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The archaeologist B. B. Lal excavated Hastinapur (in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh), finding Painted Grey Ware, in:
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Answer: Option D — 1950-1952
Detailed Solution
The archaeologist B. B. Lal excavated Hastinapur, in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh, in 1950-1952.
About the excavation:
- It was carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India.
- It was part of Lal's project to investigate the historicity of places mentioned in the Mahabharata.
- Hastinapur is described in the Mahabharata as the capital of the Kurus.
Findings at Hastinapur:
- Lal found five periods of occupation at the site.
- Period II had "Painted Grey Ware" (PGW), a fine grey pottery painted with black designs, dated roughly to 1100-800 BCE.
- He found evidence of a flood that destroyed the PGW settlement, after which people moved away.
- He connected this with a statement in the Puranas that Hastinapur was washed away by a flood of the Ganga in the time of King Nichakshu, who then moved his capital to Kaushambi.
- Later periods had "Northern Black Polished Ware" (NBPW) and remains of the early historic period.
About Painted Grey Ware:
- It is associated with the later Vedic period.
- It is found mainly in the upper Ganga valley and the Ghaggar region, in Haryana, Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
- PGW sites have iron objects, which shows the beginning of the Iron Age in north India.
- Other important PGW sites include Atranjikhera, Bhagwanpura, Kurukshetra and Mathura.
About B. B. Lal:
- Braj Basi Lal was born in 1921 and died in 2022.
- He was Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1968 to 1972.
He excavated Kalibangan (with B. K. Thapar) and sites linked with the Ramayana, such as Ayodhya and Shringaverapura.
He received the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2021.
Why not the other options?
- ✗1921-1922 is when the first great Harappan cities were excavated.
- ✗1960-1961 and 1975-1976 are not the years of the Hastinapur excavation.
Quick tip
Remember: Hastinapur = excavated by B. B. Lal, 1950-52 (Painted Grey Ware; flood of the Ganga; capital moved to Kaushambi); PGW = later Vedic, Iron Age.
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Vedic Period — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Vedic Period, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
The Vedic period followed the arrival of the Indo-Aryans and is divided into the Early (Rig Vedic) and Later Vedic ages. This topic covers the four Vedas, the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads, Vedic society, polity, economy and religion, and the rivers and gods mentioned in Vedic texts. Exams often ask which Veda deals with what (the Sama Veda with music, the Atharva Veda with charms and medicine), the most important Rig Vedic god (Indra), and Vedic assemblies such as the Sabha and Samiti. Note how society changed from the Early to the Later Vedic age, especially the rise of the varna system and the growth of kingship. Practise the Vedic period questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.