Ramanisblog

Tag: Harappa civilization

  • 2700 Year Old Yogi Remains In Padmasana Gyan Mudra Harappa

    While Yoga is being sold by Corporate Gurus today, it is necessary to remember that Yoga as a system of Spiritual development   was in vogue probably by or before the Rig Veda which is dated around 5000 BC.

    However I have provided information that the Vedas date back much earlier, going back to at least 75000 years.

    Yogi remains found in Harappa.
    Yogi Remains in Baithal, Padmasana and with Gyan Mudra

    While there is no specific reference to Yoga is found in the Vedas, Yoga seems to have been in vogue during that period or earlier.

    The Tamils speak of Lord Shiva as the Chief/First Yogin and `and Sage Agastya and Bhogar being His disciples.

    Siva.jpg
    Lord Shiva.

    They were called Siddhas .

    Please read my posts on Siddhas

    And while Shiva is not mentioned in detail in the Vedas the Tamil literature speaks of Him.

    Evidence about Thiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu being 3.94 Billion years and Jwalapuram in Telengana, India being 74000 yeras old has come to light.

     

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    The 2,700 year old skeletal remains of an ancient yogi sitting in samadhi have been found in an Indus valley civilization archaeological site located at Balathal, Rajasthan.

    Many Indus Valley seals depict pictures of yogis sitting in lotus position. Here are two examples showing ancient yogis sitting in meditation and keeping their hands on their knees as done in modern yoga meditations. If we see the skeletal remains of the yogi above, we can note that his fingers are in gyana mudra (with thumb touching index finger), resting on his knees as well….

    Balathal is an archaeological site located in Vallabhnagar tehsil of Udaipur district of Rajasthan state in western India. This site, located 6 km from Vallabhnagar town and 42 km from Udaipur city, was discovered by V. N. Misra during a survey in 1962-63. Excavation began in 1994 jointly by the Department of Archaeology of the Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute, Pune and the Institute of Rajasthan Studies, Udaipur…

    Excavation of sites from the 4,500 year old Ahar culture provide clues to the link between the Harappans and their predecessors.

    That it existed at all was a surprise – a fortified enclosure of mud and brick, comparable to the citadels of the Harappans, spread over 500 sq m. It was filled with ash and cowdung. A people called the Ahars had built it in Balathal near modern Udaipur some 4,500 years ago.

    Carbon dating established that they had lived in and around the Mewar region in Rajasthan between 3,500 and 1,800 B.C. They were Mewar’s first farmers, older even than the Harappans. But why had they built a fort only to fill it with ash and cowdung? To solve the mystery, a team of Indian archaeologists excavating the site went on removing layer after layer of civilisation.

    The mystery deepened. They found five skeletons, four in layers between 2,000 B.C. and 1,800 B.C. That was the age of stone and copper, the chalcolithic age. This was the first time human skeletons had been found at any Ahar site. The Ahars, it had been thought, cremated their dead. And the Harappans buried theirs.

    There are 90 sites of Ahar – a rural society. The recent round of excavations is establishing that Ahar culture and Harappan civilisation were different though contemporary and related. This village life emerged much before the mature Harappan era.

    Harappa’s progress in the mature Harappan period (2,500 B.C.) helped the rural Ahar people to flourish and develop their own township and stone and brick houses. On the scale of civilisation, they emerged far ahead of other chalcolithic cultures in the subcontinent.

    And they may be the missing link to show how the Indus people made such a quantum leap from small rural communities to an advanced civilisation.

    Ahar culture flourished predominantly in the Mewar region of Rajasthan, on the eastern side of the Aravallis, and in undulating rocky plateaus and plains along the Banas river and its tributaries.

    In modern Rajasthan, Ahar sites have been reported in Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur, Bhilwara, Rajsamand, Bundi, Tonk and Ajmer dotting10,000 sq km. “There is a commonality in all 90-sites located in South eastern Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh,” says Jaipur-based Rima Hooja, a scholar on Ahar culture.

    Their name comes from a mid-1950s excavation led by R.C. Aggarwal, former director of archaeology, Rajasthan, at Ahar near Udaipur. A few years later, one excavation was carried out at Gilund in Rajsamand and then the focus shifted to the Harappans.

    The Deccan College, Pune and Institute of Rajasthan Studies, Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur turned their attention to Ahar culture in 1994 and began excavations in Balathal. Deccan College and the University of Pennsylvania began digging in Gilund in 1999 and the Jaipur circle of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) began excavation at Ojiyana in Bhilwara in 2000. And discoveries began pouring in.

    Gwen Robbins, a biological anthropologist from the University of Oregon, USA, in her ongoing preliminary analysis of the bones, found the first skeleton uncovered was of a male. Dead at the age of 50, he suffered from a joint disease and had lost all but four of his teeth at least five years before death. On closer inspection of the remains, a left mandible and a few cranial fragments were found to be of a second individual aged 35 whose sex couldn’t be determined.

    The third skeleton was of a female approximately 35 years of age.The fourth was of a 35-year-old woman, and it caught the archaeologists’ interest. It had been buried with a small earthen lota (pot) near the head. Why was the lota there? “I am certain that the fortified enclosure had a ritual function,” says Dr V.N. Mishra, former principal of the Deccan College, who led the excavations: “You don’t find such selective burials in cow dung and ash anywhere else.”

    The fifth skeleton, from a different era, was of an adult male 35 to 40 years old, and had been buried in a seated position that resembles the modern samadhi burial of sadhus who renounce the world. The ritual of burial in ash and cowdung raises the need to look at related traditions in present-day Hindu communities such as Gosain and Jogi which bury their dead.

    Citation and reference.

    http://www.indiadivine.org/2700-year-old-yogi-samadhi-found-indus-valley-civilization-archaeological-site/

     

     

  • What Did Vedic People Eat ? Indus Sarasvati Harappa Food

    I have noticed that despite the multitude of Languages,Dialects and terrain, the food habits of the people of India , especially of the Brahmin Community seems to be uniform.

    I have made the observation on Brahmins because I am familiar with it.

    During my professional Life, I have covered India extensively and had partaken food with the local people in Kashmir,Punjab,Bengal,Odisha, Gujarat, MP, UP , not to mention the southern states.

    Copper plate from Harappa site.jpg Plate with vertical sides. Copper and bronze plates were probably used exclusively by wealthy upper class city dwellers. Discovered in 1938.

    What struck me was the essential food habits are the same, right from offering water first to the householder eating later.

    Major difference is that in the Northern States Wheat is consumed in place of Rice.

    (Rice is consumed more in the Southern States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu,Karnataka, Andhra,and in th East Bengal and Odisha.)

    Yet for Religious ceremonies Rice is being used and the vegetables that are used all over the country for important ceremonies like Sraddha remain the same.

    Sanatana Dharma, being the unifying factor, I looked into what our ancestors of Sanatana Dharma Hinduism ate.

    Here it is.

    ‘

    The Harappans grew lentils and other pulses (peas, chickpeas, green gram, black gram). Their main staples were wheat and barley, which were presumably made into bread and perhaps also cooked with water as a gruel or porridge. In some places, particularly Gujarat, they also cultivated some native millets; possibly broomcorn millet, which may have been introduced from southern Central Asia; and by 2000 BC, if not before, African millets. They fed local wild rice to their animals and probably began to cultivate it, though rice does not become an important crop until Post-Harappan times. The Harappans must have eaten a range of fruit, vegetables and spices : these included a variety of brassica, brown mustard greens, coriander, dates, jujube, walnuts, grapes, figs; many others, such as mango, okra, caper, sugarcane, garlic, turmeric, ginger, cumin and cinnamon, were locally available and probably grown or gathered by the Harappans, but the evidence is lacking. Sesame was grown for oil, and linseed oil may also have been used.

    Meat came mainly from cattle, but the Harappans also kept chickens, buffaloes and some sheep and goats, and hunted a wide range of wildfowl and wild animals such as deer, antelopes and wild boar. They also ate fish and shellfish from the rivers, lakes and the sea; as well as being eaten fresh, many fish were dried or salted – many bones from marine fish such as jack and catfish were found at Harappa, far inland.

    Harappan houses had a kitchen opening from the courtyard, with a hearth or brick-built fireplace. Pottery vessels in a range of sizes were used for cooking; in wealthy households metal vessels were also used.

    Few certain agricultural tools have been found. Flint blades were probably used for harvesting. A ploughed field at Early Harappan Kalibangan shows that the plough was in use by the early 3rd millennium BC; its criss-cross furrows allowed two crops to be raised in the same field, a practice that has continued into modern times.

    Richard Meadow
    We have a good deal of evidence for Harappan subsistence. Staple crops varying by region and time period included wheat, barley, millets, rice, and pulses.

    Food in Indus Valley civilization has been predominantly agrarian in which excavations reveal that the Indus valley people were habituated in consuming Barley which was one of the major cereals of the community. While specimens of Barley have been found in the ruins of Mohenjodaro, it has not been proved whether they used to consume rice or not. However the use of rice must have been known to them. Along with Barley the civilisation also cultivated peas and sesamum along with spices of brassica which is very similar to modern day Rai. While these have been major crops of the Indus Valley civilization, the civilisation also reared buffaloes, goat and sheep which prove that milk was major food article for these people. Along with the vegetarian food items the people of Indus valley civilization also consumed meat that was evident from the fact that meat was included in the offerings made for the dead. With the excavation of number of artefacts like sling balls of clay, copper fish hooks, the arrow heads, the flying knives etc strongly prove that these were required to kill and rear animals and birds which were dressed with these instruments and included in their food items after cooking. Their food items as such included beef, mutton, pork and poultry products, the flesh of Gharial or crocodile, turtle and tortoise, flesh of fresh local fishes from nearby rivers and dried fish from sea coasts. The bones and shells in hard form has been found in and around the houses of the Indus valley civilization.

    References, Citations.

    http://a.harappa.com/content/what-kinds-things-did-indus-people-eat

    http://www.indianetzone.com/52/food_indus_valley_civilization.htm

    Fuller, D. (2002) Fifty Years of Archaeobotanical Studies in India: Laying a Solid Foundation in S. Settar and R. Korisettar (eds.) Indian Archaeology in Retrospect, Volume III. Archaeology and Interactive Disciplines, Publications of the Indian Council for Historical Research. New Dehli: Manohar: Pp. 247-364.

    Fuller, D. (2003) African crops in prehistoric South Asia: a critical review in K. Neumann, A. Butler and S. Kahlheber (eds.) Food, Fuel and Fields. Progress in Africa Archaeobotany, Africa Praehistorica 15. Colonge: Heinrich-Barth-Institut: Pp. 239-271

    Fuller, D. (2003) Indus and Non-Indus Agricultural Traditions: Local Developments and Crop Adoptions on the Indian Peninsula, in S. Weber and W. Belcher (eds.) Indus Ethnobiology: New Perspectives from the Field. Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland: Chapter 10.

    Fuller, D. Q (2005). “Ceramics, seeds and culinary change in prehistoric India.” Antiquity 79 (306): 761-777.

    Fuller, D. Q and E. L. Harvey (2006). “The Archaeobotany of Indian Pulses: identification, processing and evidence for cultivation.” Environmental Archaeology 11(2): 219-246.

    Fuller, D. Q (2006). “Agricultural Origins and Frontiers in South Asia: A Working Synthesis.” Journal of World Prehistory 20: 1-86

    For animals, the domesticates humped cattle, sheep, goat, and perhaps water buffalo were of principle importance for both primary (after death) and secondary (before death) products. See:

    Meadow, R.H. and A.K. Patel (2003) Prehistoric pastoralism in northwestern South Asia from the Neolithic through the Harappan Period. In S. Weber and W. Belcher, eds., Indus Ethnobiology: New Perspectives from the Field. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group), pp. 65-93.

    Both wild animal and wild plant resources continued to be important including fish, molluscs, hunted animals, and various wild plants for fodder, food, and medicines. Linen, cotton, and wool were important resources for textile manufacture, and silk was also used., coming from wild silk moths. For the last, see:

    Good, Irene, J.M Kenoyer and R.H. Meadow (2009) “New evidence for early silk in the Indus Civilization.” Archaeometry 51: 457-466.

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  • Why No Temple in Sarasvati , Indus Valley Civilizations

    Why there are no temples discovered in Indus Valley and Sarasvati Valley?

    If what has been written in the Puranas about Hindu Gods is true why is it that the Temples dedicated to Gods are not found in these ancient sites?

    This is the gist of comments I have been receiving on the Temples of India and the history of Sanatana Dharma.

    Angkor Vat Temple.jpg
    Angkor Vat Temple.

    A Sample.

    ‘Then why does the harappan people worship only mother goddess and peepal tree.Why didnt they construct any temples.’

    I shall reply on Mother Goddess and Peepal Tree in another Post.

    The Vedas do not sanction group or community worship.

    It does not believe in institutionalizing Religion.

    Religion , according to the Vedas is intensely personal.

    It does not believe in numbers game for the Religion.

    And In Hinduism there is no such thing called Super Natural.

    Every thing is natural.

    Any thing we call us super natural by the others is only Natural, being a part of Nature and the most the Puranas would go about in describing them is ‘wonderful,astonishing”, ‘Aascharyam’ ,that’s all.

    Every thing was taken as Natural.

    So every thing including the exploits of Rama and Krishna were taken as part of exhibition of valour and though people considered Rama and Krishna as super Heroes even during their times, no body was in awe of them and people, even ordinary one at that, would challenge them.

    Take the instance of a washer-man commenting on Rama’s acceptance of Sita after she was brought back from Lanka!

    They were treated as humans while they lived though revered.

    And since people of that era were able to acquire powers by penance the ability to travel t will to various planes of existence and other powers which we call now as super natural today, they were not over awed by the exploits of these Gods.

    What they have been taught is that any one can attain these powers by character, penance and above all realizing  The Self.

    These extra qualities acquired are but impediments to the ultimate Goal of Realizing the Self.

    The Vedas are for self-realization and as such calls for personal upliftment.

    So they did not build any temples for the Gods.

    But the Gods were propitiated by Yajnyas and Homas.

    Hence there is no evidence of temples in Harappa, SaraswathiValley.

    Some references are  found about Temples for Mother Goddess.

    I am researching into this and shall share the information.

    And there is no sanction about building temples in the Vedas, no word about temples at all.

    The construction of Temples came later, inspired by the Agamas, which are post-Vedic.

    However the oldest temple in the world , on record to-day, is found in Tamil Nadu.

    ‘The Subrahmanya Temple at Saluvankuppam, Tamil Nadu, is a shrine dedicated to the Hindu deity Murugan. Archaeologists believe that the shrine, unearthed in 2005, consists of two layers: a brick temple constructed during the Sangam period (the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD) and a granite Pallava temple dating from the 8th century AD and constructed on top of the brick shrine. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team which conducted the excavation believe that brick temple could be the oldest of its kind to be discovered in Tamil Nadu. However, noted Indian archaeologist R. Nagaswamy is critical of this claim owing to lack of references to the shrine in the popular literature of the period.’

    For more Read here.

    The temple of Angkor vat and Changu Narayan temple came later

    ‘The Agamas are non-vedic in origin [4] and have been dated either as post-vedic texts  or as pre-vedic compositions. In theMalay language the word Agama literally means ‘religion’. Agama traditions have been the sources of Yoga and Self Realization concepts in the Indian subcontinent, including Kundalini Yoga  and encompass traditions of asceticism. Tantrism includes within its fold Buddhist and Jaina tantras suggesting that Hindu, Jaina and Buddhist tantrism developed separately after arising from common sources of Tantric elements. The Agamic tradition, in general, has been dated to the pre-Mauryan period as references to the tradition are found in later vedic literature of Atharvaveda.’

    ‘The pagoda style temple has several masterpieces of 5th and 12th century Nepalese art. According to legends Changu Narayan temple existed as early as 325 A.D. in the time of Licchavi King Hari Datta Verma and it is one of Nepal’s richest structures historically as well as artistically. In the grounds there is a stone pillar inscription of great importance recording the military exploits of King Man Deva who reigned from 496 A.D. to 524 A.D. The first epigraphic evidence of Nepalese history found in the temple premises during the reign of the Licchavi King Mandeva dating back to 464 A.D. shows that Changu had already been established as a sacred site in the 3rd century A.D. It is the earliest inscription known in Nepal. The temple was restored during the lifetime of Ganga Rani, consort of Siva Simha Malla who reigned from 1585 to 1614.’

    ‘

    According to one legend, the construction of Angkor Wat was ordered by Indra to act as a palace for his son Precha Ket Mealea. According to the 13th century Chinese travelerDaguan Zhou, it was believed by some that the temple was constructed in a single night by a divine architect.

    The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113 – c. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king’s state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may have been known as “Varah Vishnu-lok” after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king’s death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished.[6] In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a few kilometers to the north.

    Citation.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80gama_%28Hinduism%29

    http://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-oldest-Hindu-temple-which-still-exists

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat

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  • Indus Valley Harappan Writing Found Hampi Karnataka

    I have often wondered about the antiquity of the South of India,. called Dravida Desa, the Ancient Langauge Tamil which is often quoted by the Vedas and Puranas and tamil Kings being mentioned in the Ithihasaas ,Ramayana and Mahabharata.

    Rig Veda refers to Pearls, Sandalwood,Akhil( a type of Incense wood),Elephants and intricate silk from the Dravida desa,pointing out the Chera Kingdom, now called Kerala, which was once a part of the Tamil Chera Kingdom.

    There is also this reference of Viswamitra banishing his sons to Dravida Desa.

    Their descendant, Apasthamba compiled the Apasthamba Sutra, incorporating Tamil practices into Vedic Culture.

    Indus Valley Harappan Inscrption found in HampiImage.jpg
    Indus Valley Harappan Inscrption found in Hampi,Karnataka.

    Tamil Records show that Lord Krishna attendd the Tamil Poets’ Conclave, He married a Pandyan Princess and had a Daughter through her.

    Arjuna performed Tirta Yatra, Pilgrimage to South and married a Pandyan Princess.

    He had a son through her , Babruvahana, who was the only one to defeat Arjuna and killed him(Arjuna was revived by Krishna)

    Parashurama created what is Now Kerala .

    Balarama visited the Dravida Desa and worshiped Lord Subrahmanya, worshiped there as Murugan.

    Chera King Udiyan Cheralaathan  and another Pandyan King participated in the Kurukshetra War of Mahabharata.

    While Udiyan Ceralaathan fed both the Kaurava and Pandava armies during the war and performed Sraddha for the slain in the Mahabharata war,a Pandyan King Darshak fought on the side of the Pandavas.

    Lord Krishna  fought with a Pandya King and killed him.

    There are references in the Bhavatham and Tamil Classics that during one of the Tsunamis,Satyavrata Manu, the ancestor of Lord Rama migrated to South and his son Ikshvaku founded the Ikshvaku dynasty.

    The Chola Kings trace their Lineage to the Solar Dynasty of Rama and one of their early Kings called Sibi belonged to Ikshvaku Dynasty.

    Mahabharata and Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa record this.

    The archeological finding in Arikkamedu in Pondicherry and a Vedic Homa Kunda is found with references to Vedic Rites in Kanya Kumari dating back to 280BC.

    More archeological finds are reported from Tamil Nadu linking Sanatana Dharma and  the Tamils.

    Tamil Brahmi script was found in Harappa.

    Now comes the startling find.

    Drawings of the Indus Valley Scripts are found in Hampi, Karnataka!

     

    ”

    The writing system of the Indus Valley Civilization is not deciphered and it still remains a mystery. All attempts to decipher it have failed. This is one of the reasons why the Indus Valley Civilization is one of the least known of the important early civilizations of antiquity.

    “On the goddess Kotamma temple woollen market way there is a rocky roof shelter for shepherds and sheep to stay at night up to morning.”

    The sentence emerged after a set of 19 drawing and pictographs discovered on a hilltop in Hampi (Karnataka, India) were deciphered using root morphemes of Gondi Tribe language.

    Eleven of the Hampi pictographs resemble those of the Indus valley civilisation. This innocuous sounding statement could actually be a revolutionary find linking the Gond or Gondi tribe to the Indus Valley civilisation.

    The Gondi people are a Dravidian people of central India, spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra (Vidarbha), Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Western Odisha. With over four million people, they are the largest tribe in Central India.

    “Eleven of the Hampi pictographs resemble the Late Harappan writing of the Indus Valley Civilisation”, says Dr KM Metry, professor of tribal studies at the Kannada University. The professor claims that this shows that after the collapse of the civilisation situated in North-West India, the Harappans moved to other parts of the country, with some of them settling in Central India and a majority of them in the South.”

    My surmise that the Dravida connection with Sanatana Dharma is more deep than considered and may be the Vedic Culture prevailed here along with the Indus Valley civilization, if not earlier.

    * I have noticed a curious fact about Harappa.

    The name Harappa is very differnt from the other Northern town names.

    In fact, as far as my search goes, it is Unique

    Among all the Indian languages,only Tamil has the word ‘Appa’ for Fathere.

    And Shiva was called father in Tamil anitquity and He is addressed as Appan in medieval Tamil literature of the Shaivas and Vaishanava Saint , Azhwar calls Him , Mukkannapa, father with three Eyes!

    Following is the definition of the word Haran, a name for Shiva.

    Intriguing to find Tamil name for God in Harappa!

     

    ‘ hara—just dissipate    *SB 6.14.57
    hara—please diminish    SB 10.2.40
    hara—the attractor.    Madhya 8.143
    hara—kindly take away    Madhya 20.299
    hara—and Lord Śiva    Madhya 21.36
    hara—plunder    Antya 15.16
    hara—vanquishing    Antya 16.119
    hara—You take away    Antya 16.133

    * Refers to the Puranas or Ithihasas.

    Citation.

    http://www.mysteryofindia.com/2014/12/indus-valley-drawing-discovered-near-hampi.html

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  • Mass Production Building Materials Cosmetics Vedic Period

     

    While I have been writing articles on the advanced technologies developed by the ancient Indians,especially in the Vedic Times, I was curious to find out how they produced the various things they needed to sustain such a large civilization

    Look at what we come to know of the Life of the Vedic people from the Sarasvati Civilization.

    Sarasvathi Civilization Building in ruins.jpg
    “Granary,” a massive building with solid brick foundations with sockets for a wooden super structure and doorways.

     

    Town Planning: The excavations of the ruins showed a remarkable skill in town planning. The main streets and roads were set in a line, sometimes running straight for a mile, and were varying in width from 4 meters to 10 meters. Most of these roads and streets were paved with fire brunt bricks. On the either side of the street stood houses of various sizes which did not protrude into the streets. The main streets intersected at right angles, dividing the city into squares or rectangular blocks each of which was divided length wise and cross wise by lanes. Some buildings had a lamp post and a well. There was an elaborate drainage system which emptied into the river.

    The Drainage System: The Drainage System of the Indus Valley Civilization was far advanced. The drains were covered with slabs. Water flowed from houses into the street drains. The street drains had manholes at regular intervals. Housewives were expected to use pits in which heavier part of the rubbish will settle down while only sewerage water was allowed to drain off. All soak pits and drains were occasionally cleaned by workmen. In every house there was a well-constructed sink, and water flowed from the sink into the underground sewers in the streets. This elaborate drainage system shows that the Indus Valley people were fully conversant with the principles of health and sanitation.

    Houses: The houses were of different sizes varying from a palatial building to one with two small rooms. The houses had a well, a bathroom, and a covered drain connected to the drain in the street. The buildings were made of burnt bricks, which have been preserved even to this day. Sun-dried bricks were used for the foundation of the buildings and the roofs were flat and made of wood. The special feature of the houses was that rooms were built around an open courtyard. Some houses were double storied. Some buildings had pillared halls; some of them measured 24 square meters. It is assumed that there also must have been palaces, temples or municipal halls.

    Great Bath: One of the largest buildings was the Great Bath measuring 180 feet by 108 feet. The bathing pool, 39 feet long, 28 feet wide and 8 feet deep was in the center of the quadrangle, surrounded with verandahs, rooms and galleries. A flight of steps led to the pool. The pool could be filled and emptied by means of a vaulted culvert, 6 feet and 6 inches high. The walls of the pool were made of burnt bricks laid on edge, which made the pool watertight. The pool was filled with water from a large well, situated in the same complex. Periodic cleaning of the pool was done by draining off the used water into a big drain. The Great Bath building had six entrances. The Great Bath reflected the engineering genius of those ancient days.

    Great Granary: Another large building in the city was the Great Granary which was made about 45 meters long and 15 meters wide. It was meant to store food grains. It had lines of circular brick platforms for pounding grain. There were barrack like quarters for workmen. The granary also had smaller halls and corridors.

     

    Food: Specimens of wheat and barley show that they were cultivated in that region. Rice was also probably grown. There is evidence to show that date palms were grown in the area. Besides these, the diet of the people consisted of fruits, vegetables, fish, milk and meat of animals i.e. beef, mutton and poultry.

    Dress: From the sculptured figures it can be seen that the dress of men and women consisted of two pieces of cloth-one resembling a dhoti, covering the lower part, and the other worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm. Men had long hair designed differently. Women wore a fan shaped head dress covering there hair. The discovery of a large number of spindles showed that they knew weaving and spinning. Similarly it was concluded, by the discovery of needles and buttons, that the people of this age knew the art of stitching.

    Ornaments: Both men and women wore ornaments made of gold, silver, copper and other metals. Men wore necklaces, finger rings and armlets of various designs and shapes. The women wore a head dress, ear rings, bangles, girdles, bracelets and anklets. Rich people wore expensive ornaments made of gold while the poor had ornaments made of shell, bone or copper.

    Cosmetics: The ladies of Mohen-jo-daro were not lagging behind in styles as used by the ladies of the present day, when it came to the use of cosmetics and the attainment of beauty. Materials made of ivory and metal for holding and applying cosmetics prove that they knew the use of face paint and collyrium. Bronze oval mirrors, ivory combs of various shapes, even small dressing tables, have been found at Mohen-jo-daro and other sites. Women tied the hair into a bun and used hair pins made of ivory. Toilet jars, found at Mohen-jo-daro, show that women took interest in cosmetics.

    Furniture and Utensils: The furniture and utensils found at Mohen-jo-daro show a high degree of civilization because of their variety in kind and design. The beautifully painted pottery, numerous vessels for the kitchen, chairs and beds made of wood, lamps of different material, toys for children, marbles, balls and dice, indicate what people manufactured in those days.

    Conveyance A copper specimen found at Harappa resembles the modern Ekka (cart) with a top-cover. Bullock carts with or without the roof was the chief means of conveyance.

    Amusements and Recreation: The Indus Valley people liked more of indoor games than outdoor amusements. They were fond of gambling and playing dice. Dancing and singing were considered great arts. Boys played with toys made of terracotta, while girls played with dolls.

    This lifestyle requires Mass production.

    I have been able to find references about the Mass production of some items.

    I am searching for further evidence for other items.

    The people of the IVC manufactured bricks whose dimensions were in the proportion 4:2:1, considered favorable for the stability of a brick structure. They used a standardized system of weights based on the ratios: 1/20, 1/10, 1/5, 1/2, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500, with the unit weight equaling approximately 28 grams (and approximately equal to the English ounce or Greek uncia). They mass-produced weights in regular geometrical shapes, which included hexahedra, barrels, cones, and cylinders, thereby demonstrating knowledge of basicgeometry.[20]

    The inhabitants of Indus civilization also tried to standardize measurement of length to a high degree of accuracy. They designed a ruler—theMohenjo-daro ruler—whose unit of length (approximately 1.32 inches or 3.4 centimetres) was divided into ten equal parts. Bricks manufactured in ancient Mohenjo-daro often had dimensions that were integral multiples of this unit of length.[21][22]

    Mehrgarh, a Neolithic IVC site, provides the earliest known evidence for in vivo drilling of human teeth, with recovered samples dated to 7000-5500 BCE.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science_in_early_cultures#India

     Indus Sarasvathi Civilizaton