Kalibangan
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Kalibangan is a town on the banks of river Ghaggar, Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan, India 205 km. from Bikaner.
[edit] Indus Valley Civilization
In 1958, archaeologists led by Dr. A. Ghosh discovered that the village was an Indus Valley Civilization site. According to archaeological evidence, the Indus Valley culture existed at the site from the proto-Harappan age (3500 BC - 2500 BC) to the Harappan age (2500 BC - 1750 BC). Kalibangan is known to be the earliest town in the history of India to be destroyed by an earthquake.
The Indus Valley culture that flourished here is also called Sothi culture because of its striking similarities with a site at Sothi in Afghanistan.
Fire altars have been discovered, suggesting fire worship or worship of Agni, the Hindu god of fire. It is the only Indus Valley Civilization site where there is no evidence to suggest the worship of the "mother goddess". People followed a burial practice called Cist burial. The grave consisted of a brick chamber in which the dead body was placed. Adjacent to the chamber were smaller chambers in which offerings for the dead person were placed.
The earliest agricultural field found in an archaeological excavation may be one from Kalibangan.[1] An earthquake dated to ca. 2700 BCE was identified in Kalibangan, probably the earliest one ever recorded in an archaeological context.[2]
Some early Kalibangan pottery has close resemblance to the pottery of the Hakra ware in Cholistan, to other Early Harappan pottery from the Indus Valley Civilization and to the pottery of the Integration Era.[3]
Raikes (1968, Kalibangan: Death from Natural Causes. Antiquity, XLII) has argued that Kalibangan was abandoned because the river dried up.
[edit] Modern Kalibangan
Kalibangan is also known for its bangle industry. Its name translates to "black bangles" ("Kala", in Hindi, means black and "bhangan" means bangles).
[edit] References
- ^ B.B. Lal. Perhaps the earliest ploughed field so far excavated anywhere in the world. Puratattva, 4:1-3.
- ^ Lal 1984. The earliest Datable Earthquake in India. Science Age (October 1984). Bombay: Nehru Centre
- ^ B.B. Lal 2002, The Sarasvati flows on
| State of Rajasthan Rajasthan Topics |
|
|---|---|
| Capital | Jaipur |
| Divisions | Ajmer | Bharatpur | Bikaner | Jaipur | Jodhpur | Kota | Udaipur |
| Districts | Ajmer | Alwar | Banswara | Baran | Barmer | Bhilwara | Bikaner | Bharatpur | Bundi | Chittorgarh | Churu | Dausa | Dholpur | Dungarpur | Ganganagar | Hanumangarh | Jaipur | Jaisalmer | Jalore | Jhalawar | Jhunjhunu | Jodhpur | Karauli | Kota | Nagaur | Pali | Rajsamand | Sawai Madhopur | Sikar | Sirohi | Tonk | Udaipur |
| Major cities | Alwar • Bhilwara • Bikaner • Jaipur • Jaisalmer • Jodhpur • Udaipur |
