2. INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION (HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION)

2. INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION (HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION)

2.1 Overview

• Also called Harappan Civilization (named after first discovered site, Harappa).
• Belongs to the Bronze Age; one of the world's oldest urban civilizations along with Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• Time period: c. 3300 BCE – 1300 BCE; Mature phase: c. 2600 BCE – 1900 BCE.
• Discovery: Harappa was excavated first in 1921 by Dayaram Sahni; Mohenjo-daro in 1922 by R.D. Banerji.
• Overall excavation credit / Director General of ASI at the time: Sir John Marshall.
• Geographical spread: Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, western UP — one of the largest civilizations in area among ancient civilizations (larger than Egypt and Mesopotamia combined in extent).

2.2 Important Sites and Excavators

2.3 Town Planning

• Grid pattern — streets cutting at right angles; well-planned drainage system.
• Cities divided into Citadel (western, raised, for elite/public buildings) and Lower Town (eastern, residential).
• Great Bath (Mohenjo-daro) — built of burnt bricks, made watertight using bitumen; probably used for ritual bathing.
• Great Granary — largest structure at Mohenjo-daro; grain storage.
• Houses built of burnt bricks in a fixed ratio (4:2:1); most houses had wells and bathrooms; covered drains connected to street drains — remarkable civic sense.
• Dockyard at Lothal — evidence of maritime trade.
• No evidence of temples or palaces found (unlike Mesopotamia/Egypt).

2.4 Economy

• Agriculture: wheat, barley, cotton (Harappans were first to grow cotton — Greeks called it "Sindon"), sesame, peas; use of wooden plough (evidence at Kalibangan — ploughed field).
• Animal husbandry: cattle (humped bull important), buffalo, sheep, goat, elephant; no evidence of horse at most sites (a debated topic — bones claimed at Surkotada).
• Trade: Internal and external trade; trade with Mesopotamia (called "Meluha" in Mesopotamian texts) via sea route (Lothal dockyard) and land route; standardized weights and measures (based on binary/decimal system, cubical stones); seals used for trade identification.
• Craft: bead-making (Chanhudaro, Lothal), pottery (red and black), bronze tools, seals with Indus script (undeciphered).

2.5 Religion & Society

• Worship of Mother Goddess (terracotta figurines).
• Pashupati Seal — a seated, three-faced figure surrounded by animals (tiger, elephant, rhino, buffalo), interpreted by John Marshall as proto-Shiva.
• Worship of trees (Pipal), animals (bull), and phallic symbols (linga/yoni) — possible.
• No clear evidence of temples.
• Society believed to be largely egalitarian; no strong evidence of kingship or standing army; possibly governed by merchant oligarchy/trade guilds.
• Burial practices: extended burial, evidence at cemetery R-37 (Harappa).

2.6 Script and Seals

• Indus Script — pictographic, written boustrophedon (right to left, then left to right); not yet deciphered.
• Seals — mostly made of steatite; commonly depict animals (unicorn most common), used for trade/administration.

2.7 Decline

• Debated causes: climatic change, drying up of Saraswati/Ghaggar-Hakra river, floods, decline in trade with Mesopotamia, Aryan invasion theory (largely discredited now), tectonic disturbances, over-exploitation of resources.
• Decline: c. 1900–1300 BCE, giving way to Late Harappan regional cultures.

Key Facts / Quick Revision — Indus Valley Civilization

• Contemporary with Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations; Bronze Age culture
• Harappa — first discovered (1921, Dayaram Sahni); Mohenjo-daro — largest site, "Mound of the Dead" (1922, R.D. Banerji)
• Largest Harappan site (area) = Rakhigarhi (Haryana); Dholavira and Ganeriwala are also very large
• Great Bath, Great Granary = Mohenjo-daro; Dockyard = Lothal; Water reservoirs, unique signboard = Dholavira
• No temples, no palaces found; script undeciphered
• National animal represented most on seals = Unicorn (not the tiger)
• First to cultivate cotton
• Trade partner: Mesopotamia (Meluha)