Digging the past

 

Map of Indus Valley Civilization
Avantiputra7
2020

Here I will compare from two sources that discuss about India and the history behind it. The first is from Patrick S Bresnan's book Awakening: An introduction to the history of eastern though, particularly in chapter 1 of India before the Vedas, and the second is a video entitled Indus: An Unvoiced Civilization.

 To explore the lives and people of the Indus Valley region, which emerged between c. 6000BCE – c. BCE, and several important rivers in The Indus Valley region, I will look at the differences between those two sources. In Bresnan's book, Life and the people of the Indus are not described in detail as in the Indus video. I will explain here what Indus people lives was based on the Indus video, In the Indus video it says, since 4500 years ago the Indus people have skillfully maneuvered their boats up and down the river (Indus: 0.53). It is also said that the floods that come every year can bring benefits to them because the floods enriched the land and as the result, the people enjoy the harvest (Indus: 31.21).

People of the Indus only live in summer when the water level is high (Indus: 31.51). People of Indus use boats to transport goods and this way has not changed for 4500 years (Indus: 31.19-33.13) In the Indus video it is said that besides the Indus River, there are Ganges River and Sarasvati River or what people call it Ghaggar Hakra which no longer exists (Indus: 19.56). Meanwhile, in Bresnan's book, has not mention about the other name of Sarasvati River and only says that Sarasvati River almost dried up. "The Sarasvati is now almost entirely dried up (Bresnan 6). In Bresnan's book, a figure is given about An Indus seal that showing the mysterious pictographs (Bresnan 7), but it is not explained what the use of the seal was for, while in the Indus video, it is explained that the use of the seal was for business transactions (Indus: 33.42).

Unicorn Seal - Indus Script
Mukul Banerjee

After comparing the two sources, we can see that in his book, Bresnan wrote about the Indus Civilization only in outline, and did not reveal more about the lives of the Indus people and did not explain in detail the developments in uncovering the Indus mystery. “The excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa give us a glimpse into the culture of those people, but only a glimpse. They did pose a pictographic form of writing, but stubbornly and maddeningly, resists being deciphered” (Bresnan 6). Meanwhile, in the Indus video, the archeologists explain the development of the discovery of 10 characters and the attempt to interpret these characters in uncovering the Indus Valley mystery (Indus: 38.48-42.08). 

Bresnan also explain the causes of the decline of the Indus Civilization in general that one of which is with "One of the more plausible theories concerns the slow but relevant destruction of the natural environment" (Bresnan 7), not in specific about what natural environment that cause the Indus Civilization declined. While in the Indus video it is said that even after decline civilization, people keep worshiping the water, but after no more water makes people abandon the city (Indus: 55.48).

 

                Works Cited 

Avantiputra7. "Indus Valley Civilization - Mature Harappan Phase." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 06 Oct 2020. 

Bresnan, Patrick S. "The Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought." 6th edition. Routledge. 

"Indus: The Unvoiced Civilization." www.film.com. A Presentation of film for the Humanities   and Sciences. NHK documentary.

Mark, Joshua J. "Indus Valley Civilization." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 07 Oct 2020.