Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c12.176

c12.176

There remains another aspect of the Harappā Culture to be discussed before we conclude our survey. It is clear that the potent forces behind the organization of the Harappā kingdom cannot have been wholly secular, and there is, as we have already seen, more than a hint that the priesthood of some religion played a very important part in the regulation of Harappā economy from within the walls of the citadels of the two capital cities. Such rule by priests, or priest-kings, would be wholly in accordance with what we know of other ancient civilizations in Western Asia, where the written record has provided us with an insight beyond the limits of archaeology, and it is unlikely that the Harappā civilization, individual though it was, differed radically in this respect from its sister kingdoms.