Which one among the following motifs does not appear on Harappan seals?

Correct — C, Lion. The animals carved on Harappan seals are a fairly closed set, and the lion is not in it. What the seals do show, over and over, is the so-called unicorn — a bull-like animal in profile with a single horn, which alone accounts for the majority of surviving seals — together with the humped Indian bull or zebu, the short-horned bull, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the tiger, the water buffalo, the goat and the gharial or crocodile. The absence of the lion is not an accident of preservation: there are thousands of seals, and the animal simply does not appear. The usual explanation is environmental. The Asiatic lion is an animal of open, dry grassland and scrub, while the Harappan heartland along the Indus and its tributaries was riverine and marshy, the habitat of the rhinoceros, the buffalo and the gharial — all of which are on the seals. What the seal-cutters carved was, broadly, what they saw.

• (a)Humped Bull — The zebu is one of the most recognisable Harappan seal animals, shown in profile with a heavy dewlap and a pronounced shoulder hump. It is emphatically present.
• (b)Elephant — The elephant appears on seals and on terracotta figurines alike. It is also one of the four animals on the celebrated 'Pashupati' seal from Mohenjo-daro.
• (d)Crocodile — The gharial, the long-snouted fish-eating crocodile of the Indus and Ganga, is a regular motif — sometimes alone, sometimes with fish, which fits a river-based world.

Harappan seals are small square or rectangular tablets, usually steatite, typically about 2 to 3 cm across, with an animal carved in profile, a short line of Indus script above it, and a pierced boss on the back for a cord. Over four thousand inscribed objects survive. They were almost certainly used to stamp clay sealings on bundles of goods — sealings with cord and cloth impressions on the back have been found — so they belong to trade and administration rather than to art for its own sake.

This is a question about a closed corpus, which is what makes it fair. The reliable way to answer it is to hold the standard list in mind — unicorn, zebu, short-horned bull, elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, buffalo, goat, gharial — and notice which offered animal is missing from it, rather than trying to recall a negative fact directly. Three of the four options are on that list; only the lion is not. It is worth knowing that the same absence has been asked from the other direction: UPSC's 2001 paper asked which animal was NOT represented and answered 'Cow'. The two facts sit together comfortably — the humped zebu bull is everywhere on the seals, but the cow is not, and neither is the lion. Both belong to the same larger observation, that the Harappan seal-cutters worked from a restricted and deliberate repertoire.

• The single most common Harappan seal motif is the 'unicorn' — a one-horned bull-like animal shown in profile, on the majority of surviving seals.
• Attested seal animals include the zebu (humped bull), short-horned bull, elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, water buffalo, goat and gharial (crocodile).
• The lion does not appear in the Harappan seal corpus; the Asiatic lion is a grassland animal, while the Harappan core was riverine and marshy.
• Seals are usually steatite, about 2–3 cm, carrying Indus script above the animal and a pierced boss behind for suspension.
• Clay sealings bearing cord and cloth impressions on the reverse show the seals were used to secure and mark traded goods.

• Assuming the lion must appear because it is prominent in later Indian art — the Ashokan capitals are a thousand years and more after the Harappans.
• Confusing the humped zebu bull, which is on the seals, with the cow, which is not.
• Treating the unicorn as a mythical import; it is best read as a stylised profile of a real horned animal.

Almost always as an odd-one-out on the seal repertoire, in either direction — 'which does not appear' or 'which of the following appears'. Occasionally as a statements item on seal material, script and use.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The most frequently occurring animal motif on the seals of the Harappan civilisation is

  • (a)the elephant
  • (b)the one-horned 'unicorn'
  • (c)the tiger
  • (d)the rhinoceros

  Answer(b) the one-horned 'unicorn' — this bull-like animal in profile accounts for the majority of surviving inscribed Harappan seals.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Harappan seals were most commonly made of which one of the following materials?

  • (a)Steatite
  • (b)Baked clay
  • (c)Bronze
  • (d)Ivory

  Answer(a) Steatite — a soft stone that was carved and then fired to harden and whiten the surface.