Name: LALLAWMSANGA KHIANGTE

Class: S.Y.B.A SEM-III

Roll no.: FYBA19041
Topic: The Indus Valley: Urban planning,
Great bath, Seals, Dancing Girl
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Firstly, I would like to thank our teacher and Head of

Department, Dr. Radharani Banerjee, without whom this
project would not have been possible. Her enthusiastic
guidance and ever-ready support has helped many a student
stumbling through the muddy waters of higher education. All
the work accomplished and material presented were done so
under the watchful eyes of her supervision.

I would also like to thank my family for their endearing

support throughout this project, enabling me to write a sincere
and heartfelt project.

Lastly, I thank all the writers and bloggers who have shared
information under the fair use of public knowledge. Their
dedication to the matter at hand have been a great advantage
for this paper.
 Table of Contents

SSrSrssSr Sr no. Title Page no.

1 Introduction 4
2 Urban Planning 5,6
3 The Great Bath 7,8
4 Seals 9,10
5 Dancing Girl 11
6 Conclusion 12
7 References 13
 INTRODUCTION

The Indus Valley Civilization was one of the three “Ancient

East” societies that are considered to be the cradles of civilization of
the old world of man, and are among the most widespread; the other
two “Ancient East” societies are Mesopotamia and Pharonic Egypt.
The lifespan of the Indus Valley Civilization is often separated into
three phases: Early Harappan Phase (3300-2600 BCE), Mature
Harappan Phase (2600-1900 BCE) and Late Harappan Phase (1900-
1300 BCE).

At its peak, the Indus Valley Civilization may had a population

of over five million people. It is considered a Bronze Age society, and
inhabitants of the ancient Indus River Valley developed new
techniques in metallurgy—the science of working with copper,
bronze, lead, and tin. They also performed intricate handicraft,
especially using products made of the semi-precious gemstone
Carnelian, as well as seal carving— the cutting
of patterns into the bottom face of a seal used for stamping. The Indus
cities are noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate
drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large, non-
residential buildings.

The Indus Valley Civilization is also known as the Harappan

Civilization, after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated in the
1920s, in what was then the Punjab province of British India and is
now in Pakistan. The discoveries of Harappa, and the site of its fellow
Indus city Mohenjo-daro, were the culmination of work beginning in
1861 with the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India in the
British Raj, the common name for British imperial rule over the
Indian subcontinent from 1858 through 1947.
 URBAN PLANNING

The remains of the Indus Valley Civilization cities indicate

remarkable organization; there were well-ordered wastewater
drainage and trash collection systems, and possibly even public
granaries and baths. Most city-dwellers were artisans and merchants
grouped together in distinct neighborhoods. The quality of urban
planning suggests efficient municipal governments that placed a high
priority on hygiene or religious ritual.

Infrastructure
Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, and the recently, partially-excavated
Rakhigarhi demonstrate the world’s first known urban sanitation
systems. The ancient Indus systems of sewerage and drainage
developed and used in cities throughout the Indus region were far
more advanced than any found in contemporary urban sites in the
Middle East, and even more efficient than those in many areas of
Pakistan and India today. Individual homes drew water from wells,
while waste water was directed to covered drains on the main streets.
Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes, and even
the smallest homes on the city outskirts were believed to have been
connected to the system, further supporting the conclusion that
cleanliness was a matter of great importance.

Mohenjodaro
Architecture
Harappans demonstrated advanced architecture with dockyards,
granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. These
massive walls likely protected the Harappans from floods and may
have dissuaded military conflicts. Unlike Mesopotamia and Ancient
Egypt, the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization did not build
large, monumental structures. There is no conclusive evidence of
palaces or temples (or even of kings, armies, or priests), and the
largest structures may be granaries. The city of Mohenjo-daro
contains the “Great Bath,” which may have been a large, public
bathing and social area.

What Harappan architecture would have looked like

 THE GREAT BATH

The Great Bath is part of a large citadel complex that was found
in the 1920s during excavations of Mohenjo-daro, one of the main
centres of the Indus civilization. The bath is built of fine brickwork
and measures 897 square feet (83 square metres). It is 8 feet (2.5
metres) lower than the surrounding pavement. The floor consists of
two skins of sawed brick set on edge in gypsum mortar, with a layer
of bitumen sealer sandwiched between the skins. Water was evidently
supplied by a large well in an adjacent room, and an outlet in one
corner of the bath led to a high corbeled drain that disgorged on the
west side of the mound. The bath was reached by flights of steps at
either end, originally finished with timbered treads set in bitumen.

The Great Bath

 The significance of the structure is unknown, but it is generally
thought to be linked with some sort of ritual bathing. Indeed, while
lacking impressive palaces or monuments, Mohenjo-daro featured
numerous baths—most homes had washrooms—and an
extensive sewage system, suggesting that a priority was placed on
cleanliness and sanitation.

What the Great bath may have looked like

 SEALS OF MOHENJODARO

These small objects have been beautifully carved out of stone and
then fired to make them more durable. Over 3,500 seals have been
found so far. The most typical Indus seal is square, with a set of
symbols along the top, an animal in the centre, and one or more
symbols at the bottom. Animals found on the seals include rhinoceros,
elephants, unicorns and bulls. On the back is a projection, probably to
hold while pressing the seal into other materials such as clay. The
projections also have a hole for thread, presumably so the seal can be
worn or carried as a necklace.

A Harappan Seal
The Unicorn Seal
The unicorn is the most common motif on Indus seals and
appears to represent a mythical animal that Greek and Roman sources
trace back to the Indian subcontinent.

A relatively long inscription of eight symbols runs along the top

of the seal. The elongated body and slender arching neck is typical of
unicorn figurines, as are the tail with bushy end and the bovine
hooves. This figure has a triple incised line depicting a pipal leaf
shaped blanket or halter, while most unicorn figures have only a
double incised line. The arching horn is depicted as if spiraling or
ribbed, and the jowl is incised with multiple folds.

A collar or additional folds encircle the throat. In front of the

unicorn is a ritual offering stand with droplets of water or sacred
liquid along the bottom of the bowl. The top portion of the stand
depicts a square grid or sieve, that actually may have been a circular
cylinder.

Unicorn Seal
 THE DANCING GIRL

Dancing Girl is a prehistoric bronze sculpture made in lost-wax

casting about c. 2300–1750 BCE in the Indus Valley Civilisation city
of Mohenjo-daro (in modern-day Pakistan), which was one of the
earliest cities. The statue is 10.5 centimetres (4.1 in) tall, and depicts a
naked young woman or girl with stylized proportions standing in a
confident, naturalistic pose. Dancing Girl is well-regarded as a work
of art, and is a cultural artefact of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
The statuette was discovered by British archaeologist Ernest
Mackay in the "HR area" of Mohenjo-daro in 1926. It is held by
the National Museum, New Delhi, and the ownership of the statue is
disputed by Pakistan.

The dancing girl

 DECLINE

The Indus Valley Civilization declined around 1800 BCE, and

scholars debate which factors resulted in the civilization’s demise.
One theory suggested that a nomadic, Indo-European tribe called the
Aryans invaded and conquered the Indus Valley Civilization, though
more recent evidence tends to contradict this claim. Many scholars
believe that the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization was caused
by climate change. Some experts believe the drying of the Saraswati
River, which began around 1900 BCE, was the main cause for climate
change, while others conclude that a great flood struck the area.
Various elements of the Indus Civilization are found in later
cultures, suggesting the civilization did not disappear suddenly due to
an invasion. Many scholars argue that changes in river patterns caused
the large civilization to break up into smaller communities called late
Harappan cultures.
Another disastrous change in the Harappan climate might have
been eastward-moving monsoons, or winds that bring heavy rains.
Monsoons can be both helpful and detrimental to a climate, depending
on whether they support or destroy vegetation and agriculture.
By 1800 BCE, the Indus Valley climate grew cooler and drier,
and a tectonic event may have diverted or disrupted river systems,
which were the lifelines of the Indus Valley Civilization. The
Harappans may have migrated toward the Ganges basin in the east,
where they could have established villages and isolated farms. These
small communities would not have been able to produce the same
agricultural surpluses to support large cities. With the reduced
production of goods, there would have been a decline in trade with
Egypt and Mesopotamia. By around 1700 BCE, most of the Indus
Valley Civilization cities had been abandoned.
 References

Dutt, B.B, Town planning in Ancient India, 1929

Robinson, W.A: The Indus: Lost Civilisations, 2015
Parpola, Asko: Deciphering the Indus Script, 1994
www.khanacademy.org , R. Shaikh
www.britannica.com , P. Walter Smith
www.history.com
www.harappa.com