The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables c4.s8.t3.4

c4.s8.t3.4

The 'unicorn' motif is placed first because it is the most common one of the Indus seals. The style of representing this animal in profile, so that just one single horn is shown, has in all probability been borrowed from the art of the ancient Near East. Although this representation undoubtedly has had a mythological explanation and importance in the Harappan religion, the 'unicorn' is likely to be a real animal (probably the urus, or *Bos primigenius*) which actually had two horns. It is in fact sometimes depicted as having two horns, but for the sake of analysis and classification, these two-horned representations have been separated from the 'unicorns' under the immediately following heading of 'urus'. These two headings are followed by other bovids, these by caprids and other cloven-hoofed ruminants.