essay on river indus

Essay on Indus Valley Civilization

Introduction to the Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization(IVC), often referred to as the Harappan Civilization, represents one of the most fascinating ancient societies in history. Thriving between approximately 3300 BCE and 1300 BCE in present-day Pakistan and northwest India, this urban civilization left behind a legacy of remarkable achievements.

At its peak, the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) exhibited sophisticated urban planning, advanced drainage systems, and intricate brickwork. Cities such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa boasted well-organized street grids, multi-story buildings, and fortified citadels, showcasing the civilization’s engineering prowess and social organization.

One of the hallmarks of the Indus Valley Civilization was its mastery of metallurgy, particularly during the Bronze Age. The civilization excelled in mining, smelting, and crafting bronze, facilitating the production of tools, weapons, and ornaments crucial for daily life and trade.

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Despite these advancements, many aspects of the Indus Valley Civilization remain enigmatic. For example, deciphering its written script has yet to occur, limiting our understanding of its language and administrative systems. Additionally, scholars are still debating the reasons for the civilization’s eventual decline around 1300 BCE, with theories ranging from environmental factors to socio-political upheaval.

Geographical Context

• Situated in the expansive floodplain of the Indus River and its tributaries, such as the Ghaggar-Hakra River, was the Indus Valley Civilization.
• The civilization’s heartland was in present-day Pakistan and northwest India, with major cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro located in this region.
• The area’s geographical features included fertile alluvial plains, ideal for agriculture, which likely contributed to the civilization’s prosperity.
• The proximity to the Arabian Sea provided access to maritime trade routes, facilitating trade with regions as distant as Mesopotamia.
• The surrounding terrain, including the Baluchistan Plateau to the west and the Himalayas to the north, provided natural barriers and potentially influenced the civilization’s interactions with neighboring regions.

Historical Background

• Origins : The Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, emerged around 3300 BCE in the fertile plains of the Indus River Valley, primarily in present-day Pakistan and northwest India.
• Development : It peaked between 2600 BCE and 1900 BCE, during which time it encompassed a vast area and thrived as a sophisticated urban culture.
• Discovery : Archaeologists first discovered the civilization in the 1920s when they unearthed the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, revealing a complex society previously unknown to historians.
• Urban Centers : The civilization featured well-planned cities with advanced infrastructure, including brick houses, public baths, and a sophisticated drainage system.
• Writing System : Although the Indus script has not yet been deciphered, it provides evidence of a developed writing system, suggesting a high level of literacy and administrative organization.
• Trade and Contacts : The Harappans engaged in extensive trade with regions as far as Mesopotamia, Oman, and Bahrain, as evidenced by archaeological finds of Harappan artifacts in these areas.
• Decline : The decline of the civilization began around 1900 BCE, possibly due to environmental factors like climate change, natural disasters, invasions, or internal conflicts.
• Legacy : Despite its decline, the Indus Valley Civilization’s legacy lives on in its architectural achievements, urban planning, and the Indus script, which continue to intrigue and inspire scholars and archaeologists worldwide.

Phases of Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization went through several distinct phases, each characterized by different levels of development and cultural aspects:

• Pre-Harappan (c. 7000 – c. 5500 BCE) : This phase marks the region’s early settlement and development of agricultural communities. Small villages with basic mud-brick houses and rudimentary pottery characterize it.
• Early Harappan (c. 5500 – 2800 BCE) : The settlements grew larger and more organized during this period. Cities began to emerge, with evidence of more advanced urban planning, pottery, and trade networks. The early forms of Harappan writing and seals also appear.
• Mature Harappan (c. 2800 – c. 1900 BCE) : This is considered the peak of the civilization, characterized by the full development of urban centers such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. The cities featured sophisticated urban planning, advanced drainage systems, and a high level of craftsmanship in pottery and artifacts.
• Late Harappan (c. 1900 – c. 1500 BCE) : This phase saw a decline in urbanism, with the abandonment of some cities and a shift towards smaller settlements. There is evidence of environmental changes, possibly due to tectonic shifts or changes in river courses, impacting the civilization.
• Post Harappan (c. 1500 – 600 BCE) : This phase marks the aftermath of the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization. Some smaller settlements continued to exist, but the major urban centers were largely abandoned. The region saw the rise of new cultures and settlements, marking the transition to the Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent.

Importance and Significance

• Early Urbanization : The Indus Valley Civilization is crucial for understanding the early stages of urbanization in human history. Its well-planned cities and advanced infrastructure provide insights into how ancient societies organized themselves and adapted to urban environments.
• Technological Advancements : The civilization’s technological achievements, such as sophisticated drainage systems, standardized weights and measures, and advanced brick-making techniques, demonstrate a high level of engineering and craftsmanship for its time.
• Trade and Commerce : The extensive trade networks of the Harappan Civilization highlight its importance as a commercial hub in the ancient world. Its trade connections with Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and other regions contributed to the exchange of goods, ideas, and cultural practices.
• Cultural Diversity : The Indus Valley Civilization featured a diverse population, as seen in the architectural styles of its urban centers, artifacts, and possibly its writing system. This cultural diversity enriches our understanding of ancient societies and their interactions.
• Art and Symbolism : The civilization’s artifacts, including seals with intricate designs and depictions of animals and deities, offer valuable insights into its religious beliefs, cultural practices, and artistic expressions.
• Legacy : Despite its decline, the legacy of the Indus Valley Civilization endures through its architectural innovations, technological advancements, and contributions to early human civilization. Subsequent South Asian cultures and civilizations show the influence of the Indus Valley Civilization.

Urban Planning and Architecture

• City Layout : The Indus Valley Civilization meticulously planned the cities, implementing a grid-like street layout. They laid out streets in a north-south and east-west orientation, dividing the cities into rectangular blocks.
• Infrastructure : The cities boasted advanced infrastructure, including well-built brick houses with multiple rooms and courtyards. These houses often had access to private wells or shared public wells for water supply.
• Drainage Systems : One of the civilization’s most remarkable urban planning features was its sophisticated drainage systems. Each house had a drainage system connected to underground sewers, preventing flooding and keeping the cities clean.
• Public Buildings : The cities contained public buildings such as granaries, markets, and public baths. The Great Bath in Mohenjo-Daro is a prime example, featuring a large rectangular pool surrounded by rooms possibly used for rituals or changing.
• Defensive Structures : Some cities, such as Harappa, had defensive fortifications like massive walls and gateways, suggesting a need for protection against potential threats.
• Advanced Brickwork : The Indus people were skilled in brick-making, using standardized bricks of a consistent size in their construction. This uniformity indicates a centralized authority overseeing construction projects.
• Civic Planning : The layout of the cities suggests careful planning and organization, indicating a centralized authority responsible for urban management and governance.

Economy and Trade

• Agriculture : The economy of the Indus Valley Civilization was primarily agrarian, with a reliance on crops such as wheat, barley, peas, and sesame. Irrigation systems, including canals and wells, were used to support agriculture .
• Crafts and Industries : The civilization was known for its craftsmanship in pottery, metallurgy, and textiles. Artifacts found at sites like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro indicate a thriving craft industry.
• Trade Networks : The Indus Valley Civilization had extensive trade networks, as evidenced by the discovery of Harappan artifacts in Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, and other regions. Trade goods included textiles, pottery, beads, and possibly luxury items like precious stones and metals.
• Trade Routes : The civilization likely relied on both overland and maritime trade routes. The presence of Harappan seals in Mesopotamia suggests trade along the Persian Gulf.
• Standardized Weights and Measures : Using standardized weights and measures, such as the Harappan weight system, indicates a sophisticated system of trade and commerce.
• Cultural Exchange : Trade facilitated the exchange of goods and ideas, technologies, and cultural practices. The Indus Valley Civilization’s trade connections influenced and were influenced by neighboring cultures.
• Decline in Trade : Towards the end of civilization, trade networks have declined, possibly due to environmental changes, disruptions in trade routes, or other factors contributing to the civilization’s decline.

Social Structure

• Urban Society : The Indus Valley Civilization was predominantly urban, with well-planned cities and a relatively dense population . The urban centers were hubs of economic, political, and cultural activity.
• Hierarchical Society : The society was likely hierarchical, with evidence suggesting the presence of a ruling elite or priestly class that governed the cities. Large public buildings, possibly used for administrative or religious purposes, support this idea.
• Class Distinctions : Archaeological evidence suggests that there were distinct social classes in the civilization, with some individuals having access to more resources and higher status than others.
• Gender Roles : The role of women in the Indus Valley Civilization is not fully understood, but it is believed that they held significant positions in society, potentially participating in economic activities and religious rituals.
• Burial Practices : Different groups within the civilization varied in their burial practices. Some buried individuals with elaborate grave goods, indicating a higher social status, while others buried them more simply.
• Art and Symbolism : Artifacts such as seals and pottery provide clues about the social structure and beliefs of the civilization. Seals, for example, may have been used as markers of identity or status.
• Community Life : The layout of the cities suggests a strong sense of community, with shared public spaces such as markets and baths playing essential roles in daily life.

Religion and Beliefs

• Iconography : The Indus Valley Civilization’s religious beliefs are inferred from its iconography, including seals and figurines. Some seals depict human-like figures in yogic postures, possibly representing deities or divine beings.
• Animal Worship : The presence of animal motifs, such as bulls and elephants, suggests that certain animals held symbolic significance, possibly as manifestations of deities or as symbols of power and fertility.
• Mother Goddess : The prevalence of female figurines, often called the “Mother Goddess,” suggests the veneration of a fertility goddess or a divine feminine principle associated with nurturing and abundance.
• Water Rituals : The Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro and the presence of water-related motifs on seals suggest the importance of water in religious rituals, possibly related to purification or fertility rites.
• Fire Altars : Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of fire altars, suggesting the performance of fire rituals or sacrifices as part of religious ceremonies.
• Cosmic Symbolism : Some seals and artifacts feature symbols associated with cosmic elements, such as the sun, moon, and stars, indicating a belief system connected to celestial phenomena and the natural world.
• Ancestor Worship : Burial practices, including grave goods and funerary offerings, suggest a belief in an afterlife and the importance of honoring ancestors through rituals and ceremonies.
• Lack of Temples : Unlike other ancient civilizations, such as Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilization lacks monumental temple structures. This suggests that religious practices may have been decentralized, with rituals performed in domestic or communal settings.

Decline and Disappearance

• Environmental Factors : The Indus Valley Civilization may have faced challenges from environmental changes, such as fluctuations in rainfall patterns, soil erosion, and river migration, which could have impacted agricultural productivity and led to resource scarcity.
• The decline in Trade : Evidence suggests a decline in long-distance trade networks during the later stages of the civilization, possibly due to disruptions in trade routes or competition from other emerging civilizations.
• Urban Decline : Many urban centers of the civilization, such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, show signs of abandonment and decline, with a decrease in population and deterioration of infrastructure.
• Invasion and Conflict : Some scholars propose that invasions or conflicts with neighboring groups may have hastened the decline of the civilization, although direct evidence for large-scale warfare is limited.
• Internal Strife : Socio-political unrest or internal conflicts within the civilization’s urban centers could have contributed to its decline, leading to destabilization and eventual collapse.
• Disease and Epidemics : The spread of diseases or epidemics, facilitated by urbanization and population density, may have weakened the civilization’s social and economic structures, making it more vulnerable to collapse.
• Indus Script : The inability to decipher the Indus script limits our understanding of the civilization’s decline, as written records could provide valuable insights into the causes and events leading to its collapse.
• Shift in River Courses : Changes in the course of the Indus River and its tributaries may have disrupted agricultural practices and access to water resources, contributing to the decline of urban centers reliant on irrigation.
• Cultural Assimilation : The civilization may have experienced cultural assimilation or integration with migrating groups, leading to changes in social dynamics and traditional practices.
• Legacy and Continuity : Despite its decline, aspects of the Indus Valley Civilization’s culture, technology, and trade networks may have persisted in the region, influencing subsequent societies and civilizations in South Asia.

Legacy and Impact

• Urban Planning : The Indus Valley Civilization’s sophisticated urban planning and drainage systems influenced subsequent urban settlements in the Indian subcontinent, setting a precedent for city design and infrastructure development.
• Trade and Commerce : The civilization’s extensive trade networks and standardized weights and measures contributed to the development of trade routes and economic systems in the region, laying the foundation for future trade networks.
• Technological Advancements : The civilization’s advancements in metallurgy, pottery, and urban infrastructure had a lasting impact on technological developments in South Asia, influencing subsequent civilizations and cultures.
• Cultural Influence : The civilization’s artistic and cultural achievements, including its unique pottery styles and seals, influenced the artistic traditions of later cultures in the region.
• Language and Writing : Although the Indus script remains undeciphered, its existence suggests a level of literacy and administrative sophistication that may have influenced the development of writing systems in the region.
• Religious and Philosophical Ideas : The civilization’s religious and philosophical ideas, as inferred from its iconography and artifacts, likely influenced later religious traditions in South Asia, including Hinduism and Buddhism.
• Environmental Practices : The civilization’s management of water resources and urban planning practices offer lessons in sustainable living and environmental management that are relevant today.
• Historical Understanding : The discovery and study of the Indus Valley Civilization have contributed significantly to our understanding of early urban societies and the complexities of ancient civilizations, reshaping historical narratives and perspectives.
• Cultural Diversity : The civilization’s diverse cultural influences and interactions with neighboring regions highlight the importance of cultural exchange and diversity in shaping human history.
• Inspiration for Modern India : The legacy of civilization is a source of pride and inspiration for modern India, showcasing the region’s rich cultural and historical heritage.

The Indus Valley Civilization demonstrates the inventiveness and intelligence of early human societies. Its urban planning, technological advancements, and trade networks demonstrate a level of organization and complexity previously underestimated in ancient civilizations. Despite its decline and disappearance, the legacy of the Indus Valley Civilization endures through its architectural achievements, cultural innovations, and influence on subsequent societies. The study of this remarkable civilization not only sheds light on the past but also offers valuable lessons for the present, reminding us of the resilience and creativity of human civilization in the face of challenges and change.

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Indus Valley Civilization

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The Indus Valley Civilization was a cultural and political entity which flourished in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent between c. 7000 - c. 600 BCE. Its modern name derives from its location in the valley of the Indus River, but it is also commonly referred to as the Indus- Sarasvati Civilization and the Harrapan Civilization.

These latter designations come from the Sarasvati River mentioned in Vedic sources, which flowed adjacent to the Indus River, and the ancient city of Harappa in the region, the first one found in the modern era. None of these names derive from any ancient texts because, although scholars generally believe the people of this civilization developed a writing system (known as Indus Script or Harappan Script ) it has not yet been deciphered.

All three designations are modern constructs, and nothing is definitively known of the origin, development, decline, and fall of the civilization. Even so, modern archaeology has established a probable chronology and periodization:

• Pre-Harappan – c. 7000 - c. 5500 BCE
• Early Harappan – c. 5500 - 2800 BCE
• Mature Harappan – c. 2800 - c. 1900 BCE
• Late Harappan – c. 1900 - c. 1500 BCE
• Post Harappan – c. 1500 - c. 600 BCE

The Indus Valley Civilization is now often compared with the far more famous cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia , but this is a fairly recent development. The discovery of Harappa in 1829 CE was the first indication that any such civilization existed in India , and by that time, Egyptian hieroglyphics had been deciphered, Egyptian and Mesopotamian sites excavated, and cuneiform would soon be translated by the scholar George Smith (l. 1840-1876 CE). Archaeological excavations of the Indus Valley Civilization, therefore, had a significantly late start comparatively, and it is now thought that many of the accomplishments and “firsts” attributed to Egypt and Mesopotamia may actually belong to the people of the Indus Valley Civilization.

The two best-known excavated cities of this culture are Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (located in modern-day Pakistan), both of which are thought to have once had populations of between 40,000-50,000 people, which is stunning when one realizes that most ancient cities had on average 10,000 people living in them. The total population of the civilization is thought to have been upward of 5 million, and its territory stretched over 900 miles (1,500 km) along the banks of the Indus River and then in all directions outward. Indus Valley Civilization sites have been found near the border of Nepal, in Afghanistan, on the coasts of India, and around Delhi, to name only a few locations.

Between c. 1900 - c. 1500 BCE, the civilization began to decline for unknown reasons. In the early 20th century CE, this was thought to have been caused by an invasion of light-skinned peoples from the north known as Aryans who conquered a dark-skinned people defined by Western scholars as Dravidians. This claim, known as the Aryan Invasion Theory, has been discredited. The Aryans – whose ethnicity is associated with the Iranian Persians – are now believed to have migrated to the region peacefully and blended their culture with that of the indigenous people while the term Dravidian is understood now to refer to anyone, of any ethnicity, who speaks one of the Dravidian languages.

Why the Indus Valley Civilization declined and fell is unknown, but scholars believe it may have had to do with climate change, the drying up of the Sarasvati River, an alteration in the path of the monsoon which watered crops, overpopulation of the cities, a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia, or a combination of any of the above. In the present day, excavations continue at many of the sites found thus far and some future find may provide more information on the history and decline of the culture.

Discovery & Early Excavation

The symbols and inscriptions on the artifacts of the people of the Indus Valley Civilization, which have been interpreted by some scholars as a writing system, remain undeciphered and so archaeologists generally avoid defining an origin for the culture as any attempt would be speculative. All that can be known of the civilization to date comes from the physical evidence excavated at various sites. The story of the Indus Valley Civilization, therefore, is best given with the discovery of its ruins in the 19th century CE.

James Lewis (better known as Charles Masson, l. 1800-1853 CE) was a British soldier serving in the artillery of the East India Company Army when, in 1827 CE, he deserted with another soldier. In order to avoid detection by authorities, he changed his name to Charles Masson and embarked on a series of travels throughout India. Masson was an avid numismatist ( coin collector) who was especially interested in old coins and, in following various leads, wound up excavating ancient sites on his own. One of these sites was Harappa, which he found in 1829 CE. He seems to have left the site fairly quickly, after making a record of it in his notes but, having no knowledge of who could have built the city, wrongly attributed it to Alexander the Great during his campaigns in India c. 326 BCE.

When Masson returned to Britain after his adventures (and having been somehow forgiven his desertion), he published his book Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan and the Punjab in 1842 CE which attracted the attention of the British authorities in India and, especially, Alexander Cunningham. Sir Alexander Cunningham (l. 1814-1893 CE), a British engineer in the country with a passion for ancient history, founded the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1861 CE, an organization dedicated to maintaining a professional standard of excavation and preservation of historic sites. Cunningham began excavations of the site and published his interpretation in 1875 CE (in which he identified and named the Indus Script) but this was incomplete and lacked definition because Harappa remained isolated with no connection to any known past civilization which could have built it.

In 1904 CE, a new director of the ASI was appointed, John Marshall (l. 1876-1958 CE), who later visited Harappa and concluded the site represented an ancient civilization previously unknown. He ordered the site to be fully excavated and, at about the same time, heard of another site some miles away which the local people referred to as Mohenjo-daro (“the mound of the dead”) because of bones, both animal and human, found there along with various artifacts. Excavations at Mohenjo-daro began in the 1924-1925 season and the similarities of the two sites were recognized; the Indus Valley Civilization had been discovered.

Harappa & Mohenjo-daro

The Hindu texts known as the Vedas , as well as other great works of Indian tradition such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana , were already well known to Western scholars but they did not know what culture had created them. Systemic racism of the time prevented them from attributing the works to the people of India, and the same, at first, led archaeologists to conclude that Harappa was a colony of the Sumerians of Mesopotamia or perhaps an Egyptian outpost.

Harappa did not conform to either Egyptian or Mesopotamian architecture , however, as there was no evidence of temples, palaces, or monumental structures, no names of kings or queens or stelae or royal statuary. The city spread over 370 acres (150 hectares) of small, brick houses with flat roofs made of clay. There was a citadel, walls, the streets were laid out in a grid pattern clearly demonstrating a high degree of skill in urban planning and, in comparing the two sites, it was apparent to the excavators that they were dealing with a highly advanced culture.

Houses in both cities had flush toilets, a sewer system, and fixtures on either side of the streets were part of an elaborate drainage system, which was more advanced even than that of the early Romans. Devices known from Persia as “wind catchers” were attached to the roofs of some buildings which provided air conditioning for the home or administrative office and, at Mohenjo-daro, there was a great public bath, surrounded by a courtyard, with steps leading down into it.

As other sites were unearthed, the same degree of sophistication and skill came to light as well as the understanding that all of these cities had been pre-planned. Unlike those of other cultures which usually developed from smaller, rural communities, the cities of the Indus Valley Civilization had been thought out, a site chosen, and purposefully constructed prior to full habitation. Further, they all exhibited conformity to a single vision which further suggested a strong central government with an efficient bureaucracy that could plan, fund, and build such cities. Scholar John Keay comments:

What amazed all these pioneers, and what remains the distinctive characteristic of the several hundred Harappan sites now known, is their apparent similarity: “Our overwhelming impression is of cultural uniformity, both throughout the several centuries during which the Harappan civilization flourished, and over the vast area it occupied.” The ubiquitous bricks, for instance, are all of standardized dimensions, just as the stone cubes used by the Harappans to measure weights are also standard and based on the modular system. Road widths conform to a similar module; thus, streets are typically twice the width of side lanes, while the main arteries are twice or one and a half times the width of streets. Most of the streets so far excavated are straight and run either north-south or east-west. City plans therefore conform to a regular grid pattern and appear to have retained this layout through several phases of building. (9)

Excavations at both sites continued between 1944-1948 CE under the direction of the British archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler (l. 1890-1976 CE) whose racialist ideology made it difficult for him to accept that dark-skinned people had built the cities. Even so, he managed to establish stratigraphy for Harappa and lay the foundation for the later periodization of the Indus Valley Civilization.

Wheeler's work provided archaeologists with the means to recognize approximate dates from the civilization's foundations through its decline and fall. The chronology is primarily based, as noted, on physical evidence from Harappan sites but also from knowledge of their trade contacts with Egypt and Mesopotamia. Lapis lazuli, to name only one product, was immensely popular in both cultures and, although scholars knew it came from India, they did not know from precisely where until the Indus Valley Civilization was discovered. Even though this semi-precious stone would continue to be imported after the fall of the Indus Valley Civilization, it is clear that, initially, some of the export came from this region.

• Pre-Harappan – c. 7000 - c. 5500 BCE : The Neolithic period best exemplified by sites like Mehrgarh which shows evidence of agricultural development, domestication of plants and animals, and production of tools and ceramics.
• Early Harappan – c. 5500-2800 BCE : Trade firmly established with Egypt, Mesopotamia, and possibly China . Ports, docks, and warehouses built near waterways by communities living in small villages.
• Mature Harappan – c. 2800 - c. 1900 BCE : Construction of the great cities and widespread urbanization . Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are both flourishing c. 2600 BCE. Other cities, such as Ganeriwala, Lothal, and Dholavira are built according to the same models and this development of the land continues with the construction of hundreds of other cities until there are over 1,000 of them throughout the land in every direction.
• Late Harappan – c. 1900 - c. 1500 BCE : Decline of the civilization coinciding with a wave of migration of the Aryan people from the north, most likely the Iranian Plateau. Physical evidence suggests climate change which caused flooding, drought, and famine. A loss of trade relations with Egypt and Mesopotamia has also been suggested as a contributing cause.
• Post Harappan – c. 1500 - c. 600 BCE : The cities are abandoned, and the people have moved south. The civilization has already fallen by the time Cyrus II (the Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE) invades India in 530 BCE.

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Aspects of Culture

The people seem to have been primarily artisans, farmers, and merchants. There is no evidence of a standing army, no palaces, and no temples. The Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro is believed to have been used for ritual purification rites related to religious belief but this is conjecture; it could as easily have been a public pool for recreation. Each city seems to have had its own governor but, it is speculated, there must have been some form of centralized government in order to achieve the uniformity of the cities. John Keay comments:

Harappan tools, utensils, and materials confirm this impression of uniformity. Unfamiliar with iron – which was nowhere known in the third millennium BC – the Harappans sliced, scraped, beveled, and bored with 'effortless competence' using a standardized kit of tools made from chert, a kind of quartz, or from copper and bronze . These last, along with gold and silver , were the only metals available. They were also used for casting vessels and statuettes and for fashioning a variety of knives, fishhooks, arrowheads, saws, chisels, sickles, pins, and bangles. (10)

Among the thousands of artifacts discovered at the various sites are small, soapstone seals a little over an inch (3 cm) in diameter which archaeologists interpret to have been used for personal identification in trade. Like the cylinder seals of Mesopotamia, these seals are thought to have been used to sign contracts, authorize land sales, and authenticate point-of-origin, shipment, and receipt of goods in trade long distance.

The people had developed the wheel, carts drawn by cattle, flat-bottomed boats wide enough to transport trade goods, and may have also developed the sail. In agriculture , they understood and made use of irrigation techniques and canals, various farming implements, and established different areas for cattle grazing and crops. Fertility rituals may have been observed for a full harvest as well as pregnancies of women as evidenced by a number of figurines, amulets, and statuettes in female form. It is thought that the people may have worshipped a Mother Goddess deity and, possibly, a male consort depicted as a horned figure in the company of wild animals. The religious beliefs of the culture, however, are unknown and any suggestions must be speculative.

Their level of artistic skill is evident through numerous finds of statuary, soapstone seals, ceramics, and jewelry. The most famous artwork is the bronze statuette, standing 4 inches (10 cm) tall, known as “Dancing Girl” found at Mohenjo-daro in 1926 CE. The piece shows a teenage girl, right hand on her hip, left on her knee, with chin raised as though evaluating the claims of a suitor. An equally impressive piece is a soapstone figure, 6 inches (17 cm) tall, known as the Priest-King, depicting a bearded man wearing a headdress and ornamental armband.

A particularly interesting aspect of the artwork is the appearance of what seems to be a unicorn on over 60 percent of the personal seals. There are many different images on these seals but, as Keay notes, the unicorn appears on "1156 seals and sealings out of a total of 1755 found at Mature Harappan sites" (17). He also notes that the seals, no matter what image appears on them, also have markings which have been interpreted as Indus Script, suggesting that the “writing” conveys a meaning different from the image. The “unicorn” could possibly have represented an individual's family, clan, city, or political affiliation and the “writing” one's personal information.

Decline & Aryan Invasion Theory

Just as there is no definitive answer to the question of what the seals were, what the “unicorn” represented, or how the people venerated their gods, there is none for why the culture declined and fell. Between c. 1900 - c. 1500 BCE, the cities were steadily abandoned, and the people moved south. As noted, there are a number of theories concerning this, but none are completely satisfactory. According to one, the Gaggar-Hakra River, which is identified with the Sarasvati River from Vedic texts, and which ran adjacent to the Indus River, dried up c. 1900 BCE, necessitating a major relocation of the people who had depended on it. Significant silting at sites such as Mohenjo-daro suggests major flooding which is given as another cause.

Another possibility is a drop in necessary trade goods. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were experiencing troubles during this same time which could have resulted in a significant disruption in trade. The Late Harappan Period corresponds roughly with the Middle Bronze Age in Mesopotamia (2119-1700 BCE) during which the Sumerians – the major trading partners with the people of the Indus Valley – were engaged in driving out the Gutian invaders and, between c. 1792-1750 BCE, the Babylonian king Hammurabi was conquering their city-states as he consolidated his empire . In Egypt, the period corresponds to the latter part of the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) when the weak 13th Dynasty ruled just prior to the coming of the Hyksos and the central government's loss of power and authority.

The reason which early 20th century CE scholars seized on, however, was none of these but the claim that the Indus Valley people had been conquered and driven south by an invasion of a superior race of light-skinned Aryans.

Aryan Invasion Theory

Western scholars had been translating and interpreting the Vedic literature of India for over 200 years by the time Wheeler was excavating the sites and, in that time, came to develop the theory that the subcontinent was at some point conquered by a light-skinned race known as Aryans who established high culture throughout the land. This theory developed slowly and, at first, innocently through the publication of a work by the Anglo-Welsh philologist Sir William Jones (l. 1746-1794 CE) in 1786 CE. Jones, an avid reader of Sanskrit , noted that there were remarkable similarities between it and European languages and claimed there had to be a common source for all of them; he called this source Proto- Indo-European .

Later Western scholars, trying to identify Jones' “common source”, concluded that a light-skinned race from the north – somewhere around Europe – had conquered the lands south, notably India, establishing culture and spreading their language and customs, even though nothing, objectively, supported this view. A French elitist writer named Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (l. 1816-1882 CE) popularized this view in his work An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races in 1855 CE and asserted that superior, light-skinned, races had “Aryan blood” and were naturally disposed to rule over lesser races.

Gobineau's book was admired by the German composer Richard Wagner (l. 1813-1883 CE) whose British-born son-in- law , Houston Stewart Chamberlain (l. 1855-1927 CE) further popularized these views in his work which would eventually influence Adolf Hitler and the architect of the Nazi ideology, Alfred Rosenberg (l. 1893-1946 CE). These racialist views were given further validity by a German philologist and scholar who did not share them, Max Muller (l. 1823-1900 CE), the so-called “author” of the Aryan Invasion Theory who insisted, in all of his work, that Aryan had to do with a linguistic difference and had nothing at all to do with ethnicity.

It hardly mattered what Muller said, however, because, by the time Wheeler was excavating the sites in the 1940s CE, people had been breathing in these theories with the air of the times for well over 50 years. It would be decades more before the majority of scholars, writers, and academics would begin to recognize that 'Aryan' originally referred to a class of people – having nothing to do with race – and, in the words of the archaeologist J. P. Mallory, “as an ethnic designation the word [Aryan] is most properly limited to the Indo-Iranians” (Farrokh, 17). The early Iranians self-identified as Aryan meaning “noble” or “free” or “civilized” and the term continued in use for over 2000 years until it was corrupted by European racists to serve their own agenda.

Wheeler's interpretation of the sites was informed by and then validated the Aryan Invasion Theory. The Aryans were already recognized as the authors of the Vedas and other works but their dates in the region were too late to support the claim that they had built the impressive cities; perhaps, though, they had destroyed them. Wheeler was, of course, as aware of the Aryan Invasion Theory as any other archaeologist at the time and, through this lens, interpreted what he found as supporting it; in doing so, he validated the theory which then gained greater popularity and acceptance.

The Aryan Invasion Theory, though still cited and advanced by those with a racialist agenda, lost credence in the 1960s CE through the work, primarily, of the American archaeologist George F. Dales who reviewed Wheeler's interpretations, visited the sites, and found no evidence to support it. The skeletons Wheeler had interpreted as dying a violent death in battle showed no such signs nor did the cities exhibit any damage associated with war .

Further, there was no evidence of any kind of mobilization of a great army of the north nor of any conquest c. 1900 BCE in India. The Persians – the only ethnicity self-identifying as Aryan – were themselves a minority on the Iranian Plateau between c. 1900 - c. 1500 BCE and in no position to mount an invasion of any kind. It was therefore suggested that the “Aryan Invasion” was actually most likely a migration of Indo-Iranians who merged peacefully with the indigenous people of India, intermarried, and were assimilated into the culture.

As excavations of the sites of the Indus Valley Civilization continue, more information will no doubt contribute to a better understanding of its history and development. Recognition of the culture's vast accomplishments and high level of technology and sophistication has been increasingly coming to light and gaining greater attention. Scholar Jeffrey D. Long expresses the general sentiment, writing, “there is much fascination with this civilization because of its high level of technological advancement” (198). Already, the Indus Valley Civilization is referenced as one of the three greatest of antiquity alongside Egypt and Mesopotamia, and future excavations will almost surely elevate its standing even higher.

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Bibliography

• Arendt, H. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1975.
• Avari, B. India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Subcontinent. Routledge, 2016.
• Farrokh, K. Shadows in the Desert. Osprey Publishing, 2009.
• Keay, J. India: A History. Grove Press, 2010.
• Koller, J. M. Asian Philosophies. Prentice Hall, 2007.
• Kriwaczek, P. Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization. St. Martin's Griffin, 2012.
• Kulke, H. & Rothermund, D. A History of India. Barnes & Noble Books, 1995.
• Long, J. D. Historical Dictionary of Hinduism . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010.
• Olmstead, A. T. History of the Persian Empire. University of Chicago Press, 2000.
• Shaw, I. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, 2004.

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3.4 The Indus Valley Civilization

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Analyze the growth, development, and decline of the Indus valley culture
• Describe the cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
• Identify key themes in Indus valley religion and culture

More than fifteen hundred miles east of Mesopotamia, in the fertile valley of the Indus River, another early civilization developed in the early third millennium BCE as a peer of ancient Sumer. Early in the second millennium BCE, however, the cities of this Indus valley culture experienced decline. Lacking written records, historians have only cultural artifacts on which to base any speculation about the rise and fall of this spectacular culture, which undoubtedly influenced subsequent civilizations that arose in South Asia.

The Origins of the Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus River flows from the Himalayan Mountains south into the Indian Ocean, depositing rich alluvial soil from the mountains along its banks. Its valley (in modern Pakistan and India) thus provided a hospitable environment for population growth for the emerging Indus valley civilization (c. 2800 BCE–1800 BCE).

Evidence for the domestication of plants and animals in this region dates to about 7000 BCE, but the process may have begun earlier. It is likely that agriculturalists in the region adopted barley and wheat cultivation techniques from the Near East, where people had been practicing agriculture for thousands of years by this point. However, it is also possible that the people of the Indus valley developed some of these techniques independently. Regardless, by about 5000 BCE, they were clearly in contact with the civilizations in Egypt and Sumer.

The farmers of the Indus valley cultivated wheat and barley as well as raised cattle and sheep, as did the farmers of Mesopotamia and western Asia. They also domesticated and cultivated bananas and cotton for cloth production, which were both unknown in ancient Mesopotamia. Thanks to the Neolithic Revolution , which secured a stable food source and stimulated population growth, people began living in settled communities along the Indus River valley as a new early civilization developed.

Beginning around 2800 BCE, the Indus valley entered a new phase in its development with the growth of a great number of urban centers. The two largest cities emerged at what are now the archaeological sites of Harappa in the northeast and Mohenjo-Daro to the southeast and downriver. Other large urban centers existed at Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi, along with many smaller but similarly organized cities scattered across the valley. By the time this civilization reached its height around 2000 BCE, more than one thousand urban centers of varying sizes were spread across the expansive region ( Figure 3.24 ).

Despite the large size of this civilization, its existence was unknown to modern scholars until the early nineteenth century when British excavations revealed the ancient city of Harappa. Because Harappa was the first major site discovered by archaeologists, the term Harappan often appears as a synonym for Indus valley civilization.

The archaeological sites of Harappa in the north and Mohenjo-Daro in the south have received the most study of all the Indus valley cities and remain the best known. At their height, they likely had populations of about thirty thousand people each. The political organization across the Indus valley remains imperfectly understood, but it may have consisted of a collection of independent city-states, such as existed in ancient Sumer. It is equally plausible, however, that the few large cities functioned as regional capitals ruling over the surrounding smaller ones. The fact that the sites all possessed a similar structural organization, with a sophisticated grid of well-laid-out city streets, lends credibility to theories that some form of central authority was operating.

Link to Learning

There is much to explore at the sites of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Take a look at these walkthrough slideshows on Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro to better understand how these cities were organized and what they look like today.

All the cities are divided into two sections: a lower city that was largely a residential area, and an upper city or citadel that was walled off from the rest of the settlement ( Figure 3.25 ). This citadel may have served as a monumental ceremonial center for ritual activities and the residence of the ruling elite, like the palaces and temples of Egypt and Mesopotamia. At Harappa, the wall of mud-brick enclosing the citadel was forty-two feet thick at its base and nearly fifty feet high (about as tall as a five-story building today), with rectangular towers at regular intervals. Within the citadels stood platforms built of mud-brick where ritual activities such as animal sacrifices may have been performed; at Harappa, the platform was twenty-three feet high. At the site of Kalibangan, in northwestern India, archaeologists uncovered a pit on top of the platform containing burned cattle bones.

The citadels also included public baths. At Mohenjo-Daro , the tank of the bath was forty feet long and twenty-three feet wide and entered by staircases on either side. A nearby well provided the water. Archaeologists have uncovered a large hall supported by pilasters composed of mud-brick at Mohenjo-Daro, as well as a multistory residence built around an open courtyard. This evidence suggests that ritual specialists, perhaps priests, lived and performed religious functions in the citadels that may have required them to bathe in the large public bath and congregate in the hall. An extensive granary for grain storage was found at Mohenjo-Daro. Farmers from outlying rural areas undoubtedly produced the surplus crops that were stored here to provide sustenance for the elite, religious specialists, and other city residents such as merchants and artisans, just as in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

The lower sections of the Indus valley cities consisted of residential quarters and workshops. At Mohenjo-Daro and Kalibangan, the houses typically consisted of four to six rooms built around a central courtyard and were equipped with wells to provide running water to a bathroom. Larger homes in the cities were multistory with as many as thirty rooms. There is also evidence of devices attached to some of the roofs that pumped wind into homes and other large buildings to cool them.

Some of the most intriguing evidence at the large Indus valley civilization sites indicates the residents had sophisticated knowledge of water engineering and built citywide drainage systems with covers for servicing. Evidence was found of indoor toilets that connected to this drainage network that ran throughout the city.

The Indus valley cities also included an industrial area where workshops were located. At Harappa , this district included quarters for the laborers who worked there. The ancient city at the site of Lothal near the Indian Ocean included a dockyard and a warehouse for incoming trade goods. The inhabitants of these cities may have included the artisans and merchants who provided goods for the ruling elite. As in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, the majority of the population were probably farmers who lived in the outlying rural areas surrounding each city.

Trade, Writing, and Religion

Archaeological work has revealed that a considerable amount of trade flowed between Mesopotamia and the Indus valley. Cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia refer to the Indus valley as Meluhha and document that precious stones such as lapis lazuli and carnelian, as well as marine shells from the Indian Ocean, were imported from there. Merchants traveled by sea across the Indian Ocean and by land over the Iranian plateau ( Figure 3.26 ).

The influence of Mesopotamia on the Indus valley culture is evident in the use of seals. The Indus valley seals were inscribed with depictions of human figures and animals such as bulls and goats, likely totems for families or lineages, and brief inscriptions that likely indicate names, titles, or occupations. Merchants marked ownership of goods by making an impression of the seal on the soft clay that covered the mouth of the jar or other vessel that held the objects, or on clay tags attached to sacks of grain ( Figure 3.27 ). A similar practice occurred in contemporary Mesopotamia, where the seal was in the shape of a cylinder that could be rolled to leave an impression. Archaeologists have found seals from the Indus valley in ancient Sumerian cities such as Ur .

The script that appears on many of the seals is unique to the people of the Indus valley civilization, and scholars have yet to decipher it. It seems to consist of phonograms, signs for the sounds of syllables, and there appear to be about four hundred such signs. Many speculate that the language written in this script may be related to the Dravidian languages still spoken across southern India today. It may also be similar to the script invented by the Elamites of southwestern Iran. Unlike the case in Mesopotamia and Egypt, archaeologists have not uncovered clay tablets or papyrus rolls in the Indus valley.

The Past Meets the Present

Deciphering indus valley script.

One of the great mysteries surrounding Indus valley script is what exactly it represents. Was it a means of capturing spoken language, or did the marks simply indicate whether taxes had been paid on an item or signify the quality of a particular good (in the same way we use stars to rate products and services online today)?

Rajesh Rao, a professor of computer science at the University of Washington who became fascinated with the Indus valley civilization as a child in India, created a computer program to help him answer this question by measuring conditional entropy in Indus valley writing. Conditional entropy measures the degree of randomness in a sequence. In a system of writing that encodes language, there is a fairly low level of randomness. Letters appear frequently in some combinations and rarely or never in others. For example, in the English language, the letter q is usually followed by the letter u and never by the letter k . At the beginning of a word, the letter h is never followed by a consonant.

Rao tested the conditional entropy of the Indus valley script along with that of several natural languages including English, artificial languages such as those written for computers, and other sequences not related to language such as human DNA sequences. He discovered that the Indus valley script has a degree of randomness similar to that of natural languages, leading him to the conclusion that the symbols do represent a language and are not simply marks of quality or signs that something has been taxed. He also concluded that the rate of conditional entropy in Indus valley writing resembled that of Old Tamil, an earlier form of the Tamil language currently spoken in southern India that belongs to the Dravidian language family. This idea angered many Indians, especially those who speak Hindi, a language derived from Sanskrit that is the first language of many people in northern India. This issue is both historical and modern. If the language of the ancient Indus valley was Dravidian in origin, it calls into question the ancestry of the people who lived there, and given the evolution of the caste system, it raises questions about social identities that have existed for centuries. The issue remains in question, and the controversy about ancestral origins is far more complex than the single issue of language.

• Why do you think the origin of language matters so much to the people of India?
• If Indus valley writing were deciphered, what could historians learn about the culture that we cannot currently know?
• In what other ways could computers help historians learn about the past?

Bronze technology probably also entered the Indus River valley by the third millennium BCE through trade with Mesopotamia . Merchants from the Indus valley may even have exported tin from Afghanistan to Mesopotamia, since this metal was in demand for the manufacture of bronze.

Notwithstanding the many obvious Mesopotamian influences and trading connections, the people of the Indus valley civilization developed their own unique culture. Their distinctive religion may have shaped later cultures in India. For example, clay figurines from the Indus valley that are believed to depict deities are often interpreted as portraying a goddess whose female attributes are similar to those of the Hindu goddess Durga, consort of the god Shiva. Some seals depict a horned three-faced figure surrounded by animals, which closely resembles the Hindu deity Shiva when represented as the Lord of the Animals ( Figure 3.28 ). Archaeologists have also found stones molded into shapes that resemble lingams and yonis , which are representations of male and female sexual organs associated with the worship of Shiva. The people of the Indus valley buried their dead with modest grave goods such as clay pots, which suggests a belief in an afterlife. However, there is no evidence of temples or monumental tombs such as the Egyptian pyramids or the royal tombs of Ur in Mesopotamia.

The artisans of the Indus valley created unique sculptures in clay, stone, and bronze. One of the more spectacular stone works from Mohenjo-Daro depicts a serene bearded man who may be a priest or leader in the community. A tiny bronze figure appears to represent a young woman dancing ( Figure 3.29 ). Her bracelets and necklaces indicate that the people of this culture employed artisans to manufacture such adornment, which may have indicated high social status. Artisans of the Indus valley were also very busy manufacturing pottery and seals. Their artistic designs influenced artisans in neighboring cultures over a wide area, from the upper Ganges River valley in what is today northwestern India to Baluchistan in western Pakistan and southeastern Iran.

Merchants from the Indus valley were undoubtedly active in exchanging such wares in these regions. In the absence of coinage, they used a common system of stone cubical weights to assess goods in commercial exchanges that required barter. The cities of the Indus valley could have also used these weights to assess taxes in kind that they collected for their granaries.

The Era of Decline

Beginning around 1800 BCE, the centuries of trade between the Indus valley and Mesopotamia came to an end. Over the next four centuries, the cities of the Indus River valley were slowly depopulated, and the civilization declined, likely in stages. Why and how this decline occurred remains unknown. One common view is that it was related to regional climate change. Around 2000 BCE, the floodplain of the Indus River shifted dramatically, creating dry river beds where cities had been and water once flowed. Changes in the pattern of seasonal wind and rainfall, known as the monsoon in South Asia, may have caused these environmental effects. Without a secure source of water for drinking and irrigation, the cities would have suffered declines in population. Another theory suggests that centuries of environmental degradation caused by urbanization and large population growth made the land unsuitable to human populations. Still other views point to the possibility of tectonic activity that changed the course of the rivers, or even epidemic disease that decimated the population.

Before these environmental factors began to be considered, the view for many years was that the Indus valley civilization was violently destroyed in a conquest by nomadic Indo-European speakers calling themselves Aryans, a Sanskrit-speaking group of nomadic pastoralists who raised cattle and horses. Some Aryans began migrating from the Eurasian Steppe north of the Black and Caspian Seas around 3500 BCE. Over time, different groups spread into Europe, Anatolia, Iran, and eventually Pakistan and India.

The Aryan invasion theory of decline depends heavily on Indo-European works of religious literature like the Rigveda , produced sometime between 1500 and 1000 BCE in northwestern India. This work includes a great number of hymns, rituals, descriptions of deities, and other largely religious topics geared toward understanding the origin of the universe and the nature of the divine. But in parts it also discusses the arrival of the Aryans and describes them attacking the walled cities and forts of the indigenous population. While some of these descriptions were likely developed centuries after the fall of the Indus valley civilization and may be unrelated to it, some scholars continue to hold that these passages describe the conquest of Mohenjo-Daro. Archaeological evidence attesting to the fact that Mohenjo-Daro was attacked around 1500 BCE and mostly destroyed lends some credibility to these claims.

We may never know what best explains the collapse of the Indus valley civilization. A few or all these causes may have played a role. For example, environmental degradation caused by years of resource exploitation and high population density certainly had an effect. These issues could have been compounded by climate change and disease. And in a weakened state, the people of the region would have been far more vulnerable to attack by raiding groups like the Aryans.

However it happened, by around 1500 BCE, the social and political systems had broken down, and the sophisticated culture of the Indus valley civilization had collapsed. The architectural styles that characterized the cities at their height were abandoned, as was the writing system, the sophisticated metalworking, and other artisanal crafts. The Indus valley civilization had come to an end.

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The Sindhu (Indus) River

One of the Longest in the World

Aliraza Khatri's Photography / Getty Images

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The Sindhu River, also commonly referred to as the Indus River, is a major waterway in South Asia. One of the longest rivers in the world, the Sindhu has a total length of over 2,000 miles and runs south from the Kailash Mountain in Tibet all the way to the Arabian Sea in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the longest river in Pakistan , also passing through northwestern India, in addition to the Tibetan region of China and Pakistan.

The Sindhu is a large part of the river system of the Punjab, which means "land of five rivers." Those five rivers—the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej—eventually flow into the Indus.

History of the Sindhu River

The Indus Valley is located on the fertile floodplains along the river . This region was home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, which was one of the oldest known civilizations. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of religious practices starting in about 5500 BCE, and farming began by around 4000 BCE. Towns and cities grew up in the area by about 2500 BCE, and the civilization was at its peak between 2500 and 2000 BCE, coinciding with the civilizations of the Babylonians and Egyptians. 

When at its peak, the Indus Valley Civilization boasted houses with wells and bathrooms, underground drainage systems, a fully developed writing system, impressive architecture, and a well-planned urban center. Two major cities,  Harappa  and Mohenjo-Daro, have been excavated and explored. Remains including elegant jewelry, weights, and other items. Many items have writing on them, but to date, the writing has not been translated.

The Indus Valley Civilization began to decline around 1800 BCE. Trade ceased, and some cities were abandoned. Reasons for this decline are unclear, but some theories include flood or drought.

Around 1500 BCE, invasions by the Aryans began to erode what was left of the Indus Valley Civilization. The Aryan people settled in their place, and their language and culture have helped to shape the language and culture of today's India and Pakistan. Hindu religious practices may also have their roots in Aryan beliefs.

The Sindhu River's Significance Today

Today, the Sindhu River serves as a key water supply to Pakistan and is central to the country’s economy. In addition to drinking water, the river enables and sustains the country’s agriculture. 

Fish from the river provide a major source of food to communities along the river’s banks. The Sindhu River is also used as a major transportation route for commerce.

Physical Attributes of the Sindhu River

The Sindhu River follows a complex path from its origin at 18,000 feet in the Himalayas near Lake Mapam. It flows northwest for roughly 200 miles before crossing into the disputed territory of Kashmir in India and then into Pakistan. It eventually exits the mountainous region and flows into the sandy plains of the Punjab, where its most significant tributaries feed the river.

During July, August, and September when the river floods, the Sindhu stretches to several miles wide in the plains. The snow-fed Sindhu River system is subject to flash floods, too. While the river moves quickly through the mountain passes, it moves very slowly through the plains, depositing silt and raising the level of these sandy plains.

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Indus Valley civilization

Introduction.

One of the first civilizations in the world developed in the valley of the Indus River in Asia. It occupied both sides of what is now the border between Pakistan and India . The Indus Valley civilization lasted from about 2500 bce to about 1700 bce .

Society and Culture

Farming was important to the Indus Valley civilization. People ran water channels from rivers to the fields. The Indus people were among the first to grow cotton and use it to make cloth. They also might have been the first people to raise chickens.

Beginning in about 5000 bce , farmers near what is now Iran began to gather in villages. In about 3500 bce settlers began to move eastward into the Indus Valley. By about 2500 bce the Indus Valley civilization had developed at Harappa and other sites.

The Indus Valley civilization probably broke down in stages between 2000 bce and 1700 bce . Some historians blame invaders from the west, probably a group known as Aryans . Climate change, floods, and diseases also might have hurt the civilization.

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Two Banks of a River: The Indus in Ladakh

Isaac Tsetan Gergan

This story of Indus is inspired by the river’s spectacular course in Ladakh as it meanders and flows through some breathtaking landscape. A history is still in making since centuries past and so significantly by its waters and glaciers. Photographs in this story are from the length and breath of Ladakh, from Nubra to Zanskar and from Leh to Kargil; the earliest photo being made seven years old. As these photographs tell of the river's present state, we also see Ladakh changing fast with a tourism sector booming and new development as it takes into its fold being India’s newest Union Territory. Indus as it has over centuries continues to inspire and shape life, here are glimpses of its grand spectacle through Ladakh, a treasure in the Himalayas.

Indus river, Leh

The Indus rages past, dropping in elevation in Garkhon, Kargil. 

With songs and stories humming along its banks, across budding pastures and under apricot blossoms, passing hamlets with hails of farmers urging yaks and cows forward, the steady flowing, iridescent blue Indus flows across brown and barren mountains of Ladakh. A short distance from speeding cars on National Highway 1, if one pays close attention beyond the gushing current, one can hear the reverberating sound of rocks rolling on its bed. The banks of the river, cultivated nourishes life for some of the remotest inhabited parts of the grand Himalayas. Snow-clad mountains and glaciers lend its streams to larger currents almost as if glaciers along it are paying tribute. It is the story of a river that crosses some of the most jaw-dropping and serene riverscapes, from the high Himalayas, through a melange of cultures and traditions, down to its delta in the Sindh and out in the Arabian Sea. 

The river’s origin, sometimes hailed as the center of the universe at Mt. Kailash or Meru is in itself a testament to the spiritual attribute of this awe inspiring river. The name ‘India’ derived from the word Indus, its association with the land is ancient. The river gave way to the great Indus Valley Civilization to defining transboundary agreements and has its share of significant impact in Ladakh. The life-giving river, one that has cut through the toughest rocks to find its way, we find poems, songs and art only a mere appraisal of its grandeur. Like it has nourished our ancestors, the river continues to bring life to the thousands of villages and communities along  its course. 

Map of the Indus River basin with tributaries labeled. Yellow regions are non-contributing parts of the watershed (e.g. the Thar Desert). 2 February 2018. Map by Keenan Pepper.

Indus flowing through mountains.

(From triptych)   Image in Left: Indus flowing through mountains near Phey village in late autumn. Image in Center: The Zanskar River flowing from Pensi-La merges with the Indus at Nimmu village. The rivers change color over the seasons as glacial melt and silt amounts increase or decrease. Image in Right:  The Zanskar River falls in the mountain shadow in the late afternoon sun. This is its last length before the Zanskar becomes the Indus at Nimmu village.

The four main rivers in Ladakh, the Shyok cutting across the Nubra valley, the river Zanskar emerging and flowing from Zanskar, the Suru mostly in Kargil and the Indus cutting across the entire region create four main regions of Ladakh. These rivers create the valleys where people have settled over centuries. Cutting across some of the most uninhabitable and difficult terrain, the rivers have shaped awe-inspiring landscapes and formations all along its course. Beyond the evident life providing aspects of these water bodies, the rivers bring an indelible spirit of perseverance, beauty and balance to the people of Ladakh.

Indus across Spring ,  Summer , Autumn  and Winter

Spring: Over centuries the Indus has carved through the hardest rocks creating formations akin to a Boccioni sculpture. Here she flows past cultivated land, clay deposits, rocky mountains and snow peaks. The images display the range of landscapes along  the river’s path.

Summer: The Indus sprawls in the valley plains of Spituk, where farms are cultivated on both sides of the river. Flash floods of 2010 had a great impact on the river’s course, especially in this area. 

Autumn: A stream flows through a wooded area with poplars and willows turning bright orange, yellow and red in late autumn in Phey. 

Winter: A major tributary of the Indus, in the winters with ice formations and its brilliant turquoise color is a wonder. The river’s surface completely freezes over for a few months each winter. Earlier the frozen river would make for the shortest route between Zanskar and Leh. A story is told of a boy from Zanskar studying in Leh who travelled home for the winter vacation and returned before the ice started thawing. Today this route is known as the ‘chaddar trek’, where ‘chaddar’ in Hindi means a sheet or cover, and is on the bucket list of those seeking winter adventures. With growing  numbers of adventure seekers, the risk of trekking on the ice sheet has increased, with a cap on the number of trekkers now enforced. According to local observations,  the rising winter temperatures, partly due to global warming, has resulted in a declining thickness of ice forming each winter.

A tributary of the Indus, the Shyok cuts across sheer rock faces of the Karakoram Mountains in Nubra.

The Shyok flowing past Turtuk in Nubra.

A view of the fields in lower Bogdang on the border of Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Ladakh. Ever since the early settlers leading nomadic lifestyles, Ladakh has been an agrarian culture.

The village of Photoksar.

The village of Photoksar. Deep gullies have formed as the mountain overtime is eroded by streams and increasing rainfall, bringing loosely held sediments downwards. Like some other remote villages, fields make up the majority of the village’s land area in face of younger populations decreasing.

In Turtuk, like in other parts of Ladakh, water has been used ingeniously. These ideas have innovatively been realized through a range of tools and practices over the centuries. Often in villages there are persons or families appointed to serve a fixed term i.e. three to five years to maintain the waterways and irrigation channels and take care of matters relating to water. Many villages are situated alongside a glacial stream that eventually runs down to a larger stream or river. In the following photos, we see water channels encompassing terraced fields also running along the mountainside near  the village. The substantial head of water provides for good pressure in water pipes and irrigation channels in the village below. Today we see increasing use of water pipelines that connect the stream or reservoirs directly to homes or community water points . 

Where there is water, land is used for steppe farming across villages in Ladakh. 

A stream rushing through a village in Nubra.

A pulley with a carrier is used to haul loads up and down for washing from an upstream water channel to the village below.

Water channels are made around villages with specific points where the water can be let out when needed. There is usually a collectively agreed time when each section of the village will get water.

Life around Ladakh is mostly found near water bodies, predominantly along the Indus. However, it is not limited to these places as we find new ways of moving water from the source to where it is to be used. Sometimes it is lengths of pipes from bore wells dug into aquifers, water channels running for kilometers or even water in containers pushed on carts moving within the urbanized spaces. Many parts in Leh still rely on water tankers and the ‘reda’, a push-cart that is used to supply water to various parts of the town. A daily scene in Leh are the lines of buckets and jerry cans queuing up at common water points at any given time during the day. Similarly, grazing grounds of livestock are found closer to water sources, often in the summer in high pastures at the mouth of the glaciers. Regardless of how a human being or an animal finds its water, we can say that accessibility to water has hugely influenced the settlement patterns of Ladakh. 

Here water channels pass across a barren mountain scape, giving life to willows and popular trees. 

Two goats kneel for a water break on their way to higher pastures in the early morning in Turtuk. 

A tap runs in the middle of winter when water usually freezes. The tap is kept running by letting it continuously run and when frozen heated and unfrozen with a fire.

A man pushes a reusable barrel full of water in Leh. Many households, especially in the older parts of Leh town rely on carts pushed for their water supply.

A waterway runs through the village as goats and sheep linger on their way back from higher pastures on an evening in Turtuk. 

There are thousands of glaciers in Ladakh, from small ones to the very large. There are a number that have been studied by glaciologists, geologists and other researchers, but many are not monitored. As we see temperatures increase, and new roads and cars reaching closer to these glaciers, we find a range of threats. Glaciers melting or breaking away is not news. The reasons they are melting however, are many, and some can even surprise the layperson. Some years back I learnt of the blackening of glaciers and snow-cover areas through growing  carbon emissions from vehicles,  increasing the absorption of heat and accelerating the melting process. Reasons like these can be easily controlled by us but are often not. Melting of glaciers, our freshwater repositories, is a potential threat to hundreds of people  living downstream. We have seen an increase in glacial lake outburst floods and the damages it has caused all along the Himalayas. These are scary! 

An aerial view of a tributary of the  Jhelum river,  from an airplane flying westward on a flight to Srinagar from Leh. 

On a clear day, on the flight to Ladakh from any direction, one is able to see miles upon miles of the Himalayan mountains. Here is also where one sees many glaciers, the repositories of Ladakh’s waters.

In July on a midsummer afternoon, on the ascent to Pigsdong-la, the last deposit of the previous winter’s snow melts in to a small stream.

An aerial view of the Indus flowing past Phey and towards Nimoo. 

The shadow of a bridge over the Zanskar River falls on the frozen surface near Chilling. .

Waterways are being polluted. We have a number of hydro-power projects that have come up too. Rising temperatures and erratic weather patterns, and episodes of sudden downpours (cloudbursts) have increased the risks to livelihoods and settlements. There is only so much water; can everybody have an equal share? The changes in the mountains are evident, many times before they are visible in the plains, owing to their fragility. Similarly, the changes in our climate are seeming slow, but certainly steady and constant. The impacts of the Indus being dammed has altered life downstream, even if in small way and sudden cloudbursts like in 2010 has taken its toll with massive loss of lives, land and heritage. Sewage water seeping into the waterways with a rise in seasonal fluctuations in the population due to tourism or the unmistakable trail of non-biodegradable waste - we come to see this as our way of life. What is in our control and can we be better stewards of the resources we have been given? 

The Nimoo-Bazgo Power Project also called the Alchi Dam on the Indus river in Alchi, Ladakh.

Penstocks being installed  for a  hydro-electric project in Nubra. 

A stream strewn with garbage along its banks rushes into the Indus at Darchik.

Bulldozers clear rubble as onlookers watch, near the Leh gate during the aftermath of the flash floods of August 2010. 

Agrarian practices have built Ladakh. They are weaved into the Ladakhi culture, traditions, architecture and life. From weddings planned in open fields in the winters to specific rooms in a traditional home for grain storage or keeping livestock. For example, in a traditional home one found the ground floor to be the ‘tangra’ where livestock would be kept; this in the winters also worked as insulation for all the floors above. Even the dry compost toilets in Ladakh minimize water usage. Traditionally, winters were the preferred time to utilize the fields for large gatherings like weddings, when the fields are empty and people have time for such events. Today these fields diminish as large hotels and guest houses crop up. Sharing land and  resources built community. Water mills were used to grind barley, but this practice is more visible in remoter parts today. These systems are sustainable and use resources wisely and in harmony with the environment. One cannot say the same of today’s booming industries and infrastructure development. Ironically the same force that turns the grinding stone also turns the turbine and even the ingenious hydro-powered prayer wheel.

A shepherd and young boys bring livestock up to the pastures in Turtuk. 

Fields in Saboo are readied in early spring when the landscape is dotted with pink apricot blossoms. 

Water rushes through a water mill in Bokdang, Nubra.

Women from the community in Turtuk participate in collectively taking care of fields owned by a family which is mourning a death. 

Prayers have been offered to the great river, ashes dissolved into its currents. The Indus, like all water bodies, is sacred in these regions. The waters have their protectors and spirits that would cause stomach aches if not used in a respectful manner. As we flush our toilets and water our gardens, what do we make of these values and beliefs? The sacredness ascribed to water compelled indigenous communities to use it wisely and conservatively; certainly not, wastefully or thoughtlessly. The containers of water were prayed over, they held a significant place in the home and were designed beautifully. The plastic bucket, while cheaper and perhaps more practical, still pales.  Do we carry forward our water ethics, even as we learn of its declining availability? How can we still build our systems around traditional values connected with water? 

A wooden bridge with prayer flags over the Indus  in Leh.

Men cross on the bridge that connects one side of Turtuk to the other.

A display of older kettles, samovars, ladle, cups and plates in the kitchen of Balti Heritage Home in Farol, Turtuk. 

An old apricot tree along a waterway leading to barley fields in Turtuk. 

Little over a decade ago, one had not quite imagined skating on frozen ponds and rivers  it at such fast speeds. In the early 2000s,  when few skates were on ice, a younger generation marveled. Many put on a pair of skates, slipping and falling. Winter by winter their continued training have landed Ladakh’s youth on the national ice-hockey teams.

A game of ice hockey is played on the Karzoo pond when it freezes in the winter. The game has gained popularity over the last two decades and is enjoyed by many in the otherwise difficult winter season. 

The Shyok river expands near Disket, Nubra.

Looking south towards Leh valley from the road to Khardong-la at approximately 18,500 ft. 

Waterscapes along the National Highway 1 from Leh towards Sham valley.

As melting drops of water become brooks, streams and rivulets, hurrying down the slopes to the river, a trail of life is fostered. Along with the moss that grows on the banks of streams, a host of animals and birds quench their thirst in the arid high altitude. Further down, the streams are distributed through water channels to fields and orchards; children play  along the rushing waterways adding charm and joy to the villages. The old apricot and apple trees have been planted in close proximity to this glacial stream, a representation of harmony. In many of the older villages, the plans for buildings have been made giving due regard to the importance of its waterways. While we have these today, centuries since it was first placed, we are quickly rushing to construct larger buildings and have adopted more unsustainable lifestyles. Can these ancient practices and systems built around water conservation find synergy with infrastructure development and technological advances? 

Indus in early spring in the Sham valley. 

Indus flowing past Saspol.

A suspension bridge over the Indus connecting the main highway to a village across the river, near Alchi. 

Photographing and writing about the Indus, hearing old folk tell their stories or experts give presentations, and now working on this photo-essay, I have been moved across emotions and thoughts about water and its central place in Ladakh. Sitting by still brooks or the banks of the raging Suru, I have seen water flow through Ladakh. Laying on the soft grass in a willow's shade along a rushing stream, hearing the soft water following on the flattened pebbles is not only romantic but is still possible. From my position, while writing, on the other side of the bank are sounds of heavy machinery, earth movers, concrete and iron pillars rising higher, sweat under yellow helmets  - a new age coming to the ancient mountains. The river lies in between moving past the familiar and the new. In between the two very different worlds are  Ladakh’s people continuing to grow, thrive, learn, live. There are more questions than answers at this point. Daydreaming in the after sun, in moments of stillness, I wish that one day my child will also see this world, will be able to lay down next to the same streams and leave the world’s stresses for a while, and not have to hear of a way of life once lived or a story that began with ‘once upon a time’.    

About  Isaac Tsetan Gergan

Isaac Tsetan Gergan is an artist and photographer based between Leh and Delhi. He received his BFA in Visual Arts  from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2013 soon after returning to Ladakh, he started working with the Ladakh Arts and Media Organisation - LAMO as Arts Officer, where he introduced community art projects and explored the rich visual heritage of Ladakh and the Himalayas. In his seven years in Leh he extensively travelled the region to better understand his family’s history in Ladakh, constantly finding inspiration and bringing back photographs as souvenirs of his journeys. He continues to seek the meaningful bridges in Visual Arts one can build  between history and the contemporary. Currently Isaac leads the team at Art for Change Foundation in New Delhi. Here along with the organisation, he seeks to bring artists together at artist residencies to deliberate and make artwork to positively shape society. 

Email: [email protected] Website is https://gerganisaac.wixsite.com/igergan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/igerganphoto/

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Redesigning a River

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The Indus Valley Civilization’s Development Essay

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Introduction

Agriculture and technology, planning and government systems, military and protection, works cited.

The analysis of the earliest civilizations allows one to see which particular factors played a significant role in people’s decision to settle and create a society. For example, both the region of the Indus Valley and the area near such bodies of water as the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers can be considered as cradles of early civilization. Nonetheless, while the history of these places reveals many similarities of people’s primitive lifestyles, the two communities which formed in those places had different characteristics as well.

The geography impacted people’s decisions substantially, giving the Chinese civilization opportunities for easy irrigation while taking away lives and land during devastating floods. The Indus River also provided the valley dwellers a place to raise crops. All described civilizations used natural resources to farm, raise animals and trade. However, while the artifacts from the Indus Valley suggest a peaceful and egalitarian community, the civilizations of the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers utilized a much more rigid government structure and military support for land acquisition.

First of all, it should be mentioned that the development of all early civilizations was closely connected to the existence of rivers which provided people with resources for centuries. These bodies of water supported people’s agriculture and animals, allowed them to bathe, and served as a way to reach other territories. The Indus Valley civilization used the river’s support to grow barley, the primary source of food for both animals and people (Bhat 107).

The Harappans (the earliest settlers of this region) domesticated some types of barley and used special devices to provide irrigation. The people working as farmers also possibly employed complex cropping techniques which allowed them to grow different vegetables and grains during multiple seasons. As for animals, the Indus populations grew zebu and aurochs which provided meat and other materials (Tignor et al. 56). In the civilizations which settled around the rivers in contemporary China, people grew crops as well, although the rice was another grain that was prevalent in the region along with wheat. Both cultures used technology for irrigation, but the design of other tools for farming is not clear.

The civilizations built their houses, villages, and cities according to the location of the river basins. In the Indus Valley, the found settlements suggest that the ancient communities had a system of building houses since their towns had a similar structure and form. Moreover, all houses were equipped with a primitive sewage system indicating that people had a lifestyle that provided all settlers with useful resources and benefits (Ghosh 48).

Most buildings had a toilet and a bath in a separate room from which the water would be flushed into a street drain. Furthermore, such large cities as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa potentially had large public baths and other shared structures for groups of people, implying that some levels of hierarchy existed (Tignor et al. 58). Other structures included granaries and warehouses; however, there existed no large temples or palaces. This suggests that the Indus populations did not have military-based governments.

Similarly, the civilizations of Yellow and Yangzi Basins had houses that were built to withstand the floods of the river (Kidder and Liu 1589). The findings also suggest that people lived in fairly urban cities and had government levels whose representatives ruled over small areas. The Yellow and Yangzi Basins flooded frequently, and city planning was an essential part of preserving the resources of the population (Kidder and Liu 1592). The population was guided by strong leaders who formed entire dynasties of aristocratic rulers.

The Harappans’ cities had thick walls which potentially guarded them not only from floods but also from invaders or enemies. These protective constructions, nevertheless, do not indicate that the Indus populations had many military conflicts. Furthermore, there exists no evidence that such massive walls were used for protection from people, while it is clear that flooding water was one of the most dangerous threats to the community (Bhat 107).

Moreover, the system of houses discussed above suggests that the cities enjoyed a rather peaceful life where all people had similar living conditions. It is possible that the cities ruled and, therefore, defended themselves separated from each other. In a contrast, Chinese territories were a subject of conflicts among the leading warlords. Moreover, people living near the Yellow River used its waters to flood and sabotage rival states (Tignor et al. 57). This was a military tactic that allowed the local landowners to compete for power. The opportunity to trade with other cultures also made the river a place of military action.

The ancient civilizations of the Indus Valley and Yellow and Yangzi Basins had many similarities and differences. All populations used river water as a resource for farming, employing irrigation tools for crops. The Indus populations had barley and wheat, and the Chinese peoples had wheat and rice as their plants. The communities also used various materials to protect themselves from floods – all rivers were dangerous to live near them.

The city structure of the Indus peoples suggests that the settlers had a peaceful and productive life. The people living in the territories near the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers, on the other hand, engaged in military action to gain power over nearby areas.

Bhat, Aashaq Hussain. “The Indus Valley Civilization.” International Journal of Research and Review , vol. 4, no. 7, 2017, pp. 106-109.

Ghosh, Amal Kumar. “Riverine Environment and Human Habitation–Ancient Instances.” International Journal of Humanities & Social Science Studies , vol. IV, no. I, 2017, pp. 44-51.

Kidder, Tristram R., and Haiwang Liu. “Bridging Theoretical Gaps in Geoarchaeology: Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, and History in the Yellow River Valley, China.” Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences , vol. 9, no. 8, 2017, pp. 1585-1602.

Tignor, Robert, et al. Worlds Together, Worlds Apart . 5th ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2017.

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Irrigation of the Indus River

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Irrigation from Indus waters has provided the basis for successful agriculture since time immemorial. Modern irrigation engineering work commenced about 1850, and, during the period of British administration, large canal systems were constructed. In many cases, old canals and inundation channels in the Sindh and Punjab regions were revived and modernized. Thus, the greatest system of canal irrigation in the world was created. At the partition of British India in 1947, the international boundary between India and what was then West Pakistan cut the irrigation system of the Bari Doab and the Sutlej Valley Project—originally designed as one scheme—into two parts. The headwork fell to India while the canals ran through Pakistan. That led to a disruption in the water supply in some parts of Pakistan. The dispute that thus arose and continued for some years was resolved through the mediation of the World Bank by a treaty between Pakistan and India (1960) known as the Indus Waters Treaty . According to that agreement, the flow of the three western rivers of the Indus basin—the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab (except a small quantity used in Jammu and Kashmir union territory)—is assigned to Pakistan, whereas the flow of the three eastern rivers—the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej—is reserved exclusively for India.

In India a number of dams, barrages , and link canals have been built to distribute water from the eastern Indus tributaries to the Punjab and neighbouring states. The Harike Barrage , at the confluence of the Beas and Sutlej, channels water into the Indira Gandhi Canal, which runs for about 400 miles (640 km) to the southwest to irrigate some 1.5 million acres (607,000 hectares) of desert in western Rajasthan. The main canal was completed in 1987.

Following promulgation of the 1960 treaty, the Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority built several linking canals and barrages to divert water from its western rivers to areas in the east lacking water. The biggest of those canals is the Chashma-Jhelum link joining the Indus River with the Jhelum River , with a discharge capacity of some 21,700 cubic feet (615 cubic metres) per second. Water from that canal feeds the Haveli Canal and Trimmu-Sidhnai-Mailsi-Bahawal link canal systems, which provide irrigation to areas in southern Punjab province.

The Indus Waters Treaty also made provision for the construction of two major dams in Pakistan. The Mangla Dam on the Jhelum River near the town of Jhelum is one of the largest rolled earth-fill dams in the world. It has a crest length of about 10,300 feet (3,140 metres) and a maximum height of more than 480 feet (146 metres)—a figure that includes the results of a project, completed in 2009, that raised the height of the dam by 30 feet (9 metres). Mangla Reservoir, created by the dam, is 40 miles (64 km) long and has a surface area of 100 square miles (260 square km). The project generates some 1,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity. In addition, the reservoir has been developed as a fishing centre and a tourist attraction as well as a health resort.

The second gigantic project is the Tarbela Dam on the Indus, 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Rawalpindi . The dam, of the earth- and rock-filled type, is 9,000 feet (2,700 metres) long and 470 feet (143 metres) high, and its reservoir is 50 miles (80 km) long. The dam’s generating capacity is some three times that of the Mangla Dam, and its total potential is considerably greater.

A third major structure, completed in 2004, is the Ghazi Barotha hydroelectric project, located below Tarbela. The Indus is partially diverted there to a powerhouse that can generate 1,450 megawatts.

On the Indus itself there are several important headworks, or barrages, after the river reaches the plain . In the mountainous region the principal waterways west of the Indus are the Swat Canals, which flow from the Swat River , a tributary of the Kabul River . Those canals provide irrigation for the two chief crops of the area, sugarcane and wheat . The Warsak multipurpose project on the Kabul River, about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Peshawar , provides irrigation for food crops and fruit orchards in the Peshawar valley and is designed to produce 240,000 kilowatts of electricity. In the plains region the Kalabagh, or Jinnah, Barrage controls the system of canals in the Thal Project, organized in 1949. The project, which irrigates a former desert area, is aimed at expanding agriculture, developing rural industry, and promoting the settlement of population in villages and towns. Farther downstream is the Chashma Barrage . Still farther the Taunsa Barrage, designed for the irrigation of land in the Dera Ghazi Khan and Muzaffargarh districts, also produces about 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. Within the Sindh there are three major barrages on the Indus—Guddu, Sukkur, and Kotri, or Ghulam Muhammad. The Guddu Barrage is just inside the Sindh border and is some 4,450 feet (1,356 metres) long; it irrigates cultivated land in the region of Sukkur, Jacobabad , and parts of Larkana and Kalat districts. The project has greatly increased the cultivation of rice, but cotton also has become a major crop on the left bank of the river and has replaced rice as a cash crop. The Sukkur Barrage was built in 1932 and is about 1 mile (1.6 km) long. The canals originating from it serve a cultivable area of about 5 million acres (2 million hectares) of land producing both food and cash crops. The Kotri Barrage , also known as the Ghulam Muhammad Barrage, was opened in 1955. It is near Hyderabad and is nearly 3,000 feet (900 metres) long. The right-bank canal provides additional water to the city of Karachi . Sugarcane cultivation has been expanded, and yields of rice and wheat have increased.

Experience in the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere has shown that canal irrigation, unless carefully controlled, can seriously damage cultivated land. The water in unlined canals seeps through the soil and raises the water table , so the soil becomes waterlogged and useless for cultivation. As irrigation by canals has expanded along the Indus and its tributaries, in some areas groundwater has risen above the surface to form shallow lakes. Elsewhere the water has evaporated in the intense summer heat, leaving behind layers of salt that make crop production impossible. Steps have been taken to provide adequate drainage systems to avoid waterlogging and salt buildup.

Until about 1880 the Indus and the other Punjab rivers carried some navigation, but the advent of the railways and expansion of irrigation works have eliminated all but small craft that ply the lower Indus in Sindh. There are fishing boats on the lower Indus, and the upper reaches of rivers and canals above the first railway crossing are now used for floating timber down from the foothills of the Kashmir region.

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Indus River | Indus River Map, System, Pollution, History and Importance

Indus River: The Indus River is one of the most important rivers in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of the Indian Sub-continent. The river Indus flows through India, China and Pakistan. The river originates in the Tibetan Plateau near the Mansarovar lake and flows through the Ladakh area of India and then flows along the entire length of Pakistan and at the end merges with the Arabian Sea.

Top 10 Largest Rivers in India , you would also find the details about Indian River Systems and major rivers of India.

Indus River Details

About Indus River

Indus River is one of the most important rivers of the Indian Subcontinent. It flows through three different Countries, i.e. India, China and Pakistan. The river Indus originates in the Tibetan Plateau near the lake Manasarovar. After flowing through China and India, it flows through the full length of Pakistan and finally merges with the Arabian sea near Karachi in Sindh.

The level of the river Indus varies throughout the course of its flow. The River Indus has been given different names by the people of Different countries through which it flows. It has names such as Indus, Sindhu, Sindh or Mehran. It is one of the most important rivers of the Indo-Gangetic Plains.

The estimated annual water flow of the river Indus is about 243 cubic kilometres which is twice than that of river Nile and thrice as compared to River Tigris and River Euphrates combined. This makes the river Indus as one of the largest rivers in the world in terms of water flow.

The Indus river serves as a significant source of water supply in Pakistan. It also supports a lot of heavy industries in Pakistan. The Indus acts as an essential source of water supply for Punjab as well.

Indus River History

The river was first described in the Rigveda which was written in 1500 BCE, where it is described by the name of “Sindhu”. The word India comes from Indus as in earlier days India referred to those areas which were located near the east bank of river Indus.

The major Indian Civilizations such as Indus Valley, Harappa and Mahenjodaro were situated on the banks of river Indus which date back to 3,300 BC. Till date around 1,052 settlements have been discovered along river Indus.

The river Indus must have been initiated by the early Tibetan uplift following the collision of India and Asia. The river Indus has remained since the early Eocene Times. The river Indus is still located in its original position and has moved only 100 kilometres east since the early Eocene times.

Indus River Map

The Origin of the river Indus lies in the Tibetan Plateau near the lake of Manasarovar. It arises at the junction of the river Sengge Zangbo and river Gar Tsangpo. The River flows through three countries of the Asian continent which are namely India, China and Pakistan. The overall length of the river is approximately 3,180 kilometres which is nearly 1,980 miles. The total drainage area of the river Indus is around 11,65,000 sq. kilometres.

The river flows from the Tibetan plateau and enters into India through the Ladakh region and flows towards Gilgit-Baltistan. The river Indus then changes its course toward the southern region to enter into Pakistan where it runs along the total length of Pakistan. Finally, it drains into the Arabian Sea near Karachi.

The Northern part of the Indus River and its tributaries lies in the Punjab region of South Asia, while the southern part ends in Sindh in Pakistan. The Indus river feeds the world’s 2nd largest underwater delta which is the Indus Submarine fans. The underwater delta so formed consists of 5 million cubic kilometres of sediment materials eroded by the Indus river in the course of its flow.

Indus River System

The Indus River is considered as one of the longest rivers of the world in terms of water discharge as it discharges 243 cubic kilometres of water which is twice as compared to the water flow of river Nile. The total length of the Indus river system is around 3180 kilometres. It flows 320 kilometres or 200 miles towards the northwest and enters Ladakh where it joins one of its tributaries, the Zanskar River. Then it continues to flow 240 kilometres before it enters into Pakistan, where it runs along the total length of Pakistan.

The Indus River System has many tributaries that join the river in the course of its flow. The first tributary that joins river Indus is the Zanskar river which is Ladakh. Then the river Indus is joined by the Panjnad river in the left near Punjab which has 5 tributaries of its own, namely, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.

The tributaries that join the river Indus on the right are Shyok, Gilgit, Kabul, Gomal and Kurram. The Indus river system consists of glaciers and snows as it has tributaries that flow through the glaciers of Himalayas, Karakoram ranges and the Hindu Kush mountain ranges.

The width of flow of the river is determined by the seasonal changes, i.e. In winter season the flow of the river diminishes or decreases drastically. While in the rainy season the banks of the river are heavily flooded.

Indus River Pollution

The Indus river serves as the major source of water supply for Pakistan and Punjab. However, with the rapid industrialisation and unmanaged disposal of sewage into the river system has led to the degradation in the quality of water of River Indus. Water pollution in the Indus river is because of many reasons. Out of which the main reason being the dumping of industrial wastes into the river.

The presence of factories near the bank of river Indus as a major cause of pollution of the river. The disposal of industrial wastes in high quantities has led to the death of many aquatic animals in the Indus river, mainly the Indus dolphins.

The other factors that contribute to the pollution in the river Indus are agricultural wastes which include, sodium nitrate, sodium phosphate and other pesticides that increases water pollution. This pollution affects marine animals.

The river is also polluted by unmanaged and untreated wastes that are discharged into it from the cities. The pollution of the Indus has also affected human health in the city of Karachi. Most of the population of Karachi depends on the Indus for drinking water, and boiling the water will not help in reducing chemical wastes. If no proper action is taken to conserve the purity of the river Indus, then it may lead to a drastic downfall in the number of aquatic animals present in the river.

Indus River Importance

River Indus serves as the major source of water for around 180 million people of Pakistan. The river supplies water throughout the year to parts of Punjab and the whole of Pakistan. The agriculture and food production of Pakistan depends mostly on the water supply from river Indus.

The Indus Basin Irrigation System is the most extensive irrigation system ever constructed in the world. This Irrigation system benefits many farmers in Pakistan for agriculture. The Indus River also acts as a medium of transportation for many people.

The Mangla dam built on the river Jhelum and the Tarbela Dam constructed on river Indus acts as a major source of irrigation and flood control. The two dams were built under the Indus Basin Project.

Short Essay on Indus River

India is a land of many rivers, and the Indus river is one of the most important rivers of the Indian Subcontinent. The Indus river originates in the Tibetan Plateau and flows through countries like India, China and Pakistan. The Course of flow of the river ends in the Arabian sea.

The River Indus is considered as the largest river in the world in terms of water flow. The river is approximately 3,180 kilometres in length and has a total drainage area of 11,65,000 km2. The river has different names such as Sindh, Sindhu or Mehran.

The river Indus flows from the Tibetan Plateau and enters India through the Ladakh region. It then enters Pakistan and runs along the full length of Pakistan. The River has many tributaries on both sides. The left tributaries of Indus river are Zanskar river, Panjnad River whose branches are River Jhelum, River Ravi, River Beas, River Sutlej and River Chenab. The right tributaries of river Indus include Shyok, Gilgit, Kabul, Gomal and Kurram rivers.

The Indus River serves as an important source of water supply to Punjab. It is considered as the backbone of water supply for Pakistan. Entire Pakistan depends on the Indus river for irrigation and food production. It also supports many heavy industries in Pakistan.

The River Indus acts as a habitat to a large number of aquatic animals. The Indus river dolphin is the species of dolphin that are found only in the Indus river. The Indus also serves as a home to almost 180 freshwater fish species.

However, the growing industrial activities near the bank of river Indus has highly contributed to its pollution. Unmanaged industrial waste disposal is the main reason for Indus river pollution. The agricultural activities also add to the pollution in river Indus. The pollution has affected the lives of many aquatic animals living in the river. If no action is taken to protect the river water from pollution, it can cause severe damage to all the aquatic animals as well as the humans that consume the water from Indus.

10 Lines on Indus River

• Indus River is one of the most important rivers of the Indo-Gangetic plain in the Indian Subcontinent.
• It is the largest river in the world in terms of water flow. The average annual water flow of River Indus is 243 cubic kilometres.
• The Length of river Indus is approximately 3,180 kilometres.
• The Indus Originates in the Tibetan Plateau and flows through three Asian Countries, that are India, China and Pakistan.
• The Indus Flows through the full length of Pakistan.
• The River Indus has many tributaries on the left as well as on the right side.
• The Indus acts as the main source of water supply for Pakistan.
• The Indus river ends in the Arabian Sea.
• The total drainage area of River Indus is approximately 11,65,000 km2.
• The Indus serves as a home to 180 species of freshwater fish, out of which 22 species of fishes are not found in any other river or sea.

Frequently Asked Questions on Indus River

Question 1. Where is the Origin of River Indus?

Answer: The origin of Indus river lies in the Tibetan Plateau near the Mansarovar Lake. It begins at the junction of two rivers, namely, Sengge Zangbo and Gar Tsangpo.

Question 2. What is the length of River Indus?

Answer: The Length of river Indus is approximately 3,180 kilometres or 1,980 miles.

Question 3. What is the importance of Indus river?

Answer: The Indus river is one of the most important rivers of India as it supplies water to many parts of Punjab and neighbouring states for irrigation and other activities. It also serves as the major source of water supply for Pakistan. The whole of Pakistan depends on the river Indus for irrigation and other agricultural activities.

Question 4. What are the reasons for pollution of river Indus?

Answer: The growth of industries in and around the Indus river banks are the major sources of pollution of River Indus. The untreated sewage disposal is also a reason contributing to Indus river pollution.

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Essay on the Indus Valley Civilisation | Indian History

In this essay we will discuss about Indus Valley Civilisation:- 1. Introduction to Indus Valley Civilisation 2. Race of Indus Civilisation 3. Date 4. Town Planning and Architecture 5. Social Life of the People 6. Economic Life of the People 7. Religion of the People 8. Art and Craft 9. Causes for the Destruction of Indus Valley Culture 10. Contribution of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

• Introduction to Indus Valley Civilisation
• Race of Indus Civilisation
• Date of Indus Civilisation
• Town Planning and Architecture of Indus Civilisation
• Social Life of the People of Indus Civilisation
• Economic Life of the People of Indus Civilisation
• Religion of the People of Indus Civilisation
• Art and Craft of the People of Indus Civilisation
• Causes for the Destruction of Indus Valley Culture
• Contribution of the Indus Valley Civilisation

1. Introduction to Indus Valley Civilisation:

For a long time it was believed that Indians are stay at home people and our civilization was only of recent origin. But the excavation at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, which led to the dis­covery of Indus Valley civilization, has set all these doubts at naught.

It has now been established beyond all doubts that India possessed one of the advanced civilisation at a time when the English people were still living in the jungle age. This unique and important civilisation of the pre-historic times in India was for the first time discovered by Daya Ram Sahni and R.D. Banerjee in 1921 and 1922.

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Further excavation were carried out along the Indus between Rupar at the foot of Shimla hills and Sutkagendor, 300 miles close to Karachi, where similar remains were discovered. In recent years excavation at village Alamirpur near Meerut and in Saurashtra have also revealed the similar remains.

All these discoveries point to the existence of an advanced civilisation in pre-historic India which is now popularly known as Indus Valley Civilization or Harappa Culture.

Though this civilisation is termed as Indus civilisation it covered even area beyond the Indus Valley. It extended from the upper Sutlej to the Gulf of Camba in the South and from Makran coast of the Arabian Sea in the west to the Jamuna-Ganges coun­try in the east. Thus the Indus civilisation was the largest of the early civilisations.

2. Race of Indus Civilisation:

There has been much contro­versy amongst the historians regarding the race to which the people of Indus Valley civilisation belonged. Different scholars have tried to speculate, mainly on the basis of human skeletons and skulls found in the ruins, about their race.

While some scholars are of the opinion that they were Aryans. This point is not acceptable to Sir John Marshall. Marshall holds that this civilisation was quite different from the earlier Vedic civilisation and that it was quite different from that of the Aryans.

According to Gorden Childe, the people of Indus Valley were of Sumerian race. However, he fails to give convincing and substantial proof in support of this view. RD. Banerjee has expressed the view that the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation were Dravidians.

However, if we take the funeral customs of the people of Indus Valley, it would be difficult to accept this contention. On the basis of the finds discovered Dr. Guha has expressed the view that the people belonged to a mixed race. Thus we find that there is great difficulty in ascertaining the race to which the people of Indus Valley civilisation belonged.

Most probably many races contributed to the evolution of Indus Valley culture and perhaps Aryans also formed an important part of them. There is every reason to believe that the Indus’ Valley culture was a synthesis of the Aryan and non-Aryan cultures and its authorship cannot be ascribed to any particular race. But one thing can be said with certainty that the Indus Valley civilisation was of a very high order.

3. Date of the Indus Valley Civilisation:

The Indus Valley, civilisation combines the features of the Neolithic and copper age. The excavation at Mohenjo-Daro have brought to light seven different it layers of buildings, which have assigned to three different period viz., early, intermediate and late. The early layers lie submerged under sub-soil water.

After due consideration the scholars have assigned 500 years to every age, and come to the inclusion that this civilisation must be having an early beginning because it must have taken the people quite a long time to develop such a urban life. Another criteria adopted by the scholars in determining the age of the Indus civilisation is discovery of seals m Mesopotamia, which are dated back to 2500 B.C.

On the basis of these seals and other available material the scholars have suggested that the upper most layer belong to the period 230C-2200 B.C. and the lower layers must have belonged to earlier period. Therefore, the period which is roughly assigned to the Indus civilisation ranges between 2500 B.C. to 500 B.C.

4. Town Planning and Architecture of Indus Valley Civilisation:

All the cities of the Indus Valley civilisation such as Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, Chanhuduro, Lohumjudaro etc., display the remarkable skill of the Indus valley civilisation in town planning and sanitation.

Of a these Mohenjo-Daro is better preserved and its excavation has revealed the points that the successive cities were built according In tin plan. This city was built after careful planning, as is clear from streets which though vary in width yet intersect at right angles.

These streets thus divide the entire city into square or rectangular blocks, which are further intersected by narrow lanes. Some of the streets are very long and wide. At least one street has been traced which is more than half a mile long and at places over 30 wide. All the roads are aligned east to the west and north to south. The corners of the streets were rounded so that loads should not get dislodged.

The bricks used for the pavements were comparatively of small size and were plain surfaced. L shaped bricks were occasion­ally used for corners. Mud mortar was universally used. The plaster of the wall was mainly of mud or gypsum.

The city had an elaborate drainage system, consisting of horizontal and vertical drains, street drains, soak-pits, etc. The architecture of Mohenjo- Daro though not quite artistic and beautiful was quite utilitarian. The peoples used burnt bricks in building walls, pavements, bath rooms, drains, etc.

Some sun-baked bricks were used for the foundation. The foundations were usually very deep. The buildings were generally erected on high platform to protect them against floods, which seem to have been quite common.

Dr. A.D. Pusalker has greatly admired the town planning of the Indus Valley people and says, “A visitor to the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro is struck by the remarkable skill in town planning and sanitation displayed by the ancients, and as an English writer has observed, feels himself surrounded by ruins of some present- day working-town in Lancashire.”

He has divided the buildings unearthed into three categories:

(1) Dwelling houses or residential buildings

(2) Larger buildings and

(3) Public baths.

The size of the Dwelling houses differed from one and another. The small houses consisted of minimum two rooms while the big ones had large number of rooms and often could be mistaken for the palaces. Each house had a wall and drain which were connected with the main street drain.

Vertical drain pipes suggest that bath rooms were constructed in upper storeys also. The presence of the stairways also suggests that the houses used to be double-storey; The entrance to the houses were placed in narrow by-ways and windows were non-existent.

The roofs were floored by placing reed matting of veans and covering them with mud. The planning of the houses does not suggest any purdah. The size of the doors used in the houses varied from 3 feet 4 inches to 7 feet and 10 inches.

In addition to the dwelling houses certain spacious and large buildings also-existed. Some of these possessed large pillared halls about 80 ft. square. These buildings were probably supposed to be temples, municipal or assembly halls.

Another important feature of the houses which deserves mention was that the people were very fond of baths. In every house a special place was set aside for a bath-room. The floor of the bath-room was water-tight with a clear slope towards one corner. The water of the bath-room would pass to the latrine which was generally situated between bath-room and the outer wall of the house.

People were probably in the habit of taking bath daily. The love of the people for the bath is further confirmed from the discovery of a public bath at Mohenjo-Daro. This bath was 30 X 23 X 3 feet and was surrounded by varandah, galleries and rooms on all sides. It was constructed of the burnt bricks and was connected with the fine drainage system for filling and emptying it.

The swimming baths were filled with the water from the wells, which were built of burnt bricks. With a view to keep the wells neat and clean steps were provided. In addition to the Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro, a bath has also been discovered at Harappa which measures 39 X 13 X 8 feet.

The walls of this bath were plastered with gypsum and lime morter. People used these baths on religious occasions as well as otherwise. Thus we find that the people of Indus Valley civilization attached great signifi­cance to the bath like the Hindus.

Careful study of the above features of town planning viz. ade­quate water supply, efficient drainage system, and existence of pucca houses shows that the art of town planning and architecture was quite advanced. The presence of lamp posts at intervals indicates that the system of street lighting also existed.

In short we can agree with Dr. R.C. Majumdar and say that the ruins of the city of Mohenjo-Daro reveal that “on this site a large, populous and flou­rishing town, whose inhabitants freely enjoyed, to a degree unknown elsewhere in the ancient world, not only the sanitary conveniences but also the luxuries and comforts of a highly developed municipal life.”

5. Social Life of the People of Indus Valley Civilisation:

It has already been observed that the people of Mohenjo-Daro were of cosmopolitan character. Evidently these people were attracted by the fertility and productivity of the area and came from different parts of Asia.

1. Food and Drinks:

The people of the Indus Valley were both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. They cultivated wheat, bailey rice and bred cattle sheep, fish and poultry for food. They also used fish as food. They were also in the habit of taking fruits and vegetables and date was the most favorite fruit of the people.

As regards, the non-vegetarian food they took beef, mutton, poultry, flesh etc.. This has been proved by the discovery of half-burnt bones, found in the houses, lanes and streets.

2. Domestication of Animals:

The Indus Valley people domes­ticated various types of animals. The most common amongst them were the buffalo, sheep, goat, camel, cow etc. They worshipped the humped bull which has been proved by the various seals. It is not fully’ known whether the people of Indus Valley knew about the horse.

However, certain scholars have taken certain bones recovered on the upper-most layer as bones of the horse, while the others have denied. The people also knew about wild animals like lion, rhino­ceros, tiger, monkey, bear etc. In addition they also knew about similar animals like mongoose, squirrel, parrot, peacock, cat etc. This is borne out by the presence of large number of clay models or toys of these animals.

3. Dress and Ornaments:

As regards the dresses no actual specimens of clothing have fallen into the hands of the excavators and we have to make conjectures about their dress from the various figures. Most probably both cotton and woolen clothes were used by the people. The clothes were sewn as has been indicated by the discovery of needles.

We can form an idea about the dress used by the people from the various sculptures of the age. It appears that the women used loin cloth bound by a girdle. In fact there was very little difference between the dress of the males and the females. Most of the people used lower garments which resembles the modern dhoti along with the upper garments which was a type of a shawal.

The people of Indus Valley were great lovers of fashion. Men kept various types of beards and whiskers. The women were also very fashion conscious and bore fan-shaped hair dress. Various objects of head dressing like ivory combs, bronze mirrors have been discovered.

People were in the habit of using antimony also. The discovery of various toilet jars made of ivory, metal pottery and stone have led the scholars to the conclusion that the people were in the habit of using powder.

The authors of Vedic age have also observed:

“Small cockle shells containing a red ochre rouge, lumps of green earth white face paint, and black beauty substance show that the belles in ancient Sind attended to beauty and toilet culture. It is interesting to note that Chanu-daro finds indicate use of lip-sticks”.

Both men and women were in the habit of using ornaments. These ornaments were made of clay and various metals like gold, silver, copper, bronze etc., Certain ornaments like necklaces, fillets, armlets, finger-rings and bangles were used by both men and women. On the other hand ornaments like girdles, nose studs, ear-rings and anklets were used by women alone.

4. Sports and Games:

The people had great love for sports and games and a number of evidences are available to this effect. Some of the prominent games of the tune were dice playing. This is indicated by the presence of large number of dieses during the course of excavation. People were also fond of hunting.

This is proved by the various seals on which men are shown as hunting wild goats and a large anti-lopes with bows and arrows. People also delighted in birds fighting. Fishing was used both as game as well as regular profession.

The children had special love for clay modelling as is proved by the presence of large number of crude models of men and women and animals, whistles, cattle etc. But probably the greatest source of amusement for the- people was music and dance. This is proved by the figure of a bronze dancing girl and terra cotta figures.

5. Disposal of the Dead:

From the evidence, we find three methods were used for the disposal of the dead person:

Firstly, the dead body was buried.

Secondly, after burning the dead body the remains of the dead body were buried under earth.

Thirdly, the dead bodies were left for the wild animals.

Almost all the three methods have been discovered but according to Sir John Marshall, the second method was the most popular.

6. Household Articles:

A number of household articles have been unearthed at Mohenjo-Daro. These articles include cake moulds, dippers, beakers, bowls, dishes, gobies, basins, pans, saucers, etc. These articles are made of stone, shell, ivory, metal etc.

It is note­worthy that during this period the copper and bronze replaced stone models for the manufacture of household objects. In addition certain needles, axis, sans, sickles, knives, fish hooks, chisels have also been discovered.

6. Economic Life of the People of Indus Valley Civilisation:

The various objects recovered at the site of Mohenjo-Daro suggest that it was a prosperous city. The people were fully acquain­ted with agriculture and different types of agriculture. Implements like sickle have been discovered. The common agricultural products of the time were wheat, barley, vegetables, cotton etc.

As the laud of the Indus Valley was quite productive and had sufficient irrigation facilities, the agriculture seems to have been the main stay-of the people. In addition to this people domesticated animals for econo­mic purposes. The main animals which were domesticated by the people of Indus Valley included cow, bulls, buffaloes, sheep, goat, camel etc.

1. Industry:

Mohenjo-Daro was a great industrial centre and a number of industries were practiced there. But probably the most important of these industries was weaving. This is proved by the discovery of a number of spindles and spinning wheels in the various houses of Indus Valley. This suggest that spinning of cotton and wool was quite common.

In addition the people of Indus Valley also knew the practice of dyeing. People also knew the art of using metals like gold, silver, bronze, copper, tin, led etc. and they produced various articles with these metals. But probably the most important industry of the Indus Valley people was pottery.

The earthen pots of those days which have been discovered now can be broadly classified into two categories—hand made and wheel made. The discovery of number of pottery kilns shows that the pots were burnt in kilns. People produced a variety of pots, certain pots were meant for daily use and were plain while other pots were meant for the preservation of valuables and were painted.

2. Trade and Commerce:

The city of Mohenjo-Daro was a great trading centre and both internal and external trade was carried on from there. The international trade was mainly carried on by the land routes in which bullock-carts were used. The people of Mohenjo-Daro had trade relations with the people living in South India, Cen­tral India and North-Western India, is proved by the common use of precious and semi-precious stones.

The trade with foreign coun­tries was mainly carried through water routes. This has been proved by the representation of a boat on a seal. Trade was particularly carried with countries of Western Asia. The chief articles sent to the foreign countries were the clothes.

The presence of certain objects of Indus Valley civilisation in Sumeria suggest that India had trade re­lations with that country also. Scholars have expressed the opinion that Mohenjo-Daro was economically prosperous city only because it was a flourishing centre of trade and commerce.

3. Weights and Measures:

A large number of weights have been discovered from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. These weights differ a great deal in size. While some of the weights are so heavy that they could not be picked up with hands and were used with the help of ropes, while the others were so small that it appears that they were used exclusively by the jewelers.

But the most common weight which was used by the people of Indus Valley is cubical in shape. The people of Indus Valley also knew about the footage system. It appears that the State exercised strict control over weights and measures.

7. Religion of the People of Indus Valley Civilisation:

As regards the religion of the Indus Valley people nothing can be said with certainty because the excavation have not revealed any temples, shrines, altars or cult objects. However, we can make some conjectures, about their religious beliefs from the various seals and objects of sculptures.

This testimony clearly indicate that the people had quite an advanced type of religious faith. At least, one thing, is quite clear that the iconic and an iconic cults existed side by side.

The principal deity of the people was Mother-Goddess, a prototype of the ‘Power’ (which later developed into Shakti). A number of standing and semi-nude female figure, wearing a girdle or band round her loins, with an elaborate head dress and collar, etc. have been discovered.

Mackary has suggested that some sort of oil or incense was burnt before this goddess to please her. Human sacrifices were offered to the Mother-Goddess as is proved by the seal. The animal sacrifices were quite common. In addition to the Mother-Goddess, people worshipped a three-headed-deity which can be recognised as a prototype of historic Shiva.

It has been suggested by certain scholars that the Aryans borrowed Siva cult from the Indus Valley people. The cult of animal worship was also quite common. The animals were not only worshipped but were also regarded as Vahana of the gods viz. bull was regarded as the vehicle of Lord Siva.

At Mohenjo-Daro we get a number of evidence of animal, tree and image worship also. Yoga also played an impor­tant part in the religious practice as is proved by the presence of ‘ring-stones’ and ‘chess-men’.

The image worship was certainly known to the people of Indus Valley as is indicated by the crossed legged figure on a table discovered recently. On this tablet devotees are shown kneeling to the right and left to the figure and the snake be­hind the worshipper.

Water played an important role in the religious beliefs of the people, as is evident from the presence of the Great Bath. Certain scholars have suggested that the Great Bath was the temple of the River God. Certain scholars have also suggested that before perfor­ming the Puja people used to take bath in the Great Bath for their purification.

8. Art and Craft of the People of Indus Valley Civilisation:

The people of the Indus Valley did not make much progress in the field of fine arts and crafts. The various tools, weapons, vessels, houses and public buildings which have been dis­covered lack artistic touch.

We have also not come across any monumental sculpture in any of the remains. Although the people of Indus Valley could not produce works of art on a large scale, they displayed notable artistic achievement at-least in seal engravings, especially those of animals.

The various figurines and amulets also show their art at great height. A few stone images found at Harappa are specimens of an excellent finish and show a high degree of deve­lopment in the art of the sculpture. But probably most outstanding artistic work produced by the Indus Valley people is the bronze ‘dancing girl’.

As one writer has said:

“She is naked but wears bracelets, right up to the shoulder. She is standing in a provocative posture, with one arm on her hip and one lanky leg half-bent. This young woman has an air of lively pertness quite unlike anything in the work of other ancient civilizations. It has been suggested that this ‘dancing girl’ is a representative of a class of temple dancers and prostitutes, such as existed in contemporary Middle Eastern civiliza­tion and were an important feature of later Hindu culture, but this has as yet not been historically established. It is not certain that the girl is a dancer, much less a temple dancer.”

Some of the important crafts which flourished during the Indus Valley civilization period were that of pottery, carpentry, masonry, blacksmith, ivory work, stone cutting etc. The people also knew about spinning as is proved by the presence of large number of spindle wheels.

The Art of Writing and Script:

The inscriptions on the seals discovered at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro prove that the people of Indus Valley knew some sort of writing. Their script has been characterized as pictographic, each sign standing for a particular word or object. It appears the people wrote from left to right but in some cases they first wrote from right to left and then from left to right and so on.

According to Basham, “The Indus script may have been inspired by the earliest Sumerian script which proba­bly antedates it slightly, but it bears little resemblance to an” of the scripts of ancient Middle East.”

Nothing can be said for certainty about the language or the script used by the Indus Valley people, because the script has not so far teen un-deciphered. However, certain scholars regard this script as Sanskrit while other considers it as Dravidian. But R. B. Dikshit is of the view that the people of Indus Valley developed an indepen­dent script of their own.

Certain scholars have tried to advocate that the script of the Indus Valley people was identical to the one used by the people in Egypt, Sumeria and other countries of West Asia. However, nothing can be said for certain about the script of the Indus Valley people except that it was pictographic.

9. Causes for the Destruction of Indus Valley Culture:

In the absence of any written material or historical evidence scholars have made various speculations regarding the causes for the Decline or destruction of Indus Valley civilisation.

Some of the causes advanced by the scholars are as follows:

Firstly, some scholars contend that due to decrease in rainfall, Sindh might have become desert and people might have migrated to some other place.

Secondly, certain scholars believe that the earthquake or cyclone might have been responsible for the decadence of Indus Valley culture.

Thirdly, it is argued that the great wealth of the people of the Valley attracted wild tribes from the hills, who might have brought about the destruction of the Indus Valley civilisation. Certain skele­tons have been unearthed which provide testimony to this view.

It cannot be said for certain as to who were the invaders who destroyed the Indus Valley civilisation. There is also a possibility that the Aryans who were better equipped might have conquered Indus Valley people. In support of this view it is pointed out that Rig-Veda contains a reference to the conflict between the Aryans and non-Aryans and the destruction of the walled cities of non-Aryans.

Fourthly, archaeologists have attributed the decline of the Valley civilisation to the progressive decay of the land due to cultivation, neglect or destruction of the irrigation facilities and the continuous exploitation of land and firewood for brick manufacture.

Finally, scholars believe that the decline of Indus Valley culture might have taken place due to the change of course by Indus liver. As a result of this change the fertile Indus Valley was converted into a tract of sand and people were forced to leave the place. However, all these views are mere conjectures and nothing can be said for certain about the causes of the decline of Indus Valley civilisation.

10. Contribution of the Indus Valley Civilisation:

The Indus Valley civilisation had made very rich contribution to the modern Hindu culture. In fact many of the features found in the Indus Valley civilisation have been adopted by the Hinduism. Siva as a deity is as popular with the people today as it was during the time of the Indus Valley civilisation.

Similarly the cult of Linga and Yoni is also prevalent throughout the country and was taken from the Indus Valley people. The worship of trees and plants is also in vogue in many parts of the country. Certain plants like Tulsi and Pinal are worshipped.

The animal worship which was popular with the Indus Valley people is also found at present. Certain sacred animals, cows and bulls are worshipped even today. Certain animals and birds still regarded as the vehicles or vahana of certain deities.

Therefore, we can conclude that there is an organic relation­ship between the ancient culture of the Indus Valley and Hinduism of today. The religion of the Indus Valley people was the lineal progenitor of Hinduism.

Related Articles:

• Indus Valley Civilization in India | Indian History
• Essay on Indus Civilisation
• History of the Indus Valley Civilization
• Indus Valley Civilisation: Origin, Evolution and Characteristics

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CAUSES OF DECLINE OF THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

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Aurangzeb Khan

The Indus Valley Culture (IVC), often denoted by its major city Harappa, spanned almost two millennia from 3200 to 1300 BC. Its tradition reaches back to 7000 BC: a 4000 year long expansion of villages and towns, of trading activity, and of technological advancements culminates between 2600 and 1900 BC in the built-up of large brick-built cities, writing, and political authority; the IVC emerges as one of the first great civilizations in history. During the ensuing 600 years, however, key technologies fall out of use, urban centers are depopulated, and people leave the former core areas of the IVC; although many different hypotheses have been put forward, a conclusive causal chain for this decline has not yet been established. We here combine literature estimates on brick typology, and on urban area for individual cities; in the context of the existing extensive data on Harappan artifact find sites and put in their chronological order, the combined narratives told by bricks, cities, and extent, can provide a new point of departure for discussing the possible reasons for the mysterious decline.

Submitted to Archaeological Research in Asia

Carsten Lemmen

The Indus Civilization, often denoted by its major city Harappa, spanned almost two millennia from 3200 to 1300 BC. Its tradition reaches back to 7000 BC: a 5000 year long expansion of villages and towns, of trading activity, and of technological advancements culminates between 2600 and 1900 BC in the build-up of large cities, writing, and political authority; it emerges as one of the first great civilizations in history. During the ensuing 600 years, however, key technologies fall out of use, urban centers are depopulated, and people emigrate from former core settlement areas. Although many different hypotheses have been put forward to explain this deurbanization, a conclusive causal chain has not yet been established. We here combine literature estimates on brick typology, and on urban area for individual cities. In the context of the existing extensive data on Harappan artifact find sites and put in their chronological context, the combined narratives told by bricks, cities, and spatial extent can provide a new point of departure for discussing the possible reasons for the mysterious "decline".

The Indus Civilization, often denoted by its major city Harappa, spanned almost two millennia from 3200 to 1300 BC. Its tradition reaches back to 7000 BC: a 5000 year long expansion of villages and towns, of trading activity, and of technological advancements culminates between 2600 and 1900 BC in the build-up of large cities, writing, and political authority; it emerges as one of the first great civilizations in history. During the ensuing 600 years, however, key technologies fall out of use, urban centers are depopulated, and people emigrate from former core settlement areas. Although many different hypotheses have been put forward to explain this deurbanization, a conclusive causal chain has not yet been established. We here combine literature estimates on brick typology, and on urban area for individual cities. In the context of the existing extensive data on Harappan artifact find sites and put in their chronological context, the combined narratives told by bricks, cities, and ...

Michel Danino

It is now widely accepted that climatic and environmental factors played a significant part in the decline of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization. While climatic studies from the 1970s to 1990s tended to support the view that a marked trend towards aridity had set in even before the civilization’s urban or Mature phase, more recent studies have pushed this shift to the end of the second millennium BCE, which coincides with the end of the Mature phase (2600-1900 BCE). This is also the time when, in the east, the Sarasvati dwindled to a minor seasonal river, while floods appear to have been caused by a shifting Indus in the west. Other possible causes include the pressure put on remaining forests by intensive industrial activities. In any case, the archaeological evidence records the abandonment of hundreds of Harappan sites in the Sarasvati’s basin (which includes today’s Cholistan), and an eastward movement of Late Harappan settlements.

Rita Wright

DilipK Chakrabarti

ANCIENT PUNJAB

Muhammad Hameed

The Indus Valley or Harappan Civilization is contemporary to the other ancient societies. Fortunately, some of its renowned sites have been excavated, and comprehensive writings have been progressed by the local and foreign archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians. Its renowned ancient cities like Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, Rakhigarhi, Dholavira, etc. have also been treated with great archaeological expeditions through which inclusive results were organized scientifically about this civilization. However, unfortunately, some of its precious regions, like the Cholistan Desert and its important cities like Ganweriwala, Qasaiwala Ther, Kaliyan Para have been paid no attention to trace out the ancient facts about the Indus Valley Civilization. Some of the surveys have been executed by a few archaeologists and historians. On the other side, the ancient agriculture of this region has also not been traced out by archaeobotanists due to insufficient expertise and technicalities. Whether some of the famous ancient cities and famous sites have been given much attention and resultantly, the ancient objects examined and new thoughts have been created about this civilization. In this manuscript, the scope of desert archaeology is examined, and some proposals for future work regarding archaeobotany are presented with the wide-ranges of arguments too.

Mohammad Mughal

Mohammad Rafique Mughal

South Asia's first civilization known as the Harappan or Indus Civilization was already flourishing by the middle of third millennium B.C. within the vast area of the Greater Indus Valley drained by the Ghaggar-Hakra and Indus river systems of Pakistan. Best known from its extensively excavated two principal urban centres at Harappa on the Ravi River where it was first discovered and recognized, and at Mohenjodaro on the bank of the Indus,' it is marked by many a unique and distinct feature among its contemporaneous civilizations of the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates Valleys. An astonishing aspect of the Indus Civilization is its geographical extent much beyond the core re~ion in the central Indus Valley where Mohenjodaro, Harappa and the third unexcavated urban centre of Ganweriwala are located. It reached as far north as Badakhshan in northern ,Afghanistan and southwards along the Arabian Sea coast of Pakistan and Western India. Such a political domination or cultural expansion over a large territory had not been ever achieved by any other oriental civilization of the ancient world. Equally outstanding feature is the town planning as at Mohenjo-daro which is divided by streets and lanes and lined with public and private buildings with an elaborate drainage system. The long life span of the Harappan cities and towns, their growth and prolification mostly in the flood plain, clearly demonstrate availability of sufficient economic resources and surplus which were mobilized to construct huge fortifications and public buildings on artificially raised platforms of earth, and technology for effective utilization of the riparian environment to support growing numbers of permanently settled human population and inducing the rise and development of interrelated socioeconomic , political and religious institutions. A network of inter-settlement trade of exchange existed within the Greater Indus Valley and with neighbouring regions for the procurement and supply of raw materials and distributions of finished articles. Possessing the essential elements of full urbanization, the Harappan society was sharply stratified as would be evident from the varying size of private houses and differences in their grave furniture and modes of burials. Specialised crafts activities involved manufacturing of shell, faience and terracotta bangles, flint knapping, beads, pottery, seal cuttings and gravings, melting of copper and manufacture of metal utensils. The glyptic and representational arts were well developed and 'numerous cultic objects are indicative of formal role of religion. The mass production of different kinds and their occurrence throughout tire Greater Indus Valley requires a high technological level, an elaborate means of communication and an effective political or administrative system controlling a vast territory which induced a sort of Pan-Indus cultural integration not achieved elsewhere in the ancient world.

In the Ṛgveda, the Sarasvati is both a goddess and a river, and the only one to be deified in the Vedic hymns. Yet it disappeared in the post-Vedic era—the only major river to do so in northwest India. As it did, Sarasvati, the goddess of speech, knowledge and the arts, grew in stature and became one of the fountainheads of India’s classical civilization. Where was this river flowing and how did it come to occupy such a place in Indian culture?

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• Indus Water Treaty

Indus Waters Treaty - UPSC Notes

The Indus Waters Treaty is a water-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan signed in 1960. It was brokered by the World Bank. This is an important treaty and one of the most successful water-sharing agreements to date. It is an important topic for the UPSC exam as it features in the news whenever Indo-Pak relations are discussed.

Indus Water Treaty Latest Update

• The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) between India and Pakistan marks its 60 th  anniversary on 19 th  September 2020.
• In March India had suggested a virtual conference but Pakistan had insisted on a physical meeting. But, India said because of restrictions on movement in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, travelling to the border for a meeting isn’t advisable.
• In August 25, 2021 Pakistan raised objections to a mega 624 MW project over the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir citing that the dam was in violation of the Indus Water treaty. But the Indian government firmly asserted that the construction of the dam was within the established norms of the treaty.

Table of Contents:

Indus Waters Treaty (IWT)

The IWT was signed by the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the then Pakistani President Ayub Khan. Brokered by the World Bank (then known as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), the negotiations for the agreement went on for nine years.

Ever since the partition of India in 1947, the Indus River had been a bone of contention between the four countries through which it runs – India, Pakistan, China, and Afghanistan. The river originates from Tibet.

India had blocked water to Pakistan for some time in 1948 but later restored it after the ceasefire. In 1951, Pakistan took the matter to the United Nations (UN) and accused India of cutting the supply of water to many Pakistani villages.

On the recommendations of the UN, the World Bank came up with this agreement in 1954. It was eventually signed on September 19, 1960.

Indus Waters Treaty – Provisions in Brief

The treaty spells out conditions for water-sharing of the River Indus and its five tributaries.

• All the waters of the Eastern Rivers shall be available for the unrestricted use of India until the arise of any unwanted situation.
• A Permanent Indus Commission was set up by the United Nations for resolving any disputes that may arise in water sharing, with a mechanism for arbitration to resolve conflicts amicably.
• According to the treaty, India can use the water from the western rivers for domestic, non-consumptive needs such as storage, irrigation, and also the generation of electricity.
• The treaty gives India 20% of the water from the Indus River System and the rest 80% to Pakistan.
• In executing any scheme of flood protection or flood control each country(India/Pakistan) will avoid, as far as practicable, any material damage to the other country.
• The use of the natural channels of the Rivers for the discharge of flood or other excess waters shall be free and not subject to limitation by either India or Pakistan, and neither of the countries shall have any claim against the other in respect of any damage caused by such use.

Indus Waters Treaty Issues

There have been issues concerning the treaty with both sides accusing each other of violating the terms of the treaty.

• In 2016, Pakistan had approached the World Bank raising concerns of India’s Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric power projects being constructed in Jammu & Kashmir. India then requested for neutral experts to inspect the plants, saying that the points raised by Pakistan were technical ones and do not require a court of arbitration (as Pakistan has taken it to an arbitration court). The World Bank permitted India to proceed with the projects after talks were concluded between both the countries on the technicalities of the treaty.
• The Tulbul project (which is a navigation lock-cum-control structure at the mouth of the Wular Lake, situated on the Jhelum from Anantnag to Srinagar and Baramulla) was suspended in 1987 after Pakistan objected to it. Recently, the government decided to review this suspension not taking into account Pakistan’s protests.
• Pakistan’s Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) project passes through the Rann of Kutch in India’s Gujarat. The project was constructed without India’s consent. India has objected because this is in contravention to the IWT. The lower riparian state is in India and hence it needs to be given all details. There is also the danger of flooding in the state of Gujarat.
• Recently, the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan have taken on a downward spiral. In the wake of the Uri attacks on India, Prime Minister Modi remarked that blood and water cannot flow simultaneously indicating to Pakistan that its support to terrorism across the border will lead to India rethinking its generous stance on the IWT. Indeed, many experts believe that the treaty is more favourable towards Pakistan than India.
• Another issue cited with the IWT is that it was signed on India’s behalf by the then PM Nehru. However, he was not the head of state and that the treaty ought to have been signed by the head of state, the then president of the country.
• India does not use its entire share of water it is entitled to as per the provisions of the IWT. About 2 million acre-feet (MAF) of water from the River Ravi flows into Pakistan unutilized by India.
• In the wake of the Pulwama attacks in 2019, the Indian government stated that all water flowing into Pakistan at present, in the three eastern rivers, will be diverted to Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan for different uses.
• Shahpurkandi Project: This will help in generating power for Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
• Ujh Multipurpose Project: This will create storage of water on the Ujh, which is a tributary of the River Ravi, for irrigation as well as power generation.
• 2nd Ravi Beas link below Ujh: This has been declared a National Project by the GOI. This involves constructing a barrage across river Ravi for diverting water through a tunnel link to the Beas Basin. This is planned to prevent excess water flowing into Pakistan.

For more on India – Pakistan Relations  visit the linked article.

Developments on the Eastern rivers of Indus Water Treaty

• To utilize the waters of the Eastern rivers which have been allocated to India for exclusive use, India has constructed Bhakra Dam on Satluj river, Pong and Pandoh Dam on Beas river, and Thein (Ranjit Sagar Dam) on Ravi river.
• India utilizes nearly an entire share of 95% of the water of Eastern rivers with the help of works like Beas-Sutlej Link, Madhopur-Beas Link, Indira Gandhi Nahar Project, etc. However, about 2 Million Acre Feet (MAF) of water from Ravi is reported annually to be still flowing unutilized to Pakistan below Madhopur.
• Construction of Shahpur Kandi Project to utilize the water coming from Thein Dam for irrigation and power generation in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
• Construction of Ujh multipurpose project – River Ujh is a tributary of Ravi. It will create storage of water for irrigation and power generation in India. This project is a National Project whose completion period will be 6 years from the beginning of the implementation.
• The 2nd Ravi Beas link below Ujh project is being planned to tap excess water flowing down to Pakistan through river Ravi, even after construction of Thein Dam, by constructing a barrage across river Ravi for diverting water through a tunnel link to Beas basin.

IWT – Options for India

A few political thinkers believe that the treaty is one-sided and biased towards Pakistan and that it should be abrogated.

However, this is easier said than done and not without serious ramifications. 

• The treaty’s provisions do not allow a unilateral abrogation.
• Even if India decides to back down from the treaty, the 1969 Vienna Convention on the law of treaties should be abided by.
• This can hamper the country’s image internationally. India’s other neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal may become skeptical about similar treaties with them.
• Some experts on international affairs think that India should safeguard bilateral treaties if it is aspiring for a permanent seat in the UNSC.
• The move to abrogate the treaty may lead to more problems with respect to terrorist activities.
• India should also build adequate infrastructure to use the entire water before stopping water from Pakistan.
• Another angle is that of China. China, with its support to Pakistan, may block the water from the Brahmaputra to Assam. It can also stop the waters of the Indus which originates in the Chinese territory.

Experts opine that India should use the waters of the western rivers as permitted by the IWT. This alone can send a strong signal to Pakistan. A lot should be thought over before any other drastic steps are taken, as they can have lasting effects on the relationship with Pakistan.

Indus Waters Treaty – Indian Polity:- Download PDF Here

UPSC Questions related to Indus Water Treaty

What is the indus waters treaty.

It is a water-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan signed in 1960, to divide the waters of the Indus and its five tributaries between the countries.

Who signed on the Indus Basin Treaty from Pakistan?

The treaty was signed between Jawaharlal Nehru from India and Ayub Khan, the then President of Pakistan.

What are the main features of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 between India and Pakistan?

The Treaty allocates the Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan and the Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India. At the same time, the Treaty allows each country certain uses on the rivers allocated to the respective other country.

To get more  topics to visit the UPSC Syllabus page   and for more of UPSC-related preparation materials visit the linked articles:

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Endangered and Threatened Species; Notice of Initiation of a 5-Year Review for the Indus River Dolphin

A Notice by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 08/29/2024

This document has been published in the Federal Register . Use the PDF linked in the document sidebar for the official electronic format.

• Document Details Published Content - Document Details Agencies Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Agency/Docket Number RTID 0648-XE213 Document Citation 89 FR 70172 Document Number 2024-19416 Document Type Notice Pages 70172-70173 (2 pages) Publication Date 08/29/2024 Published Content - Document Details
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Department of Commerce

National oceanic and atmospheric administration.

• [RTID 0648-XE213]

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

Notice of initiation; request for information.

The NMFS announces the initiation of a 5-year review for the Indus River dolphin ( Platanista gangetica minor ). NMFS is required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to conduct 5-year reviews to ensure that the listing classifications of species are accurate. The 5-year review must be based on the best scientific and commercial data available at the time of the review. We request submission of any such information on the Indus River dolphin, particularly information on the status, threats, and recovery of the species that has become available since the previous review in 2016.

To allow us adequate time to conduct this review, we must receive your information no later than October 28, 2024.

You may submit information on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2024-0097, by the following method:

• Electronic Submission: Submit electronic information via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2024-0097 in the Search box. Click on the “Comment” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.

Instructions: Information sent by any other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the specified period, may not be considered by NMFS. All information received is a part of the public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on https://www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying information ( e.g., name, address, etc. ), confidential business information, or otherwise sensitive or protected information submitted voluntarily by the sender will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous submissions (enter “N/A” in the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous).

Kristen Koyama (301) 427-8456 or [email protected] .

This notice announces our review of the Indus River dolphin ( Platanista gangetica minor ), listed as endangered under the ESA. It should be noted that recent research, since the previous status review, has suggested that the Indus River dolphin should be elevated to species level ( Platanista minor ), which will be discussed in the current review. Section 4(c)(2)(A) of the ESA requires that we conduct a review of listed species at least once every 5 years. The species was previously reviewed in 2016. The regulations in 50 CFR 424.21 require that we publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing species currently under active review. On the basis of such reviews under section 4(c)(2)(B), we determine whether any species should be removed from the list ( i.e., delisted) or reclassified from endangered to threatened or from threatened to endangered ( 16 U.S.C. 1533(c)(2)(B) ). As described by the regulations in 50 CFR 424.11(e) , the Secretary shall delist a species if the Secretary determines based on consideration of the factors and standards set forth in paragraph (c) of that section, that the best scientific and commercial data available substantiate that: (1) the species is extinct; (2) the species has recovered to the point at which it no longer meets the definition of an endangered species or a threatened species; (3) new information that has become available since the original listing decisions on how the listed entity does not meet the definition of an endangered species or a threatened species; or (4) new information that has become available since the original listing decision shows the listed entity does not meet the definition of a species. Any change in Federal classification would require a separate rulemaking process.

Background information on the species is available on the NMFS website at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/​species/​indus-river-dolphin .

To ensure that the review is complete and based on the best available scientific and commercial information, we are soliciting new information from the public, governmental agencies, Tribes, the scientific community, industry, environmental entities, and any other interested parties concerning the status of the Indus River dolphin ( Platanista gangetica minor ). Categories of requested information include: (1) species biology including, but not limited to, population trends, distribution, abundance, demographics, and genetics; (2) habitat conditions including, but not limited to, amount, distribution, and important features for conservation; (3) status and trends of threats to the species and its habitats; (4) conservation measures that have been implemented that benefit the species, including monitoring data demonstrating effectiveness of such measures; and (5) other new information, data, or corrections including, but not limited to, taxonomic or nomenclatural changes and improved analytical methods for evaluating extinction risk.

If you wish to provide information for the review, you may submit your information and materials electronically (see ADDRESSES section). We request that all information be accompanied by supporting documentation such as maps, bibliographic references, or reprints of pertinent publications.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.

Dated: August 23, 2024.

Angela Somma,

Chief, Endangered Species Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[ FR Doc. 2024-19416 Filed 8-28-24; 8:45 am]

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