Indus Valley Civilization - Art and

Architecture
Quest for UPSC CSE Panels

13-07-2023
GS-I
Sub-Categories:
GS-I: Ancient History
GS-I: Art & Culture

24 min read

• Background of the Indus Valley Civilisation

• Nature of the Art and Architecture of the Indus Valley Civilisation
• Architecture and Town Planning of the Indus Valley Civilization
• Arts and Artifacts of the Indus Valley Civilization
• What is the significance of Harappan Art and Architecture?

Prelims: History of India

Mains: Indian Culture: Architecture from ancient to modern times

Background of the Indus Valley Civilisation

The Indus Valley/Harappan civilisation was the first urban civilisation in
South Asia, coexisting with Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Harappan
civilisation occupied the largest area (approximately 8,00,000 sq km) among
the three civilisations. It made noteworthy contributions to the art and
architecture of the ancient history of India.

Nature of the Art and Architecture of

the Indus Valley Civilisation
• Arts: Artists of the Indus Valley civilisation era had fine artistic
sensibilities and a vivid imagination evident from the anatomical
details included in the unique arts, their delineation of human and
animal figures was highly realistic in nature, and in the case of
terracotta art, the modeling of animal figures was done with extreme
care.
• Architecture: The architecture of the Indus Valley Civilization was
very unique. The architecture during this time was used for the
purpose of functions and not for beauty or decoration. The evolution
of the architecture of civilization occurs in isolation. It has been
influenced by the local cultures, which prevailed previously years
back of the first farming and pastoralist settlements.

Architecture and Town Planning of the Indus

Valley Civilization
The Harappan culture was distinguished by its system of town planning on
the lines of the grid system – that is, streets and lanes cutting across one
another almost at right angles, thus dividing the city into several
rectangular blocks.

• The Pattern of Houses: Many of the cities of the Indus Valley

civilization were divided into two or more parts: the citadel and the
lower town.
o It is believed that the citadel was a fortified settlement and
comprised of some chief structures, such as the great bath and
the warehouse, while the lower town consisted of houses and
workshops.
o Only 6 citadels have been found, showing that only priests or
higher classes used to live there.
 • The pattern of streets and roads: Indus Valley streets and roads
were straight and cutting each other at a right angle. The roads were
built using burnt bricks.
• Drainage system: The drainage system of Indus Valley
civilization connected all houses to the street drains, which were
covered by stone slabs or bricks. Houses with single, double, and
more rooms attached with a very good drainage system were found
in many of the sites of the Indus Valley.
• Burial sites: At burials in Harappan sites, the dead were generally laid
in pits. Some graves contain pottery and ornaments, indicating a
belief that these could be used in the afterlife. Jewellery has been
found in burials of both men and women. In the excavations at the
cemetery in Harappa in the mid-1980s, an ornament consisting of
three shell rings, a jasper (a kind of semi-precious stone) bead and
hundreds of microbeads was found near the skull of a male.

Architecture Feature
Great Bath at Mohenjo Daro • Great Bath was a large rectangular tank in a
courtyard surrounded by a corridor on all four sides.
There were two flights of steps on the north and
south sides going into the tank, which was made
watertight by laying bricks around the perimeter
and using gypsum mortar.

Great Granary • One of the biggest granary sites found in the Indus
Valley at Mohenjo Daro. Almost every site found
in excavation witnesses the system of Granary or
Warehouses.
• Most staple food, such as rice, wheat, and barley,
was stored in these warehouses.

Dockyard at Lothal • Lothal was a port town of the Harappans. It is

located in a low deltaic area in the Saurashtra
peninsula. It is believed that the sea was once much
closer to the site.
• This place seems to have been an outpost for sea
trade with contemporary West Asian societies. The
researchers have discovered a dockyard in Lothal.
Arts and Artifacts of the Indus Valley
Civilization
During the second half of the third millennium BCE, the arts of the Indus
Valley Civilisation emerged. Sculptures, seals, pottery, gold
jewellery, terracotta figures, and other forms of art have been discovered
at various sites throughout the civilisation.

Arts
Sculpture Feature
Stone statues • The three-dimensional stone statues have been
discovered at the sites of Harappa and
Mohenjo Daro.
• Two male figures in stone have been found:
o Torso in red sandstone
o Bust of a bearded man in a steatite.

Bronze Casting • The bronze statues were made using the ‘lost
wax’ technique.
• Both human, as well as animal figures, were
made out of bronze.
o Some bronze motifs included: ‘Dancing
Girl,’ Buffalo, and Goat.
o The copper dog and bird of Lothal and
the bronze figure of a bull from
Kalibangan.
o 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

Terracotta figures • The terracotta representations of the human form

are crude in the Indus Valley.
o More realistic motifs were found
in Gujarat sites and Kalibangan.

• Important terracotta motifs included:

o Mother goddess
o Bearded males with coiled hair
o A terracotta mask of a horned deity
o Toys: Toy carts with wheels, whistles,
rattles, birds and animals, gamesmen and
discs.
 Seals • Thousands of seals have been discovered on
various Harappan sites.
• Materials: The seals were usually made
of steatite and occasionally
of agate, chert, copper, faience gold,
ivory, and terracotta.
• Steatite, a soft stone found in the river beds, was
the most common material used to make seals.
• Every seal is engraved in a pictographic
script which is yet to be deciphered.
o Animal motifs on the seals:
▪ The seals had carvings
of beautiful figures of animals,
such as unicorn bulls, rhinoceros,
tigers, elephants, bison, goat, and
buffalo.
• Purpose: The seals served various purposes:
o Mainly used for commercial purposes.
o Also used as amulets: carried on the
persons of their owners, perhaps as
modern-day identity cards

• Most remarkable seal: Pashupati Seal, is also

identified as a female deity. It has various animal
motifs, such as elephant, tiger, rhinoceros,
buffalo and antelopes.

Pottery • The art of pottery witnessed the gradual

evolution of various design motifs as employed
in different shapes and styles.
• Characteristics: The IVC pottery consists
chiefly of very fine wheel-made wares, very few
being hand-made.
o Plain pottery with red clay was more
common than painted ware. It was
confined to the use of vases, bases of the
pans, and dishes of offering stands.
o Both polychrome and incised pottery
were rare.
o Perforated pottery had a large hole at
the bottom and small holes all over the
wall, and was probably used
for straining liquor

Ornaments used by the • Beads and Ornaments: The Harappan men

Harrapans: and women decorated themselves with a large
 variety of ornaments produced from every
conceivable material.
o Ornaments and materials: Necklaces,
fillets, armlets and finger-rings, girdles,
earrings and anklets were made in gold
and copper.
o Beads were made of cornelian, amethyst,
jasper, crystal, quartz, steatite, turquoise,
and lapis lazuli.
• Major sites: Beads making industry
at: Chanhudaro and Lothal.
• Spindle whorls: The spindle whorls were made
of terracotta and faience. These were primarily
used for spinning thread.

Literature
• The Harappan script is not yet completely
deciphered.
Script
• The number of signs ranges between 400 and
600, with 40 or 60 being fundamental and the
remainder being modifications.
• The majority of the script was written from right
to left
• The script style of the Indus Valley Civilization
is Boustrophedon, which means written from
right to left in the first line and left to right in the
second line. Table: Art and Architecture of
the Indus Valley Civilization

What is the significance of Harappan Art and

Architecture?
• Foundation for civilisations: One of the earliest notable urban
civilisations is the Harappan civilisation. It set out the routines,
perspectives, responses, and standards that served as the
foundation for the following eras in Indian history.
• Brotherhood: The artefacts from the Harappan civilisation reveal that
there was remarkably little intergroup violence despite centuries of
immigration, climatic changes, and social, political, and economic
 upheavals. As a result, this culture valued brotherhood, and excess
wealth did not lead to economic divisions.
• Urban architecture: In many ways, this culture serves as an
exceptional model for the modern world. The Harappans were
unmatched experts in drainage systems, water harvesting and
management systems, and town planning. This laid the foundations
for present-day urban planning.
• Sanitation: The perfection of the drainage system and the private
bathrooms in every home show how important cleanliness and
hygiene were to the Harappans. As a result, the Harappan civilisation
laid the groundwork for both individual and societal hygiene in urban
planning.
• Secular: From the discovery at any of the Harappan sites, it is clear
that religious discrimination was largely absent and that social ties
and notions of the fraternity were stronger.
• External relations: The first urban civilisation in India to
establish trade relations with other countries was the Harappan
civilisation. It thus paved the way for emerging civilisations to
strengthen their ties with the outside world. In a sense, this serves as
the foundation for modern globalisation.

Sources:

1. Tamil Nadu State textbook on ancient and medieval history

2. Themes in Indian History Part-1
3. Textbook in Fine Arts for Class XI Part-1

Previous Year Questions:

Mains:
• To what extent has the urban planning and culture of the Indus
Valley Civilization provided inputs to present-day urbanisation?
Discuss (2014)
• The ancient civilisation in the Indian sub-continent differed from
those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece in that its culture and
traditions have been preserved without breakdown to the present
day. Comment. (2015)
 Prelims:
2011

Q) Regarding the Indus Valley Civilization, consider the following

statements:

1. It was predominantly a secular civilisation and the religious element,

though present, did not dominate the scene.
2. During this period, cotton was used for manufacturing textiles in
India.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

2013

Q) Which of the following characterise/characterises the people of Indus

Civilization?

1. They possessed great palaces and temples.

2. They worshipped both male and female deities.
3. They employed horse-drawn chariots in warfare.

Select the correct statement/ statements using the codes given below.

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 1, 2 and 3

(d) None of the above

 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Q) At which Harappan site was the dancing girl sculpture

discovered?

One of the best-known artefacts from the Indus Valley, the copper figure of
a dancing girl, was found in Mohenjo Daro.

Q) Which language was the Harappan script written in?

The Harappan script has still to be fully deciphered. The script was mostly
written from right to left. In a few long seals, the boustrophedon method –
writing in the reverse direction in alternative lines - was adopted.

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