Indus Valley Civilisation: Origin,

Evolution and Characteristics

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the origin, evolution, and characteristic of the Indus valley
civilisation:
The Indus or Harappan culture arose in the north-western part of the
Indian subcontinent.

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It is called Harappan civilisation because this was discovered first in

1921 at the modern site of Harappa, situated in the province of west
Punjab in Pakistan.

It is also called as Indus civilisation because it refers to precisely the

same cultural, chronological and geographic entity confined to the
geographic bounds of the Indus valley.
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Sir John Marshall was the first person to use the term Indus
civilisation. The Indus or the Harappan civilisation belongs to the
Chalcolithic or Bronze Age since the objects of copper and stone were
found at the various sites of this civilisation. Nearly, 1,400 Harappan
sites are known so far in the sub-continent.

They belong to early, mature and late phases of the Harappan culture.
But the number of the sites belonging to the mature phase is limited,
and of them only half a dozen can be regarded as cities.

Some of the noteworthy sites which have been excavated are Harappa
(1921) by Daya Ram Sahni, Mohenjodaro (1922) by R.D. Banerjee,
Dholavira (1967-68) by J.P. Joshi and (1990-91) by R.S. Bisht,
Kalibangan by Dr. A. Ghosh, Lothal (1955-63), Chanhu-daro, Banawali
(1975-77), etc.

Origin and Evolution:

The discovery of Indias first and earliest civilisation posed a historical
puzzle as it seemed to have suddenly appeared on the stage of history,
full grown and fully equipped. The Harappan civilisation till recently
showed no definite signs of birth and growth.

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The puzzle could largely be solved after the extensive excavation work
conducted at Mehrgarh near the Bolan Pass between 1973 and 1980 by
two French archaeologists Richard H. Meadow and Jean Francoise
Jarrige.

According to them, Mehrgarh gives us an archaeological record with a

sequence of occupations. Archaeological research over the past
decades has established a continuous sequence of strata, showing the
gradual development to the high standard of the full-fledged Indus
civilisation.

These strata have been named pre-Harappan, early Harappan, mature

Harappan and late Harappan phases or stages. By reviewing the main
elements of the rural cultures of the Indian sub-continent the origin of
the Indus civilisation can be traced. Any Pre-Harappan culture
claiming ancestry to the Indus civilisation must satisfy two conditions.

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The first condition is that it must not only precede but also overlap the
Indus culture.

The second is that the essential elements of the Indus culture must
have been anticipated by the Proto-Harappan (Indus) culture in its
material aspects, viz, the rudiments of town planning, provision of
minimum sanitary facilities, knowledge of pictographic writing, the
introduction of trade mechanisms, the knowledge of metallurgy and
the prevalence of ceramic traditions.

The different stages of the indigenous evolution of the Indus can be

documented by an analysis of four sites which reflect the sequence of
the four important stages or phases in the pre-history and proto-
history of the Indus valley region.

The sequence begins with the transition of nomadic herdsmen to

settled agricultural communities as per the evidence found at the first
site i.e. Mehrgarh near the Bolan Pass. It continues with the growth of
large villages and the rise of towns in the second stage exemplified at
Amri.

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The Amri people did not possess any knowledge of town-planning or

of writing. The third stage in the sequence leads to the emergence of
the great cities as in Kalibangan and finally ends with their decline,
which is the fourth stage and exemplified by Lothal. Amri, Kot-Dijian
and Kalibangan cultures are stratigraphically found to be pre-
Harappan.

The pre-Harappan culture of Kalibangan in Rajasthan is termed as

Sothi culture by Amalananda Ghosh, its excavator. The Harappan
were owed certain elements such as the fish scale and pipal leaf to the
Sothi ware.

The four Baluchi cultures, viz, Zhob, Quetta, Nal and Kulli,
undoubtedly pre-Harappan, also have some minor common features
with the Indus civilisation, and cannot be considered as full-fledged
proto-Harappan cultures.

The culture of Northern Baluchistan is termed as Zhob culture after

the sites in the Zhob valley, the chief among them being Rana
Ghundai. This culture is characterised by black and red ware and
terracotta female figurines. Nal culture is characterised by the use of
white-clipped ware with attractive polychrome paintings and the
observance of fractional burial.

The characteristic pottery of the Quetta culture is the buff-ware,

painted in black pigment and decorated with geometrical designs.
Apart from the painted motifs such as the pipal leaf and sacred
brazier, some pottery shapes are common to the Harappan and Kulli
cultures. All these pre-Harappan habitations preceding the phase of
the Harappan civilization shows evidences of people living in houses of
stone and mud-brick.

Similarities were found in the cultural traditions of the diverse

agricultural communities living in the Indus region in the early Indus
period. During the urban phase these little traditions were fused into
one great tradition.

However, even in the early Indus period, use of similar kinds of

pottery terracotta mother goddess, representation of the horned deity
in many sites show the way to the emergence of a homogenous
tradition in the entire area.

The people of Baluchistan had already established trading relations

with the towns of the Persian Gulf and Central Asia. Kulli, situated on
the southern foothills of the Baluchi mountains near the Makran coast,
occupies an important position on the trade route between the Persian
Gulf and the Indus Valley.

Thus, the available evidence suggests that the Harappan culture had
its origin in the Indus valley. And even within the Indus valley, several
cultures seem to have contributed to evolve the urban civilisation.
There is no evidence to suggest that the Indus people borrowed
anything substantial from the Sumerians. It is thus difficult to accept
Sir Mortimer Wheelers assumption that the idea of civilization came
to the Indus valley from Mesopotamia.

Date and Extent:

The Harappan culture existed between 2500 BC and 1800 BC. Its
mature phase lay between 2200 BC and 2000 BC. The advent of
radiocarbon dating has provided a new source of information in fixing
the Harappan chronology. Indus civilization was the largest cultural
zone of the period the area covered by it (about 1.3 million sq.km.)
being much greater than that of other contemporary civilisation.

Over 1000 sites have discovered so far. It extends from Ropar, almost
impinging upon the sub-Himalayan foot-hills in the North to
Daimabad in the Ahmadnagar district of Maharashtra in the south,
and from Sutkagendor (on the sea-coast of south Baluchistan) in the
west to Alamgirpur (in the upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab, U P.) in the
east.

Characteristics of Indus Valley Civilisation:

1. Indus Valley Cities:
The excavated Indus cities may be classified into the
following groups:
(i) Nucleus cities

(ii) Coastal towns

(iii) Other cities and townships.

I. Nucleus Cities:
(a) Harappa:
It was the first Indus site to be discovered and excavated in 1921 by
Daya Ram Sahni. The site has two large and imposing ruined mounds
located some 25 kms. South-west of Montgomery district of Punjab
(Pakistan) on the left bank of river Ravi.

The vast mounds at Harappa were first reported by Masson in 1826.

Alexander Cunningham identified Harappa with Po-Fa-to or Po-Fa-to-
do visited by Hiuen-Tsang.

a) The western mound of Harappa, smaller in size represented the

citadel, parallelogram in plan and fortified.

b) Outside the citadel was the unfortified town having some important
structures identified with workmens quarters, working floors and
granaries. The workmens quarters, 10 in number were of uniform size
and space (177.5 m). Close to these quarters were 16 furnaces, pear-
shaped on plan with cow-dung ash and charcoal.

c) 12 Granary building of 15.246.10 m each, arranged systematically

in 2 rows (6 in each row) with central passage 7 m. wide

d) The material remains discovered at Harappa are of the typical

Indus character, prominent being.

e) 891 seals which form 36.32 per cent of the total writing material of
the Indus civilisation ,

f) Two very important stone figurines (not available at any other site)
which include one red stone torso of a naked male figure (the
prototype of the Jina or Yaksha Figure) and a female figure in dancing
pose.

g) A crucible used for smelting bronze was also found at a slightly

higher level.

h) Dog attacking deer on a pin

Evidence of the disposal of the dead has been found to the south of the
citadel area named as cemetery R-37. Excavations have also yielded 57
burials of different types. The skeletons were disposed of in the graves
along with the grave-goods.

(b) Mohenjo-Daro:
The site of Mohenjo-Daro (or the Mound of the Dead) situated in the
Larkana district of Sind (Pakistan) and 540 km. south of Harappa is
situated on the right bank of the river Indus. It also has two mounds,
the western being the citadel or acropolis and the eastern extensive
mound was enshrining the relics of the buried lower city. The mounds
were excavated first by Sir John Marshall. The citadel was fortified
with big buildings extremely rich in structures.

a. The most important public place of Mohenjo-Daro seems to be the

Great Bath, with a bed made water tight by the use of bitumen and a
system of supplying and draining away water. This tank which is
situated in the citadel mound is an example of beautiful brick-work
measuring 11.887.01 meters and 2.43 meters deep. Flight of steps at
either end lead to the surface. There are side rooms for changing
clothes. This tank seems to have been used for ritual bathing.

b. In Mohenjo-Daro, the largest building is the great granary which is

45.71 meters long and 15.23 meters wide and lies to the west of the
great bath.

c. To the north-east of the great bath is a long collegiate building,

perhaps meant for the residence of a very high official, possibly the
high priest himself, or a college of priests.
e. The lower unfortified city displayed all the elements of a planned
city. The remarkable thing about the arrangement of the houses in the
city is that they followed the grid system with the main streets running
north-south and east-west dividing the city into many blocks.

This is true of almost all Indus settlements regardless of size. The

main streets in the lower city are about 9.14 metre wide. The drainage
system of Mohenjo-Daro was very impressive. These drains were
covered with bricks and sometimes with stone slabs. The street drains
were equipped with manholes. Houses were made of kiln-burnt bricks
as in Harappa.

f. Material remains of Mohenjo-Daro with its richness confirms that it

was a great city of the Indus civilisation. About 1398 seals representing
56.67 percent of the total writing material of the Indus cities throws
light on Harappan religion.

Important stone images found here includes the torso of a priest made
of steatite (19 cm), lime stone male head (14 cm), the seated male of
alabaster (29.5 cm), the seated male with the hands placed on knees
(21 cm) and a composite animal figure made up of limestone. The
bronze dancing girl from Mohenjo-Daro, considered a masterpiece (14
cm) is made by cast wax technique.

(c) Dholavira:
Situated in Kutch district of Gujarat, Dholavira is the latest and one of
the two largest Harappan settlements in India, the other being
Rakhigarhi in Haryana. The ancient mounds of Dholavira were first
noticed by Dr J.P. Joshi but extensive excavation work at the site was
conducted by R.S. Bisht and his team in 1990-91.

It shares almost all the common features of the Indus cities but its
unique feature is that there are three principal divisions (instead of
two in other cities), two of which were strongly protected by
rectangular fortifications.
The first inner encloser hemmed in the citadel (the acropolis) probably
housed the highest authority and second one protected the middle
town meant for the close relatives of the administrators and other
officials.

The existence of this middle town, apart from the lower town, is the
unique feature of this settlement. The access to these fortified
settlements at Dholavira was provided through an elaborate gate-
complex.

(d) Kalibangan:
Situated in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan on the southern bank of
the Ghaggar river this site was excavated by B.B. Lai and B.K. Thapar
(1961-69). This site also has two mounds yielding the remains of a
citadel and lower city respectively. Excavations have revealed evidence
of pre-Harappan and Harappan culture.

a. The citadel and the lower city both were fortified.

b. The citadel had mud-brick platforms having seven fire-altars in a

row.

c. The lower fortified town had two gateways.

e. The people of Kalibangan used mud-bricks for the construction of

houses, the use of burnt bricks has been found only in wells, drains
and pavements.

f .The cylindrical seals found at Kalibangan had an analogy in the

Mesopotamian counterpart. The discovery of inscribed sherds clearly
suggests that Indus script was written from right to left.

g. Excavations at Kalibangan revealed the evidence of the ploughed

field.

II. Coastal towns

(a) Lothal:
It was an important trading centre of the Indus civilisation and
situated near the bed of the Bhogavo River at the head of the Gulf of
Cambay in Gujarat. Lothal was excavated by S R. Rao which brought
to light five period sequences of cultures. It was one rectangular
settlement surrounded by a brick wall. Along the eastern side of the
town was a brick basin, which has been identified as a dockyard by its
excavator.

a) The house of a wealthy merchant yielded gold beads with axial

tubes and sherds of Reserved Slip Ware related to the Sumerian origin
indicating that the merchants were engaged in foreign trade.

b) Metal-workers, shell ornament makers and bead-makers shops

have been discovered here.

c) The discovery of the Persian Gulf seal and the Reserved Slip Ware
suggests that Lothal was engaged in the maritime activities.

(b) Sutkagendor:
Situated at a distance of 500 kms to the west of Karachi on the Makran
coast it functioned as a trading post of the Harappans. It was originally
a port of Harappan according to archaeologist Dales but later cut off
from the sea due to coastal uplift. Excavation at the site revealed the
two-fold division of the township into citadel and Lower city.

(c) Balakot:
Situated at a distance of 98 km to the north west of Karachi this
coastal settlement yielded the relics of the pre-Harappan and
Harappan civilisation. Baked bricks were used in few drains but the
standard building material were the mud-bricks.

(d) Allahdino:
The excavations at Allahdino were undertaken by W. A. Fairservis and
are situated at a distance of 40 kms to the east of Karachi. These
coastal cities have yielded the remains of mud-brick structures.

III. Other cities and township:

(a) Surkotada:
Situated about 270 km. north-west of Ahmedabad in Gujarat the
settlement pattern of Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and Kalibangan was
repeated here. As at Kalibangan, both the citadel and the lower town
were fortified. There was also an inter-communicating gate between
the two.

In addition to mud- bricks, stone rubble was liberally used for

construction. In the last phase of this site, bones of horses, hitherto
unknown, have been discovered.

(b) Banawali:
Situated in the Hissar district of Haryana it was on the bank of the
river Rangoi, identified with the ancient bed of Sarasvati River. The
excavations conducted by R.S. Bisht have yielded two cultural phases,
Pre-Harappan and Harappan, similar to that of Kalibangan.

The Harappan phase showed significant departure from the

established norms of town-planning (chess-board pattern as in
Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, etc.). The roads were neither always straight,
nor are they cut at right-angles. It lacked systematic drainage system,
a noteworthy feature of the Indus civilisation.

(c) Chanhudaro:
The township of Chanhudaro, situated about 130 km. south of
Mohenjodaro, consists of a single mound divided into several parts by
erosion. An evidence of material remains clearly shows that it was the
major centre of production for the beautiful seals.

The hoards of copper and bronze tools, castings, evidence of the crafts
like bead-making, bone items and seal making suggest that
Chandhudaro was mostly inhabited by artisans and crafts-men.
Excavations have also unearthed a furnace with a brick- floor used for
glazing steatite beads.

(d) Kot Diji:

Situated on the left bank of the Indus River about 50 km. east of
Mohenjo-Daro, the site of Kot Diji excavated by F.A. Khan Yields two
cultural phases pre-Harappan and Harappan civilisation. Material
remains discovered at the site are terracotta bulls, five figurines of the
Mother Goddess and large unbaked cooking brick-lined ovens.

2. Polity and Society:

There is no clear idea about the political organization of the
Harappans. If the Harappan cultural zone is considered identical with
the political zone, the sub-continent did not witness such a large
political unit until the rise of the Maurya Empire. The Harappans
made the first ever experiment to bring about political unity of the
divergent geographical units of the civilisation without the use of
force.

The total absence of internecine wars, religious or political, speaks

volumes about the peaceful administration of the Indus state. It would
be wrong to think that priests ruled in Harappa, as they did in the
cities of lower Mesopotamia for we have no religions structures of any
kind except the Great Bath.

There are some indications of the practice of fire cult at Lothal in the
later phase, but no temples were used for the purpose. Perhaps the
Harappan rulers were more concerned with commerce than with
conquests, and it was possibly ruled by a class of merchants.

3. Social set-up:
An important characteristic of the Indus civilisation was its urban life.
The rural areas not only supported but often contributed to the socio-
cultural development. The social stratification is reflected in the
dwellings and disposition of the dead bodies in the graves.

4. Dress, Hairstyles and Ornaments:

The Harappan men wore robes which left one shoulder bare, and the
garments of the upper classes were often richly patterned. Beards were
worn, and men and women alike had long hair.
The elaborate head-dresses of the Mother Goddess probably had their
counter-parts in the festive attire of the richer women. The women
wore a short skirt that reached upto the knee; and it was held by a
girdle-a string of beads.

The coiffures of the women were often elaborate, and pigtails were
also popular, as in present-day India. Women loved jewellery and
wore heavy bangles in profusion, large necklaces, and earrings.
Mirrors of bronze were very common. It appears that the ladies at
Mohenjo-Daro knew the use of collyrium, face-paint and other
cosmetics. Chanhudaro finds indicate the use of lipsticks. Bronze
razors of various types served for the toilet of the male.

5. Amusements:
Kids played with terracotta toys such as rattles, birds shaped whistle,
bulls with movable heads, monkeys with movable arms, figures which
ran down strings, the favorite being the baked clay cart.

Dice was used in gambling, marbles of jasper and chert were played by
rich children. Music and dance were secular. Hunting and fishing was
in vogue. On a few seals, hunting of wild rhino and antelope are
shown.

6. Religious Practices:
Except for the discovery of fire altars at Kalibangan, we have not found
any cult objects, temples at any of the Harappan sites. On the basis of
the material remains discovered at various Harappan sites we can say
that the Harappan people had many features of the later Hinduism,
such as worship of the Mother Goddess, Pashupati Siva, animal
worship, tree-worship, etc.

The chief female deity was Mother Goddess. In one terracotta figurine
found at Harappa, a plant is shown growing out of the embryo of a
woman. Probably the image represents the goddess of earth. The
Harappans, therefore, looked upon the earth as a fertility goddess and
worshipped her.
The most striking deity of the Harappan culture is the horned-deity of
the seals. He is depicted on three specimens, in two, seated on a small
dais, and in the third on the ground; in all three his posture is cross-
legged (sitting posture of a yogi). On the largest of the seals, he is
surrounded by four wild animals, an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros
and a buffalo, and beneath his feet appear two deer.

Marshall boldly called this god Proto-Siva, and the name has been
generally accepted; certainly the horned god has much in common
with the Siva of later Hinduism, who is, in his most important aspect a
fertility deity, is known as Pasupati, the Lord of Beasts. Phallic
worship was an important element of Harappa religion.

Many cone-shaped objects have been found, which almost certainly

formalized representation of the phallus are. The linga or phallic
emblem in later Hinduism is the symbol of the god Siva. The people of
the Indus region also worshipped trees. The picture of a deity is
represented on a seal in the midst of the branches of the pipal tree
which continues to be worshipped to this day.

Animals were also worshipped and many of them are represented on

seals. The most important of them is the humped bull. The inhabitants
of the Indus region thus worshipped gods in the form of trees, animals
and human beings. Amulets have been found in large numbers.
Probably the Harappans believed in ghosts and evil forces.

7. Burial Practices:
Cemeteries excavated at several Indus sites like Mohenjodaro,
Harappa, Kalibangan, Lothal and Ropar throws light on the burial
practises of the Harappans. Three forms of burials have been found at
Mohenjo-Daro, viz., complete burials, (means the burial of the whole
body along with the grave goods) fractional burials, (burial of some
bones after the exposure of the body to wild beasts and birds) and
post-cremation burials.

From the Lothal cemetery comes evidence of another burial type with
several examples of pairs of skeletons, one male and one female in
each case, buried in a single grave. Bodies were always placed in the
north-south direction with the head in the north.

8. Economy:
The Harappan economy was based on irrigated surplus agriculture,
cattle rearing, proficiency in various crafts and brisk trade both
internal and external.

I. Agriculture:
The Harappan villages, mostly situated near the flood plains,
produced sufficient foodgrains not only to feed themselves but also the
town people. No hoe or ploughshare has been discovered, but the
furrows discovered in the pre-Harappan phase at Kalibangan show
that the fields were ploughed in Rajasthan in the Harappan period.

The Harappans probably used the wooden ploughshare. We do not

know whether the plough was drawn by men or oxen. Stone sickles
may have been used for harvesting the crops. Gabarbands or nalas
enclosed by dams for storing water were a feature in parts of
Baluchistan and Afghanistan, but channel or canal irrigation seems to
have been absent.

The Indus people produced wheat, barley, rai, peas, etc. They
produced two types of wheat and barley. A good quantity of barley has
been discovered at Banawali. In addition to this, they produced
sesamum, mustard, dates and varieties of leguminous plants.

At Lothal and Rangpur, rice and spike- lets were found embedded in
clay and pottery. The Indus people were the earliest people to produce
cotton. Because cotton was first produced in this area the Greeks
called it Sindon, which is derived from Sindh.

II. Domestication of Animals:

Although the Harappans practised agriculture, animals were kept on a
large scale. Oxen, buffaloes, goats, sheeps and pigs were domesticated.
The humped bulls were favoured by the Harappans. From the very
beginning dogs were regarded as pets.
Cats were also domesticated. Asses and camels were used as beasts of
burden. Camel bones are reported at Kalibangan. Evidence of horse
are also reported from Mohenjodaro, Lothal and Surkotada. Elephants
and rhinoceros were well known to the Harappans.

III. Technology and Crafts:

The Harappan culture belongs to the Bronze Age. The people of
Harappa used many tools and implements of stone, but they were very
well acquainted with the manufacture and use of bronze. Bronze was
made by the smiths by mixing tin with copper.

Numerous tools and weapons recovered from the Harappan sites

suggest that the bronzesmiths constituted an important group of
artisans in the Harappan society. Objects of gold are reasonably
common, silver makes its earliest appearance in the Indus civilization
and was relatively more common than gold. Lead, arsenic, antimony
and nickel were also used by the Harappan people.

The axes, chisels, knives, spearheads, etc., were made of bronze and
stone. They seem to have been produced on a mass-scale in place like
Sukkur. Two short copper swords found in Mohenjodaro are of the
slashing type and not cutting type.

As for craft specialization, the towns of Chanhudaro and Lothal have

yielded evidence of the presence of workshops of bead-makers.
Balakot, Lothal and Chanhudaro were centres for shell-working and
bangle- making.

Apart from them the evidences indicate the presence of potters, stone
masons, brick makers, seal cutters, traders, priests, etc. The
Harappans also practised boat making. Weavers wove cloth of wool
and cotton. Spindle whorls were used for spinning. The potters wheel
was in full use, and the Harappans produced their own characteristic
pottery, which was made glossy and shining. Most of the time it means
the use of a pinkish pottery with bright red slip and standard
representation of trees, birds, animals and geometric motifs, in black.
No human figure is depicted on the pottery from Mohenjo-Daro but a
few pottery pieces discovered from Harappa portray a man and a
child. The Harappan pottery was highly utilitarian in character with
artistic touch.

The greatest artistic creations of the Harappans are the seals. About
2000 seals have been found, made of stealite, these seals range in size
from 1 cm to 5 cm. Two main types are seen. First, square with a
carved animal and inscription and second, rectangular with an
inscription only.

Stone sculptures and terracotta figurines have been reported from

various sites. Figurines made of fire-baked clay, commonly called
terracotta which were either used as toys or objects of worship. It was
used mainly by the common people and it represented sophisticated
artistic works.

9. Trade:
The importance of trade in the life of the Indus people is attested not
only by granaries found at Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and Lothal but
also by the presence of numerous seals, uniform script and regulated
weights and measures in a wide area. They did not use metal money.
Most probably they carried on all exchanges through barter.

In return for finished goods and possibly food grains, they procured
metals from the neighbouring areas by boats and bullock-carts. Inter-
regional trade was carried on with Rajasthan, Saurashtra,
Maharashtra, parts of western Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Foreign trade
was conducted mainly with Mesopotamia or Sumeria (modern Iraq)
and Iran.

Their cities also carried commerce with those in the land of the Tigris
and the Euphrates. Discovery of many Indus seals in Mesopotamia
and evidence of imitation by the Harappans of some cosmetics used by
the urban people of Mesopotamia suggests that some of the Harappan
merchants must have resided or visited Mesopotamia.
About two dozen Indus type seals were also discovered from different
cities of Mesopotamia like, Ur, Susa, Lagash, Kish and Tell Asmar.
Reciprocal evidence comes from the Indus cities also-discovery of a
circular button seals which belongs to a class of Persian Gulf seals,
several bun-shaped copper ingots of Mesopotamian origin and the
Reserved Slip Ware of the Mesopotamian type at Lothal.

All these provide conclusive proof of trade links between the two
civilisations. The Mesopotamian records from about 2350 B.C.
onwards refer to trade relations with Meluha, which was the ancient
name given to the Indus region, and they also speak of two
intermediate stations called Dilmun (identified with Bahrain on the
Persian Gulf) and Makan (Makran Coast). Shortughai located near
Badakhsan in north-east Afghanistan was one of the Harappan trading
outpost, beyond the high passes of the Hindukush.

The Harappan cities did not possess the necessary raw material for the
commodities they produced and hence depended upon the products
imported from distant places. Main imports consisted of precious
metals like gold (from North Karnataka), silver (probably from
Afghanistan or Iran), Copper (from Khetri copper mines of Rajasthan,
Baluchistan and Arabia), lead (East and South India), tin (Afghanistan
and Hazaribagh in Bihar), and several semi-precious stones like lapis
lazuli (Badakshan in North-East Afghanistan), turquoise (central Asia
and Iran), amethyst (Maharashtra), agate (Saurashtra), jade (central
Asia), and chalcedonies and carnelians (from Saurashtra and west
India).

Main exports were several agricultural products and a variety of

finished products such as cotton goods, carnelian beads, pottery, shell
and bone inlays etc.

10. Weights and Measures:

The knowledge of script must have helped the recording of private
property and accounts-keeping. Numerous articles used for weights
have been found. They show that in weighting mostly 16 or its
multiples were used; for instance, 16, 64, 160, 320 and 640.

The Harappans also knew the art of measurement. The measures of

length were based upon a foot of 13.2 inches and a cubit of 20.6
inches. Several sticks inscribed with measure marks, one of these
made of bronze have been discovered.

11. Script and Language:

The Harappans invented the art of writing like the people of ancient
Mesopotamia. Although the earliest specimen of Harappan script was
noticed in 1853 and the complete script discovered by 1923, it has not
been deciphered so far. Unlike the Egyptians and Mesopotamians, the
Harappan did not write long inscriptions. Most inscriptions were
recorded on seals, and contain only a few words.

These seals may have been used by propertied people to mark and
identify their private property. Altogether there are about 250 to 400
pictographs, and in the form of picture each letter stands for some
sound idea or object.

The Harappan script is not alphabetical but mainly pictographic since

its sign represent birds, fish, varieties of the human form, etc. and it
was written from right to left like modern Urdu.

There are two main arguments as to the nature of the language; that it
belongs to the Indo- European or even Indo-Aryan family, or that it
belongs to the Dravidian family. Parpola and his Scandinavian
colleagues gave a hypothesis that the language was Dravidian.

Problems of Decline:
In the absence of any written material or historical evidence, scholars
have made various speculations regarding the causes for the decline of
the Harappan culture. Cities like Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and
Kalibangan saw a gradual decline in urban planning. Later on some of
the settlements like Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa etc. were abandoned.
However, in most other sites people continued to live.
Some important features associated with the Harappan civilization,
writing, uniform weights, pottery and architectural style disappeared
of. Wheeler believed that the Indus civilization was destroyed by the
Aryan invaders. It has been pointed out that in the late phases of
Mohenjo-Daro there are evidences of a massacre.

However, it has been pointed out that Mohenjo-Daro was abandoned

by about 1800 B.C., Aryans on the other hand are said to have come to
India around 1500 B.C. Thus, this theory of sudden death cannot
explain the decline. The gradual death theory is supported by several
scholars.
R. Raikes, a hydrologist, has set forth a theory that due to tectonic
activity, the flood plains of the lower Indus river were raised which led
to prolonged submergence of cities like Mohenjo-Daro and
Chanhudaro and hence their abandonment. But the cause for the
decline of some of the other Indus cities like Kalibangan and Banawali
seems to be not the floods but the drying up of rivers.

W.A. Fairservis have tried to explain the decay of the Harappan

civilization in terms of the problems of ecology. He believes that the
Harappans degraded their delicate environment. A growing
population of men and animals confronted by falling resources wore
out the landscape which resulted into more floods and droughts.
These stresses in the end led to the collapse of the urban culture. The
enduring fertility of the soils of the Indian sub-continent disproves
this hypothesis.

E.J.H. Mackay, Lambrick and John Marshall suggest that the decline
of the Harappan Civilization was mainly due to the vagaries of the
Indus river, Shereen Ratnagar of Jawaharlal Nehru University,
proposed in 1986 that lift-irrigation may have resulted in an over-
reaching of its ecological limits.

The Harappans are also said to have suffered from several suicidal
weaknesses. The Harappans, for instance lacked plasticity of mind as
seen in the non-changing successive layers of the cities, non- adoption
of the technical advancement of the Mesopotamians (iron technology).
Also the Harappans ignored defence, as suggested by the paucity of
sharp edged effective weapons.

The eclipse of sea- trade might have contributed to the decline of the
Harappan civilization but it cannot be held as the main cause. Thus, as
seen above, there are several important causes for the decline of the
civilisation. Also, there is enough evidence to show that the great
Harappan civilisation did not come to a sudden dead end instead it
seems to have faded away gradually.