Urban Planning of Indus Valley Civilization
Broadly speaking, IVC towns are divided into two parts: Upper town and lower town.
Read First: Indus Valley Civilization — The Most Advanced Ancient Civilization of the Mankind — (I)
Urban Planning was one of the most important aspects which makes IVC the most advanced ancient civilization.
The town planning of the Harappan civilization upholds the fact that the civic establishments of the city were highly developed. They followed a system of centralized administration.
IVC towns are divided into parts namely,
- Upper Town or Citadel
- Lower Town
The ‘Citadel’ was built on the high podium of mud-brick to the west. The town to the east was the main hub of the residential area, which was also surrounded by a massive brick wall.
Citadel:
Citadel used to be on the upraised platform of the town. In this part of the land, administration buildings were created and all intellectuals of that time used to meet here and live here.
Common Bath and Granaries were made in this area.
- Granary was made scientifically so that if they store the grains for a longer duration, they will not get spoiled.
- The common bath was the stepped water tank, and it was commonly used for ritual bathing. The stairs were made in North-South Direction, and they were made of bricks. Example: Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro.
Lower Town:
This was quite large and meant for the habitation of commoners.
- The main feature of this town was that it was divided into sectors, hence Sectoral Planning.
- The homes of the commoners were well-connected with the roads, and hence, the network of roads was very well-developed.
- Another feature of the network of roads was that they used to cut each other at a right angle.
In the next blog, the topic will be the Drainage System of Indus Valley Civilization.
Himanshu India
