Ch 01 - T1: BRICKS, BEADS AND BONES The Harappan Civilisation12th Themes in Indian History

Three Phases of Harappan Culture

• Early Harappan (c. 6000-2600 BCE): The formative phase; associated with basic agriculture, pastoralism, small settlements, and distinctive pottery.
• Mature Harappan (c. 2600-1900 BCE): The urban phase; characterized by large planned cities, uniform bricks, standardized weights, and steatite seals.
• Late Harappan (c. 1900-1300 BCE): The decline or 'decadent' phase; marked by the abandonment of urban features and a return to rural living.

The Time-Frame Trap

• Preconceived Bias: Cunningham believed that Indian history strictly began with the emergence of Ganga Valley cities (c. 6th century BCE).
• Flawed Guide: He relied heavily on the written accounts of Chinese Pilgrims (4th-7th century CE) to locate ancient sites.
• The Mistake: When presented with a Harappan seal, he attempted to fit it into the Early Historic timeframe he was familiar with, completely missing that the artifact was thousands of years older.

A New Civilisation Revealed

• The Event: In 1924, John Marshall (Director-General of the ASI) formally announced the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilisation to the world.
• Significance: This revelation pushed the timeline of Indian history back by roughly 3,000 years, establishing it as contemporaneous with the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Horizontal Levels vs. Stratigraphy

• Marshall's Flaw (Horizontal Units): He excavated along uniform horizontal lines (e.g., digging exactly 5 feet down across the entire site). This ignored the natural contours and layers of the earth, mixing artifacts from entirely different historical periods together.
• Wheeler's Fix (Stratigraphy): Taking over in 1944, Wheeler introduced Stratigraphy. This method involves excavating layer by natural layer (following soil colors and textures) to strictly preserve the chronological sequence and historical context of the artifacts.

The Most Distinctive Artifact

• Material: Primarily carved from a soft stone known as steatite.
• Visual Features: Usually contains intricately carved animal motifs (such as the unicorn or humped bull) alongside a line of an undeciphered script.
• Significance: While the script remains unread, these seals provide archaeologists with vital data regarding Harappan religious beliefs, authority structures, and their extensive long-distance trade networks.

Plant and Animal Subsistence

• Plant Staples: Archaeo-botanists have identified charred grains of wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, and sesame. Millets are prominently found in Gujarat sites, while Rice findings are relatively rare.
• Domesticated Animals: Archaeo-zoologists confirm the domestication of cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo, and pigs for meat and milk.
• Wild Game: Bones of wild species like boar, deer, and gharial indicate hunting, either directly or through trade with hunter-gatherer communities.

Evidence of Advanced Farming

• Ploughs: Terracotta models of ploughs have been recovered from sites in Cholistan and Banawali (Haryana).
• Field Systems: An actual ploughed field featuring two sets of intersecting furrows (indicating multi-cropping) was discovered at Kalibangan (Rajasthan).
• Irrigation: Traces of water canals were found at Shortughai (Afghanistan), and large water reservoirs built for agricultural/civic storage were discovered at Dholavira (Gujarat).

Two-Part Urban Layout

• The Citadel (West): A smaller but physically higher section built upon elevated mud-brick platforms. It was heavily walled to separate it from the rest of the city and housed monumental structures for special public or ritual purposes.
• The Lower Town (East): A substantially larger but lower section. It was also walled, with buildings erected on platforms. This served as the primary residential and craft production hub for the common population.

A Massive Storage Facility

• Function: Believed to be a massive central storage facility for grain or trade goods.
• Construction: The lower structural portions were made of durable baked bricks, which have survived the centuries.
• Decay: The upper portions were highly likely constructed out of wood, which has completely decayed over time, leaving only the brick foundation.

The Great Bath

• Structure: A large, rectangular sunken tank located within a courtyard, flanked by corridors on all four sides.
• Waterproofing: It was made completely watertight by setting bricks on their edges and using a specialized mortar made of gypsum.
• Access: Reached by distinct flights of steps on its North and South ends, with a large adjacent well supplying the water.
• Purpose: Scholars strongly believe it was used for special ritual bathing and religious purification ceremonies.

Master-Planned Sanitation

• Grid Foundation: The entire city was meticulously planned. Streets and major drains were laid out first in a strict grid pattern (intersecting at precise right angles), and residential houses were built afterward.
• Connectivity: Every house was required to have at least one wall bordering a street so domestic wastewater could efficiently empty into the street drains.
• Maintenance: The main drains were cleverly covered with loose bricks or stone slabs that could be lifted for regular cleaning, utilizing soak pits to prevent solid waste blockages.

Architectural Privacy Safeguards

• No Ground Windows: Houses were constructed with absolutely no windows in the walls positioned along the ground level.
• Indirect Entrances: The main entrance door was strategically angled so it did not provide a direct visual line of sight into the interior or the central courtyard.
• Courtyard Centricity: Daily activities (like cooking or weaving) were centered in an enclosed inner courtyard, shielded from the view of the street.

Stone Architecture and Reservoirs

• Water Reservoirs: Dholavira features an elaborate network of massive, stone-cut reservoirs designed to store monsoon water (crucial for agriculture and survival in the arid environment).
• Building Materials: Unlike Mohenjodaro and Harappa which relied heavily on baked mud-bricks, Dholavira demonstrates extensive, masterful use of stone in its monumental architecture.
• The Signboard: It yielded a unique, large public inscription consisting of ten massive characters, colloquially known as the Dholavira Signboard.

Availability vs. Rarity

• Utilitarian Objects: Items of daily use made from ordinary, locally available materials like clay or stone (e.g., saddle querns, simple pottery, needles). These are found evenly distributed across almost all settlements.
• Luxury Objects: Rare items made from costly, non-local materials or requiring highly complex crafting technologies (e.g., little pots made of faience, a synthetic material requiring high heat). These are usually found concentrated exclusively in large, wealthy settlements like Mohenjodaro.

The Industrial Hub

• Extreme Specialization: Despite being tiny (only 7 hectares compared to Mohenjodaro's 125 hectares), Chanhudaro was almost exclusively devoted to intense craft production.
• Key Activities: It was a massive factory town focused on high-end bead-making, shell-cutting, metal-working, seal-making, and the precise crafting of standard chert weights.

A Variety of Raw Materials

• Stones: Carnelian (Red), Jasper, Crystal, Quartz, and Steatite.
• Metals: Copper, Bronze, Gold.
• Other Synthetics: Shell, Faience, and Terracotta.

Complex Processes

• Carnelian was not naturally red; artisans obtained its brilliant red color by skillfully firing the yellowish raw material in kilns.
• Steatite, being extremely soft, was easily ground into paste and molded into diverse, intricate shapes impossible to carve from harder stones.

Shell Production Hubs

• Key Sites: Nageshwar and Balakot.
• Strategic Geography: Both settlements were intentionally located directly on the coast, providing artisans with immediate, easy access to abundant marine shells.
• Products: They specialized in mass-producing shell bangles, ladles, and intricate geometric inlay work that was traded across the civilization.

Strategic Outposts and Colonies

Instead of relying solely on random trade, the Harappan state established specific colonial outposts near vital raw materials:

• Lapis Lazuli (Blue stone): Procured from Shortughai, located deep in Afghanistan.
• Carnelian (Red stone): Procured directly from Lothal in Gujarat.
• Copper: Procured by sending expeditions to the Khetri region of Rajasthan.
• Gold: Expeditions sent deep into South India.

The Copper Connection

• Geography: Located in the Khetri area of modern-day Rajasthan.
• Characteristics: This was a distinct, non-Harappan community featuring unique local pottery, but possessing an unusual, immense wealth of raw copper objects.
• The Relationship: Archaeological evidence suggests the Harappans systematically traded with the Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture to secure the vast quantities of copper needed for their urban civilization.

Chemical and Artifactual Proof

• Chemical Analysis: Laboratory tests confirm that both Omani copper ore and Harappan copper artifacts contain distinct traces of Nickel, strongly suggesting a shared geographical origin.
• Artifact Exchange: A massive, distinctive Harappan Jar coated with a thick layer of black clay (designed to prevent liquid percolation) was physically excavated in Oman.
• Textual Support: Ancient Mesopotamian commercial texts explicitly refer to importing copper from a region named Magan (widely accepted as Oman).

Ancient Trade Partners

1. Dilmun: Identified as the island of Bahrain (a key transit point).
2. Magan: Identified as modern-day Oman (the primary source of copper).
3. Meluhha: Identified as the Harappan Region (India/Pakistan).

Note: Mesopotamian texts proudly describe Meluhha as a 'land of seafarers' and the ultimate source of luxury goods like carnelian, lapis lazuli, gold, and timber.

Sealing Technology

1. A bag containing trade goods was tied securely with a rope.
2. Wet clay was heavily applied directly over the knot.
3. The merchant's personalized seal was firmly pressed into the wet clay, leaving an impression.
4. Authentication: If the clay sealing arrived intact, it served as undeniable proof that the goods had not been tampered with during the long journey. The impression also definitively identified the sender.

An Enigmatic Writing System

• Undeciphered: Despite century-long efforts, linguists still cannot read or translate the script.
• Non-Alphabetical (Logo-syllabic): It possesses far too many unique signs (between 375 and 400). This vast number suggests it is not a simple alphabet (like English), but rather that each sign stands for a complete word or syllable.
• Directionality: It was definitively written from Right to Left (archaeologists know this because signs are spaced normally on the right but cramped together on the left side of artifacts).

A Dual System of Chert

• Material & Shape: Weights were precisely carved from a hard stone called Chert, generally shaped perfectly cubical with absolutely no markings.
• Lower Denominations: Followed a strict Binary system (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32... scaling all the way up to 12,800). These were likely used for weighing precious micro-items like jewelry and beads.
• Higher Denominations: Shifted to follow the Decimal system, used for bulk agricultural or commercial goods.

Modest Death Rituals

• Burial Variations: The dead were generally laid in simple pits. However, a few pits were structurally lined with baked bricks, which archaeologists suggest might indicate a higher social or economic status.
• Grave Goods: Simple pottery and ornaments were commonly buried with the dead (suggesting a belief in an afterlife).
• The Rule of Modesty: Unlike the Egyptians, the Harappans actively did not bury massive hoards of precious wealth (like gold) with their dead. Luxury items in graves are extreme exceptions (e.g., a single jasper bead found near a male skull).

Who Ruled the Harappans?

1. No Rulers (Egalitarian): Harappan society had no absolute rulers, and everyone enjoyed an equal social status.
2. Multiple Rulers: There was no single state; instead, Mohenjodaro, Harappa, and other cities functioned as independent city-states with separate rulers.
3. Single State (Most Plausible): A centralized empire or single state. This is highly supported by the extreme uniformity in artifacts (standardized bricks, pottery, weights), planned settlements, and the organized establishment of resource colonies. Such complex coordination required a central authority.

Misapplied Terminology

• The Object: A famous stone bust/statue of a bearded man wearing an embroidered cloak, discovered at Mohenjodaro.
• Origin of the Name: Early archaeologists were deeply familiar with Mesopotamian history (where actual 'priest-kings' heavily ruled). They projected this parallel onto the Indus region to explain the statue.
• The Reality: We have absolutely no independent textual or archaeological evidence proving that Harappans possessed a similar political-religious hierarchy, making the 'Priest-King' label pure speculation.

Interpreting the Past through the Present

• The Principle: Archaeologists attempt to reconstruct the function of ancient artifacts by comparing them with modern-day practices and objects (the 'known').
• Success: This works extremely well for practical, utilitarian objects (e.g., matching ancient grinding stones to modern kitchen querns).
• Risk: It becomes highly speculative and risky when applied to religious symbols or abstract art (e.g., trying to definitively label a Harappan seal as the Hindu god Shiva).

Curry Stones of Mohenjodaro

• Artifact Function: Excavators found heavy 'Saddle Querns' used for grinding cereals and spices (no rotary querns were found).
• The Modern Parallel: Early excavator Ernest Mackay specifically noted that local Indian workmen immediately recognized these stones. The workers called them 'curry stones' and even asked to borrow them for use in their own modern kitchens, proving their function had remained completely unchanged for 4,000 years.

Lingas vs. Gamesmen

• The Objects: Archaeologists found highly polished, small stone cones made of premium materials like lapis lazuli and jasper.
• Theory A (Religious): Early scholars, heavily influenced by modern Hinduism, immediately labeled them as Lingas (phallic symbols worshipped as Shiva).
• Theory B (Secular): Later, more critical scholars argued they could simply be Gamesmen (pawns or pieces used for ancient board games).
• Lesson: Projecting modern religious beliefs onto ancient, ambiguous artifacts can lead to fundamentally flawed conclusions.

Terracotta Fertility Figures

• The Artifacts: Archaeologists have recovered numerous, highly detailed terracotta figurines depicting women.
• Visual Features: These female figures are consistently depicted wearing heavy, elaborate jewelry and massive, fan-shaped head-dresses.
• Interpretation: Because their ornamentation makes them distinctly different from ordinary children's toys, scholars widely interpret them as representations of a divine Mother Goddess, pointing to an ancient cult focused on fertility and creation.

The Pashupati Seal

• Central Figure: Depicts a horned figure seated cross-legged in a distinct, meditative 'yogic' posture.
• Animal Surroundings: The central figure is surrounded by specific wild animals: an Elephant, a Tiger, a Rhinoceros, and a Buffalo around the torso, with two deer resting at the base of the throne.
• Identification: Because of the yogic posture and control over beasts (Pashupati), early scholars forcefully identified this as 'Proto-Shiva' (an early, ancient manifestation of the Hindu deity Shiva).

Textual Contradictions

• The Rigvedic Reality: In the ancient Rigveda, the deity 'Rudra' (often later equated with Shiva) is explicitly described as a fierce, violent god of storms. He is NOT depicted as a meditating Yogi, nor is he called Pashupati (Lord of Beasts) in early texts.
• The Harappan Reality: The figure on the seal is entirely calm, meditative, and surrounded by peaceful animals.
• Conclusion: The massive contradiction in characteristics makes the 'Proto-Shiva' label highly suspect. It may represent a completely different indigenous deity.

Spiritual Mediators

• Definition: Shamans are men and women in ancient or tribal societies who claim to possess magical and healing powers, alongside the unique ability to directly communicate with the spiritual 'other world'.
• The Alternative Theory: Rejecting the Hindu 'Proto-Shiva' label, many modern scholars argue that the horned, animal-surrounded yogic figure on the seal actually represents a powerful Harappan Shaman conducting a ritual, rather than a formalized god.

The Collapse of Urban Life

By 1900 BCE, major mature sites were widely abandoned. The decline is attributed to compounding factors:

• Environmental Crises: Massive deforestation, dramatic climatic shifts, and excessive, uncontrollable flooding.
• Hydrological Shifts: The drying up or massive shifting of the Indus river and its vital tributaries (like the Saraswati system).
• The Political Collapse Theory: While environmental factors explain local abandonment, the sudden, total disappearance of standardized seals, weights, and script points to the total collapse of the central Harappan State structure itself.

The Great Ruralisation

After 1900 BCE, the intense uniformity of the Harappan state utterly disintegrated.

• Disappearance of Urban Traits: Standardized weights, steatite seals, specialized beads, and the complex writing system vanished entirely.
• Architectural Decline: Populations abandoned massive brick public structures, shifting to simple wattle-and-daub (mud and sticks) rural housing.
• Migration: The core population shifted eastwards and southwards into new settlements in Gujarat, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh.

Indra Stands Accused

• Archaeological Evidence: Wheeler discovered a group of human skeletons sprawled haphazardly in an area of Mohenjodaro termed Deadman Lane, which he interpreted as victims of a sudden, brutal massacre.
• Textual Correlation: He noted that the Rigveda explicitly praises the Aryan war god Indra under the title Purandara (Destroyer of Forts).
• The Theory: Wheeler aggressively correlated the heavily walled Harappan citadels with these 'forts', framing the skeletons as definitive proof of a massive, civilization-ending Aryan invasion.

Re-examining the Bones

George Dales proved the massacre theory completely false by highlighting missing evidence:

• No Destruction Level: There was absolutely no city-wide sign of extensive burning, pillaging, or the armor and weapons associated with a massive war.
• Context of the Bones: Stratigraphic analysis proved the skeletons in 'Deadman Lane' were actually just sloppy, informal burials deposited at completely different time periods, not a single slaughter event.
• The Citadel: The highly fortified citadel itself yielded zero evidence of a final, desperate military defense.