The Harappan Civilisation
ICSE Class 9 · History & Civics · Chapter 6
What this chapter covers
- The Harappan Civilisation and how it is known
- Sources: the Great Bath
- Sources: the Citadel and the granaries
- Sources: the dockyard at Lothal
- Sources: the seals and the script
- Sources: the bearded man and the dancing girl
- Urban planning
- Trade
- Art and craft
- Decline of the civilisation
- Common errors and how to avoid them
Key points
- The Harappan Civilisation was a Bronze Age urban civilisation of the north-western subcontinent, flourishing mainly from about 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE; Harappa (1921) and Mohenjo-daro (1922) were the first sites excavated.
- Its history is known almost entirely from archaeological sources, because its script is undeciphered.
- The Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro was a waterproof brick tank, probably used for ritual bathing.
- The Citadel was a raised, walled area on the west of a city containing public buildings; the lower town lay to the east.
- Granaries at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa show an agricultural surplus and an authority that stored grain.
- The dockyard at Lothal in Gujarat is the chief evidence of sea trade.
- Seals, mostly square and made of steatite, show animals and script signs and were used to mark goods in trade.
- The script of about 400 pictographic signs, usually written right to left, has not been deciphered.
- The bearded man ("priest-king") is a steatite figure in a trefoil-patterned shawl; the dancing girl is a bronze figure cast by the lost-wax process; both come from Mohenjo-daro.
- Urban planning included a grid of streets, standard burnt bricks of ratio 1:2:4, courtyard houses, covered drains and standard weights.
- The Harappans traded within the subcontinent and with Mesopotamia (which called them Meluhha), by barter, using carts and boats.
- Crafts included painted red pottery, terracotta figurines and toys, copper and bronze work, bead-making, jewellery, and cotton spinning and weaving.
- The decline after about 1900 BCE was gradual; suggested causes are floods, shifting and drying rivers, earthquakes, climatic change and deforestation, decline of trade and epidemics, while the Aryan invasion theory is now largely rejected.
Questions answered
Why is the civilisation called both "Harappan" and "Indus Valley"?
It is called Harappan because Harappa was the first of its sites to be excavated, and Indus Valley because many early sites were found along the Indus and its tributaries; "Harappan" is preferred because sites extend well beyond the Indus valley.
Define an archaeological source and give two examples from the Harappan Civilisation.
An archaeological source is any material object from the past, such as a building, tool, seal or statue, that gives information about the people who made or used it. Examples are the Great Bath and the seals.
Who first excavated Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, and when?
Daya Ram Sahni excavated Harappa in 1921, and R. D. Banerji excavated Mohenjo-daro in 1922.
How was the Great Bath made waterproof?
Its burnt bricks were laid on edge in gypsum mortar, and a layer of bitumen was placed behind the brick lining.
What does the Citadel tell us about Harappan society?
It shows that a ruling or privileged group lived or worked apart from ordinary people in the lower town, and that an organised authority planned and controlled public buildings.
Describe the granary at Harappa.
It stood north of the Citadel near the river Ravi and had two rows of six rooms each on a raised brick platform, with air ducts beneath the floors; workers' quarters and circular threshing platforms lay close by.
What is the importance of the dockyard at Lothal?
It shows that the Harappans traded by sea, had sea-going boats, and could build a brick basin with an inlet channel and spillway to control the water with the tides.
Name four animals shown on Harappan seals.
The unicorn, the humped bull, the elephant and the tiger (the rhinoceros, buffalo and crocodile are also correct).
Past board exam questions
ICSE 2019 sample paper · 2 marks
State any two ways in which the script of the Indus Valley Civilization provides us with valuable historical information.
Show answer
1. The script found on seals shows that the Harappans were literate and had developed a system of writing (pictographic script).
2. The seals bearing the script were used in trade, showing that the Harappans had trade and commercial contacts, including with Mesopotamia; once deciphered, it could tell us about their language, religion and administration.