Read the passage and answer the questions:
The Urban Planning of a Civilisation
Perhaps the most unique feature of the Harappan civilisation was the development of urban centres. Let us look at one such centre, Mohenjodaro, more closely. Although Mohenjodaro is the most well-known site, the first site to be discovered was Harappa. The settlement is divided into two sections, one smaller but higher and the other much larger but lower. Archaeologists designate these as the Citadel and the Lower Town respectively. The Citadel owes its height to the fact that buildings were constructed on mud brick platforms. It was walled, which meant that it was physically separated from the Lower Town. The Lower Town was also walled. Several buildings were built on platforms, which served as foundations. It has been calculated that if one labourer moved roughly a cubic metre of earth daily, just to put the foundations in place it would have required four million person-days, in other words, mobilising labour on a very large scale. Consider something else. Once the platforms were in place, all building activity within the city was restricted to a fixed area on the platforms. So it seems that the settlement was first planned and then implemented accordingly. Other signs of planning include bricks, which, whether sun-dried or baked, were of a standardised ratio, where the length and breadth were four times and twice the height respectively. Such bricks were used at all Harappan settlements. Although Harappa was the first site to be discovered, it was badly destroyed by brick robbers. As early as 1875, Alexander Cunningham, the first Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), noted that the amount of brick taken from the ancient site was enough to lay bricks for “about 100 miles” of the railway line between Lahore and Multan.
Which of the following structures is not found in the Citadel?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Residential Buildings
The Citadel of Mohenjodaro held structures that were probably used for special public purposes: the warehouse, a massive structure of which the lower brick portions remain, and the Great Bath. The plan of the Citadel also marks a Pillared Hall. The residential buildings, houses centred on a courtyard with rooms on all sides, were found in the Lower Town, not on the Citadel.
Tip: ‘Pillar Halls’ appears only as a label on the plan of the Citadel. Look at the labels inside the site plans of the Harappan chapter; they hold answers that the paragraphs do not.
NCERT (2025-26): “3.2 Domestic architecture … The Lower Town at Mohenjodaro provides examples of residential buildings. Many were centred on a courtyard, with rooms on all sides. The courtyard was probably the centre of activities such as cooking and weaving, particularly during hot and dry weather.… 3.3 The Citadel … It is on the Citadel that we find evidence of structures that were probably used for special public purposes. These include the warehouse – a massive structure of which the lower brick portions remain, while the upper portions, probably of wood, decayed long ago – and the Great Bath.…”
Fig. 1.7 Layout of Mohenjodaro |

