Indus Civilization
1. Introduction
Archaeological and documentary evidence suggests that the southern half of Mesopotamia imported cotton textiles from the Indus civilization. Indus peoples made stamped seals and a large portion of them were found as far as Ebla in modern Syria. Indus seals were traded with peoples in the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia. Large quantities of them were found at sites in the ancient region of Elam. Indus seals also appear in Central Asia. This demonstrates that long-distance trade was conducted with the neighboring civilizations. In Central Asia and the northwestern Indian subcontinent, a number of seminomadic societies have tendencies to Indus Civilization. Nevertheless, other than the seals and some artifacts found in sites like Shortugai and Baluchistan, little is known about the extent of this Indus influence on these groups.
One of a kind aspect of this civilization is that it was both expansive and at the same time secluded. While ultimately one of the most diverse societies of the ancient world, Indus folks communicated with different populations by small military interventions across several centuries, instead of the direct regional success, ousting, and colonialism of the western societies, allowing it to keep a more open culture. The permanent changes brought about by this civilization unfolded primarily in the Indian subcontinent where the impacts of Indus social structure continued to be felt for quite a long time, even thousands of years after its end. This civilization is considered to be one of the urbane societies of the ancient world.
The Indus civilization is known to be the biggest of the four early urban civilizations, all around creating throughout 3000-2000 BCE. It was spread over a territory of what today is southeast Pakistan and northwest India. This development is in some cases alluded to as the Harappan civilization; this stage originates from the first revelation of the Indus city of Harappa. The Indus civilization blossomed around the same time as the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Phoenicia.
2. Geographic Location
Indus Civilization II. Geographic Location The Indus civilization encompassed most of Pakistan and parts of western India, Afghanistan, and Iran, extending from Balochistan in the west to Uttar Pradesh in the east, northeastern Afghanistan to the north, and Maharashtra to the south. It was the largest of the four ancient urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China. Among other notable achievements was the creation of a standardized system of weights and measures, and a system of script. The Harappan script remains undeciphered and is not known to relate to any other scripts. The ruins of Mohenjodaro and Harappa show that these were planned cities with a grid pattern of streets. Most sites had walls made of mud brick. Large buildings like the Great Bath. The 5000-year-old city of Rakhigarhi, India, is the largest among all the Indus-Saraswati sites. This city is spread over 480 hectares, which is much larger than Mohenjodaro and Harappa, each having 150 hectares of area. This indicates that Rakhigarhi was the size of a modern metro city but was much larger than its contemporaries in the Bronze Age. Rakhigarhi has yielded the largest number of skeletons among all the other Indus Valley sites. In contrast to this, the citadel was walled, where the ruled classes lived. A notable feature of the IVC was the high level of accomplishment in metallurgy. The IVC people were the first to achieve a special proficiency in copper and bronze working. Gold, silver, copper, bronze, tin, and lead were used for making many things. Copper and bronze were used for making tools, weapons, and ornaments. Into the potter’s hands passed an amazing variety of lovely forms. The pottery designs were a thing of beauty with perfect geometry. This shows their excellence in artisan skills. The history of ancient India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization or Harappan Civilization. The Indus Civilization may date back to the 3rd millennium BCE and came to an end around the 18th century BCE. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley developed new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin). The area of the northwest subcontinent was the place where the elements of the present culture in Pakistan, western India, and eastern Afghanistan developed and the basis of the present population was laid down. It is the changes in climate and the settlements of the populace that contributed to the rise of the early civilization of the area.
3. Cultural Significance
The Indus civilization thrived along the Indus River and the Ghaggar-Hakra river in what is now Pakistan and northwestern India from around 2500 BC through to 1700 BC, but evidence suggests it may have begun as early as 7000 BC. It then took over the area corresponding to northwest India and Pakistan during the second half of the third millennium, and such a significant period of history cannot be ignored for someone seriously considering history. The relative isolation and continuity have secured the attention of the historians. The Indus civilization also represents the first urban culture in the Indian subcontinent. Major urban centers Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were discovered in the 1920s, which have helped us paint a picture of what these people were like and the way they lived. Exemplified by the well-planned cities, long straight streets, clean inner city areas, public and private baths, and an elaborate drainage. This was a civilization that was vastly urban planned even by today’s standards. This indicates that the people of the Indus must have had an organized public authority to guide and direct such monumental work, an authority the historians have yet to identify.
The Indus civilization has captured the imagination of both the general public and archaeologists and historians over the years. Influenced by unique environmental conditions and known for remarkable technological and artistic skill, the civilization has received much attention. Much has been made of the artistic achievements, technological skills, and the evidence of a love of luxury, enjoying a lifestyle better than many of their contemporaries until its decline from the invasion of Aryans. Trade was important between the Indus and other different cultures in the Middle East, both by land and sea, and evidence of this has been found by excavators with various exotic goods such as agate and lapis lazuli. This brief essay seeks to explore the cultural significance the civilization played in history.
4. Architecture and Urban Planning
City planning of Mohenjodaro and Harappan civilization had well-defined set modes and practices and was well ahead for this time. The city was divided into two sections, the upper town and the lower town. The lower town was bigger, and the upper town has not been found in any other civilization, but it was a remarkable development. The city was very well planned with rectilinear buildings and a well-organized road system. This planning was perhaps for better facilities on law and order and systematic control over different commercial activities done. The city was also fortified, putting light on constant warring activities has been a focal point. The bottom portion of the two-storied citadel has been evidenced as a well-planned defense. The Indus Valley had a complex hydrological system comprising fortnightly refuse collection and a covered drainage solution. It was an era of planned and a concerned way of life. All these historical city planning events can be seen as benchmarks tried to be implemented again in the period of Mauryas and Guptas and later up to the British Raj in India.
The seal confirms the significant dockyard, which was situated at the border of Sutkagendor in Baluchistan in the south. It was almost certainly a soldier-like the scheduled dockyards of the Europeans in the east, and it was situated on the river which is now vanished into thin air, but it was the support of prosperity then. The dockyard has a close stream and extensive shipping facilities, and it appears that it was exploited for sea trade, military strategies, and mechanized repair. The ships would be sheltered in the dockyard using the tides, and the tideless waves would have made it achievable to fix a stable slope for the vessels. One of the final discoveries of the Indus civilization was a double ship, and it was initiated in a completely intact state at Lothal. This ship was manufactured of salwood planks sewed with copper circulation and was utilized for voyage at the Deccan coastal region and across the shore of Saurashtra into the Persian Gulf, and it permits a vivid portrayal of the shipbuilding understanding and the outreaching seal settlement. The evidence shows wide-ranging sea trade commerce by way of private enterprise and state direction, and the ships were utilized for warfare as has been expected in the Rig Veda.
The architecture of the Indus civilization is measured as one of its utmost remarkable attributes that has caught the attention and gained attention. Starting from the grand Dockyard, the meticulously planned cities with complex drainage systems, the flourishing economy, and the implements of the social order and politics.
5. Decline and Legacy
The Indus script may have been proto-Dravidian (a language family spoken in India today) and that the script may have been written from right to left. Since it was first unearthed in the 1920s, the Indus Civilization has been seen as both unique, with no precedents in any other region, and as the Harappan phase of a sequence beginning with the Neolithic on the Indian subcontinent, and proceeding through the Sothi-Siswal and Hakra Ware to the Early Harappan in the third millennium BC. For example, a copper fox from Gujarat finds a close parallel in a stone sculpture of a fox from near Ur in southern Mesopotamia. This particular sculpture is dated to between 3000-2000 BC and is sold at Sotheby’s catalogue. With the evidence of a possible trade partner with Mesopotamia, it is unclear whether or not the Indus Civilization was uniquely indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. Artifacts from the Persian Gulf area serve as evidence that the Indus Civilization maintained strong ties with areas as far away as the Middle East. Some authors have proposed that the current caste system possibly had its origin during the Harappan phase, through a theory based on the differences in burial styles and simple indications of lower and higher social status. With continuous evolution from early phases in the Indian subcontinent, the caste system may or may not have had an influence from Indo-Aryan invasions. As stated before, the absence of a known script has made it difficult to date and determine specific details regarding the decline of the Indus Civilization. There is no clear evidence of the nature of the Aryan invasion, although there are a few possibilities. It is possible that the Aryan people may have overpowered and destroyed the Indus cities and effectively ended the Indus Civilization, though there is no clear idea of how this may have occurred. Another theory suggests that the Aryan people infiltrated the region in such masses that they simply became the new rulers and/or high-caste citizens, the sole reason for the drastic change in culture. Yet another theory suggests that the Aryan invasions had minimal impact upon the Indus Civilization, using the lack of extreme destruction and the continuity of Indus cultural traits into later eras (such as the PGW and the Vedic period) as evidence. With the absence of solid evidence, these theories are no more than speculation and the decline of the Indus Civilization remains an unknown.
