Re: History of Pakistan
The records that were found are not substantial proof to connect Indus Valley with Meluhha. See the link I provided. It is still theory and speculation not established fact even if we use mesopetomian texts.
I think Shaivism is somehow related to this civilization along with South Indian tradition, I always thought Shiva is purely south Indian origin god before I met kashmiri Pandits :)
Re: History of Pakistan
The records that were found are not substantial proof to connect Indus Valley with Meluhha. See the link I provided. It is still theory and speculation not established fact even if we use mesopetomian texts.
Not much Is known about Indus valley civilisation in any case, all are speculations based upon different levels of researches by different people.
Re: History of Pakistan
The last phase of Indus Valley civilisation is well illustrated in chanhu daro and jhukar, in Sindh. The button seals in these sites are very different as compared to the harrapan seals. Compartmentalised seals were discovered here which are similar to the ones found in northern Iran. The fundamental difference in the urban setup in the later sites is unexplained as there's no evidence of destruction of the older cities. The administration of the cities seem to be in decline in the later stages. The system of Indus writing came to an end. Overseas trade ended, and melluha was forgotten in Mesopotamia. The urban culture fell apart and was replaced by regional cultures.
Re: History of Pakistan
Aryans started settling in northern Pakistan all the way to Jhelum in the second millennium BC. These people changed the whole history of the area. For the first time the aryans were mentioned by archaemenian ruler darius (522-486 BC). One group of aryans settled in the areas between Kashmir and chitral which has linguistic affinity and their languages are called dardic languages.
Other tribes settled in definite areas, like pancha kuru settled in dir on the bank of panchkora (pancha kuru -> depicting the five sub tribes of kuru). This tribe formed the madra tribe and settled in Punjab giving rise to madrapur (madrakur of alberuni, now known as Lahore). Puru tribe lived between Jhelum and Chenab. Druhyu tribe lived in Potohar plateau. It is again the kuru tribe which fought the war of kurukshetra at the bank of Ravi. The Mahabharata war resulted in the formation of territorial kingdoms, the most important of which were gandhara, sindhu sauvira (rohri the capital) in the south and sauvira (modern seriaki belt with multan as capital).
Re: History of Pakistan
Cyrus the great (559-530 BC) embarked on a mission to unite the people of Iranian and non aryan back ground. The eastern end of his empire extended to the Indus Valley. He created a network of roads, by the help of which he linked taxila with Susa and Persepolis. He administered the area by dividing the area into satrapies. The project of road construction was extended by the mauryans to Pataliputra. This road was further improved by shershah suri, moguls and the British. This road is now called GT road.
the military conquest of darius included whole district of gandhara, land beyond Indus River and the entire Indus Valley. One great achievement of darius was geographical survey of the entire Indus region. He built a fleet under the command of greek of asia minor to sail down the indus and survey the way to Egypt. This was the second time in the history of Pakistan that the overseas route of Pakistan opened. Exploration started from charsadda and the fleet took 30 months to complete its journey.
he introduced coins in the Indus Valley, another gift of the archaemenians was re-introduction of writing in the Indus Valley. This introduction was simultaneously followed by Sanskrit grammarians.
the writing introduced by the archaemenians was kharoshti (based upon aramaic alphabets and is written from right to left). Interestingly kharoshti can be seen inscribed in the stupas of taxila (1 AD).
Re: History of Pakistan
The last phase of Indus Valley civilisation is well illustrated in chanhu daro and jhukar, in Sindh. The button seals in these sites are very different as compared to the harrapan seals. Compartmentalised seals were discovered here which are similar to the ones found in northern Iran. The fundamental difference in the urban setup in the later sites is unexplained as there's no evidence of destruction of the older cities. The administration of the cities seem to be in decline in the later stages. The system of Indus writing came to an end. Overseas trade ended, and melluha was forgotten in Mesopotamia. The urban culture fell apart and was replaced by regional cultures.
What were the reasons behind such decline?
Re: History of Pakistan
What were the reasons behind such decline?
It seems as if the economy melted down and the overseas trade ended. The administration of older and newer Indus Valley cities was entirely different. The earlier cities were very well managed and planned where as the later cities were badly managed.
Re: History of Pakistan
Aryans started settling in northern Pakistan all the way to Jhelum in the second millennium BC. These people changed the whole history of the area. For the first time the aryans were mentioned by archaemenian ruler darius (522-486 BC). One group of aryans settled in the areas between Kashmir and chitral which has linguistic affinity and their languages are called dardic languages.
Other tribes settled in definite areas, like pancha kuru settled in dir on the bank of panchkora (pancha kuru -> depicting the five sub tribes of kuru). This tribe formed the madra tribe and settled in Punjab giving rise to madrapur (madrakur of alberuni, now known as Lahore). Puru tribe lived between Jhelum and Chenab. Druhyu tribe lived in Potohar plateau. It is again the kuru tribe which fought the war of kurukshetra at the bank of Ravi. The Mahabharata war resulted in the formation of territorial kingdoms, the most important of which were gandhara, sindhu sauvira (rohri the capital) in the south and sauvira (modern seriaki belt with multan as capital).
Kurkshetra is on the Bank of Ravi? isn't Kurkshetra near Delhi?
Strange that Al-Beruni (died in 1048 AD) calls Lahore Madrakur, as reference to Anandpal (ruled in 1010 AD) has been referred as Hakim e Lahur
Re: History of Pakistan
but what happened that destablised economy all of sudden? 
Re: History of Pakistan
Over a period of time…Indus valley remained for thousands of years, the sudden decline is not established. A lot of excavation work needs to be done.
Re: History of Pakistan
Taxila was a center of learning since 10 century BC, it further flourished during the Archaemenians. Three Vedas and 18 crafts were taught there, and people traveled from all over the world to get educated from there. Darius brought the culture of Mesopotamia and Greeks to Gandhara.
Re: History of Pakistan
Indus Valley Civilization - Reasons for Decline
A definite reason for the sudden decline of the Indus Valley Civilization is still elusive, since there are no reliable records for the period, historians can only speculate. All excavations however do prove that the decline occurred suddenly between 1800 BC and 1700 BC. It has been suggested that perhaps the people of the Indus Valley Civilization were destroyed by invading barbaric tribes. It has also been suggested that the Aryans who were the next settlers, may have attacked and destroyed the Indus Valley Civilization, since their epics talk about their conquest of great cities. Such theories of a violent end, have been partly proved by the discovery in Mohenjo-Daro of human remains that indicated a violent cause of death. However such evidence was not consistent as most other cities showed an absence of a massacre. The possibility of the Aryans being involved in such a conflict seems unlikely, especially since recent excavations have shown that the Aryans arrived almost 500 years after the decline of the major Indus Valley Civilization’s cities.
The theory of climatic factors causing the decline has been gaining credibility, in the light of the recent research. Around 2000 BC major ecological changes began taking place in the Indus Valley, tectonic changes caused the creation of a dam in the lower Indus, thus flooding the plains and cities. Evidence to prove this hypothesis has been found. Many Indus Valley Civilization cities show signs of having been abandoned and then rebuilt, indicating they were continuously flooded. Eventually this began to take its toll, and what archaeologists call the squatters period set in. Cities were no longer built with the care they were earlier, broken bricks were used for construction and no attention was paid to a proper sewage system. Also the average rainfall in the area began decreasing as the area slowly began turning into the desert it is today. For a civilization that was highly dependant on agriculture, such major climatic changes had a devastating effect. The influence the big cities had on the rest of the region was based largely on the amount of grain they stocked in their granaries. Once agricultural production declined the influence of the cities declined and eventually the region went into a state of anarchy.
Re: History of Pakistan
Alexander marched into the Indus Valley as a part of his campaign against the Archaemenian empire. He himself exclaimed that "he would not take money nor provinces in lieu of the whole empire of Darius, for all lands and possessions of Darius were his ...".
Alexander's biggest contribution was the establishment of direct relationships between Greece and Indus valley. Alexander's conquest of this region did not lead to permanent acquisition as his three viceroys Philip, Nicanor and Peithon were killed in local revolts. But the Greeks continued with their life and maintained their language, culture, religion and art. After Alexander's death his general Seleucus appropriated himself as ruler and tried to win back Indus valley but was chased out by Chandragupta Maurya. At the beginning of second century BC the Bactrian Greeks reconquered Kabul, Gandhara and other parts of today's Pakistan. They created new cities at Taxila (Sirkap) and Charsadda.
Re: History of Pakistan
Alexander marched into the Indus Valley as a part of his campaign against the Archaemenian empire. He himself exclaimed that "he would not take money nor provinces in lieu of the whole empire of Darius, for all lands and possessions of Darius were his ...".
Alexander's biggest contribution was the establishment of direct relationships between Greece and Indus valley.
I got a book dealing with attacks on Sindh from ancient periods. will look into that how positive were Greeks to Sindh :p
Re: History of Pakistan
^ that would be interesting.
Now reading how Maurya dislodged the Greeks...
Re: History of Pakistan
According to professor P.H.L Eggermont the Maurya Dynasty should be identified with Moeris (ruler of Pattalene in Sindh. According to Greek accounts the local tribes had revolted several times against the Greeks due to the instigation of Brahmans. What ever might be the reason Maurya had studied in Taxila and had also met Alexander made friendship with the Puru tribe (Raja Porus's tribe) and with their help conquered Nanda empire in India. Thus for the first time in the history of the subcontinent a single centralized bureaucratic rule was established between Indus and Gangetic Valley. This bureaucratic system based upon the strength of Army was weakened by Asoka's religious bent of mind which led to the down fall of the empire.
Under Mauryans diplomatic relationship of the area continued with the Greeks. The western provinces (having capital of Taxila) started groaning under the maladministration of the bureaucracy and revolted several times. When in 206 BC Antiochus II crossed the Hindukush the local rulers could not fare well. After this Indo Greeks established their rule in Kashmir, Punjab, Kabul and even raided into the Gangetic plains. This empire continued for 150 years. Even after the empire collapsed, the Greeks kept on living in these areas. Gandhara is influenced by Greek art and has given historical identity to Pakistan.
Re: History of Pakistan
According to professor P.H.L Eggermont the Maurya Dynasty should be identified with Moeris (ruler of Pattalene in Sindh. According to Greek accounts the local tribes had revolted several times against the Greeks due to the instigation of Brahmans. What ever might be the reason Maurya had studied in Taxila and had also met Alexander made friendship with the Puru tribe (Raja Porus's tribe) and with their help conquered Nanda empire in India. Thus for the first time in the history of the subcontinent a single centralized bureaucratic rule was established between Indus and Gangetic Valley. This bureaucratic system based upon the strength of Army was weakened by Asoka's religious bent of mind which led to the down fall of the empire.
Under Mauryans diplomatic relationship of the area continued with the Greeks. The western provinces (having capital of Taxila) started groaning under the maladministration of the bureaucracy and revolted several times. When in 206 BC Antiochus II crossed the Hindukush the local rulers could not fare well. After this Indo Greeks established their rule in Kashmir, Punjab, Kabul and even raided into the Gangetic plains. This empire continued for 150 years. Even after the empire collapsed, the Greeks kept on living in these areas. Gandhara is influenced by Greek art and has given historical identity to Pakistan.
Pattalene is today's Karachi and Indus delta region consisting of Thatta, Tharparkar and Hyderabad. There was a major city Brahminabad in the region which has been mentioned by Historian while discussing Arab conquest of Sindh.
The archeological evidence of this area have been destroyed by Arab invaders. Who were the rulers before Sahi dynasty in the region is still to be resolved.
Re: History of Pakistan
^ that would be interesting.
Now reading how Maurya dislodged the Greeks...
The first interaction between Greeks and Sindhis was in Greece, when they fought for Irani King Dara III.
Re: History of Pakistan
The first interaction between Greeks and Sindhis was in Greece, when they fought for Irani King Dara III.
Yes the Persians and Greeks had been fighting each other, and this is what led Alexander to the area.
Re: History of Pakistan
^ that would be interesting.
Now reading how Maurya dislodged the Greeks...
Hope book has Chankya, the main person, he bought chandragupta from slave market for four gold coins, took him to Taxila and made him emperor by dislodging Nanda empire. Chandragupta invaded Selucus necator in Punjab and his daughter Princess Helena became Chandragupta's wife :)
Yes the Persians and Greeks had been fighting each other, and this is what led Alexander to the area.
Yes, the rivalry was very bitter, it has famous battle of Thermopylae