Decline of Harappan Culture

The very well laid out cities with proper arrangements for almost everything including sanitation, backup food, markets, etc. which were literally thousand years ahead of time but still discontinued suddenly . These are the stories of the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization and they are many, from being flood the reason to the invasion of the Aryans, it has many forms. There are as many tales of the decline of the Sindhu Valley Civilization as many mouths, some says it was because of the epidemic, while some says that it was because of the earthquakes, and many even say that it was because of drying of ghaghar river. In this article I will briefly describe how all of the reasons would have ended the Indus Valley Civilization.
Read about the relation of Indus Valley Civilization and the Vedic Period at Connection of Harappan Culture and Vedas.
Below is the list of reasons which may were the reason for the decline of the harappan culture:

Invasion of Aryans -

It is believed that the Aryans invaded the Harappan Cities during the 1900 BC by many historians like Wheeler and Gordon. It is possible that the Aryans invaded the Harappan cities from the north and killed every person of the cities in order to capture there land as well as looting all there things. This mass killing by the Aryan invaders resulted as the end of the Harappan Civilization and led the foundation of the Aryan rule in the Indian Subcontinent. This idea is derived from the invasion of various Mugal and Mangol rulers' invasion during the Medieval period who killed millions of people but this theory does not hold strong as none of the invasion  resulted in the ending of any culture or civilization.

Flood in Indus -

We all know that the floods in Indus were very common before the dams were build by the Indian Government and this also used to happen back during the Haappan time which might have killed many people. These frequent floods might have forced people to migrate on large scale which resulted in the fast decline of the Sindhu Civilization. Also the people may have shifted to the more safer place and moved towards the southern or central India. This reason sounds the most convincing and is supported by historians like S.R.Rao and Macay.

Change in the course  of river -

There are scientific proofs that the course of rivers like Indus, Ravi, and many other rivers had changed over the period of time frequently which is also considered as the reason for the end of the Harappan Civilization. This change in the course of rivers had led the people to many problems thatswhy the people may have migrated from there and moved to some other part where they had more safer environment in terms of water and food availability. This theory of the decline of the Harappan Culture was supported by M.S.Vatsa, H.T.Lambrick, and Dales. However, this reason is not considered as the sole reason for the decline rather it is considered as one of the many factor which may ended the Harappan Civilization.    

Low Rainfall and Drying of Ghaghar -

The region in which the Indus Valley Civilization flourished receives a very little amount of rainfall present days which has been continuing since a long period of time which scientists says started during the late harappan phase. This shortage in the rainfall resulted in the drying of many rivers like sarawati and ghaghar which led to the water shortage to the Harappan people thus they might have migrated to some other place which had secured water resources. This shortage of rainfall also resulted in the rise of aridity in the region which adversely affected the people of the Sindhu Civilization and thus resulted in the decline of the entire Indus Valley Civilization.

Ecological Disturbances -

Harappan people greatly exploited the natural resources of the region be it land, minerals, trees, water, etc. This thing resulted in the conversion of the whole region into the barren land which is now known as Thar Desert and the Rann of Kutch. Harappan people cut trees in large numbers and used them as timber and other use. This cutting of trees in large number resulted in the change in environmental conditions which converted the whole land into the desert and people were left with no other option then leaving that place.

Natural Calamities -

The great historian K.A.R.Kennedy says that the reason behind the decline of Harappan Civilization was some kind of natural calamity which killed huge mass of people of the Sindhu Culture and forced the remaining to move to a newer place for continuing their life. This could have occurred by the series of earthquakes or any kind of plague. Also, this is notable that the Harappan region is porn to the earthquakes as it lies on the edge of the two tectonic plates which is the main reason to ths problem. And just because of some series of earthquake people might have migrated to some other place for living which resulted in the decline of the Sindhu Culture suddenly.

Conclusion -

It is clear to us now that how any of the above reason be responsible for the decline of the Harappan Culture but let us now understand what might have occurred in real. All the historians give different reasons for this but many also thinks that this decline had not been caused by any single reason. This means that considering that any one of the reason responsible for the decline will not be the right assumption as there were more than one reason for the decline of the Civilization. And the best combination of reason is considered as the flood affected Harappans invaded by the Aryans which also sounds more particle as there are evidences that some of the cities were destroyed by the force which might was done by the Aryans and some of the Sindhu cities are also destroyed by the floods. So, thinking that these two reasons were responsible for the decline of the Harappan Cities is most particle and also have been proved by the facts.

Hope you would have liked the article, Check out our article on the economic conditions of the Harappan Culture at Economy of Harappan Civilization.

These articles are mainly based on the preparation of UPSC CSE Mains and various other competitive exams. Also you can refer to these articles for increasing your knowledge as well as for preparing for various boards examinations.