Test: Indian Architecture, Sculpture & Pottery- 1

• Indus Valley civilization sites do not have large monumental structures such as temples or palaces for rulers, unlike Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization.
• The most famous example of a public bath is the Great Bath in the excavated remains of Mohenjodaro. There are no cracks or leaks in the Great Bath.

Additional Information
Because there were no temples, so no temples are excavated in Indus Valley. Indus valley people use to worship the natural deity like trees, winds, sun, moon and some animals. Unicorn (one horned) was the animal which was worshipped by them. They worship peepal and banyan trees.

• Archaeologists have found numerous seals of different shapes and sizes all across the excavation sites. While most seals are square, it was found that triangular, rectangular and circular seals were also used.

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• The script of Indus valley civilization is yet to be deciphered.

Additional information
A relatively long inscription of eight symbols runs along the top of the seal. The elongated body and slender arching neck is typical of unicorn figurines, as are the tail with bushy end and the bovine hooves. This figure has a triple incised line depicting a pipal leaf shaped blanket or halter, while most unicorn figures have only a double incised line. The arching horn is depicted as if spiraling or ribbed, and the jowl is incised with multiple folds.

• Seals were primarily used for commercial purposes and helped in communication. Discovery of various seals in Mesopotamia and various sites such as Lothal points to the fact that seals were extensively used for trade. 
• Some seals with a hole on them have been found on dead bodies. This indicates they might have been used as amulets, carried on the persons of their owners, probably used as some form of identification.

Additional Information
Large square unicorn seal  with perforated boss on the back. The unicorn is the most common motif on Indus seals and appears to represent a mythical animal that Greek and Roman sources trace back to the Indian subcontinent.

• The Dancing Girl is the world's oldest bronze sculpture. Found in Mohenjo-Daro, this four-inch figure depicts a quasi naked girl wearing only ornaments, which include bangles in the left arm, and amulet and bracelet on the right arm. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  
  
• She stands in a tribhanga dancing posture with the right hand on her hip. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

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• The statuette has large eyes, a flat nose, healthy cheeks, curly hair, and a broad forehead. She is a tall figure with long legs and arms, high neck, subdued belly, and sensuously modelled.
• The girl wears some bangles and a necklace. She has 25 bracelets on her left arm and four bangles on her right arm and is holding an object in her left hand. Her long hair styled as a big bun rested on her shoulder.

• Terracotta refers to the use of fire-baked clay for making sculptures. Compared to the bronze figures, the terracotta sculptures are less in number and crude in shape and form. They were made using a pinching method and have been found mostly in the sites of Gujarat and Kalibangan. 
• Terracotta was generally used to make toys, animal figures, miniature carts and wheels, etc. Example: Mother Goddess, a mask of horned deity, etc.

Additional Information
In this so-called "faceless civilization," three-dimensional representations of living beings in the Harappan world are confined to a few stone and bronze statues and some small objects crafted in faience, stone, and other materials - with one important exception. Ranging in size from slightly larger than a human thumb to almost 30 cm. (one foot) in height.

• The potteries found at the excavation sites can be broadly classified into two kinds - plain pottery and painted pottery.
• The painted pottery is also known as Red and Black pottery as it used red colour to paint the background and glossy black paint was used to draw designs and figures on the red background.
• Trees, birds, animal figures and geometrical patterns were the recurring themes of the paintings.
• Most of the potteries that have been found are very fine wheel-made wares, with a very few being handmade.
• Some examples of polychrome pottery have also been found, though very rare.

Additional Information
The Indus Valley pottery consists chiefly of very fine wheel- made wares, very few being hand-made. Plain pottery is more common than painted ware. Plain pottery is generally of red clay, with or without a fine red or grey slip. It includes knobbed ware, ornamented with rows of knobs.

• The Harappans used a large variety of materials, from precious and gemstones to bones and even baked clay, to make ornaments. Both men and women wore ornaments like necklaces, fillets, parmesan finger rings. 
• Girdles, earrings and anklets were worn only by women. Beads made from cornelian, amethyst, quartz, steatite, etc. were quite popular and were produced on a large scale, as is evident from the factories discovered in Chanhu-daro and Lothal.

Additional Information

• This collection of gold and agate ornaments includes objects found at both Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. At the top are fillets of hammered gold that would have been worn around the forehead.
• The other ornaments include bangles, chokers, long pendant necklaces, rings, earrings, conical hair ornaments, and broaches. Such ornaments were never buried with the dead, but were passed on from one generation to the next. These ornaments were hidden under the floors in the homes of wealthy merchants or goldsmiths.

• Stupas were burial mounds prevalent in India from the Vedic period. It is a conventional representation of a funeral cumulus in which relics and ashes of the dead were kept. During the period of Ashoka, the art of stupas reached its climax. Almost 84000 stupas were erected during his period. 
• Although a Vedic tradition, stupas were popularised by the Buddhists. After the death of Buddha, 9 stupas were erected. 8 of them had the relics of Buddha at their medhi while the ninth had the pot in which the relics were originally kept.

Additional Information

• Stupas may have originated as pre-Buddhist tumuli in which śramaṇas were buried in a seated position called chaitya.
• Some authors have suggested that stupas were derived from a wider cultural tradition from the Mediterranean to the South Asia, and can be related to the conical mounds on circular bases from the 8th century BCE that can be found in Phrygia (tomb of Midas, 8th c. BCE), Lydia (such as the tomb of Alyattes, 6th c. BCE), or in Phoenicia (tombs of Amrit, 5th c. BCE).

The Ashoka pillars were independently erected by Royal diction.

Additional Information

• King Ashoka, who many believe was an early convert to Buddhism, decided to solve these problems by erecting pillars that rose some 50 feet into the sky. The pillars were raised throughout the Magadha region in the North of India that had emerged as the center of the first Indian empire, the Mauryan Dynasty (322-185 B.C.E).  Written on these pillars, intertwined in the message of Buddhist compassion, were the merits of King Ashoka.
• The third emperor of the Mauryan dynasty, Ashoka (pronounced Ashoke), who ruled from c. 279 B.C.E. – 232 B.C.E., was the first leader to accept Buddhism and thus the first major patron of Buddhist art.

• Caves in the Maurya period were generally used as Viharas. 
• Interior walls were marked by a highly polished finish and decorative gateways.
• Barabar and Nagarjuni caves in Bihar performed during the time of Dashrath, grandson of Ashoka.

Additional Information

• Cave Architecture: During the Mauryan period, caves were generally used as viharas, i.e. living quarters, by the Jain and Buddhist monks.
• Key Features: The caves during the Mauryan period were marked by a highly polished finish of the interior walls and decorative gateways.
• Example: The seven caves (Satgarva) in the Makhdumpur region of Jehanabad district, Bihar, were created by Mauryan emperor Ashoka for the Ajivika Sect:
• Barabar Caves (4 caves): Karna Chaupar, Sudama Cave, Lamarshi (Lomas Rishi) Cave, Vishwamitra (Vishva Zopri) Cave