Harappan traders sent goods over long distances. They needed a way to prove who sent a bag and that nobody had opened it.
This lesson covers three tools they used: seals, a script nobody can read yet, and a precise system of weights.
- Seals: small stone stamps pressed into wet clay to show who sent a package.
- Script: about 375 to 400 signs, written right to left, and still undeciphered.
- Weights: mostly cubical chert blocks with no markings.
- Number system: small weights doubled each step; large weights followed tens.
- Fall: seals, script and weights vanished in the Late Harappan period.
Seals and Sealings
What were seals made of, and how big?
Archaeologists found thousands of seals. Most were made of steatite, a soft stone. A few were agate, chert, copper, faience, terracotta or ivory.
The standard Harappan seal was a square plaque of about two by two inches. Seals measure only a few centimetres.
Most seals show an animal, such as a bull, elephant or tiger. Some show trees or human figures.
Sources (card 0): NCERT, An Introduction to Indian Art, Ch. 2 (Class 11) · NCERT, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Ch. 6 (Class 6) · NCERT, Themes in Indian History I, Ch. 1 (Class 12).
How did a sealing protect a package?
Seals and sealings helped long-distance communication. Picture a bag of goods sent from one place to another.
Its mouth was tied with rope. Wet clay was stuck on the knot, and one or more seals were pressed into it. This left an impression.
If the bag arrived with the sealing intact, nobody had tampered with it. The sealing also showed who the sender was.
Sources (card 1): NCERT, Themes in Indian History I, Ch. 1 (Class 12).
Why were seals so common?
Elaborate trade required traders to identify their goods, and each other. This seems to have been the chief purpose of thousands of small seals.
Seals were mainly commercial. They may also have been worn as amulets, like modern identity cards.
Square or rectangular copper tablets were found too. They carry an animal or figure on one side and an inscription on the other. These tablets seem to have been amulets.
Sources (card 2): NCERT, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Ch. 6 (Class 6) · NCERT, An Introduction to Indian Art, Ch. 2 (Class 11) · NCERT, Themes in Indian History I, Ch. 1 (Class 12).
Check 1
A sealing that arrived intact showed that the bag had not been tampered with.
Show the answer
Wet clay hardens and keeps the impression. If someone opened the bag, the clay would break and the tampering would show.
The Enigmatic Script
How many signs does the script have?
Harappan seals usually have a line of writing. It probably gave the name and title of the owner. Most inscriptions are short, and the longest has about 26 signs.
The script is not alphabetical. An alphabet has one sign for each vowel or consonant, and this script has far too many signs. Scholars count somewhere between 375 and 400.
It is a pictographic script that is yet to be deciphered.
Sources (card 3): NCERT, Themes in Indian History I, Ch. 1 (Class 12).
Which way was it written?
The script was written from right to left. Some seals show wider spacing on the right and cramping on the left.
It looks as if the engraver began at the right and then ran out of space at the left edge.
Sources (card 4): NCERT, Themes in Indian History I, Ch. 1 (Class 12).
Where was writing found?
Writing is not limited to seals. Finds include copper tools, rims of jars, copper and terracotta tablets, jewellery and bone rods. A signboard was found at Dholavira too.
This variety hints that many people may have seen writing. But writing on perishable materials may have decayed. So we cannot say how widespread literacy was.
Sources (card 5): NCERT, Themes in Indian History I, Ch. 1 (Class 12) · NCERT, An Introduction to Indian Art, Ch. 2 (Class 11).
| Feature | What is known |
|---|---|
| Number of signs | About 375 to 400 |
| Longest inscription | About 26 signs |
| Direction | Right to left |
| Type | Not alphabetical; undeciphered |
Check 2
The Indus script has been fully deciphered and read.
Check 3
Harappan weights were usually made of chert.
Show the answer
It would place the Harappan signs beside a known language. Such a find could settle which language the Harappans spoke.
Weights and Exchange
What were the weights like?
Exchanges were regulated by a precise system of weights. They were usually made of chert and were generally cubical, with no markings.
Stone weights were found at Dholavira. Smaller weights were probably used for weighing jewellery and beads. Metal scale-pans have also been found.
Sources (card 6): NCERT, Themes in Indian History I, Ch. 1 (Class 12) · NCERT, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Ch. 6 (Class 6).
How did the weight numbers grow?
Lower weights were binary: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32. Each step doubled the one before.
Higher weights followed the decimal system: 160, 200, 320 and 640.
Sources (card 7): NCERT, Themes in Indian History I, Ch. 1 (Class 12).
Did these tools travel abroad?
Harappan seals, weights, dice and beads are finds that suggest long-distance contacts. Copper was probably brought from Oman, and chemical tests link Omani copper to Harappan artefacts.
Local weights at Dilmun followed the Harappan standard. Mesopotamian texts mention Meluhha, possibly the Harappan region, and list its carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold and wood.
Sources (card 8): NCERT, Themes in Indian History I, Ch. 1 (Class 12).
What Disappeared
What happened to seals, script and weights?
In the few Harappan sites still occupied after 1900 BCE, the distinctive artefacts of the civilisation disappeared. These include weights, seals and special beads.
Writing, long-distance trade and craft specialisation also vanished. People shifted from the standard weight system to local weights.
This marks the end of a strong unifying element, perhaps the Harappan state.
Sources (card 9): NCERT, Themes in Indian History I, Ch. 1 (Class 12).
Exam trap
Do not write that the script was read as “boustrophedon”. It ran from right to left.
Also do not say the script is deciphered. No textbook treats it as deciphered.
Quick Q&A
- Seal stone? Steatite.
- Number of signs? About 375 to 400.
- Longest inscription? About 26 signs.
- Writing direction? Right to left.
- Weight stone? Chert.
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