Harappan Civilisation: Life, Economy and Decline

1.1 How were Harappan cities laid out?

On a rough grid. Streets crossed at right angles, and streets with drains were laid out first, with houses built after. Most excavated streets run north-south or east-west.

Mohenjodaro had two sections. One was smaller and higher, called the Citadel. The other was much larger and lower, called the Lower Town.

1.2 Why do the bricks matter?

They show a shared building standard. Baked or sun-dried, a brick had length four times and breadth twice its height. Such bricks were used at all Harappan settlements.

Our own reading: sites far apart that follow one ratio were not building by chance. People shared a rule.

1.3 What made the drains special?

They were carefully planned. The drainage system is one of the most distinctive features of Harappan cities. One account says it was more advanced than that of the early Romans.

2.1 How did people farm?

They used the plough, at least in some places. Terracotta plough models have been found in Cholistan and at Banawali. At Kalibangan, an Early Harappan field had two sets of furrows at right angles.

That pattern suggests two crops were grown together. The bull on seals and models also hints that oxen pulled ploughs. That last point is an inference.

2.2 What did they believe?

We cannot be sure. Some terracotta figurines of heavily jewelled women were regarded as mother goddesses. A one-horned animal, called the unicorn, appears on seals and seems mythical.

Some seals show a figure seated cross-legged in a yogic posture. Some scholars read the Great Bath and fire altars at Kalibangan and Lothal as ritual structures. These are readings, not proven facts.

2.3 Where can I read more on key sites?

Several sites have their own lessons. Read Mohenjodaro, Kalibangan and Lothal for the details.

3.1 Who did the Harappans trade with?

Mesopotamia and Oman, among others. Mesopotamian texts name Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha, and Meluhha is possibly the Harappan region. Its goods included carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold and wood.

Dilmun is probably Bahrain. Magan is perhaps Oman.

3.2 What is the physical proof?

Chemical tests found nickel in both Omani copper and Harappan artefacts, which points to a common origin. A thick-coated Harappan jar was found at Omani sites. Long-barrel carnelian beads made at Chanhudaro also turned up in Mesopotamian burials.

• Why it matters: goods and texts agree, which is stronger than either alone.
• Example: the beads were made in one place and buried in another.
• Misconception: Meluhha is not a certain name for the Harappans. It is a likely match.

3.3 Where did raw material come from?

From sites placed near the source. Nageshwar and Balakot lay where shell was found, and Lothal lay near carnelian. Copper may also have come from the Khetri region of Rajasthan.

At Lothal, S R Rao dug a huge water-proofed tank in 1957. He felt it was a dock used for trade with Mesopotamia.

4.1 What were seals for?

They marked ownership and kept goods safe. A seal pressed into wet clay on a knot left an impression. If the sealing arrived intact, the bag had not been tampered with. It also showed who sent it.

Small soapstone seals about 3 cm across were used for personal identification in trade. Seals also hold the script, which the next card covers.

4.2 How were weights made?

They were mostly cubes of chert with no markings. The lower weights went 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. The higher ones were decimal: 160, 200, 320, 640.

Small weights were probably used for jewellery and beads. Metal scale-pans have also been found. A shared system like this fits the wide sameness of bricks and seals.

5.1 What do we know about the script?

Not much, but some facts are firm. Most inscriptions are short, and the longest has about 26 signs. The script has somewhere between 375 and 400 signs, so it was not alphabetical.

It seems to run right to left. Some seals show wider spacing on the right and cramping on the left. Writing has been found on seals, copper tools, jar rims, tablets, jewellery and bone rods.

5.2 Why has nobody read it?

Because the texts are very short and there is no known bilingual inscription. A text in two scripts, one of them known, is the usual key. If one is found, the languages the Harappans spoke could perhaps be settled.

Scholars generally avoid firm claims about what the symbols mean. A signboard with large symbols was found at Dholavira.

6.1 When did the decline start?

Around 1900 BCE (before the Common Era). The Mature Harappan phase ran from 2600 to 1900 BCE. The decadent Late Harappan phase ran from 1900 to 1300 BCE.

6.2 What changed in the Late Harappan phase?

Almost everything that marked the cities faded. Writing, long-distance trade and craft specialisation disappeared. Seals, the script, special beads and pottery vanished. Local weights replaced standard ones.

House building got worse, and large public structures were no longer made. Life became more rural. New cities would not appear for over a millennium, in a different region.

6.3 What caused the decline?

No single cause is proven. Scholars suggest climate change, deforestation, floods, shifting or drying rivers, and overuse of land. World History adds a changed monsoon, crowded cities and falling trade.

Some causes may fit certain towns. None explains the collapse of the whole civilisation. Perhaps a unifying element, the Harappan state, came to an end.

6.4 What about the Aryan invasion idea?

It lost credence in the 1960s. George Dales reviewed Wheeler’s reading and found no evidence for it. The skeletons showed no sign of a violent death, and the cities showed no damage from war.

The skeletons did not even belong to one period. So the wrong picture of one battle fell apart.

7.1 What does the exam pattern look like?

It tests the gap between the simple picture and the evidence. Cities were well planned, but not perfect. The script is not read at all. A claim that sounds like a natural extension of a real fact is often the trap.

7.2 What have exams asked, newest first?

NDA & NA is the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy exam. CDS is the Combined Defence Services exam. UPSC CSP is the Union Public Service Commission Civil Services Preliminary exam. CAPF is the Central Armed Police Forces exam. Each label links to that paper.