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INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

The Indus Valley Civilization is one of the Important Sites of Indus Valley
oldest civilization of the world along with Civilization
the Mesopotamia Civilization in Iraq and Harappa- Daya Ram Sahani 1921
Ancient Egypt Civilization.
Mohanjodaro- R.D. Banerjee-1922
The Indus Valley Civilization is also
known as the Harappan Civilization as Amri- M.G. Majumdar-1929
Harappa was the first and the most Chanhudaro- M.G.Majumdar-1931
important site if the Indus Valley Kalibanga- Amlanand Ghosh-1953
Civilization. Lothal- S.R. Rao-1957
The Indus Valley Civilization was spread Banwali- R.S. Bisht-1973
in 12, 60,000 sq.kms which includes
Surkotada- Jagat Pal Joshi-1964
whole Pakistan some parts of India,
Afghanistan and Iran (Persia). Dholavira- Jagat Pal Joshi- 1967
The materials which were found during Ropar- Y.D.Sharma- 1953
the excavations and on the basis of the Rangpur- M.S. Vats- 1931
radio-carbon dating it is believed that
Indus Valley Civilization was spread from Important Sites of Indus Valley
the year 2500-1750 B.C. Civilization
The first site which was discovered was
Harappa which discovered by Dr. D.R. Harappa
Sahani in the year 1921 on the banks of
the river Ravi and Mohanjodaro in the
year 1922 by R.D. Banerjee on the banks
of the river Indus. Sir John Marshall
played important role in both the
excavations.
Indus Valley Civilization forms the part of
the Proto History of India and belongs to
the Bronze Age.
The population of the Indus Valley
Civilization consists of the Mediterranean,
Proto-Australoid, and Mongoloids.
The use of Gold, Silver, Copper and
Bronze was there but the use of Iron was It was founded in the year 1921 by Mr.
completely unknown. Dayaram Sahani. It is situated near the
Sahiwal district of Pakistan on the banks
of the river Ravi.
The Great Granary was found here
measuring 169 feet X 35 feet. A naked
sandstone torso was found which also
gives the traces of the Jainism.
Stone symbols of female genitals
Single room barrack

Mohenjo-Daro

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It was founded in the year 1922 by Mr. It was the only site in the Indus Valley
R.D. Banerjee. It is situated in the Civilization without the Citadel.
Larkana district of Pakistan on the banks During the excavations a small pot,
of river Indus. bullock carts and ekkas, foot prints of the
It is derived from the Sindhi word which elephant and the dog chasing the cat.
means the “Mound of the Dead”
The Great Bath was found here. Lothal
Multi pillared assembly hall It was founded in the year 1957 by S.R.
A piece of woven cloth Rao
It is situated near the Gulf of Khambatt in
Stamp/Seal with the image of the
Gujarat.
Pashupati Mahadev
An artificial dockyard was found here. It
Statue of the bearded man
was the most important port city of the
Evidence of direct trade relations with the Indus Valley Civilization
Mesopotamia Civilization Boat made up of Terracotta was found
Mohenjodaro was the most advanced city here which gives the traces that they
of the Indus Valley Civilization the roads have the trade relations with the other
were wide and straight and were 33 feet civilizations of the world.
wide. The roads run in the North- South Evidence of rice was found here as the
direction and the other roads run in the rice granary was found at Rangpur near
East- West direction and they both cut Ahemadabad in Gujarat
each other at right angles. A terracotta statue of horse was found
here
Kalibanga Seal which has the design of the ship
It was founded in the year 1953 by Mr. A printed jar which resembles the story of
Amlanana Ghosh the cunning fox which is also mentioned
It was situated near the Hanumangarh in the Panchtnatra
district of Rajasthan on the banks of the A compass like measuring instrument
river Ghaggar. was found which can measure the angles
The word Kalibanga means the Black of 1800, 900 and 450
Bangles Evidence of double burial was found i.e.
The ploughed field at Kalibanga is the male and female were found in the single
most important discovery of that time. grave which also gives the traces of Sati
practice.
Wooden wheel was found here which also
gives the proof that the people of Evidence of chess like game
Kalibanga use the bullock carts
Bones of camels are found here Ropar
Founded in the year 1953 by Y.D.Sharma
The tiled floor was found here which has
the design of intersecting of circles It is situated in the state of Punjab in
India
Human head with long oval eyes and
The excavations at the Ropar includes
thick lower lips
pottery, ornaments, copper axes, seal etc
Two types of burial was found here
A strange burial was found here i.e. the
Burials in the circular grave dead body of dog was found along with
Burials in the rectangular grave the dead body of the human being

Chanhu-Daro Banwali
It was founded in the year 1931 by Founded in the year 1973 by R.S. Bisht
M.G.Majumdar It is situated near the Hissar district of
Chahudaro was situated on the eastern Haryana
side of river Indus in the Sindh province Huge quantity of Barley and Mustard was
of Pakistan found here
Chanudharo has three different cultural A terracotta plough was also found here
layers Indus Culture, Jhukar Culture and which the most remarkable discovery
Jhangar Culture.

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Surkotada left behind by the Indus Valley Civilization

Founded in the year 1964 by Jagat Pal suggests that there were a large group of
Joshi bronze smiths who not only made utensils
It is situated in the Kutch district of but also made various kinds of tools as
Gujarat well. There is evidence which suggests
During the excavations the first remains that they may also have practiced
of the horse bones was found here. weaving, possibly using spindle whorls.
Whatever buildings have been excavated
Dholavira seems to have been made of brick which
It was founded in the year 1967 by Prof indicates that brick-laying must also have
Jagat Pal Joshi and it is situated in the been an important occupation. Besides
state of Gujarat in India the above, people of the Indus Valley
In the Dholavira the major discovery was Civilization must also have followed the
the Rain Water Harvesting occupations of seal-making, goldsmiths,
pottery, bead making etc.

Trade
The discovery of the artificial brick
dockyard at Lothal and the seals having
the pictures of the boat gives the traces
that the people of the Indus Valley
Civilization has the trade relation with the
other civilizations of the world such as the
Mesopotamia civilization.
There was also the internal trading as
they used the bullock carts for the
transportation.
The unit of measurement was 16 (16, 64,
and 160,320)

Religious Life & Culture

The main gods of worship for the people
Economic Life of the Indus Valley
of Indus Valley Civilization was Puhupati
Civilization
Mahadev (Lord Shiva)
Agriculture
The people of the Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus plains were made fertile by the
also worship the Phallus (lingam) and
annual inundation of the river Indus. This
yoni
river carried far more alluvial soil than
Animal worshipped- Unicorn and Bull
many other contemporary rivers like the
Tree worshipped- Pipal
Nile in Egypt. The farmers sowed their
Bird worshipped- Dove & Pigeon
seeds in November when the flood waters
When any person dies in the Indus Valley
receded and reaped their harvests in April
Civilization they lay them in North- South
before the next floods. They must have
direction with the head in North and the
produced enough to provide for the
legs in South direction. There was the
people in villages and cities. They
practice of burying the dead body in the
produced wheat, barley, rice, sesamum,
rectangular or the oval pits.
mustard etc. They also produced
significant quantities of cotton.
Script and Language
The script of the Indus Valley Civilization
Technology, arts & crafts
is pictographic in nature which has
The people of the Indus Valley Civilization
around 600 pictographs. The writing style
well know the technique of mining the
of the of the Indus Valley Civilization is
best example of this can be seen from the
known as “Boustrophedon” i.e. they write
nearby mines of Khetri in Rajasthan
the first line from right to left and the
which is famous for its copper. Tin was
second line from left to right. The
probably brought from mines in Bihar or
language of the Indus Valley Civilization
from Afghanistan. The amount of artifacts
is still unknown.

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Causes of Decline 1. Due to decrease of the soil fertility

The definite cause of decline for the Indus 2. Due to increase of salinity in the
Valley Civilization is still elusive since water from the neighboring
there are no written records of the period deserts
and there are various speculations from 3. Due to natural calamity such as
the historians. Earthquake, Flood, Famine etc
There are four main reasons behind the 4. Aryans when they came to India
decline of Indus Valley Civilization as they destroyed the Indus Valley
concluded by the historians Civilization