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INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

The Indus Valley Civilization is one of the Important Sites of Indus Valley
oldest civilization of the world along with Civilization
the Mesopotamia Civilization in Iraq and Harappa- Daya Ram Sahani 1921
Ancient Egypt Civilization.
Mohanjodaro- R.D. Banerjee-1922
The Indus Valley Civilization is also
known as the Harappan Civilization as Amri- M.G. Majumdar-1929
Harappa was the first and the most Chanhudaro- M.G.Majumdar-1931
important site if the Indus Valley Kalibanga- Amlanand Ghosh-1953
Civilization. Lothal- S.R. Rao-1957
The Indus Valley Civilization was spread Banwali- R.S. Bisht-1973
in 12, 60,000 sq.kms which includes
Surkotada- Jagat Pal Joshi-1964
whole Pakistan some parts of India,
Afghanistan and Iran (Persia). Dholavira- Jagat Pal Joshi- 1967
The materials which were found during Ropar- Y.D.Sharma- 1953
the excavations and on the basis of the Rangpur- M.S. Vats- 1931
radio-carbon dating it is believed that
Indus Valley Civilization was spread from Important Sites of Indus Valley
the year 2500-1750 B.C. Civilization
The first site which was discovered was
Harappa which discovered by Dr. D.R. Harappa
Sahani in the year 1921 on the banks of
the river Ravi and Mohanjodaro in the
year 1922 by R.D. Banerjee on the banks
of the river Indus. Sir John Marshall
played important role in both the
excavations.
Indus Valley Civilization forms the part of
the Proto History of India and belongs to
the Bronze Age.
The population of the Indus Valley
Civilization consists of the Mediterranean,
Proto-Australoid, and Mongoloids.
The use of Gold, Silver, Copper and
Bronze was there but the use of Iron was It was founded in the year 1921 by Mr.
completely unknown. Dayaram Sahani. It is situated near the
Sahiwal district of Pakistan on the banks
of the river Ravi.
The Great Granary was found here
measuring 169 feet X 35 feet. A naked
sandstone torso was found which also
gives the traces of the Jainism.
Stone symbols of female genitals
Single room barrack

Mohenjo-Daro

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It was founded in the year 1922 by Mr.
R.D. Banerjee. It is situated in the
Larkana district of Pakistan on the banks
of river Indus.
It is derived from the Sindhi word which
means the “Mound of the Dead”
The Great Bath was found here.
Multi pillared assembly hall
A piece of woven cloth
Stamp/Seal with the image of the
Pashupati Mahadev
Statue of the bearded man
Evidence of direct trade relations with the
Mesopotamia Civilization
Mohenjodaro was the most advanced city
of the Indus Valley Civilization the roads
were wide and straight and were 33 feet
wide. The roads run in the North- South
direction and the other roads run in the
East- West direction and they both cut
each other at right angles.
Kalibanga
It was founded in the year 1953 by Mr.
Amlanana Ghosh
It was situated near the Hanumangarh
district of Rajasthan on the banks of the
river Ghaggar.
The word Kalibanga means the Black
Bangles
The ploughed field at Kalibanga is the
most important discovery of that time.
Wooden wheel was found here which also
gives the proof that the people of
Kalibanga use the bullock carts
Bones of camels are found here
The tiled floor was found here which has
the design of intersecting of circles
Human head with long oval eyes and
thick lower lips
Two types of burial was found here
Burials in the circular grave
Burials in the rectangular grave
Chanhu-Daro
It was founded in the year 1931 by
M.G.Majumdar
Chahudaro was situated on the eastern
side of river Indus in the Sindh province
of Pakistan
Chanudharo has three different cultural
layers Indus Culture, Jhukar Culture and
Jhangar Culture.
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It was the only site in the Indus Valley
Civilization without the Citadel.
During the excavations a small pot,
bullock carts and ekkas, foot prints of the
elephant and the dog chasing the cat.
Lothal
It was founded in the year 1957 by S.R.
Rao
It is situated near the Gulf of Khambatt in
Gujarat.
An artificial dockyard was found here. It
was the most important port city of the
Indus Valley Civilization
Boat made up of Terracotta was found
here which gives the traces that they
have the trade relations with the other
civilizations of the world.
Evidence of rice was found here as the
rice granary was found at Rangpur near
Ahemadabad in Gujarat
A terracotta statue of horse was found
here
Seal which has the design of the ship
A printed jar which resembles the story of
the cunning fox which is also mentioned
in the Panchtnatra
A compass like measuring instrument
was found which can measure the angles
of 1800, 900 and 450
Evidence of double burial was found i.e.
male and female were found in the single
grave which also gives the traces of Sati
practice.
Evidence of chess like game
Ropar
Founded in the year 1953 by Y.D.Sharma
It is situated in the state of Punjab in
India
The excavations at the Ropar includes
pottery, ornaments, copper axes, seal etc
A strange burial was found here i.e. the
dead body of dog was found along with
the dead body of the human being
Banwali
Founded in the year 1973 by R.S. Bisht
It is situated near the Hissar district of
Haryana
Huge quantity of Barley and Mustard was
found here
A terracotta plough was also found here
which the most remarkable discovery
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Surkotada
Founded in the year 1964 by Jagat Pal
Joshi
It is situated in the Kutch district of
Gujarat
During the excavations the first remains
of the horse bones was found here.
Dholavira
It was founded in the year 1967 by Prof
Jagat Pal Joshi and it is situated in the
state of Gujarat in India
In the Dholavira the major discovery was
the Rain Water Harvesting
Economic Life of the Indus Valley
Civilization
Agriculture
The Indus plains were made fertile by the
annual inundation of the river Indus. This
river carried far more alluvial soil than
many other contemporary rivers like the
Nile in Egypt. The farmers sowed their
seeds in November when the flood waters
receded and reaped their harvests in April
before the next floods. They must have
produced enough to provide for the
people in villages and cities. They
produced wheat, barley, rice, sesamum,
mustard etc. They also produced
significant quantities of cotton.
Technology, arts & crafts
The people of the Indus Valley Civilization
well know the technique of mining the
best example of this can be seen from the
nearby mines of Khetri in Rajasthan
which is famous for its copper. Tin was
probably brought from mines in Bihar or
from Afghanistan. The amount of artifacts
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left behind by the Indus Valley Civilization
suggests that there were a large group of
bronze smiths who not only made utensils
but also made various kinds of tools as
well. There is evidence which suggests
that they may also have practiced
weaving, possibly using spindle whorls.
Whatever buildings have been excavated
seems to have been made of brick which
indicates that brick-laying must also have
been an important occupation. Besides
the above, people of the Indus Valley
Civilization must also have followed the
occupations of seal-making, goldsmiths,
pottery, bead making etc.
Trade
The discovery of the artificial brick
dockyard at Lothal and the seals having
the pictures of the boat gives the traces
that the people of the Indus Valley
Civilization has the trade relation with the
other civilizations of the world such as the
Mesopotamia civilization.
There was also the internal trading as
they used the bullock carts for the
transportation.
The unit of measurement was 16 (16, 64,
and 160,320)
Religious Life & Culture
The main gods of worship for the people
of Indus Valley Civilization was Puhupati
Mahadev (Lord Shiva)
The people of the Indus Valley Civilization
also worship the Phallus (lingam) and
yoni
Animal worshipped- Unicorn and Bull
Tree worshipped- Pipal
Bird worshipped- Dove & Pigeon
When any person dies in the Indus Valley
Civilization they lay them in North- South
direction with the head in North and the
legs in South direction. There was the
practice of burying the dead body in the
rectangular or the oval pits.
Script and Language
The script of the Indus Valley Civilization
is pictographic in nature which has
around 600 pictographs. The writing style
of the of the Indus Valley Civilization is
known as “Boustrophedon” i.e. they write
the first line from right to left and the
second line from left to right. The
language of the Indus Valley Civilization
is still unknown.
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Causes of Decline
The definite cause of decline for the Indus
Valley Civilization is still elusive since
there are no written records of the period
and there are various speculations from
the historians.
There are four main reasons behind the
decline of Indus Valley Civilization as
concluded by the historians
1. Due to decrease of the soil fertility
2. Due to increase of salinity in the
water from the neighboring
deserts
3. Due to natural calamity such as
Earthquake, Flood, Famine etc
4. Aryans when they came to India
they destroyed the Indus Valley
Civilization