Unit 4: Engineering and Technology Heritage

Engineering and Technology

This country is having a very wider legacy of scientific and
technological heritage. In ancient India we were having a large
number of technologies developed by our ancestors.

we need to ask certain questions; what do you mean by science? how

it is useful?

Note that the science is basically as old as human civilization because

man is basically a curious and creative creature by nature. Therefore
it is his desire to know why it is happening; how it is happening; what
can be done? The quest for the knowledge which is inherent with the
human beings is the basis of developing the science. Hence science as
I told is as old as civilization and so also is the technology.

Technology is basically the practical application of science to design a

product or a process with the help of innovative tools.
 Let
us see that what do you mean by Shilpa? We always talk about
Shilpa. Note that Shilpa, is a Sanskrit word. But some people
translates it into industry, right? When you talk about industry, like
Shilpa, then it basically will be involving technology and engineering.
When you
talk about engineering and technology, science always will be there.
So let us see what our scripture says about that: “Nanavidhanam
vastunam yantranam kalpasampadam. Dhatunam sadhanancha
vaastunam shilpasangitam.” The ‘nanavidhanam’, means various
kinds of techniques, machines etc. The ‘vastunam’ means basically
materials and ‘Yantranam’ means machines. Of course you can make
a product from the materials using certain the process. When you talk
about material, you need to know how to extract and process
materials from raw material. The dhataunam (metal) is alos used for
making a product. The word ‘sadhanancha’ means transportation,
one need to move from one place to another and also the motion of
the components in a machine. And ‘vaastunam’ means habitats, like
Vaastu Shastra we talk about, that is basically how to make a building
or a hut or a room or a place or a fort. So Shilpa is like a song
composed of various materials which undergo several processes in
more systematic manner. That means it is the combination of
engineering and technology, that we call it as a Shilpa. Now when you
talk about this science and technology, question now arises that why
you will be talking about India. In earlier days, we call India as Bharat.
The word, “Bharat” means basically a country which is always aspired
to a better knowledge.

Pre-Harappan and Sindhu Valley Civilization

(3000-1500 BCE)

During the period between 3000 to 1500 BC Indus Valley Civilization was
prevailing and nowadays we are calling it Indus-Sarasvati Valley Civilization
 because Sarasvati river was flowing . The major areas that comes under it are
basically Sindh, Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana, etc. Although I have taken this
period from 3000 to 1500 BCE, but generally we believe it is from 5000 BCE
onwards. In our mind, it is there. Recently, the researchers from IIT Kharagpur,
have published work in 25th May 2016 related to the IndusSarasvati Valley
Civilization in the ‘Nature’ which is a very prestigious journal. They have
excavated the data in the Bhirrana region in Haryana. They are claiming that
Indus Valley Civilization not 3000 years back, it is basically 8000 years back

Geographical Extension

1. Punjab (type site: Harappa)

2. Rajasthan, Haryana (type site: Kalibangan and Banwali)
3. Bahawalpur (type site: Ganweriwala)
4. Sindh (type site: Mohenjo-Daro)
5. Baluchistan (type site: Kulli, the Harappa phase)
6. Gujarat (type site: Dholavira)

General Characters
These include:

1. Characteristic written materials and seals.

2. Beads and other jewellery.
3. Standardized brick sizes in the ratio of 1 x 2 x 4. 4.
Planned towns with citadels, platforms and podiums and
specific burial patterns.
5. Standardized weights.
6. Black or red painted pottery.
7. Parallel sided blades.
8. Copper and bronze articles.
9. Terracotta toys.
10. Cotton, barley and wheat.
Harappan Architecture: TOWN PLANNING

MAJOR HARAPPAN CITIES:-

Some of the major Harappan cities are –

i) Harrapa (25Km west-south-west of Montegomery, the district

headquarter of the Pakistan Punjab),

ii) Mohenjo-Daro (27°19’N and 68°8’E. – located on the right bank

of the Indus in Larkana district of Sindh in Pakistan),

iii) Chanhu-Daro (26°11‟N and 68°19‟E. – located 20km east of the

Indus and 130Km to the south of Mohenjo-daro in Nawabshah
district of Sind in Pakistan),
 iv) Balakot (25°28‟30”N and 66°43‟30”E – in the Las Bela district
of Balochistan in Pakistan),

v) Kalibangan (29°25’00”N and 74°05’00”E – located along the left

bank of the dried-up bed of the river Ghaggar (ancient Sarasavati) in
Ganganagar district of Rajasthan),

vi) Banawali (29°31‟N, 75°23‟E – located on the bank of ancient

Saraswati River in Fatehabad district of Haryana, at about 120Km
north-east of Kalibangan and 220Km north-west of Delhi),

vii) Rakhigarhi (29°16’N and 76°10’E) – located on the right bank of

the dry course of the Drisadavati in the Hissar district of Haryana),
viii) Balu (29°40’N and 76°22’E, located at a distance of about
17Km west of the Kaithal and 4Km north of the village Balu),

ix) Kunal (29°30‟N and 75°41‟E – in district Fatehabad, Haryana on

the bank of dried up course of the Saraswati),

x) Dholavira (23°53‟10”N and 70°13‟E in district Kachachh in

Gujarat),

xi) Lothal (72014‟25”E and 22031‟25”N – four miles away from

Bhurkhi that lies between Rann of combay the Little Rann of Kutch
in Gujarat),

xii) Diamabad is a deserted village on the left bank of the Pravara

River, a tributary of the Godavari River, Maharashtra state),

xiii) Alamagirpur (29000” 00”N and 77022‟00”E, – an easternmost

post of the Harappan civilization located in Meerut district of Uttar
Pradesh),

xiv) Sutkagendor (25030‟00”N and 62000‟00”E. – located on the

extreme eastern edge of the wide Dasht Valley in the Makran on the
Iran-Pakistan border),

xv) Farmana (29004‟44”N, 76017‟10”E – located at a distance of

about 14Km from Meham, Haryana),

xvi) Bhirrana (29033‟N and 75035‟E – situated at about 220 Km to

the northwest of New Delhi on the New Delhi-Fazilka national
highway), Bhagwanpura (30°04’N, 76°57’E – situated at a distance of
24km north-east of the District Kurukshetra, Haryana),
Dress and Ornaments

Though no specific cloth specimens are found from any of the

Harappan sites, we can get some idea of it through a few statues
and figurines. One alabaster statue shows that two garments were
worn, – a shawl-like cloth formed the upper garment and the lower
garment resembled modern dhoti. Female attire did not differ from
that of the male. A fragment of woven cloth found at Mohenjo-Daro
is of great interest. The existence of woven cloth at Alamgirpur was
provided with impressions on a trough.

Ornaments included chiefly necklaces, fillets, armlets, earrings and

finger-rings for both sexes. There are also various fashions of hair
dressing. It appears that the ladies at Mohenjo-Daro knew the use of
collyrium, face paint and other cosmetics. It is interesting to note
that Chanhudaro finds indicate the use of objects like lipstick,
carbonate of lead and face paint. Making of the precious and semi
precious stone beads and weights is another skill of the people, and
long barrel shaped cornelian beads (upto 10cm. long) are the finest
examples of craftsmanship. In the Harappan civilization, gold objects
occur in the form of beads, pendants, amulets, brooches, and other
small ornaments. The Harappan gold is of light colour indicating high
silver content.
End of The Indus Valley Civilization
 What causes the decline or end of the great civilization at Indus
valley came is a great research area to the archaeologists. There is
no unanimous view pertaining to the cause for the decline of the
Harappan culture. Various theories have been postulated. Till now,
five major theories or explanations have been proposed, such as,
climatic change, foreign invasion, tectonic phenomena,
environmental deterioration and hydrological changes, etc.

Climatic change – The hypothesis that the reduction in rainfall was

a cause of the decline of the civilization was first mooted by Stein
(1931) and Marshall (1931), and was also supported by Stuart
Piggott (1950) and Mortimer Wheeler (1953). Gurdip Singh (1971)
claimed a causal relationship between increased rainfall and growth
of the civilization, and between reduced rainfall and decline of the
civilization. His hypothesis is on the basis of the palynological data
from salt lakes of Rajasthan.

Foreign invasion – Foreign invasions have been considered another

factor in the destruction and decline of the civilization. This theory
was first mooted by Mortimer Wheeler in 1947 on the basis of
description in the Rigveda of the destruction of fortified cities by
Aryan Gods, particularly Indra, presence of fortifications at Harappa,
and evidence for the massacre of defenseless citizens at Mohenjo
Daro. It was strongly supported by S. Piggott (1950) and D.H.Gordon
(1958). However, this theory was questioned by G.F. Dales (1964)
and R.L. Raikes (1964) who argued that not all the skeletons at
Mohenjo-Daro belonged to the last phase; there was no evidence of
destruction or burning accompanying the skeletons, and no
skeletons were found on the citadel where the real defence of the
city should be expected to have taken place.

Tectonic Phenomena – Yet another theory first proposed by

M.R.Sahni (1952) ascribes the decline of the civilization due to the
recurrent floods in the Indus River. It was later elaborated by
R.L.Raikes (1964, 65, 67) and D.F.Dales (1966), but the flood theory
has been questioned by H.T.Lambrick (1967) and G.L.Possehl (1967)
on the ground that the proponents of the theory have failed a) to
establish the Stillwater origin of the silts, b) to produce barrier
geomorphic evidence for the tectonic uplift and creation of the
natural barrier across the Indus course.

Environmental Deterioration – The theory that excessive

exploitation of the natural resources like plants and soils, and
inability of the populations to cope with the increasingly frequent
inundation of Mohenjodaro by Indus floods was initiated by
Wheeler (1959). This theory has also been supported by
G.L.Possehl, G.F.Dales (1964) and Fairservis (1967).

Hydrological Changes – The abandonment of Mohenjodaro was

caused by the eastward shift of the Indus course and the consequent
cessation of inundation of the arable land in the vicinity of the city
and loss of productivity (Lambrick 1967). R.L.Raikes (1968) had
ascribed the abandonment of the Kalibangan settlement to the
eastward diversion of the Yamuna channel. Suraj Bhan (1973) has
identified several former courses of the Yamuna west of its present
course and located sites on them

Sewer system
 Planned city

Craft

Ornaments and tools

Pottery