The Indus Civilization c6.54

c6.54

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.