Note – This is first blog post in the series of blog posts related to Art at Harappa. Please check list of blog posts here
When it comes to learning about ancient civilizations in India, Harappa civilization is the first name comes in the mind. The advanced civlizations such as harappa were having well planned city structure and also impressive seals. Such seals were in use for trading. Those seals were mainly consisting of images of animals, sages and trees. Addition to that, clay pots and jewellery were found at harappa which shows how much art was evolved in those time period. If they built well planned cities, wont they put efforts to make it attractive. Especially when civilization used the images to write down the words. Writing system of Harappa civilzation were made of symbols. That shows how much intelligent they were who could use script made of symbols to describe words and ideas. Afterall human mind thinks and imagine with pictures in the mind. They portrayed the same on the paper. Perhaps they used the same technique. For example, The harappa script has symbol of fish. It could be for describing sea or lake or river where fishes are found. The exact meaning of harappa script is however is yet to be discovered. But one thing is sure that, People at Harappa gave great importance to the art. Artistic products were part of their daily lives. It was not something just as a hobby, like it is seen in modern times.
Lets take a look at this bronze sculpture of Harappa woman. There are few elements added by an artist that add to the beauty of this sculpture.
- Emotions – This is unique thing where a sculpture evokes emotion in the minds of the viewer. It is due to her confident pose. It gives a sense of personality to the sculpture made of bronze. Suddenly it feels more alive than piece of bronze. The pose itself brings such strong impression of her, that one may think that she is from royal family and having high status in the society.
- Element of Beauty – “Lavnya saundarya” or ” adding aesthetics” is one of the design principles mentioned in Vastu shastra. It is about adding additional elements that make the painting beautiful. In this case, A woman is shown wearing bangles and necklace. Also arrangement of her hairs are carefully planned and arranged in such a way, that from all sides, it will add to her beauty
This is the rock sculpture found at Harappa. This sculpture is unique in many ways. The beard of man shows that there was tendancy to be well groomed. It looks rather modern beard cut than ancient one. Man is wearing ornament on hand and on forehead. It means he was man having high status in the society. Yet just like any woman, He is wearing a dress with floral patterns. Generally in modern world, females prefer wearing dress with flora patterns. But in this case, man is wearing such clothing, it shows to live life with art and culture. Here Sculptor has used design principle “Lavnya saundarya” or ” adding aesthetics” mentioned previously. Hence he added the floral design to the sculpture. Still it may appear odd if such design is added to the sculpture of the respectable person in the society. It means he got approval from society to add such floral design to the sculpture. Maybe it was in trend among mens to wear clothing with floral designs
Art at Harappa
When it comes to see definite evidence of ancient art of Harappa, following items come in the pictures – Clay pots, toys, seals, jewellary and harappa script
Clay pots – In modern day, there is tendancy to decorate clay pots. This is actually ancient method to decorate clay pots found in case of all the ancient civilizations. In harappa clay pots, there is however element of inteligence when it comes to designs on the pots. Such designs are not easy to draw. It shows the mastery of the artists, that they drew advanced designs on simple objects like clay pots.
Following are the designs made on clay pots by Harappan artists in ancient times.
Creative Idea for the design – Worm on the leaf
Intelligent design – Complex floral patterns merged into each other
Intelligent design – These are simple curves, yet together they create interesting pattern.
Intelligent design – Here artist has added small triangles inside One Large size triangle. In case of tree leaves, artist has decorated each leaf with line. An artist has also used Sun symbol as design element.
Here lines are used to create pattern and to decorate the design of the deer.
Intelligent designs – At top left design, An artist has used tree branches as design elements. At the bottom design, using simple lines and curves, an artist has created interesting design. Modern artists can certainly learn from these designs. They can learn how to create interesting patterns by using simple lines and shapes. Also when natural elements are considered as subject of the design, it appeals to larger audience. People can instantly relate to it. This is another design trick which can be seen in Harappan art.
Note – This is first blog post in the series of blog posts related to Art at Harappa. Please check list of blog posts here
