2. The Indus Valley Civilization, also
known as Harappan culture, is among
the world's earliest civilizations,
contemporary to the Bronze Age
civilizations of Mesopotamia and
Ancient Egypt.
It peaked around 2500 BCE in the
western part of South Asia, declined
during the mid-2nd millennium BCE
and was forgotten until its rediscovery
in the 1920s by R.D. Banerjee.
3.
4. Thus there is an Indus Valley site on the
Oxus river at Shortughai in northern
Afghanistan (Kenoyer 1998:96) and the
Indus Valley site Alamgirpur at the Hindon
river is located only 28 km from Delhi.
Geographically, it was spread over an area
of some 1,260,000 km, comprising the whole
of modern day Pakistan and parts of
modern-day India and Afghanistan.
At its peak, the Indus Civilization may have
had a population of well over five million.
5. It was in the mid 4th millennium BC that the first major
civilizations began to arise along major river systems such as
the Nile and the Tigris Euphrates. Though not so well known the
Indus Valley or Harappan culture was one of the greatest of
these early civilizations. It arose along the Indus Valley in what
is now Pakistan around 3500 BC and reached its peak from
2900 - 1900 BC. The capital seems to have been near the
small modern town of Harappa whence its name but there
were other large cities at Mohenjo Daro, Mehrgarh and
elsewhere. At its peak it was a vast empire of cities, towns and
public works that stretched from Afghanistan to the Indian
ocean. But by c. 1300 the Harappan civilization had vanished
likely due to prolonged failure of the monsoon rains. In
contrast to cuneiform and hieroglyphics the writing system of
the Indus culture has still not been deciphered.
6. SIZABLE ANCIENT INDIAN /
INDUS VALLEY POTTERY HEAD
, 5"h x 4"w x 3"d. Heavy solid
hard fired pottery.
Provenance. Gifted to the
father of the current owner
in appreciation to his
services to the local
community in India in the
early 20th century.
7. SIZABLE ANCIENT INDIAN /
INDUS VALLEY POTTERY HEAD
(left in the photo), 5.5"h x 4"w x
4.5"d. Heavy solid hard fired
pottery. Provenance. Gifted to
the father of the current
owner in appreciation to his
services to the local
community in India in the early
20th century.
8. SIZABLE ANCIENT INDIAN /
INDUS VALLEY POTTERY HEAD
, 4"h x 4.5"w x 2.75"d. Heavy
solid hard fired pottery.
Provenance. Gifted to the
father of the current owner
in appreciation to his
services to the local
community in India in the
early 20th century.
9. MEHRGARH BICHROME
FIGURAL POT, Indus
Valley, c. 3rd millennium
BC. The pot painted with
two large bulls separated
by vegetation, four fowls
above. Minor lime
deposits attesting
authenticity. 4 x 4 inches.
10. MEHRGARH BICHROME
FIGURAL PLATTER, Indus Valley,
c. 3rd millennium BC. The
platter painted with fowl
between large trees, a band
of many small ibex near the
rim. Some lime deposits
attesting authenticity. 2.5 x 10
inches.
11. MEHRGARH BICHROME
FIGURAL POT, Indus
Valley, c. 3rd
millennium BC. The pot
painted with register of
felines and trees
between two bands of
numerous small ibex, a
raised wavy line below.
Minor lime deposits
attesting authenticity.
5.5 x 5.5 inches.
12. MEHRGARH BICHROME
FIGURAL CUP, Indus
Valley, c. 3rd millennium
BC. The cup painted
with two large bulls
separated by
vegetation. Some lime
deposits attesting
authenticity. 3 x 4
inches.
13. MEHRGARH BICHROME
FIGURAL POT, Indus
Valley, c. 3rd
millennium BC. The pot
painted with registers
of felines and ibex
separated by flowers.
Some lime deposits
attesting authenticity.
6 x 6.5 inches.
14. . MEHRGARH LARGE FISH
BICHROME BOWL, Indus
Valley, c. 3rd millennium
BC. The bowl painted with
three large fish with linear
and arrow bands above
and below. Some lime
deposits attesting
authenticity. 4.5 x 7 inches.
15. MEHRGARH BICHROME
FIGURAL POT, Indus
Valley, c. 3rd millennium
BC. The pot painted with
a register of numerous
small ibex within linear
bands. Some lime
deposits attesting
authenticity. 3 x 3 inches.
16. MEHRGARH BICHROME
OIL LAMP, Indus Valley, c.
3rd millennium BC. Of four
pinch square form, the pot
painted with geometric
designs on the outer rim.
Some lime deposits
attesting authenticity. 1.5 x
2.5 inches.
17. MEHRGARH LARGE
BICHROME FIGURAL POT,
Indus Valley, c. 3rd
millennium BC. The pot
painted with large bulls,
fowls and trees a register of
numerous small ibex above.
Repaired from five large
shards. Some lime deposits
attesting authenticity. 6 x 7
inches.
18. AN INDUS VALLEY
TRIANGULAR SEAL, c. 3rd-
2nd millennium BC. The
black stone seal with
figures of serpent, winged
animal and man standing
with staff. 25 mm. Excellent
condition.
19. AN INDUS VALLEY
GLASS BEAD, c. 3rd-
2nd millennium BC.
The tan cylindrical
bead with applied
dots and stands. 27
mm. Rare and nice.
21. A PAIR OF EARLY INDUS
VALLEY POLYCHROME
CHALICES. Mehrgarh
Culture, c. 4000 BC. 4
inches. From a new
very early culture
recently unearthed
along the Indus.
Extremely rare!
22. . AN EARLY INDUS VALLEY
POLYCHROME DIPPER
SPOON. Mehrgarh Culture,
c. 4000 BC. 3.4 inches. From
a new very early culture
recently unearthed along
the Indus. Amazing state of
preservation considering the
delicate handle. Extremely
rare!
23. A RARE MOHENJO DARO
FERTILITY IDOL. Indus
Valley, c. 2500-1500 BC.
The female idol with arms
crossed under breasts, an
animal or child on left
arm. 2.25 x 6 inches. Rear
base rim missing. Very
rare, especially with the
additional figure!
24. AN INDUS VALLEY OR
BACTRIAN SILVER
RING, c. 2500-1000 BC.
The heavy ring with
bands of raised
knobs, two silver
rosettes likely the tops
and bottoms of lotus
flowers attached on
either side. 1 inch, 0.7
-0.75 inches internal.
Wearable. Rare.
25. A FINE INDUS VALLEY OR
BACTRIAN BRONZE
MEDICAL OR COSMETIC
SET, c. 2500-1000 BC. The
unusual pin probe with
three knobbed terminals,
the spatula/scalpel with
ornate knobbed handle
with suspension loop. To 3.5
inches. Rare this nice.
26. A CHOICE LARGE INDUS
VALLEY STAMP SEAL, c. 1st
millennium BC. The
terracotta seal with
incised animals around
the periphery, ornate
handle on back. 3 inches.
Choice example.
27. AN INDUS VALLEY
TERRACOTTA BULL, c.
2500-1500 BC.
Humped bull
attached to vessel
shard which now
serves as a base. 4.5
inches.
28. s I‟m proposing theory of „Pre-Dravidian Invasion‟. This has a stronger
case in the Vaidik age Indo-Aryan literature.
Most of the Vaidik literature talk about Aryans fight against a dark
skinned people called Dasyus. The description of these people hardly
suits to the urbanized people of IVC. So it‟s very clear that these people
can not be the ones who built IVC. But they can be the people who
destroyed it.
Around 1700B.C Pre-Dravidian people of South India started attacking
IVC. IVC was not known to possess a strong army. These urban, trading
people along with their grand constructions became easy victims of
attacking pre-Dravidians. A closer analogy could be barbarians
(Germanic tribes) attacking Rome. It looks like these pre-Dravidians were
mainly from South India, since pre-Dravidians of East India do not exhibit
Dravidian culture( languages and Shaivism, which I feel is the main
religion of Harappan people) of South India but still practices pre-
Dravidian rituals of worshipping dark skinned goddesses. Now back to
the main argument.
Emergence of Dravidian people:
29. While pre-Dravidians were destroying their homeland,
the IVC population started migrating to Southern
regions. Ironically, moving to the homelands of their
destroyers. And overtime they mingled and crossbred
with local pre-Dravidian population, influencing and
assimilating with local culture. Since it was no more a
homogenous block, these people never had any
distinct identity of themselves. It was probably during
first or second century AD these people were
classified as Dravidians by the Indo-Aryans who by
this time settled in all of North-India. „Manusmriti‟,
written around this time, categorizes all Dravidians as
„Shudras‟. Though there were further divisions in the
society after Aryan Brahmin missionaries started
arriving between 4th to 7th centuries.
30. After defeating and destroying IVC something around 1700BC, pre-
Dravidians continued to live in north-west of India. Possibly when Indo-
Aryans started arriving around 1500BC they were the pale shadow of their
forefathers who invaded that territory. Even the numbers could be favouring
the Aryans. Defeated by these Indo-European people, Dasyus started
retreating from IVC area and migrated to other parts of the country. A part
of them might have been assimilated with Indo-Aryans. But some of these
disintegrated people because of Aryan onslaught found it difficult to
become a single, strong entity and degenerated to live a pathetic life. And
in later centuries these people might possibly oppressed as
„untouchables‟(This argument is influenced by Ambedkar‟s theory of origin
of untouchablilty in India. I am proposing my theory of brokenmen ) by other
Indians, now a mixed race of Aryans and pre-Dravidians.
In this series of articles, I have proposed IVC population was light skinned
Mediterranean race. This civilization was destroyed by the dark skinned pre-
Dravidians(australoids) of South India. The escaping Mediterranean
population migrated to South India and assimilated with local people and
gave rise to culture described as “Dravidian” by the Indo-Aryans. Indo-
Aryans defeated pre-Dravidians on entering India from north-west and
established their civilization. This argument tries to explain the missing link
between end of the Indus valley civilization and invasion/migration of Indo-
Aryans.
