1. Chapter at a Glance
When small farming villages grew into well-planned cities with trade, crafts and writing, a civilisation was born. India's earliest civilisation grew in the north-west of the Subcontinent, along the Indus (Sindhu) and Sarasvatī river systems, and flourished as a city culture from about 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. It is called the Harappan, Indus or Indus–Sarasvatī (Sindhu–Sarasvatī) civilisation. This chapter explains what makes a civilisation, and explores Harappan town-planning, water management, food, trade, crafts and the reasons for its decline.
- Seven features of a civilisation.
- From villages to cities — the “First Urbanisation” of India.
- Important sites, the Sarasvatī (Ghaggar–Hakra) river and town-planning.
- Drains, wells, reservoirs and the Great Bath.
- Farming, food, crafts, seals and trade — including Lothal's dockyard.
- Why the cities declined, and what survived.
2. What Is a Civilisation?
In this chapter, a society is called a civilisation if it has:
- Government and administration to manage a complex society.
- Urbanism — planned towns and cities with water supply and drainage.
- Varied crafts — using stone, metal and other raw materials to make tools and ornaments.
- Trade — inside the region and with distant lands.
- Some form of writing for records and communication.
- Cultural ideas expressed in art, buildings, stories and customs.
- Productive agriculture that feeds both villages and cities.
Civilisations began at different times: in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and Syria) about 6,000 years ago, and in Egypt a few centuries later. The Harappan civilisation is one of the oldest in the world.
3. From Villages to Cities
The fertile plains of Punjab and Sindh are watered by the Indus and its tributaries. A little to the east, thousands of years ago, the Sarasvatī river flowed from the Himalayan foothills through Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Today it is a seasonal river called Ghaggar in India and Hakra in Pakistan. The Ṛig Veda praises the Sarasvatī as a goddess and a river flowing “from the mountain to the sea”; later texts describe it drying up.
In this region, villages slowly grew into towns, and around 2600 BCE towns grew into cities — India's “First Urbanisation”. The people are called Harappans because Harappa (in Pakistan's Punjab) was the first city to be excavated, in 1921. The older name “Indus Valley civilisation” is no longer suitable, because sites spread far beyond the Indus valley.
| Site | Present location | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Harappa | Punjab (Pakistan) | First site excavated (1921) |
| Mohenjo-daro | Sindh (Pakistan) | Great Bath, about 700 brick wells, “Dancing Girl” |
| Dholavira | Gujarat (Rann of Kutch) | Three-part city, stone foundations, huge reservoirs |
| Lothal | Gujarat | Dockyard, bead-making |
| Kalibangan | Rajasthan | Wide streets; on the Sarasvatī (Ghaggar) basin |
| Rakhigarhi | Haryana | One of the largest cities, in the Sarasvatī basin |
| Banawali, Farmana, Bhirrana | Haryana | Sarasvatī-basin towns; clay plough model at Banawali |
| Ganweriwala | Cholistan desert (Pakistan) | Major city in the Sarasvatī basin |
4. Town-Planning and Water Management
- Large cities were built to precise plans, with wide streets often facing the cardinal directions and crossing at right angles.
- Most cities had fortification walls and two parts — an upper town (probably for the elite: rulers, officials, priests) and a lower town for common people. Dholavira had three zones.
- Houses were built of bricks (Dholavira used stone foundations). The quality of building was similar for small and big houses — differences between rich and poor were not glaring.
- Large buildings such as warehouses stored goods.
- Bathing areas in houses were linked to covered drains running under the streets — a remarkable drainage system.
- Mohenjo-daro had about 700 brick wells, used and repaired for centuries. Dholavira had at least six large reservoirs, built of stone or cut into rock and linked by underground drains — early water harvesting.
A carefully built tank about 12 m × 7 m, made of well-laid bricks and waterproofed with natural bitumen (tar). It had small rooms around it, a well in one room, and a drain to empty and refill it with fresh water. Its use is debated: since most houses had their own bathrooms, it was probably not a public bath; it may have been for the royal family or for religious rituals. No written source tells us for sure.
5. Farming and Food
Harappans grew barley, wheat, millets, sometimes rice, pulses and vegetables. They were the first in Eurasia to grow cotton and weave it into cloth. A small clay model of a plough from Banawali shows that they used ploughs. Hundreds of villages produced food for the cities. They also kept domestic animals and fished in rivers and the sea. Tests on cooking pots show dairy products and even turmeric, ginger and banana — a varied diet.
6. Crafts, Seals and Trade
- Crafts: drilled carnelian beads (a reddish stone from Gujarat), shell bangles from conch shells, pottery, stone weights. They worked copper and made bronze (copper + tin) for tools, vessels and figurines.
- Trade: by land, rivers and sea — India's first intense maritime activity. Harappan carnelian beads have been found at Susa (Iran) and an ivory comb on the coast of Oman. Exports included ornaments, timber, cotton and perhaps gold; imports probably included copper.
- Lothal dockyard: a huge basin about 222 m long and 37 m wide — a little longer than two football fields — used to receive and send boats.
- Seals: thousands of small seals of steatite (soft stone hardened by heating), a few centimetres in size, showing animals such as a unicorn, bull or horned tiger, with signs of a script that has not yet been deciphered. They were probably used in trade to mark goods.
Objects of daily and cultural life: bronze mirrors, terracotta pots and whistles, stone game-boards, the “Priest King” statuette, the bronze “Dancing Girl” (10.8 cm high, arms covered with bangles — a custom still seen in Gujarat and Rajasthan), a terracotta figure in a namaste pose, the “Pashupati” seal, and a Lothal pot that seems to show the story of the thirsty crow.
7. The End or a New Beginning?
From around 1900 BCE, the cities were slowly abandoned and people moved to thousands of small villages; the city administration seems to have ended. Earlier it was thought invaders destroyed the cities, but there is no evidence of war — the Harappans seem to have been relatively peaceful, with no clear army. Two causes are now widely accepted:
- A climate change from about 2200 BCE that reduced rainfall and made farming harder, cutting the food supply to cities.
- The Sarasvatī dried up in its central basin, so cities like Kalibangan and Banawali were abandoned.
Yet Harappan crafts, farming methods and customs did not vanish — they passed on to later phases of Indian civilisation.
8. Master Table: Key Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Civilisation | Advanced society with government, cities, crafts, trade, writing, culture, productive farming |
| First Urbanisation | Growth of Harappan cities around 2600 BCE |
| Tributary | A river that flows into a larger river |
| Fortification | Massive protective wall around a settlement |
| Elite | Higher layers of society — rulers, officials, priests |
| Reservoir | Large place for storing water |
| Metallurgy | Extracting, purifying and combining metals |
| Bronze | Copper + tin; harder than copper |
| Steatite | Soft stone used for seals |
9. Master Summary Table
| Aspect | Harappan achievement |
|---|---|
| Cities | Planned grid streets, upper and lower towns, brick houses |
| Water | Covered drains, ~700 wells (Mohenjo-daro), reservoirs (Dholavira), Great Bath |
| Farming | Wheat, barley, millets, rice, pulses; first cotton in Eurasia; plough |
| Crafts | Carnelian beads, shell bangles, bronze, pottery, weights |
| Trade | Land, river and sea; Lothal dockyard; links with Mesopotamia, Oman, Iran |
| Writing | Script on seals, still undeciphered |
| Decline (~1900 BCE) | Drier climate; Sarasvatī dried up |
Chart — approximate start of early civilisations (years before 2026):
10. Mind Map
- Indus and Sarasvatī basins
- Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira, Lothal, Rakhigarhi
- Grid streets, drains
- Great Bath, reservoirs
- Farming, cotton
- Beads, bronze, trade
- Seals, script
- Dancing Girl, toys, games
- Drier climate
- Sarasvatī dried
11. Tips and Tricks
- Seven features of civilisation: “G-U-C-T-W-C-A” — Government, Urbanism, Crafts, Trade, Writing, Culture, Agriculture.
- Lothal = Landing place for boats (dockyard); Dholavira = Dams/reservoirs for water.
- Dates: cities ~2600 BCE, decline ~1900 BCE.
- Saying the Harappan script has been read — it is still undeciphered.
- Saying invaders destroyed the cities — there is no evidence of war.
- Writing that the Great Bath was a public bath — most houses had their own bathrooms.
12. Important One-liners
- Harappa was excavated first, in 1921.
- The Sarasvatī is today called the Ghaggar (India) and Hakra (Pakistan).
- Harappan cities flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE.
- Mohenjo-daro had about 700 brick wells.
- The Great Bath was waterproofed with natural bitumen.
- Dholavira in Gujarat had huge rock-cut reservoirs.
- Lothal had a dockyard.
- Harappans were the first in Eurasia to grow cotton.
- Seals were made of steatite.
- Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.
13. Exam-pattern Questions with Detailed Answers
Which Harappan site had a dockyard?
- Harappa
- Lothal
- Kalibangan
- Rakhigarhi
Show answer
Lothal in Gujarat had a large dockyard for boats.
Answer: (B) Lothal
Why are the people of this civilisation called “Harappans”?
Show answer
Because Harappa was the first city of this civilisation to be excavated (1921).
Answer: Harappa was discovered first
Name the reddish semi-precious stone used for Harappan beads.
Show answer
Carnelian, found mostly in Gujarat.
Answer: Carnelian
Why is the term “Indus Valley civilisation” now considered outdated?
Show answer
Many important sites lie far beyond the Indus valley — in the Sarasvatī (Ghaggar–Hakra) basin in Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab, and in Gujarat — so names like Harappan or Indus–Sarasvatī are more accurate.
Answer: The civilisation extended far beyond the Indus valley
Describe three features of Harappan town-planning.
Show answer
Wide streets laid in a grid, often crossing at right angles; division into a fortified upper town and a lower town; brick houses with bathrooms connected to covered drains under the streets.
Answer: Grid streets, upper/lower town, covered drainage
What do Harappan seals tell us, and what remains unknown?
Show answer
Seals were linked to trade and identification of goods or traders; they show animals and signs of a writing system and reveal skilled craftsmanship. The script and the exact meaning of the animal figures are still unknown.
Answer: Trade use known; script undeciphered
What does the reservoir system at Dholavira show about the Harappan mindset?
Show answer
In a dry region, they planned ahead to harvest and store every drop of water, linking reservoirs by underground drains. It shows foresight, engineering skill, teamwork and an organised authority to build and maintain them.
Answer: Planning, engineering and organised water conservation
Give reasons for the decline of Harappan cities. Why is the invasion theory rejected?
Show answer
A drier climate from about 2200 BCE reduced rainfall and food production; the Sarasvatī dried in its central basin, so cities there were abandoned; city administration broke down and people moved to villages. The invasion theory is rejected because no evidence of warfare or destruction has been found.
Answer: Climate change and drying of the Sarasvatī; no war evidence
How do we know the Harappans traded with distant lands?
Show answer
Harappan carnelian beads have been found at Susa in Iran, an ivory comb on the coast of Oman; Lothal's dockyard and coastal settlements show sea trade; seals and standard weights suggest organised commerce.
Answer: Harappan objects abroad, dockyard, seals, weights
List any five Harappan objects or practices that still seem familiar today.
Show answer
Bangles worn up the arm, the namaste gesture, the plough, cotton cloth, board games, toys like whistles, turmeric and ginger in cooking, the thirsty-crow story, brick wells.
Answer: Any five as above
Why could Harappan cities not survive without villages?
Show answer
City people were busy in crafts, trade and administration, not farming. Villages supplied grain, pulses, vegetables, cotton and animal products every day. When drought reduced village output, the cities could not be fed — one reason for their decline.
Answer: Villages provided the food and raw materials cities depended on
14. Quick Revision Summary
- Civilisation = government, cities, crafts, trade, writing, culture, productive farming.
- Harappan / Indus–Sarasvatī civilisation: cities ~2600–1900 BCE; Harappa found in 1921.
- Planned grid cities, drains, wells, Dholavira reservoirs, the Great Bath.
- Farming of cereals, pulses and cotton; beads, bronze, seals; sea trade via Lothal.
- Decline: drier climate and drying Sarasvatī; culture continued in later India.