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A History of Agriculture in India v1.c19: Chapter 13. Harappan Agriculture

A History of Agriculture in India v1.c19

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Chapter 13. Harappan Agriculture

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CULTIVATION OF WHEAT, BARLEY AND COTTON

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Evidence of agriculture in the Indus Valley and other areas which came under the influence of the Harappan chalcolithic culture is in the finds of foodgrains and fibres recovered in excavations, and in potteries, granaries, terracotta toys and ornaments. The size of the Harappan towns itself indicates that it was a plough agriculture, with dependence on bullocks for draught.

The Plough

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The Sumerians developed the plough about 2900 B.C. Possibly, the Harappans learnt the use of the plough from the Sumerians. All primitive ploughs were made of wood, and wood is a perishable material. Hence there is no possibility of finding an actual wooden plough from a Harappan site. However, a terracotta model of a plough, 7 x 19.7 centimetres has been discovered from Mohenjo-daro (Fig. 78). This toy plough is kept in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. Its shape is rather peculiar. There is a longish beam and the plough breast terminates in a rectangular manner. There is no indication that it had a handle (munna) for the ploughman to hold.

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Apart from the terracotta plough toy, there is indirect evidence of the existence of the plough in the Harappan times. In an earlier chapter, I have referred to the site of Kalibangan in western Rajasthan. Its pre-Harappan levels have been dated 2450 to 2300 B.C. The people of Kalibangan had domesticated cattle, and carried on agriculture. To the south-east of the pre-Harappan settlement a ploughed field was discovered by B. B. Lal and B. K. Thapar. This is the earliest ploughed field so far excavated anywhere in the world. It showed a grid of furrows, with one set more closely spaced (about 30 centimetres apart) running east-west, and the other widely spaced (about 1.90 metres apart), running north-south (Fig. 80). This pattern bears a remarkable resemblance to ploughing as is now carried on in the neighbourhood, where mustard and gram are grown in two sets of furrows in the same field. Compare, on the other hand, the state of agriculture in Europe. In Germany, the cultivation of small plots with hoes was still the sole economy down to about 2000 B.C.

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Allchins, relying on Lambrick, who, according to them, had personal knowledge of Sind, describe as follows how crops were grown in the river-rain tract of the Indus. "The principal foodgrains, that is wheat and barley, would have been grown as spring (rabi) crops: that is to say, sown at the end of the inundation upon land which had been submerged by spill from the river or one of its natural flood channels, and reaped in March or April. In modern practice such land is neither ploughed nor manured, nor does it require additional water. Lambrick remarks that ‘the whole operation involves an absolute minimum of skill, labour and aid of implements.’ Other crops, including cotton and sesamum, would be sown as autumnal (kharif) : that means they would be sown at the beginning of the inundation and harvested at its close, in autumn. For this fields surrounded by earth embankments would be required, most probably along the banks of natural flood channels. Although this method is more precarious than the former, both exploit the natural fertility of the alluvium, and the annual inundation. Both systems are still in use.¹ According to my experience of cultivation in the riverain areas of the Punjab, when the land has appropriate moisture or wattar, as it is called, land is ploughed, seed is sown and the soil is smoothened with a plank. The practice followed by the Harappans could not have been different. For the proper sowing of crops, soil has to be stirred and seed has to be covered.

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¹ Allchins, B. and R. *The Birth of Indian Civilisation—India and Pakistan before 500 B.C.*, p. 261

Seed-Drill

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S.R. Rao in his monograph, *Lothal and the Indus Civilization*, has reproduced a photograph of a seal from Lothal which he feels depicts a seed-drill (Fig. 79). But its shape is rather unusual for a seed-drill.

The Wheeled Cart

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Ox-drawn sledges were still being used about 3000 B.C. at Ur to convey royal corpses to their final resting-place. But long before that date, the sledge had been transformed by an invention that revolutionized locomotion on land. The wheel was the crowning achievement of prehistoric carpentry; it is the pre-condition of modern machinery, and, applied to transport, it converted the sledge into a cart or wagon.

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Wheeled vehicles are represented in the Sumerian art as early as 3500 B.C., and in northern Syria perhaps even earlier. By 3000 B.C., carts, wagons, and even chariots were in general use in Elam, Mesopotamia and Syria.

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In the Indus Valley, wheeled carts were in use when the archaeologic record begins about 2300 B.C. and at about the same date in Turkestan too. Children's toys from Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Lothal and Chandigarh include some wheeled carts, which indicates that they were in use in ordinary life (Fig. 81). Bronze models of carts have also been found at Harappa and Chanhu-daro. These bullock carts had solid wheels. They very much resemble small carts, called lahiru, which are used for carting farmyard manure in the villages of Oudh. In Orissa the bullock-carts have solid wheels. A toy-cart from Mohenjo-daro had a basket-like body, which indicates that it was possibly used for carting farmyard manure (Fig. 83). Excavations at Harappa have revealed cart-ruts, 3 feet 6 inches (1 metre) in width. The present-day bullock-carts in Sind have the same width (Fig. 82, right).

Bullock-Carts from Lothal

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A solid wheel of a toy-chariot in alabaster carved with geometric and other designs, and terracotta toy-carts furnish evidence of the means of communication in Lothal. Probably, male buffaloes and bullocks were yoked to the carts. Three main types of bullock-carts were reconstructed by Rao with the help of the toy-wheels and cart frames found in the excavation at Lothal. The first type has a solid chassis, which is concave or flat. The second and third types have a perforated chassis. The third type has, in addition, a detachable cross-bar. On such a chassis, wooden posts were fixed to form a box-like frame (Fig. 81, top). Even now, the carts in Gujarat carry such frames formed by interlacing ropes (Fig. 81, bottom). Cotton is carried in this manner in these carts. The wheels of the Lothal carts were attached to the free projecting ends of the axle which was secured with leather straps to the main frame. Lynchpins seem to have held the wheels in position. The carts with a detachable cross-bar and those with a chassis made up of two curved bars were confined to Saurashtra. Rao believes that the latter were meant for carrying light loads, whereas the other two types were used for carrying heavy loads.²

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² Rao, S.R. *Lothal and the Indus Civilization*, p. 123

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Bernal states that the bullock-cart combined two critically important ideas—the use of animal power and the wheel. "These inventions were to have enormous material and scientific consequences. The cart and the plough between them enabled agriculture to be spread over all open plains and so far beyond the limits of the old civilizations. The increased possibilities and speed of transport by cart and even more by ship, together with the need to know the sources of valuable materials, led to deliberate exploration and to the beginnings of geography."³

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³ Bernal, J.D. *Science in History*, p. 77

Protection of Crops from Wild Animals and Birds

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Here I may as well refer to the wildlife of the Harappan period, as represented in seals and toys. In some cases, bones of wild animals have also been recovered. The wildlife consisted of the elephant, rhinoceros, wolf, jackal, *nilgai*, gaur (Indian bison), wild buffalo and species of deer, such as the *hangul* or Kashmir stag, *chital*, *sambhar*, *barasingha*, four-horned antelope, black buck and hog deer. The *sambhar*, *barasingha* and *chital* were fairly widespread.

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The Harappa toys contain representations of the rhinoceros, the tiger, and the elephant. There are toys shaped as monkeys, squirrels, mongooses, snakes, pangolins, wild boar and crocodiles (Fig. 84). From among the birds, the duck, peacock, hen, kite, pigeon, dove and parakeet are represented in the toy art.

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Out of these wild animals and birds, *nilgai*, deer of different varieties, wild boars, and parakeets must be the cause of damage to the crops of Harappans, as they do even now wherever they are found. How did the Harappans protect their crops? Terracotta sling-balls are found in all Harappan excavations. Possibly, the farmers used these sling-balls for scaring away pests. The sling is the earliest device by which force and range were given to the arm of a thrower of missiles. Slings and sling-balls are even now used by the farmers for protecting the maize crop in the submontane areas of northern India. A boy armed with a sling standing on a *machan* in the midst of a field of maize is not an uncommon sight.

Granaries

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The best evidence of agriculture in the Harappan areas is in granaries, which have been discovered at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Mortimer Wheeler thus describes the granary at Harappa. "To the north of these 'lines' the ground is littered with a medley of broken walls and floors which have not been intelligibly planned. Amongst these *disjecta*, however, not less than seventeen circular brick platforms emerge as a unit. It was built of four concentric rings of bricks-on-edge, with fragments of a fifth (or possibly of packing) round a central hole which had apparently held a wooden mortar. Fragments of straw or husk were found about the centre, and burnt wheat and husked barley were noticed in the central hollow of one of the other specimens. There can be little doubt therefore that the platforms surrounded mortars for the pounding of grain with long wooden pestles, as in some parts of India today." In Fig. 85 we see two women pounding barley with wooden pestles in a village home in Haryana. The importance of the Harappa platforms is their indication that this process was there concentrated and possibly regimented.

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"A hundred yards [91 metres] north of the 'platform' area, and itself within a hundred yards of the river-bed, lay the remarkable group of granaries which supplies a key to the whole layout. These granaries, each 50 x 20 feet [15.2 x 6.1 metres] overall, are ranged symmetrically in two rows of six, with a central passage, 23 feet [7 metres] wide. They are built upon a podium of rammed mud, some 4 feet [over 1 metre] high, rivetted along parts of the eastern and western sides and the whole of the southern and with baked bricks stepped back to form a battered face, like the rivetment of the citadel defences. Incidentally, the continuous rivetment along the southern end and the absence of space at the sides prove that the approach was on the north, i.e. from the river-bank, suggesting the use of water-transport for incoming or outgoing supplies of grain.

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"The floors of the individual granaries were carried clear of the ground on sleeper-walls, three to each unit. In at least two instances, the central sleeper had rectangular thickenings as though to carry posts or piers for additional roof-support. The purpose of the sleepers, as in the closely similar granaries of Roman forts, was to provide intervening air-ducts to keep the overlying building dry and so to prevent sweating and mildew. The structures were entered from the central passage by short flights of brick steps, and the systematic use of the passage itself for something more than transit is indicated by the presence in it of a number of carefully laid brick floors. As the general level rose outside the area, the air-ducts beneath the floors tended to become choked, and accordingly small projecting air-vents, conducting from the higher level, were added at their outer ends. The combined floor-space of the 12 granaries was something over 9,000 square feet [836 square metres], and approximates closely to that of the Mohenjo-daro Granary as originally planned.

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"We may glance at the layout of the area as a whole. Its units consist of (i) ranges of a barrack-like quarters within a walled compound, (ii) serried lines of platforms apparently for pounding grain, and (iii) a marshalled array of uniform granaries within easy reach of the (former) river."4

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The isometric projection of the granary at Harappa can be seen in Fig. 86. There is a structural similarity between the Indus granaries and an Akkadian structure at Susa.

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It seems that trade in the Harappan times was by barter. The seals were not money, but were stamp seals, used for stamping packages. They were carved on steatite, a soft stone. It seems that families of merchants had adopted certain domestic animals as totems. That is why they engraved their likeness on the seals. From the ruins of a warehouse at Lothal 71 sealings were recovered, most of which bear impressions of cloth used for packing the cargo which was consumed by the fire. Circular plano-convex pieces of clay, according to B. B. Lal, may be regarded as tokens carried by merchants or their messengers.

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The granaries also indicate that payment to labourers was in kind. As in the Indus Valley, all important cities in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley had granaries. A text from Ur implies that one of the granaries stored enough barley to provide wages for 4,020 days; another text refers to the commandant of the granary who was responsible for seeing that 10,930 man-days’ payment was made out of his store, presumably in barley, to meet the wages of the workers from the town; the workers included scribes, overseers, shepherds and irrigators. Another text refers to royal barley, to be returned with interest, received by Lulamu from the granary of the canal-bank. All these documents are of *c.* 2130-2000 B.C. Another tablet of the same period records a harvest gathered from certain fields belonging to the temple of Nan-she in Lagash.⁵

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⁴ Wheeler, M. *The Indus Civilization*, pp. 32, 33

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⁵ Wheeler, M. *The Indus Civilization*, p. 35

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From the size of the granaries it can also be concluded that the peasants paid their dues to the Government in kind, who, in turn, used it for payments to employees of various kinds. The artisans, carpenters and others received their wages in kind from the farmers.

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Granary at Lothal: A structure standing on a platform and consisting of 12 blocks of brick forming channels about 26 inches [66 centimetres] broad and separated by air-ducts was identified by Mortimer Wheeler as a granary. It seems that agriculture, fishing and trade were the main occupations of the inhabitants of Lothal. The size of copper fish-hooks indicates that fish of large size were caught by the fishermen of Lothal in the rivers.

Food Crops

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The Harappans cultivated bread wheat (*Triticum aestivum*), *T. sphaerococcum*, barley (*Hordeum vulgare* and *H. hexastichum*), sesame, peas (*Pisum sativum* var. *arvense*), melons, date-palm, and species of *Brassica*. Cotton was an important crop and the centre of origin of *Gossypium arboreum* lies in the Indus Valley. These crops are dealt with in the following account.

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Wheat. Among the cereals wheat and barley were recorded from Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. The association of these two cereals in the archaeological remains of Mesopotamia, along with other evidence, has led to the belief that there was some contact between the Indus Valley and Mesopotamian civilizations. Helbaek has pointed out that wheat and barley have been cultivated together from the very beginning of village-farming in western Asia.

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Luthra has shown that the wheat recovered from Mohenjo-daro belongs to *Triticum vulgare* (*T. aestivum*), *T. compactum* and *T. sphaerococcum*.

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*Triticum aestivum*, the common bread wheat, *T. durum*, the macaroni wheat, and *T. dicoccum*, the emmer wheat, are the three important species grown in India. *T. sphaerococcum*, which was cultivated in the past in the Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, has now gone out of cultivation and has been replaced by the more high-yielding bread and macaroni wheats. *T. compactum* was reported to have been cultivated in India (Howard, 1916).

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*T. sphaerococcum* is a wheat of great antiquity and has been found in the excavations at Mohenjo-daro dating back to 2300 B.C. (Fig. 90). It is supposed to have originated in the north-western area of the Indian subcontinent. It appears that in ancient India the cultivation of *T. sphaerococcum* was widespread. It has high resistance to drought and this factor has contributed to its success. *T. sphaerococcum* appears to be a derivative of *T. aestivum*.

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Percival states, ‘Like its ally *T. compactum*, this race *T. sphaerococcum* probably arose as a mutant among the progeny of an early hybrid. Its peculiarly small round grains very closely agree in form and size with Buschan’s *T. compactum globiforme*, the naked-grained wheat, most commonly grown in various parts of Europe in Neolithic times, and it is possible that the race now confined to India is a remnant of an ancient stock.’

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Percival again states, ‘This race, which I received from India and parts of Persia, is referred to by Howard to *T. compactum* Host, but the latter so far as I am aware does not occur in India.’⁶

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⁶ Percival, J. *The Wheat Plant*, G. Duckworth & Co. Ltd, London, p. 463, 1921

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According to Ram Dhan Singh, Vavilov concurred with Percival’s view. Ram Dhan Singh referred to the later extensive work of Ellerton, who made a world-wide collection of wheat species and cultivars, and says that though Ellerton’s collection did include a specimen of *T. sphaerococcum* derived from the Euphrates region of Iraq and Percival’s earlier collection included a sample from Iran, both are considered to be importations from India. It appears that Wimshurst (1920), who wrote a paper on wheats and barleys of Mesopotamia, held a similar view.⁷

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⁷ Singh, R.D. *Triticum sphaerococcum* Perc. (*Indian Dwarf Wheat*), *Indian J. Genet. Pl. Br.* 6: 34-47, 1946

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Barley. All barleys, wild and cultivated, belong to the same potentially interfertile population and are grouped under one species, *Hordeum vulgare*. There is now overwhelming evidence to show that barley was domesticated from a two-row progenitor resembling *H. vulgare* subsp. *spontaneum* in the Near East region around 8000 B.C. (Harlan, 1968, 1969). The barley culture in India appears to have come from western Asia (the Near East in European terms), and can be followed with fair certainty across northern India and then southwards (Raikes and Dyson, 1961; Sankalia, Subharao and Deo, 1953; and Vishnu-Mittre, 1974). The series of archaeological finds from Ur and Mohenjo-daro have now pushed back the antiquity of India’s relations with western Asia to the third millennium B.C. At that time the ancient Indus cities were in regular and intimate contact with the Sumerian cities of Iraq (Sen, 1963).⁸

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⁸ Bakshi, J.S. and Rana, R.S. Barley in *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops—Diversity and Change in the Indian Subcontinent* (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), p. 47

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A few grains of barley have been found mixed with wheat at Mohenjo-daro and identified by Luthra (1936) as *Hordeum vulgare* var. *nudum*. In low frequency they are also found mixed with wheat at Chanhu-daro (Vishnu-Mittre, unpublished). The material from Harappa is referred to as *H. vulgare* var. *hexastichum* (Vats, 1940). In contrast to the low frequency of barley found at the above sites, a sizeable quantity was found at Kalibangan (Fig, 87, bottom right). Mohenjo-daro material, as mentioned above, is dated 1750 B.C. from the late levels, whereas Kalibangan material is dated 2090-2075 B.C. (Agrawal and Kusumgar, 1968 a, b). There is reason to believe that barley was cultivated throughout the Harappan period from 2300 B.C. to 1750 B.C.

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The Kalibangan material consists of small and large grains and some of them are twisted, indicating that they were produced in two lateral rows and suggesting that they belonged to the six-rowed barley. The collection includes both naked and hulled forms.

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More or less contemporary with the Harappan civilization, records of barley have recently been discovered from the Gangetic plain, from Atranjikhera in Uttar Pradesh dated to 2000-1500 B.C. (Chowdhury, Saraswat, Hasan and Gaur, 1971) and from the Neolithic of Chirand, Bihar, estimated to date from 2500-1800 B.C.⁹

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⁹ Vishnu-Mittre, Palaeobotanical evidence in India, in *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops—Diversity and Change in the Indian Subcontinent* (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), pp. 18, 19

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Thus, although the Indo-Aryans appear to have brought with them their staple foodgrain (*yava*), the wheat and barley material of the Indus people was also adopted by them, generating new variability required for more intensive cultivation. It may well be that barley came to India not once but on several prehistoric occasions, either through the trade routes or along with immigrating people.

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In the plains and at low altitudes in the hills, only six-rowed hulled barleys are grown commercially. At higher altitudes, however, where barley replaces wheat as a staple crop, hull-less six-rowed types are grown.¹⁰

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¹⁰ Bakshi, J.S. and Rana, R.S. Barley, in *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops—Diversity and Change in the Indian Subcontinent* (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), pp. 47, 48

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An indirect evidence of the cultivation of foodgrains, such as wheat and barley, by the Harappans is provided by terracottas and saddle querns. In a terracotta from Mohenjo-daro, we see a woman kneading flour (Fig. 89). This is how wheat-flour is kneaded even at present in India. In Fig. 88 is shown saddle-quern recovered from the Harappan settlement, Sector 17, Chandigarh. *Sil* and *vatta* are the descendants of the saddle-quern and are used for grinding spices in Indian homes. Saddle-querns were possibly used for grinding roasted barley. Roasted barley-flour mixed with sugar is the *sattu*, so much relished by the people in the [Figure: INDIA WHEAT AND BARLEY GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF RECORDS TOGETHER WITH DATES IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT ● WHEAT ○ BARLEY BURZAHOM 1300 BC HARAPPA 2500-1700 BC 2300-1750 BC KALIBANGAN 2000 BC MOHENJO-DARO 2500-1700 BC 2300-1750 BC CHANHU-DARO 2300-1750 BC ATRANJIKHERA 1200-600 BC 2000-1500 BC CHIRAND 2500-1800 BC KAYATHA 1380-1305 BC PANDU RAJAR DHIBI 1000 BC MAHESHWAR 1600-1440 BC NAVDATOLI 1500-1000 BC SONEGAON 1340-1290 BC TER 200 BC INAMGAON 1370-1026 BC]

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Fig. 75. Geographical distribution of wheat and barley, together with dates, in the Indian subcontinent Fig. 76. Wheat cultivation in the Neolithic period and in the present age (After Vishnu-Mittre)

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INDIA WHEAT CULTIVATION

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MODERN WHEAT CULTIVATION

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Himalayas.

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Gram (*Cicer arietinum*). Gram (or *chana*, as it is called in Hindi) is the most important of Indian pulses. It is grown in the arid areas of the Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.

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Carbonized grains of gram have been recovered from Kalibangan, a Harappan site in Rajasthan (Fig. 87, *top*)

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Thus we find that all the three major food crops of north-western India, viz. wheat, barley and gram, were cultivated by the Harappans. It is in this very area that they achieved dominance in the cropping system in due course (Fig. 75).

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According to van der Maesen¹¹, there are 35 wild species of *Cicer* in central and western Asia, one species being endemic in Greece, one in Ethiopia and one in Morocco. *Cicer arietinum* (*chana*) is widely cultivated in the Indian subcontinent, Iran, central Asia, the Mediterranean countries and Ethiopia (Fig. 77). It has also been introduced into Mexico, Peru and Chile.

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¹¹ van der Maesen, L.J.G. *Cicer L., A Monograph of the Genus, with special reference to the Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), its Ecology and Cultivation*, pp. 1, 2 and 11

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The chickpea (*chana*) is one of the oldest and most widely used grains in the Middle and Far East. In the immediate vicinity of cultivated chickpea, especially in Turkey and Syria, wild relatives occur, although not in abundance. In Iran and Afghanistan, the wild relatives are distinguished from the cultivated species by differences in morphological characteristics and the altitude at which they grow.

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The earliest-known occurrence of chickpea and a specimen, probably belonging to a wild species of *Cicer*, were reported from the Hacilar site near Burdur in Turkey. The deposits in these layers were dated by using the ¹⁴C method to about 5450 years B.C. (Helbaek, 1970). For later millennia (*c.* 3300 B.C. onwards during the Bronze Age) the proof of its cultivation was found in Iraq and at Jericho. The late Bronze Age specimens of chickpea were discovered stored in large vessels in Crete. In India the introduction of chickpea may be attributed to the Harappans, who were the earliest to cultivate it.

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Peas (*Pisum sativum* var. *arvense*). Vats (1940) discovered seeds of peas (*Pisum sativum* var. *arvense*) from Harappa.

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Sesame (*til*). Historical, philological, botanical and ethnographical evidences suggest the possibility of an independent origin of agriculture in Africa in the area near the headwaters of the Niger River. Murdock believes that the Mande people who inhabited this area were the first to domesticate sesame.¹² Botanical evidence also suggests that sesame originated in Africa.¹³

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¹² Murdock, G.P. *Africa : Its People and their Culture Histrory*, Edgar Anderson, in *Evolution after Darwin*

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¹³ Joshi, A.B. *Sesamum*, ICAR

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Fig. 77. Distribution of the genus Cicer and the main areas of cultivation of C. arietinum in the Old World. The dotted line encloses the areas where the species of genus Cicer are found. The continuous line encloses the areas where C. arietinum is cultivated (After L.J.G. van der Maesen)

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The recovery of a lump of charred sesame by Vats at Harappa suggests that it was cultivated by the Indus Valley people. They are likely to have received it from Africa direct or via Mesopotamia. Botanical evidence shows an early spread of sesame from Africa to India via the Sabaean Lane.¹⁴

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¹⁴ Mehra, K.L. ‘History of Sesame in India and its Cultural Significance’, in Vishveshvaranand Indological Journal, Vol. V, Pt i

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In Sumer, sesame was frequently mentioned as Se-gis-mi in the clay tablets, beginning from the third dynasty of Ur. It was perhaps introduced there directly from Africa. Both Lothal and Mohenjo-daro people had trade relations with the Sumerians and this might have led to the introduction of sesame. Once grown in India, sesame entered the Indian diet and cookery to such an extent that we hardly feel that it came from Africa. From India it spread to China.

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Rape. The Brassicas cultivated in India are of the oleiferous types, belonging to two species, *Brassica campestris* and *B. juncea*. *B. campestris* has given rise in India to three distinct cultivars: brown sarson, yellow sarson and *toria*. They are cultivated in rather distinct ecogeographical areas, and may be regarded as ecotypes. Collectively, they are known in India as rape, and they constitute an important oilseed crop. *B. juncea* is more vigorous, and is an important oilseed crop. It is known in India as mustard.

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*B. campestris* occurs wild as a weed from western Europe to eastern China. The Indian rapes fall geographically midway in the vast geographical distribution of the species. The wild, unspecialized primitive rape became a weed of cultivation, and gave rise to a range of cultivars as a result of three different types of selection in the three main regions of its habitat. In the West, selection for root development gave rise to the turnip. In the Far East, selection for leafy vegetables yielded the great diversity of Chinese cabbages that are classified as *B. pekinensis* and *B. chinensis* (Herklots, 1972). In the mid-region, in India, selection for oil content gave the three oleiferous races, brown and yellow sarson and *toria*. All these types are cross-compatible and they belong, in Harberd’s terms, to the same cytodeme. The Indian oleiferous group appears to have been developed by the differentiation of the brown sarson stock. According to Russian workers, and also according to Singh (1958), eastern Afghanistan and the adjoining areas of Pakistan and north-western India may be regarded as its centre of origin. From this centre, yellow sarson arose through the selection of the yellow-seeded types that were considered to be of superior quality. *Toria* arose in response to selection for adaptability to the [Figure: Fig. 80. Furrow marks of ploughed land on the southern side of KLB 2, Kalibangan, Rajasthan (top)

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Fig. 78. Plough, terracotta, 7 × 19.7 cm. Mohenjo-daro, c. 2300 B.C. (Courtesy: Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay)

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Fig. 79. A seal from Lothal with a picture of a seed-drill (After S.R. Rao)

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The present-day method of ploughing (bottom) very much resembles the ancient one Fig. 81. Terracotta toy-carts from Lothal (After S.R. Rao)

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[Figure: Fig. 82. A toy-cart from Harappa, with solid wheels (left, top), and frame of the toy-cart (left, bottom)

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The bullock-cart in the present-day Sind (right) is not far removed from the Harappan cart]

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[Figure: Fig. 83. A toy-cart from Mohenjo-daro. It was possibly used for carting manure Fig. 84. Toys modelled on wild animals, depicting hare, tiger, pangolin, monkey, crocodile and wild boar (After Mackay)

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Fig. 85. Women pounding barley with wooden pestles in a village home in Haryana. The stone mortar is embedded in the floor. In the foreground is a chhaj for winnowing husk. (Courtesy: H. K. Gorkha, Indian Agricultural Research Institute)

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Fig. 86. Isometric projections of the great granary, Harappa (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India)

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[Figure: HARAPPA MOUND F ISOMETRIC PROJECTION OF THE GREAT GRANARY FROM SOUTH-EAST CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF STORE-ROOM NO. V OF WESTERN BLOCK WITH GALLERY NO. e RAMP WOODEN FLOORING WESTERN BLOCK WOODEN GANGWAY ADDITIONS WITH AIR HOLES PIERS COMMON FOUNDATION WALL EASTERN BLOCK RETAINING WALL ADDITIONS WITH AIR HOLES RETAINING WALL]

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Fig. 87. Carbonized grains of *Cicer arietinum* from a Harappan site, Kalibangan, Rajasthan (*top*). Carbonized grains of *Triticum sphaerococcum* from a Harappan site, Mohenjo-daro, Sind (*bottom, left*). Carbonized grains of *Hordeum* sp., from a Harappan site, Kalibangan, Rajasthan (*bottom, right*) (After Vishnu-Mittre)

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Fig. 88. A saddle-quern recovered from a Harappan settlement, Sector 17, Chandigarh, *c.* 2200 B.C. (Courtesy: Museum of Rural Life of the Punjab, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana)

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Fig. 89. A terracotta from Mohenjo-daro, showing a woman kneading flour [Figure: Fig. 90. Carbonized wheat grains from Mohenjo-daro dated to 1755 B.C. by ¹⁴C method. They compare with those of *Triticum sphaerococcum* (Courtesy: Genetics Museum, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi)]

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[Figure: Fig. 91. Seeds of mustard from Chanhu-daro, Sind (Courtesy: Genetics Museum, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi)]

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[Figure: Fig. 92. A plant of Gossypium arboreum with open bolls. This cotton plant was known to the Harappans ecological situations of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and the Punjab.¹⁵

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¹⁵ Narain, A. Rape and mustard, in *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops—Diversity and Change in the Indian Subcontinent* (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), pp. 67, 68

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Sarson oil is used in India for cooking. It is also used for massage, and it is believed to strengthen the skin and to keep it cool and healthy. With camphor it forms an efficacious embrocation in cases of muscular rheumatism, stiff neck, etc. The oil is used for lighting, and the oilcake is a favourite cattle feed. The seeds mixed with hot water form an efficient counter-irritant poultice. The tender leaves and shoots are relished as sag, a favourite food of the Punjabis.

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The seeds of *Brassica juncea* have been recovered from Chanhu-daro, a Harappan site in Sind. A sample of it is preserved in the Genetics Museum of the Indian Agricultural Research Institure, New Delhi (Fig. 91).

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The Harappans at Surkotada in Kutch had found diverse uses of the seeds of several kinds of grasses, sedges, cheno-amaranths, portulacas, and polygonums, perhaps for medicinal purposes or to feed the birds (Vishnu-Mittre and Savithri, 1973-74; Savithri, 1976).

Cotton

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The Indus Valley civilization is the earliest to have spun and woven cottons. The Babylonian and Greek names for cotton, *Sindhu* and *Sindon*, respectively, point to the Indus Valley as the home of cotton. A statuette of a man from Mohenjo-daro shows him wearing textiles (Fig. 63). The first sample of cotton material was a small fragment of cloth found by D.R. Sahni from Mohenjo-daro. It was found clinging to the side of a silver vase, and was dyed red with madder. Its preservation was due to a fortunate accident, viz. the formation of silver salts from the silver of the vase. Turner and Gulati, of the Technological Laboratory of the Indian Central Cotton Committee, who examined the sample, concluded that it was undoubtedly made of cotton fibre, the typical convoluted structure of cotton being plainly visible. Another sample was received from Mohenjo-daro, viz. small pieces of string found attached to some pottery. The string was found to be 24-fold cotton yarn. The fibre-weight, the number of convolutions, the ribbon-width and the fibre-rigidity of the sample were strikingly similar to those of the coarse Indian cottons of the *arboreum*, *herbaceum* and *indicum* types. Turner and Gulati concluded that this early coarse cotton had been produced from a plant closely related to one of Watt’s *arboreum* types.

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In *Gossypium arboreum*, commonly known as the desi cotton, wild and weedy types have been recorded from Kathiawar, Gujarat, Khandesh and the Deccan. They are perennial, and are hence known as tree-cottons. In *G. herbaceum*, wild and weedy types are known from the coastal strip to the north-west of Karachi, through northern Baluchistan to south Yemen, Ethiopia and the Sudan, and even to western Africa to the south of the Sahara.

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The perennial forms of *Gossypium herbaceum* race *acerifolium* and the perennial forms of *Gossypium herbaceum* race *indicum* are morphologically very much alike, except for differences in their fruiting parts. Genetically also, *Gossypium herbaceum* and *Gossypium arboreum* are very close.

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In *Gossypium arboreum*, two types of perennial cotton were collected by Watt (1907). One of these groups of perennial cotton belonged to the race *indicum* of peninsular India. They were considered to be one of the primitive perennial forms. The so-called Rozi cottons are the cultivated forms of this perennial cotton. All the annual forms of *Gossypium arboreum* cultivated at present are the derivatives of these *indicum* perennials.

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The other perennial forms of this species belonged to the race *burmanicum* distributed in Assam and Burma.

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The Harappans not only grew cotton, but also devised methods of ginning, spinning and weaving it into cloth. Considering the age when it was achieved, it was a great technological advance.

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Cotton cloth seems to be the Harappans' main export to Mesopotamia. From the Mesopotamians they got woollen garments and silver in exchange. The Indus civilization had boats with sails. A terracotta amulet from Mohenjo-daro shows a boat with two birds known as *Dishakaka*. Sailors in those days slowly sailed, hugging the coast-line, and they usually carried shore-sighting birds, e.g. crows, doves and swallows. 'When the ship was out of sight of land, they would set the shore-sighting bird free and it would go to the East, to the South, to the West and to the North and to the intermediate points and rise aloft. If on the horizon it caught sight of land, thither it would go. But if not, it would return to the ship.'¹⁶

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¹⁶ Srivastava, B. *Dishakaka on a terracotta amulet from Mohenjo-daro*, Indian Inst. Adv. Studies, Seminar, Simla, Nov. 1977

Fruits

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**Date-palm** (*Phoenix sylvestris*). Two faience sealings, shaped like a date seed, suggest the familiarity of the people of Harappa with the date-palm (Vats, 1940).

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**Lotus, Pomegranate, Lemon and Coconut.** There is a representation of lotus fruit in toys from Harappa. Earthenware vases shaped like a pomegranate and a coconut suggest that these fruits were known to the people of Harappa. A pendant shaped like a lemon leaf suggests its presence at Harappa (Vats, 1940).

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**Melon.** A few vestiges of seeds comparable with those of melon are known from Harappa. The seeds were too brittle to be lifted up (Vats, 1940).

Increase in Population

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Technological innovations which lead to an increase in food production and its secure supply also result in an increase in population. More people are required for agriculture than for hunting and fishing. Kosambi estimates that the most efficient hunting and food-gathering can hardly support one person per square kilometre, pastoral life can support three, but agriculture about a hundred.

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Grahame Clark estimates the population of England and Wales at 250 human beings in upper Palaeolithic, 4,500 in Mesolithic, 20,000 in the Neolithic, and about 40,000 in the second millennium B.C. during the Bronze Age. No estimates are available for India, but there is no doubt that in the Harappan area the new techniques of plough cultivation and irrigated farming led to a substantial increase in population.

Use of Wood and Deforestation

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Here, a reference may be made to the use of wood by the Harappans. The oldest record of the use of wood, in the Indian region, is from Harappa proper and from the sites of Harappan culture in Gujarat. At Harappa, deodar (*Cedrus deodara*) and rosewood (*Dalbergia latifolia*) were used for coffins. Other wood remains found at Harappa were of a wooden mortar (*Ziziphus mauritiana*; syn. *Z. jujuba*) for pounding grains. The Harappans in Kutch used timber of *Tamarix*, *Albizzia*, teak, *Pterocarpus santalinus*, *Soymida febrifuga* and *Adina cordifolia*, possibly for agricultural implements, carts, axles, axe handles, oil presses, grain-pounders, turnery, tanning and dyeing and for fuel (Savithri, 1976). The choice of these woods for specific purposes shows not only the knowledge of where the trees grow but also of the characteristic qualities of the woods used. The charred timbers recovered from Lothal in Gujarat were *Acacia* sp., *Albizzia* sp., *Tectona grandis*, *Adina cordifolia* and *Soymida febrifuga*.

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According to Wheeler, one of the major factors of the decline and fall of the Harappan culture was the widespread deforestation of the surrounding region to meet the demands of firewood for baking millions of bricks used for the building of the city of Mohenjo-daro. Large-scale use of wood for baking pottery, smelting metals, and as domestic fuel further depleted the forests. The building of houses and ships also made demands on the forest reserves. The clearing of land for cultivation and grazing by domestic animals were other biotic factors which led to the destruction of vegetation. This is how man pays the price of cultural advance and civilization. Eastward shifts of the edge of the south-western monsoon has been suggested by Piggott as the cause of increasing aridity. The final blow was, in all likelihood, delivered by the energetic Aryan nomads who massacred the inhabitants. On the topmost level of the city, skeletons of men, women and children, bearing axe or sword cuts, have been discovered. Though the Harappan cities were destroyed by the invaders, the achievements of the Harappan culture, viz. the use of copper and bronze, pottery, the plough, the bullock-cart and irrigated farming were adopted by the Aryans.

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Allchin, R. and Bridget. *The Birth of Indian Civilization*, Pelican, 1968 Anderson, E. *Evolution after Darwin*, Chicago, 1960 Bakshi, J.S. and Rana, R.S. Barley, in *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops—Diversity and Change in the Indian Subcontinent* (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), London, 1974 Bernal, J.D. *Science in History*, London, 1954 Hutchinson, J. (Ed.) *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops*, London, 1974 Lal, B.B. Perhaps the Earliest Ploughed Field so far Excavated Anywhere in the World, *Puratattva*, New Delhi, 1971 Lal, B.B. *The Indus Script: Some Observations Based on Archaeology* Mehra, K.L. History of Sesame in India and its Cultural Significance, in *Vishveshwaranand Indological Jour.*, Vol. V. 1967 Mehra, K.L. Ethnobotany of Mustard in India, in *Advancing Frontiers of Plant Sciences*, Vol. 19, 1967 Murdock, G.P. *Africa: its People and their Cultural History*, New York, 1959 Narain, A. Rape and mustard, in *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops—Diversity and Change in the Indian Subcontinent* (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), London, 1974 Percival, J. *The Wheat Plant*, London, 1921 Rao, M.V. Wheat, in *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops—Diversity and Change in the Indian Subcontinent* (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), London, 1974 Rao, S.R. *Lothal and the Indus Civilization*, Bombay, 1973 Santhanam, V. and Hutchinson, J.B. Cotton, in *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops—Diversity and Change in the Indian Subcontinent* (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), London, 1974 Singh, R.D. *Triticum sphaerococcum* Perc. (Indian Dwarf Wheat), *Indian J. Genet. Pl. Br.* 6: 34-47, 1946 Srivastava, B. Dishakaka on an Amulet from Mohenjo-daro, *Indian Inst. Adv. Studies, Seminar*, Simla, 1977 Thapar, B.K. Digging up the Past—Some Recent Archaeological Finds, *Times of India Annual*, 1977 The Wealth of India, *A Dictionary of Indian Raw Materials and Industrial Products: Raw Materials*, Vol. I, Delhi, 1948 Turner, A.J. and Gulati, A.N. The Early History of Cotton, *Agric. Jour. India* Vol. 24, 1929 Vishnu-Mittre. Palaeobotanical Evidence in India, in *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops—Diversity and Change in the Indian Subcontinent* (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), London, 1974 Wheeler, M. *The Indus Civilization*, Cambridge, 1968

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