The Penguin History of Early India

by Romila Thapar

  The kind of evidence that is associated with the archaic states of west Asia is hardly recognizable in the Harappan state or states. Distinctive buildings cluster in one area in most cities, and there is a striking absence of monumental graves or well-demarcated sacred centres. Even a palace is difficult to discern. The availability of weapons appears to have been limited, with little evidence of disturbed strata to indicate physical destruction arising from warfare. The usual supporting evidence for an organized administration in the form of designations, codes and accounting is unavailable, unless some of the pictograms when deciphered contain information on titles and formal functionaries. The seals may well be tokens of identity of such authorities.

  Among the many remains of the Harappan culture, the most puzzling are the seals. They are generally small, flat, square or rectangular, often made of steatite, with a pictorial motif that depicts humans and/or animals or composite figures, and an inscription which remains undeciphered. If the script is pictographic or logographic and not alphabetic, as has been suggested, it could point to the use of more than one language. The possible languages that have been considered include Proto-Dravidian, Indo-Sumerian, Elamo-Dravidian, Indo-Aryan and Austro-Asiatic. Some systematic work in linguistic patterns suggested by the script has attempted to use Proto-Dravidian, but so far without success in decipherment. Attempts to read it as Indo-Aryan are as yet far from systematic. The one certainty is that the signs should be read from right to left. A perforated boss at the back of the seal helps in its handling. Seal impressions on clay indicate that among other uses seals were used to stamp packages. They could therefore have been tokens identifying civic authorities, supervisory managers of long-distance trade, merchants or those bringing raw materials to the cities, or clan affiliations. Signs of identification could relate to professions, religious associations or social organizations. The script also occurs on objects thought to be copper amulets, apart from occasionally being scratched on pots, bangles and suchlike. A short inscription in large-sized letters was unearthed at Dholavira and has been described as a signboard.

  Equally puzzling are some of the animals and the scenes depicted on the seals. The most common animal is one that is thought to be a mythical unicorn, although a more mundane identification describes it as a stylized rhinoceros. It is often depicted together with an object that has been variously interpreted, often described as an altar or even a brazier. Among single animals the bull and the elephant were popular. Tigers occur less frequently and more often as part of a scene. The depiction of the horse is absent on the seals. A few bones, said to be of the horse, and small terracotta forms occur in late levels at Pirak (Baluchistan) dating to the early second millennium BC. The claim that horse bones occur at Surkotada, and at a few other sites at earlier levels, has met with doubt, the bones being identified as those of the ass and the onager. The late arrival of the horse in India is not surprising since the horse is not an animal indigenous to India. Even on the west Asian scene, its presence is not registered until the second millennium BC. The horse was unimportant, ritually and functionally, to the Indus civilization.

  A noticeable difference between the Harappan cities and those of other ancient civilizations is the absence of recognizable religious buildings and of elaborate burials. If there were temples they are difficult to identify, for there is neither the presence of magnificent icons nor specially decorated structures. Temples therefore were not the focus of social bonding. Traditions of ancestral rituals are also not apparent, for people tended to migrate away from the cities when they declined. The cities may not therefore have been the focus of religious worship. Female figurines from the more westerly sites have been viewed as icons for worship with a prevalence of a goddess cult. This possibility is based in part on the continuing worship of various goddesses later in Indian history. Some emphasis on fertility rituals seems evident, but whether these were elaborate ceremonies remains uncertain. Fertility rituals would not be unusual given the prevalence of these in other chalcolithic cultures of the subcontinent. Some small oval structures containing ash have been interpreted as fire altars, but they could equally well be hearths. A shamanistic religion has also been suggested, but the urban character of the civilization is unlikely to have been conducive to shamanism.

  A few motifs continue from Harappan times into later history, such as the pipal - as a leaf decoration on pottery and as a tree on seals – which was revered by some later religious sects. Much speculation focuses on whether a seated figure on a seal represents a proto-Shiva. The identification of the figure is uncertain and the evidence for the link with Shiva is tenuous. It would perhaps be more apposite to regard these representations as contributing to the evolution of a later religious mythology and iconography, rather than insisting that a later icon be imposed on an earlier period. To explore the meaning of such an icon in its own context would perhaps be more meaningful than to give it an instant label derived from an icon of a much later period. The figure could equally well be identified as depicting a yogic position, as indeed female figures in trees on some seals could be linked to the evolving of the idea of apsaras, celestial maidens associated with trees.

  Sculptures in stone and bronze have been found, but in sporadic locations not indicating an assembly of images in a temple. Such sculpture shows a refinement of technique and concept that is striking. A small bronze figurine, probably not a ritual object, has the pleasing stance of a young and spirited woman. One among the portrait heads sculpted in stone is evidently of a person of consequence, given the band around his head and the trefoil design on his shawl, together with his curiously semi-closed eyes. Popular interpretation describes him as a priest, but this remains unproven. Terracotta forms range from children’s toys to larger representations of animals. There is a noticeable absence of figures reflecting grandiose self-representations, in common with many other civilizations of this period.

  Another striking contrast is the simplicity of the burials compared to the tombs of rulers further west. Grave goods are mainly the pottery of daily use with a scatter of other small items. Clearly, they did not expect huge demands on the dead in the after-life, nor were burials occasions for demonstrating status.

  Post-Harappan burials of the late second millennium BC in what has been called the Cemetery H culture, largely confined to Harappa and the Punjab plains, were accompanied by pottery that was different from the Harappan. The ritual of burial continued even if the culture of these later people was not identical. These burials may point to new arrivals or the emergence of some new traits in the cultures of the region. Such suggestive links through a few items reflect similar hints from earlier times, although the artefacts differed. For instance, connections have been suggested between artefacts found in the Bolan Valley and in the Indo-Iranian borderlands, and still further in Afghanistan and Iran, in the area now being referred to as the Bactria Margiana Archaeological Complex.

  The decline of the cities was once ascribed to invading Aryans. However, there is little archaeological evidence for the type of massive invasion that would have led to the collapse of a well-established political and economic system, resulting in a displacement of culture, although the denial of an invasion does not preclude the possibility of migrants bringing the Indo-Aryan language into India. The argument supporting an invasion was based on the subsequent culture of the Vedic corpus, using a language – Indo-Aryan – that had affinities with central Asian Indo-European, particularly with Old Iranian. That this language gained currency in northern India was thought to be the result of a conquest of the local population by Indo-Aryan speakers, the evidence being drawn from the hostility of the arya towards the dasa in the Rig-Veda. The reference to Indra attacking the pur, enclosed settlements of the dasas, was erroneously read as referring to the cities of the Indus civilization. However, there are alternative explanations for the introduction of Indo-Aryan into India and its gradual spread across northern India. These explanations have more to do with the
historical context of urban decline, the coexistence of differing cultures or languages, and the filtering of Indo-Aryan speakers into north India through small-scale migrations, than with the overly simplistic theory of an invasion as a historical explanation; or for that matter with the current attempts being made by some enthusiasts to prove the indigenous origin of the Indo-Aryan speakers even though, as we shall see, the evidence points to the contrary.

  The skeletons in habitation areas at Mohenjo-daro were earlier interpreted as demonstrating the massacre of citizens, which endorsed the theory of an invasion. But analyses of the skeletons revealed that most of these people had died of diseases such as severe anaemia, indicating a different set of reasons for urban decline. Violent deaths in a limited area do not necessarily mean widespread invasion and could be evidence of local disturbances. Diseases or severe environmental changes as factors in weakening a population have not been sufficiently examined in the context of early Indian history.

  Other explanations generally advanced are that the cities declined largely because of environmental changes, such as the long duration of the severe flooding of the Indus in the vicinity of Mohenjo-daro, and climatic change leading to greater desiccation, deforestation and a more generalized de-urbanization with the dying out of trade requirements and a consequent political collapse. The extent to which the degradation of the environment caused the decline of the cities remains unclear. Urban decline can only be properly explained by multiple causes, and these were not uniformly applicable to each region. This is also evident from the variant patterns that followed urban decline. Squatters from the countryside occupied some cities in the lower Indus Plain, bringing about a ruralization of the erstwhile urban system. Elsewhere there were migrations away from Harappan centres, as in the migration from the Hakra Plain towards the Ganges-Yamuna doab, or from Gujarat to northern Maharashtra. Some settlements in the north-west and Punjab might have been subjected to raids and skirmishes, such as are described in the Rig-Veda, or for which there appears to be occasional evidence at some sites, for example Kot Diji.

  The decline of the cities did not mean that the Harappan pattern of culture disappeared. Although many urban functions would have ceased, people in rural areas would have continued their activities with marginal changes. The Harappan system was a network linking the urban to the rural and some features could have been maintained in the rural areas, even if these areas suffered administratively and economically from the removal of this protective system. Some archaeological cultures were contiguous in time and space with the Harappan; at other places there were overlaps between the Late Harappan and subsequent cultures. Continuities would therefore not be unexpected, but it is more likely that these were restricted to mythologies, rituals and concepts of tradition, since the material culture does not show continuities.

  The second millennium also saw activity along the Indo-Iranian borderlands, including the arrival in north-western India of the horse and the chariot with a spoked wheel, both of which were new to the subcontinent. Occasional comings and goings across these borderlands were gradually to accelerate, a pattern that remained effective until recent times.

  Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cultures, Other Than in the North-West

  The evolution of an urban culture in the north-west did not envelop or sweep away all other pre-urban societies. Those in the vicinity were incorporated into the Harappan system. There were still, however, large numbers of hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and farmers whose lives were either untouched or only marginally affected by the changes in north-western India. The potential for change now lay with the chalcolithic cultures, using artefacts of stone and metal – primarily copper, until the early first millennium when iron was introduced.

  Chalcolithic societies of the second-first millennium BC emerged in many parts of the subcontinent, sometimes incorporating an earlier neolithic society. The sites of Burzahom and Gufkral (Kashmir), dating to the third-second millennium BC, feature pit dwellings cut into the loess soil of the plateau. Evidence of some carnelian beads, and the depiction of a horned animal on pottery, have both been taken as links with the Indus civilization. This need not imply a direct connection, since the artefacts could have come through a chain of exchanges. A stone engraving depicts a hunting scene. Stone implements for harvesting grain and approximating a sickle-shape are thought to have similarities with such harvesters from central Asia, but connections beyond this have not been established. Burials within the hut, sometimes together with an animal – such as a dog – occur both at these sites and elsewhere in India. Burzahom also has large upright stones or menhirs. Sites with some similarities are located in the hills of Almora (Uttaranchal). The more northern settlements of the Gandhara Grave culture in the Swat Valley were familiar with the horse by the late second millennium BC, and show evidence of the use of iron weapons in the early first millennium. The Swat Valley was one of the routes linking north-west India to Afghanistan and central Asia.

  One tends to look at the Ganges Plain for a larger spread of settlements, since this was to be the location of the second urbanization. There is a different sequence of cultures between the western and the eastern parts of the plain. The earliest culture in the western plain is that of the Ochre Colour Pottery (OCP) also found in the watershed, and this has been excavated at sites such as Atranjikhera, Lai Qila and Hulas. This pottery was earlier linked to poor quality Harappan ware, but the link remains tenuous despite some evidence of Late Harappan remains in the early levels at Hulas. At some sites in Haryana and Punjab there is an overlap between Late Harappan pottery and that of the people of the subsequent Painted Grey Ware (PGW). This would suggest an introduction of the Painted Grey Ware somewhat earlier than the first millennium. The later phase of the Painted Grey Ware is associated with the use of iron. Perhaps the most significant aspect of this evidence is that it reveals a minimal continuity from Harappan ideas in this area, although the cultures of the western Ganges Plain show little similarity with Harappan artefacts. The notion of urban centres, however, remained unfamiliar to these cultures since the preconditions were absent.

  Yet there seems to be a further connection eastwards as well. Copper objects with an impressive technical proficiency – spearheads, harpoons, celts, antennae swords and what are thought to be anthropomorphic figures – have been found buried as hoards in this area. Occasionally they occur in a stratified context, but more frequently in caches in fields. A link has been suggested with similar objects found in Chhotanagpur and further east, dating to the second millennium.

  The Painted Grey Ware culture, of which some sites were located in the Hakra Plain in a post-Harappan context, was predominant in the western Ganges Plain in the first millennium BC, spreading from the Indo-Gangetic watershed to the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna. Metal technology in this culture includes the early use of iron, which was more fully developed prior to and during the urbanization in the Ganges Plain, generally dated to the mid-millennium. Characteristic of many iron age cultures, the earlier use for iron was in weaponry but this gradually extended to other objects, particularly household ones. As agricultural communities they cultivated wheat and barley, although some rice was found and the domestication of cattle is attested. That cattle provided food other than milk products is evident from the proximity of cattle bones near domestic hearths, bearing marks of having been cut that indicate their flesh was eaten. Important settlements of the PGW include Ropar (Punjab), Bhagwanpura (Haryana) and Atranjikhera, Hastinapur, Ahicchatra, and Jakhera (Uttar Pradesh).

  Some sites of the second millennium in the middle Ganges Plain emerge more definitively in the first millennium – such as Piprahwa and Ganwaria (associated still later with Buddhism), Sohgaura, Narhan and Khairadih. The cluster of sites south of the Mirzapur area could be explained by their access to the Son Valley and the route going southwards. Settlements in the Belan Valley, south of Allahabad, have yielded rice grains and it was claimed that the domestication of rice went back
to the sixth millennium BC. However, this has been questioned and a later date is preferred. Domestication of plants and animals is evident at Koldihva and Chopanimando. Settlements in the Ganges Plain go back to about the third-second millennium BC, some having begun as neolithic sites, such as Chirand at the confluence of the Ganges and the Sarayu, which remained important until the early Christian era. Huts of wattle-and-daub contained functional artefacts, including polished stone axes and microliths, bone implements, pestles and querns for grinding grain, and terracotta animal figurines, among which the bull was common. The later phase included copper artefacts, and still later there is evidence of some iron objects. Chirand provides useful information on the evolution of cultures in the Ganges Plain.

  The Northern Black Polished Ware, characteristic of the urban centres of the Ganges Plain, which was also the area of its provenance, is thought to have developed from high-temperature firing techniques used in smelting iron and from the use of local haematite soil. Its extensive distribution as a luxury ware helps the tracking of exchange and trade in various parts of the subcontinent.

  Further east in Bengal the chalcolithic sites seem to have been concentrated in the valleys to the west of the Bhagirathi, particularly in the Damodar and Ajay Valleys, perhaps because of access to the copper-producing areas in Chhotanagpur. Some settlements, such as Pandu Rajar Dhibi, Mahisdal and Mangalkot, began as neolithic sites but gradually began to use metal. Burials occur in the habitation areas. Further to the east, the Assam neolithic includes sites such as Daojali Hading and others in the Garo hills and the Cachar area. Neolithic settlements have also been found in Orissa at Kuchai and Golbai Sasan, and in Manipur. Connections with cultures in south-east Asia and eastern Asia have been suggested, but await further investigation. Similarities with neolithic cultures of these areas have been noticed in artefacts such as axes and harvesters, and in the stone used (such as jadeite), as well as in cord-impressed pottery.