Mu Sigma Sample Verbal Questions

DIRECTIONS for questions 6 to 10: Read the following passage carefully and choose the most appropriate option from the choices given.
A definite reason for the sudden decline of the Indus Valley Civilization is still elusive, since there are no reliable records for the period, historians can only speculate. Broadly speaking, the principal theories thus far proposed fall under four headings. The first is gradual environmental change, such as a shift in climatic patterns and consequent agricultural disaster, perhaps coinciding with rapid population growth. Second, some scholars have postulated more precipitous environmental changes, such as tectonic events leading to the flooding of Mohenjodaro, the drying up of Saraswati river, or other such calamities. Third, it is conceivable that human activities such as invasions of tribespeople from the hills to the west of the Indus valley, perhaps even Indo-Aryans, contributed to the breakdown of Indus external trade links or more directly disrupted the cities. The fourth theory posits the occurrence of an epidemic or similar agent of devastation. It is still far from certain at what date the urban society broke down. The decline probably occurred in several stages, perhaps over a century or more; the period between about 2000 and 1750 BC is a reasonable estimation. The collapse of the urban system does not necessarily imply a complete breakdown in the life-style of the population in all parts of the Indus region, but it seems to have involved the end of whatever system of social and political control had preceded it. After this date the cities, as such, and many of their distinctively urban traits- the use of writing and of seals and number of the specialized urban crafts- disappear. The succeeding era, which lasted until about 750 BC, may be considered as post- Harappan or perhaps better as "post- urban." In Sindh, the Post –Urban phase is recognizable in the Jhukar culture at Chanhu-daro and other sites. Here certain copper or bronze weapons and tools appear to be of "foreign" type,and may be compared with examples from farther west (Iran and Central Asia) a different, but parallel, change is seen at Pirak, not far from Mehrgarh. In the Rann of Kachchh and Saurashtra there appears to have been a steady increase in the number of settlements, but all are small and none can compare with such undoubtedly Harappan cities as Dholavira. In this region, however, the distinctive, "Foreign" metal elements are less prominent. In the Sarasvati valley there is a very interesting development: here, the early Post-Urban stage is associated with the pottery known from the so-called Cemetery H at Harappa. This coincides with a major reduction in both the number and size of settlements, suggesting deterioration in the environment. In the eastern Punjab, too, there is a disappearance of the larger, urban sites but no comparable reduction in the number of smaller settlements. This is also true of the settlements farther east in the Ganges-Yamuna valleys. It is probably correct to conclude that, in each of these areas during the Post-Urban Period, material culture exhibited some tendency to develop regional variations, sometimes showing continuations of features already present during the Pre-Urban and Urban phases.