 In this is the English name of River Sindhu. It flows from the north to the south in the South-Asian region, particularly the region occupied by modern-day Pakistan. A valley or a river valley is defined as an extensive area of land drained or irrigated by a river system. It is seen that most of the earliest civilizations flourished in the river valleys or along the banks of rivers like Nile, Euphrates, Tigris via river valleys. Well because a river is a source of water which leads to lots of other gains, potable water, water for farming, fishing and water transport. Now what exactly is a civilization? Here is the formula that makes a society into a civilization. First and foremost is its surplus production from agriculture which then leads to trade. Secondly, urban development. Then comes the central authority. Then comes the social stratification where every person or group of persons specializes in some sort of work. So that was about the general characteristics of any civilization. Now let's talk about one specific civilization. The Indus Valley civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that flourished approximately between 3500 BC to 1500 BC. This civilization was discovered during the British rule in India while laying a railway track from Lahore to Multan. The first site was discovered near the Harappan village and hence the entire archaeological site came to be known as the Harappan culture. Now we've also found sites far from the Indus but they're still said to be part of the Harappan culture. Why? Simply because they find similarities in their material culture meaning they've acquired similar artifacts like pottery, ornaments and other stuff from all these sites. We have only archaeological evidences of the IVC or the Harappan culture meaning there exists no literary evidence that we can cross reference the IVC with. So how do we time this civilization? Well we have to look for the contemporary sources. One of the inscriptions on Mesopotamian sites mentioned straight with Delman, Magan and Meluha. Meluha is generally considered to be what we call the Indus Valley civilization. Now let's talk about the people living in the IVC. As of yet we don't know what kind of people were living in that region. What language they spoke or what were their names. But we do know that most of them were traders and merchants and they were peace loving people. The IVC is known for its town planning. The city plan was designed considering the airflow to keep the city air conditioned. It also had a complex system of sewers. The towns were divided into parts which hint at social stratification in the sense that at sites like Harappa and Mohenjadaro the town is divided into two parts Citadel and Lower Downs. But the Dolavara site is divided into five parts Citadel, Middletown, Lower Town, Baleen and an Arena. Another major characteristic of the IVC is its roads. The streets ran from north to south and east to west intersecting each other at 90 degrees. They were brought and built for heavy traffic. Small lanes joined the main roads. The city consisted of multi-storeyed buildings with kitchens and toilets. But the most important building was the great bath of Mohenjadaro. It was the earliest public water tank. It had a series of rooms around it and the big pool was built using strong waterproof bricks. They also built a system to conserve rainwater and get rid of the excess water. Seals have played a vital role in the understanding of the Harappan social, economic and also religious beliefs. Now we don't know what exactly the use of those seals was because the markings on them are all in the indescript which is not yet deciphered. Regardless of that, some of the famous seals from that period are these, the Unicorn seal and Protoshiva seal. We've also acquired terracotta mother goddess figurines which lead to the speculation of it being a matriarchal society. Evidence of religious systems comes from terracotta masks, fire altars, mother goddess figurines and various mythological animals on the seals. Also they used to perform some sort of rituals before burying the dead. Now the most important question. What happened to these people? One of the following is probably the reason behind the decline of Harappa. First and the most probable reason is a natural disaster. Some sort of an earthquake or a great flood might have wiped out the inter-civilization. Another is economics. Harappa declined because the trade with other contemporary civilizations went down and the people were compelled to leave the town and settle in small clusters and do farming in the later period. Last and the least likely cause is an invasion. Some scholars believe that the Aryans came from the Eurasian steppes and massacred these peace-loving merchants and traders.