A story that has not been told before

INDUS AGE - THE BEGINNINGS: Gregory L. Possehl; Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., 66, Janpath, New Delhi-1100001. Price not mentioned.

THIS VOLUME is the second of four books planned and written by the author to present a very comprehensive and critical survey of the rise, growth and the transformation of one of the greatest civilisations of the world. He is a well-known authority on this subject, having conducted extensive field researches in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan and published several significant works like the Indus Civilisation in Saurashtra and edited important volumes like Ancient Cities of the Indus.

The present volume sets the stage as it were for the mature or urban phase of the civilisation that was to follow. In the introduction, the author presents the theory and philosophy of the series as well as some definitional and technical information such as radio carbon datings and comments on the physical anthropology.

Part II is a historiographical flashback starting from the 19th century when the site of Harappa was visited by antiquarians and their interesting reactions. The author rightly describes the discovery of the Indus civilisation as ``an adventure in pure archaeological discovery'' since there is no historical record on the Indus cities. And their long adventure in several stages, undertaken by many illustrious archaeologists - Indian, British and other nationalities - is narrated vividly and with such profound insight and understanding that it reads like a gripping detective story. The author focusses on the archaeological paradigms and personalities. The former forms the intellectual history of the Harappan archaeology - a progressive unfolding and understanding of the civilisation in all its ramifications. The latter tells the absorbing story of men behind the archaeological discoveries and their interpretations. It is also largely a story that has not been told before.

This story goes back as early as 1829 A.D. when an unknown antiquarian and former soldier in the army of the East India Company in Bengal visited the ruins of ``Haripah'' and left a description of the place along with other places like Bamian in Afghanistan. He noted the remarkably high walls and towers and thought it could be the city of Sangala described by Arrian.

With the advent of Alaxander Cunningham as the first Director- General of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1875, Harappa began to receive greater attention. He was the first to prepare a site plan and record the extent of the site as four km in circuit and the mound to be 12 to 18 metres in height. He was appalled to see the plunder of bricks from the site which, according to him, ``sufficed to furnish brick blast for about 100 miles of Lahore and Multan Railway.'' The first typical Harappan seals were also picked up by this time and they looked very intriguing. Seeing the bull without the hump on the seal, Cunningham concluded that it was foreign to India.

Lord Curzon, who became Viceroy in 1899, with all his imperial ambitions, had great love for archaeology, especially preservation of the monuments and the discovery of ancient sites and cities. He wanted someone young and vigorous to head the ASI and chose John Marshall, just 26 years old, trained at Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans. Marshall's stewardship of the ASI from 1902 was indeed memorable and it saw the slow recognition of a major civilisation, hitherto unknown to the ancient Indian texts and represented by a number of sites in the Indus Valley, the most important being Harappa in Punjab and Mohenjadaro in Sind.

The author provides excellent pen pictures of several scholars and archaeologists of the early period who contributed to the understanding of the emerging picture named variously - ``pre- Mauryan'', ``pre-Greek'', ``Vedic'' and ``pre-Vedic''. The list of such persons is long, some belonging to the ASI and working under the leadership of Marshall and some non-professionals, some literary figures.

With Sir Mortimer Wheeler's advent in 1944 as the Director- General of the ASI began ``a new era'' as seen in the introduction of more sophisticated methodology like the stratigraphical method, problem-oriented excavations (like Brahmagiri and Arikamedu) and as a multi-disciplinary undertaking and introduction of rigorous training in the field archaeology. As far as the Harappan civilisation was concerned, he set about a new paradigm that differed substantially from the one that was put forward by Marshall, Mackay and Gordon Childe.

As the author sums up: ``The overall view of the two syntheses emerges as radically different. With Marshall, we learn of Harappan trade, commerce, shared ideology; with Wheeler and Piggot, we are informed about priest kings, temple complexes, state granaries and theocratic power.. The Wheeler-Piggot paradigm changed Marshall's Harappans from austere, peaceful, even boring urban merchant burghers, whose beliefs were harbingers of Indian ideologies into a people victimised by despotic priest kings who wielded absolute power from remote citadels where they safeguarded themselves and the gods who justified their authority.'' How this paradigm has been replaced now by the new interpretative scheme and the recent researches is shown admirably by the author.

Part III presents a detailed discussion of cultural geography which offers a ``regional perspective'' of the Greater Indus area. Using the concept of a ``region'', it develops a cultural geography of the lower Indus Valley and a history of the Indus River; sets up the highlands of Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier as the environmental homeland of food-producing peoples of the sub-continent; outlines the geography and history of the Sarasvati river; details the flora and fauna of the Indus sites, the question of climatic change and the Harappan civilisation and mineral resources.

Part IV gives the cultural history of the Indus people from the beginning of food production and domestication of plants to the threshold of civilisation. The author builds a comprehensive chronology for the region with a new terminology for the stages and phases of the culture-history. Discussion of the early neolithic communities and the early Harappa stage which precede full urbanisation at about 2500 B.C. is cogent and represents the author's significant contribution to the study of this great civilisation.

Sites and the details of excavated artefacts and their socio- cultural importance, chronology have all been presented in a very comprehensive and critical manner with a plethora of illustrations, maps, photographs and tabulated data sheets, so that the reader can have a graphic view of the materials discussed. The socio-cultural features discussed include: settlement patterns and growth of urban centres, public architecture, evidence for social stratification, evolution of writing and system of weights and measures, the ethnic composition and diversity of the early Harappan and political units and population trends.

The volume is a mine of information on the archaeology of the Indus Valley civilisation, particularly the early stages brought to light mostly by the Indian and the British archaeologists. A happy trend seen in recent times is the increasing participation of scholars from Germany, France and the U.S. The author rightly takes pride in tracing the American participation to the efforts of Prof. W. Norman Brown of the Pennsylvania University, who organised an expedition of the American team to excavate in Chanhu-daro under the supervision of Ernest Mackay in 1935-36. This is one of the many untold stories in this book.

The renowned American linguist, Murray B. Emeneau (who later on with Thomas Borrow compiled the Dravidian Etymological Dictionary) visited the excavations. The American interest in this adventure is steadily growing and scholars like Walter A. Fairservis Jr. (excavator of Kili Ghul Mohammed site and the learned author himself of this volume) have made valuable contributions.

The author's close interaction with the archaeologists of the sub-continent has enabled him to present this in-depth study of the great archaeological discoveries with a human touch and it is heartening to note that he has paid rich tribute to the arduous efforts put in by the Indian archaeologists of almost three generations. It is needless to state that this monumental volume will be widely welcomed by all those interested in the study of one of the greatest civilisations of human kind. They would eagerly look forward to two other volumes in this epic series.

K. V. RAMAN

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