Essay on Indus valley civilisation in 400 words
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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
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.
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.
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.