Harappan Economy, Religion, Art and Decline

Agriculture: the base of the cities

Harappan cities rested on a strong farming base. Farmers grew wheat and barley as main crops, along with peas, lentils, sesame, mustard and dates. Rice remains have been found at Lothal and Rangpur in Gujarat. The Harappans were among the earliest people in the world to grow cotton; the Greeks later called cotton *sindon*, after Sindh.

Farming methods:

• A ploughed field at Kalibangan shows criss-cross furrows, with two crops grown together, a practice still seen in Rajasthan.
• Terracotta plough models come from Banawali and Cholistan.
• Irrigation was mostly by floodwater from rivers; canals were limited, though Shortughai in Afghanistan had canals.
• Grain may have been collected as tax and stored in granaries.

Animals domesticated included cattle (humped bull), buffalo, sheep, goat, pig, dog and cat. Elephants and rhinoceros were known. The horse is not clearly attested, and this absence is important in debates about the Vedic people.

Crafts and technology

The Harappans were skilled craftspeople.

• Bronze and copper: tools, vessels and figurines. Copper came from Khetri (Rajasthan) and Oman; tin was scarce and may have come from Afghanistan.
• Bead-making: carnelian, steatite, lapis lazuli and gold beads. Chanhudaro and Lothal had bead factories. Long carnelian beads reached Mesopotamia.
• Pottery: wheel-made red ware with black designs, such as pipal leaves and fish-scale patterns.
• Seals: about 2,000 found, mostly square and made of steatite (soapstone). They show animals (most commonly the unicorn), with script on top. Seals may have marked ownership of goods.
• Weights and measures: cubical weights of chert, following a binary then decimal system (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 … then 160, 320). A shell scale from Mohenjo-daro and an ivory scale from Lothal show precise linear measurement.
• Spinning and weaving of cotton; spindle whorls are common.

Trade: local and long-distance

Trade was the lifeblood of Harappan cities.

Internal trade: raw materials moved from regions to cities – shells from the Gujarat coast, copper from Rajasthan, gold from Karnataka (Kolar region suggested), semi-precious stones from Gujarat.

External trade:

• Mesopotamia: Mesopotamian texts mention a land called Meluhha, generally identified with the Harappan region. They also mention two intermediate stations: Dilmun (Bahrain) and Magan (Oman coast).
• Harappan seals have been found in Mesopotamian cities like Ur and Kish, and a Persian Gulf seal was found at Lothal.
• Imports included lapis lazuli (Badakhshan, Afghanistan, via Shortughai), turquoise (Iran), silver, and tin.
• Exports likely included cotton textiles, carnelian beads, ivory, timber and pearls.

Trade was by barter; there were no coins. Transport used bullock carts (toy carts found) and boats (a seal from Mohenjo-daro shows a boat).

Religion and beliefs

Without readable texts, we infer religion from objects.

No temple has been identified with certainty.

Burial practices: extended burial (body laid north–south) was most common. Lothal has double (joint) burials. Ropar had a dog buried with its master. Fractional burials and grave goods (pots, ornaments) suggest belief in an afterlife.

Art: small but masterly

• Bronze "Dancing Girl" from Mohenjo-daro, made by the lost-wax (cire perdue) technique – a slender figure wearing bangles on one arm.
• "Priest-King" bust in steatite from Mohenjo-daro, with a trefoil-patterned shawl.
• Red sandstone male torso from Harappa, notable for its realistic modelling.
• Terracotta toys: carts, animals with movable heads, whistles.
• Faience (glazed paste) ornaments.

Decline of the civilisation

After about 1900 BCE, the cities declined. Planning broke down, bricks were reused, seals and script disappeared, and people moved to smaller villages, especially eastward and southward. This was de-urbanisation, not a sudden end – Late Harappan cultures continued for centuries.

The modern consensus is that multiple factors – especially climate change and shifting rivers that hurt agriculture, combined with declining trade – led to gradual de-urbanisation.

Legacy: what survived

Many Harappan elements continued into later Indian life:

• worship of the mother goddess, Shiva-like deity, trees and animals;
• yogic postures;
• bullock carts and boats of similar design;
• cotton cultivation and weaving;
• bangles, nose ornaments and the use of vermilion in some regions;
• weights and measures traditions in local markets.

Mains angle

A question like *"How did the Harappan civilisation manage its environment and economy?"* can use: town planning and drainage (sanitation), Dholavira reservoirs (water harvesting), cotton and crop diversity (agriculture), standard weights (trade governance), and decline through ecological stress (a warning about climate change today).

Harappan standardisation: why it amazes historians

Across a region larger than western Europe, the Harappans used the same brick proportions, the same weight system and similar seal designs. Weights from Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and Lothal match to within a fraction of a gram. This uniformity is unusual for a Bronze Age society without a known empire. Three explanations are offered:

• a powerful central state that enforced standards;
• a network of merchant guilds that shared conventions for trade;
• a common ideology or religion that guided planning.

Each explanation has supporters, and the truth may combine all three. For the exam, the key takeaway is that standardisation reflects organised authority and extensive trade.

Comparing Harappa with other Bronze Age civilisations

This comparison highlights the Harappans' unusual emphasis on civic amenities rather than monuments to rulers.

Continuity into later India

After de-urbanisation, Late Harappan communities spread into the Ganga–Yamuna doab, Gujarat and the Deccan. Some pottery styles, farming practices and religious symbols continued among Chalcolithic farmers. Cities in India would reappear only around the 6th century BCE, during the second urbanisation in the Ganga valley.

Practice: link the find to the site

Try this quick drill before the MCQs: *dancing girl, priest-king, Great Bath* → Mohenjo-daro; *rice husk, dock, Persian Gulf seal* → Lothal; *fire altars, ploughed field* → Kalibangan; *bead factory, no citadel* → Chanhudaro; *dog burial* → Ropar; *reservoirs, signboard* → Dholavira. If you can recall these six clusters, you can answer most site-based Prelims questions on the Harappans.