indus valley civilization

INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION(2500BC -1750BC)

This is also known as Harappa civilization.The oldest name — Indus Valley Civilization  

In 1921; Dayaram Shani and India Archaeologists found a numbers of seals from the village Indus  Next year in Indus valley civilization 1922 a huge city was drag out hidden under the sands and bridges of Harappa.   The same year, R D  Banarjee mode siliar drag out Mohenjodaro in Sindh. 

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The Harappa culture was spread over Afghanistan, Sindh,Jammu almost the whole of Punjab, North Rajasthan and Gujarat  

Scholars generally believe that the harappa, Kalinga , Mohanjodaro excess repressed the heartland of the Indus valley civilization  

Recent, Carbon-14 dating indicate the period at the mature Indus valley civilization to be form 2500BC - 1750BC  

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● JOHN MARSHALL was the first scholar to use the term “Indus Civilization”  The Indus valley Civilization belongs to Porto-Historic Period (Chalocolithic Age/ Bronze Age). 

● The Indus valley civilization was spread over Sindh, Punjab ,Haryana, Rajasthan , Gujarat, Western U P  etc  

1. The Northern most site of Indus Civilization —Roper (Sutlej) / Punjab (Earlier); Manda (Chenab)/Jam mu-Kashmir (Now)  

2. The Southern most site of Indus Civilization -— Bhagatrav (Kim)/ Gujarat (Earlier); Daimabad (Pravara) /  Maharashtra (Now)  

3. The Eastern most site of Indus Civilization -— Sutkagendor (Dashk) / Makran Coast ( Pakistan - Iran Border )  

● Capital cities - Harappa , Mohanjodaro  

● Port Cities- Lothal, Sutkagendor, Allahdino , Balakot, Kuntasi  

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SOURCES OF HARAPPA CULTURE:

Main source of the harappa culture are the archaeological evidences these include the buildings , pottery , toys, weight and measures , Ornaments and tools  

•SITES OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION: 

Sources of the major sites other than Mohanjodaro and Harappa where the harappa had been founded are  : 

1. Lothal in Gujarat

2. Kalibanga in Hanumangarh

3. Ropar in Punjab

4. Alamgirpur in UttarPradesh

5. Banwari in Haryana 

6. Kotaliji in Pakistan

 --COMMON FEATURES OF MAJOR CITIES : 

● Town Planning: 

Harappa people had an excellent skill in Town planning ,Streets, and lanes of their town according to a set plane  

These were straight and cut each other at right angle  The roads were wide enough the streets were covered with the bricks and there were covered grains under them   There were land ports at regular distance  

Systematic town planning on the lines of ‘ Grid System’  Use of burnt bricks in construction  

● Drainage System: 

Mohanjodaro rothal at other cities are known to have a good drainage system  House drains empty into the main drains  The main drains run under the main streets  

Inspection main holes were provided at regular distance  Water supply was also good  

Underground Drainage system (giant water reservoir in Dholavira)  

● Building and Houses :

The people of the Indus valley civilization made three categories of buildings:

1. The large Building

2. Public bath

3. People's residence houses 

—The cities of Mohanjodaro and Harappa were divided into two parts: 

● Part1.of the city was made on a raised ground and it was called ‘Citadels’(forts)  

● Part2. made up lower layer  The fort had large public buildings on it, these include the workshops,assembly halls, factories  

There were three social group of the people in the Indus valley civilization, the first was the group of rolling people; who lived in the citadel area 

The second social group consisted or rich merchants and other noble man who lived in the lower city  

SOCIAL ECONOMIC LIFE OF THE PEOPLE:  

1. Dress and Ornaments:

 Harappa people were first in the world to spin cotton and woollen yarn  Needless and Buttons have also been found there  It means that people of the indus valley civilization knew the art of weaving and stitching 

 - Men and women both rich and poor wear ornaments like necklace, armlets,fillets,were common to both men and women  Women also wear earrings , nose-ring, bangles, bracelets 

-These ornaments were made of Gold , silver, Cu, and precious and precious stones were also used in making jewellery  

2. Food: 

The people of the Indus valley civilization ate wheat ,barley  They ground these in meal stones and pack them into breads  Rice too was a part of their food  

- Besides these milk products , fruits , and meat , vegetables, fish were also taken by them as item as their food  

3. Occupation: 

Agriculture was the most important occupation of the Harappa people  There fields were near the rivers  They made small dams, channels, and embankments to control the supply of water  

Domestication of animals was another occupation of the people ; Bulls, sheep , pig , goat, buffaloes,elephants, were domestication etc  There were carpenter , Gold smith, potters , toys , tool-making are the differ types of occupation there were studied in the Indus valley civilization  

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4. Play and Measurement: 

A large no  of dice has been found from under the earth  These show that grumbling was the favorite game of these people   They were also fond of Music and dance  Besides these, hunting ,keeping pet animals or birds , enjoying bull fighting  

A large no  of toys and cloths have been drag out   

The children toys including whistle, toy cart, marbles , rattles  These toy were mostly made of terracotta and bagged clay  

5  Religion of Indus valley Civilization: 

A common figure discovered is of the female somewhat similar shakti on the mother goddess  They regarded her as the sources of all power and creation  Similarly a figure of a male god made on a small stone has been found  

It is a three face god like a shiv on Pashupati of Hinduism  So the people of the harappa had worshiped shakti and shiv  

The BANYAN TREE was also worshiped  

6. Art of Writing : 

The harappa people used the PICTOGRAPHY SCRIPT for writing  But their script still and a mystery fir scholars  Their script had 62 basic signs in the beginning but in the later Harappa period  

These signs were reduced to 22.. 

NOTE: The oldest script in Indian subcontinent is the harappa script, but the oldest deciphered script is bhrami script known from about 5th century BC  Most later Indian script developed from Brahmi  

● Steatite was mainly in the manufacture of seals   

● Humpless bull is represented in most of the Indian seals   

● Inhumation or complete burial was the most common method of disposal of the dead  

● The origin of the ‘Swastika’ symbol can be traced to the Indus valley Civilization  

● ‘Indra’ is accused to causing the decline of the Indus valley civilization  

● Contemporary civilizations of the Indus Civilization- MESOPOTAMIA , EGYPT, and CHINA