Lifestyle of people of Indus civilization

The lifestyle of the people of the Indus Civilization, which flourished around 2500–1900 BC in the Indian subcontinent, was characterized by remarkable urban planning, advanced technology, and cultural sophistication. They lived in well-organized cities like Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.

Their urban centers featured a carefully planned grid layout with advanced sewage and drainage systems, demonstrating a high level of engineering and urban management. The Indus people were skilled craftsmen who created intricate pottery, jewelry, and seals. Agriculture was central to their economy and relied on the fertile plains of the Indus River.

Their society appears to have been relatively egalitarian, with evidence suggesting no monumental palaces or temples dedicated to a single ruler or deity. Trade networks stretched across South Asia, connecting them with other cultures.

Although the Indus script remains undeciphered, symbols on seals and artifacts suggest a sophisticated system of communication. While much about their religion and governance remains a mystery, the Indus people left a lasting legacy of urban planning and technological advancement throughout ancient history.

Lifestyle of people in the Indus civilization

Introduction Lifestyle of people of Indus civilization

Besides wheat, barley, milk, vegetables, pulses (lentil, chickpea, pea), oil (mustard, linseed, sesame), millet (millet, ragi, bajra, sorghum, jawar), and fruit (date, grape, jujube) were included in the Harappan diet. In addition, animal foods such as beef, mutton, pork, poultry, river fish, and dried fish from the sea were also eaten. Grindstones were used to grind spices and grains.

Costumes

The costume, as revealed by the terracotta figures of the mother goddess, suggests that the ladies were scantily clad. They wore a short skirt that reached to the knees; and he was held by a belt – a string of beads. A man used a garment with or without embroidery. It was worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm. The man on the Harappa roof wears a tighter-fitting dhoti. No footwear has survived or is shown in any of the images. Cotton was used. There is no evidence of flax or wool, although sheep and goats were known and may have provided plenty of raw materials.

Hairstyles

Women paid special attention to their hair. The dancing girl of Mohenjodar has a ponytail. Some females have a braid tied with a bow at the end. Men had several hairstyles The hair was parted in the middle and tied with a fillet. Sometimes the hair was pulled into a bun or curled into a ring on top of the head. The crawling child depicted on the clay figure from Mohenjodar has curly hair. The beard was trimmed and the upper lips were shaved. Completely shaved faces with a small beard on the chin are also recorded. Very long beards were not preferred. Bronze mirrors were very common.

Ornaments and jewelry

With the traditional oriental taste for ornaments, men and women, rich and poor, adorned themselves with them, and all known semi-precious stones and metals were used to make various ornaments. Women wore a fan-shaped headdress. Small cones of gold, silver, copper, and faience, as well as shells, were worn on the sides of the head. The forehead was decorated with a fillet or headband. The earrings were made from scrolls of gold, silver, copper, or earthenware. It is doubtful whether any nose ornaments were used. There were various necklaces with pendants in the middle with a number of rows of beads of various shapes and materials artistically arranged with spacers and finials. Fingerlings were abundant, and bracelets and bangles made of gold, silver, copper, bronze, faience, shell, and pottery were commonly used. Gold and silver bracelets were semi-circular in shape with their cavities filled with a fiber or lacquer core. The bracelet with six strings of spherical beads is an excellent example of craftsmanship. Belts were worn around the waist, of which two fine examples have been found. Anklets were worn, such as were still used by women from the mountains. Various stones such as carnelian, steatite, agate, chalcedony, jasper, etc. were used to make the beads, which demonstrate the fine workmanship and technical skill of the lapidary. Of the various ornaments mentioned above, the men wore fillets, necklaces, rings, and epaulets, the yellow steatite pectoral being probably the insignia of the office of the priest.

Cosmetics

Toilet bowls were made of ivory, metal, ceramic, and stone. Small earthenware containers with four compartments were used to store expensive perfumes or cosmetics. The ladies of Mohenjodar seem to have known about the use of eyelids, face paint, and other cosmetics. Small shells containing red ocher paint, clods of green earth, white face paint, and black cosmetic matter show that beauties in ancient Sind cared about beauty and toilet culture. It is interesting to note that Chanhudar’s findings indicate the use of lipstick. Lead carbonate, a face paint, may also have been used as an eye salve or as a hair wash. Round metal rods of copper and bronze, with both ends rounded and polished, were probably used for applying cosmetics. There were small dressing tables specially designed for women. Other items on the dressing table included oval bronze mirrors and ivory combs of various shapes. Some combs were probably worn in the hair. Bronze razors of various types were used for the men’s toilet.

Music and dance

A pair of castanets were found. A drum hangs from the neck of the ceramic figure. Some characters in the script look like harps and lyres. Music and dance were both secular and religious.

Hunting and fishing

People enjoyed non-vegetarian food. The remains of a stage, a buffalo, a pig, a tortoise, a goat, an ox, and fish have been found. Sometimes the bones of oxen, sheep, and goats were found in large vessels used as pantries. Animal sacrifice was in vogue. Several seals depict the hunting of wild rhinoceros and antelopes. Copper arrowheads and small clay pellets used in slingshots were used for shooting birds. Models of several hunting dogs, including bulldogs, have been found. One seal shows cockfights. Partridges were trained to fight. Fishing was a regular occupation. Several fish hooks were traced. Traps were used on mice.

Habits and entertainment

Games and Sports Many toys and objects used in games have been discovered at all important sites. My favorite toy was the baked clay cart. There are many rattles in the form of hollow balls with balls inside. Singing birds were kept in cages. A whistle in the shape of a bird, a small animal climbing a pole and models of household utensils were the children’s entertainment. Bulls with bobbing heads, monkeys with moving arms, and figures that ran up and down a string were complex toys and had to be made by professional toy makers. Dice were used in gambling. Stone figurines were found. A brick was marked for the pebble game. Marbles of Jasper and Chert were played by rich children. Numerous small cones of pottery may have been toys or pins, and balls were used to knock them down.

Equipment, tools, and weapons

Saddle querns made of hard sandstone were used to grind grain. These have a distinct convex base. Stones with large depressions were used to prepare the curry. Stone palettes, mostly slate, were used to spread the paint. This color was used as a threading ceramic. Lead was known and worked, but so far only one lead utensil, a small bowl, has come to light.

Weight

• (i) A large number of stone weights were discovered from the excavations. The weights are usually made of hornblende, alabaster, limestone, quartzite, slate, jasper, and other stones, but hornblende predominates. No scale with number or brand found. Pebble weights are very rare. Sir John Marshall noted the extraordinary abundance of stone weights at Mohenjodar and the system of weights was analyzed by A. S. Hemmy. Hemmy noted that the binary system was used for the smaller scales and the decimal system for the larger ones. The scales advance in series, first doubling, from 1,2,4,8 to 64, then going to 160; then in decimal multiples of sixteen: 320, 640, 1600, 3200, 6400, 8000 (i.e. 1600 x 5) and 128,000 (i.e. 16000 x 8). One of the most common weights was that of value 16, weighing around 13.5 to 13.7 g. Recently, B.V. Mainker (1984) made a new study of the older materials and some examples from the Lothal excavations and proposed a new structure, dividing the weights into two series, thereby producing a striking new symmetrical progression. The first series starts from 0.05 and then progresses to 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 to 500. The most common Hemmy analysis weight now appears with a value of 0.5 in this series, or in terms of later Indian metrology with a value of 120 Mattis. Mainker’s second series has a ratio sequence similar to the first but with a different base. The unit weight of the first series is 50 percent higher than that of the second series. S. Ratnagar noted the occurrence of Indus weights at several sites in the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia and noted that there were examples of some standard weights of 13.5 g. These findings certainly indicate that such weights played a regular role in trade practice.
• (ii) A remarkable feature of the Indus Valley civilization is the accuracy and uniformity of denominations, shapes, and types of weights discovered over a vast area. This accuracy and uniformity have been observable for about a thousand years. Such uniformity of weights over such a vast span of distance and time is a unique feature in the history of metrology. The weights discovered in the Indus civilization were very accurate and had a narrow margin of error. The organization set up to enforce it was also a unique feature of the Indus Civilization, unmatched by other contemporary or later civilizations in India or abroad.

Scales

A series of carefully constructed scales, although truncated and incomplete, offer hints of Harappan systems of linear measurement. Harappan scales also show remarkable precision in their manufacture. There are three specimens of scales: Mahenjodero, Lothal, and Harappa. The first is made from a shell with regular scales averaging 6.7056 mm, with a hollow circle cut on one scale and a solid dot on the fifth division. Mainkar suggests that this represents a unit that would be either 67.056 or 670.56 mm long when completed. The lethal scale is calculated at 25.56 mm and the Harapp scale at 93.4 mm.

Grinders

Several stone plinths were found to support the cult object; sharpeners are very rare. These were required to polish metals. Bricks were used to sharpen tools. A few slate houses have been noted.

Candlesticks

The ceramic candlestick tells how the houses were lit. No lamp or other vessels were found. Some vegetable oil must have been used to light the lamp. It is interesting to find that candlesticks were employed so early.

Writing material

Commonly used writing implements were bark, cotton cloth, leather, palm leaves, etc., all of which perished in the damp and salty soil. Pottery writing tablets and a ceramic inkwell were discovered in Chanhudar.

Cotton

Cotton was spun on spindle whorls. Many whorls made of pottery, shells, and earthenware have been found. Cotton was used for textiles. The scarf on the shoulder of the bearded priest indicates that the handwork of embroidery was commonly practiced. Bronze or copper needles with pierced eyes are known. A set of three needles, each 5 cm long, discovered by K. N. Dikshit must have been used for a special kind of embroidery.

Mats

Bone, ivory, and copper awls were very common and used for fine matting. A rough mat was placed on the beams of the room to form the ceiling.

Agricultural tools

Agricultural tools, mostly wooden, perished. Two blades of hornbeam were found, 28 x 10 x 10 cm. Flint set into a wooden handle, forming a sickle, which was unknown because copper was so plentiful and cheap. Two incomplete, curved copper blades from Mohenjodar served as sickles.

Shipbuilding

The ship carved on the seal has no mast. It has a cabin, and a helmsman sits at the stern. Several examples of toys have been found.

Tools and weapons

• (i) A bronze saw, 40 cm long, with wavy and serrated edges, was found at Mohenjodar. Two copper swords, each 45 cm long, again from Mohenjo Daro, are in excellent condition.
• (ii) Spear points are unusual. The largest piece of thin bronze is 38 cm long and 13 cm wide. A tapering central rib was attached to strengthen it. Several small, broad blades were found, which were probably spears.
• (iii) Daggers, hardly distinguishable from knives, were long and leaf-shaped, occasionally coarsely ribbed, but more often flat. They have a yoke with or without rivet holes. Knives with a single edge and curved point were used for working with leather. A part of the handle was found from Nigeria sisu, a popular local wood.
• (iv) Arrowheads made of thin sheets with pointed wing-like barbs were very common. Stone arrows were obsolete.
• (v) Fishing hooks are many. Several have been discovered with cotton threads wound around their stems. Razors, chisels, and stone maces are numerous. Many tools and weapons, especially from Harappa, are marked with some marks and numbers.

Conclusion

The people of this civilization were peaceful. Society was predominantly matriarchal. There were strong family organizations among the people. Social pastimes included hunting wild animals, bullfighting, fishing, and clay modeling

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