Which site was not part of the itinerary of the Chinese pilgrims and was not known as an Early-Historic city?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Harappa
Alexander Cunningham, the first Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, was mainly interested in the Early Historic period (c. sixth century BCE to fourth century CE). He used the accounts of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims to locate old settlements. Harappa was not on the pilgrims’ itinerary and was not known as an Early Historic city, so it did not fit his framework, and he did not realise how old its artefacts were.
Dilmun, Magan and Turan are not sites of the subcontinent at all. They are names of lands in West and Central Asia (Magan, named in Mesopotamian texts, was perhaps Oman) with which the Harappans traded.
Note: It seems that there is a mistake in the original NTA question. NTA has lifted one line of NCERT, “A site like Harappa, which was not part of the itinerary of the Chinese pilgrims and was not known as an Early Historic city”, to frame the question. Read word for word, Dilmun, Magan and Turan also fit: they were not on the pilgrims’ route, and they were not Early Historic cities. But they are lands outside the subcontinent with which the Harappans traded, while the line in the book is about Harappa. That is why Option (4) is the most appropriate answer.
NCERT (2025-26): “10.1 Cunningham’s confusion … When Cunningham, the first Director-General of the ASI, began archaeological excavations in the mid-nineteenth century, archaeologists preferred to use the written word (texts and inscriptions) as a guide to investigations. In fact, Cunningham’s main interest was in the archaeology of the Early Historic (c. sixth century BCE -fourth century CE) and later periods. He used the accounts left by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who had visited the subcontinent between the fourth and seventh centuries CE to locate early settlements. Cunningham also collected, documented and translated inscriptions found during his surveys. When he excavated sites he tended to recover artefacts that he thought had cultural value. A site like Harappa, which was not part of the itinerary of the Chinese pilgrims and was not known as an Early Historic city, did not fit very neatly within his framework of investigation. So, although Harappan artefacts were found fairly often during the nineteenth century and some of these reached Cunningham, he did not realise how old these were.…” |