🏛️ Indus Valley Civilization
📌 Chronology & Spread
- Phases:
- Early Harappan: c. 3300–2600 BCE
- Mature Harappan: c. 2600–1900 BCE
- Late Harappan: c. 1900–1300 BCE
- Geographic Extent: From Afghanistan to Gujarat, covering over 1,500 sites
- Major Sites:
- Harappa (Punjab, Pakistan)
- Mohenjo-daro (Sindh, Pakistan)
- Dholavira (Gujarat)
- Lothal (Gujarat)
- Kalibangan (Rajasthan)
- Rakhigarhi (Haryana)
- Banawali, Surkotada, Kot Diji
🧭 Urban Planning
- Grid Pattern: Streets laid out in cardinal directions, intersecting at right angles
- Zoning:
- Citadel: Elevated, fortified zone for public buildings
- Lower Town: Residential quarters
- Standardized Bricks: Burnt bricks in uniform ratio (1:2:4) used across sites
- Public Buildings: Granaries, pillared halls, public baths, warehouses
- Fortifications: Mud-brick walls for flood protection and civic boundaries
- Dholavira’s Unique Layout: Divided into Citadel, Middle Town, and Lower Town—rare tripartite planning
🚰 Drainage & Water Management
- Covered Drainage System: Brick-lined drains covered with stone slabs
- Household Connectivity: Private drains linked to street drains
- Soak Pits: Used for waste filtration
- Public Wells: Mohenjo-daro had over 700 wells
- Great Bath (Mohenjo-daro):
- 39×23 ft tank with inlet/outlet channels
- Surrounded by changing rooms—likely ritualistic
- Dholavira’s Reservoirs: Advanced rainwater harvesting and stone-lined tanks
🏙️ Harappa – Administrative & Economic Hub
- Granary Complex: Ventilated storage structures
- Craft Production: Bead-making, metallurgy, pottery
- Burial Practices: Cemetery H culture reflects cultural evolution
- Seals & Weights: Indicate trade regulation and identity systems
🏙️ Mohenjo-daro – Civic & Ritual Center
- Great Bath: Central public structure with hydraulic engineering
- Citadel Fortifications: Possibly flood-control structures
- Residential Planning: Multi-storey homes with private wells and latrines
- Street Widths: Main streets up to 10 meters wide
🏗️ Architecture & Materials
- Materials Used: Burnt bricks, mud bricks, wood, stone (rare)
- No Temples or Palaces: Suggests non-theocratic governance
- Functional Design: Homes with courtyards, staircases, and ventilation
💰 Economy
- Agriculture: Wheat, barley, dates, cotton (first in world), sesame
- Domesticated Animals: Humped bull, buffalo, sheep, goat; no horse
- Trade:
- Internal: Between cities and rural areas
- External: Mesopotamia (Meluhha), Oman, Bahrain
- Ports: Lothal had a dockyard; Dholavira had trade reservoirs
- Weights & Measures: Binary and decimal systems; standardized cubical weights
🪙 Religion & Beliefs
- No Temples: Suggests household or nature-based worship
- Mother Goddess Figurines: Symbol of fertility
- Pashupati Seal: Proto-Shiva figure with animals—possible early yogic tradition
- Animal Worship: Bull, unicorn, elephant motifs
- Fire Altars: Found at Kalibangan—ritual significance
- Burial Practices: Extended and pot burials; no elaborate tombs
📝 Script & Language
- Indus Script:
- Pictographic, ~400 symbols
- Written right to left, sometimes boustrophedon
- Undeciphered—no bilingual inscriptions
- Seals: Used for trade, identity, and possibly religious purposes
🎨 Art & Craft
- Terracotta Figurines: Mother goddess, animals, toys
- Bronze Sculpture: Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro—lost-wax technique
- Beads & Ornaments: Carnelian, agate, lapis lazuli
- Pottery: Red ware with black designs; wheel-made and hand-made
📉 Decline Theories
- Environmental Factors: Floods, droughts, tectonic shifts
- River Shift: Ghaggar-Hakra (Saraswati) dried up
- Economic Collapse: Trade decline with Mesopotamia
- Cultural Transformation: Cemetery H culture, ruralization
- No Evidence of Invasion: Aryan invasion theory largely discredited