In 1827, a soldier in the service of the British East India Company, James Lewis, became disillusioned with the company’s activities and chose to desert the army. In order to go incognito, he assumed a new identity and pursued his passion, which was traveling. After journeying across the Indian subcontinent for two years, he arrived in the Punjab region in 1829, where he stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient city. At that time, he had no knowledge of the age of these ruins or the civilization to which they belonged. However, due to his deep interest in history, he began to meticulously document everything he encountered, including notes and drawings, some of which are still attributed to James Lewis.
Remarkably, James Lewis was unaware that he had stumbled upon the ancient city of Harappa. It was only a century later, in the 1920s, that more information about this ancient civilization began to surface. John Marshall was appointed as the director of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and with the assistance of Indian archaeologists, he conducted a comprehensive survey of the Harappa ruins. It was determined that these ruins were over 5,000 years old. Simultaneously, another historical site was discovered on the banks of the Indus River, which was named Mohenjo-Daro, meaning the “Mound of the Dead.” Further excavations unveiled additional such ruins, leading to the realization that these buried sites held evidence of a previously unknown civilization. Due to their proximity to the Indus River, this civilization was named the Indus Valley Civilization.
As of 2022, we have acquired substantial knowledge about this civilization, which is now part of school curricula. Yet, two mysteries continue to confound us: the first pertains to the Harappan language, their script, and its decipherment. The second revolves around the demise of this remarkable civilization. What led to the decline and disappearance of these people?
The Indus Valley Civilization, a Bronze Age civilization, was located in the regions that are now Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Northwest India. Over 1,400 sites have been discovered to date, with 900 of them situated in India. It coexisted with only a few other civilizations during its time, including the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Chinese civilizations. Of these, the Chinese civilization was the most recent, while the Indus Valley, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian civilizations are considered to be the oldest. While Mesopotamia is traditionally believed to be the oldest civilization, a study conducted by IIT Kharagpur and the ASI in 2016 using archaeological dating techniques suggested that the Indus Valley Civilization might be as old as 8,000 years. Evidence of farming settlements dating back to 7,000 BC has been discovered, mainly in present-day Haryana. The period from 7,000 BC to 5,500 BC is referred to as the Pre-Harappan Phase, during which cities had yet to develop, and agricultural tools and pottery were prevalent. Urbanization is believed to have begun around 5,500 BC, marked by the establishment of public buildings and trade routes. By 2,600 BC, the civilization had advanced to the point of constructing multi-story brick houses in its cities, using standardized bricks of identical dimensions. Each house was equipped with a toilet, bathing area, and a drainage system for water and waste disposal, along with well-planned road gutters, footpath trees, public wells, and dustbins. Their urban planning was remarkably advanced, rivaling modern Indian cities in terms of infrastructure.
However, the greatest challenge in understanding this civilization is the decipherment of the Harappan script, known as the Indus Script. Over 4,000 artifacts containing inscriptions have been found, and numerous attempts have been made to decode them since the 1920s. Despite these efforts, the meaning of these symbols remains elusive. Some insights have been gleaned from the script; for instance, it is believed to have been written from right to left, unlike languages written from left to right. Additionally, it was observed that inscriptions often featured a block of text at the top in the Indus Script followed by a large animal symbol underneath. The most common animal depicted in these inscriptions resembled a unicorn, a creature that may not have existed in reality.
The Indus Valley Civilization was a remarkable chapter in human history, offering an advanced urban society with sophisticated infrastructure, yet its language and script remain a tantalizing mystery, as does the ultimate cause of its decline.
The reason behind the consistent presence of animal depictions alongside their writings is a perplexing question. Additionally, these images might appear to require extensive surfaces, but, in reality, these stone seals are relatively small, measuring approximately 2.5 cm² to 5 cm² in size. Hence, the engravings were not on large surfaces. Furthermore, historians meticulously examined and cataloged the signs and symbols of the Indus Script, discovering the existence of more than 400 distinct signs within their script. To put this into perspective, while the English language consists of 26 alphabets, the Indus Script boasted over 400 unique symbols. Although some of these symbols resemble stick figures, various creatures such as fish, turtles, crabs, insects, and birds are discernible. Due to the sheer abundance of symbols in this script, historians posit that it is, in fact, a Logosyllabic Script, which means it utilizes symbols to represent words or sounds. To illustrate, consider the Egyptian hieroglyphs, a script from the Egyptian civilization. Remarkably, historians have successfully decoded this language, understanding the meaning of each symbol within the Egyptian script. In this script, each symbol represents a specific sound. For instance, the symbol of a vulture signifies the sound ‘/aa,’ and the symbol of a leg represents the sound ‘/b.’ Each sound is similarly associated with its respective symbol. Thus, we can comprehend the meaning of each sound in the Egyptian hieroglyphs, a feat made possible by the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, an ancient artifact with inscriptions in both Egyptian hieroglyphs and ancient Greek. Unfortunately, no such “Rosetta Stone” or comparable tablet has been found to assist in deciphering the Indus Script. Consequently, the Indus language remains enigmatic and inaccessible. It is an incredibly daunting task to deduce the meanings of these words and symbols. To elucidate, imagine being given a piece of Chinese literature without access to any Chinese translation, unaware of the existence of the Chinese language. Attempting to decipher the Chinese symbols in such a scenario would be an exceedingly formidable challenge. Nonetheless, historians have discerned certain patterns within the Indus language. For instance, in the English language, we can effortlessly generate a list of words commencing with ‘W,’ such as Weather, Wire, Water, and Watermelon. However, when prompted to produce words commencing with ‘WZ’ or ‘WQ,’ our options are limited, as no such English words exist. This illustrates the presence of patterns within languages; for instance, the English language has 26 alphabets, and these alphabets form specific combinations that adhere to discernible patterns. In the Indus Script, certain symbols consistently follow others, indicating a structured pattern. For instance, whenever a diamond-shaped symbol is employed, it is invariably succeeded by the symbol of two parallel lines, but it is never succeeded by the symbol of a stick figure. Moreover, the most frequently used symbol resembles a jar and is frequently encountered at the conclusion of the Indus script text, possibly signifying the end of a sentence. An intriguing revelation occurred when the Indus Script was discovered in Mesopotamia, which encompasses present-day Iraq and Iran. Notably, these regions featured different languages, as confirmed by the presence of diverse scripts. The most fascinating observation was that the pattern in the Indus script, with the jar-shaped symbol at the end of the text, was distinct from the script found in Mesopotamia, where the jar-shaped symbol was repeated twice. Surprisingly, the Indus Valley sites did not feature this double repetition of the jar-shaped symbol. This mystery raises the possibility that the people residing in Mesopotamia may have been using the Indus script to transcribe their own language. To clarify this concept further, consider that Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, featuring characters like क, ख, ग, घ. In contrast, English is written in the Latin script, incorporating letters such as A, B, C, D. Interestingly, German, French, and several other languages also use the Latin script, with shared alphabets like A, B, C, D. However, the spoken language may not necessarily align with the script used for writing. Although there is often a correlation between spoken language and script, the two can diverge. For example, imagine writing Hindi in the Latin script, a practice that is now commonplace.
“What are you currently engaged in? If we were to transliterate this Hindi phrase into the Latin script of English, we would spell ‘क्या’ as ‘KYA.’ This practice essentially entails writing Hindi using the Latin script, though the underlying language remains Hindi. Historians propose a parallel approach for the Mesopotamians concerning the Indus script, suggesting that they inscribed their language using this script. Consequently, distinctive patterns emerged in Mesopotamian inscriptions that differed from those in the Indus Valley. Consider the Hindi phrase ‘आराम कर रहा हूँ’ (I am resting). When transliterated into Latin, ‘आराम’ becomes ‘AARAM,’ with two ‘A’s at the beginning. Such a double ‘A’ initiation does not align with the conventions of the English language, wherein words do not commence with double ‘A.’ This illustrates how the script’s pattern was modified.
Transitioning from language to the urban layout of the Indus Valley Civilization, a striking pattern emerges across the excavated cities. In all discovered cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, a common structural design is evident. Each city exhibits two main segments: a ‘Lower Mount’ enclosed by boundary walls from all sides and an ‘Upper Mount’ citadel built on elevated terrain, typically located to the west of the city. Both the citadel and the lower region possess their respective boundary walls. The citadel encompassed crucial public spaces such as marketplaces and workshops, serving as communal gathering areas. The construction of these walls primarily aimed to repel wild animals and safeguard the cities against floods, rather than protect against human threats, as the absence of natural enemies or invasions is indicated.
An insightful portrayal of the city structure of Mohenjo-Daro can be found in the film bearing the same name, featuring Hrithik Roshan. The film offers a relatively accurate representation of the city. A prominent attraction in Mohenjo-Daro is the Great Bath, a substantial multistoried bathing pool measuring 900 square feet in area with a depth of 2.4 meters. Constructed from fired bricks and waterproofed using natural tar, the bath featured a drainage hole and a well, ensuring a constant supply of fresh water. The maintenance of cleanliness in Mohenjo-Daro, in conjunction with the advanced drainage systems, suggests that this city possibly served as the capital of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Distinguishing the Indus Valley Civilization from Mesopotamia and Egypt is the absence of temples, mosques, religious sites, palaces, royal tombs, monarchs, priests, religious leaders, and military evidence within the former. This notable distinction from other Bronze Age civilizations highlights the societal uniqueness of the Harappan Civilization, marked by contentment, peaceful coexistence, and the absence of social hierarchies. This topic remains a subject of spirited debate, with differing views among historians.
Another significant unresolved mystery pertains to the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization. Archaeological records indicate a rapid decline between 1900 BC and 1300 BC, characterized by the cessation of city planning, neglect of sewer and drainage systems, the accumulation of waste in the Great Bath, and the discontinuation of trade with Mesopotamia. By 1800 BC, most cities lay abandoned, and the uniformity of writing systems, standardized weights, and building ratios disappeared. The exact cause of this decline remains unknown, giving rise to several theories.
One theory posits that the river on which the civilization depended, possibly the Saraswati River, began to dry up due to geological shifts or natural course alterations, prompting the inhabitants to migrate eastward to the Ganga River.
The second theory attributes deforestation to the civilization’s downfall. This theory suggests that excessive deforestation, driven by the need for bricks and cattle fodder, eradicated the region’s greenery, rendering it uninhabitable.
The third theory posits that a devastating disease may have swept through the population, similar to malaria or cholera, which were prevalent at the time.
While these theories offer plausible explanations, the exact cause of the Indus Valley Civilization’s decline remains elusive. What is clear is that after 600 BC, this civilization had ceased to exist. The civilization, which endured for thousands of years—more than 5,000 years—met an unfortunate end. It is a testament to the impermanence of civilizations and how these settlements, once thriving, were buried over time, replaced by new cities and civilizations. This cycle persisted for thousands of years until James Lewis rediscovered the Indus Valley Civilization.
