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    Decline of Harappan Civilisation

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    Subhajyoti Das
    The document discusses several potential factors for the decline of the Harappan civilization: 1) Floods and earthquakes frequently damaged sites along the Indus River valley from 1900-1300 BCE. Catastrophic flooding raised water levels by 30 feet and submerged towns. 2) Increased aridity and the drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra River from 2000 BCE onward negatively impacted agriculture in the semi-arid region and destabilized city economies. 3) Ecological imbalance from growing populations, deforestation, and overuse of water resources led to recurring problems like drought and famine, forcing people to abandon sites over time.

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    Decline of Harappan Civilisation

    Uploaded by

    Subhajyoti Das
    101 views4 pages
    The document discusses several potential factors for the decline of the Harappan civilization: 1) Floods and earthquakes frequently damaged sites along the Indus River valley from 1900-1300 BCE. Catastrophic flooding raised water levels by 30 feet and submerged towns. 2) Increased aridity and the drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra River from 2000 BCE onward negatively impacted agriculture in the semi-arid region and destabilized city economies. 3) Ecological imbalance from growing populations, deforestation, and overuse of water resources led to recurring problems like drought and famine, forcing people to abandon sites over time.

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    Decline of Harappan civilisation

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    The document discusses several potential factors for the decline of the Harappan civilization: 1) Floods and earthquakes frequently damaged sites along the Indus River valley from 1900-1300 BCE. Catastrophic flooding raised water levels by 30 feet and submerged towns. 2) Increased aridity and the drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra River from 2000 BCE onward negatively impacted agriculture in the semi-arid region and destabilized city economies. 3) Ecological imbalance from growing populations, deforestation, and overuse of water resources led to recurring problems like drought and famine, forcing people to abandon sites over time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    101 views4 pages

    Decline of Harappan Civilisation

    Uploaded by

    Subhajyoti Das
    The document discusses several potential factors for the decline of the Harappan civilization: 1) Floods and earthquakes frequently damaged sites along the Indus River valley from 1900-1300 BCE. Catastrophic flooding raised water levels by 30 feet and submerged towns. 2) Increased aridity and the drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra River from 2000 BCE onward negatively impacted agriculture in the semi-arid region and destabilized city economies. 3) Ecological imbalance from growing populations, deforestation, and overuse of water resources led to recurring problems like drought and famine, forcing people to abandon sites over time.

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    jmrnrowwirfinnnTirn^Ti MI iTTiiiiiiiirirn > iITIT II-

    We can not state with certainty as to how and when

    the Harappan civilisation met its decline. Undoubtedly,

    such an extensive and developed civilisation could

    neither meet its decline, suddenly nor could diere be

    a single reason responsible for its downfall/On the

    basis of the archaeological remains, it seemsMiat the

    Harappan civilisation did not meet its end suddenly;

    it declined gradually. The process of its decline took

    almost 600 years (1900 to 1300

    In the opihion.of scholars

    Continued to be occupied even after 1900 B.C..

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    ^)!Floods and Earthquakes

    /Some scholars opine that floods and earthquakes

    splayed a vital role in the decline of the Harappan

    civilisation. The evidences found at various excavated

    sites suggest that the area was heavily flooded

    frequentlyTR.L. Raikes, the renowned hydrologist

    also confirms this view. He believes that the Harappan

    civilisation declined because of catastrophic flooding."

    The flood waters raised the water level to 30 feet above

    ground and the towns of the Indus valley remained

    submerged in water for a long time. Because of being

    a disturbed seismic zone the area'was ravaged by

    earthquakes besides floods. The violent earthquakes

    which damned rivers and burnt the towns caused the

    destruction of the Harappan civilisation.

    (iJShifting away of the Indus

    H.T. Lambrick opines that changes in the course of

    the river Indus caused the destruction of the important

    town like Mohenjodaro. Because of the shortage of

    water, the people of the surrounding food producing

    villages deserted the area. It happened many a

    times. As a result, all those areas whose fertility and

    prosperity depended on river water, started becoming

    deserted and barrenVlowever, the changing of course

    of Indus could be r/garded as the cause of becoming

    Mohenjodaro deserted but it can not be accepted as

    the sole factor for the destruction of the Harappan

    civilisation.

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    (^Increased Aridity and Drying Up of the

    iGhaggar

    / The scholars like D.P. Agrawal believe that the

    decline of the Harappan civilisation was caused by

    increasing aridity and drying up the river Ghaggar-

    Hakra, In their opinion there was a sharp increase in

    the arid condition by the middle of 2000 B.C. Such a

    condition must have affected semi-arid region like

    that of Harappa much. It afTccted the agricultural

    production which resulted in destabilization of the

    city economics. ^

    (^4yBarbarian Invasions

    ^^n the opinion of R.E.M. Wheeler'*, the Harappan

    ^civilisation met its decline because of the Aryan

    invasions'7. He puts forward some reasons in order to

    strengthen his viewpoint. (») Evidences of massacre

    have been found in the late phase of occupation

    at Harappa. Human skeletons have been found on

    the streets and in the houses. (»i) The Rig Veda

    mentions the Vedic god Indra as 'Purandara', that is

    'the destroyer of forts.' Since there are no remains

    of other cultural groups having forts in this region

    in this historical phase. Wheeler believes that it was

    Harappan cities that were being mentioned in the Rig

    VedaVm) Punjab and Ghaggar-Hakra region was a

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    SjEcological Imbalance

    Several scholars believe that ecological imbalance

    caused for the destruction of the Harappan civilisation.

    The growing human and cattle population gave

    birth to food problem. Due to the cutting of forests

    for agricultural land and timber for fuel and over-

    exploitation of water resources, the land became

    barren and the rivers were full of silts. The ecological

    imbalance gave birth to the recurring problems

    of, flood, drought and famine. It seems that being

    compelled by the circumstances, people started to

    move away gradually to areas which offered better

    subsistence possibilitiesjThat is why the Harappan

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