The River Valley Civilisations

Indus Valley Civilisation is also known as Harappan Civilisation after the name of a major site of this civilisation in Harappa.

In 1920, during the construction of a railway track near Harappa, the railway authorities noticed that the bricks which were used from a nearby ruin belonged to a very old Civilisation. The Archaeological survey of India working on this information carried out extensive excavations at the site which lead to the discovery of the Harappan Civilisation. The two archaeologists associated with this discovery are Dayaram Sahni and R.D. Banerjee.

The three important features of the Harappan town planning were

1. Each city was divided into two parts -
   1. The Citadel was a raised platform where the rulers and the nobles lived.
   2. The lower town had residential buildings for common people.
2. The streets were quite wide varying from 9 feet to 34 feet in width.The streets intersected each other at right angles. Lamp posts discovered along the roads indicate that the cities probably had street lights. The main roads were wide and curved at the corners so that heavy carts could turn easily.
3. The Harappans had a well planned drainage system. The house drains emptied waste water into the street drains. The drains were covered with bricks or stones. Manholes and inspection traps were provided at regular intervals.

The Citadel was a raised platform, rectangular in shape and about 12 meters high. It was constructed with bricks and stones with watchtowers. It had massive walls and its height acted as a protection against floods. It is believed that the ruler along with his nobles lived here. Important public buildings like the great bath, the granary, the assembly hall and the workshops were located here.

The Harappans had a well planned drainage system. The house drains emptied waste water into the street drains. The drains were covered with bricks or stones. Manholes and inspection traps were provided at regular intervals.

The occupations and crafts of the Harappan people were:

1. Agriculture — Most of the Harappan people were farmers. They grew wheat, barley, pulses, peas, rice, sesame, linseed and mustard. The Harappans reared cattle, sheep, goat and buffalo.
2. Pottery — The Harappans knew the use of the potter's wheel. They made pots with fine clay, glazed and decorated with beautiful black designs.
3. Crafts — They were skilled crafts persons and artists making all kinds of things such as a large variety of clay toys, seals, beads, ornaments of copper, bronze, gold and silver and statues.
4. Spinning and weaving — The discovery of spindle whorls made of Terracotta and woven cloths attached to the lid of a silver vase suggests that the Harappans were skilled in the art of spinning and weaving.
5. Building-Construction — The presence of large number of individual houses and public buildings and the discovery of a number of kilns for baking bricks found at a variety of Harappan sites indicate that building industry provided employment to a large number of people.

The Harappans carried out both internal and external trade. The internal trade was carried out through land routes by bullock-carts. Within India, they got precious stones, metals and other articles from many towns.
The Harappans had commercial relations with Mesopotamia and other West Asian countries. The Harappans used to obtain gold from south India and metals like silver, tin and copper from Persia, Oman, Afghanistan and Mesopotamia. The small boats depicted on the seals indicate that the external trade was carried out by sea.

The religious beliefs and practices of the Harappans can be known from the seals and objects of sculptures. The animals like humped bull, elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, lion and trees like peepal and acacia depicted on the seals tell us that these plants and animals were considered sacred by the Harappans. Discovery of a large number of terracotta female figures show that worship of Mother Goddess was quite popular. Among the male gods, the most significant is a three-faced deity wearing a horned dress and surrounded by elephant, tiger, buffalo and rhinoceros. This God has been identified as Pashupati Mahadeva.

Various factors were responsible for the decline of the Harappan Civilisation. Some of these are the followings

1. Natural Calamities like floods and earthquakes caused havoc and destroyed human habitation.
2. The invading Aryans destroyed Indus settlements.
3. Deforestation due to the excessive use of wood for making copper and bronze, to bake bricks, pottery, stone wear and to make boats and furniture, led to drying up of land and rendered it infertile.
4. Decrease in fertility because of increasing salinity of the soil caused by the expansion of the neighbouring desert.
5. Changes brought about in the course of the river Indus lead to the flooding of the hinterland of Mohenjo-daro and its ultimate decline.

(a) Granaries — Granaries were found at Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Lothal and Kalibangan. The largest granary was found at Mohenjo-daro which measured 45.71 metres in length and 15.23 meters in breadth. At Harappa, there were two rows of six granaries with a wide passage between them. The granaries were used to store surplus grain. Near these granaries, circular brick platforms have been found. They were probably meant for threshing grain. These granaries were built close to rivers so that grains could easily be transported by boats to other places.

(b) Dress and Ornaments worn by the Harappans — The Harappans mostly used to wear cotton clothes. The rich people used woollen clothes in winter. The women wore some kinds of skirts and covered upper part of their body with a cloak. They used to cover their head with a scarf. Men used to wear a dhoti, and a shawl around the shoulders. Both men and women used to wear ornaments made of beads or shell. The rich people wore gold and silver ornaments. These included necklaces, amulets and finger rings. The women also wore head-dresses, girdles bangles and ear rings.

(a) The structure shown in the picture is The Greatbath.

(b) This is located at Mohenjo-daro.

(c) The Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro is the most important building of the Harappan civilisation. It was a huge rectangular tank with a flight of steps on the northern and southern sides, leading to the bottom of the tank. The water for the bath was provided by a well in an adjacent room. To make the pool watertight, burnt bricks and mortar lined with bitumen and gypsum were used for construction. The tank was surrounded by rooms which were either used as living rooms by the priest or were meant for changing clothes.

(d) It is generally believed that this Great Bath was used on religious occasions for ritual bathing.

(a) Harappa in Montgomery district in Punjab.

(b) Mohenjo-daro in the Larkana district.

(a) The Citadel.

(b) The Lower Town.

(a) The Great Bath.

(b) The Granaries.

(a) Harappa

(b) Mohenjo-daro

(a) Wheat

(b) Barley

(a) Sheep

(b) Goat

(a) Mother Goddess

(b) Pashupati Mahadeva

(a) Dancing Girl

(b) Bearded Man