Indus Valley Civilization: Art and Crafts | History Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Art and Crafts

• In pre-modern societies, the distinction between arts and crafts is often blurred.
• Groups of artisans, including potters, metalworkers, stone workers, builders, brick makers, and seal-cutters, likely coexisted in Harappan towns.
• Earlier perspectives compared the simplicity of Harappan artifacts with the grandeur of those from Egypt and Mesopotamia.
• Contemporary views acknowledge the technological sophistication and aesthetic appeal of many Harappan creations.
• Harappan sites exhibit a wide variety of standardized, mass-produced craft items.
• Some locations specialized in producing a limited range of items, while others offered a diverse array of goods.
• Craft activities were often concentrated in specific areas of settlements.
• Excavations revealed numerous sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry, and intricately detailed figurines.
• Materials used included terracotta, bronze, and steatite.
• Noteworthy is the distribution of craft production, often relying on non-locally sourced raw materials.
• At Mohenjodaro, shell artifacts were crafted from marine mollusks found along the coasts of Sind and Baluchistan.
• Evidence of copper-based craft production at Harappa suggests activities occurred despite the city's minerally deficient area.
• Indus craft traditions lack regional specificity.
• Shell objects were produced in various locations, including Nagwada and Nageshwar in Gujarat, as well as Chanhundaro and Mohenjodaro in Sind.
• Metal artifacts were crafted at sites such as Lothal in Gujarat and Allahadino in Sind.
• Some crafted items are emblematic of the Indus civilization, not appearing before the rise of urban civilization or after its decline.
• Indus seals are rarely found in late Harappan or post-Harappan contexts.
• The manufacturing technology exhibited a surprising level of uniformity.
• Shell bangles were produced with a uniform width and typically cut using saws with blades measuring between 0.4 mm and 0.6 mm in thickness.
• The Harappan crafts showcase a remarkable degree of standardization.
• Kenoyer proposed that state control may have played a role in achieving this high level of standardization.
• Crafts deemed important for maintaining socioeconomic or ritual order exemplify this phenomenon.
• Excluding pottery and bricks, crafts utilizing local materials exhibit greater variation.
• The reasons behind the high level of standardization in crafts like pottery-making and brick-making remain a subject of inquiry.
• Some degree of central direction is implied, but the exact nature and extent of this control are uncertain.
• Standardization may have resulted from the dispersal of hereditary craft specialists or a well-established internal trade network.
• There are indications that craftsmen and traders may have been organized into corporate groups resembling guilds.
• Concrete evidence for this remains elusive.

Tools and Implements of the Harappan Civilization

Uniformity in Design and Production Techniques

• The tools and implements used by the Harappans exhibited uniformity in their designs and production techniques.
• They utilized tools made from copper,bronze, and stone.
• The basic types of tools included flat axes, chisels, knives, spearheads, and arrowheads for copper and bronze implements. Later in the civilization, they also used daggers, knives, and flat tangs.

Familiarity with Casting Techniques

• The Harappans were knowledgeable about casting techniques for bronze and copper.
• Stone tools were also commonly used, produced on a large scale in factory sites like Sukkur in Sind, and distributed to various urban centers. This large-scale production explains the uniformity in tool types.

Shift in Tool-Making Traditions

• Unlike the ‘Early Harappan’ period, which had various tool-making traditions, the ‘Mature Harappans’ focused on producing long, regular blades. This shift indicates a high level of competence and specialization with minimal concern for aesthetics and innovation.

Pottery in Harappan Civilization

Mass Production Techniques

• Harappan pottery showcases efficient mass-production techniques.
• Pottery kilns have been discovered at sites such as Mohenjodaro,Harappa,Nausharo, and Chanhudaro.
• Pots were fired in funnel-shaped updraft closed kilns, although open-firing kilns may have also been utilized.

Blending of Ceramic Traditions

• Pottery represents a fusion of the ceramic traditions from Baluchistan and the cultures east of the Indus River system.
• A wide variety of pottery exists, including black-on-red,grey,buff, and black-and-red wares.

Techniques and Innovations

• Most pots were wheel-turned, with variations in thickness between fine and coarse fabrics.
• At the earliest levels of Mohenjodaro, a burnished grey ware with a dark purplish slip and vitreous glaze may represent one of the earliest examples of glazing in the world.
• While most Harappan pottery is plain, a significant portion is painted, treated with a bright red slip, and decorated with black paint.

Materials and Techniques

• The red slip was made from red ochre (iron oxide, known as geru), while the black slip was created by combining dark reddish-brown iron oxide with black manganese.
• Polychrome pottery is rare and primarily consists of small vases adorned with geometric patterns, mostly in red, black, and green, and less frequently in white and yellow.

Examples of Polychrome Pottery

• Examples of multicolored pottery have been found in Mehrgarh, featuring decorations with geometric patterns, fish, birds, cows, antelopes, scorpions, fantastic creatures, and griffins.
• Instead of depicting an entire pipal tree, only individual leaves are illustrated.

Decorative Patterns

• The painted decorations include horizontal lines of varying thickness, leaf patterns, scales, chequers, lattice work, and palm and pipal trees.
• Decorative patterns range from simple horizontal lines to complex geometric patterns and pictorial motifs.
• Geometrical patterns, circles, squares, triangles, and depictions of animals, birds, snakes, or fish are common motifs in Harappan pottery.
• Sometimes, animals are shown facing a tree, possibly representing the act of receiving life from a sacred tree.
• Another popular motif is the tree pattern, with plants, trees, and pipal leaves appearing on pottery.
• A jar discovered at Lothal illustrates a scene where two birds sit on a tree, each holding a fish in its beak.

Representation of Human Figures

• Human figures are depicted infrequently and crudely.
• Some designs, such as fish scales, palm and pipal leaves, and intersecting circles, have their origins in the early Harappan phase.
• In regions like Gujarat and Rajasthan, various other types of pottery continued to be produced alongside Harappan pottery. Some pottery exhibits stamp marks, suggesting that certain varieties of vessels were also traded.

Distinctive Pottery Shapes
Distinctive pottery shapes include:

• Dishes on stands
• Vases with s-profiles
• Small vessels with knobbed decorations
• Large slender-footed bowls
• Cylindrical perforated jars
• Goblets with pointed feet
• Incised ware is uncommon, with incised decorations limited to the bases of pans.
• Despite a degree of uniformity in pottery styles and techniques across the Harappan cultural zone, regional differences also exist.

Functions of Harappan Pots

• The large jars were likely used for storing grain or water.
• More elaborately painted pots may have had ceremonial purposes or belonged to wealthy individuals.
• Small vessels might have served as glasses for drinking water or other beverages.
• Perforated jars may have been used for brewing fermented alcoholic beverages or had ceremonial or ritualistic uses.
• Shallow bowls likely held cooked food, while flattish dishes were used as plates.
• Cooking pots of various sizes have been discovered, most with red or black-slipped rims and rounded bottoms. The rims are strong and project outwards, facilitating handling.
• Some forms and features of Harappan pots are still seen in traditional kitchens today.
• In addition to ceramic vessels, the Harappans also made and utilized metal vessels.

Crafts and Artifacts of the Harappan Civilization

• The Harappan sites have uncovered a wide array of terracotta items.
• Among these are toy carts featuring solid wheels, showcasing the craftsmanship of the time.
• Harappan artisans were also skilled in creating terracotta bangles.
• They produced stoneware bangles, which were hard, high-fired, and often burnished to a glossy finish in colors like red or grey-black. These bangles frequently had tiny inscriptions on them.
• Terracotta masks have been discovered at sites such as Mohenjodaro and Harappa, indicating their use in possibly ritualistic or decorative contexts.
• Figurines made of terracotta have been found in large quantities across Harappan settlements. These figurines were likely used as toys or for religious purposes.
• The figurines depict a variety of animals, including birds, monkeys, dogs, sheep, cattle, and bulls(both humped and humpless). There are also numerous human figurines, with male figures present but female figurines being more numerous and diverse in form.

Faience Artifacts

• Faience is a material created from crushed quartz paste and tinted with various minerals.
• The Harappans crafted faience items such as bangles, rings, pendants, miniature vessels, and figurines(including representations of monkeys and squirrels).

Stone Work

• Stone work was a significant craft in the Harappan civilization.
• Notable examples include stone masonry and finely polished pillars found at Dholavira.
• Chert blades, produced through the crested guided ridge technique, were mass-produced and found at all Harappan sites.
• These blades may have been used for various purposes, including domestic tasks and agricultural activities like sickle-making.
• Harappan stone quarries have been identified in the Rohri hills of Sindh, indicating a local source of stone materials.
• Some stone blades might have been sourced from contemporary hunter-gatherer communities.
• The presence of stone flakes and cores in many houses at Mohenjodaro suggests that some tools were made by residents within their homes.

Copper and Bronze Objects

• The Harappans developed new metallurgy techniques, producing copper, bronze, lead, and tin.
• The Harappan civilization is characterized by a significant number of copper objects.
• Harappan craftspersons made artefacts from pure copper and alloyed it with arsenic, tin, or nickel.
• Copper and bronze artefacts included vessels, spears, knives, short swords, arrowheads, axes, fishhooks, needles, mirrors, rings, and bangles.
• Pure copper artefacts outnumbered alloyed bronze ones.
• Tools requiring hardened edges, such as knives, axes, and chisels, were often alloyed.
• Alloy usage increased over time, as seen in Mohenjodaro.
• The preference for pure copper over alloys may reflect cultural choices rather than technological limitations.
• Archaeological sites such as Harappa and Lothal revealed copper furnaces and workshops.
• Metal objects were considered precious, as evidenced by hoards found for safekeeping.
• A hoard at Harappa included a cooking pot with a bronze cover containing various copper tools and weapons.

Jewellery

• Intricately crafted gold and silver jewellery, such as necklaces, bracelets, brooches, pendants, and earrings, have been unearthed at Harappan sites.
• A jewellery hoard comprising gold, silver, and semi-precious stones was discovered at the small village site of Allahdino.
• At Mohenjodaro, a hoard of jewellery featuring gold beads, fillets, and other ornaments was also found. Small silver dishes have been unearthed as well.
• A touchstone with gold streaks, likely used for testing gold purity, was discovered in Banawali.

Other Metal Objects

• The Harappans utilized silver to emboss conch shells and create vessels.
• Lead was employed to make plumb bobs and in copper casting.
• Two metal objects found at Lothal contained significant amounts of iron, suggesting some familiarity with iron smelting.

Sculpture in Stone and Metal

• In addition to functional items made of stone and metal, a few pieces of stone and metal sculpture have been discovered at Harappan sites, showcasing fine artistic skills.
• The stone bust of a male figure, known as the 'priest-king,' found at Mohenjodaro, features a bearded face with a shaved upper lip and half-closed eyes, possibly indicating meditation.
• Two exquisite stone torsos of male figures found at Harappa display remarkable realism in the modeling of fleshy parts.
• A seated stone ibex or ram and a stone lizard have also been found at Mohenjodaro and Dholavira, respectively.
• Bronze figurines include a famous 'dancing girl' from Mohenjodaro and figurines of a buffalo and a ram, capturing the animals' stances beautifully.
• Little toy carts of bronze, although found in different locations, are identical in design.
• Stone and bronze sculptures were not produced on a large scale, with such works being relatively rare.

Seal

• Seal making was a significant craft in the Harappan civilization, with over 2000 seals discovered from settlements.
• Seals were predominantly square or rectangular, with an average size of about 2.54 cm, although larger ones were also found.
• Most seals were made of steatite, while some were crafted from silver, faience, and calcite.
• Designs on the seals featured various animals and semi-pictographic script, possibly used for religious purposes or goods exchange.

Bead Making

• Remarkably beautiful beads made from precious and semi-precious stones like agate, turquoise, carnelian, and steatite were used by the Harappans.
• Bead making factories, along with tools, furnaces, and beads in various stages of preparation, have been discovered in sites such as Chanhudaro and Lothal.
• The Harappan craftspeople produced beads from materials including steatite, agate, carnelian, lapis lazuli, shell, terracotta, gold, silver, and copper.
• New materials, styles, and techniques were introduced in bead making during the Harappan period.

Shell Work

• Craftspersons skilled in shell working produced beads, bracelets, and decorative inlay work.
• Conch shell was commonly used for making bangles.
• Sites like Chanhudaro and Balakot were important centres for shell work.

Bone Working

• Bone working was a specialized craft where items like beads, awls, and pins were made from bone.
• Ivory carving was also practiced, producing items such as combs, carved cylinders, small sticks, pins, gamesmen, and carved plaques.

Textile

• Harappans produced textiles from cotton and wool.
• Terracotta figurines depict various types of clothing.
• Evidence of woven textile impressions and spindle whorls suggests the use of spinning wheels and weaving as cottage industries.

Weights and Measures

• The Harappans developed a system of uniform weights and measures with cubical weights made from materials like chert, chalcedony, and black stone.
• Numerous weights and measures articles have been discovered, indicating their use for commercial and building purposes.

Others

• Impressions on clay floors and fired clay lumps suggest the making of baskets and mats from reeds and grasses.
• Figurines of girls in dancing poses indicate the presence of a dance form.
• Various toys and games, including cubical dice, were made by the Harappans.

Criticism of Harappan Artworks

• The artworks of the Harappans are found to be limited in number and lack the variety of expression seen in contemporary civilizations like Egypt and Mesopotamia.