{"id":5589,"date":"2026-01-06T22:27:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T16:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/?p=5589"},"modified":"2026-01-07T11:27:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T05:57:32","slug":"mohenjo-daro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/mohenjo-daro\/","title":{"rendered":"Mohenjo Daro, History, Artifacts, Great Bath, Map, Location"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mohenjodaro, meaning \"mound of the dead men\"<\/strong> in Sindhi, was the largest city of the Indus Valley civilisation<\/strong> in the third and second millennia BC, and it probably functioned as the capital.<\/p>\r\n

Mohenjodaro is situated on the right bank of the Indus River in Larkana District, Sindh Province, Pakistan. Mohenjodaro is included as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was the first site in South Asia to be listed as a World Heritage Site in 1980.<\/p>\r\n

Mohenjodaro Overview<\/h2>\r\n

Mohenjodaro, the largest city of the Indus Valley Civilization, thrived from 2500 to 1700 BCE,<\/strong> with an estimated population of at least 40,000 people.<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n\t
  • Discovery:<\/strong> in 1922 by R. D. Banerji,<\/strong> an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India.<\/li>\r\n\t
  • Unique features:<\/strong> Well-planned city mostly built with baked bricks; public baths, and an elaborate drainage system bear testimony that it was a metropolis of great importance.<\/li>\r\n\t
  • Decline:<\/strong> The evidence suggests that Mohenjodaro suffered from repeated devastating floods of abnormal depth and duration.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
    \"archaeological-ruins-at-mohenjodaro.webp\"<\/figure>\r\n

    Mohenjodaro\u00a0Archaeological Findings<\/h2>\r\n
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    • Architecture:<\/strong> Mohenjodaro was divided into two parts: the Citadel and the Lower Town.\r\n\r\n
        \r\n\t
      • Citadel:<\/strong> It was the city\u2019s administrative centre and housed the important buildings of the city, such as the Great Bath, a college for priests, and the city granary.<\/li>\r\n\t
      • Lower Town:<\/strong> Contains multi-storeyed houses with courtyards, indicating a considerable middle class. Most houses had small bathrooms, and the streets were well-provided with drains and sanitation.<\/li>\r\n\t
      • Unlike many Bronze Age cities, Mohenjodaro wasn\u2019t fortified with a defensive wall; instead, a series of guard towers and fortifications were constructed.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t
      • Political and social life<\/strong>: There is no evidence of big palaces or temples. Based on this, it was assumed that society may be egalitarian <\/strong>and proto-democratic, ruled by a council of elders or a priest-king or governor.<\/li>\r\n\t
      • Stone Art: Sculpture of Bearded Man: believed to be the sculpture of \"Priest King\"<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t
      • He wore a fillet around the head, an armband, and a cloak decorated with trefoil patterns that were originally filled with red pigment.<\/li>\r\n\t
      • Bronze \u201cDancing Girl\u201d Statue: <\/strong>A woman standing with her right hand on the back of her hip and left hand covered with bangles resting on her left thigh.<\/li>\r\n\t
      • Terracotta<\/strong>: Evidence of vigorous representations of bulls and buffalo and female figurines wearing elaborate headdresses (Mother Goddess<\/strong>) was found.<\/li>\r\n\t
      • Seals:<\/strong> Most of these seals depict animals, human figures, and even deities, along with pictographic inscriptions.\r\n\r\n
          \r\n\t
        • Pashupati seal:<\/strong> A man sitting in yogic posture with three faces and two horns, surrounded by four animals( elephant, tiger, rhino, and buffalo), and two deer appear at his feet.<\/li>\r\n\t
        • Animals inscribed on these seals are:<\/strong> 'Unicorn', oxen, rhinoceroses, tigers, hares, gharials, elephants, antelopes, and buffalos.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t
        • Religion:Shiva-Shakti worship <\/strong>appears to have been part of the religious beliefs of the Harappan people.\r\n\r\n
            \r\n\t
          • There is evidence of the prevalence of Yoni and Phallic (lingam) worship.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t
          • Trade: <\/strong>Exportedintricately carved pieces of pottery, jewellery, figurines, and other itemsfrom Central Asia to the Middle East.<\/li>\r\n\t
          • Burial methods<\/strong>: Complete burial and post-cremation burial were popular at Mohenjodaro.<\/li>\r\n\t
          • Great Granary<\/strong>: The 50 \u00d7 27 m solid brick foundation is divided into 27 square and rectangular blocks by narrow passageways.<\/li>\r\n\t
          • Weights: <\/strong>The largest weight was found at Mohenjodaro weighing 10.865 g.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n

            The Great Bath of Mohenjodaro<\/h3>\r\n

            The Great Bath, an example of Harappan engineering skill, measured about 14.5 \u00d7 7 m with a maximum depth of 2.4 m.<\/p>\r\n

              \r\n\t
            • A wide staircase leads down into the tank from the north and south.<\/li>\r\n\t
            • The floor and walls of the tank were made water-tight using burnt bricks sealed with gypsum mortar.<\/li>\r\n\t
            • A thick layer of bitumen was laid along the sides of the tank and below the floor, making this one of the earliest examples of waterproofing in the world.<\/li>\r\n\t
            • Water was drawn from a large well in an adjacent room, and an outlet from one corner of the bath led to a drain.<\/li>\r\n\t
            • There are side rooms for changing clothes.<\/li>\r\n\t
            • It must have served as a ritual bathing site.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
              \"great<\/figure>\r\n

              Mohenjodaro\u00a0Significance<\/h2>\r\n

              The archaeological ruins at Mohenjodaro comprise the first great urban centre of the Indus civilization, built 5000 years ago with burnt brick structures.<\/p>\r\n

                \r\n\t
              • Engineering Skills:<\/strong> Mohenjodaro represents a fine example of the engineering prowess of the Indus Valley civilization.\r\n\r\n
                  \r\n\t
                • Planned Development:<\/strong> In line with the topography of the region, impressive flooding defence platforms and drainage systems were built to protect themselves from annual floods.<\/li>\r\n\t
                • Adaptation: <\/strong>To increase the shelf life of bricks from salts present in them, they were covered with a layer of mud.<\/li>\r\n\t
                • \u00a0The remains of walls at a height of 5 metres are a tribute to the strength of the bricks and the brick-laying skills of the Harappans.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t
                • The sanitation system: <\/strong>was far better than that of its contemporaries, like Mesopotamia and Egypt, in terms of both design and accessibility.<\/li>\r\n\t
                • Proto-Democratic Society<\/strong>: There are signs that prove that it was probably governed by an elected committee.<\/li>\r\n\t
                • \u00a0No signs of warfare or weapons have been found, implying that the Indus natives were peaceful in nature.<\/li>\r\n\t
                • UNESCO Recognition: <\/strong>Mohenjodaro is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It was inscribed in 1980 as the first site in South Asia to be so designated.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  Mohenjo Daro is an ancient Indus Valley Civilization city, flourished between 2600 & 1900 BCE. Check about Mohenjo Daro, History, Artifacts, Great Bath, UPSC Notes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[881,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-5589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-quest-level-4","8":"tag-mohenjo-daro","9":"tag-quest"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19548,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589\/revisions\/19548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}