Complete Ancient History | Indus Valley Civilisation | Lec-12 | UPSC CSE 2025 | History By Alok Ojha

Hello friends, good evening, hi this is Alok Ujja, welcome to StudyIQ IAS English. Now we will continue with complete ancient Indian history series, guys many of you had the question that I have skipped the part of Indus valley civilization, so I am coming back with the part of Indus valley civilization, so please do not worry about this, I haven't skipped the part of Indus valley civilization, we will cover it certain part today and certain part in the coming sessions, so please do not worry about it. Prior to this in the ancient Indian history series, we have seen multiple topics such as Vedic civilization, prehistoric culture, Mahajanpat, the Mauryan empire, the what we say apart from that Buddhism, Jainism and so on, today a bit late but still we will go back to the Indus valley civilization, yes I know this I should have covered this before but so like it's been a bit late, so I will be covering it today okay, so please do not worry without wasting any more time, let's begin with one of the most important chapters that is Indus valley civilization. Now before I begin with Indus valley civilization, let me give you a brief synopsis of 3 to 4 minutes, please listen to me very carefully, now it is believed that the evolutions of human started almost around 24 million years ago and the evolution of humans have been divided into 3 different stages also referred as 3 different epochs or 3 geological epoch, Miocene age, Pliocene age and Pleistocene age. In Miocene age which extends around from 24 million to 5 million, here we can observe for the first time apes and these apes are walking on the forelegs with the passage of time, then comes Pliocene age. In Pliocene age we observe bipedals for the first time, those who walk on 2 legs and then comes Pleistocene age also referred as Ice age, it is further characterized or it is further divided into 4 parts, Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic. One word here is common and that is Lithic, Lithic basically means stone, one of the primary features of what we say Paleolithic age is development of stone age, it is also referred as development of stone tools, hence also referred as early stone age. Then comes Mesolithic age, for the first time in Mesolithic age one observes domestication of animals, also referred as late stone age or one can say middle stone age, then comes Neolithic age. Neolithic age, the term Neolithic was coined by John Lubbock and for the first time we observed agriculture, Chalcolithic age, Chalco it is a Latin word which basically means copper, so Chalcolithic age is stone copper phase, why? Because all the copper as a metal was discovered by man, stone was still not abandoned, we have dealt with all the 4 ages in quite depth and detail in a separate chapter prehistoric culture and today now we are going to start with Indus Valley Civilization, okay. Around 3rd or 4th millennium BC, there were 4 civilizations which were contemporary to each other that is they developed parallel to each other in different parts of the world, but one common feature among them was each and every civilization developed on the banks of some or the other rivers, like there were 4 civilization Mesopotamian civilization, Egyptian civilization, Chinese civilization and Indus Valley civilization. As we discussed these civilizations developed on the banks of some or the other rivers, so Mesopotamian civilization which roughly developed around the region of Central Asia developed on the banks of Tigris and Euphrates river, Egyptian civilization developed on the banks of the longest river of the world that is river Nile, then comes Chinese civilization, it developed on the banks of Yellow river or Wangho river and the name suggest Indus Valley civilization, it developed on the banks of river Indus, also referred as Sindhu in Vedic literature. So, now let us begin, let us understand about like within 2 to 3 minutes about certain characteristic features of the each civilization, let us begin with Mesopotamian civilization. Mesopotamian civilization, it developed around 4th millennium or 3rd millennium BC, roughly 4th or 3rd millennium BC, it developed around the regions of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria and Southeastern Turkey, roughly certain parts of Central Asia, I will repeat Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria and Southeastern Turkey, it developed along the banks of 2 important rivers, one is Tigris river and the other one is Euphrates river, I repeat it developed on the banks of 2 river Tigris and Euphrates river. Now, there are certain features about Mesopotamian civilization, it is believed that Sumerians and Akkadians dominated the region of Mesopotamia. Sumerians were the first to develop the spoken language of the world, they were the first to develop religion, they were the first to develop coins, it is believed that they also developed different sports and what kind of sports basically they developed, they developed the sports like major, it is not moroji, it is major, major basically means it is sports like rugby and second one is polo but there was a very interesting characteristic about the polo, like usually we have seen in polo, a man is sitting on a shoulders back and then playing a polo, here it was different, a man is sitting on another's man back and then they are playing on the another man's shoulders and then they are playing polo. So, what we say major, rugby and polo, these are the games from Mesopotamia, it is also believed that Mesopotamia and there was a place called as Elam, Elam it is located near Iraq in Baghdad, a beautiful sculpture have been found made up of limestone and that sculpture is Gwenol Linus statue, half body is of a man, of a human being and the half body is of a lion, what a beautiful and a wonderful sculpture that was found at the south, particularly around the region of Mesopotamia, particularly in the region of Elam near Iraq, Baghdad, correct. So, these are certain important features of Mesopotamian civilization, I will repeat the points again, Mesopotamian civilization developed around 3rd or 4th millennium BC, it covered specifically the regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and Southeastern Turkey, apart from that it is located on the banks of Tigris and Euphrates river, Sumerians and Akkadians dominated Mesopotamia, first to develop religion, first to develop basically or the first to mint the coins, developed sports like major, major is basically a sport like rugby, secondly polo and one of the fascinating features of the polo was a man sat on another man's shoulder, okay and a beautiful sculpture made up of limestone have been found from this civilization, Gwenol Linus statue made up of limestone, half body of a lion and a half body of a man. Moving to another important civilization, Chinese civilization, as discussed earlier there were 4 civilization contemporary to each other, all the civilizations were located on the banks of some or the other river, same was Chinese civilization, Chinese civilization as the name suggest, it is located on the bank, it is located in China and on the banks of river Wangho or yellow river, I repeat it is located on the banks of river Wangho or yellow river, correct. Now the soil on the banks of river Wangho is quite fertile and it is referred as lowest, lowest basically means very fertile soil, now it is like it is believed that fine quality bronze have been found from the site of Chinese civilization, okay and then comes Egyptian civilization, Egyptian civilization is located on the banks of the longest river of the world that is river Nile, correct like we have studied about river Amazon and river Nile, Amazon is the largest river of the world and Nile is the longest river of the world, so Egyptian civilization is located on the banks of the longest river of the world that is river Nile, true. Now it is believed that if river Nile could have not been there entire Africa or major part of Africa could have been a desert but still we can observe the northern part of Africa, 70 to 80% of northern part of Africa is desert, the largest desert is Sahara desert, Egyptian civilization is the extension of Sahara desert, correct one can also find another desert called as Nubian desert around the region of Egypt, so river Nile it is referred as lifeline of Egypt. Now whenever a river flows generally through the desert region it gets broken up into small, small, small water pockets and these water pockets are called as oasis and the soil near the oasis is very fertile and it is majorly used for cultivation of cotton and certain what we say dates, okay it is majorly used for cultivation of date palms and cotton, correct. So date palm cultivation in the region of Egyptian civilization was very important at that time, okay and the people in Egypt practiced a very elaborate burial practices pyramids, you might have seen the movie mummies, correct. Moving ahead Indus valley civilization as the name suggest it is located on the banks of river Indus also referred as river Sindhu in certain Vedic text. Now before we begin with Indus valley civilization let us focus on certain points which are very important from the exam perspective, either prelims or means. Now let us understand about the extent of Indus valley civilization, let us also speak about the characteristic features of great bath that was found at Mohenjodaro, about the great granary that is 2 rows of 6 granaries were found at the site of Harappa. We will also speak about the basic town planning, the structure of their houses, okay. So now let us begin pay attention carefully here we are going to understand the general basic features of IVC, okay. If we look if somebody roughly has a look aerial view of the Indus valley civilization, I am saying if somebody roughly has an aerial view of Indus valley civilization it will look either quadrilateral in shape or triangular in shape, okay. Indus valley civilization roughly covers 8.5 lakh square kilometers of Indian subcontinent, the northernmost site of Indus valley civilization is Manda which is located in Jammu and Kashmir, the southernmost site of Indus valley civilization is Daimabad which is located in Maharashtra particularly on the banks of river Godavari or tributaries of river Godavari. The easternmost site of Indus valley civilization is Alamgirpur which is located in western UP on the banks of river Hindon, tributary of river Yamuna and the westernmost site of Indus valley civilization is Sutkagandhar located on Pakistan Iran border. So this is majorly about the extent of IVC, I will repeat the points again in short pay attention, if one has an aerial view of Indus valley civilization it will roughly look triangular in shape or quadrilateral in shape, apart from that the northernmost site of Indus valley civilization is Manda which is located in Jammu and Kashmir whereas the southernmost site of Indus valley civilization is Daimabad which is located in Maharashtra on the banks of river Godavari or tributary of river Godavari. The easternmost site is Alamgirpur located on the banks of river Hindon, tributary of river Yamuna and the westernmost site Sutkagandhar is located on Pakistan Iran border, roughly it covers 8.5 lakh square kilometers of Indian subcontinent, correct. Now let us move ahead, in general I am saying in general the Indus valley cities are divided into two parts, the first part is upper citadel, the second part is lower citadel, now what is the meaning of the word citadel? Citadel basically means a raised platform or a wall like fortification, now let me give you a small example, now this is lower citadel, this is upper citadel, now for example suppose this is the first part of the city, a wall has been erected and then you will find the second part of the city or this is a defensive ditch, suppose this is a defensive ditch, then this is the lower part of the city, then comes the slope and this slope is referred as citadel, then comes the upper part of the city okay, citadel, so what is citadel? Citadel is a wall like fortification or a slope, now why there was a slope or a wall like fortification to protect the city from getting flooded? Now initially they had the ditch, whenever suppose if any of the tributaries of river Indus or for that sake any other river gets over flooded, initially the water will enter into the ditch, the water should not enter into the lower part of the city, so the city was constructed above this slope and that is called a citadel or a wall like fortification, then the other part of the city that was referred as upper citadel, it was constructed again over the other part of the slope, citadel. So, the basic purpose of wall like fortification or citadel was to protect the city from getting flooded, got it, now this is defensive ditch, this is lower citadel, this is upper citadel, now the upper citadel as the name suggest, the elite class or the elite section of the society lived here and the common man lived in the lower citadel okay, the people who used to look after the administration, they were usually in the upper part of the citadel and the common man usually was in the lower part of the citadel. The upper citadel was divided into 2 parts, eastern sector and the western sector, eastern sector was a residential sector, here people used to live, whereas western sector was a public work sector, here people used to work and this entire concept is a part of basic typology, I repeat generally the city was divided into 2 parts, upper citadel, lower citadel and defensive ditch, citadel is a wall like fortification which the basic purpose for it is to protect the city from getting flooded, got it. There are certain exceptions like I will give you a small example, the city of Dholavira or one of the sites of Dholavira which is located in Khadirbet island, Gujarat where tropic of cancer passes, it is believed that the city was divided into 3 parts, upper town, middle town and lower town, then another important city again in Gujarat, Lothal, the city is divided into 6 parts and all the 6 parts are made on unripe bricks, so these are exception but in general the city was divided into 2 parts, upper and lower citadel, got it. Moving ahead with another important concept and that concept is called as great granary, you might have heard about the concept of great granary earlier, yes guys, Indus valley civilization is also referred as Harappan civilization and why it is referred as Harappan civilization? Because Harappa was the first site to be discovered in 1921 by Dayaram Sahani, at the site of Harappa one can find the structure like 2 rows of 6 granary have been found at the site of Harappa, now what is granary? In very simple words, granary are silos or go downs for storing the food grains and now it is basically divided into 3 to 4 parts or this is basic structure of the granary, this is the agriculture field where the crops are produced, this is the threshing floor where the grain is separated from the chaff, this is granary wherein the grains are packed and stored for emergency purposes and this is barracks, the workers who used to work or the labourers who used to work in the agricultural field, the workers or labourers who used to work in the threshing floor, the workers or the labourers who are working in the go downs or the silos or the granary, where will they stay? They will stay in the barracks, so the purpose of barracks was basically to house the labourers and this entire structure is called as great granary, it is majorly 15.23 meter wide and 45.7 meter long, this concept was found for the first time at the site of Harappa, 2 rows of 6 granary. We can infer one thing from here, previously during Neolithic age we have seen one important fact that Neolithic age there was development of agriculture, along with development of agriculture there was development of pottery, why? Because people required something for cooking, eating, drinking, storing the food grains, can you imagine? Initially the food grains were stored in earthen vessels and now huge go downs, huge granaries are required for storing the food grains, imagine the surplus amount of food grain production during the Indus valley age. Now let us analyse the structure of Indus valley cities in bit detail, this is the main road and the main road is roughly 13 to 34 feet wide, these are the side lanes or alleys, in Hindi also referred as Galiyan.