Harappan Culture (Problems And Issues)

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This book is a compilation of scholarly articles presented in probably the first ever National Seminar on Harappan and its related cultures. This seminar was organized at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies. Shimla and the theme of the seminar was "Indus Valley Civilization-Problem and Issues". The articles presented by Prof. D.P. Agrawal, Dr. Suraj Bhan, Shri. R.S. Bisht, Dr. Y.M. Chitalwala, Dr. Elizabeth CL During Caspers, Dr. Dilip K. Chakrabarti, Prof. S.B. Deo, Shri. M.N. Deshpande, Dr. M.K. Dhavalikar, Shri. K.N. Dikshit, Dr. S.K. Gupta, Dr. S.P. Gupta, Shri. J.P. Joshi, Prof. B.B. Lal, Prof. S.C. Malik, Dr. Suman Pandya, Shri. S.A. Sali, Dr. Jim Shaffer, Dr. Y.D. Sharma, Dr. U.V. Singh, Shri. K.V. Soundara Rajan, Shri. Balaram Srivastava, and Shri. B.K. Thapar is incorporated in this.

Dr. Ajit Kumar, (M.A, P.G. Diploma in Archaeology, Ph.D). He started his career in the Archaeological Survey of India. He is currently the Head of the Department of Archaeology, in the University of Kerala, Trivandrum. He has published a host of articles in journals and books. He also has a book entitled Archaeology of Kerala: Emerging Trends (2011) to his credit.

This book is a compilation of scholarly articles presented in probably the first ever National Seminar on Harappan or Indus valley civilization and its related cultures This seminar was organized under the Directorship of Prof. Dr.B.B.Lal and coordinated by Dr. S.C.Malik at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla during November 1977. The theme of the seminar was titled "Indus Valley Civilization Problem and Issues".

In the 1920s, India was bestowed with the revelation of new cultural phenomenon which pushed back the antiquity of civilization in this subcontinent to third millennium BC. More facets of this enigmatic culture came to be revealed from excavations at Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, associated with this culture. In nomenclature, this culture came to be interchangeably known as the Harappan Civilization or Indus Valley Civilization after its type site or its riparian settings. The label associating this culture with Indus is now rather defunct as it has been established that this culture extends far beyond the confines of this river and is spread over 1.6 million sq. km, extending from Sutkagendor on Makaran coast on the border of Pakistan and Iran in the west to Alamgirpur and Hulas in the Gangetic Valley in the east and from Diamabad in Godavari Valley in south to Shortughai (Afghanistan) in the north. This expansive distributional pattern has today diversified the nature, and understanding of the Harappan culture as a whole.

In fact, among the sites associated with Harappan culture in this vast area of distribution, only a few, divulge seemingly uniform mature urban characters of a civilization. Every Harappan site carries with it a cultural diversity or variability factored by its geographical and geological settings. Today, it is well accepted that regionalist peculiarities stand pronounced in the assorted cultural milieu from excavated sites associated with the Harappans in this large area of distribution. Scholars working in the field have come to recognize these manifestations and have started redefining the regional variants, influences and character of the Harappan culture with logical rationalism. The common or unifying parameters among the designated Harappan sites appears to be a few key chalcolithic traits or cultural assemblages like seals/sealing, pottery, script, etc., rather than the highlighted characters of urban planning or monuments.