Character and nature of Indus Valley Civilization discussed by Harsh Kumar
The Indus Valley flourished around the time-period 2800 BC to 1800 BC. During this period different characteristics of Indus Valley developed, many of them impacted the society so deeply that many of the traditions and pattern still followed by the peoples of the modern-day society. Earlier we have discussed the origin of Indus Valley in our previous posts. In this post we will going to discuss about the nature and character of Indus Valley Civilization in detail
.Indus Valley Civilization – The Origin
Background
The Indus Valley Civilization was flourished in the North-Western part of the Indian sub-continent. It was a great civilization as the evidences discovered by the archeologists threw light on the rich characteristics and nature of this civilization. These characteristics helps us in understanding the socio-cultural, religious, economic and political life of the Indus Valley peoples. Indus Valley Civilization was an indigenous civilization, as it was not the result of any sudden development but in reality, it was the culmination of long process of gradual evolution spanning across more than 3000 years.
1. Urban Nature
The Indus Valley Civilization was an urban civilization. The population size, population density, settlements and the pattern of economic activities all provide input on the urbanization of the Indus Valley Civilization. The settlements like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were mega cities of this great civilization because more than 30000-40000 people lived there. Till now, more than 1400 Indus Valley towns and cities have been discovered. These large number of urban centres indicates that Indus Valley Civilization reflected an urban revolution in Indian subcontinent in 3rd millennium BC.
The Indus Valley Civilization was highly evolved because Harappans lived a well settled life. Socio-religious institutions were well developed because of systematic planning. So, the settlements were not built in any haphazard manner but they laid down in planned manner.
2. Class and Ethnicity
The Indus Valley Civilization was a multiclass civilization because poor and rich, elite and commoners lived together in this civilization. Some of the peoples were lived in big houses while some of them lived in a single room barracks. The evidences discovered from the graves also support multiclass character of Indus Valley Civilization.
Indus Valley Civilization was multi-ethnic in nature because a number of racial groups were present in this civilization. Most of the peoples of Indus Valley were belong to the Mediterranean and Dravidian race, they were the makers of Indus Valley Civilization. Some Mongoloids, Proto-Australoid and Alpine people were also there in Indus Valley population.
The image of Beard Priest found at Mohenjo-Daro indicates the presence of Mongoloid people in the Indus Valley Civilization. The image of Dancing Girl discovered from the Mohenjo-Daro indicates the proto-Australoid person. One Alpine skull was found at Harappa during the excavation.
3. Cosmopolitan
Indus Valley peoples were cosmopolitan in nature because they adopted various cultural elements from their contemporary civilizations. They maintained close contact with the other civilization like Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization. The evidence of Lipstick is found from the site of Chahnudaro. The vanity case has been discovered from Harappa and the coffin burial practice of Harappans reflected the cosmopolitan nature which were influenced by the Mesopotamian civilization.
4. Township
The similarities among the various cities in terms of planning, common script, the system of weights and measures, uniform size of bricks and similar religious life indicates that Indus Valley by administered by the same authority. It was appeared that Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were the two capitals of this great civilization. The political nature of Indus valley is not known perfectly but it was believed by various historians that the Merchants were the administrators of the Indus Valley because trade and commerce was dominated work of the peoples of Indus Valley civilization.
The presence of modern Municipality like structure in Indus Valley was another feature. Without the presence of such urban institution, it was impossible to maintain and construct the public buildings in such large scale.
5. Science and Technology
The scientific knowledge of Indus Valley peoples was quite advanced as they know various techniques like making of bronze by mixing of tin and copper in definite proportion. The medical knowledge of also quite advanced as the evidences of skull surgeries are discovered from the sites of Kalibangan and Lothal. They were aware of the boat and ship making technique and also know the technique of waterproofing the walls and surface. The civil engineering was also quite advanced as they built dams, forts, dockyards etc.
6. Religious life
The Indus Valley civilization was secular in nature as the public religious evidences are not available yet for this age. The only evidences found from the houses of the peoples that suggested that religion was the private matter of the peoples and public authorities were not involved in making any disturbance to them.
Materialistic outlook of Indus Valley suggested that the peoples did not waste their time and energy by involving in ritual, ceremonies, and other speculations but they invested their energy in improvement of their life. That’s why the prosperity of the civilization was far ahead of time.
7. Economic Activities
The peoples of Indus Valley were predominantly indulged in the secondary and tertiary activities, an important feature of Indus Valley civilization. They also involved in the art and craft activities. They also practiced agriculture and domestication of animal, but not an identifying feature of Indus Valley Civilization. Utilitarian outlook was dominant feature of the Indus Valley civilization as they focused on making life simple rather than luxurious. Walls were without paintings and doors are the example of the same. They maintained trade relation with contemporary civilizations like Mesopotamian.
8. Extensive Civilization
Indus Valley Civilization was an extensive civilization as more than 1400 sites of this civilization are discovered till the date. This civilization covers an extensive area of 1.3 million square kms. It was 20 times bigger than the Egyptian civilization and 12 times bigger than the combined area of Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. The distance between southern and northern sites is about 1400 kms and, east and west it is about 1600 kms.
9. Other Important Characteristics of Indus Valley Civilization
Indus Valley peoples were belonged to great tradition as archeological evidences suggested that most of the Harappans were literate. Script was known to them. Evidences of scripts have been found from the commonly used things like pots and seals. These seals and pots were manufactured by the common peoples which confirmed that maker and users of these things were literate.
Indus Valley civilization was peace-loving civilization. They lived a defensive life as the cities were fortified. Weapons like swords and shields are rarely discovered during the excavation process. They were proto-historic peoples as they the script of Indus Valley yet to be deciphered. This civilization belonged the age of Bronze as they used in extensive amount and in 3rd millennium BC the bronze was used all over world.
It was a riverine civilization as the most of the settlements are around the rivers of Indus Valley. It flourished for over 1000 years before the decline.
Thus, the Indus Valley civilization was an extensive civilization which provides us various details nature of state and characteristics of state, as many of them still followed by the modern-day humans.
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