The Indus Valley Civilisation

Nearly 4,500 years ago, much of the world still lived in villages. Yet the people of the Indus valley were already building some of the first cities on Earth. Their towns had straight streets and covered drains, planned with a care that still astonishes us today. This Indus Valley or Harappan civilisation is where the story of Indian cities begins. It is also a favourite topic in examinations.

The civilisation was lost and forgotten for thousands of years. It was rediscovered in the 1920s, when archaeologists excavated the mounds of Harappa and Mohenjodaro (in present-day Pakistan). Because Harappa was the first site found, the whole culture is also called the Harappan civilisation.

It turned out to be vast, stretching across the north-west of the subcontinent. Major sites include Dholavira, Lothal, Kalibangan and Rakhigarhi. Other Harappan sites are Chanhudaro and Kot Diji (both in present-day Pakistan), Desalpur in Gujarat, Banawali in Haryana, and Ropar in Punjab on the river Sutlej. It flourished around 2500 BCE, making it one of the world's earliest urban civilisations, alongside Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Examiners often ask which discovery belongs to which site. Learn these pairs:

• Lothal: a dockyard for ships, evidence of sea trade.
• Kalibangan: a ploughed field, the earliest evidence of ploughing.
• Dholavira: a signboard inscription of ten large Harappan script signs.
• Banawali: a terracotta replica of a plough.
• Chanhudaro: a craft town devoted to bead-making, with no citadel.

Questions also mix Harappan sites with other ancient sites. Keep these apart:

• Burzahom (Kashmir): a Neolithic site known for pit dwellings, not for rock-cut shrines.
• Chandraketugarh (West Bengal): a later site famous for its terracotta art.
• Ganeshwar (Rajasthan): known for copper artefacts. It supplied copper to the Harappans.
• Sohgaura (Uttar Pradesh): a Mauryan-era site, far later than the Harappans.

The most remarkable feature of Harappan cities was their town planning:

• Each city was usually divided into two parts: a raised citadel to the west, where important buildings stood, and a larger lower town where people lived.
• Streets were laid out in a grid, crossing at right angles.
• Houses were built of baked bricks of a standard size, often with a courtyard, a well and a bathroom.
• A covered drainage system ran along the streets, a level of sanitation unmatched in the ancient world.
• At Mohenjodaro stood the Great Bath, a large watertight tank probably used for special bathing rituals.
• Dholavira, in dry Gujarat, is famous for its elaborate water management. A series of dams channelled water into large interconnected reservoirs, the finest water harvesting system of the age.

The Harappans had a prosperous economy. They were skilled farmers, growing wheat, barley and cotton. They were among the first people anywhere to grow cotton. They also reared cattle, sheep and goats.

They were also fine craftspeople. They made smooth pottery, jewellery of gold and precious stones, and tiny seals carved with animals and an undeciphered script. They carried on long-distance trade, even reaching Mesopotamia. The port at Lothal had a dockyard for ships.

Harappan metalworkers had mastered bronze casting. Their most famous work is the Dancing Girl, a small cast bronze statuette found at Mohenjodaro. She stands with a hand on her hip, wearing bangles, and shows how skilled Harappan bronze work had become.

The animals on the seals repay close attention. The seals and terracotta art depict the humped bull, the elephant, the rhinoceros and the tiger. The cow is never depicted, a small fact that examinations test again and again.

We can only guess at Harappan religion from objects, because their script remains unread. The evidence points to the worship of both male and female deities. Many clay figurines of a mother goddess suggest the worship of a female deity, perhaps linked to fertility. A famous seal from Mohenjodaro shows a horned male figure seated in a yogic posture, surrounded by animals. Scholars call him Pashupati, the lord of animals, and many see in him an early form of Shiva. Seals also suggest reverence for certain animals, such as the humped bull, and for trees like the pipal.

Just as important is what the Harappans did not have. Excavations have found no great palaces and no grand temples. No building can be clearly identified as a royal residence or a public shrine. This sets the Indus cities apart from Egypt and Mesopotamia, where monumental temples and palaces dominated. Likewise, there is no evidence of the horse at the main Harappan sites, and no horse-drawn chariots used in warfare. The horse and the chariot belong to the later Vedic age, not to the Harappans.

• Mother goddess figurines: clay female figures, evidence of a worshipped female deity.
• Pashupati seal: horned male figure in yogic posture among animals, a possible proto-Shiva.
• Sacred animals and trees: the humped bull and the pipal tree appear on seals.
• No palaces or temples: no monumental royal or religious buildings have been found.
• No horses or war chariots: these appear later, in the Vedic period.

Around 1900 BCE the great cities began to decline. People left them. The fine drainage and planning broke down. Writing and trade faded away.

Historians are not certain why. Several causes probably acted together: climate change and growing dryness, the drying up of rivers such as the Saraswati, floods, deforestation, and the loss of trade. Whatever the cause, India's first urban age came to an end. City life would not return on such a scale for many centuries.