Harapa Civilization



Harappa: History of of Harappan Architecture & Town Planning

Harappa is a large village located in Punjab province of  in Pakistan. The modern town is a part of and located next to the antique city. The location of Harappa is significant in that it has provided proof of not just the Indus Valley Civilization as it was in its major, but also of preceding and following cultures as well and is the only spot included in this sort. The old path of the Ravi River runs to the north of the location, which has since shifted six miles further north.

Harappa Ruins

It is gambled that its oldest indication is in the Rigveda, as the scene of the defeat of the Vrcivants by Abhyavartin Cayamana. The name is noted as Hari-Yupuya. The preceding populations were seemingly non-Aryans who were defeated. Thus it might be said that this location is one of the well-known sites where the so-called Aryans overwhelmed the local population and recognized their dominance. However, until further proof is exposed to support the concept, this is mostly conjecture.

The first trip to Harappa was made in 1826 CE by James Lewis, who stayed a British army deserter and roamed the Punjab and North West areas in search of antiquary remains. On his voyage to Multan he approached Harappa and had the following words in description for it, as recorded by Nazir Ahmad Chaudhry in his book:

East of the village was an abundance of lush grass, where sideways with many others, I went to allow my hack to graze. When I joined the camp I found it in front of the village and ruinous brick fortress. Behind us was a large circular mound, or renown, and to the west was an asymmetrical rocky height crowned with remnants of buildings, in remains of walls, with niches, after the eastern manner. The latter elevation was certainly a natural object; the former existence of earth only, was clearly an artificial one. The walls and towers of the castle are curiously high, though, from having been long deserted, they display in some parts the consequences of time and decay. Between our camp and it, (there) lengthy a deep channel, now dense with grass and plants. Custom affirms the existence here of a city, so significant that it extended to Chicha Watni, and that it was demolished by a particular visitation of Providence, brought down by the lust and crimes of the royals.

Lewis linked the city to Sangala from the age of Alexander (1300 years previous) by which he was highly mistaken in his supposition.  Later in 1831 CE, an ambassador from King William IV, namely Alexander Burnes, recorded the extensive remnants at Harappa while travelling from Multan to Lahore to transport gifts of horses from the King of England to Ranjit Singh. He has also defined Harappa while on the same path:

About fifty miles eastbound of Tulumba, I passed domestic for four miles to examine the skeletons of an ancient city, called Harappa. The leftovers are widespread, and the place, which has been built of brick, is about three miles in perimeter. There is a ruined fortress on the river side of the town; but otherwise Harappa is a perfect anarchy, and has not an entire building: the bricks have been removed to build a small place of the old name heard by custom fixes the fall of Harappa at the same period as Shortkot (1300 years ago), and the people assign its ruin to the revenge of God on Harappa; its governor, who claimed certain privileges on the marriage of every couple in his city, and in the course of his sensualness, was guilty of incest…I have found coins in these ruins, both Persian and Hindu, but I cannot fix its epoch from any of them.

Though, their records were noticed by Alexander Cunningham, who visited the location in 1853 CE and 1856 CE, resulting in a small dig in 1872 CE, which then classifies the site with that of Malii, which Alexander had well-ordered to be obstructed when he occupied the subcontinent. That city was near widespread marshes and to the east or south-east of Kot Kamalia, and Harappa lies exactly in such a place on the banks of the old sequence of the Indus and 16 miles east-south-east of Kot Kamalia.

The location even at this time was used as a brick quarry by brick thieves working on the Multan Railway, in the same way that Mohenjo-Daro and Kalibangan became excavations for the Sind and Bikaner Railways separately. During his quarries, Cunningham found pottery, chert blades, and a seal. Cunningham named the cover foreign to India at that time. Also according to inhabitants, the castle hill was the plug of a major Hindu temple that was destroyed and was at the time the place of a tomb of Nur Shah. Some objects were found with this tomb. The bricks occupied from the place were more than enough to equip 100 miles of the Lahore Multan Railway, appearing to the scale of the constructions that occurred there. In spite of several quarries, Cunningham found very minor to reservation as the majority of the settlement had been exposed of bricks. Following quarries at Kalibangan, Suktagendor, and Mohenjo-Daro revealed the extent of this civilization, but it wasn't until 1922 that extensive soundings were carried out at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa and the consistent places were painstaking as the Indus Valley Civilization.


Harapa ruins


Town Planning at Harappa

Harappa is situated near the Ravi River, which is a stream of the upper Indus area. The designs of settlements were grounded on the performance of rivers which is founded around the flood plain ecology, regional trade concluded rivers, promising climate for daily life, contact to trade paths and natural resources, etc. Easy contact to water table near rivers and arable land due to sedimentary soil inspires human inhabitation. Cities like Harappa, which fib on the margin of the known Indus Valley Civilization, aided as gateway cities into the key area where that civilization apprehended authority and were hence more full-bodied or powerful than smaller cities. It is spread over 450,000 sqm of space.

Harappan Traditional Pitcher

This pattern existed well before mature Harappan era and is found even in the 2nd Period of Harappa that dates from 2800-2600 BCE where there are large north-south streets, a pattern repeated in the Indus and Saraswathi towns and cities such as Kalibangan, Rehman-Dehri, Nausharo and Kot Diji. Mohenjo-Daro has a high water table and therefore its deepest levels have not however been quarried properly but it is sensible to undertake founded on available indication that the earlier phases were typical of the Harappan period.

Although the general Upper and Lower town partition of Harappan cities is understood to be the standard, this has conventional to not be the occasion as large public zones, markets, big and small private houses and craft workshops have all been found throughout the various “areas”. The western embankment at Harappa stands only slightly higher than those at Mohenjo-Daro, which has a much higher Western or “main” mount.

The Fortress area has a huge sludge brick platform which is 6m high and triggers all the building. Wheeler and M.S. Vats both have recognized the structure, though whether it is one giant platform or made in parts cannot be said as of yet.

In terms of the direction, the cities were perhaps leaning based on the rising sun and moon, certain stars in the sky whose movements were known (not the North Star as it was not in the same position as it currently is) or other methods concerning finding the sun path on the ground with a stick and string. The slightly crooked angled plan of the town may indicate that many hundreds of centuries worth of planning and re-scheduling based on older sighting techniques resulted in a crooked direction of the plan due to the changing position of stars in the sky that led to somewhat different fundamental points being resolute by the ancients. The star Aldebaran and the assemblage of Pleiades were used as gauging targets for determining the fundamental points.

The town development was accomplished through the progress of compass, plum bob, and scale, tools which are still institute to be in use today.

Fenced areas were spread around a central depression that might have been a basin and each major mount was bounded by a mud brick wall, with brick entrances and strongholds situated at intermissions on every face like modern citadels.

Mound E is the oldest section of area which also has a pre-Harappan settlement underneath. It has a mud brick perimeter wall faced in places with baked bricks. The south wall has a major gateway in the center of a large curve that extends out into the plain seemingly encompassing a public space on the outside. The wall here is 9-11 meters wide if the existence of bastions is considered. The gate is made of baked brick of 1-meter thickness bonded to the mud brick city walls. The possible existence of stairs is in evidence here and the opening is only 2.8 meters wide, just enough for one ox cart to pass through which shows the defensive nature of the gate. It probably stood between 3-4 meters high and had rooms and lookout posts on the top.


Harapa Picher


Building Materials

The chief materials used were sun-dehydrated and burnt bricks, which were made in casts of 1:2:4 ratios. Easy accessibility of wood for burning destined parched bricks were used in profusion in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Sludge mortar and gypsum cement are also in indication, and mud plaster and gypsum plaster are also found to have been cast-off. Mud mortar is most manifest at Harappa. Wooden frames were probably used for the doors and windows which have since decayed away.

Houses

Fluctuating types of houses and buildings are create in both large and small settlements.  Rural areas tend to have entirely mud brick buildings whereas urban areas have buildings partially or wholly made of baked bricks. Small and large houses and public buildings are the main categories.

Houses range from 1-2 floors in height, with a central yard around which the rooms are arranged. The interior is not perceptible from the street, shut off using halls or walls in the inside. Openings are also constrained to side streets to maintain privacy on the inside of the houses. Stairways led to the upper floors through a side room or the yard and the size of foundations has shown that a third floor might also have existed at one theme.

The typical thickness of walls was 70cm and the average ceiling height about 3 meters. Doors were made of wood with wooden frames and the pivot was a brick socket set in the threshold.

Door frames were possibly painted and simply ornamented and also had holes at the base and two at the top of the door to safe and hang curtains respectively. The windows had both board up and grills, which were rooted into the building itself.

Larger houses had smaller dwellings connected to them and evidence of repeated rebuilding in the interior shows that the internal spaces were constantly reorganized. Whether the adjoining dwellings were for extended family or servants cannot be accurately ascertained at this time.

Well and Bathing Platform, Harappa

Streets & External Drainage

The most protruding feature of the Harappan era architecture is the drainage system. It displays how important cleanliness was for them, and it was achieved through having a series of channels running along the streets that connected to larger drains in the main streets. Smaller sewers from household toilets and bathing areas connected to these larger drains, which had corbelled rooftops so they could be suppressed beneath the main streets when required without yielding in.

 Some sections had removable brick paving or dressed stones on top to allow cleaning when required. Drains exiting the city even had wooden doors that were probably closed at night to prevent vagrants or negative elements from entering the city through that access. Sump pits were found at intervals along the drains which allowed heavier solid waste to collect at the bottom. These were regularly cleaned to avoid blockages. There is evidence in some places of drains being blocked for a long period of time, possibly 100 to 150 years, after which new drains were made by a new incoming authority. Coupled with this new construction the entire street level ended up rising to the extent that after consecutive re-constructions, entire stories of buildings had to be covered over and the ground level raised in order to bring it on par with the new street so there wouldn't be sewage backflow.

The Modern Side Road Possibly Lie Down On The Same Ancient Way As The Harappans Used 4500 Years Ago.

Well and Bathing Platform, Harappa

Shafts & Cleanliness

Drinking water or water,  over-all, was made accessible in richness to the people of Harappa to the very close closeness of the city to the pre-Indus Gagger/Harka River which permitted fewer water wells to serve the people as the bulk could get their water from the river itself.

 There are additional private than public shafts, which points to the fact that the public wells probably got polluted or run out due to heavy use and well-off citizens then dug their own. Bathing rooms in these houses were located next to the well which itself was elevated above ground level. Bathing rooms had firmly fitted brick floors which made them more or less waterproof. Sanitations from these rooms controlled separately to the main sanitations on the outside from the latrine fixtures, and care was taken to separate the water and mess drains. The sanitations were pointed out into the street. Almost every house in Harappa has been found to contain a toilet which was a large dirt jar sunk into the pounded and occasionally connected to the external sanitations. A small hole in the bottom of the jar allowed water to leak out to the ground. A special class of manual worker probably regularly cleaned these rooms.


Disclaimer: Please note that the information cited in this blog has been obtained from the official website and Facebook page  of Harapan. Therefore, the entry ticket prices and other rates are topic to change at the decision of the resort organization.

Note: All the images have been traced from the official face book page of Harappa.