# Indus Valley Civilisation

> These study notes explain Indus Valley Civilisation for the Group 4 / VAO (Combined Civil Services Examination-IV) exam in plain language: the same reviewed notes the TNPSC Guide app shows, published by our editors with their source. Read the key points first, then practise the unit's questions. For exam facts such as dates and vacancies, always check tnpsc.gov.in.

Last updated: 2026-11-02 · By TNPSC Guide editorial team
URL: https://www.tnpscguide.com/exams/group-4/notes/gs-history-indus-valley

## Why the exam asks this

Four questions on this topic came in the 2022, 2024 and 2025 papers. 2024 Q111 asked which animal the Harappans did not know (final key: the horse). 2024 Q161 asked which inscriptions show the Mesopotamia-Harappa trade link (final key: cuneiform). 2025 Q132 gave four statements (final key: (ii) and (iv)); the steatite 'priest-king' from Mohenjo-daro is in the book, but "the longest inscription has 26 signs" is not in the pages we read (the Standard 9 book says only that sequences average fewer than five signs). 2022 Q113 matched sites with excavators; those names are not in the pages we read, so this note does not give them.

## Ancient civilisations and the names

The Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indus and Chinese civilisations are the main ancient civilisations. The Standard 6 timeline: Indus 3300-1900 BCE, Mesopotamia 3500-2000, Egypt 3100-1100, China 1700-1122; all were river-bank civilisations. "Civilisation" comes from the Latin "civis", city. Harappa was found first, so the civilisation is also called Harappan; as it spread beyond the Indus, "Indus Valley" became "Harappan". Example: the first site found gave its name to the whole civilisation, as one town's name can come to stand for a whole area.

## How it was found

Charles Masson, an Englishman, first described the ruins of Harappa in his book. In 1856, while digging for the Lahore-Karachi railway, engineers used the baked bricks they found for the line without knowing their value. The ASI was founded in 1861 with the help of the surveyor Alexander Cunningham; its headquarters is New Delhi. Excavation of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro began in 1920; in 1924 John Marshall, the ASI's director, found common features in both. Scholars conclude that Harappa is older than Mohenjo-daro (Standard 6 book). Example: the railway story reminds us that an old pot found while digging a house foundation should be reported, not thrown away.

## Period and extent

Standard 6: South Asia; Bronze Age; 3300-1900 BCE (radiocarbon dating); 13 lakh sq km; 6 large cities and more than 200 villages. Radiocarbon (carbon-14, C14) dating uses the radioactive isotope carbon-14 to find an object's age. Standard 9: Early Harappan 3300-2600 BCE, Mature 2600-1900, Late perhaps until 1700; about 1.3 million sq km in India and Pakistan, the same area as 13 lakh sq km. Example: like one sum said in lakhs and in millions, the two books give one area in two ways.

## The boundaries: two books, two lists

Standard 9: Sutkagen-dor in the west, Shortugai (Afghanistan) in the north, Alamgirpur (Uttar Pradesh) in the east, Daimabad (Maharashtra) in the south. Standard 6: the Makran coast of Baluchistan in the west, the Ghaggar-Hakra valley in the east, Afghanistan in the north-east, Maharashtra in the south. Do not mix the two lists into one answer; see whose words the question uses.

## Main sites and their states

The Standard 9 book lists eight sites: Harappa (Punjab, Pakistan), Mohenjo-daro (Sindh, Pakistan), Dholavira (Gujarat), Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Lothal (Gujarat), Banawali (Rajasthan), Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Surkotada (Gujarat). Gujarat has three, Rajasthan two. Mehrgarh, in the Bolan valley of Baluchistan, Pakistan, is the forerunner: Neolithic people lived there, with evidence from around 7000 BCE.

## Town planning

The citadel was in the west, on high ground, used by the administrators, with the Great Bath and granaries; the lower town was in the east, on low ground, where the common people lived. Streets ran straight north-south and east-west in a grid and crossed at right angles. Houses were of baked brick and lime mortar, each with a toilet and a bathroom. Almost every city had covered drains of brick and stone slabs. No evidence settles whether palaces or places of worship existed. Example: new housing layouts in our towns, with straight streets at right angles and covered drains, follow the same planning.

## Great Bath, granary and assembly hall

The Great Bath of Mohenjo-daro is a rectangular tank with baked-brick walls coated with natural bitumen against leaks, and steps on the north and south. The Standard 6 book calls it the world's first public bath. The granary at Harappa is a large structure on a brick base; wheat, barley, millets, sesame and pulses were found in its floor cracks. A mature-Harappan granary with brick walls was found at Rakhigarhi, Haryana. The assembly hall of Mohenjo-daro is a wide hall of 20 pillars in 4 rows. Example: like the steps of a temple tank in our towns, the Great Bath has steps on the north and south.

## Lothal: the dockyard and the scale

At Lothal, on a tributary of the Sabarmati in present-day Gujarat, a dockyard for building and repairing ships was found; it confirms sea trade. Its ivory scale has small divisions up to 1704 mm, the smallest division among the scales of its contemporary civilisations. Example: like a boat-repair yard at a port such as Thoothukudi.

## Figures and art

A seated male figure from a building at Mohenjo-daro wears a headband, a small ornament on the right upper arm and a robe over the left shoulder patterned with flowers and rings. A Mohenjo-daro figure is identified as the 'priest-king', but this is not confirmed; the steatite 'priest or king' is a major work of art (Standard 9). The small bronze female figure from Mohenjo-daro is called the 'dancing girl'; the Standard 6 book says Sir John Marshall marvelled at it. The dancing girl shows that they knew the lost-wax process of casting. Example: bronze idols in our towns are still cast by pouring metal into a wax mould.

## Farming, tools and ornaments

They grew wheat, barley and millets and practised double cropping. They knew many animals including the elephant, but did not use horses; the zebu bull is common on seals. They did not know iron or the horse. They used chert blades, copper objects and bone and ivory tools; chert from Rohri, Pakistan, was used for sharp tools. Ornaments were of red carnelian beads and of gold, silver, ivory, shell, copper and terracotta. Pottery was made on the wheel and fired; it was red with black designs. Example: a village potter still throws pots on a wheel and fires them in a kiln.

## Worship

They worshipped nature and the pipal tree; some terracotta figures look like a female deity; fire altars were found at Kalibangan; they buried the dead (Standard 9). The Standard 6 book is careful: no evidence tells us about their worship; the female figures suggest that mother-goddess worship may have existed. Learn "may have", not "did". Example: worship under the pipal tree is still common in our villages.

## Trade and weights

There was wide sea trade with Mesopotamia; Indus seals were found in Sumer. The epic of the Akkadian king Naram-Sin says he bought ornaments from Meluhha in the Indus (Standard 6 spells it மெலுக்கா). Cuneiform records show the Mesopotamia-Harappa link; "Meluhha" in them means the Indus region; Harappan seals were found in Oman, Bahrain, Iraq and Iran. Sargon's cuneiform records (2334-2279 BCE) tell of ships from Meluhha, Magan and Dilmun at Akkadian ports. Weights were standard; cubical chert weights rose in the ratio 1:2:4:8:16:32. Example: with weights that keep doubling, any weight can be made up at a market.

## Seals and script

Seals were of steatite, copper, terracotta and ivory. The script is still unread; about 5000 short inscriptions are known. Writing appears on seals, terracotta tablets and pottery; inscriptions are very short, averaging fewer than five signs, and run from right to left. The Russian scholar Yuri Knorozov sees a word order like the Dravidian family; Iravatham Mahadevan finds the roots of the Harappan language in South Indian Dravidian languages; Parpola matches the signs to Dravidian roots. In May 2007 the Tamil Nadu archaeology department found pots at Melaperumpallam near Poompuhar with arrow-like signs like the Mohenjo-daro seals; Mahadevan says the same of a stone axe from Mayiladuthurai.

## Decline and continuity

Decline began around 1900 BCE. Climate change, falling trade with Mesopotamia, drought or floods of the river and foreign invasion are thought to be the causes. The civilisation did not vanish; it went on as a village culture. The excavation site at Mohenjo-daro is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Pakistan still has places named Korkai, Vanji, Thondi, Mathrai, Urai and Koodalgar; the river names Kavri and Poruns (Afghanistan) and Kaveri Wala and Porunai (Pakistan) echo Tamil words (Standard 6). Example: Korkai, Thondi and Vanji are town names we meet in our Tamil lessons.

**Key facts**

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Period of the civilisation | 3300-1900 BCE (Std 6, pp. 132, 134) |
| Extent | 13 lakh sq km = about 1.3 million sq km (Std 6 p. 134; Std 9 p. 27) |
| Large cities, villages | 6 cities, more than 200 villages (Std 6, p. 134) |
| Early, Mature, Late Harappan | 3300-2600, 2600-1900, perhaps to 1700 BCE (Std 9, p. 30) |
| Bricks used for the railway | 1856, Lahore-Karachi (Std 6, p. 133) |
| ASI | 1861, Alexander Cunningham; HQ New Delhi (Std 6, p. 134) |
| Excavation begins; John Marshall | 1920; 1924 (Std 6, pp. 133-134) |
| Mehrgarh | Bolan valley, Baluchistan; evidence from around 7000 BCE (Std 6, p. 136) |
| Assembly hall | 20 pillars in 4 rows, Mohenjo-daro (Std 6, p. 138) |
| Lothal ivory scale | small divisions up to 1704 mm (Std 6, p. 139) |
| Sargon's cuneiform records | 2334-2279 BCE; Meluhha, Magan, Dilmun (Std 9, p. 21) |
| Ratio of weights | 1:2:4:8:16:32 (Std 9, p. 29) |
| Inscriptions | about 5000; still unread (Std 9, p. 29) |
| Melaperumpallam signs | May 2007, near Poompuhar (Std 9, p. 30) |
| Decline begins | about 1900 BCE (Std 9, p. 30) |

> **Exam tip:** Memory hooks
"At Mohenjo-daro: the bath, the hall, the dancer and the priest-king." "At Harappa: the granary." "Lothal the ship, Kalibangan the fire." "No iron, no horse; the elephant was known." Weights double: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. Years in order: 1856 railway, 1861 ASI, 1920 excavation, 1924 Marshall.

**Easy to confuse**

| | |
| --- | --- |
| 13 lakh sq km / 1.3 million sq km | the same area; Std 6 gives one, Std 9 the other |
| Std 6 boundaries / Std 9 boundaries | Makran, Ghaggar-Hakra, Afghanistan, Maharashtra / Sutkagen-dor, Shortugai, Alamgirpur, Daimabad; do not mix |
| Great Bath / granary | Great Bath Mohenjo-daro / granary Harappa (one at Rakhigarhi too) |
| Lothal / Kalibangan | dockyard, ivory scale, Gujarat / fire altars, Rajasthan |
| Horse / elephant | the horse was not known / the elephant was known |
| Cuneiform / hieroglyphics | Mesopotamian script, in which Meluhha = the Indus region / the script of Egypt |
| மெலுக்கா / மெலுஹா | the Std 6 and Std 9 spellings of one place |
| ASI 1861 / excavation 1920 / Marshall 1924 | three different events; Mortimer Wheeler's work is not in the pages we read |
| The dancing girl's age / the civilisation's period | do not make a question of the age in Marshall's quotation / the period is 3300-1900 BCE |
| Mother-goddess worship | "may have existed" is the book's phrase, not a certainty |

> **Exam tip:** Quick check
1. Which animal did the Harappans not know? Answer: the horse.
2. In which script are the records of the Mesopotamia-Harappa trade? Answer: cuneiform.
3. Where was the dockyard found? Answer: Lothal (Gujarat).
4. In which year was the ASI founded? Answer: 1861.
5. Which site is the forerunner of the Indus civilisation? Answer: Mehrgarh.

Source: சமூக அறிவியல், ஆறாம் வகுப்பு, முதல் பருவம், தொகுதி 3, தமிழ் வழி (Social Science, Standard VI, Term I, Volume 3, Tamil medium; Samacheer Kalvi) (6ஆம் வகுப்புச் சமூக அறிவியல், பருவம் 1, வரலாறு அலகு 3 (சிந்துவெளி நாகரிகம்), பக்கம் 132-144; 9ஆம் வகுப்புச் சமூக அறிவியல், வரலாறு அலகு 2 (பண்டைய நாகரிகங்கள்), பக்கம் 17, 21, 27-31)

## Sources

- [Official syllabus page](https://www.tnpsc.gov.in/english/syllabus.html)
- [Notifications](https://www.tnpsc.gov.in/English/Notification.aspx)