The rise of invasions of Indus Valley civilization has created a path for several theories of its rise and untimely extinction.
According to British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, the Indus River Valley was abruptly overtaken and captured by a nomadic Indo-European group known as the Aryan Civilization. Wheeler was a Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1944 to 1948, he stated that huge unburied bodies lay in the prime area of the Mohenjo-Daro archaeological site.
This theory also speaks about the use of horses and progressive weapons that was quiet contrary to the Harappan way of life. On the other hand, the theory strengthens because the Aryans were the amongst the first to make use of sophisticated weapons and horses as means of transport.
Many scholars have come to an understanding that the Indo-Aryan Migration thesis, which claims that the Harappan culture was integrated when the Aryans invaded into northwest India, is true.
The Foreign Invasion Theory
Wheeler (1947), Piggott (1950), and Gordon (1958) all backed a foreign occupation idea to explain the Indus culture's precipitous collapse
The invasion norm is strived to be supported as the defense wall was sometimes enhanced at the municipal area including ancient texts. Which had remarks of identical invasions and also the ancient texts, there were mentions of similar invasions and the acquisition of towns by the Indo-Europeans.
On the grounds of urban Harrapan levels bronze weapons, other traditional weapons were found together. Identical evidence was discovered in the HR area, where a set of 13 skeletons, including males, females, and a child, were discovered in a state that indicated that they were killed one by one.
The Climate Change Theory (C. 1800-1500 BC)
Eastward - moving monsoons, or winds that produce heavy rainfall, could have wreaked havoc on the Harappan environment.
Monsoons, depending on whether they sustain or damage vegetation and agriculture, can be both beneficial and destructive to a climate. The growth of agriculture was abundant as the monsoons that appeared in the Indus river valley have benefitted them and has also promoted the growth of cities(Harappa).
The community has always dependent on the natural source of water, the monsoons and never on the other external irrigation facilities, which proves the abundance of rain at the time.
By 1800 BCE, the environment in the Indus Valley had chilled and dried, and a seismic event may have caused the Ghaggar Hakra river system to flow into the Ganges Plain. The Harappans may have moved eastward to the Ganges basin, where they built communities and isolated farms.
This small isolated population was unable to provide a large agricultural supply to aid bigger cities. This lead to a scarcity in production of goods and saw a deterioration in trade amongst Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Harappan Civilization.
Nearly more than half of the Indus valley civilization cities were evacuated around 1700 BCE.
Tectonic Phenomena Theory
This theory is formulated for the cause to illustrate the water deposited coverings confronted at the Mohenjo-Daro city area.
Amri and Chanhudaro both produced identical results, however, there was no proof from the Saurashtra site.
M.R Sahani is a geologist and paleontologist who had a researched in the year 1952 on salty deposits of the Indus plain and concluded that the flood in this area wasn’t due to a surge of the river, there was another incident that took place.
As a result, the tectonic theory had to be demonstrated once more. Raikes (1964, 1975) and Dales (1964, 1975) expanded on this hypothesis (1966)
They investigated the riverbank in great detail. Raikes has found silty deposits as high as 30 feet above ground level. The sediments has originated from water that leverage the theory of the Indus River generating these conditions.
As a result, M.R. Sahani's dam and lake hypothesis was proven correct.
During his inquiry, Dales discovered that the early Harappan sea ports had moved 30 miles inland, implying that the shoreline in this section of Pakistan has risen dramatically.
Hydrological Change Theory
Lambrick (1967) proposed that the eastward migration of the river Indus caused repeated floods of fertile area in and around Mohenjo - Daro, eventually leading to the loss of agricultural produce.
This argument could also suggest that the new Ghaggar-Hakra waterways were the center of Indus civilization.
There was a huge migration of the artisans and tradesmen towards Saurashtra and Haryana, that must have commenced in the early 1900 BC. Even in the earliest Indus Valley settlements, we can trace the formation of a new element of the Jhukar and Jhangar culture. This phase may mark the beginning of the Ghaggar feeder's journey to Chautang.
People with commercial relations have often retained human touch with the Indus Valley, as well as different princedoms further west, who may have in return had contact with the Sumerians fir st, and subsequently the Babylonians.
As the Indus plain went into the deterioration of the Indus frugality in these 200 years made a way for Indo-European speakers to enter. They may have arrived in many ways and brought their culture with them, and it doesn’t come off as that they destroyed Indus civilization, according to archaeological pieces of evidence or by the several revised radiocarbon dates of numerous stages.
Written By - Pratthiksha shree A
Edited By - Tushna Choksey
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