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Between 1856 and 1919, workers on the Lahore-Multan railway in India
used a convenient supply of ancient kiln-dried bricks to provide a solid footing for their tracks. Unknown to anyone at the time, the bricks—hundreds of thousands of them—came from Harappa, one of the world's oldest cities. In the 1920s archaeologists began work at Harappa and other sites in
the Indus Valley, including the great city of Mohenjo-daro. Slowly they pieced together the amazing story of the forgotten Indus valley civilization.The Indus civilization began in roughly 2500 BC, and had its antecedents
in the Early Harappan culture, regarding which finds are continuing to be made. It is thought that Dravidians, who may have originated from somewhere in the Mediterranean, began settling along the banks of the river Indus and its tributaries (in modern-day India and Pakistan) as long
ago as 5000 BC. In the mature Indus civilization, they proved themselves masters of urban planning, laying out streets in neat rectangular patterns, and even providing running water (through clay pipes), toilets and
bathrooms, and a sewage system, long before such conveniences were available elsewhere in the world. Their cities were possibly larger than any in Mesopotamia or Egypt at the time, and their empire stretched about 1,600 km (1,000 mi), forming the largest state in the world.During their 1,000 years in the Indus valley, the
inhabitants laid the foundations for several aspects of later Indian civilization. Clay and bronze models of ox carts, ear ornaments, bangles, and horned bulls suggest similar artefacts found in India thousands of years
later. Figurines of nude females, apparently set in niches in walls, suggest the guardian mother goddess figure of most early civilizations, whose worship has continued into modern India. A three-faced male god, seated
in what appears to be a yoga or meditative position, structures similar to the later phallic Shiva linga, and the swastika symbol all suggest elements of Indus culture which were later incorporated into
Hinduism.There is still much work to be done, but the picture that has
emerged is of a peaceful and thriving community focused on the two great urban centres of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, and subsisting on agriculture and trade. Bronze tools of good quality have been found but,
interestingly, few weapons and those spears and other items that have been unearthed appear weak and ineffective. There is considerable evidence of close trading links with Mesopotamia, and some of the seals found show
images remarkably similar to Gilgamesh. There are a number of large houses with private wells, some possibly with an upper storey. But no palace or royal residence is apparent. It seems possible that the rulers were
priests connected to the magnificent citadel mound visible in both main cities. The Mohenjo-daro mound, in particular, has revealed a magnificent "Great Bath" or pushkara,
a deep rectangular pool with fine steps surrounded by a number of rooms. It is possible that this was used, as is still the case in many temples, for ritual bathing. A key mystery is the writing: the examples found are limited to short inscriptions on seals, but these have yet to be translated.
Only the bare outlines of Indus history are known. The civilization appears to have been at its peak between about 2500 and 1750 BC, after which a decline is apparent. The reasons for the decline are uncertain.
Environmental changes severely affecting agriculture, such as changes of course of the river or more dramatic events such as earthquakes, have been suggested. Invasions may have contributed, and it may just be possible
that the first waves of Indo-European nomadic peoples, known as Aryans, may have been involved in the final collapse of the civilization, but there is no real evidence for this. The collapse of the Indus valley
civilization brought a long "dark age" to India before surviving aspects mingled with Aryan culture to produce the civilization of Vedic India. |
