THE arts of the Indus Valley Civilisation emerged duringthe second half of the third millennium BCE. The forms

of art found from various sites of the civilisation includesculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewellery, terracotta figures,etc. The artists of that time surely had fine artisticsensibilities and a vivid imagination. Their delineation ofhuman and animal figures was highly realistic in nature,since the anatomical details included in them was unique,and, in the case of terracotta art, the modelling of animalfigures was done in an extremely careful manner.

The two major sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation,along the Indus river—the cities of Harappa in the northand Mohenjodaro in the south—showcase one of earliestexamples of civic planning. Other markers were houses,markets, storage facilities, offices, public baths, etc.,arranged in a grid-like pattern. There was also a highlydeveloped drainage system. While Harappa andMohenjodaro are situated in Pakistan, the important sitesexcavated in India are Lothal and Dholavira in Gujarat,Rakhigarhi in Haryana, Ropar in the Punjab,Kalibangan and Balathal in Rajasthan, etc.

Statues whether in stone, bronze or terracottafound in Harappan sites are not abundant, but refined.

Stone Statues

The stone statuaries found at Harappa andMohenjodaro are excellent examples of handling three-dimensional volumes. In stone are two male figures—one is a torso in red sandstone and the other is abust of a bearded man in steatite—which areextensively discussed.

The figure of the bearded man interpreted as apriest, is draped in a shawl coming under the rightarm and covering the left shoulder. This shawl isdecorated with trefoil patterns. The eyes are a littleelongated, and half-closed as in meditativeconcentration. The nose is well formed and of medium

ARTS OFTHE INDUS VALLEY

Bust of a bearded priest

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size; the mouth is of average size with close-cut moustacheand a short beard and whiskers; the ears resemble doubleshells with a hole in the middle. The hair is parted in themiddle, and a plain woven fillet is passed round the head.An armlet is worn on the right hand and holes around theneck suggest a necklace.

Bronze Casting

The art of bronze-casting was practised on a wide scale bythe Harappans. Their bronze statues were made using the‘lost wax’ technique in which the wax figures were firstcovered with a coating of clay and allowed to dry. Then thewax was heated and the molten wax was drained outthrough a tiny hole made in the clay cover. The hollowmould thus created was filled with molten metal whichtook the original shape of the object. Once the metal cooled,the clay cover was completely removed. In bronze we findhuman as well as animal figures, the best example of theformer being the statue of a girl popularly titled ‘DancingGirl’. Amongst animal figures in bronze the buffalo withits uplifted head, back and sweeping horns and the goatare of artistic merit. Bronze casting was popular at all themajor centres of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The copperdog and bird of Lothal and the bronze figure of a bull fromKalibangan are in no way inferior to the human figures ofcopper and bronze from Harappa and Mohenjodaro. Metal-casting appears to be a continuous tradition. The lateHarappan and Chalcolithic sites like Daimabad inMaharashtra yielded excellent examples of metal-cast

Mother goddess, terracotta A terracotta figurine

Bronze castingtechniques of thesame nature arepractised even nowin many parts of thecountry, having acontinuoustradition.

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sculptures. They mainly consist of human and animalfigures. It shows how the tradition of figure sculpturecontinued down the ages.

Terracotta

The Indus Valley people made terracotta images also butcompared to the stone and bronze statues the terracottarepresentations of human form are crude in the IndusValley. They are more realistic in Gujarat sites andKalibangan. The most important among the Indus figuresare those representing the mother goddess. In terracotta,we also find a few figurines of bearded males with coiledhair, their posture rigidly upright, legs slightly apart, andthe arms parallel to the sides of the body. The repetition ofthis figure in exactly the same position would suggest thathe was a deity. A terracotta mask of a horned deity hasalso been found. Toy carts with wheels, whistles, rattles,birds and animals, gamesmen and discs were also renderedin terracotta.

Seals

Archaeologists have discovered thousands of seals, usuallymade of steatite, and occasionally of agate, chert, copper,faience and terracotta, with beautiful figures of animals,such as unicorn bull, rhinoceros, tiger, elephant, bison,goat, buffalo, etc. The realistic rendering of these animalsin various moods is remarkable. The purpose of producingseals was mainly commercial. It appears that the sealswere also used as amulets, carried on the persons of theirowners, perhaps as modern-day identity cards. Thestandard Harappan seal was a square plaque 2×2 squareinches, usually made from the soft river stone, steatite.Every seal is engraved in a pictographic script which isyet to be deciphered. Some seals have also been found ingold and ivory. They all bear a great variety of motifs, mostoften of animals including those of the bull, with or without

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the hump, the elephant, tiger, goat and alsomonsters. Sometimes trees or human figureswere also depicted. The most remarkable sealis the one depicted with a figure in the centreand animals around. This seal is generallyidentified as the Pashupati Seal by somescholars whereas some identify it as the femaledeity. This seal depicts a human figure seatedcross-legged. An elephant and a tiger aredepicted to the right side of the seated figure,while on the left a rhinoceros and a buffaloare seen. In addition to these animals twoantelopes are shown below the seat. Sealssuch as these date from between 2500 and1500 BCE and were found in considerablenumbers in sites such as the ancient city ofMohenjodaro in the Indus Valley. Figures andanimals are carved in intaglio on theirsurfaces.

Square or rectangular copper tablets, withan animal or a human figure on one side andan inscription on the other, or an inscriptionon both sides have also been found. The figuresand signs are carefully cut with a burin. Thesecopper tablets appear to have been amulets.Unlike inscriptions on seals which vary in eachcase, inscriptions on the copper tablets seemto be associated with the animals portrayedon them.

Pashupati seal/female deity

Unicorn seals

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Pottery

A large quantity of pottery excavated from the sites, enableus to understand the gradual evolution of various designmotifs as employed in different shapes, and styles. TheIndus Valley pottery consists chiefly of very fine wheel-made wares, very few being hand-made. Plain pottery ismore common than painted ware. Plain pottery is generallyof red clay, with or without a fine red or grey slip. It includesknobbed ware, ornamented with rows of knobs. The blackpainted ware has a fine coating of red slip on whichgeometric and animal designs are executed in glossy blackpaint.

Polychrome pottery is rare and mainly comprises smallvases decorated with geometric patterns in red, black, andgreen, rarely white and yellow. Incised ware is also rareand the incised decoration was confined to the bases ofthe pans, always inside and to the dishes of offering stands.Perforated pottery includes a large hole at the bottom andsmall holes all over the wall, and was probably used forstraining liquor. Pottery for household purposes is foundin as many shapes and sizes as could be conceived of fordaily practical use. Straight and angular shapes are anexception, while graceful curves are the rule. Miniaturevessels, mostly less than half an inch in height are,particularly, so marvellously crafted as to evoke admiration.

Beads and Ornaments

The Harappan men and women decorated themselves witha large variety of ornaments produced from everyconceivable material ranging from precious metals andgemstones to bone and baked clay. While necklaces, fillets,armlets and finger-rings were commonly worn by both

PotteryPerforated pot

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sexes, women wore girdles, earrings and anklets. Hoardsof jewellery found at Mohenjodaro and Lothal includenecklaces of gold and semi-precious stones, copperbracelets and beads, gold earrings and head ornaments,faience pendants and buttons, and beads of steatite andgemstones. All ornaments are well crafted. It may be notedthat a cemetery has been found at Farmana in Haryanawhere dead bodies were buried with ornaments.

The bead industry seems to have been well developedas evident from the factories discovered at Chanhudaroand Lothal. Beads were made of cornelian, amethyst,jasper, crystal, quartz, steatite, turquoise, lapis lazuli, etc.Metals like copper, bronze and gold, and shell, faience andterracotta or burnt clay were also used for manufacturingbeads. The beads are in varying shapes—disc-shaped,cylindrical, spherical, barrel-shaped, and segmented. Somebeads were made of two or more stones cemented together,some of stone with gold covers. Some were decorated byincising or painting and some had designs etched ontothem. Great technical skill has been displayed in themanufacture of these beads.

The Harappan people also made brilliantly naturalisticmodels of animals, especially monkeys and squirrels, usedas pin-heads and beads.

It is evident from the discovery of a large number ofspindles and spindle whorls in the houses of the Indus

Beadwork and jewellery items

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Valley that spinning of cotton and wool was very common.The fact that both the rich and the poor practised spinningis indicated by finds of whorls made of the expensive faienceas also of the cheap pottery and shell. Men and womenwore two separate pieces of attire similar to the dhoti andshawl. The shawl covered the left shoulder passing belowthe right shoulder.

From archaeological finds it appears that the people ofthe Indus Valley were conscious of fashion. Differenthairstyles were in vogue and wearing of a beard was popularamong all. Cinnabar was used as a cosmetic and face-paint, lipstick and collyrium (eyeliner) were also known tothem. Many stone structural remains are also found atDholavira which show how the Indus Valley people usedstone in construction.

The artists and craftsmen of the Indus Valley wereextremely skilled in a variety of crafts—metal casting, stonecarving, making and painting pottery and making terracottaimages using simplified motifs of animals, plants and birds.

EXERCISE

1. Would you agree that the people of the Indus ValleyCivilisation were great art lovers? Give reasons for youranswer.

2. What kind of similarities and differences do you findbetween present-day terracotta and the Indus Valleyterracotta?

3. Seals were made of different materials. With the IndusValley seals as a reference try to make seals with adifferent medium. Which are the animals that you wouldlike to carve on your seals and why?

4. What do the art objects that have survived tell us aboutthe daily life of the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation?

5. Imagine you are a curator working in a museum and youhave been given the task to create a museum exhibit onIndus art. Collect illustrations of at least ten objects madeof stone, metal and terracotta produced and used duringthe Indus Valley Civilisation and create this exhibit.

Terracotta toys

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BULL

This bronze figure of a bull fromMohenjodaro deserves mention. Themassiveness of the bull and the furyof the charge are eloquentlyexpressed. The animal is shownstanding with his head turned to theright and with a cord around theneck.

DANCING GIRL

One of the best known artefacts from the Indus Valleyis this approximately four-inch-high copper figureof a dancing girl. Found in Mohenjodaro, thisexquisite casting depicts a girl whose long hair istied in a bun. Bangles cover her left arm, a braceletand an amulet or bangle adorn her right arm, anda cowry shell necklace is seen around her neck.Her right hand is on her hip and her left hand isclasped in a traditional Indian dance gesture. Shehas large eyes and flat nose. This figure is full ofexpression and bodily vigour and conveys a lot ofinformation.

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MOTHER GODDESS

The mother goddess figures are usually crude standing femalefigures adorned with necklaces hanging over prominent breastsand wearing a loin cloth and a girdle. The fan-shaped head-dresswith a cup-like projection on each side is a distinct decorativefeature of the mother goddess figures of the Indus Valley. Thepellet eyes and beaked nose of the figures are very crude, and themouth is indicated by a slit.

MALE TORSO

In this red sandstone figure, there are socket holes in the neckand shoulders for the attachment of head and arms. The frontalposture of the torso has been consciously adopted. Theshoulders are well baked and the abdomen slightly prominent.

PAINTED EARTHEN JAR

Found in Mohenjodaro, this jar is made on apotter’s wheel with clay. The shape wasmanipulated by the pressure of the craftyfingers of the potter. After baking the claymodel, it was painted with black colour. Highpolishing was done as a finishing touch. Themotifs are of vegetals and geometric forms.Designs are simple but with a tendencytowards abstraction.

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Map showing Mauryan sites (Outline map not to scale)

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