{"id":1741,"date":"2026-10-12T18:29:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T18:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/12\/indus-valley-civilisation\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T18:29:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T18:29:25","slug":"indus-valley-civilisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/12\/indus-valley-civilisation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Indus Valley Civilisation: India’s First Great Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Infographic:<\/figure>\n

Long before many great civilisations, people in the river valleys of northwest South Asia built some of the world’s earliest planned cities. This is the Indus Valley Civilisation<\/strong>, also called the Harappan Civilisation<\/strong> after its first excavated site.<\/p>\n

When and where?<\/h2>

Its mature phase flourished roughly from 2600 to 1900 BCE<\/strong>, around the same time as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. It spread across present-day Pakistan and northwest India, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, making it the largest of the ancient civilisations by area.<\/p>\n

Discovery<\/h2>

Excavations began at Harappa<\/strong> in 1921 and at Mohenjo-daro<\/strong> in 1922. Since then, over a thousand sites have been found, including Lothal<\/strong> and Dholavira<\/strong> in Gujarat and Rakhigarhi<\/strong> in Haryana. Dholavira was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021.<\/p>\n

Amazing city planning<\/h2>
  • Streets laid out in a grid pattern<\/strong>, crossing at right angles.<\/li>
  • Covered drainage systems<\/strong> along streets, far ahead of their time.<\/li>
  • Houses built with standard-sized baked bricks, many with private wells and bathrooms.<\/li>
  • A raised “citadel” area and a lower town.<\/li><\/ul>\n

    The Great Bath<\/h2>

    Mohenjo-daro’s Great Bath<\/strong> is a large watertight pool, probably used for ritual bathing. It shows advanced engineering, with bitumen used to waterproof the bricks.<\/p>\n

    Trade and economy<\/h2>
    • Farmers grew wheat, barley and cotton; the Harappans were among the earliest people to grow cotton.<\/li>
    • Lothal had a dockyard, suggesting sea trade.<\/li>
    • Indus seals have been found in Mesopotamia, showing long-distance trade.<\/li>
    • They used standardised weights and measures.<\/li><\/ul>\n

      The mystery script<\/h2>

      The Harappans used a script found on thousands of small seals, often with animals such as the “unicorn” bull. The Indus script has not yet been deciphered<\/strong>, so much about their language and beliefs remains a mystery.<\/p>\n

      Why did it decline?<\/h2>

      Historians believe a mix of factors played a role: changes in climate and monsoon patterns, shifting or drying rivers such as the Ghaggar-Hakra, and decline in trade. People gradually moved to smaller villages further east.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      More than 4,500 years ago, the Indus Valley Civilisation built planned cities with drains, granaries and great baths. Learn about Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira and the mysterious Indus script.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[338],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}