Lesson no: THE HARAPPAN CIVILISATION Class:VIII Define: Chalcolithic Period-When man used both stone and copper tools. Citadel-The raised area of each Harappan city. Lost Wax Process-Wax figures covered with coating clay. 1. What is meant by the term Civilisation? Mention some of its traits.2m Civilisation is defined as an advanced stage of human cultural development. It implies the use of superior technology and complex economic relationships. Traits are: Evolution of cites, surplus food, division of labour, system of writing, monumental public buildings, development of technology. 2. What are known as Bronze Age Civilisations? Give examples. 2M The Civilisations which are flourished based on the importance of Bronze Metal are called Bronze Age Civilisations. Examples: The Mesopotamian, Chinese, Egyptian Civilisations. 3. Name two important sources of information on the Harappan Civilisation.2M (A) (B) (C) (D) (A) Bearded Man-Mohenjo-daro (B) The Dancing Girl- Mohenjo-daro (C) Dockyard-Lothal (D) Pashupati Seal- Mohenjo-daro 4. When and by whom were the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro discovered?2m Dayaram Sahni-Harappa, 1921 R.D.Banerjee-Mohenjo-daro, 1922
5. State two chief features of residential houses in Mohenjo-daro.2M The residential buildings were built according to a set plan on a high mound in order to protect from floods. Each house had covered drains, connected with street drains. The houses were made of brick and wood. 6. What types of weights and measures did the Indus people use?2m The Harappans people used sets of cubical stone weights. The basic unit was 16(equal to modern 14 grams) The larger weights were multiples of 16 like 32, 48, and 64,128 and so on. The smaller ones were all fractions of 16. 7. Name one important public building of Indus Valley and its importance.5m The Great Bath-Mohenjo-daro Measuring 108X180 feet with a bathing pool 39 feet long and 28 feet wide and 8feet deep. To make the pool watertight, burnt bricks and mortar lined with bitumen and gypsum were used for construction. The water for the bath was provided by a well in an adjacent room. Surrounding the bath, were porticos and sets of rooms, and a stairway which led to an upper storey. Scholars believe that these rooms were provided for the members of priesthood. It was meant for some kind of ritual bath. 8. State the main Characteristics features of Harappan Town Planning. 5M
Each city was divided into two parts the raised area, called the citadel and the lower town. The main streets followed a grid pattern. The houses at street corners were rounded o allow carts to pass easily. House drains emptied all waste water into the street drains. The streets crossed the main road at right angles, dividing the city in to square or rectangular blocks. 9. Name the process by which sculpture in metal was done.2m The sculpture in metal was done through the special lost wax process. In this process wax figures were covered with a coating of clay. The wax was melted by heating and hollow mould thus crated was filled with molten metal which took the original shape of the object. 10. What do you know about the Indus Script?2M The Harappans used a script which is regarded as pictographic since its signs represent birds, fish and varieties of the human form. The number of signs of Harappan script is known to be between 375and400. The script is found inscribed on a number of seals, copper tools, rims of jars, copper and terracotta tablets, jewellery and on an ancient signboard. 11. State two features of the trade in the Indus Valley Civilisation.4M Internal Trade-a) Rice form Gujarat, Cotton from Lothal and Surkotada. b) Bangle-making&manufacturing of gods-chanhudaro &Lothal. External Trade- with the Mesopotamian Civilisation,Afghanisthan(gold),Arabia(copper). 12. Describe the extent of the Harappan Civilisation, name the chief cities.5m
The entire area of the Harappan Civilisation is triangular in shape and accounts for about 1,299,600sq km. It extended from Sutkagendor(on the sea-coast of South Baluchisthan) in the west,to Alamgirpur(in the upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab in Western UP) in the east and from Manda(in Jammu) in the north to Bhagatrav in Narmada estuary in the south. The Harappan Culture covered parts of Punjab,Haryana,Sindh,Baluchistan,Gujarat,Rajasthan and the fringes of Western UP. The main centeres of civilization are Harappa,Mohenjo-daro, Chanhudaro, and Sutkagendore now in Pakistan. The centres or chief cities of this civilization in India are Manda,Banawali,Kalibangan,Alamgirpur,Lothal,Rupar,Rangpur and Dholavira. 13. How do we say that the Harappan people had certain religious beliefs?4m (a) Pashupati Seal (B) Mother Goddess (C) Bull Seal Terracotta figurine of the Pashupati Mahadeva connected with Shiva in later times. The Harappan people worshiped the Mother Goddess. e.g:they looked upon the earth as the Goddess of Fertility. The important animals worshipped by the Harappans included humped bull,elephant,buffaloes,tiger,bison e.t.c The Harappans believed in the existence of ghosts and evil forces which could be done away with by using amulets. 14. State the significance of the Harappan Seals.5m Harappan seals reveal the script,trade,religion and beliefs of the people. Material used in making the seals is terracotta,steatite,agate. The seals were used by traders to stamp their goods.
The seals were found in different regions indicate the Harappan trade had spread over a vast area. e.g:pashupati Seal and Bull Seal. 15. State the common elements prevailed between Mohenjo-daro and Harappan Civilisations.5M Both are located on river banks Mohenjo-daro on the right bank of the Indus, and Harappa on the bank of the Ravi. Both measured around 5.0km in circuit. Ground plans including layout of streets, blocks of houses were common to both the cities. Water supply, drainage, granaries were common in both the cities. Indoor plumbing, paved bathrooms, brick drainpipes, a network of brick-lined sewage channel is seen in both the cities. 16. How were the granaries of Harappan Civilisation built? State their importance? 5m The granaries at Harappa consisting of the rows of circular brick platforms. At Mohenjo-daro the granary measures 45.71 metres in length and 15.3 metres in breadth. At Harappa there were two rows of six granaries, each granary measured 15.23 X 6.09 metres. Importance : a) Floors were used to threshing grains like wheat and barley. b) For accommodation of labourers. c) T o store foodgrains. d) To protect foodgrains from floods. e) To prevent grains from becoming mildewed. 17. State the reasons for the decline of the Harappan Civilisation. Due to floods and climate Change fertility of soil decreased and salinity of soil increased caused expansion of desert. The sudden subsidence or uplift of the land resulted in floods Deforestation in Indus region resulted in Climate Change. Aryans might have destroyed The earthquakes caused changes in the course of the Indus River might cause incalculable damage. 18. In What two respects is Harappan Civilisation our greatest heritage? The Harappan way of making baked pottery,bricks,beads,jewellery,textiles e.t.c.
The cultivation of learnt by the Egyptians from Indus people. In the religious sphere, the worship of Pashupati Shiva and mother goddess adopted in later Hinduism and some of them have continued to this day.