My ancestors came from the village of Harappa, specifically the area associated with the Harappan civilisation or the Indus Valley civilisation (IVC). My grandparents and father (who was a young child then) witnessed the Partition firsthand; members of my family arrived penniless in this part of the country which is called India or Bharat.
Subsequently, after my grandfather’s death, they moved to the melting pot of Delhi. They survived the trauma of one of history’s greatest displacements and built new lives for themselves in Bharat. For all their losses — lives of loved ones, ancestors’ land, and property — not one of them became a thief or a criminal or a terrorist. They took the values of their civilisation so seriously that they continued to live them despite all the difficulties and despair.
Research into the Harappan Civilisation remains shrouded in mystery as historians were unsuccessful in deciphering its writing system, which consists of 400 unique symbols that appear on short stamp seals, amulets and pottery. Latest research has yet to become popular to construct the scientific narrative into the language, and paleo channels of Saraswati have to gain universal acceptance for exchange of information.
Also Read: Don’t reduce Harappan Civilisation to Indus vs Saraswati. No city grew in isolation
Harappa as a history of humanity
Harappa is a foundational chapter in human civilisational history. It represents the first major urban civilisation, a sophisticated urban society alongside and arguably predating that of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. It is a bronze powerhouse that flourished between 3300 and 1300 BCE, stretching across approx. 1,00,000 square kilometres between modern day India and Pakistan.
The Harappans revolutionalised human development through their unparalleled focus on urban planning, civil engineering and community living. They also developed the world’s first known urban sanitisation systems, complete with advanced drainage, flushing toilets and private bathing areas. Another accomplishment of the Harappans was a highly accurate system of weights and measures, which indicated a society deeply entrenched in fair trade with other bronze-age civilisations. Unlike contemporary civilisations that built grand temples and palaces for autocratic rulers, there is no evidence of a monarchy, or armies or warfare in the Harappan era.
There is, however, evidence to indicate that Harappan merchants navigated both land and sea, trading specialised goods like cotton, beads and lapis lazuli gemstones as far away as Mesopotamia.
The civilisation gradually declined due to climate change. As the monsoon patterns shifted, the original Harappan settlers not only built Harappa but Rakhigarhi, Kalibangan, Lothal, etc. as urban centres.
The winds of change – Harappa to Arikamedu
From Sindh to the bustling Harappan port centres of Gujarat (Lothal, Dholavira and Bhagatrav); from Gujarat down to the Konkan coast and along estuarine ports; from the Western Ghats to the plains in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — all are genetically similar people. Maritime traders, dockworkers and bead makers, who had knowledge of international shipping networks, are the ones who created this civilisation. On the other hand, pastoralists moved their herds to newer pastures, as did metallurgists and traders. Bead technology excavated at Arikamedu, near present-day Puducherry, bears an uncanny resemblance to the beads found at Harappa.
Hinduism and Harappa
The Britannica encyclopaedia maintains that “Hinduism is the oldest living religion on Earth.” It refers to Hinduism (a moniker assigned by Europeans) as a “rich cumulative tradition of texts and practices, some of which date back to the 2nd millennium BCE or possibly earlier.” If the Indus Valley Civilisation (3rd–2nd millennium BCE) was the earliest source of these traditions, one can clearly infer that Harappans were Hindus. Narrative builders, however, are yet to definitively acknowledge this. Why would they? The cultural appropriation of the world’s oldest civilisation cannot fit the narrative of hatred in an era when it is fashionable to post an anti-Hindu narrative.
Archaeologists such as Gregory L Possehl, Jonathen Mark Kenoyer and BB Lal have identified enduring elements including ritual bathing, reverence for water, the symbolism of the Peepal tree, terracotta female figurines associated with fertility, and the iconography of animals. The most relevant “evidence” is the Pashupati seal that resembles a crude figure of Lord Shiva. Interpretations of these artefacts remain contested as the Harappan script has not been deciphered yet, but cumulative archaeological evidence suggests that many practices and symbols intrinsic to Hinduism have deep roots in the Harappan cultural tradition. Recent archaeological and genetic studies further challenge earlier models of large-scale cultural replacement, indicating substantial demographic continuity across north-western South Asia after the decline of the IVC. This supports the view of many historians that unlike Abrahamic religions, Hinduism was not founded at a single historical moment but as an evolving civilisational tradition whose antecedents extended into the Bronze Age.
Even a much later treatise, the Baburnama, acknowledges the remarkable geographical continuity of the Indus Valley basin, the prosperity of the Punjab, and the peaceful people of the region, before they were invaded by the marauders. The fact that Hinduism then extends all the way from the IVC region to Kashmir, the Holy Land of Lord Shiva, is now acknowledged by all and sundry.
Also Read: The past controversies of Mohenjo-Daro Dancing Girl. Her nudity has always been an issue
Cultural appropriation and the hijack politics of Pakistan
It is interesting to note how Pakistan is suddenly embracing its Brahminic history. The recent month has seen a flurry of activity — including reverting to non-Islamic, pre-Partition street names in Lahore; introduction of Sanskrit in the national curriculum of Lahore University; and acknowledging Swabi, Pakistan as the birth place of the Sanskrit scholar Panini. Eminent Pakistanis like Bilawal Bhutto are now seeking to appropriate the Indus Valley heritage to frame Pakistan as the rightful historical custodian of the Indus River (and needless to say, her waters).
The Harappan heritage has always thrown Pakistan into an existential crisis. Anything that came before 761 AD, the year Muhammad bin Qasim rode into Sindh twirling his sword, was the legacy of the paganists, the cow worshippers, and the kaafirs (non-believers). The Pakistanis have spent almost 80 years of their existence desperately trying to scrub Taxila, the IVC, Harappa, the legacy of my ancestors and my religion, off their existential timeline. The best is their educational system which preaches whatever it does but also teaches Mohamed bin Qasim as a first Pakistani. And yet today, the self proclaimed inheritors of Arab ancestry have suddenly decided to embrace their Indus (read Hindu) roots. The bronze statue of the Dancing Girl, which lies in Delhi’s National Museum with her I-dare-you chutzpah is today embraced as the ‘Girl from Sindh’ to say the least about rights of women.
Pakistan seeks to manipulate the West to support their claim as the true inheritor of the ‘Indus Valley’ legacy and hence secure rights over the Indus River Treaty, which has been in abeyance since Operation Sindoor. They recently received funding to “protect Pakistan’s cultural heritage” by exploiting Taxila as a “centre of ancient learning.”
In the same week that Pakistan got funding from the British and Australian governments to protect its “extraordinary” heritage, it destroyed a 125-year-old historic gurdwara, Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sahib, located in Farooqabad near Lahore.
Apart from being the birthplace of Panini, who wrote Ashtadhyayi, the Sanskrit grammar rules as a mathematical model and a precursor to modern-day algorithms, Pakistan has been a holy land for the Sikhs as well. The first Sikh guru and the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev was born in Nankana Sahib currently in Pakistan’s Punjab, while Guru Arjan Dev attained martyrdom in the depths of the Ravi river as he sang “Tera kiya meetha laage.”
The question remains – is Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir ready to embrace his true heritage and his Hindu roots? Is he ready to bow his head to the mighty Lord Pashupathi who is the presiding deity, and the Mother Goddess who protects the Indus Valley with her divine shakti? Is he willing to give up Pakistan’s claim to the divine land of Shiva and Parvati, the holy land of the Hindus where the Amarnath Cave promulgates an icy Shivalinga? Is he ready to embrace his Indic roots and acknowledge that there is a 5,000-year-old Hindu history to the subcontinent? I will certainly wait for that day.
During Partition, Pakistan got the most fertile parts of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan and a generous compensation to start a new nation with a new philosophy. All I ask is that my holy lands be returned to me and my holy rivers once again flow through my country. “Into that heaven of freedom my father, let my country awake.”
Civilisation is not just a geographical entity. It has a value system built by its people’s hard work. It has survived the marauders. The values which present-day India exhibits can be traced back to the ancient value system of Harappan and Vedic traditions; unlike the new nation of Pakistan, which was carved out of the lands of my ancestors. The values of universalism “ekam satya vipra bahuda vadanti” are beyond the comprehension of the founding principles of Pakistan. A civilisation is a lived experience, not just land which can be destroyed in the hands of those who don’t believe in peace.
Meenakshi Lekhi is a BJP leader, lawyer and social activist. Her X handle is @M_Lekhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aakriti Handa)