Harappa

History glossary

Topic: Harappan (Sindhu-Sarasvati) Civilisation · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 6 "The Beginnings of Indian Civilisation"; Class 12, Ch 1 "Bricks, Beads and Bones"

Meaning

Harappa is the first Harappan site that archaeologists found and dug. It lies on the Ravi river in Sahiwal district, Punjab (Pakistan). Daya Ram Sahni began excavating it in 1921.

It matters because the whole civilisation is named "Harappan" after it. Its discovery also showed that India had cities much older than the Gangetic cities.

Explanation

Background: how Harappa came to light

  • The mounds at Harappa were known long before anyone understood how old they were.
  • Damage by brick robbers: In the nineteenth century, a lot of the site was destroyed.
  • Builders took old baked bricks from the mounds.
  • They used these bricks to lay the Lahore–Multan railway line.

  • Because of this, many of Harappa's buildings were lost before proper excavation began.

  • Excavation: Daya Ram Sahni began digging at Harappa in 1921. This was the first scientific excavation of a site of this civilisation.

  • Soon after, Mohenjo-daro was dug in Sindh. The finds from the two sites looked alike, so scholars saw that both belonged to one large civilisation. John Marshall, head of the Archaeological Survey of India, announced this to the world in 1924.

Why the civilisation is named after Harappa

  • Archaeologists usually name a culture after the first site where it was found. This is called the "type-site".
  • So the whole civilisation is called the Harappan Civilisation, even though Harappa is not its largest city.
  • Other names are also used:
  • Indus Valley Civilisation: an older name. Revised NCERT treats it as obsolete (out of date), because sites spread far beyond the Indus basin.
  • Sindhu-Sarasvatī / Indus-Sarasvatī: this name reflects the two river basins where most sites are found.

Harappa's place among Harappan cities

  • Harappa is one of the five major cities of the civilisation:
  • Rakhigarhi (Haryana), the largest known site
  • Mohenjo-daro (Sindh, Pakistan)
  • Harappa (Punjab, Pakistan), the first discovered
  • Dholavira (Gujarat)

  • Ganweriwala (Cholistan desert, Pakistan)

  • Below these big cities were regional centres, agricultural villages, ports, and manufacturing/craft centres. This shows a ladder of settlements, from large to small.

  • Like other Harappan sites, Harappa has typical finds: pottery, baked bricks, seals, standardised weights (weights of fixed, equal sizes), beads and copper-bronze objects.

Results and wider meaning

  • The digging at Harappa pushed the start of Indian urban history back by many centuries.
  • The rise of Harappan cities is called the First Urbanisation of India. The Second Urbanisation is the growth of Gangetic cities from c. 600 BCE onward.
  • Because the brick robbers did so much damage, Harappa is poorly preserved. Much of what we know about Harappan town planning comes from better-preserved sites such as Mohenjo-daro.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: The civilisation dates to c. 3500–1300 BCE. Its mature (fully urban) phase was c. 2600–1900 BCE. These dates are approximate.
  • Place: On the Ravi river, in Sahiwal district, Punjab (Pakistan).
  • Key people:
  • Daya Ram Sahni, who excavated Harappa from 1921.

  • John Marshall, ASI head, who announced the new civilisation in 1924.

  • How we know:

  • Archaeological finds such as bricks, seals, weights, beads and pottery. These are our main evidence.
  • The Harappan script has not been deciphered (read and understood). So we cannot learn about Harappa from its own writing.
  • The damage from railway construction is known from nineteenth-century records of the site.

Don't confuse with

  • Mohenjo-daro: It is in Sindh, on the Indus, and was excavated after Harappa. Harappa is in Punjab (Pakistan), on the Ravi, and was the first site found.
  • Rakhigarhi: It is in Haryana and is the largest Harappan site. Harappa is the first discovered, not the largest.
  • "Harappan" (the civilisation) vs Harappa (the site): "Harappan" is the name for the whole civilisation of 2,000+ sites. Harappa is just one city.
  • Ganweriwala: It is also in Pakistan and is one of the five major cities, but it lies in the Cholistan desert, not on the Ravi.

Prelims Hooks

  • Harappa lies on the Ravi, in Sahiwal district, Punjab (Pakistan).
  • Harappa was excavated by Daya Ram Sahni, starting in 1921. It was the first Harappan site to be excavated.
  • In the nineteenth century, bricks from Harappa were taken to build the Lahore–Multan railway line.
  • The civilisation is called "Harappan" because Harappa was the first site discovered. It is not the largest site. Rakhigarhi (Haryana) is.
  • The five major cities are Rakhigarhi, Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, Ganweriwala.
  • Trap: the name "Indus Valley Civilisation" is now treated as obsolete in revised NCERT, because sites spread well beyond the Indus basin.

Mains Points

  • The naming debate shows that history follows evidence:
  • The civilisation was first called "Indus Valley" or "Harappan" after the earliest finds at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro.

  • Later, 2,000+ sites were found, many in the Sarasvatī (Ghaggar-Hakra) basin. This led to the name "Sindhu-Sarasvatī".

  • Heritage loss in colonial times: The use of Harappa's bricks for the Lahore–Multan railway shows how development works destroyed ancient sites. Today, this is a useful example for GS-I questions on protecting heritage.

  • First Urbanisation: The excavation of Harappa (1921) showed that Indian cities existed long before c. 600 BCE. An answer can compare Harappan urbanism with the Second Urbanisation of the Gangetic plains.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1Class 6, Ch 6 "The Beginnings of Indian Civilisation"; Class 12, Ch 1 "Bricks, Beads and Bones" (primary)