Class 12 History Notes: Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones — Complete Harappan Civilisation Summary, Notes, NCERT Solutions & Study Material

Bricks, Beads and Bones which is Class 12 History Notes Chapter 1 gives knowledge about Harappan Civilization, the most ancient civilization of India. Class 12 History Notes Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones notes have been provided by the nextoper team. These are complete short notes of notes. You will get to know everything in the chapter which will help you and you have exams. These are short notes—just read them once. Carefully prepared by our team, they aim to deliver quality education in less time. You’ll find them complete and helpful for board exams. Here are the notes and summary of Class 12 History Notes Chapter 1 and most important questions. These notes are handmade notes and our aim is to give good education to all in less time through short notes.

Here are the notes and summary of class 12th class history 1st chapter and most important questions. These notes are handmade notes and our aim is to give good education to all in less time through short notes.

Discovery of Harappan civilization :-

In 1856, when the railway line was being constructed between Karachi and Lahore for the first time, the Harappan site was suddenly found during the excavation work. This place is in modern day Pakistan.

Those workers mistook it for ruins and uprooted thousands of bricks and took them from here and the bricks were used for laying the railway line but they could not know that there was any civilization here.

In 1922, Rakhal Das Banerjee excavated a site called Mohenjodaro which is located on the right bank of the Indus River in the Larkana district in the Sindh region of Pakistan

The Harappan Civilization was discovered in 1921-22 under the leadership of Daya Ram Sahni, Rakhaldas Banerjee and Sir John Marshall.

Literal meaning of Mohenjodaro: –

i) Mound of the Dead
ii) Mound of the Dead
iii) Mound of the Ghosts
iv) Garden of Sindh
v) Sindh na Naklasthan

After both these excavations, in 1924, Sir John Marshall, Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, announced the discovery of a new civilization in front of the whole world.

Sir John Marshall named it the Indus Civilization in a magazine called London Weekly.

The period of Harappan civilization is from 2600 to 1900 BC.

Note :- Indus people were not familiar with iron. It is worth mentioning that the oldest proof of iron has been found from Atranjikheda in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh. Whose time has been accepted around 1050 AD.

The Indus people were not even familiar with brass.

How did the Harappan civilization get its name as Harappa?

The Harappan civilization is called the Harappan civilization because this civilization was discovered at a place called Harappa which is today in Pakistan.

There is another name of this civilization which is called Indus Valley Civilization, it is called Indus Valley Civilization because this civilization was spread till the Indus River Valley.

How do we know about the Harappan Civilization?

1. Through the excavation of various sites, roads, streets, buildings, baths, etc., information about city planning, objects, art and living conditions of the people is obtained.
2. Art craft items such as clay toys, metal sculptures, jewellery, pottery etc. Provide information about various occupational and social conditions.
3. The knowledge of religion, script etc. is obtained from clay stamps.

Two famous centers of Harappan civilization

1.  Harappa
2:- Mohenjodaro

other major cities

Nageshwar (Gujarat)
Balakot (Pakistan)
Chanhudaro (Pakistan)
Kot Diji (Pakistan)
Dholavira (Gujarat)
Lothal (Gujarat)
Kalibangan (Rajasthan)
Banawali (Haryana)
Rakhigarhi (Haryana)

Ways of subsistence of Harappan culture:

1: – People used to get food from many types of plants and animals, fish was their main diet.
2: – Wheat, pulses, white gram and sesame were included in their grains, grains of these grains have been found in many Harappan sites.
3:- People used to eat millet and rice also, grains of millet have been found from the sites of Gujarat, the use of rice was less because rice grains have been found less.
4: – The animals from which they used to get food included sheep, goat, buffalo and pig, all these animals were domesticated.
5: – Bones of deer and crocodile have also been found, it has been estimated that the Harappans used to eat their meat.

Agricultural technology in the Harappan civilization: –

1:- The people of Harappa used to do agriculture.
2:- Bullocks were used for plowing the field, as well as many sites of Cholisthan and Banawali (Haryana) have found models of plow made of clay.
3: – The water obtained from the well was used for irrigation and ponds, canals and rivers were all means of irrigation.
4: – Oxen were used for plowing
5: – Two crops were grown together in a year

Mohenjo Daro a planned urban center

1. The most unique aspect of the Harappan civilization was the development of the urban center
2. Mohenjodaro is the most famous ancient site, the first discovered site was Harappa
3. The township is divided into two parts, one is small but built on a height, the other is much bigger but built on the bottom
4. The archaeologists named them as the citadel and the lower city

Building construction in Harappan civilization: –

The plan of houses in the Harappan civilization was based on the fire. In which apart from toilet, bathroom, bedroom Kitchen, etc other rooms have also been found.
The foundation was built for strength. Houses were built on the side of the roads, due to which there was a complete arrangement of air, cleanliness and light.
Houses were built on a height from the ground. The doors of the houses were kept open towards the roads. The entrances of the houses opened towards the street rather than the main road. Due to which external movement, noise and pollution will be safe.
Drains were made on the side of the roads for the drainage of water. There was a system of covering the drains.
The drains were covered with floors. Absorbent wells used to be installed at some distance in the drains. In which dirt used to stay. Burnt bricks were used in large quantities.

Public buildings in the Harappan civilization: –

1. The Indus Valley Civilization was divided into two parts. There were public buildings in the upper part and private houses in the lower part.
2. Remains of public or state buildings have been found in the excavation. A relic has been found from Mohenjodaro. Which is 70 meters long and 24 meters wide.
3. This ismark is an introduction to the prosperity of that period. Here only the remains of a square room 71 meters long and as wide have been found. In which there are 20 pillars.
4. According to an estimate, this building would have been used for mutual discussions, religious events and social events.

Huge bathhouse in Harappan civilization :-

The Snanagarka reservoir was located in the fort. 11.88 meters long, 7.01 meters wide, 2.43 meters deep, there is a staircase on its bottom. This setia is made of burnt bricks.
Rooms have been made around the bath well and baraundas have also been made.
There is a well built near the bath room. Due to which the water used to enter the pool and the drainage of the dirty water of the pool
It was done through another door (door). The dirty water would then exit the city through large drains. Davar or coal tar was used to avoid dampness in the construction of the walls of the bathhouse.
There were 6 entrances in the entire bathhouse. There was also a provision of hot water in the bathroom.

Note: – Amest Mackay says about this bathroom that this bathroom was used for the bath of Prohit.

Grain Store: –

In the excavation of Harappa city, 6-6 rows of granaries have been found in the highway of the fort here. The length of the granary is 18 meters in width + 7 meters in length (18×7). Its main gate opens towards the river or because whatever material came from the waterway was collected in the granary.

Social Life in the Harappan Civilization

social organization
Meal
Clothes
Jewelry & Beauty Display
Entertainment
Technology
dead karma
medical science

Social organization in Harappan civilization

Historian Garner Child has divided the society into four parts:

Educated Class :- Prohit, Medical, Magician, Jotis
Warriors/Soldiers:– Their confirmation has been found from the remains of their presence in the forts.
Traders and artisans :- Weaver Kumar, Suvarnakar
Workers and farmers :– Basket makers, fishermen

Clothing in the Harappan Civilization:

He used to wear different clothes in different seasons. There was a difference in the clothes of men and women.
Men used to wear dhoti, turban, dashale (kurta) and women used to wear saree in ghagra.
Note: – Turban has been found in the idol obtained from Chanhu­daro.

Jewelry and cosmetics in the Harappan civilization:

Both men and women wore ornaments. And both used the ingredients of cosmetics. Rings, earrings, bangles, armbands, necklaces, rich people used to wear precious metal ornaments like gold on their hands. Whereas ordinary people used to wear ornaments made of copper, bronze and bone.

Entertainment in Harappan Civilization:

Fishing, hunting were his favorite pastimes. Animal races, junjhune, whistle and chess games were the means of their entertainment.
Apart from this, they used to play games with stones and oyster shells. Animal idols, bull carts, two wheeled copper chariot have been found in the excavation. Idol of Natyagana has also been found. In which it is known that the Harappans also used to dance and sing.

Technology:

They used to manufacture metal works. Used to separate metals from ores. Used to manufacture mixed metals as well. Bronze was made by mixing silver and tin in copper. Ashyak was supplied from Khedi (Jhunjhunu) and Rajasthan province and Hazari Bagh of Bihar province. Flint used to make bots and tubular bombs.

Medical science in Harappan civilization:

Used to consume herbs, fruits, leaves of trees, flowers and juices of trees of specific species. Powder was made from deer horns. Medicine was also made from the froth (Jhang) of the seed. Shilajit was also found.

Business:

The people of Harappa gave more importance to trade.

For measurement, a glass slide was used.
In Chan­hudaru a factory has been found using stones obtained from excavation.
Lived for many business classes in the society. Those whose work was done only by trade or business. Among them Kumar, Carpenter, Goldsmith etc. Were prominent.
Apart from economic trade, they had trade relations with Iran, Afghanistan, Mesopotamia, Iraq. Additional trade items through William whose external trade was done with stamps. Ships in distant countries used to use the queen.

Cottage industry:

In addition to clay sculptures, toys, utensils made of chalk by Kumaro, bricks were also manufactured on a large scale.
In this period, various ornaments were made of ivory, shell metal.

Religious Life in the Harappan Civilization:

Only worship of Goddess.
Worship of Shiva or the Supreme Person.
Tree and animal worship.
Linga worship.

Worship or worship of only Goddess:

There was lack of temples in the Harappan culture. No such building was found in the excavation which can be called a temple. In this period, many nude female idols of clay and metal have been found.

Many pictures of more goddesses are inscribed in talismans, in pottery and in seals. It shows that only the goddess is worshipped here.

Note: – Prof. RS Tripathi believes that only Shakti had the highest prestige in the field of worship. Whose chaos used to happen in all the countries from the Indian Sea since ancient times.

Only the contribution of the Goddess in the origin of Goddess Shrishti and the spread of vegetation has been accepted.

At this time, the practice of sacrifice was prevalent only to please the goddess. Worship, dance, music were done by sacrificing. The remains of temples have not been found in this period.

Worship of Shiva or Param Purush:

In the excavation, Ernest Mackay found a seal on which the male figure has horns on both sides of the head. This yogi has three faces. He is in a calm and serious posture. On its left are wild buffalo and jackal while on the right are lion and elephant. There is a deer in front, five words are written above the head of this meditative yogi. Which haven’t been read yet. (Worship of Pashupati Shiva as the Supreme Person)

Tree and animal worship:

In many seal there is marking of pictures of Peepal and its leaves. In which it seems that those people used to worship Peepal under tree worship, even at present Peepal tree is worshipped. In addition to these, bulls and bulls are depicted on many shors.

At present the bull (Nandi) is worshipped along with Lord Shiva many times throughout India.

Ling Puja:

Linga worship stone (lingas) have been found in the excavation, it is estimated that the practice of linga worship was in the Harappan culture. Some of these lingas have round notched tops, some lingas of one or two inches and some of four feet have also been found. The swastika symbol and the cross and pileus are sacred symbols of the Harappan period. Which are still considered sacred today.

Political life in Harappan civilization:

Very little information about political life and political system is available here. Historian Hunter believes that the governance system in Mohenjodaro was democratic, not monarchical.

Historian Wheeler believes that the administration of Mohenjodaro was in the hands of priests and religious leaders.

They ruled through people’s representatives. Looking at the city construction and building construction, it seems like this. That there must have been a municipality there.

Development of Art in Harappan Civilization:

Sculpture
Metallurgy
Textile manufacturing
Drawing
Character building
Dance and music
Currency art
Fabrication
Writing skills

Sculpture:

Stone idols, bronze idols found in the excavation have been shown in it. The idol of a dancer is very beautiful and attractive. In these idols, the cheek bone is very beautiful and attractive. The eyes are oblique and thin. The neck is short and thin.

Metallurgy:

Ornaments of gold, silver, copper, etc. have been found.

Textile manufacturing art:

A spinning wheel has been found in the excavation. Which shows that the people there were proficient in the work of cutting yarn. Used to wear cotton, woolen, silk clothes.

Drawing:

Pictures of bulls, pictures of buffaloes, pictures of trees on Mohoro means that those people were expert in painting.

Characters – Construction Art:

In making earthen vessels, different types of pitchers to fill water, various types of small vessels to keep grains, earthen toys, it means they were proficient in the art of making vessels.

Dance and Music Art:

An idol of a dancing girl has been found. Pictures of soles and drums are found on the vessels.

Currency Art:

600 pieces of different types of stones, metals and ivory and clay have been found in the excavation. On which pictures of animals have been found on one side and articles on the other side.

Copper manufacturing art: –

Many copper letters have been found in the excavation which are of square and rectangular shape. Pictures of animals and humans have been found in these. In animals, images of Yogi have been found in humans like bull, buffalo, bull, bull, elephant, lion etc.

Writing Art: –

Excavation has not found any written inscription or copper plate. But still there is a difference of opinion among the scholars (about this script. This script was pictorial. And it was written for right to left and from left to right.

Small vessels made of faience were probably valuable. Because it was difficult to make them.

Miniature vessels made in the form of scented objects have been found from Mohenjodaro and Harappa.

Gold was also rare and possibly as valuable as it is today. All the gold ornaments found from the Harappan sites have been obtained from hoards.

Exchange of seal:-

Pieces of the Indus Civilization have been found from Ur, Sumer, Krish, Umma, Telusmar, Bahrain, etc.

Pieces of Mesopotamia have been found at Mohenjodaro and pieces of Persia at Lothal. (confirmation of exchange of goods)

John Marshall has found a seal from Mohenjodaro on which a man has been shown fighting a tiger.

According to John Marshall, the idea is derived from the Babylonian epic Gilgamesh.

The ship’s picture and the name of the clay ship were on the stamp, which was found from Lothal

Pottery: –

The earthenware here is mainly made of thick loamy clay. On which there is a drawing of black color. Mainly geometric illustrations

A pottery has been found from Lothal on which the picture painted has been equated with the story of the Panchatantra fox driver.

A picture of a man and a child has been found on a pottery obtained from Harappa. Designer pottery has also been found. In which different colors have also been used. These were used for decoration.

Artistic Relics :-

Dancer statue made of black stone from Harappa in the posture of Nataraja dance
Statue of headless human also found from Harappa.
Headless human statue from Mohenjodaro.
Bronze dancer from Mohenjodaro.

The drainage system of the Harappan city

Roads and streets were made on a grade system which used to cut each other at right angles
First streets were made with drains then houses were built next to them.
Every house had at least one wall adjacent to the street to connect the dirty water of the houses to the drains of the streets.
The main drains were made of bricks set in mortar and were covered with such bricks which could be removed for cleaning.
In which the solid matter used to get accumulated and the dirty water used to flow into the drains of the street.
Hodiyas were made for cleaning at some intervals in very long drains.

Note:- The total number of Ko in Mohenjodaro was around 700.

Note:- Abundantly burnt bricks were used, mainly four types of bricks were used.

Rectangle = 4:2:1
L type of brick in brick was used in the corner. ,
Notched bricks are used in wells.
T type bricks were used in stairs.
The floor made of ornate bricks is found in Kalibanga.
A dog paw print is found on breack chasing the cat. It is found from Chanhudaro civilization.

Observation of different social leaders (burial)

Bhratak Karma (funeral ceremony) in Harappan civilization :-

Remains of shamans have been found in Harappan cities (Mohanjodaro, Banawali, Harappa, Kalibanga) etc.
According to Sir John Marshall it is divided into three parts.

1) Complete Samadhikaran / Burial
2) Partial Burial / Burial
3) Cremation / Tribulation Burial

Complete funeral

Note :- A grave has been found in Harappa which was buried from south to north. And everyone is kept in the box. It has been identified with a special grave.
Note: – In Lothal, remains of burial from east to west have been found. And the bodies are in the form of curves.
Note :- A pair dead body (female, male) has been found from Lothal itself. This shows that the practice of Sati was prevalent at that time.
The largest cemetery has been found from Harappa, which has been given the noun of R37.
Another cemetery has been found in the Harappan culture, which has been given the name of H cemetery.

Partial burial: –

Burying the remains left over after eating the dead body by animals and birds.

Tribulation cremation / cremation :-

Bury the remains left over after cremation by placing them in an urn or manjusha (vessel).

1: – In the solution he found at the Harappan site, the dead were usually buried in pits, sometimes the structure of the burial pit was different.
2: – Pottery and jewelery have been found in some graves which indicate a belief according to which these things could be used posthumously.
3: – In the mid-1980s, an ornament made of jasper beads and hundreds of microscopic beads was found near the skull of a man in the excavations in the cemetery of Harappa.
4: – Somewhere the dead were buried with a copper mirror.

Luxury items:- Another method of identifying the social difference is the classification of the luxury item. The first item is the items of everyday use like chakia pottery needle or jhawa etc. This item is commonly found in the slums.

Archaeologists valued objects that were unavailable or made with complex techniques, such as small vessels made of faience, which were considered valuable because they were difficult to make, and were used as perfume vessels, which have been found at Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Kalibanga. He could not find small settlements like these at all, even gold was rare and precious.

List the materials used for making beads in the Harappan civilization and describe any one type of bead making technique.

Stones such as carnelian, jesspur, quartz and alabaster, metals such as copper, bronze and gold, conch shells and clay were used to make beads in the Harappan civilization.

Bead making technique:- There were variations in the bead making technique according to the material used.

Selkhadi which is a very soft stone. Some beads were prepared by casting a paste of Selkhadi powder.

Script of Indus Civilization: –

The first attempt to read the Indus script was made by Wendell in 1925 and the latest attempt by Natwar Jha, Ghanpat Singh Dhanya, Rajaram. But even now the Indus script cannot be read authentically.

Maximum letters of the script have been found from Mohenjodaro and secondly from Harappa. The largest letters of the script have been found from Dholavira. Which has been considered as the symbol of Notice Board.

Indus script is pictorial. Means expressing feelings through pictures. The Indus script is written from both sides, hence it is called Boustrophedon.

From the point of view of knowing the different aspects of the Indus civilization, there are special mentionable: Various sizes and types of seals made of sandstone and clay, in which rectangular and square are the main ones.

Only articles are found on the rectangular while both the text and pictures are found on the square. 5 cylindrical pieces of Mesopotamia have been found from Mohenjodaro and marble pieces made of Persia have been found from Lothal.

Features of Harappan script:-

This script was written from right to left
The number of symbols in this script ranged from 375 to 400.
This script is pictorial script
This script could not be read till date

Stamps: – Stamps helped to identify the sender and if they were not broken, it was known that no one had tampered with it, which means it was a safe article.

Measure :- Scales and weights were included for weighing. Vats were made of smooth stone. Bats were made of stone called chert. They were cuboidal. The lower standards of these weights were binary. They were up to 1.2.4.8.16.32.12800. They were used to weigh jewelery and beads.

The weight of the largest vat was 375 grams, the weight of the smallest was 0.87 grams.

End of Harappan Civilization

1 flood: – Some scholars say that due to the flood coming in the Indus river, the cities here were destroyed over time and buried under the sand.
2 Earthquakes: – It is also believed that there must have been strong earthquakes in Harappa Sanskrit, due to those earthquakes, the cities there were destroyed.
3 Famine and Epidemics: – Some scholars believe that either there would have been a severe famine in that region or a severe epidemic would have spread.
4 Invasions of the Aryan race: – Many historians are of the opinion that the people there had to fight with the people of the Aryan race, in these wars the people of Harappa were defeated and the Harappan culture came to an end.

Cunningham :-

Cunningham was the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India. Alexander Cunningham is also called the father of Indian
Cunningham started archaeological mining in the middle of the 19th century. He preferred to use written sources.

Cunningham’s fallacy :-

Cunningham also wrote and translated the collection of inscriptions found during his survey.
Harappan objects were found sometime in the 19th century and reached Cunningham.

An Englishman gave Cunningham a seal found in Harappa.

When an English officer showed the Harappan seal to Alexander Cunningham, Cunningham could not understand how old the seal was.

Cunningham related the seal to the period he was aware of

They could not understand its importance that how ancient that seal was.

Cunningham thought that this seal was related to the beginning of Indian history with the first cities that flourished in the Ganges valley, whereas this seal was even earlier than the cities of the Ganges valley.

REM Wheeler:- Became the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1944.