Indus Valley Civilization:
Que. Did the mastery over agriculture act as a leverage for the rise of Harappan towns and cities? Discuss. [UPSC CSE-2019]
Approach:
(1) Explain briefly the innovation during the Harappan Civilization.
(2) Mention how agriculture acted as leverage for the rise of Harappan towns and cities.
(3) Mention some other factors responsible for the rise of Harappan towns and cities.
(4) Conclude on balanced footing.
Introduction:
The Indus River Valley Civilization, commonly known as the Harappan Civilization, lasted from 3300 to 1300 BCE and spanned modern-day northeast Afghanistan through Pakistan and northwest India. Standardized weights and measures, seal carving, and metallurgy with copper, bronze, lead, and tin were all important innovations of this civilization. Little is known about the Indus script, and as a result, little is known about the organizations and governing systems of the Indus River Valley Civilization.
The ability to harness and manipulate agricultural resources provided a foundation for urbanization and the growth of complex societies.
Agriculture acted as leverage for the rise of Harappan towns and cities:
(1) Diversification of profession: Agricultural surplus led to diversification of profession. Now people started feeling secure for consumption needs and started practicing other professions by leaving agricultural activities.
(2) Population Growth: With a stable and abundant food supply, the population could grow more rapidly. Increased population density provided the critical mass necessary for the establishment of towns and cities, as people were drawn to centralized locations for trade, governance, and other communal activities.
(3) Technology and Crafts: The rise of towns in the Indus zone was based on agricultural surplus, the making of bronze tools, various other crafts, and widespread trade and commerce. This is known as the first urbanization in India, and the Harappan urban culture belongs to the Bronze Age. The people of Harappa used many tools and implements of stone, but they were very well acquainted with the manufacture and use of bronze. Ordinarily bronze was made by smiths by mixing tin with copper, but they occasionally also mixed arsenic with copper for this purpose. As neither tin nor copper was easily available to the Harappans, bronze tools do not abound in the region.
(4) Labour Specialization: As agriculture became more productive, not everyone had to be directly engaged in farming. This allowed for the emergence of specialized professions, leading to the development of complex urban societies. Skilled craftsmen, traders, priests, and administrators contributed to the diversity and complexity of urban life.
(5) Infrastructure Development: The agricultural surplus could be invested in infrastructure such as public buildings, granaries, storage facilities, and water management systems. These developments were crucial for supporting urban life and facilitating the administration of growing populations.
Other Factors Responsible for the Urbanisations:
(1) Centralisation of Power: For any urban civilisation presence of well-developed polity to regulate the distribution of resources is a prerequisite. Archaeological evidence suggests well developed Harappan towns were maintained by a well-developed centralised polity. For e.g. Presence of citadel in major Harappan cities suggest ruling elite.
(2) Cosmopolitan society: Rise of town and cities suggests multiplicity of population with difference in opinion and belief for such a large population to thrive together a liberal atmosphere and materialistic culture for peaceful coexistence is required. The presence of Cemetery H culture in the Town of Harappa indicates such an atmosphere was present in Harappa.
(3) Trade and Commerce: The Harappan civilization was characterized by an extensive trade network that connected various regions. Urban centers, strategically located at crossroads and near rivers, became hubs for trade, facilitating the exchange of goods and resources. Due to diversification in profession, various other economic activities emerged in that period and contributed to the growth of civilisation.
(4) Environmental Adaptation: The Harappans adapted to their environment and developed techniques to manage challenges such as water management, flood control, and sanitation, enabling them to thrive in diverse geographical conditions.
Along with Agriculture, Harappan had Animal Husbandry, Hunting and Fishing:
Agriculture:
(1) Variation Types of crops: It was the mainstay of the subsistence base. Given the area covered by the civilization, there were regional variations in the plants grown by the farmers. The types of crops that the Indus Civilization had were wheat, barley, peas, lentils, linseed, mustard, sesame, watermelon seeds, dates, millets, horse gram, greengram, etc. In addition to these, there was also evidence of grapes, cotton and henna. Experts say that they might have grown cotton in the summer. They did not grow rice much because it didn’t grow well where they lived, but they did find white rice and fed it to their animals.
(2) Geographical Advantages: The silt that the river brought in when it flooded was the reason why they can grow this many crops. The nutrients that the plants needed were replenished every year when the annual floods came in.
(3) Innovation of tools: They also developed some new tools known as plough and were used to dig earth for planting the seeds and turning the soil. A method of irrigation was used due to less rainfall.
(4) Animal Farming: The Harappan reared cattle, sheep, goat, and buffalo. Water and pastures were present around many sites. People collected fruits, fish and hunted wild animals.
(5) Irrigation: In Allahdino (Near Karachi), the wells had very small diameter to enable the groundwater to rise higher due to hydraulic pressure. It may have been used to irrigate the nearby fields.
Animal husbandry:
(1) Role of Animal: Animals played a big role in the Indus Civilization. Harappan sites have yielded remains of domesticated animals such as dogs, cats, short-horned buffaloes, possibly pigs, camels, cow, chicken, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys (which they later used for transportation), and elephants.
(2) Widely used Animals: Cattle and buffaloes were the most domesticated animals. They were used for meat, milk and draught animals. Dog figurines suggest the domestication of this animal. The elephants had a bit more of a vague description so they might have been more used for their ivory.
(3) Food habits: They mainly ate cows but they ate most sea foods such as fish and shellfish. Goats and sheep were used for meat, wool, milk and as pack animals.
Fishing and exploitation of riverine and marine resources:
(1) Evidence of Trade: Bones of tortoise and fish have also been found. The discovery of marine catfish bones at Harappa suggests that coastal communities traded dried fish in inland cities. At coastal sites in Gujarat, molluscs provided an important protein-rich element in people’s diet.
(2) Trade in Agricultural commodity:
Rice: Rice was imported from Gujarat to Punjab.
Cotton: Lothal and Surkotada provided cotton for the developing townships of Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, Banawali, etc.
Textile and Conch shell: Textiles and conch shell objects were other possible exports.
Granary: The largest building in Mohenjo-Daro is a granary to store grain measuring 150 feet length and 50 feet breadth. In the citadel of Harappa, we find as many as six granaries.
(3) Evidences from Mesopotamian text:
Mesopotamian texts mention, apart from other things, the following items as imports from Meluhha i.e. dog, cat, and monkey. Mesopotamia’s general exports included fish, grain, raw wool, woolen garments.
Views of Historian:
Some historians like Shereen Ratnagar highlights the importance of Mesopotamian trade, especially the trade in lapis lazuli, as a factor in the rise of Harappan cities and even argues that its decline was a reason for the decline of the Harappan civilization. But there are very few Harappan artefacts found in Mesopotamia and even fewer Mesopotamian artefacts found at Harappan sites. A few Mesopotamian-type stone weights have been reported from Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
Chakrabarti and Shaffer argue that Harappan trade with Mesopotamia was not direct, extensive or intensive. This trade does not seem to have been particularly important for the development or sustenance of the Harappan civilization. The argument that the quantum of Harappan long-distance trade was not great is persuasive. Unlike the resource-poor area of Mesopotamia, the Harappan culture zone was rich in a variety of natural resources. Food requirements and most of the raw materials required by Harappan craftspersons could have been met by resources available within the Harappan culture zone. The diverse, well-developed craft traditions meant that most of the finished goods required by the Harappans were likewise available from within this area.
Conclusion:
Thus, mastery of agriculture, including animal husbandry and fisheries, acted as a lever for the rise of Harappan towns and cities, as it served as a subsistence base, and high production of agricultural products must have helped feed those living in cities and engaged in non-agricultural activities such as trade and commerce. It would also have supplied sufficient money for the construction and maintenance of cities.
