Indus Valley Civilization for TNPSC | Tamil and English Free E-books

TNPSC has released its annual planner 2022. Notifications of various group exams can be expected as per schedule. History carries a significant weightage in most of the TN exams. Questions on Indus Valley Civilization are generally asked in TNPSC exams. We have come up with a study blog on the topic of Indus Valley Civilization for TNPSC to help you in your preparation.

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Indus Valley Civilization E-book

Introduction

• In 1922, Mohenjodaro was excavated in Makran district of Sindh (Pakistan) under the supervision of R. D. Banerjee.
• During 1924, The discovery of Indus valley civilization was announced by John Marshall, who was the then Director General of Archaeological survey of India (ASI).
• Later in 1940s, Mortimer wheeler excavated many Harappan sites.
• Since Harappa was the first site to be discovered in 1921, it is called ‘Harappan Civilization’. It is also called as bronze age civilization or 1^st phase of urbanization.
• IVC forms a part of the north western part of Indian subcontinent
• It Extends from Jammu in the north to Narmada estuary in south and Makran coast in Baluchistan (west) to Meerut in the east. It was the biggest among the contemporary civilizations such as Egypt and Mesopotamian Civilizations.
• Though there are difference in exact period of IVC but period between 2350 BC – 1750 BC is the most probable period of its occurrence.
• Harappan civilization was larger in terms of area compared to the contemporary civilizations such as Egyptian and Mesopotamian.

Development of IVC

• Pre-Harappan stage: In this stage, the nomadic people began to lead a settled agricultural life.
• Early-Harappan stage: There was a gradual growth of town. The transition from rural to urban life took place during this period.
• Mature-harappan stage: In this stage great cities emerged with elaborate town planning and urban features
• Late-harappan stage: The decline of the Indus culture started

Town Planning and Structures

IVC had a very good town planning system and the roads were made in a grid system where they used to cut each other at 90° and the area was divided into many blocks.

• IVC had extensive use of burnt bricks more than any other contemporary civilization. In Egypt, we mainly find the use of dried bricks, while in the case of Mesopotamian baked bricks were used.
• Cities were divided into two parts namely the Citadel and lower town.
• Harappa and Mohenjodaro have their own citadel it is believed that Citadel was possibly occupied by the ruling class.
• Below Citadel is the lower town containing brick houses possibly occupied by common people. The mud bricks were used to build the house.
• There was a proper drainage system covered with burnt bricks and equipped with manholes. (shows emphasis on health and cleanliness)
• Mohenjodaro was extremely rich in structure (great bath and great granary)
• Great bath: located in Mohenjodaro and it was present in the middle of the citadel and was probably used for some kind of ritual bathing. Its dimensions are 12 × 7 × 2.4m. No stones were used during its construction.
• There were side rooms for changing clothes and water was drawn from a large well located in the adjacent room.
• Great granary: It was the largest building of IVC and measured around 46m long and 16 m wide.
• There were 6 granaries at Harappa made of brick platform which formed basis of two rows of 6 granaries.
• To the south of granaries at Harappa there existed working floor consisting of rows of circular brick platform which was meant for threshing grains was evident from wheat and barley found in the bottom of the floor.
• These granaries were also found at Kalibangan in Rajasthan.

Agriculture

• Compared to the current times, the region inhabited by IVC was very fertile which is evident from prosperous villages and towns.
• The Indus region possessed more natural vegetation which attracted more rainfall (used to supply timber fuel for baking bricks and construction)
• They produced wheat, barley, rai, peas, rice remains were found at Lothal.
• Furrows were found at Kalibangan that implies wooden plowshare must have been used and stones sickle may have been used for harvesting crops.
• Harappan Civilization was the first to produce cotton at Mohenjodaro.
• The food grains were stored in granaries and probably cereals were received as taxes from peasants and stored in granaries for payment of wages (similar to Mesopotamian civilization).
• Canal irrigation or channel irrigation was absent and agriculture depended mostly on rainfall.

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