MELUHHA: THE OLDEST OF ALL CIVILIZATIONS

Carlos Castaneda once said, we either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong, the amount of work is the same. Perhaps, what he meant is that in our lives, we have many certain choices to make on how we are going to live our lives whether we will live it in a positive note or in a negative tone. But what he is imparting is that the energy and time we release in living our lives are both the same so it is much better to live our lives happily.

Probably, you would ask me, is your essay about the Mesopotamian Civilization? Or is your title being ironic? Let me start by saying that this paper is about the Indus Civilization. YES! This is about the Indus Civilization. And I am not being ironic; this reflection paper of mine will prove something about Indus Civilization that I think only a few know.

Since I find the discussion about the Indus Civilization somewhat lengthy and boring at some point, I browsed in my old notes and recovered the past lectures I had about Indus Civilization. And I want to lay down in my reflection paper, the lecture notes I have incurred. Bet you did not know that Meluhha is the term used by early Sumerians and Meluhha seems to be having known as the Indus Civilization; particularly scholars said that Meluhha is the Harrapan Civilization. It was noted that Harappans were Dravidians who had later transferred in the Southern part of India due to the Aryan invasion and were later on were assimilated. Meluhha was one of the three trading partners of the Sumerians. Also, Meluhha, was a real place as demonstrated by the presence of an Akkadian seal attributed to a translator of the Meluhhan Language. There is an Indus material in Mesopotamia like the Indus script and some Mespotamian material present in the Indus. Since Meluhha was once trading partner of the Sumerians, some text about Meluhha was said to be found in the clay tablets of the Sumerians. According to some studies of scholars, they were able to attest that the trading between Sumerian and people of Meluhha ceased to be deep since there were many attestations that most of the materials and products of Sumerians were from the Meluhhans.

Having this idea in my mind, I was really in a great shock knowing that Meluhha or the Harappan Civilization can be said that emerged at the same time as the Sumerians, considering the fact, it will be much harder to know what civilization came first. The question which genuine civilization emerged first remains unanswered. Going back to what was discussed in the class, what I would like to say is that Indus Civilization was indeed possessed a much higher form and advanced way of living. From its people's settlements up to the governance of its society, it was efficient and organized at the same time, The Indus Civilization imparted drastic changes in the political, economical, social and cultural aspects of India. The early society of India provided and left its legacies which until now still perpetuates in India and in various parts of the world as well, like the social strata, urban planning, calculations, measurements, medicine, dentistry, literature, Sanskrit, treatise about the governance and economy, astronomy, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, architecture, civil engineering, navigation and boat-building and the religions and philosophies.

I can say that India is a home of great things. The legacy of its earlier society continue to shape the lives and cultures of the people in the contemporary times. One reason I surmise that paved the downfall of the Indus Civilization is the governance provided by the leaders of the Indian society. It is really important to select a wise leader simply because he will be the ruler, the controller and the patriarch of his society. He must know what to do and the what not. It is like saying it in a way that the society depends on how a leader controls it. Let's put it in this way, a leader must be feared and loved by its people at the same time. A leader must know how to be tough but not hard with this people, and a leader must cherish his people but must not have a soft-heart.

Indus Civilization have ushered us many legacies which we are using now and are necessary tools for our daily lives. Indus Civilization might have been a near-to-perfection society but the problem it have encountered about governance and leadership were not addressed properly leading to the decline of the glorious and splendid civilization of the Indians. To end my essay, I want to finish it with a quote, people say that there is no perfection, but in reality, if one keeps on aspiring and aimin for it, one can achieve perfection at its finest but this perfection is based upon the perspective of the person, just like the Indus Civilization which was once magnificient and more likely perfect, if it's leaders go for the gold, its society might be perpetuating until now.

Geraline Mae Z. Ramones

11028467

HISTCIV A52