Discovery & Extent of Indus Valley Civilization

May 4th, 2011

"A long march preceded our arrival at Haripah, through jangal of the
closest description.... When I joined the camp I found it in front of the
village and ruinous brick castle. Behind us was a large circular mound, or
eminence, and to the west was an irregular rocky height, crowned with
the remains of buildings, in fragments of walls, with niches, after the
eastern manner.... Tradition affirms the existence here of a city, so
considerable that it extended to Chicha Watni, thirteen cosses distant,
and that it was destroyed by a particular visitation of Providence,
brought down by the lust and crimes of the sovereign"
This was the first narration of the Harappa Civilization by an
Englishman Charles Masson in 1842. The coss is around 2 miles and it has
been used as a unit of length in India since Vedic Times.
However, the discovery of Charles Masson could not attract any
archeological interest for many years.
In 1872, Sir Alexander Cunningham published the first Harappan
seal.
About half a century later in 1912 more Harappan seals were discovered
by J Fleet. Later an excavation campaign was carried out under Sir John
Hubert Marshall and this culminated in the discovery of a Civilization at
Harappa by Sir John Marshall, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni and Madho
Sarup Vats, and at Mohenjo-Daro by Rakhal Das Banerjee, E. J. H.
MacKay, and Sir John Marshall.
Extent of the Indus Valley Civilization
The centre of the civilization was in Sind and Punjab in undivided India,
from this centre, the civilization spread towards all direction. In West the
last extent is seaboard of South Baluchistan at the Suktagendor which
can be called its western border. In east Alamagirpur in Uttar Pradesh
(District Meerut) can be called its Eastern Border. In North it extended
up to Manda in Jammu & Kashmir and in south it extended up to
Bhagvatrav in Narmada Estuary of Gujarat. However, later at Diamabad
(District Ahamed Nagar Maharashtra) was the site where four figurines of

Bronze on the bank of Pravara River found. This pushed the civilization's
extension in further south. Indus civilization remnants have been
discovered from as far south as Mumbai in Maharashtra State.
Observations
Most settlements in Indus Valley Civilization are on banks of
rivers.
As far as extension is concerned, the Indus civilization was
largest of the four ancient urban civilizations of Egypt,
Mesopotamia, South Asia and China
It covered an area of around 13 Lakh square kilometers.
This area is triangular in shape and no other ancient civilization
was extended to such a large area.
Remains of the site first found at Harappa so it is also called
Harappan Civilization.
Modern dating methods keep the civilization to be ranging from
2900 to 2000BC.
The people of this civilization were definitely in touch with the
other civilizations most prominently being the Mesopotamian
civilization.
The difference between names of Harappan Civilization and Indus
Valley Civilization
Both the names are coterminous. Harappa is an archaeological site in
Punjab, Pakistan and this was the first site where the remains of the
civilization were first found. That is why it is called Harappan Civilization.
Since it started in the river valley of the Indus River and largest
concentration of the settlements has been found along the course of this
river, it was called Indus Valley Civilization.