VIBGHIGHYOR

9 Early River Valley

The Indus
In
Focus
Civilisations 4 -
Valley Civilisation
Origin and Extent
Society and Religion
Trade and
Script
Commerce and

Town Planning, Art and

>
Architecture
Decline of the
Civilisation

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Motioy

We have studied three

civilisations till now. Identify these images to the
respective civilisations that they represent and write the
names of those
civilisations. It would have been difficult to identify the second
image as it
belongs to the most developed Indus Valley
in this unit.
Civilisation which we will study

Originand Extent
A
Afghanistan

Pakistan

Lothat
India
Indus Valley
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The Indus valley civilisation is one of the oldest, largest and the most
developed civilisations of the world. It developed on the banks of the river
Indus which drains into the Arabian Sea. It began around 5000 years back
in a region which is currently in Pakistan and parts of North West India.
This vast civilisation lay hidden underneath great moulds of sand for a long
time before it was discovered by archaeologists in the beginning of the
twentieth century. There were around 1400 towns and cities in the Indus
Valley. The largest of them were Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Since the first
site discovered was Harappa, this civilisation is also called Harappan
civilisation.

Yours
Identify the other cities which were a part of the Indus
Valley Civilisation apart from Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa. Write about them in your notebook.

The Indus River which

begins in the Himalayan
ranges carves a valley
which was fertile and
therefore people settled
down in this region. To
the Indus people their
river was the 'King River. Fig 9.1- River Indus which is 3000 km long
isthe longest river of Pakistan

'Dholavira' is an archaeological site in the Kutch district of

Gujarat. The site contains the ruins of the Indus Valley
Civilisation. Archaeologists have found evidences that suggests
that the people here had an advanced water harvesting system
which helped in tackling the flood waters in monsoons and
supplying water in the dry season.
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Discovery of the IndusValley Civilisation

The discovery of this great civilisation makes for an interesting story.
People were not aware of this civilisation until 1920, when
workers who were laying railway track
chanced upon the ruins and referred to
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Later
in 1921, two archaeologists, Rai Bahadur
Dayaram Sahni at Harappa and R.D. Banerji
at Mohenjo-Daro working independently
unearthed the ruins of this massive and
advanced civilisation which took the
Fig 9.2 - RD Banerji
entire world by storm. It is important to
remember that it was Sir John Marshall, who had
ahuge role in the discovery of Harappa civilisation
as he was the
Director General of ASI from
1902 to 1928.
The unearthing of the Indus
Fig 9.3- Rai Bahadur
Valley Civilisation took the
Dayaram Sahni world by storm and also

changed the traditional belief that the history of India Fig 9.4 - Sir John
Marshall
began with the advent of the Aryans. It is believed
that the Indus valley civilisation flourished between 2500 BCE and 1500
BCE around the same time as that of the Mesopotamian, Eqyptian and the
Chinese civilisation.
It is believed that Indus Valley Civilisation is the
largest of the four civilisations and probably the
oldest too. The excavation of the site is an ongoing
process and till date close to 1076 town and
settlements have been found.

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There is not much

Society andiReligion
people as known about the society of
archaeologists
script. Our have not
the ancient
been successful in Indus valley
evidences thatknowledge deciphering the Indus
of the
have been society
is based on
excavated from the site. the archaeological
The social life of the
and organised. people of the Indus valley
Agriculture seems to be
and the seems to be the main systematic
discovery of granaries support this occupation the people
of
people seems to be wheat, theory. The staple food of the
also consumed fish and barley, rice, milk and
poultry. Many spindles have vegetables like peas. They
indicating weaving of clothes. Arts, crafts been found at the site
occupations practiced here. Potter, mason and trade seem to be the other
and metal workers were in
demand. We do not have any high
classes that existed then, but evidences regarding the different social
certain sections of the people who there was social inequality
enjoyed prevalent as
which was on a raised greater status lived in the citadel
platform and the others in the lower
town.

Fig 9.5 - Different occupations practised by the Indus valley people.

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Religion
There is no clear evidence
valley people. Some believe that
regarding the religion followed by the Indue
they worshipped mother
was a symbol of fertility. It
was believed that the
goddess who
been the source of all mother goddess hae
creation on earth. However, there is no
evidence of temples or palaces
that gives information
the deities regarding
that period.
worshipped during
The Indus valley seals include
a long list of
animal figurines
which leads to the belief that the
people revered animals. Seals
-------
engraved with animals like bulls,
--------------------------------------------------

elephants and rhinoceros

--------------------------------------------

Suggests that these animals were

Fig 9.6 - Pashupati seal
considered sacred by the people.
One scroll
shows a
horned figure surrounded by
animals. This
figure was called as
Pashupatiwhich meant 'lord of the cattle'.
This was the other name for
Lord Shiva
too. Some of the Indus valley
seals
Fig 9.7 - Swastika seal show the symbol Swastika which is an

ancient religious symbol from the Indian

subcontinent. The peepal tree was
considered be sacred and can be found in many seals of Indus
to
valley
civilisation. It is still considered sacred and worshipped by the Hindus and
the Buddhist..
Burial sites -Graves or burial sites are important sources of
information
for the archaeologists. Across different civilisations we can see how
the
concept of afterlife has developed which led the people to bury the dead
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with essentials
afterlife. required ingraves
Therefore their VIBGYOR
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contained many treasures for

the regular treasure hunter and
the
archaeologists trying to
find the missing links in the
annals of history. The burial
sites have also
the Indus valley
indicated that
people were a
peaceful community as there
were hardly any Fig 9.8-
weapons found at these Ancient burial site of Indus valley
sites.
TradeandiCommerce and Script
The Indus valley was a
Indus from time to fertile region flooded by the
time waters of the river
which helped in the
cultivation of certain
variety of crops. The
crops cultivated include
wheat, barley, melon
seeds and oil
crops
including dates,
mustard and
sesame.
The presence of
which is not native
Bronze
to
this region also
that indicates
extensive trade was carried out between various regions including
Mesopotamia.
Indus valley did not trade using money. The archaeologists believe that
ymust nave followed the barter system, Archaeologists have discovered
Tlat pieces of stone with carvings on them
which have been

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later identified as VIBGYOR
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seals. Over 3500 seals
seal onto soft clay, it left a have been found. If you
be used as a mark on the clay. When the press the
mark tied to the clay dried, it could
Archaeologists believe respective goods which then get
to indicate
that Indus traders would have traded,
which goods belong to which used seals like labels
the closing of a trader and thus a seal
D
particular transaction. indicated

Seals and stamps

were used by
authorities to
characterise documents
as
legitimate. Seals may leave an
embossed image on paper, whereas
stamps validate documents
and originality
signature with an inked emnblem.
The presence of Indus seals in
relations existed between the two Mesopotamia has proved that trade
trade that existed regions. There was extensive
between the two maritime
famous cities of the ancient Indus civilisations. Lothal was one of the
Gujarat, famous for maritime trade. valley civilisation, located currently in
Script- The main corpus of writing of the
form of thousands of Indus valley civilisation is in the
seals found at various sites
condition. These seals were which are in legible
discovered decades back but little
progress has been achieved in
deciphering it.
Fig 9.9- Ten Indus
glyphs discovered
near the northern gate ofDholavira
The main impediments in deciphering the script include were as follows:
4 Very short and brief
texts. The average number of
the seal is only 5 and the symbols on
longest include only 26.
4 The language of the people is unknown.
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4 Lack of bilingual texts.

The Indus valley civilisation is yet waiting for its Rosetta stone. There
are various theories put forward by historians and archaeologists but the
fact remains that once the script is deciphered we can get to know the
civilisation in a better way.
Town Planning, Art andTArchitectüre
Archaeologists have found from the ruins that remarkable town planning
and excellent drainage pattern existed in the ancient Indus valley. The cities
were the centres of the civilisation. They were divided into twO main parts:
the citadel and the
lower town.
The citadel
was built on a
raised platform
where the ruling
class and the

aristocratic people
lived. It was built
by using bricks
and stones about Fig 9.10- View of the town at the
Indus Valley Civilisation. site of the ancient

12m in height and rectangular shape, surrounded by brick walls witn

watch towers. The area was
raised to ensure that the region
remained unaffected during the
floods. The citadel overlooked
the lower town. All important
buildings including the Great
Bath and the Granary were
located at citadel. The common
Fig 9.11- Rulns of Mohenjo-Daro
men lived in the lower town.

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You have learned to draw a

sketch in your geography
class. Draw asketch of your
to show the
locality. Write a few points
difference between the planning of your
locality and the town planning of the Indus
cities.

The streets and the

drainage system were the marvels of the
Indus valley civilisation. The roads ran at
out a grid pattern of the
right angles bringing
to
township. The streets ran from north
south and from east to west
angles. The streets were also
intersecting each other at right
Each house had
provided with street lamps too.
horizontal and vertical drains. The drains on
the
streets were covered with slabsthat
to hygiene.
show the importance given

Art and
architecture of a
place shows the
culture,
lifestyle, prosperity of the
region. Indus valley civilisation
has a lot of architectural
marvels to boast off. When the
inquisitive archaeologists
started digging at the site,
they discovered
the history of the Indian
Fig 9.12 - Artefacts found at the Indus Valley site
subcontinent. Some of the

iconic pieces of art found at the site include seals,

jewellery, toys, painted
pottery, terracotta figurines which highlight the life of the Indus valley people.
 Some of the VIBGYOR
granaries, assemblyarchitectural
HIGH

hall, etc. marvels

of the time
Great Bath - It is
include great bath,
the most
impressive structure So far
discovered at
The Mohenj12mo-Daro.
structure includes long
pool, 7m wide and
2.5m deep.
Gypsumn has been used along
with mortar to make the
as well as the bottom
sides of the pool water tight. The pool was fed
from a nearby well and with water
the dirty water was
was used by the drained into the sewer. The pool
people on auspicious
Granary The great occasions.
granary at Harappa was a
place to store grains. This
evidence indicates that the
surplus production of
grains was Common in
Indus valley and they had an
efficient way to store the
grains. The granary at
Harappa was made of burnt
brick and was properly
ventilated.
Decline of the Civilisation
The Indus Valley Civilisation
flourished for about 1000 years without
much changes and started decline around 1500
BCE. By 1900 BCE many
Indus cities were abandoned. Historians believe that the
things started
Talling apart in 1700 BCE, Historians and archaeologists attribute different
reasons for the decline of such a vast civilisation. Somne of the reasons are
as follows:

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Attack by
invaders - AS
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were peaceful by nature mentioned before the Indus valley people

and hardly were
Archaeologists have not found involved in any wars.
any
weapons from the site which
proved the above theory.
to defend Therefore they would not have been able
themselves the eventuality of an attack from
in
who came from
central Asia. invaders
4 Floods or drought - The Indus
valley people relied on the Indus
River a lot. It was their
lifeline. The
brought in mineral and made the region annual flooding of the river
fertile. Historians predict that
excessive flooding of the river could have
destruction. There could also be a possibility of brought
in

change
in the course of the drought due to the
river which could have made
move out in search of greener the people
4 Earthquake - pastures.
Historians predict that an earthquake could have
to mass wiping of the led
of the vast
population.This would have brought the
decline
civilisation.

You have learnt... un Through

> The Indus valley civilisation is one of the

oldest and the most
advanced civilisations of the world.
> To the Indus people their
river was the 'King River'.
Rai Bahadur Dayaram Sahni at
Harappa and RD Banerji at
Mohenjo-Daro working independently unearthed the ruins of this
massive and advanced civilisation,
The cities comprised of two regions: the
citadel and the lower
town.
The citadel was located on a raise
platform to prevent the on
slaught of floods.
Indus valley worshipped mother goddess and animal figurines like
bull were consldered sacred.

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Contd...
> Burial sites
are significant as
they provided
they believed in lifeinformation
the life of the people as regarding
The presence of Bronze after death.
which is not native to the
that extensive trade was valley indicates
carried out between various
including Mesopotamia. regions
> Presence of
Indus seals in
Mesopotamia was the evidence for
exchange of gods between the two regions.
> Some of the iconic
pieces of art found at the site
include seals,
jewellery, toys, painted pottery, terracotta figurines
highlight the life of the Indus valley people. which
Great bath and Granary are twO of
the important structures of
this civilisation and they were
located in citadel region
of the
town.
> The great
civilisation started declining around 1500 BC.
> Historians believe
that floods, droughts,
from outside could have led to the earthquake or invasion
decline of the civilisation.

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