The Indus Civilization c6: III. Religion
The Indus Civilization c6
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III. Religion
c6.2
THE buildings of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa have not afforded the excavator any assistance in his search for information with regard to the religion of the people of the Indus valley, for, as before mentioned, no structure yet discovered can definitely be identified as a temple. It is quite likely, however, that a number of shrines were scattered about these two cities, although their ground-plans are now indistinguishable from those of the ordinary houses, while the building beneath the stupa, described in Chapter I, may also have been used for religious ceremonies. No documents or legends exist to throw any light on this subject, and it has therefore only been possible to gather some idea of the religious beliefs and observances of the inhabitants of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa through the somewhat unsatisfactory medium of objects which have been unearthed in these cities.
c6.3
The only stone image yet discovered which can definitely be said to be that of a deity is a white steatite head and bust, now about seven inches in height, but once much larger as the lower part of it is missing (Pl. H, 2). This figure is clothed in a robe which is carried over the left shoulder and under the right arm, and on which is carved in relief the trefoil pattern that, to judge from its frequent appearance at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, is obviously a sacred symbol. The figure has a short beard and shaven upper lip, in the latter fashion resembling other figures, both of gods and men, found in ancient Sumer. The hair, which is practically cropped, is parted in the middle and secured by a fillet tied round the head, with two long ends hanging down behind. A hole bored on each side of the neck, just below the ear, is evidently intended to take the end of a necklace. The eyes are half closed and were formerly inlaid with narrow strips of shell, in which a cut roughly represented the partially concealed pupil. The lips are full, and the broken nose was probably of ordinary size.
c6.4
The fact that this image wears a robe ornamented with a sacred device, and that provision is made for a necklace precludes the possibility that it was intended for any human being, even a priest. The peculiar half-shut eyes have been thought by one authority to represent a state of yogi, or contemplation; but this may not be so, for very much the same kind of eye has been noticed in some very early clay figures from Kish and Ur.
c6.5
The numerous pottery figurines from Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, however, provide the investigator with more definite information on the subject of deities. A very common figurine is that of a female, nude save for a very abbreviated skirt secured by a girdle round the loins (Pl. I, 1). These figures wear much jewellery and a curious fan-shaped headdress with two cup-like objects, one on either side, although in some specimens this last feature is much more pronounced than in others. Several of these cups have smoke-stains inside, which suggests that oil or little pellets of incense were burned in them, in order that the goddess might hearken to the petitions of the worshipper.
c6.6
These figures are almost invariably in a damaged condition, but there is strong reason to believe that they represent the great Mother Goddess, who was worshipped so widely in the Near and Middle East in ancient times, and whose cult is almost universal amongst the lower-class people of modern India. It seems certain that these pottery images of the goddess, whose name is unknown, were kept in almost every house in the Indus Valley cities, probably in a recess or on a bracket on the wall, which would account for the fact that the figures are nearly all roughly finished at the back.
c6.7
The poorer and more illiterate people probably found a deity like the Mother Goddess easier to understand and worship than any other. In India to-day she is the guardian of the house and village, presides over childbirth, and, taking a more human interest in their needs, is altogether closer to her worshippers than any of the recognized Hindu gods. It seems likely that she was so regarded by the inhabitants of the Indus valley, but whether she was considered in those days to be one of a trinity—that is, with a male counterpart and a son—or whether she was worshipped alone, as in many villages to-day, is still unknown. The association of the Mother Goddess with other deities was, however, a common feature of her cult in other countries.
c6.8
Other figures of clay, which are obviously intended for male deities, wear the horns of a goat or a bull, and it would certainly seem that both these animals were sacred (Pl. J, 1). Doubtless many others appearing on the seals and amulets were also regarded as objects of worship, each one being perhaps associated with a particular god, whose emblem it was. For some reason which it is difficult to understand, figures of male deities in pottery are distinctly rare and are entirely nude, in contrast with the female figures, which invariably wear a little clothing; necklaces and bangles may be worn, but this is by no means always the case (Pl. I, 2). Another peculiarity of these male figurines is that they are shown with long hair gathered up in a curious loop behind secured by a fillet, and with a long beard coiled inwards at the end. Where the arms remain, in figurines of either sex, they hang straight down, and are never in a position to hold anything. It is impossible to say whether the male figurines represent the consort of the Mother Goddess, as it is not yet known whether they are all intended for the same god.
c6.9
Certain badly damaged statues of animals, the largest of which is ten inches high, are cut in limestone and all rest on rectangular plinths. These must undoubtedly represent gods in their animal form, and they probably come from some temple or shrine. Two specimens are so battered that it is hard to identify the animal that was represented, but it is possible that in both cases it was a ram couchant. Strangely enough, the ram does not appear on the seals, although it is common as an amulet made in faience.
c6.10
The largest and most complete figure, also couchant, has the horns and body of a ram, and a long, pendulous object in front that is evidently an elephant’s trunk; this must be a fusion of two deities whose emblems were the ram and the elephant. Another of these stone statues, of which only a fragment now remains, was originally a large limestone figure of a bull. The animal’s head has sockets for the insertion of the ears and horns, which were, no doubt, made of some more valuable material, and, as is the case with bulls made of pottery, there is a garland round the neck. The damaged condition of all these religious figures of animals shows that they were purposely mutilated, but who did this, or when, is not known. As the human statuary is also smashed in the same way, it seems obvious that the wrecking was done by people who regarded the worship of such figures as idolatrous or hostile to their own beliefs; and as it must have taken place long before the arrival of the Aryan-speaking people who invaded India about 1500 B.C., it is possible that some of the hill people of Baluchistan were responsible for this damage.
c6.11
The stone and pottery seal-amulets and talismans provide the largest contribution to the scanty store of knowledge it has been possible to amass on the subject of the religious beliefs of the Indus Valley people. Perhaps the most interesting scene found on any seal-amulet depicts a nude deity, with horns and three faces, seated on a stool with his heels pressed closely together in what is, evidently, a religious attitude (Pl. M, 9). Surrounding him are a number of animals—two deer, or antelopes, a rhinoceros, an elephant, a tiger, and a buffalo. The figure wears a large number of bangles on either arm, after the fashion of some of the female goddesses on the amulets, and a fan-shaped erection, very like the head-dress worn by many of the female figurines, rises from his head between horns resembling those of a bull or buffalo.
c6.12
Sir John Marshall has identified this figure as the Indian god Shiva, in his aspect of Pasupati, or Lord of Beasts. The fact that the god is shown on the seal-amulet with three faces, and perhaps even a fourth on the side turned away, gives strong support to Sir John’s theory, for Shiva was, and is, pictured in India with as many as five faces. It has always been suspected that he was one of the oldest Indian gods, and that his worship dated from the prehistoric period, a supposition which is justified by this interpretation of the figure on this seal-amulet. It must not be assumed, however, that Shiva was the name of this god of the Indus Valley people, for this is merely what he is commonly called to-day. He is now said to have as many as one thousand and eight names, most of them indicating separate functions.
c6.13
No less than three seals bearing a representation of this deity have been unearthed, in two cases the god being seated on a stool, and in the third on the ground. He is always nude, save for a cincture round the waist, and wears a number of bangles, but in two figures he has three faces, and in the other a single face in profile. All three representations have horns, but on two seals a sprig of flowers or leaves rising from the head between the horns strongly suggests that the figure so ornamented was a fertility or vegetation god, again analogous with Shiva, who personifies the reproductive powers of Nature.
c6.14
It is still uncertain whether the female deity represented by the pottery figurines was a virgin goddess or the consort of the god on the seal-amulets. The wife of Shiva is worshipped at the present day under many names, which include Uma, Parvati, Durga and Kali, the last two typifying the goddess in her fiercest and most awful aspect, a lover of destruction and blood. There was, and still is, however, a benevolent side to her nature in some of her manifestations, and it is most probably this kindly side which is shown in the Indus Valley figurines. As before mentioned, so many ancient religions insist that a female deity must have a spouse and a son to carry on the succession that it is not impossible that the two most important deities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were thus related. On the other hand, as Mr. Richards has pointed out, the Mother Goddesses of Southern India are quite independent of any consort, while Dr. Hutton states that the village goddesses of that region are only at the present time being gradually provided with husbands from the orthodox Hindu pantheon. A slight indication that the Mother Goddess of the Indus Valley was a virgin is the small size of the breasts compared with those of the more matronly female figures which are thought to have been used for votive purposes.
c6.15
Another most interesting seal-amulet depicts quite a different religious subject. Here a horned goddess is shown in the midst of a *pipal*, or sacred fig-tree, before which another horned deity is kneeling and doing obeisance (Pl. M, 8). Both the goddess and her worshipper wear long plaits of hair, have their arms adorned with many bangles, and in the case of the latter, and possibly of the former as well, there is a floral or leafy spray springing from the head between the horns. Behind the worshipper a goat with a human face looks on with evident interest. A row of seven spirits, or deities, facing the opposite way to the scene above, occupies the whole of the lower register of the seal-amulet, each figure wearing a sprig on the head, a long pigtail behind, but no horns.
c6.16
This scene, like many others on the seals, is somewhat difficult to interpret; the *pipal* is, however, one of the many trees regarded as sacred in most parts of India to-day, and there are several ceremonies connected with its cult. For example, on certain days Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is supposed to take up her abode in it, and the Hindus walk round and round the tree, saying prayers and paying out a thread of cotton, while on other festival occasions the trunk is smeared with red lead or ochre. The leaves of the *pipal*, like those of the poplar, are agitated by the slightest breeze, and it may be for this reason that it has been looked upon from ancient times as the dwelling-place of a spirit or goddess. Women make offerings to it in the hope of giving birth to a male child, while a vessel of water is sometimes fastened to its branches for the refreshment of the souls of the dead. All these beliefs, which are undoubtedly very old, may also have been associated with the *pipal*-tree in prehistoric times. It seems certain that this tree was connected by the Indus Valley people with a particular beast, which was the urus-ox so commonly shown on the seal-amulets. A well-known seal-amulet depicts a conventionalized form of the tree, with two heads and necks of this animal projecting from its base (Pl. M, 3).
c6.17
The *nim*-tree and another which resembles an acacia also occur on various amulets; and these trees, too, are still sacred in India. There must, however, have been many other sacred trees in ancient times, to judge from the numbers of different kinds held in veneration to-day. The figures in the lower row of the *pipal*-tree seal-amulet are generally seven in number, and, as they wear similar headdresses to the goddess above them, they must also be regarded as deities.
c6.18
A most interesting clay amulet shows a large tree of uncertain species associated with a cult object at the top of which is an animal's head, with a sprig of flowers or leaves rising from between its horns. The tree has a high platform round its base very like the mud-platform often seen round a sacred tree in India to-day, and as the shrine of the village deity or deities is frequently placed on, or close to, this erection, the scene on the amulet has a modern parallel. There is some reason to believe that the sacred tree or cult figure on this amulet is guarded by a buffalo, for one appears to be tossing a man over his head, although the man may merely be vaulting over the animal, in the manner of those who took part in the sacred bull sports of ancient Crete.
c6.19
Another clay amulet shows the same cult object in close association with a tree and surmounting a conical pillar, which may have been made of mud. An interesting addition to this scene is the presence of two goats, whose front legs rest on the top of the pillar, while to the right two human figures appear to be planting something in the ground; but these are, unfortunately, far from clear owing to the condition of the object.
c6.20
A third amulet of the same material shows two men each holding a tree, or part of one, while between them is a tree-deity with outstretched arms. It is difficult to say whether this scene shows a tree that has been torn asunder to release a tree-spirit, or whether two trees are being planted in honour of the deity, who may be presiding over the ceremony; the latter suggestion is more probable, as each tree or portion has separate roots. The two trees are of the same species, and the scene can hardly be that of the tree-marriage so common nowadays in India. The planting of sacred trees, however, is a custom which has prevailed in the country from time immemorial; it is looked upon as a religious rite which confers merit upon the performer. In modern times this practice is accompanied by ceremonies of the same nature as those used for the consecration of the image of a deity, and a similar ritual may have been followed in the Indus valley in ancient times. On the reverse of this same amulet a kneeling man is seen making an offering to what appears to be a *nim*-tree.
c6.21
From the evidence afforded by the amulets found in both cities there seems to be no doubt whatever that three kinds of trees, at least, were venerated, if not actually worshipped, by the people of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Whether this cult was confined to a certain section of the population, or whether it was universal, is at present uncertain, but as animism of this type dates from very primitive times, it may be that the former hypothesis is more correct, and that the worship of trees was confined to the uneducated.
c6.22
Another feature of the religion of the Indus valley which is still practised in India is the veneration paid to phallic symbols, typified by the *linga*, or conical stone, which is now associated with the worship of Shiva. At the present day the *lingas* either have water poured over them or are anointed with butter, and are certainly the commonest religious objects in India, being found all over the country, both in villages and in the near neighbourhood of temples.
c6.23
Certain large, smooth, cone-like stones unearthed at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were undoubtedly the *lingas* of those days, but it is impossible to say whether they were associated with the worship of Shiva at that early date. This association, however, seems more probable now that Sir John Marshall has identified one of the gods on the seal-amulets as the prototype of the Shiva of historic times and the present day.
c6.24
Various small cones made of lapis-lazuli, jasper, chalcedony, and other stones, most beautifully cut and finished, and less than two inches in height, are also thought to be *lingas*, and have been compared with the objects now carried by the *Lingayat* sect in India; on the other hand, it is just as possible that they were used in the board-games described in Chapter VII. In the same way, certain large stone rings which are considered by some authorities to be *yonis*, or the female complement of the phallic emblem, may have been employed to build up columns; and until a *linga* and one of these ring-stones are found in close association, the matter cannot be definitely settled.
c6.25
Overwhelming evidence of the worship of animals on the part of the people of the Indus valley is provided by the seal-amulets, which portray a varied assortment of beasts. Among these is a powerful-looking bull with one horn, although it is probable that the representations fail to show the second horn behind the first (Pl. M, 12). Frederichs has identified this animal as the urus-bull (auroch), and he thinks that its two varieties, *Bos primigenius* and *Bos namadicus*, are plainly indicated on the seal-amulets. Other animals depicted are the elephant, the tiger, the buffalo, two kinds of oxen—one a short-horned animal and the other a humped bull—the rhinoceros, the crocodile, and a queer, composite beast with a human face, the trunk of an elephant, the horns and forequarters of a bull, and the hindquarters and tail of a tiger, which probably represents the fusion of several deities in one animal form.
c6.26
There is reason to think that most of these animals were kept in captivity, for the great majority are portrayed with a manger, or food-vessel, before them, while in front of the urus-bull there invariably appears a curious object which has not yet been satisfactorily identified, but is regarded by some authorities as an altar, and by others as a rack and crib for fodder (Pl. M, 12). It seems that this object alone must have been connected with some kind of cult, for it occurs without the animal on one object at least from Mohenjo-daro, and on several amulets from Harappa. Other animals shown on a certain type of copper amulet of tablet form include the hare, the antelope, a horned beast, as yet unidentified, and a very unusual creature with a head at either end which, as Frankfort has shown, is not unlike certain Sumerian animal designs.
c6.27
Animals are associated with the various gods of Indian mythology, each deity having his or her particular animal as a *vahana*, or vehicle. Brahma, for instance, rides on a goose, Shiva on a bull, and Durga, his wife, on a tiger; but it is impossible to say whether the animals on the Indus Valley seal-amulets were worshipped *per se*, or only because they were regarded as representing, or as an attribute of, a certain deity.
c6.28
A seal-amulet found at Mohenjo-daro makes it fairly certain that the tiger was considered to be the emblem of a goddess, although the opposite seems to have been the case in later Indian mythology. On this object a goddess is seen with the horns of a goat, the usual sprig of flowers and pig-tail, but with the body, hind-legs, and tail of a tiger, the whole figure being so cleverly contrived that no undue prominence is given either to its human or to its animal aspect. We may therefore infer that in those early times the tiger-goddess was looked upon as the consort of the deity already identified as a prehistoric form of Shiva. A tiger also appears on two seals with the horns of a bull, and as this seems to be a type of horn associated with the Shiva figures, it is possible that then, as now, the bull was regarded as the vehicle of the god.
c6.29
Another seal-amulet shows a buffalo which has obviously attacked a group of people, and is standing triumphant in the midst of its victims; it is possible that this is a representation of a deity overcoming his enemies. The reader is also referred in this instance to the amulet described earlier in this chapter, where a buffalo is shown probably tossing a man over his head, with a sacred tree and cult object near by. The wild buffalo is regarded as a most dangerous animal in India as well as in Africa, and it is therefore a fitting vehicle for Yama, the Hindu god of death. As this animal is quite commonly portrayed on the seal-amulets, it must be considered, like the others, to be a symbol of a particular god, doubtless a terrible one.
c6.30
The goat always occupies a secondary position on the seals, and may therefore have represented a minor deity. In more than one example it is closely connected with a tree spirit, and when such representations are clear enough, it is seen to possess a human face (Pl. M, 8). It has always been a favourite animal in India for sacrificial purposes, for its curious habit of shivering when sprinkled with water is considered a favourable omen for sacrifice, and it may perhaps have been so used by the inhabitants of the Indus valley. In many countries the goat is connected with a god or goddess of fertility, and it is not unlikely that the goddess in the tree on the amulets of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa was connected with fertility. This animal must have been held in some importance in the Indus valley, for its horns appear on a male figurine of a deity, as well as being worn by the tiger-goddess already described.
c6.31
The gharial, or fish-eating crocodile, which is quite frequently depicted on the amulets, usually with a fish between its jaws, may have been regarded as the emblem of a river-god. As this reptile is associated with the sacred animals, it is safe to assume that it, too, was considered sacred, but the deity to which it may have been attached was perhaps not regarded with special awe. The gharial, unlike the mugger (which does not appear in the art of the Indus valley), is not dangerous to men or large beasts, in spite of the fact that it can attain to a length of twenty feet or more.
c6.32
It is probable that snakes, too, were venerated, if not actually worshipped, in the Indus valley, since a snake cult has always been so popular in India. No carved figures of snakes have been found at Mohenjo-daro, however, but one has been unearthed at Harappa. The reptile also appears occasionally on the painted pottery, but the best representation of it is on a faience tablet where a seated deity, similar to those already described on the seal-amulets, is being worshipped on either side by a kneeling man, while behind each worshipper a cobra, with head raised and hood expanded, is evidently joining in the adoration of the god. A clay amulet also shows this reptile before a low stool, on which would appear to be an offering, perhaps of milk.
c6.33
Two amulets made in the same mould show that the effigy of at least one of the sacred animals—namely, the urus-bull—was carried in religious processions; for on these amulets a man is seen quite clearly to be carrying the figure of this animal on a stand. Another man behind the first bears the cult object always associated with this beast, while a third carries another standard of some kind resembling a pennon; but this is difficult to distinguish owing to the deterioration of the surface of the tablet. The writer has no doubt that the figures of the other animals carved on the seal-amulets were carried in exactly the same way; in fact, the scene on these two amulets recalls to mind the custom of bearing animals in religious processions in ancient Egypt.
c6.34
Apart from those used as pictographic characters, no birds appear on the seal- or other amulets, but there is a certain amount of evidence that the dove was looked upon as sacred. Pottery models of this bird are frequently found set on little pedestals so that they stand upright, and some of these figures exactly resemble examples found at very early sites in Mesopotamia. The dove was held sacred to the Mother Goddess both in that country and in Crete, and the same belief doubtless prevailed in the Indus valley, for the method of portraying the bird, with outstretched wings and tail, is identical in all three places. A female figurine of clay, found at Mohenjo-daro, actually has two birds perched on the top of her head, which, as in the case of the figures from Crete, doubtless symbolized spiritual possession.
c6.35
No evidence is as yet forthcoming whether the river Indus was venerated in prehistoric times in the same way that all the great rivers of India were, and are, regarded as holy by the Hindu in historic times and at the present day. It seems certain, however, that water entered largely into the religious observances of the Indus valley, for, in addition to the great bath of Mohenjo-daro described in Chapter II, there were bathrooms attached to nearly every house in both cities. Purification by water must have been an essential part of the ritual of the people, as indeed it still is in modern India.
c6.36
A horned human figure with the feet and tail of a bull appears on one seal-amulet from Mohenjo-daro, and was perhaps a demi-god. It is depicted struggling with a horned tiger, probably representing some demon who waged constant warfare against the gods. The likeness of this man-bull to a certain Sumerian demi-god or hero is very striking, and appears to indicate that a relationship once existed between certain of the beliefs of the two civilizations. It is not impossible that these resemblances originated in a third country with which both the inhabitants of Sumer and those of the Indus valley were closely associated in the long-distant past.
c6.37
Another type of hero, or demi-god, which may also have had some association with Sumer appears on three seal-amulets from Mohenjo-daro, where he is depicted struggling with two tigers. The figure, which is nude except for a very narrow band round the waist, has his face in profile surrounded by coils of hair, and is singularly like the early representations of the Sumerian Gilgamesh, the friend of Enkidu, who assisted that hero in his struggles with wild beasts. In Sumerian and very early Egyptian art, however, this figure is shown fighting lions, and it is quite probable that the Indus Valley version was adapted from one of another country, as tigers are substituted on the Indian amulets. Although the lion has now to be protected in India, it roamed over a considerable area in former days, but it always prefers open country, while the tiger inhabits the forest and dense jungle. It seems obvious that the latter animal must have dominated Sind and the Punjab in very early days, for the lion is never represented in any way in Indus Valley art, and, indeed, may have been quite unknown to the people of that culture.
c6.38
An illustration frequently appearing on the amulets shows a man seated in a tree, while a tiger below is waiting for him to descend; it is thought that this scene is taken from some legend connected with religion, as it occurs on certain amulets with other obviously religious subjects (Pl. M, 2). The figure in the tree may be a deity in human shape, for ancient creeds are full of such incidents and adventures; in any case, it was not a story known only at Mohenjo-daro, for the same scene occurs on some of the amulets from Harappa.
c6.39
From the description of the animals appearing on the seal-amulets it will be seen that several beasts were often merged into one, and, indeed, seals have been found showing three different heads on one body. The heads of a short-horned bull, a urus-bull, and an antelope are all depicted uncomfortably affixed to the body of either the first or second animal, an arrangement which no doubt symbolized three deities in one. A particularly complex example of this fusion is represented by the heads of four animals—a urus-bull, a tiger, and two other kinds of bulls—and the necks of two other beasts, whose heads are missing owing to the breakage of the seal. All these are arranged like rays round a circular centre which may represent the sun. A somewhat similar conception is seen on another seal, where a sixrayed skirl has one ray in the form of a urus-bull’s head.
c6.40
These skirl devices, which are certainly uncommon, are generally considered to be solar symbols. If the circular symbol on the two seal-amulets mentioned above is taken to indicate the sun, which seems likely, then the various gods who were connected in some way with it are represented by the animals’ heads. In the many-headed skirl the rays are so carefully arranged round the centre that no god is elevated at the expense of another; but in the second example the urus-bull alone appears, the other five rays being blank. The emphasis placed on this six-rayed device suggests that the sun was regarded as the greatest of all the gods, and that the six animal-heads associated with it represent the premier deities of the Indus Valley pantheon.
c6.41
Another aspect of the religion of the Indus valley was the practice of depositing votive-figures of animals and human beings in shrines to ensure the favourable attention of the god or goddess, a custom which still prevails in modern India. A certain type of pottery figure showing a pregnant woman, or a figure holding a child to her breast, was probably a thank-offering to a deity for the birth of a child, or perhaps a reminder of the giver's desire for children. These votive-figures are always of the plainest description, ornaments being very seldom worn; they are of quite a different class from the figures of the Mother Goddess. Two little models of infant boys, represented as crawling on the ground, may have been intended as special reminders that the wished-for child should be a boy, or, alternatively, may have been placed in a shrine to ensure the favour of the deity towards a sick child. Clay models of oxen were similarly used for votive purposes, perhaps to promote increase or to restore a sick animal to health, a practice which is still quite common among the poor of India.
c6.42
Most of the inhabitants of the Indus valley seem to have worn amulets of some kind or other. The so-called seal (Pl. M), of which so many examples have been found, must now be regarded as having served also as an amulet, on account of the animals incised upon it. In most cases only the upper part, bearing the inscription, was employed as a seal proper, but it is not clear what material was mainly used for the sealings, as very few have been discovered. In fact, many more seals than sealings have been recovered from Mohenjo-daro. The numerous tablets of clay and copper, in the latter material peculiar to Mohenjo-daro, are undoubtedly amulets, and the poor condition of the clay specimens suggests that they were always on the person of the owner, perhaps loose in a case. The legends depicted on them seem to be episodes in the lives of various deities, and it is quite likely that they were presented to the worshippers after visits to certain shrines. Amulets bearing the same scene are, more often than not, found in the same quarter of Mohenjo-daro, which suggests that they were obtained from a shrine in that same neighbourhood.
c6.43
Apart from the clay and copper tablets, amulets of other kinds are somewhat rare. Among them are included the squirrel, the couchant ram, the hare, the antelope, and the dog, made in such diverse materials as pottery, stone, faience, or bronze, and perforated so that they might be attached to a necklace. Little figures of doves in hard stone or clay may have been worn as fertility charms, while two steatite amulets that have lately come to light are not at all unlike the dad, or "stability" amulet of ancient Egypt, except that the Indian specimens have a ring-like attachment at the side.
c6.44
An unusual amulet of shell has a knot carved upon it; knots have always had a magical significance in the East as well as in the West. Two holes in this specimen show that it could be sewn to the clothing, and it may have served as a button as well. Intertwining linear patterns also appear on some of the amulets, and these are of much the same type as certain designs on various Sumerian seals; without beginning or end, they may have typified longevity, as such designs still do in China. Ordinary beads seem to have been valued as amulets in the Indus valley, just as they are in other countries, and certain steatite beads carved with trefoils are especially interesting, both for the careful workmanship and for the choice of the motif, which we have seen occurs on the robe of the deity already described.
c6.45
Only one amulet made in human shape has come to light, and this is a small steatite figure of a deity which is a trifle over half an inch high and wears the curling horns of a ram. This is the only figure among all the horned deities which can be definitely connected with the ram, although this animal frequently appears in amulet form.
c6.46
The svastika and the Greek cross (Pl. M, 5)
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are quite often found on the seal-amulets, especially the former device, which sometimes occurs on a square button-seal. These symbols, however, are not peculiar to the Indus valley, for they were equally well known in Elam at a very early date, and ultimately were used in many parts of the ancient world. It is difficult to be at all certain of the exact significance of these two motifs in the religion of the Indus valley; but at the present day the svastika, which, by the way, is Eastern and not Western in origin, is regarded in India as a very lucky sign, and is commonly painted on the mud shrines of that country as well as being used in many other ways. If it be a solar sign, as some people claim, it might have been regarded as akin to the skirls which have been described. The four-armed svastika occurs at both Mohenjo-daro and Harappa with the arms pointing either backwards or forwards, and the former position appears to have been deemed quite as efficient a luck-bringer as the latter.
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A device which, like several others, was evidently used as a talisman is a heart-shaped motif which most frequently appears in the form of shell inlay, and so closely resembles the ear of one of the statues that the writer is inclined to think that they are identical. Another symbol very extensively used is derived from the intersecting circle pattern on the pottery, which shows that the latter was originally by no means a meaningless decoration, though it eventually became so.
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It is still uncertain whether dancing formed part of the religion of the inhabitants of the Indus valley, although it is so important a feature of the ritual of certain sects in India to-day. A scene on a fragment of a faience amulet showing a man beating a drum and people dancing to the music seems to suggest, from its appearance on a religious symbol, that the dance was a ceremonial one; but this supposition, of course, cannot at present be verified. On an amulet from Harappa a man is playing a drum before a tiger; but here again it is impossible to say whether the tiger represents a deity in human form, or whether the whole scene is simply an illustration of “music hath charms.” Another amulet from the same city shows the cult-object invariably associated with the urus-bull, while by the side of it appears a figure which may be that of a woman dancing; if this interpretation be correct, the dance must certainly be a religious one.
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In connection with the subject of ritual dancing, allusion must be made to the wonderful bronze figure of a dancing-girl found by Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni. The dancer, who from her features is obviously an aboriginal type, may represent the predecessor of the dancing-girls (Devadasis) who are attached to many temples in modern India. The status of these girls is considered quite an honourable one, as in many cases they are either married to the god to whose temple they belong, or are regarded as handmaidens of a goddess. It is interesting to think that this bronze figure may represent very probably a temple-dancer of Mohenjo-daro.
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No cemetery of contemporary Indus Valley date has yet been discovered at either Mohenjo-daro or Harappa, and if such cemeteries exist they must be buried below many feet of alluvium. Burial customs of ancient civilizations are not only of use to the excavator in that they provide him with a multitude of interesting and well-preserved objects on which to base his theories (amulets, for example, are always found in greater profusion in a cemetery than in a city site), but they also throw much light on the beliefs of the people concerning conditions in the next world. It is extremely unfortunate that nothing can be discovered with regard to the burial customs of the people of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa; and, for all that is known to the contrary, they may have had no belief in an after-life, though this is by no means likely.
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The few human remains that have come to light in the cities are either skeletons found in contorted attitudes which have obviously not had proper burial, or so-called fractional burials, where small fragments of human bones, including in one case a skull, were immured in jars, together with a very mixed assortment of objects which may or may not have had some relation to the bones buried with them. Mr. Vats found at Harappa a number of jars containing remains of this kind, and also several earthen utensils holding skulls, which, with one exception, were buried alone. These jars, however, are different in form and decoration from the ordinary painted ware of the Indus valley, and it is quite possible that they are of later date. The writer shares the opinion with others that the Indus Valley people cremated their dead on the banks of the river and that the ashes were then thrown into the water. A less probable theory is that the remains were buried in a powdered and friable state in jars; but the very few examples of what are claimed to be fractional burials which have come to light in a city as large as Mohenjo-daro, and which flourished for at least three hundred to five hundred years, make this most unlikely. If such burials really did take place amongst the general population, the cemeteries must be enormous, and it seems strange that no trace of them has yet been discovered, unless, as before mentioned, they lie very deep below the surface of the ground.
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Owing to the sparseness of the material at present at the writer's command, the above account of the religion of the inhabitants of the Indus valley is perforce rather unsatisfactory, but it is hoped that further excavation will supply much useful information. The most important contribution to the data amassed at present is Sir John Marshall's identification of the male figure on certain seal-amulets as Shiva, or his ancient prototype; for using this theory as a basis it has been possible to assume that many of the features of modern Indian cults are derived from very primitive sources; they perhaps date back even to a period anterior to that in which the people of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa built their great brick cities.
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The worship of the Mother Goddess, for example, is a very early Indian cult, and probably existed in the country long before the arrival of the Indus Valley people. This is probably true also of tree worship, which later developed into the adoration of a tree-deity, for this cult in both its forms is still worldwide to-day. Animal worship is also inherent in most primitive communities, and has existed in India and elsewhere for so long that its origin is untraceable. On the other hand, the horned human deity does not appear in the mythology of either historic or modern India, and it seems safe to say that it was introduced into that country by the Indus Valley people, and disappeared again with them. The same is true of the man-bull, who may have been a minor deity, a hero, or a demon. The horned deity and the man-bull occur in contemporary Sumerian mythology also, probably because the two civilizations derived these cults from some parent source.
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If the view be correct that the Indus Valley people entered India from the north-west, they must have found that country already inhabited by a people who were in a fair state of civilization, and who were making quite good pottery on the wheel and decorating it in two or more colours. What the beliefs of these earlier people were is at present very uncertain, because only tentative examination has been made of their settlements, nor is there any skeletal material to enable their race to be determined. From the very little we know about them it would certainly seem that they were not of such an advanced culture as the people whom we now term the Indus Valley people; but it is quite conceivable that the Indus people borrowed certain elements of their religion from this lower culture—elements which have persisted down to the present time. The educated Brahmin priest of to-day has to fight against the very primitive beliefs and cults practised by many of his flock, and frequently all he can do is to attempt to reconcile these cults with those that his Aryan-speaking forbears brought in. I have no doubt that the Indus Valley priesthood met with exactly the same difficulty and had to acquiesce in much with which they had little sympathy. There surely was a better-educated section of the population of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa and their sister cities who professed a more abstract religion; and if that was the case, this chapter is perforce very one-sided, for nothing has survived which provides the slightest clue to what this aspect of the religion of the time may have been. It is to liturgies that we have to turn for information of this sort; but unfortunately all such documents, being written on perishable material, have long since disappeared. Even if such documents were to come to light in the course of further excavations, it would probably be a very long time before they could be interpreted.