UPSC Prelims 2024 Q55: Chandraketugarh, Inamgaon, Mangadu, Salihundam
Consider the following information:
| Sl.No. | Archaeological Site | State | Description |
| 1 | Chandraketugarh | Odisha | Trading Port town |
| 2 | Inamgaon | Maharashtra | Chalcolithic site |
| 3 | Mangadu | Kerala | Megalithic site |
| 4 | Salihundam | Andhra Pradesh | Rock-cut cave shrines |
In which of the above rows is the given information correctly matched?
- 1 and 2
- 2 and 3
- 3 and 4
- 1 and 4
Answer: (b) 2 and 3
Statement-wise explanation
- 1: incorrect — Chandraketugarh is in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, about 35 km north-east of Kolkata, on the Bidyadhari river. It is not in Odisha. The description is accurate: it was a fortified early historic town and river port, occupied from about the 3rd century BCE. Because the state is wrong, the row as a whole is wrongly matched.
- 2: correct — Inamgaon lies on the right bank of the Ghod river (a tributary of the Bhima), in Pune district, Maharashtra. Deccan College dug there for twelve seasons, under H.D. Sankalia, M.K. Dhavalikar and Z.D. Ansari. It is among the most fully excavated Chalcolithic villages of the Deccan. Its layers show the Malwa, Early Jorwe and Late Jorwe phases.
- 3: correct — Mangadu is in Kilikkollur village near Kollam, Kerala, close to Ashtamudi Lake. The Kerala State Department of Archaeology excavated it in 1991. They found urn burials inside laterite stone circles, along with iron tools, beads and Black-and-Red Ware. Radiocarbon dates of about 1300–800 BCE are among the earliest for megalithic burials in Kerala.
- 4: incorrect — Salihundam is in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, on the south bank of the Vamsadhara river. The state is right but the description is wrong. It is a Buddhist complex on a hillock with brick stupas, chaitya halls and a monastery (vihara), all built as structures and not cut into rock. Rock-cut Buddhist caves in Andhra Pradesh are found at other sites, such as Guntupalli.
How to eliminate
Each row has three parts: site, state and description. One wrong part spoils the whole row, so check both the state and the description.
- Inamgaon is the anchor. It is the standard example of a Chalcolithic (Jorwe) village in NCERT and in every ancient history text. Row 2 is correct, so the options without row 2, (c) and (d), drop out. Only (a) and (b) remain.
- To choose between (a) and (b), check Chandraketugarh. The name is Bengali (-garh, near Kolkata), and the site is famous for its Bengal terracottas. Placing it in Odisha is the trap in this question. Once row 1 goes, only (b) is left.
- You can also check from the other side. A site in Kerala labelled 'megalithic' is a safe bet, because Kerala's best-known prehistoric remains are megalithic burials (topikal, kudakkal, urn burials). Salihundam is known for its stupas, not caves.
Facts to remember: Chandraketugarh is in West Bengal, and Salihundam has structural stupas, not rock-cut caves. Knowing either one, plus Inamgaon, solves the question.
Know more
Reading archaeological match-the-row questions
UPSC often takes a well-known site and either moves it to the wrong state or gives it the wrong type. Learn each site as three facts together: place, period, type.
| Site | District, State | Period / type | Remember it by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chandraketugarh | North 24 Parganas, West Bengal | Early historic port town (c. 3rd c. BCE onwards) | Bidyadhari river; terracotta plaques; excavated by Asutosh Museum (1957–68) |
| Inamgaon | Pune, Maharashtra | Chalcolithic (Malwa → Jorwe) | Ghod river; flood-water channel; Deccan College digs |
| Mangadu | Kollam, Kerala | Iron Age megalithic burials | Urn burials inside stone circles; c. 1300–800 BCE dates |
| Salihundam | Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh | Buddhist stupas, chaityas, vihara | Vamsadhara river; near the port of Kalingapatnam |
Chalcolithic Deccan. Jorwe sites such as Inamgaon, Daimabad and Nevasa had painted red pottery and copper tools. People lived in rectangular houses and buried their children in urns under the house floor.
South Indian megaliths. These are Iron Age burial monuments: cists, dolmens, stone circles, urn burials, and in Kerala the topikal (hat-stone) and kudakkal (umbrella-stone). Grave goods usually include iron tools and Black-and-Red Ware.
Buddhist sites of coastal Andhra. Some sites are structural, such as Amaravati, Nagarjunakonda, Salihundam and Thotlakonda. Others are rock-cut, such as the caves at Guntupalli. Questions often test whether you can tell the two kinds apart.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- Chalcolithic age: Row 2 describes a site as 'Chalcolithic'; you need to know what defines that stage to judge the label.
- Jorwe culture: Inamgaon is the type site for village life in the Jorwe culture of Maharashtra.
- Megaliths: Row 3 calls a Kerala site 'megalithic'; this explains what megalithic burials are and where they occur.
- Topikal and kudakkal: Kerala's distinctive megalithic markers help you judge whether a Kerala site fits the 'megalithic' label.
- Malwa culture: Inamgaon's earliest phase belongs to the Malwa culture, which came before the Jorwe phases.