The Harappan Civilisation

What is Civilisation?
 Civilisation is said to be an advanced stage of human culture
development.
 It implies the use of superior technology and complex economic
relationships.
 Some of the traits which mark a civilisation are:
 Evolution of cities;
 Surplus food;
 Division of labour;
 System of writing;
 Public buildings;
 Development of technology.
 The period between 4000 & 3000 BC saw remarkable progress.
 Man acquired greater knowledge and skill in mastering the forces
of nature.
 The Harappan Civilisation
 The Indus Valley Civilisation is best known as the Harappan Culture or
the Harappan Civilisation.
 The term ‘culture’ is used by the archaeologists for a group of objects
distinctive in style, that are usually found together within a specific
geographical area and period of time.
 The distinctive objects of Harappan culture are seals,
weights, stone blades and baked bricks.
 Harappan site was discovered at the modern site of Harappa
situated in the province of West Punjab in Pakistan.
 Mohenjo-daro was discovered in 1922, both lie in the Indus
Valley region.
What are the sources which provide
information of Harappan
Civilisation?
 Knowledge of the Harappan civilisation is based entirely on the
archaeological remains such as buildings, pottery, sculpture, seals
and cemeteries.
 Also, there is no written records available for such civilisation.
 Seals which were discovered with few letters engraved, but the
script has not been deciphered as yet.
 Therefore, the major sources of information about the Harappan
Civilisation are as follows:
1. The Great 5. Dancing Girl
Bath 6. Dockyard
2. The Citadel 7. Script
3. Seals
 Bath
 One of the largest public buildings at Mohenjo-Daro.
 Large rectangular tank surrounded by a corridor on all four sides.
 Two flights of steps one in the north and the other in the south leading
into the tank.
 To make the pool watertight, burnt bricks and mortar lined with
bitumen and gypsum were used for construction.
 Surrounding the baths were porticos and sets of rooms, and a stairway
which led to an upper storey.
 Rooms were provided for the members for some kind
of priesthood.
 This massive structure points out that there existed a
ruling class that could mobilise labour, collect taxes, etc.
 The design of the Great Bath portrays the efficient
planning in the structural features relating to water
supply and sewage disposal.
 Citadel
 The raised area of each city was called the Citadel, constructed on mud
brick platforms.
 The Citadel had the houses of
the ruling class and important
buildings like the Great Bath,
the granary, the assembly hall
and the workshops.
 3. Seals
 There are about 2000 seals which comprise short
inscriptions with pictures of the one horned bull, buffalo
tiger, goat, elephants and rhinoceros.
 Material used in making the seals comprises terracotta, steatite, agate,
etc.
 Seals are rectangular or square.
 They provide useful information about the script, trade, religion and
beliefs of the Harappans.
 Seals of Pashupati show that people believed in Shiva.
 The three-faced deity wearing buffalo-horned 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 unicorn seal shows their mythical beliefs.
 The seals were used by traders to stamp their goods.
After a bag was tied, a layer of wet clay was applied on
 Man
 A man with a beard was discovered from Mohenjo-daro.
A shawl worn over the left shoulder and the eyes are half closed.

Believed that it is a statue of a

Yogi.
Girl
 It is a bronze statue.
 Shows a high degree of development in the
art of
sculpture.
 The figurine shows vigour, variety and
ingenuity.
 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.
 Dockyard
 Discovered at Lothal in Gujarat.
 A massive brick wall to protect against floods.
 Was made of baked bricks.
Script
 A script is a pictographic signs which represent birds, fish and
varities of human form.
 The script is known to be between 375 to 400.
 Inscribed on a number of seals, copper tools, rims of jars, copper
and terracotta tablets, jewellery and on ancient signboards.
Extent of The
Civilisation
 The entire area of the Harappan
civilisation is triangular in shape
and accounts for about 1.3 million
sq.km and was the largest area
amongst the ancient civilisations.
 Sutkagendor in the west, to
Alamgirpurin the east and from
Manda in the north to Bhagatrav in
the south.
Features of Urban
Planning
Citadel

em ge
st na
S y ra i
D
House drains emptied all
Lower Town waste water into the
street drains.
Each city was divided into two parts-
Citadel and the lower town. The two
were separated by a wall. The
important buildings like the great bath,
the granary. The lower had the The main streets
residential buildings. followed a grid pattern
Granary running from north to
south or from east to
west.
The houses at street The streets crossed the
corners were rounded to main road at right angles,
allow carts to pass dividing the city into
easily. square or rectangular
Houses
 The residential building built high mound to protect them from
floods.
 Variations in the size of houses from single room tenements to
bigger houses with courtyards, upto twelve rooms, private wells
and toilets. Each house covered drains.
 The entrances to the houses were from the narrow lanes which
cut the streets at right angles.
 The kitchen was placed in a sheltered
corner of the courtyard, ground floor
contained storerooms.
 The houses were made of brick and
wood. Doors and windows opened
on the side of the streets.
Architecture

Granaries

 Have been found in Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa.

 To the south of the granaries at Harappa working floors
consisting of rows of circular brick platforms for threshing grain
because wheat and barley grain were found in the crevices of the
floor.
Trade
 The Harappan carried on considerable
trade in stone, metal, shell, etc. with Indus civilisation zone.
 Did not use metal money but carried on all exchanges through
barter.
 Besides internal trade, the Harappan also had commercial
contacts with their western  neighbours.
Carried on trade with Mesopotamia
and other western Asian sites.
 The Mesopotamian records refer to
trade relations with Mehlu.
 The Mesopotamian text refer to two
intermediate trading stations called
Dilmun and Makan respectively
Bahrain on the Persian Gulf.
Weight and
Measures
 The Harappan people used sets of cubical stone weights.
 The basic unit was 16.
 The larger weights were multiples of 16 like 32, 48, 64, 128 and
so on. The smaller ones were fractions of 16.
Transport
 A terracotta model of a ship was discovered pointing to the use of
ships. Boats used to carry goods from production.
 Terracotta models of bullock carts.
 Carts used in those days resemble the modern horse carts or
EKKA.
 Art And
Craft
 All the works of Harappan art, including
figurines of clay and terracotta, stone and
bronze sculpture, sealed and beads, are
products of skilled craftsmen.
 The subjects portrayed on the seals and
terracotta figures include human beings, animals and birds.
 The human figurines were shown wearing heavy ornaments and
jewellery and elaborate headgear.
 Harappans produced their own characteristic
pottery which was made glossy and shining.
 Earthen vessels and pottery, crafted on the
potter’s wheel, were decorated with black
geometrical designs.
Sculpture
 Statue of dancing girl
 Statue of bearded man.
 The sculpture in metal was done through the special lost wax
process. In the process wax figures were covered with a coating
of clay. Then the wax was melted by heating and the hollow mould
thus created was filled with molten metal which took the original
shape of the object.
Ornaments

 Common ornaments were

necklace, finger rings,
bangles, armlets, anklets,
nose rings fan-shaped
head-dress and earring.
 They were made of gold,
silver, precious stones and
ivory.
Toys and
Amusements
 Played dice and went on hunting and fishing expeditions.
 Main musical instruments were drums and the lyre.
 Toys of birds, animals. Figurines, carts and whistles were also
made.
  Harappan civilisation declined sometime around at 1800 B.C.

They have Harappan Enormous In the last

Increased Aridity:

Deforestation:

Attack:
Floods and Earthquakes:
inferred this civilisation quantities of phase of
declined because
Decline of The

from the fact of increasing wood was Mohenjo-Daro,

that the aridity in the area needed to men, women
Civilisation

houses and and the drying up produce and children

streets at of the river bronze. Wood were
Mohenjo-Daro Ghaggar. Sutlej was needed to massacred in
and Yamuna used
were found to be the produce the streets and
covered with tributaries of the jewellery, to houses as is
silty clay left river Ghaggar bake bricks, evident from
by the flood and because of pottery, and the skeletons
waters which some tectonic stoneware and of 13 males
disturbances, the
had Sutlej stream was make boats and females
submerged the captured by the and furniture. and one child
streets and Indus river and This could found lying in
houses. the Yamuna have led to a room.
Earthquakes shifted east to deforestation.
join the Ganges.
might have This change left
raised the the Ghaggar
level of flood waterless. The
plains of the ecological
Indus River. disturbance
caused by the
increased aridity.
Thank You