1-THE HARAPPAN CIVILISATION

1.SYLLABUS:

SOURCES: Great Bath, citadel, seals, bearded man, dancing girl, dockyard, script.

ORIGIN : Extent, urban planning , trade , art and craft , and its decline.

2.INTRODUCTION :

IN The Neolithic Age ,Man lived in small villages. With the passage of time

,Population increased, man's needs expanded further ,the larger villages grew in

to cities and towns .As a result many new arts ,skills, crafts and occupations also

developed side by side. Trade and commerce and many other manufacturing

enterprises also developed. All this brought about a new life style. When man

began to live in towns, it marked the beginning of Civilization.

# FOUR CIVILISATION OF THE BRONZE AGE: There appeared four civilisations in the Bronze age. These are mentioned:

A. The indus Valley Civilization or the Harrapan Civilization.

B. The Mesopotamian Civilization or the Tigris-Euphrates Civilisation.

C. The Chinese Civilisation .( not in syllabus)

D. The Egyptian Civilisation. (not in syllabus)

A. The indus Valley Civilization or the Harrapan Civilization.

The Indus or Harappan culture arose in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent. It is called Harappan civilisation because this was discovered first in 1921 at the modern site of Harappa, situated in the province of west Punjab in Pakistan. ... Nearly, 1,400 Harappan sites are known so far in the sub-continent.

Indus Valley Civilisation: Origin, Evolution and Characteristics

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The Indus or Harappan culture arose in the north-western part of the Indian

subcontinent.

It is called Harappan civilisation because this was discovered first in 1921 at

the modern site of Harappa, situated in the province of west Punjab in

Pakistan.

It is also called as Indus civilisation because it refers to precisely the same

cultural, chronological and geographic entity confined to the geographic

bounds of the Indus valley.

Sir John Marshall was the first person to use the term ‘Indus civilisation’.

The Indus or the Harappan civilisation belongs to the Chalcolithic or Bronze

Age since the objects of copper and stone were found at the various sites

of this civilisation. Nearly, 1,400 Harappan sites are known so far in the sub-

continent.

They belong to early, mature and late phases of the Harappan culture. But

the number of the sites belonging to the mature phase is limited, and of

them only half a dozen can be regarded as cities.

Some of the noteworthy sites which have been excavated are Harappa

(1921) by Daya Ram Sahni, Mohenjodaro (1922) by R.D. Banerjee, Dholavira

(1967-68) by J.P. Joshi and (1990-91) by R.S. Bisht, Kalibangan by Dr. A.

Ghosh, Lothal (1955-63), Chanhu-daro, Banawali (1975-77), etc.

AGE OF HARAPPAN CIVILISATION: Indus civilization, also called Indus valley civilization or Harappan civilization, the

earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent. The nuclear dates of

the civilization appear to be about 2500–1700 bce, though the southern sites may

have lasted later into the 2nd millennium.

SOURCES OF HARAPPAN CIVILISATION:

Archaeological sources of the Harappan Civilization include

abandoned Harappan sites and their buildings, artifacts such as seals with

inscriptions that were used to stamp clay with Harappan script and pictograms,

and statuary.

EXTENT OF HARAPPAN CIVILISATION:

Map showing extent of the indus valley or the Harppan civilisation

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. Its extent reached as

far south as the Gulf of Khambhat and as far east as the Yamuna (Jumna)

River

The Indus Valley Civilization was not confined to these two sites in the

north-western area of the subcontinent. The influence of this culture

extended to the Punjab, Sindh, North West Frontier Province (now in

Pakistan), Baluchistan, Rajasthan, U.P., Gujarat and even some parts of

south India.

This civilization was spread over an area of about 1600 kilometers from

West to East and 1100 kilometers from North to South. However, recent

excavations in Gujarat have shown that the extent of the civilization is

much more than what people had thought it to be earlier. Research

scholars are of the opinion that this civilization has spread over an area of

1,300,000 square kilometers, which is more than that of any ancient

civilization known so far.

Important Sites :

Though there are many sites of the Indus Valley Civilization, Mohen-jo-Daro

and Harappa are considered more important, as these were the biggest

centers of the civilization.

Mohen-jo-Daro in the Sindhi language, means the 'Mound of the Dead'. It

was located in the Larkana district of Sindh (now in Pakistan). Here a big

city was found buried under the mound.

Harappa was situated on the bank of the river Ravi in the Montgomery

district of West Punjab (now in Pakistan). Mohen-jo-daro type of civilization

existed also in this city.

Other important sites were Chanu daro in Sindh (Pakistan) about 130

kilomatres south of Mohen-jo-daro, Lothal near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, kali

bangan in Rajasthan, Alamgir near Hatinapur in U.P. and Ropar in the

Punjab, at the foothills of Shivalik.

CHIEF FEATURES OF THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

1.URBAN PLANNING

a) Drainage system:

Mohenjodaro , Lothal and other cities are known to have a good drainage system.

House drains emptied into the main drains. The main drains ran under the main

street, below many lanes

BUILDINGS AND HOUSES: The people of the indus valley had built three

categories of buildings namely ,the large buildings ,the public bath and the people

s dwelling houses. The cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were divided in to two

parts .parts one of the city was built on a raised ground and it was called the

CITADEL. It had large public buildings such as the graneries

,workshop,assemblyhall and the factories.

Part two of the city was on the lower side which was used to built houses

(A) The GREAT GRANARIES:

the Great Granary is a 'Mystery Building' at Harrapa. It is over 60 meters long! It

contains six long halls which are raised above the ground by walls. Nearby

the Great Granary, there is a number of circular brick platforms.

Similarly the largest building in Mohenjodaro was also a granary ,which was 46

meters long and 15 meters wide.

(a) The Great public Bath at Mohenjodaro:

A Great public bath has been excavated at Mohenjodaro.Its overall

dimensions was 55metrs by 35 metres. The bathing pool was situated in

the middle of the public bath. It measured 11.7 meters by 6.9 meters in

length and breath .The depth of the bathing pool was 204 meters .The

floor of the pool was made of burnt bricks.

(b) THE ASSEMBLY HALL:

The assembly hall was another public building at Mohenjodaro.

IT was A square hall of 25 meters by 25 meters.It had 20 big pillars to

support the high pitched roof.

These pillars were arranged in four rows of five pillars each .In this hall

the rulers held their meetings.

(c) PEOPLES DWELLING HOUSES:

(d) The lower part of the city of mo0henjodaro had the dwelling houses of

the people.The houses unearthed were of different sizes.

(e)

2.ART OF SCULPTURE AND CRAFTS :

Indus Valley Civilization is probably best-known in the West for its bronze figurative sculpture - notably the famous slender-limbed statue known as the "Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro" (2500 BCE) - the extraordinary quality of which is comparable with Late Classical Greek Sculpture (c.400-323 BCE) and Hellenistic Greek Sculpture (c.323-27 BCE). No one has yet established how Indus sculptors managed to anticipate forms associated with Greek sculpture of classical antiquity.

In addition to bronzes, Indus culture produced a variety of stone sculpture and also red coloured terracotta sculpture, featuring images of dancing girls as well as animals like cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs, plus a number of unidentified

A TERRA COTTA FIGURE OF A MOTHER GODDESS

hybrid animals and anthropomorphic figures, seen mostly on Harappan steatite

seals.

Art of making pottery: In Indus Valley Civilization, pottery was an important

industry and the significance of the pottery can be noted from the fact that

harappan pictographical scripts were mainly found on potteries. Indus Valley

Civilization Pottery, remained plain most of the times and it further enabled us to

understand the gradual evolution of various design motifs as employed in

different shapes, and styles.

Indus Valley Civilization consists chiefly of wheel made wares (although potters' wheels, being made of wood, have not survived) both plain and painted while the plain pottery (usually of red clay with or without a fine red slip) is more common than the painted ware (of red and black colours).

Carving and painting: The Indus valley people were very good in the art of carving also.Their carvings of various animals on seals are really praise worthy.the Indus valley people liked painting .so they drew different kinds of designs and figures on earthenwares and utensils.

Seals: Seals were used to make a sealing, or positive imprint, like this modern resin one made from the original seal. Sealings were used in ancient times for trade. They would be made on ceramics or the clay tags used to seal the rope

around bundles of goods

he most interesting part of the discovery relates to the seals-more than 2000 in number, made of soapstone, terracotta and copper. The seals give us useful information about the civilization of Indus valley. Some seals have human or animal figures on them. Most of the seals have the figures of real animals while a few bear the figure of mythical animals. The seals are rectangular, circular or even cylindrical in shape. The seals even have an inscription of a sort of pictorial writing. Most of the seals have a knob at the back through which runs a hole. It is said that these seals were used by different associations or merchants for stamping purposes. They were also worn round the neck or the arm. The seals show the culture and civilization of the Indus Valley people. In particular, they indicate:

a. Dresses, ornaments, hair-styles of people. b. Skill of artists and sculptors. c. Trade contacts and commercial relations. d. Religious beliefs. e. Script.

Important Seals: The Pashupati Seal: This seal depicts a yogi, probably Lord Shiva. A pair of horns crown his head. He is surrounded by a rhino, a buffalo, an elephant and a tiger. Under his throne are two deer. This seal shows that Shiva was worshipped and he was considered as the Lord of animals (Pashupati).

SEAL OF PASUPATHI

The Unicorn Seal: The unicorn is a mythological animal. This seal shows that at a very early stage of civilization, humans had produced many creations of

imagination in the shape of bird and animal motifs that survived in later art.

The Bull Seal: This seal depicts a humped bull of great vigour. The figure shows the artistic skill and a good knowledge of animal anatomy.

The art of writing script: The Indus script is a corpus of symbols produced by

the Indus Valley Civilization. Most inscriptions containing these symbols are

extremely short, making it difficult to judge whether or not these symbols

constituted a script used to record a language, or even symbolise

a writing system. ... Plate from Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilisation.

(3) ECONOMIC LIFE OF THE PEOPLE:

(a) Dress and Ornament:

The Indus valley people were the first in the world to spin cotton and woollen

yarn. This has been confirmed from the discovery of a number of clay spindles

of different sizes, all over these cities. Moreover needles and buttons have also

been found there. They preffered loose dresses. Men wore dhoti and a

shawl.The women wore a type of skirt and wrapped a shawl round their

shoulders. Men kept their hair short and their beard trimmed .Women on the

other hand liked to keep long hair and dressed their hair in a variety of

styles.They used combs to decorate their hair. Men and women ,both rich and

poor ,wore ornaments .Necklace ,fillets ,armlets and finger rings were common

to both men and women .In addition to these ,women also wore girdles ,ear-

rings ,nose -rings ,anklets, bangles,nose -studs and bracelets. The women loved

cosmetics.They were fond of looking beautiful and charming.

(b) Food:

Harappan Food 1) The Indus Valley people has a balanced diet comprising

staples, meat, fruit and vegetables. 2) Maize and Barley were the main staple

food. 3)Domesticated animals like goats and cows provided milk and meat. 4)

There is evidence of more fruit and vegetables as the preferred source of

nourishment than meat.

(c) OCCUPATION: The Harappan people had the knowledge of boat-making, seal-

making and terracotta manufacturing. •Harappans were experts in bead making.

•Jewellery of gold, silver and precious stones was also made. •The potter’s wheel

was in full use and the Harappans produced their own characteristic pottery,

which was made glossy and shining.

(D)Trade and Commerce: Trade and Commerce • Trade and commerce was

flourishing in Harappan age. Trade and Commercial activities were carried on

through sea as well as land routes. • Carts, chariots and animals were means of

transports as far as land trade is concerned. For sea trade, big boats were used. •

Harappan people had trade relations within India, as well as with countries

outside India. • The Mesopotamian texts of the same period refer to trade

relations with ‘Meluha’ which was the ancient name given to Indus region. • With

no clear evidence of currency/money being used the exchange must have been

through barter system.

4.RELIGION OF THE INDUS VALLEY PEOPLE:

1. Indus Valley Civilization Religion • The chief male deity was the Pashupati Mahadeva (proto- shiva), represented in the seals as sitting in yogic posture on a low throne, and having three faces and two horns. He is surrounded by four animals (elephant, tiger, rhino and buffalo), each facing a different direction and two deer appear at his feet. • Chief female deity was the Mother Goddess, who has been depicted in various forms. The Pashupati

seal, showing a seated and possibly tricephalic figure, surrounded by animals

2. Mother Goddess was worshipped in Harappa •Worship of fire is proved by the discovery of fire altars at Lothal, Kalibangan and Harappa. •Indus people also worshipped Gods in the form of trees (peepal etc.) and animals (unicorn etc.) (5). ART OF WRITING: The indus valley people used the pictographic script for wirting purposes.But their script is still a mystery for scholars . Their script had 62 basic signs in the beginning ,but in the later Harappan period (1900 to 1600 B.C) these sighs were reduced to 22. LOTHAL DOCKYARD: It is believed that lothal was the site of the later Harappan culture .The town developed when the Harappans arrived here in search of more fertile plains and potential port.The Dockyard Lothal developed as the most important port and center of the bead industry.The large structure is 223m long and 35 m in width and 8 m in depth.An inlet channel 1.7 meters above the botton level of the 4.26 m deep tank allowed excess water to escape .Other inlets prevented siltation of the tanks and erosion of the nanks.After a ship would have unloaded its cargo the gates would have opened and allowed it to return to the Arabian Sea waters in the Gulf of Cambay.Archaelogical finds from the excavations testify to trade with ancient Egypt and Mespotamia.The hydraulic Knowledge of the ancient Harappa can be judged by the fact that boats could dock at lothal in yhe 1850s .In 1942 timber was brought from Baruch to nearby Sagarwala. Many seals and the other archaelogical finds reveal that lothal was a significant trading center of the Harappan civilisatio. A long wharf connecte dthe dockyard to the main warehouse.The dock was located away from the main current to avoid deposition of slit. Modern oceanographers have observed that the Harappans must have possessed great knowledge relating to tides in order to build such a dock on the ever shifting course of the sabarmati, as well as exemplary hydrography and maritime engineering. This is the earliest known dock found in the world. equipped to berth and service ships.It is speculated that Lothal engineering studied tidal Movements and their effects on built structures since the walls are of kiln burnt bricks .This knowledge also enabled them to select

Lothal s location in the first place aas the gulf of Khambhat has the highest tidal amplitude and ships can be sluiced through flow tides in the river estuary.

Lothal Dockyard of HARAPPA CIVILISATION

END OF THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION:

Around 1800 B.C the indus Valley Civilisation came to a sudden end.Nothing

certain can be said about the reason of this sudden end.It is all a guess work.May

be the civilisation met with (a)Natural calamity like an earthquake (b) or a

devastating flood(c) or a climatic change (d) or an attack from the Aryan tribes (e)

or deforestation or an epidemic.

EXERCISE A.SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS:

1.Mention the period during which the indus Valley Civilisation flourished.

ans) 2300 BC to 1700 BC

2.Why did the indus Valley Civilization come to be known as Harappan

Civilisation?

ans) As the Civilisation existed on Indus river bank or in indus river valley so it was

called the Indus valley Civilisation .As Harappa was the first site that was

excavated ,it has come to be known as the Harappan Civilisation.

3.Name four cities connected with the Indus Valley Civilisation.

ans) Rupar, Lothal , kalibangan, kot-Digi.

4.Why are Mohenjodaro and Harappa called Planned cities?

ans)Harappan or indus valley cities were well planned ,with straight wide pucca

roads, cutting eachother at right angles having rounded corners ,covered

drainage,regular street lights .bricks kilns and industries were located outside the

city.

5.Mention two reasons to show that the indus valley people had a good sense of

town planning.

ans) 1.The indus valley people had an excellent skill in town planning .The streets

and lanes of their towns were laid out according to a set plan.These were straight

and intersect eachother at right angles.

2. The corner of the streets and lanes rounded off.The streets were paved with

fire -burnt bricks.

6.Give an evidence to prove that the people of the indus valley cared fo their

personal hygiene.

ans)Mohenjodaro ,lothal and other cities are known to have a good drainage

system.House drains emptied into the main drains.The main drains ran under the

main street ,below many holes.All the drains were covered with bricks or stones

Inspection manholes were provided at regular distances .Refuse or dirt was not

allowed to be thrown in to the drain.There was a soak-pit in the drain of every

house .Water supply was also good.

7.How did the women of the indus valley Civilisation clothe and decorate

themselves?

ans)

1. The women wore a type of skirt and wrapped a shawl round their shoulders.

2.Women on the other hand liked to keep long hair and dressed their hair in a

variety of styles.They used combs to decorate their hair.

3.women also wore girdles ,ear-rings ,nose -rings ,anklets, bangles,nose -studs

and bracelets.

4.The women loved cosmetics.They were fond of looking beautiful and

charming.

8.Mention two occupations of the Indus valley Civilisation ?

ans)Agriculture and Rearing of animals

9.Mention two indoor games in which the Indus valley people tok intrest.

ans)Chess, gambling , and dicing

10.Give two reasons to suggest that the Indus valley people cared for the

childrens amusements.?

ans) A Large number of toys and dolls have also been excavated.Gambling was

popular pastime that had been enjoyed as early at the period of the indus valley

civilisation .The sandstonedice and two pottery objects were found at HRAPPA.

11.Give two main features of the religion of the indus valley people.

ans) They worshipped mother goddess or the shakthi and lord shiva or the

pashupathi of later Hinduism.Besides these they also worshipped certain trees

,animalsand birds.They also believed in life after death .So they buried their dead

and placed other articles with the deadbody.

12.Give two possible reasons for the sudden and abrupt end of the indus valley

civilisation.

ans) Around 1800 B.C the indus Valley Civilisation came to a sudden end.Nothing

certain can be said about the reason of this sudden end.It is all a guess work.

May be the civilisation met with

(a)Natural calamity like an earthquake

(b) or a devastating flood

(c) or a climatic change

(d) or an attack from the Aryan tribes

(e) or deforestation or an epidemic

13.Name a major trading centre of Harappan Civilisation?

ans)Besides agriculture and domestication of animals the people had other

occupations also such as carpentry,goldsmithy,pottery,engraving,weaving and

toy-making e.t.c

STRUCTURED QUESTIONS 1.Give an account of the public buildings in the indus valley civilisation with

reference to following :

(a) Urban Planning

(b) The drainage system

a) Drainage system:

Mohenjodaro , Lothal and other cities are known to have a good drainage system.

House drains emptied into the main drains. The main drains ran under the main

street, below many lanes

(c)Dwelling houses

BUILDINGS AND HOUSES: The people of the indus valley had built three

categories of buildings namely ,the large buildings ,the public bath and the people

s dwelling houses. The cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were divided in to two

parts .parts one of the city was built on a raised ground and it was called the

CITADEL. It had large public buildings such as the graneries

,workshop,assemblyhall and the factories.

Part two of the city was on the lower side which was used to built houses

(A) The GREAT GRANARIES:

the Great Granary is a 'Mystery Building' at Harrapa. It is over 60 meters long! It

contains six long halls which are raised above the ground by walls. Nearby

the Great Granary, there is a number of circular brick platforms.

Similarly the largest building in Mohenjodaro was also a granary ,which was 46

meters long and 15 meters wide.

(a) The Great public Bath at Mohenjodaro:

A Great public bath has been excavated at Mohenjodaro.Its overall

dimensions was 55metrs by 35 metres. The bathing pool was situated in

the middle of the public bath. It measured 11.7 meters by 6.9 meters in

length and breath .The depth of the bathing pool was 204 meters .The

floor of the pool was made of burnt bricks.

(b) THE ASSEMBLY HALL:

The assembly hall was another public building at Mohenjodaro.

IT was A square hall of 25 meters by 25 meters.It had 20 big pillars to

support the high pitched roof.

These pillars were arranged in four rows of five pillars each .In this hall

the rulers held their meetings.

(c) Peoples dwelling houses:The lower part of the city of mo0henjodaro had

the dwelling houses of the people.The houses unearthed were of

different sizes.

2.Describe the life of the people of the Indus valley under the following two

heads:

(a) Dress and ornaments

The Indus valley people were the first in the world to spin cotton and woollen

yarn. This has been confirmed from the discovery of a number of clay spindles

of different sizes, all over these cities. Moreover needles and buttons have also

been found there. They preffered loose dresses. Men wore dhoti and a

shawl.The women wore a type of skirt and wrapped a shawl round their

shoulders. Men kept their hair short and their beard trimmed .Women on the

other hand liked to keep long hair and dressed their hair in a variety of

styles.They used combs to decorate their hair. Men and women ,both rich and

poor ,wore ornaments .Necklace ,fillets ,armlets and finger rings were common

to both men and women .In addition to these ,women also wore girdles ,ear-

rings ,nose -rings ,anklets, bangles,nose -studs and bracelets. The women loved

cosmetics.They were fond of looking beautiful and charming.

(b) OCCUPATIONS: (c) OCCUPATION:

The Harappan people had the knowledge of boat-making, seal- making and

terracotta manufacturing. •Harappans were experts in bead making. •Jewellery

of gold, silver and precious stones was also made. •The potter’s wheel was in full

use and the Harappans produced their own characteristic pottery, which was

made glossy and shining.

(C) TRADE AND COMMERCE:

(D)Trade and Commerce: Trade and Commerce • Trade and commerce was

flourishing in Harappan age. Trade and Commercial activities were carried on

through sea as well as land routes. • Carts, chariots and animals were means of

transports as far as land trade is concerned. For sea trade, big boats were used. •

Harappan people had trade relations within India, as well as with countries

outside India. • The Mesopotamian texts of the same period refer to trade

relations with ‘Meluha’ which was the ancient name given to Indus region. • With

no clear evidence of currency/money being used the exchange must have been

through barter system.

3.With reference to the Harappan arts and crafts discuss the following:

(a) ART OF MAKING POTTERY

Art of making pottery: In Indus Valley Civilization, pottery was an important

industry and the significance of the pottery can be noted from the fact that

harappan pictographical scripts were mainly found on potteries. Indus Valley

Civilization Pottery, remained plain most of the times and it further enabled us to

understand the gradual evolution of various design motifs as employed in

different shapes, and styles.

Indus Valley Civilization consists chiefly of wheel made wares (although potters' wheels, being made of wood, have not survived) both plain and painted while the plain pottery (usually of red clay with or without a fine red slip) is more common than the painted ware (of red and black colours).

(B) CARVING AND PAINTIG

Carving and painting: The Indus valley people were very good in the art of carving also.Their carvings of various animals on seals are really praise worthy.the Indus valley people liked painting .so they drew different kinds of designs and figures on earthenwares and utensils.

(C)SEALS:

Seals: Seals were used to make a sealing, or positive imprint, like this modern resin one made from the original seal. Sealings were used in ancient times for trade. They would be made on ceramics or the clay tags used to seal the rope

around bundles of goods

he most interesting part of the discovery relates to the seals-more than 2000 in number, made of soapstone, terracotta and copper. The seals give us useful information about the civilization of Indus valley. Some seals have human or animal figures on them. Most of the seals have the figures of real animals while a few bear the figure of mythical animals. The seals are rectangular, circular or even cylindrical in shape. The seals even have an inscription of a sort of pictorial writing. Most of the seals have a knob at the back through which runs a hole. It is said that these seals were used by different associations or merchants for stamping purposes. They were also worn round the neck or the arm. The seals show the culture and civilization of the Indus Valley people. In particular, they indicate:

a. Dresses, ornaments, hair-styles of people. b. Skill of artists and sculptors. c. Trade contacts and commercial relations. d. Religious beliefs. e. Script.

4.With reference to the Harappan Civilisation explan:

(a) The Lothal Dockyard

LOTHAL DOCKYARD: It is believed that lothal was the site of the later Harappan culture .The town developed when the Harappans arrived here in search of more fertile plains and potential port.The Dockyard Lothal developed as the most important port and center of the bead industry.The large structure is 223m

long and 35 m in width and 8 m in depth.An inlet channel 1.7 meters above the botton level of the 4.26 m deep tank allowed excess water to escape .Other inlets prevented siltation of the tanks and erosion of the nanks.After a ship would have unloaded its cargo the gates would have opened and allowed it to return to the Arabian Sea waters in the Gulf of Cambay.Archaelogical finds from the excavations testify to trade with ancient Egypt and Mespotamia.The hydraulic Knowledge of the ancient Harappa can be judged by the fact that boats could dock at lothal in yhe 1850s .In 1942 timber was brought from Baruch to nearby Sagarwala. Many seals and the other archaelogical finds reveal that lothal was a significant trading center of the Harappan civilisatio. A long wharf connecte dthe dockyard to the main warehouse.The dock was located away from the main current to avoid deposition of slit. Modern oceanographers have observed that the Harappans must have possessed great knowledge relating to tides in order to build such a dock on the ever shifting course of the sabarmati, as well as exemplary hydrography and maritime engineering. This is the earliest known dock found in the world. equipped to berth and service ships.It is speculated that Lothal engineering studied tidal Movements and their effects on built structures since the walls are of kiln burnt bricks .This knowledge also enabled them to select Lothal s location in the first place aas the gulf of Khambhat has the highest tidal amplitude and ships can be sluiced through flow tides in the river estuary.

(b)Harappan Script: The art of writing script: The Indus script is a corpus of

symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilization. Most inscriptions containing

these symbols are extremely short, making it difficult to judge whether or not

these symbols constituted a script used to record a language, or even symbolise

a writing system. ... Plate from Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilisation.Many

specimen of Harappan script have been found on seals ,copper tablets ,axes and

pottery.But unfortunately the Harappan scriptr has not been deciphered till

now.Some scholars connect it to indo -aryan and sanskrit while some other

connect it to sumerians language.There are more than 400 signs in Harappan

script and most of these have been found on seals .A large number of them are

very small.a group of few letters.No bilingual inscription has been discovered in

the Harappan script so far .it is pictographic and each sign stands for a sound

,abstract,or object.It was written from left to right and was an invention of the

Harappan themselves.

(C)QUESTION BASED ON SKILL

carefully observe the given picture and answer the

following questions:

(i) Mention the name of this structure.

ans)Great public Bath at Mohenjodaro

(ii) Mention the period with which it is associated .where is it located?

ans) Great Bath was built in the 3rd millennium BC, soon after the raising of the "citadel" mound on which it is located.

(iii)what are its features ?Mention any two

(1)The Great Bath of Mohenjodaro is called the "earliest public water tank of the ancient world". It measures 11.88 × 7.01 metres, and has a maximum depth of 2.43 metres.

(2)Two wide staircases, one from the north and one from the south, served as the entry to the structure.