Kulke - A History of India - Chapter 1 - 111 1 E A R LY C I...

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EARLY CIVILISATIONS OF
THE NORTHWEST
PREHISTORY AND THE INDUS CIVILISATION
When the great cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were discovered in
the 1920s the history of the Indian subcontinent attained a new dimension.
The discovery of these centres of the early Indus civilisation was a major
achievement of archaeology. Before these centres were known, the Indo-
Aryans were regarded as the creators of the first early culture of the
subcontinent. They were supposed to have come down to the Indian plains
in the second millennium
BC
. But the great cities of the Indus civilisation
proved to be much older, reaching back into the third and fourth millennia.
After ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, this Indus civilisation emerged as
the third major early civilisation of mankind.
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro show a surprising similarity although they
were separated by about 350 miles. In each city the archaeologists found
an acropolis and a lower city, each fortified separately. The acropolis, situ-
ated to the west of each city and raised on an artificial mound made of
bricks, contained large assembly halls and edifices which were obviously
constructed for religious cults. In Mohenjo-Daro there was a ‘Great Bath’
(39 by 23 feet, with a depth of 8 feet) at the centre of the acropolis which
may have been used for ritual purposes. This bath was connected to an elab-
orate water supply system and sewers. To the east of this bath there was a
big building (about 230 by 78 feet) which is thought to have been a palace
either of a king or of a high priest.
A special feature of each of these cities were large platforms which
have been interpreted by the excavators as the foundations of granaries.
In Mohenjo-Daro it was situated in the acropolis; in Harappa it was
immediately adjacent to it. In Mohenjo-Daro this architectural complex,
constructed next to the Great Bath, is still particularly impressive. Its foun-
dation, running east to west, was 150 feet long and 75 feet wide. On this
foundation were 27 compartments in three rows. The 15-foot walls of
these are still extant. These compartments were very well ventilated and,
in case they were used as granaries, they could have been filled from outside
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the acropolis. At Harappa there were some small houses, assumed to be
those of workers or slaves, and a large open space between the acropolis
and these buildings.
The big lower cities were divided into rectangular areas. In Mohenjo-
Daro there were nine such areas, each about 1,200 by 800 feet. Broad main
streets, about 30 feet wide, separated these parts of the city from each other.
All the houses were connected directly to the excellent sewage system
which ran through all the numerous small alleys. Many houses had a
spacious interior courtyard and private wells. All houses were built with
standardised bricks. The width of each brick was twice as much as its height
and its length twice as large as its width.