Indus Valley Civilization

Definition

by Cristian Violatti
published on 30 October 2013

Listen to this article, narrated by Richard de Man

The Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization located in what is Pakistan and
northwest India today, on the fertile flood plain of the Indus River and its vicinity. Evidence of
religious practices in this area date back approximately to 5500 BCE. Farming settlements began
around 4000 BCE and around 3000 BCE there appeared the first signs of urbanization. By 2600
BCE, dozens of towns and cities had been established, and between 2500 and 2000 BCE the Indus
Valley Civilization was at its peak.

The Life of the Indus Valley Civilization

Two cities, in particular, have been excavated at the sites of Mohenjo-Daro on the lower Indus,
and at Harappa, further upstream. The evidence suggests they had a highly developed city life;
many houses had wells and bathrooms as well as an elaborate underground drainage system. The
social conditions of the citizens were comparable to those in Sumeria and superior to the
contemporary Babylonians and Egyptians. These cities display a well-planned urbanization
system.

THE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THEY HAD A HIGHLY

DEVELOPED CITY LIFE; MANY HOUSES HAD WELLS
AND BATHROOMS AS WELL AS AN ELABORATE
UNDERGROUND DRAINAGE SYSTEM.
There is evidence of some level of contact between the Indus Valley Civilization and the Near
East. Commercial, religious, and artistic connections have been recorded in Sumerian documents,
where the Indus valley people are referred to as Meluhhaites and the Indus valley is called
Meluhha. The following account has been dated to about 2000 BCE: "The Meluhhaites, the men of
the black land, bring to Naram-Sin of Agade all kind of exotic wares." (Haywood, p. 76, The Curse
of Agade)

The Indus Civilization had a writing system which today still remains a mystery: all attempts to
decipher it have failed. This is one of the reasons why the Indus Valley Civilization is one of the
least known of the important early civilizations of antiquity. Examples of this writing system have
been found in pottery, amulets, carved stamp seals, and even in weights and copper tablets.

Another point of debate is the nature of the relationship between these cities. Whether they were
independent city-states or part of a larger kingdom is not entirely clear. Because the writing of the
Indus people remains undeciphered and neither sculptures of rulers nor depictions of battles and
military campaigns have been found, evidence pointing in either direction is not conclusive.

Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization

By 1800 BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization saw the beginning of their decline: Writing started to
disappear, standardized weights and measures used for trade and taxation purposes fell out of
use, the connection with the Near East was interrupted, and some cities were gradually
abandoned. The reasons for this decline are not entirely clear, but it is believed that the drying up
of the Saraswati River, a process which had begun around 1900 BCE, was the main cause. Other
experts speak of a great flood in the area. Either event would have had catastrophic effects on
agricultural activity, making the economy no longer sustainable and breaking the civic order of
the cities.
 Indus Valley Seals

Around 1500 BCE, a large group of nomadic cattle-herders, the Aryans, migrated into the region
from central Asia. The Aryans crossed the Hindu Kush mountains and came in contact with the
Indus Valley Civilization. This was a large migration and used to be seen as an invasion, which
was thought to be the reason for the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization, but this hypothesis
is not unanimously accepted today.

Thus, the Indus Valley Civilization came to an end. Over the course of several centuries, the
Aryans gradually settled down and took up agriculture. The language brought by the Aryans
gained supremacy over the local languages: the origin of the most widely spoken languages today
in south Asia goes back to the Aryans, who introduced the Indo-European languages into the
Indian subcontinent. Other features of modern Indian society, such as religious practices and caste
division, can also be traced back to the times of the Aryanmigrations. Many pre-Aryan customs
still survive in India today. Evidence supporting this claim includes: the continuity of pre-Aryan
traditions; practices by many sectors of Indian society; and also the possibility that some major
gods of the Hindu pantheon actually originated during the time of the Indus Valley Civilization
and were kept "alive" by the original inhabitants through the centuries.