The society and religion of Harappan civilisation is concerned with animal worship, which is their main trait. Worship of some specific common animals such as tigers, bulls, rhinoceros and elephants are considered quite prevalent. In the Harappan culture, the people consider bull worship to be the most prominent one. The social life of the Harappan civilisation is regarded as the “Indus valley civilisation” which contains around 1000 settlements and cities. The urban planning of Harappan civilization is the formation of planned cities with the scientific system of drainage by the Indus people.
Significance of Harappan civilization
The main significance of Harappan or Indus valley civilization are mentioned below.
- In the early era, the Indus Valley or Harappan civilization was well known for its urban culture of the subcontinent of India. Indus valley civilization was considered as one of the largest and major civilizations along with civilizations like Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
- The people of the Indus valley were highly reliant on trade as it contributes to the economy of the Harappan sites. They get involved in trade with the various major civilizations like China, Persia, and Mesopotamia. were well known to northern parts of India, the Arabian Gulf region, and many more.
- Harappan civilization was famous for its grid town planning, personal cleanliness, casting, metal forging, and ceramic arts. Indus valley civilization is mainly famous for its architecture of the great bathing room or area and wells, which are incorporated within the plan structure of every building and house in the port cities, like Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
Society and religion of Harappan civilization
In context to the Society and religion of Harappan civilization, it can be stated that the cities of Harappan sites in Harappan civilization were made up of mixed culture and religion. The society of the Indus Valley or Harappan civilization is a mixture of religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. It has also been found that Harappa was involved in the trade with the cities of Persia and Mesopotamia for seals. During the period of excavation, various seals have been found which depict the evidence of gods and goddesses and religious views. In the Indus valley civilization, there were many archaeologists of that time with the help of seals, the trading concept between Mesopotamia and Harappa was understood by the peoples of the Harappan civilization.
The social life of the Harappan civilization
The social life of the Harappan civilization includes religious activities where the mother goddess was considered as the dominant god and it proved that the society was predominantly matriarchal. The society and social life of the Harappan civilization consisted of people from different cultures with different religious views. There were vast divisions among labourers, which made the society stratified and diversified. The cities of Harappan or Indus valley civilization were mainly divided into two major parts such as citadel means the cities for nobles and other was the lower town for middle-class and labour class people.
The urban planning of Harappa civilization
In context to the urban planning of Harappan civilization, it can be stated that Harappan or Indus valley civilization is one of the major urban civilizations, which was stretched within the area of about 1.5 million square kilometres. The Harappan cities were planned within highly standardized art, utilitarian items and architecture. The buildings of the Harappan civilization were not made up of stones rather they were built of sunburnt or clay bricks. In Harappan cities, the rounded house building patterns of the Harappan cities help to clear up the passage of carts and the main roads were about 800 meters long and nearly 10.5 meters wide. The towns of Harappan civilizations were planned uniquely where the houses or buildings were built in a rounded pattern on the corners of the roads or streets.
Conclusion
Harappan people were mainly concerned with the Society and religion of Harappan civilization. Nature worshipping is their main belief where they put the sign of swastika on a valley in many regions. At that time, people believed that nature could provide them with the ultimate happiness. In context to society and religion of Harappan civilisation, individuals consider animals to be the real god and worship mainly bulls among other animals, which were their prominent religious beliefs.