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Indus Valley

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The Indus Valley Civilization was one of the earliest civilizations in South Asia, contemporary to Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. It peaked around 2500 BCE along the Indus River valley in modern-day Pakistan and parts of India. The civilization was highly advanced and urbanized, with many large cities. However, it declined around 1900 BCE, possibly due to changes in the monsoon patterns. The writing system of the Indus Valley Civilization remains undeciphered. The author proposes a theory that the civilization was destroyed by invading Pre-Dravidian groups from South India, and its people migrated and mixed with the local Pre-Dravidian population, eventually developing into the Dravidian culture.

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Indus Valley
The Indus Valley Civilization, also known as Harappan culture, is among the world's earliest civilizations, contemporary to the Bronze Age civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. It peaked around 2500 BCE in the western part of South Asia, declined during the mid-2nd millennium BCE and was forgotten until its rediscovery in the 1920s by R.D. Banerjee.
Indus Valley
Thus there is an Indus Valley site on the Oxus river at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan (Kenoyer 1998:96) and the Indus Valley site Alamgirpur at the Hindon river is located only 28 km from Delhi. Geographically, it was spread over an area of some 1,260,000 km, comprising the whole of modern day Pakistan and parts of modern-day India and Afghanistan. At its peak, the Indus Civilization may have had a population of well over five million.
It was in the mid 4th millennium BC that the first major civilizations began to arise along major river systems such as the Nile and the Tigris Euphrates. Though not so well known the Indus Valley or Harappan culture was one of the greatest of these early civilizations. It arose along the Indus Valley in what is now Pakistan around 3500 BC and reached its peak from 2900 - 1900 BC. The capital seems to have been near the small modern town of Harappa whence its name but there were other large cities at Mohenjo Daro, Mehrgarh and elsewhere. At its peak it was a vast empire of cities, towns and public works that stretched from Afghanistan to the Indian ocean. But by c. 1300 the Harappan civilization had vanished likely due to prolonged failure of the monsoon rains. In contrast to cuneiform and hieroglyphics the writing system of the Indus culture has still not been deciphered.
SIZABLE ANCIENT INDIAN / INDUS VALLEY POTTERY HEAD , 5"h x 4"w x 3"d. Heavy solid hard fired pottery. Provenance. Gifted to the father of the current owner in appreciation to his services to the local community in India in the early 20th century.
SIZABLE ANCIENT INDIAN / INDUS VALLEY POTTERY HEAD (left in the photo), 5.5"h x 4"w x 4.5"d. Heavy solid hard fired pottery. Provenance. Gifted to the father of the current owner in appreciation to his services to the local community in India in the early 20th century.
SIZABLE ANCIENT INDIAN / INDUS VALLEY POTTERY HEAD , 4"h x 4.5"w x 2.75"d. Heavy solid hard fired pottery. Provenance. Gifted to the father of the current owner in appreciation to his services to the local community in India in the early 20th century.
MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL POT, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The pot painted with two large bulls separated by vegetation, four fowls above. Minor lime deposits attesting authenticity. 4 x 4 inches.
MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL PLATTER, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The platter painted with fowl between large trees, a band of many small ibex near the rim. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 2.5 x 10 inches.
MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL POT, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The pot painted with register of felines and trees between two bands of numerous small ibex, a raised wavy line below. Minor lime deposits attesting authenticity. 5.5 x 5.5 inches.
MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL CUP, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The cup painted with two large bulls separated by vegetation. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 3 x 4 inches.
MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL POT, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The pot painted with registers of felines and ibex separated by flowers. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 6 x 6.5 inches.
. MEHRGARH LARGE FISH BICHROME BOWL, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The bowl painted with three large fish with linear and arrow bands above and below. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 4.5 x 7 inches.
MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL POT, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The pot painted with a register of numerous small ibex within linear bands. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 3 x 3 inches.
MEHRGARH BICHROME OIL LAMP, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. Of four pinch square form, the pot painted with geometric designs on the outer rim. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 1.5 x 2.5 inches.
MEHRGARH LARGE BICHROME FIGURAL POT, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The pot painted with large bulls, fowls and trees a register of numerous small ibex above. Repaired from five large shards. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 6 x 7 inches.
AN INDUS VALLEY TRIANGULAR SEAL, c. 3rd- 2nd millennium BC. The black stone seal with figures of serpent, winged animal and man standing with staff. 25 mm. Excellent condition.
AN INDUS VALLEY GLASS BEAD, c. 3rd- 2nd millennium BC. The tan cylindrical bead with applied dots and stands. 27 mm. Rare and nice.
AN INDUS VALLEY/BACTRIAN BEAD NECKLACE, c. 2nd-1st millennium BC. Various stone and glass beads. 22. Wearable.
A PAIR OF EARLY INDUS VALLEY POLYCHROME CHALICES. Mehrgarh Culture, c. 4000 BC. 4 inches. From a new very early culture recently unearthed along the Indus. Extremely rare!
. AN EARLY INDUS VALLEY POLYCHROME DIPPER SPOON. Mehrgarh Culture, c. 4000 BC. 3.4 inches. From a new very early culture recently unearthed along the Indus. Amazing state of preservation considering the delicate handle. Extremely rare!
A RARE MOHENJO DARO FERTILITY IDOL. Indus Valley, c. 2500-1500 BC. The female idol with arms crossed under breasts, an animal or child on left arm. 2.25 x 6 inches. Rear base rim missing. Very rare, especially with the additional figure!
AN INDUS VALLEY OR BACTRIAN SILVER RING, c. 2500-1000 BC. The heavy ring with bands of raised knobs, two silver rosettes likely the tops and bottoms of lotus flowers attached on either side. 1 inch, 0.7 -0.75 inches internal. Wearable. Rare.
A FINE INDUS VALLEY OR BACTRIAN BRONZE MEDICAL OR COSMETIC SET, c. 2500-1000 BC. The unusual pin probe with three knobbed terminals, the spatula/scalpel with ornate knobbed handle with suspension loop. To 3.5 inches. Rare this nice.
A CHOICE LARGE INDUS VALLEY STAMP SEAL, c. 1st millennium BC. The terracotta seal with incised animals around the periphery, ornate handle on back. 3 inches. Choice example.
AN INDUS VALLEY TERRACOTTA BULL, c. 2500-1500 BC. Humped bull attached to vessel shard which now serves as a base. 4.5 inches.
s Im proposing theory of Pre-Dravidian Invasion. This has a stronger case in the Vaidik age Indo-Aryan literature. Most of the Vaidik literature talk about Aryans fight against a dark skinned people called Dasyus. The description of these people hardly suits to the urbanized people of IVC. So its very clear that these people can not be the ones who built IVC. But they can be the people who destroyed it. Around 1700B.C Pre-Dravidian people of South India started attacking IVC. IVC was not known to possess a strong army. These urban, trading people along with their grand constructions became easy victims of attacking pre-Dravidians. A closer analogy could be barbarians (Germanic tribes) attacking Rome. It looks like these pre-Dravidians were mainly from South India, since pre-Dravidians of East India do not exhibit Dravidian culture( languages and Shaivism, which I feel is the main religion of Harappan people) of South India but still practices pre- Dravidian rituals of worshipping dark skinned goddesses. Now back to the main argument. Emergence of Dravidian people:
While pre-Dravidians were destroying their homeland, the IVC population started migrating to Southern regions. Ironically, moving to the homelands of their destroyers. And overtime they mingled and crossbred with local pre-Dravidian population, influencing and assimilating with local culture. Since it was no more a homogenous block, these people never had any distinct identity of themselves. It was probably during first or second century AD these people were classified as Dravidians by the Indo-Aryans who by this time settled in all of North-India. Manusmriti, written around this time, categorizes all Dravidians as Shudras. Though there were further divisions in the society after Aryan Brahmin missionaries started arriving between 4th to 7th centuries.
After defeating and destroying IVC something around 1700BC, pre- Dravidians continued to live in north-west of India. Possibly when Indo- Aryans started arriving around 1500BC they were the pale shadow of their forefathers who invaded that territory. Even the numbers could be favouring the Aryans. Defeated by these Indo-European people, Dasyus started retreating from IVC area and migrated to other parts of the country. A part of them might have been assimilated with Indo-Aryans. But some of these disintegrated people because of Aryan onslaught found it difficult to become a single, strong entity and degenerated to live a pathetic life. And in later centuries these people might possibly oppressed as untouchables(This argument is influenced by Ambedkars theory of origin of untouchablilty in India. I am proposing my theory of brokenmen ) by other Indians, now a mixed race of Aryans and pre-Dravidians. In this series of articles, I have proposed IVC population was light skinned Mediterranean race. This civilization was destroyed by the dark skinned pre- Dravidians(australoids) of South India. The escaping Mediterranean population migrated to South India and assimilated with local people and gave rise to culture described as Dravidian by the Indo-Aryans. Indo- Aryans defeated pre-Dravidians on entering India from north-west and established their civilization. This argument tries to explain the missing link between end of the Indus valley civilization and invasion/migration of Indo- Aryans.
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Indus Valley

  • 2. The Indus Valley Civilization, also known as Harappan culture, is among the world's earliest civilizations, contemporary to the Bronze Age civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. It peaked around 2500 BCE in the western part of South Asia, declined during the mid-2nd millennium BCE and was forgotten until its rediscovery in the 1920s by R.D. Banerjee.
  • 4. Thus there is an Indus Valley site on the Oxus river at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan (Kenoyer 1998:96) and the Indus Valley site Alamgirpur at the Hindon river is located only 28 km from Delhi. Geographically, it was spread over an area of some 1,260,000 km, comprising the whole of modern day Pakistan and parts of modern-day India and Afghanistan. At its peak, the Indus Civilization may have had a population of well over five million.
  • 5. It was in the mid 4th millennium BC that the first major civilizations began to arise along major river systems such as the Nile and the Tigris Euphrates. Though not so well known the Indus Valley or Harappan culture was one of the greatest of these early civilizations. It arose along the Indus Valley in what is now Pakistan around 3500 BC and reached its peak from 2900 - 1900 BC. The capital seems to have been near the small modern town of Harappa whence its name but there were other large cities at Mohenjo Daro, Mehrgarh and elsewhere. At its peak it was a vast empire of cities, towns and public works that stretched from Afghanistan to the Indian ocean. But by c. 1300 the Harappan civilization had vanished likely due to prolonged failure of the monsoon rains. In contrast to cuneiform and hieroglyphics the writing system of the Indus culture has still not been deciphered.
  • 6. SIZABLE ANCIENT INDIAN / INDUS VALLEY POTTERY HEAD , 5"h x 4"w x 3"d. Heavy solid hard fired pottery. Provenance. Gifted to the father of the current owner in appreciation to his services to the local community in India in the early 20th century.
  • 7. SIZABLE ANCIENT INDIAN / INDUS VALLEY POTTERY HEAD (left in the photo), 5.5"h x 4"w x 4.5"d. Heavy solid hard fired pottery. Provenance. Gifted to the father of the current owner in appreciation to his services to the local community in India in the early 20th century.
  • 8. SIZABLE ANCIENT INDIAN / INDUS VALLEY POTTERY HEAD , 4"h x 4.5"w x 2.75"d. Heavy solid hard fired pottery. Provenance. Gifted to the father of the current owner in appreciation to his services to the local community in India in the early 20th century.
  • 9. MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL POT, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The pot painted with two large bulls separated by vegetation, four fowls above. Minor lime deposits attesting authenticity. 4 x 4 inches.
  • 10. MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL PLATTER, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The platter painted with fowl between large trees, a band of many small ibex near the rim. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 2.5 x 10 inches.
  • 11. MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL POT, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The pot painted with register of felines and trees between two bands of numerous small ibex, a raised wavy line below. Minor lime deposits attesting authenticity. 5.5 x 5.5 inches.
  • 12. MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL CUP, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The cup painted with two large bulls separated by vegetation. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 3 x 4 inches.
  • 13. MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL POT, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The pot painted with registers of felines and ibex separated by flowers. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 6 x 6.5 inches.
  • 14. . MEHRGARH LARGE FISH BICHROME BOWL, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The bowl painted with three large fish with linear and arrow bands above and below. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 4.5 x 7 inches.
  • 15. MEHRGARH BICHROME FIGURAL POT, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The pot painted with a register of numerous small ibex within linear bands. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 3 x 3 inches.
  • 16. MEHRGARH BICHROME OIL LAMP, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. Of four pinch square form, the pot painted with geometric designs on the outer rim. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 1.5 x 2.5 inches.
  • 17. MEHRGARH LARGE BICHROME FIGURAL POT, Indus Valley, c. 3rd millennium BC. The pot painted with large bulls, fowls and trees a register of numerous small ibex above. Repaired from five large shards. Some lime deposits attesting authenticity. 6 x 7 inches.
  • 18. AN INDUS VALLEY TRIANGULAR SEAL, c. 3rd- 2nd millennium BC. The black stone seal with figures of serpent, winged animal and man standing with staff. 25 mm. Excellent condition.
  • 19. AN INDUS VALLEY GLASS BEAD, c. 3rd- 2nd millennium BC. The tan cylindrical bead with applied dots and stands. 27 mm. Rare and nice.
  • 20. AN INDUS VALLEY/BACTRIAN BEAD NECKLACE, c. 2nd-1st millennium BC. Various stone and glass beads. 22. Wearable.
  • 21. A PAIR OF EARLY INDUS VALLEY POLYCHROME CHALICES. Mehrgarh Culture, c. 4000 BC. 4 inches. From a new very early culture recently unearthed along the Indus. Extremely rare!
  • 22. . AN EARLY INDUS VALLEY POLYCHROME DIPPER SPOON. Mehrgarh Culture, c. 4000 BC. 3.4 inches. From a new very early culture recently unearthed along the Indus. Amazing state of preservation considering the delicate handle. Extremely rare!
  • 23. A RARE MOHENJO DARO FERTILITY IDOL. Indus Valley, c. 2500-1500 BC. The female idol with arms crossed under breasts, an animal or child on left arm. 2.25 x 6 inches. Rear base rim missing. Very rare, especially with the additional figure!
  • 24. AN INDUS VALLEY OR BACTRIAN SILVER RING, c. 2500-1000 BC. The heavy ring with bands of raised knobs, two silver rosettes likely the tops and bottoms of lotus flowers attached on either side. 1 inch, 0.7 -0.75 inches internal. Wearable. Rare.
  • 25. A FINE INDUS VALLEY OR BACTRIAN BRONZE MEDICAL OR COSMETIC SET, c. 2500-1000 BC. The unusual pin probe with three knobbed terminals, the spatula/scalpel with ornate knobbed handle with suspension loop. To 3.5 inches. Rare this nice.
  • 26. A CHOICE LARGE INDUS VALLEY STAMP SEAL, c. 1st millennium BC. The terracotta seal with incised animals around the periphery, ornate handle on back. 3 inches. Choice example.
  • 27. AN INDUS VALLEY TERRACOTTA BULL, c. 2500-1500 BC. Humped bull attached to vessel shard which now serves as a base. 4.5 inches.
  • 28. s Im proposing theory of Pre-Dravidian Invasion. This has a stronger case in the Vaidik age Indo-Aryan literature. Most of the Vaidik literature talk about Aryans fight against a dark skinned people called Dasyus. The description of these people hardly suits to the urbanized people of IVC. So its very clear that these people can not be the ones who built IVC. But they can be the people who destroyed it. Around 1700B.C Pre-Dravidian people of South India started attacking IVC. IVC was not known to possess a strong army. These urban, trading people along with their grand constructions became easy victims of attacking pre-Dravidians. A closer analogy could be barbarians (Germanic tribes) attacking Rome. It looks like these pre-Dravidians were mainly from South India, since pre-Dravidians of East India do not exhibit Dravidian culture( languages and Shaivism, which I feel is the main religion of Harappan people) of South India but still practices pre- Dravidian rituals of worshipping dark skinned goddesses. Now back to the main argument. Emergence of Dravidian people:
  • 29. While pre-Dravidians were destroying their homeland, the IVC population started migrating to Southern regions. Ironically, moving to the homelands of their destroyers. And overtime they mingled and crossbred with local pre-Dravidian population, influencing and assimilating with local culture. Since it was no more a homogenous block, these people never had any distinct identity of themselves. It was probably during first or second century AD these people were classified as Dravidians by the Indo-Aryans who by this time settled in all of North-India. Manusmriti, written around this time, categorizes all Dravidians as Shudras. Though there were further divisions in the society after Aryan Brahmin missionaries started arriving between 4th to 7th centuries.
  • 30. After defeating and destroying IVC something around 1700BC, pre- Dravidians continued to live in north-west of India. Possibly when Indo- Aryans started arriving around 1500BC they were the pale shadow of their forefathers who invaded that territory. Even the numbers could be favouring the Aryans. Defeated by these Indo-European people, Dasyus started retreating from IVC area and migrated to other parts of the country. A part of them might have been assimilated with Indo-Aryans. But some of these disintegrated people because of Aryan onslaught found it difficult to become a single, strong entity and degenerated to live a pathetic life. And in later centuries these people might possibly oppressed as untouchables(This argument is influenced by Ambedkars theory of origin of untouchablilty in India. I am proposing my theory of brokenmen ) by other Indians, now a mixed race of Aryans and pre-Dravidians. In this series of articles, I have proposed IVC population was light skinned Mediterranean race. This civilization was destroyed by the dark skinned pre- Dravidians(australoids) of South India. The escaping Mediterranean population migrated to South India and assimilated with local people and gave rise to culture described as Dravidian by the Indo-Aryans. Indo- Aryans defeated pre-Dravidians on entering India from north-west and established their civilization. This argument tries to explain the missing link between end of the Indus valley civilization and invasion/migration of Indo- Aryans.