The Theory of Everything : Indus River

Here we are with our new initiative The Theory of Everything which will enlighten you about interesting facts
which will surely you to excel in General Awareness Section for all Banking and Insurance Exams. Banking
Exams are enlarging their syllabus for General Awareness section day by day. So in order to cope with the new
pattern and to master in this section we need to widen our scope of information.

Indus River
Indus river also known as Sindhu river or Abasin &
it is also one of the major river flowing in South Asia.
In Tibet Indus is known by Sengge Zangbo.
The river is the greatest river on the western side of
the subcontinent, and is one of the seven sacred
rivers of Hindus.
In Ancient time period Greeks used the word Indos
for Indus River but at the time of Hindus they were not able to pronounce which changed its name to Indus.
River basin
1. Around 60% of the total area of the Indus drainage basin is in Pakistan administered Kashmir.
2. India-Administered Kashmir has about 15%, Tibet has about 10% and the Republic of India and Afghanistan
each have about 7% of the Indus basin catchment area.
3. Around 3,84,000 square miles covers an entire basin of open land out of which 204,000 lie in Pakistan.
Economy
The Indus is the most important resource of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh plains it is the backbone of
agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is Special since rainfall is limited in the lower Indus valley.
Origin of Indus

1/7

Indus River Originates from the northern slopes of

the Kailash range near Mansarovar Lake in Tibet.
Length of Indus
The total length of Indus River is 3200 km.
Depth of Indus
The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4,5005,200
metres (15,00017,000 feet) deep near the Nanga
Parbat massif.
Ending & starting point of Indus
Indus River flows from Tibet near Mansarovar Lake,
passes through & finally falls in Arabian Sea near
Karachi.
Tributaries of Indus
Left: Zanskar River, Chenab River, Sutlej River, Soan River
Right: Shyok River, Gilgit River, Kabul River, Kurram River, Gomal River
The Kabul & Kurram River joins the Indus soon after it leaves the mountains, and the others lower down in the
plains. The whole of the Beas and the head reaches of the Ravi and Sutlej are in the Republic of India, while those
of the Chenab and Jhelum lie mostly in the disputed Kashmir state.
Island on Indus
Bukkur is an island located in rohri, sukkur district, Pakistan with length 730 km & width 270km.
Bridge on Indus
The Lansdowne Bridge Rohri at Sukkur is a bridge over the Indus River between Sukkur city and Rohri town of
Sindh, Pakistan
Railway Lines
In the past there was a railway line passing through
Indus River linked with Karachi to Sindh but now it has
been discontinued & no more railway line exists.
National Highways
1. NH55
National Highway 55 is the Highway which runs
along with the Indus River & is 1264 KM long with
four lanes in Pakistan. Cities linked with this
Highway are Peshawar, Darra Adam Khel, Kohat,
Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Shikarpur,
Sindh, Larkana, Kotri and Haiderabad,

2/7

2. NH5
National Highway 5 is the longest Highway running along with the Indus River from port city Karachi to
Torkham with length of 1756 Km & linked with Karachi, Moro, Khairpur, Hyderabad, Multan, Sahiwal, Lahore,
Sheikhupura District, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Rawalpindi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Attock Khurd, Nowshera,
Peshawar, torkham.
Note: It is one of the major river which flows from India to Pakistan

Some Interesting Facts of Indus River

The Term Indus came from Ancient Greek Indos
borrowed from the word Hindus which in Sanskrit
means Sindhu.
The name India is derived from Indus, which originates
from the Old Persian word Hindus. The term
originates from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was
the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The
ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which
translates as the people of the Indus.
The Indus River supports many heavy industries & it
is the main supply for those industries of Potable
water.
Indus is also determined by season as in winter
diminish greatly while the banks are flooding during the
Monsoon season from July to September.
Battle of Indus
Battle of Indus was fought between jalal ad-din
Mingburnu, the head (sultan) of Khwarezmid Empire
& The Mongolian army of Genghis Khan in 1221 near
Pakistan. The battle was held with the thirty thousand
forces of jalal ad-din Mingburnu & two hundred thousand
forces of Genghis Khan. In this war Genghis khan got
defeated by jalal.
Indus Valley Civilisation
Indus Civilisation also known as Harappan
civilisation is one of the four earliest civilisations of
the world along with the civilisations of
Mesopotamia (Tigris & Euphrates), Egypt (Nile) &
China (Hwang Ho).
The Civilisation Forms part of Pro-history of India & Belongs to the Bronze Age.
The most accepted period is 2500 1700 BC, Harappa was situated on the banks of Ravi River.
Harappa Civilisation was named by John Marshall.

3/7

This Civilisation covers the Part of Sind,

Baluchistan, Afghanistan, West Punjab, Gujarat,
Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu &
Kashmir, Punjab & Maharastra.
Mundighak & Shortughai are the two sites located
in Afghanistan.
West-Sutkagendor on Makran coast (Pak-Iran
Border) East-Alamgirpur in Uttar Pradesh (River
Hindon).
North-Manda in Jammu (River Chenab). Southdaimabad in Maharastra (River Pravara) is major
sites.
Interesting Facts of Indus Valley Civilisation
Mohanjo Daro was discovered by Rakal das Banerjee in 1922 & was situated on the banks of the Indus
River. From Rakshastal Lake in Tibet there is an origin of 3 Rivers Indus, Satluj & Bhramputra.
People of Harappan Civilisation were not familiar of Iron but they knew how to make bronze with the
combination of copper & tin.
This Society was maternal & worshipped mother Goddess, they worshipped peepal tree, duck & bull.
Core city of lothal which is now situated in Gujarat, Iraq was earlier known as Mesopotamia, also the
evidence of Dam was found from dola vera which is now in Gujrat.
The city was divided in two parts in rectangular form the upper part & lower part. The upper part was for
Public Buildings & member of ruling class, & the lower part was for common people.
Underground Drainage System connected to all houses to the street drains made of mortar, lime & Gypsum.
The Great Bath(Mohenjo Daro ) was used as a religious bathing , there were changing rooms alongside.
Houses in that Era were made up of Burnt Bricks. There were often multi storeyed Building. Lamposts were
introduced & were erected after some interval which indicates the existence of street lightning.
Agriculture
Agriculture was the backbone of the civilisation, the
soil was fertile due to the Indus river & Flooding. They
used wodden plough share & Stone sickles for
harvesting.
Wheat, barley, dates, peas, sesanum, mustard, millet,
ragi, bajra & Jowar were the crops produced near
Indus River.
Harappan was the first in the world to introduce
Cotton. A Piece of woven cotton cloth was found at
mohanjo daro.
Domestication of Animals
Animal rearing was practised mainly during that Era.
Mostly domestic buffaloes, oxen, sheep, goats, pigs,
dogs, cats etc. Bullock carts were introduced in the same time period

4/7

Trade & Transportation

1. Agriculture, Industry & forest produce the basis for internal & external trade. Trade was based on barter
system. Bullock carts, pack animals & boats were used for transportation. Foreign trade flourished with
Mesopotamia or sumeria(Iraq) , central Asia, Persia , Afghanistan & Bahrain.
2. Lothal (Artificial Dockyard), Surkotada, Sutkagendor, prabspattan, Bhatrao, Kalibangan, Dholavira,
Dainabad were coastal towns of the Civilisation.
Major Exports: Agricultural products, cotton goods, terracotta, figurines, pottery, Steatite beads, (from chainhudro),
conch-shell (from Lothal), ivory products, copper etc.
Major Imports:

Art & Craft

5/7

Harrapan used Stone tools & both men & women

were fond of ornaments & dressing up.
Jewellery of gold, silver, precious stones & bead
making was practised with cotton fabrics.
Pottery were made of both type plain as well as
painted. They were decorated with human
figures, plants , animals & geometrical
patterns.
Seals were used to define the ownership of the
property, these seals were made of steatite
pictures, of one horned bull etc. Most important
one is pashupati seal.
Metal images of woman dancing & bearded man
were obtained from Mohenjo daro.
Fire baked clays was used to make toys, objects of Worship also they played dice game.
Rulers during this Civilisation
Some archaeologists are of the opinion that Harappan
society had no rulers, and that everybody enjoyed
equal status. Others feel there was no single ruler but
several, that Mohenjodaro had a separate ruler,
Harappa another, and so forth.
Decline of the Civilisation
The harappan culture flourished about 1800 BC, then
it began to decline. There is no unanimity among
historians regarding reason for the declining of this
urban civilisation. There are many different theories
that shows the decline of the Indus culture.
Main cause of decline of Harappan Civilisation
Flood
Drought
Ecological Imbalance
Epidemic
Aryan attack
IndusInd Bank

6/7

IndusInd Bank Is an Incorporated Bank & came into existence in April 1994 & derived its name from Indus Valley
Civilisation. The Bank was the vision of Srichand P Hinduja, who was Non-Resident Indian Businessman & head of
the Hinduja Group.
Important Facts:
Harappan civilization : The Indus Valley Civilization (also known as the Harappan culture) has its earliest roots in
cultures such as that of Mehrgarh, approximately 6000 BCE. The two greatest cities, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa,
emerged circa 2600 BCE along the Indus River valley in Punjab and Sindh.
Discovery of the city Harappa : Dayaram Swami & Madhav Swaroop discovered Harappa in 1921. Though the
first Harappan sites were discovered way backing 1920-21, by archaeologists Dr. D.R. Sahni and Dr. R.D. Banerjee
(Harappa in Punjab and Mohenjo-Daro in Sind both in Pakistan now) fresh sites are still being unearthed, ading
insight into the rich culture of the Harappan civilization.
Religion of Indus river valley : Reconstructing Indus Valley religion is impossible, but there are intriguing
indications of continuity between the religion of this civilization and the later religions of ancient India. Some Indus
Valley seals show swastikas, which are also found in Hinduism and its offshoots, Buddhism and Jainism.
Festival is celebrated on Indus River : Sindhu Darshan festival is the only festival celebrated on the banks of
Indus River in India at Leh in Ladakh, District of Jammu & Kashmir. This festival is celebrated continously for 3 days
in the month of june on full moon day also known as Guru Purnima. It was started in October 1997. Sindhu Darshan
is a movement, which rediscovered the flowing legend of Ladakh. It is realted an old history of around 5000 years
ago which has enriched humankind for ages.

7/7