Professional Documents
Culture Documents
UPSC CSE
(Prelims + Mains)
Module 1
Architecture & Sculptures
-Arti Chhawari
The Indus Valley Civilisation was a ___________Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of
South Asia, in its mature form from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. Many of the material remains
and artifacts like seals, pottery, sculpture, gold jewellery, terracotta figures and many more
helped Archaeologists to reconstruct the life of people living in this earliest urban
settlement.
Some Important
Harappan Sites Shortugai- House of precious
stones like _________
Banawali- terracotta
model of ________
Mohenjodaro- sculptures
like _____king, ______girl
Sutkagendor- _______
Rakhigarhi-______
most site
excavated site in
India
Chanhudaro- ______industry
SCULPTURES
Stone Sculptures
Metal casting was practiced in wide scale in almost all major sites of the civilization and
majorly used metal was Bronze [Cu (procured from khetri mines, Rajasthan) + Tin(
from Afghanistan and Iran) ] ,The technique used for Bronze Casting
was _________________/ ____________ Perdue Technique.
______________technique:
First, wax figures were
Dancing Girl from Mohenjodaro made and then covered
with clay.
4 inch copper figure with long hair
tied in a bun and Left arm covered
with bangles, cowrie shell
necklace around the neck ( fashion
conscious people ) The clay as allowed to dry
Tribanga posture ( found in many and then the figure was
other later sculptures) heated to melt the wax.
Other metal sculptures: bronze Bull figure from _____________ and buffalo figure
from_______________, copper birds and dogs figure from__________.
This wax was drained out
through a hole in the clay.
After that, the hollow clay
Terracotta Sculptures was filled with the metal
of choice. After cooling the
metal, the clay was
Compared to stone and bronze statues terracotta representations removed revealing the
of human form are ___________. desired metal figurine.
Left to Right
1. Mother Goddess,
from_________
2. Bearded Man,
Why some figures got
from________
interpreted as
3. Horned deity, from deities?
________
Repetition of the
figure in exactly same
Bull figure from Kalibangan and plough position in different
from Banawali suggest _____________to be sites, suggests that
primary occupation in outskirts of urban these were deities or
areas had some religious
importance.
SEALS
Usually made of steatite, and occasionally of agate, chert, copper, faience and terracotta,
gold and ivory with beautiful figures of animals, such as unicorn bull, rhinoceros, tiger,
elephant, bison, goat, buffalo, etc. Realistic rendering of these animals in various moods.
Purpose: mainly used in ____________activities. Seals were also used as _____________ (as holes
found on it)
Plain pottery includes wares made from red clay, or red clay and red or grey slip,
with rows of screw-like knobs, and wares made from red clay or red clay and red
slip.
Plain pottery is more common than painted ware. Most of the pottery had geometric
shapes and animals which were painted in the black glossy paint on the black
painted ware with a fine red coloured slip-on coating.
The polychrome pottery was having small, geometric patterns vasas in red, black,
and green colour, but they are not much found in white or yellow colour. It is rare,
too, to find incised ware, and on the offering stands the incised decoration was
limited to the dishes and the bases of the pans.
Findings like that of mortar and pestle suggests that some medicines
were also known to these people. Mortars and pestles were also used
for grinding other food grains.
Conclusion
The sites of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro have now been found in West Pakistan. There have
been approximately one hundred excavations of sites of the Indus Valley culture in India,
and some of those projects have revealed that the culture was spread over a wide area.
Being an important landmark in the prehistory of the Indian subcontinent, the Harappan
civilisation offers an excellent example to the modern world in ways of expertise in town
planning, water management and harvesting systems, and an unparalleled drainage
mechanism. The Indus writing system, so far, could not be translated because of the texts
being too short. Indus Script could also not be compared to a known writing system
because no bilingual inscriptions have been found. The Indus Script is also said to have
been used as an administrative tool at the time because ancient writing was generally
related to elites recording and controlling transactions. The Indus Valley's artists and
craftsmen were outstanding at a variety of skills; casting metal, carving stone, making
pottery, and carving terracotta images that featured simplified motifs of animals, plants,
and birds, which made the civilization rich.