Harappan Civilisation and Early Indian Cultures
This domain covers the first urbanism of the subcontinent and the cultures before and around it. The exam tests site knowledge, chronology, town planning, trade, script and the evidence-based debate over decline.
Mature Harappan
The mature phase is dated c. 2600-1900 BCE, within a broader Harappan sequence from c. 3300 BCE. Key sites: Mohenjodaro and Harappa (Indus), Kalibangan and Rakhigarhi (Ghaggar-Hakra), Dholavira (Kachchh), Lothal (Gujarat). Features include grid streets, citadel and lower town, covered drains, standardised bricks, seals, cubical weights and the undeciphered script.
Economy, society and belief
Agriculture used wheat, barley, cotton and pulses; crafts included bead-making, shell working, bronze casting and pottery. Lothal's dockyard and Mesopotamian references to Meluhha indicate maritime trade. Dholavira's reservoirs show water management. The Great Bath, fire altars at Kalibangan, mother-goddess figurines and the Pashupati seal suggest ritual life, but meanings remain inferential.
Early cultures and decline
Mehrgarh shows Neolithic farming from c. 7000 BCE. Chalcolithic cultures such as Ahar, Malwa and Jorwe used copper and painted pottery. The Harappan cities declined after 1900 BCE; explanations include monsoon weakening, river shifts, trade disruption and decentralisation, not a single 'Aryan invasion'.
Worked example
How would you prove Harappan trade with Mesopotamia? Reasoning: Harappan seals and beads found in Mesopotamian contexts, Mesopotamian texts naming Meluhha, and Lothal's dockyard are independent lines of evidence. Each alone is suggestive; together they support regular exchange.
Traps
The script is not deciphered; Harappan society did not use iron; horses are not securely attested; the mature phase is not the whole civilisation; 'Harappan' is not identical with 'Vedic'.