HISTORY
LECTURE 2
                                                        INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION    

1) Common  features of IVC are Sysematic town planning, use of brunt bricks in construction, underground drainage system , fortified citadel.
2) Main crops are Wheat, Barely, Rice, Dates, Mustard, Sesamum, Cotton (People of IVC were first in the world to produce cotton.)
3) Animals known to them are Sheep, Goat, Humped and Humpless Bull, Buffalo, Boar, Dog, Cat, Pig, Fowl, Deer, Tortoise, Elephant, Camel, Rhinoceros and Tiger were known to them ( Most of them were depicted on the seals) while of Cow and Lion are the animal which are not known to them and came in existence afterwards.
4) There were foreign trade with Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Bahrain (It means both the civilization were contemporary to the IVC)
5) Iron was the only metal not known to the IVC.
6) Sumerian or Mesopotamian text refers IVC as 'Meluha'
7) Barter system was common mode for exchange of goods. There is no evidence of Coins
8) In case of polity it was observed that Merchants were the ruling authority.
9) There is evidence or excavation of temples, so it can be concluded that Harappan people did not worshiped their gods in temples but idea of their religion is formed from the statues and figurines found.
10) Pahsupati Mahadev was considered as the god of Animals represented by Proto-Shiva figure sitting in the yogic posture and is surrounded by 6 animals (Elephant, tiger, rhino and buffalo surrounding him while two deer appear a his feet).
11) Humpless bull is represented in most of Indus Seals
12) Complete burial of the dead was common in North South direction i.e. head toward North.
13) Majority of the scholars believe that Dravidian were the maker of civilization.
14) Other contemporary civilization were Mesopotamian along river Tigris, China along river (Hwang Ho i.e. Yellow river) and Egypt along river Nile.
15) Script of IVC was Boustrophedon type and still undecipherable but most of letters represented fish.
16) Possible reasons for decline of the IVC were thought to be by Aryan Invasion, Floods, Earthquake or Fire.

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HISTORY
LECTURE 1
                                             INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION (2500BC-1750BC) 

1) Indus Valley Civilization was one of the oldest and advanced civilizations in the world. It named so because for the first time the settlement was found near the bank of river Indus (Note: The most of the settlement were around the river Saraswati so it is better to name the civilzation as Saraswati -Indus Civilzation) the Saraswati river was the main axis of civilization.
2) The dimensions of the IVC are: North (Manda in Jammu), South (Daimabad Maharashtra), East (Alamgirpur in Western UP), and West ( Suktagendor on Pakistan-Iran border).
3) For the first time the term Indus Valley Civilization was used by John Marshall.
4) Most Important port city of the civilization was Lothal (In Gujrat).

Clay Figure of Mother Goddess

5) Harappa  (Pakistan) was the first site in the civilization excavated by Daya Ram Sahani in 1921 it was located on the river Ravi.
     Important Archaeological Findings at Harappa
     a) 6 Granaries in row ( it is thinked that this was the place for the storage of Grains).
     b) Clay Figurine of Mother Goddess. (Female Deity)

     c) Copper made mirror and Dice (Dice shows that the were fond of the dice game)
6) Mohenjodaro  (Pakistan) was the second site (but the largest among all sites) to be excavated after Harappa by Sh. R.D. Banerjee in year 1927  located on Indus river.
     Important Archaeological Findings at Mohenjodaro
a) Great Bath, Great Grainery (It is important for students to note that Great Grainery is the Largest  building of civilization not the Great Bath)
b) Pashupati Mahadev seal (It shows that the people of IVC were worshipped this male deity)

Pashupati Mahadev

c) Bronze image of nude women dancer, Steatite image of beared man, Human skeleton huddled together, Clay figurine of mother goddess.
d) Fragment of woven cotton
7) Chanhudaro It was the city without citadel an Inkpot was found there, indicate that the were also had writing skills , Imprint of dog's paw on a brick shows that the dog was known to them.
8) Lothal was the port city and had a dockyard for the parking of ships. Here seals of Mesopotamia civilization were found shows that the people had trade with them. Remains of Rice husk were also found ( Its obvious as being the port city the region was full of water). Double burial was observed there (burring of male and female together).
9) Kalibanga:-  Ploughed field was found here showing the the people were known to agriculture.
Camel bones were also found indicates that the animal was known to them.
10) Dholavira this was the island city of the whole civilzation ( largest Indian site) and had a unique water harvesting system. It is the only site that was divided into 3 parts. A large Stadium was also excavated.
11) Surkotada was the site where the remains of horse were found.

To be Continued....
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