How Harappa got its name.

Harappa is located near the Ravi river. Since it was a river-civilization, it's highly possible that the place was designated so by the Indus people.

Now, the Indus script has been widely speculated to be of Dravidian origin. So may be it might help to see Harappa from a Dravidian prism. Which brings us to Tamil - the oldest living Dravidian language. Tamil might shed more light on how 'Harappa' the name was picked.

The thing to note is ancient Tamil didn't have the 'ha' sound. The practise was to substitute 'ha' with 'aa'. Given this background, may be HARAPPA was AARAPPA.

AARAPPA offers exciting possibilities. Because AARU in Tamil means 'River'. And AARAPPAN means 'one who lives near a river'.

May be people of the Harappan civilzation were referred to as 'AARAPANS' and over a period of the Northies started calling it HARAPPA. Sounds plausible?

NOTE: By the same logic, the Ravi river may also owe its origins to Tamil. You just have to look at the word ARUVI. It means river in Tamil and when uttered many times, it reads as RUVI or RAVI!!