Introduction
The people in the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro and other urban centres were prosperous. The raw material used by the Harappan people and the Harappan seals found in Sumeria and the Sumerian seals in the Indus region reveal the trading and commercial – pursuits of the Harappan people. The discover/ of a dockyard at Lothal and a seal printed with a model ship found at the same place clinches the issue.
Trade and Commerce
The Harappan people were in contact with several places inside and outside the country, within the country the Harappans traded with Maharashtra, South India, Saurashtra and Rajasthan. Outside the country, they traded with Sumeria, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Iran, Badakshah, Bahrain, Oman and central Asia. Trade was carried along the 1,280 Kilometres of Coastline in West Asia, according to the cuneiform texts of old Babylonia and other evidence.
Ur was the principle port of entry into Mesopotamia , Traders who came there made offerings to Goddess Ningal consisting of gold, silver, copper, lapis, lazuli, and stone beads, ivory combs and eye-painting. Probably all these trade transactions were through barter. The Mesopotamian records show that they had relations with Meluha, that is, an ancient Indus region from about 2,350 B.C. The seals found in Mesopotamia suggest that merchants from India crossed the high seas starting from Lothal. They also practiced navigation on the coasts and reverines. Harappan merchants were caravan traders. There was movement of goods from one place to another.
Trade Contacts and imports:
Inside and outside India, the Harappans were in contact with several places:
- Gold was imported from South India, Afghanistan and Persia.
- Silver was imported from Afghanistan and Iran.
- Copper was brought from South India and from Baluchistan and Arabia. The impurity of the ores, however, shows that copper was obtained from the Khetri copper mines although it could be brought from Baluchistan.
- Lapis Lazuli came from Badakshan .
- Turquoise came from Iran.
- Amethyst came from Maharashtra.
- Agate came from Saurashtra and Western India.
- Jade came from Central Asia.
- The cities of Indus undoubtedly traded with the village cultures of Baluchistan, where outposts of Harappan culture existed.
- From Saurashtra and the Deccan they obtained the conch-shells.
- But many of the metals and semi-precious stones came from much longer distances.
Trade routes on land and sea:
- For land route carts and pack-cattle were used. The terracotta models of bullock’s carts have been discovered in the excavations. Further, Cart-tracts were found on the roads of Harappans cities. From Harappan and Chanhu-Daro came copper or Bronze models of cart with seated drivers. For making longer journey through more wooded countries the chief means of transport had been caravans of pack-oxen and other cattle.
- There was also maritime trade. The representation on seal of a master’s ship with a central cabin and a steersman seated at the rudder indicates that the Harappan people were acquainted with maritime vessels. The boat had a sharply unturned prow and stem similar to archaic representations of early Minoyan seals, cylinders of the Sumer and the predynastic pottery of the Egypt. Harappan people were in touch with Sumer and Elam by the sea route also.
- Mohenjo-Daro was a great inland port. Carrying on trade with Sumer and Egypt. The Harappan ports Surkotada, Sutkagendor on Makran Coast and dockyard at Lothal attest to maritime trade.
Evidence of foreign trade:
Of the trade of the Indus with Mesopotamia there are two kinds of evidence, Archaeological and Literary. The Archaeological evidence includes the objects imported from other places and exported in return. About 2 dozen Indus seals have been discovered from Ur, Kish, Susce, Legash and Telasma. The other imports are carnelian and etched camelian beads, shell and bone inlays including some of the distinctly Indian Kidney shaped. The trade included many objects of less durable kind like cotton, spices, timber etc. From the Indus also there is reciprocal evidence. Two cylinder seals of Mesopotamian type, a small number of metal objects suggesting Mesopotamian origin and the pot stone fragments of a hut pot were discovered at Mohenjo-Daro.
A more definite indication of a foreign trade comes from Lothal where a circular bottom seal of a distinctive kind was discovered. This belongs to a class of Persian Gulf seals known otherwise from excavations from the port of Bahrain and also found occasionally in the cities of Mesopotamia notably Ur. From Lothal several bun shaped copper ingots of a foreign source were unearthed. These were similar to those found on the Persian Gulf Islands.
Lothal and Harappan cities have yielded the “reserved ship ware19 which also occurs at Ur. The literary evidence from Mesopotamia confirms the archaeological evidence. It shows that in the time of a Sargon of Agade and during tire seceding centuries, Merchants particularly from Ur carried on trade with various foresight countries. Among those mentioned most frequently are “Tilmen” “Margean5* and “Meluha” the first is- now fairly identified with Omen or some other part of South Arabia. Although, the similarity of its name to Makran coast in Baluchistan is also probability, the third is identified with Mohenjo-Daro or Saurashtra in India. Boats of Meluha were also mentioned in several texts. Among the imports from Meluha were various kinds of timber, including a black wood identified as ebony copper of a different quality from that of Oman. Gold and red stone identified as cornelian of wluch some were of monkey shaped and some kidney-shaped from other parts. There were multicoloured birds and combs made of ivory.
Conclusion:
The Harappans practised a lot of trade and commerce. Trade was internal as well as external. People obtained many metals, precious and semi-precious stones and so on from several parts of India and from several countries outside India. Land-trade and overseas trade were common. Trade contact existed between Harappan and the people of Sumer, Babylon, Omen, Mesopotamia and Egypt. The exports consisted of cotton, wheat and other local products. Archaeological literary and other evidence provide clear proof of the trade and commercial transactions between the people of Harappan civilization and the people of Middle East civilizations.