📘 Chapter 3 – In the Earliest Citie
🔹 Summary:
This chapter focuses on the Indus Valley Civilization (Harappan Civilization) – one of the world’s
earliest urban civilizations.
Major sites include Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Kalibangan, Lothal, Dholavira.
Cities were well-planned: straight roads, grid-pattern layout, drainage systems, and public
structures.
Society was skilled in agriculture, trade, pottery, and craftwork.
The cities had two parts:
Citadel (higher) – for ruling class, granaries, important buildings
Lower town – for common people, houses, workshops
Great Bath at Mohenjodaro is a major structure – likely used for ritual bathing.
No coins or temples found – trade likely happened through barter.
Decline reasons: flooding, river shift, deforestation, or decline in trade.
📌 Important Facts:
Item Details
🔹 First site discovered Harappa (Punjab, now in Pakistan)
🔹 Great BathMohenjodaro – for ritual purposes
🔹 Script Found on seals, still undeciphered
🔹 Bricks Standard size, baked (1:2:4 ratio)
🔹 Drainage Covered, underground – very advanced
🔹 Tools Copper, bronze, stone – no iron
🔹 Transport Bullock carts, boats (evident from dockyard at Lothal)
🔹 Cotton First cultivated at Mehrgarh, not Harappa
🔹 Trade With Mesopotamia, seals used, but no coins
🔹 Craft Beads, weights, pottery, toys, seals
❗ Exceptions & Tricky Points:
Harappan cities had no temples or palaces, unlike later civilizations.
Iron was never used – Harappan = Bronze Age culture.
Cotton was first grown at Mehrgarh, not at Harappa or Mohenjodaro.
Though there was trade, no coin system existed – seals and barter were used.
The Harappan script is still undeciphered.
🧠 UPSC / MCQ Angles:
What UPSC may ask Key Fact
Great Bath location? Mohenjodaro
❌
Site of first cotton? Mehrgarh
Did they use coins? No
❌
Harappan tools included? Copper, bronze, stone, not iron
Scripts deciphered? No
Structure of city? Citadel (upper) + Lower town
Drainage system? Advanced, underground, covered
Transport used? Carts and boats
📝 One-Line Quick Revision Points:
🧱 Harappa = first site found
🛁 Great Bath = Mohenjodaro
🛠 No iron = only bronze, copper, stone
🏠 Bricks = standard size (1:2:4)
📜 Seals = script not yet read
🧵 Cotton = first at Mehrgarh
🚫 No coins or temples
🔄 Barter-based trade
🚰 Best drainage = underground & planned
⚠️ Mistakes You Made (MCQ Corrections):
1. ❌ Iron was used → Correct: No, Harappans were a Bronze Age people.
✅ Tip: “If there’s bronze, there’s no iron!”
❌ Cotton grown in Harappa → Correct: Cotton was first grown in Mehrgarh.
✅ Memory Trick: “M for Mehrgarh – M for Makkan Cotton”
2.
❌ Coins used for trade → Correct: No coins. They used barter and seals.
✅ Remember: Coins came in later Vedic & Mauryan times.
3.
❌ Great Bath in Harappa → Correct: It’s in Mohenjodaro.
✅ Trick: “MoHenJo = Maha Jala (Great Water)”
4.
