Book Extract: Ahimsa

Devdutt Pattanaik (written and illustrated) Ahimsa: 100 Reflections on the Harappan Civilization HarperCollins Publishers, 2024. Hb. Pp. 254 Rs 499

2024 is being commemorated as the centenary of the discovery of Harappa/Indus Valley Civilization. It was on 20 Sept 1924 that John Marshall, Director General, Archaeological Survey of India announced in the Illustrated London News, London, that the Harrapan civilization had been discovered but was unable to determine the period accurately except to point out that it was ancient and was a stupendous find. It pushed back the known history of India by a few millennia. How many was anybody’s guess. On 27 Sept 1924, Archibal Henry Sayce sent a note to the newspaper pointing out that the seals of the Indus type had been discovered at Susa ( in present-day Iran) in a context dated to the third millennium BCE. “It is evident” said Sayce, “that as far back as the third millennium BCE, there was intercourse between Susa and (the) North-West of India.” The discovery, he argued, “opens up a new historical vista, and is likely to revolutionize our ideas of the age and origin of the Indian civilization.”

To coincide with this landmark moment in India’s history, Devdutt Pattnaik chose to highlight a few aspects of the civilization accompanied by some of his illustrations. The extract published with permission highlights a few.

-Jaya Bhattacharji Rose