The Indus Civilization c6.49

c6.49

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.