Indus Valley Civilisation Part - 3 | Additional Study Material for UPSC PDF Download

MAN-CATTLE RELATIONSHIP

• Striking among the remains of the period are the depictions on seals and in clay figurines of two kinds of cattle humped species (Bos primigenius) and a short horned species (Zebu).
• At the site of Sur Jangal in Loralai district of Baluchistan there is a suggestion that cattle replaced goats and sheep in the economy.
• The Indus people domesticated sheep, pig, dog, donkey, parrot, cat, peacock and fowl. Elephants, camels and horses were also known to them but, probably, horse was imported by foreigners (Aryans) here and became known to them much afterwards.

Professions

• The weaver, goldsmith, the potter, the jeweller, the physician, the housebuilder etc. represented their  professions.
• The seals found at this place indicate that these were issued either by individual merchants or merchant-guilds.
• They were probably issued as hundis for the purpose of trade.

Know the Important Facts

• The number of Harappan seals discovered so far seems to be around 2000.
• Though there are different types of seals, two are the main types, viz. the square type with a carved animal and inscription, and the rectangular type with an inscription only.
• The animal most frequently represented on the seals is a beast with a single horn, usually described as ‘unicorn’.
• About two dozen Indus seals have been discovered at a number of Mesopotamian sites like Ur, Kish, Susa, Lagash and Tell Asmar.
• The Harappan Pottery is chiefly wheel-made and well-baked. 
• It is bright or dark red and uniformly sturdy.
• The Harappan pottery consists of both plain and painted ware, but plain ware is more common than the painted type. 
• The Indus people based their weighing on 16 and its multiples.

AGRICULTURE, TRADE AND COMMERCE

• There is evidence of the cultivation of wheat, barley, peas, sesamum, mustard, cotton and rice (wheat and barley at Mohenjodaro and Harappa, barley at Kalibangan and rice and millet at Lothal).
• Gold may have been imported from South India, Afghanistan, and Persia.
• Silver was imported probably from Afghanistan and Iran.
• Copper was possibly brought from South India and from Baluchistan and Arabia. The impurity of the ores, however, shows that copper was obtained from the Khetri copper mines although it could be brought from Baluchistan.
• Lapis Lazuli probably came from Badakshan. Turquoise came from Iran. Amethyst came from Maharashtra. Agate came from Saurashtra and Western India.
• Jade came from Central Asia. From Saurashtra and the Deccan they obtained the conch-shells.
• The Mesopotamian records show that they had relations with Meluha, that is, an ancient Indus region from about 2350 B.C. and they also speak of two Hermediate stations called ‘Dilmun’ and ‘Makan’. Ur was the principal post of entry into Mesopotamia.

Animal Known

• The bones of bull, sheep, pig, buffalo, camel and elephant have been recovered; while those of the dog and horse, having been found near the surface, may belong to later times.
• The wild animal familiar to the Indus people were rhinoceros, monkey, tiger, bear, hare etc. which are depicted on seals and copper-tablets.

WEAPON, GAMES, WEIGHTS AND TOYS

• Copper and bronze had replaced stone weapons of war or of hunting. People were acquainted with maces, axes, daggers, spears, bows, arrows and slings.
• Defensive weapons like shields, helmets and armour were perhaps unknown, nor is there any trace of sword.
• They amused themselves by hunting, fishing and rearing wild animals and birds as pets.
• It is interesting to note that, like the Vedic Aryans, the Indus people were found of dice as is clear from the dicepieces discovered in the excavations.
  They also enjoyed singing, dancing, and painting.
• A bronze statuette of a girl in the dancing pose has also been discovered at Mohenjodaro.
  
• The smaller weights of chert or slate are cubical, whereas the heavier one are conical in shape.
• It is said that they are made with greater accuracy and consistency than those of Eran and Mesopotamia. They used 16 or its multiples in weighing.
• Children used to play with toys and marbles. Generally they were clay models of birds, animals, men and women, rattles or presentation of carts.

Religion

• The chief male deity was the Pasupati Mahadeva

• Represented in seals as sitting in a yogic posture and having three faces and two forms.
• He is surrounded by four animals (elephant, tiger, rhino and buffalo), and two deer at his feet.
• The chief female deity was mother Goddess represented in terracota figurines.
• Phallic and Yoni worship was prevalent.
  Worship of trees (Pipal) and animals (humped bull).
• Belief in ghost and evil forces.
• A seal from Harappa shows a nude female figure, turned upside down, and  a plant coming out of the womb. This depicts the worship of Earth Goddess.
• Prevalence of Naga cult.

ART

• The Indus people appears to have made great progress in ceramic art. They were fond of painted pottery.
  
• Harappan pottery of the mature period was in keeping with the logical and ordered mentality that conceived the efficient urban planning and drainage systems of the Indus cities.
• It consists chiefly of wheel-turned items of a wide variety, which show the consistent characteristics and standards of an organised manufacturing system.
• The terracota include great number of mother goddess, images, not too different from those found in other early cultures.
• The progress which the Indus valley people had made in the plastic art is borne out by the two sand stone statuettes from Harappa in which human anatomy is depicted.
• Metal sculpture too was far advanced as shown by the pose and facial expression of the bronze statuette (perhaps a dancing girl) from Mohenjodaro.
• This jewel of realism is completely urban in pose and hauteur.
  Her negroid features identify her as one of the Dasas described in the Rigveda.
• The seal cutter’s art seems to have reached its zenith.
• The seals might be considered the first art objects in India.
• Icon in Indian art appears in Harappan culture for the first time on a famous seal from Mohenjodaro.
• This seal bears the first anthropomorphic representation of deity in India, and it shows the concept of yoga to have been present in Harappan culture.

AMRI CULTURE
Amri, situated south of Mohenjodaro.
Main features

• Knowledge of metal working, use of wheeled pottery with animal figures painted on it, construction of rectangular houses, etc. 
• No evidence of town-planning, sanitation, art of writing, trade mechanism (such as seals and weights).

KOT - DIJIAN CULTURE
Kot-Diji, situated in sind.

Main features

• Wheel-made painted pottery, traces of a defensive wall and well-aligned streets, knowledge of metallurgy, artistic toys etc.
• There is no evidence of the knowledge of writing, sanitary facilities, trade mechanism etc.

SOTHI CULTURE
Kalibangan, situated on the river Ghaggar, first excavated by A. Ghosh who termed it as Sothi culture.

Main features

• Wheel-made painted pottery, metal working particularly copper, mud-brick houses and well aligned lanes, etc.
• No evidence of the art of writing, trade mechanisms, sanitary facilities etc.

BALUCHI CULTURE

• In Baluchistan, four separate cultures are identified with their places, viz. Zhob, Quetta, Nal and Kulli.
• All of them are rural in nature and lack most of the essential elements of the essentially urban Indus Civilization. creations is a small bust depicting a priest king or deity found at Mohenjodaro.
• The face sports a carefully barbered beard, the upper lip is shaved and the hair is gathered in bun behind the head.
• The thick-lips and wide nose of the priest-king distinguish him as one of the Dasas.
• No Harappan wooden art-facts or wall-paintings have been found.

CAUSES FOR THE DECLINE ARYAN INVASION

• One of the discoveries (30 skeletons in the upper level of the site) made at Mohajodaro in the 1920s support the hypothesis that Aryan invaders destroyed the Harappa civilization. Reference to the destruction of forts by Aryans in the Rig Veda.
• Evidence of an alien culture immediately after it at some places such as Harappa and Chanhudaro.
• Geographical Occurences: Drastic geomorphological occurences in the lower Indus plain. Recurring floods e.g., Mohenjodaro and Chanhudaro, drying up of rivers e.g., Kalibangan and Banwali. 
• Weaknesses of the Harappans: Lack of plasticity of mind. The stagnation is shown by the unchanging style of building, art, utensils etc. 
• There may have been social and moral degradation.
• There may have been difficulty in obtaining the equivalents of modern strategic raw materials, particularly copper and tin.
• Limited use of script as compared to the Sumerians.
• High degree of authoritarianism.

GRADUAL PROCESS OF DECLINE

• At Mohenjodaro, Jhukar, Chanhudaro, and Amri, there are evidences of a gradual deterioration in the last phases of Harappan occupation. 
• The decline of trade, particularly oceanic trade with the Summerians contributed to the gradual decline. 
• The evidence points to a precarious economic situation as a significant reason for the downfall. 
• The administration of the Harappa cities was ineffective in handling the situation.

SURVIVAL & CONTINUITY

• An outstanding icon in Indian art appears in Harappan culture. It bears the first anthropomorphic representation of a deity in India, and that it shows the concept of Yoga to have been present in Harappan culture. It appears to delineate a prototype for the later Indian God Shiva.
• The seal show a central figure seated upon a low throne in yogic position. The arms, which are covered with bangles, are extended outward over the knees in a very reminiscent of the pose seen in later Chola bronzes of mediating Hindu gods.
• There are so many rituals items and cults of Harappan society such as the Mother Goddess, Lingas, Yonis, Swastikas which have become a part of later Hindus.
• The horned god, crowned by a large horned headdress, suggests the trident symbol of Shiva. He is surrounded by the four wild animals (elephant, tiger, rhino and buffalo) and beneath his stool are two deer just as in the representation of Buddha preaching his first sermon in deer  park at Sarnath.
• Prevalence of bull seals in Harappan culture. Stone phalli, another symbol of Shiva, have also been discovered in the Indus valley ruins.
• Another interesting feature is the continuity of cattle worship and the way in which they are decorated till today.
• We find a more readily identifiable dancing figure in an incomplete male torso in grey stone from Harappa. The body is twisted into a pose which has invited comparisons with the great Chola icons of Shiva Nataraja.
• Discovery of standard weights and measures, some of which were continued to be used in India till recently.
• The idea of standardization.
• Construction of an aritifical dock.
• Pioneers in the cultivation of rice and cotton.
• Use of wheat as the staple diet in North India.
• The Indus valley people used ornaments. Even today women wore enormous number of bangles.
• They used ivory comb and mirror which are exactly the same as those that are used today.
• Children of the period played with terracotta toys. The same sort of toys are being used by the children of today in rural India.
• The veneration of animal and domestication of fowl still continued in modern times. Cotton was first used by the Harappans.
• The binary systems and other instrument of measurements and weights are still in practice.
• Potter’s wheel, carts and boats are still in use until today.
• During the past thirty years more than 350 Harappan sites have been discovered, out of which 200 sites are in Gujarat only.