Origin

The Indus Valley Civilization represents a very extensive and spell bound cultural achievement. It was neither regional or local nor confined to any restricted area, it was not a colonial off shoot of Mesopotamian civilization but a product of ‘indigenous genius’. The resultant urban society was a delicate balance of internal relations between cities, towns and villages on one hand and external relations with neighbouring peasant socieites and more distant society on the other.

The Harappan culture existed between 2300-1750 B.C. (according to 14C sample of Radio carbon Dating).

It is called Harappan because this civilization was discovered first in 1921 A.D. at modern site of Harappa situated in the province of Western Punjab in Pakistan by Dayaram Sahni. The Harappan mounds were first noticed in 1826 A.D. by an Englishman Charles Masson. In 1872 A.D. a famous arachaeologist Sir Alexander Cunnigham came to this place and concurred that the city was probably thousand years old. However, in 1924 A.D. another archaelogist John Marshal reported about Harappa being as old as civilization of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Extent

It extended from Manda in North (Jammu) to Narmada estuary (Daimabad) in South from Sutkagendor (Baluchistan) in East. The area formed a triangle and accounted for about 12,99,600 sq. km. However, the archaelogists spade is bringing to us remain of the Harappan sites thus making it wider and wider. Harappan- Ghaggar- Mohanjodaro axis represent the heartland of Harappan culture Ghaggar-Harka region has dense settlements of Harrapan sites while at other places thinly spread out.

Nearly 1000 Harappan sites are known. They belong to early, mature and late phase of Harappan culture. Kot Diti, Kalibangan, Banwali, Amri and Harappa are associated with pre-Harappan phase. Harappa, Mohanjodaro, Lothal, Kalibangan, Banwali, Chanudaro, Sutkagendor and Surkotada belong to mature phase. The later Harappan phase is found in Rangpur and Rojdhi. The number of sites belonging to mature phase is limited and of them only 6 can be regarded as cites. They are:-

Harappa

In Montgomery district of Punjab, on the Ravi river, identified with Hariyupiya of Rig Veda. Citadel was based on mound roughly a parallelogram. H-cemetry of alien people in South of citadel. Two stone sculpture of small sizes are found in which human anatomy is depicted.

Only place which yields the evidence of coffin burial. Evidence of fractional burial is also found. Citadel has a granary (6x2 rows). The two room barracks have been found at Harappa which must have saved the purpose of accomodating labourers.

Mohanjodaro

Literally meaning ‘mound of the dead’ in Larkana District of Sindh on the bank of Indus. Mohanjodaro was built seven times.  Citadel contains the great bath, ganary, the college and assembly hall. Granary is the largest building . Eleven stone sculptures of small size are found. Human skeletons are found lying with a skull having a cut mark which points to an invasion and masscre at Mohanjodaro. Evidence of horse comes from superficial level. A piece of woven cloth has been recovered. A beared man in steatite and bronze Dancing Girl and two bronze swords were recovered.

Chanhudaro

Meaing ‘Mound of the Dead’ lay about 130 km south of Mohanjodaro in Sindh. Centre of bead making, shell making, bone work and seal making. A small pot, possibly inkpot is found. Foot prints of dog chasing cat. It was flooded twice.

Lothal

Situated in Gujarat at head of gulf of Cambay on Bhogavo river. A bead factory found. Persian gulf type seal and whole tusk of elephant found. It is the only sitewith a dockyar. Only at Lothal and Rangpur rice husk have been found. Evidence of chess also comes fromthis place. A measuring scale has been found. In a grave one male and female are buried together which gives evidence of couple burial. Terracotta model of ship also found. Evidence of chess also comes from this place. A measuring scale has been found.

Kalibangan

Situated at Ganganagar District in Rajasthanor river Ghaggar. Literally means black bangles. A citadel and lower town both fortified. It had a bangle factory. A ploughed field with furrows is the evidence of earliest ploughing practice. Fire altars have also been found.

Banwali

Hissar District in Haryana. Traces of both Harappan and pre-Harappan culture comes from this place. A good quantity of barley has been discovered.

Other sites

Sutkagendor

It is the western most limit of this culture and to situated in southern Baluchistan. Played an important part in trade with Mesopotamia. Bangles of clay and fort of stone has been found.

Surkotada

Situated in Kutch District of Gujarat. Bones of horses have been reported from here belonging to 200 B.C.

Kot - diji

Opposite Mohanjodaro on left Bank of river Indus in Sindh. Here we find pre-Harappan culture pre-dominantly using stone tools. A massive defensive wall around the settlement of early Harrapan period has been found.

Features

Town Planning and Structure

Harappan and Mohanjodaro each had its own citadel or acropolis which was possibly occupied by the members of ruling class. Below the citadel in each city lay a lower town containing brick houses which were inhabited by common people.

The houses in the cities followed the grid system as a result of which road cut across each other almost at right angles and city was divided into so many blocks.

The most important public place of Mohanjodaro seems to be ‘Great Bath’ is situated in the citadel. It measures 11.88 x 7.01 x 2.43m. It has staircases on either side which leads to surface. There are side rooms for changing clothes. The floor of bath was made of burnt brick and bitumen coating and gypsum in mortar made it waterproof.

The Great Bath served ritual purposes. In Mohanjodaro the largest buildng was the granary. There is a series of brick platform which formed the basis for two rows of six ganaries. To the south of granary at Harappa lay working floor consisting of rows of circular brick platform meant for threshing grains. The two room barracks have also been found at Harappa meant for accommodating the labourers.

Drainage system

The drainage system of Mohanjodaro was very impressive. Every street has its brick lined drainage channel. The main channel was mostly made of brick with mud mortar, although lime and gypsum were used to make it waterproof. The drains were sometimes covered with bricks and sometimes with slabs. In Kalibangan at someplaces ornamental bricks were used for making houses.

Agriculture

Wheat and barley were the two main crops. The Indus people produced wheat, barley, rai, peas, mustard and sesamum. They produced barley and two types of wheat: ’The club wheat’ and ‘Indian dwarf wheat’. Barley of small seeded six rowed variety has been found.

Rice husk were found in Lothal and Rangrur. No hoe or ploughshare has been discovered, but the furrows discovered in pre-Harappan phase in Kalibangan showed that fields were ploughed in Rajasthan in Harapan period.

The Harappans propably used wooden ploughshare. Stone sickles must have been used for harvesting the crop. Food grains were stored in huge granaries – the cereals were received as taxes from the peasants and stored in granaries for payment of wages. The Indus people were earliest to produce cotton. The Greeks called it ‘Sindhon’ which is derived from Sindh.

Domestication of Animals

Ox, buffalo, goat, sheep and pig were domesticated. The humped bull was favoured by Harappans. Dogs and cats were regarded as pets. Footmarks of dog chasing that of cat have been noticed at Chanhu-daro. They also kept asses and camels which were used as loading animals bones of camel have been recovered from Kalibangan.

Evidence of horse comes from a superficial level of Mohanjodaro from doubtful terracotta figurine from Lothal. The remains of hourses have been recovered from Surkotoda in Gujarat. From Rana-ghundai jaw of a horse has been recovered. But it is clear that horses were not in regular use in Harappan times. The Harappans were also acquainted with deer, rhinoceros and elephant.

Trade

The Harappans did not use minted currency. Trade was properly based on barter system.

In exchange for finished goods and possibly food grains, they procured metals from neighbouring areas by boats and bullock-carts. They knew the use of wheel and carts. Solid wheels where in use in Harappa. They also used a kind of modern ekka. They practiced navigation on the coast of Arabian Sea. Both Archaeological and literary evidence suggest that trade relations existed between Mesopotamia and Indus Valley Civilization.

Archaeological evidence

Many Harappan seals have been discovered in Mesopotamian sites.

Literary evidence

The Mesopotamian records from about 2350 B.C. refer to trade relations with ‘Melhua’ which is the ancientname of Indus region. The text speaks of two internediate trading station called ‘Dilmun’ and ‘Makan’ – Dilmun has been identified with Baharin on the Persian Gulf and makan as Makran coast or Oman.

The Harappans import

Copper: Khetri mines of Rajasthan, Baluchistan, Tin: Hazaribagh and Afganistan, Silver: Afghanistan and Iran

Gold: Afghanistan, Kolar gold fields of Karnataka and Persia, Lapis lazuli    : Badaksthan, Turquisoe:Kashmir, Persia, Amethyst: Maharashtra.

Jade: Central Asia, Agate: Saurastra

Political Organization and Society

Harappa was probably ruled by class of merchants and not-priests, as in sharp contract of Mesopotamia. No temples have been founded at any Harappan site.

An important characteristic of the Indus civilization was its urban life. it was a highly developed civic life with social stratification.

There was uniformity in political system and administrative authority in different parts of civilization reflected in the uniformpottery types, standard weight and measures, town planning etc

On the basis of craniological evidence the authorship of Indus people can be classified in four racial groups.

(1)        Proto-Australoiad (Bronze dancing girl)

(2)        Mediterranean

(3)        Mongolian (Bearded man)

(4)        Alpin.

The majority being the first two.

Religious practices

Mother goddess

In Harappa numerous terracotta figurines of women have been found. The worship in Mother Goddess was prevalent.

In one figure a plant is shown growing out of the embryo of women. The image represents the goddess of Earth and it was intimately connected with origin and growth of plants. The Harappans, therefore, looked upon the earth as fertility goddess.

The male deity

The male deity is represented on a seal which has three horned head. The horn is that of a Buffalo. He is represented in a sitting posture of a yogi. This god is surrounded by a buffalo, an elephant, a rhinocerous and a tiger. At his feet appear two deers. The four animals surrounding good look toward four directions of earth. The must have served as vehicles of god. The seal immediately reminds us of the traditional image of Pasupati Mahadeva.

Marshall identifies it at Siva in Pasupati form. Numerous symbols of phallus and female sex organs made of stone have been found in Harappa. They were meant for worship.

Tree and Animal Worship

They worshipped trees like peepal, neem and birds like dove and pigeon. Among the animals the Humped Bull or Brahmani Bull was much venerated. Similarly the animals surrounding Pashupati Mahadeva indicate that these were worshipped.

Composite Animals human headed goats were worshipped. Cones signify lingam and stone rings called yonis were worshipped. Amulets have been found in large numbers.

The harappan script

The Harappan script was noticed in 1853 and was found on seals. It has not been deciphered so far. The Harappans did not write long inscriptions, they were mostly recorded on seals, and contain few words. Altogether we have about 250 to 400 pictographs and in the form of pictures each letter stand for some sound, idea or object. The Harappan script is not alphabetical but pictographic.

The overlapping letters on some of the potsherd from Kalibangan shows that writing was boustrophedon i.e. from right to left and then from left to right.

Weights and Measures

In weighing mostly 16 or its multiples were used e.g. 16, 64, 120, 320, 640, etc. The Harappans also knew the art of measurement. In Lothal we come across sticks inscribed with measured marks. One of such stick is made of Bronze.

Harappan art

The earliest recorded artistic expression of man in India comes from Mohenjo-daro, the Harappan period. Out of 2600 Harappan sites approximately 202 sites have been excavated. These excavations have revealed the artistic temperament of the Harappans. It is best manifested in:-

a) Sculptures / Statues            d)         Ornaments

b) Figurines                                         e)         Pottery

c) Seals                                                            f)          Masks

Prominent sites among them are Dholavira (Gujarat), Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Lothal (Gujarat), Sarkotada (Gujarat), Diamabad (Maharashtra), Alamgirpur (U.P.), Bhagwanpura (Haryana), Banawali (Haryana), Kuntasi, Padri (Gujarat) and Mauda (Jammu).

Sculptures / Statues

 The more famous sculptures are those of a Dancing Female and The Priest from Mohenjodaro. The socketed sculptures from Harappa and socketed eye of a head from Mohenjodaro shows the influence of Mesopotamian art and the high level of artistic excellence of the Harappans. The other sculptures of copper and bronze include the buffalo, chariot and a dog from Mohenjodaro and copper bull from Kalibangan.

At Dholavira and Surkotada evidence of use of stone as a raw material for artifacts have come to light. At Dholavira one seated Priest of stone has been unearthed which the only stone statue of Harappan period discovered so far.

The Harappan culture is poor in artistic work made of stone in comparison to those of Egypt and Measopotamia. From Mohanjodaro11 stone sculptures were found.

Bearded man, whose upper lip is shaven comes from Mohanjodaro. It is made of steatite. Mohanjodaro human figurines are all males.

From Harappa two stone torsos – one made of red sandstone and other of grey, are found.

Terracotta Figurines

The fire baked earthen clay figurines are called terracotta figurines. Terracotta figurines have been found in vast numbers at all sites. A large number of terracotta figurines are of Mother Goddess. The commonest Harappa type is a standing figure adorned with a wide girdle, a loin cloth, necklaces, and a fan-shaped headdress. Most of the terracotta figures depict ani­mals, specially the humped bull. Cow was never represented. Other animals included the dog, sheep, elephant, rhinoceros, pig, monkey, turtle and birds. One terracotta figurine from Mohenjodaro slighty resembles a horse. These figurines are hand made wherein Pinching method is used.

They were either used as toys or object of worship. The figures were both of humanbeings and animals.

The seals and images were manufactured with great skill, but the terracotta pieces represent unsophisticated artistic work.

Thus, the seals and images were used by members of upper class and terracotta by common people.

Seals

They were made of Steatite (Soap Stone). The 'pashupati seal' is the most famous from religious point of view. The unicorn Horse and Bull seal is the most popular and most of the seals of Harappa have this impression. The evidence of earliest Harappan seal comes from Rehmangarhi. The, animals' impression and the pictographic script on the Harappan seals depicts artistic excellence of the Harappan period.

The greatest artistic creation of the Harappan culture is seals. Over 2000 seals have been discovered. Their shape was square or oblong and usually made of soft stone called ‘steatite’ which was hardened by heating.

Their primary purpose was to make the ownership of property.

Every mercant had a seal bearing an emblem, often of religious character. Seals some times served as amulets.

Ornaments

Earliest ornaments belonging to 6000 BC - 7000 BC have been exca­vated from Mehargarh and jewellery hoard has been found at Quetta in Paki­stan. The goldsmith made jewellery of silver, gold and precious stones, the first two may have been obtained from Afghanistan and precious stones from South India. Semi precious and gold necklace has been "excavated" at Mohenjodaro and Lothal respectively.

Pottery

A large variety of pottery, both plain and decorated, has been found. Harappa and Mohenjodaro potteries are monochromes (single color or shades of single color). The designs are conventional and mostly geometrical. They were generally decorated with the designs of trees, circles and men in black on red background. Red perfo­rated pot and silver jar has also been found at Mohenjodaro. Plain undecorated pottery was more common.

Masks

"The masks of Indus Valley Civilization were prepared by molding tech­nique. The largest animal mask has been found at Harappa.

Decline

The Harapa civilization declined around 1800 B.C.

It is held that amount of rainfall in Indus region slightly increased around 3000 B.C. and then decreased in earlier part of second millennium B.C. This may have adversely affected agriculture and stockbreeding.

Secondly, the decreasing fertility on account of increasing salinity of the soil caused by expansion of neighbouring desert is one of the causes of the decline.

Others attribute the decline to a sudden subsistence on upliftment of land which caused flood.

Earthquake caused changes in course of Indus which led to inundation of hinterland of Mohanjodaro.

While others point out that Harappa was destroyed by Aryans. Sir Mortimer Wheeler believed that Harappans were overthrown by Arayans. G.F. Dales says that enemy of Harappans was natural calamity. G. Childe says that the civilization perished as a result of internal decay accelerated by shock of barbarian raids.

However, the most plausible and accepted theory is that of Walter Fairserves-Ecological degradation which caused the decline.