Harappan Civilization Mystery What Happened 5000 Years Ago

Despite being 5,000 years behind in time Challenging our modern megacities today Yes, which is itself a very big deal. Acer, meaning absolutely straight roads A more efficient network of drainage channels And 2-3 airy houses made of baked clay bricks And even 1,000 years before today? Yes, and what is the most shocking thing you've discovered in it? There is no grand palace of kings in the entire city. Yes, just a highly organized and peaceful life. And then? And then, just a mysterious silence Well said And look, it's not just this silence, is it? It's actually the one that makes the most noise. How? If we look at the ancient civilizations of Egypt or Mesopotamia There we encounter vast pyramids. Large tombs are found here. The tale of the power of the kings of that rope Shouting at the entire world, they announce loudly It's just an illusion of power there. Absolutely However, there is no such indication in the Harappan civilization. No large statues Who asks the king This silence is what he has accepted—history's judgment. Thus, the main objective of today's deep dive discussion is We must unravel the layers of this very riddle. We are witnessing the rise of this great Sindhu-Ghats or Harappan civilization. Their magnificent, harmonious cities' golden age And suddenly without any war We will try to understand their mysterious downfall. Joki is a very important discussion. Yes, I was thinking that this was a civilization like no other If Egypt and Mesopotamia were to be united, even then Yes, by area, it was extremely vast. And once again, the entire system simply vanished. So let's understand this a bit more deeply. Because hidden within these dusty pages of history are the clues Indeed, it holds a very important lesson for our modern life today. Absolutely, and the beginning of this entire story in itself A very big historical mistake or, rather, a bitter irony. Irony? What exactly was the meaning at the beginning? Look, the assembly that has engineering and urban planning Set such high standards The world found out about it then When the modern people of Yuhk unknowingly He started building his own buildings from his bricks. Oh my God, how is this possible? I mean, such vast ruins of a once-great assembly Haven't you even caught their eye yet? Actually, this is a story set in British India of the nineteenth century. It was the year 1826. Alright A British explorer named Charles Mason Okay So, were the villagers using those iron tools? That's very strange. But perhaps they didn't even have a clue at that time How old is the AT? It was absolutely there. And it was precisely this ignorance that One of the greatest mistakes in history was made by the people. The real damage comes years later. Occurred in 1856 What happened in 1856? Two British engineers named John and William Bolton between Karachi and Lahore They were working on laying the railway line. Yes, the railway was expanding at that time. Yes, so underneath the railway track That's the road or the alley, isn't it? At that moment, their gaze fell upon the old ruins. No, I understand where the story is going. Yes, without even thinking about what this hillock could be Thousands of millions from there If we look at this through today's perspective So this incident is exactly like that. As if someone were looking at an ancient and priceless painting Cut it open and repair your dripping faucet with it. This is an extremely accurate example. I mean, Welam Mahaj is for a railway track. The most significant archaeological discoveries of the world's most advanced civilization They were destroying the beings forever. You're absolutely right. They were actually crushing a treasure, thinking it was just a stone. Well, a few years later, in the 1950s and 1970s The first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India Elegantar Kynningham, they went there Yes, the name Cunningham appears quite frequently in history. Did they get anything? Yes, some coins were found in the excavation, inscribed with an unknown script. There was a picture of a one-horned bull. What do we call the unicron seal? Absolutely, but even legends like Cunningham didn't understand it at that time. That this is some kind of separate category They took it for granted that it was part of some foreign trade. Then, when will the eyes of the world finally open? What moment was it, exactly? When it became clear that this was no ordinary mound There is a whole world within it. That curtain rose when the twentieth century arrived In 1921, Dayaram Sahani The first systematic scientific excavation at Harappa was started. Okay, 1921? And the following year, that is, in 1922, Rakhal Das Bannerjee, located about 590 kilometers from Harpapá In the Larkana district of Sindh They were excavating an old well. In Sindh? So, was this Mohenjo-daro? Yes, the local people call that place Mohan Jo DhoDho used to say, in the Sindhi language a mound of corpses Why is it called the Hill of the Dead? Because often from beneath the soil Skulls and bones would often be found together. So when Banner Ji dug there himself, So he was exactly the same kind of guy, Same kind of drains and same kind of tiles were found, As Sahanee had obtained in the Hadaupi. Wow, even 590 kilometers away, it's the same thing? Exactly, and when the head of the Archaeology Department arrives That is, Marshall has proven this. Were these two places, located 590 kilometers apart, connected to each other? Yes, they publicly declared this in front of the world. that this is not some isolated, scattered ruin This must be a very historic moment. Very large. With this very proclamation, the history of the Indian subcontinent begins. It went back thousands of years in an instant. We suddenly became contemporaries of Egypt and Mesopotamia. This search itself feels like a thriller movie. But no such advanced civilization would rely on magic You don't suddenly become upright overnight, do you? Not at all. Where did the idea to build these megacities come from? Because five thousand years ago Building two-story houses directly from baked bricks is no small feat. There must be some basis for it. This is a very important question. Civilizations are never born out of emptiness. If we want to understand their roots, So we'll have to go a bit further back in time. Around 1000 BCE. A thousand BCE? About nine thousand years ago, from today? Yes. In Balochistan, Pakistan There is a place called Mehar Gar near the Bolan River. When we speak of the Neolithic period or the New Stone Age, What is the science behind this? Was this the very time when humans had Had he started to abandon the Banjara life? Exactly right. Neolithic Age human history When humans became hunters and gatherers Except for Hunter Gatherer's life Began settling in one place. So, have the proofs of this been found in Mehrangarh? Yes, in Mehrgarh, we find the oldest evidence of it. The people there were the first to Yes, and they are very important for understanding their psychology. Sickness and jewelry alongside the deceased in their graves. Even the sacrificial animals that were offered were buried here. which clearly shows that those people believe in life after death, They must have believed in life after death, so they would have thought Even after death, a person will still require illness and food. Exactly, and that is precisely the thought that organizes a community, binds it together. For thousands of years, this awareness gradually evolved. And it spread toward the plains of the Sindhu River. By around 3300 BCE, we reach that point. Known as the Early Harappan phase or Early Harappan culture. They had learned a great deal here. As using kiwi fruits Because I think the raw bricks would have been washed away by the river's rain and flood. Yes, absolutely. They had realized that in order to avoid the bar of the Sindhu River, They'll have to be cooked in fire anyway. During this time, they also learned how to melt metals such as copper and brass, and how to use them. I mean, technology was being upgraded. Yes, and they came from distant, faraway places like Afghanistan. Lapis lazuli, known as lapis, was the precious blue stone whose trade had been initiated. Walls around the settlements had begun to be built for security. So, if we understand this in today's language, can we say that this period of several years together was a kind of startup incubation period? Startup incubation, yes, is this a good term? Meaning, where people were testing new technologies, mapping out trade routes, and strengthening the system by learning from their mistakes, which later gave rise to a major explosion, that is, the massive urbanization. This is a very precise analysis: the period of about two years was actually a preparation phase, during which they were strengthening their base, and then around 2026, the explosion occurred. What we refer to as the matured stage of the HDP. And this expansion wasn't just a small or large one—it was a hundred thousand square kilometers, in other words. If we look at the map today, it extended from northern Jammu and Kashmir in the north, down to Maharashtra in the south, from Uttar Pradesh in the east, to the border of Iran in the west. Even if you combine Egypt and Mesopotamia at that time, this empire was still larger than them. On the current date, over 1,500 such sites have been discovered in India and Pakistan, including Lothal, Dholavira, Kalibangan, and Rakhigari. You're right, but look at the most astonishing aspect of it—it's not its size or area. The real magic lies hidden in their urban planning and its intricate engineering. Mohan took the streets of Mohenjo-daro. They were perfectly straight and intersected each other at right angles, forming a grid system. But what was the purpose behind it? I mean, were they simply trying to make the city look beautiful and orderly? Beauty was merely a superficial aspect; the real essence lay in utility and their science. The design of the sails was based on the natural airflow of the region, meticulously tailored to the local wind patterns. Yes, when the monsoon winds blew, they created a natural vacuum or tunnel effect passing through these straight rows of houses, causing the dust on the roofs to clean itself automatically. It was a kind of self-cleaning city model. Honestly, this is completely mind-blowing. I mean, using aerodynamics like that 45 years ago. And their house designs were also quite special, weren't they? Very special. Houses were generally two or three stories high, built with baked bricks. The house design was such that there was an open courtyard in the center, surrounded by rooms on all four sides. Absolutely, but what makes them stand out the most in the world is their level of cleanliness. I have read that every house had its own kitchen, its own bathroom, and even in many houses, its own private well. Imagine, if we understand the mechanism behind it, that 4,500 years ago, while people in other parts of the world were defecating openly in the open or had no concept of sanitation at all, every home in Harappa already had an advanced toilet system. And it wasn't just sewers—outside every house there was a soak pit, also known as a soak taha. This was a type of primitive water treatment filter. Dirty water from the house first flowed into this soak pit, where solid waste settled at the bottom, and only the liquid Water flowed directly into the main drain outside Bhair Shaher. Oh wow. From this The drains wouldn't be clogged at all. Absolutely correct. And the drains They were the Bakaiwa Man Hole, which were used to clear the area. It was stuffed with stones so that the stench would not spread. This was a kind of The municipal vascular system was, which today many modern Even for cities, it is just a dream. A moment's glance, this very place. There's one more thing that truly astonishes me. It's about the Itos. Size. Okay. We have read that in the excavation, the inti They have been received, and their ratio is exactly the same. Whether it's tea or A corner of the city, or perhaps somewhere thousands of kilometers away The second city. The length, width, and height of each inch. There was only one. Without any internet, without a phone, or anything else. Sitting thousands of kilometers away from the central communication system How were people keeping the size of the intos the same? How was this possible? It's possible. This is a very thoughtful question, and its Behind them, their organized guild system was functioning. These It was no coincidence that the eyes were identical. For this reason Standardized wooden molds were made. Meaning, entire molds of the same size They were used in Samrajji. Exactly like the craftsmen who made them. They used to follow a very strict rule. This shows that they have a very sophisticated system for measurement and weighing. It would have been a harsh and centralized administration, which every city, every These are one without any strong authority or quality control Achieving beauty is truly impossible. Well, that's that. But their infrastructure, so large a public Where is the money or resources for works and engineering? Trade and their global network will have been there. There is no doubt about it. Every single person Not only skilled engineers, but also the finest of their generation. Merchants and farmers were also present. Did you know that the Harappans... They were the first people in the world to cultivate cotton and weave cloth from it. Truly the very first in the world. And perhaps this very cotton fabric is theirs. A very large part was also trade. But trade on such a massive scale For transportation, and at Lothal in Gujarat, the world's The oldest dockyard, namely Bandargah, has been acquired by it. It is the greatest entity. Yes, but the dockyard at Lothal is just There was no place to take off in the water. This was their engineering. Another unparalleled example of skill. These are the very edges of the ocean. It was not at the edge, but slightly inward from the ground. Because they had a very good understanding of the science behind the dangerous storms and tides that come into the sea. They had used the tidal lock system near Khambhat Bay. When high tide came in the sea, water would flow through a channel into their dockyard, made of baked bricks, filling it up, allowing ships to easily enter. It's amazing; the ship must be safe with this. Exactly, it protected them even from maritime storms and provided calm waters for loading and unloading cargo. How did they cross the vast ocean without modern ships, reaching as far as the Mesopotamian region, 4500 years ago? They understood the directions of the winds, especially the monsoon winds, very well. Their ships sailed from the Sabarmati River, crossed the Arabian Sea, and reached Maesopotamia, which is today's Iraq. I mean, the international treaty was ongoing. Yes, in the documents from Mesopotamia, these people were referred to as "Miluhu." When conducting business at the international level, honesty and accuracy are extremely important. I have read about their battos, that is, the vets. They carved the stone into precise blocks, which were used in the construction of the Sola's foundation. Multiples of 16? Yes. Sixty-four, 32, 64—but why only sixty-four? What's special about it? The mathematics behind it is very fascinating. You can easily halve seven, just like eight, four, two, one. This was originally a prehistoric binary system. Binary system? Yes, with this, they could weigh those items very precisely and in small portions, that is, fractions. If someone weighs six grams of gold in Lothal, it will weigh exactly six grams in Mohenjo-daro or Harappa as well. That might even leave today's luxury brands behind. And Mohan, upon meeting Jodhro, showed her the statue of the dancing girl of Kashi, revealing how deeply he understood the process of melting metals and pouring them into molds—a technique known as lost-wax casting. And most importantly, despite such extensive excavation, only a few ordinary knives or spears were found bearing the names of the murderers—tools that were probably used solely for hunting. So if there was no large army, no assassins, how was such a vast population obeying such strict laws, without fear, tyranny, or police? It is very difficult to say this, but the answer might lie within those mysterious seals inscribed with an unknown script. Yes, the script that has not been readable until today. Exactly, there are images of a bull with a horn, an elephant, and a garden on those steatite and stone seals. In addition, during the excavation, a seal depicting a figure resembling Pashupati Shiva, images of the goddess only, and symbols of peepal trees and swastikas were discovered. How could a civilization so wealthy, so peace-loving, with such a robust infrastructure, suddenly vanish from the pages of history? This decline began around 1900 BCE, but it was not an ending like a Hollywood film, where a catastrophe struck in a single day and everything came to an end. So how was it? This was a terrible, slow, and painful process. Municipal systems in cities began to deteriorate. Where the roads had once been perfectly straight and clear, people began to overstep their bounds. The drains began to clog up. Yes, initially, this is what was taught in schools—that the Aryans came from outside and attacked them, wiping them out. Yes, for decades, this Aryan invasion theory was considered true. But modern science, radiocarbon dating, and especially DNA research have completely proven this to be false. There was no war. The true villain was not a human, but nature itself. Climate change. That is, climate change. But how can a change in weather completely erase an entire, highly advanced civilization? What was the chain reaction behind it? Its entire mechanism is related to rivers and monsoons. Harappa civilization was predominantly agricultural. But the pattern of the monsoon began to change in that decade. It started to rain less. And what about the rivers? Due to the movement of tectonic plates, the rivers that had been their lifelines began changing their courses. The great Saraswati River, along whose banks the most settlements were located, began to dry up. And destructive floods began to repeatedly occur in the Indus River. Thus, it must have directly affected their food and trade. Absolutely. When there was no rain and the rivers dried up, grain production in the fields came to a halt. When there was no grain left, nothing remained to feed the artisans, engineers, and merchants sitting in the cities. Everything has become interconnected. The supply of raw materials has been blocked, causing international trade to come to a standstill. The entire system collapsed like a house of cards; that is, people hadn't died, but had simply abandoned their city. Yes, in archaeology, this is called de-urbanization. When there was no water or food left in the cities, people, forced by hunger and thirst, began abandoning those great, great forests. Even their finest engineering proved helpless in the face of nature. This is a profound lesson in human history. A civilization that had reached the pinnacle of development, which taught the world engineering. The mood of the seasons and the rivers had brought him back to the very spot where, centuries ago, they had begun. Indeed, Harpappa's story of subsistence is truly not just a single page from some history book. This tells us how a highly organized, peace-loving, and scientific society came into being, used its intellect to manage its affairs, and ultimately bowed before the changes brought about by nature. Exactly, and with this very thought, we will conclude today's discussion. For listeners, this is a thought-provoking point: the people of Harappa were peace-loving, they would inquire of their rivers, were close to nature, and possessed the finest of their time. They live in nature's forests, polluting their rivers with chemical waste. Forests are being cut down, and global warming has already reached an extreme peak. The greatest challenge for modern society is this. Please give it serious consideration. See you in the next D-Day dive.