3.3 Ethnodomestication of Crop Species
3.6 Plants in Religion and Rituals
This chapter deals with the ethnobotanical aspects of Indus Valley Civilization, which is one of the oldest civilization of the world. The chapter introduces the basic features of this civilization and goes on to explain the involvement of Indus valley ethnic people in agriculture, domestication, crop plants cultivation, involvement of plants in medicinal and religious activities and trade. This chapter stresses that Indus Valley people were the first in Indian sub-continent to have introduced and perfected agriculture and technology. This civilization was also the one that helped in domestication and diversification of some crop species and acted as centers of these two phenomena.
The Indus valley or Harappan Civilization is one of the very well-known ancient civilizations of the world and belongs to the pre-historic Indian sub- continent. The geographical stretch of this civilization is neither restricted to the Mohenjo-Daro- Harappan region from where it was first known (hence called Harappan Civilization) nor to Indus Valley, which is not the only or even the main river valley where this civilization grew and flourished. In fact, many people consider that it was centered around Sarasvati river, which got dried up long back due to climate change and which is now represented by a small river called Ghaggar (see Gupta, 1996). The geographical region of this civilization stretched from the Dasht Valley of the Makran coast in the West to Meerut and Saharanpur in the Upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab in the east (some even consider it even up to middle Ganga region), and from Jammu in the north to the Tapti river valley in the south. It also had a distinct presence as far south as upper Godavari River in Maharashtra and at Shortugai in North Afghanistan (Chakrabarti, 2004a). More than 300 sites are known so far covering an area of 1.5 million km2 (Rao, 2008).
The most significant early publication on Indus Valley civilization was that of Marshall (1931), which emphasized, among others, the following three points: (i) the Civilization was deeply rooted in the Indian (pre-independence Indian) soil; (ii) it foreshadowed a number of features of India, particularly in religious beliefs, sculpture, crafts, etc., and (iii) in terms of India’s “Vedic period” it was pre-vedic. The last aspect is often disputed by a number of scholars. The second most important book on this Civilization was by Wheeler (1953), which emphasized that this Civilization was started around 2500 B.C.E. and was destroyed around 1500 B.C.E. and that it had a comparatively later beginning than the Sumerian Civilization. However, both these statements are also disputed (see Frawley, 2010). Renfrew (1987) and Frawley (2010) even suggested that the Indus valley civilization is in fact Indo-Aryan civilization and was there even prior to the Indus Valley era.
Studies made subsequent to Wheeler in 1960s and 1970s revealed that this civilization can be recognized into four temporal phrases: Pre-Harappan (3500-2800 B.C.E.), Early Harappan (2800-2600 B.C.E.), Mature Harappan (2600-1900 B.C.E.) and Late Harappan (1900-1400 B.C.E.). The indigenous evolution of this civilization and its later transformation into subsequent cultures were also suggested (see more details in Possehl, 1993, 1999). Although these dates for this civilization are purely suggestive, some consider the earliest date for this civilization to about 8000 to 7000 years before the present (particularly in view of the excavations made in Baluchistan and Birrana and Rakhigarrhi in Harayana recently). We do not know with certainly who were the authors of this civilization but all available evidence, including skulls discovered, suggests that there was first a large proportion of aboriginal proto-Australoids (with dark skin), second the predominant Mediterranean type and third an occasional foreigner from the North-East India (Piggott, 1950). All Mediterraneans were speakers of Dravidian languages. One another unresolved issue relating to this civilization is the identity of the rulers and the political elites of the cities. There were neither palaces nor temples. Probably, instead of one social group with total control, the elites might have included merchants, shamans and individuals who controlled various resources (Kenoyer, 1998). Studies made after 1985 have brought to light several other aspects related to this civilization such as trade, farming, irrigation, crops, foods, art, etc. It was also brought to light that climate changes were the probable causes for the disappearance of this civilization. This chapter deals with the ethnobotany of the Indus Valley civilization (the usage “Harappan Civilization” is also employed interchangeably in the text), drawing information from very widely scattered archaeological and art sources, since there is an absence of deciphered writings of this civilization.
In India, the history of agriculture largely seems to begin with the practices of the inhabitants of Indus Valley civilization. The details of agriculture and its history can be obtained from various archaeological artifacts, as also from the art evidences drawn from these artifacts such as pottery, sherds, seals, etc. (Tiwari, 2008). Although this civilization is supposed to be an urban civilization, agriculture was the mainstay of life. The archaeological remains of large granaries of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro prove that agricultural activities systematically developed fully (Ghosh, 1989). The Baluchistan/Mehrgarh sequence took India’s wheat-barley-cattle- sheep-goat agricultural profile back in history to around 7000 B.C.E. The Pre-Harappan Cultures of Amri-Nal, Quetta, Kulli, Zhob, Kotdiji/ Sothi and Banawali evolved out of agricultural practices and developed into a complex pattern of settled life. These facts established Indus Valley Civilization area as an independent region of early agriculture (Tiwari, 2008).
The Harappan Civilization people appeared to have interacted with the hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomadics and incipient farmers who were already present there before them and this interaction led to the growth of farming settlements, as well as to the introduction of irrigation as an important component of agriculture. Also, these people used the so-called Persian wheel for drawing water for agricultural (as well as for domestic) purposes. The fertile alluvial soil, heavy monsoon rainfall at that time and the free and plentiful availability of water from various rivers were highly conductive for the cultivation of different agricultural and horticultural crops. There are strong evidences that seem to indicate that the economy of the people of this civilization was built on agricultural practice. They also knew of flood irrigation and well-irrigation. Excavated evidence across the Harappan civilization area indicate that cultivators developed complex and extensive system of dams and canals. These farmers frequently used contouring, bunding, terracing and benching for water management. They had used in early phases of civilization only toothed harrow for plowing and did not know about the plow. However, in later phases of civilization they had used plows. The archaeological site of Kalibangan has yielded the first evidence of a plowed field in the Indian sub-continent, whose plow marks are identical with those in the mustard-and horse gram cultivating fields of the same area today (Chakrabarti, 2004b). The archaeological finding also includes a sickle which was probably used for harvesting wheat, barley and rice.
The agricultural geography of the area across which Indus Valley archaeological sites are dispersed, however, varies greatly and perhaps the types of agricultural practices were also quite varied. It also varied according to the crops cultivated.
It is generally known that there are distinct centers of origin of cultivated plants in the world (originally 8 and subsequently 12 centers were recognized). It is also known that there are centers of diversification of these domesticated taxa. India is recognized as one of the major centers of origin and diversification of crops (see Krishnamurthy, 2003). In India, the Indus Valley Civilization people must have been involved in these two processes as they were historically one of the original peoples who initiated and perfected the art and science of agriculture. This is also supported by the fact that wild as well as cultivated species/varieties have been found in the excavated sites for some of the crop plants. The use of wild plants was followed chronologically by their domesticated derivatives.
The origin of wheat-barley cultivation for the Indus Valley Civilization area can be traced to Baluchistan. In case of barley (Hordeum vulgare) there is a clear evidence of transition from the wild state to domestication. The earlier available data of Mehrgarh site (5000-4000 B.C.E.) provide evidence of barley cultivation. The remains of barley belonging to two-rowed and six- rowed types were found (Asthana, 1985). There are evidences that the wild ancestor of barley, H. spontaneum, got spread to S. Asia, mainly the Indus valley civilization area, from about 8000 14C years ago. Remains of H. spontaneum have been found in the Harappan area (Vishnu-Mittre and Savithri, 1982), along with H. vulgare var. nudum and H. vulgare var. hexastichum. Therefore, the Indus Valley Civilization area might have served as a center of diversification of barley and the ethnic people of this civilization must have played an important role in this diversification. In the case of wheat, all the known wheat species belonging to the Eincorn (Tritium monococcum), Emmer (T. dicoccum), Macaroni (T. durum), Bread (T. aestivum) and Compact (T. compactum and T. sphaerocarpum) categories were obtained from archaeological sites of Harappan civilization. Most of these got spread from the Fertile Crescent region of Far East to the Harappan region. Both, the compact species were very characteristic of this civilization. Therefore, the Indus Valley region must have been an essential center of diversification of wheat species.
All the present day rice varieties essentially belong either to the japonica group with smaller grains or to the indicia group with longer grains. Both these groups were known to have been domesticated. The indica group is believed to have been domesticated in North India and this must have happened during the Indus Valley cultivation period (or even a little earlier). The wild ancestor is believed to be Oryza rufipogon, while the cultivated species is Oryza sativa. Charred remains of rice from Chopani Mando dated to 9000-8000 B.C.E. represents a wild variety of rice (Agrawal and Kharakwal, 2002). Subsequently, both wild and cultivated rice, for example, have been identified in the rice impressions in burnt and plaster pieces at Hulas, a Harappan site. Thus, wild and cultivated rice species simultaneously had existed and were used by Harappan people. Domesticated rice was cultivated in the central Ganga region in the Belar Valley bordering Allahabad as early as 5000 B.C.E., if not earlier. Evidence of cultivated rice, along with its wild progenitor has been found in the year 2002 and these were embedded in the core of a number of pot sherds from Lahuradeva in Sarayupar area (5298 ± 60 and 4196 ± 90 B.C.E.) in the Ganges valley. Rice also occurred in the early Harappan context in Balu and Kunal in Haryana and at Damdama in Uttar Pradesh around 5000 B.C.E. In the mature Harappan Context it occurred at Harappa and in Gujarat. Thus, we cannot assume that the Indus Civilization people learnt rice domestication/ cultivation via diffusionary medavism from China (Srivastava, 2008) as it was believed earlier. The diffusion of cultivation of rice, North West in competition to wheat-barley in around 2800-2700 B.C.E., as we have evidence of cultivated rice in Haryana around this time.
Millets such as sorghum, and ragi are found in the Early Harappan Stage of Harappa in Punjab and Banawali in Haryana. In Mature Harappan levels they occur widely (Singh, 2008b). Thus, this region may be one of the three centers of origin of for at least some of the millets (Weber, 1991a, b).
Cotton was another plant that was domesticated by the Indus Valley people. The species of cotton domesticated was Gossypium arboreum, the treecotton. This is found wild in many parts of Gujarat, which was one of the main sites of Indus Valley civilization. Remnants of both wild and cultivated tree-cotton remains were found in the archaeological remains.
A rich alluvial soil provided the base for a broad-based subsistence pattern in most of the Indus Valley Civilization area. Several crops were known to have been cultivated during this civilization (Weber, 1991a, b; Chakrabarti, 1999). This fact is evident from archaeological excavations made at several sites. According to Weber (1991b) the Harappan people were growing a number of crops in both summer and winter cultivations. It is unlikely that the same package of crops was grown throughout various ecologies and periods. The major staple crops were barley, wheat, rice and millets. However, in the Sind region rice, various millets, wheat and barley were the staple crops. These four crops were cultivated in most regions of Harappan civilization, particularly in the later phases.
The cultivated wheats recovered were Triticum dicoccum, T. durum, T. aestivum, T. compactum and T. sphaerocarpum; T. monococcum was perhaps restricted to Baluchistan-Mehrgarh region. Wheat belonging to all these species was the staple food of the Indus Valley people (Rao, 2008; Sharma, 2008).
Barley from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were varieties of Hordeum vulgare: nudum and hexastichum. However, the progenitor wild species of barley, H. spontaneum was also perhaps used in this region (Vishnu-Mittre and Savithri, 1982).
Rice was another equally important staple crop of Harappan people. As already mentioned, evidence of cultivated rice has been formed from several archaeological sites, the most important being from Sarayupar area in the Ganges valley and from Koldihwa, around 5th to 4th millennium B.C.E. An analysis of rice husks by Vishnu-Mittre and Te-Tzu Chang revealed that they belonged to the domesticated Oryza sativa group (dating back to 9000-8000 years from the present) (Singh, 2008a). Hence, Wenming (2002) was correct/right to conclude that rice agriculture originated in India no later than 9000 years back from the present.
As already mentioned, millets like sorghum and ragi are found in the Early Harappan stage in Punjab and Banawali in Haryana, while in Mature Harappan level they occur widely (Singh, 2008b). Other millets known from Indus Culture were pearl millet, foxtail millet (Italian millet) and Kodo millet. Job’s Tears (Coix lacrryma-jobi) was known from Kuntas site.
Among other crops were a variety of pulses. These include Cicer arietinum, Lablab purpureus, Vicia faba, Lathyrus sativus, Macrotyloma uniflorum, Lens culinaris, Vigna radiata, Pisum sativum, Cajanus cajan, Vigna mungo and Pisum arvensis.
There were oil seeds like Sesamum indicum, Linum usitatissimum, Brassica juncea and cotton. There were reports of castor but there are others who question its presence at that period of time (Swamy, 1973).
Among the fruits cultivated by Indus Valley Civilization people were grapes, pomegranate, dates, banana, melon and jujube. The remnants of almonds and walnuts were also found. Emblica fruits in carbonized form were available in the Pre-Harappan Banawali. There were also a few vegetables.
The fiber crops used by Harappan people were cotton, silk cotton and linseed. Cotton was an important crop that was used from both wild and cultivated Gossypium arboreum. Evidence of cotton cultivation was found in Hulas site. Cotton from Mohenjo-Daro was available in the form of fragments of cloth and string. Cotton was perhaps used even earlier to 5000 B.C.E.
A number of tree crops were utilized, both as fuel and as construction/carpentry items. The identified trees from excavated pieces of wood charcoal include deodar (Cedrus deodara), teak (Tectona grandis), sisam (Dalbergia sissoo), sal (Shorea robusta) and babul (Acacia sp.). The oldest record of wood use in Indian region is from Harappa and Harappan Gujarat. In the former region two woods were found to have been used in coffin: deodar and rose wood (Dalbergia latifolia). Other woods found here were Ziziphus mauritiana (jujube) in a wooden mortar (for pounding grains). The charred timbers recovered from Lothal in Gujarat were species of Acacia and Albizia, Tectona grandis, Adina cordifolia and Soymida febrífuga (Chowdhuri, 1971). Wooden tools and implements were found in Burzhom in Kashmir. Remains of Holarrhena antidysenterica were found in Hastinapur. Remnants of Tamarix dioica was found in Kalibangan and Rohira, while remains of Capparis aphylla, Manilkara hexandra, Lawsonia inermis and Prosopis spicigera were found in Rohira. Thus, the credit for wood work and carpentry in Ancient India certainly belongs to Indus Valley people.
The chief archaeobotanical data of Indus Valley civilization come from pollen, seeds, charcoal, plant impression and phytoliths. Weber (1991b) has derived the relative abundance value for the periods belonging to 2400-2034 B.C.E. (of the Harappan Valley area) from the three principal means of measuring the archaeobotanical record: percentage of a plant’s remains, its ubiquity and its density. He then constructed a three-tiered hierarchical model of plant use in an inverted pyramidal form. The high density, highest percentage and great abundance tier included wheat and barley, the median density, percentage and abundance tier included Lens, Cicer, Pisum and Lathyrus. The low density and percentage level included Ziziphus, Trianthema, Chenopodium and many weeds and wild plants.
Food is one of the most essential needs of mankind of all cultures including the Indus valley culture and agriculture is the prime source of food for people. Barley, wheat, rice and millets formed the staple food but these people also used pulses like Phaseolus mungo, Cicer arietinum, Lablab purpureus, Vigna radiata and other legumes as mentioned in the previous section. They also used a number of fruits and oil crops. Since the civilization was essentially urban, agriculture was the main source of these foods, and foraging was extremely limited.
Architectural structures described as granaries have come to light from Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and Lothal. These are huge store houses. In Lothal 65 terracotta sealing with impressions of reed, woven fiber, matting and even twisted cords have been found in the granary, which suggest that “packages of goods were stored in bulk in these granaries. However, the storage containers range from pits lined with lime plaster for storing wheat/barley) discovered from the Kalibanga sites (Madhubala, 2004) to pots of various sizes and shapes. The pottery included storage jars, perforated cylindrical jars, beakers, bowls, shallow dishes, dish on stand, cups, pedestalled cups, plates, jugs, etc. (Tiwari, 2008). A few grinding stones were also discovered.
Interesting evidence regarding cooking practice is also revealed by the presence of both underground and overground varieties of mud ovens inside the houses in Kalibangan site. These resembled the present-day tandoories of Punjab and Rajasthan. Kalibangan residents were mainly wheat-eaters. A terracotta figurine from Mohenjo-Daro kneading flour (probably of wheat) has been described. A few saddle querns, cylindrical rollers. Platform for pounding grains and pestle-mortars have also been found. The querns found in the excavations show how the grinding of grains was done on an extensive scale. All these archaeological finds form important evidences of various activities such as storing, processing, cooking and preserving the different agricultural products. They also give indirect evidences of the culinary art and esthetics of their times to handle a variety of foods and beverages.
An issue that had received very little/scant attention is the nature of the Harappan religion. There is no evidence of a centralized or state religion in the Indus Valley civilization. However, it has been known that the religion of the ancient Indians was Animism and its improved version Totemism. Hence, it is highly probable that it is so for the Indus Valley people also. Trees, other plants, snakes and animals like bulls were worshipped as totem objects. There is also evidence for some form of phallic worship.
Hinduism in its medieval or modern forms was not present in the Indus Valley Civilization. But yet, some major elements of Hinduism seem to be present in the archaeological finds. Thus, we can conclude that these people have contributed a great many elements of paramount importance to Hinduism. According to Piggott (1950) prehistoric Hindu society owed more to Harappans than it did to Aryans. The religion of the Atharva Veda resembles that one so closely that one is forced to the conclusion that it was taken over from the people of Indus Valley civilization. The Atharva Veda was shown to be entirely different from Rig Veda, but represents a much more primitive stage of thought and is a book of spells and incantations appealing to the demon-world and teems with notions about witchcraft current among lower grades of the population (Macdonnel, 1925). It is possible from the archaeological finds to trace some of the major elements of later Indian religious aspects, including tree worship. A number of plants used in the worship of gods and goddesses, especially earth goddess and Siva- Parvati worship seem to have been first tried in this civilization. It is most likely that phallus worship later gave rise to the Sivalinga concept.
The major evidences for tree/plant worship of the Indus valley civilization people are the following: Fertility symbols such as vegetation growing from the womb of a female figure, the representation on a seal of a supplicant kneeling before a figure perched in a tree and a deity being shown in the branches of the sacred pipal tree. Religious importance and prominence was given to pipal leaves.
Religious practices of Indus Valley civilization people included purification rites, magic and fire rituals. The ceremonial platform of Kalibangan might have been used for religious practices and rituals. Asceticism also seems to have been practiced by the Harappan individuals. Several seals show a traditional yogic asana (=posture). These representations strongly suggest shamans, who were also medicine men. The robed “priest” stone-figure discovered at Mohenjo-Daro reminds us of these shamans (Chakrabarti, 2004a). If the Indus ascetics were really shamans, then they performed ritualistic magical healing which are the principal functions of shamans throughout the world’s primitive cultures (see some more details in the next section) (During Caspers, 1993). The cultural artifacts symbolize the multiple uses of crops and parts of plants such as husks, corns, dried organs, seeds, fruits, etc. which are used for various religious (and decoration) purposes.
In Mehrgarh site the dead were buried with considerable quantities of funerary offerings comprising animal sacrifices (a strong aspect of animism) and utilitarian objects such as tools, baskets, grinding-stones, grains and many types of ornaments.
According to experts on Indus valley civilization Harappan people believed that disease is the result of malevolent influences exercised by a spirit, god/ goddess or supernatural being. Thus, disease is a magical or magico-religious rather than a natural phenomenon. Like the medicine of the great civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the healing system of the Harappan culture was inextricably connected with the culture’s religious beliefs and practices and probably based predominantly on magic (Gajjar, 1971). Since diseases are attributed to supernatural causes, they are treated by magic incantations and other rituals. To ward off diseases the Harappan ascetics or shamans use charms, amulets and talismans. They performed ritualistic magical healings. The shamans heal the patients’ diseases by means of rituals including such elements as ecstatic dances, magical flights, the use of potent herbs and amulets, the recitation of incantations and exorcisms. Thus, the medical system of this civilization can be correctly described as primitive. These medical beliefs must have been emanated and popularized in the Harappan civilization (Das Gupta, 1932), but we do not have direct evidence.
It is strongly believed that the Harappan culture people and their shamanism, used, in the healing rituals, among other things, plants. In this healing process plants were not only worshipped but were also used as medicines. This is indicated by the huge number of plants and their remains found in many archaeological sites of Indus Valley Civilization. For example, at the Late Harappan site of Surkotada in Kutch charred lumps of carbonized seeds were found in earthen pots (dated approximately 1970-1600 B.C.E.). There were 574 seeds, majority of which belong to wild plants and 7% to cereals that included millets. The wild species include grasses (257 seeds), sedges, Chenopodiaceae, Amaranthaceae, Polygonaceae and Euphorbia species. At least some of these wild plants might be of medicinal value, while others may be of nutraceutical value. In Rojoli site more than 10,000 seeds belonging to 70 different plants were recovered and out of which many have medicinal properties.
In the Pre-Harappan Banawali, carbonized remains show the fruits of south Indian soap nut tree (Sapindus emarginatus), amla (Phyllanthus emblica) and pods of Shikakai (Acacia concinna). These indicate ample testimony to the richness of experience and understanding of the properties of plant products which enabled pre-Harappans to prepare the herbal shampoo (Saraswat et al., 2000) and hair-care products such as herbal detergents.
The Indus Valley civilization makes the first clearly discernible phase of India’s trade. There were both external and internal trades, the former involving regions not belonging to this civilization. Internal trade involved different regions of the civilization. There were both land and sea trades. There was an increasing integration of coastal communities with inland trading circuits as well as expansion of the maritime networks themselves (see Kenoyer, 1997). The regions important for the seafaring activities of the Harappans were the Makran and Indus coasts, Kutch and Savrashtra.
Scholars working on the archaeological sites of Tepe Yahaye and She- i-Sokta in Iran emphasized that the Mesopotamian culture moved eastward and proposed that long-distance trade between the Harappan civilization and Mesopotamia was the most important factor behind the Harappan civilization genesis. Baluchistan, a very important Harappan civilization site, had clearly defined trade routes to Iran, Afghanistan and Punjab along with an equally clear network of internal trade routes (Chakravarti, 2004b; Lahiri, 1992). Ratnagar (2000) had also pointed out that Harappan people had trade with Mesopotamia, at least around 2000 B.C.E., if not earlier.
The trade was largely in cotton textiles, dyes such as indigo and miscellaneous plant products. At Mohenjo-Daro two silver vases wrapped in redeyed cotton cloth were found; Fabric impressions on pottery or the reverse of terracotta seals are relatively larger in number. Lothal yielded impressions of woven cloth on the reverse of terracotta sealings baked in a fire at the site of a warehouse. There is no information on trade in grains, but there were movements of them from regions of plenty to regions of scarcity. Goods meant for trade are transported by pack bullocks and carts. There are many terracotta representations of carts and boats. Traders traveled along caravans and sea routes.
Mohenjo-Daro is considered as a major pilgrimage/sacred/trading city. It had a great bath and granary. The agricultural products were collected here for religious offerings as well as for trading (Kondo et al., 1995).
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