Indus Valley Civilization

In 1922, the excavations carried out at Mohanjodaro in Larkhana district of Sindh (Pakistan) by R.D.Banerjee brought into light the civilization which existed long before the Rigvedic times. The first excavations which were carried out at Harappa, in the Montgomery district of Punjab (Pakistan) and Mohenjodaro are in the Indus Valley region. Hence, it was first named Indus Valley Civilization. Later, it was described as Harappan Civilization.

Mohenjodaro means "Mound of the Dead".

New sites have been excavated by B.B.Lal and S.R.Rao at,

• Kalibangan - on the left bank of the extinct Ghaggar river in Rajasthan.


• Lothal - near Bhogavo river in Gujarat


• Sukortada - Gujarat

The Harappan Civilization was spread over a large area from Baluchistan to Gujarat. The area covered by this is much greater than its contemporary civilizations in Egypt and Sumeria.

Period : 7000 BC - 6000 BC.
The C-14 analysis indicated the structures at Mehrgarh belonged to 6000 BC.

Distinguishing Features:

1. Town Planning -

• Streets are arranged in a grid manner.


• Main streets running from North to South.


• Cross streets and lanes at right angles to them.

2. Houses -

• Houses were built with bricks baked in kilns.


• All houses have wells, drains and bathrooms.

3. The Great Bath

4. Granary Complex

5. Port - at Lothal


Economic and Social life:

1. Food -

• Wheat was the staple food.


• Fish and mutton were are also commonly consumed.


• No taboo on eating beef and pork.


• No evidence of consumption of fruits.

2. Dress - Fabrics made of cotton were extensively used.

3. Ornaments -

• Finger rings and necklaces were worn by both men and women.


• Nose studs, Bangles, Anklets and ear rings were worn by women.

4. Hair Dressing -

• Females dressed their hair in various styles and decked them with ornaments.

5. Seals -

• made of paste, stone (or) steatite (soap stone).


• the obverse contained an inscription and figure of an animal.


• the reverse has a perforated knob for suspension.


• the script is pictographic containing nearly 400 signs.


• the script is yet to be deciphered.

6.Script -

• Soviet experts are of the opinion that the script has no connection
  with Sumerian Civilization of West Asia or with the Egyptian hieroglyphics.
  They claim that the script resembles a Dravidianlanguage akin to Tamil,
  Malayalam or Kannada.
• Dr.S.R.Rao doesn't accept the above view. He studied
  1,800 harappan seals and concluded that Harappans spoke an Indo-European
  language and observed religious rituals which were later adopted by the
  Aryans. He says that there is no link with the Dravidian languages.

7. Religion -

• Very little is known about the religion of the Harappans.


• no temple or shrine has been discovered so far.


• Pictures of Shiv or Pasupati and mother goddess can be seen.


• animals and trees were worshipped.


• the representation of Swastika and Wheel on some seals suggests that sun was
  worshipped.

Decline of the Harappan Civilization:

Earlier explanation was that the Harappan Civilization was destroyed by the invading Aryans. But, the most widely accepted theory is that the Harappans moved to Southern parts of India due to repeated floods floods of the Indus river, decreased fertility of the soil, and some climatic changes.