8. Planning of the Cities
The Indus Valley Civilization is famous for its city planning. Major cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro are the best examples of Indus Valley city planning. Both of the cities had multi-storeyed houses made of evenly sized bricks. The people of the civilization used gypsum and mud to set the bricks to build their houses. This technique made the houses durable. Each of the houses had direct access to the drainage system and there were wells to provide water. The roads were wide enough to let two carriages pass side by side. The roads of Mohenjo-Daro were about 30 feet wide.
The cities were fortified and divided into two parts. The main part of the city was the citadel and the second was the lower part of the city. Archaeologists believe that the high-class people used to live in the citadel and the lower class people lived in the lower parts of the city. However, in both parts of the city houses were built on high platforms. The buildings had connections to the drainage system. According to historians, there were 2000-3000 buildings and 700 wells in Mohenjo-Daro.
9.The Great Bath and the Great Granary
Mohenjo-Daro is mostly famous for having a huge bathhouse known as ‘The Great Bath’. It was the largest public building in the city. This public bath had an area of 900 square feet. There was a deep well on the east side of the bath. The well provided the necessary water and there was also a drainage system to carry away the water. The bath was made of watertight bricks and it was ornamented beautifully. Some historians have speculated that the bath might have been a huge baptismal pool. Later on, this might have influenced the Indian caste system and ritual of purity.
A little west of the Great bath there was a granary that covered an area of 1350 square meters. Different kinds of grains were collected from the villages and stored in the granary. Many buildings with the same structures were also seen in other cities of the Indus Valley. So, it seems the cities followed each other to plan the cities.
10 Trade and Commerce of Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley people not only traded among themselves but also exchanged with the outsiders. Archaeologists found seals of Indus Valley in Mesopotamia. This proves that these seals were traded during business exchanges. Also, the bronze found in Indus Valley was not native to that region. So, they actually traded among different cities and foreign countries. A city is known as “Meluha” was mentioned in an ancient text of Mesopotamia. Archaeologists believe this Melhua is probably one of the cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. They also found some glass items of 1700 BCE in Harappa. These glass items might be the first items made of glass in history. So, glass Items, cotton cloths, and different kinds of grains were traded inside and outside of the Indus Valley. Hence, merchants and traders of the Indus Valley travelled far to maintain their business.
People of different professions such as priests, farmers, fishermen, potters, blacksmiths, herdsmen, and hunters lived in the Indus Valley. The people had their measurement system. Cube-shaped weight stones were used to measure products and seals were attached to describe the item and its quantity. The seals probably contained the name of the traders. But then again, not much is known about the Indus Script. So, it is not clear what was the function of the seals.
11. Language of the Indus Valley People
The language and writing system of the Indus Valley Civilization is still a mystery. The earliest form of Indus Valley script was possibly invented during the early Harappa period (c. 3500-2700 BCE). There were signs attested on Ravi and Kot Diji poetry excavated at Harappa. The Indus Valley script was fully developed during the urban period. During the 2500 BCE, the script was widely used. However, after 1800 BCE, the writing system gradually disappeared. About 4000 samples of inscriptions have been found from Mohenjo-Daro and other cities of the Indus Valley. Unfortunately, they are impossible to decipher. There are many different opinions about the source of the writing system. Some archaeologists believe it came from Sumerian scripts and some say Egyptians. There is also strong support claiming that it originated from the Proto-Elamite script.
12. Seals of Indus Valley
The greatest examples of the Indus Valley civilization are the thousands of seals and clay tablets. Most of these seals and tablets have small inscriptions carved on them. Archaeologists discovered various types of seals. They are rectangular or square seals having symbols and pictures. They contain images of sacred animals such as cow, bull, unicorn, and elephants. Moreover, images of deities are also engraved on the seals and tablets. A seal depicts a man standing between a wild bull and a tiger. Another seal shows a fisherman catching fish with a net. Thus, the seals and tablets helped to understand this civilization and its people.
13. Art, Culture and Religion of the Indus Valley People
Like the language, the religious belief of the Harappa civilization is also a mystery. Unlike Mesopotamia and Egypt, The Indus Valley had no enormous sculptures or monuments. This means the rulers or priests did not influence the people to build magnificent sculptures or monuments in the name of religion or state. Thus, there are no ruins of noteworthy temples or halls for religious rituals. However, archaeologists collected small and medium sculptures of men, women, and animals have from the sites.
The discoveries show the religious involvement of the Indus people. Several bronze statues and figures of a dancing woman are examples of the aesthetic thinking of the people. There is another statue of a woman that has a plant coming out of her belly. The Indus people probably worshiped a mother goddess. The seals and tablets also give us a hint of the religion and culture of civilization. Among the 1524 seals, there are 1150 seals of unicorns. Besides, the unicorns there are pictures of bison, elephant, bull, tiger, and hare. These animal symbols were representations of gods and goddesses. The people used these seals to protect themselves from any kind of harm.
An exceptional seal from Mohenjo-Daro illustrates a human deity sitting with a rhinoceros. There is a water buffalo on one side, and an elephant and a tiger on the other side. Many historians and archaeologists think that the deity is the ancient form of Lord Shiva as Pashupati, ‘the lord of beasts’ or ‘the protector of cattle’. Another group of scholars criticized the claim. They argued that Hindu beliefs came thousands of years later in India. So, whether the Indus Valley people had only one religion or not is not clear. They might have different religious beliefs and cast systems. Hence, historians are still looking for answers.
14. Crafts of The Indus Civilization
The time of the Indus Valley Civilization was truly the Bronze Age of India. Back in the days, Indus Valley people used modern techniques in metallurgy. They could produce elements like copper, bronze, tin, and lead. They could make different sculptures, potteries, jewelry, seals, buttons, human and animal figures. Undoubtedly, the Indus people were great craftsmen. Archaeologists found two miniature figures of male torsos from Harappa. These figures were carved from stone and they were anatomically perfect. The stone figures appear to be more lifelike than the Greek archaic period which started thousands of years later than the Indus Valley Civilization. The people of Indus Valley could even forge tools and weapons with stones, copper, and bronze. Thus, they made sharp knives, axes, chisels, razors, hooks, sickles, and saws.
15. The End of The Indus Valley Civilization
The decline of civilization is still a mystery. There are theories about the end of the Indus Valley Civilization. The Indus people did not morph into the current population of the area of Pakistan and India. The people now living in that area probably came from the Caucasus. From 1750 BCE the civilization declined and gradually faded away. Historians have a few theories about the end of this great civilization.
First, the Caucasus might have defeated them in a war and replaced them. Archaeologists did not have many weapons for defence and attack in sites of the Indus valley. There are also signs that they might have fought with each other. This is because the Indus people were peace-loving people and did not make many weapons for war. It turned out to be a wrong idea, and foreign invaders defeated them
Secondly, the weather might have changed because of pollution and cutting down the forest lands. Famine and lack of food became severe. And so, the people had to leave the area.
Thirdly, Natural disasters like the earthquake might have occurred. A massive earthquake changed the course of the river. As a result, many tributaries dried up and affected the water supply of the cities. The cities failed to sustain the vast population. Eventually, the people left for a better place and opportunity.