Harappan civilization 2Architecture 2Drainage System 3The planning of the residential houses were also meticulous. 4Town Planning 4Urban Culture 4Occupation 5Export import product of 5Clothing 5Important centres 6Religious beliefs 6Script 7Authority and governance 7Technology 8

Architecture Of Indus Valley Civilisation 9The GAP 9

ARTS OF THE INDUS VALLEY 11Stone Statues 12

MALE TORSO 12Bust of a bearded priest 13Male Dancer 14

Bronze Casting 14DANCING GIRL 15BULL 16

Terracotta 16MOTHER GODDESS 17

Seals 18Pashupati Seal 19Copper tablets 19Bull Seal 20

Pottery 21PAINTED EARTHEN JAR 22

Beads and Ornaments 22Toy Animal with moveable head 24

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Harappan civilization

India has a continuous history covering a very long period. Evidence of neolithic habitation dating as far back as 7000 BC has been found in Mehrgarh in Baluchistan. However, the first notable civilization flourished in India around 2700 BC in the north western part of the Indian subcontinent, covering a large area. The civilization is referred to as the Harappan civilization. Most of the sites of this civilization developed on the banks of Indus, Ghaggar and its tributaries.

Architecture

The excavations at Harappa and Mohenjodaro and several other sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation revealed the existence of a very modern urban civilisation with expert town planning and engineering skills. The very advanced drainage system along with well planned roads and houses show that a sophisticated and highly evolved culture existed in India before the coming of the Aryans. The sites of the Indus Valley Civilization were excavated under the Archaeological Survey of India established by the British.

The Harappan people had constructed mainly three types of buildings-dwelling houses, pillared halls and public baths.

Main features of Harappan remains are:

1. The settlements could be traced as far back as third millennium BC.

2. Some important settlements were excavated on the banks of the river Indus particularly at the bends that provided water, easy means of transportation of produce and other goods and also some protection by way of natural barriers of the river .

3. All the sites consisted of walled cities which provided security to the people.

4. The cities had a rectangular grid pattern of layout with roads that cut each other at right angles.

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5. The Indus Valley people used standardised burnt mud-bricks as building material.

6. There is evidence of building of big dimensions which perhaps were public buildings, administrative or business centres, pillared halls and courtyards, There is no evidence of temples.

7. Public buildings include granaries which were used to store grains which give an idea of an organised collection and distribution system.

8. Along with large public buildings, there is evidence of small one roomed constructions that appear to be working peoples quarters.

9. The Harappan people were great engineers as is evident from the public bath that was discovered at Mohenjodaro.

(a) The ‘Great Bath’ as it is called, is still functional and there is no leakage or cracks in the construction.

(b) The existence of what appears to be a public bathing place shows the importance of ritualistic bathing and cleanliness in this culture.

(c) It is significant that most of the houses had private wells and bathrooms.

10. At some sites a dominant citadal was excavated in the western part containing the public buildings including the granaries. This can perhaps be treated as evidence of some kind of political authority ruling over the cities.

11. There is evidence also of fortifications with gateways enclosing the walled cities which shows that there may have been a fear of being attacked.

12. Lothal, a site in Gujarat also has the remains of a dockyard proving that trade flourished in those times by sea.

Drainage System

Another remarkable feature was the existence of a well planned drainage system in the residential parts of the city.

1. From a room that appears to have been set aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets.

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2. Small drains from the houses were connected to larger ones along the sides of the main roads.

3. The drains were covered and loose covers were provided for the purpose of cleaning them.

The planning of the residential houses were also meticulous.

1. Evidence of stairs shows houses were often double storied.

2. Doors were in the side lanes to prevent dust from entering the houses.

3. Individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells.

4. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes.

Town Planning

1. The most important features of Harrapan architecture are their superior town planning skills and cities that have been built on a clear geometric pattern or grid layout.

2. Roads cut each other at right angles and were very well laid out.

3. As the Indus Valley settlements were located on the banks of the river, they were often destroyed by major floods. In spite of this calamity, the Indus Valley people built fresh settlements on the same sites. Thus, layers upon layers of settlements and buildings were found during the excavations. The decline and final destruction of the Indus Valley Civilization, sometime around the second millennium BC remains a mystery to this day. ——also indicates indegenous nature of Indus Valley civilisation.

Urban Culture

1. The culture associated with the Harappan civilization is the first known urban culture in India.

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2. The Harappans built the earliest cities complete with town planning, sanitation, drainage system and broad well-laid roads.

3. They built double storied houses of burnt- bricks each one of which had a bathroom, a kitchen and a well.

4. The walled cities had other important buildings such as the Great Bath, Grannaries and Assembly Halls.

Occupation

1. Agriculture was the main occupation of the Harappans who were living in rural areas.

• They were perhaps the first people to cultivate cotton.

2. Those living in the cities carried on Internal and external trade and developed contacts with other civilizations such as Mesopotamia.

• A large number of Indus seals found in Mesopotamia which indicated of a possible trade between the Indus valley and Mesopotamian civilization.

3. They were excellent potters. Various types of utensils, toys, seals, figurines have been excavated from different sites.

4. Harappans also had the technical knowledge of metals and the process of alloying.

• The bronze sculpture of a dancing girl found in Mohenjodaro testifies the sculptural skills and aesthetic sense of the Harappans.

• Shell, ivory, bone and faience were used as material for different crafts and objects.

5. The figures of men and women on various seals found in the excavations reveal that the people knew the art of spinning and weaving.

Export import product of

Clothing

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It is evident from the discovery of a large number of spindles and spindle whorls in the houses of the Indus Valley that spinning of cotton and wool was very common. The fact that both the rich and the poor practised spinning is indicated by finds of whorls made of the expensive faience as also of the cheap pottery and shell.

1. Men and women wore two separate pieces of attire similar to the dhoti and shawl.

2. The shawl covered the left shoulder passing below the right shoulder.

3. From archaeological finds it appears that the people of the Indus Valley were conscious of fashion.

• Different hairstyles were in vogue and wearing of a beard was popular among all.

• Cinnabar was used as a cosmetic and face-paint, lipstick and collyrium (eyeliner) were also known to them.

Important centres

1. Lothal was a dockyard situated in Dholaka Taluk of Ahmedabad in Gujarat. It was also a well planned wall city. It was an important centre of sea trade with the western world.

2. Dhaulavira in Gujarat

3. Kalibangam in Rajasthan

4. While Harappa and Mohenjodaro are situated in Pakistan,

5. Rakhigarhi in Haryana,

6. Ropar in the Punjab,

7. Kalibangan and Balathal in Rajasthan,

8. LINK: https://www.evernote.com/l/AS6-BteFtiBP164bin2AgwWlZ7hl-se4BdI

Religious beliefs

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1. Numerous seals carrying the images of the one-horned rhinocerous known as unicorn, peepal leaves and a male god throw light on the religious beliefs of the Harappans.

2. It appears that they worshipped plants and animals and the forces of nature.

3. They worshipped a male god resembling Lord Shiva of later times and a mother goddess among others.

4. They probably believed in life after death and also in charms and spells.

5. Seals engraved with animal figures like the humped bull, elephant and rhinocerous suggest that these animals were considered sacred.

6. ‘Peepal’ has been found depicted on many seals.

Script

1. Harappans knew how to write and most of their seals contain some form of script. But unfortunately no one has yet been able to decipher that script.

2. As a result, our knowledge of the Harappan civilization is based on the archaeological evidence alone.

3. Script is Boustrophedon : Every other line of writing is flipped or reversed, with reversed letters.

Authority and governance

Archaeological records provide no immediate answers for a centre of power or for depictions of people in power in Harappan society. But, there are indications of complex decisions being taken and implemented. For instance, the extraordinary uniformity of Harappan artefacts as evident in pottery, seals, weights and bricks.

These are the major theories:

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1. There was a single state, given the similarity in artefacts, the evidence for planned settlements, the standardised ratio of brick size, and the establishment of settlements near sources of raw material.

2. There was no single ruler but several: Mohenjo-daro had a separate ruler, Harappa another, and so forth.

3. Harappan society had no rulers, and everybody enjoyed equal status.

By 1800 BC the Harappan civilization began declining. However, we do not know the exact reasons why this happened.

Technology

The people of the Indus Civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass, and time.

1. They were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. A comparison of available objects indicates large scale variation across the Indus territories.

2. Their smallest division, which is marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal in Gujarat, was approximately 1.704 mm, the smallest division ever recorded on a scale of the Bronze Age.

3. Harappan engineers followed the decimal division of measurement for all practical purposes, including the measurement of mass as revealed by their hexahedron weights.

4. These chert weights were in a ratio of 5:2:1 with weights of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 units, with each unit weighing approximately 28 grams, similar to the English Imperial ounce or Greek uncia, and smaller objects were weighed in similar ratios with the units of 0.871. The weights and measures later used in Kautilya's Arthashastra (4th century BCE) are the same as those used in Lothal.

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5. Harappans evolved some new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead, and tin. The engineering skill of the Harappans was remarkable, especially in building docks. No iron.

6. In 2001, archaeologists studying the remains of two men from Mehrgarh, Pakistan, discovered that the people of the Indus Valley Civilization, from the early Harappan periods, had knowledge of proto-dentistry. Later, in April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first early Neolithic) evidence for the drilling of human teeth in vivo (i.e., in a living person) was found in Mehrgarh. Eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults were discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Mehrgarh that dates from 7,500–9,000 years ago. According to the authors, their discoveries point to a tradition of proto-dentistry in the early farming cultures of that region.

7. A touchstone bearing gold streaks was found in Banawali, which was probably used for testing the purity of gold (such a technique is still used in some parts of India).

Architecture Of Indus Valley Civilisation

Town planning was excellent. Burnt brick was widely used, roads were wide and at right angles to one another, city drains were laid out with great skill and forethought, the corbelled arch and baths were constructed with knowledge and skill.

But with the fragmentary remains of the buildings constructed by these people it is not yet possible to know enough about the architectural skill and tastes of the people. However, one thing is clear, the extant buildings do not give us any clue as to aesthetic considerations and there is a certain dull plainness about the architecture which may be due to their fragmentary and ruined condition.

The GAP

There does not appear to be any connection between the cities built in the 3rd millennium B.C., with an astonishing civic sense, of first rate well-fired brick structures, and the architecture of subsequent thousand years or so, of Indian art history, after the decline and

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decay of the Harappan civilization and the beginning of the historic period of Indian history, mainly the time of the great Mauryas of Magadha.

These thousands years or so were a period of tremendous, intellectual and sociological activity and could not be barren of any artistic creations.

However, due to the fact that during this time sculpture and architecture was utilising organic and perishable materials such as mud, mudbrick, bamboo, timber, leaves, straw and thatch, these have not survived the ravages of time.

General view of House, Lothal Gujarat

Two important remains of the oldest times are fortifications of the old Rajagriha town, in Bihar and the fortified capital of Sisupalgarh, perhaps the ancient Kalinganagar, near Bhubaneswar.

1. The Rajagriha fortification wall is made in the roughest possible manner, unhewn stones being piled one on top of the other. This belongs to the 6th-5th century, B.C.

2. However at Sisupalgarh in the 2nd-1st century B.C. stone masons were at work using large blocks of stones to make a very well-made fort entrance that could be closed with huge doors turning on hinges.

We know it for a fact that stone masonry and stone carving were imported in Ashoka's times from Persia.

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There is abundant evidence of stone masons marks similar to those at Persepolis. However, wood was still the dominant material and in architectural remains of Ashokan times, the gradual transition from wood to stone is apparent. At Pataliputra, remains have been found of a great timber wall that once surrounded the imperial capital, a fact clearly mentioned by Megasthanes who states that everything in his day was built of timber in India.

However, there is one important exception to this and that is the rock-cut architecture of India.

The early Indian cave temples and monasteries are masterpieces of "organising space" with beauty and utility in view.

A typical example of early cave architecture is the most datable cave of all, the so-called Lomas Rishi cave in the Barabar Hills of Bihar.

ARTS OF THE INDUS VALLEY

1. The arts of the Indus Valley Civilisation emerged during the second half of the third millennium BCE. The forms of art found from various sites of the civilisation include sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewellery, terracotta figures, etc.

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2. The Harappans had the knowledge and skill of sculpting and craft. The world’s first bronze sculpture of a dancing girl has been found in Mohenjodaro. A terracotta figure of a male in a yogic posture has also been excavated. Beautiful personal ornaments, soft stone seals with a pictoral script and images of humped bulls, Pashupati unicorn have also been excavated.

3. The artists of that time surely had fine artistic sensibilities and a vivid imagination.

4. Their delineation of human and animal figures was highly realistic in nature, since the anatomical details included in them was unique, and, in the case of terracotta art, the modelling of animal figures was done in an extremely careful manner.

5. The two major sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation, along the Indus river—the cities of Harappa in the north and Mohenjodaro in the south—showcase one of earliest examples of civic planning.

6. Statues whether in stone, bronze or terracotta found in Harappan sites are not abundant, but refined.

Stone Statues

The stone statuaries found at Harappa and Mohenjodaro are excellent examples of handling three- dimensional volumes.

In stone are two male figures— one is a torso in red sandstone and the other is a bust of a bearded man in steatite—which are extensively discussed.

MALE TORSO

Among the few stone figurines, a male torso of polished red lime stone from Harappa, chiselled in the round, is remarkable for its naturalistic pose and sophisticated modelling, highlighting its physical beauty. This lovely figure makes one wonder how at that remote age, it was possible for the sculptor to carve as beautifully as was done very much later in Greece in the 5th century B.C.

1. The head and arms of this figure were carved separately and socketed into the drilled holes of the torso.

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2. The frontal posture of the torso has been consciously adopted.

3. The shoulders are well baked and the abdomen slightly prominent.

Bust of a bearded priest

The figure of the bearded man interpreted as a priest, from Mohenjodro made up of steatite.

1. is draped in a shawl coming under the right arm and covering the left shoulder.

2. This shawl is decorated with trefoil patterns.

3. The eyes are a little elongated, and half-closed as in meditative concentration.

4. The nose is well formed and of medium size;

5. The mouth is of average size with close-cut moustache and a short beard and whiskers;

6. The ears resemble double shells with a hole in the middle.

7. The hair is parted in the middle, and a plain woven fillet is passed round the head.

8. An armlet is worn on the right hand and holes around the neck suggest a necklace.

9. It bears a close resemblance to a similar figure discovered in the Sumerian sites of Ur and Susa.

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Male Dancer

1. The figure of a male dancer belonging to the same period and discovered at Harappa is an important carving showing how music and dance had a great place in life almost 5000 years ago.

2. It amply proves the dexterity with which the sculptor 5000 years ago, could catch beautiful movements of dance poses and express them in stone by the graceful twist of the body from the waist upward.

3. Unfortunately, it is in a damaged condition, but it still reflects the great mastery with all its vitality and grace.

Bronze Casting

Bronze casting techniques of the same nature are practised even now in many parts of the country, having a continuous tradition.

The art of bronze-casting was practised on a wide scale by the Harappans.

Lost wax technique

Their bronze statues were made using the ‘lost wax’ technique in which the

1. wax figures were first covered with a coating of clay and allowed to dry.

2. Then the wax was heated and the molten wax was drained out through a tiny hole made in the clay cover.

3. The hollow mould thus created was filled with molten metal which took the original shape of the object.

4. Once the metal cooled, the clay cover was completely removed.

Examples

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we find human as well as animal figures

1. Human = ‘Dancing Girl’ In bronze .

2. Animal figures =

A. BRONZE

• Buffalo with its uplifted head, back and sweeping horns

• goat

• bull from Kalibangan

B. COPPER

• copper dog and bird of Lothal

Bronze casting was popular at all the major centres of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Metal-casting appears to be a continuous tradition. The late Harappan and Chalcolithic sites like Daimabad in Maharashtra yielded excellent examples of metal-cast sculptures. They mainly consist of human and animal figures. It shows how the tradition of figure sculpture continued down the ages.

DANCING GIRL

The bronze dancing girl of the same period discovered at Mohenjodaro is perhaps the greatest surviving achievement of the metal work of the Harappan age.

One of the best known artefacts from the Indus Valley is this approximately four-inch-high bronze figure of a dancing girl.

1. This world-famous figure shows a female dancing figure standing as if relaxing after a dance number, with her right hand on her hip and the left dangling free.

2. Found in Mohenjodaro, this exquisite casting depicts a girl whose long hair is tied in a bun

3. She wears a large number of bangles, probably made of bone or ivory on her left arm together with a couple of pairs on her right arm. Bangles cover her left arm.

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4. A bracelet and an amulet or bangle adorn her right arm.

5. A cowry shell necklace is seen around her neck.

6. Her right hand is on her hip and her left hand is clasped in a traditional Indian dance gesture.

7. She has large eyes and flat nose.

8. This figure is full of expression and bodily vigour and conveys a lot of information.

9. The statuette is a great master piece of the art of the metal craftsman of the period who knew the art of bronze casting in the cire perdue or lost-wax process.

BULL

This bronze figure of a bull from Mohenjodaro deserves mention.

1. The massiveness of the bull and the fury of the charge are eloquently expressed.

2. The animal is shown standing with his head turned to the right and with a cord around the neck.

Terracotta

The Indus Valley people made terracotta images also but compared to the stone and bronze statues the terracotta representations of human form are crude in the Indus Valley.

1. They are more realistic in Gujarat sites and Kalibangan.

2. The most important among the Indus figures are those representing the “mother goddess.”

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3. In terracotta, we also find a few figurines of bearded males with coiled hair, their posture rigidly upright, legs slightly apart, and the arms parallel to the sides of the body. The repetition of this figure in exactly the same position would suggest that he was a deity.

4. A terracotta mask of a horned deity has also been found.

5. Toy carts with wheels, whistles, rattles, birds and animals, gamesmen and discs were also rendered in terracotta.

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The terracotta figure representing a bull is a forceful representation, eloquently proclaiming the special study of the anatomy of the animal by the modeller who fashioned the figure.

MOTHER GODDESS

This terracotta figure representing the large sized mother goddess is one of the best preserved and comes from Mohenjodaro.

Since she is the bestower of fertility and prosperity, she was worshipped for this very purpose.

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1. The mother goddess figures are usually crude standing female figures adorned with necklaces hanging over prominent breasts and wearing a loin cloth and a girdle.

2. The fan-shaped head-dress with a cup-like projection on each side is a distinct decorative feature of the mother goddess figures of the Indus Valley. The significance of the broad pan-like appendage on either side of the coiffure of the goddess is not easily understood.

3. The pellet eyes and beaked nose of the figures are very crude, and the mouth is indicated by a slit. The pinched nose and ornamentation flatly laid on the body and pressed on to the figure and the general folk effect in art are most interesting.

4. The sculptor at Mohenjodaro was adept in his art and could fashion both realistically as well as stylistically.

Seals

1. Archaeologists have discovered thousands of seals, usually made of steatite, and occasionally of agate, chert, copper, faience and terracotta, with beautiful figures of animals, such as unicorn bull, rhinoceros, tiger, elephant, bison, goat, buffalo, etc.

2. Generally they are rectangular, some are circular and few are cylindrical. The realistic rendering of these animals in various moods is remarkable. The standard Harappan seal was a square plaque 2×2 square inches, usually made from the soft river stone, steatite.

3. The purpose of producing seals was mainly commercial. It appears that the seals were also used as amulets, carried on the persons of their owners, perhaps as modern-day identity cards.

4. Every seal is engraved in a pictographic script which is yet to be deciphered.

5. Some seals have also been found in

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gold and ivory.

6. They all bear a great variety of motifs, most often of animals including those of the bull, with or without the hump, the elephant, tiger, goat and also monsters. Sometimes trees or human figures were also depicted.

Pashupati Seal

The most remarkable seal is the one depicted with a figure in the centre and animals around. Found at Mohenjodro.

1. This seal is generally identified as the Pashupati Seal by some scholars whereas some identify it as the female deity.

2. This seal depicts a figure of a Yogi, probably Shiva Pashupati, seated cross-legged. Pashupati means the lord of animals.

3. RIGHT = elephant + tiger are : LEFT : a rhinoceros + buffalo.

4. In addition to these animals two antelopes/deer are shown below the seat.

5. This seal may throw light on the religion of the Harappan age.

6. Most of these seals have a knob at the back through which runs a hole and it is believed that they were used by different guilds or merchants and traders for stamping purposes. When not in use they could be worn round the neck or the arm like an amulet.

7. Seals such as these date from between 2500 and 1500 BCE and were found in considerable numbers in sites such as the ancient city of Mohenjodaro in the Indus Valley.

8. Figures and animals are carved in intaglio on their surfaces.

Copper tablets

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1. Square or rectangular copper tablets, with an animal or a human figure on one side and an inscription on the other, or an inscription on both sides have also been found.

2. The figures and signs are carefully cut with a burin.

3. These copper tablets appear to have been amulets.

4. Unlike inscriptions on seals which vary in each case, inscriptions on the copper tablets seem to be associated with the animals portrayed on them.

There are small seals of intricate workmanship and of great artistic merit, astonishing examples of the artistic skill of the sculptors. Such exquisite works of art could not have come about overnight and clearly suggest a long previous tradition.

Bull Seal

The majestic zebu bull, with its heavy dewlap and wide curving horns is perhaps the most impressive motif found on the Indus seals. Generally carved on large seals with relatively short inscriptions, the zebu motif is found almost exclusively at the largest cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.

1. The rarity of zebu seals is curious because the humped bull is a recurring theme in many of the ritual and decorative arts of the Indus region, appearing on painted pottery and as figurines long before the rise of cities and continuing on into later historical times.

2. The zebu bull may symbolize the leader of the herd, whose strength and virility protects the herd and ensures the procreation of the species or it stands for a sacrificial animal.

3. When carved in stone, the zebu bull probably represents the most powerful clan or top officials of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.

4. It is a great artistic achievement of that early date. The modelling of the fleshy part of the bull's body is very realistically depicted.

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Pottery

A large quantity of pottery excavated from the sites, enable us to understand the gradual evolution of various design motifs as employed in different shapes, and styles.

The Indus Valley pottery consists chiefly of very fine wheel- made wares, very few being hand-made.

1. Plain pottery is more common than painted ware.

2. Plain pottery is generally of red clay, with or without a fine red or grey slip. It includes knobbed ware, ornamented with rows of knobs.

3. The black painted ware has a fine coating of red slip on which geometric and animal designs are executed in glossy black paint.

4. Polychrome pottery is rare and mainly comprises small vases decorated with geometric patterns in red, black, and green, rarely white and yellow.

5. Incised ware is also rare and the incised decoration was confined to the bases of the pans, always inside and to the dishes of offering stands.

6. Perforated pottery includes a large hole at the bottom and small holes all over the wall, and was probably used for straining liquor.

7. Pottery for household purposes is found in as many shapes and sizes as could be conceived of for daily practical use.

8. Straight and angular shapes are an exception, while graceful curves are the rule.

9. Miniature vessels, mostly less than half an inch in height are, particularly, so marvellously crafted as to evoke admiration.

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PAINTED EARTHEN JAR

Found in Mohenjodaro, this jar is made on a potter’s wheel with clay.

1. The shape was manipulated by the pressure of the crafty fingers of the potter.

2. After baking the clay model, it was painted with black colour.

3. High polishing was done as a finishing touch.

4. The motifs are of vegetals and geometric forms.

5. Designs are simple but with a tendency towards abstraction.

Beads and Ornaments

The Harappan men and women decorated themselves with a large variety of ornaments produced from every conceivable material ranging from precious metals and gemstones to bone and baked clay.

1. While necklaces, fillets, armlets and finger-rings were commonly worn by both sexes, women wore girdles, earrings and anklets.

2. Hoards of jewellery found at Mohenjodaro and Lothal include necklaces of gold and semi-precious stones, copper bracelets and beads, gold earrings and head ornaments, faience pendants and buttons, and beads of steatite and gemstones.

3. All ornaments are well crafted.

4. It may be noted that a cemetery has been found at Farmana in Haryana where dead bodies were buried with ornaments.

5. The bead industry seems to have been well developed as evident from the factories discovered at Chanhudaro and Lothal.

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6. Beads were made of cornelian, amethyst, jasper, crystal, quartz, steatite, turquoise, lapis lazuli, etc. Metals like copper, bronze and gold, and shell, faience and terracotta or burnt clay were also used for manufacturing beads.

7. The beads are in varying shapes—disc-shaped, cylindrical, spherical, barrel-shaped, and segmented.

8. Some beads were made of two or more stones cemented together, some of stone with gold covers.

9. Some were decorated by incising or painting and some had designs etched onto them. Great technical skill has been displayed in the manufacture of these beads.

10. The Harappan people also made brilliantly naturalistic models of animals, especially monkeys and squirrels, used as pin-heads and beads.

Many stone structural remains are also found at Dholavira which show how the Indus Valley people used stone in construction.

Harappa and Mohenjodaro are now in West Pakistan. About a hundred sites of this culture, have been found in India, and a few of them excavated so far, have disclosed that the Indus culture was spread over an extensive area.

The Indus civilization came to an end in about C.1500 B.C. probably due to the Aryan invasion of India. Except for some antiquities of the copper hoard culture and ceramics, no

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trace of any plastic art is found during the next 1000 years. This may perhaps be due to perishable materials like wood which were used in fashioning art forms which could not withstand the rigors of time.

The carvings of flat surface, as met with at Bharhut and Sanchi, are an echo of an earlier tradition in wood or ivory. But this intervening period of about 1000 years is important, because it was during this time that a synthesis took place between the fertility cults of the Dravidians, who were the original inhabitants of India, and the Aryan elements of rites and rituals. The Indian way of life and thought as embodied in the earliest scriptures, the Vedas and the Epic literature, were developed and the blending of the Aryan gods with the more ancient Buddhism and its contemporary religion Jainism, also made their appearance in India in the 6th Century B.C. These faiths have much in common with each other and represent the ascetic trend in Hindu philosophy. The teachings of these reformed faiths by Gautama Buddha and Mahavira, had a deep impact on the masses. It is the concept of these three religions, which later found expression in plastic art forms.

An these sculptures were originally parts of temples or other religious monuments to which they belonged both aesthetically and functionally.

Toy Animal with moveable head

The toy animal, with a moveable head from Mohenjodaro, belonging to the same period i.e. 2500 B.C., is one of the most interesting objects found during the excavations which shows how the children were kept amused and happy with toys that they could manipulate by moving their heads with the help of a string.

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The Vedic Aryans who came next, lived in houses built of wood, bamboo and reeds; the Aryan culture was largely a rural one and thus one finds few examples of grand buildings. This was because Aryans used perishable material like wood for the construction of royal palaces which have been completely destroyed over time.

The most important feature of the Vedic period was the making of fire altars which soon became an important and integral part of the social and religious life of the people even today. In many Hindu homes and especially in their marriages, these fire altars play an important role even today. Soon courtyard and mandaps were build with altars for worship of fire which was the most important feature of architecture.

We also find references of Gurukuls and Hermitages. Unfortunately no structure of the Vedic period remains to be seen. Their contribution to the architectural history is the use of wood along with brick and stone for building their houses.

In the 6th century B.C. India entered a significant phase of her history. There arose two new religions - Jainism and Buddhism and even the Vedic religion underwent a change.

Many thick layers of well baked bricks laid in gypsum mortar were joined together for the purpose of making the whole construction very strong. The strength of the buildings can be seen by the fact that they have successfully survived the ravages of atleast five thousand years.

Almost simultaneously larger states sprang up which further provided for a new type of architecture. From this period i.e. the expansion of Magadha into an empire, the development of architecture received further impetus. From now it was possible to trace Indian architecture in an almost unbroken sequence.

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Emergence of Buddhism and Jainism helped in the development of early architectural style. The Buddhist Stupas were built at places where Buddha’s remains were preserved and at the major sites where important events in Buddha’s life took place.

Stupas were built of huge mounds of mud, enclosed in carefully burnt small standard bricks.

One was built at his birthplace Lumbini; the second at Gaya where he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, the third at Sarnath where he gave his first sermon and the fourth at Kushinagar where he passed away attaining Mahaparinirvana at the age of eighty.

Buddha’s burial mounds and places of major events in his life became important landmarks of the significant architectural buildings in the country. These became important sites for Buddha’s order of monks and nuns - the sangha. Monasteries (viharas), and centres of preaching, teaching and learning came up at such places. Congregational halls (chaitya) for teaching and interaction between the common people and the monks were also built up.

From now on religion began to influence architecture. While Buddhists and Jains began to build stupas, Viharas and Chaityas, the first temple building activity started during the Gupta rule.

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