Decentralized Governance in the Indus Valley Civilization: Myth or Administrative Reality

Abstract

Spanning from 2600 to 1900 BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) stands as one of the most advanced, urbanized cultures in the ancient world. While there has been much research into the IVC, it still lacks a great deal of information regarding its systems of politics and administration. South Asian archaeology has many examples of disputes regarding the IVC. Unlike other cultures from the same time, such as those from Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Indus Civilization has no archaeological records demonstrating the existence of a king, noble class with royal tombs, or large scale state sponsored projects to propagate the existence of the state. Their absence has made IVC scholars question whether the IVC had a centralized form of state governance or some other form of governance. Using a variety of archaeological, urban, economic, and symbolic evidence, this article explores the claim of decentralized governance in the Indus Valley Civilization. It also addresses the many historiographical debates (i.e., early state-based theories and recently developed heterarchical theories) to assess whether a decentralized governance system, composed of multiple urban nuclei and institutional actors, was the primary system of governance in the Indus Civilization. In this research, several areas of evidence were focused on, including the IVC’s advanced urban planning, along with a uniform system of weights and measures, craft specialization and a complex trade network, as well as the use of seals for administration. These all demonstrate a great level of coordination despite the dispersed nature of the settlements. However, the lack of monumental architecture and an elite class of rulers poses a challenge to standard models of state formation. The author of this article presents evidence to support the idea that Indus Civilization was decentralized. Rather than describing a system of monarchic rule, the author describes a system of heterarchical governance based on the Indus Civilization shared customs and economy, as well as the presence of civic institutions. Authority, to this system, was provided by merchant groups, craft groups, and groups that made up the civic system of the Indus Civilization. These groups were able to mobilize and control significant populations without the presence of dominant political systems. This article represents an attempt to think critically about what it means to create an early state by presenting evidence that supports the presence of governance systems that are not based on a system of kingship, thus contributing to a growing body of literature in archaeology and ancient history. This article also attempts to disrupt some of the more rigid models of the political evolution of ancient civilizations.