The Indus Valley Civilisation was South Asia’s first known urban settlement. It existed during the Bronze Age and is believed to have started around 2800 bc–2700 bc, reaching its zenith between 2600 bc and 1900 bc. The Indus Valley Civilisation, also known as the Harappan Civilisation after its first excavated city Harappa, developed in the vicinity of the Indus River and its tributaries, in present-day Pakistan and northwestern India. Harappa and the city of Mohenjo-Daro were the main centres of habitation. The two ancient cities are described as urban masterpieces because of their highly sophisticated layout and functional design, which were advanced for their time. In fact, the standard of civic life reached by the Indus people was believed to be on par with the Sumerians and higher than that of the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians.
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, set about 600 km apart from each other, were stable settlements with about 30,000 residents each. They were laid out in rectangular patterns and included palatial homes, hill citadels, granaries, wide roads and canals for irrigation. Public baths and a well-established drainage system with brick-lined sewers, probably the world’s first urban sanitation system of its kind, completed the elaborate structure. The sophisticated planning of the Indus Valley cities indicates the existence of a civic administrative body.
This ancient civilisation was discovered by chance when British engineers in the mid-1800s constructed a railway line linking Karachi to Punjab in present-day Pakistan and found kiln-baked bricks scattered at the site. Sir Alexander Cunningham, an amateur archaeologist and general in the British army, investigated the site and found some seals and other antiquities; he didn’t, however, delve into the unusual find. It was only later, in 1921, that details of the Indus culture came to light with the excavation of Harappa in Punjab by Sir John Marshall, the director general of the Archaeological Survey of India. The city of Mohenjo-Daro in Sind, Pakistan, was discovered later and was almost fully excavated by 1931.
The economy of the Indus Valley Civilisation was based on agriculture and trade, probably with ancient Mesopotamia, as indicated by the presence of the distinctive Indus seals in Mesopotamia. The seals were carved with animal figures and a kind of pictographic script. The writing has not been successfully deciphered but is believed to be related to the Dravidian script. In fact the Indus people are likely to have been of Dravidian origin, with a culture akin to that of the Dravidians.
The discovery of several terracotta objects of art, including human figures, as well as weapons and tools made of bronze and copper, revealed the advanced cultural life of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The religious beliefs of the people bore similarities with Hinduism. The seals provide evidence of worship of the Mother Goddess, including the sacrifice of goats and other animals as offerings. Some of the seals also have representations of a god resembling the Hindu god Shiva—in one of the seals, he is depicted with three faces and a horned headdress.
The Indus Valley Dravidians are thought to have moved south with the coming of the Aryan invaders. The decline of the Indus Valley Civilisation after 1900 bc has also been attributed to frequent flooding and a decline in the agricultural land due to climatic changes. These factors may have caused economic hardships leading to a gradual decay in society.
Burial Rituals
The Indus people had an elaborate burial ritual. They placed their dead in coffins and then buried them in brick chambers with their heads poi nting towards the north. The bodies, adorned with ornaments, were buried along with a number of pots. In some cases, couples were buried together in the same grave.