NCERT Class 6 Social Science Chapter 6
The Beginnings of Indian Civilisation
This chapter explores the Indus Valley Civilisation, one of the world's earliest urban civilizations that flourished around 2500 BCE in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. Students learn about the remarkable city planning, drainage systems, trade networks, and daily life of the Harappan people. The chapter also discusses how archaeologists uncovered this ancient civilization and what its decline might have meant for early Indian history.
Read Online
Key Terms
- Indus Valley Civilisation
- One of the world's oldest urban civilizations (also called Harappan Civilisation), which flourished around 2500 BCE along the Indus River and its tributaries in present-day Pakistan and northwestern India.
- Harappa and Mohenjo-daro
- The two largest and most important excavated cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation, first discovered in the 1920s by archaeologists, located in present-day Pakistan.
- Great Bath
- A large, well-constructed public bathing tank found at Mohenjo-daro, believed to have been used for ritual purification, considered an architectural marvel of the ancient world.
- Seals
- Small square or rectangular objects made of steatite (soapstone) found at Harappan sites, inscribed with undeciphered script and animal motifs, likely used for trade and identification.
- Planned City
- A city designed with organized streets, drainage systems, and divided into sectors, characteristic of Harappan cities, showing advanced urban planning skills.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was special about the cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation?▾
The Indus Valley cities were remarkable for their advanced urban planning with well-laid-out streets on a grid pattern, covered drainage systems, two-storied brick houses, public buildings like the Great Bath, granaries, and a standardized system of weights and measures.
When did the Indus Valley Civilisation exist?▾
The Indus Valley Civilisation flourished from approximately 3000 BCE to 1500 BCE, with its peak urban phase around 2500-1900 BCE. It is one of the world's three earliest civilizations alongside Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt.
Why is the Harappan script still a mystery?▾
The Harappan script found on seals and pottery has not yet been deciphered by scholars. There are no bilingual inscriptions to help decode it. This means we cannot directly read their records, making many aspects of their society, language, and religion still unknown.
What was the Great Bath and where was it found?▾
The Great Bath was a large public tank found at Mohenjo-daro. It measures about 12 meters long, 7 meters wide, and 2.4 meters deep, with steps leading down into it. It was made watertight with baked bricks and bitumen and is believed to have been used for ritual bathing.
Why did the Indus Valley Civilisation decline?▾
Historians suggest multiple reasons for the decline around 1900-1500 BCE including climate change leading to decreased rainfall and drought, flooding or shifts in river courses, possible invasions or migrations of new peoples, depletion of natural resources, and internal social changes.
Disclaimer & Attribution
- All NCERT textbook PDFs displayed on this page are served directly from NCERT's official servers at ncert.nic.in. We do not host, store, or redistribute any PDF files on our servers.
- This website is free to use. We do not sell, charge for, or commercially exploit any NCERT content.
- All textbook content is the intellectual property of NCERT, Government of India and is published under their open-access policy for educational purposes.
- This page is provided purely for educational reference in compliance with NCERT's guidelines for non-commercial use of their freely available materials.