Indus Town Planning

5/20/2018 Indus Town Planning

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The Indus Civilization

The Indus Civilization is among theworld's earliest civilizations,contemporary to the Bronze Agecivilizations of Mesopotamia and AncientEgypt.

It peaked around 2500 BC in the westernpart of South Asia, declined during themid-2nd millennium BC and was forgotten

until its rediscovery in the 1920s by R.D.Banerjee

Geographically, it was spread over anarea of some 1,260,000 km

the major urban centers were HarappaMohenjo-daro, Lothal, Dholavira,Kalibanga, and Rakhigarhi.

Both cities were square, with defensiveouter walls


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Settlement PatternsSettlement patterns of the Harappans were conditioned by the behavior of the river providing an active flood plain and ecology, navigability of the river for internal trade,

climate, accessibility to natural resources and trade routes, both internaland external.

The settlements types and their positioning also reflect the importancefrom the point of view of distant marine trade e.g., Lothal and Mohenjodaro,Chanhudaro and Sutkagandor and Harappa; for trade with the hinterlandetc.

The River system, with its own network of tributaries, provided aconsistent and better line of communication through the Sirhind Nalabetween Punjab and Rajasthan for getting timber from the areas of presentHimachal Pradesh.

The River system had three major 'economic pockets'. The first was on thenorth along Sirhind The second or the central pocket was in Bikaner

Bhawalpur The third, southern one, in Kachchh, which is geographically halfway between Sindh and Gujarat These three 'economic pockets' in the'culture empire' of the Harappan provided a strong economic base that isthe foundation of the 'urban boom

It may thus be inferred that Harappan settlements are largely locatedalong the major and perennial rivers.


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Physiography

it is essentially a gift of the River Indus (Sindhu Darya).

Its flowing length in Sindh is about 580 miles.

It bisects Sindh, overflowing on both east and west valley regions to form the rich

alluvial areas with forests and agricultural lands.

The Indus delta region has been continuously growing reclaiming lands during

historic times.

It has a flat low-level country topography with some hills in the distance ranges of

Kirthar in the west and Aravalli in the east.

Its soils are deltaic valley soils, with sands more and more prominent as one goes

towards the sea-board. Its rock are marine, with plenty of proofs of the presence of a

sea


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Both cities were square, withdefensive outer walls

Cities are divided into lower

dwellings & the Citadel which housesimportant buildings

An orthogonal street layout ofmodulated width was orientedtoward the cardinal directions.

These streets divided the city into

12 blocks. The street layout shows as an

understanding of the basic principlesof traffic, with rounded corners toallow the turning of carts easily.

"Lower Town" was divided into a

number of blocks by a grid ofstraight streets running north-southand east-west, and each block wasfurther divided by small lanes.

Town planning of Indus valley

View of city street


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Buildings in the lower area are rathermonotonous, being mainly functionalrather than decorative. But manyhouses are 2 storied

Except for the west-central blocks, thebasic unit of city planning was theindividual house.

The planning principles employed hereare followed practically without changeat all other sites

Some houses had rooms with wells,bathing rooms (paved with bakedbricks) and even toilets.

in Harappa, Mohan-jo-daro, the urbanplan included the world's first urbansanitation systems.


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Waste water was drained out of the houses through drain chutes built into the sidewalls that fed into a system of drains built alongside the lanes and streets.

Municipal authorities who are responsible for the whole of the valley also regularlymaintain a highly efficient drainage system

The quality of municipal town planning suggests knowledge of urban planning andefficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene.

There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples or, indeed, of kings, armies, orpriests. Some structures are thought to have been granaries.

at one city is an enormous well-built bath, which may have been a public bath.


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Although the "Citadels" are walled

(extended one mile from east to west andone-half mile from north to south), it is farfrom clear that these structures were

defensive. They may have been built todivert flood waters.

no large monumental structures were built.

Most city dwellers appear to have been

traders or artisans, who lived with otherspursuing the same occupation in well-definedneighborhoods.

Although some houses were larger thanothers, Indus civilization cities were

remarkable for their apparentegalitarianism. For example, all houses hadaccess to water and drainage facilities.

One gets the impression of a vast middle-class society.

Granary


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Conclusion The existence of a strong ruling class is also indicated by the presence

of large and well-fortified citadels in each of the capital cities

citadels served as sanctuaries for the cities' populations in times of attack

and as community centers in times of peace.

The citadel at Mohenjo-daro included a very large building that may have been a palace.

Both citadels contained what are believed to have been audience and assembly halls orplaces of worship, and bathing tanks for public use.

Large granaries were located near each of the citadels, which suggest that the statestored grain for ceremonial purposes, times of shortage, and possibly the regulatation ofgrain production and sale.

Though the main avenues of the cities were straight and about 30 feet wide, the lanesand paths in the cities' quarters were narrow and twisting.

Some scholars believe that bathing was related to religious rituals rather than hygiene.


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Ware house

Raised platform

Citadel

lower dwellings

Public drain


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Lothal dockLothal dock

Great bathGranary


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Mohanjodaro: house no.8

High lane


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Mohanjodaro: third street area

Documents

Indus Town Planning