ART IN INDUS VALLEY

PRESENTED BY
UMESH KUMAR SAXENA

When we talk about the early civilizations and aesthetic values of humanities the question
arises that what man used as the first medium of communication because we have not found
any script of the prehistoric period, only on the basis of the found drawings we came to know
about their aesthetic sense and their lives. The conclusion is that lines were the first medium
of expression or man first used lines as language. With the artistic and aesthetic approaches
man also learnt to improve his life style and started to live in groups, thus the civilizations
came in existence. Indus Valley civilization is one of the early civilizations of the world.
Today’s human being is mentally and physically developed form of the barbaric man, he also
improved himself in the field of art from early cave paintings to modern Indian trends in art.
Indus Valley civilization can be defined as an early civilization existing in full flower at the
end of the third millennium BC. Carbon -14 dating of 2300 to 1750 BC generally conmifrm.
It’s two major cities Harrapa & Mohenjo – daro are presently in Pakistan.
Here in 1856 during the construction of a railway this place came in existence. Sir Alexander
Cunningham, the father of the Indian archaeology later inspected the site and he could only
confirm it’s presence as an ancient city.
In 1921 Mr. Daya Ram Sahni systematically excavated Harrapa. A year later a more
important discovery was made by Mr. Rakhal Dass Banerjee almost four hundred miles
further south on the Indus in the larkana district of sind. It was the site which became known
as Mohenjo – daro (place or hill of death).
There was trade between the empires of Mesopotamia and the Harrapa culture. A vital link in
the trade was almost certainly the island of Bahrein, for the archologists have found evidence
of extensive copper industries and even more significantly many round seals with Harrapa
motifs and glyphs.
The remains of the found sculptures, seals, pottery, architectures etc. tells us that how art was
mingled with their life and also present before us the royal story of the Harrapa civilization
and aesthetic sense of human society.

SCULPTURES:

Sculptural remains at Harrapa sites apart from the well known seals and terracotta figures are
confined to Mohenjo – daro and Harrapa. Only eleven pieces have been unearthed so far, all
from the upper strata at Mohenjo – daro.
 Perhaps the most remarkable of all known Harrapa creation is a small bust depicting a priest
– king or deity, a lime stone statuette measuring 17.5 cm. The upper lip is shaved and the
wide headband had in it’s centre a flat circular ornament and a bangle worn high on the right
arm. The tip of the flattish nose has been broken off. His garment is decorated with trefoil
design. It covers his left shoulder and passes under his right arm.

Even more impressive is a unique small bronze sculpture of a dancing girl from Mohenjo –
daro, now in the national museum, New Delhi. Standing nude except for a brief necklace and
an arm completely ringed with bangles, her relaxed body twists so that one hand rest on her
right hip while the other holds a small bowl against her left leg.
The fact that the Indus valley knew how to smelt bronze shows that how well advanced they
were in metal work. We find an incomplete male torso in grey stone from Harappa. The
figure’s legs are broken. Drilled sockets at the shoulders and neck must originally have been
fitted with separately carved but now lost arm and head.

Terracotta sculpture is more numerous than either stone or metal. Many terracotta figures
perhaps one of a mother goddess, with pinched nose, pellet eyes and elaborate head dress
have been unearthed. These found sculptures present before us the development through fine
art with aesthetic values.

SEALS:

The Indus Valley seals are also one of the distinctive features of Harappa culture. The
objects depicted upon them as a whole are unique both in subject and in treatment. More than
thousand seals have now been recovered, and their physical character is fairly consistent. In
size they range from ¾ inches to 1 ½ inches square. In most cases they have a pierced boss at
the back to accommodate a cord for handling. When the carving was complete the objects
were covered with an alkali covering and fired producing a fine lustrous white finish.
The diversity of the animals depicted on the seals is outstanding and the beauty of their
execution is impressive. The seals were generally made of steatite, but occasionally also of
copper, agate, faience and terracotta.
The tiny animals incised in these seals are exquisite. Short horned and humped bulls,
antelopes, elephants, rhinoceros, tigers and crocodiles are depicted in their most typical
poses.
An outstanding icon in Indian art appears in Harrapa culture for the first time on a famous
seal from Mohenjo – daro, in this seal a seated ‘Yogi’ figure surrounded by animals, size is
3.5 cms. And presently in National Museum, Pakistan, Karachi.

One other important seal from Mohenjo – daro of a Brahamin bull, size 3.5 cm. And
presently it is in British Museum, London. The carving is done in the intaglio technique. In
these seals writing goes from right to left and if there is a second line it runs from left to right.

POTTERY:

It consists mainly of wheel turned items of a wide variety, which shows the consistent
characteristics and standards of an organized manufacturing system. Among the various
shapes which are found are huge tall decorated storage jars, strainers, bowls with a pedestal,
pointed goblets.
The ware consists of a pinkish – buff body, coated with red slip and painted with black lines.
The designs range from simple horizontal stripes of varying thickness to elaborate patterns.
Such as checks or over lapping rows of circles. Forms of bull, peacock, papal leaves, fish are
also used.
ARCHITECTURE:

The Indus valley civilization is distinguished by advanced urban planning. Most of the
Mohenjo – daro was built of kiln fired brick and the buildings were massed into ‘super
blocks’ of 600 by 1200 feet. Mostly streets are 33feet wide and run north – south intersecting
subordinate ones, running east – west, at right angles.
The high standard of town planning and sanitation with sufficient water supply and drainage
system makes the Indus valley or Harrapa culture outstanding among all the ancient culture.

The most dramatic characteristic of the two cities and two a degree of other Harrapa sites is a
commending citadel. In Mohenjo – daro the remains of several impressive structures of
which the most prominent is the so called ‘Great Bath’. The pool is surrounded by a paved
courtyard, is 39 feet long (north to south) 23 feet wide and 8 feet deep. On the citadel to the
west of the great bath at Mohenjo – daro are the remains of a sophisticated granary complex.
The remains of shops are also found.

As yet no wall paintings have been found. It is hard to believe that they did not exist. We can
hope that archaeology will one day fill this gap.
With reference of all above mention examples we come on this conclusion that the roll of fine
arts in development of civilizations is very important or you can say that the civilizations
were developed through the arts and the feelings of aesthetics.
Through these found remains we came to know that the aesthetic values were developed in
the early Indus valley civilization

UMESH KUMAR SAXENA