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Indus valley people were simple people. They commonly used simple wheat, barley bread, milk products, pork, beef, mutton, poultry and fish. Perhaps vegetables were also included in the diet.
Agriculture and domestication of animal were very common. The discovery of spindles shows that spinning was done by every family besides the prevalence of a class of weavers.
Harappans lived in Bronze Age. In bronze only a few minor objects have survived. Copper was in plentiful supply during the mature phase of Harappan civilization. A large variety of copper tools such as flat axes, chisels, knives, spear-and arrow-heads, etc. have been found at Mohenjo-daro from the earliest to the latest levels.
Various techniques of working in copper were known, namely, hammering, lapping, casting. Brick kilns, associated with copper working, have been discovered at various places.
The authors of Harappan culture possessed the knowledge of gold.
Beads, pendants, armlets, needles and other personal ornaments of gold seems to have been common, though by no means prolific. Sliver seems to have been first used by the Indus people, it was relatively more common than gold.
Besides metal working, the Harappans practiced numerous other arts and crafts. Among them seal-cutting occupied a place of importance. No less important was the beadmaker’s craft. At Chanhu-daro and Lothal bead-makers’ shops have been discovered. Beads were made of gold, silver, copper, semi-precious stones, shells and pottery.
The long barrel beads of carenelian rank among the finest technical achievements of the Harappans. Of the Indus stone sculptures, eleven from Mohenjo-daro and two from Harappa are recorded. They are all of small size. The most striking of them is a statuette of a “dancing girl”, naked but for a necklace and a series of bangles covering one arm.
Terracottas have been found in great numbers indicating their universal popularity either as toys or cult objects. The potter’s craft was fairly well developed. Most of the Harappan pottery was wheel-turned. Possibly it was mass-prodeuced.
The Harappans engaged in commodity production for which they obtained raw material from outside. Gold may have been imported from south India, especially Mysore where it was in good supply and is still mined. Afghanistan and Persia were other likely sources of this metal. Silver was imported probably from Afghanistan and Iran.
Copper from south India and from Baluchistan and Arabia. Lapis Lazuli is rare in Harappan archaeological material, and came from Badakshan (in north-east Afghanistan); turquoise from Iran, amethyst from Maharashtra; agate and carnelian from Saurashtra and western India. Alabaster may have been brought from a number of places both to the east and the west. Jade came from Central Asia.
The carpenter, the potter, the weaver, the goldsmith, the jeweler, the physician, the fisherman, the house-builder etc., represented their other professions. They could build round wood-wheels for their bullock-carts and potter’s wheel was also known to them.
The people maintained trade relations with other parts of India as well as with foreign countries. Links have been detected with Central Asia, Mesopotamia, north-eastern Afghanistan, north-eastern Persia, south India, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Baluchistan. The trade was carried on both by land and sea. The people had brisk trade with Sumeria by sea.
Seals
The seals may be reckoned among the most valuable finds at Mohenjodaro. They have been found in all the different strata and number more than two thousand. They are square or oblong and made of ivory, faience, and steatite.
Some of the steatite seals are engraved with figures and some designs which must have been a sort of pictorial writing. Similar inscriptions are found engraved on copper-tables with human and animal figures. Unfortunately this pictographic script still remains undeciphered.
The figures on the seals are mostly those of animals such as unicorn, bull, elephant, tiger, rhinoceros, and the antelope. The commonest animal is the unicorn with a single protruding horn.
There were besides mythical animals of composite nature, trees, and human figures, both male and female. No satisfactory explanation has yet been offered of the nature and object of these seals or the uses to which they were put.
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Arun Pal Singh