Art & Culture - Harappan Civilization Art Part-1 (Seal Significance)

Now what do we see? We have understood the difference We have seen all these things What is art? What is architecture? How do they differ? First of all, from where our architecture and all these things start See, architecture is our cave architecture which was of old times when our early primitive mans lived there we get to see some art Like I say to you that our art Here you take this art This art from the time we have seen civilization we get to see this art and in fact when our civilization was not even going on when our early primitive mans lived ok primitive mans when they lived which time am I talking about? I'm talking about pre-historic times pre-historic times at that time also we get to see art like art in a form of in which form we get to see art at that time we get to see paintings right? and which architecture we get to see? we get to see cave at that time they used to make cave for what? for shelter for shelter now what am I going to do? when I will start this cave architecture there I will do architecture from one line I will do all the architecture from one line ok when will I do all the architecture from one line? when I will do cave now what am I doing? now I am doing your civilized one when our civilization was made after civilization our art flourished after that our art and when was this civilization made? Indus valley civilization now whatever art we are doing all together we should do architecture from one line but here I will do architecture here I will do pottery here town planning means architecture means here whatever art they had at that time whatever art they had we will do that so keep this in mind that here we are doing all together so first of all our art don't think that we are leaving prehistoric art when painting will come we will complete it so now what am I doing? what am I calling? Khadappan civilization Khadappan at that time whatever art Khadappan civilization art whatever art you know it by another name we call it Indus valley civilization Indus valley civilization it is also known by this name if I talk to you when this civilization came? if I talk to you about time period of this civilization this civilization this third millennium BCE means from second half second half to third millennium BCE this is the time period of this civilization means it emerged at that time we also call it bronze age civilization because here people used to use bronze what is bronze? it is a kind of alloy it was bronze age civilization now you have to find for prelims what is this alloy made of? you have to see what is this alloy made of? this is very important you have to tell me what is this bronze alloy made of? what is this alloy made of? so this bronze age civilization this second half third millennium BCE we call it proto-history I am saying three types of terms one is pre-history one is proto-history and one is history now how do we categorize this? we call pre-history a time period where you will not find any literary tradition you will not find any literary tradition means they were not literate you will definitely find evidence painters painting potatoes but they are not literate when you do not find literary tradition then we call it pre-history when we find literary tradition you will geatter they were literate but they were not literate how to read it deciphered i.e. we have understood what they are trying to say but if we are getting literary tradition there but how is it? but undeciphered i.e. we have not been able to read it then what will we call it? we will call it Proto-History i.e. we are not able to understand what they are trying to say then what will we call it? this is Proto-History there who am I calling history? here we will get literary tradition literary tradition exists and we have deciphered it we have read it then what will we call it? History so there are three terms remember one is Pre-History one is Proto-History and one is History so Indus Valley Civilization is Proto-History i.e. they are trying to say something they are telling us something but what is it? we are not able to understand what they are trying to say are you getting me? so it is the same that what is the history of these three types I have explained it to you so what is Indus Valley? it is around 3rd millennium B.C. you get to see this civilization along with this it was a very advanced civilization it is a type of advanced civilization how advanced civilization? you will understand now why am I calling it advanced civilization? there if I talk about its contemporary along with this in the world different civilizations were also seen at that time when Indus Valley was in existence we get to see other civilizations around it like Mesopotamian Mesopotamian Civilization along with Mesopotamian Egyptian Civilization you get to see this also at that time and among all of them the most advanced one is said to be Harappan Civilization where is this name? of these three Harappan is a region Mesopotamia is also a region Egypt is also a region so the region in which it was flourishing we call it civilization now you should also know which river it is located around so which river was it located around? it is located around Indus Saraswati Indus Saraswati River Harappan Civilization is located near its river basin where is Egypt? it is located near Nile River Mesopotamia? Tigris-Euphrates Tigris-Euphrates is a river this civilization is located near Tigris so you should know the river you should know the contemporary I have told you your river was here it is called Ghaggar River Basin Indus-Ghaggar-Saraswati River Basin you must have already read in ancient history I am not telling you about civilization I will only tell you about art what was art at that time so we will focus more on art otherwise we will get stuck in this only we will keep on teaching you Harappan this civilization was the earliest planned civilization this is the earliest example earliest example of example of civil planning here you can see town planning and this was the most advanced all the civilizations at that time the features you can see in this are highly sophisticated and you can see a lot of advance at that time they used baked bricks at that time they focused a lot on mathematics accuracy was there roads were cut at right angle they used to focus a lot on drainage and sanitation so you can say that this is the earliest example of civil planning in the world you can see this the important sites of this the two main important sites you know about important sites Mohenjo-daro and Harappa Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are situated in Pakistan but apart from that there are some other important sites like Lothal, Dhola Vira, Rakhigarhi Kalibanga you know all this so you have to prepare for that important sites what all evidence you have got you have to do in ancient history section I am not doing it here but you should know you should have a big idea now what I am saying this civilization if we talk about it population of this civilization was around 5 million and 5 million plus 5 million plus people used to live in this civilization and this was an urban civilization this civilization was not rural it was urbanized urbanized civilization in fact it is called first urbanized civilization do you understand this is the period of first urbanization in India so here you will get to see all things and the civilization here was very expert in art do you understand art and trade this is very famous for these two things they used to trade and do art think about it it was a highly civilized society do you understand so this is what you get to see here so we have to understand what kind of art they had we also have to understand so you will be proud that they were so sophisticated from that time today I am talking about 3 millennium BCE do you understand I am talking about so many years when they were so sophisticated their buildings are still in existence and our buildings are still in existence do you understand so you can imagine how sophisticated they were when it comes to art so if we talk about art this is famous for seal you get to see seal this is also one of their art Harappan art what is seal Harappan art there is one important thing in Harappan art which we call seal so what was this seal so this seal if you see so this was their shape first you understand their shape so you get to see this shape in different shapes this could have been square this could have been rectangular see whatever I am telling you keep it in mind I will tell you the shape where you have to focus why you have to focus why they were made made up of why they were made what you get to see in it there is a direct question in prelims what you get to see in it what is the significance of it you have to understand all these things everything I am telling you you should know at the tip what I am telling you why they were made what you get to see in it what is the significance of it you should know all these things if I talk about their shape you get to see square you get to see rectangular you get to see circular now I am asking you along with this you will also get to see triangular what is the shape? there is variety in shape but if I talk to you what were they made of mainly if I ask you standard there was a standard they were of different shape and size but one standard most common standard they used to follow most common standard they used to follow how it was it was 2X2 inch square they used to focus more on this they used to take 2X2 inch square this way 2X2 inch and do some design on this write something it had some meaning we do not know what the meaning was like they made an animal here and in that it is written that it is a steel now the main thing is significance and what it contains we will come to that later now what I have told you, they were seen in different shapes now whose were they made of? if you see here, made up of so this is mainly asked in the exam so now tell me one thing in which we will make it? in hard stone or in soft stone? if you understand that we have to make a design so it will be difficult in hard stone so what they used for this? they used soft stone and what was the name of that soft stone? so remember, this is called steatite this question has been asked that from where were they made? the seals of Harappan were made of steatite what is this? soft river stone this is a river stone but it is also a soft stone you have to remember this this is a soft river stone you have to remember this they were made of this but we have seen some seals like this some seals you will get to see ivory then you will get to see gold mainly what are they made of? you have to remember this mainly what are they made of? mainly they are made of steatite but we are getting to see some seals of ivory we are getting to see some seals of gold you have to remember this now I will ask you what things were there in this? what things were there? what did it contain? this is the most important this is also a question what things were there in this? if I talk about this what was there in this? pictographic script this is the most important pictographic script this is very important what is the meaning of pictographic script? see there used to be a scene this is a seal and above the seal they used to make some pictures like this is a fish eggs this is fish they could make anything they could write anything they had some meaning suppose below they made an animal this animal this is what is called Pictographic script Pictographic Script means that they use to write a script in form of pictures they use to see pictures and it was also a script script was also there. The way of writing the script, how it used to be, we call it as right to left. The way of writing the script was right to left. It is very important to check whether it is asked or not. Right to left. We call it as Bostrophedon style. Bostrophedon style. He asks in the exam that in which form the script used to be written. First remember pictographic. Picto means picture here. He used to write from the picture. He used to write the script. He did not write any word. He used to make pictures. With that he used to understand what he wanted to say. And how was the script? He used to write right to left. The direction of writing was right to left. He used to write like this. How do we write now? This is left and this is right. We write from here to here and from here to here. How did he write? He used to write from here to here. So what I am saying is that the direction of writing was right to left. Remember all these things in the relay. Now I have told you what all he used to contain. First I told you pictographic script in which he used to write right to left in Bostrophedon style. Next what I am saying, pay attention here. Next what I am saying is that in this section what all he used to make. So you will get to see different varieties of motifs. You will get to see different motifs. You will get to see animals. Animals can be bulls, elephants, tigers, goats, monsters. You will get to see all these things. You will even get to see human figures. You will get to see human figures. You will get to see human figures. You will get to see human figures and you will get to see animals. You will get to see a lot of motifs. These are all written with pictographic script and he used to write right to left in Bostrophedon style. You will get to see all these things in the relay. You will only get to know these things and only then you can solve the questions. You may not be able to solve them after this. So I am saying, you should know these things related to the scene. Next what I am saying. Next I am saying what is the significance of seal? What was the significance of seal? See, the seal was used for economic purpose. What was the use of it for economic purpose? It was used as a unit of trade and commerce. Next I am saying that it had religious purpose. Religious or you can say cultural purpose. Like today we tie amulet in our hand. We tie amulet in our hand. You must have seen many people. It has religious significance. They believe in spiritualism. So what they do? They use it in their body. I am telling you what they used it for. They used it in their body. Come here. This is it. They used it for religious purpose. You should know how they used it for religious purpose. They used it as an amulet. Amulet means the amulet we wear. They used it in their hand and neck. What was the significance of amulet? They used it to ward off evil. They focused on spiritualism. They believed in life after death. They believed in ghosts. What does it mean to believe in these things? They used amulet to ward off evil. What do we call it? We believe in these things. I don't remember the term. I don't call it spiritualism. I forgot the term. I don't remember the term. It is a very common term. We believe in these things. The people of Indus valley used amulet to ward off evil. We can see that it was also used for educational purpose. How can we say it was for educational purpose? We can see some signs here. We can understand some numeral signs. We can indicate towards numeral signs. We can see the presence of Pi sign here. This is very important. We can see the presence of Pi sign here. We have seen the significance of amulet. This is the significance of amulet. We have seen that it was used for educational purpose. Religious purpose, culture means they used it to ward off evil. They used it in their neck and hands. They used it for economic purpose. They used it as a unit of trade and commerce. Now I will show you. Look here. I will show you how it was. Look here. This is the seal. I will show you the seal. Look here. Can you see the seal? Is it clear to all? Can you see this? These are pictures. Can you see these pictures? These are pictures in the form of script. What do we call this? This is pictographic script. Now look at this symbol. You can see these animals here. You can see this as a unicorn. Now look at this stone. You know that it was carved. You can see it was carved. What does it mean? It means that it is possible only in soft stone. It is not possible in hard stone. This is a stone of Kai. But if it is only in hard stone, then the statement will be wrong. But you can see this seal. Here I was telling you. Here this is pictographic script. Pictography is the Pashupati seal which I was talking about. Look at this position. Here you can see this as Lord Shiva. You can see this as Lord Shiva. Here you can see animals. You can see tiger. You can see bull. You can see animals. You can see elephant. You can see rhinoceros. You can see different animals. But you can see pictographic script. This is pictographic script. Clear? And this is yoga position. You have to see meditation. If he is showing you meditation, it means he is not showing you the yoga culture from the beginning. Here he is showing you the yogic culture. He must be believing in yogic culture. He must be believing in meditation. He must be focusing on all these things. Here we are getting to see the origin of yogic culture and the concept of meditation. Do you understand? I have shown you some pictures of the pictographic script. I have shown you some examples. It is written here. You can see what is written here. Thousands of seals have been discovered. Don't look at the highlighted portion. Thousands of seals have been discovered. Mostly made up of steatites. You will get to see figures of animals. Unicorn, bull, rhino, tiger, elephant. It is written here. What was the purpose? Mainly it was for commercial purpose. It was used as an amulet. One more thing. It could have been used as an identity card. Today we see our identity card. At that time it could have been used as an identity card. I can't tell you exactly. But I think it could have been used as an identity card. At that time I told you that Harappan seals used to follow an extended seal. Mostly it was of 2 by 2 inches. I explained it to you. It was a pictographic script. Yet to be deciphered. I told you. It is not yet deciphered. It is not yet understood. It is very important to read it. It had a variety of motifs. I told you that there were many animals. Bull. I told you all this. Bulls were used. Hump. Bull. Elephant. Tiger. Goat. Also monster. I told you that monsters were also used. We can also see trees. Like in Yogic, you can see trees. Here it looks like they are sitting under a tree. Along with that, there are human figures. I told you that there are human figures. You can tell that they are of Pashupati seal. They are sitting cross-legged in yogic position. There is a lot of detail in it. Which animal is where. It is of no use. But you have to read it. You have to pay attention to it. The first section of Art and Culture. We did the seal section. We saw the seal. What was the shape of the seal? Then we saw what does it contain? What is it made of? It is made up of what? Then we saw what does it contain? What does it look like? What is its shape? What is its significance? That is all we need. You are reading it. You are wasting your time. You can ask questions. That is all you need to know. I have explained all the important things. Okay.