Discuss the Indus Valley civilization in regard to their ...

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Discuss the Indus Valley civilization in regard to their location, architecture, and art forms.
 
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Question 2

Consider the yakshi of the east gate of the Great Stupa. Identify the type of being portrayed in this sculpture and describe the structure it adorned. Explain briefly the way in which this type of representation is incorporated and accepted in its setting.
 
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Answer to Question 1

The Indus civilization developed in the Indus River valley of the Hindu Kush mountain range, which today is Pakistan. The engineering skills of the Indus architects were quite advanced, building their cities on stone foundations with straight stone-paved streets laid out in a grid pattern. Houses were constructed of fired brick. Due to the fact that burial of the dead didn't involve including precious objects, there is not an extensive record of their art. The few artifacts found, including a small sandstone torso, revealed softly modeled, rounded forms, differing dramatically from ancient Mediterranean sculpture. A carved seal stone reveals an Indus writing system and includes a figure in a classic pose of meditation and images that suggest later Hindu gods.

Answer to Question 2

The Great Stupa is a solid earthen mound faced with stone and serves as a burial site that shelters and honors the relics buried inside. On the east gate of the Great Stupa is a figure of a voluptuous female, called a yakshi, a nature spirit embodying the ideas of fertility and abundance. The yakshi is not part of the Buddhist faith but belongs to older Indian beliefs. The female form was thought auspicious, and the yakshi showers blessings of abundance on the site and all who enter it.