by Roshen Dalal
Without the help of a written script, analyses of the religion of this civilization are many and varied. Some see in it Proto-Hinduism; others identify the culture with that of the Rig Veda or with an indigenous ‘Dravidian’ culture later displaced by the Vedic. Still others see indications of Shamanism, animism, or folk religions. No definite conclusions can be reached at present.
PEOPLE
The people portrayed in terracottas and various other material have been analysed. On this basis, The Dutch archaeologist Elisabeth (Inez) During Caspers concluded that there was a cosmopolitan population in Harappa and Mohenjodaro. Others feel that people are often not realistically depicted in ancient sculptures, and such deductions may not be valid. No one actually knows who ruled the area or who the inhabitants were but it is quite likely that the population included different types of people.
WRITING
The script, as we know, is undeciphered. There are actually over a hundred decipherments but none that is universally accepted. There are 4000–5000 inscriptions on various materials, mainly clay. The average length of 2905 inscriptions in the Indian epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan’s concordance is 4.6 signs. Hence the American historian Steve Farmer feels it is not a script as the inscriptions are too short. He is supported by the American linguist Richard Sproat and by Michael Witzel. In fact, Farmer and Witzel refer to interpretations of the script as ‘fantasies’. Jane McIntosh, a British specialist in Indian archaeology, is among those who rejected Farmer’s theories. Short inscriptions of this sort are known from other early civilizations too, including the Minoan. In the Near East, according to Staal, they link families, clans, places, offices, professions, or festivals, to deities or various celestial and mythological figures. The seals seem to have mythological figures, hence it could be the same here.
The noted Indian historian Romila Thapar feels, ‘They (the seals) could have been tokens identifying civic authorities, supervisory managers of long distance trade, merchants or those bringing raw materials to the cities, or clan affiliations.’ The language of the inscriptions has been claimed to be Indo-Aryan by some, and Dravidian or Proto-Munda by others. Witzel relates the language with Munda or the larger group of Austro-Asiatic languages and refers to it as Para-Munda; he also proposed a southern dialect in the southern Indus or greater Sindh region termed Meluhhan. But current research suggests that Proto-Munda came from the north-east at a relatively later date (for more on Munda languages, see below). The script has a close connect with the Proto-Elamite script, which is also undeciphered. The linguist David McAlpin has proposed a link between Elamite and Dravidian, suggesting a Proto-Elamo-Dravidian language family (see below). Others suggest connections of the Harappan language with Altaic languages. As seen earlier, Akkadian too has been suggested.
It should be noted that a single script could be used for many languages. Even in the Harappan civilization, different languages may have been used. Further details of some of the settlements are given below:
In Afghanistan is the site of Shortughai, not far from the river Kokcha, a tributary of the Amu Darya or Oxus. It has typical brick structures, gold and carnelian beads, and a terracotta figure of a camel. Sources of lapis lazuli have been located nearby and were transported from here to other Harappan centres.
Harappa in the central Indus plains is near an earlier course of the Ravi but now 12 km away from this river. Under the citadel is evidence of a Kot Dijian culture level. Several periods of occupation have been identified. Period I has the ‘Ravi’ culture; Period 2, Kot Diji culture with mud-brick structures; above this, there are three levels of Mature Harappan, followed by a transitional level, and succeeded by what is known as the Cemetery H culture. Cemetery R, belonging to the Mature Harappan phase, lies further south; so far, thirty-seven graves have been excavated here. The bodies were mostly laid on the side with artefacts in pots, presumably to be used in the afterlife. There were some stone and bronze ornaments, and bronze mirrors. Some graves had wooden coffins and reed shrouds, similar to those found in Mesopotamia.
Sindh has the huge site of Mohenjodaro. It could be reached by a route through the Bolan Pass. Its lowest levels are underwater. Over three hundred houses or structures and seventy wells have been excavated. The most notable sculptures have been found here—the bronze ‘dancing girl’, the stone ‘priest king’, animal representations on pedestals, and others. In Sindh, fifty-two Early Harappan (twenty-nine were abandoned by the Mature Harappan period) and sixty-five Mature Harappan sites (forty-three new ones) have been identified.
OTHER REGIONS
Some Mature Harappan sites are located in Sheikhupura district, opposite Lahore on the right bank of the Ravi river. Along the Hakra channel in Pakistan is the large site of Ganweriwala, with a separate citadel area. Early Harappan sites in Cholistan, which formed part of the Kot Diji cultural phase, amounted to thirty-seven, of which thirty-three were abandoned. In the Mature Harappan phase, there were 136 mostly new settlements in the region.
On the Ghaggar–Sarasvati in Haryana are Mitathal, Rakhi Garhi, and Banawali, and in Rajasthan, there was Kalibangan, which has a citadel and an Early Harappan fortification beneath. The residential area is made of mud bricks. The citadel has a dividing wall; one part has residences, the other what seem to be ritual structures including fire altars. The large site of Rakhigarhi has a number of terracotta animal figurines. Banawali has a citadel that is part of the city, and not separate. It is surrounded by a wall and a moat. Its lower levels are similar to the lowest levels of Kalibangan.
In Sindh, Chanhudaro has street drains and structures similar to Mohenjodaro. Nausharo to the west has a structure that could be a water storage tank and some drains.
Amiliano and Allahdino are small sites east of Karachi. Farther west is Balakot, which had structures mainly of mud bricks and contacts with the Kulli culture of south-east Balochistan. In southern Sindh are the small sites of Garho Bhiro and Kot Kori, along the Eastern Nara branch of the Indus. In northern Sindh are hills with sources of limestone and chert. A number of stone flaking sites have been found here, both of the Stone Age and of the Harappan period. The site of Kot Diji is nearby.
In Gujarat, Dholavira and Lothal are the main sites. Dholavira, in the Rann of Kutch, has surrounding walls of stone and brick. There are both Harappan and non-Harappan pottery and artefacts. A major find here is an inscription on a signboard. At Lothal, a 219-m-long and 37-m-wide brick basin, located near the estuary, could have been a dockyard for ships.
Lothal had a citadel-like area, and a structure similar to the granary, which has been termed a warehouse. Here, sixty-nine burnt clay sealings with string and cloth impressions were found. The seal impressions on these were not those of the steatite seals found at Lothal. It has been suggested that they were not local and that Lothal was a transit point for trade. One seal of the ancient Bahrain–Kuwait type has been found. There were also Early and post-Harappan levels. Lothal is spread across 10 hectares. There are other small sites in the region.
The Makran coast near the Iran border was vital to trade. A sea route from here reaches the Arabian peninsula. Sutkagen-dor is the main Harappan site here. It is not a port. In the upper regions of the Chenab–Satluj are the Harappan sites of Manda on the Chenab and Rupnagar and Kotla Nihang Khan on the Satluj. There was both Harappan and local pottery, the latter termed Bara pottery.
In general, while discussing the Indus Civilization and the Rig Veda, the former is taken as a homogenous whole, which was not the case. There were several local cultures with just some Harappan elements. Some of these continued from the Early Harappan period. These are described below:
In the Ghaggar–Chautang, or Sarasvati–Drishadvati system above Sirsa, the Sothi-Siswal of the Early Harappan period continued. There are some typical Harappan settlements such as Kalibangan, Mitathal, Banawali, and Rakhigarhi, but also contemporary late Siswal settlements with few Harappan elements.
The site of Kunal, north of Hissar (Haryana),
has local pottery and house styles as well as a treasure trove of gold-leaf and silver ornaments and beads of semiprecious stones in an earthen pot. This may have been through Harappan contacts.
Farther north of the Sothi-Siswal on the Ghaggar–Chautang is the Bara culture, which extends to the Satluj region.
The early Kot Diji culture of northern Sindh continued during Harappan times. Its sites extend to the north at this time. Sites of this culture had Harappan contacts but the main elements were different from the Harappan.
The Kulli culture in southern Balochistan, represented by Kulli and related sites, was contemporary with the Harappan and had some Harappan influence, but was otherwise distinctive. Kulli material also occurs at some Harappan sites.
Several sites in Gujarat too have some different and non-Harappan elements.
In Saurashtra, there are some sites such as Rojdi near Rajkot, which are contemporary with the Harappan and have similarities but do not have seals or writing; Possehl has named this regional culture Sorath Harappan. Lothal and Rangpur also have variants on the main Harappan tradition, and are called Sindh Harappan by Possehl. There are other non-Harappan sites on the Gujarat mainland with one or more local traditions.
DECLINE
The decline of the civilization began around 1900 BCE. At this time, some places were no longer occupied. In others, people still lived but the city culture and other typical elements of the Harappan culture had declined or ended. It is not clear why the urban civilization declined. The possible reason for the end is given as tectonic changes, causing earthquakes, floods, or the temporary blockage of rivers. (There is evidence that a natural dam once temporarily blocked the Indus at Sehwan.) Other reasons suggested include epidemics, fire, climate change accompanied by the drying up of rivers, ecological change caused by deforestation, economic decline accompanying a decline in trade, and invasions or warfare.
Another possibility is that the area was too large to be controlled indefinitely. It is not known what type of political control the civilization had but there would seem to be some centralization, along with local government. This is indicated by the broad uniformity accompanied by regional variations. Throughout history, many empires decline for a wide variety of reasons. In India, a few examples are the Mauryas, Guptas, and even the much later Mughals. There is no single factor that causes an inevitable decline.
POST-HARAPPAN
There are several post-Harappan or, rather, post-urban cultures, dating from 1900 BCE, which we will look at later.
Today, the climate in the whole region is somewhat dry. Rainfall varies from 5 cm to 60 cm a year. There is evidence that it was wetter in Harappan times. The Ghaggar–Hakra and Chautang rivers, which are today almost dry, once probably flowed up to the sea. Many Early and Mature Harappan sites are found along their dry beds. The Ghaggar–Hakra river probably started to dry up around 3500 BCE, as it already terminated in an inland delta in Early Harappan times. Dholavira in the Rann of Kutch is now 100 km from the sea—once it was close to the sea and may even have been a port. Thus there were not only climatic changes but changes in the coastline too.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CULTURES IN OTHER PARTS OF INDIA
It is important to see what kind of culture prevailed in the rest of India. Though the north-west is the most important region for the Rig Veda, some scholars believe Vedic people reached here not through the north-western passes but from central north India, east of the river Yamuna.
MESOLITHIC
The Mesolithic Age marks the transition between the hunting–gathering economy of the Palaeolithic Age to the pastoral–agrarian economy of the Neolithic Age. Such changes took place throughout the world as well as in India. In India, Mesolithic sites can be broadly dated from 10,000 to 3000 BCE. These included permanent and semi-permanent settlements.
Mesolithic sites have been found in south Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, and Bengal, central and south India, and Sri Lanka. Significant sites in Uttar Pradesh include Sarai Nahar Rai district, Mahadaha and Damdama in Pratapgarh district, Koldihwa in district Allahabad, Lekhakia and Baghai Khor in Mirzapur district. Among sites in Rajasthan are Bagor in Bhilwara district and Tilwara in Barmer district. Paisra in Bihar, Birbhanpur in Bengal, Laghnaj in Gujarat, and Adamgarh and Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh are other notable sites. Mesolithic people used various small stone tools, known as microliths, made of different materials such as quartzite, chert, chalcedony, jasper, or agate. Many microliths may have been attached to bone or wood handles, while some may have been used on their own. Bones of wild animals and shells/bones of fish were often found. Mesolithic people were mainly hunter-gatherers but some also domesticated animals. Cattle and sheep/goats were among the animals domesticated. Horse bones, possibly of the domestic horse, have been found from at least three Mesolithic sites, including Tilwara in Rajasthan, but the dates for these levels are uncertain. Mahagara had bones of two types of horses, one pony and one larger. Pottery is found at some Mesolithic sites. Some had simple structures with houses of wattle and daub. Human burials have been found as well as evidence of domesticated rice at Koldihwa and Damdama in early levels. In a burial at Sarai Nahar Rai, one male had an arrow embedded in his ribs, thus indicating warfare. An ivory pendant was found in one of the graves at Damdama. In the Deccan and south India, there are coastal sites, which must have used fish and their products. They include sites in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Apart from coastal sites, others are found near low hills, on flat hilltops, in rock shelters, along river valleys, and near lakes. Southern sites used mainly milky quartz for microliths.
Dates for these sites vary. Koldihwa dates back to 7500 BCE. In Rajasthan, evidence near the salt lakes of Didwana, Lunkaransar, and Sambhar indicates an increase in cereal pollen around 7000 BCE. Small charcoal pieces nearby suggest the burning of forests, perhaps for agriculture. The Mesolithic phase of Bagor in Bhilwara district of east Rajasthan dates to 5000–2800 BCE. There were domesticated sheep and goats, which were not locally found in the wild, and may have been obtained from Balochistan. It was, otherwise, primarily a hunting site.
Cereal pollen, dated to circa 8000 BCE, has been found in the Nilgiri hills of south India. In Sri Lanka, in the Horton plains, there seems to have been some cultivation around 15,000 BCE, with oats and barley being grown from circa 11,000 BCE. Chert, agate, crystal, and other material for the microlithic tools must have been brought from hilly regions, indicating travel over fairly long distances for sites in the plains.
Mesolithic groups must have interacted. This is indicated by ‘factory sites’, where a number of tools were produced, which must have been distributed to other areas or exchanged for some produce. There is evidence of formal ceremonial burials, with bodies sometimes arranged in an east–west direction. Grave goods indicate some sense of an afterlife. Sometimes jewellery was placed on the body.
NEOLITHIC
Many of these Mesolithic sites continued into the Neolithic era. The characteristics of Neolithic sites are that they are settled village-type sites with evidence of agriculture, animal husbandry, and different crafts. Epineolithic is a term used for the transition stage between Mesolithic and Neolithic. Sites of the latter exist across India–Pakistan. Dates for the Neolithic in India vary from between 7000 BCE and 2000 BCE. In the north-west, as we have already seen, Neolithic sites evolved into the urban Harappan culture. Here we will look at some key sites and areas of Neolithic occupation in the rest of India. There was interaction between different types of sites.
In Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, there are Neolithic tools at several sites but the dates are uncertain. In Ladakh, the Neolithic site Giak has a radiocarbon date of the 6th millennium BCE.
In Kashmir’s Jhelum valley, Burzahom and other sites had a Neolithic culture dating to before 2900 BCE. The characteristics were pit dwellings, bone and stone tools, and mat-impressed pottery. Pit dwellings have also been found in Gufkral in Kashmir and in Loebanr III and Kalako-deray in the
Swat valley. (For more on Swat valley settlements, see Chapter 5.) It is not clear if people actually lived in the pits, and if they did so all year round. They may have been seasonal dwellings, or could have been used for storage. In a later Neolithic phase, there were houses at the ground level and burials. Along with humans, wild and domestic animals were sometimes buried. Wild animals included the deer, wolf, ibex, snow leopard, and pig. There is also evidence of the hedgehog, beaver, and hare. Among domestic animals were cattle, buffaloes, dogs, sheep, and goats. Animals were also buried separately; in one case, there were five dogs buried together. Crops grown included wheat, barley, and lentils.
At least twenty-five similar sites are known. Burzahom had some remains that indicate contacts with Kot Diji, including a painted pot and several carnelian beads. A few copper arrowheads and fragments indicate that Harappans may have come here to search for mineral wealth. It has been suggested that Burzahom represents the southernmost region of a widespread north Asian complex. According to Possehl, it represents a movement that may have started in the Mesolithic of Europe and survived in the fertile valleys of Kashmir, and possibly Nepal, Tibet, Hunza, Baltistan, and Ladakh. The American linguist F.C. Southworth found evidence of languages of the Sino-Tibetan family in ancient South Asia, and these northern Neolithic sites may represent these.
In southern Uttar Pradesh, over forty Neolithic sites have been identified along the Ganga, and the Belan, Adwa, Son, Rihand, Lapari, and Paisuni rivers. Some of them continue from the Mesolithic and date back to 7000 BCE. The sites have simple structures of mud and thatch, and evidence of the use of stone and bone implements and pottery. Cattle, sheep, and goats were domesticated. Horse bones were found but it is not clear if these were wild or domestic. There were also bones of wild animals such as deer and boar, who may have been hunted for food. Rice was grown.