Chapter - 1

Indus Valley Civilization 2500 BCE – 1500 BCE

 Sir John Marshall named it as IVC in 1924

 Harappa: excavated by Dayaram Sahani -1921

 IVC is also called as Bronze(CU+Tn) Age Civilization

 Contemporary Civilizations:

 Sumerian(Mesopotamian) : Tigris & Euphrates, Cuneiform

 Egyptian: Nile, Hieroglyphic

 Chinese: Hwang ho, Hanzi

 No proper evidence with respect to birth & decline of this civilization

 Geographical Area: 13,00,000 Km2

 Manda(J&K, Chenab) in the North to Daimabad(MH, Pravara) in the South.

 Sutakgen dor (Afghan-Iran border) in the west to Alamgirpur(UP,Hindon) in the East.

 20 times bigger than Egyptian civilization & 12 Bigger than Egyptian & Chinese combined.

 It’s a cosmopolitan:

 Mongoloids, Proto-Australoids, Alpinoids & Dravidians (Major Contributors).

 Administration:

 Highly centralised: Evidences Bricks ratio 4:2:1 & Uniform weight & measure system (16)

 D.D. Kaushambi : Higher class or Priestly class

 R.S. Sharma : Merchants

Town Planning:
• Preplanned & Uniform plan, Citadel (Upper city & Lower City),

Features:
• Grid pattern, roads are straight & intersect exactly at 90 degrees, they were
13 to 34 ft wide & were well lined.
• Underground Drainage system with Manhole,
 • Street light facility, Dustbins along the roadside, burnt bricks, most of them
are double storied,
• Each house had well & bathroom with soak pitwhich was connected to the
public drainage.

Great Bath:
It is in Mohenjodaro. It is 39ft long, 23ft wide & 8ft deep.
It has a steps on either end and it is fed by a well, situated in one of the adjoining
room.
The great bath had 8ft thick outer walls.
It has galleries & rooms on all four sides.
There were arrangements for hot water bath in some rooms.

Granaries :
The Largest building in the Mohenjodaro is the granary (45.7mts long & 15.23 mts
wide)
In Harappa there are series of brick platforms which formed the base for two rows of
6 granaries each.
In the Southern part of the Kalibangan bricks platform have also been found.

Buildings:
Built buildings by the side of the roads.
Built terraced houses of burnt bricks.
Every house had two or more rooms.
There were also more than one storied houses.
Houses were designed around an inner courtyard and contained pillared hall,
bathrooms, paved floors, kitchen, well, etc.
 Society:
Matriarchal, Class system (based on occupation) probably the learned class(priest,
astrologers, physicians), warriors, traders & workers.
Wheat was the principal food. Used Barley, rice, fruits, vegetables, dates, milk, fish,
beef, pork, poultry etc..
Used cotton & woolen cloths. Men & Women wore upper garment & lower garment.
Ornaments were worn by both men & women. Girdles (Waist belt), nose studs,
earrings were worn only by women.
Women knew variety of hair styles & they used ivory combs & bronze mirror.
They disposed their dead by cremation or burial.

Sports:
• Marble game, Ball game, Dice & Bull fighting

Religion:
• Worship of Female & Male gods (Mother goddess, Pashupati Mahadeva).
• Worship of Sex organs (Linga or Phallus & female sex organ), Worship of
animals, trees & Nature: Bull, Snake, peepul tree, Neem tree, Fire.
• Used Amulets, believed in rebirth, Animal sacrifice, Shamans (Men & Women)
• Seals, terracotta figurines & images of stones narrate the religious life of Indus
people.

Economy:
(I)Agriculture:
• Agriculture was the primary occupation. 2Crops in a year
• Kharif : Cotton (b) Rabi : Wheat & barley
• Important crops: Cotton, Wheat, Barley, Lentil, Linseed(Flaxseed), Chickpea,
Sesame, Mustard, Millets & Rice (very rare)
 • Lothal: Rice grain, Rangapur: Husk.
• Digging Hoe in all sites. Plough only in 2 sites (a) Banawali (b) Kalibangan
• Ploughed field @ Kalibangan. 2 set of forrows @ right angle to each other :- 2
different crops grown together
• Ox were used for ploughing.
• Shortughai (Afghanistan) : Traces of canals. Dholavira : reservoir
• Harappa: Bones of cattle, Sheep, Buffalo, pig
• Bones of wild animals like Wild boar, deer, gharials.

(II) Industries
• Cotton & Woolen Industries : In all sites.
• Jewel Industry : Lothal, Dholavira, Rakhigarhi, Chanhudaro.
• Chanhudaro: famous for Brick & Carpentary.
• Kalibangan : Famous for Bangales.
• Materials used in Craft:
• Carnelian, Jasper, Crystals, Quartz, Steatite, Copper, Bronze, Gold, Terracotta,
Faience, Shell.
• Lost wax technique
• Ship building Industry: Lothal & Dholavira
• Knew the use of weights & Measures.
• A shell scale at Mohenjodaro & a bronze scale at Harappa have been
discovered.
• They had the knowledge of decimal system.
• The smallest weight in this series is 0.856 grams and the most common weight
is approximately 13.7 grams, which is in the 16th ratio.
• Stone weights were made of CHERT. Lower denomination of weights was
Binary, while higher denominations followed Decimal system.
 Trade:
• Barter system, Internal trade & International trade.
• Internal : Carts, bullock carts. External : Boats & Ships.
• International trade: Mesopotamia (Sumerians).
• Seals belong to Sumerians found in Indus valley sites. On few seals Sumerians
have written a word called “Sind Melluha”

Imports:
• (a) Copper ---- Khetri (RJ) & Oman. (b) Gold ---- Karnataka. (c) Silver & Tin ----
Iran & Afghan
• (d) Precious stones ---- GJ, Iran, Afghan, & Baluchistan (e) Shells & Conch ----
Saurashtra

Site Excavator River Region Findings

Harappa Dayaram Raavi PB province 6 pairs of
Sahani – Pak Granaries,
1921 Wooden
coffin, Bronze
Bullock cart,
Bronze mirror
Mohenjodaro(Mound R. D Indus Sindh Great granary,
of Dead, Sindhi) Banarjee Province Great bath,
1922 Bronze image
of dancing
girl(Tribhanga
style), Cloth
pieces, Beard
man head
(Steatite),
Bronze
measuring
scale, Bronze
 Saw, Copper
sword,
Pahllus(Lingas),
Mesopotamia
seals, 7 times
flooded
Chanhudaro Majumdar- Indus Sindh Craft (Bead)
1931 province industrial
center, No
citadel, Ink
pot, Lipstick,
Bronze bullock
cart
Lothal (Mound of S.R. Rao – Bogavo Gujarat Dockyard,
Dead, Gujarati) 1985 (Sabarmati 2bodies in a
tributary) single burial,
Fire alters,
Perfume
bottles,
Windows
facing towards
street, Beads
made from
gold, Copper
bangles,
measuring
scale made
from Ivory,
Seals having
ship image

Kalibangan B.B Lal – Ghaggar R.J 7 Fire alters,

1961 First Industrial
city, Animal
sacrifice

Dholavira J.P. Joshi - Luni river Gujarat Reservoirs to

(UNESCO world 1968 & (GJ). Tropic the East &
Heritage site) R.D.Bhist – of Cancer. South of the
1990. Citadel.
External trade
with Magan
(Oman
 peninsula) &
Mesopotamia,
2 multipurpose
grounds(one
for festival &
other one for
market), 9
gates with
unique
designs,
Buddhist stupa
like structure.

Art & Craft:

• Bronze Casting: lost wax technique widely used
• Bronze casting was popular at all the major centres.
• (a)Copper dog & Bird ---- Lothal, (b)bronze figure of a bull ---- Kalibangan
• (c) Dancing girl ---- Mohenjodaro
• (B) Terracotta:
• mother goddess, bearded males, toy carts with wheels, birds and animals.

(C) Seals :
• Thousands of seals, mostly made of steatite, and occasionally of agate, chert,
copper, faience and terracotta,
• figures of animals, such as unicorn bull, rhinoceros, tiger, elephant, bison,
goat, buffalo, etc.
• The purpose of producing seals was mainly commercial. It appears that the
seals were also used as amulets & as well as modern-day identity cards.
• The standard Harappan seal was a square plaque 2×2 square inches, made
from steatite & contains pictographic script.
• Some seals have also been found in ivory
 • Examples for seals: Unicorn seal, Pashupati seal etc

(D)Beads and Ornaments:

• The bead industry was well developed. Factories discovered at Chanhudaro
and Lothal.
• Beads were made of carnelian, amethyst, jasper, crystal, quartz, steatite,
turquoise, lapis lazuli, etc.
• Metals like copper, bronze and gold, and shell, faience and terracotta or burnt
clay were also used for manufacturing beads

Exceptions & Specialties:

• Banawali: Not in Grid pattern & no drainage system, Terracotta of Plough,
seals with the image of hunting tiger.
• Nageshwar & Balakot were near the coast & these were the center for making
shell objects.
• Kotada Bhadli : Found evidences of Animal husbandry
• Cinnabar was used as a cosmetic and face-paint. collyrium (eyeliner) were also
known to them.

5 Largest cities of IVC :

1. Mohenjo daro, 2. Ganweriwala 3. Harappa 4. Rakhigari 5.Dholavira
• First 3 are in Pakistan

Decline:
• Around 1500 BCE Declined & perished.
• No proper evidences (reasons) for its decline.
• Wheeler : Invasion of Aryans
• Service : Natural disaster
• Some Scholars :Decline of trade
• Some other Scholars : Flooding, change in the course of the river etc…