj district) excavated by G.R. Sharma; rice husk in cord-impressed pottery was claimed as evidence of very early rice cultivation, with circular huts and polished stone celts.

(xii) Early Harappan site: Kot Diji, Sindh (Pakistan) — type site of the Early Harappan Kot Dijian culture near Khairpur, east of the Indus, excavated by F.A. Khan (1955–57); a fortified settlement with wheel-made pottery later overlain by Mature Harappan levels.

(xiii) An ancient temple: Martand, Jammu and Kashmir — Sun temple on a plateau near Anantnag built by the Karkota king Lalitaditya Muktapida (8th century), with a colonnaded courtyard, trefoil arches and Gandharan-influenced stonework; it was ruined in the time of Sultan Sikandar (late 14th–early 15th century). (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Shankaracharya temple (Srinagar), Avantipur)

(xiv) Political and Cultural centre: Hastinapur, Uttar Pradesh — on an old bed of the Ganga in Meerut district; B.B. Lal (1950–52) found Painted Grey Ware levels (c. 1100–800 BCE) ended by a flood; traditionally the Kuru capital, later a Jaina pilgrimage centre.

(xv) An ancient sea port: Muziris (Pattanam), Kerala — Chera port near Kodungallur on the Periyar; the Periplus and the Muziris papyrus record its Roman pepper trade, and Pattanam has yielded amphorae, terra sigillata and beads.

(xvi) Buddhist centre: Sannati, Karnataka — on the Bhima (Kalaburagi district); Ashokan edicts and the nearby Kanaganahalli stupa, whose relief names and shows Ashoka, mark a major Satavahana-period Buddhist centre of the early centuries BCE and CE.

(xvii) Inscriptional site: Shahbazgarhi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) — near Mardan in ancient Gandhara; Ashoka's fourteen Major Rock Edicts in the Kharoshthi script, written right to left, including Edict XIII on the Kalinga war; Mansehra has a parallel set.

(xviii) An ancient capital: Sirpur (Shripura), Chhattisgarh — capital of the Panduvamshis of Dakshina Kosala on the Mahanadi; its brick Lakshmana temple (7th century) was built by queen Vasata, and excavations revealed many Buddhist viharas and a market.

(xix) A Jaina centre: Udayagiri and Khandagiri, Odisha — twin hills near Bhubaneswar with Jaina rock-cut caves (c. 1st century BCE) cut as dwellings for monks; the Hathigumpha inscription of the Chedi king Kharavela records his reign year by year.

(xx) An ancient capital: Vaishali, Bihar — capital of the Licchavis and seat of the Vajji confederacy, an early republic (6th–5th century BCE); the Second Buddhist Council met here, Mahavira was born nearby at Kundagrama, and Kolhua has an Ashokan lion pillar.

10. UPSC 2017: the map question

Example 10 (UPSC 2017, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim. (i) A Prehistoric cave-paintings’ site; (ii) A Neolithic-Chalcolithic site; (iii) An Early Harappan site; (iv) A Harappan site; (v) An ancient capital city; (vi) A Painted grey ware site; (vii) A Neolithic site; (viii) A site of Ashokan inscriptions; (ix) An ancient port and trade centre; (x) A Harappan site; (xi) A Chalcolithic site; (xii) An ancient capital city; (xiii) A Rock-cut cave site; (xiv) An early fortified city; (xv) A Rock-cut temple site; (xvi) An ancient temple site; (xvii) An ancient capital city; (xviii) An ancient temple site; (xix) A Palaeolithic site; (xx) An ancient capital city.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) A Prehistoric cave-paintings’ site: Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh — Vindhyan rock shelters in Raisen district with paintings from the Mesolithic onwards of hunting, dancing and animals; discovered by V.S. Wakankar (1957); a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

(ii) A Neolithic-Chalcolithic site: Hallur, Karnataka — Neolithic-Chalcolithic site on the Tungabhadra in Haveri district, excavated by M.S. Nagaraja Rao (1965); early iron objects (c. 1000 BCE) and reported horse bones; a key site for dating iron in south India.

(iii) An Early Harappan site: Banawali, Haryana — Fatehabad district site with an Early Harappan (Kalibangan I type) phase below a planned Mature Harappan town; excavated by R.S. Bisht (1974–77); finds include a terracotta plough model and a radial street plan.

(iv) A Harappan site: Amri, Sindh, Pakistan — on the Indus in Jamshoro district, excavated by N.G. Majumdar (1929) and J.-M. Casal; its pre-Harappan Amri culture lies below Mature Harappan levels; it gives its name to the Amri-Nal ceramic tradition (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Chanhudaro, Kot Diji).

(v) An ancient capital city: Sirpur, Chhattisgarh — Sripura on the Mahanadi, capital of the Panduvamshis of Dakshina Kosala (7th–8th century); brick Lakshmana temple and Buddhist viharas; Queen Vasata, mother of Mahashivagupta Balarjuna, built the Lakshmana temple.

(vi) A Painted grey ware site: Ahichhatra, Uttar Pradesh — north Panchala capital in Bareilly district; Painted Grey Ware at the base, then Kushan and Gupta levels with terracottas and a brick temple; excavated by the ASI in 1940–44.

(vii) A Neolithic site: Burzahom, Jammu and Kashmir — Neolithic site in the Kashmir valley; people lived in pits, used bone tools and harvesters, buried dogs with their masters; a stone slab shows a hunting scene.

(viii) A site of Ashokan inscriptions: Brahmagiri, Karnataka — in Chitradurga district; an Ashokan minor rock edict, found by B.L. Rice (1891), with nearby copies at Siddapura and Jatinga-Rameshwara; Wheeler excavated its megaliths (1947).

(ix) An ancient port and trade centre: Bharuch (Barygaza), Gujarat — port at the Narmada mouth; the Periplus calls it Barygaza, the chief port of western India in the Roman trade, exporting cloth, spices and gems.

(x) A Harappan site: Padri, Gujarat — Harappan site in Bhavnagar district on the western shore of the Gulf of Khambhat, excavated by Vasant Shinde (1990s); a pre-Harappan Padri ware phase precedes Harappan levels, with evidence of salt making and a painted jar showing a horned figure (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Rangpur, Lothal).

(xi) A Chalcolithic site: Pandu Rajar Dhibi, West Bengal — Chalcolithic site on the Ajay river in Purba Bardhaman district, excavated by P.C. Dasgupta (1960s); black-and-red ware, copper objects and rice farming; it gave the first evidence of a Chalcolithic culture in Bengal.

(xii) An ancient capital city: Rajgir (Rajagriha), Bihar — first capital of Magadha under Bimbisara and Ajatashatru, ringed by a stone Cyclopean wall; the First Buddhist Council met at the Saptaparni cave; Ajatashatru's son Udayin later shifted the capital to Pataliputra.

(xiii) A Rock-cut cave site: Ellora, Maharashtra — 34 rock-cut caves (c. 6th–10th century) of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain faiths; the Kailasa temple (Cave 16) was carved under the Rashtrakuta Krishna I; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983 (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Ajanta, Aurangabad caves).

(xiv) An early fortified city: Sisupalgarh, Odisha — fortified early historic city near Bhubaneswar (c. 3rd century BCE–4th century CE) with a square rampart and gateways, excavated by B.B. Lal (1948); often identified with Kalinganagari.

(xv) A Rock-cut temple site: Masroor, Himachal Pradesh — monolithic rock-cut temples of the Nagara style (c. 8th century) carved from a sandstone ridge in Kangra district, often compared with Ellora; damaged by the 1905 earthquake.

(xvi) An ancient temple site: Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh — on the Betwa in Lalitpur district; the Gupta Dashavatara temple (c. 6th century), an early temple with a shikhara, has panels of Vishnu on Shesha and Gajendramoksha.

(xvii) An ancient capital city: Amaravati (Dhanyakataka), Andhra Pradesh — Dhanyakataka on the Krishna served as a Satavahana capital; its great stupa with limestone reliefs gave the Amaravati school of art; many of its reliefs are now in museums at Chennai and London.

(xviii) An ancient temple site: Pushkar, Rajasthan — sacred lake town in Ajmer district with the Brahma temple; already a pilgrimage centre in the Nashik cave inscription of Ushavadata (1st–2nd century CE); its Kartik fair draws pilgrims and camel traders.

(xix) A Palaeolithic site: Attirampakkam, Tamil Nadu — Lower and Middle Palaeolithic site in Tiruvallur district; Acheulian handaxes dated to about 1.5 million years ago (2011) and Middle Palaeolithic tools of about 385,000 years ago (2018).

(xx) An ancient capital city: Pragjyotishpura (Guwahati), Assam — capital of Kamarupa on the Brahmaputra, ruled by the Varman dynasty; Bhaskaravarman allied with Harsha and hosted Xuanzang (7th century); later Mlechchha and Pala kings ruled the region.

11. UPSC 2016: the map question

Example 11 (UPSC 2016, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim: (i) A Mesolithic site; (ii) A Neolithic site; (iii) A Megalithic-Chalcolithic site; (iv) A Neolithic site; (v) A Neolithic site; (vi) A Megalithic site; (vii) A site known for Buddhist remains; (viii) A Harappan site; (ix) A Harappan site; (x) A Harappan site; (xi) A Neolithic site; (xii) A Harappan site; (xiii) A capital city; (xiv) A rock-cut cave site; (xv) A late Harappan site; (xvi) An educational centre; (xvii) A terra-cotta art centre; (xviii) A seaport; (xix) A capital city; (xx) A capital city.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) A Mesolithic site: Sarai Nahar Rai, Uttar Pradesh — Mesolithic site in Pratapgarh district; microliths, hearths with animal bones and human burials show hunter-gatherers settling the Ganga plain; excavated by G.R. Sharma of Allahabad University in the early 1970s, it is a key site of the Ganga valley Mesolithic.

(ii) A Neolithic site: Daojali Hading, Assam — Neolithic site in the Dima Hasao (North Cachar) hills; cord-marked pottery, shouldered celts and grinding stones link it with the South-East Asian Neolithic; excavated by M.C. Goswami and T.C. Sharma (1961–63).

(iii) A Megalithic-Chalcolithic site: Adichanallur, Tamil Nadu — urn-burial site on the Tamraparni in Thoothukudi district with black-and-red ware, iron weapons, bronze vessels and gold diadems; recent dating places it in the Iron Age.

(iv) A Neolithic site: Kuchai, Odisha — Neolithic site in Mayurbhanj district; shouldered celts, polished stone axes and cord-impressed pottery place it in the eastern Indian Neolithic linked to South-East Asia; it lies in northern Odisha near Baripada.

(v) A Neolithic site: Maski, Karnataka — Raichur district site with Neolithic, Chalcolithic and megalithic layers; its minor rock edict (found 1915) first gave the name Asoka; C. Beadon found the edict, and B.K. Thapar excavated the site (1954).

(vi) A Megalithic site: Junapani, Maharashtra — megalithic stone-circle burials near Nagpur in Vidarbha, excavated by S.B. Deo; iron objects and black-and-red ware; part of the Vidarbha megalithic culture; dated to the early first millennium BCE.

(vii) A site known for Buddhist remains: Sanghol, Punjab — site in Fatehgarh Sahib district with a Kushan-period stupa and monastery; over a hundred carved railing pieces of the Mathura school found in 1985; also Harappan levels.

(viii) A Harappan site: Banawali, Haryana — Fatehabad district site excavated by R.S. Bisht (1974–77) with Early and Mature Harappan phases, a radial street plan and a terracotta plough model; it lies near the dry bed of the Ghaggar (Sarasvati).

(ix) A Harappan site: Kalibangan, Rajasthan — Harappan city on the Ghaggar in Hanumangarh district; criss-cross furrows of an Early Harappan field, a row of fire altars and separate citadel and lower town.

(x) A Harappan site: Harappa, Punjab, Pakistan — on the old course of the Ravi in Sahiwal district; the first Indus city excavated (Daya Ram Sahni, 1921), which named the civilisation; granary-like building and Cemetery H.

(xi) A Neolithic site: Mehrgarh, Balochistan, Pakistan — Neolithic village at the foot of the Bolan pass; mud-brick houses, domesticated wheat, barley, cattle and goats from c. 7000 BCE; drilled teeth show early dentistry.

(xii) A Harappan site: Rojdi, Gujarat — Harappan site on the Bhadar river in Rajkot district, excavated by Gregory Possehl; a Sorath Harappan settlement with a stone wall and millet use; dated c. 2500–1700 BCE.

(xiii) A capital city: Chittorgarh, Rajasthan — hill-fort capital of the Guhila-Sisodia rulers of Mewar; besieged by Alauddin Khalji (1303), Bahadur Shah of Gujarat (1535) and Akbar (1568); Rana Kumbha's Vijay Stambha.

(xiv) A rock-cut cave site: Bagh caves, Madhya Pradesh — nine Buddhist rock-cut caves in Dhar district (c. 5th–6th century) on the Baghani river; their wall paintings, as in the Rang Mahal cave, are close to the Ajanta style.

(xv) A late Harappan site: Manda, Jammu and Kashmir — the northernmost Harappan site, on the Chenab near Akhnoor in Jammu district; excavated by J.P. Joshi (1976–77); Mature and Late Harappan pottery; probably a timber-gathering outpost.

(xvi) An educational centre: Vikramashila, Bihar — Pala mahavihara at Antichak near Bhagalpur founded by Dharmapala (c. 800 CE); a centre of Vajrayana teaching that sent Atisha to Tibet; excavated by B.S. Verma for the ASI (1972–82).

(xvii) A terra-cotta art centre: Chandraketugarh, West Bengal — early historic site in North 24 Parganas (c. 3rd century BCE–3rd century CE); finely moulded terracotta plaques of yakshis, couples and ships; links with Indian Ocean trade.

(xviii) A seaport: Muziris (Pattanam), Kerala — Chera seaport near the mouth of the Periyar; the Periplus and Pliny describe its pepper trade with Rome; excavations at Pattanam found Roman amphorae, beads and a wharf.

(xix) A capital city: Vengi, Andhra Pradesh — near Eluru (Pedavegi), capital of the Shalankayanas and of the Eastern Chalukyas from the 7th century; Nannaya began Telugu literature under Rajaraja Narendra; the Eastern Chalukyas later moved to Rajahmundry.

(xx) A capital city: Mandi, Himachal Pradesh — town on the Beas that became the capital of the Mandi hill state under the Sena rulers, Ajber Sen founding the present town in 1527; its many stone temples, such as Bhutnath and Panchvaktra, earn it the name Chhoti Kashi (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Kangra (Nagarkot), Chamba).

12. UPSC 2015: the map question

Example 12 (UPSC 2015, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you (on page 4) and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim : (i) A Neolithic site; (ii) A Neolithic site; (iii) A Harappan site; (iv) A Megalithic site; (v) A Harappan site; (vi) A painted-Grey-ware site; (vii) An inscriptional site; (viii) An important ancient city; (ix) An ancient port; (x) A site of ancient cave-paintings; (xi) A Buddhist site; (xii) An educational centre; (xiii) Brahmadeya village; (xiv) An ancient capital; (xv) An ancient capital; (xvi) A temple site; (xvii) An ancient capital; (xviii) An ancient sea-port; (xix) An archaeological temple site; (xx) A Harappan site.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) A Neolithic site: Burzahom, Jammu and Kashmir — Neolithic site near Srinagar (from c. 2700 BCE); pit dwellings, bone tools, polished stone axes and burials of dogs with humans; later megalithic menhirs; excavated by the ASI under T.N. Khazanchi (1960–71).

(ii) A Neolithic site: Mehrgarh, Balochistan, Pakistan — on the Bolan river in the Kachhi plain, excavated by Jean-François Jarrige from 1974; earliest farming of wheat and barley and herding in South Asia, from c. 7000 BCE.

(iii) A Harappan site: Kalibangan, Rajasthan — on the dry Ghaggar in Hanumangarh district, excavated by B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar; a ploughed field of the Early Harappan phase, fire altars, citadel and lower town.

(iv) A Megalithic site: Adichanallur, Tamil Nadu — Iron Age urn-burial site on the Tamraparni in Thoothukudi district; Alexander Rea's excavations (1899–1905) found iron tools, bronze objects and gold diadems; T. Satyamurthy's ASI excavation (2004–05) found further urns.

(v) A Harappan site: Surkotada, Gujarat — fortified Harappan site in Kachchh excavated by J.P. Joshi (1971–72); a citadel with a residential annexe; bones claimed as those of the horse remain debated.

(vi) A painted-Grey-ware site: Hastinapur, Uttar Pradesh — on the old bed of the Ganga in Meerut district; B.B. Lal's excavation (1950–52) found Painted Grey Ware levels; remembered as the Kuru capital of the Mahabharata.

(vii) An inscriptional site: Girnar (Junagadh), Gujarat — rock bearing Ashoka's fourteen Major Rock Edicts, Rudradaman's Sanskrit inscription (150 CE) on repairing the Sudarshana lake, and Skandagupta's record of later repairs; it stands at the foot of the sacred Girnar hill.

(viii) An important ancient city: Vidisha (Besnagar), Madhya Pradesh — city at the Betwa–Bes confluence; the Heliodorus pillar (c. 110 BCE) of an Indo-Greek envoy honours Vasudeva; a Shunga centre; the Sanchi stupas lie nearby, and a Sanchi gateway inscription records Vidisha's ivory carvers.

(ix) An ancient port: Tamralipti (Tamluk), West Bengal — chief port of ancient Bengal on the Rupnarayan in Purba Medinipur; Faxian sailed from here to Sri Lanka (5th century) and Yijing landed here; rouletted ware found.

(x) A site of ancient cave-paintings: Sittanavasal, Tamil Nadu — Jain rock-cut cave in Pudukkottai district with tempera paintings of a lotus pond and dancers (c. 9th century, Pandya period); nearby Jain stone beds bear Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions.

(xi) A Buddhist site: Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh — great stupa on the Krishna (c. 2nd century BCE–3rd century CE) with carved limestone reliefs of a distinct art school; near Dhanyakataka; Colin Mackenzie first surveyed the stupa in 1797.

(xii) An educational centre: Vikramashila, Bihar — Buddhist mahavihara founded by the Pala king Dharmapala (c. 800 CE) at Antichak, Bhagalpur district; Atisha taught here; destroyed c. 1200; it had six gate-keeper scholars (dvarapandita), and Tibetan monks studied here.

(xiii) Brahmadeya village: Uttaramerur, Tamil Nadu — brahmadeya village in Kanchipuram district; inscriptions of the Chola king Parantaka I (919 and 921 CE) lay down rules for electing sabha committees by lot (kudavolai).

(xiv) An ancient capital: Badami (Vatapi), Karnataka — capital of the early Chalukyas, fortified by Pulakeshin I (c. 543 CE); Vaishnava, Shaiva and Jain cave temples; captured by the Pallava Narasimhavarman I (642).

(xv) An ancient capital: Kampilya, Uttar Pradesh — Kampil in Farrukhabad district, capital of southern Panchala where, in the Mahabharata, Drupada ruled and Draupadi's svayamvara was held; Jains revere it as the birthplace of Vimalanatha, the thirteenth tirthankara, and it remains a Jain pilgrimage centre (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Kannauj, Ahichhatra).

(xvi) A temple site: Bhubaneswar, Odisha — temple city of Kalinga-style rekha deul temples from the 7th to the 13th century, such as Parashurameshvara, Mukteshvara and Lingaraja; the Ekamra Kshetra of the texts, with the Jain caves of Udayagiri-Khandagiri nearby.

(xvii) An ancient capital: Halebidu (Dwarasamudra), Karnataka — Hoysala capital in Hassan district (12th–14th century); the twin-shrined Hoysaleshvara temple with dense soapstone carving of epic scenes; sacked by Malik Kafur (1311); its temples form part of the Hoysala UNESCO World Heritage Site (2023).

(xviii) An ancient sea-port: Muziris (Pattanam), Kerala — Chera port near the Periyar praised in Sangam poems for Yavana ships bringing gold for pepper; the Muziris papyrus records a trade loan; Pattanam excavations found amphorae.

(xix) An archaeological temple site: Da-Parbatia, Assam — temple site near Tezpur in Sonitpur district; its stone doorframe (c. 5th–6th century) with the river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna is the oldest surviving sculpture of Assam.

(xx) A Harappan site: Rakhigarhi, Haryana — largest Harappan site in India, in Hisar district, with Early to Mature Harappan phases; a 2019 skeleton DNA study found no Steppe ancestry; excavated by Amarendra Nath (1997–2000) and Vasant Shinde (2013–16).

13. UPSC 2014: the map question

Example 13 (UPSC 2014, 50 marks): Identify the following places marked on the map supplied to you and write a short note of about 30 words on each of them in your Question-cum-Answer Booklet. Locational hints for each of the places marked on the map are given below seriatim : (i) An ancient capital; (ii) A Palaeolithic site; (iii) A cultural centre; (iv) An ancient capital; (v) A Palaeolithic site; (vi) A historical site; (vii) A Harappan site; (viii) An ancient capital; (ix) A political and cultural centre; (x) A Megalithic site; (xi) A Mesolithic site; (xii) A Chalcolithic site; (xiii) A prehistoric site; (xiv) A political and cultural centre; (xv) An ancient capital; (xvi) A lost port; (xvii) Rock-cave art centre; (xviii) An ancient capital; (xix) A political and cultural centre; (xx) An ancient town.

Paper and question: Paper I, Q1 (20 places, 2.5 marks each)

Approach: Identify each marked place from its clue and its position on the map, then write about 30 words on it: where it is, its period, and what was found or what happened there.

(i) An ancient capital: Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu — capital of the Pallavas (c. 6th–9th century); Kailasanatha and Vaikuntha Perumal temples and a famous ghatika of learning; visited by Xuanzang; Mahendravarman I and Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha) ruled from here (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Uraiyur).

(ii) A Palaeolithic site: Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh — rock shelters in Raisen district with Acheulian tools and a Palaeolithic-to-historic sequence; hundreds of painted shelters found by V.S. Wakankar (1957); a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003.

(iii) A cultural centre: Nalanda, Bihar — Buddhist mahavihara founded under the Guptas (5th century CE), patronised by Harsha and the Palas; Xuanzang and Yijing studied here; excavated by the ASI from 1915, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.

(iv) An ancient capital: Purushapura (Peshawar), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan — capital of the Kushan king Kanishka (c. 2nd century CE); his great stupa at Shah-ji-ki-Dheri yielded the Kanishka relic casket; a centre of Gandhara art.

(v) A Palaeolithic site: Renigunta, Andhra Pradesh — Upper Palaeolithic site near Tirupati studied by M.L.K. Murty (1960s); blades and burins of chert and quartzite show a blade industry in South India; Renigunta lies in Tirupati district.

(vi) A historical site: Manyakheta (Malkhed), Karnataka — Rashtrakuta capital founded by Amoghavarsha I (9th century) on the Kagina river; a centre of Jain learning; sacked by the Paramara Siyaka (c. 972); Kannada works such as the Kavirajamarga were written at its court.

(vii) A Harappan site: Ropar (Rupnagar), Punjab — Harappan site on the Sutlej excavated by Y.D. Sharma (1950s), the first Harappan site excavated after Independence; a burial of a dog with a man; occupation continued into medieval times.

(viii) An ancient capital: Pragjyotishpura (Guwahati), Assam — capital of the ancient kingdom of Kamarupa; Bhaskaravarman, Harsha's ally, ruled here in the 7th century and received Xuanzang; the Kamakhya temple stands on nearby Nilachal hill.

(ix) A political and cultural centre: Paithan (Pratishthana), Maharashtra — Satavahana capital on the Godavari; the Periplus names it a trade centre; linked with King Hala's Gathasaptasati; later a Yadava town; Ptolemy calls it Baithana, seat of Pulumavi (Siri Polemaios).

(x) A Megalithic site: Brahmagiri, Karnataka — site in Chitradurga district excavated by Mortimer Wheeler (1947) with Neolithic, megalithic cist-burial and early historic phases; also an Ashokan minor rock edict; Wheeler's work fixed the chronology of the south Indian megaliths.

(xi) A Mesolithic site: Sarai Nahar Rai, Uttar Pradesh — Mesolithic site in Pratapgarh district; microliths, hearths and burials with grave goods; among the earliest human remains of the Ganga valley; excavated by G.R. Sharma of Allahabad University in the early 1970s.

(xii) A Chalcolithic site: Lal Qila (Bulandshahr), Uttar Pradesh — Ochre Coloured Pottery site in Bulandshahr district of the Ganga-Yamuna doab, excavated by R.C. Gaur of Aligarh Muslim University; house remains, copper objects and OCP of the second millennium BCE link it with the Copper Hoard culture.

(xiii) A prehistoric site: Adamgarh, Madhya Pradesh — rock shelters near Narmadapuram (Hoshangabad) with Palaeolithic and Mesolithic tools and paintings; Mesolithic levels give early evidence of domesticated animals; excavated by R.V. Joshi (1964), it lies near the Narmada.

(xiv) A political and cultural centre: Taxila (Takshashila), Punjab, Pakistan — Gandhara city with the Bhir Mound, Sirkap and Sirsukh settlements excavated by John Marshall; a famous seat of learning; Ashoka served as governor here; Indo-Greek, Shaka and Kushan centre.

(xv) An ancient capital: Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir — founded as Pravarapura by Pravarasena II (6th century) and long the capital of Kashmir; Kalhana's Rajatarangini records its kings; it stands on the Jhelum, and Kalhana credits Ashoka with founding an older Srinagari nearby.

(xvi) A lost port: Kaveripattinam (Puhar), Tamil Nadu — Chola port at the mouth of the Kaveri described in the Silappadikaram and Pattinappalai; tradition says the sea swallowed it; excavations found a wharf and ring wells.

(xvii) Rock-cave art centre: Nashik (Pandavleni caves), Maharashtra — 24 Buddhist rock-cut caves (c. 2nd century BCE–2nd century CE) with Satavahana and Kshaharata inscriptions, including Gautami Balashri's praise of Gautamiputra Satakarni; carved in the Trirashmi hill outside the city.

(xviii) An ancient capital: Kapilavastu, Nepal (Tilaurakot); also claimed for Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh — capital of the Shakya republic where the Buddha grew up; Piprahwa yielded an inscribed relic casket; W.C. Peppé found that casket (1898), and K.M. Srivastava's later excavation there yielded sealings naming Kapilavastu.

(xix) A political and cultural centre: Vallabhi, Gujarat — capital of the Maitrakas (c. 5th–8th century) in Bhavnagar district; a Buddhist centre of learning praised by Yijing; the Jain council here (5th century) wrote down the Shvetambara canon.

(xx) An ancient town: Bairat (Viratnagar), Rajasthan — Viratanagara, capital of the Matsya janapada, in Jaipur district; Ashoka's Bhabru and minor rock edicts; a circular brick Buddhist shrine of the Mauryan age; Daya Ram Sahni excavated here in 1936 (identification from the map uncertain; other sites matching the clue: Mathura, Rairh).