The Harappan CIvilisation

Sitting in front of my laptop, at this moment I was all by myself in my room with my e-book opened. You know when we start re-reading something we’ve already read we have that ‘deja vu’ feeling that ‘Yeah man I know this!’, and instead of going through it again we start jumping off from one page to the other. I was busy reminiscing my class sixth days when I caught hold off the moment where I decided that I will become an IAS officer. Well this story would be good for another day but for now I realised that I should go through the book from the beginning. So, I began....

So let me take you all through the worn-off pages of those history books which we’ve long forgotten.

THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION or THE HARAPPAN CIVILISATION dates back to 3500 BC. It followed the CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE.

It was broadly divided into three phases:

• The Early Harappan Phase: 3500 BC- 2600 BC
• The Mature Harappan Phase: 2600 BC- 1900 BC
• The Late Harappan Phase: 1900 BC- 1400 BC

There were 13 major Harappan Sites which were:

S.no.	Name of the site	Location	Importance
1.	Harappa	Western Punjab	First excavated site in 1921; Home to granary;
2.	Manda	Jammu & Kashmir	Excavated in 1976
3.	Shortughai	Afghanistan	Excavated in 1976
4.	Mohenjodaro	Sind	Excavated in 1922; Home to the Great Bath, largest granary, Stone sculpture of bearded man(priest), Bronze Dancing Figurine,; An evidence of cotton cloth was found here
5.	Chanhudaro	Sind	Excavated in 1935; Bead making evidence found here; Stones like agate and carnelian found here
6.	Kalibangan	Rajasthan	Excavated in 1952; Furrows and plough makers found here are an evidence to plough cultivation. Evidence of Fire worship found here; Symbolic Burial found here
7.	Lothal	Gujarat	Excavated in 1954,1955-1960; Important port and trading centre; Bead-making evidences found here;
8.	Dholavira	Gujarat	Excavated in 1967
9.	Banawali	Haryana	Excavated in 1981; Terracotta Plough found here
10.	Rakhigarhi	Haryana	Excavated in 1991
11.	Daimabad	Maharashtra	Excavated in 1958
12.	Sutkagendor	On Makran Coast	Excavated in 1928; Western most site
13.	Alamgirpur	Western Uttar Pradesh	Excavated in 1959; Eastern most side

From the above we get to know about the structural remains found from different sites which are:

• Great Bath in Mohenjo Daro.
• Granary in Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.
• Dockyard in Lothal.
• Bronze Dancing girl figurine in Mohenjo Daro.
• Stone sculpture of a bearded man(a bust of a priest) at Mohenjodaro.

If we talk about the Economic Activities of the Harappan people, then we infer the following:

Agriculture was the base of economy.

• Plough-cultivation was practiced.
• Irrigation was done through wells or river channels.
• Chief crops were wheat, barley, sesasum, mustard, peas and jejube.
• Rice, fish and animal meat were also a part of the diet. 

 Industries and craft evidences are found.

• Almost all metals (gold, silver, copper), except iron are found.
• Stone tools and ornaments are also found.
• Evidences of pottery-making and seal making are also found. Wheels were generally made having red coating and black designs. Seals were made of steatite, generally square in shape.
• There wasn’t any representation of horse on seals which predicts that horses weren’t known to people.
• The most famous seal is of PASHUPATI (Lord of Beasts), also known as ‘proto-shiva’. It has three heads and is sitting in a yogic posture surrounded by 4 animals that are elephant, tiger, rhinoceros and a buffalo.

  

  Lord Pashupati

Trade sector dealt with contacts to foreign lands particularly ‘Mesopotamia’. Trade in Mesopotamian cities of ‘Susa’ and ‘Ur’ was through Oman and Bahrain in Persian Gulf.

Following are some of the trading materials which were found at different locations:

• Copper- Khetri mines in Rajasthan
• Silver- Jwar mines in Rajasthan 

Bead-Making stones:

• Lapiz-Lazuli- Badaksham mines in Afghanistan
• Turquoise and Jade- Central Asia
• Agate, Carnelian, Chalcedony- Western India
• Seashells- Gujarat
• Timber- Northern India (Jammu)

The Society, Religion And Script Of the Harappan Civilisation

The  civilisation was Matriarchal. There are more female figurines than the male ones. Also, goddesses were worshipped more.

The harappan religion was called as Animism i.e. worship of trees, stones, etc. The worshipped linga (phallus) and yoni. Animal worship and fire worship was also practiced. There were several professions prevalent amongst the harappan people which are: 

Script of Harappan People

• Priests
• Warriors
• Peasants
• Traders
• Artisans 

The dead bodies of harappan people were rested in North-South direction with their feet towards South and head towards North. Also, there are evidences of symbolic burials found from Kalibangan which is burial which contains pots but no bones or skeleton.

Evidences show that the harappan people were literate. Their written script contained about 400 signs and was written from right to left. The language which they spoke was “Brahui” which is at present used by Baluchi people in Pakistan.

Decline of The Harappan Civilisation

The beginning of post urban phase (or late harappan phase) was characterised by gradual disappearance of traits such as town planning, art of writing, uniformity in weights and measures, homogeneity in pottery designs, etc. This led to the gradual decline and during the decline of the Harappan civilisation, Mohenjo Daro reduced to a small settlement of 3 hectares from original 85 hectares towards the end of late phase.

Reflection of an Unheard Soul

Being the first baby in the family after around three decades, she had the most complacent childhood which anyone would kill for! Love, affection, care, appreciation, skills, support she had it all served in a silver plate. She was a princess in her own little world. There was no place for fairy tales in her life as it would be a lie if I said she was anywhere less than them. Though she was living in this world of sorrow, she had a parallel world full of happiness as hers was a life which started with “a happily ever after”.  But here is all the irony, how can something be so perfect? Even in those fictitious fairytales, the princess is the one who suffers initially, so how could this cruel world give her the privilege of having pure happiness? Could she really be an exception to the norms of this beautiful religion called “life”?

Well no, she couldn’t! Just like the “Little Mermaid” was confused about ‘how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad’, she also didn’t know the difference. But the fate had it in store for her because every Beauty’s life is waiting for a Beast, and no this beast isn’t a good one, but the problems planned by her fate because no matter how dreamy the story may seem, life isn’t perfect.

Living in that parallel, carefree world, dancing to the tunes of her own melancholy songs as if she was one of the “twelve dancing princesses”,  though her life started perfectly, but it proved to become worse with each passing year she lived. Gradually she found the fact that the world she’s been living in is soon going to change completely.

But let me not jump to that part quite right now. Let’s first go on a tour to what her life was. She was seen as a blessing at the time of her birth, as if she brought rain in drought, warmth to the winter winds or life to the lifeless ones around and so was she treated, with utmost love and care from everyone around. She never failed on whatever was expected from her. From topping the academics to being a cultural diva, from sports to socialising, she was one of her kind in whatever she did, she was a warrior like “Mulan” who lived by her own rules and didn’t care about any culture based norm which attempted to cage her. The best of friends one could ever have, the best companion to be with. And that was why she made friends wherever she went, she had the sparks which made her glow and made others follow, but she was not the one who wanted followers, she was a leader kind who wanted companions, she was more like a “Snow White to every Seventh Dwarf” and that’s what described her nature.

Nature, the way a person is.. there was much to her personality, the deeper you dig, the more you would find, and the more interesting it gets. But the main problem lies here, the more interesting it gets, the more you’ll get stuck in there, all messed up and so was she, finding it difficult to go on with the situations she regularly had to deal with. Things seem perfect from for away, but the truth is known to the ones dealing with them.

She had lots of friends with no hatred inside her, but gradually things changed. As Snow White was about to being murdered by her own step-mother just for being beautiful, She got betrayed by a dozen of them just for being different and self-reliant. Though her self-respect kept her unaffected, what posed a problem for her was her optimism towards people’s behaviour. When I heard “ek cheez jo hume pata hai hum kabhi nhi karenge, or fir ek din hum kar bhi dete hai, just like that!” (Something we never believed we'll ever do and then one day we ended up doing it, just like that) from Love Aaj Kal, I could easily make out how relatable it was to the people around her but she failed to realise this. When she was left with a very few gems in her life, she tried every possible way of trusting them to the core and differentiated them from others; but to her despondence everyone broke her trust. Not a single person failed to show her how they were all different yet all the same. She found her unable to deal with the hypocrisy of humanity. Even the closest ones showed her it’s all fake. Some showed through actions and some broke her through words like Cinderella got daunted by her sisters and step-mom.

Words.. every single word said by someone important to us can either break our soul or awaken it. And that’s where her optimism came to the verge of getting demolished. She lost almost everyone and what was still with her was “herself”. She remembered how from “tangled” she learnt, “You don’t really need someone to complete you”. She wondered to herself, maybe her life was an opposite of those fairytales where they have a happy end, that hers began perfectly but this destroyed new normal was her end. But unfortunately or fortunately, it was not an end as what she had was her own self intact. She had the power to do wonders as she was always this way. She just needed to realise these few years weren’t her days. Soon she figured out she would get along this world, because she was “Belle” who could do exceptional things, changing a beast to a prince being an instance. She didn’t want someone to complete her, but someone to accept her completely. What she needed were permanent people, like Ella needed her Prince Charming  and the permanent ones aren’t that easy to find. She didn’t lack attention, she got lots of it, besides she hated it, she didn’t want to be surrounded by many, she just wanted to be understood, someone who could trust her and let her be herself without those restrictions of this unfair world, she was like a bird who wanted to be safely set free, like the “genie” who was set free by “Aladdin”.

But nothing in this world comes for free; even that genie had to grant wishes for getting released from that lamp. And somewhere deep inside, by now she knew this fact and was well aware of it. So she started trying to let herself free from the thought processes that caged her. But unfortunately, she’s still stuck in them “Rapunzel” was stuck in the tower. Now the thought of everything being settled in is a dream for her which she regularly sees as “sleeping beauty” said ‘If you dream a thing more than once, it’s sure to come true”.  She’s just waiting for her fairy godmother who actually resides deep inside her own soul to come to senses and let “her heart have wings, let her fly and let her touch every star in the sky”.

After all, a fairytale can have a happy end, but the reality strikes when things become messed up real bad and you find yourself in a delusional state. Real life is far, far away from fictitious tales but still the reality still lies in the fact that ‘if it’s not happy, then it’s not the end’. Just remember that “you’re the one who can fill your world with sunshine”.

All you need is yourself

It's Now or Never

It was a usual morning in the lockdown days of 2020 when I was half asleep and could see my mum sitting besides my bed caressing my forehead. As she stood up and went to the kitchen, I got up and greeted everyone with a fresh morning wish.

After a while I was all fresh and sat in front of my shabby study table with a cup of coffee in my hand. Seeing my mom and dad at the other corner of the room discussing about new business techniques, and my brother taking online classes, my thought processes started racing as I realised how our lives have taken a new turn following alternative methods of performing our daily life tasks.

I realised how this is the best time to accomplish what we've been ignoring since long. I felt that this is the best time to start it reason being that at this moment of time we've got utmost support and advices from experienced and precious people that we can treasure and learn from throughout our lives.

It seemed to me like a periodic change like we study in our history books, the ways a change on the world level came into effect. Though it wasn’t as big a thing as I was thinking, I started developing links and jumping from one incident to other I kept on digging my thoughts.

I took 2020 to 1945, when the attack of Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened, and then to the world wars, jumping to the colonial India which we studied as Modern History and further to the Mughal Empire ruling India and from this it further went on to the Vedic times and finally THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION.

What a time it was! Most of you would not properly remember the civilization and same was the case with me which actually intrigued me to get in touch with again because unlike many others, I’ve always found history fascinating. I know it’s quite frustrating to get hold of all those dates but again studying it as pleasure activity just to get to know about it, isn’t that nice?? Maybe, it’s actually great for some of us!

Now, since I am a UPSC aspirant, I’ve got enough motivational lecture moments from the people around me on how studying about the past can help me get through the exams but all of us need a kick-start to actually do something worth our time.

So as soon as I finished my coffee, I realised that from a very long time I wasn’t getting a good enough excuse to start my civil services’ preps because every time I got stuck either in my thoughts or the famous ‘where should I start from?’ question prevented me from actually commencing, and that it, I felt it’s a ‘now or never’ moment this time. So I sat back and searched by book shelves in a wistful longing to find out my old history book of class 6^th. But I found myself despondent as I remembered that a kid had once borrowed it from me. But you know you can’t just leave something incomplete at an instance when you’re so much willing to have it. So I searched through the web and downloaded an e-book of history, and this was how I began reading “THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION” for the second time the only difference being that this time I wasn’t forced to do it by some CBSE course curriculum, it was my own wish and interest to do so.

A feeling of positivity stroke that this time it won’t be a waste!....

P.S. To be continued.....