Harappa Culture of the Indus Valley The Harappa civilization flourished in the Indus Valley during IndiaÕs Bronze Age of the

third millennium b.c. This thriving culture was all but completely descimated in 2500 b.c.

by invading Aryan groups from the west. The archaeological evidence that has been produced

by the famous sites of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro suggest that the people of the Harappa

Culture may have in fact, contributed more substantially to modern Hindu culture than was

previously believed.The Harappa Culture of the Indus valley saw itÕs peak during the Bronze

Age of India. It stretched from itÕs northern capital, Harappa, in the Punjab, to the

southern city, Mohenjo-daro, on the Indus in Sind (Piggott, 134). These two sites together

comprise the most well known and best excavated representatives of Bronze Age Harappan

culture. However, it should be noted that in addition to these two famous sites, there are

fourteen smaller villages in HarappaÕs ÒNorthern KingdomÓ, and seventeen smaller sites in

Mohenjo-daroÕs ÒSouthern KingdomÓ;together, these sites comprise

of the time have been difficult to find in the burial practices of the Harappans. Forensic archaeological evidence indicates that the people who created this culture were of

placed in Òpost-cremation urnsÓ. These urns contained the remains of completely cremated

by a battered wall of baked bricks... with towers and great gateways,Ó (Piggott,159).

young girl was found wrapped in a shroud of reeds, and buried in a wooden box. This type of

to trade with foreign cultures as we have seen from the evidence just presented. Evidence of

read from right to left, and when a second line of characters was present, the boustrophedon

pieces), with the lines of the design being flush with the surface of the piece (Malik, 13).

in common; in particular, both are, or were, located on the banks of major rivers --

even today in Hindu practices in the rural areas of India. Depictions of a man with three

were probably painted with donkey hair brushes similar to those still used in Sind today

Hindu society owed more to Harappa than it did to the Sanskrit-speaking invaders,Ó

(Piggott, 205). One burial in particular does stand-out however. In 1946,the body of a

Mohenjo-daro was once Òa centre of religious or administrative life on a significant scale,Ó

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