Decline of the Indus Civilization

The decline of the Indus Civilization, one of the oldest urban societies in the world, remains a historical mystery. This advanced civilization that flourished around 2600–1900 BC in what is now Pakistan and northwestern India boasted impressive cities such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. However, by 1900 BCE, it was in a state of decline.

Several theories attempt to explain this mysterious collapse. Environmental factors such as shifting rivers, drought, and reduced monsoon rains may have disrupted agriculture, a critical component of their economy. Additionally, evidence of violence and destruction in some settlements suggests potential external threats or internal conflicts.

Trade networks weakened and urban centers were abandoned, marking the possible collapse of centralized power. The loss of a standardized script prevented the decipherment of their written records. Although the exact cause remains uncertain, the decline of the Indus civilization around 1900 BCE highlights the vulnerability of even the most sophisticated societies to environmental, social, and political challenges and leaves us with a fascinating historical puzzle.

Decline of the Indus Civilization

Introduction: Decline of the Indus Civilization

Like deciphering the Indus script, the decline of this great civilization is still a great mystery. During its late phase, sometime between 2000 and 1700 BC, “the Harappan culture gradually ceased to exist as a separate entity.” Various causes have been given for its weakening and eventual collapse: climate, disease, invasions, disturbed and uncertain conditions, occasional floods, wear and tear of the landscape, etc.

Unplanned houses

What is certain is that the two great cities of the Indus Valley Civilization—Harappa and Mohenjo-daro—were completely abandoned by 1700 BCE. This process of deterioration may have taken centuries and is best documented at Mohenjodaro, where the architecture of the late phase is poorly constructed and the bricks of the old houses have been reused. Buildings encroach on streets and other “public spaces” and “pottery kilns” are built in residential areas. All this points to the deterioration of the norms of behavior that were perfectly intact in the earlier times of settlement. Here are some of the most debated views proposed regarding the decline of this great civilization:

Aryan attack

Mortimer Wheeler believed that the invading Aryans destroyed the Indus settlements and the Harappan cultural tradition and led to the Vedic civilization. He further says that in the last phase of Mohenjodar men, women, and children were massacred in the streets and houses. The skeletons of 13 men and women and one child were found in the room, indicating simultaneous death. One of the skulls had a wound caused by a sword or dagger. “In the last phase of Mohenjo-Daro, men, women, and children were massacred in the streets and in the houses, and left lying there, or at best rudely covered up without the last rites. On such circumstantial evidence as these, Lord Indra, the general of the Aryans, is accused of complete the destruction of the Indus Civilization.” However, this view now seems untenable. First, the skeletons do not belong to one and the same occupational level, which should mark the end of the Indus settlements. Second, there is no evidence at the site of an alien culture immediately overlying the Indus culture.

Indus river flood

E. J. H. Mackay, Lambrick, and Sir John Marshall suggest that the decline of the Harappan civilization was mainly due to the vagaries of the Indus River. Marshall declared that if the Indus River was a beneficent river, it could equally become a source of desolation and destruction. However, this theory may only be partially true. While some evidence of flood devastation can be found at Mohenjo Daro and Lothal, there is no such evidence at other sites such as Kalibangan.

environmental factors

B. K. Thapar is of the opinion that environmental factors, including the behavior of rivers, climate, and availability of natural resources were largely responsible for the growth to maturity and expansion of the Indus Civilization. “Paradoxically, it is precisely these factors in a multi-causal framework that are responsible for the weakening and collapse of civilization.”

The imbalance between the city and the countryside

The Indus Valley Civilization emerged as a social, economic, and cultural phenomenon, produced by population growth in the fertile Indus and Punjab plains. The resulting urban society was a delicate balance of internal relations between cities, towns, and villages, and external relations with neighboring peasant societies and more distant urban societies. The end of the Indus urban phase probably arose from some major disturbance of this balance.

Ecological factors

(i) Recently, a number of archaeologists have emphasized the ecological factors in the decline of the Harappan civilization. B. K. Thapar and Pakistan’s Rafique Mughal, for example, argue that the gradual drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra river system, deforestation, and intensive grazing in the foothills of the Himalayas have resulted in erosion and sedimentation of water channels. Vishnu Mittre, W. A. ​​Fairservice, and Kenneth A. R. Kennedy blamed the decline on the drying up of riverbeds, increasing soil salinity, and widespread deforestation. On the other hand, Robert Sharer argued in 1979 that shifts in ancient trade routes caused Harappan cities to lose their key commercial role. However, investigators in the 1980s suggested that the subcontinent’s first urban civilization died out around 1700 BCE as its numerous small settlements grew beyond their natural boundaries, leading to overexploitation and mismanagement of natural resources.

(ii) The water requirements of the Harappan settlements were conditioned by the vagaries of the Indus, erratic rainfall, and the inexorable drying up of the region’s main water source, and thus the Indus Valley civilization was forced to survive on irrigation. Ironically, a survival tool may have become the cause of civilization’s destruction, say researchers such as Shereen Ratnagar, who suggested in 1986 that lift irrigation may have pushed its ecological limits.

(iii) In the vast area occupied by the Harappans, the most reliable river serves their water needs. It would seem that it was the Ghaggar-Hakra, on the banks of which the densest of the Harappan settlements are located. However, the Hakra did not carry much water, and Mughal suggests that the Harappan civilization ended with the drying up of the Hakra around 2500 BC. The Harappans, therefore welcomed the winter rains in this area. and also drew from aquifers. After the summer flood of the Ravi receded, they had to use wells to supplement their irrigation. Although the Sutlej had changed course slightly since the Harappans, even then it was known to be difficult to navigate, not useful for irrigation, and mainly for commercial purposes.

(iv) But the theory that the Harappan civilization was swept away by the raging floods of the Indus has also been rejected. Ratnagar and Mark Kenoyer argue, “As the river was known to be violent and unpredictable, how could the Harappans have been unaware? They must have always been ready to move out when it began to flood.”

(v) The collapse of the Indus civilization was probably not caused by any dramatic event but by a combination of natural conditions and overexploitation of resources. Vishnu Mittre notes the pattern and volume of rainfall in the Indus Valley region may have remained largely unchanged. Most of this arid and semi-arid region was deficient in rainfall for both the rabi and kharif crops of barley and wheat, the staple food of the Harappans. The crop was nourished by the winter rain, which was not heavy but came at a crucial time, and the monsoon. The Harappans would probably have to revert to lift irrigation for rabi cultivation.

(vi) A seemingly conclusive proof of this theory of ecological destruction is that the Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age culture that began in 3000 BC. Huge amounts of wood were needed to make copper and bronze, and Ratnagar argues that this would have destroyed the surrounding forests. Even using the simplest smelting techniques would mean burning 700 kg of wood to make 20 solid ax heads. Wood was also needed to make glazed faience (sintered quartz) jewelry, which was abundant in the area, and to bake bricks, ceramics, and earthenware. The Harappans used wood to make boats and furniture for export to Mesopotamia. Writing the epitaph of the famous civilization, Kenoyer notes: “The Harappans were clearly not environmentally conscious. Like anyone else, they mindlessly felled and exploited the rich forests.”

Conclusion

The theory of ecological factors in the decline of the Harappan civilization, although it is the latest in this context, does not give a complete answer. It must be admitted that, in such a widespread civilization as the Indus, neither a single nor a causal factor in its disintegration can be assumed. Historians now generally agree that the demise of the Indus Valley Civilization was not caused by a single traumatic event; instead, it has been a slow decline that can be attributed to a combination of factors.

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