Post-Harappan Cultures and the Problem of Continuity
Ancient History › Indus Valley Civilisation · Topic 3.11
After 1900 BC the urban Harappan culture gave way to post-urban, mostly Chalcolithic village cultures (1900 to 1200 BC) in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Swat and western UP, with late sites like Rangpur, Bhagwanpura and Alamgirpur. New peoples filtered into the Indus basin without overwhelming it. The Harappan culture was not Vedic, and with cities, script and burnt bricks gone for about 1500 years, there was no simple cultural continuity.
6 min read · UPSC Prelims · History · Indus Valley Civilisation
At a Glance
- Post-urban phase About 1900 to 1200 BC
- Late sites Rangpur, Prabhas Patan, Alamgirpur, Hulas
- Northern outpost Swat valley
- Not Vedic No horse, no cities in the Rig Veda
- Burnt bricks again Around 300 BC
- Exam link UPSC Prelims, Ancient History: Indus Valley Civilisation
Where Does It Fit?
This is the last topic of the category on the Indus Valley Civilisation. The previous topic covered the decline of the cities, and this one covers what followed. The next category covers the Vedic age, beginning with the identity of Aryan culture. Previous topic: Decline of the Indus Civilisation.
What Was the Post-Urban Harappan Phase?
In short: after the cities fell, Harappan traditions survived in rural, mostly Chalcolithic communities for several centuries.
The urban phase, marked by systematic town planning, extensive brickwork, writing, standard weights and measures, the citadel and lower town distinction, bronze tools and black-painted red ware, virtually disappeared with its stylistic uniformity. Traits of the post-urban culture, also called the sub-Indus culture, are found in Pakistan and in central and western India, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jammu, Delhi and western UP, from about 1900 to 1200 BC. These were primarily Chalcolithic cultures using stone and copper and living in villages by farming, stock-raising, hunting and fishing. They lacked complicated cast metal objects but had axes, chisels, knives, bangles, curved razors, fish-hooks and spearheads. Prabhas Patan (Somnath) and Rangpur in Gujarat are direct descendants, while at Ahar only a few Harappan elements appear, and Gilund has brick structures of 2000 to 1500 BC. Few Harappan elements occur in the Malwa and Jorwe cultures, whose largest settlement Daimabad covered about 22 ha with perhaps 4000 people. The Chalcolithic setting is in Chalcolithic Cultures of India.
| Region | Late sites and features |
|---|---|
| Swat valley | Developed agriculture, cattle breeding and pastoralism; black-grey burnished ware like northern Iran; the northernmost outpost of late Harappan culture |
| Punjab, Haryana, Jammu, UP | Manda in Jammu, Chandigarh, Sanghol, Daulatpur, Mitthal, Alamgirpur, Hulas; rice at Daulatpur and Hulas; probable cotton at Alamgirpur |
| Bhagwanpura (Haryana) | Late Harappan pot forms interlocked with Painted Grey Ware remains |
| Changes | Painted pottery simplified; no measuring objects; no human figurines; faience popular in the north |
Did New Peoples Arrive?
During the late phase some exotic tools and pottery show a slow percolation of new peoples into the Indus basin. There are signs of insecurity and violence in the last phase of Mohenjo-daro: hoards of jewellery buried, skulls huddled together, and new types of axes, daggers and knives in the upper levels, which seem to betray foreign intrusion. New pottery is found in a late Harappa cemetery and in Baluchistan, where the horse and Bactrian camel existed by 1700 BC. The newcomers may have come from Iran and south Central Asia, but not in numbers that overwhelmed the Harappan sites in Punjab and Sindh. The Rig Vedic people largely settled in the land of the Seven Rivers where the Harappan culture once flourished, but there is no archaeological evidence of any mass-scale confrontation between late Harappans and Indo-Aryans. Successive groups of Vedic people may have entered the subcontinent in the post-urban phase between 1500 and 1200 BC.
Was the Harappan Culture Vedic?
| Point | Harappan culture | Rig Veda |
|---|---|---|
| Towns and bricks | Planned towns and burnt bricks | No such features; people lived by cattle rearing with some farming, without bricks |
| Date | Mature urban phase 2500 to 1900 BC | About 1500 BC |
| Crops | Wheat, sesamum, peas | Only barley |
| Animals | Rhinoceros and tiger known; horse hardly known | No rhinoceros or tiger; horse mentioned 215 times |
| Writing | Undeciphered script | No Indo-Aryan inscriptions of Vedic times |
The language of the Harappans is unclear. Another account records the view that the authors of the civilisation spoke Dravidian, which only decipherment can settle.
Is There Continuity With Later India?
Scholars differ between continuity and de-urbanisation. Because urbanism was basic to the Harappan culture, its collapse breaks continuity, and de-urbanisation meant the disappearance of towns, script and burnt bricks for about 1500 years. No important Harappan feature appears in the Painted Grey Ware culture of the first half of the first millennium BC: there is no great architecture, burnt brick, bronze, urbanism or writing. Truly fired bricks appear in north India around 300 BC with the Northern Black Polished Ware culture, and writing returns as Brahmi, written left to right whereas Harappan script ran right to left. NBP pottery is unrelated, and iron and coinage of the NBPW phase were not Indus traits. Stray beads and a few ceramic items continued, and elements survived in the Chalcolithic cultures of Rajasthan, Malwa, Gujarat and the upper Deccan. After 1900 BC there was some give and take between Indo-Aryan and existing cultures, with Munda and proto-Dravidian languages enriching Sanskrit with words for pottery and agriculture. As an analytical point, continuity is partial and cultural, such as crafts, pottery and some ideas, while the urban system itself needed to be rebuilt in the second urbanisation, described in Second Urbanisation and Rural Economy in the Age of the Buddha. The Vedic side is in Identity of Aryan Culture and the Debate on Aryan Origins.
Why Is This Topic Important?
- Debate Harappan versus Vedic is a classic question
- Evidence Horse and urban features decide the case
- Link Second urbanisation
What Came Next?
The next category covers the Vedic age, beginning with the identity of Aryan culture. Next topic: Identity of Aryan Culture and the Debate on Aryan Origins.
Key People and Terms
- Post-urban Harappan Late phase after the cities
- Sub-Indus culture Another name for the post-urban phase
- De-urbanisation Disappearance of towns
- NBPW Northern Black Polished Ware
- PGW Painted Grey Ware
- Percolation Slow movement of new peoples
Exam Corner
Points to Remember
- Post-urban phase: 1900 to 1200 BC.
- Swat valley: northernmost late Harappan outpost.
- Burnt bricks return about 300 BC.
- Brahmi runs left to right.
- Rig Veda mentions the horse 215 times.
Do Not Confuse With
- Late Harappan and PGW Post-urban villages versus Iron Age grey ware
- Continuity and de-urbanisation Unbroken culture versus loss of towns
- Indus and Vedic cultures Urban Bronze Age versus pastoral Vedic society
Memory Hook
Cities fall, villages carry on; strangers seep in; horse and bricks say Harappa was not Vedic.
Mains Angle
Questions on this theme ask whether the Harappan culture continued. These points add depth.
- After the cities Rural Chalcolithic survival
- New peoples Percolation without conquest evidence
- Continuity Partial, not urban
A Question You May Face
An original practice question, not a past paper question.
“Examine the problem of continuity between the Harappan civilisation and later cultures of India.”
How to Answer
- Late phase Post-urban villages.
- Arrivals New peoples in small numbers.
- Vedic question Differences in the evidence.
- Verdict Partial continuity.
GS Relevance
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the post-urban Harappan phase?
The post-urban phase, also called the sub-Indus culture, covers roughly 1900 to 1200 BC, when the cities, writing, standard weights and bronze tools disappeared. It was mainly Chalcolithic, with villages of farmers, herders, hunters and fishers in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and western UP.
Was the Harappan culture Vedic?
No. The mature Harappan phase was urban with planned towns and burnt bricks, which the Rig Veda does not mention, while the Rig Veda is horse-centred and dated about 1500 BC. The plants and animals known to both were different.
Is there evidence that new peoples entered the Indus region?
Late Harappan sites show exotic tools and pottery, signs of violence at Mohenjo-daro, and horse and Bactrian camel remains in Baluchistan by 1700 BC. The newcomers did not overwhelm the area, and no mass-scale confrontation with Indo-Aryans is attested.
Did Harappan features continue in the Painted Grey Ware culture?
No important Harappan feature appears in the Painted Grey Ware culture. It lacks great buildings, burnt bricks, bronze, urbanism and writing, and has its own characteristic pottery, so cultural continuity in a strict sense cannot be shown.
When did burnt bricks and writing return to north India?
Truly fired bricks reappear in north India around 300 BC in the Northern Black Polished Ware phase, and writing returns in the Brahmi script, which was written from left to right, unlike the Harappan script that ran from right to left.
PYQ Practice — Statement Analysis
1 The Rig Veda mentions the horse about 215 times.
The urban Harappans hardly knew it.
2 Burnt bricks were used continuously in north India after the Harappan decline.
They reappear about 300 BC.
3 The Swat valley was a northern outpost of late Harappan culture.
It had developed agriculture and pastoralism.
4 The Painted Grey Ware culture shows urbanism and writing.
It lacks both.
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