Three names are commonly used for the Indus Valley Civilization – “Sindhu Saraswati Civilization”, “Indus Valley Civilization” and “Harappan Civilization”. Initially, Harappa and Mohenjodaro were discovered in western Punjab. Due to its location near the Indus River, it was named Indus Valley Civilization.
Harappa or Indus culture emerged in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The reason for the name Harappan culture is that it was first discovered in 1921 by Dayanand Sahani at the modern site of Harappa located in Pakistan’s West Punjab province. The center of Harappan culture falls in Punjab and Sindh, mainly in the Indus Valley.
This civilization is famous for its unique city planning and drainage system and was contemporary of the Tigris-Euphrates and Nile Valley civilizations. In 1921, under the guidance of Sir John Marshall, Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, Rai Bahadur Dayaram Sahni explored Harappa situated on the banks of the Ravi River in Montgomery district of Punjab (present Pakistan).
John Marshall first named it the Indus Civilization. More than 350 sites of this civilization have been identified so far. Most of these sites (about 200) have been found in Gujarat. Most of the sites excavated before the partition went to Pakistan after the partition (1947).
Indus Valley Civilization time
The date of the Indus Valley Civilization has been determined by many Indian archaeologists on the basis of evidence found. This civilization appears to be in a developed form right from the beginning. John Marshall was the first to date this civilization in 1931 and determined the date of this civilization to be approximately 3250 BC to 2750 BC. Through new analysis methods like Radio Carbon-14 (C-14), the date of Harappan Civilization has been considered to be 2500 BC to 1750 BC. Which is the most accepted one. According to the latest data, this civilization existed for 400-500 years and existed between 2200 BC to 2000 BC. According to new research, this civilization is about 8,000 years old.
Geographical Expanse of Indus Valley Civilization
Harappan Civilization was spread from north to south about 1100 km. and from east to west about 1600 km. Till now, about 2800 sites have been discovered through excavation and research. Indus Valley Civilization was in its triangular form, whose area is about 13 lakh square km.
Charles Mason first discovered the Indus Valley Civilization in 1826 AD, the first description of which is found in his book “Narrative of Journeys” published in 1842. After that, in the year 1921, under the leadership of Sir John Marshall, the then President of the Archaeological Survey of India, archaeologist Dayaram Sahni excavated and discovered its main city “Harappa”. Due to the discovery of the Harappa site first, it was named “Harappan Civilization”. Under the guidance of Sir John Marshall, Mohenjodaro, the site of the Indus Valley Civilization, was discovered in 1922 by Rakhaldas Banerjee.
An important source for determining the creators of the Indus Valley Civilization is the human skeletons obtained from excavations. The most skeletons have been obtained from Mohenjodaro. Their testing has determined that four species lived in the Indus Civilization – Mediterranean, Proto-Australoid, Alpine and Mongoloid. Of these, the most were people of the Mediterranean species. They are considered to be the creators of the Harappan Civilization.
City plan of Indus Valley Civilization
In the Indus Valley Civilization, roads used to cross each other at right angles. Almost all the cities were divided into two parts – in the first part, high forts were built. The ruling class resided in these. In the second part, evidence of a city or residential area has been found, which was relatively larger. Usually, ordinary citizens, traders, craftsmen, artisans and laborers lived here.
Indus Valley Civilization City
The drains on the sides of the roads were covered from above. The dirty water of the houses used to fall into the main drain of the city through these drains. The city plan of Harappa, Mohenjodaro and Kalibanga was almost similar. Baked bricks have been used in all except Kalibanga and Rangpur. Usually, every house had a courtyard, a kitchen and a bathroom. Remains of wells have also been found in most of the houses.
Big buildings are the specialty of Harappa and Mohenjodaro. The Harappan cities were fortified by building ramparts around them, the purpose of which was to protect the city from thieves, robbers and cattle thieves. The huge bathhouse of Mohenjodaro is a wonderful construction of the Indus civilization, while the granary is the largest building of the Indus civilization.
The doors and windows of the houses opened into the streets instead of the main road, but Lothal is an exception to this. Its doors and windows opened towards the main roads. Although many types of bricks were used in building houses, bricks of the size 4:2:1 (ratio of length, breadth and thickness) were more popular.
Major sites of Indus Valley Civilization
1. Harappa
The remains of the Indus Valley Civilization were first discovered in Harappa in 1921 AD by Dayanand Shahni. Harappa is currently located in the Montgomery district of Pakistan’s Punjab province on the left bank of the Ravi River.
Stuart Piggot has called it a “semi-industrial city”. A large part of the residents here were engaged in trade, technical production and religious activities. He called Harappa and Mohenjodaro “twin capitals of a vast empire”.
A fort was built on the western side to protect the city. This fort was built on the north side. It is 415 meters long from north to south and 195 meters wide from east to west. The mound on which this fort is built has been named “Mound AB” by Wheeler.
2. Mohenjodaro
Its meaning in Sindhi language is “Mound of the Dead“. It is located on the banks of the Indus River in Larkana district of Sindh (Pakistan). It was first discovered by Rakhaldas Banerjee in 1922 AD. The governance system of Mohenjodaro was democratic rather than monarchical.
The large bathhouse found here is the most important public place of Mohenjodaro. A water tank or reservoir is built in the middle of its central open courtyard. Harappans used to make bronze by mixing copper and tin. A bronze statue of a dancer has been found from Mohenjodaro, which is made by the liquid wax method.
3. Chanhudaro
This Indus Valley city is located 130 km south-east of Mohenjodaro in Sindh province (Pakistan). It was first discovered by N. Gopal Majumdar in 1934 AD and excavation was done here by Ernest Mackay in 1935 AD. Chanhudaro is the only archaeological site from where curved bricks have been found.
No fort has been found in Chanhudaro. Remains of the northeastern Harappan culture (Jhukar-Jhankar culture) have been found from Chanhudaro. It appears that it was an industrial center where work of beadwork, seal making, weight-measurement scales was done. Ernest Mackay has discovered a bead making factory and furnace from here.
4. Lothal
It is located in the Gulf of Khambhat between Sabarmati and its tributary Bhogwa river near Sargawal village of Ahmedabad. It was discovered by S.R. Rao in 1954-55. The settlement of Lothal was surrounded by a defensive wall to protect it from floods. Inside it was the fort and the lower town. The doors of the houses here opened in front.
A graveyard was found in the north-west outside the walled area, in which there were burials of 3 couples (male-female). The heads of the skeletons here were in the north and the feet in the south direction. Lothal is famous because of the port found, which is called Godibarra, it is located at the eastern end. It is a water reservoir area of trapezoidal shape (214*36 m).
S. R. Rao called Lothal “mini Harappa” or “mini Mohenjodaro”. Unbaked bricks were used in the houses here. There are four to six rooms, bathrooms, a huge courtyard and veranda in this area. Circular or quadrangular Agnivedi has been found in the houses here. Lothal was a major centre of maritime trade with Western Asia (Mesopotamia and Egypt).
Found from Lothal:- Copper made animal and bird figurines, human statues, wooden granary, miniature clay statue of horse, evidence of paddy and rice, flour mill, direction measuring instrument, plumb bollard, evidence of elephant tusk.
5. Rakhigarhi
It is a major archaeological site situated on the banks of Ghaggar river in Hisar district of Haryana. It was discovered in 1969 by Suraj Bhan and the first excavator was Amarendranath and the second excavator was Basant Shinde. Evidence of L-shaped granary and defense rampart has been found from here. In May 2012, the “Global Heritage Fund” has included it in the list of ten such “heritage sites” of Asia, which are in danger of being destroyed.
Obtained from here – L-shaped granary, a couple’s tomb, a statue of a yogi, cotton cloth wrapped in silver and bronze objects, grains (wheat, barley, paddy), Agnivedi, sacrificial altars, elephant teeth, needles, combs, scrapers, deer horns etc.
6. Kalibanga
It is on the left bank of the Ghaggar river in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. Kalibanga literally means “black bangles”. It was discovered in 1951 by Amalananda Ghosh and in 1961 AD, extensive excavation was done under the direction of B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar. Its settlement was parallelogram shaped. Evidence of plowed fields has been found here.
The buildings here were constructed using unbaked bricks, evidence of decorated bricks has also been found here. Evidence of three methods of burial of dead bodies – complete burial, partial burial and cremation – has been found in Kalibanga. B.B. Lal estimated it to be the third capital of the Harappan civilization. The drainage system here was not like Mohenjodaro.
Found here – Ivory comb, bronze statue of bull, foot-operated mill, camel bone, evidence of animal sacrifice, evidence of stairs, copper axe, grinding stone, wheels, oldest evidence of earthquake etc.
7. Banwali
This archaeological site located on the banks of the Rangoi river in Hisar district of Haryana was discovered by R.S. Bisht in 1973 AD. Like Kalibanga, remains of both pre-Harappan and Harappan cultures have been found from this site. There was a lack of drainage system here. A plough made of clay has been found here. A large quantity of barley has also been found. It is called the city of prosperous people.
8. Dholavira
It is located in Bhachau in Kutch district of Gujarat. It was discovered by J.P. Joshi in 1967 AD. It was excavated by R.S. Bisht. The inscription made of 10 large symbols of Indus script found here is an important achievement. The residents of Dholavira were familiar with the technique of water conservation. It is also called white well, there were many lakes here.
The city here was divided into three parts – fort, middle city and lower city. The only playground (stadium) of Harappan civilization has been found from Dholavira. Remains of horse artifacts, remains of royal court, statue of chameleon, evidence of the first astronomical observatory, excellent evidence of water management etc.
Social System of Harappa Civilization
If we compare the ruling class of the Harappa civilization with other contemporary civilizations, the difference becomes clear. The outlook of the people of the Harappan ruling class was relatively egalitarian. Where the ruling classes of Mesopotamia and Egypt spent enormous resources on building ziggurats (temples) and pyramids (monuments) respectively, while the common people lived in huts or mud-brick houses, whereas the ruling class of Harappa civilization spent less on their own but tried to raise the living standard of their citizens. The common people lived in houses made of burnt bricks.
When we goes through the classification of society then this civilization is classified into 06 categories – Priest, warriors, Traders, peasants, Potters and Labour classes. In this society, condition of women is good because first of all this is also know as matriarchal society and secondly women’s have many rights like – education, participate in sabha etc.
Gambling, chess, Dance, Hunting and animal fighting is important sources of their entertainment. He used mostly woolen and cotton cloths.
Political System of Harappa Civilization
Many Historian said that Center of power was existed and priest were the rulers of this society but not have their clear cut evidence. Many Historians have disputed about their political system where D.D Kaushmi and Piggot said that Ruler was priest and other as per Historians R.S. Sharma Said that Rulers were merchants.
