Indus valley civilization

▪ The Harappan civilisation was the first urban civilisation in South Asia, contemporaneous with the civilisations of
Mesopotamia and Egypt. Of the three civilisations, the Harappan civilisation occupied most area (about 8,00,000
sq km).
▪ Earlier historians had called this civilisation the Indus Valley Civilisation, but since then, major settlements have
been excavated in the Ghaggar-Hakra belt that spread far beyond the Indus region. Harappa, as the first
archaeological site to be discovered, therefore gives its name to the entire civilisation.
▪ It forms a part of the proto-history of India, and belongs to the Bronze Age. While it is classified as a civilisation
that is older than Chalcolithic civilisations, in many ways it was far more developed than settlements in the
Chalcolithic Age. The Harappan civilisation can be classified in three phases*:
↘ The Early/Pre-Harappan phase (c. 3200−2600 BCE)
↘ Mature Harappan phase (c. 2600−1900 BCE)
↘ Late Harappan phase (c. 1900−1300 BCE)
▪ A general time range is specified as there is a great deal of variation in the dates for different phases. There exists
an undeniable cultural continuity among all the phases of the Harappan civilisation, yet they differ slightly from
each other.
▪ Some of the early Harappan archaeological sites are Padri in Gujarat, Kalibangan in Rajasthan, Dholavira in
Kutch, Harappa in West Punjab, Balakot, Amri, and Bhirrana in Haryana, Kot Diji and Gumla. It is
noteworthy to add that there are no early Harappan sites in the active Indus plain.
▪ It only pertains to the fact that the other sites have the same basic set of Harappan material traits, such as the
typical red and black pottery, terracotta figurines, standardised brick size in 1:2:4 ratio, and so on.
▪ This is the final period in the Harappan civilisation and refers to the fragmentation of the culture of the Integration
Era.
▪ The Late Harappan phase comprises five geographical zones each having distinct phases — the West Punjab
Phase (Cemetery- H Culture), the East Punjab Phase, the Jhukar Phase, the Rangpur Phase, and the
Ganga Yamuna Doab Phase.
▪ The Late Harappan settlements were also more in number, but they were smaller and more rural, though marked
by a diverse agricultural base.
▪ Important Jhukar sites are Jhukar, Chanhudaro, and Amri. Rangpur Phase sites are in Kutch, Saurashtra
and mainland Gujarat.

Town Planning
✓ Harappan civilisation is known for its urban outlook and sophisticated sense of civic planning and organisation. In
most cases the Harappan city was divided into two parts:
• Citadel/Raised Part – This part occupied a smaller area, and was frequently situated to the west of the
city. Rulers of the city lived here. It also contained public buildings, granaries, and important
workshops.
 • Lower Part – The common citizenry lived and carried on their professional lives in this part of the
city.
✓ The streets were wide, the main street being ten metres wide and dividing
the town into rectangular and square blocks.
✓ There were lamp-posts at intervals. They used burnt bricks of good quality
and the unique feature of this brick was its identical ratio of 1:2:4 in terms
of thickness: width: length across all Harappan structures. Equally
striking was the uniformity in the average size of bricks — 7 × 14 × 28
cm3 for houses and 10 × 20 × 40 cm for city walls.
✓ They had an excellent drainage system — drains were made of mortar, lime
and gypsum and covered with large brick slabs for easy cleaning.
✓ Houses were often of two or more storeys, though varied in size but quite
monotonous. No window faced the streets and the houses had tiled
bathrooms. Some houses had their own wells.

Society
▪ The Harappan society was an urban society, comprising mostly of the middle classes.
The houses excavated suggest at least three distinct social groups: Ruled, rich
merchants and poor labourers who lived in the lower part of the city.
• The Harappans were great experts in the use of the potter’s wheel but were poor in
artistic works of stone.
• A lot of terracotta has been found at many sites, including figurines of animals such
as bulls, buffaloes, dogs, monkeys, toy carts, and humans.
• The Harappans refined the art of bead-making, and jewellery excavated includes
gold and silver jewellery, including necklaces, bracelets, pendants, earrings,
brooches.
• Copper, bronze, silver, and gold were metals known and used by Harappans, but
iron was not. They were also good at metallurgy and producing alloys.
• Harappan people generally wore garments of cotton / wool.
• The Harappans relished non-vegetarian food. Fish-eating was
common. Milk and curd were also consumed.
• The Harappan societies of Sindh and Punjab largely consumed wheat
and barley while those of Rangpur and Surkotda consumed rice and
millets.
• Harappan writing was boustrophedon right to left and left to right in
alternate lines. The Harappan script has not been deciphered so far.

Economy
• The inferences about Harappan Economy have been derived from its flourishing trade relations with its
contemporary Mesopotamian and Persian civilisations. The Mesopotamians called the Indus Region
‘Meluhha’.
• The Mesopotamian texts speak of three intermediate trading stations called Dilmun (probably Bahrain on
Persian Gulf), Makan (probably the Makran coast, Oman) and, Meluhha.
• Seals hold a special significance in the Harappan context. Every merchant probably had a seal bearing an
emblem, often of a religions character and a name / brief description on one side.
• There was no metallic money in circulation and trade was conducted by means of barter. Inland transport
primarily employed bullock carts.
 • Harappans seals have been found in Mesopotamian cities like Susa and Ur. In Nippur, a seal has been
found bearing Harappan script and a unicorn.
• Recently, some ancient sites in the Persian Gulf like Failaka and Bahrain
have also yielded Harappan seals.
• In Mohenjo-Daro, three-cylinder seals of the Mesopotamian type have
been found, which underlines their trading relations.
• In Lothal, a button seal has been found. There were bead-making
factories at Chanhudaro and Lothal.
• The products of these factories were items of export.
• A dockyard has been exacavated in Lothal and sea ports have been found
at Rangpur, Somnath and Balakot.
• A remarkable aspect of the Harappan Culture was its standardisation and accuracy in the context of weights
and measures.
• Weights followed a binary system in the lower denominations — 1, 2, 8, 16, 32 to 64, and then in decimal
multiples of 160 like 160, 320, 640, 1600, 3200, and so on. Weights were made of chert, limestone, and
steatite and were generally cubical in shape.

Harappan Imports

Religion
• Harappan civilisation is considered as a secular society as not a single structure qualifying as temple has been
found. Sacred ritual spots included the Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro, where the elite
likely undertook ritual activity that included ceremonial bathing. Idolatry was
practiced. The Harappan people generally worshipped:
✓ Mother goddess.
✓ Pashupati Mahadeva or proto-Shiva (mostly an upper-class preference, seals
depict him in a yogic posture)
✓ Lingam (phallus) and yoni worship (cult of fertility)
✓ Pipal tree Humped Bull Birds (dove and pigeon) One-horned unicorn (may in
fact be the rhinoceros)
• Other key inferences about the Harappan Religious practices are as follows: Fire
altars have been found in Kalibangan and Lothal.
• The seal of Pashupati Mahadeva is surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, a rhino, a buffalo, and a deer, and it
is likely that these animals were also worshipped.
• Dead bodies were placed in a north-south direction and were generally
accompanied by objects including food, pottery, ornaments, and tools.
• These items were not as expensive in comparison to those in contemporary
Mesopotamian or Egyptian cultures.
• In Kalibangan, small circular pits containing large urns and pottery have been
found. Furthermore, a triangular terracotta cake has been discovered, which has a
horned deity on one side and an animal being dragged by a human on the end of a
rope on the other, pointing towards animal sacrifice in all likelihood.
• At Lothal, a pair of male and female skeletons have been discovered together.

Agriculture
▪ The Harappan civilisation was the earliest known civilisation to produce cotton. Known as ‘Sindon’ by the
Greeks as from Sindh. In the Indus plain, people sowed seeds in the flood plains in November, when the flood
water receded and reaped their harvests of wheat and barley in April, before the advent of the next flood.
▪ They produced sufficient food grains to feed themselves and the surplus food grains was stored in granaries.
The characteristic features pertaining to the agricultural practices of the Harappans are mentioned below: The
Harappans grew wheat (especially in Mehrgarh), barley, horse gram, peas, melon, watermelon, sesame,
dates, millets, grapes, henna (mehndi), garlic, mustard, rice (Lothal).
▪ Tigers were often represented in figurines but leopards were rare. On different pottery paintings one can easily
find rabbits, peacocks, ducks, pigeons, wild fowl and monkeys.
▪ Ploughed fields, possibly with the help of wooden ploughs, have been discovered at Kalibangan.
▪ Terracotta models of plough have been found at Banawali and Bahawalpur. Remains of horses at
Surkotda and dogs with men in graves at Ropar have been discovered.

Decline
The Harappan decline is roughly dated around 1900 BCE, but no archaeological evidence accurately provides an
explanation for the deurbanisation. The Mature phase was followed by the late Harappan phase. Possible theories of
decline of the Harappan Civilisation are as follows:

IMPORTANT SITES OF IVC

Site Location Important Findings
Harappa Situated on the bank of ▪ Sandstone statues of Human anatomy
river Ravi in ▪ Granaries.
 Montgomery district ▪ coffin burial.
of Punjab (Pakistan). ▪ lot of artifacts.
▪ the first town which is excavated and studied in detail.
▪ Bullock carts
Mohenjodaro Situated on the Bank ▪ Great bath
(Mound of of river Indus in ▪ Granary
Dead) Larkana district of ▪ three cylindrical seals of the Mesopotamian type.
Punjab (Pakistan). ▪ Bronze dancing girl
▪ Bearded man.
▪ Seal of Pasupathi Mahadeva.
▪ a piece of woven cloth
▪ Steatite statue of beard man
▪ A piece of woven cotton
Sutkagendor In southwestern ▪ A trade point between Harappa and Babylon.
Balochistan province, ▪ Bangles of clay,
Pakistan on Dast river ▪ Westernmost known site of IVC
Chanhudaro Sindh on the Indus ▪ Bead makers shop
River ▪ Footprint of a dog chasing a cat.
▪ Use of lipstick
Amri On the bank of Indus ▪ Antelope evidence.
River ▪ Remains of rhinoceros.
Kalibangan Rajasthan on the bank ▪ Fire altar.
of Ghaggar river ▪ Baked/burnt bangles.
▪ Camel bones
▪ small circular pits containing large urns and accompanied by pottery,
▪ Wooden plough.
Pabumath Kutch District of ▪ A large building complex,
Gujrat ▪ unicorn seal,
▪ shell bangles,
▪ beads,
▪ copper bangles,
▪ needles,
▪ antimony rods,
▪ steatite micro beads;
▪ pottery include large and medium size jars, beaker, dishes,
▪ dish-on-stand,
▪ perforated jars etc.;
▪ fine red pottery with black painted designs etc
Lothal Gujarat on Bhogva ▪ First manmade port
river near Gulf of ▪ Dockyard
Cambay ▪ Bead making factory, dockyard,
▪ button seal,
▪ painted jar,
▪ earliest cultivation of rice
▪ Rice husk
▪ Fire altars
▪ Chess playing
Surkotada Gujarat ▪ Bones of horses
▪ Beads
Banawali Hisar district of ▪ Beads
Haryana ▪ Barley
▪ Evidence of both pre-Harappan and Harappan culture.
▪ terracotta figure of plough
Dholavira Gujarat in Rann of ▪ Water harnessing system
Kachchh ▪ Water reservoir.
▪ Figure of chariot tied to a pair of bullocks and driven by a nude
human.
▪ use of rocks for constructions.

Post-Urban Phase of Harappan Culture/Late Harappan Phase (c.1900 BCE–1300 BCE)

▪ The Mature Harappan phase was followed by the Late Harappan phase, which was marked by the decline of
urban life and the diversification of agriculture.
▪ The stylistic homogeneity of Harappan civilisation disappeared and the post-Harappan stage was marked by
sharp stylistic diversity.
▪ There was a complex interplay of change and continuity.
▪ Elements of urbanism like seals, specialised crafts, cities, long distance trade, and so on, declined but did not
completely disappear.
▪ Some of the few urban centres surviving in the Late Harappan were Kudwala in Cholistan, Bet Dwarka in
Gujarat, and Daimabad.
▪ The rural settlements of this phase are primarily Chalcolithic in nature. The post-urban Harappans lived in
villages, subsisting on agriculture, stock-raising, hunting, and fishing.
▪ In this period, painted Harappan pottery is replaced with less intricate designs and painted grey ware (PGW).
▪ No object for measuring length is noticed.
▪ The period marks the end of the Harappan trade with West Asian centres, as lapis lazuli, chert, carnelian
beads, copper and bronze vessels, are either absent or scarce as trade items.
▪ Important places pertaining to this phase are Prabhas Patan (Somnath), Rangpur (Gujarat), Swat Valley,
Manda in Jammu, Sanghol in Punjab, Daulatpur in Haryana, Alamgirpur, Hulas in U.P.