An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c16.s3: 11.3 Harappa
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c16.s3
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11.3 Harappa
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The Harappa Ware [4.9] has generally a red surface and is wheel-made, although handmade specimens are also available. The clay is well-levigated. The regular striation marks suggest the use of fast spinning wheel. It has sand or lime or both as *dégraissant*, the former often having a substantial quantity of mica. The ware is sturdy and well-fired. Most of the pots, which are utilitarian in character, have flat bases, whereas certain types are peculiar in having pointed bases which require jar-stands. The technique of manufacturing is not very clear, although it is likely that in some cases the neck of the pot was made separately, the joints obliterated inside and outside in final trimming. The slip varies from a thin to thick coating, coloured either red or cream. It is generally the upper part of the pots that is covered with slip, the lower portion being left rough and sometimes decorated with cord impression. A few sherds have graffiti [20.1] such as also occur on the seals.
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The main types are: (1) the dish-on-stand or offering stand of varying sizes, which was in common use, falling into three groups, viz. squat-formed, long-plain-stemmed and moulded-stemmed, the first being most common at Mohenjo-daro; (2) the beaker, also a common type, with slightly varying forms; (3) the goblet, characteristically tall and with solid base; (4) the basin, sturdy in appearance, also varying in shape; (5) the jar-cover or lid found in large numbers, falling into two groups, one with a lid-like appearance and other like a dish with a projection in the middle by which they can be lifted; (6) the cylindrical jar with a wide flat base showing string grooves—a rare type; (7) the handled cup, an interesting type; (8) the jar-stand found in large numbers in varying sizes at all levels, also occurring in stone, mostly alabaster; (9) the perforated pot, tall and cylindrical in form, the holes possibly made by the pushing a stick through the damp clay from the outside, so that a blurred edge is left on the inside of the hole, in most cases one or more holes of a large size being punched at the base with a number of smaller holes around it; (10) the storage-jar of two varieties—square with large mouth and tall with narrow mouth, with finger-groove marks inside and painted designs outside (possibly these jars were first built up from a number of strips of clay and then placed on the wheel for a final turning up; and (11) other pots including miniature ones.
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Pots in other wares such as buff, grey and black-and-red [11.6.1] are also available. However the last is confined to Kutch and Saurashtra regions.
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The Harappa pottery is characterized by its typical painted designs. Paintings in black pigment are invariably arranged in horizontal registers on a carefully prepared red ground. Pots painted all over are rare, more often only the upper part being painted and lower one decorated with black bands only. The designs are horizontal bands, dots or linear and geometrical patterns, but sometimes realistic figures—human as well as animal—also occur. Realistic motifs consist of curvilinear bracket patterns within the bands of a deeply undulating band, diamond or chess-board checks into a number of compartments in which are depicted human figures, birds, fish, animal and trees. Fish-scales, loops, chain patterns, intersecting circles and predilection for acacia and pīpal leaf are other motifs. Incised decorations are uncommon. Cord impressions are met with on storage jars and basins.
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In Gujarat the Harappa Ware witnessed different developments. At LOTHAL along with the mature Harappa types, such as the goblet, beaker, dish-on-stand, S-shaped vessel, perforated cylindrical jar, basin, etc., a distinctive white-painted black-and-red and a cream-slipped ware are found. Here was developed a new style in painting wherein animals were drawn in a more realistic way and folk-tales such as the story of 'the cunning fox and the crow' formed the subject matter. RANGPUR II A represents the mature stage of the Harappa fabric in Gujarat. The late Harappa phase [4.10] represented by LOTHAL II, RANGPUR II B, ROJDI I B and PRABHAS I A is marked by a decline. Apart from the inferiority of the fabric in firing, surface treatment and decoration, the convex-sided bowl of the mature Harappa shows change, whereas the beaker, goblet, small jar and basin gradually disappear and are replaced by the newly evolved forms.
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At SURKOTADA in Kutch is found a reserved slip ware along with a polychrome and polytone cream-slipped ware. In Phase B and Phase C a white-painted black-and-red ware akin to that of AHAR² [11.6.2] is also present. At DESALPUR, where the typical shapes are limited, the handled sauce-pan in red ware with a deliberate curved top for a firm grip, starting with the mid-levels of the mature phase, is in profusion in late phase.
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In RANGPUR II C there is no break with the preceding period, though such distinctive forms as the footed goblet, etc., disappear and new painted motifs including antelopes and bulls make their appearance. The phase is also marked by the presence of the fine Lustrous Red Ware [11.9].
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In the peripheral region of the Harappa culture from the Sutlej to the Yamuna, characteristic Harappa forms in red ware like the dish with projected rim and carinated shoulder, the globular vessel with a flange round the neck, the shallow dish with incurved rim, the perforated pot and the jar-stand with a concave profile are noticed but in a limited number, whereas a few new types such as the dish-on-stand with drooping rim, the jar with horizontally splayed-out rim, the medium-sized jar with everted rim, the bowl-like lid with central knob and a few miniature pots with a ring or pedestalled base are in profusion. The type sites are ROPAR and ALAMGIRPUR. In thick grey ware the types are limited. The painted motifs comprise simple bands, triangles, mat designs, rows of hatched diamonds with horizontal bands, chains within bands, leaf patterns and dancing peacocks with hatched body or crane. The incised decorations have parallels at BARA, the position of which is enigmatic. The Harappa pottery of this region has some typological affinities with the OCW [4.12] which is circumstantially associated with Copper Hoards [4.11].
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The pre-Harappa cultures [4.8] of KALIBANGAN, NOHAR, SOTHI, SISWAL, BANAWALI and MITATHAL co-existed with the Harappa for some time at least in their transitional phase. The Baluchi cultures of Quetta, Zhob, Loralai, Surab and Mashkai valleys never came in contact with the Harappa. After Rana Ghundai III and Sur Jangal III, when the Harappans appeared on the scene all earlier cultures of Baluchistan had probably ceased to exist. Kulli is proto-Harappa but at places it is found with mature Harappa. The Harappa levels at Balakot points to the interaction with non-Harappan people to the w. Here good examples of the Kulli ware accompanied by elaborately painted clay bull figurines in the Kulli style are found intermixed with the mature Harappa pottery.
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**Fig. 27.** Harappan pottery
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Phase I D of Amri heralds the introduction of humped-bull painted motifs in the Indus valley. Pd II of Amri is called an intermediate one because of the appearance of Harappa sherds along with the Amri facies. The Pd could be correlated with Damb Sadaat III, Kot Diji I and post-Cemetery Nal, while Pd III is Harappa. According to one school of thought the Harappa culture is the natural culmination of the pre-Harappa cultures, such as at Amri, Kot Diji and SOTHI. In KALIBANGAN I the pottery [11.2] and antiquities used by the pre-Harappans are not basically different from those of the Harappans. Fabric A is non-Harappa but Fabric C and E are quite akin to the Harappa. So is the case with many shapes and typical painted motifs—fish-scale, intersecting circles, *pipal*-leaf and banana plant. [see also 4.9].
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Nigam, J.S., 1979, in Agrawal, D.P., & Chakrabarti, D.K., ed., *Essays in Indian Protohistory*, Delhi, pp. 135-61. Wheeler, M., 1968, *Indus Civilization*, Cambridge (with references). For sites see respective entries in vol. II.—K.N. DIKSHIT