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Lost Civilizations
The Indus
When Alexander the Great’s army invaded the valley of the Indus River in the fourth century BC, it was wholly unaware that this region of northwest India had once been the centre of a civilization worthy of comparison with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Indus civilization flourished for half a millennia from about 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE, when it mysteriously declined and eventually vanished. It remained invisible for almost 4,000 years, until its ruins were discovered in the 1920s by British and Indian archaeologists. Today, after almost a century of excavation, it is regarded as the beginning of Indian civilization and possibly the origin of Hinduism.More than 1,000 Indus settlements covered at least 800,000 square kilometres of what is now Pakistan and the most extensive urban culture of its age, with a vigorous maritime export trade to the Persian Gulf and cities such as Ur. The two largest Indus cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – boasted sophisticated street planning and house drainage, including the world’s first toilets, along with finely crafted gemstone jewellery and an exquisite, part-pictographic writing system carved on seal stones that has defied numerous attempts at deciphering. Astonishingly, there is no evidence for armies or warfare.The Indus is a fascinating look at the vital legacy of the Indus within modern India and an accessible introduction to this tantalizing ‘lost’ civilization.
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 15, 2015
42 people are currently reading
493 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Robinson
462 books76 followers(William) Andrew Coulthard Robinson is a British author and former newspaper editor.
Andrew Robinson was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College where he was a King's Scholar, University College, Oxford where he read Chemistry and finally the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He is the son of Neville Robinson, an Oxford physicist.
Robinson first visited India in 1975 and has been a devotee of the country's culture ever since, in particular the Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore and the Bengali film director Satyajit Ray. He has authored many books and articles. Until 2006, he was the Literary Editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement<?em>. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge.
He is based in London and is now a full-time writer.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
Andrew Robinson was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College where he was a King's Scholar, University College, Oxford where he read Chemistry and finally the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He is the son of Neville Robinson, an Oxford physicist.
Robinson first visited India in 1975 and has been a devotee of the country's culture ever since, in particular the Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore and the Bengali film director Satyajit Ray. He has authored many books and articles. Until 2006, he was the Literary Editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement<?em>. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge.
He is based in London and is now a full-time writer.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 25, 2024
This was my first thorough introduction to the Indus Civilization, the very early civilization in what is now Pakistan and India, in the period from 2600 to 1900 BCE, roughly contemporaneous with the Egyptian Old Kingdom (the time of the Great Pyramids) and the Sumerian-Akkadian civilization in Mesopotamia. Only in the first half of the 20th century did the great ruins of the Indus cities come to light and it gradually became apparent that this was a very sophisticated civilization, perhaps on the same level as its better-known Middle Eastern colleagues.
Publicist Andrew Robinson gives a good overview, with a few personal touches (including a lot of attention to the still undeciphered script of the Indus civilization), and especially the constant warning (rightly so) that there are still many unknowns. He also does not shy away from thorny issues, such as the highly charged debate about what happened after 1900 BCE, the so-called Aryan controversy. More about that in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....
Publicist Andrew Robinson gives a good overview, with a few personal touches (including a lot of attention to the still undeciphered script of the Indus civilization), and especially the constant warning (rightly so) that there are still many unknowns. He also does not shy away from thorny issues, such as the highly charged debate about what happened after 1900 BCE, the so-called Aryan controversy. More about that in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....
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October 21, 2024The discovery of major ruins in the Indus River basin in the 1920s and subsequent years caused much commotion, not only in archaeological circles but also far beyond. It turned out that there was also a flourishing civilization outside of the Middle East, and approximately in the same period (in this case 2600-1900 BCE), with impressive buildings, great technical ingenuity, refined art and, above all, its own script. It was soon called the Harappan Civilization, after the first city to be uncovered in the northeast of what is now Pakistan. What is particularly striking is the vastness of the area in which this civilization flourished: virtually the entire basin of the Indus Valley and related rivers, more than 1 million square kilometers in size, considerably more than Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Therefore, more scolars use the term Indus-civilization.
But compared to the great Middle Eastern civilizations, we face a major handicap: the Indus script has still not been deciphered (there are about 200 theories circulating, but without much success). Andrew Robinson is an expert in the early history of writing (cf. his book Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction) and in this book he devotes quite a bit of attention to the frantic attempts to decipher it; he himself makes a creditable attempt to provide a few keys that could possibly enhance the process. Because we cannot yet read the Indus script, many questions remain unanswered. For example, we are not sure what the large structures in cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were for. We are also in the dark about the meaning of their art (especially on seals), and that means that we have little insight into the real political, economic, social and cultural situation of this civilization. We don't even know what language the Indus people spoke.
With the latter we touch on a thorny issue, the so-called Aryan question. Until about 1980 it was generally thought that the Indus Civilization was wiped off the map around 1900 BCE by an invasion of so-called Aryans, steppe peoples who invaded the Indus Valley from the northwest, and in addition to horse and chariot also introduced the Indo-European languages (more concretely Indo-Aryan, and especially Sanskrit). But since 1980 there has been fierce criticism of that view, especially from Hindu nationalist quarters, and fueled by post-colonialism, and all kinds of alternative theories are being proposed. For example, the Indus civilization is said to have already been fully Aryan, and according to some, the Indus Valley was not overrun by steppe peoples, but the migration started from the Indus region itself. Robinson points out that there is no really convincing evidence for these alternatives, and that they are mainly ideologically inspired. In the meantime I read a few additional books on this matter: The Aryan Debate and The Indo-Aryan Controversy, and I’ve noticed this really is a hot issue. I hope to be able to elaborate a little more on that in the reviews of these books (see here and here). In any case, I can definitely recommend this book by Robinson!
But compared to the great Middle Eastern civilizations, we face a major handicap: the Indus script has still not been deciphered (there are about 200 theories circulating, but without much success). Andrew Robinson is an expert in the early history of writing (cf. his book Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction) and in this book he devotes quite a bit of attention to the frantic attempts to decipher it; he himself makes a creditable attempt to provide a few keys that could possibly enhance the process. Because we cannot yet read the Indus script, many questions remain unanswered. For example, we are not sure what the large structures in cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were for. We are also in the dark about the meaning of their art (especially on seals), and that means that we have little insight into the real political, economic, social and cultural situation of this civilization. We don't even know what language the Indus people spoke.
With the latter we touch on a thorny issue, the so-called Aryan question. Until about 1980 it was generally thought that the Indus Civilization was wiped off the map around 1900 BCE by an invasion of so-called Aryans, steppe peoples who invaded the Indus Valley from the northwest, and in addition to horse and chariot also introduced the Indo-European languages (more concretely Indo-Aryan, and especially Sanskrit). But since 1980 there has been fierce criticism of that view, especially from Hindu nationalist quarters, and fueled by post-colonialism, and all kinds of alternative theories are being proposed. For example, the Indus civilization is said to have already been fully Aryan, and according to some, the Indus Valley was not overrun by steppe peoples, but the migration started from the Indus region itself. Robinson points out that there is no really convincing evidence for these alternatives, and that they are mainly ideologically inspired. In the meantime I read a few additional books on this matter: The Aryan Debate and The Indo-Aryan Controversy, and I’ve noticed this really is a hot issue. I hope to be able to elaborate a little more on that in the reviews of these books (see here and here). In any case, I can definitely recommend this book by Robinson!
October 14, 2020
A concise up to date overview of our current knowledge of the Indus Valley civilisation. It deals with all the major aspects of the Indus people from the architecture, arts and crafts, trade, agriculture, society and religion and the Indus script. As the Indus script hasn't yet been deciphered, most of what we know is from the informed speculations based upon the archaeological sources.
From the absence of any archaeological evidence of weapons and scarce depiction of fighting in the arts, Indus civilisation in its mature phase seems to have survived for more than half a millennia in a state of peace without any warfare or violence. The Indus cities walls and gates apparently had to do with controlling trade and commerce rather than waging war.
The highly planned cities of the Indus and the existence of successful trading networks over a remarkably vast area is suggestive of a highly organised society and some kind of central authority. But there is no evidence of palaces or temples, Kings or priests. This along with the presence of the great Bath and the Indus peoples preoccupation with water has led some scholars to speculate on a caste system and a hierarchy based on ritual purity and occupational groups, that can be compared to the latter Hindu caste organisation. while this is possible, we really don't have much idea about the organisation of the Indus society.
While the people from the Indus were enterprising and seafaring traders who travelled as far as Egypt and Mesopotamia and perhaps Mediterranean, there is no evidence of traders from Mesopotamia traveling to the Indus. Nor is there any evidence regarding the kind of goods that the Indus traders brought back from Mesopotamia.
The short chapter on Hinduism shows how many aspects of the classical and modern hinduism can be traced back to the indus civilisation.
While the identification of proto-shiva is debated, it is very clear that the figure is seated in a yogic posture called mulabandhasana. There are many other evidences of figures in the yogic postures from the Indus arts.
The chapter on the indus script is the best part of the book. He calls the indus script the most deciphered script in the world, as there are more than a hundred proposed decipherments. I think strongest contender for the language of the Indus is Sanskrit or some related language
The last chapters deal with the demise of this remarkable urban civilisation and the cultural legacies it has left in the modern Hinduism and Indian civilisation. Far from being catastrophic and sudden, it seems to have been a more gradual and non-uniform process from both environmental and human factors.
From the absence of any archaeological evidence of weapons and scarce depiction of fighting in the arts, Indus civilisation in its mature phase seems to have survived for more than half a millennia in a state of peace without any warfare or violence. The Indus cities walls and gates apparently had to do with controlling trade and commerce rather than waging war.
The highly planned cities of the Indus and the existence of successful trading networks over a remarkably vast area is suggestive of a highly organised society and some kind of central authority. But there is no evidence of palaces or temples, Kings or priests. This along with the presence of the great Bath and the Indus peoples preoccupation with water has led some scholars to speculate on a caste system and a hierarchy based on ritual purity and occupational groups, that can be compared to the latter Hindu caste organisation. while this is possible, we really don't have much idea about the organisation of the Indus society.
While the people from the Indus were enterprising and seafaring traders who travelled as far as Egypt and Mesopotamia and perhaps Mediterranean, there is no evidence of traders from Mesopotamia traveling to the Indus. Nor is there any evidence regarding the kind of goods that the Indus traders brought back from Mesopotamia.
The short chapter on Hinduism shows how many aspects of the classical and modern hinduism can be traced back to the indus civilisation.
While the identification of proto-shiva is debated, it is very clear that the figure is seated in a yogic posture called mulabandhasana. There are many other evidences of figures in the yogic postures from the Indus arts.
The chapter on the indus script is the best part of the book. He calls the indus script the most deciphered script in the world, as there are more than a hundred proposed decipherments. I think strongest contender for the language of the Indus is Sanskrit or some related language
The last chapters deal with the demise of this remarkable urban civilisation and the cultural legacies it has left in the modern Hinduism and Indian civilisation. Far from being catastrophic and sudden, it seems to have been a more gradual and non-uniform process from both environmental and human factors.
February 11, 2022
小時候到歷史博物館參觀美索不達米亞文明展的時候
導賞的伯伯説世上最古老的文明非中東和印度莫屬
而非中華文明
偶爾想起這句話的時候
就會很有興趣想更認識印度文明
但比起美索不達米亞
有關印度文明的書籍要少得多
最近看了印度次大陸那本書
那是一本很好的入門書
對印度古文明更有興趣
這些書是我在豆瓣隨意看看的時候發現
意外地有趣和好讀
介紹了很多印度古文明的考古發現和未解之謎
例如作者說到現今所發掘的1000個印度古文明遺跡之中
完全找不到戰爭痕跡
亦都找不到王侯大型墳墓的遺跡
到底古印度社會是怎樣運作到現在還是個謎
還有的是古印度文字至今也不能破譯
作者用不偏不倚的方法介紹了很多種印度文字破譯的嘗試
值得欣賞
如果對古文明和考古有興趣
這本書絕對值得一讀
導賞的伯伯説世上最古老的文明非中東和印度莫屬
而非中華文明
偶爾想起這句話的時候
就會很有興趣想更認識印度文明
但比起美索不達米亞
有關印度文明的書籍要少得多
最近看了印度次大陸那本書
那是一本很好的入門書
對印度古文明更有興趣
這些書是我在豆瓣隨意看看的時候發現
意外地有趣和好讀
介紹了很多印度古文明的考古發現和未解之謎
例如作者說到現今所發掘的1000個印度古文明遺跡之中
完全找不到戰爭痕跡
亦都找不到王侯大型墳墓的遺跡
到底古印度社會是怎樣運作到現在還是個謎
還有的是古印度文字至今也不能破譯
作者用不偏不倚的方法介紹了很多種印度文字破譯的嘗試
值得欣賞
如果對古文明和考古有興趣
這本書絕對值得一讀
June 20, 2021
The last chapter of the book describes two scenes: (1) Jawaharlal Nehru, writing about the Indus Civilization in his book, The Discovery of India: "though she influenced them [other civilizations] and was influenced by them, her cultural basis was strong enough to endure. What was the secret of this strength? Where did it come from?"; and (2) Mohandas Gandhi, on being shown a pair of silver anklets from excavations at Taxilla, one of the sites of the Indus Civilization, remarking with a deep sigh: "Just like what my mother used to wear."
These images move me, a South Asian. They reflect the desire to construct a an ancient genealogical ground for personal or national identity; and, paradoxically, also at a native's own I-am-Jack's-complete-lack-of-surprise attitude towards a windfall concordance of the old and the new. If a theme haunts this book, and for good reason; it is that of nationalistic or religious grand narratives. If there's a lament raised in passing, it is the general lack of interest among South Asians in their heritage.
"The Indus" describes a 5000-year old civilization that spanned areas of modern-day India and Pakistan along the meanders and deltas of the river Indus.
The book begins by retracing the timeline of the civilization's discovery (starting in 1920s), the early protagonists (the colonial-era Archeological Survey of India), publications, and early debates (Do various sites sufficiently share cultural affinity? Is this civilization distinct from or part of Sumeria/Mesopotamia?). Next, it describes salient features of the architecture (anti-flood platforms, patterns in the building blocks, the compass-oriented street plans, the many wells and elaborate artificial drainage system); the arts and crafts ("Indus art objects always emphasize technical qualities and craftsmanship over monumentality"); agriculture (millets, rice, water buffaloes, and goats); trade (elaborate system of weights, strong evidence of trade with Mesopotamia); and finally broaching society, religion, and, in perhaps the best chapter of the book, the elusive Indus script.
What makes the book fascinating is this distillation of a complex subject; what makes it great is its treatment of ambiguity. How does one piece together the story of a civilization that doesn't seem to have monuments crying for attention, successor civilizations that provide evidence of continuous transformation, or a Rosetta Stone that can serve as a prophetic intermediary between the modern mind and ancient intention? Meanwhile, this 5000-year old history's material existence is constantly threatened by water-logging and salinity.
The author stands out in his frank acknowledgement of insufficient evidence, a respectful distance from tempting explanations (one that the books often addresses is the civilization's connection with Vedism), and an open examination of tactics assisting interpretation. The last quality is put on a dazzling display in the chapter "Deciphering Indus Script," as the author ponders three questions about the Indus language: (1) the direction of writing, (2) the collection of signs, (3) the segmentation of signs into numerals and words. We see, in illustrated examples, how kerning patterns, concordance indexing, the sheer number of signs (425 is too many for a syllabic writing system and too few for a logographic one), and positional and pairwise frequency analyses are used to find potential answers within reasonable doubt and with limited data.
Finally, I savor the new meanings this book has brought to Hölderlin's ode, Der Ister:
"But we sing, having come
Far from the Indus
And Alpheus, we have long sought
Adequacy to fate,
It takes wings to seize
The nearest things
Immediately
And reach the other side.
Let us settle here.
For the rivers make the land
Arable. If there be vegetation
And animals come to water
At the banks in summer,
Here men will also go."
These images move me, a South Asian. They reflect the desire to construct a an ancient genealogical ground for personal or national identity; and, paradoxically, also at a native's own I-am-Jack's-complete-lack-of-surprise attitude towards a windfall concordance of the old and the new. If a theme haunts this book, and for good reason; it is that of nationalistic or religious grand narratives. If there's a lament raised in passing, it is the general lack of interest among South Asians in their heritage.
"The Indus" describes a 5000-year old civilization that spanned areas of modern-day India and Pakistan along the meanders and deltas of the river Indus.
The book begins by retracing the timeline of the civilization's discovery (starting in 1920s), the early protagonists (the colonial-era Archeological Survey of India), publications, and early debates (Do various sites sufficiently share cultural affinity? Is this civilization distinct from or part of Sumeria/Mesopotamia?). Next, it describes salient features of the architecture (anti-flood platforms, patterns in the building blocks, the compass-oriented street plans, the many wells and elaborate artificial drainage system); the arts and crafts ("Indus art objects always emphasize technical qualities and craftsmanship over monumentality"); agriculture (millets, rice, water buffaloes, and goats); trade (elaborate system of weights, strong evidence of trade with Mesopotamia); and finally broaching society, religion, and, in perhaps the best chapter of the book, the elusive Indus script.
What makes the book fascinating is this distillation of a complex subject; what makes it great is its treatment of ambiguity. How does one piece together the story of a civilization that doesn't seem to have monuments crying for attention, successor civilizations that provide evidence of continuous transformation, or a Rosetta Stone that can serve as a prophetic intermediary between the modern mind and ancient intention? Meanwhile, this 5000-year old history's material existence is constantly threatened by water-logging and salinity.
The author stands out in his frank acknowledgement of insufficient evidence, a respectful distance from tempting explanations (one that the books often addresses is the civilization's connection with Vedism), and an open examination of tactics assisting interpretation. The last quality is put on a dazzling display in the chapter "Deciphering Indus Script," as the author ponders three questions about the Indus language: (1) the direction of writing, (2) the collection of signs, (3) the segmentation of signs into numerals and words. We see, in illustrated examples, how kerning patterns, concordance indexing, the sheer number of signs (425 is too many for a syllabic writing system and too few for a logographic one), and positional and pairwise frequency analyses are used to find potential answers within reasonable doubt and with limited data.
Finally, I savor the new meanings this book has brought to Hölderlin's ode, Der Ister:
"But we sing, having come
Far from the Indus
And Alpheus, we have long sought
Adequacy to fate,
It takes wings to seize
The nearest things
Immediately
And reach the other side.
Let us settle here.
For the rivers make the land
Arable. If there be vegetation
And animals come to water
At the banks in summer,
Here men will also go."
August 22, 2022
The Indus is part of Reaktion Book’s Lost Civilizations series and as such is a nicely concise overview of the current state of Indus civilization studies (as of 2016 in this edition). The civilization that arose around the Indus and Saraswati rivers flourished from about 3500 BCE to 1800 BCE, give or take a few centuries; Harappa, its 2nd largest urban center, lasted to about 1300 before disappearing from the archaeological record. Indus-related sites, however, have been found dating to 7000 BCE.
However, it remains the least understood of the great urban civilizations, and what we do know of it suggests a political, economic and social culture quite different from the contemporaneous Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations. A civilization quite advanced (their sewage systems and urban planning were unmatched in the ancient world until the Roman era) but one that doesn’t appear to have had a stark social or economic hierarchy or that was particularly warlike. If the Indus valley peoples lacked any technology it would have been that for making war. Their urban centers had no (obvious) defensive characteristics like walls or fortified citadels and their weapons were primitive compared to those of Sumerian or Egyptian armies.
Their past remains enigmatic primarily for two reasons – it’s difficult to excavate their sites (both for geological and political reasons) and we haven’t deciphered their script.
Recommended. Obviously, you’re not going to get much detail but Robinson provides a bibliography & his writing is clear and straightforward. Exactly what you want in a book like this.
However, it remains the least understood of the great urban civilizations, and what we do know of it suggests a political, economic and social culture quite different from the contemporaneous Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations. A civilization quite advanced (their sewage systems and urban planning were unmatched in the ancient world until the Roman era) but one that doesn’t appear to have had a stark social or economic hierarchy or that was particularly warlike. If the Indus valley peoples lacked any technology it would have been that for making war. Their urban centers had no (obvious) defensive characteristics like walls or fortified citadels and their weapons were primitive compared to those of Sumerian or Egyptian armies.
Their past remains enigmatic primarily for two reasons – it’s difficult to excavate their sites (both for geological and political reasons) and we haven’t deciphered their script.
Recommended. Obviously, you’re not going to get much detail but Robinson provides a bibliography & his writing is clear and straightforward. Exactly what you want in a book like this.
March 7, 2024
Someone asked me what I was reading when I was holding this book and when I mentioned the book title, they wondered if I was reading that for a dissertation or if I was reading with genuine interest in the subject to which I happily replied it was the latter. History interests me, and if it's reasoning and analysis of a lost civilization close to my home, I'm all for it.
The author lays out the historical findings, assumptions, and theories proposed by eminent historians and linguists in a chronological fashion. The 5000 year old civilization is regarded as the beginning of Indian civilization and possibly the origin of Hinduism.
The similarities I see personally between the Indus civilization and the Dravidian lifestyle are plentiful - no monuments or opulent palaces or grand burial grounds to signify power but elaborate metro planning encompassing a well-thought drainage system and raised platforms to safeguard inhabitants from ever prevalent floods. Most grand temples in the Dravidian rule were not just erected for religious purposes but were also built to address the general needs of the common public.
The images of the sculptures resonate with me, and I subconsciously identify with the Indus Valley culture. The idea that the civilization might have Dravidian roots seems like a plausible explanation, having born in a culture that's known for it's modest lifestyle, religious tolerance, architectural sophistication, and collective intellectualism.
The author lays out the historical findings, assumptions, and theories proposed by eminent historians and linguists in a chronological fashion. The 5000 year old civilization is regarded as the beginning of Indian civilization and possibly the origin of Hinduism.
The similarities I see personally between the Indus civilization and the Dravidian lifestyle are plentiful - no monuments or opulent palaces or grand burial grounds to signify power but elaborate metro planning encompassing a well-thought drainage system and raised platforms to safeguard inhabitants from ever prevalent floods. Most grand temples in the Dravidian rule were not just erected for religious purposes but were also built to address the general needs of the common public.
The images of the sculptures resonate with me, and I subconsciously identify with the Indus Valley culture. The idea that the civilization might have Dravidian roots seems like a plausible explanation, having born in a culture that's known for it's modest lifestyle, religious tolerance, architectural sophistication, and collective intellectualism.
June 7, 2021
Clear and concise overview of what researchers know about the Indus civilization. Compared to other ancient civilizations I didn’t know much about the Indus even having read some Indian history. This fills in a lot of gaps and I found myself astonished over and over. My biggest surprise was that the Indus script has never been deciphered. There aren’t that many available examples, especially not long ones and there’s no bilingual inscriptions either. Hopefully with further excavation there might be a breakthrough.
August 3, 2024
A sober introduction to the Indus civilisation showcasing how little we actually know about this once great civilisation while still managing to make it interesting (with the help of illustrations and some speculation). One can only hope that the Indus script will be deciphered in our life time so that we might understand at least a fraction of the Indus people and their culture, religion and society.
July 9, 2021
সাড়ে তিন তারা।
সিন্ধু সভ্যতা নিয়ে এর আগে খানিকটা পড়েছিলাম আব্রাহাম এরালির একটা বইতে। প্রত্নতত্ত্ব নিয়ে গবেষণা চলমান বলে দশক ঘুরলেই অনেক ধারণা তামাদি হয়ে যায়; নতুন করে বেশ কিছু ব্যাপার জানলাম। রবিনসন সিন্ধু সভ্যতা নিয়ে গবেষণারও একটি কালানুক্রমিক বর্ণনা যোগ করেছেন বলে ধারণাগুলোর বিবর্তনের একটা ছবি পাওয়া যায়, সেটা বেশ চিত্তাকর্ষক। বইটা বেশ ছোটো, এটাই আমার অভিযোগ; তবে আরও বিশদে লিখতে গেলে ঝুলে যাওয়ার ভয় থাকে। একটা ভালো বই আরও দশটা ভালো বইয়ের খোঁজ দিয়ে পড়তে উসকায়, সে বিচারে এ বইটি বেশ ভালো।
আশা করি ভারত আর পাকিস্তানে সিন্ধু সভ্যতার অস্পৃষ্ট প্রত্নক্ষেত্রগুলোর সযত্ন উৎখনন শিগগীরই শুরু হবে।
সিন্ধু সভ্যতা নিয়ে এর আগে খানিকটা পড়েছিলাম আব্রাহাম এরালির একটা বইতে। প্রত্নতত্ত্ব নিয়ে গবেষণা চলমান বলে দশক ঘুরলেই অনেক ধারণা তামাদি হয়ে যায়; নতুন করে বেশ কিছু ব্যাপার জানলাম। রবিনসন সিন্ধু সভ্যতা নিয়ে গবেষণারও একটি কালানুক্রমিক বর্ণনা যোগ করেছেন বলে ধারণাগুলোর বিবর্তনের একটা ছবি পাওয়া যায়, সেটা বেশ চিত্তাকর্ষক। বইটা বেশ ছোটো, এটাই আমার অভিযোগ; তবে আরও বিশদে লিখতে গেলে ঝুলে যাওয়ার ভয় থাকে। একটা ভালো বই আরও দশটা ভালো বইয়ের খোঁজ দিয়ে পড়তে উসকায়, সে বিচারে এ বইটি বেশ ভালো।
আশা করি ভারত আর পাকিস্তানে সিন্ধু সভ্যতার অস্পৃষ্ট প্রত্নক্ষেত্রগুলোর সযত্ন উৎখনন শিগগীরই শুরু হবে।
August 4, 2025
My first read on the IVC and this one provides a complete view of the Indus. It talks about its discovery, architecture, arts and crafts, agriculture, trade with Mesopotamia, society and religion, gradual decline and disappearance, and the attempts to decipher the Indus script.
A must-read for those interested in understanding more about this enigmatic civilization and its people.
A must-read for those interested in understanding more about this enigmatic civilization and its people.
June 24, 2017
Review of: The Indus: Lost Civilizations, by Andrew Robinson
by Stan Prager (6-23-17)
In the late fifth century BCE, one Ctesias of Cnidus, a Greek physician at the Persian court, wrote passages that described the Indus River and its environs in the distant land of Sindh, and spoke of local exotica, including unicorns. Even then there was no memory of the great ancient civilization that once flourished there and then fell, a millennium and a half before. Another millennium and a half was to pass before British railway builders stumbled upon the startling remains of what is today called the Harappan, or more commonly, the Indus Valley Civilization, which once straddled the now sometimes contentious border region of southern Pakistan and northwestern India. Among the artifacts eventually uncovered were ancient Indus seals–contemporary with Sumer and Old Kingdom Egypt–inscribed with a script that yet remains undeciphered, and decorated with images of unicorns!
The hearts of ancient history aficionados tend to beat a little faster when the Indus Valley Civilization comes up in conversation. One of three great ancient civilizations of the Old World, along with Egypt and the Mesopotamian city states, it almost certainly hosted the largest population–perhaps as many as five million–and was the most geographically widespread. Yet, it is the least known and thus the most fascinating and enigmatic of the three.
It is this that makes the publication of The Indus, by Andrew Robinson–the first entry in a new series entitled Lost Civilizations–such a welcome addition to the scholarship. In a remarkable achievement, Robinson–a polymath who is at once journalist, scholar, and prolific author–has written an outstanding digest-sized volume that brilliantly summarizes nearly everything that we know about Indus and what remains unknown or in dispute. Moreover, he does so in an engaging narrative style replete with fact, analysis and interpretation suitable to both the scholarly and popular audience.
In 1856, British engineers laying the East Indian Railway Company line in the Punjab pilfered tons of bricks for ballast from forgotten ruins along the way, including Harappa, which unknown to them was once a great urban center inhabited from 3500-1300 BCE, and one of the largest cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Some years later, amateur excavations turned up the first unicorn seal, but its significance was overlooked. Serious archaeology began in the 1920s, and coincided with the discovery of another large city, Mohenjo-daro, in Sindh. The following decades revealed that the Indus Valley Civilization encompassed a vast region represented by well over a thousand cities and settlements (uncovered thus far), extending over at least at least 800,000 square kilometers (more than 300,000 square miles), with a population in the millions.
This astonishing civilization, at its height 2600-1900 BCE, was built upon thriving river basin communities centered upon wheat and barley cultivation (and later, rice) along the Indus River, as well as another ancient river that long ago went dry and vanished, that some–including Robinson—identify with the legendary Saraswati and its descendant, the Ghaggar-Hakra river system, which now flows only with the monsoon. It is clear from Indus seals (which depicted real as well as fanciful creatures!) that they domesticated animals, including the humped zebu cattle and the water buffalo. Arts and crafts were highly developed, as was metallurgy. In addition to a writing system, they created a uniform system of weights and measures. Extensive trade networks by land and sea carried raw materials and finished objects to places as far as away as Mesopotamia, where no less a historical figure than Sargon of Akkad circa 2300 BCE boasted of ships from “Meluhha,” as the Indus was known to him, docking at his capital. Trade may also have extended to Egypt and Minion Crete. Their cities were architecturally stylized masterpieces of engineering, evidenced careful street planning, and remarkably sophisticated water drainage and sewage systems–including the world’s first toilets–that could only have been possible in a highly organized and carefully managed society. Yet, there appears to be no indication of armies or warfare. Indus Valley Civilization flourished for centuries before entering a period of slow decline most likely due to environmental factors, around 1900BCE—several hundred years prior to the time Ramses II ruled Egypt—and eventually disappeared entirely, although tantalizing traces of its cultural imprint can be detected even today.
What can we make of Indus, which truly is a “lost” civilization? As Robinson describes it, the challenges of archeology and interpretation have been and remain substantial. Stripping ruins for railway construction was only the first of many insults to the legacy of Indus. Early excavations were sloppy, in the days before strict archaeological methodology was standardized. With scant evidence, conclusions were reached and loudly trumpeted of a warlike people given to “militaristic imperialism” led by a “ruthless authoritarian regime,” who finally only succumbed to Indo-Aryan invaders—none of which stands up to scrutiny. The material culture has yet to reveal any traces of war, or even soldiers. And while Indo-Aryan migrations into the region did in fact occur, these were not coterminous with Indus decline. At the other extreme, Hindu nationalists—who vehemently reject the scholarly consensus that Sanskrit is a member of the Indo-European language family rooted in those later Indo-Aryan migrations—have on entirely spurious grounds attempted to hijack Indus as the autochthonous ancestor of Hinduism and Indian national identity. These politically powerful forces have even created from whole-cloth a faux decipherment of the Indus script, to serve their propaganda objectives, which is utterly baseless. Archaeological efforts have been compromised over the years by a variety of factors, most prominently the 1947 partition that created Pakistan and India as separate and often hostile nation states—and effectively drew an international boundary line through Indus sites in a volatile region that makes excavation both difficult and dangerous. Moreover, environmental dynamics in flooding and high water table salinity threaten existing sites and complicate future excavation. In fact, about ninety percent of Indus sites remain unexcavated, including Ganweriwala, a huge urban center that ranks in size with Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro! Finally, the stubborn resistance of the Indus script to decipherment despite decades of intensive efforts offers little hope that the many mysteries of the Indus Valley Civilization will be resolved anytime soon.
It is a testament to the genius of the author that he was able to take so much material and condense it down to such a small volume without compromising the quality of the work. Concisely but carefully, in chapters that examine architecture, trade, society and the like, he discusses what is known and deconstructs competing arguments of interpretation. And while he refutes the specious attempts of Hindu nationalists to connect the dots from ancient Indus to modern India, Robinson makes a strong case for continuity in conspicuous traces of Indus Valley Civilization that seem to have indeed left an indelible footprint on the South Asian landscape. There are elements of religious symbolism that echo in Hinduism, including ritual purification, as well as the unique system of weights and measures that still survives in markets in India and Pakistan today. One of the book’s many delightful photographs shows Harappan terracotta votive objects depicting zebus and a wheeled cart, juxtaposed with a facing page contemporary photo of a similar bullock cart in use in the Indus valley, some four thousand years later. Robinson includes much discussion of the Indus writing system and the lost language it recorded, as well as its possible link to the Dravidian family of languages prevalent in southern India today.
Robinson’s little book is an excellent introduction to an extraordinary civilization that has been all but lost to time. Skillfully organized and well-written, this fine work also contains a wealth of illustrations, photographs, maps, and a timeline, adding to its accessibility for the general audience, while the meticulous notes underscore its reliability for a more scholarly one. A glance at some of the human faces staring back at us from Indus art provokes chills of a sort for the modern reader, evoking snippets of Shelley’s sonnet Ozymandias and reflecting that long before Caesar, or Pericles, or even Tutankhamen, in the days when Khufu’s mummy was interred at Giza, there was a magnificent civilization in South Asia that then disappeared from human memory for thousands of years. And we are still trying to rediscover it.
This review appears on my book blog, with a map and picture of the unicorn seal, here: https://regarp.com/2017/06/23/review-...
by Stan Prager (6-23-17)
In the late fifth century BCE, one Ctesias of Cnidus, a Greek physician at the Persian court, wrote passages that described the Indus River and its environs in the distant land of Sindh, and spoke of local exotica, including unicorns. Even then there was no memory of the great ancient civilization that once flourished there and then fell, a millennium and a half before. Another millennium and a half was to pass before British railway builders stumbled upon the startling remains of what is today called the Harappan, or more commonly, the Indus Valley Civilization, which once straddled the now sometimes contentious border region of southern Pakistan and northwestern India. Among the artifacts eventually uncovered were ancient Indus seals–contemporary with Sumer and Old Kingdom Egypt–inscribed with a script that yet remains undeciphered, and decorated with images of unicorns!
The hearts of ancient history aficionados tend to beat a little faster when the Indus Valley Civilization comes up in conversation. One of three great ancient civilizations of the Old World, along with Egypt and the Mesopotamian city states, it almost certainly hosted the largest population–perhaps as many as five million–and was the most geographically widespread. Yet, it is the least known and thus the most fascinating and enigmatic of the three.
It is this that makes the publication of The Indus, by Andrew Robinson–the first entry in a new series entitled Lost Civilizations–such a welcome addition to the scholarship. In a remarkable achievement, Robinson–a polymath who is at once journalist, scholar, and prolific author–has written an outstanding digest-sized volume that brilliantly summarizes nearly everything that we know about Indus and what remains unknown or in dispute. Moreover, he does so in an engaging narrative style replete with fact, analysis and interpretation suitable to both the scholarly and popular audience.
In 1856, British engineers laying the East Indian Railway Company line in the Punjab pilfered tons of bricks for ballast from forgotten ruins along the way, including Harappa, which unknown to them was once a great urban center inhabited from 3500-1300 BCE, and one of the largest cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Some years later, amateur excavations turned up the first unicorn seal, but its significance was overlooked. Serious archaeology began in the 1920s, and coincided with the discovery of another large city, Mohenjo-daro, in Sindh. The following decades revealed that the Indus Valley Civilization encompassed a vast region represented by well over a thousand cities and settlements (uncovered thus far), extending over at least at least 800,000 square kilometers (more than 300,000 square miles), with a population in the millions.
This astonishing civilization, at its height 2600-1900 BCE, was built upon thriving river basin communities centered upon wheat and barley cultivation (and later, rice) along the Indus River, as well as another ancient river that long ago went dry and vanished, that some–including Robinson—identify with the legendary Saraswati and its descendant, the Ghaggar-Hakra river system, which now flows only with the monsoon. It is clear from Indus seals (which depicted real as well as fanciful creatures!) that they domesticated animals, including the humped zebu cattle and the water buffalo. Arts and crafts were highly developed, as was metallurgy. In addition to a writing system, they created a uniform system of weights and measures. Extensive trade networks by land and sea carried raw materials and finished objects to places as far as away as Mesopotamia, where no less a historical figure than Sargon of Akkad circa 2300 BCE boasted of ships from “Meluhha,” as the Indus was known to him, docking at his capital. Trade may also have extended to Egypt and Minion Crete. Their cities were architecturally stylized masterpieces of engineering, evidenced careful street planning, and remarkably sophisticated water drainage and sewage systems–including the world’s first toilets–that could only have been possible in a highly organized and carefully managed society. Yet, there appears to be no indication of armies or warfare. Indus Valley Civilization flourished for centuries before entering a period of slow decline most likely due to environmental factors, around 1900BCE—several hundred years prior to the time Ramses II ruled Egypt—and eventually disappeared entirely, although tantalizing traces of its cultural imprint can be detected even today.
What can we make of Indus, which truly is a “lost” civilization? As Robinson describes it, the challenges of archeology and interpretation have been and remain substantial. Stripping ruins for railway construction was only the first of many insults to the legacy of Indus. Early excavations were sloppy, in the days before strict archaeological methodology was standardized. With scant evidence, conclusions were reached and loudly trumpeted of a warlike people given to “militaristic imperialism” led by a “ruthless authoritarian regime,” who finally only succumbed to Indo-Aryan invaders—none of which stands up to scrutiny. The material culture has yet to reveal any traces of war, or even soldiers. And while Indo-Aryan migrations into the region did in fact occur, these were not coterminous with Indus decline. At the other extreme, Hindu nationalists—who vehemently reject the scholarly consensus that Sanskrit is a member of the Indo-European language family rooted in those later Indo-Aryan migrations—have on entirely spurious grounds attempted to hijack Indus as the autochthonous ancestor of Hinduism and Indian national identity. These politically powerful forces have even created from whole-cloth a faux decipherment of the Indus script, to serve their propaganda objectives, which is utterly baseless. Archaeological efforts have been compromised over the years by a variety of factors, most prominently the 1947 partition that created Pakistan and India as separate and often hostile nation states—and effectively drew an international boundary line through Indus sites in a volatile region that makes excavation both difficult and dangerous. Moreover, environmental dynamics in flooding and high water table salinity threaten existing sites and complicate future excavation. In fact, about ninety percent of Indus sites remain unexcavated, including Ganweriwala, a huge urban center that ranks in size with Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro! Finally, the stubborn resistance of the Indus script to decipherment despite decades of intensive efforts offers little hope that the many mysteries of the Indus Valley Civilization will be resolved anytime soon.
It is a testament to the genius of the author that he was able to take so much material and condense it down to such a small volume without compromising the quality of the work. Concisely but carefully, in chapters that examine architecture, trade, society and the like, he discusses what is known and deconstructs competing arguments of interpretation. And while he refutes the specious attempts of Hindu nationalists to connect the dots from ancient Indus to modern India, Robinson makes a strong case for continuity in conspicuous traces of Indus Valley Civilization that seem to have indeed left an indelible footprint on the South Asian landscape. There are elements of religious symbolism that echo in Hinduism, including ritual purification, as well as the unique system of weights and measures that still survives in markets in India and Pakistan today. One of the book’s many delightful photographs shows Harappan terracotta votive objects depicting zebus and a wheeled cart, juxtaposed with a facing page contemporary photo of a similar bullock cart in use in the Indus valley, some four thousand years later. Robinson includes much discussion of the Indus writing system and the lost language it recorded, as well as its possible link to the Dravidian family of languages prevalent in southern India today.
Robinson’s little book is an excellent introduction to an extraordinary civilization that has been all but lost to time. Skillfully organized and well-written, this fine work also contains a wealth of illustrations, photographs, maps, and a timeline, adding to its accessibility for the general audience, while the meticulous notes underscore its reliability for a more scholarly one. A glance at some of the human faces staring back at us from Indus art provokes chills of a sort for the modern reader, evoking snippets of Shelley’s sonnet Ozymandias and reflecting that long before Caesar, or Pericles, or even Tutankhamen, in the days when Khufu’s mummy was interred at Giza, there was a magnificent civilization in South Asia that then disappeared from human memory for thousands of years. And we are still trying to rediscover it.
This review appears on my book blog, with a map and picture of the unicorn seal, here: https://regarp.com/2017/06/23/review-...
October 2, 2018
This is a short, nicely written, but scholarly summary of what is known about the Indus Civilization, which covered a large area in present day Pakistan and India from approximately 2600 to 1900 B.C. Robinson briefly describes the discovery of this lost civilization, the problematic archaeology of the sites, the arts, crafts, agriculture, trade, possible social structure, religion, decline and disappearance. The Indus script is also discussed in much detail. Since little is known about this civilization despite the artefacts, a great deal of this book is speculative, but the author differentiates with what was found in terms of archaeology and the natural environmental, and what is more probably or less likely. The general consensus is that more archaeological finds are necessary and that the script needs to be deciphered before any more definitive information about the Lost Indus Civilization can be revealed. I found this book interesting and to be a good introduction to the subject. The numerous photographs, maps and other illustrations were helpful.
May 28, 2021
A brilliant book by Andrew and the inspiration for my own fictional novel Signs of a River. Andrew's book is a well researched scientific treatise on a very interesting period of history. It tells the story of culture that lasted thousands of years, built hundreds of cities with many modern facilities, artwork, games and probably was largely peaceful. It all ended with the beginning of the Iron Age and the time of the all conquering 'one' kings, supported by 'one' gods.
My book on the other hand is based on Andrew's work and my own experience as a geophysicist exploring in modern India leading to my assessment of an ancient offshore river being the Saraswati.
Hope you enjoy both books
Signs of A River
My book on the other hand is based on Andrew's work and my own experience as a geophysicist exploring in modern India leading to my assessment of an ancient offshore river being the Saraswati.
Hope you enjoy both books
Signs of A River
November 6, 2018
This is a good book for anyone curious about the Indus civilisation. It's enjoyable and easy to read while remaining informative.
I have the books by Possehl and McIntosh that Robinson frequently references, but these are serious academic works and can be a bit daunting. Robinson's book is easier to read and more accessible. It doesn't attempt to be an authoritative reference but instead gives an overview that is ideal for those who are interested amateurs rather than anthropologists or archaeologists.
I have the books by Possehl and McIntosh that Robinson frequently references, but these are serious academic works and can be a bit daunting. Robinson's book is easier to read and more accessible. It doesn't attempt to be an authoritative reference but instead gives an overview that is ideal for those who are interested amateurs rather than anthropologists or archaeologists.
October 15, 2021
When I studied the early civilizations in high school more than 50 years ago, little was said about the Indus River Civilization. Well, this book confirms that nothing much more is now known. Lots of theories but little proof. Despite this, I found the book fascinating. How do you understand a culture with little to no remains?
March 19, 2019
Excellent work, concise and analytical at the same time. Highly recommended.
March 14, 2020
Very good book with a balanced research
August 4, 2020
A perfect introduction to the history and archaeology of the Indus valley civilization. There are very few books on this topic that present this subject such lucidly and give a balanced perspective.
January 25, 2024
Recently I have developed an urge to learn about the history of the land I've been living in. I've been to museums as a kid and seen documentaries on local TV about Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. After searching on reddit trying to find a popular book about the Indus valley civilization I struck upon this one. The book is pretty easy to digest, I think even kids and younger people can have fun reading it, there wasn't a boring moment throughout the book. The information is easy to digest and understand.
The book is divided into chapters ranging from about the excavations, culture, art, geography, religion, language, influence. The information presented didn't feel it was from a single perspective as for each topic multiple conflicting research from different archaeologists, linguist and historians has been presented.
I feel this is a great book with a non-political view on the Indus valley civilization presented by a unopinionated researcher.
The book is divided into chapters ranging from about the excavations, culture, art, geography, religion, language, influence. The information presented didn't feel it was from a single perspective as for each topic multiple conflicting research from different archaeologists, linguist and historians has been presented.
I feel this is a great book with a non-political view on the Indus valley civilization presented by a unopinionated researcher.
January 18, 2021
A pretty solid, if brief, overview of what is known about the Indus civilization.
The book doesn't go into much depth about any of the aspects of the civilization, but does at least try to debunk some of the theories advanced without much actual underlying evidence/archeology. A good starting primer.
The book doesn't go into much depth about any of the aspects of the civilization, but does at least try to debunk some of the theories advanced without much actual underlying evidence/archeology. A good starting primer.
Read
December 14, 2021This was really helpful. It was a very logical and informative presentation of a period of history for which there is little information. Robinson suggested a lot of ideas and did not ride his own hobby horse. They were thought provoking and got me looking at other things, such as ocean shorelines during the Ice Age, of all things!
March 21, 2022
An excellent summary of the research into the Indus Valley civilisation.
September 6, 2023
Excellent summary and easy to read book packed with information. Found this well written and hopefully good prep for visit to Pakistan
June 18, 2016
It seems after years of excavation not muck is known nor has the language been deciphered.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews