Harappan/Indus Civilization (2500 BC-1750 BC)

⇒ Exports: Agricultural products, cotton goods, terracotta figurines, pottery, certain beads (from Chanhudaro), conch-shell (from Lothal), ivory products, copper etc.

⇒ A very interesting feature of this civilization was that Iron was not known to the people.

⇒ The Sumerian texts refer to trade relations with ‘Meluha’ which was the name given to the Indus region.

⇒ Shatughai and Mundigaq were the Indus sites found in Afghanistan.

⇒ The Sumerian texts also refer to two intermediate stations-Dilmun (Bahrain) and Makan (Makran coast). Susa and Ur are Mesopotamian places where Harappan seals were found.

⇒ The Harappans were the earliest people to produce cotton (It was called ‘Sindon’ by the Greeks).

⇒ As there is no evidence of coins, barter is assumed to have been the normal method of exchange of goods.

⇒ Lothal was an ancient port of Indus civilization.

⇒ The Indus Civilization was primarily urban.

⇒ There is no clear-cut evidence of the nature of polity, but it seems that the ruling authority of Indus Civilization was a class of merchants.

⇒ The Harappan people didn’t worship their gods in temple. No temple in fact has been unearthed. An idea of their religion is formed from the statues and figurines found.

⇒ The most commonly found figurine is that of MotherGoddess (Matridevi or Shakti). There is evidence of prevalence of Yoni (female sex organ) worship.

⇒ The chief male deity was the Pasupati Mahadeva’ i.e. the lord of Animals (Proto-Shiva) represented in seals as sitting in yogic posture; he is surrounded by four animals (elephant, tiger, rhino and buffalo) and two deer appear at his feet. There was the prevalence of Phallic (lingam) worship.

⇒ Thus Shiva-Shakti worship, the oldest form of worship in India, appears to have been part of the religious belief of Harppan people (esp. humped bull which is comparable to Nandi bull, the ride of Lord Shiva, Trident/Trishul which is inscribed on pottery shreds found from Chandigarh).

⇒ The remains and relics also reveal that zoolatry i.e. animal worship and tree worship (esp. peepal) were in vogue in those days.

⇒ There is the evidence of pictographic script, found mainly on seals. The script has not been deciphered so far, but overlap of letters on some of the potsherds from Kalibanga show that writing was boustrophedon or from right to left and from left to right in alternate lines. It has been referred to as Proto-Dravidian.

Note: The oldest script in Indian subcontinent is the Harappan script, but the oldest deciphered script is Brahmi script known from about 5th century BC. Most of the later Indian scripts derived from Brahmi.

⇒ Steatite was mainly used in the manufacture of seals.

⇒ Humpless bull is represented in most of the Indus seals.

⇒ Inhumation or complete burial was the most common method of disposal of the dead.

⇒ The origin of the ‘Swastika’symbol can be traced to the Indus Civilization.

⇒ ‘Indra is accused of causing the decline of Indus Civilisation’ -M. Wheeler.

⇒ The Rigveda speaks of a battle at a place named ‘Hariyumpia’which has been identified with Harappa.

⇒ The majority of scholars believe that the makers of this civilization were Dravidian.

⇒ Contemporary civilizations of Indus Civilization – Mesopotamia, Egypt and China.