History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c13: Chapter Iii. Post-Harappan Period

History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c13

Language: English

Chapter Iii. Post-Harappan Period

The great urban civilization of the Indus Valley and the earlier agricultural communities of the Baluchistan hills had an almost uninterrupted duration for seven to eight hundred years. There is evidence according to Piggott that the Baluchi settlements and the great cities of the Harappan Kingdom were then sacked and burnt by the barbarian invaders from the west. Refugees from these invaded sites migrated towards the east and made temporary settlements on the Gangetic Plains and the hilly regions to the south-east. This happened probably after 2000 B.C. but before 1500 B.C.

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The explorations at Shahi-tump, Chanhu-daro and Jhukar in the Southern Baluchistan by Mackay and Majumdar show the development of a distinct culture in those regions as a result of intermingling of the new comers with the earlier residents. This is best illustrated in the finds of pottery, iron and copper implements there ( Figs. 13 and 14 ).

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In the Gangetic basin and on the uplands to the south-east quite a large number of copper tools, sometimes in hoards of 400 or more objects, have been found, notably at Gungeria, Balaghat (C. P.), in the valleys of the Ganges and the Jumna, and at or about the Ranchi uplands. They consist mostly of flat copper or bronze axes and the elongated axes or chisel called ‘bar-celt’, besides a number of copper harpoons. These seem to suggest a colonisation of the Ganges’ basin and the neighbouring hilly and forest regions by the refugees and the displaced persons from the Indus Valley, when the Harappan Empire broke up as a result of barbarian invasion from the west. The deposition of hoards suggests a time of instability and insecurity, as the panicky refugees were retreating from the pursuit of barbarian invaders.

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Some of the characteristics of these deposits are noted below.

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At Gungeria in the district of Balaghat in the Nagpur Division of the Central Provinces 424 copper implements and 102 pieces of thin silver plates were discovered in one place in an area measuring 3 ft. long, 3 ft. broad and 4 ft deep The copper implements were mostly celts, shovels, axe-blades, spades, etc. They were found closely packed together indicating secret storage They are made of copper and not bronze, containing only 1 5 per cent of lead. The silver was also found to be admixed with 3.7 per cent of gold.

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A list of some of the other sites, where such hoards have been found, is given below along with an indication of their contents.

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The copper implements of Gungeria bear unmistakable signs of having been hammered after the objects were cast in a mould. The finds at Karharari (Pechamba Sub-division, Hazaribagh Dist.) were first rough cast as blooms and then hammered into shape as celts.

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Fig. 13. Copper axes, pins and potteries from Jhukar (Mackay, *Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro*, 1938).

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Fig 14 Potteries and iron implements from Jhukar (Majumdar, *Explorations in Sind, Memoirs, Archæological Survey of India. No 48*)

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In the opinion of the archæologists, these migrations of peoples occurred at a time when the Indus Valley Civilization broke up at the advent of the barbarian raiders. But the invaders after their settlement utilized the traditions of the local craftsmen and introduced some new ideas, and even perhaps new techniques, to the framework of the ancient civilization.

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(CHAPT II and III)

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