The Beginning of the Indian Civilization

Class-6(History)

Subject-Social Science

Prepared by-Nayab Singh

What is civilization?

Civilization

is an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached.

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Features of Civilization

1. Civilisations have large organised communities or cities where people live and work together.
2. Civilizations have rich traditions, art and beliefs that are shared among their people.
3. They use advanced tools and techniques to make life easier and more productive.
4. Civilisations often have writing systems to record important information and communicate.
5. They have systems of leadership and rules to help manage and organise the society.

Beginning of the Civilization

Civilisation began at different times in different parts of the world.

In the region known as Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and Syria), that happened about 6,000 years ago.

The civilisation in ancient Egypt followed a few centuries later.

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From Village to City

• From about 3500 BCE, villages grew into towns.
• With increasing trade and other exchanges, those towns further grew into cities.
• This transition happened around 2600 BCE.
• Archaeologists gave this civilisation several names — ‘Indus’, ‘Harappan’, ‘Indus-Sarasvatī’ or ‘Sindhu-Sarasvatī’ civilisation.
• Its inhabitants are called ‘Harappans’.
• It is one of the oldest civilisations in the world.

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Town Planning

• Town planning is important part of civilization.
• Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were the first two cities discovered in town civilization.
• It was identify in 1924.
• Several sites followed in the Indus plains.
• This is the reason, it is called ‘Indus Valley Civilization’.
• Later on, major cities were discovered:
• Dholavira (in Gujarat).
• Rakhigarhi (in Haryana).
• Ganweriwala (in the Cholistan desert in Pakistan).
• Hundred of smaller cities (such as Lothal in Gujarat).

Harappan Cities:

• The larger Harappan cities were built according to precise plans.
• They had wide streets which were often oriented to the cardinal directions.
• Most cities seem to have been surrounded by fortifications and

had two distinct parts —

1. the ‘upper town’, where the local elite probably lived,
2. the ‘lower town’, where common people lived.
1. Some large buildings seem to have been used for collective purposes —
1. Warehouses where goods to be transported were stored.
2. Individual houses of various sizes lined the streets and smaller lanes.
3. All those buildings were generally made of bricks.

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Mohenjo-daro

• Archaeologists have proposed several possible interpretations —
• a public bath for people.
• a bath for the royal family only.
• a tank used for religious rituals.
• This is the case of the famous ‘Great Bath’ in Mohenjo-daro
• The tank was surrounded by small rooms, one of which contained a well.
• There was a drain in one corner of the tank to empty it from time to time and refill it with freshwater.

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Water Management

• The Harappans gave much importance to water management and cleanliness.
• They often had separate areas for bathing in their homes; these were connected to a larger network of drains
• In Mohenjo-daro, people drew water from hundreds of wells made of bricks.
• The case of Dholavira (in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat), the largest reservoir measured 73 metres in length!

What Did the Harappans Eat?

Archaeological findings have shown that the Harappans grew cereals like barley,

wheat, some millets, and sometimes rice, in addition to pulses and a variety of vegetables.

They were also the first in Eurasia to grow cotton, which they used to weave into clothes.

They made farming tools, including the plough.

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What Did the Harappans Eat?

• Intense agricultural activity was managed by hundreds of small rural sites or villages.
• The Harappans ate meat consumption and fished both in rivers and in the sea.
• Clay pots used for cooking food.
• surprising ones —
• such as remains of turmeric,
• ginger and
• banana.

Clearly, their diet was quite diverse!

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A Brisk Trade:

The Harappans were engaged in active trade.

not only within their own civilisation but with other civilisations and cultures within and outside India.

They exported ornaments, timber, some objects of daily use probably also gold and cotton, and possibly some food items.

The most favoured ornaments were beads of carnelian.

They also worked conch shells into beautiful shell bangles.

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The End or a New Beginning?

Around 1900 BCE, this Sindhu-Sarasvatī civilisation, despite all its achievements, began to fall apart. The cities were abandoned one by one.

Gradually the Harappans scattered over hundreds, if not thousands, of small rural settlements.

It was thought that warfare or invasions may have destroyed the cities, but there is no trace of warfare or invasion.

Two factors are currently agreed upon.

First, a climatic change which affected much of the world from 2200 BCE onward, causing reduced rainfall and a drier phase.

Second, the Sarasvatī River dried up in its central basin; suddenly, cities there, such as Kalibangan or Banawali were abandoned.

Much of the Harappan culture and technology survived and was passed on to the next phase of Indian civilisation.

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