Prehistoric Background of Rajasthan Culture

Author(s): V N Misra
Publisher: Z_Agarchand_Nahta_Abhinandan_Granth_Part_2_012043.pdf

Page 14

incised on both faces with some elusive figures, one of which is horned. Miscellaneous terra-cotta objects include a feeding bowl and gamesmen.
A cemetery found just 300 m. west of the citadel mound has thrown light on the burial practices of the Kalibangan Harappans. Three types of burials are revealed 1. extended inhumation; 2. pot burial and 3, rectangular burial. The second and third types have not yielded skeletal remains yet from the cirumstantial evidence they appear to have been some kind of burials only. In the first type of burial the grave consists of an oblong pit in which the skeleton was laid in an extended position with the head to the north. Pots were arranged near the head as well as the feet. In one case as many as seventy pots were kept with the skeleton. Other grave goods associated with different burials include a bronze or copper mirror, one shell ring 6,5 cm in diameter and found near the left ear and beads of gold, jasper, agate, carnelian and steatite. Pot burials have been found for the first time at a Harappan site. In this type the urn was placed in a circular or oval pit and around the urn were placed pots varying from 4 to 29 in number. Other associated objects include shell bangles, beads and steatite objects. The third type of burial consists of rectangular or oval grave with its longer axis oriented north-south. These graves too were devoid of any skeletal material. The grave goods consisted of pottery and in one instance of a fragmentary shell bangle, a string of steatite disc beads, besides one of carnelian.
Kalibangan was not a solitary Harappan settlement in the Saraswati valley. Some 25 settlements are known in the Saraswati and the Drishadvati valleys. Most of the latter are small mounds, representing tiny peasnat settlements. The total picture is thus similar to that revealed in Sind or Saurashtra, namely, of a large town surrounded with numerous ancillary villages. Mr. B. B. Lal has suggested that if Mohenjodaro and Harappa were two metropolitan capitals of the Indus Empire, Kalibangan might have been a provincial capital guarding the Saraswati valley.
A large number of C-14 dates from Kalibangan give a time spread of roughly between 2,100 B. C. and 1,800 B. C. for the Harappan settlement. It is not clear how and why the Harappan culture in this area came to an end. One theory is that the changes in the river courses led to a sharp decline in the volume of water in the Saraswati and thereby forced the people to move to other areas.
Far to the east of Kalibangan the site of Noh, about six kilometers west of Bharatpur on the Agra road might give some answer to this problem. Limited excavation at this site which was occupied over a long period has revealed at the base of the deposit a layer containing what has come to be known as Ochre Coloured Pottery. No complete shapes are available, but the ware is similar to that found at Atranjikhera in western Uttar Pradesh and other sites. Ochre Coloured Pottery was first found in early fifties at Hastinapura in Meerut District of Uttar Pradesh below the Painted Grey ware levels. Since then the pottery has been found. at a number of sites in western U. P., Haryana and Punjab. At Atranjikhera and ६२ : अगरचन्द नाहटा अभिनन्दन ग्रन्थ