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.

MY VIEWS ON THIS SLICE OF OUR PAST

The part which intrigued me the  most was the female dominant society of the civilisation. it's in contrast with the society we live in today. Ever since the beginning of the 21st century, I have witnessed the male dominant society and thinking prevailing in India. And now we see a group of people being feminists or another group criticizing them. What we haven't learnt over the years is that it's a "PERSON" who deserves respect and not the "GENDER". 

Another thing which is interesting to infer from here is the ways people adopted different occupations according to their skills to run their lives. They were literate, they left evidences of their existence. They had social divisions and worked accordingly. The priests, the warriors, the traders, the artisans everyone had their defined jobs which were necessary to continue their respective livelihoods. We come to know how the survival of people depends on their actions and hard work. If we need resources, we are the ones to create them. 

Over the years, techniques and needs of people have changed but what remains constant is the survival of life and continuous aim towards improvising it.