MOHENJO – DARO THE MOST DEVELOPED CITY OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

INTRODUCTION OF MOHENJO-DARO

INTRODUCTION

1.) The site of Mohenjo-Daro (also Moenjo-daro), in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan.

2.) The site covers an area of over 250 acres (100 hectares).

3.) The Indus river is currently situated to the east of the site. 

4.) Why Mohenjo-Daro known as “ Mound Of The Dead” ? 5.) Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar first visited Mohenjo-Daro in 1911-1912.

6.) This mysterious culture emerged nearly 4,500 years ago and thrived for a thousand years.

Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar

7.)Mohenjo-Daro was discovered in 1922 by R. D. Banerji, an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India Large-scale excavations were carried out at the site under the direction of John Marshall, K. N. Dikshit, Ernest Mackay, and numerous other directors through the 1930s.

Rakhaldas Bandhapadyay

ASI , Superintending Archaeologist ,Western Circle (1917-1924)

Sir John Marshall – ASI ,Director (1902-1928)

8.) In 1946 excavations were undertaken by R. E. M. Wheeler.

9.) The last large scale excavations were made in 1964-65 by G. F. Dales in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology, Government of Pakistan.

G.F.DALES

10.) The Mohenjo-Daro is divided into two section :-

a.) Citadel – Smaller in area but highly developed. b.) Lower Town – Large in area but less developed than citadel.

11.) The Citadel owesits height to the fact that buildings were constructedon mud brick platforms.

SETTLEMENTS

CITADEL

In Mohenjo-Daro, the western end of the city is an area known as the Citadel.

This area of the city was built on top of a mound of bricks almost 12 m high.

Several large buildings and structures on the Citadel mound suggest that this area may have been used for :-

a.) public gatherings b.) religious activities c.) important administrative activities

Archaeologists had also find some small buildings but they were not common.

LOWER TOWN

The "Lower Town" is made up of numerous lower mounds that lie to the east and may represent multiple walled neighborhoods.

Termed 'lower town' by the archaeologists that excavated it, this envelops the broad scope of where most of Mohenjo-Daro's citizens resided.

The Lower Town is organized on a grid system with four avenues running from north to south and four running from east to west. The avenues are several meters wide and have drains running down the middle or side of the road.

The avenues divide the Lower Town into many blocks. Alleyways and lanes further divided these blocks. 

Features of Houses in Lower Town Most of the homes are made of baked

bricks in a standard size of 28 x 14 x 7 centimeters.

Archaeological evidence, such as the remains of stairways, seems to suggest that many of the buildings had two storeys. 

People had access to clean water either from wells within their homes or from public wells in the streets.

Every house had its own bathroom paved with bricks, with drains connected through the wall to the street drains. Some houses have remains of staircases to reach a second storey or the roof.

Over 700 public and private wells have been found at Mohenjo-Daro.

TOWN PLANNING The Mohenjo-Daro is famous

for its well planned sites. A gridiron of main streets

running north- south & east-west.

Dividing the area into blocks of roughly equal size and approximately rectangular 800 feet east-west and 1200 feet north-south.

Two main streets at right angles.

Streets are parallel. The main streets are 30 feet

wide. Windows are rare, through

fragments of gratings or lattices of alabaster and terracotta probably represent window screens.

EXCAVATIONS FOUND

PRIEST KING

Priest-King statue is one of the crucial artifacts about Mohenjo-Daro, ancient Indus river valley civilization.

Wearing a one shoulder robe.

Discovered in 1931.

It is on display in the National Museum of Pakistan.

The sculpture is 17.5 centimeters (6.9 in) tall.

DANCING GIRL

4,500 years old.

10.8 centimeters (4.3 in) high

It was found in Mohenjo-Daro in 1926.

The dancing girl is without clothes, wearing bangles .

It s on display in the National Museum of India , Delhi.

The statue, recovered in excavation from 'HR area' of Mohenjo-Daro.

PASHUPATI SEAL

Pashupati means lord of animals.

Dimensions :-1-6/16 x 1-6/16x ¼ Inches.

It is on display in National Museum , New Delhi.

The seal has been engraved on a chip of steatite, a soft stone, decay-resistant but soft to carve.

The man in the figure identified as Shiva – Lord of animals, interpreted by archaeologist- john marshall.

GREAT BATH

The "great bath" is without doubt the earliest public water tank in the ancient world. It was excavated in 1926.

Dimension :- 12 x 7 x 2.4 meters.

Two wide staircases from north and south.

Finely fitted bricks laid on edge with gypsum plaster and the side walls.

Two large doors. Most scholars agree that this

tank would have been used for special religious functions where water was used to purify and renew the well being of the bathers.

GREAT GRANARY

In 1950, Sir Mortimer Wheeler identified one large building in Mohenjo-Daro as a "Great Granary".

Certain wall-divisions in its massive wooden superstructure appeared to be grain storage-bays, complete with air-ducts to dry the grain.

Granary is adjacent to the Great Bath.

There were two wells which lie in an unsorted complex of walls which extend north-wards from the northern side of the Granary.

BUDDHIST STUPA

1.) Buddhist Stupa is one thing due to which whole Mohenjo-Daro was discovered.

2.) In the second century B.C. a Buddhist Stupa was built at the ancient site of Mohenjo-Daro. At this time, most of the ancient city was buried.

3.)  The citadel mound which rose about 12 meters from the ground was still visible. The stupa was built on top of the citadel mound, making it visible from great distances.

4.) Stüpa dating to the Kushana Period, circa 2nd century CE. Wheeler claimed to have discovered the wall and gateway around the "citadel" mound (Wheeler1972), but most scholars did not accept his interpretations.

5.) A massive block of brick architecture at the southeast corner of the citadel mound was thought to represent a gateway with large brick bastions.

HOW MOHENJO DARO IS THE

MOST DEVELOPED CITY

IN THE

INDUS VALLEY

CIVILISATION ???

DRAINAGE SYSTEM They had well-constructed wells, tanks,

public baths, a wide drinking system and a city sewage system.  

The inhabitants of Mohenjo-Daro were masters in constructing wells.

One of the best-known excavations is the Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro.

BRICKS

The buildings were made of sun dried and burnt bricks.

Why people of Mohenjo-Daro use burnt bricks?

GRANARY

A granary is a structure for the storage and preservation of grain, and the people of Mohenjo-Daro had a big one.

Massive wooden superstructure appeared to be grain storage-bays, complete with air-ducts to dry the grain.

TOWN PLANNING The people of Mohenjo-Daro was known as

the incredible builder. The streets which divided the city into

neat rectangular or square blocks, varied in width but always intersected each other at right angles.

The city had horizontal and vertical drains. All bricks corresponded to sizes in a

perfect ratio of 4:2:1. The ratio even today considered optimal for effective bonding.

COMPARISON & SIMILARITIES OF

ACIENT MOHEN-JODARO

WITH

MODERN WORLD

ANCIENT MOHEN-JODARO

MODERN WORLD

ANCIENT MOHEN-JODARO MORDERN WORLD

ANCIENT MOHEN-JODARO

MORDERN WORLD

ANCIENT MOHEN-JODARO MORDERN WORLD

THANK YOU