Geographical Setting

The greater Indus valley refers to a vast area drained by the various tributaries of the Indus River and a parallel (now dry) river that is variously referred to as the Saraswati-Ghaggar-Hakra-Nara River. The Indus tributaries emerge from the Kirthar and Suleiman mountains of Baluchistan on the west, the Hindu-Kush and Karakorum to the northwest, the Pamir and the Himalaya to the north and east. All of these mountainous regions have played an important role in providing minerals, timber, and trade routes to adjacent cultural centers in Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. The second major river has different names along its length. In the north are several tributaries, one of which is today called the Saraswati. Some scholars suggest that this was the sacred Saraswati River mentioned in the Rig Veda and other Brahmanical texts, but so far it has not been possible to confirm this identification. In the midsection it is called Ghaggar or Hakra and the depression where it appears to have flowed in the south is called the Nara. This ancient river, which will be referred to as the Ghaggar-Hakra, flowed to the east and generally parallel to the Indus River. The Sutlej (ancient Satadru), which now flows into the Indus, appears to have been a tributary of the Ghaggar-Hakra system. The Ghaggar-Hakra appears to have reached the Rann of Kutch during the Regionalization era, but began drying up and eventually disappeared in the middle of the Cholistan desert toward the end of the Harappa phase or during the Late Harappan period.

To the east, the greater Indus valley is bordered by the Thar Desert and the Aravalli mountains, both of which are rich in mineral resources used by communities of the Indus region. On the southeast lie the islands of Kutch, the peninsula of Saurashtra, and the mainland of Gujarat. The combined deltas of the Indus and the Ghaggar-Hakra Rivers extend from the Greater Rann of Kutch in the east to the rocky coast of Baluchistan near modern Karachi in the west. The coastal settlements in the Makran, Kutch, and Saurashtra appear to have had connections across the Arabian Sea to the coasts of modern Oman and the Persian Gulf. Although no purely Harappan site has been found on the Arabian Peninsula, many Indus artifacts have been found in coastal and some inland settlements.