Indus Valley

Indus Valley Civilization

• Introduction:-

The Indus Valley Civilization was a cultural and political entity which flourished in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent between c. 7000 – c. 600 BCE. Its modern name derives from its location in the valley of the Indus River, but it is also commonly referred to as the Indus-Sarasvati Civilization (after the Sarasvati River mentioned in Vedic sources which flowed adjacent to the Indus) and the Harappan Civilization (after the ancient city of Harappa in the region, the first one found in the modern era). None of these names derive from any ancient texts because, although scholars generally believe the people of this civilization developed a writing system (known as Indus Script or Harappan Script) it has not yet been deciphered.

• The Indus Valley Civilization:-

The Indus Valley Civilization was an urban civilization from 3300–1300 BCE that covered most of present-day Pakistan and northwest India.

The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age urban civilization that existed from 3300–1300 BCE and covered most of present-day Pakistan and northwest India. Situated around the Indus River and the Ghaggar-Hakra River, the Indus Valley civilization is also known as the Harappan civilization, named after Harappa, the first city to be excavated in the 1920s.

Inhabitants of the ancient Indus Valley developed new and notable techniques in handicraft, metallurgy , trade and transportation, systems of measurement, and urban planning.

• The civilization is often separated into three phases:

Early Harappan Phase (3300 BCE–2600 BCE).

Mature Harappan Phase (2600 BCE–1900 BCE).

Late Harappan Phase (1900 BCE–1300 BCE).

The Mature Harappan phase was the cultural high point, a time by which communities had grown into well-functioning, enormous urban centers. Many more artistic artifacts—such as ceramics, sculptures, seals, and jewelry—have been excavated from this time than from some civilizations that began centuries after its decline.

Numerous architectural remains have been found as well, including multistory buildings, baths, and dockyards. To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found in the general area of the rivers and their tributaries, with the major ones being Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, Dholavira, Rupar, Lothal, and Kalibangan.

• Indus Valley Cities:-

The cities of the ancient Indus Valley consisted of highly functional, multistory buildings and structures constructed with uniform, kiln-burnt bricks. There is evidence of urban planning due to the uniformity of size and the style of the brickwork, as well as the organization of streets and neighborhoods into grid patterns, much like many current cities.

The first-known sanitation system, whereby waste-water was directed into covered drains that lined major streets and where clean water was obtained from wells in a designated room in the home, was employed in the ancient Indus Valley. This system of sewage and drainage is quite remarkable and was more advanced than some seen even today.

The Indus Valley Civilization is also known for developing a unified system of weight and measurement, as well as a decimal system and the first known use of negative numbers. In 2001, it was discovered that people from the early Harappan period had knowledge of proto-dentistry with the excavation of the first evidence of drilled human teeth.

• Art in the Indus Valley:-

The Indus Valley period is well documented through the wealth of artifacts that were excavated from its magnificent cities. It is widely believed that most of the inhabitants of Indus Valley cities were tradespeople and artisans. Archaeologists have excavated sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry, elaborate beadwork, and anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta , ceramic, bronze, lead, tin, and steatite from the ancient Indus Valley area.

A number of bronze, gold, stone, and terracotta figures of girls in dance poses reveal the presence of some dance forms from the time, and a harp-like instrument depicted on a seal indicates the use of stringed musical instruments.

Similarities in the iconography and construction of excavated artifacts suggest the considerable mobility and trade networks of the Indus Valley inhabitants. Raw materials found only in distant regions, such as lapis lazuli and steatite, were imported for artistic use. It is believed that the trade networks of the Indus Valley reached as far as Afghanistan, coastal Persia, northern and western India, Mesopotamia , and Egypt.

The iconography of the artifacts from the Indus Valley region often depict quite anatomically correct animals and human figures. Similar to other civilizations of the same time period, such as Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, there are many depictions of female figures, or possibly fertility goddesses.

One motif shows a horned figure seated in a posture reminiscent of the lotus position and surrounded by animals; this was named Pashaputi (lord of cattle) by excavators. Between 400 and 600 distinct Indus symbols that indicate a language have been found on ceramics, seals, and tablets, though the language remains entirely unknown to this day.

• Indus Valley Society:-

Socially, the Indus Civilization appears to have been relatively egalitarian in nature. All homes within its various cities had access to water and drainage facilities and were generally equal in size. The evidence for planned settlements and the uniformity of Harappan artifacts suggests a strong organizational or governing force in the Indus Valley Civilization, though archaeological records provide no immediate answers.

Around 1800 BCE, signs of decline began to emerge in the Indus River Valley. By 1700 BCE, many of the cities had been abandoned. The reason for the decline of the civilization is unknown, but it is theorized to be due to enemy invasion throughout the area, a change in climate to significantly cooler and drier conditions, or the disappearance of the Ghaggar-Hakra River. After the collapse, regional cultures emerged that continued to show the influence of the Indus Valley Civilization to varying degrees.

• Sanskrit Literature:-

The end of Vedic India is marked by linguistic, cultural, and political changes. The grammar of Pāini marks a final apex in the codification of Sutra texts and, at the same time, the beginning of Classical Sanskrit. The invasion of Darius I of the Indus valley in the early 6th century BCE marks the beginning of outside influence that continued in the kingdoms of the Indo–Greeks. After the end of the Vedic period, the Mahajanapadas period in turn gave way to the Maurya Empire (from c. 320 BCE), which is considered to be the golden age of classical Sanskrit literature.

• Crafts in the Vedic Period:-

Crafts within Vedic culture include that of chariot-making, cart-making, carpentry, metal-working (creating instruments such as razors, bangles, and axes), tanning, bow-making, sewing, weaving, and making mats from grass and reeds. Many of these might have required full-time specialists.

The use of iron implements (krishna-ayas or shyama-ayas, literally meaning black metal or dark metal) increased in the later Vedic age, as did new crafts and occupations such as leather work, pottery, astrology, jewelry, dying, and vintnery. Apart from copper, bronze , and gold, later Vedic texts also mention tin, lead, and silver.

The black- and red-ware culture (BRW) is an early, Iron Age culture associated with the post-Rigvedic Vedic civilization that dates roughly from the 12th to 9th centuries BCE. It was succeeded by the painted grey-ware culture (PGW), an Iron Age culture that corresponds to the later Vedic period and that lasted from roughly 1200 BCE to 600 BCE.

• Vedic Literature:-

The Vedas are a large body of texts that originated in the Vedic period. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism.

The reconstruction of the history of Vedic India is based on text-internal details. Linguistically, the Vedic texts could be classified in five chronological strata:

1. The Rigvedic text:

The oldest of the Vedas, thought to have been composed roughly between 1700 and 1100 BCE .

2. The Mantra language texts:

This period includes both the mantra and prose language of the Atharvaveda (Paippalada and Shaunakiya), the Rigveda Khilani, the Samaveda Samhita, and the mantras of the Yajurveda. This is the time of the early Iron Age in northwestern India and corresponds to the black- and red-ware (BRW) culture.

3. The Samhita prose texts:

This period includes the Brahmana part (commentary on mantras and ritual) of the Black Yajurveda and corresponds with the painted grey-ware (PGW) culture from c. 900 BCE.

4. The Brahmana prose texts:

The Brahmanas proper of the four Vedas belong to this period, as well as the Aranyakas, the oldest of the Upanishads, and the oldest Shrautasutras.

5. The Sutra language texts:

This is the last stratum of Vedic Sanskrit leading up to c. 500 BCE, and is comprised of the bulk of the Śrauta and Grhya Sutras, as well as some Upanishads.

The Upanishads are a collection of philosophical texts that form the theoretical basis for the Hindu religion. The Sanskrit term upanishad means sitting down near, implying sitting near a teacher to receive instruction.

Also known as Vedanta, they are considered by orthodox Hindus to contain the revealed truths (Sruti) concerning the nature of ultimate reality (brahman), and describe the character and form of human salvation (moksha).

All Upanishads are associated with one of the four Vedas—Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda—and have been passed down in oral tradition. More than 200 Upanishads are known, and with the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahmasutra, the Mukhya Upanishads provide a foundation for several later schools of Indian philosophy.

• Harappa & Mohenjo-daro:-

The Hindu texts known as the Vedas, as well as other great works of Indian tradition such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana, were already well known to Western scholars but they did not know what culture had created them. Systemic racism of the time prevented them from attributing the works to the people of India, and the same, at first, led archaeologists to conclude that Harappa was a colony of the Sumerians of Mesopotamia or perhaps an Egyptian outpost.

Harappa did not conform to either Egyptian or Mesopotamian architecture, however, as there was no evidence of temples, palaces, or monumental structures, no names of kings or queens or stelae or royal statuary. The city spread over 370 acres (150 hectares) of small, brick houses with flat roofs made of clay. There was a citadel, walls, the streets were laid out in a grid pattern clearly demonstrating a high degree of skill in urban planning and, in comparing the two sites, it was apparent to the excavators that they were dealing with a highly advanced culture.

Houses in both cities had flush toilets, a sewer system, and fixtures on either side of the streets were part of an elaborate drainage system, which was more advanced even than that of the early Romans. Devices known from Persia as “wind catchers” were attached to the roofs of some buildings which provided air conditioning for the home or administrative office and, at Mohenjo-daro, there was a great public bath, surrounded by a courtyard, with steps leading down into it.

As other sites were unearthed, the same degree of sophistication and skill came to light as well as the understanding that all of these cities had been pre-planned. Unlike those of other cultures which usually developed from smaller, rural communities, the cities of the Indus Valley Civilization had been thought out, a site chosen, and purposefully constructed prior to full habitation. Further, they all exhibited conformity to a single vision which further suggested a strong central government with an efficient bureaucracy that could plan, fund, and build such cities.

Excavations at both sites continued between 1944-1948 CE under the direction of the British archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler (l. 1890-1976 CE) whose racialist ideology made it difficult for him to accept that dark-skinned people had built the cities. Even so, he managed to establish stratigraphy for Harappa and lay the foundation for the later periodization of the Indus Valley Civilization.

• Chronology:-

Wheeler’s work provided archaeologists with the means to recognize approximate dates from the civilization’s foundations through its decline and fall. The chronology is primarily based, as noted, on physical evidence from Harappan sites but also from knowledge of their trade contacts with Egypt and Mesopotamia. Lapis lazuli, to name only one product, was immensely popular in both cultures and, although scholars knew it came from India, they did not know from precisely where until the Indus Valley Civilization was discovered. Even though this semi-precious stone would continue to be imported after the fall of the Indus Valley Civilization, it is clear that, initially, some of the export came from this region.

 Pre-Harappan – c. 7000 – c. 5500 BCE: The Neolithic period best exemplified by sites like Mehrgarh which shows evidence of agricultural development, domestication of plants and animals, and production of tools and ceramics.

 Early Harappan – c. 5500-2800 BCE: Trade firmly established with Egypt, Mesopotamia, and possibly China. Ports, docks, and warehouses built near waterways by communities living in small villages.

 Mature Harappan – c. 2800 – c. 1900 BCE: Construction of the great cities and widespread urbanization. Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are both flourishing c. 2600 BCE. Other cities, such as Ganeriwala, Lothal, and Dholavira are built according to the same models and this development of the land continues with the construction of hundreds of other cities until there are over 1,000 of them throughout the land in every direction.

 Late Harappan – c. 1900 – c. 1500 BCE: Decline of the civilization coinciding with a wave of migration of the Aryan people from the north, most likely the Iranian Plateau. Physical evidence suggests climate change which caused flooding, drought, and famine. A loss of trade relations with Egypt and Mesopotamia has also been suggested as a contributing cause.

 Post Harappan – c. 1500 – c. 600 BCE: The cities are abandoned, and the people have moved south. The civilization has already fallen by the time Cyrus II (the Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE) invades India in 530 BCE.

• Harappa and Mohenjo–daro – the two major sites of this civilization;

Are among the earliest and finest examples of urban civic planning. The planned network of Roads, houses and drainage systems indicate the planning and engineering skills that developed during those times.

Some of the important sites of the Indus Valley civilization and their archaeological Findings are:

1. Harappa in present Pakistan – granaries with big platform, stone symbol of Lingam and yoni, mother goddess figure, wheat and barley in wooden mortar, Dice, copper scale and mirror.

2. Mohenjo–daro in present Pakistan – bronze dancing girl, the sculpture of bearded priest, the great bath, the great granary.

3. Dholavira in Gujarat – giant water reservoir, unique water harnessing system, Stadium, dams and embankments, inscription comprising 10 large sized signs Like an advertisement board.

4. Lothal (Manchester of Indus Valley Civilisation) in Gujarat – dockyard, Double burial, risk husk, fire altars, painted jar, modern day chess, terracotta Figure of ship, instruments for measuring 45, 90 and 180-degree angles.

5. Ropar in Punjab – dog buried with human oval pit burials.

6. Balathal and Kalibangan in Rajasthan – bangle factory, toy carts, bones of

Camel, decorated bricks, citadel and lower town.

7. Banvali in Haryana – toy plough, barley grains, oval-shaped settlement, the only city with radial streets.

8. Alamgirpur in Uttar Pradesh – impression of a cloth on a trough.

• Two cities:-

The ruins of two ancient cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro (both in modern-day Pakistan), and the remnants of many other settlements, have revealed great clues to this mystery. Harappa was, in fact, such a rich discovery that the Indus Valley Civilization is also called the Harappan civilization.

The first artifact uncovered in Harappa was a unique stone seal carved with a unicorn and an inscription. Similar seals with different animal symbols and writings have since been found throughout the region. Although the writing has not yet been deciphered, the evidence suggests they belonged to the same language system. Apparently, Mesopotamia’s cuneiform system had some competition in the race for the world’s first script.

The discovery of the seals prompted archaeologists to dig further. Amazing urban architecture was soon uncovered across the valley and into the western plains. The findings clearly show that Harappan societies were well organized and very sanitary.

For protection from seasonal floods and polluted waters, the settlements were built on giant platforms and elevated grounds. Upon these foundations, networks of streets were laid out in neat patterns of straight lines and right angles. The buildings along the roads were all constructed of bricks that were uniform in size.

The brick houses of all city dwellers were equipped with bathing areas supplied with water from neighborhood wells. Sophisticated drainage systems throughout the city carried dirty water and sewage outside of living spaces. Even the smallest houses on the edges of the towns were connected to the systems — cleanliness was obviously of utmost importance.

• Who built “The indus valley”?

Who built the Indus Valley civilisation? There are few questions more fundamental to our understanding of Indian history than this. On the answer to it hang many details of the country’s past: How did we come to be as we are — culturally, ethnically and linguistically? And what explains the way we are spread out geographically in the subcontinent?

Although this question has always been asked, the correct answer to it has proved resistant to the wiles and charms of historians, archaeologists, linguists and philologists for nearly a century, ever since Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were discovered in the 1920s. The fault doesn’t lie with the remarkable men and women who built what was easily the largest civilisation of their time. They had a script of their own and they left behind enough of their writings on tablets, seals, tools, pottery, and ornaments. But we haven’t managed to decipher it yet. So we don’t know who they were, where they came from, what language they spoke, what kind of social organisation or rulers they had, or even what their names were. Perhaps the only thing we know about their identity is that their trading partners in West Asia referred to their land as “Meluhha.”

• Conclusion:-

The Aryan Invasion Theory, though still cited and advanced by those with a racialist agenda, lost credence in the 1960s CE through the work, primarily, of the American archaeologist George F. Dales who reviewed Wheeler’s interpretations, visited the sites, and found no evidence to support it. The skeletons Wheeler had interpreted as dying a violent death in battle showed no such signs nor did the cities exhibit any damage associated with war.

Further, there was no evidence of any kind of mobilization of a great army of the north nor of any conquest c. 1900 BCE in India. The Persians – the only ethnicity self-identifying as Aryan – were themselves a minority on the Iranian Plateau between c. 1900 – c. 1500 BCE and in no position to mount an invasion of any kind. It was therefore suggested that the “Aryan Invasion” was actually most likely a migration of Indo-Iranians who merged peacefully with the indigenous people of India, intermarried, and were assimilated into the culture.

As excavations of the sites of the Indus Valley Civilization continue, more information will no doubt contribute to a better understanding of its history and development. Recognition of the culture’s vast accomplishments and high level of technology and sophistication has been increasingly coming to light and gaining greater attention. Scholar Jeffrey D. Long expresses the general sentiment, writing, “there is much fascination with this civilization because of its high level of technological advancement” (198). Already, the Indus Valley Civilization is referenced as one of the three greatest of antiquity alongside Egypt and Mesopotamia, and future excavations will almost surely elevate its standing even higher.

• Bibliography:-

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/news/national/who-built-the-indus-valley-civilisation/article22261315.ece/amp/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Indus-civilization

https://www.ushistory.org/civ/8a.asp

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/historical-beginnings-the-indus-valley-civilisation-national-council-of-science-museums/QQLyzPzKbMlEKg?hl=en

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/early-indus-valley-civilizations/