The civilization which flourished in what today is Northwest India and Pakistan is known as the Indus Valley Civilization or the Harappan Civilization. It thrived before 1,500 B.C.E. and its decline somewhat coincides with the arrival of Aryans from Northwest Asia.

The cities of the Indus Valley Civilization enjoyed trade with the coexisting elaborate cultures of the early Middle East, of Greece and of Crete. Motifs in pottery and items like tablets overlap with motifs that prevailed further north and west of India

Excavations of Harappan cities show that they were well engineered with brick houses of several stories, with good drainage systems and public baths. People played games like hopscotch and marbles and they wore draped garments.

A fair number of tablets have been excavated with a script that remains undeciphered. Even clever computers have been unable to figure them out, leaving us with an intriguing mystery.

See Irina Gajjar’s Ancient Indian Art and the West.