Find the odd one out from the given alternatives

Correct — D.
Rule: three are Harappan (Indus Valley) cities, the fourth is not.

Lothal, Harappa and Mohenjodaro are all Harappan sites of the Bronze Age.

Nalanda in Bihar is known as a Buddhist monastic university of a much later period, so it is the odd one out → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Lothal — Lothal, in Gujarat, is a Harappan site. Being in India rather than Pakistan does not set it apart, because Nalanda is in India too.
• (b)
  Harappa — Harappa is the site the civilisation is named after, the first where its culture was found. It is the core of the group, not the exception.
• (c)
  Mohenjodaro — Mohenjodaro, on the Indus in Sindh, is a major Harappan city known for the Great Bath. It belongs with Lothal and Harappa.

In a knowledge-based odd-one-out, find the category three options share, then the option outside it.

Lothal, Harappa and Mohenjodaro are excavated cities of the Harappan civilisation, whose mature phase is dated c. 2600–1900 BCE. Nalanda belongs to Buddhist history: a monastic centre of learning in Bihar, far later than any Harappan city.

Key facts

• Harappa, on the Ravi in Pakistani Punjab, gave the civilisation its name as the first site where the culture was found.
• Mohenjodaro is in Sindh, Pakistan, and Lothal is in Gujarat, India.
• The mature Harappan phase is dated c. 2600–1900 BCE.
• The Nalanda Mahavihara site in Bihar was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.

Common traps

• Sorting by modern country, which splits the four two-and-two and cannot pick one
• Treating Nalanda as one more ancient city because its ruins are excavated: it is known as a Buddhist university

No directly related past PYQ was found.