Studies in Indian Art c8.s1.2

c8.s1.2

The sites of this culture are dispersed along three routes, viz. Dvārāvati-Ānarta route, Sind route and Sarasvati route. There were both villages and big towns of which Harappa¹ on the Ravi was the capital of the Sarasvati-Parushṇi province in the north, and Mohenjodaro on the Indus, in the centre, was the capital of the other province of an equal size. These two capital-towns were fortified citadels, each of about three miles perimeter, and were the seats of strong monarchy, feeling secured within defence walls and leading a life of luxury with rich nobles and middle men fed by a toiling population. The number of richmen's houses and the two granaries, one at Mohenjodaro inside the citadel and the other at Harappa out side it with workmen's quarters, point to the pattern of life lived there. Along the banks of the Sarasvati about 25 Harappan sites have been found. It seems that their penetration reached up to the fringe of the Gangatic basin as shown by the Harappan site of Ukhlina, 19 miles west of Meerut. In the Sind sector the site of Mohenjodaro is just towards the west of the Indus. Eighty miles below on the east of the Indus is Chanhudaro. On the west the farthest site is Sutkagendor near the coast in Baluchistan.