History · Negotiating the Sources
UGC NET December 2024 History
Passage
The regimented cantonment of Harappa may suggest the priest-controlled industries of Sumer. It may even be permissible to propose a priest-king for Mohenjodaro. On the other hand, in such sculptural art as the Indus has produced there is no real affinity with the sculpture of Sumer. No one would mistake a stone carving from Mohenjodaro for one from Tell Asmar or Mari. The Indus terracottas are in a different world from those of Mesopotamia. The art of the Harappan seals has no close parallel in the whole history of glyptic. The particularities are literal, local interchange, while the common generalities are the product of stray seeds readily fertilized in similar historical and geographical settings.
What can be inferred in the context of Mesopotamian links to the Harappan civilization in the light of more recent discoveries?
AThe script is similar to cuneiform script
BThe seals and symbols on them are Sumerian
CThe smaller sites from Gujarat and Rajasthan show Mesopotamian features
DThe Harappan civilization cannot be viewed entirely through a Mesopotamian lens ✓ Correct
Correct answer: (D) The Harappan civilization cannot be viewed entirely through a Mesopotamian lens — The answer is that the Harappan civilization cannot be viewed entirely through a Mesopotamian lens.
Explanation
★The answer is that the Harappan civilization cannot be viewed entirely through a Mesopotamian lens.
★In the early years its connection with Mesopotamia was crucial for dating it.
★Some historians emphasised comparative studies between the two civilizations.
★This left confusion about the origin, economy and political nature of the Harappan civilization.
★In the light of recent discoveries it is accepted that the Harappan civilization should be viewed independently.
★So it cannot be seen entirely through a Mesopotamian lens.
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