INDUS VALLEY - Where Urban Life Commenced

Indus Valley Civilization (IVC), a Bronze Age civilization synchronic with Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China also known as the Harappan civilization, was one of the earliest urban civilizations (circa 3300–1300 BCE) that comprised most of present-day Pakistan and northwest India. Multistory brick buildings, advanced sanitation system, and used a centralized system of weight and measurement. The civilization was first recognized in 1921 at Harappa in the Punjab region and then in 1922 at Mohenjodaro, near the Indus River in the Sindh (Sind) region. The vestiges of Mohenjodaro were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in the year 1980. 

URBAN CIVILIZATION -

• Known to have consisted of two large cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, and more further 100 plus towns and villages, usually of small size. 

• A grid-like pattern in city planning.

• Evidence of a far-reaching trade interface used to import raw materials.

• Most citizens were artisans.

• Artifacts like sculptures, seals, pottery, gold, jewelry, detailed beadwork, and figurines have been unearthed.

• Unique and distinguished techniques in handicraft, metallurgy, trade and transportation, systems of measurement, and urban planning.

• Multistory buildings and structures built with uniform, kiln-burnt bricks.

• Good Sanitation system, with waste water, directed into covered drains.

• A unified system of weight and measurement.

INDUS VALLEY ART & CRAFT -

• Bronze, gold, stone, and terracotta figures of girls in dance postures indicate some dance forms must have existed.

• Several toys and games were found in sites like Mohenjo-daro.

• Animals are depicted on a majority of seals.

• Terracotta female figurines were found.

FAMOUS STATUES -

• Bearded Man (Priest-King) - Found in Mohenjo-Daro.

• Dancing Girl (Mohenjo-Daro)

• Mother Goddess (Mohenjo-Daro)

• Male Torso (Harappa)

   

    

DISAPPEARANCE -

If we talk about the causes of the collapse of this well-planned and urban civilization there is no general consensus. It is believed that Indus Valley might have been disappeared due to the following reasons:

The first theory proposed that a nomadic, Indo-European tribe- the Aryans, invaded and conquered the Indus Valley Civilization.

Second, gradual environmental change, like variation in climatic patterns and resulting agricultural disaster.

Third, the tectonic shifts leading to the flooding of Mohenjodaro, and other such calamities.

"Did you know that the Indus inscriptions are one of the most mysterious legacies of the Indus Valley civilization which have not been deciphered yet"