Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

encyclopedia

ARCHAEOLOGY

used as an inclusive term for the deurbanized culture with further

changes in the shape of vessels. Rangpur IIB-IIC is equated to

Late Harappa Culture whenever the decline in the Mature Harappa

Culture is conspicuous at a site. Thus Lothal Period B comes under

Late Harappa category. The distinguishing features of this culture

are (a) small ill-planned village with jerry-built houses occasion-

ally having improvised baths and rarely drains. A marked decline in

the material prosperity of the residents is discernible from the

fewer metal objects, and luxury articles made out of imported stea-

tite or faience. However there are exceptions. A gradual rejuvena-

tion of the culture with trade revival and expansion of the village

into a market town becomes obvious at Daimabad where copper/

bronze metal casting reached its high water-mark and also at

Prabhas where overseas trade brought seals from West Asia and

necessitated even building a brick warehouse. At Bet Dwaraka the

use of seal helped evolve Indus script besides building a port in the

sea are noteworthy. The ceramic wares are not as sturdy or as well

decorated with painting as in the heyday of Mature Harappa Cul-

ture. Certain ceramic types such as the perforated jar (fig:37) be-

came very rare while the goblet and beaker were totally absent in

\most Late Harappan sites. The bowl with incurved rim gradually

developed into concave-convex bowl, both in the handled and han-

dless categories. The dish-on-stand also underwent a gradual

change and ultimately became in the Post-Harappa Period

(Rangpur III) a small bowl with a stand. In Lothal B however it was

still a squattish dish-on-stand and the dish itself became an oval-

shaped round-bottomed jar. The terracotta triangular cake became

an oval ball with 4 finger

marks. These changes are

more conspicuous in the Late

Harappan sites of Gujarat. At

Inamgaon and Bet Dwaraka

(ancient

Kusasthali)

jetties

were built. Nageswar, a Late

Harappan port near Dwaraka,

is said to have followed the

Harappan ritual of fire-wor-

ship or offering sacrifice, as

indicated by the altar exposed

excavation

(K.T.M.

Hegde).

The State and Society

The extraordinary homogeneity of the Harappa culture, the uni-

form planning of towns, the strict enforcement of trade and munici-

pal regulations clearly indicate the existence of a strong central

authority which at the same time was able to achieve the integra-

tion of different socio-economic groups into the all-embracing

Harappan society without the use of force. True minor skirmishes

with forest-dwellers or mountain people was inevitable. These

clashes are of much less significance than the integration achieved,

for the number of seals depicting clashes between the fire-wor-

shipping bull people and the tiger and rhino-worshipping people is

about a dozen while twenty or more depict integration of elephant

and bull, bull, unicorn and goat, elephant, bull and tiger. How this

was achieved can only be guessed. It is not necessary to make the

Aryan-speaking Harappans Dravidians or to call them invaders

from outside India in order to explain cultural integration. Economic

factors seem to have played a vital role. When the Harappans

settled at a new station such as Lothal for trade the local people

found it beneficial to exchange their products such as beads, cotton

etc., for copper tools and implements. In due course the benefit of

civic urban facilities provided by the Harappans were appreciated

and gradual integration took place. In the Sarasvati Valley which

seems to have become the holy land the agricultural and forest

products from other areas were exchanged. The central authority

could regulate trade and ensure efficient distribution of industrial

products. With assured necessities and a better living standard the

peripheral people seem to have become active participants in the

Harappan experiment of building an egalitarian society in which the

ruling hierarchy assured protection against natural calamities and

marauders, from forest dwellers. The seals depicting multiple

animal deities may symbolise formation of small confederacies of

socio-economic and socio-religious groups. With such two-

pronged drive, the marginal or intermediate classes between the

so-called primitive societies and civilisation could become an inte-

gral part of the Harappan Civilisation. A significant factor to be

noted in this connection is that the local traditions did form a part of

Harappan integration process which can be seen in the adoption of

Micaseous Red Ware and Black and Red Ware ceramic forms by

the Harappans. Inter-ethnic marriage is attested to in the joint

burials. The strength of the Harappan State lay in its economic

power. The ever increasing demand for luxury goods at home and

abroad and tools for agricultural and industrial operations at home

and the demand for raw materials such as timber, cotton, shell,

ivory and semiprecious stones besides copper and other metals.

Harappan traders had to go to the sources of these materials and

establish trading stations which gradually developed into large

towns supported by village communication.

Rejuvenation (Devolutionary) Phase

In Saurashtra itself there are more than a hundred sites of the

Devolutionary Phase when hew ceramic wares were evolved. The

Black and Red ware and the Lustrous Red Ware underwent iden-

tical changes in form while the technique of firing and surface

treatment differed. The geometric designs such as the hatched

triangle and diamond and the stylized deer motif continued to be

pointed but wavy lines were more popular in Lustrous Red Ware.

Religion

The Harappans were primarily fire-worshippers and offered

animals in sacrifices of various kinds. They practised yoga and

perhaps worshipped the Mother Goddess but this culture was not

popular outside the Indus valley. There were some people within

the Harappan fold who venerated the animal deities. It is not clear

whether they were forest-dwellers especially when they are found

to have deified the tiger. The fire-worshipping urban dwellers

gradually overcame their animosity towards the animal-worship-

pers and integrated them culturally with the Mother Goddess and

fire-worshipping groups. Three seals show in a sequence the fight

between the fire-worshiping bull-man and the homed tiger, the

non-deification of the tiger which is indicated by the hornless tiger

and finally all animals including the tiger rallying round the three-

headed Fire-God (

Agni

) as depicted in the Mohenjo-Daro seal 420

(fig-27). This is no mean achievement for the Harappans. In brief

they laid the foundation of Vedic religion.