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The end of Indus civilization remains as much as puzzle as its appearance. Historians as well as archaeologists had argued in many ways to explain the end of the Harappan culture. At the beginning we can say that there is no single reason behind the so called decline of that culture. The locations of the sites are different and so that causes are also different. Floods, caused by earth quakes, were suggested as one possible cause. Quite an opposite theory is that of increasing aridity. W.A. Fairservis replaced the argument of a natural disaster by that of a man-made one: the Indus people was so much over cultivated, overgrazed and deforested the land that, in the end, the land could simply not maintain the population, especially its urban part. The idea that Mohenjodaro fell to a group of invaders is associated with Mortimer Wheeler. But at present this Aryan invasion theory is rejected by the scholars. Irfan Habib discussed about the political context of Indus civilization. There is the argument that the cessation of trade with Mesopotamia after 2000 BCE brought about such a decline of commerce and industry within the Indus basin as to cause the cities to go to ruin. Dilip K. Chakrabarti opined that continuity and transformation are the fundamental features of the phase after the mature Harappans in all their distribution areas. All these are part of a debate which is discussed in this video.
#DeclineOfHarappa #DeclineOfIndusCivilization #EndOfHarappanCulture
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Reference:
(1) Chakrabarti, Dilip K, (2009), India – An Archaeological History: Paleolithic Beginnings to Early History Foundation, Delhi: Oxford University Press
(2) Allchin Bridget & Raymond Allchin (1982), The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan, London: Cambridge University Press
(3) Possehl, Gregory L. (2002), The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective, Altamira Press
(4) Ratnagar, Shereen (2017, 4th edition), Understanding Harappa – Civilization in the Greater Indus Valley, Delhi: Tulika Books
(5) Lahiri, Nayanjot (2000), Decline & Fall of The indus Civilization, Delhi: Permanent Black
(6) Habib, Irfan (2003), The Indus Civilization, Delhi: Tulika Books
(7) Singh Upinder (2004), A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, Delhi: Pearson
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Script, Commentary & Music by Gautam Mukhopadhyay
Professional Profile Link: http://vidyamandira.ac.in/pdfs/facultycv/GM_HIST.pdf
Creative Designer: Jayasmita Roy
Video and soundtrack are subject to copyright of PAATH History
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