The Harappan Civilization, also known as the Indus Valley Civilization, flourished in the Indian subcontinent around 2500–1900 BC. This ancient urban society, one of the oldest in the world, developed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan and northwest India.
Characterized by advanced urban planning, complex drainage systems, and a script that remains undeciphered, the Harappan civilization was a center of innovation. Its cities, such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, boasted impressive architecture, including well-ordered streets and houses with indoor plumbing.
Economically, the Harappans were engaged in trade, with evidence of connections with Mesopotamia and other distant regions. Their society is thought to have been relatively egalitarian, with no clear evidence of a centralized monarchy. However, much of their culture, religion, and eventual decline remain enigmatic due to the limited decipherment of their writing and the lack of historical records. The mysterious disappearance of the Harappan civilization around 1900 BC remains a matter of scholarly debate, making it a fascinating yet mysterious chapter in human history.
Research about the Harappan Civilization
| Historical Event | Harappan Civilization Research |
| First reference | Charles Masson |
| Alexander Cunningham | 1853 and 1856 |
| John Marshall | ASI Director General |
| Final Discovery | 1921-22 AD |
Introduction: Research on the Harappan Civilization
The earliest mention of the presence of an ancient site at Harappa was recorded by Charles Masson in 1826 (published in 1842). Sir Alexander Burnes also reported the existence of a ruined citadel on the banks of the town in 1834.
Alexander Cunningham
Alexander Cunningham visited Harappa twice, first in 1853 and then in 1856, and noted the existence of a series of barrows. Cunningham carried out a limited excavation of the site and published several objects (such as seals) as well as a site plan. He identified Harappa with po-fa-to or po-fa-to-do, as visited by Hieun-Tsang.
M.L. Dames and J.F. Fleet
In 1886, M. L. Dames published several more Harappan seals, and J. F. Fleet published two more in 1912. This was in the early 1920s. Our history was opened entirely by chance by the entirely prosaic business of British enterprise. Railway lines were laid in every possible corner of the Indian subcontinent, connecting its resources and trading centers. It was the extension of one such railway line in Sindh that affected her.
John Marshall
John Marshall, then Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and his men—especially M. S. Vats—made a spectacular discovery: the Indus Valley Civilization and the twin cities of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, which together pushed back the history of India—and our awareness of it—by several millennia. A new civilization, an unknown people and language, an indecipherable Indus script, a multitude of mutually incompatible theories, and gods that had only a faint tangential connection with those of our familiar pantheons This was history rewritten like never before.
Daya Ram Sahni and R.D. Banerjee
The final discovery of the Indus or Harappan civilization in 1921–22 placed India on the world map, along with Mesopotamia and Egypt, as the region where the earliest civilizational processes were initiated and developed. These discoveries at a single frontier took our knowledge of the Indus civilization about 3000 years back. The test excavations carried out by Daya Ram Sahni in 1921 at Harappa and by R.D. Banerjee in 1922 at Mohenjodar proved the existence of a great civilization. When Marshall announced the discovery of this civilization in the London Weekly in 1924, it caused a great sensation among Old World archaeologists. However, this new civilization could not be recognized as a distinct cultural entity until M. S. Vats at Harappa (1920–21) and S. J. Marshall at Mohenjodaro (1922–27) completed their excavations.
R.S. Bisht
The last eight decades, from the exciting discoveries at Harappa and Mohenjodar in 1921–22 to the recent excavations by R. S. Bisht at Dholavira in Gujarat have witnessed sustained archaeological exploration and extensive excavations at various sites in India and Pakistan. The mystery called the Indus Valley Civilization is getting “less interesting” every day with new excavations. A flurry of excavations at Indus sites in the last decade or so has revealed surprising facts that paint a radically different picture of the “Indus puzzle.” In the current state of our knowledge, almost 1500 Harappan sites are known. However, the number of mature-phase sites is limited and could be around 220. An even smaller number can be considered cities.
Research or excavation after independence
(1) After the partition of India, most of the well-known Harappan sites—Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Chanhudaro, and Jhukar (near Larkana, Sind)—went to Pakistan, leaving only two outposts—Kotla Nihang Khan near Ropar on the Sutlej in Punjab and Rangpur on the Bhadar in Kathiawar, Gujarat, in the territory of India. However, excavations before 1947 did not achieve a satisfactory picture of urban development, and in the absence of radiocarbon dating, no absolute chronology was obtained. It was only after the partition that planned surveys were carried out in India to find other sites.
(2) A. Ghosh undertook a survey of the valley of the dry Saraswati (Ghaggar) and its tributary, Drishadvati (Chautang), at Ganganagar in North Rajasthan and discovered about 25 Harappan sites. A number of Harappan sites, such as Banawali, Rakhigarhi, and Mithathal, were noted by Suraj Bhan during his explorations in the 1960s in the upper Saraswati basin.
(3) In the 1950s and 1960s, S. R. Rao explored a large area in Gujarat, including Kutch and Kathiawar, bringing the total number of Harappan sites in Gujarat to over 190. In Punjab, most of the survey work was done by Y. D. Sharma. In the Kutch region, explorations by J.P. Joshi led to the identification of a large number of Harappan settlements.
(4) A large number of Harappan sites have also been discovered and excavated in Pakistan. Some of the more important ones are Kot Diji, Amri, Gumla, Jalilpur, Allahadino, Balakot, etc. Several sites have been reported to indicate contact with the Harappan culture in Afghanistan and adjacent areas of Soviet Central Asia. Nausharo excavated Jarrige in 1993 and came to some important conclusions regarding the transition from the early period to the mature phase.
(5) Harappa was re-opened for further study by a team led by Meadow (1991), bringing a progression from early Harappan to mature through the transitional phase. This transitional phase was recognized in early 1964 by Casale at Amri. In the past decade, more and more sites have yielded such phases.
A recent paradigm shift
There has been a significant paradigm shift in recent times regarding various aspects of Harappan life. Thus, M.R. Mughal (1990) discussed a transitional phase; W. A. Fairservice explored the relationship of man and land around Mohenjodaro; L. S. Leshnic studied different patterns of land use on the Indus alluvium; Menon, K. T. M. Hegde, Miller (1994) examined metallurgy and M. Fentress looked at similarities and differences in artifacts from Harappa and Mohenjo Daro. Many earlier views have been modified due to recent studies based on sophisticated research tools and methods of investigation.
The extent of the Harappan civilization
Surveys, excavations, and research have shown that the Harappan civilization was not limited to the Indus Valley, as Marshall had assumed. Although the central zone of this civilization lies in Sindh and Punjab, mainly in the Indus Valley, it spreads south and east from there to include Punjab, Haryana, Sind, Baluchistan, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Western Uttar Pradesh, and Northern Maharashtra. More specifically, the civilization extended from Suktagendor, on the coast of southern Baluchistan (Makran coast) in the west, to Alamgirpur, in the upper part of the Ganga-Yamuna Doab in the western USA, in the east, and from Manda in Jammu in the north to Bhagatrav in the Narmada estuary (estuary Kim, Gujarat) in the south. In 1974, the accidental discovery of a cache of four bronze figures at Diamabad on the left bank of the Pravara River seemed to push civilization further south in the Deccan. However, several scientists have doubted this postulation because it is based on circumstantial evidence only. However, M. K. Dhavalikar is inclined to believe that it is late Harappan.
Conclusion
The entire area of the Harappan civilization is triangular and is about 1,299,600 km2 and as such was the largest among the ancient civilizations. The actual distance from the northern location to the south is more than 1,100 km and from west to east, it is more than 15.50 km. However, Gregory Possehl would like to move the northern limit of the Harappan civilization to shorthair on the Amu Darya in northern Afghanistan. According to him, it was almost certainly a trading center, but so distant from other advanced Harappan settlements that the calculation of the total area for the Harappan civilization did not include it.
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(FAQ) Questions and Answers about Research about the Harappan Civilization
Q-1. When and where did the Harappan civilization exist?
Ans. The Harappan Civilization, also known as the Indus Valley Civilization, existed from approximately 3300 BC to 1300 BC. It was spread over the fertile plains of the Indus River, encompassing parts of present-day Pakistan and northwestern India.
Q-2. What were the main cities of the Harappan civilization?
Ans. Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were the two largest and most important cities. Other notable localities include Kalibangan, Lothal, and Dholavira.
Q-3. What is the writing system of the Harappan civilization?
Ans. The Harappan script remains undeciphered, and scholars have not been able to fully understand the written language used by the ancient Harappans
Q-4. What were the main features of Harappan urbanism?
Ans. The cities of the Harappan civilization showed advanced urban planning, with well-organized streets laid out in a grid pattern. Houses had access to water and sewage, indicating a high level of civic infrastructure.
Q-5. What were the main economic activities of the Harappans?
Ans. Agriculture, including the cultivation of wheat and barley, was a vital economic activity. The Harappans were skilled in trade, with evidence of long-distance contact with Mesopotamia.
Q-6. What is known about Harappan religion and culture?
Ans. The religious practices of the Harappans are not well understood due to the lack of deciphered texts. However, artifacts indicate reverence for certain animals, including the humped bull, and evidence of ritual bathing.
Q-7. Why did the Harappan civilization decline?
Ans. The reasons for the decline of the Harappan civilization are not conclusively established, but theories include environmental factors such as climate change, flooding of the Indus River, and possible socio-economic changes.
Q-8. What archaeological discoveries were made at the Harappan sites?
Ans. Excavations have revealed well-planned cities, sophisticated drainage systems, pottery, and seals with unique symbols, sculptures, and artifacts reflecting their daily lives and trading activities.