The Indus Valley Civilization (Harappan Civilization)

3.1 Discovery and Extent

• The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC), also called the Harappan Civilization, is the earliest urban civilization of the Indian subcontinent, contemporaneous with Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• Discovery: Daya Ram Sahni discovered Harappa in 1921; R.D. Banerji discovered Mohenjodaro ("Mound of the Dead") in 1922, in Sindh on the bank of the Indus. Sir John Marshall was the Director-General of ASI who announced the discovery to the world.
• Time period: Mature phase c. 2600–1900 BCE (based on radiocarbon dating); part of the Bronze Age.
• Extent: Stretched from Sutkagendor (Baluchistan, western boundary) to Alamgirpur (Uttar Pradesh, eastern boundary), and from Manda (Jammu, northern boundary) to Daimabad (Maharashtra, southern boundary) — making it geographically the largest of the ancient Bronze Age civilizations.

3.2 Major Sites and Distinctive Finds

3.3 Town Planning

• Cities were divided into a citadel (western, elevated, for elites/public buildings) and a lower town (eastern, residential).
• Grid pattern streets intersecting at right angles; the Great Bath at Mohenjodaro (a large watertight tank, likely for ritual bathing) is the earliest known public water tank.
• Advanced drainage system: covered drains running along streets, connected to individual houses — indicates strong municipal planning.
• Houses were built of baked bricks in a standard ratio (4:2:1), typically with a courtyard; most had wells and bathing platforms.
• Granaries were used for grain storage (largest at Mohenjodaro and Harappa).
• No large temples or palaces have been definitively identified, unlike Mesopotamia and Egypt — suggesting a possibly less centralised, more mercantile or oligarchic polity, though this remains debated.

3.4 Economy

• Agriculture: Wheat, barley, peas, sesame, mustard, and cotton (Harappans were the earliest to cultivate cotton, called "sindon" by the Greeks) were grown. Rice evidence found at Lothal and Rangpur. They did not know about iron.
• Animal domestication: Bull (especially humped Zebu), buffalo, sheep, goat, elephant; the horse's presence is debated and not conclusively established as domesticated.
• Trade: Extensive internal and external trade. Evidence of trade with Mesopotamia (referred to as "Meluhha" in Mesopotamian texts). Lothal served as a major port/dockyard. No coins were used — trade was by barter. Standardized weights (based on 16 or multiples) and measures have been found.
• Craft: Bead-making, seal-carving (steatite seals with animal motifs, most commonly the unicorn, and undeciphered Indus script), pottery (red and black painted ware), and metallurgy (bronze, copper, gold, silver — but not iron).

3.5 Society and Religion

• The Indus script remains undeciphered to date; it appears to be non-alphabetic (logo-syllabic), written mostly right to left.
• Religion: Worship of Mother Goddess (fertility cult) is inferred from terracotta figurines; a seal depicting a seated figure surrounded by animals is often called "Proto-Shiva" or "Pashupati seal." Evidence of tree worship (pipal), animal worship, and phallic (linga) symbols has been found.
• No clear evidence of temples; burial practices varied (extended burial, fractional burial, post-cremation burial urns).
• Society appears to have been relatively egalitarian in terms of visible wealth differences, though craft specialization indicates some social stratification.

3.6 Decline

Various theories have been proposed for the decline of the IVC around 1900 BCE: climate change and drying up of the Saraswati/Ghaggar-Hakra river system, floods, tectonic shifts altering river courses, decline in trade with Mesopotamia, and (an older, now largely discredited theory) Aryan invasion. Most modern scholarship favours environmental/climatic factors and gradual de-urbanisation rather than a sudden violent end.