Questions, Activities and Projects
Why does the civilisation studied in this chapter have several names? Discuss their significance.
The civilisation has several names because different scholars and discoveries highlighted different aspects of it.
'Harappan' comes from Harappa (in present-day Pakistan's Punjab), the first city of this civilisation to be excavated, in 1920–21.
'Indus' refers to the Indus (Sindhu) River, along whose banks many important cities like Mohenjo-daro and Harappa grew.
However, the term 'Indus Valley civilisation' became outdated once it was found that the civilisation spread far beyond the Indus valley — into Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and beyond.
The name 'Indus-Sarasvati' or 'Sindhu-Sarasvati' was added to recognise the important role of the Sarasvati River, along which major cities like Rakhigarhi and Ganweriwala, and smaller sites like Kalibangan and Banawali, were located.
Each name therefore reflects a real feature — the site of first discovery, the river system, or the full geographic spread of the civilisation.
The textbook uses all these names to remind us that no single name fully captures the civilisation's extent.
Answer: The civilisation is called 'Harappan' after the first excavated city, 'Indus' after the Indus River, and 'Indus-Sarasvati' or 'Sindhu-Sarasvati' to recognise the equally important Sarasvati River basin. Each name highlights a different aspect — discovery site, river system, or geographic spread.