 INDUS VALLEYCIVILIZATION

 MOHANJO DARO
 HARAPPA.
 Sophisticated and advanced
urban culture
 Streets in perfect grid patterns
in both Mohenjodaro and
harappa.
 World's first sanitation system
 Individual wells and separate
covered drains along the
streets for waste water.
 Houses opened to inner
courtyards and smaller lanes.
 Impressive dockyards
,granaries, warehouses, brick
platforms and protective walls.
 Massive citadels protected the
city from floods and attackers.
 City dwellers were mainly
traders and artisans.
 All the houses had access to
water and drainage facilities.
 Cities grew out of earlier
villages that existed in the
same locality for less than 100
years.
 Grew in size and density and
were surrounded by various
towns and villages.
 Cities interlinked with trade
and economic activities,
religious beliefs and social
relations etc.
 Vast agricultural lands, rivers
and forests by pastoral
communities, fisher folks and
hunters surrounded each city.
 No fortifications
 Major streets in North - South
directions
 Intersection at right angles
 Streets within built up areas were
narrow
 Distinct zoning for different groups.
SETTLEMENT DIVISION
 Religious , institutional and cultural
areas around monastery and great
bath in the western path.
 North - agriculture and industries
 South - administration trade and
commerce.
 Buildings - masonry construction with the help of
sun dried bricks.
 Ranging from two room to mansions with many
rooms
 Underground sewerage and drainage from houses.
 Helical pumps for pumping water in great bath.
 Principal buildings: Monastry and Bath indicating
religious culture.
 12x7x3 m in dimensions
 ledge extends for the entire width of pool
 watertight floor – thick layer of bitumen
 floor slopes in south west corner with a small outlet
connecting to a brick drain
 rooms located in the east.

Granary
50x40 m in dimension, 4.5 m tall
massive mud brick foundation
2 rows of six rooms along a central passageway [7m wide & paved with
baked bricks]
each room 15.2x6.1 m has 3 steeper walls with airspace between
a wooden superstructure supported in some places by large columns
would have been built on top of the brick foundations, with stairs leading
up from the central passage area.
small triangular openigs – air ducts for fresh air beneath hollow floors
the large size of the granary probably indicates a highly developed
agricultural civilization
 Earliest city may have
been formed during
2800-2500 BC.
 Earliest city covered an
area of 25 hectares
 It became a center for
trade network extending
from baluchisthan and
afganisthan to the west
of the sea coast in the
south.
 Town built over raised
mud brick platforms.
 lower town surrounded by massive brick wall.
 Citadel had square towers and bastions.
 Large open areas inside the gateway may have been
used as a market or check points for taxing goods
coming into the city.
 Cluster of houses outside the city .
 Maily used as rest points for travelers or caravans.
 No division of society is reflected in the layout of the
city since large public buildings, market areas, large
houses, small houses as well as craft workshop has
been found on the same neighborhood.
 Basic house plans single room tenements houses
with courtyards Houses - rooms on 3 sides
opening into a central courtyard Nearly all large
houses had private wells. Hearths ( brick- or
stone-lined fireplace or oven often used for cooking
and/or heating) common in rooms. Bathrooms in
every house with chutes leading to drainage
channels. First floor bathrooms also built. Brick
stairways provided access to the upper floors.
Houses built with a perimeter wall and adjacent
houses were separated by a narrow space of land.
Granary with areas for threshing grains. Burnt
bricks mainly used for drains, wells and bathrooms.
Sun dried bricks used mainly for fillings. Timber
used for flat roofs and as frames or lacing for
brickwork
 BUILDING MATERIALS - MUD BRICKS AND BAKED BRICKS, WOOD
AND REEDS.
 THE AVERAGE SIZE OF THE BRICKS WAS 7 X 12 X 34 CM (FOR
HOUSES) AND 10 X 20 X 40 CM FOR THE CITY WALLS. THE LARGER
BRICKS HAVE A STANDARD RATIO OF 1:2:4.
 MUD BRICK, BAKED BRICK & WOOD OR STONE WERE USED FOR
THE FOUNDATION AND WALLS OF THE HOUSES.
 THE DOORS ,WINDOWS WERE MADE FROM WOOD AND MAT.
 HOUSE FLOORS -HARD-PACKED EARTH BATHING AREAS AND
DRAINS - BAKED BRICK AND STONE.
 ROOFS -WOODEN BEAMS COVERED WITH REEDS AND PACKED
CLAY.
 LARGEST BUILDINGS MADE ENTIRELY OF WOOD.
 WINDOWS – SHUTTERS & LATTICE WORK
 LARGE BUILDINGS -ADMINISTRATIVE OR RITUAL STRUCTURES.
 ACCESS ROUTES OR PROVIDED THOROUGHFARE FROM ONE
AREA TO ANOTHER.
 MARKETS AND PUBLIC MEETINGS HELD IN LARGE OPEN
COURTYARDS.
 HOUSES AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS GROUPED WITH SHARED WALLS
AND FORMED LARGER BLOCKS & ACCESSED BY WIDE STREETS.
 MOST HOUSES HAD PRIVATE BATHS &TOILETS.
 Wells and reservoirs for drinking and bathing.
 Wells were lined with specially made wedge shaped bricks to form a structurally sound cylinder.
 Ropes were used to lift the water out, probably with leather or wooden buckets.

 Water tight floor for the common baths with drains which connected to the larger drains in streets.
 Drain water chutes of teh upper floor was built within the wall (tapered terracota drain pipes).Garbage
bins were provided at the major nodes of the city.
 Bathing platforms with water tight floor & drains [open out to larger drains in streets ] provided in
rooms adjacent to the wells.
 Drains and water chutes in the upper storeys were often built inside the wall with an exit opening just
above the street drains.
 Tapered terracotta drainpipes were used to direct water out to the street.
 Many houses had distinct toilets, separate from the bath areas.
 Commodes were large jars or sump pots sunk into the floors and many of them contained a small jar.
 Drains covered with baked bricks or dressed stone blocks. Garbage bins were provided along the
major streets.
- There are quiet a number of books
written by ancient authors about town
planning in India.- They are known as
'vastu shashtra' (town planning science)-
Manasara shilpa shastra (architecture by
manasara) consists of 75 chapters and
deals with vastu shilpa, design of various
parts of building, towers, pilars, chariots,
triumphal arches, jewellery, idols of god
etc.
 Ancient
town classification by Manasara-
Dandaka- Sarvathobadra- Nandyavarta-
Padmaka- Swastika- Prastara- Karmuka-
Chaturmukha
 Dandaka:- Dandaka type of town plan
provides for two main entrance gates and is
generally adopted for the formation of small
towns and villages.- Streets are straight and
cross each other at right angles at the
center.- Rectangular / Square.- Width of
street varies from 1-5 danda.- - Village
office located in the east.- Female deity
(gramadevata) will generally be located
outside the village.- Male deities in the
northern portion.
 Sarvathobadra:- This type applicable to
larger villages and towns, which have to
be constructed on square sites.- The
whole town should fully be occupied with
houses of various descriptions.- Should
be inhabited by all classes of people .-
Temple dominates the village.
 Nandyavarta:- Mainly used for
construction of towns and not villages.-
Adopted for sites which are either
circular or square in shape.- Not less than
3000 houses but not more than 4000
houses.- The streets run parallel to the
central adjoining streets.- Temple of the
presiding deity at the center of the town.-
this name is derived from a flower , the
form of which is followed in this layout.
 Padmaka :- This type of plan was
practiced for building of the towns with
fortress all around.- Pattern of the plan
resembles petals of lotus radiating
outwards from the center.- The city used
to be practically an island surrounded by
water.- No scope for expansion.
 Prastara:- The characteristic feature of this
plan is that the site may be either square or
rectangular but not triangular or circular.-
The sites are set apart or the very rich, rich,
middle class and poor.- The size of the site
increases according to the capacity of each
to purchase or build upon.- The main roads
are much wider when compared to those of
other patterns.- The town may or may not be
surrounded by a fort.
 Karmuka:- This plan is suitable for the place
where the site of the town is in the form of a
bow or semi circular or parabolic and
mostly applied for towns located at sea
shores or river banks.- The main streets of
the town run from north to south or east to
west and the cross streets run at right
angles to them.- this divides the whole area
into blocks.- Female deity (the presiding
deity) is installed in the temple built in any
convenient place.
 Chaturmukha- This is applicable to all
types of towns strating from the largest
town to the smallest village.- The site may
be either square or rectangular having
four faces.- The town is laid out east to
west lengthwise with four main streets.-
The temple of the presiding deity is
always at the center.