Image title: Harappan Civilisation

Harappan Civilisation—More than 5000 years from now, in the 4 millennium B.C., some people from the eastern foothills of Baluchistan started moving into the river valleys of the Indus and the Saraswati. One group reached the coastal region and settled down at sites like Balakot and one group reached the Punjab plains and north-west Rajasthan and settled down at sites like Harappa and Kuchanwala beyond Kudawala and Kunal, respectively. Slowly and gradually these people evolved a civilization, called variously as the 'Harappan Civilization', the 'Indus Civilization', the 'Indus Valley Civilization' and the 'Indus-Saraswati Civilization', which was contemporary of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, but different from both of them in all essential items, including the system of writing, town planning and religious beliefs.

Archaeologists have so far located around 1400 sites of this civilization in India and Pakistan put together. Of these, around two dozen very important sites have been excavated. Harappa on the river Ravi was excavated by Daya Ram Sahni, M.S. Vats, Sir Mortimer Wheeler and now by Richard Meadow and J.M. Kenoyer, while Mohenjodaro was excavated by R.D. Banerji, Earnest MacKay, Sir Mortimer Wheeler and G.F. Dales. It all started from 1921-22; first Harappa was dug, then, a year later, Mohenjodaro.

After the partition of India in 1947, Indian scholars worked hard and excavated several important sites in India such as Lothal by S.R. Rao, Kalibangan by B.B. Lal and BK. Thapar, Surkotada by J.P. Joshi, Banawali and Dholavira by R.S. Bisht and Rakhigarhi being excavated by Amarendra Nath. The dried-up course of the Vedic river Saraswati was explored by Sir Aurel Stein, A. Ghosh and M.R. Mughal both in India and Pakistan yielding the evidence of more than 500 sites; explorations in the Indus Valley have, however, located only around 150 sites. It is now clear that the Harappan Civilization was the gift of two rivers, the Indus and the Saraswati and not the Indus alone. However, the Harappan sites are also located beyond the basins of these rivers in Gujarat, Sindh, parts of Baluchi hills and western Uttar Pradesh. It covers an area around 1600 km. from the north to the south and around the same distance from the east to the west which is more than twice the combined territories covered by the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations.

The Harappan Civilization is divided broadly in three phases: the Early Phase (3500 B.C. – 2600 B.C.), the Mature Phase (2600 B.C. – 2000 B.C.) and the Late Phase (2000 B.C. – 1500 B.C.).

The Harappan Civilization grew in India step by step in time and space from the village stage, through the township stage and finally to the city stage. After 2000 s.c. decline sets in. By 1500 B.C. cities were replaced by villages. Monumental structures and writing practically disappeared. Significantly, there is no archaeological evidence of the founding of the cities by the Mesopotamians as also their destruction by the Aryans or any one else.

From early 2nd millennium B.C. people started settling down in villages al though many of their old practices and belief-systems continued to exist as these do till this day in Hinduism such as the pipal, water, fire'and Rudra worship as well as adopting Namaskar Madra and Yoga Mudra.

The Harappan Civilization is known for its well-planned cities the like of which no other contemporary civilization had produced. While in Egypt and Mesopotamia well-built houses were meant only for the ruling and religious elite, the common men lived only in huts, in the Harappan towns, even the common men lived in well-built houses.

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Transcription (not proofread):

हरप्पा सभ्यता
harappā sabhyatā
harappa sabhyata

Gallery information:

These photographs are from the section “Harappan Civilization” within the National Museum of New Delhi (India).—The Harappan Civilization, dating back over 5000 years, flourished in the river valleys of the Indus and the Saraswati. This civilization, contemporary to Egypt and Mesopotamia, is renowned for its unique urban organization, covering a vast area across modern-day India and Pakistan. The Harappans developed advanced town planning, including fortified cities with dual sectors housing both common people and the elite.