Topic > The History of India

For a long time it was believed that the history of India began with the Aryans. But the excavations at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro have changed the entire perspective and old beliefs. In 1922 Dr. R.D. Banerjee began excavations at Mohenjo-Daro in Sindh province, where he found some ruins. Similarly, in Harappa, Montgomery district (now in Pakistan), some archaeological remains were found by DR Sahani. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Excavation was started at both places under the supervision of Sir. Jhon Marshall, who was also in charge of the archaeological department at the time. The Indus Valley Civilization developed in two main centers: Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Harappa is located in Montgomery district now in Pakistan which is about 180 km from Lahore. This site was larger than Mohenjo-Daro. Mohenjo-Daro was located in Larkana district of Sindh province. Mohenjo-Daro literally means "Mound of the Dead". The distance between the two significant cities of Harappan culture is approximately 650 km. In addition to Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, the remains of the Indus Valley Civilization have been discovered at various other sites: Chandu Daro, Amri, Luhon-jo-Daro, Naal, and Rupar. Jhukar and Kelat are very systematically planned cities. A visitor to the ruins will be stuck seeing how the city was planned. The streets were very wide and intersected at right angles like modern ones at crossroads. On the sides of the streets, houses were built with all amenities, including ventilation, drainage and soaking pits. The houses were not all the same size but the smallest contained two rooms. There were some two-story houses. Stairs were built in all houses. The most notable feature of the Harappan civilization was its urbanization. The Harappan settlements, which were small towns, show 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 a lower residential area where the urban population lived. At Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa the citadel was surrounded by a brick wall. In Kalibangan, both the citadel and the lower city were surrounded by a wall. Usually, towns or cities were arranged in the shape of a parallelogram. The use of standard-sized fired and mud bricks shows that brick production was a large-scale industry for the Harappans. In the Citadel area, the Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro is the most striking feature. It is assumed that it was intended for some elaborate ritual of vital importance to the people. To the west of Bagno Grande there are the remains of a large granary. A notable number of granaries arranged in two rows of six, with a passage to the citadel, were also found at Harappa. At Mohenjo-Daro, on another side of the Great Bath, there is a long building which has been identified as the residence of a very high official. Another significant building here is a meeting hall. The most significant discoveries in Kalibangan and Lothal are the fire altars. The lower city was divided into neighborhoods like a chessboard, by north-south and east-west thoroughfares and by smaller alleys, each cutting others at right angles, as in a grid system. The rectangular urban layout was a unique feature of the civilization. The arterial roads were equipped with covered drains with additional soaking pits made of pots and placed at convenient intervals. Houses of various sizes indicate the economic groups of the settlement. The parallel rows of two-room cottages found at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were perhaps used.