Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Civilization  The Indus Civilization is among the world's earliest civilizations, contemporary to the Bronze Age civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.  It peaked around 2500 BC in the western part of South Asia, declined during the mid-2nd millennium BC and was forgotten until its rediscovery in the 1920s by R.D. Banerjee  Geographically, it was spread over an area of some 1,260,000 km  the major urban centers were Harappa Mohenjo-daro, Lothal, Dholavira, Kalibanga, and Rakhigarhi.  Both cities were square, with defensive outer walls

Settlement Patterns Settlement patterns of the Harappans were conditioned by  the behavior of the river providing an active flood plain and ecology,  navigability of the river for internal trade,  climate, accessibility to natural resources and trade routes, both internal and external.  The settlements types and their positioning also reflect the importance from the point of view of distant marine trade e.g., Lothal and Mohenjodaro, Chanhudaro and Sutkagandor and Harappa; for trade with the hinterland etc.  The River system, with its own network of tributaries, provided a consistent and better line of communication through the Sirhind Nala between Punjab and Rajasthan for getting timber from the areas of present Himachal Pradesh.  The River system had three major 'economic pockets'. The first was on the north along Sirhind The second or the central pocket was in Bikaner Bhawalpur The third, southern one, in Kachchh, which is geographically half way between Sindh and Gujarat These three 'economic pockets' in the 'culture empire' of the Harappan provided a strong economic base that is the foundation of the 'urban boom‘  It may thus be inferred that Harappan settlements are largely located along the major and perennial rivers.

Physiography  it is essentially a gift of the River Indus (Sindhu Darya).  Its flowing length in Sindh is about 580 miles.  It bisects Sindh, overflowing on both east and west valley regions to form the rich alluvial areas with forests and agricultural lands.  The Indus delta region has been continuously growing reclaiming lands during historic times.  It has a flat low-level country topography with some hills in the distance ranges of Kirthar in the west and Aravalli in the east.  Its soils are deltaic valley soils, with sands more and more prominent as one goes towards the sea-board. Its rock are marine, with plenty of proofs of the presence of a sea

Town planning of Indus valley  Both cities were square, with defensive outer walls  Cities are divided into lower dwellings & the Citadel which houses important buildings  An orthogonal street layout of modulated width was oriented toward the cardinal directions.  These streets divided the city into 12 blocks.  The street layout shows as an understanding of the basic principles of traffic, with rounded corners to allow the turning of carts easily.  "Lower Town" was divided into a number of blocks by a grid of straight streets running north-south and east-west, and each block was further divided by small lanes.

View of city street

 Buildings in the lower area are rather monotonous, being mainly functional rather than decorative. But many houses are 2 storied  Except for the west-central blocks, the basic unit of city planning was the individual house.  The planning principles employed here are followed practically without change at all other sites  Some houses had rooms with wells, bathing rooms (paved with baked bricks) and even toilets.  in Harappa, Mohan-jo-daro, the urban plan included the world's first urban sanitation systems.

 Waste water was drained out of the houses through drain chutes built into the side walls that fed into a system of drains built alongside the lanes and streets.  Municipal authorities who are responsible for the whole of the valley also regularly maintain a highly efficient drainage system  The quality of municipal town planning suggests knowledge of urban planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene.

 There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples or, indeed, of kings, armies, or priests. Some structures are thought to have been granaries.  at one city is an enormous well-built bath, which may have been a public bath.

 Although the "Citadels" are walled (extended one mile from east to west and one-half mile from north to south), it is far from clear that these structures were defensive. They may have been built to divert flood waters. 

Granary

no large monumental structures were built.

 Most city dwellers appear to have been traders or artisans, who lived with others pursuing the same occupation in well-defined neighborhoods.  Although some houses were larger than others, Indus civilization cities were remarkable for their apparent egalitarianism. For example, all houses had access to water and drainage facilities.  One gets the impression of a vast middleclass society.

Conclusion 

The existence of a strong ruling class is also indicated by the presence of large and well-fortified citadels in each of the capital cities

 citadels served as sanctuaries for the cities' populations in times of attack and as community centers in times of peace.  The citadel at Mohenjo-daro included a very large building that may have been a palace.  Both citadels contained what are believed to have been audience and assembly halls or places of worship, and bathing tanks for public use.  Large granaries were located near each of the citadels, which suggest that the state stored grain for ceremonial purposes, times of shortage, and possibly the regulatation of grain production and sale.

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Though the main avenues of the cities were straight and about 30 feet wide, the lanes and paths in the cities' quarters were narrow and twisting.

 Some scholars believe that bathing was related to religious rituals rather than hygiene.

Public drain

Citadel

lower dwellings

Raised platform

Ware house

Lothal dock

Granary

Lothal dock

Great bath

High lane

Mohan –jo –daro: house no.8

Mohan –jo –daro: third street area