Chapter

The Harappan Civilisation

SYLLABUS (iv) the Egyptian Civilisation on the banks of

Nile river in Egypt.
|The Harappan Civilisation
Sources: Great Bath, Citadel, seals, bearded Dholavira
man, dancing girl, dockyard, script. The Harappan city of Dholavira in Gujarat's
Origin, extent, urban planning, trade, art Rann of Kutch has been designated as a World
& craft, and its decline. Heritage site by UNESCO. It is one of the very
few well-preserved urban settlements. Spread over
22 hectares, the Harappan-era metropolis is the
fifth largest archaeological site of the Indus Valley
BRONZE AGE CIVILISATIONS Civilisation, dating back to around 3000 BC and
From using stone tools, man gradually came is believed to have been occupied till 1500 BC. It
to know the use of metals. Metals were more draws its name from present-day village Dholavira.
durable than stone and could be used for making Locally known as Kotda Timba, the site was
a variety of tools, implements and weapons. The discovered in the 1960s by archaeologist Jagat Pati
first metal to be discovered was copper. For a Joshi. It was excavated under the supervision of ASI
long time stone implements continued to be archaeologist Ravindra Singh Bisht in the 1990s.
used along with copper. This period when man
used both stone and copper tools is known as
the Chalcolithic Period.
Later on, man learnt theart of mixing copper
with tin or zinc to produce the alloy called
Bronze. Bronze is harder and more ductile than
copper and is, therefore, more suitable for the
manufacture of tools and weapons. Because of
the importance of bronze in the growth of the
first civilisations, these civilisations are known
as the Bronze Age Civilisations.
By about 2500 BC, four bronze age
civilisations emerged. These were:
i) the Harappan Civilisation in northern and
western parts of India and Pakistan;
(i) the Mesopotamian Civilisation on the banks
of river Euphrates and Tigris in modern Iraq;
(ii) the Chinese Civilisation in the valley of
Hwang Ho and Yangtze rivers; and Reservoir at Dholavira

The Harappan Civilisation

5
 THE HARAPPAN CIVILISATION
The Harappan Civilisation is considered to be
the first civilisation that arose in the north
western regions of the Indian subcontinent. It
is so called after the name of the first major
site of this civilisation, i.e., Harappa, which
was discovered in 1921 in the province of West
Punjab in Pakistan. It is also known as the Indus
Valley Ciilisation because some of its important
sites, which were excavated first, are located in
the valley of the river Indus.)
The discovery of Indus Valley Civilisation
in the 20th century was an important event
in the history of India. Upto this time it was
believed that the history of India began with the
advent of Aryans. However, the discovery of the
Harappan Civilisation pushed back the history
of India by at least a thousand years, so as to
put it at par with the other oldest Bronze Age
civilisations of the world, namely Mesopotamian
and Egyptian Civilisations.
The Harappan Civilisation is also referred
to as the Harappan Culture. The term Culture'
is used by the
objects distinctivearchaeologists
for a group of
in style, that are usually found
together within a specific
period of time. In the casegeographical
area and
of Harappan culture,
these distinctive objects are seals, weights,
blades and baked bricks. stone
SoURCES
Our knowledge of the Harappan
civilisation is
based entirely on the archaeological
such as buildings, pottery, sculpture,remains seals
and cenmeteries. This is so because no
adequate
written records are available. A number of seals
were discovered with a few letters
engraved on
each, but the script has not been deciphered as
yet. Therefore, the major sources ofour
about the Harappan Civilisation are theinformation
following:
Wl. The Great Bath:(The Great Bath
eaures'is one of the largest public buildings at
Mohenjo-daro. It has a large rectangular tank
in a courtyard surrounded by a corridor on all
four sides. There are two flights of steps one in
the north and the other in the south leading
into the tank. To make the pool watertight,
burnt bricks and mortar lined with bitumen and
gypsum were used for construction. The water for
the bath was provided by a well in an adjacent
room. Surrounding the bath,
sets of rooms, and a stairway were porticos
which led to and
upper storey. Some scholars believe that
rooms were provided for the members these
of
kind of priesthood, whereas others think some
that
the rooms were provided for
This structure with several changing clothes
has led scholars to suggestdistinctive features
that it was meant
for some kind of a ritual bath.)
The Great Bath is an
important source of
information that throws light on the life of the
people and cultureof the Harappan Civilisation:
(The construction of the Great Bath indicates
that the art of building had reached a high
degree of perfection at that time.
(The massive structure points out that there
might have existed a ruling class that
could nobilise labour, collect taxes and
build such a huge structure for the public.)
(The design of the Great Bath
the efficient planning in the portrays
features relating to water supplystructural
and
sewage disposal.
o Most of the scholars agree
that the Great
Bath might have been used for religious
purposes. This indicates the importance
attached to ceremonial bathing in sacred
tanks, pools and rivers since time
immemorial.)
(A lot of planning must have been made
to construct such a huge
is indicated by the use of structure.)This
sun-dried or baked, which bricks, whether
were of a
standardised size.
The Great Bath

Pashupati Seal
Unicorn Seal
feures
2. The Citadel: The raised area of each
city
was called the Citadel. It owed its height to the
buildings constructed on mud brick platforms.
The citadel had the houses of the ruling class
and important buildings like the Great Bath, the
granary, the assembly hall and the workshops.)
The Citadel provides useful insights about
the following:
" (The Citadel points to the elaborate
planning that went into the development
of cities and justifies that the Harappan
civilisation was an urban civilisation,
" The presence of specific buildings and
houses of the ruling class, indicate some
sort of political organisation and social
classification.
" There were buildings on the Citadel
probably meant for public purposes like
the grarnary and the Great Bath.
3. Seals: (The seals used by the feetues
Harappans
show their artistic skills. About 2000 seals have
been discovered. Of these a great majority comprise
short inscriptions with pictures of the one-horned
bull, buffalo, tiger, goat, elephant and rhinoceros.
Material used in making the seals comprise
terracotta, steatite, agate, etc. Most of the seals
are rectangular or square but some of them are
circular in shape.)
Harappan seals provide useful information
about the script, trade, religion and beliefs of
the Harappans:
(Seals of Pashupati show that people
believed in Shiva. It is shown as a
three-faced deity wearing a buffalo-horned
head-dress, seated cross-legged on a
throne and surrounded by an elephant,
a tiger, a buffalo and a rhinoceros, with
The Harappan Civilisation
two deer at his feet. This deity has been
identified as Pashupati Mahadeva.)
(The unicorn seal shows their mythical
beliefs. The seals bear some kind of script
which has not yet been deciphered,)
(The seals were produced mainly for
commercial purpose. The seals were used
by traders to stamp their goods. After a
bag with goods was tied, a layer of wet
clay was applied on the knot, and the seal
was pressed on it leaving an impression.
If the bag reached its destination with its
seal intact, it indicated that it had not
been tampered with. )It also conveyed the
identity of the sender or the owner. These
seals werefound in different regions. This
indicates that the Harappan trade had
spread over a vast area.
Probably seals were also used as amulets,
carried on the persons of their owners, as
modern-day identity cards.
4. Bearded Man: (The stone sculpture
of a man with abeard was discovered from
Mohenjo-daro. The statue has a shawl worn
over the left shoulder and the eyes are
half-closed as if in a state of meditation.)
(Some scholars believe that this is the
statue of a yogi or a priest.)
" (This sculpture is of high artistic value and
points to the existence of skilled artisans
in the Harappan Civilisation who could
make beautiful three-dimensional figures.
Bearded Man
7
 5. Dancing Girl: (The " It
testifies the hydraulic
as the boatsknowledge
bronze statue of a dancing of the
girl, which has been found Harappans
Lothal. could dock t
at Mohenjo-daro, is a
7. Script: (The
which is regarded Harappans
masterpiece of art and it
used a
shows a high degree of
development in the art signs
as
pictographic sincescriptits
represent birds, fish and varieties of
the human
of sculpture. The figurine form. The
shows vigour, variety and script is known to benumber of375
signs of Harappan
between
script is found inscribed on a and 400, The
ingenuity. The right arm number of seals
of the dancing girl rests copper tools, rims of jars, copper
on the hip and the left tablets, jewellery and on an and terracotta
arm is heavily bangled. It ancient signboard)
holds a small bowl against Dancing Girl
her left leg.)
6. Dockyard: A
discovered at Lothal rectangular dockyard was
in Gujarat. This Letters on an Ancient Signboard
is believed to be
one of the oldest dockyard The script provides
showing Harappan Script
in the world. It was dockyards
brick wall, probably surrounded
as a
by a massive about the Harappans: following information
floods. The dockyard madeprotection
of baked
against (The script used by the
was connected by channels to the Gulf bricks, Harappans was not
Cambay. Archaeologists have also found theof
) alphabetical as it has too
(The script was written frommany signs.)
remainsof stone
seals, which can beanchors, marine shells and is evident from a right to left) as
traced to the Persian seal which shows wider
These, along with a Gulf. space on the right than the left;
warehouse, structure iderntified as a that the engraver might indicating
strongly suggest that the right and he ran have started from
port with a
dockyard. It has been Lothal was a out of space when he
the
archaelogists suggested by
that a coastal route reached the left hand side.
linking Lothal and Dholavira to
on the Makran
existed
Coast. Sutkagendor A
Lothal was an circular piece
nanufacturing important trading and INK unbaked clay
of
centre of the Indus
civilisation and was used Valley than l.5 cm in not more
overseas trade. The for carrying out with a diamneter
following information: dockyard provides the an realistic motif of
whatelephant
and seven signs/
is called the characters of
elephant show the Indus
It
indicates the existence of trade both Script
skill and above the
internal and external. master engraver. This
seal was found at the sealing, precision of a
not even a
in Harappan excavation
site of
In 1875, Rakhigarhi
the first Haryana.
seal which had
engraving of a
signs above it washumnpless bull and the six
hundred years
writtenis on theselater,
discovered.
we don't More
knoW
than a
What the seals. What is the what is
matter? Who language?
were What is the script?
subiect
LothalDockyard these questions the.
remnain Harappans? All
8
unanswered.
 e The availability of the script on a wide Discovery of Harappan Sites
variety of objects indicate that probably Site Year of Excavation Leader of Excavation
many people were literate.
1921 Daya Ram Sahni
Harappa
ORIGIN OF THE CIVILISATION Mohenjo-daro 1922 R.D. Banerjee
There areseveral theories abouttheorigin of the Chanhudaro 1931 N.G. Mazumdar
Harappan Civilisation. These can be categorised
into two groups: Kalibangan 1953 B.8 Lal and A.N Ghosh

Foreign Origin: Some scholars believe that Kot Dij 1955 Fazal Ahrmad Khan
this civilisation came into existence as a result Lothal 1957 S.R. Rao
of a sudden migration of people with an urban
civilisation to the Indus basin. According to Surkotada 1972 JP Joshi
these scholars, the Harappan Civilisation was Dholavira 1990-91 R.S. Bisht
an offshoot of the Mesopotamian Civilisation.
However, excavations at various Harappan sites lie deep in the Indian soil. According to some
have indicated striking differences between the historians, the urban Harappan culture was
Harappan and the Mesopotamian Civilisations. only an outgrowth of the extensive local
Some scholars also held the view that trade with village cultures and not of foreign origin.
Mesopotamia played an important role in the These cultures probably contributed to the
transformation of the Harappan Civilisation from growth of the Harappan Civilisation, together
the early stage to the mature phase. But this with the external stimulus provided by trade
theory has been rejected on the groundthat no contacts with Mesopotamia. These historians
evidence of trade with Mesopotamia during the found some marked similarities between the
early Harappan period has been found. pre-Harappan and proto-Harappan cultures
Indigenous Origin: The recent researches at Kot Diji, Amri and Kalibangan in terms of
show that roots of the Harappan Civilisation granary, defensive walls and long distance

EXTENT OF THE
Manda
HARAPPAN CULTURE

Hirappa e Rupar
Mehrgarh Banawall
Kalibangane Delhie Alamgirpur
Mohenjb-daro"wi
Sutkagendor

pesalpurphalavira
eSurptada
Lothal
RangpureA
Rojdi
Bhagatrav

BAY OF BENGAL

The Harappan Civilisation

 trade in these settlements. From this historians
concluded that the Harappan Civilisation evolved
Mohenjo-daro in
both in Pakistan).Larkana district of Sindh in
from these agricultural communities. the river Indus and These two cities are linked h.
hence the name of th
civilisation is the ndus Valley Ciuilisation.
EXTENT OF THE CIVILISATION city lies at Chanhudaro, about 130 Athira
The fourth city is at km
The entire area of the Harappan civilisation of
is triangular in shape and accounts for about Mohenjo-daro.
Gujarat. at the head of the Gulf of Lothal in
soouth
1.3 million sg.km and was the largest Cambay.The
area ffth city lies at
amongst the ancient civilisations. It extended Kalibangan in northern
Banawali is Rajasthan
and the sixth called
from Sutkagendor (on the sea-coast of
Baluchistan) in the west, to Alangirpur (inSouth Fatehabad district in Haryana. situated in
upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab in western UP) in the the The Harappan culture has
east and from Manda (in mature and fiourishing stage not been found in its
Jammu) in the north six only in these
to Bhagatrav in Narmada
estuary in the south. and cities but also in the cities of Sutkagendor
The Harappan culture
Punjab, Haryana,Sindh, Baluchistan, covered parts of later Surkotada,Harappan
each of which has a citadel, The
Rajasthan and the fringes of WesternGujarat., in Rangpur in phase has also been discovered
Pradesh. )Consequent to the partition of Uttar The ruins of
Khathiawar in Gujarat.
the maiD centres of India, a UNESCO WorldMohenjo-daro were designated
Mohenjo-daro, civilisation, i.e., Harappa, Heritage site in 1980.
are now in Chanhudaro and
Pakistan. Some of theSutkagendor FEATURES OF URBAN PLANNING
this civilisation in India are centres of The
Manda, Banawali, most striking feature of the
Kalibangan,
Rangpur. Alamgirpur,
In recent Lothal, Rupar and cities civilisation is its urban planning. The Harappan
of this years, many more differed from the Indus
civilisation in Gujarat and extensions Sumnerian cities
been discovered. Punjab have Mesopotamian civilisation, in
in

prominent amongDholavira in
them. The Gujarat
is the most the
and Sumerianacities developed modern around
Iraq. While
the temple
Harappan largest sites of the followed circular pattern the Indus
daro, Harappa, Civilisation however, are Mohenjo the followed a grid pattern. This is cities
Kalibangan and Lothal. regularity
of streets,
of the
divisions, indicated by
the
URBAN PLANNING the planning of the
houses alignment
HARAPPAN CTIES buildings with the provision for
and public
The two most
important were
The
the
main
characteristics
following: thoroughfares.
of town
Harappa in Montgomery Harappan cities are
district of Punjab and 1.\Each city was planning
COMMON ELEMENTS BETWEEN raised area, called divided into two parts the
MOHENJO-DARO AND HARAPPA lower town.' The the Citadel' and the
to the citadel owed its height
Both are located on river
banks- Mohenjo on buildings
mud brick which were
The constructed
daro on the right
bank of the separated platforms.
Harappa on the left bank of the Indus, Ravi.
and
The from the lower towncitadel was
e
Both measured
around 5.0 km in circuit. Bath, important
the buildings like
by
the
a wall.
Ground plans
blocks of housesincluding layout of streets, the granary, the
assembly Great
cities. were common to both the The workshops
lower town hadwere located on the and hall
Water supply, where the people livedthe
residential citadel.
common in both drainage,
the cities. granaries were 2.The main streets and worked.buildings )
to west.) from northfollowed
running
Indoor plumbing, paved a grid pattern
to
a bathrooms,
drainpipes, network of brick-lined sewage brick
3.\The south or frorn east
channel (something unique the
to to hóuses
allow
at street
Civilisation) is seen in both the Harappan 4)
House carts to passcorners were
cities.
drains
the street drains. rounded
emptied alleasily.waste water
10
int0

Granaries
5.The streets crossed the main road at right
angles, dividing the city into square or
rectangular blocks
HovsES
The main characteristics of houses were the
following:
1.(The residential buildings were built
according to a set plan on a high mound
in order to protect them from floods. Their
foundations were deep.)
2.(There were variations in the size of houses
from single room tenements to bigger houses
with courtyards, upto twelves rooms, private
wells and toilets. Each house had covered
drains connected with street drains.)
3.(The entrances to the houses were from the
narrow lanes which cut the streets at right
angles.)
4.The kitchen was placed in a sheltered
corner of the courtyard and the ground fioor
contained storerooms and well chambers)
5.(The houses were made of brick and wood.
Each house had doors, windows and
ventilators. Doors and windows opened on
the side of the streets and not on the main
roads)
MoNUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE
The contribution of the Harappans to architectural
design is evident from the following
public
buildings.
(a) The Great Bath: For details refer to
the
Sources in this Chapter.
at
(b) Granaries: Granaries have been found
Several sites-Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Lothal
and Kalibangan. However, at Harappa there
The Harappan Civilisation
were tWo rows of six granaries each. To the
south of the granaries at Harappa working floors
consisting of rows of circular brick platforms
were discovered. It is believed that these floors
were meant for threshing grain because wheat
and barley grains were found in the crevices of
the floors. Two-roomed barracks, which possibly
accommodated labourers have also been foundat
Harappa. The location of Harappa near the river
Ravi suggests that foodgrains were brought to this
place by boat. It was built on a raised platform to
protect it from floods. The granary had ventilation
to prevent grains from becoming mildewed.
TRADE
(The elaborate social structure and standard of
living confirmed by the presence of granaries,
numerous seals, uniform script and regulated
weights and measures in a wide area indicate the
existence of a highly developed system of trade.)
There is abundant evidence that the Harappans
traded not only with other parts of India but
also with many countries of Asia.
Internal Trade: The Harappans carried on
considerable trade in stone, netal, shell, etc.,
within the Indus civilisation zone. In some
cases common products have been found in all
the areas, indicating some kind of trade. They,
however, did not use metall money but carried
on all
exchanges through barter.
The cities like Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and
Lothal were important centres for metallurgy,
producing tools and weapons as
well as
kitchenware and other objects for wide
distribution. Rice seems to have been imported
to Punjab from Gujarat. Lothal and
provided cotton for the expanding Surkotada
townships
of Mohenjo-daro,
Balakot and Harappa, Banawali, etc.
Chanhudaro were centres for
bangle-making. Lothal and Chanhudaro were
centres for the manufacturing of beads.
External Trade: Besides internal trade, the
Harappans also had commercial contacts with
their western neighbours. Lothal, Surkotada and
Balakot were some of the important
towns which carried on trade withtrading coastal
and other West Asian Mesopotamia
sites. They had also set up
a trading colony in
facilitated trade withnorthern
Central Afghanistan
Asia.
which
11
 The Mesopotamian records from about evidence from terracotta models of
Copper or bronze models of cartsbullock
2350 BC onwards refer to trade relations with
Meluha,which was the ancient name given to the drivers were also carts,
with seates
Indus region. The Mesopotamian texts refer to Chanhudaro. Carts found)trom
used in those Harappa' an
two intermediate trading stations called Dilmun
and Makan, which lay between Mesopotamia
the modern Ekka (horse-cart). days resemble
and Meluha. Dilmun has been identified with ART AND CRAFT
Bahrain on the Persian Gulf. Possibly the trade
with these courntries used to be carried out by All the works of
Harappan art,
sea. Mesopotamian texts refer to Meluha as a
land of seafarers. Besides, the depictions of ships
and boats on seals also indicate this.
figurines of clay and
bronze sculpture, seals and
of skilled
including
terracotta, stone and
beads, are products
The Harappan merchants were
craftsmen
was discovered frofm Apiece of
woven cotton
to and importing goods from the West exporting impressions
and This
Mohenjo-daro
were found and textile
on several objects.
Central Asian sites) shows weaving was an
North Karnataka and Gold was imported from The Harappans important craft
Afghanistan;
Rajasthan, South India, copper from practised
making and making terracotta boat-making. Seal
lead from either East orBaluchistan and Arabia; articles were
South India. important crafts. The subjects
Weights and Measures: A number of
stone
the seals and terracotta
figures portrayed on
include
weights were discovered from the beings, animals and birds. The human
The Harappan people used excavations. were shown wearing heavy human. figurines
stone weights. sets of cubical jewellery
The basic unit was 16 and elaborate ornaments and
to modern
14grams). The larger weights were inaninate objects the most
(equal headgear. Among the
multiples of 16 32, 48, 64, 128 and so
The smaller oneslkewere
terracotta models of bullock cartscommonand
were
all fractions of on. (The goldsmiths made ploughs.
The jewellery
16. of
and precious stones. silver, gold
the art of
bead-making.) Harappans also knew
Harappans
pottery which produceá their own
Seal Depicting a Ship Earthen vesselswasandmade glossy characteristic
and shining.
potter's wheel, were pottery, crafted on the
Transport
found
A
on :seals
Several
at representations
Harappa and
geometrical
of ships were necks designs))The
and red pots with
decorated
large jars
with black
with narrow
from Lothal, pointing to the Mohenjo-daro,
terracotta model of a ship was
discovered) evidence of black
their artistic skill. decoration bear
were also used to carry use of ships. Boats Sculpture: The
centres to cities.For inlandgoods from production sculptors. TheirHarappan artists were skilled
animal figures wasportrayal of human
travel, there is enough with
highly realistic in and
detailed anatomical nature
details. The statues

Terracotta Model of Cart

12
tedIts,
were made in stone, Mohenjo-daro is another masterpiece of art.
A
bronze or terracotta. Besides the dancing girl, a number of bronze
nd large number of
stone
figures of animals, buffalo and rams and some
ble images have been models of carts have been unearthed.
found. Among these,
Dress: The Indus Valley men used to wear a dhoti
the bust of a bearded as is depicted on apotsherd frorm Harappa. They
man found in Mohenjo
is wel1 knoWn. WOre a shawl as an upper garment as shown by
daro
ifor details refer to the the famous figure of the priest from Mohenjo
Sources in this Chapter.) daro. The wormen wore a skirt and used acloak
Terracotta figurines to cover arms and shoulders. The discovery of
needles and buttons at some sites show that at
have been found in
lcast some of the clothes were stitched.
large numbers from the
Harappan settlements, Ornanents: Ornaments were worn by both men
The most important and women. Some of the Common ornarments
terracotta image is that were necklaces, finger-rings, bangles, armlets,
of the Mother Goddess. anklets, noserings, fan-shaped head-dress and
Besides, there are a feV earrings. They were made of gold, silver, precious
figurines of bearded stones and ivory.
males with coiled hair, Toys and Amusements: People played garnes
standing rigidly upright. and had many other forms of entertainment. They
It is believed that since played dice and went on hunting and fishing
these male figurines of expeditions. Their nain musical instruments
exactly same type are Mother Goddess were the drum and the lyre. Toys of birds, animals,
found, they might be of a figurines, carts and whistles were also made.
deity. They wereperhaps usedas toys or cult figures.
Alarge number of male and female figurines DECLINE OF THE CIVILISATION
have also been found. The Harappan Civilisation declined sometime
The art of bronze-casting was around 1800 B.C. Some of the likely causes for
wide scale. The bronze statues were prevalent
on a
made by using the decline are the following:
the special lost wax prOcess. In this
process wax (a) Floods and
some scholars thatEarthquakes(It
figures were covered with a coating of clay. Then is held by
the wax was melted by heating and the floods in Mohenjo-daro
led to the abandonment of this
mould thus created was filled with molten hollow settlement.
metal They have inferred this from the fact that the
which took the original shape of the object. houses and streets at
covered with silty clayMohenjo-daro
The bronze statue of dancing girl (for details were found
refer to the Sources in this left byy the flood waters
Chapter) found at which had submerged the streets and
The people of houses.)
houses and Mohenjo-daro
streets on top
again built up
of the
previous buildings, after the floods debris of the
had receded.
But a time came, when the
Harappans at
Mohenjo-daro impoverished
could not take it
anymore and simply abandoned the settlement.
According
R.L. Raikes, such
to afamous hydrologist,
result of normal flooding could not be the
flooding in the river Indus.
Earthquakes
flood might have raised the level of the
plains of the Indus river.
plain of the Indus This uplift of the
Ornaments river to the sea andblocked the
the rising passage of the
water levels of
The Harappan Civilisation
13
 the river led to the inundation of the hinterland the Indus settlements.
According to
of Mohenjo-daro.
(b) Increased Aridity:According to renowned
Wheeler in the last phase
men, Women and
the streets and children
of
were
Mor timer
Mohenjo-daro,
massacred
historians, D.P. Agarwal and Sood, the Harappan houses as isevident from
civilisation declined bccause of increasing aridity skeletons of 13 males and females the
and one child
in the areaand the diying up of the river Ghaggar) found ying in a room.
Suticj and Yamuna used to be the tributarics of
the rivcr Ghaggar and because of some tectonic HERITAGE
disturbances, the Sutlcj stream was captured by The dccline of the
the lndus river and the Yamuna shifted cast to physical
Harappan civilisation aspects of the
did not lead to the
join the Ganges. This change left the Ghaggar total
disappearance of all the traits of this
waterless. The cological disturbance caused by the civilisation. Many of its features were found in
the later cultural
increased aridity andshift in the drainage pattern
led to the decline of the Harappan way of making baked developrment. The Harappan
civilisation.
jewellery, pottery, bricks, beads.
(c) Deforestation: (Since Indus
valley textiles, etc. was adopted by the
later civilisations. One of the
civilisation was a BrOnze Age culture, enormous most rernarkable
quantities of wood was needed to produce bronze. achievements of the Harappan
Wood was also needed to produce cultivation of cotton, which was people was the
bake bricks. pottery, stoneware and tojewellery, to Egyptians after several centuries. adopted by the
In the religious
and furniture. This could have led to make boats sphere, the worship of Pashupati Shiva, the
deforestation
leading to climatic change in the region) female deity as Mother Goddess,
(d) Attack: Some animals, serpents, religious symbols,sacred trees,
Wheeler believed thathistorians like Mortimer
the Aryans destroyed were prevalent during the etc., which
Harappan period,
some of them have continued to this day.

I. Multiple-Choice Questions
EXERCISES
1. The period
when man used both stone and copper tools is
(a) Bronze Age Period known as:
(c) VB) Chalcolithic Period
Mesopotamian Civilisation Period (d) Egyptial Period
2. Name the
term
archaeologists
together within aspecific use for a group of
(a) Civilisation geographic area and periodobjects distinctive in style,
of time. usually found
Mb) Culture
3. (c) Period
Which of the folowing isights (d) History
) There were about the Harappan
(b) There was public buildings for specific Civilisation was provided by the citadel?
(C) There was cereonial bathing
purposes.
(d) The oveISeas rade.
people were literate.
4.
Which of the following is NOT a
(a) Wordd's oldest feature of the DDockyard?
dockyard
(c)
Surrounded by wall of baked bricks (d)b) Presence of mud brick
5. What made the
pool at the Great Bath Connected
by
channels plattorm
to Gulf of
(a) Burnt bricks watertight? Cambay.
(c) Mud brick platforms (b)Mortar
.a) 3oth (a)limed with bitumen and
and (b) gypsum
14
Total History and
 6. Which of the following is a feature of the Great Bath?
(a) tank in a courtyard. (b) tank surrounded by corridors
(c) porticos and rooms a) AIlof the above.
7. Bronze statues were made by a special process called
(a) moulded clay process (6) lost wax process
(c) clay wax process (d) lost clay process
8. Features of the Indus script include
(a) Alphabetical order · (b) Written from right to left
sa Written from left to right (d) All of the above.
9. Seals were made of
(b) Terracotta (c) Agate v t All of the above.
(a) Steatite
10. Seals are not a source of information for
(a) script (b) trade (c) beliefs d) society
wearing
11. Bearded man, found in Mohenjo-daro is a statue of a meditative man
(a) an amulet fbt a shawl (c) a bangle (d) an elaborate headdress

12. The Dancing Girl' has which of the following features?

(a) stone sculpture b heavily-bangled left arm
(c) half-closed eyes (d) seated cross-legged.

II. Short Answer Questions

about the Harappan Civilisation.
1. Namne two important sources of information
Civilisation and its importance.
2. Name one important public building of Indus Valley
citadel.
3. Give any two characteristic features of the
about Harappan trade?
4. How were seals used? What information do they give
5. Briefly describe granaries at Harappa.
6. Briefly describe the.ornaments worn by the Harappans.
7. Briefly describe the statue of the dancing girl.
people.
8. Mention the types of dress worn by the Indus Valley
Indus Valley Civilisation.
9. State two features of the internal trade in the
also had trade relations with foreign countries.
10. State any two evidences that show the Harappans
11. Name the four animals depicted on the Pashupati seal.
decline of the Harappan Civilisation.
12. State any two causes that led to the
Indus people use?
13. What types of weights and measures did the
Script as a source of historical information.
14. State any two ways to show. the value of Indus
greatest heritage?
15. In what two respects is Harappan Civilisation our
artistic skill?
16. How did Indus pottery reflect the potter's
which sculpture in metal was done.
17. Name and briefly describe the process by
by the citadel.
18, Social classification of Harappans as pointed out

III. Structured Questions

the following questions:
1. With reference to Harappan Culture, answer
Civilisation.
(a) Discuss briefly the indigenous origin of the Harappan

The Harappan Civilisation 15