PAKISTAN: Mohenjodaro

            

 

 
Photographer: Christine Osborne

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The celebrated Indus Valley site of Mohenjodaro, in what is now Pakistan, was not merely an agrarian settlement, but a well planned city which had reached an advanced stage of learning long before the birth of Christ. The key to its past lies in deciphering the complex `Indus script` but it seems likely its inhabitants spoke Dravidian: Mohenjodaro means` Mound of the Dravidians.` The city was meticulously planned, on a grid system, with three and four storey houses lining its long straight streets, a sophisticated drainage system, with wells and granaries all constructed of brick. While few clues exist as to its rulers, the presence of a vast bath sunk in a spacious courtyard, once lined with decorative columns, points to a purification ritual, possibly observed by a priestly sect. Among artefacts found are terra-cotta figurines of buxom women which are believed to have been a Mother Goddess. The discovery of lingam stones also suggests worship of the phallus, which is still widely observed by Hindus in India. Terracotta chess sets and animal images including bulls, bears and dogs, show the Indus Valley citizens were skilled at making kiln-fired pottery. Villagers continue to use a foot-driven wheel and drawn by a pair of animals, ox-carts no different to those in Mohenjodaro of 2500 years ago, still rumble along local roads. The site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1980.