Over the last one thousand years Punjab has experienced social turbulence and war; however, like an ocean, the surface turbulence is only a layer over the vast calm waters below. A host of invaders and empire-builders, operating under racial or religious covers, have gathered and looted the riches of the Punjab; nevertheless, below this turbulent layer has been the vast number of ordinary folks who have lived together in peace and harmony in a multi-faith society led by dervishes, sufies and gurus. The history of the turbulent past of Punjab is relatively short, the calm serenity of the vast population goes back to the 9,000-year-old Harappa Culture and Civilization. Bhai-Chara, tolerance has been the way of life inherited from the earliest residents of the Indus Basin spread over an area of 300,000 square miles, three times that of Britain.

Archaeological evidence points towards a society that was at peace with itself and its neighbors, equitable in sharing of resources, without large palaces, religious monuments, with both men and women partaking equally in life. Technology in crafts, and societal concerns in water management and drainage speak of developed sense of social responsibility. The Basin is roughly three parts; one the mountainous region over which countless rivers, streams and waterfalls bring the monsoon rain and melting snows to the second, the immense plains of Punjab, cut through with seven rivers, then going on to the third area, the Sindh, which is presently a single river plain. Once it too had a number of rivers like the sacred Saraswati, Hakra, and others which probably joined together into one running parallel to the Indus.

With a slope of one foot per mile the region south of the foothills, is flat like a tabletop, enabling plying of boats using the flow of water and wind through sails to cover large distances. The rivers were the highways of the period enabling movement of people and goods and thus trade thrived. In addition to agricultural produce there was high-quality craft production with evidence of trading as far as Mesopotamia and Egypt to the West and South India to the East. The basis of trade is negotiation, deal-making, tolerance and peace with confidence and mutual respect among partners; no trade is possible under coercion. Thus throughout the area there was a standardization of weights, labelling of goods with small tablets and a highly developed system of conflict resolution.

Between the rivers were vast tracts of relatively dry land where a pastoralist culture existed parallel to the settled grain growing culture along the rivers. The two coexisted, met and interacted enriching the unique character of the people of the Indus Valley and beyond. The variety and harmony, exhibited through absence of any celebration of violence and war in the arts and the relative uniformity in urban living styles is amazing and a lesson to the strife torn life in the region today.

The rivers of Harappa Culture engendered this peaceful living which we need to research, study, and disseminate; let us celebrate this peaceful and harmonious living of Harappa Culture with contributing papers at the THAAP Conference on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd November 2024.