Indus Valley Civilization- Salient Features

The Harappan civilization's town layout supports the idea that the city's
municipal establishments were well developed. The Indus Valley civilization is
distinguished by its town layout. Their town layout demonstrates that they had a
civilised and evolved life. In nature, town planning was fantastic. A few towns
feature citadels to the west built on higher platforms, with residential areas to
the east. They are both enclosed by a large masonry wall. Cities without a
fortress are built on towering mounds. The Indus Valley Civilization was one of
the world's oldest and most advanced civilizations. The cities were well-planned
and developed. Waste collection and disposal were also done in a lovely way, as
a wooden screen was put at the end of the main sewer, demonstrating that they
were also concerned about water contamination. Streets were also built in an
engineering manner, using burnt bricks and a well-drained system.

Town Planning & Structures

The Harappan civilisation was characterised by its grid-based town planning
system, in which streets and alleys cut across one another virtually at right
angles, separating the city into many rectangular blocks. Harappa, Mohenjo-
daro, and Kalibangan each had their own castle erected on a high mud-brick
pedestal. Each city has a lower town with brick buildings occupied by the
ordinary people beneath the castle. The Harappan civilisation is distinguished
by the widespread use of burned bricks in practically all types of architecture
and the lack of stone structures.

Another notable feature was the underground drainage system that connected all
dwellings to street drains that were covered by stone slabs or bricks. The Great
Bath, which is 39 feet long, 23 feet wide, and 8 feet deep,
is Mohenjodaro's most significant public space. A flight of steps leads to the
surface at each end. There are separate dressing rooms. The Bath's floor was
constructed of charred bricks. The biggest structure at Mohenjodaro is a granary
150 feet long and 50 feet wide. However, there are as many as six granaries
in Harappa's fortress.

1. Streets & Roads

Indus Valley's streets and roadways were all straight and intersected at a right
angle. All of the roadways were constructed with burned bricks, with the length
of each brick being four times its height and the breadth being two times its
height. They ranged in width from 13 to 34 feet and were fully lined. The city
was split into rectangular blocks by the streets and roadways. Archaeologists
unearthed the lamp posts at regular intervals. This implies the presence of street
lighting. On the streets, there were also trash cans. These demonstrate the
presence of competent municipal management.

2. Drainage System
One of the most notable elements of the Indus Valley civilization was the city's
efficient closed drainage system. Cities of the Indus Valley
Civilization possessed sophisticated water and sewage systems. Many Indus
Valley sites have houses with single, double, and more rooms coupled to a very
effective drainage system. Each residence had its own drainage and soak pit that
was linked to the public drainage system. Every roadway was lined by brick-
paved canals. They were covered and had manholes at regular intervals for
cleaning and clearing. To convey extra water, large brick culverts with
corbelled roofs were built on the city's outskirts. As a result, the Indus people
developed a flawless subsurface drainage system. No other modern culture paid
such close attention to hygiene. Corbelled drains were the primary method of
collecting waste and rainfall; they may also have been used to empty enormous
pools used for ceremonial washing.

3. Great Bath
The Great Bath is the most notable feature of Mohenjodaro. It is made up of a
big quadrangle. The discovery reveals that the Great Bath, which was located
within the city, was a huge rectangular tank used for special rites or ceremonial
bathing and resembled a modern-day swimming pool. There is a large
swimming pool in the centre (about 39 feet long, 23 feet wide, and 8 feet deep)
with the ruins of galleries and chambers on all four sides. It features a flight of
stairs at either end and is supplied by a well in one of the neighbouring
apartments. The water was released through a massive drain with a corbelled
ceiling that was more than 6 feet deep. The Great Bath's outside walls were 8
feet thick. To prevent water leakage, the tank was covered with gypsum. For
5000 years, this sturdy structure has resisted the assaults of nature. Some rooms
were equipped with hot water baths.

4. Granaries
The granary, which is 45.71 metres long and 15.23 metres broad, is the biggest
structure at Mohenjodaro. Harappa has a set of brick platforms that served as
the foundation for two rows of six granaries each. Brick platforms have also
been discovered in the southern section of Kalibangan. These granaries
protected the grains, which were most likely gathered as income or as
storehouses to be used in crises. During disasters, most staple foods like rice,
wheat, and barley were stockpiled in these warehouses for public distribution.
The cervical granaries were a massive building. Archaeological evidence
suggests that the lowest half of the stockroom was formed of blocks, while the
upper part was most likely made of wood.
 5. Buildings
People from the Indus Valley civilisation erected dwellings and other structures
beside highways. They constructed terraced dwellings out of charred bricks.
Every dwelling had at least two rooms. There were also multi-story buildings.
The buildings were built around an inner courtyard and had pillared
hallways, bath rooms, paved floors, a kitchen, a well, and other amenities. In
addition to living quarters, extensive constructions have been discovered. One
of these structures has the largest hall, which is 80 feet long and 80 feet broad. It
might have been a castle, a temple, or a meeting hall. There are also workmen's
quarters. It had an outstanding water supply system. There were public
wells throughout the streets. Each large residence has its own well. They also
constructed a dockyard at Lothal. The majority of the residences in the Lower
Town featured a central courtyard surrounded by rooms. Summer activities like
cooking and knitting were most likely done in the courtyard. To promote
privacy, the main entrance was usually located so that it did not provide a direct
view of the inside. Furthermore, there were no windows on the ground-level
walls of the dwellings.

Seals
Small objects called seals were carved out of stones and burned to make them
more durable in the ancient civilization of the Indus Valley. These seals were
used for commercial purposes such as sealing the mouths of jars by pressing the
seals against soft clays, creating clay tags for sacks that transported goods to
various destinations, and trading activities. A large number of seals were
discovered near the Indus Valley Civilization's port city of Lothal. Several
Harappan seals have also been discovered in Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and
along the Arabian Peninsula's coasts. Similarly, Mesopotamia seals were
discovered in Lothal. This confirms that seals were used in trading and that
trade took place between the two world's great ancient civilizations (Harappan
and Mesopotamia civilizations). The seals discovered at various sites of the
Indus Valley Civilization are of various sizes and shapes. The seals come in
triangle, square, rectangle, and circle shapes. However, square-shaped seals
outnumbered other shapes in the Harappan civilization. The majority of these
seals were made of Steatite, a relatively soft stone found in river beds. Aside
from that, copper, terracotta, chert, faience, and agate were used to make those
seals. Archaeologists have also discovered gold and ivory seals from the
Harappa sites in recent years. Some Harappan civilization seals were discovered
on the dead bodies. These seals have a threaded hole, implying that they were
used as amulets or as a necklace. The majority of the seals have symbols or
pictographic scripts on one side, which are thought to be Indus Valley
Civilization scripts. The vast majority of these scripts were written from right to
left. However, there are some seals where the scripts have been written in a
bidirectional style (i.e. the right to left on one line and left to right on the next
line). Animal impressions were carved on the surfaces of the seals on the other
sides. Tiger, buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros, bison, goat, unicorn, ibex, humped
bull, crocodile, and other animal motifs were used. A typical Harappan seal is
square in shape, with a series of symbols along the top, an animal in the centre,
and one or more symbols at the bottom.

A. Pashupati Seal
The Pashupati seal is the most famous seal of the Indus Valley Civilization. It is
a steatite seal with a carved human figure, possibly a deity, sitting cross-legged.
Pashupati is the name of the deity. He is depicted in the seal wearing a three-
horned headgear and surrounded by animals, including an elephant and a tiger
on the left side, a rhinoceros and a buffalo on the right side, and two antelopes
below the figure. The steatite seal measures 3.56 cm by 3.53 cm and has a
thickness of 0.76 cm. It features a human figure seated on a platform and facing
forward in the centre. The figure's legs are bent at the knees, with the heels
touching and the toes pointing down. With the thumbs facing away from the
body, the arms extend outwards and lightly rest on the knees. The arms are
adorned with eight small and three large bangles. A double band wraps around
the waist and covers the chest with what appear to be necklaces. The figure is
adorned with a tall and ornate headdress that features a central fan-shaped
structure flanked by two large striated horns. The human figure is flanked by
four wild animals: an elephant and a tiger on one side, a water buffalo, and an
Indian rhinoceros on the other. Two deer or ibexes stand beneath the dais, their
curved horns almost touching in the centre. There are seven Indus script
symbols at the top of the seal, the last of which appears to be displaced
downwards due to a lack of horizontal space.

B. Other Seals
Unicorn Seal is one of the largest seals discovered from Indus Valley
Civilization. Bull Seal from Harappa: It featured the motif of a majestic zebu
bull with wide curving horns. The zebu bull may represent the herd's leader who
protects them, or it may represent a sacrificial animal. It featured the motif of a
majestic zebu bull with wide curving horns. The zebu bull may represent the
herd's leader who protects them, or it may represent a sacrificial animal.

The Harappan seal is possibly the most recognizable artifact of the Harappan or
Indus Valley civilization. Seals, made of the stone steatite, frequently contain
animal motifs and signs from an untranslated script. However, we can learn a
lot about the lives of the people who lived in the region based on what they left
behind–their houses, pots, ornaments, tools, and seals–in other words,
archaeological evidence.