The History of India

For quite some time it was believed that History of India started with the Aryans. But excavation at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro changed the entire outlook and old believes. In 1922 Dr. R. D. Banerjee started excavations at Mohenjo-Daro in Sindh province, he found some ruins there. In the same way, at Harappa, in Montgomery district (now in Pakistan), some archeological remains were found by D. R. Sahani.

The excavation was started at both the places under the supervision of Sir. Jhon Marshall, who was then also the in charge of the Archeological department.Indus Valley civilization developed at tow main centers- Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Harappa is situated in the Montgomery district now in Pakistan which is about 180 km from Lahore. This site was larger than Mohenjo-Daro. Mohenjo-Daro was situated in the Larkana district of Sindh province. Mohenjo-Daro literally means the 'Mound of the Dead'. The distance between the two significant towns of Harappa culture is about 650 km.

Apart from Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, the remains of Indus Valley civilization have been discovered at various other sites: Chandu Daro, Amri, Luhon-jo-Daro, Naal, and Rupar. Jhukar and Kelat are towns planned in a very systematic way. A visitor to the ruins will be stuck to see how the town was planned. The roads were very wide and they intersected one another at right angles like modern ones too from crossings. On the sides of roads, the houses were built with all the facilities including ventilation, drainage, and soak pits. All the houses were not of the same size but the smallest of them contained two rooms. There were some double-stored houses. The staircases were built in all the houses.

The most remarkable features of the Harappa civilization was its urbanization. The Harappa settlements, which were small towns, show a remarkable unity of conception and an advanced sense of planning and organization. Each city was divided into a citadel area where the essential institutions of civil and religious life were located and the lower residential area where the urban population lived. In Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, the citadel was surrounded by a brick wall. At Kalibangan, both the citadel and the lower city were surrounded by a wall. Usually, towns or cities were laid out in a parallelogram form. The use of baked and unbaked bricks of standard size shows that the brick making was a large scale industry for Harappans.

In the Citadel area, the Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro is the most striking feature. It is assumed that it was meant for some elaborate ritual of vital importance for the people. To the west of the Great Bath, there are the remains of a large granary. At Harappa, a remarkable number of granaries has also been found ranged in two rows of six, with a citadel passage. In Mohenjo-Daro, to another side of Great Bath, is a long building which has been identified as the residence of a very high official. Another significant building here is an assembly hall.

The most significant discoveries at Kalibangan and Lothal are the fire altars.The lower town was divided into wards like a chess board, by north-south and east-west arterial roads and smaller lanes, cutting each other at right angles, as in a grid system. The rectangular town planning was a unique feature of the civilization. The arterial roads were provided with covered drains having additional soak pits made of pots and placed at convenient intervals.The houses of varying sizes point towards the economic groups in the settlement. The parallel rows of two-room cottages unearthed at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were perhaps used by the poorer sections of society, while the big houses, which had much the same plan- a square courtyard around which were a number of rooms were used by the rich. The houses were equipped with private wells and toilets. The bathrooms were connected by drains with sewers under the main street.

The drainage system is one of the most impressive achievements of the Harappans and the presupposes the existence of some kind of municipal organization.The houses were constructed with Klin-made ir kiccha bricks, not stones. The bathrooms and the drains were invariably built with pukka bricks made waterproof by adding gypsum.A point to be emphasized is that the location of Harappa towns on flood plains of rivers, on fringes of the desert or on sea cost meant that the people had to contend with different kinds of challenges from nature. This in itself different kinds of challenges from nature. This in itself would have introduced diversity into their planning and lifestyle. After excavation, it has been estimated that the town might have been built and rebuilt nine times as proved by the discovery of nine strata. Dr. A. D. Pusalker mentions, "the architecture of Mohenjo-Daro in general, is plain, utilitarian, rather solid than beautiful.