Meluḫḫa orMelukhkha (Sumerian:𒈨𒈛𒄩𒆠Me-luḫ-ḫaKI) is theSumerian name of a prominent trading partner ofSumer during theMiddle Bronze Age. Its identification remains an open question, but most[who?] scholars associate it with theIndus Valley Civilisation.[4]
Asko Parpola identifiesProto-Dravidians with theHarappan Culture and the Meluhhan people mentioned inSumerian records. In his bookDeciphering the Indus Script. Parpola states that theBrahui people ofPakistan are remnants of theHarappan culture.[5] According to him, the word "Meluhha" derives from the Dravidian wordsmel ("elevated") andakam ("place"). Parpola also relates Meluhha withBalochistan, which he calls the "Proto-Dravidian homeland". He also relates Meluhha with the transient wordMleccha, aVedic word used to mean "barbarian" and used by the incomingAryan speaking population for the native Harappan population.[6][7]
Another piece of possible evidence that points to the people of Meluhha as being Proto-Dravidian is the fact thatsesame oil believed to be exported toMesopotamia by the Harappans, was known asilu inSumerian andeḷḷu inAkkadian. One theory is that these words derive from theDravidian word for sesame (eḷḷ oreḷḷu).[8] However,Michael Witzel, who associates IVC with the ancestors ofMunda speakers, suggests an alternative etymology from thepara-Munda word for wild sesame:jar-tila.[clarification needed] Munda is anAustroasiatic language.[9]
Sumerian texts repeatedly refer to three important centers with which they traded:Magan,Dilmun, and Meluhha.[12][13] The Sumerian location of Magan is now accepted to be the area currently encompassing theUnited Arab Emirates andOman.[14] Dilmun was aPersian Gulfcivilization which traded with Mesopotamian civilizations. The current scholarly consensus is that Dilmun encompassedBahrain,Failaka Island and the adjacent coast ofEastern Arabia in thePersian Gulf.[15][16]
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In an inscription,Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BCE) referred to ships coming from Meluhha,Magan andDilmun.[19] His grandsonNaram-Sin (2254–2218 BCE) listing the rebel kings to his rule, mentioned "(..)ibra, man of Melukha".[19] In an inscription,Gudea ofLagash (c. 21st century BCE) referred to the Meluhhans who came to Sumer to sell gold dust,carnelian, etc.[19][13] In theGudea cylinders, Gudea mentions that:
"I will spread in the world respect for my Temple, under my name the whole universe will gather in it, and Magan and Meluhha will come down from their mountains to attend."
— Inscription of cylinder A, IX:19[20]
Incylinder B, XIV, he mentions his procurement of "blocks oflapis lazuli and brightcarnelian from Meluhha".[13][21]
Meluhha is also mentioned in mythological legends such asEnki and Ninhursag:
"May the foreign land of Meluhha load precious desirable cornelian, perfectmes wood and beautifulaba wood into large ships for you"
— Enki and Ninhursag[22]
There are no known mentions of Meluhha after 1760 BCE.[19]
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In one of his inscriptions,Ibbi-Sin mentions that he received as a tribute fromMarhasi a Meluhha red dog:[24][25]
"Ibbi-Sîn, the god of his country, the mighty king, king of Ur and king of the four world quarters, his speckled Meluḫḫa 'dog', fromMarḫaši brought by them as tribute, a replica of it he fashioned, and for his life he dedicated it to him (Nanna)."
— Meluhha dog inscription of Inni-Sin.[26]
The qualifier used to describe the dog is𒁱, which can be read eitherdar "red" as an adjective,[27] orgun3 "speckled" as an intransitive verb,[28] and interpretations vary based on these two possible meanings.[29]
It is thought that this "red dog" could be adhole, also called "Asiatic red dog", a type of red-colored dog native to southern and eastern Asia.[23]
Towards the end of the Sumerian period, there are numerous mentions in inscriptions of a Meluhha settlement in southern Sumer near the city-state ofGirsu.[30] Most of the references seem to date to theAkkadian Empire and especially theUr III period.[30] The location of the settlement has been tentatively identified with the city of Guabba.[30] The references to "large boats" in Guabba suggests that it may have functioned as a trading colony which initially had direct contact with Meluhha.[30]
It seems that direct trade with Meluhha subsided during theUr III period, and was replaced by trade withDilmun, possibly corresponding to the end of urban systems in the Indus Valley around that time.[30]
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Several Indus seals withHarappan script have been found in Mesopotamia, particularly inUr,Babylon andKish.[34][35][36][37][38] Still, the archeological record for the existence of the trade with the Indus civilization in Mesopotamia is meager. According toAndrew Robinson:
On the other hand, there is not nearly so much incontrovertible evidence for the Indus–Mesopotamia trade as archaeologists might wish. Nissen refers to a ‘meagre archaeological record’. There is only one Indus weight from Ur, for example, out of a total of just fourteen Indus weights found in Mesopotamia, neighbouring Iran (Susa) and the Persian Gulf area. Only some twenty Indus seals have turned up in Mesopotamia since the earliest discoveries, of which nine have been dated to the Akkadian period (2334–2154 BC) and two to the Isin and Larsa dynasties (2000–1800 BC).[39]
Various figurines of exotic animals in gold or carnelian are thought to have been imported from Meluhha. Many such statuettes have been found in Mesopotamian excavations.[23] The carnelian statuette of an Asian monkey was found in the excavation of the Acropolis ofSusa, and dated to circa 2340–2100 BCE. It is thought that it may have been imported from India. It is now in the Louvre Museum, reference Sb5884.[33]
Specific items of high volume trade are timber and specialty wood such as ebony, for which large ships were used. Luxury items also appear, such aslapis lazuli mined at a Harappan colony atShortugai (modernBadakhshan in northernAfghanistan).[citation needed] In the 1980s, important archaeological discoveries[which?] were made atRas al-Jinz (Oman), located at the easternmost point of theArabian Peninsula, demonstrating maritime Indus Valley connections with Oman, and the Middle East in general.[45][46][better source needed]
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According to some accounts of theAkkadian kingRimush, he fought against the troops of Meluhha, in the area ofElam:[49]
"Rimuš, the king of the world, in battle overAbalgamash, king ofParahshum, was victorious. And Zahara[52] andElam and Gupin and Meluḫḫa within Paraḫšum assembled for battle, but he (Rimush) was victorious and struck down 16,212 men and took 4,216 captives. Further, he captured Ehmahsini, King of Elam, and all the nobles of Elam. Further he captured Sidaga'u the general of Paraḫšum and Sargapi, general of Zahara, in between the cities ofAwan andSusa, by the "Middle River". Further a burial mound at the site of the town he heaped up over them. Furthermore, the foundations of Paraḫšum from the country of Elam he tore out, and so Rimuš, king of the world, rules Elam, (as) the godEnlil had shown..."
Gudea too, in one of his inscriptions, mentioned his victory over the territories ofMagan, Meluhha,Elam andAmurru.[19]
Most scholars suggest thatMeluhha was the Sumerian name for theIndus Valley Civilisation.[53] Finnish scholarsAsko andSimo Parpola identifyMeluhha (earlier variantMe-lah-ha) from earlier Sumerian documents withDravidianmel akam "high abode" or "high country". Many items of trade such as wood, minerals, and gemstones were indeed extracted from the hilly regions near the Indus settlements. They further claim thatMeluhha is the origin of theSanskrit wordmleccha, meaning "barbarian, foreigner".[54]
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Early texts, such as the Rimush inscription describing combat against Meluhha troops in the area ofElam circa 2200 BC, seem to indicate that Meluhha is to the east, suggesting either theIndus valley or India.[49] However, much later texts, such as theRassam cylinder documenting the military exploits of KingAssurbanipal ofAssyria (668–627 BC), long after the Indus Valley civilization had ceased to exist, seem to imply thatMeluhha is to be found in Africa, in the area of Egypt.[56][49]
There is sufficient archaeological evidence for the trade between Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent. Impressions of clay seals from the Indus Valley city ofHarappa were evidently used to seal bundles of merchandise, as clay seal impressions with cord or sack marks on the reverse side testify. A number of these Indian seals have been found atUr and other Mesopotamian sites.[57][58]
The Persian-Gulf style ofcircular stamped rather than rolled seals, also known from Dilmun, that appear atLothal inGujarat, India, andFailaka Island (Kuwait), as well as in Mesopotamia, are convincing corroboration of the long-distance sea trade network, which G.L. Possehl has called a "Middle Asian Interaction Sphere".[59] What the commerce consisted of is less sure: timber and precious woods,ivory,lapis lazuli,gold, and luxury goods such ascarnelian and glazed stone beads,pearls from the Persian Gulf, and shell and bone inlays, were among the goods sent to Mesopotamia in exchange forsilver,tin, woolen textiles, perhaps oil and grains and other foods.Copper ingots, certainly,bitumen, which occurred naturally in Mesopotamia, may have been exchanged for cotton textiles and chickens, major products of the Indus region that are not native to Mesopotamia—all these have been instanced.
Meluhha appears in EL-AMARNA letters, as a place at Kush/Nubia, near Egypt (EA70, EA95, EA108 ,EA112, EA117, EA132, EA133).
In the Assyrian and Hellenistic eras, cuneiform texts continued to use (or revive) old place names, giving a perhaps artificial sense of continuity between contemporary events and events of the distant past.[60] For example,Media is referred to as "the land of theGutians",[61] a people who had been prominent around 2000 BC.
Meluhha also appears in these texts, in contexts suggesting that "Meluhha" and "Magan" were kingdoms adjacent to Egypt. In theRassam cylinder,Ashurbanipal writes about his first march against Egypt: "In my first campaign I marched againstMagan andMeluhha, andTaharqa, king ofMusur (Egypt) andKûsu ("Kingdom of Kush", ie Nubia), whomEsarhaddon, king of Assyria, the father who begot me, had defeated, and whose land he brought under his sway."[62][63] In this context, "Magan" has been interpreted as "Muṣur" (ancient name of Egypt) and "Meluhha" as "Meroe" (capital ofNubia).[64]
In theHellenistic period, the term was used archaically to refer toPtolemaic Egypt, as in an account of a festival celebrating the conclusion of theSixth Syrian War, or in reference to the campaigns ofAntiochus IV Epiphanes in Egypt ("Antiochus the King marched triumphantly through the cities of Meluhha").[65][66]
These references do not necessarily mean that early references toMeluhha also referred to Egypt. Direct contacts between Sumer and the Indus Valley had ceased even during theMature Harappan phase when Oman and Bahrain (Magan and Dilmun) became intermediaries. After the sack of Ur by theElamites and subsequent invasions in Sumer, its trade and contacts shifted west and Meluhha passed almost into mythological memory. The resurfacing of the name could simply reflect cultural memory of a rich and distant land, its use in records ofAchaemenid andSeleucid military expeditions serving to aggrandize those kings. This kind of re-attribution of archaic geographical terms was a regular occurrence during the 1st millennium BCE.[66]
Square-shaped Indus seals of fired steatite have been found at a few sites in Mesopotamia.
The molded terra-cotta tablet shows a flat-bottomed Indus boat with a central cabin. Branches tied to the roof may have been used for protection from bad luck, and travelers took a pet bird along to help them guide them to land.
To what extent such a reed-made river vessel would have been seaworthy is debatable. ... Did the flat-bottomed Indus river boats mutate into the crescent-shaped hull of Heyerdahl's reed boat before taking to the Arabian Sea? Did they reach as far as the coast of East Africa, as the Tigris did? No one knows.
