BAQ103-History and Culture of Punjab

INSTITUTE OF DISTANCE & ONLINE LEARNING BACHELOR OF ARTS HISTORY AND CULTURE OF PUNJAB - I BAQ103 Self Learning Material R101

BACHELOR OF ARTS HISTORY AND CULTURE OF PUNJAB - I BAQ103 Dr. Neha Jain Dr. Suplab Kanti Podder

CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY Institute of Distance and Online Learning Course Development Committee Chairman Prof. (Dr.) R.S. Bawa Vice Chancellor, Chandigarh University, Punjab Advisors Prof. (Dr.) Bharat Bhushan, Director, IGNOU Prof. (Dr.) Majulika Srivastava, Director, CIQA, IGNOU Programme Coordinators & Editing Team Master of Business Administration (MBA) Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Co-ordinator - Prof. Pragya Sharma Co-ordinator - Dr. Rupali Arora Master of Computer Applications (MCA) Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) Co-ordinator - Dr. Deepti Rani Sindhu Co-ordinator - Dr. Raju Kumar Master of Commerce (M.Com.) Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) Co-ordinator - Dr. Shashi Singhal Co-ordinator - Dr. Minakshi Garg Master of Arts (Psychology) Bachelor of Science (Travel & Tourism Management) Co-ordinator - Ms. Nitya Mahajan Co-ordinator - Dr. Shikha Sharma Master of Arts (English) Bachelor of Arts (General) Co-ordinator - Dr. Ashita Chadha Co-ordinator - Ms. Neeraj Gohlan Master of Arts (Mass Communication and Bachelor of Arts (Mass Communication and Journalism) Journalism) Co-ordinator - Dr. Chanchal Sachdeva Suri Co-ordinator - Dr. Kamaljit Kaur Academic and Administrative Management Prof. (Dr.) Pranveer Singh Satvat Prof. (Dr.) S.S. Sehgal Pro VC (Academic) Registrar Prof. (Dr.) H. Nagaraja Udupa Prof. (Dr.) Shiv Kumar Tripathi Director – (IDOL) Executive Director – USB © No part of this publication should be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording and/or otherwise without the prior written permission of the author and the publisher. SLM SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR CU IDOL STUDENTS Printed and Published by: Himalaya Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.himpub.com For: CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY Institute of Distance and Online Learning CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

History and Culture of Punjab - I Course Code: BAQ103 Credits: 3 Course Objectives:  To acquaint students with the physical features of Ancient Punjab and Punjab as Gateway of India.  To provide knowledge about the Indo-Aryans and origin of caste system in the ancient world.  To retrieve the students with epic period and to know their didactic value for the ages. Syllabus Unit 1 – Physical Features of the Punjab: Physical Features of the Punjab and their Impact on History, Sources of the Early History of the Punjab. Unit 2 – Harappan Culture: Part - I: Extent Principal Places, Town Planning and Causes of its Disappearance. Unit 3 – Harappan Culture: Part - II: Features of Social, Economic and Religious Life of the Harappan People. Unit 4 – The Indo-Aryans: Original Home of Indo-Aryans and their Settlement in Punjab. Unit 5 – Rig Vedic Age: Social, Economic and Religious Life during the Rig Vedic Age. Unit 6 – Caste System: Origin and Evolution of the Caste System, its Merits and Demerits. Unit 7 – Study of Epic Age: The Ramayana and Mahabharata and their Historical Importance. Unit 8 – School of Buddhism: The Teachings of Buddhism and their Impact on the Punjab. Unit 9 – School of Jainism: The Teachings of Jainism and their Impact on the Punjab. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Reference Books: 1. Basham, A.L. (1992), The Wonder that was India, Calcutta: Rupa Books. 2. Joshi, L.M. and Singh, F. (1977), History and Culture of the Punjab – Vol. I, Patiala: Punjabi University. 3. Joshi, L.M. (1989), History and Culture of the Punjab – Part I, Patiala: Publication Bureau, Punjabi University. 4. Joshi, L.M. and Singh, F. (1977), History and Culture of the Punjab – Vol. I, Patiala: Punjabi University. 5. Joshi, L.M. (1989), History and Culture of the Punjab – Part II, Patiala: Publication Bureau, Punjabi University. 6. Prakash, B. (1983), Glimpses of Ancient Punjab, Patiala: Punjabi University. 7. Sharma, B.N. (1966), Life in Northern India, New Delhi: Munshiram Manohar Lal Publishers. 8. Thapar, R. (1966), A History of India – Vol. I, New Delhi: Penguin Books. 9. Walia, J.M. (1992), A History of the Punjab, Ludhiana: Kalyani Publishers. Web Resources 1. https://www.india-travel-information.com/india-information/indian-states/punjab/physical- features/ 2. https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-history/ancient-india/vedic-civilization.html 3. https://www.toppr.com/guides/history/new-questions-and-ideas/jainism-and-buddhism/ CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

CONTENTS 1 - 16 17 - 60 Unit 1: Physical Features of the Punjab 61 - 88 Unit 2: Harappan Culture: Part - I 89 - 107 Unit 3: Harappan Culture: Part - II 108 - 134 Unit 4: The Indo-Aryans 135 - 168 Unit 5: Rig Vedic Age 169 - 205 Unit 6: Caste System 206 - 225 Unit 7: Study of Epic Age 226 - 243 Unit 8: School of Buddhism 244 - 245 Unit 9: School of Jainism References CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Physical Features of the Punjab 1 UNIT 1 PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE PUNJAB Structure: 1.0 Learning Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Physical Features of the Punjab 1.3 The Impacts on History of the Punjab 1.4 Economic Impact on History of the Punjab 1.5 Sources of the Early History of the Punjab 1.6 The Geography of Punjab 1.7 Summary 1.8 Key Words/Abbreviations 1.9 LearningActivity 1.10 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) 1.11 References 1.0 Learning Objectives After studying this unit, you will be able to:  Understand the physical features of the Punjab  Discuss the impacts on history of the Punjab  Discuss the economic impact on history of the Punjab  Learn the sources of the early history of the Punjab CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

2 History and Culture of Punjab - I 1.1 Introduction Punjab, state of India, located in the northwestern part of the subcontinent. It is bounded by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir to the north, Himachal Pradesh to the northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and Rajasthan to the southwest and by the country of Pakistan to the west. Punjab in its present form came into existence on November 1, 1966, when most of its predominantly Hindi-speaking areas were separated to form the new state of Haryana. The city of Chandigarh, within the Chandigarh union territory, is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. 1.2 Physical Features of the Punjab The physical features of the Punjab played a significant role in determining the course of its history. The physical features of the Punjab are listed below: (a) Being the gateway of India it was an arena of decisive battles of Indian history. (b) The continuous foreign onslaughts throughout the ages made the people of this region brave, tolerant liberal and warlike. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Physical Features of the Punjab 3 (c) The fertile land and rich resources made Punjab prosperous. (d) Due to the absence of peaceful conditions in the Punjab, art and literature could not develop. (e) The origin and evolution of Sikhism and its character of Miri-Piri or Saint-soldier was the outcome of physical features of the Punjab. (f) It is rightly said that “Geography and chronology are the sun and moon, the right eye and the left eye of all history. (g) Due to the presence of a large number of rivers, most of Punjab is a fertile plain. (h) Tributaries of the rivers Beas, Ghaggar, Indus, Ravi and Sutlej flow towards the southeast crossing the entire state. (i) There are many sub-tributaries of these rivers that provide a base for the most extensive canal system in India. (j) The southeast region of the state is semi-arid and presents a desert-like landscape. (k) A belt of rising and falling hills extends along the northeastern part of the state at the foot of the Himalayas. 1.3 The Impacts on History of the Punjab The impacts on history of the Punjab are as follows: 1.3.1 Impact on the Punjabi Character The physical features of the Punjab have greatly influenced the life and character of its people. From the early times, the Punjab being the north-western gateway of India had to suffer due to political upheavals. The brave and the virile Punjabis had always to bear the first fury of the foreign invasions. This rightly gives this land the name “Sword Arm of India”. Brought up under the shadow of swords, the Punjabis became alert and strenuous, hard and heroic, enduring and adjustable. They cannot afford to be dreamers, visionaries and lotus eaters. They have been the sentinels numbers of the armed forces in India are even now recruited from this region. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

4 History and Culture of Punjab - I 1.3.2 Emergence of Composite and Mixed Culture During the past ages, hordes of foreign and invaders continued to come to settle in this land. The blood, language and culture of many races continued to mix in the society of Punjab. This kind of blending contributed to the development of a composite culture, an amalgam and foreign elements. 1.3.3 Impact on Caste System As the people of different communities freely mixed with another in the Punjab, the caste system could not retain its rigidity here as compared to the other parts of India. Mostly, the invaders settled in Punjab. As they were not allowed to mix with the society due to caste system, they gave birth to new castes and sub-castes. 1.3.4 Liberal View of Punjabis Another trait of the Punjabis is that they are liberal in spending. The people were so much and so frequently plundered by the invaders from the North-West that they lost all incentive for saving. They became thriftless, for they knew that they could not be able to retain the fruits of their labour. They spent what they had and enjoyed good food, fine dresses, kept nice horses and lavishly squandered away money on marriages. A couplet prevalent in the Punjab upto the present aptly shows their attitude towards their holdings, “Khada Pita Lahe Da Te Baki Ahmed Shahe da.” What we actually eat and drink is ours; the rest is all Ahmed Shah’s.” 1.3.5 Setback to Art and Literature Due to the recurring invasions of the Punjab by the foreigners who came through the north- west frontier passes, the conditions in the Punjab were never peaceful throughout the ages. As the atmosphere was not congenial for the development of art and literature, the Punjab lagged behind the other regions of India in this respect. The Muhammadian invaders from the North-West destroyed ancient monuments of Hindu faith in the plains of the Punjab. Some small buildings in the remoter parts of the hills escaped destruction. The forces of nature or the violence of man have wiped out all the monuments of the numerous Buddhist monasteries which the Chinese pilgrims found in the Punjab in the ancient period. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Physical Features of the Punjab 5 1.3.6 Land of Ancient Civilisation Owing to its geographical situation, Punjab became the cradle of civilisations. The Harrapan and Aryan civilisation flourished here. The Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas and Hunas left their impact in Punjab. 1.3.7 Cultural Development The Himalayas and the rivers of Punjab played an important role in the development of art and literature even in the disturbed conditions here. The Vedas, the Gita, the Epics and the Adigranth were composed in Punjab. Taxila and Gandhar School of Art gave new identity in ancient period to Punjab in the field of education and art. 1.4 Economic Impact on History of the Punjab 1.4.1 The Rich Physical Features Gave Economic Prosperity to Punjab The hills, plains, rivers, forests, climate, mineral and agricultural products made Punjab rich and prosperous. The land of Punjab was fertile and irrigated that became a base of economic development of the state. Due to its location, Punjab became a trade route to Central Asia and Europe which strengthened the financial of the Punjab. 1.4.2 Agriculture – The Main Occupation of Punjab A large number of Punjab’s territory was plains which became more fertile with the silt brought by the rivers from the mountains. The rivers flowed throughout the years that gave water for irrigation. The hardworking Punjabis adopted the profession of agriculture easily and developed it further. 1.4.3 Trade and Commerce The trade flourished in the region of Punjab as it was on the trade route between India and Central Asia. New towns like Lahore, Multan, Sirhind and Peshawar developed with the passage of time which became commercially significant. Foreign trade was there since the Harappan Culture. 1.4.4 Industry Household Industry was there in Punjab which made the local people, self-sufficient. Small- scale industry developed but not the industry in real sense as there was no peace or law and order CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

6 History and Culture of Punjab - I in Punjab which was necessary for the development of Industry. Compared to other parts of India, Punjab remained backward in Industry due to its location and easy approach for the invaders. 1.5 Sources of the Early History of the Punjab The History of the Punjab concerns the history of the Punjab region the Northern area of the Indian Subcontinent that is split between the modern day countries of India and Pakistan. Historically known as Sapta Sindhu, or the Land of Seven Rivers, only two rivers Sutlej and Beas flow through Punjab state in India. The third river Ravi flows partially in Punjab, mainly along the international boundary of India and Pakistan and then enters Pakistan. The other two rivers Chenab and Jhelum flow in the Punjab state in Pakistan. All these five rivers are tributaries of Indus river. All these five rivers finally merge into Indus river directly or indirectly and the Indus then terminates into Arabian Sea near Karachi city in Pakistan. Ancient Punjab region was the primary geographical extent of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which was notable for advanced technologies and amenities that the people of the region had used. The region was historically a Hindu-Buddhist region, known for its high activity of scholarship, technology, and arts. Intermittent wars between various kingdoms was characteristic of this time, except in times of temporary unification under centralised Indian Empires or invading powers. After the arrival of Islamic rule in India, that had managed to rule throughout a long period of the region’s history, much of Western Punjab had become a centre of Islamic culture in the Indian subcontinent. An interlude of Sikh rule under the Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his Sikh Empire had seen a brief resurfacing of traditional culture, until the British had annexed the region into the British Raj. After the British had left, the region was partitioned into a Sikh majority area that would go to the secular state of India, and a Muslim majority area that would go to the Islamic state of Pakistan to prevent conflict. Ancient History During the period when the epic Mahabharata was written, around 800-400 BCE, Punjab was known as Trigarta and ruled by Katoch kings. The Indus Valley Civilisation spanned much of the Punjab region with cities such as Ropar. The Vedic Civilisation spread along the length of the Sarasvati River to cover most of northern India including Punjab. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Physical Features of the Punjab 7 Sikhs in Punjab Sikhism originated in the Punjab Region during the 15th century. Approximately 75% of the total Sikh population of the world lives in Punjab. Sikhism began at the time of the conquest of northern India by Babur. His grandson, Akbar, supported religious freedom and after visiting the langar of Guru Amar Das had a favourable impression of Sikhism. As a result of his visit, he donated land to the langar and had a positive relationship with the Sikh Gurus until his death in 1605. His successor, Jahangir, saw the Sikhs as a political threat. He arrested Guru Arjun Dev because of Sikh support for Khusrau Mirza and ordered him put to death by torture. Guru Arjan Dev’s martyrdom led to the sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind, declaring Sikh sovereignty in the creation of the Akal Takht and the establishment of a fort to defend Amritsar. Jahangir attempted to assert authority over the Sikhs by imprisoning Guru Hargobind at Gwalior. He felt compelled to release him when he began to suffer premonitions of an early and gruesome death. The Guru refused to be released unless the dozens of Hindu princes imprisoned with him were also granted freedom, to which Jahangir agreed. Sikhism did not have any further issues with the Mughal Empire until Jahangir’s death in 1627. His successor, Shah Jahan, “took offense” at Guru Hargobind’s sovereignty and after a series of assaults on Amritsar forced the Sikhs to retreat to the Sivalik Hills. Guru Hargobind’s successor, Guru Har Rai, maintained the guruship in the Sivalik Hills by defeating local attempts to seize Sikh land and taking a neutral role in the power struggle between Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh for control of the Timurid dynasty. The ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, moved the Sikh community to Anandpur and travelled extensively to visit and preach in Sikh communities in defiance of Mughal rule. He aided Kashmiri Pandits in avoiding conversion to Islam and was arrested and confronted by Aurangzeb. When offered a choice between conversion or death, he chose to die and was executed. Guru Gobind Singh assumed the guruship in 1675 and to avoid battles with Sivalik Hill Rajas moved the guruship to Paunta. He built a large fort to protect the city and garrisoned an army to protect it. The Sikh community’s growing power alarmed Sivalik Hill Rajas, who attempted to attack the city, but the Guru’s forces routed them at the Battle of Bhangani. He moved on to Anandpur and established the Khalsa, a collective army of baptised Sikhs, on April 13, 1699. The establishment of the Khalsa united the Sikh community against various Mughal-backed claimants to the guruship. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

8 History and Culture of Punjab - I In 1701, a combined army composed of the Sivalik Hill Rajas and the Mughal army under Wazir Khan attacked Anandpur and, following a retreat by the Khalsa, was defeated by the Khalsa at the Battle of Muktsar. Banda Singh Bahadur was an ascetic who converted to Sikhism after meeting Guru Gobind Singh at Nanded. Shortly before his death, Guru Gobind Singh ordered him to uproot Mughal rule in Punjab and gave him a letter that commanded all Sikhs to join him. After two years of gaining supporters, Banda Singh Bahadur initiated an agrarian uprising by breaking up the large estates of Zamindar families and distributing the land to the poor Sikh and Hindu peasants who farmed the land. Banda Singh Bahadur started his rebellion with the defeat of Mughal armies at Samana and Sadhaura and it culminated in the defeat of Sirhind. During the rebellion, Banda Singh Bahadur made a point of destroying the cities in which Mughals had been cruel to Sikhs, and executed Wazir Khan in revenge for the deaths of Guru Gobind Singh’s sons, Baba Zorawar Singh and Baba Fateh Singh, after the Sikh victory at Sirhind. He ruled the territory between the Sutlej River and the Yamuna River, established a capital in the Himalayas at Lohgarh, and struck coinage in the names of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh. In 1762, there were persistent conflicts with the Sikhs. Sikh holocaust of 1762 took place under the Muslim provincial government based at Lahore to wipe out the Sikhs, with 30,000 Sikhs being killed, an offensive that had begun with the Mughals, with the Sikh holocaust of 1746, and lasted several decades under its Muslim successor states. The rebuilt Harminder Sahib was destroyed, and the pool was filled with cow entrails, again. Cis-Sutlej States The Cis-Sutlej states were a group of states in modern Punjab and Haryana states lying between the Sutlej River on the north, the Himalayas on the east, the Yamuna River and Delhi District on the south, and Sirsa District on the west. These states were ruled by the Scindhia dynasty of the Maratha Empire. Various Sikh sardars and other Rajas of the Cis-Sutlej states paid tributes to the Marathas until the Second Anglo-Maratha War of 1803-1805, after which the Marathas lost this territory to the British. The Cis-Sutlej states included Kaithal, Patiala, Jind, Thanesar, Maler Kotla, and Faridkot. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Physical Features of the Punjab 9 Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire (1801-1849) was forged by Maharajah Ranjit Singh on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous Sikh misls, creating a unified political state. The empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north, to Sindh in the south, and Tibet in the east. The main geographical footprint of the empire was the Punjab region. The religious demography of the Sikh Empire was Muslim (80%), Sikh (10%) and Hindu (10%). After Ranjit Singh’s death in 1839, the empire was severely weakened by internal divisions and political mismanagement. This opportunity was used by the British Empire to launch the Anglo-Sikh Wars. A series of betrayals of the Sikhs by some prominent leaders in the army led to its downfall. Maharaja Gulab Singh and Raja Dhian Singh were the top generals of the army. Punjab Province (British India) The Cis-Sutlej states, including Kaithal, Patiala, Jind, Thanesar, Maler Kotla and Faridkot, were under the suzerainty of the Scindhia dynasty of the Maratha Empire, following the Second Anglo-Maratha War of 1803-1805, when Marathas lost this territory to the British. During the war, some of the states in the region gave their allegiance to British General Gerard Lake. At the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Maratha War, an 1809 agreement with Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sikh Empire west of the Sutlej, brought these states under formal British protection. Ranjit Singh’s death in the summer of 1839 brought political chaos, and the subsequent battles of succession and the bloody infighting between the factions at court weakened the state. By 1845, the British had moved 32,000 troops to the Sutlej frontier to secure their northernmost possessions against the succession struggles in the Punjab. In late 1845, British and Sikh troops engaged near Firozpur, beginning the First Anglo-Sikh War. In March 1940, the All-India Muslim League passed the Lahore Resolution, demanding the creation of a separate state from Muslim majority areas in British India. This triggered bitter protests by the Sikhs in Punjab, who could not countenance living in a Muslim state. In 1946, massive communal tensions and violence erupted between Punjab’s Muslim majority and the Hindu and Sikh minorities. The Muslim League attacked the government of Unionist Punjabi Muslims, Sikh Akalis and the Congress and led to its downfall. Unwilling to be cowed, Sikhs and CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

10 History and Culture of Punjab - I Hindus counterattacked, and the resulting bloodshed left the province in great disorder. Congress and League leaders agreed to partition Punjab along religious lines, a precursor to the wider partition of the country. 1.6 The Geography of Punjab The historical area of Punjab was defined to the east from the basin of the river Bias to the boundary of the river Indus to the west. On the north the state was bounded by the Kashmiri Himalayas and on the south it reached the plains of Rajasthan and Cholistan. However, over history Punjab has had its boundaries expand as well as shrink. The high time for Punjab occurred under the reign of Mugal emperor Babur and the empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. With the partition in 1947 the borders of the region shrank to its current size, with its division into the Pakistani province of Punjab and the Indian state of Punjab Location: Situated in the north-west of India, Punjab is bordered by Pakistan on the west, the Indian states of Jammu & Kashmir on the north, Himachal Pradesh on its north-east and Haryana and Rajasthan on its south. Area: 50362 square kilometers (Punjab occupies 1.54% of the country’s total geographical area). Capital: Chandigarh (population: 642,0000). Population: 23.51 million (P) for the year 1999 Rural: 16.56 million (70.45%) Urban: 6.95 million (29.55%) The population of Punjab consists mainly of Punjabis and Rajputs. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Physical Features of the Punjab 11 Occupation: More than 80% of Punjab is cultivated, and farming is the leading occupation. The major crops are wheat, maize (corn), rice, pulses (legumes), sugarcane, and cotton. Among the livestock raised are buffalo and other cattle, sheep, goats, and poultry. The principal industries include the manufacture of textiles, sewing machines, sporting goods, starch, fertilizers, bicycles, scientific instruments, electrical goods, and machine tools, and the processing of sugar and pine oil. Languages: The official language is Punjabi, which is spoken by about two-thirds of the population. Many people are fluent in Hindi, English and Urdu also. Currency: Rupee (100 paise equals one rupee). State Animal: Black Buck – Locally called kala hiran, the Black Buck is a graceful antelope blessed with a striking colour and spiraled horns. The fawn’s coat is yellowish but it becomes turns black at maturity. It is found in the plains and avoid forests and hilly tracks. Mostly found in herds of 20-30, large herds may number several hundreds. With a keen eyesight and speed, it responds to alarm call by leaps and bounds. State Bird: Baz (Eastern Goshawk). State Tree: Shisham. Geography: Punjab is found on the globe at 29'30\" N to 32'32\" N latitude and 73’55\" E to 76'50\" E longitude. Punjab lies between the Indus and the Ganges rivers. Most of the state is an alluvial plain irrigated by canals. Punjab’s arid southern border edges on the Thar or Great Indian Desert. The Siwalik Range rises sharply in the north of the state. The average temperature in January is 13°C (55°F), although at night the temperature sometimes lowers to freezing point. In June, the average temperature CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

12 History and Culture of Punjab - I is 34°C (93°F), occasionally rising as high as 45°C (113°F). Annual average rainfall in Punjab ranges from 1250 mm (49 in) in the north to 350 mm (14 in) in the southwest. More than 70% of the annual rainfall occurs during the monsoon season, i.e., from July to September. Climate: Climatically the state has three major seasons – summer, winter and rainy season. Major Land Features: Most of Punjab is a fertile plain; toward the southeast one finds semi-arid and desert landscape; a belt of undulating hills extends along the northeast at the foot of the Himalayas. Four rivers, the Ravi, Beas, Satluj and Ghaggar flow across the state in a southwesterly direction. They have numerous small and seasonal tributaries. In addition, Punjab is watered by an extensive canal system. 1.7 Summary Punjab, state of India, located in the northwestern part of the subcontinent. It is bounded by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir to the north, Himachal Pradesh to the northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and Rajasthan to the southwest and by the country of Pakistan to the west. Punjab in its present form came into existence on November 1, 1966, when most of its predominantly Hindi-speaking areas were separated to form the new state of Haryana. The city of Chandigarh, within the Chandigarh union territory, is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. The physical features of the Punjab have greatly influenced the life and character of its people. From the early times, the Punjab being the north-western gateway of India had to suffer due to political upheavals. The brave and the virile Punjabis had always to bear the first fury of the foreign invasions. This rightly gives this land the name “Sword Arm of India”. Brought up under the shadow of swords, the Punjabis became alert and strenuous, hard and heroic, enduring and adjustable. They cannot afford to be dreamers, visionaries and lotus eaters. They have been the sentinels numbers of the armed forces in India are even now recruited from this region. During the past ages, hordes of foreign and invaders continued to come to settle in this land. The blood, language and culture of many races continued to mix in the society of Punjab. This kind of blending contributed to the development of a composite culture, an amalgam and foreign elements. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Physical Features of the Punjab 13 The hills, plains, rivers, forests, climate, mineral and agricultural products made Punjab rich and prosperous. The land of Punjab was fertile and irrigated that became a base of economic development of the state. Due to its location, Punjab became a trade route to Central Asia and Europe which strengthened the financial of the Punjab. A large number of Punjab’s territory was plains which became more fertile with the silt brought by the rivers from the mountains. The rivers flowed throughout the years that gave water for irrigation. The hardworking Punjabis adopted the profession of agriculture easily and developed it further. The trade flourished in the region of Punjab as it was on the trade route between India and Central Asia. New towns like Lahore, Multan, Sirhind and Peshawar developed with the passage of time which became commercially significant. Foreign trade was there since the Harappan Culture. Household Industry was there in Punjab which made the local people, self-sufficient. Small- scale industry developed but not the industry in real sense as there was no peace or law and order in Punjab which was necessary for the development of Industry. Compared to other parts of India, Punjab remained backward in Industry due to its location and easy approach for the invaders. The History of the Punjab concerns the history of the Punjab region the Northern area of the Indian Subcontinent that is split between the modern day countries of India and Pakistan. Historically known as Sapta Sindhu, or the Land of Seven Rivers, only two rivers Sutlej and Beas flow through Punjab state in India. The third river Ravi flows partially in Punjab, mainly along the international boundary of India and Pakistan and then enters Pakistan. The other two rivers Chenab and Jhelum flow in the Punjab state in Pakistan. All these five rivers are tributaries of Indus river. All these five rivers finally merge into Indus river directly or indirectly and the Indus then terminates into Arabian Sea near Karachi city in Pakistan. During the period when the epic Mahabharata was written, around 800-400 BCE, Punjab was known as Trigarta and ruled by Katoch kings. The Indus Valley Civilisation spanned much of the Punjab region with cities such as Ropar. The Vedic Civilisation spread along the length of the Sarasvati River to cover most of northern India including Punjab. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

14 History and Culture of Punjab - I Sikhism originated in the Punjab Region during the 15th century. Approximately 75% of the total Sikh population of the world lives in Punjab. Sikhism began at the time of the conquest of northern India by Babur. His grandson, Akbar, supported religious freedom and after visiting the langar of Guru Amar Das had a favourable impression of Sikhism. As a result of his visit he donated land to the langar and had a positive relationship with the Sikh Gurus until his death in 1605. His successor, Jahangir, saw the Sikhs as a political threat. He arrested Guru Arjun Dev because of Sikh support for Khusrau Mirza and ordered him put to death by torture. Guru Arjan Dev’s martyrdom led to the sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind, declaring Sikh sovereignty in the creation of the Akal Takht and the establishment of a fort to defend Amritsar. The historical area of Punjab was defined to the east from the basin of the river Bias to the boundary of the river Indus to the west. On the north the state was bounded by the Kashmiri Himalayas and on the south it reached the plains of Rajasthan and Cholistan. However, over history Punjab has had its boundaries expand as well as shrink. The high time for Punjab occurred under the reign of Mugal emperor Babur and the empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. With the partition in 1947 the borders of the region shrank to its current size, with its division into the Pakistani province of Punjab and the Indian state of Punjab. 1.8 Key Words/Abbreviation  Punjabi Character: The physical features of the Punjab have greatly influenced the life and character of its people.  Mixed culture: During the past ages, hordes of foreign and invaders continued to come to settle in this land.  Caste System: As the people of different communities freely mixed with another in the Punjab, the caste system could not retain its rigidity.  Trade and Commerce: The trade flourished in the region of Punjab as it was on the trade route between India and Central Asia.  Industry: Household Industry was there in Punjab which made the local people, self- sufficient. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Physical Features of the Punjab 15  Geography: Find Punjab on the globe at 29'30\" N to 32'32\" N latitude and 73'55\" E to 76'50\" E longitude. 1.9 Learning Activity 1. You are required to prepare a report on “Impact of Mixed Culture in Punjab”. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 2. You are suggested to work on live project with respect to liberal view of Punjabis. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1.10 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) A. Descriptive Type: Short Answer Type Questions 1. Explain in details about history of the Punjab. 2. Discuss about Punjabi character with respect to Mixed Culture. 3. Explain the impact of caste system in India. 4. Discuss in details about liberal view of Punjabis. 5. Explain about art and literature in social psychology. 6. Discuss about land of ancient civilisation. 7. Explain in details about cultural development in India. 8. Discuss in brief about trade and commerce. B. Multiple Choice/Objective Type Questions 1. Which of the following state is bounded by the Indian states of Jammu & Kashmir to the north, Himachal Pradesh to the northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast? (a) Karnataka (b) Punjab (c) West Bengal (d) Kerala CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

16 History and Culture of Punjab - I 2. Which of the following in Punjab have greatly influenced the life and character of its people? (a) The physical features (b) The mental features (c) Geographical futures (d) All the above 3. The land of Punjab was fertile and irrigated that became a base of __________. (a) Economic development (b) Social development (c) Culture (d) Art and crafts 4. The trade flourished in the region of Punjab as it was on the trade route between __________. (a) India and Central Asia (b) Pakistan and Central Asia (c) Nepal and India (d) All the above 5. Punjab was known as Trigarta and ruled by __________. (a) Philip (b) Katoch Kings (c) C.K. Pralhad (d) None of the above Answers 1. (b), 2. (b), 3. (a), 4. (a), 5. (b) 1.11 References “References of this unit have been given at the end of the book”.  CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 17 UNIT 2 HARAPPAN CULTURE: PART - I Structure: 2.0 Learning Objectives 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Harappan Culture 2.3 Extent Principal Places in Harappan Culture 2.4 Town Planning 2.5 Materials Used in Buildings 2.6 Types of Buildings 2.7 Causes of Disappearance of Town Planning in Harappan City Sites 2.8 Summary 2.9 Key Words/Abbreviations 2.10 LearningActivity 2.11 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) 2.12 References CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

18 History and Culture of Punjab - I 2.0 Learning Objectives After studying this unit, you will be able to:  Study about one of the earliest civilisation of the world and will become aware about the sites that associated with this age.  Explain Town Planning and materials used in buildings 2.1 Introduction The Indus civilisation is also known as the Harappan Civilisation, after its type site, Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated early in the 20th century in what was then the Punjab province of British India and now is Pakistan. The discovery of Harappa and soon afterwards Mohenjo-daro was the culmination of work beginning in 1861 with the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India during the British Raj. There were however earlier and later cultures often called Early Harappan and Late Harappan in the same area; for this reason, the Harappan civilisation is sometimes called the Mature Harappan to distinguish it from these other cultures. By 2002, over 1,000 Mature Harappan cities and settlements had been reported, of which just under a hundred had been excavated. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 19 However, there are only 5 major urban sites: Harappa, Mohenjo-daro (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Dholavira, Ganeriwala in Cholistan, and Rakhigarhi. The early Harappan cultures were preceded by local Neolithic agricultural villages, from which the river plains were populated. The Harappan language is not directly attested, and its affiliation is uncertain since the Indus script is still undeciphered. A relationship with the Dravidian or Elamo-Dravidian language family is favoured by a section of scholars. Pre-Harappan era: Mehrgarh Mehrgarh is a Neolithic (7000 BCE to c. 2500 BCE) site to the west of the Indus River valley near the Bolan Pass, which gave new insights on the emergence of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Mehrgarh is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming and herding in South Asia. Mehrgarh was influenced by the Near Eastern Neolithic, with similarities between “domesticated wheat varieties, early phases of farming, pottery, other archaeological artefacts, some domesticated plants and herd animals.” According to Parpola, the Near Eastern culture migrated into the Indus Valley and became the Indus Valley Civilisation. Jean-Francois Jarrige argues for an independent origin of Mehrgarh. Jarrige notes “the assumption that farming economy was introduced full-fledged from Near-East to South Asia,” and the similarities between Neolithic sites from eastern Mesopotamia and the western Indus valley, which are evidence of a “cultural continuum” between those sites. But given the originality of Mehrgarh, Jarrige concludes that “Mehrgarh has an earlier local background,” and is not a “‘backwater’ of the Neolithic culture of the Near East.” Lukacs and Hemphill suggest an initial local development of Mehrgarh, with a continuity in cultural development but a change in population. According to Lukacs and Hemphill, while there is a strong continuity between the neolithic and chalcolithic (Copper Age) cultures of Mehrgarh, dental evidence shows that the chalcolithic population did not descend from the neolithic population of Mehrgarh, which “suggests moderate levels of gene flow.” Mascarenhas et al. (2015) note that “new, possibly West Asian, body types are reported from the graves of Mehrgarh beginning in the Togau phase (3800 BCE).” CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

20 History and Culture of Punjab - I Gallego Romero state that their research on lactose tolerance in India suggests that “the west Eurasian genetic contribution identified by Reich et al. (2009) principally reflects gene flow from Iran and the Middle East.” They further note that “The earliest evidence of cattle herding in south Asia comes from the Indus River Valley site of Mehrgarh and is dated to 7,000 YBP.” Early Harappan The Early Harappan Ravi Phase, named after the nearby Ravi River, lasted from c. 3300 BCE until 2800 BCE. It is related to the Hakra Phase, identified in the Ghaggar-Hakra River Valley to the west, and predates the Kot Diji Phase (2800-2600 BCE, Harappan 2), named after a site in northern Sindh, Pakistan, near Mohenjo-daro. The earliest examples of the Indus script date to the 3rd millennium BCE. The mature phase of earlier village cultures is represented by Rehman Dheri and Amri in Pakistan. Kot Diji represents the phase leading up to Mature Harappan, with the citadel representing centralised authority and an increasingly urban quality of life. Another town of this stage was found at Kalibangan in India on the Hakra River. Trade networks linked this culture with related regional cultures and distant sources of raw materials, including lapis lazuli and other materials for bead-making. By this time, villagers had domesticated numerous crops, including peas, sesame seeds, dates, and cotton, as well as animals, including the water buffalo. Early Harappan communities turned to large urban centres by 2600 BCE, from where the mature Harappan phase started. The latest research shows that Indus Valley people migrated from villages to cities. The final stages of the Early Harappan period are characterised by the building of large walled settlements, the expansion of trade networks, and the increasing integration of regional communities into a “relatively uniform” material culture in terms of pottery styles, ornaments, and stamp seals with Indus script, leading into the transition to the Mature Harappan phase. Mature Harappan Dholavira in Gujarat, India, is one of the largest cities of Indus Valley Civilisation, with stepwell steps to reach the water level in artificially constructed reservoirs. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 21 Skull of a Harappan Citizen, Indian Museum According to Giosan et al. (2012), the slow southward migration of the monsoons across Asia initially allowed the Indus Valley villages to develop by taming the floods of the Indus and its tributaries. Flood-supported farming led to large agricultural surpluses, which in turn supported the development of cities. The IVC residents did not develop irrigation capabilities, relying mainly on the seasonal monsoons leading to summer floods. Brooke further notes that the development of advanced cities coincides with a reduction in rainfall, which may have triggered a reorganisation into larger urban centers. According to J.G. Shaffer and D.A. Lichtenstein, the Mature Harappan Civilisation was “a fusion of the Bagor, Hakra, and Kot Diji traditions or 'ethnic groups' in the Ghaggar-Hakra valley on the borders of India and Pakistan”. By 2600 BCE, the Early Harappan communities turned into large urban centres. Such urban centres include Harappa, Ganeriwala, Mohenjo-daro in modern-day Pakistan, and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Rupar, and Lothal in modern-day India. In total, more than 1,000 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra Rivers and their tributaries. Cities A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley Civilisation, making them the first urban centre in the region. The quality of municipal town planning suggests the knowledge of urban planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene, or, alternatively, accessibility to the means of religious ritual. As seen in Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and the recently partially excavated Rakhigarhi, this urban plan included the world's first known urban sanitation systems: see hydraulic engineering of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells. From a room that appears to have been set aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes. The house-building in some villages in the region still resembles in some respects the house- building of the Harappans. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

22 History and Culture of Punjab - I The ancient Indus systems of sewerage and drainage that were developed and used in cities throughout the Indus region were far more advanced than any found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East and even more efficient than those in many areas of Pakistan and India today. The advanced architecture of the Harappans is shown by their impressive dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. The massive walls of Indus cities most likely protected the Harappans from floods and may have dissuaded military conflicts. The purpose of the citadel remains debated. In sharp contrast to this civilisation's contemporaries, Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, no large monumental structures were built. There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples – or of kings, armies, or priests. Some structures are thought to have been granaries. Found at one city is an enormous well-built bath (the “Great Bath”), which may have been a public bath. Although the citadels were walled, it is far from clear that these structures were defensive. Most city dwellers appear to have been traders or artisans, who lived with others pursuing the same occupation in well-defined neighbourhoods. Materials from distant regions were used in the cities for constructing seals, beads and other objects. Among the artefacts discovered were beautiful glazed faïence beads. Steatite seals have images of animals, people (perhaps gods), and other types of inscriptions, including the yet un-deciphered writing system of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Some of the seals were used to stamp clay on trade goods. Although some houses were larger than others, Indus Civilisation cities were remarkable for their apparent, if relative, egalitarianism. All the houses had access to water and drainage facilities. This gives the impression of a society with relatively low wealth concentration, though clear social levelling is seen in personal adornments. Authority and Governance Archaeological records provide no immediate answers for a centre of power or for depictions of people in power in Harappan society. But, there are indications of complex decisions being taken and implemented. For instance, the majority of the cities were constructed in a highly uniform and well-planned grid pattern, suggesting they were planned by a central authority; extraordinary uniformity of Harappan artefacts as evident in pottery, seals, weights and bricks; presence of public facilities CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 23 and monumental architecture; heterogeneity in the mortuary symbolism and in grave goods (items included in burials). Harappan Weights Found in the Indus Valley These chert weights were in a ratio of 5 : 2 : 1 with weights of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 units, with each unit weighing approximately 28 grams, similar to the English Imperial ounce or Greek uncia, and smaller objects were weighed in similar ratios with the units of 0.871. However, as in other cultures, actual weights were not uniform throughout the area. The weights and measures later used in Kautilya’s Arthashastra (4th century BCE) are the same as those used in Lothal. Arts and Crafts Various sculptures, seals, bronze vessels pottery, gold jewellery, and anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta, bronze, and steatite have been found at excavation sites. The Harappans also made various toys and games, among them cubical dice (with one to six holes on the faces), which were found in sites like Mohenjo-daro. A number of gold, terracotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses reveal the presence of some dance form. These terracotta figurines included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs. The animal depicted on a majority of seals at sites of the mature period has not been clearly identified. Part bull, part zebra, with a majestic horn, it has been a source of speculation. As yet, there is insufficient evidence to substantiate claims that the image had religious or cultic significance, but the prevalence of the image raises the question of whether or not the animals in images of the IVC are religious symbols. Many crafts including, “shell working, ceramics, and agate and glazed steatite bead making” were practised and the pieces were used in the making of necklaces, bangles, and other ornaments from all phases of Harappan culture. Some of these crafts are still practised in the subcontinent today. Some make-up and toiletry items (a special kind of combs (kakai), the use of collyrium and a special three-in-one toiletry gadget) that were found in Harappan contexts still have similar counterparts in modern India. Terracotta female figurines were found (c. 2800-2600 BCE) which had red colour applied to the “manga” (line of partition of the hair). CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

24 History and Culture of Punjab - I The Dancing Girl Statue Thousands of steatite seals have been recovered, and their physical character is fairly consistent. In size they range from squares of side 2 to 4 cm (3/4 to 1 1/2 in). In most cases, they have a pierced boss at the back to accommodate a cord for handling or for use as personal adornment. A harp-like instrument depicted on an Indus seal and two shell objects found at Lothal indicate the use of stringed musical instruments. A human deity with the horns, hooves and tail of a bull also appears in the seals, in particular in a fighting scene with a horned tiger-like beast. This deity has been compared to the Mesopotamian bull-man Enkidu. Several seals also show a man fighting two lions or tigers, a “Master of Animals” motif common to civilisations in Western and South Asia. Trade and Transportation The Indus civilisation’s economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which was facilitated by major advances in transport technology. The IVC may have been the first civilisation to use wheeled transport. These advances may have included bullock carts that are identical to those seen throughout South Asia today, as well as boats. Most of these boats were probably small, flat-bottomed craft, perhaps driven by sail, similar to those one can see on the Indus River today; however, there is secondary evidence of sea-going craft. Archaeologists have discovered a massive, dredged canal and what they regard as a docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal in western India (Gujarat state). An extensive canal network, used for irrigation, has however also been discovered by H.P. Francfort. During 4300-3200 BCE of the chalcolithic period (copper age), the Indus Valley Civilisation area shows ceramic similarities with southern Turkmenistan and northern Iran which suggest considerable mobility and trade. During the Early Harappan period (about 3200-2600 BCE), similarities in pottery, seals, figurines, ornaments, etc. document intensive caravan trade with Central Asia and the Iranian plateau. Archaeological discoveries suggest that trade routes between Mesopotamia and the Indus were active during the 3rd millennium BCE, leading to the development of Indus-Mesopotamia relations. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 25 Judging from the dispersal of Indus civilisation artefacts, the trade networks economically integrated a huge area, including portions of Afghanistan, the coastal regions of Persia, northern and western India, and Mesopotamia, leading to the development of Indus-Mesopotamia relations. Studies of tooth enamel from individuals buried at Harappa suggest that some residents had migrated to the city from beyond the Indus Valley. There is some evidence that trade contacts extended to Crete and possibly to Egypt. There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilisations as early as the middle Harappan Phase, with much commerce being handled by “middlemen merchants from Dilmun” (modern Bahrain and Failaka located in the Persian Gulf). Such long-distance sea trade became feasible with the development of plank-built watercraft, equipped with a single central mast supporting a sail of woven rushes or cloth. It is generally assumed that most trade between the Indus Valley (ancient Meluhha?) and western neighbors proceeded up the Persian Gulf rather than overland. Although there is no incontrovertible proof that this was indeed the case, the distribution of Indus-type artifacts on the Oman peninsula, on Bahrain and in southern Mesopotamia makes it plausible that a series of maritime stages linked the Indus Valley and the Gulf region. In the 1980s, important archaeological discoveries were made at Ras al-Jinz (Oman), demonstrating maritime Indus Valley connections with the Arabian Peninsula. Agriculture According to Gangal et al. (2014), there is strong archeological and geographical evidence that neolithic farming spread from the Near East into north-west India, but there is also “good evidence for the local domestication of barley and the Zebu cattle at Mehrgarh.” According to Jean-Francois Jarrige, farming had an independent origin at Mehrgarh, despite the similarities which he notes between Neolithic sites from eastern Mesopotamia and the western Indus valley, which are evidence of a “cultural continuum” between those sites. Nevertheless, Jarrige concludes that “Mehrgarh has an earlier local background,” and is not a “‘backwater’ of the Neolithic culture of the Near East.” Archaeologist Jim G. Shaffer writes that the Mehrgarh site “demonstrates that food production was an indigenous South Asian phenomenon” and that the data support CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

26 History and Culture of Punjab - I interpretation of “the prehistoric urbanisation and complex social organisation in South Asia as based on indigenous, but not isolated, cultural developments”. Jarrige notes that the people of Mehrgarh used domesticated wheats and barley, while Shaffer and Liechtenstein note that the major cultivated cereal crop was naked six-row barley, a crop derived from two-row barley. Gangal agrees that “Neolithic domesticated crops in Mehrgarh include more than 90% barley,” noting that “there is good evidence for the local domestication of barley.” Yet, Gangal also notes that the crop also included “a small amount of wheat,” which “are suggested to be of Near-Eastern origin, as the modern distribution of wild varieties of wheat is limited to Northern Levant and Southern Turkey.” The cattle that are often portrayed on Indus seals are humped Indian aurochs, which are similar to Zebu cattle. Zebu cattle is still common in India, and in Africa. It is different from the European cattle, and had been originally domesticated on the Indian subcontinent, probably in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan. Research by J. Bates et al. (2016) confirms that Indus populations were the earliest people to use complex multi-cropping strategies across both seasons, growing foods during summer (rice, millets and beans) and winter (wheat, barley and pulses), which required different watering regimes. Bates et al. (2016) also found evidence for an entirely separate domestication process of rice in ancient South Asia, based around the wild species Oryza nivara. This led to the local development of a mix of “wetland” and “dryland” agriculture of local Oryza sativa indica rice agriculture, before the truly “wetland” rice Oryza sativa japonica arrived around 2000 BCE. Language It has often been suggested that the bearers of the IVC corresponded to proto-Dravidians linguistically, the break-up of proto-Dravidian corresponding to the break-up of the Late Harappan culture. Finnish Indologist Asko Parpola concludes that the uniformity of the Indus inscriptions precludes any possibility of widely different languages being used, and that an early form of Dravidian language must have been the language of the Indus people. Today, the Dravidian language family is concentrated mostly in southern India and northern and eastern Sri Lanka, but pockets of it still remain throughout the rest of India and Pakistan (the Brahui language), which lends credence to the theory. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 27 According to Heggarty and Renfrew, Dravidian languages may have spread into the Indian subcontinent with the spread of farming. According to David McAlpin, the Dravidian languages were brought to India by immigration into India from Elam. In earlier publications, Renfrew also stated that proto-Dravidian was brought to India by farmers from the Iranian part of the Fertile Crescent, but more recently Heggarty and Renfrew note that “a great deal remains to be done in elucidating the prehistory of Dravidian.” They also note that “McAlpin’s analysis of the language data, and thus his claims, remain far from orthodoxy.” Heggarty and Renfrew conclude that several scenarios are compatible with the data, and that “the linguistic jury is still very much out.” Possible Writing System Between 400 and as many as 600 distinct Indus symbols have been found on seals, small tablets, ceramic pots and more than a dozen other materials, including a “signboard” that apparently once hung over the gate of the inner citadel of the Indus city of Dholavira. Typical Indus inscriptions are no more than four or five characters in length, most of which (aside from the Dholavira “signboard”) are tiny; the longest on a single surface, which is less than 2.5 cm (1 in) square, is 17 signs long; the longest on any object (found on three different faces of a mass-produced object) has a length of 26 symbols. While the Indus Valley Civilisation is generally characterised as a literate society on the evidence of these inscriptions, this description has been challenged by Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel (2004) who argue that the Indus system did not encode language, but was instead similar to a variety of non- linguistic sign systems used extensively in the Near East and other societies, to symbolise families, clans, gods, and religious concepts. Others have claimed on occasion that the symbols were exclusively used for economic transactions, but this claim leaves unexplained the appearance of Indus symbols on many ritual objects, many of which were mass-produced in moulds. No parallels to these mass- produced inscriptions are known in any other early ancient civilisations. In a 2009 study by P.N. Rao et al. published in Science, computer scientists, comparing the pattern of symbols to various linguistic scripts and non-linguistic systems, including DNA and a computer programming language, found that the Indus script’s pattern is closer to that of spoken words, supporting the hypothesis that it codes for an as-yet-unknown language. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

28 History and Culture of Punjab - I Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel have disputed this finding, pointing out that Rao et al. did not actually compare the Indus signs with “real-world non-linguistic systems” but rather with “two wholly artificial systems invented by the authors, one consisting of 200,000 randomly ordered signs and another of 200,000 fully ordered signs, that they spuriously claim represent the structures of all real-world non- linguistic sign systems”. Farmer et al. have also demonstrated that a comparison of a non-linguistic system like medieval heraldic signs with natural languages yields results similar to those that Rao et al. obtained with Indus signs. They conclude that the method used by Rao et al. cannot distinguish linguistic systems from non-linguistic ones. The messages on the seals have proved to be too short to be decoded by a computer. Each seal has a distinctive combination of symbols and there are too few examples of each sequence to provide a sufficient context. The symbols that accompany the images vary from seal to seal, making it impossible to derive a meaning for the symbols from the images. There have, nonetheless, been a number of interpretations offered for the meaning of the seals. These interpretations have been marked by ambiguity and subjectivity. Photos of many of the thousands of extant inscriptions are published in the Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions (1987, 1991, 2010), edited by Asko Parpola and his colleagues. The most recent volume republished photos taken in the 1920s and 1930s of hundreds of lost or stolen inscriptions, along with many discovered in the last few decades; formerly, researchers had to supplement the materials in the Corpus by study of the tiny photos in the excavation reports of Marshall (1931), MacKay (1938, 1943), Wheeler (1947), or reproductions in more recent scattered sources. Edakkal Caves in Wayanad district of Kerala contain drawings that range over periods from as early as 5.000 BCE to 1000 BCE. The youngest group of paintings have been in the news for a possible connection to the Indus Valley Civilisation. Religion The religion and belief system of the Indus Valley people have received considerable attention, especially from the view of identifying precursors to deities and religious practices of Indian religions that later developed in the area. However, due to the sparsity of evidence, which is open to varying CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 29 interpretations, and the fact that the Indus script remains undeciphered, the conclusions are partly speculative and largely based on a retrospective view from a much later Hindu perspective. An early and influential work in the area that set the trend for Hindu interpretations of archaeological evidence from the Harappan sites was that of John Marshall, who in 1931 identified the following as prominent features of the Indus religion: a Great Male God and a Mother Goddess; deification or veneration of animals and plants; symbolic representation of the phallus (linga) and vulva (yoni); and, use of baths and water in religious practice. Marshall's interpretations have been much debated, and sometimes disputed over the following decades. Swastika Seals of Indus Valley Civilisation in British Museum One Indus Valley seal shows a seated figure with a horned headdress, possibly tricephalic and possibly ithyphallic, surrounded by animals. Marshall identified the figure as an early form of the Hindu god Shiva (or Rudra), who is associated with asceticism, yoga, and linga; regarded as a lord of animals; and often depicted as having three eyes. The seal has hence come to be known as the Pashupati Seal, after Pashupati (lord of all animals), an epithet of Shiva. While Marshall's work has earned some support, many critics and even supporters have raised several objections. Doris Srinivasan has argued that the figure does not have three faces, or yogic posture, and that in Vedic literature Rudra was not a protector of wild animals. Herbert Sullivan andAlf Hiltebeitel also rejected Marshall’s conclusions, with the former claiming that the figure was female, while the latter associated the figure with Mahisha, the Buffalo God and the surrounding animals with vahanas (vehicles) of deities for the four cardinal directions. Writing in 2002, Gregory L. Possehl concluded that while it would be appropriate to recognise the figure as a deity, its association with the water buffalo, and its posture as one of ritual discipline, regarding it as a proto-Shiva would be going too far. Despite the criticisms of Marshall's association of the seal with a proto-Shiva icon, it has been interpreted as the Tirthankara Rishabhanatha by Jains and Vilas Sangave or an early Buddha by Buddhists. Historians such as Heinrich Zimmer and Thomas McEvilley believe that there is a connection between first Jain Tirthankara Rishabhanatha and the Indus Valley civilisation. Marshall hypothesised the existence of a cult of Mother Goddess worship based upon excavation of several female figurines, and thought that this was a precursor of the Hindu sect of Shaktism. However, the function of the female figurines in the life of Indus Valley people remains unclear, and CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

30 History and Culture of Punjab - I Possehl does not regard the evidence for Marshall’s hypothesis to be “terribly robust”. Some of the baetyls interpreted by Marshall to be sacred phallic representations are now thought to have been used as pestles or game counters instead, while the ring stones that were thought to symbolise yoni were determined to be architectural features used to stand pillars, although the possibility of their religious symbolism cannot be eliminated. Many Indus Valley seals show animals, with some depicting them being carried in processions, while others show chimeric creations. One seal from Mohenjo- daro shows a half-human, half-buffalo monster attacking a tiger, which may be a reference to the Sumerian myth of such a monster created by goddess Aruru to fight Gilgamesh. In contrast to contemporary Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations, Indus Valley lacks any monumental palaces, even though excavated cities indicate that the society possessed the requisite engineering knowledge. This may suggest that religious ceremonies, if any, may have been largely confined to individual homes, small temples, or the open air. Several sites have been proposed by Marshall and later scholars as possibly devoted to religious purpose, but at present only the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro is widely thought to have been so used, as a place for ritual purification. The funerary practices of the Harappan civilisation are marked by fractional burial (in which the body is reduced to skeletal remains by exposure to the elements before final interment), and even cremation. Late Harappan Around 1900 BCE signs of a gradual decline began to emerge, and by around 1700 BCE, most of the cities had been abandoned. Recent examination of human skeletons from the site of Harappa has demonstrated that the end of the Indus civilisation saw an increase in inter-personal violence and in infectious diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis. According to historian Upinder Singh, “the general picture presented by the late Harappan phase is one of a breakdown of urban networks and an expansion of rural ones.” During the period of approximately 1900 to 1700 BCE, multiple regional cultures emerged within the area of the Indus civilisation. The Cemetery H culture was in Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh, the Jhukar culture was in Sindh, and the Rangpur culture (characterised by Lustrous Red Ware pottery) was in Gujarat. Other sites associated with the Late phase of the Harappan culture are Pirak in Balochistan, Pakistan, and Daimabad in Maharashtra, India. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 31 The largest Late Harappan sites are Kudwala in Cholistan, Bet Dwarka in Gujarat, and Daimabad in Maharashtra, which can be considered as urban, but they are smaller and few in number compared with the Mature Harappan cities. Bet Dwarka was fortified and continued to have contacts with the Persian Gulf region, but there was a general decrease of long-distance trade. On the other hand, the period also saw a diversification of the agricultural base, with a diversity of crops and the advent of double-cropping, as well as a shift of rural settlement towards the east and the south. The pottery of the Late Harappan period is described as “showing some continuity with mature Harappan pottery traditions,” but also distinctive differences. Many sites continued to be occupied for some centuries, although their urban features declined and disappeared. Formerly typical artifacts such as stone weights and female figurines became rare. There are some circular stamp seals with geometric designs, but lacking the Indus script which characterised the mature phase of the civilisation. Script is rare and confined to potsherd inscriptions. There was also a decline in long-distance trade, although the local cultures show new innovations in faience and glass making, and carving of stone beads. Urban amenities such as drains and the public bath were no longer maintained, and newer buildings were “poorly constructed”. Stone sculptures were deliberately vandalised, valuables were sometimes concealed in hoards, suggesting unrest, and the corpses of animals and even humans were left unburied in the streets and in abandoned buildings. During the later half of the 2nd millennium BCE, most of the post-urban Late Harappan settlements were abandoned altogether. Subsequent material culture was typically characterised by temporary occupation, “the campsites of a population which was nomadic and mainly pastoralist” and which used “crude handmade pottery.” However, there is greater continuity and overlap between Late Harappan and subsequent cultural phases at sites in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, primarily small rural settlements. “Aryan Invasion” In 1953, Sir Mortimer Wheeler proposed that the invasion of an Indo-European tribe from Central Asia, the “Aryans”, caused the decline of the Indus Civilisation. As evidence, he cited a group of 37 skeletons found in various parts of Mohenjo-daro, and passages in the Vedas referring to battles and forts. However, scholars soon started to reject Wheeler’s theory, since the skeletons belonged to a period after the city’s abandonment and none were found near the citadel. Subsequent CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

32 History and Culture of Punjab - I examinations of the skeletons by Kenneth Kennedy in 1994 showed that the marks on the skulls were caused by erosion, and not by violence. In the Cemetery H culture (the late Harappan phase in the Punjab region), some of the designs painted on the funerary urns have been interpreted through the lens of Vedic literature: for instance, peacocks with hollow bodies and a small human form inside, which has been interpreted as the souls of the dead, and a hound that can be seen as the hound of Yama, the god of death. This may indicate the introduction of new religious beliefs during this period, but the archaeological evidence does not support the hypothesis that the Cemetery H people were the destroyers of the Harappan cities. Climate Change and Drought Suggested contributory causes for the localisation of the IVC include changes in the course of the river, and climate change that is also signalled for the neighbouring areas of the Middle East. As of 2016 many scholars believe that drought, and a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia, caused the collapse of the Indus Civilisation. The climate change which caused the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation was possibly due to “an abrupt and critical mega-drought and cooling 4,200 years ago,” which marks the onset of the Meghalayan Age, the present stage of the Holocene. The Ghaggar-Hakra system was rain-fed, and water-supply depended on the monsoons. The Indus Valley climate grew significantly cooler and drier from about 1800 BCE, linked to a general weakening of the monsoon at that time. The Indian monsoon declined and aridity increased, with the Ghaggar-Hakra retracting its reach towards the foothills of the Himalaya, leading to erratic and less extensive floods that made inundation agriculture less sustainable. Aridification reduced the water supply enough to cause the civilisation's demise, and to scatter its population eastward. According to Giosan et al. (2012), the IVC residents did not develop irrigation capabilities, relying mainly on the seasonal monsoons leading to summer floods. As the monsoons kept shifting south, the floods grew too erratic for sustainable agricultural activities. The residents then migrated towards the Ganges basin in the east, where they established smaller villages and isolated farms. The small surplus produced in these small communities did not allow development of trade, and the cities died out. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 33 Earthquakes There are archaeological evidences of major earthquakes at Dholavira in 2200 BCE as well as at Kalibangan in 2700 and 2900 BCE. Such succession of earthquakes, along with drought, may have contributed to decline of Ghaggar-Harka system. Sea level changes are also found at two possible seaport sites along the Makran coast which are now inland. Earthquakes may have contributed to decline of several sites by direct shaking damage, by sea level change or by change in water supply. Continuity Archaeological excavations indicate that the decline of Harappa drove people eastward. According to Possehl, after 1900 BCE, the number of sites in today’s India increased from 218 to 853. According to Andrew Lawler, “excavations along the Gangetic plain show that cities began to arise there starting about 1200 BCE,, just a few centuries after Harappa was deserted and much earlier than once suspected.” According to Jim Shaffer there was a continuous series of cultural developments, just as in most areas of the world. These link “the so-called two major phases of urbanisation in South Asia”. At sites such as Bhagwanpura (in Haryana), archaeological excavations have discovered an overlap between the final phase of Late Harappan pottery and the earliest phase of Painted Grey Ware pottery, the latter being associated with the Vedic Culture and dating from around 1200 BCE. This site provides evidence of multiple social groups occupying the same village but using different pottery and living in different types of houses: “over time the Late Harappan pottery was gradually replaced by Painted Grey ware pottery,” and other cultural changes indicated by archaeology include the introduction of the horse, iron tools, and new religious practices. There is also a Harappan site called Rojdi in Rajkot district of Saurashtra. Its excavation started under an archaeological team from Gujarat State Department of Archaeology and the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania in 1982-83. In their report on archaeological excavations at Rojdi, Gregory Possehl and M.H. Raval write that although there are “obvious signs of cultural continuity” between the Harappan Civilisation and later South Asian cultures, many aspects of the Harappan “socio-cultural system” and “integrated civilisation” were “lost forever,” while the Second Urbanisation CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

34 History and Culture of Punjab - I of India (beginning with the Northern Black Polished Ware culture, c. 600 BCE) “lies well outside this sociocultural environment”. Post-Harappan Previously, scholars believed that the decline of the Harappan civilisation led to an interruption of urban life in the Indian subcontinent. However, the Indus Valley Civilisation did not disappear suddenly, and many elements of the Indus Civilisation appear in later cultures. The Cemetery H culture may be the manifestation of the Late Harappan over a large area in the region of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, and the Ochre Coloured Pottery cultures its successor. David Gordon White cites three other mainstream scholars who “have emphatically demonstrated” that Vedic religion derives partially from the Indus Valley Civilisations. As of 2016, archaeological data suggests that the material culture classified as Late Harappan may have persisted until at least c. 1000-900 BCE and was partially contemporaneous with the Painted Grey Ware culture. Harvard archaeologist Richard Meadow points to the late Harappan settlement of Pirak, which thrived continuously from 1800 BCE to the time of the invasion of Alexander the Great in 325 BCE. In the aftermath of the Indus Civilisation’s localisation, regional cultures emerged, to varying degrees showing the influence of the Indus Civilisation. In the formerly great city of Harappa, burials have been found that correspond to a regional culture called the Cemetery H culture. At the same time, the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture expanded from Rajasthan into the Gangetic Plain. The Cemetery H culture has the earliest evidence for cremation; a practice dominant in Hinduism today. 2.2 Harappan Culture The Indus Valley Civilisation is the earliest known culture of the Indian subcontinent of the kind now called “urban” (or centered on large municipalities), and the largest of the four ancient civilisations, which also included Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China. The society of the Indus River Valley has been dated from the Bronze Age, the time period from approximately 3300-1300 BCE. It was located in modern-day India and Pakistan, and covered an area as large as Western Europe. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 35 Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were the two great cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation, emerging around 2600 BCE along the Indus River Valley in the Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. Their discovery and excavation in the 19th and 20th centuries provided important archaeological data regarding the civilisation’s technology, art, trade, transportation, writing, and religion. 2.2.1 Technology The people of the Indus Valley, also known as Harappan (Harappa was the first city in the region found by archaeologists), achieved many notable advances in technology, including great accuracy in their systems and tools for measuring length and mass. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

36 History and Culture of Punjab - I Harappans were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures that conformed to a successive scale. The smallest division, approximately 1.6 mm, was marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal, a prominent Indus Valley city in the modern Indian state of Gujarat. It stands as the smallest division ever recorded on a Bronze Age scale. Another indication of an advanced measurement system is the fact that the bricks used to build Indus cities were uniform in size. Harappans demonstrated advanced architecture with dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. The ancient Indus systems of sewerage and drainage developed and used in cities throughout the region were far more advanced than any found in contemporary urban sites in the Middle East, and even more efficient than those in many areas of Pakistan and India today. Harappans were thought to have been proficient in seal carving, the cutting of patterns into the bottom face of a seal, and used distinctive seals for the identification of property and to stamp clay on trade goods. Seals have been one of the most commonly discovered artifacts in Indus Valley cities, decorated with animal figures, such as elephants, tigers, and water buffalos. Harappans also developed new techniques in metallurgy the science of working with copper, bronze, lead, and tin and performed intricate handicraft using products made of the semi-precious gemstone, Carnelian. 2.2.2 Art CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 37 Indus Valley excavation sites have revealed a number of distinct examples of the culture’s art, including sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry, and anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta, bronze, and steatite more commonly known as Soapstone. Among the various gold, terracotta, and stone figurines found, a figure of a “Priest-King” displayed a beard and patterned robe. Another figurine in bronze, known as the “Dancing Girl,” is only 11 cm. high and shows a female figure in a pose that suggests the presence of some choreographed dance form enjoyed by members of the civilisation. Terracotta works also included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs. In addition to figurines, the Indus River Valley people are believed to have created necklaces, bangles, and other ornaments. Miniature Votive Images or Toy Models from Harappa, c. 2500 BCE. The Indus River Valley Civilisation created figurines from terracotta, as well as bronze and steatite. It is still unknown whether these figurines have religious significance. Architecture of Harappan Culture The Harappan culture blossomed as the first urban civilisation of ancient India. Each of its facets was unique in artistic creativity. The uniqueness of its art and architecture is traceable in everything ranging from the fort and buildings up to its earthenware and metal products. A developed sculptural standard of exquisite beauty is discernible in the Harappan culture. Magnificent was the architectural style of the fort and buildings of the Harappan culture. The fort on high and looked majestic and the groupings of buildings and their decorated interiors, marvellous. Artistically laid out were the drawing and retiring rooms, the kitchen and the bath. Burnt bricks were used in all constructions. The bricks varied in sizes from 20 inches x 8 inches and 9 inches x 4 inches. Covered drains are another specialty of Harappan architecture. The Great Bath of Mohenjo- Daro and the port at Lothal still pay rich tributes to the architectural expertise of Harappan culture. Pillars: A rich column of big pillars supporting houses are found in Harappan culture. This is another of its unique heritages bequeathed to the posterity. The Harappan granary is a silent testimony to it. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

38 History and Culture of Punjab - I Earthenware: One of its principal attractions even throughout the world then was the Harappan earthenware pots and decorative pieces. Trays of different sizes, cups, cooking pots and other earthenware’s dazzle others by the workmanship of the Harappan potters. The hand then whirled the pottery- wheel came to rule the posterity. Sculpture: The artisans and sculptors of Harappan culture were equally competent. Precious stones were hewn into beads to be worn as necklace. Stone images of human beings also could be sculpted by them. A partially damaged image of a bearded human figure sculpted on lime-stone and discovered from Mohenjo-Daro has also the unique feature of no moustache on the upper lip which appears highly smooth. The beard is styled majestically on the image. The leaves sculpted on the upper garment on the left shoulder of the image are of beautiful symmetry. Another damaged piece of stone sculpture from the Harappan region faintly resembles Natraj Shiva because of the dance-posture of the sculpted image. From these examples it is clear that the Harappan sculptors were talented and highly creative. Metal Works: In metal works, too, the Harappan culture sealed great heights. They knew how to make different pots, flower-vases and images of human beings, animals and birds in copper and bronze. A bronze statue of a female dancer, recovered from Mohenjo-Daro, speaks volumes for the finish and fineness of their metal works. This image is 1.5 centimeters. The right hand rests on the waist and the left hand dangles down to rest on the left knee. It is a specimen of the then dance-art. Their metal works include items like cases, vermilion stick, fish-hook etc. Burnt Clay: They also prepared many articles out of burnt clay. Outstanding among these are the ox, monkey, sheep, dog, birds, cart and female figures. The female figures are richly ornamented. The making of images out of burnt clay was a folk-craft, that depicts their high artistic sense. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 39 Seals and Sealings: The seals and sealing system also allude to their rich artistic sense. Seals discovered at Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, Lothal and elsewhere depict on them images of ox, deer, rhino and other animals. These convey not only their artistic sense but also a knowledge of the animal world. Every facet of the urban life was reflected in the art and architecture of the Harappan culture. Every artist acquitted himself to his art with credit, competence and creativity. Posterity still looks on them with awe and admiration. 2.2.3 Trade and Transportation The civilisation’s economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which was facilitated by major advances in transport technology. The Harappan Civilisation may have been the first to use wheeled transport, in the form of bullock carts that are identical to those seen throughout South Asia today. It also appears they built boats and watercraft a claim supported by archaeological discoveries of a massive, dredged canal, and what is regarded as a docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal. The docks and canal in the ancient city of Lothal, located in modern India. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Indus River Valley Civilisation constructed boats and may have participated in an extensive maritime trade network. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

40 History and Culture of Punjab - I Trade focused on importing raw materials to be used in Harappan city workshops, including minerals from Iran and Afghanistan, lead and copper from other parts of India, jade from China, and cedar wood floated down rivers from the Himalayas and Kashmir. Other trade goods included terracotta pots, gold, silver, metals, beads, flints for making tools, seashells, pearls, and colored gem stones, such as lapis lazuli and turquoise. There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilisations. Harappan seals and jewelry have been found at archaeological sites in regions of Mesopotamia, which includes most of modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, and parts of Syria. Long-distance sea trade over bodies of water, such as the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, may have become feasible with the development of plank watercraft that was equipped with a single central mast supporting a sail of woven rushes or cloth. During 4300-3200 BCE of the Chalcolithic period, also known as the Copper Age, the Indus Valley Civilisation area shows ceramic similarities with southern Turkmenistan and northern Iran. During the Early Harappan period (about 3200-2600 BCE), cultural similarities in pottery, seals, figurines, and ornaments document caravan trade with Central Asia and the Iranian plateau. 2.2.4 Writing Harappans are believed to have used Indus Script, a language consisting of symbols. A collection of written texts on clay and stone tablets unearthed at Harappa, which have been carbon dated 3300-3200 BCE, contain trident-shaped, plant-like markings. This Indus Script suggests that writing developed independently in the Indus River Valley Civilisation from the script employed in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. As many as 600 distinct Indus symbols have been found on seals, small tablets, ceramic pots, and more than a dozen other materials. Typical Indus inscriptions are no more than four or five characters in length, most of which are very small. The longest on a single surface, which is less than 1 inch (or 2.54 cm.) square, is 17 signs long. The characters are largely pictorial, but include many abstract signs that do not appear to have changed over time. The inscriptions are thought to have been primarily written from right to left, but it is unclear whether this script constitutes a complete language. Without a “Rosetta Stone” to use as a comparison with other writing systems, the symbols have remained indecipherable to linguists and archaeologists. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 41 A Rosetta Stone for the Indus script, lecture by Rajesh Rao. Rajesh Rao is fascinated by “the mother of all crossword puzzles,” how to decipher the 4,000-year-old Indus script. At TED 2011, he explained how he was enlisting modern computational techniques to read the Indus language. View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-rosetta-stone-for-the-indus-script-rajesh-rao 2.2.5 Religion The Harappan religion remains a topic of speculation. It has been widely suggested that the Harappans worshipped a mother goddess who symbolised fertility. In contrast to Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations, the Indus Valley Civilisation seems to have lacked any temples or palaces that would give clear evidence of religious rites or specific deities. Some Indus Valley seals show a swastika symbol, which was included in later Indian religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Many Indus Valley seals also include the forms of animals, with some depicting them being carried in processions, while others showing chimeric creations, leading scholars to speculate about the role of animals in Indus Valley religions. One seal from Mohenjo-daro shows a half-human, half- buffalo monster attacking a tiger. This may be a reference to the Sumerian myth of a monster CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

42 History and Culture of Punjab - I created by Aruru, the Sumerian earth and fertility goddess, to fight Gilgamesh, the hero of an ancient Mesopotamian epic poem. This is a further suggestion of international trade in Harappan culture. 2.3 Extent Principal Places in Harappan Culture As the three of the world’s civilisations developed along the river banks, the Indus valley civilisation developed on bank of Indus and several other nearby rivers such as Ghaggar-Hakra, the now dried up Saraswati and the Drasadvati. Centre of the civilisation was in Sind and Punjab and from there, it spread in all directions. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harappan Culture: Part - I 43 Its westernmost point was Suktagendor in South Baluchistan while easternmost point was Alamgirpur in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh. In North, it extended Afghanistan while in South, its extent was up at least Maharashtra state. So far, around 1400 settlements have been discovered, most of which are located on river banks. This civilisation was largest of the four ancient urban civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, South Asia and China and covered an area of around 1.3 million square kilometers. This area is triangular in shape and no other ancient civilisation was extended to such a large area. Origin and Period Indus Valley civilisation is now considered as a continuation of the neolithic Mehrgarh culture which flourished between 7000-5000 BC. The overall period assigned to Indus Valley Civilisation is 3300-1300 BC, with its mature period between 2600-1900 BC. Some people call Indus Valley people as Proto-Dravidians, who might have been pushed to south in mature Harappan phase when Aryans, with their advanced military skills commenced their migration around 2000BC. Indus Valley Sites Harappa Harappa is the first discovered site of this civilisation excavated in 1921 by a team led by Daya Ram Sahni. It was a major urban centre during its mature phase surrounded by extensive walls. It is located in Punjab Province, Pakistan, on an old bank/bed of the River Ravi. Its location along old course of Ravi provided access to trade networks, aquatic food and water for drinking and cultivation. Due to this, Harappa remained occupied for a long time. Further, Harappa was also a meeting point of trade routes coming from east. Archaeologists have divided Harappa in five different phases of which oldest is Ravi aspect/ Hakra (3300-2800BC), followed by Kot Dijian or Early Harappa (2800-2600BC) followed by Mature (2600-1900BC), Transitional (1900-1800BC) and Late Harappa (1800-1300BC) phases. Important Findings of Harappa The important material findings at Harappa include pottery, chert blades, copper or bronze implements, terracotta figurines, seals and sealing, weights, etc. This apart, the two rows of granaries CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)