Eternal India Encyclopedia

ARCHAEOLOGY

Eternal India

encyclopedia

Ochre-Coloured Pottery (OCP)

This red to pink ceramic ware found in several sites in the Upper

Ganga valley and in Rajasthan closely resembles the Late Harap-

pan pottery in fabric and typology. Stratigraphically it is earlier than

the Painted Grey Ware (PGW) traditionally considered to be the

diagnostic ware of the Mahabharata people at Hastinapur in

Meerut District of Uttar Pradesh. The overlap of the Late Harap-

pan ware and the PGW in the excavation at Bhagwanpura should

clear all doubts about Ochre-Coloured Pottery (OCP) which is only

a water-logged Late Harappan Ware being the ceramic ware of the

Mahabharat

period which is now confirmed by its presence in Bet

Dwaraka and at Bhagwanpura in Haryana, both of Mahabharata

tradition. Bhagwanpura is not far from Kurukshetra. The secluded

OCP is only a variant of Late Harappan Ware water-logged in the

Ganga valley. It is also associated with the copper hoard at Bisauli

and Rajpur Parsi. At Saipai in Meerut District an anthropomorphic

figure of copper was found in stratified levels of OCP. Lothal

Period B also yielded a similar but broken anthropomorphic figure of

copper. In Rajasthan too OCP occurs with copper hoard at Noh. It

is now fairly certain that it is OCP of the 15th century B.C. It had

an earlier origin but also sometimes survives with PGW.

The Aryan Problem

The identification of the architects of the Indus civilization has

baffled many archaeologists, linguists and historians. Wheeler’s

theory that Harappan cities were destroyed by the invading Aryan

tribes unsymphathetic to civilization is contrary to archaeological

evidence available at Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, Chanhu-Daro,

Lothal, Kalibangan, Surkotada and Dholavira. The cultural deposit

of the cemetery attributed to Aryans at Harappa stands widely

separated stratigraphically from the mature Harappan deposit in

the earlier levels. Obviously the invaded (Harappans) were not

present when the invaders (Aryans?) came. At Mohenjo-Daro the

so-called massacre which is an exaggeration of a few skeletons

with cut marks do not belong to the latest phase. Here too there is

no evidence of any invasion nor has the invader left any substantial

evidence of his artefacts, weapons etc. At all the Indus cities and

in Saurashtra and Sarasvati valley, it is flood that was responsible

for destruction of Harappan settlements. The devastating flood of

1900 B.O: drove the inhabitants to safer places in the east, south

and west. This accounts for the presence of hundreds of degener-

ate, Late Harappan rural settlements in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh,

Punjab, Haryana, Bahawalpur District of Pakistan, in the south

upto Daimabad in Maharashtra and in the north Kashmir valley on

the one hand and Afghanistan and Allin Depe in South Russia on

the other. *

The Harappans, as mentioned earlier, spoke an Indo-Aryan

language and followed the same religion which in most respects is

similar to that of the Vedic Aryans. Anthropologial evidence

shows close affinity in ethnic features to the ancient population of

Lothal, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. There was no Aryan invasion

of Harappan settlements, nor were the Harappans Dravidians. Ar-

yan and Dravidian are linguistic terms. In the cosmopolitan popu-

lation of. those settlements the Aryan-speaking people were

prominent. The Indus Civilization was not destroyed. It declined

as a sequel to natural calamities like flood, desiccation and perhaps

tectonic activity in the case of Sarasvati valley. This civilisation

made substantial permanent contribution to the progress of man-

kind in various fields such as science, technology, engineering,

mathematics, as well as religious thought and spiritual concepts

such as yoga. The Aryan-speakers who were already present in

3000 B.C. (calibrated 14 C date of early Harappan levels) in the

Indus-Ghaggar (Sarasvati) valleys cannot be said to have been

immigrants from the Caucasus or any other region outside India.

The

Rig Veda

does not speak of any homeland outside India. The

Dasas arid Dasyus with whom the Aryans fought in the battle of

ten Kings mentioned in the

RigVeda

were also Aryan-speakers but

did not strictly observe the Aryan rituals etc. Hence they were con-

sidered as enemies.

The deurbanisation of the Harappa Civilisation resulting in the

dispersal of the craftsmen led to greater diffusion of the Harappan

industries and crafts into rural areas. This is the picture one gets

from the Late Harappan and Vedic periods. The Harappan Ruler

was not a Priest King for third is no evidence of impressive

religious structure in Harappan times.

Chalcolithic Cultures of the Deccan and Central India.

Recent excavations by the Deccan College, Poona, and various

Universities have revealed that the region outside the Harappan

territory was not of any lower grade culture although no impressive

urban centres sprang up as in the Sarasvati, Indus and Sabarmati

valleys, the chalcolithic cultured of Central India and Deccan pla-

teau.

The chalcolithic cultures of Central India and Maharashtra have

several common features but they are named by excavators after

the places of their discovery or after the regions in which they were

found : Ahar or Banas Culture of the Banas Valley (Rajasthan)

2000-1300 B.C., Kayatha Culture (Madhya Pradesh) 2100-1300

B.C., Malwa Culture of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra 1600-

1200 B.C., Jorwe Culture of Maharashtra 1500-700 B.C.

These dates based on 14-’C determinations need to be cali-

brated are two earlier cultures namely the Sawalda Ware Culture of

2000 B.C. and the Late Harappa culture 1800-1600 B.C. The more

outstanding evidence of Late Harappan occupation is provided hece

by the famous bronze figures of chariot, buffalo, elephant and rhi-

noceros, the last named one being a characteristically Harappan

animal. All the these objects are wheeled and cast solid.

The

Ahar Culture

is noted for a distinct Black and Red Ware

which is burnished all over except at the bottom, and painted on the

interior as well as on the exterior in dull white. The houses were

built of rubble set in clay. The roof was supported by a central pole,

and the floor was of rammed clay. The hearths were multi-armed

and decorated. The Ahar people prepared copper objects such as

axes and fish hooks. Copper ore and terracotta crucibles have been

found here Saddle querns, weights of stone used with digging

sticks and the occurrence of grain husks suggest agricultural op-

erations.

The

Kayatha Culture

in Madhya Pradesh is noted for a distinct

ceramic ware well fired, sturdy and painted in violet or deep red.

The ring-based vessels and the combed ware do suggest affinity

with the Pre-Harappan Ware of Kalibangan. Some designs shov

affinity with the Sothi ware. The micro-beads of steatite and the

copper axes with numerous blow holes are reminiscent Of Harappa

Culture at Kayatha.