Language in Indus Valley civilisation

Language in Indus Valley civilisation

Subject – History

Context – A new research paper published in the peer-reviewed journal of the Springer Nature Group has provided some interesting new insight on the linguistic culture of the Harappans.

Concept –

• The Indus Valley script is yet to be deciphered.
• the paper traced their language roots to proto-Dravidian, which is the ancestral language of all the modern Dravidian languages.
• Thereafter the paper suggested that speakers of ancestral Dravidian languages had a greater historic presence in northern India including the Indus Valley region from where they migrated.
• There were thriving trade relations between the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) and the Persian Gulf as well as Mesopotamia.
• Akkadian – language spoken in ancient Mesopotamia.

Indus Valley Civilisation –

• The history of India begins with the birth of the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC),also known as Harappan Civilization.
• It flourished around 2,500 BC, in the western part of South Asia, in contemporary Pakistan and Western India.
• The Indus Valley was home to the largest of the four ancient urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China.
• In 1920s, the Archaeological Department of India carried out excavations in the Indus valley wherein the ruins of the two old cities, viz. Mohenjodaro and Harappa were unearthed.
• In 1924, John Marshall, Director-General of the ASI, announced the discovery of a new civilisation in the Indus valley to the world.
• Three phases of IVC are:
  • the Early Harappan Phase from 3300 to 2600 BCE,
  • the Mature Harappan Phase from 2600 to 1900 BCE, and
  • the Late Harappan Phase from 1900 to 1300 BCE.
• The IVC declined around 1800 BCE but the actual reasons behind its demise are still debated.