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Class 6 The Beginnings of Indian Civilisation: cheat sheet
CBSE Social Science. The Harappan civilisation: its main sites, planned cities, the Great Bath, the Lothal dockyard, Dholavira’s reservoirs, seals, crafts and trade.
Key ideas
- The Harappan civilisation was at its height about 4,500 years ago.
- Its cities were well planned: streets crossed at right angles, and houses had covered drains linked to street drains.
- Many cities had a citadel, a raised and walled part built on a high platform with large buildings.
- Bricks were baked in kilns and made in fixed sizes, so walls were strong and even.
- Dholavira, in a dry region, stored rainwater in large reservoirs; Lothal had a dockyard for boats.
- Seals of carved stone, with animals and script, were probably used to mark goods for trade.
- The Harappans made beads, jewellery, pottery and copper and bronze tools, and traded with lands as far as Mesopotamia.
- Their script has not yet been read, and the reasons the cities declined are still debated.
Remember
| Great Bath | Mohenjo-daro |
| Dockyard | Lothal (Gujarat) |
| Water reservoirs | Dholavira (Gujarat) |
| One of the largest sites | Rakhigarhi (Haryana) |
| Brick ratio | length : breadth : height = 4 : 2 : 1 |
| Height of the civilisation | about 4,500 years ago |
| Volume of a tank | length × breadth × depth |
Watch out
- Saying the Harappan script has been read: it has not been deciphered yet.
- Mixing up the sites: the Great Bath is at Mohenjo-daro, the dockyard at Lothal, the reservoirs at Dholavira.
- Giving one sure reason for the decline: historians still debate it (changes in climate and rivers are suggested).
Worked example
A Dholavira reservoir is 75 m × 27 m × 6 m. (a) How many cubic metres of water can it hold? (b) If the town used 1000 cubic metres a day, how many full days would it last? (c) Why did Dholavira need reservoirs?
Working: 75 × 27 × 6; ÷ 1000
Answer: (a) 12,150 cubic metres (b) 12 days (c) It was in a dry region, so rainwater had to be stored.
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