The assignment “INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION”
it gives us great information about ancient history,
the assignment framed accordance with new
sources and information prescribed by the
historians and university of 1st B.A for the year
2010-11
Features of assignment
 New sources with complete information
presented by historians.
 Captured pictures.
 High resolution with new technologies.
 Launching of assignment
site[www.anujaiho.wordpress.com]
 Photo gallery.
 Video gallery.
 Other sources from websites.
Finally I thankfully to my parents, jaiho group,
R.C MAJUMDAR [advance history of India],
websites, prof. B.R parineetha, Prof.Manjunath
[dept of history], hitaishi infosystems and
technologies [S.Y nagar b’lore58] for guideline
to this project
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Archaeologists discovered two 4000 year old cities lying 400 meters away
from each other on the bank of the River Indus. Harappa is one of the
largest and most important cities of the Indus Civilization. It is one of the
best known sites in Pakistan and is located on the bank of the Ravi River
in Punjab Province. It is believed that this city was occupied around 3300
and 1500 BC and covers an area of 250 acres. Like Mohenjodaro, several
well built structures displaying great architectural skills have been
discovered at Harappa. These include the remains of a citadel, a granary
and some cemeteries. The people of Harappa lived in strong brick houses
that were often up to three stories high and the city also had an excellent
drainage system. The entire city plan is proof of the fact that the people
who lived here were civilized and lived in a proper societal setup.
The Harappa civilization was basically urban and the society consisted of
many traders who traded with southern India and afghanisthan
EXCAVATION OF CIVILIZATION
>In 1856, British engineers John and William Brunton were laying the East Indian Railway
Company line connecting the cities of Karachi and Lahore.." They came to know ancient
ruined city near the lines, called Brahmin bad. Visiting the city, he found it full of hard wellburnt bricks, and "convinced that there was a grand quarry” A few months later, further
north, John's brother William Brunton's "section of the line ran near another ruined city,
bricks from which had already been used by villagers in the nearby village of Harappa at the
same site. These bricks now provided ballast along 93 miles (150 km) of the railroad track
running from Karachi to Lahore."
I>n 1872–75 Alexander Cunningham published the first Harappa seal (with an
erroneous identification as Brahmi letters). It was half a century
later, in 1912, that more Harappa seals were discovered by J.
Fleet, prompting an excavation campaign under Sir John Hubert
Marshall in 1921–22 and resulting in the discovery of the
civilization at Harappa by Sir John Marshall, Rai Bahadur Daya
ALEXANDER
Ram Sahni and Madho Sarup Vats, and at Mohenjo-daro by
CUNNINGHAM
Rakhal Das Banerjee, E. J. H. MacKay, and Sir John Marshall. By
1931, much of Mohenjo-Daro had been excavated, but excavations continued,
such as that led by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, director of the Archaeological Survey
of India in 1944. Among other archaeologists who worked on IVC sites before
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the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 were Ahmad Hasan Dani, Brij Basi Lal,
Gopal Majumdar, and Sir Marc Aurel Stein.
Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1949, archaeological adviser to the Government of
Pakistan. Outposts of the Indus Valley civilization were excavated as far west as
Sutkagan Dor in Baluchistan, as far north as at Shortugai on the Amudarya or
Oxus River in current Afghanistan.
RAJARAM and JHA
Excavated an Indus Valley “horse” seal as evidence that the Indus people used horses, an
animal commonly mentioned in the Vedas, the ancient Indian texts dating to the And
millennium BC – over 2,000 years later than the earliest dated Indus Valley seals But no
images of horses were found in the Indus Valley excavations, until Rajaram and Jha
produced their horse seal.
Witzel proved that the horse seal a broken “unicorn bull” seal. The fake horse seal was an
imaginary creation to fill the gap between the Harappa and Vedic cultures.
The incessant efforts of the archaeologists have contributed to the excavations
in more than 150 Harappa sites. Among them the noteworthy site have been
manda (1979-80) in Jammu Kashmir; rupar (1955-56) in Punjab; kalibangan
(1961-69) in rajasthan; Alamgirpur in Uttar Pradesh; Lothal; rangpur and
dholavira (1990-91) in ahmedabad; surrendranagar and kutch district of Gujarat;
banawali, daulatapur, and miththal in hissar and kurukshetra districts of
Haryana; debaskus and surkotda (1972) also in kutch districts diamabad in
ahmedanagar district of maharashtra
SOURCRES TO STUDY INDUS CIVILIZATION
>no literary sources.
>Indus civilization studying according to archaeological sources.
>historians like Mortimer wheeler, manjundhar, machay, tripati, D.N.jha are
gave sources about Indus valley civilization.
>1,400 sites are been found in Indus valley civilization.
-980 places in India.
-481 places in pakisthan.
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>Excavation of houses, granaries, labourers apartments, bullock cart, Great
bath, wells, dancing girl , bronze girl, seals etc...
EXTENT The Indus Valley Civilization encompassed most of Pakistan,
extending from Baluchistan to Sindh, and extending into modern day Indian
states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, with an upward reach to
Rupar on the upper Sutlej. The geography of the Indus Valley put the
civilizations that arose there in a highly similar situation to those in Egypt and
Peru, with rich agricultural lands being surrounded by highlands, desert, and
ocean. Indus sites have been discovered in Pakistan's north western Frontier
Province as well. Other IVC colonies can be found in Afghanistan while smaller
isolated colonies can be found as far away as Turkmenistan and in Gujarat.
Coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor in Western Baluchistan to
Lothal in Gujarat. An Indus Valley site has been found on the Oxus River at
Shortugai in northern Afghanistan, in the Gomel River valley in northwestern
Pakistan on the Beas River near Jammu, India, and at Alamgirpur on the Hindon
River, only 28 km from Delhi. Indus Valley sites have been found most often on
rivers, but also on ancient seacoast
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CITIES
A technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley
Civilization making them the first urban centers in the region. The quality of
municipal town planning suggests the knowledge of urban planning and efficient
municipal governments which placed a high priority alternately, accessibility to
the means of religious ritual.
As seen in Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and the recently partially excavated
Rakhigarhi, this urban plan included the world's first known urban sanitation
systems. Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water
from wells. From a room that appears to have been set aside for bathing, waste
water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets. Houses
opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes. The house-building in some
villages in the region still resembles in some respects the house-building of the
Harappans.
Harappa and Mohenjodaro were the two major sites of Indus
valley civilization
>Mohenjodaro-which means “mound of dead” in Sindhi language
Mohenjodaro situated in the larkana district of the sindh (pakisthan) it
is in the bank of river Indus.
>Harappa-Harappa is situated on the banks of the river Ravi in
Montgomery district of Punjab and nearly 100 miles from Lahore in
Pakistan.
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>Lothal-Lothal is situated in the coastal line of Gujarat near south of
Ahmedabad.
>kalibangan-it is in rajasthan.
Other sites of Indus valley civilization





Rupar-Punjab
Rangpur and dholavira-ahmedabad
Banawali and daulatapur-Haryana.
Diamabad-maharashtra.
Alamgirpur-Uttar Pradesh.
TOWN PLANING
The excavation of the Indus valley sites indicates the urban character
of civilization. The Indus valley sites were well planned both Harappa
and Mohenjodaro were strongly defended citadels with high towers
and fortifications. There were buildings which must have existed over a
period of 700 years the chief feature of the Indus valley civilization was
the buildings of very well planned towns.
STREETS
All the Indus valley streets run towards north to south because
it may be source of sunlight. The streets were 13 ½ feet to nearly 3 ½
feet In breadth. The lanes were only 9 feet in breadth. There was a 11
meters broad road in Mohenjodaro which must been the “royal path”
Features of streets Construction of well in each end of streets.
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 We can find a dust bins in every streets.
 They used street lamps in night time on every street.
 And also a incharger of every streets. They used a commercial
nature in night time.
 Every street had easy flow of water drainage systems.
 Every street is made up of baked bricks, terracotta tiles, glazed
ceramic, and semiprecious stones.
BRICKS
Brick sizes were in a perfect ratio of 4:2:1 and the decimal system were used.
Weights were based on units of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200,
and 500, with each unit weighing approximately 280 grams, similar to the
English ounce or Greek uncial, and smaller objects were weighed in similar
ratios with the units of 0.871
.
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HOUSES
Every houses have a space of 1-2 feet because the problem of floods. To control
of dust, Houses are not facing towards streets. We have discovered rich houses
and poor houses. In every rich house we can find the well and every houses had a
2-3Bedrooms, kitchen, windows and toilets. They covered roof from woods and
every houses constructed from baked bricks.
Granaries
The Indus Valley Civilization was the large granary that existed. As a structure it
is particularly impressive, running 150 feet
long, 75 feet wide and 15 feet high. This gave
the granary an astounding 168,750 cubic feet of
space. The granary was divided into 27
compartments in three rows. The granary was
well ventilated and it was possible to fill grain
in from outside. The large size of the granary
probably indicates a highly developed
agricultural civilization
Great Bath
The city of Mohenjo-Daro possessed an amazing structure known as the Great
Bath. The entire structure is about 179 feet long and 107 feet wide. The complex
has a large quadrangle in the centre with galleries and rooms, ash mounds on all
sides. In the centre of this quadrangle there is a large swimming enclosure that is
39 feet long, 23 feet wide and 8 feet deep. The entire complex is connected to an
elaborate water supply and sewer system. The Great Bath was probably used for
religious or ritualistic purposes.
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Some of the historians gave a theory on great bath some of them are
 It is the place of entertainment.
 Indus valley peoples were facing the problem of floods so they
were learning the swimming in this place.
 Ash mounds were so it is called as spiritual place.
 Some of the animals skeleton have been found so Indus valley
peoples were used this place to sacrifice of animals.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
At Harappa, three important groups of structures have been identified.
They have been identified as workmen’s quarters. It appears that a lot
of planning had gone into the construction of these buildings. Close to
the citadel were the workmen’s quarters of Harappa were two rows of
small dwellings consisting of totally 16 cottages have been found. Each
block was enclosed within a compound occupying an area of 56 ft by
24ft furnaces have also been found but the purpose for which they are
constructed unknown. Moreover, 17circular brick platforms about 10
feet in diameter with a heavy wood mortar have been found. It
appears to have been used as pestle grind flour, as it is done in Kashmir
or some other parts of the country. Moreover fragments of straw and
husk have also been found.
DRAINAGE SYSTEM
Every house had a drainage system which was constructed on the
street side of building in order dispose water easily. The walls of the
bathroom closely line of bricks so there is no chance of leakage of
water the drainage system in which pottery pipes and stoneware pipes
Were also used. These were fitted both vertically and horizontally. The
pipes of the drains varied from 9 inches width 12 inches depth and
somewhere double in size.
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TRADE
The Indus civilization's economy appears to have depended significantly on
trade, which was facilitated by major advances in transport technology. These
advances included bullock-driven carts that are identical to those seen throughout
South Asia today, as well as boats. Most of these boats were probably small, flatbottomed craft, perhaps driven by sail, similar to those one can see on the Indus
River today; however, there is secondary evidence of sea-going craft.
Archaeologists have discovered a massive, dredged canal and docking facility at
the coastal city of Lothal.
Judging from the dispersal of Indus civilization artifacts, the trade networks,
economically, integrated a huge area, including portions of Afghanistan, the
coastal regions of Persia, northern and central India, and Mesopotamia
SEALS
The seals are made up of terracotta. This is an important source we can
find 2,500 type’s seals have been found. On every seals Animals,
symbols, human figures etc can be found. Some seals give information
about religious activities like humped bull and some seals found in
Mesopotamia civilization
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DRESS AND ORNAMENTS
Both men and women were fond of dress and ornaments. They used
necklaces, finger rings, bangles and armlets. But women alone used
nose studs, earrings, anklets, and girdles. The ornaments are made up
of precious stone, ivory, copper etc and poor people ornaments made
up of bones, shells, and terracotta.
He Indus valley people used cotton and woollen; fabric works dress
was very simple. Both men and women oiled their hair in a knot on the
head. Hair curlers, hairpins and combs h ave been discovered.
ART AND ARCHITECTURE
Vessels of copper, bronze, silver, and porcelain were known to the
people. A large number of bowls, cups, saucers, basins, pans, jars,
goblets, vases etc have been found. Iron was unknown to the people.
Axes, chisels, knives, sickles, fish hooks and sawn made of copper and
bronze and large number of toys carts and figures of men and women
Have been found in abundance.
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FOOD
Using both vegetarian and non veg. the most of crops were using like
barley, peanuts, vegetables, dry food and fruits.
SOCIAL CONDITION
According historians they are four types of divisions namely



Priest class-rich people
Noble class- security, watching forts etc..
Business class-trade and commercial activities.
Labour class.
CAUSES FOR DECLINE
 The decline of Harappans culture is difficult to explain. During its
late phase between 2000 and 1700 BC 'The Indus Valley Civilization
as a distinct entity gradually ceased to exist'. Historians have
different opinions regarding the causes of the decay and
disappearance of the Harappans culture. Various causes have been
ascribed for its weakening and then decay: Increase in
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rainfall, earthquake, decrease in fertility of soil, floods,
Aryan invasion, disease etc.
 Mortimer Wheeler pointed out that the Harappans culture
was destroyed by the Aryans. The Aryans were more skilled
at warfare and were powerful than the Harappans. In the
last phase of Mohenjodaro, men and women and children
were massacred in the streets and houses. But there is very
little evidence on this opinion.
 Sir John Marshal, Lambrick and E.J.H Mackay suggest that
the decline of the Harappans civilization was mainly due to
the vagaries of the Indus River. But this theory is partly
true. Some of the evidence of the devastation by floods has
been found at Mohenjodaro and Lothal but there is no such
evidence in respect of other sites like Kalibangan.
 Some historians suggest that the first urban civilization
came to an end around 1700 BC because its numerous
small settlements grew beyond their natural limits leading
to the mismanagement of natural resources. Although the
theory of ecological factors for the decline of the Harappan
civilization is latest yet it does not give us complete answer.
Historians are of the view that the decline of the Indus
Civilization was not the result of a single event; it was a
slow decline and a result of combination of factors.
CONCLUSION
Indus valley civilization it is the backbone of Indian history.
Harappans were well cultured people when we observe the
sources of Harappa it shows the well developed things like
drainage systems, baked bricks, priest man etc, Harappans
were failed in literary sources but they are well developed in
archaeological sources.
In the decline of Harappa civilization there is no perfect
reason. But historians point out the different reasons, according
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to me Harappans were failed to face the problem of Indus
region like floods, deforestation and other reasons so they
moved to other places
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