Mohenjo Daro: RED 2: Indus Valley Civilization contd... Part 1: CITIES

RED 2: Indus Valley Civilization contd... Part 1: CITIES

• Indus Valley Civilization or Sapt Sindhu civlization had flourished because of its seven primary rivers as i have menitoned in the previous chapter.
• All the Rivers were responsible for growth of Agriculture, development of cities has been primarily due to the access of rivers and the Arabian Sea.
• Along with settlements found around the Indus and its tributaries, To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Sarasvati and Sutlej river and its tributaries. Among the settlements, the major cities were:

1. Mohenjo Daro ( Sindh , Pakistan)
2. Harappa (North-East Punjab, Pakistan)
3. Surkotada (Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat, India)
4. Lothal (Kutch, Gujarat, India)
5. Kalibangan (Northern Rajasthan, India)
6. Dholavira (Gulf of  Khambhat, Gujarat, India)
7. Rakhigarhi (Hisar, Haryana, India )

• The biggest irony of the above sites is that only Mohenjo Daro and Harappa  were the major cities situated on the Indus river whereas all the rest were situated as Historians claim on a now DRIED UP river which was as big as the Indus and used to flow parallel to it in the East direction.
• This river is none other than Sarasvati !
• Lothal is supposedly the closest town/city where Sarasvati river joins the Arabian sea.

Mohenjo Daro

Major Population (Early Natives, Aryans)
Maximum Population (estimated 35,000)

The great city of Mohenjo Daro

• Located in Sindh,currently Pakistan the name Mohenjo Daro  is a Sindhi name which means 'Mound of the Dead!'
• It is said to be built around 2600 BCE on the Indus river and was in the same time-frame as Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Crete.
• It was rediscovered in 1922 by Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India,who was led to the mound by a Buddhist monk, who reportedly believed it to be a stupa.
• The city is divided into two parts, the so-called Citadel and the Lower City. 
• The Citadel – a mud-brick mound around 12 metres (39 ft) high – is known to have supported public baths, a large residential structure designed to house 5,000 citizens, and two large assembly halls.

12m x 7m bath at Mohenjo Daro

• The great bath was believed to be used for sacred religious activities.
• Mohenjo-daro had a building with an underground furnace (a hypocaust) and dressing rooms, suggesting bathing was done in heated pools, as in modern day Hindu temples.
• In 1950, Sir Mortimer Wheeler identified one large building in Mohenjo-daro as a "Great Granary". Certain wall-divisions in its massive wooden superstructure appeared to be grain storage-bays, complete with air-ducts to dry the grain.
• Houses were constructed with manufactured, standardized, baked kiln bricks.
• Shops lined the main streets of Mohenjo-daro and had a grand marketplace. 
• Some houses were spacious and with a large enclosed yard.

•  Each house was connected to a covered drainage system that was more sanitary than other West Asian Civilizations.
• Many houses were multi-storied and there is also evidence of vertical drainage system for bathrooms on the top floor.

Covered Drains in Mohenjo Daro

• The people of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa shared a sophisticated system of weights and measures, using an arithmetic with decimals. 

A sitting Priest Terracotta figurine

• The people of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa manufactured pottery with fine geometric designs as decoration, and they made figurines sensitively depicting their nature and moods.
• They grew wheat, rice, mustard and sesame seeds, dates and cotton. 
• And they had dogs, cats, camels, sheep, pigs, goats, water buffaloes, elephants and chickens.
• Its a strong belief that they were Hindus due to the various seals found in Mohenjo Daro.
• There is not much proof whether these seals were used as coins but barter system was not that effective and therefore one would belive them to be a form of excahnge.

Shiva Pashupathi Seal

Oxen on a seal

• The actual city could have looked like this:

• The city also had several watch towers but they were not heavily walled like other cities in present day India.

Governance

• The administration was so spot on in Mohenjo Daro as well as Hariyupa that makes us think about the rule in these cities.
• It is believed that there were various tribes with a tribal leader and it was a male dominated society unlike Egypt.
• They also warred with non-Aryan folks for pasture lands.
• The finesse with which the city is built gives us an idea of their engineering capabilities. 

Decline of Mohenjo Daro 

• The city was found in 7 layers which indicates that it was rebuilt 7 times mostly due to the flooding of the Indus River.
• Between 1800 and 1700 BCE, civilization on the Indus Plain all but vanished.. One suspected cause is a shift in the Indus River. Another is that people dammed the water along the lower portion of the Indus River without realizing the consequences: temporary but ruinous flooding up river, flooding that would explain the thick layers of silt thirty feet above the level of the river at the site of Mohenjo-daro. 
• Another suspected cause is a decline in rainfall.Agriculture declined and people abandoned the cities in search of food.

Present Day Mohenjo Daro

• Knowledge of the Mohenjo-daro and Harappa civilization died – until archaeologists discovered the civilization in the mid-19th century.
• At present the excavation has been stopped due to negligence and erosion of the excavated remains.

SALIENT FEATURES:

1. The city is divided into two parts, the so-called Citadel and the Lower City.
2.  The Citadel – a mud-brick mound around 12 metres (39 ft) high – is known to have supported public baths, a large residential structure designed to house 5,000 citizens, and two large assembly halls.
3. The huge 12m x 7m bath at Mohenjo Daro was believed to be used for sacred religious activities which was equipped with a Heating System.
4. Shops lined the main streets of Mohenjo-daro and had a grand marketplace. 
5.  Each house was connected to a covered drainage system and many houses were multi-storied and there is also evidence of vertical drainage system for bathrooms on the top floor.
6. The people of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa manufactured pottery with fine geometric designs as decoration, and they made figurines suggesting their prowess in ARTS and SCIENCE.
7. Its a strong belief that they were Hindus due to the various seals found in Mohenjo Daro.
8. They grew wheat, rice, mustard and sesame seeds, dates and cotton. 
9. And they had dogs, cats, camels, sheep, pigs, goats, water buffaloes, elephants and chickens.
10. Between 1800 and 1700 BCE, civilization on the Indus Plain vanished.