Life in the Harappa Period

Life in the Harappa Period

In the previous lesson , we looked at some of the public facilities and systems in the Harappa civilization . Let us now look at the way people lived .

Food

Wheat , rice , barley and dates were the main items of their food . Their food also included meat , fish , fruits and vegetables .

Clothing

The excavated statues , the pictures on the seals and the remains of cloth show that the Harappan people used to weave cloth . Their dress consisted of a knee - length garment and an upper garment .

Ornaments

Many types of ornaments have been found in excavations . They are made of gold , silver , copper , precious stones , as also shells and seeds . Men and women both used multi - stranded necklaces , rings , armlets , and waistbands . Women wore bangles right upto ornament their upper arm . The Harappan people used mirrors made of shiny copper sheets .

A Harappan ornament

Recreation

Dance and music were important means of recreation . One of the seals depicts a dance . Dice used for board games have also been found .

Harappan toys

Remains of a variety of children's toys have been found . The toys were made of clay . They include carts , bird - shaped whistles , rattles and figures of various animals .

Religious ideas

The various figures on the Harappan seals and the Harappan statues give us a fair idea about their religious beliefs . Many seals bear the pictures of trees and animals which indicates that nature - worship may have been common . Many statues of mother goddess have been found . This indicates that mother goddess was also worshipped . Worship of Pashupati and fire - worship also seem to have been a practice .

The Harappan people buried their dead . Sometimes coffins were used for this purpose . Food , ornaments , weapons and other objects were also buried with the dead . Occasionally , dead bodies were cremated .

Seals

Seals used by the Harappan people have been found . They are mostly square shaped . Manlike figures and animal figures are engraved on them . There appears to be some writing in pictographs at the top of the seal , but we have not yet been able to decipher the script .

Harappan seals

Occupation and industries

The major occupations were agriculture and trade .

Agriculture

The crops cultivated were wheat , barley , sesame , rice , legumes and cotton . Along with agriculture , another occupation was animal husbandry .

Pottery

Pottery was an important occupation . Red terra - cotta pots feature prominently among the remains of Harappa civilization . There are designs of leaves and flowers and animal motifs on some of the pots . Black colour has  been used for the designs and figures . The pots were baked in kilns . The Harappan people made pots and vessels from copper and silver , too .

Harappan pottery

Textiles

In the Harappan settlements , spinning yarn , weaving and dying cloth were large scale industries . Woollen cloth was also produced .

Trade

The goods produced in the Harappan settlements were sent outside India . Earthen bricks bearing some writing in Sumerian script have been found in India . On the other hand , Harappan seals have been found in Mesopotamia . It shows that there was trade between the two countries . The remains of the dock at Lothal in Gujarat show that those people used waterways and sea - routes to trade with other countries . Textiles , aromatic substances , various types of beads and many other objects were exported from the Indus valley to Egypt and West Asia .

Harappa civilization was a rich and prosperous urban civilization . It laid the foundation of the Indian civilization .