"No part of the world is richer in vestiges of a varied past than Pakistan."
Mortimer Wheeler
Pakistanis truly take pride in their 5,000 years old history which goes back even further into the hoary past yet untraced.
In the words of Sir Mortimer Wheeler, famed British Archaeologist, Pakistan
enjoys a high international position in the history
of past achievements by virtue of possessing the greatest vestiges of one
of the first three mature civilizations of the world.
Pakistan is the known heir to one of the most ancient civilizations of the
east - the Indus Valley Civilization, traces of which are
found in the ruins of Moen-jo-Daro, Amri (on the right bank of the Indus in
Sind), Kot Diji (on the left) and way up in the plains
of the Punjab (near the city of Sahiwal), the remains of Harappa.
The transition from rural past to urban life in the Indus valley was so suddent
that outside influence looks very probable. It
appears that merchants of Mesopotamia who traded with settlements on the coast
of the Persian Gulf made deeper voyages
and penetrated into the Indus to find new trading partners, bringing with
them their way of life.
Indus seals - both from Moen-jo-Daro and Harappa - show a remarkable similarity
with the finds at Tell Asmar, Ur and Kish
in Sumer and at Susa in south-western Iran. So do the pots and utensils found
in Mesopotamia and all along the Mekran coast
and the cities on Indus.
Later day evidence of organised civil life and thriving cities in borne by
the ruins of Taxila in the Haro valley, some 30 km west
of Islamabad.
The famed Gandhara civilization flourished in the lush green valley of Peshawar
nd the enchanting Swat. The developments on
Pakistan's western frontiers made and un-made the history of South Asia.
The old Indus served as the cradle of most civilization. The economy of the
area still continues to be closely linked with this
giant river as it was during the Bronze Age when Moen-jo_daro and other cities
flourished on its banks, having trade and
commerce with contemporary civilizations in Iran and Mesopotamia.
Most traces of the Indus Valley civilization known abroad are the ruins of
Moen-jo-Daro. To save them from the rising sub-soil
water UNESCO is cooperating with Pakistan which has resolved to save the remians
from total destruction at all costs.
The 'brink towers' of Moen-jo-Daro which impress and fascinate the visitors
were, in fact, wells. They are evidence of the fact
that the well-planned city with its Great Bath and Granary and 'palatial'
houses and civic centers was build orginally 40 feet
below the surface of the present ground level. It would be worthwhile mentioning
here some of the well-known finds from
Moen-jo-daro which have over the years become familiar. They are the figure
of the dancing girl, the head of the priest king
and a large number of seals which bear animal figures, mostly bulls, with
pictographs. Reproductions of these steatite seals
decorate many a house in Pakistan and world capitals. Wooden doors found during
excavations show high order of carpentry.
These cities did not grow in a haphazard manner. they were build taking into
consideration not only security but also the hygiene
and public utilities. The planning and buildings were of a high order and
showed ingenuity.
The unity of the long corridor of civilization is also testified by a uniform
system of weights and measures, traditions in arts and
crafts, social objectives and ideal, religious beliefs and rituals and a system
of pictographic writing and perhaps one language.
The river seved as the main means of communication-north to south and south to north.
In the rugged mountainous regions of western Pakistan the tribal traditions
exist even today. Their love of freedom in reflected
in their folklore. Nomads as these people were, they moved eastward to the
plains of Ganges and got mingled with the
caste-ridden culture of what they called Bharatvarsha.
Recorded history of the region begins in the middle of the sixth century
B.C. when the whole of the Indus region gradually
became a part of Iran's Achaemenian empire under Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes.
A notable feature of this period was the consolidation of separate indentity
of the Indus zone from that of Bharatvarsha. A
stream of ideas and social patterns also followed via Iran from Mesopotamia
and the Levant.
The Persian rulers introduced their own weights and measures and the coin as a medium of exchange.
Kharoshti scripts took the place of pictography and new values gave rise
to such seats of learning as Taxila near which a fine
example exists in the hill-top monastery of Jaulian. Stone cutting and engraving
were introduced which led to the finest
production of sculpture of that period - specimens of which are sometimes
found even today buried in the fields, in and around
the ruins.
In-between the southern metropolis of Moen-jo-Daro and the northern capital
of the Indus Valley - Harappa - are found traces
of many flourishing cities dating back four to five thousand years. One of
these is Amri, also on the right bank of Indus, some
160 km south of Moen-jo-Daro which French Archaeologist J.M. Casal put as
4,000 years old. He also traced cities dating
back to 2,500 B.C. in the Kalat Division of Baluchistan - Nindowai and Ornach.
But Kot Diji, 40 km east of Moen-jo-Daro on the left bank, is one of the
earliest known fortified cities with a wall four to five
meters high. It was a starting discovery in the late fifties which gave ew
evidence of pre-Harappan culture and pushed back
Pakistan's history by another 500 years.
The story of the discovery of Harappa, which lay buried for many centuries,
is interesting. In 1856 when the British were
building the Lahore to Multan railway, they needed ballast and they found
it in the form of finely baked bricks of Harappa -
millions of them. It was only in 1872 that notice was taken of the mounds
which stood 14 to 18 meters above the level of the
fields. It goes to the credit of Sir John Marshall that the site was preserved
in 1924-25.
Excavation showed a city very similar in planning to Moen-jo-Daro and it
seemed to have almost everything for comfortable
living and a well-disciplined life. Objects found here are an unending variety
of pottery, jewellery, ornaments, human and animal
figurines, stone vessels, copper, bronze and silver utensils, metal objects,
beads, toold and implements and, of course, seals.
Like Kot Diji, it too has fortification wall with watch towers and bastions.
Harappa's layout showed a lofty fortified citadel and low lying city with
public and private buildings, workers colonies, work
platforms and furnaces.
The burial system was same as found in Sumer in 3 B.C. - bodies buried with ornaments and pottery in urn or otherwise.
Archaemenians' was a popular rule as people fought shoulder to shoulder with the invaders from the west, including Alexander.
Alexander's invasion (327 B.C.) left lasting impressions in the Indus Valley
and its traces are found right from the north in
Bajaur to south at Sehwan in Sind where he built a fort. The Macedonian could
not proceed further east beyond Beas. Though
his rule was short-lived, the Indus valley absorbed many Hellenistic traditions.
Taxila is not just one site. It is said, over hundreds of years several cities
were built and destroyed in this small area among
beautiful hills which once full of forests.
Among the well-preserved sites the oldest is Bhir Mound near the famous Taxila
Museum which houses some of the finest
specimens of Ghandhara sculpture, gold ornaments and even scientific instruments
dug out from the ruins.
Other sites include the Dharmarajik Stupa, Sirkup - which was once a well-planned
city on both sides of a broad road with
straight streets crossing it at right angles. Near it are the ruins of the
other city of Sirsukh and monasteries and temples and the
very interesting remains of the Buddhist monastry stop a small hill which
is in a well-preserved state, having small stupas
showing the social structure of the time.
The structure of the buildings is very different from that of Moen-jo-Daro.
Instead of bricks, pebbles and bare rocks have been
piles up to make walls and fortifications.
North of Peshawar is the valley of Swat which is known for its beauty and
remains of the Graeco-Roman origin. It was called
Udayan in the ancient times (now Udegram) and the nearby town of Mingora,
the capital of Swat, was called by Chinese
traveller Hiueu Tsang as Meng-Chie-Li. Near here as many as 2,000 pieces of
sculptured slabs and panels on the life of
Buddha were discovered which included giled statues. Some of the finds are
housed in the Swat Museum.
The most important King of Kushans, Kanishka, controlled the main trade routes
from China and South Asia to the western
world. His was one of the most prosperous empire in the early history of this
area. It led to the flourishing of arts: the
Ghandhara school of sculpture blossomed.