Highlight the social, political,religious and economic life of indus valley civilization
Answers
Food of the people of Indus valley civilization
The food of the Harappan people was supplied from extensive areas cultivated in vicinity of the city. Besides food was supplied from distant areas by boats plying on the rivers. Rice was probably grown in the Indus valley.
The staple food of the people comprised wheat, barley, rice, milk and some vegetables like peas, sesamums and fruits like date palms. Mutton, pork, poultry, fish etc. were also eaten by the Indus people.
Agriculture appears to be the main occupation of the Indus people. The discovery of a granary at Harappa lends support to this.
Social Dress of Harappan People
Many spindles were discovered at the Harappan sites. This proves the use of cotton for weaving social cloths. Probably wool was also used. The garments might have been sewn.
Both men and women used two pieces of cloth. The men folk wore some lower garment like dhoti and upper garment like shawl. The upper garment wrapped the left shoulder.
Female attire was the same as that of men. Arts and crafts and trade formed one of the main occupations of the people.
The potter, the mason, the metal worker had high demand. The cotton and woolen dresses show the existence of cotton and woolen industries. Goldsmiths and silversmiths made ornaments.
Hair-style, ornaments of people of India Valley Civilization
Men wore long hair, parted in the middle and kept tidy at the back. The women of Indus valley usually wore long hair in plait with fan-shaped bow at the end. Fillets made of gold or silver were used to keep the hair in particular position.
Both men and women of Harappa were fond of ornaments made of gold, silver and copper. The ornaments were decorated with precious stones like jade, carnelian, agate and lapis-lazuli. The female beauties of the Indus valley had a taste for toilet culture like their modern sisters. The “vanity case” and the toilet jars found at Harappa consisted of ivory powder, face-paint and many other varieties of cosmetics.
Trade and Economy of Harappa
The Indus people used copper and tin. Copper, gold, tin, silver were brought from the Nilgiri region of South India, Mysore, Rajputana, Kashmir, Afghanistan and Persia. That the Indus people had a brisk trade link with Western Asia is clear from the discovery of the Indus seals in these areas. Silver and sapphire were imported from Persia and Afghanistan. That the Indus cities had brisk trade with Sumeria is proved by the discovery of numerous Indus seals in Sumeria. At Umma and Akkad two bales of Indus clothes with Indus seals have been discovered. Indus cities had a lucrative market of cotton goods in Sumeria and Western Asia. Besides ivory works, combs, pearls were exported to West Asia from the Indus cities. It is presumed that large number of merchants from the Indus cities lived in Sumeria. The Indus cities had maritime trade with Sumeria through the Persian Gulf. The skeletal remains of camels have prompted scholars to think that trade with Turkomania and West Asia was also carried by overland route.
Indus Religion
The religion of the Indus people had some interesting aspects. There is a striking absence of any temple among the remains of the Indus valley. Some scholars like to believe that the large buildings found at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro was in fact temples. But Dr. Basham has rejected this view on the ground that no idol has been found within these buildings.