The Development of Hindu Iconography c12.2.2

c12.2.2

I shall presently draw the attention of my readers to a good many seals of the Gupta period (a few amongst them going back to the Kushan age), that were unearthed at such old sites of India as Bhita, Basarh, Rajghat, etc. But before I begin a systematic study of some of these seals and seal-matrices, from the iconographic point of view, it will be necessary for me to refer briefly to the many hundreds of sealings that were discovered in the course of excavations at the pre-historic Indus Valley sites of Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Whatever might have been the particular purpose that was served by them, there is little doubt that the figures which very frequently appear on their surface had some connection with the religion that was practised by these pre-historic Indians. The very interesting seal unearthed at Mohenjo-daro, which bears a three-faced horned figure ‘seated on a low Indian throne in a typical attitude of Yoga, with legs bent double beneath him, heel to heel, and toes turned downwards’, has previously been noticed by me. This particular sitting posture clearly corresponds to the Yogic āsana known as kūrmāsana, where the heels are placed under the gluteals in a manner exactly similar to the mode described above. It will be of interest here to give a fuller account of the device, so carefully studied by Sir John Marshall. The two arms of the figure, which are covered with bangles, are outstretched, and his hands, with thumbs to front, rest on his knees;