Economy of Harappan Civilization

How was the economy then?

The development of any country and a civilization depends on how is the economy of that nation or civilization. So, to check how developed the Indus Valley Civilization was, we have to look at the economy of the Indus culture. The economy of the Indus Civilization was really stable and stronger than the contemporary civilizations and also by many present day countries. How was the economic condition of the harappan time, was it stronger then the contemporary civilizations, andmany more question will be answered in this article. Also what was the process of trade in the indus culture along with a short study of the taxations of that period will be covered in this article.

If you want to read about the agricultural system of the Sindhu time, you can refer to this article at Agriculture in harappan culture.

So, let's have a look on the economy of Sindhu Civilization;

Status of Trade -

Trade is the key to development of any civilization and so it was for the Indus Valley Civilization. The Sindhu people had well developed trade relations with all the contemporary civilizations like that of Mesopotamian, Persian, and Egyptian Civilization. Even the inter city trade was also well flourished. The Mesopotamians used to refer Harappan Civilization as Meluhha. Trade was conducted by the means of Barter as no metallic or any other kind of money was present but the seals played some really important role in the trade. Seals were might used by every merchant to show its uniqueness and claim its ownership on any product. Also the harappan culture was the major exporter of Cotton clothes, jewellery, beads, and other tools to all the contemporary civilizations and used to import some raw materials like metals, and many other things. Also, Carts were used for internal trade while for the inter-civilizational trade ships were mainly used.

Importance of Seals -

Seals were the items which were discovered in large number form all the sites of the harappan culture during excavation. And they even had some very important role in the economy of the Sindhu Culture as they might be used for marking the ownership of the property or they may also be used as amulets. Who had the authority to issue these seals are not known yet but it might was done the central authority as none of the seals has same signs. The seals were even used by the authority to trace the amount of trade done by any trader and thus it would make it easier to maintain the records as well as generate the taxes. Also some of the Harappan seals were also found at the Mesopotamian cities like Susa and Ur while some Mesopotamian seals were also found at Mohenjodaro which advocates the fact that the inter civilizational trade also existed between the two civilizations.

Tax Generation -

Like any strong economy, Harappan Civilization also extracted huge revenue in the form of taxes but it was majorly collected in the form of food grains as the large granaries were built for this purpose of holding the huge amount of food grains collected in the form of taxes. There was no direct tax on agriculture as it was in the medieval India but the taxes and duties were mainly imposed during the time of sales of the product and all the agricultural products were also exchanged with food grains and other useful items. The revenue collected was might given in the form of wages to the workers under the authority and to be saved for the bad times. Also the major exporting crops were sold at some important trading cities with the exchange of food grains and paying a part of that food grains earned as the tax fixed by the authority. The tax rates are considered to be low as there was huge production and a small percent would create huge amount of revenue for the authority.

Standardisation of Unites -

The Standard unites of measurement is a must for prospering trade and it was also done in case of the Sindhu Civilization Trade. Harappan Culture showed a highly accurate and standardised system of weights and measures. A binary system in lower denominations of 1,2,8,16,32and 64 had been followed in weights with decimals like 160, 320, 640, 1600, 3200, and so on. For measuring lengths foot and a cubit were standardised unites. People also created square weighing units with limestone and steatite which were used as standard measuring units for trading, also a measuring shell scale was discovered at Mohenjodaro and an angle measuring shell scale was discovered at Lothal which was probably used for the navigation of ships.

These all features suggests how strong was the economy of the Harappan Culture and how developed was that civilization then even in that period. There is a statement in economics that, "If a country is developing then it's tax rates starts getting lower and the revenue starts increasing while if a country is moving towards downfall then it's tax rates starts increasing and the revenue still starts decreasing", and this was what happened with the Indus Valley Culture the country was developing and thus the tax rates were decreasing and the revenues were kept on increasing but now-a-days just opposite to this is happening in many countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, etc. where the tax rates are kept on increasing and the revenue kept on decreasing.

Hope you had liked the article.

Do read my article on the religion of the Harappan People at Harappan Religion.

    

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.

Read all about the Harappan Culture at the first cities.