Short Essay on Origin of Indus Civilisation

The problem of the origin of the Indus civilization still remains very complex and various views have been expressed. From the first forays by European scholars into Indian pre- and proto-history till the 1950s, it was widely believed that an urban culture emerged suddenly in the middle of the third millennium BC, rather late in comparison with other areas of the Old World.

It was, therefore, thought to be a plantation “of colonists from Mesopotamia or elsewhere in Western Asia. This conclusion was apparently based on limited field data. Moreover, very little attention was given to human occupation before the advent of urban character.

Our understanding of the origins of this civilization has undergone considerable modification over the past four or five decades in the light of the growing evidence of farming communities in the north-west long before the emergence of cities in about 2500 BC and the evidence of continuous evolution of these agricultural communities into urban configurations.

During his tour of exploration of 1950-51, A. Ghosh discovered many sites in the Valley of Ghaggar and Chautang (Drishatvati) which produced a pottery which was identical to the pre- Harappan pottery of Kalibangan. This complex was named as Sothi culture. On this basis Ghosh postulated a homogeneous pre-Harappan culture in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sind, Punjab and Baluchistan.

The perception of origins of Indus valley civilization was altered dramatically with the discovery of the extraordinary complex of culture sites on the Bolan River around Mehrgarh which was discovered and excavated under the direction of French archaeologist J. F. Jarrige in 1975. The result was the establishment of an unbroken history of settlement, starting at Mehrgarh between c. 7000 BC and c.2800 BC, and continuing at Nansharo from c. 2800-2000 BC and at Pirak to c.1000 BC.

It has been established that Mehrgarh was suited to be a centre for the transformation from hunting and collecting to the domestication of animals and settled agriculture. Structures made of handmade mud bricks which are in the form of rectangular rooms, in groups of two or four with fireplaces, evidently houses, have been unearthed. There is also evidence of a number of crafts such as stone blade industry.

Grinding stones or pestles indicate grinding of grains and other substance. Bone tools in the form of needles and awls have also been found. A composite sickle in which a number of blades were mounted in a bone or wooden haft with bitumen mastic has been unearthed. In many of the graves bitumen-lined baskets, necklaces of stone or shell beads, stone and bone pendants and anklets, and food offerings, including whole young goats were found.

Among the imported grave items were beads of Lapis- Lazuli (local source) and those of turquoise brought from either Eastern Iran or Central Asia. The shells of marine origin also show long-distance trade. Periods between 5000 BC and 4000 BC was marked by the spread of settlement upon the newly built-up plain. One of the most remarkable features of this period was the construction of many compartmented structures of mud brick, divided into small cell-like units, some in double rows with a central passageway between them.

According to Allchins some of them were houses but majority were storerooms or granaries. And these, as suggested by Allchins, represent the remote ancestors of the “Great Granary at Harappa” belonging to the Mature period. We also have evidence of the beginnings of metallurgy. One copper bead was found in a burial of period I. However, the first regular smelting of copper is attested to in period IIB by the presence of a small copper ingot.

From Mehrgarh we have evidence of gazelle (disappeared subsequently), deer, nilgai, onager, wild pig, goats, sheep and cattle (Zebu: Bos Indicus). In period III (4000 BC) we have the presence of terracotta models of humped cattle. So far as the food grains are concerned, nearly 6000 specimens are reported. The two principal grains were barley and wheat. L. Constantini reported that there was clear evidence in periods I and II that wild barley was in course of transition to its cultivated form. And the same could be said about wheat.

Constantini suggested that barley from Mehrgarh has closer parallels to that of from Southern Turkmenia and Central Asia. The other plant remains from Mehrgarh are a variety of Jujube, stones of the date palm and grape seeds all of which appear to be local. 3500 BC onwards we find the occurrence of a remarkable series of small female terracotta figurines representing deities.

The presence of ubiquitous decorated pottery points to the fact that period IV, i.e., 3500 BC onwards, the number of agricultural settlements had grown. In the Kachi plain several large mounds are indicators of this expansion. Similar pottery designs begin to appear at other sites and there are other indications of trade and increased interaction.

During the fourth millennium BC, population growth and spread of agricultural settlements continued. The result was the development of agrarian system in the plains of the Indus and its tributaries. The period between 3500 BC and 3000 BC is, according to Allchins, the period of expanding agriculture and its successor as the period of early Harappan urbanism. Together, this is treated as parts of a single Era of Regionalization by J. G. Shaffer.

In the later period we have evidence of increasing interaction over a vast area and share important characteristics with its successor known as the Mature Harappan period. Some sites like Balakot and Amri the process of change is clearly visible. By 3000 BC the first traces of new motifs, which became a hallmark of both the Early and Mature Harappan periods, appear.

At Rahman Dheri we have large numbers of incised marks or graffiti on pottery which shows the recognition of the need for identification of ownership which may, according to Allchins, is seen as a significant step towards the creation of a script. Another important feature of Rahman Dheri is its planned form showing the regular rectangular outline of the settlement and a regular grid of streets and houses constructed in mud brick.

The later, although is related to the mature Harappan period, the town wall was constructed sometime in the final centuries of the fourth millennium BC. And it seems Rahman Dheri is possibly one of the earliest town sites with a town wall constructed in that early phase. Other important early settlements are Gumla (on the right bank of the Indus), Lewan (Bannu basin), Sarai Khola (Potwar plateau) and Jalilpur (left bank of the Rari River).

Some Neolithic culture sites have been unearthed in the Valleys of the Himalayas, north of the Indus plain. The best known site is at Burzahom, literally the place of birch, which is situated on a terrace of Karewa clay above the marshy flood plain of the river Jhelum. The earliest occupation belongs to period before c. 2920 BC.

The settlement is characterised by a series of pits dug into the soft clay. The largest of the pits were pit-dwelling, and post-holes around the perimeter were perhaps conical roofs. Ashes in the pits as well as at ground level and stone hearths near the entrances have been found. Animal bones have also been found in the storage pits. Other material remains include a wide range of bone points, awls, needles and harpoons, stone axes, ring stones and a distinctive pierced rectangular chopper or knife of a kind hitherto unknown in India. Grindstones are found in almost every dwelling.

In the subsequent phase which lasted till 1700 BC, apart from stone and bone industries there are traces of houses of mud or mud- brick. One copper arrowhead is reported from the end of this period. A number of burials, mainly of crouched skeletons in oval pits, situated among the houses have been unearthed. Dogs were also sometimes buried with their masters who according to Allchins are without parallel in the subcontinent.

A stray painted pot showing a typical Early Indus buffalo deity show their religious belief. Gufkral, which means ‘the cave of the potter’, is another important site in Kashmir belonging to Neolithic stage. Here people practised both agriculture and domestication of animal. C14 dates indicate a span of c.2400-1600 BC and wheat, barley and lentils occur from the beginning.

No less startling are the discoveries in the region lying east of the Indus system. At Koldihwa and Mahagara situated South of Allahadino, the early age of Neolithic culture is suggested by radiocarbon dates obtained from samples of charred rice from the upper level (of Koldihwa) suggesting 5440 and 4530 BC.

There the Neolithic pottery frequently contains husks of rice. And this is the oldest evidence of rice in any part of world. Chirand, another Meolithic site situated in Bihar (Upper limit being c.200 BC) has yielded evidence which show that the beginnings of the culture were contemporary with Early Indus settlements.

Another region from where we have the most decisive evidence of Neolithic settlements contemporary with the Early Indus cultures is South India, and this is proved by the early radiocarbon dates (from c.3000 BC) obtained from Southern Deccan which correspond with the early Indus phase. These sites were characterised as Neolithic first by Bruce Foote who is known as the father of the Indian prehistory. Ash-mounds have been excavated in Karnataka at Pikkalilal, Utnur, Kupgal, Kodekal and Pallavoy and were places where cattle were herded.

The foregoing discussion shows that there has been a continuous cultural development since c.7000 BC around the region in which Indus valley civilization took root. Around c. 5000 BC trade links with the Arabian Sea coast and with Central Asia have already been established. Around c.4000 BC first copper tools were introduced. Around c.3500 BC settlement began to appear in other parts of the Indus system and the foundations of the subsequent period of incipient urbanism in the truly laid in the Neolithic period.

During the subsequent period regular, agricultural settlements based on wheat and barley, and domestic cattle, sheep and goat began to appear in the whole Indus plain. These settlements had regularly constructed houses, often with surviving traces of town walls, used copper and probably bronze.

During this period, although many characteristics are seen to be continuing from early periods, a striking new development begins to exert itself. The local characters of Balakot o Mehrgarh or early Rahman Dheri begins to b replaced by a new less artistic painted decoration.

This style is popularly known as Kot Dijian, sine this site was the first where it was clearly identified, with its appearance we begin to find throughout the whole extent of the Indus system, from Balakot in the south-east to Saraikhola in the north o Kalibangan in the north-east, a tendency towards?

More unified style which shows greater communication and trade between the communities” spread out across the Indus plain and indicate a resulting process of “cultural convergence”; this same tendency reaches its apogee in the subsequent Mature Indus period.

This process of “cultural convergence” and the increase homogeneity is also reflected in the spheres o religious beliefs. Painted designs representing a horned head of buffalo appear on the pottery at Kot Diji, Burzahom, Gumla, Rahman Dheri Saraikhola and Lewan. This certainly anticipate the horned deity of the Mature Indus period, At Saraikhola we have a plant growing between the horns, at Kalibangan a similar plant appear beside a horn and from the Mature Indus period between the horns of an anthropomorphic figure.

At Kot Diji, the whole head is clearly visible with two six-petalled flowers rising between th horns. Similar flowers occur on pots at Kalibang at Lewan, the incomplete head has three pip leaves rising between the horns. All these clear! Anticipate the horned deity of the Mature Indus religion.

It is important, at this juncture, to look at the sites where we have clear evidence of continued occupation from the formative Neolithic to the Mature Indus period. The first site discovered is the type-site of Amri which was first excavated by N. G. Majuindar in 1929. Excavations at Amri revealed a continuous sequence from the period of agricultural expansion through the early Harappan into the Mature Harappan and even into the post- urban period. Another site is Kot Diji where many characteristic Harappan forms occur. The excavators reported a clear typological evolution of the principal forms throughout the later period.

Kot Diji is surrounded by a stone fortification wall and has a well-documented culture sequence through the Early Harappan into the mature period. The third site is Mohenjodaro where due to a considerable rise in the water level archaeologists have not been able to plumb the lower levels, but it is speculated that beneath the Harappan occupation lie an Early Indus culture corresponding to that of Kot Diji. Similarly at Chanhudaro Mackay reported further occupation levels below the water table containing a pre-Harappan or Amrian culture.

At Mehrgarh from period IV (3500 BC) onwards we have evidence of clear sequence anticipating Mature Indus. We have evidence of the first stamp seals in terracotta and a single bone seal. In the final period (2200 BC) we have mud brick houses and indications of buildings used for specialized craft activities. Similarly, at Nausharo, we have evidence of a stage of occupation which is truly transitional between Early and Mature Harappan civilization. Here two further phases of occupation continued up to the end of the Mature Indus phase.

At Rahman Dheri, similar sequences from the period of Agricultural expansion into the Early Harappan and into the Mature Harappan have been found. A recent excavation at Harappa clearly demonstrated that an Early Harappan period settlement underlies the Mature Harappan city. At Kalibangan, the radiocarbon dates suggest a broad dating for the Early Harappan of c. 2900-2500 BC. The settlement appears to have been surrounded by a mud birck wall. At Banawali also Early Harappan to Mature Harappan is excavated.

A recent site excavated is Kunal in Haryana which has also yielded a clear sequence from an Early Hakra period (c.3000 BC) through the Early Harappan stage and on to Mature Harappan. In Rajasthan however, indigenous cultural traditions flourished during Early and Mature Harappan urban period and remained outside Metropolitan influence although there must have been trade and other contacts.

The sources of their trade were probably in Rajasthan itself where there is evidence of an early settled population at the cluster of some fifty sites around Ganeshwar situated near the Khetri copper deposits where copper artefacts and evidence of copper smelting have been found. Similarly, at Ahar evidence of local copper smelting retained its own character throughout both Early and Mature periods.

The foregoing discussion shows that there was a continuous development since the eighth millennium BC in the entire north and north western region which resulted in the onset of Mature Harappan urban civilization.