DAY 1 — Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) — Complete Notes
1. Basic Identity
- Also called Harappan Civilization (Harappa = first site discovered)
- World’s oldest urban civilization along with Egypt & Mesopotamia
- Belongs to Bronze Age (Chalcolithic → used copper + stone tools)
- Discovered: 1921 by Dayaram Sahni at Harappa (Punjab, Pakistan, on river Ravi)
- 1922: R.D. Banerji discovered Mohenjodaro (Sindh, Pakistan, on river Indus) — “Mound of the Dead”
- Overall excavation credited to Sir John Marshall (Director General of ASI then)
- Script: Undeciphered pictographic, written right to left (boustrophedon in some cases)
2. Timeline (3 Phases)
| Phase | Period (approx) |
| Early Harappan | 3300-2600 BCE |
| Mature Harappan (Urban) | 2600-1900 BCE |
| Late Harappan (Decline) | 1900-1500 BCE |
- Dating method: Radio-carbon (C-14) dating
3. Geographical Extent
- Extended over Pakistan, NW India (Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, W.UP)
- Shape: Roughly triangular
- Total area: ~13,00,000 sq km (largest among Bronze Age civilizations)
- Northernmost site: Manda (J&K, on river Chenab)
- Southernmost site: Daimabad (Maharashtra, on river Pravara) — earlier Bhagatrav
- Westernmost site: Sutkagendor (Pakistan-Iran border, on river Dashk)
- Easternmost site: Alamgirpur (UP, on river Hindon)
4. Major Sites — Site-wise Facts (HIGH exam value)
| Site | River | State/Country | Excavator | Famous For |
| Harappa | Ravi | Punjab, Pakistan | Dayaram Sahni (1921) | Granaries, 2 rows of 6 workmen quarters, cemetery R-37, sandstone statues |
| Mohenjodaro | Indus | Sindh, Pakistan | R.D. Banerji (1922) | Great Bath, Granary, Bronze “Dancing Girl”, “Priest King” statue, Pashupati seal |
| Lothal | Bhogava (Sabarmati) | Gujarat | S.R. Rao (1954) | Dockyard (India’s oldest port), bead-making factory, rice husk |
| Kalibangan | Ghaggar | Rajasthan | A. Ghosh | Ploughed field, fire altars, bangle factory, evidence of earthquake |
| Dholavira | Luni (near Rann of Kutch) | Gujarat | R.S. Bisht | Water conservation/reservoirs, 3-part city division, signboard |
| Banawali | Saraswati | Haryana | R.S. Bisht | Radial street pattern (unique), toy plough |
| Surkotada | — | Gujarat | J.P. Joshi | Bones of horse (earliest evidence) |
| Alamgirpur | Hindon | UP | — | Easternmost site |
| Chanhudaro | Indus | Sindh, Pakistan | N.G. Majumdar | Only site with NO citadel; bead-making, ink-pot |
| Rakhigarhi | Ghaggar | Haryana | — | Largest Harappan site in India, ancient DNA study site |
| Rangpur | Bhadar | Gujarat | — | Rice husk evidence |
Note: Rakhigarhi is now considered the largest Harappan site overall (bigger than Mohenjodaro in some estimates) — frequently asked in recent exams.
5. Town Planning (VERY important, asked often)
- Grid pattern — roads cutting each other at right angles (like chessboard)
- City divided into 2 parts:
- Citadel (Upper Town) — West, smaller, raised on mud-brick platform — public buildings, granaries, Great Bath
- Lower Town — East, larger — residential area
- Drainage system — most advanced feature; covered drains, soak pits — shows civic sense
- Houses: made of burnt bricks (ratio 1:2:4), had wells, bathrooms; doors opened onto side lanes, not main streets
- No temples found — unlike Mesopotamia/Egypt (important distinguishing fact)
- Great Bath (Mohenjodaro) — made watertight with bitumen; used for ritual bathing; considered earliest public water tank
6. Society
- No clear evidence of caste system
- Evidence suggests society was not strongly militaristic (few weapons found)
- Terracotta figurines suggest Mother Goddess worship
- Position of women: possibly respected (based on figurines) — debated
7. Economy
- Agriculture: Wheat, barley, peas, sesame, mustard; cotton cultivated first here (Greeks called it “Sindon”)
- Rice found only at Lothal & Rangpur
- Did not know about iron
- Animals: Domesticated bull, buffalo, dog, cat; horse NOT prominent (only Surkotada bones — debated)
- Trade:
- Internal + external trade with Mesopotamia (called “Meluhha” in Sumerian texts)
- Barter system (no coins found)
- Weights & measures: made of chert, based on 16 (16,32,64…) — highly standardized
- Lothal = major port/dockyard for trade
8. Art & Craft
- Seals: Made of steatite; Pashupati seal (Mohenjodaro) shows a yogic figure surrounded by animals — considered proto-Shiva; Unicorn seal most common motif
- Bronze Dancing Girl (Mohenjodaro) — lost-wax technique (cire perdue)
- Priest King statue (Mohenjodaro) — steatite, trefoil-pattern robe
- Pottery: red & black painted, wheel-made
- Bead-making: Chanhudaro & Lothal famous centers
- No evidence of coins — trade was through barter
9. Religion
- Pashupati (proto-Shiva) worship — seal shows figure seated in yogic posture with animals
- Mother Goddess — terracotta figurines
- Worship of Pipal tree, animals (bull), and fire altars (found at Kalibangan & Lothal)
- No temple structures found (unlike Mesopotamia)
10. Decline of IVC — Theories (asked frequently)
| Theory | Proposed by |
| Aryan invasion | Mortimer Wheeler |
| Climatic change / drying of Saraswati river | R.L. Raikes, others |
| Floods | M.R. Sahni |
| Earthquakes / tectonic changes | — |
| Decline in trade with Mesopotamia | — |
- Most accepted view today: combination of climate change + river shifting (Ghaggar-Hakra drying), not a single invasion
11. Quick-Fire Facts (for last-minute revision)
- Harappan seals — mostly steatite, mostly square in shape
- Unicorn = most common animal on seals
- No swords found — mostly spearheads, axes (peaceful civilization inference)
- Weight system based on 16
- Cotton first cultivated by Harappans — Greeks named it “Sindon” (from Sindh)
- Only Chanhudaro had no citadel
- Dholavira — unique 3-fold division (Citadel, Middle Town, Lower Town) + water harvesting system
- Kalibangan = “black bangles”; evidence of ploughed field (earliest known) and earthquake
- Rakhigarhi (Haryana) = largest IVC site; 2019 DNA study concluded no significant Aryan-gene link, indigenous population
- Script: ~400 pictographic signs, still undeciphered — no bilingual inscription found like Rosetta Stone
12. One-Line Comparison Table (for quick MCQ recall)
| Feature | Site |
| Great Bath | Mohenjodaro |
| Dockyard | Lothal |
| Water reservoirs / signboard | Dholavira |
| Radial street plan | Banawali |
| Ploughed field & fire altars | Kalibangan |
| No citadel | Chanhudaro |
| Horse bones | Surkotada |
| Largest site | Rakhigarhi |
| First discovered | Harappa |
Revision tip: Cover the table in Section 4 & 12 with your hand and try to recall — these two tables alone cover ~70% of IVC-based MCQs in DSSSB/SSC exams.
