Question

Write a short note on town planning of Harappan civilization​

Answer 1

Answer:

The most striking feature of Harappan civilization is its town-planning and sanitation. The basic lay­out of large Harappan cities and towns shows a regular orientation. One finds the streets” and lanes lay out according to a set plan: the main streets running from north to south and the cross-streets and lanes running at right angles to them.

The Harappan cities were the creation of careful forethought and planning, as is indicated by the striking regularity of the divisions, the successfully aligned streets, the orientation of all principal streets to the points of the compass, the correspondence of the houses and public buildings with the orientation of thoroughfares, etc.

Streets varied from 9 feet to 34 feet in width and ran straight sometimes as far as half a mile. They intersected at right angles dividing the city into square or rectangular blocks. Inside this square or oblong, the area is intersected by a number of narrow lanes crowded with houses. At Mohenjodaro each lane had a public well, and most of the houses had a private well and bath. Nowhere was a building allowed to encroach on a public highway as in Sumer.

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Important Harappan cities, such as Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Kalibangan, Dholavira and Surkotada, were divided into two parts – a fortified settlement on the high mounds designated as ‘citadels’ and the main residential areas to the west of it called ‘lower town’.

At Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Kalibangan and Surkotada, there was a ‘citadel’, smaller in area than the ‘lower town’ and invariably located to the west of it. The citadel at Mohenjodaro contained many imposing buildings; all made of kiln-burnt-bricks, for example, the great bath, the college, the granary and the assembly hall.

Harappa was regarded as another capital of the Indus Empire. Here to the north of the citadel, lay the workmen’s quarter, their working platform, and a granary; the entire complex suggesting a high degree of regimentation of their population.

Situated on the left bank of the desiccated river (Ghaggar) Saraswati in Rajasthan, Kalibangan reveals the same pattern of planning as do Mohenjodaro and Harappa, with a ‘citadel’ on the west side and a ‘lower town’ on the east. Thus the citadel complex consisted of two equal and well- defined parts, one to the south containing several large mud-brick platforms meant for specific purposes and the other to the north containing residential houses.

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The platforms were separated one from the other, as also from the fortification wall: There was thus regular passages around them; the entire complex on this platform – the well, the bathing-pavements, and the clay-lined ‘fire-altars’ – had a ritualistic purpose. A similar indication is given by another platform, on the top of which were located a well, a ‘fire-altar’, and a rectangular pit lined with kiln-burnt bricks, containing antlers and bones of cattle, which seem to suggest a sacrifice.

The lower town at Kalibangan, while showing the usual grid pattern of main thoroughfares, subsidiary streets, cross streets and lanes, revealed that it too was fortified. Piercing the fortification wall, which was made of mud bricks, there were at least two gateways, one on the northern side leading to the river and another on the west providing access to the citadel. In width the Kalibangan lanes and streets followed a set ratio: thus, while the lanes were 1.8 m wide, the streets, in multiples of the former, were 3.6, 5.4, and 7.2 m wide.

At Surkotada, the settlement pattern of Harappa, Mohenjodaro, and Kalibangan is repeated, but with a difference. The citadel and the lower town were joined, although their relative directional position remained the same, the former to the west and the latter to the east.

As at Kalibangan, both the citadel and the lower town were fortified. Each had its independent entrance, located on the southern side; there was also an intercommunicating gate between the two. In addition to mud bricks, stone rubble, which is easily available in the neighbourhood, was liberally used for construction.