# Ancient India UPSC Prelims PYQ Topic Wise (2016–2026)

> Ancient India UPSC Prelims PYQs: all 45 questions from 11 official papers (2016–2026), by concept with official answers. Asked in 11 of 11 years.

Source: https://previousyearquestions.app/upsc-cse/topics/ancient-history/

Explore: <a href="/upsc-cse/topics/">All UPSC Prelims topics</a> · <a href="/upsc-cse/topics/history-and-culture/">UPSC Prelims History and Culture PYQs</a> · <a href="/upsc-cse/">UPSC CSE hub</a> · <a href="/upsc-cse/syllabus-pattern/">Syllabus & pattern</a> · <a href="/upsc-cse/2026/">UPSC 2026</a>

## Answer first

Ancient India PYQs (previous year questions) for UPSC Prelims: Ancient India (History and Culture) had **45 questions** across the 11 official UPSC Prelims papers we tagged (2016–2026), and appeared in 11 of them. Asked in 11 of 11 years. The concepts asked in the most papers: Buddhism, Harappan Civilisation, Sangam Age.

## Year-wise question count

<ChapterQuestions exam="upsc-cse" chapter="ancient-history" part="trend" />

## Most-asked concepts

Sorted by the number of papers a concept appeared in.

<ChapterQuestions exam="upsc-cse" chapter="ancient-history" part="concepts" />

## How to practise Ancient India PYQs

1. Start with the concepts at the top of the table. They have come back the most.
2. Solve one year's Ancient India questions from the official PDF against the clock, then check the answer listed below.
3. Log every miss as a concept gap, a calculation slip or a misread. Each needs a different fix.
4. Once a concept is clean in two papers, move to the next. Then sit a full paper from the year pages.

## Questions by year

Each line gives the question number, type, concept, our one-line summary and the official answer, with a link to the official PDF.

<ChapterQuestions exam="upsc-cse" chapter="ancient-history" part="questions" />

## Other History and Culture topics

- [Medieval India PYQs](/upsc-cse/topics/medieval-history/)
- [Modern India and the Freedom Struggle PYQs](/upsc-cse/topics/modern-history/)
- [Art and Culture PYQs](/upsc-cse/topics/art-culture/)

## FAQ

### How many Ancient India questions come in UPSC Prelims?
In the official papers we tagged: 8 in 2026, 6 in 2025, 3 in 2024, 3 in 2023, 4 in 2022, 4 in 2021, 7 in 2020, 3 in 2019, 1 in 2018, 2 in 2017 and 4 in 2016. That is 45 questions in all, about 25% of History and Culture.

### Which Ancient India topics repeat in UPSC Prelims?
Asked in the most papers: Buddhism, Harappan Civilisation, Sangam Age. The concept table lists every one with its count.

### Are these official UPSC Prelims questions?
Yes. Every question is from an official UPSC Prelims paper hosted on our year pages. The one-line summaries are ours; open the PDF linked beside each question for the full text.