What, according to scholars, were the characteristics of the Indus Valley Civilisation? Discuss the possible influence of this civilisation In Hindu thought and culture

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The Indus Valley a lost civilisation

A) What, according to scholars, were the characteristics of the Indus Valley Civilisation? (12)

B) Discuss the possible influence of this civilisation In Hindu thought and culture? (8)

The origins of modern Hinduism have been thought to stem from two Ancient sources1, the Aryans and the Indus Valley Civilisation. The River Indus, in North West India, was home to a forgotten civilisation that is now held to be one of the four great civilisations of the late Bronze Age, the Mesopotamians, the Ancient Egyptians and Ancient China. Yet, it was not until 1921, when the first excavations were carried out by Sir John Marshall on the cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, that the world was alerted to its greatness. This civilisation was an urbanised trading culture that extended much further than the Indus Valley to areas in Pakistan to the coast line of the Arabian Sea. What is known about the civilisation is mainly guess work from the archaeological finds and Aryan hymns. It is a civilisation which holds, perhaps, the key to understanding the origins of Hinduism, for the characteristics of the civilisation has a strong link to Hindu thought