Kalibangan

Topic: Harappan (Sindhu-Sarasvati) Civilisation · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 6 "The Beginnings of Indian Civilisation"; Class 9, Ch 4 "Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation"; Class 12, Ch 1 "Bricks, Beads and Bones"

Meaning

Kalibangan is a Harappan site on the left bank of the Ghaggar river, in Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan. Its mound has two layers: an Early (antecedent) Harappan settlement at the bottom and a Mature Harappan grid-planned town above it [2]. It is often asked about in exams because it gave us a ploughed field and fire altars. It also shows that the civilisation reached well beyond the Indus valley, into the Sarasvatī (Ghaggar-Hakra) basin.

Explanation

Background: a site on the "lost" Sarasvatī

• The seasonal Ghaggar river in India becomes the Hakra in Pakistan. It is one dry or seasonal channel that crosses the border.
• NCERT textbooks identify this channel with the Ṛig Vedic Sarasvatī. The Ṛig Veda praises this goddess-river as flowing "from the mountain to the sea" (giribhyaḥ samudrāt).
• Kalibangan stands on the left bank of the Ghaggar. Local people believe this river is the ancient Sarasvatī [2].
• The name "Kalibangan" means "black bangles". It comes from the broken black bangle pieces scattered on the mound's surface.

Two phases on one mound

• Kalibangan-I (Early/antecedent Harappan): an older farming settlement from before the big cities, in the bottom layer [2].
• Kalibangan-II (Mature Harappan): a planned town built on top, with streets laid out in a grid (straight streets crossing at right angles) [2].
• Why this matters:
• On a single mound, we can see how a village culture grew into a city culture.
• It is clear evidence that Harappan towns grew out of older local roots and were not suddenly transplanted from elsewhere.

Main finds

• Ploughed field: a field with plough furrows (the lines a plough cuts in the soil) was found in the Early Harappan levels.
• The furrows run in two directions and cross each other at right angles.
• This suggests that two different crops were grown together in the same field.

• It shows that Harappan farmers used the plough, probably pulled by oxen.

• Fire altars: rows of fire altars (small pits for keeping and offering to fire) were found. They point to some kind of ritual practice. Fire altars were also found at Lothal.

• Town plan: the Mature-phase town has a citadel (a raised, walled area) and a lower town, like the bigger cities.

Its place among Harappan settlements

• In the Sarasvatī basin, Kalibangan is counted as a smaller city/town, along with Farmana. Bhirrana and Banawali were smaller still [3].
• The basin's two great cities are Rakhigarhi (Haryana) and Ganweriwala (Cholistan, Pakistan) [3].
• Kalibangan's grid plan is different from Banawali, which had winding (non-grid) streets inside a single enclosure wall [3].

Time, place and evidence

• Place: left bank of the Ghaggar, Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan [2].
• Period: an Early Harappan phase (Kalibangan-I) below a Mature Harappan phase (Kalibangan-II). The Mature Harappan phase lasted c. 2600–1900 BCE.
• Excavation: the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) dug the site over nine field seasons, 1960–69 [2]. The ASI excavations were led by B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar.
• Evidence: the ploughed field, the fire altars, the two building phases, and the grid-planned town. These are archaeological finds from the excavation.
• Region: it is one of the many sites in the Sarasvatī (Ghaggar-Hakra) basin. According to NCERT, the basin holds nearly two-thirds of all known Harappan settlements.

Don't confuse with

• Banawali (Fatehabad district, Haryana): it is also on the dried Sarasvatī, but it has winding streets inside one enclosure wall. Kalibangan has a grid plan [3].
• Lothal (Gujarat): it also has fire altars. But the ploughed field comes only from Kalibangan, and Lothal is not in the Ghaggar basin.
• Rakhigarhi / Ganweriwala: these are the two major cities of the Sarasvatī basin. Kalibangan is only a smaller city/town [3].
• Ghaggar vs Hakra: they are not two rivers. They are the same channel: Ghaggar in India, Hakra in Pakistan.

Prelims Hooks

• Kalibangan: Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan, on the left bank of the Ghaggar [2].
• It was excavated by the ASI in 1960–69 (nine seasons), under B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar [2].
• Ploughed field (from the Early Harappan level, with criss-cross furrows) = Kalibangan.
• Fire altars: Kalibangan and Lothal.
• Two phases: Kalibangan-I (Early Harappan) below Kalibangan-II (Mature Harappan, grid-planned) [2].
• Trap: Kalibangan is not one of the five big Harappan cities. In its basin, those are Rakhigarhi and Ganweriwala [3].

Mains Points

• Kalibangan supports the name "Sindhu-Sarasvatī Civilisation"
• It is a planned Harappan town far from the Indus, on the Ghaggar.

• Together with Banawali, Rakhigarhi and Farmana, it shows that the civilisation was not confined to the Indus valley.

• Continuity from village to town

• Its Early and Mature Harappan layers show urban life growing out of earlier farming communities [2].

• The ploughed field shows that farming was well developed even before the cities, and farming surplus supported the cities.

• River, decline and textual links

• The Ghaggar-Hakra (Sarasvatī) slowly lost its year-round flow. Later Vedic and post-Vedic texts say the river dried up and disappeared.
• Historians use this drying to explain the decline of basin sites like Kalibangan and the eastward shift of settlements. They also debate how far it supports Harappan-Vedic links, so it is used with care.

Related concepts

• Sarasvati river
• Sarasvati river basin
• Rakhigarhi
• Ganweriwala
• Banawali

Read more

• The Sarasvatī / Ghaggar-Hakra question