URBANIZATION IN HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

The word urbanization means the emergence of cities. The very first attempt to define a city was

made by V. Gordon Childe in 1950 where he gave the 10 characteristics of an ancient city as-

i)city are more populated than villages; ii) more no. of artists, merchants, officials in the city; iii)

surplus was handed over as taxes to elites; iv) creation of public buildings; v) gap between the

rich and poor; vi) systemic recording system; vii) development of science and arithmetic;

viii)long distance trade; ix) state organization on territory and x) coming of artistic expressions.

Roles played by urban centers are many- they act as bases of political institutions, place for

organizing trade, and center for learning, artistry and development of religious ideas. The urban

centers in the Indus civilization played all these roles. The Harappan civilization is divided into

the early, mature and late Harappan phase.

The question about how such a big civilization came up is a debated one. E. Mackay puts a

diffusionist theory of migration of people from Sumer to Harappa. Wheeler put forward the

diffusion of idea of civilization not people. There are striking differences between the Harappan

and the Mesopotamian civilization. Some believe that the theory of origin can be traced to the

origin of settled farming in Baluchistan region. All have put forward a different view for the

origin of civilization.

The early Harappan levels have been identified at many sites such as Balakot, Kot Diji, and

Rehman Dheri and also at bigger settlements like Harappa and Kalibangan etc. during the early

phase there was a lack of uniformity in craft and architectural specialization- lack of super
structures, urban planning ,lack of uniformity in pottery and other objects but there was indeed a

relationship between the early and the mature Harappan sites- there was some level of cultural

convergence, similarity in symbols and scripts, appearance of horned deity and connections in

the pottery. The question that arises is what led to the transition from the pre urban phase to a

fully fledged city life? - the catalysts for the transition may have been an increase in level of craft

specialization, growth of metallurgy and also agricultural growth due to organized irrigation

system but there is a lack of direct evidence. Emergence of decisive political leadership and

changes in social organization might also have played an important role.

There are some general features of the mature Harappan settlements – the streets and drains were

not laid in a perfect grid like pattern as it was earlier though but there were complete evidence of

town planning. The “English bond style” of laying bricks was used at mostly all the sites with a

fixed ratio of brick size i.e. 1:2:4. People lived in houses of different sizes- doorways facing the

lane side, floors made of hard packed earth and often re- plastered. Many houses had separate

bathing area and toilets. Well laid out streets and side lanes associated with an efficient and well

planned drainage system are other notable features of Harappan settlements. There were

elaborate arrangements for drinking and bathing water. The sources of water were rivers, wells

and reservoirs.

As we have talked about the general urban structure of the civilization we’ll now focus on 3

main sites - Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Kalibangan.

Mohenjodaro in Sindhi means the “mound of the dead”. The total area of the site is around 200

hectares. The site consists of 2 mounds- one higher but smaller western mound and the other

lower but bigger eastern mound. The western mound called the citadel was built on a 12mtr high

platform. Both the areas were built on a raised platform. The important buildings at Mohenjodaro

were the great bath, the great granary and the college of priests. The great bath was 14.5x 7 mtrs

in size and had steps leading to it from north and south and was made watertight and evidence

suggest it might have been used for ritualistic purpose. The so called granary was divided into 27

square blocks, the superstructure may have been made of wood but there is a lack of grain

remains from this structure. The college of priests consisted of several rooms, a courtyard and 3

verandahs. The lower town covered 80 ha and maybe surrounded by fortification walls. The

main street was 9 mtrs wide. The houses varied in size suggesting differences in wealth and

status. There was a well laid out drainage pattern with drains connected to each house and then

flowing into the main channel. A double row of 16 houses consisting of a single room with a

bath in front has been identified as workers quarters. A number of shops and workshops

associated with copper working, bead making and pottery have been identified in the lower town.

Evidences of some 700 wells have been found from the city.

The total area of Harappa is estimated to be around 150 hectares. This site also contains the

citadel and the lower town as we find in Harappa. The citadel was approximately shaped as a

parallelogram and was surrounded by a mud brick wall and the structures were raised on a high

platform. Evidence of a cemetery has been found south of the citadel. Evidence of a structure

called the workmen’s quarter consisting of 15 quarters arranged in 2 rows has been found.

Granary has been found at this site as well- as in the case of Mohenjodaro no grains were
reported from this building. In the lower town a place has been reported as a market or a place

where goods coming to the city were inspected, workshops of shell, agate, copper are found in

the region.

Kalibangan gets its name from the thick clusters of black bangles. There is a smaller western

mound and larger eastern mound with an open space in between. There is a third mound that

only has a large number of fire altars. The pits have been interpreted as sacrificial and the area

associated with community ritual. The houses found in the citadel region might have been

inhabited by the religious peoples. The lower town was shaped roughly as a parallelogram

enclosed by a brick wall. Fire altars have been found in houses. The sewage from houses was

discarded into large jars that were fixed outside the settlement. A large number of terracotta,

shell and steatite bangles have been found from this site.

The following three settlements gave definite evidence of a authoritative institution that is visible

from the uniformity in the size of brick and the laying out of settlement, evidences of public

structures such as the great bath and granary, difference in house size that represent social

differentiation, a sense of territory and specialized craft.

The Harappan civilization was based on the agricultural surplus like any other civilization.

Surplus is important for any civilization to come up. There must have been an administrative

machinery to collect grains as taxes for offerings in the temple. The grain would have been

stored in large granaries for distribution as wages, especially to the army of workers etc. The
Harappan script too developed around the same time though it remains still undeciphered but

literacy was widespread.

Trade is an important component for any urbanization. Internal trade between the Harappan

civilization is evident from distribution of raw material. Evidence of Harappan external trade has

been found from Afghanistan, Iran, Oman, Mesopotamia etc. goods had been regularly traded

over the entire region. We see Harappan seals in Mesopotamia and other places. Major items of

export were- lapis lazuli, carnelian, gold, silver, copper, ivory etc.

The mature Harappan phase witnesses an increase in specialized craft. We see the coming up of

various shapes of pottery with different functions and new patterns. Black-on-red, red, grey, buff

and black-and-red up the general types. There was an increase in the firing temperature of these

potteries that is visible from their outer surface. We see toys and other such games made from

clay. The decorations ranged from simple geometric patterns to designs such as fish scales, pipal

leaves etc. A large amount of copper objects have been found suggesting extensive usage and

also copper furnaces. We see evidence of gold and silver working. Seal making was an important

component of mature Harappan period as we see various but most common one were the

rectangular seals. Bead making was an important industry and we find evidence of international

trade as well. Slip is present and absent in equal proportion. Evidence of metallurgy and lithic

industry has been found from various places like the Rohri hill of Sindh, Mohenjodaro etc.

Comparing the sites with the points of V. Gordon Childe we can reach to the conclusion that the

Harappan civilization in its mature phase fulfilled most of the criteria if not all. We see a proper
town planning and administrative system, economy, routes of trade and coming up of highly

specialized craft skills. The Harappan civilization portrayed absolute and concrete example of

rich urbanization.