Perhaps the fiercest debate on the Indus civilization is over the reasons for the end of India's earliest cities. Did they dramatically collapse or was there a steady urban decline? Was the decline a result of inroads by the notorious Aryans or should the idea of these invasions by notorious Aryans or should the idea of these invasions be relegated to mythology? How did rivers, earthquakes and climatic shifts contribute to the disintegration? Was the end of the civilization marked by a cultural fracture of did its traditions persist? Read this book to find out ..
About the Author:
Nayanjot Lahiri teaches Archaeology at the Department of History Delhi University. She is the author of Pre-Ahom Assam (1991) and The Archaeology of Indian Trade Routes (1992).
From the back of the book:
'The volume is more than a compendium of the debates: it is also a guide to the issues at the heart of them Lahiri brings to bear unique insights due to her longstanding association with the field.'
- The Telegraph
' .valuable both for scholars and for general readers seeking an informed perspective on the history and content of the thought-provoking, continuing debate on the decline of the Indus civilization.'
- The Indian Express
' contains thirty articles classified under different subjects and themes with covering introduction. Diverse publications on the decline and fall of the Indus civilization and the change and continuity thereafter ranging from the 1920s to the 1990s are juxtaposed here.'
- Indian Review of Books
Introduction | 1 | |
First Formulations: Chanda vs. Chanda | ||
I.1 | The Indus Valley in the Vedic Period Ramaprasad Chanda | 37 |
I.2 | The Aryans: A Study of Indo-European Origins V.Gordon Childe | 43 |
I.3 | Survival of the Prehistoric Civilization of the Indus Valley Ramaprasad Chanda | 47 |
I.4 | Harappa 1946: The Defences and Cemetery R37 R.E.M. Wheeler | 50 |
I.5 | The Supposed Carnage of the City People by the Aryans P.V. Kane | 58 |
I.6 | The Relation of Harappan Culture with the Rgveda A.D. Pusalker | 67 |
I.7 | The Mythical Massacre at Mohenjodaro George F. Dales | 72 |
I.8 | It is Time to Rethink B.B. Lal | 83 |
I.9 | Have Aryans been Identified in the Prehistoric Skeletal Record from South Asia? Biological Anthropology and Concepts of Ancient Races Kenneth A.R. Kennedy | 95 |
I.10 | Aryan Invasions Over Four Millennia Edmund Leach | 117 |
Silt and Sediment: Evidence and Interpretation | ||
II.1 | Chanhu-daro Excavations E.J.H. Mackay | 141 |
II.2 | Lothal: A Harappan Port Town S.R. Rao | 146 |
II.3 | Bio-geological Evidence Bearing on the Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization M.R. Sahni | 155 |
II.4 | The Indus Flood Plain and the 'Indus' Civilization H.T. Lambrick | 167 |
II.5 | The Consequences of River Changes fro the Harappan Settlements in Cholistan M.R. Mughal | 188 |
II.6 | Kalibangan: Death from Natural Causes Robert Raikes | 201 |
II.7 | Remote Sensing of the 'Lost' Saraswati River Yash Pal, Baldev Sahai, R.K. Sood and D.P. Agrawal | 213 |
II.8 | High-resolution Holocene Environmental Changes in the Thar Desert, Northwestern India Y.Knzel, L.L. Ely, S. Mishra, R. Ramesh, R. Amit, B. Lazar, S.N. Rajaguru, V.R. Baker and A. Sandler | 226 |
II.9 | Climate, a Factor in the Rise and Fall of the Indus Civilization - Evidence from Rajasthan and Beyond V.N. Misra | 239 |
II.10 | The Origin, Character and Decline of an Early Civilization Walter A. Fairservis, Jr. | 251 |
Continuity or Change? | ||
III.1 | The Late Harappans Dilip K. Chakrabarti | 267 |
III.2 | Conquerors from the West Stuart Piggott | 282 |
III.3 | Excavation at Rangpur and Other Explorations in Gujarat S.R. Rao | 286 |
III.4 | Survival? Revival? Import? A. Ghosh | 297 |
III.5 | Dholavira R.S. Bisht | 305 |
III.6 | Late Harappan Settlements of Western India, with Special Reference to Gujarat Kuldeep K. Bhan | 315 |
III.7 | Continuity and Change in the North Kachi Plain (Baluchistan, Pakistan) at the Beginning of the Second Millennium BC J.F. Jarrige | 344 |
III.8 | The Patterns and Problems in the History of Crops Dilip K. Chakrabarti | 363 |
III.9 | Rice and Ragi at Harappa: Preliminary Result by Plant Opal Analysis H. Fujiwara, M.R. Mughal, A. Sasaki and T. Matano | 269 |
III.10 | Raw Material Usage and Trade Routes Nayanjot Lahiri | 381 |
Bibliography | 391 | |
Endpapers: Material equipment of Rangpur and other chalcolithic sites |
Perhaps the fiercest debate on the Indus civilization is over the reasons for the end of India's earliest cities. Did they dramatically collapse or was there a steady urban decline? Was the decline a result of inroads by the notorious Aryans or should the idea of these invasions by notorious Aryans or should the idea of these invasions be relegated to mythology? How did rivers, earthquakes and climatic shifts contribute to the disintegration? Was the end of the civilization marked by a cultural fracture of did its traditions persist? Read this book to find out ..
About the Author:
Nayanjot Lahiri teaches Archaeology at the Department of History Delhi University. She is the author of Pre-Ahom Assam (1991) and The Archaeology of Indian Trade Routes (1992).
From the back of the book:
'The volume is more than a compendium of the debates: it is also a guide to the issues at the heart of them Lahiri brings to bear unique insights due to her longstanding association with the field.'
- The Telegraph
' .valuable both for scholars and for general readers seeking an informed perspective on the history and content of the thought-provoking, continuing debate on the decline of the Indus civilization.'
- The Indian Express
' contains thirty articles classified under different subjects and themes with covering introduction. Diverse publications on the decline and fall of the Indus civilization and the change and continuity thereafter ranging from the 1920s to the 1990s are juxtaposed here.'
- Indian Review of Books
Introduction | 1 | |
First Formulations: Chanda vs. Chanda | ||
I.1 | The Indus Valley in the Vedic Period Ramaprasad Chanda | 37 |
I.2 | The Aryans: A Study of Indo-European Origins V.Gordon Childe | 43 |
I.3 | Survival of the Prehistoric Civilization of the Indus Valley Ramaprasad Chanda | 47 |
I.4 | Harappa 1946: The Defences and Cemetery R37 R.E.M. Wheeler | 50 |
I.5 | The Supposed Carnage of the City People by the Aryans P.V. Kane | 58 |
I.6 | The Relation of Harappan Culture with the Rgveda A.D. Pusalker | 67 |
I.7 | The Mythical Massacre at Mohenjodaro George F. Dales | 72 |
I.8 | It is Time to Rethink B.B. Lal | 83 |
I.9 | Have Aryans been Identified in the Prehistoric Skeletal Record from South Asia? Biological Anthropology and Concepts of Ancient Races Kenneth A.R. Kennedy | 95 |
I.10 | Aryan Invasions Over Four Millennia Edmund Leach | 117 |
Silt and Sediment: Evidence and Interpretation | ||
II.1 | Chanhu-daro Excavations E.J.H. Mackay | 141 |
II.2 | Lothal: A Harappan Port Town S.R. Rao | 146 |
II.3 | Bio-geological Evidence Bearing on the Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization M.R. Sahni | 155 |
II.4 | The Indus Flood Plain and the 'Indus' Civilization H.T. Lambrick | 167 |
II.5 | The Consequences of River Changes fro the Harappan Settlements in Cholistan M.R. Mughal | 188 |
II.6 | Kalibangan: Death from Natural Causes Robert Raikes | 201 |
II.7 | Remote Sensing of the 'Lost' Saraswati River Yash Pal, Baldev Sahai, R.K. Sood and D.P. Agrawal | 213 |
II.8 | High-resolution Holocene Environmental Changes in the Thar Desert, Northwestern India Y.Knzel, L.L. Ely, S. Mishra, R. Ramesh, R. Amit, B. Lazar, S.N. Rajaguru, V.R. Baker and A. Sandler | 226 |
II.9 | Climate, a Factor in the Rise and Fall of the Indus Civilization - Evidence from Rajasthan and Beyond V.N. Misra | 239 |
II.10 | The Origin, Character and Decline of an Early Civilization Walter A. Fairservis, Jr. | 251 |
Continuity or Change? | ||
III.1 | The Late Harappans Dilip K. Chakrabarti | 267 |
III.2 | Conquerors from the West Stuart Piggott | 282 |
III.3 | Excavation at Rangpur and Other Explorations in Gujarat S.R. Rao | 286 |
III.4 | Survival? Revival? Import? A. Ghosh | 297 |
III.5 | Dholavira R.S. Bisht | 305 |
III.6 | Late Harappan Settlements of Western India, with Special Reference to Gujarat Kuldeep K. Bhan | 315 |
III.7 | Continuity and Change in the North Kachi Plain (Baluchistan, Pakistan) at the Beginning of the Second Millennium BC J.F. Jarrige | 344 |
III.8 | The Patterns and Problems in the History of Crops Dilip K. Chakrabarti | 363 |
III.9 | Rice and Ragi at Harappa: Preliminary Result by Plant Opal Analysis H. Fujiwara, M.R. Mughal, A. Sasaki and T. Matano | 269 |
III.10 | Raw Material Usage and Trade Routes Nayanjot Lahiri | 381 |
Bibliography | 391 | |
Endpapers: Material equipment of Rangpur and other chalcolithic sites |