INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION 3300BC – 1300BC

• The Indus civilisation is also known as the Harappan Civilisation, after its type site, Harappa, the first of its sites to be
excavated early in the 20th century in what was then the Punjab Provience of British India and now is Pakistan.

• The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia.

• Together with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilisations of the Near East and South Asia, and
of the three, the most widespread, its sites spanning an area stretching from northeast Afghanistan, through much of
Pakistan, and into western and northwestern India.

• It flourished in the basins of the Indus River, and along a system of perennial, mostly monsoon-fed, rivers that once coursed
in the vicinity of the seasonal Ghaggar-Hakra (Also believed as Saraswati River) river in northwest India

• The civilisation's cities were noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply
systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and
metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin).

• The large cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa very likely grew to containing between 30,000 and 60,000 individuals,
and the civilisation itself during its florescence may have contained between one and five million individuals.

• Gradual drying of the region's soil during the 3rd millennium BCE may have been the initial spur for the urbanisation
associated with the civilisation, but eventually also reduced the water supply enough to cause the civilisation's demise, and
to scatter its population eastward.
REASONS FOR DEVELOPMENT. INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION
• Its origins seem to lie in a settlement named Mehrgarh in the foothills
of a mountain pass in modern-day Balochistan in western Pakistan.
There is evidence of settlement in this area as early as 7000 BCE.

• Around 6500 BCE, agriculture emerged in Balochistan, on the

margins of the Indus alluvium.

• In the following millennia, settled life made inroads into the Indus
plains, setting the stage for the growth of rural and urban human
settlements.

• The origin seems to be flourished in the basins of Indus River, the

banks of the river were fertile & suitable for agriculture. This is
belived is the major reason for the settlement.

• The Early phase of civilization depicts the location of cities like

Lothal, Dholavira , & Mohenjodaro near the river banks, from
where the trade flourished & led to economical growth. They provide
fresh water & places to hunt.

• The people were considered as Peace loving ( as no evidence of

war has been found ) which may also contribute as a reason to their
settlement.
INFLUENCING FACTORS. INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION
There were Several Influencing factors :
1 . Geography :
• The huge Indus river system waters a rich agrictural landscape.

• The Indus plain is surrounded by high mountaisn, desert & ocean & at that time there were dense forests & swamps
to the ease.

2. Water Resources :
• Two major perennial rivers, Ganges & Indus are the foundations of early Indus Valley Civilization.

• Ganges river flows southeast through a fertile valley, providing necessary water for successful harvest.

• The Indus River flows southwest across a drier plain, in turn affecting how farming was achieved.

• A major biennial river, Ghaggar Hakra was the souce for Indus River.

• These rivers made transportation even more viable, & is where the first settlers established their ancient civilization.

3. Topography :
• The Indus River Valley is distinguished by its plain like topography & its abundance of rivers.

• The plain strip of land stretches across southern Asia & includes the present day countries India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Nepal & Bhutan.

• The flat land area made transportation extremely easy.

4. Soil Conditions :
• The colour ranges from dark brown to yellowish brown in fine textural alluvium, & forms dark grayish brown to olive
gray in sandy alluvim.

• These soils have a seasonal high water table (within one meter of the surface).

• The people of the Indus Valley were successful farmers who grew crops in the fertile soil besides the river.

• They also used mud from the river to make bricks for their buildings, & they constructed the world’s first planned towns
& cities.

5. Climate :
• The northern winds were prevalent from November until March.

• The southern wind were prevalent from mid June to October. They carried warm, moist air from the Indian ocean.
• Heavy rains fell along the coastal plains.

• Summers were fairly mild & reached a max temp. of around 120*F
MAN MADE WATER SYSTEM. INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION
• Harrapans demonstrated advanced architecture with dockyards, warehouses, & protective wall’s. These walls likely
protected the harappans from floods.

• The city of Mohenjodaro contains the ‘Great-Bath’ which have been a large, public bathing & social gathering area. The
pool is multistoried and 2.4m deep. The pool is made from finely cut mud bricks & coated with Tar , making it the earliest
examples of waterproofing in the history.

• The Great Bath is called ‘the earliest public water tank of the ancient world’. Two wide staircases, one from the north & one
from the south served as the entry to the structure. A 1m wide & a 40cm high mound is present at the end of these stairs.

• A hole was also been found at one end of the Bath which might have been used to drain out the water. Most scholars agree
that this tank would have been used for special religious functions where water was used to purify & renew the well being
of the bathers.

• There isn’t any idea who used the Great Bath or why, but ritual bathing seems to be the best guess as their dedication
towards building such an impressive structure & its symbolic location in the largest Harappan city speaks volumes to the
importance of water & bathing in Harappan society.

• Other impressive feats of water control includes Dholavira’s massive 16 man made water reservoirs ( completely built of
stone ) that surround the city & make it appear to float. Lothal also had an impressive canal system. Satellite images show
that river channel would have brought in considerable volume of water during high tide which would fill the basin & thus
facilited sailing of boats.
• Other impressive feats of water control includes Dholavira’s massive 16 man made water reservoirs ( completely built of
stone ) that surround the city & make it appear to float. Lothal also had an impressive canal system. Satellite images
show that river channel would have brought in considerable volume of water during high tide which would fill the basin &
thus facilited sailing of boats.

• No new wells were built over the many centuries of the city’s existence. So the city’s founders took the growth of the city
into account when they built all 700.

• Excavations show that the cities of Indus Valley civilization had excellent systems of water harvesting & drainage. The
settlement of Dholavira was laid out on a slope between two storm water channels – Manhan & Mnasar flanked the city.
The city was laid out on a 13m gradient, ideal for reservoirs.

• Inside the citadel, there are large storm drains with apertures for rainwater.The air – apertures ensured easy passage of
rainwater.

• There were canals for irrigation & aquifier wells for domestic water supply, & was equipped with aeration chambers &
charcoal filters.

• In Kalibanga, many houses had their walls, most had private wells. Stepwells have been mainly used in the Indian
continent.

• A no. of tanks were made out of rocks for providing drinking water to travelers, along ancient trade routes.
DRAINAGE SYSTEM. INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION
• In Indus Valley civilization, the water flowed from the house to the streets which had drains, sometimes these drains were
covered bricks & stone slabs.

• The street drains were equipped with Manholes.

• The Urban areas of the Indus Valley included public & private bathrooms. Sewage was disposed through underground
drains built with precisely laid bricks.

• The water from the roof & upper storey bathrooms was carried through enclosed terracotta pipes or open chutes that
emptied out onto the street drains.

• The ancient world’s most sophisticated sewage systems include drainage channels, rainwater harvesting & street ducts.

• The toilet flushed waste was collected in soakpit. The soakpit was periodically emptied to their solid matter, possibly to use
as fertilizer.

• Every harrapan home had a dedicated bathing room, used daily. They were built with watertight brick floors. These floors
sloped towards a small drain usually cut into the house wall. This drain brought dirty water out of the house and into brick
lined sewage system underneath the main streets & channeled water out of the city.

• Some bathing rooms had a small staircase so someone else could pour water over the bather like a kind of proto shower.
• Toilets were usually big pots sunk into the floors. Although some at Mohenjodaro had seats. Waste from the toilets was
directed into the drains & out of the city or into large jars sunk into the ground outside the home like an early septic tank.

• The toilets had empty jars of water for flushing.

OTHER INFLUENCING FACTORS INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION
There were Several Influencing factors :
1 . Abundance of Local Materials :
• The local materials used were sun-dried and burnt bricks, which were made in moulds of 1:2:4 ratios.

• Wood was easily available for fire hence baked bricks were used in abundance.

• Mud mortar and gypsum cement, mud plaster and gypsum plaster are also in the evidence.

2 . Availability of Technology :
• The Indus Valley people are the first in many technological advancements.

• They had accurate methods of measuring length, mass and time by developing their own system of weights and rulers
that were all identical.

• Their measurements was based on multiples of 16, like our metric system is based on multiples of 10.

• Having this sort of standard system across the whole civilisation prove how their specifically measured structures could
withstand the years and not have faulted due to poor construction techniques.

• Along with constructing buildings and tools, they built boats and carts from imported wood to aid in their transport
and trade.
3 . Social factors :

A) Administration
• The size and architectural complexity of all large cities indicates in terms of a socio-cultural development.

• The lay-out of the streets, the presence of a large-scale drainage system, the monumental citadels, all this indicates
that there was a strong central government.

B) Religion
• Unicorn The prominent religious figures, so called as Pashupati / Proto-shiva, seven mothers (sapta matrika) and
compound creatures.

• There was a division of labour and society , diversified and stratified. The people were scholars, artisans, traders,
warriors and businessmen.

• The protoshiva or pashupati seems to be the only one male deity as depicted on seals. He is surrounded by four
wild animals which is an elephant, a tiger, a buffalo and a rhinoceros. Apart from this there two deer’s beneath the
seat of the deity. The headdress of the deity has two horns. It wears a number of bangles. There is an inscription of
seven letters on top.
• . That has three concepts which are usually associated with Shiva
Trimukha (three-faced),
Pashupati (Lord of animals), and
Yogisvara or Mahayogi.

• An early & influential work in the area that set the trend for Hindu Interpretation os archaeological evidence from the
Harapan sites was that of John Marshall, who in 1931 identified the following as prominent features of the Indus religion :
- A great male God & a mother Goddess; deification or veneration of animals & plants
- Symbolic representation of the phallus ( linga ) & vulva ( yoni ).
- Use of baths & water in religious practices.

C) Language :
• In the Indus Valley Civilization, the style of script seems to be Boustrophedon which means written from right to left in first
line and from left to right in second line.

• This language was pictographic and was engraved on seals, copper tablets, bone, ivory etc. However, such scripts is not
seen on bricks.

• Finnish Indologist Asko Parpola concludes that the uniformity of the Indus inscriptions precludes any possibility of widely
different languages being used, & that an early form of Dravidian language must have been their language.

D) Worship :
• Stone symbols of both male and female have been found which gives an indication that worship was in practice.
• The peepal tree has been depicted on many seals which gives a sense that it might be a sacred tree. Humped bull
seems to be a venerated animal and there are evidences of snake worship and snake charmers. This indicates
that rituals were also in practice.

• No temples, No special places of worship, no castes.

E) Tools, arms, weapons :

• They made there tools out of Copper and Bronze.

• They were unaware of the use of Iron.

• The people were generally peace loving and had not much arms and weapons in their community.

F) Perpetual resources :
• Natural Resources such as shells, water, wood, stones, and rocks, by the Indus.

G) Metallurgy :
• These people were aware of Gold, Silver, Copper, Brass, Bronze and Tin but did not know much about Iron.

• Copper was the most widely used metal.

• Ganeshwar in Sikar District of Rajasthan is supposed to be the supplier of Copper to the cities of Indus Valley;
however, the largest hoard of Copper came from Gungeria.

H) Seals :
• Made of steatite, these seals range in size from 1cm to 5cm.

• Seals are either square or rectangular in shape.

• Square seals have carvings and inscription while rectangular have only inscription.

• Most frequently engraved animals on Indus Valley Seals are the humpless bull and unicorns.

I) Relations with Other civilizations :

• The people had established trade relations other contemporary civilizations by 2000 BC.

• They conducted trade with other civilizations including Mesopotamia, by land as well as sea route.

• The historical records of Mesopotamia mention a place Meluha which is the name of Indus River region or India itself.

• These records describe wood, copper, gold, ivory, and exotic birds (like peacocks) being exported from Meluha.
• The Harappans traded grain, copper utensils, mirrors, elephant ivory, cotton cloth, and ceramic jewellery for gold,
silver, marine shell, copper, tin, lead etc.

• Some of these were crafted into ornaments and exported.

• In various cities of Mesopotamia, the Harappan seals have been found which prove these relationships.

K) Arts & Crafts :

• Various sculptures, seals, bronze vessels pottery, gold jewellery, & anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta,
bronze, & steatite have been found at excavation sites.

• Anum. Of gold, terracotta & stone figurines of girls in dancing pose reveal the presence of some dance form. These
terracotta figurines included cows, bears, monkeys & dogs.

• The animal depicted on a majority of seals at site of the mature period has not been clearly identified. Part bull, part
zebra, with a majestic horn, it has been a source of speculation.

• As yet, there is insufficient evidence to substantial claims that the image had religious or cultic significance, but the
prevalence of the image raises the question of whether or not the animals in images of the Indus Valley civilisation are
religious symbols.
L) Trade & Transportation :
• The Indus civilisation’s economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which was facilitated by major
advances in transport technology. The Indus Valley civilisation may have been the first civilisation to use wheeled
transport.

• These advances may have included bullock carts that are identical to those seen throughout South Asia today, as well
as boats. Most of these boats were probably small, flat-bottomed craft, perhaps driven by sail, similar to those one
can see on the Indus River today; however, there is secondary evidence of sea-going craft. Archaeologists have
discovered a massive, dredged canal and what they regard as a docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal in
western India (Gujarat state).

• An extensive canal network, used for irrigation, has however also been discovered by HP. Francfort.