<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Lesson Sample Indus Valley

The Teachers' Education Institute

Contact: Dr. David L. Mollet  tel/fax (619) 463-1270   email: tei@cox.net
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India: Indus Valley Civilization (mainstream)
A social studies/language arts lesson


Copyright J.M.Kenoyer/Govt.of Pakistan

This lesson is part of the WER Unit, Ancient Civilizations: India. The original lesson was written for American Grade 6 students and the readability level, and the degree of difficulty of the assignments, reflects this.

A version of the same lesson but which is written for students who are learning English as a second language, students who are academially challenged, or students in a lower grade. Consequently, can be found here. In Lesson Plan (Basic) the students' material is written at a much lower readability level with assignments appropriate for this level

Contents
Story, Life in the Indus Valley by Joyce and David Mollet
Student assignment: Story Web
Student assignment: Travel Brochure
Student assignment: Guided Reading
Teacher's notes
Assessment rubric

Life in the Indus Valley by David Mollet

Today, the Indus Valley is a barren desert, broken only by the winding River Indus. A long time ago, when the land was first settled, the Indus Valley was a lush and fertile jungle. It was the home of all manner of wild beasts.

This story tells of that time, many years ago, when the Indus Valley was fertile and prosperous. Indatri, had been born and raised in the town of Mohenjo-Daro. When she was 12 her father,who was a trader, moved his family to the coastal city of Balakot.

Balakot was a port on the main trade route. Boats arrived there daily. They brought goods to the city from far afield. Once unloaded the boats would be quickly filled with a new cargo and were ready to continue their journey.

A New Beginning
Indatri awoke and opened her eyes. For a moment she didn't know where she was. She then remembered, she was in her new bed, in her new room. Her first thought was that she was glad the long journey was over.

It was several weeks since she and her family had said good-bye to their home town of Mohenjo-Daro. Together they had started the 250 mile journey down to the coast. It had been a slow journey for they had with them everything they owned. Their possessions were packed into bullock carts, and they could travel only as fast as the slowest cart.

The Decision Explained
Although a beautiful new house awaited them in the coastal town of Balakot, Indatri could not shake off the sadness of leaving her friends and everything that was familiar. She did not blame her father for moving. It had all made perfect sense when he had talked to them some months ago.

“Your grandfather has become too old to oversee the coastal trade route,” Avara explained to Indatri. “I must move to the coast and take over that part of the family business.”

“Your brother, Datri, will stay here in Mohenjo-Daro to take care of the land routes, and your uncle will stay in Harappa to deal with the inland trade.”

Thoughts of Home
Trade was very important in the Indus Valley. It was second only to the farming that thrived around Mohenjo-Daro.

Indatri would often escape with her pet dog into the fields around her home. She had to keep him close to her because he loved to nip the camels’ ankles or chase the cattle into the wheat fields. Fields of wheat and barley stretched as far as the eye could see, and melons, sesame, field-peas and dates grew in abundance.

“Will I ever stop longing for my home land?” Indatri thought to herself.

Just then she heard the heavy rumbling of bullock carts passing the house.

“This is a very early hour for street traffic,” she said to herself.

Houses in the Valley
Indatri could not peer out of a window to check on what was happening, for the house had no windows facing onto the street. Her new house was much the same as the one she had left in Mohenjo-Daro and similar to her uncle’s house in Harappa.

It was quite large, and in the center was an open courtyard. Stairs led up to a flat roof. With a bucket and long rope the family brought up water from a well in the courtyard and in the bathroom there was a drain into an underground sewer system.

Running through the silent house in her bare feet, Indatri made her way up to the flat roof. She peered over the low wall to the street below. There she saw a string of bullock carts. In the soft light of dawn she could see that wicker baskets filled the carts and hung from every side. What she saw inside the baskets made her gasp with horror. There were birds in every basket, mainly black crows and all pecking and struggling to get free. She had never seen anything like this in Mohenjo-Daro.

“Those poor birds,” she thought, “This is an awful place. I shall never get used to it.”

Mohenjo-Daro
At that moment she felt an overwhelming urge to be back in her home city. In her imagination she was there, climbing the thirty foot mound to the great citadel.

She remembered the first time her father had taken her to the public buildings and they had looked down on the huge, surrounding, brick wall. The citadel was the center of religion and government for Mohenjo-Daro’s 35,000 people. In the middle of the citadel was the Great Bath. It was a huge, deep bath with steps leading into it. The people used it for religious purposes because they believed water to be a great purifier.

Indatri remembered the great granary in Mohenjo-Daro where the grain was stored. It was a huge building made of thousands of fired bricks and could hold enough food to feed the entire city for a long time. Closing her eyes, Indatri could see herself running through the wide main streets of Mohenjo-Daro. The main streets ran from north to south. There were smaller streets that ran from east to west and even narrower lanes that divided the houses.

A Common Plan
“All our cities are alike, Indatri,” her father had once told her. “Our valley has a strong central government that rules all the cities. When the cities were first built, they were all planned by the same people,” he explained.

“Could it be then, that Balakot will be familiar?” she wondered.

At that moment the squawking of the birds brought her back to the present. Racing down the stairs and out of the house, she decided to find out what was to happen to the poor creatures. Following the carts she found herself heading towards the seashore. She passed the many craft workshops not yet open for business and soon reached the waterfront.

A Discovery
Sadly she watched as the bird catcher loaded the baskets on to the various ships that were tied up along the front.

“You poor birds,” she whispered to herself. “So that’s what happens to you. Served up for meals on board ship during the long voyages.”

Although Indatri was used to a meal of chicken, the thought of these birds of the air caught and kept captive upset her. With tears in her eyes she turned for home. In the light of the morning she had to admit that the sight of her new house did feel comforting. The house, like nearly every building in the cities of the Valley, was made of baked clay bricks with strong wooden beams to support the flat roof. It was a familiar sight. It could almost have been her old home.

Beautiful Possessions
“Where have you been?” Yamuru, her mother, called, hardly stopping from the task of unpacking. Yamuru was safely storing her most precious possessions. She was carefully unpacking her best pottery. She was so pleased that the fine pots with their beautiful designs had not been broken on the journey.

Arranged on a colorful cotton cloth were all sorts of bright and beautiful beads and a beautiful necklace made of turquoise and lapis lazuli. She would pack these into little wooden boxes. All the women wore jingling bangles, sparkling earrings, and brightly beaded necklaces. Yamuru would often wear her hair in braids, or, if it was a special occasion, she would put it up in a fancy headdress and look as beautiful as the richest lady.

“I have seen such a sad thing,” said Indatri and she poured out her story. To her surprise her father threw back his head and laughed heartily.

Returning to the Waterfront
“Come,” he said to his daughter. “Get yourself something to eat and come with me. I have to meet with the captains of some of the ships down at the waterfront.”

Avara went in search of his seal and carefully arranged it around his neck. Every trader had to have one. It was like a signature. Avara’s seal, a horned bull, looked very fine resting against his colorful cotton robe. It showed his importance in the community and Indatri walked proudly beside her father. The waterfront was even more crowded than earlier.

“The ships are quite different to the flat-bottomed boats we used to see on the river in Mehenjo-Daro, father,” said Indatri.

“You are right, child. That is because these ships go out to sea,” her father replied.

“Some of these ships have traveled west along the coast collecting copper from Afghanistan; others further south to India for gold.

These are the ships that have traded timber, ivory and pottery in Mesopotamia and silver and turquoise in Persia. Many have come from the port of Lothal and are calling in at Balakot before heading further west.”

Indatri Learns the Truth
Avara stopped to talk to one of the captains. Indatri knew her father had repeated her story to the captain because he came over, laughing, just as her father had.

“The last thing you should do, young lady, is to fret over these birds,” the captain said to her. “We treat them with the utmost care for there are times when these creatures are our lifeline.”

Indatri looked at him questioningly.

“We never sail without our birds on board,” continued the captain. “When a mist comes down at sea, or we lose sight of land, it can be frightening. We release one of our birds and it immediately flies towards the nearest land. If we follow the path of the bird we will always head safely home.”

Indatri smiled with relief. She now knew that these birds would eventually fly free.

Things Look Brighter
“Come, my daughter, we must return home,” Avara said. “My work is finished for today.”

Indatri began to see Balakot in a new light.

“Maybe this will not be such a bad place to live,” she thought. “It might even prove to be more interesting than Mohenjo-Daro.”

A terracotta amulet discovered by archaeologists in Mohenjo-Daro shows a representation of a ship together with "compass birds."

Student Assignment: Story Web
1) You may want to work with a partner to fill these cells with facts about the Indus Valley civilization.
2) Most of the facts are in the story.
3) For some of the facts you will need to make inferences (talk to your teacher about this word) as you read the text.
4) When you have completed this assignment, use it to create a poster.
5) Decorate your poster with illustrations.
6) You will find photographs to help you at the following web site http://www.harappa.com/har/har0.html

What I have discovered about the ancient cities of the Indus Valley

Homes

Transport

Employment

Buildings

Skills

Religion

Trade

Additional Information


Student Assignment: Travel Brochure

Teacher notes
In this assignment students will create, with their teacher's assistance, a travel brochure for the Indus Valley as it was in ancient times. This gives students the opportunity to express all that they have learned about Harappan society in a creative way. Although the instructions are written for students we recommend that the teacher guides the students through each step of the instructions.

Introduction
1) Imagine that you are a resident of Mohenjo-Daro.
2) You have been employed by the central government to promote tourism as an industry.
3) One of your first tasks is to design a travel brochure.
4) These will be distributed along the trade-route linking the Indus Valley with Sumer in Mesopotamia.
5) They will be distributed in large numbers in Ur.

This is what you do
1) Prepare a letter-size sheet of paper by folding twice.
2) This will give you three areas to work on for the outside of the brochure, and one large area inside.

Prepare your information
1) Review the story on the Indus Valley Civilization.
2) Carry out research to extend your knowledge of this culture.
3) Divide your information into the groups found in the next column.

Divide information into:
1) the accommodations (that is the type of housing) visitors to Mohenjo-Daro can expect, and what things are available for their comfort;
2) the route that will take them from Ur to Mohenjo-Daro and the kind of terrain they can expect to pass through;
3) the mode of transportation;
4) what gifts tourists can expect to buy in the city;
5) what there is to see and do in Mohenjo-Daro.

Design your brochure
1) Create a colorful and eye-catching cover for your brochure.
2) Present the information on accommodation on the inside cover.
3) Assemble your information on transportation and route on the back of the brochure.
4) Remember that you want to attract visitors so you will want to present hardship and danger on the journey as excitement and adventure.
5) Use the inside of the brochure to present the information on “what to do,” “what to see,” and “what to buy.”
6) Make it as attractive, appealing and informative as you can. Balance the text with illustrations and use plenty of color.


Student Assignment: Guided Reading
This Guided Reading accompanies the story Life in the Indus Valley.
1. The black birds
In the story Life in the Indus Valley you learned why birds were taken aboard the sea going ships. Today ships do not carry birds for this purpose. What has replaced the birds?
2. Hygiene
The cities of the Indus Valley were cleaner, and a healthier place to live, than many cities of other civilizations of the time. Choose a quotation from the story that supports this view.
3. Making Inferences
An inference is a conclusion that is suggested by the facts. Inferences are not directly stated in the text, but come from “reading between the lines.”		 This is what you do
Read these quotations from the story and for each quotation see how many inferences you can make about the ancient civilization of the Indus Valley.

a) “The citadel was the center of religion and government for Mohenjo-Daro’s 35,000 people. In the middle of the citadel was the Great Bath. It was a huge, deep bath with steps leading into it. The people used it for religious purposes because they believed water to be a great purifier.”

b) “Indatri remembered the great granary in Mohenjo-Daro where the grain was stored. It was a huge building made of thousands of fired bricks and could hold enough food to feed the entire city for a long time.”

c) “Closing her eyes, Indatri could see herself running through the wide main streets of Mohenjo-Daro. The main streets ran from north to south. There were smaller streets that ran from east to west and even narrower lanes that divided the houses.”

d) “She passed the many craft workshops not yet open for business and soon reached the waterfront.” and “(Yamuru ) was carefully unpacking her best pottery. She was so pleased that the fine pots with their beautiful designs had not been broken on the journey.”

e) “Arranged on a colorful cotton cloth were ....... ,” and “Avara’s seal, a horned bull, looked very fine resting against his colorful cotton robe.”

Here is an example
Archaeologists digging at the sites of ancient cities of the Indus Valley have found a number of toys. These terracotta carts and various toy animals have been found.


Copyright J.M.Kenoyer/Govt.of Pakistan

These are the facts. It is possible to make many inferences based on these facts; for example.
a) People of the Indus Valley cared enough for their children to make or purchase toys.
b) The society had a concept (idea) of childhood and of play.
c) Children were given time and freedom to play.

Teacher's notes  

The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the Indus Valley civilization. It gives them some experience of the people that influenced the later civilizations of the Indian subcontinent.

1. Gather students around and tell or read the story Life in the Indus Valley. This approach allows students to concentrate on the content of the story unhindered by the task of decoding. This freedom also gives them more scope to use their imagination in order to enter into the lives of these people and feel what it was like to live in those times.

The purpose of the story is to:
a) extend the students’ knowledge of one aspect of Harappan society;
b) explore certain aspects in more depth;
c) provide an experience of an ancient civilization through the affective realm;
d) familiarize students with story content, sentence structures and vocabulary so that at a later stage they can more easily read and work independently on parts of the story.

2. Three assignments are suggested. Each one is a little more demanding than the last, and each utilizes the knowledge of the previous assignment.

The Story Web
This assignment calls for literal recall of the text and requires students to recall facts about the society that they have absorbed while listening to the story.

Travel Brochure
In order to complete this assignment students will need to use the information gathered in the story web and use it imaginatively and in a creative way.

Guided Reading
The Guided Reading contains questions that require students to go beyond the literal recall of the text. This is a more demanding assignment and requires students to work with selections from the text, making inferences about the civilization that are not overtly stated in the story. Suggested answers to the questions and an assessment rubric are supplied.