Notes Class 11 Chapter 2 History Maharashtra Board

First Cities of India

Introduction

The Harappan Civilisation, also known as the Indus Valley Civilisation, is one of the earliest urban cultures in the Indian subcontinent, flourishing around 3500-3000 BCE during the Bronze Age. Discovered in 1921 (Harappa) and 1922 (Mohenjodaro), it extended India’s historical timeline far beyond the previously known period of Alexander’s invasion (326 BCE). Spanning approximately 1,500,000 square kilometers, it stretched from Afghanistan to Maharashtra and from the Makran coast to Haryana. Over 2,000 Harappan sites have been recorded, with key cities including Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Kalibangan, Lothal, Dholavira, and Rakhigarhi. The civilisation evolved through three phases:

1. Early Harappan Period (pre-urban phase)
2. Mature Harappan Period (urban phase)
3. Late Harappan Period (decline phase)

The origins of the Harappan people remain a mystery, but their achievements in urban planning, administration, trade, and culture highlight their sophistication.

2.1 Characteristics of Harappan Civilisation

Roots in Pre-Harappan Cultures

The Harappan Civilisation traces its roots to Neolithic pre-Harappan cultures:

• Togao Culture at Mehrgarh (Baluchistan), excavated by Jean Francois Jarrige and Richard Meadow, showing early signs of Harappan traits.
• Ravi or Hakra Culture, found at sites like Harappa (Punjab, Pakistan), Kunal, Bhirrana, and Farmana (Haryana).

These cultures laid the foundation for the urban development seen in the Harappan period.

Discovery and Historical Significance

• Before the discovery of Harappa and Mohenjodaro, the earliest known event in Indian history was Alexander’s invasion (326 BCE).
• The discovery of Harappan cities pushed India’s antiquity back to 3500-3000 BCE, revealing a well-developed civilisation.
• Initial curiosity about Harappa began in 1829 with Charles Masson, followed by Lieutenant Alexander Burnes and Sir Alexander Cunningham (first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India), who conducted excavations in 1872-73.

Key Characteristics

The Harappan Civilisation is renowned for its advanced urban features, evident in the following aspects:

Systematic Town Planning:

• Construction: Houses were built with baked bricks, featuring bathrooms, toilets, wells, and advanced drainage systems.
• City Layout: Cities were divided into fortified sections (e.g., citadel and lower town), with streets intersecting at right angles in a grid pattern.
• Building Techniques: Use of English bond masonry (alternating headers and stretchers) for earthquake-resistant walls.
• Public Infrastructure: Granaries, public baths (e.g., Great Bath at Mohenjodaro), and monumental buildings for public use.
• Example: Mohenjodaro’s intact remains reveal wide streets and majestic buildings, comparable to modern city planning like Chandigarh.

Central Administration:

• Standardisation: Uniform brick sizes (1:2:4 ratio), weights (increasing in multiples of 8), and consistent pottery designs.
• Resource Control: Administrative oversight of water, food, and trade resources.
• Public Buildings: Non-residential structures likely served as administrative offices.
• Example: Citadels housed officials managing granaries and workers.

Social Organisation:

• Hierarchy: Society was stratified based on power and occupation, with distinct classes of artisans (potters, metalworkers, bead-makers).
• Craft Specialisation: Artisans lived in designated city areas for production efficiency.
• Belief Systems: Artefacts and architecture suggest rituals, with evidence of burials indicating post-death practices.
• Example: Fire altars at Kalibangan hint at possible fire worship.

Economy:

• Mass Production: Goods like pottery, statues, beads, and metal objects (gold, silver, copper, bronze) were produced for trade.
• Trade Networks: Flourishing internal trade and long-distance commerce with Mesopotamia, exporting copper, ivory, lapis lazuli, textiles, and indigo.
• Industrial Zones: Factories and artisan residences were concentrated in specific city sections.
• Example: Lothal’s dock facilitated maritime trade.

Writing System:

• Harappan seals bear a script that remains undeciphered, indicating a developed system of communication.
• Example: Seals with animal motifs and inscriptions were used for trade and administration.

Key Harappan Cities

1. Harappa

Location: On the banks of the Ravi River, Sahiwal District, Punjab, Pakistan.

Size: Spread over 150 hectares.

Excavations:

• Began in 1921, with significant work by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1946, who traced the citadel’s fortification wall.

Historical Phases:

• Early Harappan settlement around 3300 BCE.
• Mature Harappan (urban) phase by 2600 BCE, peaking between 2450-1900 BCE.
• Late Harappan phase began around 1900 BCE, marking decline.

Features:

• Divided into four sections: citadel, lower town, factories/artisan quarters (southeast), and granary/workers’ quarters (north).
• Granaries and working platforms indicate administrative control.

Significance: One of the first sites to reveal Harappan urban planning.

2. Mohenjodaro

Location: On the banks of the Indus River, Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan.

Size: The largest Harappan city in Pakistan.

Excavations:

• Started in 1921-22 by Rakhaldas Banerjee, continued by Madho Sarup Vats, Kashinath Narayan Dikshit, and Earnest Mackay under Sir John Marshall (1923-24).

Features:

• Divided into three sections: citadel, lower town, and a market with workshops and kilns.
• Intact remains of houses, wide streets, and public monuments highlight advanced town planning.
• High groundwater levels prevented excavation to the bottom layer, but a Neolithic settlement likely existed.

Significance: Revealed cultural ties with Mesopotamia through similar seals and artefacts.

3. Kalibangan

Location: Hanumangarh District, Rajasthan, on the banks of the Ghaggar River, 205 km from Bikaner.

Excavations:

• Confirmed as a Harappan site in 1960 under Brijabasi Lal and Balkrishna Thapar.

Features:

• Two settlements: Early Harappan and Mature Harappan.
• Divided into citadel and lower town.
• Notable for:
  • A ploughed field (c. 2800 BCE), with furrows similar to modern fields.
  • Fire altars (six to seven in the citadel and houses), possibly indicating fire worship, with some containing animal bones.

Significance: Provides evidence of early agricultural practices and ritualistic traditions.

4. Lothal

Location: Near the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat, 80 km from Ahmedabad, on the Bhogao River.

Excavations:

• Conducted from 1955-1960 by S.R. Rao.

Features:

• Single fortification wall surrounding both citadel and lower town.
• Famous for its dock, a marvel of ancient engineering, designed to manage high and low tides for boat entry/exit.
• Included platforms for stalls, a warehouse, and evidence of trade activities.

Significance: A key port and trading centre, demonstrating maritime expertise.

5. Dholavira

Location: Khadirbet, Kutch District, Gujarat.

Excavations:

• Discovered by J.P. Joshi; excavations began in 1990 under R.S. Bisht.

Features:

• Fifth largest Harappan city, with unique town planning.
• Divided into four sections: citadel, officials’ area, lower town, and a workers’ section without internal walls.
• Early Harappan settlement had mud-brick walls, later overlaid by a Mature Harappan city with an outer fortification.
• Advanced water management with a dam diverting stream water to canals and lakes.

Significance: Showcases innovative urban planning and water conservation techniques.

6. Rakhigarhi

Location: Hissar District, Haryana, on the Chautang (ancient Drishdvati) River, 150 km from Delhi.

Size: Largest Harappan site (over 350 hectares).

Excavations:

• Started in 1963, continued in 1997-2000, and later by Dr. Vasant Shinde (Deccan College, Pune).

Features:

• Exhibits all Harappan characteristics, including fire altars similar to Kalibangan.
• Cemeteries yielded skeletal remains for genetic analysis, potentially revealing the origin of Harappans.

Significance: Major centre in the eastern Harappan region, crucial for understanding population genetics.

Additional Notes

• Ghaggar-Hakra River: Many Harappan sites are located along its dry bed, possibly the ancient Saraswati River. It flows only during monsoons, originating in the Siwalik Hills and ending in the Rann of Kutch.
• World Heritage Sites: Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Ganweriwala (Pakistan), Rakhigarhi, and Dholavira (India) are UNESCO-recognised sites.

2.2 Interrelationship between Cities and Villages

Urban-Rural Dependency:

• Harappan cities depended on villages for food grains and raw materials (clay, stones, metals) to sustain urban life and industrial production.
• Villages relied on cities for finished goods and administrative support.

Network of Settlements:

• A system of small towns, villages, and semi-nomadic camps supported urban centres.
• Example: Shortugai (Afghanistan) supplied lapis lazuli, a key trade commodity, highlighting the inclusion of remote regions.

Development Process:

• Not all pre-Harappan settlements became cities; some remained villages, contributing to the urban economy.
• The Ghaggar basin shows evidence of early urbanisation, possibly predating other regions by 5000 years.

2.3 Production, Trade, Organisation, and Administration

Production

Early Phase:

• Women initially made handmade earthen pots and used digging sticks for farming, producing only for family needs.

Advancements:

• Early Harappan: Use of bullocks for ploughing and transport, and wheels for mass pottery production.
• Mature Harappan: Ploughs (evident from clay replicas at Banawali) increased agricultural output, enabling surplus production and barter systems.

Industrial Output:

• Cities had reserved sections for producing pottery, metal objects, beads, and statues.
• Example: Chanudaro (Sindh) was a major industrial town.

Trade

Internal Trade:

• Barter system exchanged food grains for salt, metals, and precious objects.

Distant Trade:

• Regular trade with Mesopotamia began in the Early Harappan period and peaked during the Mature phase (c. 2334 BCE, under Akkadian Emperor Sargon I).
• Key trade centres:
  • Dilmun: Bahrain.
  • Makan: Oman-Iran-Baluchistan coast.
  • Meluhha: Harappan region, known for copper (linked to its red colour).
• Exports: Copper, ivory, lapis lazuli, carnelian beads, textiles, timber, indigo (used for dyeing Egyptian mummy cloth), monkeys, and peacocks.
• Imports: Wool, gold, silver.

Maritime Trade:

• Sea routes became preferred over land routes through Iran and Central Asia.
• Lothal: A major port with a dock for trade.
• Dholavira: Oversaw trade in Saurashtra.
• Outposts: Kuntasi, Nageshwar, and Bagasara in Gujarat facilitated access to copper, chank shells, and semi-precious stones.

Organisation and Administration

Administrative System:

• Standardisation of bricks, weights, seals, and pottery shapes indicates centralised control.
• Town planning and resource management (e.g., water, granaries) suggest a structured governance system.

Polity:

• The nature of Harappan governance (single state or federation) is unknown.
• Major cities like Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Rakhigarhi may have been regional capitals.
• Religious centres included Mohenjodaro, Kalibangan, Lothal, and Rakhigarhi.

Mesopotamian Influence:

• The concept of a “Priest-King” was hypothesised based on similarities with Mesopotamian temple-based administration (ziggurats), though unconfirmed.
• Mesopotamian cities relied on Harappan imports (metals, gems, timber) due to their own resource scarcity.

2.4 Decline of the Cities

Early Theories

Invasion Hypothesis:

• Sir Mortimer Wheeler suggested Vedic Aryans, led by Indra (“Purandara,” destroyer of forts), invaded and destroyed Harappan cities, as the cities were fortified.
• This theory was initially widely accepted but is now disproved due to lack of evidence.

Actual Causes

The decline, starting around 2000-1900 BCE, was a cumulative effect of multiple factors:

Climatic Changes:

• Increasing aridity and frequent famines degraded cultivable land.
• Similar environmental deterioration affected Mesopotamia, weakening trade.

Decline in Trade:

• Mesopotamian economy weakened due to internal conflicts and salination of agricultural land, reducing demand for Harappan goods.

Geographical Disruption:

• A major earthquake in the Saraswati (Ghaggar-Hakra) basin raised the riverbed, diverting tributaries like the Sutlej and Yamuna.
• The drying of the Saraswati disrupted the agricultural support system, forcing migration.

Consequences

Late Harappan Period:

• Cities were abandoned, and simpler settlements emerged with different pottery, houses, and funerary customs.

Migration:

• Harappans migrated to Rajasthan, Gujarat, Malwa, and Maharashtra, establishing new rural settlements.

Chalcolithic Cultures:

• These migrations led to the rise of post-Harappan rural cultures, known as Chalcolithic Cultures, marking the end of urban Harappan society.

Terminology

1. Pre-Harappan Cultures: Cultures before the Harappan Civilisation (e.g., Togao, Ravi/Hakra).
2. Early Harappan Period: Initial phase of Harappan development.
3. Mature (Urban) Harappan Period: Peak urban phase.
4. Late Harappan Period: Decline phase after 1900 BCE.
5. Post-Harappan Cultures: Rural Chalcolithic cultures post-Harappan.

Key Points for Revision

• Urban Features: Grid-pattern cities, advanced drainage, standardised construction.
• Economy: Trade with Mesopotamia, mass production, maritime ports.
• Administration: Centralised control, though polity unclear.
• Decline: Environmental changes, trade collapse, and geographical disruptions.
• Legacy: Harappan sites are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and skeletal studies (e.g., Rakhigarhi) may reveal origins.