Class: 9 (A/B/C)

Subject: History

Chapter: 1: The Harappan Civilisation.

Topics:

1. Sources of information about the Harappan Civilisation: Great Bath, Citadel,

Seals, Bearded Man, Dancing Girl, Dockyard and Script.
2. Origin.
3. Extent.
4. Urban Planning – Features.
5. Trade.
6. Art & Craft.
7. Decline of the Civilisation – Causes.

Introduction:

The Indus Valley Civilisation is also known as the Harappan Civilisation. It flourished in the
Bronze Age from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, around the same time as the Mesopotamian and the
Egyptian civilisations. It spread across the north – western region of the Indian subcontinent,
thriving particularly around the basin of the river Indus which gives this civilisation its name.
it is the largest known ancient urban civilisation, about twelve times bigger than the Egyptian
and the Mesopotamian civilisations in terms of area.

By about 2500 BC, four Bronze age Civilisations (because of the importance of bronze in the
growth of the first civilisations, these civilisations are known as the Bronze Age Civilisations)
emerged. These were:

• the Harappan Civilization in northern and western parts of India and Pakistan;
• the Mesopotamian Civilisation on the banks of river Euphrates and Tigris in modern
Iraq;
• the Chinese Civilisation in the valley of Hwang Ho and Yangtze rivers; and
• the Egyptian Civilisation on the banks of Nile river in Egypt.

Important facts:

• The discovery of Indus Valley Civilisation in the 20th Century was an important event
in the history of India.
• Dayaram Sahni, an Indian officer in the Archaeological Survey of India dug and
explored the ruins in Harappa in 1921.
• As Harappa was the first site to be excavated, the civilisation came to be known as the
Harappan Civilisation.
• In 1922, Rakhaldas Banerjee, a team member, was informed by a Buddhist monk that
there was a mound which needed to be excavated because he believed that it was a
Buddhist stupa. While digging, Rakhaldas Banerjee came across many unusual objects
in the ruins. This is how Mohenjo – daro, meaning ‘mound of the dead’, was discovered.

1. Sources of information about this Civilisation :

• The Great Bath :

It is one of the largest and most significant structures in Mohejo – daro. This
structure has several distinctive architectural features which are as follows:

a. The great Bath was measuring 108X180ft, with a bathing pool 30ft long,
28ft wide and 8ft deep.
b. The Great Bath has a large rectangular tank in a courtyard surrounded
by a corridor on all four sides.
c. There are two flights of steps one in the north and the other in the south
leading into the tank.
d. To make the pool watertight, burnt bricks and mortar lined with bitumen
and gypsum were used for construction.
e. The water for the bath was provided by a well in an adjacent room.
f. Surrounding the bath, were porticos and sets of rooms, and a stairway
which led to an upper storey.
g. Some scholars believe that these rooms were provided for the members
of some kind of priesthood, whereas others think that rooms were
provided for changing clothes.

This important source of information throws light on the life of the people
and culture of the Harappan Civilisation which can be summarised in the
following points:

• Its construction indicates high degree of perfection of the art of

building at that time.
• The massive structure also indicates the possibility of the existence
of a ruling class that could build such a structure for the public.
• It might have been used for religious purposes which indicates the
importance attached to ceremonial bathing in sacred tanks, pools and
rivers since time immemorial.
• The design of the Great Bath portrays the efficient planning in the
structural features relating to water supply and sewage disposal.

The Citadel:
• The raised area of a city was called the Citadel which owed its height
to the buildings constructed on mud brick platforms.
 • The Citadel had the houses of the ruling class and important public
buildings like the Great Bath, the granary, the assembly hall and the
workshops.
• It indicates the development of cities with elaborate urban planning.
• The presence of specific buildings and houses of the ruling class,
indicate some sort of social classification.

Seals:
• Harappan seals provide useful information about the script, trade,
religion and beliefs of the Harappans.
• More than 2,000 seals of different types have been discovered from
the various sites.
• Most of the seals are rectangular or square in shape but some are
circular also.
• They are usually made of terracotta, steatite, agate, etc.
• The Unicorn seal shows their mythical beliefs.
• Seals of Pashupati show that people believed in Shiva. It is shown
as a three- faced deity wearing a buffalo – horned head dress, seated
cross- legged on a throne and surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, a
buffalo and a rhinoceros, with two deer at his feet. This deity has
been identified as Pashupati Mahadeva.
• The seals were used by traders to stamp their goods which indicates
that the Harappan trade had spread over a vast area.
• Probably seals were also used as amulets, carried on the persons of
their owners, as modern – day identity cards.

Bearded Man:
• The stone sculpture of a man with a beard and having a shawl worn
over the left shoulder and eyes half – closed, is believed to be a statue
of a yogi.
• It was discovered from Mohenjo - daro.
• This sculpture is of high artistic value and indicates the existence of
skilled artisans in the Harappan Civilisation.

Dancing Girl:

• The bronze statue of a dancing girl was made in lost-wax casting process.
• It was found at Mohenjo- daro.
• The right arm of the dancing girl rests on the hip and the left arm is heavily bangled. It
holds a small bowl against her left leg.
 • It shows a high degree of development in the art of sculpture.
• This figure shows vigour, variety and ingenuity.
• This statue is a cultural artefact reflecting the aesthetics of a female body as
conceptualised during that historical period.

Dockyard:

• The most famous dockyard of the Civilisation was discovered at Lothal in Gujarat.
• It was the largest man - made dockyard during that time.
• This rectangular dockyard was surrounded by a massive brick wall, probably as a
protection against flood.
• It was connected by channels that led to the Gulf of Cambay.
• This was an important trading and manufacturing centre of the Civilisation and was
used for carrying out overseas trade.
• It testifies the hydraulic knowledge of the Harappans as the boats could dock at Lothal.
Script:

• The Harappans used pictographic script since its signs represent birds, fish and varieties
of human form.
• The number of signs of Harappan script is known to be between 375 and 400.
• It is found to be inscribed on a number of seals, copper tools, rims of jars, copper and
terracotta tablets, jewellery and on ancient signboard, etc.
• The Harappan script has not yet been deciphered.

Origin: Please prepare this topic from your textbook.

Extent of the Harappan Civilsation:

The centre of the Harappan Civilisation was in Sind and Punjab of undivided India.
With them at the centre, the civilisation had spread outwards in all directions. The
civilisation covered the following areas of the Indian subcontinent:
➢ In the West, South Baluchistan at Suktagendor can be called its western border.
➢ In the East, Alamgirpur in Uttar Pradesh (in the current district of Meerut) can
be called its eastern border.
➢ In the North, it extended up to Manda in Jammu and Kashmir.
➢ In the South, it extended up to Bhagatrav in the Narmada Estuary of Gujarat.
➢ The Harappan Civilisation covered parts of present – day Punjab, Haryana,
Gujarat, Rajasthan and Western Uttar Pradesh in India.
➢ In Pakistan, it covered present – day Sindh and Baluchistan.
➢ Some of the important centres of the civilisation were – Banawali, Kalibangan,
Lothal, Rangpur, Rupar, Alamgirpur, Manda, Chanhudaro and Dholavira.
Features of Urban planning :

a. Characteristics of town planning

b. Monumental Architecture

a. Important Harappan Cities:

• Harappa in Montgomery district of Punjab.
• Mohenjo-daro in Larkana district of Sindh.
• A third city lies at Chanhudaro, about 130 km south of Mohenjo-daro.
• The fourth city is at Lothal in Gujarat.
• The fifth city lies at Kalibangan in northern Rajasthan.
• The sixth city called Banawali is situated in Hissar district in Harayana.
• Some other important cities were Sutkagendor, Surkotada, etc.

b. Characteristics of town planning :

• Each city was divided into two parts - the Citadel, the raised area and the lower town.
Citadel was separated from lower town by a wall and important buildings like the Great
Bath, granaries, etc. were located here. The lower town had the residential buildings
where the people lived and worked.

• The main streets followed the grid pattern running from north to south or from east to
west.

• The houses at street corners were rounded to allow carts to pass easily.

• House drains emptied all waste water into the street drains.

• The streets crossed the main road at right angles, dividing the city into square or
rectangular blocks.

Houses:

• The dwelling houses were situated on either side of the streets. They were built on high
mound in order to protect them from floods and their foundations were deep.

• There existed different size of houses, from single room up to twelve rooms big houses
comprised of courtyards, private wells and toilets. Each house had covered drains
connected with street drains.

• The kitchen was placed in a sheltered corner of the courtyard.

• Ground contained storerooms and well chambers.

• They were made of burnt bricks of higher quality.

• Each house had doors, windows and ventilators.

➢ Architecture: The contribution of the Harappans to architecture is evident from

the two magnificent public buildings – the Great Bath and the granaries.

❖ The Great Bath: (already explained above).

❖ Granaries :

• The granaries were found at four different sites: Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Lothal,
Kalibangan.

• Two rows of six granaries each found at Harappa having working floors consisting of
rows of circular brick platforms, meant for thrashing grain because wheat and barley
grains were found in the crevices of the floors.

• Two roomed barracks for the accommodation of labourers have also been found.

• Its location near river Ravi suggests that food grains were brought to this place by boat.

• It was built on a raised platform to protect it from floods.

• It had ventilation to prevent grains from becoming mildewed.

❖ TRADE:

➢ The Harappans had a highly developed trade system. They shared trade relations
with other parts of India as well as many other countries.
➢ Trading activities were carried out both internally as well as externally.
➢ Harapaa, Mohenjodaro and Lothal were centres for metallurgy.
➢ Lothal and Chanhudaro were places where beads were manufactured.
➢ External trade was carried on extensively. It is evident from the Harappan artefacts
and seals that have been unearthed in other parts of the world. Mesopotamian
evidences indicate that the trade relationships existed between them and the
Harappans sometime around 2350BCE.
➢ Lothal was an important trading coastal town from where trade with Mesopotamia
and other West Asian cities was carried out.
➢ Gold was imported from Karnataka and Afghanistan. Copper was mainly imported
from Rajasthan and South India.
➢ Evidences prove that the Barter System was the most popular method of trade.
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES:
➢ Use of regulated weights of measures was prevalent as many stone weights were
discovered.
➢ Sets of stone weights were used for measurement by the Harappans.
➢ The smallest unit was 16, which is around 14gm and the larger weights were all
multiples of 16.

TRANSPORT:
➢ The model of a terracotta ship was discovered at the Lothal dockyard.
➢ Lothal’s dockyard is the world’s earliest known dock.
➢ Boats were also used for ferry goods.
➢ For internal travel, there is enough evidence from terracotta models of bullock carts.

ARTS AND CRAFTS:

➢ The artistic skills of the Harappans are reflected in some of the pieces of art found
in the excavations such as stone statues, seals and terracotta like:
Dancing Girl, Bearded Man and terracotta figures (toys, Mother Goddess).

Occupation and livelihood:

➢ The main occupation of the Harappan people was agriculture. Evidences suggest
that it was a prosperous civilisation. Hence, people had adequate time to engage
into other activities like craft making some of the widely practised art forms were:
1. Metal Work: metals such as copper and bronze were used to make vessels, ornaments,
figurines, tools and weapons.
2. Beads and Ornaments: precious metals and stone such as carnelian, agate and jasper
were used to make beads which were used in jewellery. Ornaments like necklaces,
nose rings, head dress and finger rings were worn both by men and women.

OTHER CRAFTS:
➢ These included pottery making, spinning, carving and weaving.
➢ Many seals have been found with engravings of bull, elephants and unicorns.
➢ They even painted pottery with different colours and made geometrical patterns on
it.

❖ Different causes for decline of the Harappan Civilisation (around 1800 B.C.):

Some of the likely causes for the decline are as follows :

• Aryan invasion:
According to this theory, the Aryan invasion was the chief reason behind the decline of the
Harappan Civilisation. The discovery of human skeletons huddled together at Mohenjo-daro,
belonging to a later phase, indicate that it was probably invaded by foreigners. We also have
evidence of further strengthening of defences at Harappa in the later period and of an alien
culture immediately overtaking the Indus one at some places such as Harappa and Chanhudaro.

• Natural calamities:

Natural calamities like floods (Mohenjo-daro and Chanhudaro), drying up of rivers

(Kalibangan and Banawali), decreasing fertility due to excessive exploitation,
deforestation (due to incessant consumption of firewood) leading to the extension of
desert and occasional earthquakes, etc., have been held to be more responsible for the
decline of the Harappan Civilisation than the Aryan invasion.

• Decline of trade:
According to some scholars, the decline of trade, particularly oceanic trade with the
Sumerians, must have contributed partly to the decline of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Conclusion:

Cultural heritage of the Civilisation: The decline of the Harappan Civilisation did not lead
to the total disappearance of all its traits. Many of its features were found in the later cultural
development which are as follows:

1. The Harappan way of making baked pottery, bricks, beads, jewellery, textiles,
etc. was adopted by the later Civilisations.
2. One of the most remarkable achievements of the Harappan people was the
cultivation of cotton, which was adopted by the Egyptians after several
centuries.
3. In the religious sphere, the worship of Pashupati Shiva, female deity as Mother
Goddess, sacred trees, animals, serpents, religious symbols, etc. which were
prevalent during the Harappan period, some of them have continued to this day.
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