Indus Valley

History Of Costume

Satyam Chandra Dey FD7

The Indus Valley Civilization
(3300–1700 BCE).
Content
Indus- A Short Brief
Architecture
Language
Religion and Rituals
Trade
Arts and crafts
Indus Valley and
Fashion
Citations
Mohenjo Daro

Map of the Greater Indus Valley

Indus Valley - A Small Brief
The Indus Valley Civilization, as it is called, was a Bronze
Age civilization that existed in parts of present-day
Pakistan, northwest India, and northeast Afghanistan
between 3300 and 1300 BCE.
There may have been more than 5 million people living
throughout the Indus Civilization. The ancient Indus River
Valley's inhabitants created novel metallurgical and
handicraft methods (carnelian goods, seal carving)
(copper, bronze, lead, and tin).
The Indus cities are renowned for their masterful urban
planning, baked-brick homes, ornate water supply and
drainage systems, and groups of huge non-residential
structures.
The Indus Valley Civilization is also referred to as the
Harappan Civilization after Harappa, which was the first of
its sites to be discovered during the 1920s in what was
then the Punjab province of British India and is now
Pakistan.
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa are the two most important
cities of the Indus Valley Civilization.
The Indus Valley's civilization, was nourished by excess
agricultural output and trade, which included trade with
Mesopotamia. The typical description of Mohenjo-Daro
and Harappa is that they both had "differentiated dwelling
quarters, flat-roofed brick homes, and fortified
administration or religious complexes."
 Town Planning

Architecture
The rectilinear buildings of Mohenjo-Daro are arranged in a
structured street grid. The majority were constructed from
fired and mortared brick, while some also had timber
superstructures and sun-dried mud brick. The city's sheer
size and the availability of public structures and amenities
point to a significant degree of social organization.
Around 35,000 people might have lived at Mohenjo-Daro
at its height of development.
The so-called Citadel and the Lower City make up the two
halves of the city.
The Citadel, a mud-brick mound that is about 12 meters (39
feet) high, is believed to have had two sizable assembly halls,
a massive residential building with the space to seat 5,000
people, public baths, and other amenities.
A big central well was located in the city's central
marketplace. Smaller wells supplied water to specific families
or collections of households.
Waste water was directed into covered drains that were
positioned along the main roadways.
There are certain homes, probably those of richer occupants,
that have what appear to be bathing chambers.
One structure contained a hypocaust, a type of subterranean
furnace used maybe for warm baths. The majority of homes
featured inside courtyards with entrances leading to side
streets. A few structures had two storeys.

Great Granaries Of Harappa

Language
The writing system is mostly visual but also uses a lot of
abstract symbols. The majority of the script is believed to
have been written right to left, maybe derived from
Dravidian languages.
When the Indo-Aryans entered from Afghanistan (about
2000 BCE), it is often believed that Dravidians were in
control of the whole Indian subcontinent and were the
Indus River Valley Civilization's founders. The Dravidians
are the "dasus" of Vedic literature and were presumably
oppressed by the Indo-Aryans. While increasingly
converting to Hinduism, Dravidians in general kept their
own languages.
According to current thinking, like the Dravidian languages,
the Indo-Aryan language is agglutinative (clustered
together).
Between 400 to 600 different Indus symbols have been
discovered on seals, tiny tablets, pottery pots, and more
than a dozen other materials, including a signboard that
formerly appeared over the gate of the inner citadel of the
Indus city of Dholavira (in the Kutch district of Gujarat).
•Most Indus inscriptions are just four or five characters long,
and the Dholavira "signboard" is the exception. The longest
inscription on a single surface is 17 signs long, and the biggest
inscription on any object (discovered on three separate faces
of a mass-produced product) is 26 symbols long.
Typically, the Indus script was written right to left. This is
supported by an examination of the sign patterns etched on
seals and evidence from writing on pottery shards that
reveals the order of strokes.
Between 400 and 450 different Indus script signs, or
graphemes, have been identified by scholars. The majority of
academics concur that the writing is based on a logo-syllabic
system, where each symbol denotes a word, syllable, or
sound.
However, certain signs resemble pictographs (of a man, a
fish, etc.), and when employed by themselves, they may
convey a concept or a complete narrative. The employment
of ideographs in conjunction with a logo-syllabic writing
system indicates that there were several applications for the
writing.
 Vishnu Seal

Religion and Rituals

It is believed that the earliest indications of Hinduism
existed before and throughout the early Harappan period.
Swastika was used by a number of other prehistoric
cultures throughout the world.
Indus Valley seals depict animals often. Early
archaeologists called one motif "Pasupathi" (lord of
cattle), an epithet of the later Hindu god Shiva, which
depicts a horned figure sitting in a pose like the Lotus
position and surrounded by animals.
They sculpted clay figures of animals, people, and even
couples, which were undoubtedly employed in certain
ceremonies. While some of the female figures may be toys
for young children, others are supposed to be Mother
Goddess representations.
•Smaller sculptures of gods or significant figures, like the
well-known "Priest-King" discovered at Mohenjo-Daro, were
carved from soft limestone. Male naked statues have been
discovered at the Harappa site and were carved from harder
stone. These pictures most likely served as deity
representations in unique family ceremonies.
Later Vedic, Brahmanical, Jain, and Buddhist religious
traditions adopted the imagery seen on Indus seals as well as
the use of particular symbols like the Swastika and Mandalas.
Even while there is no clear historical link, some Indus
symbols and stories do seem to have found their way into
the many religious practises that are now referred to be
Hinduism.

Pashupati Seal
Art and Craft
Archeologist have found many clay pottery, Sculptures
jewelry from the excavation of the ruins of the Indus
valley showing its advancement in Art and Craft.
Few handcrafted pieces of Indus Valley pottery exist; most
of it is manufactured on a wheel. More people use plain
pottery than decorated pottery.
Red clay was typically used for plain ceramics, either with
or without a fine red or grey slip. The glossy black paint
used to decorate the black painted pottery is applied in
geometric and animal patterns over a fine layer of red slip.
Indus Valley and Fashion

Clay Sculptures
People of the Indus Valley from what the artifacts suggest
is that they were liked to adorn themselves and were
highly inclined towards fashion.
Some of the oldest indications of cotton and cotton
textiles are connected to the Indus Valley culture. Cotton
(gossypium arboreum), a local plant, was utilised as early
as 4000 BCE.
There is proof that cotton textiles were traded widely from
an early period and that spinning, weaving, and dyeing
were highly developed.
The study of the carved figures and engraved seals
discovered in the Indus valley sites provides the
foundation for our understanding of early Indian clothing.
At the sites, there were also a great deal of bobbins,
spindles, needles, and whorls of wool and coarse cotton.
There isn't much textile evidence from the Harappan
period, and figures are typically found without clothes.
Small pieces of fabric that have survived in the corrosion
products of metal objects demonstrate that the
Harappans woven a variety of cotton cloth grades. Flax
was farmed and may have been utilised for fibres.
It's possible that native Indian silkworm species were
used to produce silk.
Although it is unknown if the Harappans kept woolly
sheep, their commerce with Mesopotamia most likely
provided them with a plentiful supply of Mesopotamian
woollen fabrics.
Additionally, it's likely that the Harappans carried on the
past practise of producing leather clothes.
Even though there is just one fragment of coloured fabric
that has survived, it is possible that indigo and turmeric
were also employed as dyes. Dyeing facilities show that
cotton material was probably dyed in a variety of colours.
Even though there is just one fragment of coloured fabric
that has survived, it is possible that indigo and turmeric
were also employed as dyes. Dyeing facilities show that
cotton material was probably dyed in a variety of colours.
The very few representations of clothes reveal that males
often wore a fabric around their waist that looked similar
to a contemporary dhoti and was frequently passed
between their legs and tucked up behind them.
Other stone figures, like the so-called "Priest-king," also
wore a lengthy robe over the left shoulder, leaving the
right shoulder and chest naked.
Clothes varied based on the social status of the person.
Some figurines show both men and women wearing an
upper garment that resembled a shawl or cloak.
It was another length of cloth that had a loose fit. across
the left shoulder's outside border, leaving the right
shoulder and chest uncovered.
Sometimes the cloaks had elaborate patterns.
Women used to be richly jewelled on their upper bodies
and wore a breast band or tight blouse-like garment.
Both men and women wore a lower garment that was
similar to the modern dhoti.
For Men, it frequently tucked up behind and went between
the legs. Knee-length skirt appears to have been worn by
women.
Both men and women used to wear jewellery, made of metals
such as gold, silver, copper, and others.
Men wore armlets, finger rings, and necklaces in a variety of
patterns and forms.
Women wore anklets, bracelets, girdles, bangles, and earrings.
The wealthy donned pricey gold jewellery, while the
impoverished wore shell, bone, and copper trinkets.
The statues discovered in the excavation tell that the
Harappan people were fond of elaborate hairstyles and
headgears.
On top of their heads, men wore hair-buns and had their hair
pulled back into rings. Men would have had beards in addition
to clean shaved faces. had both short and long hair. Also,
headbands and turbans were worn.
The many different headdresses depict the ethnic diversity of
the cities and the ever-evolving fashion trends.
Large hairstyles that may have required the hands of a
competent hairdresser are depicted in the figurines, elaborate
braids, double or twisted buns of hair fastened behind the
head, and headdresses in the form of fans.
Styling
My Styling is done around the most prominent male
figurine that is found from the Indus Valley, the
"Priest King". The Drape is in accordance to what we
know of that the Men used to wear as an upper
garment a loose fitted cloak wrapped around. They
used to drape it over the left shoulder leaving the
right shoulder naked. Few Artifacts also depicts
some sort of wrapped around antariya being used as
a bottom wear closely resembling the modern Dhoti,
but in my styling I have interpreted it and wrapped
the same length of cloth from around the waist to
the shoulder. The clothing depended on the status
of the person and the sculpture of the priest king
doesn't have a bottom for us to know if he had an
antariya below and hence I found it to be open to
interpretation.
Both men and women used to
adorn jewellery and hence I have
styled some of it as well. The
Headband, Rings, Armlet and
wristlets. And then to resemble the
beaded and metal necklace, I also
put up a Rudraksh and bell
necklace, The cloak of the priest
also showed it to be richly
patterned and hence the fabric I
used to drape has also been kept in
alliance to the same.
Citation
Shared Class Notes
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41492456
https://www.slideshare.net/PriyalThakkar/fashion-history-
of-india-56599569
•https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264383453_Ind
us_Valley_Civilization_Table_1_The_Chronology_of_Indu
s_Valley_Civilization
•http://www.gloriousindia.com/history/time_line.html
•http://www.harappa.com/indus2/timeline.html
•https://www.harappa.com/answers/what-did-indus-
people-wear-and-what-material-were-their-clothes-made
 History Of Costume

Satyam Chandra Dey FD7