ANCIENT-MEDIEVAL HISTORY AND INDIAN CULTURE

LECTURE-2: HARAPPAN CIVILISATION

The Harappan civilization was the first urban civilization in South Asia, contemporaneous with the civilizations of
Mesopotamia and Egypt. Of the three aforementioned civilizations, the Harappan civilization occupied most area. It
forms a part of the proto-history of India, and belongs to the Bronze Age.

Controversy over the name of the civilization: Earlier historians had called this civilization the ‘Indus Valley Civilization’,
but since then, major settlements have been excavated in the Ghaggar-Hakra belt that spread far beyond the Indus
region. Harappa, as the first archaeological site to be discovered, therefore gives its name to the entire civilization.

Phases of the Civilization: The Harappan civilization can be classified in three phases:

▪ The Early/Pre-Harappan phase (c. 3200-2600 BCE)

▪ Mature Harappan phase (c. 2600-1900 BCE)
▪ Late Harappan phase (c. 1900-1700 BCE)

The Early Harappan phase, known as the Regionalization Era, was the formative, proto-urban phase of the Harappan
civilization. The settlements in this period are marked by their fortification, beginnings of craft-specialization, the use of
wheeled transport, and the existence of trade networks. However, it did not have the large cities that defined the
mature Harappan phase, neither did it have as much expertise in craft specialization. Some of the early Harappan
archaeological sites are Kalibangan in Rajasthan, Dholavira in Kutch, Harappa in West Punjab, Bhirrana in Haryana and
Balakot, Amri and Kot Diji in present Pakistan.

The Mature Harappan phase, or the Integration Era, was the urban phase of the Harappan civilization, which shows the
characteristics of a full-fledged civilization. It is pertinent to note that the term, ‘Harappan Culture’ or ‘Harappan
Civilization’, primarily refers to this mature urban phase. Mature Harappan sites are marked by remarkable uniformity
– they have the same basic set of Harappan material traits, such as the typical red and black pottery, terracotta figurines,
standardized brick size in 1:2:4 ratio, and so on.

The Late Harappan phase or the Localization Era, was the post-urban phase defined by a decline in the cities. This phase
comprises five geographical zones each having distinct phases – the West Punjab Phase (Cemetery- H Culture), the East
Punjab Phase, the Jhukar Phase (Sindh), the Rangpur Phase (Gujarat), and the Ganga-Yamuna Doab Phase. Late
Harappan settlements were small compared to mature Harappan ones. The transition from the mature phase does not
show any sudden discontinuity as such, but there is a gradual change in seals, pottery confined writing, in the frequency
of cubical weights, and so on. The Late Harappan settlements were also more in number, but they were smaller and
more rural, marked by a diverse agricultural base.

Origin of the Civilization: There is still no totally accepted theory on the origin of Harappan culture but generally it is
believed to have either emerged from pre-Harappan/indigenous village culture (which may be the more reasonable
view), or, as argued by some others, owes its origin to the Mesopotamian Civilization.

Geographical Extent: The area occupied by the Harappan civilization was roughly triangular in shape and covers modern
day Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, and Pakistan. (Total area: about 8,00,000 sq km)
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 General Features of the Mature Harappan Phase
Archaeological evidence reveals a great deal about the Harappan civilization, which is marked by both cultural
homogeneity as well as diversity.
Town Planning
• Harappan civilization is known for its urban outlook and sophisticated sense of civic planning and organization. In
most cases the Harappan city was divided into two parts:
▪ Citadel/Raised Part – This part occupied a smaller area, and was frequently situated to the west of the city.
Rulers of the city lived here. It also contained public buildings, granaries, and important workshops.
▪ Lower Part – The common citizens lived and carried on their professional lives in this part of the city.

• City planning roughly followed a grid pattern and streets ran from north and cut at right angles.
• The streets were wide, dividing the town into rectangular and square blocks.
• There were lamp-posts at intervals.
• They used burnt bricks of good quality and the unique feature of this brick was its identical ratio of 1:2:4 in terms of
height: width: length across all Harappan structures. Equally striking was the uniformity in the average size of bricks
– 7x14x28 cm3 for houses and 10x20x40 cm3 for city walls.
• They had an excellent drainage system – drains were made of mortar, lime and gypsum and covered with large brick
slabs for easy cleaning.
• Houses were often of two or more storeys, though varied in size but quite monotonous. No window faced the streets
and the houses had tiled bathrooms. Some houses had their own wells.
Socio-economic conditions
The Harappan society was an urban society. The houses excavated suggest at least three distinct social groups: Rulers,
rich merchants and poor laborers. Other characteristic features of the Harappan society were:

• Crafts: Remarkable level of craft specialization and uniformity is evident from the Harappan sites. Major Harappan
crafts include Bead-making, Seal-making, Shell-working, Metal-working, Bangle-making, Pottery-making, etc.
Harappan beads were made of agate, jade, carnelian, copper, lapis-lazuli, etc. Characteristic Harappan beads were
made of carnelian. Bead-making factories has been discovered at Lothal and Chanhudaro.
• Pottery: The Harappans were great experts in the use of the potter’s wheel. Almost uniform pottery is found across
all the Harappan sites. The most characteristic Harappan pottery is Red Pottery with designs painted in black. (Black
and Red Ware)
• Terracotta: A lot of terracotta has been found at many sites, including figurines of animals such
as bulls, buffaloes, dogs, monkeys, toy carts, and humans (males as well as females). Terracotta
female figurines have been interpreted as those of mother goddess. Terracotta bangles have
also been found.
• Metals Used: Copper, bronze, silver, and gold were metals known and used by Harappans, but
iron was not. The craftsmen used to both make artifacts out of pure copper as well as bronze
such as spears, knives, short swords, mirrors, axes, needles, rings, and bangles. It is rather
interesting that the number of pure copper artifacts was far greater than alloyed bronze ones.
Most famous bronze work was the image of a dancing girl found at Mohenjodaro.

• Jewellery: The Harappans refined the art of bead-making, and jewellery excavated includes gold
and silver jewellery, including necklaces, bracelets, pendants, earrings, brooches. At Allahdino
(near Karachi), lot of necklaces made of gold, silver, carnelian and semi-precious stones have
been found.
• Stone-Working: Seals, weights & measures, statues, tools etc. were made from stone. In some
cases, stone was also used as a building material. E.g. at Dholavira in Gujarat. The most famous
stone image is that of the so called “Priest-King” found at Mohenjodaro.
• Clothes worn: Harappan people generally wore garments of cotton/wool. Harappans were the first ones to grow
and use cotton.
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• Domestication of animals: The Harappans domesticated animals on a large scale. Cows, oxen, buffaloes, goats,
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humped bulls, sheep, pigs, asses, camels, cats and dogs were domesticated. The issue of horse is controversial –
there is no definite evidence of Horse from Harappan sites.

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 • Food & Diet: Wheat was the staple crop in the Punjab and Sindh region. Evidence of Rice is available from Lothal and
Rangpur Sites in Gujarat. The evidence of Barley comes from Banawali in Haryana. Ploughed fields have been
discovered at Kalibangan. Terracotta models of plough have been found at Banawali and Bahawalpur. Surplus grains
were stored in granaries. Both vegetarian as well as vegetarian diet was consumed. There are evidences of meat-
eating, Fish-eating, consumption of milk and curd.
• Script: Though the art of writing was developed and it is especially evident on Harappan seals, but we have yet not
been able to decipher the Harappan Script. We can say that the script was pictographic and logo-syllabic (each
symbol stood for a word). The script was mostly written from right to left. For longer writings, boustrophedon style
was adopted, that is to say, right to left and left to right in alternate lines. The evidence of a common script however
points to great cultural integration, and its virtual disappearance by c.1700 BCE hints at the lack of sufficient
downward percolation of writing.

• Seals: Harappan seals were tiny (2 inch x 2 inch) square / rectangular artefacts made of stones like steatite,
chalcedony, chert or metals like copper/bronze, or materials like ivory, terracotta etc. The characteristic Harappan
seals were square in shape and made of steatite. Thousands of seals have been discovered by archaeologists from
the Harappan sites. It is believed that the seals were used for commercial purposes, as marks of identity in trade. A
few seals were also carried as amulets. All the seals have pictures of animals with something written in a pictographic
script (which is yet to be deciphered). Chiefly, the animals represented are tigers, elephants, bulls, bison, goats and
so on.

• Trade: They carried out both internal and external trade. There was no metallic money in circulation and trade was
conducted by means of barter. Inland transport primarily employed bullock carts. Riverine routes were also used for
internal trade. Harappans had flourishing trade relations with its contemporary Mesopotamian and Persian
civilizations. The Mesopotamians called the Indus Region ‘Meluhha’. The Mesopotamian texts speak of Harappan
civilization as the land of Meluhha. Archaeological evidence also supports the Mesopotamian trade of Harappans. A
few circular seals of Mesopotamia have been found from Harappan cities. Harappans seals have been found in
Mesopotamian cities like Susa and Ur. Harappans procured a special semi-precious stone lapis-lazuli from
Afghanistan and a trading outpost at Shotrughai near Afghanistan border testifies to this trade. A dockyard has been
excavated in Lothal and sea ports have been found at Rangpur, Somnath and Balakot.
• Weights and Measures: A remarkable aspect of the Harappan Culture was its standardisation and accuracy in the
contest of Weights and measures. Weights followed a binary system in the lower denominations – 1, 2, 8, 16, 32 to
64, and then in decimal multiples of 160 like 160, 320, 640, 1600, 3200, and so on. Weights were made of chert,
limestone, and steatite and were generally cubical in shape.
• Harappan Imports:
Source Region
Metals
Afghanistan, Iran, Kolar (South India)
Gold
Khetri (Rajasthan), Baluchistan
Copper
Afghanistan, Iran
Tin
Afghanistan
Lapis Lazuli
Iran / Central Asia
Jade, Turquoise, Steatite
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 Religion

• Harappan civilization is considered as a secular society as not a single as not a single structure qualifying as temple
has been found.
• From the archaeological evidence, it can be said that Harappans primarily worshipped a male deity – Pashupati Shiva
and female goddesses in the form of Mother Goddess / Nature Goddess.
▪ Pashupati Shiva or proto-Shiva: Probably, the elites of the Harappan Society used to worship this deity. A seal
depicting the image of this deity has been found in the citadel area of Mohenjodaro. This deity has a remarkable
similarity with Lord Shiva of later Hindu pantheon – he is depicted as sitting in the yogic meditation posture of
padamasana (Mahayogi), surrounded by animals (pashupati) and has 3 faces (trimukha)
with a horned headdress.
▪ Mother Goddess: Numerous terracotta figurines of females have been found, mostly
from the lower portion of the towns in various Harappan cities. These have been
interpreted as Mother Goddess. Some of the seals depict a female standing behind a tree
– probably representing Nature Goddess.

• Probably, fertility cults were a part of the religious practices of Harappans. There are evidences of Lingam (phallus)
worship and Yoni worship.
• Harappans also used to worship trees like Pipal, animals like Bull and Birds like Dove.
• Mythological figures like One-horned unicorn (may in fact be the rhinoceros) were also worshipped.
• But the Harappan Religion had some ritualistic elements. The Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro was probably a site of
ritualistic / ceremonial bathing. Sacrificial rituals may also have been part of the religious practices at some places.
E.g. a structure in Kalibangan has been identified as ‘Fire Altar’ – it was probably the site of ritualistic sacrifices.
• Disposal of the dead: Disposal of the Dead also gives an idea about the religious beliefs. Particularly, it tells us about
the belief in life after death. Burial was the most common method, though there was significant diversity in this
respect. There are evidences of extended burial, urn burial, fractional burial, cremation, cremation followed by
burial, coffin burial, etc. The most common method was extended burial in north-south direction. The graves were
generally accompanied by objects including food, pottery, ornaments, and tools. These items were not as expensive
in comparison to those in contemporary Mesopotamian or Egyptian cultures.
Decline
The Harappan decline is roughly dated around 1800 BCE, but no archaeological evidence accurately provides an
explanation for the de-urbanization. The Mature phase was followed by the late Harappan phase. Possible theories of
decline of the Harappan Civilization are as follows:

▪ Aryan Invasion
▪ Ecological disturbance
▪ Changes in River course
▪ Floods
▪ Drying of Ghaghar and Increasing Aridity
▪ Earthquakes and other Natural Calamities
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 Famous Harappan Sites

Site Specialty

Harappa • Two rows of six granaries

• Evidence of coffin burial and cemetery ‘H’ culture
• Single room barracks
• Two red stone idols of a dancing girls and naked bust of male, female genitalia.
• Evidence of direct trade Interaction with Mesopotamia.

Mohenjo-Daro • Multi-pillared assembly Hall

• Great Bath
• Single Large granary
• Piece of woven cotton cloth
• Bronze dancing girl
• Violent death of some inhabitant (discovery of human skeletons together)
• Seal representing Mother Goddess, Pashupati, bearded man and a woman to be
sacrificed.
• Stone Torso of ‘Priest-King’

Lothal • Dockyard
• Important sea trade Centre and bead-making factory
• City was divided into, not two, but six sectors and the entire city was walled.
• Remains of rice husks
• Houses with entrances on the main street (houses of all other sites had side entries)
• Painting on a jar resembling the story of the cunning fox in Panchatantra
• Evidence of double burial (male and female together).
• Seal from Mesopotamia found here
• Terracotta model of ship has been found

Kalibangan • Ploughed field

• Fire altars showing practice of cult of sacrifice
• Both citadel and lower town were fortified
• Bones of camel
• Not as well-planned and organised as Mohenjo-Daro, did not even have a proper
drainage system

Chanhu-Daro • Bead-making factory: Beads were mass produced here and sent to various
Harappan cities
• Only Harappan city without a citadel

Rangpur • Evidence of Rice Cultivation

Banawali • High quality barley

• Fire altars
• Clay model of plough

Alamgirpur • The eastern-most Harappan Site

Koti-Diji • Pre-Harappan site

• Houses made of stone
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• Evidence of destruction by force

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 Amri • Pre-Harappan settlement
• Actual remains of rhinoceros.

Ropar • Evidence of burying dog with human.

Suktagendor • Westernmost Harappan Site

• Originally a port but later cut off from sea due to coastal uplift
• Had trade links with Mesopotamian Civilization.

Dholavira • Giant water reservoir and Unique water harvesting system

• An Inscription comprising ten large sized signs of the Harappan script similar to a
signboard.
• Large-scale use of Stone as building material

Allahdino • Smallest Harappan Site

Rakhigarhi • Over 350 hectares with new finds of two additional mounds, making it the largest
Indus Valley Civilisation site.

Late Harappan Phase (c.1900 BCE-1700 BCE)

The Mature Harappan phase was followed by the Late Harappan phase, which was marked by the decline of urban life
and the diversification of agriculture. The homogeneity of Harappan civilization disappeared and the post-Harappan
stage was marked by sharp stylistic diversity. There was a complex interplay of change and continuity. Elements of
urbanism like seals, specialized crafts, cities, long distance trade, and so on, declined but did not completely disappear.
The level of uniformity observed during the Mature phase of the Harappan Civilization declined and it led to
development of local chalcolithic cultures. These chalcolithic cultures came into prominence in five distinct regions –
Western Punjab region (Cemetery- H Culture), East Punjab & North Rajasthan Region (OCP Culture), Sindh Region
(Jhukar Culture), Gujarat Region (Rangpur-Somnath Culture), and the Ganga-Yamuna Doab Region (BRW Culture). The
Late Harappan Chalcolithic settlements were more in number, but they were smaller and more rural, marked by a
diverse agricultural base. A key development in this phase was the beginning of double cropping – wheat and barley
were grown as winter crops and rice, millets, and sorghum were grown a summer crops. The period marks the end of
the Harappan trade with West Asian centres, as lapis lazuli, chert, carnelian beads, copper and bronze vessels, are either
absent or scarce as trade items.
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 Practice Questions Mains
1. To what extent has the urban planning and culture of the Indus Valley Civilization provided inputs to present
day urbanization? Discuss. (2014 UPSC)

2. Trade was as relevant in Harappan era as it is today. Elucidate specifying about different aspects related to
Harappan economy such as seals, weights, different Harappan imports.
Practice Questions Prelims:
1. Which of the following characterize/Characterize the people of the Indus Valley Civilization? (2013 UPSC)
i. They possessed great palaces and temples
ii. They worshipped both male and female deities.
iii. They employed horse-drawn chariots in warfare.
Select the correct statement/statements using the codes given below.
(A) i. and ii only
(B) only ii
(C) i, ii and iii
(D) None of the statements given above is correct
Ans. (B)

2. Regarding the Indus Valley Civilization, consider the following statement: (2011 UPSC)
i. It was predominantly a secular civilization and the religious element, though present, did not
dominate the scene.
ii. During this period, cotton was used for manufacturing textiles in India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(A) i only
(B) ii only
(C) Both i and ii
(D) Neither i nor ii
Ans. (C)

3. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below: (2002 UPSC)
Ancient Site Finding
1. Lothal i. Ploughed Field
2. Kalibangan ii. Dockyard
3. Dholavira iii. Terracota replica of a plough
4. Banawali iv. An Inscription comprising ten large sized signs of the Harappan
Codes
(A) 1-i; 2-ii; 3-iii; 4-iv
(B) 1-ii; 2-i; 3-iv; 4-iii
(C) 1-i; 2-ii; 3-iv; 4-iii
(D) 1-ii; 2-i; 3-iii; 4-iv
Ans. (B)

4. Which of the following animals was not represented in seals and terracotta art of Harappan Sculpture?
(A) Cow
(B) Elephant
(C) Rhinoceros
(D) Tiger
Ans. (A)
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