INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATIO
PHYSICAL PLANNING
• Also referred to as
HARAPPAN
CIVILIZATION &
SARASWATHI SINDHU
CIVILIZATION
• Between INDUS
RIVER AND THE
GHAGGARHAKRA RIVER
[Pakistan and North
Western India]
PHYSICAL PLANNING
Town Planning Concepts
• Sophisticated & advanced urban culture
• Streets in perfect grid patterns in both Mohenjodoro & Harappa
• World’s first sanitation system
• Individual wells and separate covered drains along the
streets for waste water
• Houses opened to inner courtyards & smaller lanes
• Impressive dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms &
protective walls
• Massive citadels protected the city from floods & attackers
• City dwellers – traders & artisans
• All the houses had access to water & drainage facilities
PHYSICAL PLANNING
PHYSICAL PLANNING
LAYOUT OF MOHENJODARO
Mohenjo-Daro was built in the
26th century BC.
It is a planned layout based on grid pattern with rectilinear
buildings.
Incorporated sun-dried mud bricks with wooden super
structures and some used the fired and mortared bricks.
The area covered by the city range from 85 to 200 hectares.
The city is divided into two parts, the so-called citadel and the
lower city.
PHYSICAL PLANNING
VIEW OF SITE - SHOWING THE URBAN LAYOUT
PHYSICAL PLANNING
VIEW OF SITE, SHOWING THE URBAN LAYOUT
PHYSICAL PLANNING
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Citadel- a mud brick mound around 12m
ht is known to have supported public baths,
a large residential structure, and two large
assembly halls.
CITADEL
The Lower Town is organized on a grid
system with four avenues running from
north to south and four running from east
to west. The avenues are several meters
wide and have drains running down the
middle or side of the road. A STREET
PHYSICAL PLANNING
LOWER CITY
• Towards east was Lower City with streets in gridiron
pattern.
• The main streets were along north - south and east- west
directions.
• The lower city had commercial areas, dwellings, factories
etc.
• There was hierarchy of roads and the minor roads normally
serving as entry to the residential buildings.
PHYSICAL PLANNING
HOUSE
PLAN
• Homes : baked bricks in a standard size
of 28 x 14 x 7 centimeters.
• The houses generally have several
rooms built around a courtyard.
• The doorways to the outside usually open
onto side alleys rather than onto the
avenues.
• Many of the buildings had two storey's.
Roofs were probably made of
wooden beams covered with reeds and
packed clay.
• Many homes had specific rooms for
bathing. These rooms had floors made
from baked bricks or tiles and drains
which emptied into the drains in the
street outside. TYPICAL HOUSE PLAN
PHYSICAL PLANNING
People had access to clean water either from wells
within their homes or from public wells in the streets.
Over 700 public and private wells have been
found at Mohenjo-Daro.
The city had a sophisticated sewage system
with regular manhole covers.
PHYSICAL PLANNING
COMMUNITY WELL
Although wells were provided
inside building, some public
wells were provided which was
easily accessed from main street.
Wells and near by walls have
been covered with mud bricks to
protect from salt crystallization.
The well was associated with a
finely constructed bathing
platform. A stairway leads up
to the well and platform from
a lower room.
A small drain running along
one side of the bathing floor
channels dirty water out to the
main drainage system.
PHYSICAL PLANNING
GREAT BATH
Its plan is simple: in the centre,
an open quadrangle with
verandahs on its four sides, and
at the back of these
verandahs were various
galleries and rooms.
The great bath surrounded by
a brick colonnade, measures
approximately 12 meters
north-south and 7 meters
wide, with a maximum
depth of 2.4 meters.
PHYSICAL PLANNING
GREAT BATH
• A complex of verandas and rooms
ranged around the sides of the
rectangle pool.
• Laid on N-S Axis
• Flooring : Water proof : specially
shaped bricks and set them in
gypsum mortar, further
strengthen by 2 cm – thick lining of
bitumen behind the facing.
• Floor of the great bath sloped towards the drain hole which could be
plugged to hold water.
• S-W corner water outlet linked with excellent corbelled channel 60 cms
wide and high enough to walk along.
PHYSICAL PLANNING
DRAINS
Many large covered
drains were constructed
with corbelled arches.
These drains ran
Beneath streets and
lanes and were large
enough for workmen to
enter and clear any
obstructions.
PHYSICAL PLANNING
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HOUSE-LAYOUT REMAINS
REGIONAL CONSIDERATION
CHANAKYA’S ARTHASASTHRA
• Congested town, should be freed of surplus population, which
should then be housed in a new place.
• Towns positioned to help each other.
• Migrated people in new settlement exempted from payment of
taxes for some years.
PHYSICAL PLANNING
• New village –
• Higher proportion of agriculturists and shudras.
• Market - sale of goods received from traders on highways.
• Dams - constructed over rivers nalas.
• Temples and gardens should be provided.
• Arrangements for the aged, the children and informal persons.
• Cereals and wealth will grow if the agriculturists are kept busy.
Attempts should be
• Made to protect and increase quarries, forests and canals.
PHYSICAL PLANNING
• A city - located centrally to facilitate
trade and commerce.
• The site - large in area, and near a
perennial water body .
• shape - circular, rectangular or
square as would suit the
topography.
• Separate areas for marketing
different goods.
• Wall around the town, - 6 dandas
high and 12 dandas wide. Depth –
3/4th of width. Three-east west and
three north – south roads, should
divide the town.
• The main roads should be 8 dandas
wide and other roads 4 dandas
wide.
• 1 well for 10 houses.
PHYSICAL PLANNING
NCIENT TOWN CLASSIFICATION
• Dandaka
• Sarvathobhadra
• Nandyavarta
• Padmaka
• Swastika
• Prastara
• Karmuka
• Chaturmukha
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