Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

ARCHAEOLOGY

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.

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 in 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