Cultural Heritage of Pakistan

The land where the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is situated today had been a seat of world’s leading Civilizations from the time immemorial. There is plenty of evidence from the pre-historic and historic period to support this argument, e.g. fossil jaws of apes, circa 14  millions years old found from Pothohar. They belong to a species named “Sivapithecus Pakininsis”, said to be the ancestor of Man. A 2 million years old earliest stone hand axe. Now on display in Islamabad Museum, Islamabad.

The legacy of our predecessors at the time of our independence, on August 14, 1947, came to us as a treasure which may be called as Pakistan’s national heritage. So rich and diversified is this heritage that Pakistani nation can be proud of its glorious past, be Islamic, Post Islamic or pre-Islamic period as far back as pre-historic times. No other country of the world can produce the treasure of by gone days as can be found in Pakistan. It is now incumbent upon us to treasure our national heritage and save it from further deterioration and theft.
The establishment of NFCH is much appreciated and a great interest is shown by the general public hence since its establishment in 1994 hundreds of proposals were received from different agencies and individuals for the conservation, preservation and publication of the Pakistan’s national heritage. It is hoped that with the continued patronage of the government, the Philanthropists and the Business Community to the NFCH we shall be able to achieve the aforesaid goal.

The Cultural Heritage of Pakistan is spread over the centuries, starting from pre-historic times to the present day and which may be summarized in the following periods:

Indus valley civilization 

 

About 4500 years ago, there was a mysterious and very civilized state in the Indus valley. It stretched over almost all of what is now Pakistan, and eastwards to Delhi. The remains of two great cities, Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, as well as hundreds of villages, have been discovered. The people populating these villages were called Dravidians, and seem to have been more civilized than at any other place of the world at the time. Mohenjo Daro was about seven kilometers all round, with its main streets nine meters wide. Between these ran smaller streets, often with ‘Z’ bends in them.

The houses were made of mud bricks, and often had rooms on the upper level, which is very unusual indeed, in such early buildings. Richer houses had bathrooms with baths made of clay and lined with tar to make them water proof. They also had simple toilets. These emptied into covered drain, which ran down the centre of the main streets.

In the centre of the city, was an artificial ‘hill’ made of mud brick. Here were the most important buildings, the main one being a huge bath with steps leading to it. It may have been part of a temple, and people had to bath in it before going in for religious ceremonies. There are remains of a huge hall with many pillars, and archaeologists think this may have been some kind of parliament or government building. No sign of a palace has ever been discovered, and we believe the whole of the Indus Empire was ruled by priests. Other cities were built on similar. The people of the Indus valley seem to have been peaceful farmers. They grow barley, wheat, sesame, lentil and peas.
They had almost no metals, except gold and little copper and bronze, and the few metals tools that have been found are not very skillfully made. Wood and stone were used for most things. They do not seem to have invented money, and other food. They had a very simple kind of writing, but no one has yet been able to read it, and the words usually appeared on clay seals.
About 2000ac, some disaster seems to have struck Mohenjo Daro. When the houses fell down, they were rebuilt in a much rougher way, as if people did not care any more. New walls divided rooms, so that more families could crowd into each house. The streets were not repaired; the drainage system was blocked up. We do not know why all of this happened. Perhaps there was climate change that made it more difficult to grow crops or perhaps the river changed it course – today the ruins are five kilometer from the river. Perhaps all the trees were cut down for burning and building, and the soil was washed away. In some of the other cities of the Indus empire, archaeologist believe that the people just left, and the building fell down