The Harappan Civilization (3300 BCE-1300 BCE): India’s beautiful past
The earliest civilization found in India was “The Harappan Civilization” located in the north western part of India, lasted from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. It was divided into three phases:
- Early Harappan: from 3300 BCE to 2600 BCE: In this phase, the region was not that much flourished or developed but it was the starting of the beautiful civilization.
- Mature Harappan: from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE: It was the period when the development of this civilization was at it’s peak.
- Late Harappan: from 1900 BCE to 1300 BCE: In this time period, the fall of the civilization begins and it ended mysteriously.
We got to know about this civilization through various archaeological finds like seals, weights, bricks, pottery, etc.
Subsistence or survival strategies of Harappans
Archaeo-botanists (specialists who study about ancient plant remains) reconstruct the dietary practices of harappans from the charred grains found in excavations. Different grains found at harappan sites are wheat, barley, lentils, millets, sesame and chickpeas. Rice was rarely found. Maybe, either rice was expensive and hence, not consumed by ordinary people or the climatic conditions were not favourable to grow paddy crops.
Archaeo-zoologists (specialists who study about ancient animal bones or fossils) also helped in reconstructing the history of harappan civilization by observing the animal remains found at harappan sites. They concluded by saying that some animals like cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo and pigs were domesticated while some wild animals like boar, deer and gharials were hunted by harappans to fill their stomach. Bones of fish were also found in excavations.
Agricultural technologies
If we talk about contemporary India, even now in some parts of the country, bull is really important to plough the field. During excavations, some terracotta models of bull and plough were found. Even some harappan seals were inscribed with the drawing of bull which indicates that the harappans were well-aware of the bull and plough and that’s why, they were able to construct small sculptures of these things because they knew how the bull and plough looks like in real life.
Terracotta models of plough were found at Cholistan (in present day pakistan) and at Banawali (in Haryana). Evidence of ploughed field were also found at Kalibangan (in Rajasthan). The field had two sets of furrows at right angles to each other indicating that two different crops were grown together at the same time.
Mohenjodaro: Well-planned urban centre of Harappan Civilization
Mohenjodaro was one of the most developed urban centre of harappan civilization. This settlement is divided into two parts:
- The citadel: smaller but located at higher platform
- The Lower Town: larger but lower
The citadel was built over the higher platform made of mud bricks and it was probably used for special purposes. Two important structures found in the citadel were: the warehouse or the granary and the great bath.
- The warehouse or the granary: This structure was mainly used to store surplus amount of crops and grains for future use.
- The great bath: It was a large rectangular tank with corridors on all the four sides of it. Stairs leading into the tank were built in the north and south directions of the tank. The tank was made watertight by setting bricks and using mortar of gypsum. The water was probably drawn from a large well and after it used to get dirty, it was flowed out to the large drain. There were eight bathrooms around the great bath. This structure was mainly used for ritual bath as it was found with other special buildings in citadel.
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Drainage System
In lower town, firstly, the streets and roads were laid out according to “grid system” (roads and streets intersecting at right angles), then the drains were laid out and at last, houses were built. This shows us that it was pre-planned that how to settle down properly with good and hygienic conditions. Every house had at least one wall towards the street which connects it to the drains.
The drains were made of bricks set in mortar to make it watertight and these drains were well-covered with bricks to prevent the stinky smell like situation. This represents that Harappans used to give priority to hygiene. Drains were regularly cleared to prevent the blockage conditions. House drains used to get empty into sumps and from there, the waste water used to flow out into street drains while the solid material remains into the sump to prevent blockage which was later cleared manually.
Bricks and the Domestic Architecture
One of the unique features of the harappan civilization was the bricks. There was the uniformity in the bricks at each and every site of this civilization. Length of the brick should be the four times of the height of the bricks and width should be the two times of the height. And this rule was applicable in all the sites of the harappan civilization.
Architecture of residential buildings were also unique. Mainly, the courtyard was built into the centre of the house with the rooms on the sides. Main entrance of the house did not give the direct view of the interior (courtyard) as the courtyard was the centre of all the household activities like weaving, knitting, etc. Every house had it’s own bathroom connected to the drain which further flowed out into the main street drain.
Houses had no windows in the rooms at ground floor to ensure privacy of ordinary people. Remains of stairs were also found at excavations which indicates that the houses had the second floor or maybe these stairs used to lead the roof. Many houses had their own wells, also used by passers-by. About 700 wells were found at Mohenjodaro, one of the great Harappan sites.
Social Differences
We can trace social differences in Harappan society by observing the burial methods and the luxurious items found at harappan sites.
Burials: Like Egyptians believe in life after death, harappans also used to believe in it. They used to bury some ornaments, jasper beads (semi-precious stones), several other micro beads and a copper mirror with the dead. Though, we discovered different types of graves. Some were simply hollowed out spaces and some were properly lined with bricks.
Luxuries: Some luxurious items found at these sites were the indicators of the differences in the Harappan society, that is, rich and poor people. Faience pot is an example of luxurious objects at that time, which was made up with non- local materials and with complicated technologies. Archaeologists classified the artefacts they found at excavations into two categories: Utilitarian objects and The Luxurious objects:
- Utilitarian objects: Those objects which we use in day-to-day life comes under this category like utensils, pots, etc.
- Luxurious objects: These are expensive objects preferred by rich people. For example- faience pots and gold beads or jewelleries.
Mostly, valuable materials were found at large settlements like Mohenjodaro and Harappa and rarely found at smaller settlements, which again shows us the uneven distribution of these objects and resourses which led to social differences.
Craft production
Chanhudaro was the tiny settlement of harappan civilization famous for it’s craft production like beads, weights, seals, shells and metal works. Beads were made up of different stones like carnelian, jasper, crystal, quartz, etc. Even some of the metals like copper, bronze and gold were also used to make beads. Not only materials but also the shapes of the beads were numerous like disc shaped beads, segmented, cylindrical, etc. Nageshwar and Balakot were located near the coast, which were the specialised centres of shell objects.
How to identify the centres of production?
In excavations, the finds of raw materials (metals, stones, etc.), tools, unfinished goods, waste material and reject pieces indicates that in acient times, that place was most probably the centre of production.
Obtaining materials
For craft production, raw materials were required. Some raw materials like clay was locally available and the other materials were brought from different places. Some materials were available in abundance in some places like:
- Nageshwar and Balakot- Shell
- Shortughai, Afghanistan- Lapis Lazuli
- Gujarat- Carnelian and Steatite
- Rajasthan- Steatite and different metals
- South India- Gold
Harappans also had contacts with far off places and civilizations like Oman, Mesopotamia and Dilmun. Harappan jars with thick layer of black clay were found at Omani sites. There was the depiction of “land of seafarers” in Mesopotamian text, probably used for Harappan region as most of the trade took place via sea. Mesopotamia used to trade with Dilmun (present day Bahrain), Magan and Meluhha (probably the harappan region). According to Mesopotamian text, Magan was the name for Oman.
Seals, Script and Weights
Seals: Seals were used for long distance trade and communication. After the parcel get packed and tied up with the ropes, wet clay was placed over the knot and the seals were pressed. Now, if the parcel reaches it’s destination without the seal broken, it means the parcel was untouched and safe during the journey. The seals used to convey the identity of the sender, that is, either:
- The name of the sender, or
- The title of the sender
Script: Harappan seals used to contain animal motiff with one line written over it. Most inscriptions were short. Hence, the longest one found contains 26 signs (we found around 375 to 400 signs). The script was pictorial not alphabetical. This script was written from right to left.
Weights: These weights were made up of a stone called chert, mainly cubical in shape without any marking. Lower denominations were binary (2,4,8,16, etc.) and mainly used to wieght jewelleries and beads. Metal scale pans were also found at harappan sites.
Authority, Religion and the priest king
There is no possibility of the uniformity within such a vast territory without a ruler. There are various arguments about it:
- Some archaeologists say that there was no single authority and everyone in the harappan civilization enjoyed the equal status.
- Some argue that there were several people who ruled together (oligarchies).
- Other says that there was a single authority ruled over the vast territory.
A statue found at one of the harappan sites was named “priest-king”. Archaeologists suggest that the priest king used to be the ruler of this region because they were familiar with the rule of the priests in Mesopotamia.
Religion
The terracotta model of a female with good posture, heavy jewellery and head dresses. This sculpture came to be known as goddess. An inscription was found on the seal where a man is seated in the yogic posture surrounded by animals on all the four sides. This sculpture had given the name “proto-shiva”, the major deity of Hinduism. Linga is a polished stone worshipped as a symbol of shiva.
End of Harappan Civilization
From 1800 BCE, some of the best harappan sites were deserted, distinctive artefacts were disappeared, uniformity was no more seen anywhere. There are several theories about the end of this civilization. Some of these are:
- Climatic change
- Excessive floods
- Drying up of rivers
- Deforestation
- Overuse of the land resources
Hence, nothing of the above can be considered as the true reason behind it’s end because no even the single factor mentioned above can affect this much large land area at he same time.
Discovery of the Harappan Civilization
Alexander Cunningham was the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) found Harappan seals in excavations but he was confused about the timeline of that seal. He did not know that he discovered the oldest civilization because he used to think that the Indian history starts from the settlements in the Ganga valley.
In early 20th century, Dayaram Sahni and Rakhal Das Banerji found seals in Harappa and Mohenjodaro respectively. In 1924, John Marshall, the Director General of ASI declared that these seals belong to the oldest civilization- “The Harappan Civilization”.
R.E.M. Wheeler, the another Director General of ASI was the ex-military brigadier focused on the study of stratigraphy (the study of different layers of soil). Stratigraphy proved to be very useful to put objects in their perfect timeline.
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