Mohanjo-daro
The
Birth of the Indus Valley Civilization:
A chaos of water flowing from the mountains in north formed
tributaries that merged into the Indus River. Sometime around the 6000 BC a
nomadic herding people settled into villages just west of the Indus River.
There they created order for themselves, growing barley and wheat using sickles
with flint blades, and they lived in small houses build with baked bricks.
After 5000 BC the climate in their region changed, bringing more food, and they
grew in population. They began domesticating sheep, goats and cows and then
water buffalo. Then after 4000 BC they began to trade beads and shells with
people in distant areas of central Asia and other areas west of Khyber Pass.
They began using bronze and working metals. With time and experience they were
improving their technology. The climate changed again, bringing more rainfall,
and on the plains along the river jungles grew inhabited by crocodiles, tigers,
buffalos and elephants. By around 2600 BC, a civilization as grand as those in
Mesopotamia and Egypt began in the Indus Plains and surroundings. They had
covered sewers and drainage systems beneath their streets. By 2300 BC this
civilization reached maturity and was trading with Mesopotamia.
Location:
Mohanjo-daro, the trade city of the Indus Valley
Civilization, is located in Larkhana District on the right bank of the Indus
River in Sindh, Pakistan, on a Pleistocene ridge in the flood plain of the
river valley of Indus, around 28 km from town of Larkhana. The ridge was
prominent during the time of Indus Valley Civilisation, allowing the city to
stand above the surrounding plain, but the flooding of river has since buried
the ridge in deposited silt.
Mohanjo-daro was one of the largest cities of the
civilization. At its height, the Civilization spanned much of what is now in
Pakistan and North India, extending westwards to the Iranian border, south to
Gujarat in India and northwards to an outpost in Bactria. Mohanjo-daro was the
most advanced city of its time, with
remarkable civil engineering and urban
planning.
Excavation
and Discovery of Site:
The ruins of the city remained undiscovered for over 3700
years until an officer RD Banerji of Archaeological survey of India in search
of a Buddhist stupa known to be there and finding a flint scrapper which
convinced him of site’s antiquity in 1919-1920. Following which large-scale
excavations of Mohanjo-daro led by John Marshall was done in 1920. In 1930s
major scale excavations were done under Marshall, DK Dikshitar and Ernest
Mackay. Further excavations were carried out by Mortimer Wheeler and Ahmad Dani
in 1945. The last major series of excavations were conducted in 1964 and 1965
by Dr. George F Dales. However in the 1980’s, German and Italian survey groups
led by Dr. Michael Jansen and Dr. Maurizio Tosi used less invasive
archaeological techniques to gather further information about Mohanjo-daro. In
1980s the site of city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Architecture
and Urban Infrastructure:
A well planned street grid and an elaborate drainage system
hint that the occupants of the ancient Indus civilization city Mohanjo-daro
were skilled urban planners with a reverence for the control of water.
The city lacks ostentatious palaces, temples or monuments.
There’s no obvious central seat of government or evidence of a king or queen.
Modesty, order and cleanliness were apparently preferred. Pottery and tools of
copper and stone were standardized. Seals and weighs suggest a system of
tightly controlled trade.
The city’s wealth and stature is evident in artifacts such
as ivory, lapis, carnelian, and gold beads, as well as baked brick city
structures themselves.
A watertight pool called the Great Bath, perched on top of a
mound of dirt and held in place with walls of baked brick, is the closest
structure Mohanjo-daro has to a temple. The Great Bath and an associated large
building occupied the tallest mound. It is said that this suggests an ideology
based on cleanliness.
Wells were found throughout the city, and nearly every house
contained a bathing area and drainage system.
There is no evidence of Kings or Queens, Mohanjo-daro was
likely governed as a city state, perhaps by elected officials from each of the
mounds.
The
Deity and Sacred Beliefs and Cultures:
It is believed that the Indus Valley people were devotee of
the Lord of Rain and Thunder, Indra. There has been rituals, sacrifices made to
please the god Indra who has been considered the supreme god.
It is also believed that Cock-fighting may have had ritual
and religious significance for the city, with domesticated chickens bred there
for sacred purposes, rather than as a food source.
Notable
Artefacts:
Numerous
objects found in excavation include seated and standing figures, copper and
some stone tools, carved seals, balance scales and weighs and gold and jasper
jewellery, and children’s toys. Many important objects from Mohanjo-daro are
conserved at the National Museum of India in Delhi and the National Museum of
Pakistan in Karachi. In 1939, a representative collection of artefacts
excavated at the site was transferred to the British Museum by the Director
General of Archaeological Survey of India.
- Dancing Girl:
A
bronze statuette dubbed the “Dancing Girl”, 10.5 Centimeters high and some 4500
years old was found in HR area of Mohanjo-daro in 1926.
The
statuette gave way to 2 discoveries about the Civilization. Firstly, they knew
metal blending, casting and other sophisticated methods of working with ore;
and secondly that the entertainment, especially dance was a part of the
culture.
- Priest-King:
In
1927, a seated male soapstone figure was found in a building with unusually
ornamental brickwork and a wall-niche. The sculpture is 17.5 centimetres tall
and depicts a bearded man with a fillet around his head, an armband, and a
cloak decorated with trefoil patterns that were originally filled with red
pigment. The two holes by the side of the ears suggest that a necklace or other
head ornament was attached to the sculpture. The eyes were deeply incised and
may have held inlay. The upper lip is shaved and a short combed beard frames
the face with left shoulder covered in a cloak decorated with trefoil, in double
circle and single circle designs. Drill holes in each circle indicate that they
were made with specialised drill and then touched with chisel.
- Pashupati seal:
A
seal discovered at the site bears the image of a seated, cross-legged and
possibly ithyphallic figure surrounded by animals. The figure has been
interpreted by some scholars as a ‘yogi’ and by others as a three-headed
‘proto-Shiva’ as “Lord of the Animals”.
- Seven-stranded necklace:
It is believed to be at least 4500 years old. The necklace has an S-shaped clasp with seven strands, each over 4ft long , of bronze metal bead-like nuggets which connect each arm of the S in filigree. Each strand has of about 220 to 230 of the many faceted nuggets, and there are about 1600 nuggets in total. The necklace weighs about 250 grams in total, and is presently held in a private collection in India.
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