Name: Ravi Sharma

Roll No:
Subject: History of Art and
Architecture
Course: ADPID
Department: Interior Designing

Indus Valley Civilization

Index
Introduction
Geological Places
Climatic Condition
Socio-Economic

Condition
Religious
Leisure
Materials

Architectural

Characteristics: Buildings
The Great Bath
The Drainage System

Trade and Commerce

Arts and Crafts

Introduction
Indus valley is located along

the Indus River between

Pakistan and India.
IVC was a Bronze Age
Civilization mainly in the
northwestern regions of
the South Asia.
IVC came into light during
the excavation at MohenjoDaro and Harappa.

Geological places
The life of the people began

near the Indus River.

The area covered by Harappan
culture were parts of Punjab,
Sind, Baluchistan, Gujarat,
Rajasthan and the fringes of
western Uttar Pradesh.
Urbanization was the main
feature of the Harappan
civilization.
The citadel was surrounded by
a brick wall.

Climatic Condition
The growth in the population

on Indus Valley was due to the

Indus River.
During summers the river
overflowed every year
because of the melting of ice,
leaving soil behind for
growing crops.
The overflowed water also
helped in transportation and
fishing.

Cont
The main agriculture crops of

Harappans civilization were

wheat and barley, peas and
dates and also sesame and
mustard which were used for
oil.
From Indus river people
caught fish as their food.
The Harappans were the
earliest people to grow cotton.

Socio-economic
The city structure were complex

mainly in grid format.

The Indus tribe lived in houses.
The transportation of goods and
people were done with the help
of Carts.
The carts were pulled by
Camels, oxen and elephants etc.
Wooden plough were used by
Harappans for agriculture
purpose.

Religious
Diminutive statues found in

sites of Indus Valley

Archeological helps in
believing the existence of
religion in the civilization.
Due to deficient of
monumental places, religious
ceremonies were restricted to
personage homes, small
temples etc.

Leisure
People of Indus Valley

were very creative this can

be seen through the work
done by them :

Toys from clay and terracotta.

Small carts with vases.
Tools pulled by oxen.
Chess board
Dice and dominoes.

Material Availability
The use of baked and unbaked

bricks shows that the brick

making was a large scale
industry for the Harappans.
There were many metals and
stones such as carnelian, gold,
copper, turquoise and other
semi-precious stones and
metals in which IVC was rich.

Architectural Characteristics
In the Mohenjo-Daro

civilization the most striking

structure was the Great Bath.
The other is the drainage
system which is one of the
most impressive achievements
of the Harappans.
The structure of the houses
has one or more toilets
connected to a centralized
system.

Buildings and Cities

The major cities of IVC

were:

Mohenjo-Daro
Harappa
Lothal

Cities were made of bricks

either from wood bricks or

baked mud bricks.
The bricks used make
ascertained the long-lasting
of the buildings.

The Great Bath

The main purpose of Great

Bath at Mohenjo-daro is to
perform purification ritual.
The plug hole was used for
emptying out the bath.
Made from tightly fitted
bricks with tar inside.

The Drainage System

The drainage system were

sophisticated.
The drainage were deep
which aided in people walk
through and was easily
accessibly when it was
blocked.
They used cement and clay
brick making the drainage
slope downhill.

Trade and Commerce

People purchased precious

materials and stones from

nearby cities.
Converted those materials and
stones into expensive products
and sold them to public.

Arts and Crafts

The major arts and crafts were

related sculptures, seals,

bronze vessels, pots, figurines
and gold jewelery.
Dancing girls pose reveals
presence of dance forms.
The figurines included cows,
bears, monkeys, and dogs.

Cont

Crafts included shell working,

ceramics, and agate and

glazed steatite bead making.
Used in the making of
necklaces, bangles, and other
ornaments from all phases of
Harappan culture.
The hand modeled in
terracotta offers clues
regarding the daily life of the
people.