Political Organization/Municipalities
• There is no clear idea of the political organization
of the Indus valley people. Perhaps they were more
concerned with commerce and they were possibly
ruled by a class of merchants.
• Also there was an organization like a municipal
corporation to look after the civic amenities of the
people.
Economic Life
Agriculture
• The Indus people sowed seeds in the fl ood plains
in November, when the fl ood water receded, and
reaped their harvests of wheat and barley in April,
before the advent of the next fl ood which indicated
agriculture and knowledge of calendar reading.
• The people grew wheat, barley, rai, peas, sesamum,
mustard, rice (in Lothal), cotton, dates, melon, etc.
The Indus people were the fi rst to produce cotton
in the world.
• In Kalibangan, fi elds were ploughed with wooden
ploughs.
• Domestication of animals was done on a large scale.
Besides the cattle, sheep, pigs, camels, cats and dogs
were domesticated. Horses weren’t in regular use
but elephant was. Remains of horse at Surkotda
and dogs with men in graves in Ropar have been
discovered.
• Produced suffi cient to feed themselves. There was
no exchange of foodgrains/export or import.
• Food grains were stored in granaries. Eg. In
Harappa and Mohenjodaro.
Trade and Commerce
• Well-knit external and internal trade. There was no
metallic money in circulation and trade was carried
through Barter System.
• Weights and measures of accuracy existed in
Harappan culture (found at Lothal). The weights
were made of limestone, steatite, etc. and were
generally cubical in shape.
• 16 was the unit of measurement (16, 64, 160, 320).
• Flint tool-work, shell-work, bangle-making
(famous in Kalibangan), etc. were practiced. Raw
materials for these came from different sources:
gold from north Karnataka, silver and Lapis Lazuli
from Afghanistan and Iran, copper from Khetri and
Baluchistan, etc.
• Bead making factories existed in Chanu daro and
Lothal. They were items of export.
• A dockyard has been discovered at Lothal.
Rangpur, Somnath and Balakot functioned as
seaports. Sutkagendor and Sutkakoh functioned
as outlets.
• The inland transport was carried out by bullock
carts.
• Every merchant or mercantile family probably
had a seal bearing an emblem often of a religious
character, and a name or brief description, on one
side. The standard Harappa seal was a square or
oblong plaque made of steatite stone. The primary
purpose of the seal was probably to mark the
ownership of property, but they may have also
served as amulets.
• The Mesopotamian records from about 2350 B.C.
onwards refer to trade relations with Meluhha,
the ancient name of the Indus region. Harappan
seals and other material have been found at
Mesopotamia. There were also instances of trade
with Sumer, Babylonia, Egypt, etc.
Art and Craft
• The Harappan culture belongs to the Bronze Age
and bronze was made by mixing tin and copper.
Tools were mostly made of copper and bronze. For
making bronze, copper was obtained from Khetri
in Rajasthan and from Baluchistan and tin from
Afghanistan.
• The people of this culture were not acquainted with
iron at all.
• The Indus Valley people had achieved a great skill
in drawing the fi gures of men, animals and various
other objects of nature and were fully conversant
with the art of craving with fi gures on ivory, soapstone,
leather, metal and wood proving their artistic
acumen.
• Cotton fabrics were quite common and woolens
were popular in winter.
• One male fi gure or a statue shows that generally
two garments were worn and the female dress was
more or less like that of a male.
• The Indus valley people were very fond of
ornaments (of gold, silver, ivory, copper, bronze
and precious stones) and dressing up. Ornaments
were worn by both men and women, rich or poor.
Women wore heavy bangles in profusion, large
necklaces, ear-rings, bracelets, fi gure-rings, girdles,
nose-studs and anklets. The Harappans were expert
bead makers.
• They were fully conscious of the various fashions of
hair-dressing and wore beards of different styles.
