Harappan Civilization: Subsistence Pattern

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HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

SUBSISTENCE PATTERN:
The resource potential of Harappan civilization was rich enough to generate surpluses that are
important aspects of urbanization. The diversity of the subsistence base may also have been an
important sustaining factor – if one food resource failed, people could turn to others. Agriculture was
the mainstay, followed by animal husbandry and hunting. The sources of information on the subsistence
patterns of the Harappans consist of plant remains, animal bones, artefacts, motifs on seals and pottery,
and analogies with modern practices.

WHEAT has been found at Mohenjodaro and Harappa.

BARLEY at Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Kalibangan.

SESAMUM occurs at Harappa.

RICE occurs at Harappa, Kalibangan, Lothal, and Rangpur.

MILLETS occur at Harappa, Surkatoda, and Shortughai.

COTTON and GRAPES may also have been known.

The Harappans were familiar with the PLOUGH. Terracotta ploughs have been found at Indus sites in
Cholistan and at Banawali.

A PLOUGHED FIELD was revealed through excavation at Kalibangan. Though it belonged to the early
Harappan period, there is no reason to doubt that the pattern continued during the mature Harappan
period. The Kalibangan field contained two sets of furrows crossing each other at right angles, thus
forming a grid pattern, and it is likely that two crops were raised in the same field.

IRRIGATION CANALS have been found at Shortughai.

Bones of wild animals have been found at Harappan sites. These include many varieties of deer, pig,
boar, sheep, goat, and ass.

Bones of fish and tortoise have also been found.

Rhinoceros bones occur only at Amri, although this animal is depicted in a lot of seals and in terracotta
figurines.

Elephant and camel bones occur in very small quantities, although the elephant appears on the seals.
Tigers are represented often in figurines.

The discovery of marine catfish bones at Harappa suggests that coastal communities may have traded in
dried fish in inland cities.

Harappan sites have also yielded remains of domesticated animals such as humped and hump less
cattle, buffalo, sheep and goat. Cattle and buffalo have been used for milk, meat and also as drought
animals. Goat and sheep could have been used for meat, wool, and milk and as pack animals.

Dog figurines suggest the domestication of this animal.

Horse remains have been reported at Harappa, Lothal, Surkatoda, and Kalibangan and at superficial
levels at Mohenjodaro.

In general, the Indus food economy was a broad-based, risk-mitigating system - a pragmatic strategy,
considering the large and concentrated population groups that had to be supported.

CRAFT PRODUCTION AND TRADE:


A spectacular range of artisanal production is encountered at Indus cities. Along with the production of
objects of daily use such as pottery and stone blades, there was a widespread urban demand for shell
artefacts, semi-precious stone and steatite beads, faience objects, and implements as also jewellery in
base and precious metals.

The Harappan pottery reflects efficient mass-production. Pottery kilns were found at Mohenjodaro,
Harappa, Nausharo, and Chanhudaro. There is a great variety of pottery, including black-on-red, grey,
buff, and black-and-red wares. The typical Harappan pottery is a fine, sturdy, wheel-made ware with a
bright red slip, decorated with painted black designs.

Inferences can be made about the functions of some of the Harappan pots. The large jars may have
been used to store grain or water. The more elaborately painted pots may have had a ceremonial use or
may have belonged to rich people. Shallow bowls probably held cooked food; flattish dishes were used
as plates.

Harappan sites have yielded a profusion of terracottas.

 There are figurines of animals such as bulls, buffalos, monkeys and dogs.
 There are toy carts with solid wheels.
 Male and female figurines of various types.
 Terracotta bangles and masks.

The Harappans made faience bangles, rings, pendants, miniature vessels, and figurines.
The Harappan civilization is marked by a large number of copper objects. Apart from making artefacts
out of pure copper, Harappan craftspersons alloyed copper with arsenic, tin or nickel. Copper and
bronze artefacts included vessels, spears, knives, short swords, arrowheads, axes, fishhooks, needles,
rings and bangles.

Beautifully worked gold and silver jewellery including necklaces, bracelets, brooches, pendants, and
earrings have been found at Harappan sites. A hoard of jewellery made of gold, silver, and semi-precious
stones were found at the small village site of Allahdino.

Seal making was another important Harappan craft. Most of the seals are square or rectangular. A few
cylindrical and round seals have also been found. Most of the seals are made of steatite, but there are a
few silver, faience, and calcite ones as well. Two fine seals with the unicorn motif were discovered at
Mohenjodaro, and some copper and soapstone ones were found at Lothal. Motifs include the elephant,
tiger, antelope, crocodile, hare, humped bull, buffalo, rhinoceros, and the one-horned mythical animal
referred to as unicorn. Most of the seals have inscription.

The Harappan craftspeople made beads out of steatite, carnelian, lapis lazuli, shell, terracotta, gold,
silver and copper. Bead making factories with tool, furnaces and beads in various stages of preparation
have been found at Lothal and Chanhudaro.

It can be inferred from the available evidence that the Harappans made cotton and woolen textiles. The
terracotta figurines wearing clothes reflect the kinds of clothes people wore. At Harappa, cotton threads
were found wrapped around the handle of a small copper mirror in a burial. Various kinds of spindle
whorls for spinning thread have been found at Harappan sites.

Standardization extended to units of weights and measures. Cubical weights made of chert, chalcedony,
black stone, etc. have been found at all excavated sites, and their accuracy all over the Harappan culture
is remarkable.

Such craft production could survive and prosper because of a highly organized trading system. Indus
people had the capacity to mobilize resources from various areas ranging from Rajasthan to Afghanistan
and, considering the scale of manufacture, it is likely that there were full-time traders that helped in
providing the necessary raw materials.

It is clear that trade networks within the Harappan culture zone and those linking the culture with other
areas in the subcontinent were extremely significant. The KHETRI deposits of Rajasthan must have been
an important source of copper. Lead and zinc probably also came from Rajasthan. Tin is available in the
Tosam area of Haryana but other possible sources are Afghanistan and central Asia. Gold may have
come from Kolar fields of Karnataka. Most varieties of semi-precious stone used for bead manufacturing
came from Gujarat. The exception is Lapis-Lazuli, which was probably obtained from Afghanistan.

Two wheeled carts were an important mode of transport for people and goods. Bronze and terracotta
models of carts have been found at various sites. Traders must have transported their merchandise
across long distances in caravans of pack animals such as oxen, sheep, goats and donkeys. Boats are
depicted on seals and moulded tablets, and clay models have been found at Harappa and Lothal.

Lahiri points out that major trade routes connected the following areas: Sindh and south Baluchistan,
the Indus plains and Rajasthan, Sindh and east Punjab, east Punjab and Rajasthan, and Sindh and
Gujarat.

The main sources of information on long-distance trade include a number of Harappan artefacts found
at sites outside the subcontinent, and foreign objects found at Harappan sites. Indus and Indus-related
objects have been found in north Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, north and south Iran, Bahrain, Failaka and
the Oman Peninsula in the Persian Gulf, and north and south Mesopotamia. The objects include etched
carnelian and long barrel-cylinder carnelian beads, square/ rectangular Indus seals, pottery with the
Indus script, 'Indus' motifs on local seals, ivory objects, and various terracottas such as ithyphallic
specimens that have strong Indus analogues. Externally derived objects and traits have been found at
Indus sites such as seals with Mesopotamian and Persian Gulf affinities, externally derived motifs on
seals and steatite/ chlorite vessels.

There is an abundance of raw materials on the peripheries and within the area where Indus cities and
settlements flourished. While, there may have been some raw materials involved in long distance trade,
there is no reason to argue that the Indus civilization was in any way either solely or significantly
dependent on the regions to the west for such resources.

THE NATURE AND USES OF WRITING


Among the biggest mysteries about the Harappan civilization are the language the Harappans spoke and
their writing system. There is so far no consensus on the affiliation of the Harappan language or on the
decipherment of the script.

Most of the writing appears on the seals and sealings, some on copper tablets, copper/bronze
implements, pottery, and other miscellaneous objects. The two sites of Mohenjodaro and Harappa
together account for about 87% of all inscribed material. Most of the inscriptions are very short, with an
average of five signs. The longest one has 5 signs.

The script is LOGO-SYLLABIC, i.e., each symbol stood for a word or a syllable. It is generally written and
meant to be read from right to left.

Writing appears very frequently on the seals. Some of these were imposed onto small moist clay tablets
known as sealings, probably used by merchants to authenticate their bales of merchandise.
Writing also appears on miniature tablets made of steatite, terracotta, and faience. Rectangular copper
tablets with writing and animal motifs were found at Mohenjodaro, while a few tablets with raised
writing were found at Harappa.

The evidence of writing on pottery suggests a wider use in craft production and economic transactions.
Even if the potters who made the marks on the pots were themselves illiterate, they must have been
able to recognize the symbols.

Items like copper and bronze tools, stoneware bangles, bone pins and gold jewellery were sometimes
inscribed. A copper vessel found at Mohenjodaro contained a large number of gold objects. These
included 4 ornaments with tiny inscriptions. Some of the writing inscribed or painted on personal
possessions such as bangles, tools, beads, bones may have had some sort of magico-religious r ritualistic
significance.

The virtual disappearance of the script by c. 1700 BC suggests both a close connection of writing with
city life and the lack of sufficient downward percolation of writing.

RULING ELITE:

Political organization includes a range of issues relating to exercise of power and leadership in society.
The debate on the nature of political power in Harappan state has focused largely on whether or not the
state existed, and if so, what sort of a state it was.

Many scholars suggest that the evidence of warfare, conflict and force is weak in Harappan civilization as
compare to contemporary Mesopotamia and Egypt. Weapons are not a dominant feature in the artefact
of the Harappan culture. However, fortifications especially the imposing ones at the site of Dholavira
cannot be ignored. Force and conflict could not have been completely absent in such a large area for
such a long period of time.

That the civilization lasted for about 700 years and its artefact, symbols and cultures remained more or
less unchanged throughout the long period of time suggests a strong element of political stability. There
must have been groups of rulers in various cities. These groups must have been responsible for the
maintenance of the city facilities- walls, roads, drains, public buildings, etc.

PIGGOT suggested that the Harappan state was a highly centralized empire ruled by autocratic priest
kings from the twin capital of Mohenjodaro and Harappa. This view was based on a number of features
including uniformity in material traits, use of common script and standardization of weights and
measures.

WALTER A. FAIRSERVIS argued that Harappans did not have an empire, not even a state. He pointed to
the absence of evidence of priest-kings, slaves, standing army or court officials. Mohenjodaro, according
to him, could have been a ceremonial centre, not an administrative one. The sort of control visible in
Harappan civilization would have been exercised by an elaborate village administration.

SHAFFER questioned the homogeneity of the Harappan civilization and suggested that it could have
been possible due to a well-developed network of internal trade rather than a strong, centralized
government. He underlines the absence of royal tombs, palaces and temples, and also the absence of
social differentiation of the kind present in ancient Mesopotamia. All the typical Harappan artefacts are
visible in small village settlements. This suggests an equality of wealth or the symbols of wealth among
city and village dwellers, which goes against the idea of a centralized empire.

The fact that some form of state structure did exist in the Harappan civilization cannot be denied. The
communication system, standardization of weights, site specialization, and mobilization of labour for
public works- all these things indicate a level of economic complexity and the existence of a state.

According to POSSEHL, Harappa society was highly disciplined and had a strong corporate element. They
may have been ruled by council rather than a king.

KENOYER suggests that the Harappans may have comprised many competing classes of urban elites,
such as merchants, ritual specialists, and those who controlled resources such as land and livestock, with
different levels and spheres of control.

THE DECLINE OF URBAN LIFE:


Decline had set in 2200 BC and the civilization came to an end by 2000 BC. Mohenjodaro and Dholavira
gave a picture of gradual decline but at sites like Banawali and Rakhigarhi, city life came to an end all of
a sudden.

The idea that the civilization was destroyed by the INVASION OF THE ARYANS was formulated by
Ramaprasada Chanda and was elaborated by MORTIMER WHEELER. Wheeler argued that the references
in Vedas to various kinds of forts, attacks on walled cities, and the epithet of puramdara give to the God
Indra must have had a historical basis and reflect an Aryan invasion of the Harappan cities. He identified
a place called Hariyupiya in the Rig Veda with Harappa. Wheeler also pointed to certain skeletal remains
found at Mohenjodaro as proof of the Aryan massacre. The Cemetery-H culture, he suggested,
represented the culture of the Aryan invaders.

Many scholars such as P.V.KANE, GEORGE DALES, and B.B.LAL, have refuted the invasion theory. The
evidence from the Rig Veda, a religious text of uncertain date, is far from conclusive. There is no
evidence of military assault or conflict at any Harappan site.

NATURAL DISASTERS, not necessarily sudden or single, did have a role to play. Several layers of silt at
Mohenjodaro give evidence of city being affected by repeated episodes of Indus floods. M.R.SAHNI,
ROBERT L. RAIKES and GEORGE F. DALES argues that the floods were a result of tectonic movements.
The theory is that the tectonic movements led to the creation of a gigantic natural dam that prevented
the Indus from flowing towards the sea, turning the area around Mohenjodaro into a huge lake.

The Sutlej and Yamuna once flowed into the Ghaggar. Tectonic movements led to river rupture- either
the Yamuna joined up with the Ganga system or the Sutlej was captured by the Indus, drastically
reducing the water flowing into the Ghaggar. M.R. MUGHAL’S study of settlements in this region shows
a drastic reduction in the number of sites as the river dried up.

On the basis of his study of POLLEN GRAINS from Rajasthan lakes, GURDIP SINGH suggests a connection
between the onset of a drier climate and the decline of the Harappan civilization. However, a study of
the sediments of the Lunkaransar Lake indicates that the onset of the drier conditions in this area may
have happened well before the emergence of the Harappan civilization.

Archaeological evidence does not give direct access to the possible social and political dimensions of the
decline of the Harappan civilization. What it does indicate very clearly is that the Harappan culture
underwent a gradual process of de-urbanization. The mature Harappan- phase was followed by a late
Harappan phase.

SOCIETY:
It is generally agreed that the Harappan society was a stratified one with some kind of hierarchy in
place. The material remains from different sites and especially the spatial division into upper and lower
towns is an unequivocal indicator of this. ‘The people living in the Citadel were segregated from those in
the Lower Town. At Mohenjo-Daro they were separated by some 150m and at Kalibangan, by 40m. The
segregation of different localities was carried to an almost ghetto-like perfection at Dholavira where the
habitation was divided into four distinct, well-defined parts of which the Castle was for the rulers, the
Bailey to its west for noblemen, the Middle Town was occupied by merchants and craftsmen and the
land owning class like the Mound E at Harappa, whereas the Lower Town was occupied by the service
class’ (Dhavalikar 1997: 68). We can thus presume class and rank differences based on occupation,
wealth and status, but to insist on the existence of a caste system, like some scholars have done, will
require more substantial and unproblematic evidence.

What we can say, on the basis of our current knowledge, is that the Harappan people were rural,
provincial and urban folk, and their occupations included farming, animal herding, hunting-gathering,
fishing, sailing, boat making, carpentry, masonry, craft production, trade, shop-keeping, sweeping and
garbage collecting. There were also groups involved in superstructure maintenance like rulers,
administrative officers and priests/rituals specialists. What the nature of the interaction and transaction
of these groups was, whether groups performed multiple functions or whether they were endogamous
kin groups cannot be said with certainty.

A whole corpus of human terracotta figurines has been recovered from Harappan sites, which though
stylized and perhaps audience-specific, nonetheless help us imagine the Harappan people. Thus, it
seems that the women wore short skirts of cotton or wool, arranged their hair in a variety of hairdos and
liked to wear lots of jewellery. Men too wore their hair long and either wore turbans, or made a
bun/braids, or let it hang loose. Most of the male figurines sport a beard ranging from a goatee to a
regular beard.

Toys for children give us evidence of what amused the kids back then. These fascinating terracotta toys
include balls, tops, rattles, whistles, gamesmen, carts with moveable parts and animals on wheels. Clay
marbles and miniature terracotta vessels and furniture speak evocatively of the seeming changelessness
of childhood amusements.

RELIGION:
The archaeological indicators for a reconstruction of Harappan religious beliefs and practices are mainly
portable objects of various kinds, figural representations and a few areas within settlements which seem
to have been set apart for sacred purposes. There are no structures at Indus sites that can be described
as temples nor are there any statues which can be considered as images that were worshipped. A few
structures reflect a connection between concepts of cleansing through water in relation to ritual
functions. The sunken, rectangular basin known as the 'Great Bath' at Mohenjo-Daro is one such
instance. The cult connection of this water-using structure is evident from its method of construction
which had three concentric zones around it, including streets on all four sides (making it the only free
standing structure of the city), for the purpose of a ritual procession leading into it.

The bathing pavements and well in the vicinity of the offering pits on Kalibangan's citadel also underline
this connection. As for beliefs connected with fertility, it is possible that some terracotta figurines
represent forms of the Mother Goddess and were household deities in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. At
towns like Kalibangan and Surkotada, female figurines are practically absent. Even at Mohenjo-Daro, the
fact that only 475 of the total number of terracotta figurines and fragments represented the female
form means that this was not as common a practice as it has been made out to be. Several of the female
figurines were utilized as lamps or for the burning of incense.

Fertility in relation to the male principle has also been evoked not merely in the context of the 'Siva-
Pasupati' seal but also with reference to the phallic stones that have been found at Mohenjo-Daro,
Harappa and Dholavira, and with regard to a miniature terracotta representation of a phallic emblem set
in an ovular shaped flat receptacle from Kalibangan. Religious sanctity was associated with particular
trees and animals as well. The presence of part human-part animal characters on Indus seals and a
human personage on a pipal tree, in fact, suggest a shamanistic component in Harappan religion. None
of these features however suggest a trans-regional Indus religion with cult centers and state dominated
rituals of the kind that is writ large on the architectural landscape of Bronze Age West Asia and Egypt.

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