The Harappan Civilization Class 9 ICSE notes

The Harappan Civilization Class 9 ICSE notes

•The Beginning of the Civilization

In the Neolithic Age, man lived in small villages. With the passage of time, population increased and larger villages appeared. As population increased, man’s needs expanded further, the larger villages grew into cities and towns. As a result, many new arts, skills, crafts and occupations also developed side by side. Trade and commerce and many other manufacturing enterprises also developed. All this brought about a new lifestyle. When man began to live in towns, it marked the beginning of Civilisation.

•Four Civilization of the Bronze Age

There appeared four Civilisations in the Bronze Age. These are mentioned :
• The Indus Valley Civilisation or the Harappan Civilisation.
• The Mesopotamian Civilisation or the Tigris-Euphrates Civilisation.
• The Chinese Civilisation. 

• The Egyptian Civilisation.

(A) THE INDUS VALLEY OR THE HARAPPAN CIVILISATION
Origin of the Harappan Civilisation : In 1921, R.B. Dayaram Sahni, an Indian archaeologist, found a number of seals from the village Harappa in West Punjab (now in Pakistan). Next year, in 1922, a huge city was excavated hidden under the sands and bricks of Harappa. The same year, R.D. Banerjee made similar excavations in Mohenjodaro in Sindh (now in Pakistan). Thus, the Archaeology Department of the then Government of India unearthed one of the greatest ancient civilisations of the world, known as the Indus Valley Civilisation or the Harappan culture and Civilisation.

The discovery of this Civilisation was an epoch-making event in the history of India. It now became clear that history of India began from 2500 BC, instead of 1000 BC. The Harappan culture belongs to the Bronze Age. Therefore, the Indus Valley Civilisation is also known as the Bronze Age Civilisation.

Age of the Harappan Civilisation : John Marshall, the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, who personally supervised the excavation work in 1921-22 puts the age of this civilisation from around 4000 BC to 2500 BC. But the Radio-dating process puts the date of this Civilisation between 2300 BC to 1700 BC. Most historians have accepted the date as established by Radio dating method.

Sources of Harappan Civilisation : Our main sources of the Harappan Civilisation are the archaeological evidences; these include the ruins of the ancient cities, buildings, pottery, seals, toys, weights and measures, ornaments, tools and weapons.

Extent of the Harappan Civilisation : The Harappan Civilisation extended over 1600 km from Harappa (in Larkana district) and Mohenjodaro (in Montegomery districts) to Karachi and Lothal ports, Kot Digi Chanhudaro and Satkagendor (all in Pakistan) and Kalibangan, Rupar, Alamgirpur, Kotla Nihang, Sanghol, Mithal, Banawali, Lothal and Rangpur. Recently, another site at Dholavira in Punjab (in India) has been found. The Civilisation included some of the lands covered by rivers Sutlej, Ravi, Beas, Chenab, Jhelum and Indus. As Civilisation existed on Indus river bank or in Indus river valley so it was called the Indus Valley Civilisation. As Harappa was the first site that was excavated, it has come to be known as the Harappan Civilisation.

•Chief Features of the Harrappan Civilization

(1) URBAN PLANNING
The Indus Valley people had an excellent skill in town planning. The streets and lanes of their towns were laid out according to a set plan. These were straight and intersect each other at right angles. The roads were wide enough. For example, the main road at  Mohenjodaro was ten metres wide. Even small lanes were not less than four metres wide. Streets and lanes had rounded corners so  that heavy carts could take an easy turn. The streets were paved with fire-burnt bricks. There were covered drains running under them. There were lamp-posts at regular distances for street lights in every street and lane.

Drainage system : Mohenjodaro, Lothal and other cities are known to have a good drainage system. House drains emptied into the main drains. The main drains ran under the main street, below many lanes.

All the drains were covered with bricks or stones. Inspection manholes were provided at regular distances. Refuse or dirt was not allowed to be thrown into the drain.  There was a soak-pit in the drain of every house. Water supply was also good.

Buildings and houses : The people of the Indus Valley had built three categories of buildings, namely, the large buildings, the public bath and the people’s dwelling houses.

The cities of Mohenjo- daro and Harappa were divided into two parts. Part one of the city was built on a raised ground and it was called the Citadel. It had large public buildings such as the granaries, workshops, assembly hall and the factories.

Part two of the city was on the lower side which was used to built houses.

(a) The Great Granaries : The great granary at Harappa was the most important building in the citadel. It was also the largest, measuring 61.5 metres long and 15.5 metres wide.

(b) The Great Public Bath at Mohenjodaro : A great public bath has been excavated at Mohenjodaro. Its overall dimension was 55 metres by 35 metres. The bathing pool was situated in the middle of the public bath. It measured 11.7 metres by 6.9 metres in length and breadth. The depth of the bathing pool was 2.4 metres. The floor of the pool was made of burnt bricks.

(c) The Assembly Hall : The Assembly Hall was another public building at Mohenjodaro. It was a square hall of 25 metres by 25 metres. It had 20 big pillars to support the high-pitched roof. These pillars were arranged in four rows of five pillars each. In this hall, the rulers held their meetings, etc.

(d) People’s dwelling houses : The lower part of the city of Mohenjodaro had the dwelling houses of the people. The houses unearthed were of different sizes, i.e., from two room houses to palatial ones.

Most of these houses had double storeyed, as is clear from the stair marks. The first floor had sleeping and other rooms. The houses were made of baked bricks and mud-mortar. Every house had a bathroom, a store-room, a kitchen, a wallchamber and dustbins. The kitchen had a fireplace. In the courtyard, they placed an oven also.

(2) ART OF SCULPTURE AND CRAFTS
Statues and figurines of a young bull, a stout watch-dog, a shawl-wearing yogi, a dancing girl and a male dancer have been found at different sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation. All these nicely depict the physical features of the animals and people of whose statues these are. The metal workers at Mohenjodaro and Harappa were quite skilled in their art. A bronze statue of a dancing girl is shown relaxing after a dance performance. Her right hand is on her hip and her left hand is dangling free. She is wearing a large number of bangles.

Art of making Pottery : The Indus Valley potters quite well knew the use of potter’s wheel. With its help, they produced articles of different shapes and designs. The clay pottery was baked and its surface was painted with glazed colours. Birds, animals and human figures were made on these items of pottery.

Carving and Painting : The Indus Valley people were very good in the art of carving also. Their carvings of various animals on seals are really praise-worthy.

The Indus Valley people liked painting. So they drew different kinds of designs and figures on earthenwares and utensils.

Seals : Figures of animals and human beings were engraved on the seals. From those seals we get to know about the dress, hair-style and ornaments of the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation. These seals reveals a lot about the religious beliefs, commercial activities and trade relations of the people of those times. They also tell us about the script of the Indus Valley people. Of all the 2,000 seals discovered so far, the most important one is the seal of Shiva or Pashupati which has been discovered at Mohenjodaro.

The Art of writing Script : Harappan people knew the art of writing. Many specimen of Harappan script have been found on seals, copper tablets ,axes, and pottery. But unfortunately the Harappan script has not been deciphered till now. Some scholars connect it to Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit while some other connect it to Sumerians language. There are more than 400 signs in Harappan script and most of these have been found on seals. A large number of them are very small, a group of few letters. No bilingual inscription has been discovered in the Harappan script so far. It is pictographic and each sign stands for a sound, abstract, or object. It was written from left to right and was an invention of the Harappans themselves.

3) ECONOMIC LIFE OF THE PEOPLE
(a) Dress and Ornaments : The Indus Valley people were the first in the world to spin cotton and woollen yarn. This has been confirmed from the discovery of a number of clay spindles of different sizes, all over these cities. Moreover, needles and buttons have also been found there.

They preferred loose dresses. Men wore dhoti and a shawl. The women wore a type of skirt and wrapped a shawl round their shoulders.

Men kept their hair short and their beard trimmed. Women on the other hand liked to keep long hair and dressed their hair in a variety of styles. They used combs to decorate their hair.

Men and women, both rich and poor, wore ornaments. Necklaces, fillets, armlets and fingerrings were common to both men and women. In addition to these, women also wore girdles (belt for the waist), ear-rings, nose-rings, anklets, bangles, nose-studs and bracelets.

The women loved cosmetics. They were fond of looking beautiful and charming.

(b) Food : The people of the Indus Valley ate wheat and barley. They ground these in millstones and baked them into bread. Rice too was a part of their food. Besides these, milk and milk products, fruits (especially pomegranates and bananas), fresh vegetables, fish and meat were also taken by them as items of their food.

(c) Occupations : Agriculture was the most important occupation of the people of the Indus Valley. Their fields were near the rivers, so they built small dams, channels and embankments to control the supply of water. The existence of the granaries suggests that the production of foodgrains was quite in surplus.

(e) Play and amusements : The Indus Valley people also found time for play and amusements. They preferred indoor games or hobbies. A large number of dices have been found during excavation. This shows that dicing and gambling was favourite game of these people. They were also fond of music and dance. Besides these, hunting, keeping pet animals or birds and enjoying bull-fighting were their other pastimes.

A large number of toys and dolls have also been excavated. They cared for the playthings of the children. These toys were mostly made of terracotta or baked clay. Small imaginative toys were also known to those people.

(4) RELIGION OF THE INDUS VALLEY PEOPLE
Very little is known about the religion of the people of the Indus Valley. They practised image worship.

A common figurine discovered is that of a female deity, somewhat similar to Shakti or “the mother goddess”. They regarded her as the source of all power and creation. Similarly, a seated figure of a malegod, carved on a small stone-seal, has been found. It is a three-faced god, resembling Shiva or Pashupati of later Hinduism. This god is surrounded by animals like tiger and elephant on the right, buffalo and rhinoceros on its left and a horned deer under the seat. This god sits in a yogic posture, which justifies Lord Shiva being called as the “Mahayogi”. The three faces of the figure also justify Lord Shiva to be called as the “Trimukha”. So, the people of the Indus Valley seemed to have worshipped Shakti and Shiva. Besides these, they held certain animals and trees as sacred and worshipped them.

The important animals worshipped by them were humped bull, elephant, buffaloes, tiger, bison, etc. Pipal tree was also worshipped by them.

(5) ART OF WRITING
The Indus Valley people used the pictographic script for writing purposes. But their script is still a mystery for scholars. Their script had 62 basic signs in the beginning, but in the later Harappan period (1900 to 1600 BC.), these signs were reduced to 22.

•Lothal Dockyard

It is believed that Lothal was the site of the Later Harappan culture. The town developed when the Harappans arrived here in search of more fertile plains and potential port. The Dockyard Lothal developed as the most important port and centre of the bead industry. The large structure is 223m long and 35 m in width and 8 m in depth. An inlet channel 1.7 metres above the bottom level of the 4.26 metres deep tank allowed excess water to escape. Other inlets prevented siltation of the tanks and erosion of the banks. After a ship would have unloaded its cargo, the gates would have opened and allowed it to return to the Arabian Sea waters in the Gulf of Cambay.

Archaeological finds from the excavations testify to trade with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The hydraulic knowledge of the ancient Harappans can be judged by the fact that boats could dock at Lothal in the 1850's. In 1942 timber was brought from Baruch to nearby Sagarwala.

Many seals and other archaeological finds reveal that Lothal was a significant trading centre of the Harappan civilisation. A long wharf connected the dockyard to the main warehouse. The dock was located away from the main current to avoid deposition of silt. Modern oceanographers have observed that the Harappans must have possessed great knowledge relating to tides in order to build such a dock on the ever-shifting course of the Sabarmati, as well as exemplary hydrography and maritime engineering. This is the earliest known dock found in the world, equipped to berth and service ships. It is speculated that Lothal engineers studied tidal movements, and their effects on brick-built structures, since the walls are of kiln-burnt bricks. This knowledge also enabled them to select Lothal's location in the first place, as the Gulf of Khambhat has the highest tidal amplitude and ships can be sluiced through flow tides in the river estuary.

•End of Indus Valley Civilization

Around 1800 BC., the Indus Valley Civilisation came to a sudden end. Nothing certain can be said about the reason of this sudden end. It is all a guess work. May be the civilisation met with (a) natural calamity like an earthquake, (b) or a devastating flood, (c) or a climatic change (d) or an attack from the Aryan tribes (e) or deforestation or an epidemic.