2. Indus Valley Civilization

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2. Indus Valley Civilization

2.1 Introduction

The Indus Valley Civilization is the earliest urban culture of the Indian subcontinent. It is also called the Harappan Civilization, after Harappa, the first site found. It belongs to the Bronze Age and was contemporary with the civilisations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. It is protohistoric, because its script has not been deciphered.

Discovery

Year / Person	Contribution
1826	Charles Masson first described the mounds of Harappa
1921	Daya Ram Sahni began excavation at Harappa
1922	R. D. Banerji found Mohenjo-daro
1924	John Marshall, Director General of the ASI, announced the discovery to the world
1946	Mortimer Wheeler excavated Harappa and dated the civilisation by layers
After 1947	Many sites in India were found: Ropar (1953), Lothal (1954, S. R. Rao), Kalibangan, Dholavira (found by J. P. Joshi in 1967-68; excavated by R. S. Bisht)

Chronology

Phases of the Harappan civilisation

The three phases are Early Harappan (about 3300 to 2600 BCE), Mature Harappan (about 2600 to 1900 BCE) and Late Harappan (about 1900 to 1300 BCE). Older books give different dates: Marshall suggested 3250 to 2750 BCE, and Wheeler 2500 to 1500 BCE.

2.2 Extent and Important Sites

It is the largest of the early river-valley civilisations in area, covering more than a million square kilometres in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
Northernmost site: Manda (Jammu). Southernmost: Daimabad (Maharashtra). Westernmost: Sutkagen-dor (Makran coast, Pakistan). Easternmost: Alamgirpur (Uttar Pradesh).
The Indus and the dried Ghaggar-Hakra (often linked with the Sarasvati) were the main river systems.

Schematic distribution of Harappan sites

Site	River / Place	Key Findings
Harappa	Ravi; Punjab (Pakistan)	Granaries, workmen's quarters, Cemetery R-37, a red sandstone male torso; later Cemetery H culture
Mohenjo-daro	Indus; Sindh (Pakistan)	Largest site; Great Bath, granary, bronze "Dancing Girl", steatite "Priest-King", Pashupati seal. The name means "mound of the dead"
Chanhudaro	Indus; Sindh	No citadel; bead-making and craft centre; discovered by N. G. Majumdar (1931)
Kalibangan	Ghaggar; Rajasthan	Earliest ploughed field, fire altars, camel bones, black bangles; excavated by B. B. Lal and B. K. Thapar
Lothal	Bhogava; Gujarat	Dockyard, bead factory, rice husk, fire altars, double burial; S. R. Rao
Dholavira	Kutch; Gujarat	Three-part city, stone-built, water reservoirs, a large signboard with ten signs; UNESCO World Heritage Site (2021)
Rakhigarhi	Haryana	Largest Harappan site in India; a DNA study of a skeleton was published in 2019
Banawali	Haryana	Barley; toy plough; both Harappan and pre-Harappan layers
Surkotada	Kutch; Gujarat	First actual horse bones reported at a Harappan site (J. P. Joshi)
Ropar	Sutlej; Punjab	First Harappan site excavated in independent India (1953, Y. D. Sharma)
Mehrgarh	Baloch-istan	Neolithic precursor, about 7000 BCE; earliest farming in South Asia
Shortughai	Afghan-istan	Harappan trading post for lapis lazuli

2.3 Town Planning

Most cities had a raised citadel (west) for public buildings and a lower town (east) for homes.
Streets ran in a grid, cutting each other at right angles.
Bricks were burnt (baked), in the ratio 4 : 2 : 1 (length : width : thickness).
A well-planned system of covered drains ran along the streets, with house drains joining them.
Houses had bathrooms and wells; many were multi-roomed and built around a courtyard.
Dholavira had three parts (citadel, middle town and lower town) and smart water harvesting; Chanhudaro had no citadel.
No palaces or temples have been clearly identified.

Important structures

Structure	Details
Great Bath (Mohenjo-daro)	A large water tank (about 12 m by 7 m and 2.4 m deep) made watertight with bitumen; probably for ritual bathing
Granaries	Large storehouses at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, near the citadels
Dockyard (Lothal)	An artificial brick basin linked to the sea by a channel
Fire altars	At Kalibangan and Lothal
Stadium and reservoirs (Dholavira)	Water storage cut in rock and large open ground

2.4 Economy

Agriculture and animals

Crops: wheat, barley, peas, sesame, mustard, dates and melon; cotton was grown (the Greeks called it sindon); rice is found at Lothal and Rangpur; millets at Rangpur and other Gujarat sites.
The plough is shown at Kalibangan and Banawali (toy). Canal irrigation and dams (gabarbands) were used in some regions.
Animals: humped bull, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig, dog, cat and camel; the elephant was known. The horse was not a regular part of life.

Craft, trade and weights

Bronze (copper and tin) and copper were used; iron was not known.
Bead-making (carnelian, steatite, shell) at Chanhudaro and Lothal; shell work at Balakot.
Trade with Mesopotamia (the Indus region was called Meluhha), Dilmun (Bahrain) and Magan (Oman); trade was mainly by barter.
Seals were of steatite, mostly square with an animal (the unicorn is the most common) and a short inscription.
Weights were cubical (chert), in a ratio of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and so on, with 16 as a basic unit. An ivory scale from Lothal shows accurate measuring.
Raw materials: copper from Rajasthan (Khetri) and Oman; tin from Afghanistan; lapis lazuli from Badakhshan; carnelian and steatite from Gujarat and Rajasthan.

2.5 Script, Society and Religion

Topic	Key Points
Script	About 400 signs; pictographic; written in boustrophedon style; still undeciphered. Attempts include those of Iravatham Mahadevan and Asko Parpola
Society	Mostly urban; signs of social differences in house sizes; a ruling or merchant elite probably managed trade and cities. No clear evidence of kings or armies
Mother goddess	Many terracotta female figurines
Pashupati seal	A horned figure seated in yogic posture surrounded by animals; John Marshall called it Proto-Shiva
Nature worship	Pipal tree, humped bull, snakes; phallus and yoni stones
Burials	Usually extended burials with pots and ornaments; double burial at Lothal; Cemetery R-37 at Harappa
Art	Bronze Dancing Girl (lost-wax method), steatite Priest-King bust, terracotta toys and animals

Remember

Not known to the Harappans: iron, the regular use of the horse, large-scale temples, and coined money.
Cotton was first produced here, and the cubical weights were uniform across the cities.
Mohenjo-daro is the largest site overall; Rakhigarhi is the largest in India.

2.6 Decline

Theory	Explanation
Aryan invasion (Wheeler)	Mohenjo-daro skeletons seen as massacre victims; now widely rejected, since the skeletons belong to different times
Floods (Marshall, Mackay, Raikes)	Layers of silt at Mohenjo-daro suggest flooding, possibly from tectonic changes
Climate change and drying of rivers	The monsoon weakened and the Ghaggar-Hakra dried up; the most accepted explanation today
Decline of trade	The fall of trade with Mesopotamia weakened the cities
Epidemics and ecological stress	Over-use of land and disease may have added to the pressure

The cities slowly declined and the civilisation did not end suddenly. Late Harappan cultures continued in villages, such as Cemetery at Harappa, the Jhukar culture in Sindh and the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture in the Ganga-Yamuna region.

Quick Recall

Harappa 1921 (Daya Ram Sahni); Mohenjo-daro 1922 (R. D. Banerji); announced 1924 (Marshall).
Mature phase: about 2600 to 1900 BCE; Bronze Age; script undeciphered (about 400 signs; boustrophedon).
Citadel in the west, lower town in the east; grid streets; bricks 4 : 2 : 1; covered drains.
Great Bath: Mohenjo-daro; dockyard: Lothal; ploughed field: Kalibangan; signboard and UNESCO status: Dholavira.
Manda: north; Daimabad: south; Sutkagen-dor: west; Alamgirpur: east.
No iron; the horse was not regular; no clear temples; cotton first grown here.
Decline: mainly climate change and drying of the Ghaggar-Hakra; Aryan invasion theory is rejected.

2. Indus Valley Civilization