Old NCERT Gist (RS Sharma): The Harrapan CiviIization | Additional Study Material for UPSC PDF Download

Geographical Setting

• The Indus Valley Civilization was the Bronze Age civilization (2500 - 1600 BCE) extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India.
• Since IVC preceded Iron Age, the Harappans were unaware of the use of iron but used copper, bronze, silver and gold.
• Along with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilizations of the world.

Cities and Town Planning

• Indus Valley Civilization was the first urban centre in the region.
• The Harappans were excellent city planners.
• The quality of municipal town planning suggests the knowledge of urban planning and efficient    municipal governments which placed a high priority on drainage.
• The Harappan city was divided into the upper town called the Citadel (in citadel rich people lived) and the lower town.
• Lower Town was the residential area where the common people lived.
• The city streets were based on a grid system and oriented east to west. The roads and streets intersected at right angles.
• There were covered drains along the road. Houses were built on either side of the roads and streets. Each street had a well-organized drain system.
• We find remarkable use of baked bricks.

Features of Trade and Transportation

• Granaries are found at Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Kalibangan, and Lothal.
• Large granaries were located    near    each    citadel, which    suggest that the state stored grain for ceremonial purposes and possibly the regulation of grain production and sale.
• The Harappans conducted considerable trade in stone, metal, shell, etc., within the Indus culture zone.
• However, their cities did not    have the    necessary    raw    material    for the commodities they produced.
• They did not use metal money.
• In weights and measures mostly 16 or its multiple were used.

Trade Links

• The Harappans had commercial links with Afghanistan and Iran.
• They set up a trading colony in northern Afghanistan which evidently facilitated trade with Central Asia.
• The Harappans carried on long-distance trade in lapis lazuli: lapis objects may have contributed to the social prestige of the ruling class.
• The Mesopotamian records from about 2350 BC onwards refer to trade relations with Meluha, which was the ancient name given to the Indus region.
• The Mesopotamian texts speak of two intermediate trading stations called Dilmun and Makan, which lay between Mesopotamia and Meluha.
• Dilmun is probably identifiable with Bahrain on the Persian Gulf.
• Archaeologists have discovered a massive, dredged canal and what they regard as a docking facility at the probability carried exchanges through a barter system i.e. coastal city of Lothal in western India (Gujarat).

Agriculture

• The furrows discovered in the pre-Harappan phase at KalibanganI    (Rajasthan) indicate that the fields were ploughed during the Harappan period.
• The Harappans probably used the wooden plough drawn by oxen and camels.
• Harappan villages, mostly situated near the flood plains, produced sufficient food grains not only for their inhabitations but also the town’s people.
• The Indus people produced wheat, barley, ragi, peas etc. A substantial quantity of barley was discovered at Banawali (Haryana).
• In addition, sesamum and mustard were grown.
• The Indus people were the earliest people to produce cotton and because of this, the Greeks called the area Sindon which is derived from Sindh.

Harappan Script

• The Harappans invented the art of writing like the people of ancient Mesopotamia. However, the Harappan script is yet to be deciphered.
• The Harappan    script is not    alphabetical but    largely pictographic.
• There are many specimens of Harappan writing on stone seals and other objects. Most    inscriptions    were    recorded    on    seals    and    contain only a few words.

Animals

• In Indus Valley Civilization, animals were raised on a large scale.
• Oxen, buffaloes, goats, sheep and pigs were domesticated.
• Humped bulls were favoured by the Harappans.
• There is evidence of dogs and cats, and asses and camels being bred.
• Evidence of the horse comes from a superficial level of Mohenjo-daro and from a doubtful terracotta figurine from Lothal.
• The remains of a horse are reported from Surkotada, situated in west Gujarat and relate to around 2000 BC but the identity is doubtful.
• From the above facts, we can interpret that Harappan people were aware about Horse but they did not domesticate Horse.

Religious Practices

• In Harappa numerous terracotta figurines of women have been found.
• In one figurine, a plant is shown growing out of the embryo of a woman.
• This image probably represents the goddess of Earth and was intimately connected with the origin and growth of plants.
• The Harappan, therefore, looked upon the earth as a fertility goddess and worshiped her.
• The male deity is represented on a seal. This god has three-horned heads, and is represented in the sitting posture of a yogi, with one leg placed above the other. This god is surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, and a rhinoceros and below his throne there is a buffalo and at his feet two deer. It is identified as Pashupati seal.
• The people of the Indus region also worshipped trees.
• The depiction of a deity is represented on a seal amidst branches of the Pipal. This tree continues to be worshipped to this day.
• Animals were also worshipped in Harappan times and many of them are represented on seals. The most important of them is the one-horned animal unicorn which may be identified with the rhinoceros.
• Evidence of fire altar at Kalibangan.
• Despite the depiction of the divine on seals and figurines, we find no architectural structure that can be pointed as a place of worship.

End of Civilization

• By 1800 BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization saw the beginning of their decline: Writing started to disappear, standardized weights and measures used for trade and taxation purposes fell out of use, and some cities were gradually abandoned.
• The reasons for this decline are not entirely clear, but it is believed that the drying up of the Saraswati River, a process which had begun around 1900 BCE, was the main cause.
• Other experts speak of a great flood in the area. Either event would have had catastrophic effects on agricultural activity, making the economy no longer sustainable and breaking the civic order of the cities.
• Later, a large group of nomadic cattle-herders, the Aryans, migrated into the region from central Asia. The Aryans crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains and came in contact with the Indus Valley Civilization.
• This was a large migration and used to be seen as an invasion, which was thought to be the reason for the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization, but this hypothesis is not unanimously accepted today.