The Lost River: On The Trail of Saraswati

by Michel Danino

  Yet, sailing down the Ravi from Harappa, on to the Chenab and the Indus all the way to Mohenjo-daro is a voyage of no less than 800 km: if such distant cities belonged to the same ancient culture, a new horizon was definitely opening up, which is precisely what a wide-eyed Marshall and his Indian collaborators were now contemplating. A firm chronological anchorage was, however, missing.

  Marshall took the plunge and published a detailed article in the Illustrated London News of 20 September 1924. Aptly entitled ‘First Light on a Long-forgotten Civilization: New Discoveries of an Unknown Prehistoric Past in India’, it began with these oft-quoted and prescient lines:

  Not often has it been given to archaeologists, as it was given to Schliemann at Tiryns and Mycenae, or to [Aurel] Stein in the deserts of Turkestan, to light upon the remains of a long-forgotten civilization. It looks, however, at this moment, as if we were on the threshold of such a discovery in the plains of the Indus.9

  The article’s pièce de résistance was a series of photographs depicting some of the structural remains that had been unearthed, pottery items, objects of daily use, and nineteen of the seals found at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro: for the first time, a wider public peered at unknown characters overlooking magnificent bulls and bull-like unicorns. Marshall was not after mere sensationalism; his hope was to obtain some clues. In fact, the magazine’s editors explicitly invited its ‘expert readers’ to help ‘elucidate the script’.

  The response was prompt: the Weekly’s very next issue carried a letter by A.H. Sayce, an Assyriologist, who pointed out that the seals looked very much like ‘proto-Elamite’ tablets found at Susa, the capital of Elam. Elam was an ancient culture related to the Mesopotamian civilization, located in today’s southwestern Iran (see Fig 5.6), and the proto-Elamite tablets were dated to the third millennium BCE. Sayce, therefore, pertinently wrote that the discovery of the Harappan seals ‘is likely to revolutionize our ideas of the age and origin of Indian civilization’.10 The following week, two more scholars attempted to parallel some of the Harappan signs with cuneiform Sumerian signs; Sumer, the earliest Mesopotamian civilization, again pointed to the third millennium BCE (its first cities, in fact, rose during the preceding millennium). However, such parallels remain conjectural at best. A third, more tangible piece of evidence came from Ernest J.H. Mackay, an archaeologist who wrote to Marshall reporting the recent find of a small square steatite seal at Kish, one of Sumer’s city-states. Mackay had excavated there, and was struck that the Kish seal looked identical to those in Marshall’s article, from the bull to the signs above it. A single conclusion imposed itself, however unlikely it seemed at first glance: the citizens of Mohenjo-daro were in contact with the Sumerians.

  AN ‘AGE-OLD CIVILIZATION’

  Marshall was understandably thrilled. At one stroke, India’s protohistory had taken a giant leap into the past: no one had dared to advance a date older than the first millennium BCE for the Indus finds, and now there was talk of 3000 BCE! India could at last take pride in having been home to a civilization that was contemporary with ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, and one that, in addition, reached out as far as Sumer and Elam (Table 4.1).

  Table 4.1. A timeline of the Indus and contemporary civilizations.

  As Marshall himself wrote at the start of an article reproduced in many Indian dailies in late 1924:

  Indians have always been justly proud of their age-old civilization and believing that this civilization was as ancient as any in Asia, they have long been hoping that archaeology would discover definite monumental evidence to justify their belief. This hope has now been fulfilled.11

  The wide publicity that followed had the happy consequence of loosening the stingy government’s purse strings. Daya Ram Sahni resumed his excavation of Harappa while archaeologist K.N. Dikshit was sent to Mohenjo-daro in 1924. Marshall himself joined the latter the next year, recruiting more excavators such as N.G. Majumdar (who was killed by dacoits during explorations in Baluchistan a few years later) and Ernest Mackay, who had left Mesopotamia for the Indus on Marshall’s invitation.

  While excavations continued off and on at those two sites, Marshall was conscious that there must be more of the kind. Settlements that had been spotted earlier but had not been related to Mohenjo-daro or Harappa were revisited during the following years, such as Sutkagen-dor on the Makran coast, close to today’s Iran-Pakistan border, Dabar-Kot and Nal in Baluchistan, Chanhu-daro, some 140 km downstream of Mohenjo-daro (on the same abandoned bed of the Indus), and Amri, closer to today’s Indus. Those sites were small and unimpressive as compared to Mohenjo-daro, yet they contributed important data.

  Since most of them were found in the Indus basin or its periphery, when Marshall edited a massive three-volume excavation report on Mohenjo-daro in 1931, he titled it Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization. Some of his colleagues preferred the term ‘Harappan civilization’,† following the tradition of naming a culture after the first representative site to come to light. Both designations remain in use, and we will see later a third which has been proposed more recently.

  BOUNDARIES

  At the time of the 1947 Partition, the known Harappan sites numbered about forty; with two exceptions, they were located in newly created Pakistan: more precisely, in Pakistan’s Punjab, Sind and Baluchistan. By 1960, the number of these sites had reached about 100. Following a few systematic campaigns, especially on the Indian side, it grew by leaps and bounds, to 800 in 197912 and 1400 in 1984.13 In 1999, the US archaeologist Gregory Possehl, who has excavated Harappan sites and written prolifically on the Indus civilization, published a gazetteer of about 2600 sites.14 A more recent list adds up to over 3700,‡ and hardly a week or month goes by without some new settlement being reported. The last two lists agree on a little over 1000 sites for the urban, also called the ‘Mature’, phase.

  As a result, the expanse covered by this civilization has considerably increased since the 1920s. We have already travelled westward along the Makran coast almost as far as Iran. In northern Afghanistan, a small but important Harappan site came to light in 1975: Shortughai, on the left bank of the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus), close to today’s border with Tajikistan, across the Hindu Kush range and over 1000 km away from Harappa! Another site was found some 30 km from Jammu, on the Chenab. But the biggest surprise came from India’s states of Punjab, Haryana and northern Rajasthan, and Pakistan’s Cholistan Desert, which turned out to be studded with hundreds of smaller or larger settlements. This region is precisely the basin of the Ghaggar-Hakra, and we will visit some of these sites in Chapter 7. Gujarat, too, contributed a big crop of Harappan sites. The eastern and southern boundaries of this civilization were finally pushed back, respectively, to western Uttar Pradesh and the valleys of the Narmada and the Tapti. It does seem that to the Harappans, the region south of the Vindhyas was largely terra incognita, though archaeologists have not ruled out possible sporadic contacts with south India.

  Altogether, the area covered by this civilization (Fig. 4.1) was about 800,000 km2: roughly one-fourth of today’s India, or, if we make comparisons with contemporary civilizations, ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia put together. This vast expanse must have offered unique opportunities as well as posed peculiar challenges—opportunities in terms of a wider choice of sources for raw materials and a richer store of human skill and experience; and challenges arising from a greater diversity of regional cultures which had to be integrated, or at least coordinated, and the sheer extent of communication networks required to keep it all together. For a few centuries, the Harappans appear to have met those challenges with remarkable success, even though many of the solutions they worked out remain riddles as of today.

  Let us keep in mind, however, that this territory was not their exclusive preserve; on its fringes and sometimes within it, several regional Chalcolithic§ cultures have been identified;15 these remained based on village life, often interacting with the Harappan cities, but never adopting its most characteristic traits. And of
course there were, as there are today, many tribal groups in the hilly areas, from Baluchistan in the west to the lower Himalayan ranges in the north and east, as well as nomadic communities criss-crossing the landscape.

  THE MATURE PHASE

  Marshall, building on Mesopotamian parallels, proposed that Mohenjo-daro had flourished between 3250 and 2750 BCE. However, since the 1950s, radiocarbon dating from different sites16 has shown that the first Indus cities appeared around 2600 BCE, and that by 1900 BCE (or earlier for some sites) the urban structure had largely disintegrated.

  Those seven centuries represent the Mature phase of the Indus civilization, whose hallmarks include an advanced civic order, standardized brick sizes and proportions, a standardized system of weights, steatite seals inscribed with still mysterious characters, and specific art forms expressed through figurines, painted pottery, ornaments and daily objects.

  Less conspicuous aspects were also at work. One, an agriculture that produced enough surplus to feed the cities, regardless of unpredictable rivers or the vagaries of the monsoon. Two, refined technologies, particularly in the fields of bronze metallurgy, water management, sanitation and bead-making. Three, such techniques depended on a dynamic internal trade, and sometimes gave rise to an equally dynamic external trade. Four, as we just saw, a large-scale integration of regional cultures, traditions, ethnic groups, and probably languages and dialects, made it possible to have broadly the same urban features or pottery styles across hundreds of kilometres.

  For this last reason, the US archaeologist Jim Shaffer, who has contributed stimulating new perspectives on the Indus civilization, proposed the use of the term ‘Integration Era’ for this Mature phase.¶

  Mohenjo-daro, whose population has been estimated at 40,000 to 50,000, was probably the most extensive city; its total area, a fifth of which has been excavated, is generally stated to be between 150 and 200 ha (hectares), although the German archaeologist Michael Jansen, who conducted a detailed research on the city’s urbanism, leans towards 300 ha,17 which would make it possibly the largest city of the ancient world. Harappa was about half that size. Other cities and towns (Fig. 4.2) include Rakhigarhi (over 105 ha) and Banawali (10 ha), both in Haryana, Kalibangan in Rajasthan (12 ha), and, in Gujarat, Rangpur (possibly 50 ha), Lothal (7 ha) and Dholavira (48 ha within the fortified enclosures and perhaps as much outside). But quite a few still await the excavator’s spade: Ganweriwala, for instance, in the Cholistan Desert, on the Hakra, is thought to extend over 80 ha.

  Large cities have a special appeal to lovers of ancient civilizations, but they are not everything. Scattered throughout the hinterlands of Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Kalibangan and Lothal, hundreds of smaller towns and villages ensured the agricultural production and the supply of raw materials—metal ore, semi-precious stones, timber, firewood, cotton for weaving, etc.—without which the cities could not have survived. Often, excavators have been amazed to see small sites repeat urban features of the larger ones: fortifications, drains, the use of specific proportions, and standardized bricks, weights or crafts.

  ANTECEDENTS

  The urban phase was not born out of the blue; it was preceded by a long ‘Early’ phase, also called the ‘Regionalization Era’ by the American school, during which villages developed as well as exchanged technologies. Designs appeared on pottery that would become widespread in the Mature phase: peacocks, antelopes, leaves of pipal,** heads adorned with horns, fishes and fish scales, intersecting circles. Bronze metallurgy was perfected. Brick sizes began to be standardized : a common set of proportions was 1:2:3 (for height-width-length), although the proportions typical of the later Mature phase, 1:2:4, made their appearance at a few sites.18Towards the end of that period, the first rudiments of writing appeared, as testified by numerous graffiti on pots, and some settlements show geometrical patterns as well as fortifications with specific proportions. That phase is generally dated 3500 to 2700 BCE, although some archaeologists, such as Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, using a broader definition, push its beginning back to 5500 BCE.19

  A word of caution: labels, however convenient—or because they are so convenient—can be deceptive, and the designation ‘Early Harappan’ may create the optical illusion of a uniform development towards urbanism throughout the future Harappan realm. The reality is of course much more complex, with a number of regional cultures sharing certain traits, but being distinct from each other in many respects: the ‘Early Harappan’ pottery styles in, say, Cholistan differ from those in Baluchistan, which is why archaeologists prefer to give them their specific names and speak of Amri-Nal, Kot-Diji or Sothi-Siswal cultures, among others. What matters to us is the process of convergence of those regional cultures, which culminates in the urban phase—’cultural convergence’20 is indeed the term used for this transition by Raymond and Bridget Allchin, two British archaeologists who have spent decades exploring the subcontinent. Jim Shaffer and Diane Lichtenstein call it ‘fusion’.21

  However valid those two terms may be, there were also striking innovations at the start of the urban phase in every field, from architecture to technologies and crafts. The most radical departure is probably in town planning, and it often seems as if the Mature Harappans wished to start with a clean slate: almost half of the sites were established at virgin locations; elsewhere, for instance, at Kalibangan or Dholavira, older structures and plans were altered to the new standards; and at a few places, such as Kot-Diji, Nausharo or Amri, layers of ash suggest that the old settlement was simply set on fire to make room for the new (as we may assume from the absence of any sign of conflict). ‘Change in continuity’ is probably the best way to summarize the transition from the Early to the Mature Harappan phase.

  But even the ‘Early’ phase was not the earliest. In the 1960s, the French Archaeological Mission in Pakistan identified an important site in Baluchistan: Mehrgarh, strategically located at the foot of the Bolan Pass, named after the Bolan river, which cuts across the overhanging Kirthar hills, and which probably carried away part of the site in the past millennia. Mehrgarh, spread over some 250 ha, came to life around 7000 BCE, four millennia before the Indus cities. According to Jean-François Jarrige, who directed the excavations, it saw the emergence of agriculture-based communities, and ‘a veritable agricultural economy solidly established as early as 6000 BCE’.22 Indeed, extensive compartmentalized buildings for grain storage speak of a strong community organization controlling harvested grain and its distribution. That was the time when staple cereals such as wheat and barley were domesticated, along with sheep, goats and cattle (also the faithful dog). Importantly, right from the Neolithic epoch, the Indus plains saw the establishment of ‘longdistance trade networks’,23 evidenced at Mehrgarh by the presence of exotic materials such as conch shell (fashioned into bangles), lapis lazuli and other semi-precious stones.

  Although Mehrgarh is, for the moment, one of its kind, Neolithic antecedents leading up to the Harappan culture may yet come to light elsewhere. The newly explored site of Bhirrana in Haryana, for instance, has produced several radiocarbon dates in or before the fifth millennium;24 if confirmed, they would open new horizons on the antecedents of Harappan culture in the Sarasvatī basin.

  Table 4.2. Chronology of the Indus civilization according to the recent views of a few archaeologists (all dates are BCE).

  Phase Chakrabarti25 Kenoyer26 Possehl27

  Early Harappan 3500-2700 5500-2600 †† 3200-2600

  Mature Harappan 2700-2000 2600-1900 2500-1900

  Late Harappan 2000-1300 1900-1300 1900-1300

  AFTER THE COLLAPSE

  Some five millennia thus elapsed from the earliest antecedents at Mehrgarh to the collapse of the urban order around 1900 BCE (Table 4.2). But contrary to earlier assumptions, the Harappan tradition did not vanish overnight; rather, it scattered over hundreds of generally smaller sites, some of which lasted till about 1300 BCE or even later: that is the Late Harappan phase or the ‘Localization Era’. (Here again, lumped together under t
hese labels are many regional cultures, such as Cemetery H, Jhukar, Pirak, Lustrous Red Ware, etc.) A few sites even show continuous occupation right into the historical age (first millennium BCE): Pirak, for instance, near Mehrgarh, was occupied from 1800 to 700 BCE; according to Jarrige, again, this site reveals ‘a real continuity with the older periods in many fields, but also a number of phenomena clearly marking the start of a new age’.28

  We will glance at the new age later; we first need to explore further the Indus age in its maturity. Let us turn for a while into citizens of a Harappan city, walk through the busy streets, and indulge in some sightseeing.

  {5}

  The Indus Cities

  The most conspicuous trait of the Indus civilization—and the one that so struck its early explorers—was the sophistication of its urbanism. Most towns, big or small, were fortified and divided into distinct zones. The acropolis (‘upper city’ in Greek), often also called ‘citadel’, usually had larger buildings and wider spaces. In the lower town, houses were more tightly packed together. (In Chapter 7, we will visit a spectacular exception to this neat upper/lower town dichotomy.)

  Mohenjo-daro’s acropolis (Fig. 5.1), measuring about 200 x 400 m, is majestic by any standard. It boasts the famous complex of the ‘great bath’ with its central pool used for ritual ablutions, a huge ‘college’, a ‘granary’, an ‘assembly hall’ (or ‘pillared hall’), and wide streets carefully aligned along the cardinal directions. We may allow ourselves to conjure up the ruler or rulers meeting in some of those spacious halls along with officials, traders and, perhaps, on special occasions, representatives of the main craft traditions : builders, potters, seal makers, metal workers or weavers. Except, perhaps, for the actual rulers or high officials, the rest lived not in the acropolis but in the lower town, where a much denser network of streets and lanes led to hundreds of houses, with the larger ones often found side by side with the smaller ones (Fig. 5.2).