INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION

Ruins of Mohenjo Daro (Wikipedia)

The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC), also known as the Harappan Civilization, was one of the three "cradles of civilization" alongside Egypt and Mesopotamia. At its peak, it was the most expansive of the three, stretching across modern-day Pakistan, northwest India, and northeast Afghanistan.

What makes the Indus people truly remarkable was their obsession with order, hygiene, and engineering—traits that were thousands of years ahead of their time.

1. Timeline and Geography

The civilization is generally divided into three phases:

• Early Harappan (3300–2600 BCE): The formative stage of farming and early trade.
• Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BCE): The "Golden Age" of urban planning and massive cities.
• Late Harappan (1900–1300 BCE): A period of gradual decline and de-urbanization.

2. Engineering Marvels

While the Egyptians built pyramids for the dead, the Indus people built infrastructure for the living.

• Grid Planning: Cities like Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were laid out in perfect rectangular grids, similar to modern New York.
• The Great Bath: A massive, watertight brick pool in Mohenjo-daro, likely used for ritual bathing—the earliest public water tank in history.
• Sanitation: They had the world's first sophisticated sewage system. Almost every house had a private bathroom and a toilet connected to covered street drains.
• Standardization: They used uniform, baked bricks with a consistent ratio of 1:2:4. Their weights and measures were also highly standardized for trade.

3. Culture and Economy

• Trade: They were global merchants. Indus seals (small soapstone tablets) have been found as far away as Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), suggesting a thriving maritime trade route.
• The Script: They used a unique pictographic script. To this day, it remains undeciphered, meaning we still don't know the names of their kings or their specific laws.
• A Peaceful Society? Archaeologists have found very few weapons compared to other ancient cultures, leading some to believe they were a remarkably peaceful, trade-oriented society.
• Agriculture: They were the first to grow cotton for textiles and cultivated wheat, barley, and peas.

4. The Mystery of the Decline

Around 1900 BCE, the great cities began to fade. People stopped using the script and moved to smaller villages.The leading theories for this "collapse" include:

• Climate Change: A shift in monsoon patterns caused the region to dry up, making large-scale farming impossible.
• Drying of the Saraswati: The drying of the Ghaggar-Hakra river system likely forced mass migrations.
• Flooding: Frequent, catastrophic flooding of the Indus River may have weakened the city foundations.
• Trade Collapse: The decline of Mesopotamia may have destroyed the Indus economy.

The Indus Valley Civilization remains a testament to how ancient humans could achieve high standards of living through collective planning.

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15 January 2026: 12.23 p.m