There was a burst of archaeological interest in the Indian land throughout the 19th century, and spanning across the early decades of the 20th. For years during this period, locals around modern-day Northwest India and Northeast Pakistan would regularly chance upon intricate ornaments, pottery fragments, and beads, sticking out of the soil, while grazing cattle or simply exploring the rivers of the region. Little did they know, buried underneath was a glorious chapter of the Indian subcontinent’s ancient past.
The unearthing of these primordial relics attracted the attention of a host of archaeologists, who began visiting the area around 1920. In 1921, markings of a civilisation were revealed, when the ancient settlement of Harappa was discovered in Punjab, modern-day Pakistan. This spurred a greater search for more ancient human activity in the region. When explorers spotted a large mound of earth near River Indus in Sindh, in 1920, they were quick to analyse that concealed within was a very old remnant of India’s history, way older than the known histories of kings and empires. By 1922, this mound was excavated, and Mohenjo-Daro, the crown jewel of the Indus Valley Civilisation, as we know it today, was revealed. On September 20, 1924, Sir John Marshall, the then director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India, published a piece titled, ‘A Forgotten Age Revealed’, in the weekly The Illustrated London News, where the discovery was compared to the work of Heinrich Schliemann at Tiryns and Mycenae. However, the Indus discovery would predate these two Greek eras by a few centuries at least. Thus, it was in the September of 1924, when the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilisation was proclaimed to the world for the first time, and 2024 marks the centenary of this epoch-making find.
The Indus Valley Civilisation, also called the Harappan Civilisation, is thought to have been a Bronze Age civilisation, which spanned the aforesaid reaches of modern-day India and Pakistan, largely around 3300-1300 BCE, reaching its zenith during 2600-1900 BCE, when its vestiges were found as far apart as Sutkagen Dor in southwestern Balochistan, near the Arabian Sea; and at Ropar, eastern Punjab, India, at the foot of the Shimla hills. Later exploration established its existence southward down the west coast of India, as far as the Gulf of Cambay, and as far east as the Yamuna River Basin. It is thus decidedly the most extensive of the world’s three earliest civilisations, though Mesopotamia and Egypt sprouted somewhat earlier.
Course of the river
The Oxford Dictionary defines a civilisation as “the stage of human social and cultural development and organisation that is considered most advanced”. Like all great civilisations of their period, the Harappans established a common set of values, a way of life, culture, and an advanced system of governance and social structure, which planted the seeds of civilisation. Historically, civilisation blossomed on the banks of great rivers, which proved to be their lifelines and great cultural and economic symbols. While Egypt developed along the Nile, Mesopotamia amidst the Euphrates and Tigris, and even China along the Yangtze, the Indus or the Sindhu River system, along with its numerous tributaries, and the now intermittent Ghaggar-Hakra River (which many historians theorise to be the Rigvedic River Saraswati), in India and Pakistan, was the cradle of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
The Indus Valley Civilisation, which began as a collection of settlements, hosted several big cities, including Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, and more than 100 towns and villages. The two cities were each perhaps originally about 1.6-km square in overall dimensions, and their outstanding magnitude suggests political centralisation, either in two large states or in a single great empire with alternative capitals. The population was estimated to be 23,500-35,000 in Harappa, and 35,000-41,250 in Mohenjo-Daro, while some theories have even capped the latter’s population at 100,000 at its peak. All these centres of human activity had been integrated into a single web of socio-economic relations, which was coined as the Indus Valley Civilisation.
For the people
Unlike its Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Chinese counterparts, the Harappan Civilisation is believed to have enjoyed a different sort of governance structure, which put each citizen at the centre of policymaking. The social life in the Indus Valley was systematic and rich, and its people were peace-loving and law-abiding. There were strong family ties among the people. Its social life, economic planning, and polity can best be observed in its cities.
Unlike the Egyptians who built pyramids, and the Mesopotamians ziggurats, no such lofty architectural projects were undertaken by the Harappans. Many theories suggest the absence of a king or central ruling figure for this. The pyramids were built as the final resting place of a god-like pharaoh, while the ziggurats were great temples dedicated by kings to presiding deities. While not much direct evidence is available to depict the power corridors of Harappan society, archaeological records hint at some degree of uniformity in the administration, governing a society which was largely egalitarian, the first of its kind in human history. The Harappans allocated much of their wealth for the common good, and there’s no evidence of royalty, aristocratic burials, or a warrior class.
Mohenjo-Daro was a walled city on the banks of the Indus. It had well-planned urban spaces, with equal access to all parts of the settlements. Years of rebuilding and the construction of large mudbrick platforms resulted in some areas being higher than the others, and thus well-protected from periodic flooding and polluted waters. Double-laned streets, allowing movement of oxcarts, were laid out in neat patterns, while all residents lived in well-planned brick houses, with toilets and bathing facilities, based on their occupation and economic standing. The Harappans had sophisticated drainage systems that carried sewage away from habitation, while an equally remarkable water supply system separately provided each household with potable water.
The Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro is another example of community being the core of Harappan society. One prevalent theory suggests that the Great Bath held religious significance and might have been used for purification rituals, ablutions, or as a sacred bathing space for ceremonies. Similarly, the Great Granary is the largest structure discovered on site.
The civilisation also emphasised trade and commerce, driven by agriculture and fishing. The Harappans exported muslin, wheat, terracotta-ware, ivory, and shell jewellery, while importing metals, gems, and frankincense from regions as far as Mesopotamia. They carried out trade via land and sea, from the dockyard at Lothal, Gujarat. Also, relics of Harappan culture have been unearthed in countries surrounding the Persian Gulf, suggesting economic ties of antiquity. It also depicts a deep knowledge of navigation. The Indus people were technologically-skilled. Significant advancements in transportation technology, including bullock carts, boats, and sailing ships, were made. The civilisation also used a state-of-the-art canal system, which served both agriculture and transportation. Harappans invented new metallurgical processes, to develop copper, bronze, lead, and tin articles.
The people had also developed a high degree of precision in measuring length, mass, and time, and were among the first to establish an equitable weights and measures system.
It’s in the clay
In 1926, archaeologist Ernest Mackay discovered the ‘Dancing Girl’ at Mohenjo-Daro. The bronze figurine is the most iconic artefact of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Around the same time, the ‘Priest-King’, a small male figure sculpted in steatite, was also found at Mohenjo-Daro.
However, the popular art of the Harappans are in the form of terracotta figurines. The majority are of standing females, often heavily laden with jewellery, but standing males — some with beards and horns — are also present. It has been generally agreed that these figures are largely deities, but some small figures of mothers with children or of domestic activities are probably toys. There are varieties of terracotta toys, such as monkeys pierced to climb a string and cattle that nod their heads.
Recent findings
1 Rakhigarhi is one of the largest Harappan sites, and is located in Haryana. Excavations in 2022, to trace the beginnings of the Harappan Civilisation, and to study its gradual evolution from 6000 BCE (Pre-Harappan phase) to 2500 BCE (beginning of its zenith), revealed two human skeletons, whose DNA samples were collected and sent for scientific examination, to ascertain the ancestry of the people who lived here.
2 Researchers from Oxford University recently discovered a new Harappan site near Dholavira, Gujarat. ‘Morodharo’, formally identified in January, has been named so after a Gujarati word for ‘less salty and potable water’. The newly discovered site at Lodrani (51 Km from Dholavira) resembles the Dholavira site, and is estimated to be mature (2600-1900 BCE) to late (1900-1300 BCE) Harappan, around 4,500 years old.
