Indus Valley

Civilization
The Genesis of Indian Sub Continent

Presented by :
Nishat Anjum Bini (NIB)
Adjunct Faculty
Department of History and Philosophy
North South University 1
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

• INTRODUCTION TO INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

• ETYMOLOGY
• DISCOVERY AND HISTORY OF EXCAVATION
• NOTABLE PIONEERS OF DISCOVERY OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
• THE GREAT CITIES: MOHENJO-DARO AND HARAPPA
• LIFE OF THE PEOPLE
• OCCUPATION AND TRADE
• INSTITUTION AND HIERARCHY
• WRITING SYSTEM
• RELIGION
• MAIN REASONS BEHIND THE FALL OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
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 Introduction to Indus Valley Civilization
• The Indus civilization, also referred to as the Indus Valley Civilization , existed in the
northwest of South Asia from 3300 BCE to 1500 BCE. The civilization flourished near
the alluvial plain of the Indus (Sindhu) river.
• Its sites spanned an area from much of Pakistan, to northeast Afghanistan , and
northwestern India.
• The civilization extended from Baluchistan in the west to western Uttar Pradesh in the east, from
northeastern Afghanistan in the north to Gujarat state in the south. The largest number of sites
are in the Punjab region, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and
Kashmir states, Sindh, and Baluchistan.
• Indus Valley Civilization grew and developed almost at the same time as other riverine
civilizations: Ancient Egypt near Nile River , Mesopotamia near Tigris-Euphrates Rivers, Ancient
China near Yellow River. 3
Sites of the
Ancient
Indus Valley
Map Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_
Valley_Civilisation#/media/File:Indu
s_Valley_Civilization,_Mature_Phas
e_(2600-1900_BCE).png

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Left: Map denoting the sites of Indus Valley
Right: Map of South Asia
 ETYMOLOGY

• This river was known to the ancient Indians in Sanskrit as Sindhu and the
Persians as Hindu which was regarded by both of them as "the border
river".
• From the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the name passed to the Greeks and
Romans as Indus .
• The name India is derived from Indus.

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 DISCOVERY AND HISTORY OF EXCAVATION

• Charles Masson (birthname: James Lewis), was a British East India Company soldier,
independent explorer and archaeologist and numismatist. He was the first European to
discover the ruins of Harappa in 1829 near Punjab, now in Pakistan.
• In 1875, the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), British
Engineer Sir Alexander Cunningham discovered a stamp seal at Harappa.
• Expeditions started officially in 1911. During 1921-1924, a team led by Sir John
Marshall, Dayaram Sahani, Rakhal Das Banerjee discovered Mohenjo-Daro and its
adjacent sites.
• By 1931, much of Mohenjo-Daro had been excavated, but occasional excavations
continued, such as the one led by British Archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, a new
director-general of the ASI, and including Pakistani Archaeologist Ahmad Hasan
7
Dani.
 Rakhal Das Banerjee Sir John Marshall

Notable Pioneers
of discovery of
Indus Valley
Civilization
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Ahmad Hasan Dani Mortimer Wheeler

 NOTABLE CITIES OF INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION
Name Present Location
Harappa Punjab, Pakistan
Mohenjo-Daro Sindh, Pakistan
Lothal Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Kalibangan North Rajasthan, India
Chanhudaro Sindh, Pakistan
Surkotada Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Kotdiji Quetta, Baluchistan, Pakistan
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 THE GREAT CITIES OF INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION
• Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were the largest and the most prosperous cities of Indus valley
civilization
• The cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were divided into two parts:
• Citadel (upper city)
• Lower city
• The upper part built on raised ground has been described as citadel. This part included the
granaries, the public buildings, factories and religious buildings.
• The lower part of the city was much larger where the people lived and carried on their
professional work. If the city was attacked by invaders or threatened by floods, the
inhabitants of the lower city probably found refuge in the citadel
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 Citadel

Lower City

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Archaeological Ruins of Mohenjo-Daro

 THE GREAT CITIES OF INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION
• The most impressive buildings were the granaries. They were important because the life of the city
dwellers depended on the granaries being full.
• Near the granaries were furnaces where the metal workers produced a variety of objects in metals such
as copper, bronze, lead and tin.
• The best known of the buildings in the Mohenjo-Daro citadel is the great bath. This resembles a
large swimming pool. It measures approximately (40 ft) by (23 ft), with a maximum depth of
(8 ft). Most scholars agree that this tank would have been used for special religious functions
where water was used to purify and renew the well being of the bathers. This indicates the
importance attached to ceremonial bathing in sacred tanks, pools and rivers since time
immemorial.

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View of the Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro 13

with both staircases

 THE GREAT CITIES OF INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION
• Houses and streets of the lower city were carefully planned. Streets were wide and the houses were built on
both sides of the street.
• Houses were built of sun-burnt bricks and had thick strong walls. There were few windows but plenty of
doors which were probably made of wood.

• Kitchens had fire places.

• Bathrooms were built on one the side of the houses and had drains which were connected to the street
drains. The street drains ran along the side of the street and were lined with bricks so that they could be kept
clean.
• Some houses had courtyards and wells.

• Not everyone in the city lived in such comfortable houses. The labourers who worked in the granaries had
each a tiny room to live in 14
Regularity of streets and buildings suggests the A view of Harappa's
influence of ancient urban planning in Mohenjo- Granary and Great
Daro's construction. Hall

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 LIFE OF THE PEOPLE
• Food: the people ate wheat and barley. They used to prepare
bread in homemade ovens using the cereals. They also ate
meat and fish.
• Clothes: they knew how to weave cotton and clay spindles
suggest that people must have spun the yarn at home.
• Both men and women were fond of wearing ornaments such
as amulets and necklaces. These were made of beads of shell,
gold and silver.
• Amusement and toys : some objects have been found which
provide clues to the amusements of the people. There were
small clay carts; Figures of animals were found which were
made like puppets ,so that their limbs could be moved by
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pulling strings.
 OCCUPATION AND TRADE
• People were potters, craftsmen weavers, fisherman, traders and farmers.
• The metal workers produced tools using copper and bronze, such as spears, knives, fish-hooks,
axes and razors.
• Trade ties existed among Indus valley civilization, Mesopotamia and Persia.
• Beautiful clay potteries, ornaments, cotton and woolen clothes were sent to Sumer and
Persia.
• Among the objects found in great number at Mohenjo-Daro were flat rectangular seals
made of clay or stone . the seals were probably used by merchants and traders to stamp
their goods.

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Painted
Terracotta pottery
from Harappa

Indus Seals

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 Terracotta boat in the shape of a
bull, and female figurines. Kot Diji Priest king
of Mohenjo-
Daro, at
National
Museum of
Pakistan

Harappan
weights found
in the Indus
Valley, (National
Museum, New
Delhi)

Swastika seals of Indus 19

Valley Civilization
in British Museum
 INSTITUTION AND HIERARCHY

• Archaeological records provide no immediate answers regarding a center of authority or

depictions of people in power in the society, and there are few written records to consult.
However, Harrapan artifacts display an extraordinary uniformity. Pottery, seals, weights, and
bricks with standardized sizes and weights, suggest some form of authority and governance,
though it is not clear what that form was exactly.
• Another theory posits that there was no single ruler, but rather a number of leaders
representing each of the urban centers, including Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, and other
communities. It seems likely that there was not one centralized and all-powerful state but
that various classes and centers of power were integrated into a decentralized structure.

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 WRITING SYSTEM

• Little is known about Harapan religion and

language. A collection of written texts on clay and
stone tablets unearthed at Harappa—which have
been carbon dated 3300-3200 BCE—contain
trident-shaped, plant-like markings that appear to
be written from right to left.
• There is considerable debate about whether it
was an encoded language at all and whether it is
related to Indo-European and South Indian
language families.
• The Indus script remains indecipherable without
any comparable symbols, and is thought to have
evolved independently of the writing in
Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. 21
 RELIGION
• Clay figures of several gods and goddesses have been found.
• There were trees which the people seem to have treated as sacred Excavated
trees, such as Pipal tree graves of
IVC
• They might have also treated the bull as sacred
• They buried their dead in graves. They had faith in the afterlife as
many graves contained household pottery and ornaments.
• In contrast to Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, the
Indus valley civilization seems to have lacked any temples or
palaces that would give clear evidence of religious rites or
specific deities.

Pipal tree 22

(Sacred Fig)
 MAIN REASONS BEHIND THE FALL OF
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
• Aryan invasion theory: One theory suggested that a nomadic, Indo-European tribe called the
Aryans invaded and conquered the Indus Valley civilization
• Climatic change : Many scholars believe that the collapse of the Indus valley civilization was
caused by climate change. Some experts believe the drying of the Saraswati river, which began
around 1900 BCE, was the main cause for climate change, while others conclude that a great flood
struck the area
• Migration towards Ganga valley: By 1800 BCE, the Indus valley climate grew cooler and drier,
and a tectonic event may have diverted or disrupted river systems, which were the lifelines of the
Indus valley civilization. People may have migrated toward the Ganges basin in the east, where
they could have established villages and isolated farms. These small communities would not have
been able to produce the same agricultural surpluses to support large cities. With the reduced
production of goods, there would have been a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia. By
around 1500 BCE, most of the Indus Valley Civilization cities had been abandoned. 23
TIMELINE OF HISTORY OF INDIAN
SUBCONTINENT

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

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