INDUS VALLEY

CIVILIZATION

Indus Valley
 INTENT:

To make student aware about the architecture style,

history and social development which took in Indus
Valley Civilization Indus Valley
 CONTENT:

▪INTRODUCTION
▪ARCHITECTURE FEATURE OF
IVC
▪CITIES of IVC
▪IMPORTANT BUILDINGS of IVC
▪NOTABLE ARTIFACTS
▪DECLINE
▪CONCLUSION

Indus Valley
What is a civilization & which are
the oldest civilizations in the
•world???
A type of culture, society developed by a
particular group of people.

•Oldest civilizations:
✔ Indus Valley Civilization
✔ Mesopotamian Civilization.
✔ Egyptian Civilization.
Indus Valley
WHERE IS INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION

▪The Indus Valley is on the border

between India,

Pakistan and Afghanistan.

▪It flourished along the banks of River

Indus.
Indus Valley
Indus Valley
 INTRODUCTION

▪The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was a Bronze Age

civilization

▪Time period: 3300 1300 BCE; mature period 2600 1600

BCE
▪The life in the Indus cities gives the impression of a

democratic bourgeois economy like that of ancient

Crete.

▪Inhabitants developed new techniques in

Indus Valley
▪The cities are noted for:

•urban planning,

•baked brick houses,

•elaborate drainage systems,

•water supply systems,

•clusters of large
non-residential buildings.

Indus Valley
▪The Indus Valley Civilization is also known as the
Harappan Civilization,
after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated in

the 1920s, in what was then the Punjab province of

British India, and now is Pakistan.

▪Among the settlements were the major

urban centers of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro

(UNESCO World Heritage

Site), Dholavira, Ganeriwala in Cholistan and Indus Valley

 FEATURES OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

▪Cities were well developed.

▪Lord Shiva and Mother goddess were prayed by the

people.

▪People played dice games like ludo , snake -ladder etc.

▪They were pretty good in measuring length, mass and

time etc.
▪It was the first civilization with urban systems . This

shows that people of that time were advanced enough

and were very cautious about hygiene

Indus Valley
▪Trade and transportation were major goals and
source of income for

these people.

▪They were first people who grew cotton for the very first
time in the

world.

▪Agricultural process in this civilization was very

advanced and highly
productive like raising , storing and transporting

domesticated wheat and barley etc.

▪People were skillful in pottery , paintings etc.

Indus Valley
▪ Mohenjo-Daro people had finest bath facilities,
drainage system, and

knowledge of personal hygiene.

▪ They were equally conscious of plant medicine since

there was occasional warfare.

▪ The portrayal of a three-faced figure surrounded by

various animals has been considered as Shiva in the

form of Pasupati or Brahma, the originator of Brahmi

School of learning.
Indus Valley
▪ They had perhaps a fairly good idea of lunar
astronomy, as envisaged
from some of the seals since they were very much

attached to navigation and fire worship as found in

Kalibangan.

▪ The rectangular bath at each of the Harappan sites

was considered a

holy place.
▪ The Harappan people could prepare painted

potteries of burnt clay, glazed potteries faience,

Indus Valley
▪ The cities were supported by both trade and
agriculture. The foundations
of well-planned shipyards at Kalibangan and Lothal

and granaries at all these main Harappan sites

indicate how important they were in the economy of

that time.

▪ Certain medicated and contemplative postures of the

people, available among terracotta figurines suggest

that they also developed the science of physical and

mental discipline to a high degree. Indus Valley

ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES OF
INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION

Indus Valley
 TOWN PLANNING SYSTEM
▪The Town Planning System was city based.
▪The drainage and sanitation systems were remarkable.
▪The main streets and roads were set in a line, sometimes
running straight for a mile, and were varying in width from 4
meters to 10 meters.

▪Most of these roads and streets were paved with fire brunt
bricks.
▪On the either side of the street stood houses of various
sizes which did not
protrude into the streets.
▪The main streets intersected at right angles, dividing the city
into squares or rectangular blocks each of which was
divided length wise and cross wise by lanes. Some
Indus Valley
 Urban Cities:
▪The Indus civilization flourished around cities.
▪The city was the heart of the civilization.
▪Large cities divided into two parts.
▪The higher and upper portion of the city
was protected by a
construction which looks like a fort.
▪The ruling class of the towns lived in the protected
area.
▪The other part of the towns was lower in height than

the former and common men lived in this area.

Indus Valley
 Streets
▪The main streets of Indus Valley ran from north to south

and east to west intersecting one another at right

angles.

▪The streets were broad varying from 9 feet to 34 feet.

▪They ran straight to a mile.

▪They were suitable for wheeled traffic.

▪Lanes were joined with the streets.

▪Each lane had a public welt.

Indus Valley
Grid Pattern

▪Harappa and Mohen-Jo Dero were laid out on a grid pattern

and had provisions

for an advanced drainage system.

City Walls

▪ Each city in the Indus Valley was surrounded by massive

walls and gateways.

▪ The walls were built to control trade and also to stop the city
from being flooded.

▪ Each part of the city was made up of walled sections.

▪Each section included different buildings such as:

Public buildings, houses, markets, craft workshops, etc.

Indus Valley
 The acropolis and the lower cities
▪A typical city would be divided into two sections,

each fortified separately.

▪One section was located on an artificially raised

mound (sometimes called acropolis) while the other

level was on level ground.

▪The acropolis contained the important buildings of

the city, like the assembly halls, religious structures,

Indus Valley
▪The lower section of the city was where the housing
for the inhabitants

was located.

▪It was here where some truly amazing features have

been discovered.
▪The city was well connected with broad roads about

30 meters long which met at right angles.

▪The houses were located in the rectangular squares

thus formed.

Indus Valley
Public Buildings and Houses
▪ The town dwellers were divided into various social classes.
▪The rich and the ruling class lived in the multi-roomed spacious

houses and the poorer section lived in small tenements.

▪ The public building and big houses were situated on the streets.

▪ The modest houses were situated on the lanes.

▪ Encroachment on public roads or lanes by building houses was not
permitted.
▪ The houses can be divided into three main groups viz.
▪ dwelling houses,
▪ larger buildings,
▪ Public baths.

Indus Valley
▪Smaller houses had two rooms, while larger houses
had many rooms.

▪There were courtyards attached to big buildings.

▪There was little artistic touch in the

architectural design of the buildings belonging

either to the rich or the poor.

▪They were plain, utilitarian and comfortable to

live. Some of the buildings were multi-storied.

▪Most of the houses had baths, wells and covered

Indus Valley
▪Ordinary buildings had little ventilation
arrangements, as doors and

windows were rarely fixed in the outer walls.

▪Doors of entrance were fixed not on the front wall but

on the side walls.

▪One could enter a house by the door facing the side

lanes of the

house.

▪The doors were made of wood.

▪Large buildings had spacious doors.

Indus Valley
Indus Valley
Houses:
The houses were of different sizes varying from a

palatial building to one with two small rooms.

In harappan houses , Bathrooms were attached to the

rooms
The houses had a well, a bathroom, and a covered

drain connected to the drain in the street.

Houses in this civilization were built of Burnt bricks

and Gypsum (which have been preserved even to

Indus Valley
Indus Valley
▪ Sun-dried bricks were used for the foundation of the buildings and the

roofs were flat and made of wood.

▪The special feature of the houses was that rooms were built around an open

courtyard.

▪ Some houses were double storied.

▪Some buildingshad pillared halls; some of them measured 24

square meters.

▪ Palaces, temples or municipal halls were part of public buildings.

Indus Valley
Building Materials
▪ Most of the houses were built of burnt bricks in molds of [Link] ratios
▪Un-burnt sun-dried bricks were also used but stones were not used in

construction.

▪ That portion of the buildings where contamination with water was possible,

burnt bricks were used and for the other parts sun-dried bricks were used.
▪The staircases of big buildings were solid; the roofs were flat and were made of wood.

▪ Mud mortar, gypsum cement, mud plaster and gypsum plaster were used.

Indus Valley
Drainage System
▪The elaborate drainage system was a remarkable feature of the
civilization.
▪Housewives were expected to use pits in which heavier part of

the rubbish will settle down while only sewerage water was

allowed to drain off.

▪Each house had a well-constructed sink, and water flowed from

the sink into the
underground sewers in the streets.
▪Each house had horizontal and vertical drains.
▪There were underground drains for the streets whichwere

covered by stone slabs.

▪The soak pits were made of bricks which were occasionally

Indus Valley
D
R
A
I
N
S

Indus Valley
Indus Valley
Science and
engineering

▪A thick ring-like shell object found with four slits each in

two margins served
as a compass to measure angles on plane surfaces or in

the horizon in multiples of 40 degrees, up to 360

degrees. Such shell instruments were probably invented

to measure 8 12 whole sections of the horizon and sky,

explaining the slits on the lower and upper margins.

Indus Valley
▪For their renowned draining system, engineers provided
corbelled roofs, and
an apron of kiln-fired bricks over the brick face of the

platform where the sewerage entered the cesspool.

▪Wooden screens inserted in grooves in the side drain

walls held back solid waste. The well is built of radial

bricks, 2.4 metres (7.9 feet) in diameter and 6.7 metres

(22 feet) deep.

▪It had an immaculate network of underground drains,

Indus Valley
▪On average, the main sewer is 20 46 cm (7.9 18.1 in) in
depth, with

outer dimensions of 86 × 68 × 33 cm (34 × 27 × 13 in).

▪Brick-makers used a logical approach in manufacture of

bricks, designed with care in regards to thickness of

structures.

▪ They were used as headers and stretchers in same and

alternate layers.
▪Archaeologists estimate that in most cases, the bricks

were in ratio 1:0.5:0.25 on three sides, in dimensions

Indus Valley
 CITIES
OF
INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION

Indus Valley
▪Mohenjo-daro

▪Harappa

▪Lothal

▪Dholavira

▪Kotdiji

Indus Valley
 Mohenjo-daro
▪Mound of the Dead Men.

▪Site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan & was Built

around 2500 BCE.
▪It was one of the largest settlements of the

ancient Indus Valley Civilization, and one of the

world's earliest major urban settlements.

▪Mohenjo-daro was abandoned in the 19th

century BCE as the Indus

Valley Civilization declined.

Indus Valley
 Mohenjo-Daro timeline
Plans
Small villages
are
are
approved
established Mohenjo- Mohenjo-
to
in the area Daro is Daro s
preserve
around a 1800 ruins 1948 1980
Mohenjo-
Mohenjo-Dar thriving BC are AD AD
2600 BC Daro.
o. trade city. found.

3300 BC 2600-
1922 1973
1800 AD AD
BC Mohenjo-Daro First attempts Mohenjo-D
Building of a to
falls into aro
planned city is conserve
decline and is becomes
begun at Mohenjo-Dar
later abandoned. a
Mohenjo- o are made. World
Daro.
Heritage
Site.
Indus Valley
Citadel
of

Mohenjo-
Daro
Indus Valley
Architecture and urban infrastructure
Mohenjo-daro has a planned layout of rectilinear
basedon a street grid
buildings.

The covered area of Mohenjo-daro is estimated at 300

hectares.

The city is divided into two parts: Citadel and the Lower
City.
The Citadel a mud-brick mound around 12 metres (39

ft) high is known to have supported public baths, a

large residential structure designed to house about

5,000 citizens, and two large assembly halls. Indus Valley

 ▪The city had a central marketplace, with a large central
well.
▪Individual households or groups of households

obtained their water from smaller wells.

▪ Waste water was channeled to covered drains

that lined the major

streets.
▪Most houses had inner courtyards, with doors

that opened onto side- lanes. Some buildings had

two stories.

Indus Valley
▪One large building :"Great Granary "has certain
wall-divisions in its
massive wooden superstructure appeared to be grain

storage-bays, complete with air-ducts to dry the grain.

▪Close to the "Great Granary" is a large and

elaboratepublicbath, sometimes called the Great Bath.

From a colonnaded courtyard, steps lead

down to the brick-built pool, which was waterproofed by a

lining of bitumen. The pool measures 12 meters (39 ft)

Indus Valley
▪Other large buildings include a "Pillared Hall", thought to
be an
assembly hall of some kind, and the so-called "College

Hall", a complex of buildings comprising 78 rooms,

thought to have been a priestly residence.

▪Mohenjo-daro had no series of city walls, but was fortified

with guard towers to the west of the main settlement, and

defensive fortifications to the south. Considering these

fortifications and the structure of other major Indus valley

cities like Harappa, it is postulated that Mohenjo-daro was

Indus Valley
 ▪Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro share relatively the
same architectural

layout, and were generally not heavily fortified like other

Indus Valley sites.
▪Mohenjo-daro was successively destroyed and rebuilt at

least seven times. Each time, the new cities were built

directly on top of the old ones. Flooding by the Indus is

thought to have been the cause of destruction.

Indus Valley
Aerial View of
Mohenjo-Daro

Indus Valley
Wide View,
Mohenjo-Daro

Indus Valley
Bath Well
Area

Indus Valley
 Harappa

▪Harappa is an archaeological site in Punjab,

Pakistan, about 24 km

(15 mi) west of Sahiwal.

▪The city is believed to have had as many as 23,500

residents and occupied about 150 hectares (370

acres) with clay sculptured houses.

Indus Valley
Public Well,
Harappa

Indus Valley
Dra
in

Indus Valley
 Male
Skeleton

Female Skeleton
with Child

Indus Valley
 Lothal
▪Lothal is one of the most prominent cities of the
ancient Indus valley civilisation,
located in the Bh l region of the modern state of

Gujar t and dating from 3700 BCE.

▪It was a vital and thriving trade centre in ancient

times, with its trade
of beads, gems and valuable ornaments reaching the far corners

of West Asia and Africa.

▪The techniques and tools they pioneered for bead-making and in

metallurgy have stood the test of time for over 4000 years.

Indus Valley
Layout
plan
Lothal
Indus Valley
 BUILDINGS
OF
INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION

Indus Valley
▪Great Bath

▪Granary

▪The
Assembly
Hall
Indus Valley
The Great Bath,
Mohenjo-Daro

Indus Valley
 Great Public Bath

▪There is an impressive building which was used as a

public bath.

▪The overall dimension of the Bath is 180 feet by 108

feet.
▪The bathing pool is 39 feet by 23 feet with 8 feet depth.

There is a device to fill and empty the water of the

bathing pool.

▪There are galleries and rooms on all sides of the

bathing pool.
▪This public bath was attached to the Mohenjo-Daro fort
Indus Valley
Indus Valley
▪It is in the center of the quadrangle, surrounded with
verandahs, rooms

and galleries.

▪flight of steps led to the pool.

▪The pool could be filled and emptied by means of a

vaulted culvert, 6

feet and 6 inches high.

▪The walls of the pool were made of burnt bricks laid on

edge, which made the pool watertight.

Indus Valley
▪The pool was filled with water from a large well,
situated in the same

complex.
▪Periodic cleaning of the pool was done by draining

off the used water into a big drain.

▪The Great Bath building had six entrances.

▪The Great Bath reflected the engineering

genius of those ancient days.

Indus Valley
Granary, Mohenjo-Daro

Indus Valley
 Granary

▪The largest building found at Mohenjo-Daro is a

granary, running 150
feet long, 75 feet wide and 15 feet high.
▪It was meantto store food grains. It had
lines of circular brick
platforms for pounding grain.
▪The granary was divided into 27 compartments in
three rows.
▪It was well ventilated and it was possible to fill grain
in from outside.
▪The large size of the granary probably indicates a

highlydeveloped agricultural civilization.

Indus Valley
▪Attached to the granary were two roomed
tenements with a common

courtyard.
▪These tenements housed the workers or the slaves

who thrashed the corn to be preserved in the

granary.

Indus Valley
 The Assembly Hall
▪An important feature of Mohen-jo-daro was its 24

square meters pillared hall.

▪It had five rows of pillars, with four pillars in each row.

Kiln baked bricks were used to construct these pillars.

▪Probably, it was the Assembly Hall or the ruler's court.

It is said that it also housed the municipal office which

had the charge of town planning and sanitation. Indus Valley

NOTABLE ARTIFACTS

Indus Valley
A Male Head,
Mohenjo-Daro

Indus Valley
Bison Unicorn
Seal Seal

Indus Valley
A Horned-God Potte
Seal ry

Indus Valley
Female
Figures
Indus Valley
Elephant Bull
Figurine Figurine

Indus Valley
Burial Pottery

Indus Valley
Decline
▪This civilization is said to have come to an

abrupt end. The following reasons are put forward

for its abrupt end:

▪The neighboring desert encroached on the fertile

area and made it

infertile.

▪Regular floods destroyed the area.

▪Aryan invaders killed people and destroyed the Indus

Valley Civilization.
Indus Valley
▪The end was partly caused by changingriver
patterns. These changes
included the drying up of the Hakra River and changes

in the course of the Indus River. The river changes

disrupted agricultural and economic systems, and

many people left the cities of the Indus Valley region.

▪Earthquakes and Epidemics caused destruction.

▪By 1700 B.C., the Indus civilization had gradually broken

up into smaller cultures, called late Harappan cultures

and post-Harappan cultures.

Indus Valley
Conclusion:

▪The Indus Valley people gave to the world its earliest cities, its
town planning,

▪its architecture in stone and clay, and showed their concern for
health and sanitation.

▪They built a scientific drainage system in their

cities.
There is enough evidence to show that some of the early

conceptions of Hinduism are derived from this culture.

▪On the whole, the present civilization is a composite product

resulting from a fusion of several cultures where the contribution

of the Indus Valley is of utmost importance. Indus Valley