Indus valley civilization

1. INITIAL SCRIPT FOR DOCUMENTARY
CAMPUS – JAIN (DEEMED-TO BE UNIVERSITY), JAYANAGAR
SECTION – N
TEAM LEADER – AJIT YAYATI
TOPIC – INDUS CIVILIZATION – THE ONLY ANCIENT CIVILIZATION WHICH IS ALIVE
TEAM MEMBERS –
 AJIT YAYATI
AKHIL P.K.
ASHITA VARKURU
AUGUSTINE LINO
CHETAN BEGANI
EKTA S
RONAK BANSAL
DIVYANSH JAIN
SHUBHAM KUMAR

2. INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
THE ONLY INDIAN CIVILIZATION WHICH IS
ALIVE

3. The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC), was the earliest known urban culture of Indian
subcontinent - one of the world’s earliest known civilization along with ancient Egypt.
The Indus civilization began in the Indus river valley, evolving from villages that used
the Mesopotamian model of irrigated agriculture. It is also known as Harappan
civilization.
The Harappan civilization was located in the Indus River valley. Its two large
cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, were located in present-day Pakistan’s Punjab
and Sindh provinces, respectively.

4. • The Indus Civilization apparently evolved from the villages of neighbours or
predecessors, using the Mesopotamian model of irrigated agriculture with
sufficient skill to reap the advantages of the spacious and fertile Indus
River valley while controlling the formidable annual flood that
simultaneously fertilizes and destroys.
• Trade was extensive and apparently well-regulated, providing imported raw
materials for use at internal production centres, distributing finished goods
throughout the region. Remarkable uniformity of weights and measures
throughout the Indus lands, as well as the development of such presumably
civic works as the great granaries, implies a strong degree of political and
administrative control over a wide area. Further, the widespread occurrence
of inscriptions in the Harappan script almost certainly indicates the use of a
single lingua franca.

5. • Excavations of Indus cities have produced much evidence of artistic activity,
Such finds are important because they provide insights into the minds, lives,
and religious beliefs of their creators. Stone sculpture is extremely rare, and
much of it is quite crude. The figures are apparently all intended as images
for worship. Such figures include seated men, recumbent composite
animals, or-in unique instances (from Harappa)-a standing nude male and a
dancing figure. The finest pieces are of excellent quality. The popular art of
the Harappans was in form of terra-cotta figurines. The majority are of
standing females, often heavily laden with jewellery, but standing males-
some with beard and horns-are also present. It has been generally agreed
that these figures are largely deities (perhaps a Great Mother and a Great
God), but small figures of mothers with children or of domestic activities are
probably toys. Copper and bronze were the principal metals used for making
tools and implements.

6. • The civilisation was first identified in 1921 at Harappa in the Punjab region
and then in 1922 at Mohenjo-daro (Mohenjodaro), near the Indus River in the
Sindh (Sind) region. Both sites are in present-day Pakistan, in Punjab and
Sindh provinces, respectively. The ruins of Mohenjo-daro were designated a
UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980.

7. HARAPPA RUINS
• Subsequently, vestiges of the civilization were found as far apart as
Sutkagen Dor in southwestern Balochistan province, Pakistan, near the
shore of the Arabian Sea, about 300 miles (480 km) west of Karachi and at
Ropar (or Rupar), in eastern Punjab state, north-western India, at the foot
of the Shimla Hills some 1,000 miles (1,600 km) northeast of Sutkagen Dor.
Later exploration established its existence southward down the west coast
of India as far as the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay), 500 miles (800 km)
southeast of Karachi, and as far east as the Yamuna (Jumna) River basin,
30 miles (50 km) north of Delhi. It is thus decidedly the most extensive of
the world’s three earliest civilizations both began somewhat before it.

8. MOHENJO-DARO
• The Indus Civilization is known to have consisted of two large cities,
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, and more than 100 towns and villages, often
of relatively small size. The two cities were each perhaps originally about 1
mile (1.6 km) square in overall dimensions, and their outstanding
magnitude suggests political centralization, either in two large states or in
a single great empire with alternative capitals, a practice having analogies
in Indian history. It is also possible that Harappa succeeded Mohenjo-
daro, which is known to have been devastated more than once by
exceptional floods. The population was estimated to be 23,500-35,000 in
Harappa and 35,000-41,250 in Mohenjo-daro. The southern region of the
civilization, on the Kathiawar Peninsula and beyond, appears to be later
origin than the major Indus sites.

9. SOCIETY AND POLITICAL SYSTEM
• Despite a growing body of archaeological evidence, the social and political
structures of the Indus “state” remain objects of conjecture. The apparent
craft specialization and localized craft groupings at Mohenjo-daro, along
with the great divergence in house types and size, point toward some
degree of social stratification. Trade was extensive and apparently well-
regulated, providing imported raw materials for use at internal production
centres, distributing finished goods throughout the region, and arguably
culminating in the establishment of Harappan “colonies” in both
Mesopotamia and Badakhshan.

10. ARTIFACTS
• Perhaps the known artifacts of the Indus civilization are a number of small
seals. The seals were generally cut from steatite (soapstone). The great
majority of seals show a hump less “unicorn” or bull in profile, while
others show the Indian humped bull, elephant, bison, rhinoceros, or tiger.
A considerable number of the seals contain scenes of obvious mythological
or religious significance.

11. LANGUAGE, SCRIPT, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
• The size and uniformity of the Harappan state and the extent of trade
contracts must have called for a well-developed means of communication.
The Harappan script has long defined attempts to read it, and therefore
language remains unknown. Relatively recent analysis of the order of the
signs on the inscriptions have led several scholars to the view that the
language is not of the Indo-European family, nor is it close to Sumerian,
appears to be the Dravidian, presently spoken throughout the southern
part of the Indian peninsula.
• The Harappans also employed regular systems of weights and measures.
An early analysis of a fair number of the well-formed chert cuboid weights
suggested that they followed a binary system for the lower denominations-
1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64-and a decimal system for the larger weights-160, 200,
320, 640, 1,600, 3,200, 6,400, 8,000 and 12,800

12. DECLINE
• Around 1,900 BCE signs a gradual decline began to emerge, and by around
1,700 BCE most of the cities had been abandoned. Recent examination of
human skeletons from the site of Harappa has demonstrated that the end of
the Indus civilization saw an increase in interpersonal violence and in
infectious diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis.
• As of 2016, many scholars believe that drought, and a decline in trade with
Egypt and Mesopotamia, caused the collapse of the Indus civilization. The
climate change which caused the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization
was possibly due to “an abrupt and critical mega-drought and cooling 4,200
years ago”. There was also evidence for earthquakes. Earthquakes along
with severe drought and climate change contributed to the decline of Indus
Valley Civilization.