Our knowledge of the Harappan Civilisation is based on excavations carried out in North-Western India. Explain the evidence discovered with regard to the following points:

(a) The extent of this civilisation

(b) Commercial relations

(c) Buildings

(a) More than 250 centres of the Harappan culture have been discovered in different areas of the north-western part of the subcontinent. These sites are scattered in the Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Gujarat, Rajasthan and the fringes of Western Uttar Pradesh. This civilisation extended from Ropar in the north to the valleys of Narmada and Tapi in the South and from Meerut in the Upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab in the east to the Sutkagendor on the Makran Coast of South Baluchistan in the west.

(b) Numerous Harappan seals with script and humped bulls have been found at Sumerian (Mesopotamian) sites, indicating trade between the Harappans and Sumer. Similarly, Sumerian imports, such as engraved steatite vessels, model rams, and pottery rings, found in Harappan sites, further confirm these trade links. Historians believe the Harappans also traded with Egypt and Crete through Sumer. A seal depicting a mastless ship with a steersman suggests the Harappans maintained sea-based trade connections with both Sumer and Egypt.

(c) The first site Harappa was discovered in 1921 by Daya Ram Sahni. In 1922 Rakhaldas Banerjee excavated Mohenjodaro. Mohenjodaro and Harappa were excavated, initially speculated that it belonged to the period between 3250 BCE to 2750 BCE. The Harappan cities were well planned with grid-patterned layout. Numerous things have been discovered from these sites, like seals and sculptors.