TOWN PLANNING

CONTENTS a) About Indus Valley Civilization

b) The Town Planning Of Harappa

c) The Town Planning Of Mohenjo-Daro

d) The Town Planning Of Dholavira

e) The Town Planning Of Lothal

f) The Town Planning Of Channu Daro

g) The Town Planning Of Rakhigarhi

About Indus Valley Civilization• The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age Civilization (3300–1300 BCE mature period 2600–1900 BCE)

extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia it was one of three early civilizations of the Old World, and of the three the most widespread covering an area of 1.25 million sq km. It flourished in the basins of the Indus River, one of the major rivers of Asia, and the Ghaggar-Hakra-River, which once coursed through northwest India and eastern Pakistan. At its peak, the Indus Civilization may have had a population of over five million. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley developed new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin). The Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large non-residential buildings. The Indus Valley Civilization is also known as the Harappan Civilization, after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated in the 1920s, in what was then the Punjab province of British India, and is now in Pakistan. The discovery of Harappa, and soon afterwards, Mohenjo-Daro, was the culmination of work beginning in 1861 with the founding of the Archeological survey of India in the British Raj. Excavation of Harappan sites has been ongoing since 1920, with important breakthroughs occurring as recently as 1999.There were earlier and later cultures, often called Early Harappan and Late Harappan, in the same area of the Harappan Civilization. The Harappan civilization is sometimes called the Mature Harappa culture to distinguish it from these cultures. By 1999, over 1,056 cities and settlements had been found, of which 96 have been excavated, mainly in the general region of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra Rivers and their tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centre's of Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro (UNESCO World Heritage site), Dholavira, Ganeriwala in Cholistan and Rakhigarhi. The Harappan language is not directly attested and its affiliation is uncertain since the Indus script is still undeciphered. A relationship with the Dravidian or Elamo Dravidian language family is favored by a section of scholars, while others suggest an Austro-Asiatic language related to Munda.

The Town Planning Of Harappa The most striking features of the Harappan cities is their Town Planning. The

Harappan city was divided into the upper town called Citadel and the lower town. The various features of the town planning by the peoples were :

Granaries : The granary was the largest structure, in Harappa there were about six granaries or storehouses. These were used for storing grains.

Drainage System : the drainage system of the Harappan cities was the best known to the world in the ancient times. The brickwork prevented the dirty water fro m leaking. Wooden screens stopped the solids wastes from being washed away with the water. Drains were built either side of the roads. They were covered with stones which could be removed in order to clean them.

Lower Town : this was the residential area where the common people lived Houses : the houses varied in size. Some might have been two storyed. The

houses were made of burnt bricks. Most of the houses has central courtyard, well, bathing area and kitchen.

Town Hall : A palace-like building that look like an assembly hall for the city government for the people to meet.

Streets : The roads and streets intersected at right angles. There were covered drains along the roads. The houses were built either side of the road.

The Drains In Harappa The Granaries Or Storehouses

Streets In Harappa Town Hall & House In Harappa

The Town Planning Of Mohenjo-Daro

• Mohenjo-Daro, is an ancient planned city laid out on a grid of streets. An orthogonal street layout was oriented toward the north-south & east-east directions: the widest streets run north-south, straight through town; secondary streets run east-west, sometimes in a staggered direction. Secondary streets are about half the width of the main streets; smaller alleys are a third to a quarter of the width of the main streets. Other public buildings are temples and public baths. The street layout shows an understanding of the basic principles of traffic, with rounded corners to allow the turning of carts easily. The drains are covered. The city probably had around 35,000 residents. The buildings were constructed of sun dried and burnt bricks. The bricks found in Mohenjo-Daro and other Harappan sites are all the same size 7cm x14cm x 28cm. Sun-dried bricks were used for infill, and burnt bricks were used for the drain and sewer linings. The Courtyard house : The house was planned as a series of rooms opening on to a central courtyard providing an open space inside for community activities. Water supply and sanitation for water, the big houses had their own wells, other wells would serve groups of smaller. Almost every house had a bathroom, usually a fine sawn burnt brick pavement, often with a surrounding curb. Waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets. First floor bathrooms also built. There is also evidence of vertical drains which were probably their toilet. The house drains start from the bathrooms of the houses and join up to the main sewer in the street, which was covered by brick slabs or corbelled brick arches. On the streets we can find manholes for cleaning; some drains flow to closed seeps, others flow out of the city.

The Streets In Mohenjo-Daro The Courtyard House

Great Bath At Mohenjo-Daro Water Supply From Well

The Town Planning Of Dholavira It is quite fascinating to see that the city of Dholavira is rectangular in shape and is spread over 250

acres across a length of 771.1 m and a width of 616.85m. The Citadel, middle town and the lower town

were the three pre-existing planned geometrical divisions in Dholavira similar to that of the Mohenjo

Daro and Harappa. The middle town had its own defense mechanism, planned streets, gateways, wells

and roads. The highlights of the towns were the towering “castles “and the “baileys” where important

officials resided. Most of the buildings were built with stones and this happens to be one of the most

striking features of the buildings of that era.

The residents of Dholavira were eloquent in their respective advanced hydraulic engineering and had

mastered the art of conserving, harvesting and storing water. Reservoirs and water conservation

channels were built to harvest rain water as the people had to find out an alternative to survive in the

desert climate of Kutch. There were more than 16 reservoirs made of stone and cut vertically. Storage

tanks and bathing tank was also found. The graveyard was found to be circular in structure.

Seals with animal faces inscribed were also found in Dholavira ruins. Painted potteries, square shaped

stamp seals, gold jewellery, bangles made of shell, painted goblets, jars and motifs were also found.

Grinding stones, ballast stones, stone weights were also found in the excavations. Unfortunately the

language of the Harappa's could not be deciphered. It is believed that 400 basic signs with various

variations have been used to signify syllables and words. Tablets made of copper, bronze implements,

objects made of stones and terracotta has been in use. Most of the administrative work and trade was

carried with the help of seals. The most exciting discovery was of the set pieces of mineral gypsum that

formed ten large letters on the wooden board. The board decayed but the letters have survived the

passage of time. Another inscription that contains four signs on a sand stone has been found lately and

is considered to be first of its kind in any of the Harappan sites.

The Town Planning Of Lothal• A flood destroyed village foundations and settlements (c. 2350 BCE). Harappa's based around Lothal and from

Sindh took this opportunity to expand their settlement and create a planned township on the lines of greater cities in the Indus valley. Lothal planners engaged themselves to protect the area from consistent floods. The town was divided into blocks of 1–2-metre-high platforms of sun-dried bricks, each serving 20–30 houses of thick mud and brick walls. The city was divided into a citadel, or acropolis and a lower town. The rulers of the town lived in the acropolis, which featured paved baths, underground and surface drains and a potable water well. The lower town was subdivided into two sectors — the north-south arterial street was the main commercial area — flanked by shops of rich and ordinary merchants and craftsmen. The residential area was located to either side of the marketplace. The lower town was also periodically enlarged during Lothal years of prosperity. Lothal engineers accorded high priority to the creation of a dockyard and a warehouse to serve the purposes of naval trade. While the consensus view amongst archaeologists identifies this structure as a "dockyard," it has also been suggested that owing to small dimensions, this basin may have been an irrigation tank and canal. The dock was built on the eastern flank of the town, and is regarded by archaeologists as an engineering feat of the highest order. It was located away from the main current of the river to avoid silting, but provided access to ships in high tide as well. The warehouse was built close to the acropolis on a 3.5-metre-high podium of mud bricks. The rulers could thus supervise the activity on the dock and warehouse simultaneously. Facilitating the movement of cargo was a mud-brick wharf, 720 ft long, built on the western arm of the dock, with a ramp leading to the warehouse. There was an important public building opposite to the warehouse whose superstructure has completely disappeared. Throughout their time, the city had to brace itself through multiple floods and storms. Dock and city peripheral walls were maintained efficiently. The town's zealous rebuilding ensured the growth and prosperity of the trade. However, with rising prosperity, Lothal people failed to upkeep their walls and dock facilities, possibly as a result of over-confidence in their systems. A flood of moderate intensity in 2050 BCE exposed some serious weaknesses in the structure, but the problems were not addressed properly.

The Dockyard In Lothal The Warehouses In Lothal

Mud-Bricks Wharfs The Acropolis, Lothal

The Town Planning Of Channu Daro

It is situated in desert area, but it is identified that Sarasvathi river used to flow near this site. Sarasvathi river is believed to be dried up during 2nd millennium BC, and with this, the life at Channu Daro and several hundreds of dwellings situated on the banks of Sarasvathi faced lot of hardships. They have to leave their dwelling places and it is thought that drying up of Sarasvathi is one of the reasons for decline all these dwelling places, (cities and villages) which contributed to decline of Indus Civilization.

It was observed that this ancient city was very similar to Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro in several aspects like town planning, building layout etc.

For building houses, bakes bricks were used extensively at Channu Daro. Several constructions were identified as work shops or industrial quarters and some of the buildings of Channu Daro might have been warehouses.

An Impressive workshop, recognized as Bead Making Factory, was found at Channu Daro, which included a furnace. Shell bangles, beads of many materials, stealite seals and metal works were manufactured at Channu Daro. Evidence of shell working was found at Channu Daro and bangles and ladles were made at this site. Harappan seals were made generally in bigger towns like Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and Channu Daro which were involved with administrative network.

Houses In Channu Daro The Warehouses

Channu Daro In Dessert The Workshop In Channu Daro

Town Planning Of Rakhigarhi• The site is more than 300 hectares making it the largest Indus valley civilization site in India,

Pakistan & Afghanistan. In size, dimensions, strategic location and unique significance of the settlement, Rakhigarhi exceeds Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro at every level. Three layers of Early, Mature and Late phases of Indus Valley civilization have been found at Rakhi Garhi. What has so far been found indicates that Rakhigarhi settlement witnessed all the three phases. The site’s antiquities, drainage system and signs of small-scale industry are in continuity with other Indus sites. But major the portion of this site has not been excavacated yet.

• Rakhigarhi was occupied at Early Harappan times. Evidence of paved roads, drainage system, large rainwater collection, storage system, terracotta brick, statue production, and skilled metal working (in both bronze and precious metals) has been uncovered. There are nine mounds in Rakhigarhi which are named RGR-1 to RGR-9, of which RGR-5 is thickly populated by establishment of Rakhishahpur villages and is not available for excavations. RGR-1 to RGR-3, RGR6 to RGR9 and some part of RGR-4 are available for excavations.

• The site has thick deposits of ‘Hakra Ware’ (typical of settlements dating back before the early phases of Indus Valley and dried up Sarasvati River valley).It also has ‘Early and ‘Mature’ Harappan artifacts. The solid presence of the Hakra Ware culture raises the important question: "Did the Indus civilization come later than it is recorded?" The Hakra and the Early phases are separated by more than 500–600 years and the Hakra people are considered to be the earliest Indus inhabitants. Although the carbon-14 dating results are awaited, based on the thick layers of Hakra Ware at Rakhigarhi, it is said that the site may date back to about 2500 BC to 3000 BC.

• A granary belonging to mature Harappan phase (2600 BCE to 2000 BCE) has been found here. Granary is made up of mud-bricks with a floor of ramped earth plastered with mud. It has 7 rectangular or square chambers. Significant traces of lime & decomposed grass are found on the lower portion of the granary wall indicating that it can also be the storehouse of grains with lime used as insecticide & grass used to prevent entry of moisture. Looking at the size, it appears to be a public granary or a private granary of elites.

• A Cemetery of Mature Harappan period is discovered at Rakhigarhi, with eight graves found. Often brick covered grave pits had wooden coffin in one case. Different type of grave pits were undercut to form an earthen overhang and body was placed below this; and then top of grave was filled with bricks to form a roof structure over the grave.

The Warehouse In Rakhigarhi The Paved Roads- Rakigarhi

The Houses In Rakhigarhi The Drainage System