Indian History-Ancient India-Facts about the Indus Valley Civilsation

1.       Time Period	·         2350 to 1750 BC, belongs to Bronze Age or Chalcolithic Age.
2.       Also Called	·         Harappan Civilisation, Bronze Age Civilisation.
3.       First site to be excavated	·         Harappa in 1921, under the Supervision of Mr. Daya Ram Sahni. (The excavation of Harappa and Mohenjodaro was initiated by the British Officer, Sir John Marshall)
4.       Extent of the Civilisation	·         North- Manda in Jammu and Kashmir, India ·         West- Sutkagendor in Baluchistan, Pakistan ·         East- Alamgirpur in Uttar Pradesh, India ·         South- Daimabad in Maharastra, India
5.       Most distinguishable feature	·         Town Planning-divided into Citadel and lower town. Citadels were occupied by members of lower ruling class. Lower town was inhabited by the common people. ·         Harappan cities were developed in block pattern or chess board pattern and the roads of these cities used to cut each other at right angles.
6.       Drainage System	·         Drains were built of burnt bricks, lime and white powder and covered by stone lids and manholes for cleaning.
7.       Agriculture	·         They grew wheat and barley on a large scale. Other crops grown were pulses, cereals, cotton, dates, melons, pea, sesamum and mustard. ·         The Harappans were the earliest people to produce cotton. The Greeks called it Sindon, which is derived from Sindh. ·         Harappan Civilisation was an agro-commercial civilization.
8.       Animal Husbandry	·         Harappans domesticated sheep, goat, buffalo, pig and knew about tiger, camel, elephant, tortoise, deer and various birds. They did not know about lion. ·         The Humpless bull or the Unicorn was the most important animal.
9.       Trade	·         Land and Sea trade was in vogue. ·         Most important trading partners were the Mesopotamians. Others included Afghanistan, Persia, Central Asia and various parts of India. ·         The mode of trade was Barter System.
10.   Crafts	·         Harappans did not know about Iron and Silk. ·         They were well acquainted with bronze, wool, cotton. ·         They knew the art of making boats, weapons and tools (like axes, saws, knives etc), utensils, pottery, seals. Seals were usually made of steatite, square in shape and bull was the most depicted animal. ·         Jewellery of Gold, Silver and precious stones, bangle-making and shell ornament making were prevalent.
11.   Script	·         The Harappan script is not alphabetical but mainly pictographic, written from right to left. ·         Scripts consisted of about 400 symbols, out of which 75 were original and remaining were their variants.
12.   Transport	·         Bullock Carts and Ikkas pulled by one horse or bull were used for transportation.
13.   Religion	·         Signs of Phallic worship has been found. ·         The Harappans worshipped Mother Goddess or Mata Devi. ·         The Harappans worshipped the Pipal tree and Pashupati Mahadev. ·         No evidence of temples have been found.
14.     Important Sites of Harappan Civilsation
1.       Harappa	·         Was discovered in 1921, by Daya Ram Sahni. ·         Located in Montegomari in Punjab of Pakistan, along the banks of River Ravi. ·         6 Granaries and 16 Agnikundas (Firepits) have been found here. ·         People of Harappa knew how to make Tarcoal. ·         R-37 Cemetery have been found here. ·         Teracotta figurine of Mother Goddess have been found here. ·         Main gate for entry in the houses was in the North Direction. ·         Working floors consisting of rows of circular brick platforms which were meant for threshing grain have been found here.
2.       Mohenjodaro	·         Was discovered in 1922 by R D Bannerji. ·         It literally means ‘the mound of the dead’. ·         Located in Larkana, Sindh of Pakistan, along the banks of River Indus. ·         Seven layers of Mohenjodaro city directs that the city was destroyed and rebuilt 7 times. ·         The Great Bath, which was meant for ritual bathing has been found here. ·         A granary was present in the South-west of Mohenjodaro. ·         The Pashupati seal, in which a Yogi figure has been depicted, has been found here. The Yogi on the seal is surrounded by a buffalo, tiger, elephant, rhinoceros and deer. Hence, the Yogi is said to be a Proto-Shiva.
3.       Lothal	·         Found in 1957 by S R Rao. ·         Located in Ahmedabad, along the banks of River Sabarmati and Bhogva. ·         The longest building of the Harappan Civilisation, a dockyard has been found here. ·         Red and Black clay pots, copper tools, brick built tank like structure, a bead making factory, a linear scale made of bronze and a seal from Iran have been found here. ·         The relics of this place testify to the existence of Paddy crop in 1800 BC, which people used to sow.
4.       Kalibangan	·         Was discovered in 1953. ·         It is located in Ganganagar in Rajasthan, India, along the banks of River Ghaggar. ·         It was not well planned or organized like Mohenjodaro and did not have a drainage system. ·         A ploughed field has been found here, ·         It saw two cultural phases-Pre-Harappan and the Harappan.
5.       Dhaulavira	·         Was discovered in 1992 by J P Joshi. ·         Dhaulavira was divided into three parts. ·         It shows all the three phases of Harappan Civilistaion.
6.       Sutkagendor	·         Located in Baluchistan in Pakistan, along the banks of River Dashta.
7.       Chanhudaro	·         Was excavated in 1925, under the leadership of Earnest M’ckay. ·         Located in Sindh in Pakistan, along the banks of River Indus. ·         It was the only city without a citadel.
8.       Rangpur	·         Located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in India, along the banks of River Meedar.
9.       Banawali	·         Located in Hissar, Haryana in India, along the banks of River Saraswati. ·         Like Kalibangan, it also shows two phases of Harappan Civilisation. ·         Barley of best quality was found here.