Page 19 - InTheLoop(Jan-Mar,2021)

about Pakistan

The Lost City of Mohenjo-daro

Mounds and ruins of Mohenjo-daro, is the lost city from the Indus
civilization, found near the right bank of Indus River, north of
Sindh province, southern Pakistan. It lies on the flat alluvial plain
of the Indus, about 50 miles southwest of Sukkur. The site
contains the remnants of one of two main centres of the ancient
Indus civilization (c. 2500–1700 BCE), the other one being
Harappa, some 400 miles to the northwest in Pakistan’s Punjab
province.

The archaeological importance of the site was first recognized in
1922, one year after the discovery of Harappa. Subsequent
excavations revealed that the mounds contain the remains of
what was once the largest city of the Indus civilization. Because
of the city’s size—about 3 miles in circuit—and the comparative
richness of its monuments and their contents, it has been Remains of Tower at Mohenjo-daro
generally regarded as a capital of an extensive state. Its
relationship with Harappa, however, is uncertain—i.e., Stone sculpture, too, is scarce; some fragments, however,
Mohenjo-daro was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site include the competent head and shoulders of a bearded man
in 1980. with a low forehead, narrowed and somewhat supercilious eyes,
a fillet round the brow, and across the left shoulder a cloak
carved in relief with trefoils formerly filled with red paste.
Aesthetically, the most notable work of figurative art from the city
is a famous bronze of a young dancing girl. Among innumerable
terra-cottas, the most expressive are small but vigorous
representations of bulls and buffalo.

Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro

The city of Mohenjo-daro, now 2 miles from the Indus, from
which it seems to have been protected, in antiquity as today, by
artificial barriers, was laid out with remarkable regularity into
something like a dozen blocks, or “islands,” each about 1,260 Jewellery ornaments extracted from Mohenjo-daro site
feet from north to south and 750 feet from east to west,
subdivided by straight or doglegged lanes. The evidence suggests that Mohenjo-daro suffered more than
once from devastating floods of abnormal depth and duration,
The central block on the western side was built up artificially to a owing not merely to the encroaching Indus but possibly also to a
dominating height of 20 to 40 feet with mud and mud brick and ponding back of the Indus drainage by tectonic uplifts between
was fortified to an unascertained extent by square towers of Mohenjo-daro and the sea.
baked brick. Buildings on the high summit included an elaborate
bath or tank surrounded by a veranda, a large residential
structure, a massive granary, and at least two aisled halls of
assembly. It is clear that the citadel (for such it evidently was)
carried the religious and ceremonial headquarters of the site. In
the lower town were substantial courtyard houses indicating a
considerable middle class. https://www.britannica.com/place/Mohenjo-daro
Most houses had small bathrooms and, like the streets, were
well-provided with drains and sanitation. Brick stairs indicate at
least an upper story or a flat habitable roof. The walls were
originally plastered with mud, no doubt to reduce the deleterious
effect of the salts that are contained by the bricks and react
destructively to varying heat and humidity.
So-called Priest King statue found at the Mohenjo-daro site

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