While ancient Indian history, Harappa, and Mohenjo-Daro, the two great sites of the Indus Valley Civilization that revolutionized our understanding of urban life more than 4,000 years ago, often come under the limelight, they did not tell the whole story. Their impeccable streets, advanced drainage systems, and complicated trade networks attracted the whole world’s attention and placed India among the very first stages of human civilization. But most people don’t know that Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were not the only two sites of the Indus Valley civilization.
Thousands of cities were not only existing but also growing and dying gradually over time. Some of them have become ruins; some are under water, and others are waiting for archaeologists to dig them out from the ground. The existence of these cities implies that the past of India was much richer and complicated than our schoolbooks teach us.It is possible that the narrative of Dwarka is the most spellbinding of all. Legendary association with Lord Krishna, Dwarka is often referred to as the city of golden palaces, the busy harbor, and the advanced civic planning before the flood took it away. For a long time, it was considered a myth until marine archaeologists made an attempt to explore the Gulf of Khambhat located off the coast of Gujarat.
To a great degree, they uncovered buildings, anchors, and other things that signify the existence of an active urban settlement dating back to 9000 years ago. Indeed, the idea of a well-planned city existing under the sea that could be older than the Indus Valley has caused excitement and debate at the same time. While they have not drawn any definite conclusions, the findings they made clearly disrupt the timeline of Indian history as known to us and prompt us to think of ancient India not just as a place of legends but as a home of advanced maritime civilizations.
To be sure, the location of Lothal in Gujarat is a picture with a completely different but equally fascinating background when the subject moves from the beach to the country. Lothal, one of the most ancient dockyard cities in the world, was a hub of glass bead making, melting of metals, and foreign trade. Archaeologists have been able to come up with houses for storage, channels, and sewage systems, which are the signs of Lothal’s function as a hub connecting India, Mesopotamia, and other parts of the ancient world. Lothal is a point of reference to the fact that the process of globalization is not new. Thousands of years ago, the flow of goods, ideas, and cultures was going out of the Indian ports into the farthest lands. However, Lothal may not have been as famous as Harappa or Mohenjo-Daro but it is likely that it had as much influence on the global trade the same as those cities.
Kalibangan is yet another ancient site in Rajasthan that provides evidence of early agriculture and ritual practices in India and is located farther north in Rajasthan. The findings there consisted of the very first ploughed fields in the world and fire altars that indicated the practice of rituals had been closely associated with the daily lives of people. While Harappa focused on well-organized urban planning and Mohenjo-Daro stood as a symbol of great engineering feats, Kalibangan combined the spiritual aspect, demonstrating that the inhabitants of the region were not just farmers and merchants but also spiritual seekers who had incorporated the ritual into the very land they farmed. The lost port of Poompuhar along the eastern coast, which is another interesting facet of the narrative, was once a prosperous Chola capital as described in Tamil Sangam literature. It was depicted as a city with great marketplaces, wide streets, and cultural magnificence. But around 500 CE, it is said, the sea took it.
There are submerged installations that have been revealed by marine archaeology which substantiate certain parts of this account in the Bay of Bengal. In this way, Poompuhar has become the Atlantis of the East that keeps on reminding us of the frailty of coastal civilizations when they face the forces of nature. Its finding, in addition, is a sign of how the lines between fiction and fact can become so blurred that the first may not anymore be regarded as pure mythology but myths validated by the latter.
Another illustrative instance of the disregarded urban past of India is the city of Sisupalgarh in Odisha. The city that was once fortified and had a history of more than 2,500 years, had been both greater in size and less advanced than what had been expected by the people. Therefore, with its massive gates, strong walls, and regular streets, Sisupalgarh might have been the abode of a population of 25,000 and upwards and hence be considered one of the biggest ancient cities of that era. Yet, it is still not very prominent in the mainstream discussions and is way off the well-known places outside India.
Discoveries in Haryana and Gujarat over the last few years have extended the knowledge of the urban history of India. Rakhigarhi that is now regarded as the site of the largest Harappan city ever has even been put forward as being bigger than that of Mohenjo-Daro. Various excavations found streets, potteries, pieces of jewelry, and the places where people were buried. At the same time, DNA research on the skeletons are changing the information about the genetic lineage of South Asia. Different Harappan sites are very different from each other, for example, Lothal in Gujarat with an amazing dockyard, Kalibangan in Rajasthan where there are signs of fire altars and the earliest ploughed fields, and Dholavira in Kutch which has the most different water management systems. These three are a few of many Harappel towns that show that it was not one culture but a network of small towns with their own characteristics and inventions that were connected. These results altogether indicate how the ancient civilization was diversified in various regions like valleys, coastal towns, and even arid areas where it could survive and thrive.
The findings of the Indian ancient cities doesn’t only provide the past glimpse but also compels us to reevaluate how a particular society in those times developed , various cultures interacted and stories which were remembered to glorify the future like tales.With each artifact dug out of the earth, each wall decoded under the river, and every abandoned village discovered is one step closer to understanding that the history of India is not one thread but a magnificent tapestry with many patterns. These decays are not from stones and mud but are the traces of human ambition, brilliance, and survival. We, by looking after and presenting them, not only acknowledge the ingenuity of our ancestors but also salute the future generations to continue the search for knowledge, be doubtful of history, and remain on the never-ending journey of discovery.