Excavated in the 1920s, the Indus valley civilisation was one of the most unique civilisations of the world. It remains an enigma to archaeologists and historians in terms of it being a widespread civilisation without any evidence of wars and conquest.
If it flourished as an empire, why is there no indication available from its monuments and artefacts? Unlike the findings from other great civilisations, there are also no palaces, temples, royal tombs, forts, or gardens found among the ruins.
In Harappa and Mohenjodaro, we find no war reliefs portraying powerful rulers like the Assyrians, where the kings are depicted trampling and skinning alive the bodies of their enemies and prisoners of war.
Reliefs discovered from Persepolis show Persians kings in court, to whom people from defeated nations pay homage and tribute. They prostrate before the king to show their obedience and loyalty. The kings come across as ruthless, brutal, and absolute despots. However, the Indus valley findings show no displays of power and glory.
In Mohenjodaro, the Great Bath is one of the best-known structures among the ruins and believed to have been used for religious rituals. There is also a great hall which probably served for gatherings of citizens. Instead of magnificent buildings depicting grandeur and power, Mohenjodaro appears to be a simple but well-planned town providing comfort and convenience to its people. The concept of hygiene appears as a unique element of the Indus valley culture.
According to the archaeological findings of Gregory Louis Possehl, the Indus valley people burnt their old cities and towns to plan new ones. This theory raises a number of questions as to how they acquired knowledge and technique of planning cities and where did they get the resources to build new cities. However, it is an interesting theory which requires further research and analysis.
There are number of lessons that we could learn from the Indus civilisation. One of the main characteristics of the civilisation was peace and we find its traces spread over a vast area from Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh in Pakistan to Gujarat in India without any traces of war and invasion.
It is remarkable that when its contemporary civilisations were engaged in war, bloodshed, plunder and destruction of cities, the people of Indus valley charmed the neighbouring areas with flourishing culture. Archaeologists found no signs of battlefields, nor bones and skeletons or weapons of dead soldiers. It appears that peace was a powerful tool which united people for their common interest. It was its uniqueness that it followed peace rather than war. As a result, the civilisation prospered socially and culturally.
The evidence testifies that class difference was not so wide. Even if there was a king, he was not absolute and brutal. We also find no hegemony of aristocracy. Consequently, there was no exploitation of workers like in Mesopotamian or Egyptian civilisations where thousands of labourers were forced to build temples and pyramids. The hard-earned revenue of peasants and artisans was spent on building these monuments.
In the Indus valley, traders were the most prosperous and economically active class who had commercial relations with Mesopotamia and other contemporary civilisations. Though they earned wealth as a profit, they never displayed it either in building great houses or to use it as power play. The rich classes seemed to be ethical and believed in simplicity.
The fact that no great temples were discovered in the Indus valley excavations shows that religious beliefs and rituals were simple. Perhaps a priestly class existed with no extensive spiritual power. It also seems that they settled political and social disputes by mutual discussion and understanding.
The cities of Indus valley show that the major concern of the ruling classes was to provide facilities and comfort to people. The rulers spent revenue to educate the people and provide them health facilities. The sewerage and drainage system and wide-open streets indicate a well-planned, hygienic environment.
In the light of the above, we must adopt peace instead of war as a policy to achieve political stability and economic prosperity. There is a need to adopt a simple lifestyle and not be carried away with ostentatious displays of wealth. Our people have a right to clean cities and healthcare facilities. Following the tradition of the Indus valley civilisation and adapting it to modern challenges, we could transform our society for the betterment of people.
Comments (11) Closed
Sindh is the land of Sufis which preaches nothing but peace and universal brotherhood. The fact that not a semblance of violence-bigotry prone society was found at Indus Valley testifies to the values of the society. When almost all the other provinces of Pakistan are reeling from religious intolerance and serves is citadel of religious harmony. The Sufis of Sindh. like other sufis of South Asia, preach nothing but love of humanity. Sachal Sarmast's message of Human-repect could serve as an invincible tool to rid Pakistani society of religious extremism and intolerance. He said that neither Mosque nor temple could alleviate human suffering but love. He exhorted the dignity of man is the sole spirit of all the religions.And this is the very message of Sindh for whole the world.
Mohenjodaro is a first class tourism product in Pakistan and which has a third class marketing plan in the world.
It fills me with grief that the cities of Harrapa and Moenjandaroo from
Very interesting article on a GREAT AND PEACEFUL vibrant civilization. It would be interesting if the author could also tell us when where and why this great civilztion crumbled snd disappeared...
As pointed out in an earlier comment,Pakistan has a FANTASTIC tourism attraction and should take advantage of this perhaps with the help of UN agencies...
@iqbal carrim: Even the tourists come in thousands,as they will.How will we explain to them about our fore fathers character, who they were and who we are?claiming them as ours, will look outrageously funny.We donot want to accept ,acknowledge them in any way.We preffer Arabic Imperialism while they were.....
This site is the first lesson that Indian students learn in their history books. Unfortunately, none of them can ever see it.
The mahenjodaro civilization is fore bearer of hindu civilization thats why you can see why hindus are so tolerant and peace loving people
There was no war at that time because there was no other religion except the vedic dharma which people now call as Hinduism. So there was no ideological difference.
Whole of Indus valley civilization was a huge and the largest civilization of its time, bigger than mesopatamia and egypt combined. It had a population larger than any of these. they were such beautiful welfare state. and look what has happened to us, its children. we were made to feel inferior by the british who tried to impose the bluff of aryan invasion theory while all the genetic studies tell us, most of them done by europeans, that our ancestors have been living on this land since fifty to sixty thousand years and there were no mass movement on this land from anywhere. how could a bunch of immigrants transform such a huge population over such a huge landmass, when in recent times, despite of muslim rule of so many centuries and many people accepting Islam as there religion, they could not change the lifestyle and languages of the region, even in Pakistan. Now they say they were Dravidians. But why will all Indus valley people go to South India, so much so, that there is no trace of Dravidian language in whole of North India. Brahui is a favorite answer, but that one pocket could have been the people who had business interests in South India which Indus valley people did have. If they were Dravidians and spread due to any reason, natural or invasion, then there should have been Dravidian language in the periphery of whole North India, from Kashmir to HImachal, Nepal, Bihar and Bengal. But there are none. It is very difficult to take away language from a people that too by a small group of people who came as immigrants or even Invaders. Friends, they want to keep us divided, the europeans and the arabs, because it serves them to keep us poorer and deprived. otherwise, this land of our ancestors which they called Jambudweep, and outsiders called India, has been the biggest contributor to world economy for most of the history, right from the times of Indus valley people upto eighteenth century. And look how nicely they have succeeded in keeping us divided and depraved. Earlier we realise better we shall be.
The author forgot to mention that only 2% of the site is unearthed and their language has yet to be deciphered.
I want to see Mohanjodaro in my lifetime.....do by any chance pakistan give visa to Indian tourists who want to see ancestors place like Taxila, Harappa, Sharadapeeth math and univercity.............