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LECTURE # 1. THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION AND CONFLICTING CLAIMS 2500-1500 BCE. INDIA OR SOUTH ASIA. INDIA OR INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT: refers to pre-partition Indian sub-continent in these series of lectures.
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LECTURE # 1 THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION AND CONFLICTING CLAIMS 2500-1500 BCE
INDIA OR SOUTH ASIA • INDIA OR INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT: refers to pre-partition Indian sub-continent in these series of lectures. • Modern South Asia has seven independent countries 1) India 2) Pakistan 3) Bangladesh 4) Sri Lanka 5) Nepal 6) Bhutan 7) Maldives.
Fatima Imam: Geographically, there are three regions in northwest, north and central and the south’ THREE GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS • The Northern Mountains bounded by Hindu Kush mountains in the north west and Himalayas in north and north east. • The Indo-Gangetic Plain which is bifurcated into river systems of the Indus and the Ganges. Lastly, the peninsular area lying south of Vindhyan mountains and Narmada river.
THE EARLY BEGINNINGS… • Human inhabitation on the Indian subcontinent can be traced back to the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. The Indus valley civilization dated from about 2500 to 1500 BCE is considered to be at par with the other civilizations of the world e.g Sumer, Eygpt, Mesopotamia and China.
HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION 2500-1500 BCE SOURCES: ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AND SOME WRITTEN MATERIAL BUT THE INDUS SCRIPT HAS NOT BEEN DECIPHERED AS YET.
CONFLICTING CLAIMS • The discovery of Indus cities in 1920s and 1930s led to re-orientation of India’s past and the origins were attributed to possible colonial transpositions from west Asian civilizations. The pendulum is swinging the other way, and now the Indian archaeologists are claiming that the Harappan culture was supposedly inhabited by the indigenousVedic Aryans.
GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT • The Harappan sites extends from Baluchistan in the west to the alluvial plains of Indus to the deserts of Cholistan and Thar in the east. From north to south, it stretches from the foothills of the Himalayas to the coastal regions of Makran to the mainlands of Gujarat.
DEFINING FEATURES • The defining features of Harappa with other towns or sites: • Wheel made pottery: distinctive and baked to a red colour, Indus script: appearing on seals, sun-dried bricks of standard size 1:2:4, Standard weights apparently based on a unit of 13.63 grams, drainage, streets, citadels, masonry wells and burial sites.
MEHRGARH • Mehrgarh is one of the most important site of the neolithic period in this region. The Indus valley civilization was developed from the farming communities of Mehrgarh. The evidence of earliest farming is found here and the semi-nomadic people used plants such as wheat, barley and domesticated animals such as sheep, goat and cattle.
MEHRGARH • The settlements had small mud buildings with four internal divisions. There was considerable amount of technological and manufacturing activities and signs of commercial links with other people. The area was abandoned by the beginning of the mature phase of Indus valley (2600 BCE).
MAJOR TOWNS • HARAPPA ( 150 HECTARES IN AREA) • MOHENJODARO (200 HECTARES) • DHOLAVIRA (60 HECTARES) • KALIBANGAN (11.5 HECTARES) • LOTHAL (4.8 HECTARES) • CHANHU DARO (4.7 HECTARES)
TOWN PLANNING • Geometrically designed the towns had fortifications (for protection against both intruders and floods). The citadal area had several distinct quarters, assembly halls, granaries and manufacturing units of various types ; the bigger cities, also, had furnaces for the production of copper and bronze tools. While the houses were built on the lower level or quite far from the citadels.
TOWN PLANNING • The towns had public baths (probably often part of the temples), private baths were found in most of the houses, sewerages were connected through underground drains. There was an efficient water management with numerous reservoirs and wells. The streets were built on grid pattern and cut each other on the right sides.
TOWN PLANNING • Mohenjo-daro, for instance, had over 700 wells, some of them fifteen metres deep, built with special trapezoid bricks (to prevent collapse by the pressure of the surrounding soil), and maintained for several centuries. Dholavira had separate drains to collect rain water and six or seven dams built across the nearby rivers.
TOWN PLANNING • The houses were almost always built with mud bricks (sometimes fired in kilns), which followed a standard ratio of 4 :2 :1, though the actual sizes varied : bricks for houses, for instance, might be 28 x 14 x 7 cm, while for fortification walls they could be 36 x 18 x 9 cm or even bigger.
TOWN PLANNING • Walls were seventy centimetres thick, and many houses two storeys high. A few houses, perhaps those of rulers or wealthy traders, were particularly large, with up to seven rooms, but they were found right next to a craftsman’s modest house.
AGRICULTURE • The people of Indus valley prospered on the foundations of agriculture based system of irrigation and fertility which was maintained by the silt bearing floods (Indus River). They cultivated wheat, six rowed field of barley, melon seeds, oil crops like sesame, mustard, dates, and peas.
AGRICULTURE • The earliest traces of dyed cotton known anywhere in the world was found in the valley (the other example is from Jordan around 3000 BCE). Indus valley people cultivated rice (evidence from irrigated fields of Kalibangan, Rajasthan).
ARTS AND INDUSTRIES • The Harappans were also expert craftsmen. They made beads of carnelian, agate, amethyst, turquoise, lapis lazuli, etc.; they manufactured bangles out of shells, glazed faience and terracotta ; they carved ivory and worked shells into ornaments, bowls and ladles. They weilded bronze and copper for weapons, tools, domestic objects and statues.
ARTS AND INDUSTRIES • They also worked with silver and gold with great skill, specially for ornaments. Of course, they baked pottery in large quantities to the delight of archaeologists, since the different shapes, styles, and painted motifs are among the best guides in the evolution of any civilization.
ARTS AND INDUSTRIES • Harappans excelled at stone-carving, complex weaving and carpet-making, inlaid woodwork and decorative architecture. And, of course, they engraved with remarkable artistry their famous seals, mostly in steatite (or soapstone) ; those seals, over 3,000 of which have been found, seem to have served various purposes : some commercial, to identify consignments to be shipped, and some for ritual or spiritual purposes to invoke the deities, maybe.
ARTS AND INDUSTRIES • This statute continues to be worshipped as a goddess and later on came to be known as consort of the god of the dance: the natraja.
ORNAMENTS • The variety of ornaments made of silver, bronze and bone have been found on the site of the Indus Valley
NECKLACE • A necklace made of beads and bamboo sticks.
BANGLES • Bangles made of bone,copper and bronze found on different sites.
BRACELET • A beaded bracelet (modern looking ornament).
POTS • The terracotta pots found inside the graves.
