Indus Valley Civilisation one of the
earliest urban civilizations in India
and in fact the world was the Indus
Valley Civilisation also called the
Harappan culture about 5000 years ago a
group of nomads traveling from Sumeria
the present-day Iran entered Northwest
India near present-day Karachi these
nomads found a land so richly fertile by
the banks of the river Indus that they
settled there without hesitation
this area was abundant with water fodder
and fuel over the next thousand years
the immigrants spread over an area of
half a million square miles excavations
proved that the level of urban planning
and architecture prevalent here was
incomparable the anchor for this
civilization lay in the beautiful twin
cities of mohenjo-daro and Harappa the
name mohenjo-daro means mound of the
Dead in Sindhi the city was built around
2600 BC these cities were made up of
bricks either baked mud or wood bricks
the baked bricks were a superior version
of the sun-dried bricks used in other
civilizations the amazing part was that
the workers made every brick of the same
size the type of brick used ensured the
durability of the buildings despite a
population of about 30,000 the city had
one of the best sanitation systems
each house had a well from which it drew
water from a bathing room the wastewater
was directed into covered drains along
the main streets since all the streets
were well drained the city remained dry
and clean this is evidence of a very
modern method of sanitation and sewerage
mohenjo-daro was primarily an
agricultural city it was situated below
the great mountain ranges with rivers
flowing abundantly through the land
depositing rich fertile soil this made
evident the fact that agriculture was
the main occupation further proof of
this is the presence of a large well a
central marketplace and several
granaries in the city near the granary
was the great public bathhouse known as
the great bath steps led down to a pool
lined with bricks in a huge courtyard
the beautiful bath area had a layer of
natural tar this was to prevent it from
leaking in the center of the bath area
was a swimming pool the purpose of the
great bath was assumed to be for
ritualistic bathing this is a practice
followed by Hindus even today houses
were well protected from noise odor and
thieves each house opened out onto inner
courtyards and smaller lanes so it was
safe although some houses were larger
than the others the city seemed to
promote an equal society for all houses
had the same kind of access to water and
drainage
the city had an impressive defense
structure in place as well though it
lacked outer walls there were defensive
towers in the west and south since other
in the cities had stronger defense
systems in place it is speculated that
perhaps mohenjo-daro was only an
administrative center