Indus Valley Civilization is also known as Harappan Civilization.

Characteristics of Indus Valley Civilization

The best characteristics of Indus Valley Civilization was the construction of planned cities and buildings. All the major cities in which Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Chanhudaro, Lothal and Kalibanga were situated on the banks of major rivers. In these cities, a wall was built around it for protection. Each city had wide and long roads connecting each other cities. In the Indus Valley Civilization, the remains of all types of buildings, small and large, have been found. The people of Indus valley civilization were skilled in building construction. This information is obtained from the remains of the building. There was complete arrangement of amenities in the houses built by them. The construction of buildings was also done in a planned manner. Skylights and windows were also made for lighting. The kitchen, bathroom, courtyard and building were of many floors. The wall was made of bricks. Wells were also made in buildings and houses. A tank made of bricks has been found in Lothal.

Large Bathroom

The excavation at Mohenjodaro found a huge bathhouse which is very grand. There was a good drainage system outside the bathing pool. The reservoir was cleaned from time to time. High quality materials were used for the construction of the bath, due to which it still exists after 5000 years.

Grain Store

In the excavation of Harappa city, the remains of grain store with 6-6 rows have been found in the highway of the fort here, the length of the granary was 18 meters and width was 7 meters. Its main gate opened towards the river, it seemed that food was brought here from the waterway and collected here. Probably at that time such huge granaries were the main form of the state treasury.

Drainage System

The drainage system of the Indus Valley Civilization was of very high quality. There was a network of drains in the city, there were brick paved drains on both sides of the road and streets. The drains of the houses met with the drains of the streets or streets. There was also a system of covering the drains with bricks and stones. To clean them, pits or tube wells were made from place to place. Garbage used to accumulate in these sewage wells and the flow of drains was not blocked. Bricks were used at the bends and confluences of the drains.

Social life

A developed civilization like the Harappa could flourish only on a strong agrarian structure. The Harappan farmers lived in the plains near the river, near the city walls. It produced additional food for the craftsmen, merchants and other city dwellers. Apart from agriculture, these people were also particularly adept at many other arts. In view of the difference in the size of the houses, some scholars are of the opinion that the Harappan society was divided into classes.

Meal

The people of Harappan culture used wheat, rice, sesame, peas etc. as food. People were also non-vegetarians. They used to hunt various animals. Fruits were also used. Many such utensils have been found from the excavation, from which the variety of food and drink items is known in size and type. Mill was used for grinding.

Clothes

In relation to the dress of the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization, it is said that women used Ghaghra saris and men used dhoti and turban. He himself made clothes by weaving thread by hand.

Jewelery & Cosmetics

Both men and women used to wear ornaments. In jewelry, necklace, bracelet, ring, ear flower, armband, collarbone, string, girdle, anklet etc. are particularly noteworthy. Many threaded girdles and necklaces have also been found. Ornaments are made of gold, silver, brass, copper, ivory, bones and clay. The rich used to wear jewellery made of precious metals and jewels. Both men and women were makeup lovers, used metal and ivory combs and mirrors. The hairstyle was of the best type, from the excavation, many small vessels have been found for applying mascara and for colouring the lips.

Entertainment

The people of the Indus Valley Civilization used various arts for entertainment, animal races played chess, the sculpture of dancing wonen tells us the practice of singing and dancing in the Harappan culture. Clay and stone dice have been found.

Technology Knowledge

The people of the Indus Valley Civilization must have had a lot of technical knowledge after seeing the construction of buildings, huge granary, drainage system, road system, it is estimated that they knew how to make alloys, their idols and ornaments were very beautiful.

Deceased Karma

Even in this period, dead bodies were buried in the ground. Along with the dead bodies, food, weapons, household utensils and other useful items were also kept together as in the Paleolithic period. Large stones were also placed over the graves of the dead, the main purpose of which was to pay respect to the dead. In some places the practice of burning dead bodies had also become prevalent. When the dead body was burnt, its ashes were kept in earthen pots and buried in the ground with respect.

Medical science

The inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization were familiar with various medicines, and used deer, reindeer horns, azadirachta indica  leaves (Neem tree leaves) and Asphaltum (shilajit) as medicines. It is noteworthy that in the Indus civilization, examples of skull surgery are also obtained from Kalibanga and Lothal. . Sea fen (foam) was also used as medicine.

Economic life

Agriculture

In the Harappan era, the Indus river used to flood which made the land more fertile. The people of the Indus Valley used to sow wheat and barley in the flood fertile land in the month of November and harvested their crops in the month of April before the flood. No plow or shovel has been found in the excavation, but remains of fields suitable for cultivation of pre-Harappan period have been found at Kalibanga. Right angle beds have been found in the field, which shows that it was possible to plant two crops at a time in the field. Probably the Harappan used plows made of wood. There is no evidence that human or bull used to pull the plow. Perhaps crops were harvested with stone cleats. Irrigation by canals does not seem to have been practiced. The main crops of Harappa were wheat, barley, cotton, sesame. These were stored in huge grain cells. The flood water was used to irrigate the fields.

Animal husbandry

The other major occupation was animal husbandry. The bones of bulls, cows, pigs and dogs have been found in abundance. So they must have kept animals. Cow and buffalo milk was used.

Business

The inhabitants of this valley used to do internal and foreign trade, gold came from the mines of Kolar and Anantapur. According to some scholars silver and Ranga were imported from Afghanistan. Copper and lead were imported from Rajputana, Balochistan and Iran.

Cottage industry

In addition to clay figurines, toys, utensils made of chalk, mainly by potters, bricks were manufactured on a large scale. On a silver urn, a cloth wrapped on cotton has been found, from which it is known that the residents here used to do the business of spinning and weaving cloth. Some clay pillows have been received. Woolen clothes were also made by weaving. The potters used to make their living by preparing various clay items. Toys, statues, bowls, cups, pots were made. Oyster and ivory ornaments were made.

Weighing weights

Scales and weights were prevalent for the talai. To measure, the scale was used which was made of oysters. Weights were made from smooth stones. Many such stones were found from which it is known that its properties were used.

Development of Art

Sculpture or statues

The people of Harappan civilization used to make beautiful metal statues. The most beautiful specimen of them is the statue of a dancer made of bronze. In the excavation, a half-statue of a bearded man made of cellar has been found. From his left shoulder to the bottom of his right hand, there is an ornate scarf and a sarabandha on his forehead. The statues of two men made of stone are examples of miniature Harappan sculpture.

Painting

It is known from the paintings made on many utensils and seals that the people of Indus Valley were very skilled in painting. Bulls and buffaloes have been painted in the most artistic way on seals. Pictures of trees have also been made.

Currency art

Various types of coins have been found in the excavations of Harappa, these coins are of square shape on which pictures of animals are made on one side and inscriptions on the other side. About 3600 seals of ivory and clay have been found.

Metal art

Metal art in the arts of the Indus  Valley Civilization, in which the mention of special gold art is found. The work of smelting, casting, carving etc. was done by the sonars here. Artifacts of the Indus period are so unique and beautiful that even today's goldsmith can be proud of such workmanship.

Character making art

In the excavation, many copper and clay vessels have been found, which are very beautiful and of high quality, it has been found in square, rectangular, circular. They were used to fill water and store grains.

Pottery making

Many copper vessels have been found in the excavation, it is in square, rectangular in which there is a painting.

Textile making

When the Indus Valley Civilization was excavated, pillows have been received from which the residents of this place were also skilled in the work of spinning yarn.

Dance and music

There is also evidence that the Indus people were familiar with dance and music. Earlier we have mentioned the statue of a dancer made of bronze. It is clear from this that dance art was promoted in the Indus region. The gesture of this idol is as heart-wrenching as it is seen in the sculptures of the historical era. Some such pictures have been found on the utensils which are similar to the drum and tabla. It is estimated that the Indus people also knew how to make musical instruments.

Writing or writing

Like the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, the Harappans also developed the art of writing. Although the first samples of this script were received in 1853, scholars have not been able to decipher its meaning so far. Some scholars also used computer to read it but they are also unsuccessful. Efforts to establish a relation of this script with the languages ​​of Dravidian, Sanskrit or Sumer have also not yielded any satisfactory result. The Harappan script is considered to be a pictographic script. In this script, every letter in the form of a picture is a symbol of some sound, thought or object. About 400 such pictographs have come to be seen. This script has not yet been read, so we cannot say much about the literature, ideas or governance of the Harappan culture. Reading and writing were probably limited to one class.

Religious life

Worship of Mother Goddess

The worship of Mother Goddess is revealed by getting the maximum number of female terracotta idols from the Indus culture. The people here worshiped the Mother Goddess as the fertility of the earth (Based on Harappan seal).

Worship of Shiva or the Supreme Person

The Harappan people believed in a divine power, in which they developed this dialectical religion in two forms, Param Purush and Param Woman. This form of religion is present in Hindu society even today. The marshal considered Shiva to be the original form, even today Shiva has the most importance in our religion.

Tree and animal worship

The markings of many types of trees like Ficus religiosa (peepal tree), banana, azadirachta indica (Neem tree) etc. are found on the seals. This shows their religious importance. A seal has been found here. One man is seated on one tripod on it. One of its legs is bent and one is hanging down. It has three heads and three horns on the head. Its hands are on both the knees and its shape is meditative. There are animals on both sides of it. He has the shape of trident engraved on his chest. According to Marshal, this idol found from Sindhu Ghati is of Lord Shankar of today. Mackay too considers it to be a statue of Shiva. Some people regard it as statue of Pashupati. Whatever it is, the idol of Pashupati form of Shiva seems indisputable. Its three heads represent Shiva's trinity and three horns symbolize Shiva's trident.

Phallism

Many big and small Shiva lingas have been found here. Some have holes on the top as if they would be used to wear around the neck by threading them. The larger penis is made of limestone and the smaller snails. Their worship can be estimated in different ways by different communities.