Mohenjodaro A Planned Urban Centre| Class 12 History

Mohenjodaro A Planned Urban Centre is a subpart of the Class 12 history. This subpart falls under the chapter called “Bricks, Beads, and Bones” It gives us an idea about Mohenjodaro City and talks about the benchmarks that make it a Planned Urban Centre. Mohenjodaro is the world’s earliest well-planned urban hub that provides lots of facilities to its civilians. The whole city was divided into two sections including the citadel and the lower town. The citadel was separated from the lower town with a well-structured wall. Except for these things, there was a great bath and a great granary that shows how it is well structured as a city.

In this article, we are going to discuss Class 12 History: Mohenjodaro A Planned Urban Centre in detail.

Mohenjodaro A Planned Urban Centre – Reasons

There are some reasons why Mohenjodaro is designated as A Planned Urban Centre. Let us tell you, what are the reasons.

The whole city was divided into two major sections. The higher part was known as the citadel and the lower part was known as the lower town.
The Citadel section and its buildings were constructed on the baked mud brick platform.
The lower town was protected by the walls and built on a platform.
The people of Mohenjodaro used the baked bricks which were made by following the standard ratio.
The roads were made in a layout by following the grid pattern which also intersects them at right angles.
The major and most interesting thing was the drainage system.
So many public buildings were found there like the great bath and great granary.

Hope you have got the general overview and the proper reason why Mohenjodaro is designated as A Planned Urban Centre. Now lets discuss in detail.

Mohenjodaro – City Layout and Organization

Mohenjodaro city was built on a high platform which also followed the well-planned layout.
It covered almost 250 acres.
The Mohenjodaro city was divided into two parts including the citadel and the lower city.
The citadel was located on the west side of the main city.
The citadel was an area that had all important buildings like a great bath, assembly hall, and great granary.
Lower Town was a large area that was the main residential area. There were so many marketplaces and workshops. It was a major commercial place also.
The lower city was surrounded by a big and high wall that protected the lower city from any invasion.
There were multiple gateways found in the wall which were mainly used for entry and exit purposes.

Mohenjodaro – Street Planning

The Street Planning of the city was in a grid pattern.
It formed a well defined structure, those were straight and narrow.
The main streets were more wide and lanes were present there.

Mohenjodaro – Drainage System

Mohenjodaro’s Drainage System was an incredible feature.
The drains were made of baked bricks which had a flat base.
These drains were built around 50 cm below the road.
The waste water was managed by the pipelines that were connected to the chutes.
These drains were covered which is the prove of the advanced sanitation system
It is a fact that these drains are still in work.

Mohenjodaro – Residential Planning

All houses in the city were built with baked bricks.
All houses followed the same unique style of architecture.
These houses were multi-storeyed those had flat roofs.
They built up in a systematic way and each house was separated by the narrow lanes.
Most of the houses had their private well and own bathrooms.

Mohenjodaro – Public Buildings and Amenities

There were so many public buildings present in the city of Mohenjodaro.
The Great Bath was a major public structure. It had a large tank that was made of bricks. It was sealed with the waterproof facilities.
The Great Bat was used as the communal swimming pool and sometimes used for rituals.
The Great Granary was constructed for food storage and food distribution.
There was an Assembly Hall that was important for the different administrative and religious activities.

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Class 12 History Mohenjodaro A Planned Urban Centre- FAQs

Why Mohenjodaro is called a urban city?

Mohenjodaro was planned urban center because, the roads in the cities were laid out along a grid pattern intersecting each other at right angle. The cities of the Indus Valley Civilization had an advanced drainage system.

How was the city of Mohenjodaro planned?

Mohenjodaro has a planned layout with rectilinear buildings arranged on a grid plan. Most were built of fired and mortared brick; some incorporated sun-dried mud-brick and wooden superstructures. The covered area of Mohenjo-daro is estimated at 300 hectares.

What is Mohenjodaro Class 12 history?

Mohenjodaro was an ancient city of the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 7000–600 B.C.E.) that settled along the Indus River in modern-day Pakistan. Founded in about 2500 B.C.E., Mohenjo-Daro was one of two major urban centers of the Indus Valley Civilization; the other was Harappa.

Who invented Mohenjodaro?

Mohenjodaro was discovered in 1922 by R. D. Banerji, an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India, two years after major excavations had begun at Harappa, some 590 km to the north.

What suggests that Mohenjo-daro was a well planned city?

A well planned street grid and an elaborate drainage system hint that the occupants of the ancient Indus civilization city of Mohenjo Daro were skilled urban planners with a reverence for the control of water.

What was the unique feature of town planning in Mohenjodaro?

The town planning scheme used by the Harappan Civilization was grid-based, with streets and alleyways cutting across one another almost at right angles to divide the city into numerous rectangular blocks. Each of the cities of Harappa, Mohenjodaro, and Kalibangan had a fortress built on a tall mud brick pedestal.

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