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Keynote Address:
India Adds New Dimensions to the
Indus Civilization
B. B. Lal,
M. A. (Sans.), D.Litt. (Institute of Archaeology,
St. Petersburg, Russia, honoris causa)
Vidya Varidhi (Nalanda Mahavihar), Mahamahopadhyaya
Mithila Vishvavidyalaya, honoris causa
President, World Archaeological Congress
Former Director General
Archaeological Survey of India
History has to put up with many paradoxes. One such paradox is that the
very river which gave its name to India, viz. the Indus, is no longer within
its bounds. As a sequel to the partition of the country in 1947, not only
did the Indus disappear from the map of present-day India but also the
well-known civilization named after the river -- the Indus Civilization.
Only two very small sites were left on the Indian side and even their Indus-character
was debated.
Indian archaeologists, however, took up the challenge
and by 1980 as many as 700 sites, associated with various phases, viz.
Early, Mature, and Late, of the Indus Civilization were put on the map
of the country, and the search is still on. This aforesaid number far exceeds
that of such sites in Pakistan. It is now abundantly clear that this civilization
was not confined to the Indus valley, but exceeded far beyond its limits
-- to the upper Gan'ga-Yamuna doaab in the northeast and to as far
southeast as the upper reaches of the Godaavari in Maharashtra. On account
of this eastward extension, particularly because of the presence of a large
number of the sites in the Ghaggar-Sarasvati valley, some scholars have
already started calling it as the Indus-Sarasvati Civilization.
It may be stressed that it not just the number or extent
that matters. What makes the Indian discoveries so important is that they
have added new dimensions to the basics of this great civilization. For
example, Lothal in Gujrat has brought to the light the earliest (ca. 2500
BC) dockyard known to humanity. Kalibangan in Rajasthan has given the evidence
of the earliest (ca. 2800 BC) ploughed agricultural field ever revealed
through an excavation. The same site has also shown that there occurred
an earthquake around 2600 BC, which brought to an end the Early Indus settlement
at the site. This is perhaps the earliest archaeologically recorded earthquake.
Kalibangan has also thrown up evidence of a new kind of ritual associated
with a cult of 'fire alters'. Dholavira in Kutch has shown that the city
was divided into three parts, viz., a Citadel, a Middle Town, and a Lower
Town, instead of the usual two. It has also brought to light stone pillars
which are almost as highly polished as the well-known Ashokan pillars 2000
years later. The colossal copper figures recovered from Daimabad in Maharashtra
are indeed unparalleled in the entire gamut of protohistoric art of the
subcontinent.
The presentation, illustrated with slides, seeks to
deal with these and many more discoveries relating to this grand civilization
of South Asia. It will also analyze why this civilization cannot be regarded
as an import from Western Asia, as held by some scholars in the past. It
is now clear that it had an indigenous origin and development. The lecture
will further deal with factors leading to the degeneration of this civilization,
showing at the same time that it was not an Aryan invasion, as held by
some, that brought about its end.
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