by Sheikh Khurshid Hasan, Assistant Director (Admin) Department of Archaeology & Museums, Government of Pakistan.

1. BURIAL PRACTICES IN THE VALLEY CIVILIZATION
by
Sh. Khurshid Hasan
Assistant Director (Admin)
The Holy Quran says: "Verily everything that does exist on Earth and Universe will come to an
end". Deathis perhapsthe onlycommonfaithof the religiousand the unreligious. The pre-eminenceof
deathhas hauntedthe imaginationof mankindfromthe earliesttimeswhich might have been occasion
of demise of the first homo-sapiens that walked in the primeval forest or Gain writhing in ground,
stabbed by Abel's knife.
The concept of deathvariesamongpeople of different cultural orientation in different parts of
the world. Some people believe that death is the result of God's curse, some ascribe it to the action of
supernatural beinglike gods or spirits or witches. Whatever may be the beliefs, the horror of death is
universal among the mankind.
The beliefsprofessedbyvariouscommunitiesregulatethe mode of disposal of the deadbodies.
The ancient methods of disposal of the dead may be enumerated as Cannibalism, sub-aerial deposit,
cave deposit,water-burial,earthburial,preservationinhuts, cremation, and mummification. All these
methods reflect the belief or concept of life after death in the next world. For instance, behind
cremationliesthe ideaof gettingridof the ghostof the deadperson. Some thought that the cremation
ensuredprotectiontothe survivorsagainstthe malignance of the dead. Othersregardedcremationasa
meansto free the ghostfromthe bondsof earthlylife andunite itwiththe societyof the departedsouls
in the life beyond.
Coming to the practice of disposing off of the dead prevalent in the Indus Valley Civilization,
which flourished between 2500 - 1700 B.C the skeletal material recovered during the course of
excavationsatMohenjo-Daro,Harappa,Lothal andKalibanganinIndiahave providedsome information
on this aspect of social feature.
Mohenjo-Daro
It isunfortunate thatat Moenjodaro, which is one of the earliest and biggest sites of the Indus
Valley civilizaiton, no systematic inhumation cemetery has so far been discoveered. It might be lying
buried in the area not yet excavated. During the coure o f excavation in 1922-27 and again in 1928-28,

2. the discovery of skeletal remains at Moenjodaro comprise 41 individuals. Leavinge stray bemes and
burialsof doubtful period,the numberof skeletal remainsaccordingtoWheelercome to 34, as detailed
below :-
(a) Skeletonsof 13 adultmalesandfemalesandachild,some still wearingbracelets,rings
and Beadswere found invariedaltitudesinRoom74 of House II,H.R. AreaSection. It
was possiblydue tosimultaneousdeath.
(b) Six skeletons,5adultsand one childwere foundfromastreetbetweentwohousesinV.
S. area. Animal vertebraewere foundlyingovertwoof the above skeletons.
(c) A skeletonwasdiscoveredinDeadman'sLane H.R.area SectionA.The skeletonbelongs
to a late period. Moreover,itdoesnotrepresentsystematicburial.
(d) Nine skeletons,4adultsand5 childrenwere foundinD.K.areaina pit with two tusks of
elephants.The skeletonswere found in varied attitudes. Mackay is of the opinion that
the killedpersonswereivory worker themselves. The raiders had no use for tusks and
did not, therefore take them away.
(e) Four skeletonswere foundinBlockA DKarea, G Section. Twopersonswere lyingdead
on the stairsof a well room. It isprobable thattheywere ransuccessfullytryingto
escape b climbingthe stairtothe street. Remainsof thirdandfourthbody were also
foundclose by. It isalmostcertainthat these fourpeople were murdered.
It will thusbe observedthatthe skeletons so far discovered at Mohenjo-Daro do not represent
the normal burials. These appear to be the victims of some disaster. Even Dr. Dales who carried out
excavationsatMohenjo-Daroin1964 foundfive skeletons,buttheywere alsonotburiedinorderlyway.
Harappa
The skeletal remainssofardiscoveredatHarappaare the largest. The cemeteryatHarappa was
discoveredin1928 on the flatplainareatowardsthe southof the mound. The excavationsremainedin
progresshere forthree years. It isknownas CemeteryH.It comprisestwostrata. StratumII consisted
of extendedburials. The kneesof the deadwere slightlybendandthe general orientationwasfrom
eastto westor north-easttosouth-east. The grave potterywasdistinctive,showingnoapparentaffinity

3. withthat of Harappa culture proper. Some of these burialswere regardedasfractional. tis,however,
not certainwhetherthese weretrue fractional burialsorwhethertheywere merelyfragmentary
reburialsaftersome kindof disturbance of the cemetery.
StratumI representsthe true fractional burials. The skullswithafew bonesare putinlarge urns
with openings just large enough to put in the loose bones after exhumation. the mouth of the urns
were either closed by pots or by lids. One of the urns depicted a beaked man holding two bulls, of
which one is attacked by a dog, some peacocks, and a large bull bearing trident standard on its
spreading horns. The frieze depicts a scene which has been related to Vedic ideas of the migration of
the soul. The dead bodies were, however, found in the embryonic postures.
Another cemetery know as R-37 was discovered in 1937. The excavations during these years
yieldedforty-sevengraves. Inthe year 1946, Sir Mortimer Wheeler again carried out excavation at this
cemeteryandwasable to discovertenmore graves. The bodieswere normallyextended with the head
to the north with only one exception in which the head was to the south. The grave pits were of the
varioussizesrangingfrom10 to 15 feetinlength and 2 1/2 to 10 feet in width. The depth of the graves
on an average was 2 1/2 feet. These graves were made of large size, apparently to accommodate a
large quantities of pottery in them according to the custom prevalent in those days. The pottery was
mostlykeptnearthe head,butsome quantityof it wasalsofoundat the feetandoccasionallybelowthe
body. The number of pots found in a grave ranged from two to forty. Personal ornaments were also
worn by the dead although this feature was almost absent in the burials of Cemetery H, Stratum II,
exceptintwocases. Besidespotteryandpersonal ornamentsome of the graves yielded toiled objects.
Mirrors of copper antimony sticks and large sheel ________.
Detailed report on Cemetery R-37 (1937-41) has not yet been published. However, from the
account givenbySirMortimerWheeleranumberof interestingfeaturesof burialshave come to notice.
Burial No.5 wasa coffinburial. Itisthe onlyof itskindso fardiscoveredinthe IndusValleyCulture. The
bodywas probablyof a womanand placedina woodencoffin, 7 feet long and 2 feet wide at its narrow
endand 2 1/2 feetwide towardsthe head. Traces of a reed-shroud from the pelvic girdle to the upper
parts were also noticed. The presence of some light green substance over and around the body
suggested the use of preservatives. Both the coffin and the reed shroud are familiar in Sumerian
cemeteries of the third millennium B.C. Burial 10 showed tow remarkable features. It had mud-brick

4. lining or coffin around the bdy and a heaped mud-brick filling on the southern end of the grave. The
grave-shaft was of unusual dimensions 15 feet long, 19 feet wide and 3 feet deep.
Lothal:
Ten burials were discovered at Lothal. Like Harappa, the orientation was north-south with
heeds to the north. One of the graves was built with mud bricks. The graves represent middle cl ass
people as the material of inferior quality such as copper rings, shell beads and bowls suggest.
Kalibangan
Excavations at Kalibangan in India was carried out in 1962-63 and a cemetery similar to R-37 at
Harappa was laid bare. The Indian Archaeological Survey has excavated as many as seven graves. The
skeletons were found laid in an extended position with the head towards the north. In one of the
graves,a copperor bronze mirrorwas alsodiscovered. The mirrorsshow greatresemblance with those
found at Harappa.
At Kalibangananotherinterestingfeature of potburial has been noticed. Ten pits were dig out
which were either oval or circular on plan. The contained, besides an urn, other posts which were
generally found encircled round the former and varied from four to twenty nine in number. Besides,
pottery,some of the pitsalsocontainedbeads,shellbangles and steatite objects. No skeletal material
was recovered from an of the urn or the pits as a whole nor were any other objects found within the
Urns. The precise nature and significance of these pits require further investigation.
Conclusion:
In the light of the latest discoveries it can safely be presumed that the system of disposal of
dead in the Indus Valley Civilization was inhumation. Unlike at Ur in Sumer, no royal burials have yet
beendiscoveredatanyof the sitesof IndusCivilization. The grave objectsare usually of inferior quality
and as such it can rightly be said that the burials represent the poor class of people.
The skeletal material sofaranalyzedcannothelp much to determine the racial character of the
pre-historic man in Indus Civilization. Sewell and Gauha on the basis of the anthropological studies of
the skeletal remain at Mohenjo-Daro have identified four racial types viz Proto-Australoid,
Mediterranean, Mongoloid and Alpine. Latest researches carried out in this field, particularly by D. K.
Sen have revealed that the population was homogenous with regard at least to head-shape, nose-

5. shaped and stature. The population at these sites belonged to a single racial group rather than to
different anthropic species. It has also been said that the population, in the light of the available
evidence, appears to have remained more or less stable from Harappan times to the present day.