Ancient Indian History Part 2 – Indus Valley Civilization

• In 1 921, archaeologists found out that it was the ancient city of India.
• Harappa in Sindhi means ‘Buried City’.
• This civilization flourished in India about 4700 years ago.

The Great Bath:

• The most important structure found in the citadel was the Great Bath.
• There were steps on both the sides of the pool
• There were rooms on all the sides of the pool for changing clothes.
• Fed by water from a well and the dirty water was emptied by a huge drain.

Buildings:

• Houses were built in grid system
• Houses which had two rooms
• Multi-storeyed houses, public hall, granary and public buildings built out of bricks.
• No windows in the houses.
• They had a well and a bathroom.
• There were dustbins in front of the houses

Town Planning:

• The northern part of the town was narrow and elevated.
• The excavators considered that those were constructed on the security basis.
• The eastern side was broad and lowered

Applied Science

• The science and technology such as construction
• Selections of lands
• Measurement of plots
• Foundation, selection of quality building materials & Geometrical figures were in use

Drainage system:

• The drains from the houses were covered.
• They ran along the sides of the streets which were connected to the street drains.
• They had manholes at regular intervals for cleaning

Administration:

• The public drainage system
• The Great Bath
• The public hall
• The street lights
• The provisions of dustbins show that the administrative system was well organized.

Handicrafts:

• There would have been workers like
• Document writers,
• Seal maker
• Carpenters
• Doll makers
• Masons and other artisans
• Dolls made out of terracotta
• They used copper and bronze to make weapons
• Weights were made out of a kind of stone.

Terracotta seals:

• Hundreds of rectangular seals were discovered here
• Pictographic writings were written on them
• The script had not been deciphered yet.
• Bulls, cart, dove, boats and a figure of a human meditating are seen

Script:

• Terracotta planks discovered here were engraved with letters
• They were pictographic writing.
• These writings are related to the ancient Tamil writings.

Occupation:

• Agriculturists
• Artisans
• Traders
• Traders
• Potters
• Blacksmiths

Agriculture was their main occupation, they cultivated wheat and barley, stored the surplus grains in the granary

Dress

• People wore cotton and woollen dresses

• Men wore a garment similar to the ‘dhoti

• Shawl as upper garment

Ornaments

To make ornaments they used

• Gold

• Silver

• Ivory

• Precious stones

Art 

• Experts in making pots out of terracotta

• The figures of birds, animals, images of male and female,

• The figures of birds, animals, images of male and female,

• Pots and bowls were discovered

Sculpture

• The statue of a dancing girl made out of bronze found in Mohenjo-Daro

• Statue of a man with beard made out of limestone are examples of the excellent sculptures

Religion

• The articles excavated in Mohenjo-Daro tell us about their religious Practices

• They worshipped Lord Shiva represented as Pasupath

• Mother Goddess, Lingam, Trident and trees.

Causes for the decline of the towns:

• Wooden articles would have got destroyed by fire

• Rivalry because of the civil war

• Natural calamities and the change in the course of River Indus would have buried things.

• The Aryans would have destroyed these towns in order to succeed

• The heap of bones discovered in Mohenjo-Daro is evidence of the invasion of the foreigners

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