The Indus Valley Civilization

Meaning of Civilization

Civilization may be defined as an advanced stage of human development. Or Civilization is a progressive phase of all round development of people living within a given territory.

Features of the Civilization

1. Favourable climate and availability of water 2. Availability of tools 3. Domestication of animals 4. Development of town and cities 5. Surplus food production

Four great civilizations that flourished on the river banks where:

1. Mesopotamian civilization (Tigris-Euphrates River) 2. Indus valley civilization (Indus River) 3. Egyptian civilization (River Nile) 4. Chinese civilization ( HwangoHo & Yangtze River)

DISCOVERY

The Director General of the Archaeological survey of India Sir John Marshall led his team to discover the Harappan civilization. In 1921 DayaramSahnian Indian officer in the Archaeological survey of India dug and explored the ruins in Harappa. In 1922 Rakhaldas Banerjee discovered Mohenjodaro which is also known as mound of dead.

Period of Harappan civilization

1. Early Harappan stage (3300 BCE to 2600 BC) 2. Mature Harappan stage (2600 BC to 1900 BC) 3. Later Harappan stage(1900 BC to 1600 BC) Taking all the stages into consideration archaeologist have identified the period between 3250 BCE to 2750 BC as the one during which the Indus valley civilization flourished. Radiocarbon dating process (2500-1700)

Name of the Civilization

As most of the early discoveries of the centres of the civilizations like Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Chanhu-daro and others were found to be located along the Indus and its tributary river, archaeologist called it the Indus Valley Civilization. However later exploration and excavations brought to light many other towns and cities situated in areas for beyond the Indus system. In view of such discoveries, the name Indus valley civilization was found to be in appropriate so the archaeologist decided to rename it after Harappa, one of its most important and earliest discovered centres.

ORIGIN

According to some historians Dravidians where is possible for creating the Indus valley civilization. Some scholars against suggest that the Indus people wear Sumerians because there is a good resemblance between Sumerians and the Indus valley civilization. Some scholars suggest that the Aryans did not migrate from outside they where the creator of Indus Valley Civilization.

Extent of the civilization

The whole area of the Harappan Civilization acknowledged as the largest ancient civilization covering about 1,299,600sq.km. Presently the prime centres of the Civilization including Harappa, Mohenjodaro,Chanhudaro and Suktagendore are in Pakistan.

Some of the centres of the Harappan Civilization located in India are:

1. Banawali in Haryana 2. Kalibangan in Rajasthan 3. Alamgirpurin Uttar Pradesh 4. Rupar in Punjab Of late Gujarat (Rangpur, Gola, Dhoro, Rondo and Dholavira)

FEATURES OF THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

URBAN PLANNING

Cities where divided into two sections i. the Citadel and ii. the lower town Buildings of political, administrative and religious importance were situated on the Citadel. It is concluded by the archaeologist that priests and people exercising political authority lived on Citadel. The rest of the population lived in the lower town. A simple grid pattern divided the city into a number of rectangular blocks by streets and eachblockswas further subdivided by a number of lanes. All the road and streets were, running from north to south all from east to west, cutting each other at right angles. The corners of the streets were rounded to make the movement of heavy carts easily. Fire burnt bricks where used for paving the streets. House where not allowed to encroach upon the streets.

BUILDING AND HOUSES

The dwelling houses where are of varying sizes. Large houses had many rooms provided with Wells and toilets. Each house had a courtyard and the kitchen where generally placed in a covered corner of the courtyard. Doors and windows open on the street side and not on the main road. Some of the houses were probably multi storied. The staircase of big buildings where solid the roofs were flat.The entrance to the houses was from the narrow lanes.

THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM

Houses had horizontal and vertical drains. Beneath the Street and the lanes of the cities there was a main dream approximately 1 to 2 feet in depth. The drains were covered with bricks or stones. The drains of the houses were connected with the main drain. There were manholes at regular intervals. Use of covered drains to carry waste water was a unique feature of the Harappan town planning. This shows that people paid great attention to sanitation and health.

THE GREAT BATH

It is one of the largest and most important public buildings of Mohenjo-Daro. Archaeologist has described this structure as used for religious purposes. The overall dimension of the bath was 180 feet by 108 feet. The bathing pool was 39 feet by 23 feet with 8 feet depth. There were galleries and rooms on all sides of the bathing pool. The scholars generally believed that the place was used for bathing of kings and priests. The floor was made of burnt bricks laid on the edge. The walls of the pool are made watertight by the use of mortar and bitumen. The tank was fed with water from a large well situated in the same complex. There was also a big drain for the discharge of water for periodical cleaning. Dr R.K. Mukherjee aptly says “The construction of such a swimming bath reflects great credit to the engineering of those days.”

The Assembly Hall

Another wonderful Discovery at Mohenjo-Daro is the existence of a big hall about 24 square. It has 20 message pillars of clean burnt bricks are arranged in four rows of five each.Archaeologist think that it might have been an assembly hall where people gathered to discuss important matters pertaining to the administration of the town.

The Great Granary

The granaries were found at four different sites Harappa Mohenjo-Daro Lothal and Kalibangan. At Mohenjo-Daro it measured 45.71 metre into 15.23 metre. At Harappa each of them measured 15.23 metre into 6.09 metre. The Granaries where obviously used for the storage of food grains.

THE DOCKYARD AT LOTHAL

The dockyard at Lothal was discovered in 1954 is a proof of the long-distance trade connection of the Indus valley cities with Mesopotamian and Egyptian cities.

ECONOMIC LIFE OF THE PEOPLE

Agriculture was the main occupation of the Harappan people crops such as wheat barley peas, dates, bananas and melons where cultivated. The recovery of wooden plough and Granaries indicates that the Harappans produced food grains in surplus. Specimens of mustard and sesame have also been found at both Harappa and mohenjo-daro indicating that it might have been grown for the production of oil. At rangpur and Lothal rice husk were also discovered. More over the discovery of water reservoir at Dholavira in Gujarat also shows that water was possibly supplied by the Wells for irrigation purposes.

TRADE

Three types of trade and commerce existed in Indus Valley. 1. Trade between village and towns 2. Inland trade 3. Overland trade As far as overland trade was concerned the Indus valley people traded with Iran Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Art and Craft

Bronze figure of a Dancing Girl with her right hand on her hip in a dancing posture has been found. The dancing girl is seen wearing necklaces and bangles made of ivory or bone. It indicates that people were fond of jewellery. Her hair is neatly fashion in the form of bun.They used the special process in which the wax figures were covered with the coating of a clay. Beside the figurine the bronze figure of buffalo and humped bull are very artistically designed. Terracotta figures of the Mother Goddess, the symbol of abundance, fertility and prosperity discovered from Mohenjo-Daro are exquisite piece of art. Terracotta figure of a bull with a cord around its neck and its head turned towards the right is significant as it show the great concern of the sculpture for anatomical details. Statue of a Nobleman or a Priest king wearing a shawl over the left soldier under the right arm was found in Mohenjo-Daro. His eyes are half closed and his beard is neatly trim is of great significance.

Pottery

Excellent work of potters has been discovered at Indus Valley they made pottery of various shapes and sizes on potter’s wheel. Paintings They painted geometrical patterns in variety of colours on pottery. Different designs and figures of man and animals birds and trees with also painted on earthenware.

Religion

Worship of Mother Goddess The most commonly found figurines are those of a female DT which may be identified with some female energy some of the figures are smokes stained and it is possible that oil or perhaps incense was burnt before them.

Shiva Pashupati

A mail deity wearing a three horn headdress seated in a cross legged posture and surrounded by wild animals has been depicted on some of the Harappan seals. Worship of trees and animals Peepal tree, bull, rhinoceros, tiger and crocodile were also woworshipped. Pigeon was the only bird was sent by them People tree people.

DECLINE OF THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

Earlier archaeologists were of the opinion that Harappan civilization was brought to an abrupt end by Aryans invasion. Recently this reviews has been completely revised.It is now believed that this Civilization gradually declined because of the degradation of the environment, frequent flooding of the towns, overgrazing of grasslands, destructions of forests are among the various causes suggested by different archaeologists.